The Shattered Night

05| Piper

Every year when the banquet takes place, a play coming straight from the entertainers of the palace would perform a show for the civilians, so they could get the closest taste to what the kingdom life was like. It was a free ticket to heaven, a supposedly nice and relaxing way to not worry about the differences you were born with.   

Cece tenses excitedly beside me as the royals from the court appear on stage. The sound of drumming intensifies, and the stage turns into a flow of dark indigo as black as stars appear on the ceiling. A rush of applause fills the clearing and a raven flies across the stage, spreading out its midnight wings to cover the sun.

Two female voices come through the curtains and their voices blend together in a single beat of harmony. The syllables they sound out are like a sweet song, full of beauty and love at the same time, a song able to trance anyone.

It was a time before the kingdoms rose. The time when Angels ruled the land and Black magic lived everywhere. The time of the Fallen Era and the beginning of our history.

The sound of a harp sends a tingling sensation down my spine, and I jolt as I realize what the play is going to be about. Beside me, Cece's eyes widened as she leaned towards my shoulder.

"Is this even allowed?"

The answer is simple. No, it is not. The play is officially violating the king's law and order, which is an act so few dare to do. By now, someone should have realized the danger being sought out, and put the performance off to warn the players. Someone should have taken action. The truth is, I know this is not only a big risk to the court, but to the people watching as well.

Something is very, very wrong. A deadly foreshadow is coming, and the message it sends chills me to the bone.

My fingers go numb and I try to catch my breath. I can almost feel the rippling, anxious affect that rises up in the audience. A murmur of whispers starts traveling throughout the crowd. For once, I don't blame anyone. This is supposed to be banned, I am not supposed to be listening to this, and yet, my feet won't move.

A masked performer dances on stage as gracefully as a swan on water, and spreads out his arms that are  connected to two black wings. He twirls on one foot and lands as light as a feather, right after a bounding leap that the spotlight follows. Another performer then lifts him up into the air, and then they both disappear into the shadows.

Music floods into the depth of my ears as my instincts go rigid. The history of the kingdom calls out to the rest of the world's wrath. Immediately, I know that this is the story of the Fallen Angels. Dangerous beings that possessed terrifying Black magic.

Before the kingdoms rose up within the different countries, all of our land was being ruled by the Angels that had possessed the world with their traumatizing power. If one person were to be cast upon their manipulative spell, the outcomes would not be pretty.

The humans were in the Angels's debt at that time, also working as slaves that weren't allowed to have their freedom. During those ages, history called itself the Fallen Era. After being slaved and ruled over by our enemies for so long with their inhuman magic, the tension between both species was rising. The Angels with their keen and emotional feelings had sensed this, and decided to take back their power by murdering the human leader of the resistance, a group that had plotted to take down the Angel species. 

What came next was the start of war and the dawn of a new era.

When the humans heard of the assassination, they were furious, and an anger never felt before was rising. But back then, it was thought that the Angels had no weakness. But only soon, it was  later revealed that they had a frailty to iron. Using that knowledge, the humans had created a lethal weapon to use to take down the Angels. A rare type of dust shot from cannons that killed any of their species who made contact with it. When the humans won the war, they took over the land and established a new civilization with a ruling kingdom, while at the same time sending the now Fallen Angels into hiding. Although some remnants of the Angel magic, also known as Black magic are leftover to certain people, it is not to be spoken.