Reckoning by Thomas E. Sniegoski

Author:Thomas E. Sniegoski
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Body, Young Adult Fiction, Christian, Folk Tales, Science Fiction, Angels & Spirit Guides, Fantasy Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Contemporary, Fantasy & Magic, General, Religious, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Supernatural, Legends & Mythology, Mind & Spirit, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Fiction, Angels, Orphans
ISBN: 9780689853081
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2004-01-01T17:00:00+00:00

chapter eleven

Kraus awoke curled beneath a tattered blanketon the floor, a scream of terror upon his lips.

For a moment he thought the darkness hadclaimed him again, that perhaps Verchiel had taken back his wonderful gift, but then realizedthat it was only the night collected around him.Empty bookcases and stacked metal desksemerged from the gloom as his new sightadjusted to the inky black of nighttime.

He had been dreaming, vividly recalling a time before his service to his lord and master,Verchiel. A time of woe and suffering.

Tossing back his blanket, he climbed to hisfeet and stood in the darkness of the room.Something was wrong; he could sense it. Therewas an unnatural hum, a pulsing throb like the beat of some prehistoric monster's heart in theair around him. The sound was everywhere—itneededto be everywhere—and he felt the desperation of it worming inside him, bringing forth further memories of the dark times before he swore his fidelity to God's warrior and his holymission.

Kraus left the room, seeking to escape therecollections of his early days of torment, to distract himself elsewhere, but the alien thrum waswith him, no matter where he went, rousingmemories of a past long suppressed.

Before serving the Powers, all he had knownwas darkness and pain, the pity and the disdainof the sighted. He had been raised in a placevery much like this one, very much like the SaintAthanasius Church and Orphanage had beenbefore its doors were closed.

ThePerrySchool for the Blind. It was theonly home he had ever known.

Kraus moved down the darkened corridors,riding the intensifying waves of unease. Hecould not keep the past at bay; the memoriesescaped, bursting up from layers of time, asvivid as if they had occurred only momentsbefore.

There had been others like him at thePerrySchool, born without sight, given up to thosewho cared for the less fortunate. And care they did. Oh yes, he remembered their care indeed.

Kraus approached an open door and a staircase that led down into deeper darkness. Thefeeling was stronger here, and he descended,drawn toward the wellspring of despair, all thewhile remembering.

The staff at the school for the blind treatedthem as lesser life forms, below even the ferocious dog kept by Mr. Albert Dentworth, thehead administrator. Kraus relived the terror that would grip him every time he heard the rattlingof the animal's chained collar and its nails clicking and clacking on the hardwood floors as itdrew closer. They were nothing but burdens tothe world and to the personnel whose job it wasto care for them, and were often told as much.For the majority of his existence he lived in Hell,and every night he prayed to be brought toHeaven.

The stairway took him to the gymnasiumand into the lair of the Archons. At the moment,they were gone, off with Verchiel on his latestincursion. An intricate, mystical circle had been drawn upon the floor with what looked like dirt,and above it, from thick chains, the prisonerhung. A deep, vertical gash had been cut from the prisoner's chest to his stomach, the wound held open with metal clamps, and Kraus won dered how it was even possible that the prisonerstill lived.

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