What Darkness Fears
Beneath our world, there are other worlds that most humans refuse to let themselves see. We tell ourselves there's nothing to fear in the darkness but deep down we know it's a lie. Deep in the shadows, Angels and Demons battle the eternal battle for the souls of all mankind.
A battle that has now come down to the choice of one. A choice that will ultimately force Serena to choose between the fate of all and the fate of the one who holds her heart, the half human half demon son of the demon king on earth.
Title: What Darkness Fears
Pre-Prologue
Before the birth of the Human World (the Middle Kingdom) there were two worlds that could never be at peace but were able to co-exist.
In the Upper Kingdom (Heaven) Angels dwelled in light and love.
In the Lower Kingdom (Hell, or the Underworld) dwelled all those who had defied the laws of heaven and had long ago been banished. These beings, these fallen angels, had once been powerful angels of heaven, but over time they became something else, something just as powerful, but evil and twisted. Not just their souls but also their physical bodies had been altered until they no longer resembled angels of heaven. These beings earned a new name – Demons. A powerful, evil and ruthless race.
Of the fallen angels, the most powerful was Lucifer who had been sealed into hell for all of time for crimes so heinous that it was forbidden to even speak his name in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Upper Kingdom was unable to be touched by any of the Lower Kingdom, and the Upper Kingdom held no interest in gracing Hell. With Demons unable to enter heaven and the Angels unwilling to enter hell, an unsteady truce was in place.
One day, the most powerful force in all the Kingdoms, known to the Angels as "Father," the creator of Heaven and Hell, created a third kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and gave it too a new people, Mankind. Man, who was created from both good and evil, was given the gift of free will from the Father and in doing so, each would choose their own fate, their own way, their own side.
And for a time, the Middle Kingdom, under the love and guidance of the Upper Kingdom, lived in peace. And so it remained, until a powerful demon discovered a way to break into the Middle Kingdom and influenced the naïve humans into doing his bidding. With each dark act, the Demon, and Hell itself, grew stronger.
To protect the Middle Kingdom, the Father tasked the Angels with the duty of protecting the human race, but with one rule. They could not take away free will of those of the Middle Kingdom.
And so the war began, with neither side ever able to gain an advantage. A war that would never have an end as long things remained as they were.
For hundreds of millennia, the war continued for the souls of all mankind, always hidden from mortal eyes.
And then it seemed that the impossible came to pass. An Angel and a Demon fell in love and gave life to a child, a child that was both and neither. As punishment for their treason, the Demon was killed and the Angel was forever more forbidden to leave the Kingdom of Heaven.
The child, with no place in the Upper or Lower kingdom, was cast to Earth.
Two decades passed and the child had no clue from where she had come. Until one day the war spilled into her home and she discovered she had powers over Angels and Demons alike.
And so it was this child who tipped the scales to the side of good and for a time prevented the Demons from claiming the Middle Kingdom for themselves.
Ever since that day, every five thousand years, a direct descendant would be gifted with the powers and abilities of the mixed supernatural bloodline. A human child, who at the age of maturity would receive immortality, could tip the scales of the balance or preserve it. And so, every five millennia the child chose. Although only a rare few ever sided against the Angels, always the Angels were wary, as with each child they were either the protectors or the destroyers.
And so the time had come once again for the next chosen child to be born into the world under the Serenity Moon, the one who would decide the course of the war for the next five thousand years . . .
Prologue
Never had he seen the moon shine so brightly nor look as large as it did this night.
Like the star that had guided the three kings, it was proof that the foretold night had come. This was the night, in which the Serenity Moon ruled the night sky, that a very special child would be born. A human child with the blood of all three Kingdoms. A child that would decide the fate of the Immortal War for the next five thousand years until the next chosen child was born.
The child was known by many names. To those of Hell, he was known as "the Half-blood" and to the angels he was known as either "the Chosen Child" or "The Light". Unless of course, the child chose against the angels, in which case the child became known, to the angels, as "the Condemned."
The power of the supernatural world was heavy in the cool night air, making it known across the three kingdoms, that the child would soon be born. The moment the child was born into the world, a shockwave of power would ripple through the three Kingdoms: Earth, Heaven and Hell, proclaiming the birth of the child. A tremor of immense power felt only by the divine, the immortal and the condemned.
In other words, the Angels, the Demons and anything else that had managed to claw its way out of hell.
Darien, who had once been – and to a very few still was – known by the name Endymion, stepped out of the shadows and looked up at the brightly glowing moon. It was a quiet night in Los Angeles, the city of Angels, even by his standards. Humans may not have been able to feel the power in the air, but their instincts warned them that it was a night to stay indoors. Angels and Demons alike were on the move tonight. The city was crawling with restless soldiers and powerful beings of both sides that for one night had little interest in fighting with the each other. All attention was focused on the birth of the child and what it would mean for the coming five millennia.
It seemed fitting to Darien that the child would be born in the City of Angels. After all, it was the duty of the angels to protect the child until he became of age and choose his side. Until the child came of age it was law that no one could touch or even go near the child, demon and angel alike, with only one exception. The Guardians. One angel and one demon, both powerful, but forbidden from influencing the child in any form. They were to protect the child until he was of age, and then all bets were off.
The race to find and sway the child began the second the child came of age and inherited his awesome power. In that moment, he could be forced to make his choice known. A choice that could never be undone as long as the Chosen lived.
The previous Chosen child, who would die the moment the next chosen child was born, had chosen to stand with the angels. And so hell had been unable to claim the earth and the humans for themselves. But another chance had come and hell would be fighting and would stop at nothing to have the child on their side.
"Can you feel it?" A familiar voice said from the shadows behind him. "The child will be born soon."
Darien was not startled, nor taken by surprise. He hadn't known that he was there, but there were only a few who he couldn't sense and none of them would cause him harm. Those of hell would not dare touch him for fear of his father, and the one angel, who he was not able to sense, had by choice sworn him no harm.
Darien turned to see the beautiful angelic figure dressed completely in white step out of the shadows. Even though he had been in the shadows, the shadows had not touched him. He had a hint of a glow around him, which all angels seemed to have. His beauty, the ethereal glow and his eyes were the only physical betrays of his celestial status. Darien knew him, even if he didn't recognise his current vessel. Angels had no physical body on earth like demons did. When an angel wished to take physical form they had to take a human body. But despite the constant change in the vessel, Darien always recognised him for what he was by the air of power and superiority he carried around him. However, this one was not as superior or as self-righteous as the rest of his kind, instead he almost seemed to feel a form of kinship towards Darien, something that confounded Darien completely. .
He was the powerful angel Cassiel. The only angel who had never looked upon Darien as the hated enemy; he greeted him as a friend.
In truth, Darien was his enemy by birthright. He was half-demon and half-human. The half-blooded son of the Demon High Lord who, for lack of a better title, was the king of the demons on Earth, but Darien chose to keep out of his father's war. He wanted no part of it.
It had always been that way, even before his father had killed his mother and had tried to frame the Angels.
It had been Cassiel who had revealed the truth to Darien.
Darien had never understood why Cassiel came to him, why he had interfered with his father's attempts at manipulating him into taking his place as the demon prince. He was unsure how he felt about it, slightly annoyed, but still hopeful. Maybe his humanity wasn't so far gone; maybe he wasn't as forsaken as he believed. That was the truth to why he tolerated the angel even though Cassiel irritated Darien to no end with his riddles and cryptic council.
"Pray that my father cannot get a reading on him before your brothers can cloak him." Darien said gently. "My father wants that child. He wants this world. His impatience is making the demon kind edgy. He is willing to cross any lines to get his way. Even the Absolute Laws that protect the child."
Cassiel considered him for a long time, as if trying to get a read on him, even though it wasn't possible. Demons were immune to the prying ways of the Angels, only humans and other Angels were susceptible to their abilities. He was human but he was still protected. "And you do not share your father's desires?"
"I hold no interest in this war, you know that." Darien spoke truthfully, sounding fatigued even though Angels and Demons alike did not sleep. That was a human weakness. He could sleep, because he was half human, but he did not need too. He rarely did. Why leave himself so vulnerable to attack? But it was nice to have the option of retreating from the world for a few short hours. Immortality had long ago become a burden. "I just want to be left alone."
Cassiel gave him a knowing smile. The angel had the gift of foresight; he could see the future, a gift so few Angels and Demons possessed. He could even pass through time as he willed it. His expression told Darien that he knew something that he wasn't going to tell, which wasn't anything new. "You will. Destiny's claim of you will be born with the child. Heed my words, Darien, you will not be able to hide from this war much longer. The child, once grown, will determine not just the fate of the war and mankind for the next five thousand years, but your fate as well."
"Not everything you see is certain, Cassiel."
"It is a rare occasion when something I see does not come to pass." He said without superiority or arrogance, just truth.
Companionable silence fell between then for a beat before Cassiel went on, his tone knowing and certain. "Your father seeks you. He wants you by his side as the prince he believes you to be. His only born son. His only male heir."
Darien's curse. He had only one sibling, a younger sister. His father had wanted a second son to replace the one he had lost – Darien wanted his father's blood, he was no longer considered an ally of the demon – when he had betrayed him by killing his mother but so far he had only managed to conceive a daughter, born only a year ago. Reiizon, the demon word for daughter.
It was fortunate that it was almost impossible for Demons to have children. With other demons it was impossible, but with humans there was a small chance of conception. Darien didn't know if Angels could bear children, it had never come up and Darien knew that few – if any – ever mated. At all. They were so obsessed with their duty and their missions, that there was so little time for anything else.
Although, according to the legend of the Chosen children, there was a chance that angels and demons could mate, although it remained untested in modern times as demons and angels despised each other.
Darien blinked, realising that he had allowed his thoughts to drift. He returned his attention to the conversation at hand. "My father is always seeking me."
Cassiel gave no indication of even noticing Darien's moment of distraction.
"Yes, but now he seeks you more than ever. His seer has told him that one day the Chosen child will fall into your hands. That you and you alone, will decide the fate of the Chosen one. That you will have the power to sway the Chosen one to the darkness."
Darien couldn't have been more shocked if the angel had told him that he was going to sprout wings and be welcomed into heaven. "Will I?"
Cassiel shrugged casually.
Darien scoffed. "How will I be able to sway him? No, the Seer is wrong. She has been before. My father forgets that; he puts too much faith in what she sees."
"Your sister will have sight. She will be much stronger and much more reliable than your father's current Seer. The Seer will not see her death coming when your father realises what he has in his daughter."
Translation: Cassiel has seen his father kill his current Seer once his father realises that there is a stronger one that he can more easily control.
"With her at his side, maybe he will let me live in peace."
Cassiel gave no reply.
A powerful pulse rippled through the air like a shockwave, instantly turning the head of every immortal towards the direction from which it had come.
They both looked up at the moon. There was something in the air, the feeling that something momentous had begun.
"And so the child is born." Darien whispered.
"And the fight for sway over the child begins. The poor soul, always running, always hiding and never truly understanding their fate. At least not until the time comes."
"His fate will not be a kind one. Which angel is charged with his protection until he is of age and he can choose his side?"
Cassiel grinned, a friendly glint in his eyes. "Now, Darien, you know I can't tell you that."
"Well for his sake, I hope it's not Ariel. The cold hearted ruthless bastard. He would sooner slay him than allow him to make his choice."
Cassiel's smile faded. "It is true, some of my brothers are less empathetic than others, but nonetheless, even the angels cannot harm the child until the choice is made."
Darien turned and looked at him. The angel had wisdom and something else in his eyes, something that almost looked like amusement. "You know which side the child will choose."
Cassiel looked up at the moon, sadness on his face. "This child will be different from those before. This Chosen will change things in ways you cannot imagine." Cassiel looked down into Darien's eyes. "This child will even bring about change in you."
Darien turned away from him, not believing the angel for a second. Angels, especially Cassiel, were self-confident and arrogant in believing that every step they took was the right one. The angel was wrong; Darien wanted nothing to do with the war or his father or the child.
If his father was searching for him again then he had to leave the city. It was too bad, he had always liked the City of Angels, but he had no choice. He would never again be part of this war, a war he wanted no part in ever again.
Darien turned to leave, but Cassiel's words made him pause.
"You can't run from this, Endymion. Your part to play in this is too significant."
It had been the use of his true name that had stopped him. Cassiel had never addressed him by the name his father had given him.
"Run if you may, but it will change nothing. Sooner or later we all have to face what it is we are running from."
Darien turned around to tell him otherwise, but when he turned the angel was gone. Out of habit, he scanned the darkness around him but as he had known, there was nothing. Cassiel was gone and once again he had only left behind his usual cryptic parting words.
Darien looked up at the moon. 'I wish good luck to you child, but we will never meet. I will never again be part of this war.'
And he stepped forward into the shadows and a moment later the street was deserted with no sign of any life at all.
On the other side of the city, a bloody new born child lay in the moonlight and cried, paying no heed to the two men in the corner of the room watching. Two men whom not one of the doctors or doctors in the delivery room could see.
Unnoticed by any in the crowded room, the mother of the newborn, still on the delivery table, looked directly at the two men, one of who seemed to be part of the shadows while the other was glowing, both still unnoticed in the shadows of the corner of the room.
"Protect her." It was a warning and a plea.
The glowing figure met her eyes and bowed his head once, before he and his companion disappeared into the shadows of the corner of the room.
With motherly love, in her wise and knowing eyes, she turned her attention to her daughter. A daughter she would never know, but even with that sadness in her heart, the smile she gave the newborn was one of motherly love and happiness. "Serena," She whispered as the nurse handed her her daughter.
Knowing her seconds were fleeting, she kissed her daughter on her tiny soft forehead, and softly started to sing her lullaby, even knowing she would never finish the whole lullaby.
"Angels in heaven watch over from above,
Always know that you are loved."
As the last word passed her lips, the mother felt all her strength and life force leave her and she fell limp against the bed. The alarms of the heart monitor beside her sounded, signalling a flat line to the room full of medical personnel.
"With the next born onto the world, the one before goes onto heaven." Cassiel whispered unseen from the doorway as he watched the room light up with a light only the immortals could see and the spirit of the previous chosen be claimed by heaven.
And so it began, the beginning of the end.