The Birth of an Angel

Soul Gatherer
Kingdom of the Dead

No matter the situation.
No matter the reason.
Did you for one moment pause or hesitate,
Turn your head back to think,
Or shed a tear in knowing?
Did it make you stop short in your tracks?
To wait for the next moment?
Unable to take your next breath?

Then I have done my job.

I see within, these words I write, rather than feel. They float before my eyes as pages to be copied, as if from thin air. Wouldst be I am compelled to write and so it shall be from this day forward.

Words from the teller

I cannot say to you this thing, nor why it is, but as once had many a great author this world survived, I can only surmise a one of these has my soul possessed and now dwells within.

Where whence else would these words I type today come from?

Tis not my style to write as such and I ponder the query whilst I stare off into pitted darkness. Perhaps, tis but a shadow of my once lost soul, left lonely to float amidst the dead, and rotting corpses of the forgotten twilights long past.

All is not well, as I take hark, and open my heart to the surroundings I stand within. I can hear the Raven call to me as Poe once wrote of this, and forevermore shall the memory float within my mind, reminding me all is not light where once we would expect it to be. Heaviness is cast upon my soul as I look around, and I see not one, but many wounded today who walk within these shadows, sorrow struck and filled with despair.

And I say to them, Look Up, Take heed lest you fall victim to the expanse of nothingness, and I cried unto them this vision of forlorn victory;

There is none mightier,
Than the hand that draws its own sword against itself.
Death be to these who would sacrifice.
All they know in the name of doom and disparity.
Slain to thee and let your soul drift to the pits of hell.
That thou mayst dwell there one thousand years alone.
And with nothing but blackness and void.
Perhaps yea, thou shalt learn.
The gifts I gave to you where to be used accordingly.
And so lightly where they taken for granted.
Learn ye, these next thousand years.
So that the next time thou mayst fall upon thyself.
Thou canst find a way to pick your soul up out of these pits.
And walk into the light to see the next gift I have to offer thee

Prologue – First Dream:• • •

It was a war-torn battlefield, laid waste from skirmish recently waged. Blood soaked ground dominated this small area and one could feel the wounded souls of lost soldiers in its wake. Those still in the midst of this newest excursion could hear the cries of their fellow comrades as they lay fallen, waiting for the Angel of Death to guide them onward.


From the blackened skies roared a great sound and the clouds opened up, as if a doorway, to let through God’s servant to collect the souls of the fallen. The anguished cries of the damned crashed like thunder as the death angel ripped their souls in half with his mighty sword, forever casting them down to his pits of hell below.


Flame fell from the sky to scorch those not already taken by death’s hand, and the small piece of land exploded with cindery ash, consuming all within its grasp. Burning, scarecrow like figures ran from the edges, arms flailing about as if to think they would save themselves. The flames danced with cursed laughter while they clung to, and charred, what little remaining flesh remained from its burnt victims.


From far above, close enough to feel the heat from the flames, still within hearing range so as to feel the vibrations of the soldiers screams within his chest, he watched. He could see the souls of the fallen as they rose up out of their lifeless corpses to gather round the dark angel. Within these, the souls of men, he witnessed the faces of evil as it laughed greedily, almost tauntingly before falling out of sight to the hells below.


And the death angel lifted its arms and its wings of many spread out to fill the heavens with a fell swoop and the winds swirled with dust clouds blowing. Through the twisting vortex the angel did rise and he carried His saved souls away.


Sitting up in bed afterward, he realized it was just a dream. He did not understand the dream, but he was not scared, he’d thought he should be but somehow he felt comforted, as if being held. This was the first time he had witnessed such a horror in his dreams and he did not know what to think. He reached for his stuffed teddy bear that had fallen to the floor and curled up again to sleep. He did not know then, this was only the beginning.


He was three days past his third birthday.