Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Angelus


The following is the opening to one of the several projects I want accomplish with my writing. At this point, there are two novels, a TV show/comic, and at some point a book of poems. This is an excerpt from the TV show. I hadn’t actually thought of presenting it in comic form before, but it seems like a more than adequate presentation to me. I even have a friend who’s an artist who might want to work on it with me.

The show/comic is called Angelus, (working title). In the world of Angelus, when the Lucifer fell from Heaven, angels and man worked side by side. God recalled the angels to heaven to prevent further temptations, but some angels who loved their mortal counterparts chose to fall. They became mortal, but their divine heritage remained intact. They bred with mortals, and their children are the Angelus.

Angelus takes place in the contemporary era. The protagonist, Magnus King, is the last Angelus, the only child of two Angelus bloodlines. The rest have become so diluted that the divinity rarely, if ever, manifests. Magnus knows nothing of his ancestry, nor of the power that resides inside him. He is a student working on the thesis for his Master’s degree. His closest friends get dragged into his quest with him.

The seven Princes of Hell have a plan to open the Pearlescent Gates and bring war to Heaven. The gate can only be opened on Earth, by collecting and performing a ritual involving seven diamonds that were used to seal the gates in the first place. The demons already have possession of three of the diamonds and a searching for the other four. Magnus wears one as a family heirloom, one is lost and the locations of the other two are known by the forces of Heaven and Hell. (For now. I may change my mind.)

Magnus, as the only Angelus left, is the only being on the mortal plane with the power to stop them. God and the angels continue to follow their policy of non-intervention. (Guardian angels and minor miracles as exceptions to the rule.) The demons have targeted Magnus and intend to tie up loose ends before collecting the last of the diamonds. That he wears one is just a bonus, two birds with one stone and all.

As you’ll see in the first scene, Magnus’ guardian angel, Gabriella, chooses to fall to earth in order to protect him from physical danger. She pretends to be a foreign exchange student from Rome in order to get close to him. He is also joined by Jae Roberts, his best friend and potential romantic interest; Jenna Dubois, a twenty year old genius Southern Belle who wants to be his romantic interest; Jaxxon Morgan, another close friend, theatre major and life of the party; and later, Nathaniel Ryan, a 28 year old ex-pat living in a posh apartment in Paris. Ryan lives as much like Hemingway as possible and joins the group as a guide as they visit strange places in search of the diamonds.

What happens on that search, we’ll see in time.

Scene opens: A man with wings stand at the top of a hill over looking a hamlet of huts lit by cooking fires with his arm around the waist of a woman standing next to him. Together they watch seven stars fall together from the sky. A single tear falls from his eye as his wings dissipate into nothingness. He turns and smiles sadly into the eyes of the woman, then embraces and kisses her.
Narrator: At the dawn of the ancient world, God cast Lucifer and his brethren from Heaven and closed the Pearlescent Gates. Forced to choose between love for their mortal charges and an eternity separate from the human race they loved, some angels volunteered to fall for the love of mortal men and women. With the blessing of the Father and the charge to help protect humanity from the depravity of demons, these fallen angels lived as mortals did, married and bore children. Their children were half-human, half-divine. These children were known as Angelus.
Scene fades and opens on a 3/4 view of a modern city in springtime, at sunset, focused on a college campus with a lot of trees. Camera pans over city and campus while two voices discuss one man’s fate.
Gabriella’s voice: I can’t protect him from what’s coming if I’m here, Father.
Older man’s voice: You know the rules, my child. We are forbidden to interact with mortals.
Gabriella: He will die without our help!
Older man: Are you so certain?
Gabriella: He’s not a warrior. He doesn’t know what he is or what it means. He doesn’t even have faith to ward him from the danger.
Older man: Men die, my child. There will be others to guard.
Gabriella: -protesting- But this one is the last Angelus. If he dies, there will be no one else.
Older man: It is out of our hands, my daughter.
Gabriella: There must be something I can do! It hasn’t always been this way!
Older man: Careful, Gabriella. Your words shine dark with the light of the Morning Star.
Scene: Clouds begin to roll in over the town.
Gabriella: -sudden realization- I will do it. If that’s what it takes, I will do it.
Older man: This is highly irregular. No angel has left heaven since the Fall.
Gabriella: Desperate times, Father. Let me do this.
Older man: I don’t think this is the answer, my child. If you choose this path, you will never return. You will be mortal. You will age. You will die. You might be hit by a car tomorrow and your sacrifice be for naught.
Gabriella: It is worth the risk. I can’t let him go through this alone.
Older man: -pause- Then go, Gabriella. Go with my blessing and my sorrow. I will miss you, daughter.
Gabriella: And I will miss you, Father. Shall I go now?
Older man: There is no other time in this world. Farewell, child. -sadly-
Scene: -music plays- A woman falls head first through the night sky above a sea of clouds hiding the city. Her wings are tucked in as she falls and they begin to burn. She drops quickly into the clouds and it begins to storm, lightning cracks within the clouds as she passes through them, rain falling. Her wings turn to ash as she falls. As she reaches the ground there is a huge flash of lightning, blinding the camera. When the light fades, the woman sits naked, wingless with her arms around her knees, rocking and crying. She sits surrounded by puddles while the rain pours down. The scene goes black.

And a thousand words, goodnight.

-Morgan

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