The Stag and the Archangel

The Stag and the Archangel (WoH)
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2006
Iberta County, Connecticut
(Operation Shadow War)

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It was a large expanse surrounded by a forest where an ever-present black mist hung low. The path towards the settlement was heralded by large wooden stakes driven upwards from the ground. Each one has a carving of a human body seemingly impaled by the stake similar to the victims of the Voivode of Wallachia.

The settlement itself was not backwards, though each houses were mostly made of woods native from the trees of the forest itself. The community was not Amish since its inhabitants lived with modern technology, but either due to their distance from the nearest civilization or their attitude towards strangers, they were isolated.

Their indifference towards visitors stemmed from the fact that they were simply protecting them from the attention of a local cult whose faith was centered around an old god whose existence predated the community's establishment. Altars containing idols of a three-headed humanoid stag with conjoint antlers were seen in random places and some who were unlucky enough to be found by these cults rarely resurfaced.

In every single person who was lost, a large stake miraculously appeared.

As the autumn approaches, a silent festival was held to appease the god and protect themselves from his cult. Despite the observance, the cult still drag people out of their homes to the wilderness, their wails echoing across the county's empty streets before fading as an echo. More of the sinister impaled carvings appear but strangely enough, the face of the human sculpture resembled those who were taken. Whether they were effigies or something else remained unknown as no one dared to find out in fear of catching unwanted attention.

During autumn itself, the forestry wailed with the sounds of the dying. The earth shook as a colossal being approached the settlement. The cultists came first, each one wearing black sackcloth over their heads with the symbol of their cult painted on the front: a line impaling a triangle. Their bare torsos were full of scars while their long trousers and fur-skinned boots were filled with small effigies of their god.

Behind them, horned beings with human torsos and equine lower bodies appeared. Their heads were skeletal and snouted, red eyes glowed in the gloom. They held spears in their hands like some primitive hunters.

As they advanced towards the village, it was their god who came next. Tall and gaunt, it possessed six arms: three on each sides. Three heads of a stag, all reduced to a skull, shared in one body, their horns were conjoined that turning to one direction would prove difficult to the creature but if they shared one intelligence, full view is afforded to them.

It was dark crimson in color, nude and frequently wailing the cries of the dying. How it mimicked the sounds, no one knows. Its eyes glowed in yellow as it surveyed the village before it. The hands of the entity formed signs that are blasphemous in Occultism. The Grimoires called it, "Morticornus", one of the Archdemons in Hell. It damned those who follow it, but blessed them with temporary protection and power.

From the distance, light fell vertically. Its source reached the ground without disturbance. Light slowly dissipated, revealing a winged entity in gold. A red plume can be seen on the top of his conical helmet. His face was obscured by a cross-slitted faceplate. Quietly, his head swivelled back and forth; the silver crucifix on his right shoulder and the large silver rosary worn around his waist like a cincture glinted under the moonlight. Without further delay, the lone entity walked forward.

As he neared the settlement, the trees shook. It was as if the environment protested against his presence. The entity paused and observed one of the trees. He heard a faint cry emanating from it. Soon, droplets of blood dripped along the bark. It increased in frequency until they flooded the soil.

The entity ignored it as he continued on.

Shortly, he came across the large stakes on the ground. What caught his attention was the "life-like" sculpture of humans impaled by the wooden stakes. The entity could feel the residue of a death echo--it only meant one thing: the human was once alive and had been reduced into a wood. The transmutation was even messy as some of them still contained traces of flesh.

Following the stakes aligned like welcoming arch, he entered the settlement where the humanoid three-headed stag Archdemon stood in utter silence while watching him with its nine yellow eyes. It stood like a king awaiting an execution of a notorious prisoner. Before it, the Demon legionnaires of the Satyr Guards and their human cultists in black sackcloths were ready to act.

The entity halted before them.

"It has been a long time...since I have seen someone like you." For the first time, the Archdemon spoke. It was surprisingly audible, but the language it used was incomprehensible to the human ears. "Who could might you be? Have you come to deliver a message, Angel?"

"I am Michael of the Seven." The winged entity in gold replied. His voice was firm and echoing, but with authoritative clarity. "I came here not to deliver a message." He paused as his hand went to his sword's hilt. "I am THE message."

The Archdemon laughed.

"Tear him to pieces." It said. "If he is the message, then he shall be my reply to Heaven." It laughed, but its mirth was joined with the wails of the dying. "In pieces!"

The cultists and the Satyr Guards advanced towards the Archangel. Michael drew his sword; the Burning Blade sparked in flames before flames consumed it whole. There was no battle cry; Michael simply advanced with a speed impossible to perceive. One second he remained in his place, the next he was a breath away from the closest human. He cut him down with his sword, reducing him to a charred flesh.

He turned to the next threat: a group of three cultists swinging their chain locks in the air, advancing in his direction. The Archangel aimed his hand at them and sent forth a powerful force which shattered every bones in their bodies. They folded like wet cardboard to the ground; helpless in their state before dying slowly. Michael walked past them. He advanced to meet a larger group of humans with a plethora of barbaric weapons.

They yelled immoral chants and dark prayers to their demon masters. Michael saw them as just another threat to be removed from the battlefield. He swept the nearest one with a diagonal strike; the flames of his sword evaporated the human in an instant. A second strike had taken two lives in an instant. Michael raised his free hand at the other humans and let loose a streak of lightning which branched off from the middle and struck two men simultaneously.

The remaining three began to retreat; Michael's empty hand went to his sidearm: a Ray Pistol magnetically attached to his left thigh. He snapped three quick shots, eliminating the humans with shots to the back.

The Satyr Guards advanced at the lone Archangel. The first one swung its sword at Michael in a downward motion. The Archangel sent a destructive force at the Demon's skull, breaking every inch of enamel within. It fell down without a fight. Michael struck the second Demon who approached from the Archangel's northwest. The blade dug itself into the skull of the Demon, a vital organ was struck. In an instant, it's body went limp, its weapon clattered to the ground.

He kicked the Satyr Guard away. Three Demon Legionnaires approached and managed reach him in a close range. They swung their weapons at the Archangel in the same time.

Michael raised his arm in defense; a semi-transparent shield manifested out of thin air. The words "Quis Ut Deus" was written on its surface. As the weapons made contact, it glowed and rippled, but none penetrated the shield itself.

He shoved them away; the push made them vulnerable for a moment but it was the only thing Michael needed. With a horizontal swing, he eviscerated the trio; their bowels spilled onto the grassy soil.

He struck another Satyr Guard with a downward strike before impaling another one; both Demons fell to the ground as another one advanced bravely at the Archangel with a leap. Michael thrust his palm in the direction of the Satyr Guard. The Demon was suspended midair, unable to move a muscle. The Archangel did no show any emotion as he clenched his palm into a fist. In an instant, the Satyr Guard disappeared in a mist of red.

More human cultists and Satyr Guard Demon Legionnaires advanced with Morticornus watching behind them. Michael eyed the Archdemon before cutting down swathes of cultists and Demons. Each stroke was without fury but cold and total obedience to the one who sent him.

He strike landed true, rending flesh and bones. The fire from his blade which consumed their corpses burned until nothing remained. Michael occasionally send telepathic force against larger groups, destroying their skeletal structures to give them quick deaths. He would sometimes employ elemental attacks, switching between flames and lightning, rarely holy light out of preference. He swung his sword with a purpose which severed the leg of a Satyr Guard before ending his life with a decapitating strike.

The last of them was a human cultist who found himself lying on the ground when the Archangel shoved a fist against his chest. It made his lungs unresponsive for a few minutes because of the trauma. When he finally felt himself breathing, the tip of the Burning Blade landed onto his breastbone. Michael drove the blade deeper as the human tried to reach for Michael.

"Be not afraid," Michael whispered. "Be terrified, O sinner."

As the human went still, Michael pulled the sword and hefted it. The quiet breeze of the night blew past. For the first time, Iberta County has never encountered such peacefulness. The Archangel slowly turned to the three-headed stag Archdemon watching from the distance.

Michael knew there are no words to be said anymore. He advanced.

Morticornus extended its claws and met him head on. Each of the six arms struck the Archangel, who parried it with his sword. As blade blocked off claws, Michael ducked beneath fifth arm before parrying the sixth arm with his left wing.

Metallic feathers sparked as it collided with Morticornus' claw. Michael aimed the pommel of his sword at the middle head of the Archdemon and thrust it with full force. Morticornus took a step back, a vertical crack appeared on its skull. Michael followed it with a downward stroke.

The blade lacerated the Archdemon's chest. In retaliation, it lashed out with its claws but Michael simply raised his wings to cover himself. The attack failed to do much damage. He followed it with a thrust of his sword, which Morticornus evaded with a leap backwards.

The Archdemon wailed with its three heads. The cries of the dead echoed in the immediate vicinity. It failed to affect the Archangel when Michael advanced towards the damned creature. Morticornus invoked flames with its hands and hurled it at Michael.

He struck the first two fireballs down while the third landed harmlessly on the surface of his wings. He extinguished the fourth with a gale of wind before striking down the fifth. He launched a fireball of his own which dissipated upon colliding with the sixth. Michael launched a kick directed at Morticornus' chest.

The Archdemon took a few steps backwards. Michael attacked again when Morticornus struck the ground with one of its fist. The Archangel sensed movement beneath him and quickly rolled away, just in time to avoid a large wooden stake launching upwards from the ground.

Michael paused before resuming action. He felt another movement and quickly evaded with an abrupt manner, avoiding the second wooden stake. He sent a telepathic force directed at the right head of the Archdemon. Morticornus let out another cry as one of its heads crumbled into pulverized bone. The Archdemon used it as an opportunity to amputate two arms from the enemy with a downward strike, lopping off its limbs.

It was in complete disbelief. Morticornus glanced at the bleeding stumps where its arms had been.

"Wh-what are you? Who are you?"

"You have underestimated me." Michael said as he approached, the Burning Blade flaming bright in his hand. "Let me remind you that I was there when the First Leviathan died. I was there when the renegade angels fell. Of all the things I have suppressed, you do not even come close to the lesser of them all."

Morticornus roared at the insult before charging at the Archangel. Michael quickly raised his sidearm and snapped a quick shot at the left head of the Archdemon. He fired a second shot, directed at one of the arms of Morticornus, detonating its hand in a plume of red. The Archdemon was surprised that it simply froze on the spot.

Michael did not react. Without hesitation, he advanced at Morticornus and swung upwards, splitting the middle head in half before finally bisecting the Archdemon's body with a horizontal swing. Morticornus fell to the side in two pieces. Soon enough, it burned away before disappearing in a mist of black.

The Archangel watched the mist fade away. Silence soon settled. Within a night, Iberta County was safe. The Archdemon and its cult was gone, but there was nothing he could do for their victims.

He struck the ground with his sword; the wooden stakes with human sculptures began to tremble. Soon, they fractured into pieces as the souls trapped within began to rise up to the heavens above.

In silence, he exited the village with no intention to return.

[END]