See How She Awakens (21 page)

“You will find no refuge in the heavens. Go and greet your darkness,” Aberto spat before fading from the room once more. 

Eric’s soul wavered next to his body, the earth slowly fading from existence beneath his feet.  Hundreds of hands appeared, clawing their skeletal fingers into his legs. The sound of a thousand tormented souls screaming from below the only sound to be heard. “No, this can’t be. We did this for the Gods. NOOOOOO!” His final agonized scream echoed off of the walls and the floor closed, permanently erasing his existence.. 

Brutus rushed forward. Like with Francesca, I didn’t think.  My arm shot out to grab him by his throat.  He stood a good foot taller than me, but power pulsed within me.  The darkness stirred, reveling in the chaos.  Strength seemed to manifest itself where once there had been none. 

The flames that were once my skin began to change. Red flames began to move in time with blue.

“The darkness owns you,” Brutus spat in my face. 

I lifted my arm and tossed him across the room.  His body made a dull thud as it hit the wall before falling, broken, to the ground. 

When I glanced back down at my body, shock replaced the fury I’d felt seconds before. The flames no longer co-mingled, the red swirling with the blue. In the brief moments I’d spent reveling in my newfound strength, the flames had turned purple.  The implications of what that might mean were terrifying.  I sought the darkness inside of me, looking for it to be coiled deep within. 

Where are you? I called out in my mind. There was no answer. 

Realization washed over me.  Somehow, the darkness had taken hold, only not in the way either of us ever thought it would.  Every ounce of the darkness that had pulsed within me had somehow merged with the rest of me. 

What did that make me?

What would I become?

Fear began to wash over me, snuffing out the flames completely. My body once more became flesh as the terrifying truth wrenched my heart in an icy grip.

Shock radiated through my body as I glanced down to where the icy pain originated. It wasn’t fear I’d felt taking hold. 

A sharp piece of metal jutted from my chest where I felt the icy grip moments before. A bloom of red wetness seeped through the white fabric, spreading outward from the metallic point. What was happening to me? I thought I couldn’t die? Disbelief warred with reality as the truth of what I was seeing finally registered in my mind.

“ABOMINATION!” Damali screeched from behind, shoving the blade further in. The sneaky bitch had stabbed me. She’d moved so fast, I hadn’t even see her.

The weight of her was ripped from my back as the souls of the ten began to pop into existence throughout the room.  My vision blurred as the last of them appeared. 

Weakness filled my limbs, my mind still struggling to catch up as I fell to the ground, no more than a crumpled rag doll. 

I wasn’t supposed to die.

This wasn’t supposed to be my end.

“Izzy, NO!” Aberto rushed forward, lifting me into a cradle against his body. “No. No,” he breathed, over and over again, as tears streaked down his cheeks.

I wanted to comfort him, to tell him it was all right. I’d died saving the world. There was no better end to my story.

“Do not leave me here alone,” Aberto pleaded.

Slowly, I lifted my hand to his face as he had mine countless times before. My vision faded as I told him the words I hadn’t fully admitted to myself, “I do love you.”

Blackness began to consume my vision until all I saw was a vast empty plane. In the distance I heard shouting.

Damali was dying. It was over. Molly would be safe now.

Death wasn
’
t what I expected it to be.  I thought there would be lights, or some sort of vast cloud opening.  Instead, there was nothing but the inky black.  No light.

I supposed the fact there were no flames was a good sign. I could
’
ve ended up really becoming the darkness. I was cool with avoiding a tea party with the devil. I wasn
’
t even sure what one might wear to such an event.

The never-ending expanse of black prevented me from seeing anything. Not even my hand in front of my eyes. Maybe I didn
’
t have a hand anymore?

There was no point in walking, or moving for that matter. I couldn
’
t see what was ahead or behind me. My luck, wherever I was, I was perched upon a cliff, and the first step I took would be straight over the edge. Lowering myself down to the ground, my thoughts began to wander.

It was surprising that the darkness wasn
’
t cold. I
’
ve always thought of the dark as being a terrifyingly cold place. Strange that not being able to see out, or around me, wasn
’
t causing me to panic. Usually enclosed spaces did. Weird.

On and on my thoughts tumbled. Nonsense playing out in my mind, unable to focus on any one thing for more than a breath. Every time I tried to think of how I
’
d gotten here, my mind would turn to something else. 

Each time I began to feel anything of any real import, my mind would drift away to another thought, erasing the previous notion completely.  My mind tumbled endlessly from one place to the next, never resting. 

A blinding light burst into life on the horizon, breaking the relentless thoughts. It grew larger, as though it moved toward me. Illuminating the void as it went. There was truly nothing here. Nothing but the inky black. The light came to rest a hair
’
s breadth from where I stood. 

Standing in the center of the light was a familiar face. I knew this creature. Uriel looked down upon me, disgust and irritation warring for dominance in his eyes.

“
Come to take me home?
”
I laughed. Being in the dark for so long must
’
ve gotten to me. How long had I been here? Has it been days, seconds? Maybe I
’
ve been here for years.  Did it matter?

“
You are a quandary. Heaven will not accept you for the darkness within, and hell rejects you for your light. Thus, I
’
ve been sent to usher you back to the only place in which you can exist.
”
Uriel seemed completely put out by the whole thing.

He acted as though he were the one hearing that he couldn
’
t die because there was no place for his soul. What did that even mean? And seriously, he was sent to get me? Who sent him?

“
Are you saying I am going to be immortal? I mean, I wasn
’
t sure if I could die or not before, and this place doesn
’
t really feel like death, but still. Eternity on earth?
”
Anxiety welled up within me. I
’
d known when Aberto had changed me there was a price to pay. I knew I would be harder to kill than most, well supposedly. All Damali had to do was thrust a knife through my heart. That seemed to do the trick just fine.

“
You will exist where there is a place for you.
”
Uriel replied before thrusting a hand into my soul.  His light grew infinitely as it expanded within me. 

The void flew past, twirling around me as I was thrust back into my body. 

I shot up from the slab upon which I was laid. I could feel the cold of the stone sinking into my skin. Looking down, I saw I’d been dressed in a deep green gown.  Carved all around the stone were symbols.  Some for safe passage, others of love, on and on they went.  Swinging my legs over the side of the table I sat, dumbfounded for a moment. 

Where was I?

Who had put me in this ridiculous dress?

More importantly, what in the hell had happened at the Council?

“Hello?” I tried to shout, but my throat felt raw. 

When no one came forth, I tried to lower myself off of the table. The icy floor met my feet as I struggled to stand. I didn’t feel right. What had happened to me?

“AAAAAAAH!” A shocked cry came from behind me. I turned to find the Seer, Cristie, standing with a very shaky candle in her hands.

“Can you tell me what in the heck is going on?” I pushed through the pain in my throat. I wanted some answers.

“Um, um. Hold on,” she mumbled, as she whirled and ran, almost dropping the candle in her haste to exit the room.

My legs felt like wet noodles as I attempted to stand, so I gave up and sat down on the floor next to the stone upon which I’d been laid.  All around the room candles danced, their flames casting eerie shadows as they moved. 

Memories came clicking back into place. The darkness, the fight, then the inky void, every thought ending with Uriel.  What had he said? 

“Izzy?” Aberto appeared in front of me, looking at me warily, as if I were a ghost.

“Why does everyone keep looking at me like that?” Irritation filled my voice.

“You were gone.” Aberto said, falling to his knees in front of me. Relief washing over him as he looked me over, searching for anything that might be wrong.

“What do you mean I was gone?” Confusion washed away as a blinding light exploded in my mind.  Memories flooded back in.  The Council.  The purple flames.  Damali and the knife all came rushing back.  How had I forgotten being stabbed by that psycho?

My hand lifted to my chest. There was no gaping wound where she’d stabbed me. Quickly, my other hand shot towards my back, trying to feel for the spot where I’d been impaled, but there was nothing.

“Holy crap, that psycho killed me. Please tell me you destroyed her?” Aberto looked at me strangely.  “What? I’m not dead, you can stop looking at me like that.”