by Brindi Quinn
“The Song of the-” Nyte started, but I cut him off.
“A lady did but wander late,
A woeful move that sealed her fate,
A darkroad traveler found her there,
An ill intention he would bear.
The great Creator did send down,
An angel's aid to her be found,
The angel fell but not in love,
Amidst the interest lady dove.
One midnight flower offered he,
A gift seduction surely be,
But lady's heart was far too pure,
To take the flower offered her.
The darkroad echoed angel's cries,
As she was left to dark demise.”
“Should you really be doing that?!” Rend shot several nervous glances over her left shoulder. It seemed I wasn’t the only one worried about Lusafael.
“We told you:” – Darch waved her fear away – “Lusafael can’t return here until Illuma dies.”
“What if he kills her?! Did that thought never cross your minds?!”
The thought hadn’t crossed mine, but it did now, and it made me gag.
“He wouldn’t be that dippy,” said Ardette. “He needs her alive or this is all for nothing.”
“What are your thoughts, Aura?” asked Nyte. “What answers do you think the song holds?”
“Er, I don’t really know. I just kind of sang it because . . .”
“Because you seek to waste time!” Rend was fuming again. It took so little to set her off these days.
“No! I thought it might help or something.”
Darch reflected on it. “Well, maybe Rend needs to be in danger? The lady dove was in danger when the Creator sent her an angel. But then again, it said that the angel fell, so does that mean that it won’t work while we’re in Célesteen?”
“UGH! Then what are we doing?! We must come up with another plan!”
“Wait a moment.” Ardette was thinking. “A ‘darkroad’ traveler? My pit, why haven’t you ever sung that for me before? It would have been useful . . . on several occasions. Though, I suppose it doesn’t have a very high chance of working unless we’re in close proximity to one, so I suppose it doesn’t really matter.” He was mumbling to himself. Then he looked up at me. “You’re sure it’s ‘darkroad traveler’?”
“Yeah. Why? Doesn’t that just mean a bad guy?” I asked.
“No, I believe it means someone within the dream world.”
“The dream world?” I studied him. Another joke?
“Unless you’ve a better idea, I think it means she needs to be put in danger while asleep.”
“Would that mean that a real threat would be after her, or . . . ?”
Ardette nodded. “Of course a real threat: . . . me.”
“You?” Nyte narrowed his eyes.
“Well, I’m the only one that can get inside of her mind, aren’t I? Though I suppose I’ll need your help, Darchy.”
“Right-o! I’d be glad to help!”
“Nonsense! I will not allow you to enter me!”
“I will make certain he does not defile you,” said Nyte. He placed a hand on Rend’s shoulder. Then, while wearing an expression of threatening protectiveness, to Ardette he said, “Contain yourself. I know it is not in your nature, but contain yourself.”
Ardette shrugged. “Naturally.”
“Argh! Fine! But stay away from the places you do not need to enter, Daem! Do you understand?! If you so much as-”
“Yes, yes. You’ll render me numb or some such punishment? Though, instead of numbness, I’d really prefer you employ pain. Why not make it more fun?”
“Masochist!”
“Good job, Rend. Glad to see you understand where I’m coming from.”
And with that, he started a long, slow plunge into Rend’s chest.
“Go on, Darch. Knock her out.”
“Should you not have done that first?!” said Nyte through bared teeth.
“Shut up, would you? Go entertain yourself somewhere.” Ardette brushed him away with the back of his hand.
I let out a huff. Unbelievable. Ardette was so frustrating! “Come on, Nyte,” I said. “Let’s wait over there. Away from this ass.”
“Ah, ah, ah,” – Ardette smirked – “I’ll need you nearby for when I need a drink, my pi-”
“Don’t treat me like I’m just something for you to use!” I, too, was upset with the way Ardette had gone about entering Rend.
“W-what?” Ardette was completely taken aback by my outburst. He abruptly changed his demeanor into something much easier to swallow. “Um, I didn’t . . . Of course you aren’t, Aura. I’m sorry. I was just . . . Don’t think of me that way.”
“How else is she to think of you?!”
“Butt out! This doesn’t concern you, does it, boy? Go watch for angels.”
“Ardette, you don’t need to be rude to him! Anyways, he’s right, isn’t he? How else am I to think of you when you behave so rudely?”
Again, Ardette was taken aback. “I didn’t mean it that way.” A darkness crossed his brow. “I’m not myself at the moment. Do you understand what I mean?”
Not himself? So he was . . . ? Oh. I understood. That ‘other’ part. I nodded. “Fine. I get it.”
“I . . . Please, Aura, may I have some of you?” This time, he asked in earnest. Like the first time he’d asked at the Waterfall of Sorrow. The first time the small something had tweaked in my chest. It tweaked again now.
“Of course you can. You’re my friend.”
His Adam’s apple danced in his throat. Was he getting nervous?
The sky was lightening up already. Day was quickly approaching. This was all taking so long – each line taking forever to deliver – but out of habit, we all felt the need to form full sentences and to use full motions. It was surreal to see ourselves moving like that – so slowly – because even though our motions were sluggish, inside my head, my thoughts continued at a normal pace. I witnessed it all through eyes that weren’t lagging.
So when Ardette reached for my hand and began pulling it to his horn, I saw every long moment that passed with his eyes earnestly on mine.
He was sincerely remorseful for treating my spirit that way. In that moment, he’d been like Sowpa, and it had been ugly. But now, the way he was now, it was something gentle. I was a prisoner to the lethargy. I was locked within my slow-moving body, forced to process each slow-crawling second our eyes were locked onto each other.
I hadn’t noticed it, but at some point, Darch’s pinky had made contact with Rend’s forehead, and he’d helped her to the ground, finally rolling off the mound and onto the clearness that still made me feel like I was going to fall to my death at any moment.
When my hand finally made contact with Ardette’s horn, he didn’t release his hold on it, nor did he release his stare. It felt good to be like this. My heartbeat was fast inside of my shell-like body. But it couldn’t get to that point again. I wouldn’t start thinking of him as ‘Dragon’.
I am Aura.
Ardette tipped his head to show that he understood the internal struggle. Rend’s eyes were closed now, and Darch’s pinky was making long circles just above her brow. Nyte was watching with uneasiness, looking away only to scan the city for angels.
“There is another,” he said. But none of us moved from our spots.
At long last, Ardette closed his eyes and pushed his shadowed hand up Rend’s ribcage, up her neck, and into her head. Even though she was out, her body flexed when he reached the middle of her skull.
“Careful, Ardetto,” whispered Darch. “Don’t go anywhere you aren’t supposed to.”
“Like I would,” huffed Ardette.
“You would.” I grinned.
Nyte spotted several more angels, but none of them paid us any mind at all. They all simply zipped passed, their behavior no different in the daytime, apparently.
While Ardette continued to mill around inside of Rend’s mind, she
breathed evenly. Slow, long breaths that filled her chest. Darch didn’t remove his pinky even after it’d ceased its circling. He was keeping her under. He was keeping those breaths steady and slow. He was monitoring the situation, making sure that Ardette didn’t do anything stupid. Ardette still hadn’t removed his other hand from mine. Maybe he was afraid I’d change my mind and take it back. It was warm in the midst of the otherwise coolness of my hand, which was decreasing in temperature every time Ardette took more spirit. I could tell when he pulled in a new dose, not only because my hand turned to ice, but because his hand got warmer. His pulse became stronger. Maybe that’s why he was keeping it there, to make it better for me. To make it more comfortable.
It did just the opposite.
It was all too intimate. I liked it too much, and I’d gotten to the point where, in my mind, there was a constant, repeating,
I’m Aura. I’m Aura. I’m Aura. I’m Aura. I’m Aura. I’m Aura. I’m Aura.
His hand was well-behaved for the most part, but every once in a while he’d do this thing where he’d tense his hand and grip mine for just a second. Those were the times that my chest tweaked harder than ever. My stomach was always soon to follow, and the looping –
I’m Aura. I’m Aura. I’m Aura.
– got louder.
After a few of these squeezes, I could no longer take it.
“Nyte!” I blurted in a last attempt to gain my sanity.
Ardette’s eyes shot open at the cry.
“Nyte! I need you!”
“What is it, Aura?! I am here!”
“Focus, Ardette!” scolded Darch. “Don’t worry about them.”
Ardette didn’t listen. He locked eyes with me and waited for my answer.
“Come here!” I was panting a little because the small something was again pounding against my chest in an effort to escape. I tried to hide it. “Put your arms around me!”
“What?” He was confused.
“Please.”
The confusion changed into a grin. “How can I not obey such a command from our leader?”
Ardette’s eyes were unwavering, but the hand covering mine had slipped down my wrist, and one of his fingers was now rubbing along the tendon there.
Damn it, Ardette! Cut it out!
But I couldn’t voice it because voicing it would admit to myself, and to everyone else, that it was affecting me. He wasn’t supposed to be able to do that!
Luckily, Nyte did just as I’d asked. He threw his arms around my shoulders, crossed them over my chest and placed his hands on my opposite arms. “How is this?” he whispered.
It was perfect. The tempting going on at my tendon turned into an annoying, unwanted advance.
Ha! Take that!
I smirked triumphantly at Ardette, but instead of showing some kind of cocky response to losing his ‘game’, he showed melancholy.
My triumph caught itself in my throat. Great. Now I felt wretched.
“Ardette,” said Darch. “Enough. You did it to yourself.”
Nyte had no clue what was going on, but it didn’t seem like he cared. He was only focused on carrying out my command, and he was taking extreme delight in doing so. His chin was rested atop my head, and he was staring past Rend, Ardette, and Darch, and into the surrounding city with complete contentedness.
Ardette closed his eyes, slipped his hand back on top of mine, and gave it the hardest squeeze yet. In an instantaneous response, my hand turned icy, but it happened way too fast, and I let out a cry. All the way to my shoulder, my arm was frozen.
Ardette’s eyes shot open again.
“My cherry!? Uh . . . I-I didn’t mean to do that!”
“What the hell, Ardette?” Even now, he was pushing my palm against the point of his horn. It hurt and was sure to puncture my skin soon.
“What are you doing?! Do not be so rough with her!”
“Ardetto! Concentrate on Rend! It’ll be over soon enough!”
Ardette’s eyes were black. Even in this slowed-down state of being, it happened in a flash. “Who am I?” he asked, staring at me and forcing my palm.
“My dra-” But Nyte’s arms around my body let me know that that wasn’t right. “You’re Ardette. I’m Aura. You’re Ardette.”
His eyes were red before I even noticed that it had happened. He released my hand.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
But it was okay. I understood. Even if Nyte was still glaring at Ardette with strangling intent, I understood. That ‘other’ part had started to take over him again.
“FOCUS.” Darch’s pinky was again circling because Rend had started to stir. That wasn’t good. She had to enter a sleep deep enough to warrant a nightmare, right?
I’d just close my eyes and concentrate on Nyte’s protective embrace until this was all over. I’d cut my arm from my emotions. No matter what happened, no matter what Ardette did to it, I wouldn’t open my eyes. That was the best way.
I melted into Nyte’s hold. I breathed him in and everything was right. I wouldn’t open my eyes. I wouldn’t . . .
But that mentality came to an abrupt end when a bright, white light showed through my closed lids. Squinting, I uncovered my eyes to find that the white light was even brighter on the other side, and it was surrounding us.
“It came out of nowhere!” cried Nyte.
It?
But was there really a need for me to ask? What else could it be but an angel?
“Nyte!” yelled Ardette. “Cast your barrier!”
“What?”
“I said cast your barrier, you cur! Push out all bits of this realm! Generate a clear space!”
“Yeah!” said Darch. “The angel will pull her away too quickly if we don’t contain it!”
Nyte released me and readied his hands for a barrier spell, but all of this he did slowly. The bright light was growing rapidly, and now Rend was reeling on the ground at a much-faster-than normal rate. It had worked? She’d caught the interest of an angel? But we were all still stuck in that lethargy! How could we compete with their speed?!
All of this panic was useless, though. In the end, Nyte’s spell came through. The casting took way longer than it should have, but once the red light was out of Nyte, it reacted as quickly as the angel’s, transcending that time barrier between us.
In an instant that was too fast for me to comprehend, we were all enveloped in Nyte’s red bubble. Only now, there was one more to our number:
A man!
It was a man that looked just like that first short-haired Lusafael look-alike. Except, now that I was able to fully see him, I noticed that there was one other major difference between this angel and Lusafael. His eyes. His eyes weren’t blacker than the blackest shadow. They weren’t dark and lifeless. They were silver. Shining silver that was even lovelier than Illuma’s. And they were joy-filled.
Within Nyte’s barrier, we were able to move again at a normal pace. We were able to concentrate on the angel, but it was hard not to get lost into that same mesmerized stupor caused by Lusafael. It was hard . . . but not impossible. Using that same pushing of my immaterial mind, I was able to focus on him without becoming lost in the moment.
But I couldn’t think of anything to say. There was an actual angel right next to me? How could I react to something like that? The answer: I couldn’t. So I was just silent. Silent and gawking. We all were.
“Anmoka. shetti, mo karlakat?”’ said the angel to a now-conscious Rend. His voice was even and strong, and it held an echo even within the echoless space of the bubble.
Rend nodded.
We spent several more seconds under deadening silence’s control until Darch somehow found it within himself to break through.
“Well, well . . . well, what did he say?!” he sputtered. “Could you understand him?! How incredible!”
“Yes,” said Rend, “he wanted to know if I was in good health.”
The angel watched Rend’s mouth intently before squinting, tilting his head to
the side, and saying,
“Is this the language that you prefer, Rend?”
Rend nodded again. “It is.”
The angel continued, “I am delighted that you have allowed me to save you from the darkroad traveler. I shall dispose of this dark creature for you now.”
He reached out a hand to Ardette’s head, and I knew what was coming. We all did. This was the same as when Lusafael had reached out to Carn. Ardette was about to be dissipated. He was going to be killed.
“NO!”
Without thinking, and behaving like an absolute lunatic, I lunged forward, placing my body directly between the angel’s hand and Ardette. The angel’s palm made contact with me instead, and there was a burst of white light.
Chapter 14: The Mistake
“Why have you stopped me, descendant?” asked the angel. He was towering over me brightly.
I held up my hand to block the glare. “Descendant?” I asked.
There were three relieved men grasping onto different parts of my body. Darch had a leg. Nyte had my waist. Ardette, my shoulders.
“You are a child of song, correct?” said the angel. “Which is why that blast could not destroy you?”
“Oh . . . is that why?”
“You did not predetermine that you would survive?!” Rend was outraged. “What were you thinking?! This foolishness far exceeds anything that I have witnessed from you thus far!”
“Yes,” said the angel, “I must avenge the one who has made the pact. I must kill that person.” He pointed to Ardette. “I could see the things that he intended to do to Rend. They were impure.” The angel’s point turned into an open-palmed reach for Ardette’s forehead.
“Stop!” commanded Rend. “It is unnecessary!”
The angel paused his reach, but did not retract his hand. He was bewildered by the order, and to Rend he said, “But this person is a darkroad traveler. He was to take you by force.”
Rend folded her arms. “No, he is unworthy of your effort. He is simply a foolish Daem.”
“A Daem? Yes, Daems are darkroad travelers. Therefore, I must-”
