DARK FAÏZ Book 3: Dawn never keeps its promises

by Sandra L. Kiss

  Faïz had been walking for several minutes through a huge tunnel, not very wide, dug underground and unlit. The noise of the chains was getting closer as he advanced. He arrived in front of an old wooden door, half-open, which gave onto a first empty room. Footprints caught his attention, showing the recent passage of several individuals. Looking carefully around the place, his eyes fell on a feather with an ivory sheen. The young man froze. His breath cut short and his heart was racing at an unusual speed. Faïz felt anger invade him with absolute power, like a tsunami. He picked up the feather that had fallen from Georgia's wings, then took a quick step into the next room, which door was also half open.

  He had to bring his arm to his face to protect himself from the blinding light that drowned the room when he rushed inside. It took some time for his eyes to get used to it. He turned off his flashlight, which was no longer of any use, and began to scrutinize the place, realizing that everything would be at stake here. Large spots were placed at the four corners of this strange underground bunker. On the side were a row of dungeons and another door was opposite to the first one. Strange objects, such as human skulls, jars and old books were placed on huge wooden shelves. The place was vast, with high ceilings. Faïz didn't realize that he had sunk so deep. Suddenly, a deafening noise of chains resounded, breaking the heavy silence of the place. It came from one of the cells. Just as Faïz was heading towards this sordid row of jails, the back door opened, stopping the young man in his walk. Pavel, with his impressive and monstrous build, appeared, a demonic smile on his lips. His naked torso, covered with tattoos, revealed protruding muscles. The visible veins on his arms gave a relief effect to the drawings marked on his skin. Despite the repulsive physique of the latter whose death seemed to be painted all over his body and embedded in his flesh, Faïz didn't lose his composure. No fear could be read on his face. He didn't even have a gesture of retreat in front of this man dressed in a thick military fatigues and wearing Ranger boots.

  "Hello, brave soldier."

  No human being on Earth possessed such a cavernous voice. That voice was neither human nor benevolent. The Maestro was indeed in that body which he had fashioned in such a way as to be recognized by all. Faïz raised his chin with arrogance, his eyes darkened. He hoped that Masha wouldn't be long to come. Perhaps there was an ounce of humanity left deep inside Pavel? Faïz clung to this hope without really believing in it. He, who didn't imagine for a moment that he could one day deny his daughter.

  "Where is she?" asked the young man in a voice full of fury.

  Pavel's eyes, which reflected the darkness of hell, twisted into Faïz's. The two men began to turn each around the room, at an equal distance, without ever coming closer to each other.

  "She is preparing for the great sleep," replied the Maestro, without losing his demonic smile.

  With his face distorted by rage, Faïz began to look at the place long, wide and across, desperately looking for a hint that would lead him to Georgia.

  "Are you so sure of yourself and your strength, to wait for me like this, alone, without your men?" asked the young man with a grunt of impatience.

  "But who said I was alone?"

  Pavel looked in the direction of the door through which he had entered. Black shadows appeared at ground level, slowly spreading through the room. They stopped around Pavel who was meticulously observing Faïz's alarmed reaction. The exhalation took on the appearance of formless creatures. These many abstract shadows, without contours, seemed to have eyes and a face. They stretched and then folded back on themselves without ever keeping a real form. These simulacra, these horsemen escaped from the darkness, were more fearsome than an entire army. Elusive whispers emanated from these chimeric shadows, followed by muffled Machiavellian giggles.

  "The ghosts are very good company," said Pavel in an icy voice. "I wouldn't say the same about my other host."

  He nodded to the dungeons behind Faïz. The young man turned around suddenly and felt his blood leave his face. Masha and Elijah would surely arrive at any moment, but he wasn't sure of anything anymore, not even sure in the end that it was a good idea to ask Pavel's daughter to join him here.

  "Go get him!" ordered the Maestro's voice.

  The shadows returned to their original shape. A long foggy trail floated a few centimeters off the ground and disappeared inside one of the cells. Faïz stepped back to keep an eye on this faceless monster who was still staring at him with an intensity that pierced him. His sneering smile rolled up his lips in an almost animal way.

  The rusty door opened in a screeching creak. A figure, sitting in a wheelchair, gradually emerged from the darkness. The black glow continued to direct this prisoner into the light. When he appeared completely, Faïz, with a knotted throat, easily recognized this acquaintance.

  "Agent Martinez informed us of his presence by inviting himself to my house one night. I wondered what he was thinking when he showed up at my door. You see, soldier? As you can see, I'm far from alone."

  The agent, looking bad, looked at Faïz imploringly. His frantic eyes were coming out of their sockets. Martinez began to cry for help. His words were drowned in uncontrolled sobs. An instrument resembling a double fork with two very sharp spikes was tied around his neck, forcing him to keep his head up or risk being stabbed on the spot. The Maestro's loud and serious laughter forced Faïz to look away from the prisoner. With his jaw clenched, his fists closed and his breathing jerky, the young man wondered what this demon had done to his daughter. This thought felt like a punch in the stomach and a fleeting pain went through his whole body.

  "Back then, we knew how to have fun," said Pavel, triumphant. "The instruments of torture were so entertaining. And still, I didn't choose the worst! What I like about the Heretic's fork is to see how long the victim is able to hold on. One should never fall asleep on it and end up impaled from chin to chest. I think you'd take great pleasure in watching this spectacle on your victims as well. Why don't you cohabit with the demons on Earth, with me? After all, you do very well with the ones you have inside you."

  Pavel's story was disturbed by a heart-rending scream. Officer Martinez, hysterical, swore and uttered a flood of incomprehensible words. Ignoring what he was saying, the Maestro continued:

  "Just before your sister died, Zoe and I played a little game. Do you want to play too, soldier? It's simple, you win or you lose your daughter."

  Faïz moaned at this moment of anger and pain. He brought his hands to his hair, his cheeks red with rage and his eyes filled with hatred.

  "Burn in hell," replied the young man angrily.

  "That's all right, apparently some people are going to join us. It'll make the game even more exciting."

  Pavel looked across the room. Faïz then saw Masha and Elijah arriving. Unfortunately and to his greatest despair, they weren't alone. Lexy, Asarys and... Zoe were there, too.

  "Good evening," said Pavel. "We've been expecting you."

  12

  Masha, who knew the place better than anyone else, went through the door first, followed by Elijah. Inside the room was suffocating heat. Destabilized by the strong light from the spotlights, it took me a few seconds to regain my sight before I scanned the place. I suddenly felt my heart rise up at the horrible spectacle unfolding before my eyes. I put a hand over my mouth to force me to hold back a scream. Pavel, with his monstrous face in the middle of the room, was in a position of omnipotence. The scene of cruelty before me seemed unreal to me. I was on the verge of weakness, ready to faint. Faïz looked in my direction and stared at me with overwhelming despair.

  "Get me out of here!" screamed Stephen, his eyes red with terror.

  With his feet and hands joined by big chains, he struggled like a possessed man, his face raised to the extreme. Masha and my friends, frozen in place by this vision of terror, were unable to make the slightest movement. Suddenly, a strong explosion moved the ground under our feet. A wave of energy shook the walls with a muffled roar.

  "Oh no!" M
asha moaned. "The Dome!"

  "Now Los Angeles is no longer invincible," said the Maestro, spreading his arms. "The City of Angels will soon crumble under the attacks of the demons."

  "Why don't you play warlord in your kingdom, with this dear Lucifer?" Elijah asked in a threatening tone.

  "But that's what I'm here for! You have to give back to the Devil what belongs to the Devil. Mankind has made this Earth a hell. It's perfectly legitimate that my companions and I want to settle here, but ... without you."

  The Maestro's laughter froze my blood. It was the same as I remembered. The ground under our feet stopped moving. In a flash of lucidity, I hurried towards Stephen, but before I could reach him, an obscure emanation rose in front of me and violently threw me on the ground. A dog-like shape, of immense size, appeared in the opaque fog. Its red eyes and chops rolled up on sharp teeth showed a ferocious expression and immobilized me with fear. Faïz ran towards me, ready to protect me by giving his life. He stood in front of this threatening shadow and turned towards me:

  "Are you all right?" he hastened to ask me in a worried voice.

  I nodded as I stood up.

  "Pavel?" called Masha. "Free this man! He has nothing to do with this."

  The man turned his gaze to her and walked slowly towards her:

  "Sweetheart, that vermin broke into my house. He broke the law!"

  "We're way past that now."

  "He thought he could take me on by himself. ME!"

  Pavel now seemed mad as hell.

  "The darkness itself is afraid of my shadow. The gates of hell didn't open when I was presented to them. I am, without a doubt, the darkest soul, the one who will never find rest. No chance for me to shed this evil bark."

  His attention suddenly fell on my two friends, Lexy and Asarys, standing next to Masha. His confidence seemed, for a moment, shaken. He moved back, bewildered, and came to plant his abject gaze in Faïz's before raising his face to the ceiling:

  "So finally, you have a plan!" Pavel shouted. "Well done! I would never have recognized them like that."

  "What's he talking about?" I stammered, trying to stay calm.

  Faïz averted his eyes from me. Pain and despair ran through his features for a moment, but before he answered anything, the Maestro's voice called out to him:

  "Outside these walls, a war is being waged against an entire people. My army of followers is wiping out your kind. Tomorrow there will be no Leviathan or Sylphs left on the planet. But I offer to spare you, and your daughter's life."

  My chest tightened as I listened to those last words. I searched for my breath. The Maestro's voice swelled and echoed on the walls.

  "I can make you a much bigger and stronger person. I see in you a force as bright as it is dark. Join me, soldier! Mankind doesn't deserve you. They'll promise you a thousand things, but dawn has this nasty habit of never keeping its promises. They'll go away with the first light, taking with them the words of the day before."

  I perceived a certain tension emanating from Faïz. A sudden fury then seized him.

  "Never! I obey no king in this world or any other. As long as the people I love live here on earth, I will ensure them a peaceful life without any shadow of menace above them."

  "You're a poor fool!" cried Pavel, his features distorted with anger. "You persist in wanting to save a world that has already gone astray and condemned itself to hell. Do you think it would have done it for you? No human outside these walls would have sacrificed themselves just a moment for what you are, on the contrary. They'd rather feel sorry for themselves. You fight for cowards! Cowards who will turn on you the first chance they get. Contrary to what you think, the human being will burn you at the stake at the slightest misdeed, forgetting everything you have done for them. Society is ungrateful and blind. Do you think for one moment that I would be here among you if I hadn't been invited? It is YOU who feeds the Gods and Demons. To fight me is to fight a part of this world. A hero can't exist without an enemy, good can't reign without evil, these two things are inseparable from their opposite. Before me or after me, it doesn't matter, someone will always take your place or mine."

  "The little girl, where is she?" Elijah asked with a sharp virulence.

  I turned my eyes towards Asarys and Lexy. They were trying to approach me in small steps to avoid attracting Pavel's attention. Agent Martinez's moaning in the background gave the scene an anxiety-provoking atmosphere.

  "Tell us where the girl is!" Masha insisted, raising her voice to the man who was once her father.

  "I didn't do anything to her, my darling," he defended himself by putting his hands in front of him. "Come on, I'm a father too. I put her to sleep so she wouldn't notice anything. The future of this child will depend on how long it takes you to get her out of the ground."

  At that moment, the world collapsed beneath my feet and I felt an enormous weight fall on me. An intense buzz filled my head. I heard my blood pounding against my temples. An image came to me: the first time I had held her in my arms in the hospital on the day she was born.

  "You're a monster! What have you done to her?" I heard screaming.

  I returned to the present when Faïz tried to throw himself on Pavel, but even before he successfully reached him, he was violently thrown to the ground by the evil fog that protected him.

  "Save your energy," provoked the Maestro. "It'll be me or your daughter. She only has a few minutes left before she runs out of oxygen in the tomb I've specially made for her."

  I felt Lexy's hands resting on my shoulders. Asarys, her, stood in front of me.

  "Where did you bury her, you nutcase?" Masha got impatient.

  The Maestro's thunderous laughter resounded again.

  "In the park," he confessed.

  "But it's huge!" Elijah rose with a sweaty forehead.

  Pavel caught his breath and declared victoriously:

  "They say miracles can happen in your world. Perhaps the eternal will be merciful tonight, with you. Show me what your prayers are worth, I'm curious to see."

  Faïz stood up slowly and looked at Elijah. His eyes full of determination stared at him calmly and confidently.

  "It's time to go back to the origin of the myth," he said, addressing both the Maestro and my friend.

  Confused, my eyes went back and forth between the two men. I didn't understand what we were still doing here, instead of being outside looking for my daughter. I was in the midst of a violent inner turmoil. My subconscious was telling me to go and save her, but my legs were no longer responding to me.

  "He no longer exists," protested Elijah with all the disdain he was capable of.

  "She's going to die if you don't leave to save her right now," Faïz replied in a stern voice.

  "And how do you want me to do that?"

  "Ask Condor to give you your wings back."

  His last words shook me. Everyone, including Pavel, stared at Elijah in search of explanations for the inexplicable. Only Agent Martinez's groans broke that dead silence. For a split second, my friends and I exchanged worried glances. The image of the monstrous dog that had attacked me a few minutes earlier became blurred. It dissipated in the air to become again a curtain of opaque emanations.

  "I disowned my wings decades ago, and even if I wanted to, I couldn't find them."

  "They are not lost, believe me," insisted Faïz. "Condor kept them for you. He gave them to someone who always believed in you. To someone who always saw you as the most beautiful angel. The eyes of a child don't lie. My daughter carried your wings on her back every day so she could give them back to you when you needed them."

  A cry of rage and refusal escaped from my friend. He began to roam the room muttering incomprehensible words and then added:

  "I didn't want this anymore! That was your plan? Why me, Condor? Why won't you just leave me alone?"

  A dreadful fear gripped me. My brain refused to register this last information. It was too much. Yes, looking back, I had always found this man to
be different. But I never would have guessed that he too was one of those light beings. The truth was, he hated his past life. He hated the human race, perhaps as much as the Maestro did. So what had happened to him?

  "What you're saying is impossible!" roars Pavel, unsettled.

  An undeniably dangerous look spread all over his face, and then he continued:

  "You're not going to put the last minutes of your daughter's life in the hands of a man who's been cast out of the kingdom of heaven. The damned angels can't rise again!"

  "Unless we believe in them," said Faïz, looking at Pavel with defiance.

  "Elijah!" I shouted, my voice almost bursting into tears. "Save my daughter! Please, I beg you. Don't let her die. You watched her being born, you nursed her when she was sick. You love her as much as all of us here."

  His chin raised towards me, I saw that his emotion was at its peak.

  "Come on, fly!" whispered Asarys, begging.

  "I'm going to miss the Eli I used to argue with all the time," said Lexy, her eyes shining.

  "Don't let him get away!" Pavel shouted in the direction of the black fog, whose whispers became louder and louder.

  Short of breath, I watched Elijah crouch on the ground and close his eyes.

  "I want my wings!" he begged aloud.

  He shook his head vigorously before adding:

  "I'm an Anhel of the Queyum people. I give my allegiance to our mother to all of us. Queen of heaven and earth. Let me return to the source. I believe..."

  Elijah bowed his head. With his jaw tight, he squeezed his eyes as tightly as he could. His words had difficulty coming out: