The Curators

It takes place in 762 AD. Seven men summon an angel to help them fight a tyrannical king. The seven men become what is known as the Curators of Humanity, tasked with protecting humanity.

The muffled screams of the dying filled the ears of William. The knights of King Chamberlyn were burning his village to the ground. He could see the fires from the church on top of the hill overlooking his village. The small church had not been used in many years, pieces of the rotting roof had caved in, allowing small rays of sunlight into the building Scattered throughout the building lay remnants of a time when people believed in a higher power. This had been the base of operations for William for the past month as he and a small few gathered supplies to carry out the plot to murder the King.

“We must go help them!” a man yelled as he stood and drew his blade.

“We can’t, if we do all our plans will be for nothing.” William replied. He turned to see Gilbert Parker wrestling with Stephen who was pushing towards the door. Stephen was a man of great strength and height, he stood at just above six feet, making him tower over most men. Stephen, along with Gilbert, had served in the previous Kings army but left after Dietrach Chamberlyn took power.

“Those are our people William, and we are just watching them burn!” Stephen cried pushing Gilbert off him. “We are supposed to be protecting these people!” William could see the knights in black armor running from house to house murdering the occupants who had not already fled the village. It was only a matter of time before they turned their attention to the church.

“If we die now King Chamberlyn will have nothing stopping him from razing every village in this area, we must be patient. The ritual will be taking place in five days. These deaths will not go unpunished.” A man said stepping out of the shadows. The man was Nicolas Daye, the leader of the group, who had been one of the Kings advisers before he was cast out for defying the King. As punishment for his acts of treason he was to be executed, though secretly the guards led him to safety.

William’s eyes were drawn to the flames in the village, his wife and daughter had been killed during their attempt to flee. He saw the life drain out of his wife’s eyes as an arrow sank into her heart. There had been no time to say goodbye as he made his run for the church. Every fiber of his being wanted to go out there with Stephen and kill those that had murdered his family. Only the hope for the success of Nicolas’ plan had been able to stop him from doing so. The small group of men who had agreed to be a part of Nicolas’ plan were watching as their livelihood burned as the knights paraded in streets filled with the blood of the innocent.

“We must leave now, gather what is necessary. We have a day’s trek ahead of us to the ritual site.” Nicolas said as he gathered his things and made his way to the rear door of the church. The rest of the men hesitated, taking one final glance at their village before turning to follow. Stephen, with his sword drawn, was the last to leave. Before he stepped through the threshold of the door he stabbed his sword into the wood.

Without looking back the seven men walked into the forest behind the church, each of them carrying the weight of the deaths of so many on their shoulders. Simon, the youngest of the group, was in front with Nicolas discussing the ritual that they were to perform. Being only 17 and not having been with a woman, it was Simon’s blood they needed to perform the ritual. William had noticed that even though Simon had said numerous times he was not afraid his small frame shook each time the ritual was discussed. Simon stood out among the men being the only one with hair the color of copper and eyes like the ocean.

“I am sorry about your family brother,” a voice behind him said “I wish we could have done more.” William turned and saw Francis, the oldest of the group coming alongside him. Francis was nearing the age of 38, he had been the eldest at his village before it too was turned to ash by the King.

“It is alright, for they are safe now. I have faith that I will one day see them again.” He said. A chill went down his spine as he pictured his wife’s body crumbling to the dirt. He quickly pushed the memory back into the far recesses of his mind. “What about you brother, I know your son is having a difficult time with the loss.”

Both men looked back to see Peter with his head down walking behind Stephen who was trying to cheer him up. “I worry, but I know he is strong. Once we complete the ritual his faith will be renewed and he will become a great instrument to our plans.” Francis said putting his hand on Williams shoulder. Peter was the best fighter they had, his agility and speed were unmatched, though he had never served in the Kings army due to having an eye the color of grass and the other the color of wood. The King wanted only the perfect to serve in his armies, all those who did not meet the criteria were rated as second class citizens. In the past four months since King Chamberlyn took power some twenty villages have been burned to the ground. Other Lords have been killed as Chamberlyn’s power reached the edges of the island and onto the Frankish Empire. Every village on the English Isles were now under his control, and each day a new village was selected for his troops to raid. Some remained standing but the inhabitants’ were made into slaves for the knights and the armies.

“Do you really think the ritual will work? It has been so long since anyone tried to summon an angel successfully.” William said as he turned to continue down the trail.

“You must have faith brother. It is our collective faith that will allow us to summon an angel, our intentions are pure and our cause just. Heaven should look upon us favorably.” Francis began to walk ahead of him to meet up with the others who had gotten ahead of them.

William looked on ahead as Francis met up with the others at a fork in the road waving them on. He turned to Stephen and Peter and with a whistle they ran up to meet with the rest. When they caught up with the main group they were debating which way to go. Nicolas wasn’t in the debate just peering down each path with a questioning expression on his face. Suddenly he smiled and began walking down the left path.

“This way my brothers, hurry now we do not have much time. The hour of our redemption is upon us.” Nicolas said as he began a light run down the path. The others looked at each other, sighed, and took off after him.

****

William was the first to reach the lake and was in awe from its beauty. The lake was perfectly clear with a hint of blue just below the surface and the forest reflecting in the water. The sand surrounding the lake was a pure white that went around the full circumference of the lake. William started walking towards the beach and stopped just shy of where the trail turned to sand. He turned to look at the group taking in the beauty of the lake. Nicolas was in the middle taking it in with a smile, showing his almost perfect white teeth. There was a slight breeze coming from the lake that gave a small chill. William and the others brought their coats in closer. Nicolas was the first to step on the sand, the rest followed in step until they were a few feet from the edge of the water.

“Simon, are you ready?” Nicolas said turning to face the boy.

Simon swallowed hard. “Yes, I am ready.” He said holding out his hand towards Nicolas. “Just make it quick if you can.”

Nicolas smiled and gestured for the rest of the party to step back. William stood where he was holding the White Book ready for Nicolas. William stood motionless as Nicolas swiftly ran the blade, which had been blessed by a High Priest, along Simon’s palm. Blood immediately began dripping from the wound as Simon winced in pain. Nicolas brought the chalice up to his hand allowing it to fill with the crimson fluid. William could see the pain in Simon’s eyes as Nicolas squeezed his palm getting as much blood as he could. Finally with the chalice filled, Nicolas released Simon and without hesitation began to mix in the holy water while beginning the prayer. William stepped towards Nicolas as he cast the contents of the chalice into the lake and opened the book. As each of the men grasped a side of the book in hand they locked eyes and nodded then began reading from the pages of the Book of Angels.

The rest of the group stood at the edge where the forest met the sand and silently prayed for the success of the ritual holding various items that represented their faith. As William and Nicolas kept reading from the book the winds began swirling around them and the water started forming a whirlpool. Birds fled the area as the wind start blowing faster. They had to yell over the roar of the water and the howl of the wind in the trees. The water began to glow, growing in brightness, and filling the area with a pure white light blinding everyone.

As William and Nicolas finished the prayer they shut the book. Once it was shut the light collapsed into itself in the center of the lake revealing a figure in white robes with his face hidden behind a hood. This sight caused everyone to stand there, motionless and in complete disbelief about what they had just accomplished.

William could feel his heart about to burst from his chest at the sight of the angel. He was wearing flawless white robes with golden hems and sigils scattered across the material. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash and in the shadow of the figure they could see the wings of the angel expand. They stretched out, touching both sides of the lake then folded in on themselves as the angel began to walk on the water towards the two men standing on the beach. Nicolas, with his eyes wide dropped to his knees and bowed his head. The rest immediately followed his lead. The angel stopped where the water met the sand.

Why has thou summoned me? The angel’s voice boomed inside their heads.

“We seek assistance in defeating a tyrannical king who wishes to rule the area, he kills without mercy, and many innocent have fallen victim to his blade. We wish to save the people of this world from his reign, but we are not strong enough in strength or in numbers to rid this evil from the world.” Nicolas replied with his head still bowed.

Humanity is no longer heavens problem. Many of you have forsaken God and turned to idols of gold and man. Why should we intervene in this matter, it does not concern us in the slightest? The angel stood towering over William and Nicolas as they remained on their knees in the presence of the angel.

“We believe humanity to be good, we have seen great potential in others. We have lost much and we wi "   

Silence William Mason, I know the desires of your hearts. I have watched you and this group for many months. My appearance to you is forbidden, that is why I hide myself in these robes for if I were to show myself to you I would lose my grace. I cannot directly deliver to you King Dietrach Chamberlyn. But what I can do is give you the means to fight his armies. You must take an oath of vigilance, for once you take this oath heaven shall abandon this world as the mantle of protection will be placed upon you. The Curators of Humanity, the chosen protectors of this world. Once you take this oath all that you need know about the mantle will be made known unto you. Do you accept?

“We do.” All seven of them said in unison.

Then rise and take of this mantle.

The men rose and gathered around the angel standing only within a few feet of him. They could feel the fires of heaven on their skin as six other angels appeared one in front of each of the men. Each angel towering over the men, including Stephen. The angel standing in front of William drew a sword and stabbed it into the dirt in front of him.

We pass this sword to you, and give unto you the blood of our bodies so that you may have the strength and speed to fight off even the mightiest of earth’s armies. As you take this sword your lives will forever change for you will take upon you the name of the angel whose blood is gifted to you. The lives you once lived will be no more, for you shall be The Curators of Humanity, the protectors of this world for all the years of humanity. The seven angles voices bellowed in unison in the minds of the men. Each angel with blade in hand proceeded to slice their palms, allowing the blood to flow into the seven grails. The blood was the color of gold and glowed with the fire of Heaven. Then the angels handed the men the holy dish.

Drink, and take this mantle.

Each man took one of the grails and pressed it to their lips letting the golden liquid run down their throats. It filled them with a burning in their heart as their bodies were being transformed by the blood. The men dropped to their knees in agony as the blood burned through their veins. The angels stood in silence as the men began to glow. When the transformation finished each man stood up and faced the angels who now seemed to be the same height of the men.

The transformation has been completed. It was now only the one angel standing in front of who was once William Mason. The angel looked at each of the men and said their name:

Zadkiel.

Chamuel.

Jophiel.

Uriel.

Raphael.

Gabriel.

Finally resting on the man who stood in front of the angel.

Michael. Lead these men in righteousness. Take the sword and strike down those who threaten the sanctity of humanity and those who wish to take away what is human from them. The tools you require will be given to you. The archive of Heaven concerning the history of Humanity is given unto you. With that I leave you. And with that the angel blinked out of existence. The men could feel the connection with Heaven severed. Michael grabbed the sword and withdrew it from the sand.

“Come my brothers, we have a tyrant to kill.”

****

 

The rain was pouring down on the village as knights of the king began to tear it apart. Villagers were attempting to flee but were cut down by the steel of the knights’ blades. Pools of mud began mixing with the blood of the dead. The leader of the knights sat on his horses and relished every minute of the slaughter that was happening before him. The knights had been dispatched to this village after a bright flash came from this direction, and the king wanted every homestead in that direction burned to the ground and the inhabitants killed.

One of the lower level knights approached the leader with a woman with blonde hair who was bleeding from cuts on her extremities. “Sir, this one says she saw the witches that caused the light. She says they looked like normal men but had golden hair and eyes. They stopped by here not long ago. Do you want us to try and look for them?”

The knight eyed the woman with lust in his eyes and dismounted his horse. The woman began to scream but the lower knight punched her in the stomach knocking the air out of her. She fell to her knees gasping for air. The lead knight picked her up by her hair and brought her to eye level, her feet dangling off the ground. Tears were running down the woman’s face washing trails through the blood on her face.

“Which direction did these men travel and how many of them were there?” the lead knight asked his voice booming through his helmet.

The woman just shook her head and tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come out. The knight slammed her to the ground and repeated his question. When she didn’t answer the knight kicked her in the abdomen repeating his question. Her mouth was open screaming but no noise came from her throat. The knight took a knee by the woman lifting her head up by her hair while drawing a dagger and holding it to her throat.

“Answer me or I will slice out your throat.” The knight said his face plate now up revealing his black eyes.

The woman’s eyes opened slightly as more tears streamed down her face. Her hand pointed up towards the tops of some of the buildings surrounding them. The knight looked up at the building and saw seven figures surrounding him on the roofs.

“Let the woman go and we may let you die a quick death.” One of the figures on the roof yelled.

The knight just smiled and cut the woman’s throat slowly letting the blood spill over his blade. The knight stood and drew his sword, in that same instance the figures moved from the roofs to the road surrounding the knight as well as the lower knight. There was a snap as the lower knight crumbled to the ground with his neck broken. The lead knights eyes grew wide as he felt a blade go through his lower back severing his spinal cord. He looked down and saw the end of the blade protruding from his stomach as blood began pouring from his wound. The figure behind him withdrew the blade and let the knight collapse to the ground. Another of the figures bent over him staring into his eyes.

“We told you so. Now where can we find the king?” the figure said.

“I would "  the knight began as he coughed up blood. “I would rather die.” He finished spitting blood onto the face of the figure. He smiled up at the man standing over him as if he had been the one who won the fight. The figure placed his hand over the knights’ face and starting whispering something. The knights’ face began to burn and he let out a scream. The knight was silenced by a dagger through his throat.

“We have everything we need from your mind, we thank you for the assistance.” The figure said removing his hand.

The knight stared up in horror as his blood poured out of his throat, his vision going black. The figure stood as the knight died. The rest of the figures had already begun slaughtering the rest of the knights. The villagers were not sure whether to be frightened further or thankful for these men who saved them from the brutality of the knights.

Once the knights were dispatched Michael had the other Curators regrouped at the village center. Many of the villagers had already began gathering the dead and putting out the fires.

“Do we have the location of the king?” Raphael asked returning his sword to the scabbard.

“That we do brother.” Michael smiled. “He is on his way north returning to his castle, he will arrive there within the next week.”

“We must make hast then, if he gets behind the castle walls our job will become that much harder.” Gabriel interjected. With that they began walking north out of the village. Michael led the way.

The men walked in silence, they were no longer hindered by fatigue, hunger or thirst. The memories of their previous lives had stayed with them through the transformation. The also had the knowledge of many other lives that had been lived. For Michael it had been a little disorienting at first. It had taken him some time to sort through it all and get comfortable in his new body. He was stronger, faster and more agile than ever before. Michael could feel the fiery blood running through his veins. After he burned that knight’s face the blood had not cooled down. It felt amazing. His thoughts went back to the woman whose throat and been cut by the knight. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t tried harder to save her, a part of him wishes he could go back and save her.

****

“Uriel, Raphael and Jophiel, you will take the front of the procession. Gabriel, you and Chamuel will take the rear. I will go with Zadkiel and take out the king.” Michael said drawing the plan in the dirt. “I must kill the king with this sword,” Michael added drawing the blade from its sheath. The blade of the sword was a pure white a gold inscription reading et emundas, or the purifier. The cross guard was gold wings with a white grip capped by a blue diamond. The other men nodded in agreement with the plan.

They had been waiting on the path of the king for nearly two days before the first sign of him came. Each knew his part well, they had discussed this plan many times before. They were eager to finally put an end to the king. Once the king was dead they would restore power to those worthy to lead their lands and then recede to the shadows until they are needed again.

The first sounds of the kings’ procession came, with that the men ran to their positions. They had the ability to remain invisible to normal men until they decided to reveal themselves. From his position Michael could see the rest of his brothers getting ready as the first knights in the procession marched up the trail. He placed his hand on Zadkiel waiting to give him the signal to reveal himself and strike. Uriel had revealed himself on the road in order to halt the procession. Though he was nearly one hundred feet away from Michael’s position he could see him clearly as the knights approached him with weapons drawn. Michael could see Uriel smile as he reached behind his back and drew two short swords and froze in front of the knights. Raphael and Jophiel made themselves visible to the knights as well with swords already drawn. The knights took a step back in shock to the sudden appearance of two more figures. Michael could see about twenty knights surrounding them. The knights lunged at the three men, believing that their numbers and skill could easily dispatch three men who were not armored.

Michael looked towards the rear of the procession just in time to see Gabriel and Chamuel begin to fight a group of knights. Michael counted and there was about fifty knights in the procession along with ten high guards who were directly responsible for the safety of the king. With that he squeezed Zadkiel’s shoulder and charged towards the group of high guards. Michael could hear the screams of knights as they fell in battle. One of the high guards noticed him and Zadkiel charging their line and called to the others. Before he could finish his sentence Michael had decapitated the guard. Zadkiel took down the next closest one. Both men began cutting through the guards fighting their way towards the carriage that held the king.

Uriel was enjoying himself as he fought the knights, one by one they fell to his blades. He could see Raphael and Jophiel fighting with their back touching. Chaos engulfed the road as the knights began to realize that they had gravely underestimated their opponents. This did not stop them for they kept lunging at the three men hoping to strike at one of them. With each attempt the knights’ numbers began to dwindle. The ground around their feet was being soaked with the blood of the fallen knights.

Gabriel could feel the fire in his blood as he fought off a group of knights. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, looking down he saw a tip of a spear protruding from his shirt. No blood came from the wound. Turning around he saw the knight who had stabbed him with his eyes wide in disbelief. Gabriel removed the spear from his stomach and stabbed it up through the knights’ jaw into the man’s skull. Dropping the spear he turned to face two more knights who were charging him, he side stepped to the left driving his sword through the chest of one of the knights as he threw a dagger at the back of the others skull.

Within seconds the high guards were killed. Michael moved to the carriage and ripped the door off of its hinges. Inside he could see a figure backed against the far side of the carriage wielding a small dagger. The figures hand covered in gold and diamond rings was shaking violently as Michael entered the carriage.

“Get back! I am your king and I order you to get back!” the figure yelled out, his voice cracking.

As Michael stepped further into the carriage the king lunged at him. He grabbed the kings’ hand and twisted, feeling the bones in the kings arms snap as he threw the king from his carriage. The king let out a scream as he landed on the bodies of his high guards, their armor covered in blood. Stepping out of the carriage Michael saw the king trying to crawl towards a sword of a fall guard. Before the king could reach the sword Michael slammed his foot down on the kings’ broken arm, further destroying the bone. The king screamed as his other hand grabbed onto Michael's foot trying to push it off. Michael reached down and rolled the king onto his back. The kings’ eyes were filled with hatred as he gazed up at Michael who had drawn et emundas.

“King Chamberlyn, you are a tyrant and a murderer. What have you to say before I kill you?” Michael said placing the tip of the sword on the kings’ chest right above where the heart is.

“I can give you everything your heart desires if you let me live!” the king pleaded. “You can rule over my armies and I can give you a seat on my council when I take over Europe! We will be greater than Rome at her hi"

 Michael pushed the sword through the kings’ chest, he felt as the blade broke through the sternum piercing the heart and continuing through severing the kings’ spine.

“You can’t give me what was already taken from me.” He said withdrawing the blade from the kings’ chest.

He looked up to see the rest of the men standing around him. They were covered in blood, each of them smiling at the dead body of the king. 

Author's Note

Just be honest in what you think.

Reviews

[Mikael Malmberg]

I like this text, but as you say in your profile, there are some things that could be improved in the delivery. I don't pretend to be an expert on the english language, so take what I say with a grain of salt: this is simply my personal opinion on how to improve this text. Warning: I tend to be very detailed.

The story starts right in the middle of the action. It's not a bad way to start a text, especially if the action is interesting, and this does the job quite well. This being the case, I'll content myself to pointing out how I would improve the language found in your text.

The text often suffers from the word salad syndrome. That is, there isn't enough punctuation between different parts of the sentence. "The small church had not been used in many years so most of the wood that made up its structure was rotting away. Pieces of the roof had collapsed letting in the sunlight that had managed to pierce the smoke coming from the fire of the village." There needs to be commas after "many years" and "collapsed". They add a rhythm to the text, a pacing which helps the reader follow your train of thought. "The small church had not been used in many years, so most of the wood that made up its structure was rotting away." Of course, the wording could use some improvements to. "pieces of the roof had collapsed" could be "a part of the ceiling had caved in", etc etc. but these are minor details that are ultimately up to your own judgement.

Since I don't want to write too much here, I'll just conclude by saying that I enjoyed reading this story. The story is somewhat par for the course (being centered on angels), but intriguing enough for me to read it right to the finish line. Given enough time and care, this has potential to grow into an intriguing novel. I think that you should definitely go for it.

[Kyle Wynn]

Thank you for the comments! And thanks for pointing out the issue with the punctuation, it was a good point! I'm actually working on making it into a novel right now! I hope to have a draft of the first chapter done by mid December!

[Tomoe Tellez]

I'm not one to judge grammar and spelling mistakes, because english is my second language, but I can tell you that this is one of my favorite stories on this website, like another writer said, this could be a novel, a great one. When I first read your story I did because I saw it in the advertise, so I put it in my library to read again later, and I'll probably read it again many times because I loved the story a lot and theme is just so amazing. Sorry, it took some time to do the review. I could only recommend you to make the font of the letter bigger so it will be more appealing to read. Great job my friend!

[Kyle Wynn]

Thank you so much!

[McBear]

I really liked it but I feel like the first few lines (before the dialogue) are kinda choppy. What I mean by that is like this, take for an example: The dog jumped over the fence The fence was purple. He kept running after he jumped the fence. I dunno if its just me but it seems that way to me. No hard feelings or anything, sir, This was very good!

[Kyle Wynn]

No hard feelings! Thanks for the critique! I'm probably going to go in and switch up the beginning a little bit when I have more time.

[McBear]

That is no problem c: I am glad to help :D

[Briana Noël Manzan..]

One of the best works I've read on this site thus far. The theme of Angels is quite popular these days, but your story is utterly unique and I applaud that. Creative, vivid imagery, great dialogue- 100/100

[Kyle Wynn]

Thank you so much!

[Anna]

Very interesting! You write quite well, my friend. I can see a lot of potential. The only thing is, the font was very tiny and hard to read. But 100/100

[Kyle Wynn]

Thank you! And the font thing I don't know how that happened, I had just transfered it over from a word doc and before it uploaded it had a good sized font juse somewhere down the line it shrunk..

[Stars and Whales]

Is it worth it to advertise? I found this through an ad but I am the only review. And I'm not really reviewing. I mean, my work has much more reviews and I don't advertise. In fact, one of my works has like 60 reviews. Please let me know.

[𝐋.𝐂.]

I agree... I don't think this is worth to advertise...

[Stars and Whales]

Ok I was considering paying for it. I won't. And...I'll leave you a real review tonight. :)

[Kyle Wynn]

to be quite honest a friend of mine suggested I do it being new to this website.

[Stars and Whales]

really? It doesn't seem that helpful to me. its easy to manage without definitely. not worth it in my opinion

[Kyle Wynn]

its only been about a day so I don't know how helpful it has been so far. But in either case it's done so can't really go back and do it over.

[Briana Noël Manzano]

I think that reviewing other people's work and making "friends" and sending read requests is the most effective. Like, the reason I came to read this was because you reviewed one of my pieces, and I am generally one to return the favor. Also if I don't know what to read, but I want to read something, I usually just pick something from my read requests or something from the "news feed" of what people on my friends list are writing and reviewing. Advertising isn't nearly as beneficial, and it costs money!