When we slam into the floor of the arena, I feel a big wind come out of her—millions of souls—babies and women, crying—and then a steel spike feels like it jabs into my chest and I look into her black eyes. She seems stunned or something, and then I smell vanilla and molasses everywhere. And I’m lying on top of her and we are both impaled on the wing feathers I lost when I crashed. Smells like my blood is—yep, I’m bleeding down onto her chest and my blood is burning her like acid. And the smoke comes up and when it hits my nostrils it smells like burned chocolate chip cookies. I shit you not. No wonder she can get away with so much crap, I think.
Let me tell you a little secret, you wanna win a fight, don’t go getting all merciful and complacent when you think the other guy, or crazy demigod, is down. Give them everything you got until there is nothing left of them. And I’m on top of her with all twenty of my talons. And I’m pecking and tearing and clawing until I see guts. Because the only way this fight ends is with her insides … out. Only way to be sure.
And then it’s done—simple as that. Guts and chunks—not as glorious as the good books make it sound, is it?
Then … I fall over.
When I wake up—no telling how long I’ve been out—I’m barely able to move. When I finally flop myself over—pull my own feathers out of my chest—I take a deep breath in through my nose and my chest bubbles and gurgles a little.
I can smell sweet molasses from us both. And I turn my head toward her and her black eyes have turned bright blue and she has a smile on her face. What the…? And when I look, yeah there’s crimson red blood and guts coming from her stomach, but out of her chest pumps the sticky black goo that I know all too well. “Molasses,” I mutter. Then I turn my head back and look up at the roof. And it opens.
I would like to tell you that I lie here and cry into the sky—feel something human again—but the only thing I feel is emptiness and anger. And I listen to the screaming and screeching, as the fallen and the faithful claw and battle each other, and I close my eyes and try to shut it all out.
But my mind doesn’t work that way—I don’t stay relaxed for long—and I start grinding a little speck of grain in my craw. And it grows and it grows and then it’s a sea of bright wheat. So bright that I’m squinting even though my eyes are closed. And as soon as I feel like I’m ready, I’m going to open them and then I’m going to see Rain and everything is going to be fine.
And I still don’t understand. “Pointless,” I mumble. And then I think to myself, Do they even know what they do? Do they care?
And when I open my eyes, there she is. No, it’s not Rain, it’s Life’s body, floating up, glowing brighter than it did when she was… Is she alive? Was she? Are any of us? And her body floats toward the roof of the arena, and it grows brighter as it ascends. And then she looks at me through the bright and her voice whale-moans into my thoughts, “Goodbye. Good luck.”
“That’s it?” I ask. “Good luck?”
Once the Queen of Life, or Bread of Hearts, or whatever you want to call a vengeful, wrathful, psycho bitch from Heaven, is gone, a brighter, crystal-shining light descends through the roof. And this better be Rain, because otherwise this whole thing—
And thank—I have no clue who to thank for it, but she’s there, hovering and star-bright between her pure white feathers and white sunglasses. Now I’m in a sunglasses commercial or some other stupid shit, I think. Or maybe it’s that I’m bleeding out and hallucinating or dreaming or something?
But I can hear that the fighting has stopped and I grunt at the pain as I roll onto my side to look. And the faithful and the fallen are wing to warrior, frozen in mid-battle. Then, slowly at first, those that aren’t limp on the floor of the great hall are staring at Rain. They start shading their eyes with their hands.
And then Rain speaks. But it’s not my little angel’s voice. Well, it is her voice, but older, more … commanding, “Behold,” she says, “I shall tell you a mystery, my children. Then we shall sleep, and then we shall all be changed … but the same.”
“Dammit,” I mutter. It’s gonna be more mumbo-jumbo bullshit. They’ve infected her, too. And I turn my head and look for Salvation, but I can’t find her on the bloody, angel-strewn battlefield. I already know she’s lying out there, dead. I just don’t want to admit it.
And I wish I could just wake up in some med-mart with an aneurism and find out that Kelly had them operate on me to remove it—something that I could reconcile with the events I wish were a dream. But Rain flaps up next to me. My body, anyway, because I’m on the floor of the arena, bleeding, coughing blood, busy leaking my second life all over the diamonds and rubies on the field. And then I see my little angel.
And I see a golden angel coming down through the roof, and he’s holding a great iron key on a huge chain in his hand.
And Rain points at me and says, “This is my father, Jump, the great dragon of judgment. And he is now under my power. He shall be bound for this two-thousand-year eternity in the lake of fire, beneath the dungeons of the arena, deep under the Hallowed Hall, atop The Great Mountain of the Eternities. And he who is Lived—the Dark Angel of Light—I shall cast into the dungeons.”
And now I must be losing it—falling into some sort of coma—because I think my baby girl just said she was going to bring the Devil back to life. Why the…?
“My mother,” Rain says, “the great Salvation of judgment, shall sit by his side and rule over him.”
And that’s the second person she is threatening to bring back to life, because Salvation is smoking dead somewhere on the floor of the arena. And now I hope I’m not hallucinating, because … my little girl sounds like she’s turning into… I hope she doesn’t turn out like the other one, but thinking about it, who else would have the innocence and compassion enough to take care of a bunch of zoo animals. I caw out a little laugh and spit some of my own blood. Kids love animals, I think. Then I smile. How much worse could it be than a couple of jealous, power-hungry lovers?
Rain looks back down at me, and then she holds her hand up in the air. Looks like she learned a little showmanship during her captivity, because the crowd starts to coo and caw—softly at first, then the sound starts to build. “And my judgment shall be the undead, the immortal,” she says. Then she slices her fist so fast I don’t even realize what she’s done until I look at her holding my heart in her hand. But when I feel to my left breast there is no hole. Just like him, I think. But something is … wrong. I feel to the right of my chest and there’s a huge, bleeding hole where my—
“I remove his right heart,” Rain says, holding up my heart to an ever-deafening crowd, “as the right heart was removed from all of the Chosen One’s children before him, and just as the Dark Angel of Light removed his wrong one.”
I cough a little and try to speak. “My—”
Rain looks at me and motions her other finger to her lips. “Quiet, beast,” she says. “In time you shall understand.” And she turns her attention back to her followers. Leader, follower—in a crowd it’s not too tough to figure out which is which. Because now, the cheeping and cooing and cawing are shaking the entire hall. “Your great mother was wrong…”
That little statement quiets them down a little. Be careful, I don’t know why I think it—little shit just ripped out my … my other heart? Whatever is happening, this is—shit, she’s changing the guard. This is an inaugural ceremony.
Rain says, “For to sacrifice one’s right heart…” Then the sounds start building again. “…to acquire an immortal soul, is an arrogant and jealous god’s folly. For no soul in all of the eternities can know peace without a just heart. Therefore … it is my first decree that no being in the next eternity shall shelter a wrong heart beneath their left bosom … without the balancing power of a just one under their right!”
And the crowd goes nuts for that little edict. Wrong hearts—doomed from the start. And I have no idea why, but the conditioned half of my brain starts cataloguing body parts. And I�
�m foggy and pretty banged up, but… Arms, legs, eyes… Shit, we even got two nuts just to make sure we can stuff more “apples” into the overbaked pie. So what does that…?
I’m no internal organs expert, but—hearts, dicks and assholes—not enough of the first, can’t get rid of the second, way too many of the third. I guess we could use some genetic … restructuring.
Then again, maybe we are about to get it.
And I look back up at Rain and try to stand. Not happening, and I flop back down and cough black blood.
Without even looking at me, she points her free hand and I feel the light and bright surround me and tilt me to my feet. And I grab my chest, because … she’s still got my heart! But when I do, I’m sealed back up. And I am not ever going to get used to that.
Then Rain points to the roof and she says, “The false truth of Life Is For Eternity … is dead. And in this eternity…”
And the faithful of Rain’s new Heaven, and the faithless bastards of my new Hell all shout as if they’ve recited this part for centuries: “Long live Life!”
And then a bright, searing light streaks across the sky above the roof and I can feel the heat and see the fire and the flash—and then we are all … gone.
— LXIX —
I SIT UP from being hunched forward—such a long story to tell. And flames lap the sides of the fiery lake, illuminating their faces. A dozen or more little Purgatory angels, freshly judged and condemned to my cozy “new” Hell, stare back at me, wide-eyed and probably shitting themselves at the thought that this is their new existence.
“And that, children,” I say to them, “is the truth of the end of all that Life-Is-For-Eternity crap. That is the story of how I killed God. Ah, the God old days—seems like I’m falling and dreaming more and more of them. Judgment under…? That was a long time ago—it’s back under my power now.”
I hear Salvation’s voice, “Are they asleep yet?”
“No, they’re still awake. Look at the little shits—they don’t even believe me!”
“None of them ever do,” says Salvation.
“Well, little purgatories,” I say. “I would like to tell you that everything that happened was the Rain’s honest truth, however… Now, do you remember what I told you about everything that comes after “however?” Good, because the rest… You know, I don’t know if I can do the whole thing justice. Maybe I should just let Father Benito Octavio Benedetti tell you in his own words. Let me see… Where is it? Yes, yes, here we go. Book of Blood.” And I open it to the first page. Then I look back at all the inquisitive faces. “Be careful, now. Fury says Father Faith is a miserable old cocksucker.”
And I start reading.
Book of Blood
Benito Octavio Benedetti
Blood 1:1 And when I opened the seventh seal, I heard the voice of the seventh beast say, Come and see.
Blood 1:2 And I saw a great red book; and when I touched it the book spoke sweetness to my ears as the breath of angels; and it said…
Blood 1:3 And high on The Great Mountain of the Eternities, in the Hallowed Hall of the Word: the Destiny of Souls, the Bread of Life and the Dark Angel of Light did know of their loins.
Blood 1:4 And the seeds the Bread of Life planted were thus to be sown in blood.
Blood 1:5 And the Bread of Life’s own seed was the seed of her children’s destruction; and the seed was made a pariah of the chaos of man: and the child of their sin was to be cast out of the garden.
Blood 1:6 And so the seed was to be called The Fallen; for The Fallen denied faith in the book of the Chosen One.
Blood 1:7 And on his last day of man, the Dark Angel of Light, Lived, and Life did each tempt The Fallen with their own desires.
Blood 1:8 And The Fallen did spurn them in turn and choose of his own right heart.
Blood 1:9 And on his first day of judgment, the flesh of The Fallen became pierced: and he boiled in the blood of his own tears.
Blood 1:10 And the Salvation of The Fallen was raped and murdered.
Blood 1:11 And thus The Fallen became absent forgiveness, absent compassion, absent faith: for The Fallen was vengeance; and vengeance would harbor no mercy: and it was so.
Blood 2:1 And on his second day of judgment, The Fallen did speak his name and the Dark Angel of Light was compelled to spare an angel in the second Heaven.
Blood 2:2 And The Fallen before him did choose his name and he became an angel of both Heavens.
Blood 2:3 And darkness and light became the salvation of souls; for The Fallen was the will of the Word of the great books.
Blood 2:4 And thus The Fallen carried the task of destroying man; his lot was to author the end of Life Is For Eternity: and it was so.
Blood 2:5 And on the third day of his judgment, The Fallen was born in death; and he did bathe himself in the blood of his oppressors: and they did tremble at his resurrection.
Blood 2:6 And the Chosen One named a champion of the first Heaven; a soul of man: pure of hearts, and faithful of purpose.
Blood 2:7 And the Chosen One spoke the angel’s name.
Blood 2:8 And the angel’s name fell from the heavens as Rain. And the blinding light of the truth followed: and Rain hounded judgment through the anarchy of The End.
Blood 2:9 And the two Heavens sent Rain and judgment down upon the earth: and it was so.
Blood 2:10 And on the fourth day of his judgment, The Fallen bathed himself in the blood of man and woman and beast: and the great cleansing of the garden began.
Blood 2:11 And The Fallen cried and summoned forth the hounds of the two Heavens.
Blood 2:12 And the souls of the unjust and the just alike trembled in fear and despair.
Blood 2:13 And the hounds took the souls to the Great Mountain of the Eternities as the first sacrifice of The End.
Blood 2:14 And The Fallen caused the womb of Heaven to split open and Rain spilled forth from her guts.
Blood 2:14 And on the end of the fourth day, there was darkness.
Blood 2:15 And The Fallen rested atop the house of Faith: and it was so.
Blood 2:16 And on his fifth day of judgment, The Fallen did ascend toward the first Heaven: and Rain poured down on him.
Blood 2:17 And the bright light of truth pierced the flesh of The Fallen and tore at his armor and caused his wings to fold.
Blood 2:18 And I looked up, and beheld a brighter angel than any in the heavens ascend through the roof of the house of Faith: and Rain went with her.
Blood 2:19 And the blood of The Fallen had spilled at her hand as sweet nectar from the sap trees in the garden.
Blood 2:20 And The Fallen laid in stillness in the house of Faith. And judgment Under My Power was restored.
Blood 3:1 And on the sixth day, The Fallen spewed forth judgment, and Fury and Salvation descended upon earth; and he sent Rain and Faith toward the heavens.
Blood 3:2 And they all plummeted into the anarchy of The End.
Blood 3:3 And another great beginning of an Eternity came to pass: and it was so.
Blood 4:1 And on the seventh day of his judgment, The Fallen was possessed with vengeance.
Blood 4:2 And judgment summoned forth the faithful and the fallen of the two heavens.
Blood 4:3 And I heard a great wind of a thousand million wings beating toward the drum of judgment; and no angel slumbered lest their talons be bathed in the color of the blood of souls.
Blood 4:4 And Justice and Fury and Salvation slay every beast and burned every crop upon the earth. And the earth ran thick and red with the blood of beasts. And the land lay black in ash.
Blood 4:5 And the earth brought forth no grass, no herb yielding seed, no fruit tree yielding fruit.
Blood 4:6 And the angels boiled the waters of the earth and the sea and the great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind ceased.
Blood 4:7 And at the end of that seventh day, none stood in the garden
: and it was so.
Blood 5:1 And The Fallen gathered his earthly forces and Faith and Fury and Salvation followed the Rain and ascended toward the mother and the father of the two Heavens.
Blood 5:2 And the Dark Angel of Light relinquished his reign in lightning and fire.
Blood 5:3 And all of the angels in all of the heavens took arms against each other. And father slay mother, and mother slay mother.
Blood 5:4 And judgment rose in death from the battlefield and inhabited the throne of the damned. And his Salvation was resurrected and ruled over him for eternity
Blood 5:5 And then there was a time of great nothingness—dark infinity.
Blood 5:6 And the light shined on The End and a new Chosen One understood The Beginning.
Blood 5:7 And Rain blanketed the earth for the next eternity; and it was good.
Blood 5:8 Let no god nor angel in the heavens nor being upon any earth hold tongue to speak against the Words.
Blood 5:9 For they shall all be born again … in fire.
Flames lap from the fiery lake, warming all in the pit, comforting the most damned for my tale.
“Are you still reading that book to them?” Salvation says to me. “Rain almighty, you need to put that thing down. You are going to go blind as Faith reading that thing to those innocent, little purgatories.”
I look up from all the faces. “They aren’t that innocent,” I say to her. And I get a sly grin and look back. “Not anymore … are you, rookies? Oh, now … see, there you go with those faces. You look as confused as flame on a feather. Unravel that. But she might be right. All these burning rage stories before you roost. What? You don’t wanna roost? Again with that shit? Read it again? But I’ve been telling you this same story … gotta be close to a thousand years. The end doesn’t change … ever. Everyone just eats each other down there.”
And I hear Salvation calling me again, “Your daughter is waiting, and I’m tired of being late.”
“Late?” I say to her. “I’m never late. What’s she talking about, I’m late?”
Fury laughs at me. She’s always laughing at me now. “You’re kidding, right?” she says. “That old cocksucker was right.”
TF- C - 00.00 - THE FALLEN Dark Fantasy Series: A Dark Dystopian Fantasy (Books 1 - 3) Page 26