12. Of presents, letters and a little bit of suspicion

Cassandra Pendragon

Ahri was still unconscious but seeing her breath regularly took a weight of my mind. Mom and me didn’t talk much after we returned to my room. She insisted on spending the night and I took my potion willingly. A dreamless sleep claimed me soon after.

I woke up late and refreshed, the sun was already shining through the window and my mother had left. She had ordered a hearty breakfast however and my share was still there, so I tucked in. Bread, sausages and lichee-juice, delicious as they were, couldn’t chase away my sour mood, which had returned as soon as I remembered the past days. I couldn’t do much to influence the kings’ decision so I focused on what had actually happened. How had Edmund been able to issue a challenge to a princess? Boseiju should never have accepted the duel, unless Edmund had somehow become a legitimate heir to the second throne. But that should have been a social event, not many people ascended into the royal families after all. The second family must have kept it quiet which begged the question: why? Why would you keep someone’s ascension under wraps? It was bound to come out sooner or later anyways and none had the right to interfere anyhow, even if they had a problem with the prospective heir. It made no sense… unless they didn’t expect him to be around long enough to be recognised or they didn’t want to be associated with whatever he was going to do. If that was true, it stood to reason that the second palace had somehow known about or even been involved in what had happened. Hmm, considering that mom had told me about how they were pushing for me to be exiled, it made an uncomfortable amount of sense.

While I devoured the last crumbs of bread, I thought about how I could get to the bottom of the affair. Right then, all I had was speculation. I needed something tangible or I would only dig myself a deeper grave, running around firing accusations at another royal family while I myself was on trial. Well, asking them was out of the question. Maybe I could talk to some servants? Nah, they would recognise me immediately. Sending Ahri was simply impossible, she was still unconscious and pretty well known after all. Maybe I should sneak in? Have a quick look around the palace and see if I could find something? It should be possible, I could fly to their branch and maybe get in through a window. Right, surely I would remain unseen, flying around Boseiju on gleaming energy-wings inconspicuous like a four winged dragon. Hmm… I needed help. Unfortunately the list of people I trusted was short, really short: Ahri, Mom, Mordred, Greta and my father, on his better days. Ahri was out and I couldn’t imagine Greta being of much use in this particular situation. Which left me with my family. My parents would go ballistic if they knew that I was pondering on breaking and entering the second palace while that particular family advocated my exile. They’d tell me to wait until I was cleared. The risks were much higher than the possible rewards. I didn’t agree. If I was right, they would either dabble in demonic summonings or at the very least tolerate the practice. I had to know what was going on, the personal benefits were just a bonus.

I could only turn to Mordred, which didn’t seem like a terrible idea. He was well educated, had a grasp on most forms of magic and had travelled the world for months while I had been a toddler. Maybe he knew a handy spell or had an idea what I could do.

To have a plan rekindled my energies and I changed quickly into black leather pants with holes for my tails and a red shirt which I had cut open on the back along the lines of my wing bases. When I turned towards the mirror and my gaze fell on the red envelope and the wooden box I had placed on my desk before leaving for the reception. Well, I was alone now and Mordred wouldn’t run away… I picked up the letter first. A faint smell of roses and something else I didn’t recognise but found extremely pleasing tickled my nose when I broke the seal. I felt a spark of transcendent energy and a few moments later tears started to form and drip down my cheeks, landing on the letter with silent splashes.

My dearest,

It pains me that I can’t even call you by your name, but I don’t know who you will become.

I have started this letter over and over again, I am not sure what I can tell you and I’m even more uncertain if I should tell you anything at all. But you deserve to know: You were right and I was wrong and I deeply regret everything that has happened. If I could start over again, I would remain by your side until the very end. But I can’t. Some things we can only regret but never change but I will do what I can to make amends.

Whoever you are, know that you have done more for this world and for me than anyone could have possibly imagined. You did your part, enjoy your life, you deserve it. And know, that whatever you do, wherever you are, there will always be someone, just behind the horizon, who loves you and believes in you.

Now and forever yours,

Aurora

P.S.: no matter what Mephisto tells you, don’t come looking for me. I will endure and, one day, I will find you. Believe in me the same way I believe in you.

Before I could finish the last word, a stream of memories claimed me and plunged me into the past.

I hovered in empty space, close to a neutron star that would swallow up my energy signature. I was nervous and paid no attention to the beautiful displays of light and mass all around me. He was late. My tension rose and I used my wings to cut a path to the star’s core. Should something go wrong I’d be out of there in a heartbeat. I didn’t think anything but me could survive in the divine furnace burning at the heart of the star I had connected to, making it the perfect hiding place.

I tasted the energies around me, but I was still alone. Where was Michael? My mind returned to the fortress and the little girl I had met two days ago. Her story still rang in my ears. Supposedly an angel had killed the star-whale close to their home world. Before they had been able to get there the angel had disappeared, but from the description of his wings, the long range sensors had picked up on traces of every metal in existence within, i guessed it had been Michael. The same Michael who had sent me to their home world to annihilate their leadership in the name of the dead star whale, my friend for more years than I cared to remember. But why? It made no sense, I had been sure to catch on to him as soon as I talked to anyone within. Sure, I had killed a few hundreds of them beforehand, but that shouldn’t be worth the effort and more importantly my wrath. Michael had had to know that I would come for him, brother or not. I was missing something. So before I jumped on any land mines I wanted to confront him alone. Find the missing puzzle piece, yada yada yada… in truth I just wanted a chance to beat him up without anyone watching, in case he didn’t have a really good explanation. And there I was, waiting in the corona of a neutron star for an angel that seemed likely to never appear. Which told me more than I needed to know. I prepared for the short shift to the next gate, but…

“Lucifer, have you been successful? Has Airu been avenged?” Behind and above me, just short of the influence of the star below us, three angel hovered in the pitch black void. Ezekiel’s wings were nearly indiscernible from the darkness behind. He hovered to Michael’s right. On his left,  Ma’kal struck an imposing figure, over 3 meters tall with a halo of reddish lightning behind his back. I felt a familiar squirming deep inside my gut. My temper rose and I felt the flames of wrath licking on my insides.

“It seems like I have failed in that regard. Or, tell me brother, have I not? Did you not bring those two idiots along because you know very well how completely I failed? How blind I was?”

Michael grinned humourlessly: “I did, but there are three of them.” Without further hesitation I phased through the cut I had made in the fabric of space and materialised about 3000 km away in the middle of nowhere. Only fine dust and sparkling chunks of cooled-down metal remained where a god’s damn neutron star should have been. Before my surprise could fade, cold settled over me and I felt time slow down. I didn’t need to turn around to know what was there. Hora, the angel of time had caught me in a temporal distortion. Time crawled by while the universe around me sped up to a blur. Faintly I felt her mind calling to the others, but I was isolated, caught in my own personal time stream. But not for long. I unfurled my wings and fed them energy from my core. I felt a slight resistance but after a moment 33 torrents of bluish silver light ripped through the distortion and catapulted me back to reality. Unfortunately it seemed like I hadn’t been fast enough. Everyone had already arrived at the party.

When the hazy curtain of temporal force around me had burned away, I was engulfed by darkness and Ma’kal’s strong arms caught my neck an a wrestling grip while his wings curled around mine to prevent them from moving. I could feel Michael in front of me and even saw a slight glimmer when he raised his wings to cleave me in two. Not today, brother!

Energies, even transcendent energies, couldn’t touch me and my wings carried the same immunity. They could burn through any form of magic, no matter the source. It was finally time to share that fact with my family. With a gentle caress I set Ma’kal’s wings ablaze and slammed the back of my head straight into his face with all the force I could muster. He was much stronger than me and his grip prevented me from getting much momentum, but I was still rewarded with a satisfying crunch when his nose turned into a pulp. Simultaneously his wings turned into ash and I could feel a timid whimper from behind before his grip broke lose. I immediately ducked and the razor-sharp edge of Michael’s wing passed over my back, taking a huge patch of skin with it. Michael couldn’t stop his swing and with a wet, crunching noise, I couldn’t hear but feel all the more clearly,  his wing burrowed into the flailing Ma’kal. The whimper turned into a suppressed scream. I grinned.

I knew I hadn’t bought much time. Ezekiel and Hora probably held a barrier around us, preventing me from phasing out, while Michael and Ma’kal tried to finish me off. I needed a little time to find and crack the barrier. Time I wouldn’t have. With my eyes closed, I could feel Michael already sliding back into a defensive position and Ma’kal’s body beginning to regenerate. His wings wouldn’t grow back unless he was scrapped, but he was still a formidable fighter and much stronger than me physically. A fact I was made painfully aware of when his knee crunched into my back. His body wasn’t beginning to regenerate, it had regenerated in a heartbeat! I felt a vertebrae break under the pressure and all feeling left my lower body. My legs dangled uselessly below me and I had an enraged angel on my back who started pummelling the sides of my head mercilessly.  Michael was rushing back in again, roaring like an elephant and fully willing to hurt his ally in his attempt to incapacitate me. Desperation slowly took a hold of me, quenching the fire that burned inside. I needed time, time to find the barrier or the angels holding it and get through. Time I was slowly running out of. I had an idea. If Hora was adding to the barrier, she probably would also slow down time within so she and Ezekiel could react much faster to whatever I’d do. If I could leave the time field, Michael and Ma’kal should slow down from my point of view and I should have a few moments before Hora could drop her barrier. All I needed was a distraction so Hora wouldn’t directly catch on to me.

When Michael’s wing descended towards my neck, I pumped 32 of my wings full of energy and tried to catch Michael’s strike. From the last one I withdrew every ounce of power I could until it was merely shimmering lightly. Then it went slithering trough space, slowly wiggling into the time distortion around us.

I couldn’t  stop a full powered blow from my brother, and unfortunately I couldn’t burn his wings either. As far as I knew they were indestructible. I only managed to throw off his aim and his wing cleaved deeply into my right side, cutting flesh, breaking bones and rupturing a lung. I coughed up blood. My regeneration wasn’t even close to Ma’kal’s who had lost his left arm in Michael’s attack. We both sprawled in front of him and I felt my blood gushing into space much faster than I could recreate it. I would lose consciousness quite soon. Every movement took a toll on me, but I still held fast to his wing buried in my side and looked him in the eye.

“If I am to die today, at least tell me why. Why did you kill Airu and blamed some puny mortals for it?”

He caught my chin with his right hand and his voice thundered through my mind: “Because of her! I knew you two would never separate unless you thought you had to keep her in the dark. So that’s what I did, I created a situation where you weren’t sure what was going on and left her behind to protect her.”

“You love her?”

“You poor imbecile! Love Aurora? You’re the sentimental one. I only wanted to separate you from your only ally. You don’t have that many after all, Lucifer.” I was seriously puzzled. I had friends! It could also have been the lack of oxygen in my brain though.

“But why? I didn’t have any reason to come after you Michael! Why would you want to kill me?”

“Because soon I would have given you a really good one and just between us, I don’t fancy my chances in a fight against you. Call it preemptive selfdefense. And now it’s ti…”

I had found a coil of energy that fed the temporal distortion and poured everything I had into my wing connected to it. My wing lit up and I could feel it slicing through the enchantment and I phased out right after it. Michael’s last words didn’t reach my ears as I turned into blue and silver sparks and vanished…

I came to and wasn’t able to tell who I was for a second. Still caught in the dream, I pinched one of my tails. My emotions were in turmoil, Cassandra was still feeling overwhelmed by Aurora’s letter while Lucifer’s wrath, disappointment and lust for vengeance flooded my veins. I was caught somewhere between crying, snarling and yelling, luckily I was alone. It took me several minutes to calm down enough to start processing what had happened.

It seemed like I was a princess with a deadly enemy in one of the other royal families. I was also an angel who probably died in a blood feud with his brother Michael and who was star crossed lovers with Aurora, an angel that hadn’t trusted me and now tried to make amends, probably for siding with Michael. Oh, and she didn’t want me to go looking for her. Fat chance! Whoever Mephisto was, he didn’t have to tell me anything, I would go looking for her all by my lonesome if need be. If nothing else, she could at least tell me whatever the fuck happened in my past.