11 Years Ago
Emelie’s wings burned with rage as she tore through a Dr. Scholls advertisement sign, the ugly beast daring to mock her. The fiery feathers on her wings singed and crumpled, unable to withstand the intense heat of her fury. She clung to the railing behind the sign, catching her breath and checking for any injuries amidst the flames that danced across her body.
But there was no time for relief. Animalistic screams echoed in the distance, drawing closer with each passing second. Emelie knew she had to hide before they caught up to her. With a swift burst of energy, she flew towards the nearby landfill, determined to cover herself in its putrid waste and throw off her pursuers’ scent.
She was almost at the safety of the landfill when something scaly wrapped around her waist and dragged her down to the ground. A second monstrous creature had been lying in wait, its massive python-like body completely black and oozing with thick smoke.
The python’s red eyes glowed with malicious intent as it brought Emelie towards its gaping mouth, venom dripping from its fangs like beads of black tar. She struggled against its grasp, but it was too strong. As darkness closed in around her, Emelie could only curse her luck as she realized there was no escape from this deadly encounter.
Emelie’s heart pounded against her ribcage as she thrashed and kicked, desperately trying to break free from the slimy grip of the monstrous creature. She strained her eyes to see her left arm, where her trusty daggers, Hope and Hate, were tattooed.
If only she could reach them. But before she could make a move, a sharp whizzing sound filled the air, followed by a sudden jolt as a circular-shaped throwing weapon sliced through the monster’s tail with deadly precision. With its hold loosened, Emelie wriggled free, gasping for air as she looked up to see her Battle Angel sister Yasmin descending upon them in her magnificent rainbow-plated armor and majestic rainbow wings. Without hesitation, Yasmin caught the weapon and returned it to her sister with a fierce nod of determination.
Now that Emelie was free, she looked at her left arm, which had an intricate tattoo of two flamed daggers.
“Hope and Hate to me!” she summoned them.
Both daggers left her arm and solidified themselves in her hands. Both weapons lit up in her hands in a never-ending fire. She flew up to Yasmin and positioned herself back to back with her.
Yasmin asked, “Where’s the centaur?”
Suddenly, the sign that Emelie had been thrown into earlier fell to the ground. A huge centaur-like beast was on top of the remains of the sign. Its dark red body radiates with black smoke.
“Forget it,” Yasmin said, clearly irritated.
Emelie and Yasmin launched at both monsters, using each other’s backs as launching pads. The python hissed angrily at Yasmin. What remained of its tail flung out at her, which she dodged. The Inky black blood from the open gash of its tail got in her eyes, which stung her. She let out a shriek of pain.
The python was about to lunge at her again. Yasmin took a deep breath, and her eyes glowed purple, a sign that she was using her energy-detecting powers. Yasmin again took another breath and threw one of her circle daggers. The weapon reversed in the opposite direction. While the python was opening its mouth to go in for the kill, its head split horizontally in half. Its red eyes flickered black as it slowly died.
The centaur ran into another wall of an abandoned building. Emelie has been tiring it out by flying in front of a large object, luring it to her, and at the last second, flying away so the centaur rams through it and injures itself. She knew she couldn’t keep it up because, like all monsters, it would adapt and use another way to attack. She already had a plan in motion.
The centaur suddenly roared and pulled out its horns, which had grown during the wall plant. The horns turned into clubs. With new determination, the beast charged Emelie while she was hovering in the open air. It was about to strike when she threw Hope and Hate directly in its eyes.
The beast howled in pain as its eyes became a bubbly mess in its skull by the never-ending flames. Emelie flew behind the beast and turned into fire. With her arms engulfed in flames, she tightly wrapped them around its neck, cauterizing it. The beast gurgled and charged out of her grip, leaving its head behind. The rest of its body collapsed.
Emelie changed back and flew down towards Yasmin, who used a cleansing salve to clean her eyes. As soon as she could see, she turned to Emelie, who stared back stoically.
“You’re leaving?” Emelie asked her.
Yasmin sighed, “I’m done with this Battle Angel bullshit.”
Emelie depowered; she was now in her civilian clothes
“You know you can’t run from your nature,” she snarled.
Yasmin got up close and personal after depowering.
“I can watch me!”
They both held each other’s gaze. Yasmin backed away first with tears.
“She had kids; she had a baby last month, don’t you care!?”
Emelie felt a lump in her throat, but she swallowed it down. And diplomatically stated, “Esmeralda died doing her duty.”
Yasmin looked at her in pure disgust, “I don’t even know you anymore, Emelie.”
Emelie felt the tears burning behind her eyes. Yasmin used her full name, not her nickname. She pretended to hate Emmy. Yasmin walked away.
“Not everyone can be a robot like you. I will make sure that I can beat my destiny and live ‘my’ life to the fullest.”
Emelie watched her walk off, tears freely running down her cheeks. She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around her slightly rounded belly.