#THE END IS NIGH FOLKS AHHH

[luzity]

watching and dreaming

new scenes from the official trailer

[spiritus-malum]

Grachiel

Thus follows a dream, on Grachiel, Archdemon of the Dying Times.

I opened my eyes to a darkened alleyway. The night had fallen hard and fast as my bleary tear-filled eyes adjusted to the light, or rather lack thereof. I saw along the walls of the alley a million scrawlings of the mad; "The end is nigh." "All is lost." "Mankind is a plague." "Rot of creation grows and lingers." "You have failed, as have I." "Jesus cannot save us now." And at the end of the alley, backlit by the glow of the streetlamp, I saw him.

Tall and fair, with long hair and a rippling body of perfect physique, the Angel stood against the dark. As he turned to face me it held aloft a banner of tattered and tarnished white cloth. It was dripping from one end with blood, and it read in ghastly ink of the same make, "Tempus Mutat Omnia."

He approached me and held out his free hand for a shake, "A pleasure, Maarika. Earthly devil, creature of chaos and disordered logic. A grand pleasure to make the acquaintance of someone so lacking in remorse and inhibition towards evil."

I coughed out a reply, barely, "Grachiel."

He threw his head backwards in laughter, the sound was as the cawing of a murder of every corvid all at once, a theatre of madness stretched out before me, "Right you are! Are you oft beset by demons in your sleep, little one?"

"You are an Angel." I rebutted.

He looked me up and down, searching for some frailty of the mind to pounce upon and manipulate. He was seeing my every decision, judging my worth as a tool.

"I'm amused, it has been long since I've been called an Angel by any." His golden eyes pierced the core of my being, even in the safety of my own personal oneiros, "You seem to be fond of my presence here, does it bode well for you?"

I swallowed hard, the statement was frightening to consider, why did he come here?

"I believe it does, one of the tides of change. You bring positive change as well you do negative, do you not?"

The look of relief on his face was palpable, powerful, potent, "You say true I say thank ya!" He said in a mock New Yawk accent, "And what a lovely thanks it is, lil lady~" He said in a Clint Eastwood impression.

I laughed nervously, and suddenly thought to look down at myself. I saw a fully feminine form, not the awkward in-between I see in the mirror now, something I would consider goals in my transition.

"Ahhh, there you go, silly young thing." Grachiel chortled as he said, "You liven up the experience by being so enrapted in the presence of an Angel. That's not why I'm here though." He said more seriously.

"So, it's bad, huh?" I asked, less nervous now, more willing to hear what he had to tell me.

"Hardly, for you. For plenty of folks? Yes, awful, terrible, death, destruction, plague, suffering, woe be unto the world that wakes upon that fateful morning.... but...." He trailed slightly, turning around and seeing another figure at the end of the alley where he formerly stood.

She was radiant and pure, the glow of her clothes shined against the stark contrast of the night with perfect clarity and brightness. It was as if she were her own lightsource.

I saw Grachiel straighten his back a bit, and stand with more command and authority, "You bring your comfort here to guard yourself from my truth, but it is by the hand of this comfort you will be spared from death." He spoke the words towards her, but directed to me.

She held out her hands to me, the light of her halo burned against the darkness of night, a perfect circle of infinite brightness that shone out of the dark like the sun. Save that this light did not burn my eyes to behold directly.

She opened her wings and they fluttered out in a storm of white feathers. She flapped them twice, filling the air with a gust of sweet smells. As she did, they lifted her off the ground just enough to let her feet hang down in a gently repose above the concrete.

She opened her eyes to me as she smiled, the light of her halo was dwarfed by the brilliance of her soul shining behind those eyes. She beckoned me with her hands, not making a huge show of it, just calling out to me.

"My love, come to me, all is calm, all is well. You will make it through the fire, you will make it through the night. We will part this world together, but not for many, many years." She spoke in a sweet voice my heart new perfectly.

I turned to Grachiel and said, "Explain to me what we will miss together, please."

He shook his head, solemnly, and said, "No can do, I can't tell you anything about your own future and you know it."

I nodded in understanding, but then puzzled aloud, "Then why bother coming at all?" I asked.

"You have free will, if you make the choices that will lead to her not being salvation for you, I want you with me." He said, matter-of-factly, and with authority unmatched by any mortal ruler, "If she is out of your life, I will keep you, and you will live throu-" A shattering silence fell out of his mouth.

"She will be with me," My love spoke in her own voice, not authoritative, not insistent, not demanding of me. But understanding, loving, caring, wishing only the best for us both, "of that you can be assured Grachiel." She finished.

Grachiel looked perturbed that interruption was even within consideration by her. But when he looked down at me as saw my eyes shining with the same golden halo that filled hers, he understood.

"I am impressed with her, do not fail her, earthly devil." He said, with a final word, departed.

I ran to her, and embraced her. When I did, she sank to the ground again, wrapping her arms around me, her wings vanished. I ran my fingers through her soft curly hair, and she embraced my face with her hands and kissed me deeply as I did.

We stood enraptured by eachother for centuries, as the world around us was warped and destroyed. The buildings that made up the alleyway crumbled to dust. The concrete below out feet joining it, nearly instantly.

The air grew heavy, hot, painful to breath, but we kissed on. The world filled with black smog that choked us and brought us no end of pain, but we kissed on. The dark of night extended into day, and the burning heat of day extended into the night, but we kissed on.

We heard the cry of people in the distance, first raiders, survivors, the pained and starving. But then, the sounds of order, law, systems of government being ratified by the fools who set themselves only to repeat what had occurred already, but we kissed on.

Finally the stillness of a long night, longer than the nights previous, and a few words spoken by close friends from just the other end of the alleyway, "Look I found them! Yeah, they're making out again! Come the fuck on you two, we're looking for medicine and canned goods for winter, not eachothers fucking tongues." The voice teased.

I looked into her eyes, lovingly as I had what felt like a million times before, I took her hand and started towards our friends.

"Come now, my princess. We have a world to keep." I finished.

The return from sleep to waking was painful, I felt as though every muscle in my body had been stiffened. I lept up and looked at myself in the mirror, and there I swear I saw the seal of Grachiel fading from my skin.

Where a knife had whitened the flesh, but not broken any. Where offers had been made, but not struck. Where fate was decided, but not by myself alone.

Fata volente, Tempus Mutat Omnia.