Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between

Chapter 2: Shikia's Challenge

CH.2 Shikia's Challenge

We both immediately stopped laughing and stood at attention. Standing in the doorway leading to the master bedroom was a middle-aged angel that was apparently not in a good mood.

"Sorry to wake you up Shikia," Rollo stammered, "but I thought that it would be best to get this over with as fast as possible."

Shikia looked me over, and, apparently seeing something she liked, motioned us into the living room. We sat down, and before I could ask a single question, Shikia held up a hand to stop me. "I realize that you have a lot of questions," she said, "but please wait until I am finished."

I bit back my first question and sat down to listen. From the very first sentence I was taken totally by surprise. "I am going to tell you something that will go totally against what you know, so I ask you to keep an open mind, because the request I have is vital to the human races' survival."

She sounded like one of the Fates telling a prophecy. I listened as she continued her tale. "Since the beginning, Angels and Demons have fought over who rules Earth. The agents of Evil draw power from chaos and destruction, so they will try to influence people to create just that. There is a problem though; angels can't go to Earth because our presence would burn away the life force of any mortal near us. We cannot fight the devils unless they are in Hell. We need you and other mortals to fight them while they are causing trouble on Earth." She stopped for a moment to let this sink in.

I was blown away, how could a couple of people fight the endless hoards of demons streaming from Hell? We would be killed in seconds. "Not that I don't believe you," I said, "but if I'm s'pose to fight demons, how am I going to do that? Last time I checked, kids can't carry guns everywhere they go."

Shikia looked at me like I had a peanut for a brain, she said, "no Earth weapon can kill a demon, only weapons with the Lord's light can harm them beyond being mildly irritated."

"And where exactly am I supposed to get one of those?" I said, "My mom won't even let me have a pocket knife, much less what you are talking about."

She gave me that 'don't be stupid' look again, "It is quite simple," she said with controlled patience, "we test you to see if you are worthy and if you succeed, we give you one of our weapons."

All this time Rollo had been sitting next to me, absorbing every word. At this he stood in a flash and quickly spoke his mind. "And why, pray tell, would you give him a holy weapon, when I did not get one upon becoming a private?" he asked with acid in his voice, "I have been in the Lord's army for two millennia, and this kid gets a weapon on his first visit!?"

Shikia calmly answered, "That is because you are the worst fighter in Heaven, and would most likely hurt your own side worse than the enemy. Plus, you would break most weapons in under a week. We would run out of stuff in the Armory in less than two years." Rollo looked hurt, and promptly sat down again next to me. I was about to speak up in his defense, but a glance from him said to drop it.

"Anyway," Shikia said, looking back at me, "I did not say that he would get a weapon, unless he passes my test. There is a demon in your school, and I want you to find it and destroy it."

I felt like I had been sucker-punched, "And how am I to do that, you just said that only weapons from Heaven can kill a demon."

She told me, "There is a simple explanation for that, the demon I want you to kill is a Karaci, and they are unable to be in direct sunlight, for it burns them away. If you can get it outside, it will die."

With that final word, I felt myself being flung backwards at such a speed, that if I were solid, I would have come apart at the seams. I woke up in my bed with the morning light streaming in my window. "It must have been a dream," I thought to myself, "besides, how could I have been in Heaven, I'm alive." The more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed, and with the thought of a demon at my school almost out of my mind, I got out of bed and got ready for school. The weather was perfect and I was in an even more perfect mood. I thought, "Nothing could spoil today, I'm too happy." There was no way I could have been prepared for the day to come. What would start as a beautiful day would turn into a living nightmare by lunch.