Humans have always dreamed of conquering the skies, watching birds fly freely through the air, unencumbered by the constraints of life on earth. They wanted to taste freedom, to feel the wind caressing their bodies. People created wings, but could not fly; they built the first airplanes, but they crashed. Only after thousands of years of trial and error did humans finally achieve their goal — now they ruled the skies.
What am I getting at? That as a child, I also dreamed of flying at least once. To escape from my problems and the hardships of life, to rise up high. But I always came back down to earth from the heavens to stop dreaming and live a normal life.
But here's some advice: be afraid of your desires, because they have a tendency to come true. And not always the way you wanted them to.
— MOTHER FUCKER! A-A-A-A-A!! —My voice echoed across the sky as I fell to the ground at tremendous speed, spinning around my axis. My eyes darted in different directions, trying to understand where the hell I was and how I got there. An icy wind blew over my naked body, covering it with goose bumps. It was the middle of the night, and a full moon, pale as snow, sat in the sky. Only its cold light allowed me to make out my surroundings.
How did I end up in this situation? Let me start from the beginning.
My name is Kirill Arkhipov, I am 24 years old, and I am an average resident of Russia, living in the Kaluga region. I worked as a courier, I have a cheerful disposition, and I am not married. My life was ordinary, unremarkable compared to that of other people around the world. I lived peacefully, without any worries, until one day something supernatural happened.
I was lying on my bed, relaxing after a day's work, watching the third season of Invincible. In the last episode, where Darkblade finally reappeared, I couldn't help but wonder:
Are there angels in this universe, since there are demons?
I went online a couple of times, looking for thematic forums like Reddit, but didn't find anything interesting.
Why was I so interested in this question? I just like angels: tall, stately, beautiful, long-haired, noble creatures of light, dressed in snow-white tunics, with wings behind their backs, carrying the word of God.
But no, I don't like the angels that the church now presents through the New Testament. If you look at the angels from the Old Testament, they are real creatures of chthonic horror that could only have come from the mind of a madman. Or, at worst, a person who was clearly taking psychotropic substances.
But you know what? If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have angels like these: multi-eyed, multi-winged creatures surrounded by golden wheels, with the heads of lions, eagles, bulls, and humans. I loved them with all my heart. Even the most impressive demons paled in comparison to them.
And so, falling asleep at 11:59 p.m., I thought:
"I would like to be an angel."
A minute passed, and I fell asleep. And now I'm flying down at tremendous speed, as if repeating the fate of Icarus, who tried to reach the sun but crashed into the rocks. And, damn it, it was close to the truth! Breaking through the clouds, I saw a tall snow-capped mountain, which I was falling straight towards.
— Okay, fine! Breathe! I need to find a place to land! Damn it! Level off! Damn it! I'm not going to make it!
But, as luck would have it, I didn't make it. The top of the mountain was already close, and my short, modest, but dear to my heart life as an ordinary guy flashed before my eyes. I closed my eyes, preparing to crash to my death, to turn into a mess of bones and flesh.
But a second later, there was a deafening crash. I felt my whole body hit the rock, but... there was no pain. None at all. Then — weightlessness again. I opened my eyes and realized that nothing had happened to me. No broken bones, no wounds, not even a scratch. But the top of the mountain was blown to pieces, raising a column of snow and rocks.
The next moment, I landed in the snow. Due to the tremendous inertia, I couldn't stop and continued tumbling down, knocking down everything in my path: trees, boulders, ice blocks — nothing could stop me. I tried to slow down with my hands and feet, but only left deep furrows in the ground.
But nothing lasts forever — including my fall. Finally, I stopped, forming a crater beneath me. I was breathing heavily, my head refusing to think after everything that had happened.
I was alive. Damn it, I was alive!
It was incredibly joyful, but at the same time, it was damn scary. I stared at the sky, at the moon, which silently watched me. I just lay there, motionless, trying to collect my thoughts.
Somehow, I had survived. I had fallen from the sky and not suffered a single scratch. But I had left nothing but destruction behind me.
Well, it all happened so quickly and abruptly—I didn't even have time to understand what was going on. I got up from the ground and started examining myself, but apart from my intact underwear, I had nothing on. However, what caught my eye most was my body—toned, strong, and muscular, as if I had been working out my whole life. My muscles were intertwined like steel cables. No protruding belly, no stretch marks, no excess weight — just the perfect shape, like that of an Olympian, given to me by an unknown being or higher powers.
Looking around, I picked up a stone lying nearby and squeezed it lightly. The stone immediately crumbled into small pieces, unable to withstand the force of my grip. "Wow..." I thought. And I didn't even try to squeeze it hard. Just a little, and it crumbled. "I wonder what would happen if I tried this?"
I climbed out of the crater and looked around. A snow-covered evergreen forest stretched out around me, and behind me towered the mountain I had crashed into and then slid down. To my surprise, when I stepped on the snow, I didn't feel cold, even though it had been freezing cold up in the sky earlier.
I approached a tree — tall, thick, and seemingly sturdy. I raised my fist and struck it lightly. There was a loud crack, but the tree remained standing, with only a small dent where I had struck it. "Hmm... What if I hit it harder?"
I hit it again, harder this time. My fist went right through the tree as if it offered no resistance. The shock wave blew it apart from the inside, and the trunk collapsed to the ground. "Seriously... Now I can try it for real."
I found a new tree and raised my fist for the third time.
I struck it.
There was a deafening bang, and the tree instantly shattered into pieces. The shockwave rolled forward, sweeping away everything in its path for ten meters.
— Holy shit... — I muttered in amazement, looking at the aftermath of the blow. I looked at my fist, turned it around, examined it, and even kissed it. —Nice punch... At least it feels a little better now.
Testing my unexpectedly newfound strength gave me a chance to catch my breath. My head was still a mess, refusing to settle down. But at least it was a distraction — in such a strange and incomprehensible place, where you can expect anything, it's important to know in advance what you're capable of. Especially if you've just survived a fall from a great height.
— Anyway... Where the hell am I? In the northern latitudes of Russia? — No, you can't find such a huge mountain in Russia, especially in the north. It goes straight into the clouds, which means it's clearly a different place.
— Okay, screw it! — I'd better find a place to sleep, because everything happened too fast.
But then a new question arose: "Where? Where should I go?" I scratched the back of my head, paced back and forth, but no ideas came to me.
"Damn it! Where should I go? Where is that damn hut in the forest when I need it most?!" I couldn't take it anymore and shouted the question out loud.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my head, forcing me to grab it. A deafening squeak rang in my ears, as if someone had turned on an ultrasonic whistle, but at a volume capable of deafening a person. It was unbearable. After a couple of seconds, the torment stopped, and I was finally able to catch my breath.
Opening my eyes, I recoiled sharply: a glowing golden thread hung in front of me, leading in an unknown direction. It stretched from my chest, right from the solar plexus area. I pulled it, shrugged, and decided to follow it. The thread simply went inside me without causing any sensations.
I don't know how much time had passed since I started looking for a place to sleep, but the thread didn't end, as if the destination was somewhere very far away. My nerves were already on edge: I hadn't slept, I was in an unfamiliar place, and on top of that, I had these strange powers that, on the one hand, had saved my life, but on the other, only raised new questions.
"Where did they come from?"
Higher powers? Quite possible. Who else is capable of such a thing, if not them? God? But why would he give me powers and throw me out into the unknown? For some purpose? Or just for fun — to see how a mortal would get out of this situation. The same can be said about higher powers. But what if it was pure coincidence? Like, at the most convenient moment, right on time, a bunch of unrelated factors came together, which is why I ended up here with practically nothing but the clothes on my back in such freezing weather? So many questions, and no answers. Sit there and suck your thumb, as they say.
Another hour of wandering through the forest passed before I finally found it — a hut in the thicket. It looked like a shabby, time-worn wooden structure. But despite this, it seemed quite sturdy, not a ramshackle building that was about to collapse from a careless sneeze.
I approached the window and tried to see what was inside. Nope, I couldn't see anything — especially because of the frost patterns on the glass. I had nothing to wipe it with, and I wasn't going to take off my pants for that. Realizing the futility of my actions, I simply walked up to the door. There was no lock, and it didn't look locked. I grabbed the handle and gently pulled it toward me. It didn't budge. What if I pulled away from it? Yes! The door opened, letting me inside.
I can say one thing: it was very dusty here. This place had not been used for a long time, if not forgotten altogether. And it was dark as hell. Only the moonlight dimly illuminated the room. Closing the door behind me, I began to look around.
Away from the entrance stood a table with an oil lamp and a box of matches on it. I walked over, checked to see if there was oil in it, and shook it. Yes, there was. He took a match, struck it, and lit the lamp. The flame slowly grew brighter, illuminating the space around him. Taking the lamp with him, he set off to explore the hut.
An empty kitchen. A pantry. A toilet with a bathtub. And finally, it — a bed.
He put the lamp on the bedside table, dusted it off as best he could, then immediately lay down, covered himself with a blanket, and fell asleep.
Tomorrow I have a lot of things to do that need to be done and can't be put off until later.