Chapter 23 — To Pass
Lana/Apolliana:
As soon as I move closer to the melee, my sisters halt their fighting and face me.
“Stop, sisters! What we’re doing is wrong!” I call out pleadingly.
“Traitor!” Death calls out as she launches herself toward me.
We both collide in a clash of power. The others try to attack the men as they fight The Creator, but I circumvent them before they intervene.
My sisters are strong, but I wield the ultimate power. When one slashes at my back, I roll away, barely avoiding her, skewering my spine. Unfortunately, she does manage to do some damage, but I don’t let it deter me.
As I fight my sisters, I try to reason with them but soon realize that, unlike me, my sisters do not have a tether to this world. I have my sister and Lucifer. My sisters do not know their mates well enough to feel affection, and there’s no one they care about here who can pull them back from the ledge—not even me.
War flies behind me and grips me by the neck as Death plunges her sword forward. I kick out her wrist and disarm her elbow Death in the stomach and kick out at Pestilence when she comes near.
Seeing that I have no choice, I fly over each woman, call to their power and siphon them off until my sisters vanish from sight. Sorrow fills me as each woman disappears. However, I don’t have time to mourn before the ceiling begins to come down on us.
The Creator roars as Lucifer and the others stab at him, but I can tell that they’re not gaining any ground. The Creator’s dragon breaks through the ceiling, revealing the utter destruction that has been reaped on earth. Flying up, I look through the opening and stifle a cry when I see dead bodies littering the bloody ground.
I think about what I can do to stop the destruction around me, but all I can do is repeat the apocalyptic prophecies that we’ve read. Humanity's sacrifice shall be its champion. Should love and goodness prevail, the world will be saved. Should death and greed succeed, the end shall be a new beginning filled with death, subjugation, and destruction.
The Creator strikes at the men, his dragon fire-spewing everywhere as he tries to burn the men to a cinder. His reptilian form is humongous as it hits its final stage of transition. Once he does, he will exit the seal and let loose his annihilation into the world.
The prophecy rings in my head again until I finally make sense. All this time, I thought about how a human cannot be sacrificed to save the world if they are sacrificed to end it. But I understand now. I look at my human hands and look down at The Creator’s Abyss and realize that I am the human who has to sacrifice. Though humanity shall fall, humanity's sacrifice shall turn the tide. For only one can be one, and the other, the other, with the exception of the Gemini and kin who shall set the pendulum on its course.
I am the Gemini. The only who is one and the other. I am an angel, and I am a human.
Pushing through The Dragon’s flailing claws, I move toward the current of power and look down at the endless abyss. As if Lucifer senses my intent, he looks back at me and calls out, “Don’t Lana!”
I shake my head as my tears rain down my face. “I love you, Lucifer,” I call out as I turn my sword to me and plunge it deep into my chest.
Lucifer’s mournful cry resounds throughout the cavern as my body plunges into The Creator’s abyss.
As I take my last breath and the sweet darkness of death creeps in, The Creator cries out with rage and shatters into pieces.
A smile adorns my lips when I think about my sister and Lucifer. Though I wish we had more time, I can rest peacefully knowing that at least I was loved.
Light flows around me, tearing at my wings and my fragile frame until I’m no longer skin and bones but particles of light being sucked into the seal. The world is safe now, and I cannot be sorry for my sacrifice.