Chapter 2: Foreboding Sleep
Chapter I
Foreboding Sleep.
Heaven and Hell. It is said that Heaven is a forever lasting paradise; Hell, a place of torture, fear and pain. Well, I, Titanis, beg to differ. My experiences of Heaven and Hell were all too different...
To understand the setting, the prologue of our story takes place four eons ago, when Heaven and Hell were on the brink of all out war. God had sent his son Lucifer to rule Hell and enact great punishment to those who deserved it.
Lucifer had seen this as a cruel punishment; a horrible and unjust one at that. As time crept on, Lucifer was met with other fallen angels who were almost pure embodiments of each of the seven sins, these sins were those God deemed most sinister.
Lucifer slowly grew his demonic army to the point where he could attack Heaven. Hence the war began, but it was said that an angel child would be born and end the conflict once and for all.
As many years passed every angel parent had to surrender their child to God so they could be trained and ready if any were to be the child that had been prophesied, but after four long eons God gave up on trying to find this prophesied child. This child would end up born with no experience or knowledge.
Fortunately for me, I am that chosen one. I am Titanis Angelus. My height is six-foot eight, I'm fit and very skinny around my stomach area, so skinny that my hips protrude out, but I wear baggy deep blue sweat pants to try and hide it.
I have pie-cut eyes and three large, jagged golden spikes on both sides of my head.
Every angel is judged by the look of their eyes and wings. Each angel has different types of eyes, some are big, some change color, some are small, and some are narrow.
I was never taken seriously because of my two pie-cut eyes, everyone says that it makes me look cartoony and stupid, well everyone except Gabe.
Every angel has skin the color of pure gold, a halo that glows bright with the light of god, and Wings with feathers that reflect our strength. The most dangerous angels have jet black wings; my wings, however, are a smoky gray. Nothing special, I still have much work to do until I can join the village guard.For years I've trained to fight demons and avenge my father.
You may be thinking, "Demons and angels can't be too different. They all bleed red." This is not the case. In Heaven we cannot banish angels to Hell unless their wings turn crimson, the feathers fall off, and they BEGIN to bleed red. Well, at least that's what I've been told.
A fall hasn't happened since the beginning of the war. You may also say, "Well you just said that demons bleed red! So what do you mean they don't both bleed red!?" Strangely us angels bleed black, though it has always left me wondering why…
Demons and angels cannot be killed by weapons of mortal origin, only by the divine blades of angels, and death touch dark weapons of Hell.
I live in a small village on the outskirts of the silver city. My village is a place of pure happiness; houses made of polished wood with straw roofs. Pathways made of elegant marble stone. I might've never been to any of the other villages or cities of Heaven, but hey, I'm glad to stick to my small happy village.
I am a blacksmith. I was trained by my father at age five before he tragically passed away fighting a demon. We never learned of the condition of the demon. So having lost my father at the age of seven, I wonder what my life would be like if my father had never died?
You see, my father was a strong man whose eyes would make you think otherwise. My father always looked as if he were crying. After his passing, my mother would tell me of the times they had together and how much they loved each other;however, no one knew much about his past, they say he just appeared in the village one day covered in scars and wearing a blindfold made of silk.
Shortly after my father passed, we moved into grandfather's house. It was hard for mother and me so, at the young age of thirteen, I took the role of the man of the house.
This meant I had to put my skills to work. Everyday I spent long hard hours along the scorching forge fires and hammer sparks to make the weapons and armor for the fine soldiers of Heaven.
My friend Gabe was destined to become an archangel, each day me and him would train together, spar together, but not long after his wings changed, he was accepted into the higher ranks. I lost my buddy to work. So, I spent my time working on maps, it was the only way I could've at least let him know I was alive.
Much like him, I ended up being engulfed by work but, after six long years I worked up enough to retire, the forge was one of my main sanctuaries. My forge master's name was Dominus malleator. He was a firm, unfriendly, war-worn old man who was no longer permitted to fight so he took up the role of the village blacksmith.
"Okay quittin' time! Titanis, you can head on home now."
"My retirement starts tomorrow, so just call me if you need any help. Are you sure You'll be fine alone?"
"Of course I will! I've been hammering metal, and heads, before you were even born." He looked at me with a look that told me I had deeply insulted him, "How dare you think I can't handle my own forge." He said in a jokingly, spiteful tone.
"Ok ok, I got it. Have a good night." I said while grabbing my stuff and leaving the forge. It's a thirty minute flight to my house from the forge. As I was flying home I could have sworn that through the corner of my eye I saw a pair of bright red eyes. I shook my head and just thought,
"No, I must be tired and seeing things. I better get home." When I finally arrived at my house, there was a beautiful ambrosia dinner on the table.
After eating, I fell asleep faster than a sloth in a heat wave.
As I slept I dreamt of being face to face with Satan! His blank, glowing, yellow eyes, sending a crushing fear down my spine. His crooked, jagged teeth, and massive crimson wings, looking at them caused me to gag.
Weirdly Instead of fighting ourselves the fight had already been fought. My scythe pierced his chest, his claws holding my black and gold heart in front of my face, bleeding an unmistakable deep crimson. With a smug, dying look on his face he said in a proud and menacingly, shaky voice:
"Welcome to death's door. I have come close to these gates before and my conscience is clear; Although you did what was right it will forever haunt you, even in death you can't escape your Actions!" There we were, dying, bleeding out on one another. As I bled violently out on the ground. I closed my eyes while a cold feeling covered my body…
Waking with a start; peering out my window, it startled me to see it was still black as ink outside, apart from the same pair of red eyes in my window. I blinked and in an instant the eyes were gone, calming back down, I tried to find sleep once more.
When morning came I woke up spooked and sleep deprived, nevertheless, I continued on with my daily exploration. I often make maps and journals of what I see and hear. I then sell them around town. I often did on my days off; alas I could never reach the edge there was always more to explore, more to see.
"Heaven is an endless expanse of wonders."
My main goal has always been to find the edge of Heaven; however, I was told time and time again that there was no edge. In all my years there has been only one angel who would believe me.
He is the one who told me stories of what the edge looked like, this man was none other than: My grandfather.
"Today will be different, I just know it! Today I will finally find what's at the edge of Heaven!" I said to myself, great enthusiasm and pride replacing the fear in my mind. Well, I was right about one thing: Today would be different, but not in the way I would've expected. For on that particular day, out in the distance, a group of Hellfire Scouts had begun their march towards my village through a portal of pure scorching hell-fire.
As I left the house to explore, I grabbed my satchel full of pens and paper.
I flew towards the village borders and continued flying until I was a good distance from the village. As I was walking, I saw a small group of demon scouts skulking around. I couldn't make out their faces from a distance, but I knew one thing for certain. They weren't there to make friends.
They were wearing armor made from angel bone and Hell-burdened steel. They wielded weapons made from their own flesh and bone infused with the dreadful death touch curse.
Some wielded swords, some wielded spears, but the most menacing ones were the Ravagers. Those deadly Ravagers who had nothing but their cursed, massive, blood stained claws. I stood there with a feeling of sheer terror. I had felt terror before, but I'd never felt fear of this magnitude before, the feeling coursed throughout my body; my heart began to race as I thought,
"Why me?" I thought to myself, knowing well what I had to do,"I gotta warn everybody! Sceam, shout! Do something!" I thought as the Scouts neared the walls. I took a deep breath and whispered my final goodbyes, then shouted,
"Guards! Hell-Scouts are nearing the village!." It didn't take long for me to realize, no one heard me but the scouts.
"So, this is how it feels when hope is lost, huh. I just wish I'd made a difference." I thought as the Hellfire scouts turned and faced me. I would've had the smallest chance if I had my scythe, but this was not the case. I was unarmed and face to face with death.
Just as a bloodstained Ravager lunged at me I heard nothing, not my breathing, not my heart beat, not the scouts. All I heard was the sound of faint mumbles. I turned my head towards the village just in time to hear the guards yell.
"Ready."
"Aim."
"Fire!"
As soon as those words were spoken a brilliant flash of light streaked across the sky, paired with the most graceful harp symphony, which was then followed by the most horrifying scream. All the scouts had disintegrated into nothing. Well, or so I thought. Five guards flew over to me to check if I was injured,
"Are you ok kid?"
"Thank God the guards heard me! Or I would have died." I thought hard for a moment to try and answer his question.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for saving me."
"You sure are brave, and stupid, for doing that, but still it isn't easy to be willing to sacrifice yourself like that. You saved Hundreds of lives today, I thank you. The high angel counsel will have to be informed of this unfortunate mishap. So head home kid, it's clearly not safe out here." He said in a menacing tone.
As I was walking away I heard one of the guards shout:
"Don't tell anyone of the events that took place today, we don't want to cause a panic."
"No problem, my lips are zipped."
"Thank you, I appreciate it!" Even though I was safe, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched.
I didn't get much distance between me and my village, so the flight was short and jumpy. When I finally arrived back home my mom (Clearly surprised to see me home so early.) asked me why I was home and not out there making maps.
Instead of telling the truth, I just said,
"I thought I'd come back and do something else for once.." Still shaken from this morning I decided that if I ever ran into any more of those monsters I would need to be able to defend myself.
I went to the training grounds to sharpen my fighting skills. My choice weapons are the shield and scythe. Many people find these weapons hard to master; I have a unique abilty that helps me: I can turn all my joints a full three-hundred sixty degrees in every direction.
I have almost peaked my skills, but I am nowhere near full strength. One day I'll find my full potential. It will force its way out when it has the need to, I have full faith in my body and mind.
As night neared I decided to head home. My mom has scolded me every time I've been late for dinner; I began to fly as fast as I could to reach home in time, the flight was boring and uneventful. When out of nowhere came a slash. Before I knew it my eye was gone and the socket bleeding wildly. The collision sent me rolling across the ground. The smooth marble dragged against my skin until I finally came to a stop. I couldn't feel anything but pure fear, no pain. Just FEAR.
It took little time for me to come back to consciousness; I quickly recovered and began to shout, "HELP!"
Before I knew it I was in the air being suspended by claws stabbing deep into my sholder blades and cracking the inside of my ribs, one of my lungs had been punctured. My face on the right side was torn into and almost gone.
I looked up and what I saw only deepened my terror. I began to recognize this particular beast, from his bright glowing eyes to his sharp crimson wings. "Satan?"
"Why…" I coughed "Why me?" Tears began to well up in my one surviving eye. "You have the wrong guy!" I coughed. In that moment I heard him speak,
"LUCIFER WANTS YOU DEAD PROPHESIED CHILD."
"YOU HAVE THE WRONG GUY" I threw up my blood and shouted "I'M JUST A NORMAL ANGEL!" After hearing myself, I couldn't tell what hurt worse: My soul, or my body.
"All will be clear soon enough, once we reach the arena of course." After hearing those haunting words, I passed out due to pure disbelief and blood loss.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone