By Catherine
The breeze mysteriously came back to life, and Kitari could hear the crickets singing again. The owl continued its hooting, relieved that the evil presence it had felt was no longer a threat.
Getting up from the wet grass, Kitari walked down the long, winding path. It was now in the very early morning, and the temperature was colder than what she preferred. She could still see the stars. “Those lovely stars,” Kitari thought as she gazed upon them, “so free and far away from this madness. This chaos has gone on for far too long. I can’t take it any longer…”
“We will make it, Kitari,” a voice whispered behind her back.
Kitari spun around, with a faint smile on her face, as she saw a figure which had just started to materialize. The shaggy white hair came down to the angel’s ears; his violet eyes sparkled with laughter, even though there was a hint of sorrow; his transparent skin seemed to shine unnaturally in the moonlight, while his white garment flowed all around him.
“I knew you’d come back,” Kitari said, stepping forward to give Jakara a closer inspection.
What she saw made her face turn a ghostly white. Both of his pearl-white wings were torn, with violet blood oozing from the wounds. Peering at his face, she gasped when she realized that there was a ‘Z’-shaped gash running down his left eye.
“He didn’t injure me ba—” Jakara began to say.
“You’re wounded badly!” she shrieked, jerking her hand towards him and touching the skin near his wound. “Here, come home with me. I’m sure I’d be able to bandage it all—”
“No, Kitari!” Jakara gently pushed her hand away. “These wounds will never heal.” He sighed as he looked at Kitari’s confused gaze. “Demon-inflicted wounds do not heal that simply. I would need to go back to my Master and have the healers look at me, but that would mean—”
“Leaving me,” Kitari finished. She knew it would somehow come to this. Druian was right. He would slowly let go of her, and when that happened, Druian would be able to take control over her. She was weak, fragile… everything that would permit her to become demon-possessed.
“When will you leave?” Her voice was nearly choking, holding back the tears.
“I never said I was going to leave you, Kitari.” Jakara looked down upon her, with a boyish smile on his face, revealing a row of sharp white teeth. He tried not to grimace as he slowly fluttered his wings. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’m not leaving you, no matter what. You need protection from Druian.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, meaning it with all her might. She still couldn’t bear the sight of seeing his glorious wings like that. “The wound, on your face, does it hurt much?”
“It brings me much sorrow, but not too much pain.” He blinked slowly, hiding his violet eyes from her sight. Focusing on her again, Jakara took his turn to do the observing. He gasped. “Kitari,” he murmured, reaching his hands for her arms, “this has to stop… the cuts, the scars…”
“Yes, I know, but—”
Jakara put his finger to her lips, silencing her, and said, “There are no buts about it. Druian is going to pay for this.”
Kitari lowered her face, making her able to speak again, and continued the sentence which had been interrupted. “But if you can endure those wounds inflicted upon you, and claim we are in this together, I then shall take some of the bodily injury also…” Her voice hushed into a whisper as she saw confusion slowly twist onto his face.
Jakara retorted, “Kitari, don’t be ridiculous! Don’t even think such things!” Walking her down to a fallen tree log, which was on the side of the dirt road they had been standing on, motioned her to sit down. It was now nearly four in the morning, and, even though he wasn’t tired, he knew she was exhausted. “You’re the one whom Druian wants to overpower. For what purpose, I don’t know if I can tell you. I don’t think you could grasp what he could possibly want with you of all people. You are under more pressure and evil than I think even you realize, Katari.” His lip trembled; he took hold of her hand firmly. “If he takes over your body, he would be capable of such evil as to put you to death, or even something worse than death…”
“Wor- worse than death? What do you mean?” Kitari looked puzzled. Nothing she knew of was worse than death.
Sighing, Jakara dropped her hand, as though he was not ready to tell Kitari the truth of the situation. He looked up to the stars, pondering over how this had come into being. He had been protecting this child ever since she had come into existence on this Earth.
Fourteen years after she was born, a sudden evil presence, barely detectable, had crept into her soul. He had felt it, though unaware of its danger, had let it pass out of his thoughts. What a mistake he had made; the evil had grown. By the time he had a chance to look back into the quickly growing presence, it had been too late. She had almost been completely overtaken. That night, the night of her 18th birthday, he had faced the demon in one-on-one combat inside the girl’s soul. The demon had nearly overpowered him, and he had been left weak, barely able to cast the demon out.
He had not yet completely failed her, though; this was not the end. He would defeat him, making up for the times he had ignored her pain, the times when she had complained about bad dreams.
“Jakara, what will Druian do to me, if he takes control?” Kitari repeated, bringing Jakara back to Earth. She couldn’t take the silence anymore; she needed to know.
“I am,” he trailed off, but then became firm, “suspecting he will tempt you into evil by telling you he can offer you godly power, until your spirit cannot bear it anymore. Your spirit will weaken. Once you give fully into evil, he will possess you, causing you to fall down and worship pure evil, as if it were my Master: pure good. You will come to not only love the unlovable but you will think you need it. Being possessed, you will not hesitate to do the deadliest and most vile things known to exist. You will die like that, and what’s left of your soul will go down into the Abyss, forever to be tormented.”
He looked at Kitari, hoping he had made the right choice in telling her. Her face looked as if it was in shock; no, she was in shock. He had known it would be too extreme for her to handle, but it needed to be said; she needed to know what they were truly up against.
“I don’t feel so good,” she said, her eyes opened wide.
Kitari suddenly went limp, fell off the log, and hit the wet ground.
Quickly, feeling bad he didn’t react fast enough, Jakara went to Kitari and lifted her limp body into his arms, softly moving the brown hair out of the poor girl’s face.
Jakara whispered a prayer into the heavens, his lips barely visible in the moonlight. He hoped his prayer would be heard and answered; it would make things much easier.
His prayer was answered.
A large purple spiral suddenly flashed into sight in front of the two figures, which looked like the sun compared to the darkness around it. It was a portal, which Jakara needed to transport Kitari to a different location.
Jakara unfolded his wings and took flight, soaring into the portal with the unconscious Kitari still in his arms.
She never felt the soft covers thrown over her body.
To be continued...
