Epica!

He had his pistol against his temple. His eyes were shut and his finger was on the trigger. He didn't notice it but a strange fog was gathering in the area. It gathered until the ground below had been shrouded by a silvery mist. Very faintly the mist resonated with a sound, it was only then that Ariel finally opened his eyes and bore witness to the occurrence.

Suddenly as he sat there in the snow examining the strange mist, the abnormal sound within it exploded like a million church bells in unison. Ariel flinched at sharp noise in the otherwise silent forest and dropped the pistol he held in his hand. His beloved pistol disappeared into the mist below.

The mist then began to gather forming a vertical mass. In a brief moment of insanity, Ariel frantically searched for his pistol to end his life before this strange mist took it for him. He only imagined the worst possible death in this mysterious fog. So frenzied was his search he didn't notice the mist begin to rise before him until it had materialized into what seemed like small hurricane and bolts of lightning resonated within.

No hesitation lay in his mind as Ariel aimed his pistol at the heart of the swirling mass. He wondered, no hoped, that the very same bullet that he had meant for himself was now directed at this new and foreign threat. A strange glowing light began to glow brightly in the core of the mass. Just as Ariel found the strength to squeeze the trigger this bright light in the core exploded temporarily blinding Ariel and propelling him backwards a few yards.

His first thought was that he had gone blind. The whole world was encased in darkness but he was well aware of the bitter cold of the punishing snow. It was only after the initial shock had worn off that he realized that he could in fact simply open his eyes and he could see again. What he saw before him left him immobilized in awe.

In a perfect circle around where the swirling mist had been all the snow had been blown away. The ground in this circle there were flowers of all kinds and colors as if they had been there all along beneath the snow. But these things where nothing in comparison to folded set of wings that so gracefully floated to the ground in the very center exactly where the mist had been.

They were so white and pure those wings. A purer white that the surrounding snow around. In a single swift movement the great white wings unfurled - stray feathers floating gently - revealing a man with a brightly glowing halo hovering above his head like a golden bangle.

Ariel couldn't speak. What stood before him could not exist. Surely there had to be some form of explanation for this thing standing before him. A chimera perhaps formed somewhere in one of the Ark labs. They had been made before, but never something so human. No. It couldn't be a chimera for the very sight of this man had caused Ariel's eyes to water.

The winged man looked directly at Ariel but it was looking at him. More like looking at something deep within that at his sight quivered with a strange fear that told him to flee. Ariel couldn't run. This man's very presence kept him there. Then he spoke.

"Speak my friend you look surprised." He said like all the voices in the world had come into him and this voice was the single universal voice for all. "I thought you knew I'd come disguised on angel wings...in white." As he finished those grand wings stretched to their maximum length. A stunning spectacle.

"What are you?" Ariel had suddenly found his voice again. The winged man could speak so clearly and beautifully. No machine could replicate that sound.

"You know what I am, Ariel but have denied." He replied. The edge of his lips twitched upwards in a sly smile. Ariel racked his mind trying desperately to find any other explanation as to what stood before him. A single answer came to mind but he refused to believe himself. If this was what he thought it was why had it come to him. He wasn't exactly a righteous man.

"You couldn't possibly be an angel." Ariel reaffirmed himself in disbelief. He denied it's existence for if it was an angel it had no right to come to him. To Ariel angels and demons, even god himself were nothing but a myth. A story to tell children and frighten them.

Ariel hadn't noticed his eyes were on his feet as he pondered. When caught himself and looked up again the angel was gone. It was only when he felt an arm slump over his shoulders that he realized the angel had suddenly reappeared beside him.

"I've come to serve dear friend." The angel promised. Suddenly Ariel couldn't feel the nipping sting of the cold wind or the permanent dull headache that came attached with somma addiction. Deep inside Ariel knew that he would never feel the need for somma again. He was seemingly cured of his addiction and this being beside him was responsible.

"I can make your dreams come true." The angel spoke as he lead Ariel to the very center of the flower field. A strange thing flushed through Ariel's body. Suspicion. A very angel brought down from the heavens to simply serve him seemed too far fetched, too ridiculous. The angel sensed Ariel's hesitation and continued. "Imagine it. What a couple me and you on a journey through the night.."

If God was real, it seemed so far fetched that God suddenly cared about him. That he would send one of his messengers to help him. If there was, why hadn't he come before? Where was he all those years of suffering meant nothing?

"Now dear friend." The angel tried again sensing the hesitation and conflict muddled deep within the human's mind. "Don't assume I am with Him who has so cruelly abandoned you. Left so alone and vulnerable to vice."

"Then who are you with?" Ariel asked pushing his arm away. His defiant streak suddenly faded and he felt cold again. His head throbbed with a lost longing for somma. Only because his questions were so fresh in his mind that he was able to utter the next. "More importantly. What do you want with me?"

"Not what I want for you but what you want for yourself. What I want form you I will not get until you are gone from this world; your ever desire fulfilled. What I want from you is your soul." It was a tense moment, but it only lingered for a few milliseconds as he continued. "Why the frown?" The angel shrugged. "In exchange for that one single thing - which you won't need after you're long gone - I swear I will make every single moment of your life as delightful as can be."

"If you are an angel and you want my soul, then surely there must be an afterlife. Why should I give you my soul then?" Ariel asked defiantly. A soul. At the moment his seemed so precious. This angel's appearance had confirmed that nothingness didn't wait upon his death. That his soul would live on.

The winged man's lips twitched into that same smile as before. He brought his hand up, his palm facing upwards, and from thin air he pulled out a pistol. The very same that Ariel had lost within the mist. Very coolly he tossed it at Ariel's feet. "Carry on as you were then. Your life would be nothing without pleasure I can provide. Then you'll die of some substance related incident then what? Do you really believe your soul will continue on to paradise?"

Ariel stiffened as if the snow that surrounded them had seemingly encased and frozen him solid. His soul which he seconds ago clung to so adamantly seemed to slip from his fingers. What could he expect now? Return to where? Surely this angel wouldn't show him the way back to Salvo, or anywhere for that matter, if his offer was denied. He would be once again alone and lost.

"Purgatory at best; fourth terrace. Where you will have to scale to the top of the mount - which takes half a dozen centuries by the way - so that you can be judged again. To see if you've truly repented. If you haven't you could be sent all the way to the ante-purgatory and you will have start from the bottom. Is this how you plan on spending your afterlife?"

Purgatory at best. He could possibly even have condemned himself to hell after he chose to reject God so long ago. Purgatory didn't sound so pleasant. Hell hardly seemed any better. Even if he did manage to somehow return Home and to Ark V, he would be shamed if had nothing to show for his absence.

The angel's words, though harsh, resonated soundly. Ariel had no future anymore. Not in Salvo and not anywhere.

"So why not live now as much as you can with me at your side. Feed your very desire. I will happily give you anything you ask for because your soul will be mine the day you die."

"What awaits for me then?" Ariel asked before the angel could continue. Though his head rocked he took a rebellious step forward as if the angel before him was all the misery he had caused for himself. Ariel seemed determined to fight his own misery. "How do I know what you have planned for me isn't much worse than purgatory? Or hell?"

The angel grew agitated. Ariel would not agree so easily and he had other matters to attend to. "Call my name or carry on." The angel gestured to the forgotten pistol at Ariel's feet. "Till that last resistance's gone. I'm sure we'll meet again."

There was a boom as if someone had clapped their hands over Ariel's ears with sickening force. So loud and sudden was the sound that Ariel flinched and quickly shut his eyes. When he opened them again Ariel was no longer lost in the forest but in his small room back in Salvo.

Ariel wondered if the angel had been a dream. If he had simply been in a prolonged somma trip. Only when felt his damp clothing that he knew that it hadn't. He still had snow flakes in his hair. He lay on the hard floor of his apartment wondering if the angel had somehow transported him there.

Standing up his head rocked and he staggered. Though less prominent than before his encounter, he still showed signs of somma withdrawal. He would need more rations in a few days.

He stumbled to his bathroom. After ridding himself of the damp and dirt covered clothing he helped himself to a steaming shower. Alone he couldn't help but think of the deal the angel had offered. He hadn't given him a definitive 'yes' or 'no'. What choice would be the most logical to do? Leave and start a new life somewhere else? That would be nearly impossible without a steady supply and acceptance of somma like there was in Salvo.

Ariel exited the bathroom but stopped mid-step. There laying on the nightstand right under the lamp was his pistol. He remembered what the angel had said. "Call my name or carry on." Would that pistol someday end his life like it had been so close to earlier? It more than likely would. The angel appearing in that snow covered forest had only prolonged the inevitable. Ariel was Man therefore condemned to eventually die then face judgment before those who were eternal.

Or he could be more than just Man. With the help with his angel he could be anything. Do as he pleased. With an angel at his side - one who dared to defy even Him - who could stop him?

"Call my name or carry on." His invitation was clear. Without ever being told what it was and with no possible way of knowing, Ariel whispered the angel's name.

"Mephisto."