AN: so, this is the real submission to the contest. "And the Angels Cried" just wasn't what it needed to be. Anyway, this is way more amazing, so enjoy!

Warning: Some of the content may offend a few people. It's not bad, just a little controversal. Anyway, I would appreciate it if I didn't get any flames, but I'd understand why if I do.

Garden of the Gods

We walked silently through the halls. It felt a little awkward; we’d never gone this long without talking in all the time we’d known each other. That was what made us such good friends, in fact. He was the only one I knew who could keep up with my genius sometimes.

Then again, the awkward feeling was almost overshadowed by my awe of the hall he was leading me through. Every surface was covered in paintings, magnificent sweeping strokes in every shade imaginable. Even the ceiling above us flowered with color, and we constantly smashed unknown faces beneath our feet. And this was art unlike I had ever seen before. The art of my homeland was practical and predictable but not at all lifelike. I had to reach out once or twice to make sure these walls were still there. I would never have believed such art was possible if I weren’t surrounded by it.

“They tell the story of our people.”

I stopped abruptly, nearly walking into my friend. I hadn’t even noticed he’d stopped.

“They’re marvelous,” I said. “We don’t have anything close to this back home.”

“No, you don’t.”

I was startled by his tone of voice. It almost sounded sad, disappointed even.

“And what’s wrong with that?” I demanded, bristling like a good Egyptian at the possible insult to my country. “We have good art. Nothing like this, but it’s ours, and it’s better than the rubbish the Sumerians have.”

“It could be better,” he said, his own eyes now glued to the murals. “It could be like this, even better perhaps…”

“What do you mean?” I asked. I still felt rather offended. Cyneric wasn’t even from Egypt; how could he pretend to know about my land and what we could and could not accomplish? My people had only been united and truly civilized for five hundred years; I thought we were doing rather well. Better than the Sumerians, anyway.

“It is a very long story,” Cyneric said.

I stared at him; so said the man who had Turned me into a vampire not three days before. “I have plenty of time.”

He laughed, a sound that always struck a cord in my heart. “True, very true.” His gaze turned back to the murals. His eyes seemed to gain a homesick look. I couldn’t fathom why; he’d told me he’d been born in the country we were standing in.

“It is the story of our people,” he said after a long minute, “the dark angels—the Nephilim—and the Other Races, and the humans as well. A story that is far older than I or any other vampire alive today, but one that I have heard so frequently, I often feel as though I lived it myself.

“Almost ten thousand years ago, humans were barely on the brink of civilization. Most humans lived in nomadic tribes, following herds across the lands as the seasons changed. They had learned neither the art of agriculture nor the value of domesticating animals for their own needs. Large populations of humans lived all across the globe, though the oldest were those living in Africa and Asia. The ice sheet that had covered the top third of the world was finally disappearing, taking with it the only connection to the continent across the ocean.”

“There’s a continent across the ocean?” I asked in amazement. I could hardly believe the world was even larger than what I’d already seen. I could only imagine the difficulty the gods must have had in creating and then ruling over so much land.

Cyneric smiled. “Yes, there is. Actually, there are two, both over twenty times the size of Khemet as you know it, but they are connected so it is really only one. It is on this continent that the story takes place.”

He gestured to a mural on the opposite side of the hall. The painting depicted a land rich with plant life, more than I’d ever believed was possible in one place. Even the Greeks did not have landscapes so green. Millions of trees stood bunched together so tightly that their foliage blocked out the sunlight from the ground. Yet, greenery covered the forest floor and even climbed up the trunks of the trees. Animals unlike any I’d ever seen walked along through the plant life, swung through the trees, and flew through the azure sky.

“This is the land of the Other Races, where we resided in secret for millennia. This is where all of the tales of fantastic creatures, like the dragon and phoenix, originated, because they once lived here alongside the fae and elves. Even the humans who came upon this land soon realized that it was a place to be respected and looked after. Nowhere else on earth is there a place with a climate like this.”

“Have you been there?” I asked eagerly.

“Only once, and it was truly amazing.” Cyneric smiled wistfully, his eyes glazing over as he stared at the mural. “Truly amazing.”

He pointed to another mural, this one depicting the two continents. Near the middle of the two, though still connected to the northern one, was a set of three concentric circles, the largest nearly a tenth of the northern continent. Water separated the three circles from each other and the main continent, though all were connected by land bridges. The island was not quite as green as the rest of the continent, but it still looked far greener than anything I had seen before.

“The fae had a great city on the coast, the city Atlantis, the great hub of their world. It was the center of their continents Norde Terra and Sude Terra—the capital, if you will. The fae guarded their city jealously, forbidding any human from ever coming upon it, though they migrated very close by. And that was how they lived for quite some time, with the humans only vaguely aware of the existence of the Other Races.

“Then the gods decided to experiment. They persuaded the fae to allow humans into Atlantis, never given the full reason for it. Then they transplanted most of the human population of Norde Terra into the great city, set a number of angels there to watch, and let fate play out.

“Of course, the humans were very out of their element. They were, in terms of technology, civilization, and development, thousands of years behind the fae. There were not ready for such a life, and would not have been for hundreds of years. However, the fae were compassionate and helped them adjust. The angels, of course, simply watched.”

He gestured to the next mural, a vivid painting of a city in the trees of that vibrant green world of before. Houses of wood were stacked upon each other in the treetops, while humans and human-like creatures who must have been the fae navigated this city in the sky with rope ladders and bridges. Their clothes were as lively as the world they lived in—rich reds, deep blues, and greens that blended in with the background and yet stood out more than any other color. In the far distance, I could just make out the shape of a pyramid, one that must have been ten times the size of King Khufu’s masterpiece at Giza.

“After a couple hundred years, the humans of the city had become cultured far before their time. They had been born and raised in the city and knew no other life, or that there were others like them but still primitive elsewhere in the world. All they knew was the fae and Atlantis. The angels watching began to grow uneasy, but the gods simply sat back and smiled.

“The humans brought a new perspective to the fae. Most were poor magicians, so they could not help discover new forms of magic, but they were excellent inventors and mathematicians. The city became one of well-rounded knowledge and the hub of trade among the Terras. It was the richest the world has ever seen; poverty was an unknown. What's more, the people made social advancements unlike any that have ever been made. Male or female, human or fae, all people were as equal as nature allows, and the people ruled themselves rather than served a king—”

“They didn’t have a king?” I interrupted. I couldn’t believe it. How could any culture function without a king? Humans were unable to agree long enough to ensure anything but complete disaster. They needed a king to make their decisions for them, so they could live in relative peace.

Cyneric shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. “No, they had no king. Instead, they voted on all major decisions, going by the majority votes, and simply worked things out on minor ones. Needless to say, no society is perfect, but Atlantis was becoming the closest thing to it.

“However, with power can come corruption. The angels watching over the city were frightened by the speed at which the city gained power. They secretly longed to help its development along, so they could prevent any possible corruption, but they had been forbidden from interfering in any way.

“The angels were not the only ones who wanted to intervene. The demons, spawn of Ammut the Devourer, wished to drive the city into chaos and sin, since that is what their nature demands. And even if they had been forbidden like the angels, they had no qualms about going against the gods.”

“You haven’t said anything about vampires yet,” I commented. I tried to sound annoyed, since I was a little—I wanted to hear about the culture I could now call my own—but that was difficult. I found the whole tale he was telling quite fascinating.

Cyneric shook his head. “At this time, the only vampires were the psychics, because they have always existed, but they were very few and far between.” He frowned thoughtfully as he added, “In some ways, I think they are the only true vampires. They are eternal, since they have always existed, and they are able to blend in more completely than any other race. The next man on the street could be a psi and you would have no way of knowing it until he started to feed on you. Regular humans would not even feel that much. It almost seems they should be Turning us, rather than the other way around.”

He gave me a brief smile before he continued, “Also, the rest of us are a result of crossbreeding, whereas they have always simply…existed. I think the gods made that a part of the Atlantis experiment, because it has been tried since with disastrous results.”

“We’re…crossbreeds…?” I said. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I’d been a “crossbreed” as a human because my mother’s mother was Greek, as the unkind people of my village so often reminded me. I wouldn’t have minded my foreign blood so much if they hadn’t taken it upon themselves to treat me like dirt because of it. I’d been hoping I’d escape that as a vampire. Had I simply left one to become another?

Cyneric smiled as though he knew how I felt. “We are our own race; we’re not half one thing and half another. We are vampires. And even psychics are part-another race, the race they are born from.”

I didn’t feel very comforted. “So, who was the first of us?” I asked. I also didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“A strigoii, or nosferatu, by the name of Serkan. He was the result of a pure human and a demigod demon. I’ve heard that demon was Ammut’s child, or Lucifer’s, but I do not believe either.

“Serkan was the first, but he was not the only one. His birth was the signal the demons had been waiting for, and they swarmed into Atlantis in various forms, eager to create chaos. After less than a year, five more strigoii had been born and many more potentials died before they could be.

“As the first and oldest, Serkan was the most powerful, but even then his power was a joke. The strigoii have never had much more power than humans, because their weak human blood greatly diluted their demon blood. In many ways, they’re even weaker than humans, because of their high dependence on blood to survive. And they had weaknesses the demons never had: an extreme allergy to sunlight and religious symbols, no reflection, that sort of thing.

“The fae and angels graciously allowed them to stay in the city. The strigoii were extremely grateful, especially since the other races did not like that they had to feed on blood to live. The two groups of vampires banded together to form their own sub-community and worked to create a set of guidelines for themselves so they would not be dangerous to the other races.

“Then suddenly, it became known that another vampire had been born, but she was not a strigoii. In fact, at first, it was difficult to tell that she was a vampire at all, for she could tolerate sunlight and had powerful magic from birth. She could have easily passed for a fae. Nor was she the only one. Mere days after her unveiling, several more of these new vampires came into the light. Not long after, the fae who bore these vampires were cast into the underworld with their demon lovers. Yet the vampires themselves, the first of the Elvin, were readily accepted by the fae as definite equals, something that had not happened to either of the other vampire tribes or the humans. As you can imagine, it caused quite a scandal.”

“It’d be worse if it was an angel and a demon,” I said with a shrug. “Fae aren’t necessarily good all the time.”

Cyneric smiled that smile of someone who knows more than you, and I scowled.

“I’m right, you know.”

“Yes, I know,” he said. “May I continue? I’ll give you your answer soon enough.”

I shrugged again, but I really was eager to hear more. He had yet to get to our tribe.

“Many of the angels,” he began again, “and a few of the more righteous gods, who had opposed the whole idea from the beginning, felt something had to be done or more vampires would be created. The number of angels in the city doubled, the new ones including Michael and Uriel, the Princes of the Sun, and Ophaniel, the first Lord of the Moon. Under their command, the angels began actively casting demons back from whence they came.

“Still, not all of the angels felt this way. Quite a few of those who had been watchers from the beginning had grown tired of doing the gods’ will. One was Auza, who willingly copulated with the demoness Lilith. From this, Lilith bore twins, Kama and Femi, the first incubus and succubus. Their existence threw off the balance of the other vampires’ community and quickly caused chaos within the entire city.

“Another was Semyaza, who fell in love with a strigoii named Mira and with her had our intended ancestor, Ahiah. Mira feared he would be weak, but he ended up being more like an angel than a strigoii. In fact, he was probably the most powerful vampire ever to have existed, for not only did he have the powers of both his parents and the wings of an angel, he could walk in sunlight and only needed blood once a month.”

I frowned. If this Ahiah was our ancestor, why couldn’t we walk in sunlight? “But—” I began, but stopped when he held up a hand to silence me.

“Others followed in Auza and Semyaza’s footsteps, and soon, the incubi and dark angel populations were as large as those of the other tribes. By this time, the strigoii and psychics had formed their own system of government, a monarchy based on age and blood purity, though they did still answer to the laws of the main city. The other vampires followed suit and within a few short years, the first vampire council was formed.

“However, the peace was very short lived.

“The gods had grown angry with these rebellious angels, and once Atlantis was free of demons, the angels were cast out of heaven. They were not the first of the fallen, but they were one of the larger groups, comprising of nearly two hundred. Then the gods ordered that all the incubi and dark angels be rounded up and destroyed.”

“Then why’d the gods allow them to be made in the first place?” I asked, feeling both confused and annoyed by this. “Why not just make it impossible? Then it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Only the gods themselves know for sure,” Cyneric said, shaking his head. I could tell he agreed with me and felt a little mollified. “Personally, I think the gods were, yet again, trying to entertain themselves. They allowed the vampires to be created simply so they could have the fun of watching them be destroyed.”

I suddenly felt a little nauseous. “My gods wouldn’t do that.”

“I didn’t say it was your gods who did it,” Cyneric said.

“There are no others!” I protested. How could there be? My gods were the only real ones. The Greeks and Sumerians were simply too blind to see that.

Cyneric sighed, which only made me more agitated. “I thought that Egyptian arrogance might make itself known eventually. Yes, Hamal, there are others. They simply don’t answer to your people.”

I bristled at the thought. More gods than those of Khemet? That was blasphemy! I didn’t dare say so, since he wasn’t Egyptian and obviously didn’t know the truth, but he couldn’t hear what I was thinking.

“What happened to the vampires?” I finally asked. “Obviously they weren’t destroyed, or we wouldn’t be standing here.”

“Many of them were,” Cyneric said. “For a while, it seemed both races born from angels would be wiped out. Finally, only Kama and Femi were left of the incubi, and Ahiah and one other dark angel were left of our tribe. The two incubi were in hiding, and the second dark angel wished to as well, but Ahiah was determined to fight. He faced Michael himself in the air above a plain just outside the city.”

“He won, of course,” I said. I was shocked when Cyneric shook his head.

He gestured to another painting. This one was of a large, grassy plain surrounded by a forest in the distance. It looked like the type of setting that would be sickeningly pleasant if the sun were shining, but on the day presented in the mural, the sky threatened a downpour. Two figures hung suspended in the sky, both with huge white wings. The one on the left was a handsome blonde, his features almost completely bleached out by the light of the flaming sword in his hands. The being on the right was more handsome still, though with an imperfect beauty that clearly betrayed his origins, with a long wooden staff held in his fingers. It was not even an adequate weapon against Michael’s flaming sword.

“Ahiah did not stand a chance; Michael was simply too powerful. Ahiah died in less than five minutes.”

“But then—”

“Before the battle had even begun, the other dark angel fled to where Semyaza was living in secret with Mira. She recounted what was happening to him, and he left in time to reach the plain just as Ahiah fell, dying, to the ground.

“Semyaza gathered his son’s body in his arms and wept. His tears did not have the healing powers they once did, but they woke Ahiah from his comatose state.

“‘See where your sin has led you, Semyaza?’ said Michael as he watched. ‘It is your own unwillingness to follow the wills of those who guide us that has led us all to this.’

“‘He is wrong, father,’ Ahiah said. “Drink my blood. Show them that we can’t be stopped so easily. Our line must live. The gods must have allowed us to be born for a reason.’

“And so Semyaza drank his son’s blood and became a dark angel himself. Ahiah did not live to see his father Turned.”

“So we’re descended from Semyaza?” I asked, feeling a little lost.

“Yes, and it is because of his fallen nature that we have the limitations we have today. He was unable to walk in sunlight except for during the full moon, when the rays of the moon cancel out the rays of the sun, and he had to feed far more frequently than his son. And his wings were dark as the night he now called home.

“For a while, the gods were content and the city went on as before. They seemed to have lost interest in the slaughter of the angel-born vampires and turned the other cheek when another was born. However, because of the vampires, whose population kept growing, the city’s achievements grew faster than ever. The vampires were able to push the boundaries of magic further than the fae or angels, and their mental processes were three times as fast as a human’s. The first generation rarely even had to feed, so they were viewed as blessings rather than curses.

“But through the help of the vampires, the people began to unlock certain mysteries that should not have been unlocked: light without fire, movement without human effort, sound that could travel great distances through the air. Their knowledge not only made them powerful and corrupt, like the angels had feared, it began to turn them away from the gods. They felt it denied the gods’ existence rather than proved it.”

“Light without fire?” I said, amazed…well, amazed didn’t even cover it. “How can you have light without fire?”

Cyneric simply smiled before continuing, “The gods, of course, get their power from worshippers. They feared this scientific revolution would mean their end. In a desperate attempt to save themselves, they brought disaster upon the great city.”

He pointed to the next mural, one of the city from before, but of it up in flames. Fire danced across the treetops, ravaging building after building. Yet the sky was clearly dumping water on the scene, for the feet of the trees were submerged in water and the sky was dark and shot through with lightning. A few of the trees had even been uprooted and the ground beneath them was jagged and either mounded up or sunk into the ground.

“Storms and earthquakes devastated the city. Most of the vampire strongholds collapsed, letting in lethal sunlight. Many vampires died. In a single day, the city was completely flooded, and the constant earthquakes caused it to sink into the sea.

“A few of the fae had seen the disaster coming, so they had ships ready and most of the population was saved. However, the storms continued to ravage the people, and they were separated. A few landed in the Terras again and joined the primitive humans on the remains of their continent. The rest traveled for months until they reached the shores of Africa, Europe, and Asia.

“The vampires wanted nothing more to do with the Terras, so those who reached these new lands helped those who did not, get there. The fae and elves mostly disappeared after that, as did the magical creatures, though they are occasionally seen. The humans assimilated into the native peoples, teaching them only bare bits of knowledge in fear of bringing about the gods’ wrath again. The vampires retreated into our own societies, most of which mirror the old city of Atlantis.”

Cyneric sighed, staring wistfully at the murals again. “That is why I said you could be better. Nearly every culture has kept certain aspects of Atlantis—rudimentary art, geometry, astronomy, the importance of the pyramid. In fact, I believe your Great Sphinx houses a room beneath it that tells this same story from the view of the humans who came to Khemet as well as all of the secrets they uncovered, not to teach others but as a record of what had been accomplished. Certainly, Egypt is the culture closest to following in Atlantis’ footsteps, and the one that learned the most from the Atlantians. Still, I can only imagine what could have been if it had not been for that disaster.”

“Why don’t you help us?” I demanded. “You know what went wrong before; you could keep it from happening again.”

Cyneric gave me another brief smile. “Believe me, I wish we could. But humanity has evolved to a point where our influence is not needed. In fact, I am a little afraid of what would happen if we did interfere, and not of what the gods would do.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Other Races have taken our example and, for the most part, have stayed out of human affairs. All of us meddle a little from time to time, so humans are not completely ignorant of us, but it is nothing like Atlantis. If any of us began doing more than the occasional glimpse, it would signal an okay for the rest of us. More specifically, the demons would feel they had full reign to do whatever they liked.”

“Ah, and they would cause chaos,” I said. That would be a disaster, especially if it was anything like what I had just heard.

“Absolutely. They would destroy what humans have been working so hard to build since Atlantis. That is why we do not interfere but rather try to better ourselves for the time when humanity will be beyond human control.”