by L. L Hunter
“We are a special sect dedicated to helping Angels with a true calling, like you.” Replied Abel. Was he serious?
“Look I don’t believe you. And if you don’t let me go, you’ll have to deal with Dyston, he’s coming.” She struggled again, but this time she felt hot, she was burning up, and they would have to deal with it, she thought. She sent a prayer to Dyston.
~
Dyston flew over the city tirelessly searching for Scarlett, but there was no sign. Until he received a message.
“Dyston, please help. I’m being held captive by a sect who say they help special angels.”
He immediately knew whom it was from.
“Be strong,” he told her, “If they touch you, fight back. I believe in you.”
“They have me shackled, and I’m burning up . . .”
“Keep calm, breathe. Do you notice anything about your surrounding? Can you see a window?”
There were a few moments of silence, in which Dyston grew increasingly impatient. He wanted to murder the people who held her. He was thankful when he heard her again.
“There’s one window, I’m surrounded by buildings.”
“Describe them,” he asked her.
“Three buildings, almost joining, made of bluish glass. The smallest one has a tree on the top.”
Dyston flapped his mighty wings once and sped up, flying towards the main part of the Central Business District.
~
Jacob carried Lakyn down several flights of musty dark concrete stairs.
“Where does this lead?” Kat asked. She stayed close by him.
“To the cells. Long ago they were built to hold angels who rebelled against the Realm of Fire and who then decided to follow Lucifer,” Jacob told her, “listen you don’t need to come with me, you don’t need to see this.”
“I want to, I’m not leaving you.” She told him, touching his arm. He managed a smile over Lakyn’s limp leg.
“How long have you known what Lakyn was up to?”
“I had a hunch from the beginning. As Dyston and I grew close, I began to notice things just by hanging out with the Blackbell brothers.”
“Is Dyston evil too?”
“No, he’s the opposite. Although he has rebelled, and the Michaelites disagree, it’s for the greater good.”
“Why did he rebel?” she asked, curious. Before Jacob could answer, Lakyn groaned.
“We need to hurry,” Jacob told her, sprouting his wings. Kat gasped. She had never seen them before. They were as white as the clouds were when the sun hit them, and the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. He lifted off of the ground and flew down over the stairs and right into a cell, dumping Lakyn’s body. He quickly jumped out again and locked the Iron Gate behind him.
“Why are you doing this?” Lakyn asked groggily.
“To protect the good of all angel-kind,” Jacob told him, slipping his fingers through Kat’s.
“There is no good anymore, only corruption and rebellion.” He spat, sitting up.
“Dyston only rebelled against his Task because he fell in love with her.” Jacob said. Lakyn laughed, and Jacob suddenly regretted telling him.
“I always knew he was weak, that’s why his wings turned black,” he snickered. His laugh was sadistic.
“Come on,” Jacob told Kat, “Lets go find the others.” And they left the cells hand in hand, leaving Lakyn behind.
~
Dyston had the city skyline in his sights. He zeroed his gaze in on a cluster of three buildings, one of which had a tree on top. That must be the one, he thought. He flapped his wing tips, which pushed him higher into the sky, and landed on one of the rooftops. But what he hadn’t noticed, was that someone was already there waiting for him. He felt pain in his left wing and then the world began to blur. He dropped to his knees and prayed.
“Scarlett, send help.” Was all he managed before everything went dark.
~
She felt the flames lick her legs first, and then her abdomen. They rose to her arms, then her shoulders, and finally to her head. She didn’t scream in pain, it didn’t hurt, but the power was amazing. She felt strong, and then she heard it. His voice. It was as natural to her as her own.
“Scarlett, send help,” he told her, and that was it, nothing else came after.
“Dyston?” she tried to reply, but still heard nothing, nothing but silence. Silence killed her. She knew it meant only one thing. He never ignored her; it meant he was in trouble. She concentrated one last time on the power of the fire inside her, felt it surge, and then she pushed against her bindings, and they snapped. She wanted to cry and laugh out loud with joy, but she knew this wasn’t the end of her battle; she still had to find a way out of the room before her captors returned.
She tried the only door in the room, but it was locked. She tried heating up the metal but it didn’t budge. The only way out was through the window. She walked over to it and looked down. She was really high up; if she jumped she would die. She leaned back against the wall beside the window and thought. She hadn’t even been taught how to summon her wings out of her yet, that was Second Year stuff. So she couldn’t fly. What was taking Dyston so long? He should have found her by now. How many trees on top of buildings could there be? She looked back at the bed where she had been strapped down. Her captors must have lied about the bindings being made of Hell-metal, because they had been totally melted and warped. Some of the molten metal had even dripped onto the floor. She made a mental note to research the Realms of Fire and Ice and their materials when she returned to Blackbell.
~
Dyston blinked. He couldn’t see anything in front of his face, only pitch-black darkness. And then there appeared a single flame. It flickered and danced in its own halo. Dyston watched it. It came closer and closer to him, until it was so close that he could feel its warmth. And then a hand appeared, followed by a face. Dyston tried to drag himself backwards but he couldn’t go anywhere, a solid rock wall prevented him.
“Who are you?” he asked the person with the flame. His voice echoed and he realised that he must be in a cave.
“Don’t worry about us,” the gravelly voice told him. The voice belonged to a male and sounded a lot older than Dyston. “What you should be worried about now is the fact that you are going to lose this war.”
“I wasn’t aware that we were currently in a war,” Dyston said as he pulled himself into a sitting position, “and why is it so dark in here?”
“Because its just turned twilight. Just wait, you will see, this place is magical at night.” Said the flame guy. And at the same moment he finished speaking, there was the most amazing bluish-white light, so bright that Dyston had to shield his eyes with his hand. At least he could see, he thought. When the light had dimmed enough so that his eyes weren’t hurting, he glanced around the cave. The cave itself was maybe twenty square metres, and there were three other angels there with him; two sitting at the mouth of the cave, and the one with the candle. He looked closer at the candle, which he had thought was a lighter or a match, but it was actually a small flame inside a sphere of glass, hanging on a chain around his neck.
“Why do you have me here?” Dyston asked them.
“To stop you from interfering with our mission,” replied one the angels by the mouth.
“Your mission? Which is what exactly?”
“Why, finding the Legend and destroying the Michaelites of course.” Dyston sucked in a breath. They were after Scarlett. Maybe these were the people who held her as well, he thought.
“What do you want with the Legend? And how do you know that the rumour’s true?”
“We want The Legend on our side of the war, fighting with us,” said the gravelly-voiced guy.
“And remind me again, what war?”
“Why, the War of the Realms, foolish Heavenly reject.”
Dyston chuckled, “You’re mistaken, there is no war.”
“Oh but there is, we started it,” he told Dyston,
pulling him up by the binds on his wrists he didn’t realise he had. They lit up like the flame in the sphere and Dyston realised what it was; Hell Fire bound him, and he was beginning to burn.
~
Lakyn’s phone began to ring. Jacob fished it out of his pocket.
“Is that Lakyn’s phone? Who’s calling?” Asked Kat, as she walked beside her boyfriend on their way to dinner.
“Someone named Abraham,” he told her, staring at the caller ID.
“Answer it,” she whispered, glancing around to see if anyone was around They weren’t alone. A few other students were still in the corridors making their way to the dining hall. Jacob pulled Kat through a door to their left and shut it behind him. Kat realised they were in the janitor’s closet. Jacob answered the call.
“Abraham?” he asked, trying to sound as much like Lakyn as possible.
“It’s done.” The voice on the other end told him. Jacob held the phone up between them so that Kat could hear too.
“What is? I’m sorry, I’ve been so busy that I forgot what I asked you to do,” said Jacob.
“We have your brother, he can’t interfere anymore. And Abel has the girl.” Said Abraham. Jacob tried not to sound alarmed. He continued to play along.
“Excellent. Where are you holding them?”
“Abel has the flame-haired girl in your apartment down town, and your brother is with us in the Realm of Light,” said Abraham. Jacob swallowed and tried not to lose it, he took a deep breath. He practically ruled Abraham. He could make him do anything, anything except make him release Scarlett and Dyston, he realised. He still had to act like Lakyn. What would Lakyn do?
“Okay, keep my brother there, as he can’t leave even if he wanted to. But bring the girl back to the Academy.”
“Are you sure, boss? You asked us to hold her.”
“I know, but she hasn’t been properly trained, she’s of no use to us if she doesn’t know her full potential.”
“Very well, I’ll contact Abel,” said Abraham, before cutting the connection. Jacob put the phone back in his pocket and looked at Kat.
“What do you think they’re planning with Scarlett and Dyston?” she asked him.
“A war, that we’re not yet prepared for,” he told her, bursting out of the closet. Kat followed him.
“What are we going to do?”
“We have to train as many of the students as possible, and fast.”
“How much time do we have?”
“Not sure, but I’m guessing not long.”
“Where are you going?” Kat called as she ran after him. His pace was too quick for her, so he slowed and let her catch up.
“We’re going to dinner, so that we can tell Beth what her eldest son has been planning, and to ask her how to free Dyston,” he told her, taking her hand as they entered the dining hall. Kat wanted to ask him how Dyston’s Mother could help free her son, but she didn’t have time, as they were now standing in front of her.
“Jacob, Katherine, where are my sons? I know Dyston is sometimes late but never Lakyn,” asked Beth.
“Can we speak with you alone, Professor Beth?” asked Jacob. Beth looked at her husband who sat next to her at the Professor’s table, at the front of the dining hall. Zachariah nodded.
“Fill me in later,” he said to his wife. Beth stood and followed Jacob and Kat outside into the corridors.
“What is this about?” she asked when outside.
“We have a problem,” began Jacob, “Lakyn has joined the Lucifites, and had Dyston and Scarlett kidnapped.”
“What?” Gasped Beth, in shock, “How do you know of this?”
“One of his employees, a man named Abraham, called Lakyn’s phone, which I have. He told us that they’re holding them captive. And Beth, Dyston’s trapped in the Realm of Light,” said Jacob.
Beth inhaled sharply, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, you know how to free him, don’t you?”
~
Scarlett had almost given up on escaping. Sure that the only way out was death. Until she heard feet approaching. She stood and called her Trait to her. She felt the heat surge and her body warm, she was getting pretty good at this now. Her hands and her brown irises glowed orange. When the door opened she would be ready for them.
“What the hell?” said Abel, “she’s escaped. How on earth…” he was stunned.
“Hell-metal huh?” said Scarlett, stepping out from behind the door, “You had better think harder next time you want to trap ‘The Legend’,” she said, throwing a fireball from her hands towards Abel’s face. His skin melted off his face right before her eyes, and his screams made Scarlett want to throw up. But she held herself together, she had to get out. She ran towards the open door but one of the other angels grabbed her.
“Stop fighting,” he told her, “our master told us to return you to the Academy,” he told her. His breath stunk of Black Wing, a unique brand of cigarette. She had heard about it from Dyston, who had told her that it was Lakyn’s company that had developed a special formula. It contained a hallucinogen that made you think Lucifer was your master, so that you would join the Lucifites. And it was the sign that told her that these angels were under the same influence. Or thought they were. She knew they worked for Lakyn.
“I don’t believe you,” she said, spitting in his face. But he didn’t let her go, he just gripped tighter.
“It’s the truth, he told Abraham himself.”
“Abraham?” asked Scarlett.
“Yeah, the angel that’s holding your fallen boyfriend,” he told her. Scarlett froze. They had Dyston. No wonder she couldn’t hear him anymore.
“What did you do to him?” she demanding, kicking out her legs, striking the angel guard in the shin.
“Argh! You little Archangel bitch! The sooner we get rid of you, the better,” he screamed.
Scarlett managed to get lose again and ran through the open door. She only made it halfway down the hall when she heard the elevator open around the corner. She froze and pinned herself against the wall, waiting. But the person who came around the corner was not who she expected. For there before her, stood Dyston’s mother, Beth Blackbell, and right behind her, Jacob.
“Scarlett, go with Jacob back to the Academy,” she told Scarlett, “I’ll deal with Abel and his guards.” Scarlett immediately ran to Jacob’s side but not before giving the older woman a warm smile. Beth smiled back, and then continued walking towards the apartment.
As Scarlett rode the elevator down to the ground floor with Jacob, a million questions zipped through her mind.
“Where’s Dyston?” was the first one she asked. Jacob met her eyes sadly.
“He’s being held in the Realm of Light, and there’s only one person who can get him out,” he told her.
“Who?”
“Lakyn.”
“Well, I’ll go and ask him when we get back.”
“Okay, but Scarlett, there’s one little problem with that.”
“What’s that?”
“Lakyn’s the one who put him in there.”
Chapter Nine
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 which 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 in to 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 c
an 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 just 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 screamed. “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, and when they swayed in a non-existent breeze, and touched the one next to it, the adjacent tree lit up brighter than the former. But that wasn’t the most incredible and unique part about this place; that was the river. This river didn’t contain water. Rather, it flowed with crystals, diamonds and the tiny glass spheres, which Abraham had around his neck. Now he knew where his mother got her crystal jewellery, he thought. No one ever fought over these gems though, for they contained no wealth in the earthly realm.