The Fallen and The Corrupted

"I know it's a lot to lay on someone, especially

since this is my first time meeting you, but if you say yes, I give you my word

that I will personally protect you from anyone and everything out there."

His eyes were on me, his whole demeanor had changed and was serious but there

was a small glimpse of hope in his eyes for me to say yes.

"No." I replied shocked at myself. As much

as I would love to spend more time with Crow and to finally escape New Haven, I

couldn't just up and run. What about the ones that looked over me? My

responsibilities? There is no way in hell that The Guardians would allow us to

go missing. They would swarm and find us by night fall.

As if reading my thoughts Crow spoke.

"I completely understand. But do know it is only

a matter of time before they come for you. Without proper training, you are as

good as dead. I would really hate to see something like that happen."

There was a long silence between the both of us for a while. A few clouds

passed by, covering parts of the full moon, as fireflies danced all around us

with their silent yet elegant glow. A small breeze blew as the warm fire's

embers raised up into the nighttime air. Trees swayed in the night's breeze

making the slightest whistling sound, I caught a shiver. It would have been

such an aesthetic scenery but under different circumstances…I felt heavy, and I

just knew he felt it more from the sheer disappointment I just laid on him. I

mean what am I to say? YES? I didn't know what this path would lead me to, and I

didn't know Crow all that well, I mean other than the small bits of information

we shared with each other, I had no idea who this man was or what all secrets

he kept. What dangers that could come out from around the corner…not going to

lie, the idea excited me. Action! for the first time ever, I thirst for it,

craved it even, but I couldn't just run away, I'm defenseless against a wild

rabbit let alone a member of The Undivine.

"I mean the sound of adventure sounds amazing

don't get me wrong, but I can't just up and leave my responsibilities like

that." I twirled my thumbs together thinking of what I should do.

"Mel, the world is at stake. I'm sure saving ENIX

would be a pretty decent excuse to get out of some chores." He chuckled

softly.

 "Can I

at-least take a few days to think about it?" I didn't dare to look at him,

if I did, I felt like his eyes alone would make up my decision for me. Run away

with a guy I just met to save the world? As of a few hours ago my biggest

problem was getting back before morning's count, not saving ENIX. He brushed my

hair softly around my ear, his eyes studying my facial expressions deeply then

out of nowhere, he stood.

"Take your time, in the end it's your decision

after all. I'll be around when you have made your choice." He turned his

back and expanded his velvety black wings to their full length. They were HUGE!

"I'm sure this won't be the last time you'll see

me. I must go now, as you. Sunrise will be here before you know it. The

pleasure is mine." And with that he took one big flap of his giant wings

and took off into the night sky. the wind from his wings blew my hair back off

my shoulders as I shield my eyes trying to pinpoint which direction he had gone

but he was too fast and had already vanished into thin air.

The journey home was longer due to the delay with the

bridge situation. It was low tide now and after hopping across at the river's

thinnest point, I traveled onwards with the stars on my back and the memory of

tonight behind me. I let out a sigh as I looked up at the night sky, gripping

both straps of my backpack. Where was he now? I thought to myself.

I had almost made it to the gate when I heard a low

deep growling sound from the bushes ahead of me.

Man! What is up with tonight?! I silently crept down

low and quickly pushed up against a tree, trying to blend into my surroundings

in hopes of not getting caught by whatever was lurking in the woods.

"HISSS! What is it?" A tall scaly snake

demon stepped out of the bushes, he was tall and lanky with long greasy

olive-green hair. With him, sniffing at the ground, was his charcoal grey dire

wolf. The snake demon scanned over the forest with his bright green eyes,

looking for what had caught his wolf's attention.

I slowly slid further out of site, praying to The Gods

the monsters wouldn't catch my scent. I quietly covered myself in dirt and

grass to help disguise myself better and hopefully throw them off my trail.

They crept closer and closer.

There was a sudden thud on the ground behind the demon

lizard, catching them both off guard and surprising me so much I jumped a bit.

A triple winged blindfolded figure arose up. A GUARDIAN! I'm saved! Wait?! A

GUARDIAN?! Oh man! I'm so screwed!

"You are in Guardian territory." The winged

man said sternly as he took out his celestial sword and pointed it down towards

the ground.

The snake demon let out an angry "HISSSS"

baring his fangs to their full lengths, right before The Guardian picked up his

weapon, ready to slash down on the demon.

"Any last words?" The Guardian said

nonchalantly, like the acts he was about to perform on this monster didn't

matter to him at all.

The Snake Demon said something in ancient tongue and

the Dire Wolf let out a long howl, right before running back into the forest,

passing right by where I was hiding in a flash of dark grey fur. The Guardian

frowned and with one swift motion brought down his sword, slashing the demon

clean in. The snake demon then evaporated, leaving behind nothing but hot

steam. The guardian took out a piece of cloth and cleaned his sword off before

holstering back up his weapon.

"You can come out now, Mel." He called out

to me, his black hair blowing gracefully in the wind.

I didn't move, I swallowed

hard instead, trying to keep down my uneven breaths. I had just seen this

Guardian kill someone. No chance I would step out from behind this tree …

"It's ok Mel, it's me, Alexander." He called

out again.

My eyes widened. Alexander?! I haven't seen nor heard

from him in years! We grew up together in the orphanage, he was two years older

than me, but we always did everything together. Well, that was before he left

to join The Academy and became a warrior of the church at the age of seventeen,

but that was two years ago, and I haven't heard from him since.

I peeped from around the tree to get a better look of

him. Wow! He's grown quite a bit. His broad shoulders held up his white robes.

Gold emblems that decorated parts of his outfit glistened in the moonlight. A

triple pair of angelic wings, now tucked at his side. Alexander's face was

interrupted with that blindfold of theirs, so seeing his eyes was out of the

question. When we were growing up, they used to be a deep forest green color,

and the most beautiful pair of eyes I'd ever seen. Well, that was before I met

Crow. See, Crow's eyes were softer and more delicate than Alexander's, like a

hot cup of coffee on a cold winter's day. Alexanders were more mysterious and

wilder, like a burning wildfire.

I took a step from behind the tree. He locked onto my energy field and smiled in my

direction. Since they couldn't see they used aura fields to detect where a

person was standing.

"Thank The Gods you're alright." He took a

step closer to me as I took a step back, his smile dropped. With a blink of an

eye, he dashed like a flicker of lightning, now standing in front of me. He

took my hand in his.

"It's ok, I'm here now." he said calmly. I

blushed, as his warm hand took mine, bringing it up towards his mouth, stopping

just short of his lips as something caught his attention. Could he have smelt

Crow on me?

He brought my hand back down, leaving it lonely at my

side. He stiffened and stood seriously.

"Come, let's get you back home." He almost

sounded disappointed.

Turning his back to me, he looked over his shoulder.

"Whomever you were with, better not have hurt you." And with that we

both started again down the trail leading us back home.

The whole walk was awkwardly silent. I haven't heard

nor seen from Alexander in two whole years and boy have he changed. I had so

many questions as I'm sure he did too, but we didn't talk. I was too afraid of

what the academy had done to him, much less what he would do to ME finding me

outside the walls at this hour.

He led us to a secret passageway that The Guardians

use to get in and out of the gate without going through the main entrance. It

was narrow, dark, and freezing in the tunnel, but we pressed on in a single

file line.

"We use this way when we don't want to be seen,

I'm only taking you this way to avoid confrontation with the other

Guardians." he said sternly. A heavy weight felt like it had been set on

my shoulders ever since he recused me from those demons, and I knew he was

going against his code of honor helping me back inside the walls without

disciplinary actions.

"I don't want to you go outside the gates

anymore. Next time you might not be so lucky. These walls are here to help

protect you from all those MONSTERS out there." He said that with so much

hatred in his voice that I noticed it immediately, I stayed quiet. I was in no

way in the position to protest him.

He was doing me a solid for not ratting me out to the

others. I just hung my head low and kept my thoughts to myself making sure I

didn't trip on some of the cracks that were in this narrow passageway.

We exited out of the tunnel on the East side of the

wall. Where I lived was towards the South, so I still had a walk ahead of me

before returning to the compounds of my bed. New Haven was so quiet in the

early mornings of the day. Most people normally got up a little later and count

wouldn't be conducted for another few hours.

Alexander had walked me all the way back to the

orphanage, where we had both grew up in, he only got out due to him turning of

age and his desire to be someone greater, someone who could make a difference

and protect the civilians. In New Haven once you turned seventeen you were

expected to get a job to help out the community, for Alexander that meant him

going off to train with The Guardians.

Standing in front of the door, he turned his head from

the direction of where I was standing to where the house was.

"They all still ask about you, you know. Do you

miss them?" I asked Alexander calmly.

"Every second of every minute of every day."

He replied without hesitation and hung his head low.

"I do this for them. All of this is for

them." He turned back to face me, and I reached up towards him, pausing, I

wanted to see his eyes one more time, but I knew it was best to keep things how

they were, I placed my hand back down at my side. The kindhearted kid I grew up

with now bound by oath to serve and protect his people, doing so meant he could

never have any sort of personal life, always on guard…. always on alert.

I snuck silently back into the group home and passed

by the bedrooms occupied by the other kids. There were nine more of us at the

orphanage, there were currently six girls and four boys, all ranging from age

thirteen to sixteen. Me and Cassandra were the oldest girls there now. Our

seventeenth birthdays were coming up in a month and that meant that we would

have to give up our room to another and leave the orphanage to find work and a

new place of residence, which was the rule of staying there. To be honest I'm

not looking forward of staying in New Haven much longer. Crow's words began to

replay in my head over and over again.

"You have the stars in your eyes."

What power did my eyes hold? I shook off the thought

and went to climb into bed to get a few hours of sleep before the day for us

officially started.

As the sun rose so did everyone in New Haven, I got up

and got dressed, ready for the day ahead of me. Count was conducted with no

errors, and everyone went about their normal day. My chores consisted of

tending to the smaller children, mending the gardens, feeding the animals, and

cooking meals for everyone, while the Head of the home ran errands for the

church.

After my afternoon chores I sat outside in the garden

by myself for a while, contemplating on my decision at hand. The sun was warm

on my face, I closed my eyes and soaked up the rays. Cassandra walked up behind

me. I called her Casper due to her long all white hair and pure white eyes.

With all those features on a mocha skin tone, she was like a Goddess, like the

demigods in the stories Head Lady used to tell us when we were little. She

looked like someone who would wear nothing but the finest clothes and that

people would worship the ground she walked on, but she's the opposite of that. Casper

was one of the humblest people you'd ever meet, she was really hard on herself discipline

but did enjoy a good chuckle every now and then. She was an excellent secret

keeper, you could tell her anything and she'd try her hardest to help you out,

she was truly an amazing person, and I was beyond blessed to call her my best

friend.

"You were out later than usual."

She came and sat beside me.

Casper was the only one I trusted in New Haven. She

knew about my late-night adventures and would lend me a hand whenever I was

slacking on my chores. I'd make it even by baking

her homemade chocolate chip cookies. She was as close to me as a sister could

get even if we weren't blood, we would always have each other's back. If I left

tomorrow, she'd be the one thing I'd take with me.

"Iiii…. met someone." I procrastinated.

"You What?!" She gasped.

"Shh! Keep it down! You're going to tell the

whole neighborhood!" I jumped up, placing my index finger on my lips

waving her down with my other hand.

"Ugh! That's so exciting! Tell me all about

it!" She flopped down in her all-yellow dress right beside me, placing

both her hands in her lap. Her smile radiating more than the sun ever could.

I spent the next few minutes getting her caught up to

speed about the recent events and my decision I would have to make with Crow,

and how I gotten caught by Alexander of all people on my way back home.

"Oh wow! Have you decided if you're going to go

yet?" she asked "it seems like it's very important to ENIX. If I were

you, I'd run at the first opportunity to get away and to see the world!"

Her eyes lit up.

"But what about my responsibilities here? I can't

just up and leave." I addressed my concerns with her.

"Come, let's go to talk to the head lady. She'll

know what to do." She stood grabbing my hand and walking back to the

house.

The head lady was our caretaker, she mostly sat in her

office doing paperwork if she wasn't at the church meetings or running errands

for them. We walked up to her office door and knocked three times.

"You can come in." An elderly voice spoke

from behind the big heavy wooden door, Casper creaked it open.

"Good afternoon, Head Lady!" We stood side

by side to each other and both bowed at the same time in the direction of our

caretaker.

"What is it I can do for you two?" A small framed

woman in her seventies sat at her desk looking up from her reading glasses.

I cleared my throat.

"Head lady, I um." I started but choked from

nervousness.

"We're requesting a leave to adventure outside

the gates of New Haven to help save ENIX." Casper spoke up for me.

The head lady raised an eyebrow and placed her pen

down slowly on her desk, we had her full attention now.

"I see, and what exactly are your plans for when

you leave the safe compounds of the walls?" She interlocked her fingers

together and leaned forward a bit. It was hard to read her expressions as she

always had the same one for everything.

"I…um…I'm not sure." I replied honestly.

She stood up from her desk and walked over to another

room in her office we have never seen opened, while trying to find the right

key, she nodded.

"I see, well you are almost of age, and I can't

stop you for going, but if you do go." She stepped into the room and came

back out. "Take these."

In one of her hands was a golden long bow in another a

silver spear. I grabbed hold of the bow and Casper took the spear; wind rushed

all around us both from the weapons as we took them. It was weird, I felt like

I knew this bow. Like I've seen it in a dream or something...it just felt like

it was meant for me, the feeling was hard to explain, but somehow, I just knew

this bow was mines.

"What are these weapons, Head Lady?" I asked

confused.

"They were your parents." Head lady replied.

Both of our eyes widened at her words, we looked at

each other.

"What do you mean head lady?" I asked and

the short elderly woman let out a small sad sigh.

"These weapons were your parents. Melody,

Cassandra. They both died in battle against The Undivine Goddesses when you

were both very young. We brought you here for protection until you both were

old enough to finish what the Dark Goddesses started. I'm taken you've both

learned about ENIX's prophecy, and have figured out that, you, Melody are the starry

eyed one and you, Cassandra, are the one of the moon?"

I looked over to Casper. "Wait, what?" But her all

white eyes were still fixed on what the Head Lady was saying.

"We have done our best of keeping you both safe, but

now you both have heard your call to awakening, and it is up to you both to go

on this journey. Cassandra had her call a few days ago, I wanted to wait till

you heard your call to have this talk with you both." I was still looking

over at Casper, why didn't she mention this to me earlier?

Head lady took out a large rolled up paper from the

shelf in the closet, walked right past me and handed it to Cassandra.

"This is a map of ENIX, highlighted is the route

I have drawn out for you for your journey, you must make it to The Collective

in OWaR before the witches' sabbath on October 31st before both of

you turn the age of eighteen. This is when you both are most powerful as well

as The Collective, once The Undivine catch word you are no longer in protection

but out in the wild, who knows what will happen. OWaR is a long journey away,

so pack only the essentials. You both have been a great help around here but

don't worry about us, I just ask for the both of you to not follow down the

path of The Fallen and The Corrupted." She warned us.

"The Fallen and Corrupted? Who are they?"

Casper asked.

"The Fallen are the ones that were once righteous

and have turned possessed due to the curses of the Dark Goddesses. Unless freed

The Goddesses will keep their cursed corpses until they fall into complete

decay and end up lost forever into the Undivine's evil void. Souls forever

tortured. You will have each other to keep the other one from slipping into

this curse. It won't be an easy quest, and I wish to The Gods I could be there

for you girls but there isn't much help a little old lady like me could provide

for you girls. For that I am deeply sorry, but once you gather all of The

Collective before the witches' sabbath, things will become much clearer."

Me and Casper looked at each other once more, both

feeling heavy, before Head lady spoke again.

 "Before you go

to head out spend some quality time in the armory, get a few rounds in with

those weapons so you know how to use them. I've watched the both of you grow

into such beautiful ladies, now it's time for me to send you both on your way,

take care of each other little ones." With that the head lady guided us

both out into the hallway, closing the door behind us, and being careful about

us not seeing the tears that were forming in her eyes. As she shut the door,

she said a silent prayer over us as tears ran down her wrinkled cheeks.

"Please God, please watch over them. Protect them

still. Show them mercy, my lord please…. please."