GLASS || The Catalysts, #1 [REWRITE]

V

Lena doesn't react on time as the darkness closes in.

But it turns out she didn't have to; at the very last moment before the demon's limbs touch her, its branches disperse, the dark vine-like extensions of the demon skirting around and over her to Caelus.

Before Lena can recover and shout a warning, they have already twisted and nicely latched onto Caelus, over one of his arms and both of his legs. He slices them with a sharp gale of air with his free hand, but they keep growing.

The strangest thing is that even if they bounce back and get near Lena like the first time, they never once come into contact with her. It's like they do not want to. Not on her or anyone else or anything else— only Caelus.

The air around Caelus vibrates violently and then, without warning, he sends a burst of energy from all around him that encompasses an entire radius equivalently as powerful as an explosion, rocketing the entire part of the train and sending the train into a damping movement.

Lena falls to the side, and she can't help but think about how dangerously precarious a position Caelus is putting the entire train in.

Noticing her alarm, Caelus apologizes, tone soft and genuine despite his dangerous abilities. "Sorry, they keep coming."

He creates a barrier to block and seal off the opening of the train, completely cutting off the demon's... whatever part of its body those are. The blobs lie on the platform quite restlessly among a splash of dark blood, as if still alive.

"Maybe it's still mad that you sent it flying into the buildings," Lena ponders, eyeing the remains in part wonder, part disgust. It is her first time witnessing a demon hunt. "How do you exorcise it?"

Caelus turns to face her. "That's entirely up to the Catalysts."

Again, she wonders if Caelus would have stepped in if not for the two Arcane Academy students who are obviously his friends on the other half of the train—and if not for the demon deliberately going after him. He seems passively content being on the sidelines despite the power he holds.

Outside, what remains are the demon's arms and head—the rest of it sucked into the vacuum from the weapon deadly to demons—but still it prevails. It thrashes continuously, fighting the pull of its demise while hitting the barricade Caelus created, racketing the train.

Still, the Catalysts are quickly subduing the threat. Soon, they should be saf—

There's a blast from beyond the broken train, where the demon is fighting for its life. Something shoots this way, and Lena's half of her Aerotrain tips off the railway, the broken gap falling, turning straight for the ground. Simultaneously, the tangle of the demon's remains twitch then move. They spring forward, but Caelus is quick, dispatching them in the air. However, this action further disrupts the already unstable Aerotrain. Between the main fight outside and the demon's remains within, it's chaos.

Even Caelus loses his balance to gravity, releasing the protection over the train, and both Lena and Caelus tumble into each other before the two of them are sliding down. Other passengers are safe, already in the other cargo, but the two of them are too near to the split gap. Lena screams, but the whipping wind drowns out her voice, and the ground below is much too high, this fall will surely destroy them—

Lena collides into a pole, and she grabs on to it. Dangling for dear life, she watches in horror as Caelus slides beside and past her, heading all the way down toward the gap—and into the open fall. He isn't even trying to get a grip. He slides on, unbothered as he is, as if he isn't heading straight down toward the opening where it drops to the ground stories below.