An Angel’s Road to Hell

Cassandra Pendragon

I ignored his advice and pressed the steal on my inner arm, close to the joint. With a hiss and the smell of ozone, the crystalline body turned into specks of light which exploded outwards and then fell back towards the centre, vanishing from sight. I felt a burning sensation on my skin and two stylised wings appeared. They consisted of several small runes, artfully intertwined to form the wings. The runes probably took on a shape, meaningful to the owner. I expect a wave of pain and clenched my teeth but I was fine. I did feel a stinging sensation, I had been branded after all, but I didn’t crumble under an influx of energy. The runes must have been perfect to prevent even the smallest spill-over.

“You’re stubborn and lucky, not the worst combination,” Mephisto remarked dryly. “I sincerely hope your luck doesn’t run out before we can get myself a body.” I grinned: “nothing wagered, nothing gained. Don’t be such a rain cloud, it didn’t hurt, well not much. Now, let’s see what this thing can do.” The runes had connected my astral body to the pocket dimension and I could feel it, like an extension of my mind. It didn’t feel like an extra body part it was more like I could imaginarily step into another room. My conscious mind would then connect to the dimension and I could use it to my heart’s content. There was only one problem: “I can access it, but how do I put things inside?”

“There are two possibilities. One, the most common one, you can simply push a little of your mana into the object you want to place into the dimension or retrieve from it. Then you simply connect to your dimension or realty, depending on where you want the object to go and it will follow. You have to control mana outside of your body, so it’s going to be quite some time before you can do things this way. The second option is a little tricky but also has some advantages. You have to mark everything you want to place inside your stamp with two runes, one to connect the item to your stamp and one to fuel the displacement. You’ll have to use a blood rune for the second one, otherwise you’ll have the same problem as before because you won’t be able to power up the runes. The retrieval should be easy enough as you just have to concentrate on the item within your dimension and pop out. The item will follow.” I wanted to interrupt with a question but he held up a hand to silence me.

“Luckily both runes belong to the most basic set and I think you should be able to learn them without much difficulty. You’re family is charged with maintaining the runes around here, is it not? It might still take you sometime though. If your pervious incarnation was skilled with runes, it would be a lot faster. But I can’t answer that until we see how fast you can learn different sets. For now, if you want to use your dimension, I’ll assume you had no expertise, we will plan for a day or two until you can apply those runes safely. If you want, we will start tomorrow. I see the advantage of a dimensional space, especially if you want to enter the second palace unseen and like I said, a little lost time shouldn’t matter too much.”

I quite agreed with him. I’d work out how to use this thing as fast as possible and then I’d go on shopping spree to stuff it full of anything I could need. And food. Speaking of which, I expected the dinner bell to ring soon and I still wanted to talk to Greta, if only briefly.

“Thanks, I’d love to start as soon as possible. Maybe tomorrow morning? But I have to run now. Anything left unsaid that can’t wait for the morrow?” He had already turned into vapour and stardust but I could still hear his voice: “stay alert. From all you know, the emperor has already set in motion a responses to the debacle during your birthday. You don’t know who to trust and who might be your enemy.” Gee, thanks. That totally helped at ton and didn’t make me feel overly paranoid and powerless at all.

I stuffed the coin into my back pocket and changed into something more formal. I knew my father really liked to see me in a dress so I did him the favour. Since I also intended to get their help, I put on a rather childish necklace my father had bought me some years back. With a last glance in the mirror I left my room and headed for Ahri’s.

Before I reached the door, Greta had already opened it and stepped into the corridor. She greeted me with: “she’s sleeping.” After a quick sniff down the corridor to make sure we were alone she continued: “I assume you have questions?”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that you had access to a friggin real-life demon?” I didn’t raise my voice but I was seriously pissed, my tails held high. Last time I had been preoccupied with Ahri’s health and my first little chat with Mephisto, but now I was more than irritated if I thought about how long she had been teaching me without ever mentioning that a relic of my past was in her possession. She could have told me years ago, god damn it! Maybe I could even have prevented this whole affaire with Mephisto’s help. She sighed.

“That’s the wrong question. You could already have guessed that I didn’t tell you because he asked me not to. The question is, do you trust his judgement and intentions? I did and I still do, otherwise I would never have given you the disk.” My tails drooped, she was right, I had no business being angry with her. If anything I should be grateful, she stuck with me, taught me and handled a demon in her dreams without complaining. I still felt angry, but that was probably directed at the circumstances and not her. Never the less I still mumbled after a short pause: “you could have told me.” I didn’t want to give her a chance to respond so I quickly added: “Ahri still asleep? Any changes?” She let it go and answered: “she is still asleep, nothing has changed. Come back tomorrow if that’s all you wanted to know.” That brought me up short. I fidgeted a little before I could answer: “First of all thank you, I should have started with that. Thank you for everything you did, I know it’s not a matter of course to try and teach an angel with nothing but a demonic dream figure as help. And I’m sorry I sounded so accusing. I know you have my best interest at heart.” I couldn’t stop myself from adding: “maybe not my corporal integrity, but surely my best interests.”

She scoffed: “you’re damn right. And a bloody nose and some bruised knees haven’t impaired anyone yet. Don’t be such a princess.” The irony didn’t escape me but I thought better of it and didn’t say anything. I rather though that the conversation wasn’t going to get any better and deployed one of my most effective tactics to put an end to the topic. I hugged her tightly and whispered: “I love you, too” into her ear. Might sound cheesy, but it seriously worked, most of the time. And it did now. She had to smile but covered it with a cough: “that’s quite all right. Now run along, you don’t want to be late for dinner. Come by tomorrow morning, I’ll stay with Ahri for the night.” She caught one of my tails while I was still hugging her and gave it a gentle tug. With a squeal I jumped back and wagged my finger at her. Who was supposed to be the grown up again? The dinner bell rang.

Dinner for our family was usually served in the private banquet hall on the first floor. It was a medium-sized room with huge windows on one side that reached the floor. They were made from finely carved Sapphire and gave the interior a bluish tint. The ceiling was hung with silk in rich red and yellow colours with a huge chandelier made of gold in the middle. It was a welcomed reprieve from the glittering moonstone, mithril and silver ornaments through most of the royal wing. Together with the bluish light, the room had a cozy, violet atmosphere. Paintings of landscapes and animals decorated the dark wooden walls. The floor was made from the same aged oak. A huge table, easily large enough for 15 people dominated the scene. It was made from cherry wood and delicately carved, depicting Boseiju on the flat and normal cherry trees on the legs. They were quiet short, we didn’t use chair as they got in the way of our tails more often than not, but rather large pillows, covered in red silk. The main door, opposite the window front, led to the atrium and a smaller one in one of the side walls connected with the kitchen. On the other side, a massive fireplace with a chiselled mantlepiece of white marble provide warmth against the chill of the evening.

We were only three tonight, mom, father and myself, so dinner hadn’t been as elaborate as I had had before. It had been the first time my father had seen me after I woke up so the first few minutes had been filled with the usual how are you, are you still hurt conversation until dinner had been served. A light pigeon-soup with honeyed bread had been followed by roasted duck with potatoes. The meal had been expertly prepared and the succulent meat nearly melted in my mouth. I could faintly taste thyme, peppers and mint.

My parents had a strict “no business” policy during meals, so I had to restrict myself to small talk until desert. With sweet pastries, different fruits and coffee I would be better prepared for whatever was going to happen anyways. I still tried to get my parents into a good mood, so I snuck some compliments into the conversation, but that didn’t get me very far. Both of them were preoccupied and seemed rather tense. I guessed my trial wasn’t going too well.

When Eva rolled a serving trolley into the room to clean off the duck to replace it with desert and a bottle of wine for my parents I thought it time to get the ball rolling. When they were both nipping their glasses and Eva had left, I broke the silence:

“Uhh… so I guess we have some things to talk about. I have a story to tell that might answer some of the questions you undoubtedly have. But please do me a favour and try to listen until the end. I’ll answer all your questions afterwards, but first hear me out. So here it goes… I guess I should start some time ago. Do you remember when Mordred took off and stole an airship? Well, his travels might have been a bit more chaotic than we originally thought…” I told them about the emperor and Amazeroth, even though I did leave out the details I now knew about the demon, and how Mordred had gotten caught on the island. I told them about the Furglows and how it had been the first attempt to capture me. I relayed how Mordred had struggled to break the soul seal and how he finally had tried to gather some of Amazeroth essence to break it and used the second palace and me to achieve his goal. I explained what had happened during my birthday and how the second palace was still closely tied to the infernal duo. I didn’t say anything about Ahri’s family though.

While I had been talking, both my parents’ faces had slowly transformed from disbelieve into anger and finally confusion. After I had finished, a pressing silence descended upon us until my father asked: “why isn’t your brother here, than? It seems like a lot of this mess hinges on the choices he made.” I took a deep breath before I answered calmly:

“Because, at the moment at least, this isn’t about him, he was just a tool. It’s about me, my trial,” I searched for his gaze and held it, “and what the third king of the five families is going to do about the trouble an angel and her enemies have caused in his kingdom.” My mom gasped when I said that and tried to intervene but my father silenced her with a gesture. He had slapped me for the first time ever.

“How dare you,” he roared, “how dare you say that? A tool? An angel and the third king?! By the great fox,” his gazed traveled to my mom, “I am first and foremost your father and you are my daughter. I freely admit that it has been difficult, and most of it is my doing, but have I ever treated you like you are not part of my family? When have I ever given you a reason to see not only me but all of us as strangers? Go get your brother, we’ll find a solution together when you are back.” I held my stinging cheek but had to suppress a smile at the same time. “On my way.” When I closed the door behind me, I could hear my mom say: “Oh Albert, thank y…” the rest cut off when I turned the corner but I could guess what she was going to say.

As I rushed through the palace, it took my utmost self restraint not to skip and dance. It had worked much better than I had expected, well, I hadn’t seen the slap coming. My dad was a great guy, he had his heart in the right place but his responsibilities as king, father, husband, keeper of the runes etc. tore him in a million different direction. He had needed a small reminder what mattered. Mordred and me needed the help of our parents, simple as that. If I could make my dad see it that way, he would move heaven and earth for us, of that I had been certain, especially if I took into consideration Arthur’s departure and the guilt my dad still undoubtedly harboured. So I had made him feel like me and him had already moved past that same point and he had promptly reacted. Now all that was left to do was to conceive an actual plan on how to get the second family freed and everyone informed without major casualties. Peace of cake I thought to myself while I happily hummed a tune and exited the palace.

I turned right towards the soldiers quarters and closed my eyes for a second. Night lilies, lavender and leather tickled my nose and I could still hear the faint clanging from the practice grounds. If someone was training I would bet my brother was also still around. Quickly I reentered the royal wing, crossed it and left from the back. I ran around the palace to get to the training grounds, which were located behind the barracks. A side branch stuck out from the main branch directly behind the soldier’s quarters. The branch formed a wooden walkway, about 3 meters deep and 5 meters long. Behind the walkway an open square of about 50 on 50 meters with enough room to train with bows and arrows could be seen. The side branch fanned out underneath and grew along the edges, providing a natural railing. Behind the square the branch continued on but hadn’t been altered.

Moon stones, engraved with illumination runes, were placed along the edges and in intervals throughout the square, providing enough light to practice during the night. I could see a group of three kitsune fighting in the middle of the square. I recognised Mordred’s gargantuan sword immediately. He was sparring with two of our royal guards, Henry and Robert. They were fighting with their traditional weapons, an adapted form of halberd. But Mordred gave them a run for their money, even two on one. I was rather impressed by his display of swordsmanship until he misstepped and the blunt side of Henry’s halberd threw him to the ground with an audible thud. All three were breathing heavily and Robert helped Mordred back on his feet. When I approached their little arena and passed nearby the closest moon stones they turned around. Mordred smiled at me and the guards started to bow. Then I saw Mordred’s smile abruptly freeze on his face and he drew back his weapon, ready to throw it at me.