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.