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Thread: 'The World We Knew'. Have a peek them demolish it!

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    Squeaks's Avatar More full of whinging
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    Default 'The World We Knew'. Have a peek them demolish it!

    I assume this is the only place I can put this. Do tell me if it's not meant to be here, but it's actually something I began writing for a wholly different reason. There's quite a lot done, but I won't just assault you with mountains of text.

    Now, the story is written from a point of view that doesn't reflect any of my beliefs. It's not intended to make a statement, or upset anyone, as it's full of religious themes. The main character is simply a confused person who is not well educated in a religious sense, but has had to come to terms with some of it all. You'll see. If it does miff people, I'll happily withdraw it.

    So, here it goes.

    THE WORLD WE KNEW.

    The world we knew, the one we had driven to the heights of it's madness, died with a whimper. Of course, there were people who had theorised this in an intellectual misery, a kind of 'I told you so....' When it came down to it, they were right, and they were as great as fools as Sartre and the other 'existentialists'. They could not have been so wrong. It's lucky for them they had mostly died, rotting in the sure knowledge of their own pointlessness.

    It began with a simple noise, a noise which reverberated in our skulls, sending shockwaves of miasmic shock and terror through us all, a trigger of some past memory, maybe an instinct beyond fear or flight, a total and utter convulsion of all that we were, from our very core to the burning sensation in every pore in every inch of skin. For me it was the shout of a lion, a roar of indignation , of a fury that lay rooted in pain. It was a noise I wish I had never heard. When a wolf howls, it tails off to a breaking cry, shattering at the end into spiteful pieces. This began with a terrible torment, growing to indignation then fully into a fury , falling once again to pain before it's ending.

    Others were said to have heard different cries; those who followed different books of faith heard different things, but, in the end, it was the same for all - I heard that He had said that all would find their own way, including those who looked within more than without in their path of faith. However it came to us, all who are left agree that the noises that followed were strict, both in their form and the order in which they came - the ringing of seven beds, the striking of seven rods; more and more of these things sounded throughout the world, and yet we failed to truly understand. Even those who protested their faith like a crutch or beacon seemed unprepared for what came after, let alone within their excited babble and frenzied discussion of profuse texts.

    Of course, we'd had those that had waited for this. They clamoured and cried in their devout insanities, spread their ridiculous pride in their 'proven' belief like prophets of fragments of the Sins, each more fervent in their need to be foremost amongst those who believed. I, however, simply sat down in terror, and gathered my family to me, awaiting whatever would come. Sure, lakes of fire, only God knew what else, although plenty thought they were of a potency to profess full knowledge, to 'advise' their governments of what would happen, of what should be done, of everything they thought would separate the faithful from the faithless. I was in an odd position, you see, because I had faith, I had a belief in goodness that was unshakeable, and I had friends who considered me to be a walker of their path despite not being a member of their Churches. If I went to church, I would sit in shadow at the back, and was always surprised I was not the only one there that did this. When hands were shaken and voices clamoured, I spoke from inside - never one for noise and the loss of breath and dignity that follows outbursts of faith.

    It is only because of what has happened that I sound so bitter, so judgemental of others, for I am one of those that are fully caught in the face of the mess we contributed to, meaningfully or meaninglessly, it is the same result for all that are still here. We stand in groups of shattered souls, living in fear and hiding in places that we would not have considered existed before the Lion's Roar. We now sit in mud and rain, streaked with blood, unwashed, unclean, struggling for something we do not even know the why, when or where of; there is no sanity left here, no up or down, no right or wrong. There is just one distinction now; those living and those...gone.

    I have no idea why I am writing this. Why should I be writing a record of these times when it seems unlikely there will be anyone left to read it? I guess I just HAVE to. There is a need in me, to record the loss, the fall of our world, the broken path of the celebrated 'End Times'; for they have gone horribly, horribly wrong indeed.

    The first appearance of anything Beyond (that is what I choose to name the beings that are not 'of Clay' - the shining hosts, the fallen princes; all of them - children of Fire, and then the other 'things' that emerge from a lack of Grace was above what was Israel. Of course it would be there - nothing else would make any sense. A Star burned in the sky at night for seven days, then it fell to earth, becoming a thing of fire, falling swiftly, to hover above Gethsemane. The place where our sins were absolved, only to be remade at an exponential rate of increase. Perhaps a knowing, insistent disbelief and a need to PROVE faith in error was the greatest of them all. I shall probably never know, but I have my own theories.

    Of course, this descending star was one of Them, the Children of Fire, a member of the Angelic Hosts of Heaven, as they were back then. I can't even remember which, but I am no Theologian. I never read the Theurgia, nor the sister of it, the darker one they named Goetia. In fact, if I make an errors and someone reads this, then they are not intentional, simply born of an ignorance in these things. I know what is here now, and I doubt it is what all thought that knew of the Goetia, Theurgia, the Gnostic Texts, all these things that always made me feel less intelligent than other people: people who spouted 'facts' like a wine enthusiast spouts their desire to spend as much money as possible, to enforce their dry insistence of what is best for everyone around them.

    Anyway, bitterness divides my attention - that and the fact I have to listen to the 'lines' as they gently clatter in the wind, awaiting the moment I must run again, or simply use this hunk of metal that kills things in a vain battle to stay alive myself.

    I believe it was Michael, but I may be wrong. Whatever the case may be, an Angel had come to us, and spoke of the return of the Messiah. The veritable Lamb of God was coming back, and it truly was rather exciting. With the noise of trumpets and lyres, his words spilled from his perfect alabaster mouth, and we knew emotions of such heights many thought they would die from the excruciating ecstasy of their all consuming embrace. His pretty speech ended in a final phrase, something we should have taken more note of, perhaps: 'The Son of God returns to you, but his coming is that of a lion - gone is the lamb.' That's sort of what I remember, but it's fairly hazy, given the next few days events, then weeks, then months, then this night, sitting with a biro running out of ink when I dare not leave to go to a shop to see if they have any left after the breaking of society. I guess that biros were not high on peoples' agendas when they looted the shops, because I seemed to find them in most places I go to. Dvds aren't exactly rare either, but you ask for a chocolate bar and you run into trouble. Of course, there simply is no-one left in the shops to ask, but I do leave money if I have any; it doesn't feel right to just take a simple biro, despite all that has occurred.

    I'll never get to tell you anything if I talk like this, but please forgive me. I have people around me, I'm not alone, yet the height of my day is my time with you, even though you may never exist. Strange thing indeed, but one must cling to these little insanities to survive the greater ones that are waiting for the unwary. Yes, what happened next. This was not so good. He came, the Christ, a glowing figure in a shroud, a brilliance so great you simply could not see. You could stare until your eyes threatened to melt, but no features were discernable besides a wondrous purity, an innocent seeming wonder that settled on your soul, and a crown of thorns that adorned his head.

    ----

    Please don't think I write this with an awful arrogance. Far from it. If you like it, I'll pass on more.

  2. #2

    Default Re: 'The World We Knew'. Have a peek them demolish it!

    I move this over to Creative Writing where you can get more feedback.

  3. #3

    Default Re: 'The World We Knew'. Have a peek them demolish it!

    The narrative is very well written. An enjoyable read
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    Squeaks's Avatar More full of whinging
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    Default Re: 'The World We Knew'. Have a peek them demolish it!

    Quote Originally Posted by Radzeer View Post
    I move this over to Creative Writing where you can get more feedback.
    Oops...and thanks. I wasn't reaslly sure about just brazenly putting it in here, as it seemed only vaguely of historical thingymajiggy-type-stuff. Thanks again.

    Quote Originally Posted by robinzx View Post
    The narrative is very well written. An enjoyable read
    Thanks very much. I'll give you a bit more to punish you for saying that....

    -------------

    When he spoke, the news crews needed no microphone. His voice was deep and sonorous; it spoke of an obscene wisdom and sadness, a clarity of thought and a wellspring of love. I never believed that he was happy at his task, but that soon became a moot point, as he lost control of things at a rate that perhaps did demonstrate an innocence undreamt of. It is a bit of a blur to me, as I was kept occupied at the time by my job. A parent, employed, seemingly a wondrous cook and great at the laundry, I was kept busy; explaining the concepts that were being showered upon us to a five year old was also not that easy.

    I remember the announcement of what the Americans termed 'the Rapture'. I remember the Hosts of Heaven pouring onto the Earth, and I remember that not all welcomed them. Some were distinctly frosty in their reception, and some prepared for the unknown, as we did in England. I remember being at work for meetings and seeing the numbers of soldiers being quietly deployed - the tanks, the missiles; everything was being prepared - certainly someone didn't see this as other than it was. I guess that's the horror of non-superstitious theocratic education for you. If I still could, I'd do one of those tongue-poke emoticons at you. Now they were pretty useful.

    Well, back to what next....

    I believe that some people weren't pleased at this interruption. They actually attacked the Christ. Hit him with quite a lot of nasty stuff, in fact, but they died. All of them died, and they probably triggered a lot more deaths besides. The cauterisation of the middle east began then. I saw shots of the angels in action. They bore swords of fire which split a tank in two with one sweep; others appeared to use spears, and some had bows; whatever the weapon, they killed everyone, everything. In the first day, they slaughtered much of the Arabic force that stood against them. I remember being shouted at from the bedroom, where we kept a tv for my partner and a bible for posterity, and because my grandmother gave it to me. I actually watched the tv a bit too, but I never really opened my bible. When I arrived, the pages were flipping open at an amazing speed. I watched until they came to their end, then watched new ones appear; each page manifesting, then becoming filled with words, written in a fluid and archaic hand, written in a red ink that was proven later to have been blood. Names filled it, events; all that was occurring in the middle east was here, as was the reasoning for it. I stopped reading after a few pages. It didn't make pleasant reading for sure.

    I will break this down now, because it's unpleasantly complicated. There was a news team in Egypt, reporting an Angel hovering above Alexandria. His name was Gabriel, but we kind of misplaced his main title. Interesting way to have it burned into your memory, but, if you remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, you'll probably guess what came next - Gabriel's title, alongside the nicer things he did, was 'The Angel of Genocide' - some said it was another, Piriel? I don't know, but it suited him more for me. I saw the news that night. There was AFrica. The Egypt cameras showed a heat and light building - satellites, before they burned out, showed the glow starting in the 'Heart of Darkness', right in the centre - well, the Congo seems like the centre to me. The glow built, the camera crew screamed, the satellites then burned out, but posted their last messages; pictures of people dying in hideous numbers, literally burning apart, lanced by white fire, then...well, then Africa was gone. Greek sailors arrived the next day to gingerly step onto the soil, their faces showing their expectations of death, only to find a powder coating everything. Turned out the powder was salt - an absolutely pure form of salt. One could almost hear the first man joke that it was biblical, but of course, it was, and it really didn't become much of a joke after the first idiot thought of that.

    The Christ subdued his angelic warriors after this. You could see that they weren't keen on their orders, and there was certainly resentment. I can only wonder then and now whether the war in Heaven had not really sorted out the problem of ANgels and humans, just that most had fallen into line after it's bloody conclusion. We were to find this becoming truly very important.

    EDIT: This isn't much, so I'll put a bit more in here now. Here you go...

    The Pope invited his Lord to ROme. He was invited in a private jet, but, of course, he just smiled and walked there. The pilgrimage across the surface of the meditteranean took 30 days, but it was quite amazing. In the Middle East, the fighting began again. This time, He was not there to stop it, but it was rather more subdued, and, of course, we could turn a blind eye to some of it. Several nations decided to deploy troops in the area and the UN tried to mediate, but the Angels weren't listening to humans then , or rarely ever again.

    When the Christ reached Rome, he was received as you would expect, and the Pope turned the Vatican over to Him, which was wonderful. I think the Angel who hit Rome was called Ramiel, and I know he has all sorts of connotations to his naming, but the Islamists heard his name as Israfel. I don't understand this, but apparently we all hear different things to a degree. Maybe none of us is right as such; I believe the Word just IS, and what happened here was not of the Word in main.

    Ramiel brought his legions and they took the Christ by force. The Pope they simply beheaded before the cameras, and then truly they spoke in tongues - all people of all creeds and languages could understand every single, blood-laden word of it. Ramiel called upon the Angelic Hosts to Obey their calling; a calling which was the death of all of us, I believe. He denounced the Christ as a 'testament to the Lamb', of his treachery to his Father in commanding the Angels to cease their war in the Middle East, and they imprisoned him in Rome. What did we do? We COULD we do?

    What we did was small yet worthy. It seemed that many angels came to agree with Ramiel, many more than those that remained true to the Son. Led by Michael, the 'loyal' Angels (as we named them), attacked Rome, aided by the Italians, and some others who could get there - French, Swiss maybe. They assaulted the City, and it was some fight indeed. Elsewhere, Gabriel joined the seeming revolt, taking with him many of the seraphs and cherubim, the easy ones to remember, but the most important were the Archangels Zadkiel, Haniel and Chameul. Uriel was killed by them in Israel, trying to stop the obliteration of the land of milk and honey. Azrael I think went mad through indecision, but then a man explained to me once that he wasn't really as important as the others. Haven't a clue why; he seems quite important to me! The man was taken the next day by one of the mad little groups of survivalists that had been watching too many zombie films; I never saw him again, but he didn't give the rest of us away, so I remember him often.

    I believe Raphael and Raguel had been with Michael - the brothers would never been parted. The others were riven by indecision in part, but most remained loyal of the higher choirs, after the initial swell towards Gabriel and Ramiel. The attack on Rome was not a quick affair. For months, it went on, but it is important to tell of what befell elsewhere. Gabriel had this knack for destruction, and he began to eradicate the nations towards the Orient. Nothing stood in his way save man, and that did not go well. Certainly, at first we fell apart; relying on these technological masterpieces was all well, but angel didn't obey natural physics so well. I saw dead angels on the news for certain. They lost numbers of their own to tanks and missiles, but others began a search for more bizarre methods of killing them in the West, and, strangely, some were found, but late in the day for most.

    The strangest thing began next. Remember that the war in Heaven ended with the Fall of Lucifer? That he struck Earth in the Heart of Darkness? Well, it appears that he was not so keen on losing his dominion over humanity, or being applied to the Lake of Fire he had been promised. Some say he took advantage, others claim he saved them. I think it's somewhat spurious - things change, times change, but some things remain the same. I've met members of the Fallen, and they seem thoroughly reasonable to me, as I assume they would really, but something lurks beneath their surface - all most care about is their skill in battle, which is horrendous indeed. I have seen them fight in the skies above England - black winged figures , trailed a smog, locked in combat, vastly outnumbered, yet they sweep with grace and terror, cutting through many times their numbers of the rebelling angels. You would think the two had something in common, but they really, really don't.
    From there, the fighting spread outwards in a wave. Angelic Choirs hit strategic locations in the world. We lost contact with Russia early on, but they did fight back, and hard. America sent everything they had against the rebellious legions, all fire and justice, and they fought well. Gabriel destroyed India from what I heard, but, by now, all was chaos. Here, in the UK, we were torn between an island realm response and aiding our fellows. We decided to mix the two. It wasn't my choice, nor anyone I knew, but the politicians stopped listening a good decade before this. No expected them to listen or care anymore, so we weren't shocked in the slightest.

    I begin to lose my knowledge of events, but there was war in Italy over the imprisoment of the Christ; this had reduced ROme itself to dust, save for the areas that were upheld by the Angels themselves. The Italian military had withdrawn to defend other areas, leaving the angels to their own war. Many nations were involved in the barricades they erected on the borders of the Middle East - tens of nations, hundreds of thousands of troops. They fought well, but, they died. Angels fly very swiftly, by the way, and they had by now appeared above every nation of note in military terms, and were attacking them. Alliances broke apart, international forces either died or returned to their homelands, and the true extermination began.

    Lucifer himself came from Hell with a shockwave of thunder, and his Fallen were suddenly man's saviours. They appeared in many of the Western nations - we had no contact with the far east now; Africa lay covered in Salt, and America had become cut off as they lost their satellites to 'firestorms in the Heavens', as we named them. All was chaos. Luciferian Angels were not vast in number, but they were vicious, and this made a lot of difference. I was quite surprised by how few there were. In this case, there was no room for dapper gentlemen with long fingernails and smart suits, but instead they were in true form. Many were just as alien and beautiful as the 'real' ones, but some simply had fallen more I think. The Lord of FLies was one of these - an Archduke of Hell, Beelzebub, really was quite shockingly horrific; he stank and his flesh fell away into clouds of flies, only to reform again, even as you watched. I don't have an autograph, but I've seen him. Baal, Belial...others too, were stunning figures - Moloch was another who was unpleasant, and he was a big creature. On the battlefield, he was shocking.
    Last edited by Squeaks; March 21, 2012 at 01:29 PM.

  5. #5
    Shankbot de Bodemloze's Avatar From the Writers Study!
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    Default Re: 'The World We Knew'. Have a peek them demolish it!

    Very good

    I don't mind the amount of text, it's a good story

    Looking forward to the next update
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