The Watcher

Chapter 9: Down to the Fucking Bone

   Death appeared from a black nothingness and approached me, "There is something you must learn. A cloaking technique."
     I blew him off, "I don't need it, if God wants to come fight me then I'm going to kill him, Azazel too."
     "You can't fight them both at the same time, and it's not just for this fight, it's a useful skill." Death pulled a small device out of his pocket and threw it to me. I felt the smooth metal sphere spin in my palm. It spun around  to the back of my hand and flattened out. It's color blended to match my skin.
     "This device is alive, and if killed, will produce a piercing sound and flash a bright light, alerting everyone nearby. While it is alive, your body emits no outward radiating energy and can for short moments make you invisible to others."
     "Can I control it?" I asked, curiously observing it."
     "Not exactly, it is a wild creature, but it can become attached and learn to obey."
     "How exactly is this a skill then?"
     "Well," Death breathed, "you have a way of taking in new types of energy and synthesizing it. I'm hoping, of course, that you'll be able to cloak yourself independent of this animal someday..."
     The memory faded as I drew closer to God's domain. I could feel the difference in what was and what wasn't his domain. Approaching his domain brought feelings of terror that made me want to run away, but it also evoked a feeling that made me want to charge in. In a matter of minutes I was on a planet of blue and green. Earth. It was a simple chunk of land surrounded by water. Unlike before there was a developed society. They were in their 1900th year. There was no sign of God or any angels, maybe there was peace now too. I hated it all. It was pathetic. Just letting them all live for a second and learn nothing. The people only lived for 60 years. They were small, maybe 4 feet tall, floppy-but-stiff people, with a tan colored dark skin. They were happy though, constantly smiling. Their arms were lanky, ears flared, head big, and face tolled with excitement.
    They wore no clothes except for hats, which I later found out determined their job.
     I fell down to the planet with the fear that they could see me. I stopped in the middle of a dirt road in an old western esk town. The little men didn't look at me. I sighed a breath of relief but was hit by something.
     One of the creatures had hit me, and started chattering in a confusing tone, "He he he, me mananak? Ala lulala me *takannana*!"
     Was his name Mananak? I couldn't tell. A couple necks turned and then they were all looking. Mananak reached out, and hugged my body; I jolted away in the air, sending him flying. What a fucking dilemma. I had to save him if I could. The ground was crawling with worried souls holding their hands out. I reached out to catch Mananak before he hit the ground, and as soon as I touched him I felt my body reveal itself. The creatures gasped and I sent lightning to silence them. It was a horrific sight seeing them be vaporized before they could scream, but if I would've let them live I would've died. I consumed their souls, gaining their lifelong knowledge, and knew what I needed to do. On the other side of the planet marked the "Anguish Lands", or at least that's what the gobgos called it, which is what the species that lived on this planet were called. The gobgo that hugged my body pleaded me to kill her, and spare everyone else. She begged me to rape her and not touch anyone else. My blood hit a roaring boil as I dashed torwards the Anguish Lands. Angels, apart from God, marched the gobgos, hundreds of thousands of gobgos, around these construction sites. No sign of wildlife for miles, just gobgos, angles, and...giants. The giants resembled the gobgos well enough that I was sure they were a result of cross-breeding. All of these slaves carried stones to build big cities, yet they did not get to live in them. The cloudy sky echoed the bright shine of lightning. Azazel. Leading an army of angels to stop the slave-bearing angels. I wanted to help him, almost. They were stopping them for a different reason that what is right, they were stopping them for the glory of God, not for justice. Azazel tore through them apart like cotton and showered the lands with life, sprouting trees with plump fruit and rivers with the elixir of life. I loosely followed him as he took to the skies. I was sure now what it felt like when I was cloaked and when I wasn't, and I wasn't at all cloaked. I didn't know what the cooldown time was but it wouldn't matter as long as they kept flying straight. Azazel looked back and stared directly into my eyes, and then looked forward like he didn't see me. This wasn't a maybe-he-didn't-see-me glance, he stared deep within me. An acknowledging stare, yet he looked forward and kept moving. He must've known I couldn't follow him where he was going, but he would have attacked me. There was a calm and an elegance I saw in Azazel now that I haven't seen since before God pulled us apart. A calm I assumed came from being at "home". I felt as if I was on a hidden train track, not knowing if I should use the easy guidance or run away from a possible death. I decided I wouldn't go anywhere if I didn't at least try to follow them. But why did Azazel not care if I followed him, and not care to pursue me? He was so adamant on killing me before.
     The feel of space debris on your  face has to be one of the most unexpected best feelings in the world. Stardust feels warm on the face like smooth liquid sands. Somehow we flew to Mars without any of the angels looking back. They glided into a hidden cave on the side of a mountain. I was hesitant to go in but sure I had to. The abyss of the cave was full of advanced tech and more doors leading to things I didn't want to know of.
     Azazel stopped, turned around, and yelled, "tight formation!" The angels panicked and formed a tight blockade around Azazel. Azazel pulled out his sword, reached it up, and pounded it through the head of an angel and then another. Lightning breathed out of him. The angels tried turning and tried scattering but he cleaved them all apart. He looked at me and sheathed his sword, sinking into a room close behind him. Lightning blasted around me and I teleported in the room. My heart shattered and sunk. Tubes lined the wall filled with the fallen watchers suspended in a yellow fluid. Some were empty. At the end of the hall was a melting pot. I saw something else at the end too, molds and tools, for the armor pieces and swords of Azazel.
     "WHY!!!" I screamed, shifted my feet and teleported at him. He stood completely still; my hand shone black and plummeted towards his chest. my hand went right through. I could feel his heart get knocked back and I followed through to crush it against his spine. Blood sprayed out his chest, and poured out his mouth. He unsheathed his sword and loosely swung it up and down at me. It fell out of his hand and I caught it for a perfect return shot, but Azazel was prepared. He pulled out a hidden dagger and cut my hand off. The dagger vaporized, I caught the sword with my other hand and swung it into his neck. I held the blade at his neck, about an inch deep.
     "WHERE IS JOEL!"
     Tears fell from his eyes.
     "WHERE IS HE GODDAMMIT!" I slid the sword across his neck. Everything came crashing down; his sword, his head, and his body.
     I gasped and then collapsed along side him. I hadn't cried for a while and thought I may have forgotten how, but this was unforgettable. I didn't hate him. No matter how much he tortured me he was always my brother. No matter how much I thought I wanted to kill him I was wrong. I don't feel hatred, not towards anyone, in fact I hardly feel anything. Just numb. I remember when he gave me a reason to keep going. I'll never forget. "Keep us alive." I have to keep going, to keep us alive. The thing is, I can't feel where to go. I am one lone watcher, the last watcher. I am The Watcher. I have no idea where my life is.
     I sat there thinking for a year before I saw a note in his hand. How the hell did that get there?
    
     "Bar,
I haven't been myself for a while. God had my mind. But he doesn't have me anymore..."