Rise Of The Nephilim
Chapter 29

“Nephilim, stay strong!” Gaden said, his eyes focused on the nightmare before them.

They instinctively stood back to back, facing the Imps on opposite ends of the arena.

They took a fighting stance. Clutched their weapons in their hands. Steeled their shivering limbs, though everything inside them trembled. “Release the Imps,” Āmand ordered.

A unified gasp filled the room as the Epochs dropped the heavy chains, still tethered to the Imps, as well as to large iron pegs welded to the wall; they clanged loudly on the stone floor.

“You are ugly creatures,” Maxine said, her voice low, face scowling as she stared down the mass of matted white fur. The monster’s red, raw lips were scored with spit foaming at the corners of their mouths. “You smell like a massive pile of crap.”

The Imps shrieked, forcing everyone in the room, with the exception of Āmand and his Epochs, to bring their hands over their ears. Then they charged.

The Nephilim felt their skin burn as the Imps clawed at their flesh. Maxine tried hard to fight through the blur, as did the others.

Shouts of support and direction came from their audience―those less affected by the Imp’s debilitating shrieks―as the group tried desperately to regain their vision and sense of place.

The urge was there to swing their weapons wildly, but they restrained themselves, managing to keep calm. They didn’t want to hit one of their own.

They spread out, keeping as far back from the blur of Imp as possible.

“Sarai, behind you!” Haman warned.

Maxine met the Imp with the blade of her sword, cutting clean across its chest. The Imp froze and looked down on the green goo that was trailing down toward its abdomen.

Maxine turned up her nose. “Disgusting,” she said.

Enraged, the Imp lunged at her again. This time, however, it was Zeda who plunged her dagger into its back, clear into its heart. As it fell, its companion plunged its razor-sharp claws deep into the nape of Zeda’s neck and tore out her throat. Screaming, Gaden hacked its head off with his sword.

“Noooo!” Maxine tried to break Zeda’s fall.

Zeda locked her eyes on Maxine, a faint smile curved at the corners of her lips. The room exploded in an outburst of cheers, though it wasn’t clear whether their cheering was meant for the killing of the Imps or Zeda’s death.

Nevertheless, Āmand breathed in deeply and then released, forcing the smile away from his face. He repressed the joy he felt, for he’d lost only the weakest of his Nephilim. His strongest had survived.

An Epoch entered the arena; he walked toward Āmand with some urgency to relay a message.

Maxine, now on her knees, held Zeda’s head in her hands, her eyes clouded and wet. See . . . you were brave. You just had to believe it. She dragged the palm of her hand over Zeda’s eyes, closing them forever.

She’d wished that Zeda could have lived to realize her strength, to see that she was more than number six million, four hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-nine. She just had to dig deeper.

She looked over at Āmand and noticed that his expression had turned harder, that rage had washed over him.

How can a parent be so cruel toward their own?

She wanted to hate him. If it hadn’t been for Mathias, I would never have known or remembered who I really am. A piece at a time, she was beginning to break through the fog Āmand had placed around her memories. She was beginning to remember who she was:Maxine. She could see images of Maybie, Shane, and David, and could taste the torment she had suffered almost daily. She remembered her house in Brewster and her school on the hill; even Phillipo had not escaped. I must go back, she whispered.

Āmand caught her eyes. He seemed worried.

And with all the anger building inside and her memory returning, suddenly he did not appear to her as so tall and intimidating. In fact, he seemed more like the average Human. Minutes before, she’d wanted to lash out at him, even if it meant facing another Imp. But now she felt as if something was wrong. He walked toward her briskly.

“Sarai, come with me.”

He’d expected her to obediently follow behind, especially after what she’d just been through moments before. But that was not the case. “Sarai, did you not hear me?”

It was as if something exploded inside of her. Raw Human emotions? Temporary insanity? A burst of adrenalin? Or, just simply, bravery.

“How can you walk by her as though nothing has happened? She’s dead! See! Lifeless!”

“And so is Shian!” he roared, suddenly opening his wings, narrowly missing Gaden’s neck. “You, insolent child! Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

The room fell quiet, all eyes peering at them as if they were the last beings on Earth.

“Look at her! She was your child. Breathing! Living!”

Āmand stared hard at Maxine with anger burning through him. He wanted to rip her throat out, but somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he felt compelled to look at Zeda’s lifeless body. He stared at her. Slowly, grief worked its way through him, assimilating and deconstructing his new emotions.

He looked back at Maxine. This time his stare softened slightly. “In the end, she was brave. She saved your life,” he said, seeming to force the words from his lips.

“Yes, she did,” Maxine replied.

Āmand swallowed. He turned to his Nephilim. “Tonight . . . we will honor Zeda for her bravery. We will celebrate with music and dance.” He turned back to Maxine. “Are you happy now?” he said in a low, subdued voice.

She wasn’t certain if it was purely a rhetorical question. Nevertheless, she nodded her head in agreement.

“Now, come with me. I have very important news concerning your safety.”

“My safety?”

“Hold your tongue, child!”

Āmand folded his wings and led the way, Maxine in tow, as well as his personal Epoch guards.

“Word of an imminent attack has reached my ear.”

“Okay,” Maxine responded with some sarcasm in her voice. It’s not as if we haven’t been attacked before. And why is he singling me out?

“Arcadium is planning an attack, possibly within the next few hours, perhaps days. We do not know the time or the hour.”

“So, what can I do?”

“I assure you, though so far you have proven to have skills well beyond my expectations, you, my daughter, will be no match for Arcadium and his Arcadian steel.”

“But―”

“Child!”

The muscles and veins in his face became rigid, causing her to immediately quiet.

Āmand breathed in deeply. “Arcadium has plans to kill you during the attack. He burns with revenge for the killing of Balthazar.”

“Oh,” she said.

“You will be protected.”

“How?”

“I will take you to the Caves of Astoban, deep beneath the earth. There you will be guarded well by my most dependable Epochs.”

“But what about the others? Will they be protected as well?”

“Why do you care so deeply for the others?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

An awkward silence fell between them.

“You have my features, but your heart is Human, just like―” He stopped himself. He found himself slipping once more under the power of the love he had buried in his heart for her. “It is your life that Arcadium means to end.”

“Yes, but he will cut the others down to get closer to me.”

“They would be happy to make such a sacrifice.”

“No! I want to fight! Not be locked away in some dark, stinking cave. Besides, I don’t want anyone else dying for me. Zeda and Malachi have already given their lives to save me. I don’t want to hide away like a coward.”

Āmand stared at her as if in deep thought. “You truly are my daughter―stubborn, insolent, fearless, and maybe even a little stupid.”

“Please, Father, let me fight,” she softened her tone as she pleaded.

Flashes of her as an infant entered his mind:her smiling in a crib, her tiny fingers wrapped tightly around his. The promise he’d made to always protect her. “No, Sarai. You will go to the caves for your protection.”

“Please, Father, I want to fight alongside the others, and die with them if I must.”

“You are truly a stupid girl!”

Maxine did not respond to his insult.

Knowing that he risked losing her, he realized that no matter how hard he tried to convince her otherwise, her mind was completely decided. Besides, he did not possess the will to deny her willingness to fight, nor her share of Arcadian blood. After all, she was his daughter. And the battle drums sounded loudly in her heart, just as they did in his.

“You will fight, but you must stay close by my side and heed my commands. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Father, I will!”