Death's Crater

Does anyone really TRULY know who they are? I for sure have never known who I am and what I’m supposed to do. I don’t remember anything; my childhood, my parents, how old I am, if I have a family. Nothing, but I think my name is Gavriil. I also have had this feeling that I'm something special, but that can’t be right. I might just be going crazy though. You would be surprised by how much your other senses become more sensitive when you are not using one. My eyes haven’t opened since I woke up from…I don’t know what might be sleep, or birth. Babies can think can they not? I wish I could just put my mind to rest because I can’t stop thinking of what is happening right now. How long am I going to be here, how long have I been here. It might just me going crazy again, but I keep thinking I'm hearing footsteps. Maybe it’s just the drip of water. No they are coming closer. I tense, I think at least. They sound like they are right in front of me, but then they stop. Seconds pass, I here the raspy breathing of an old man. I feel a cold hand touch me, and my eyes open. I hear him scream, but I don’t see him. I only see a house and sitting on the porch is the old man. I yell for him, but he can’t hear me for some reason. I walk up to him and try to talk to him, but he still doesn’t answer. Someone comes running around the corner yelling, Gerasimos, Gerasimos, come quick it has already started. I turn to see him, and he runs right through me. The old man, who I guess is Gerasimos, gets up out of his chair and runs somewhere, I don’t know because my eyes start to blur and become black, then darkness again. My eyes open again, and I see Gerasimos lying on the ground beside me. He’s older than before when I saw him, which I think was in his memories. He looks older than when I saw him before, paler, brittle, grayer hair, and a longer beard. I sit up and look around at my surroundings. The floor is glowing, and the walls are broken down. I look up and see floor after floor with a hole in it. I can see the moon just above shining down on us. It’s bright white light making the glowing blue walls and floors even brighter. I feel a dark presence around me though and something telling me to run. I look up again and see something in front of the moon that looks like it is falling. It’s pure black, like staring into death itself. My instinct to run is getting even stronger as I wait. I listen to them, and start to get up. The first thing I think about is the old man lying there on the ground. I can’t leave him. So I pick him up with surprising strength. I turn and walk away. I’ve gone up several flights of stairs. And the instinct telling me to run is now an actual voice in my head telling me to sprint. It’s voice sounded very worried and made me worried so I started to run…with surprising speed. I made it up six flights of stairs in under 15 minutes. I found the crater on this floor and decided to take a peek to see if the dark figure was still there. It was and it was even closer than before. I could make out what looked like dust falling at incredible speed. I started to run even faster after that glimpse. I made it to the last floor, but the dust cloud had made it to within a mile of the building. I got out of the last floor and started to sprint to the forest outside. I turn to just see the dust hit the building and engulf the building…and starting to engulf the area around it, and I am in the area around it. I start to sprint even faster than before, trying to get away from the dust cloud. I thought about just dropping the old man and saving myself, but I felt a feeling like I was supposed to save him. I ran for another half mile when the dust started to slow down, so I slowed down as well. When the dust finally stopped, I thought about taking a rest but decided against it because I saw some lights in the distance. I walked on and soon was in hearing distance to the small town. I heard screams of terror, pain, agony, any feeling you could think of. I ran to the town thinking about what could be going on. I soon heard fighting and as soon as that sound hit me, the ground did as well. I tripped over something and when I turned to look I saw a gleam that struck at my eyes. I opened them a little further and saw a sword. I took the sword as I had no way to defend myself from whatever was in the town. I soon set sight on some troops attacking…other people? No the other people didn’t have swords, just hands, and in some cases not even hands. I heard a groan to my left and turned with my sword in hand, but it was too late, I was on the groan under a mass of rotten flesh. I realized what was attacking now…zombies. I hurried out and stuck my sword right through its dead heart, but I didn’t die. It tackled me again down a hill, and when I kicked it off, I was surrounded by them. I was trapped by a cliff on one side and zombies on all others. I thought I was done for, but then I heard some screaming coming toward me. It was coming from the troops I saw. I was in the middle of the fight and needed to get out fast. I lashed out with my sword striking everything and anything. I surprised myself with all my clean cuts and perfect hits, it was like I had used a sword my entire life. When I finally got out, I was in the middle of the troops. They were all fighting and the numbers of enemies were falling. I felt obliged to help, but I still had the old man over my shoulder the entire time. I turned and found a troop that was guarding the gate.
“Could you bring this man to the hospital or any doctors in the area?” I asked.
“Has he been bitten?” the guard answered without looking at me.
“No.” I answered hastily.
“Ok follow me.” he said as he turned and opened the gates to let me and himself in.
I followed him into the town and all I saw was run down houses, crying children, and adults giving me a strange look. The troop led me to a small house whose windows were lit with a dim light. The guard stopped.
“This is as far as I go.” he said.
I didn’t answer or thank him, I just walked in and sat the old man down on a bed. I looked around for a doctor, but saw no one in the house. I turned to look back at the old man and saw a little person standing there examining him.
“Are you the doctor?” I asked a little surprised and worried.
“Yes.” he answered one toned.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.
“He’s in a coma, should wake up, another day or two.” the doctor answered.
“What’s going on out there?” I asked.
“Zombies.” he said.
“Why though?” I asked a little offended by his lack of caring.
“Comet struck down, few meters west, zombies come some minute’s later.” the doctor said. “You leave now, give man rest, go help out with zombies.”
Seeing how I was no help there and was obviously not going to get any further with the doctor, I left. I went straight to the gate and looked out. They were clearing out the last of the zombies. I turned to leave, but then the ground shook. I turned and looked out, but didn’t see anything and troops must not have felt anything, because they looked as if nothing happened. I felt the ground move again. This time I realized it was something big. I climbed the archer tower and looked in the distance, I didn’t see anything. I grabbed an arrow lit it on fire and shot it out in the distance, I got a look of something, something 7 stories high and 3 stories across. When my arrow struck a tree it caught the tree on fire and that tree caught another on fire and so on, until the beast was fully uncovered. It was a giant spider with a humanoid creature’s body.
“Look over there!” I yelled at the troops.
“Where? There’s nothing over there just a few trees that caught fire!” the general said.
“Behind the trees!” I yelled back.
“There is nothing behind the trees!” he answered.
I shot an arrow at the beast, but it went right through it. I was the only one that could see it. I had to do something to make it so they could all see it. I thought about anything I could do, but nothing came to mind. My hands started to glow and I felt a power course through my body. I lifted my hands instinctively and a blue orb formed. I felt all my power being formed into this orb until I had no more to give. Not knowing what to do with it, my hands threw themselves forward and the orb shot off towards the beast. It struck it and a glow went over it from head to legs.
“What in blazes is that monstrosity?!” I heard one of the troops yell as he saw the beast for the first time.
“Troops take your positions on the ballistae; we will kill this thing before it gets within a hundred meters of this town.” the general said.
I took position in one of the four ballistae and started the first shot off right at its chest. Then another, then the other two followed behind all critical shots at vital places. The beast was stunned by the shots and we started to reload the ballistae. The monster was now charging at us at twice the speed it was going before, which still wasn’t extremely fast, but fast enough to scare us. We all fired our second shot, which wasn’t as well placed as the first since the beast was moving faster now. We had time for one more shot before the beast got too close for the ballistae. I loaded, aimed, and was about to shoot, but then my hand jerked to the right and the arrow went flying. I had thought I missed, but the arrow went cleanly through the head of the beast. He kept coming, but that was because his muscles were in the middle of running. He then tripped and slid a good 100 feet before he stopped dead. I got out of the ballistae and was met by the general, who held a sword to my neck.
“What was that sorcery that you just performed!” he yelled.
“I d-don’t know.” I stuttered.
“Because whatever it was just saved this town.” he said as he put his sword away.
“T-thanks.” I answered.
“What is your name.” the general asked.
“I am called Gavriil.” I said.
“Well Gavriil, we could use a man like you to help us out and figure out this mystery.” he said.
I didn’t want to get involved with these troops, but the words that came out of my mouth surprised me…they weren’t mine.
“I would love to help.” I said.
“Great we start early in the morning where we will start the search for whatever it is that is doing this.” the general said.
“It’s the comet.” I told him.
He looked at me like I was crazy.
“What comet?” he asked.
“The doctor told me a comet went down a few miles to the west.” I said.
“The doctor? The doctor doesn’t talk to anyone? He talked to you?” he asked surprised.
“Yeah” I said. “He wasn’t good at talking, but I got that information from him.”
“Oh, so the doctor has taken a liking to you, uh?” the general retorted.
“Um I guess so.” I answered.
“Well let us not waste anymore time, off to the west we go. TROOPS LINE UP!” the general yelled.
It was a pretty easy trip to get to the spot of the crater. Most of the zombies had made their way to the town and had been killed there. When we got to the crater, a light that was too unbearable for the troops to look at, shown out. I was the only one able to see what was in it. Inside was a sword that lit up with the light of the heavens. I walked forward and grabbed it without control of myself. When I grabbed it, memories came surging into my mind. My life of what it was before.
“Gavriil, the chosen one.” a voice said that seemed to echo all around…well nowhere.
“Who are you.” I asked scared.
“That is not important, at this moment. What does matter is that you find your armor and shield next. For everyone you get you get more of your memory. Now for the part of your memory you have earned from finding your sword. You are destined to save the world; before you were mortal you were a being of high power. You were an angel.” the voice said.
“An angel.” I repeated.
I was speechless. I couldn’t believe it, destined to save the world. All of it came so fast, I don’t think I’m ready for it. Before I knew I was alone, with a word coming, go to the deserted desert for your next item. I blacked out.
I woke up in the doctor’s room. I sat up and felt stronger than before. My arm was glowing and I examined it. I threw my arm downwards and a sword shot out. It was the sword that was in the crater. I instinctively acted like I was sheathing my sword and it disappeared in my arm again. I walked outside and talked to the general and told him I needed to make my way to the deserted desert right away. He got a convoy ready and we made ready to leave. We camped about several days in the process and killed any beasts in our way. I did not tell them about myself being an angel for fear they would fear me as a mythical being. The beasts started to come more and more signaling we were getting close to the impact spot. In the distance, I saw a black figure that looked like a human, but it was much larger. As we got closer, the beast looked less and less like a human; it had five arms two on both sides and one where its head should be. I could not see a head on it until we got closer and I saw it had a face right in its chest. When it saw us, it charged. No one flinched just kept walking. I remembered the other beast and again my arms started to glow. I lifted my hands and shot out an orb. When I did this the troops unsheathed their swords expecting trouble. When the orb hit, they all saw it. It charged straight at me, and I had no idea what to do, but my voice in my head said ‘your sword’. Then I remembered. I brought my arm down, lifted it, jumped, and brought it straight down on one of its right arms. It cut cleanly through with no recoil. Its arm fell, and it howled in pain. The other troops stabbed at its ankles and feet, which helped to no extent. It was up to me. I ran forward and lunged at its left leg. I cut clean through its leg knee high. It fell crashing to the ground. I then ran forward straight at its chest to strike the finishing blow. I struck its eye and tore straight down to its chin. I held there for what felt like an hour until it stopped flinching. While all the troops were busy cheering from the kill, I didn’t stop. I kept walking to the crater to find a set of armor, my armor. I placed it on myself and went into my memories again.
“You have found your armor, now your memory. You fell from the sky after you had fought for rights. Those rights are secret for now. You took yourself out of immortality by taking off this very armor. Keep going to the jungle of kings, to find your shield.” the voice said.
“Ok.” I answered used to the voice now.
When I woke it was night. I told them that we needed to go straight to the jungle of the kings. They left with me, not questioning. Five days passed till we made it to the jungle and a jungle it was. It didn’t look like there was a way into the jungle at all. It was a wall of brush, trees, and vines. I took my sword out and cut through the plants. I was followed the same way by the troops who cut the path I made bigger and bigger until we made the path able to fit about four people in a column through it. It was getting late so we made camp where we were at. The fire was lit to keep unwanted guests away from the camp. I was the last to fall asleep…but that was before the devil himself spoke.
“Gavriil…Gavriil, you are the one who has been defying me. You don’t know who I am yet, but you will learn shortly after we speak. You also have no idea how or what you are doing to defy me. If you value your own or your comrades’ lives you will turn back now. If not, you are destined to fight me to see how this world will turn out, survival or destruction, good or bad, angel or devil.”
Then the voice was gone, when I woke the voice still rattled in my head…angel or devil.’ We kept moving through the jungle. It was starting to thin out, not naturally, but from something. We could smell fire in the air, but there was no fire or smoke anywhere. Then out of nowhere, there was a fire ball coming straight at us. I jumped and so did some others behind me, but some were caught and incinerated on impact. We would have to mourn later as the fire was still coming. We followed to the source and found a witch in a clearing. I ran at her with my sword and was about to strike down on her when I went flying back. I turned to look a ripple went off around her; she had a shield around her. I then heard her speak, but her mouth was sown shut so she couldn’t have been the one talking.
“I have been sent by Thanatos. I believe he has already informed you of what is going on.” she said.
“Who is Thanatos.” I yelled back.
She chuckled; not the normal witch laugh that everyone knows, but more of a deep, raspy laugh that you wouldn’t expect from any kind of women.
“He will be your destroyer.” she said.
The devil in the night! I screamed and lunged at her again but bounced off again. I got up and stuck my arm out to try to summon my energy. It came at my fingertips and shot off, five times for each finger. They struck and busted a hole in the globe shield. The hole did not last long as it was batched up in seconds. I got an idea. I summoned more energy at my fingers and started to charge. She shot off a fire ball that I split down the center with my sword. I shot off the energy in my hand and followed it up with my sword. The shield broke again and my sword went straight through her and struck her in the stomach. She flinched, the shield fell, and I followed my stab with a strike to her neck. Her head fell and went rolling into a crater that I had not noticed before. Inside was my shield. I took it and light surrounded me.
“Gavriil you have collected all your pieces, now your memory. Your brother was the king of the angels. He knew that Thanatos, who you already know as the devil, was going to destroy this world. You wanted to help save the world, but your brother wanted to defend the heavens from any attacks coming from Thanatos thereafter. You rebelled against him and fought with him, but he would not change his mind. You decided to take the matter in your own hands by becoming mortal. You took off your armor and fell a great height to where you first woke up.” the voice said.
“I know what I must do.” I said.
“Good then I do not have to explain.” the voice answered. “I will now teleport you to Thanatos.”
…Then darkness.
“You have finally come, my adversary.”
I knew instantly who it was…
“Thanatos, show yourself you coward.” I yelled.
“But I am already here.” he answered right behind me.
A heat went off when I turned, then a light. When my eyes adjusted, I was in a ring lit by chandeliers of fire. I turned and found him, the devil. He sat on his chair, alone. I did what anyone would have done, I charged at him. He stuck a hand out and I froze. He threw me to a side and I smacked off a wall. I then went flying up and struck a chandelier. I was held there while he spoke.
“Are you the best they could send to defeat me?” he asked mockingly. “Or are you just a rebel that thought he could help?”
“I have come to kill you.” I answered.
“Oh silly mortal, you are nothing to me.” he said.
He then let me fall. I struck the ground and looked up at the ceiling. The chandelier was shaking above me. It snapped and fell. I closed my eyes embracing death, then the sound of metal against metal. I opened my eyes to see my brother standing over me.
“I have come to help.” he said. “If you can go on the quest you have finished, we can defeat Thanatos.”
I looked at the devil and he actually looked surprised to see both of us. I got up and charged at him with my brother behind me. I dodged his attack, then his next, then the next. I was finally struck aside just about to put a fatal blow on him. My brother got up to him and put a cut on his arm. He brought his sword up for another strike, but was knocked down. A sword popped out of the devils arm and was pointed straight at him. I got up behind him. He had not noticed me. I walked up to him, brought my arm up and unsheathed my sword right into Thanatos’s gut. He fell to his knees and fell over. He was dead. I helped my brother up, and we made our way out and to the heavens.