The War in the Heavens

Chapter 1 - Waking

The nightmare grips me like I’m the prey and it’s playing with me in its maw. Already cut and wounded, it’s throwing me around, making the pain even worse. I can’t even make out what the nightmare’s about, as even in the dream my eyes are filled with tears. Even in the dream cold sweat is rolling in beads, and then dropping onto my hands as a writhe, lights flashing around me. I give out a scream so real it almost snaps me awake, and I try to let it take me, but the nightmare just won’t end, no escape given, no room to breathe.

“If only you hadn’t…”, a voice whispers in my ear, and I let out a scream as a feel a pain in my stomach, and my eyes snap open, my scream splitting the air. Tears are flowing down my cheeks. I am covered in cold sweat. Someone is grabbing my shoulders, shaking me, trying to get me to snap out of it, but my mind can’t make my body move except to scream. And then the pain in my head begins, pounding against the edge of my skull, and then I fall limp, all energy to lost. I make out a figure standing over me as everything fades to black.

I don’t have a nightmare this time. Just the feeling of falling. Falling and tumbling, the black void swallowing me up as I fall, and a faint light above. Or below. Soon enough, I’m not even sure, because it is far away. No feeling any more, but the feeling of eternity. Perhaps, in this moment, I can be at peace, and waking isn’t worth it. But I know I have to wake. I have to wake. I have to-

My eyes snap open once again, and I see the ceiling above me. I don’t recognize it. Then again, upon thinking, I don’t recognize anything. I know the names, but nothing reminds me of anything. I get out of bad, feeling my muscles groan like they hadn’t moved in a century. The floor is wooden, gentle on my feet. I look out the window and see grass laid out before me. I see the sun hanging gently in the sky. Looking out to the blue sky, I realise that I have no memories. I don’t remember a thing. Apart from pain. The pain I’d felt during that nightmare. My first memory was pain. I don’t know where I am, but I don’t care anymore, walking to the door and opening it. I’m dressed in black robes of some kind that shuffle around my shins as I walk. The door opens with a gentle creak and I step out into the landing.

“He’s awake!”, someone calls from downstairs. Muffled voices reply to his voice, and then the sound of footsteps on the wooden steps.

“Are you alright?”, someone says as they come round the corner, entering into the plain wooden corridor.

“Who are you?”, I ask.

The man regards me with a little confusion. He’s a tall and slim man, dressed in a long brown overcoat. His skin is pale, with lips a dark red. His eyes are the same hue, but one of them is covered by a streak of long black hair. He gestures for me to follow, and heads towards the stairs. Not wanting to argue, I follow him to the stairs and begin to walk down.

“It seems you are suffering amnesia”, the man sighes, walking out into the hallway. I follow, looking around the ornate wooden carvings on the walls with interest. “We found you a month ago. You were badly wounded.”

“Badly wounded?”, I ask. “I don’t remember much, but I remember pain.”

“I should expect so. You had your wings torn off”, the man sighes, pushing open a door and gesturing for me to enter. I walk through into the room, and see the room has a circle of chairs in it. In one, a girl sits, with long red hair and blood-red eyes, thumb on her upper teeth, reading a heavy leather-bound book. She glances up at the man and smiles, before returning to the book.

“What do you mean, my wings were torn off?”, I ask.

“So you don’t even remember that much”, he sighed, sitting down on a chair. “The name’s Danix. This here is Esia. She’s mute.”

“Can you answer my question?”, I ask. “And who am I?”

“When we found you, you called yourself Bleak. We don’t know much, except you had two massive tears on your back and were surrounded with feathers. Most likely explanation is you had your wings torn off”, Danix says “Sit down, will you?”

“Ok”, I sit down, slumping back on a chair. “So… I had wings?”

“We believe you are an angel”, Danix explains. “Do you remember anything?”

“No”, I admit. “Apart from a lot of pain.”

“Only to be expected”, Danix looks to Esia. “Can you fetch Slip for me?”

She nods, putting her book down on her chair as she leaves the room with astonishing speed, and Danix turns back to me.

“The world, as we know it, is policed by being called Angels. They’re created by The Radiant One, our King, to enforce the law”, Danix says, sighing. “They are evil creatures. All of them are put through severe mental manipulation and brainwashing.”

“But, if I’m an angel, then how come I’m not brainwashed?”, I ask.

“We believe it’s because you somehow broke the bond. And that’s why they tried to kill you. Miraculously, you survived”, Danix explains. “But the odd thing is, that if you were powerful enough to survive that, you should have torn my apart by now because you’d be insane.”

“What do you mean, powerful?”, I ask.

“Well, The Radiant One gives each angel a little power, but some a lot more”, Danix said. “We don’t know how, but they do.”

“We are the resistance against him”, someone says, pushing open the door, and a large man that could only be Slip walks in. He’s wearing a white tank top and a pair of dark blue jeans. He has a gun, some kind of precision rifle, strapped to his back.

“Resistance?”, I ask.

“More than resistance. The stopping force between him and his dream of turning this world into a world of nothing but angels”, Slip says, sitting down opposite me. Esia walks in and picks up her book, sits down, and continues reading.

“I don’t know anything about this world, remember”, I sigh. “And why the robes?”

“We found you in them. You’ll notice the holes around the shoulders”, Slip said. I feel them, as if to try and prove him wrong, but my hands goes through the holes and I feel the flesh underneath, and the scabs and gashes all around them. And I feel the little soft feathers pointing through.

“Yeah, I do”, I look down at my feet. “So, what’s happening? Am I your secret weapon or something?”

“We’re all secret weapons”, Danix smiles. “Come on, we’re going to see the leader of the resistance.”

“The leader?”, I ask.

        "Yes", Danix says, standing up with a small grunt. "You'll find you have more in common with him that you first expect."