The Tale of Aeryn Glaze (English Version)

Chapter 7: Against the darkness

The creature stood there a few feet away from me, emitting a dark vibe from the way he stood and stared right through my eyes. I felt the hair of my skin standing just from it, and I could not help but tightly grip my short sword because of an unexplainable emotion. I noticed his hands twitching and a weapon slowly emerged out of his bare hands, two long daggers, at least 9 inches in length and 2 inches in width. I could not see clearly because it was covered with black smoke like the rest of his body but I don't doubt it's sharp enough to cut me in half.

I slightly raised my right hand that was holding the short sword. It's long compared to his daggers. At least 3 inches in width, made with steel, with its hilt carved with a root-like pattern and forming the symbol of Thanatos in the middle of it, a golden sun that has 9 stars surrounding it.

In every battle I've won and lost, I know whether it's a good idea to attack first or to wait for the opponent to attack. Most of the time, you cannot wait for your opponent to attack since it would give you a disadvantage and lose your chance to win the fight. But sometimes, it is the most ideal choice especially if you don't know what you're fighting against and what they're capable of. I am not sure how strong he is, what his powers are, or how good he is at his abilities. I've killed two like him already, which intuition had only helped me to defeat them but I am not sure how I can defeat the creature in front of me.

From where I was standing, I could feel a force surrounding me, trapping me into darkness, energy so intimidating that it was forcing me to feel fear. The wind howled, and I prayed to the moon that he could at least get brighter so I could see the creature clearly as he looked so dark in the night.

"Any news up there, Aeryn?" I heard Jonah's voice, and my breathing hitched, finally remembering what we were here for.

"Jonah." I stood firm on the roof and positioned myself to fight and defend myself. "The creature's here."

"What? Where are you—?"

Surprised by his unexpected move, my eyes widened and I gasped loudly when he ran quickly towards me, pushing his arms back and then pushing it towards me. I dodge his first attack on my lower stomach, quickly taking a step back from him and blocking the second attack with my short sword, his two daggers aiming to pierce my chest.

I groaned, feeling all the heavyweight thrown at me with his strong push. I gritted my teeth and looked straight into his eyes while he grinned at me and continued to push his daggers at me.

"So the higher celestial being has gifted the humans with magic." He leaned his head forward, the black smoke covering his head disappeared, and later on, revealed his facial appearance to me. He had a human appearance, brows, nose, lips, face shape, and hair, just like humans, except that his eyes were all black and it was like I was looking directly into the abyss.

I don't know everything about the war and all the creatures in the battle, but I'm sure the higher celestial being he was talking about was the creature we call the savior of the Earth

"You killed five of my underlings but I doubt you have magic inside you." He spoke again, his voice now sounded like he was speaking inside a cave, groggy and deep.

"I don't," I grunted and quickly kicked his stomach, causing him to fall back a few meters away from me, destroying some of the concrete roofs. "But I'd do anything to kill you!"

I ran towards him and slashed the sword horizontally to his chest level which he successfully blocked with one dagger, the dagger pointing downwards. He pushes my sword sidewards with a strong force and then continuously showers me with slashes of his daggers. He groaned as we exchanged each other with attacks until his last attack caused me to almost falter on my knees. I stopped at the edge of the roof before I could even fall. Fortunately, I managed to block all his attacks but got a few scratches on my arms.