Heaven's Shadow

Chapter 0 | Prologue

The sky was dusky on the warm cloudy day. Remigius slumped on the roof of his house and basked in Paradise's light. Paradise was thousands of miles away from the Heavens. The tiny sparkles in the sky were stars but Remigius believed the light came from somewhere else. His youthful mind couldn't comprehend stars yet.  

He knew sitting on the roof would lead to another scolding which was why he had tied one of his belts on the door handle to his desk leg so nobody could enter his room and see the open window. His father had slammed the 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. 

Remigius later regretted binding his door shut. His hands clutched the roof tiles as the ground started rumbling. Normally, when the ground shook he would shrug it off as his younger brother Caius having another tantrum. Young infants struggled to control their newfound abilities; Remigius had caused a neighbourhood blackout with his shadow Ivius, but Caius was nearing 5 years old soon and by now he should have gotten some grasp of his skills.

However, chills ran through the soles of Remigius's feet to his tightened throat. No tantrum, no matter how significant, 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 his father. 

His door was locked. The sound of his father pushing the locked handle drowned in the back of his mind as a more evident noise came from below. His mother with small Caius in her arms stepped out to the porch as she called Remigius's name; voice gentle and oblivious. 

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

It was the first time Remigius consciously tapped into his channel of magic and used it. Never will he forget the sweet anguish of his blood screaming silently as shadowy tendrils struck the demon through its chest. Every muscle in his body tensed up like they were parts of a wind-up toy before he collapsed to his knees. 

The demon didn't collapse as Remigius did. His magic 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 exertion on Remigius's body didn't stop him from tumbling off the roof and screaming a bloodcurdling cry as the demon scrambled to its feet and lunged at his mother and brother.

His father had been too late. The demon slashed his mother's forehead 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, budding mist from his tears.

"Take Caius," his father, Everett Atwaters, ordered Remigius. Even if the pain burned every part of Remigius's body, he pushed the tears back and took Caius from his mother's arms. His mother wasn't crying despite the gash of blood trailing down into her eye which made the colour appear darker than usual, so he wouldn't cry either. If he did, he would have to smell the stench of the stored 14-year-old red wine in their glass cabinet against his skin.

"Demon wounds are hard to heal off of Regs," Everett said as he stroked his calloused thumb across the gash.

"I am sorry, Everett." His mother winced at the touch.