Chained

In a room with many computers and papers, I keep tapping and tapping the keyboard in front of me.

Then, I banged my head against it.

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥.

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥.

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥-

"Hey, you alright John?" someone asked next to me.

I leaned back into my chair and spun around.

"Yeah, I'm just stuck on this," I said, sighing. "Like, how are we supposed to use mana? Heck, we can't even harness it."

"Yeah, these old books and pages ain't helping us," he complained. "Like what is a status screen? Aren't those things from games? Unbelievable…it's like those are one thousand year old light novels or something…"

"Yeah, I don't know either…"

My co-worker also leaned back against his chair as words of agreement rose from those nearby us.

Just like the us, my fellow co-workers were forced to research this crap.

"Hey," someone suddenly said. "Maybe we could harness it if we took the trial as that...that angel said."

I shuddered, looking at the top of my left hand.

There was a blurry, blackish gray smudge. It had just appeared just when that strange being disappeared.

No matter how many times I wash it, it just wouldn't come off.

The soap must be the problem.

The water too.

At least I hope so.

"I don't know..." someone else said. "Yeah, just a few hours ago, some magical being came down from the sky in a ray of light. Can we really trust it?"

"Who knows," someone other than that someone else said. "It might be the devil's trap, but still the boss said to not do the trial...at least not yet."

Everyone hummed in agreement.

"Well, isn't that an angel?" another person suddenly asked. "Aren't those the good guys?"

"If you look at that thing, do you think 'that's an angel' is the first thing that comes to mind?" someone else other than the someone other than that someone else said.

"That's true..." the another person said.

I leaned back into my chair as everyone continued conversing.

No one would've believed it if that was an actual angel, but the boss said it was, so we have to take it for granted.

It's just...it was not what I was expecting from an angel.

The other angel that poured something into the ground was more of an angel than that massive four-headed one.

I rested my head against the headrest, and I spun the chair again.

My head still hurts.

"Aren't we just wasting time? We're working overtime too for god's sake! Ugh, I would kill for some rest…"

My co-worker next to me began going on and on, and I just zoned out.

Not much else I could do.

"Those government bastards…making us do this and not try to even attempt to save people…the screams still haunt me to this day."

"...yeah," I barely muttered out.

It's been many, many days since we're stuck here. Rarely do we ever go out to see our families and rest.

And when we do see them, we can't say anything about our work…or else.

'Has it really been a month, or at least nearly so?' I thought tiredly.

It's been quite a while, and no one had made any mistakes so far. No one has also yet to walk past that 'or else' line yet, but we know it's coming soon. It's a matter of who, when, or when someone ticks off the boss.

By the way, the mask-covered person is clearly our boss, so we call the person "the boss."

The boss never said anything to deny what we call the boss, so that's that.

Anyways, every day, we can feel ourselves being watched through the cameras by someone.

We all know it's the boss, but we still kept quiet.

Actually, for a while, no one really knew if the boss is a man or a woman, but no one has dared to ask. Even the soldiers don't even know.

What a pain, now I gotta watch myself and my back.

Underpaid overtime too.

What happened to human rights?

Oh that's right, it was gone the moment an apocalypse ripped it apart, shit on it, pissed on it, slam dunked it into the trash can, and lit it on fire.

…maybe not in that exact order. Maybe the piss part is last?

As I sighed, the door suddenly opened and two men with rifles stepped into the room.

"Is Mr. John here?"

I raised my hand like a school kid being called upon.

How nostalgic.

"Yes, I'm here-"

"You're required to come with us. The boss wants to see you," one of them said sternly. As stern as to say "don't ask any questions and do as I say."

But I still asked.

"May I ask why-?"

"No questions allowed. Now follow us."

'Welp, it's here,' I thought.

It's finally time for my doom. I thought I checked myself well, but I guess I made a mistake along the way...

I never did get to say goodbye to my wife and daughter…

"Good luck man," my co-worker said.

"Yeah, I'll need it," I said, forcing a smile.

So I unwillingly got up, followed the guards out of the room, and out to a metal corridor lit by LED lights.

Walking down through several halls and such, my fellow co-workers gave me looks of pity and whatever annoying thing they can muster.

I tried to put on a confident face, but I didn't know if it was really work.

...

Many tense minutes passed as we continued our walk.

As we walked longer and longer, I began to stop seeing people.

Now, only a long metal hallway with lights above our heads kept us company.

I knew this was somewhere far, far deeper.

Passed where my authority is limited.

Finally, after many, many long minutes of walking, we arrived at a door.

'Come on, you can do this John. It's just a meeting with the boss. What could go wrong?'

I fixed my lab coat, straightening it and patting away the wrinkles.

One of the two guards pressed a button, and as I watched with bated breath, there was a 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 and the door opened…

To an elevator.

"Oh," I said.

The guards simply edged me towards the elevator.

As soon as we all walked into the elevator, one of the guards pressed a button on the side, and it closed.

Then the normal elevator song began.

I shuffled my foot.

"So, uh…how's life?"

"..."

"Pretty bad, right? I mean, this apocalypse, am I right?"

"..."

"Alright, no talking, no talking…"

Just trying to make conversation…sheesh…

So after many, many long suffering seconds of waiting, the elevator finally 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨'ed, opened…

Opened to another long corridor surrounded by metal.

Above, on the ceiling, the LED lights flickered much to my concern.

I began to walk down the corridor.

Then, I stopped, and I looked behind me. The guards simply walked out of the elevator and stopped in front of it.

They never moved.

To stop me from thinking of leaving probably.

…okay, I guess I'll go by myself.

So I just walked.

The two never followed behind me.

…

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

My footsteps echoed down the hallway, alone.

Sometimes, I turn my head around to look behind me, but I saw no one.

I would feel better if those two followed me after all.

Still, I gulped, took a deep. breath, and continued walking.

Finally after an unsettling amount of minutes, with many twists and turns down a strangely annoying amount of corners, I finally came across something unique.

In front of me, at the end of the long corridor, there was a lone door.

There was nothing special about it. It was just like any other door in the bunker.

However, this one…

I felt as though I was gonna meet something I wasn't going to like.

I gulped and wiped my sweaty hands on my pristine white lab coat.

'Alright John, you got this, you got this…'

I reached for the doorknob, twisted, and slowly opened it.

𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘢𝘬...

As the door was pushed away…I saw it.

...

In a very large cavern, dim and lit, at the very center, was a 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳.

Writhing around, its sky-blue iris and black pupil eye the size of a large two-story house looked back and forth, here and there.

Spinning around it like a moon orbiting a planet were four wheels.

Four wheels covered by many, many, smaller eyes.

At least three rows of them are numbered across the four wheels.

The eye-covered wheels, white as clouds and covered in strange red markings remarkably similar to the color of blood, kept rolling around many, many times, with the eyes on it moving along with it.

Just like the big eye, even as the wheels turned, it looked back and forth. Even when many, many chains chained its entire being to the ground.

They were looking everywhere, searching for something I cannot even begin to comprehend.

And I don't want to know.

So, with my shaking, mortal legs, I took a step back.

Then, it looked at me.

And I saw it.

I saw a flame. A fire that burns so, so bright.

Too bright.

Was it a red-orange flame? A colorless flame? A color that normal human eyes cannot perceive or understand?

Or was it some cosmic horror that eludes the mind, retaining its external qualities to such a degree that normal people will go insane and die miserable deaths?

It stung my eyes; it burned my brain; it melted my very flimsy soul.

A ringing sound screamed in my ears, and I felt my eyes flooding with something.

Was it blood? Tears? Blood and tears?

I didn't bother to check-how could I as I fell onto my knees?

Covering my head with my shaking arms, I screamed soundlessly.

I thought I saw a sunset. I thought I heard the trumpets, horns made of gold bellowing. I thought I saw fire raging across a barren land as far as the human eye can see with volcanic ash falling. I thought I saw lightning raining down from the gray, dark heavens, booming. I thought I heard howling massive hurricanes.

I thought I heard the screams of many people. Tortured and insane, they went mad, reaching out to a shadow.

At least, I thought I heard my family crying to me for help.

"Please...stop this...STOP THISSSSSS-!" I screamed.

Crying out, I fell onto the stone cold floor and becoming a sobbing, trembling mess.

Finally, as though my prayer was answered, I couldn't hear anything the terrible screams anymore.

There was only a ringing sound, and the increasing amount of pain inside my head, akin to a balloon having too much air.

I was about to just embrace the darkness and hopefully faint when I felt someone touch my shoulder. It was a firm hand, a hand that told me untold things.

A hand that told me it would all be alright.

Then, I felt the pain all leave my mind.

As I sat there, not knowing what the hell is going on, I heard someone speaking next to me.

"Sacrilege, isn't it?"

Looking up, I saw the mask-covered person at my side. The person had a gray mask over the face, a large gray trench coat across the entire body, and a nice black fedora.

"Boss!?" I asked. "Wha-what is that doing here-"

While I started trying to stand up with my wobbly legs, the person continued to talk.

"One of the 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀," the boss said. "You may know it as the many-eyed one, an 𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮, one of the angels of God who guards his throne, one of the angels who never sleep, whose flames burns bright for eternity…bound here in chains like a prisoner within these sinful lands."

'An angel?' I thought, flabbergasted.

"You mean an angel just like the one that had came down a few hour ago?"

"Yes, just like that one," the boss said.

I looked back at the angel.

...were all angels monstrosities like this?

Wait...this angel was underneath us the whole time?

Is this not a ticking time bomb-!?

"Don't worry, it's alright," the boss said as I took a step back. "It can't do anything right now."

As the boss said that the eyes of the monstrosity eyes left us and looked elsewhere.

Aimlessly searching for something I couldn't comprehend.

The boss and I stared at it for a long time. Then, I felt my mouth open unconsciously.

"How…how many eyes does it have?" I asked. Afterwards, I quickly pinched myself really hard.

Welp, I'm dead.

"...that's the first thing you say?" the mask-covered person asked.

I couldn't help but blink.

"...um, my apologies boss?"

"..."

"..."

"...pfft…"

"...uh-"

"Ha…hahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHA-"

The boss' laughter echoed in the large cavern as I stood by awkwardly. I can't admit my ears hurt a bit when there were a few crackles in the clearly obvious voice changer.

After a while of laughing, the laughter slowly died down.

"Ah…thank you for the laugh," the boss said, wiping the mask as though wiping the tears from the eyes.

"I needed that. Anyways…this is an angel of God. Did I not say that earlier?"

I blinked.

Then blinked.

And finally, I blinked.

"...God?" I asked. "Like...like capital "G" God?"

"Yes," the boss nodded and waved his hand towards the angel.

"This here is evidence that the one true god exists. The god of the religions that worship monotheism, the creator of heaven and earth, the omniscient and omnipotent, and you…you ask how many eyes this angel has?"

"...uh," I said, scratching my head.

"I'm...sorry?"

"...I like you, you know that John?" the boss suddenly said, looking at me.

I blinked.

I hope I wasn't thinking what I was thinking.

"Um, boss-?"

"You ask the questions most don't ask…that's what I like about you. That's why I chose you as the second person to come down here with me."

"..."

I almost exhaled in utter relief as the mask-covered boss looked back at the monstrosity before us.

"Also, for your earlier question...I don't know," the boss said. "I never bothered to count."

After that, the mask-covered person didn't talk again, and I didn't even think about talking.

We silently looked at the writhing angel.

Many long minutes now, and I began shuffling my feet.

Was the boss waiting for me to ask?

I peeked at the boss. The mask covered person, in a dark brown trench coat was still looking at the angel.

So, I made up my mind.

Gulping and clenching my hands full of lab coat material, I asked a bit hesitantly.

"...sir, may I ask a question?"

"Fire away."

My eyes left the monstrosity...and looked at what was holding it down. Chains as dark as onyx, beautifully polished and covered in strange markings I don't even know.

"So is the angel not doing anything because it's tied down by those chains?"

"That's close enough."

"...why?" I asked.

"So glad you asked," the boss said with strange enthusiasm. "It's chained down here for a reason I don't know."

"..."

"But I have an idea."

The boss looked around us, and I began looking around too.

There was nothing but the large lights, walls, us, and the angel looking and writhing around in chains.

"If God doesn't save us, then humankind shall find a way to save themselves. Even if angels stand in our way. Even if the Lord God's forces sent down hell itself to fight against us. Even…even if we must bring down God himself."

I felt my whole body trembled.

Then, all of the ophanim's eyes looked at the person next to me.

Being the person next to the boss, I unfortunately fell under friendly fire, for a sudden growing headache grew in my head.

Once again, just as I felt my head was about to explode, the boss patted my shoulders once again, and the pain left just as sudden as it came.

"Hah, even when I spoke such heresy and blasphemy in front of it, it still cannot judge nor purify us. Just like we're bound to our mortal coils, so too are they bound to God's laws."

"...I see…"

I don't see.

"Anyways," the boss abruptly said. "It goes without saying, but if you don't really know…well, now that you see this, you know you can't tell anyone, right?"

"Yes sir," I said as seriously as I can.

Not like I have a choice now.

"Good, now, let's get back to saving the world, shall we?"

Saying that, the boss patted my back and left.

That's my cue to follow behind like a servant I guess.

So as I began following the mask-covered person back, I turned around to look at it one more time, and I saw 𝘢𝘭𝘭 of its eyes staring at me.

The center eye, the largest one that is the size of a house, looked at me, along with all the eyes on the four wheels.

Gazing back, I thought I could see a flame burning bright inside it, flickering and dancing.

This time, I felt my head didn't want to burst open.

This time, I felt as though it was speaking to me.

Speaking to me about something I must do. Telling secrets that I must keep to myself.

Something I must remember from now on, for the rest of my life.

I know it to be true.

Every waking moment, every time I close my eyes, every time I work, every time I go take a crap in the bathroom…I'll always see those eyes burning brightly for eternity.

Just when I teared my eyes away, the mask-covered person suddenly stopped in front of me.

"By the way, I'm a guy if you want to know," the boss suddenly said ahead of me.

"???"

Even as I blinked, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

The boss really was watching all of us.

Walking through the door, I heard a 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘢𝘬 as the door automatically began closing behind me.

I knew, though, that the angel was still staring into me, behind me, even when the door closed shut with a loud bang.