Eclipse

Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Truth and Lies

"It's been a while, Cynce."

She is still the same. Just like the last time I saw her. There are minimal changes in her, but I know she will always be the one I knew, who also supports me besides to my parents and my sister. She just smiled at me and motioned to eat the food she brought. "Eat for now. We can save our questions with each other later after you take this herbal remedy I made for your wounds."

She assisted me in sitting up from bed and let me have my personal space while she leave the room for a while. I'm wondering why she's here? Is she the one who found me? I shrug that thought and started to eat the soup she brought.

It took me a few minutes after I finished eating and take the herbal potion she made for my wounds. I am already feeling better than before when I decided to get off from bed, still being careful with my movements so my wounds won't hurt again.

Making myself comfortable in the couch inside this dim-lighted room, the door opened again. "I believe you are now feeling better," Cynce said while walking to my direction and sit across mine.

Napabuntong hininga nalang ako. "You're not the one who found me, right?"

She grinned. Instead of answering me, she asked me a question. "Why are you still asking for the things you already know?" at pailing-iling na nagpatuloy.  "Still the same Eclipse I've known."

Napairap ako dahil sa sinabi nya. I know her well. She wouldn't waste her time for searching if she have underlings in her palm. Just one command from her, they'll do everything for it.

Cynce, she is my mother's older sister. Technically, my aunt but she don't want to be called like that because she thinks she would look more older. Her husband, the former leader of the group she's leading now died long time ago because of a misunderstanding and that's when she decided to live faraway from the empire which is being led by Emmanuel, my father with the help of Freesia, my mother.

But living far away from us doesn't mean she didn't know what's happening. She's one of the powerful angels in her generation, making her known for her beauty and power.

"Now, I think you have something to tell me?" she's smiling at me but her eyes looked so serious with her question. I avoided her questioning eyes and just look up in the window with thin curtains.

"What do you want to know?"

She let out a victorious smile because of my question. I can not avoid her and her questions forever so it's better to answer them now than later.

"What happened, hundreds of years ago? What happened after you've fallen?"

I stood up and walk towards the window, opening it while fresh chilling wind of evening enveloped my whole body and the room. This small house is located in a vast grass field near the seashore. The calm waves of the sea can be seen from here but can not be heard. I smiled bitterly.

"After that battle, they successfully have my wings, with the empire my ancestors protected from their very last breath. And because an angel lost it's wings, I was thrown away and they left me falling because they thought I would die soon. It was the most heartbreaking event for all of the angels, to lost their wings they thought could bring them freedom and fall from their once home."

What happened that time is already buried deep in my soul but I know this time would come, where I need to share it so they will know my part, where I need to reminisce my bitter past that hurt and hunt me, to tell them my own perspective so they can understand me. But I doubt if there will be.

I don't want to expect something because it will only hurt me once it didn't happened.

"Once an angel lost it's wings, it will going to be their tragic demise. We can't last without it for it was our source of power and life. But I survive," I looked at her over my shoulder and continued. "And you already know why."

I saw her smiled because of what I've said. She knew very well the reason why I survive after what happened to me. "Funny how hard they tried to kill you. You, the angel who can not be dead by any means. Foolishness," she said, shaking her head while sitting comfortably in the couch. I face her while leaning in the window, arms crossed.

"They turned themselves into a creature who would do everything just to have what they wanted. How ironic it is, for us to be called the 'pure race' when we are still prone to temptations to commit sins."

She looked at me, her eyes were now softer but before she could utter some words, I already interrupted her. "They found me. Cora and Claude."

I saw how her eyes widened with the name I mentioned. She and her daughter really have their visible similarities physically and to their behaviors too. Of course she will remember Cora, she's her friend after all. I rolled my eyes.

"What? They're the one who found you? Then..." she trailed off while looking at me with her worried eyes. I nodded to her while she's speechless.

Cora and Claude, they were the one who found me in the middle of the street while I'm bruised and damaged that night. They are the ones who adopted me, and treated me like their own. They are also from our race but with different kind just like my mother and father. Light and Dark.

My mother, Freesia is a dark angel. She and her older sister Cynce were one of the dark angels in their generation who got a lot of admirers because of their skills and beauty. And one of those hundreds of admirers of my mother is my father Emmanuel, who is a light angel and the heir to the empire. Same case with Cora and Claude. Cora is a light angel and Claude is a dark angel, both with high ranks in their kinds.

Light angels are prohibited to have an affair to the dark angels and vice versa, to maintain the balance between the angels. But I guess my parents loved to break rules because here I am, living with the two different kinds of blood of an angel in my veins, making me and my dead sister a hybrid.

They're the first one who broke that law and also the first and last couple permitted to have their relationship.

So I understand why I saw both Cora and Claude in the land, because they wanted to live together in peace but unfortunately they're not gifted to have a child. That's why when they found me, they keep me.

"They treated me like their own child but I failed to save them from getting killed, both reasons of having an affair with each other and for keeping me," I told her, still leaning in the window. "Just like how I failed to save them."

Cynce was now beside me, staring at the vastness of the field. "It's not your fault to be failed in saving them. It's their fate to die and left you, but atleast they didn't leave with any regrets in their hearts."

I shook my head and turn to her direction. "I'm not blaming myself Cynce, but I admit that I am the reason why everything is so fucked up," then I let out a chuckle. "I wanted to get away from this to the point I even pretended that I didn't know who is Eclipse when in fact I am her. I acted like a normal teenage girl in the land just to run away from all of this mess, faking my lost memories and all."

But I scoffed when I remembered something. "I can't believe I'll last from pretending someone I'm not. With the humans and angels I've encountered while I'm regenerating, it makes me more motivated to fake it all," to escape from the ghost of my past.

Cynce is just staring at me with her usual playful smile. "I know. I know you're faking it from the very beginning. It is our family's expertise after all, acting. Even before you've fallen, I know you are pretending to be someone you are not. I think I have to congratulate you for lasting that long. Should we have a toast?" she playfully said. I chuckled because of her last statement.

But before I could answer her, the door opened again in a harsh way, revealing the five angels behind it who interrupted our conversation.

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