Eternally Yours (2 page)

“Captain,” Wraith looks at Gabriel, “what's going on here?”

Gabriel clears his throat and glances at me, most likely deciding whether or not to sell me out for being with another kind behind his back. I'm fed up with it all anyways: the rules, the laws, the way everything is decided for us and we're forced to act like pawns to the authorities. I have no doubt he's going to have them take Shadow, and probably have him killed for being a half-ling. They’ll make an example out of him just like they did his parents. The injustice is flowing rampant through my mind and I know I don’t want to live without him in this unfair society.

Gabriel stands taller and puts his shoulders back acknowledging his second in command, Wraith. “Commander, this
d
emon
,” he spits the word, “has broken one of our most sacred laws. He has hidden his true nature from us and deluded us all for eighteen years. He's a
d
emon
-
a
ngel
half-ling
!
” He lets disgust drip off that last word.

Gasps fill the air all around us as everyone looks to their friends with horror.

“Furthermore,” Gabriel adds taking control of the audience’s attention, “he has deceived my bride and attacked me personally in doing so.”

I catch Wraith glancing at me to see my reaction. “What would you have us do, Captain?” He glances back to his best friend.

Gabriel has a happy gleam to his eyes. “As is our law, he's to be taken into custody, interrogated, and tried for death, Commander.”

“Shadow,” the Commander asks, “do you have anything to say?”

Shadow sends me an apologetic l
ook and then shakes his head at
Wraith.

What? No!
I panic. Why doesn't he tell them that it's not his fault? It's his parents! It's mine, it's everyone's fault but his! I almost admit the truth, spill it all right here and now, but if we're both taken then our chance of escape is almost nonexistent. No, I have to stay because I’m the one that’s going to save him.

It hurts knowing that he is protecting me. He doesn’t want them to know I planned on escapi
ng because I would be punished, p
robably killed. He’s always sacrificing himself for me.

“Alright then,” Wraith motions for Shadow to join him by nodding his head once to the side. He turns toward the Guard, “take this
Demon
to the dungeon.” He commands the Guards.

This very moment, everything I have come to love is being yanked right out of my grasp and stolen from me. My hearts explodes into an infinite number of tiny pieces inside my hollow chest. I'm not sure why they call it heartbreak when it feels like every other part of my body is broken too.

Out of nowhere, pain blasts through my chest like fire and I stumble backwards. Someone yells my name off in the distance but all I can hear is the pounding of my heart and inhalation of my breath. Darkness bleeds into my vision but I catch something out the blurry corner of my eye when I look down, but someone yells my name again as I hit the ground and it distracts me.

“Alexia!”

That sounds like Gabriel’s worried scream…

Slowly, with my pulse pounding loudly inside my head, I look down to see what they’re all so petrified about. Why they're all looking at me like this.

A red arrow?

One of those poisonous arrows is sticking out of my chest.

I don't know if it's because I finally see it, or because the poison finally reaches my heart, but everything starts spinning into a spiral of colors just before it all goes dark.

Two months earlier:

My parents used to tell me stories about the world before the plague hit. They said it was full of life and splendor, magic and wonder. It was lush with green trees and bushes, bright and colorful with flowers in bloom. There was plenty of water flowing in rivers and lakes throughout the lands, sparkling in the sun.

In their stories, the different kinds lived in harmony with each other. They were even friends with humans, faeries, wizards, and wraiths. Those four species are now completely extinct.

Once, when I was younger, and our desert was suffering from a drought, I asked my parents why the rivers and lakes disappeared outside the walls. They said the war between the kinds destroyed them, dried them all up. 

They told me about the creatures hallucinating and talking crazy, spitting up blood. They turned hateful and mindless. The infected ones no longer had a conscience and didn't think coherently. More than one third of us died from the plague, and those that didn't get the disease ended up fighting against each other, making the dwindling numbers scarce at best.

Now, we have what is a poor excuse for a planet, with burned down trees, empty lakes, and dead corpses lying throughout the lands. It's all a dead, deserted, life-less memory of what once was. At least that's what they tell us.

Sometimes, I wonder what's beyond the walls that surround our desert, the walls that surround the whole domain. I look out my window, into the vast expanse of the dry desert, with its blistering heat and fiery sun. There are no trees out there, no water...everything is just brown and dry. It’s nothing more than dust and dirt.

I close my eyes and let the wind caress my skin and sail through my hair. I imagine that the world beyond these walls is free from arranged marriages and authorities, unlike the world of rules and laws that I was born into without choice.

Often, I have thought of escaping these walls when I get my wings. It would be so easy to just fly right over them. Soon I may have that chance because I turned eighteen today and am now a fully matured
Angel
, capable of releasing my wings for the first time. I have longed to fly for as long as I can remember. Day after day, I’ve watched my parents and the adult
Angel
s soaring through the sky as graceful as ever.

A knock at my door distracts me from my thoughts. “Come in.”

“Oh my gods, Alexia! I am so excited!” My best friend exclaims as she barges in my room. “You better tell me you’re all packed because I can't wait any longer!” She claps her hands excitedly as her big grin reaches her eyes.

Kaia and I have grown up together; she lives in the suite next door to mine. Our parents have also been friends since before we were born. We are the same age, same height. We have the same interests. However, where I am reserved she is wide open. I am shy, she is outgoing. Like they say, opposites attract, and we have been together for eighteen years like conjoined twins.

“Yeah, I'm excited.” I say, unenthusiastically. “I'm almost finished packing, just a few more things.”

“Seriously, Alexia? You know that you can't lie to me. I know you too well. We've been waiting to meet our future husband our whole lives, and you're going to be all depressed when that day is finally here? Where is my best friend, and what have you done with her?”

Ironically, I'm happy yet sad. I have known this day would come for a long time, when every eighteen year old must go to the Grand Mecca and get a job, and a mate. We are arranged in a marriage that's the best match for us.
We must
think of our kind
, they tell us,
and do our part to help it thrive, by having many children with our most compatible mate.

“I don't know, Kaia. I feel torn. It's hard to explain, but I am excited to meet my mate.”

I don't really want to go to the capital, with its overcrowded streets and conflicts between kinds. I wish we could stay here with our families and choose our own husband. I'm just nervous that they won't mate me to someone I like. I've always had a rebellious mind, thinking for myself, questioning everything the authorities tell us. These are things I would never tell anyone though, not even my own parents.
Angel
s are supposedly the most loyal and honest kind, and even the other kinds don't question the rules. At least, not out loud.

I do look forward to meeting different kinds and boys though. I have never met either. They keep boys and girls under adulthood separated, along with different kinds; just another way the
Overlord
and his authorities control us like pawns.

Kaia seems to accept my answer. “Alright, well if you're sad to leave, just remember it's only three years; and it'll probably be the best three years of our lives!”

I nod and finish packing the last of my things. “Alright, I think that's everything,” I tell her and walk to my closet. I kept my favorite outfit in the closet, so that I wouldn't accidentally pack it. I grab the faded blue sweater off the hanger and bend down to pick up my overly-worn jeans. With my back to her I change into both and look around for my favorite shoes.

“They're over here, Lexi,” she dangles my scuffed white sneakers by her pinched fingers and a straight arm, keeping them as far away from her as possible.

If it weren't Kaia, I'd be embarrassed, but I find no shame in my scuffed white sneakers with her. She knows we aren't as well off as her family. My sneakers don't compare to her new suede, pink heels, but she doesn't care. I tuck my brown hair behind my ear and mumble, “thanks,” as I walk over to save them from her grasp.

I sit on my bed next to her and bend down to put them on. I've had these shoes since I turned sixteen. I remember the day I got them, how stark white they were, reminding me of the whitest, fluffiest clouds. They looked so good with my favorite blue sweater that Kaia gave to me brand new the year before, because it was too small for her. So, it became my favorite outfit and we don't shop much where the
Angel
s live in the desert.

“I hear they stock our dressers with new clothes in the City!” Kaia exclaims happily.

“Good, I think we both know I need a new outfit or two,” I smile bashfully.

It's finally time to leave and I can’t stall anymore as I take one last look back at my room. The tears I've held back threaten to finally spill over but I blink hastily and stave them off.

I don’t want this to be goodbye. However, life hasn't turned out to be fair.
Imagine that
.

I will miss my white canopy bed with the fluffy comforter, my blue walls with clouds painted on them, and my precious window with the breeze and the view of the
Angel
s soaring through the desert sky. Only one tear escapes my eyes and runs down my cheek.

I take a deep, shaky breath and wipe my tear off. I turn back around, and go downstairs to say my goodbyes.

I can only hope that whatever lies ahead of us is better than what we're leaving behind.

“Oh Alexia, I’m going to miss you so much!” My mom reaches out to hug me. Tears threaten to fall out of my eyes, but I look up and try not to blink.
Don't cry, don't cry, this is a happy thing
, I tell myself
.
I will be strong.

“I’m going to miss you too mom, dad.” My lip quivers, and I bite it when I look over at dad. He is always the calm, controlled strength in our family. I am blessed to have such great parents.

“Three years will fly by before you know it, honey. And you will probably end up wanting to stay after that. It's funny that way,” he smiles over at Mom, “I have no doubt you will feel the same way when you meet your betrothed.”

“Dad, do you always have to be so optimistic? I'm trying to feel sorry for myself, but you won't let me.” I joke, lightening the mood.

The doorbell echoes throughout the house and I know our time for saying goodbye is up because our transporter is here. Mom sulks off to open the door with her shoulders slumped. I feel like I should say some last parting words of wisdom, but my mind is blank. I don’t know what to say. I have never said goodbye before.

“Girls,” Mom calls from the door, “your transporter is here to get you.”

I roll my eyes and look at Kaia. “Okay mom, we're coming, just one second.” I bend down to pick up my carry on and look at dad one last time. “Alright, here I go...” I mumble mostly to myself, but loud enough so dad can hear. “Bye dad, I’ll see you in three years...I love you.”

He stands to hug me tightly. “It’s not goodbye Alexia, it’s just see you later.”

Then why does it feel like it is?

Kaia and I walk to the front door, and take turns hugging my mother.

“I Love you mom.” I try to make this hug last infinitely long, but mom pats my back, hinting the hug is over.

She pulls back and kisses me on the forehead, “You both have turned out to be such beautiful
Angel
s and we are so proud of you. I can’t wait to see you and your new husbands when you return!” She hugs me one last time.

I turn to the transporter and try to hide the shock on my face when I see that it's a Nymph, a boy Nymph. He seems a little older than us, maybe twenty five. I take in his sleek, sophisticated style, ogling him from the polished loafers to the tie around his neck. I know I'm being obvious, and a bit forward, but I can't help myself. He looks just like a human. I saw one in a history book once, the picture was faded and crinkled but they looked just like
Angel
s without wings. Like me and Kaia. When I look up to meet his eyes, I feel paralyzed. I feel like a stranger in my own body, on the outside looking in. Everything feels fuzzy and dream-like, and in the back of my mind I know why. He has me enthralled.