Day-Time.
Aiden looked around like a paranoid person, was he dreaming? certainly not. he immediately checked his body to find it was not his own, but of a grown man about over six feet tall, a foot and a half taller than his original size, black clothes and armor. Aiden checked his body again, he wore a cloak above his strange and unknown armor which covered his entire body. his armor was spiky in design, but flexible, the only noticeable detail that he realized was the fact that he wore a skull helmet that covered his face, but his vision was weirdly unaffected.
he tried to take off the helmet, but couldn't, as if it was attached to his head. and so he tried to take of the hood, but to no avail, it too felt as if it was a part of his head, but he could feel the armor inside it. the more Aiden explored his body the more he understood what type of armor he wore. the metal skirt that covered the top part of his legs were at least an inch and a half thick. and the fact that he also had shoulder pads as wide as a foot he knew then and there, he definitely wore a European medieval knight's armor mixed with a Roman soldier's. an exaggerated one, but it did look very intimidating.
Aiden noticed that the skull part of his helmet had no chin, and the teeth were sharp like razors unlike human teeth. but then again what was the purpose of such a design when his entire body was covered head to toe in unknown metals that were probably not in the table of elements back on Earth. however one thing was certain, this armor was quite expensive, durable, cool, and very, very much powerful. despite it looking like an old relic of a distant past.
Aiden-Death: well... shit.
Aiden took the sight before him, his robe fluttered in the wind as he checked his surroundings. trees as far as the eyes could see and a field of grass that stretched into the horizon, as beautiful as it looked for him, he knew better than just to accept that he was dead, or perhaps even dreaming.
Aiden sighed as he turned around, and right behind him was a pair of angels, two of them. a woman and a man, could this be Adam and Eve? or some other supernatural beings? Aiden gripped his hands into fists and examined the duo. both wore white tunic clothing, their eyes golden like their long hair just as depicted in myths and legends. white, soft dove wings on their backs, their beauty unmatched only by imagination.
Aiden watched as the two angels conversed with each other, the female known as Julia while the male was Ark, judging by the way they spoke to each other, Ark was the superior, while Julia was the subordinate. but the male angel seemed to speak in a neutral tone, even so much as smiling as if happy.
and judging by the fact that the male angel referred the female as Pride probably meant that she was of high status amongst the lowest angels, usually the rankings in angels were, Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Authorities, Virtues, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim, and the highest being the Seraphim. but something was quite odd about the male angel, despite him being a Principality, he didn't look like anyone fancy or with authority in heaven, maybe this was a different heaven? or another realm entirely? Aiden desperately needed information, and so he continued listening.
that was until they noticed Aiden watching them both, Aiden's flinch went unnoticed as he watched the two angels turned slowly towards him, with surprised yet oddly quite calm and happy looks on their faces.
oh shit! they saw me. Aiden thought to himself as the two angels looked at him.
Angel of Pride-Julia: oh? what is it brother? is something the matter?
Aiden stood there silently as the two angels kept staring directly at him, there was silence, the angels looked like they had the time to wait an eternity for an answer. Aiden thought they were polite, too polite, with only his bare hands and not a single weapons in his arsenal he he could do nothing to damage them, or perhaps he didn't know it yet? he had the power to annihilate entire worlds, but he just didn't know how to do so.
Principality-Ark: sister, this brother does not emanate God's most holy and radiant light, and he does not bare his wings... odd, we must question him.
if Aiden's eyes could be seen they would have popped out already, there was no way he would let anyone capture him, let alone angels, who knows what they would do to him? what type of tortures they conduct to disobedient brothers or sisters. and so he did what any sane person would do, run.
Aiden turned an ran on the opposite direction, and with the help of some boy scout training and his experienced mind from watching television he ran like an athlete. the two angels were quick to follow, and to Aiden's surprise they actually managed catch up to him. but even with the two angels directly behind him Aiden was determined to lose them, if he was reincarnated in another world he must have some powers right? maybe.
Principality-Ark: brother, why do you flee?
Aiden ignored the angel as he increased his speed slowly but surely outrunning the two following angels. but to his surprise, where ever place he was wasn't endless, he saw the edge of what appeared to be a cliff. Aiden, despite knowing there was probably hell at the bottom kept running, the two angels noticed and tried to catch Aiden before he could jump but failed, he fell into a nearly endless sky but the two angels still followed him.
Aiden watched the beautiful skies that he kept falling into, he was probably going to die from the fall and impact, but then he had a stupid idea, an idea so stupid it might actually work. he imagined a pair of wings on his back, and surely enough they formed. black wings immediately gave him the ability to fly, and like a miracle it was as if he already had experience flying with them, however it still surprised him that the stupid plan actually worked.
he soared through the clouds at high speeds, apart from the inferior angel, the principality was quite faster than Aiden anticipated, twice as fast than he was before. Aiden turned his head to see the principality fast approaching, Aiden quickly turned his head and tried to think of a plan to lose the angel, that was until he took a long spear to the chest from an unknown attacker, and fell towards a nearby floating island, but funnily enough, he didn't feel any pain from it, only shock. and as the attacker neared his line of sight Aiden knew how much trouble he was in, it was a Virtue.
oh you've got to be kidding me! a virtue!? what's it doing all the way out here!? Aiden thought to himself as he struggled to release himself from the spear but to no avail. the virtue was covered in wings, four wings to be exact, the two on the back was its main wings while the other four served as its, clothing? the face looked like it came from a statue rather than a real, living being, Aiden could barely see any other body part apart from the head.
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and like a holy prophet the being descended towards Aiden who still struggled to get out from his current position, it was humiliating, but Aiden had to escape, to live, and mostly survive. the same two angels then descended behind him as they watched Aiden struggle, but no blood came from his body.
the virtue's face became clearer and clearer as Aiden paid more attention, unlike the female face the virtue was displaying, she was actually an it, because it had no real gender unlike the other two angels in front of it. white face, hair and eyes this virtue had no pupils nor eyebrows or eyelashes. anyone during the medieval times would have though this being to be a statue, but the fact that it moved stated otherwise.
Principality-Ark: Virtue Aquila, what honor does one such as yourself bring at the edge of Heaven?
Aiden stopped struggling, a question that was long stuck in his head when he first arrived was answered. Heaven, no wonder a powerful being such as a virtue was so close by, now Aiden was definitely in trouble, if he can't escape the virtue, he's screwed. at best, he would probably be banished into hell, at worst, he'll be erased entirely from existence, the thought alone was horrifying, so Aiden struggled with all his might could muster.
Virtue-Aquila: harken thy God's herald! whence dost thou come upon this accursed brother?
the virtue's voice echoed with authority as the two angels bowed down in respect before looking back up.
Principality-Ark: we found him listening to our conversation my lord, that was until he suddenly fled when we noticed.
Virtue-Aquila: wherefore dost thou not quell the perpetrator? acts by thee art unworthy of title, yet forgiven.
Angel of Pride-Julia: then do we detain him?
a brief silence formed around them before the virtue answered.
Virtue-Aquila: nay! henceforth, thy task is to guide thy brother to brilliance! by mine decree this shall be so!
the virtue disappeared with a white flash of light, leaving the two angels to deal with Aiden, but when they turned back he was already gone, long gone.
Aiden flew and flew, from one floating island to another. he barely managed to escape the virtue that caught him, what more if he encountered a cherubim? or worse, a seraphim. feeling no hunger nor weakness Aiden kept descending down towards the lower islands, the wound where the spear hit him healed without his notice, and once he arrived at the lowest island Aiden found yet another below, this time it was attached to the one he was on with a long metal bridge, guarded by two odd-looking angels. one an eye surrounded by rings filled with eyes, the other, a white knight with wings.
the more he looked at the knight the more he thought of how his armor looked similar, though only a little. Aiden thought for a while, thinking his chances of winning against those two, but then again he didn't know much power he had, but he took it slow nonetheless, slow, quiet, and stealthy.
Aiden crouched and then crawled as his wings disappeared, silently moving along the tall grass without making any noise. once he was behind the big abomination of an eye he slowly got up and used all of his might to punch it. and to his dumb luck it worked, the eye was sent flying towards the sky, however the knight took notice of this and rushed towards Aiden with sword in both hands. but Aiden had a plan, and a good one.
when the knight raised his or her sword Aiden tackled the knight sending him or her to the ground, and with a light grunt Aiden knew it was a male, though it sounded a bit feminine, ew. Aiden was quick to grab the sword and smack the hilt on the knight's head, knocking him out with a single blow.
Aiden-Death: *sigh* sorry bud, but I'm not dying today... actually, not ever.
Aiden got up and took the sword, immediately after Aiden took the sword it turned black into a twisted version of what it once was, but it did look cool with the spikes.
Aiden then turned towards the bridge.
Aiden-Death: yep, that's Hell alright.
Aiden watched as the landscape below burned with a sea of fire, lakes and rivers of blood and gore, screams of the damned and demons of all sizes.
Aiden-Death: huh, I thought it would look scarier.
Aiden was disappointed, apart from the nearly deafening screams and the laughing demons the rest of Hell was quite boring, he found the forest more scarier than this. but with the demons to populate this place Aiden knew what he would expect once he went down there, not unlike the nights he spent in the woods alone, the silence, it scared him. Hell looked like a refresher than a nightmare, so much so that it actually calmed him.
Aiden sighed and walked towards the bridge, passing it before entering the tall stone gate of Hell, with one goal in mind, to kill. if he could beat an angel why not a demon? and from what he could remember from games, the more you kill, the more you get stronger, and so he did as he rushed to the nearest pack of demons without a shred of fear. finally, without anything to pull him back Aiden let loose and started to kill.
morals? human rights? the law? none of those things could stop him in another world. especially when he was killing demons and not fellow humans, for the first time in his miserable life Aiden finally quenched his anger, after hours of killing, he stood atop a mountain of corpses, indeed he felt stronger, his power growing, surging. he felt so powerful unlike his previous life, but he still had his state of mind, his rationality.
and when Aiden finally calmed down he looked around him, a mountain of corpses with him at the top. but these corpses weren't just demons but angels as well, fallen angels, when he realized the carnage he caused he shrugged. who would punish him? God? then where is he? a Goddess maybe? then where is she? or perhaps the great evils of Hell? then where are they? Aiden sat there on the mountain of corpses and lamented, everything was different, so different, no one comfortable to talk to, and nobody to trust, not even the blessed and holy angels.
Aiden sat there, silently, crying internally, no one approached him, because there was no one in a dozen miles, or a hundred for that matter. the screams stopped, the demons no longer laughed, because they were all dead. at least anything within a hundred miles. Aiden didn't have much to begin with, he was hated, he was not loved, except from his own family, which were also dead, his relatives, dead, his friends, dead, everyone who he interacted with and became friends with were all dead. so much misfortune, and he hated it, he hated it all, he hated everything, even himself.
he cursed and cursed, damning everything, he cursed them all. all the people who hated him, all those who disrespected him, even God who did not help him in his time of need. where was he when he needed him the most? nowhere, was he even real? or a fiction and hallucination of a madman turned cultist. a cult that turned into a church, madmen all of them, damned priests giving him false promises, false idols. serpents, liars. if there was indeed a one and true god then why was there so many? so many so called true gods, from different religions, well, that was assuming they were not fake.
but then an idea hit his head, as if a revelation was given to him. not from a god, demon or angel or any other being, but from his own mind. Aiden then realized, why not explore? why not live the live as you liked? go on an adventure. and with a smiled Aiden stood, a ray of light shined upon him, why haven't he thought of this before? he worked so hard in his past life, and never thought of enjoying his riches, his achievements.
looking towards the horizon Aiden took a deep breath and relaxed himself, with new purpose, confidence and determination he walked down the mountain of corpses, and left to find something interesting to look at. but when he took the hundredth step a portal appeared below him.
Aiden-Death: oh sonofabitch!
Aiden fell into the portal, although he was annoyed he was happy, happy to not be sad. and as he crossed this portal and ended in another place he arrived in a familiar scene, the battle between Heaven and Hell, however something was different. it wasn't as the Bible described the war, it was, orderly. and as expected, he was among the angels, but his armor stood out, an obvious black dot in a white slate.
well, it could've been worse. Aiden thought to himself as he gripped his weapon, and when the trumpets sounded and the angels around him began to charge he followed, rushing towards the demons on the other side of the battlefield, and when they clashed, Aiden felt happy, something deep in his gut told him that it was going to be alright. and everything will be alright, for this was and is his story, and no one else's. only his.