A Time's Wrath, Chapter 1
Active Assaults
A Time’s Wrath
By James M. H.
Chapter 1
Gate of Hell
Lightning
shot down above an old church like a string of blue fire coming down
upon the ground for a strike to the heart of the earth. The church
shined like a quick blue light every time the loud, crackling lightning
would strike the ground in a split-second. It was raining, and it was
raining quite drastically and heavily. A cloaked figure ran towards the
old torn church quickly and swiftly, trying to get out of the rain. It
ran past the grave stones and grave statues like a bullet seeking its
aim. As the figure ran towards the church, it finally reached its
destination as lightning crackled a blue light once again, lighting up
the figure's face.
The
figure was a white fox with black ears wearing an old brown and black
cloak. He had a scar below each eye, a red one, his eyes shown like
crimson fire in the night. He quickly looked back to see if anyone was
following him, then he shoved the old church front door open, then ran
inside, slamming the door shut behind him. He looked at the door as he
slowly walked backwards down the isle in the old worn church, and then
he turned around after walking backwards for ten seconds. There were
holes in the ceiling and holes in the walls. The isle seats were
scattered and were scorned by the affects of erosion on their part. The
figure walked quietly down the isle, his brown boots slightly making a
cackle sound with each step. He staggered a bit after a moment, and
then began to stumble, losing his balance for an unknown cause. He
quickly started to run towards the alter and the huge wooden cross
ahead of him before he were to fall from his weak balance. He then
reached the alter, quickly grabbing it with his fur, crimson stained
fists.
He
then tumble down, hitting his back upon the front of the alter. He
looked drowsy as he looked beyond the isle into the shining patterned
windows and stained glass up high on the walls where it shown the most.
He smiled as he took off his cloak weakly and slowly, revealing a furry
white chest stained in red crimson blood and cuts. He also had on dark
blue jeans; they were also stained a crimson, bloody red. He started to
tear off parts of the cloak, barely doing what he desired with the weak
strength he had at the moment. He finally succeeded in tearing off a
foot long piece of cloth. After that, he quickly and carefully wiped
the blood off of his chest, groaning in the stinging pain, whimpering
and yelping here and there. He finally threw the red, soaked cloth to
his side, giving up on the idea because of the pain. He closed his eyes
as he let his head lean against the alter, panting at the pain still
rushing into his head from the gashes and cuts in his chest...
A
couple of minutes later, after waking up from him passing out earlier
from the pain, he heard a loud bang behind him, behind the alter, and
in front, or what it seemed to him, in front of the huge, hung cross
behind him and the alter. He leaned his head to the right and looked
over the corner in horror as he saw a black coated figure rise from a
pile of broken glass and sheet rock. The figure rose up slowly,
devilishly, knowing his prey was watching with every horror heart beat.
The fox quickly turned his gaze back towards the stain glass and the
doubled doors in front of him and the alter, panting and breathing
heavily in horror, his eyes bloodshot red from his red pupils and his
eyes wide open in terror. He heard a slow growl and hiss behind the
alter and him. The fox was still sitting in his upright position
against the alter as before he took off his cloak. He looked over his
shoulder, eyes wide open and expecting the worse to come....
A
loud bang had erupted from the doubled doors in the black rainfall and
the black of night. A white furry figure outlined in red flew from the
doubled doors as the doors opened in a mere second. The figure fell to
the ground, soaked in red and water from the rain. He tried to get up,
but only felt his hands and arms give way from underneath him from the
lack of stable soil. The mud left from under him and he fell back to
the ground, rain pouring on his red soaked back and his long white
fluffy tail with a black tip. He then tried to get back up again as he
heard a hiss from behind him. Probably about a couple of yards from
what he thought from his scenes. He leapt up and staggered, but ran
past the grave stones in horror as he almost slipped in the mud again.
He ran in the cold, dark rain, wide eyed and yelling for the sake of
life. As he nearly reached the church gate ahead of him, he felt a huge
mass of weight push him down from the top of him, making him come down
like rock in water upon the mud and watery grass under him. His face
hit the ground and mud splattered everywhere around him, the darkness
not making it any better. He heard a hiss and growl over his shoulder,
and as he did, his eyes widened and his pupils grew thin and small. He
then screamed out in horror and panic as the figure on top of him
pushed his muzzle and furry face into the thick and brown mud under
him, suffocating him.
The
white fox struggled for his life against the massive beast or whatever
was on his back. He bashed the figure against the head with his fist
and also kicked for freedom. He was losing air, and fast. But as he
felt he was going to lose it all, lose his life, lose his mind and body
to the lack of air, he heard a dark, cold voice from upon his back from
the huge beast that had pinned him down. It said to the fox, "Time's
up...I told you that you and your father would die....and by my hand
every time....over and over again...." Right as the figure said that,
the fox felt the last bit of rain fall on him as he awoke in a panic,
panting heavily and whimpering. Another white fox came in the room; it
was Jenna, an 18 year old white vixen. She had on a light green T-shirt
and blue boxers on from her boyfriend’s set of cloths, Josh’s. She was
slightly staggering as she ran in the fox's room, still recovering from
her quick awake. She too had black tipped ears and a black tipped tail.
She also had black back paws, or feet in this case. "What is it?! What
is the matter?! I heard you scream!" she said in a panic as she was
panting from her running in the hallway towards the bedroom. She put
her hand on the fox's bed frame near his head, wide eyed, asking again,
"What is the matter?!"
The
fox, slowly looking up in horror, but slowly realizing it was only a
dream, replied in a whisper, "Him......It was him again...." The
vixen's face pulled back a bit in astonishment, then she knelt down
near his face slowly, comforting him while she said back, "I know....I
know....It's all alright....no one is hurt....it was only a dream..."
She sat on the side of the bed, her white fluffy, black tipped tail,
swooshing around them both. She then hugged the 18 year old boy's neck
and kissed him on the forehead. She got back up before saying to him,
"I know what is happening...and I fear the worst....but for now, just
get some shut eye if you can ok? If you have another one of those
dreams, I will walk with you outside and we can talk about it..." She
said comforting as the young vixen looked towards the door, and walked
out.
Raphial
jumped off of his bed shortly after Jenna walked out. He walked over to
his large tan dresser that was to the right of the door against the
wall. It was about 5 feet high and about 4 feet in width. He opened the
first drawer, and took out a pair of jeans and a grey T-shirt, seeing
he was almost nude with only boxers on. He slipped on the jeans with
ease and also put on his T-shirt. He then walked out of the room into
the kitchen, grabbed a piece of bacon that was still on the plate from
yesterdays breakfast. He then grabbed a set of keys that were on a
small key holder by the door. He then put the bacon in his muzzle,
without eating it, and slipped on his black coat, outlined in red from
the sleeves down. He then grabbed the bacon and slipped his keys into
his pocket and walked out into the night, eating his piece of bacon
properly, but with a smile on his face; he loved bacon and did not pass
the chance to ever get any if there was some available.
He
walked out into the darkness, walking to the small carport under a hang
over roof about a couple of yards from the front door he walked out of.
There was a dark red four door dodge truck and a white mini van. He
unlocked the door to the red truck and hopped in. After that he pulled
out his keys again and stuck the car key into the small key slot to the
right of the steering wheel. He then chomped down on the last part of
the bacon and finished it with a small belch, showing he had enjoyed
his short meal. He then closed the door and put his white paw on the
small clutch in the middle of the two front seats. He put his two feet
paws on the gas and brake. His right foot on the brake and his left on
the gas. He the put the clutch into reverse and stepped on the gas
slowly and steadily, looking into his rear view mirror for accuracy of
getting out of the small car port...
The
large red truck zoomed down the road from his neighborhood, rushing
over the highway bridge north of his house, about three miles away. No
one was outside driving their cars except a few here and there, seeing
it was obviously in the middle of the night and he was the only one in
a couple of miles actually active at night. He turned down another
street across the bridge onto a small road that went past some old gas
stations and a small super market. He then turned on his bright lights
instead of the regular ones. About another mile away from the last turn
he took, he turned onto an old dirt road. No one hardly ever used this
road, nor ever paid any attention to it, obviously, because there were
old limbs and sticks on the side of the road and grass growing from the
sides towards the middle of the road, and trees growing over the road
like a hang over roof...
He
slowed down, seeing it was an unused dirt road, and came up to an old
black gate that was found with a large rose bush growing over the top
and the sides, making a nature-like fence. Raphial stopped the truck
and turned off the truck by removing the car keys and letting his feet
relax by letting his feet paws slip off of the brake and gas petal. He
sat back for a moment, starring at the black, rose-like gate. It stood
probably about 11 feet tall, almost as high as a rooftop of an average
house. He then set the keys in his pocket, grabbed a flashlight and a
small pistol that was in the middle compartment in the middle of the
passenger’s and driver’s seat.
It was quite dark in the middle of the night, and only having a small flashlight while someone is opening a huge gate is not quite that simple. Raphial tried and tried to unlock the large lock on the gate with his lock pick, but just could not do it. He started to get frustrated with the metal mass in front of him, the only thing blocking him and his destination. He finally pulled out the small pistol from his pocket and pointed the barrel at the lock, backing up a couple of steps. He aimed while cocking it, preparing it for fire. He then pulled the trigger, letting out a huge bang in the blackness of the night around him. The lock was found in two pieces on the ground below where it first was. Smoke came out of the end of the short barrel of the small pistol. Raphial smiled as he blow off the smoke, put the safety back on, and slipped it into his pocket. He walked over to the gate and pushed it open with ease, hearing the gate screech like an old rocking chair.
The white fox walked into the gate as he pulled his flashlight back out again, turning it on to reveal a large amount of graves all aligned in one straight row, all facing the gate. There was, though, a center walkway down the middle of the two isles of graves. It was dark and spooky here, the old black and grey graves, cracked and falling apart, all in front of the worn away church ahead. The whole place was smaller than imagined too. The fenced in church and grave yard was only about 40 yards in width and about 60 yards in height, from the gate to the back of the church. Above all, the “fence” was only large, and I mean large, rows of rose bushes and old withered branches, but it was so thick it was like an actual nature-like fence. Raphial gulped as he started to walk ahead towards the old church. He hated dark nights and dark spots that seemed to cage him in.
He walked slowly, measuring his distance form the church just in case. He shown his light on everything in the nature cage he was walking in. For a moment, he swore that something had tagged and hung to his leg and jeans. He then started to hear small, yet squeaky, old breath noises behind him, probably only about a couple of yards from him. At first, sense they were small, and barely heard noises, Raphial ignored them and continued his walk toward the church, which he was not far from. But to his surprise, as he walked by, he shown his light onto a small broken grave next to him that revealed a large hole and the hole had to have been dug up very recently and by hand too, or someone did a sloppy job with digging.
As Raphial looked up, he heard a strange breathing noise over his right shoulder, and it was breathing quite hard, but also real close. Raphial looked around and shown his light on what appeared to be two large red shining eyes, then came a skeletal body, legs, hands, and skull. It was some type of skeleton, but it was quite alive alright. It started to make a growling noise in front of Raphial’s face. Their two heads were only about 5 inches from touching. Then right as Raphial was about to back up, the skeleton swung for him and then ran for his throat! Raphial, seeing this, immediately pulled out his pistol, pulling off the safety, and firing over and over at the walking beast that was running for him. With that, the skeleton fell down onto the ground in pieces. Raphial’s eyes were wide open and terrified. He never thought for a minute that a skeleton could come alive, or at least walk!
Raphial then thought to himself, “Ok…Get it straight, and relax. Put the gun back in your pocket and keep walking, this is not over yet…” As his conscience told him to do so, Raphial did. He lowered the weapon and slipped it into his pocket, still staring at the hideous skeleton on the ground stained in a crimson red from blood. He then turned around very slowly, making sure the thing would not jump up like in the scary movies. He then finally turned fully around only to find darkness again, but no sign of any “things” moving around. He continued his way, a little shaken, but better. He then walked again, pretending that nothing had happened a second ago, to calm him down. He continued to walk toward the black figure of a church ahead until he reached two doubled doors that appeared to be falling apart. One of the doors had one hinge broken and was hanging crooked while the other door remained shut as if never disturbed. The handles on the doors seemed to be ancient and the wood of the doors seemed to be rotting off.
Raphial looked around, and then looked inside to only find darkness and black of the insides of the old abandoned church. It looked though, from the outside, to be the same description and appearance as the one in his dream, which was perfect because Raphial was looking for that church in his dream. He looked around once more, then he shown his light inside of the church, pulled one foot paw over the falling door, and jumped inside without hitting the door. Inside of the church was a small alter ahead in front of the isle and a huge wooden cross behind an alter, hanging on the rotting wall. A small lining of carpet placed on the floor that had made the isle and isle, along with a wooden hard floor everywhere else, including where the undisturbed benches were.
As he walked toward the alter, an old wooden one that was stained in a dark tan wood color, and was falling apart, seeing that the table part was sliding off. He walked up to find a bible opened up in the middle of the spine, but it was fresh. The pages were not dusted and the bible had a pen on it, a pen that said, “Hold the Key” on it. It was a dark red pen, a metal one to be exact. One of those special pens that people buy that cost well over a fortune to get. He picked up the pen, looking at it closely then he set it aside the bible and looked at the bible itself. He flipped a couple of pages, inspecting it for any suspicious clues. He closed the book and looked up at the large black and brown wooden cross behind him. It was hanging off chains from the wall instead of the ceiling like most would be if they were hanging.
He walked up to the cross, looking heavily around it and around the dark of the building that was falling apart by its own will. He looked down, closed his eyes, then picked up his head and looked up at the cross, thinking deeply. He never was sure what to believe as far as it came to the Lord almighty. He never was sure to believe he was real, or to believe he ever was real. He believed the stories that were told in many ways, but also doubted them. He looked to the side in guilt. He felt a shot pain in his gut; he was not sure what to do, say, or to believe. He then looked away from the cross to the opposite direction as he heard a huge bang noise behind him. He picked up his flashlight from the alter and pointed it at the figure standing in front of the door. He could not tell what it was as far from details, but knew that it was not anything nice. He then put down the flash light with an angry expression on his face. He was tired of the annoyance of these beats and horrors. He had enough and was about to end it all with a trigger of a pistol. He then aimed the barrel up to the figure that started to walk toward him slowly, staggering. He pointed the barrel of doom toward the black thing and started to pull the trigger when he realized the figure had fur, white fur. Raphial’s eyes widened in horror, it was Jenna!!! He quickly ran to her and caught her as she began to fall from her staggering. “Jenna?! What happened?! Why are you here?!” Raphial yelled in horror as he held her head up near his chest. She was bloody all over and her clothes were stripped down to the ankles. She had cuts all over her like a blood bath victim.
She breathed heavily as she reached for Raphial’s muzzle on his white, furry face, “Don’t worry about me…Just stop him…Get that demon who brought this to me…No longer is my time here. I think I have surpassed my time in this short, cruel world we call home…Take care of Josh for me…and tell him I love him…” She said as she started to weaken, showing Raphial she was about to pass on to the other side. “No. You’re not dying on me yet!” Raphial said as he sat her body down on the wooden floor on the bright red carpet. He quickly took off his shirt and wrapped it around her chest where her most severe wounds were, “You are not going die! You are my friend! My sister! My ever lasting friend! I am not giving up on you yet girlie!” She smiled slightly seeing he tried his best. She put a hand on his paw as he was about to comfort her, “Raphial….This is the end for me….I am sorry…I tried…..and came so close….I am really sorry….Just kill that devil for me…And don’t hold back……..” And with that, she weakly leaned her head back, tears coming out from her bright green eyes. She laid stiff and cold, and was not breathing any longer.
Raphial looked in horror, eyes wide open and his pupils extremely small from what he saw that he did not want to believe, this evil had killed his sister, his only family besides Josh. Raphial staggered back, still on his knees and leaned against one of the seats behind him. He put a paw over his eyes, then his chin, squinting his eyes, trying not to cry. Finally, after a moment, he wept tears heavily onto the old rotten wooden floor…
Another bang noise had rose from the blackness of the church room moments later. It was more demons and skeletons. He looked at them walking towards him in that zombie/dead fashion. He still wept, but soon realized his state and position and got up, squinting, his eyes in anger and clinching his pistol tightly. But he did not use it; instead, he slowly started to walk towards the demons with both of his fist clinched, both of his eyes filled with hate and pure anger. He walked slowly, but angrily towards the small mob of skeletons and demons. They started to strike at him as he was only a foot away from them, but Raphial did not let this happen. He ducked his head, still focused, and punched the skeletons stomach four times in a mere two seconds, making the skeleton fall apart in the force that was given to him. It fell to the floor, shattering, in pieces.
Raphial then jumped back about to feet away from them, then stood there, facing them, putting a fist up to them saying, “It’s over. Let’s finish this…” As soon as he said that, the demons and skeletons started to run, but Raphial did nothing, instead, he yelled out, “Gi-Ruke!!!” That’s when a huge bright red beam rose from his fist and rushed towards the angry mob, the force pushing them back and when it hit them, it burned them in an instant into ash that fell to the floor like rain. Raphial looked at what used to be an angry mob, and looked down at the white, bloody stained female body under him. He picked up the body and carried it to the cross behind the alter.
He placed the female’s body right below it, trying to bid respect from her death. He had loved her very much and had protected her so many times before; it seemed so easy, but yet so hard. Raphial sighed and got back up, looking at the church’s door way, “Alright. This ends here and now.” He walked away from Jenna’s body, not looking back…
Several minutes later after killing more demons, he ran up to a large opening of a crypt that was so large, you couldn’t see the end for it extended to the back and behind of the bushes of roses that shown a crimson red in the dark night. The large cage door to protect the crypt from grave robbers lay on the ground like a rotten log. Raphial looked back, then he ran into the crypt without any thought as to what was into it. He was looking for something but he couldn’t find it. He ran down the black halls of old concrete and finally arrived in a large, dark black room. It had chains and shackles hanging on the walls as well as blood spatter stains everywhere on each wall. The walls were made of thick, black concrete and the ceiling was held up by old wood, having short columns of wood appear here and there in the room to hold the old wooden ceiling. The whole room was the size of a gym, and yet it was still pitch black, but the stained glass windows could be seen, but only if you got close to them. In the center of the room was a large platform raised slightly above the floor. It had two large, blood stained, concrete columns around it. One on each side as the platform was shaped like a circle. Raphial walked up, but only to start shivering at the coldness of the black space. He finally reached the center of the room and found a large dead body on the ground next to the platform; it was a large black wolf with a white belly along with blue jeans and a large grey T shirt. . Its right hand hung over the platform as his body hung down to the ground from the platform also. His cold, dead fleshy, skeletal body sat there like a rock. It did nothing and made no sound. The only sound Raphial could hear with his large furry ears was the echo of each step he took in the old crypt. There was one thing bothering Raphial though. The old fleshy, boney body that lay on the ground, looked as if it were staring straight at him, with his old piercing red eyes. Raphial shivered at the thought and continued to walk, only to arrive where he would have thought he wanted moments later…