Mark of a warrior

Chapter 9

Walking through the city felt like walking in a dream, everything was almost too perfect. The bakery had fresh bread outside, the flower shop smelt amazing and the sound of shoppers and shop keepers filled the air. It was amazing to think that only several hours ago I fell from the beautiful blue sky and landed here. Again, my mind drifted to the beach, the way Nate held onto me so tightly I thought he would never let go…

I walked inside and found him sitting on the sofa staring at an interesting dagger. It had intricate patterns swirling all over the handle and had odd symbols engraved into the blade. As I walked closer he did not move, even as I sat beside him. Then I noticed a tear roll down his cheek.

“Nate? What’s wrong?”

“Just old memories…”

“I know you probably don’t want to say anything but-“

“It’s fine, you want to know what’s up, and I’ll tell you” he put the dagger down and wiped his eyes before he started, “Like you both my parents died in a battle. This dagger belonged to my mother and she gave it to me when I was just 12 before she went to battle. She said: “Keep this with you to remember me by” and left. She was stabbed in that battle and didn’t survive”

“What are the engravings?” I asked.

“It’s enochian, the language of angels. Unfortunately, my grandparents’ generation were the last to speak it. That’s the accent in my voice”

“I’ve wondered that since the moment I met you. Anyway you only spoke about your mother, what about your father? If it’s ok for me to ask”

He didn’t speak only stared at the ground, I wondered if he had not heard me for some reason. Then he stood up and walked out of the room.

“Nate?”

“JUST LEAVE IT LEX! I don’t want to talk about it so just leave me alone!”

What was that about? In the short time I had known him he never seemed like he would do this. I heard a loud smash against the wall and a heard him scream. Before I ran in his room I heard a loud bang against the wall.

I burst through the door to find him on the floor, his face red with anger and his eyes a bright gold colour. There was a hole in the wall from where he had punched it.

“Nate? I know what you said but you’re not yourself right now and I want to know why”

“You’re wrong there, Lex, this is me! You want to know the reason why I don’t want to talk about my father?” I nodded “He was a demon. A horrible heartless demon, but he was a demon who loved an angel, my mother… He loved her with all his heart but when they went into battle that day the demons persuaded him to be who he really is. And he killed her. Didn’t even think about it…” He broke down crying again and his eyes shone even brighter gold.

“Nate, you’re starting to scare me”

“You should be scared because this is the real me! I AM A DEMON, LEX, AND I COULD EASILY TURN JUST LIKE HIM! I don’t want to hurt you, Lex”

I started backing away and ran out of the house. I have never been more scared of anyone in my life, even the demon that tried to kill me. It was the way his eyes shone such a weird gold colour. I haven’t read about that anywhere. But the thing that scared me the most was when he said he was a demon. I know that he is only half demon but it was like he had just thrown away his angel side in that moment and accepted his demon side.

Maybe he has…

I ran all the way out of the city gates, ignoring the questioning look from Raph, and away to the beach. I ran onto the soft sand and collapsed in the spot where he pulled me out of the water this morning. The sun was setting as tears streamed down my cheeks, making the sky go beautiful pinks and oranges.

I let all of my emotions flow out of me and let my wings free. It was when I had finally calmed down that I started thinking properly again. Instead of thinking more about what just happened, I took advantage of being on my own and thought about my powers. What could I actually do? I cleared my mind and heard a whispering voice in my head telling me to make fire. I built a campfire from branches off a tree and started to rub them together to make fire.

After a couple of attempts it worked and my fire was going. I let the voice in my head take over as I stretched my hand into the fire and was surprised when I didn’t feel anything, instead it spread up my arm and into my wings. I stretched them out to see fire covering them and blazing. I concentrated on the campfire and lifted the flames into the air in a ball of fire.

I played around with it, changing its shape and size, and managed to get it to go around me in a ring of fire. It felt good and natural for the fire to be flowing through my veins. I smiled as I pulled the blazing fire into my body and it disappeared. Looking down at my, normally pale, arms, I could literally see the fire in my veins, I could see it flowing up my arms and they were glowing.

“Lex! What the hell is going on? I saw fire!” a voice snapped me out of my trance of amazement.

“Nothing, Raph, I was just testing my powers”

“That’s not nothing, not even warriors can control fire like that” So I told him about the legend and he listened very carefully.

“Yeah, I was seeing what I could do. I meant to be fighting the most powerful demon ever so I'm gonna need to know what I can do”

“Cool, is that why you were getting out the city so fast?” I nodded. I didn’t think anyone should get involved with whatever is going on with Nate.

“So, you going back to your house to sleep, it’s getting late”

“Nah I think I'm going to stay here for a little longer” We said our goodbyes and he walked back to the city.

I stayed there in the sand until the sun completely went down and I fell asleep in the sand thinking of the fire in my veins.