Page 1 of An Unexpected Ascension
Chapter 1
The Angel
It’s quiet. Not a sound reaches me in this place where I stand, and the air around me is so dense I feel like I could grab it. Like I could tear a chunk right out from in front of me, and when I open my palm, a piece of it would lie there.
I stare at two vastly different paths in front of me leading in opposite directions.
Squeezing my eyes shut for a moment, I try to wrack my memory for any clue as to how I came to be here. Anything to explain this phantom ache in my chest. It twinges and pierces deep, spreading out like shockwaves after a bomb.
I rub at it to lessen the menacing pain, and when I take another breath, flooding my lungs with this thick air, red flashes behind my eyes.
I can hear myself screaming, feel the terror grip me from the inside out. First my bones, then my blood, and finally my heart. It beats, beats, beats, until suddenly it stops all together.
My eyes flit open as if the choppy pieces of memory were nothing but a bad dream, then study the scene before me.
To the right lies a path surrounded by loose trees where the sunfilters through the gaps. Flowers bloom brilliantly and I can even smell their sweet scent. The trail is covered in a thin patch of grass blanketing any dirt or mud. Delicate whites and luscious pinks burst in patches against the vibrant green hues of the leaves.
On my left lies a darker path. Branches entwine together creating a canopy overhead like an arched tunnel. There are no leaves or flowers, no greens or pinks or whites. Even the tree trunks are grey rather than a rich brown. There’s such a void of light, it’s hard to see past a few feet ahead. Roots, rotten and decayed, jut from the ground like the dead digging their way out from their graves. A waft of algae, fungus, and perhaps death itself hangs heavily near the opening of the path, a very clear and distinct warning.
There is no turning back. Behind me is a void of nothingness. Just a vast empty space to lose yourself in and it’s even more unappealing than the dark, foreboding forest. So, it seems I have two choices – right or left, light or dark, perhaps good or evil.
Hesitantly, I choose the most obvious path. As I move forward, the soft, lush ground sinks beneath my feet. In any other circumstance, I would yearn to press my toes into the earth, letting the blades of grass brush gently against them.
Despite the ethereal landscape that surrounds me, a dark thought niggles in the back of my mind, stealing my attention from the lush, leafy bushes I walk between. The word death lingers there somewhere, weighing me down with a hefty nervousness. While my thoughts reel, I subconsciously stretch an arm out and run my hand along their leaves, letting them tickle my palm.
The harder I try to focus on my last memories, the farther they seem to escape me. As if the deeper I travel down this path, the less I seem to recall… or feel for that matter. What was initially a sense of terror has slowly turned into a burning curiosity.
Where the hell am I?
I continue to walk for what seems like forever, yet my feet never ache, and I don’t grow tired of the journey. The leaves become greener and brighter than before while the flowers change colorsevery few steps. It’s like strolling through the inside of a kaleidoscope with an ever-present mesmerizing view.
The farther I get from where I started, I begin to notice a change in the air. Here it’s crisp, so fresh that I find myself taking full, greedy breaths. I fill my lungs until they expand so painfully, only I don’t feel the pain.
How odd.
To not feel pain where pain is expected. No, my lungs just merely refuse to hold any more air.
At some point, the path widens and the grass fades into a fine, white sand. The trees around me lessen becoming few and far between and shortly ahead, I can see a sleek, metal gate that marks the end of this road.
My gaze travels up the black, iron bars towering tall above me and topped with sharp spikes flaunting all the warning of a spear in battle.
With a strong grip, I wrap my fist around one of the posts and yank, causing the gate to rattle. It barely even moves.
“Come on!” I groan, blowing a tuft of my dark hair away from my eyes.
I look to the right and left of me, but the fence goes on for miles in either direction. Suddenly, I grow weary at the dead end I’ve reached, knowing there’s nowhere else to go.
With my fingers still curled around the metal, I rest my forehead in the space between the bars, pondering my options.
“Just press the call button.” A deep, patronizing voice pierces the silence.
Startled, I jump and spin in place to face a stranger. The first person I’ve seen all day.
Deep blue eyes set beneath thick lashes and trimmed dark brows glare down at me. With a lack of self-control, I find myself studying his impeccable features: the straight and slender nose, the amused smirk gracing his full lips, and a jaw – sharp enough to cut, shadowed by dark stubble.
Unashamed, he studies me back. His penetrating stare and cocked eyebrow seem to remind me that I’ve yet to say anything to him. I snap my eyes shut, wishing I can erase the embarrassingly long time I took admiring his face.
“You just press it,” he explains teasingly.
