“Oh,” I say, a little taken aback. “Still, no one picked you for all those years? Even the oracle has to abide by these rules?”
“The oracle, at least in my case, did have a little bit of a special circumstance. My mother wanted Valor to be my mate, but in the end it was still Valor’s choice whether she wanted to pick me or not.”
“Really? Why did she take so long to pick you then?”
“Children are a rare gift among immortals of any kind. It wasn’t until three month ago that Valor was able to conceive.”
Things really are different here. Now I wonder if Valor picked Cassius because she wanted to, or if she picked him because of what the previous oracle said. I also wonder if that’s why no other female angels asked Cassius to be their mate instead. Valor and Cassius look really good together, but I noticed something between them, a sort of tension, that makes me wonder what they really feel for each other.
“Do you like Valor?” I ask, still trying to understand all of this.
“I do like Valor,” he replies.
We continue down the mountain. We’re almost at the base. All the houses we were passing by before become scarce as a green and glittering valley expands out before us.
“But do you love her?” I ask quietly.
“All angels love, Tasia. So of course, my love extends to Valor as well.”
“That’s not what I mean. Shouldn’t your wife, your mate, give you special feelings that no one else does?”
Cassius stops walking once we’ve passed the last frost crystal house. He looks back at me. “It is a unique relationship Valor and I share, I will concede that. However, I feel no more love for Valor than I do anyone else.”
Maybe it’s because I’m human, but I just can’t accept that answer. But what can I say? He is an angel. What do I know? They work differently than humans. I know that much, so the experience of love can be just as different, right?
I follow Cassius when he starts walking again, and I take my first step into the lush green grass. A strange crunching noise sounds under my shoe. I feel like I’m stepping on a rock. I lift my foot and look down to see crystals scattered about the blades of grass. That’s why the valley is sparkling. I scan the rest of the valley again. It seems the crystals here are just as abundant as the grass.
These crystals remind me of the two diamonds I’m wearing around my neck. I wonder if all of the crystals here are more powerful than the ones in my world. Then again, Cassius said something about taming and tuning, so maybe it isn’t that simple.
“This is the place your diamonds came from,” Cassius informs. He stops walking to regard me thoughtfully. “However, unlike your diamonds, these crystals are wild and hold no allegiance to anyone.”
“What does it take to tame a crystal?” I ask.
“It’s hard to explain, but it has to do with fusing your desires into that crystal. Not many can do it. I am the only one currently capable.”
“Currently? Was your mother the other one able to tame crystals?”
The swirl of colors constantly changing in Cassius’s eyes slow. “No, it was not my mother. It was an angel named Leo. He only ever tamed one crystal, but to this day, he is the only other angel besides myself who was able to tame a crystal at all.”
“Was?”
Cassius turns away from me and continues walking as he says, “He was killed by Arsen.”
My heart twinges. “I’m sorry.”
“Let’s go. There is much to see.”
I follow Cassius through the valley, and I think I can see a lake or some kind of body of water shimmering in the distance. There are also large structures of crystals that could almost be mistaken for the homes back up the mountain, but I’m fairly certain these are just huge crystals. I try to drink everything in, but there’s so much around here, and even the beautiful sky is like no sky I’ve ever seen or experienced.
There’s a flock of birds flying against the gradient blue to purple backdrop. They seem to be glowing, as if they are on fire. The bright red against the blue is a striking contrast. There’s only a few of them, but they’re close enough to the ground that I can tell they are humongous.
“What are those?” I ask, my mouth agape.
“Phoenixes,” Cassius says simply.
I look to my right to see what I initially think are butterflies, but once one is closer to me, I see she has a human figure. The little creature is carrying a crystal, one of the small ones that won’t weigh her down. She flies by me. Her voice sounds like the tinkling of a bell. It sounds like she’s singing.
“The pixies appear comfortable with your presence,” Cassius notes. “They are usually either shy or notorious pranksters.”
More pixies surround me with their beautiful song. I let myself get lulled in and enjoy it, allowing them to perch on my hands and my arms. I stop walking completely because I don’t want to make them move as more come to sit on me like I’m a tree.
“Come along,” Cassius says, noticing my hesitation. “The pixies will keep you here forever if you let them.”
I slowly walk forward and the pixies begin to disperse, going back to gathering small crystals.
Everything here is so beautiful and light. Everything is so happy. When I come to this world, it’s like all the bad things that have been chasing me don’t exist anymore. Unless Arsen is specifically brought up, he’s hardly on my mind at all these days. The world I come from is not as beautiful as this one. Not at all.
“I want to stay here forever,” I say.
“It is a beautiful world,” Cassius says.
He stops by the edge of the water I saw in the distance. It’s shining so brightly I almost can’t look at it. But, like the bright sun in this world, I don’t have to squint my eyes because this light is somehow welcoming. This must be the Crystal Oasis. There are crystals all along the oasis bed and the water is bubbling, almost like it’s alive.
“I’d like to show you something, Tasia,” Cassius says.
“Okay,” I say eagerly.
Cassius stretches his hand, letting his palm face down above the grass. I don’t notice anything at first, but then I notice the grass underneath his palm begin to shift. The blades begin to grow longer, and then they weave themselves together, creating a small grass boat within seconds. I gasp in awe. Cassius takes the boat in his hand once the grass is no longer moving. He holds out the delightful object to me and I accept it.
“It’s so cute,” I say, my heart beating harder in my chest. “How did you do that?”
I crouch down at the water’s edge and place the boat on the rippling surface. It floats perfectly, the design sound, as it sets sail on a journey.
“All natural angels and demons are capable of rallying the elements behind us to some degree,” Cassius tells me. “It is a very powerful form of magic, but it is not the most powerful.”
“Oh, right. Like how I saw Arsen fighting another demon by using the elements. She was using fire and he was using water. What do you mean this isn’t the most powerful kind of magic? There are other kinds?”
“The most powerful kind of magic stems from the heart.”
“The heart?”
“Yes. It is an ancient magic as old as time, as old as creation, but it is a magic that can be accessed even by mortals.”
I scowl. I’ve never heard of heart magic before. “What does it do?”
“A variety of things,” Cassius informs as he takes a seat at the edge of the oasis.
He looks like he’s a part of this place. His eyes glimmer just like the crystals around him.
He says, “Heart magic has a wide range of uses. The two most powerful and opposite spectrums are love and hate. I’m sure you’ve heard stories of those who have loved so much that they were driven to do impossible things, and likewise I’m sure you’ve heard the same of hatred.”
I sit down beside him, probably closer than I need to. I don’t know why I do it. I feel like he’s a close friend even though I
haven’t known him long at all.
He looks at me as he says, “Angels dwell and promote the good forms of heart magic. We promote love. Using heart magic in the name of love is not foreign to us.”
“Like how Valor healed my dislocated elbow, so I wouldn’t have to wear a sling?”
“Yes, just like that. However, as powerful as love is, there is a place for other types of heart magic. Love cannot fix everything. Some creatures are irredeemable. Just because evil has to exist doesn’t mean that there needs to be any compassion for it.”
“My parents used to tell me something like that. Evil exists, but we shouldn’t dive into it, we shouldn’t give it any leeway. We should reject it.”
Cassius nods. “Your parents were very wise. Since Arsen and the demons like him were born of darkness, they warrant no compassion from us. Demons must be handled carefully. There have been angels, good angels, filled with compassion who have given demons an upper hand without even meaning to. Those angels have always destroyed themselves in the end.”
The gaze Cassius is giving me is more intense than anything I’ve ever seen before.
“You’re talking about fallen angels?”
“Yes. Having that compassion for darkness to the point they let it consume them, changes them forever. In many ways darkness seems more powerful than the light, than God, but that is only because it is a raw power. Light is more subtle, and nothing to do with brute strength, but it is much greater. God is much greater. It is only a matter of knowing when to be compassionate, and when to know that justice must be carried out.”
I frown. “Does that mean angels can experience hate?”
“In a way,” Cassius says. “A righteous fury could often be confused with hate, but I assure you it is different, and it is powerful.”
I swallow a lump in my throat and ask, “Then can demons experience love?”
I don’t know why I ask that. Maybe it’s because Arsen’s actions still bother me, and I want to know what Cassius has to say.
“No, Tasia. Demons cannot experience love. They can experience attachment, and that’s something that can be confused for love. But as with my previous example, it is very different. It is not the same.”
Cassius places his hand on top of mine, and then he lifts his hand and rests his fingers at the base of my jaw, coaxing me to look up at him.
“You, Tasia, are much like an angel I used to know. You have compassion about you, something that’s innate to you, but unlike him I think you are strong enough to know the difference. You know when compassion is not warranted.”
I blink at him, unsure of what to say.
Cassius moves his hand away, placing it in his lap beside his other hand.
“Angels cannot feel hate just as demons cannot feel love,” he says. “When an angel falls, it is not that their light has become darkness. Their light becomes twisted which makes it feel like a darkness of a sort. It’s their compassion taking over and clouding their judgment. This is why you must remember to keep the light close. May I see your diamond?”
“The white one?” I ask.
He nods.
I do as he asks, taking the white diamond off my silver chain necklace and handing it to him. He eclipses the diamond in his palms once again, concentrating on it in a way that almost doesn’t seem like he’s concentrating at all. Then he hands it back to me. I place it back on my silver chain necklace, and all the doubts I was feeling about Arsen all seem to vanish completely.
THERE ARE SO MANY things running through my mind these days. Tasia left with Cassius yesterday, and I’m already lonely in her absence. I have so much I’m feeling. She said words to me that I thought I’d only ever hear in my dreams. She said exactly what I wanted to hear. She doesn’t hate me, and she even wants to continue to be with me. She loves me. It’s a feeling that should be fantastic, and it is. However, in some ways, I feel guilty. I wonder about the rightness of all of this.
What is making me feel so uneasy?
I slam my fists into the punching bag. I should hold back my strength, but I don’t have the fortitude to do it at this moment. I hit the punching bag, blow after blow, each one getting harder than the last, until I send the thing flying against the wall.
I know why I feel so uneasy. For so many years I stopped trying to feel. I’ve tried only to act as the perfect angel. I tried to be a good soldier. I tried to make the world a better place for humans, the same humans that I was once a part of. Now I’ve allowed myself to feel again, really feel. It’s almost a strange sensation.
“What did the punching bag do to you?” Blade asks as she claps me on the shoulder.
“Sorry,” I say. “I’ll clean up the mess.”
“Do it later,” she tells me.
“Well, I don’t have anything better to do at the moment,” I say.
Blade jerks her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the boxing ring. “Let’s go a few rounds,” she says.
“You know there’s really no point in that,” I tell her.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re some powerful angel. I know. Let’s go a few rounds anyway.” She points to Donovan, lifting weights. “He’ll take the winner.”
“If that’s really what you want, Commander,” I say as I follow her to the boxing ring.
Blade and I prepare for the ring, protecting our hands with hand wraps, and then we enter the ring and face each other. I’m not sure why she’s doing this. Perhaps she’s trying to help me blow off some steam, but I don’t think that will be possible. How can I blow off steam when I have to hold back?
“I’ll do my best to give you a run for your money,” Blade says.
She doesn’t even signal for us to start before she’s running at me. She’s fast for a human. I’m not the fastest angel, but she’s still slower than I am. I dodge her incoming fist, and turn to kick her legs out from under her, but she anticipates my move and backs away.
She flings herself onto the ropes encircling the boxing ring, and then she flies at me again. The elasticity of the ropes offer her just enough force to reach a speed that she’s actually able to connect, hitting me with an uppercut. If I were human, that move would’ve probably knocked me out. Seeing as I’m not, it just stings a bit.
I gaze up at the ceiling for a moment longer before looking straight ahead, meeting Blade’s challenging eyes.
“Come on,” she goads. “You haven’t even tried to get ahead yet. Show off some of that angel might of yours.”
If that’s what she wants, I guess that’s what I’ll give her. I dart forward and jab at her arm. I hold back most of my strength, but not my speed. As I knew I would, I land the hit. However, I didn’t land as well as I was expecting to. I know Blade is very skilled, but there’s no way she can beat me in a hands-on match like this. She knows that.
Blade gets behind me and jumps onto my back. She has my neck locked in her arms. She puts all her strength into this move, and I’ll admit that it hurts. I let out an involuntary growl as I flip her over my head and onto her back. She gasps, desperate to refill the air that got knocked out of her lungs. I don’t make another move, because this match is over. Blade is winded, and it’s obvious I’ve won.
“Are you okay?” I ask her, holding out my hand in offer of assistance as she manages to roll onto her hands and knees.
She accepts my hand, and I pull her up to her feet. She stumbles, but she catches herself. She lets go of my hand and shakes her head.
“Feel any better?” she asks.
I shrug. “A bit,” I say.
She did give me a moment of distraction. That’s something.
“Well, good. Now you have to face Donovan,” she says. “Donovan! Get your ass over here!”
I stand in the ring as I wait for the big guy to join me. I stretch the soreness out of my neck and already feel it leaving by the time he is ready for me. Donovan pumps his fists together and cracks his neck. He grins at me.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve done this,” he
says.
“That it has,” I agree.
“Still can’t believe you’re an angel, man!” Donovan exclaims. “And at the same time I can. It explains a lot.”
I offer a smile. “I’m sorry for deceiving you.”
Donovan shrugs. “Seems to me complaining about that little fib is one way to show we aren’t grateful for what you angels did for us back when those monsters attacked the base. But I am grateful, so you won’t hear a complaint outta me.”
“Whenever you’re ready,” I say, inviting him forward.
“Let’s see how strong you really are,” he says with a bear-like grin.
I accept that challenge. I let him come to me. I don’t bother trying to dodge his attack. I catch his fists and swing him to the side, forcing him past me, but he grips my hands, surprising me and throwing me down onto the ground. Our hands are still locked as he holds me down. Unlike the first time he had me pinned, I’m going to show him just how easy it is for me to make him get off. I restrain my full strength as I allow Donovan to feel like he’s fighting to keep me down. Sweat starts dripping from his brow. Then I grin at him. I push him off me in the next instant, throwing him onto the ground beside me.
I get on my feet, and look down at him. He’s still lying on his back, looking shocked at the ceiling.
“You don’t look like you should be that strong,” he says.
“Looks can be deceiving,” I say as I offer my hand.
“You’re right about that,” Blade says from outside the ring; she’s leaning against the ropes, looking in on us. “Angels have been changing everything. You helped us repair this base way faster than we could’ve done it on her own. Hell, we wouldn’t even be here right now if it wasn’t for you. Those monsters would’ve overpowered us. As good as we are, we were caught unaware and there were too damn many of them.”
Donovan and I make our way out of the ring and join her. The three of us stand next to the ring in a little triangle. I notice a frown growing on Blade’s lips.
“Is something wrong?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I’ve known Tasia all her life, and I know times can change us, but it was a real slap in the face seeing how she gave that werebeast an aconite pill without any hesitation whatsoever. It was impressive, but also not something I expected from her.”
The Pull of Destiny (Undying Love, Book 2) Page 14