Dark Fall: The Gift

by KD Knight

  I stood by the door and watched as everyone celebrated Jane's return.

  "What were you thinking?" I yelled above the celebration.

  "I wasn't." She looked around at each of us. "I thought that you guys would be safer without me around. To be honest, I thought that I would be safer without you. But when I got to the edge of the city I realized that it was a lot easier to run away when I didn't know what was chasing me."

  I was so hot I could spit fire. "You are selfish. Did you ever stop to think how this little stunt would make anyone else feel?"

  "I'm so…"

  "Yeah, I know, you're sorry." I threw the book that Coy had given me on the floor and headed back for the door.

  "Boothe, please don't go." She trailed behind me.

  I didn't turn.

  "I had time to think. I was wrong about everything. I shouldn't have treated you the way I did. I knew deep down that you wouldn't hurt me. I guess I was just scared." She was at my side now, clutching my hand.

  I pointed to the floor where I had dropped the book. "That's from Coy."

  I continued on my course towards the door, but Jane ran out in front and barred my way. I met Jane's wide silver eyes. She mouthed the word “please.” I thought about staying, but in the back of my mind, I kept hearing her say how much she didn't trust me and what a liar I was.

  "Excuse me," I said, looking beyond her.

  She bit her bottom lip as she cleared the way.

  Outside, darkness had fallen. It was time for the creatures of the night to take centre stage.

  ~Jane~

  Chapter Twenty-One: Serious

  "Read it out loud," Mark called out as he slumped back in his chair and crossed his arms behind his neck. "I want to hear what the famous Eshkar historian William Coy had to say about you."

  I picked up the file from the floor where Boothe had left it. My family members’ lives and my life were all summed up in these tattered pages.

  I opened the cover. The paper felt like it would crumble if I handled it too roughly. I carefully turned to the first page.

  Herein is the history and the destiny of the Earth Movers. The story begins in 1539 with a man named Nkrumah, a farmer who lived in a small village in the Kingdom of Congo. This simple farmer was unique as he had the ability to bend the soil, rocks, and metals in the earth to his will. When asked about the origins of his ability, the farmer humbly spoke about a visit he received from a stranger. He said that one day while in his field, a stranger approached his well requesting water. He gave the man water and then invited him into his home for tea.

  Night had fallen. Nkrumah recommended that the traveller stay the night with his family as their guest. He and the traveller were up until morning speaking on all manner of things and laughing like old friends. When the sun began to rise, the traveller extended his hand to the Nkrumah and uttered these words:

  "There is great strife on this earth."

  The farmer remembered the grumbling of his parents and the stories they told about strange giant men burning villages and making off with the children.

  "Those who were not destined for this soil have invaded this plain like a deadly affliction,” the stranger continued. They must be irradiated. I have chosen you to take on this vital mission. The ground that you humbly toil will become your ally. Should you desire that mountain to move and throw itself into the sea, all you have to do is speak this command, stretch forth your arms and the mountain will obey."

  The farmer thought about the mountains in the distance and wondered how an ordinary farmer could command such a great entity to do anything. In size, he was smaller than an ant compared to the great mountain. In age, he was not a twinkle in his great ancestors’ eyes when the mountain was created.

  "Nkrumah, you have a level of humility and reverence I have not seen since Enoch," the stranger said with a smile.

  "What will I do with such an incredible gift?" Nkrumah asked.

  "You will work with your ally to rid the earth of the immortal fallen ones, the Nephilim."

  "Who are you?" Nkrumah asked.

  "I am a messenger, sent by one who is tired of the evil that has plagued the land."

  Before the stranger left, he instructed Nkrumah to prepare and wait for his return. He resumed his life as a farmer by day and practiced his new gift under the bright light of the moon.

  Later that year, the stranger returned with instruction for Nkrumah to take his family and head north. So he, his wife Cuffani, and their young son, Suah, left their small village.

  It was on his trip north that he encountered his first Nephilim. His name was Azul. He was living as a merchant, specializing in the sale of the slaves from other conquered nations.

  Azul had a reputation as a cunning thief, heartless kidnapper, and ruthless murderer. The people of his community feared him; no one dared to challenge him. As such, he was taken by surprise by Nkrumah's fearless attack. Nkrumah opened the ground beneath Azul's feet and buried him under the earth. The people of the community cheered.

  Nkrumah and his family continued their venture north. Word of him spread quickly and many tribes were calling for him to visit their villages to rid them of their menace. He travelled throughout the continent, defeating every fallen one he encountered. That is, until he met Aramos.

  Aramos was a pureblood Nephilim. He inherited his human mother's smooth complexion, round eyes and strong jaw line. From his angel father Shem, he inherited immortality and heavenly knowledge forbidden to mankind. The most important and dangerous thing he inherited was the language of the heavens. Contained in this language are the words used to create and destroy life.

  Chanting the angelic words, Aramos manipulated the minds of mortal men, coaxing them to do his wicked bidding. Those with a dark heart fell easily under his spell. They call these men The Corrupted.

  His offspring lacked his immortality but possessed his passion for corruption, his great strength, and his power.

  Aramos's army of the corrupted and his offspring met Nkrumah in the open Sahara Desert. Nkrumah fought vigorously and won the fight. But, Aramos escaped.

  Nkrumah, now seventy-one, felt the wear and tear of his warrior life in his bones. But he was determined to find Aramos and finish his life's work. Nkrumah had several children, but only one, a son named Suah, had inherited his father's gift. He trained his son to use the gift and take over his mission.

  Word came to Suah that Aramos has taken a special interest in a small island in the West Indies called Jamaica. There was something alluring about this country, both for a great good and a great darkness. At this point, with the insurgence of Pirates, prostitution, gambling, and drunkenness, darkness was gaining headway. There, in Port Royal, in the midst of the eye of the darkness, Aramos had happily planted his roots.

  Suah accepted his father's mission. He, his wife and young son followed Aramos to Jamaica. It did not take much searching to locate Aramos in the busy Port Royal hub.

  On the morning of June 7, 1692, Suah launched his attack. This time Aramos was prepared. They met on Lime Street in the centre of Port Royal. Aramos and his army outnumbered Suah by the hundreds. They had new weapons of war on their side. Rifles and cannons had taken the place of fists and spears.

  "Kill the earth mover, kill his wife, kill their child and we will live free forever." Aramos yelled to his army.

  "Run!" Suah shouted to his wife. "Take our son and head for the hills. There is a small village hidden by the trees. I have arranged for them to take you in just in case I don't make it."

  He gave his wife a tender kiss. "Go now." He held the army at bay while she ran off between the houses and disappeared into the nearby trees.

  The army launched their attack. Suah raised his hands, creating a stone wall. The earth followed his fluid movements, sending wave after wave of rolling dirt to knock down his enemies.

  Aramos looked on bitterly as Suah defeated every attack. When the dust settled, Suah stood valiantly in the midst of Aramo
s's lifeless army.

  "Load the cannon!" Aramos shouted to his remaining flank. "He cannot defeat this weapon." The barrel was loaded, the gun power poured and a shot was fired directly at Suah. He had never seen a contraption that could shoot solid metal. Suah acted quickly, retreating into his stone fortress. Unfortunately, the stone wall was not strong enough to withstand the cannon's blow. The cannon ball ripped through the fortress, hitting Suah squarely in the chest.

  Suah was finished. He knew it. But he refused to give up. This was his father’s mission. Even if it cost him his last breathe, he was determined to see it though. With his last bit of strength he raised his hand. There was a thunderous rumble and the ground began to tremble. The ground began to separate, creating a deep cavern that ran the full length of Lime street. With his last breath, he commanded a great tsunami wave to rise up from the sea and swallow Lime Street together with the retreating Nephilim army.

  As for his wife and child, they found safe refuge in a small tribe of Maroons that lived in the sheltered hills of the island. There they lived peacefully, keeping their lineage and power a secret.

  As for Aramos, he was not killed in the battle. He still lives on.

  Ridding the earth of pureblood Nephilims is and will forever be the duty of the Earth Mover.

  I closed the book and sank back into my chair. I am the descendant of Nkrumah and Suah, the earth mover who buried half the town of Port Royal. That’s why I have been so fascinated with the earthquake.

  It was all clear now. My destiny was to rid the earth of Aramos, a pureblood Nephilim. That's why he was after me.

  I'm going to throw up.

  "Oh, you're a telekinetic; moving things with your mind. That's cool. So an angel gave your family this power?” Mark asked curiously.

  "It didn't say angel. It said messenger," Lisa replied.

  "So, if it's not an angel, the stranger could be another human. Oh, or maybe he was another pureblood Nephilim with a conscience. Does this still make you an Eshkar?"

  "Mark, please…" I pleaded.

  "Well," Mark rubbed his chin, "no offense, but at the end of the day, I can't see you killing anything."

  Neither can I.

  "You against Aramos, the General, the leader of the Neph clan? You'll never win," Mark continued. "He is a thousand times your age and a thousand times your strength."

  "Mark!" Lisa barked.

  "Just stating the obvious." He threw his hands in the air. "If she can't handle Marcus, how is she going to…"

  "Shut it!" Lisa shot Mark a sharp glance. She then turned to me. "This is why Aramos has been trying to get to you. He's afraid."

  "So why am I the one shaking?" I pushed the file as far away from me as I could and buried my shaking hands under my armpits. I replayed everything that had happened in my life and it all made sense, except for one thing. "I have never heard of anyone in my family having to face off with that monster. Why now? Why me?"

  "It said that Suah's wife and child hid. Maybe he thought that he had ended the line of earth movers with the death of Suah. I suspect that when you were two he was tipped off that your bloodline had survived," Lisa speculated out loud.

  "Since then, my mother has had me on the run, until she decided to have me come back. What if I don't want to kill him? What if I refuse?"

  "I don't think that matters much to him," Mark said calmly. "He knows that your bloodline survived. He will kill you and then he'll come after the rest of your family. He won't stop until all traces of the Miller family are gone."

  I pushed my chair away from the table and began pacing. My head was pounding. My chest was pounding. I really am going to throw up.

  "I need some air," I said as I ran for the door.

  "Jane, NO!" I heard as I closed the door behind me.

  Outside, darkness had taken over.

  ~Jane~

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Hataclaps

  {Utter collapse into chaos}

  "Jane, it's not safe," I heard Lisa say from behind.

  I stepped into the dewy night and listened to the familiar zap that the light made when a mosquito made the mistake of getting too close. There were more clouds than stars in the sky. It made everything darker. Now a-days darkness seems to puts me on edge. But it doesn’t matter. I need space to breathe. I swallowed hard and started walking.

  This me-killing-Aramos thing will not happen. Mark was right, I can't take him on. I'll never win. But if I don't, my family will die. I buried my face in my hands and exhaled deeply.

  "Jane!" Lisa yelled as she raced towards me.

  "I'm in just as much danger today as I was yesterday and the day before that," I called back.

  In the distance, car tires were screeching and truck horns were blowing. My side street was quiet. This meant no run-ins with the chatty neighbour or echoes from the children soaking up their last bit of freedom before bedtime. It was just me and my thoughts.

  "Jane, wait." Lisa was insistent. "This is prime time for Nephs. It's not safe. We have to go back inside."

  I kept walking as she raced to catch up. "You don't have to follow me out here," I said as she reached by my side.

  "I know." Lisa panted as she looked around nervously.

  "Lisa…"

  "I know. I know. You want to be alone, well tough bananas. I'm not leaving."

  I stopped and turned to face her. "I can't do it. So I can throw a few pieces of dirt around, but I've had no training and even less practice. Now with Dr. Coy certifiably crazy… I can't do this. There has to be another way. What if I run away? I'll promise never to come back."

  "No. With your family alive there's a chance that another Eshkar will be born to fulfill the mission. He won't take that chance. And if you leave, your family will have no one to protect them."

  "This isn't fair!" I screamed into the night. This was so far from the normal life I wanted.

  "We won't let you deal with this alone." She put her arm around my shoulder. “We're in this together."

  "No. I can't let you guys take that risk."

  "That's not your decision to make, Jane."

  I opened my mouth to protest but was silenced by a sharp pain that seized my chest. This feeling only happened when a Nephilim was around. Lisa continued to speak while I scanned the darkness for the red eyes of danger or the unrefined look of an Ancient.

  "Jane, you can at least pay attention when I am…oh my gosh, we need to get out of here. Now!" Lisa halted abruptly. Her chest rose and fell heavily as she searched the darkness. I followed her eyes to the shadowed figures approaching from the opposite side of the street.

  I swallowed the lump that had gathered in my throat. "Are those the Nephs?"

  She nodded.

  The two figures crossed the street and continued in our direction.

  "Jane, we need to go back to the house, now."

  As we turned back to head to the house, the echo of deep sobbing drew my eyes from Lisa's face down to the curb. Sitting on the curb, next to the neighbour’s white hatchback car was a young boy. He wore a traditional school uniform with his khaki pants rolled above his bare feet. His small frame shook as he cried.

  "He's still got his school uniform on," I said, approaching the little boy. "He must be lost."

  "I'll call the police while we walk back to safety." Lisa pulled out her phone.

  "We can't just leave him here. We have to get him off the street. No one is safe with a Neph nearby. Hey, kid," I said as I gently touched his shoulder. "Are you lost?"

  The boy raised his head slightly. "No," He whispered in a tender voice.

  I searched the darkness. The two approaching figures had stopped by the mango tree three houses away.

  "You can't stay on the road. It's too dangerous."

  He turned his face towards me, his mouth curling into a sinister scowl that looked out of place on his tender face. His eyes blazed blood red. "It is dangerous. But it's too late for you to run."

  Nephilim.

  He
grabbed my wrist before I could pull away. Immediately, a violent pain shot through the place he held. I screamed as every nerve in my arm burned like it was on fire.

  He let out a short but dark laugh. "This is the girl that has everyone up in arms? You?" He asked mockingly.

  As he stood to his feet, I realized he was not a child, but a man, with deep lines layering his forehead and creases between his brows. The childlike appearance must be a guise this Nephilim uses to lure victims.

  "Let go!" I commanded as I tried to pull my arm out of his vice grip.

  "I gwain kill you," he hissed.

  "Get off of her!" Lisa lunged at him, but he blocked her blow and yelled something that the blinding sparks behind my eyes prevented me from hearing. The men from by the tree soon joined him and one of them picked up Lisa with one arm. She flashed wildly, but he held firm.

  "You've got me," I said weakly. "Let her go."

  "It's more fun with a witness," he hissed.

  "You were sent for me." I gritted my teeth as another jolt of pain shot through my skin. "You've got me. I won't run."

  "I've been hired to kill you," he said coldly. "And I enjoy my work."

  "Who…ARGH!" The pain was intense, like someone had thrown kerosene oil on my arm and lit me on fire.

  "Who?" He smiled.

  Lisa no longer struggled. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks, pasting her fine blond hair to her chin.

  "Who hired me? Is that what you wanted to ask?" He paused as if awaiting my reply. "I could tell you, since you’re about to die. But simply telling you is too easy. I'll give it to you in a riddle. The one who hired me stands to lose what they most desire." He paused for a moment. "Well that could be anyone, couldn't it?" he noted to himself. "If I am going to give you a clue, it should be a fair one."

  His grip tightened. The fire continued to travel up my arm until it rested between my shoulder blades. I had to think of some way to save Lisa, but the pain scrambled my thoughts, making it difficult to connect one thought with another.

  "I'll give you a better one-" he continued.