"Ugh… my head…" Russel groaned as he woke up.
He tried to sit up to find himself blocked by Kathleen resting her head on his leg sleeping. He stroked her hair and thought back to the events he last remembered.
"I remember everything about the fight… But that thing… A vision maybe? The woman referred to me as her son…" Russel pondered.
He heard a groan and a stirring from near his leg. Kathleen yawned and rubbed her eyes before looking at Russel, an immediate smile coming to her face.
"You're awake!" She shouted jumping onto him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.
Russel flinched expecting pain in his shoulder from where the dagger hit him. Surprisingly, he felt no such pain.
"My shoulder… A dagger hit me there… How long have I been out?" Russel asked thinking it had healed over a long period of time.
"Two days." She answered.
Russel was flabbergasted. Only two days to heal a wound that had been caused by a large, sharp projectile. Yet it had healed in only two days.
"How… In so little time…" Russel pondered.
"I'm not sure. Dad used some strange paste to treat it." Kathleen told him.
"Where is Father Edward?" Russel asked.
"I think he said he would be spending the day in the archive below the great hall…" Kathleen recalled.
Russel got out of bed and started to walk out the door.
"Where are you going?" Kathleen asked.
"I have some questions I need to ask him." Russel told her, leaving the room.
He emerged into the long dormitory hallway and began to walk towards the great hall. He wasn't exactly sure where the archive was. He knew of its existence and location but not its entrance. Only the Father and a few others were granted access.
He emerged into the great hall and started to pat down the walls.
"There has got to be a switch or something…" Russel said, continuing to pat the walls.
He heard footsteps behind him and then a familiar voice spoke.
"I appreciate you wanting to help, but there are better ways to clean the wall." Father Edward joked.
"We need to talk." Russel told the man directly.
"About what exactly?" The father asked.
"When I was fighting… That… That thing in the street… It claimed it was a demon, saying as well it was one of my own… And when I blacked out from being choked I had some sort of vision…" Russel tried to explain.
The father looked sadly at the ground and sighed.
"So… I guess it's time you finally learned the truth." Father Edward explained motioning for Russel to follow him.
Though he was confused by what the Father meant he followed and watched as the father walked over to the bottom of the stairs and muttered something, causing a door to appear.
"How?" Russel asked.
"The world is not as simple as you have grown up believing. It is full of magic and mystery. Plentiful together, but rarely separate." The father said stepping through the newly revealed doorway.
Russel followed behind him and went down a narrow flight of stairs. They emerged into a large room full of shelves upon shelves of books and artifacts.
"Amazing…" Russel said in awe of the sight in front of him.
"This is the result of four hundred years of scavenging and recovering by many people, both inside of the order and out." The Father said stopping for a moment before continuing to walk.
Eventually the pair reached a table and took a seat on either side.
"Tell me what you saw in this vision." The Father inquired.
Russel explained the woman emerging from a flame, calling him both a Falling Angel and her son.
"Well then… That note I found alongside you all those years ago was quite accurate… That lines right up with the prophecy." The father sighed.
"What do you mean? What prophecy?" Russel asked.
"All in due time my boy. For now we must settle some things. You are of the demonic race, this much is certain. When I found you I was washing up in the river, when I saw black feathers floating downstream… I followed them and found a bloodsoaked black wing, a telltale sign of a demon. I was going to leave it per my training until I heard you crying inside of it. I was just a preacher at that time… With a newborn daughter I knew how much a baby needed its family, so I took you in. A crime against the order punishable by execution, I knew this but I was willing to take that risk if it meant saving a child. Besides, I had always wanted a son." The Father explained smiling at the last part.
"So… I am a demon…" Russel said distraught.
"Yes. Though you are of the rare and more powerful variety. Thousands of years ago when Lucifer was cast down from the divine realm he was sent to Oblivion, a fiery land of damned souls. In this place he fell in love with a wandering soul, using his powers to make them into an angel. But like he was now, this angel was corrupt. Like him she went from bearing white to later black wings, and when they had a child it too had black wings. The child was born unhealthy and premature. Lucifer blamed his father and out of his spite and hatred created the demons, a race capable of little emotion and existed to carry out his bidding. However, since the demons were made from Lucifer's emotions they shared a lot of similarities. Thus the demon race was formed, with Lucifer at the top followed by his lover and child. Those related to Lucifer by blood came to be known as fallen angels. Lucifer began to create more powerful demons from who he judged the most worthy from the wandering souls. Eventually, he had built a nation of the new demon race, and to officially join it himself, he threw away his name and replaced it with what people called him from then on. His new name was Satan." The father explained recounting the legend.
"So during the fight… When I sprouted those black wings…" Russel trailed off into thought.
"That is the sign of a fallen angel. A demon either bears no wings, or has been recognized by Satan and granted wings though they appear tattered. What troubles me is the fact that a demon still lived, let alone wandered our world… After the holy war both the demons and fallen angels were supposed to have been eradicated." The Father said, clearly troubled by this revelation.
"Holy war?" Russel inquired.
"The holy war lasted five hundred years. It was a brutal conflict that started when the Order of the Dove was established. The holy warriors are said to have charged into Oblivion in order to eradicate the demon race, fearing they were planning an attack on the divine realm. The holy warriors at first tore through the ranks of the demon race and the monsters Satan had created, and eventually split Oblivion into eight plains, the seven outskirts and the central plain. Fifty years ago the war finally came to an end when Satan was killed by an angel with the holy sword Excalibur. The demons and fallen angels were said to have died after that… But both you and the demon you fought are living proof of that evident lie." The Father explained.
"So… Who is the good guy?" Russel asked.
"What do you mean?" The Father asked.
"Surely one group is in the right and the other in the wrong." Russel reasoned.
"Let me teach you the one fundamental truth of our world boy, there is no good and bad. There is no light and there is no dark, there is no black and there is no white." The Father said sincerely.
"Well… That sounded like three to me." Russel jokes.
"You always have been a sarcastic one!" The father laughed aloud.
Russel asked many more questions about the demons, even asking about his parents. Though the Father knew very little and was incapable of answering most of the questions.
"You mentioned a prophecy earlier." Russel reminded him.
"I may be wrong, but I don't think I am. Though to understand my position you must see the note I found you with." The father told him.
He got up and went to a lockbox a few feet away, opening it and revealing an aged piece of parchment. He placed it in Russels hands and he began to read.
To whomever fate has brought my child upon,
I have failed in my duty of guarding my child and have entrusted him to destiny to guide his path to new beginnings. I have no idea how long or how far he has traveled, or if this note is in a foreign language to it's reader. But I trust the boy to fate nonetheless. Though I have no right to do so, I beg of the one who is to read this note to take care of the child, a boy we have called Russel.
He is destined for things bigger than anyone's imagination.
I am forever in your debt.
"It still doesn't make sense to me." Russel told the father.
"That was only one piece of the puzzle. Give me a moment to find the other." The Father said getting up once more.
Russel watched as he walked into the maze of bookshelves, taking ten minutes to return with a large scroll.
"Wow…" Russel said looking at the worn and dusty material.
"This prophecy was delivered by an oracle two hundred and fifty years ago, in the midst of the holy war." The Father explained handing Russel the scroll.
Russel took the scroll and opened it carefully, making sure not to damage the old material.
The Rapture
Days shall come when the sky shall burn
After both divine and demon have fought tooth and nail
A single one of the fallen
The last who shall remain
Shall take hold of destiny's reins
From the depths of his power the demons shall be reforged
Son of Satan's sibling and a demon lord
The crimson river shall guide his path
To a sacred place of demon past
Through trials he shall face
An angels blood he shall taste
Seven plains, seven trials
All accumulating into his own guile
The blood he shall spill shall drip like the rain
Though he will not shed it for personal gain
When the times comes all shall come to arms
So many battles one would stop raising the alarms
When his power is complete
No angel shall be able to compete
Armed with his powers he shall charge into the heart of corruption
In a mountain of fire in the midst of an eruption
Russel read and reread the prophecy many times still unsure how the Father thought it related to him.
"I don't see how this involves me…" Russel said honestly.
"Recount the details of your fight against the demon for me." The father asked.
Russel recounted the entire battle for the man who was smiling by the end.
"The grey light… That must be a balance between purification and corruption… The white light of the divine and the black light of the demons… Your powers are mysterious… but could unlock some secrets about your true lineage…" The Father explained.
"How do I go about unlocking this secret then?" Russel asked.
"I'm not sure… I'd recommend living the way you have been. Living amongst us humans and doing your whole thing of saving folks in the slum." The father sighed.
"You know about the slums…" Russel said surprised at the Father's knowledge.
"Of course I do. You are still practically my son you know." The Father laughed.
"Can I still marry Kathleen? Did you truly mean what you said the other day knowing I'm a demon?" Russel asked.
"Of course I did, and my answer hasn't changed. I may be wrong in thinking the prophecy is about you, and it may not even come to pass." The Father explained.
Russel thanked him and left the archives.
'I can only pray that this is a false prophecy…' The father thought before following Russel.