Chapter 7 – The Queen of Angels
We met the giant lynx outside of the city of sorrow and death. It kind of felt better to be away from all of the lifeless bodies. (no disrespect) "I am sure you all have noticed by now that even though these people were slain around 10 earth years ago, they still look like they had died just yesterday." The giant creature said to us. "I actually was wondering that." I responded. "How is that possible, they should be skeletons by now?" "That, little one is simple to answer. With Valkyrians being tougher than humans, they take much longer to decompose. As well as, certain creatures of earth aren't present here on Valkyria. My mistress has been working tirelessly to give them a proper burial. However, she still awaits your arrival young sage." He said, turning to Ace. Ace just looked at the beast and tilted his head to the left in confusion. "You'll see soon enough." He said before any of us could ask any questions. Then he turned to the shishitora creature and said, "You have done well. Return to your family now." And with that, the tiger-like creature turned around and walked away from us.
He turned back to us, knelt down to allow us on his back and said, "It'll be much faster if I carry you. Please, climb on." We looked at each other for a short while dumbfounded and confused, until Yakko yelled, "I call shotgun!", and sprinted right up the giant creature's rib cage. With his thick fur, he barely felt the boy climb up and perch near his neck. Dot and Wakko quickly followed their brother and climbed up the beast. Ace used a little of his magic to levitate Runt, himself and I up and on the creature's back. I felt kind of nervous riding on a giant creature that could swallow me in a single gulp. I didn't really even know if we could trust this creature.
I didn't have a lot of time to contemplate our situation however. The Zouriinkusu quickly stood back up on its legs and took off as fast as any vehicle I've been in. If I had a guess, he was probably traveling around 65 miles per hour, slowing down only for meals and rest every 6 hours of running, and within 2 days we could see the Silver Palace in front of us. It was literally made from silver. From the walls of the kingdom town, to the bricks of the tower, everything was sterling silver. Even the front gates were made from pure silver. (I'll bet this place was quite annoying with your back to the sun.) However elegant, it still showed aging and neglect. Some of the walls were broken down, while others were stained with goldish-crimson blood. In one of the courtyards lied a cemetery that had what seemed like tones of headstones. And tending to those headstones was a familiar female figure. She was turned away from us so we couldn't see her face. However, I noticed that she had black hair styled in the same manner as Dot's, and was wearing a helmet that was light blue in color with gold edging. The rest of her was covered in a pink shawl and a gold colored fabric cloak.
She knelt down to one of the headstones and placed a single flower in front of it to pay her respects. When she stood up, she was approximately 5 feet and an inch tall, maybe taller. The Zouriinkusu slowed to a stop approximately 15 yards away from her, knelt back down and let us off of his back. Before he turned around to walk away and leave us, he said to us, "You all are here for a reason, but you must find that reason for yourselves. Approach the queen with caution, young ones. She isn't always gentle." And with that, he walked away and into the palace.
We approached the woman slowly and with some worry about what the Lynx meant as to his last statement. As we got closer to her she slowly turned around so we could see her face. She looked like Dot around the ripe age of 25. Her eyes were a silver blue and she had a calm and gentle look about her face. When Yakko and Wakko got a clear look at her the stiffened up, stuck out their tongues and began to pant like dogs rapidly wagging their tales and goo-goo eying the woman in front of us. As she approached close enough, they both shouted, "Helllllllooooooo Nurse!" and jumped to attempt to land in her arms and give her a big kiss on the lips. However, rather than catching them in mid flight, she stepped aside and let them crash to the ground with a THUD!
"Do you think she was expecting us to do that?" Wakko asked his brother who was lying on his face as well. "Uuuuuuh, I don't think so Wakko." He responded sarcastically. Then they quickly got to their feet and climbed up into the woman's arms and together gave her a huge kiss on the lips. They then jumped down and landed on their feet. "And they say it's hard to come back to someone who drops you like a rock!" Yakko said under his breath. "You both realize that I am Dot's transformed state during the Blood Star incident, right?" She stated with a calm and soothing voice that rang like an angel's chorus. Realizing that they had technically kissed their sister full on the lips, they began to spit to try to get the taste and germs off of their own lips. "Watch it!" She then retorted at their rude gesture.
"This question has been bugging me for a while now. Why do they call magic users 'wizards'?" Dot blurted out randomly. "The better question would be, Why did you have to open the portal so far away from the palace if you wanted us her in the first place?" Yakko asked trying to figure out the mystery of the first journey. "There is an explanation for that." The woman said bashfully. "We'd love to hear it." Yakko retorted crossing his arms and looking cocky. The woman began to blush a little, placed her right hand on the back of her head and said, "I'm still not used to controlling my powers yet." She then stuck her tongue out and gave a little laugh. That was the clincher, all of our knees buckled and we all collapsed to the ground at the shear irony of the whole thing. Dot then retorted, "Never mind, I think I got the answer to my first question."
The woman took us into the silver palace and introduced herself. "By the way, I am Queen Angelina Contessa Valhalla." She said. "And we're..." Yakko and Wakko said in harmony, but they were interrupted by Queen Angelina. "Yes, I know who you are. Especially you Dot. We shared a single consciousness once. All of your memories are shared with me now." "That's a scary thought." Dot retorted. "If you will all follow me, we'll talk more during dinner." Queen Angelina stated and then showed our group the dining hall. In the center of a large room that looked mid-renaissance was a 50 foot long table filled with all kinds of fresh cooked foods cuisines. It was more of a feast then a dinner. Wakko stared at the table simply drooling three gallons of saliva every minute. He then slapped his mouth closed reared back and revved up like he was going to race a formula one race car on foot. Dot came in from behind him and placed her brother in a full nelson hold. "Save some food for the rest of us, Wakko" She stated sternly to him. Wakko simply looked at the table and pouted like a hurt puppy.