Shattered Halo- The Fallen Saga

Shattered Halo-2

Chapter 2

*****

Darkness painted the walls of my world. I could see nothing in the pitch black. I was moving, no gliding, in a perfect circle, like a train on tracks. I had no idea why, I just knew that I had to keep going, keep moving. As I went on, resistance seemed to develop, and after each full lap, it got progressively worse. Soon, it felt like I was pushing 40 kilos. It was too much, I collapsed under the pressure, and hit something hard, spine-first.

I got up, and looked straight ahead. a glowing entity was pulling me forward. I was forced further, closer towards the light. Suddenly, it brightened, and what was once pitch black was illuminated in a shining white light, so bright that I still could see nothing. I was still being reeled in, like a fish on a line, and as I got closer to the light, I heard...



*****

"Faith? Faith! Wake up!" a voice called. I opened my eyes, blinking repeatedly. It was all so fuzzy... How long had I slept? I focused, as everything became clearer, and I recognised the dark figure in front of me.

"Peter!" I smiled warmly, pulling myself of the soft ground. "What are you doing here?"

"Well that's not much of a welcome." he joked. I grinned at my friend. It had been ages. "You were sleeping right in front of the Gates, and I decided it was best to make sure you were alive." he answered. I frowned, I had been right on the outskirts of Heaven, how could I have gotten to the Gates?

"But I was far away from the gates, that doesn't make any sense..."

"Well, I guess that means one of two things. You were either sleep-walking, or someone attuned the Magnet to you. I'm going to say the Magnet, since Gabriel was looking for you this morning. You should probably go find him. Last time I saw him, he was at the Parting." Magnet, huh? That might explain the tugging sensation in my dream. "It's nice to see you again, Faith." he said, pulling me into a hug.

"Thanks Peter. I'll catch up with you soon." I promised, turning around to leave.

"Wait, just one last thing. Ivy heard you were back. She and I are organising a little get-together, later. Do you think you can make it? Just come down after talking with Gabriel. Okay?"

"Okay. See you tonight, then, I guess."

I walked through the open gates, moing slowly through the cloud to marvel at the pillars that held them. Platinum blocks, engraved with beautiful, elaborate designs and small pearls. The Gates were one of my favourite things about the Kingdom.

It had been so long... I guess I just didn't realise how much I had missed this place, until I was actually back. I smiled to myself, a small, knowing smile. It was good to be home, my true home. I wandered through the fluffy mass of cloud, that led to the Parting. The Parting was basically the main gateway to the human world. It was basically a huge hole in the cloud. You could look through it from Heaven, and see the mortal world, but mortal world couldn't look into it and see us. It was a one-way window and a one-way passage too. The Parting was an ideal spot for private meetings, since few angels visited it, and the gateway to the other world was right there if we needed to move fast.

I had only ever had two meetings there; one was with my first proper mission, my second was with an anonymous angel. I still don't know who it was, but said angel had warned me about a demon that was planning to attack the Gates. The warning had proven true, and I had told Peter just in time for him to to stop it in his tracks. Peter was the Guardian of the Gates, after all. 

Their were 6 different types of angels in the Kingdom. The first, and most important were Messengers. As the name suggests, messengers delivered, well, messages to the other angels. There were only ever 12 Messengers in the Kingdom at once, and they were used only when truly necessary. Gabriel was the only Messenger I knew by more than name. The second  layer of angels, were the Healers. Obviously, Healers tended to the wounded or ill. Ivy's a Healer, and she's good at it too. The next tier is Guardians, which is what I do. Fourth level is Pyschics, who help young angels find their calling in the angelic hierarchy. Fifth layer is Gatherers, who perform general chores, and sixth are Anges, who are baby angels. Angels are considered Anges until they are 16, and on the day of their 16th birthday, they visit a Pyschic, who will determine their occupation in angelic society. Peter didn't fit into any of those categories. He was a whole new type of angel. If he had to be put into one of those levels, I suppose Guardian is the closest to the truth, even though his position was far more reveered.

 Anyway, I was on my way to the Parting, when a strange sound caught on my ear. It sounded like someone was... Crying? But it was choked, like something was caught in their throat. It sounded male and somewhat desperate. Very strange. My natural curiousity took over, and I followed the sound. It was coming from the Parting, so it wasn't as though I was moving off-track. What was going on? I snuck through mist, and my eyes froze on the gap in the cloud in front of me. A image of a boy, with dark hair was portrayed on the Parting. He was trying and failing to hold back tears. He sat in the corner of a dark room, obviously in total emotional agony. I noticed a thin crimson stream flowing from his cheek. He was bleeding. "What the..." I trailed off, unable to complete my sentence due to shock.

 "His name is Aiden Riley," I turned to see a familiar face, topped with short, curly, blond hair. Gabriel had found me, it seems. "and he is your new Watched."

"What happened to him? Why is he crying like that?" I asked, confused and slightly unnerved by the disturbing image.

"He was abused by his step-father again. The man comes into is room every night, when his mother is asleep, and beats him. She thinks he does it himself, since most of the time he gets cut with a knife. On some rare occasions, he is simply beat until he's unconscious." he calmly informed me. I gaped. How could he speak so evenly about all this? It's awful! "You'll be relocated to his town, Begonia Falls, tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow NIGHT?!?! But I only just got back! That's not fair, don't I get some time here?"

"Sorry Faith, but this is really important. The guy is two steps of suicide, and we need to get you out there. Meet me here tomorrow at 8pm, and we'll send you off."

Fine," I sighed in resignation "I'll do it."

"Good. Now there's just one little thing I forgot to mention. You're going to be posing as a highschool student. Your name will be Ambrielle Lockhart, and you will be 16. Your birthday is September 6th, and your favourite colour is orange."

"Wait a second, I'm going to be a student? Wouldn't I have more influence as an adult?"

"Aiden doesn't trust adults very much anymore, seeing as is mother doesn't listen to him and his step-father does what he does. In a normal situation, yes, but here, adult is a big no-no. He won't respond well to adults. You need to befriend him, and help him through it. This time, you really need to get in there, really support him. He can't get through this on his own, and he needs to build up his trust of people again."

"Alright, I guess- wait, no I can't do that! I can't get close to him! That's..." I struggled to find an excuse, without revealing my mistake with my last Watched. "That's against everything we were taught!" He just shrugged at that.

"Like I said, this isn't a normal situation. You've got to break the rules here." he replied with finality. The image in the Parting disappeared, and he started walking away. As his figure faded into the distance, I did the only thing I could do. My knees buckled, and I hit the ground, my head in my hands.

"I can't do it again, I can't..." I murmured pitifully through my fingers. "I can't... I'll tell Gabriel that he needs to pick someone else... Yeah, that's what I'll do..." I muttered, perking up slightly. Ok, it'll all be ok, I just needed to tell him no, and it'll all be great. Great... Well, maybe not great but as good as it's going to get. I nodded to myself, and got up an startedwalking to Ivy's, feigning strength, even though inside I wanted to revert to tears.

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Alrighty, here's the next chappie! It's a bit longer then thelast, but still not ideal.I'l try for around four pages next time, promise! Sorry about any typos, my keyboards defective, and I'm still saving up for a new laptop :S Anyway, hope you enjoy! And happy Easter/ANZAC Day! I never thought I'd see the day when chocolate and rememberance were mixed together... Oh well...

Lest we Forget

Leina

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