Chronicles of a Fallen God-King
Book One: To Be Blue
Authors Note: Whoo, I'm on a roll here. Now that I've started to update, more and more ideas for this story keep coming to me. I've really got some more big surprises in store for you guys over the rest of this Angel: The Series continuation. Please let me know what you think of it.
Disclaimer: Same as last time.
Chapter Four:
My eyes widened as they locked on the collar snapped around Charles Gunn's neck. I crossed the gap between us in two steps, and reached forward towards the cool metal. Gunn flinched back away from my hand, as if afraid the slightest touch would set the mechanism off, and sever his head from his shoulders. I stayed my hand for a moment, and looked up at him with clear eyes. He seemed to get the message that I wouldn't do anything to endanger his life, and relaxed his tense muscles for a moment. It was with the tender grace of Winifred Burkle's hand that I reached out with and carefully touched the cold metal around his neck.
The metal in the back seemed to be sealed together with magic that I guessed even I would not be able to break with just brute strength. When Winifred had worn her own collar, it had been a lucky mistake that had disabled the device and not by her own skill. I could not do anything to help in this situation. "When did this happen to you?" I asked him, letting the collar drop from my hands.
"A few hours ago." Gunn responded, letting out a breath that he had seemed to be holding as I held the collar in my hands. "Where have you guys been anyway? I've been here for nearly a day." The news caused my heart to fuel its pace, speeding up and pounding against my chest. "Who knew that falling into the town square down there would get me noticed?" He continued on without waiting for my own answer, sarcasm thick against the anger in his voice. "The one who got to me first snapped this thing around my neck and forced me back to its humble abode for some manual labor. I'm supposed to be in the barns right now, but I had to get out and find one of you guys." He explained.
"It took us longer then expected to get through the portal after you." I told him, unable to express any true emotion towards the situation. "I didn't expect that so much time had passed between arrivals. I also am not sure what caused the switching of locations to where we arrived." I said aloud, more to myself as I tried to settle the matter internally. Something was not right here. It felt too much like a trap, far too well planned by some outside force to have been just another horrible coincidence that always seemed to happen since I had been resurrected. My mind returned to the priests for a brief second, as they walked past us with candles in their hands. Except, this time I could see more that I had missed before. They were holding something else in their free hands. Orbs. Glowing red, and blue, and green. How could I have missed that before? "I do not like this situation." I told Gunn suddenly. I wasn't sure if I had fabricated seeing the orbs in my imagination, or if it really was something to be taken seriously, but I tucked the knowledge into the back of my mind for the time being.
"Neither do I, and I gotta' get back to that farm." The dark man replied stepping away from me. "Now that you know, you have to find Angel and the others, let them know what's going on." After he spoke, it seemed that something clicked in his mind and he turned back to me again. "Where- Where is Angel anyway? You do know where they are?" His voice sounded desperate, tugging at the last strands of hope for life and salvation.
I didn't know what to say for a moment, and chose to look at my hands, which provided a good escape for a moment. "More or less." I finally replied. I had no idea if they were still frozen in time, and if they were, what could I do to release them? I had no control over my own powers in this land, but I could not bring myself to break the news to Gunn. For a moment we stared at each other, silently contemplating what the possible next step would be in finding a way to get ourselves out of this situation. "I should go." I told him, nodding my head assuredly.
"Yeah." Gunn replied simply, and after another moment of glancing at me, as if trying to discern what my intentions were, he turned and began to walk away before stopping and looking back at me again after he'd gotten a good ten feet away. "If you can't find the others tonight, go to the West, find a cave between the rocks." He instructed. "A part of you knows where I'm talking about." He said, and suddenly, a picture of Winifred appeared in my mind. She sat crouched in cave, her salvation, scribbling on the walls with rocks, trying hopelessly to create a way of escape for herself.
"I do." I told him, before turning and running away from him into darkness and shadow.
xXx
Pylea: 1996Things are strange here. I have no idea what's going on anymore. Since I woke up in this place it's been like one of those rides in Universal I threw up on when I went there with my parents when I was 7. Except, I don't think they have those here. I don't know how exactly I got here either really, except I know it had something to do with that strange book. Not exactly a new age horror novel like I'd guessed I suppose. Probably shouldn't have read it aloud either, although it had seemed harmless enough at the time. I'm not even sure how long I was knocked out for, but that book sure packed a punch!
And waking up here hasn't made anything easier, that's for sure. The people here seem to have some form of leprosy or something, and their skin seems to hang off their bones and muscles more then it should. I'm trying not to let them touch me as best I can, I don't wanna catch it after all. I even think I've seen some people with green skin here, but I can't be positive. All I know is that I have to find some way to call home or somethin'. Momma and Daddy are gonna kill me if I don't call. What am I sayin'? They don't even know I'm gone yet.
What am I gonna do?
"Move it cow." The man called to me, his voice gruff enough to snap me harshly back into reality. The guards at the door to the castle didn't seem pleased to see me. What am I doin' here? And why am I being called 'cow'? This all is so strange. I felt the pink skinned man's hand on my arm, gripping way tighter then he needed to. He began pulling me foreword towards the doors by my arm, keeping me close like I was some prize he just couldn't help but show want to show around to everybody at his country club. At least this was nicer then whatever he did with the collar around my neck to hurt me every so often.
What was this collar around my neck for? I wasn't into all that weird sexual stuff. Hell, I'd barely ever even done anything sexual with a boy besides a little kissing while I was in High School. But when I'd tried to explain that to this man, he'd only done something to make this shooting pain go up and down my spine. It'd happened so many times now- like when I spoke-that I was really beginning to get used to it. But it still hurt enough to shut me up.
I followed him soundlessly through the oak doors and past that guards, who wore metal helmets that looked more like buckets fashioned with slats for their eyes to peek through. Rather foolish if you ask me. This whole place was foolish. I'd determined that all these people were dressed up, or suffered from horrible diseases. Either way it was foolish that they were walking around the way they looked. I didn't have long to dwell on it, when suddenly I was stepping over the threshold and into a wide entrance corridor with a tall vaulted ceiling. Hallways broke off to the left and right, with doors scattered about the room. A long staircase was located at the other end of the room, past large pillars that were big enough around for half of the Varsity Football team to have trouble reaching across if they were holding hands. To sum it up, the place was immense.
More of the strange skinned men and women walked past me, glaring at me like I was the plague they already had. But another person caught my eye. There was a girl walking down the stairs. She was human like myself, and carrying a large bucket of water and a sponge. The bucket knocked against her thigh with every step she took down the flight of stairs, sloshing water over her raggedy dress. She kept her head down, towards the floor, but I could clearly see the metal of the collar she wore around her neck. She made it to the bottom of the floor, and settled down at the base of the steps as we walked towards the stairs, and dipped the sponge into the bucket of water and began to scrub the floor clean. My heart skipped a beat as realization settled over me. I was going to be a slave for them.
As we neared the girl, the man I was with spoke to her. "Out of the way cow," He said, kicking out at her hand. She just managed to pull it back in time, and his foot connected with the bucket of water, spilling its contents onto the floor. His shoe and pants were splashed with water. The man quickly jumped to higher ground on the first step, and released my arm. "You'll pay for that cow." He said threateningly to the girl, who looked on the verge of tears.
"Hey!" I said suddenly, forgetting my place entirely, and every bit of manners I had been taught by my parents and kneeling down next to the girl. "You can't talk to her like that." I said, placing a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. The blonde girls' eyes locked onto mine, wide and full of fear. She seemed to be warning me, telling me to leave her alone silently. Suddenly, the man was back at my side.
"You'd do well to remember your place while here." His voice whispered in my ear, full of malice. Suddenly I felt his hand wrapping in my hair, and pulling sharply; yanking me to my feet.
It was then it really began to set in for me, that I wasn't in Las Angeles anymore, I didn't even know if I was on Earth anymore either.
xXx
My head ached as I progressed into the night and backtracked towards where I had left the others. I had been fine before leaving Gunn, but now, after the memory of Winifred's pain, my own had manifested in its place. The thought sent a slight chill down my spine; she couldn't possibly have any control over what I felt. She was long dead, and naught but memory now. Yet the pounding in my head told me differently. The more I remembered of her, the more real she seemed to become in my head, until I could almost hear her, whispers of herself in the threads of my mind. I pushed the thought away. It wasn't possible. I wouldn't let it be possible.
A low growl to my left alerted me to the attack just before a left hook powerful enough to knock me from my feet would have hit me. I ducked under the attack and thrust my own left hand out, palm up, to slam into the demon's chest hard enough to shatter ribs, perhaps causing some internal bleeding. I didn't stop my own attack, and jumped up quickly, grabbing the demon around the neck and pulling upwards, dislocating the base of his neck from his spine. With a gurgle, the creature fell limp and I tossed the body down to my feet. It was obviously a demon from the battle in Las Angeles. If that demon had survived, how many others had also?
Suddenly, a body slammed against me for the second time that night. This was less friendly, I could tell from the fists slamming into my side repeatedly as an arm held me around the waist. The pain was central around my stomach though, and I was able to block it away long enough to pull back my own fist, and slam it into the other demon's nose, shattering the cartilage and knocking it back away from me.
This demon was the same as the last; blue skinned and tough looking, with bulging muscles and a strong disposition towards myself. He seemed nearly unfazed by his wound, and glared at me past blood spattered yellow eyes before lunging again. I sidestepped him easily, drawing a new line of combat and thrust my leg out, kicking him in the small of the back. His groan of pain shook the nearly silent night and he clutched at his back. For a moment, I suspected I had broken it, but he began to stir again, drawing a small dagger from a pouch on fastened into his dark leather clothing.
Nothing is ever easy, I reminded myself as I carefully dodged each attack from the demon, leaning away from his wide strikes. It was simple enough to just reach up and grab his arm after a particularly wide swing and bring it down onto my kneecap. I could hear the telltale noise of bones shattering, and the demon roared out in pain, nearly dropping the knife. I caught the weapon before it hit the ground, and plunged it into the demon's throat, stifling his screams of pain before he could call any more reinforcements.
With my final rival destroyed, I cleaned the weapon on the Demon's clothing before tucking it away into my boot, planning on keeping something for my defense in this land that had proved to be nothing but trouble for everyone I know associated with it.
The sun was rising now, dim grayish light bathing the trees and grasses in a light no stronger then that of the moon. I couldn't wait any longer. Finding the others before daybreak would be critical. I forced myself to keep moving, going back in the direction I thought I had come from. The pain in my head had receded now, replaced by the ach of my body from the beating I'd just had placed upon me. The worry I had been feeling before the battle had completely dissipated along with the pain of the headache, and seemed like nothing more then the memories I so frequently experienced.
I came up the crest of a small hill, and looked down the other side. My heart skipped a beat. The bodies of the demons Angel and Spike had killed before were there. I had nearly found my way back!
I went quickly down the small gully, and began to ascend to the other side of the hill, hoping that the others were still there. But if they were there, would I be able to free them from whatever I had done to them? I hardly dared to breath as I finally made it up to the other side of the hill, staring across the flat expanse of grass. I let out the breath I had been holding in a mixture of disappointment, exasperation, and slight happiness.
My allies were gone. That had to mean that the freezing effect had worn off. In the blooming light I turned round on the hill, trying to gaze over each side and as far into the distance as I could see, hoping to find some trace of what direction they could have traveled in. I was tiring from the sheer length of the day, and I had no idea for how long I had been awake for, since I still was unsure how time traveled here. Even Winifred had been unsure, with two suns to tell time by.
Rays of sunlight had begun to break over the furthest mountaintops, shredding the darkness that was night into thin wisps of fading shadow. The second sun remained closed from view for the time being, but I was sure it couldn't have been far behind the first. It seemed to be genuinely peaceful in the lands here for the time being, but the nagging voice of Winifred Burkle pulled at my mind. 'Bad things happen here.' I could hear her saying, time and time again after her sanity had been destroyed by the constant attempts on her life in these lands.
I was not about to fall pray to gentle facades and beautiful landscapes. It was not of my nature. I forced my mind to think, to find a way to civilization again, where I could maybe find someone to torture into helping me find the others. I could not save Gunn on my own. The risks were too great, with the priests running about these lands again- I could not risk being caught trying to rescue him alone.
So instead, I pushed myself back into the Burkle persona again. My form shifted, the blue in my skin and hair faded slowly until my pigment was naught but normal mortal skin. I forced my clothing to change, back into Winifred's rags that she wore while in captivity, the collar of my suit split from the rest of the outfit, and shaped itself into a metal collar, akin to that of the one Winifred had worn. For all anyone who saw me know could tell, I was just another cow slave on their planet. This way I could enter the village under some cover, and hopefully would not be noticed as I searched for the others.
Next, I forced myself into Winifred's memory of the lands, and what direction would lead me where. To my east was the Cave. I remembered Winifred's many journeys to and from her hiding spot, where she would escape to after pilfering food supplies from the village. It was in the opposite direction that I would find it then, I was sure of it. Not really knowing why I was choosing to go about things in this manner, I began to move again, my bare feet cold in the dewy grass.
In some respects, it was similar to returning to someplace both familiar, and new at the same moment. I felt torn between myself and the shell I inhabited. Her own memories felt somehow more connected to me while I was pretending to be her, yet I knew I had never really experienced what I was seeing before this moment. I no longer felt like a God-king. I was a free being, free and stalking for freedom. Some primal force urged me on now, not for Angel and the others, but for Winifred. And suddenly, it dawned on me.
I wanted revenge.
Not for myself, but for Winifred. She had been tortured for five years by creatures no better then the dirt and leaves they chose to make their homes on. I was losing myself utterly and completely inside the Burkle persona. This had never happened to me before, and I struggled to keep control before I did something that I would come to regret. I had just managed to keep my hold on the ties that held us together, when I realized where I'd come to. The village. I was looking down over it from an outcropping of rock and hill. The layout was the same as Winifred remembered, and the people still bustled around in frenzied droves. But something had changed here. I could tell immediately. These were darker time then they had been when Winifred was enslaved. For a moment I contemplated turning back, but I had no other choice. There was nothing else I could do.
I had to press on.
xXx
Author's Note: So, there you have it then. Weird chapter huh? Don't worry, it's meant to be that way. Also, how did you guys enjoy the bit from Fred's point of view? There will be more of that in the coming chapters, as this book will relate to a lot of Fred's life before she became a part of Angel Investigations. I know a lot of you are probably really confused right now, and probably will be for the next couple of chapters, but things will begin to fall into place; I promise.