Chapter 146: Coin Toss
I can only shake my head toward Johnny. I have no clue why any of this was done to me. Why a demon would choose to raise me instead of my actual mother, whom I have just as little clue as to who they are, is beyond me.
"I have no idea. Just as lost as you are."
Johnny goes to ask another question, but the ground beneath us rumbles with power and destabilizes all our feet, making him pause our discussion. In the distance of my vision behind Johnny's back, I see a cloud of black and white smoke rise from the gray terrain. I would expect a war-torn place such as this to be covered in blood, but when I look at Silas, I see no red liquid from his wounds. The only thing that leaks out is the fires of Undeath, small flickers of pale flame just like the ones in his eyes.
Silas's face goes wide, and the flames in his eye sockets flash with intensity as the man notices the plume of smoke as well.
"Fucking hell. There goes Chief Dennie. We should go and see what we can do to help. I'm sure that the whole area over there is collapsing with his death."
Johnny moves his attention from me, and so do the others, but he makes sure to let me know he hasn't forgotten. He points right at my eyes.
"We'll talk later, Wyatt. We've got work to do, and you have to catch up. Just don't try too hard, okay? Can't have you killing yourself."
They all start moving toward the cloud of smoke as I just stand there, lost. It is a bit brighter here than it was earlier, but only because of the lingering flames of war from explosions, gunfire, and, well, just fire in general. I yell toward them in the shadowy light to get an answer.
"What the hell are we doing? Are we not looking for Edmund? For Marion? And where is Lennox?"
Johnny talks to me as he loads six silvery rounds into his revolver, his special ones imbued with the Ether of some Sigiled he bought it from. It's at this moment I realize one of his eyes is shut, and the other is open. I guess one of his eyes is recovered at this point.
"I spoke to Chief Birdie, Silas' supervisor. She said that as long as we help repel this current wave, she will find whoever we want her to and let them come with us. The only stipulation she gave is we couldn't request for any Chiefs to come with us, and that wasn't a big deal. Lennox gained his Sigil during our first fight while you were out and went to find more of his brethren to do the same in the Old Fields. I tried to stop him, but the little guy just wouldn't listen. I did make him promise me that he'd find me before we left, though."
I nod at him in a little bit of understanding but ask for just a little more explanation.
"Okay… but what are these waves? How do the demons attack? What kinds are there?"
Silas answers this question of mine as the fires in his sockets scan the floor for what I can only assume is gold.
"The tunnels from below to Hell are far away from here and quite thin, so only so many demons can come at once. That and the demons that have been sent have their own issues amongst them, causing periods where there are fewer attacks and others where there are more attacks. Right now, we are in a big wave. Deaths of Chiefs in these are not uncommon, let alone Braves such as I, so we must be careful. It's also the only reason Johnny's demand was granted. Our help is needed."
Silas then points to a Volkar as he reaches down and pulls off a small coin in the shape of a bone.
Annoyed at his distraction, I call out to him again.
"You didn't answer my last question."
He holds the coin-like thing of bone to the dark sky as if using the sunlight to inspect it. My voice brings his attention back to me.
"Aha! Knew one of them would have a Bote. Ah, yeah, there are hundreds of kinds of demons. The current attack seems to have a lot of Volkar, Shampe, Mosquits, and some Stikini here or there. What killed Chief Bennie was probably a Stikini. Those witches can transform into half-owl half-bear monstrosities that are near impossible to injure while having a variety of other dangerous things as well. A roar that can cause heart attacks and a vomit that eats at souls like acid are only a bit of its repertoire."
The description of a Stikini makes me imagine a large bear with white feathers and a beak for a mouth. It even has wings and can fly. The concept alone makes it seem quite dangerous, but if Silas thinks it killed a Chief, a 7th Sigiled man? Then it's on a whole different level than what I'm thinking.
I just nod at him, and we both move to catch up with the rest of the group with a short sprint. My feet and generally whole body hurts a whole lot less, but the pain is still evident, so I don't push myself too hard. A stable pace is what I set myself to as Johnny tells us what the plan is.
"We stay away from any Angels, even our own. They attract too much danger, and we will only get caught in the crossfire. Stay on the fringes like we've been doing, and don't go too deep. Stick next to at least one other while you fight for safety. This is a long haul, and only Silas can come back to life, so we play this carefully."
After Johnny finishes his small speech, Silas nudges him with a bit of laughter.
"Hey! I probably only got one left in me, okay? Just 'cause you eye-havers are still alive don't mean I gotta risk it all the time."
Otto shakes his head by the side and laughs a bit as well.
"That's true, but only you can't bleed. Also, if we die, it restarts, right? We'll get the gift of Undeath too?"
Silas shrugs as he jumps over the left corpse of some demon that I don't recognize. Dark skin and blades that come from its knuckles. Quite odd, to be honest.
"I dunno. Haven't heard of any living who died down here. We get like one or two a century that wash up somehow. There are always a bunch of odd ways to come down, Crossroads and endless pits being the most common."
I'd like to ask him a question regarding other people coming down as I'm curious because the Lily was forged in the Cardinal, so my father must have somehow come down here. But I'm unable to as I'm too focused on running and not falling or hurting myself at the moment. Thankfully, the quiet and shy Blake speaks up for me despite not knowing that I also have the same question.
"Who was the last person to come down here? I heard that the Hunters hold a tunnel down to the Gate Of Death."
Silas thinks for a moment before snapping his fingers as he remembers who it was.
"I died after he came, which scrambled my memory of it, but let me think. Hmm… oh! I remember him now. It was some man covered in stitches and scars and who had limbs that were definitely not originally his. I only know what he looks like because Chief Birdie told me about seeing him. She said the man was as terrifying as he looked. Ignored all of us and just made a beeline through the horde of demons. Crazy mother fucker just created a tunnel of corpses the whole way through until we couldn't hear the sound of his Colt."
Silas trembles a bit before shaking his head to regain his composure.
"The man's Colt was said to slow down time, and it affected all those that came near to him, allowing him to fight way beyond his Sigil as he tore through thousands of demons and even killed several Angels on his way through. He created so much chaos that the Hierarchs of the demons let him through. All that was left in his path were small blue flowers as the corpses turned to dust, and whenever someone picked them up, time would slow around them until they burnt them. Birdie said he was only a 7th Sigil at most, like her, but he fought like an 8th. That was the only time he was ever seen, too. Don't know what happened to him after."
My feet catch and make me stumble partially as I hear that the man, who is likely to be my father, tore through thousands of demons on his own. He's that strong?! Fucking hell. Guess it makes sense how he got a demon like Aniwye to help raise me then. And that Colt? It must have been the blue-trimmed one I saw in my memory.
What is with Killian and flowers? First Lily, and now whatever that Colt is. And why would he even make Lily when he already has that powerful of a Colt? Wait. I know the answer to that one. He made it for me.
Lily told me that, after all. At the thought of the powerful Colt, I also think of Alexos and how we are currently living his dream. Being in the Underworld and going to meet our fallen dead friends and family, even if some might not be here as we were expecting. A smile is pulled across my lips at his suffering. I'm not one to wish pain onto another but for that man? I'd wish him hell and ten times more.
Can't believe he made me believe his innocence, even for a little bit. The man was only ever out for himself.
But that gleeful smile is quickly torn off of my mouth as the ground shakes again, and in the distance, about a quarter mile or so, shines an incredibly bright light, one that nearly blinds me just from a glance. Another curse comes from my side as Silas recognizes the person fighting.
"Fuck. That's Birdie over there. C'mon! We need to go help her!"
Johnny yells back at him, trying to remind him that that's not a part of the plan.
"No! We can't! It's stupid for us to go and help an Angel fight! Angelic realm has its own battles, and so do we! Maybe if we all were 6th Sigils, we could help, but not as we are now. Two Bases and four Wondrous. We'd get our asses spun around, Silas! Why do you even care!? I thought you wanted to get out of here!"
Silas yells back at him in frustration as the man seems torn. But underneath that tension is a resolve just as strong as his will to escape the Underworld. Maybe... he's not so selfish after all.
"Yeah… but she's a good person! Amongst thousands who only want violence, she's one willing to heal and defend. I'm selfish and rude, I know that, but Birdie doesn't deserve to die! And if she dies, how will we find your friends? She is the one you made a deal with, remember? Without her, we'll never get to speak with Isaac, the one who controls Heights. Only he can truly help you find people with his resources. Otherwise, you'll have to wander the Fields until you spot someone. Here, I'll toss a Drachma, okay?"
I just watch the argument back and forth, and Otto and Blake do the same, their eyes shifting back and forth just as mine do. But Johnny seems to relent on his just-made plan; a small sigh and an old phrase come from him.
"Man proposes, Angels depose, and the Gods end it all. Yeah, go ahead. I'll trust your coin flip. It worked out the last time."
The phrase is old and one that I heard even as a child. No matter the plan you make, someone with more power than you can shatter it, and the Gods can simply flip the board, erasing anything you've ever accomplished. The coin flip Johnny mentions must have occurred while I slept, and this one starts as everyone pauses their movements for Silas' Drachma.
Silas speaks to the air softly before flipping the coin into the air, and as the gold coin he chose flies, it turns to silver.
"I call heads for forwards to Birdie. Tails for away from her."
The calls have to be simple, or they won't work. He told us that originally when he described them. All of us hold our breaths on this flip, as the consequences could be disastrous. I don't want to even see another Angel after what happened in my dream, but I don't call the shots and don't want to go on my own. My palms grow sweaty as the coin spirals up before it starts to fall back down.
And as the coin falls through the air with silvery light reflecting off of its surface, it turns to bronze, then to iron, then to stone before finally turning into an inert piece of wood with the head of the coin shown on it as it lands on the back of Silas' hand.
A lady with a scythe is shown to all of us.
Fuck. It's toward the damn Angel. All of our shoulders sag beside Silas', but even he looks a bit conflicted at the choice. I want to argue against it, but Johnny doesn't. If the Gunfighter agrees with Silas' Drachma, I will also. He has a much better knowledge of this world than me, and he has seen the skill work before. Johnny knows better, and I don't want to go against it.
Plus, Silas was right. If they made a deal with this Chief Birdie and she died, then what do we do? Go find another Chief and start this shit all over again? I haven't fought all that much, but it's evident that my companions have. They fought enough that Dakota advanced by a Sigil. The young fox is moving just as rapidly as I am through the Sigils. Although, I suppose he's been under similar pressure this whole time, and beasts generally progress faster than men.
And so, we all buckle up our sorrows and move toward the light in the distance. Chief Birdie is primarily a Priest, if I remember correctly. Her Ether should be focused on light, healing, and utility, then. I don't really see how she could go toe to toe with another Angel like that, but I'll see soon as we are getting close. Maybe her Power evens the playing field.
The luminosity only grows more and more radiant as it reminds me of Vernon and his bombs of radiance. Slowly we come into sight of the battle, and an Angel versus another Angel is not all that we see. Around two figures whose every action forces those nearby away are dozens of undead locked in deadly combat.
I see Chief Birdie try to stop the demon she's fighting from hurting any of the people as what I instantly recognize as a Stikini goes for a roar at a nearby group of undead. A huge stream of light comes from her back, covered in spikes of light as they move in front of the roar and create a pane of opaque white light.
Johnny draws his gun and moves in to help the Chief first, as he is the most powerful here. Silas joins him as he fills the spaces between his fingers with golden coins. I look at Otto and Blake briefly as we all share the same thought.
"Fuck that."
And go to help some of the nearby undead fight Volkar. Better the enemies you know you can handle, right?
So, us four, counting Dakota, rush into a pack of a dozen silent Volkar from behind. The demons notice us before we even get close, but I am given enough time in the sprint toward them to create the intricate web that is Ironbound. At the same time, Otto primes two rope darts with explosives, and Blake conjures the spirit she has locked within her. This one is less… grim than Nally, but it seems to be a bit weaker as well.
Otto is the first to strike as the Volkar closest to us turns away from an undead whose head it was about to remove with its machete. Otto throws a rope dart at it, and the Volkar reacts by swiping at it. But before the demon can cut the rope, Otto yanks at it, and the rope dart's direction shifts so that it goes straight into the Volkar's face around its boney blade.
An explosion resounds as a second follows with the second rope dart Otto has, and I rush to finish the Volkar off as the smoke clears.
The bone on its face is fractured like a pane of glass, and a second demon is very close. So, I quickly slam Ironbound into its face as it tries to recover from the explosion, sending the demon straight into the ground. Then, I quickly turn and have my palm meet the incoming blade of the next Volkar.
The blade is stopped by Ironbound, and I start to feel its weave break apart. With the time on the skill ticking, I grab onto the blade and pull the Volkar in close. However, the second I do, my breath hitches as the pain of the broken ribs from the last one I fought spikes with the movement.
I flinch for just a moment, a moment long enough that it lets the Volkar rip its blade of bone out of my grasp and begin to swing it toward me. Before its blade can reach me, a large fox jumps onto its back, causing it to move toward me and only hit me with its arm.
Even just the weakened blow from its swinging arm elicits cracks in my shoulder, however, as we fall to the ground. The antlers of the demon grow like snakes and stab at me, but I break them all with a single strike of Ironbound. Unwilling to stay pinned and to get skewered by antlers, I rapidly palm it in the face as it tries to get Dakota off of its back. One. Two. Three. Ironbound breaks, but the skill left the demon with an incredibly fucked up face. Bone shards are everywhere, and the eyes of the creature below are revealed to me.
I force Ether on the surface of my hand as I stab its eyes with my fingers coated in Whetting. My appendages easily enter its eye sockets as the creature flinches backward and pauses in its attacks on me with its antlers and Dakota with its fists.
Quickly, I take advantage of this pause and draw my dagger before sinking that deep into the left eye socket of the Volkar and finally making it fall still. Bastards are hard as hell to put down. Is that what it's like fighting me? Surely not. My face is visible to all. Does feel good to fight it, though. I wonder if others feel the same against me. The taste of blood on my tongue is sweet... That's odd.
Trying to ignore the sensation, I push the demon off of my body as its blood that looks and feels more like water than blood runs down my body. I take its machete and add it to my collection as I hold the weapon in my remaining hand.
Standing, I look around to see that several of the demons have been killed now that we have joined this fight over here. Many remain, however, about eight to my quick count, and I rush toward the closest with Dakota right behind me, his near-silent footsteps the only monument of his existence.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone