A second later, the torch flames grew brighter, and she could hear a baby crying from behind her. When she turned around she was shocked to see that she was in another room.
The woman from the picture, in the office, laid in bed while holding her newborn child. Next to the bed was a young man, about Darrengiy’s age, smiling down at the woman. He was a beautiful man with short brown hair and hazel eyes, unlike Darrengiy’s, whose were bright orange.
“It’s a boy,” the woman cried happily up to the man, “Darrassa, it’s a boy.”
“He’s beautiful,” Darrassa said softly.
There was the sound of a door opening up behind Shalina, and she saw Darrengiy rush in, “Shalina-”
Shalina froze, thinking that he was talking to her, but he was really talking to the woman in the bed. She looked the past Darrengiy up and down, and even though he still looked the same in real time, he somewhat seemed younger now.
Darrengiy slowly walked into the room and looked from Darrassa, then back to her. He smiled, “you had the baby.”
The woman, Shalina, gave a fake smile and looked from Darrassa, then back to Darrengiy, “you have a little boy, Darrengiy. Come see him.”
Darrassa smiled at his brother and scratched the back of his head, “congratulations brother.”
Darrengiy looked down at the boy, and then gently took him from the woman, “thank you, Darrassa.”
Shalina walked over to Darrengiy and looked over his shoulder at the baby boy, “hazel eyes...”she said softly, and then she looked back up at Darrassa who still held his smile.
“Princess!” Shalina heard someone yell from where the door was at, only it wasn’t there anymore. In front of her was a beautiful snow covered field under the night stars.
“Princess, wait up!” Darrassa laughed as he ran after the woman.
The princess, Shalina, danced in circles, making the snow swirl around her, and then over her. The swirl floated over to Darrassa and lifted him up into the air, gently pulling him to her.
Darrassa stood in front of the princess and stared down at her, then he wrapped his arms around her, “it’s almost time for you two to marry. The king and queen will resign soon, and I don’t think I’m ready to let you go yet.”
The princess pulled away from him, “we could always run away,” she laughed.
Darrassa sighed, “But-but the kingdom. What about the kingd-”
The princess put her finger against his lips, “the gods made me the most powerful woman in all the worlds, and you’re worried about the kingdom?”
“And what about Sheldon?”
The princess looked towards the castle, “he’ll come with us. He can’t be trapped within those walls like the rest of us were. Our son should be free.”
“Free to love whomever he may choose,” Darrassa sighed and scratched his head with a smile, “it would be nice to see him grow into a fine, free, man.”
“We could all be free,” The princess laughed.
The world started to move again and Shalina suddenly appeared in a dark hallway with the moonlight shining in from the windows. A young boy, about ten years old, stood there in front of her, and watched as his mother and Darrassa held each other out in the open.
The boy looked up at his father, Darrengiy, and compared himself to the tall man. His short brown hair was nothing like Darrengiy’s, and neither were his bright hazel eyes, “father, how come you can’t seem to make mother smile like that?”
Darrengiy stared out of the window at the two lovers with hate in his eyes, then down at his son, who looked nothing like him, and walked away.
The young prince looked back out of the window and watched who he knew were his parents, in love, and smiled.
Shalina reached out to touch the boy with the small, glowing, v shaped birth mark on the back of his neck, but was then taken back to the first room that she started in.
Shalina frowned with sadness when she saw how the princess laid sick in bed, with Darrengiy standing by her side.
“How are you feeling?” Darrengiy asked as he felt over her forehead.
The pale woman tried to smile, but then started to cough.
“Did the doctor...tell you what was...wrong?” the princess asked, taking deep breaths in between her words.
“No, my love,” he leaned in closer to her with an innocent look on his face, “but I have already learned the problem.”
The princess coughed again “what is it?”
“Your son,” Darrengiy straightened himself out, “the half blood.”
The princess’s eyes softened, “so...you know?”
“For a while now,” Darrengiy sighed sadly, “he’s feeding off of your Verna. Soon you’ll have nothing left, and he’ll be a full blood.”
The sound off quick footsteps running away sounded behind Shalina.
“No,” the princess reached out, “he heard you.”
Darrengiy sighed.
“So now what? Will you tell?” the princess asked.
“No,” Darrengiy walked towards the door, “It would be pointless. You should be dead by next sunrise,” he turned around, “I’ll miss you, my love.”
The two stared at each other for a moment, and then the sad Darrengiy turned around and exited the room. In only a matter of seconds the darkness outside grew bright with sunlight, and the princess was dead.
“No!” Darrassa cried next to the princess’s body. The prince, Sheldon, stood on the other side of the bed with glossy eyes, and a sad expression, but no tears.
“Fath...er...”
Darrassa slowly looked up at his son.
“Is this my fault?”
The room Shalina stood in faded, and she was now surrounded by darkness, “where is this?” She looked up at the bright stars, and realized that she was outside and surrounded by trees.
“Come on,” Sheldon said out of frustration.
Shalina turned around and saw Darrassa’s son holding a sword that was too heavy for him. He was breathing loudly, almost heaving, as he held the sword up in front of him.
“What is he doing?” Shalina walked closer to him and stared down at the young boy. She felt bad about him just losing his mother, and wished that she could comfort him.
“Just a little more,” Sheldon said.
Shalina looked down at the sword and realized that it was the same exact one that Angel used, but how could that be?
Sheldon gripped the sword and tightened the muscles in his arms. The birthmark on the back of his neck grew brighter, along with his arms, which started from his shoulders and made its way down his arms and into the sword.
“Come on, mother,” he heaved. He let out a scream, and a brighter light shot down his arms and into the sword, throwing him back into the snow.
Shalina looked down at the sword with the glowing light in the middle of the blade, and then down at the unconscious boy.
“Sheldon!” Darrassa yelled as he ran into the woods, “Sheldon,” he got down on one knee and checked to see if he was still alive.
Sheldon opened his eyes and smiled up at his father, “I did it,” he said out of breath.
Darrassa looked over to the sword that had melted the snow under it, and then back to his son in confusion.
Sheldon slowly got to his feet and went to pick up the sword. It was still too heavy for him, so Darrassa grabbed it and examined it. He smiled and gave a laugh, “Shalina.”
The blue light in the middle of the sword brightened, and then snow swirled around Darrassa and up towards the moon.
The outside faded, and Shalina stood in the dim castle in between Darrassa and Darrengiy. They were facing the king and queen, who both sat in large golden chairs with serious expressions on their faces.
“Is it done?” The king asked.
Shalina looked from the king to Darrengiy, and saw that they had the same color hair, but different colored eyes. Darrengiy took his eyes from his mother, who had long red hair.
“Yes,” Darrassa
answered, “Sheldon and the nobles have escaped to Varenwhile. No one will think that’s where we sent them.”
“Good,” the king sighed and nodded to his wife, then said, “I want you to go as well.”
“What?! Father I can’t leave you to battle on your own.”
“He won’t be on his own,” Darrengiy said with his hands behind his back, “he has me. There’s no use for you here. You’re a powerless human.”
Darrassa frowned and gripped the swords handle on his side, “father, I refuse to leave my family behind,” he slowly pulled out his sword, “and you will find that I can be of great use.”
Darrengiy’s eyes widened when he felt Shalina’s presence, as he has so many times when she was alive.
The king stood from his chair, “Shalina….but how?”
“Sheldon,” Darrengiy said while still in shock. He reached out to touch the sword, but then felt the tips of his fingers grow hot before they even touched the blade. He snatched his hand back in pain.
The queen smiled, “we will need both of our sons by our sides, love.”
The king and queen faded away, and there was nothing left but the two brothers.
“Attack!” Someone yelled from behind Shalina.
Darrassa stepped in front of Darrengiy and took a deep breath, then he swung his sword out in front of him and blew the attackers into dust. Still, enemies kept pouring in, and Darrassa was growing tired.
“Brother, there’s too many of them!” Darrassa said, but there was no response from Darrengiy, “brother!” Darrassa looked back, and saw that Darrengiy was no longer there, “no...” he turned around and faced his enemies, that all ran at him at once.
“He abandoned him...” Shalina said to herself.
The king and queen had already been killed, and the only royal left was a mere human, Darrassa.
All at once the enemies and Darrassa faded away, and then there was nothing left but the sword lying on the floor. Shalina walked up to the sword and reached down to pick it up, but it disappeared.
“It’s a girl!” a woman cried from behind Shalina.
Shalina turned around and faced a young woman on the floor of a small hut. She sat propped up on pillows and sheets as she held her newborn child.
The man on his knees, next to the woman, smiled down at the beautiful baby girl, “what should we name her?”
The woman smiled, “Shalina. Like the princess. Let’s name her Shalina.”
Shalina watched as the dead roses, in a small flower pot by the window grew bright red, and the withered stems went back to its healthy state.
“She’s so beautiful,” the woman cried.
“Mother?” Shalina called, with tears in her eyes. She stood in front of her parents for what she felt was the first time, and didn’t know how to feel. For so long she had wondered about them, and wished that she had the chance to meet them. Now all she wished was that she could touch them.
The small family in front of her faded, and she was back into the room of memories. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, then she looked around and noticed that the flames had went back to their original color. For a long moment all she did was stand there while taking in all that she had seen.
The princess had given birth to a half blood prince that had escaped to Varenwhile before the revolution, and Shalina was born as one of his descendants, thousands of years later. She was still confused about how Angel came upon the sword, since no one but Darrassa and Sheldon could touch it, and figured that Darrengiy may have been telling the truth about Angel. Maybe Angel really was evil, and maybe he really did want to use her Verna after realizing that she was the princess’s descendant.
Shalina wiped the sweat off of her forehead, and was headed for the steps when she felt herself being pulled back, “what-” the sand had wrapped itself around her ankles and pulled her down to the ground, “what is this!” she started grabbing at her ankles but then the sand made its way around her wrist, “stop!” It had to be one of Darrengiy’s spells for intruders.
Shalina screamed as she felt her legs being pulled below the sand, and couldn’t understand what was going on. Was this her doing? Maybe her confused emotions had caused her Verna to go wild and turn against her.
Shalina dug her fingers into the sand, but then her hands were pulled under, and soon her entire body
***
The sound of a loud bird pecking at a tree brought Shalina out of her sleep. She sat up when she realized that she was no longer at the castle, and instead, was inside some kind of cabin. There was a fire burning in the fireplace next to her that reminded her of Darrengiy’s quiet office.
Shalina slowly stood from the floor and looked around for the person that brought her here, but there was no one. She then walked to the door and peeked outside of it, then slammed it shut when she realized that the bird pecking came from an enormous red and yellow bird standing right outside the cabin.
Shalina’s hand shook as she slowly opened the door again, then jumped and fell back when she saw a boy, around her age, standing in the doorway.
The tall boy pushed open the door and stepped inside, “no worries princess. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Shalina frowned up at him, wondering how he knew who she was, but then her face straightened as she admired his innocent face. The boy had wild short cut brown hair with yellow catlike eyes, and tanned skin. She followed his muscular chest, down to his eight pack abs, and at his long black cloth that hung freely between his muscular legs and stopped at his ankles. The cloth in the back did the same, only it was wider. It reminded her of a skirt, only the slits were higher and cut wider for better movement.
Shalina looked back up at the boy’s face and began to recognize him, “you worked for Darrengiy...”
The boy smiled softly and nodded, “yes, and it’s nice to officially meet you.”
Chapter 9: Mooralshia-Part 1
Angel opened his eyes up to the bright blue sky with large white puffy clouds, and watched them for a moment. For a few seconds he couldn’t hear a sound and started to wonder where his new friends were, but then slowly the sound came rushing back into his ears.
First, it was the sound of birds chirping, then he heard loud synchronized footsteps become louder, and then start to get farther away.
“Let’s go men!” Someone yelled.
Angel looked down from the sky and noticed that the others were looking in the same direction as him. Out in the middle of a green field were two groups of men headed towards the trees in what looked to be their warrior gear.
One of the men in the back tripped over his own foot and dropped his sphere. He looked nervous as he gathered his weapon and scrambled back to his feet, then he straightened his helmet on his head. He looked back at Angel with a kind look on his face, then turned back towards the direction that he was running. The man almost got away, when a woman came running after him.
“Montago!” a woman, just a few shades darker than Tren, with long silky black hair, ran towards the man she called out for, “Wait, Montago!”
The man turned around with a sad expression on his face.
“Don’t go! You don’t have to do this,” the woman said out of breath, “please. You don’t have to be like your father.”
Montago sighed, “for once, he is actually proud of me, Tasa. Why can’t you just be proud of me too?”
“Because you’re not a warrior. We’re supposed to be married soon. Do you really want to put your life in danger?”
“Tasa...”
“No, you can stay here with me, you will stay here!”
“I can’t,” Montago sighed with a smile, “look,” he reached around her and unraveled the bow that was keeping her hair tied back, then tied it around his wrist, “I’ll be back to bring this to you.”
Tasa wiped her eyes and sniffled, “that’s my last one.”
Montago gave her a hug and kissed her forehead, then he turned around and ran off into the trees.
Tasa
turned around and started walking back from where she came from, when she spotted Angel and his group watching her. She looked each of them up and down and could tell that they were from other worlds, then she noticed Angel’s sword and pulled out a knife, “who are you?”
Angel put his hands out in front of him, “we won’t hurt you,” he said, then he looked over at his friends who were following his lead.
Tasa looked Angel up and down, “who are you?”
“Angel. My name is Angel. This is Tren, Zyas, Alcia, and Marian,” he said pointing to each of them.
“Angel...” Tasa walked up close to him while still holding up her knife, causing Angel to pull out his sword while stepping back, “wow,” Tasa looked down at the sword, “the boy with the shining blade,” her mouth slowly dropped as she watched the pulsating light glow in the middle, then she closed it and looked up into Angel’s eyes. Was this boy really him?
Angel looked confused, “what?”
Tasa put her knife away and looked Angel up and down again. Yeah. This was definitely him, “you’re the boy with the shining blade,” she stepped back, “my father foresaw a boy with a shining blade coming to Mooralshia. I thought he was crazy, but...you’re really here.”
“Sheesh, he didn’t bother speaking of us?” Tren said dropping his arms back down to his sides.
Tasa frowned at him, then turned back to Angel, “you guys can come with me,” Tasa started walking again.
“To where?” Marian asked.
“Home,” Tasa didn’t think that Angel would appear so soon, and he was a lot earlier than her father had predicted. That meant that the Moorenof attack on the village would be coming very soon, and she didn’t think that she was ready for it yet, but there was nothing that she could do about it except for what her father had instructed.
The group looked at each other, then shrugged and started following behind her, but was suddenly stopped when a large beast, as tall as an average sized tree, jumped out of the woods and right in front of Tasa.
Angel's Blade: Power (Angel Series Book 1) Page 9
