--Chicago Suburb, Illinois, USA--
Sapphire walked down the street, holding her yellow umbrella against the rain. Her normal cheerful disposition was nowhere to be found. The study session had run late, and she wasn't looking forward to her 7AM molecular science class the next day. She had done her friend a favor by helping her study, but she knew she was going to regret her generosity in a few hours when she had to be up for school.
When Sapphire rounded the corner something unexpected caught her eyes. A man was laying in the street, unmoving. Had he not directly under the streetlight she would have missed him completely.
He was utterly naked and had long hair. For a moment Sapphire did little more than stand there, blinking, her brain trying to process what she was seeing. Then the realization sunk in and she ran over, kneeling down, oblivious to the fact her jeans became soaked.
He was passed out. She put down her umbrella, shielding him from some of the rain. Though the water had washed some of it away, he was bleeding from a nasty, jagged cut on his face. It ran from his eyebrow all the way down to his chin on the left side. It went over his eye, and she hoped he didn't have eye damage. Her hand shot out and when she touched him his eyes flew open.
Sapphire would have thought him to be albino if not for the fact he had jet black hair that looked as though it had never been brushed or cut. He was pale, sickly looking, and he blinked at her with a look of fear.
"Hey," she said gently. "You're okay. I'm not going to hurt you."
The emaciated man whimpered, recoiling from her touch. She cursed the cell phone in her pocket that needed to be charged. He appeared to be in dire need of medical attention.
"Look," she said, sliding an arm around his frail frame. "I can bring to you my apartment and call for help there. It's just right up the street. Can you walk?"
He looked at her, confused. His long fringe stuck to his forehead, and she brushed it aside. "Can you talk?" When he didn't answer, Sapphire took that as a 'no'. "Alright then, on three. One, two, three."
With some difficulty she got the lanky, unwieldy man to his feet. She stooped down to grab her umbrella and then continued on her way. Helping him along proved to be difficult; he was a good head taller than her and he kept stumbling everywhere. Sapphire was admittedly confounded; he was walking as though he were drunk, or maybe didn't even know how to walk at all.
By the time they reached her place his walking was thankfully a bit more steady. Sapphire opened the door and led him to the second floor where her apartment was. She led him in and sat him down at the kitchen table.
He was watching her with his large, strange red eyes. Now that he was in full light, Sapphire noticed just how pale he was. He almost looked translucent, as though he had never seen the light of day. His nails and toenails were long, apparently either never being cut or at least not trimmed for a very long time.
The wound on his face worried her—the more she looked at it, the more it reminded her of a claw mark. Without a word she rushed to the bathroom and grabbed two towels, draping one over his shoulders and using the other to squeeze out his sopping hair. When that was done she tossed it into his lap.
Sapphire rushed away again, banging closet doors and various drawers loudly as she frantically looked for a first aid kit. She finally found it under the sink in the bathroom and rushed back out. Taking a gauze pad to wipe away some of the blood, she spoke to him.
"Who did this to you?"
The man said nothing, simply blinked his red eyes.
"Do you have a name?"
Still nothing.
"Well, my name is Sapphire." She smiled a little. "That's not my real name--it's just a nickname from my childhood that stuck. I'm actually Stephanie." She paused. Still no response."You can call me Sapphire though, okay?"
When the man still didn't answer, she frowned in worry. Moving the black fringe that had fallen into his face again, she spoke soothingly. "You're safe now. Once I get you cleaned up a bit, I'll call the police and I'll get them to bring an ambulance, and—"
To her surprise, the man abruptly grabbed her wrist and squeezed it tightly. She froze, her blue eyes growing wide. The man spoke but it came out in a garbled, weird frog sound, unlike anything she had heard before. His face grew tight in concentration.
"Ribolot oolog poritak sorib—pluy nor it—yor pluh—please no it."
Sapphire didn't move. His look was serious and desperate. He shook his head, speaking in his strange voice.
"Bad. Qoog—good—no. No good. Would no good. It would no be good." He cleared his throat, seeming to concentrate even harder. "Outside humans. Kit—can't ablo—asso—be together? Associate?"
"Please let go of my wrist," Sapphire whispered.
"Sorry." He let go. "Sorry? Yes. Should speak not humans. I should not speak humans. Me? To?"
"Why?" Sapphire blinked.
"No gar—no human. Demon."
Sapphire's mouth went dry. "Excuse me?"
"Me," the man pointed to his chest, "Demon. Negative human." He cleared his throat again, looking frustrating, speaking very slowly and deliberately. "I am not human. Yes? Bell—Sell—no, Hell. It's where I come from, yes? Beneath you. Beneath toil, soil, boil? Uh—dirt? Everything."
Sapphire laughed nervously. "You're joking, right?"
"Sorry," he replied, shaking his head. "No. More speak the more it gxsy—more it will fee—be easier. Mind is going fast, filling with gurd—your language."
Sapphire got to her feet. "Look..I'm just...going to call the cops now—"
"No! No guard watchmen. Police. Cops." He sighed in frustration. "How to—how do I make you believe? Understand me?"
"Oh, I understand you just fine. You just, wait here—"
"Wait!" the man jumped up, the towel falling to the floor, making Sapphire blush a little even in spite of her fear. "Sapphire. Eyes me. Watch, mean!"
And just like that, the man began to shift. To Sapphire's great horror his skin darkened to black. His arm elongated while his legs grew shorter and stockier. His hair became one with his back, his skin growing jagged. With a horrific scratching sound, his skin burst open, gleaming black feathers sprouting out from his body. His eyes shrank, becoming beady, while his nose elongated and hardened. When the transformation was done, he was a freakishly large raven. Sapphire had covered her mouth with both hands to keep from screaming.
She told herself this was a dream—it had to be a dream. She had gotten home and fallen asleep. She had never found a strange, naked, bleeding man in the street, she had never taken him home, and he had never changed into a raven the size of a pony in her kitchen. She pinched her cheek hard, and yelped.
The same sick transformation started up again and within moments the man was standing before her once again. He looked perplexed. "Why hurt you?" He cleared his throat. "Excuse me—why did you hurt...yourself?"
Sapphire laughed nervously, feeling faint. She stumbled to a chair, sinking into it. She was looking at the man, but not really. "I thought...I was dreaming. Guess not."
"Big mistake," the man said, sitting across from her and folding her hands. "I—made—big mistake. I'm sorry."
Sapphire, who felt strangely calm, looked at him and ran a hand through her green dyed hair. "What kind of mistake could you have made, Raven?"
"Raven?" The man then smiled. "Ah yes, raven. The bird, yes?" Then, as quickly as the smile came it went away, and he brought a trembling hand to his mouth. "Mistake...Severe mistake. Angered The Master."
To Sapphire's horror, Raven began to cry. He shook his head, and she could barely make out what he was saying.
"I caused...an uproar. A fight. A—revolt. Riot. Fighting, much fighting. I didn't mean to—I was mindless thing back then. He gave me, Master gave me, a soul, and sent me to Earth, telling me what he was going to do, His plans, his horrible, nasty plans—"
Raven sank to his knees, crawling over to Sapphire. He took her hands into his own, staring up at her with huge doe eyes. Her breath caught.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. To you—to everyone. He's going to hurt, and maim, and destroy—"
"Raven," Sapphire interrupted him. "Who? Who is your Master? Who is going to hurt and destroy?"
For a moment Raven looked thoughtful. Then he opened his mouth, releasing a sound unlike one she had ever heard. It wasn't human, sounding cross between a goat, a turkey, and a lion's roar. It was loud, too, and she cringed, hoping he hadn't just awoken the entire building complex with the squawk. Raven looked at her, tilting his tear-streaked face to the side. "That is what we call Him. I don't know his actual name. Or, rather, that is his actual name, what we call Him."
A disquiet settled within Sapphire's skin, burrowing deep within her bones. "Can you describe him? It seems like the more you talk, the better you become at it. Maybe something will come to you?"
Raven was at a loss at first. Then he began to speak. "Large. Vast wings. Of death. Angel of despair, but originally of light. He's our ruler. He created us, all of us." Raven snapped his fingers, the proper name coming to him. "Satan. Yes?"
Sapphire jumped to her feet, full blown panic seizing her. She tugged at her hair, walking circles around her small kitchen. "Satan? Like, for real, Satan?" She moaned. "Oh, my God—"
Raven got to his feet, shaking his head. "No God. God cannot help now. Satan has started Armageddon early—"
Sapphire spun around, nearly knocking into the naked Raven, not knowing he had begun to aimlessly follow her around her kitchen. "Did you say Armageddon?"
"Yes—the End of Times. Is that not the word?"
Sapphire grabbed Raven by the shoulders, hard. He winced but continued speaking. "That's my punishment. He gave me a soul, made me understand that I was the cause of him jumping ahead the Time Line with the Plan, and sent me to Earth to watch as he slowly rips the world apart by its seams."
Raven wrung his hands, looking as though he might burst into fresh tears. "It is my knowledge that I will be the cause of everyone's sorrow, everyone's pain, everyone's death..."
Sapphire paled, shrieking, not caring who she woke up. It wasn't every day a real life demon came into her life and told her Armageddon was impending. She shook Raven, hard. "We have to do something!"
"Do?" Raven asked. "What is this 'do' you speak of? He already has the Focal Point of Being. It's begun."