When Darkness Descends

 It was the last day of the last month of the year and the sun had just set in the sky. 

The streets of England were quiet, unbefitting of such a day.

 From the backyard of a maisonnette on Abbey road, the sound of combat could be heard, even from far away.

The backyard was spacious with something like a pentagon in the center, which was used as a training ground. Just beside the door to the house, a single swing was mounted. 

There, a young girl of about fifteen years of age sat observing the battle that unfolded before her. She had silky auburn hair with blue eyes which had a speck of gray like the calm storm on a slim thick figure.

Her name was Angelina Angels.

 Clang!!! The sound of her uncle's sword clashing against her grandfather's fist which were unharmed even after the clash. While her uncle fought with a sword, her grandfather fought with his bare hands.

Her grandfather was about 6 feet and 4 inches in height. He was clearly the older one with a broad chest, large and well defined muscles, gray hair and a beard which was well kept, as well as brown eyes. His name was Ronald Angels. Despite his old age, he looked very young and fit.

 His opponent, her uncle, had a much lighter build and was much younger. He had dark green eyes, slim lips and long jet black hair that was stretched out to reach his shoulder. He went by the name Cedric Angels.

Cedric dashed towards Ronald with his sword in hand. He swung at Ronald's head but Ronald tilted his head away and dodged it. 

 He quickly twisted his sword in his hand and swung it upwards attempting to create a cut along Ronald's chest but Ronald was faster: he tilted to his side and dodged the sword.

 Cedric twisted his sword once more and attempted to stab Ronald in the chest but he was too slow.

Ronald grabbed the blade of the sword with his bare hands, moved it away from his chest and over his shoulder.

With one hand still on the handle of the blade, Cedric punched Ronald's chest and kicked him; but if he felt it at all, he did an excellent job at pretending he didn't.

"What the hell are you old man?" Cedric asked with a smirk. The blade of the sword, while still in Ronald's fist, extended and became longer.

 The blade curved when it had extended enough, creating a long arc and coming back to stab Ronald from the other side. 

 Just before the extended blade got to him, Ronald let go of the blade and stomped on the ground hard enough to create a shockwave, knocking Cedric off balance and the sword off its course. This allowed Ronald to escape the sword. He stepped back and jumped high into the air, higher than an average human could.

He twisted in the air, performing a sort of backflip, then punched the air twice in the direction of Cedric before landing on his feet. From the slight rustle of the wind before him, two balls of fire emerged and shot at Cedric.

Cedric, seeing them coming, planted his foot into the ground to gain momentum, then dashed through the balls of fire, twisting between them in a sort of slithering movement.

He continued towards Ronald. Ronald spun around and kicked in Cedric's direction even though he wasn't in range yet. A wave of flame originating from his kick, shot at Cedric. 

It was too fast for Cedric to dodge so it hit him square in the chest. Immediately, his body caught on fire causing Cedric to fall to his knees in pain.

The fire cleared rapidly leaving a heavily burnt Cedric on his knees. He looked up at Ronald who sped towards him and struck his neck with the back of his fist. Surprisingly, what he struck was a hollow lump of skin. 

Cedric had shed his skin to recover from the burn wounds.

"Old man, you could have killed me." Cedric said in a sort of complaining tone. While massaging his neck.

There was blood on his neck from Ronald's last attack. He thought he had escaped just in time but he was wrong.

"If this was a real fight, I would have." Ronald said.

"I know that much already, dad." Cedric said, showing his bloodied palm which he used to massage his wound to Ronald.

"That was amazing." Angelina blurted out.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Cedric said warmly as he pulled out the skin of his neck to reveal fresh new skin.

"I will never get used to that." She said, staring at his neck. "Your ability is weird."

"So I've been told." He responded with a laugh as glanced at his father. "Heavenly pacts are unique. I don't expect you to understand mine. Just like I don't fully understand yours."

Cedric glanced around the yard as the smile on his face faded. "Where's Derrick?"

Angelina's heart sank. "He's probably asleep."

"Go wake him up." Cedric said in a tone that did nothing to hide his anger.

Reluctantly, Angelina got up and left to get Derrick.

She deliberately didn't want Cedric to remember Derrick at that time. 

Apparently, something had happened a long time ago that caused people about one-third of the world to develop special abilities called heavenly pacts. 

 In her family, basically everyone had a heavenly pact; from her grandfather to her parents and even up till her, the youngest child. Everyone had these abilities except her immediate elder brother, Derrick.

Ever since their parents died, Angelina and Derrick stayed with their uncle and grandfather; meanwhile, their elder brother, Percy, had been in Japan even before the death of their parents and hadn't returned ever since.

Cedric started a routine of sparring with Derrick every day to force him to develop a special ability but with no result. Lately, from Angelina's point of view, it's been looking more like bullying.

She opened the door to his room only to see him, a dark haired boy with blue eyes and a slim muscular build, trying to jump out the window.

 "Get back," she yelled.

It was as though the wind obeyed her command as Derrick's body flew backwards till he hit the wall beside her.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" She asked while he groaned in pain.

"I just wanted to get something to eat." He responded in pain.

"There's a room in this house called a kitchen. You could get something to eat there." She said sarcastically.

"I wanted to get something at the diner across the street. You know, before uncle Cedric starts looking for me." He said as he got up to his feet.

"That's why I'm here." She said, her voice growing melancholic. She hated seeing her brother getting injured or treated the way he was. Everytime he got injured, she always used her ability to heal him as best as she could.

"Uncle Cedric calls for you."

"I see."

"This can't go on. What if you get seriously injured and I can't heal you fully, Or worse, you die." She said with her head low.

Derrick slowly stretched out his right hand's index and middle finger and placed them lightly on his sister's temple. "Don't worry." He said with a kind smile, "I'll be fine."

A small smile tugged at the edge of her lips as she wiped away the tear from her cheek.

"Now will you please cover for me." He said as he walked over to the windowside. 

"You're an idiot, you know that?" She said with a smile.

Just before he could say anything else, Cedric barged into the room, grabbed Derrick and dragged him out to the training room.

Angelina went out after them and watched as her uncle forced her brother to pick up a sword and then beat him up till he was unable to stand. Fortunately, she was able to heal him with her pact later.

After that, Derrick went inside and didn't say anything to anyone.

She wanted to cheer him up but didn't know what to say. It had always been like that for him. Always getting beaten up by his uncle and not being able to stand up for himself. She vaguely recalled a time when Derrick smiled constantly, a time where he didn't have to worry about his uncle or heavenly pacts, a time where he seemed truly happy.

Later that day, she went into his room to see him lying awake on his bed, doing nothing but staring at his ceiling.

"Get up!" She said in a bossy tone, "We're going out."

"No thanks! Just go on without me." Derrick responded lazily.

"It wasn't a request." She added.

"Not interested." He responded bluntly, turning in his bed. "I'm not in the mood."

She exhaled, dropped her tone and walked up to his bed then sat at the edge. 

"Look. There's a firework show in town. I was planning to go but I didn't want to go alone."

"Then don't go." He responded in a surprisingly soft tone.

"Please!" She said as she stared longingly at him. One look at her and he was sold. He couldn't say no to her, he never learnt how.

A few hours later, they were dressed up and ready to leave. They were leaving their house a bit late because Derrick was being sluggish, a display of his reluctance.

The moment they left the house, Derrick told her that he felt a strange chill in the wind.

Though she didn't fully understand what he meant, she felt something strange too. There was a feeling of unease, a shift in the stillness.

By the time they got there, the countdown had already started. They were a couple of meters away from the crowd when the fireworks went up in the sky with the crescendo of voices yelling "Happy New Year!"

An array of colors lit up the sky, giving expression to numerous patterns that dazzled the sights of everyone seated there.

Derrick stopped for a moment to look up at the fireworks as he smiled, adoring their beauty.

Angelina looked at Derrick as the light from the fireworks reflected in his glossy eyes. She saw him smile and that brought a smile to her lips too.

"I would have missed this if you hadn't convinced me." He said with appreciation in his tone.

"I would have dragged you out either way." She said with a laugh.

He laughed too then hugged her as he said, "Thank you…for everything."

Suddenly they both heard something, something that put a chill in their bones, it was a voice, no more than a whisper in their ears.

"Our time has come." It said.

Suddenly, lightning danced violently in the sky with the booming of thunder as its partner even though there were no clouds. Some people wanted to ignore it but something about it made the siblings feel even more uneasy.

Derrick's eyes widened in shock as a hole appeared in the sky with a blinding pillar of light descending from it to the ground. He placed his arm over his eyes to shield them from the light. When he turned around, he saw something similar happening all over town. 

Violent winds descended over the place, causing people to sway and stumble. Derrick caught a brief look and could have sworn he saw something coming out of the pillar of light before him.

Unfortunately, he was right. A large curved blade with a chain flew out of the pillar of light and went through the man in front of him. He opened his mouth to allow blood flow out as the blade was retracted back to the pillar. His lifeless body quickly fell to the floor, cold.

People panicked and ran causing chaos all over the place. The chain and blade came out again killing another person and causing even more chaos.

When he had gotten a bit far away, Derrick looked back at the pillar of light as strange creatures emerged from it. They weren't like anything he had come across in his Biology class.

They were all different in a way but one thing was clear, they carried with them the thick aura of murderous intent and blood lust.

Looking at them, the only thing to come to Derrrick's mind was the term…DEMONS.