Chapter Four, Finally!

They had gathered the fallen trees and were rolling them towards the village, careful to not lose control.  Rheias was panting, “how did those monsters make it look so easy?”  He stopped to catch his breath.
Odin stopped too, leaning on the trunk of the tree, “well, they were a lot bigger muscle wise... but at least they made it easier, most of the branches have been broken off or tied into a tip...” Odin looked towards the village and saw someone coming, puffs of soot lining their trail, “Raegis?”
Raegis ran up to them noticing that Kexin was missing, “where’s Kexin?  He left with you guys right?”  He look between the two, who were exchanging glances.
“Well... I’m pretty sure there’s still a few pieces of him stuck in my fur...” Odin tried to laugh it off but Rheias gave him a death glare.
“We got attacked by monsters again...  He thought he could handle it but...”  Rheias’ voice trailed off as he tried to suppress his emotions.
Raegis was concerned, “the reports never mentioned monsters of any kind... The last one said the tree just fell over... I’ll take this to Coresthia.”  He pushed Odin aside and rolled the tree into the village.
Odin put his hand on Rheias’ shoulder, “come on, let’s get back to the village and rest... you could really use it...”  He assisted Rheias in pushing the tree back to the village, letting some other villagers take the tree to Coresthia.  They headed for Rheias’ house, Odin leading as Rheias was looking down at his feet.  They laid down on the bed, Odin still holding Rheias, “it’s okay... we’re home...”
Rheias curled up against Odin and shook as he cried, “I don’t understand it... Why over him?  He was horrible... He’s not worth it...”
Odin held him close wiping away the tears, “it’s okay Rheias...   He left a mark on you and it won’t go away for awhile.”  He cradled Rheias until they both had fallen into sleep.

Odin was back in the human world, he was standing with the human that had punched him.  Before them was another of the winged creatures, but this one posed no threat to them it seems.
“Lea, protect him and his Reason... Michael won’t give up easily, not with permission to attack... who would’ve thought he’d ever be like this...”  The winged creature walked over to Odin placing his hand on Odin’s solar plexus, his touch warming Odin’s body.  “Enoch himself would protect you if he wasn’t busy fighting the demons... Trust Lea Odin, your Reason will be placed under attack by anyone you meet...”
Odin was confused, what was his ‘Reason’? He couldn’t just ask, his body wouldn’t move when he wanted it.  Lea grabbed his hands and Odin looked up.
“Sorry for getting you in this mess... You never would’ve agreed to be with me if you knew this would happen...” Lea laughed, his voice rather solemn.  “Thanks Gabriel, we’ll try to be careful...” Everything started to fade and Odin was left in the dark void, alone, so he thought.
He saw a speck of light, then suddenly a woman appeared in front of him, a serpent wrapped around her, hiding her unsavoury parts.  She smiled, “So you’re the one with the Reason... Hmm... I’m Lilith, and I’m sure you know my little friend...You’re lucky you were thrown out here... looks like the war is over...”
Odin felt his head nod, “Leviathan... Where am I?” The voice was his, but the words were not what he would have chosen.
The snake seemingly smiled, “thiss iss the Losst Realm... Here your Reasson ssshall be realized...” The snake lifted it’s head as it spoke, lowering it as a hand touched Odin’s shoulder.
“Enough you two...  Finally we meet...” Odin managed to turn to this new figure, he was human as far as Odin could tell, but the armor he wore was shining without any light source.  “What Leviathan says is true... However, you must be strong in your Reason...”
Odin felt his head nod again and he spoke, “Enoch I presume?  I know my Reason and i will always stand by it...” Odin was confused, how could he know it and who all these people were?  “Humans disgust me, they need erased...”  Odin was shocked that these words were his, but he continued talking.  “I ask merely for Humanity to be what they failed to achieve within this cycle... End it all and ‘Shift’ the past... Burn their sins and the damage away from the world...”
Lilith smiled, “not so Pure as you hoped Enoch? Surely Leviathan will be depressed that you will throw away everything...” Leviathan hissed in agreement.
Enoch bowed to Odin, “this doesn’t surprise me... I actually thought you’d be more cold about it, but you still have a shred of humanity... The new cycle shall begin shortly...” Enoch took his leave, as well as Lilith and Leviathan.  
Odin looked around, unsure as to what would happen to him.  He saw the speck of light flicker and his skin started to burn, Odin panicked, but his body was calm as could be, “so, is this the end for me?” That sentence burned it’s way onto Odin’s mind, when suddenly he felt his bones breaking and twisting around, his skin still burning as the speck of light slowly grew around him.
“Odin, endure this pain and enjoy this new cycle you helped bring...  If you encounter Michael call for the gargoyle’s protection... he will not take this loss lightly...” Odin recognized the voice, It was Enoch’s but his eyes had shut, them too burning.
Odin felt his skeleton change, he was in serious pain and the dream was getting fuzzy. He felt his tail muscles and his ear muscles where the were when he was awake. He managed to open his eyes briefly to see his human face change into a muzzle.

Odin’s eyes flashed open, his heart racing, it had grown dark out so he put his arm around Rheias, who was shaking from a nightmare.  “Rheias... it’s okay...” as he spoke Rheias woke up and started crying into his chest.  He pulled Rheias on top of him, licking the tears off Rheias’ face, “hey, it’s okay... I’m here for you...” he held Rheias closer and rubbed his face against Rheias’.
Rheias could barely control himself, “I... Know...” He was badly shaken, “I hate... Nightmares...” he was quivering with fear, “I saw him... dying... over and over...” He continued to cry while Odin comforted him.
Odin licked Rheias’ face, “looks like we both had nightmares tonight...” He kept Licking away the tears and calmed both of them down, “there much better, let’s try to get more sleep Rheias, they’ll expect us to work tomorrow I’m sure...”
Rheias sniffed, “okay, I’ll try...” He crawled a bit off of Odin, curling at Odin’s side and slowly falling asleep, shortly after Odin had fallen asleep.

Odin was back where he was earlier with Lea, they walked away as Gabriel flew away.  “So, what’s this Reason that Gabriel is so keen on protecting?”  Lea wasted little time getting to the point.
“Um... I’d rather not talk about it... From what he said, I take it Michael has a Reason that calls for the Annihilation of humans... Maybe his is a paradise for the Angels...” They approached a group of humans, “it’s hard times for all of us... we need to work together...” There was a flurry of feathers that flew above their heads that made his heart sink, “NOBODY LOOK AT IT! IT’S A SERAPHIM!” Odin grabbed Lea and ran away, the other humans looking and bursting into flames instantly. As they ran a monster landed in front of them, it had four faces on a Chimera body, the face of a Man, Lion, Ox and Eagle on a twisted combination of a body of the Ox, Lion, and Eagle.  “Well hell... We’re fucked... A Cherub...”
Lea turned to Odin, “I thought they were fat, winged babies?” They got backed into a corner, no where left to run.
“That was a romanticized version... as you can see, the real ones are terrifying...” he pulled out a card he was given before the Earth went to Hell.  “Tortured souls of limbo... I Request your help...” The card shatters and the ground rips open between them and the Cherub; demonic babies crawling out, random limbs are replaced with sharp blades.  “Um... Let’s get out of here...” Odin drags Lea away as the babies tear into the Cherub.
Lea quickly manages to run on his own, “The hell were those things?”  He was panicking, he had never seen a human summon demon babies.
“Children who died before they were recognized as souls, it generally was 3 years after birth that they were recognized...”  Odin could barely believe what was happening, he searched his mind for this knowledge.  His mind was blank, all he could remember is things he had seen earlier in his dreams,  as well as his time with Rheias.  “Who would’ve thought this would happen in my lifetime,” they stopped at the top of a hill, viewing the damage done to the city already.  Suddenly as Odin looked down the hill, a serpent was speeding for him, launching itself at Odin, but everything suddenly went black.