After Death (Editing)

Chapter 12

I woke up the next day by someone knocking on my door.

"Lilianna, get up, someone is here to see you!" Celeste screamed my ears off in an excited voice.

"Okay, okay, coming" I grumbled.

I was the kind of person who loved their bed. Wake me up too soon and I was deadly. I thought back to the time when Devlin and I lived together. He woke me up 5 o'clock in the morning because he couldn't find something. I left a scar on the right side of his face, that bastard. I gritted my teeth and I felt my skin getting hot because of the thought of the moron. I rolled off the plush bed to go and brush my teeth and wash my face.

I put on some decent clothes before going to see who Celeste had for me. I slept in my underwear the previous night and I didn't want to flash anyone.

I opened up the solid wooden door and Gabriel stood there with a slight smile on his face.

I gave him a bone crushing hug. "Oh my gosh! I am so glad you are here!" I exclaimed with a huge grin on my face.

He chuckled lightly, " I am glad to know you are safe. I was sniffling and searching for you until Celeste brought me here."

I was speechless, I didn't think that he would care.

I hugged him again, pressing into his muscular body. I really warmed my heart to know that there was someone who was there for me when I most needed it.

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Celeste brought me here and told me everything."

I raised one eyebrow, "What is your idea of everything?"

"Well, the ruler of heaven and hell being brothers and acting like babies. That Celeste can tell the future. Your scumbag of an ex- fiancé cheated on you and then poisoned you. You are the chosen one to annihilate the God babies and I am going to help you."

My mouth hung wide open. "I didn't expect her to tell you all of that."

"Why wouldn't she tell me all of that? As your guiding angel is my duty to help you." He looked and looked at the ground and continued "Not that being an angel really means anything now," in a dismal tone.

I pat his back and looked into his memorizing eyes "Hey, don't worry about that. From what I have seen, you are a great person and you don't need a title to validate that."

He gave me a sad smile. "Thank you," He said quietly.

I opened the door for him to come and we sat on the bed.

"So what do you plan to do?" Gabriel asked.

I laid back on the bed and answered "I don't even know."

He gave me a sympathetic look. "I don't know how to help you either. I doubt there is a kind of book that gives you instructions on how to stop an ancient war."

I gasped, "That's it! We should go research more about the gods and then start from there." I practically screamed as if that was the brightest idea I had ever come up with.

He to laid down on the bed. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

I yawned, as my body sank into the soft mattress. "Do you know where we are?"

"We are in an old castle in hell." He said while also yawning.

"That's cool. We should be able to find a library in here."

We searched the castle for a library.  Everything looked the same, black stone walls, mahogany doors and countless fire lamps hanging from the wall. As we went deeper and deeper in the building I started to see a shadow creeping behind me. Voices whispered and echoed"We are waiting for you. Come" repeatedly.

I shuddered and held on to Gabriel's  hand as we walked further. Why didn't we ask Celeste where the library was, I thought. 

With each turn, the hallways got darker, darker until it resembled a dungeon from the Middle Ages. My grip on Gabriel's hand tightened and I cowered in fear. We walked and walked until the maze of hallways reached an end.

That end was a marble double door with a stone engraved "Camera Secretorum".

"Should we go in?" Gabriel asked.

I toyed with my silver earrings. "You can do whatever," I replied with my voice trembling.

He frowned and pushed the solid doors open. As he did, a gush of fresh air greeted our faces. Behind the marble door was a literal oasis. In the middle of the room, there was a large fountain. There was a statue of a goblet and water spewed out of it.

"Wow!" Gabriel and I both exclaimed seeing how magnificent the room looked.

Around the fountain, there was a lot of greenery. There were shrubs and different varieties of palm plants. This room had almost sky high ceilings that were painted with white clouds and familiar sky blue. The whole place looked like came straight out of a magazine, maybe even better than that.

I was so entranced by the beauty of it all I completely forgot about how uneasy I felt coming there.

When I was to touch the water of the fountain to see how fresh it was, mists of green, gray, orange and blue, brought four figures. I tore my attention away from the fountain and gaped at the beings that just appeared in front of me. Gabriel was staring as well. I didn't know whether to stay there or run. I wanted to do the latter, but it felt as if I couldn't move.

The beings that just popped up had long robes with hoods that covered their faces. The robes were the same color as the mist that brought them there.

They bowed their heads down and said in unison

"What Celeste said is true
The chosen one is you

We are Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire
All ready to conspire

From us the cup of existence has been taken
Everyone is sleeping, they need to be awakened.

The universe is where we dwell
But we have come to wish you farewell

You must retrieve the cup
And return Nova to its former glory
If you don't all spirits and humanity will be sorry

Remember Lilianna, Only half the story has been told
Go behind the golden doors and see what mysteries we behold."

And with that just as fast as they came was just as fast as they left.