As a friend.

The world stood gazing at the sky, naming age-old constellations and seeing only balls of gas and light spread across the expanse of the universe. I saw fellow fighters, protecting the last remaining vestige of life. Stars were spread across the universe in endless beacons of life, warding off the Darkness that crowded every remaining space. Where the light could not or did not touch there was Darkness. Humanity saw the physical properties of space, and I saw the metaphysical, a completely different, separate but the same, spiritual world. The blackness of space was not all emptiness, but an ancient evil that would annihilate Earth as willingly as it had all the other planets and claim victory over the solar systems.

As long as there was life, there would be Darkness. And as long as there was Darkness, the Light would protect that life with everything it possessed. The life on Earth would never be left to fight the Darkness alone.

“Ok, so tell me more about the Darkness,” Tristan broke into my thoughts, pulling me out of myself. “Tell me what to expect.”

“What to expect?” I thought about his question, how to explain it to a human for a minute before responding. “It’s everywhere. Not just in the night, but everywhere. The Darkness is the evil that invades mankind and tries to consume the last of life from this universe,” I explained ominously and Tristan swallowed the rising lump in his throat. “You understand the concept of evil, well that is the Darkness. They are synonymous. I don’t know a better way of explaining it to you.”

“So that’s what you fought last night, like pure unadulterated evil?” Tristan asked and I nodded. “So those Shadow-things, that’s what the Darkness is?” he tried to understand. No…. he tried to comprehend.

“Well, yes, they are part of the Darkness. When I say that, I mean it more as a concept I guess. So there are the Shadows, they are literally…. shadows…. and they are what influences mankind. They can do small amounts of destruction and what not, but they aren’t super dangerous unless they arrive in flocks like they did last night. They weren’t enough to really harm me, but if there would have been humans around then the Shadows could have hurt them. And then there are the Fallen. They are Angels, or were once Angels…. It’s like, Ok, you know the story of Lucifer, and how he was cast out of Heaven and a third of the Angels were sent with him, right?”

“Like, from the Bible?” Tristan clarified.

“Yes, right, from the Bible,” I agreed, glad I didn’t’ have to go over that. Tristan went to church with Annabelle most of the time, but I didn’t know how close he listened. “Ok, so those Angles that make up his followers were the original Fallen. Lucifer is obviously the main bad guy, but over time he has added a lot more to his following.”

“You mean Angels still fall from heaven?” Tristan asked, deciding he couldn’t take any more of this seriously. He trusted me, but I knew this was weird.

“Yes, absolutely. Like you, we have free will. Even if we’re born as an Angel, it doesn’t mean we can’t become part of the Fallen,” I said solemnly. I had heard too many stories of Angels being brought over to the evil side of the war to know better than believe it couldn’t happen. “My dad says that every species is called to both the light and the dark, to goodness and to evil, it’s how we live our lives that decide who our hearts choose to follow.”

“Deep, Stel,” Tristan teased sarcastically, nudging me with his shoulder.

“My dad said it, not me,” I defended herself. “Anyway, the Fallen are the Angels that choose to serve Lucifer. They look just like Angels, even can behave like us, but they are obviously evil.”

“Creepy,” Tristan shuddered, feeling a chill creep up his spine. “So not even you can tell the difference?”

No one on Earth would guess I wasn’t human unless they had seen me glow. The thought that the same kind of species walked around Earth bent on destroying every last living life completely undetectable to the human eye raised the hairs on my arms, and churned my stomach uneasily.

“Well, I can tell that they’re not human. I have this like supernatural sense that lets me know when something is different…. but if they were acting normal, or good, or whatever then you couldn’t necessarily tell that they were Fallen,” I explained, thinking again to the spy who had infiltrated the Elders.

“Ok, what else?” Tristan shifted uncomfortably, wanting to move on.

“Um…. so Lucifer is like the main bad guy, but he has a universe of evil to run, so there are other lesser Angels that do his bidding on planet.”

“So they really are trying to destroy Earth. This isn’t like a movie, this is real?” Tristan smiled cynically.

“Definitely, this is real, this is probably as real as it gets. Earth is the last planet with life; the Darkness has taken all the others. If Earth falls, the Darkness wins.” I finished matter of fact.

“You got a big job ahead of you, Stel,” Tristan put a reassuring arm around my shoulders.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I sighed, leaning into him and relishing in his comfort. I laid my head down on his shoulder and tried to repress the insecurities bubbling up inside of me.

“If anyone can do it, it’s you,” Tristan squeezed me and pulled me closer to him.

“Tristan, I’m sixteen. I haven’t even picked up a sword yet! How am I supposed to protect all of mankind from all of the forces of evil?” I tried to swallow them, but my fears fell from my mouth before I could stop them. I was supposed to be courageous and confident…. insecurity was only fuel for my enemies.

“A sword? Stella that is so hot! Like Princess Leia hot!” Tristan teased, deflating the tension buzzing around my head and lessening those disabling fears for a few moments.

“Oh my gosh, shut up!” I shrieked, elbowing him in the ribs.

Comfortable silence fell between us and the rest of our time was spent watching the Stars overhead. There was a lot to worry about, a lot to think about for both of us, but together it seemed like we could conquer it all.

Chapter Six

“Morning, sunshine,” Seth called to me as I trudged my way through three feet of snow to meet him.

I mumbled something incoherent in reply and pushed my boots through the thick snow to meet Seth and Jupiter in the middle of one of my father’s fields. I was warm enough with my inner light creating a haze of warmth around me, but I still clung to my thermos of hot chocolate as if it were an indispensable life-line.

Jupiter stood in the middle of the field, hands poised in an intricate and very involved Tai Chi pose. His eyes were closed and his face scrunched in deep meditation. His legs held a wide stance and his outstretched arms progressed slowly in precise movements and in perfect sync with his torso. He paid me no attention.

Swords of all different shapes and sizes lay littered on top of the snow. Seth stood, with barely contained energy, in athletic shorts and a cut-off t-shirt. His biceps glistened against the morning sun with the warmth of his glow illuminating him in a soft haze. He clenched and unclenched his fists excitedly and bounced on his toes as if weapons training were the most exciting thing in life to him.

I joined Seth, still recovering from little sleep the night before. I didn’t doubt I would work myself awake but training made me nervous. I knew I would learn how to use all of the different weapons and sooner than later a sword would feel like a natural extension of my body, but I was late getting started. Seth had been using swords forever, and he was an obviously skilled fighter. I pictured him as a toddler with little baby-sized daggers instead of chew toys. I on the other hand, had a fantastic jump shot, a killer spike and a spot on shot on goal from eighteen yards out, however that wasn’t much to use against the Darkness, unless of course I challenged them to a game of Horse.

This day had been a long time coming, but with the start of today was some seriously added pressure in that I only had a year and a half to learn everything there was to learn about being the Protector of Earth and become the skilled fighter I was supposed to be…. destined to be.

That wasn’t a whole lot of time.

I looked out at my father’s fields that rolled on for acres. The sun was just rising over the eastern hills and casting long shadows on the crisp and untouched snow. My footsteps followed Seth’s and Jupiter’s but other than our boot prints, the only other indentation made in the vast purity of white were animal tracks near the edges of trees that lined the property.

I decided there had never been anything more pure, more clean…. more wholesome. The ground glistened against the rays of the sun, sparkling like diamonds in the light of the morning. This ground, even though frozen, felt like me, symbolized my cause. A shudder trickled down my spine as I thought of how the Darkness would destroy this, take this pure beauty away from Earth and swallow the goodness whole.

I also wondered how training this morning would affect my father’s planting come spring.

“Let us begin,” Jupiter called from where he stood with eyes still closed and palms still outstretched.

“Are you ready for this?” Seth asked me, his smile widening impossibly at the corners of his full mouth.

“Of course I am,” I groaned dryly, not willing to give in to my fears, but clearly not ready for any of this. “You’ll go easy on me right? It’s my first day and all….” I reminded him, hoping for some sympathy.

“That’s true,” Seth conceded. “But I don’t like to lose.”

I laughed, believing him. “Me either,” I confessed, taking the challenge.

“Seth, why don’t you take the broadsword,” Jupiter instructed.

“Ah, man,” Seth grumbled. “You know I prefer the cutlass.”

“Which one is the broadsword?” I asked, taking a few steps forward to examine the weapons collection glinting brilliantly against the snow.

Seth picked up a sword, medium-sized in length and with a heavy hilt. He held it out for me to take and I nearly dropped it, not expecting that kind of weight. I caught my awed reflection mirrored in the shiny, deadly blade as I lifted it with both hands. I handed it back to Seth and then took a step back automatically when he began to swing it around his body as if getting to know the weapon in some intimate way I didn’t quite understand yet.

“And which one is the cutlass?” I asked out of honest curiosity.

Jupiter pointed to a longer, thinner sword that thickened at the end and rounded to a half moon point. I stared at it for a moment, trying to place why it seemed familiar.

“That’s a pirate sword!” I exclaimed when the movie-marathon from the other night was recalled in my mind.

“Argh,” Seth grunted, sending me a sideways glance and an amused smile.

“Stella you take the two-handed claymore and we’ll start with some basic technical movements,” Jupiter instructed, not even pretending to move forward to help me find my assigned blade.

I sighed while examining the collection in front of me. I hadn’t even realized, prior to five minutes ago, that so many different types of swords existed, let alone that they all had a different name. I had held my father’s battle sword before, but that was more like the one that Seth held now. Micah’s sword was a piece from heaven though, brandished in the lowest level and meant for the wars fought in other realms. His glowed with heavenly light, the same way the user did and was tasked with defending its Angel Warrior until the death.