The Chronicles of the Four Heirs: WAR

Chapter 7

As soon as I closed my eyes, I felt a chill crawl up my spine as the sound of leaves ruffling jostled me awake, Instinctively I popped up off the ground and looked around, “Silas?” I whispered out, “is that you.” 

Just then Silas and a masked man bursted into the clearing, swords drawn and a halo of light surrounding them. As the light radiated off of them the fire which had been dying off exploded to life. Silas stood in front of me ushering me back with his free hand and pointing his sword with the other, never taking his gaze off the masked man.

The man stood their sword at his side completely relaxed as his short cape billowed in the breeze. His armor pure black and his opposite hand held a small Sycle. He then pulled his mask off and His chiseled face was scarred all over.

We stood there for what felt like an eternity before anyone spoke. Silas and the masked man never breaking eye contact, then the man spoke. 

“It’s good to see you again Silas, what’s it been ten, fifteen years, I wish it was under different circumstances.” He said in a chilling but quiet voice.

“I can’t say the same for me,” Silas replied equally as cold. 

The man broke his stance and began pacing on the other side of the fire. “Well, I guess pleasantries aside I assume you’ve already deduced my appearance here.”

“I’ve got a few guesses,” Silas replied still holding his sword outward.

“You see I’ve been contracted to take that Nephilim right there,” he said half arching his back and pointing his sword to me.

“That’s not going to happen Levirnius,” Silas Quickly replied moving his free hand to his other sword still in its sheath. 

“Well, I beg to differ, because now that I can see how willing you are to die for this half breed it makes me all the more dedicated to take him.” Levirnius said coldly. He stopped and shrugged his shoulders, “so I guess you have two options here, you can allow me to take my mark or you can die here and now, then I still take the Half Breed, but it will be as a corpse.” 

“I will not abandon my sworn duty to protect this Nephilim and it will be you that dies here.” Silas shouted drawing his other sword, emitting a bright light as his Armor appeared around him, charging towards Levirnius. 

“So be it,” Levirnius said calmly as he put his mask back on. 

Silas leapt over the fire spreading his wings which shined overpowering the fire beneath him bringing down his sword over Levirnius. Levirnius caught Silas’ blade in his scythe and thrusted his sword towards Silas body. Silas parried the thrust and flew backwards. I stood there in awe soon realizing that Levirnius was walking towards me, I rolled towards my sword which laid on the ground where I was sleeping, bring myself to a knee I there the sheath aside and I brandished it towards Levirnius. As soon as I did, he began laughing.

“A Nephilim as old as you are, yet you have not imbued your sword, you have no purpose, no destiny, I can’t even tell if you are even worth my time, who knows,” he sighed, “but I can tell you this, you will die, here and now, regardless of what my contract says, call it a consolation for not being a worthy fight,” Levirnius said drawing his sword back and bringing it down towards me.

As he did so I raised my sword to block his strike and I felt a surge go through me as I thought to myself that I wasn’t ready to die. The pain that shot through me was similar to when I first tried to imbue a weapon in front of Kanan and Silas. It was then that my sword felt warm and comforting in my hand. I wasn’t afraid anymore; fear was replaced by determination. As I opened my eyes I looked up and saw my reflection in Levirnius’ eyes and could that my eyes had red rings around them.

I shoved Levirnius off me, standing tall ready to defend myself against him. Silas Landed next to me and we stood shoulder to shoulder our swords pointing at our enemy.

“You are outmatched here Levirnius,” Silas stated fiercely, “go now and live to fight another day.” 

Levirnius’ laugh echoed off the trees as he cackled, “outmatched Silas? No, I am just getting started, there is nothing you can do to stop me from completing my goal.” 

Silas tucked his wings preparing to strike when Levirnius raised his hand, “you’ll learn eventually Silas.” 

As soon as Silas crouched in order to leap towards Levirnius, a white light shot out of Levirnius’ hand hitting Silas in the chest and sent him flying off into the darkness.

I reset my focus on my enemy, but I was caught off guard as he leapt forward and drove his sword into my side. 

“Such a shame that even with all the power in the cosmos at your disposal you still fall so easily. That, Nephilim, is the flaw with your kind, whereas I am not afflicted with such ailments, I will be eternal, forever hunting and destroying your kind,” he said in my ear as he held the back of my head. He pulled his sword out of my side as I started to cough blood and I felt a white-hot searing pain making me double over on my side. Levirnius stood over me and kicked me onto my back and pointed his sword at my throat, I cried out for Silas hoping he would hear me, wishing someone would save me from this pain. 

“Pathetic,” Levirnius said quietly as he raised his sword. 

It was then a bright light radiated over the clearing and sent a shockwave over everything, knocking Levirnius to his back and knocking his sword into the bushes. The light was too intense for me to look at even with my eyes closed I could see it. 

“Are you so quick to judge the outcome of a battle without fully understanding the unknowns that come with it,” the voice said in low and boisterous tone, “begone or be destroyed.” 

Levirnius didn’t say a word as he quietly got up. He turned his gaze towards me and paused for a second, “we will continue this another time,” he said almost out of breath. He then spread his black feathered wings and flew off into the night.

I began to chase after him, but I was stopped when the figure in light spoke. “That’s enough John,” He commanded in a loud voice, “he will face judgement for his actions, but alas tonight is not the night.” 

I stared off into the black of night suddenly realizing that Silas was of somewhere injured or worse dead. Before I could make my way to towards the direction he was thrown, Silas emerged from the brush. As he stumbled into the clearing, he was holding his side and then collapsed onto the ground. Before I could say anything, the light figure walked over to him and knelt beside him and for lack of a better word doused his light revealing a young man.

“Michael,” Silas grunted as the young man helped him to his feet, “never in a million years would I expect you to come to our aid.”

         “Well, it’s kind of hard to ignore the only battle taking place for a thousand miles,” He chuckled, “when I realized it was just you and the Nephilim fighting Lucifers bounty hunter I figured I would wait until you needed me.”

         “Ah yes will, it would seem I still have quite a bit of training to impart upon the boy,” Silas said half-heartedly as he turned his head to look back at me.

         I stood there confused at what was taking place. Who was this and why was he so powerful? I had a feeling of who it was, but it couldn’t be him. He hasn’t come to earth as far as I knew since the war began. Silas could see my gears turning and ushered me forward.  

         “John, I would like to introduce you to the Arch Angel Michael,” Silas said gesturing towards the young man.

         I had never seen him before, but I knew it was him and I felt underdressed, I couldn’t believe I was in the presence of one of the most powerful beings in all of existence, yet I was bloodied and dirty from our little skirmish with the bounty hunter Levirnius. I thought quickly, so I began to kneel, but Michael stopped me.

         “No need for you to kneel Nephilim,” he said cheerfully, “you are my nephew of course.”

         I was dumbfounded, I had no words. There was so much to process in that one instant that I didn’t even know where to begin. Before I could say anything, he turned back to Silas, “Let’s get you fixed up old friend,” he said as he touched Silas’ wound with his hand and pulled it away revealing that he was healed.

         At this point I just stopped questioning what was going on and rolled with it.

         “So, what brings you down here Michael?” Silas asked motioning Michael to sit on one of the stumps by the fire.

         “Well in order for that to happen id have to be upstairs first,” Michael joked as he sat down sighing as he stretched his legs to warm his feet by the fire, “I haven’t spent any time at home in a long time.”

         “Wait, I’m confused I thought you were always in heaven, I didn’t think you would like to be on earth with the commoners,” Silas asked leaning forward.

         “You would think so,” Michael chuckled as he sat up and crossed his arms across his golden armor, “truth is Silas I haven’t left this planet since the prince disappeared.”

         “what have you been doing this whole time, looking for him?” Silas asked.

         “Not the whole time,” Michael replied, “unfortunately unlike my brothers I am prohibited from participating in the war in a combat capacity, our father has tasked me with another mission far more important.”

         “Well, I’d say you have participated in some combat just here a few minutes ago,” Silas said merrily.

         “You may be right little cousin,” Michael said as he warped his arm around Silas’ neck and proceeded to run his hand across Silas’ head repeatedly, “but someone has to make sure you don’t die.”

         “Alright you win, I give,” Silas said shoving Michael off of him, “so what is this mission our father has you on?”

         “Coincidentally, him,” Michael said as he turned his head and nodded at me.

         “Me?” I said confused, “why are you here for me?”

         “It’s because of where you are at in your training.” Michael stated, “unfortunately there is only so much you can learn from Silas, no offense.”

         “None taken,” Silas said raising his hands.

         “You see John, while you can learn a great deal from Silas there are certain things you can only learn from one of the Archangels.” Michael said as he stood up.

         “The reason being that lower choir angels cannot Will life into existence, nor can they Will destruction,” he said as he stared down into the fire.

         “So, you have been tasked with teaching me these abilities?” I asked.

         “Yes and No,” he said shrugging his shoulders, “because of how we were created the Archangels were created to either one or the other. The exception being a couple of my brothers are created to do other things. My being here is simply to figure out what path you have and either train you myself or pass you too my brother Gabriel.”

         “Ok, so how do we do that,” I asked even more confused than I was a minute ago.

         “Well for starters we need a fire, some ashes, a dead branch, and some of your blood,” he said looking around, “Oh, would you look at that we’ve already got it all here, well except some of you blood. Be a lad and just take you knife and get some blood from your right hand.”

I couldn’t tell if he was joking or if he was being serious. But I pulled out my knife from my waist band and d**g the blade over my hand covering the blade in my blood. I flipped the knife around so that Michael could grab the handle, as I closed my fist, I used my Will to heal the cut. I was still very new at doing these techniques, but I could at least do that.

“Excellent,” Michael said as he started using the items to perform this odd ritual. He began by mixing my blood with the ashes creating a red and black paste which he then smeared on the end of the branch. He then stuck the branch in the middle of fire standing straight up with the paste covered side pointing in the air.

“So, what is this going to do?” I asked crossing my arms as I eyed the branch. I wasn’t going to question Michael seeing as I had no experience in this matter.

Michael raised his right arm towards the stick and spoke, “ne malprg, torzu od zarman ge a vaoan congamphlgh c oi izizop.  trian tia gigipah qaa q trian tia gigipah quansb.”

When he finished the fire exploded in a brilliant flash. No longer was the fire a calming orange but instead a vibrant and powerful blue. Even though the flames were intense I felt no heat just serenity. The fire was dancing around the dead branch causing the red and black pasted of blood and ash to glow. As soon as the mixture glowed to a vibrant red the stick then crumbled and instantly turn to dust. Once the dust settled the fire returned to its calming orange color and started to c***k and pop again.

“It seems I am to be the one to teach you john,” Michael said as he lowered his hand and moved to sit back down.

“What in the world was that?” I asked after I collected myself.

Silas spoke up, “that John was a burning bush.”

I really didn’t know how to respond to that question. I had always thought a burning bush was, well, a bush.

“Ok, well what did we learn from the almighty bush,” I asked turning to Michael.

“We learned that you are a destruction angel.” He said as he sat down and crossed his arms.

“Ok, how do you know that and how do we move forward with this,” I asked.

“Well, you see, had the branch sprouted leaves and began to grow in the fire you would have been meant to breathe life into a planet however since the branch crumbled into dust and ash that signifies you are meant to for a different path.” Michael replied softly.

“So, what do we do now,” I asked shifting my gaze from Silas to Michael looking for some actual answer.

“For now, we will return to our cabin and get some rest the next portion of your training will be very strenuous,” Silas replied as he stood up and turned to face Michael, “Michael it’s been a pleasure thank you for assisting us John will be ready for lessons in a few days.”

“Get some rest john, although you may not have great grasp of your newfound abilities now just remember you’ve only been at this a few months but watch how much you grow over the next few days.” Michael said smiling.

         Silas and I gathered our things and began walking away from the fire ring as Michael continued to sit by the fire. I couldn’t really think of much on the long walk back to the cabin. There was just this overwhelming feeling of deceit I was feeling. Could the Angels be lying to me, then I thought no they couldn’t be.

         My thoughts drifted to when I first met Silas in Kanan’s office and how the sword they had me pick up had turned sinister and evil looking yet beautiful at the same time. Could the sword have picked up on who I was then? But who am I?

         These were the many questions I had but every time I tried to ask Silas a question something stopped me. It’s as if there was something in my subconscious forcing me not to ask. I decided to continue the trek in my thoughts.

         As the sun started to crest the mountain, I could see my breath in the light. It would have been really nice to have my wings right about now, I thought to myself.

“Silas? Will my wings ever grow back?” I asked him as we continued to trudge through the snow.

He stopped for a second and half turned back, “In time they will,” he said as he continued walking, “had they not been ripped off long before the discovery of your parentage you’d have them now, but yes over time they will grow back.”

         We continued to walk in silence for the rest of the day. The sun was already starting to set by the time we reached the cabin. As soon as I saw the lights on, I felt pure joy at the thought of sleeping in an actual bed I started to pick up the pace.

         “Wait John,” Silas said as he put a hand on my shoulder, “You must not tell Norma that we saw Michael, if word got out that he was here disaster could strike, I need you to trust me on this.”

         I nodded my head in agreement as we began walking towards the door. He was right after all, if the Angels learned that Michael was on the planet, they would get boldened assuming that he would fight along side them. However, since he is not allowed to, he could do nothing if Lucifer sent out his Hordes in droves in order to usher Michael to fight. Silas turned and started walking back into the forest most likely to spend some time alone.

         As I entered the door Norma jean was asleep on the couch with battle reports spread across the ground. She looked as if she had been working extremely hard the last few days. As I walked past her, I grabbed the blanket that was draped on the couch and covered he up. She stirred for a moment then went back to sleep. As I walked into my bedroom a few moments later I could feel the strong urge to protect her rise up. No matter what I had to do I would learn all I could in order to put a stop to this war and make both earth and heaven safe not just for her but for all those who had people close to them they didn’t want to lose.