NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34: Wings
Digital arts theory was actually pretty fun today, I always liked going to this lesson on a monday but due to recent events I somewhat forgot how much of a blast it was, especially now that I have two friends to share it with. The three-hour lesson flew by in the blink of an eye, leaving me outside of the classroom with Hailey and Carol.
“So, are you going back to your lovergirl?” Carol teases me with a poke in my side.
“Haha, I think I will.”
“I hope she doesn’t dislike us.” Hailey adds.
“Why would she?”
“Because we were so forward with her earlier.”
“Ah, don’t worry, I explained you were just some adorable dorks. She doesn’t mind at all.”
“That’s good.”
“Hey, but we aren’t dorks.” Carol pouts.
“Really?” Hailey swings her arm around Carol’s neck.
“Ok, maybe a little.” She sticks out her tongue.
I smile. “Anyway, my fellow dorks, I’ll leave you for now. See you for afternoon lessons?”
“Of course!”
“Oh, and the smoothie stand was around the corner right?”
“Yep, just go to the right after you exit the building, you can’t miss it.” Hailey and Carol both wave me goodbye as I head towards the stand.
Hmmm, what kind of smoothie would Sam like?
In the end I decide to get Sam a summer fruit smoothie and for myself a strawberry milkshake.
I hope she’ll like it.
I make my way to our meeting spot, which luckily isn’t that far away from building C. The uni campuses are pretty centered compared to what it is like in some other European cities. Which means that I don’t have to cross the entire city to get to a different campus. I guess it's helped by the fact that this uni isn’t too terribly big either, plus it gives a nice sense of community. When I enter building A, I get almost overwhelmed by the smell of tomatoes and herbs. That means it’s probably tomato soup on the menu today. I walk past a menu card hanging from one of the many notice boards, confirming my suspicion. Tomato soup indeed, and today's special sandwich is the vegetarian deluxe.
Maybe I should eat that for lunch… meat every day is probably not that healthy for me… But meat though, it’s so good…. NO AMICIA, NO. Think healthy.
After the short distraction I continue on my journey to the top floor of the building until I hear my name being called halfway up to the third floor.
“Hey sweetie.” Sam comes running up behind me.
“Hello my love.” I say with a smile while looking behind me.
“I got you a smoothie, thought you might like it.”
“Ooh, nice. Summer fruits?”
“Yep!”
“That’s my favourite!”
I hand over her smoothie once she catches up to me.
“How did you know?”
“I didn’t, it was a guess really.”
“Oh? You know you could’ve texted me if you weren’t sure right?”
“I could’ve I guess, but I wanted to surprise you.”
“That’s very sweet of you.” She stops me for a second and gives me a kiss on my cheek.
“No problem.” I smile.
When we move up to the fourth floor the smell of tomato soup makes place for the disgusting smell of alcohol.
“What the heck.” I say out loud.
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t you smell that? It reeks of something that’s been marinating in alcohol for weeks.”
Sam inhales deeply. “Hmm, I can’t really smell anything, but my nose is always a bit blocked after training..”
“Hmm, it might be my over sensitive sense of smell too.”
“Could be.” Sam shrugs.
“Where the fuck is he!” A yell rings out from the floor above. The voice sounds strangely familiar.
“Now, that I heard.” Sam picks up the pace and opens the door of the fifth floor, probably to take a look at what’s happening.
The moment I catch up to her my entire body freezes and my milkshake falls from my hand, spreading its content on the floor. The source of the alcoholic stench… the person I’m staring at... is my dad.
“Amicia, what’s wrong?” Sam turns around with a concerned tone.
“I-I-I….” Words get caught in my throat and my body erupts in cold sweat.
“You there!” The sound of my milkshake hitting the floor pulled his attention to us. He starts approaching us with an aggressive step ”Have you bitches seen my faggot of a son?”
“Excuse me?” Sam steps more in front of me, trying to protect me from harm.
“Didn’t you hear me, you bitch? I’m looking for my son. The faggot ran away from home, we’ve called his sister but she isn’t answering her phone.”
“And why exactly do you think your son wants to see you?”
“S-Sam d-don’t…” My voice is almost inaudible.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
“Not to me, but to campus police.” She takes her phone from her pocket and starts dialing a number.
“No you won’t.” He rushes forward towards us. “He must have been corrupted by filthy gays like you two! I’ve had enough of your kind.” He spits as he charges. That’s when I notice a metallic glance, reflecting sunlight from the windows nearby.
“Watch out Sam, he has a knife!”
Sam looks up in surprise and luckily manages to dodge the first strike. Responding with a left hook punch of her own. I hear her phone crack as she goes for another swing with her right hand. Landing a solid punch on my father’s nose. He falls back but to my surprise no longer has the blade in his hand. He wipes off some blood from his face and laughs, that’s when I hear Sam whimpers in pain. Just before Sam landed the last blow he must’ve been able to stab her in her side. The knife still stuck in her up to its hilt.
“W-what...” I stagger back a meter, struggling to take in the situation.
“I’ve stabbed your filthy girlfriend you whore.” He smirks, standing back upright and slowly moving towards me.
“What have you done?!” I yell out as my vision goes dark red.
My father’s filthy smirk quickly turns to fear as I feel something sprout from my back, armour manifesting all over my body. Energy accumulates my hand, materialising into a black devilish looking longsword.
He cries out in fear as he struggles to run away, stumbling several times over.
“You aren’t going anywhere.” A sadistic laugh escapes my lips. The door on the opposite end of the hallway flings shut, the puny human crawling at the door like the piece of trash he is.
I slowly float towards him not saying a single word.
“Please… I beg of you!”
“You shall pay for your sins, everything you’ve done to me… What you’ve done to anyone… What you’ve done to Sam! I’ll send your soul to hell! Now DIE!” I raise my sword for a two-handed swing and bring it down with all the force I have, but suddenly a bright white light blinds me, forcing me to close my eyes.
“Stop!” A voice echoes through the hallway.
When I open my eyes the world around me is gray, my sword stuck in midair a centimeter apart from the skull of my target with the expression of fear stuck on his face. I try to pry the sword loose but nothing happens. Like everything else, it is stuck in time.
A hand touches my shoulder and a voice whispers. “Shhh. Amicia, it’s ok now.” The voice sounds like it belongs to a young woman.
I take my hand off the sword’s hilt and turn around. What I see I can only describe as angelic. A young woman is standing there in a long white gown, with long silver hair draped over her shoulders. She’s quite a bit taller than me but not inhumanly so.
She just stands there with a smile on her face, waiting for me to say something.
I can feel my focus coming back to me, the red haze that was going through my mind, fading second by second. I only notice now that the armour I’m wearing, like my sword, is pitch black with certain red accents, just like my wings.
Wait, I have wings?!
Most of the feathers are black as the night, like someone threw an angel in a pot of vantablack dye…
“A-Ami…” I hear Sam wince, making my attention shoot back to her. She seems to also be unfrozen in time and is stumbling towards me. Blood dripping from the knife stuck in her side.
“Wait right there Sam!” I glance at the angelic being, she’s still patiently smiling at me, and run over to Sam and sit her down on the floor.
“D-don’t worry S-Sam, I can fix this.”
“I-I know you can…”
I look at her wound, the knife still lodged in place.
“I’m going to have to pull this out first.”
She nods.
I put my hand on the knife but can’t stop shaking. Sam responds by laying her hand upon mine, trying to calm me down a bit. “I-I trust you Amicia.”
Her trust fills me with confidence.
“Okay, I’m gonna count to three.”
“Just yank it out!” She yells as to brace herself.
I nod and immediately pull, the knife quickly comes out.
Sam groans in pain as I immediately start healing the cut.
The painful look on Sam’s face dissipates. “Keep doing what you are doing love, I almost can’t feel it anymore.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” I keep pouring mana into Sam as she takes the bloody knife from the ground.
“A fucking serrated combat knife? What a prick.” She throws it against the opposite wall, bouncing off harmlessly. “By the way, like the aesthetic.” She laughs, still wincing a little.
“Uhh… Thanks… I don’t think I’m too terribly fond of it…”
She nods. “And who’s your angel friend?”
Now that Sam’s wound is mostly healed I look back to the lady in white, who’s creepily still smiling at me. “Good question…”
The lady walks up to us.
“We’ve met already, Amicia. My name is Veanya, but you might know me better as Granny.”
Me and Sam look at each other in disbelief.
“What?”