Eternity

by Nealis, James

  “You will receive no mercy.”

  I can almost feel the peace that will come when I finally slice open his body and let all that is inside him spill out onto the dirt. Soon I will jab my sword into his flesh. I must remember to command my battalion that they are not to put a finger on him other than to capture him so that I can deal his dying blow.

  “I love you, Terra.”

  “So you are awake,” the Frosted says.

  I turn to him and sigh. “What are you doing up?”

  “Raph is supposed to arrive any minute now.”

  I grimace. “Really? He will only make things worse.”

  I think back upon my time in training when I chose to vote for him to receive the stone out of mercy. I wonder now how truly merciful it was considering all of the soldiers who must indulge his sick and sadistic appetites. Not to mention his remarkable incompetence. He is the first of his kind, a completely unqualified captain. A leader without followers.

  “I’m not going to argue with you,” he says. “But the Prince wanted us to concentrate all of our forces. He knows the end’s in sight, but I don’t think he realizes the kind of warrior Raph is.”

  Warrior! Ha.

  The very word in relation to Raphael makes me want to throw up.

  The Frosted walks over and sits down on the mud beside me. His eyes reflect the stars. My breed raises his head and looks back at the Frosted. It coos and then rolls over onto his back and closes his eyes back shut.

  “That’s quite a set up,” the Frosted says. “Four walls, furniture, the whole bit.”

  I look over at the new portable barracks. “Celles and Tinus can build anything.”

  “Yet, you sleep out here.”

  “Comfort isn’t what I’m after,” I say.

  “No,” he says. “I suppose it wasn’t what I was after either.”

  I lower the wooden box down to my chest and then place it in the brown pouch, hanging by my side.

  “You seem different,” I say.

  “Maybe I am. Or maybe I just understand that we are on the same team. Two warring angels who want the same thing.”

  “To see them bleed.”

  “To restore the world to its rightful order,” he says.

  We sit again for awhile in silence. I lean forward and press my hands against my knees. I peer into the darkness. “Let me ask you something. Why’d you vote for me? I mean I know you hated me and yet you chose to vote for me.”

  “I’ll admit it wasn’t because I liked you.”

  “So you did it because you thought I could kill the most Rogues?”

  “No,” he says. “I chose you because I thought you were the best leader of all of us. At that time, all I wanted was to see them pay. To make sure that the Rogues were wiped off the face of the planet. I looked at you and I saw the one who could mobilize us, to lead us to that goal. Every one of my acts was guided by hatred of them and the world.”

  “You talk like you only felt that way in the past.”

  “I still feel angry,” he says. “Did Sal tell you about the siege in the Valley?”

  I look back at him blankly.

  “Everything was going according to plan. My recruits completely encircled the Rogue’s camp. I even orchestrated a group of scouts to drop in from above to keep them from darting off.”

  “But before we closed in, I spotted him, the Rogue who killed Rebekah,” he stands to his feet, reenacting the scene in front of me. “He looked so arrogant. I can still see his ugly face. I ignored the rest of my soldiers. This was my battle and mine alone. I flew right into the middle of the Rogue camp as my army watched from afar.”

  His breathing begins to quicken as he draws his sword and points it into the empty darkness.

  “You killed her,” he starts shouting into the trees. “While she slept, you slit her throat for no other reason than to appease your evil heart.”

  The tears stream down his face. Broken and angry he swipes at the air as if there were a Rogue standing in front of him. He turns toward me.

  “I stabbed him once through the leg,” he says. “It wasn’t enough so I sliced off one of his arms. I still wasn’t satisfied so I slit him down his back. Again nothing.”

  He then drops his sword and looks directly at me. “So I sliced his throat, the exact way he did to her.”

  We both sit in silence for a moment.

  He appears to be recounting the experience in his head. I am completely taken aback by how open and willing he is to share this moment with me.

  “So you killed him,” I say. “You satisfied your need for judgment. You found peace?”

  “Revenge is never satisfied,” he says. “And there is no peace. I looked down on his broken body and felt the same thing I feel every time I kill another Rogue. Nothing.”

  His words frighten me.

  I know the nothingness well.

  I remember the first Rogue body that I stood over. I pulled the sword out from his chest and wiped the metal blade along my cloth to clean it. I stared down at the empty casing of a body and realized, I still felt as much, if not more rage, than I did before.

  “We can’t ever rid ourselves of that thirst for blood through vengeance,” he says. “And eventually it will rot you out from the inside. I know what this must sound like to you. But it’s not that I have given up, it’s just that, well we have lived a lifetime since we left training. I can barely recognize my own voice as I speak these words but it’s true: nothing external can fix our pain, except the Origin.”

  “I believe you,” I say. “I don’t expect peace anymore. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still want vengeance.”

  “I never doubted you would,” he says. “And I won’t dissuade you from taking it. I only want to warn you that in the end, that it may not feel the way you dreamed it would.”

  “I appreciate your opening up to me, Captain,” I say.

  “Call me by my name,” he says. “It’s Gabriel.”

  I smile. “Very well. Thank you, Gabriel.”

  Suddenly, the trees above shake. I hear the sound of a thousand wings beating overhead. I look up and see nothing but darkness.

  “What’s that?” I say rising to my feet.

  “It’s Raphael,” he says. “He doesn’t have enough common sense to leave his troops in the underbrush.”

  Underequipped angels start landing all around us in the small acre parcel. Within moments, I barely have enough room to stand, much less lie back down and try to sleep again.

  “You have a gift, Raph,” I say as he walks toward us.

  His dark hair has grown out now and falls just above his shoulders. The bright red stone still rests beneath his neck on the golden chain. But now he also wears a golden gauntlet and a bejeweled hair pin. His ornate tunic displays blues, purples, reds, and greens depending on how much of the moon’s light is reflected off of it. Amidst his underequipped army, he stands out like a cactus growing in the snow.

  “Michael,” he walks forward to greet me with a clearly fake hug. His fat belly pushes me backward as his sweaty arms battle to pull me closer forcing me into an awkward bowing position. “When I heard that we would be coming to join your army, I was so filled with joy that I could once again work beside my former pupil. I am glad to see my teachings have guided you to such a lofty position.”

  More troops descend around us forcing me to lift off the ground just so that I am not squashed between all the bodies. They clamor and drop their weapons all across the camp. One soldier crushes an old strawberry bush.

  “You wouldn’t believe how long this journey was,” Raphael says. “It’s bad enough flying from the Poles as it is, but to then circumvent the Lower Foothills is tough enough with that place roaming with Rogues.”

  “Wait a minute,” Gabriel says. “You didn’t just fly in from the North did you?”

  My eyes meet Gabriel’s. I turn to Raphael. “Tell me you didn’t.”

  The fat captain only looks back at me dumbly with a com
plete lack of understanding of the danger that he just created.

  “Tinus!” I shout through the new crowd of people.

  “What is this all about?” Raphael says back to me.

  I ignore him.

  “Get the men ready,” I say.

  Tinus eyes narrow. “For what?”

  “They’ve come for us. Inform the troops, we have been compromised. The Rogues are on to us and they will be arriving at our camp at any minute.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The Siege

  “NO! NOT NOW!” I shout. “We aren’t ready.”

  A stream of arrows descends all around me. I can barely see the darts in the darkness of night but for the way they blot out the light of the moon overhead. I lean up against a tree and manipulate a thick tree branch as a shield. A black dart plunges right into the center of the barrier and bursts into flames.

  I rip the dart out of the make-shift shield and hold out the flame to brighten up the chaos that is going on all around me. I spot a whimpering angel. He is rolling on the ground. Bright red blood splatter is all over his white tunic. And he isn’t alone. Dead and injured soldiers cover the grounds all over the camp.

  “Run toward the Temple grounds!” I shout to my breed. He growls. I shake my head and push him away. He bounds off into the woods.

  Raphael stands at the center of the wide clearing staring up at the raining arrows. It’s a miracle that he has yet to have his large round body pierced by a dart. I rush toward him and pull him backwards into the bushes.

  “Attack them!” Raphael shouts over and over.

  Hoards of his recruits keep leaping up into the air toward the flying arrows only to fall to the ground with arrows piercing new and different parts of their bodies.

  “Shut up you moron!” I shout over at Raphael. “There is no hope for victory in a surprise attack. They have the advantage. We have no plan or strategy. This is just pure hysteria. Get as many of your angels out of here as you can.”

  “Mind your own army,” he shouts back at me commanding another soldier onward. “In case you forgot, I was chosen for captain long before you.”

  “Tell that to a Rogue when he pierces your gut!”

  I grip the handle of my sword. This whole thing is Raphael’s fault. Not only did he fly directly overhead of the enemy with his complete lack of basic discretion, but on top of that, he packed all of his troops on top of one another in such a tight grouping. He compressed them so densely how could the Rogues miss a body?

  I don’t have time to think; I only act. I slam the hilt of my sword into Raphael’s head knocking him unconscious.

  I turn to a nearby soldier. “Fly this worthless sack of waste out of here.” I turn to the rest of the soldiers who look completely in despair. “The rest of you, grab the dead and injured and flee to safety.”

  They don’t argue. I am pretty sure I detect a sense of relief as a soldier grabs Raphael and flies him away. Though his wings clearly struggle with all the weight of the captain.

  Baal bolts out in front of me. His twin daggers held out in front of him. He jabs one into a Rogue standing nearby. The body falls as he stands over it laughing.

  Other soldiers clear out, and I now cower back under my shield in the corner as another stream of arrows is unleashed. Suddenly, weapon-bearing Rogues fill my field of vision as they land onto the ground in front of me. Standing completely naked, with nothing but splotches of body paint splashed about their skin, they scream blood-curdling yells and various profanities.

  My eyes scan the faces of the Rogues as they begin jabbing their spears into our defenseless dead. I look for the one who started my journey down this road.

  I pull out the fife I wear around my neck. I press my lips to it, releasing the chirping, high pitched sound. The tones descend four octaves, telling my troops to flee. I will not send them forward to senseless slaughter. The longer they stay, the more likely the Prince will lose his entire army.

  The music draws attention from the Rogues. One Rogue with a bright green splotch of body paint covering his bald head points three others to go inspect. I crouch down low, my sword in hand. If I am to leave this world, I will do it fighting.

  “We need to get you out of here.”

  I glance back at Auro. He must not have been carried off during the retreat. I turn back from him toward the coming assault. “You of all angels, Auro, should not be here. Get back to the Temple Center.”

  “I’m fine,” he says. “But what about you? You can’t possibly take them all by yourself.”

  “I will never run from a Rogue,” I say. “Never again.”

  “Then pretty hypocritical to tell me to flee, isn't it? They stole my eye. Don’t I have the right to stand and fight?”

  “I am your captain,” I growl. “Now get out of here before I kill you myself.”

  “It looks like we will both die at the hands of the Rogues anyways, so what does it matter if you try and kill me?”

  Auro steps in front of me, blocking my view of the oncoming Rogues. He throws his shoulders back and lifts his chin up, ignoring the danger going on behind him. He looks pathetic with his bloody bandage still covering one eye.

  “Fine. Just stay out of the way.” I push him to the side.

  A naked body flies right in front of me and throws a long spear. I fly to the left and Auro leaps forward, stabbing the attacker right in the neck. The blood squirts out all over Auro who now drops back to the ground beside me.

  “See, I can come in handy,” he says.

  “You, in the woods,” a voice booms toward us, sounding familiar. “You may want to think carefully before you advance any farther.”

  “I don’t run.” My words trail off when I realize that this is him. Suddenly, everything around me fades from vision. The blue body paint covers his naked body from head to toe. I almost didn’t recognize him but for the flames peaking up from his shoulders. The crisscrossed scar tightens and releases as his mouth opens and closes. He curses at us.

  “Cephus!” I shout.

  “So my reputation precedes me,” he says.

  I fix my eyes on him and walk toward the clearing where he stands. One Rogue jumps at me. With one swipe, I stab him right through the chest and force him to the ground. I kick him off my sword and keep charging toward Cephus. Two more enemies assault me, but this time Auro runs up to assist. We make quick work of the two body-painted fiends and continue marching toward the clearing.

  The closer we draw toward the leader of the Rogues, the more his underlings swarm around and assault us from the front, behind, and above. They surround us completely. Swords, spears, and long nailed fingers reach in toward us. Auro and I fling our swords and shields at them trying to push forward, though it is nearly hopeless.

  “We can’t take them all,” Auro shouts.

  I refuse to heed his words. I won’t let this infuriating hopelessness stop me from getting my revenge. How could I be so close to that ugly, evil murderer and not have my vengeance? Will I really be held back by a bunch of nameless minions?

  The adrenaline pumps within my veins. A throbbing, pumping, and tangible hatred spurs me forward. My temperature rises and by no purposeful choice of my own, flames burst forth from my skin. The fire burns more and more brightly than ever before. Like a volcano of rage, the flames surge all the way up through the Rogues above me and into the leaves. The tree cover above ignites as fiery branches fall down to the ground.

  It doesn’t take long for everything to set ablaze, including many of the Rogues. Auro must creep down low to avoid being burned.

  Many of the Rogues fall to the ground around us. Their skin is charred and in some places completely burned away.

  “Retreat!” Cephus shouts to his recruits, who by now already cower in fear.

  The Rogue minions leave us, only to antagonize by throwing their weapons from a distance.

  This is it. I grow more determined, hurrying my steps.

  I close my eyes briefly
and see Terra’s face, smiling when we first explored the universe. She would praise the Origin for each flower petal, each creature she saw for the first time. I wish I could remember the sound and pitch of her laughter but now it seems more like a clouded fiction in my mind. Like something I made up only to fill the gap in my memory. I open my eyes, hating Cephus even more than I ever have before, for I cannot even visit her in my mind.

  “Cephus!” I shout, reciting the words I have rehearsed so many times before. “I come for you. I share with you the painful sting of death. I bestow on you the horrible torment of loss.”

  Cephus narrows his eyes and scrunches his eyebrows. “I take it we’ve met?”

  “Battle shows us who we are inside,” I say. “As you can see, I stopped running from myself. Instead I run towards you.”

  “Are those words supposed to mean something to me?”

  He doesn’t even remember? Were his actions so inconsequential that they don’t even register in his memories?

  I spit on the ground in front of me. I won’t kill him without him knowing why.

  “You stabbed me and left me for dead in the Oasis.” I say. “You assaulted my breed.”

  He twists his head to the side. “Aw. Where is that little bugger? I would so much like to pierce his furry skin. Maybe I could turn him into a nice golden coat, fit for the new king of this world.”

  “At least I wouldn’t have to see any more of your hideous naked body. You shameless wretch.”

  “You are the mindless drone who follows the great deceiver.”

  “It is you who is deceived,” I shout.

  Cephus steps forward, gritting his teeth. “I suppose we shall see.”

  My anger disorients me. I tighten my grip on the sword as I prepare to engage him in battle. Auro stands beside me.

  “Stand down, Auro,” I shout. “This is between us.”

  I hold my flaming hand out toward Auro. He falls back.

  Cephus points his sword at me. “So you want to have an honor battle. Enemy against enemy. How noble of you.”