Nina was the only person in that position to help.
First, though, she needed to return to Luz and gather more allies. She streaked above the Memorial Cemetery graveyard, calling for the hundredth time to anyone below willing to fight. Already she heard answers from those whose spirits had yet to escape Earth’s dimension for good. Soon, when the time arrived, she could tell them when they would rise and where they would go. But before that crucial hour, she needed to visit a trustworthy friend and tell him to prepare.
Follow me, she said to Fury in her thoughts.
Fury banked to the left and soared with Nina to a series of high turrets crowning Luz. More crows followed them in a gale of birds. The wind screamed at them, while the city below glowed like a star set in the sea. Darkness had set forever over Luz and Earth, and it would not lift until Angela either saved the universe or let it collapse. Nina was certain, though, that Angela would succeed and bring the sun back to a city that had not seen it since time immemorial. She was sure above everything else that the light would return.
She landed with her new crow’s feet on Father Schrader’s windowsill. Nina shifted on the ice-slicked stone and tapped with her beak on the panes. All around her, more crows landed side by side, chattering furiously.
In the city streets, people looked up and pointed at the enormous flock of birds commanding the skies above Luz.
The old priest stood within a circle of his peers. Noticing Nina, he waved them away and ran to the window, opening it quickly. He stepped back and she and Fury glided within, landing in a circle of priests and novices who stared at them with wide and fearful eyes reflecting beams of candlelight.
A few rested on their knees, half hidden by the shadows of a never-ending night.
Father Schrader stared at Nina solemnly.
Fire burned through her, and she left the crow’s body and stood before him as a vaporous form. She recognized her own hands and feet and body, though they were now transparent. She stood firmly, gazing at every person in turn.
“Nina Willis,” Father Schrader said in an awestruck voice. “Did the Archon send you?”
A stronger fire coursed within her, and she sensed her master, Juno, returning.
“No,” Nina said. Her voice echoed like a song.
The priests and novices looked at one another, murmuring with apprehension.
Nina raised her hand, gesturing for silence. “She didn’t send me. I chose to come on my own. But I want to tell you that the time has come to make your own choice. Will you stand on Angela’s side, or will you stand against her? She is in Hell now against her will. But she will return soon and will forever take her place on one throne or another. There is no escaping her destiny, and I know, because I couldn’t escape mine. The hour is upon you, everyone. When Angela arrives in Luz again, what will she find? I hope you do the right thing.”
“She will choose Ruin,” one of the novices cried out in fear. “So what does it matter if we are on her side or not! She is our destroyer—”
“Ruin doesn’t always mean darkness,” Nina said quickly. “Sometimes, it takes the ruin of an old order for a new one to rise. Sometimes it means change.”
“Revolution,” Father Schrader whispered to himself. He nodded slowly and turned to one of the priests to his right. “Gereth, grab me the book on the top shelf to your left side.”
The young man obeyed and handed the book to the old priest. Father Schrader flipped through it hurriedly. It fell open to a set of verses hastily scrawled in black ink. Nina listened as he read them aloud.
The darkness grew, and yet his weary face held a hope that was a light.
The sound of thundering wings circled Luz and echoed throughout the air. The candle flames in the room flickered at his words, and then unexpectedly brightened.
Swiftly rushes the blood-red tide.
In the city of revolving stars She rides,
Where the Crown awaits,
And angels have flown,
Near the watchful Eye of the great unknown.
Ruin ever present, Ruin ever near.
Behold the death of the hour of fear.
Now, the light of the Eternal Year,
Shines on us singing,
The end is here.
TO BE CONTINUED
Glossary of Terms, Places, People, and Things
Abyss: the lowest dimension of Hell; Raziel was the first creature to explore the Abyss; shortly after he returned to Heaven, he created Sophia.
Angel: intelligent beings that reside in the upper dimensions of the universe known as Heaven; beautiful and powerful, they are thought of as the pinnacle of creation; angels are known for having striking eyes, feathery hair, and abilities ranging from flight to telekinesis.
Angela Mathers: human girl discovered to be the Archon, she is known for her striking red hair, blue eyes, and preternatural skill at painting; Angela’s family abused her from a young age, and her arms and legs bear numerous scars from an attempt to kill herself that backfired, killing her parents instead; from childhood, she has had visions of Lucifel and Israfel that have since revealed themselves as the angel Raziel’s memories.
Archangel: formal title for the angel whose authority is below God alone; Israfel was the first Archangel; the current Archangel is Zion, one of Lucifel’s children.
Archon: arcane name for the human protected by the deceased angel Raziel’s spirit, now known to be Angela Mathers; since the Archon is a messiah figure with the ability to ultimately save or destroy the universe, her power is wanted by various factions of Heaven and Hell for their own purposes; she is the only being who can open Raziel’s Book (Sophia).
Azrael: name of the Angel of Death who guarded deceased human souls; he was destroyed by Angela Mathers after she entered the Netherworld for the first time.
Babylon: a dimension of Hell; the city of the demons.
Binding: name for a contract linking a human soul with a Jinn’s; this contract ends only with the human’s death, usually at the hands of the very same Jinn protecting them.
Blood head: a derogatory name for any human with red hair, which is thought to be one of the Archon’s distinguishing features; it refers to a prophecy wherein the Archon will “have blood on Her head, and blood on Her hands.”
Book of Raziel: a mythical book created by the angel Raziel that contains all the secrets of the universe and an immense power; it can only be opened by the Archon with a special Key; those who try otherwise are fated to go insane; surprising to most, the Book of Raziel’s true form is a doll-like girl named Sophia.
Brendan Mathers: Angela’s deceased brother and Stephanie Walsh’s informal boyfriend; he became infatuated with Israfel and treated his sister cruelly; he was killed by the demon Naamah in St. Mary’s church and now exists as a soul forever in service to Israfel.
Camdon Willis: Nina’s half brother; he has a strange interest in Angela and feels guilty for Nina’s death.
Celestial Revolution: Lucifel’s failed rebellion against Heaven, also known as the War; the end result was that a third of the angels followed her to Hell to start their own regime and imprisoned her; it is commonly believed that Lucifel instigated this war because she wished to be ruler of Heaven instead of Israfel.
Cherubim: an order of angels that guards the highest dimension of Heaven.
Chick: term for a young angel, demon, or Jinn.
Clan: in the realm of the Jinn there are six tribes or clans; the Sixth Clan is the most powerful; Troy, the High Assassin of the Jinn, is a member, as is her sister Hecate, and niece Juno; the Sixth Clan’s symbol is a crow’s foot.
Covenant: refers to Raziel’s ancient promises to the Jinn that he would free them someday from their harsh existence; the Archon has long been expected by the Jinn to fulfill this promise.
Crow: derogatory term for an angel, demon, or Jinn, often used among their kind as an insult; also, many Jinn familiars take the shape of a black crow.
Demon: intelligent beings tha
t reside in the lower dimensions of the universe known as Hell; beautiful and powerful, they are either former angels or direct descendants of those who have fallen; demons share many characteristics with angels though they often wear tattoos signifying their rank, and their wings are in varying states of decay from Hell’s acidic mists; most demons worship Lucifel, but there are some who wish the Archon to rule in her place.
Devil: the formal name for Lucifel among most humans; in its plural form it refers to the Jinn.
Dominions: the angelic term for the dimensions that make up the universe.
Emerald House: formerly the cult headed by Stephanie Walsh called the Pentacle Sorority, it has now been renamed by Angela Mathers; it is named after Lucifel’s Grail, which resembles an emerald in color, and its symbol is a green eye.
Ether: the substance that composes much of the universe, it can be manipulated by angels and demons to perform feats of telekinesis; it is believed that angels and demons use etheric currents to fly, even without the use of their wings.
Exorcism: a method that can be used to injure or banish an angel, a demon, or a Jinn to another dimension; very powerful exorcisms can kill creatures like Jinn or their familiars.
Eye: another name for Lucifel’s Grail, as it resembles a large emerald eye and sometimes even blinks or weeps.
Fae: former angels who left Heaven to dwell on Earth and live in symbiosis with host plants; most Fae are believed to be extinct; Tileaf, a Fae dwelling in an ancient oak tree, had been abused by Luz’s Vatican officials for her powers; she managed to show Angela Mathers part of Raziel’s mysterious past before dying; a portal to Hell could be found beneath her tree but it has since been sealed away.
Father: the angelic name for God.
Feathered serpent: intelligent, serpentine dragons with feathered plumes crowning their heads; they live in the high dimensions of Heaven; the most infamous of these creatures sided with Lucifel during the Celestial Revolution and became the demon Leviathan.
Fury: Troy’s familiar in the body of a crow; she was once a human girl, but remembers little of her previous life.
Glaive: Lucifel’s fabled weapon used in the Celestial Revolution; it is a pole arm made entirely of crystallized blue blood with a sharp blade at its tip.
Grail: see “Lucifel’s Grail.”
Grand Mansion: the building in Luz where some of Westwood Academy’s most formal affairs are celebrated; enormous angel statues line the steps to its entrance.
Half-breed: derogatory name for half-human, half-Jinn offspring; most are killed at birth; Kim (Sariel) is the only one known to exist.
Heaven: the highest dimensions of the universe; home of the angels.
Hecate: the deceased Jinn Queen and Troy’s sister; she believed in the Archon and was murdered by rival Jinn, who feared she had become delusional in her hopes to rule; Juno is her only surviving child.
Hell: the lowest dimensions of the universe; home of the Jinn and demons; its uppermost levels are known as the Underworld.
High Assassin: Jinn term for their most illustrious and deadly hunter, second only to their Queen in respect; Troy is the current High Assassin and is a legend throughout Hell for her lethal skills.
Hounds: voracious predators of Hell that share characteristics with sphinxes; they are thought to be fallen Cherubim, and are one of the only creatures Jinn fear.
Ialdaboth: the highest dimension of Heaven, accessible only to the ruling Archangel by a spiraling bridge; Ialdaboth was the first Realm to be inhabited by the angels but has been abandoned for millennia; Israfel was imprisoned here against his will by the Father.
Israfel: the Creator Supernal and Heaven’s first ruling Archangel, legendary for his beauty and charisma; his once defining bronze-colored hair and wings have since bleached to a shocking white; he disappeared into Ialdaboth at the end of the Celestial Revolution and had been presumed dead for ages; Angela Mathers was infatuated with Israfel, but found him shockingly changed from the person he used to be; he has been slowly dying since Lucifel infected him with her shadow during the Celestial Revolution.
Jinn: intelligent beings who live in the dimensions of Hell known collectively as the Underworld with a society structured into six ruling Clans; they are descendants of angelic offspring judged to be imperfect and thrown into Hell to fend for themselves or die; beautiful but savage, they are known by humans as devils; out of all the angelic races, they have had the most contact with humans.
Juno: the only surviving heir to the Jinn throne, she is Hecate’s daughter and Troy’s niece.
Key: the object that can open the Lock sealing Raziel’s Book; its identity and whereabouts are a mystery.
Kim: a half-Jinn who pretended to be a novice in Luz to get close to the Archon (Angela Mathers); his Jinn cousin Troy is hunting him out of revenge for killing her uncle, who was also Kim’s father; he is also known by the Jinn name Sariel, given to him by his father.
Kirin: creatures of Hell that vaguely resemble horses but have sharp horns, paws, and bioluminescent eyes and markings on their bodies; they are often hunted by the Jinn, and their horns are used in Jinn headdresses.
Lilith: the most powerful female demon in Hell after Lucifel; Python’s mother, whom she sired with the feathered serpent Leviathan.
Lock: the seal on the Book of Raziel; it can only be opened by the Archon, though the whereabouts of the Key that will enable her to do this are a mystery.
Lucifel: the Destroyer Supernal responsible for the Celestial Revolution at the dawn of time; Lucifel fled to Hell with the demons but rules her regime as a god imprisoned by her own worshippers; her ultimate goal is to use Raziel’s Book to silence the universe, but why she wishes to do so remains a mystery; most believe she has gone insane from her long imprisonment; Lucifel sent her shadow to confront Angela Mathers, but Angela destroyed it, weakening her; Lucifel has the ability to drain a person’s energy or kill them with a touch.
Lucifel’s Grail: a mysterious eyelike pendant in the possession of the Jinn, first embedded in the hand, and now in the eye of Angela Mathers; it was initially worn by Lucifel and has fearsome powers; most who look into its depths go mad; its origins are a complete mystery; the Grail must bleed for the Glaive to be formed.
Luz: an island city off the American continent, officially under the jurisdiction of the Vatican; Luz’s most well-known feature is Westwood Academy, the school that has become a haven for gifted students as well as “blood heads”; it has been besieged by increasingly foul weather for at least one hundred years; technology is outlawed in Luz; Angela Mathers has since learned that Luz is the connecting point between Earth and the other dimensions, and is thus a portal for the supernatural.
Malakhim: a dimension of Heaven; the city of the angels.
Mastema: the most powerful male demon in Hell, and Archdemon under Lucifel; Kim’s foster father; he wanted Kim to destroy the Archon when She appeared.
Memorial Cemetery: a large grove near Luz’s western coast that was once a park; it was originally famous for the enormous oak tree at its center—Tileaf’s tree—but is now a graveyard dedicated to those who died in one of Luz’s greatest storms.
Mikel: a female angel who claims to be Lucifel and Raziel’s daughter and sister to Archangel Zion, she has been presumed dead for millennia; Mikel has no real body, so she must possess a host in order to communicate; she was responsible for letting the demons know the Archon existed, effectively setting events in motion; Mikel possessed Nina Willis after Angela accidentally summoned her to Earth; Angela then brought her to Tileaf; once Angela’s ally, Mikel’s true allegiances are now shrouded in suspicion.
Naamah: demon and foster mother of Stephanie Walsh, now deceased; she’d sincerely hoped Stephanie was the Archon; Lilith considered Naamah to be like a daughter and holds great bitterness over her death; Naamah was responsible for killing Angela’s brother Brendan.
Netherworld: a dark and forgotten dimension where human souls used to gather after death;
it was emptied by Angela Mathers, and the souls within, who claimed allegiance to the Archon, went to a higher dimension to await her rise to power.
Nexus: the highest existing dimension, known to be the dwelling place of God and where all souls, whether human or angelic, must eventually return after death.
Python: one of the most feared demons in Hell; the son of Lilith and Leviathan, he can take on the form of a feathered serpent like his father.
Rakir & Nunkir: Israfel’s guardian Thrones, whom he raised since they were infants; Rakir is the black-haired male and Nunkir is the silver-haired female; both were critically injured in the battle against Lucifel’s shadow.
Raziel: the Preserver Supernal and creator of the Book of Raziel (Sophia), well-known for his wisdom and gentle disposition; he was thought to have committed suicide after his lover Lucifel failed in her rebellion against Heaven; he is believed to be the Archon’s guardian spirit, and his presence near her soul has given her his distinctive red hair and blue eyes.
Ruin: the most common term for the dark messiah known more secretly as the Archon; many prophecies predict the Archon will choose the side of evil and destroy humanity.
Sariel: Kim’s Jinn name, given to him by his deceased Jinn father; Troy always refers to him by this name.
Sophia: the human form of the Book of Raziel; though commonly regarded by others as as a “thing,” Sophia has a strong personality that belies her delicate appearance; she told Angela Mathers that her body was created by Lucifel as a Revenant, with the ability to be destroyed and resurrected by Lucifel as long as Sophia is in her power; she said she originally died in childbirth, which Angela has come to believe is a lie.
St. Matthias Church: an old church in Luz no longer in use; it is the place where Angela and Israfel first met.
Stephanie Walsh: a blood head witch now imprisoned in Luz’s sanatorium; at one time, she was suspected of being the Archon and headed Westwood Academy’s infamous Pentacle Sorority; she is the demon Naamah’s adopted daughter, and is indirectly responsible for Brendan Mathers’s death, as well as the deaths of many other individuals in Luz; Stephanie went insane after Lucifel possessed her, forcing her to try and open Sophia against her will; she was in love with Kim (Sariel).
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