The Midnight Rebellion

Chapter 8: A Bursting Box full of Emotions

"Boom boom! Pow pow!" Nyx made strange sound effects as she thrust her fists forward or tried to somehow summon her magic. It was not exactly going well to say the least. She had been here in the gardens of the castle the whole day. Here, surrounded by flowers and without distraction, she thought she could maybe focus or get a miracle to happen. 

She stomped her foot. "Why on earth does this not work!" She kicked at a flower.

"I'm not exactly sure that the flower has anything to do with it", Orion chuckled as he walked over. Nyx huffed as he reached her and pulled her in for a hug. "Stop stressing yourself about magic. You're still a badass, Nyx." He gave her an encouraging smile and she truly did not understand how he could always be so calm and collected. She felt like raging through the garden. Yanking out flowers. Punching down a tree. Screaming and running and flying. She wanted to explode and let out her frustration. She felt the tension build up beneath her skin. It had to get out! 

And here stood Orion telling her to not stress about it.

She bit him in the shoulder. 

"Ow!", he yowled as he gave her a push and began rubbing his shoulder, "What was that for?" There was amusement in his voice, but by the way he was rubbing his shoulders, she knew it hurt at least a little bit. "Want me to kiss it and make it better", she teased. He just tussled her hair as an answer. "You viscous little beast." Laughing, he turned around and began walking. "Are you coming or what? I have another training session and when I came to pick up my teacher, who apparently forgot about our session today, she bit me! Can you believe it? Anger Management issues, if you ask me." 

Feeling caught for forgetting about their session and face reddening, Nyx flew three steps in order to catch up with him. "It's just so frustrating. Everyone can do magic. Even Gemma. And yet somehow I can't manage it. I know it's there in the depths of my soul somewhere. I've seen it. I just can't find it again. I feel like I've lost a vital part of myself and I don't know where to look anymore."

Orion put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. He looked down at her and took her face into both hands. "Nyx. Stop. This is madness. Magic does not make us who we are. You are perfect just the way you are." Nyx stared into his eyes as if they were a lifeline she could hold onto. Something to save her from drowning in this pit of nothingness inside her. His words soothed the turmoil inside of her. She closed her eyes trying to accept the reality of not being able to access her magic and felt two lips as light as a feather brush her forehead. "You are stronger than you believe yourself to be. Don't let the bad days win", he mumbled barely audible and began walking again. For a second, Nyx just stood there staring after him. She could still feel that light kiss. 

When she later arrived at the training grounds for the guards, her insides were still in turmoil. Orion was waiting for her in training gear and standing in front of the weapons rack trying to decide what he wanted to practice today. Slowly, trying not to make a sound, Nyx approached him from behind and stopped at a distance. She pulled at the sleeves of her training gear. Her skin was still pulled tight from all of the emotions within her. She could not seem to fully focus or calm herself. Her gaze kept sweeping back to Orion's large white wings streaked with those golden veins. They were mesmerizing. She's always wanted to touch them. To run her fingers through his soft feathers. 

But she couldn't.

Nephilim only touched the wings of their romantic partners. It was considered a very intimate thing to do, as the wings were very sensitive. The sensitivity of the wings was also the fact why the rebels liked to aim arrows at the Nephilim's wings. Piercing through a wing was a pain not in the slightest comparable to being struck in an arm or leg. It sent soldiers raining down from the sky in roaring pain.