The White Rose

Chapter 6 - Moths to flames, waves to shores and Leila to Christian.

“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other” - Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein).

The noise in my head faded for a while, but it was still nagging at the back of my mind. My wings ached, so I decided to fly above the countryside to reach my destination. I flew at a steady pace for about half an hour. Then I realised the pulse was becoming stronger and stronger again. I was there. The same forest I’d felt drawn to once before stood before me. I landed softly, my wings brushing up leaves from the floor, making them fly around me.

I took a deep breath and walked through the trees. The smell of damp earth enveloped my senses and I could hear the sound of running water in the distance. The trees towered over me like statues in a living museum, their voices merely whispers in the wind. Their thin trunks were wet, moss creeping up the side and needles falling to the ground, pirouetting in the air before landing without a sound.

With every step, the noise in my head grew louder. The trees’ whispers turned into a rhythm that mirrored the beat in my mind. It sounded like footsteps, like the trees themselves had come alive and were advancing toward me, yet they remained where they were. Those statues, those weary giants, they were mocking me.

I couldn’t bear it. Thud, thud, thud. Louder and louder and louder until... Nothing. My mouth was wide open. I had been ready to scream, to turn and run. But it had stopped. A twig snapped underneath my foot as I took one more step. I was at the top of a small hill, overlooking a creek. The murky water ran quietly, slithering through the earth like a liquid serpent.

I flew onto a branch that stretched across the small stream and sat silently, my head resting against the trunk. All I could do was wait.

(Christian’s point of view)

I had been sent to kill her. A dark angel who threatened Aria’s plans. I had been hearing a strange beating noise inside my head for the past few days and the only reason I had even thought to enter the forest was that noise. It seemed... stronger somehow. Aria herself had sent me to kill this angel, even though I was neither a fallen angel nor a spider… I didn’t really know what I was. I was weak. I knew that much. I had joined Aria’s army to stay alive. It’s what I had always been good at. I never wanted to kill, but she gave me the ultimatum that she gave everyone under her command. Kill or be killed.

As I reached the small stream, I saw her, and I knew at that moment that I could never lay a hand on her. She was almost impossibly beautiful.

She had snow white hair, skin as pale as a vampire’s and icy blue eyes, which were fixated on the dew drops that were suspended in the air; each one catching rays of the sun in its reflection, creating the illusion that they were tiny drops of sunlight. She stood up, pulling a leaf out of her hair and stretching her magnificent wings, the colour of which matched her hair. She looked familiar. I took a step forward so I could see her more clearly.

A twig snapped under my foot and I froze; my eyes wide. The angel stood silently, barely breathing, her suddenly hostile eyes scanning around, trying to see behind the branches which were helping to hide me. After a few minutes of standing, watching and listening, she sat down and exhaled, shutting her eyes slowly.

It took me a while to decide whether to go back to Aria, tell her I failed and be killed or step into view and most likely be killed by the angel. In the end, my curiousity took over. I knew her from somewhere. I wanted to find out where.

I walked towards where she was sitting. Her head snapped up and she hissed. She flew at me and I moved out of the way as quickly as I could but I wasn’t quick enough. She grabbed me by the throat with one hand and set fire to the other, the bright blue flames resembling the colour of her eyes and nothing but a skeletal hand underneath them. She pinned me to the ground, our faces just a few centimetres away. I could feel her warm breath against my face.