Archangel of the Fallen

by Devin Lee Carlson

  Behind me, Ariane choked on a gasp.

  “Stay back. I’ll get Sabree to the other side and come back for you. No…wait.” I whipped around and grabbed my son and sister before either could blink and sped through the chamber of nails as I had done before. So fast, my hiking boots glided over nails as if skating on ice. I dropped both off in the opposite tunnel, spun around, grabbed Sabree by the collar, and dragged him into the room with the others. Behind us the ceiling caved in, this time slower at detecting his bloody feet. My boot treads were torn to rubbery shreds. Again, no way but forward.

  “Azrian,” I said, my tone low and serious. “Hold him while I remove this effing bug.”

  “Sure, Pop. Never saw Unc so hell bent on going ahead. And to where?” He swallowed the lump in his throat, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “How are you going to get it off him?”

  “Yes, how are you going to get that thing off my husband?”

  The future Ariane I left behind never had an inkling to marry Sabree. Or vise-versa. These two lovebirds warmed my heart. But later, not now. The pede called for immediate action. “Speed,” I finally said. “The same JLS trick I used to remove the Malakhim arrow from your back. Sabree’s too.” I turned to Ariane and urged her to stand behind my son. “Grab Sabree and fall back when I give the word.”

  Both nodded like bobbleheads in a four-wheel-drive jeep bouldering across a mountaintop. I would’ve laughed if not for the butt-ugly pede snapping air between us.

  The centipede had chewed up the pack and left it in shreds, which slipped off. “Ready?” I asked.

  The bobbing continued.

  My body vibrated until it geared into high speed. Along with everyone’s bones, the vibrations rattled the tunnel. As soon as the pede’s snapping teeth paused in mid-bite, frozen in time, I shuddered with the heebie-jeebies and grabbed it around the middle. My eyes narrowed and my nose scrunched up as I tried to pull it off Sabree. Something tugged back. A sideways glance revealed a worm-like tendril had anchored itself into Sabree’s neck though not too deep. I pulled it out with ease. Now for step two.

  The pede couldn’t defend itself, my grip on its midsection too fast for it to detect the manhandling. JLS speed shot me into the portal void near the Dark One who swallowed Farian. Held at arm’s length, I released the critter from my protective shield. The physical body of the pede exploded into an array of piranha cherubs. As soon as they zipped around, their sparkling teeth chomping, the bunch dive-bombed me.

  Not this time. Never again! Destructive waves blasted the cherubs, scattering them in every direction. Their whimpering screeches reached my mind, filled me with self-satisfaction. No wonder the pede despised me more than Sabree. The damned thing was full of the nastiest buggers in the portal worlds—cherubs.

  35

  Lighted One wannabe

  I reappeared inside the tunnel dusting my hands from a task well done.

  Somewhat alert, Sabree was asking Ariane what happened. He lunged and wrapped both arms around me in a bear hug. “You’re a lifesaver, Brian! I couldn’t control myself. Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it. Happy to help.” He offered no clue as to why the urge to get ahead possessed him. It definitely had something to do with the cherubs hidden inside the pede.

  “What did you do with the centipede?” Azrian asked. “Blood Sea?”

  “When I released it near a Dark One, the bloody thing blew up. Cherubs in disguise. I mind blasted the nasty beasties to hell.” My gaze shot to Ariane. “Don’t move.” I reached out to flick her shoulder. “What’s that under your hair?”

  “Get it off me,” she screamed, dancing in place, her hands flapping to swat it off.

  All three of us guys laughed, the trick overplayed, the reaction always the same. Paybacks, Sis. For all the times she had teased me as a spider. I cringed all over. This version of my sister had never abused her gift, so I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. “Sorry, Sis, my bad.”

  Her arms folded, Ariane scowled at Sabree and Azrian. “Well? You two laughed along with him.” She waved them off when they chuckled even more. Her tired eyes caught my attention. “How many surprise traps left?”

  “No mas… no more. The final roadblock is the sealed passageway into the keep.” Long before these three bumble heads crashed the island, I had planned to return here by myself. Two prizes awaited me. Number one, the ruby gem that worked as a locking stone sparkled in my mind. The one stolen on the first venture into the keep was wasted, tossed into the Blood Sea. At the time, aThorsis possessed Turian’s body and escaped as an archangel. Not even the ruby could lock him up.

  For the rest of the way, I took the lead. Unlike the first trip with Sabree 2.0, this one was far worse in some ways. As I approached the keep, electrical energy coursed through me. A constricting pressure squeezed the epicenter of my being. The urge to release my archangel colors rose dangerously close. It took every bit of control my body and soul could muster to stay my physical self. The radiant glow in my fiery opal eyes, reflected in their own, warned everyone to say back.

  “Watch it! Pop’s gonna flare up like he did at the sweat.” Azrian shoved the others behind him.

  Unable to speak, afraid I’d lose control, my head shook. The urge to change into my lighted-self subsided, leaving a disturbed emptiness in its wake. “I’m okay. I fought it off.” My hopeful gaze met all three skeptical stares. “Trust me.”

  Together, we lined up in front of the passageway. Azrian read the scripted hieroglyphs as easily as the English alphabet. “Warns us not to enter. White Ghost did something to piss someone off.”

  I could also read the glyphs but kept it to myself. “Not true. aAriel claims White Ghost is the purest of heavenly beings. She suspects aThorsis led the brigade to imprison the ghost.” The red smudge that haunted me in the realm brought my attention to the six-inch ruby set in the middle of the marble slab. Red didn’t exist in the Lighted Realm, but apparently aThorsis had earned the bad-boy color and used it here as a warning.

  Red or not, the jewel sang to me, tempting me to pluck it. And pluck it I would. My warning glance fell on the watchful trio. “Stay back in case this goes bad.”

  “A trap, Pop? Too obvious to be anything else.”

  “Behind this door is White Ghost’s keep. My archangel blood will activate it. Either way, this stone is mine.”

  “No argument from me,” Sabree said. “You earned it, rescuing our derrieres more than once.” No longer eager to take the lead, he urged my sister behind him. She clutched his shoulders, and together, they braced themselves.

  I pushed Azrian back a bit. “Duck and cover.” As I recalled, poking the ruby didn’t open the solid slab. So, my sticky fingers pried the gem out of its setting. Once again, the smooth and cool stone nestled in my palm. Low reverberations quaked the cavern. “Wait for it…”

  Sabree and Ariane’s brows raised as one, revealing a watchful eagerness.

  The cavern rumbled as the marble slab pulled apart. Each section moved as it slid inside its adjacent wall like pocket doors. The ground vibrated. I shielded squinting eyes and stepped back, ready for the blast of light. Radiant beams burst from the room, blinding those behind me. “Come here. The slab doors will slam shut as soon as we step inside.”

  Together, the four of us entered the keep. The slabs slammed shut behind us faster than they had opened. I twirled each one bodily around to make certain everyone entered unscathed. Azrian’s pack was a crushed mass trapped between the slabs. Thankful my son’s back was intact, I shook my head. He rolled his eyes.

  The keep came alive, chimed as a mom-and-pop store did to announce a new customer. The simple chime bloomed into a chorus singing in sweet soprano and tenor voices. The trumpeting clamor rang to either proclaimed this as White Ghost’s prison or broadcast our abrupt entrance. Luminosities bounced off the dome and danced across the walls. The entire chamber glittered with excitement.

  Behind me, Ariane choked on a sob. “Beautiful,”
she gasped. Sabree embraced her.

  The transparent crystal dome towered a few inches over me, the tallest of us all. Its diameter stretched out over ten-feet wide. Inside, a kaleidoscope of cerulean, emerald, and lavender fiberoptic-like wisps swirled around. Tiny stars encompassed White Ghost’s (WG) humanoid form, the white glitter twinkling and fluttering as in a snow globe. No longer radiant, a soft glow warmed us within the keep.

  Harmony, love, empathy oozed from the being, especially from its eyes—two glowing stars located near the top. As before, sorrow claimed the being overall. When WG turned its eyes toward me, it fought against a rush of abhorrence.

  As with the Lighted Ones, more familiar with them now, its unearthly beauty was neither male nor female. I stole a glimpse behind me. Quieter than usual, everyone stared in awe. The cosmic spectacle astounded the three. “Meet White Ghost.”

  The room thundered as WG’s voice bounced off the enclosed cavern. “Lighted One, I refuse to acknowledge your presence. Your kind imprisoned me. Unworthy souls.”

  The first time Sabree and I entered the keep, we touched the dome. It sucked us inside with White Ghost. Inside its prison. What if it sucked us all inside this time? An idea sparked me into action. “If I free you, will you allow my friends a question?”

  “Free me?” GW glowed a bright silver. “They may ask one question whether you free me or not. But only one. Your question does not count, Lighted One wannabe.”

  Relief along with an ounce of gladness enveloped me as if the ghost doubted my word. “I’m not really an archangel—Lighted One—but the son of one.” Not yet anyways. “I am powerful enough though, to remove the dome by mere thought.” The actual trick had nothing to do with my mind except for coming up with the crazy idea of JLS jumping and depositing the dome into the Lighted realm instead of the portal as with the ugly pedeful of cherubs. Why not give it a try.

  I turned to the others. “Line up against the door. I’m going to kick into high gear and JLS this snow globe into the Lighted Realm.” My gaze raked over the ceiling. “Watch for falling sky. Be right back.”

  “Careful,” Ariane said, moving behind Sabree and Azrian. All three huddled together as one. “We’ll wait for you before we ask White Ghost anything.” Sabree glanced sideways at her in question. His eyes matched the kaleidoscope of colors swirling in the dome.

  “Behave, Sabree.” I warned him telepathically. Following a wink and a devilish smile, my body vibrated and with it, dirt sprinkled from the ceiling and raised a dust cloud at my feet. At full throttle, the swirling inside the dome ceased. The stars no longer twinkled. My time-stood-still speed would stop the dome from sucking me inside it. I wrapped my arms around the dome as if to pick it up and put it elsewhere. Not physically but via JLS. When my fleece jacket began to slip inside, I imagined the Lighted Realm and JLS sped near its center. Inside the realm, my Earthly body and the dome dissolved at once, nothing left except for my amber self.

  3 3 3

  Sabree inched forward, his hand pressed against Ariane to keep her behind him. “Brian and the dome are gone. Look at it. White Ghost is free.”

  “We mean you no harm,” Ariane said.

  A voice boomed from the transparent figure of stars. “Free? The one called Brian set me free of the dome. But not of this place.”

  Sabree stepped up as the spokesperson for the group. “Brian will return soon. He knows how to set you free and protect you as well.”

  Azrian stepped alongside him. “Whatever you do, don’t ask it a question. Wait for Pop.”

  A feminine scoff made Sabree cringe.

  “Why wait for Brian?” Ariane asked.

  White Ghost glowed as he asked, “Do I hear a question?”

  “No!” Sabree and Azrian cried together. Sabree slapped her shoulder by mistake. “Sorry, Ariane Rose. Reflexes.”

  “Ask a question,” White Ghost said as its stars twinkled to match its tone. “Only one.” The stars blinked strobe-like. “Even if he sets me free, the one called Brian, still may not ask.”

  “Yeah, yeah, we get that,” Azrian muttered. “I bet this ghost isn’t smart enough to help anyone.”

  “The son of the one who freed me may not ask either,” the creature said. Its glowing eyes blinked at Sabree and Ariane. “Ask.”

  Sabree rubbed the bloodstone ring as his gaze darted from the ghost to the exact spot Brian would appear on at any second. What was keeping him? He should’ve been back by now.

  “Ask him, Sabree.” Ariane nudged him forward. “No need to wait for Brian. He can’t ask.”

  The pressure on, Sabree had only one question in mind. One that concerned their future outcome. “Will Brian beat aThorsis?” A hissing curse from Ariane startled him. “What? What’d I say?”

  “Yes, Brian will beat aThorsis,” White Ghost answered.

  “You effed up that one royally, Unc,” Azrian said. “Beat, yes, but defeat? Who knows?” He spun at Sabree and shoved him. “Damn it, you wasted our one question. Pop beats aThorsis and then aThorsis beats Pop. Back and forth every day until one of them wins the prize. You should’ve asked if Brian defeats him.”

  White Ghost laughed. “You’ve played this game before. You understand.”

  “A fat lot of good it did.” Azrian’s mouth formed a thin line as he folded his arms across his chest. His eyes darkened. “Wait a minute. What is taking Pop so long?”

  “You may not ask a question.”

  “I wasn’t talking to you.” Azrian flipped WG the bird and spun on Sabree. “I’m worried.”

  “aThorsis.” Sabree said, the name bitter on his tongue. Next to him, Ariane stomped her foot. Almost his toe. She slapped his hand away when he tried to comfort her.

  “What if he doesn’t make it back?” Her fingers twisted the hem of her jacket into a ball.

  Azrian mimicked her in a high-pitch voice, his sarcasm on hi-def mode. “No need to wait for Brian to ask a question. Ask it, Sabree. Ask it.” He ducked when Sabree slapped the top of his head. “Not my fault. You guys didn’t wait for Pop.

  “We’re all upset,” Sabree said. “Calm down while I think this through.”

  “Stuck inside this keep forever with a know-it-all ghost stinks.” Ariane’s voice softened as tears spilled. “I hate this. I just want a normal life.”

  “Don’t we all,” Sabree crooned. The lie left a bad taste in his mouth. He never intended to stay on Earth, have children, a dog, or a white-picket fence. As soon as Brian defeated aThorsis, the newly assigned archangel promised Sabree’s return to Malakhim life in the portal. Nothing normal about that. “We wait.” Sabree wished he had asked how to get out of here, but then this was the ghost’s prison, Brian its only hope. Now theirs, however hopeless.

  Azrian bodily pressed Sabree into White Ghost’s personal space. “I thought we had all agreed to ask Mr. Trickster here about Zoeree. In fact, we were supposed to ask how to get her out of the stone and into her own body.” He shoved Sabree and skipped backward when the celestial forcefield around WG pushed Sabree back. “You and Aunt Ariane forgot all about your own daughter.”

  “Oh my God. He’s right, Sabree. We’re terrible parents.”

  A flash filled the cavern. Brian stood in its wake wearing jeans and a sweater.

  Thankful and flabbergasted at once, Sabree raced over to him and stopped short with his arms outstretched. “What the—” He eyeballed the tawny sweater that matched the streak in Brian’s hair. “You stopped to change? Merde, you even took time to highlight your hair?” Sabree hushed the grumbles behind him. “We were frantic; thought you met up with aThorsis. Ariane’s in tears.”

  “I’m in tears because I forgot about my daughter.”

  Brian glanced at Sabree and then at Ariane as though he didn’t know which one to address first. “Aye, I did meet up with aThorsis. The bastard slowed me down a bit.” Brian chuckled, his gaze unfocused as though envisioning the event in his mind. “As for the change of clothes, the Lighted Realm burns whatever I’m wea
ring at the moment of entry. Had to detour home to get dressed. Unless you prefer seeing me in all my glory.”

  “Junk is junk,” Ariane snapped. She wiped her cheeks dry. “Poor Zoeree.”

  Sabree frowned at the raw pain revealed in Brian’s eyes. Pregnancy, however brief, didn’t agree with his wife. “You’re here, which means you survived.”

  “Barely. The dome exploded in my grasp when I materialized inside the realm. All sorts of alarms went off.”

  “Alarms, Pop? I thought the realm was metaphysical. Spiritual.”

  “The bloody alarms inside my head. Whoever created the dome, had no intention of it ever returning. Well, I survived the blast. Sparred with aThorsis until I knocked his ass out of the realm to God knows where. Beat him twice now.”

  Sabree’s jaw clenched at the word beat.

  “Sorry, Brian,” Ariane said as she touched his arm. “Can we leave now?”

  “What about your one-time-only question?”

  Azrian and Ariane huffed as one. With balled fists on their hips, both stared at Sabree. “Ask him,” they said together.

  The dreaded confession had grated on Sabree’s nerves the second Brian returned. His brashness to get over asking the question, wasted the request of a lifetime. “I asked if you would beat aThorsis when I should’ve asked if you would defeat him. Or ask how to help Zoeree.” He refused to acknowledge the rude comments coming from his wife and nephew.

  “Remember how many times you and I almost screwed up asking the question the first time? Shit, that wasn’t you. Never mind, what’s done is done.” The carry-all stone in hand, Brian walked up to White Ghost. “You know who defeats whom, don’t you?”

  “Can’t answer that.”

  “You mean you won’t answer. Well, Mr. White Ghost, I’m the one who defeats aThorsis. Bet your life on it.”

  Sabree clapped, glanced at his wife’s questioning eyes, and paused. “Are you sure?”