The Azra-El Series Ch. 19

"I am caught," Briny's scared voice notified them through the VP, before her connection was cut.

"Bala Boulevard has been dammed," informed Ariel.

"Sudama street is blocked," spoke Coral.

The group came to a halt. All their paths were blocked and tracing their way back was not an option.

"Follow me," said Diploria.

They swam to the surface and climbed onto the floating sidewalk. The east commercial district was a tightly packed place with barely any space between the buildings. It provided them with cover, as they climbed over the water-logged ramps that connected the streets and buildings.

Alarms rang all over the city and all the shops on the streets were closed. Bayou pulled out a scimitar and pointed it at Blaze and Elyssa, as if warning them to put on their best behavior.

"There is no need for that. We already said that we would go quietly," Blaze told her, gently.

"I don't trust no noble," Bayou replied, with a deadpan face that contrasted her usually friendly expression.

"Bayou... Blaze is a friend."

"Stop deluding yourself, Azalea."

Diploria walked over to an adjacent shop and knocked on the door. She only waited a couple of seconds before kicking it.

The heavy wooden door flew off its hinges like it was a mere plank and crashed into the counters at the opposite end. The angel inside cowered to the side.

Blaze had heard about the raw strength of the mers, but it was his first time witnessing it. Diploria's legs looked no different than an average angel, but she was definitely physically stronger than any other angel Blaze knew.

"Where is the back entrance?" she demanded of the shopkeeper, but the angel did not respond.

Diploria scoffed at her and led them past the counters, and through the attached home. Blaze expected the angel to run out and make a hue, but she only watched them in silence, while quietly following them.

The mer peeked out of a curtained window and found the outside air swarming with fast-moving battalions of Griffin and Pegasi. "Ask for help," she told Azalea.

Azalea spoke into the VP. "Stuck at Edda Store on Sudama street, building 4. We need a distraction."

The angel of the shop stood behind them, watching only with curiosity. She didn't even seem that angry at her door being broken down. She wasn't afraid of the mers, and seemed to have no interest in helping the angel soldiers outside.

Do the normal folk dislike the nobles too? Blaze wondered. Would she react differently if Blaze and Elyssa announced their identities?

Loud cracking and crashing noises boomed outside from multiple directions, followed by a clamor of angel voices. Diploria shifted a curtain and Blaze witnessed the angels above fly off in the direction of the noises.

The mer waited for an opportune moment, while Azalea and Bayou made Blaze and Elyssa climb onto their backs.

"Now," Diploria yelled, opening the door and rushing out. The younger mers followed and leapt into the water from the quayside, manifesting their mer-tails as they crashed into the water.

They sped south-east.

Suddenly, a loud boom reverberated through the water. They surfaced to figure out the source of the sound and spotted a large crack spreading across a cement bridge in front of them.

The base of the bridge gave in and boulders of concrete collapsed into the water, damming their passage through the canal. The only options the mer were left with were to either circle around the canal, or leap over the collapsed bridge.

The air was swarming with angel soldiers, and Azalea wasn't even sure she could make the jump with Blaze over her back.

As they contemplated their move, Blaze and Elyssa looked around to see what had caused the destruction of the bridge.

"Mum," Elyssa whispered, looking behind them.

The deity was easy to spot, even though she was hovering a quarter of a yonder away from their position. The grandeur of her six wings was not easy to miss.

The first pair that came out of her clavicles were a golden blonde, like Elyssa's. The second pair, protruding from her lower back, just above her tailbone, were a pure white. However, the ones that made her a Deity, were the two smaller wings that protruded from the small of her back. They were a light, resplendent blue, that oozed a nobility that was quite fitting for Anastasia Pinaka Marigold.

Her middle name, Pinaka, had been given to her by the people of Aranya as an epithet to her famous weapon. The Pinaka was a legendary bow, and though Anastasia's bow was not the original and was only a manifestation of her energy, it had its own legend behind it.

The Storm of Siam was a well-known battle wherein she and General Lynn Sturm, by themselves, laid waste a city in the Yaksha forests that had been overrun by the demons. According to legend, General Sturm had only played a minor role in defending the marksman deity, while she sniped away an entire legion of demons, flitting around the dense forests around the city of Siam, and dodging energy cannons, anti-air guns, and hundreds of rifles.

A VP in Azalea's space ring rang, bringing Blaze out of his historical musings.

"Stop this farce, right now," Anastasia's voice growled from the device. It had none of the stoicness that the duchess usually presented. "It is not too late to surrender. I will even ensure that your punishments are lenient, and the causes for your little rebellion are addressed."

Anastasia's threatening tone made Azalea hesitate for a tiny fraction of a second, as she glanced at her mer friends. However, neither of them seemed to possess any doubts.

"Turtle shell?" she asked Diploria.

The Undine nodded and dove underwater. A slow ripple suddenly spread from the spot where she dove in. The younger mers covered their ears, as if there was a loud sound. It took Blaze a moment of concentration to hear the deep but low rumbling hum.

Within a few moments, some twenty older Undine arrived from all directions.

Diploria resurfaced and swam forward, as the older Undine gathered around her. She began pulling out heavy turtle shell shields from her space ring.

Elyssa suddenly grabbed the VP from Azalea's hand. "Mum!" she cried, "Do not kill."

"We shall see," came an indifferent reply, before the connection clicked out.

Azalea chucked aside the VP and brought out another one, seemingly possessing an infinite supply of them

"Deity Marigold has engaged," Azalea said, "We are at Crescent boulevard. She is about a quarter yonder north-west of our location. Need immediate assistance."

"Will engage. You head to the south-east meeting point. We will be waiting," said the VP. It was hard to not recognize the voice of Azalea's foster mother.

As soon as Azalea put back the VP in her space ring, two fiery-red beams of light cut through the sky over their heads, and rammed straight into the approaching deity, stopping her in her tracks. As the resulting flash of light dimmed, they found Anastasia unharmed. However, they had managed to make her pause.

Azalea turned around towards the collapsed bridge. Two more beams of light shot over their heads. Blaze traced their paths to the sea, one coming from the right, and the other coming from the left of their position. High in the air, two battalions of angels diverged to make their way towards the sources.

"We jump," Azalea said to Bayou. Her friend nodded solemnly.

"Go!" screamed Diploria.

Blaze turned around to find Anastasia readying her bow.

Thin beams of blue light began to converge as arrows to the Pinaka bow, while Anastasia drew back an ethereal bowstring. Deities had more control over their energy, and they didn't need to always be in contact with it to keep their constructs materialized. Blaze didn't quite understand the mechanics yet, but he was sure those energy arrows could reach them.

"Oh, no," Elyssa cried in alarm as Az and Bayou zipped towards the bridge.

The remaining mers readied their shields and dove underwater, while one angel remained above water to watch.

Blaze and Elyssa found themselves shooting out of the water and sailing over the collapsed bridge, just as Anastasia released her shots.

The mer on the surface gave a signal, and twenty mer shot up into the air, the turtle shields in front of them.

Blue arrows of pure energy clanged onto their shields, sending the mer they hit crashing in all directions. Some fell into the water and others crashed into the buildings. They were no match for the might of a deity, but they managed to block her attack.

The collapsed bridge was fifteen feet high and twenty-five feet wide. Azalea made the jump and crashed into the water on the other side, her tail clashing against the rubble in multiple crystalline clinks.

When they resurfaced, they found a rattled Bayou and Elyssa by their side. Bayou's left arm was bleeding and staining the nearby water with trails of purple.

"What happened?" Azalea asked.

"Bounced off against a sharp concrete block. It's alright. We will worry about it after we reach our destination."

Azalea nodded. "Let's go."

The two dove once more, along with their cargo. As they neared the sea, the canals began getting deeper, making it even harder for the airborne angels to spot the swift mermaids.

For the next fifteen minutes, Azalea and Bayou wove through the canals, trying to avoid being spotted, slowly making headway to the sea. Blaze did not know if it was planned, but numerous resident Undine assisted them in misdirecting the angels above.

Blaze had initially assumed that they were heading towards the shanties, but soon, they passed them. They zipped south-west through the industrial district, before Azalea made a sharp left into a narrow sewage canal that emptied industrial effluents into the sea.

At the confluence of the canal and the ocean, Blaze finally spotted their destination.

A bus-sized, squalo-shaped submarine lay submerged near the mouth of the canal. It began to surface as it spotted them. Az and Bayou swam up with it, and as soon as they surfaced, the lid of the sub burst open, and Baozhai Rong stepped out, throwing a step ladder down.

One by one they climbed up the side of the sub, Blaze and Elyssa followed by Bayou and Azalea. As soon as Azalea reached the top, she ran up to her foster mother with a happy little squeal of joy.

"We did it!" she yelled, wrapping her arms around Baozhai.

Blaze and Elyssa uncertainly stood nearby as Baozhai glanced at them, running a gentle hand through Azalea's long cyan hair.

"Yes, yes. You have done well," she spoke with a deadpan expression. "But now, it is time for you to rest."

"Huh?" Azalea looked up as a needle penetrated her neck.

Before Blaze and Elyssa could react, they felt their own necks being pierced from behind.

Uh-oh was Blaze's only thought, as everything turned black.

oOo

When he awoke, Blaze found himself stripped out of most of his clothing. His underwear was thankfully still on, but his space ring was gone.

He was in a dank, shoddy cell, confined behind metal railings. The only source of light was a thin beam of moonlight streaming through a tiny hole up in the wall. It was obvious that they were not inside the submarine.

Azalea sat curled up beside him, but there was no sign of Elyssa. That fact made him more anxious than being held a prisoner.

"Where is Ely?" he asked, shaking her shoulder and startling her.

Azalea looked up from her knees, but avoided his eyes. "I-I don't know..." she stuttered. Tears flowed freely out of her eyes, and her cheeks were stained wet. "I don't know what's going on anymore."

"Stop wallowing in self-pity, Azalea," Bayou's voice came from the shadows outside the cell. She seemed to be sitting watch on a chair nearby. "This is why mistress Rong didn't trust you. She knew you were weak."

"Where is Ely?!" Blaze demanded angrily, having little interest in the issues between the two mers. "And what have you done to her?"

Bayou leaned forward on her chair, so that the moonlight could illuminate her features.

"I dunno," she nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders. "I only care that a noble is finally getting what she deserves."

"How can you say that Bayou?!" Azalea protested. "Elyssa is a good angel. You've talked to her!"

"You've been blinded by wealth, Azalea. The nobles are all the same. Some are better at hiding behind a façade, or they are hiding behind Ambina."

"Who is Ambina?" Blaze asked.

"You are quite naïve for a noble, aren't ya," Bayou sneered at him. "Is it because you are not a Caledonian, or is it because most noble kids are naïve little brats?"

"It's a drug," Az explained, "that heals taint..."

"Wait, you mean the one the Princeps use?"

"Princeps? I don't know who you are talking about, but most nobles of D'Warka have been using it since I've known," Azalea said. "That's how they get away with treating us the way they do."

Blaze's mind reeled with the implication of Azalea's words, but then something else dawned on him.

"You use it too," he said, turning to Bayou. She was too spiteful to not have taint.

"Of course, she doesn't," Azalea defended her friend, but Bayou's silence proved otherwise. "No... tell me you don't, Bayou."

"Yes, I have used it. You are a good angel, Az, but you are also naïve to think that you can fight against the corrupt nobles by being all seraphic. Malakim realized this a long time ago. That is why they rule us all, now. Don't be stupid."

"Bayou..." Azalea whispered her name, words failing her.

Bayou didn't bother to speak anymore, and neither did Blaze.

"So, what is mother's plan?" Azalea asked after a while. "What does she intend to do with Blaze and Elyssa, if the plan isn't the one we discussed?"

"Mistress Rong never originally cared about bringing this silly Fury. She was only intended to be a means to get Elyssa Marigold. I am not sure why she needs her, but she promised me that the nobles will get their due. That is all I care about."

"You're a vengeful little shit," Blaze informed her.

"Vengeance is deliciously freeing," she sneered back at him. "Mistress only became interested in bringing you along after we came to know that you were a princess. Having a princess is better than a duchess, no?"

"Bayou... you can't hurt Blaze or Elyssa. They are our friends. My friends!"

"They were never my friends and you... will get over it. Only mers can be our friends," Bayou said, getting up. "I will be back in a bit. Don't try to escape. You won't make it out," she informed before leaving.

Blaze leaned back and tried to calmly analyze their situation. Their cell was part of a larger dungeon. Everything looked old, but was otherwise sturdy. He tested the railings, but they didn't seem like something he or Azalea could break. So, he began checking for anything that could help in getting free. Maybe he could find something to pick the lock? Not that he had any experience in picking locks.

"I am sorry, Blaze. I- I didn't think this would happen. My m- Baozhai Rong promised that no harm would befall you. I thought she was doing this for me... I was so stupid..."

"Stop!" Blaze said, harsher than he intended. "I mean, we can talk about it after we rescue Elyssa and get free."

He didn't think there was any point in being angry with Azalea at that moment.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" he asked her.

"No... I thought we were going to hold you in the deep-ship while we mediated with the HU... Maybe we are still in the city. This place looks like it's a part of a castle. The only castles I know are in the Heaven District."

"Why would Baozhai bother with a deep-ship if she was going to keep us in D'Warka? That's too much of a hassle to be a ruse..."

"Even I didn't know about the deep-ship until we arrived at the meeting spot."

"Hmm... Even if we escape, we might not be able to make it back before being caught."

"I am sorry..."

"Stop apologizing and focus."

However, no matter how hard they thought, they couldn't find or figure out a quick way out.

It was an hour before Bayou returned with some food. She didn't remain to converse or watch them eat. They ate before curling up to sleep. However, sleep didn't come until much later.

***

Blaze was awakened by a masked angel. A thin stream of daylight piercing through hole in the wall was the only indication of the time of the day.

"Min Rong summons you, princess," the angel said to him.

He sat up groggily and found Azalea fast asleep beside him.

"What about her?"

"She has not been summoned."

He contemplated waking her up, before deciding to not bother.

As he stood, the angel bowed and put up her hands together to offer him his space ring. "Please get dressed, princess," she said, respectfully.

Blaze raised a brow, surprised by her gesture. Her deference towards him was unmistakable.

"You aren't letting me go by any chance, are you?" he asked, picking up his space ring and quickly browsing through it. His clothes and money were still there, but his weapons and VP, including his gauntlets, were gone. However, his good old viridian bat was still there.

"I am afraid not."

He quickly put on a pair of shorts and a shirt before the angel led him out of the cell.

"What's the time?" he asked, as she locked the cell door behind him.

"Half-past six, princess."

The hallway led out into the open. Azalea had been right about one thing; the place was a fortress- an old, abandoned fortress, in ruins. A couple of masked angels kept guard atop the lone battlement that still stood tall. It was likely that there were more angels around.

"It is futile, princess. You will not be able to escape," the angel said, noticing his gaze.

"What's your name?"

"Fan."

"Fan, what is this place?"

"I am not sure. The mistress found this place. We have only been here temporarily. Seems like a ruin of some sort."

Duh!

"Is it far from D'Warka?"

"Very."

"How is Elyssa?"

The angel did not respond, and it frightened him.

She led him though the central court, paved with cracked concrete flooring, weeds jutting out of the cracks. The castle may have once been a beautiful place, but now, it looked haunted and decrepit.

They soon reached the central keep, and it's doors led into a large courtroom. Fan led him to the nearby stairway, and they began descending down into the basement.

Baozhai Rong was waiting in a large room, with a lone desk and a couple of chairs. There was no sign of Elyssa.

"I would have never taken you for a princess," she commented, giving him a once over.

"Mistress," Fan spoke softly. "She is the princess. I hope you will not harm her."

"Leave!"

Fan shot him an apologetic look, before she left him in Baozhai's company.

Blaze glanced at her and he felt fear. There was an unsettling gleam in her gaze, and he found himself averting his eyes.

"What do you want with me?" he asked.

"Nothing. I made Azalea befriend you to gain access to Elyssa Marigold. That had been the only reason. However, her feverish words over the night have given me an idea. You may prove very useful to me, now."

"What do you want from us?"

"Have you heard about the Day the Darkness glowed?" she asked in return.

"Yeah..."

"Good. It will make this easier to explain. Those who did not witness the phenomenon that day may think 'darkness glowing' is just a metaphor. However, darkness did glow that day. It glowed because it expelled all light from within its confines."