Celestial (On Hold)

Chapter Eight

Zara's POV

To say I was incredibly worried would be an understatement. They've been gone for over five hours and having left the way they did is not doing any good for my worrying either. We've stayed in the throne room in case they came back, but there's been no sign or word from either Vaughn or Vaden to say that she was okay. To say I was going slightly mad wouldn't be a lie.

"Zara calm down girl, you're squishing the grass to a pulp under you," Silver sighed coming over and wrapping her arms around me so that I'd stop pacing.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really worried," I mumbled leaning into her just feeling really sad.

"It's okay, I don't blame you for worrying," Silver assured her, "but you just need to stay chill and wait. Vaden or Vaughn will let us know if everything is okay."

"I'm more curious about what the hell happened to her in the first place and if all those things she said was true, since we're all taught about the hero from the orc war," Alaric stated looking to Mercy and Ash who had been cuddling together a ways away whispering quiet enough that we couldn't hear them.

Mercy looked over and sighed, "It's true. It seems like she still hasn't gotten over what happened here, not that I blame her. Just from how long it took her to recover from the ordeal is proof enough that she had been to hell and back, sadly bringing a piece with her too."

"Yeah, and all it took was a week. I'm so glad lady Aviva killed that bastard," Ash spat her face screwed up in what I could only call a vicious sneer though nothing about the woman could be called anything but elegant and that sneer didn't belong on her.

"And then what happened down in the under realm..." Mercy and Ash exchanged sad looks, "just saying, Vaden not being in the eternal sleep, or even here and alive is nothing less than a miracle."

"Well shit, they definitely don't tell you that in the history books," Alaric said and was followed by a long silence.

"But what was that black stuff that was growing over her?" Silver asked while pulling me down with her to the ground so I wouldn't start pacing again.

Again, Ash and Mercy exchanged frowning looks, "We have no idea. I've never seen something like that before, especially not from Vaden. She could have gotten it after she went into hiding, but, really I've got no clue," Mercy shrugged.

"I've never seen something like that either in all my years of being alive," grandpa sighed as well, a worried look in his old eyes.

It went silent again before Vaughn suddenly appeared.

I scrambled to my feet and grabbed hold of his robe, heart in throat. "Is she okay?" is all I could ask.

He nodded his head though he looked grim, "she'll be fine. She's resting in her room right now. I forgot to make sure that she did her morning meditation. The sudden stress of coming here seems to have just been a bit too much for her, not to mention she hasn't had blood for quite a while. She'll be all right to continue though, just need to make sure she meditates and feeds frequently."

The sigh of relief that came out of me was so massive I couldn't stop myself from slumping into him with the release of all my tension, "thank god."

"Hey Vaughn, can you tell us what just happened?" Ash asked standing along with everyone else.

Vaughn pursed his lips in thought as he crossed his arms over his chest, "It's happened a few times now whenever she was unable to control her anger. I'm not entirely sure what the stuff is, but it is almost completely impenetrable and from what I can feel from it, it is made up of entirely pure dark mana. The first time it happened was in the under realm when we were fighting Viktor. If the celestials hadn't of interfered she most probably would have killed him and who knows who else."

"Who's Viktor?" I asked having heard Vaden say that name as well.

Vaughn turned to me, a dark, grim look in his eyes, "Viktor is my brother and the one you all know as the Master."

"Bullshit!" Silver cursed out of reaction while everyone else either gasped or stared at him with wide eyes.

"That's impossible," grandfather huffed, followed by a racking cough that had me going to his side making sure that he was all right, "Impossible," he continued after his fit, "no one besides for the Lord or the Human would be able to kill the Master."

Vaughn nodded his head in agreement, "I know, I would have said the same thing if I had not been there and watched her nearly take him out. That black stuff completely consumed her and made her... something else. Not nightwalker, not human. It made her into nothing I've ever seen before," he shook his head and looked to the ceiling, a frown on his face, "The second time it happened she had woken from a nightmare. It started covering her face and hands, but this time it was hurting her, she was conscious of what was happening and tried to stop it.

"She tried clawing it off but that only made her bleed. With each piece that she managed to tear off, both skin and muscle would go with it leaving patches of bloody bone underneath. It stopped growing when she had passed out. So, all I can say is that it is a part of her and the only way she can control it is by staying calm," Vaughn shrugged hanging his head back down as he finished.

Everyone was silent, just trying to comprehend what all he said even meant.

"So it's a part of her," I stated slowly, "Both mind and body since it obviously doesn't just cover her body but is infused with it, and if it stopped when she passed out and won't come out as long as she's calm, that means it's only another part of who, or what, she is."

Vaughn agreed with a nod, "Yes, pretty much."

"Man, that's crazy," Alaric commented with a disbelieving shake of his head.

"More like she's crazy," Silver scoffed though immediately apologised when I glared at her.

"No, I think it's more like how a wolf shifter is," Mercy stated, "She's explained to me before that sometimes it feels like she has two parts of a one soul inside her, kind of like how a shifter is one part animal and the other human, though they're still just one person."

"That would make sense," Alaric agreed since he was a shifter and understood the reference.

I could understand it too, surprisingly. I've always felt like I had two equal parts of my soul that were completely different. One being dark and the other light, would be the only way I could explain it. One was from being born a Celestial while the other was from that curse. Though they worked in tandem to create me, it still felt like they were two different things inside me.

Ash shook her head, "She just can't get a break, can she?"

"How about you all go continue your day and let Vaden rest some?" grandpa suggested as he struggled lightly off his throne.

I didn't feel comfortable doing that so I shook my head, "I'm going to go back so that I can make sure she's all right when she wakes up."

"We'll come with you," Ash added, "We still need to plan our classes for this trimester anyway."

"You three can continue looking around," I smiled at Silver, Alaric and Vaughn, "I'll meet you back at the dorm." Silver didn't look like she was going agree but a quick glance at Vaughn had her nodding her head. "Get some rest please grandpa. I'll see you in a few weeks for the ball."

"I will dear, be well my little angel," he smiled at me warmly. I kissed him on the cheek as a farewell and left with the others all the while thinking about Vaden.

So, Vaughn and her must have gone down to the under realm and for some reason got into a fight with the Master nearly won, which I still couldn't believe, and then my mother ordered her into hiding after some Celestials had saved them. I wonder who saved them and why... I'll ask mum when I see her next.

Slowly but surely I was starting to solve Vaden's past, which would allow me understand why she is how she is right now. Why she seemed so angry at the world.

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