House Of Legions (The Angel Descendants book 1)

Chapter 32 (Clare)

Clare stood on the fountain steps, frozen in amazement, her mind refused to acknowledge what her eyes were clearly seeing. She was high enough to see only a minority of Khiron in its beauty because the houses were actually rows of castles, some taller than the mountain she stood on.

Shinning castles made of gold material stretched beyond normal heights, as peaks of light shimmered from the tall building walls. There wasn’t much sun left, but the light surrounding Khiron seemed to seep through from something beyond the air, high above her, but not so distant as the stars. But not particularly close to the moon either, which still held in its shadowed phase. It was further than reaching distance, but not high enough to dismiss, however, it didn’t captivate her as the realm did. There were hundreds OR thousands of castles, some bigger than the others, rounded roofs made of milky glass fabrics of some kind, maybe marble.

On distant parts, she could spot smaller houses, tinier versions of the castles. Maybe they were double stories, she guessed as her eyes shuffled around the top parts of what she could watch.

The nearest castle had no windows, it was like a fully covered shell of gold. The smell of musk and roses seeped in her lungs as she deeply inhaled the crisp air. Caidrian nudged her, “Come on, we’ve been standing here for twenty minutes let’s get down.”

“Are the castles made of gold?”

“Not entirely. Marble exterior, but you can't see it clearly, it is being shielded by a liquid gold because of the Orderian. It’s a protection Verse to protect our homes from intruders or our visitors if they happened to double-cross us.”

Clare coughed the word out, “Orderian?”

“Your brother can explain it all to you, let us get you inside, I got to check-in at the Garde’s fortress.”

She turned her head but kept her eyes fixated on this visionary place, as they made their way down the steps. The fountain flowed down the stairs, but wherever she walked the water parted for her feet, a silent invitation, so she wouldn’t slip.

Clare felt like Alice walking into Wonderland, only this one wasn’t filled with big cats and rabbits, but rolled in death, inhabited by descendants of Angels and demons, and whatever else awaited her. Only her bravery would be earned in the form of death.

Her legs didn’t throb as they had earlier, so she took her steps with more urgency to make her way down. When she heard a cry of a bird from the sky, she stopped and looked up, knowing she was way below Caidrian, who had been carrying the packets from earlier. Her eyes instinctively encountered the bird, which was larger than an eagle, almost the size of what she would have presumed a dragon would’ve been as it skirted, breezing through the air.

Circling her, as it flaunted its brilliant bright colour wings, of green and purples feathers. The bird gazed at her from a distance, and she could swear that she felt the wind a knot stronger as it flapped its wings. It drifted further down as if her notice was a silent invitation. Catching the wind in her hair as the bird flapped its wings in rapid beats, she squinted her eyes. Seeing the size of this creature so close made her palms sweat.

She never liked anything that could fly. When she was little, her mother took her to a bird park, and Clare touched one of the birds, it attacked her, pecking her hands and her head. She remembered her screams and the way she grabbed the bird by its beak and flung it across a tree, by the end of it she was riddled with small bites. She should’ve known that she was different when the scars healed without a trace but she didn’t, she was naïve and foolish, things she'd never be again.

Her focus intensely on the bird whose wings kept getting closer and closer to her, her hair moving slightly by the breeze.

Caidrian touched her back, startled she jumped with a squeak, way to go, Clare, she sighed.

“Guider’s.” he pointed at the bird, seemingly unaffected by her edginess, “Don’t stare at it, he’ll take your eyes out.”

“Are there other awful beasts around I should know about?”

“They aren’t beasts, but our eyes, the angel's birds are rarest of creatures you will ever set eyes on, Ruzak, is his name, he’s circling the area, making sure no unwanted guest has attended for the moon ceremony.”

Something brushed her cheek at her nod, it made a ruffling sound like paper getting squashed. Noticing Caidrian was almost to the bottom she followed.

It happened again, and that's when she saw what it was-a a tree. Trees lived yes, but not like this, its movement resembled a dance as she lifted her hand as if it were a wounded pup before she touched the leaf. The roughness brushed her fingers, taking a bold step she pinched the leaf, it was spring soft to the touch, but ROUGH like a tongue on the outside. BREATHTAKING and freaky, she thought.

Following the leaves movements as it left her, eyes wide, she ignored Caidrian as he repeatedly called to her to hurry down. Finding its origin on the opposite side of the waterfall with a whole forest of trees and fruits filling it with colours. The trees moved, making noises of cracking branches. They looked alive, and the mysterious skylight reflected on the forest, made its aliveness shine.

This place was not just a different place, but a newfound world, one of exceptional beauty. A final look across, she went downstairs.

Standing on the ground that resembled a road but very smooth with a high gloss finish, she waited at the top of a long pathway, which led to different roadways and paths. Next to it, was grass, gold grass, that also seemed to be moving on its own. Spotting Caidrian walk on it, she almost shouted, but the

grass flattened before his foot touched the spot. Further down was a man riding a white horse near the second castle from where they stood.

She couldn’t see any cars, or anything normal, it was dark, but Khiron had a glowing dimmed white light in the sky. There was no reason in trying to understand why, she didn’t bother asking. The city spoke for itself, it was extraordinary and Angelic. The air around her, light, clean and untouched, made her skin tickle. Maybe she had been here before.

She thought about the possibility of living here, maybe it would jog her memory. These people might be family by blood but she didn’t remember them, she needed to remember them. With that said, there was something about Calub, where ever he was. On hearing he was missing she felt the love for him, it was like she had loved him forever. Her instincts told her to find him, protect him and that was what she was going to do.

Staring across the land of Lightwatchers, the little bit of heaven. She felt a sort of peace and familiarity about this majestic land, the sweet smell of honeysuckle and rose trees now scented in her nose, she was sure she smelt musk earlier.

A while later she asked, “So that vacant land is it all part of Khiron”

“Yes, but I assure you the realm is much larger than that, there’s a lot of science involved, alternate spaces, it has height as well, made by the Angels themselves.”

Intrigued by Caidrians response, she queried, “So why couldn’t I see it earlier?”

Caidrian impatiently pulled her to walk in front of him, “Invisible seals surround the place. This is the land where the Angels lived, everything is more alive in the Angelic realm, the trees, including the water, it’s how some Lightwatchers can stay here and survive for long periods without any help from

the deceptors.” he continued, “We don’t need the deceptors crops or food, it makes us self sufficient without the aid of deceptors.”

“Figured, so, do you stay here?”

He laughed, “Don’t be silly, I’m one of the Garde, those who live here are mostly the older ones and the makers, sometimes new orphans who want to train here before they are put in others care. Generally Lightwatchers stay all over the world, there isn’t much of us, so if we do come home it's for a break or a problem, like in your case.”

She walked next to him, keeping her feet on the narrow black path, the grass seemed creepy to her, the way it moved, like swollen seaweed in the ocean but without the water.

They turned toward the first castle when she spotted a guy leaning on the castle wall, “Nathan.”

He gave Clare a sideward smile, “SO sister, how was my father's company.”

Smirking with a wide-eyed glance as he touched her shoulder, affectionately, he added, “I hope not too depressing.” She didn’t reply to him, not because she didn’t want to, she didn’t know how to. These people, her supposedly rediscovered family was different from her.

The truth was that her walk with Caidrian was life-changing, she had her entire life explained to her by a stranger she barely knew.

Nathan made to put his arm on her shoulder but she shook him off, “Still got that stick up your ass hah.” Nathan stormed off without allowing her to respond, she didn’t know whether to run after him. How was she to know what to do in these situations?

Caidrian moved to take a place on her right, “Give him time, he’ll come around, you know how big brothers are,” he gestured with a pat on her back. She flinched, because she didn't and whose fault

was it if she didn’t know how big brothers were. Following Caidrian inside the second castle, she made her mind up to talk to Nathan.