Angels Blade

Chapter 12

"I'm sorry but this doesn't make sense. How can Zanders have that much influence? He is only one person." I said as I stood on the throne steps of the kings chambers. The king rested himself on his right arm rest and brought his left hand up to scratch at his beard.

"I'm afraid Zanders has a lot more influence than you believe. All three protectors combined are what makes up the force that keeps evil and good separate and equal. If any one person in the group leans even a little more of one way then opposed to the other than the balance gets tipped and things just become worse from there."

The king stopped talking for a moment and looked from Ava to me. "I'm sorry Akira but I'm afraid I need to speak to my subordinate alone please. I'll have someone show you back to your room." He rang a bell and a young angel about my age appeared in the open doorway.

"But I want to help. I know I can." I said sadly as I gave the old king the best pleading puppy dog eyes I could manage.

"I'm sorry child but there are still some things you should not yet hear." The king made a gesture and the young angel flew over and took me gently by the hand. I did not resist as she led me out of the room, shutting the large golden doors behind us before pulling me down the hall.

"Why does the king not have legs?" I asked as I attempted to break the heavy silence as we walked.

"He cut them off himself to avoid the greatest of evils."

"What's that?"

"Temptation."

I gave her a confused look and she saw me and giggled in a high pitched tone. She must have found my ignorance mighty amusing as I took her awhile to stop and catch her breathe.

"Temptation is the greatest of evils for it affects even the purest of hearts. The king was often tempted to leave his throne chamber and see the world of his creation but knew that if he did there was a good chance he may never come back. So he cut off his legs to keep himself from being tempted to do so."

"Isn't that a little extreme. If he was that dedicated to staying put he could have just chained himself to the chair."

"Yes ,but then he would have been tempted to cut the chains."

I thought this over in my head and quickly came to the conclusion that it didn't matter what he did, there would always be temptation.

We turned the corner of a marble hall and came to a familiar wooden door. The angel pushed it open and it was the same crappy bedroom Ava had locked me in when I first got there. I stepped inside hesitantly and sat myself on the edge of the crisp white bed that was pushed against the back wall. The room was small and windowless but exceptionally bright with a higher than normal ceiling. Besides from the bed there was a small wooden wardrobe, a writing desk, and a bookshelf in which the bottom two shelves were empty and the top two shelves were scattered with large books with heavy bindings. I walked over and picked up a book and saw it was written in a different language. The characters on the thin pages reminded me of the characters on my arm so I pulled up my sleeve to compare. The lettering was indeed extremely similar but no two characters were the same so I closed the book and put it back on the shelf.

"How long do I have to stay in here?" I asked. The angel girl was still standing in the doorway watching as I paced around the room.

"Until the king calls for you again." She said.

"And how long will that take?"

"Not long." She muttered as she exited the room and closed the door behind her. I heard the handle click softly as I was sure she had locked me in again but I didn't much care. If need be I could always pick the lock again.