“Bring her daughter,” he orders them.
Samiel, as a king in his own mind, liked to live in modern luxury, not despair. He saves that for those who deserve it. He created a keep where he lived with a harem of woman and a few select Fallen he was able to free. The humans were given food, water, clothing, and medicine when needed. In exchange for their lives, they were allowed the comforts of home; including visits with their children. There was no tolerance for disobedience. The fallen angels were entombed deep in the earth, and it is here he returns when one of the watchers needs to be taught a lesson.
Varena recognizes it at once. This hell on earth, it was here she watched her father and villagers die. “No, No, No, please I will do anything you ask, just don’t do this!” she begs him.
“Varena,” he mother reassures her, “It’s going to be okay. We are going to be together again soon. They are all free,” Rebecca says when he tosses her towards the edge of the cliff.
“Mom, what did you do?” Varena asks in horror. Rebecca looks up at her daughter and clutches her bleeding stomach.
“I will spare your Mother’s life if you give me your word that you will not fight me, but take her place as mother to a new nation.” Looking at her mother struggle to her feet, Varena tries to run forward but is jerked quickly back by Tieran, the fallen angel holding her.
“Forgive me, Rena,” her mother calls out and steps off the cliff into the chasm below. Her screams are cut short when she is caught midair by an angel.
“Your death won’t be that easy, Watcher” he tells her as she is thrown back on the rocky floor.
“Give him nothing, Varena!” Rebecca screams, “You are a child of the true King! Never forget that, daughter!”
Grabbing Rebecca by her throat Samiel, lifts her in the air screaming at her “Where is your King now, Watcher?!”
“My Brothers,” he calls out to those that have gathered to watch. “Here is a woman who still believes in her maker. Who is this Maker that he allows you to suffer so, where is he now?” he screams at her, shaking her.
“He lives in me, Mocker,” Rebecca says in a garbled voice.
“Well, by all means, let us set him free!” he rages at her and pulls the hunting knife she used on herself and the children. Placing the knife in her hand, he says, “Show me.”
Screaming, she tries not to let her hand move, but she can’t fight his power. Varena tries to cover her ears against the screams and wet cutting sounds as the knife bites deeply. Crying through her black eye and busted lip, Rena begins to pray for help. A part of her wants to die; to be freed like her mother, but there is a small part of her heart that still holds hope for freedom.
“I offer you a chance at redemption, daughter” he says while laughing, and jerks her hands away from her face.
“I see you for what you really are. You are Fear,” Varena screams, glaring into the eyes of death. “Do Not Call Me Daughter, Mocker! I am a daughter of the True King!”
Enraged at her continued defiance, he strikes her once more across her face. “We will see how long you have faith in your king; put her in the cell,” he tells the angel holding her.
Tieran tosses her into a special cell strong enough to hold an angel; he does not look back as he walks away. Varena sees that it is deep underground. Formed out of the volcanic rock that houses the Fallen, it is dark and hot. A special hell designed to torture. Beaten, bruised, broken and lost, Varena thinks she is at rock bottom. She does not know that her real hell is just beginning.
“How much does it take to break a daughter of the true king?” Samiel’s mocking voice asks. “We shall see, soon enough.” Leaving her to a new nightmare, he returns to the keep needing to clean up the mess left behind. Time to find some replacements for the ones lost today, he thinks.
Varena slides down the wall of the dark, boiling, tomb. She smells the sulfur from the volcanic mountain. Occasionally the rumble of thunder and lightning occurs. The stench increases as the mountain releases some of its pressure. Sweating, she wishes for a cool drink and begins pacing in her cell. “How to get out of here?” she wonders running her hands along the darkened wall. No windows, no doors can be found, just hot rock. Frustrated and scared, she wonders what her future holds.
Blind, she feels her way along the wall with her hands. She jumps back when she feels a vibration. A sudden glow illuminates the barrier, turning it a translucent amber color. Flinching from the sudden light; she freezes waiting for her eyes to focus. That’s when she hears it.
“VaReeeena, did you miss me, Rena?” The sound of her screaming reaches every corner of hell and Raphaim laughs.
Five
Tieran came to Varena in her dreams, drawn to her by the light in her soul. At first he merely wanted to be near her. He chose to visit her when he could safely offer her peace, dreams of beauty, of places she could never imagine, and dreams of freedom. He became hope; hope of more than the hell she was living. He strengthened her faith when she could not do it herself. Her mother had taught her the history of her people, and he brought the history to life in her dreams.
Guarding the prisoners was boring and tedious. When
