“You know, I was wondering how long it would take you to find me,” Shalina said.
“So you were expecting me?” Angel looked over at Shalina’s beautiful face, then blushed and turned away.
“I was. After you died, I knew that your soul would somehow make it here.”
“How did you know?”
Shalina grinned, “I don’t know. Maybe I feel a sort of connection between the two of us.”
“Right,” Angel nodded, “so, what is this place?”
“An illusion. A home I created for myself once I was released into the sword.”
“Wow,” Angel looked up at the pink flowers on the trees, “you created this. It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you. When I first got here, there was nothing but darkness. I was terrified, but then, when I opened my eyes again, all of this were here,” they stopped in front of the waterfall, “and I realized that I could do more here, than I could in the real world. I can create life, buildings...” she put her hand under the waterfall.
“But doesn’t it get lonely?” Angel asked, feeling bad for the princess.
“It can, but with enough imagination,” The water that splashed off of her hand formed into blue butterflies that flew towards the trees, “I can create life, or just observe yours.”
Angel watched as she ran her fingers across the waterfall, “so, how did you end up being trapped in here?”
Shalina sighed, “My son. He had inherited my power, causing me to weaken and die. Our Verna was our complete life force back then, and when mine depleted and went into my son, I died,” she turned to Angel and smiled at his sad expression, “don’t look that way,” she laughed, “Sheldon put the Verna that he received from me into your sword, and because our souls are connected to it, I ended up in here. I was happy that he did that, because I was able to stay with him and Darrassa for a little while longer.”
Angel nodded, “so, that’s why my sword is the only one that can defeat Darrengiy? Because the most powerful princess in Vernasia was put into it?”
Shalina blushed, “well, yes. It’s one of the reasons that he wants the sword so badly, because it could potentially get in the way of his plans to take Vernasia back.”
Angel sighed and sat down on a rock that stuck out of the water, “even without it, if he gets to Shalina...” he looked up at the princess, “that’s right. Why do you look so much like the original Shalina?”
Shalina frowned down at him, “original?”
“Oh, no. That’s not what I meant. I just mean, you two look completely identical-”
“Well, we’re not....not personality wise anyways. She’s my descendant. Some years after Sheldon escaped the kingdom, before the revolution, he met a woman and got married. Then he created a line of his own, and because he was just a half blood he was able to survive losing his Verna as his children grew,” she smiled, “I’m glad,” Shalina sat down on the rock next to Angel, “your friend, the original, is a result of the long line that he created. Her ending up with so much Verna is because she’s my doppelganger.”
“So, she really is you-I mean your doppelganger?” Angel’s eyes winded again.
“Of course!” Shalina laughed, “You’ll have one a couple hundred years from now. That’ll be after you have some children of your own of course.”
Angel turned to meet her eyes, “how will I have children if I’m dead?”
Shalina shrugged, “ah well, I suppose you’ll just have to have some with me.”
Angel blushed, “what? We couldn’t possibly...are you serious?”
“Am I?”
Angel didn’t know what to say next, so he just stared at her.
“I’m joking,” Shalina laughed, “relax. I’m going to get you back to the living so that you can make children with a very lucky woman. I already had it planned out after you died.”
“You planned out bringing me back to life?”
“Yes, but it’s going to be a while before I can get enough energy to do that. I was more powerful when I was alive. Being a ghost has its disadvantages.”
“Yeah, you said that it’s hard to contact me?”
“It can be. Since you don’t know how to control the little Verna you have, I have to do everything. I control the sword, I have to do all the connecting… It can be a little troublesome. Just looking through the sword and making sure that your safe is hard, and not to mention that when you’re not around and I have to find you, it completely tires me out.”
“Oh,” Angel frowned, “well, I’m sorry,” he was starting to feel guilty, until what she had just said replayed in his mind, “I have Verna?”
“Yes, but only a pinch of it,” Shalina said, “you wouldn’t be able to use me at all if you didn’t have any. You were one of the few that I sensed in the village that day, so I went to you.”
“Shalina was the one who awakened you though, right?”
Shalina nodded, “but I didn’t choose her. I needed someone that could fight against Darrengiy.”
“So, you chose a nine year old boy?” Angel laughed.
Shalina smiled, “well, you grew! And into a handsome young man.”
“Young man? You’re the same age as me!”
“I have about a thousand years on you,” Shalina laughed.
The two of them laughed for a moment, and then it eventually died down as they watched the waterfall.
“So, what now?” Angel asked.
“Nothing. We wait,” Shalina leaned her head on his shoulder, “it’s been a while since I’ve been around another person, so how about you stay a while?”
Angel could feel his shoulder growing colder by the second, but didn’t want to move away from her. He hasn’t made any real contact with another person for years, and right now, he liked it. The feeling of her gentle touch, cold and all, made him never want to leave. Besides, it wasn’t like she was a stranger. The princess had been in his life since he was just a boy... “I’ll stay as long as you would like.”
“Thank you,” the light had died down as her eyes slowly began to close. Soon the only light left was the glowing fish under the water, and the stars in the night sky.
***
The sound of the waterfall became louder as Angel’s senses began to kick in. He opened his eyes to see a blue butterfly circling over his head, and lifted his hand for it to land on his finger.
The little butterfly flapped its wings a few times, then flew away and headed downstream. Angel watched as it disappeared through the fog, then sat up and looked over to where Shalina had fallen asleep. She wasn’t there.
Angel looked from his left, to his right, and then behind himself, and still couldn’t find her anywhere. His mind began to race, and he started to think that somehow she had gotten too weak, and that her soul had disappeared. If that happened, then he would never escape this place and would have to spend eternity alone.
“Shalina?” Angel stood up on the rock and had stepped into the water. His body dropped under, and it caught him off guard because, just yesterday, he had no problem walking on top of it.
Angel opened his eyes under the water and could barely see anything. It was such a deep blue color that he could see no further than a few feet away. He was going to swim back to the surface when he noticed a glowing green fish stop swimming right in from of him.
When Angel reached out to touch the fish, it quickly backed away, then swam circles around his head a couple of times. Angel smiled. The little fish circled Angel’s head a few more times, and then shot down towards the bottom of the lake. Angel watched it swim lower, and spotted something shining back at him that gave him a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. Out of curiosity, Angel swam down towards the light where the fish had waited for him, and he almost gasped. On the bottom of the lake rested his sword: The Soul Blade.
Angel reached his hand out to touch the sword, and was close to grasping it, when the sword let out a white light that shocked his fingers. He pulled his hand away and looked down at it, then
tried to grab the sword again, but all he got was the same result.
The green fish swam around Angel’s head and then stopped in front of his eyes looking as confused as he was.
Angel tried one last time, only faster, and was able to grip the sword, but the burning sensation he felt made him let it go, and a half a second later a powerful force pushed him back towards the surface and out of the water.
Angel landed back on the rock with a thud and then rolled onto his back while taking in all the air that he could. He lifted his hand and watched as his new acquired burns healed on their own, and frowned. Why did his sword deny him?
“Angel,” Shalina walked onto the lake, “are you alright?”
Angel coughed a few times, then sat up and cleared his throat, “the sword,” he coughed again.
Shalina looked down at the shining light under the water, “I was hoping that you wouldn’t see that.”
Angel turned to Shalina, “it wouldn’t let me touch it. Why?”
“Because,” Shalina sat down next to Angel, “your dead, and the sword is with the living.”
“But...” Angel was confused, “I don’t understand. I could see it. How is it that I can see the sword, if we’re in the sword?”
Shalina laughed, “You made a connection to the outside world. Sometimes you can see out of here,” she looked diagonally up at the gray sky, “but it’s incredibly hard to make contact. I’m surprised that you could even look out with the little Verna that you have.”
Angel looked down at his hand to see if it had finished healing, “yeah, me too. Do you think that I was born in your bloodline?”
Shalina smiled, “no, you must be a descendant of a noble,” she stood up and put her finger to her chin, “but I wonder which one it was?”
Angel watched her and smiled. He didn’t expect a royal to have such a free personality, especially not after being trapped in a sword for one thousand years. He felt like she was the perfect person to ask his next question. It’s one that he’s had for a long time, but didn’t feel like being judged or being made a fool of, so he never asked, “so princess,” he started, “this may seem like a dumb question, but what exactly is Verna? I mean, is it the same as any ordinary power?”
Shalina looked down at Angel with and emotionless expression, and then burst out laughing. She actually had to cover her mouth when she realized that she couldn’t stop.
Angel sighed, “I guess it really was a dumb question,” he shook his head.
“No, no, no,” Shalina laughed, “it’s a great question,” she swallowed, then continued on laughing, “so great that it’s making me laugh!” when her eyes began to water she wiped away the tears.
Angel could feel his face getting hot, and knew that he would be blushing from embarrassment soon, “well, I’m glad that I could make you laugh,” he said sarcastically.
Shalina had finally calmed down, but continued to smile at Angel with her big blue eyes. The look on her face was starting to make him even more uncomfortable, so he looked away. Shalina sighed, still trying to keep from laughing, “Well, ok. So Verna is Royal power. It’s what made us royals so strong. A power given to us from the gods, and compared to the citizens of the other worlds, like Devenaska, it’s far greater. Not saying that they aren’t strong, but if you put a noble against another world leader and test their strength, the noble would win.”
Angel nodded, “so, you said something about Verna being your life force back a thousand years ago?”
“Yes, it’s the blood and oxygen that kept our hearts beating. Without it, back then, we would die. I guess as time went on though, we started evolving. My son started the trend of mating with humans after me and Darrassa, and they created a line of half-bloods that eventually had children, and after that, Verna was no longer what kept us alive. It was actually blood and oxygen,” she laughed.
Angel laughed with her, but then his face turned hard. If he was to go back to the living, then he would have to continue what he started, “Shalina, when I get out of here, what I do about Darrengiy?”
Shalina’s innocent demeanor completely changed, sending chills down Angel’s spine, “you have to kill him. Continue on searching for Shalina, force her into hiding if you have to, but keep Darrengiy from getting to her, and once Darrengiy is weak enough, go kill him.”
“Once he’s weak enough?”
“Yeah,” Shalina nodded, “Royals and nobles are strongest when they’re together, but when they are separated for too long, they slowly get weaker and weaker.”
“And the only way I can do this is with you-the sword I mean?”
“Yeah, with me,” she frowned.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to offend you. I just...”
Shalina stared down at her reflection in the water with a sad expression painted on her face, “I’m the only thing strong enough to defeat Darrengiy. Nothing else can kill him.”
Angel rested his hand on Shalina’s shoulder, “you not a thing,” he smiled, “you just live in a thing.”
Shalina smiled back.
Angel chuckled and stepped down onto the water, and then he spun around, “so show me around this place. I’d like to get a better look around your home.”
Shalina was puzzled, “you don’t have any more questions?”
“I do, but right now I don’t want to worry about that,” he let his hand out for Shalina to take it, “show me around?”
Shalina blushed as she reached out to take his hand, and then she grinned as she stepped onto the water. Angel was confused about the evil smile that she was giving, and was about to ask about it when the two of them dropped under the water together.
Shalina held his hand tightly and smiled over at him, who still looked confused. The current picked up moments later, and they were pulled down river, shooting through the water like two torpedoes.
Angel struggled to hold his breath half way through the ride and grabbed at his throat in a panic, but then calmed down when Shalina pulled herself close and wrapped her arms around him, “breath,” he could hear her say, “it’s okay.”
Angel hesitated at first, but then opened his mouth to take a deep breath. He laughed when he felt how easy it was to breathe under the water and shook his head, thinking that her world was amazing.
“You ready?” Shalina asked.
“What? Ready for wha-” Angel had lost his voice from shock of falling down a waterfall, “aaaaaahhhhhhh!”
Shalina laughed as they shot straight for the lake, “wooooooh!”
The two of them crashed into the water.
***
“Oh, don’t be so mad Angel,” Shalina said, walking behind Angel.
“Don’t be mad? I could have been killed!”
Shalina held back a laugh, “Angel, your already kind of dead.”
Angel continued on walking, thinking about how the princess’s arms were wrapped around him.
“Angel, you don’t even know where you’re going,” Shalina stopped following him.
Angel stopped when he looked up and saw nothing but trees ahead. She was right. He had no idea where he was going.
“Look,” Shalina rested her hand on Angel’s shoulder, “I didn’t think that would have scared you.”
Angel looked at her over his shoulder, “I wasn’t scared.”
Shalina let out the laugh that she tried her best to hold back, “you should have seen your face, you definitely were-” she could tell that Angel was feeling embarrassed and gave a slight smile, “it never takes much to upset you.”
Angel had forgotten that Shalina watched over him since he was a child, so she pretty much knew everything that there was to know about him, and he couldn’t help but smile, “lets walk for a bit.”
Shalina nodded, and the two of them began walking through the snow in silence together. They both silently enjoyed themselves, especially Angel, who hadn’t really had the time to enjoy himself since all he’s ever done was worry himself to death about stopping Darrengiy. It was
truly a wonderful feeling being there with Shalina, and he didn’t understand why, but he wished that the feeling would never end.
The wind blew softly, and one of the pink flowers blew from the one of the trees and over Angel. Angel put his hand out and caught the flower that quickly dissolved into water on his palm. He didn’t get to see the flower for long, but what he did see would stick in his mind forever. The flower was beautiful, and after a while of only seeing the ugly in things, he needed something beautiful. Angel turned to Shalina and stared at her for a moment, while trying to keep the picture of her beauty in his mind.
“What is it?” Shalina asked.
Angel shrugged and turned away, “It’s nothing.”
The two had finally made it out from under the trees, and onto a small cliff where they sat with their legs hanging over the edge. They were enjoying the view of the mountains together as the sun started to set, letting Angel know that Shalina was growing tired.
“Can I ask you a question?” Angel asked.
“Of course,” Shalina said. She leaned back on her hands and turning her head to face Angel.
Angel looked out at the mountains and wondered how she could have possibly created all of that, then asked, “How do you plan on sending me back?”
Shalina turned back to the mountains, “it’s easy. I just give you some of my Verna, and once you have enough, you’ll be able to connect with the world of the living,” she could tell that he was still confused and continued talking, “when your strong enough, you should be able to wield the sword, and once you do, you can fully connect through to the real world.”
“Ah,” Angel nodded. The sun was getting lower, and his body felt extremely tired, “and my body? Will I be put back into it?”
Shalina shook her head, “your body will reconnect itself.”
“Reconnect? Isn’t my body already connected?” Angel frowned.
Shalina sighed, “Oh, you don’t know...”
“Don’t know what? What’s wrong?” Angel started to panic again.
“You...they cremated you. I’m so sorry, I thought that you knew.”
Angel sighed, “No. So they had my funeral, huh?” he smiled, “that sure is depressing,” he looked down at his hands, “I wonder how the others are doing?”
Angel's Blade: Power (Angel Series Book 1) Page 22
