Heaven's Shadow

Chapter 0 | Prologue

The sun scorched his skin, but Remigius rather be on the roof of his house than inside his room. 

Every bead of sweat that rolled down stung the cuts on his forehead. Getting caught on the rooftop would only lead to more cuts, but the yells echoing through the house seemed the loudest in his bedroom. So, he propped his window up and exerted every ounce of strength to pull himself onto the slate roof. 

The last time he got caught, his father had demanded him to get down, ultimately giving up despite having the capability of dragging Remigius down by his Ivion. He slammed the bedroom door so hard it rattled and busted the lock a year ago. He recalled an argument between someone. Maybe it was his father and him, but the memories blurred and recollecting them hurt his head. 

His gaze darted to the window of the house next door from the flash of movement. Maven had her lips stretched into a wide smile as Mr. Clarity—a kind man who always gave him chocolate whenever he found him in the garden— spun his daughter in circles. He could practically hear their laughter as Mr. Clarity pressed a kiss on the top of her head. 

Remigius's eyes bore a hole into their wall. His hands clutched the edge of the roof. 

Yet, nothing prepared him for when the ground started rumbling. Normally, with any disturbance, whether it be a mini earthquake or a flooding of the sewers, he would shrug it off as the older neighborhood kids playing around with their newfound Ivion powers. 

However, chills ran through the soles of Remigius's feet to his tightened throat. No kid's Ivion, no matter how powerful, would evoke a chest-wrenching rumbling that almost launched him off the roof. It all clicked when he peeked under the roof and spotted a small demon springing from the Heaven's soil.

It was a pitiful grotesque thing. Burnt skin peeled off its malnourished carcass and it dragged itself by its twisted elbows along his mother's garden, where his father's potion ingredients grew. Remigius grimaced at the decaying plants, frowned, and shouted for help. 

No reply. His room caught all their yelling, but only trapped his own. His calls for help drowned away as a more evident noise came from below. His mother with his younger brother, Caius, in her arms rushed out to the porch.

No matter how much his father screamed, his mother never reacted, never spoke. Remigius thought she had sewn her lips shut after the last screaming match. 

So why did she have to call Remigius's name now? Why in her worried, oblivious voice, did she have to say a word? 

The demon's elbows snapped as it pounced its scrawny body towards them.

Remigius jumped off the roof. Instead of colliding to the ground, a barrage of shadows caught his fall. 

He read it countless times from adults, from his books, from the older kids in the neighbourhood. Your Ivion would activate when your emotions are too intense to let it simmer in your body, so it just has to burst out. That it would be the best day of a young Zenith's life to have their power activated.   

His veins throbbed—the sweet anguish of his blood screamed silently as shadowy tendrils struck the demon through its chest. Every muscle in his body tensed up like parts of a wind-up toy before his body slammed against the burnt grass the demon left behind. 

The demon didn't collapse as Remigius did. His Ivion had flung it across the garden where its fragile body cracked. A low howl hissed out of it and with a loud pop, it enlarged. Muscles sprung from its scrawny bones and its fingers grew sharp claws the size of Caius. 

The strain on Remigius's body didn't stop him from scrambling his way to his feet, screaming a bloodcurdling cry as the demon scampered to its feet and lunged at his mother and brother.

His father had been too late. The demon slashed his mother's cheek before two tendrils of mist crushed its spine and swallowed it whole. The ground quivered as Caius wailed in the cacoon of his mother's arms.

Remigius hands trembled. The sun no longer felt scorching compared to the hot searing blood seeping from the side of his head. 

There was no concern in his father's eyes. No. They were blown wide as if the demon was still in front of him. 

"Why is it shadow?" his father spat out.

Remigius stepped back. He stared down at his hands.

"What kind of sick joke is this, Kiyomi?" His father turned to his mother, eyes blazing red. "Did you fucking cheat on me with some demon?" 

Caius's crying boomed. His mother tried rocking him, but as his father stormed closer to her, the motion started to look as if she was trying hard to soothe herself rather than Caius.

"Hold Caius," his mother told him, beckoning Remigius with a sharp look.

His father snatched Caius from her arms. "I don't want this demon touching my son!" 

 The blood from his mother's scratch had dripped onto Caius, staining his pale skin. His father's grip would bruise his brother's frail body. Remigius had to take Caius and leave to go to the next-door neighbour's house. Mr. Clarity would spin them around too, surely? 

His mother didn't cry despite the gush of blood trailing down to her chin, so he wouldn't cry either. She stilled, staring at his father with a blank look. He expected his father to scream, but instead, he cursed and yanked her by the collar. 

"We keep this to ourselves," Everett hissed. "Don't tarnish our family name more than it already is."

She nodded mutely. 

"And you." He faced Remigius, releasing his mother. An almost disbelieving laugh came out of him. "Just—just get out of my sight right now."

Remigius clenched his jaw, unable to tear his eyes away from his father's grip on Caius. His voice shook as he stepped up. 

"Give me my brother."

His father eyed him like a pest. 

"Like I would let your hands on him."

"Please. Please, papa." 

And perhaps his father just said he was a demon in anger. Perhaps he took pity on him. After a moment of contemplation, Remigius stood alone in front of the porch, cradling Caius until the authorities arrived with a barrage of questions. 

He hugged his brother tightly to his chest, careful not to let any of the blood on his face taint any part of him. Caius's crying settled into a cute babble as his tiny hands clutched at Remigius's hair. His blue eyes—doe-shaped and deeper than a lagoon—sparkled at him, and Remigius couldn't help but coo at him, forgetting the throb in his head. 

He counted thirty minutes by continuously repeating sixty of his shaky breaths before going back in. The gash on his mother's cheek was no longer as bloody, but the bruises on her arms were redder.

He shielded Caius more tightly to his chest. 

It's me and you, Caius. I'll get us out of this mess.