From the dust we come

To fall from above

I force my eyes open to the twilight, but they collapse again like the gates of the castle.

A cold breath of air blows past my face like a breeze on a evening beach, my body is covered in layers of silky sheets and I'm soaking in the warmth of my thick Vaelerian quilts.

I see a flash from the corner of my eye; it's like a supernova of colour in the darkness, what a beautiful dream. Again, another burst of light, like angels dancing in my eyelids.

My head sinks into the pillows, like a ball in quicksand as I sink into wonderland. A another puff of wind blows past me, so I reach blindly to the foot of my bed for another blanket, I see another burst of light from the corner of my eye, not a dream I guess. My head pans over at the mirror on my dressing table... just the reflection of a dashing young man with eye bags deeper than the abyss is what I see.

I creep out of my sheets leaving behind my warm den and reach for another fluffy blanket, and then again another flash of light.

I throw my blankets onto the floor and fling my sheets across the room and let out a grunt. I hammer my feet into the cold tile floor and thrust my body up. Struggling to keep my eyes from collapsing shut I stride to my dressing table, and tensely grab the mirror as I see more flashes in it. If it's those servants playing with fire crackers I'll have their heads.
I turn around and drag my legs like a lame beast to my window, I stare out and squint my eyes over the city down below. There, on the horizon, small flashes of light... Sparks illuminating the dark fields beyond the safety of the city. I lean further out the window, as I see silhouettes of soldiers rushing through the streets. "What's that?" I look closer, grabbing the frame of my window as I lean out to get a better look, one knee on the edge as I peer out like an owl from a tree.

"Apollyon!" someone shouts behind me.

My fingers slip, I look back at my guard as I tumble backwards out the window ten stories to the streets below. The air is ripped from my lungs as I hit the ground like a flash of lightning.

"Apollyon" I hear someone yell again.

I feel beads of blood roll down my forehead followed by a sharp pain, like someone has shoved a pike in my head. I open my eyes, it's still dark and I hear people screaming. My ribs hurt and there's blood dripping down my ankles, it's as if I've been hit by a carriage. I try to lift my head, by my neck is as tender as beaten slave. Then all the pain like a smashed dam floods to my head as I let out a curdling scream.

"Apollyon! We need to get you back inside, they are invading are in the city!" My guard yells as he runs up to me. He's trembling like an iron tower in an earthquake.

"I need a doctor, call my physician!" I yell staring at the blood on my hands. "Get that guard down here! I'll have him huuung!" The soldier reaches out to me, then there's a loud thud, his' chest leaps backward, his arms flail, his knees buckle. His face is a mask of shock, of fear, his eyes and mouth wide. There isn't any pain there, it hasn't registered yet. He looks at me, straight in the eye as he falls. Run, those eyes say, Run now. Before he hits the ground I hear another distant crack, the echo of which is like a thousand horses trailing after it, repeating itself through the city, as he howls in agony another bullet impacts his head silencing him. His skulls bursts into a hundred shards of flesh and bone, his brains splatter all over my face.

My heart starts pounding like the pistons of a train, I gasp for more air as I struggle to look away from his mangled body. I taste his blood dripping from my cheeks to my lips. I scurry back on my arms and legs trying to stand as more bullets rain from the distant and riddle his corpse as it ricochets on the ground.

"Apollyon!" I hear as more uniformed men rush behind me, returning fire in the direction of the bullet. "Get him out of the city!" one of them yells with mud and dirt all over his face. They each grab one of my arms and lift me onto a carriage. With their twisted arms they whip the horses and cart me away. I stare wide eye as we turn corner on corner, weaving street to street, avoiding storms of bullets and battalions of soldiers tearing the city apart in their hunt for each other. People line the roads, mothers grabbing their children and pulling their windows shut. "What's going on" I struggle to say, I turn my neck as a sharp pain rips down my back. "I can't move" I cry.

"Don't worry, close your eyes, we'll be out of the city soon" one of the soldiers reply as he whips the horses to go faster. The stallions push their heads forward and gallop through the rivers of blood flowing through the streets.

"What's that?" I ask as I furrow my eyes at a bright star in the sky, it's slowing moving down, as if falling from its place in the sky.

"It's the wrath of the Gods!" the soldier cries in return, he leans forward as the horses charge us out of the city.

"What are you talking about" I cough as I wipe the blood from my cheeks.

"Look away boy! When I was a child the Gods sent their demon from the sky to destroy my home city!" the soldier replied.

The star began to fall faster, with a streaking tail stretching across the heavens. I gasp for air as it hits the ground, a bright light ripples through the landscape blinding me for a few seconds. As the haze disappears I see column of smoke and flame burst towards the sky, as bright as ten thousand suns, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire city before my eyes. The birds in the sky turn white and drop like rain around us, and no one rises from the ashes. A thick gloom swiftly settles upon the city scape as fierce wind blast gushes past. Clouds roar upward, showering dust and gravel unto our carriage. Birds croak madly and the moon seems to waver as it falls into the horizon, darkening the night.The earth shakes, scorched by the terrible violent heat of this monster. Horses near the city burst into flames and run to and fro in a frenzy, other animals crumple to the ground and die.

I stare at the flames engulfing the very place where just a few minutes ago, I had been calmly asleep. I feel numb. Like a hand that has been sat on, like a foot that is lazy, like I'm floating in sea of cold water. No ripples or waves, just me and the vast expanse of nothing that is in my chest. A tear rolls down my face, my hands start trembling, I start sniffing and liquid drizzles down my noise. I clench my jaw as the dams of my eyelids hold in the waters that want to break free. My eyes are closed, wake me up, wake me up... "Wake me up" I shout as the waters stream down my face.

"I'm sorry, this isn't a dream" one of the soldiers gently says as he wraps his tattered coat around me.