The Master of Names

Chapter 8.5- That First Painful Day

13 years ago

  Keldon's head hurt... and his ears were ringing.

  And he was cold. so cold.

  ... Dad?

  Where are you?

  "I want my dad...," young Keldon thought, sitting up from underneath a pile of rubble. He had gotten lost , separated by a sea of refugees. They screamed as they scrambled to make their way into the city walls for safety when the War Angels attacked. As if somehow a pile of bricks mattered in the face of Divine might.

  However, a sudden explosion caught young Keldon and the refugees off-guard as stone and steel tumbled down around him in a thunderous massacre. In a stroke of luck however, a steel beam had fallen into place over top of Keldon, almost entirely shielding him from harm as the rubble came down around him.

  Those around him however, weren't as blessed. Keldon stumbled over bludgeoned bodies and corpses, grimacing in horror but numb from the shock. His feet squelched as he stepped over limbs, following the echoing sounds of battle in the distance. \

  That's where his dad would be, he fought the bad people after all.

  Everything hurt. His shoes were wet, and his chest heaved when he coughed, lungs full of dust. But, it was going to be okay. Everything would be fine once he found his dad. His dad always fixed everything.

  He trudged through the streets, as people fled around him. Ladies cried as they gave hugs to the people sleeping on the ground. A boy around his age was crying for his mum, holding the hand of someone who got squished under a big rock. A man with half of his body left was mumbling on the streets, looking up towards the sky. But he couldn't stop now, he had to find his dad or nothing would be fixed.

  When suddenly he heard his dad's voice, it was scratchy and hoarse but it was him! Keldon ran towards the voice, turning around a shattered home before he stopped dead in his tracks. Bodies of guards and mages filled the square in an ocean of blood as the city center was completely decimated. His dad stood defiantly in the remnants of the fountain, glaring daggers at the six War Angels who flew above him. Two more Warangels were on the ground, surrounding what looked to be the body of another angel who laid bloody and unconscious.

  Weird, could a war angel looked worried? They sure seemed to be, the one on the grounds eyes were closed as Keldon recognized that one of them was using healing magic on the unconscious angel. Her hands glowed a gentle light; as the other shook her shoulder trying to rouse her awake.

  However, to no avail it seemed, the Angel healing the unconscious one slowly dropped her hands, looking up to the others and shaking her head. They showed mixed reactions as anger, sorrow, frustration and smugness flashed onto their faces. But the one who flew in front of the rest maintained her stern demeanor.

  "How do you like THEM nuts, fuckers!" yelled Keldon's dad. His breathing was ragged and his shoulders drooped low but the fire in his eyes still burned bright. He raised his sword in defiance, pointing his sword to the heavens as if to challenge the very nature of their divinity itself!

  "Honor and justice my ass. Soon as I take down one of you fuckers, the rest of you slimy rats come crawling from the sewers." He cried out in a hoarse voice. The other Angels all looked towards the one in the front, hands gripping the hilt of their swords and ready to act on her order. Instead, she waved them back.

  "Son of power, Your talents are wasted here." She said in a booming voice. Her face was veiled in a red cloth, which rippled gently as she spoke.

  "Go fuck yourself you pretentious bird, you don't know shit about me!"

  However, the angel merely ignored his spiteful words as she reached out a hand.

  "In deference to your strength and will Brolenn, I extend to you but one act of mercy. Join us. There is much need of your strength in the coming war."

  "So I can slaughter some more innocent women and children? I'll have to take a pass on that one chief." Brolenn hissed through his teeth.

  The angel sighed, lowering her hand.

  "There isn't a day that passes by when their deaths don't haunt my every waking moment you know.," she said with notes of melancholy in her voice.

  "BULLSHIT!! Lenny and his kid had nothing to do with this shit! Pam! Gin! Tess! All of them damn you, all of them!!".

  "Necessary." Said the angel coldly.

  "You little..."

  "I was hoping you wouldn't be so short-minded Brolenn." The angel said, dropping her hand onto the golden hilt on her sword. The other angels glared, widened their eyes in shock at the sight. "Sacrifices must be made. Many will die so that the few may live, lest none are left at all."

  Keldon's dad clenched his jaw, raising his sword into lightning stance.

  "I don't believe your lies for a fucking second.,"

  She said nothing, looking only in dissapointment as she drew her sword. Black light spilt out of the hilt, covering the area in rays of inky black light as the atmosphere trembled. Four red eyes pierced through the veil as two extra sets of feathery wings sprouted from her back, shining through the black light. The earth shook as houses toppled and sinkholes filled the streets. Keldon fell backwards, choked by the pressure.

"In honor of your will, the Prime has decreed that you Brolenn Astria, be passed into the Great Beyond with dignity and grace."

  She raised her sword to the sky as the dark clouds gathered, thundering overhead as the earth trembled. Dust and debris whipped through the streets, drowning out the sounds of screams as Brolenn leapt towards her in the blink of an eye, closing the distance as red lightning followed his trail.

  "Rest easy brolenn, your sacrifice will not be in vain."

  And she swung her sword, cleaving the city in two.