Brace and Colton took in our shocked expressions, before exchanging grins.
Brace even let out a chuckle as he explained further. "Nephilius is a land of clouds. I"m not sure if they have any other elements in their lands or structures, because I"ve never explored or spoken with an Angelica."
Wait, what? Was he serious right now? They were called Angelica, and lived in the clouds?
"Angelica?" I tried not to let my awe leak out.
Brace locked me in his gaze. He still looked amused. "The inhabitants are called Angelica. There are five different flocks under that banner."
I snorted out my laughter, unable to stop myself. Clouds, Angelica and flocks. There was no way they were actually ... seriously? It had to be some sort of Earth reference that was confusing me.
"Are you effing telling me that this is a world of angels?" Lucy was fluttering her wings extra hard as she pressed her hands against her cheeks. Colton seemed to be preventing her from flying right up into the sky.
I shook my head. "I"m sure they aren"t. That was just something from Earth, right?"
"Yeah, but how many of Earth"s myths and legends have actually originated from either a Walker, or from one of these other worlds?" She raised her brows at me. "Like, I don"t know, pixie ... faerie ... Cerberus."
I snorted. "You made your point."
Guess we"d just have to wait and see.
"What else do you know about the Angelica?" I asked Brace.
His brow furrowed. "I believe the Angelica have different talents. Each flock ..." He paused. "I don"t know the flocks" true names; Walkers refer to them by the color of their wings: black, purple, green, blue, and white. I know black are the leaders, and the whites can manipulate the mists, but I"m not sure what the others do."
"Colored wings?" I breathed the words under my breath. "Of course they"d have wings."
Holy G.o.ds above. They were going to be angels, I just knew it now. And suddenly I couldn"t wait to see them.
"I can hear the sounds of battle," Brace said, tilting his head to the right.
He started to move into the mists, and with no other options we followed him into the unknown. I had to stop myself from reaching out and taking Brace"s hand. It was moments like this I forgot that he was no longer my rock to lean on.
Lucy must have sensed my distress, because she captured my left hand in hers. Colton held her other as she floated between us.
After a few minutes of walking blind, I started to hear clanking sounds, like that of steel on steel. It still took a while for the scene to come into view, and then in a blast of frigid air the mists were gone.
We stepped out of the blinding maze we"d been in and suddenly we could see them in all of their magnificent glory.
"Oh, my freaking G.o.d ... I mean gosh, s.h.i.+t." Lucy had momentarily lost control of her wings and had collapsed to the ground.
"An ... Angels," I stuttered.
I"d always talked a big game of not really believing in G.o.d, but if I examined my feelings closely, I more didn"t believe in organized religion. But I must have held some spiritual beliefs, because seeing these beings which were the very depiction of angels from Earth sent very strong emotions through me.
They were tall, at least Brace"s height, but many of them were larger. The males had armor over their bare chests and wore just a simple white garb around their waists. The females wore armor also. They had varying tones of skin, hair and eye color, but they were all perfect. I mean, almost as if they had been drawn, with each stroke as precise and spot-on as the last. And they had these incredible wings. And not wings like Lucy, no, these were ma.s.sive and strong feathered appendages, standing many feet above their heads. The feathered edges looked delicate and yet razor sharp. How was that possible?
On the battlefield right now was a purple and a green. Just as had been the case with Lucy, I found myself both fascinated and envious of their wings. The first was a deep rich purple and was one solid color with no variance along the feathered lengths. The other was a dark, leafy green. I could see the strength and power in the muscular extensions of these Angelica. And then the purple spun around, his wings flattening out, and with a swoop he sliced through the arm of the green male.
Okay, now I was really jealous. Wings that were also weapons.
"I"m really glad you"re not fighting them, Abbs." Lucy"s eyebrows were almost lost in her hairline. She was bug-eyed staring at them.
"Me too," I said, although I was still worried about Brace.
I knew he was an amazing warrior, and a Walker, but it was abundantly clear that there was something magical about these Nephilius natives. And as if the wing weapons weren"t enough, they also fought with long swords the length of my torso which I wouldn"t have even been able to lift, let alone swing. Unless of course it was a lot lighter than it looked. Maybe the weaker gravity was a benefit for weapon play also.
It took them moments to realize we stood at the edge of their training field. And suddenly we had dozens of eyes locked on us. In swift movements they"d sheathed their weapons, and each fell in with their flock and moved toward us. It was obvious they were separate and distinct groups. And then, as they moved I finally noticed the white-winged Angelica standing around the training area. They were beating their wings in rapid motions and the powerful thrusts were keeping the mists from flooding into the clear area.
Well, that explained why this training spot was so free of fog.
The other flocks were still marching toward us. Their expressions ranged from stoic to the anger of drawn eyebrows and clenched fists. This was going to get messy if they didn"t stop to let us explain.
I stomped my feet a few times, trying to warm myself in the arctic breezes. My foot sank into the slightly spongy ground, and I had to look down at it again. I still couldn"t get over the fact that the ground here was exactly how a cloud looked, but solid. I could lift my foot and slam it down and it felt as if I was. .h.i.tting pliant dirt. It was not translucent; I couldn"t see through to what lay below. I wondered if this was their land ma.s.s or if we were somehow in the sky and there was more land below us.
My attention was drawn upwards again as the Angelica stopped ten feet from us. Representatives from all five flocks were present, their expressions unnervingly similar, making them all look the same. They were muscular, even the women. For many of these androgynous beings I"d have had trouble deciding on which were male and which female. But there was no doubt they were a warrior race.
A black-wing stepped forward and started to speak. It was in no language I"d ever heard.
Brace interrupted him. "Speak in Walker."
I hid my smile. The flocks looked a little astonished at his arrogance. They clearly hadn"t spent much time around Walkers.
"As you wish. Now prepare yourselves for the first test." The black spoke again, his voice husky, and it sent tingles down my spine. The otherworldly quality of the Nephilius was unnerving.
"First test?" Lucy squeaked. "Abby"s terrible at tests. She cheated off me every year."
"Shut up." I flipped her off. "It wasn"t my fault; school was boring."
"Somehow I don"t think they"re talking about the math or science of Earth," Brace said, his voice calm.
And in that moment with one synchronized movement the Angelica had hands full of weapons.
Yep, definitely not math.
"You must prove your worthiness to be in our tournament." Another black-wing with a creamy brown skin tone spoke this time.
A purple broke from the formation and came at us from the side, his six-foot-wide wings extended. Colton and Brace moved so quickly I didn"t even see them, but within seconds they had the angel on the ground. Both of them rested a foot on his wings to keep him from moving.
"The females are not warriors, they"re our ..." Brace paused, locking eyes with me and mouthing sorry before he continued, "our mates. They"re here for that purpose only."
I sucked in hard, almost choking on the air. Brace had gone with the most logical of explanations, but in reality hearing those words from his mouth again was like being stabbed in the heart. Short, sharp pains were running up and down my left side.
"I think I"m having a heart attack," I muttered to Lucy. "Just in case I collapse and you wonder why."
"Got it. Heart attack. No problem."
She never even looked up at me. Friend of the year, that one.
"How weak are your females that they do not battle? We"re all warriors on Nephilius." A black-wing again.
Brace and Colton lifted the large Angelica that had been crumpled under their boots and tossed him back toward the gathered flocks.
"Our mates are tough. They don"t need to prove themselves." Colton looked relaxed as always, but his eyes were very light blue, and I could almost see s.h.i.+mmers of his wolf threatening to break free.
Lucy was cursing under her breath, and she was very inventive. Some of those four-letter words had to be made up, and yet I still wanted to blush. And on top of that she seemed to be shedding glittery particles from her skin.
"Uh, Luce, what the h.e.l.l is that?" I waved the green mist away.
Her eyes were narrowed in anger, but a small burst of laughter escaped from her as she shook her arm. "I thought Malisna was kidding; it"s pixie dust. Apparently we glitter when p.i.s.sed off or something. It"s supposed to have some amazing qualities and purposes. Although we didn"t have time to explore what they were."
We were distracted from this awesome new discovery by an arrogant voice. "Your women spend too much time flapping their mouths. No wonder they"re not warriors." A purple-wing, his voice low and heavily accented.
My G.o.d, they were a.s.sholes. And I"d had enough of their c.r.a.p for one day.
My power burst from me; my dream energy. I figured if it worked on Walkers, it should work on these Angelica. And I was right. The many flock members were suddenly frozen, along with my friends. Using Walker speed I was extra fast due to the gravity, almost floating above the cloud I darted around to each of them and wrenched their weapons from their hands.
Brace was the first to break my illusion; he just stood and watched, a small smile on his lips. It was so strange. It was as if he remembered everything of me, but just not our relations.h.i.+p.
I forced myself to concentrate on my task at hand. It took me mere moments to strip the helpless warriors. And by the time the Angelica had recovered I stood right before them, a pile of their weapons at my feet. The expressions on their faces, as awareness. .h.i.t them, ranged from anger and disbelief right up to fear.
"Lucy and I are warriors," I told them, "but we"ll only battle if you threaten us again. Keep in mind I could have killed you all right then."
Never hurts to put some fear into them.
And then just like that those still holding weapons sheathed them and turned from us to continue their battling on the wide expanse of clear white cloud. Only a handful stayed to face us.
"Welcome to Neol, the tournament land. I am Galern." A black-wing stepped forward. He had charcoal-colored skin, just lighter than his wings, and then this ma.s.s of contrasting white hair. "Follow me. I"ll take you to our area. Our council will give you the rules."
None of the other Angelica argued with his statement, although I noticed two purples exchange glances. Their too perfect, genderless faces did not give much away, but at a guess, the black-wings" status as leaders didn"t have everyone bathing in ecstatic joy. Just like in Walker society, the princeps were often respected but not necessarily liked.
Brace and Colton stayed close to either side of us as we followed Galern around the edge of the field.
"That was really ... really freaking hot how you whipped that angel"s a.s.s." Lucy was walking, so she had to glance up at Colton when she spoke. "I never even saw you and Brace move."
"Plenty more where that came from, pretty girl." Colton leaned down to kiss her on the nose.
I looked away, only to find Brace staring at me. It was just like the old days, before we were bonded. When we hadn"t realized that we were true mates, but knew there was something between us. Except now I was nursing a broken heart and Brace, unable to remember our love, probably thought he was going crazy. But as backwards as it sounds, I was calmer when I was with him. It hurt not being bonded, but his presence gave me some relief. It was not the torture I"d antic.i.p.ated.
"It was pretty hot," I admitted to Brace.
Wait, what?
He was still staring at me. I had to say something.
His answering grin as he turned his head away sent s.h.i.+vers up and down my spine.
"We all know which one of us kicked the most a.s.s," I heard him say into the swirling winds.
The mist grew thicker as we moved away from the white angels and their wing-flap-athon. Galern did not so much walk as march us along, never pausing or looking around. Not that there was much to see here. Besides the majesty of the angel creatures, the land itself was the most unchanging we"d been to. Clouds and mist. There had to be something more to it.
Finally the black-winged Angelica came to a halt. We stopped right behind him and I tried to figure out what the holdup was. It took me a few moments to realize he stood before a building. Kind of. The walls seemed to be made of clouds or a misty substance that had been erected into thin panes of gla.s.s. A frosted gla.s.s, though; I couldn"t see inside. From my position the dwelling looked to be single level, probably around fifty square feet.
Colton followed Galern through the open doorway first. Brace brought up the rear of our group. The men were being very protective. They had zero trust for these Angelicas. Inside the residence was a large open s.p.a.ce. There were five black-wings scattered around, and three more standing over a large table. Yes, you guessed it, a cloud table.
"Can they just manipulate this cloud and mist and create any structure they want?" Lucy asked out loud.
Even though we were near the entrance and Galern had moved across the room, he still heard. "Our energy allows us to manipulate our land. We take sustenance from the clouds and we use them for our comforts."
The eight others stepped forward, their faces much more welcoming than back at the field.
"This is the high council of Gaa," Galern said.
I raised my brows, wondering what the heck Gaa was.
He noticed my expression. "Gaa is the name of the black-winged flock," he explained. "Gaa is the word for black in Angelican, our language."
I was guessing the rest of the flocks were named for their colors also.
A woman stepped away from the group. She looked older, a little more wizened than her other council members, but still tall and graceful. "I am Steva. Welcome to Nephilius, and the official tournament for this cloud year. We need to go over the rules so that your stay with us is ..." She paused. "Well, not fraught with peril."
Ominous beginnings, but hey, not our worst welcome to a world.
"You have only entered one compet.i.tor. The other three of you will have a designated area. You must not leave there. And you cannot a.s.sist your fighter, no matter what."
Yeah, that wasn"t happening but continue.
"There are ten cloud lands on Nephilius. There are no dangers within this tournament land, but others are not so safe. Separating the lands are large abysses. If you fall into these, you will never return."
Okay, no exploring, check. But how did they know I"d never return? What was down these holes?
"And at some point we need to take you to the Isle of Souls."
The four of us exchanged confused glances.
"Why?" Brace asked bluntly.
"While it"s not the first time outsiders have competed in the tournament, the deal struck this year was that between rounds you would attempt to a.s.sist us with our little problem."
Her voice rose slightly, she seemed surprised that we didn"t already know this.
Thank you, Grantham, a little heads-up would have been appreciated.
"What"s the Isle of Souls?" I asked, hoping it wasn"t something too creepy. And no zombies, please. I was still recovering from my last encounter.
"Since the beginning of our time, when an Angelica died, their soul would return to the mother cloud." Steva pointed skyward. "But for the last thousand or so cycles, every soul has been trapped on the Isle of Souls."
"This is throwing off the balance," Galern said. "And we believe if the negative there gets too strong it will suck in all of our souls and trap us in the land."