Angel of Nature - Interlude II
It has been close to a month now since Everfree had found Chelsea and had taken her into his home to allow her to recover. She was currently resting on a bed in a extra bedroom the cabin had. She had recovered a few weeks ago and had been given the option to leave as she was now healed.
At first she was hesitant about whether to go or not. She knew if she left, she would be chased again and be taken home, a home she disliked with a passion but if she stayed at the cabin, she would have no idea what this Everfree person could be like, besides, she was already slightly suspicious of him.
Obviously, she had chosen to stay and not go back, but she knew that in doing this, people would come looking for her and that made her feel uneasy.
Everfree on the other hand already knew the entire truth that Chelsea was hiding from him. He knew why she was running away from home, he knew why she had those wings on her back. There so many things he already knew about her that it scared him.
Currently, Everfree was outside, sitting in whatever rays of light were left of the day, pondering what he should do next. Now that the girl inside the cabin had chosen to stay with him, it was obvious that the people she ran from would come looking for her. However, there was also two other places that would people to look for her if they learnt of her existence.
"What are we to do, Elssphia?" Everfree inquired.
Elssphia was stretched out besides Everfree, enjoying the warmth that the sun provided while enjoying his company.
"I honestly have no idea." She replied with her somewhat distorted voice.
For the past few weeks, Everfree and Elssphia have been contemplating what they should do now that Chelsea had decided to stay with them. They had considered taking her back to one of the peoples that would want her if they knew of her existence but quickly cast that thought aside, as another lot of people would likely wage war against them to retrieve the girl.
"But I wish I did. This is all very complex and I worry for the girl."
Everfree nodded but said nothing else.
Inside the house, Chelsea was sprawled out across her bed, doing nothing but staring up at the ceiling enjoying the complete silence that surrounded her and her room. She knew that Everfree and the Changeling were hiding something from her and that's when her curiosity struck. She, of course, was going to find out...even if it was the last thing she did.
There were also several things that roused suspicion in her. The most prominent being that Everfree's diet consisted purely of vegetarian food. She knew he wasn't vegetarian cause he had told her he wasn't so it made her curious as to why he have just fruits and vegetables, when there was an abundant supple of animals that could be used for meat. There was also the fact that there was something off about his bow.
It seemed it hum and pulse whenever she was near it and the strangest thing about it was the type of wood it was made from. Just by looking at it, one could tell it wasn't made from a type of wood on Earth.
Those thoughts aside, altogether Everfree seems strange and she was going to find out why.
And as if on cue, the door to her room opened and in stepped Everfree himself. He closed the door behind and grabbed a chair from nearby then placed at the foot of the bed and sat on it.
Total silence elapsed between them for several moments before Everfree started to speak, rousing Chelsea's curiosity again, making her sit up and listen.
"Your probably getting suspicious of me and Elssphia now aren't you?"
"That's an understatement." Chelsea scoffed.
Everfree was amused which allowed for a slight smirk to break across his lips but he couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping, that in returned rewarded him with a glare from Chelsea.
"Well, I thought that I should probably explain what is going on, why Elssphia and I seem suspicious, at least to you, and why we have being hiding things from you."
"I'm listening."
"Before I tell you everything, you'll need me to explain a bit of the history that is involved in all of this."
Chelsea nodded and let Everfree tell his story.
Millions of years ago, a battle between the forces of Heaven and Hell, good and evil, broke out and lasted centuries. During the course of the war, there was a point where Hell had somehow gotten through the ranks of the Angelic forces and they continued on their way to Heaven, looking for one Angel in particular.
Now usually a Demon can't enter Heaven just like an Angel can't enter Hell unless they are captured and go willingly, or Armageddon was approaching.
Now considering there was already a war, Armageddon was coming and the world was coming to an end which allowed both sides to enter the opposition home to try and drive back their forces, but these Demons weren't doing that...they were after an Angel who was said to be the Guardian of Hell's Gates.
If the blood of this Angel is touch the keyhole of any of Hell's Gates, then it removes the seal preventing Demons from leaving and opens the Gate...letting thousands of Demons lose upon the world...possessing the humans that inhabit this world...and the only way to be rid of the Demons is through multiple Heavenly techniques, excorism, Holy Water etc. and the only way to close the Gate is with the blood of the Angel.
The Demons were able to find and take this Angel. Many of us tried to stop them and get the Angel back...but there was nothing we could do. The Demons took the Angel back to Hell to preserve her so that when the time came to open Hell's Gates again, they could do that with out any problem and try to consume the world of man again.
Once they had dragged the Angel into Hell, all of Hell's forces retreated back into their domain and locked the way into Hell, leaving the Angels with no hope of rescuing the Angel that had been taken.
So instead of trying to get into Hell, we left...and went back to our domain...where we waited for a sign that the Angel had been freed...days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years and years into centuries until final, when we had almost lost all hope, word spread that the Angel that had been captured had somehow been freed and yet...the Gates of Hell were still shut. We immediately sent Angels to investigate and look for this Angel but we couldn't find her.
We returned our hope...now entirely and utterly crushed...but once more after centuries of waiting, word again was spread that the Angel was living among humans and was trying to escape from them but they continuously captured her and tried to experiment on her...but thankfully her Angelic powers were able to produce a shield of pure Light to protect her from whatever they tried to do.
Which leads us to where we are now...
Everfree finished his story and let everything he had just told her sink in. It was a lot to take in and if one was able to make all the connections...
"So I'm this Angel that was taken?" Chelsea inquired, breaking the silence.
Everfree didn't answer for several moments. This was the point in time he was hoping to avoid till he could've restored the memories to the Angel and taken her back to her home. Everfree turned and stared out the window and sighed.
"Yes, you are...I was hoping to be able to restore your memories, seeing as you seemed to not remember, before you got too suspicious but as you can see...that plan kinda went out the window." He admitted.
"So wha-" Chelsea began asking but didn't finish before Everfree interrupted.
"I am who I say I am. I am Everfree, Angel of Nature, and I was sent to this forest to watch and care for it while keeping an eye out for any tell tale signs that the Gates of Hell will be opening but now that I've found you...that complicates things a little."
"How so?"
"Well, first off, I have to watch over this forest as it is who I am. Second, I have to look for signs of Hell's return, and finally, I have to protect you cause if Hell learns of your existence then they will hunt you down to get your blood to open the Gates of Hell...and bring about another war that could last centuries...with humans being possessed by both Angels and Demons."
"Oh..."
Everfree nodded and turned away from the window to look back at the girl who was now in danger, should Hell learn of her existence. There was one last thing that Everfree had to tell her but he was waiting to see if she would ask herself that last question.
It seems he was right...
"So if I'm an Angel...who am I really?"
"You're Narveril, Angel of Justice and Guardian of Hell's Gate"
Chelsea, or Narveril, let the information sink in. To say she was shocked would be an understatement but she had seen this coming, sort of.
Once Everfree had said he had something to tell her and then explained the history that went back millions of years to a war that almost led to Armageddon, she was fairly sure it was all linked to her and that she was said Angel that could open the Gates of Hell with her blood.
She dropped her gaze from Everfree's and let it wander to the ground as she pondered what she had just been told. It was a lot to take in. Never in her lifetime would she think she was an Angel, let alone some so called Guardian to the Gates of Hell.
"This definitely who I am?" She asked, her voice no louder than a whisper.
Everfree's only reply was grim nodded as he moved over to the window and stared out it. He was looking for something and by the look etched on his features, it wasn't something good.
Chelsea never noticed the look though, she was caught up in her own thoughts.
The door to the bedroom they were in opened quietly and in stepped Elssphia. She briskly made her way over to Everfree who leaned down in return, knowing she had something important to tell him.
Elssphia whispered something into his ear as Chelsea noticed the Changeling's entrance and wondered what was going on. She obviously couldn't make out what they were saying from where she was, but she had a feeling it wasn't good news.
Everfree gave another grim nod and whispered something back to Elssphia before turning and leaving the room, but as he reached the door, Chelsea's voiced stopped him.
"Where are you going?"
"Out." Is all Everfree said before leaving without another word.
Chelsea looked at Elssphia with a concerned look while the Changeling returned one of helplessness.
Everfree came out of his room with his cloak adorned, embracing the warmth and the feeling completeness that it gave him. He quickly made his way to the kitchen and packed a food items before moving towards the front of the house to grab his bow.
As his hand wrapped around the handle of the bow, the bowstring seemed to hum and a great warmth radiated through the bow's wood causing Everfree to smile as he slung the bow around his shoulders.
Geared up and ready for the wilderness, Everfree opened the front door and stepped out onto the veranda and immediately sensed something was wrong and thankfully, his quick reactions are the only things that saved his life.
Hear faint running from behind, Everfree whipped around and dropped to ground as he saw a dark blade whistling towards his neck.
The blade missed him by centimetres...
He rolled away to some distance between him and the creature of darkness in front of him, prepared to ends it miserable life.
The creature started swinging continuously at Everfree and didn't let up, as to never give Everfree a chance to fight back, but through a small window gap that give Everfree literally milliseconds, he jumped back and conjured a sword of light into his hand ready to fight back.
The creature hissed angrily at Everfree and started swinging again but much more aggressively. Everfree for his part just dodged and parried the blows that came at him. He could see the creature was getting more and more annoyed with him, after all he was just toying with the creature.
Both swords continued to clash against each other causing particles of light and darkness to dance off the blades as both their wielders knew that Everfree could finish this battle at any moment.
Finally being fed of toying with the creature, Everfree stepped back and pivoted in circle as his blade found the neck of his opponent, cleaving the shadowy head clean, causing it and the shadowed body to disappear...
Everfree never got a chance to relax as he heard snarling from behind.
After causing his sword of light to disperse, Everfree threw his shoulder forward to unsling his bow and grabbed it be pivoting down into low position then pulled the bowstring back which in turned caused a magical, ethereal arrow to appear on the bow.
He released the bowstring then without breaking attacking stride, he dropped his bow and conjured up two more swords of light and ran head long at the last shadow. Once within range, he started swinging and the swords were nothing but blurs of light as the collided with the dark blade which again cause specks of light and dark to dance of the blades.
Everfree whirred the blades faster and faster causing the creature move fast to block Everfree's blows but it was starting to fear the blurs of light that are getting closer...and before it knew what happened, it's blade disappeared and Everfree brought blades from either side of the neck and cut through.
The creature, just like the other two, disappeared.
Everfree stood still for a few moments, listening quietly making sure there were no others...then he realised something...but it was too late...
"EVERFREE!"
The screamed resounded through the forest, startling birds and causing them to flutter away. Everfree whipped his head in the direction of the scream and broke into a run.
As he got to the other side of the cabin and he saw the shadow creatures dragging Chelsea away. He moved to get her but was stopped a wall of shadow creatures. He took a few steps back and using his magic, recalled his bow to his hand and as soon as it reached his hand, he fired of an exploding arrow of light, causing the shadows to disperse which allowed for him the start running.
After running for a few minutes he burst into a clearing and couldn't see the shadow creatures or Chelsea anywhere. He turned about the clearing rapidly looking for some sign of where they went...
But there were none...
"CHELSEA!"