So the Angels and Demons chapters are a quite a bit longer than the Scourge Wars chapters and they come from a different perspective. So they take a bit longer to write. I was also very sick over the weekend. Still am a little sick. But managed to get this out today.
Like I said. The next chapter that's coming out will be for The Scourge Wars. So lookout for that.
Anyways. Enjoy.
Chapter 2
If there is a real God out there, I feel as if he has forsaken me to this Hell. There is no joy in me when I walk down the halls or streets and I know no sense of love around my family. Sometimes I don't feel like getting up from my rest. I want to stay under the covers of my sheets with my head gently resting on my soft pillow. I want to live in that world where dreams are a reality. And maybe I could. Maybe I could live in that world if I went into my eternal slumber. A final solution to all my problems. It would be so effortless. So easy. All I would have to do is jump. And let the ground come to me and give me freedom.
But I am far too scared to go there. As much as I hate my life and my family. I am a coward. Too scared to take risks or to fight back. And maybe that was for the best. At least it would keep me from another one of my father's beatings or one of my brothers 'sessions'. It would be nice though. To fight back against it all. To abandon the fear in my head and to unleash the flame from my belly. To raze it all to the ground without holding back. A true and perfect fire.
I pushed the thought away from my mind as me and Jameson approached the door to the courtyard. He pushed the door open with one of his paws letting the sun seep its way in. The heat ran across my back like little eevees running across a field of flowers. It was nice to feel the natural heat of the sun. It was always better than any other kind of heat in the world. To a fire type, the natural heat of the sun was like a meal that was cooked just right. Not to hot and not to cold. Anything else was either undercooked or overcooked with a taste that couldn't compare. But only fire types could notice the difference. To anyone else it was just bland. Tasteless.
I didn't realize that I was standing still until Jameson grabbed me by my ear and said, "Hey. You in there princess? No time for slacking off." He threw me to the ground in front of the door hard making me whimper. I stood up slowly only to feel him push me back down with one of his paws. I heard him lean down and say, "I wonder what father would do if you were late again. Hmm. Maybe he'll throw you back in the Cellar for another night."
Another night in the Cellar was something I definitely did not want to experience again. Father never had a nice side. He was always very serious about the church and how my siblings and I were to grow up. He made us work for our personal items, forced us to remember and recite the holy songs three times a day, and was strict about what times we had to wake up, eat, and sleep. He's especially serious about time. Being late was a big deal to him. And if anyone was late in a matter that involved him, he would make sure they would regret it by throwing them in the Cellar.
The Cellar lies deep beneath the dungeons of the castle. It was built a long time ago to hold those who needed a much crueler lesson in the faith. But my father didn't use it for cruel lessons in the faith alone. He used it to get his point across to those who dare challenged his word or caused a nuisance to him. The nuisance bit applies to me most of the time. He usually put me in the Cellar whenever I was late to some important meeting or something small like lunch. And there's no end to what kind of punishments he can come up with. But his most infamous punishment was throwing me in the Cellar with Jameson.
Of course father didn't know what my older brother did to me in the Cellar or in my own room for that matter. But it worked every time. I would always come out more compliant. So my father never bothered to persist asking what the "treatment" was. I never bothered saying anything either. It would only earn me a beating and ultimately more time in the cellar. So I was definitely not ready to be late for father's meeting. Especially if it involved me.
"Get your hands off that girl this instance Jameson!" a rough and oldish sounding voice demanded. I smiled gratefully and tilted my head to the left where Darwin, an old but mean looking houndoom was staring my brother down.
My father never knew his parents or my grandparents. He never talked about it whenever someone brought it up. But Darwin found my father one night and took him in as his own son. He took care of my father and taught him the ways of the faith until eventually my father grew up to be the high priest of the church. However, Darwin, unlike my father, was much nicer. The old houndoom always encouraged anyone and everyone he talked to to be nice and welcoming to those in need of help. He especially wanted father to be like that. But my father didn't think the same way Darwin did. And thus he grew up to be much crueler than Darwin had intended.
My father allowed Darwin to reside within the castle for as long as he wanted. A way of thanking him for being a father. Darwin was thankful for the offer, but decided he would live in his house within the city. That was until my brother, my sister, and I were born. He came back into the castle to help take care of us since father was busy most of the time. Like he did with father, he tried to make the best out of my siblings and I. He wanted us to grow up to be better than father turned out to be. But my father's influence rubbed off on Mercy and Jameson more and they turned out to be similar to father, just with different methods. But I was influenced more by Darwin. He was always kind and caring to me. And he always defended me.
Jameson scowled at the old houndoom. "Yeah. Sure," he said lifting his paw off of me allowing me to stand up.
Just as much as Darwin was kind and caring, he could be just as mean and harsh. Plus, the houndoom although old, was built like a bodybuilder. Whenever I was bullied by Mercy or Jameson. He would step in if he was there and both of my siblings would back off. Darwin was known to be able to take down four men down by himself. No one dared challenge his word or his skill.
He walked over to us and said, "One of these days Jameson I'm going to give ya an ass whooping so bad ya won't be able to sit down for a week. Go to your father right now and tell him Angelica will be a minute. I need to talk to her."
Jameson looked at Darwin confused. "You do know if she's late. Father will throw her in the Cellar again." Now I was scared. Darwin was going to make me late for something that not only involved a family meeting. But had something to do with me. If I was late for this meeting. I'm sure the Cellar would not be my only punishment.
Darwin sat down and sighed making him look ten times his age. "Tell your father that I'll be talking to her in the courtyard for a few minutes. He'll understand."
Jameson looked unconvinced and said, "Sure. He'll understand that the Cellar will be her only home after this." Part me actually believed that father might actually consider that.
"Maybe it'll be yours if ya don't shut it," Darwin said firmly. He leaned in close to Jameson's ear and whispered something I couldn't hear. But whatever he said clearly had a drastic effect on my brother. "Now. Be on your way," Darwin commanded. Jameson nodded his head and walked away after giving me one last glance.
I looked at Darwin who was whispering something under his breath that I could barely hear. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't something nice.
He looked at me and smiled. "So. How did ya sleep?" he asked.
"Fine…. What did you say to Jameson?" I asked curiously.
"Something he won't forget. Don't worry about it my dear. Right now we have other things to address," he said frowning. As much as I was curious to know what he had told Jameson. I was also curious about why he wanted to talk to me and why he couldn't save it for later. Especially if it was going to cause me to be late for a family meeting about me.
"What's so important that it'll cause me to be late for the family meeting?" I asked sitting down.
Darwin raised his paw and rubbed my head softly. Darwin's smiles were always heartwarming. There seemed to be endless happiness behind them. But this time was different. His smile wasn't one full of happiness. But it appeared to have sadness behind it. Which was extremely unusual. He put his paw down and asked quietly, "Do you know what my last name is my dear?"
I shook my head and said, "You never told me and father never speaks about it."
The old houndoom laughed, "Your father might say that he knows. But I never told him either. He just says he knows just to trick ya."
That explained a lot. Our family name had always been Celindrous. But it didn't come down from my father's side. But instead from my mother's side. In fact. I didn't even know father's surname. Nobody really did. Darwin had told me that father married mother quite soon after he turned the age of twenty-one. And instead of adopting his family name which he apparently he never knew himself. They adopted my mother's family name which wasn't custom here. But the high priest back then gave them a pass considering my father didn't actually know his true surname. Not even Jameson or Mercy knew what father's adopted surname was.
"Really?" I asked.
"Aye," he said smiling like the regular again. That was a good sign.
"So… then what is it?" I asked impatiently.
He looked at me again for a few seconds. It looked like he was almost studying me. Finally, after a few minutes he answered with, "Maelstrom."
"Maelstrom?"
"Aye."
"As in a whirlpool?"
"Yeah."
I stared at him suspiciously. But he didn't flinch from my glare. He stared back at me. Suddenly we were locked in a staring contest. And I was losing.
After blinking a few times to water my eyes again. I asked, "Isn't that a weird surname?"
He laughed loudly before responding with, "Aye. That it is. But it's my surname nonetheless." I didn't think it was that funny. I instead just frowned at the laughing old man. I wondered if he had made me late for this reason or if there was more.
He looked down at me and realized I wasn't laughing. He stopped laughing and cleared his throat. "W-well. Now ya now my surname. I want ya to know that nobody else here knows it and that I'm only telling ya because I trust ya more than anyone here with that information."
"You're making it sound like it's a big deal," I said looking around to see if anyone was watching. I was especially checking if my father or one of my siblings was coming to grab and drag me to the meeting. I don't know how long it might've been now. I don't want to know.
"My surname has plenty more meaning than ya might think. Right now ya won't understand why it's important. But now that we got that out of the way. There's something else I got to tell ya," Darwin said easily as if the conversation was over. He was always bad about that. Starting a conversation about something that brings up questions and then completely changing to something else. I honestly believe if he somehow knew when the end of the world was upon us and was giving us this whole long prophecy. Some point in his great speech he would cut off and speak of how hungry he is. It wouldn't be surprising in the slightest.
He scratched his chin and shivered. "Damn this cold. If only the holy saints had picked a better place closer to the equator." I giggled at that. Something we had in common was we both hated the cold even if he was half fire and half dark. "Now. Let's talk about the meeting today," Darwin said looking at me. Now I was concerned. No one ever pulled to the side before a meeting to talk about it. Whatever was being discussed would be saved for the meeting. So if I was getting a heads up about what was to come, it must be serious.
"What about it?" I asked.
"Well. Your father is in a very bad mood today. Mostly because we lost the war," he said looking annoyed.
The war, or the Crusades of Faith as my father liked to call them, was a long and brutal battle between the tame and the wild. The tame was the obvious, the Kingdom of Arceus. The name had been used for the kingdom since its early days. The ancient texts say it came from the Lord as a blessing upon the kingdom. People who live in the kingdom are civilized and mannered. We are made to commit to that everyday of our lives. We only use our abilities if it's to help the guards in capturing a criminal or if we're enlisted in the war. Of course we're allowed to practice our abilities at school or within sight of a guard. Otherwise we'd be losing one critical part of our beings.
The wild however, are more savage and uncontrolled. The stories I've heard about them tell of people who live with no law and no bounds and who have separate tribes instead of a Kingdom as a whole. My father thought it would be easy to wipe out a country full of people who are split into tribes. But when the war started, the people of the wild came together and fought against us. Unlike the people of my kingdom, the people of the wild had no restraint to when and where they could use their abilities, thus giving them more practice and control. But my father says they should value being civilized rather than being uncontrolled beasts.
So now to hear that we've lost the war to the wild gives me mixed feelings. It felt good knowing my father lost something he proudly boasted about winning. But it also felt bad still knowing today's meeting was about me and that it could possibly involve the loss of the war.
"Okay. So what does it have to do with me?" I asked nervously.
"Well. Ya see. Since we lost the war. Your father and the king have been discussing on a way to hold back the wild from attacking us. But as they have been discussing that, the wild have already sent us a demand. A very… big demand," he said.
"What could they possibly want from us?" I asked. Or from me? The meeting today was about me if my sister or brother hadn't lied. Which wasn't all that comforting.
"They… requested a bride for one of their leaders," Darwin said filling me with pure fear as to what his next words were going to be. "And your father has decided to give them ya."
Well I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. Also. I want you to let me know whether you prefer the first person style of this one or the third person style of The Scourge Wars. I personally prefer this style better. Gives me more freedom on what to write.
Anyways. Criticism and reviews are appreciated as always. See you next time in Scourge Wars.
"Make the leap" - Nice Guy Wolf
