Rise of the Arockalypse (Second Lordi Saga - Story 3)

Chapter 11 - The Darkest Times

Beyond the invisible border that separated the heavens from the earth, Naaririel had returned to the great white and golden halls of the celestial paradise. But when she returned, she was greeted by a deep and bitter silence. To her horror, her eyes beheld the lifeless bodies of dozens of angels, blood having soaked their armors and their wings, their faces frozen for eternity. Apprentices, warriors, sages... no one had been spared. How? How was this possible?

Running through the gold-paved main hall, Naaririel finally managed to find someone still alive. His big brother, Archangel Michael. The latter, wearing his silver armor, showed a severe scarred face and limped slightly, a trickle of blood running down his left side. The large amount of black blood spatter staining his sword and armor showed that he had fought with all his might. Michael groaned in pain, too weak and was supported by Naaririel who rushed to help him. She did not understand... Never had any force, not even demons, succeeded in penetrating the borders of heaven.

_"My brother... what happened?!" she asked.

_"The... the spawn of the Great Ancient Ones..." he growled, gritting his teeth and pressing down on his wound. "They managed to shatter the boundaries of the ethereal dimensions... We couldn't do anything to stop them..."

Naaririel gasped, horrified to hear that. She looked around again, noticing the devastated rooms and all these bodies of angels killed without pity.

_"But... and our brothers? Where are they?" she then asked with great concern.

Michael's grave and apologetic face gave her the clearest and most painful answer. Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel, Azrael... All dead... For Naaririel it was like a stab in the heart and her sadness was immense and a tear ran down her cheek. She blamed herself terribly...

_ "And I didn't see anything... I wasn't able to see it... How could I not see anything?..." she sighed.

As the archangel of fate, she had failed. She was the youngest of the archangels, but had never failed in her task until then. Michael's hand took her by the shoulder.

_"The very essence of the Ancient Ones is beyond us... You have nothing to reproach yourself for, little sister." said Michael. "Perhaps it was our fate to end like this...Perhaps it is the fate of this universe to sink into nothingness, like all those before it."

Michael groaned in pain, his side wound continuing to bleed and seeming to get worse. He couldn't even stand and fell unconscious. Refusing to lose his last living brother, Naaririel carried him in his arms and led him quickly into the Garden, where the Source of Eden was which could heal any wound of any evil. Walking on the green grass amidst the tall trees of golden apples, Naaririel came to the edge of a large marbled pool in which was the purest and crystalline water. Without further ado, Naaririel set him down and slowly let him sink into the healing waters, knowing he would recover.

But as she stand up, Naaririel winced, holding her head and letting out a short cry of pain but also terror. She was horrified by what her gift of vision had shown her... Storms of darkness and flames invading the sky over the entire planet... And from these giant vortices gradually emerged the sprawling growths of a titanic thing, so immense that it covered the horizon with its simple physical presence, spreading its tentacular excrescences as if to come and engulf the whole earth in its embrace... And those eyes... my god, those eyes... None word in the universe could describe them.

Silent and deeply worried, Naaririel could already see the clouds around heaven begin to darken and spit out the first lightning, which had never happened before. The gaze of the Archangel landed on the highest peaks, on the stars and the cosmos... It was approaching, more and more... A thing that had already devoured millions of universes in the past and which still once returned to complete its infamous and endless cycle...