Ghost of Freedom
A Fanfiction by Keystone
Disclaimer: Nope, still not my property.
Author's note: Okay, sorry that took so long. I had to send in my box of wires to get repaired, and now that it is, I'M BACK BABY YEAH!!!!! Anywho, I suggest you go and download the song "Iced Earth", by, you guessed it, Iced Earth. Try to get the 'Days of Purgatory' version if you can, the vocals are a huge improvement. On with da fic! And please remember, especially you Vampire Hunter, that this is MY Spawn, so he has the story I create for him.
Ghost of Freedom
So he sat there, in the old decrepit machine shop, and listened to the Hellspawn recant his tale. Cyborg listened with great interest as this person in front of him told him this tale of passion, power, betrayal, and his eventual damnation and ascension.
"My story is not a happy one mortal, but I will tell you if you so desire me to. I was once human, my name was Kai, and I lived in a town named Pittsburgh. My father, as well as all of the men in my town worked in the steel industry. Either in the coal or iron mines, or in the massive factories at the forges, they were hardworking people. I was too young at the time to work in the mills, so I helped at an iron mine.
"I worked long hours, all week long, and built my strength. As with everyone else in my hometown, I was also a devout churchgoer. My faith grew with every step inside those hallowed walls. I studied my religion, and many others, feeling all of the emotions of the holy ones running through me. I memorized all of the psalms, incantations, prayers, I even learned to speak Hebrew and Urdu.
"When I worked I recited the verses I knew, and when I got into fights with foreigners or out of towners who thought they were better than blue collar people I ran through them as well. They seemed to fill me up with some strange power, a strength I did not of my own possess. The peak of my zeal hit when I reached 17. I had absorbed nearly all of the information I could handle, and my body was in peak condition from the years of back breaking labor. I kept up my spirits by vigorous exercise and pious study."
He paused his speech for a moment and gazed through a hole in the roof, looking up at the heavens. Cyborg saw the slight droop of his shoulders and read the change of emotion flawlessly. The Hellspawn met his eyes again and continued on his tale.
"Then the Great War began, and my father was drafted to fight for the side of good. He went overseas and three months later we got a letter from he Army, saying they regretted to inform us that he had died in action. It simply was the worst day of my life. I did not abandon my love of God, whatever name he may be called by, and continued to pray in my own way. One year later I saw a vision.
"An ethereal blue cloud came into my room as I lay in bed and spoke to me. It spoke of my fathers fate, and how to this day, due to his heroism he remained on the battlefield and watched over the souls of the fallen and eased the pain of the slain. It spoke to me and said to not worry, he had not died in vain. It was because of the reassurance of his fate that I decided to enlist and do my part.
"I found out once I had died that that was the spirit of my father, speaking to me as a ghost. The Ghost of Freedom. I did my part for freedom, and the rights of all people. My family had those of all races, creeds, and colors, so I bore no hatred to any enemy I may have ever faced. But, despite my will to win and live, I was struck down by the same weapon that had massacred my father and his unit. I died of fire. Fire thrown by enemy guns.
"As it engulfed my body, I recited the prayer for the dead in Hebrew, and closed my eyes to the world for the last time.
Cyborg continued to listen, and blinked away the moisture forming in his eyes.
"When I awoke, equally as surprising as simply awaking, I saw my surroundings had changed. No longer was it the charred dead earth of the battlefield, but the calm serenity of Heaven instead held me. Rising from the ground I lay upon, I made my way to the door of the chamber I had been placed in and saw three figures speaking. One was the mighty Archangel Michael, whom I had read about in many texts and scriptures. Next to him was the also stunning Raphael, messenger of the Archangel and carrier of the word of God.
"But the third person was not a person at all, but a formless blue shape, constantly shifting and radiating positive energy. I recognized the tone of voice immediately, and heard Raphael address both him and Michael. I dashed toward them at the best speed I could muster, and just as I had reached them, Raphael nodded to Michael, and then disappeared with my father's ghost.
"I searched the room with my eyes but saw no sign of either the angel or my father. I turned back toward Michael, who looked at me with a intensely curious gleam in his eyes. He then spoke, his voice soft but booming in the confines of the domicile. 'You are to be the servant,' he said to me, 'The one who does the bidding of the Lord.'
"At the time I was confused. I had the notion that all were servants of God and all did his whim. My body had stayed in the same physical condition it was in when I was alive, and I looked the same, no scar tissue from the fire or any of the sort .I came to learn that the title of 'Servant' had a different meaning, however.
"'Servant' means 'soldier' among the angels, and I was being trained to be God's personal guard. The position was long demanded by Michael, desiring someone to remain in Heaven to protect God in case he should be slain. My training began immediately.
"Michael himself took me and educated me in all the Holy arts of combat, Sword, Spear, Shield, Arrow, Flight. Since Heaven has no real scale of time, and therefore no night or day, my armament was a constant process. Around roughly forty years of Earth later, I was deemed ready to be imbued."
"What exactly is it to be imbued?" Cyborg questioned.
"My blood, muscle tissues, organs, and bones were to be replaced. I was adorned in the robe of an Elder Knight in less than half of the time it took for a new soul to be placed in their proper Heaven. Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and the Angelic Hunters attended the ceremony. I was levitated in front of a blue font, spouting cold violet flame by Raphael. Gabriel produced my new Holy armor from a great chest. And Michael himself chanted the proper words causing the blue fire to violently swirl about until it resembled a flaming tornado hovering a few inches from my face, then it lashed out and embraced me, coursing through my body and replacing my frail mortal tissue with the eternal sinew of Heaven.
Cy grimaced at the feeling of all of his parts, biological or otherwise, being supplanted by fire.
"It was by no means a glorious process and the pain was like nothing I have ever felt. When it had ended I sunk to my knees and Gabriel magically adorned me in my new uniform. One of gray and gold, with spikes extending from knuckles and along the crown of my skull and a flowing white cape. I had been coated in the White Guide armor, most powerful armor in all of Heaven. Next to Michael and the Redeemer suit that was fused to him.
"I took my rightful place as Holy Guardian of God, and personal assistant to Michael. All went well for nearly twenty years. Until during a blessing ceremony on the new souls sent to be born on earth went awry. The channeling gate used by the Healers to bless the spirits was overcome by an extreme explosion, and an entire group of innocent souls and Healers lay dead. Despite the immortality awarded to those who attend Heaven's duties, angels may still be killed by opposite energy. Hell's power.
"Sensing the disturbance immediately, Michael rushed to the scene, being his duty to eradicate all unclean presence from the pure walls. Watching him do battle with the horde of demons that entered the rift caused by the explosion was magnificent. They came at him in threes, fours, and tens, but all fell just the same. But out of the gaping hole torn in the air came a slow fog, winding itself around my masters feet. Seeing it before he did I charged to his side to try and warn him but it had already darted straight up and into his mouth, tainting his body with it's unholy ambience.
Go now my child, and play the song I have summoned from Hades.
"It was too late to save him. Seeing as it did no damage to him, I ignored it and continued in the defense of the tower we inhabited. But it was actually a conduit forged by Satan himself. He made the link to enter Michael and enable him to do Satan's bidding for him.
"In one such rampage, he accused me of threatening the High Citadel, and struck me down before I could even question his charge.
"Do to my affinity for battle, and my rage on the field of honor I was sent to Hell. Qualities like those that I had gave way to rage as I was insulted and attacked by my former master, and I lost sight of the Holy One. For that I was damned." He clenched his fist in anger and spit the last sentence out.
"Until this very day I had been imprisoned in Hell, coaxed by Satan into training with their version of the Redeemer suit, copied off a slain Archangel many eons ago. When I allowed the Sacred Flame of Hell to replace the smooth, soothing Holy light, I was cursed with the fate that now haunts me to this day. My armor was replaced with this gnarled, but stronger black parasite, my powers shoved deep down into the recesses of my mind, out of site and out of use, and my glorious weaponry and strength fused to my body."
Cy watched as he indicated his knuckles, wrists, chains, and legs. He thought it was a burden being half robot. He had only lost part of his body. Spawn's body had robbed of it's essence and given the gift of pain.
"I trained in the bowels of that dark place, traveling through each realm to perfect my new unholy abilities. My cape could transport me great distances instantly, my strength was easily four times greater, and my chains allowed me to attack from any range I felt so comfortable with. Each realm had its own unique traits, making them ideal for training to sack Heaven and steal their mightiest warrior's life."
"Wait a sec. Isn't Hell just a great burning dungeon? I was always taught that in church. And it was always portrayed that way in tv and stuff." Cyborg asked, confused at the notion of hell having multiple levels to it.
"Hell has nine levels to be exact. Each one a new level of insane eternal torture for the damned. But, as a servant of the dark one, I learned how to travel to each realm at my whim, and discovered many secrets even my master knew nothing of. Most importantly, I learned that the current Satan was not the original ruler of the wicked.
"To answer your original question, the first realm is indeed a sweltering, ungodly lake of burning black fire. Other realms are a cave of total silence so loud it was deafening, a forest of ghouls consuming the flesh of the condemned, and others. But Hell does have a final plane. The ninth level, the absolute punishment. It was there I honed my skills for the last ten years of my imprisonment there, until I had the strength to escape. The final plane is a dark frozen wasteland, where traitors spend the rest of their days. Fire is indeed painful, but the pain of a million knives of ice piercing you in all places is the worst sensation in all of existence.
"I also learned of Satan's use of the mind corrupting fog in that realm from listening in on the psychic current between Satan and his lieutenants. It was then I dropped my plan of vengeance and adopted one of redemption.
He paused his tale to look around for a brief second, and turned back to Cyborg. "I can show you one thing to sum up what I have told you. But I warn you, it will shock and disturb you. Do you wish to see my face?" Spawn asked in a serious tone, far more than any he had used during his tirade.
Cy considered his question, but posed one of his own instead. "First, you say there is no tie in either Heaven or Hell, right?" Spawn nodded. "So you where 18 when you died, does that mean that technically you are still 18?" Spawn nodded again. "Okay. Yes, I wish to see your face."
"Very well," came the reply, and the Hellspawn, former angel, and former still human stood and slowly retracted the necroplasm covering his head.
Cyborg, could only process what he saw in front of him, and didn't even have the power to scream in horror.
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Okay, so my new chap is finally loaded. Tell me what you think and send a review my way. Otherwise crawl off and die. Really. I'm just kidding. No I'm not. Yes I am. Wait, I'm confused, what were we talking about?