Book 2 in the Salvation Series, and second part of Act 1

The realm of He’aeven has always been influenced by prophecies, but when one speaks of the end of everything, it will be a race against time to interpret what is written, and to save the multiverse.

After fleeing the war in He’aeven, Ezekiel found himself on Earth. In order to survive he blended in, even making friends with the humans who had found him. But just as he was beginning to feel comfortable, he discovered that the demons had followed him to Earth. Now, a new war threatens to engulf the Erelim and his new friends.

Meanwhile, the Archangels continue the defence of their home, and look to take the fight to the demons directly to slow them down and to determine their intentions. Another angel. a Seraph named Lahatiel is about to be pulled into the war along with them, getting closer to the demons than any other.

They will fight to avoid, fix, or change their destinies. But can prophecy be changed? Or are their fates written in stone?

Preview:

Everything ached. That was the first thought that came to Lahatiel’s mind as she drifted back to consciousness. Her head was pounding and all of her muscles felt like they were on fire. She was in such an uncomfortable amount of aching, that she was pretty sure her bones ached too. While she had been unconscious, she had been reliving a lot of past memories. Some of which, she realised, hadn’t been hers, but she could feel them there so clearly that she might as well have lived them. She felt so conflicted, so confused and mixed up that she couldn’t clearly tell what was still her and what wasn’t. She shivered, more out of fear than anything.

Opening her eyes slowly, Lahatiel was greeted by a messy curtain of black hair. Beyond which, was a dully lit clearing. The floor before her, and the angled walls she could see were covered in dark carved runes, lit only from a dull orange-red glow from the sky above. Where once there had been a group of people surrounding her, now there was nothing but silence. As she looked around, the sound of rattling chains followed.

Lahatiel looked up and felt despair tighten her chest. She had been chained to a wall of some sort, her arms suspended above her at an awkward angle. Trying to stand upright, she found she didn’t have the strength to move much, let alone to test the chains that held her. She fought the urge to cry, shaking her head angrily at herself to try and stop the tingling feeling coming from behind her eyes. Shakily, she forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths before continuing her investigation of her situation.

Twisting a little, she looked over the chains and the slab of stone that held her. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before and she knew they were made to contain people like her. That was when she noticed her bare arms. Where before her skin had been pale and bare, her arms were now covered in complex tattoos that almost glowed with a purple-blue energy. She could only guess at their purpose, but she knew those strange robed people she had seen before had something to do with it.

“No no no!” Lahatiel growled in frustration, before letting herself sink back down into the chains embrace. She felt sadness threatening to overwhelm her.

“What is happening to me,” she whispered to herself.

“You are changing,” came the voice of Wrath suddenly, startling Lahatiel. Wrath sounded distant, almost tired. “You are becoming more like me.”

“What!?” Lahatiel shouted, forgetting about the ache in her head. She winced painfully.

A vision of Wrath appeared before her. Hollow, like a spectre. The Sin looked younger than Lahatiel, with wild messy jet-black hair and a tattoo on her face that looked somewhat like Lahatiel’s own, only stretched downward to look more like claw marks.

“Your body is host to a Sin now. And while it waits to see which of our wills’ are stronger, it will take the strongest aspects of both of us. It reflects the attributes of the strongest will.”

The vision of Wrath had streaks of red through her hair, which Lahatiel guessed was her doing. “Is that what I look like?” she asked.

The vision looked down at herself and laughed, a pitiful, hollow laugh. “This is just a projection… But perhaps.”

“Those markings,” Lahatiel said, seeing that Wrath had the same markings on her arms. “What are they?”

“They are containment runes,” Wrath said with a scowl. “Were it not for their interference I would have taken you over already.”

“What do you mean?” Lahatiel asked.

Wrath gave a sort of chuckle, “I mean that while you were unconscious I would have conquered your mind. But this place drains my energy, and those tattoos help keep me contained.”

“I guess I should be thankful then,” Lahatiel said sarcastically.

Wrath retaliated angrily, “I would not consider yourself lucky!” she seethed icily, suddenly increasing her aura and causing Lahatiel to writhe in agony for a few seconds. “It only delays my escape!”

Wrath’s anger only lasted for a few seconds before it subsided and Lahatiel could breathe normally again. “Why me?” she whispered.

“Because you are like me,” Wrath said sounding distant again. Though the image of her was right before Lahatiel. “And you were my way out of here.”

“I am nothing like you,” Lahatiel spat defiantly.

Wrath simply chuckled at this, “oh I have seen your memories Seraph, you are a lot like me. And soon you will become Wrath.”

“No!” Lahatiel screamed, “not so long as I can fight you!”

The projection disappeared suddenly as Wrath pushed inwards. For a moment Lahatiel was simply aware of pain, and the need to fight, to hold on mentally as their wills clashed. Wrath laughed maniacally as they fought, their contest of wills nothing but a game to her.

Pushing back with as much strength as she could muster, Lahatiel allowed her aura’s energy to burn outward until Wrath stopped fighting her abruptly. Lahatiel slumped back against the wall gasping for air, the chains holding her the only thing keeping her upright.

The Sin seemed to be impressed, as she chuckled to herself. “I like you,” she said creepily, “it will be a shame to see you go. But you will be a great host.”

Lahatiel shuddered, “what will happen to me?”

“Sadly, you will cease to be,” Wrath said simply.

“Well I am not ready to die yet,” Lahatiel growled, building up some of her energy for the conflict that would likely happen again soon.

“And I am not ready to be imprisoned again!” Wrath said coldly, and Lahatiel could feel a build up of Wrath’s aura within her, the force of it was overwhelming. “I am tired of being in chains!” Wrath shouted, her voice dripping with anger. “I am tired of the plans of fools!” Wrath’s energy exploded outwards, but this time it was not aimed at Lahatiel. Rather through her. Shadow energy poured out of her and Lahatiel was terrified of its fury. Wrath calmed down quickly, not having the energy to spend on such an outburst. “If I get my hands on that Nihel’im…” she whispered dangerously. Lahatiel felt her hands flexing against her will.

For a while Wrath was quiet, something about the situation had upset her and she had closed herself off. An icy cold anger resonated from her.

Lahatiel allowed Wrath to hide in her misery, instead, using the time to conserve her own energy. She hated being at the mercy of the Sin, having grown to be completely self-reliant over the years she needed to be in control of the situation. There had to be a way to be free of this being within her. She looked around, trying to think of a way out of this place. If she was going to get rid of Wrath, she would need a way out.

Looking at the chains that held her, she had an idea. But she would need some help, and that meant getting Wrath to cooperate. If it worked she might be able to escape. But if it failed… Wrath would get her way, sooner rather than later.

“Listen,” Lahatiel said, feeling strangely like she was talking to herself. “What if I could help you?” Wrath didn’t answer, but Lahatiel figured she had to be listening. “I think I may be able to get us out of here. But I will need your help.” She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping that the crazed Sin would take the bait.

“I am listening,” Wrath said slyly.

Lahatiel shook her head, before realizing that Wrath probably couldn’t see her. “No,” she said firmly. “I won’t tell you, unless you promise to let me go.”

Wrath laughed maniacally, causing Lahatiel to grate her teeth and wince. “Do you think you have a choice?” the Sin said coldly. “I will just make you tell me!” she shouted suddenly in anger, before throwing her aura at Lahatiel. The effect was painful and instantaneous. Using the energy she had saved up, Lahatiel buffered herself against Wrath’s fury, attempting to shield her mind and body from the attack.

They struggled against each other fiercely, all the while Wrath shouted at her. “TELL ME!!!” she roared. But Lahatiel grit her teeth and held the Sin back.

Lahatiel lost all sense of time, before eventually, Wrath gave in.

She growled in frustration, but then laughed. “All right,” she said, sounding rather positive under the circumstances. “I will let you live, for now.” The coldness of her voice sent a shiver down Lahatiel’s spine. She was quite sure the Sin was insane.

“Do you promise to let me stay in control?”

“Yes yes.” Wrath said rather flippantly, “For now. I promise to help you. Now tell me this plan of yours to get us out of here!”

That was really the best Lahatiel could hope for.

Looking up at the chains, she gave them a bit of a tug. “This prison is designed to hold you, correct?” she asked, putting extra emphasis on it.

“Yes, obviously,” Wrath said sarcastically. “What is your point!?”

“Well, they weren’t designed to hold a fire angel were they.”

She could tell Wrath was grinning, “they are made to hold Archon. Not Seraphim.”

“Exactly!” Lahatiel said, “if we combine our energy, I bet we could burn our way out.”

Wrath laughed evilly, “very clever Seraph. Very clever indeed.”

This was the moment, Lahatiel realized. The moment her plan paid off and Wrath helped her, or where the Sin betrayed her. She got her answer as a large amount of energy began pouring into her from somewhere.

“You had better not fail,” Wrath said dangerously.

With the new energy entering her Lahatiel felt her body healing itself. Whatever Wrath’s presence had done to her seemed to be reversing itself, and as all her aches subsided, she started to feel like herself again. Wrath still had an amazing amount of energy and Lahatiel realized worryingly that she probably wouldn’t have held out against her much longer. Putting the thought out of her mind, she focused instead on the task at hand.

Pulling her new energy inward, she focused it until it was ready to burn. Then, with a flash of her wings, she set the air around them ablaze.

Wrath laughed from somewhere, and taking that as encouragement, Lahatiel pushed her energy into the blazing fire of her aura. Hotter and hotter they burned, the prison around them groaning in protest, bits of wall and stone dripping from above. Gritting her teeth, Lahatiel pulled forward against the chains, feeling them stretch and buckle above her. Then with one final burst of strength and energy, something gave way and Lahatiel fell to the ground, surrounded by charred chains and ruins.

Wrath was still laughing.