An Eternity of Dead Sun (An Eternity of Eclipse Novel Book 2)

by Con Template

  I helped support Eclipse’s stability by steering him inside the cold shed. We stepped over the vast array of sawdust littered across the damp floor and maneuvered around the sawdust table that was in the center of the room. Once we reached the furthest end of the shed—the driest area from the storm—I helped Eclipse sit on the ground, being very careful to not antagonize his injury.

  “Ah,” came a whispered hiss when he rested his head against the wall.

  Outside, a spark of lightning inundated the sky, flooding the shed with momentary bright light. It offered me the opportunity to see that Eclipse’s condition had worsened. I almost fainted when I saw that the stitches on his injured arm had been completely ripped apart. The flesh on his body that was once held together by those stitches had come undone, the gaping hole staring at me with blood seeping out of it.

  “Get the stitches out, Gracie,” Eclipse groaned painfully, snapping me out of my petrified daze.

  I immediately complied and threw our backpacks off my shoulder. I pulled out a red candle and lighter from his backpack and placed it on the damp ground. After lighting the candle, I extracted rubbing alcohol, a needle, and stitches that Phix left behind for us from my backpack. I tried to be brave and sew it on for him, but courage eluded me. I couldn’t even steady my hands.

  Taking inventory of my fear, Eclipse took the needle from me and stitched himself up.

  Nausea threatened to coil like snakes in my stomach; the best I could do was hold up the candle to give him light in the darkness. It took all my willpower to not wince every time I saw him pierce his skin with the needle. I could see all the muscles in his body stiffen up, and I knew he was holding in his gasps of pain for my sake. He did not want to scare me and worsen my anxiety. In spite of his own wounded state, the Demon was still protective of me.

  After several long minutes, Eclipse finally asked me to help cut the string for him. Once I did, he poured the alcohol over his arm one last time before we gently wrapped a bandage over it.

  I helped prop him against the wall to prepare him for his rest and then dug into our backpacks.

  “Are you okay with changing out of these clothes by yourself?” I asked, looking at his rain-soaked clothes. This shed was too cold for wearing wet clothes and I didn’t want him to get sick.

  “Yes,” he answered with a shaky but reassuring voice.

  “Okay,” I uttered, setting out the dry clothes for him to change into.

  Armed with my own set of dry clothes, I hurried to the corner, stepped into the shadows, and began to change into jeans and a white turtleneck. It wasn’t the most comfortable pair of pajamas, but my only concern was staying warm that night—not being comfortable. When I returned, Eclipse had already changed into black slacks and a black dress shirt. Bare chest exposed, he only wore one sleeve over his right arm. His chest and left arm were bare to prevent the blood from soaking into the clean fabric.

  “Here,” I whispered, taking out a white bathrobe from my backpack.

  I draped it over Eclipse to serve as his blanket for the night. While my teeth chattered against the iciness of the air, I layered the rest of his body with whatever dry clothes we had left. With his black jacket as my blanket for the night, I sat to his right and huddled up beside him to steal a bit of body warmth.

  Finally.

  I let out a long exhale, utterly relieved that I was finally able to relax. I had never behaved in such a caring manner. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever show such care for anyone, much less a Demon. I quickly deduced that it was because I still needed the Demon to help me find the missing part of my soul. It would be an utter inconvenience to have him die, especially when he was my only guide in this new and scary world. And though I didn’t like to admit it, I hadn’t forgotten that he had called me his first real friend in the world. I suppose, to some degree, I also wanted to be a good “friend.” If anyone deserved such affection from me, then it was the Demon who protected me, even if he was now a 99% human fighting for survival as well.

  “Are you going to be okay?” I asked in a low voice, edging closer to him to get a good look at his injured arm.

  He nodded, smiling at me. “A small part of me is still immortal. I just need to rest tonight and I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay,” I replied, assessing his face and seeing that color was beginning to return to it. “Good.”

  An abrupt laugh radiated from him after he evaluated his own injury. He gazed at me, his dim eyes twinkling with amusement. Danger or not, one could always count on Eclipse to lighten the mood.

  “Can you believe that it’s only been two days since this road trip started and so many things have happened already?” Eclipse asked blithely, his free arm wrapping around me and pulling me closer to him. My shivering stilled slightly when his body heat overpowered the chills overriding mine.

  “It’s crazy,” I concurred before the gravity of everything hit me. It continued to astound me that there were Demons out there who knew that I was a Source. Stomach twisting with dread, I miserably added, “All of this has been really scary.”

  “You held your own,” he whispered, his voice filled with genuine surprise and approval. “You’ve saved me several times already, Teacup.” A teasing smirk crossed his face. “I owe you. Like I said on the train, I’ll give you my body as repayment when you’re ready for it.”

  I snorted and shook an amused head at him. “Even in situations like this, you still find a way to make me uncomfortable, don’t you?”

  “You’re with the Demon of Lust,” he said wistfully, resting his head against the wall. There was a playful glint in his eyes that dissolved all the shadows from my life. “Deal with it.”

  I smiled faintly before steering the conversation in another direction. “Why did you give those Demons your real name anyway?” I asked, thinking back to the train where Eclipse told the Masked Demon his name. “Aren’t you afraid they’re going to find out you’re the Demon of Lust?”

  Eclipse shook his head. “The name ‘Eclipse’ is only known within the inner circle of the monarchy. Very few are aware of my name. Many simply refer to me as ‘Lust,’ the ‘youngest Prince,’ or as Phix and Coco called me, ‘Your Dark Majesty.’ It doesn’t matter if I give out my real name here. It holds no meaning to anyone other than my brothers.”

  I nodded, posing another question that had been plaguing me since the train attack. “Why did those Demons stay in the train? Why didn’t they come after us on the platform?”

  “They cannot step foot here.” His eyes momentarily moved to the ground. “Apparently this is the Holy Land.”

  “What does that mean?” My face twisted in confusion. “Isn’t the Holy Land in Jerusalem or something?”

  “In this context, the ‘Holy Land’ could be in any part of the world,” he enlightened, taking on a sage tone. “When the world was first created, everything here was considered holy ground, for everything had been graced by the Heavens above. Yet, over the centuries, as you humans started to kill one another, the land slowly became tainted. To date, there are only a few parts of the world that are inaccessible to Demons. These parts are usually in the more rural areas that are not heavily populated. Holy Lands in the modern world are so rare that they are thought to be extinct.” A smirk edged his lips. “But as those Demons on the train demonstrated, a Holy Land does exist in this day and age and we have found one in the middle of nowhere.”

  I continued to regard Eclipse with curiosity rising within me. “Why were their powers sucked out?”

  “Holy Lands have been blessed by the graces of Heaven, which means that if a malevolent entity should step foot near it, their powers will be stripped temporarily. Depending on the strength of that evil entity, the powers could be stripped immediately or it could take a while to strip down. The end result is the same. Once near the Holy Land, all malevolent entities will be powerless. They will become just like humans.”

  “That is why those first six Demons lost their pow
ers before we even reached Serenity . . . because we were approaching the Holy Land.”

  He blinked in confirmation. “If any of those Demons were to step foot on that platform, then the wrath of Heaven would reign upon them and they would disintegrate into ashes.”

  I knitted my brows together. “How can you step foot here then?”

  “My powers are gone,” he answered with a sigh. Wind continued to howl over the shed as the rain picked up outside. “Right now, I am more human than Demon. In this land, being 99% human has worked in my favor.” He chuckled, appraising the shed and the land outside of it. “In addition to that, a Royal Demon is immune to the powers of the Holy Land. We can step foot wherever we please, whenever we please.” He looked at me, smiling with confidence. “This is good news for us, Gracie. As long as we’re in the Holy Land, it is almost guaranteed that we will be free of Demons.”

  I nodded, lapsing into a thoughtful silence after receiving assurance that, for the time being, we were free of Demons. It was an assurance that I appreciated. I was so exhausted. I did not think I could handle anymore Demon attacks on this trip.

  Drip.

  Drip.

  Drip.

  Trickling rain dripped in from the numerous cracks in the ceiling, allowing a rhythmic beating to dance in the room. The rundown shed creaked and shook whenever a strong gust of wind rammed into it. The room was freezing cold, but the red candle sitting on the floor kept us warm, if only minutely in our minds.

  I watched the rain patter against the windows, feeling hypnotized by the violence of the weather. With my mind nearly going crazy from the external noises around us, I decided to break the tense silence by bringing up a topic we put on pause during the night on the Ferris wheel.

  “The other night, you said that when you fell, you had to make it up—that there was something else you had to seek while you’re here. You didn’t get to finish what you were saying because Lyna interrupted us, but we’re alone now.” I locked eyes with him. Above us, the storm continued to brew. “Can you tell me now? What else do you have to seek while you’re here?”

  He regarded me with warm eyes. “Will this story take your mind off everything that’s happening right now?”

  “I like hearing your stories,” I said without missing a beat. “I forget how miserable I am when you share how miserable you are.”

  He laughed, leaning his head against the wall. His eyes grew secretive. “This is a very big secret. If I share it with you, you cannot allow this secret to get out to anyone else.”

  Excitement treaded through my body at his cryptic opening statement.

  “I can keep a secret,” I promised, leaning towards him.

  After all that we had been through, it felt nice and exciting to be sitting in a shed in the middle of nowhere with Eclipse. I was eager to escape my reality and settle into his. There was no better setting for this enigmatic tale than a secluded shed in the middle of a storm.

  “It is a rarity for a Prince to be a Dimmed Demon . . . to be undetected when he’s in the human world for so long,” he began as the candle continued to glow in the background. “Although I was punished as a Fallen Demon, it was my choice to further dim myself and come here for you. Since I volunteered for the job, my brothers and the Elder Demons are also tasking me with something else while I’m here.” An enigmatic light appeared in his eyes. “As I told you that night, I need to find something.”

  “What are you looking for?”

  His poignant expression told me that I had to understand the background of the story before I could recognize the value behind what he was looking for.

  Outside, the storm grew worse, as if shielding the rest of the world from hearing our conversation.

  “You are familiar with my father’s fall from grace. Everyone is,” he started as wind and rain continued to canvass over the shed. “But are you familiar with the story about the second Angel who waged a war against Heaven millenniums later?”

  My heart raced upon hearing his question. The frenzied world outside became nothing but a maelstrom of blurs to me. I peered at him, my interest piqued beyond all limits. “Tell me.”

  “After my father fell from Heaven, there was another Angel who came into power—another Angel who took the position as being God’s favorite Angel. It was said that this Angel was so powerful that his powers rivaled my father’s.”

  “What was the Angel’s name?”

  “Genesis.”

  Intrigued, I tilted my head at him. “Genesis?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ve never heard of an Angel named Genesis.”

  “He isn’t the Angel that humans are supposed to know about until the end.”

  The way he said those words caused me to shift uneasily. “The end?”

  Eclipse smiled lightly. “You’ve heard the popular saying, ‘Only God can judge me’?”

  I nodded, wondering what that had to do with Genesis.

  “Well, that is true. Only God can judge you, but the thing you should know about God is that he may judge you, but he doesn’t indict you.”

  Chills struck the pit of my soul. Almost too quickly, I caught on to what he was insinuating. “You’re telling me that Genesis is the one who indicts us?”

  He nodded solemnly and continued with the biblical story. “Genesis was the anointed Angel, God’s beloved Angel after my father fell from Heaven. The Angel was said to be so persuasive and amiable that even Ancient Evils respected him.”

  “Why did he bring war upon Heaven?”

  “What always happens to self-righteous and prideful entities?” Eclipse asked, clearly empathizing with why Genesis brought war upon Heaven. “He was tired of playing second fiddle to lesser creatures. He was the favorite Angel, but he wasn’t the favorite creation. As his powers grew, he became insatiable. He no longer viewed God as a fit ruler. How could God be a fit ruler when he saw perfection in such imperfect creatures? No one in their right mind would look so favorably upon humans. So with greed and arrogance as his catalysts, Genesis not only tried to overthrow God, but he also planned on ruling over Heaven himself and ridding the world of the parasites he detested so much.”

  Above us, thunder became more prevalent as it detonated over the land.

  “What happened?” I asked, even though in stories like these, it was clear what the ending was. Since we humans were still procreating and existing, I knew Genesis’ plan to overthrow God and exterminate humanity hadn’t worked out.

  “He was defeated,” Eclipse answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “To successfully wage a war against Heaven, you must not only be a powerful Angel, but you also have to be able to defeat God’s most powerful weapons—his Archangels.” He smirked dryly. “So far, no Angel has been able to go to war against them and come out on top.”

  “That means Genesis fell and became a Demon too?” I asked, already guessing Genesis’ fate.

  Eclipse surprised me when he shook his head. “Unlike my father, Genesis was heavily wounded during the war. Though his Angels were cast down and imprisoned within the pits of the earth as their punishment, the Archangels did not grace Genesis with the same fate. Due to the fact that Genesis was so powerful and so influential, it was decided that he had to die in order to prevent another uprising.”

  Plunk.

  Plunk.

  Plunk.

  My attention became more focused as the storm continued to ravage the land. The excitement in my eyes was undeniable; I knew this was where the good part of the story was about to begin . . .

  “It was rumored that in Genesis’ last dying breath, he poured his hatred, his vengeance, and his malice into several objects that he cast down to the human world.”

  My eyes illumed even further with interest. “What objects did he cast down?”

  “See, this is the part where the story gets murky,” shared Eclipse, his features becoming frustrated. “It is widely known that Genesis was the commander-in-chief who waged the second uprising in Heaven. Ho
wever, the rest of the details after that are hearsay at best. After my father’s fall from grace, everything became heavily guarded in Heaven. No one knows what objects Genesis cast down. Having said that, since he was viewed as a powerful Angel who rivaled even Lucifer, anything he ‘supposedly’ cast down is a source of intrigue for every other powerful entity in existence. Demons and Angels alike have tried to find the mysterious objects, but to date no one has found anything that even remotely suggests that these objects exist.”

  “Why are you looking for them if there’s a big chance that they could be an urban legend?”

  His shoulders lifted in a careless shrug. “Because my brothers and the Elders of Hell want them. Since I was in no position to bargain, I simply took the assignment that was given to me.”

  “What happens when one finds the objects?” I asked hypothetically.

  “Unknown, but anything that came down from Genesis himself is considered to be extremely powerful. Anyone who acquires these objects will no doubt become more powerful.”

  “How will you even go about finding them?” I breathed out when the impossibility of this mission dawned on me. “Do you even know where to begin?”

  “No idea whatsoever,” he replied honestly. He offered another indifferent shrug. “But I trust that once we get your soul dilemma in order, we can maneuver our attentions to Genesis’ objects of power. I’d like to consider myself a resourceful Demon. Once I put my mind to something, I’ll figure out a way to find what I need.”

  “Why would your Elders want you to find them so much?”

  “My Elders believe the objects would be of great use to them. If it is alleged that even Angels are looking for the objects, then it must mean they would be valuable and/or detrimental to Heaven. Anything with this type of importance, the Royal Family wants to get their hands on.”

  “So after finding them,” I wrapped up, fully digesting everything, “you won’t be punished as a Fallen Demon anymore?”

  He nodded. He took a moment to gaze at me, the pools of his coaxing brown eyes drowning mine.