Wretched and Divine

After a good hour of walking, we reached a village, one similar to the two we’d been to already. We’d been talking a little between us, but silence wasn’t as uncomfortable as it may have been in any other situation.
It was the same. Dusty tracks for roads, mud huts with battered straw roofs and plenty of undernourished people who wore rags for clothes. It dawned on me that Bellamy and Inigo were better dressed than any of the other people who inhabited the village and it made me wonder how much they had stolen from over time. I personally wondered why a young female mortal stole, I thought they were precious and fragile, something not to be tampered with and to treat with up most respect. But Bellamy was different, she was the real deal. She was someone who’d been tampered with, F.E.A.R had done it themselves. Having to fend for herself and her little brother, she couldn’t be naïve of what happened to the simplest of humans in that day and age.
I knew that hell was filled; F.E.A.R had nowhere else to put the mortals. But I looked at it inversely; I could see that Earth was the living hell. I may have been a sinner, but no one deserved to be in such a place. It’s like us Immortals were fish out of water, and with the confusion of trying to adapt to the new world, our powers were stronger since they were concentrated. No one else of Earth could think as fast as the Mourner, or conjure so perfectly like the Mystic. No one could decimate as violently as the Destroyer, or have had so much determination like the Deviant. However I hadn’t figured out what I could do yet. I felt embarrassed since I was the Prophet, the one who would lead the mortals to freedom.
Upon entering the village, we were stared at. A few times Bellamy looked back at us in confusion and slight fright, she didn’t know we had such an effect on mortals and was obviously scared that something bad might happen. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her grip Inigo tighter, out of protection. In a weird way it made me slightly proud of her, since she was the only one looking out for Inigo she was doing a fine job of it. She led us to a small mud hut, one that looked empty. She swung open the door and beckoned us to come in. It was her home.
It was very cramped, there wasn’t a piece of furniture, the only exception being a wooden crate turned upside down but I certainly didn’t class that as furniture. There were dirty blankets strewn across the floor, so murky that you couldn’t tell what colour it was. She sat down at the side next to her brother who had grabbed the crate before any of us could get hold of it. He was sat on it, tapping the sides rhythmically as we all sat ourselves down on the floor; our backs were against the bumpy wall.
“It isn’t much, but its home” she spoke solemnly, like she wasn’t proud of what she owned.
Home. Something I hadn’t visited in a while. But home wasn’t a crate and a few blankets. Home was an illustrious palace, with a thousand rooms, each coated in the finest of gold carvings. My bed wasn’t dirty like theirs; my bed was lavish, and silky to the touch. The richest of reds and the royalist of violets patterned my bed like a painting, each stroke bringing much comfort to my skin. They had nothing, we had everything, and it made me wonder what life was like before F.E.A.R was powerful, if they ever had a chance at survival, and if they didn’t live in such severe conditions.
“Is this everything?” the Deviant asked. I thought it was harsh of him, they couldn’t help that they had nothing. He was still angry, so clipped comments on anything he could find felt normal with him.
“Yes, my parents were farmers before this, but we had to sell everything to get water and food since it became hard to get hold of.” Bellamy explained quietly. Despite my resentment for the feelings, I was happy that she could talk about a sensitive subject so openly. She wasn’t adolescent as I would’ve expected from a young mortal female, she excepted things as they came and learned to stand up for herself, even if it was hard.
My thoughts were shaken as we heard a crash. A deafening boom came from outside and we all rushed outside.
Three forthcoming nefarious, dark figures approached the settlement, each armed with violent spears, at the end of each stick at least ten deathly spikes stuck out of it. F.E.A.R had arrived.
“You need to leave” I stressed to Bellamy who was trying to hide Inigo behind her.
“Where should I go? There’s nowhere else” she quivered, and worry filled her face. I looked at the others and they looked at me. I nodded at them and the Mystic and Destroyer walked towards the three figures. The other two tried to get everyone to safety, and Bellamy’s safety was left in my hands.
It was a sudden instinct. Whether it was because I was one of the saviour’s or because I was male and feeling more than acquaintanceship towards her I grabbed her hand out of impulse and kept her close whilst I looked for a safe hiding space for them. I had to make sure she was okay; she didn’t have the right to die from F.E.A.R. She held onto her brother as we weaved in and out of the crowd.
I looked behind me and saw the Mystic using his trickery to an extreme advantage, whereas the Destroyer was utilizing his skills well against the evil. It looked easy, but they were the known strongest out of all of us. I was impressed at the agile skill the Mystic was showing, making the figures putty in his hands and the Destroyer was tough, there was no doubt about that.
Instead of running to safety like they had been advised to do by the others, most villagers stood and watched the fight in awe. Even Bellamy had stopped running with me and was watching with Inigo tightly clung to her.
Before, with all of the screaming of the people, it sounded normal, like their anthem for when F.E.A.R where around. We didn’t belong in a place where people fall so easily, we got back up when we were put down. They were so shocked at the chance of survival, it rendered them speechless.
I couldn’t help but look on in sorrow. I was sad since no mortal since the beginning of F.E.A.R felt safe, they were always in an extreme danger, none of them had any hope. I turned my head to Bellamy, who was watching on in wonderment and thought about her family. She would’ve had a mother and a father, both who would look out for their two children, they wouldn’t let anything harm them. Yet she had been left with the parental responsibility of a parent and could never let anything happen to him or she’d be alone and more vulnerable than ever before.
I kept telling myself that she was a mortal, one who could be easily killed under any bit of strength from F.E.A.R. She was the closest thing so far that made me feel comfortable on Earth. I couldn’t think of something that would harm someone like Bellamy. Her unquestioning attitude made her human enough to be granted safety. F.E.A.R wouldn’t touch her, I wouldn’t allow it. I didn’t care that I made the rule to have no relationships with mortals; she was from then on under my strict protection.
The three followers succumbed to the strength of two Immortals, and their ashes floated away in the wind. Once up high, they looked like a swarm of black birds, floating with the current.
The simplest of fights was over and everyone in the village was astounded by their courage and will to fight F.E.A.R.
I joined where Bellamy and Inigo was and placed my hand on her shoulder. She looked up and I looked into her eyes.
“Thank you for doing that, you don’t understand what this means to other people” she smiled. It was a rare sight, one of a beautiful radiance so I mirrored her smile out of comfort. “You don’t know what it means to us. To me”
I revelled in her appreciation, even though I didn’t even fight of one of the evil three. All that mattered was that she was safe in this doomed world.