War of Hearts

02 ~ Thou

The palace was situated high atop the hill overlooking the town, its countless pointed towers making it resemble an eccentric crown. The roof was grey slate and the walls were cemented with white stones that glistened under the summer sun. It was as big as a thousand ordinary houses of Angelic and employed a huge number of townsfolk as servants. The palace was surrounded by grazing pastures which housed the horses. The Angel army headquarters and royal gardens were also situated here. A high stone wall with protruding iron spikes encircled the palace, marking its boundaries. It was heavily guarded round the clock.

"This is magnificent." Albia murmured, observing all around her.

"That's why it's the Capital." Atlas said who was walking along with her two sisters.

"Look at that, there's a statue next to it." Basilia pointed to the cascading waterfall on the right side of the palace. It was the Derath waterfall, coursing through the Angelic Capital, nourishing the lands, providing fertility and freshness.

"What's the statue?" Albia asked.

"Zeus." Atlas replied.

Both Albia and Basilia paid attention to their brother, Atlas who continued, "It was built on our birthday to thank Zeus for giving life to Angelic."

"How is it that possible that we never knew about this?" Basilia questioned.

"And how do you know, when we don't?" Albia asked, raising her thin eyebrows.

"It was mentioned in one of Julian Roosevelt's novels," he chuckled, "and you guys never read novels."

"Because that's wasting time and they are fictions," Basilia said and she focused on something else.

Amongst the crowd was a young man, carrying a small boy on his shoulders to show him the royal families. He was tall, averagely built with dark brownish straight hair. He was dressed in black with a symbol of two swords on his belt, it appeared to be a uniform. Basilia nudged Atlas's arm and gestured towards the young man.

"What's that uniform?" She asked.

"What uniform?" He asked, trying to find the person Basilia was trying to show him.

"The one with the boy on his shoulders." She said, staring at the young man. He had a smile of gold, rich with happiness and love.

"That's the Angelic sailor's uniform," Atlas paused and observed the man more clearly and commented. "It looks good on him, right? Full black."

The young man noticed Basilia inspecting him which made him smile. Basilia returned the smile without hesitation. She had no idea why she did but she knew that she wanted him to notice her. He showed her to the boy on his shoulders and the child began waving at Basilia. Basilia smiled and created a wave of glitter in the air from her fingers and sent them towards the boy. Everyone cheered and laughed trying to catch the glitter but the young sailor kept staring at the Air Angel as if he had witnessed the presence of a Goddess. She grinned once more before walking past them towards the parade. 'That sailor stole my heart', she thought.

All the royal families were following the platoon of soldiers and the Angelic brass band into the palace, they were receiving bows and cheers from the ordinary Angels of the Angelic Capital and they were enjoying it.

The Angelic brass band was leading the parade, followed by the Angelic soldier platoon and lastly the royal families led by Angel Fire who was being accompanied by her two children; Cael and Parisa. Then Angel Water with her children Joseph, Michael and Peter, along with Angel Air with her children; Atlas, Basilia and Albia. Finally, Angel Earth with her children Alexander and Alicia walked in the parade with pride inside their hearts, they were followed by the army platoons of the four Angelic lands; Fire, Water, Air and Earth.