Angels of Darkness

by Magus of Chronicles

(2) Call of a Midnight Breeze

A Few Hours Earlier

“Well look who decided ta finally git out a bed. It's about time ya got up, ya lazy bum.”, my loud-mouthed roommate called over to me. I rolled over to check the clock and saw that it read 7:30 P.M. Just after sunset, my usual wake up time. I ignored him as I yawned and got up and stretched.

“What's your problem, you know I'm nocturnal. I always get up after the sun goes down.”, I sleepily replied to him. I walked over to the nearby window and looked out at the rising moon. 'Won't be long now...', I thought.

“Hey, it's no problem a mine mon. I just don't see how ya can sleep all de daylight hours away and still manage ta somehow keep a job. What do ya do out der at night anyway.”

“I've already told you before, it's just how I am. I train at night. I roam the dark streets, ducking in and out of every shadow, never seen nor heard by anyone. I do this to keep my mind sharp and my body primed for the day when-”

“When ya called back ta once again serve and protect ya Princess. I know I know, I've heard it all before Zeke.”, Reggie rudely interrupted. “I still don't believe half a what ya say, but I've seen ya in action, so I know der be some truth to it.”

“If you only knew...” I simply sighed and went about my business of getting dressed and cleaning up my half of the room. What Reggie said was true enough, he had seen me in action. In fact, if hadn't of been for me, the guy would probably be six feet under right now.

---

You see, Reggie's not exactly the brightest bulb in the box, if you catch my drift. He's a 5' 8” average looking Jamaican guy with a very bad habit of mouthing off to the wrong people and sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. And it's because of this habit that's caused him to get into very sticky, and sometimes awkward, situations. He was in one of these particular situations when I happened to be out on my nightly walk through the streets of Brooklyn NY. It was odd though, nobody else was out at that hour; this wasn't exactly the safest neighborhood after all. I heard a light scuffling noise coming from a nearby alleyway between two of the buildings. Normally I just right it off as the usual night time violence of the city and go on my merry way. But for some reason curiosity and instinct got the better of me that night and I decided to investigate.

Sticking to the shadows I saw three large men, one bigger than the other two, huddled around a smaller man that was leaning against the wall for support. From the expensive looking suits they wore I could tell they weren't your usual street thugs. These guys meant business. At any rate, this guy definitely looked like he could use some help.

Now say what you will about Reggie but the guy could definitely take a hit. I was surprised to see that he was still standing because from what I saw he looked like he had been through hell. He had a large cut over one eye causing his face to be half covered in blood, making it look worse than it probably was. He also had a busted lip, both of his eyes were black, and his left arm was bent at a very odd angle. He might of even had some some internal bleeding but I couldn't be sure.

When I got there the biggest of the three, who I assumed was the leader, spoke up. “Reggie, Reggie, Reggie, how many times have I told yous this. You borrow from Donny, you pay him back, and if you don't then things like this tend to happen. It's simple. Now, because I'm feeling generous tonight, I'm gonna give yous one more chance to pay up and be on your way. So, what do ya say.” The man had a very thick Brooklyn accent, not surprising considering where we were, and was very annoyed. Apparently, they had been here a while and were tired of dealing with this man.

The other two just stood there looking menacing while the big guy talked and Reggie tried his hardest to stand up straight. Reggie stared him straight in the eye, spat in his face and said with a defiant tone, “You tell Donny dat if he cares so much 'bout gitting his money back, den he can come here and git it himself, 'stead of sending his mutts out to fetch it.” The other two goons just stared at their leader, wondering how he would react. The big guy just wiped his face off and smiled an evil grin at Reggie and said, “Wrong answer.”, and then he pulled his fist back for what I knew would be an ending blow.

Now, normally I keep to myself and don't meddle in the affairs of others, but damn my protective instinct was just to strong to ignore. So right before his fist impacted Reggie's chest I shouted out, “HEY!”, my voice reverberating of the walls so they couldn't tell where I was. It startled him enough that his fist veered of course and hit the brick wall of the building, causing him to yelp in pain. I simply laughed at his pain, the acoustics causing my voice to echo in such a way that it made it sound quite threatening. At hearing this his buddy’s pulled out a couple of silenced pistols and aimed them into the dark, searching about for the source of my hollow laughter.

“Who's there?”, the big guy called out. More laughter. “Whoever you are, this is none of your business so why don't you just leave or-”

“Or what?”, I cut him off. In a dark tone of voice I said, “You'll shoot me?” I just continued to laugh at them, all the while the surrounding shadows began to grow and move towards them. “Now, the way I see it, you made it my business when you attacked this innocent man. You could have simply talked out your issues like civilized people but oh no, you just had to go and hurt him. And that just doesn't sit right with me.” The big guy then pulled out his own pistol and fired off a few shots towards me.“What was that? You think you can shoot the darkness?”, I said, laughing some more. I was having way to much fun, especially with what happened next. Ceasing the laughter I said very seriously, “Why don't you try that again?”

At a signal from their boss the other two guys fired a few shots down the alley as well. Little did they know that none of their shots ever hit me, for they were lost in the shadows. I just kept on laughing. “Ha, you see?” Then I adopted a much more serious and sinister voice. “You cannot kill the shadows!” As soon as I said, right on cue the temperature dropped several degrees as the shadows moved in and fully blinded all three of them. Once that was done I approached them slowly, drawing the blade that I kept hidden at my side.

The big guy actually had the courage to shout back and said, “You think your a big man hiding in the dark, you think you're scary, HA! Why don't you come out and face us coward?!”

“Gladly.” I smirked. All that was heard before I had my blade at his throat, was the sound of his two buddies choking on their own blood as I stabbed them in their hearts. I'll never forget the look he had in his eyes. I just smiled and ask him, “Any last words before I end your miserable existence as I did theirs?”

“What are you?”, he asked. He was shaking down to his very core; he knew what was going to happen next.

And he was utterly terrified.

“Isn't it obvious? I'm an Angel.” I then leaned in and whispered the last two words he would ever hear, “A Dark Angel.”

Then, with a quick flick of my wrist, the deed was done. The last thing he heard was the sound of sharp steel cutting its way through flesh as I cleaved my sword through his neck. As I watched his head roll away and his body fall to the ground I heard a muffled cough off to the side. I felt the shadows recede as I looked down at Reggie, the fear clear in his eyes.

“Please, don't kill me...” was all I heard before he passed into unconsciousness. I reached out to catch him before he fell and as gently as I could I picked him up and held him in my arms.

“Let's get you to a hospital friend.”, I said before I trudged back off into the night.

---

One hospital bill and a few visits later and the next thing you know, were roommates. You see, after talking with him I found out he was in way over his head with all kinds of wrong people. So I suggested to him that if he wanted these guys off his back and to get his life back in order that he stick with me. When he asked why I would do something like this for a guy like him I simply said, “I don't know. But anyone who can take that much of a beating and still have the gall to spit in their attackers face is okay in my book.” He just shrugged it off and laughed. People still came around to try and hassle him but a quick shadow-step here and there was all it took for them to learn their place.

That was over four months ago. Reggie's still trying to get his life together but is doing much better than before and he is quite happy. We still get the occasional mobster or what have you that comes around looking for payment of some kind or just to hassle him, but it's nothing that I can't handle.

“Ey mon, take a look at dis.”, Reggie called over, snapping me out of my reverie.

“What's up Reg.” I looked over at him to see that he had turned on the local news.

“It looks like ders gonna be a total Lunar Eclipse at midnight tonight. You're always watchin de night sky, what da you tink about dis?”

My mind barely registered a word he said after 'Lunar Eclipse'. I was too busy staring at the screen and trying to comprehend the astronomical odds of this event. Reggie was right, I watched the sky every night so I knew for a fact that this particular event should not be happening for at least another few months. Just to be sure though, I quickly ran over to a window and looked up at the sky. Sure enough, I could already see the tell-tale signs of an eclipse.

'It can't be...', I thought. 'Can it?' I dug deep into my mind looking for answers and I instantly berated myself when I found them in the form of a quiet noise, one that I had hoped to never hear again. The sound of tears being shed. My Princess was crying.

As soon as I heard that, I reawakened a part of my mind that had long since been dormant and called out with my thoughts. 'Fire Crescent, Sebastian, can you hear me?' Silence. 'For Luna's sake Fire, Sebastian, answer me!' Finally, after a good minute or so, I heard another voice in my mind, one that I was all to glad to hear.

'Breeze, is that you?', said an elderly sounding British gentleman. 'Well its about time I hear from you boy!'

'Same to you old timer.', I replied back, equally as happy to hear from him as he was from me. 'Now where is Fire at?'

'Probably lazing about as usual, but I can easily rectify that. One moment please.' I felt a current of energy being sent through the link and straight into its unwary recipient.

'OUCH!! SONOFABITCH THAT HURT!', screamed a voice that carried the accent of an Australian beach bum.

'Thank you Sebastian.'

'Of course Sir, I was only too happy to oblige.' I could feel him smirking to himself, he enjoyed doing that way to much.

'And Fire, I thought I told you to mind your language.', I said, regaining the authority in my voice.

'Nice to hear from you guys too.', said Fire, clearly annoyed at being so rudely awoken. We didn't have time for the whole reunion thing so I cut right to the chase.

'As nice as it hear to hear you guys again, there is a reason I reactivated the link.' I couldn't believe it was finally time. 'Gentlemen, the time has come for the Stars to Fall.' I could almost see the looks of surprise on their faces. 'Now, before either of you say anything, I want you to meet me at my current location. I'll explain everything when you get here. Night Protect You and Moon Guide You.' And with that, I cut the link.

“Yo Zeke, you okay mon?”, I heard Reggie calling me, pulling me back from my mind.

With a quick shake of my head I replied, “Yeah, I'm fine.”

“Ya sure? Ya kinda zoned out on me for a few minutes der .”

“Yes Reg, I'm sure. But you might want to help me clean up this place, we'll be having guests soon.

Author's Note:

And enter our main character Zeke, a.k.a. Midnight Breeze. He's been waiting a long time for this moment and now that it's finally here, what will he do? What does the Lunar Eclipse have to do with anything? And what will Reggie think about all this? We shall soon see...

Ok, so, 2nd chap. was done a lot sooner than expected. How'd I do on the Jamaican accent? Does anyone think this warrants the Dark tag? Comments, criticism, and advise are welcome.

Comments

[Seraph973]

The humans aren't going to become ponies are they? It seems heavily impleid that that is going to happen. I hope it doesn't.

[Sunsong]

2248261

I hope it does.

To be honest, I think they might have been ponies before humans.