The Atlas - Chapter two

The Fast and The Furious

London

"Daniel"

It was dark in the alleyways of London. She tried to hide many times but every time her cover was blown, maybe it was the scent that gave it away. The unknown creatures had the ability to sniff her out even if they could not see her. She began running again as they found her. It is all going to be alright she thought to herself, her partner was on his way to rescue her, but he was late.

"Where is he now that I need him, now that they are all here. Damn it Daniel you always do this" she told to herself.

She was running fast and suddenly lost her balance and fell down. As she looked up she found herself surrounded with the unknown creatures, there was no place to hide now. She called them Reapers, the creatures. Because of their look, dark, tall with red glowing eyes and holding scythes. They mumbled something to her and then one of them rose a scythe and dropped it on her heart. The blade ripped through her as she cried, then her eyes closed. The Reapers were walking away but then they stopped to look back, something was wrong. They saw the girl standing on her feet with the scythe still inside her chest. She looked at them and gave a funny smile.

"Surprise fellas, guess it's going to take all of you to take me down. Shall we begin?" She said as she taunted them.

The Reapers run towards her and attacked with anger. Blades were all over the place but she seemed to be dodging them one by one. She took out the scythe from her chest and fought them with it. The blades clang hard as she blocked other blades and hit them back. She then managed to get rid of a few of them but they kept coming, tens and dozens flocking their way at the girl. They kept coming and she kept dropping bodies, turning their dark monstrous figure into ashes in an instant. All of a sudden there was a motorbike sound coming, and it kept getting louder. The girl was looking around for the bike when Reapers took advantage and stuck her with multiple scythes. It made her annoyed.

"Now I am really pissed. Fun is over boys, prepare to rot in hell" she shouted.

Before she could do anything she heard gunshots. Bullets found their way into Reapers heads, eyes and hearts, then the motorbike jumped in the scene from a rooftop.

"Arie look out!" the man on the bike shouted as he run over a reaper with the bike.

"What are you doing? You can't be here. We had a deal, you were never to steal my spotlight like this again. Especially when you are late and the fun has already started" She complained to him as she took out the blades from her body.

"I know honey, I am sorry but we don't have time, bigger problems are waiting for us. Now give me a hand and let's clear this mess up" He replied as he gave her one of his guns.

"I hate you and your way of Demon hunting Daniel, they are no fun" she replied.

They began firing and the Reapers fell one by one. The last one dragged itself and grabbed the girl's foot with its skeleton hand, it looked up crying and mumbling as it was begging for something, before it's body turned into ashes and disappeared into thin air. Maybe it was begging for its life, but why did they always begged to her and not Daniel? Was it because they knew who she was?

...................................................................

Daniel was a Nephilim and a Demon hunter. His father, Allistor the Almighty, was king of the Angels and lord of Edenia, royal city of the Angelic Empire. His mother was a Demon and princess of Lethe of the Nether realm. Allistor had married Princess Rasha in order to bring peace among Demons and Angels who were always at war. The never-ending war was finally over when The Legendary Demon Warrior Alcide defeated the Demon king in his own home Hades and took his source of power, the Atlas. After Alcide's death, the Demon king came back to rule Hades once again. With his return, most of the Nether realm joined him and the ones who did not were slaughtered. He kept sending forces to find the remains of Alcide and he found it but it was no use. The Atlas was not there.

Daniel's mother died giving birth to him. Queen Rasha's pregnancy and Daniel's birth was a miracle if not anything else. In all of the history of Angels and Demons, there had been some marriages, but never a child was born. They were worried, afraid of the day his Demonic nature would cause destruction to all of the Angelic Empire. But Allistor did not listen, instead he made him his heir and gave him the title of Prince of Edenia. Allistor's younger brother Theodor, who was the original heir to Allistor, left him and disappeared. After a year, Allistor took Princess Artonia of Neveh as his new Queen and Daniel's step-mother.

Allistor the almighty was poisoned and died mysteriously a year later, that lead to a civil war among Angels. While they were busy discussing and fighting over who killed their king and whether they should crown a two years old Half Angel King or not, Theodor came back and took the kingdom by force. He attacked the city and ordered his army to kill Daniel and the Queen.

The royal army fell, and a pregnant Queen Artonia took Daniel and her most loyal friends and guards and fled the castle. She gave Daniel to her maid to take him and escape from Edenia from the nearest portal to anywhere possible, while her and the guards went for the mountains to distract Theodor's army of savages. The army chased them for days and followed them through the mountains. A week later Queen Artonia's body was found in a mountain cave far from Edenia, alongside the bodies of her guards and a little new born baby.

A sorceress called Marlene found Daniel and the maid in London. Some of Theodor's Angels who followed them through the portal killed the maid but couldn't get to Daniel and the sorceress. The Angels came from above and Demons from below, but they all failed. The sorceress had managed to hid him with a cloaking spell. After that she raised him like a son, fed him, looked after him and took him everywhere she went.

Daniel was fast as a kid, faster than anyone else. He raced people, motorbikes and cars. He would challenge others to throw knives at him and he dodged them. That's how he made money. His hands moved so fast, people called him the Trickster. People knew that he wasn't human, they also knew that he would not harm them like the other creatures did. When he was older, he learnt how to fight with swords and a variety of guns from a man named Cobra. The sorceress made him duel pistols laced with Demon sand that never run out of bullets. Except from Demonic and Angelic devil arms, Demon sand was the only thing able to kill a Demon. Other man-made weapons without the Demon sand would be useless against them. However, it did not have any effect on Angels.

Daniel was tall with dark hair and athletic body. After he was eighteen, he decided to use his abilities to hunt Demons in exchange for money, and hence got the nickname Demon Hunter. Marlene had far greater plans for him in the future. She wanted to find the Atlas and use the Demon Hunter to kill the most powerful Demon of all time with it, the Demon King. Finally, after twenty years she had found a way to do so.

He met Arielle three years before now, rescued her from a horde of Reapers. Later he got to know that she was actually laying a trap for the Reapers in order to kill them in groups. Arielle was not as fast as him but she definitely was stronger and more skilled in close combat. Fighting is all she had done since childhood. The cloaking spell did not work on her and the Demons kept coming wherever she went. She had a mysterious connection with Demons. While Daniel preferred killing Demons with Demon sand laced guns, Arielle enjoyed hand to hand and close combat more often. She would use spiked metal gloves and shoes, swords and combat knives laced with Demon sand, and she was good at them like a ninja. It never ceased to surprise Daniel and his mother.

Her origins were not known, she was ferocious and strong as a Demon, yet kind and beautiful. She had the looks of a young girl with green eyes and dark brown hair. She did not remember anything from her childhood, except that she was raised in an orphanage in Romania, which she later escaped from. After that she had been living on her own, killing Demons and travelling from one city to another until she found Daniel. Alongside him she could work as a Demon hunter herself, except that she did not do it for money.

Daniel's mother did not like her. She often claimed that Arielle was a Demon in disguise, sent to seduce her son and then kill him. Marlene also told her son that Arielle was actually cursed to look like a human, that she often dreamt of her killing Daniel with a giant sword. Daniel did not care about any of those whatsoever. He had become great friends with her over the years, she was his Demon hunting partner. The truth of it, Daniel had feelings for her. Arielle on the other hand was very occupied with killing Demons and dealing with her trigger. The Anger Trigger.

Arielle had an unknown situation that Daniel and Marlene did not understand. Once she got mad there was no stopping her. After getting too angry her eye color turned red and her veins would blacken. It made her go crazy and on a murder spree. A tattoo in shape of the letter "L" also appeared on her chest. She had very less control over this trigger. The anger made her kill and destroy anything that came in her way. After the trigger she would flee and come back days later, because of the guilt, blame and embarrassment.

Daniel had tried to stop it many times but failed because she would get even more stronger when triggered. After multiple failed attempts, he avoided it and instead cleared her way of anything and anyone till she calmed down. They sure fought Demons together but he did not let her get involved a lot. Daniel would only use her as bait for Demons since they could sense her presence, and then finish them off with his beloved pistols Mia and Leah.

While they were on their way home on the motorbike, Arielle started to complain, like she always did after a mission.

"You just can't let me kill some Reapers can you? Always making an entry with your shiny pistols and stealing all the fun" she said.

"You killed fifteen Reapers like five minutes ago" Daniel replied sarcastically.

"With a pistol. Where is the fun in that?" she said while holding Leah, the red one.

"Sorry about that but I saw you getting spiced up with all those blades hanging out of your body and couldn't let you trigger the badass in you, you know. Besides Marlene called, she said it was urgent, so I hurried up"

"Your mother hates me since the day we met, and ruining this great moment tonight is no coincidence" she said.

"My mother doesn't hate you, she just doesn't like you" Daniel replied with a chuckle.
"She says it's time to meet the Human, they just arrived in Budapest. We have to hurry before the Demons get to her" He explained.

"Her? You never told me the human blood bag was a female. I always pictured it as an old man who is just waiting for us to get his blood before he dies" Arielle replied with confusion.

"Her name is Lucy, she just got eighteen which means the effects of the cloaking spell Marlene put on her no longer exists, so the Demons and the Angels can sense her now" he replied.

"Oh no, your mother is going to enjoy this isn't she? Does she know that she is the blood bag?"

"No she doesn't and stop calling her that. You can ask all you want from your favorite person now that we are home" Daniel replied as they both got off the motor bike.

They had reached home, a half-wrecked shop inside an old building. They went inside, the sorceress was waiting for them on a couch. A fifty-year-old woman with long red hair but she looked younger than that. She was a mother figure to Daniel but did not care much about his partner. Arielle was nothing more than a twenty-year-old angry little girl to her, whose strength was useful for the missions but her being with his son was unnecessary. Daniel pursued his mother to find a cure for her rage problem but according to her there was none. It was as she was born with the curse, or it was the sorceress lying about it to not to help her.

"What is it that you want with this Human? Another blood sacrifice? Torture her parents for information?" Arielle said with a cold gesture.

"Her blood is of great value to us yes, but killing her is the last thing I want to do right now" Marlene replied.

"Wow, I am surprised. You know what, as long as I remember, I have not witnessed a single creature that has not suffered or died upon your touch" Arielle said again.

Marlene looked at Daniel, but he was enjoying the show if nothing else. The sorceress sighed. She said:

"I do not have time for this. We have been waiting for this day for eighteen years..."

Arielle interrupted again,
"You have been waiting for this, not we. The humans are not toys so that you can just do anything with them. Tell me something, Marlene, what harm have the humans ever done to you huh? Well except for letting you live in peace in their city, their world"

The sorceress smiled, took a deep breath and calmed herself,
"I have recently discovered that this girl is the map to the most powerful weapon itself, the Atlas. The amulet that was once a part of the sword was never truly destroyed, Amanda Lansdale told me to keep it a secret. When they were being chased by the executioner Demon, she broke the amulet and found a vile of blood inside. Later when they were confronted by the Demon again, she drank the blood of the vile and threw the amulet away. If it wasn't for their efforts, the executioner would have taken the amulet and we were doomed. Now with Lucy on our side, we can find the lost sword and Daniel can use it to put an end to this war, just like the prophecy says." the sorceress explained.

"What does that have to do with the girl, Lucy? It was her mother who drank the blood if the amulet" Daniel asked.

"Amanda was pregnant with Lucy when she drank the vile, so the properties of the amulet were transferred to her baby after she was born. That's why we must get to her before the Demons and the Angels" Marlene replied.

"I have seen how you do things, you torture people and you betray them. I will not be a part of this human-hunt mission, not again" Arielle said.

"You will be a part of this. Because that's what you signed up for when you joined my son" Marlene replied.

"I joined your son to hunt and kill Demons who hurt people, who were evil, not for tracking innocent humans, using their blood for my personal agenda and then imprison them" She shouted.

"You will come with us, or I will never help you find a cure for your evil trigger. Do you know when are you going to go mad next time? How many people you end up hurting? You can never stop putting your beloved humans in danger every now and then if I don't help you. You need us just as much we need you." Marlene told her with a loud voice.

"You are pathetic. If there is a cure I will find it, but not from you" Arielle replied and began walking out of the room before things could get out of hand for her.

Marlene shouted from behind,
"What about your beloved family? Do you know who they are, where they are. You don't even know if they are alive or not, if they loved you or not..."

Arielle mumbled with herself "I am going to be fine with that" and slammed the door.

Daniel went after her, while Marlene thought about the prophecy and the Atlas.

The prophecy stated that "The Dark One will rise and blood will be sacrificed, but a breed of Demon and Angel will end all sufferings and all realms will be at peace again".

Prophecies appeared rarely. There was a hidden place called Nexus where all the prophecies were written. No one had the knowledge who wrote them, they just appeared from nowhere, so they assumed it was the work of the Elder Gods. They always came true, and when they happened the writings disappeared. With the help of the latest prophecy, the sorceress knew about Daniel before he was sent to Earth.

According to her, The Dark One was the fallen Demon King and the breed of Demon and Angel was Daniel, the Nephilim. The sacrificial blood had to be Lucy's, but prophecies could be avoided if they acted beforehand. In this case, stopping Demons from getting their hands on Lucy and finding the Atlas before them. With her blood the sorceress could locate the Atlas, and then Daniel could use it to stop and end the Demon King's reign of terror upon Nether realm and Earth realm once and for all.

Daniel came back inside and gave his mother a confused look.

Marlene said:
"Tell her that we are leaving for Budapest tomorrow morning. The Demons have already made their move on them in their home. They barely escaped with their lives. They are on their way to Europe as we speak. If the Demon king finds the Atlas before we do, we are doomed..."

Daniel stopped her,
"Arielle is gone".