When We Were Still Human by Vaughn Foster (best ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕

Val didn’t know how long she stared. The mural in front of her was like the six others beside it. Each detailed to the impression of being animate. This particular mural displayed a creature, much like the one that had turned her. It poised on a pile of human carcasses. Blood gushed from the heap like streams down a hillside. Val gulped. Even without the purple rune or the “V” beneath the image, it was obvious. It was a painting of her.

“Didn’t expect you to find this place so soon.”

Val barely noticed Vladimir step beside her. Her eyes wandered around the cave to the other paintings:

VI- A pale horned figure in a long robe. He stood alone on a boat. He faced away from the shore where several people stood with their backs turned.

VII- A child in an oversized crown. Behind him was the image of a dragon and wolf intertwined. The beasts were spiraled in a double helix until the two heads met at the top in a snarling glare.

Stepping away from Vladimir, Val examined the first three paintings. To her left was a woman on fire. Beside it, the Gemini constellation. Painted overtop the stars were two stick figures in chains with what looked like white blood covering their hands. Number two was an angel with red hair bowing before a throne.

Val scrunched her brow as she stared at where the first painting should have been. In place of an image was simply the roman numeral I.

“I asked Michael about that one,” Vladimir said, securing his hands in his pockets as he stepped forward. “The first curse could have been any of the sins. My grandfather’s character molded him into Lust. Because he began the curse, no prophetic image.”

Val turned away from the murals. “What’s the point of all this,” she muttered.

Vladimir stepped back to block the exit, but Val only rolled her eyes and sat down. He raised an eyebrow, but when it was clear she wasn’t going to flee, he sat beside her.

“Well, to fix the world, I guess,” he said with a shrug.

“The ends don’t justify the means,” Val said bitterly.

Vladimir chuckled to himself, then nostalgically looked back at the murals. He twisted around and pointed to the opposite wall. “Look at that one.”

Val turned and tried to make sense of what she was looking at. Taking up the entire wall was the depiction of an island. The buildings and structures were strikingly similar to what she’d seen of Le Ciel. Along with stick figure denizens were domineering characters with enormous wings. These figures flew above the island.

Val squinted to make out the finer details when a loud crack made her jump back. Large fissures spidered across the mural and the angels faded from the stone. Seconds later, it was back to normal. Then it cracked and changed again.

“Kadia was built as a middle ground between Le Ciel and Earth,“ Vladimir said softly. “In the old world, the Annwn and Earth Proper were one. The Kadians were intercessors between angels, humans, and the mirage.”

Val watched the mural crack and reform. Her eyes narrowed on the empty space created when the angels disappeared. “What happened to them?”

“Humanity was already on the decline from war, corruption, famine and plagues. Then demons and gods set up theocracies that demanded human sacrifice. Kadia wasn’t immune and fell into the occult as well. The angels didn’t intervene. When they realized their mistake, they divided the Annwn from Earth Proper and cut Kadia from the rest of existence. By that point, whatever demonic deals they made overtook the island. Legend says it was eaten from the inside out."

“E- eaten by what?” The horrible mural eyed her from behind. The painting of her—of Gluttony. Vladimir didn’t answer.

The loop on the wall continued. The island broke apart again and again until Val finally looked away. Turning around, she gazed over the seven paintings.

Jaw set, she swallowed and stared ahead at the stone. “So,” she stated, voice practically gravel. “The angels saw things going south, ignored it until the last minute, and now want to kill everyone as a ‘do over’?”

He nodded. “That’s about right.”

“Can you not hear how irresponsible that it is? You made a mistake! You neglected humans and now you just want to kill us off? If angels are supposed to be in charge, then it should be up to them to fix it!”

“This is fixing it, Val!” Vladimir halfheartedly punched the ground and let out a frustrated sigh. “There is no way to ‘repair’ the morality of a planet, or to enchant away millennia of death and disease. This is as close to perfection as we can get.”

“Who said we wanted perfect?” Val spat. “Some of us just want to live.”

Vladimir was silent a moment before meeting her eyes again. The constantly swirling tattoos danced in the darkness. They swam over his arms and stretched towards his neck. Val stifled the urge to look away; his black irises dared her to, but she kept his gaze. “Apologies,” he said finally. He exhaled and the shadows retreated to his forearms. “I forgot. Humans emote before logical processing. You don’t quite understand yet.”

Val shot upright and glared. “Don’t patronize me. What don’t I understand? You people want to commit global genocide! I don’t want anything to do with you, I just want to go home!”

“Okay.”

She coughed, not sure she’d heard him right. “Okay?”

“Mmhmm.”

She looked him over, waiting for a sly grin or smirk. There was none.

“But Michael said—”

Vladimir gave a dismissive wave. “I know what Michael said. He won’t care. By the time we’re done, you’ll be begging to come back.”

“I can promise you that I won’t, but—” Val caught the fifth painting in the corner of her eye and faltered.