Daystar

by Darcy Town

  Dahlia was coated in blood, stabbed in numerous places. The spear cuts were small, but draining. The wounds would not heal. Her blood ran in rivulets into the ooze at her feet. Her movements slowed. She blinked against fatigue and sent another wall of liquid at Michael.

  Lucifer watched her. Concern and worry made his movements erratic. He ached over Furcas, but could not let that cloud his thinking either. They just had to wait until Paimon returned then they could retreat.

  Lucifer locked his emotions away; he had one task, Dahlia’s protection. He made it all consuming. Lucifer readied his bat.

  ***

  Gabriel flew on fire, unthinking, but in the cold of space, he slowly regained himself. He hit the moon and stopped. Gabriel shut out the thoughts and images that plagued him. He gasped; he remembered his responsibilities and tasks. He put the uncertain thoughts and fragments of memory out of his mind as he had done for ages.

  Gabriel turned and looked back at Earth. He saw his machine, damaged, near irreparable. He jumped and flew towards it, calculating the functionality it would have remaining. He landed on its surface in a crouch. He touched the spots Paimon had damaged. He let the name slip from his mind and the fallen angel became a faceless enemy again. Just another long forgotten thought.

  Gabriel moved broken pieces aside. Scrawled in the material was the name. His lips twisted. “Paimon.” He’d signed the damage, seared his name into the panels. Gabriel’s hands twitched. His body shook. His skin lit on fire as he sobbed.

  Gabriel threw himself at the machine. He shoved his arms and legs into it, interfacing with it directly. He poured his anger, fear, and confusion into the weapon. It churned, fueled with the souls of countless dead humans. The surface glowed and a beam of red light shot at Earth.

  ***

  Barachiel directed the flight that he and Paimon took, a meandering freefall. He wanted time to enjoy Paimon’s pain before he killed him. He let Paimon squeeze his neck; it could not hurt him while he wore his pendant and he liked seeing how much Paimon wanted to kill him. He was not worried. His guardian angels flew around him in circles, waiting to jump in if he gave the order.

  Barachiel smiled. “I have the blade. Do you want to see it, Paimon?”

  Paimon stared into space, his eyes devoid of emotion. Furcas’ loss was a gaping wound that sucked out all the feeling he had. He became an empty vessel, no purpose, no love, no life.

  The words and battle around him were inconsequential. He did not care if Barachiel were to drive the blade into his chest. In fact, he welcomed it. He did not want to exist anymore; he wanted to follow Furcas. He shuddered as tears blinded him.

  Red light shot past them. Barachiel screeched and swerved to take them out of its course. Angels unlucky enough to be caught in the blast were vaporized instantly. Barachiel grabbed Paimon and flew him up against the light. He shoved Paimon’s face towards it, trying to illicit a reaction.

  Paimon met his gaze. “Just do it.”

  Barachiel frowned. He had expected more of a fight, more to play with. He veered away from the red light. “Not yet.”

  Paimon lowered his head. He let his hands go limp around Barachiel’s neck. He shut everything out. The light grew dim in his world. He knew Barachiel would kill him soon so he closed his eyes. He pictured Furcas, the first time he had seen him. The young boy with the long hair, enraptured with beauty. He had been a stunning creature, bewitching.

  Tears slid down Paimon’s cheeks. He wanted to touch him again, hold him. Barachiel saw and laughed, but Paimon was in another place.

  Paimon remembered Furcas singing to his flowers, innocent and sweet. Furcas had no cares then, no worries, just an overabundance of emotion. Instead of startling Furcas as he had done in the memory, Paimon let him sing. The song warped, no longer what Furcas had created. The song grew louder, pervasive. Paimon hummed along.

  Barachiel frowned.

  The destruction song trapped in Paimon’s chest stirred. It fed on pain; it was despair, death, and longing. The song played for his heart and in it, Paimon was welcomed. A companion in despair, the song was born from loss; it could only bring about loss. It nurtured the feelings in him; it enfolded him in a dark embrace.

  Paimon accepted the melody. It curled around his limbs like a cold vapor, numbing as it killed. He breathed it in and out as a dark mist. The song played inside him a dirge for his beloved and his unborn child. Paimon put his hand to his heart; he would join Furcas through this melody. He gave himself over and he was Paimon no more. He was death.

  Barachiel watched Paimon’s expression grow peaceful. He gripped Paimon’s chin and pulled him closer until they were nose to nose. “Paimon! Paimon! Do you want to know what his last words were?”

  Paimon’s eyes opened, his irises turned quicksilver. Blackness slipped past his lips. “No. I want to know yours.”

  Barachiel pulled back, but Paimon had strength that was not his own. He kissed Barachiel. He wrapped his arms around Barachiel’s chest and head like a vise. The melody inside his heart surged into Barachiel.

  Barachiel screamed into Paimon’s mouth, but he could not pull back. The destruction song flowed through him, infecting his limbs and cells; it entered his mind and twisted and tore. The song turned his light dark, aging him in seconds. Barachiel’s hair went white then began to fall out. His skin drew back over his skull and hands; his armor cracked and fell to pieces. Barachiel’s wings and halos flickered, failed, and the pair fell without control.

  Paimon did not care.

  He let them fall as his hair turned silver. His jetpack rusted and his clothes fell apart. He opened his eyes once and saw his world grow dark; his eyes clouded over as he went blind. He lifted his lips from Barachiel and thought of Furcas.

  The song irradiated outwards, a dark, bruised symphony. A black requiem of dying stars, grief, and the end of everything. The song touched Barachiel’s guardian angels and they died together. Their bodies plummeted with his. The radius of death spread out from Paimon, growing as the song played on. Thousands plunged alongside them.

  Paimon held Barachiel close as the Archangel wailed and shook in death throes.

  He whispered in his ear, “Never without consequences can you sever what was one. In this I make that right.”

  ***

  The song echoed across the battlefield.

  Lilliam and angel alike held their heads, protecting themselves from the sound. Lucifer’s eyes trailed upwards. He shuddered. Darkness fell towards them, death incarnate, the unwinding song of all. He cupped his hands to his mouth. “Paimon, stop!”

  Andrealphus squinted. “He is no longer conscious! It plays on its own!”

  Paimon fell through the shield the Lilliam maintained against Gabriel’s weapon. The barrier faltered and began to fail. The red light pressed against it, continuing its path towards them.

  Lucifer grabbed Dahlia and dove out of the crater as the first shafts of light sliced through the shield to the ground below.

  Michael tore through the ooze that held him and jumped in the other direction. He looked at Lucifer. “Unleashed it cannot be leashed. It is the end of us all.”

  Lucifer shook his head. “Paimon wields it. He can stop it.”

  Dahlia looked up. “If he dies it goes loose and cannot be reclaimed.”

  Uriel snarled from where he held his head. “You were Primangel, Lucifer! It is your song, collect it!”

  Lucifer refused to look at him. “We have that power no longer! The song is its own.”

  Dahlia gripped Lucifer’s hands. “Throw me.”

  “What?”

  “Throw me!” Dahlia pointed as Paimon fell closer towards the beam of red light. “If he enters the light the song is free and we all die!”

  ***

  Archangel Raphael cried out as the song neared. He boxed his ears until he could no longer hear. He gasped and flew downwards, just outside of the radius of death. He searched the legion of angels. He spotted Archangel Selaphiel and Jegudie
l below him. They were frozen in pain, unable to flee.

  Raphael called forth his reserves and blasted through the air. He pulled his wings in and rocketed across the sky, he had the strength and time only to do this once. Behind him, the death song drew close.

  Raphael threw out his hands and grabbed Selaphiel by the wrist, trusting that Selaphiel would keep a hold of his younger brother. Raphael blasted them out of the song’s path, going fast enough to make the world appear as a blur. He lost control of his flight. His world went dark and he passed out.

  Selaphiel was weakened, having given his pendant to Jegudiel to keep him from dying. He attempted to keep all three in the air, but the burden was too great. Their bodies hit the ice and snow and did not move.

  ***

  “I will not throw you!” Lucifer grabbed Dahlia by the shoulders. “That is suicide!”

  “Doing nothing is suicide!” Dahlia tore herself out of his grasp and dove into the crater. She twisted and controlled the fluid around her.

  Lucifer waded in. “What are you doing?”

  Dahlia gave him a quick glance. “I love you.” She punched the air. Behind her, the fluid balled into a fist and punched, throwing her.

  Lucifer gaped. “Dahlia, no!”

  Dahlia was launched through the air, going too fast to exert any kind of control. She held out her arms. The death song dropped to meet her. She flew into the miasma.

  The melody recognized its creator, from her lips it had ushered forth. The song wrapped around her limbs, wishing her to call it out. Dahlia shook herself. “Give me Paimon, now!”

  The song swept her up and she collided with Paimon. Dahlia held him. Darkness emanated from his skin. In his arms, the desiccated remains that had been Barachiel crumbled into dust and bones.

  She punched into Paimon’s chest. She closed her eyes and willed the song to come out, to be hers again. Dahlia ripped the black violin from him. In her hands, it shifted, changed, and slipped inside her skin a physical thing no more. The song drew back and the air stilled, silent.

  Dahlia shuddered and went briefly unconscious.

  The pair fell, angled towards the beam of red light.

  Dahlia’s hand hit the light. Her eyes snapped open. She snatched her hand back as if burned. She hurled Paimon away from her into the sky.

  Helion caught Paimon and flew wildly, still weakened from the song, his wing passed through the light and burnt in half. Helion screeched and wobbled. Whitney held on to both and blasted them away. Unable to carry the deadweight, they careened into the ground, landing near Raphael.

  Dahlia smiled at their escape, but she had no one to catch her. She closed her eyes and fell into the red stream.

  Time stopped for her. She hung suspended, her body lit up with the force of the countless humans who had died and been collected. She saw many lives at once, brief flashes of time and light. Energy surged through her. It did not burn her away instead it filled her.

  On the ground, Apple radiated red light. She writhed on the snow. Her screams were a mix of agony and pleasure. The force she shared with Dahlia launched her into the sky. A halo of red light erupted from her body.

  Dahlia saw too much, it was a sensory overload. Her neon red eyes turned dark. Voices ushered her to sleep in their embrace.

  ***

  Gabriel’s fire died on his skin. He could not keep up the anger to fuel his attack. Confusion and fear set in and he shook badly enough to jettison him from his place inside the machine. He held his sides and fell to his knees on its surface. He wailed into the sky, not understanding why he hurt.

  The machine died, its light ceased. There was stillness and silence.

  ***

  Uriel leapt on Helion’s prone form as the fallen angel hit the snow. He snapped Whitney’s limbs and tossed her away like a ragdoll. Uriel grabbed Helion and held him upright, a blade to his neck.

  Belial and Andy leapt for Uriel, but he pricked Helion’s neck with the blade. Belial and Andy flanked Uriel, nervous, waiting for an opportunity.

  Paimon convulsed on the ground near them. Blind and weak he could do nothing to help others or himself.

  ***

  Dahlia hung suspended in the column of light. Her eyes slid shut as the red glow died. She fell.

  Michael grinned and took to the air.

  Lucifer jumped and landed on Michael’s back. He slammed his bat into Michael’s head. Michael stabbed at him with the spear, scoring his arm. Lucifer hissed and smacked him harder.

  Berith leapt. Dozens of Uriel’s angels plowed into him, driving him into the ground. Apple leapt in to help. Angels hauled her away from him. Berith dove for her, but was shoved down into the ice.

  Andy limped into a loping run. He hurdled over angels, racing to get beneath Dahlia as she fell.

  Uriel threw Helion to the ground and raced after Andy. He wrapped a hand around Andy’s arm and hauled him back towards the earth. Uriel snapped Andy’s neck against the snow, rendering him unconscious.

  Michael grabbed Lucifer by his hair and threw him towards the crater. He pumped his wings and caught Dahlia’s hand as she fell past him. Michael brought her into an embrace and turned, looking mockingly at Lucifer. “Stand down, all of you, or she dies.”

  Lucifer regained his feet and held his weapon high. The other Fallen did the same, the Lilliam behind them just as ready to fight.

  Michael landed. He held the spear up to Dahlia’s bleeding face and pressed the material in, gouging her cheek. “Stand down or she dies.”

  Lucifer pointed at him with the bat. “He would not allow her death!”

  “What do you know about what He wants?”

  “I know far more than you ever will!”

  Michael stared at Lucifer. Raphael, Selaphiel, and Jegudiel limped up. Uriel dragged Andy to Michael’s side; the Archangels stared at the Fallen. The ice quieted.

  Dahlia stirred, her magenta eyes opened. She saw who held her and struggled against him.

  Michael pricked her. “Ladriam, here we are again!”

  Dahlia only had eyes for Lucifer. “Do not fight him.”

  Michael sighed. “I am afraid I do not dare tarry this time.” He looked at Dahlia. “You are coming back with us.”

  Lucifer’s eyes turned black. “No!”

  Michael sneered. “You lost again, Lucifer. Be glad it is just her we have orders to return with.”

  Lucifer watched Dahlia squirm in Michael’s grip. He could not lose her again, not when he knew what waited for her in Heaven. He owed her everything; he could not be the cause for her going back there. His guilt already unbearable. He would not live if he did nothing. Lucifer dropped his bat. “We make a deal.”

  Dahlia kicked. “No!”

  Michael laughed. “Oh I think not—” His body went rigid as it was lit from within. The voice of God filled the air. SPEAK, LUCIFER BETRAYER.

  Lucifer bowed his head. “I offer you a trade.”

  OF WHAT?

  “I offer you myself.”

  Dahlia reached for him. “No! Lucifer, do not!”

  SILENCE, LADRIAM.

  Lucifer took a step forward. “Take me in her place.”

  Dahlia bit at Michael, kicked, flailed but it was of no use. Uriel leaned over and stabbed her in the stomach to stop her struggling. Lucifer staggered. “Do not hurt her! I give you myself freely in trade!”

  Belial screeched, “No, Lucifer!”

  YOU OFFER YOURSELF FOR THE PRISON?

  “Yes! Let her go, take me.” Lucifer stared at the fire that roiled inside Michael. “I know you want to punish me, to make me hurt.”

  YES AND I HAVE. THIS BEING APART HAS BEEN PUNISHMENT. I HAVE ENJOYED WATCHING YOUR DESPAIR AND MADNESS. WHY SHOULD I SEEK TO DO ANY DIFFERENTLY NOW? YOUR GUILT PAINS YOU WITHOUT NEEDING CHAINS.

  Lucifer struggled for words. “The prison is the punishment you desire most. This thing is what you desire of me, the one who stole your love away. I am the guilty party, I the greedy one, the thief, the betraye
r. You have always wanted me in that prison. Just as much as you desire to see her suffer as I did, with guilt.”

  The fire churned. THERE IS TRUTH TO THIS.

  “Accept the trade.” Lucifer bowed his head. “I will not fight. I do this freely. I beg you.”

  The fire shook. THE DEAL IS ACCEPTED. COME FORWARD, LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR, AND TAKE THE PLACE OF YOUR WHORE. SHE WILL BE RELEASED UPON YOUR CAPTURE. URIEL, RELEASE ANDREALPHUS, READY YOURSELF. The fire left Michael. The Archangel blinked and regained himself. He smiled wickedly at Lucifer.

  Uriel threw Andy. Belial caught him and carried him back to Helion and Whitney.

  Dahlia clutched her bleeding stomach. “Do not do this, Lucifer! You do not know what trade you make! You do not know what you say!”

  Lucifer took a step towards her. “I cannot send you back there. I cannot. This is my atonement. This is what I should have offered from the beginning.”

  “No!” Dahlia reached for him. “No atonement is needed! I have forgiven you a thousand times over. Do not do this! I can bear the prison. I have survived it. Do not, Lucifer! Please! Listen to me!”

  Michael squeezed her throat. “Silence. No words are needed from you.” He gestured to Uriel. “Grab him.”

  Uriel grinned. Lucifer stopped and dropped to his knees. Uriel smashed his fist into Lucifer’s face, breaking his nose and jaw. Uriel slammed him into the ground. He took hold of Lucifer by his hair and pulled him towards Michael.

  Dahlia struggled. “Lucifer, fight!”

  Lucifer kept his head down. He bent into the blow as Uriel slashed at his face. He kept silent at the kick to his ribs. He ground his teeth, knowing accepting this now meant they would let her go. She would live and in doing this, he paid for what he had done to her so long ago. He had failed to rescue her then, now at least he could begin to make up for his unforgivable actions.

  Michael watched and smiled. Uriel broke Lucifer against the ground. Michael did not want to release Dahlia. He wanted to kill her, but he remained under compulsion. He stabbed Dahlia instead and threw her to Berith. “Take your trash back.” He pointed the spear towards Lucifer. “Stand.”

  Lucifer stood. Blood poured out of his mouth in a steady stream. He looked at Dahlia. Berith held her against him. Lucifer swallowed blood. “I love you.”