Free Melancholy Wings: Decadence by Matthew Ashworth Page B

turning around and taking off into the air, he quickly rushed back, so that Malakai wouldn’t see him. Hurriedly he flew back up through the tunnel, and very soon reached the chamber with lots of guards. Once again, he jumped onto the ceiling and hid behind the stalactites to make sure that the winged creature flying in the top half of the room wouldn’t see him. He had to be quick this time, because Malakai was not far behind him. He could always hide, but he wasn’t so sure if he’d find a good place in time, and that Malakai wouldn’t sense that someone was nearby.
     Promptly but with great care, Lazarus made his way along the cave ceiling whilst constantly watching the airborne creature. He remembered that Aurora was on the other side, so he had to make sure he was out of her sight too. The winged creature, all of a sudden, changed its course, so Lazarus was forced to back away a bit and to hide again until the creature passed. He could now sense Malakai getting closer, almost at the entrance into the chamber.
     Time was short, and so Lazarus finally risked it. He made his way around the hanging stalactites and rushed to the opening he initially came from. On his way there, he accidentally hit one of the stalactites, causing it to crack and a piece of it to break off. Lazarus saw what happened the instant the piece began falling, and so whizzed in the direction of the tunnel with great speed before the stalactite piece landed, alerting some of the guards. He hid himself in a small gap just before the tunnel entrance and waited. Since the cave wall was irregular, there were plenty of gaps in it, and that particular one served to be a good hiding place. Lazarus quickly glanced out and saw two of the guards heading in his direction, coming to check out the noise.
     The two demonic guards came close into the area he was in and began looking around. They were speaking to each other in an unfamiliar language whilst doing so. One of them finally lit a torch and began getting closer. Lazarus knew it was no use to keep hoping for them not to see him, and so he protracted his pike and swiftly came out of his hiding spot in order to attack them. He took the first one down with a single stab, before they even spotted him. The second one put up a small fight, but Lazarus evaded all of his attacks and then produced a horizontal semi-circular swing with his weapon, striking the demon guard on the side of the head. The creature fell to the ground, which then gave Lazarus plenty of time to finish it off with a stab. Spending no time on revelling on his close encounter, Lazarus put out the torch they were carrying and dragged both of the carcasses out of view. He sensed Malakai was already inside the chamber, slowly making his way around the stalactites on the ceiling too. It was time to get out of that place.
     Lazarus quickly entered the tunnel he needed to take and scanned it, as he remembered Aurora hiding there before, but she was no longer there. It appeared that she left the area, most likely gave up on trying to sneak past the demonic guards. Feeling satisfied, he instantly rushed along the tunnel without looking back. When he saw the exit eventually, he felt relieved and prepared to spring his wings for the flight back to his home sector. However, the instant he came out of the cave, someone got on his way. The two collided with each other and got stunned for a second. Lazarus recovered quickly and saw it was Aurora. Aurora thought she was in trouble and instantly took out her retractable weapon, which happened to be a pike too.
-           “Hey. It’s fine. I am not going to hurt you.” Lazarus reassured her.
-           “Who are you?” Aurora asked out of fear.
-           “I am from Erebus sector. Calm down. I saw you following Malakai, but don’t worry, because I was following him too.” Lazarus explained to her briefly.
-           “I see.” Aurora understood