30 Days | (ONC 2022) ✓

Chapter 3: In a Blink of an Eye

Why were they fighting a war again?

Elliot was drifting in and out of consciousness. He felt like he was floating in the middle of nowhere. The air was liquid against his skin and his eyes felt like they were blanketed by some sort of static. Slowly, he blinked, his eyes focusing.

"Castiel." He heard it before he even knew it was him who spoke it.

He looked down and saw that he was holding his sword. He tried moving his arm but it was too heavy. He couldn't move at all.

Elliot gazed back up. In front of him was another angel holding a demon by the neck. He looked oddly familiar, he thought. Though the more he tried to focus on his features, the more his face warped into a distorted blur.

"Castiel put him down. You're going to hurt him." There was that name again. Castiel.

He could feel himself stepping forward against his control. The angel tightened his hold on the demon and Elliot had to stop. Castiel, who he assumed was the angel, had his own gaze trained hard between him and the demon.

"No, no. I'm freeing them, can't you see?" Castiel whispered, almost reverently. "Demons like him won't understand. They fall in front of our light. But humans..."

Belatedly, he took in the presence of a third party in their small confrontation. An angel— no, a human, stood behind the duo. Unlike the angel, Elliot could see them in startling clarity and his fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword. Their arms were listless at their sides, their clothes indicating that they were from one of the nearby villages. But it wasn't that what made him unsettled. From what he could make out through the blur, there was a blinding white light where their head should have been.

"Stop this! I don't care what you do with the demons, but we can't involve them too!"

"Oh, Elliot," The angel laughed. "I thought you would understand..."

"Elliot!" A familiar voice ran up to him. Light filled his vision, and he blacked out.

Oh right, it was the humans. They were the reason.

______________________________________

December 2-7, 00XX

"Zaila, are you sure it was only the two of us patrolling when we were attacked? I could have sworn there was someone else..."

Elliot was pacing around as soon as he shot out of bed covered in a pool of sweat. He just had a dream with an angel that doesn't exist; how suspicious.

"For the last time Elliot, yes! We were the only ones on patrolling duty."

The door opened, and they were called in by Captain Adrianne. They believed his statement about the hidden demon camp and ordered him to bring them there. He gulped; he definitely messed up the timeline now.

Like a kid's first day in class, Elliot forced himself to remember the names of his comrades; Captain Adrianne, the Captain of the other team; Elijah, his slight friend and more of a bully; Zuriel and Raziel, his sparring buddies; And the mysterious angel from his dream. Castiel.

No one knew about Castiel. He suspected that this was all some crazy dream, but he was too far gone to continue believing that theory.

As soon as he stepped inside, his gaze latched on the empty seat at the head of the table. He looked around the room in confusion before turning to face Captain Adrianne. They were a single army without a lieutenant.

With that demon mage back there, would they even stand a chance?

She caught onto his line of thought quickly and her eyes hardened to stone. "Do you question my capability to lead, soldier?"