The Above || Completed

45 Let Your Love Fly

I was left in near total darkness. Shortly after Venus left and I had exhausted myself with tears, a servant came and draped a pitch black material over the window. He didn't say a word. The sun would rise soon, that much I knew. That meant the hour of my death was approaching faster than I expected. I was sick of sitting in that same position for so long and my wrists felt raw from struggling. The weight of the death trap on my back was growing unbearable.

I was totally overwhelmed by hopelessness. There was no way for me to get myself out of this. They had confined and restrained me in every possible way and it hadn't even looked as though they'd really tried. Now, I was forced to resign myself to the fact that I would die in a matter of hours, in front of my father who probably thought I had abandoned him. I had failed to rescue Aeron and now he would die because I didn't bother keeping my mouth shut. I blamed myself for everything. The flute was gone and I would never start a revolution. Who knew how long it would be before the council captured the real angel? Would he even see it coming?

My thoughts were eating at me, driving me insane. The dark was a vortex coaxing me in. I gave in gladly. I let the darkness consume me.

^^^

It seemed my mind had exhausted me. I passed out and woke up when the sunlight managed to penetrate the curtain. Grey walls surrounded me devoid of anything else but a smudge of blood on the wall in front of me. Briefly, I wondered if this was a torture chamber. I let out a humoured breath.
Behind every peaceful utopia lies a fatal flaw in the system that governs it.

I looked down and my chair stood in a pool of my blood. My face still felt crusty with dried blood but I doubted it came from that. I flexed my bound hands and found that they too were covered in blood. My wrists really were raw from struggling. I looked to the side and remembered Venus' high heeled shoes standing beside me. I thought with evil satisfaction that spitting on them was one thing I didn't regret.

^^^

I was getting hungry now. It must've  been just after midday now. I realised now that it was probably a bad idea for me to skip all my meals the day before. But nothing could change that now. I felt longing for those council dining room meals now. Again, I thought of the irony. They had an angel right under their noses and gave her a bed and breakfast for four days without knowing it. I was also rather thirsty and my tongue felt as dry as the stone walls confining me. My shoulders were hunched with the weight of the device strapped to my back, feeling as though a boulder was slowly crushing me. This was a torture chamber. The room was so hot and humid, I felt as though I was suffocating. Or maybe that was the emotion I refused to let out.

^^^

A metal door creaked open and I knew it was time. I wondered how the Renewal would do with only three candidates. It was scheduled to take place this evening but I supposed I wasn't going to be of use there either. I hadn't even thought of the law I would've wanted to pass. The only law I could've thought of was one I couldn't mention. A big man with council executional tattoos decorating his arms came and wiped the blood from my hands. Another man with the exact same marks began untying my feet. The device on my back remained untouched. I would take it to the grave.

As they escorted me down a long, dimly lit corridor, I thought about what methods were used to execute angels. Angels were immortal so they needed to have some special method. But soon, I found it futile to be thinking of how I was going to die. Instead, my mind concentrated sharply on the faces of my loved ones, flashing on the backs of my eyelids every time I blinked. They were what I died for today. One of the men opened a door to our right that led to a grand hall with broken down, charred walls and rubble lying in some corners. I was inside the building in which the council kept their angels. The room was crowded with the sullen faces of angels, illuminated by the red light of flares.

My eyes searched hungrily for my father. I wanted to see him before I died though I doubted I'd have been able to look him in the eye when it happened. I was shoved onto a platform, where I stood alone with no escape. And I saw him. His blonde hair was greasy and growing past his eyes in the front. His chin was covered in stubble, his jaw set. Then, a bow and arrow made of powerful celestial metals blessed by the archangels themselves, held by none other than my father himself. I felt as though I'd already been killed. Suddenly I could no longer breathe. Both our eyes were overflowing with tears. This was Venus' doing. He was being forced to do this. Killing me in front of him wasn't enough torture. For them, there was no limit to cruelty.
Then a lilting voice spoke over the hall. "This is what happens when scum rebel."
Venus was standing less than a metre away from me, surely stifling a cackle.
"Witch," I growled, only loud enough for her to hear me.
She smirked and gestured towards my father. "Shoot, Luziel."

A man appeared behind him, holding his own bow and arrow in case Dad tried anything foolish. He had no choice. The bow quivered in his hands as they shook uncontrollably. I bit back a sob and looked into the eyes that seemed to reflect my own heartbreak. Maybe I was meant to go like this. Maybe seeing my father's face one last time was all I could've asked for.
"Dad," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "it's okay. Do it."
He shook his head, biting his lip. "No, Maddison."
"Please, Dad. You have to. I love you," I assured him, tears blurring my vision once more.
"I love you too," he said.
I gritted my teeth, somehow knowing these were my last words. "Then let your love fly through my heart."
And the arrow flew.

^^^