Death To Thora - COMPLETE SHORT STORY

Seven

Today I am in an unpleasant agony. My muscles are sore from the past two days, and I barely wanted to get out of bed to brush my teeth this morning. But here I am at the cafe, patiently writing my article while the real focus of the day loads on the search engine. Finally, after probably ten whole minutes, the translations come pouring through my screen. I double check that the words I typed were the same ones from the picture. I click on the first result that comes up.

Here stirs the angel, below.

I double check the word that translates to angel, convinced it must be an error. Whatever I heard growling beneath the cave was definitely not an angel. It was something sinister, I could feel it in my bones. There are no errors in my search, however, so I'm forced to stare at my screen. Every result concludes the same, vague sentence. This is still something more than I had yesterday, so I take it as a win. I have to show Draven. Maybe he can make sense of this.

Cosette finds me before I get the chance to look for him.

"Hey, you. How are you doing?" She asks, her accent heavy as usual.

I hug my laptop to my chest. "I'm alright."

"You don't look rough at all. When they said you were in an accident, I assumed you would look...Worse."

"Thanks...I guess?"

"It was a compliment," she clarifies, reaching for my hand. "I'm so glad you're okay."

I give her a reassuring squeeze. "I am. Thanks for checking on me."

Her eyes meet the ground. "I feel guilty, you know? I gave you that pill–"

I shake my head. "That isn't what caused the accident. It's not your fault."

A half-cocked smile grows on her face. "Thank you. You are very kind."

An old man that I've never seen before waves at her in the distance.

"Who's that?" I ask.

She sighs. "My boss. I've got to go, I'm sorry. It was really good to see you."

"You too." I let go of her hand and she jogs to meet him.

I wander around, and finally locate Draven on the front porch of what I assume to be his house. He hangs over the railing, looking longingly into the distance. His breaths are slow, his head rests on his cloth-wrapped hands.

"Hey," I say awkwardly, not wanting to interrupt whatever thoughts he's lost in.

"Hey."

"Sorry to just run up to you like this," I gesture around, trying to calm myself. "Is this your place?"

He continues staring into the distance. "It is."

"It's...nice."

Silence.

"Is everything okay?" My quiet voice echoes. I feel embarrassed for even asking him that, though I'm not sure why. "Your hands..."

He takes in a deep breath and then turns to me as I approach closer. "Everything is great." His eyes trail down to my laptop, which I forgot I was holding. "What have you got there?"

I hold it up with one hand. "A translation."

"And what is the translation?"

"That's the thing. I was hoping you would understand it better than me." I open my laptop, showing him the pages I found. "Here stirs the angel, below. That can't be right, can it?"

He bites his lip, glaring at the screen. "I don't know. Maybe there is an angel beneath Aderith. You said the growl you heard didn't sound like a human or an animal..."