A Year of Stories: October Story

(Disclaimer: I'll try to make this short . . .

I feel I must have a disclaimer to tell everyone what my idea for this blog is. It's getting to the point where there are a lot of posts and I fear the idea of the blog is getting lost. I am a young writer and I'm still trying to learn this art. Like any art I love to hear constructive criticism about my work, which is why I am posting my earliest drafts of my writing. Some of these drafts I have only looked over once or twice at best, and they may not be the very best I can do, but nevertheless, I want to show them off.

I'm looking for constructive criticism while I'm working. I am also trying to show everyone my progress as I grow as an artist. Being an artist of any kind takes a lot of work and time to make your craft perfect. And I want to show everyone that a man with a learning disability and dyslexia can be a writer. I may not be the greatest writer in the world and I'm alright with that, but I can be a writer who inspires people to create. Even if I only inspire one person to become an artist, I want to inspire them because my friends and family have done that for me. They have never given up on me and I want to show them the gifts that God has given me.

So with that said, I hope you enjoy my work. I would love to hear your ideas on what you would do to make the writing better. Also, if a draft get removed it's because I'm working on it or I feel like it doesn't need to be on my blog anymore. Thank you for your time, I know reading can take a while. So I thank you again.

With a handshake,

Chase L. Currie)

The Holy Empire: The Reign of Tyr

I.D.R.A

One Shot Story

The Holy Fire

Draft 3

Chase L. Currie

Apollo System, the Realm of Man

Black Bird Station Gamma

Around Mid-Night

            Denise's room was perfectly dark and perfectly still as she sat in the middle of the floor. Her dolls lay around her like the friends she did not have. Her perfect black hair just made her bright blue eyes stand out even more as she looked up into the darkness. It was the time of night she loved the most. Her mother was asleep. Her father hadn't been around for years; he died mining on some planet far away. Denise didn't understand why he left or died, but then again she didn't really want to. She didn't care about the things most little girls her age cared about. She didn't like books, or kittens, or toys. No, she didn't like any of those things. In fact, she didn't like any of the people in her life right now.

            “Like you,” she said in her cute voice. “You don't like them either do you?” No one understood her. Her mother didn't understand the power she had. The magic she could breathe from her fingertips. Every time she would play with fire or made ice from the air around her, her mother would punish her. She would tell her, “You can't be playing with magic, it is dangerous.” That was why Denise loved the night, everyone was in bed and there was no one to punish her for the spells she played with.

            She smiled from ear to ear as the man kneel down in front of her. He was the size of a giant next to her, the blackness behind him folded in on itself. He studied the girl with his glowing green eyes saying nothing to her.

            “I know you don't like them,” Denise told him. “They are all bad. I can see it.”

            Again the man said nothing but she didn't mind. He could see the blackness on everyone as well. She had summoned him to clean everyone, to wash away the black oil on their skin. She knew it was the right thing to do. They would understand her once they were all clean, and no one would punish her for her magic.

            “You have to clean them, mister,” she told him, never standing up but picking up one of her dolls. “Please mister, will you clean all the people, even my mommy?” She pet the red doll's red hair as the man stood. He didn't move for a moment, looking down at her and then looking all around the room as if he shouldn't be here.

            “Clean them, child?” he asked. “You summon me to clean them?”

            “Right,” she said, jumping to her feet. “You have the power, you'll make them understand. You'll make all pure. I know you will.”

            “I can't . . .” he started to said, holding his head. He fell back to his knees as rivers of tears fell from his eyes. Denise laid her tiny hands on his shoulder that was easily a mountain to her. She started to cry along with him but she couldn't feel the same pain. He screamed as if nails were being pounded into the side of his skull. He cried for it all to stop. He wished the pain would fade, a pain he's never known before. “Where am I?!” he yelled to the Heavens above.

            Denise threw her teensy arms around his neck, “You are okay, mister. You are here to help me and then you can go home. I'll send you back there.”

            “No, no,” he wailed throwing himself back against her bookshelf. “This is not right. You shouldn't have been able to do this. No, no, no . . .”

            “Mister,” Denise yelled trying to sounds like her mother when she wanted her to do something. “It is alright. God sent you to me. He sent you here to help me!”

            “Child,” the man cried, “you know not of what you speak.”

            “Oh, but I do,” she said, and a blue flame rose from her body as her dolls stood up on their feet and bowed to her. “He gave me his blessing.”

            The man reached out feeling a power pulling him to the fire. He knew the power, but it was in the wrong place. This child, this little girl, should not have it, he thought to himself. Could the power really be from Him? But then something felt very wrong about the magic in the air. The man stood up, tears still falling from his glowing green eyes. “You must send me back now,” he said, the pain growing deeper in his head. “I am not meant for this world, child.”

            “I will,” she said, “but only after you make everyone right.”

            “You stupid child!” he yelled, and the door to Denise's room flew open as her mother came rushing in. She began screaming at the giant man in black armor. She quickly threw herself at Denise, hiding the child behind her. The fire around the little girl faded and she fought for her mom to let go of her.

            “Who are you?! What do you want?!” Denise's mother yelled. “Please don't hurt us!”

            “I can see it,” the man said stepping closer to Denise. “She is black.” The pain had stopped or the nails have finally hit the mark. It didn't take a lot of time, but then again the man was not of this realm. “I can feel it,” he mumbled, “I can see it everywhere . . .the blackness.”

            “Yes, yes,” Denise screamed with joy. “Clean them!”

            The man reached out for her mother, picking her up by her head. The woman fought trying to free herself but he doesn't let go. She cried for him not to hurt Denise but the scream soon transformed nothing but sounds. Her words stopped as his hands lit up, burning away all the blackness like oil on fire. Denise's mother stopped moving and screaming and hung there lifeless as the man dropped her.

            He looked down at her body while Denise moved to hold his hand. “There are so many more, mister that need to be clean.”

            “My name is Castiel,” he said.

            “I am Denise.”

            “Show me the others,” Castiel said in a flat, cold and lifeless tone.

~

Somewhere in between everything,

The home of the I.D.R.A,

            “Somnus” a voice said. A voice he knew. He could almost place it. He should have been able to place who the voice belonged to but his mind was fuZ.Zy. The fuzziness was from the six or so shots he had taken about an hour ago, not to mention the couple of beers he used to chase down the shots with. He laid on the floor trying to remember how to open his eyes, but it was harder to recall thou it should have been be. “Somnus Sleep, are you drunk again!”

            No, he tried to say, but the words didn't fall out of his mouth. He lay there trying to stop the world from spinning. However, he wasn't on a planet of any kind. He was in a ship floating somewhere in between everything. A ship that was part alive and part metal, but it wasn't really metal just, something that felt like it. It was all immensity confusing to Somnus when he was sober, trying to understand what he was laying against floor while drunk was almost impossible.

            “I can’t believe this,” the voice said, this time he knew it was a female, who is mad at him from her tone. “You said you wouldn't get drunk anymore.”

            I'm sorry, so sorry, he tried to say but again the words didn't come out. It was as if his mouth didn't know how to open either. He just made some sad noise hoping it would work.

            “You are hopeless,” the woman, a friend, yelled at him then stormed off.

            So, Somnus laid there on the cold floor of the metal ship, hoping to pass out, but he doesn’t sleep, ever. It's a part of what he is. A thing with powers and the curse of never being able to sleep. He once was a angel but was no longer. Now he was just . . . a thing. Not something of the holy house or of the clans of Hell, just a something. He was somewhere in between all of it just like the home he lived in. He was a wraith, but a very drunk wraith at that moment.

            He rolled over, or so he thought. His long odd nose still pushed against the floor and after a while of telling his body to roll he gives up. He laid there wishing whom over found him, didn't. What the fuck did I do? He asked himself, wishing he could find his face to punch it. Why did I do this again?

            If only it was that easy, someone else seemed too said in his head. If only the why was that easy to find. Maybe, it's because you are unhappy. Maybe, it's because you can’t let go of his death. Maybe, you just like getting fucked up. Maybe . . .

            “Maybe, you should open your eyes, Somnus,” a man's voice said this time.

            Somnus breathed taking in the icy air, and then opened his dark red eyes to see a brown reddish timber wolf looking down at him. The animal's golden eyes were full of disappointment. The dog cocked his head to the right a little and said, “Well, good to see you are still alive.”

            “Spencer,” Somnus said, sitting up, running his long slender hand through his Bob Dylan like hair. Hair that seem to shot everywhere and never knew the touched of a comb. Everyone told him he looked like Dylan, but with a little more tone of green in his skin and a lot more attitude to go with it. “I think . . . nope, not thinking, I'm drunk!”

            “So Z.Z has told me.”

            “Ah, fuck,” Somnus said as the wolf sat back on his hind legs, “she was the one who found me.”

            “I'm afraid so,” the dog said, “and she is not very happy with you right now.”

            “My head is not very happy with me right now,” Somnus said, crawling over to the wall of the ship. He sat his back against it feeling all the grooves and crevices of the metal flesh wall. When he first came to this he thought the walls looked like they were from the movie called Aliens. 

            “What did she want?” he asked trying to keep his head up with one hand and hand up with his knee.

            “She didn't want anything from you,” Spencer said, moving over the larger fireplace across the room. He tapped the side of the wall with his nose and the fire place burst to life. “Aiya has a new mission for us.”

            “Right,” Somnus said almost wishing he didn't remember he was a part of the Inner Dimensions Retrieval Agency or now as they were known I.D.R.A. It was an agency which tracks down any creature that crossed over to the realm of man without permission. Creatures like aliens, demons, angels, and a few other things that don't have a name yet. “Well, I'm going to need a moment.”

            “I can see that,” Spencer said, looking over at the empty glass that sat on the old wooden table. It was the only mess in the whole room. Everything else was perfectly clean, almost too clean. Everything in the room was made from the hull of the ship, everything but the table. It was out of place, but Spencer knew why. It was the table He owned. It was the place Somnus and Him had talked for hours. It was also where he died in front of Somnus and now only held memories of things too hard to bear when sober.

            “When you are sober, meet us in the briefing room,” Spencer told him, leaving.

            Somnus studied the dancing fire as the hours passed. Lucky for him time in the in-between realm didn't pass at normal speed. It slowed down, what would be hours in the realm of man could be minutes in the in-between realm. So sobering up took a little less time in the ship, but never-the-less he just looked into the fire trying not to think, trying not to remember what the pain was like.

            He knew why he drank. He didn't want to face the pain in his chest. He drank to run away. That is why anyone gets fucked up, he told himself, they run! Somehow he found a bottle while he was in deep thought and threw it into the fire. The glass smashed against the metal breaking into a thousand different pieces, slowly being burned alive. “I want to run,” Somnus said to himself standing up.

            Somnus opened the door to the briefing room where everyone was sitting. He looked over at Z.Z, a blue haired teenager, and she looked away from him, obviously still mad. His dark red eyes followed her robotic arms to the timber wolf sitting at her side. The wolf winked at Somnus.

            Across from them sat a gray alien with a round head and a flat face. The alien known as Qut smiled at Somnus with his big black eyes. His long neck dropped back to the little box he was playing with. Somnus knew he was building a invention, something to cause a lot of damage somewhere, like he was always doing.

            “Good to see you sober enough to stand, Somnus,” a young woman said, standing at the very end of the table. He looked over at her and his eyes locked on her face. He followed her stone cold lips up to her long nose with a ring hanging from the middle of it, then to her dark green eyes. She was not at all happy to see him, but Somnus didn't care, he's happy to see her, even if she has changed her hair back to blonde with black tips. Her mouth moved again but he can't hear her. He was lost in her presence. He looked down at what she was wearing, a black t-shirt under a dark green coat, and a pair of super tight blue jeans with one too many belts around it. He smiled at her, but she never smiled back.

            “Are you going to sit down?” Aiya asked, the words finally making their way to his brain.

            Somnus sat in the chair closet to him as she turned back to the screen behind her. They could all see a space station surrounded by a fleet of Imperial war ships. “This is Black Bird Station Gamma,” Aiya explained. “The whole station went dark about three days ago. The humans sent in a unit of marines, but have not heard anything from them. As of right now they are discussing their options.”

             “And why do we care?” Spencer asked.

            “We care because there are over a hundred people on that station,” Aiya said, never looking at him.

            “I have to agree with Spencer,” Somnus said. “Why do we care? Hundreds of people die every day and we don't go and save them, so what makes this different? Unless something came through.”

            “That is it,” she said turning to face them all, “I'm not sure what happened here. I felt something the moment the station went dark, but now. I can’t feel anything. Something came into the realm, but I don't know what or if it is still there.”

            “So we are going in then?” Z.Z asked.

            “Yes, we are,” Aiya said.

            “What about those ships?” Somnus asked sitting back a little. “I don't care to step on a space station only to have to blown away a few seconds later. And what if the marines are not to happy to see us? What do we do about them?”

            Aiya said, “I have already talked to the Emperor about the situation and he is giving us free reign to bring this to an end, no matter what.”

            “When did we start working with the Emperor?” Somnus asked, crossing his arms.

            “All of you leave in ten,” Aiya ordered ignoring him. “That includes you Qut.”

            “But Aiya . . .” Qut started to whine, but not through his mouth, mostly because he doesn't have one right now. Qut hates being outside of the ship. “I . . . don’t want to - - -”

            “You are going,” she said cutting him off. “Now go get ready everyone.” Everyone got up and headed for the door, just as they were ordered. “Somnus,” Aiya said as everyone else walked out.

            The tall pasty white man turned to face her, “You know how I feel about the conversation we are about to have.”

            “I know, but we need to have it.”

            “What I do in my free time, is just that . . . my time,” he told her.

            “I know, but . . .”

            “Is this about Zap?” He asked, putting his hands into his dark jean pockets.

            Aiya said, “Her father was an alcoholic.”

            “And?”

            “She looks up to you,” Aiya surprisingly said.

            Somnus coldly told his leader and his friend, “I am not her father. I am not even her friend. I am her teammate which, by the way, I didn’t even want her on the team.”

            Aiya seemed crushed at his words. She didn't know what to say other than, “Why?”

            “Because,” he said, “she's young, too young, and I don't want her looking up to me. I'm the only 'real man', the only 'human', in her life right now, and I don't need her thinking I'm her new father or that we can get close because we can't!”

            “She doesn't think of you like that. She knows you are not human or her friend.”

            “Then why does she care if I get drunk?”

            “We all care,” Aiya said. “And if I remember correctly you were the one who shot her in the head, and then brought her here for us to save her life.”

            He looked away for a moment. He had saved her. He had also put her in this spot where her life would never be the same again. He didn't want her to live this kind of life. He just wanted to go on from one horrible day to the next, but now everyone was trying to change him and not for him, for Z.Z. “What do you people want?” he yelled. “I can't be her friend or her father or her fucking savior! Why do you suddenly care about my drinking? I've always done it!”

            “It has never been this bad before.”

            “So . . . it's just a little pit I'm in,” he told her. “I'll get out sooner or later.”

            “Somnus,” Aiya sweetly said, smiling, “why won't you let us help you with your demons?”

            “Because they are mine,” Somnus said, walking out of the room. Aiya sighed lowering her head. She wished knew how to save him, but she didn't. Somnus had always been a man full of monsters and now those monsters were coming out.

            Somnus stepped into the small round room with his other teammates. He didn't look at Z.Z but, he could feel her eyes trying to burn a hole into the back of his head. He wanted to turn to her and tell her to get over it. Get over the fact he liked to drink, and drink a lot, but something stopped him. Maybe he knew it would crush her or crush him to see the tears that would roll down her face. Then again, if she didn't cry, he would fall apart on the inside as well. He looked over at Qut who was standing to his right.

            The gray alien was now a little taller than Somnus and completely naked. Qut stood there waiting for the room to light up. His long three fingered hands moved around at lighting speed. His thin body like pencils stuck together stood straight with a power would guess he had. His gray skin looked more like armor than flesh. “Qut,” Somnus said, “you need a human form.”

            “Oh right,” Qut mumbled to himself. His arms became shorter and his legs as well to make him look more human. His round head morphed to look like Somnus, but with no nose and big black eyes. His skins changed color to match what Smouns light hue tone and to mach his clothes, a long black coat, dark red shirt, and dark jeans. Qut looked down to realize he didn't like the colors and changed them to something a little brighter.

            Spencer came up and asked, “You going to change your skin?”

            “Nope,” Qut said with his skin still are armor gray hue. “I like the way it looks.”

            “You mean you can't,” the dog grinned.

            “That is not what I said,” Qut replied, glaring at the wolf.

            Spencer smiled bigger and said, “Guess I'm the better shapeshifter, is all.”

            “No, no way in Hell are you better than I,” Qut told him, placing a human-looking hand on his chest. “I can morph into many forms, you can only morph into one.”

            “Two,” Spencer corrected him, “but I do those tow with perfection.”

            “Whatever,” Qut said waving dismissive hand. “You are just a stupid dog and - - -”

            “Alright boys,” Z.Z said, looking at them both. “Can we please act like adults here.” Somnus grinned at her little command. She was not even an adult yet, she was only seventeen. Sure in a few days she would be eighteen, but she knew little of adulthood.

            “I can't believe you, Zap Zeal,” Qut started to say, “Calling me a chil - - -”

            “Anytime, Aiya,” Somnus yelled interupted.

            “Sorry,” Aiya's voice came from above, “I'm trying to find the best spot to put all of you, but something is blocking me. So here's to hoping this is a safe spot.”

            “What?!” Qut screamed looking wildly around at the others. “What do you mean hoping!?” But before anyone could laugh the room lit up and everyone was instantly transported to the station. They all stood in a cold black room hoping it was not full of enemies they can’t see. No one moved for awhile until a phone rings from Somnus pocket.

            He pulled the phone out, opened it and said, “Yes, we are alive. I think we are all alive, let me check real fast.” He leaned his head a way from the ear piece and asked,”Is everyone still breathing?”

            A chorus of halfhearted yes comes from around him. He put his ear back to the right spot and said, “Yup, we are all here and yes, I can feel it. There is magic here. It must been what was blocking you. I'll call you when the mission is over.”

            Spencer said, “Z.Z can you give us some light.”

            “Sure can,” she said and her hands began to glow a bright red electrical current jumped between her metal finger tips. The light casted a small glow on the room around them, revealing a small hall way. The hallway was full of scattered burnt bodies. It was not hard to tell they are all dead.

            “Anyone have any idea what part of the station we are on?” Spencer asked.

            “From what I can tell,” Qut started to explain, “we are somewhere on the outside.”

            “That is great and all,” Somnus said, heading down the hallway, “but we are here to find whatever came over. Unless you know where it is, I don't care what part of station we are in.”

            Spencer smiled up at Z.Z and whispered, “Someone is a little grumpy.”

            “I'm sure it's the hangover,” she replied to him and followed him down the hallway. Soon the group comes to a fork in the hall. They looked down both paths to see bodies all about. They stood there for a moment not sure which way was the best way to go. It all looked the same in the dark.

            Somnus scratched his head resisting the urge to throw up everywhere. The smell of the brunt bodies was playing games with his already knotted stomach. He kind of wished he hadn't drunk so much hours ago. Or that the team would have left without him. He was wishing more for the latter.

            “Which way?” Qut asked standing beside the tall man.

            “I have no fucking idea,” he said, rubbing his head.

            Zap stepped up followed by the wolf and said, “We'll go right and you guys can go left.”

            Qut looked down at the young girl as she gave him a flat look. A look that was telling him she was going one way or another. She wanted to be away from Somnus, no matter what. “Are you sure Z.Z?”

            “Sounds like a good plan to me,” Somnus said walking left fading into the darkness.

            “Good luck,” Spencer said to the gray human looking alien as he and Zap disappear in the right paths shadows.

            “Sometimes,” Qut said to himself, “I hate being off the ship.” And he quickly followed Somnus.

~

            “We are not,” Somnus snapped at Qut, “going to talk about my drinking!”

            “I care less about your drinking problem,” Qut said, as they walked past body after body. After the first hundred or so they both stopped noticing them. They also stopped noticing the doors that were busted in as if a ram's head had smashed them. It wasn't anything for them to care about, it just meant whatever had come over was extremely strong. “All I care about is getting this mission over with.”

            “You really hate being here, don't you?” Somnus asked, never understanding why his oldest friend didn't like to this realm or any realm.

            Qut said, looking around, “There is nothing here but death and pain, why would I want to be here?”

            “I get you, man, I get you,” Somnus said, turning down a hall with a large door at the very end. They both guessed the door should lead to the main living area of the space station. A place with trees and fresh air and a sky full of artificial sunlight. The living area trying hard to imitate a human city on earth and ideally earth itself.

            They pushed open the door to see none of that, the trees were burning, the roof was black with thick dark smoke and many of the building were on fire and collapsing. Both Somnus and Qut stood there in awe of the sight, not believing one thing could do this much damage and cause this much death.

            “What in all the realms could do this?” Qut asked, holding the side of the door.

            “I need a drink,” Somnus said. Qut could see it on his friend's face that he knew exactly what had done this. It was as if Somnus had seen this before, and maybe in the thousands of years of his life he might have. Then again the lifetimes of drinking might have dulled his mind.

            They stepped out of the door way letting the doors slam shut with a loud screech. Somnus pulled two pistols from his magical coat. The pistols glowed an unusual dark green color and they were from the same metal as the ship. Qut quickly morphed his arms larger than any normal human and waited for his order. He knew they would be fighting soon because Somnus never pulled out his guns unless he was going to use them.

            They slowly moved down the street, watching every possible angle. A screaming woman came rushing out of a house, not noticing them and disappeared into another house. Somnus asked Qut, “Should we?”

            “Yes,” Qut said, “we should follow her.”

            “Fine,” Somnus said, rushing after the woman.

~

            “I don't care that much,” Z.Z said, walking with Spencer. “I just don't like seeing anyone I know kill themselves.”

            “I'm not sure that Somnus can die from drinking too much,” the dog replied. “He's not human after all.”

            “Still,” she said, looking down at him, “he shouldn't try to get messed up all the time. Something is wrong with him.”

            “Isn't that the truth.”

            “But I guess I shouldn't have got so mad at him,” Z.Z said.

            “Stop,” Spencer ordered. “Kill the light.”

            Z.Z did as she was told and they both squatted close to the ground. They could see someone moving down the hall. That someone turned into people running followed by a gun shot with a loud scream. For a second they saw the flash of the guns going off. They could see the person at the other end of the gun fall to the ground down. They waited a few moments until everything is quiet.

            “The marines?” Z.Z asked in a whisper.

            “They must be killing anyone they find,” the wolf said.

            “This makes things interesting,” Z.Z said as a shot echoed from down the hall. She dropped to the ground as the round past by her head. She didn't move and the wolf jumped to the side hugging the wall. Again they waited. Again they could hear people running up the hall.

            “What we do?” Z.Z whispered.

            Spencer moved away from the wall, keeping himself low to the ground, yelling, “We are the I.D.R.A and we have orders from your Emperor to take cont - - -”

            “Fuck the Emperor,” someone yelled back followed by another shot. The dog looked around, able to see better in the dark than his friend. There were no doors or way out of the hallway. He looked over a Z.Z who was laying on the floor as the rushing footsteps grew louder. He knew from the way the shots were fired the people shooting do not have night vision of any kind. So if they are lucky they might be able to surprise them. He moved back against the wall waiting for them to get closer. Z.Z didn't move. With no orders given she knew there was a fight coming.

~

            “Lady,” Qut called to the crying woman behind the locked door of the bathroom. “We are here to help, just come out.” The woman screamed words Qut was not sure are words. She screamed about her family being killed by a giant man. She cried about how they were burnt to death by him and nothing would stop him. “Please, come out, we are here to help you!”

            “No, we're not,” Somnus said, standing beside the door leading against the wall. He kept an eye on the open front door waiting for something to drop from above. His long hands were still holding his pair of pistols.

            “Stop being an ass, Somnus,” Qut said, knocking on the door again and the woman only cries louder.

            “Maybe she thinks you're a monster,” Somnus said, grinning over at his friend.

            Qut looked at his hands. The odd gray armor skin was nothing like a humans and the woman got a good look at him. He was sure it what sent her into the bathroom. But there was a part of him hoping she hadn't noticed the alien rushing to help her. “We should leave her,” Somnus said.

            “We can't do that,” Qut said.

            “And if she comes out what are we going to do with her?” Somnus asked. “Let her follow us around? This might be the safest place for her.”

            “There is something very wrong,” Qut said, standing up, facing his friend, “when you start to make sense!” Somnus smiled but his smile faded fast as the woman's screams turned from shock into a terrifying shriek, they could hear her pleading with someone.

            Qut jumped away from the door while Somnus rushed to break through it. He threw all his weight against wooden door. The door gave way almost as if he had hit a window with a baseball. He rolled into the small bathroom where a giant man in armor stood, holding the woman by the head.

            The man in armor eyed the pale warrior holding two guns up at him and a gray alien standing on the other side of the door. The woman fought to get free, but she just can't. “Let her go,” Somnus ordered.

            “I must cleanse her,” Castiel yelled. “Can't you see it! She must be cleansed!”

            “Drop her,” Somnus said, slowly standing up, “and we'll send you back home.”

            “No, no,” Castiel said fighting against the idea of home. A place he wanted to be so badly, but he had a job to do first. “She called me here, and he sent me here to do my duty, and I must do it!”

            Castiel crushed the lady's head like a Coke can under a car tire before Somnus could react. As her lifeless body fell to the ground Somnus shot Castiel throwing him through the back wall. Somnus jumped through the hole as Castiel jumped to his feet. Two black wings unfold from his back. He cried in a rage, flying full speed at Somnus.

            Somnus took aim, but Cestiel smashed into the ground by Qut's giant hand. He had turned into a real giant from a different realm. He had four horns shooting from his head and a mouth full of shark-like teeth. Qut smiled at Somnus as his friend screamed, “Let him go!”

            His words were too late. Qut's hand exploded upwards, throwing him off his feet and onto of a burning buildings. Cestiel shot up into the air enraged and looking for Somnus. Before he could find his foe three shots hit his head pulling him from the air. He fell while Qut stood back up trying to shake off of the fall. He lifted his head just in time to see Cestiel hit the ground and Somnus rushing to his side.

            “Don't make me kill you,” Somnus said, with his foot in Cestiel's chest and aiming right for Cestiel's head.

            Cestiel smiled and said, “Only if you could!” He whipped the burning tips of his wings at Somnus and caused him to jump back out of fear of getting his head chopped off. Cestiel blitzed to grab Somnus head in his gasp but didn't make it to his target. Qut stepped in the way of Cestiel looking like a monster from a kid's nightmare than an alien. He had long fangs and giant claws. He slapped Cestiel across the face with one of his claws, and draw blood. Cestiel screamed falling backward. He touched his face where the blood ran down his face in rivers of red.

            Everything hit him. He could die here. He could be hurt. He cannot make it back home by fighting like this. He jumped into the air, throwing fire balls madly down onto Qut and then with a blowing wind he was gone.

            Qut helped Somnus up off the ground and said, “So he is one of your kind.”

            “Seem that way,” Somnus said, “but he is of the high order, which means he shouldn't have been able to cross into this realm.”

            “Do you think Aiya knew that, and that is why she had me come along?”

            “I don't know, and I don't really care right now,” Somnus said. “We just need to find him.”

~

                 Spencer and Z.Z waited for some of the men to pass them. From what they could tell there was about six of them. Z.Z reached, grabbing one of the man's legs and shocked him with her the red electricity. The man yelled for a few seconds until his heart give out and Z.Z jumped to her feet. The four men in front of her turned, raising their guns to shoot her, but she is too fast. She grabbed a gun hold of and sent electricity through the barrel causing the rounds in the gun to explode. The hallway filled with twenty or so rounds going off. The men ahead of her ducked and she quickly bring up a shield of red electricity.

            The marines behind her took aim. She was an easy target. She was not worried. A giant wolf-like man came rushing from the dark, picking up one of the marines off the ground. The marine looked at the snarling beast, and he screamed as Spencer tore off his head and threw his body into another foe. The man's friend fought to get free from the dead weight and the waterfall of blood pouring down on his Imperial combat suit. Spencer helped the man by throwing the body against the wall and holding the man down with his giant paw. The marine went for his knife on his side but the wolf saw where his hand was going and dug his claws deeper into his flesh.

            The man cried in pain as Spencer looked back and saw Z.Z dash to finish the last two marines. One of them had been hit by the random bullets bouncing off the walls. She ducked under a attack and planted her palm right into his chest sending a lightning bolt to his heart. She moved away from his dead body like a trained assassin, heading for the other man. He reacted without thinking and blindly attacked. He left himself wide open for Z.Z to grab his arm and fry him. She let the body fall to the ground still in the throes of being electrocuted.

            “Zap,” Spencer said, “let's talk to our friend over here and see why he was shooting at us for.” The marine began to cry that he failed the master. Spencer leaned down showing his teeth at him and growled, “Time to talk!”

            But nothing the man was saying made any sense. His words were ramblings about the end of time and how the master has come to cleanse all of our sin. As they listened to this man they saw a burnt hand print on his forehead. “He will free us all and she will pay for her blasphemy!” Z.Z tapped him with a little electricity to knock him out.

            “Well,” Spencer said transforming back into his normal dog form, “we know what happened to the marines.”

            “I guess so,” Z.Z said. “But who is this master?”

            “I don't think I want to find out,” Spencer said. “Should we find the other marines or the rest of our team?”

            Z.Z looked back down the hallway, the way they came. She knew there was no telling where Somnus and Qut were. “Let's find the other marines.”

~

            Somnus and Qut walked from block to block looking for any sign of their foe, but there was nothing. Nothing other than the burnt buildings and charred bodies. It was like walking through the Dante's Inferno. Some would have said like walking through Hell itself, but Somnus and Qut had seen the real Hell. It was much more terrible than the station, but not by much.

            Somnus kicked an empty can down the road with his hands in his coat pockets. Qut kept looking back to make sure the sounds of the can bouncing across the ground didn't bring their foe. “So how much longer are we going to look?” Qut asked. “We could just find Spencer and Z.Z, and get the Hell out of here. Let the fleet outside blow this guy back to the After-Life.”

            “We could,” Somnus said, still kicking the can, “but that wouldn't be any fun.”

            “You would get to go back to drinking.”

            “I could, but Aiya would be mad at us,” Somnus said, “and I don't want to face her. What about you?”

            “You're right, let's keep looking.”

~

            “Looks like the hallway leads to the main living area,” Spencer said as they both pushed against the larger door. The door gave out, falling to the ground and they were welcomed by the sight of a burning world. They should be in shock, but this job has taught them to be surprised by nothing. Z.Z sat down against the door, looking below to where a house has fallen in on itself.

            “Should we go down?” Spencer asked.         

            “I need a moment,” Z.Z said. “We have been walking for a couple of hours now and the fight kind of took it out of me.”

            “Fair enough,” the dog said, lying down.

            Z.Z followed the smoke up the top of the station where clouds of it spread out like a hand against the ceiling, and then she said, “I do look up to him.”

            “We all kind of look up to Somnus,” Spencer said. “He's a better man than he knows.”

            “But his drinking,” she said. “It kills me because I want to join him. I don't get mad at him, I get mad at myself and take it out on him.” She looked over at Spencer's golden eyes. “If I could, I would do a lot more than drink.”

            “What do you mean?” The dog asked.

            Z.Z looked away and said, “I would love to get fucked up one more time, just do something stupid. To remember what it feels like to not be me again. I would love to run away for a while.”

            “But you can't, and you know drugs, and alcohol only make it worse when you come back.”

            “Yeah, but it feels so good,” she said, closing her eyes, leaning back, and smiling at the thought. “That warm feeling washing over you, and then your mind breaks and all your dreams come flying at you like bullets. You can't tell what is real and what is not. You can't feel, and your emotions die.”

            Spencer sat back and on his haunches asked, “Is that why you look up to him?”

            “No, no,” she said. “Not at all.”

            “Good, I would hate to make him stop drinking.”

            “Did I ever tell you,” Z.Z said, opening her eyes. “The day you guys found him. I was tripping. I thought the demon that was chasing me wasn't real, and I thought the gun in Smouns hand wasn't real either. That's why I didn't duck, and why I took a bullet to the head.”

            Spencer didn't said anything.

            “But everything turned out to be real. Far more real than I ever thought,” Z.Z said. Then she turned to the wolf and asked, “Why does he do it?”

            “Run away?”

            “Yes,” she said, “why does he give into those demons?”

            “Maybe you should ask him,” Spencer said, turning one of his ears toward a sound. “Though I don't think he'll tell you.”

            “Why not?” Z.Z asked, but Spencer turned his whole head followed by his body, telling her he heard something out there. She jumped to her feet and asked, “More marines?”

            “No,” Spencer said, looking for a way down. “A crying girl.”

~

            “Alright,” Somnus said, “let’s find the others and get out of here.”

            “Why now?” Qut asked.

            “My hangover is kicking my ass, and the only way to stop it from getting worse is to drink more,” Somnus said.

            “I don't think that is how it works,” Qut said. He fell to the ground holding his chest as a shot echoed from in front of them. Another shot planted itself into Somnus chest, throwing him back as well. He hit the ground hard and if he was a normal man he would be dead. But the fact he is working for the I.N.D.R.A saved his life. All members of the team had been blessed with quick healing power and the ability to withstand damage no normal person should be able to. They lay on the ground waiting.

            “They are down,” they heard a man shout. “Move up, the master wants their bodies.”

            “Master?” Somnus asked, jumping to his feet and taking off into a house. Shots followed him as Qut rolled away turning into a small rat and disappearing under the rubble. The marines kept their fire on Somnus as he pulled a machine gun from his coat. He waited until the shots became louder and louder as the unit moved in on him.

            He rushed through a wall of fire into the next room, hoping the flames would not burn off all his clothes. He stepped out of the flames no man should be able to survive, and started to shot on the marines. Their Combat Suits were nothing compared to the energy flowing from Somnus's gun. The armor, which was made to withstand war break down as four of them fall to the ground dead. The other rush to find cover behind cars and what seem like walls. Somnus jumps into another house.

            He puts the gun back into this coat as it fade from existence and then he pull out a sniper rifle. He moves to the back of the house while shoot rain in. He set himself up behind a wall of thick black smoke and waits. One marine looks over the burnt out car and his head shoot back from the sniper shot. The rest of the man duck back down screaming about a sniper. Seconds later several black round hand grenade fly over the cars into the house.

            The black smoke in the house rush out like man running from the bombs. The loud flashes and explosions send waves of deafening sounds out. They look over the cover seeing Somnus running out the back of the house. One of them cures as they all stand, aiming, readying to end this fight.

            Suddenly, one of them scream out in pain as a dragon rips his arms from his bodies. They all turn to a larger lizard looking thing with gray armor skin eating some of the man. They open fire but the bullets just fall off the armor. Qut rush to kill as many as he can. Some of the man start to run away being taken down by more sniper shots. Soon there is no one left alive and Qut is truing back into his normal form.

            The alien clean of the blood around his mouth as Somnus come up to him and said, “Guess this clothes are fire pouf.”

            “And it took me forever,” Qut said, looking around, “to make them that way.”

~

            Z.Z followed Spencer as he passed a couple of smoking houses and down a road, not saying a word. They made their way to a house not touched by the fire or the smoke. It looked perfect with the hell raging around it. Spencer walked up to the blue door and pushed it open with his nose as Z.Z waited to come in. She knew there were at least ten or more marines out and about. She didn't want to be walking into a trap, but then again why was this house not destroyed?     

            She slowly opened the door hoping to see Spencer there, but he was already somewhere else in the small house. She walked through the living room where nothing had been touched and passed a few bedrooms until she came to the last room on the right. She found Spencer sitting in the doorway. She walked up beside him to see a little girl crying on the floor beside a burnt body.

            “Mommy,” Denise cried, curled up in a ball beside her, “You have to get better now. Its hurts, mommy, it hurts.” That was when Z.Z saw the tiny girl holding her stomach and the blood flowing between her fingers. Z.Z rushed to the little girl dragging her away from the body. Denise cried and tried to fight back weakly.

            “It's alright,” Z.Z said, frantically trying to see her wound. A gun shot the stomach and she had lost a lot of blood. “I'm here to help.” Z.Z tried to get Spencer attention, but he is focused on something else outside of the room. “Spencer,” Z.Z said, “I need your help.”

            “We can't help her,” the wolf said, backing up into the room. “She has lost too much blood.”

            “Mommy,” Denise said, reaching up to touch Z.Z face. “Mommy is clean now and she is happy. She can come back, right? She can play with me, right? I can show her . . . magic . . . mommy?!” The child cries looking over at the corpse.

            “We have to do something,” Z.Z said while Spencer stopped beside her.

            “Fight,” Spencer said. Z.Z looked over to where Castiel was towering in the doorway. He had to duck to get into the room. Z.Z and Spencer jumped back, readying themselves for a fight. He walked closer and they backed until he was beside Denise. He bent down touching her wound, healing it just enough to keep her alive.

            “She needs to see,” Castiel said. “She needs to see all the sin burnt away before she goes into His arms.” He stood back up, his eyes glowing a bright green, and he said solemnly, “I see the sin in both of you.”

~

            “So we keep walking around until . . . what?” Qut asked looking down a road.

            “Until that happens,” Somnus said, pointing to the human like wolf fighting the giant of man. Spencer was thrown through the air, he smashed against a car breaking any windows that were left. They saw red lightning being fired from inside a house that now had a hole in the wall. Castiel turned angrily as the lightning appeared to be doing nothing to him. He rushed to take out Z.Z, but luckily for her Spencer had already gotten back to his feet to tackle him.

            Somnus pulled two pistols from his coat again running to help his friend as Qut rushed to make sure Z.Z was alright. Qut reached the hole just in time to hear shots ring out from behind him. He found Z.Z standing over a small bleeding girl, crying for her mother, crying it hurt.

            Qut dropped to his knee beside her, asking, “What happened to her?”

            “I don't know,” Z.Z said rushing out of the hole. “Fine out for us.”

            “Child,” Qut said, “tell me what happened here? Who shot you?”

            “One of the bad men,” Denise cried, “and Castiel punished them, made them do his will.”

            “The angel?” Qut asked, trying to stop the bleeding. “You know him? He saved you?”

            “I brought him here to clean away all the sin,” Denise said. “But mister, I think, I did something wrong.”

            “How did you bring him here?” Qut asked, holding the child up.

            “A spell.”

            Spencer was beaten into the ground with three hits to the face. Somnus shots were no longer effective as Castiel’s rage overtake him with Z.Z hanging onto his back while trying to electrocute him. Nothing was working. The team was failing and there was nothing they could do. They heard Qut yell for them to stop. His voice so loud it blocked out everything else, even Castiel stopped. They all looked over at him. He held Denise cradled in his arms with a blade at her throat. Castiel stopped forward and Qut ordered him to halt.

            “Qut!” Z.Z yelled. “What the Hell are you doing?!”

            “We are leaving,” he said and the other’s stare at him unsure what to do. “Now,” he yelled.

            “Drop the child,” Castiel demanded.

            “Not until we are gone,” Qut said, nodding for the others to join his side. They did, but slowly. “Make the call Somnus,” he said.

            “Why am I doing this?” Somnus asked, pulling a phone from his coat. He held to his ear and waited.

            “Because my friend,” Qut said, looking dead at him. “I found the anchor.” Then it hit them all. The angel present in this realm must mean he had an anchor tying him here. Most angels when they came to this realm could only stay here for a short time. Their life force was tied to a different realm or they were here to complete a quest. They had to have something to pull energy from. Almost everything from a different realm needed an anchor. Why Somnus hadn't thought of it before made him reconsider going out on a mission hungover. Qut had been in far too much shock of being out on a mission to have thought about it. They flashed away as Denise was caught by Castiel.

            “Put me in the grass,” she whispered to him.

            Castiel laid her down in the grass. It made her feel as if she was hiding somehow. She took a deep breath, knowing she was going to be cleansed soon. They all had been cleansed and they all got to go home now. Everyone had been told of a day when the good get to go home, but no one had taken the warning seriously. She closed her eyes as Castiel said, “Are we going home now?”

            “I think we are.”

            She took another deep breath as a droning noise smothered everything she could hear. The noise so loud it almost deafen her. The ships outside started to open fire. The walls of the station breathed in on themselves, everything began bringing with them their fate. She knew, just like Castiel, it's a fate they couldn’t escape. She simply sank further into the grass and continued to breathe in the scent of it. She closed her eyes, but could still see the light of the flashes, and heard the whistling and deafening explosions as everything around her fell into the deep cold blackness of space.

            A single tear slid down her cheek as Castiel kissed her good-bye.

(Dear Reader,

            The cool winds of fall are finally here and I sit in my little dark cave writing to you. I sit here with my lamp, my pen, and my paper trying to get all these stories out of my head. I have been writing like a demon trying to get everything out and out to you. You, the 858 people who have been reading this blog. Wow, 895 of you sat down, check on my sad little blog, and read my bad, bad writing. The writing is bad. The idea of the stories, the characters, and the plots might be alright, but the writing itself is bad. I have no problem saying that. It just means I have to keep writing, keep practicing, and that is a great thing to me. I have so many goals to reach because I need to work on my techniques for my new craft. A craft I'm working on now that I love so very much, but let’s talk about what I have been doing here for the last year.

            I have been posting stories on this blog every month for a year. Twelve stories, give or take, and that is a lot of work and writing. I can't really believe I did it. It was a goal I wasn't sure I was going to be able to complete. It's a lot of work to write that much, to come up with so many stories. I'm sure there a few good ones in there but still, twelve . . . one every month . . . what was I thinking?!

            Well, I was thinking that my blog could be like my sketchbook. I would sketch for hours every day, before I started writing hours every day, just to get my ideas down on paper. I could fill a sketch book from front to back in less than three months. In fact, I have a whole shelf devoted to my sketchbooks on my bookcase. I would do this knowing that maybe, only one of those drawing in my books would become something a little more (like a painting or a better drawing). I could draw every day, fill the book up and nothing would never come from it, but the exercise was what was important to me.

            I took the idea and put it to my writing. If I write all the time, new and old stuff alike, something is bound to come from it. When I hit a wall, and I did all the time, I just had to write more, just like I would do with sketching. But this time I wanted to share my process and decided to put my 'writing sketches' on my blog, for all to see. To show people how I am growing, but at the same time, hopefully, how my mind is working out these stories. Each story or poem or whatever is step toward my goal. The goal being able to have a book published and up on my bookshelf, (and hopefully yours).

            I learn the most from the artist I love when I can see their process. I can study the way their mind works out problems. Nowadays, you can find a lot of sketchbooks of famous artist, and trust me they are worth the time. Even if you don't paint or draw, it the greatest thing in the world to see how someone's mind works. You become so much closer to them than you would by just studying their finished paintings.

            I wish more authors would do the same. I would love to see some of Neil Gaiman or Stephen King's first drafts of stories. I would love to walk with them as they build their stories, fix the problems of the story, and learn why they went this way and not the other way. I would give an arm and a leg to see their outlines and count how many missed spelled words they have in their earlier drafts.

            I understand why they don't show us these works and I'm alright with that.

            And to some degree I didn't do it either. As I write this I see I should have posted a lot more stuff, and I think I'll go back and do that. “Stuff “as in outlines, characters history that are not in the stories but lead up to the start of the story, notes I made for myself to move the story this way, what parts I had a hard time with, and why I went this way with the narrative and not some other way.

            I guess that leads me into my next point. What happens now? Now I write a novel. I have some great ideas for some long books, and plan on doing them, but first I might take a little break. I think I need some rest and I need to paint some. My writing has taken over my creative life. I need to go back to my roots a little.

            The blog is not dead by any means. I'm still going to post things here and there, just not as much right now. I'll post what I was talking about before and maybe some other ideas that pop into my head. I really like philosophy and my friends are getting tired of hearing me talk about it. So maybe I'll do some writing on the matter. As of right now that is the plan for the future; take a break, paints some (my sister and friends would love the painting I've promised them), and write a novel. The novel being the next big goal. I want to write the first draft in three months’ time. I'm thinking no less than 2,000 words a day, which equals to . . . I hate math, you do it! So I know that is going to eat my life away, but I also have faith that I can do it. I have faith my family and friends will be understanding and never stop helping me with my goals.

            I want to take this time and said thank you to everyone. I want to thank the people who read my work, thought it was bad, and never sent me a long e-mail telling me so. I want to thank the people who read my work, thought it could be better, and saw I was trying to get better. I want to thank the people who just read my stuff, and didn't care how good or bad it was. They were just happy to read my work.

            I want to thank all the Farm Kids, you guys are a family to me. I love all of you and I couldn't be more blessed to have you in my life. I mainly want to thank all of you for the support at the farm and that awkward moment in writing circle. I want to thank all of you because you guys love hearing my stories and that gave me so much confidence.

            I have to thank Elizabeth Ross for letting me come to the Farm, for having the farm, and being on my greatest teacher (in and out of class.)

            I want to thank Amber for being the first persons I tortured with my writing. Thanks for putting up with me at the beginning.

            I have to thank my family for always telling stories around the dinner table and I have to thank my mother for dinner. I really did grow up in a family of Bards. (By the way; I'm not really a writer, I'm more of a story teller.)

            I want to thank Caroline for being the person I now torture with all my writing. She is great (and awesome and amazing and beautiful and cute and funny <- she added those parts but they are all true) and I love her. I hope she never gets tired of reading and editing my 'bad' works. Also thank her for letting me having the time and space to work.

            So I also want to thank anyone else I forgot . . .

            I'm done, the Year of Stories is over, YAY! What do I do now? I'll have so much time now . . .

With a Handshake,

Chase)