Ascension by Christopher De Sousa Page A

Katherine became rooted once more in fear. For her father, having failed to fend the fiends off, and with blood dripping down the side of his mouth, clutched at his chest and crashed forward against the front porch with a sickening thud. She gazed back at him, her bottom lip atremble. Her head was also spinning, her heartbeat rigorous, and she felt clammy all over. But this time, her fear felt somehow different. This time she wasn’t necessarily fearful for her own life, but for whom she might lose, and this fear quickly turned to anger. With teeth firmly clenched and her eyes wide open with a brazen fury about them, she glared back at the two demons and could feel her very being ignite. Within an instant there is a flicker of light, and then a burst of flame.
    â€œMy skin, my beautiful skin,” the horned woman shrieked, as the flames rose up and about her body.
    â€œMost impressive…she has bonded with the guardian,” murmured the hoarse voice of the masked figure.
    As for the gryphon, and somehow sharing in Katherine’s anguish, it sprang forth while shrouded in a ball of fire. Katherine looked on as the gryphon dashed forward, slashing with its talons about the cloak of this porcelain masked spectre.
    â€œSister, I won’t be able to contain them for much longer.”
    The horned woman was snarling, convulsing before the sight of her burnt arms and hands. “Then get us out of here brother.”
    She could feel her senses grow impaired as the masked figure raised his gloved hands high up into the air, his actions blurring and distorting both vision and clarity of mind. She took a step forward; her surroundings were now nothing more than a pitch black and empty void. Eleven Delphi Crescent: her sight of the apple tree that had stood firm within the front yard, the smell of recently trimmed grass, the sound of crickets and other insects in the foliage, she found all were gone.
    Devoid of even the light afforded by the stars in the night sky, Katherine felt the cold swell up inside. But she soon caught sight of a lone ember, and this lone ember eventually expanded, taking both the gryphon’s size and shape. Standing next to her, the gryphon beamed brightly, immersed within a fiery tempest, and before long the void had cleared. With her senses returned, she scoured the yard for the demonic pair. But they were gone; they had vanished without a trace.
    A few moments had passed as Katherine sought to collect herself. She looked for Duncan. Her father lay there in the dirt and was coughing up blood.
    Sobbing, she knelt at his side and sought to seal his wounds “Dad, please… you can’t. I’ll get you help, wait for me to,”-
    -“You needn’t worry,” he said, reaching out and grasping her arm. “There isn’t much time to tell you.”
    â€œNo, you mustn’t,” she mumbled, tears running down her cheeks. “I need to find you help. You can tell me what you need to once we get you to a hospital.”
    â€œIt’s no use Kat, I’m already too far gone,” said Duncan, tightly gripping her arm with his blood soaked fingers. “They will be here soon enough, and you must know...”
    She saw her father shed a tear, something which she had believed impossible, and what he said next tore at the very fabric of her being. “I’m so proud of you Kat; you are the best thing to ever happen in my life. I took you in when you were but an infant, to care for you, to keep you safe.”
    The tears continued to roll down her cheeks, and came to rest on her father’s blood smeared jacket. With her head hung low, and clutching firmly at his sleeve, she struggled to comprehend what he was trying to say. She couldn’t avert her gaze from his injuries, from the sight of his blood, and in a strange way she found it easier to focus on that than his words. Such words made little sense to her anyway, but those she could understand