Angel of Darkness

A Little Kindness Goes a Long Way

  Luin'loki laughs nervously "No. You.. You can't be the Tenebris Angelus. You're an abomination!" The queen walks down the steps, curiosity shining from her eyes. The king watches in shock as she places her hands on my face and look into my eyes. Her pitch black hair tickles my face and for a split moment, a small yellow light flashes across her golden eyes. "She's telling the truth" she says with a smile. Luin'loki slams his fist down and the floor shakes a little. "Liar!" he yells at her, his voice booming across the walls as the whole room goes silent. An eerie silence that lets you know that he made a wrong move just then. The queen turns around and glares at him with a blank face. "Excuse me?" she asks. He stutters as he tries to respond. "My love... my sweet, dear husband. Everyone knows I do not lie. You overall should know of that. You may think that you are in charge of everything and the ruler of this realm because you are a king, but you know the rules. You're like a child, and I the parent. Letting you roam and do as you please in the world... until you make a mistake. A good parent will teach the child of their mistake and forgive them, but a parent can only forgive so many times and you just made your last major mistake." She speaks in a loving voice but the words are filling everyone with fear, and filling the king with uncontrollable terror. She looks back at me "I may be the queen of this realm but you are the queen of the shadow world. All good. All bad. The Tenebris Angelus. And I. Do. Not. Lie." she says the last sentence as she turns towards Luin'loki. She snaps her fingers and he disperses into a fog of black smoke. The echo of a cut off scream rings in my ear.

I'm taken to a large room and given a long back dress with red lace. I laugh as I look in the mirror and realize that it matches my Toumaline. The queen walks in and I'm stunned. She's wearing a beautiful gown with a crown laying perfectly on her head. Gold is painted across her face, almost glowing against her dark skin. She's also holding a silver staff. The top of it looks like tree branches, but there's a yellow orb floating within the branches while yellow lights spark around the staff and her hand. She laughs as she watches me stand with my mouth practically to the floor. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare" I say nervously. She smiles "It's alright. Haven't had someone look at me like that in forever is all. I don't think we've had the opportunity to properly meet. My name is Maldraug" I smile. Golden Wolf.  "That's a beautiful name" She takes my hand and leads me out of the room. We walk down an open hall. A hallway with no wall to keep the inside separated from the outside. A railing runs along the length of the hall with vines of flowers growing across it. I look out at the waterfall a few hundred yards out. Crystal water falls down to the river where a bunch of children are playing. There are trees that reach so high, I believe I could touch a cloud if I reached the top. Colorful flowers bloom everywhere. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" I didn't notice I had stopped to admire the scenery until Maldraug spoke. "I wish I had grown up around this.. the closest I've ever gotten to something this wonderful was at a green house a few miles away from my house" I sigh. She wraps her arm around mine and slightly pulls me along the hall to a pair of doors as I remember the small abandoned green house I so badly miss.