Hadrien

                                                                                            HADRIEN

                                                                                                    By: Will Farrar   





         He sat perched on a canopy that overlooked the bleachers that led down to the amphitheater.  No one could see him. Very few mortals could unless he chose to allow them to.  The only thing that he couldn’t cloak was the faint smell of sulfur.  A few hundred years ago, when mortals were more aware of their surroundings, he would have been spotted, immediately, because of the smell, but, today, human beings were so connected to their technology and the nightmares that those toys can cause, that they have forgotten about the monsters and demons that have existed since before God created them.



         It was a clear night.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky.  The bleachers were full.  The audience was chattering amongst themselves in anticipation of the performance that was to come.  His master had sent him to assassinate the performer, tonight.  That was his position in his master's army; to kill those that his master deemed to be a great threat to their cause which was to over throw God, himself.



         The audience hushed as stage lights adjusted and the background orchestra began to play.  He could have dispatched his target while it was on the stage, and watched the chaos it caused, but he preferred to be close to his victim when he did it.  Let them know who it was that had come for them and see the fear in their eyes.  It was one of the reasons that he was favored among his peers.



         The performer was lead across the stage and to the microphone stand.  He grimaced as he realized that the female child was blind, which later could rob him of one of his little pleasures. The orchestra stopped playing its introduction and began playing the beginning of the first song. The young girl looked up at the sky as if she were going to sing to God, only.  The entire audience was struck with awe as her voice resonated throughout. 



         The demon felt as if he was being attacked, but he didn't know by what or where it was coming from.  He felt like there was something growing inside him.  Something that he had not felt since his days as an Angel.  It was light.  He wanted to flee, but he couldn't move. He wanted to howl for help, but couldn't make a sound.  He could only sit like a grotesque gargoyle while the child continued her concert.



         When the concert was over, the audience, silently, stood up and left.  Not one word was spoken.  The demon waited for everyone to leave.  Then he proceeded to the little trailer that served as the child's dressing room.  He didn't know what he was going to do once he got to the child.  He knew what he was sent to do, but it, no longer, seemed that important to him.  Something happened to him.  He felt calm.  There was no rage, no hatred.  He remembered feeling like this once before his Fall from Grace, but that was many millennia ago. 



         He entered the trailer and the child was alone, sitting, quietly, in a chair.  She didn't seem to be doing anything.  Just sitting as if she were waiting for something.  The demon stood behind her, trying to decide what to do next when the girl spoke.  “I know you are here.  I can smell your sulfur, and I know why you are here.”  Even when she spoke, her words radiated with light.



         “I don't know what to do”, he said.  “You have changed me.  You have doomed me.”



         “By taking away your anger?  By putting you at peace I doomed you?”



         “My master doesn't respond well to failure, and he will not be pleased with what has become of me.  I am Fallen.  I can never return to Heaven.  I am doomed.”



         “Then kill me, Demon.  Than you can please your master,” the child said as she stood up and faced him.



         He bowed his head.  “It is not within me to kill an innocent, anymore.”



         Suddenly, the scent of brimstone and burning ash became almost suffocatingly strong.  A great horned demon whose large bull horns were scraping across the ceiling of the trailer appeared behind the child.  “Hadrien,” said the Lord of Lies, calling the assassin demon by his name.  “Why haven't you taken this creature's soul?  You do remember the price for failure, don't you?”



         “Lucifer, the child has changed me.  I can no longer serve you.  Do with me as you will, but I will not obey you,” Hadrien stepped in front of the girl, protecting her from the devil's wrath.



         “You dare call me by my true name! Speak to me as if we are equals!” bellowed the devil.



         “There was a time when we were equals, Brother,” said another voice out of nowhere.



         “It’s starting to get a little crowded in here,” said the girl who didn't seem to be bothered at all by the supernatural creatures appearing in the tiny mobile home. 



         A blinding light appeared between Lucifer and Hadrien.  The light seemed to grow brighter and brighter.  Hadrien shielded his eyes while the devil screamed and then disappeared.  In his place, stood a young winged man dressed in robes that seemed to change colors from time to time.  “Greeting, Brother,” said the Angel.



         Hadrien fell to his knees.  Tears fell from his eyes as he wept.  “Peter, I am lost. Please help me.  I want to go home.”



         “I apologize, dear Hadrien, but that cannot be.  Once Fallen, you can never go back.”  Peter actually looked distraught about this.  He walked over and placed his hand on Hadrien's shoulder.  “Father has a plan for all of us.  You are no different.  I may not be able to bring you home, but He did bid me to give you this.”  Peter's hand began to glow which spread from there to Hadrien's shoulder and soon covered his entire being.  His bat-like wings shrank and disappeared.  So did his horns.  His hooves and clawed hands transformed into human limbs.  His face returning to its original visage before his Fall.  “Now, you may walk among the mortals and interact with them, unhindered.”



         “But what am I to do?  I have no home,” said Hadrien.



         “The Earthly Realm is your home, now, Brother.  What you do is up to you now.  You could choose to help to save this Realm or destroy it.  The choice is yours.  That is Father's true gift to you. He has given you a choice.  He has given you free will.”



         “What about me, Sir?” said the girl as she reached over and pulled on Peter's robes.



         “You, little one, can come home with me.  Your work here is done,” said Peter with a kind smile.  He grabbed the girl's hand and look once more at Hadrien who was still kneeling before him and looking up at the Angel.  “Farewell, my friend, may your path be a true one.”  Than in another blinding flash of light, they were both gone; leaving Hadrien alone and unclothed in his new existence.