Solace (Asteria Trilogy Book 1)

by Alaina Katherine

  I sighed, and nodded my head.

  “You should know that I traded places with Katzfiel,” He stated.

  “I don’t know who that is.”

  “He was going to be part of the angels who went in first for the battle.”

  “You’re going to be part of the ground attack?” My heart had begun to pound.

  “Yes, Sage.”

  “But why?” my voice was small.

  “I know you told Gabriel to try and get us all to be a part of the second group, the air attack, but I’ll be fine. I’m going to lead the initial attack.”

  “Lead it?” I choked.

  “Please don’t worry about me. They need a strong hand to guide them and I am perfect for the job.” He tucked a stray tendril of hair behind my ear.

  I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t say anything.

  “I need to start warming up now, Sage. I’ll see you when the practice is over.” He placed a small kiss on my forehead before walking off, leaving me standing stunned. I felt it prying its way in, I fought it though. And when I felt my strength wavering I looked to my right and saw Gabriel, at least a hundred feet away from me, but he was looking me dead in the eye. That was all I needed and I pushed the darkness out.

  I walked a safe distance away and was about to sit myself down to watch the angels fight, when I saw a familiar little boy.

  “Mihr!” I called out to him. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to watch the practice, both my parents are here.” He had on the widest grin and he could barely keep his eyes on me. Instead, they flitted about from one angel to the next. He was clearly in heaven around all these protector angels.

  “Well, why don’t you sit with me then? I’m also going to watch.”

  “That would be super cool!”

  Together we found a plush spot of grass, spread our legs out in front of us, leaned back, and rested on our elbows.

  “So, are both of your parents protectors?” I questioned.

  “Nope, just my mom. My dad makes cloth but he’s going to fight also.”

  “Your dad makes cloth? Like the robes everyone wears?”

  “Yeah, pretty lame right?” he said sheepishly.

  “Absolutely not! I think that’s awesome.”

  “I don’t know, my friends don’t think it’s awesome.” He looked down at his feet.

  “Well, you should tell your friends that the Goddess thinks it is.”

  “I could do that?”

  “Absolutely!” I knocked my shoulder playfully with his. “You know who else would like it’s pretty awesome?”

  “Who?”

  “Azrael.” I saw his face light up instantly. “She loves the robes. She has so much fun with styling them.”

  “You’re not just telling me that to make me feel better are you?” He narrowed his eyes at me.

  “Of course not, if you want go ask her yourself.” I nodded in her direction.

  “Oh, no. I don’t think I could do that. I’d be too nervous. I’ll just believe you.” I tried to hide my smile, this kid was too adorable. It was funny to think that he had actually been alive years longer than I had.

  “I heard you were going to watch the fight at The Archives,” Mihr commented and I nodded my head. “Could I come with you?”

  “I don’t think that’s the best idea. It’s going to be pretty intense to watch. You should probably just stay with your friends. Besides, you need to tell them how cool I think your dad’s job is.”

  “Please, can I come?” he whined.

  “I really don’t think you should, buddy. Besides, would your parents want you to watch?”

  “But I really want to see us defeat the Anakim, I bet it will be super cool.”

  “Well, I can tell you if anything super cool happens okay? Besides, you’re about to see the angels fight now, it’ll be pretty similar.” But a lot less violent, I added in my head. “I don’t see any of your friends here, at least you’ll be able to tell them all about that. That’s pretty awesome, right?”

  “I guess you’re right,” he pouted.

  “Don’t be so glum. It looks like they are about to get started.” I pointed to the field. Mirh instantly brightened.

  We both stopped talking as we turned to watch the angels fight. It was a mesmerizing scene to watch. There were so many colors fluttering around, each angel’s wings were a different hue, it was almost like watching a kaleidoscope, except that the colors were natural and not obnoxiously bright.

  There was a dramatic difference in the way the female and male angels fought. The males relied on their muscles and brute force in battle. They threw hit after hit without stopping and seemed to act on impulse and instinct. The female angels spent most of their time evading; they seemed to analyze their opponents’ movements in the process and when they did strike, the move was very calculated. It seemed like one hit from a female angel did as much damage as a few of the male’s hits. This had to be because the girls took the time to consider the weakest point to strike so that one hit to a sensitive area hurt the same as multiple blows to say, the upper arm. I think both styles were just as effective though, one did not seem more or less successful than the other. It was just an interesting notation.

  I turned my attention to Azrael and Sera, who were sparing with each other. Watching them was like watching a choreographed dance. Sera’s movements were more graceful though, her movements were as fluid as a river and as light as the wind. Azrael’s were a bit more precise and concise. When Azrael hit straight, Sera would flow around the strike.

  I turned my attention briefly to Gabriel. I already had seen how he fought since I would practice with him, but apparently he was holding back on me. Like Azrael, every move he made was exact; his muscles rippling as the made contact with his opponent. He was definitely more relaxed than he was whenever he fought me. I guess it wasn’t very easy to throw hits at the girl he was destined to protect.

  Once the practice was over Michael found me and offered to walk with me to the lake where we would meet up with Azrael, Sera, Raphael, and Gabriel. The angels had wanted to relax and enjoy themselves before going off to battle. I wasn’t too sure about having Michael and Gabriel in such close proximity.

  “I’ll see you around, buddy.” I ruffled the top of Mihr’s head, who was staring up in wonder at Michael.

  Everyone except Gabriel was already at the lake and Michael broke away from me to speak to Sera so I joined Azrael and Raphael.

  “Uh oh,” I said when I noticed Gabriel in the distance. “I think they need to figure their stuff out before the battle.”

  “I agree. It will only be a distraction to them during the fight,” Raphael added.

  “Oh, I’ll take care of it.” Azrael grinned.

  “Salve,” Gabriel greeted. That was all he got to say before Azrael grabbed his arm and went to grab Michael’s as well. She dragged both of them off to somewhere we couldn’t see and it looked like she dug her nails into their arms as they walked.

  “Should we be worried?” Sera joined me and Raphael.

  “Nope, Azrael will make sure they work everything out,” Raphael assured. “I don’t know about you guys but I am dying to get into that water.” And with that he climbed up the rocks and dove into the lake.

  Sera and I opted to just wade our way into the water. The others were gone for a long time and we eventually got out of the water to sun ourselves.

  “You guys aren’t worried about the battle?” I asked.

  “Not really,” Raphael answered and Sera just gave a slight shrug of her shoulder. “I think a lot of us are pretty excited. We’ve been sitting around for months now, unable to do anything and finally we can. On top of that, there’s something invigorating about a fight.”

  “Well I’m a nervous wreck about the whole thing.” I sighed.

  “It’s different since you just have to watch. We won’t really be thinking about it too much, we will be acting,” Sera added just as Azrael, Mic
hael, and Gabriel came into view.

  Through their posture and laughter, it was clear that Azrael had managed to get the two boys to deal with their stuff. When they got closer though I noticed that both Michael and Gabriel were covered in bruises and there were faint traces of blood.

  “What happened!” I started to get up to run to them but Sera placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “They are fine,” she explained.

  “But,” I started to argue but Sera just gave a small shake of her head. So I waited for them to rejoin us.

  “Told you that I could do it.” Azrael wore a satisfied smirk.

  “What are you talking about, they are injured!” My voice was slightly shrill.

  “Well, they worked it out through a lot of yelling and fighting. I monitored of course, no serious damage was done.” She dismissed my concern with a shrug of her shoulder.

  Michael sat on my towel next to me and I brought my fingertips up to the red swelling around his jaw.

  “Don’t worry, we have a week to recover before the battle. We will be all healed by then,” Michael consoled me. Despite the fact that they both looked like they had been beaten to a pulp, Michael and Gabriel looked happy so I decided to try to stop fussing over their injuries.

  We lay out on our towels for a while, none of us saying a word. I had my eyes closed the entire time and Michael’s hand bridged the space between us and we were absentmindedly fiddling with each other’s fingers.

  I knew there was someone standing over me when a shadow darkened the inside of my eyelids that had previously been a flaming orange from the sun.

  “Sage, can I borrow you for a moment?” Gabriel requested when I opened my eyes.

  I looked hesitantly over at Michael, who smiled as a sign that he was okay with me going.

  When we had walked a safe distance away from the others, my fingers traced a cut above Gabriel's eye and the dark red scab began turning to shiny pink skin.

  “So this is how you guys work things out?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Sometimes it is necessary to let the aggression out.” He grabbed my hand and removed it from his face but continued to hold it. “You, don’t need to heal me.”

  “I feel like I’ve come between you and Michael. You guys consider each other brothers, yet lately, because of me, you have been arguing all the time.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine now anyways.” He smiled. “I have something for you. I wanted to give it to you before the battle.”

  With his free hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and shiny. He held out his palm for me to see the item. It was a necklace with a small princess cut deep green emerald pendant.

  “It was my mother’s.” When I began to protest he added “Do not argue with me. You will accept my gift.” And he reached up to clasp it behind my neck.

  The pendant fell right at the top of my cleavage and I was distinctly aware of the fact that I was in a bikini.

  “It matches your eyes,” he said softly, I almost wasn’t sure he spoke at all.

  “Thank you.”

  “Now let’s go back to the others. Care to jump off the waterfall with me?”

  “No way in hell,” I laughed.

  Chapter Eighteen

  In spite of Azrael’s displeasure with my previous robe wrapping abilities, I had to do it myself again. It was even worse this time since I was in a rush. I needed to get to the field and warn Gabriel about the vision I had just had. I was already going to the field in the first place but, my vision had delayed things a bit.

  Once I got there I looked frantically around for Gabriel’s familiar face, or any familiar face for that matter.

  “Oh no.” Azrael grabbed my arm and pulled me behind a near tree. “You cannot be seen like this.” She began unwrapping and rewrapping my robe so that it hung much nicer on my body.

  “Azrael, I had a vision. Where is Gabriel? I need to tell him.”

  “We can find him as soon as I’m done with this. When are you going to start taking my advice? I better not ever see this mess again,” she huffed.

  It turns out Gabriel had found us before we even had the chance to start looking.

  “Sage, you really need to relax about this battle. Your anxiety has reached a new level.” He sighed.

  “No, I had a vision. I needed to find you, but Azrael decided that fashion was more important than the fact that the Anakim have a plan for their attack. So that is why I was anxious,” I fumed.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Apparently the Anakim had a similar idea to our own. They have reserved some that will join the fight later in battle.”

  Azrael cursed under her breath.

  “But I know where they will be.” I smirked. “Although, I don’t understand how they could be there.”

  “Explain,” Gabriel stated and I noticed that Michael had joined us.

  “Good lord, you boys look hot with your armor and weapons.” Azrael blurted and I have to say I agreed with her. Both of them were fully geared up for battle and something about how masculine it all looked was highly attractive.

  “Another time, Azrael,” Gabriel chided.

  “Anyways, there’s a small, abandoned church about a mile away from the location in the forest you picked. They will be hiding in there, but how are they allowed in a church?”

  “They are part human,” Michael explained flatly.

  “Let’s go find Metatron.” Azrael turned to Gabriel.

  “I’ll find you before we leave,” Gabriel said to me over his shoulder and I was left alone with Michael.

  “Sage, just in case I,” Michael started but I cut him off.

  “Don’t. You’re coming back.”

  “Yes, I am.” He nodded before pulling me in to kiss him. “It’ll be over quick. We have the upper hand here.”

  “I hope so,” I said.

  “We do. Maybe we wouldn’t have if you hadn’t had your vision, but Metatron will rearrange the plan and we will have the upper hand again.”

  “I really want you to be right,” I added and we both noticed Gabriel approaching.

  “I’ll see you later, my Goddess.” Michael gave me one last, slow kiss.

  I was blushing when I turned to face Gabriel; I hadn’t really wanted him to witness our kiss.

  “Promise me you’ll be careful,” I choked.

  “Of course,” he scuffed.

  “Promise me,” I insisted.

  “I promise, Sage.” I threw my arms around his neck before the tears could start falling.

  “Come home to me,” I whispered into his neck.

  “Always.” He whispered back and we stood there, pressed together, until Uriel touched my elbow telling me we should go to the Archives.

  The only angels who did not go to fight were the younger angels and Uriel. I had no idea what the younger angels had planned on doing, but Uriel and I were going to watch the battle from The Archives. Uriel had this really cool goblet that when he poured a clear liquid into it, it showed the angels on the ground waiting for the Anakim to join them. And right on the front line of those angels was Michael; my heart began pounding once I saw him.

  I searched through the faces of the other angels, trying to see if I recognized anyone else. I recognized only one other angel. She was standing directly to the right of Michael.

  “Is that Sandalphon?” I asked.

  “Yes, she volunteered to be part of the first attack.”

  I watched as in one unified motion all the angels drew out their flaming swords. They must have heard the Anakim approaching. The goblet only allowed us to see the fight, it did not allow for any other senses.

  “They are beautiful,” I couldn’t help but whisper as I watched them all standing there so proudly, ready and willing to fight.

  I dug my nails into my leg as I watched Michael take off into the air and bring his sword sweeping across an Anakim’s throat. The creature’s head rolled off with an immense amount of bl
ood spurting from his neck. If I wasn’t so worried about the safety of my angels I would have covered my eyes from the gore.

  I gasped as one Anakim jumped up, caught on to one of Michael’s legs and pulled him to the ground. Michael was quick to react though and rolled away from the creatures claws. The air was where the angels had the advantage since the Anakim did not have wings. Of course the angels couldn’t always stay in the air, otherwise there would be no battle.

  I watched in horror as one Anakim sliced off a wing of an angle I didn’t recognize. The angel writhed on the ground in agony as the creature tormented him. Another angel flew over and stabbed her sword through the creatures back, surely piercing its heart. The angel was missing an arm and both his legs had been torn through to the bone. With his only good arm he took his own sword and brought it down onto his chest. The other angel bowed her head a moment before rejoining the battle.

  “The others should be joining soon. They should be about done with their attack on the church.” Uriel’s voice was tight and I looked up at him. His face was streaked with tears just as mine was. I began to fiddle with the necklace Gabriel had given me.

  Uriel was right, within minutes the rest of the angels arrived. A good number of the Anakim stopped in panic, allowing the angels to get the upper hand. I think I counted at least eight Anakim that died at Gabriel’s sword alone within the first thirty seconds. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him deliver one clean sweep after another. He was glorious.

  The Anakim recovered and the battle was back in full swing. I was pretty sure my heart was going to give out on me at a young age after all the pounding it was going through today. My eyes were frantically darting between all of my friends; I had to keep track of them all. I couldn’t let them get hurt.

  Raphael was soaring high above the battle when one Anakim stood on another’s shoulders and knocked him out of the air. Once he was on the ground, the one creature pinned him there while the other began its torture. It started with his left leg, the creature slunk his claws into the sides of the leg to hold it still while is teeth began tearing off layers of flesh. Sera swooped down and cut of the head of the one at Raphael’s leg and the other creature leapt at her in attack, leaving Raphael lying on the ground but free to get up.