by A. Q. Owen
He turned away from the portal, looking back over his shoulder at the entrance to the stairwell. Like everything else in this room, it was identical to the one in Steve’s church.
Orion hesitated, glancing back at the portal again. He wanted to get home, where things made sense. Whatever this place was, he didn’t want to be here. Then again, what was home?
His life on Earth had gone from bad to horrible. He’d lost everything he held dear and in the worst possible ways. What did that life really have to offer him?
He recalled the many times he’d put a pistol in his mouth or to his head, tensing his finger on the trigger but too afraid to squeeze it. He’d thought, on more than one occasion, about sitting in the garage with his engine running and just falling asleep, fading into oblivion. Then there were the moments where he’d stood on a cliff’s edge, up on the mountain thirty minutes from his house. He’d looked down without fear of falling, almost hoping the wind would pick up and push him off.
Something had kept him from jumping. Something had kept him from offing himself every single time. He never could put his finger on it.
The truth was, Orion wanted to die. Maybe then he could fast-forward through time and be with his daughter again. Each time, though, that something tugged at the back of his mind, at the fabric of his being. It kept him from pulling the trigger, from jumping, from leaving the car running.
Orion sighed. He still thought Steve was crazy—no matter what the current circumstances said. Other dimensions? Demons? A magical ring and sword?
He looked down at the ring on his finger. It glowed a faint blue color.
“That’s a first,” he said.
The ring pulsed its bizarre light.
Orion’s eyebrows lowered. “What in the world is this thing? Can you hear me?”
It blinked twice.
“Okay, that’s it. I’ve obviously gone crazy.”
The glow faded for a second and then returned.
“I’m not crazy?”
It blinked no again.
“Okay, well if I’m not crazy, I must have been drugged. Steve drugged me, didn’t he?”
The ring faded again and then returned to its normal glow.
“You know what? You’re not helping.”
It blinked a few times.
“You are helping?”
The ring gave the same response.
“Okay then, you magical little whatever you are, do you want me to go up the steps?”
He saw it blink again.
“Great. I’m talking to a piece of jewelry.”
Orion took a few reluctant steps toward the stairs and then paused, looking back at the portal one more time.
“If I really am in the land of demons and the devil, I guess it’s as good a place as any to die.”
Then it hit him. Maybe that was it after all. The thing that had kept Orion from killing himself all those times: It was a sense of purpose, a drive to do something. What that something was he had no idea, but perhaps this was it. If this place truly was real, he wouldn’t have to kill himself. He could go down fighting and with a clear conscience.
He snorted at the notion. The Realm. “Pfft.” This can’t be real.
He trudged up the stairs, winding his way to the main floor of the church, or what he thought would be the main floor. When he made it to the top, he found the corridor to be an exact match of the one he’d come from on Earth.
Orion sighed. He’d hoped there would be some difference that would disprove Steve’s theory. Alas, here he was, in the same church, just on the other side of some interdimensional rift.
He walked straight ahead toward the secret door and found nothing but a wall there to greet him. He ran his fingers along the rocks to see if he could find a seam, but it was perfectly sealed.
“Aha, Steve. I guess you were wrong after all.”
He leaned against the wall nearest his right shoulder and wrapped his fingers around a sconce. The candle set in it suddenly burst to life. The flame flickered for a moment and then cast an eerie glow into the room.
Startled, Orion pulled back, his fingers accidentally tugging on the sconce as he did so. To his surprise, the candle mount came loose and dipped down a few inches. A deep grinding sound came from within the wall, and a crack appeared. The gap widened as the secret door swung open, revealing the priest’s office on the other side.
Orion looked down at the ring on his finger. “How did that candle light like that?” He asked the question, knowing full well the ring couldn’t give him a long answer. The jewelry simply continued to glow as if ignoring the question.
Steve had said something about magical powers. No, not magic. The power. That’s what he’d called it. What else could it be, if not magic? Perhaps some kind of divine miracle?
He took a deep breath and stepped through the opening, clutching the sword at his hip with a deathly-tight grip. The other side of the corridor opened up into the offices he’d seen before, though there were some distinct differences to the one Steve called his own. There were no pictures, no mementos from days gone by. The office was sparse. Nothing hung on the walls save for an old, dusty clock that wasn’t working. The furniture was the same: a wooden bookshelf with no books, a desk, and a chair much like the one Orion had seen in Steve’s office. Other than that, however, it didn’t feel like the priest’s.
Another thunderous rumble came from somewhere outside the building. It shook the stone walls, but nothing fell. Nothing collapsed.
“What is that noise?” Orion said the words out loud, knowing full well there would be no answer.
“A rally.”
The raspy voice echoed through the chamber, sending shivers through Orion’s skin and bones.
He whipped the sword up in front of his body and held it out, ready to defend himself. It had been a long time since he’d used a blade like this as a weapon. The only time he had was during training, and it was a specific training most people didn’t sign up for when they joined the military. He had been no ordinary soldier, though, and wanted to get as much combat education as possible. He’d even learned to use a tomahawk in close-quarter fights.
While his abilities might have been a tad rusty, Orion wasn’t going to let some apparition get the best of him, even if he did have a death wish.
“Who’s there?” he asked, brandishing the weapon.
“You don’t have to use that thing on me, boy,” the voice said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Show yourself then—if you mean me no harm.”
An old man appeared around the corner, standing in the hall just outside the door. His hands were folded behind his back. Long, curly white hair cascaded off his shoulders. His clothing was primitive, looking like something a monk would have worn hundreds of years ago. The black robes draped over his shoulders and hung all the way to the tops of his matching shoes. A cord was tied loosely around his waist. The robe’s hood hung down between his shoulder blades.
Orion didn’t lower the weapon. Not yet. He had to make sure this guy didn’t have ill intentions.
“Who are you?” Orion repeated the question.
A wry smile crossed the old man’s face. “Who do you think I am?”
Orion frowned. “I’m not going to play mind games with you, old man. Where am I? Who are you? What is this place?”
The old man chuckled. “So full of questions. I expected you to be a bit more aggressive for a hunter, more decisive. Honestly, I thought you would have already attacked me by now.”
“The thought crossed my mind.”
“Ah, good. Then I didn’t miscalculate.”
“Miscalculate?”
The old man shuffled over to one of the chairs across from the desk and eased into it. Orion turned his body slightly to accommodate for the old man’s new position.
“Ah,” the white-haired man said with a sigh. “I do love a good sit.”
“You haven’t answered my questions.”
The man no
dded. “How very astute of you.” He let the barb sting for a second before continuing. “I am Leonardo. You may call me Leonardo.”
“Okay.”
“I am the one who gave that weapon you’re holding in your hand to your friend Steve.”
So, this was the old guy Steve mentioned. Okay, that answered one question, but it only brought that many more to Orion’s mind.
“Steve isn’t my friend.”
Leonardo’s eyes widened at the comment. His brow raised slightly. “No? That’s interesting. You certainly seem to trust him, at least enough to take an ancient weapon of immense power and step through an interdimensional portal under his church.”
“I didn’t step through. He pushed me. When I get back, I intend to address that.”
Leonardo chuckled. “I suppose you would like to punch your friend in the face for pushing you through the portal.”
“Among other things.”
Leonardo cocked his head to the side for a second and then straightened. “If you’re going to punch anyone, young man, it should be me. I’m the one who told Steve about that saber in your hands, about the ring on your finger, and about the portal beneath his church. He didn’t even know about the secret door until I walked through it one day.”
The thought of this ghostly man appearing from a hidden doorway in Steve’s office, scaring the hell out of the priest, brought a fleeting smile to Orion’s face. It quickly vanished.
“Why are you here?”
Another snort escaped the old man’s nostrils. “I’m the priest on this side of the gate.”
“Priest?”
Leonardo nodded. “I am the protector of the portal, the gateway to Earth. For since time on Earth began, the gatekeepers have kept watch over the portal. We protect it from those who dwell in this land. They are not allowed to cross over except by means of a conduit.”
“Demons?” Then Orion recalled what Steve had said about possession, how fallen angels enter mankind’s dimension.
Leonardo gave another nod. “Of course, they wouldn’t survive long in the light. I’m sure Steve told you that already.”
“He mentioned it.” Orion didn’t try to hide his irritation at being here. “Listen, Padre, I appreciate the information and everything.” He motioned to the old man’s robes with a wave of the sword. “But I need to get back now, you know, wake up from this crazy dream or whatever it is.”
Leonardo laughed. It started as a chuckle and swelled into a full-on bellow. After a minute, he began to slow his laughter and rubbed his eyes.
“I have to say, Hunter, that was funny. I haven’t laughed like that in ages. And when I say ages, I mean literal ages.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
“Oh I know, young man. I know.” Leonardo held up a bony finger. “I was just laughing at the thought of what you were going back to.”
Orion’s eyebrows lowered. “What?”
“Your life,” Leonardo said. “It’s been one tragedy after another. You’re here because deep down, more than anything, you want to destroy the source of all evil.” The old man’s eyes darkened, turning to black orbs behind narrow, wrinkled slits. His tone turned almost sinister, deeper than before. The raspy voice of age disappeared. “This, my boy, is your chance.”
Orion didn’t like the fact that this old man laughed at the thought of his miserable life back on the other side of the rift. It was a task simply to fight off the tears advancing toward the corners of his eyes. Every time his life, the events that shaped it, came to his mind, he immediately thought of his daughter. Pain yanked on his heart, the sense of loss digging into the muscle like barbs.
“You don’t know what it’s like, old man,” Orion said after a drawn-out moment. “You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
Leonardo raised both eyebrows in surprise. “Really now? Well, I saw it all happen from this side of the rift.”
“You saw?”
“Yes, my boy. I saw everything.” A sympathetic tone took over the old man’s voice. “I know what you’ve been through. I know what you felt. And I know what you feel now. Confusion. Sadness. Rage.”
“Rage?” Orion laughed. “It feels more like despair. You know, that feeling you get when there’s no hope?”
Leonardo shook his head. “No. I see it. It’s still there. Come with me.” He extended his hand. The cuff of the robe dangled loosely below his wrist. “After I show you this, if you decide you don’t want to fulfill your destiny, I will send you on your way, back to your dimension.”
Orion frowned. “What are you going to show me?”
The old man’s lips creased upward on one corner, cracking a smile. When he spoke, the deep, menacing tone was back again. “The realm of fallen angels.”
9
Leonardo led Orion out of the office and down the corridor toward the front of the church.
Orion’s head twisted back and forth as he scanned the dark walls. Aside from the lighting, or the lack thereof, the cathedral was an exact match to the one on Earth.
The thought scrambled his brain and forced a question to his lips. “This place,” he said and paused, “it’s exactly like the church I just came from.”
“This dimension mirrors yours. It’s the same planet. The same rules of physics apply, though those who dwell here understand them far better than humans. They also know how to bend the rules, though some cannot be bent.”
“Which ones are those? The ones that can’t be bent, I mean.”
Leonardo grinned. “The ones that protect humanity.”
The old man rounded the corner and led the way through the atrium. Giant stone columns lined the center, supporting the ceiling above. Orion imagined there must be a pipe organ up there, or a balcony. Maybe both. He’d never really thought much about it. Come to think of it, he didn’t know why he was noticing it now other than to take his mind off the nerves that were suddenly twitching inside him.
Leonardo veered left toward the heavy wooden doors, again exactly like the ones at the church back home.
As the man moved, he appeared to be floating just a few inches off the ground. His shoulders and head didn’t bob or jar like a normal person as they walked. And there were no sounds of footsteps.
They stopped at the center doorway, and he turned to face Orion. “What you are about to see…there is nothing that can prepare you for this.”
“Thanks, Professor,” Orion said. “But you just told me I’m in some other dimension where demons live. Doesn’t get much more shocking than that. I’ll be fine.”
“Will you?”
Leonardo motioned his hand, and the door creaked open. The first thing that caught Orion off guard was the magic this priestly man used to fling the door wide. That was just the beginning.
A waft of cool air poured into the doorway and washed over Orion. He frowned and peered out through the opening. The city beyond appeared exactly like his. The world, in fact, looked the same. There was only one stark difference. Where the bright yellow sun would normally be in a clear blue sky, a black orb hung in a red backdrop. The entire city was bathed in a reddish hue, giving the appearance of neither night nor day, dusk nor dawn. It was simply an in-between. The buildings wore a sort of grimy appearance, causing them to look darker than the ones back in his world.
All of that was just the beginning. In this place, there were no people walking along holding hands, talking about last night’s game, discussing the stock market, none of that. No one glued to cell phones or citizens texting one another from park benches. No cars lined the streets or rolled along the asphalt behind buses spitting plumes of black exhaust.
Orion’s eyes scanned the bizarre scene, taking it all in like a tourist visiting a historic site for the first time.
“This is incredible,” Orion whispered.
Then he stumbled backward at the most haunting image he’d ever seen in his life. At first, the creatures were nothing more than shadows, silhouettes against the crimson backdrop above. As t
hey drew near, he could see them more clearly, and there was no questioning what they were.
Their shapes were unmistakable.
Giant wings protruded out several feet in both directions as the beings coasted on warm air currents spiraling into the sky.
“Angels,” Orion uttered in sheer disbelief.
“Yes,” Leonardo said. “Well, they used to be.” He stared up at the three creatures as they zipped through the air, heading away from the center of the city. “Now, they are on the side of evil, as they have been for millennia, all of them following the lead of the dark one.”
“Lucifer?”
“Yes,” Leonardo said. “This is the realm of darkness, his abode.”
A dozen more angels flew directly overhead, and Leonardo instinctively reached out, placing his palm on Orion’s chest. He pulled back with surprising strength, ushering the visitor into the doorway to avoid detection.
“I don’t understand,” Orion said. “They look…beautiful.”
He’d caught a glimpse of the fallen angels as they passed over. Their faces were smooth, like those of the most perfectly sculpted models back on Earth. The masculine angels had strong jawlines, and their skin was shaved clean. All of them, male and female, possessed chiseled, muscular features, at least from what Orion could tell. Their clothing looked like something from ancient Rome, black togas covering the majority of their bodies.
“Are their clothes black because—”
“Because they chose to live away from the light of God,” Leonardo answered before Orion could finish his question.
Orion nodded. “I thought they’d—”
“Have horns and be covered in red skin? Look more like monsters?” The old man finished Orion’s sentence again.
“Yeah, something like that.”
Leonardo shook his head. “No. That is a common misunderstanding. All angels are beautiful creatures. They were some of the most stunning in all of the universe. The only way to tell the fallen ones from guardians is by the clothing they wear and a few subtle features.”
“Features?”
“Yes,” Leonardo gave a nod. “The devil and his demons have lived too long in the darkness, away from the light of God. This has worn them down. If you look closely at one, you’ll see that they have wrinkles. Their skin is ashen from tens of thousands of years in the dark. They are tired, worn down from their tasks of sin, disease, death, and temptation.”
