The Dark Materials

by Amanda Churi

  “Why?” I wondered incredulously. “Pinion, you are doing exactly what they wanted!”

  Pinion shook her head.

  “How aren’t you?”

  “Because I’m not doing it in the way they hoped; I could not remain pure,” she accepted, never looking at me. “Cecil existed at the first sunlight, watching his species die off through the years… Some guardian angels were killed by demons, but most ended their own lives when they broke their code of honor, not wanting to live with the knowledge of knowing that they would never return to where they came from.” She lifted her chin, the magic of space beaming up through her eyes and into the sealed off Heaven.

  “I was the last guardian angel to be born, probably because I am somehow a prophet… A title that I definitely do not deserve.”

  I raised my eyebrows, surprised. She was one too? Seek and Kaitlyn didn’t seem to know that… No one did. “You don’t act as if you’re one,” I told her, “and if that’s true, why didn’t you tell anyone? Or, at the very least, Mabel and me?”

  She rounded on me, her movements foreboding and dangerous as our eyes locked. “Because I don’t want to be a prophet, and I sure as heck don’t want to have to be your guys’ babysitter.” She scoffed, shrugging. “Pinion,” she emphasized. “You know, a synonym of gear? ‘Driven by past, watched over by gear’? By gosh, you guys are slow… Makes me more reluctant to be the corrupted guardian of you twits.”

  I was astounded; my brain was still hardly working after all that had recently become clear to me, causing me to have trouble getting my thoughts to my tongue. “You figured out the prophecy…?”

  “Of course not!” she shouted in scorn. “But really, that wasn’t too hard of a line to figure out; that doesn’t exactly have a dual or triple meaning unlike most of it.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Anyhow…”

  “But—!”

  “I am moving on!”

  I lightly snarled with anger, but I let it go. Still, I had so many questions… The prophecy was finally being pieced together, but there were still uncountable gaps, and Pinion’s reluctance to help made me want to bash her flawless face against the crystal—she was being uncooperative, and she knew it.

  “Despite all that was falling around him, what he went through, Cecil stuck it out like a true hero,” Pinion explained, a warning glare shot my way as she read my thoughts. “When many angels gave up and eliminated themselves, Cecil hung in there. He knew the odds, but he would not accept ‘no’ for an answer; he wanted to redeem himself, and he did in the end by protecting me and giving this world another chance.

  “Both he and Kevin gave everything for me; they gave their lives, yet in the end, not only did Desmond rise as successor, but Orione lived as well. I was so mad at Kevin for so long… Thinking that he pushed me away for no reason, but had he not at least stalled Orione, I doubt that there would be a world today. And Cecil… He lost everything as well, from his family to his wings at the paws of the three wolves—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but he found the strength to push forth, and, hence, I must as well.”

  “So, where are your wings?” I asked, raising my neck slightly, sure enough seeing that there was nothing behind her back.

  There was an agony festering beneath her eyes that would never be extinguished. “I ripped them from my body,” she rasped, turning around and brushing her lush hair over her shoulders, allowing me to see the tips of four blue-black crevices in her skin between her shoulder blades where a plot of skin no longer resided. “After Desmond began to harness the power of Reeve, which wasn’t too long after he discovered Tah’s frozen body, there was nowhere I could run, especially with those attached.”

  My back cringed, processing the depth behind her words. I twisted Ryze’s necklace nervously, suddenly realizing why I did not hold a piece of my old friend. Mabel was right; Tah was not dead—preserved and exploited, but not dead.

  “And neither is Heaven,” Pinion added to my thoughts, my head rising to look at her as she came to stand beside her crystal, leaning on it. “It is there, buried beneath the clouds, and its gate has been locked, but the Proxez did not take it down like Reeve did with Hell.”

  “And you don’t tell this to your people why?” I exclaimed. “Do you know how much hope that would give them?!”

  “And how much danger it would place Heaven in?” Pinion threw back. “Please, Eero, only I, Seek, and now you know of its existence, and I would like to keep it that way.” She motioned around her room with the flick of a wrist. “Hatred… It is stronger than love, you know, and that is most certainly the case for those poor bastards out there. Take Flye for example; if she knew God existed, she would go bonkers! She’s a bookworm with lore as it is, and Typo’s attack messed with her judgment. I don’t need any rash decisions being made and costing more worthy people their lives, no matter how pathetic they may see themselves to be. No one is worthless—not one life, not one soul, especially now.”

  She rolled on her elbows, pressing her face against her whimsical stalagmite, staring down at the neon blue vein of the crystal rooted to the ground. “I was in constant hiding for decades,” she went on to say, “only allowed to prowl the world at night in fear of my wings being seen, because I did not know how to hide them, unlike my ancestors. I tried to build up armies while I stood the biggest chance… Before technology could expand too far and make the fight all the more difficult.

  “But next to no one would join with me… Simply, it felt hopeless for ages, and eventually, I had enough. I took to causing trouble myself; I broke the commandments again and again, and I definitely did what I wanted—He gave me no reason to bow at His feet after all of the hell placed upon me, and I killed, slaughtered… So many people in the eight hundred years it’s been… Both at my hand and indirectly, all while hardly cracking a remorseful frown.

  “I saved what nature I could; I tried to save anything at risk of termination… Tried to use my powers, but the farther Heaven pulled away, the more fleeting His rule was, as well as influence.” She looked at me, both her eyes and Puteulanus shimmering with green light. “Bluntly, I stopped giving a fuck,” she admitted through a seething chuckle. “Faith did nothing for me. I ripped my wings and did away with myself; I became a corrupted angel just like Cecil, and I have never regretted that decision.”

  I shook my head, taking another horrified step back. That sweet, innocent child that I saved from the fire… She had turned into this because of me.

  “Oh, stop trying to guilt trip yourself,” Pinion spat in amusement, her sudden lightheartedness taking me back. “A prophecy is unavoidable. Yes, I will blame you until the end of my days, but I have embraced my identity for centuries now. My fate makes no more difference to me; I am corrupted, and I am proud, but—!” She thrust her finger to her stained glass doors. “I will not go out without bringing the Proxez down with me! Not only does both I and the world deserve such closure, but so does Kevin. The Encryption will not be a repeat of my try at the Pikë rebellion, so help me Satan.”

  “QUEEN PINION!”

  Pinion and I sharply turned our attention to the locked doors upon hearing the urgency of the cry, the shadow of a human coming up to the barrier and pounding their fists on the glass, desperate and crazed. “Pinion! Frick, frick, open up!”

  Pinion rolled her eyes. “Manners were also lost in time.” She lifted her arm, quickly waving at the doors as the locks were undone, and the doors came flying open, bringing the messenger with them.

  I was nothing short of surprised when he landed on his stomach several feet from us, never having expected Virgil to be so beside himself and insane.

  “What is the meaning of this, Prelude?” Pinion snapped, the chip on her shoulder returning the moment that she was in the public eye once more.

  Virgil did not seem to care for once about his big bravado. Panting frantically, he scrambled to his feet, huffing and puffing as he tried to spit out what was to be said. “F-Flye is back! And so is Sybil!”
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  My heart convulsed, Pinion taking a step forward. “And Laelia?” she demanded briskly, asking the terrible question before I could.

  He opened his mouth to speak but then held back. “We don’t know,” he told her hesitantly. “B-but you must come to the stage! They-they came back with a box and a letter, and it is to be both opened and read to the entire base.”

  Pinion raised herself high, a challenging spark in her pupils. “And why would I do that?” she spat.

  Virgil took a decrepit breath, looking his leader square in the eye. “Because Typo left it at the tracker for them, and those are the instructions.” He paused. “He warned that if we do not follow through, we will not see Laelia again…”

  “She’s alive?!” I screamed, relief crashing over me. I looked down at my necklace, my jaw dropping. “Of course! I don’t have a mark for her!” I quickly looked back at Virgil, suspicious. “But why would they keep her alive…?”

  “Probably to be used as a bargaining tool…” he replied darkly.

  Pinion threw her hands up in exasperation, pacing at the absurdity of the request. “He thinks he can blackmail me, does he?!” she roared.

  I inhaled furiously, my eyes immediately ablaze with gold. She couldn’t possibly be thinking about the options! That was Laelia—her soldier that so valiantly risked her life to fulfill the dangerous task that no one else would! She couldn’t just neglect not only her strength of heart but her pride and drive as well! And I didn’t care about how many scuffles I had gotten into with her; she was my friend! “Pinion!” I scolded, my annoyance threatening to bubble over when she threw her hand up in the air, telling me to shut up.

  “It would be in our best interest if we did as he said!” Virgil argued. “If he finds out that we have neglected his orders, he will surely kill her, and who knows what else will happen?!”

  Pinion slammed a hand to her face, not bothering to hide her groan of disgust. “That piece of hellish shit,” she mumbled. “Alright, ALRIGHT!” She spun around, her eyes burning with green flames. “You! You tell the higher assassins to prepare themselves in the event of a sleazy trick, and I don’t give a damn how inconvenient it is! Understand?!”

  The bullets in her speech were mortal, leaving Virgil unable to do anything but awkwardly bow and back off, racing out of the room before his queen could blow up and kill him in the process.

  Growling and revealing her teeth, Pinion whipped her head to me, her hand flying down and grabbing mine in such a grip that I almost shrieked like a little girl. “Come on, let’s go see what shenanigan he’s trying to pull now.” She tore out of the doors without providing me with another syllable of explanation, heading towards the center of the base.

  “So, Typo came to Earth when the boundary between Earth and Hell broke, right?” I asked quickly as I tripped and nearly faceplanted the stone.

  “Yeah,” Pinion grunted, “and he quickly proved to Desmond that he was a far more useful right-hand man than Orione. Since then, he’s practically the eyes and ears of the empire; Gannon just gives the orders and comes out of his posh little palace when he gets pissed off.”

  I chuckled in spite of the situation. Cursing was something that only recently became another way of me expressing myself, but remembering this little girl and realizing that she had grown a gutter mouth definitely brought me a bit of amusement.

  “Oh, shut up,” she snarled. “I have every right to use it too—much more than you.”

  My laughter died off immediately. Dang, I was really going to have to stop having internal monologues around her.

  “I had to learn as well,” she commented under her breath.

  On the wings of silence the rest of the way, we ran until we emerged into the large crowded dome. Pinion released her hold on me when we arrived, but she did not hint that I was to stop following her. Her blurring race slowed into an urgent speed walk, and I kept right by her side, able to feel the anxiety and fear flooding the air just by the roar of shaking voices and the tight composition of uncountable Encryptors. Their eyes did not even dare to wander from our bodies—bodies that I now recognized to be more similar than I thought in both our faith and origin: a demon was a form of a fallen angel; Pinion was a corrupted/fallen angel herself; and Mabel was a part of Maeve, who had been banished from Heaven as well. It was funny how it had started out as one prophet, and now there were three.

  With four gears in the picture, however, I could only begin to wonder who would be the fourth fruitcake to take the final place in the coffin with us that was most surely already being lowered into the earth.

  Flye and Sybil were waiting on stage, along with Mabel, Seek, and Griffin. Virgil stood at the foot of the stairs with his shoulders back and chin up, acting like the proud veteran that he was. He kept his silver club tight in his hand, waiting for us to pass.

  Pinion raced up the iron stairs, and I ran up behind her with Virgil finishing our chain gang. Pinion’s speed plummeted to a near complete halt the moment that she was on the platform, her veins freezing with ice as she cautiously approached Flye, who stood front and center, her arms shaking as she stared at her queen, all while holding a decently sized metal container in her hands. Her eyes were shot with terror, the purple streak in her hair teeming with violet sparkles that adequately reflected her scattered emotions.

  “Eero! There you are!” Mabel cried gratefully, looking my way as she held Sybil in her arms like a child, bouncing her lightly as the lerial sobbed without restraint.

  I must have stood there for a solid minute as Pinion tried to calm Flye down and pry information out of her, staring at Mabel as the ruckus of the base was muted in my acute ears. Lately, despite our crumbling relationship, I saw another side of her that I never had—a side that didn’t want her as a mere support beam or a drain to consume my nightmares when they were close to breaking me down. I wanted her to be my whole foundation… I needed her to be…

  “W-what’s the situation at the moment?” I asked, clearing my throat and trying to wash my mind clean as I approached her.

  “T-they have Laelia!” Sybil whined, thrashing in Mabel’s arms. “They’re going to hurt her!”

  I looked to Mabel for confirmation. “I don’t know if they are serious or not… But I wouldn’t put it past them…” she told me quietly.

  “They are most certainly serious,” Seek spoke up, my attention diverting to her as she stood off to the side with Griffin, one of her glistening white hands on his shoulder for comfort. Griffin would not raise his eyes to look at us; his hand of flesh was interlocked with the one born from wires and metal, his fingers maneuvering insecurely with one another as he came eye to eye with the penalty of his lawlessness. “If they would take out thousands of innocent subjects at a time, what makes you think that they would even hesitate to slit the throat of someone loyal to the revolution?”

  “Do they do exchanges…?” Griffin piped up, his voice a mere illusion of its usual self.

  Seek turned to look at Griffin, her eyes going flat. “Not without having a trick up their sleeve,” she replied without remorse before looking back at Mabel and me. “Besides, I know who the exchange would be.”

  I swallowed heavily, turning away from her and moving to stand beside Mabel. Carefully, I rested my thin hand on her back, hoping she didn’t push me away. I just… Needed to touch her—to know that she was at least still there as my friend if nothing else. I also knew very well what Seek was implying, wondering if Pinion would go through with a trade like such in exchange for Laelia; we may have been prophets, but she said it herself—she hated us.

  “I’m not that inconsiderate, goddammit!” Pinion ridiculed, my sight flying to her infuriated figure as Pinion reared back on her heels, wondering whether or not to fly and hit me in the face. “I still obviously have a bit of sense, or I wouldn’t be here, you know!”

  “Pinion…” Flye squeaked frailly, raising the box to reel her back into the more pressing matter.

  Pinion looked dow
n at the iron-clad box, still for a moment as she processed the choices. Like a ghost, she advanced, taking the box delicately from Flye’s shaking arms and holding it tight, staring down as she made her way to the head of the stairs, overlooking her warriors.

  Both her serious stance and eyes quelled the rambunctious crowd instantly, the thousands of rebels below waiting with heavy hearts. Sybil quieted her sobs and sniffles with quick hiccups, anxious to hear the news. I brought Mabel closer, pulling on her waist and using the waves of heat from her body to help keep me under control. Once again, she did not draw back.

  Cautious as to what was to come, Pinion took a deep breath, preparing to read the words on the lid of the box that were sent to her via hologram. She pushed out her chest, all vulnerability exterminated as she read his dire warning out loud in a voice so deep and cold that I could hardly believe it came from her:

  Encryption:

  What a wonderfully futile attempt you tried there, but did you really think it would work? Do you think that you can keep hiding? That you can successfully overtake us? Your power and compassion amuse me, but it only confirms how stupid and desperate all of you are.

  Flye, as I know that you will be the one to receive this, take this to your failure of a queen, Pinion. This package is not to be opened by any hand other than hers, and it is to be done in front of the entire rebel force. We have Laelia, and we will know if you do not comply.

  Enjoy your gift; I prepared it for you myself.

  Typo

  Pinion’s voice trailed away towards the end, especially when she was forced to announce the terrible hands that had carried this mystery our way. Her body quaked under the pressure that now pounded on her shoulders: her crown was not set neatly on her head; her paint continued to run; and her eyes were bloodshot. One could only guess what was running through her brain that had been neglected of peace and life in its every phase for centuries now.