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It wanted to keep me down here, it didn’t want me to leave, and it was going to do everything it could to ensure I didn’t get where I wanted to go.
But there was Light up there.
There was hope.
Down in the Pit was only death, despair, and the corpse of the angel who had once tried to break me. I couldn’t stay. I had to get back up into Heaven, and the only way to do that was through sheer force of will.
It felt like I was flying with leaden boots strapped to my ankles and an anvil on my shoulders. I had never fought against resistance like this before, and even though I didn’t want to admit it, I was already getting tired. I couldn’t see the bottom anymore; there was only a swirling cloud of ash and an infinite void.
Above me, though… up there was—no.
The light above me winked out, my distant star suddenly gone; vanished. I called for Abaddon again, screaming until my throat was raw, but the effort of yelling exhausted me, and the Pit’s gravity seemed to increase.
I tried to grab hold of the walls around me, clawing at them with my fingers to try to keep myself from plummeting. I managed only to bloody my hands and scrape my fingernails before inevitably losing my grip and sinking back into the bottom of the Pit, slamming once more into the pile of bones.
Hacking, coughing, pain shooting through my shoulders, back, and wings, I tried to pick myself up. There was nothing to hold on to, and as I dug at the angel remains around me, looking for something solid to anchor myself with, it felt like the skeletons were trying to grab me back and pull me under and into their bony embrace.
I kicked and struggled with every fiber of my being, and out of desperation came a sudden flash of Light.
My Light.
It was warm and bright. The Light fought some of the gloom away, fought the swirling ash away, fought even the bones away. I found myself on my hands and knees, but with sure ground underneath me.
And I could breathe.
My breaths came quick and short to begin with, but I managed to steady myself after a moment or so. I didn’t know how much Light I had left in me, or if I would get it back after I used it, so I tried to relax and dim it down to a softly glowing ball that could fit in the palm of my hand.
I sat down, taking a moment to rest. I had to think. I had to figure out a way to get back up. The Light above was gone. Did that mean Lucifer was gone? Had Abaddon gone with him… or? I didn’t want to think about the ‘or’, so I busied myself looking up the walls of the Pit, shining my Light on them and inspecting every detail. I could see they weren’t smooth but rocky, with jagged edges and outcroppings I thought I could grab hold of and climb.
But my fingers were already sore and scratched from earlier.
“There has to be a way up,” I said to myself, the dank air around me swallowing my words.
There came, however, a reply—and hearing it rooted me to the spot.
“There is no way out,” said Medrion. “If you think there is, you are a greater fool than I thought.”
Panic swelled inside of me. I shone my Light in his direction, but I couldn’t see him properly. I could only see the glint of his golden armor, and some of his wing. He was turned away from me, his body entirely still and unmoving.
And yet, there was his voice.
“You’re dead,” I dared venture, trying to sound resolute though my composure had cracked.
“Am I?” asked Medrion. “Who are you talking to, then?”
“No one. Myself. This place is playing tricks on me.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, you cannot deny the truth of my words. You are trapped here, Sarakiel. Trapped here with me for all eternity, just as I promised.”
“No,” I shook my head. “You aren’t real, and I’m getting out of here. I’m not broken—I still have my Light.”
“For how long? Surely you have felt it drain. What little reserves you had are dwindling by the second, every moment you keep that little ball glowing in your hand allows the crushing darkness around you to close in. Tell me. Tell me you can feel it.”
The truth was, I could.
He was right.
I didn’t have much Light left in me, and what little I did have wasn’t coming back. On Earth, I was cut off from Heaven, but I could still regenerate my Light—as was my right as a Lightbringer. Down here, though… down here, where there is no Light… the story was different.
