The Rise Of The Morningstar (Eng. Version)

Chapter 71 - A Promised World

Chapter 71 – A Promised World

--- 3 days before the start of the war. ---

A knock woke me up. When I didn't react immediately, there was another knock. A roar so loud that it threatened to tear down my wooden door. I turned over in bed, a bed in which I lay alone, and looked around my room.

"Come in."

The door opened and its mahogany creaked as it moved. A tall, muscular figure with short, blonde hair entered my room and the light from my candle cast eerie shadows on its face. It didn't bother to close the door. It left it open undeterred and walked towards me with determined steps. It stopped a few meters from the edge of my bed and my heart leapt as I saw the white tinge in its hair. My eyes went down to his face and now that he was standing in the light, it was comparatively easy to recognize him.

Jonathan smiled exuberantly down at me. His usual sharp smile, which bore the positive emotions of a person but couldn't convincingly convey them due to his lack of soul, made every expression of his always seem like an artificial, unpracticed mask.

"Hello, sister," Jonathan greeted me. "I hope I'm not disturbing you."

Instead of answering him, I let my gaze wander over his body. He wore armor, definitely intended for combat, and the black Shadowhunter gear underneath. The only weapon on his belt was Phosphoros, the partner blade to my sword. No sign of the Angel Blade.

"You missed the fight," he said disappointedly, and only now did I notice that he was covered in blood from head to toe. The already dried secretion turned the polished silver of his armor into a dull brown-red. Even Phosphoros was dripping with blood, which fell from its blade onto my carpet, seeping deep into the fibers of the thick fabric.

Only then did his words sink in. You missed the fight. "The war doesn't start for another four days."

Jonathan frowned in confusion. "The five-day deadline Father gave you expired this evening. Father faced Raziel and demanded his wish. We razed the city to the ground with our demons. Alicante is in our hands, as are all the Nephilim who survived. They are at our mercy. We won long ago."

Hot, boiling panic gripped me and I jumped out from under the duvet, staggering a few feet toward Jonathan before my legs adjusted to my sudden weight. "What about my friends? Where are Jace and Isabelle and the Lightwoods? What did you do with all the Shadowworlders?"

A dark, fanatical smile spread across Jonathan's face. "I told you that we would outnumber them with our demons. The Shadowworlders had no place in our world. We did to them what the Clave should have done long ago."

A dizziness hit me, so intense and overwhelming that I had to hold on to the wooden pillar of my bed to keep from falling forward. I thought of Luke. Of Magnus. Of all the vampires and werewolves I had trained with to prepare them for this very emergency. "They're dead?"

"All of them," Jonathan confirmed.

A synapse in my head made short work. I rushed at him, the concentrated anger like fuel for my reserves of strength. Jonathan turned away to the side and I followed him. My fingers dug into him where the armor exposed his gear. I tried to shake him, to press my nails deep into his skin.

His body was hard as stone, as if he were not a being of flesh and blood. He pushed me away with a violent jerk – so hard that I stumbled backwards and hit my nightstand. My vision stumbled, spinning as the back of my head hit the edge of the mirror.

Jonathan's features changed and the human mask was suddenly swept away. A grimace flashed at me, opening its mouth in a bestial manner and spitting out a laugh that gave me goosebumps. Then he ran towards me, grabbed my arm in an impulsive movement and dragged me back to my feet. His face was so close to mine that I was looking directly at the black of his eyes.