Relato Corto Blog Fiction

Crashing Wings

C

A bright incandescent light blinded him. Jake felt an eternity passing by, and all he could see was a deep white void—as if light had space and volume.

Suddenly, the colors returned to his eyes, but Jake was no longer in the place he remembered. Even his memories were fading. What’s going on? he asked himself.

“Careful…my son,” said a being that appeared next to him.

Jake turned to look and saw the most beautiful expression of love. “Who are you?”

“I’m the consciousness of light.”

Jake smiled in understanding. “What am I doing here?” he asked and got up. “Where am I?”

“Don’t move so fast,” said the being of light. “Your judgement is about to begin.”

“Judged? Why? What did I do?”

“The answers will come when you are ready.”

Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Look, they’re entering the arena.”

In fact, they were surrounded by spectators—sitting in the stands of a coliseum, and in the arena two wooden gates opened.

“These beings were placed under your protection on your earthy birth,” said the being of pure light. “Let’s see which one is stronger.”

Jake couldn’t understand. However, he kept his eyes focused on the arena.

The first creature to come out was red and looked like a dinosaur. Its skin was thick as if made of rock. After entering, the beast roared, shocking the spectators.

“Look how big it is,” whispered one of the beings near Jake.

Then, and from the opposite side of the arena, a knight in silver armor emerged. It looked almost like a human but it had long white wings.

“Good work,” said the being of pure light. “It seems that this will be a show worthy of my presence.”

Jake didn’t know how to respond, and maintained his attention in the arena.

A loud bell started the battle. Although, the fighters didn’t seem to need a signal. The angel drew his sword and the audience was amazed at the gleam of the metal blade. At the other end, the demon with its large and sharp claws looked from place to place—until it found Jake. They seemed to have a pact, and the creature smiled for an instant. Then, lowering it’s gaze the beast charged toward its opponent.

The angel spread its wings and grabbed the sword’s hilt with both hands—floating towards the demon.

To the amazement of the expectators, a strong light illuminated the coliseum when they first collided. It was easy to see that they were fighters of the same level—the demon attacked by propelling himself with his powerful legs, and the angel took advantage of the distance to attack.

The fight seemed perfectly matched, when an oversight gave the demon an opening—the blow came as a surprise, smashing the silver helmet and knocking the angel to the arena’s ground. The demon jumped up to continue the attack, again and again hitting with its claws. But the angel, retreating, quickly got up and seemed on the verge of losing his balance. Then, the bell rang.

The Father got up and the fighters immediately stopped. “You’ve done a fine job.”

Jake turned to look at the most beautiful being he could imagine. “What do you mean?”

“In earthly life you are obliged to prepare your fighters,” said the Father. “I see you’ve been fair to both of them.”

The Father sat down and the fighters continued, the fight had to last three rounds of similar intervals—Jake looked surprised at the spectacle created by his earthly life. Just as the Father said, the beings seemed evenly matched. The second round continued without a surprise. However, the latter would be decisive.

Jake didn’t know which of his creations he should support. The two fought with such beauty, it was a show of lights and explosions—attacks and defenses.

The Father sat down again and the fight continued. The fighters looked exhausted, throwing combinations that seemed not to hurt their opponent—for them everything was different.

Metahel, the angel, had his armor in pieces—his muscular body and large wings were his only protections. Meanwhile, Joehael—the demon—pushed himself on all fours to attack. His strong stone cuirass had several marks left by the sword’s edge, and one of the horns on his head was cutted in half.

Metahel threw what was left of his armor to the ground, and took the hilt of his sword in both hands—splitting it in two. Surprisingly, a shield sprouted from the sword.

Joehael smashed the claws of his right arm against the shield, and a white light blinded him, the attack threw him backwards until he fell to the ground of the arena—the demon immediately turned to protect himself. However, he hadn’t regained his sight. He covered his face with his arms before he felt the blow of the sword.

With all his remaining strength, Metahel raised his sword to strike again. This time hitting the demon from the side, noticing a weakness on the demon’s thick skin.

The pain came suddenly, gnawing the demon. Joehael crawled backwards to evade the attacks, until he finally regained his sight and spun—landing on all fours, he propelled himself.

Breathing heavily, Metahel watched the demon rise—stepping back to protect himself behind his shield. Only this time the impact didn’t come.

Joehael landed, spinning at high speed, piercing the ground—catching the angel’s foot as he came out of the floor.

Jake watched in surprise as the demon threw the angel against the arena’s wall, and the blast of light blinded everyone for an instant. The spectators got up to see what was happening.

Metahel found the sword at his side, but the shield that withstood the impact was destroyed. However, he had to continue the fight, and he turned to look at the huge demon—celebrating.

A light moved from side to side—Metahel was that light. Trying to move fast before attacking, but Joehael was ready to defend himself.

Somehow, the demon knew where the attack would come, even though Jake couldn’t see the speeding angel. The light moved irregularly around the arena before crashing into Joehael.

Metahel pierced his sword against the demon’s arm and let go of it—letting his momentum carry him under the Joehael. With a precise movement, he drove a small blade into the weak spot of the demon’s thick skin.

Jake stood up noticing that the demon began to glow, and then it exploded.

The Father got up, ending the battle. “I had high expectations of you,” he said as he turned to look at Jake. “But you’ll have to try again.”

About the author

Sebastián Iturralde

Writer of enigmatic tales, weaving captivating narratives that provoke thought and stir the imagination. Unveiling the depths of human experience through words.

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Relato Corto Blog Fiction

About Author

Sebastián Iturralde

Writer of enigmatic tales, weaving captivating narratives that provoke thought and stir the imagination. Unveiling the depths of human experience through words.