The Fallen, The Risen, and The Dead

Chapter 1 :Prologue

Throughout the world many stories are told, the story of the Land of the Dead, the Kingdom of the Risen, and the Curse of the Fallen. In a small town, the story of the royal demon family is well known. The story tells of an eldest brother of three poor siblings, who lived in the same area. The family was scorned and tossed to the streets. The younger two didnʻt mind, believing family was all they ever needed. However, the eldest brother had become so enraged with how the town treated his family that one day he made a deal with a rebellious risen. The rebel told the brother he could be give incredible power and he believed them. The eldest brother had been granted his power, but in turn became the first of the fallen. The Fallen One became paranoid and worried what his family would do to him now, so he killed his siblings. The risen watched from above and took pity upon the youngest sibling, a girl. She believed to the very end that her brother would never hurt her. For her faith, she was taken to the Kingdom of the Risen, she is known as The Believer . The younger brother descended to the earth where he rules the Land of the Dead. He watches from below and waits praying one day his family will one day be reunited. The town of Luctus was named after the young ruler, The Mourning King.

"Brother, that is one of the worst bedtime stories I have ever heard." I smirked at the 10 year old failing at attempt to look at him with scorn.

"Well, most of the townsfolk tell this story to keep rascal children," I ruffled his hair into a mess, "such as yourself out of trouble, but yeah it's a terrible story."

Nicholas laughed, swatting at my hand to keep me from covering his brown eye with more of the black mop he calls hair. It's so like him to laugh at a story of demons and dead siblings. Nicholas was always happy and never let anything get to him, even if kids made fun of his short height and even if he had to try and hide the fact that the children teased his elder brother who was a known drop out in town. Nicholas would smile.

"Maybe, if the story wasn't so gloomy it would be better." Nicholas suggested snuggling further into his blankets.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "And how does one make a story of demons and murders, not gloomy?"

The boy rubbed his chin as if he had to put real thought into it. I knew by the time I finished my question he probably had thought out five different answer, each with their own crazy reasoning behind them. Though the one present suprised me.

"I want to know more about The Fallen One." He stated, "I feel like no one really knows who he really is, the story doesn't say anything about him and so people misunderstand him... like you." I stared at Nicholas for a little thinking a response.

"People don't misunderstand me Nicholas, I dropped out of school, I did some bad stuff, I deserve everything they say."

"But Neil, you did all of it to protect me, to raise me, doesn't that mean anything?" I looked my straight in the eyes I hated it when he got like this.

"Of course it does and seeing you succeed is all the recognition I need, so get to bed," I kissed his forehead and tucked Nicholas in, "and get your rest, you have school tomorrow."

I closed the door to Nicholas' room and flopped onto the nearby couch. It creaked under my weight and the thrift shop throw pillows were lumpy, but I didn't care. I had a lot to think about, the usual result of conversation with Nicholas about myself. I had lied about the town's people's words not bothering me. In fact, it shook me to the core. If the people wanted to scorn me, I wished they would do it to just me. I'd do anything for my brother, no matter how many hours I have to work, how many stares I had to take, I'd make sure Nicholas was happy. I remember the first time I was forced to leave school, I spent my first night away from home, pickpocket some townsfolk to get money, then trashed a nearby park bathroom out of guilt. When I got home Nicholas was on the couch sleeping with a first-aid kit in hand. I never left him alone at night after that and always tucked him into bed. Now people know me as the dropout and Nicholas as his brother. If I could change anything about our life, I only would have wished people treated my brother with kindness... and that our house had a softer couch.

The next morning, as I prepared myself for a 9 hour shift at the local park with a cup of coffee, I couldn't put the last night's thoughts from my mind. Despite my claims of not wishing for change, the sleepless night cause me to rethink. I wished for many things in this world to change, but I couldn't let that change the way I acted. Nicholas' happiness was all that mattered to me and if thoughts of regret conflicted with that, they could not exist. The coffee was bland and thus started another day.

I was pretty lucky to have this job, not many people in Luctus wanted to hire a high school dropout with a record. A couple of weeks after I left Nicholas alone, I got caught by trying to rob a newspaper machine and the local sheriff came. He listen to my story and told me that what I was doing was wrong, but he believed in me. He offered me a job to help keep food on the table and to keep Nicholas in school. The sheriff is a good man, one of the few in this town.

Work was the same as always, clean the bathrooms, empty the trash cans, pick gum off the benches. Then, get yelled out by local mothers who believed I was getting too close to their children. At this point I learned to stay away from the visitor, so I'm not sure why I didn't this time. I was raking the fallen leaves when I noticed them, there was four of them, three older boys that I knew from "street time" and a younger one, maybe 13 years old. The older boys, were pushing the other around, calling him names and raising fist. I walked up to them.

"Come on guys, I just raked over here." I started trying to get their attention. The three boys turned to me.

"Well look who it is, Janitor Neil!" James, short for his age, but he definitely made up for it in muscle and tattoo ink.

"Maybe he can take this trash out for us when we're done with it, hehe." Mark, the idiot of the group I guess, they mostly kept him around for jokes.

"I don't guys, Neil doesn't look like he's gonna cause trouble." Louis, the voice of the trio said, "Neither do we, just want some extra cash, and as long as we get it no trouble. You know how it is, right Neil?" He smirked at me. The boy behind the trio pleaded with his eyes and I could see he was scared and worried. I didn't care.

"I have to rake leafs." I turned to go with the sounds of laughter in the background. Suddenly the laughter was replaced with grunting and loud crashes. I should have kept walking, but a whisper in the winds forced me to look back. I turned toward the noise and found a small boy cradled in a ball and rocks next to each of the three offenders heads as if they had been thrown. James woke up first.

"Son of a bitch! Mark! Louis! You ok?" He turned to me. "We're gonna get you for this! Watch your back Neil!" The hot head proceeded to drag his friend back to their car and drive away. The young boy raised his head to me.

"Thank you, sir." I pushed him away.

"I got work to do." I ignored everything that happened that day from ominous winds to threats of revenge. I didn't do anything and they had no proof. I had nothing to worry about. 

What a fool I was.