Chapter 1
Another night; another dream. This one seemed so much more vivid from the last. With each new night, each new dream, my story unfolds within itself. Every dream adds a part of the story; my story. It was this story that has transformed me into what I am today; the only thing is, I don’t understand any of it.
I’m terrified to sleep at night; I absolutely regret it. I try and stay awake as best I can; but hey, a guy needs his sleep, doesn’t he?
For some reason, every single time, every single fucking time, this dream scares the shit out of me. Everything seems so real; so twisted; and yet, here I am, doing nothing to figure out what it all means. You think I would actually care anyways? Probably not. It really depends on when I figure it all out.
I am a part of this world now. You would think I would be used to it by now. I’ll tell you one thing though. I’m not. How can a guy be used to something he doesn’t understand? He can’t. If he can, then there is something seriously wrong with him. Especially if he thinks growing a pair of black angel wings is something not out of the ordinary.
Now I ask you just one question. This question is just a simple question, but it could be a question of life or death, but it is still a question nonetheless.
What is there to be afraid of?
You know, I will tell you what there is to be afraid of: A whole hell of a lot in this world.
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The rural, old village is left silent. People all around me are running for their lives. What are they running from? I try and call out to them except no answers can be heard. It’s not like they are paying attention, anyways.
The whole scene is like watching everything in slow motion. I can see them screaming, and looking up to the sky, running from whatever is in it. Yet, there is no sound coming from their mouths, no sound from their frantic feet hitting the ground, no sound from me. The only sounds I can hear are those of the dreaded wings from all around me.
What is there to be afraid of?
I look up to the sky, finding nothing but blackness; black as black will ever be. The only lights around are those of the single torches lit by fire. Each one spread out every few feet on the dirt path running through the village. I see a little girl curled up, crying under what was once a market produce stand. Now it is left in ruins, burned to the solid core.
What is there to be afraid of?
She looks to be maybe three or four. Her long, blonde hair was now a dirty, tangled mess. She is scared and looks so helpless. I go up to her and wrap my arms around her little body, picking her up and carrying her along the path. I can feel her shaking. Where I was going, I didn't know. I just keep walking, thinking, hoping, that eventually I will make it out of this place.
The beating of wings seems to be getting closer. The girl buries herself into my chest, trying to shield out the outside world. I don’t blame her. I would have done the same thing if I was in her place.
What is there to be afraid of?
My pace slowly speeds up to a jog, then a full out run. I still carry the girl tightly in my arms. I have to get her to safety as fast as I possibly can. Only one question remains in my mind throughout all of this.
What is there to be afraid of?
What was there to be afraid of? I don’t know. There is an instinct to run. My legs have control of themselves. Every single person here is running. But from who? From what? There is nothing to be afraid of; at least, nothing that could be seen.
I still couldn’t quite make out any of the other sounds. How could I only hear the beating of wings, but nothing else? It doesn’t make any sense to me. I quickly turn around and stop. The girl is still with me. I look down at her and she looks back up at me. I feel like I know her from somewhere; only from another time, another place, another world.
What is there to be afraid of?
I close my eyes and stand still. A weight is taken off of me and I realize the girl has vanished; nowhere to be seen. I open them and find I am now standing in a field. There is a light surrounding me on all sides far off in the distance. I have to get out of here. I run until I find that the light that I have been seeing is fire. I run in the opposite direction and find myself against even more fire. It is closing in on me. There’s only a small area left to go before the whole field will be burnt to nothingness.
What is there to be afraid of?
I look up to the sky. There is still nothing there. It is pitch black; no stars, no clouds, nothing. Wait, what was that? The wind picks up and I realize it isn’t just the wind; it’s the wind from that of wings. I can hear them approaching closer and closer. Silent whispers fill the air. They are saying something. I catch five words out of the millions said… ‘Aiden, Aiden come with us’.
What is there to be afraid of?
My head is throbbing from the thousands of voices crushing my skull. It’s like they are inside of my own head, talking to me. No, not to me; at me. I fall to the ground, my head in between my knees. Who are they? What are they? What do they want from me?
What is there to be afraid of?
To add to all the pain in my head, my back starts to feel like it’s being cut open by daggers. I look behind me to now see a pair of feathered wings sprouting out. You would think they were angel wings; I’ve already had those. I have fallen down to this Earth before. These wings are black; black as the night surrounding me. My wrist starts to burn just as my back had done. I look to see a scar in that place proving that I am one of them now. This scar exactly matching my wings I have now earned on my back.
What is there to be afraid of?
'Come, Aiden, come with us. They don’t trust you anymore. You have no choice but to come with us. You have your wings now. It’s time to go. They don’t want you anymore. We want you, Aiden. Please, come with us. You will love it, where we are from.’
'No, I won’t go with you. It’s not my choice that I fell. I had to. I’m not going with you. Nothing says that I have to go.’
‘We say you have to come. Come to us, Aiden. Be with us.’
I can hear the wings beating closer; that’s when I saw them. They are about maybe ten feet away from me; circling my head, descending. They are the Fallen Angels. All of them that exist are now encircling me, telling me to come with them. I couldn’t go.
What is there to be afraid of?
Everything. Everything in this world is terrifying. You should be afraid of everything.
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Hmm, Fallen Angels. The definition: an angel who rebelled against God and was cast out of Heaven. That wasn’t the case for me. I wasn’t kicked out of Heaven, but sent out of Heaven to protect your world. At least, that’s what they told me before I left. The others have told me it was because I couldn’t be trusted anymore. The truth… I will never know.
There will be a war between the Angels and Fallen soon. When? Where? I don’t know. They choose; I don’t have anything to do with the decisions around here. I have no control over any of this. I have no control over protecting your world. I have no control of becoming a Fallen. I had no control then; I still have no control now.
New York, New York
“Aiden! Aiden, wake up! You’re going to be late.” There is a pounding on my door. My foster father is yelling at me to get up.
I turn over in my bed to look at the clock. 7:15. Shit! I was supposed to be awake at 6:00. School starts in less than twenty minutes. Crap! Shit! Crap!
I run downstairs and grab a piece of bread. I know; not the best breakfast in the world, but it will have to do for now. I grab my keys to my car off the counter and run out the door. My head is pounding. It feels like I have just slammed it against the wall a few million times. I don’t have time to take an aspirin for it, though. I guess I will have to deal with the pain for right now. I always seem to get headaches right after one of my dreams for some reason. I don’t know what it means, but I have a feeling it does mean something. It’s just one of those things I have yet to figure out.
I make it to school with a few seconds to spare before the final bell. When I say seconds, I mean seconds. I walk in the front door with the bell ringing. I run to my locker, drop my bag, grab my books for the first few periods, and put the lock back on my locker, locking it.
“Aiden?” I turn around and find Samantha Evans standing there with a look in her eyes that could kill.
“Oh, hey Sam. What are you doing out here?”
“I should be asking you the same question.”
“I was late because of another one of my crazy dreams.”
“You sure have those a lot, Aiden boy. What’s wrong with you?”
“A lot. At least, a lot more than I can actually tell you.”
“Keeping secrets from me now, are we?”
“Not secrets. You will find out soon enough.”
“You think I have any clue what you mean by that?”
“Nope. That’s the point.”
I walk past her, heading off to my first class of the day. This ought to be interesting. I could tell already that this was not going to go so well. Bad starts equals a shitty day all around.
Wait! I can’t help but think Sam looks a whole hell of a lot like the little girl in my dream. Only Sam is sixteen and the girl had only been four at the oldest. How the hell is that possible? I knew I had known the little girl from somewhere before. Only, I still hadn’t known for sure where I knew her from. Sure, she looks like Sam, but that doesn’t mean it was really her. I have to figure this shit out!
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The last bell of the day rings. I walk out of the door, to my car, and drive home. Another day, gone and over with. Now just to survive the night that awaits me.
I lock myself in my room, waiting for the night to fall. I don’t do homework, so I just wait.
Aiden… It’s time for you to come.
Whoa! What the hell was that? I swear that voice came out of nowhere.
At first, I think that maybe I have fallen asleep and not noticed it. Then I realize that voice was all too real to be a dream and it is coming from deep within my head. It is one of those many voices from my dreams; not just that one from last night, but from all of them. Every single one of my dreams had had that voice somewhere in it. I can easily pick it out from all the others; don’t ask why, I just can. It means something to me. It’s familiar to me in a way only one person can understand. I don’t even want to explain it.
Come on, Aiden, You have to come with us. It’s now or never.