by Ivory Autumn
The Fallen took a step back in fear. “Aren’t you forgetting something? I have something you want.”
Andrew shook his head. “You don’t have anything I want.”
“Oh, but I do!” The Fallen pulled back his thick cloak so that Andrew could see Orion’s belt strapped around his solid, gleaming torso. The room, though already filled with light, lit up in a flash as The Fallen revealed this new treasure.
Andrew stepped back, blinded for one moment by what he saw. The belt was magnificent. It looked like it was woven of small strands of sunlight, and water that reflected its own inner light. It flowed around The Fallen’s waist, laced into thick bands, etched with foreign writing. Embedded into the belt were three glowing orbs that shone and sparkled like celestial souls given stars for bodies.
The Fallen smiled, pleased at Andrew’s stunned reaction. “Yes, you do want this, don’t you?” He rubbed his dark fingers over the belt. He breathed deeply as if inhaling the light that the stars on his belt gave off. In that breath, The Fallen’s dimming countenance gradually became as bright as when Andrew had first seen him. But the stars on Orion’s belt dimmed considerably.
“Don’t look so disturbed,” The Fallen said, offering Andrew an oily smile. “These trinkets,” he motioned to his the stolen belt, and the other weapons he wore, “are nothing. Once I have used up their power, I will find more. The stars, the sun, the moon; I will drink of their light as well.”
“And once they are gone,” Andrew said, “you will still be hungry. What will satisfy you then?”
“Ah,” The Fallen said, holding up a shining finger. “I am not as bad as you think. You see. I will not utterly destroy the human race. We both need each other too much, in order to survive. They need my shadows, and lies to keep them alive, and I need their spark of light. For there exists in every human a spark of light powerful enough to give me what I need. Yes, even those who feed off my lies still have a smoldering spark inside their shadowy souls. It is their dismal spark I will feed off of forever. Even a small flicker will keep me well-fed. It matters not where it comes from, as long as it is light.
After I take care of you, Andrew, the stars will go first, as they have the most potential to give off the kind of light I need. Then your sun. And then the moon, as you call it. After that, when I crave more, my slaves will not object to me borrowing their spark of life. They mean nothing, as they are nothing but cogs in a wheel that can be easily replaced and replicated to feed me.” At The Fallen’s words, thousands of sticky, oily sheets of shadows were breathed out over the room smothering the candlelight.
Andrew felt the darkness of The Fallen seep around the room, even though the room was still filled with light. The darkness tugged at him, pressed him on all sides, threatening to crush him. How was it that light of the rising sun dared to show its face in this room?
“Surprised?” The Fallen asked. “I am darkness after all. It has been my plan all along to devour and keep devouring. You, Andrew, will be the first spark of human light I wish to feed upon. For you are one of the brightest. A spark is bright or dim according to the way a person has lived his life. You, Andrew, I admit, have lived very well.”
Andrew stepped back. The Fallen’s gaze drove fear into his soul like a sharp nail.
“Yes, Andrew,” The Fallen said, gazing at Andrew fiercely. “In you exists a flame, a brilliant light that I wish to take for my own. Once I saw that you would not die, I decided to let you live if only for this moment. Your mother’s mother, a Star, even the great Delphinus, stamped her mark in your hand, giving you a greater potential for light greater light than all the people of the earth combined. And you have lived up to that potential. Even now I can feel it. This burning ember that you have nourished by your unwillingness to bend. And I want it, Andrew. I want your light. I’m a very hungry being. Hungry to take the powers of the world in my hands. Hungry to crush the words you have released into the world. Even now they are being crushed and silenced, one by one. Once you are gone, there will be nothing left to stop me.”
“Even after I am gone,” Andrew cried, “there will be more like me. Your darkness will fan the dimming embers, and turn the flickering sparks into brilliant fires.”“Good!” The Fallen roared. “Then I will feed off them. Just as I will feed off you.
Andrew held his sword in front of him, a beam of pure light in the face of the mingled light that pranced arrogantly around him.
The Fallen stared at him, his countenance full of scorn. “You dare hold that beam of light before me? You shattered gleam! You sputtering spark! I’m not afraid of that sword. The power it holds is nothing!”
“Stay away!” Andrew warned, probing his sword at The Fallen. “You are the sputtering spark! Your light has already gone out. You are like a corpse clinging onto someone else’s heartbeat. As long as there are people left alive on earth, with light inside them, you will always have reason to be afraid. For all true light is good. Your light is not light at all. Your light is borrowed. One can only live on borrowed light for so long.”
The Fallen’s being quivered in wrath. “I have thrived and lived, thus far. And I will continue to live on borrowed light forever! My generous donors will see to that---indefinitely.”
Andrew gazed at the desperate, grasping, leeching, figure before him, in total revulsion. “When light is mixed with darkness all there is, is shadow.”
“YES! Shadow. What a wondrous thought. Under my reign, it will be continual evening, and all will be flat and colorless before me! No one will be greater than I!” As the words escaped The Fallen’s mouth a great cloud of darkness was expelled from his lips. The darkness blew through the room, extinguishing every candle and every item of light that surrounded him. The Fallen laughed, and let his cloak cover the belt of Orion so that the room around them grew blacker than any place Andrew had ever been in. All that Andrew could see was the glowing figure of The Fallen and his many reflections in the mirrored floors which reached out trying to pull him in.
Terror and fear tugged at Andrew, swirled around him, tried to cling to him like a black past that he could never scrub off.
“You see, Andrew,” The Fallen breathed. “I can be the best of both words. Both light, and dark. Can you still see me? But then, wait…now you don’t.” The Fallen seemed to fade into the darkness becoming one with it, so that the only light emanating from the room was from Andrew’s own skin. It shone like a glimmering star under a shroud of fog. He held his hand in front of his eyes, startled by the strange phenomenon.
“How dare you shine under my darkness!” The Fallen’s voice murmured leaching the room of every trace of light, except for Andrew himself. Even Andrew’s own glowing reflection in the floor tiles was absorbed by the Fallen. “But then again, you are half star.”
Andrew scanned the room for the dark speaker. He held his sword in front of him, feeling the utter blackness of the room prick his skin like probing needles trying to dig their way in.
“Your time is fading, Andrew,” The Fallen’s voice breathed behind him, almost in his ear. “A new day dawns. Give me your light, and I will use it well.”
Andrew spun around, slicing his sword through the air. The light from the sword was nothing compared to the brilliant sheen it had once held. Now, it only held in it, his own courage. It seemed flimsy in the face of such a foe. Like holding a butter knife to a tree the size of a mountain. Though the sword did not light up the room, it gave off enough pure light to see The Fallen’s form looming before him. In this dim light, The Fallen looked like a hole that had arms and mouth, arms legs and eyes, all outlined by a silvery sheen that came off his skin, hungry and grasping. “You will worship me! The Fallen howled. “You will kneel before my power! You will bend before my might. You will worship my LIGHT!”
Andrew stepped back, holding his sword in front of him. He could feel the heavy weight of the darkness coming off The Fallen, pushing on him, like thick water rushing in trying to crush him, causing his knees to buckle
and his body to shake.
“NO!” he cried, breaking away from the chains of darkness that threatened to bind him body and soul. “I will not bend! I WILL NOT!” His skin glimmered brighter in the darkness, like sparkling stars on a dark night. His eyes shone. His lips were pressed together in defiance.
The Fallen’s dark face filled with surprise. “If you will not bend, then I will break you to pieces!” The Fallen reached out to grab Andrew, his long fingers grasping like the dark jagged spaces in a ripped cloth.
Andrew cried out, and brought his sword down into the vortex’s outstretched belly. The edge of the blade suddenly vanished, absorbed into the being of The Fallen as if it had been dipped into thick, black water. That instant, the room shook. A howling laugh filled the air, rushed through every space of the room like a sucking vacuum. “Ha, ha, ha, ha, haaaaaaaaaaa!”
Andrew’s eyes filled with horror. His mind whirled. The rippling laughter of The Fallen was arrogant, prideful, full of hate, and cruelty. It pushed in around him, hammering him from all directions.
Without warning, The Fallen jerked the sword out of his chest and blew Andrew against the wall with the strength of an angry tsunami. “What did you think would happen?” The Fallen thundered. “Did you actually think that you alone could defeat me? You are more deranged than dangerous. Oh, I feared you once. But that was just for a moment, until I realized that my grip on the world reached farther than your unleashed words ever could. Just as the night devours the sun with darkness, my time is at hand. And yours is ending. An age of mingled light is at hand. The NEW SUN is rising!” He held Andrew’s sword up high, the blade mirroring the darkness of The Fallen’s power. It dripped with darkness, emanating the burning endless hunger The Fallen felt. His whole body filled with a terrible twisted light, flowing like shafts of silver water. Like a magnet, the sword drew shadows into the room like a terrible black wind, howling as they rushed through the windows, forming a black cloud over the being’s head.
“Ahhhhh!” The Fallen breathed in, sucking in every ounce of the black cloud, becoming taller and more terrible looking than ever. Far off, Andrew heard the rumble of thunder, the howl of wolves, and the thunderous cry of legions of The Fallen’s armies. Andrew thought he could see a brave ray of light trying to shine through the window peering behind The Fallen. But it was just a solitary gleam, just like him, not strong enough by itself.
“It is over!” The Fallen’s terrible voice chimed. “The past, the ways of old. Freedom, truth, all that dies with you!”
Andrew’s eyes and skin still shone, even under such a cloud of darkness.
“How dare you to still gleam under my power. I AM THE ONLY LIGHT NOW! THE ONLY LIGHT!” The being stepped towards Andrew. Like a black tower, illuminated by some unseen light. “Give me your light!” the being hissed, blowing Andrew against the wall with a windy gust of darkness and shadow.
Shadows swirled about Andrew, pinning him against the wall, holding him tightly in place. “Give me your light!” The Fallen commanded once more.
“Never!” Andrew said, crying out in pain as the The Fallen dug his shadowy fingers into his skin.
“Poor, sickly, boy. As if you had any choice in the matter,” The Fallen crooned, moving his dark fingers under Andrew’s chin and across his neck. “How is it that you dared to come before me by yourself? Alone!”
“I am not alone. I never was, and never will be,” Andrew said, his voice strained, but filled with conviction. “No. I am not alone. Not like you are. Darkness is always alone, and always will be!”
“If you are not alone then,” The Fallen roared, “tell me, where are your legions? Where are your companions? Where are they?”
Andrew looked up, his eyes filled with a burning light as if he understood something he had never known before. “I am the voice of the voiceless. The resounding voice of those whom you have silenced by fear and killed with your greed. No. I am not alone. I am their voice, and thousands of others combined into one. Even if you silence me, I promise you, there will be a day when these silenced voices will resound as one, united. All those you have murdered, and plundered, it is they who will give the power that you have stolen, back to those whom it truly belongs!”
“Fool!” The Fallen hissed, breathing out a stifling sheet of blackness that caused Andrew to wheeze and choke. The Fallen released his grip on Andrew for one short second. Where his fingers had touched, black pigment was etched. “Even when you are defeated, you act as though you’ve won.” He raised Andrew’s sword and held it poised over Andrew’s body. “Why do you not give in, embrace the darkness? That is all you have left. Worship me! WORSHIP ME!”
Andrew narrowed his eyes, and slowly shook his head, looking The Fallen squarely in the eyes. “No. I will not! Darkness is your fate. Not mine.”
“I am your fate!” The Fallen’s terrible voice quaked, causing the room to tremble. “On this day, this new dawn, I will send you into the land of the shadow forever!” Shadows and light swirled around The Fallen as if he were the peak of a mighty mountain.
Andrew struggled against the shadows, but they would not let him go. He was trapped in their dark web, unable to move.
The Fallen’s eyes smoldered like orange coals, darkness and light webbing through them. In an instant, without words, Andrew knew that all his struggles had finally come to an end.
He was going to die.
“Yes,” The Fallen whispered. “You will finally die. But not solely by my hand, but by the blade that you wield. All will now be fulfilled. That which was meant for me, is now meant for you.” He held up the sword, now dark and dripping with oily blackness.
Andrew gazed up at the blade, unafraid. He felt strangely calm, and peaceful. He knew without knowing why, that this was not the end, but just the beginning.
“DIE!” The Fallen howled, stabbing the sword into Andrew’s flesh. “I will send you into darkness forever!”
Andrew gasped in pain as the blade entered his chest. He tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat. His eyes squeezed back tears of pain.
He stared into The Fallen’s eyes, seeing in them the fall of the nations, the blinding fear, slavery, death, destruction, and the fall and utter destruction of mankind. He felt as though something was ripped from his being, like the fibers of his soul were being tugged away. He gazed down at the blade, his eyes wide. He could see the light from his own skin, filtering out and into the blade, and into The Fallen’s body. He felt as though he was watching his life seep out. The Fallen grinned, his face twisting into an ugly whirlpool of darkness. His eyes glistened, filled with victory and greed. With each second The Fallen’s body grew brighter, and Andrew’s grew dimmer. “The blaze of sparks dies with you, Andrew. The world is under my bondage, now and forever. There was nothing you could do to ever stop it. Nothing!”
Andrew wrapped his fingers around the blade, trying to pull it away from him. But his hands had grown weak. The pain was beginning to vanish. He stared beyond The Fallen, seeing something far brighter beyond the darkness. He had done his best. But his light alone was not strong enough. The power men had given the darkness was still in their hearts, and Andrew could not change that. But he had done what he had set out to do.
He had faced The Fallen, alone.
He had not defeated it, but he had defeated his fear of it.
He reached out to the light far beyond The Fallen, his face alight for one second with a surreal glory. The Fallen did not see the light that he saw, nor could he comprehend it. There was light beyond this place, light far beyond the strength and power of The Fallen, a light to consume all other lights, a power to break in pieces all who fought against it. And it was to this place he was heading now. “The light will come!” Andrew gasped, falling back, as the last strands of light from his skin faded then burst out of the handle of the sword, absorbing into The Fallen’s own being.
“It has begun!” The Fallen thundered, throwing the blade onto the ground like an insignificant trink
et. “Just as no one can bring back the dead, no one can renew the light of this dead blade!”
He stood by the window with arms outstretched to embrace his newfound light. He pulled back the curtain of shadows. He gazed at the sun rising over the mountains. It looked as if it was afraid to shine too brilliantly on The Fallen, and provoke him to jealously.
“Shine!” The Fallen scoffed, “For on this new dawn, all other lights shine their last!”
He laughed and held up his hands and basked in his own glory. He was tall, powerful, magnificent! The light from Andrew’s spark of life gave him the strength he needed to command the heavens. He opened his mouth and expelled a thick cloud of darkness over the land, absorbing all light into his self. Like a broken bottle of ink, his darkness spilled out over the sky, creeping outward over sky, ocean, and land. Wind, and shadows surged around him, as a darkness that had been building inside Shadelock for many years was released over the land. Like a caged tidal wave, the darkness splashed out over the land, instantly snuffing out the brilliant fields of starflowers, the lakes of fire, one by one. The light of the sun was eclipsed by his darkness, the moon as well. Stars began to fall as the shadows surged through the world like a massive hand putting out light, from the greatest to least, no light was left untouched. All light was snuffed out, except for one. The Fallen had risen. He was the only source of light left.
Now all would look to him for illumination. All would serve him or perish.
Chapter Forty-two
Death
Absent
“Where there is darkness, there is absence of light.
Where there is coldness there is absence of heat.