by JK Ensley
“Tenshi, stop.” Jenevier stepped from behind her enraged son. “Please, do not let hate take hold in your beautiful heart. You are too pure a soul to harbor feelings such as these. I won’t allow it.”
Daichi turned toward her when she spoke. When he saw the trickle of blood running down her chest where Iole Máni had pierced her skin, his bestial roar caused the very firmament to tremble.
“All is well, Daichi.” She stretched her hand out toward him. “Come. Let us leave this sacred place. I do not wish to bring more pain to these honorable people.”
“Pain to them?” Daichi yelled. “Pain to them? Are you the one who drew blood from an innocent throat? No! These people and this woman…” He snarled at Vareen. “Don’t deserve to know the truth. But they shall have it.”
“Daichi, those words are not for today,” Jenevier warned.
“This is the only day I shall ever speak them. And these people will hear,” he hissed.
Vinika helped Vareen to her feet. All eyes were on the terrifying sapphire Angel before them.
“This woman, the one you so easily heap all the sins of the universe upon, is the only blameless one among you. She offered her head in exchange for your grief. And you would have gladly taken it.” His flaming eyes fixed on Vareen’s. “There is but a single woman worthy of such blame. Yet she is of your blood. Not hers.”
“Daichi, stop!”
Jenevier started toward him, but his growls halted her feet.
“I will not stop!” He didn’t let Vareen break his glare. “That little bitch you gave birth to is the one who stole Jenevier’s journal and hand-delivered it to the greedy Emperor of Jinn. She made bargain with him—Jenevier’s life for the heavenly trinkets about her neck.”
“Aye, I’ll kill her myself,” Vittorio snarled.
Daichi continued, “Valencia’s the reason Musashi desired Jenevier. And she is how this innocent woman you meant to slay was stolen right out of your holy city. Right out from underneath your regal noses.” He looked to the warriors standing near him. “Is she not the same she-Guardian who offered to search layer nine?”
“Yes, she is,” Vareilious roared.
“And search it she did.” Daichi’s attention went back to Vareen. “Valencia slew the wizard who abducted Jenevier—carried him to hell with lies upon his lips meant for the demon Prince’s ears alone. All of this she did while the woman you now spit upon was being savagely beaten and raped over and over by the ruler of that realm.”
“An’ he shall die for it,” Vittorio hissed.
The mighty warrior made his way toward the tiny Angel he would always love. He could think of nothing but holding her, comforting her, washing the horrible pain from her memories.
Daichi placed a powerful hand upon Vittorio’s chest, halting his advance. “I have already seen to that glorious deed. When next I saw him, I left him minus a head.” He turned back to Vareen. “And now I wish only to toss your daughter’s into that stream alongside his. Kiss her farewell when next you see her, revered mother. For if I find her, you will see her no more.”
Tenshi now stood before Vareen. “Your son was the only man in my mama’s heart when she lay down at night. Varick was the one she cried out for when the horrible nightmares came.” A single tear slid mournfully down his beautiful face. “He was the only one Mama wanted to give the honor of naming us. And his babies were the ones she dreamed of carrying within her. He sacrificed himself to save me from my father. All because he loved her too much… and she couldn’t get to me in time.”
Vareen stared at the near perfect replica of Apollyon standing before her. His size and beauty hid what his words all too plainly revealed—he was as tiny inside as an innocent little boy. His pained words over his loving mother brought fresh tears to her grieving eyes.
Jenevier took Tenshi’s trembling hand in hers. “Come, my beautiful Angel. Let these good people mourn their loved ones in peace.” She gently tugged on his arm. “Our paths may cross another day. This is not the day. We don’t belong here. Let us go home and see to our people.”
“These are your sons?”
Jenevier’s back stiffened at the haggard sound of Vareen’s once beautiful voice. She still couldn’t meet the poor woman’s gaze.
“Tenshi is my son.” She reached out and took Daichi’s hand as well. “And Daichi is my Blessing.” She smiled up at him and he gave her a tender kiss on her forehead.
The three outsiders turned to leave the ethereal city. Jenevier held tightly to each loving hand. She knew she’d never be the same, but these two glorious Angels kept her whole and healed her with their smiles alone.
“The flutter in the pool,” Vinika whispered.
She stopped, looking back to her long-lost sister. She nodded. “You remembered.”
Jenevier pulled Daichi’s clasped hand close, pressing it over her heart as she smiled up at him.
“Yes. This is my little flutter.”
“Can you ever forgive me?”
Vareen’s rasped whisper was barely audible, but Jenevier heard it resonate loudly within her heart. She turned then to the woman who had always been there for her, always helped her, always loved her. Everyone present held their breath and stepped back uncomfortably, all save Vinika.
Jenevier closed her burning eyes and held her hand up in respect, the way Munenori had taught her to do with her Dragons, and bowed to her second mother.
“Namaste, blessed mother to your race. There is nothing to forgive. I could never hold ill toward you. Nay, I would be dead without you. If this were the day of my only son’s death, I would have wrought more harm than you. It is I who asks for forgiveness, whenever your heart may grant it.” Her voice began to quake. “I loved him beyond words, beyond imagining. If my death could bring him back, I would have slain myself before he fell to ash.”
She heard the quickly approaching steps. Tenshi tensed and Daichi growled. She opened her eyes to find Vareen half running toward her, tears streaming down her sorrowful face. It was more than she could stand. Jenevier ran full force, slamming into the giant woman, embracing her with all her strength. She tried to pull Vareen’s pain out through their contact and hide it away safely within her own heart.
“My son is gone… My only beloved son has been torn from this realm.”
Her cries were too much to bear. Her sorrow, too deep to heal.
“I know, Mother. He took many hearts with him. Never has a greater man ever lived.”
“I am so sorry, tiny Angel. If your flutter hadn’t stopped me, I would have taken your life as surely as I hold you now.”
“Don’t apologize for that. I offered it to you. You can have it still. I will do anything within my power to ease your wretched pain.”
Jenevier felt Vareen’s knees buckle. The trembling woman’s form was pulled from their embrace. She opened her eyes to see Tenshi holding the lovely seer in his arms as a babe, while she cried her heart out against his broad chest.
“Take her to the waters,” Vinika whispered. “We could not coax her to go.”
Tenshi looked to Vinika as she spoke. “Point me the way, lovely lady.”
“Aye, Lass, dunnae ye believe ye could benefit from a dip yerself?”
She hadn’t even heard Vittorio’s approach.
“You know how I feel about those healing pools, Brother. Nothing good happens there.”
“Naethin’ good? Do my ears deceive me? How can ye harbor such lies as these, wee rabbit? Do ye regret saving my life, then?”
She looked up at his smirking face and felt the bond they once shared swell within her.
“Never, Brother. Remove my bitter words. Let it be as if I did not speak them at all. No matter what, I will always give thanks for that most glorious of miracles. I love you.”
She wrapped her arms around him and he lifted her up.
“Aye, Lass, I know ye do. An’ I love ye more.”
“Come, Daichi.” She held her hand out toward him.
Vittorio smiled. “Aye now, wee Flutter, ye dunnae want tae miss this.”
“Don’t call me that,” Daichi growled, as he flew past them and on toward the sparkling dome atop that lovely mountain in the midst of the ethereal city of Vanahirdem.
Chapter 51
Munenori
(moo-nah-NOOR-ee)
“You’ve been gone for weeks.” Munenori snorted. “I was certain you had already forgotten your purpose.”
“Apologies, Senpai. I had much to attend. Still do.” She took the teacup from his hand and drained its contents. “Mmm, so good. Gratitude, Brother.”
“Gratitude?” he huffed. “I can see your manners still need much more than just a polishing. Have you come back to claim your rightful throne?”
“I have. Under one condition.” She lay down on the bed and looked around at the majestic palace once used as her gilded prison.
“And what condition might that be?”
“I wish to live here on Jinn. Yet there is much I still have to do.” She bounded off the bed and plopped in his lap. “If I take the throne, will you mind it for me until my return?”
“As your husband?” Munenori whispered.
“What?” She jumped back up. “Whatever in the world would give you that idea? Aren’t you the very Angel who told me of my blessing in Daichi and how one wrong choice can alter the universe?”
“I am.”
“So… is this a test or something?”
“Not a test. Simply a question.”
“Then you’re playing with me. Right?”
“If that’s how you wish to take it, then yes. I’m playing with you.” He poured himself another cup of tea.
She looked at him closely. “Munenori?”
“Yes, Naga.”
“I thought you said Angels did not marry and have families.”
“That is not our purpose, no.”
“So, you’ve never lain with a woman?”
He swallowed his tea before it strangled him. “Why would you ask me such a thing?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Curiosity, perhaps.”
“You’re curious, then? Do you wish me to prove my skills?” He raised one eyebrow and looked sideways at her.
“N-no,” she stuttered. “I shouldn’t have pried. Apologies, Senpai.”
“Why have you come back this day, Naga? And why are you alone?”
“I came back to seek your guidance, Brother. These are my people. And my Dragons bind my heart to this realm.” She knelt down in front of him. “But there is so much destruction… utter devastation.”
He wiped a tear from her cheek and put it to his lips. Munenori closed his eyes, rolling her sorrow over his tongue.
“And you wish to know if this is your path—helping the Guardians.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
“Why are you not accompanied by your sapphire-winged twins?”
“I left them to be trained, sort of. I wished them to be better prepared if ever we should—” Her words choked off in her throat.
“If ever you should… have to face hell again,” he said.
“Yes, the dark ones. Or anyone else that may wish to harm them.”
“I could have seen to their training here, Milady.”
“I know, but…” She fell silent.
“But you wished to hide them away inside a protected city.”
She blushed and lowered her head.
“They are not babes, Naga. They will both hold ill toward you if you treat them as such.”
“It’s too soon, Munenori. I’ve lost my true love to war. A war I inadvertently caused. I would have lain down and died with Varick that day, had I not had my sons to think of. I am poison. This you know, Brother. Trouble finds me at every turn. I refuse to let them be harmed just because they were cursed to be born of me.”
Her tears were no longer containable. He stroked her hair as he held her head in his lap, letting her cry until the tears refused to come.
“Do you see how fast you dwindled?” He lifted her chin and wiped her swollen eyes. “You came in here all smiles and joyous thoughts. Now, you are very nearly broken again. Do not underestimate your Blessing, Naga. Or your great need for him. You have him for a reason. You are too fragile a creature to stand on your own. Your heart’s too tender, too loving. Daichi is all that stands between you and complete madness.”
“But—”
“Shhh, do not argue with me, Naga.” He placed a finger to her lips. “Look inside yourself and know my words are true. Kagi Naga, Mother of Dragons and of Angels. That blue Blessing of yours is who keeps you woven together.” A wry smile turned up one corner of his mouth. “It is as I have said… a full time job.”
She sniffed. “Then I will return here with Daichi and see to my destiny.”
“I can handle Jinn for you, Milady. I have managed to do so for eons now. I believe I have a few more years left in me.” This smirk was his most blatant one yet.
“Will it be okay? Can I tend to the other layers without creating ripples?”
“Naga, my love, you make ripples wherever you go. We all do. If you’re asking my permission in this thing, it’s not mine to give. Do as your heart tells you. And then, live with the consequences.”
She crawled back into his lap and laid her head on his shoulder. “As it should be.”
“Yes, Little Fire. As it should be.”
He lifted her chin and kissed her. She tasted something peculiar in him, something she had missed before.
“Munenori, you taste of… of… magic.” Her eyes widened.
“And you taste of poison.” He touched the tip of her nose. “But it is a delicious poison, Empress Naga.”
“Stop teasing. I’m being serious. You’re not just a regular Angel, are you? There’s something special within you.” She grabbed his chin. Tilting it up, she licked his neck. “What is that? How did I miss it before? It makes my tongue tingle and my wings hum. No, you are no regular Angel, Munenori.”
“And what do you know of Angels? Nothing. You have admitted such yourself. You are being silly, Naga. Stop your play or I shall have to punish you.”
“I may not know much of Angels, but I know what I know. And I know you’re different. Your scent has a tart aftertaste, sweet and bitter. Cashiel and Jago didn’t claim such, they were Angel only. Yet Vindicus had something, umm… different within him as well. I never knew what it was, but his scent left a warm feeling all the way down in my marrow. His taste wasn’t sweet and it wasn’t sour. It was more like… well, just more.”
Munenori raised one eyebrow. “You tasted that, did you?”
“Yes, of course I did. Although, I never knew what it was exactly.”
“Yes, you did know. I should say you are the only creature, alive or dead, who was blessed enough to witness Apollyon’s hidden secret. That more you tasted within him.”
“No, truly. I never asked him. Of course, at the time, he was my first Angel. I didn’t realize he was so different.”
“Ugh, I forget how young you are, child. You didn’t have to ask him, Naga. He showed you.”
“Don’t do the riddle thing, please,” she whined.
Munenori sighed and rolled his eyes. “I’m not doing the riddle thing.” He tweaked her nose. “I’m doing the obvious thing. You’re just too dense to follow along.” He winked at her then. “A very few select Angels are given special gifts, ones that go above and beyond their regular powers. Apollyon was blessed thusly. That conceited Angel was blessed in so many ways. Such a waste,” he mumbled.
“What was his special blessing? What can he do that you cannot?”
“Many things,” he said as he twirled her blue curl around his finger. “This, for one.” He gave it a little tug. “And this.” He gently ran his fingertips across her sapphire-scarred cheek. “And this.” He took her blue tinged hand, now laced about with the ethereal tattoo from Varick’s manacle, in his and gently locked their fingers together. “Shall I
go on?”
“You mean, turning things blue? His secret talent was making things look like sapphires?”
Munenori poked her in the forehead. “No, you daft little girl. He was given the power to heal.”
“What?” Jenevier stared at her tattooed hand, amazed, confused.
“Yes, he could heal. Yet the selfish braggart kept his powers to himself. As far as I know, he never used them. Not even once… until you.”
Tears flooded her eyes again. “I don’t know how to feel about that. Not anymore. Before the war, I would have been honored, over the moon even. But now…”
“I know, Naga. I know.” He rubbed comforting little circles on her back.
“I wish I had realized this before,” she said. “I would have forced him to heal Varick.”
“Apollyon can heal injuries, such as yours. He cannot raise the dead. Think about it, Naga. Do you honestly believe he would have let you set there upon the blood-soaked ground—holding your lifeless lover in your arms, crying, praying, shattering into a million pieces—if he could have done something, anything, to help you?”
Munenori’s vivid recount of her recent epic loss reopened the barely healed wound, releasing the pain it still held, would always hold. The bitter hate she felt that day returned, leaving a rancid metallic taste in her mouth.
“He’s the bloody Prince of Hell,” she snapped. “Of course I believe he would have let me sit there and suffer. That’s what he does. His job is to dole out pain. He proved his worth, did he not? He showed us his true colors. Put them on display for the whole universe, no less.”
“Naga, listen to yourself. You’re letting pain master you, child. You cannot even convince yourself of those words. They are utter nonsense.”