Ecstasy is all I know. It's a heavenly feeling that no devil can truly understand.
That's how I know that he's a god. That's how I know that he's mine.
My body is nothing but heat.
If I could just stay here, I could burn through anything that comes my way. Even the past, the present, and the future.
Even the devil himself.
Ash
I'm floating above the world.
Weightless, endless, and free.
Free as a god.
I'm flying on the back of a beautiful angel. I hold onto a crown of thorns that sits upon its head. It lets out a piercing cry before diving down.
The beach is below us. The sand and the mist of the waves.
I can just make out the old boardwalk. I remember going there as a kid with my mom. We'd sit on the shore and watch the tide roll back.
Only, now, flames surround it.
The angel nosedives, and all I can feel is fear. Strange demons surround me. I know them as the Nephilim. They are giant devils with bat wings and long faces and sharp teeth. I remember learning about them in class.
I swing my back leg to the side and kick one away. I fire the pistol twice and manage to explode another that follows me. It turns into a pile of dead insects, but there are so many more of them.
I control the angel, turning it against the wind. We fly toward a rocky cliff and head downward.
The water near the shoreline sucks back before turning into a massive wave. It feels like the world is at odds with itself. Like it's already too late.
A group of the Nephilim attacks the angel with spears. It cries and loses velocity mid-flight. We start to spin as blood spills from the angel's side.
We're crashing.
There are more bodies on the shore that I hadn't seen before.
Loki and Heimdall look lifeless. Three angels are bleeding on the rocks below.
We're going down.
In about one second, we're going to plummet into the cliff below.
As I close my eyes and brace for impact, the last thing I see is someone standing on the sand. Lucifer. He's laughing.
It's over.
And then, I wake up.
The hotel alarm is ringing against my ear. I reach out and hit it off.
"Ash, are you okay? It looked like you were having a nightmare," Raven says.
She's leaning over me, breasts against mine. She's kissing my face and trying to make it all better again. This should feel fantastic, but my heart is beating at a million miles per hour.
"It was another vision," I say. "I think I'm fine."