by L.L Hunter
Light
“What exactly is the Realm of Light?” Scarlett asked in the car on the way back to the Academy. Blackbell had its own private car fleet of old British taxis, which were used on official business only.
“It’s a realm that can only be entered by angels,” he told her.
“And why do angels go there?”
“Because fallen angels can’t enter back into the Realm of Fire. And angels who haven’t chosen a side can’t enter the Realm of Ice. So they go to the Realm of Light.”
“Which is like Purgatory, right?”
“Not quite. Purgatory is where all other creatures live in wait. The Realm of Light is only for angels.”
Scarlett processed this. “So, can I go into the Realm of Light and rescue him?” she asked, hopeful. But her heart sank with Jacob’s next words.
“No, I’m sorry. Only full-fledged angels can enter the Realm of Light.”
“But, you said Lakyn put him in there, right? Why?”
“Because they are trying to start a new war, and Dyston was getting in their way.”
“Who are they?”
Jacob let out his breathe slowly. “The Lucifites.”
“So, that’s what Lakyn’s been plotting? He wants to bring the Lucifites back to life?”
“Like a phoenix from the ashes,” he told her.
Beth stormed into Lakyn’s empty apartment. She was like a force of nature, and she swept the soldiers up in her whirlwind, for that was her Trait. She knocked the two guards down first, and then she went for Abel, who was cowering near the window. He glanced at it, and then at her.
“You jump, you die,” she told him.
“I’m going to anyway,” he told her, smashing the glass.
“I’m not here to kill you, Abel. I’m here to offer you immunity, if you help my son.”
“Which one?” he snickered.
“Both, but more importantly, my youngest. The one you have imprisoned in the Realm of Light.”
“Sorry, can’t help you,” he told her, about to jump. Beth grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him away from the window.
“Please, Abel, help me. I will reward you with anything that you wish,” she told him. He sighed.
“You know there’s only one way your son can get out of the Realm of Light, right?” he asked. Beth nodded. She knew, but she was afraid to admit it.
“Yes, I know.”
Dyston clenched his jaw. The pain from the bindings was searing and irritating his wrists. “Are these necessary?”
“Just following orders,” Abraham told him.
“From who?”
Before Abraham could answer, he led Dyston out of the cave, down a slope, and into a creek bed, where everything shined. Dyston had heard about the Realm of Light many times from his mother, but he had never been here. So, he must be a full-fledged angel, he thought. The beauty of the realm temporarily took away the pain his fiery handcuffs inflicted. Everything shimmered and glittered, looking like it had been touched by faeries. The trees were covered in tiny blue lights. They swayed in a non-existent breeze. When they touched the tree next to it, the adjacent tree lit up brighter than the former. That wasn’t the most incredible and unique part about this place—that was the river. This river didn’t contain water. Rather, it overflowed with crystals, diamonds, and tiny crystal spheres—the very same type of sphere that Abraham had around his neck.
“There’s no point in holding me in these bindings. I can’t escape from here without the key,” Dyston told him as they walked. “Where are you taking me, anyway?”
“To the Chambers,” replied Abraham.
Dyston flinched. The Chambers was a place where they conducted tests and carried out punishments. It was a sort of courthouse for Nephilim.
They entered the forest. The lights were brighter and stronger here. Up above and everywhere around, Dyston heard a flap of wings—other angels flew overhead. He wanted to call out for help.
“Who are you working for?” he asked Abraham, who had just yanked him forward.
“Keep up,” Abraham growled. Before long, the forest thinned out and it grew darker, but only for a second. Up ahead rose the spires of the Chambers. It looked like any gothic castle, except this one was outlined in blue light and seemed to float on clouds. They stepped onto the bridge leading to the front gate of The Chambers, and Dyston was immediately hesitant. He knew what the bridge was made out of.
“If you don’t quit stopping, I’ll add your wings to that pile,” said Abraham, yanking him forward again. Dyston had no choice but to step on the bridge of angel wings. His mother had told him about it in a bedtime story when he was young—angels that betrayed God and went against their Task had their wings ripped out and added to the Bridge of Wings. From that moment, Dyston had been terrified to ever step a foot wrong until he found Scarlett. From that moment on, he realised he would sacrifice anything to protect her, even his wings. And if this were what it took, he would do it. He followed Abraham into the Chambers.
As soon as Scarlett arrived back at Blackbell, she ran towards Lakyn’s office. But not before running into Emer and Del.
“Scar, you’re back!” squealed Emer, throwing her arms around Scarlett.
“Yes. Shh, don’t let everyone know.”
“I’m so glad you’re back, and that you’re safe.”
“Well, I’m not exactly safe. None of us are,” Scarlett told her friends. The two girls just stared at her, confused.
“I’ll explain later. Right now, I need to find Lakyn.”
“He’s missing,” Emer told her.
“What?” Scarlett’s heart sank. “What do you mean, missing?”
“Ask Jacob. He’s the one who darted him,” Emer told her.
“Darted him?”
“Yeah, ‘cause he was hurting Josh.”
“So, that means his office is free,” stated Scarlett as she ran down the hall.
“I have a feeling this is not good,” said Del, staring after Scarlett.
“Not at all,” added Emer.
Scarlett pushed open the door to Lakyn’s office. It was dark and smelled of his cigarettes. She flipped on the light and surveyed the room. Jacob had told her that Lakyn held the key to freeing Dyston. So, she had to find something—anything— that was a clue. His desk was on the same wall as the door. She noticed it was clean, too clean. No papers, just a computer, and a bronze statuette of Lucifer depicted in his angel form—his previous self. Scarlett walked behind the desk, sat on the chair and switched on the computer. While she waited for it to boot up, she glanced around the rest of the room. There was nothing else but a punching bag and three bookshelves. He lived a boring life, she thought, dedicated to study. As soon as the computer home screen opened, the first thing she noticed was the desktop, or rather, the lack of one. There was no personal photo, only the Blackbell family crest. She realised, with a sinking feeling, that this must not be his personal computer. Instead of turning it off again, she decided to browse. The first thing she clicked on was his email inbox. A box appeared that asked for a password. Damn! She began to think of the possibilities it could be. The first thing she tried was blackwings. It was Lakyn’s company name and black wings also adorned his family crest, so it was the most logical choice. It was a success. She was in. She almost laughed out loud at how easy it had been. She studied the latest email, the subject line entitled RE: BlackWing Test Subject - Phase One. She clicked on it and read the body of the email. It appeared to have come from an employee at his factory, someone in charge of doing tests with the ‘new formula.’ It also noted that subjects were responding positively and followed every chain of command they were given. What she read horrified Scarlett. They were running tests on working class Nephilim with the hallucinogenic formula Dyston told her about. They were turning them into zombies. She clicked out of the email, shut down the computer, and quickly jumped away from the desk.
So, this was what Lakyn was up to? But how did it involve Dyston and
herself? On her way out of the room, she accidently knocked the Lucifer statue, and it fell sideways onto the desk. Simultaneously, a panel of the wall opposite slid up to reveal a collection of skeleton keys. Just as she was about to grab one, a figure appeared in the doorway. She spun around, and came face to face with Lakyn.
The interior of the Chambers seemed much smaller than the impression the exterior gave, probably due to all the Hematite and black marble floors. Abraham led Dyston towards the back of the foyer and veered to the left. He pushed on a set of double doors, also made of Hematite, and stepped into a room that was entirely white, a shocking contrast to the previous room. Abraham sat Dyston on a table in the centre of the room. It looked like a surgical room, and Dyston was suddenly afraid.
“Wings out,” said a woman in white scrubs and mask, whom Dyston hadn’t noticed. The only thing Dyston could see was her eyes. They were the colour of a lemon meringue pie. He couldn’t disobey her, when someone asked for an angel to show their wings, they had to. His enormous coal black wings sprouted from his back and the woman took hold of them, stretching them out. His wings were very sensitive. It annoyed Dyston immensely.
“What are you doing to them?” he asked fearfully. The woman didn’t answer, instead she let his wings go, and came around in front of him. The woman then began shining a torch into each of his eyes.
“Have you completed your Task?” she asked in an eastern European accent.
“Not yet, why? What are you doing to me?”
“That is very strange,” was all she said in reply.
“What’s strange?” he asked, confused.
“Your wings, they’re black, very strange.”
“Well, I guess I did stray from my Task, as you say.”
“They should not be black, unless you have chosen. Have you chosen?” she asked, looking Dyston straight in the eye. He matched her gaze. He didn’t have to think of what to say, he knew.
“Yes, I have chosen.”
“What are you doing in my office?” he asked Scarlett, who was still standing in front of the keys. He looked at the wall, and then at the Lucifer statue, and straightened it back up, closing the wall panel.
“I came to find you,” she told him, innocently.
“That’s flattering, but I’m busy,” he told her, rubbing his neck. Scarlett noticed there was a small puncture wound there. Probably from Jacob’s dart, she guessed.
“How did you escape from the cell?” she wondered aloud. “I thought Jacob drugged you.” Lakyn stopped rubbing his neck and looked up at her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a skeleton key, dropping it onto the desk.
“What do you want? As I said, I’m busy.”
Scarlett stood straighter and changed her persona. She had a plan. “I won’t take up your time,” she told him, shutting the door.
“What are you doing?” he asked, as Scarlett came closer to him. She walked around the desk to where he was now sitting, sliding her finger across the tabletop.
“You may have heard, that I broke up with Dyston,” she began, attempting to be seductive. This was only the beginning of her lie.
“Why are you telling me?” he suddenly couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“Because, you are more my type. He was so clingy and possessive. But you let me have my space, which I like.”
“You like me?” Lakyn’s eyes became wide in surprise. “Wait, how did you get free?”
“Well, I may not carry around a key like you do, but I do have my secret weapon.” Scarlett watched Lakyn’s eyes take her in.
“I know you like me, too. I’ve seen you looking. You check me out every day,” she told him, sitting on his lap. She was playing with fire, and she knew it. But it was the only way to save Dyston. She had always been told to keep her friends close and her enemies closer. Well, she would keep Lakyn Blackbell so close that she would know his every secret and every weakness.
“So my brother, he’s in love with you. You know that, right?” he asked her, staring into her eyes.
“Yes,” she lied. Her heart sank, but she had to do this. She would explain everything to Dyston later. She only hoped he’d forgive her. Even though a part of her loved him, the other half suspected that he was only with her, because she was the Legend, and because she was his Task, so he felt the need to protect her and keep her to himself. But that was what she hated the most. She hated being treated like a possession.
“But I don’t love him,” said Scarlett, and then she kissed him hard, pressing herself against him. He spread his wings and pulled her into the air, where they hovered above the desk. Scarlett looked down and then back up at him. She smiled, taking in the glory of his wings.
“They’re beautiful,” she said, stroking them. “I’ve never seen marbled wings before.”
“They’re unique,” he told her.
“Like you,” she said flirtatiously, kissing him again.
“And like you,” he told her, before tearing off her clothes. She gasped, but she let him do it. She couldn’t believe that she was about to sleep with the enemy, to sleep with someone other than Dyston. Some nights she had fantasies about being with Dyston, but this was no dream or fantasy. This was acting. Scarlett needed answers. She took off his shirt, ripping the buttons apart.
Afterwards, they lay wrapped together in his wings on the floor.
“You know, that was my first time, right?” she told him, running her fingers through his hair.
“I’m surprised I beat my brother to it,” he chuckled.
“He was too much of a gentleman. I prefer bad boys,” she told him, kissing his chest, which made him laugh. He stroked her hair, and she snuggled closer. Then she asked the question she had been dying to ask.
“Can you tell me about the Realm of Light?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I’ve always wanted to go there. I can’t wait.”
“Well, you have to be a full-fledged angel to enter the Realm, or be called there. Didn’t you know that?”
“No. And be called there? For what?”
“For tests or punishment. They run exams to see how far along angels are with their Task and to see if they’re in danger of straying.”
“Task? Like how Dyston was tasked with protecting me?”
“That’s correct.”
“Do all angels receive a Task?”
“Yes. We all have a mission on this earth.”
“And if angels stray from their task, what happens then?”
“Their wings will be ripped out, and added to the Bridge of Wings as a reminder of what they have done,” he told her. Scarlett felt sick. If that’s why Dyston had been taken to The Realm of Light, then she didn’t have much time left, if any. And if it had already happened, if they had already torn his wings out, then she had failed him.
“What happens to an angel after their wings have been ripped out?” she asked.
“They are shunned and stripped of their Trait, and, therefore, become human.”
Human—any angel’s worst nightmare. For that was the reason for the war in The Realm of Fire in the Beginning. Angels rebelled against God because they felt jealous of his new creation. So it was ironic that if they rebelled again, they would have their wings ripped out and be turned into the thing they loathed the most.
“How do you enter The Realm of Light? Is there like a magic gateway, or key, or something?” Scarlett asked.
“There are both. Now, why all the questions about the Realm?”
“As I said, I’m curious. I really want to go there,” she said, kissing his chest.
“Well, just for you, I might be able to pull some strings.”
“Really? Thank you so much.” She kissed him again before sitting up, and pulling together what was left of her clothes after Lakyn had torn them.
“It’s no problem. I have a bone to pick with someone there anyway,” Lakyn said, as he sat up, pulling on his briefs. “You had better go and get changed,” he tol
d her. “I’ll meet you in the library by the tree.”
“Okay.” She crossed to the door while holding the strips of fabric around her as much as she could, and prayed to God that no one saw her.
“And Scarlett?” he asked, stopping her
“Yes?”
“Thank you,” he told her with a genuine smile. Was he falling for her? Scarlett didn’t know what to say. She just smiled back and exited the office. As she snuck through the corridors and up the stairs to her room, she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty, and a little pleased at the same time. Guilty for what she had just done, when she was sure she had feelings for Dyston and pleased that her plan just might have worked. She was going to the Realm of Light.
Chapter Ten