3
Like being underwater, everything hums around me, growing louder and louder.
I groan in pain, and blink as light violently bursts into my field of vision, blinding me with whiteness.
My head hurts badly, in a way that feels like an axe split it in half.
Why is it so cold that even my leather jacket isn’t enough, and why is the scent of hay creeping into my nose, making my skin itchy?
I start to move cautiously, trying not to let the growing nausea overpower me and release the miserable half-croissant I had forced into myself earlier. If only I could hold my head for a bit…
But I can’t. Ice-cold panic washes over me. My eyes pop open, and everything comes back. Someone pulled me to the ground, and then everything was plunged into darkness.
I’m under the open sky, and the sun’s rays are blinding.
I want to stand up, but I can’t. Desperately, I look around.
I’m in the middle of nowhere, the grass sucked dry by the summer heat.
Directly behind me, there’s a rickety barn, built of reddish-brown wood, but without a roof. I’m tied to one of its columns.
I want to speak, but my mouth is gagged, and only meaningless sounds come from my throat. I try to scream, but I’m hoarse. My hands are tightly bound, but the panic buries all the pain.
I aggressively kick the dust in front of me, trying to break free. Someone steps alongside, forcefully grabbing my face. I stare at my captor with wide eyes.
The black-haired man can’t be much older than me. I can't see a spark of mercy in his brown, almond eyes.
“Shut up!” he yells at me. I whimper as his fingers almost crush my jaw. I plead through the rags, but again only guttural sounds come out. In response, the man tightens his grip on my face.
“I said, shut up!”
Feeling the gag in my mouth loosen, I stop whimpering. I stare at him with tearful eyes, and his voice makes it feel like he’s hitting me with a cymbal, the sound resonating in my head.
The man looks at me for what feels like an eternity, then, as if throwing my face away, he releases me. The buzzing subsides, and fear tightens its grip on me again.
Why was I kidnapped? Is Nathan involved? He was there, he could have seen them taking me. Or is he here too?
I pull up my knees as though it would protect me. Black dots cover my field of vision upon hearing a distant sound of flapping.
I look at my captor as he stares into the distance.
I frown. What is he wearing? The man’s trousers consist of white ribbons winding around his legs, and he has a brown leather vest on.
He could have come straight out of a circus.
He holds a long, gray spear so tightly it’s almost as if it will break from the pressure. Why does he need such a weapon?
I follow his gaze towards the sunbeams. Something descends from the sky. At first, I see a bird's silhouette, but, then it slowly takes on a human form. Okay, what I see now makes no sense at all.
Oh my God. This thing has wings!
Two snow-white angel wings, so majestic that I would gasp if my gag allowed it.
They block the sun from my view as the man descends.
His shoulders are bare and broad, and maybe today I’ve admired two men – okay, one was just a creation of my imagination – but these shoulders could ignite anyone’s imagination at any time.
His skin is much healthier than the imagined white-haired man, and much more radiant than Nathan’s. It’s as if he’s not… not human.
His skin is naturally sun-kissed, white-toned, and with thick tattoos breaking the shiny surface.
For a moment, I forget where I am. I swim in the man’s hard facial features, and he has a perfect physique, as if he just emerged from an MMA competition.
His clothes are similar to those worn by the man who almost broke my jaw, but the difference is that his are speckled… Oh God, it’s blood.
My eyes oscillate between the two men as I try to find a logical explanation for the events unfolding before me. Maybe there’s a metal structure attached to his shoulder that…
As soon as he lands, the wings begin to phosphoresce, as if tiny golden droplets are forming around them. Then the wings retract, disappearing with the glowing mist.
Ah… So, no structure, but… Oh …
I don’t take my medicine anymore. Of course!
Dreams have always been like this. Too vivid, too realistic. Many times, I couldn’t distinguish between the two things.
Now I’m sure I’m not awake. Maybe I collapsed from exhaustion in the middle of the street, and now I’m dreaming that two angels kidnapped me.
Perhaps I couldn’t cope with Nathan’s betrayal, or my parents’ tension, or it’s just the result of medication withdrawal.
I don’t know, but the fear subsides, and my calmness slowly soothes my heartbeat.
I exhale, using my tongue to push away the loose gag while I watch my dream captors.
The arriving angel, covered in blood, speaks with a stern expression. “They followed us,” he says, and it feels like a cymbal is again struck inside my head.
“I don’t understand why we didn’t kill her on the spot,” the black-haired one responds, spitting out the words.
The angel who just arrived looks at me. His dark brown hair hangs sweaty on his forehead, and his heavy breath suggests he may have been fighting someone.
He holds a similar spear to his companion, but both ends are sharp.
His bronze eyes pierce like spikes. He was the one I saw. He kidnapped me.
“Too many were following. They would have taken her away from us,” he answers the black-haired one, although continuing to look at me. “Let’s get it over with.”
I know I’m dreaming, yet the terror hits me in the face. Everything feels so real. The man walks deliberately towards me, each step seemingly filled with pain.
“I’m sorry,” he says, kneeling. He takes out a knife, and my eyes widen. Is he going to kill me?
“I know you deserve better. But believe me, this is best for everyone.”
I struggle to create a small opening under the rag with my tongue. Even though it’s a dream, I don’t want to experience pain.
“Mmmm, youuu donnnn lokinn foo mee!” I manage to mumble.
The man with brown hair stops.
“What? Say that again!”
I glance down towards the rag, and he pulls it out of my mouth.
“I said,” I begin, deciding to lay everything on the table, “I’m probably not the one you were looking for.
I haven’t done anything. If it’s a ransom you want, my father has money.
You’ll get it.” The speech is somehow difficult, and I need to search for words.
Probably the blow to my head slowed me down.
I don’t understand the bewildered expression of the two men. The black-haired one looks at his companion in confusion.
“By Théos’s light, Lavian, did you… did you hear this?”
“You?” Lavian asks me uncertainly. “Where did you learn our language?”
It has to be a joke.
“I moved to Luxembourg when I was a child. I’ve been learning French since then.”
Lavian’s eyebrows first shoot up, then a surprised smile spreads across his face.
“You have no idea what language you just spoke, do you?”
Today’s events flash before my eyes. The Chinese janitor, then Nathan’s incredulous look when he asked how I know Greek. How is this possible? And this man in front of me now claims that I speak their language, and…
I freeze, staring into his bronze eyes, which are anything but human. In a dream, I shouldn’t be able to think like this. I shouldn’t experience a dream in such detail. Sweat drips down my forehead.
This is not a dream. This is reality.
Panic boosts my pulse. I scream at the top of my lungs, kicking the man kneeling in front of me with all my strength.
Lavian barely moves, like only a fly had hit his well-defined chest. He shakes his head.
“We won’t kill you, calm down!”
I blink in confusion while the black-haired man looks at me with pity. The hate in his gaze has changed to uncertainty.
“What does all of this mean?”
“I don’t know,” Lavian admits, looking at me one last time before turning to his companion. “We have to take her to Herebu.”
“And if it’s a trap? They might have taught her our language…”
“You know that’s impossible. Open the gate and…”
Suddenly, both their heads snap in the same direction. I follow their gaze, but all I see is the blue sky. The angels grip their spears. When their eyes meet, it’s as if a practiced, wordless exchange is happening between them.
“Open the gate!” Lavian repeats.
“And if they break through?”
“We must open it, or they’ll outnumber us. It’s our only chance!”
The black-haired man nods almost imperceptibly, then turns back to me in the next moment, while his companion leaps into the air, his wings reappearing.
“Take her too! I’ll follow,” he shouts down. The black-haired man hesitates, biting his lower lip.
I barely have time to comprehend the implication. He’s already beside me, cutting my bonds and pulling me towards the other side of the barn.
“Wait,” I start, but he ignores me. I don’t want to leave this place. I don’t know what Herebu is or what’s happening. I try to resist and move in the opposite direction, but the man pulls me forcefully towards him and looks into my eyes. I smell salt, as if he came from the seaside.
“Listen to me! We won’t kill you, but those who are coming will. So, either you are coming with me without a word, or…” he says, and in his almond-shaped dark brown eyes, I see the cruel spark again, “they will catch you, and at the end of the torture, you’ll beg for a simple death. Got it?”
I stand before him with my mouth open. The angel – because, somehow, I’ve already decided in my mind that these are angels – curses to himself while letting out a loud, angry blast of air like a mad bull.
“I don’t have time for this,” he says, continuing to drag me to the western side of the barn.
Once behind the shaky building, he lets go.
“I have to open a gate that your stupid mind can’t comprehend. If you run, I’ll throw my hastam into you,” he hisses at me, lifting his spear with his hand. I obediently remain where I am.
The angel thrusts his spear into the ground, takes a step back, then extends his arms forward.
A glittering golden cloud rises from his hands, similar to the one I saw when Lavian’s wings disappeared.
The light illuminates the long weapon protruding from the soil, and loops around it. The angel’s body ripples like a mirage.
He turns towards me, while continuing to send light towards the hastam. He surveys me as I stand there submissively, and his tense features relax. Then, a dark shadow emerges from nothing and knocks him off his feet.
I barely have time to panic as the shadow ripples and comes to life.
A dark, muscular monster with black tendons snarls at me with its skull-like face.
Its sharp claws cut through the ground, and saliva drips from its long fangs onto its cracked skin.
With a spiky tongue, it licks its mouth, eyes gleaming with hunger.
Its body tenses, like a panther preparing to pounce on me.
My lower lip trembles – I’ve seen this monster before.
The black figure rushes towards me. I break out of my immobility, stagger towards the barn wall, and clumsily throw my arm in front of me.
There’s a snap, and the monster’s head separates from its body, landing beside me.
My stomach turns, but someone grabs my wrist and forces me to look at them.
Lavian’s bronze eyes hold my gaze with determination.
“Stay behind me!” he commands. In the next moment, spinning his hastam, he turns towards the approaching creatures.
The angel moves like he was born for this, as if able to watch in four different directions at once.
His movements resemble those of a dancer, and his spear is like a baton.
He strikes, thrusts, and leans on it. I scream, ducking as a monster’s severed head flies above me.
An explosion of black blood covers everything, including me.
I press my hand to my mouth. The smell is suffocating, like a mixture of rotting carcasses.
I can’t move. More screeching creatures arrive and look to target me, but they get stuck behind my kidnappers.
The black-haired angel twirls his spear in front of him.
White light emanates from it, the same light he intended to use to open a thing he called a gate.
The demons are either harmed or dispersed by its effect.
One monster cuts through the defense, and it lunges at me with its sharp teeth and snake-like tongue.
With the last ounce of my presence of mind, I evade it.
Luckily, the momentum of the massive, tall monster is too great, so it flies over me.
However, it catches my T-shirt with its leg and drags me along.
Its body crashes through one of the sides of the barn, and we tumble into the tattered hay bales.
I groan as the pain from the impact courses through my spine.
The creature jumps up and shakes its body like a dog drying off.
My shirt tears apart, leaving my upper body exposed, and I feel terribly vulnerable.
I crawl backward like a spider, desperate and whimpering, attempting to protect myself from the monster.
I can’t do anything else because I am so utterly useless.
The creature slowly approaches, and my bones shudder in response to its growls.
This is like a terrible nightmare. Actually, this is exactly how my nightmares are!
The creature’s teeth click as though it can already taste me.
I hear a noise behind me. A damp cold runs down my spine. Someone puts their hand over my mouth, silencing me with their long fingers. Another arm wraps around my waist.
Human hands , I realize, and for a moment, I think they might belong to one of the angels. I manage to turn my head, but all I see is silver-white hair. A strong, fiery scent, reminiscent of earth at night, hits me. It’s so familiar…
The black monster hesitates. It looks at us in confusion, then howls – clearly fear has paralyzed it.
The figure holding me expels onto the ground a sticky, black tar from their hand.
It crawls towards the monster like a snake, then climbs its leg and envelops it.
The liquid evaporates, and along with it, the monster vanishes.
I barely dare to breathe. Has this unknown person saved me?
Who is he?
Suddenly, he lifts me off the ground and pulls me towards him. I can just make out a few familiar features before he embraces me tightly, then we fade into nothingness.