interesting twist, and first story in a possible series
azrael
like it? what did u like? That sort of thing, be brutally honest.
Thanks
I stood outside the village of Salem and breathed in the air. It has
been more than two millennium since I first came to this world, and it
still seems like yesterday. I still revel in the simple pleasure of
tasting and smelling fresh air and it brings to mind my first
awakening. Some of my brethren have never understood my attachment to
you people and your world. I just smile at their confusion and remember
the simple little wonders that I have seen while with you. Most of my
brother angels are confused mainly by my love for what they believe to
be a species beneath us. They have not lived among you, they have not
fought for your world and countless others. Only I and the other chosen
have been in this holding action since the beginning. Of these
guardians of worlds, I was the first chosen. I have come to love you as
the creator must love you, taking all your faults and goodness
together. I have loved you and your world since the day I came here
over two thousand years ago, because you have given me peace. Here I am
not a soldier in this insane war that violates all that the creator has
made and taught us. Here I am just a protector, a lone guard who fights
for those who cannot fight for themselves. Standing here, guardian over
you, preparing to possibly do harm to one of my flock. I cannot help
but reflect back on my choosing, so very long ago.
I was once like my angelic brothers. I coveted souls for the power
they brought, I was consumed by greed for more souls. Yet when the
creator set me aside and communed with me, I was changed. I saw his
grand plan, and I felt ashamed for my pettiness. I thought I was doomed
to the pits of hell for my discovered greed, but instead the creator
smiled on me. He saw in me what could be, he saw a being not twisted
and corrupted with greed. So it was on that day that I became one of
the creator's chosen. Those that would be sent apart from the hosts of
heaven, and given the charge of guarding a world. Since I was his first
chosen, the creator gave me any world of my choosing to guard, I chose
Earth. I saw its place in the grand scheme of the creator and knew I
could not trust its treasures to any angel but myself. I could not know
their hearts, but I knew mine was true to the creators grand plan. So
it was that I came to be guardian of this world, and came to stand over
looking this small village of Salem in the Americas.
Yet in my reverie of my love for this world, I had to curse myself. I
cursed myself for not getting here sooner, for it might be too late
already. I had been about some small personal task and had allowed it
to distract me, I was becoming too human in some ways. I came to feel
the presence of the demon filth just two months ago. I felt it breach
the barriers between hell and earth, and could do nothing immediately.
Quickly I flew to England and searched for weeks to find a suitable
host. I needed one who would be able to understand the creator's plan
and see the need for his own sacrifice. I would not take a body and
soul by force, though I could easily. That is the way of possession the
art of demons, and I would have none of it. So it was that I found my
host in a small church, a young man of 20 well on his way to a career in
the arts. He was perfect, strong and young, of a quick mind, and he
accepted the need for his sacrifice. I wept inside for the need to
destroy one so young, but I had searched the hearts of others and found
them wanting. He consoled me and told me of his joy in being a part of
something so grand. Yet I could not share his joy as I merged with
him. I entered his body and our souls mingled and became as one. Our
life forces merged, his mind and body were bolstered by my essence. In
the end he was I, and I was he. We had become Azrael, the angel of
death and vengeance. Yet I was still the dominant persona, it was I who
needed to use his soul. I would burn his soul for the powering of my
miracles, for the power to cast the demon back to hell. I only prayed
that I was not too late to honor this young mans sacrifice, as I prayed
I turned and started for the woods.
I moved quickly to find what it was that I sensed nearby. The help
that I would need was in these woods. I walked through them passing
trees perhaps as old as me. I walked and felt the pure presence grow
stronger. I would need their assistance in my work to come. I wished
that I did not need to endanger more, but my power alone would not be
able to preform the task I had set myself. It was as I pondered this
that I came into the glade. Immediately I could sense their power. I
watched them as they sat and communed with the spirit of the glade. I
could feel it myself with my unique senses. The essence of the glade
filled me like a soft serene melody, subtle yet with the power to move
stars if need be. This was a well of power, a place of almost holy
significance. It was in this place that the creator must have imparted
some of his own power, the very power that infused a soul and gave it
the ability to fuel the magick of miracles. This was in fact, one of
the very windows to the soul of your world.
I watched as these men with red skin slowly came aware of me, looking
me over with eyes of the body and of the mind. Touching on my essence
and knowing what I was, I saw their faces light with awe and wonder. I
had seen this happen with those that I allowed to see my true nature,
though most reacted with fear. I spoke to them of my need, they seemed
startled as their own language slipped from my lips. I knew all the
languages of the men with red skin, I had watched and heard as they
created their tongues. I had always liked them, they showed much more
awakening to the world and things beyond this physical one. I told them
as much.
"Greetings to you great shaman of the People and to your son". I
nodded to them each in turn.
"Welcome to you servant of the great spirit. We are honored for your
visit, but sense trouble on the same wind that you arrive with. I see
you as one of the white skinned men, have you come to live with them?"
I shook my head slowly, " no I am afraid it is nothing as simple as
that, I have come because evil has come." I told them of my need. I
told them how the one who's body I shared was already to sacrifice his
spirit for the greater good, but that it was not enough. They listened
to me as I told them what had come to this world not far from their
sacred glade. They told me that they wanted to rid the world of its
evil presence but had not the knowledge of how to destroy it. It was at
this point that we came to a partnership. I needed them to drive the
demon from its host, so that I could then send it back to hell. We
sealed the pact of mutual assistance in the way of their people and
agreed to meet in a day's time at the edge of the forest.
" It is good that you have come my friend, it brings great happiness to
the glade. She is content with my son and I's friendship, but has
longed for conversation on matters my son and I know nothing about.
Please stay the night in her restful confines, my son and I journey back
to our village near here. Sleep and become one with the spirit of the
glade, I think she can ease the trouble that lives in your soul." I
gratefully accepted and bid them farewell until the next night. That
night I slept for the first time in many years. I slept and was at
peace; the peace of the creators presence in the glade. Yet the time
passed quickly and I was soon awake. I sat and thought on my problems
to come. I had been slow to awaken to the demon's presence in this
world, and I hoped it did not cost this world too much. I sat and tried
to take hold of the peace of the glade and make it a part of myself once
again, but could not. I was in too much turmoil. My slowness to feel
the demon's evil in this world troubled me, for it could lead to but one
conclusion in my mind. The demon had found some way to hide itself from
my senses. Yet the only way a demon or angel could muffle its aura from
another such being, would be to merge with the soul of a human host.
This did not bode well for me. A demon merged with a human soul would
have powers almost to match my own. It was rare that I ever encountered
such a thing. Humans are sometimes gullible in my experience, but
rarely foolish enough to willingly subjugate themselves to hell's
minions. So I sat and brooded over what I could feel would have to be
done. I would have to take another human life that night, for the only
way to cast out a demon that has merged with a willing host is to kill
its host as well.
I sat and watched as night fell, knowing what must be done but not
liking it any better for my realization. Soon my new allies arrived.
We discussed what must be done, including my murderous part in it all.
They knew I did not lie and accepted what we were about to do. Quickly
we set out for the village when the moon was high above, the sounds of
night surrounding us as we went.
Quietly we crept through the village, none of us making a sound. I
guided us with my keen senses both natural and those of a more spiritual
kind. I soon located the house, this close to the demon I could not
miss it. The evil was indeed muffled by something, for I could only
half sense its evil. The other evil was that of a human soul, twisted
before it became a host for the demon. I was not sure if the demon was
skilled enough to sense my mortal/angel joined being, so I erred on the
side of caution. I advised my friends that we should proceed with
stealth.
We silently crept up to the house, I could sense no one in front of the
door so we continued. I quietly cast a miracle on the door, and sure
enough it opened with greater silence than if it had just been oiled.
We were soon inside of the house, I advised my allies in hushed tones
that if violence should break out they were to stay behind me. I am
sometimes ashamed to admit it but I am very suited toward the task of
violence, and should it arise I would gladly bare the brunt of it
instead of my friends. So it was that I and my allies searched the
house from top to bottom, all the while not finding a single person.
This lack of habitation confused me, I could still sense the demon's
evil but could not see where it came from. I moved us to the kitchen
to discuss this and soon I heard it. It came to me slowly as it was
only the faintest of hums, but it was there. A kind of murmuring coming
from below us. I searched intently and quickly picked out a vague
outline of a door. I could hear the murmuring rising in its pitch and
volume, still inaudible to a normal sense of hearing but clear to my own
sense. I quickly found a hold and forced the door up, it seemed to lead
into a root cellar. I quickly and quietly lead my small group down into
the cellar, not believing my eyes when I saw what lay inside of it. My
new friends drew back in fear at what they saw, murmuring please for
protection from their great spirits.
Before me was a swirling mass of color and light. It was as if a whole
had been torn in the very stuff of the world, a hole to the bowels of
hell. I knew at once that my worries had been warranted, I had indeed
been late. Yet perhaps the first of it was not set in stone, for as I
began to despair I felt some hope. The gateway to hell was not stable,
it fluctuated with ripples through it. The room was filled with a
strong wind, and an unsettling low hum. I looked in the flashing light
that filled the room, and saw the reason for the gateway to hell's
instability, the magick was not complete. In the center of the cellar
lay the unconscious forms of the house's inhabitants, all except one.
She was the cause of this all, of all the news of witchcraft and
burnings I had heard of. The demon was inside of the family's daughter,
preparing to finish the magic it had started with this witch hunt
business.
It all fell into place in my mind, every piece fitting. The executions
of the witches had been the demon's plot all along. In such deaths the
demon could harvest the souls it would need for the breaching of the
walls between worlds. Hell's minion had stood by and watched each
woman, man, and child die. It had stood and waited, using its evil
powers to snag the souls as they raced away to the universe, denying
them their due rest. The demon had slowly gathered the souls and worked
its foul magicks, all the while this seemingly godly town providing it
the means to do so. Now, before my eyes, it was attempting to solidify
the gateway making it permanent with these last few souls. The rage
burned inside of me and my allies felt it for I saw them flinch back as
my wrath rose up in me. They knew what to do, moving swiftly behind me
they began to sing their chants and start the ritual of cleansing.
I leapt at the demon girl and grappled with her. Though the demon
strengthened her body, it was no match for my own older and stronger
body. The monster bit and clawed at me, cursing my name for all
eternity as these holy men of the red skin began to exorcize it from the
host. I saw them falter as they worked, feeling how the demon gripped
the girls soul and she its own. I knew I could not wait any longer, my
work must begin. I threw the girl/demon to the ground and shouted to
it, "In the name of the creator I cast ye back to your prison dark
one!". With the ritual begun, I jumped onto its body and held it down.
Like a bolt of lightening my hand reached up and flew down, impaling the
girl/demon with my own hand. I wept at the destruction of one so young
and vital, yet I knew it was right. I reach into her body and ripped
the two joined souls out violently. The moment I touched that evil
unity I knew the girl was doomed, she had been corrupt long before the
demon came to her dreams with talk of power. I ripped my hand from her
still body and held her heart, knowing that it was merely a physical
representation of her and the demons twisted souls. It pulsed still in
my hand, black and foul to look on. I cried out and cast it through the
portal, hearing their cries for mercy.
I kneeled and shook as my allies began to cleanse the room and house of
the demon's touch. Pushing all of its foul magicks back through to its
prison in hell, they worked hard and quickly exhausting themselves.
They came to me and spoke to me, I started out of a revery and looked
up. The gateway was still in flux, yet I could see what caused them
worry. Through it could be heard the howls of hell's occupants, they
were attempting to come through to this world. I slowly stood and knew
what now must come. I told my new friends to leave and I would come to
them in the sacred glade when all was through. I turned my back to them
and faced the gateway as they left.
Slowly I began to weave the miracle that would destroy and seal the
gateway. Calling on my hosts soul, I began to burn its energies. I
knew that I had chosen well, for his soul was one of purity and power.
He probably would have become a man of great wisdom and power had this
not been necessary. The miracle began to take form, working its magick
the portal began to dwindle in size and brightness. I reached down
inside of myself and my host, gathering our rage at what had been done.
I felt the demon's in hell begin to fight my work, using their own dark
magicks to counter mine. I made myself ready, and channeled the last of
my hosts life energies and our combined rage into one final work of
power. It shot forth from us as a bolt of burning blue/white fire.
Destroying the gateway and cauterizing the wound to the walls between
hell and earth, the bolt burned with great intensity. The cellar was
filled with brightness, and then a sudden silent blast erupted forth. I
was thrown back as my magicks won out over those of the demons. I hit
the wall and came to rest, then slowly I rose up out of the body. My
young host's soul was gone from his body and my being. His body burned
to ash as I stood and watched. Silently I thanked him for his sacrifice
and promised to keep his memory alive as I do the countless others who
have sacrificed themselves in the same way.
I gently entered the mind of each of the family members and erased
their knowledge of this event. I was loath to take their memories as I
was to take control of their unconscious bodies and move them back to
their bends. Yet I knew they would be better for not knowing what
happened there that night. They would wonder what happened to their
daughter, assuming she fled the madness of the town no doubt. There
would be not trace of the girl/demon or her work, none for this village
to recognize. I watched as the girl's body began to burn and then
disappear into the air. When all was gone that would cause much alarm,
I too left the village of Salem. I went and stayed in the residence of
the glade, to keep watch on its power. I knew now that the demon had
chosen this spot for the glade, wanting access to its magick fueling
power for the hordes that it was to summon. I sat back in the glade,
and was once again at peace. I sat and watched as was my task, a task
which if I had anything to say about it, would last a very long time. I
pondered this as the glade once again instilled in me the peace of the
creator, and soon I slept. At peace with myself and the world I
guarded, I once again dreamed of the great day to come in the far
future. I dreamed and was once again happy for a time.