It felt calm. It was just there, clear. Inside his head. Leo's head.
Just the empty alley and the remains of black ash slowly fading away. His chest was tight. Not from running this time, from something else. Something waking up from within. He grabbed his backpack and walked out of the alley slowly. The street looked normal again. Cars passed. People talked. No one acted like anything strange had just happened.
That night, he didn't sleep easily. When he finally did, he was back there. The battlefield. Only this time, he wasn't far away. He was standing closer to the angel. Closer than any human should be. The ground beneath them was trashed with blades and blood. The sky above was dark, but lit by distant flashes of light from battles happening far away.
The angel turned toward him. Six wings extended behind him, wide and controlled. His armor was the same gold he remembered. His sword was not in his hands… but hovering around him.
"You remember," the angel said. His voice wasn't loud. But it carried authority. The boy tried to speak, but his throat felt tight.
"Why me?" he finally asked.
Michael stepped forward, showing him to be 4 times the height of the boy. Each step felt deliberate.
"You were not chosen by me… you are me."
"What ?... That's not it, that can't be an answer."
Then the Silence.
"You will understand when your strength surfaces."
The boy clenched his fists. "I didn't ask for this."
"No Renegade does."
The angel raised his hand.
A symbol appeared in the air between them. It looked like a circular seal made of light, marked with lines and patterns he didn't recognize.
"This is the seal placed upon your soul."
The symbol moved toward him. He tried to step back. Too late. The seal entered his chest. He gasped and dropped to his knees.Though It didn't burn, It did hurt. But It felt like pain without… pain. It seemed powerful. Like something had just been unlocked.
He looked up again… and the battlefield was gone. He woke up in his room, breathing hard. His hand moved to his chest. For a second, a faint golden mark appeared under his skin. Then it disappeared. He sat up slowly. "So it's real," he whispered.
The next day at school, everything felt different. The sounds were sharper. Movements were clearer. He could sense things. Not clearly. But faintly. Like a static shock in the air. Halfway through class, he felt it again. That pressure. He turned his head slightly toward the window. Across the street, standing near a bus stop, was someone watching the school.
A man. Still. Focused. Their eyes met from a distance. And the man smiled. Not friendly or even human. And this time, the boy knew what it was.
The pressure in his chest flared suddenly. A sharp pulse. He gripped his desk. The golden mark flashed faintly under his skin again. The demon across the street suddenly lost their smirk. Its expression changed. It looked confused. Then… It turned and walked away quickly.
Leo stared. His power had reacted on its own. After school, he didn't go straight home. He went back to the alley. He didn't know why. Maybe he hoped the strange dude would be there but he wasn't. But something else was. On the wall at the dead end, there was a symbol carved into the brick. The same seal from his dream. It hadn't been there before. He stepped closer. As soon as his fingers touched it… the air shifted.
A voice spoke behind him. "You're progressing faster than expected." He turned. There stood his hero from yesterday. Calm as ever.
"You said survive," Leo said. "That's not a plan."
"It's step one."
The man studied him carefully.
"You've begun manifesting."
"I didn't do anything."
"You don't control it yet. It reacts to threat."
Leo looked down at his hands.
"So what happens now?"
The man's expression hardened slightly.
"Now they send stronger ones."
As if summoned by the words, the air above the alley distorted. Not dramatically, just enough to notice. Then the portal opened and something started to step through.
Not human-shaped this time, taller and wider. It gave an aura heavier than the ones before.
The man exhaled slowly.
"That," he said, "is why they wanted you dead early."
The creature's eyes locked onto Leo. And this time, It wasn't smiling. The creature was so fast that it lunged itself across the alley in a blink. The man moved fast and clean. All it took was one strike, controlled and precise. But this time he used more energy than before. The creature broke apart into black ash that faded before it hit the ground.
Leo stood there, shivering like never before. Just like that, his legs gave out and he leaned against the wall, breathing very fast
The man looked at him for a long moment.
"You did better than expected," he said.
"I almost died," Leo replied.
"That means you're learning."
He turned away like the fight was already done in his mind.
"Wait," Leo said. "What now?"
He paused, then looked back at him.
"Go home."
"Home?" Leo repeated. "After all this?"
"Yes," he said. "If anything feels wrong, run."
Then he walked past him and disappeared into the street. No explanations. Just gone.
Leo ran home.
Every sound made him scared. Every person he passed by made him shiver. He kept checking behind him, expecting black eyes, expecting something to grab him.
When he reached his house, the front door was unlocked.
That was kind of normal… at first.
"Mom?" he called out as he stepped inside. There was no answer. The house was quiet. Maybe too quiet. He dropped his bag and moved toward her room. The door was half open. That's when he saw it. The room was torn apart. The bed was flipped. The wardrobe door was almost broken off. Deep claw marks on the walls of the room, like something had made its way through the room.
My heart started pounding. "Mom?" He shouted. There was no body. Only the destruction. He suddenly recognized everything and came to a conclusion that only a demon could have done this.
He walked back slowly, his hands shaking. "This is all my fault, If I hadn't been chosen… If that Michael had just left me alone".
He turned and ran back outside.He needed Raphael's Renegade. Maybe he would know what to do. He had to.
He went back to the alley. It was empty.
He stood there for a moment, breathing hard, panicking and all that. Then he shouted hopelessly…
"I need help".... "I need help now."
Then from behind…
"That's why I followed you."
He turned around.
A girl stood a few steps away.
Around his age. Maybe a year older.
She wore a dark jacket and she looked like she knew how to fight. Her eyes were focused, like she was always paying attention to everything around.
"I'm not a demon," she said quickly. "Relax, I'm Lucrese"
"I don't trust anyone, blondy," He replied.
"Good," she said.
"That means you'll survive longer."
She stepped closer but stopped at a distance. She said…
"I'm from the Grail, a unit that deals with Renegades," she explained. "People like you, Leonard Cross."
His jaw tightened. "Then why didn't he tell me about it?"
Her expression changed..
"Who are you talking about"
"The strange old man… the one that serves Raphael"
"Oh you mean, Ravenscroft."
"Thats his name ?."
"Yh, He was part of the Grail. One of the best."
"Was?"
"He left," she said. "No explanation. He just left."
He looked at her. "And you, how are you gonna help me ?"
"I'm a Renegade too."
Something about her aura felt different from Ravenscroft.
"Who chose you?" I asked.
"Uriel," she answered. "Archangel of knowledge and guidance."
That made sense somehow.
"So you know things," He said.
"I know enough," she replied. "Enough to know your mom was taken."
His eyebrows dipped down.
"Yes," she said.
"Demons don't destroy a place like that unless they want something."
"What do they want with her?"
"You," she said honestly.
He clenched his fists. "This is my fault."
She didn't argue.
"That's how it feels at first," she said. "Most of us blame ourselves. Or the angel who chose us."
He looked down. "I hate him."
She nodded. "A lot of Renegades do."
She took a step forward.
"But blaming Michael won't save your mom."
He looked up.
"The Grail is already tracking demon movements in the city," she continued. "Join us. Work with us. That's your best chance of finding her alive and getting to know more about Micheal."
"And if I say no?"
She met his eyes.
"Then you won't survive in trying to do this alone."
Then a pause. He thought of his mom, about the dream, about Ravenscroft walking away from the Grail.
"Fine," He said. "I'll join."
She nodded once.
"Good," she said. "Then welcome to the war you didn't ask for"