As The Snow Falls

Chapter Three - Revelation of a New Age

Raphael woke with a start.

It was dark, but the darkness no longer bothered him, it had at first, but the fear had gone from him over the years, now it was a kindness to him. He breathed in the cool air of the morning, he knew it to be no more than a dream; a recurring nightmare.

It could never happen, he was convinced of that. He rose, and donned his black clothes, there was no use trying to get back to sleep, he'd learnt. He splashed his face with cool water to wake himself up, he looked in the mirror, a bed hed ridden face looked back at him, he smiled at their messed up jet black hair and left his room and went into the hall.

James was already up, as usual.

James was sat looking through a window he'd made, a closed portal as it were, to the monastery where the masters dwelt. He normally did this on a morning, to receive instructions for the day.

'Morning,' Raphael said to him as he walked by to get some food, 'what're we...'

He trailed off.

James was a fearful white, unblinking, staring at the window.

Raphael saw nothing, then he realised - he saw nothing. The masters were normally there, talking to James, but they weren't there, at least he didn't think they were...

Raphael moved closer, now ensconced in the window, he saw them now, the lifeless bodies of the masters lay there, no light coming from their bodies.

'What do we do?' James said after they'd been there a while.

A flash of white moved past the window, James moved back, restraining the urge to scream, and the window closed immediately.

'Did they see the window?' Raphael asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

'No,' James replies, 'I don't think so.'

'Ok,' Raphael began to move, 'I'll get the others, then we can decide what to do.'

Raphael left James, unsure of what had just happened, but fearful of what might be.

Raphael woke the others and they all seven of them sat together, the rain beat down on the roof.

'Lei,' Samson said, nodding to the roof, 'it'll be ok.'

'Sorry.' she wiped her tears and the rain stopped.

'So,' Apphia began, with a sense of the inevitable, 'what happens now?'

'I don't know,' Kai said, addressing everyone, 'but while we figure out what we're going to do, Nadia has the whole place shielded, and should anything happen, James can teleport us away to a safe house.'

'If the safe houses are still safe...' Apphia said to no-one in particular.

Kai gave her a "you're not helping" look.

'I say we go to the library,' Nadia said, 'one of the prophets must have spoken of this, if not, it's still a good place to start, and the librarian will offer some extra protection.'

She looked over everyone's faces, awaiting a reply.

'Sounds like a plan to me.' Samson answered.

'James?' Nadia said.

'I'm here!' James said, shooting up, everyone else followed.

'The library is a safe enough destination for a portal, James' Raphael said.

A red and black ball of mist formed in the centre of the room, and expanded to almost three metres wide and two high, then it shimmered and became translucent, showing bookshelves on the other side.

'To the library!' Kai exclaimed, and jumped through.