Is anyone still reading this story?
Because I have the feeling that this is not the case, since I haven't gotten any feedback in MONTHS.
So if nobody is reading this I see no reason to keep updating it...
Chapter 6
Screams in the dark; drawn by panic and pain, they cut through the irrepressible din of the ongoing battle.
A battle, in which many of his brothers and sisters lost their lives.
A battle, which he would rather have forgotten forever, but he remembered what had happened so many millennia before.
The wall his father had built in his head crumbled more and more the longer he fixed the mark at his brother's arm with his eyes.
He felt a strong shudder that went down his spine and which even reached his wing tips and his eyes were filled with tears, as the memories came over him like a tidal wave.
Soon images manifested in his mind.
Terrible images!
He saw how his brothers and sisters fell victim to the darkness, saw how they fell gradually into madness, saw how they fought against those they had once loved and he saw himself how he raised his sword against his own family and soon angel blood covered the ground of the once so bright and beautiful Paradises...
"Michael…"
He heard one of his brothers calling his name, but the voice sounded far away and came hardly to his mind, for he still saw these horrific images before him.
"Michael? Brother, can you hear me?"
The voice came nearer, became clearer and seemed to pull him back into reality, because the images of slaughter faded before his eyes and he slowly stepped out of the dense fog of his memories.
Then he felt how someone gently, yet effectively, hit him against his cheek.
Once, twice, three times...and then he was suddenly catapulted back in the here and now.
Still his heart pounded hard against his chest and he thought his ribs would burst any moment and his eyes were still wide open and filled with panic and he felt hot tears that ran down his cheeks.
Startled, he winced as a hand was put on his shoulder that gently squeezed it and when he lifted his head slightly, he looked directly into the face of his little brother Gabriel.
Where the joy had been seen a few minutes ago, concern was now visible.
"Is everything okay?" he asked him, but Michael didn't answer.
Too shocked he still was of the horrific images he had just seen and slowly he registered that it was quiet around him, that the sweet songs had ceased and all angels, who were on the clearing, had focused their eyes on him. And in every pair of eyes worry could be seen.
Only in Lucifer's eyes he could see nothing of the sort.
No.
The Archangel looked at him blankly and showed no emotion.
He had sat up again and the mirth was completely gone from his face.
Instead, the dark aura had returned and it was stronger than before.
So strong, that even the horde of small angels had taken a distance from him and now looked at him with fear in their eyes.
But the Morningstar didn't care about it.
He seemed to have only eyes for his big brother and something sinister sparkled in his eyes.
Something that made Michael shudder, but he bravely kept eye contact to Lucifer.
The Lightbringer pulled his robe into the correct position, covered his arms with the sleeves, rose from his seat and gave Michael one last glare, before he silently turned around and walked away.
His brother watched him silently and slowly the fog cleared before his eyes, broke away completely and slowly he took note of the remaining angels who still looked at him with worried expressions.
"Michael? What's wrong with you?" Gabriel asked him with a gentle voice and he knelt in front of Michael to be able to look at his face and the other angels came closer to him as well what robbed the warrior angel of his view from a disappearing Lucifer.
But it was exactly that what brought him back to reality.
He blinked a few times to get the rest of these horrible pictures out of his head, before he concentrated fully on the angel who looked at him so full of concern.
"Michael?"
Gabriel's voice was serious when he spoke this time.
"What happened?"
As much as he wanted to, but Michael couldn't tell him!
None of his brothers and sisters should remember this nightmarish battle, because not every one of them would be able to handle these dark memories. Many would likely break under the weight of them.
He just couldn't tell them.
It was bad enough that he had remembered.
He just didn't want that the others would suffer as much as he did right now.
And Lucifer's strange reaction made it not better for him.
But slowly the puzzle seemed to assemble, because slowly Michael seemed to realize that it was the mark that changed his brother.
The mark that God had given him!
The warrior gritted his teeth and got up from his seat, ignoring the questions that Gabriel and the others asked him.
At this moment he had only one thing in mind: he had to go to his father!
He needed answers to his own questions and so he spread his wings out, straightened his muscles and pushed himself off the ground.
He would not rest until he had gotten a few answers from his father!
Even though he knew he wouldn't like these answers...
