The Fall of Angels – Chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16

As usual, a delayed posting of what is already posted a Legends Undying.  The first three chapters can be read HERE.  Chapters 4, 5, and 6 can be read HERE.  Chapters 7, 8, and 9 can be read HERE.  Chapters 10, 11, and 12 can be read HERE. 

The story so far: At the creation of things and men, the Angels saw (and took) the opportunity to make a power play, and cast Demons as the bad guys (tricking humans into naming The First, a demon, as disobeying HE That Was (God’s) edict about staying away from The Garden and Humans).  

Demons and humans were both exiled.  Demons were cursed to only feed on the (souls, entities, memories, etc) of corrupt men, making it seem as if demons corrupted men to feed on them.  In actuality, it was the stories weaved by Angels which corrupt men.  They do so by using guilt induced by religious beliefs.  Angels were too successful with that; religion partially corrupts the pious as well.  The feeding itself, for both Angels and Demons, is not to much stealing, but as absorbing people’s memories/thoughts/emotions.

There are unbelievers, and their unbelief removes them as candidates for feeding.  The Angels are waging war on the unbelievers, both by direct and indirect action.  The man who is Shadow (named after he became so) is an unbeliever who lost his family to an Angel.  The First is summoned to the unbeliever as the man grieves the loss of his wife and kids.  The man’s anger feeds the energy/power to such a level the First sees an opportunity to perhaps have a powerful ally to challenge the Angels.

The First undertakes the process of “creating” a being which is both the essence/mind of the man, and a part of himself. In some ways, it parallels the idea of Christ being the same as god, and also the son of god. Peripherally, I justify the parallel using the interpretation that Iesous (greek for Jesus) was an archangel elevated above other angels (some readings of the bible can be interpreted as such).

Shadow is not comfortable with enlisting the aid of other demons, and instead recruits humans as helpers.  The story of one human is recounted, and we are introduced to one of the sentient swords.  Shadow wants to enlist the swords, to bring them back into the realm of men, to bond with humans as they once did, and help his recruits stave off the angels.

The swords agree, for they too have a score to settle with Angels, and we follow one sword bonding with a human.  Their preparation is quickly tested as they confront Michael himself, wielding his sword.  Shadow responds, coming to the aid of the pair, but it is a trap, set by Michael.  As Shadow challenges Michael, more angels appear, some forty strong.  When Shadow brings forth Sable Slayer, Michael retreats, even as he commands the others to attack.

The story continues with the account of the confrontation .

The Fall of Angels (Chapters 13-16)

By E. J. D’Alise (Disperser)
Copyright December 2012, February 2013

Chapter Thirteen – The Void

“Mikie; where do you think you are going?” As he spoke, Shadows tendrils mixed with Michael’s light, forming a single translucent-gray mass.  Michael’s form slowly reappeared . . .

“How?”  Michael’s voice was still booming within the confines of the underpass, but the authority and confidence was gone from it.  Still, as a being of power, he flashed bright, casting the tendrils from within his form.

“A fight you shall have, then!”   Michael’s words were still echoing when, as a blur, he was upon Shadow’s form, sword swinging on a high arc.

This time the hand holding Sable did not falter.  At the instant of contact, Sable flashed from black to brilliant white, absorbing the power of the light.  Joe, observing the fight, was momentarily blinded, and when his vision returned, Michael was holding onto half a sword.  The other half was embedded in the concrete pylon a few feet from his head.  

He almost missed Shadow’s soft words.  “My turn.”

Shadow’s darkness became a void, and in an instant it spread to envelop Michael and all the angels.  Inside the void, there was nothing to see, and the underpass had suddenly gone eerily quiet.    Joe tried to see, to comprehend what he was seeing, but his brain refused to process the information.  All he could remember afterwards is the fact he could not see anything; literally anything.  There were no words to describe it; you cannot describe Nothing.

Lena could perceive a bit more than Joe’s human senses.  All she said was, “Wow.”  

Before the word finished echoing in Joe’s mind, the void, Shadow, Michael, and all the Angels were gone.  Simply gone.

~~

Chapter 14 – Second Wave

Even as Joe stood there, Lena shouted a warning.  “Prepare!”

Lights began forming around them.  First a few, then more.  Angels.  Not the same of a few moments ago.  This was another group.  

Joe took a fighting pose, Lena held high, and shining.  The angels looked around.  

“We were summoned.  Where is Michael?”  

The one who spoke came to stand in front of Joe and Lena, even as the others fanned out to their sides.

“We sent him packing.”  Joe’s words reflected a confidence he did not feel.  But the bluff seemed a good bet to buy him some time. “He left part of his equipment behind,” Joe did not take his eyes off the angel, but made a motion with his head to the embedded blade remnant.  

A small amount of light reached from the angel to the sword piece.  As it did so, each angel drew a sword.  It was designed to be intimidating, and it succeeded.

“That’s just for effect!”  Lena’s words cut through his growing uncertainty.  “You need to focus.  You need to be steadfast, for both our lives are in your hands.  Literally.”

Four of the angels came at them, two high, two coming in low, swords swinging.  One angel went for the girl still huddled in the recess.

“NO!!”  Joe was unaware of it, but he yelled the word out-loud.  He had bought into this, and whatever his ultimate fate, he had accepted that his involvement might end his life.  But the girl was just a pawn in this conflict, and she did not deserve to be such.

Lena’s sweeping motion actually cut through two swords, and deflected the other two.  Joe continued his motion, bringing Lena’s sword not to meet the fifth sword, but to pass right through the angel going for the girl.  For a moment it seemed as if nothing had happened, then light burst forth from the angel, and it wailed as it retreated.

The four angels also retreated as Joe resumed his stance in front of the girl.  

The angel who had spoken reached out, light dancing along the invisible barrier comprised of Lena’s being and Joe’s power.  

“Buffalo.”  The angel’s word cut through Joe’s focus, and in that instant, the angel reached through Lena’s barrier, and grasped Joe’s hands, even as he tried to regain control.  As if in a trance, Joe watched Lena’s glow diminish, then settle into a pulse reminiscent of a heart beat.  Joe could no longer sense Lena, and he knew she was fighting for her very existence.

“That was one of the more creative assignments.”  The angel’s mind was encroaching on Joe’s consciousness.  The angel no longer spoke out loud, but Joe heard the words.  “You were not able to help them, and you have failed this Sword Maiden as well.  She will make a tasty morsel, and shortly, so will you.”

The angel smiled, then  . . . a puzzled look washed over his face.  This time he voiced the words.  “No; you are not that powerful.”  There was no conviction in his voice.  

Lena’s struggle to keep the angel from sapping her strength, her very being, suddenly got easier.  And then she felt it.  Contact with Joe’s hands . . . an incredible cold spreading from them, infusing into her.  A terrible cold, horrific in it’s depth and breadth, but at the same time filling her with power, confidence . . . and an understanding that nothing was going to happen to her; these angels were a mere inconvenience.  

She reached out for Joe’s mind . . . “Are you alright?”  His words reached her first, but she continued, re-establishing the link to . . . Lena did not know what.  Joe was still there, but she equated what she felt as if a glacier had suddenly gained sentience.  It took her a moment to recognize it . . . but it was nothing like it should have been.  Hate.  

Hate.  It should have been burning, as if swimming in molten rock, as if one stood at the tip of a flame.  It was anything but.  She looked deeper . . . hate channeled into indignation by fury, by a mixture of emotions all crystallized into a single focus to . . . she lacked the words to define it.   Whatever it was, it was alright with her.  “I’m fine; let’s do this!”

One instant Joe was in front of the angel, and the next he was past it . . .  Lena and he had passed through the angel in a blink of an eye.  Lena’s blade was a deep, almost translucent blue, and tendrils of light streamed from it, ending at what was now two separate clouds of fading shimmer.  Within seconds, one angel was no more.

~~

Chapter 15 – Found

The other angels drew back, swords raised.  Joe looked at them.  Lena marveled at his utter lack of doubt;  these angels were not going to harm anyone today.  They might not survive the day themselves.

The angels circled , surrounding Joe and Lena, the girl forgotten for the moment.  

The whole of the events had taken less than a half a minute . . . and that was long enough for Shadow to return.   The circle of angels surrounding the blue glow emanating from Joe and Lena was in turn surrounded by darkness.  No words were spoken.  The same void that had enveloped the first batch of angels, now enveloped these angels.  

This was a lot quicker than before.  Save one, all of the angels were suddenly compressed, then reduced to a line of bright light surrounded by nothing . . . and then they were gone.

Shadow coalesced into human form, save for black tendrils holding the form of one angel.  He walked over to the pillar, and effortlessly withdrew the shard of Michael’s sword.  

He walked back to the angel.  To his credit, the angel did not cringe.  For a few instants, Shadow and the angel looked at each other.  A swift motion, and the shard was embedded in the form of the angel.  

“Go tell them.  Go tell The Christ, and all the others.”  Shadow’s tendrils slowly withdrew from the form of the angel.  “They can either meet us, or be hunted down like prey.”

Shadow turned as he spoke the last word, and the angel started to fade . . . “Go!”  

Joe and Lena still shone a cold blue, but less intense.  Shadow walked to them.

“I see you found yourself.”

Joe and Lena did not know if Shadow spoke to one, the other, or to their collective selves.  

Shadow continued.  “Joe, it seems to me you’ve reached your full potential, and more.  If you think you can hold your new-found level, I would be honored to have you fight at my side.”

“Ice.”

“Pardon?”  Shadow showed a rare hint of emotion; puzzlement.

“Ice and Lena.  There is no more Joe.”  As he spoke, that which used to be Joe hung Lena, now just the hilt, on his belt, lowering his shirt over it, hiding her from sight.

“”Ice . . . I like it.”  Shadow smiled,  then a troubled look flickered across his face.

“This better not be a reference to Top Gun . . . “  He hated that movie.

Ice smiled back . . . “No, that would be Iceman.”  They walked toward the girl.

~~

Chapter 16 – The Messenger

The angel stood, the shard of Michael’s sword focusing his light at the point of entry to his form.  Everyone was silent.

“Those powers have not been seen since time was forged.  Are you sure of what you saw?”  The Christ was not pleased having to even consider the possibility what the messenger had reported was factual.

~ To Be Continued ~

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