Chapter 1 – Blood and Ashes
Rain fell from the dark, angry clouds of the sky like the cries of the heavens.
They pattered the ground mercilessly, causing the inhabitants of Paris to take out their umbrellas, walking rapidly as if wishing for nothing but to get home.
Ah, but that was something Emrys could not quite relate to.
He was sitting on a stony bench inside a small, empty park made for children. He wore an all-black suit — now drenched by the deluge — his head ducked low pitifully, grey hair like ashes sticking to his face like glue.
His mind began to churn, dancing in all directions at the events that had just happened.
Still now, everything felt surreal, as if he was in some kind of nightmare he had been thrust into without warning.
But wasn't that how it was?
Death never sent an email before knocking at one's door.
And just like that, it felt like he was falling into a bottomless pit when death came to him. Well, not him.
But his father.
Today was the funeral day of his father.
The one who had raised him alone, when his mother died during childbirth. The one and only being Emrys could truly count on, without fear of rejection or misunderstanding.
It was that person who had left, leaving him with nothing but an open wound that didn't look ready to close.
'Now,' Emrys thought, balling his drenched fists, 'what should I do?'
'Should I just go back home and see…her?'
The simple thought invoked a rush of irrational anger inside Emrys's chest, knotting his stomach into a ball of ice.
Her. His own stepmother, and the one he blamed for the death of his father.
Emrys knew it was illogical.
His stepmother was suffering as much as he was. If he had lost a father, she had lost a husband and the potential father of her children.
Emrys knew she had done nothing except love his father. Oh, he knew it well. But at that instant, he couldn't care less.
He needed something — someone — to blame.
And she was the perfect choice.
How could she not be? In a sense, she did kill his father.
If it wasn't for her, his father wouldn't have contracted HIV. And if his father had not been so eager to marry her — as if under some kind of dark spell — they could have done the proper procedures to check if there were any issues between them.
But no.
Love was blind like that. Or maybe his father was simply stupid.
Emrys couldn't tell.
The more these thoughts flashed through his mind, the more lost Emrys became about what to do.
So he sat there, watching slowly as the people of Paris strode hurriedly around him, each one trapped in the bubble of their own life, none caring about a human being soaked by rain in the middle of a deserted park.
Sometimes Emrys received a look. But all were pitiful stares one would give to a mentally deranged person.
He didn't care.
He slowly lifted his head, frowning inwardly as he noticed how strangely heavy the rain was.
Each raindrop seemed to crack against his already tired body.
He was of a lean build, eighteen years old, with enough muscle to show that he had hit the gym once or twice without real commitment.
Shaking his head to clear the water from his eyes, Emrys tilted his head upward. He watched the sky with dark, ebony eyes. The heavens were filled with swirling, furious clouds that moved viciously across the firmament.
His gaze remained fixed for a long, long while, and there…Emrys began to see something.
At first, it was nothing more than a small crimson light blinking in and out like an eye. But slowly, the light grew in magnitude.
The rain suddenly intensified, audibly creaking the muscles of Emrys, and others began to notice the abnormality of the situation.
The atmosphere grew solemn, a heavy pressure hanging in the air like terrible news yet to be spoken.
People halted, looking upward with varying emotions. Yet all felt a rising, nameless horror slither through their bodies at the sight of the sky.
Emrys mechanically pushed himself up, trying to stand, but his feet wobbled as if made of water. He collapsed onto his knees as a thunderous cracking sound boomed across the world.
He gasped, then yelped in disbelief.
The earth writhed and twisted like a man in agony, throwing Emrys across the muddy ground.
Barely managing to stop himself, Emrys snapped his head upward. He sucked in a deep, painful breath that tightened his chest at the horrendous sight above.
The sky was shattered asunder, looking as if it was about to fall upon them.
No.
It was about to fall.
Mayhem erupted. People screamed and ran in panic, only for some to be crushed by falling trees, shattered pillars, collapsing buildings, or speeding cars.
In that instant, the death of his father became meaningless as the world itself began to end.
And at the place where the sky had been torn open like a curtain, something began to emerge.
A Tower.
Emrys remained kneeling, his suit stained with mud from the ground, yet he barely cared. Because high above…
"Am I dreaming?"
…blood and ashes fell from the shattered heavens.
—End of chapter 1—