Angel jumped out of the way and rolled to the ground. When he came to a stop he noticed the black mark that burned the ground where the light had traveled.
Verenda was about to try again, but Marian had punched two hot flames at him and knocked him to the ground, “run, Shalina,” he said as he rolled back to his feet.
Shalina looked around herself and noticed that they were outnumbered by a handful of incredibly strong fighters, “but Verenda-”
“Go! I’ll come find you when I’m done with them,” He said sending the light at Marian now.
Shalina stepped back, then turned around and ran into the woods. No one but Angel ran after her, in fear that she may create another strong gust of wind like she did the day before.
“Shalina, wait!” Angel yelled. He picked up his speed to try and get a hold of her and explain everything.
Shalina looked back and saw that Angel was gaining on her, “leave me alone!” she yelled, then sent a tree down crashing in front of Angel.
Angel slid to a stop because the tree was too large to jump over, and caught his breath. He then climbed over the tree and jumped down, but it was too late. Shalina was nowhere to be found. He knew that she couldn’t have gotten far, and maybe was even hiding because she was still weak. That tree might have taken up the rest of the energy that she had left.
“Shalina!” Angel called out, “you don’t have to hide from me! I won’t hurt you!” he started walking around the area to look for her, but when he realized it was futile, he stopped, “look,” he looked out at the woods, “just listen to me. I know that you believe I was responsible for your parents’ death, and the villagers, but it wasn’t me! They were family to me as well, and that was also my home,” he sighed, “it was Darrengiy that did all of that! I don’t know what else he may have told you, but it was a lie. He stole your memories, so you don’t remember me,” he smiled slightly, “but we were close when we were kids,” he thought back to how they played in the woods together, “we were best friends. I promise you, I did-” he heard footsteps from behind him and turned around, hoping that Shalina had started to believe him, but instead...
Shalina stood there, mortified at what she had just done. The look in Angel’s pained watering eyes had hurt her more than the thought of taking his life, “I-”
Angel looked down at the sword that impaled his stomach and then into Shalina’s eyes, “Sha-Shalina.”
Shalina ripped the sword from his stomach and stepped back, “you-but you-”
Angel stumbled backwards and landed on his back while covering his wound. Blood seeped out between his fingers with every struggled breath, and he did his best to try and keep it in with his shaking hands, but it was getting harder by the second, “no,” he said, trying to keep from sobbing, “not yet. I’m not… I’m not ready yet,” he took another struggled breath, “help me,” he said, hoping that the sword would hear him, but there was no response. Where was she?
Tears slowly slid down Angel’s face as he looked up at the blue sky that was now starting to fade in color.
“I’m so sorry. I-” Shalina immediately regretted what she had just done, and wished that she could take it back, but had no strength left to use her Verna.
Verenda jumped over the tree and landed in between Angel and Shalina, “we have to go,” he said.
Shalina looked up at him with tears in her eyes, “but he’s going to die,” she said. She was still in shock, and couldn’t accept that she had just fatally wounded another human being.
“He’ll be okay,” he blocked Shalina’s view, and looked back at Angel, who’s breathing had slowed dramatically, “we need to go now,” he grabbed her and released his wings, then jumped high into the air so that they could get farther away from the others and make a clean get away.
“Angel!” Zyas slid over the fallen tree and ran over to Angel, who had only a few minutes of life left, “Angel, my brother,” Zyas held Angel’s head up and put his hand over his open wound.
Angel was pale now, and his body grew cold. He looked up at Zyas with wet eyes, but could only see Shalina, “Shalina...” A tear slid down his cheek. He knew that he would be dead soon...
The others finally made it over the tree, but they were too late. Angel was gone.
“No!” Zyas cried, “no, Angel!”
“What… what happened?!” Alcia ran over to Angel’s body and looked into his dead eyes, “what happened to him!?”
Marian stood away from everyone as they ran over to Angel’s body and watched the scene. He never got the chance to really mourn his friends deaths back at the Firow Nation, and had no idea how to do it now.
Tears filled Marian’s eyes, but they didn’t fall. He wouldn’t let them. He had lost yet another friend, and couldn’t bring himself to cry like the others. Marian took a deep breath and balled his fist, then let out a roar, blowing blue flames from his mouth towards the sky.
***
Night came fast, and they had finally made it back to another camp that was set up in the woods. Tasa and Montago were already there tending to the wounded so that they would be ready to walk to the next village in the east. They had already sent a messenger there to let the villager leaders know that they would be there soon.
Tasa was wiping the blood from one of the warriors head when she spotted Zyas and the others approaching them. She stood up, happy to see that they were all okay, but then her smile faded when she saw Tren carrying a body. That’s when she noticed that there were only five of them.
“No,” Tasa’s eyes filled with tears when she saw Angel’s face in the light.
“What is it?” Montago asked, seeing the pained expression on his woman face.
“It’s not possible,” she shook her head, “father said he would save us...”
Montago looked in the direction that she was facing and dropped the firewood in his hands, “Angel...”
***
Marian, Tren, Alcia, Zyas, Tasa, and Montago sat around their own small fire in silence. One of the Village leaders ordered a burning for the fallen tonight, and none of them knew what to do or how to feel. They were going to have to cremate Angel along with the others. Someone that they least expected to even die in the first place.
Alcia shook her head, “I shouldn’t’ve let her go after him.”
No one said anything for a moment.
“You didn’t know she was going to kill him. They were friends once, after all,” Tasa said, “I wouldn’t have even expected that to happen. Not from her at least. She didn’t seem to be a killer...”
“You met her?” Tren asked.
“Yes, back when I was recovering, but I had no idea that she was the woman Angel were talking about.”
“Me neither,” Alcia said, “I met her in the village, when I was with Jermya.”
Zyas frowned, thinking back to how he caught Alcia kissing another guy, and looked away from everyone and out at the small camp. It wasn’t even close to having as many villagers as there were back at the village, and he felt sick about it. There were too many demons to go up against, and the villagers weren’t as prepared as they thought that they were, so this was the outcome. They couldn’t even gather all of the bodies that had fallen, because the Moorenofs had devoured them and left nothing left.
Jacoda came from the shadows with a dark look on his face, “it’s time.”
The group looked at each other, then they all stood and walked over to where the ceremony would be happening. They would be burning the bodies over a large lake, not far from camp.
Alcia looked down at the logs that had been held together by rope, and then at the two men that stood in the lake to hold it in place, “isn’t that where the other village is?” she asked Tasa, looking at the tall trees on the other side.
“Yeah, it’s only a few miles around the water, and then we’ll be home,” Tasa nodded.
Alcia stared across the lake and could see the other villagers gathering around to watch the ceremony, “I can see t
hem,” she said, “They came to support us,” she sniffled and wiped her eyes.
The village leader stood next to the lake, “let’s begin the ceremony. It’s time to put our loved ones to peace,” he nodded.
Villagers, one by one, laid their loved one’s down on the logs, and if they didn’t have a body to rest, they replaced it with a blue flower. It only took but a few minutes to put all of the bodies down, and they were about to push them off to float over the lake when Zyas stopped them.
“Wait, there’s one more,” Zyas said.
Tren came walking down the center of the villagers with Angel’s body in his arms. Marian followed behind him with Angel’s sword in both hands, and waited for Tren to lay him down.
“You rest in peace man,” Tren said down to Angel, “rest in peace,” he stepped away, so that Marian could put the sword down on his chest, and then rest his hands over it. Once he said goodbye, he stepped back in between Tren and Zyas.
Alcia walked over to stand next to them, and watched as the two men in the water pushed the bodies off to float over the lake. They all waited for their loved ones to reach the middle of the lake before they set it to burn.
Alcia could see the villagers on the other side ready their bow and arrows that were lit with fire at the tip, then at the same time, they released their arrows for the bodies over the water.
Marian watched as the orange flames that lit up the night sky soared down for his friend. He stepped forward and raised his hand out towards the bodies and released a large blue ball of fire of his own.
The ball of fire traveled through the air, taking everyone’s attention away from the bodies for only a few seconds, then it went crashing down onto the logs and lit it up in tall blue flames.
Everyone stood there, and waited for the logs to finally sink under the water, and then they gradually turned away and went back to the camp to get rest for their walk tomorrow. The last two people remaining were Zyas and Alcia.
“I still never go to repay him for helping me that day,” Zyas said, while looking out at the star lit sky, “he saved my family the day your people attacked.”
Alcia looked over at Zyas, who was expressionless, “you repaid him with your friendship. We all did, and I’m sure he accepted that.”
Zyas sighed, “So what do we do now? We have no way to get back to our homes. None of us are strong enough to open a portal.”
Alcia took his hand, “we’ll figure all of that out later, let’s just go get some rest.”
Zyas looked down at Alcia’s hand in his, and didn’t know if he could accept it or not. His heart was so sore from all the pain he had just endured from her, and losing his best friend, but he needed to feel something. Alcia was the only positive thing he had right now, and he could tell by looking into her eyes that she was sorry. All Zyas had the energy left to do was forgive, and so he leaned in and wrapped his arms around her.
Alica was surprised by Zyas’s sudden move, but then hugged him back with her face buried into his shoulder, “things will get better,” she cried, “We’ll find a way.”
“I hope so,” Zyas said holding her tightly, “I really do.”
Chapter 17: Angel’s Blade
Angel opened his eyes to darkness. When his eyes adjusted, he noticed a foggy white light a few feet away from him, and realized that he was back on the bridge that led him and his friends into Mooralshia the day they escaped from the sector.
“What is this?” he asked as he looked over the bridge at the glowing fish. He could have sworn that he had died just moments ago, but here he is feeling more alive than ever, “guys?” he looked around and saw nothing but a dark forest behind him, then he turned back around to the fog that lit up the other side of the bridge and sighed. He had no choice but to go through the fog in hope that he would meet back up with his friends, so he started walking through it.
The fog was as thick as it was the first time he walked through it, and he reached back for his sword in case anything jumped out at him, but it wasn’t there, “what the-” he reached further over his shoulder, but couldn’t get a hold of his sword because it was gone.
Angel gave up worrying about his sword, and continued on through the fog. He still kept his guard up in case anything were to pop out at him, but had the feeling that there was no need to be so uptight. Where ever he was, he felt safe, which was a feeling he’s been missing since he was just a kid.
Angel had finally made it through the bright fog and off of the bridge. The gray and icy world in front of him was so bright that he had to squint his eyes, just so that he could see. His eyes finally adjusted and he noticed that he stood under tall trees that were almost as high as the one’s in Mooralshia. He spun around and saw that the bridge had disappeared and realized that there was no way off of this world without his sword.
Angel took a deep breath and watched as steam blew from his mouth. It was cold out, and the trees were frozen with ice, yet he didn’t feel cold at all. His body felt warm, which was a completely different feeling than what he had felt when he was dying.
“Where am I?” he looked around and saw nothing but trees for miles, “is this the afterlife?” Angel had imagined that the afterlife would have more people in it, but it looked like he was the only person there, “guys?!” no one answered, “hello!” his voice echoed.
Angel scratched his head and looked from left to right, debating on which way he should go. In either direction he should eventually come across someone that could explain to him where he was.
He had finally decided to go right, where he could hear water flowing. He walked through the thin snow for a few minutes, and had finally come across a river stream with glowing fish swimming around under the water. Once he saw that no one was there he decided to walk upstream and take in the beautiful view around him.
Angel knew that he was in the afterlife when he came across icy trees that grew pink flowers on them. There was no way that flowers could grow in this cold weather that froze just about everything but the lake, and the fish inside.
Without noticing, Angel had come upon a large waterfall. He didn’t even hear as the water crashed down into the small lake until he looked up and spotted it. What had caught his eyes next was a girl that sat on a large rock facing the lake.
Angel was excited to see another person, but didn’t call out to her. There was something very familiar about the girl, and he was trying to figure out what?
The girl sat on the tall rock with her arms folded over her knee’s in a silver shear dress that draped over the edge of the rock, and sparkled in the light. She had long blond hair that hung down to the center of her back, and fair colored skin that also looked to be glowing.
“Sh...Shalina?” Angel called.
The girl lifted her head and turned to Angel. Her dark blue eyes met his, and she gave a slight smile. She looked exactly like Shalina, but how could that be? If Shalina was the one who killed him, she wouldn’t have smiled at the sight of him, not unless she somehow got here memories back.
“Angel...” her soft voice echoed throughout the forest, freezing Angel where he stood. Everything was the same about Shalina...except for her voice. This woman sounded exactly like the one in his sword, and his eyes widened.
The woman stood from the rock and jumped down while holding up her dress. When she straightened, Angel could see how it hugged her curves, just like the red dress did Shalina’s.
“Don’t look like that,” She said walking towards him, “I won’t hurt you...”
Angel stepped back and held his hands out, “I’m sorry, it’s just-well, you look just like a girl I know, but-but you’re not her. You’re...”
The woman gave a gentle smile, then a curtsy, “Shalina. My name is Shalina,” she smiled up at Angel.
“But I don’t understand. How? When did you die?” Angel asked while looking her up and down.
Shalina laughed, “Around a thousand years ago I think? I kind of lost count of the years.”
&nb
sp; Angel’s eyes widened again. He finally understood who the woman was, “you’re the princess? The one who died? You’re the soul in my sword?”
Shalina laughed again and held out her hand, “nice to finally meet you, Angel.”
Angel hesitated, then finally rested his hand in hers, “nice to meet you too,” he quickly pulled his hand away when he started to feel it growing cold, “you’re so cold.”
Shalina’s smile faded a little, “it happens when your here for as long as me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend,” he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. This version of Shalina gave off a more mature, but adventurous vibe.
Shalina’s smile completely faded when she looked into his eyes, “I apologize. I wasn’t able to get to you in time,” she moved her hair behind her ear, “I didn’t have enough energy to get to you again.”
Angel bit his lip, “it’s okay. But, I don’t understand,” he was still confused about it all, “you need energy to reach me?”
Shalina frowned and looked away, “I’m dead, so it can take a lot out of me to contact you. It takes even more energy to come out,” her face softened again, “I was still weak from helping you get away from her.”
Angel frowned in confusion, “what do you mean?”
Shalina frowned, “so you didn’t see me after all?”
“No…I’m sorry...” Angel was lost.
Shalina sighed, “it’s fine,” she turned back to Angel with a smile, “walk with me,” she walked onto the water and waited for Angel to follow.
“I-I don’t think I’m able to do that,” Angel said stopping by the water.
“Yes you can silly. You can do anything here,” Shalina reached her hand out to him.
Angel looked over at her hand, then took it and stepped onto the lake, “wow,” he said smiling, “this is amazing,” he continued to walk with her and released his hand from hers when he started to feel cold again.
Angel's Blade: Power (Angel Series Book 1) Page 21