Page 23 of A Hail From Hell: Vol 1

A halo of red light radiated from the silhouette, and a faint sound brushed past Evan’s ears.

A breath.

Like the first inhale of life after being underwater for a long time.

Evan’s lungs, on the other hand, burnt with the lack of air, vision blurring and head spinning in circles.

When the silhouette formed its lower half and landed on two solid feet, Evan’s body gave in to its overpowering force, tumbling to the floor.

“Little Storm…”

A ringing went off in Evan’s ears, painful and familiar at the same time.

Dazed and disoriented, he gasped short, quick breaths as the silhouette moved towards him, one deliberate step at a time, the mightiness of its form hypnotizing him for a brief moment.

Then that moment ended.

Fuck… I can’t die like this.

With the little strength left in his body, Evan forced his limbs to move, raising a trembling hand as Crimson Eye blazed angrily on his finger.

“Be...g-gone...” A faint blue glow ghosted his skin as he tried to force out a bit of spiritual energy. Not lasting too long, the glow dimmed. He was too drained. Too weak.

The glow of his ring dimmed, too, before fading off completely.

Crack.

Evan’s hand froze midair.

With anothercrack,the red crystal of Crimson Eye crumbled, turning to black dust right before his eyes.

Evan blankly stared as the ring—his mother’s last memento and the final shield protecting him—disappeared.

His hand trembled in the air, unable to drop or hold up.

Memories flooded his head. Pleasant and painful and everything in between. Faces. People. His mother and sister.Rhea and Aaron. Despite his truce with death as the ultimate bearer of freedom, he’d not expected his end to come so soon.

I wish I could’ve seen Celie one last time…

Two blurry feet stopped near his collapsed form, the sinister aura encompassing the silhouette burning bright.

Evan braced for the impact of whatever attack it would launch at him. But instead, something warm—fingers—wrapped around Evan’s suspended hand. They were firm yet gentle, hot yet somehow soothing.

He tried to focus on the face of the silhouette, but exhaustion weighed on his eyelids. They gave in, shutting for good.

The pair of glowing scarlet eyes narrowed at Evan.

Then a breath carried across the room in a soft whisper.

“I’ve been waiting…”

4. Beauty And A Boner

Jolting awake suddenly, Evan sucked in a lungful of wheezing air like he’d been strangled by invisible hands and held under a barrel of ice water. A faint voice echoed in his head before fading away.

What… What happened? Where am I? Whose voice was that?

Blinking at his surroundings, then at the darkening evening sky outside the window, Evan concluded that the dull and cold space was his own bedroom.

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