Lion's Gift

Chapter 24

After a few moments of darkness, a series of images and scenes play out in my mind's eye all at once. Sounds of people crying out for loved ones and grief-filled screams echo in my ears at the same time sounds of swords cutting through people along with gunshots penetrating limbs and torsos make my mind spin. A little girl's singing abruptly turns to the young girl's muffled screams, then silence. I see different battlefields with otherworldly creatures fighting against each other. The first battles are between creatures with a white pure glow around them and creatures with a dark but somehow pure glow around them.

I see all sorts of beings, all with that intelligent glint in their eyes that show they are as smart as humans, if not smarter. Little winged women and men grow in size, wearing clothes fashioned out of blades of grass and flower petals and holding spears adorned with blooming flowers and wooden swords with green magic swirling around the blades. Each one of them has impossible beauty, but also with a few flaws. Creatures with sludgy faces and stout bodies ride upon horses that look like they are made of mud with glowing eyes and wings.

Most fascinating, though, are the angel-like creatures. On the dark side, they have great wings that are just shorter than their own heights and are as black as raven wings. The dark aura round them is mostly clean and very dark, and somehow I know that they are powerful. They hold long swords that look like they are fashioned out of the auras surrounding each of the beings. Each one of them has a different engraving of symbols on the flat of the blade, and somehow I can read the symbols and I know that it is an old language. Some say brave warrior, or kind one, or even malevolently loyal. At the front of the charge is an angel with a slightly weathered face and cutting blue eyes and black hair, with a crown that seems to be made of black thorns. He is obviously muscled and graceful as he rides upon a horse black as midnight and with eyes the color of molten silver.

On the light side, it is the exact same with the angels except their weapons and auras are white instead of black. At the helm rides an angel with stormy gray eyes and a neatly trimmed beard. I scrutinize the vision and notice that the majority of those fighting are men, and even so the women that are fighting seem to have less skill and stay back mostly.

The later battles turn between the creatures with a white glow, however most of the glows are much more tarnished than before, and creatures with muddy black glows, like the dirtiest of impurities. This time, no kings are at the helm of the armies, and instead they are in the back. Something has gone terribly wrong. Almost every one of the creatures are tarnished, some more than others. The dark side has warriors completely impure, with inhumane looks and greater strength but fading morals.

The vision changes abruptly, showing me faster and faster visions of assassins, plots, diseases, and so much destruction. I feel like exploding from all of the information dumped into my mind, every single vision I saw sticking and flashing in my eyes. I even see the birth of a baby that looks like the first angel dark leader I saw, with jet black hair and striking blue-green eyes. The child surprisingly has an untarnished dark aura, and I wonder if it is the same person.

Gasping, I open my eyes and the visions, and my thoughts are pushed to the back of my mind. I realize my position on the ground through the burning pain that disappeared with the visions. I am sprawled on the grass as if I fell off the roof, and I realize that I did fall off the roof. The burning pain comes from within me, and it isn't the pain of falling off a four-story house roof. I look at my arms and see even the light bruise I had this morning is gone.

Through the mind-numbing pain, I know that I will collapse soon, and I have to get back inside. So, like the idiot I am, I decide to scale the side of the house to my room instead of walking inside. This distracts me from the pain, though, and soon I am back in my room. I barely make it to the rug in the middle of the room before I collapse, shivering, as the pain takes over my mind and puts me to sleep.