The Legend of the Dark Angels - Oneshot
Author: Star_Sarang
Rating: PG-13
Length: 1/1
Genre: Thriller
Warning(s): character death
A/N: I actually wrote this for my English class~ ^^ <3
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With a small stature, thin arms, and legs obviously not built for running, Taemin ignored all of his physical disadvantages and ran as quickly as he could through the thick greenery that shot sky-high above his head. Rays of a soft golden-orange danced through the split branches of the massive trees, shining upon the dry, brown leaves that crunched beneath his small feet clad in weather-worn sandals. While down at the pier nearly a mile or two down the road from his house, he'd lost track of time while playing with the fish and turtles. His mother had given him a specified time of before dusk to return home, for fear of the dark angels coming to sweep away anything that was left in darkness.
Taemin knew the legend of the dark angels. The angels, always dressed in black with large soft wings of dark feathers extended from the regular human shoulder blade, had been regular humans, until the day Lucifer decided to invade the earth with his army of angels that grew ever so steadily over the millennia. Anything left in the dark was taken by the dark angels, used by the beasts to create a new dark monster of the night. Any house without a lit candle and a secured door was commandeered as a hideout, a safe haven for the angels if they needed immediate shelter.
As the glowing orb situated in the sky sunk lower behind the trees, Taemin mentally recounted the horrible tales of the dark angels, heightening his own fear. He remembered the town storyteller mentioning fangs of poison and claws of ivory, able to sink through muscle and tissue to rip out a living heart; the perfection and beauty of their faces used to tempt men, seduce them, plunging them to their doom. The angels were ruthless, heartless, merciless, playing with humans like toys, like a broken guitar incorrectly strung, taut and stressed until the point of snapping. The angels spared no man, woman, or child, feasting on the very soul of living beings as food and substance, for no mortal food could satisfy the immortal need of the spirits.
The sun had finally extinguished, sleeping for the night as the moon arrived to take the sun's place as a source of light. However, tonight was the night of no moon; therefore, there was no lantern above to guide young, frail Taemin home. Luckily for the teenager, he spotted his dwelling, a candle flickering in the window. Taemin hastened his pace, tripping on his own two feet and a couple tree roots, eager to reach his home, his mama, and be safe within the walls of thin, worn wood and packed mud.
"Mama!!" he screamed, banging upon the solid wood door. "Open the door!”
"Go away!" she yelled, voice trembling with obvious fear.
“Mama! It’s me! It’s Taemin!” the boy shouted louder, trying to break down the door, desperate to get inside.
"The angels whispered to me. They had taken my boy as their own already. You're no son of mine!” she shrieked. “Eaten alive by the heartless souls, was he who was my son-changed by the dark angels, altered into a creature of the night! Be gone from my home, demon! I have nothing more for your taking!"
Taemin stood gawking at his mother’s words, stunned and shocked that she would say such a thing to her own son, her own blood! She didn’t believe that this was him, convinced that her child had been abducted and transformed by the dark angels, and now was knocking upon her door for her soul, like the cold, bony hands of death come to stake a claim on her life. The boy shook off the harsh words of his mother and regained his sense of survival. Knowing he could not stay out in the dark and cold any longer, Taemin could only think to run all the way to the nearest town, at least ten miles away, and seek shelter there. The angels would be out soon, out to terrorize, out to feast, out to play in the shadows of the trees, in the streaming brook nearby, and out to stretch their luscious wings for the night, until they were turned back to stone at dawn, unable to awaken until the wolves howled for their presence in the dark.
Taemin ran haphazardly around the forest, completely unaware of where he was headed. Soft hoots of owls and hisses of snakes rode upon the frigid wind that battered against the small boy. His legs burned as he stumbled across the large tree roots and dead leaves. He could feel the soil becoming softer, wetter.
Meek stars winked down on the exhausted orange haired boy, his panting breath visualized in puffs of smoke in front of him. Taemin swallowed dryly, trying to compensate for the lack of water in his mouth and body. He sat on a large rock, cold and jagged as well as slimy with moss. His ears strained to listen for a sound, any sound that would suggest that some dark monster were out there to get him. In the distance he could hear the gentle rushing of the brook, a source of water, a remedy for his thirst!
Despite the trembling of his legs, Taemin pushed himself off of the rock to trudge his way toward the stream, his promise of sweet, cold water trickling down his throat. Suddenly, as if like a flash of lightening striking upon an upright tree in the center of a plain, a piece of the legend of the dark angels screamed out at him. The angels play near the brook at night. While sitting upon the wet rocks drying their feet, they sing. A song so sweet, so thick with want, many were lured toward them, inclined to follow the melodious voices. And they were no joke.
Taemin's legs abruptly buckled, scrapping his knees through the thin cloth of his cotton pants on the squishy soil, moist with a thin layer of water that fell upon the ground with the cracked, useless leaves that the trees shed around this time of year. The Angels' Song-as most villagers called it-had reached Taemin's unprotected ears.
"Little boy, alone at night," the gentle voices sang. "Little boy, shaking with fright."
A bone-deep chill shivered through Taemin's body as the words sank into his mind, the wind rising into a sudden frenzy as the voices grew louder. He wrapped his thin arms around himself, attempting to shield himself from the ruthless gusts of leaves smacking him in the face and arms. Ignoring the pain in his legs once again, the dryness of his throat, and the profuse shivering of his thin body battered by the cold and harsh elements, the frightened boy managed to stagger upright onto his feet and run, run farther away from the brook, away from the stream where angels play and sing. But running away didn't stop the whispers from growing louder and louder, echoing in his ears.
"Run all you want, but it won't do any good," the angels hissed. "The angels know your each and every move."
Dark, nearly pitch black around him, yet Taemin still gazed up at the sky, searching for some sort of illumination, for the moon, but only weak specs glinted above. Suddenly, the sharp cracking of twigs reverberated through the air, but silence soon followed. The owls and crickets had ceased all hooting and whistling. Taemin's harsh pants were the only sound left as well as the moaning wind.
The young farmer's son whipped around, trying to find his enemy, find the angels that pursued him. A freezing chill shuddered through his body as the soft beating of giant feathered wings circled around him. Because of the dark and speed of the angels, Taemin could not even see the outlines of the creatures that had arrived to claim this lowly boy as a new toy.
"All alone at night we see," the voices sang through the trees. "All alone is little Taeminnie."
The boy froze at the mention of the nickname "Taeminnie" that his mother had chosen for him.
"H-How do you know my name?!" he yelled into the dark, wondering if the angels had heard him.
"We know all, little boy," the voices answered. A silence followed and Taemin was suddenly crying, an unexplainable dread hammering in his chest, fear completely overpowering all other emotions. He couldn’t even run anymore. As terrified as he was, Taemin just wanted to die already.
Legs giving out underneath him, the boy slumped to the ground, arms wrapped around himself for protection, tiny frame shivering with fright, teeth chattering loudly from the icy wind. An angel chuckled and dared to grace Taemin with his presence, kneeling down to be leveled with the small boy. Awe and astonishment washed over Taemin as he gazed into the face of the angel, the deep brown eyes staring right back at him. With long, flowing brown hair, tan skin, and a gentle smile, the shivering boy memorized every detail of the angel. The hand of the dark creature threaded through Taemin’s orange hair. The boy could do nothing, stunned by the beauty of the angel.
The human thought to himself, How could such a beautiful creature cause such destruction or kill? How could this possibly be a monster, a creature of evil, of Lucifer? The angel grinned widely, teeth peeking out from behind his lips. Something unusual caught Taemin’s eyes as the angel smiled. There were large pointed fangs, like that of a vampire.
Before the boy could even gasp, the angel had extracted Taemin’s soul from his body using an ancient supernatural method of Lucifer’s. The body of the little boy crumpled onto the ground, cold and ghostly pale. Taemin’s soul was now in the hands of the dark angels, waiting to be turned into some evil beast of the night, and to be used at Lucifer’s disposal.