Escape

Ramiel had spotted it first. Sitting on a chair beside the living room window, his bright green hues caught sight of the unseemly flux of colors over the eastern horizon. With Charmeine out on an assignment, his mind switched onto their telepathic link to make contact. The voice transferred over this connection conveyed the sense of urgency apparent on his face.

Sister, the sunrise! Do you see?

Alone, in an uninhabited woodland, the female angel turned to see. Even through the thicket, she saw it almost immediately. The dawn is early. She answered curiously. What is the meaning of this?

By now, Ramiel had already risen from his seat, uncovering the object upon the table with haste. I fear it's the Olympian who governs their sunlight. We must ensure Atlas is safe. Find him!

Knowing Charmeine was obligated to follow his orders without question, he took her silence thereafter as a sign that she was already in search of their befriended titan. But he, it seemed, wasn't in a hurry to accompany her on that search. Instead, he lifted the golden vase up with both hands, held it firmly under an armpit, and strode back towards the window he'd been staring out of before.

Eyes locked on the progression of the burning dawn, his body glowed with slowly accumulated holy energy. Then, in one perfectly timed blink, he disappeared.

:::

The weight of the titan, as expected, was harder to carry in mid-sprint. But, thanks to the short bursts of holy energy focused under the soles of his heels, Ambriel still managed to avoid the deadly arrows that were shot at him from afar.

Thwit! Thwit! Thwit!

Cutting through the brisk morning air with sharp hisses, the shining arrows missed him by mere inches, crashing instead into the sides of unopened businesses, brick walls, and wooden wagons. Explosions of glass, wooden shrapnel, and mortar chunks erupted from each point of impact. Startled civilians screamed in terror from inside their homes.

He sprang out of yet another alleyway, his sandaled feet skidding across the dirt path, then powering an immediate burst of speed away from his pursuer. Wishing to minimize the damage dealt by this chase, and keep his powers from being exposed to the humans as long as possible, Ambriel hastily sought any secluded location within sight.

He only needed a few moments to gather enough vigor to escape. Moments he didn't have at the aim of Apollo's bow.

Then, suddenly, a sound. A loud, doom-laden roar that shook the very earth and brightened the sky with a flash of blazing orange. And, even when it began to slowly fade away, its ferocious grumble remained, still sending residual tremors through the painted stone buildings, and the very bones of the humans who hid within them. But, despite it, Ambriel continued to run. No hesitation given, no step mistook. Ignoring the insatiable thirst for revenge he'd heard in that otherworldly cry, and searching desperately with his eyes for an exit.

It was as he turned a corner, into yet another narrow alleyway, that the origin of the roar released another sound. Though in the same volume- and sheer force- of its previous cry, this time it seemed to be trying to communicate a single word. The Olympian was speaking. But its voice echoed and metallic, and its language far too alien for even Ambriel to understand.

"THHHHHHUUUUUUUUURAAAA!"

His agile change of course into the alleyway seemed to have proven successful, as it didn't take long for Ambriel to notice the lack of arrows fired from behind him. If he ever had a moment to escape, this was going to be it. Cutting across a wide street that prevented him from reaching the next alley, the angel put the remainder of his expendable energy to complete use, crashing through an empty wooden kiosk that was unfortunate enough to have been left in his way.

From what he could see of his blurred surroundings, he was entering the marketplace. And, up ahead, there was a network of narrow canals. The water. Although he could have easily just broken into one of the many buildings he had passed, Ambriel didn't wish to accidentally bring the wrath of the Olympian upon innocent human bystanders, whilst he waited for his ace in the hole to come into effect. But the dark water, if he could just dive into it with Atlas, would give him sufficient cover to focus on a teleportation out. And maybe even serve to deter Apollo's arrows.

With the sky still bleeding a chaotic tapestry of colors, the angel growled as the weight of the titan became increasingly heavy. Or so it seemed. Feeling far too exhausted to continue, he found the strength to do so anyway, entering the shaded cover between two buildings, and spotting the closest canal only fifteen meters away. He was almost there! Just another push, another breath of holy vigor, another spoken prayer so that he may be blessed to make it.

He exited the alleyway and came out into the open of a small stretch of boardwalk. Several meters wide, and with nothing to deter him from reaching the canal except for a few hay wagons and unopened barrels, the time it would take for him to finally reach the watery depths of the canal was nothing. Unfortunately, he failed to react to (or even see) the arrow that was fired only a moment after he emerged from the back alley shadows. It was too late for a clean escape.

"AAAAGH!"

The arrow struck him clean through the left foreleg, shattering the ground that followed from the concussion of its blast, and hitting Ambriel at point blank range. The sheer force of it violently sent the angel's possessed body upwards, only to have it hit the underside of a stone balcony, and crash back down again. Clothes torn, bruises growing, mouth bloody. Simultaneously, the angle in which it was affected sent the titan's body skidding across the paved stone boardwalk until it bashed into the wheel of a wooden wagon- almost off the edge of the canal.

It was only as the dust began to settle that the Olympian responsible for all this wanton destruction stepped forward, out from the same alleyway the angel had exited recently. His glow had a radiance so warm and bright that it rivaled that of Ambriel's holy aura. But it slowly began to diminish as the being sauntered over towards the angel's body, taking slow and deliberate steps as he advanced, ignoring the chunks of fragmented rock that dripped from the broken balcony above. It was clear that, although completely distraught, he was enjoying this. Watching the angel- who was barely conscious, and struggling to get up- moan in the agony of pain.

By the time he reached his fallen prey, the Olympian's glow had completely gone, revealing the slim, but muscular, young man beneath. He carried his golden bow in one hand, and an empty quiver was strapped to his back. His short hair was golden brown and curled at the tips, his skin tanned and flawless, his body toned with thew, and glistening in the sunlight. Upon his head he wore a wreath of bay leaves, across his waist he wore a white loincloth, and fastened to his feet were a pair of winged sandals that hadn't always belonged to him. They came to a stop a few feet from Ambriel's bloody face, the white pinions twitching with anticipation- alive.

Eerily silent, the Greek god squatted down beside the angel's beaten body, only an arm's length away. Barely aware of the situation, Ambriel's eyes struggled to remain open. He tried to utter a word, but only blood drenched gargles emerged from his mouth, followed by a swift strike to his face. Apollo had swatted him with the bow, leaving a deep purple mark where it had made contact. Immediately following the unprompted lash, the Olympian vehemently seized the angel's mug with his free hand, squeezing the mouth into a pucker as he forced Ambriel to face him.

"Shhh… quiet now, pest." The deity hissed, a complete and uninhibited rage burning in his eyes, and tainting his seemingly calm tone with hate. His words, born from the dark abyss of his shattered heart, came like licks of fire as he continued. "You pathetic parasite, you loathsome scourge… " He shook the angel's head around violently, his white teeth grinding with anger. Then he stopped, keeping the angel's face still, and staring into its eyes from above. He paused, as if deciding to end the angel now, but ultimately deciding against it.

"Hear me well, wretched creature," He spoke once more. "Know that I am not done with you yet. That you will be tortured under my hand. And that I will find your homeland, and I will raze it into ashes. And I WILL find each and ev-ery one of you monsters, and slowly BURN the flesh off of your bones, until I have you all begging for a swift death, regretting the damned day you killed my twin sister, and CURSING the rotten maker who brought you into this EXISTENCE!"

Ending his dialogue in a ferocious roar, Apollo grabbed Ambriel by the collar of his shirt, then brutally flung the angel's entire body towards the closest building. The body crashed through the brick wall, leaving a large gaping hole, and a cloud of dust in its wake. But, with his anger depleted no less, the Olympian deity had no intention of stopping there.

:::

The world around her seemed to blur every time she blinked away, appearing like ripples in the air, but never expanding too far. Had it not been for her mortal body, Charmeine would have located the epicenter of the anomaly by now. But her extrasensory perceptions were diminished in this state, and she was instead forced to rely on her ability to teleport, covering as much of the Italian town as she could in search of Atlas. If Ramiel was right, every second counted.

Hearing what she could distinctly categorize as explosions, the finely dressed angel made haste towards the booming sounds. One second she was at the center of a wide street she had walked down before, which was now riddled with crater-like pits, then the next at the marketplace she and Atlas had visited. It was then that the sounds had eerily stopped.

But she was absolutely certain that she was near.

Without much knowledge of this certain half of the town, however, and therefore no ability to teleport within its limits, she would have to continue to search for the titan on foot. She reasoned, however, that Brother Ambriel and Ramiel had reached Atlas already. That they were taking strides to keep the situation contained, and that by the time she reached them, they'd be safe.

And why was she so certain of this? Because she had faith. And faith was their protector.

:::

The sun deity's clenched fist repeatedly pounded into Ambriel's blood-soaked and bruised face, every hit landing with a loud snap, and an exasperated huff of breath from the assaulter. He'd dropped his golden bow when he'd entered the wrecked building, and now had the angel pinned up against a wall with a single hand, its fingers tightened around a shoulder blade, and inciting even more pain. When he had enough of the bashing, he grabbed the angel's body with both hands, and slammed it back onto the floor with all the ferocity he could muster.

The ground cracked upon impact, and Ambriel's subsequent cry was immediately cut off when Apollo place his foot firmly upon the angel's throat. "Grovel, worm!" The Olympian shouted, his form beginning to glow with a sickly yellow radiance. A power, tainted by contempt and rage. His footing on the angel's esophagus steadily pressed down harder as the anger consumed him.

With his wrath concentrated on this moment, however, he failed to notice the hulking figure lurking right behind him.

Afterword: Well, that was a bit of a hiatus, wasn't it? Ha, ha! But I've finally cleared my head enough to continue writing more often. For those of you who've been reading from the start, and are reading this now, thank you for the continued support! I really do appreciate the messages, and I'll strive to make this a much more enjoyable read for you guys as it progresses. (Including establishing a solid plot in the story very soon.) For anyone new, thanks for giving this story a try! I welcome any questions, or constructive opinions- negative or positive.

Anyways, that's all for now! And, again, thanks for reading!