See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(25)

“So, what is it, what demon are they summoning?” I was far too tired to get a history lesson in what heaven and hell really were. My only concern was what was coming and how to stop it. I could worry about everything else later. If there was a later.

“Sonneillon." Kennan voice was barely audible as he uttered the name.

I was ripped into a vision as soon as the name left Kennan’s lips. Sonneillon, the name, the promise. I looked down at the battle raging below me. The clouds split revealing the demon with a clarity I’d never been afforded until now. I moved down through the parting clouds towards the scene playing out before me.

The nearer I drew to the demon, the colder I grew. My soul writhed inside of my body, longing to escape the oppressive fear the demon’s presence conjured. With heavy feet I moved closer. I had to know. I had to see.

I came as close as I dare to the scene as the demon turned its charred face towards me. I was rooted in pain as the demons features came into full clarity. His skin was a crackling blackened charcoal, split like the ground with no water. A fire raged beneath his skin, turning the cracks into illuminated pools of lava. My eyes scanned up the body of the demon. Every instinct within me shouted for me to not look upon its face directly. I fought the urge to look away and continued to look up and up the giant creature before me.

Four arms chorded in dense muscle stretched out from its sides, culminating in razor sharpened claws. Fighting against every bit of self-preservation, I looked upon the demon’s face. His empty fathomless eyes locked with mine, causing me to cry out.

“NOOOOOOOOO!” I fell to my knees as the hate ripped through my soul. Visions flashed before my eyes. Chaos erupted around me, wars raged, and man fought against man. Every image that flipped through my mind brought forth more hate and pain. The emptiness of the eyes, the darkness that walked the earth. It was too much. It was unbearable. “Make it stop. Make it stop," I pleaded, barely above a whisper.

The sounds of deep sickening laughter ripped through me, forcing me into myself. The pain was unbearable.

“IZZY!” Aberto’s shout pulled me from the vision.

I found myself on the floor, curled into the fetal position. Tears trailing down my face as the memories of what the earth would become flashed through my mind.

“What does he want? What is it this demon is meant to do?” I choked out.

“Perhaps you should see this, Izzy.” Eleanor moved towards me with the giant tome, handing it to me opened to a picture of the horror I’d just seen.

On the page was a great behemoth of a monster. It stood on two massive clawed feet and rose broadly into the air on backwards hinged knees. Four thickly chorded arms jutted out of its muscular sides, ending in talons. Its head looked to be a combination of a lion and bird with two steer-like horns protruding backwards. The skin was the deepest black I’d ever seen, with a bright fire burning from the inside. The eyes were bottomless pools of fire.

On paper it was nothing more than an image, a snapshot of the horrors that the real thing contained. I quickly closed the book, unable to stomach the picture and the memories it brought forth any longer.

“What will happen if that thing makes it through to this plane?”

“Read this, it will explain everything.” Eleanor thrust another manuscript beneath my nose. The pages were yellowed and tearing from the years of use.

I looked down at the pages and held my breath, hoping for the best.

When the darkness falls it shall bring with it the scourge of hatred. It shall turn brother against brother by perverting ideas and conjuring transgressions. Hatred shall spread until the world runs red with the blood of the fallen. The darkness shall fall, and the darkness has a name. That name is Sonneillon, fourth in line for the throne of hell itself.

Weep not for the brothers lost, weep not for the sisters gone, weep for the souls that are left to suffer under the demon’s wrath, for none shall survive.

The visions began anew. Neighbor fought neighbor, lover against lover, peace was no more than a memory. Hate saturated the world as every fear was brought forth and manifested tenfold. In that fear there was anger and resentment that could not be pushed down. Emotions ran rampant and all good fled from the world.

I gazed out upon Chicago, a city I’d seen a million times. The roads were covered in bodies of those left for dead. Smoke rose from the skyscrapers that were set ablaze. The city I loved so much was nothing more than a raging war zone. Only, there was no invading country, no true enemy. The truth came rushing in. If I didn’t stop this darkness, the world would be no more. Everything I loved, everything I held dear, would be wiped away.

A man ran past me, pure terror etched upon his face. He screamed as a knife flew into his back from somewhere behind me. I turned to see another form moving forward. The man, or he’d once been a man, moved towards his injured prey. A look of delight filled his eyes as he walked more closely towards his prize. He turned his head towards me, sniffing the air as if he could tell I were there.

His eyes locked upon my position and I froze, unable to think. Where his eyes had once been there were now gaping chasms. Black veins moved outward from the sockets moving over his face to form a dark mask. His mouth dripped with black fluid and his words came out a hiss.

“Seer, you aren’t strong enough," He slurred before turning toward the man before him. He jumped upon the soon to be corpse and ripped into him over and over again with the knife, giggling maniacally as he worked. The laughter turned my stomach and I sought my way back to the present. This couldn’t happen. This had to end.