The Mission

Azrael

*** Chapter 4 ***
(Warning: there is mention of rape and extreme violence)

I was awoken the next morning by the the uncomfortable feeling of morning dew sticking to my skin and the overpowering aroma of the alluring purple flowers that surrounded the area. I moved my hands to rub at my tired eyes, I popped my eyes open wide when I realized something was missing. I no longer had the slight weight on my chest or the soft brown curls in my face that I have became used to after spending hours with the curvy and petite girl I met at Club Babylon. She was gone, no longer laying curled up in my arms sleeping soundly. I groaned as I slowly made my way to a sitting position and tried to dry off most of the dew that was starting to make my skin clammy.

Once my vision was fully cleared of sleep I let my gaze roam freely around my surroundings. My gaze fell on to the bottle that held our liquid courage from last night that was lazily placed to the side of the flat edged boulders. What caught my eye was the fact that there was a paper wrapped loosely around the neck of the bottle, I removed the paper and unfolded it to reveal a note written in a neat script addressed to me from Shiloh. It read:

"Dear Azrael, Sorry to leave you hanging like this but I can't very well spend my whole time laying in your arms. Don't worry we will meet again soon, it's a small world after all. Till our next encounter, Shiloh."

Azrael...I had forgot that I told her my real name last night, no one has called me Azrael since I was ten years old and my parents were still alive. I miss them they are my soul reason for fighting in this war, if it wasn't for Shalion my parents would still be alive and well. The day they were ripped from my life plays behind my eyes when I sleep and torments me to no end.

***flashback***

It was a week after my 10th birthday and my dad had promised to show me how to properly use a sword. My dad loved everything to do with the military and though fighting with swords was a thing of the past he still saw the beauty in it and wanted to teach me to appreciate it. I complained at first because I much rather learn to use the sniper rifle that he kept housed in the long silver case under the desk in his office. He only showed me the rifle once and it fascinated me, he told me that I had to keep it a secret because my mother didn't know that he was still hunting and that she would be really mad if she found out. I didn't like it when she got mad so I kept quite but that didn't mean I still didn't want to learn how to use it.

My dad brought me into our living room once he got home from work, all of the chairs and rugs had been pushed against the wall clearing out space and forming a ring around us for my special sword training. My mother who was against me using weapons at such a young age stood at the doorway of the room with her hand to her mouth looking extremely uneasy.

"Calm down Sofiel, he's not going to get hurt besides these blades are so dull they can't cut through paper let alone our little boy. I'm only showing him the basics anyway so don't fret." My dad wrapped his arms around my mom trying to rid her of her worries it seemed to be working since my mother retreated into the kitchen with a small okay after kissing his cheek.

My dad smiled brightly as he started my lesson. It was tedious work, he had me swing the sword in a certain direction until I was comfortable doing the movement and with the weight of the thin piece of metal.

I was in mid swing when there was a loud crash from the kitchen followed by my mothers high pitch scream. Startled I dropped the sword and stared at my father with wide fear filled eyes. He was about to sprint into the kitchen to investigate but stopped his motion looking from me to the doorway and back, clearly trying to decide what to do first. He seemingly came to a decision as he ran toward me and bundled me close to his body as he ran to the back room of our house, once there he set me down and shoved me in the closet. I was shaking from the fear running through me and couldn't help the tears welling up in my eyes.