13 June 2012
Ryan
I gawped at her. Angel? My mind continued to think, confused. Surely angels didn't exist - maybe she had been part of an experiment or something, but angel? I would've doubted it if I hadn't met her, or hadn't seen the strange golden glow she'd made in the attic. But still...
"An angel?" I said, apprehensively.
She nodded. "Yes."
"From heaven?"
"That's what we call it."
"Who's 'we'?"
"The angels!" she said with a small laugh.
"So there's...lots of angels or something?"
She nodded. "Do you want me to explain?" she asked kindly.
"Yes." I whispered, feeling slightly stupid and like I knew nothing.
She chuckled. "I can remember our history, at least." She paused, thinking, before starting to speak as though reciting something.
"Angels have lived in heaven for almost as long as there has been some sort of life on Earth - which is a long long time before humans. Around 2,000 years before humanity existed, there was a huge war within the angels; those who wanted to destroy the Earth - because their leader had seen a vision of humanity's evil, and wished to destroy it before they came into existence - and those who wanted to help it, and help the soon-to-arrive humanity. Eventually, after lots of fighting and death, those who wanted to destroy Earth were cast down into its centre, which was then called Hell. Those who lived in Hell became demons over time and generations, while we tried to keep them at bay and guide humanity; teaching humans to communicate; helping them along; keeping them from dying out. The demons were the opposite, though. They attacked us viciously, and tried to stop humanity; plagues, such as the black death in 1348; they pushed humans to have wars, like world war 1; they even created nuclear weapons." She paused.
"Wait. Demons sent the plague?" I asked, confused.
She nodded. "They wanted to wipe out humanity as opposed to destroying the Earth, so that they could live on Earth instead, believing that they were 'better' than humans. They used germs to create the disease, then sent it on its merry way."
"Merry?" I asked.
She shrugged.
I thought for a moment. "What about witches, and burning them? Were they really possessed?"
"Some had been possessed by demons called Rippers, who can possess and control humans - but only one or two. Not many. And by the time they had actually burned the 'witches', the demons had fled their bodies. We tried to stop them from killing so many innocents, but..." She trailed off sadly.
I paused. "It's strange to think how much influence angels and demons have had, and yet almost everyone thinks their not real." I said.
"Well, it isn't strange for me, but I can understand how it is for you." She paused, and a small smile crept onto her face.
"Did you know, angels and demons walk around Earth as easily as humans do."
"Really?" I asked.
"Um-hm. You could pass one in the street and not even realise."
"But surely there are ways to tell." I wondered aloud.
"Well...A couple. A demon laughs a lot, with a very deep laugh, and it would seem to be laughing at nothing, when really its laughing at an evil plan - though only the stupid ones do this often. Also, their eyes are normally a dark colour, usually tinted red. They never have light coloured eyes, like light blue and green. Always dark blues or greens.
"Angels are a little trickier, though. They squeeze into human clothing - but the wings end up pressed against whatever they're wearing. It might look like a long lump down their back, it all depends on their wings. They usually have a nice voice, and a tinkly laugh - supposedly the voice sounds sweet, and the laugh is like music." She paused, thinking.
"Ahh! The scents! An angel smells like honey - once again, this is supposedly, and only what a human once described us to sound and smell like - while a demon smells like rot, or burning. But that's to an angel, really we'd need a human to say what they smell like."
I nodded, trying to remember everything.
"Angels and demons automatically recognise each other, so if you ever see a fight start between two people for no apparent reason, that's why - ones probably an angel, and the other a demon. That or they're both idiots."
I nodded with a small smile. "Are there certain types of angels?"
She thought. "I think so, I can't really remember that. You need to understand about the human soul, to really understand why we fight the demons. Have you got any paper?"
I brought her some paper and a pencil, and she began to draw. First she drew a human outline.
"Human." She said. Then she drew a smaller human outline, within the first. Tapping it with a pencil, she said "Soul. A humans soul can be corrupted by demons, or by themselves. Only when a human begins to truly know what they're doing and understand and think about their actions, is when their soul can first be corrupted - this happens at the age of fourteen or fifteen, give or take. Angels try to save them, help them. We attempt to stop the corruption. It rarely works." she then shaded the feet of the soul lightly, and spoke.
"This is a no-dark; a human whose soul is not corrupted, or is barely corrupted. They can be protected by angels, because as they are no-dark they will instantly go to heaven. While they live, demons can rip their soul away, making them a ghost - the only gain the demon gets from this is to laugh at the angels and the ghost human - who is then forced to hell. Which the demons find hysterical."
She paused, and proceeded to shade in up to the souls stomach.
"A half-dark. They are those who aren't good, but aren't evil either. Neutral souls. They are influenced by both angels and demons to become good or evil. When they die, both kinds race to collect their soul to either take it to heaven or hell, for different reasons."
She shaded in up to the souls head, but not completely.
"Angels call these lost ones - those who cannot be saved by an angel, for they are too corrupted. We do not bother with them anymore, as all it ends in is bloodshed. We focus on those who can be saved. These instantly go to hell, and pay the price for a lifetime of wickedness and evil." She spoke angrily.
"They don't understand - we're trying to help. But instead those who are corrupted suffer for eternity."
"Wow." I whispered, wonderingly. She looked up at me.
"What am I?" I asked.
She stood, and walked over to me. I stood as well. She held my chin, and made me look her in the eye. I gave a shudder as a wave of heat ran through me.
She released me, and stepped back. "Half-dark." she said, before pausing. "That is another way to tell angels and demons. If you ever have someone make you look them in the eye like that, they are one or the other - a wave of heat if their an angel, a wave of cold if their a demon. Normally. Sometimes they're just a weird human."
I nodded, still with the sensation of heat on my back. It was a very strange feeling.
"So what kinds of angels are there?" I asked.
She nodded, as though remembering that had been my original question.
"As I said, I can't really remember. But I can remember the kind I am, at least."
She paused, thinking. "I'm an emotion angel. That basically means I change people's - human, demon, whoever - emotions. Though I don't realise it when I change their emotions, and I can't stop it. If anyone in the same area as me has any bad emotions, such as sadness and hate, I deplete that emotion, and take it into myself. However, any good emotions, like happiness and joy, I heighten. This sometimes make me a bit emotional, especially in crowds." She smiled lightly. "I don't know how I can do this, or what my type of angel is called, but still."
I accepted this news, hoping it wasn't hurting my brain as I marked all this information down, deciding I would put it somewhere later.
"What about demons?"
"I remember HellHounds, who are like hells own guards, and they are truly sickening creatures. They are dogs, with various appearances, and can have a human form. They can also talk in this dog form. The other one I remember are Rippers - they can be any type of demon but are also able to possess humans if they want to."
I listened to the way she spoke of the demon - both angrily and fearfully, as though she hated them and yet wanted to hide from them at the same time.
I suddenly remembered what she'd said about her brother being killed, and quietly asked "Was Alec killed by a demon?"
Her head snapped up to look at me, and for a moment I thought she wouldn't answer. But she whispered
"Yes." before her wings curled around her slightly, and she hung her head and shut her eyes. After a moment, she opened them again and raised her head, though her wings didn't move.
"Sorry." she said quietly, her eyes focusing on me.
"It's alright." I said back to her, just as quietly.
She shook her head. "It's not. He was shredded, ripped apart. By a HellHound. I wanted to kill it - instead all I managed to do was get dragged down to Earth and forget who I am." she laughed, a hollow laugh without humour.
"Shall we give you a name?" I suddenly said.
Her look of confusion spurred me on to say more.
"Well, because we don't know your real name, we could give you a fake name to use until you figure out your real one."
She nodded, liking the idea. "But what should I be called?"
To that I had no answer. As we sat in silence for a moment, trying to think of a name, an idea came into my head.
"Anna." I blurted out.
She thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I'll be Anna, I like that name. But why did you choose that one?"
I shrugged. "You've got amnesia, right? If you change the m and n around, you end up with an. Anna is simply those two letters, but changed around."
She smiled, and laughed lightly. I instantly agreed with whoever had said that an angels laugh sounds like music.
"Clever." She paused. "But what's your name? Real name, mind." She said, smiling even more as she pointed a finger at me.
"I'm Ryan. Nice to meet you, Anna." I said, hol
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