Shane Porteous - The Battle of Ebulon - A Shared Anthology

Doernyth picked up the doll. He stared at it as well.

“Because the ones who defended them are already dead,” he whispered.

Al-Aaron closed his eyes. He listened to the more distant cries of war, and waited for the angels to take him home.

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Ebulon; the once proud city ruled by its loving King Yadi, was falling to the armies of Orcs that trampled through it, destroying every life that they passed. I had never reaped a soul before. It was my first time as angel of death. Joshua was temporarily removed from his station in Hell to go with me and teach me how to fulfill my duties.

My guardian angel, Jesse, had come as well to protect me from both the surviving Orcs as well as Joshua. About a month ago some things happened between myself and Joshua that ended in me being forced to kill him. I hadn’t wanted to, but when I was forced to decide between him and Jesse; the choice had been evident.

I wasn’t exactly sure how we had gotten to Ebulon. I didn’t have wings to transport myself between worlds yet. One minute I had been standing in front of Gabriel, archangel of Heaven, and in the blink of an eye I was underneath the softly falling snow in a city on the brink of destruction.

“You need to be careful.” Jesse came up from behind me, resting a hand on my shoulder. “Not all of these people or creatures are dead. Many of them are still alive.” I struggled to listen to him with all of the voices crying and screaming in my head. Death surrounded me, invading my mind. When someone dies, their soul is given a direct line into the head of the closest angel of death.

They continue screaming and crying out inside this angel’s head until they are reaped and taken to their final resting place. With thousands dead all around me, I couldn’t sort one voice from the next. They were speaking in numerous languages and dialects, trying to gain my attention to free them from their bodies.

“Yes, it’s a dangerous job.” Joshua rolled his eyes as he walked by us. “Baby the little queen to the point of you doing her job for her. Isn’t that how it has always worked?”

“I don’t baby her,” Jesse stated. “Rachael is new to this job. I am making sure she stays safe.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Joshua stopped in front of the body of what I believed to be an Orc, kicking it onto its back so he didn’t have to touch it. “That one’s dead. Come over here.”

I reluctantly walked over to him, Jesse following closely behind me. Somehow I had once again found myself trapped between the two of them. I stopped within a safe distance. The Orc was covered in grayish, scaly hide that had numerous lesions and stab marks all over it. Its face was deformed and hideous and the entire body smelled putrid.

“Good god!” Jesse turned his head. “How long has that thing been dead?”

“Not very long.” Joshua picked up a discarded sword and prodded the body with it, letting loose a new flow of greenish blood. “You’re up, princess.”

“I don’t want to touch that,” I told him. “I would much rather start on a human.”

“Of course you would.” He turned to me. “But you don’t have that choice. You have to reap everything that has a soul, no matter how dark and twisted. You think this is bad? Try reaping a demon. Now get on your knees and reap that… thing.”

I wanted to just turn around and run, but he was right; I didn’t have a choice. I had to do this. There was no one else out there to help these creatures. Taking a deep breath; I rested an unwilling hand on the Orc’s forehead. I found his voice among the numerous ones in my head, following it straight into his mind.

“Who are you?” He was hostile and angry, trying to figure out what was happening to him.

“My name is Rachael,” I told him. “I’m here to help you.”

“Help me what?” he wanted to know. “I want out of wherever you have taken me!”

“I can’t.” I had found myself inside his head. It was dark and desolate, filled with disturbing images and self-loathing. “We are inside of your mind. I am here to take you to your intended resting place.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he demanded.

“You’re dead.” I didn’t know how else to put it. It was true.

“I’m dead?” he asked. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry?” I had expected anger and rage. Instead he was thanking me.

“You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment,” he stated. “Take me to where I can finally rest.” I nodded and started to draw his soul out of his body. I opened my eyes to the snow inside Ebulon again, a glowing sphere hovering above my hand.

“Now what?” I asked. This was all the farther I knew how to get.

“Where is he supposed to go?” Joshua prompted me.

“Hell.” I winced. “He’s supposed to go to Hell.”

“And how do you get him there?” he continued.

“The soul finds its own way once it is released from the cage of the body,” I answered.

“Exactly,” he agreed. “So let it go.” I took a deep breath and pushed the glowing soul towards the grey sky. It started to flicker briefly before it disappeared. “Now was that so very hard to do?”

“I just killed him.” Realization hit me.

“No.” Jesse helped me stand with a gentle hand on my waist. “He was already dead. You helped him be at peace.”

“Well, if we are done here, I am going to let myself be returned to Hell to live out my sentence of eternal torture.” Joshua’s voice interrupted my guilt.

“You can’t just leave!” I told him. “I can’t reap this entire city of its inhabitance on my own!”

“I did it on my own for a thousand years,” he answered. “And you act like I care.”

“You’re not allowed to leave until this is finished,” Jesse informed him.

“Who might you be to tell me what I can and cannot do?” Joshua turned his anger on Jesse.

“I am the angel appointed to keep you from escaping and to keep you in line,” he stated.

“So, the babysitter?” The two of them had never gotten along, even before I was in the picture. Now they really didn’t get along.

“No.” Jesse’s grip on my waist involuntarily tightened and I winced slightly. “I’m the man who is going to kill you if you do not do what you are supposed to do.”

“I’m already dead,” Joshua hissed.

“I can make it worse.” Jesse stared him down until Joshua eventually turned away.

“Whatever.” He moved over to another body, starting to reap the soul of the fallen human. I reluctantly walked over to another Orc, lying in a sticky pool of his grayish-green blood.

I rested my hand on his forehead, trying to center in on his voice with my eyes tightly closed. Whereas the last voice had been so easy to find, for some reason I could not get this one. I didn’t understand why I was having such a hard time until a hand closed around my throat. My eyes flew open and I tried to escape, but the Orc I had thought to be dead had me in a vise-like grip, growling savagely as it strangled me.

“Rachael!” Jesse was suddenly there, stabbing his hunting knife deep into the creature’s heart. I took in a pained breath as the Orc let go, falling onto my back on the ground. “Are you alright?” I struggled to breathe, my windpipe closing in on itself. I couldn’t think or answer him as this Orc’s voice joined the others. Every minute added another agonized voice to the masses screaming at me.