7 The Light: part one

The once pristine green battlefield now laid bare; grey, black, red and singed. Bodies of the fallen decorated the ground. Their blood created a flow of life. One soldier remained. He dropped to his knees and tossed aside his sword. His hope had drained from him. A dark void of emotion consumed him. Why was he doing this? Why was he still fighting? He stared ahead mindlessly as the dark beasts drew near him.

Was there anything to fight for anymore? His mind drifted to a church; the stained glass windows played scenes of the Crucifixion. Red carpet rolled up to the podium. A girl in white, holding a bouquet of flowers, turned to look at his approaching form. Her veil concealed her face, but he knew. He always knew. With shaking hands, he reached out. "Anne !" He cried desperately, "Anne."

The vision around him started to shrink turning black. "No, No!" He ran Screaming to her. As he ran, the smaller and farther away she was. While Looking at him, the lips beneath the veil moved. "I'm waiting for you Vas." Anne fell backward, as stained glass windows appeared all around them, depicting scenes of a hand of darkness reaching for the light. Anne fell right through a set of stain glass windows. The stained glass shattered and the sound of glass breaking echoed throughout the area. Vas tried to reach for her before she hit the ground. The broken glass transformed into water droplets cushioning her.

The stained glass around him exploded. Vas jumped back making a sweeping motion with his hand. He realized mid-swing that he did not have his sword. When the realization dawned on him, the glass pieces exploded into feathers. The feathers started to drip blood. A light silver blue sword appeared in his hands, throwing him off balance. Anne was on the cushion of water droplets floating to the top of the cathedral. Her hands rest in a prayer position. An angelic voice, but not the voice of Anne called out to him. " Vas, Vas why do you deny me? Why do you deny what you do?"

"Who you do it for? You know why you are doing it?" The woman in the wedding dress transformed. No longer the silhouette of the woman he always dreamed about. A young woman who held herself with a royal demeanor stood before Vas. Her dark hair and sharp eyes took in his details, as he took in hers.

"Who are you?" He blinked. Trying to comprehend the woman in front of him.

She circled him, poking and prodding.

"Hey stop that," he cried in alarm.

She stood back. " It's okay, you know. It's okay to want to give in."

"What, "he blinked, and to himself, he thought, 'What is she talking about?' Vas glanced around uncomfortably before he spotted the pews to his left and right. He sat down and stared at the floor, dropping his sword. His fingertips pressed together.

"Hey," the woman wandered over to him.

"It's okay," she sat in the pew behind him staring ahead.

"You know I met people. Not just Christians. Good people of different faiths." Vas's voiced mellowed. Tears started to drip from his eyes.

"I have met people who believed, who didn't believe, who lost their faith, who were just finding their faith."

She nodded humming.

"These people bled, smiled, danced and sang. These people fled, cried, screamed, and begged. They lost people, and they died. Every time and every night I saw their faces and I lost hope. " Vas continued shaking.

"It's alright." She tapped his shoulder lightly. "It's alright," she gently grabbed both of his shoulders. "Hey, look at those feathers."

"Huh?" He glanced to the side, Watching the feathers that still dripped blood.

"Each drop is a person who died. Each water droplet that lifted me up was their suffering." She released his shoulders, pulling her left arm in close to her chest, making a fist. "I feel it." Her eyes went downcast. "I feel them. Every wound, every tear, all of their pain." The woman walked away from Vas, she stood in the center of the room.

Vas stood, picking up his newly acquired sword. His hands still shaking. Vas's body sagged. He studied the room, while turning his attention to the strange woman. "Who are you?" Vas hesitantly began approaching her.

She spun around the room as the cloud of droplets began to rain down, drenching her. " I am old but new. I am... I am light."

"Light!?" Vas jerked back.

Light nodded, circling him again. "Light."

"Why is there so much suffering in the world, Light? Why do I have to fight continuously, when all is lost." His broken tone only added to his solemn demeanor.

"You fought because you understood the consequences if you didn't. You fought for this," Light conjured up an illusion of a little girl running to her father delightfully screaming, "Papa." The father had his arms wide open. When the girl reached him, he swept her up into his arm.