The walls of Lucifer’s fortress rang with cries of agony and bloodshed. He was sitting on his throne, contemplating to himself. I know Eli was going to fail; oh well, you know what they say. If you want something done right, do it yourself…

He arose from his insidious throne and walked down the wretched halls, his jade and gold trimmed cloak dragging across the floor. He drew his blue flamed sword and made his way to the balcony. Outside, he saw the soldiers fighting below; there were so many, that the earth beneath their feet was cast in a giant shadow of demons and angels. A group of five angels made an attack run at Lucifer, but Lucifer merely changed up his footwork and sliced them straight across their waists. The victims tumbled to the earth, their wings drenched in each other’s blood. Lucifer breathed in the scent, as though it were an aroma of roses.

He sighed and said, “Your stealth is weak, as are your fighting skills.”

A familiar voice yelled from behind, “Say it to my face then!” A figure shot at Lucifer at an inhuman speed, but Lucifer merely sidestepped, caught the opponent under the belly, and kneed the victim square in the gut. A squeal of pain arose, and the figure rolled into the guardrails of the balcony. She coughed up some pain and slowly arose to her feet.

Lucifer sighed and said, “Nicole, just tell your friends to attack, because I sense them close by.”

Sure enough, Dark Watch and Stephen leapt from Lucifer’s left and right. Lucifer cut Dark Watch’s shoulder, and he kicked Stephen in the face. They were knocked backwards, but not before Stephen sent a rockslide at Lucifer. Nicole and Dark Watch followed the attack up with lightning, glass, and fire. Lucifer’s sword suddenly burst into a greater flame, and the elements evaporated immediately. Lucifer sighed and whispered, “So sad; I had expected better from the so-called holy man.” He swung his devilish sword, and a flame engulfed everything in front of it. When the flame cleared, a voice yelled, “Is this better?”

Lucifer looked up to see Andrew floating above him, his friends in his arms. He then leered at the fallen angel and bellowed, “Your fight is with me!”

Lucifer chuckled to himself and said, “Very well; I accept your terms!” He leapt at Andrew, who had already made a bug and shadow wall, knocking Lucifer back. He destroyed the wall with a lightning blast, but no one was there. He spun around and struck Andrew’s kunai claws, knowing there’d be a back attack. He sent a fury of swipes and slashes, but each were blocked or parried. Andrew countered a few, but met no advantage.

Andrew then said, “I wonder how you cope with the undead.”

“Attack me with any element,” bellowed Lucifer. “No element can hurt me.”

“Really?” questioned Andrew. “Then I’m sure holy means nothing to you.” He clasped his hands together and a white sphere of light formed in his hands. He held out the light, and Lucifer was engulfed in brightness greater than the sun. After the light had faded, there was nothing there. Andrew looked and wondered to himself. Did I win?

Suddenly, a voice from behind whispered, “How pathetic.” Andrew turned, but the sword strike had singed Andrew’s shoulder. From there, Lucifer kept the upper hand; he remained on offense and suffered from no counters or ripostes. He finally cut Andrew’s top left wing and right shin and kicked to the earth. He then swiped at Andrew, engulfing Andrew entirely. From there, all was black…

Andrew felt his soul moving inside him, his inner being releasing itself. Andrew was floating down a river, his vision blurry. He muttered, “Have I failed? I must be dead…I…I’m sorry…”

“If you say sorry again,” blurted a familiar voice. “I’m personally going to kick you.” Andrew turned to the sound and made out Lillith’s figure. She smiled and said, “Didn’t I tell you I was going to protect you?”

Andrew’s eyes shot wide open, as he saw a specter holding her hands up; a sphere of souls was protecting Andrew’s helpless body. He also noticed that his wounds were healed; his face tightened and vowed, “I won’t be knocked down again!”

He leapt back into the fray the second the specters disappeared; Lucifer expected the attack and blocked the blows as they came. He then sighed and said, “I don’t have time for this; no one has ever survived this technique.”

He touched the runes on his sword, and the sky turned red and black; orange lightning struck the earth with a sickening strike. Suddenly, Andrew’s eyes caught hold of and interesting detail; only the sky around the sun remained blue. He readied himself and yelled, “If you do this Lucifer, you will die too!”

“Not quite,” replied Lucifer. “As you can probably guess, demons have a natural resistance to heat. I don’t need to crash this into the Earth; I just need to bring it close enough, so that only non-demonic beings will be scorched. However, it’s hard for me to control, and I might just drop it. Anyway, I’m becoming impatient; this is the end!”

As he said this, the star came closer and closer, sending pulsations of heat and fire. Andrew felt his skin starting to burn, and the celestial body closed in on him. He turned to Lucifer as he said, “Go ahead and kill me; if I live, at the Earth will still have a chance!” Andrew heard a horrific sound emitting from his body; his feathers were slowly bursting into flames.

Andrew grabbed his sword and thrust towards Lucifer’s gut. He met his strike, grabbing the sword with his offhand. Andrew tried to continue the strike, but met in miserable failure. Lucifer snickered and said, “How will you survive now?”

“I don’t need to live,” snarled Andrew, as a triplet of specters grabbed the hilt of Andrew’s blade. Lucifer’s eyes widened, as Stephen, Nicole, and Dark Watch’s ghosts shoving the sword forward. Then, a four of them bellowed, “We just have to make sure you die!” Then, in one great thrust, the sword plunged through the unholy flesh. Lucifer screeched at a horribly loud pitch, shattering the nearby mountains. He leaned closer to Andrew, his body running down the blade. When his face was two inches from Andrew’s, Andrew said, “I have no need for bad memories.”

Lucifer gnashed his teeth and spat, “I…I will never be a memory.” Then, Andrew released the sword from his enemy’s gut, and the lifeless body fell to the earth, burning up on the way. Andrew then looked up at the sky, staring at the destruction before him. He opened his armed and embraced his fate…

He awoke with a start in a dark room; he looked around, noticing that he was sleeping on a soft mattress. He put a hand to his head and thought to himself. Was it all a dream?

He then heard a soft giggle, and a sweet voice chimed, “To some, it’s a dream.” Andrew looked to his right, and a small beam of light entered through an open door. Nicole stood on the other side, smiling and laughing. Andrew leapt out of bed and ran to the door and looked out into what he had been waiting his whole life. The fresh sunlight cascaded an evanescent feeling of happiness, and the soft chirping of birds sounded from the distance. He turned to see behind Nicole everyone he had met; Dark Watch, Stephen, Kiera, Preston, Taylor, Allison, Devon, Lillith, Marc, and many of his fellow roommates at Sanctuary’s Grace. He smiled and fell onto his back; his body met the soft earth bellow him. He looked up to see everyone’s face beaming back at him, and he heard Nicole say, “So, what do you want to do now?”

Andrew closed his eyes and sighed; he opened them, faced the group and said, “Let’s truly live.”