The Sundering Dawn

“Think back.”

Light flashes rhythmically between bright and dim, presenting two entirely different rooms. It's a dimension hopping trick and being a part of it on this end is unsettling; but I think I prefer the yellow-tinged and rusty metal walls to the white sterile looking ones. I struggle hard against the straps that bind me to an old shredded up hospital mattress.

I really thought–tears and spit block my airway and I choke–I really thought that I had escaped. I was so close to home. So close to forgetting these awful memories. I don’t want to get trapped again after three long years of fighting my way out.

Long, cold fingers grip the sides of my face and center my head, ceasing my thrashing. A dark blue–almost black being standing at the head of the bed hunches over me so that we are face to face. Its features are indistinguishable no matter how bright the room gets. What should be hair is more like strands of shadows that curtain the side of its head. If it has eyes I wouldn’t know. It gives off a cold, impartial aura. “Think. Where did it all begin?”

A sudden flash of understanding chills me; I’m a war prisoner. These are Inquisitors. I’d always managed to avoid them and the rest of that infernal army. I begin to think back to my capture, stalling. The Dawning was what we called the beginning of our world being ripped into shreds by the deities that had been left behind by The One. Bitter and vengeful they tore apart time and space and warped logic and reasoning. We had been searching in a cathedral, that one of the deities Adrastros had claimed, for an underground path out of the city, but we had been spotted by a small gang of shadow demons patrolling the area and I had to separate from my group, or, at this point, friends, in order to protect them.

“Think,” the voice hisses again. The creature's fingers bore through my scalp like needles and into my brain. Over my pounding heart I can’t hear my screams. I feel the creature infusing itself into my memories the way one might flip through a file cabinet, rapidly and carelessly. The images of my life so messily rummaged through.

I don't want to walk anymore. We’ve been traveling on this broken up and deserted freeway for what feels like hours. I keep thinking about Bethany. We left her at the car with an injury that rendered her immobile.

I’m staring at loose pebbles on the ground as I stomp along, when all of the sudden I feel the urge to look up. I gently nudge Jason. “Hey! Hey look. I can see the outline of something.”

Jason runs a hand through his hair, confused and uncomfortable. “What the hell.”

I look at him sideways. “Jase, what's the matter?”

“That wasn't there before.”

I stop and snort in disbelief, “Okay. Sure. That giant structure just fell out of the sky.”

He just looks at me with an intensely serious expression on his face.

“There is no freaking way.”

I try to wrestle my consciousness back. I can feel cold sweat all over my body. "Don't." I squeeze out through gritted teeth. I can sense frustration from the Inquisitor and its nails embed themselves further.

“Exactly. It's not possible. So, we're either really tired, or something is messing with us.”

“Yeah. Definitely."

“Bee, I'm serious! I'm not even shitting you! That wasn't there. I haven't seen one thing since we got on this damn freeway." Jason gestures around frantically. He isn't that good of an actor. Sighing deeply, I nod. “Okay,” I put my hands up.

“Blair. It wasn't there. I can tell you don’t believe me, but it really doesn't matter whether you do or not. We still have to pass through whatever it is.”

The thought makes my stomach drop. I don't know what it is, holds, or who could be there waiting, and we have to pass through it. There's no way around it. It looks like a giant traffic tunnel.

That’s exactly what it is and it isn't any less intimidating than it had been when we first saw it. It's much worse. It's pitch black inside. Jason and I just stand there, staring. His fingers intertwine around mine and I feel my eyes well up with tears.

“Jason. No. Please. Let's just go back. I don't want to go through there. We should have stayed with Bethany.” It feels so wrong just looking at it. As if the tunnel itself is alive and we’re going to walk into its mouth.

“We have to Bee. Come on.”

I can hardly speak from fighting the urge to cry again. “Please, we tried. We tried.” And I break into body-shaking sobs.

Jason hugs me to him and runs his hand over my hair.

“Bee.” He pauses. “I swear on my life, I won't let anything happen to you. You'll be fine. Let's go.”

I just push my head into his chest. Long heavy sobs come out. Fear of the dark is something I've always dealt with. I'm not talking about being in my room with the lights off, I'm talking pitch black darkness where you can't see your own hand extended in front of you. We don't know what's in there.

“Blair!” His voice snaps me back and I briefly stop crying, “Blair,” he softens his voice once he has my attention, “I will hold your hand the entire time. Let's go.” I just shake my head and sink to the ground. The more I think about entering that place the harder it is to breathe.

“I’m not going.”

He grunts and grabs my forearm hard. “Yes, you are. You're going in there and I'm going to be right there with you!” He lifts me up, and leads me inside.

Stepping into the tunnel is like stepping into a freezer. I begin to shiver and wipe the icy tears off my face with the back of my hand. It's so dark. Even though Jason is still clutching on to me, I want to scream out to him and make sure he's still there. The air or rather the darkness itself is thick, almost solid, and so hard to move through. My steps feel weighted, as if my feet are magnetized. I can feel my nails digging into Jason, but he doesn't say anything. This tunnel can't be too long. We'll make it through.

“NO.” I scream out, writhing again. I remember that the harder they pry into your memories, the closer they get to your soul. The closer they get to seeing your future. And by learning about who you were, they can determine just the right moment to alter who you will be; often at the expense of your life. Since I’m already in the clutches of these beasts, I’m not really expecting to have much of a future, but I do want to keep these memories buried, respectfully; almost like my mind is a graveyard.

Once we are completely enveloped by the darkness, I no longer feel Jason holding on to me. Suddenly a loud noise sounds off like an alarm. Lights tick on one by one, as though a switch has been flipped. Another noise pierces through and I glance around quickly. There's at least six eighteen-wheeler trucks scattered around and one is on its side, along with tens of cars that are mostly intact and some that are crushed up or have pieces of it strewn around, along with some boxes, a bunch of racks on the far right wall of the tunnel, some stairs further down in front of me. And that's when I realized. This isn't just a tunnel. It's more like an old abandoned warehouse that was built inside of a tunnel–that has also seen a nasty collision. I continue to squint around in disbelief when I hear someone rush past me. A quick sigh of relief escapes me. It's only Bethany. Bethany! Impossible. Her leg had been broken in the accident. It triggers my fight or flight and I’m off, breathlessly sprinting and not fully aware of where I'm going. I find myself in front of another horrific sight. Jason. He's underneath the wheel of one of those trucks. Just as I'm getting the feeling of having the wind knocked out, Jason runs past me. A different Jason. I just look at him with my jaw dropped and pointing at him under the tire. His gaze follows my finger. He turns a pale shade of green and grabs my wrist pulling me with him as he takes off running.

“We gotta get out of here Blair. There's some real freaky shit going on.”

I want to yell, “Yeah, you're telling me!” But instead I just let him drag me along, praying that my lungs don't give out.

We're going the opposite way that we came so I tug on his arm to get him to turn around. He just shakes his head. “Trust me, we don't want to go that way.” I nod and don't allow myself anymore thought on it.

Past boxes, past more shelves, past scattered bloody clothes, past torn up books, broken cds, cassettes, dolls, candy and fast food wrappers, diapers, car seats, shattered glass, photos, we keep on sprinting. My lungs decide they no longer want me to keep running and I start to slow, making Jason stumble as he tries to help me keep up with him. “Blair c'mon, we can do this.”

But I really can't. I give. Whatever is going on, wins. I stop and it's a good thing too. Jason tugs at me a bit and I lift a hand to stop him. I nod over to where I can see the outline of a group of people approaching. Everything falls silent. And then screaming. The group is now in plain view of us and we can see a bunch of people in white hazmat suits. They have two guys by the arms, lifted slightly off the ground. The two men are naked and screaming, trying to break the grasp of the hazmat people. Finally, the people in the suits throw the screaming men on the ground and signal to each other before jumping up and landing on the men, stomping them flat and causing their rib-cages to snap out. I make a small whimpering sound and the masked heads of the guys in the hazmat suits jolt up in our direction.

“Go, go, go.” He says quietly gently pushing me by the waist through a gap between two metal shelving units.

As though springs have gone off in our bodies, we lurch forward dodging random protruding objects. I risk a glance behind us and sure enough those guys are chasing us. I peer around me for something to defend myself with or a good hiding spot, but there isn't any. I helplessly scan box after box and shelf after shelf, trying to find something. We pause for a moment and duck behind this half destroyed wooden book shelf that barely provides cover.

My eyes meet Jason's. We're both sweaty, cold, and breathing hard. He points towards a door and we nod at each other. When we stand back up they are so close it would be a miracle if we made it. We take off running again and bless this foul place, I find a gun. A single barrel shotgun. I snatch it up and check. There's a bullet inside. This isn't the best, but it's something.

Finally we get to the door. Shit. Jammed. I throw myself against it a few times. The only result is a bruised shoulder. Jason does the same and it budges a little. I watch as the men grow closer and hold the gun tightly, ready to aim and shoot.

“It's almost open, Blair.”

“Andrea!” I scream out, but I barely realize what I'm doing. “Tessa!”

With my last bit of control over my consciousness, I call out one more name. Invoking the celestial Herself. The first of the abandoned deities.

At first they recoil a bit in what I assume can only be fear, but then I feel them push deeper into my head out of spite. The pain is searing, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I’m not entirely sure it’s a physical pain either. They could be ripping apart my consciousness. Suddenly I have no control. It’s as though I’m both watching and living these last few terrible moments. The last moments of the last year in my teens. The last moments with the last of my friends. And the first time I knew nothing would ever be the same. The first steps I took towards trying to figure out how to fix something that I was only ever a pawn in. Even now I can’t escape. And now I’ll never get to save them. Are their sacrifices worthless?

“Good. Please hurry,” I call over my shoulder.

Just a few feet away now. “Jason! They are going to get us!” I reach back and tap him hard a few times.

“Almost!”

Too late it seems. They're here now. Surrounding us. I start crying. They stand around us, peering at us like we are these odd creatures that they've never seen before. I raise my gun at them and they take a half-step back. “No!” I scream. As if that would make them go away.

“Bee,” Jason gently comes up behind me, he leans in and whispers into my ear, “Bee. The door is open now. Just give me the gun and go, okay? Run. Get away from here.”

I shake my head and look down. “No.” I start crying harder. “What about you? I'm not going without you.”

“Blair please. You need to. We both aren't going to make it out of here. I can hold them off while you go.”

“No! You'll only have one bullet.”

“I don't need the bullet. Everything is going to be okay, remember?” I realize much too late that he's been herding me towards the door.

“Don't do it Jason! Please!” With a final and very hard kick the door bursts open and he swiftly takes the gun while shoving me out. I fall with the momentum and as I get up he quickly pulls the door shut. My fists whale hard on steel, begging him to get out of there. As I start to give up on him joining me, I hear a gunshot, then everything is silent.

Celestial beings speak some form of Enochian. Demonic beings are no exception. It was one of Tessa's first lessons in teaching us about what we were up against; so I know enough to understand "Here," when the Inquisitor speaks, sending a chill up my spine and causing my hair to stand on end. And "Insert." The voice makes me nauseous. When more powerful demons speak their language they can cause physical reactions. The same way some angelic beings can cause a ringing in one's ears when they speak.

I hear Andrea’s voice and think that another memory is about to start or that they’re altering my timeline, but then I feel the fingers of the Inquisitor withdrawing from my head. Angry hissing intertwines with more voices. I realize I’ve been hearing her call my name. A flash of green light illuminates the room. Tessa.

“I bet you really thought we were gonna leave you behind.” Tessa says, placing a palm on the Inquisitor's chest and burning through it.

The amount of relief makes me smile through the pain, “I couldn’t really think about that.”

Beams of light project from her hand and pierce into the other Inquisitors. They shriek and recoil as smoke erupts from the beam's entry points. Tessa’s abilities always leave me awestruck. She’s a celestial too. She won’t tell me what kind so there’s always a part of me that wonders where her loyalties really lie, however, this isn’t the first time she–or Andrea–has saved my life. I owe so much to so many people.

Andrea undoes the bindings and helps me sit up. And I’m instantly tumbling over from vertigo. Tessa grabs me before I hit the ground and tosses me over her shoulder. With her free hand she grabs a blade from her hip and slashes through this reality opening a portal. Andrea follows close behind us. She’s a gifted astral traveler, and even though she’s human like me she’s been able to handle a few celestials on her own. Now as we’re making our escape and the Inquisitors are advancing and calling for reinforcements she lets out a powerful ethereal scream that resonates out from each of the energy points on her body. Each demonic entity either hits the ground or repeatedly dissipates, until we’re inside and through the portal.

“Thanks for saving me.”

“Of course. We’re almost done with this wretched battle. And we made it this far because of you.” Andrea puts an arm around me for support and I lean into her.

“C’mon. The others are waiting.” Tessa leads us on. It seems they’ve found that path under the cathedral.

I stagger back to our group. None of us were warriors. We were people who couldn’t be broken along with the sundering of this world. I’ve fought along so many, and some of them are off continuing the fights in other parts of this world and even in other planes, all to reset the balance. I haven’t given up on bringing back my friends or finding my family. I think our common thread is not letting our fear define us. If it's not a challenge to overcome, somehow it’s our shield. At its very best it’s our guide through the darkness, if we know how to listen.