Godforsaken: Book 1 (Shade of Light)

Godforsaken Book 2

Passion of an Angel (Short Story)

Wrath of Michael (Short Story)

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Text copyright © 2015 Suren Hakobyan

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Suren Hakobyan

Before the sun appeared, darkness reigned
absolute. Standing amidst the noiseless emptiness, it had been easy
for Lily to hear her breathing and her heart hammering. Then, she
had been full of fear, aghast at the thought she would stay in the
blackness forever, never even knowing how she had ended up there.
But in that moment the first rays of sun began to approach her,
softly and carefully, their slight presence forcing the darkness to
break apart.

Lily looked on in wonder as a glade
illuminated by the magical sunlight came into her view. It
stretched on as far as her eyes could see. The chilly morning wind
picked up, throwing the fresh smell of ruffling grass into her
face, and Lily couldn’t help but savor the scent, inhaling a
lungful of clean morning air. She closed her eyes, relishing it,
and for a moment she forgot all of her worries about her
whereabouts.

When Lily opened her eyes anew, the air was
filled with leaves – white ones, dancing on the new morning breeze.
Where they could have come from she found herself unable to say, as
they had no matches among the leaves of the trees around her. The
leaves, strange as they were, hovered in the air irregularly for
awhile, and then swept toward her as if compelled, enveloping Lily
in their breezy embrace. Tentatively, as if afraid to break the
spell, Lily raised her hand to catch one. No force of hers was
necessary, as one of the white miracles, as if sensing her
intentions, lowered itself onto her hand with an impossible grace,
settling there almost affectionately.

Lily couldn't bring herself to close her
palm and capture the leaf properly. She was content enough to just
look at it for a moment, before setting it free into the air once
again. Lily's eyes darted around the glade, peering into the
distance to look at the place where the earth and sky met in a hazy
line. She wondered how such an incredible place could possibly
exist somewhere on earth, and the thought locked her in place for
several minutes, leaving her afraid to even stir.

Behind her lay the endless desert, and
beneath her bare feet the ground was solid and dead. Before her
stood the glade in all its beauty. But Lily herself was standing at
the line separating the two places, one full of life, and one
unwelcomingly empty.

Finally, gathering her thoughts, Lily lifted
her foot from the hard, bare ground and took a careful step
forward, into the glade. As her foot touched the soft and wet grass
a strange feeling possessed her–a new kind of happiness, as though
the glade itself was alive and had passed its own joy onto her. A
sudden gust of wind ruffled her blonde hair back from her face,
tossing it away from her bright blue eyes.

“Go on, my princess.” A man’s voice cut
through the stillness of the dawn and diverted her attention.

Lily jerked around, startled, her stomach
turned watery as the unexpected voice washed over her. In the
desert behind her stood a tall, handsome man, his long black hair
sweeping over his equally black eyes. He wore a snow-white tuxedo,
his left hand thrust into the pocket of his trousers, and he was
gazing at Lily with a wide and gentle smile on his perfect face.
Lily could only stand in astonishment as she wondered where the man
had appeared from. She knew for certain that he hadn't been there a
moment ago – it was as though he had materialized out of the air
itself, carried to her by the wind just as the white leaves had
been.

“Don’t hesitate, my love,” the man went on,
his voice soft. “Our kingdom awaits us. Just you and me.”

The man walked up beside her, and Lily was
unable to stop the dreamy expression she could feel creeping over
her face. There was something magical about this man and his
impossible charm, something that drew her to him automatically. Her
hand moved from her side of its own accord, drawn to the man like a
magnet. The man took her hand in his and Lily gasped involuntarily,
a wave of desire washing over her. The mere touch of a hand wasn't
enough – Lily was ready to throw herself into his arms then and
there. It took all the self-control she had to maintain her
composure.

All Lily could do was stare into his eyes as
the wind danced around them both.

While Lily looked at him, the man looked
ahead, and soon enough Lily found herself following his gaze. The
glade had disappeared, and in its place stood a beautiful garden.
If the glade had been incredible, the garden was ethereal: full of
high trees and snow-white flowers, parted by a narrow stream filled
with shining water. Birdsong echoed through the air, breaking
Lily's reverie. She could smell morning dew in the air.

The garden was separated from Lily and the
man by a golden gate, its intricacies sparkling under the morning
sun.

“Welcome to our kingdom, my love,” the man
whispered. “Welcome home.”

Lily had never heard a voice like his in her
dreams before – had never heard a voice like his anywhere at all.
He sounded confident, and his words rang out with strength, but
there was a vulnerability to them as well, like a secret shared
between them.

Lily herself had no words of any kind to
respond with. It wasn't for lack of trying, either – she had even
opened her mouth in preparation, but she found herself with nothing
at all to say. She didn't even know who the man was, just that he
was holding her hand, but she found her eyes drawn inexorably to
his mouth, longing for the taste of him. Instead, she bit her lip,
and brushed a lock of her long hair behind her ear.

The man glanced at the gates. “Fear not, my
love. I am with you. The keeper will open the gate soon enough. He
can't stand in my way any longer.”

He trailed off and Lily peered ahead. Two
green eyes hung in midair, behind the golden gate. She could see no
face, nor flesh of any kind, just two shining eyes, like that of a
man. She couldn't see their owner...

Lily narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing, and
blinked hard, only to be greeted by her bedroom ceiling. She gasped
aloud in shock, chest heaving, as she realized that she had forced
herself awake and out of the dream. Memories flooded back to her,
but all she could do was lie back and wonder.

Who was the man of her dreams?
Now
Lily remembered – she had seen him before. Every once in a while he
appeared, weaving his way into her dreams. She had never seen his
face so clearly before, but she was certain of it – the same
mysterious man had visited her in other dreams, making himself
memorable by his long dark hair.

Still pondering, Lily slid out from under
the covers and looked over to the vase on the windowsill. She felt
the dull ache of disappointment in her chest as she realized that
the handsome man and the garden were just dreams, figments of her
imagination. Lily closed her eyes and saw the ghostly image of the
dream man behind her eyelids, her heart skipping a beat as she
remembered the thrill of his touch. Even now, it all seemed just as
real as the flowers by the window.

She opened her eyes and cast her gaze to the
picture on the table by the bed. The photo was of two people in a
park, a tall, blue-eyed man embracing a blonde woman. Both wore the
same expression of lovesick happiness. Lily herself resembled both
of her parents equally. “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad,” she whispered to the
photo, smiling slightly before getting up and bolting to the
bathroom.

Still thinking about the dream, it took
Lily's roommate's interrupting knock to fully shake her out of
it.

“Lily,” said an exasperated voice, “hurry
up. I need the bathroom too, you know.”

“Coming, Nancy,” Lily replied in
disappointment, her voice muffled by the sound of running
water.

Lily and Nancy had been living together for
a year now. Lily herself preferred living in solitude, but her aunt
had insisted on Lily having a roommate. It wasn't out of a
financial need but out of a social one – Lily's aunt had been
worried about how Lily was avoiding other people. Once, her aunt
had even spirited an eligible boy out of nowhere and demanded Lily
go out on a date with him.

“Auntie, I love you dearly,” Lily had said
to that, “but that's just too personal. You have no right to put
your nose in that kind of business.”

Now, Lily didn't complain about Nancy's
presence much. Maybe she had at first, but as time went on they had
almost become friends. They couldn't have been more different from
each other: Nancy liked parties and dancing and going out on the
town, but she was also good company, and Lily could talk to her for
hours. Lily had never had a friend as close as Nancy before.

Lily wrapped a towel around herself and came
out of the bathroom, her wet hair plastered to her face and
shoulders. Nancy, her brown eyes judgmental, was standing by the
door and staring at her, her arms folded across her chest. Lily
knew that look – Nancy wore it every time Lily spent too long in
the bathroom.

“What do you do in there, take a nap?” Nancy
said indignantly.

“Please, Nancy, I'm in a good mood today.
Don't ruin it,” Lily shot back at her, making her way back to her
bedroom.

“So what did you dream about?” Nancy's lips
curled into a grin.

“I never said I had a dream,” Lily said.

“Well, what else would make you happy this
early in the morning? It can't be the thought of going out with a
guy, since you're always locked up in this apartment with your
books. A dream is the only possibility.”

“He was dressed all in white,” Lily said,
the words slipping out despite herself. “He was so handsome-”

“And you fell in love with him at first
sight, didn't you?” Nancy said, her voice teasing.

“Something like that.” Lily shrugged off a
slight smile.

“You and your dream boys. Why am I not
surprised?” She grinned again, sharply, and turned, shutting the
door to Lily's bedroom behind her.

Of course it seemed silly, when she said it
out loud. But even now, Lily couldn't help but linger on the memory
of that dream, where she had been a princess at the gate of a
garden, holding the hand of the most beautiful man she had ever
seen.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Lily went to the kitchen
to make breakfast. After slotting bread into the toaster and
setting it, she opened the refrigerator. Taking out a small cake,
she turned around and rummaged in the cupboard for candles before
adding them to the cake as well.