Opening my eyes, I clumsily tried to breathe, but all I managed was to bring some kind of liquid into my nostrils. Desperately flailing my hands, I felt my body much heavier than usual. Quickly moving my legs, I tried to get out of whatever it was I was in. After a few moments...
Opening my mouth wide, I took in as much air as I could. Trying to clear my face, I opened my eyes again. The nauseating smell of rust permeated the entire place; the scent of blood was so dense that large mists formed, making it harder to see what was beyond. A red sky quickly welcomed me. Looking around, a vast ocean of blood was all there was. Trying to hold back my gag reflex to avoid vomiting, I fearfully searched for a stable place to get out of that ocean of blood, swimming as fast as I could in any direction. My eyes managed to spot a black rock right in front of me. Climbing onto it, I placed a hand over my pounding chest...
"What the hell just happened?!" I cursed as I hit the rock beneath me. Frustration filled my emotions. The last thing I remember was being in the Great Hall, just below the Second Trumpet, when suddenly it began to spew blood that completely filled the place, and now...
A sky covered with clouds as red as blood, a place that seemed to have come out of a damn nightmare in the middle of an ocean of blood belonging to who knows whom. Sitting on a black rock... surrounded by red fog... enduring that damned smell of blood...
Clenching my fists until they bled, I closed my eyes trying to calm my mind. The anger, cold as ice, began to fade little by little. Breathing calmly, my mind cleared somewhat. It was no use losing my temper in an unknown place...
After a few more minutes of steady breathing, I opened my eyes, looking around again...
"It looks like hell," was the most logical thought: a red sky and a landscape straight out of the deepest nightmares...
"And now what am I supposed to do?" I cursed weakly. If I dared to get down from this black rock and start swimming, there was a chance I might never find another and drown, or tire first. But staying still didn't please me much either...
Letting out another sigh, I looked at the red waters. I have knowledge, but I'm not sure... when the Second Trumpet sounds, colossal volcanoes will rise from the earth and start spewing lava along with rocks like meteors. The ocean will turn to blood, killing all marine life in the process...
A chill ran through my body. Clumsily standing up, my gaze unconsciously turned to the sky. My breathing stopped, as did my pounding heart. I began to sweat cold all over, and my legs gave way, dropping me to my knees without being able to say a single word... Above the sky, apparently it had always been there, but I never managed to see it: there was the brightest being I had ever seen...
A beautiful woman, who seemed as large as the world, was calmly levitating. Her beautiful white hair flowed freely down her back, her blue eyes were completely indifferent, her face was the most beautiful I had ever seen, and on her lips was a faint smile. The woman was dressed in a white robe that moved gently with the passing air. Behind her back extended nine pairs of wings that seemed to reach infinity; they moved causing the very space around to distort. The nine wings were white as snow with blue hues appearing now and then.
The Seraphim of Speech.
The seraphim had her gaze fixed on one place. She moved her mouth, but Arthur couldn't hear anything she said. He swallowed dryly and tried to find the Second Seraphim with his eyes...
At the other end was a completely black creature. It was a man, black hair and red eyes. He had a cold look in his eyes and a neutral expression. His presence was almost as great as that of the seraphim. The young man wore a dark red suit. Behind his back spread wings that looked like those of a bat. He also moved his mouth, but Arthur couldn't hear anything at all, though the space around him also distorted.
Arthur did his best to distinguish who that man was. He looked a lot like a demon by appearance, but no horns protruded from his head—a distinctive feature among demons. He didn't seem to be a dragon either, judging by his wings. That left only one alternative... a vampire. But not just any vampire: to stand on equal footing with a seraphim, he had to be a progenitor vampire. And there are only two in the world. It couldn't be Dracula, because his appearance didn't match. That left the oldest and last vampire in the world:
A voice that seemed to come from the depths of the abyss entered directly into Arthur's soul. Vomiting a mouthful of black, dead blood, Arthur's body collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain.
"Speak directly to the soul!" he remembered Seraphine's words. A blue flame rose and covered his entire body. The pain doubled, almost causing Arthur to lose consciousness. His eyes almost turned white...
Looking up, he saw how the blood-red sky split in half. A dazzling light completely cleared the red fog, purifying it instantly. From the crack in the sky appeared hundreds of angels clad in shining armor. Millions of them began to descend, as if the very light of the sun had appeared for the first time in hell.
On the other side, in the same way, hundreds of millions of dark beings appeared behind Cain's back...
"A war..." Trembling, my body shuddered with fear.
"What war is this?" Searching the depths of my memories, I found nothing. I never knew the seraphim themselves ever appeared in any war. I know nothing of this...
Clenching my teeth tightly... The only wars I know are the war in the Heavens and the war in Hell...
The world itself seemed to groan in pain. Huge waves violently shook the red waters. The sky divided into two colors: white and black. Arthur saw the ocean rise toward the skies. From those waters, a huge volcano began to spew fiery rocks...
"No way!" I shouted to myself. I looked desperately. In the white hands of the Second Seraphim was a trumpet. But it was different from the one I had seen before: it was much bigger. Around it were white ribbons that moved gently as the seraphim's hand touched them...
That was the last thing Arthur saw before his body was swallowed by the red waters.