The moment Michael stepped inside the woods, he felt an overwhelming presence near him.
The stench of death burned his nostrils. He could still smell, as he walked, a strong poison, one only made by demons. He could hear whispers of help from humans long gone. it dug at his own ears, creeping up his brain like annoying, undead bugs, making him wish to remove his own skull and look for them, one by one. As the dead tree branches cracked under his feet, as the crows sang with their ugly voice above him, he recalled why he had come here in the first place.
Aokigahara. The forest of suicide.
Among humans, it was given this name thanks to the amazing rate of suicide attempts in this place. Poison. Hanging. Auto-mutilation till death.
However, Michael knew better than to believe this story.
A demon, naturally, was behind this. He lured travelers, High school bullied students, desperate wives, jobless husbands, into this forest, making them believe that the only way out is by killing themselves.
The trees were thin and tall, curved at the bottom, straight at the top, as if wanting to clear the path for the lost humans to leave this place as soon as they found the exit. To save themselves from imminent death. The tree manes were thick, hiding most of the sunlight from the ground, so that only a fraction of it fought its way inside the forest. The rays of light that seeped in were like pillars holding the whole forest from collapsing. A rare warmth in the middle of an undying cold.
The demon never revealed himself, even to other immortal creatures, but everyone knew, especially the angels, that he was an extremely powerful demon, capable of driving the most strong willed angel into stabbing their own core until all their essence was absorbed by the demon.
Michael was feeling the urge to hurt himself, as a punishment for betraying his beloved Queen. What was the point of fighting by her side, if he was going to be a filthy liar?
The idea of staying here suddenly didn't sound so bad.
He was starting to like the smell of poison, to enjoy the sight of forgotten human luggage, of thrown-away pictures of abandoned families, dirtied with soil and dead leaves.
His sword was starting to itch at his side, wishing to inflict the punishment he has always wanted.
Why did he come here again?
When Michael was about to stop in his tracks, he saw a black sign glowing with white letters in the dim light of the forest.
Swayed by nothing but curiosity, Michael stepped closer, reading:
Suicide isn't what you think it is.
It is not the solution. Think of your families.
Would you have wanted your own brother to commit it? Would you forgive your own mother if she did it and left you all alone?
There are countless people who love you, even if you hate yourself.
Think again.
The sign was scratched all over, by a massive animal's claws, though its attempt to erase it was vain.
Despite its unconvincing words, it did the trick. The thoughts the angel had a minute ago all vanished, seeming absurd to him.
He knew why he came here.
He came to save the world. His world.
The Oracles were always right, so by the Oracles' words he went.
After he had been stabbed by Cassiel, he thought he was going to be directly sent back to the Heavens, where Lailah will summon him and torture him all through eternity. Or worse, break up with him.
But he had been protected all along by the Oracles. Because he knew he was right. He knew he was the only one who could drive his people to victory.
On that same afternoon, he was sent back to the Oracles' den.
Your secret lies within us. Lailah will not know of your deeds. You have a very important mission at hand. You must fulfill it within this very same week, or else you shall be erased. Someone useless to us is useless to the Queen.
Despite the Oracles' harsh words, Michael was delighted at first. He was the first angel to directly communicate with the gods! There was no one else judged valuable enough to do it. Only the Queen received her orders from them. No one else must approach them.
That was the law everyone feared to break.
Yet, here he was, looking for an item in the forest of suicide, as he was ordered.
The item is a necklace. It is the very same that Lailah used to close the gates between the worlds at the previous war. After everything ended, the Queen didn't mention anything about it. Michael even thought she destroyed it so no one else had access to it.
It turns out she didn't, deciding to hide a tree in a forest. Hide a necklace inside a demon's realm.
The question was, why didn't the demon simply take it, if he knew it was hidden inside his territory?
When the angel asked the Oracles about it, they gave him an immediate answer.
Because there is no demon in that forest.
What lurks there is nothing but human despair. So strong that it remained even after their death, turning into an invisible, but inoffensive monster.
The strongest weapons are not swords or fists, Michael. The strongest weapons are words.
Michael didn't really believe that. There is a demon here, and there will always be. Otherwise, his self-destructing thoughts would have been his and his alone. And that would be unacceptable.
He was instructed to find the necklace and destroy it. Only then that the world will reset, the demons will be erased, the sins will be forgotten, and angels and humans will live happily ever after. He was told of the Oracles' countless efforts to prevent another war from happening. Yet, Lailah had gone berserk, marching into the Core, unprotected, armed only with her twin swords, and declared War.
All because Noah was taken by the demons again.
He knew that boy was cursed from the beginning. He was bound to be born within the demon ranks, then die along with the rest of them. A blood tainted by imperfect humans was destined to perish.
Michael thought he was going to walk forever, until another shining small thing appeared in the distance. As he ran to check it out, his heart began to race, excited for his mission to succeed.
Up high on a lone tree branch, there was the necklace, lying on a crow's nest along with the other sleeping babies.
There it is.
Michael thought, before he felt a cold hand grip his right ankle, dragging him down, down, down into the abyss.
& Darkness followed.
YOU ARE READING
The Voodoo Doll
Fantasy[COMPLETED] Noah is a boy who was raised by demons all his life. He has the ability to commit perfect crimes by using voodoo dolls and killing with them. He was taught ever since he was young to show no mercy to his enemies. Yet, because of his unu...
