Protector of the Innocent

Chapter Two - Angel Falls

Chapter Two

Angel Falls

            As we descended threw the fluffy clouds, I could faintly see a small village down below. This village was to be mine to protect and take care of very soon. It was named Angel Falls, rightfully so as legend has it, years ago a Celestrian had fallen from the sky and landed in the falls that the village wrapped around. The Celestrian had drown in the water but blessed the falls with his soul so that the water could heal any kind of sickness for the mortals.

As my Master and I descended further down, we passed through the barrier keeping the Observatory and us Celestinas hidden from mortal eyes and touched down on one of two docks connecting one side of the village to the other. There we see two young boys talking amongst themselves. My Master turned to me with his naturally stern face and handed me something, a small red gem that he grabbed from the inside of his celestial cloak that was similar to mine. "Take this, it will protect you during your time serving this holy village" he spoke as he held out his hand so I could take the red gem. I took it with little hesitation as a small smile creeped onto my lips. "Thank you Master... I will treasure this gift" I bowed slightly in appreciation.
Master Aquila was always a strict teacher in the lessons he taught me when I was younger. I was also quite the troublemaker around the Observatory and would get scolded often by him. But from over thirty young Celestrians... he chose me to be his student and had not one ounce of doubt that I wouldn't succeed to get to this point. With those thoughts filling my head I felt my body move on its own and I suddenly found myself embracing the now elder Celestrian tightly. He seemed taken aback by this but calmed down after a moment and patted my head ever so gently. I pulled away with a goofy grin on my face knowing that I left him somewhat flustered. I finally felt as if I could do this, like I was ready. "I will collect you after my duties are done along with yours... Guardian of Angel Falls" He extended his large wings and took off with amazing speed. "I'll make you proud!!" I called to him as he flew away to tend to his duties.

            After Mast- Elder Aquila had flown away I was left on the docks in a moment of silence as I staired in the direction he flew off in. That is until I heard one of the young boys, who was also on the same dock as I, yell. "You can't be serious right?! you don't think it isn't weird?!" I turned over to the two of them and got a bit closer to see what they were talking about. "What? You mean that name thingy on the Guardian statue, Ivor?" The young boy known as Ivor crossed his arms and huffed a bit "Of course I mean that name thingy, Hugo, you dolt! I'm sure it said 'Aqui-'something before. But now it says 'Cana'..." The other boy, Hugo, rubbed the back of his head with an innocent smile on his face. "Really? Well, it's said 'Cana' for as long as I can remember." Ivor growled a bit in frustration. "And how long is that, exactly? Do you even remember reading it before?" Hugo nervously laughed as he tried to remember if he had read the name on statue before. "Haha... Er... I... That's funny... I, I can't say I do." Ivor still seemed quite frustrated as he continued with his rant. "You see! Everyone around here is weird. Its only just changed, and everyone thinks it's been like that forever." Hugo's eyes lit up a bit. "Ah-ha! It must be the work of the village Guardian, then!" Ivor crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at Hugo's words "Don't be such a wally! There's no such thing as Guardians. They're just made-up rubbish!" Ivor seemed quite confident with his words, causing me to giggle a bit. "It's only Erinn who believes in all that nonsenses. She's such a dumb, er...brunette." Hugo sighed in a bit of disappointment "Whatever you say Ivor..."

After all that I chose to have a look around the quaint village to see if there was any way I could help today as their new Guardian. As I flew around, I managed to spot something glistening in a small field of wildflowers behind the only shop in town. I went over to this unknown item and picked it up. It seemed to be someone's wedding band. I felt pity for the poor soul who lost it and put it in the inside pocket of my celestial vest. For the rest of the day, I managed to help quite a few people and collect precious Benevolessences for the world tree that awaited me back up at the Observatory. The sun began to go down and with that I decided to go inside the quaint church, which was the only place I had yet to go inside. Once entering the building, I began to hear a prayer coming from the little old woman sitting in one of the rows of benches. I went over to this woman and listened to her prayer. "Oh, Guardian of Angel Falls... please find my beloved wedding band and bring it back to me... it is so dear to me and it saddens me that I have lost it..." the little old woman seemed to be in anguish and began to tear up after her prayer to me. I smiled a bit after realizing I found the person who was the owner of this lost ring. I swiftly put the ring in the woman's cloak pocket. I knew that a Benevolessence was soon to follow but I noticed from the stained-glass window inside the church, that it was finally dark out and that maybe Elder Aquila was waiting for me. I left the church knowing that the Benevolessence would follow when the woman would find her lost treasured item.

            I flew from the church back to the dock that Elder Aquila and I had landed on when we first arrived. I didn't sense his presence yet, but I did feel like something was off. I looked around the sleepy village only to spot a man looking quite destressed on the other side of the dock I was floating above. My wings guided me over to this destressed man only to realize that he was no longer with the living. This man had passed over to the spirit realm, he was a ghost.

This spirit had his back turned to me as I approached him. "Hmph! What's wrong wiv people 'round 'ere nowadays? Why's everyone givin' me the cold shoulder?" he grumbled as he turned to face me. "Eh? Oh! Someone who's prepared to gimme the time o'day at last!" I smile warmly at the spirit who was unknown of his situation. "Listen 'ere. Can you tell ,e 'ow come everyone's ignorin' me?" Before I could answer his question a look of shock appeared on his face. "...'Ang on a minute... W-Wot's wiv that get-up, eh? Y-You ain't a... Oh, my days, you are! Yer a Celestrian, ain'tcha?" I nodded silently and continued to smile softly at this kind soul. "So, I've... I'm already... I've breaved me last, is it? Go on, you can tell me. I can take it! That's wot's 'appened, innit?" I took in a soft breath and answered his question. "Indeed, you are no longer among the living." The spirit was silent for a moment as he absorbed my answer to him but he snaped his head back up to look at me once more. "Cheers for bein' straight wiv me, Mistress, er... Celestrian. So basically, I've kicked the bucket, right?" I nodded once more, and his look of shock had softened a bit. "Well, it's a good fing you told me. When I thought everyone was just ignorin' me, I was about ready to do myself in anyways!" He chuckled a bit. "But now I know wot's wot, I can just get on wiv it and... Well, you know. Rest in peace an' all that." He seemed pleased with his questions answered as he began to levitate in the air and a light blue light slowly began to engulf him "Thank yer..." the spirit muttered softly before fading with the blue light that had wrapped around him. After a moment of the spirit finding his peace, a  Benevolessence appeared in his place and shone more brilliantly than the rest I had collected that day. The beautiful blue orb floated over to me as I opened my arms to collect it.

            I was quite proud with myself after today, I accomplished a lot and managed to collect quite a few Benevolessence. I smiled to myself as I thought that I was going to be a good guardian to this village. A hand atop my head pulled me out of my thoughts as I look up to see elder Aquila standing behind me with his naturally stern face. "Oh! Elder Aquila your back." I smiled up at him as he broke his stern façade and showed me a soft smile in return. "You have indeed made me proud... I can sense the Benevolessences in your possession. Elder Alpus Major will be quite pleased once you give all of them to Yggdrasil." The elder Celestrian removed his hand from atop my head and moved back a bit. He seemed like he was about to speak once more but was interrupted by a loud whistle coming up from the night sky. We both look up and noticed a golden train in the sky! It looked as if it was flying towards the Observatory. "The Starflight Express... Indeed, it has been unusually active of late" I continued to stare at the familiar flying train until Elder Aquila extended his wings. "Come Cana, let us go back to the Observatory." I nodded and quickly extended my smaller wings. Elder Aquila took off first and I after him. We both flew side by side and entered the barrier that kept the Observatory hidden.