Uendeligt: An Infinitely Forever Novel

by S King

  Staring at my reflection, I took a deep breath before bracing my weight on my elbow and shoved my pants from my hips that had somehow gotten bigger in my vegetative state.

  “Whatever,” I growled, trying to kick the things from my ankles. When I realized that I would need the damn things when I was done I stopped the flopping fish routine and stared at the toilet.

  I had said nothing and even denied needing to use the restroom when Fefe asked me. This was one thing I could do, even if I got an upper body workout and nothing else. But what would be worse? Being covered in sweat from trying to regain my independence or sitting in my own bodily fluid because I was too ashamed to ask for help. I was opting for the former and wasn’t turning back.

  The toilet was right there. All I needed to do was…

  “Shit,” I slammed into the wall as my butt slid onto the toilet and dipped into the hole. Well, I was on the damn thing and that was all that mattered.

  Pushing off the wall, I adjusted my lower body in the right position and finally relieved myself of the pressure on my kidneys and bladder.

  “Luminous!” Shang’s voice boomed into my room followed by his heavy footsteps.

  The door to the bathroom rammed open, bouncing off the wall as his black eyes landed on me.

  “Do you fucking mind!” I hurtled the toothbrush cup at his head as I covered my nether region with the shirt. “Get out!”

  He caught the cup without so much as a flinch and averted his eyes. Blindly he put the cup on the counter and turned away from me.

  “I heard a…boom,” his shoulder lifted for a moment. “I thought your wound had opened up.”

  “From a—” I shook my head, what the fuck was I doing? “Get out Shang!” Where the hell was Fefe when I needed her.

  “What in the—oh my, deary!” Speak of the devil. Through the space in between the door jamb and Shang’s waist, I saw the older woman come rushing into the bedroom. Grabbing ahold of the hulking beast, she jerked him backward.

  “Honey I am so sorry about this,” she apologized as she shoved Shang from the room. “Do you need any help?”

  I tried giving her a smile but thanks to my humiliation and my bladder all dried up, the only thing I could do was shake my head.

  “Ok, just scream if you do, again so sorry.” Fefe tossed a sympathetic smile over her shoulder as she pushed Shang from the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

  When I heard their footsteps retreating, I blew out a hard breath and eyed the shower. Well they did know I was able to get on the toilet myself. And there was a shower chair in the middle of the white porcelain cuboid.

  Raising a brow at the wheelchair and the shower, I knew the first step to recovery was to see what I was able to do first on my own.

  “Here goes nothing,” I breathed to myself as I mapped out my plan of action.

  §§§§§

  I fell into the wheelchair, too tired to care anymore. I was successful in getting a fresh pair of clothes from the closet, wheeling myself back into the bathroom and transferring myself to and from the chairs. Maybe I was making progress. However that hopeful thought had gone out the window when I tried standing in front of the mirror to brush out my wet hair.

  The damn mane had grown from twenty inches to twenty four in the course of my vegetative state thanks to the vitamins and care Fefe had taken with the gun metal gray locks.

  A knock on the bedroom door made me thankful for having already gotten dressed.

  “Luminous?” Shang’s voice came from the other side of the door.

  “Jesus, seriously?” I hissed and sighed before answering, “come in.” At least he knocked this time.

  I sat up in the chair and grabbed the brush from the counter again.

  “What—how did your hair get wet?” He stared at me like I was really the type to dunk my head in toilet water.

  Making a face at him, I jerked my head toward the shower. “I took a shower.”

  “Without help?” His face became hard as he stared at me.

  I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to my reflection in the mirror. “It wasn’t a cake walk and yes I did fall a few times.”

  “Then you should’ve called for Yophiel or me to come help you.” He remained where he was, staring at me through the mirror.

  “How am I supposed to get rehabilitated if Fefe is doing everything for me?” I snapped. Ripping the brush through my tangled hair.

  An agitated pulse made the muscle in his jaw jump. When he realized I wasn’t going to prompt him to say something or yell at him to leave, Shang did something I had only ever seen in the movies.

  With a regrettable sigh that could’ve been heard all the way back to Castlehedge, he came to a stop behind me. Stilling my hand from ripping yet another layer of hair from my scalp, he took the brush and gathered the thick mane in a loose ponytail. Starting from the ends, he gently smoothed out the strands with the wet brush.

  “What’re you doing?” My voice had diminished from its powerful, sarcastic alto. Replaced by a meek whisper that reminded you of a slight breeze in the spring time.

  “It’s hard enough to look at you on a good day. The last thing I want to see is a spotted Lassie running through the house.”

  Narrowing my eyes on him, I grounded my teeth together. Not only did he just compare me to a fucking dog but a fat dog none the less. Ok, sure I had finally gotten the hips I had been envious of Rina for, but I wasn’t fat. God knows Onyx Elite and the scientists alike would kill me on sight for becoming the opposite of their idea of protection.

  “Do you feel better now?” He was the first to break the silence wrapping its arms around us.

  “About what?”

  “Being able to get to the toilet and shower by yourself.”

  “Who wouldn’t be?”

  The last thing I wanted to do was be dependent on someone double my age to handle what I was more than capable of doing myself. I just had to regain my previous ability.

  We fell silent again with only the sound of the brush slowly making its way through my hair flitting between us. In this light, Shang looked like a gentle giant; the harshness had left his face and the scrutinizing gaze he always looked at me with was nowhere in sight.

  “What guard are you apart of?” I asked, watching him move the brush from my scalp to the ends.

  His hand stilled for a moment before returning to its sedate pace. “I’m not a part of a guard.”

  I narrowed my eyes on his reflection, “then what type of job were you on that you found me?”

  “Why does it matter?”

  “Because I find it—”

  “How about you just be thankful I found you?” He growled and put the brush on the counter as he stared at me through the mirror. “Is it such a difficult task for you to just say thank you and be done?”

  My strength may have left me, but my defiant nature was stronger than ever. Instead of doing the right thing and thanking him for saving me. I simply stared at him and didn’t say a word.

  Whatever he was hiding from me, I was going to get to the bottom of it. In some fashion or the other, he was going to tell me the truth behind his black eyes. I just needed to figure out a way to force his hand.

  His brow ticked up, “no? Then I guess you don’t need help with anything else.” He started for the door.

  “Fefe said you would help train me back to health.”

  A bark of laughter left him as he spun around, “you think I’m going to help someone with training when that same someone can’t even utter two words?”

  The arrogance of this man. Grounding my teeth together, I weighed my options. Sure, I could try to go back into my usual workout routine, but it would be of no use if I didn’t know how to walk. I needed to relearn the basics and that wasn’t going to happen until I submitted to Shang.

  “Thank you for saving me,” I said through clenched teeth.

  He snorted, a humorless smirk kissing his full lips, “that was about as convinc
ing as a dead fish. Find me when you mean it.” With that, he stormed from my room and slammed the door behind him.

  “Jackass,” I rolled my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair. Closing my eyes, I thought about the only man who had comforted and tormented my mind on a regular basis.

  Demir’s hard gold-silver eyes watching me with move I made. His ability to match my speed and moves effortlessly. The way his veins in his hands popped out when he was exerting his strength. Everything about him, I memorized every single detail and committed them to my memory like my own characteristics.

  It’d be a lie to say I didn’t miss him. I did. So much more than I hated him for stabbing me.

  “Lumi?” Fefe’s soft voice broke through the memories I shared with the Gold Guard sect leader and forced me to open my eyes.

  “Sorry, did you say something?”

  A gentle smile, a staple in who she was, came across her mouth. “Are you ok?”

  Taking a deep breath, I nodded, “yeah, just lost in my own head.”

  “Would you like to be alone?”

  “No,” I shook my head and smiled at her as I wheeled myself into the bedroom and stopped a foot away from where she stood. “Please,” I motioned to the bed.

  Taking residence on the edge of the soft mattress, “you’re very headstrong and independent, aren’t you?”

  I smirked and adjusted myself in the wheelchair, “I guess that’s thanks to my years in Silver.”

  A thoughtful nod made a few strands of hair fall in her face as she stared at the smooth floor. “I can see that.”

  I stared at her, wondering what she had gone through to make her so understanding. Moreover, I wondered what her relationship with Shang was.

  Frowning I tried to ask as politely as I could, “are you Shang’s mother?”

  “Oh heavens no,” she laughed softly and shook her head, the light returning to her bright eyes. “No, I’m just someone who took him in when he needed it the most.”

  “Was he in trouble with his guard?”

  Her eyebrows popped into her hairline as she looked at me, “he told you about…his guard?”

  “Not in so many words,” I looked at my hands, “actually, if we’re being honest, he hasn’t said much of anything about himself.”

  “That sounds like Shang.”

  “So,” I asked slowly, returning my gaze to hers. “Can you tell me?”

  For a second I thought she was going to tell me I needed to rest and bolt from the room. It wasn’t her place, I knew that, to tell me about the brooding man who came and went like the wind.

  “We all have our secrets that are meant to go down with us.” She finally said.

  If that weren’t the truth. Hell, I had been dealing with the type of guilty secrets that ate away at the soul for years on end. Why would I think Shang and Yophiel were any different? Granted, the thought didn’t do anything for my curiosity.

  “His guard is…” she trailed off, a pinched look coming over her face as she tried to search for the word. “Of the elusive type.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?”

  “Like Silver and Gold, Shang’s guard is one of the Elite.”

  My heart stopped and my eyes bugged as I stared at her. The only other guard was the Honor Guard and everyone under the blood red title was about as crazy as a rabid beast from a horror movie. Shang was…a HG member? There was only one way to confirm what my mind had coughed up.

  Swallowing hard, I stared at Yophiel, “Shang is a member of the Honor Guard?”

  Her eyebrows slashed down in a hard line as she looked at me, “heavens no. He may have a foul temper and flies off the kettle from time to time, but he isn’t a monster.”

  Could’ve fooled me, I had wanted to say but decided against the snarky comment. I was a guest in this house and to make waves where waves weren’t needed wouldn’t be in my best interest.

  “Then if he’s not a part of Silver, Gold or Honor,” it was my turn to frown as I searched my memory bank. There weren’t any other guards—at least, none that I was aware of. “Then what guard is he a part of?”

  “The Platinum Guard,” she deadpanned in that same sweet tone of hers.

  “What?” I looked between her and the bedroom door as if the man in question was going to come bursting through the door with his ears itching.

  “You’ve never heard of them?”

  Slowly, I shook my head.

  “They’re a specially trained group of soldiers for a lack of better term. PG was designed to handle the cases that get out of control. When the HG isn’t able to fulfill their tasks,” she waved a hand in the air. “Platinum gets the job and finishes it.”

  “Why have I never heard of them?” I whispered more to myself than to her.

  “Because they’re only called in when the Royal Sapphire Courts and Onyx Elite have no other option.”

  Bile rose in my throat as I put everything she had just said into perspective. Shang was a member of a hidden guard. Neither reputation or rumor had set a precedence to warn anyone what they were capable of. And wasn’t that the most dangerous thing in the world right now?

  When I was a sect leader, I had only ever sent two cases to the HG for help. Whatever happened afterwards was none of my concern. Maybe they hadn’t been able to handle the orders either and in turn, forced the BC and the RS to call in their team of special ops guard members.

  “What can he do?” I motioned around my head to clarify, “talent wise, I mean.”

  She smiled, looking off into space as if a memory had started playing in her mind’s eye. “He can—”

  “Yophiel, I need to speak with you for a second,” speak of the damned devil. Shang had come into the room without either of us noticing and was standing at the foot of the bed.

  “Oh, of course,” she patted my hand, “we’ll talk about it later. Now, it’s best for you to get some sleep,” she nodded to the bed as she stood. “Would you like some help?”

  I forced an easy smile onto my face as I shook my head, “I think I can manage. Thank you.”

  “Of course, holler if you need anything,” I nodded as I watched the two of them leave the room. Closing the door with a soft click, I was left with the silence.

  I needed to get out of here. I didn’t know whether or not the HG and OE had determined my death as officially closed or if they were still looking for me. If it was the latter, I was sleeping in a snake pit just waiting to be attacked by Shang when the time was right.

  Steeling myself, I strained my hearing to make sure neither Fefe or Shang were standing outside my door before reaching down to move the foot rests out of the way. Grabbing one useless leg, I placed my foot on the floor and mentally commanded it to move.

  A light sweat broke across my face as I stared at my foot. “Move damn it,” I ordered the thing. There was a twitch and a jerk, but nothing to get excited over. Leaning back into the chair, I let my head fall back and stared at the ceiling.

  “You need to get out of here and get back to Castlehedge.” I whispered to myself.

  Regaining my determination, I dragged my other leg off the leg stand and moved the footrest out of the way. Hours later, I had fell onto my mattress. All of strength—as little as it was—I had regained the normal feeling in both of my legs and could almost shuffle across the floor without bracing my weight on the wall.

  Like a baby, I had started off with crawling across the floor. Fifty laps around the room and my knees were killing me, but it was a welcomed pain. One I had missed in the hours of being awake.

  Turning my head, I stared into the closet and saw the clothes I had been wearing that fateful night on the cliff’s edge. Frowning I sat up on my elbows and stared at the coat. Demir had dropped something into the pocket right before he had pulled the dagger out of my stomach. I hadn’t even had time to check the contents of the hidden pouch when I was falling away from the world.

  Pushing myself from the bed, I slowly stood as I grabbed the wheelchair for
support. My knees knocked together in protest but righted themselves after a few moments. Keeping my pace slow, I held onto the chair before grabbing for the dresser, then the wall. By the time I had reached the door, I leaned against the thing and heaved in several deep breaths.

  Bracing my weight against the jamb, I grabbed the coat and shoved my hand in the pockets. The mysterious object in question knocked against my knuckles forcing a surprised gasp to leave me. I hadn’t dreamed the move. He actually had dropped something in my pocket with his promise to find me.

  Snatching the thing from the tweed pocket, I turned slightly toward the moonlight. A small square box designed in black and gold swirls. Frowning, I opened the thing and covered my mouth as I stared at the contents.

  Sitting there in black cushioning and shining in the soft moonlight was Demir’s black and gold sect leader rings. Whenever a sect leader was going to propose, they had to acknowledge the transition of status by giving their intended the rings they received when they made sect leader. It was a stupid thing really, but it saved everyone the embarrassment of going to a jeweler during normal business hours.

  I slid down to the floor, not even concerned with the challenge of getting back up. Underneath the rings was a single note on a silver slip of paper. Carefully, I removed the black and gold bands. Setting the box down I flipped the note open and for the third time in twenty-four hours felt the prick of tears stabbing at my eyes as I read the note.

  Lumi, I give you these rings as a promise of finding you. Loving you through the time we’re separated and beyond. I should’ve told you sooner but couldn’t find the words.

  Please understand what I have done is of no way an act of hypocrisy. It’s simply saving both of us so we can fight tomorrow. As you’re reading this, remember I love you and no matter where you are, I will find you again.

  Your humble Gold Guard idiot, Demir.

  Grounding my teeth together, I clutched the note and rings to my chest. He loved me. Whether it was due to the genetic modifications we had gone through before we were created or if it was a feeling based on his own conviction, he loved me.