And Then The Darkness Came

Chapter Eleven | Io

Spiritus Vallem, nestled between two extensive areas of the devastated forest that was burned and blackened by the same dark-magic-infused bombs that had ended the way things had been before the Great War, was peaceful and unscared by the horrors that had befallen the world around it. For centuries, the valley had been a place of quiet refuge, beautiful and surreal, ethereal, and eerie, a place that most could only read about now in history books, and in the few years just before Io was born, it became home to the Angels of Terra, as they called themselves—the protectors of the untouched lands. God specifically chose the angels who lived in the valley to heal the earth and the hearts of those who had been lucky enough to survive the first major ending and prosper.

When God grew tired again, the end that awaited those left in the world was something Io tried her best not to think about. The mere thought of it made her body shudder.

After the Great War brought about what most called a rapture of sorts, those who had inherited this horrible version of Earth had seemed desolate inside, like they were missing some vital piece that made them something more, not just husks masquerading about as if they were actually alive. No one cared about the second chance God granted them, or that this was the last chance that would ever befall them to save themselves in the eyes of that same wrathful god.

At least, that's what Io heard when she wandered around the village common. She hadn't left the valley since she had been born—no one under the age of 18 left the valley. Her parents would always keep her here, to shield her from the horrors of the outside world, if they could have it their way. Even if leaving was part of her mission. There wasn't much saving she could do, confined to the cottages and the fields of the valley.

But the world had to be saved. Somehow.

She sighed and wished her parents would stop treating her like a child. She was almost a mature angel now—two weeks shy of turning 18. She deserved to be treated like the adult she was becoming. If the talk in the village was all true, and not just some cheap gossip, then the world direly needed more angels and more saving. The younglings in the village had nothing better to do than to talk about the depleted world and its sorry inhabitants—information gathered by eavesdropping on their parents and neighbors, or anyone lucky enough to escape the confines of the valley for a few hours, or days, or weeks.

In the end, it wouldn't matter, though, since the completion of her training would probably end up being short-lived, anyway. The end of everything was very near. She could feel it in her marrow, and she had seen it in her dreams.

Io sighed, perched on the sturdy branch of an ancient pine tree that looked down over Spiritus Vallem in all of its unscathed glory. She shifted her weight, her lanky body wobbling unsteadily for just a moment before her wings moved, balancing her. Her wings folded, so that they draped over her like a shield, although they didn't really do much good protecting her from the sun's vibrant rays. Unlike the angelic wings, she had seen depicted in books her parents owned from lifetimes before, made of gorgeous white feathers that sprawled and fluttered, her wings comprised light and energy; the only similarity between the two was how they were both shaped. She watched the way the sun's light reflected on the tips of her wings, slightly enthralled by the rainbow of colors it was creating.

She looked out over the valley. This was the furthest she had ever been from the cluster of houses or the fields that surrounded them. It made her feel rebellious. She'd come so far because lately she just needed to get away—from her parents, from her brother, from the life she was living with all of them. The visions were worsening. It nauseated her to think about them, especially the one she'd had the night before. The village stood solid and peaceful before her now, but in her dreams, it burned and smoldered like the trees that surrounded the valley. In her dreams, everyone was dead—her friends, her family, the people who lived here that she had known her entire life, just gone.