Golden Dawn

|Chapter 22 ~ A Last Parting Gift|

It was a lot to take in. The fact that I had managed to weave myself into such a complicated tapestry of the Nova Terraen realm and its people.

However much I wanted to deny it, Angelus and I both had a part to play in the grand fate of this planet now. Damn important ones at that.

After the summit ended, I was drained, every last bit of energy vaporized from my body as if I had run miles on end. I desperately wanted to speak to Julîus afterwards, but I unfortunately wasn't allowed to. The reason, still unknown to me.

I collapsed on my bed in the room that smelled of spring, blossoms swaying lazily in the warm breeze and passed out.

Later that evening I ate alone in the confinement of my room. Angelus must have dreaded the expedition that would soon commence. In a moment of bitterness I told myself it was probably because he didn't wish for another single second of my annoying company in his presence until we would eventually leave. The thought made my blood boil and I had to keep myself from denting the elegant dinner platter beneath my shaking hands.

It was only a matter of days before I was to go back to the underground city and this time not to stay, but to prepare.

I stood up and looked out an unglazed window. It was nighttime in the spring forest. A silver lining draped over the green leaves and blades of grass as two alien moons cast their light over the planet.It was very quiet. So silent that my own breathing sounded loud and out of place.

I stared up the night sky, so open and glorious I had to blink in order to take it all in. My thoughts suddenly went back to the night Angelus first appeared in my room. He had seemed so different then, when he had asked for Gandila's protection. Swallowed whatever pride he possessed and asked my help of all people. A human. An Alium and an alien.

The memory left me once again stupefied at how quickly Angelus was able to change one's impression of him. I sighed.

At the summit, Angelus declared that Gandila was not to join us on the journey to Statera. Something about her playing a vital role for the realm's well being.

But I had understood immediately. Nova Terra could not afford her dead.

My eyes burned as I observed a vixen of such vivid yellow, I thought my eyes had deceived me. The creature flitted through the grasses on her way to hunt for prey. 

I didn't really mind either way. Gandila was at least safe here, in Lîxîlîa's palace where she could read the future and aid us along the way. She wouldn't be safe out on the field with us.

A slight pang of sadness cracked through my heart. Tomorrow would be the last time I got to see Gandila before I had to depart for Osseus. Maybe it might just be the last moment we will ever have.

I shifted and winced at my suddenly aching shoulder blade as the bone dug into the hard marble pillar behind me. I could definitely die on the journey to Statera and as a result, never see Gandila or any of my friends again.

The mere thought made the warm wind turn to frost against my skin. I hugged myself, trying to keep my heart from shattering - almost as if it could fall apart from the inside of my chest. 

I realized I was terrified.

Angelus Duncan's throne room was just as magnificent as the first time I walked past the glorious statues and below its dark galaxies, stars glittering down at me in their millions. Winter winds howled outside the unglazed windows and beyond the frozen wasteland stretched snow capped mountains that were slightly obscured by the raging snowstorm.