Fallen Faith - part 2 (755 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Kaote
Rating: 2 on 23 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by kaos-king (antius777) (View user info) at 2005-09-22 15:28:22 EDT
Last Chapter - http://www.ubersite.com/m/75609
Vasquez stood aghast at the talking corpse hanging from the noose. It had jerked it's head again in his direction, small bones snapping like twigs, flesh tearing under the thick ropes. Vomit lay drenched down the front of the man's shirt, stinking even in the few feet away. Eyelids shuddered open to reveal golden orbs shinning back at Vasquez. His initial beliefs may have been wrong. Maybe he was in Hell.
"Quite jittery for a former member of the Heavenly Host," croaked the corpse.
"How do you know me?"
"Oh, I know many things, many things, indeed. I know, for instance, that you currently believe that you may have ended up in the Infernal Realm after all."
"You can read my mind?"
"No, just an assumption."
The wind blew stronger from the East, and the stench of the decay and vomit grew stronger. As a mortal, Vasquez would have already fallen sick, gagging at such smells. Now, although he was aware of them, it did not bother him so.
"So I am dead, and in Hell?" he asked.
"Were you not listening, Angel? I said you were not. I said you were in the Par-Uhmbra. Quite a different place, though some would argue the distinction."
"This makes no sense! I shot myself, killed myself. I know it. How could I have ended up here?"
"Well, you see Angel, that's where things..."
"Lucinda. She must have interfered in some way. Transported me out of harm's way. Perhaps retrieved me from Hell. I don't know why she would go to all the trouble, but..."
"Angel!" roared the man hanging from the gallows.
Vasquez looked back up at him. The extensive twisting had torn deep grooves into his neck, and the weight of the body was severing the head slowly. Seemingly unaffected, the man licked his lips in what looked like delight.
"Understand this, my time is short in this vessel so listen to what I have to say."
Vasquez nodded and grudgingly stepped closer.
"There is a Holy Trinity made up between Heaven, Earth, and Hell, what is known as the Archguard. Good, Evil, and Neutrality. Things there have stayed in balance that way for eons. You are aware of the Plane of The Mythic, yes? The Realm known as the Uhmbra? Sometimes called the astral plane or sheol, it has but one shade, one opposite. The Par-Uhmbra. The Uhmbra and The Par-Uhmbra are beyond such petty things as good or evil, but there is no balancing agent, no buffer between the two."
"But... but I've never heard of the Par-Uhmbra. Never in my time in Heaven or my time on Earth. How could such a thing..."
"Silence. The Par-Uhmbra thrives on secrecy and in shadows. It lives in the corner of your eye, in between the spaces of letters. While the Uhmbra has stories written in its glory, we here kill those who whisper our name outside. Few know we are here, and even fewer know why."
"Why? Why does any place exist? I don't understand! What does this have to do with me?"
"I brought you here, Angel. I brought you here to free us from the tyranny of being. Only one such as yourself could do it, only a creature as pure and as wretched. Someone who is both an ancient and an infant. Only one who has fallen and risen again. Only you, Angel."
"Stop calling me that! My name is Vasquez, I am an Angel no longer!"
"Just because the Heavenly Host banished you, that does not mean that you are no longer Divine. Fallen and risen, Angel, fallen and risen."
"Who are you to meddle in my affairs? Who are you to meddle in the affairs of God? I merely want to sleep, I just want to..."
"What you want was never an option. Not when you obeyed the Allfather, not in your pitiful short time as a mortal, and not now. You have always been an agent for things greater than yourself. Come to accept your duties."
"It was my failure to accept those duties that got me cast out to begin with," swore Vasquez.
"It matters not. Your fate was written long ago before you were ever created. That rebellious streak was planted into you by the Creator so you would eventually end up here. Did you actually think any of this was left up to chance?"
Vasquez stared hard at the body swinging from the nose. "Are you saying that the All Mighty meant for me to Fall?"
"Of course, you fool! It was all part of..."
Vasquez reached out with both hands and gripped onto the legs of the corpse. Pulling with his weight, he heard the animated voice scream a "no" right before the head separated from the torso.
"Did you see that coming?" asked Vasquez to the decapitated body that now lay silent.
He sat down beside it and began to weep. How much of what the strange voice told him could he believe? Was he really in some dark mirror dimension of the Uhmbra that no one had ever spoken of? He should not have acted so rashly and brought down the body like that. He should have tried the get more information from the ghoul. But what he was saying... blasphemy! That the Allfather would have sacrificed him to a place like this for some devious plan! Then again... things had been going strangely in Heaven over the last few centuries. Mammon's return was the last straw for him.
Mammon. If Vasquez didn't know better, that rogue Angel was probably behind all of this. A slaughterer of children had no soul, at least not one that couldn't be any blacker than Satan's himself's. Thoughts of Satan took him to Grace. He worried about her and how she took his death. At least she had Ed there to watch over her. Maybe they would finally find comfort in each other's arms. He knew how Ed felt about her. Such mortal pain, such mortal turmoil...
Vasquez rose to his feet. Enough of this, he thought to himself. Even if he was no longer an Angel, it appeared he was no longer a mortal either. He would not be dragged down with despair as a feeble fleshling would. Once he had soared through infinity on wings made of golden light. He had fought the Traitorous Ones with flaming swords. He had once been an Angel of the Heavenly Host. He should, by the force of God's secret names, act like one.
He dusted off his navy peacoat and reached into his inner pocket and got out his cigarettes. Retrieving his lighter, he once again tried to light it. Still no luck. Where ever this path lead him, there better be fire. He may not have been mortal any longer, but he still liked his smokes.
User Reviews
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-10-26 13:50:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm loking the Artwork.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2006-10-01 10:11:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by RyuFu (user info) at 2005-09-28 12:47:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have to finish reading your stuff so I can get back to work....yeah...
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-09-26 09:16:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by fallenangel (user info) at 2005-09-23 14:22:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Damn you for making it another cliffhanger and forcing me to come back more often than I have time for.
Submitted by iradney (user info) at 2005-09-23 05:07:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
you never disappoint
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-09-22 23:35:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
*twitch*
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-09-22 22:44:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2005-09-22 17:19:22 (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm finding Vasquez intensely likable.
******************
I liked how he acted in this installment.
Dude, I think this stuff far and away surpasses your other stuff. The characterization is better, the plot is intriguing, there are hardly any typos, the story is more believable...In fact, I feel bad about giving your other stuff +2s now, in comparison to this. Pardon me while I go 0 your other posts to balance this out.
Just kidding. Keep it up, man.
Submitted by Magic_Monkey (user info) at 2005-09-22 22:25:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
More ... more ... MORE !!!!
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2005-09-22 20:09:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Your use of imagery is always stunning.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2005-09-22 19:43:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Vasquez is a cool name. Among other things.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2005-09-22 19:37:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Everything I'm posting here has already been posted on pulseHEAD and my one short story "Again With The Blood" is on Nicholas Grabowski's Downwarden.com site. That same short story is being published in an audiobook anthology by Horror Punk Productions. I have a novel almost completed at 87,000 words called "Petty Like A God." I have a shitty little website that details some of the other projects I've been working on at http://antius777.freeservers.com
Submitted by Barnymeinhoff (user info) at 2005-09-22 19:28:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think its about time you approached a publisher.
what other if any sites or projects are you involved in at the moment?
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2005-09-22 17:36:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
...
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2005-09-22 17:19:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm finding Vasquez intensely likable.
Submitted by indigogecko (user info) at 2005-09-22 17:11:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
this is really good stuff. Can't wait for the next installment! :)
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2005-09-22 16:13:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No STD's
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-09-22 16:12:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-09-22 15:47:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Dreg (user info) at 2005-09-22 15:42:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Average_Dan (user info) at 2005-09-22 15:39:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Kaos,
If you don't put the rest of this up here I'm GOING TO SCREEEAAMM!!
Just kidding, I've just never been good at waiting. Maybe that's how I got salamanilla(sp)??
Submitted by ajanssen (user info) at 2005-09-22 15:37:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You are a talented man. If only I had the outragoeus amount of time you spend in front of a computer. Im insanely jealous. Now lets go club those seals, meet me at http://www.newgrounds.com/seals/
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-09-22 15:31:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
rockin....