Demon Apocalypse

“Beranabus!” I shout, almost at the hole, risking a look back. He’s surrounded by demons. Cursing, I aim a hand at them and let loose the magic. White flames leap from the tips of my fingers. They hit the demons hard and fire streaks through them like lightning. The demons shriek and peel aside, covered by flames they can’t quench, some coming apart at the seams and dying instantly.

“Balor’s eye!” Beranabus grunts, limping towards me, stooping to pick up the screaming and writhing Kernel, dragging him along. “I knew you were powerful, but not that powerful!”

“Oh, yes,” Lord Loss says overhead. “Grubitsch is a most remarkable boy. That is why I chose not to fight him in the cave when I first had the opportunity to kill him. I did not care to face him alone in a place of magic.”

“You were afraid!” I holler, reaching the mouth of the cave, sneering up at Lord Loss, feeling invincible. For the first time I believe we can do this—we can win!

“Afraid?” Lord Loss murmurs. “An ugly word, Grubitsch. And not entirely accurate. I was not afraid to fight you. I merely preferred to do so when the odds were stacked in my favour. After all, why fight by yourself when you can wait for…” He smiles wickedly and gestures to the hole.

I look down and my sense of triumph fizzles out like a live match that’s been dunked in a bucket of water.

The tu

“I made your friends and family my first priority,” Lord Loss says proudly as my world burns at the edges and madness swooshes down upon me. “I told you I would punish you for humiliating me. A dreadful, all-encompassing punishment. This is how I respond to mockery, Grubitsch. Look upon my work and know at last the true, heartless wrath of Lord Loss.”

“Grubbs!” Beranabus shouts. “They don’t matter! Ignore them! We—”

“Do not disturb the boy,” Lord Loss interrupts gloomily. “This is a time for true grief, not false promise and meaningless heroics. Look down, Beranabus. Even an eternal dreamer like you can’t believe in hope now. It’s over. The war has been decided. Mankind has fallen.”

“Grubbs! We can still…”

The rest of Beranabus’s words are lost to me. Lord Loss is right. We’re finished. There’s no way through. Everyone I knew—dead. Everyone I know who hasn’t already fallen to the Demonata— soon to be dead. And everybody else, the billions of men, women and children spread across the world, whom I’d never have known, even if I’d lived a thousand lifetimes—they’ll all die too.

I sink to my knees, the enormity of the moment overwhelming me. Beranabus grabs my right shoulder with one hand—still holding the wailing, thrashing Kernel with the other—and tries jerking me back to my feet. But I stay where I am, tears flowing, dread consuming me, hoping Lord Loss doesn’t drag the torment out too long, praying for him to take pity on me and kill me quickly.

I rock back and forth, moaning, glancing around, seeing demons in the throes of celebration, corpses of soldiers and Disciples being passed around like canapés at a party. Their howls, grunts and chattering start to sound like music to my ears or the chanting of a long, complicated spell. Then I realise—the sound isn’t of demonic origin. It’s coming from somewhere else… from the rocks beneath me.

I look down, expecting some new torment of Lord Loss’s. Instead I find the face of the girl— Bec—bulging out of the rock, eyes open, lips moving swiftly. Beranabus sees it too. His fingers go limp on my shoulder as he stares at the face, lost for words, forgetting all about the demons and our foolish quest.

“What’s this?” Lord Loss frowns. “Little Bec, present and alert after all these centuries? Impossible. How can her soul have…” He smiles. “No matter. She is powerful, Beranabus, even more than you or Grubitsch. But she ca

The girl speaks quicker than ever, her lips a blur. I feel the magic inside me pulse in time with her chanting. I can’t understand her, but the magic does and it swirls around inside me, excited, trying to reach out to her. Since I’ve nothing to lose, I let it have its way. I step back mentally and let the magic and the girl communicate freely. As the pair link in some unknowable way, I feel my own lips moving, the girl’s words becoming mine, like when I was relaying her previous outburst to Beranabus in his cave.

“Come now,” Lord Loss says, descending gracefully, signalling to the demons around us. “Enough of this childishness. Surrender, Grubitsch, and I will go easy on you. Well… easier than I pla

“We’ll never surrender!” Beranabus roars, coming alive again, releasing me and Kernel, bringing up his hands to engage the demon master in battle.

“Take him,” Lord Loss says, yawning mockingly. The nearest demons howl and hurl themselves at the magician—then strike against an invisible boundary and bounce back off it.

“Impressive,” Lord Loss murmurs. “But how long do you think you can sustain such a barrier, old man?”

“This isn’t my work,” Beranabus says, staring at me uncertainly. The girl’s hands have formed now and stick stiffly out of the ground, grey and rocky. I take them, my fingers large and chunky in comparison to hers. We continue to babble, her, me and the magic.

Kernel screams as maggots chew their way deeper into his brain. He jerks aside wildly and the demons eagerly grab for him, but he rebounds against the barrier and is hurled to the ground, landing by my knees. Beranabus stoops and puts his fingers to the boy’s forehead. Magic flares. Maggots fall out of Kernel’s bleeding sockets and shrivel, dead before they hit the ground. Kernel moans and slumps unconscious.

Beranabus faces me, features alive with hope. “Let’s go!” He grasps my elbow. “If you can maintain this barrier, they can’t stop us getting into the cave. We—”

My head whips towards him and the girl barks something, using my lips. I don’t know what she says, but it brings a groan of desperation from Beranabus. “No! You can’t tell me that. Not now. Not after all this. Not when we’re so close.”

I’ve no time to ponder his words. My eyes refocus on the girl’s and lock on her peculiar stony pupils. We’re speaking faster, louder, a fierce magical energy building around us, causing all the hairs on my body to stand up, then burn down to their roots. My clothes also burn away. So do Beranabus’s and Kernel’s. Within seconds we’re naked and hairless, and still the energy builds.

Lord Loss senses danger. “Get them!” he bellows. “Destroy that barrier! Kill them all!”

The demons scurry to obey, but their efforts are wasted. The barrier repels them casually. The harder they throw themselves against it, the harder they rebound. Bolts of magic are returned with interest, tearing apart those who fired them. They try to claw it to pieces, rip it apart with their teeth, burrow underneath to attack from within the earth, all to no avail.

The energy is unbearable. It goes beyond all my notions of normal heat. I think this is what it would be like to hover within the heart of the sun. The rock is melting around the girl’s face, but she remains, more of her form becoming visible as the stone recedes.

Screams of panic. With an effort I raise my head. The demons are staring at the sky, horrified and bewildered.

Looking up, I see something incomprehensible. The sky is pulsing. It’s like looking at the underside of a trampoline while somebody leaps up and down on top. In the centre, a fu