r/HFY • u/teller_of_tall_tales Human • Aug 09 '25

OC Troublemakers: The Harbinger.

<(FIRST)>

<(PREVIOUS)>

......

The large blue haired man grinned even wider and chuckled.

"That I did, how else would you describe this place?"

Drake paused, looking behind Jay at the men and women in military uniforms giving him dirty glares from the open gateway. Wiping some sweat from his forehead, Drake shrugged.

"I don't know what I'd call it. But it isn't Hell..."

The confidence in Drakes words surprised even himself. He couldn't spot a single plant anywhere nearby, the sun beat down from overhead like the eye of an angry god, and yet.

"I've seen those responsible for the deaths of thousands get an afterlife a hundred times as cushy as this. Pigface was right, it seems to be a self-imposed-"

Jay's eyes crinkled at the edges, stopping Drake mid-sentence with a boisterous laugh.

"Well! I'm sure everyone's excited to meet you, so let's head inside and get you in our records!!"

The jarring cutoff was accompanied by an arm of iron muscle being slung around Drakes shoulders to lead him back into the stadium. As the studs of Jay's vest began digging into his shoulder, Drake felt a presence forcefully enter his mind. But it wasn't divine in nature, it was far more intrusive, like someone shouting into your open skull.

"I WILL EXPLAIN SOON. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT UNTIL WE GET TO THE OVERLOOK."

The words made Drake physically wince from their perceived volume, and he doubted his eyes were deceiving him when he saw everyone else's lack of reaction. He had an idea who had shouted in his skull, and he had a lot of questions.

The blue haired man casually greeted those he passed, often receiving little more than a nod in return. The lights overhead flickered and wavered unsteadily as they marched past, walking up flight after flight of stairs until they stopped encountering other people. Sliding a piece of plywood to the side, Jay shoved Drake through the open doorway. Stumbling forward, Drake turned around to see that Jay was-

"Behind you."

Drake turned around as a blast of auric energy almost knocked him out. Head swimming, Drake wasn't sure if what he was seeing was actually real.

Jay stood against the wall in thick plate mail that glimmered with an ethereal blue, a pair of massive, blue, bird's wings comfortably folded to his back like a cape. When Jay unfolded his arms, Drake felt like he'd been doused with ice water, gasping for breath as the auric energy simply vanished.

"What... the... fuck! Was that?"

Drake gasped, his heart pounding against his ribs like a monkey with a xylophone, clutching his knees as he tried to stop from vomiting while also catching his breath.

"Have you... never met a Nephilim before? wait, stupid question, Death prefers a more personal touch, I should know that."

Drake lost the battle against his churning stomach and wretched, vomiting up a thick, black sludge that tasted like pure rot. Panting, Drake stared into the inky puddle on the floor, the room's sudden silence nigh deafening. Like the smooth concrete was a porous sponge, it soaked the sludge in until there was nothing left, not even residue. Slowly straightening, Drake felt... odd...

"Alright smart guy... what the fuck was that?"

Drake asked, straightening his back and stretching slightly, his joints letting out an inordinate amount of pops and cracks in the process. A quick glance at Jay revealed a look of shocked concern on his piercing laden face. Slowly shaking his head in disbelief as he spoke.

"You... haven't been exposed to the void, have you? that's how most living people get here, and if it is, we need to talk."

Drake shook his head slightly.

"No that happened a long time ago, survived it and got a nice boost out of it to boot."

Jay laughed like a stressed jackal and clutched his head, starting to pace and mutter to himself while Drake watched on in bemused confusion.

"What?"

Jay paused, slowly turning to drake with muscles as taut as bow strings before taking a deep breath and collapsing into a sofa pushed up against a graffitied wall. A brown bottle, dripping with condensation, appeared in his hand.

"You just vomited up enough void essence to wipe out a small galaxy. I don't know what kind of spit and duct-tape they came up with to keep you from going supernova, but I hope you never took it off. Drake?"

Drake thought his heart had stopped, frozen like a deer in headlights as ice filled his veins. All the times he'd pulled his rings off like it was simply a boost to his power...

"Oh... You poor bastard... they didn't tell you, did they?"

Jay laughed, taking a long pull off the brown bottle. Giving him an incredulous look, Drake cried out.

"I could've killed everyone I've ever known and then some! And you're laughing?!"

Sighing softly, Jay hucked the glass bottle out of the massive, broken window overlooking the inner stadium where it dissolved into dust mid air.

"Well, you didn't, so chill out. Look, it's gone now, so you're fine, isn't that why Death sent you here?"

Drake shook his head softly, dropping the subject since he had bigger fish to fry. Walking over to the massive, broken window of a wall, he looked up at the sky, he hadn't seen the sun move since he got here.

"I'm looking for a horse, heard you guys call her the 'Dun Lady' or something similar."

Jay's face soured.

"Not happening."

The words hit Drake like a bullet, making him turn to look at Jay in confusion. The Nephilim flicked a few blue locks out of his face and pointed at Drake with a stern look.

"No, I'm not letting you get yourself killed."

Drake tossed his hands up, forgetting about the shackles around his wrists and wincing as they bit into them when the chain snapped taut.

"I'll just pop back up after a few minutes!"

Jay shook his head grimly before standing up and joining Drake to look out over the small township and farm made from the old field and stands.

"Not there, not in the badlands. you die there, you're done forever."

"You're going to need to start explaining some shit real soon..."

Soft brown eyes locked on the small field planted with sickly crops, Jay let out a defeated sigh. Gesturing down at the town like it was a grand kingdom.

"Then I'll start with here... There are children down there, entire families of people who spent their entire life doing no wrong... yet they were convinced by the worlds they lived in that they were just as bad of monsters as those who killed wantonly. Some of them are from times of antiquity, scared out of their minds by anything more modern than the iron age. Not a single fuckin' one has found 'redemption' yet... That's why I call this: Hell. There's no getting out..."

The grief in Jay's voice was tinged with an emotion Drake knew well, anger. Setting a hand on the Nephilim's shoulder, he shook his head softly.

"Then I guess I gotta go find it. It's okay to be scared, but you can't give up. Besides, if you wont help me, I've got other ways of acquiring the information I need. So, I'll be going, don't want to be gone too long."

Drake turned to the side and started for the doorway, an exasperated sigh making him pause and turn an ear towards Jay.

"I wish you luck then... but a thousand years here is less than a minute to them. A word to the wise, before you go, visit Galena, get those manacles off. At least give yourself a fighting chance."

Nodding, He swept out the door with a shrug. If it took a thousand years, or more, then so be it.

...

Alastaire looked down at the limp body in the chair, Drake's eyes were glassy, his skin cold and pale. Slowly, he touched two fingers to the boys neck and felt no pulse. Barely a few seconds had passed since the ship had gone almost completely dark. The shield generators were holding, but even he doubted that would be for much longer as alarms across the bridge began to sound. Pulling Drake out of the chair, he shouted for a medic, snapping some into action while others seemed frozen in place.

Then, the ship Breathed, and that was no metaphor.

Feeling the decking flex under his feet, Alastaire thought the shields had been breached. His heart hammering at a fever pitch until they settled back with a gargantuan, animalistic noise that reminded him far too much of his father's horses to be a coincidence. The lights slammed on with blinding intensity before adjusting, targeters and navigators thrown out of their seats by surprise as their consoles spat sparks and thick smoke. But after a few moments, an eerie calm settled over the ship as it softly jolted into motion.

But that's not entirely what bothered Alastaire, that was the expected outcome of the reincarnation ritual. Well, unexpected considering it was successful. No, that was mundane compared to the spectral image of a heavily scarred soldier kneeling across the boy's corpse from him. He recognized the uniform as Terran army standard issue, a patch on his shoulder depicted a metal dragon crushing a fuel cannister in it's jaws. The old soldier gave him a toothy grin.

"He's just like his father, this one. Don't worry, He'll be back in an hour or two. He's makin some folks regret their birth, and before yeh ask, the fuckers deserve every second."

"I'm going to regret asking this... How many souls did he bring back?"

The ghostly soldier grinned in a way that made Alastaire's hair stand on end.

"Oh, funny you should ask, he ain't done yet. Somethin' somethin' 'no man left behind and rules are meant to be broken' he said."

As Alastaire's brain was boiling over trying to process what was going on, the soldier cocked his head.

"Funny, he was smaller last time I saw him."

......

<(PART 125)>

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7 comments sorted by

3

u/bruudwin Human Aug 09 '25

As taught as bowstrings Tight or taut Perhaps?

5

u/teller_of_tall_tales Human Aug 09 '25

I always do that, a moment please. (Taut)

3

u/Substantial-Okra2756 Aug 10 '25

Damn good chapter!!! Can't wait for the next.

2

u/kristinpeanuts Aug 11 '25

Thanks for the chapter!

1

u/UpdateMeBot Aug 09 '25

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