The Chronicles of Raziel: Next Gen.

Chapter 8: The Enigmatic Killing Machine Blade

Chapter Eight: The Enigmatic Killing Machine Blade

Blood. That's all that could be seen. Raziel tried to just close his eyes and not look, but he couldn't. It was as if his eyes were being pried open by the force that was the tiny sword inserted into him by the mysterious cloaked figures. First he attacked Drake, and then Corey. Nothing could be done to stop him, it was a slaughter.

Raziel burned inside, helpless at heart, and his lungs were still drying. Breathing became more complicated every minute. Raziel tried to calm down, but the vision and thought of him trying to kill his friend was toppling. However, Raziel felt things were too mellow. Nothing was tense yet, but Raziel knew that was to come. Corey dodged Raziel's punches, kicks, and other mix of odd demonic powers; for example, the talent of being able to turn his arm into a machine gun or a machete. Corey paused for a minute, but didn't get past a second before he had to worry about dodging bullets. He only knew one thing at that moment; he had to buy himself time. Drake Keroi shoved Raziel to the ground, and this intrigued Corey.

"I thought you were against me." Corey said, huffing and puffing. Drake smiled.

"I want to live too, you know. So for now, we're a team in fighting him until we can get him out of this state." Drake said, as he avoided a punch by Raziel. Corey turned his arm into a rolling pin and then smacked Raziel across the face with it. He cheered with some small joy.

"Rejected!" Corey screamed and high-fived Drake.

"Don't get too cocky; remember, you've teamed up with a fellow enemy." Drake said, trying to kick Raziel but missing. The real Raziel, watching from the camera view inside his body, was suffering. He hadn't the slightest clue what was taking place. His vision was no more and his hearing was a little scuffed. Sweat dripped down his neck and soaked his shirt all the way down to his stomach. He felt as if he was in a very small room, with heater vents on each side of the room. In a way though, he was glad his vision was gone. He didn't want to see what he had done. He felt ashamed.

Raziel, or the empty demonic shell controlling him, was beginning to tire. His efforts grew dull and his energy littled every strike he attempted. Corey and Drake tackled him at the same time and he collapsed. His eyes were closed, but he still breathed. His exaggerated human features turned back to normal but he was still unconscious.

"It's over." Drake yawned. Corey stared at him.

"Does it matter? Besides... I need to know something right now. Are you going to stay befriended to us or not? I can't be hanging out with someone who almost killed Chelsea." Corey said coldly. Drake explained himself.

"I wasn't really trying too..." Lie. Drake knew it, he felt slightly guilty remembering all his past encounters of him murdering. And to think both her parents were dead. It made him hang his head low. Corey just remained staring.

"All right muscles... I don't believe you, but its time for you to earn your keep. Pick him up." Corey laughed. Drake did so spitefully, and this just made Corey laugh harder.

"Where are you headed, anyway?" Drake asked.

"Rewtville." Corey said, and accidentally yawned. He knew he was tired, he just didn't want to have to make two trips. Corey was stubborn, but he knew it would be wiser to make one trip then spend the night with an alleged killer. Corey kept on walking. His legs were a little weak, but he could keep going for a few more hours. Besides, they were too close to take a break, they were less than a mile away. Corey finally read the sign that said, "Rewtville: 10 minutes". He sighed in relief.

"What's the sign say?" Drake said, staring at it.

"What's wrong, dummy, can't read?" Drake laughed.

"Shut up." Drake said.

"It says 10 more minutes 'till we reach Rewtville." Corey smiled. Corey sighed in relief; all this traveling was about to pay off. Corey noticed even Drake was beginning to lag, which meant that they were due for a major nap once they found Chelsea; if she was even there.

"We're here!" Corey yelled a bit loudly, remembering it was probably early morning. Raziel twitched. Corey turned his head and looked at Raziel, who's eyes looked a little sore. Raziel groaned.

"Where am I?" He said groggily. Corey snickered. Raziel suddenly saw that Drake was holding him, and began to kick. "Let go of me; Corey, help me, moron!" Raziel was obviously still half-asleep.

Corey picked Raziel up off of Drake and put him on the ground. Raziel tried to take a few more weak swings at Drake, but they had as much power as a cat stuck to a car tire. Apparently, the thing controlling him took a little bit of a toll on Raziel's physical structure. Corey held back his laughs and guided Raziel into the middle of Rewtville. Very few people were out, and those that were out were farmers or business men. Of course, Raziel, Drake, and Corey were all greeted by odd stares. Some dirty looks, some scoffs, and some middle fingers. Raziel finally woke up.

"So, this is Rewtville?" He scoffed. "Looks more like Bedrock." Raziel laughed. The town was rather rural, not too many houses, and just a few modern looking ones.

"How long does this town stretch?" Drake asked.

"About 50 miles." Corey replied.

"Jeez, that's huge." Raziel said. "What are our chances of even finding Chelsea?" Corey scratched his head.

"You really think I know?" Raziel nodded, and just followed Corey. The trip was rather mellow, well, very mellow. It was the most boring thing Raziel would probably ever do in his entire life. After tons of walking, Raziel was ready to pass out.

"Man, this sucks." He muttered, wondering when the listless stretch of land was going to end. He kept his head aimed at the ground, to avoid the massive rays of sunlight from melting his eyes. This place was as close to a hell on earth. Hell on earth.. I've been there. With Chelsea, remember? He told himself. That thought made him shiver and he tried to forget about it as he swallowed the lump in his throat. Corey was the only one rambling, he had been flapping his mouth ever since they arrived, what a chatty bastard. However, no matter how many questions or topics Corey brought up, Raziel nor Drake would respond or partake.

"Can you shutup?" Drake finally said. Corey sighed and finally stopped talking. Then, that sentence, in some way, triggered the reason why Raziel loved Chelsea. I've never really had that feeling, Raziel remembered, and remembered how harsh it felt to be unloved. The isolation of not having someone telling you they care. Raziel stopped and stood there for a moment. It made him feel a bit more human inside. The wind brushed up sand that licked his face, but he didn't reach his hand up to shield his eyes. He just concentrated.

"Umm... Raziel?" Corey asked. Raziel just stood there. The feeling of a friend wanting to know how he felt, because he cared. Raziel smiled and waved his arms back and forth at his sides. "Yeah, I'm good." He said, continuing to walk. Suddenly, a loud noise came to ear, as if an earthquake was happening underground. The three stood still, trying to figure what was going to happen. Two creatures ripped through the sand and flew through the air. Their bodies resembled centipedes but they had fangs of a camel spider and arms of a human. Lava followed them as they finally flopped on the ground like fishes.

Drake looked at Corey. "I'm clueless, so if you have any idea, now would be a good time." For a while, nobody made a sound, just the grunts and noises of the two giant centipedes flopping around on the sand. Normally, someone would've plunged into battle, but something was vaguely different about this situation. Corey was thinking about transforming his arm into a sword, but didn't. Raziel was thinking of jumping on one, but just didn't act. And Drake was thinking of ripping one in half, but he as well digressed. The three warriors were indeed waiting for the centipedes to strike first. Almost five minutes have passed and finally, movement stirred the scene. The first centipede lunged forward and bit into Raziel's shoulder. Blood was minuscule, due to the fact that their fangs were a little dull and only as big as a pencil. Raziel grimaced and firmly placed his hand on the spiders eye, and ripped it out.

Raziel took the eye and crushed it in his hand, and then pushed the centipede off his shoulder. The second one burrowed back into the ground and the on placed beside Raziel was thought to be dead. Little did they know, the second one didn't flee, and the first was still very alive. Silently, the one with a single eye wrapped itself around their legs and the second rose up from the ground behind them.

The gang tried to turn around so fast they almost got a whiplash, but, since the one eyed one was around them, he constricted around their legs and the group fell straight down with their faces in the sand. The sand was hot, and it burned their faces for a slight second. The centipede with two eyes paused, and then a loud vortex noise sounded, as if something got transported to another universe. Raziel looked up and saw the black cloaked man above him. Raziel's face was planted back in the sand by the cloaked man's foot.

"How's it been, human?" He laughed. Raziel's nostril's flared under the man's foot. He was mad. Very mad. The cloaked man removed his foot off of Raziel's head and tied everyone of their individual sets of their legs together using some rope in his pocket.

Corey wanted to know what was going on, but he just continued to lay his head in the sand. Raziel suddenly tried to wiggle his way out of the constricting centipede, but stopped when he felt something cold press up against the back of his neck. Raziel glanced to his left and saw the black cloak holding a gun to his neck. He growled and put his face back into the sand. The centipede around their legs disappeared and instead transformed into the red cloaked man or woman, since it was unknown. The two cloaked figures had returned.

"It must be said, you boys are the most naive people in existence. And it's actually funny..." The red cloaked one said.

"Don't be silly," The black one said, "All humans are naive. Just like that whore you call a companion," He chuckled, "Are you to still together or did you already knock each other up?" Raziel growled with his face in the sand, and was growing more agitated by every word the cloaked people said.

"Oh, and by the way, my name is Spartan. And him? Yes, he is a guy, is Razor. Now, you boys have caused us a lot of trouble, and I must say, you carried it up pretty well. Until today. What a pity, Raziel. You might of found your little bitch if we hadn't of stopped you. In fact, I'm almost.." He paused to laugh scornfully, "positive of it."

"But, I wouldn't get your hopes up about escaping... or living for that matter. To make it more fun... we thought we would make it painful by doing this.." Razor added as the sound of an old muffler was in the air, as well as the smell of gasoline. Drake, Raziel, and Corey knew what that was, a car. The car got closer and closer and then finally came to a screeching halt. The passenger jumped out and rushed towards the trio who were tied. It was Chelsea.

"And here she arrives! In all her glory!" Spartan spat. Raziel growled. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to grab his neck and crack it. Raziel wanted to just rip his spine out and eat his guts, and then use his spine as a toothpick. Spartan, with inhuman like speed, quickly "appeared" behind Chelsea and shoved her to the ground.

"Young one!" Crystal yelled. "You mustn't interfere, they'll--" Crystal was slapped to the ground by Razor, who also had exceptional speed and strength. Raziel's throat was dry and crusty from inhaling sand, even though he couldn't scream, he was going nuts inside. Adrenaline rushed through his veins like fire in California as tightened his fists. If that damned rope wasn't constricting his legs he would've killed both of those cloaked freaks. He was sure of it. Chelsea tried to get up but her attempts were useless, she was struck as soon as she tried to rise.

Raziel knew if he didn't do something Chelsea would be dead. Then, an idea smacked right in the back of the head. Corey could easily change into something that was too small to be in the ropes. Raziel grinned and then sealed his lips because sand was getting in his teeth. He silently scooted over closer to Corey.

"Corey!" Raziel said, poking his elbow. Corey responded.

"What?" Corey asked.

"Morph into something small. And hurry! You could untie the rest of us!"

All though Raziel couldn't see Corey's face, he knew Corey's eyes were probably beaming. "Good idea..." Corey mumbled and morphed into a rat, then, gnawed through Raziel's rope, and gnawed through Drake's rope. Raziel and the rest stood up and blazed towards Spartan and Razor. Drake rammed his shoulder into Spartan and Spartan went tumbling. Razor set the ground around Corey aflame and Corey swiftly turned into a bird and flew out of the ring of fire. Razor jumped high into the air and batted Corey to the ground.

"Clever, but your not as smart as me." Razor grinned underneath the shadow of his cloak. He knew this was going to be a bit of challenge, but all and all, he was positive he had the upper hand.

Raziel helped Chelsea up and quickly took her into an embrace. He held her tightly as sweat dripped down his forehead. The scorching heat was intensified when he held Chelsea close.

"Raziel..." Chelsea said lightly. Raziel stroked her hair softly and rubbed her back.

"It's okay." He muttered. Chelsea rested her neck on his shoulder and sighed. Things weren't normal yet. Too many things going on still. The two cloaked bastards, Razor and Spartan were yet to be defeated, and the court case which could result in a bad conclusion. And even more, there remained Drake Keroi. It was still hard to believe he was perfectly their friend. Corey and Raziel just couldn't believe it. Raziel wished he had a good explanation, but he didn't. The two were forced to split apart when a blade separated them. Spartan had thrown the blade, and was laughing.

"Pathetic. Love; what fools human make of themselves over simple affection." He cackled, readying another blade on his finger. Raziel growled.

The blade was launched at Raziel and he easily dodged it. Spartan came up to Raziel and swiftly kicked him across the chest. Raziel paced back a bit, but then reeled a punch to his mouth. Spartan stumbled to the left and threw a blade as he fell to the ground. The spinning hazard cut Raziel across the ribs shyly. Raziel knew the cut was barley two layers deep, but it still hurt.

Corey and Drake choke-slammed Razor together. Razor disappeared and reappeared in the air above them and threw down what looked like lightning bolts except they were made of fire. Drake and Corey carelessly moved out of the way, and not registering the fact that the flames on impact were likely to scatter, which they had. Several flames were rebounded towards them and they left burn marks on their faces, arms, and legs. Razor came back to the ground and elbowed Drake in the mouth, and tossed him into Corey. The two collided with each other and found themselves on the ground.

Raziel found himself at a disadvantage against Spartan, who didn't even seem to be trying. He was cut everywhere and was bruised. He had a black eye and was getting agrivated. Raziel noticed that he could use his enviorment to his advantage though. As Spartan was preparing to attack with another one of his slaps, Raziel kicked sand into his eyes. Spartan forgot about slapping and brought his hands up to rub his eyes. Raziel then roundhoused kicked him in the stomach and tackled him to the ground. Spartan stopped rubbing his eyes and Raziel was quickly dismounted from Spartan.

Spartan showed Raziel how bad the sand in his eyes had hurt by grabbing him by his collar and bodyslamming him into the ground. Raziel got up wearily after that, but repeated his tactic of kicking sand. It once again worked, and Spartan was stalled. Raziel during this time had to end it. He headbutted him to the ground jumped on to Spartan's chest, knee first, and held his eyes open.

"End of the line, fucker!" He cried preparing to punch Spartan in the face to end it all. Just as Raziel's knuckle was no more than half a centimeter away from Spartan's face, a splash of flames made him evade the situation all together. Razor laughed.

"I don't think it will end that quickly. I never give up on my man." Razor was then ruthlessly tossed to the ground by Corey. Drake lifted Spartan up and bodyslammed him. Corey, while dodging a few of Razor's attacks, contributed to the assualt on Spartan with a swift change into a bee and stinging him a few times. His stinging fest was ended when he was swatted by Razor. Again.

"That's getting old..." Corey said, changing his arm into an ax. Things were about to get serious. Spartan was despertly trying to stay alive, but in the end, he couldn't take any more hits. He was on the brink of death and he knew it. This attempt, all though Raziel and his pathetic friends had been caught by surprise, their attack was still failed. It made him mad as he got tackled by Raziel and Drake.

Corey dodged a dangerous firey encased fist which belonged to Razor. Corey intelligently retaliated by cutting Razor's cloak from the shoulder to his abdomen. And then, it happend. His hood slipped off and revealed his face. His facial features, his hair color, and eye color were the same as Corey's. It was like looking into an abstract, old forgotten mirror.

"It can't be..." Corey muttered, his thoughts ran dead. His mind? Was empty. The image in front of him was too much. A coincidence? No, that was impossible, there was to much similar between him and Razor. Was this... his mother? And before he knew it, Razor disappeared. Spartan disappeared.

"Corey... hello?" Raziel asked. Corey responded by shaking his head.

"Are you okay? Man... your pale. Did that fight take more out of you than I think?" Raziel asked. Corey shook his head.

"No...I'm-uhh..." He was stuttering and crashing on every word. "I'm tired.. yeah, I just want to go to bed. I haven't slept in... a while." Raziel stared at him, intrigued at his dumbfoundedness.

Chelsea looked around and Crystal was nowhere to be found. She must of ran off during the fight.

"What should we do? There's no where out here to camp." Chelsea said. Raziel and Drake sat down, and soon, Chelsea and Corey followed. Almost an hour had passed until the sound of an automobile was present. It was Crystal.

"Crystal!" Chelsea yelled. Crystal slowly pulled up to them and rolled down a window. Dusk was just beginning to set, so Raziel had guessed it was around seven or eight.

"Would you and your friends like a ride?" She asked. Chelsea nodded.

"It would be appreciated." She smiled. Raziel, Drake, Chelsea, and Corey all piled into the back row. It was rather crowded, but they knew they would at least get to stay someplace.

Upon arriving at Crystal's house, everything was dead quiet. In fact, everyone was dead tired. Raziel crawled on the couch with Chelsea on top of him.

"I missed you... and I was thinking.." He said quietly. Chelsea listened.

"Are we going a little too fast?" Raziel asked. Chelsea thought for a minute. Things were going a little quick.

"I guess were taking things a little swiftly." Chelsea said.

"So... slow it down?" Raziel asked with a small smile.

She sinked her lips into his. "Sure." And with that, everyone was asleep.