Life's Sacrifice

A man telling the story of his wives death.

One wonders what life is really about at times like these. I question why her, why was she taken from us? Life’s a funny little thing, so short and so fragile.

Whenever you lose someone important to you, all people ever tell you are that they’re watching over you and that they’re in a better place. Do we really know that they are? How do we know? How can we truly trust that?

The innocent are the one’s that get taken from us. The one’s who have never harmed a single person. They were just trying to help. I was there and was witness to it all. I froze, not sure how to stop the events that had happened right before my eyes.

I held onto her as she was dying, but yet I could not save her. She was so delicate and fragile, but yet so strong and powerful. She always said that we had to fight the evil in this world so that people could live happy lives. Was her life, the life of a wonderful woman, worth the life of pathetic humans who know not of her sacrifice?

Her sacrifice started a week ago. She had fought daemons in the past and won in those battles. I hated the fact that she thought she had to always fight, but I married her for better or for worse. Lately it had seemed like there existed more emphasis on the worse part.

I loved her with all of my heart and stood by her through each battle. There was always a sparkle in her eye when she knew she was doing something good. She knew the battle of her life was coming up and that this one, might actually take her life. But yet she still pursued it and still fought hard and strong.

The Oracle came to see us that week to tell us to get our affairs in order. She did not know exactly who would be killed, but someone would not survive this battle. In one of her visions she saw a coffin, but no body. Part of me knew it’d be her, my sweet Aislinn.

We then proceeded to do as the Oracle told us. We told the others to do the same, just in case something had happened. In our line of work, we tend to keep updated on our affairs anyways. The one thing her and I had yet to decide, was who would watch over Caelan if both of us were to go.

We had decided on her sister that was like her in so many ways, but yet so different. Deirdre did not follow the same path as her sister, which would make it safe for Caelan. That’s where we would always leave Caelan when we had to fight.

Aislinn always worried about the safety of our only daughter, Caelan. I knew she was a strong girl and would be alright, especially at Deirdre’s because she always had charms up that would block out any sort of evil from even entering the house.

As the week went by I started noticing little things changing. Things like lights flickering, dark shadows around the corner, stereo’s turning on and off, and even the cats were freaking out a little. It was all to lead up to what was to come, the battle of our lives with a daemon that would not want to leave.

We got the phone call Friday morning. I was not looking forward to this one. The group got together and we prayed to the Goddess and God asking for protection and strength. I could feel the presence of the Angel of Death hovering over us that day. I knew exactly what he was after, too. I had met him once before when he took my father away from me. Needless to say I was not a fan of him and still am not.

We headed to the house that was inhabited by the daemon and his minions. All seven of us headed into that house that night, but I was the only one to escape. I still wonder why I was the one to survive.

When we got to the house we could feel the presence of a strong daemon from outside. One of the guys proceeded to surround the house with salt in order to trap the daemon inside. Two of the other guys proceeded to do the same with the windows and doors.

While they did that, Aislinn and I chanted a spell in order to invoke the power of good into us and also a protection spell. The protection spell seemed to only work on me.

When all of that was done, we headed into the house. It was very quiet. All that could be heard was that of heavy breathing upstairs. We headed up the stairs to check out the breathing noise.

Once we got up there we saw the woman of the house on the ceiling, face to us. She was not possessed by the daemon at all. She just looked at us blankly. I remember thinking that maybe she was under the daemons control, but I did not say anything to the others.

The guys went and got her down. There was a high electronic frequency reading near the bed. I went and sat on the bed. In order to lighten the bed I said, “Hmmm it’s nice. Maybe we should stay here one night after this is over with.” Then I smiled at Aislinn and she smiled back.

Right after I said that, the woman went after me. Aislinn stood in the way and ended up being the one who got attacked. The guys pulled her off of Aislinn and tied her down. Luckily my wife was ok at that moment. It did, however, weaken her a bit.

That’s when I knew the daemon had some control over her. I could feel it’s presence in the air and all around me. That’s when I said, “It’s here, in the room right now.” Everyone stood quietly, looking around, waiting to see what its next move would be.

Out of nowhere one of the guys got thrown across the room. Aislinn then said, “I order you to show yourself.”

The daemon did not; instead it threw one of the other guys. I went up to Aislinn and grabbed her hand. We proceeded to chant a spell in order to expel the daemon from the house. This just enraged it and our poor guys suffered because of it.

They were lying on the ground, but they still managed to chant with us. The daemon still refused to show itself. That’s when I decided to use a potion that we had made before hand. I waited until one of the guys was thrown again. Once that happened I threw the potion in that direction.

The potion was harmless to humans, so I knew our guy would be fine. But that’s when we saw the daemon. It was a she and a he. No wonder it had been so powerful, I had thought to myself. I then said out loud, “There are two.”

My wife looked at me and shook her head. She said, “Look closer.” I did just that. When I looked closer I could see that there were more than two daemons there. She then said, “There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of daemons in them.”

Apparently these two daemons had been working hard collecting other daemons and their powers. I don’t know how we let this happen without knowing about it. We slipped up somewhere along the line.

We continuously battled for hours with the multi-daemons. Gradually one by one we started dying. It got to the point that Aislinn and I were the only two left. By this time I figured out that the daemons would not separate, so Aislinn went to one side of the room and I went to the other.

Both of us were trying to weaken them and force them to separate. If they would have separated the daemons within them would have been let loose and done our job for us. Daemons don’t like their souls to be taken in.

That’s when the end came. Our plan worked and the daemons did exactly as we predicted. The only surprise was that before the female daemon died she did some damage to Aislinn. I tried to save her. I used every spell I could think of at the time in order to heal her. Nothing was working.
All around me were the bodies of our friends. I was the only one still strong and healthy. I held Aislinn tightly as she faded away. Her last words were “I love you all.”

That was the last time I would see her alive. Since then the Angel of Death has had the guts to come and speak to me. He actually tried to comfort me. Saying that she did what she had to do to make sure there was a life for our daughter. I asked him, “Why couldn’t it have been me?”
He said, “Because you’re heart was not into it as much as hers was. You have to move on and be strong for your daughter.”

I then sent him away. Yes I sent away the Angel of Death. Shortly after that, the Oracle came to see me. She wanted to try to comfort me in anyway that she could. I asked her, “Why?”

Her reply was, “It is all part of the ‘grand design’ that Fate rules over.”

I sat there and thought about it and then asked, “When will I be able to see my wife again?”

She just looked at me and said, “You won’t get to see her for a very long time. Fate told me to tell you, that your wife is safe and happy. She can look down on you, but she cannot visit you. You have to be able to mourn first.”

I snapped, “Mourn??? Why do I always seem to have to be in constant mourning? I lost everyone I’ve ever loved, except for my daughter who I can’t even look at right now. Every time I look at Caelan I see her mother. I’d call that mourning.”

The Oracle then said, “I will leave you be now and I am deeply sorry for your lose.”

Everyone was sorry for me. I’ve lost so much in so little time. Why do all the good people get killed? Aislinn had one of the biggest hearts in the world, but yet I survived. She would be able to look at our daughter. She was the stronger one. I’m left here wondering why and questioning life.

People come in and out of our lives constantly, but they never leave for good. They leave a mark on us; that cannot be erased, nor can it be forgotten. Aislinn left that mark on everyone she ever met. She could put a smile on the face of the saddest person. Her legacy shall live on in the hearts of those she touched, forever.

Reviews

[Chaos X 3]

The emmotional aspect of this piece is fairly strong, as for the 'whens? wheres? and whos?' it was slightly lacking. I think that it was a good piece with good imagery and ideas, but I think that it kinda left alot of questions open... All in all good though....


Dawn Marie

[Montilee Stormer]

I'll echo what everyone else has said, the writing and imagery are beautiful, but it's a little inconsistent from beginning to end. Point of reference, be it a planet or an alternate universe, is helpful. Not everyone that reads you their first time will know about which you write, so you want to establish fairly early on that you're writing about things people may not be familiar with.

Since the setting really is more specific to the story, placing your characters in a particular place as well as time opens a few windows.

Still a very vivid piece with much emotion.

[V. Lucien Maier]

the emotion in the piece good. my be better told from a narrator perspective.
one thing, in the beginning you wrote.
, all people ever tell you are that they're watching over you and that they're in a better place. Do we really know that they are? How do we know? How can we truly trust that?
yet through the piece you refer to demons, and the angel of death. thus pretty much confriming hell, which would in turn confirm heaven. through the piece off for me a bit.
Good action scenes. but not as attached to the players in the story as I like to be.

[Jonathan Bryant Dean]

I think that the story could use a bit more of an explanation of time and place earlier on. I spent a good bit of the story trying to figure out if this was set in ancient times, or an alternate universe, maybe another planet. Then there were mentions of an apartment and a stereo, which seemed anachronistic when compared to the language with which the story is written.

The story that you have woven is a poignant one. This is a valid plot as well. With some more backstory and editing, this could be the basis for a book.

JBD