Angel looked up at Tasa, “Tasa, you said something about your father earlier? He knew that I was coming?”
Tasa bit her lip, then nodded, “he talked about you all the time. Said that you would save us.”
Angel frowned, “I don’t understand.”
Tasa leaned back on the wall, “my father...he could see things. Things before they happened- years, months, hours- he saw it. Everyone thought he was crazy- I thought he was crazy.”
Angel and the others waited for her to continue.
“He told me that I would have to do this one day,” she smiled at the thought of her father, “I didn’t believe him,” she looked back up at Angel, “you’re supposed to save us Angel. You’re supposed to save everyone...with your sword.”
Angel gripped the handle, “my sword?”
“Yes,” She pushed away from the bark covered wall, and walked closer to him to see the sword strapped to his back, “he called it the Soul Blade. It was said to be Darrassa’s sword, the prince of the First Kingdom. Although, he died in the revolution. By now, Darrengiy should be plotting to steal it from you.”
“I know him,” Angel frowned, “what does he have to do with anything?”
“Everything. He’s the problem. Darrengiy, the most powerful man alive in all of Vernasia, and the most dangerous,” Tasa looked over at the others, “Darrengiy seeks more power- he steals it, and then he uses it to destroy homes and villages that he doesn’t approve of. He even starts wars, so he could test out his power,” she turned back to Angel who was still frowning, “he wants to rule again. That’s what my father said. He told me to tell you that Darrengiy is slowly feeding off of her power, and soon, he’ll take it from her whole.”
“Her?” Angel’s heart dropped. There was only one girl he knew with Verna for the taking. Shalina.
“My father didn’t give me a name, but he said you would know who he was talking about. She’s a very powerful girl. A descendant of Princess Shalina that lived in the First Kingdom. Her doppelganger.”
“The one who disappeared?” Alcia asked, “I learned about her in school. She was born with the most Verna in all of Vernasia. Even Darrengiy. Her power was what provided the worlds with the resources it needed to survive, but when she disappeared, so did the resources. If this girl, the one you speak of, is her doppelganger, then that makes her the most powerful woman in Vernasia now... ”
Tasa nodded.
“After the resources disappeared, then came the revolution, right?” Tren asked, thinking back to history class.
Tasa nodded, “my father said that if he gets that power from her, then he would be able to rule again.”
“Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” Marian asked, “I learned that before the revolution, the worlds were peaceful.”
Tasa shook her head, “after the worlds split, they started depending on themselves. Created what you would call...governments? And then some worlds have their own kingdoms now that rule already. Darrengiy becoming ruler again would cause conflict, and bloodshed. Besides, someone as power hungry as him should never rule over people’s lives. He’s ruthless, and dangerous, and should be stopped.”
Angel sighed, while shaking his head, “did your father know why he hasn’t taken her power yet? It’s been years since he took her, and he doesn’t seem any stronger.”
“You saw him?” Tasa’s eyes widened.
“Yeah,” Zyas answered, “he was back in Varenwhile...with the girl I think you’re talking about.”
Tasa clenched her fists, “I don’t know why he hasn’t used her yet. Maybe he hasn’t figured out how. Or maybe she’s not at her strongest...”
“And while he’s still at his regular strength, your father thinks that I can kill him? Did he see that too?” Angel asked.
“No, he just said that you could help us,” Tasa said, “with the Soul Blade, you can help us.”
“I don’t understand how. How is this sword connected to him?”
“I don’t really know, but I know the soul inside of it is angry with him. Whoever it is, is a powerful enemy of Darrengiy’s, and his soul was put into your sword.”
“That’s crazy,” Marian said.
The room was quiet while everyone took everything in. Angel was more confused than anyone. Back when he was a kid, the sword had chosen him after Shalina awakened it, but why? Did the woman inside the blade have the same goals that he did? To kill Darrengiy? It protected him for years since Shalina was taken away, and Angel could never find out the connection that the sword had to him. Who was this person in the blade? Whoever it is has her sights set on Darrengiy, which would help Angel get Shalina back, and to save Vernasia. He felt that he now had a duty to stop Darrengiy before it was too late, and make sure that the worlds remain as they are, because if he doesn’t, Darrengiy will rule, and lives will be lost. Many lives.
“Do you think that he is here?” Angel broke the silence.
“I’m not sure,” Tasa answered, “we have had an increase in attacks against villagers, and other villages. The Bift’s are forming in packs, and the Moorenofs are coming after us with more and more force.”
“What do they want?” Alcia asked.
“To eat us. We are their source of energy,” Tasa looked down at her feet, “will you help us Angel?”
Angel looked down at Tasa, who felt embarrassed about asking for help, “yes, but we can talk more about it later. I need to think.”
The others looked over at him, not sure what to say, and Angel looked back, hoping that they all wanted to help him. When he realized that no one was going to step up, he turned around and exited the room.
Tasa looked over at the others, “and what about you guys?”
They each looked at each other while waiting on someone to take the initiative and answer.
“Well, I will be going where ever Angel is going, so if he agrees to help, then you have my help as well. I owe him after he saved my family,” Zyas answered.
Tren shrugged, “I have a woman back at home that need’s me.”
Alcia bit her lip, “I...I don’t know,” she looked to Zyas, then turned away.
Marian shrugged and looked over at the bright light up bugs in the jar. He didn’t want to go back to the place that he watched his friends die, “I’ll have to see. I’ll let you know though.”
Alcia looked over to Zyas, who she could still feel staring over at her, and then walked out of the room, leaving him behind.
“What’s her problem?” Marian asked.
Zyas didn’t answer, because he didn’t know.
Alcia made her way out onto the wooden platform and spotted Angel walking across the bridge with his head down, clearly thinking about everything that he was just told. She then turned towards the sky and took a deep breath of the clean air, which was far better than the air back at the sector.
Alcia closed her blue eyes for a moment and listened to the various sounds around her, then she opened her eyes to something green that zoomed over her head in a blur.
“Yeah!” someone yelled in excitement as they flew by on what looked to be a very large leaf.
Alcia’s mouth dropped when she looked up again and saw three more green leaves, flown by people, zoom by. They glided on the leaves over and under a bridge, then in between trees, and around each other.
“Is this magic?” Alcia asked out loud. She set her eyes on a girl around her age, with long blond hair and dark brown eyes. The girl slowed down when she noticed Alcia staring directly at her and smiled back, then she used her foot to push down on the tip of the over-sized leaf, and went zooming right in Alcia’s direction.
Alcia stepped back, worried that the girl may have realized that she was from the sector, and thought of running, but then realized that that would be impossible when the girl came to a stop with the tip of the leaf only inches away from her nose.
Alcia and the girl watched each other for a moment, but the other two girls, and three boys broke their concentration.
The blond girl stood up straight, “you’re not from here,” she said with a now, straight face.
Alcia nodded, not really sure of what to do or say. She jumped when she felt Zyas bump her shoulder while exiting the tree. He stood next to her with his arms folded and glared up at the strangers.
The blond girl gave a slight smile, but Alcia knew it wasn’t genuine, “this your boyfriend, brunet?”
Alcia looked from Zyas, then back to her, “why are you worried about that?”
The blond raised her chin, “just where are you from?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Zyas answered boldly.
This time the girl gave a full smile, “I’m Marci, what are your names?”
“I”m-”
“I’m Zyas,” he nodded sideways to Alcia, “and this is Alcia.”
“Hmmm,” Marie squinted, “you don’t look like you’re from the other villages. From those eyes, I can tell you’re an Oceanian.”
Alcia nodded, “yeah...”
“And you, where are you from?” one of the boys asked.
“Varenwhile,” Zyas answered. Alcia found his defensive side to be kind of cute. He almost reminded her of some of the bad boys from Oceania.
“They must have been involved in the war,” One of the girls said to Marci.
Alcia and Zyas’s hearts dropped at the same time. If these guys knew that they were in the war, then they had to know that they just came from the sector, and if they knew that, then there was no telling what would happen next.
“So, you two are skilled fighters?” Marci asked.
Before they could answer, one of the guys spoke, “Marci, what are you getting at?”
“We could use them,” Marci said without breaking eye contact with Alcia, “we need more players for the game. You know how hard it is to find new players.”
“Oh, right! Do you guys want to play?” The boy asked.
“Play what?” Alcia asked, breaking the awkward eye contact.
“Davinko,” the boy answered.
Zyas frowned, “how do you play?”
Marci crouched down on her leaf, that was somehow still floating in the air, “it simple,” she cocked her head to the side, “you just knock each other off of their floaters.”
“So, that’s what they are called?” Zyas asked. He reached out to touch one of the floaters, but it backed away from him.
“You don’t want to do that,” the boy said.
“Why not?”
“Play, and you’ll find out.”
Alcia looked down at the busy village that stretched miles towards the ground, “couldn’t you get badly injured? Maybe even die?” she looked back up at Marci.
“Are you afraid?” Marci teased, “I guess your kind is too afraid to play above the surface.”
“Marci,” one of the girls laughed.
Alcia frowned, the looked down again, “so, all you have to do is knock the others off of their floaters?”
“Alcia-” Zyas started. He knew exactly where this was going.
“Yeah,” Marci backed away on her floater, “we play two a team. I guess you and your boyfriend are stuck together.”
“Wait, I didn’t agree to pl-”
“You can get the floaters up there,” Marci pointed to another platform that was higher up, and across another bridge.
Alcia grabbed Zyas by his wrist and led him up to the platform with the floaters that were stacked against a tree, and picked one out.
“Alcia, this is dangerous,” Zyas said, “we shouldn’t be doing this. We don’t even know how to fly these...leaves!”
Alcia felt the texture of the floater and realized that it really was a leaf that she was holding. How was it possible for humans to fly on giant leaves? It must have just been a quality of Mooralshia.
Alcia smiled, “stop worrying. There’s clearly something about this game that kept them alive. I don’t think they just played over the open village like that.”
“You don’t know that, Alcia,” Zyas sighed, “we can’t do this.”
“Yes, we can,” Alcia smiled back at Zyas, then dropped her floater over the edge of the platform and was amazed at how it stopped in midair, “amazing.”
“Alcia, wai-”
Alcia gently stepped onto the middle of the leaf, and did her best to keep herself balanced on top. It took a moment, because she kept leaning to the sides, but then she finally got herself to stand still on the floater, “c’mon Zyas,” she said laughing back at him.
Zyas sighed, knowing that he couldn’t let her play this game on her own, and did the same as she, only he had a harder time getting his balance. Once he was finally still, he looked over the edge and saw nothing but bridges, platforms, and people. If he fell off then he knew that there was definitely something to catch him, or grab on, so not to plummet to his death.
“You guys ready!!?” One of the guys asked.
“Yeah,” Alcia responded.
“Okay guys. Ready, set, go!!”
Alcia watched as the boys and girls went after each other at full speed, and then aggressively bump one another, trying to push each other off, “let’s do this Zyas,” Alcia looked down at Marci, who was steady watching Alcia, and smiled, “I’ll take her.”
“Get him!” one of the guys yelled as they zoomed for Zyas. Zyas jumped to action and bent his knees for balance, then leaned to the right side and zoomed away on his floater.
Alarmed, Alcia was about to go after the two boys, but then was caught off guard by Marci, who knocked her off of the side of her floater.
Chapter 10: Mooralshia-Part 2
Alcia pulled herself back up onto her floater, and quickly got to her feet before Marci tried to knock her off again. She turned to her right and saw a glimpse of blond color coming in her direction, and decided to make a fly for it.
Alcia stomped down on the tip of her floater and shot straight down towards the village. She felt as if she were going to fly off of the giant leaf until she bent her knees and grabbed it by the edge.
Marci was right behind her, chasing her prey, and was surprised to see how fast Alcia learned to control the floater. The Oceanian in front of her ducked under a bridge and went shooting back up towards the sky, where she then flipped to the side and tried to lose Marci around the trees.
Marci laughed while shaking her head, then she circled in the opposite direction around a large tree, and slammed her body against Alcia’s, who didn’t fall off of the floater this time.
Alcia circled another tree while rubbing her sore shoulder, and saw Marci come from the other side smiling back at her. She frowned and charged at Marci, but the girl was too skilled and swiftly dodged out of the way. Alcia then turned around and tried again, but this time when Marci dodged, she threw a hard punch to Alcia’s cheek
Alcia stopped and took a deep breath, then she clenched her teeth. Marci was too good at this game, and at first she couldn’t figure out how to get her off of her floater, until she remembered how she stopped the three Machinians that were following her to the surface. She needed a force to push Marci down, and what better force to use than her own?
Marci charged at Alcia, who had shot straight up for the sky, and followed right behind her. Alcia took a deep breath and gripped onto the edges of her floater, tightly, as she prepared to do a 180 degree turn around and shoot back down for Marci.
Alcia did a quick look back to check and see if Marci was still behind her, and once she was sure, she did a loop in the air, pushed down on the tip of her floater with her toe, and shot down to knock her opponent off of her floater.
Marci’s eyes grew wide when, in a blink of an eye, Alcia had made a turn around and came straight down for her. Luckily, Marci was experienced, and knew how to avoid such attacks. She grabbed the sides of her floater, then with one quick tug she pulled off a back flip so that Alcia would crash into the bottom of the leaf.
Alcia knew it was unavoidable and crashed hard on to the bottom of Marci’s float
er. She had flew off of hers and was now scratching for something to grab on the bottom of Marci’s. Marci had finished all the way through with her back flip, throwing Alcia off of the floater and down towards the village.
“One down,” Marci sighed. She looked around to see who else was still playing, and noticed Zyas, who flew down to grab Alcia with the two boys still chasing behind him.
Alcia looked up as she plummeted towards the village and wondered what her game plan was if she were to be knocked off. How was she going to avoid dying after falling from so high in the trees? Back in Oceania, it was normal for her to do crazy stunts when she was upset, but she always had a backup plan if something were to go wrong. This time, she didn’t have one.
Alcia noticed how she was starting to become light headed as she had gotten closer to the village. Her vision blurred for a moment, but then snapped back to normal when she was caught in Zyas’s arms.
“Thanks,” Alcia said.
“Any time, watch my back,” Zyas said.
Alcia stepped onto the floater and then made her way around him to face the two boys that were coming for them.
Zyas had no game plan, and couldn’t figure out a way to beat these guys, especially with Alcia right behind him. Now he had to worry about getting away, and making sure that she was safe. This game was starting to become a real hassle.
Zyas looked ahead of him and saw one of the girls waiting for him in the distance, “hold on!” Zyas yelled.
Alcia reached down and grabbed the floater, then was surprised at how they had shot up towards the sky and she was now looking down at the village. The boys that were behind them crashed into the girl and all three of them fell off of their floaters.
“Oh no!” Alcia blurted as she watched the young teens fall to their death, or at least that’s how it looked. The two boys had grabbed one of the ropes from a bridge, and the girl rolled onto one of the platforms.
Zyas straightened up and took a deep breath, “finally.”
Alcia smiled, “I think we make a good team.”
Zyas chuckled, “ye-”
Marci slammed the bottom of her floater onto the two, catching them completely off guard, and they flew off of the floater. She laughed down at them as they fell for the village.
Angel's Blade: Power (Angel Series Book 1) Page 11