Storyteller's Universe // See Through
Want Not



“This the house?”

Asher holds several vials with various dusts and powders inside of them between his left hand’s fingers. He grabs one with his right hand and snaps it in half — the door I was standing by explodes inwards. That answers my question.

I head inside, the fox following closely behind me. I have to step over what remains of the door but also all different kinds of trash. It looks like several tornadoes went through all the rooms in here, but if not for the damage and destruction, this must’ve been a very neat and clean home.

Loud scrapes above us. Sounds like wooden furniture being dragged across a wooden floor. I tilt my head to signal Asher to follow me as I make my way up the stairs.

I scan the corridors and the rooms we pass by for any religious imagery but I cannot find any. I reach inside the pocket of my coat, none of the holy symbols in it feel particularly hot or cold. We’re doing this with no information then.

I reach for the handle of the door and the noises abruptly stop. I instinctively pause to listen in. Nothing. I grab the handle and push. The door isn’t locked, but it is blocked by something on the other side. I peek in, it’s barricaded?

The wall next to me bursts into rubble as a smokey creature bashes through it, into me and through another wall. We end up on the floor with it pinning me underneath itself.

“ONE MORE ANGEL TO THE TALLY.”

Through the smoke I can vaguely make out the shape of an open mouth with uncountable teeth and fangs. As it’s about to chomp down on my head, I hear glass breaking and the demon is flung into the ceiling and through the roof.

My wings manifest for a split moment, enough to get back on my feet with a single flap. My back feels numb. They manifest once more, enough to get me on top of the roof with another flap of my wings. My back hurts.

“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOUR WINGS, I WAS HOPING FOR A TROPHY.”

I grab the air and pull a bronze sword seemingly out of nowhere. It is wrapped in bronze barbed wire, everything’s covered in sickly green patina.

“I SEE, YOU ARE JUST A HALF-BREED. THAT’S A SHAME.”

I furrow my brows and grip the sword harder. The demonic smoke shifts and several sharpened bronze rebars fly my way. I let my wings assist my dodge sideways, forcing me to grit my teeth from the pain. Sparks fly as a couple smokey claws meet my blade, sending sparks everywhere.

I kick the demon, making it stumble backwards, it trips on a piece of a bronze I-beam I just manifested under its feet. In an attempt to end the fight early, I jump towards the demon and try to grab its head — well, the area where its head should be in all that smoke — with my left hand. Smoke grabs that left hand by the wrist. Fuck.

“ARIEL WORMWOOD. BARRED FROM HEAVEN, DESPISED BY HELL, BELONGS NOWHERE.”

It spins around and throws me off of the roof by the wrist. I use my wings once more to soften the landing, however the pain distracts me and I hit a tree. It feels as if my spine is being peeled out of my body.

“LIKE AN UNWANTED DOG, LEFT BY THE FOREST ROAD, CRYING FOR ITS OWNERS TO TAKE IT BACK HOME.”

Shit, I don’t feel my legs. I can’t get up. My wrist is broken too, I’m watching it mend itself together to distract myself.

“YOU SHOULD BE THANKFUL YOU HAVEN’T BEEN STRUCK DOWN BY AN ANGEL, YOUR MERE EXISTENCE IS HERESY. YOUR MOTHER HOWEVER—”

“Please… Shut the fuck up…”

“THERE ARE MANY DISGUSTING HALF-BREEDS JUST LIKE YOU SITTING ON THRONES IN HEAVEN, HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY YOU AREN’T AMONG THEM? WHY YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE TO WALK THE EARTH LIKE A MORTAL?”

Don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t tell me don’t te—

It’s not telling me.

I look back up at the roof and it’s still standing there, but poking out of the smoke’s center of mass is a bronze I-beam. It reaches for it ready to pull it out, that’s when I grip my mended hand and the metal beam twists itself around the smokey figure. In the corner of my vision I see Asher who’s breaking another vial and smashing the demon all the way down into the ground.

I weakly pull myself up from the ground. My back is still killing me, but it regenerated enough for me to manage through the slightly lessened pain. The demon cannot move even an inch, Asher’s spell is keeping it firmly on the floor. I limp towards it.

“YOUR MOTHER WAS A WHORE, ARIEL.”

I plant my hand on the demon’s head and as it glows silver, the demon shrieks in pain. I take my sweet fucking time killing it.