Chapter Nineteen
My life had fallen apart since the day I lost Jophiel. In the past few months, I was a mute void of empty feelings; a silent, living ghost of my past self. Since that day, something in me had changed and so did my appearance. Within those months, my chest sprouted twice its size and I had grown in length. My innocent facade was replaced by a blank face with the same hazel eyes that once glimmered with pure Light. Every night, I would close my room door and take his sword in my hands, caressing the cool metal of its blade against my skin, trying to remember what it felt like to have him by my side; but it never came to me. Agony was permanent and inside, my body was fighting itself to live through each lonely day, an internal war beneath my emotionless face. The clothes that once fit me perfectly were too small since I started growing into my new body and I shopped by myself and only for the fighting gear I would always be wearing.
A lot had changed since his death; the world was in shambles and human population was dying out. Their world had become our battlefield. It was an inevitable fate we couldn't control. Even then, the other archangels didn't appear like Nikita said they would, and I was beginning to think that the others had given up, like I wanted to. But I wouldn't. In the ever racing thoughts in my mind, only one thought would push through in a never-ending loop of Hell as I faced the fear dragon myself. After that day, I had learned that this dragon feeds off fear to gain power while using your own worse fears against you to paralyze you from doing anything. But I no longer fear much; I had nothing to lose. Not anymore.
I sat silently in the darkness of my room. Though it was only around noon, we never saw Light, another confirmation of the end times. In my hand was his sword, reflecting the face of a broken girl who once knew and found comfort in Light. Laced into the metal of the sword was the essence of our memories and though I could not see through the steel, they were shown to me a different way; a way to escape the reality when I had lost hope of feeling the way I once had. The cool metal ran across the bottom of my arm, drawing blood as I pressed it in when anger bubbled to the surface and I began drowning in memories.
Upon the hill we once called our place, we lay on a thick blanket side by side with our fingers laced around each other, looking up at the sky. We shared our dreams and what Heaven would look like. We had no care in the world about whether or not who would find out first. In that moment, we shared many stolen kisses with arms wrapped around each other in our own safety bubble. We stared longingly at each other for a long moment before his expression seemed to change and he said my name sharply. "Uriel!" And I was taken back to reality.
My eyes opened to Jenna's shrieking voice, yelling my name as if I was dead, and I pushed her back. "Stop," I said coldly, slamming the sword onto the floor.
She put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight, raising an angry eyebrow. "You're telling me to stop when you're the one trying to kill yourself?" she asked, her voice raising an octave.
Rolling my eyes, I stood as I pushed the energy to my wound to heal itself. "I wasn't trying to kill myself," I said sharply.
"Right, and I wasn't trying to kill myself when I jumped off the building."
I glared at her and ground my teeth against each other forcefully. Obviously, it was okay for her to be on my ass about a lot of things that came to my safety and my training. After that day, she became Gazardiel's 'little helper' and it angered me. I walked past her to make my way down the stairs, jerking my shoulder into hers and letting my wing push her from behind. I was getting sick of all of this. Even as she called my name, I stomped my way down the stairs and into the kitchen where I grabbed a bottle of water and started chugging it, ignoring the weary eyes of Gazardiel. The house had since then been fixed up and looked quite normal. "Going to train again, I see," he said with a tired voice. I didn't need to respond; he knew the answer and so I started my way down the stairs, but he grabbed my arm, making his form flesh for that moment. "You need to stop pushing yourself like this, Uriel. This will do you no good because you're using anger as a fuel to the fire," he said. Shrugging him off, I turned on him and grabbed his hand. "I will do what I need to do to kill the bastard," I spat in his face before going downstairs.
Several times since the incident, I had heard Nikita's voice in the wind, whispering and trying to soothe the inner struggle I had with myself. Though I knew I would never let darkness corrupt me, it seemed that my anger was the one taking over, shrouding me from the Light. Pulling back my shoulders, I faced the dummies that circled me and worked through all of them, slicing at their throats and knee caps, using my blade to sever each major necessity to go after someone. This worked well when it came to fighting hordes of the demons that walked this earth nowadays, for they only relied on their way of transportation to feed on souls of the innocent.
Static brought the silence to life as the police radio buzzed from the other side. I kept it there to hear if anyone had found it to acknowledge they were still alive. I dropped my blades, letting them disappear in the air and walked over to the cackling radio with an intent stare. "H-hello?" a scared voice said on the other side. "P-please. If you can hear me, I-I need help. I'm surrounded b-by these... demons," he continued. Cracking my knuckles in habit, I reached for the radio and pushed the button to activate the microphone. "Where are you?" I asked plainly.
"Thank God you answered! I took a police radio from a patrol car and ran into the church on Broadway."
"Stay put and be quiet. I'm coming."
"W-wait, just you? You don't understand! There are hundreds of them."
Rolling my eyes, I let go of the microphone trigger and left, running up the stairs and out the door without saying anything to anyone. They didn't need to know where I was and they would know what had happened if I didn't return. Taking flight, I soared past the broken city of the once beautiful Manhattan. Abandoned buildings had been taken over by demons seeking refuge where they would rest before hunting for survivors. Nowadays, it didn't matter that I constantly had my wings out and presented at all times. I became a sense of hope for humans, even though I no longer felt hope for myself. My eyes found the church the man on the other side of the radio had told me about. I swooped in, landing softly on my feet in the mass of demons that walked around with blank expressions on their faces, saliva hanging from their mouths as they starved.
Summoning my blades, I forced my energy around me to burst forcefully, pushing them back before they even caught a whiff of my presence. While they were dazed and confused, I ran at them, slicing at their throats and stabbing those that came at me after slight hesitation. One by one they fell, their ebony blood splattering onto me, creating its own war paint. A scream tore me away from my focus and a man ran out of the church with a demon close at his heels. The man was a young teen, around my age and clumsy. He fell over himself and turned around pointing the radio he used to contact me at the demon. "Stay away!" he yelled at it, jabbing the antenna at it. I walked up behind the demon, unseen by the boy until I stabbed it through the back of its head and watched it fall, disintegrating into a pool of tar. I stared down at the boy who was still shaking and he stared back in awe, causing me to roll my eyes. "Get up," I said extending my hand.
"Holy shit. You're the girl from the radio? Y-You're an angel!"
"Yeah. So what?"
Extending my wings outward, they shuddered in warning just as four came at us from all directions. The boy screamed and I pulled him to my back, using my energy to shield us from the two coming at us from the front and behind and jabbing my swords into the faces of those coming from the right and left, watching them fall from the blades and into nothingness. I took control of the rage inside as I had done in the past and melded my two swords into one, stabbing it into the ground as more came at us, causing the ground to shoot up and outward like blades, into the bodies of the many demons. Grabbing him, I pushed with my wings, bringing us off the ground and toward the home that had seemed to turn into a safe house. "Wow," the boy said over the w
ind. "You're like... the heroin in a zombie movie."
"Zombie movie?"
"You're kidding, right? You know... Dead coming alive to bite/scratch you and turn you into one too?"
"Zombies don't exist. Those are demons and when they eat you, they drag your soul into Hell."
"Y-you mean... my family...?"
My heart dropped into my stomach as his feelings radiated from him, punching me in the face with his sorrow and loss of hope. He stared up at me, studying me. "You're too young to be an angel... but, you can save them, right? Bring them to where they belong... Heaven?" he asked a bit too hopeful. Sighing, I tightened my grip on him. "That isn't my job. My job is to restore the balance here and give the surviving humans a life to go back to... to look forward to," I replied through my teeth.
"But all those innocent souls... they don't deserve that."
"I said it's not my fucking job."
"Woah, chill. Angels aren't supposed to curse."
My body shook in anger only to subside when the house came into view. I swooped down and let go of him, letting him land on his feet at the front door. "Go inside," I demanded. "There are people there that will help you." Without another word, I pushed the air and went the opposite way I had come from. The dark day was giving away to an even darker night, where I hunted to clear towns of the threat so people may find shelter in abandoned homes.
Landing, I made my way through the dead and silent town away from the busy city; that place would be last. My thoughts were kept at bay for I needed full concentration to hunt for the demons that walked the town in search for stragglers or any sign of life that they could take. From behind, it felt like I was being followed only to turn around to an empty street filled with an orange glow from the streetlights. The feathers of my wings shuddered in warning, but nothing was around me; the town was as dead as the humans that once found safety in the homes that stood with memory of the past world. I couldn't help but feel as if my wings were being pulled on and I pushed them outward only to feel a tearing pain. My body was forced to the ground, and I found myself unable to move as something stood over me, prying at my wings in attempt to rid me of my possible Ascension. The bone structure of my wings started cracking under the tearing and I cried out in pain. I couldn't let them take the only thing I had left.
Chapter Twenty
The pain shot through my back like wildfire. If I were to lose my wings, I would lose my only chance of being with Jophiel again, and the thought of it angered me. My eyes rolled back and as I let out a shriek, my energy burst from my body at full force and the creature tearing at my wing was tossed into the air. I stood slowly with my knees shaking uncontrollably and I whipped around to find a council member getting to its feet. "You," I said seething. Summoning my blades, I charged at it and pinned it to the outside wall of a house with my blades crossed over its hood. Freeing a hand, I pulled the hood back to reveal the one I knew was corrupted and let out a hiss. His face was knotted and scarred, and his eyes were black voids staring back at me with a slight curl of stitched lips. "Why did you try tearing off my wings?" I demanded. My head was spinning, but I could hear his laughter through the fog that clouded my thoughts. Though I asked, I had a feeling why he wanted my wings ripped off; I would lose my power to help in this and I would become fully human once more... and I would die; turn to dust from living this long.
You are a different girl than when we last met. Then, you were so innocent... so harmless.
"And now I'm not so harmless so you want to get rid of me?"
Yes. You have become a threat to our plans. So did Jophiel. That is why he is gone.
His mocking tone danced around my head in a taunting matter and I gritted my teeth. He was toying with me, trying to anger me and throw me off. I pushed him harder into the siding of the house and thrust my blades at his neck. Ah, ah, ahhh. If you were to do that, you would have broken a rule and you will lose your wings. You don't want that do you? His voice was an eerie calm that made the hair on my arm stand up. "Stop toying with me!" I yelled in his face. I didn't want to hear anything he had to say but I could feel his presence swimming around in my head, trying to get me to do it. I let him go angrily and walked away, stopping short when he appeared in front of me wagging a finger. We are not done here, Uriel. It isn't polite to just walk away, his voice said in a whisper.
"I don't care to be polite. If you haven't noticed, there's no such thing as being polite anymore."
My, my, what a cold personality you have gained. Did losing your beloved make you full of hatred?
"You have no idea."
Can't you feel it, then? The corruption? I can see it coursing through your veins, swallowing the Light.
"I refuse to be corrupted by darkness. That is why I am stronger than you. While you allow the darkness to corrupt you, I continue to fight for Light. The Dark will never succeed... They will never win."
Mind your words, Uriel. You see, here, Darkness has done more than Light has and in this world, there is no more Light to shine through.
My fingers curled into fists at my sides and gripped the hilt of my swords painfully. Looking to the sky, I willed the clouds to move and let the Light pour in to bring even me hope for the future. Yearning came from deep within my chest as I longed for the other archangels to find me and I concentrated, feeling three of them and sensing the void where Jophiel's presence used to linger. My heart was empty of the love I once held and was replaced by the need for justice. I spun around and pointed with my sword to the councilman, remembering the one thing I should have kept in mind. "You realize that Father knows what is happening, right? He sees all," I said a bit smugly, stepping forward. He put his hands up in surrender, but I didn't buy it. His energy spewed the word traitor and traitors are not to be forgiven when they give in to corruption and defy Father. Ah yes, but He cannot do anything, can He? Too busy tending to the angels and the souls that escaped being dragged into the pit to get His lazy ass off His throne and do something, he said laughing.
"Too busy? Why do you think He let us live? To destroy shit like you."
Now, now, Uriel. It is not polite for a high ranking angel such as yourself to say such words. Have you not heard? Can you not feel it? Out of the seven of you, only four remain. Three failed their duties and yet they are still welcomed beyond the gates of Heaven. How do you think you will accomplish your destiny with only four?
"Were you not informed? We all have our power and if I needed to, I could destroy a city. Most likely with the four of us, we could destroy the world. But we won't; we'll fix it and rid it of people like you."
I envy you. You have lost your Guardian and most recently, your lover and yet you remain intent on finishing your destiny. What pushes you?
"They do. If I accomplish my destiny, I will see them again and I will be rid of this forsaken place. You really thought I would let myself become corrupted and push myself further away from them? You must be really stupid."
I could tell I was angering him; the stitches in his mouth were pulling as it moved in attempt to speak. The air seemed to shift and an inhumane shriek pierced through the air. It came from the councilman. Plugging my ears, I crouched at the sound. Lightning cracked like a whip beside me and shadows rolled in like fog. Standing weakly, I pulled my hands from my ears, noticing the councilman had stopped. A massive roar shook the ground and my heart plummeted. "What did you do?" I yelled at the council member who stared back at me and smiled wide through split lips and decayed teeth. As if to answer my question, a large claw stepped from the shadows, its nails curling into the soft soil of the ground. I stepped away as another claw joined the first and the same roar created its own breeze, whipping at my face and splattering it with black tar. Wiping it away, I stepped back more, noticing that the more I moved away, the more the creature hiding in the shadows moved into view. Though I was afraid to see him up close, I stepped back.
Standing above me on all fours was the fear dragon and it stared down at me. Bile ro
se up in my throat and I screamed, turned away and ran. Letting out a vicious roar, it bounded toward me and reached for me, pulling me down with its massive claws. When it lowered its head and opened its mouth, I slashed my free sword at it, watching in horror as the area I hit blew away like smoke before coming back to its body. I could hear the councilman striding up to me and beside me on the ground, looking down with a sadistic smile. "You remember the fear dragon, don't you Uriel?" His voice had changed from the one I heard in my head. It was hoarse and scratchy for not being used for who knows how long. My heart stuttered inside my chest and I stared at the councilman, refusing to look back into the dragon's eyes. "You know what it does right? You see your worst fear. I wonder what Jophiel saw right before the dragon swallowed him whole," he said laughing.
"Stop!"
"What was that? Why would you want me to stop? Don't you like talking about your lover?"
"P-please. I beg you, stop!"
The councilman's hand waved dismissively in the air and the dragon growled, the noise sprouting from deep within its chest as it huffed warm air onto me. There was a part of me that wanted to know what his worst fear was, but I didn't want to give him the opportunity to answer it. Begging wasn't going to do me any good, but I needed to buy time to get away from the dragon. Instead of stopping, the councilman knelt beside me and grabbed my face. My cheeks were cramping between his fingers and I tried to get away, refusing to look him in the eyes. "I want to see your reaction when you see what he did," he said with pride.
The world faded around me and I was standing in front of the dragon upon the hill. But I wasn't me, I was Jophiel. He closed his eyes and pictured me and our memories together and they were pried open. Replacing the face of the dragon was mine and the dragon descended upon me and clawed at my body. Blood spewed from the makeshift me and paralyzed him to the ground, his body disobeying him when all he wanted to do was run to me.
Uriel (The Hallowed Chronicles Book 1) Page 12