10. The Condition

"Mother!"

I shouted in fear, praying frantically that nothing had happened to her. My legs swept around the palace in haste and came to a stop when I saw her with an elder at the Halo.

She was urgently murmuring something to him and I hugged her tightly from behind.

"Mother...are you hurt?" I asked desperately, my nerves calming down when I saw she was unharmed.

She turned around and hugged me back, her eyes filled with relief, "My daughter...are you hurt anywhere?"

I shook my head, "Mother, what are we going to do?"

A loud shriek sounded and I closed my eyes tightly at the horrid sound.

"We need to do something quickly!"

"There are two wraiths flying above us right now. I came here to find something that would be effective against them. Nothing we are doing is working, they are just too powerful." Mother said. Her usually calm, level headed self looked so disturbed and on edge.

"I never expected the attack to be this soon..." She replied to my worried look. I held her hands in mine for support.

"Have you been able to find anything of use?" I asked, my eyes also inquiring from the elder who stood quietly beside her.

"Yes, princess. It is a stone that renders wraiths powerless and makes them easier to disintegrate. It can create a shield that stops wraiths from entering a place. It is called the wraithstone, princess." The elder answered with a slight bow.

"A shield strong enough to stop anymore wraiths from crossing our borders?" Immediately, another shriek sounded. The templars were outside trying to defend Celestial but it was obvious their advances were nothing against these satanic creatures. We needed something much more potent.

"Yes. It will trap these wraiths in Celestial and render them powerless. No other wraith will be able to penetrate our walls again till we are able to find a good defence against them."

"Well, good! What are we waiting for then?! Angels are dying, mother!" I exclaimed in desperation. In that moment, red flames bursted everywhere. I, mother and the elder bent down for coverage as the heat of the fire gets all the way into the Halo. The windows of the Halo glow red as the flames reflected on their surfaces.

I ran to the windows and looked at the flames outside in horror, "They spit flames too?!" I exclaimed in shock as the wraiths shrieked yet again but this one seemed to be of pain.

"Wraiths do not spit flames." Mother said, her face forlorn.

"Then what?!"

"That would be me, your highness..." A deep voice said, the baritone pitch sending shivers down my spine. I turned around to the entrance and behold, a demon with black wings in a long black robe glided majestically into the Halo.

His face was the epitome of perfection with his chiseled jaw, dark brooding eyes, jet black hair and beautiful lips. He was tall too, and I see his heavily arrogant energy.

There is only one demon who possesses wings. He was the Persian King.

There were two other demons walking behind him and I scrunched my face in disgust at how horrid they looked. Their eyes were flaming red, and they were less than attractive to the eyes. They looked just like the agents of darkness I had read in books.

"You are not here to gloat, Ramon." Mother gritted out.

Ramon stopped in front of me, his eyes twinkled with amusement.

"So you are part of the novices that caused all these to happen, are you not?" He taunted and shook his head like I was a bad child.

It took a lot of restraint to drag my eyes from those sinful lips, "Why is he here, mother? I thought we were not going to ask the agents of hell for help?" I turn to mother with my eyebrows raised.

"Unfortunately, only a demon blood can unlock the wraithstone so we had to send a message down to the Haze immediately the wraiths struck." The elder answered forcefully.

Ramon chuckled, "You should not be so unwelcoming to your hero...those wraiths only answer to hell, your weapons are of no use against them."

And in agreement, another wraith shrieked in pain. Our weapons had done nothing but cradle them. These demon came and suddenly, they were in pain.

"But we can only hold them back for so long. You need to get that stone activated soon..." He drawled and I ground my teeth in anger at his cockiness.

"Then just get it activated!" I exclaimed in anger. Who was he to mock Celestial?!

"Feisty, huh?" I did not know if anyone else heard it, but that sounded way too seductive.

"A benevolent warning...the stone can only last for so long before the wraiths finally find a way around it, that is why Ovah did not depend on it for too long. Those creatures are not Satan's minions for nothing. So you have to find a more permanent way soon." He said.

My heart was racing and I did not know why. Stop, you stupid heart, this was not the time!

"I will activate the stone on one condition..." Ramon continued with a smirk.

"What?" Mother asked, her tone disapproving.

"Your princess and I will get married".

With a slice of his wrists, Ramon's blood spilled onto the center of the wraithstone and just like that, it glowed a bright red colour.

I gasped as it floated into the air and its light flickered. Then suddenly, a forceful wave of air was released from it. The force pushed us back but it hit me more because I was closest to the stone.

I was pushed back, now regretting that I did not have wings to halt myself. I knew I was going to hit a wall and prepared myself for the impact, when suddenly I was held in place by strong arms.

"You should be more careful, princess."

I peeled my eyes open and it was Ramon who held me. His wings were wrapped around me and I almost sighed in content at the warmth but I refused to be cajoled by this demon.

"Get away from me." I gritted out as he slowly released me with a smirk. The stone flickered again and another wave of air was released. This time, we were a good distance away from the stone. Suddenly, everything went silent.

The flapping of wings and shrieking stopped.

"Did it work?" Mother whispered her hope.

I slowly walked to the entrance and looked to see the wraiths immobilized in the air. They slowly disintegrated. I could see the cloak over Celestial and with that, I released a long sigh.

"Yes, it worked..."