Fall From Grace (Audnance)

''Life and death are only so – play things for our master. And you, its pawn for eternity.''

“Time is running out my friend. What would you choose?”

The cloaked figure tapped the iron-bound book held on his left hand as his blue, burning, empty sockets gazed at Arial. Arial looked at the cloaked figure then looked at her sister laying on the bed. Her face looked almost as pale as her white sheets and her breaths were shallow. Arial could see the black cloud creeping over her sister’s entire body.

Somebody knocked on the door and Arial turned around. Her mother looked at her and raised her eye. Arial waved her hand and returned a bitter smile, then turned back to the cloaked figure.

“How about a deal. I’ll do anything for you for ten years, twenty, thirty… I’ll do it better than any of your servants, better than you can hope for. If you are happy with my service then return me to the land of the living and keep my sister alive as well. If you are not… If you are not then I’ll gratefully serve you forever.”

“It’s one life for another – the eternal death of one or another. Thus is the law of all realms. I am sorry that I cannot do any better,” the cloaked figure said, still tapping his book.

“Can’t you take someone else’s life? A criminal? Murderer? Rapist? Why me? Why us? What have we done to deserve this?”

“The System doesn’t deal with sins. The System demands a soul like your sister’s, and I am merely an agent of the System. Be thankful that your soul is similar enough to your sister’s. Be thankful that I gave you this choice in the first place.”

“But-”

“I would hurry if I were you, Arial. Your sister will not last long.”

Arial thought of her preacher’s words – do not fall to the temptation of demons because their promises never come true. She stole a glance of the cloaked figure. His burning blue eyes still gazed unflinching towards her, as if piercing through her skull and reading her mind. She looked at the window on the door again, and saw her parents loving face worried at her and grieving for her sister. Arial held her sister’s hand and gripped it. Cold, so cold. But my sister…my sister who always gave me the biggest piece of cake, who took a beating from others so I won’t have to, who would sacrifice everything to save me without hesitating… Yet here I am.

“Me. Take me. Spare my sister.”

The cloaked figure nodded then turned around and pushed his palm against the door. The shadows in the room burst into life and converged on the door, then weaved themselves into a thick web, sealing the entrance. Many knocked began to be heard on the door, as well as a few muffled shouts. The figure waved at the door a few more times and more living shadows weaved over the web, silencing the sound.

“I hope you can understand. I have to make sure nobody interrupts the ritual.”

Arial nodded.

Opening his book, the cloaked figure put his finger over a line and murmured something. Blue flames blazed into life on the words. Pointing his hand towards Arial, the cloaked figure murmured another incantation. The black cloud crawled away from the bed and crept towards Arial. A wave of numbness washed over her as the black cloud touched her skin. The coldness spread throughout Arial’s body as the cloud crept upwards.

A drowsiness began rising in Arial. She fell onto her sister’s chest and looked at her face. Flashes of red reappeared on her face. Her heart began beating harder. Thud, thud. Her breath began to become richer. Thud, thud. Tired, so tired… Thud, thud. Arial tried to keep her eyes open to see the rosy cheeks of her sister for a few more seconds…a few more seconds… Thud, thud. But her mind disobeyed her. Arial’s eyelids closed and she saw perpetual, pure darkness. The sound of the beating heart became more distant, her sister’s hand farther, the walls in the room seem as if its light-years away.

“See you on the other side, Arial,” a voice rasped. It must have been quite loud, yet it sounded like a whisper – a shout that came from so far away. Arial heard a muffled click, followed by threads weaving, interweaving, then a door crashing against a wall. Something moved beneath Arial’s hands. Distant shouting came from all directions. Tired… So tired.

---

''You seek honor, friendship, triumph. You seek love. I will give hate. I'' will bring blood. I will herald defeat. 

“Holy shit… What happened?”

“Pierce, torch, torch. Your torch. I can’t see.”

“Wait a minute… Shit my torch is broken wait, let me grab my backup.”

“Fuck dude, I can’t see. Hurry.”

“Shut up James. Arial, are you ok?”

“Um yeah. Yeah I am ok. Just a bit shaken.”

“Cool got my torch. Now, the button should be here…”

A beam of light pierced through the air and hit a metallic surface. A few rusted ladders lay on it water was dripping down. Pierce waved his hand around the alleyway, then quickly shone it at James. Specks of dust stuck on his blonde hair and his eyes were wide open, surveying the area around Pierce. Pierce shone the light onto Arial, and she covered her face.

“Sorry,” Pierce said, scanning the light up and down her body then directing it towards Arial’s side. Arial’s already white skin was almost ghastly under the pale light. The specks of rusted copper shone on her raven black hair, and she patted her head in an attempt to remove them. “Are you hurt at all? No cuts or scrapes?”

“I’m fine. That quake…surprised me. That’s all.”

“Hey, Pierce you can’t dispose your friend after you get a girl.”

Pierce turned around and shone the light to the two sides of the alley. The white light was pathetic against the darkness, illuminating barely a meter in front of the torch. The walls around them were rusty, the copper peeling off and revealing a slime-like green tone.

“It seems like we’re still at the same place, and nothing really crashed around us from that quake. We should get out of here. Wait…” Pierce reached into his pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper, “we’re still in the charted territories, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue getting out of here.”

Unfolding the paper, Pierce produced a map of the sewers and traced his index fingers over the overlapping lines. He turned backwards, hesitated for a moment, then turned again and began walking.

“Pierce, you sure you’re going towards the right direction?”

The footsteps of the three echoed across the metallic hallway. Pierce didn’t answer and kept walking. Eventually, they came to a crosswalk. Pierce flipped the map around, traced his fingers across the lines, and then flipped it back again. James tilted the map towards himself. He studied the white lines weaving across each other, some simple straight lines crisscrossing and others twisting, circular, or semi-circular lines, and soon gave up. Arial looked at Pierce and twirled her hair.

“OK, it should be this side,” Pierce said and took a turn towards the left.

“You sure? Do you even know how to read this thing?”

“Of course. You know that I have been doing jobs related to the sewer for a few years now,” Pierce said, his eyes stuck on the map as he kept walking, “I wouldn’t bring you guys down here if I don’t know how to read this map.”

Another crossroad appeared before them. Pierce looked at the map for a while more and then took a turn towards the left. This time the path was curved. Pierce walked slower this time, glimpsing at his surroundings every few seconds before returning to his map. Arial and James followed behind, not daring to walk past Pierce.