Devil's Paint; A Fairytale

The Final Day

     Knock. Knock knock. Pause. Knock knock knock...

     Icarus was on his feet in an instant. It must be Elisbet, asking permission to come in. Rubbing his eyes, he walked to the door-flap, pushing it aside.

     "Oh my God!" Came a shrill cry, "It's you!" Icarus was suddenly wide awake, face-to-face with his cousin, Isolde! "You're a monster!" She shouted as she raced away from the house, "A monster!" Icarus stumbled back inside, locked in a state of shock. Elisbet stood behind him, her mouth a thin line. "She was coming to pick up another fancy chair." The woman rasped, "Now she'll tell everyone you're here. We have to get the both of you out, now."

      Nuri was very quiet as Letitia led them back through the tunnel. "Where will you go?" The blonde asked, "Is there anywhere to go?"

     Icarus shook his head. "No. There's nowhere left."

     "Dammit, this is all my fault!" Nuri raged. "If only I'd been strong enough to try to get away from my dad. Maybe I'd be dead, but I don't matter anyway." With that, he dissolved, the cloud of ash flowing back into Icarus. Now he could feel the demon's distress, radiating through his entire body. Why couldn't he sense it before? Nuri was probably very experienced at hiding his emotions.

     It was still dark outside. Icarus drank in the cool air. It was good to be back where he belonged, in the real world. Ragged clouds swept across the sky, like torn flags. Letitia frowned. "Something's not right. Do you hear that?" Icarus listened hard. "No... Is it the wind?" She shook her head. "It's more of a clicking... Run!"

     Icarus took off just in time, a net of beads nearly catching him. He was completely surrounded, vague shadows of men and women approaching all around him. Heart beating erratically, he looked for somewhere, anywhere to run, but there was nowhere. He was trapped.

      "Use me!" Nuri urged. "I'll give you all the power I can! Just use me and get out of here!"

     Red hot streams of adrenaline shot through Icarus' veins, a wave of intoxicating heat rocketing into his body. He could go anywhere, do anything. He was going to make it.

     As the shadows drew closer, Icarus ran, leaping over boulders, skirting trees, beating everything that stood in his path until he reached a dead-end. He went straight to the wall, and digging his hands into the stone, he began to pull himself up the wall. As he climbed, steam began to slough off his exposed hands and arms. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. But soon, he'd reached the top of the tower. He had to keep moving.

     Jumping across a gap, he began to climb higher and higher. He leaped across to other towers, his pursuers microscopic on the earth below. 

     Soon, there was no-where left to climb. Icarus kept running, bridging the gaps between buildings with ease. His body was a storm cloud; Light and insubstantial, but charged with power.

     On Icarus' next leap, Nuri screamed with pain inside his head. "I can't... I'm sorry!"

    The fall was slow at first, none of the warmth leaving Icarus, but then he dropped, plummeting down into empty space. There was no time to think, no time to register the frigid cold settling over Icarus.

     The Sun began to rise, the horizon fiery, the inferno racing across the sky-line. Something deep inside Icarus dissolved, like tissue paper thrown into a bonfire. The ground was rising to meet him, and once it had made his acquaintance, it would all be over. 

     "No!" Nuri growled, his voice ragged and broken.

     Something slammed hard into Icarus' back, yanking him upwards. It burned where it met his skin, but he could move the something, guiding himself as he fell.

     He was still falling quite quickly when he crashed through the crack in the roof of the church, landing in a painful heap near the pulpit. Icarus struggled to pull air into his lungs. His head throbbed, whatever was sticking to his back twitching uncontrollably. 

     "Are you okay?" The demon snarled weakly, "I didn't know I would run out of power that fast..." Icarus struggled to his knees. "I think I'm alright."

     "There he is!" A woman shouted, "In there!"

     The priest was the first one in the church, the mirror of truth in his arms. "This," He said sadly, "Must be done, for everyone in Hostel. For our world. I am so sorry."

     Before the priest could make another move in his direction, Icarus leapt to his feet, his muscles protesting. "This isn't what you think it is!" He shouted, "The demon inside me doesn't want to hurt any of you! He's lonely and hurt.... And he's my friend!" The crowd gasped, one man even falling to the ground and praying.

     "This is a sign from God." The priest murmured, his skin as white as snow. "This is a sign."

     Looking into the mirror, the surface a prism of beams from the smashed ceiling, Icarus saw himself, or was it Nuri? Standing in the center of a pool of heavenly light. Their features were blurred together almost indecipherably. Arcing from his back was a pair of black, leathery wings, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't leather at all, but pure white down. The feathers caught the light reflecting back from the mirror like a loom, weaving the beams into a pattern.

     Everything was silent, the dust motes drifting lazily like insects.

     One by one, every man and woman laid down their nets, staring open-mouthed at Icarus.

     "Are they gonna let us live?" Nuri sounded hopeful, something Icarus had never heard in his voice before. Icarus breathed ."We'll see," He whispered, "We'll see."