Paper Doll

“T’cheh, on edge, much?” Distance clearing wasn’t going to save her life. It would only buy it the necessary amount of time to open up a small degree of condescending conversation on his end before the hawkish assault regrouped itself. “Are you gonna surrender, is that it? Why should I stop? Don’t you think that was a stupid move to pull?” 

Supplemented by the defensive  that showered his jutting foot’s hammer-fall, even if protected against by her weapon he would merely use it as a platform to adjust and chain techniques together. Within his rapidly plummeting sinew contained the catapulting strength enough to fracture the bone within and hurtle the female, would it even be worth it? He corresponded with the aligned movements that were thought out for him,  moving without any regard to how his body would differ from his current state. It was obvious this wasn’t how He would holder situations but for the time being it was to be dealt with.

                ”— That’s not what I would do.”

The result would just be the same — her impending death.

"Life has no rules, it’s this big, strange ball of madness that has no set path, no regulations, no guarantees. We could solidate the future and years later fall victim to our same mistakes. We are ever learning, ever changing, evolution, you mentioned it earlier, it’s a constant shadow, don’t you think~? But, ah… that’s the wonder, isn’t it?” He’s a broken record at this point, some rambling advocate of science and hope and nothing else, no mention of a higher power left to dictate any of his motions. “We are humans and humans alone, but we have the power to change our lives, and with that power, do you really think it’s so wrong to want to better our futures? If we have to fight tooth and nail for it, if we have to give our lives for a cause, shouldn’t we? Or should we sit back and just hide from our present because it’s too dangerous.” The footfalls thereafter were outlined by a claret silhouette, boot markings engraved by the tenacious, viscous fluids expelled from below. A daggered stare, as murky as the Ninth Circle of Hell itself, conveyed itself with a merciless, displeased gravity. Slow, determined, punitive — the shadow befell the woman, a wake of bloodshed tailing the Fear in his ruthless retribution.

A cemented, august seriousness founded from within a rasping inarticulation. No words. The slow venture of enforcement directly marched before the other, fixating its stare deep into her mind with superimposing dictation of punishment.

                     ”….I am not here to comfort you. I don’t understand: why are you so fixated on life and death? At any rate, your friends will soon be annihilated. So what if that’s one step closer? They should have seen this coming from the start. If they couldn’t see it coming, the fault lies in their own foolishness. ”

And  words  existed  in  the  syntax  of  Life.  And  thoughts  stripped  naked  in  the  light  of  dawn.  And  he  -  in  a  sterilized  world  of  darkness  -  moved  with  shadowy  steps  deeper  into  the  unknown,  venturing  further  into  the  Devil's  Throat.  And  who  would  have  thought  that  he  -  of  all  unspeakable  sins  -  would  choose  to  defy  the  terrible  power  of  the  Almighty.  And  who  would've  thought  that  a  mere  mortal  would  -  with  spectral  incantations  -  declare  the  sacrilege  of  His  rule.  An  absence  of  fear,  lack  of  dread.  In  the  prism  of  pain  -  they  both  stood,  towering  over  all  and  over  nothing.  Two  figments,  two  transcendent  silhouettes  in  the  mercy  of  the  Lord.  The  angel  &  the  phoenix  standing  on  His  altar.  And  in  the  fleeting  expectancy,  silence  reigned.  There  was  nothing  but  the  perpetual,  devouring  silence  which  extinguishes  all  Hope  for  Peace  and  all  dreams  for  a  better  future.  

And  perhaps  when  tomorrow  approaches,  all  would  be  different.  And  perhaps,  when  the  clouds  disperse,  the  stroke  of  feathery  light  would  sweep  all  blackness  from  their  lives  and  they  would  accept  the  limitless  blessings  of  the  Lord.  Yet  tonight,  tonight  when  all  calamities  have  been  unleashed  and  the  hideous  behemoths  have  stained  the  untainted  lands  with  their  presence,  tonight  all  corruption  would  swallow  the  earth  and  all  sins  would  befall  their  souls. 

For  what  else  could  she  -  the  humble  lamb  -  do  when  faced  with  the  cruelty  of  the  world  except  weep  and  wail?  In  a  ceremony  of  feigned  worship,  they  had  believed  the  masked  man;  the  beast  whose  face was  concealed  by  spiralling  lies,  circling  into  a  void  of  blood.  And  the  dead  sensations  born  out  of  the  idea  of  his  rule  awoke  only  to  sink  into  the  stoic  expression  of  hers.  And  no  longer  did  she  dread  the  end  and  no  longer  did  she  fear  the  error  now  that  they  have  come  to  face  each  other  in  the  valley  of  truth.  For  nothing  would  remain  hidden  now  that  all  has  been  unveiled.  Both  were  dehuminized  and  both  had  lost  everything  once  deemed  important  and  both  have  tasted  the  bitterness  of  destiny's  scourge.  And  now  both  would  inflict  upon  each  other  tremendous  disasters  which  will  spell  the  beginning  of  a  new  era. Unchangeable  was  their  Fate  -  catastrophic,  unpredictable,  ... frivolous.

"You  speak  when  there  is  no  need  of  words.  Your  darkness  shan't  infect  this  world.  I  won't  allow  it."  Fiery thin  sheets  exploded  in  a  fresco  of  virgin  whiteness.  Wingless  seraph  attaining  paper  wings.  Majestically  hovering  over  all,  she  stood.  Crystallized  moment  took  shape  of  eternity  itself  and  within  this  eternity  their  Fates  were  -  fatally  and  inevitably  -  being  decided. 

          Hear the words I sing,            War’s horrid thing.            But still I sing, sing, sing.            Ding a ling a ling. 

  It’s whelming presence retained a familiar poignantly dismal pressure.  Features skewed to a wry grimace of anxious fervor as adrenaline roused  him from his reserved state. For a moment, muscles were rendered inert, body erect but tensed rigidly in apprehensiveness that seized at his entirety. Regaining composure, limbs promptly broke off into a vigorous dash opposite to his reactions. Taut digits secured the bronzed representative badge, etched with thin deviating grooves that connected to form the representative’s insignia, which was reminiscent of a simplistic skull. An amorphous pathway akin to that of a black cavity  tore asunder like a fissure overhead, overtly aloft upon the populous’ urban core. Obscured, humanoid curvatures emerged from the opacity of the somber void, spilling forth a turbulent gale. The rift’s integrity promptly collapsed inward,  dissipating as quickly as the mass was conjured.

"Tch!"

It’s whelming presence retained a familiar poignantly dismal pressure.  Features skewed to a wry grimace of anxious fervor as adrenaline roused  him from his reserved state. For a moment, muscles were rendered inert, body erect but tensed rigidly in apprehensiveness that seized at his entirety.

The flat of a leathery palm, rigid like ancient bones and milk-white, drove with wind-exiting gracelessness against the centre of the female’s aggrieved breasts. None touched the Fear, without excess of rebound or retaliation. Fear was a condition found within all living matter. One did not lay their hand upon it without the expectation of its detached, antiseptic callousness. Shameful and crucifying was the exacting of punishment belonging to a tainted Holy Crusader such as she. A perch so great, only compelled the toil and the stigma of the collapse from it.

He resentfully pushed her away onto her back with unfeeling, cutthroat obduracy as if she were a shameless tick trying to latch onto him and feed her offensive avidity. Only mattress-springs solicited this soldier’s fall as he flanked the site of her abysmal audiences, drifting around to her side as well as that of the cradle of betrayal. Clinical and reserved. Castigation flowed through the hollow dome of aligned spires, naught more. No friendliness. No care. Nothing other than a dictatorial obedience of the Empire’s wishes bid through the frigid bloodstream of an entity who might as well be void of such humanising elements. Crawling fingertips descended upon her cream skin.

                     ” Tell me. . .I don’t like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn’t of much value. Life hasn’t revealed its beauty to them.

                                  What If it works?

       … .Are you afraid ”  The man commented, though his observations were unfounded, and resonated as such within the inexperienced inflection of his tone, as if half in query; searching for an answer that could neither be right nor wrong

                    I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night,                     Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down                     The dark descent, and up to reascend...

Divine  emancipation  cannot  be  granted  to  those  who  have  never  tasted  the  bitterness  of  slavery  in  the  elapsed  years  between  Life  and  Death.  Alone  the  outcast,  bound  for evermore  with  unbreakable  chains  to  the  pillar  of  his  own  insignificance,  ardently  desired  the  blissful  exculpation  from  his  uncommitted  sins.  Alone  the  exiled,  fettered  by  massive  lockets  to  the  dark  corner  where  no  sun, no  moon,  no  stars  would  ever  glitter,  sought  the  transcendental  freedom  of  unattainable  dreams.  And  alone  did  she  tangle  herself  further  in  the  remnant  threads  of  his  darkness  with  the  sole  thought  of  exemption.  Yet  what  would  good  be  doing  if  there  were  no  evil,  and  what  would  the  earth  look  like  if  shadows  disappeared  from  it?  After  all,  shadows  are  cast  by  objects  and  people.  Would  one  like  to  denude  the  earth  of  all  in  order  to  satisfy  their  own  fantasy  of  rejoicing  in  the  naked  light?  Basking  in  the  chaste  whiteness  which  happens  to  be  encircled  and  emphasized  by  naught  but  blackness.  

Celestial  soul  convulsed  in  the  clutches  of  Appolyon  himself  as  the  world  shifted  an  angular  difference.  Under  the  violent  compulsion  of  his  existence  which  suffocated  all  but  him  and  where  refuge  can  be  found  in  nothing  but  inescapable  yielding,  reservation  trod  the  line  between  the  eruptive  nature  of  practical  reasoning  and  the  impossibility  of  the  newly  formed  gap  of  his  glorious  complacency  as  his  presence  extricated  that  trembling  essence  of  unexplainable  fear.  A  will  and  an  ideal  awakened  in  the  bewildering  fashion  of  repulsion,  smeared  across  her  twisted  countenance.  Meteors  of  lavender  arrayed  around  numbed  cranium  -  a halo  -  ambers  staring  straight  back  at  him.  O  Coriolanus,  banned  from  the  dear  lands,  what  have  you  turned  into?  O  unfortunate  creature.  Innocence  is  no  more.  He,  who  contended  with  everyone  who  defiled  the  concept  of  what  he  thought  as  right,  rejoiced  at  the  sacrilegious  action  of  marring  her  uncorrupted  flesh  with  his  touch.  

And  what  could  be  expected  from  the  generation  of  Adam  who  had  inflicted  upon  all  the  unforgivable  and  primeval  sin?  Questionable,  doubtful  was  all  that  was  connected  to  him  and  soon  justice  will  be  executed  as  prophesied  aeons  before  the  creation.  His  ungodliness  will  meet  its  inexorable  end.  And  you,  beloved  angel,  shall  liberate  yourself  from  all  that  he  had  done  unto  you.  You  shall  demonstrate  your  mastery  over  those  who  have  wronged  Him.  

"The  mind  is  its  own  place,  and  in  itself  can  make  a  heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven.  Fear  is  a  creation  for  manipulation.  And  I  cannot  be  manipulated."  One,  two,  three,  four  -  a  myriad  of  fluttering  wings,  dancing  about  on  broken  splinters  of  her  Hope.  Elusive  glimpses  through  a  kaleidoscope  into  the  valley  of  her  mind  where  nothing  but  a  broken  fairy-tale  incandesced  in  the  consuming  nothingness.  

  Had he not remained perpendicular on a sideward angle, he might have had to have vacated his spot so soon. And ah, how he’d come to enjoy his location. Noticing the commendable dexterity of the other, the other unenthused disposition warped into a callow, scheming smile of devilish pugnacity. The honour of serving beneath him was tribute enough within gleaming, nefarious textures of a molten sunlight. Pride exhibited itself in wanton governance. Both opposing forces meet in a deafening clash, the volatile mix resulted in an encompassing eruption, torn asunder down the centre until the beam diminished into nothingness.

                                                  “…”

" A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love. That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind."

It takes moments before quiescence plagues omnipotent zephyr, unblinking spheres upon the ever-close countenance of one whom stood near. Tensions ring about unforgiving conduct, crown of darkest shade tilted astern. It had been long days since the two had clashed, brethren in career but irritances upon the palm of solitude. Nary a thought as to what aberration craves his temper this eve, he appeals to no words, rather instead dealing with the blank perfume of empyreal silence. Awareness is nigh upon his mind, shoulders taut against the rhythm of unsung disquietude.

Pithy features croon in a wakeful stupefaction, the youth blinking once and settling undecided gaze on vengeful malachite. Mind still cringes with what taint accompanied through out ‘her’  shadow, thoughts bruised with the palette of fearsome nature— Pessimism and the sort that would lure baited populace into inexorable nature.

"Nature doesn’t disdain what lives only for a day. It pours the whole of itself into the each moment. We don’t value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life’s bounty is in its flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it’s been sung? The dance when it’s been danced? It’s only we humans who want to own the future, too. We persuade ourselves that the universe is modestly employed in unfolding our destination." inquired in a low lyricism, haunting cadence floating upon the winds like a lance of ice. It was scarcely even so much as an address towards the Hollow, drifting away like a plume of winter air to nothing in particular;

We  note  the  haphazard  chaos  of  history  by  the  day,  by  the  hour,  but  there  is  something  wrong  with  the  picture.  Where  is  the  unity,  the  meaning,  of  nature's  highest  creation?  [...]  If  we  can't  arrange  our  own  happiness,  it's  a  conceit  beyond  vulgarity  to  arrange  the  happiness  of  those  who  come  after  us.

He  need  not  enquire  about  that  which  had  no  definite  answer.  And  she  need  not  ponder  over  the  astonishing  cruelty  of  his  own  interpretation.  For  in  the  timeless  dimension  where  logic  had  been  eradicated  and  where  nothing  but  irrational  ideals  had  been  nurtured  -  there  his  own  dreams  acquired  their  shape.  For  he  -  expelled  from  the  Heavens  and  exiled  in  the  bitter  ashes  of  his  own  demise  -  sublimated  that  which  was  naught  but  evil  into  romanticise  purity  and  untainted  glory.  

And  he,  bound  with  eternal  chains  in  the  impervious  darkness,  swaddled  his  aeterna veritas  in  vain  hope  to  regain  that  which  had  been  long  lost.  And  silently  did  he  depict  the  array  of  his  thoughts  and  plot  the  rebellion  against  all  that  was  unchangeable,  declaring  man  a  fool  before  his  powers.  And  waiting  for  the  most  exalted  moment  -  he  quietly  demanded  an  illusion  and  he  lived  for  the  very  same  illusion  which  will  prove  to  be  nothing  but  a beautiful  failure  - turning  his  dream  into  a  mist  of  black  dust.  The  desire  to  extricate  all  creatures  from  the  inevitable  sorrow  that  burdens  their  souls  and  mars  their  countenance,  would  soon  defile  not  only  his  flesh,  but  also  his  spirit.  Yes;  good  without  evil  cannot  exist,  but  yielding  fully  to  the  shadows  will  bring  only  condemnation.  And  she  -  what  was  she  to  do  with  someone  whose  fate  had  been  predestined?  Perhaps  she  must  plunge  into  the  undiscovered  flames  of  his  world  and  clutch  the  last  thread  of  reason  possessed?  Or  destroy  all  that  threatens  to  unleash  misery  upon  man  in  a  single  flicker.  

The  obscurity  of  her  own  thoughts  was  heightened  and  wrought  into  a  firm  mask  of  utter  indifference.  The  faintest  hint  of  rebuke  hovered  spectrally  above  ivory  skin.  Lonely  pensiveness  veiled  the  cursory  glance  she  offered.  Waxed  wings  -  too  near  to  the  sun.  Knowing  she'd  fall.  Knowing  she'd  plummet  weightlessly  into  the  darkness  which  was  he,  spiralling  into  the  perpetual  void  like  autumn  leaves  amidst  a  storm  and  still  voyaging  into  the  unknown.  Hubristic  girl  pulled  into  the  whirling  hurricane  of  his  thoughts.   

"And  yet  man  is  the  only  creature  who  refuses  to  be  what  he  is.  Life  is  to  be lived,  not  controlled;  you  wish  to  surround  yourself  in  figments  of  your  own  imagination  -  everything  and  anything  except  the  real.  In  a  sunless  garden,  flowers  die."