Everything hurt. I ached all over and I couldn’t see. Everything was just blindingly white. I heard a sound beside me and tried looking. The brightness hurt my eyes, but I could barely make out Annie’s form beside me. She was slumped over my arm. I could feel her breathing, and was happy that she was alive, at least.
I was going to prod her and wake her up, when I became aware of another presence. It was overwhelming. The power emanating from it was unbelievable. The brightness was all from that presence. It dimmed slightly, and I could make out an outline of a person. Tall, much taller than me. Probably closer to nine feet tall.
They - and it was so androgynous there was no doubt it was a they - were standing a couple of meters from me, at the spot where my table used to be. Bits and pieces of the book lie everywhere around the room. The ceiling and walls that were nearest the person were scorched black and a smell of fire was in the air - not the smoking, sulfurous and toxic fire of Hell, but the purifying flames of Heaven.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, DEMON?," the person boomed with an impossibly loud voice. My ears hurt and the inside of my head rang from the voice. I had heard a similarly powerful voice in the past, of course. The Flamelords used to punish slackers. The bare memory of it made me shudder. So this was the Heavens equivalent of Flamelords. Archangels.
Considering the flaming appearance and the terrifying presence, there was preciously little difference between them. They pulled an impossibly large, flaming sword out of the scabbard at their side and point it at me. The Great Sword.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR ALL ETERNITY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE," Thymiel thundered. I scuttled backwards from Annie and tried to rise up. My legs were all wobbly, but I managed.
"YOU HAVE DIRTIED THE SACRIFICE AND MADE VOID THE PROPHECY," Thymiel continued. Sacrifice? THAT was what they thought of Annie? SACRIFICE?! I felt my hands clench into fists and my eyes burn bright. My wings - what little there were of them - flapped open and I stepped, legs spread slightly apart, between them and Annie.
"Sacrifice?! Is that all you think of her? Sacrifice? You overgrown piece of white dung! She is so much more than that, she’s her own person! I know about your plans to use her for your selfish needs. You tricked her, you lied to her, you were going to rape her for hell’s sake!," I shouted at them.
I was so angry. They raised their sword above and I stepped forward, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. A blindingly bright light was coming behind me, blinding enough to make Thymiel shield their eyes with their sword.
"Tessie... Let me. I know now what I'm supposed to do. I know now why I am here and what my part is in all of this," Annie said to me with a coincident vice.
"Stop this, Thymiel," Annie said in a deadly calm and quiet voice as she stepped in front of me. Her wings reached every wall, ceiling and floor in the room. They were so pretty. I love Annie’s wings, even if she herself didn’t. I’d never seen anything so beautiful before. But now they were even more so. The shimmered and glowed like trails in the night sky. "I will not let you touch Tessie," she said.
"TESSIE?!," Thymiel roared. "TESSIE?! YOU HAVE GIVEN THE DEMON A NAME? MIGHT IT BE THAT SHE IS NOT ALONE TO BLAME FOR THIS TRANSGRESSION? YOU ARE BOTH JOINED IN CARNAL ACTIVITIES UNFITTING FOR ANGELS. YOU HAVE BEEN MADE DIRTY AND YOUR SOUL MUST BE CLEANSED IN THE HOLY FIRES. I WILL SMITE THE DEMON FIRST, THEN RETURN YOU TO THE SOURCE. IN TIME WE WILL TRY AGAIN. THIS DOES NOT END HERE, LITTLE REBEL."
Annie stepped in front of the massive Archangel. Seemingly out of thin air, she pulled a sword. It was not massive and clunky like the Archangel's War Sword. It was a thin, delicate blade, made out of almost transparent white metal-like substance. Unlike the War Sword's orange fire, thin and wispy brilliant white flames kissed the elegant blade. She held it at her side.
"I know my place now, Thymiel," she said. "I know now what I'm supposed to do. And that is to stop you and your kind from destroying the world," she said and moved the blade smoothly in front of hey legs.
"MY KIND?," Thymiel boomed. "YOU ARE AS MUCH AN ANGEL LIKE ME, AS MUCH AS YOU WOULD LIKE TO DENY IT. YOU HAVE JUST BEEN MADE UNCLEAN BY THE TOUCH OF VERMIN."
Annie smiled mischievously. "No, Thymiel," she said. "Not anymore" As she said that, tiny white horns grew out of her head and a thin silvery tail snaked down her leg. Thymiel gasped loudly and stepped backward. Their expression changed into one of horrifying realization. Annie put a hand on her belly.
"I have been touched by divine forces, just like the prophecy told. And now a seed of the new world grows in me." She glanced at me and smiled gently. "But now it is a seed born out of love, not hatred, Thymiel. The new world will not be one of destruction, but one of love and acceptance," she said.
"LOVE!?," Thymiel bellowed. "YOU DARE SPEAK ABOUT LOVE YOU ABOMINATION?! YOU, WHO WILLINGLY TOUCHED A DEMON AND BED IT FOR PLEASURE? YOU, WHOSE HANDS HAVE TOUCHED HELL? WHO HAVE LET HELL ENTER HER VERY BODY?," they blared.
Well, that was a way to put it alright. ‘Let Hell enter her body?’ Yeah, they weren’t wrong, but… Yes, but no. Technically yes, but not in the way they meant. But what she meant about the seed? Surely not…? Nah, that couldn’t be possible. I mean technically we both were just metaphysical beings and not strictly speaking alive, so… Was she really…?
The thought of it somehow warmed my heart and even though considering the situation it was horribly inappropriate, I smiled warmly. Somehow the though that I’d get to spend time as a family with her made things infinitely better.
Annie looked at Thymiel and her expression hardened, her grip on the sword tightened.
"There's just a couple of things that need to be done first," she said and raised her other hand. A glowing portal appeared in front of her. A sort of pillar-like structure could be seen beyond the shimmering portal. She raised her sword, Thymiel screamed.
The scream was like an animal dying and scared out of its wits. It was primordial, ancient, without any reason. Thymiel charged with eyes unseen. They shot their sword towards Annie as she was stepping into the portal.
I glanced once towards Annie. For an instant, I regretted not seeing the child. But there was no other way this was going to end. Not with what was at stake. Not only the world, but the whole future. I closed my eyes, said "I love you, Annie," smiled. Then I stepped in front of the charging Archangel.
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