War of Hearts

19 - Tree of life

Julian pressed his palms against the mangled flesh; he once heard you were supposed to stop bleeding by putting pressure on wounds. But, oh, there was so much blood - dark crimson with a discreet, metallic scent. It cascaded across his skin.

He ran, ran as fast as he could. He didn't know if they were still behind him or not; he didn't want to find out. His wounds left a blood trail, droplets of crimson falling to the ground. He hoped the rain would wash it away, hide it in the wet earth, and conceal his path. He gripped the baby across his chest and ran as fast as he could.

A tall figure emerged in front of Julian. Julian's heart began to pound harder and the baby began to cry. Julian held in a gasp. For one thing, he was really tall. His pale skin sparkled in the moonlight, his dark eyes matching the night sky above perfectly. . He walked over to Julian, his feet barely touching the ground. "Give the monster and we'll free you."

"It's a baby, not a monster!" Julian roared.

"Umm, yeah. Give it to me" he said slowly and walked towards Julian.

"I can't!" Julian yelled, cuddling the baby and it stopped its crying.

"It's a monster!" The tall blood drinker roared.

"I won't let you hurt him," Julian shivered as the blood drinker approached, his dark eyes filled with anger. "If you won't give it to me, I'll take it," he growled and leaped forward for Julian but he began to burn with fire and collapsed on the ground.

"You okay, buddy?" It was Cael. He was above them; he had huge white wings on his back.

"Wow, you've got wings!" Julian shouted in excitement.

Cael giggled and looked at the blood drinkers who were running toward them. "Take the baby and run, I'll take care of them."

Julian nodded and ran toward the forest. Cael lighted his palms with fire and attacked the blood drinkers.

* * *

Ever was tired as hell. She walked into the temple, weakly. She felt as though her energy is being constantly drained out of her. She let out a burning ball of air that was searing the walls of her lungs. The silence surrounded her like a fresh, pristine, white blanket of snow on a winter's day. Silence surrounded her like stars in a freckled night sky.

Moving into the passage, she wondered whether this quiet air tinctured with the scent of incense, candles and the more solidly Anglican smell of musty prayer books, metal polish and flowers had held for God also the promise of discovery, of a scene already set, a task inevitable, inescapable

The dark passage with its floor of encaustic tiles and its white-painted walls ran the whole west end of the temple. The little vestry was the first room on the left. Next to it with a connecting door was a small kitchen about ten feet by eight.

The old temple bells rang out into the darkness, sending a flock of pigeons into disarray, cooing and flapping violently away from the aged building. Each slow chime echoed through the cavernous inner hall, reverberating off the ancient stone, bouncing between each red velvet lined pew and finally laying to rest upon the altar.

Some residual smoke hung in the air, shifting like ghosts in the breeze. It obscured the hallway like fog in an alley on a humid night.

Ever walked into the main hall of the temple and stopped in front of a huge pond, across the pond was the tree of life. The ceiling above the tree was a hole providing sunlight to the tree.

The tree lifted his branches to the sky as if his very presence was enough to beat back the darkness and command the daylight to fall on his papery leaves. His bark shone like the right kind of gold, the sort that inspires the mind to heady heights of imagination, opening doors to fantastical kingdoms. It was no wonder that the tree is where Ever went when her soul needed to recharge, when all the things in the world felt cold but the touch of the trunk and strong branches felt like a hug from the heavens above.

She put herself into the pond and swum toward the tree. She felt the magical livingness of the water. She has missed the Azera water for months; she enjoyed the cold warmth the water gave to her skin. The water was uncommonly clear. The water speaks to her in a language nobody knew. She closed her heavy eyes and sank into the water and then suddenly she heard a deathly cry. She came out into the water surface, alarmed. She looked around but there was nothing other than her. She heard the cry again; her heart began to pound hardly when she noticed that it was the cry of her mother. She quickly swum to the other end of the pond and came out of the water and created a water ball.

They were the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. A blazing mix of red and yellows, it was a natural expression of beauty on fire. Perfection mixed with desire. It jarred her from her darkest thoughts and made her feel alive. The flower she held in her hand was so delicate, so fragile; she just looked at it in awe.

She plucked as many as flowers she could pluck and put them into the water ball.

"Ever," Roop called Ever from the other side of the pond.

Ever flew the water ball inot the air and whispered, "Go to Elizabeth Angel," and the water ball disappeared into the air.

* * *

Joseph threw his body weight behind the fist that edged closer to Paulo's face; it hit Paulo's jaw with such force blood pooled into his mouth. Pain erupted from the point of impact. With Paulo's own two hands he grasped Joseph's head in his hands and brought his knee cap up to Joseph's nose, there was a blunt crack and he released Joseph's blonde haired head. Crimson leaked from both his nostrils and his nose was twisted right. He drew his fist back again and it ploughed into Joseph's stomach, it was like hitting a train head on. Paulo's guts smashed together, blood vessels bursting. He repaid this by punching Joseph's jaw; his fist collided with all his body weight. Paulo continued this battering until he fell to the floor. His chest gently rose and sank with each shallow breath he drew in.

Suddenly something hard hit Paulo's head, he weakly turned to look and Alicia was standing in front of him. She smashed him with the huge tree and Paulo fell on the ground, bleeding.

Alicia supported Joseph to stand and then hissed at him, "What were you thinking? He could have killed you."

"He challenged me to fight without my powers," Joseph said, biting his lower lip.

"You're such and idiot! Go, destroy it," Alicia roared and walked away slashing every blood drinker that came in front of her.

Joseph smiled lightly and walked toward Paulo. Joseph took his sword out of its sheath. It was Excalibur, shining in the sun as if it were fashioned from the brilliant rays themselves. The broad silvery metal was warmed. He pointed the sword toward Paulo.

Paulo was weak; he hadn't the strength to fight against his destroying. He laid on the ground, staring at the air blue eyes of Joseph, murmuring a light prayer.

Joseph held out the sword and leaped toward Joseph but Parisa stalled Joseph's strike.

"Run," she shouted at Paulo.

Paulo was staring at Parisa, stunned.

"Parisa, have you lost your nuts?" Joseph roared.

"Run!" Parisa screamed at Paulo.

Paulo slowly stood up from the ground, his gaze fixed on Parisa and Joseph.

"Parisa, What are you doing?" Joseph demaded, pushing Parisa.

Parisa lighted up her palms with fire, "He's a Roosevelt, we can't kill him."

"I can," Joseph said and flashed the blade of the sword toward Paulo. Parisa sent a fire ball toward the sword and the sword fell from Joseph's hand.

"Run!" She screamed at Paulo.

Paulo ran like his limbs don't really belong to him and each step is a negotiation rather than an order. Everything hurts now. Every damn thing. He stopped, took one last glimpse of Parisa and ran into the forest. 

_________________

Hey, everybody

So many were asking about ship names of the characters and some suggested several ship names. So I decided to tell you guys the ship names of the couples in War of hearts.

Ever + Cael = Evael

Ever + Julian = Evian

Cedric + Alexander = Aledric