Chapter 6A: A Glance into the Underworld

Chapter Six

The shimmering starlight gently ushered me from slumber like a tour guide into a new world where I had her back by my side. I sleepily pulled myself upright and saw the silhouette of my angel as she stood beside the window with the curtains drawn. Aeliana held her hand over her face in shock as if she had opened the curtain by mistake. I watched her fumble with the curtain in an attempt to undo her accidental action, but I dismissed her concern with a playful chuckle. She turned to face me with her eyes open wide, but I lost my ability to speak in the moment I saw her. The morning starlight illuminated the world behind her; she looked like a living portrait of a highborn hero in the way that light and shadow danced around her. She whispered warm words of love and greeting, and I could actually see her words appear in the air as newborn crystals of ice. The coldness of the outside city seeped through my uneven windowpane and touched the air with a frigidity which froze every word she whispered.

I asked as I walked to the window, “Have you ever before seen the snow?”

Aeliana nodded slowly and replied, “I saw it sometimes when I still lived outside. It seems silly now, but I was scared of the snow. It hurt, and out there, there really wasn’t anywhere to escape. My sister told me stories of men whose bodies surrendered themselves in storms of snow. I used to be so scared, but now it looks so beautiful.”

I peered out the window and saw little ice crystals fall from the wispy clouds. Every snowflake shimmered in the starlight like a tiny star descending upon the city itself. But the snow struggled to stick, so the streetlights and sidewalks sported a slender surface of ice. A cool mist surrounded the street and partially shrouded the city lights. The fog transformed ordinary pedestrians into silhouettes, and it transformed ordinary silhouettes into starlit specters of ice.

I said to Aeliana as I held her in my hands, “When I once left the city, I met a swordsman in the sands. His memories died with his final breath, but I can feel him with me ever since his death. I only know it through the words that he had said, but I swear I can still see it inside my head. It’s a magical place I never could go – a fallen city which stands between mountains and snow.”

“That city is walled, but their walls they have cannons. They kill anyone who dares to approach their city. I watched an old man die because he went to them for help. But as I much as I hate them, I cannot detest their fear,” Aeliana said as her soft gaze then turned severe.

I set my hand on her shoulder to sidetrack her from the trauma of the life she once lived. It was all I could do to remind her that she had left behind the darkness of the world outside the wall. When she had slept in the night, she set her few belongings on the bedside and then slept on the floor. But even as she slept, she kept two daggers at her side; the slightest sound in the night awoke her and sent her to her feet, clenching her weapons as if her very life depended on it. I couldn’t help but wonder if she would be free from the brutality of her previous life, but I knew from my time with Alyssa that some scars run deep. It wasn’t until Aeliana walked over to the sink that I had a moment alone in the small space where we slept. The cold air drove me to reach for my jacket, but in the darkness I mistakenly spilled the contents of her bag. I returned her various belongings to her bag, though it was still damp from the ocean. She had traveled lightly, although I noticed some flint and a beautiful emerald which shimmered in the orange glow of outside streetlights.

A gentle knock sounded on the door, startling me away from Aeliana’s bag. But as I probably should have expected, this sudden outside sound jolted Aeliana into action. She tore across the dark room, unsheathed both daggers, and yanked the door open with her left hand. Donovan stood outside on my doorstep in the glow of the streetlights, but Aeliana pushed forward and pressed her dagger to his throat. His green eyes widened in terror, and when he went to take a backward step, she jolted forward and prepared to strike. I caught her before she could assail him, and I held her closely in the doorway as Donovan watched with worry. His adrenaline melted the snow which fell from the sky and landed on his skin.

“Aeliana, this is Donovan! Don’t you remember him from yesterday?” I asked with gritted teeth as I dragged her away.

Though her heart was still pumping, she nodded slowly and said, “I just can’t seem to get it through my head. This life is like a daydream that ends when I awake, so I have to remind myself that none of this is fake. Please tell your friend I’m sorry. I need to get ahold of myself.”

I nodded and reassured her, but then I stepped out into the street. I closed the door behind me so that it was open just a crack. The air inside my home warmed my skin from behind like a gentle breath, but I could sense Aeliana standing behind the door with her daggers drawn. She watched Donovan through the crack in the door as if he were some barbaric attacker. I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened in her past to make her so protective over me, but then I realized that her vigilance was mutual. Just last night, I had consigned myself to the role of her protector to such an extent that I would have happily killed the patrolmen in the street. If the tables were turned and I thought something posed a threat to her, then I would use the full extent of my barbarism to summarily destroy it. Earthquakes and hurricanes could not stop me from annihilating anything which posed a threat to her life.

“It seems our dark queen wants you to come back to the underworld. I don’t entirely know her reason, but I know she’s got more than just another body to bury. Perhaps she wants to modify the part you play in her machine. I can’t say for sure; I just know she’s happy with your work,” Donovan explained.

I nodded slowly and said as I looked him in the eyes, “It seems like even for you this comes as a surprise. I can’t pretend I don’t wonder what all of this implies. I will join you as I still owe you both my life, but I’d like to keep my job even if another should arise.”

“I pray that that is something that she would not deny,” Donovan calmly answered with a quiet sigh.

I opened the door so that I could tell Aeliana of our plans for this snowy morning, but she stepped outside before I could step in. Her daggers were sheathed beneath a shoal which shrouded her shoulders. She stepped out into the soft snow and set her shod feet onto the street. Donovan looked perplexed by her arrival, but he did not say a word.

“I will go with you. I don’t want you to step into an underworld alone,” she said to me with an adamant tone.

“I cannot guarantee that Bellaina will let you in; she might not let you access the shadows beneath the city. She is a woman whose life welcomes murder and sin; she is a creature without compassion or pity. I just want you to know,” I said beneath the snow.

She said as her temper now seemed to slow, “I want to come with wherever you go.”

(Note: There are still two more parts to this chapter)