Fallen State

Chapter Three

"Half breed." One of the angels said and stepped forward. It pointed its spear at Abigail. "Your existence is a heresy that cannot be tolerated." It turned to Caleb and said to him. "It is time for you to atone for your sins."

A shroud of darkness appeared next to Abigail and Rachel and Lilith manifested with a grin on her face.

The angels looked at her with contempt. Their bodies tensed as if they were preparing to attack her but they did not move. Every immortal muscle in their bodies signalled the rage within but there was also a hint of fear present in the way the angels held their weapons. They were afraid of the first of the fallen whose heresy they wanted to forget.

But Lilith refused to be forgotten.

She defied the angels and their masters with every step she took towards them. Every movement full of the egoism of the chief of heretics.

"Leave." Lilith commanded the angels. "We have family matters to attend to and your presence is offensive to me."

The angel that had spoken before started walking towards Lilith .

"You do not command us." It said. "Especially not here. It is bad enough that the abomination taints this sacred place with its presence without the addition of…"

The darkness around Lilith expanded and struck the angel, devouring its light and shredding it apart. Where the angel had stood no trace of its existence remained. The other angels hesitated for a moment before vanishing. It took a few seconds for Abigail's eyes to adjust to the absence of their light. A light that still radiated from the sword her father held in his hand. A strange light that did not belong in this world.

A light that Abigail was drawn to as much as she was repelled by it.

As she was drawn to and repelled by her mother's darkness.

Lilith now stood before Caleb and light and dark danced around them wildly casting a world of shadows around them. The clash of the two forces was fierce like a colossal battle yet also in a way intimate. The two stood staring at each other for a long time before Abigail marched up to them, her anger strong in every step she took. Like a melody that vibrated throughout the church.

Her parents regarded her with identical looks of parental patience. As if her anger was but a tantrum to be endured. A phase that she would grow out of. This did nothing to help calm her mood. Abigail glanced at Rachel who had stayed behind and Rachel nodded. Lilith and Caleb looked at the young oracle for the first time and for the first time they looked uncertain.

"I believe you said something about family business…" Abigail said.

She reached within her. Felt the walls within her. Touched them with her mind and traced the cracks that scarred them. And then as Abigail had instructed her, guiding her through how it could be done, she shattered them. Abigail would no longer hide from the world or from herself. After her long discussion with Rachel she had realised that she had to be whole to move forward and take control of her life and that meant removing all that bound her. As the walls shattered an immense power flooded every part of her body and Abigail could feel that power was not yet fully formed. It was neither light nor darkness but something in-between. She was she realised neither mortal nor truly immortal. She was Nephilim and she existed between worlds. Such was the fate of her kind. The uncertainty on the faces of her parents turned to fear and this pleased Abigail.

The expression on Lilith 's face became contemplative and Caleb looked grimly determined. The moment of unity between them, a fleeting moment of agreement, had passed.

"Let's end this reunion." Caleb said. "I have a mission to complete."

He raised his golden sword and attacked Abigail. The golden blade that had been aimed at her head clashed with a wall that was like a solid shadow that appeared before Abigail. Then a sword of darkness appeared in Lilith 's hands. Light and dark clashed over and over again. They clashed with bright flashes like lightning illuminating the church. Each strike was like two bolts of lightning hitting each other.

Abigail stood behind her shadow wall and formed a bow that was as black as ebony from the forces that existed within her and raged like a storm. She held the bow in her left hand and in her right hand she made an arrow of pure brilliant light. It was easy. She took the energy that flowed in her veins and gave it form with her mind. The power of creation was hers to command.

Her parents had not noticed this act of creation but they did notice the arrow as it flew between them and struck a wall. As it hit the wall the wall exploded and large chunks of golden debris scattered around the surprised combatants. None of them had been hit by the debris but Caleb looked like he had lost a limb. When he looked at Abigail his eyes were full of rage.

Abigail fired quickly again and again until the church in its enormous glory had been entirely reduced to rubble. She could faintly hear panicked screams from somewhere but she ignored them. When her destruction of her father's proudest achievement in life was complete Abigail remembered Rachel and panicked but when she turned to look to where Rachel had stood she was still there. Unharmed amidst the destruction.

It was unnatural but Abigail accepted it and turned to face her parents again. As she did a beam of light struck her and threw her in the air. She landed violently in the rubble and as she tried to get up chains of darkness tied her down. Her clothes were badly damaged and she was bleeding and suddenly she wasn't and her clothes were as they had been before. As if for a moment the flow of time had reversed for her. The chains of darkness vanished. Lilith unleashed an inventive tirade of curses and vanished, fleeing from her daughter. Caleb remained.

The sword in his hand had become a spear which he threw at Abigail. It penetrated her shadow wall and abdomen and vanished. Abigail felt a brief moment of pain as her blood stained the ground and then the blood and pain were gone as was the wound the spear had made. Caleb created more spears of light and which each one the result was the same. With each burst of pain Abigail could feel her mind becoming hazy, her focus slipping. As it did something more primitive begun to take control.

It was a primordial being fuelled by a compulsion to destroy and Abigail had willingly freed it from its prison.

"I told you that you weren't ready." Caleb said. "This is what you are. A destroyer. Herald of the end times. Daughter of apocalypse. Child of perdition."

A host of angels appeared around Abigail. There were hundreds of them if not thousands. They carried golden chains and one after another they wrapped them around Abigail whose consciousness was fading.

Abigail woke up surrounded by darkness. The first thing she noticed was while she was clearly sitting on something she could feel nothing beneath her. Like she was sitting on air. She felt around her with her hands but found nothing solid she could touch. The second thing she realised was that she could move freely. So she got up, picked a random direction and started walking. The third thing Abigail noticed was that she felt no terror or despair. She felt nothing at all. As if the darkness had consumed all of her emotions completely. So she walked forward feeling nothing, seeing nothing and finding nothing. For how long she did this she had no idea of. After what felt like an eternity Abigail sat down and fell asleep.

When she woke up again she was laying on a bed back at the house in Elysium and Rachel was sitting next to the bed.

"I'm sorry." Rachel said. "I should have known they would notice and take action. I thought they would ignore you as long as you were staying out of their world. I was wrong. I didn't think they would put you there…"

Rachel looked like she had been crying.

"It's not your fault." Abigail said. "I wanted to make them see me. To force them to acknowledge that I exist. I think I also wanted them to in some way take responsibility for bringing me into this world, for what I am. I wanted to scream at the heavens and the pits of perdition. I guess she was right. I did lash out. For a moment I wanted to hurt them all and I gave into that desire. I didn't even realise what I almost have complete control to. If the angels hadn't showed up I don't know what I would have done."

"What did you expect?" Rachel asked with the slightest hint of an edge mixed with sympathy. "I thought you understood what it means to be destined to cause the end of this world. You can't escape that fate. You can't run away from it."

Rachel leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

"There will always be risks involved with powers like yours." She continued. Her face only about an inch away from Abigail's. "But those powers are yours to wield. If you dare to claim the right to be the ruler of your fate. To accept it on your terms. Imagine what you could do."