Angel Fury (Immortal Legacy #2) - Ella Summers Page 0,36

Earth for years, watching us, studying our world. The demons learned that the gods were here, and so they sent in their army. Unlike the gods, they didn’t do it with any amount of secrecy. They made their presence known to humanity and to the gods alike. And that is how the Earth became just another battlefield in the Immortal War.”

“My father has told me of these days, the days of old Earth,” I said. “He was twelve when the war came to our world.”

“I was five,” Damiel said. “Where did your father live when the war came?”

“Berlin, just as he does now. But he says the city was very different then.”

“The whole world was different then. I lived in old New York back then—a New York before gods and demons, before monsters and Magitech walls. And then the Immortal War came to our world. The demons knew the gods wanted our world. They didn’t know why, but they made full use of the gods’ need to own the Earth in order to lure them in. And then the demons sprang the trap.” His face hardened. “It was magic explosives. Soon, only ruins remained where New York and five other major cities had once proudly stood. The demons’ traps killed only a few gods, but they killed many humans. Millions died in that attack. My parents died in that attack.”

I set my hand on his. “I’m sorry.”

He did not draw away from my touch. “My parents died, but my brother Evander and I survived. We climbed out of the rubble that had once been our home. We hitched a ride on a train. Back then, the tracks ran all the way across the country. Back then, there were no plains of monsters. At least not yet.”

“Where did you and your brother go?”

“We went north, away from any large cities. Evander was thirteen, several years older than I was. And he was smart. The demons and gods clashed a few times while we were traveling, their battles lighting up the skies in all directions. Evander knew the demons were targeting the cities. So we hopped off the train and hiked deep into the woods, away from everything. We lived there for many years, safe from the battles. Hunting and foraging. He took care of me.”

Damiel went quiet.

“What happened?” I asked him.

“The gods and demons had brought their battle beasts with them to Earth, animals under the deities’ control. Every god or demon soldier had at least one battle beast. Beast and deity fought side-by-side on the battlefield, against their enemies. They’d been using the beasts for centuries. They’d had them completely under their control for centuries.

“But then something happened. It was several years after Evander and I fled the ruins of New York. Somehow, the gods and demons lost control of their pets. The beasts went wild, feral. They streamed across the lands, killing anything and everything they found. Destroying cities, towns, and villages alike.

“At the same time, the lands grew wild themselves. The Earth’s weather turned on its head. There was pouring rain in the desert, blizzards in summer, scorching heat in winter. Jungle vines spread across the desert, covering the sands completely with green foliage. In one place, the ocean rose up and swallowed hundreds of islands; in another, the rocky land spread across the sea, drinking up the water until there was none left. Fires burned across the prairies, scorching the land black. And everywhere you looked, there was death.

“The woods where Evander and I lived were no longer safe. Nowhere on Earth was safe. Monsters attacked our cabin. My brother died defending me. He could have run away if not for me, but I was too slow. Too weak. He held them off to give me time to get away. He shouted out for me to run. And I did.”

Guilt marred Damiel’s beautiful face.

“If you had stayed, the monsters would have killed you too,” I told him.

“Maybe. I spent years going through that day in my head, over and over again, trying to find something I’d missed. Some way I could have saved him. In that way, the two of us are a lot alike.”

“Because I like to torture myself?” I gasped.

“Because like you, I don’t believe anything is truly impossible. I could have found a way to save Evander. But I was too weak. Too stupid. And because of that, the only person I had left in the world was gone. I was twelve years old.