Thunder boomed, and a droplet of rain came falling from the sky.
Shalina’s body surged with heat, and at that moment, with just the slightest feeling of confidence, she knew that she could do it. She reached her hand out, as if to grab the water droplet, and caught it in her hand. She then brought her hand down in front on her face and released her fingers to see the droplet floating over them “oh, my goodness!” She laughed. Seconds later, rain began to pour over them, “I’m going to have to learn how to control that,” Shalina laughed.
They both looked up at the now gray sky with smiles painted on their young faces, and enjoyed the beautiful sight of lightning flickering in the clouds.
***
One week later
Verenda aimed the end of his staff at Shalina’s stomach, but she blocked it with her sword and stepped back. That didn’t stop Verenda though, and he continued on attacking with his staff, making Shalina duck, and block each coming blow.
Shalina stepped back again and ended up stumbling over a branch. Verenda saw that as a clear opening and aimed his staff at her again, but in a panic she blocked the blow and lost her sword in the process.
Shalina stood there unarmed, out of breath, and helpless. She waited on Verenda’s next attack, knowing that she had no choice but to go with plan B if she failed to defend herself with her sword.
Verenda had fallen right into her trap by coming for her again. He had forgotten just how well Shalina used her Verna, and had been blown away by a strong wind. Before he hit the ground, he released his wings and used them as a cushion.
“Oh, my god!” Shalina picked up her sword and ran to Verenda, who was sill busy catching his breath on the ground, “Verenda. Are you alright?”
Verenda coughed a few times, “I’m- I’m okay,” he rubbed the red spot on his chest where the wind had crashed against, “but, we are done. No more of that. It hurts,” he rolled over to his side in a struggle.
Shalina burst out laughing as she watched him in pain, “well, it looks like you lost the bet,” she stood up straight with a full smile on her face, “I’ll be waiting for my dinner inside.”
Verenda coughed again, then reached out and grabbed her ankle before she walked away, “I want a re-match.”
Shalina shook her head and pulled away from him, “you said no re-matches this time. So ha!” she turned around and ran for the cabin.
Verenda and Shalina sat at the table while eating their last Mooralshian meal, and talked about all the wondrous worlds of Vernasia. Because Shalina didn’t know how to open up specific portals, they would end up walking into a random dimension, and she wanted to learn about as many as she could in case they ended up in one of them.
Once they step through the portal, it would be a while before she could open up another, because she would have to wait to gain all of her strength back. That was one of the reasons why Shalina had to learn how to defend herself. They could end up right in the middle of a battlefield, or on the dimensional world called The Battlefield. That was one world they both hoped never to step foot on.
“So, are you ready?” Verenda asked as he sucked the last piece of meat off of the bone.
“More than ever. I’m excited,” Shalina said as she pushed her bowl away, “and I think that I have butterflies.”
Verenda raised his hands, “it took all night to find something to eat, and you don’t even finish it?” he took the bowl and started eating her left overs, “what a waste.”
“Sorry, Verenda,” She laughed, “I just can’t really stomach anything. I should be hungry enough to gobble down the next meal though.”
“Of course, you’ll be starving by then,” He ate more of her share, “before we leave tomorrow I’ll get you some berries.”
Shalina nodded, then stood from her chair and went to lay down on her pallet, “do you think that there will be beds where we are going?”
Verenda shrugged, “I hope so. If you can get us to a dimension with machines, then they most likely will have beds there,” he finished eating the meat and licked his fingers as he went to lay down next to her.
“Ew, that’s disgusting,” Shalina said as she turned to her side.
“No, it’s delicious,” Verenda chuckled. He turned to his side and wrapped his arm around her.
Shalina looked into the small fire that dimmed the cabin, and knew that if she wanted to, she could make the fire go down. It was her that created the fire in the first place.
“We can make a new start together,” Shalina said, thinking out loud. She could finally leave Angel, Darrengiy, and anything that’s ever hurt her behind. It took a little while, but she had finally forgiven herself for taking someone’s life, and agreed with Verenda that she had to do it, because if she didn’t, then he would have taken her away. Out of all the lies that Darrengiy had told her, she truly believed him when he said that Angel was the cause of her home being destroyed, or at least she had convinced herself that that was the truth. That wasn’t her main concern though.
She was more worried that Darrengiy had realized she was gone. If he was actually as dangerous as Verenda had described to her, then she had put him in a grave danger, but refused to run away. Shalina knew that she was being selfish by staying with Verenda, but she couldn’t help herself. Not after they had made love to each other. She had felt way too many feelings for this man, and wasn’t going to abandon them because Darrengiy couldn’t let her go. Shalina knew that if she had to, she would fight Darrengiy back with all she had, and wouldn’t let him lay a finger on Verenda.
Shalina closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep. Tomorrow was her big day, and she needed all the rest that she could get for it.
***
Thunder boomed, and lightning crackled, causing Shalina to jump and almost lose her concentration. She kept her eyes focused on Verenda’s, as he had told her to do, and held his hands tightly. The wind storm around her scared her so badly that she started to shake.
“It’s okay!” Verenda said, taking a slow step closer to her, “don’t be afraid.”
Shalina nodded, but remained afraid of the storm that she herself was causing. It was a lot harder than she thought it would be to open up a portal, and she felt sick and hot at the same time.
Verenda could feel the heat building in her hands and knew that she was tapping into a large amount of the Verna in her blood. He looked into her glowing eyes and gripped her glowing hands tighter, “you can do this!”
“It hurts!” Shalina’s eyes began to water, but no tears fell. Her body felt as if it were burning by now, and she wished that all of this would end soon.
Verenda heard a loud cracking noise, then his mouth dropped as his cabin broke off piece by piece.
“Ah- I’m sorry!” Shalina yelled.
“Don’t worry about it! Just keep concentrating!”
Shalina took one last deep breath and forced out as much Verna as she could. It looked as if black smoke had blown from her body and surrounded them, and then all at once, the wind storm stopped.
Shalina slowly looked up at Verenda who was still shaking himself, “are you okay?”
Verenda let her hands go, “fine, yeah- I’m fine,” he straightened and looked over the bridge that they were standing on, “looks like we made it through.”
Shalina frowned and looked around her. They were surrounded by a dark forest on a wooden bridge, “where are we?”
Verenda turned to the white fog further down the bridge, which gave them only a little light to see, “the portal.”
Shalina frowned, “this is the portal? A bridge?” she ran her finger across the railing and noticed how it felt brand new.
“Yup, and once we step through that,” he pointed to the fog, “We’ll be in the next world.”
“What world exactly?”
“I have no idea,” the two of them smiled at each other, “shall we?”
Shalina and Verenda turned towards the fog and began walking across the bridge, and once they w
ere close enough, they locked their hands together and walked into it, completely unprepared for what waited for them on the other side.
Poncia
Shalina stepped through the portal and into the soft sand. She looked down and watched as the sand ran between her toes, and black sandals.
“Oh, no,” Verenda said, moving his arms from over his eyes.
“What is it?” Shalina asked looking up. Her mouth dropped when she saw what Verenda was looking at, “Verenda, where are we?”
For miles around, there was nothing but hills of sand...
Chapter 19: Reborn
The sword lit up the bottom of the dark lake as Angel and Princess Shalina worked together to send him back to the world of the living. It fought them the best that it could, denying his soul from doing the unimaginable, and used the water to try and force them apart, but Shalina was at her strongest now, and Angel was too determined for this to fail.
Angel gripped the sword tightly, and grunted as it burned through his skin. He almost let it go, but Shalina held his hands together with hers so that he wouldn’t, “don’t let go.”
Angel clenched his teeth and tried his best to ignore the searing pain in his hands as the sword grew hotter.
Shalina smiled as she saw his soul starting to fade, “don’t let go!” her blue eyes lit brightly, along with her hands as she sent more of her Verna into him. She was sad that he was leaving her, but was happy to know that she could finally contact him more freely, now that he had more than enough Royal power running through him to complete the connection, “your almost there.”
Angel looked into her blue eyes and told himself that he would find a way to set her free, “thank you,” he said. The imaginary world around him started to fade away, but he could still see the blue in her eyes.
Shalina floated close to him and rested both hands on his face, then she pulled herself closer and kissed him on his forehead, “goodbye, Angel.”
Angel didn’t want to leave her behind, but knew that he had to for now, “goodbye...” he closed his eyes and faded into the dark water.
Mooralshia
On a late night in the world of Mooralshia, the world of the living, Angel stepped out of the dirty lake and dropped his sword into the mud. He looked back up at the full moon with glowing eyes that were fading back to their original state, and tried to smile. He was feeling too much pain all over his body as his skin continued to form over the muscle and bones.
“I made it,” Angel said before crashing into the mud, “I made it back princess,” he could feel himself growing tired by the moment and shut his eyes. When morning came he would go find his friends and continue on with his quest to save Vernasia....
To be continued....
DEAR READERS...
Thank you so much for reading Angel’s Blade! If you liked what you read then please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Also, if you are interested in reading the second book just subscribe to authordhawkins.com. When the sequel is released you guys will be the first to know! Thanks again for reading!
Angel’s Blade: The sequel
A moment in time...
Their swords lit up the night sky with every clash, and with every swing they were aiming to end each others lives. Sheldon and Darrengiy. Father and son. At least that’s what the kingdom had thought.
“Give me the sword!” Darrengiy yelled. His feet slid back in the mud from the force of Sheldon’s last blow.
Sheldon raised his sword and pointed it at Darrengiy. The heavy rain clinked against the blade as he struggled to hold it up. He didn’t want to continue to fight Darrengiy, and a part of him felt bad for the lonely king. Their Kingdom had lost its power, and the rebels had either driven the royals to another world, or killed them.
Sheldon lost his real father that day, and Darrengiy had lost his brother. All Darrengiy wanted was to take the kingdom back and rule again, but to do that he needed Sheldon’s sword. Without her, all he would be was a king in a world of nothing, but with her, he could take over all of the worlds and rule Vernasia. The problem with that was...Vernasia no longer needed a ruler.
“Darrengiy, we need to end this!” Sheldon yelled. He looked down at the blue light glowing in the center of his sword. His mother knew that he wouldn’t last much longer if they kept fighting this way. Sheldon had aged up to fifty years now, while Darrengiy was still young and powerful. He had to end this now, or he would lose.
“This won’t end until your dead!” Darrengiy yelled angrily. He pushed his wet black hair out of his face and ran at Sheldon again.
“Don’t hold back this time...” The sword said.
“But mother-” The light in the center of the sword grew brighter, and then it etravelled down to the tip of the sword. “Wait!” Sheldon looked up at Darrengiy with wide eyes. Darrengiy was running right at him, and his anger was keeping him from seeing that he was running straight for his death.
“You’re all I have Sheldon. He won’t take you away from me!”
The light grew so bright that it blinded Sheldon, and he could no longer see Darrengiy.
“Denodum...”
About the Author
Destiny Hawkins lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and is majoring in Psychology at Kent State University. When she isn’t studying she enjoys cooking, running, listening to music, and reading—plus, of course, writing! Her favorite genres to read and work in are fantasy, LGBT, and young adult. She’s been a writer since she was nine years old, starting with this very book, Angel’s Blade, and has more to come!
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Angel's Blade: Power (Angel Series Book 1) Page 24