Dreamer

Chapter 4: Mael

About one second. That's how long it took his lungs to completely deflate and make him wanting to cough the content of his chest out. Which is quite the difficult deed underwater. The world became blurry. He could not see. Not hear. Not speak. Not breath. He tried to swim towards the light, but the weight of his broken wings just pulled him further down into the seemingly endless dark.

That's it, he thought. You've failed completely. Thinking about it like this, it probably was the best, if he died here anyway. Then they could at least make stories up like: He fought as bravely as expected from one of the four archangels. But in the end the demons were just to many. A hero death. Yes. That sounded good. Not like the version where he returned home, empty handed and with broken wings.

Mael stopped fighting. Accepted his death as his lungs started to fill with water. Slowly the world began to darken while he sank further and further in the water. Brother. I'm sorry...

It was cold. Dark. It was as if he was floating inside a thick, pitch black mass. Unable to feel or sense anything. Suddenly a small point of light broke through the endless darkness. It started to grow, further and further into Maels direction. At least I'm going to heaven, he thought, before the light completely swallowed him.

He blinked. There was this weird feeling. Someone... touching his cheek...? Was he dead?

Suddenly Mael sucked in the cold air with a rattling noise, coughing it out immediately, together with a few liters river water. The pain came back before he knew. Gasping for air he tried to understand why. He had died. He had drowned. What in heavens name was happening here?

"Finally." someone sighed. Mael startled around and his heart skipped a beat. Sitting there in the grass was none other than princess Gwendolyn. She looked more or less the same as two days ago, but now her golden hair was tied up in a messy braid over her shoulder. She looked at him with an emotionless, pitch black gaze, as dark as the thick mass he had been floating around in. But unlike her brothers, there was no evil behind her eyes. Still-

Mael slammed a hand over his mouth to not screech and quickly backed off. Heat rose to his head and colored it tomato red down to his neck. The feeling of her soft lips on his was still present. Holy mother.

"What- What did you- What are you-" he muttered under his hand.

"Saving your ass apparently." she replied without hesitation. A little smile sneaked onto her face, but it did not reach her eyes. He backed off a bit more. "No need to run. If I wanted to kill you, I would've just let you drown." She leaned back and nodded in his direction. "Besides your wings are broken."

Seven heavens. He had completely ignored that. Even if he wanted to run away from her, he couldn't. How do I always end up like that?

"But why?"

"I don't like being indebted to someone, especially if that someone's a goddess."

Mael gulped. "Seems reasonable."

Without another word Gwendolyn rose and spread out her wings, a thick mass of dark matter. "You saved my life, I saved yours. We're quit."

"Wait!" Mael wanted to stop her. He took a deep breath in. "What are you running away from?" Gwendolyn stopped in her movement. She had turned her back on him. Through the ripped cloth Mael thought to see long scars drawing over her skin, all the way over her back. Where did she get those from? Battle?

The princess didn't answer. "Sometimes... It is better to not be alone, you know?" He had lowered his voice to nothing more than a quiet croak. "Having company... Someone to talk to can be helpful in hard times."