Free Alan Price and the Colossus of Rhodes (The Nephilim Chronicles) by Jonathan Yanez Page B

world. Alan forced his right palm
forward and shook the stranger’s hand.
    “My name is Michael. Danielle
briefly told me that you are skeptical. That’s to be expected, I know it is a
lot to take in. Please sit.”
    Michael’s handshake was firm
without being aggressive. There was the complete opposite feeling coming from
him than Alan felt when meeting Dominic Drencher the night before.
    Alan broke the handshake. “Sit? Sit
where?” The question faded almost down to a whisper as Alan looked behind him
to see a chair where there had not been one just moments before. He twisted his
head back towards Michael giving him a wary look.
    Michael smiled from his eyes to his
mouth, “Sorry, too soon? I couldn’t resist. You should see the look on your
face right now. Please sit. I have your answers for you.”
    Alan nodded and settled into the
comfortable leather chair.
    “I’ll start at the beginning for
you, Alan,” Michael said as he too took a seat. He leaned forward with both
elbows on the desk, hands clasped together. A hint of mirth in his green eyes
said that he could be trusted. “After that, if you have any questions I’d love
to answer them all. Would you like to hear the story with affects or without
affects?”
    Alan felt his eyebrows furrow all
on their own. “With affects, I think.”
    “A man after my own heart,” Michael
winked. “Here we go.”
    Out of nowhere, the sun’s bright
rays faded. In seconds, the sky turned black and everything fell away. All that
remained was Michael, Alan, the desk and the chairs on which they sat.
    Alan could feel fear begin to creep
slowly down his spine; his heart started beating faster and faster. He looked
at Michael to see the man still smiling and now pointing to the dark sky.
    As Michael again picked up the
conversation images made out of golden outlines followed events that he
described and performed like trained dancers across the dark sky. Alan’s mouth
dropped, eyes fixated on the beautiful scene playing out overhead as Michael
started his story.“I’m going to date myself here but a
very, very long time ago when the earth was still young a battle took place in
Heaven. The battle waged for the fate of both Angels and man. One third of
Heaven’s Angels sided with a Usurper who staged a coup for the rule of Heaven
and earth. He was mad with thoughts of grandeur and power.
    The fighting was beyond bloody; it
was horrific. The death toll for both sides was surpassed the total of
survivors of the engagement. The war went on for years. Finally, the
power-hungry Angel was defeated. He was cast out of Heaven with the rest of his
followers; they were stripped of their wings and sentenced to wait their final
judgment on earth.”
    Alan stared at the open sky as images
following Michael’s words continued to play out overhead. He wanted to smile in
awe and probably would have had the circumstances of the supernatural light
show been under any other condition. Instead, Alan held his lower jaw firm and
contended himself with tracking the amazing bright lights acting out scenes of
the forgotten past.
    “To ensure that casualties of this
magnitude could never happen again,” Michael continued, “all weapons capable of
killing an Angel were destroyed. My brothers, sisters and I now watch over
earth. The Creator has not abandoned humankind to live under the rule of the
Fallen.
    With inferior numbers and strength,
the Fallen on earth will not engage us directly. In return, we are content for
them to live out their sentence quietly here on earth until their day of judgment
comes.
    However, just because they won’t
defy us directly doesn’t mean our troubles are finished. Over the centuries,
tactics have changed. The Fallen have found their own followers to do their
bidding. They have given certain powers and abilities to humans whom they
manipulate to do their will. It’s a loophole they have found to avoid physical
conflict while still getting what they