Night's story

Chapter 4: Night’s Story

          The black bird looked down at the ground sadly, and then began. “It all started when the one you humans refer to as God, cast Satan into Hell. In God’s generosity he created us crows as winged messengers to travel though dimensions to Hell in hopes of turning Satan from his path. Instead the devil killed the messengers and ignored God’s pleas. I, Night, am one of the only messengers that remain. Soon after the unnecessary demise of so many of my order, Satan began to gather power again. At first we knew not how he was doing it, but once we did we wished we hadn’t. He had started taking the souls of beloved mothers of children, because off their bond with their young ones. Now his power is again great and soon he will have enough to take over everything, but he will wait, for he may be evil but he is still extremely intelligent. We remaining crows stayed on Earth to keep our keen eyes on certain families like yours, those involving only one parent and one child.” Night hopped next to me. “I hate to ask this but may I perch on your shoulder? This ground is very uncomfortable for me.”

            Now that I had heard some of this creature’s story, I was eager to have some questions answered, so I said: “Sure.” Night hopped again, flapping his wings to lift himself onto my shoulder, lightly digging his claws in for balance. “I have some questions for you, Night, if you will answer them.”

            The crow, balancing itself on my shoulder, cocked his head at me again. “Very well, what do you wish to know?”

            “Everything, but mainly, what do you want with me?”

            “As I stated when we met, I wish to help you save your mother.”

            Dumbfounded I asked “How?”

            “By training you in the ways of my Order in Heaven.” Night replied matter-of factly. “Only by learning the ways of the Crows can you safely enter Hell alive.”

            “I’m scared, Night.” I wasn’t lying to the bird but I didn’t tell him the fact that I was very close to wetting myself; this was just too much for anyone to take in at once.

            The crow’s expression was adamant. “You would be insane not to be, Ryan, its human nature to be scared of things out of your control and things you don’t understand.” The crow was trying to be sympathetic, but it still wasn’t helping me.

            “Why did this happen to me, Night? What did I do wrong?” I was on the verge of tears by this point.

            “I do not know why Ryan, but maybe its destiny. It has a strange way doing things.”

            Suddenly, we heard a rustle. I looked across the way at the thorn bushes and saw….something.

            On my shoulder, Night tensed. “Oh, not now, not now. Ryan, can you fight?”

            “Yeah, I can fight. But why?” I asked.

            Then I discovered the source of Night’s alarm. “Demons!” croaked the bird. Red as blood and six feet tall, with short arms and small black horns, the demons seemed imposing. Snarling, all five of them came at us in a run. Without knowing anything about my enemies and not really caring, I rushed the hideous monsters. I had gotten in a lot of fights over the past five years and I had taken karate in 6^th grade, which helped me. Shoving one aside, I slammed my elbow into the face of another, which uttered a low grunt and then fell. I balled up my fist and jammed it into the ribs of the one that I had shoved. The remaining three demons were more cautious after that. I ran to the street sign and jumped onto it, swinging fast, then I let go, flinging myself into another two demons. Once they fell the last one immediately rushed me, obviously hoping to catch me off guard, but then, at the last second I spun around and smashed my fist into the side of the monster’s head, which fell with the same low grunt as the others.

Night’s claws tightened. “I can’t believe they found us here.”

The fire in my belly had gone cold and I felt sick. “Who are they?” I asked shakily.

The black feathered messenger grimaced slightly. “They are demons, Ryan. Lesser demons, weak and easily defeated, but demons nonetheless. I did not think that they would dare to come here. This is very bad.”