Book 4 - Chapter 69 - Sublime Transcendence (1/2)

Cloudhawk was violently coughing up blood. His wild attack had been costly. As the blood trickled from his lips and hit the ground, spurts of green fire leaped out from the boiling liquid as it melted a hole in the rocky ground.

Upon entering his blood, Castigation’s deadly effect awakened the virus that had been dormant. Trespasser and the Crimson One’s fires warred for supremacy, neither winning over. Cloudhawk was thus caught in a purgatory of agony, alive but in terrible pain. If not for Trespasser’s involvement, however, he surely would be dead.

For the blood he spat up to be consumed by fire… one could imagine the dire circumstances he was in.

Killing Adder had been a herculean task. Killing his father seemed impossible.

Selene watched Cloudhawk writhe in pain, grinding her teeth at how ineffectual she was. She was desperate to continue, do to anything. Her eyes were slightly red from fear and anger, and from the pain that stabbed at her heart like a knife. It was a feeling she couldn’t remember experiencing since she learned of her father’s death.

This hopeless idiot! First in Greenland Outpost, and now here! Why is he always so eager to get involved in fights that were beyond him?

Selene could feel him getting weaker. She clutched tightly to his hand, whose flesh was cracked and blackened. Stinging pain assailed her even through the gloves. Castigation was breaking through his skin and reaching for anything it could. If just being near him caused this pain, she didn’t want to imagine what Cloudhawk was feeling.

But the most frightening realization was that the destruction wrought by Castigation was irreversible. There was no medicine known to man that could heal the hellish fires.

Castigation infected his blood, and seeped deep into his marrow. There was no cure! What’s more, the Crimson One’s staff had broken many of his bones in their vicious exchange, and the jagged edges had torn into his internal organs. Anyone Selene had seen with wounds this serious died quickly.

Pat…. Pat…

Cloudhawk felt drops of water falling on his face. They eased the eternal agony that was eating him up from the inside, at least slightly. He managed to open his eyes and peer up at the face hovering above his own. His handsome features were hideously scorched, his skin blackened and split. When he smiled the expression was horrific, but it was a genuine smile from the heart.

Selene was crying. It was her second time. As strong and stoic as she was, she was still a woman. Only in these rare moments was the gentle part of her spirit revealed. From the standpoint of a man, any price was worth seeing a woman this beautiful crying over him.

He struggled to speak, every syllable crackling like the fires that danced in his throat. “This fucker is too strong… I don’t think we can beat him.”

Selene’s answer came in a quavering tone. “Did you… do this for me?”

“You carry too much on your shoulders… I can see how tired you are. The pain you hide… I see it every time I look at you. I hate it. But I’m… not strong enough. I can’t help you.”

“No. You helped me find myself again. You made me rethink my life, and showed me that the world isn’t all darkness and hate. You’ve already helped me so much.”

Was Cloudhawk’s suggestion to kill the Crimson One really just for the expeditionary force’s benefit? Even he himself wondered when he’d become so altruistic.

He’d found the answer when he cast aside his sense of self-preservation and attacked the Crimson One. He didn’t really give a shit about the expeditionary forces. He did it because he hoped it might help Selene put down some of her burdens.

But did she need him to do it? No! So Selene left him behind at the Elysian base and took the Temple’s warriors with her to the front. She hadn’t wanted him to be here, where death was a real possibility. Of course, the moron had to stick his nose into everything and came anyway.

All for what? The Crimson One hovered above them entirely unscathed. The hole Cloudhawk had punched into his defenses was already being repaired.

Immortal Defender was more than strong; for all intents and purposes, it was indestructible. Yet Cloudhawk had managed the impossible and tore open a hole. Even the Crimson One’s relic seemed taken aback, for it was slow to seal the fissure. This appeared to be the only flaw in the relic’s function.

Unfortunately Cloudhawk had failed to do more than open a small crack. A breach this small would only require a few minutes for the relic to repair. Once that happen, Cloudhawk’s idiotic but valiant attempt would have been for nothing. The Crimson One would again be wholly invincible.

But what could they do? Cloudhawk, with the help of his incredible phase stone, had only managed to tear open a small hole. What means did they have of trying to break through that golden shield?

Motes of green fire were gathering over the Crimson One’s head. He released another torrent of Castigation toward Selene.

The old drunk’s eyes went wide. “Selene, get out of the way!”

Selene’s Holy Vestments were powerful, of the same caliber as Castigation Fire. Because of this, they were able to withstand the all-consuming fire, at least to some degree. However she had no way to protect the already gravely wounded Cloudhawk.

If she escaped the threat to her own safety, she would be abandoning her friend.

What’s more, the waterfall of green fire was too powerful. Although Selene was as strong as Adder had been, she wasn’t mighty enough to fend off an attack of this magnitude. Choosing to stand against it was a death sentence.

Death and destruction loomed over the two small figures. Selene didn’t flinch, didn’t budge. In her heart she was at peace. Wherever he was, there was always some measure of peace.

Four years ago in Blackflag Outpost, huddled in his small shack. Their meeting was predestined. From that moment on their lives had been inexorably tied. Together they’d fled through the wastelands, fending off death at every turn, and in that struggle had become companions.

Then came the battle at Greenland Outpost. The Bloodsoaked Queen had been struck back down to earth from her lofty pedestal. Both of them cast aside title and identity and saw one another for who they were beneath all that. After that, they were friends.

Four years passed. They’d spent such a brief time together, but the impact they’d had on each others’ lives loomed large.

If Cloudhawk had never met the Bloodsoaked Queen, he would have never learned about demonhunters. He would have known nothing about the Elysian lands or Skycloud city. All of the experience thereafter – good and bad – would never have come to pass.

Selene had spent such a brief time with Cloudhawk, but he was responsible for the single biggest transformation in her life. He had left an indelible mark on her heart. He occupied an important and unassailable position in her eyes.

Cloudhawk was a lone wolf.

So was Selene.

They were two lonely souls, meeting each other at a crucial moment in time. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was divine predestination. Cloudhawk was the only person in the whole world who could open Selene’s eyes to the truth of the world. Her one real friend, and probably her last.

The heavens had delivered a man like this to her side. She would not allow anyone to take him from her!

He risked his life for me. I will give my life to protect him.

They were companions, in life and death! They shared glory and failure, victory and defeat!