3. And So, I Died. The End.

      Yep, that’s pretty much everything. That’s how it ended, guys. I was adopted by an angel and all that, ate very tasty falafels, had a home, free mugs of beers and died peacefully with a smile on my face because I was so lucky and blessed.

      Not. 

      This.. this guy had led me in some kind of a statue, near the public museum. I have no idea why we’re here, and why I was even following this guy just because he said he got answers. Who knows if he’s one those nasty demons, too? I remembered what the demon said when he finally showed his appearance to me. He had said, “I couldn’ve chosen a different look.”

      I took a cautious glance at “José.” I figured that if I call him angel or guy everytime, I’ll just confuse myself. I’m behind him, following him like a lost puppy. If what I’m thinking is true, this could ba a trap. I looked around me then tried to search escape spots, if ever that José would really try to kill me. I kept my chill.

      But, José turned to look at me, his azure eyes squinting like he sensed what I was thinking. I got myself ready to run, but then he grinned. It was one of those grins that said, “Hey, that’s pretty fun.” Or “Hmm, amusing.” I could never tell, because grins doesn’t speak.

      “I’m not like that burning and nasty minion, Cain.” He said, and I groaned. He read my mind. He continued, fully turning to me. “I’m actually your guardian angel.”

      I burst out laughing. The word ’Guardian angel’ just had this laugh–worthy quality. Especially if you’re saying that to a poor dude who almost got killed by a demon. And the word just sounded too childish in my ears. It was what moms and dads used to say to babies and all that. But I’m seventeen, poor, a robber and currently a targeted by spirits, it just sounded wrong.

      José made a face like he was being bullied, but was trying to act brave about it. And he was. He crossed his arms then huffed, his breath steaming. His azure eyes was now boring itself into mine, and I had to shut up. But I still let a few snickers escape.

      “Strictly speaking,” he said, “We are the ones who is the most familiar to your kind. On all of celestial beings, we are the ones who affects you greatly.”

      I wanted to argue. And I did.

      “I don’t think so,” I said, fixing my puffed jacket. “If that’s true, where were you when I decided to steal from a man? Or something.”

      He eyed me very seriously, then his lips turned into a hard line like he smelled something bad. Well, I do smell bad, but is it that bad to the point that he can smell it from a distance? I secretly took a wiff of myself. Mm, mud.

      “We are never the ones who make decisions, Cain.” He finally said, his light witted voice growing deeper and darker, then turned around again.

      I didn’t say anything this time, because arguing with an angel seemed to be wrong in many levels. And so, I kept my mouth shut, my eyes on the great doors of the museum where José brought me. We’re still outside, and José kept staring the the statues like he preferred to admire the work than to tell me why demons and things and all that wanted me dead.

      We stood there for minutes, and minutes, and the minutes turned to hours. The people around the museum was nowhere to be found, the night was cold, and dark. And yeah, I was shivering my *** away. While José would just.. stand there, in front of the statue of a man in robes and mutter something I couldn’t understand.

      Finally, exhaustion hit me. I was leaning at one of the pillars while groaning and emitting unnecesarry complaining  sounds. I was shaking in cold, and it was much colder this time because I can tell that it’s either midnight of past one AM in the morning.

      The sky was dark, and only the street lights was the only thing that illuminated the whole East Avenue. And this museum was locayed at the end of East Ave, so only few buildings that emmited light are can be seen.

      And all I got for a company was an angel whose hobby is to grin, stare at greek statues and talk randomly about other celestial bodies like I can actually understand what he was saying.

      “Hey,” I called. “Can you tell me what the he– what are we doing here?” I shifted on my position. “Look, I didn’t come with you just to freeze my as— my butt off!”

      He looked at me wistfully. “Patience is a virtue, Cain.” He said. “Not the Virtue type of my kind.” He added, chuckling lightly. The sound was so pleasant, but I didn’t have to care about that now.

      “I’ll pretend I get you. Or you make sense. Pretty impossible things, by the way.” I said, rolling my eyes. “What are we doing here, anyway?”

      He hummed, “We’re waiting for something.” He replied shortly. I waited for him to say something more,  but he just stood there and continued to make this strange, low noises in his throat.

      “Like?”

      “The Dark Hour,” he said, tapping his fingers on a golden watch that I had no idea where he got. Probably a miracle. Pfft. “But, I told you, patience. Patience, Cain.”

      I gave him an impatient look. It was one of my ’flaw’, I could never wait that long. I’m impatient, and I can’t just sit still like I’m a statue that José was looking at. I groaned as a complain.

      “What’s Dark Hour, anyway? Is this what you guys call the time where robbers like me act like ninjas and all that?” I asked, snickering at myself. I was so bored I started to get less serious.

      “Oh,” José said, “This is much cooler than that.”

      I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that an angel would think that stealing is cool. Well, whatever, that was normal, if I consider the things that was happening to me. I got threatened by a demon, my family came back, and now I’m talking to an angel.

      I shrugged at him then said, “Mind explaining, angel?” I asked.

      He looked at me like he was offended. He pouted. “I have a name. It’s not angel, or José. But it’s sacred, so let’s stick to José.” He said. “Anyway, as we were talking about, The Dark Hour is the time between midnight and the break of dawn. Think of it as..”

      “13:00?” I asked.

      He nodded, a smile on his lips. “That pretty much explains it.” He said, then his eyes gazed at literally nowhere. “Enki altered time to make his minions crawl the world, destroy faiths and minds. It’s the time where everyone loses themseleves. The time where they stray further from the oath of their mind, where they lose control of the limited strings in their lives.”

      I didn’t say anything, waiting for him to explain more. But he didn’t say anything other than that then continued admiring the greek statue. At first, it really didn’t make sense to me, none of it made sense. The demon and this man in front of me. I wished I was hallucinating when I saw his wings, or the gruesome image that the demon stripped in front of me, but I know I wasn’t. But, despite all that, I find myself denying it... Denying whatever is happening to me.

      I cleared my throat, casting my eyes at the same statue that he’s staring at. “So.... Demons are really real?” I asked like an idiot.

      He snorted. “Why, yes, they are. You’re talking to an angel right now, yes?”

      “The dude that I saw back then... With the horns and all, is that a demon?” I asked nervously, now glancing at the empty and dark streets. I remember what Mugin and Quil told me, that I should be careful with names. What if they’re lurking underneath the shadows now?

      He nodded, a serious look on his face. “Nameless beings. Pawns. Minions. It’s kind was the most desperate of all, and the lower too. They want power, to have a name. So they do whatever they can to please their master,” He answered. “To have a name, to be recognized, to be brought power whenever someone murmurs them, that is what they want. Like a void wanting to take form of something.”

      It took me a moment to say something. “You say they do anything to please their master. What do they do? What are they’re like?”

      “Like things I can never mention with my own tounge.” He answered, then flashed a small grin. It was small, but it was very charming and radiant, but there was something in that grin, something...dark?

      I knew deep inside that it’s real, but I was still looking for validation. I was still hoping that these wasn’t true after all. I heaved a sigh, the things that happened to me playing inside my head.

      “Why do you guys keep appearing after me?” I asked, exhausted. For the first time in my life, I gave up trying to guess by myself. “I just wanna eat falafels.”

      “That, I can’t answer.” He said wistfully. “My Majesty has His ways.”

      “So, there’s a God?”

      José furrowed his eyebrows. “Of course, there is!”

      “Sorry, I’m not into those religous things or something.” I said, chuckling to myself. It’s funny how I found myself not believing to “God” even though I was talking to an angel and got attacked by a demon.

      “There are many gods,” he said, acting like he didn’t hear me. “There are minor gods, and there is the God. He goes by many names.”

      I tried to stay interested. “Like?”

      “Messiah, Elohim, Yahweh. He goes by hundreds of names. Greek people had mistaken him for Zeus, Norse for Odin, and many more,” He answered, like he’s counting inside his head. “Names are powerful, after all.”

      I raises my eyebrow. “I mean, no offense, but are those gods real?” I asked. To an angel. Sick. I cleared my throat, “I mean, those gods? The one that you just told me? Odin and Zeus and... You know what I mean.”

      He looked at me with this unreadable look on his face. He was like thinking if I had a brain, or what. He turned to me, tilting his head as he gaze at me with his azure eyes.

      “Are they?” He asked back. “For thousands and millions of years, humans had looked for validation. They searched if ’those’ gods are real. Say, the Egyptian scriptures. Or the ruins of the lost cities. You even searched if aliens were real.” He said, a laugh in his tone of voice. “But there isn’t. There’s only one God, and He is my master. We celestial beings, spirits and the Pantheons of the Underworld are the only ones who exist.”

      “Well.. that’s kind of disappointing. I used to believe in Norse gods.” I said, shrugging.

      He made a face. “Disappointing, indeed.” He said. “But I’m sorry to burst your bubble of fantasies.”

      “And the phanteons of the Underworld? What about them?”

      This made his forehead scrunch, like he smelled something bad. He looked serious and kind of angered. But then, he shrugged then said, “The ones who rule the Underworld.”

      “Yeah? Is the demon–dude who threatened me one of them?”

      “Cain, I keep telling you that it’s not. It’s a minion of one the princes of the Underworld. Like.. whoever. That minion, that worthless vile, was sent from one of them. And I tell you, Cain, that is safe to assume.” He said. “I couldn’t speak their names for it holds power. It would be very dangerous for me to speak about them.”

      “You mean like Enki? Or Enlil?” I asked, remembering what Quil and Mugin had told me. “My friends came to warn me about all this. I didn’t believe them.. and here am I, talking to an angel.”

      “Your friends?” He raised an eyebrow. “How can your friends know about these?”

      “You’re asking me?”

      “Yes.”

      “How in the world could I know, José?”

      He said nothing and seemed like he was thinking about it. He put both of his hands in his coat then sighed like he was the one human here.

      “They might be one of the gargoyles.”

      “Excuse me?” I snorted. “You’re out of your mind, angel.”

      I can remember those statues of monsters with horns and wings at the public palace or those mansions and public grand buildings that had those stupid statues right at their roof or pillars. I imagined Quil and Mugin being like one of them, I had to hold back my laughter.

      José raised his eyebrows at me. “I take that despite your reaction over this, you do know the reason of gargoyles, right?”

      “Well, yeah. To ward off evil spirits.” I answered. I gasped, then looked at him with my eyes widened. “Don’t tell those things were real?”

      He didn’t answer me and just continued to look at me with a silly grin. He hummed like he was thinking about it. He was thinking if he would continue to drive me mad or utterly hopeless by thinking about unreal things.

      I actually didn’t want him to answer, because I haf this bad feeling that if he did, I’d never look the same way at Quil and Mugin just like before. I shivered at the thought. I imagined Quil and Mugin at a balcony, sitting there like a frog and hissing with their tounges snuck out. Quil, with his snouted nose, and Mugin with his beard and pointy ears.

      I shuffled uncomfortably on where I sat. Of course, I would. Imagine getting you *** cold as ice while you watch an angel admire a statue for HOURS. Damn hell you’ll feel uncomfortable.

      I was still looking at José, still thinking if he was really an angel, still thinking if he was just a hallucination, still thinking about this whole damned day that seemed to turn my very peaceful life into a wreck.

      “Well, another question,” I said. “What do you guys want from me?”

      “By you guys, you mean, angels and minions and demons and all those stuff that seemed unreal to your mundane mind?” Asked José.

      I don’t know if you’re an angel or just a stupid clown, I thought. And well, José seemed to hear what I wast thinking. He threw me a look and then made a face. I, for one, threw him a look, too.

      “Stop that.” I said. “You’re invading my mind.”

      “I can hear everyone’s thoughts, Cain. It’s no my fault that I had that ability and you’re being so mean.” Said José then pouted like a child. “Now I kind of regret that I only met you know. I should’ve influenced you in your younger years.”

      I snorted. “No offense, José, but I didn’t need anyone. Whether it’s an angel or not. I’m good when I was alone.”

      The angel made a face at me, his azure eyes squinting. “You’ve been so shrouded wirh your other guardian... It was hard for me to reach for your thoughts. Too hard, actually. But here we are.”

      “Other guardian?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow. I sighed. “You really need to explain things to me now, I’ll go mad.”

      Seriously, why can’t he just tell me all the stuff I meed to know and get over with it? It was driving me mad, I was starting to think that I should leave him be and go to my uncle.

      “It’s nothing.” The angel said dismissively. “It won’t be as important as what’s coming now.”

      He was no longer looking at me. He was looking at the moon, and it was unreal. My eyes widened. I hadn’t noticed that the moon had gotten so big like it crossed hundted of kilometers to get close to where we’re standing now.

      It was so bright, and big, that I started to notice the details. It had craters in every side and angle of it. Like they were small volcanoes. But that’s not the thing thag shocked me the most, the moon had started to change it’s color. From faint white, to yellow, to orange and faint red.

      “Woah, wait,” I managed to say. I looked at José. “What in the world is happening again?”

      “The Dark Hour.” Said José, glancing at the streets and at our surroundings. “Anytime now, the Phanteon’s shadows would crawl in the whole world, destroying minds.”

      “No way.”

      I watched as the whole sky started to glow faint green, but the moom was getting redder and redder. It was the color of blood, and the sky had casted dark shadows against it. It made East Avenue look like a hell hole. Or a river full of green slime.

      José looked at me like I was something weird.

      “You’re different,” he said. “You didn’t loose your mind.”

      I held up a finger. “Actually, I’m going bloody nuts right now.”

      My eyes had landed on the streets where it was dark and was covered with red and green light. The street lights had died, so I can’t tell if I actually saw a small figure of shadow with golden eyes creep towards the trees and disappear.

      I actually can’t tell if I saw a winged–something cross the big, and blood moon. It looked like a bat, unless the bat had long curved horns and a spiky tail with a spade at it’s end.

      Well, because of the street lights that died, I can’t tell if hundreds of giant figures of a demonican stood before us with hundreds of eyes glaring at us, murmuring something I can’t understand.

      I feel like a complete lunatic person when I saw all of this and told myself that it was not true, only my imagination because the street lights went out. Of course I knew what I saw, and I felt like I was in a horror movie.

      It’s not everyday you see a blood red Moon and dark green skies. Or see things that you don’t want to see. Say, demons, perhaps. It’s not everyday you experience being in an altered time and space where demons and hellish beings break free from their eternal prison.

      Then, that’s where it hit me. I felt nauseaus and I feel my exhaustion doubling up. My mind and vision became blank for a moment before feeling my knees buckling up. I wanted to vomit, and I wanted to get the ringing in my head out.

      I felt like I wanted to die.

      “What the hell is happening?” I managed to ask, holding both of my head while trying to suppress my nausea.

      José sighed, a downcast look ectched on every inch of his angelic face, “You’re still too mundane to keep up, I’m  afraid. If you stay conscious much longer, you’ll end up insane.” He said. “You’re earthly body was trying to adjust. Humans usually lose themselves if they reach the Dark Hour, and after all the suffering, they will immediately forget about everything their earthly bodies experienced.”

      José took another curious look at me. “But you, you’re different. You’re not like them, becausw if you are, your mind would go blank and it’ll save you from being killed. But you’re not, and you’re human. It’s a wonder.”

      “So.. do I survive this or die?” I asked, still feeling everything that the Dark Hour had left me. It took me eveything I got just to spit out those words and turn them in a question.

      “You’ll surely die,” I was taken aback with the tone of his voice, about how he sounded so unconcerned and unbothered. Like there’s no human named Cain Roneve slowly dying in front of him. In that moment, the  pleasing impression he gave me the first time disappeared like a puff of smoke. “This is what I wanted, anyway.”

      At first, I thought that he was joking so I stifled a laugh. My brain told me that it just sounds wrong coming from someone, especially if that someone was an angel. But then, I realized that he wasn’t. He was staring at me now, in his full form. Our surroundings lit up with golden and soft light, coming from his very skin. His wings are glorious, like the sun peeking behind the clouds, bright and pure. With all the weirdness I saw that day, I still couldn’t help myself but to marvel. Despite the things he said to me.

      But his appearance, his beauty won’t help me getting out of this situation alive and well. Clearly, I needed help. The pain in my head worsened. Actually, everything that I was feeling had doubled up. My exhaustion had reached all the parts of my body. I felt bile rise in my throat, and I saw red down at my eyesight. The pain I was feeling was searing, burning inside my bones. I tried to breath, latching in my throat, when I felt like the air around me is  growing thin, like a limited later of oxygen. I can feel the beat of my heart slowing down, my blood being drained by something I can’t explain. I feel like I had a vaccum inside my heaf, sucking and draining the life out of me.

      I was dying.

      José looked at me, his face an emotionless mask. A change that I never saw from someone before. “I’ll explain everything, Cain,” He said, his wings flowing with the wind in slow  motions, “You have to understand our wishes, our decisions. The only way to stop everything from coming to an end is to exclude you. Once the inferno takes hold of your body, once it spreads and eats everything, there will be no chance for life. This is the only way to save you and your soul. This was my mission. I should prevent the war using everything in my power. This is what I needed to do.”

      I couldn’t even understand the words that’s coming out of his lips, the onky thing present inside me was pain. Excruciating. Pain that blocked all my thoughts, my panic and fear. I wanted to scream in agony. The pain was so intense, that I wanted to end it all. I feel like I was being burned to ashes, getting choked by hundreds of threads, each piece burning and searing into my flesh. I feel like I was being cut hy hundreds of blades, and I felt like I was being skinned alive, slowly. Despair started to crawl all over my skin, suffocating my thoughts of escape, of resisting. I wanted to end everything. I wanted to die.

      “Your friends wanted to prevent it,” I heard José said, his voice cutting through the air, through my pain. With a hazy vision, I tried to look at him, tried to see what face he’s wearing as he tell me those things . “I still do not know why, but...” He trailed off.

      For once in my life, I wanted to choke and hurt an angel. I wanted to tear his wings and take away all of his glory out of him. How can he just watch me with his ridiculous and pointless reasoning? I never thought that I  would say this once in my life, but I would rather have a demon breathing in my neck than face an angel.

      I lashed at my throat, then held it. It was squeezing and turning itself that I vommitted blood. I felt the soft bones of my throat crack, locking and twisting against  each other, piercing my flesh, wounding my insides. All the while José just watched, his wings slightly flapping, and hia azure eyes shimmering with something I can’t tell.

      He looked merciless.

      “I take that they wanted the war the happen,” He kept saying, his blank, azure eyes looking down on me. “That’s why they tried to keep you alive. Warned you. They wanted to overthrow my Majesty. They wanted to take a stale revenge once again. Chaos is the reason, chaos is what they want. Do you understand me?”

      I wanted to say something, and ask why he was doing this, or what he was talking about. But, obviously, I couldn’t. I had no idea what was happening, and what he was saying, except the fact that I’m going to die in a slow, burning death and never to be seen again. I thrashed, and my body fell on the marble where José and I were standing just a few minutes ago, talking casually with each other like he didn’t plan to watch me die. Then, in a snap, I felt my body go numb.

      “But this is not the way, Cain Roneve,” José continued like I can actually talk to him. (And believe me, if I did, he and all the Heavens and the Earth would be offended.) His voice sounded much more ancient, resonating around us, the trees, the wind carrying his words. “You shall not escape death once more.”

      I gasped one last time, tasting the air once more, and as I try to throw a hateful glare at José, my mind went blank, and my vision was taken by waves of red.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***