A Warrior's Test (article) by Erik Stevens on AuthorsDen

A powerful angel on a rescue mission finds himself deep in enemy territory... Gideon could feel the coldness of the void creep deeper and deeper into his soul and he flew away from the tunnel’s entrance. He could feel its warm inviting light start to dissipate into the blackness that was quickly enveloping him. In his right hand he carried a long, glowing staff. A circular shield of crimson light was clutched in his left. “Nathaniel!” He yelled. “Carmen!” His pace slowed as he began to feel the pure evil that surrounded him. “Julie!” he yelled. “Come towards the light!” Off in the distance he could see one very faint point of light. “If they are alive, they are still very far away.” Gideon mumbled. As Gideon headed for the tiny point of light, he felt uncertainty building inside him. He had to get to them before something horrible happened. He could feel the cold, loveless grip of the void start to work its way into his consciousness. He found himself suddenly doubting his ability to find them and bring them home. Why did he let them go alone? He knew the risks. They said they were ready. But why did he let them persuade him over his better judgment? Never in a thousand years could he have anticipated this. It had just never happened before. He thought he was being gracious by trusting them. They were family friends from eons ago. The chances of them being in any real danger were one in a billion. But yet the odds had failed them all. Worse yet, he had been sent by the Father to disrupt David’s evolution on Gaia. He wanted nothing more than to fix as much of this mess on his own, and the sooner the better. Then his good friend and commanding officer could return to earth as soon as possible. But it would be a daunting task. This new evil was molesting sacred space, and who would know where it would stop? Gideon clinched his teeth and accelerated towards the source of his anxiety. As he drew within 100 feet of the glowing sphere, his worst fears were realized. The sphere had been obliterated, with one side of it almost completely ripped open. Deep indentations and gashes lined the outside of the dome, and fist-sized puncture holes were apparent all around it. Gideon leaned on his staff as waves of pain and anguish flooded over him. The images of three loving archangels being attacked viscously by packs of madmen made him tremble. He felt sick. “No!” He screamed into the blackness. “Maltaur!” He yelled, his fear quickly turning to anger. “Where are you hiding you pitiful coward!” Gideon hastily loosened the sash of his cloak and pulling the luminous garment to one side exposed the silver cord in his chest. Gideon then pulled the shield in his left hand tight against his body. The shield immediately fused with the energy pulsating through the silver cord in his chest. Like an atomic battery, the silver cord charged the shield to the point where it began to glow intensely. Gideon then released the shield from his chest and pointed it towards the darkness. It radiated a beam of solid green light that cut a narrow swath through the blackness for miles. “Where are you, Maltaur?” He cursed, his anger increasing. Suddenly, Gideon caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye. Gideon whirled to his right to illuminate the streaks of red. By the time Gideon had turned, the streaks were gone. His anxiety increasing, Gideon readied the six-foot staff in his right hand, angling it straight outward in a defensive position. He adjusted his grip lower on the weapon to maximize leverage. Yet more streaks of red danced in front of him about 200 feet to the left. Then a third raced behind him by not more than 30 feet. Gideon felt his situation growing more perilous. Desperately, he chased the red streaks with the ray of his shield, struggling to keep them fixed within its three-foot beam. He could barely make out the details of the shadowy figures. The only thing he could see was those red eyes. The only thing he could feel was terror.
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