Read Seraph: The Calling

When the cloudy skies finally opened up and released a slow, pulsating rain, the village of Greenfield had already been rendered to ashes and rubble. Tall flames still leapt from some homes and buildings while others simply smoldered, reduced to burnt logs and thick, black ash. The dirt roads that crisscrossed the village, usually filled with playing children, produce-filled wagons, and the occasional road-weary traveler were now covered in soot, bodies, and blood. The beautiful marble fountain that had stood for so long in the middle of the town had been desecrated by the rampaging army; a mans head now hung from the apex of the structure, and blood pooled in the fountain as if it had been drawn from the ground.

The destruction almost had him convinced that he had passed through the gates of Hell itself.

He really didn't care.

Gabriel Wrens usually cheerful face was frozen in a cold, stoic expression as he carried the dead woman in his arms toward the center of the city. Her long, blonde hair was matted with mud and blood, and three deep sword slashes intersected along her slender chest. She had been raped and severely beaten as indicated by the deep blue bruises adorning her once-perfect skin, and her beautiful white dress now consisted of a ruddy mixture of red and brown.

Gabriel had already cried the last of his tears as he found Melanie, long dead yet still being violated by two large, heavyset soldiers clad in black mail who had seemed in the mood for a little fun. Experiencing a bloodlust he had never in his life beheld, he grabbed the long sword from one soldiers belt and used it to brutally slaughter both of them. His tears had fallen like the rain was now as he hacked, slashed, and thrust with the sword, rendering the men completely unrecognizable. He had then taken Melanie's body and found a hiding place in a shed that had already been ravaged and looted as the rest of the Cendalian army had passed through the town attempting to complete their goal of ensuring that none would remain to tell the story of Greenfield's destruction.

They had missed a spot.

The fountain, Gabriel thought as he walked through the blood, mud, and body parts toward the structure in the center of town. It was our special place, you had always said. We'd sit for hours, and we'd talk. Sometimes words weren't even necessary. So many memories here...

He stopped when he stood on the brick square upon which the fountain sat. He carefully laid Melanie's body down on the brick, right next to the fountain. He then dropped to his knees, and began to pray over her corpse.

God, please take her soul now, he prayed silently. Keep her there for me until I arrive.

He knew that he would be arriving soon enough. He straightened his back and looked to the sky, allowing the pouring rain to wash the blood from his face. He closed his eyes once more, allowing the rain to cleanse his body and cleanse his spirit.

His spirit must be clean for what he would do now.

A cold, lonesome tear fell from his eye as he turned his face back down to Melanie's body. He soon realized that there were more tears left in his soul, as they poured down once again from his face, blurring his eyes and falling upon Melanie's cold, lifeless face. With rough, hiccupped sobs he slowly lifted her head and kissed her lips softly. He knew that she was dead, but somehow he hoped that her soul could still feel the love he carried for her in his own.

That love was exactly the reason why he would not live through this day either.

He carefully rested Melanie's head back upon the brick, caressed her cold cheek, and picked up the bloody sword lying next to him. He closed his eyes, praying for forgiveness for the action he was preparing to take. He leaned back, raised his arms to the sky, and stared at the hard, steely point as it hovered above his chest.

"I'm on my way, Melanie," he whispered. He tensed the muscles in his arms and took a deep breath, trying to find the courage to end his pitiful existence.

"Gabriel! No!"

The sword dropped from his hands and landed next to the womans body on the fountain square with a harsh clang. Gabriel put his hands upon his knees as he hung his head, rain pouring through his short blonde hair, tears of shame flowing freely upon the red brick.

His grandfather, his childhood hero and the only father-figure hed had in his life, had just witnessed his attempt at suicide. He could hear the old man grunting and groaning as he propelled his way toward his grandson, using his staff as a walking stick. Through his blurry vision, Gabriel could see one of the old man's legs hung at an odd angle.

"What...justice...do you think you do her?" the old man gasped as he finally rested next to the broken young man. "Your death will not cleanse the memory of her from your mind, grandson. You cannot...save yourself...hack!...by drawing more blood through rage and impulse. Especially your own blood."

"I can go no further, Grandfather," Gabriel whispered. "You told me long ago that a man with no heart is no longer a man. My heart lies before you now, upon the brick, broken and dead."

"If my arm was not broken, I would slap you like an idiot such as yourself deserves," Randall growled in a voice Gabriel had never used. "I have not raised you to act this way! Killing yourself will just sentence you to an eternity of suffering in Hell."

"I am in Hell now, Grandfather," Gabriel replied. "I shall be suffering no matter which way I choose."

Gabriel closed his eyes once more, thus never seeing the long staff strike his chest. He fell back with a gasp, and when he opened his eyes he saw his grandfather standing, left arm bent in an inexplicable position and left leg swollen, both obviously broken, yet he was standing all the same.

"You are a disgrace, Gabriel Alendros Wren," Randall gasped. Gabriel now could see a mortal wound to his chest: a small arrow protruding from the side of his body, yet somehow the old man still exuded strength. "Maybe I should have killed you myself long ago, to spare myself the final sight of such a quivering mass."

Gabriel was too surprised to answer.

"Only you and I now remain here," the old man continued. "Soon I shall also succumb to death. It is such a sorry sight to see my one hope for the future acting like a petulant child."

"Grandfather, I" Gabriel began.

"Silence yourself," the old man hacked. "You must hear me, Gabriel. You must find your head instead of listening to your heart for once. There is still life in you yet; do not let go of it. Carry yourself like a man, and live!"

Gabriel hung his head from where he sat upon the ground.

"No!" the old man roared, summoning the last of his energy. "Stand, boy! Stand proud; because for all that you have lost on this day, you will gain much more as you walk from this inferno. You've...been...called"

The old man fell to the ground as Gabriel rose, and with a diving lunge he caught his grandfather.

"You...must...find...them" Randall gasped, his eyes beginning to enter the realm of Death. "It...weighs upon your...shoulders"

"Grandfather, no," Gabriel whispered fiercely, tightly embracing him. "Not you as well. Please, Grandfather, stay with me."

"This...now is...yours, my son," he gasped, his frail arm presenting the staff of the elder. Gabriel took the long staff in his hands, feeling the smooth surface of the finished oak surface. His grandfather smiled as his eyes closed, and he quickly exited the realm of Life.

Gabriel Wren stood then, amidst the rain and fire, and he raised the staff of the elder to the rain, to the sky, to the heavens. With a quick twitch of his wrist, two long blue-steel blades jutted from the ends of the staff.

With this staff, I will bring justice, he thought to himself, a strength fueled by anger and loss quickly filling his body. I will avenge you, MelanieGrandfatherGreenfield. Those responsible owe me a grand debt; the reaper will come to collect.