Battles and Dimensions

One thousand yards from a group of campers, a patrol of angels walked through the forest.

The Archangel Michael was in charge of the ten angels under his command. Demonic activity was reported to be a common occurrence in these woods, so he had direct orders from God Himself to protect the campers that would be spending their time there.

Michael looked around at his surroundings. He took note of every bird that sang, every branch that snapped, and every gust of wind. After a while of patrolling the area, he eventually heard the beginnings of human laughter and conversation. A smile made its way on his face.

Behind him, a young angel named Jackael discussed miscellaneous odds and ends with his friend Nathaniel, wondering where their next potential target could be. He paused his conversation with Nathaniel, approached his commander and asked, “Sir, what are we looking for again?”

The Archangel looked behind briefly, and responded in a hushed tone to muffled his voice. “Anything or anyone that’s not supposed to be here.”

The young angel looked down and scrunched his brow. “All of these surroundings look like the ones in Heaven. The trees, the birds and the rest of the area all looks very familiar to me." He looked back up to Michael. "I’m not sure I can tell the difference between what is supposed to be normal, and what is strange.”

Michael sighed, and put a fist up in the air. The patrol stopped in their tracks, and Michael walked over to look the eager angel in the eyes. “Jackael, leave the looking around up to me. You will know when I need your help. You have not been out of heaven for too long, young one. You know next to nothing about earth, despite their many similarities.” Jackael looked down, a frown slowly formed where his toothy smile used to be.

Michael was quick to rebuke. He put a firm hand on Jackael’s shoulder, causing him to look back up, and smiled at the young angel. “Which is why I’m here to show you.” He directed their view to the forest. “Look around you.”

Jackael looked up and around at the thick and dense forest around them. Oaks, evergreens, and shrubbery in every direction. The scent of wild berries and pine tickled his nose. He smiled and replied, “It’s all very beautiful. But what do you want me to notice?”

“These trees, plants, and other kinds of vegetation are all alive and well. This is the season known as summer. All things have blossomed and bloomed, and are supposed to be thriving. However, not everything is as it should be. See this dead tree?”

Looking next to where Michael pointed, Jackael noticed a tree that should have had rich, green leaves on it, for it was a white pine. However, it had withered and aged, despite it being merely a juvenile. Its bark was peeling, and the needles had all turned brown, and most had fallen off. “This, my friend, is why we are here. No sickness has plagued these grounds, making this one of many oddities that I have spotted so far.”

Looking on with his mouth slightly agape, Jackael asked, “What other oddities do you see?”

Michael smiled. “When you are as old as I am, you know what to look for.” Turning back to the patrol, he beckoned. “Come! Let us move forth, the scent of evil has amplified!” Jackael was quick to get back in formation, not wanting to hold up the patrol any longer.

A few more hundred yards in, and the campers had been spotted. Michael signaled for his patrol to come to a halt, and he flew up to a tree. Perched on a steady branch, he looked on to see the family that had been assigned to him and his troops to protect: a father, wife, and two sons.

Michael studied the site, and watched in captivation as the two brothers play-wrestled and the father played the part of the referee. The mother was busy pitching a tent and shouting scoldings at the father for not helping her. He continued to cheer the children on as he hurried over to her. She stood up and kissed him on the cheek, before playfully arguing who was the more responsible one. They both shared a laugh, and the father aided her in finishing up the tent. Once done, they both walked over to the boys who were still laughing and rolling on the ground in what looked like a very one-sided fight.

The smile Michael had from watching them faltered, however, when he spotted a demon grunt hovering above a loose tree branch that was dangerously close to snapping, and trapping the two playing children underneath it.

He sprang up from where he was perching, and flew with blinding speed towards the offending perpetrator. He knocked the demon from the branch, and watched it fall to the ground with a smack.

He jumped down to it, planting a strong foot over its neck and unsheathing his sword, holding the point to the demon’s jugular.

The demon squirmed and knocked its fists against Michael’s strong legs. Michael waited for a few seconds for its futile attacks to cease, and addressed it. “Who are you, and who sent you? Where are your brothers?”

The demon coughed, and Michael’s foot let up a bit of pressure to allow it to speak. “My brothers have already begun! Those children will do great things for God one day, and our master cannot have it!” It hacked again, spitting up some blood along with it. “If you wish to save the children and the family, you may want to do it soon, for the Vipers of Hell have already begun their attacks!” With a long, shaky, bony finger, the demon pointed on toward the camp.

Michael turned around and gasped. Heading toward the tent was what seemed to be at least fifty snakes—all copperheads and rattlesnakes. Their eyes were unnaturally red, and they left a trail of smoke behind them as they slithered and hissed.

He turned to look back at the demon, who was now laughing with a noticeable rasp in its voice. Michael’s eyebrows furrowed at the vile creature. With a quick slice of his sword, the demon’s neck was cut, and blood squirted onto Michael’s leg. He turned and shouted to alert his troops. “Vipers! Near the tent! Move!”

Without hesitation, the squad sprang into action. They all flew on past the campers and toward the smoke that was rising up. With a flick of their swords, the angels made quick work of the snakes. They sliced heads left and right, leaving a smoldering trail of headless, bleeding snakes where they went.

However, once the last snake was silenced, a distant roar resonated from afar. The angels looked up and saw at least twenty demons, all bestowing different ranks and powers, flying down from the sky. As soon as they landed, the two opposing forces clashed.

The demons were relentless. Countless dirty tactics were employed, sending a few rogue angels pack to Heaven as they were killed.

Jackael was holding his own though. He had killed two demons, albeit fairly weak ones at that. Michael had caught up to him and saw how good he was doing, and figured he would try to stay close by in case worse came to worse.

However, a dark surprise was waiting in the midst of the fight. One of the demons, Rholomous, had just arrived on the scene and spotted the unfamiliar Jackael.

Smirking, the demon charged from his position, emerging quickly from the shadows of the trees he hid under. He took Jackael by the shoulders and lanced into the sky. Rholomous figured that by offsetting the angel so rapidly would make him off-balance, causing an unfair advantage to be in the demon’s favor. Rholomous figured this would be an easy match, seeing that the angel before him was no where near someone of Michael’s rank.

However, Jackael was unfazed as he swung his sword, landing a gash across the snarling demon’s chest.

Rholomous let out a growl from the pain, and took Jackael by the leg, and threw him back down to earth.

He crashed into the trees and landed distantly from the others, and Rholomous landed on top of him. The two wrestled violently on the ground. Punches were exchanged, holds were administered, and dust mixed with blood kicked up in all directions.

In one swift motion, Jackael kicked Rholomous in the face, causing blood to drip and spray from the demon’s nose. The angel then charged, having gained the upper hand by pinning Rholomous to the ground with his knee. He unsheathed his sword.

For a moment, it looked as if Jackael would be the victor. He went to drive his sword into the demon’s chest.

However, Rholomous grabbed Jackael’s right wing, and pulled it hard, feeling a satisfying snap under his claws.

The angel howled in pain as he fell to the ground, dropping his sword from his hand and using it to clutch his aching appendage. Rholomous climbed on top of him, now gaining the advantage.

He looked Jackael down for a brief moment and studied him. He put his nose up to him and sniffed him like a hungry wolf inspecting its prey. “Hmm…who are you, young one?. Fresh from the Academy of Angelic Warriors, I presume? Oh look, they even gave you a toy as a souvenir.”

He grabbed Jackael’s sword, but threw it down and shrieked in pain as a burn mark was left smoldering in his hand. He grabbed Jackael by the shoulders and violently jerked him around. “What are you doing here, fresh meat? I thought only the best got to fight the beasts. You’re not even worthy to swat a fly.” He snarled, and smoke discharged from his nostrils onto Jackael’s face.

Jackael was not giving in though, and quickly retorted. “You’ll never win. You know that, right? I almost had you! You only got this far because you’re detestable. In a fair fight, I would have had you.”

“Oh, spare me the lecture young one. Besides, why would I ever let a little child like you even dream of defeating someone like me? You smell like you’re only about fifteen eons old...You’re just a baby. Much too young to be trifling with the lights of someone as powerful as I.” He snarled a bit more, and spat in Jackael’s face. “Now look here, I have a bit of a dilemma, so pay attention.” He grabbed Jackael’s broken wing, and twisted it, causing the angel’s face to contort and twist in pain as gasps of torture left his mouth. “I can’t simply kill you, despite how satisfying that sounds. Doing that would just send you back to heaven, and you’d be on my case quicker than flies on shit. So, the way I see it, I’d have to send you somewhere far away, somewhere…impossible to escape from. What’s the word I’m looking for…” He tapped his chin and smirked. “Ah, yes. Banishment!” He twisted the angel’s wing violently at the last word, causing a howl to emerge from Jackael’s throat.

“I’m going to send you somewhere so far out of reality, that simply being there will be an eternal thorn in your side, somewhere where no one would ever think to look. You’ll have a fate in eternal torture worse than Hell itself. You shall long for Heaven, but no one will come to save you.”

Jackael looked back up at his oppressor, who continued to twist and pull on his wounded wing, using his claws to pick and pull at the flesh near the connective tissue. “I’ll find a way to stop you eventually, even if it means searching every dimension to find you, you Spawn of Hell!”

“Oh please, you flatter me. Though, I really wish you would try. I would look forward to tearing your body to shreds, feasting on your organs, and throwing your corpse into the fire of the pits of Hell.Too bad you’ll never be heard from again!” He spat the last sentence into Jackael’s face, still clutching the angel by the wing. He took his free hand, and used his nails to slice a tear in time and space. A vacuum effect was initiated, as the portal sucked in Jackael’s sword. “Goodbye, Jackael! It was never a pleasure.” With that, he tossed the angel into the portal as if he were trash, and closed it by waving his hand over it.

Jackael fell for what felt like an eternity, spinning and tossing in the flashing colors and lights. Sounds of all kinds molested his ears as he tried to hang on to the brink of his sanity. Sounds of children crying and laughing, sounds of screaming and violent shrieking. The heat assaulted him as well, burning his flesh and scorching his bones. He felt as if he were lying naked on the sun, and burning coal was his blanket. He reached upward in a bittersweet attempt for help, but there was none to be found in this vortex of Hell.

He tried in vain to fly, but his wing simply hurt too much. The pain had started to send a tingling sensation to his spine. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying his best to regain control over his hapless falling.

After giving up trying to fly, he let his body go limp. There was no use in trying to fight it, so he accepted his inevitability.

Then he saw a light.

Not knowing what to expect, he unfurled his wings as much as his pain would allow, closed his eyes, and braced for anything.

He fell through the hole in the vortex. When he opened his eyes, he saw green. It was as if whatever land he was being thrown into was made of pure emerald. They were what looked to be the tops of trees, and they were approaching him fast. His unfurled wings slowed his descent, but he still fell at the speed of light. All he could do was brace for impact.

His fall through the trees was a violent one, with tree limbs scratching and stabbing him at every turn. Before he even had a chance to swat one branch out of his face, a dozen new ones were there to attack him . A thicker branch nailed into his stomach, with enough force to cause him to vomit a bit of blood. Dizziness overtook him, and soon he found the ground with an audible smack. He rolled over onto his back, looking for relief. He looked up, and his eyes went wide as he saw an object plummeting toward the ground.

It was his sword.

He tried to move, but the sword fell too fast. He braced for what he thought was certain death. However, he was spared, as his sword landed tip-first into the soil right next to his left ear, gently slicing the edge of it..

Then, he passed out.

After a while, Jackael woke up. His entire body seized, and had what felt like a full-body muscle spasm. Lying on the ground motionless, the pain he felt literally prevented him from making a sound. After a few moments of soundless sobbing, he pulled himself up and grabbed his sword out from the ground. A large tree welcomed his tired form as he fell against it. He tugged his right wing over to where he could examine it. It was swollen, and some feathers were missing. Dust from the crash had stained them a slight brownish color, and the pain was increasing. He ran his tongue around his cheeks and tasted copper, and his mouth was dry like desert sand.

Tall trees and shadows created a makeshift ceiling above him, blocking out any kind of natural light with exception for a few stray rays and the hole his fall had just created. There were sounds of buzzing, crawling, and some growling coming from various places around him. He brought his hand up to his neck to swat something away as sweat poured down his face. The humidity was enough to make him gasp, and the smell of flowers and rotting corpses tingled his nose.

He slumped down further against the tree as his eyes darted around, looking for any end or potential way out of the forest he suddenly found himself in. He thought back to the battle, Michael, the humans, and Rholomous. His eye twitched and his blood boiled. His rage forced him to his feet. Once on them though, he staggered, and his knees buckled. The broken wing made itself known by sending a string of numbing pain up the edge of it. He started to walk aimlessly, hoping for a miracle.

A shy yellow pegasus was walking with her pet bunny in the Everfree Forest, looking for food for her more exotic pets at her cottage. Going into the forest this late in the afternoon was not the best of ideas, but her pets were so demanding at times. So, she made an exception.

“Oh, Angel. I really wish the parrots would stop asking for such exotic seeds. I don’t understand why they can’t just accept what I have to give them.” Angel made a few indistinguishable noises, which Fluttershy quickly translated. “Oh, I know that I need to be more assertive, but I’m trying to build up the courage. I will, one of these days…”

Jackael heard a noise approaching his location.

It sounded like voices.

Looking around, he looked for somewhere to hide. He spotted a branch above him, and jumped. He overshot it just a bit, and cracked his head on a higher branch. He almost didn’t grab the limb he was aiming for because of the sudden pain, but he managed to find his footing and perched on the tree limb.

He furrowed his brow, as he saw what looked to be a yellow pony with butterflies on her posterior. Were those wings that she had? Why was she able to talk? She was accompanied by a strange white rabbit, which seemed to be sniffing the air viciously. It turned to where he was perched, and started tugging at the hair of the pony-looking creature, and it looked, and spoke. “What is it, Angel? You see something?”

Before she could say more, Jackael quickly jumped down from where he was, unsheathing his sword in a smooth motion and holding it to Fluttershy’s throat, the blade’s tip gently kissing her neck. The white creature proved to be quite feeble. When it went to attack him, he kicked it and sent it at least ten feet away from them, knocking it out cold.

The angel proceeded to interrogate his victim. “Who are you?! Where am I?!”

Fluttershy was near hysterics, as she frantically tried her best to answer. “No! P-please! Somepony! Anypony! Help meeeeee!” She was crying by now, and shaking as if were freezing cold. Jackael’s expression softened. He lowered his sword, but still kept it at his side.

He tried to speak as gently as he could, while keeping his guard up. “Look, I put the sword down. See? I’m not going to hurt you, so try not to be afraid. Now, since I did that, why don’t you tell me where I am?” His heart was still racing, and his instincts were still on overdrive, but he also knew that threats would not get him anywhere.

She practically whispered her name. “My…my name’s…Fluttershy…” She turned her head away, only to turn it back to study his wings. One looked to be in mild shape, while the other one seemed to be hanging by a thread. “This is the Everfree Forest, just outside of Ponyville. D-do you know where that is?”

His mouth hung open. He swallowed, and tried to think of how to approach this. “I’m sorry for attacking you. I just don’t know what to make of anything right now.” He studied her still-trembling form. “You-you’re a pony. Living in the land of...Ponyville? Where exactly is this...Ponyville?”

“It’s a part of Equestria. Do you know about Equestria?”

He shook his head, and put his sword back in its sheath. “No, I’m afraid not.”

She gulped while she watched him sheathe his sword. “Who-who are you? And what do you want?”

“I am Jackael; angel of God Almighty, and protector of Truth. And what I want, is to get back to where I belong.”

“Oh, oh my…that’s quite a long title.” Her mind suddenly clicked. “ Wait, have you seen Angel?!” She practically knocked the wind out of him with how fast she flew past him, calling out her pet’s name. “Angel! Angel!”

Scratching his head, he asked, “Wait, are there other angels?”

She turned to look at him. “N-no. Th-that’s the name of my pet bunny.”

He looked at her in bewilderment, not sure how to respond. Animals can...have pets? Then he remembered back to the confrontation they shared a few moments prior. With that thought in mind, his eyes grew wider, and he fell very quiet. There was an overwhelming temptation to hide back on his perch in the tree.

He heard a loud shriek a few yards away. Fluttershy had stumbled upon her beloved angel, and almost passed out at the sight.

Seeing her bunny bruised and swollen made her heart drop a little, and fresh tears started to dot her eyes.

He looked at the rabbit, whose chest rose and fell with forced breaths. He sighed, knowing of the one thing he was able to do. “I can make him better.”

Fluttershy recoiled, “How? He’s…he’s…” With that, she soon began to sniffle, and the tears trapped in her eyes freed themselves down her cheeks. She started to wail and cry, as she thought about her soon-to-be-dead pet that she loved.

However, she stopped crying when she saw Jackael had cupped the bunny in his hand, and now a strange light was emanating from his grasp. Once done, he put the bunny down to the forest floor, where it sprang up and hopped happily to Fluttershy, who sat with her mouth agape, eyes fixed on Angel. She looked up at Jackael, who had a small smile on his face. She wanted to ask him how he did it; however, before she could get a word out, his smile faltered as he dropped to his knees. He looked up at Fluttershy with pleading eyes as he fell to the forest floor, succumbing to unconsciousness.

Author's Note

Feedback and criticisms are always appreciated! More to come soon.