Aura felt her body jerk to awareness as though something had grabbed her soul.
Hands splayed, she reached to the ground to steady her body, her vision rocking with each pulse of her heart.
When it all eventually slowed, her elbows were too weak to keep her propped up so she collapsed back onto mossy ground and groaned, trying to ride out the sudden wave.
"Hey," Murmured a concerned voice.
Strong hands wrapped around her torso and lifted her to a warm chest. "What's wrong?" It rumbled.
Those hands started to rub soothing circles into her back, easing the wave of nausea that wanted to consume her. "Hakeesee..." came the voice again.
"Am... Amo.." Her words were coming out slurred.
She felt her head being lifted by a pressing weight on either side of her face.
"Open your eyes." He said.
When had she closed them?
Perhaps they'd gotten heavy from her swaying vision.
But she did as he said and fought to open her eyes. It felt like a herculean effort, but she got there in the end. She was welcomed by the sight of achingly familiar grey orbs, white speckled and cloudy like a grey sky during a thunderstorm.
I love his eyes.
"Thank you." He chuckled.
Aura's cheeks burned.
"What's ... happening?" She just about managed.
She tried to focus on his face, but it kept moving.
Or was that her vision again?
Amos pressed her against his chest with a heavy sigh. "It's the first wave. You've started your iluo."
"... What?"
Despite never hearing the word before, she couldn't help but focus on the tinge of sadness she felt from him as he said that.
"Ilou. Your ascension. The last awakening of your powers." Those hands returned to rubbing gentle circles into her back. "Wings should come out of here soon. Not long now."
"If Im half human," She mumbled with a heavy tongue, "Would I still get wings?"
She felt him still thoughtfully beneath her.
"Truthfully, I have no idea how this will play out. Your the first nephilim born in the heavens in all of time," He explained, "The others were giants of the Adam's world who abused their strength and you're hardly 10 feet tall..."
Despite her delirious state, she cracked a smile.
"... You're very different. I forget you're half mortal most of the time." He mused.
"I want it to stop." She groaned with clenched eyes. Her head was starting to hurt.
"Go back to sleep." He began to stroke lazy circles into her scalp. "It'll pass when you wake up. I've got you."
With each rhythmic circle her limbs grew heavier.
"I had... a dream—" She tried to say.
But he cut her off with a gentle shush. And suddenly the dream didn't feel so important. What did, was this terrifyingly muscled body beneath her, and the soothing circles being rubbed into her head.
An owl hooted in the distance, and before she knew it, she was falling asleep to the warmth of a fallen angel.
Before she was taken to a land of dreams, she just about managed to mumble it out, "I remember. I know who you are."
The angel beneath her stiffened.
_
Aura woke up to a mouthful of fur and a lean, prowling body of muscle beneath her. She looked up to see a pair of ears, darting left and right to pick up on the sounds of the rainforest. Skye.
Why was she on Skye's back? She could have sworn she fell asleep against Amos.
Disoriented, she propped herself high enough to see what was happening around her.
To her left walked Hayden and Tanya, the former appearing disgruntled, the latter bouncing with her usual air of bubbling innocence. She found who she was looking for ahead of them, impossible to miss the wings so large they brushed against the floor.
He was cutting a path through dense shrubs, arms slashing tirelessly as though he ran on an endless supply of energy as though he hadn't been kidnapped just the other day. Aura noticed he was hiking up an incline that got greener the further up they went. They were supposed to be heading towards the merfolk, and she didn't need a compass to know that uphill meant further away from the ocean.
"Where are we going?" She managed.
And why does my jaw feel so heavy?
"Oh- Sleeping beauty is finally awake!" Tanya teased, her purple eyes glittering warmly. "Prince Charming over there woke everyone up and told us we're taking a detour."
"A detour?" Aura frowned.
"Something about ilou? I have no idea what that means." Tanya shrugged.
"Is it so important?" She wondered, letting her forehead fall against Skye's shoulders as the leopard carried her further on. "We need to get out of this realm."
It's important. Came his soothing voice. Not far now.
"How do you know where we even are?" Hayden questioned suspiciously. "No one's ever been to this side of the continent before. This is spirit grounds."
And indeed it was.
It only took Aura a quick glance to her left, where the shadows seemed unnatural to find something disembodied lurking. It wasn't the only one. And they were watching.
They didn't approach, but they seemed to stare eyelessly.
It was unnerving.
"Why aren't they attacking us?" She pondered.
"Fuck knows." Hayden grimaced, clearly as equally unsettled by the fact that they were surrounded. "It's been like this for hours."
At Aura's enquiring look, he continued, "You've been asleep for a long time. We've been walking for a while."
"Oh."
"Just ignore it." Tanya piped, "they haven't attacked thus far, I don't think they're a problem."
Like they were when one disguised itself as her soul mate.
Aura acquiesced and went the remainder of the journey silent.
Though it wasn't much longer however, until Amos hacked a final time and light broke through the muted darkness of the forest. "We're here." He announced.
He spent a moment longer cutting through stubborn shrubs, so that all of them would be able to comfortably slip through, before he went in to check the perimeter.
Aura bit her lip nervously, a weird sort of anxiety settling in now she couldn't see him. She shouldn't have felt as relieved as she did when he poked his curly haired head back in and gestures everyone to follow him.
"As you know," He started, as the lot of them moved forward. "Every world has a sacred corner tucked somewhere. Some multiple, others only one."
"I didn't ... know that actually." Hayden stumbled. Tanya, now a fireball of excitement didn't even wait for Amos to finish speaking, she bolted straight through.
And then screamed.
Startled, Aura sat up as Skye burst into action, whizzing passed the two males and ripped through the hole in the shrubs ready for battle.
Aura jumped to her friends defence, slipping off of Skye and moving to stand protectively in front of Tanya, (who had collapsed onto her knees) in a battle stance. Aura bared her teeth, searching for an enemy.
She found none.
Instead, what she discovered was akin to paradise.
Her jaw went slack.
"THIS HAS BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME?!" Tanya yelled hysterically, her face was burning red as though it were outrageous that something so pretty should be kept from her.
Because pretty was an understatement.
A large body of crisp blue water encompassed the ground in the shape of a full moon, breathing gentle steam. Rocks decorated the edges in various sizes, sizes of which accumulated the further back it went, and the pool went far, far back. From there a slate wall arose before stopping at what she assumed was Skye's height, and from where Aura was, she could see the same steam coming from somewhere in the middle. There was another wall behind it, a wall of water that fell and seemed to disappear into the body of liquid in front of them, but it never bubbled. It just seemed to... join.
There was something special about this place. So at odds with the savage jungle it's tucked inside.
Even the trees surrounding it seemed different here. They didn't dare break through for starters, they stayed a healthy distance away, surrounding the area rather than trying to become one with it. Where throughout the jungle they were jagged and imposing, the bark of these trunks seemed richer, an assortment of pastel coloured petaled flowers lined the branches, and some kind of iridescent bird sized v shaped spirit flittered between them. Even the sunlight that broke through here was warmer in tone, like an eternal shade of sunset that gave the water a glow.
Aura felt her muscles slacken. Something about the steam fought against tension she wasn't even aware of.
The air even tasted... sweet. Of a subtle kind. Gentle enough to please the senses but not overbearing in any way.
It didn't take long for Tanya to rip her clothes off and jump straight into the pool. Her messy red curls disappeared underneath, only to emerge stuck to her scalp. Her violet eyes were wide and brighter than Aura had ever seen before, and they stared straight at her with hidden intent.
It was too late when Aura realised what intent that was exactly, when she found herself suddenly submerged.
Tanya screamed with delight, her arms slipping around Aura.
Aura couldn't help but blush and feel slightly uncomfortable at the fact that she was pressed against a naked female body. But it was easy to shake off when she remembered it was her friend.
And then it wasn't long before the two of them played like children who had never seen water before.
It was deep. A lot deeper than it looked and left room enough for swimming.
She didn't know where it came from, this side of her that wanted to blow bubbles and splash at Tanya, duck her swipes and try to submerge her in her own. But she was happy.
And when a huge furry body slammed into her back and brought them both down, she squealed bubbles beneath the surface, locking onto a purple gaze that somehow came to the unanimous agreement to tag team against the grinning leopard, whose tongue lolled out of her mouth lazily as though she had done something spectacular.
Was it the water? It was warm, gentle. It almost seemed to caress her skin and brought her mind back to a happy time in her life. Before she came crash landing into this world.
Her headache completely disappeared.
The heaviness to her jaw was gone. There was nothing but this delicious warmth that seemed to penetrate further than into her body.
At some point in the middle of tumbling with a leopard and a Phoenix, Aura separated herself from the two and swam to the waters edge.
She folded her bare arms against rock and kicked her feet in a therapeutic rhythm as she locked eyes with grey orbs.
He had been watching her the entire time, eyes tense with a quiet emotion.
"How did you know about this place?" She asked with a wide grin. Her cheeks were flushed from the steam, and it seemed to bring out the blue in her gaze.
He didn't respond. He merely gave her a small smile, and began to approach her. She watched as he came to a crouch before reaching his arms out. Aura raised her own, allowing him to lift her out of the water. It was there that she realised his own skin was wet, the crusted blood from before was gone. He must've entered the water himself at some point without her noticing.
Wordlessly, he brought them to the sky and flew towards the slate wall Aura had picked up on earlier. The closer they got the larger it seemed, and she quickly noticed she was wrong to compare it to Skye's height.
Behind the slate wall, was a much smaller pool of pale blue water that sparkled.
The floor around it was grey rock. And that was it. Compared to the scenery she had witnessed before there wasn't much to it, but there was still something awfully intriguing about it. It was also where the ray of sun felt strongest.
Amos set them down by the pool.
"What is this?" She wondered aloud.
From here, she could see the others playing in the water, now joined by Hayden in wolf form who seemed to try to take on Skye.
From this distance, they were small. She could only vaguely hear the glee in Tanya's laughter.
"Happy birthday." Came his gentle, rumbling voice at her ear.
Aura's heart thrashed wildly when sinewy arms wrapped around her waist.
She smiled. She couldn't help it. "I don't know how you can tell in this world when time is so different."
She felt his quiet chuckle against her back.
"I hope this pleases you."
"I would have been happy with nothing." She rolled her eyes. "But yes... I'm happy. You didn't have to go through all this effort just for me though."
"The next few days are going to be difficult." He mused thoughtfully. "Ilou can be painful... I brought you here for the obvious effects, but also for your power."
At that, Aura turned to face him.
"What do you mean?"
Amos stepped aside to gesture to the pale blue of the pool nested in the middle of grey slate. "Do you know what this is?"
Aura moved towards it, gaze fixed intensely on the water. She reached out a finger and felt energy hum against the palm of her hands.
She almost flinch and retracted, had she not realised that it didn't feel ominous. It was intense yes, but not in a malicious way.
"The water is charged with divine energy." He explained. "It can also act as a conduit."
Her mind almost snagged on the word divine and what that meant for her when—
"For what?—" She responded, turning to face him disrobe.
Aura's cheeks burned so hot she wouldn't be surprised if they set alight.
She absently pressed a palm to her face hoping to cool down. She knew she shouldn't be so... affected by the mere sight of his skin when she had toed far passed a line of innocence at this point.
She knows that skin. She knows his body... at least she thought she did. At least the feel of it....
But then his tunic was on the ground, and it felt like she were in the process of living a core memory. Him with his muscular brown chest and rock solid abdomen, muscled to perfection. His skin caught a few rays of sun and for a moment he looked like he belonged in the museums they used to have in the Adam's world. Though not even the Greek sculptures could compare.
The angel ground her teeth shut in fear of salivating like a dog.
But then he began to untie his pants.
And she knew that was it for her.
The fabric seemed to tease her as it reluctantly pushed off his hips and fell to his ankles.
She tried so hard not to stare but she couldn't help it. It demanded attention. It wasn't something you could simply ignore.
This is it. She thought absently, her body jittering with nerves.
Aura skimmed furiously through her memories for all and any mention of se— cough, mating ritual, and exactly how it happens because that was the only conclusion she saw this coming to. All she remembered were vague pictures and descriptions in the study books that she was too shy to read thoroughly at the time... But she needed all the help she could get. Otherwise... how would she work with a size like that??
But here?!
Her eyes darted to the sparkling water, what it meant to be a sacred location. Would it be blasphemy?
Then he started to get closer. It was coming closer!
Please don't hyperventilate. She thought. It was too much for her little heart. Why am I acting like this??—Oh no I can't stop staring. Stop—stop it Aura.
But then his fingers latched delicately onto her jaw and lifted her head, giving her no choice but to look at his face. A regal face with crinkled eyes and lips pursued as though trying to contain laughter. "That's not what we're doing today."
Her eyes widened as though the sentence were outrageous, "But it can be." She said, brazenly reaching for it. He nimbly dodged her hand with a hearty laugh that could have knocked her off her feet.
"Take your clothes off." He grinned, though she didn't miss how much he was enjoying her suffering.
Aura's eyes narrowed. Two can play at that game.
She peeled off her sticky shirt and tossed it aside. "Like this?" She teased, noting the way his gaze fixed onto her perky breasts.
His smile slackened.
Then she turned around and removed her own leggings with a slowness that she knew would frustrate him. It seemed to cling to her crotch but when she finally snapped it off, his warmth enveloped her own when he lifted her with a single arm. With the other he pulled them off with a single swipe before setting her down on the ground.
"This is not to be the point of today." He repeated, with an indecipherable undertone to his voice. "Let me focus. Get in the water."
When he brushed passed her, her eyes would have glued onto the tight globes of his ass had it not been for the tattoos on his back. Scrawled in a foreign language, decorating his torso with an eerie glow to it.
Amos waded into the liquid with powerful legs. Stopping when it covered his hips as well as, she noted with dismay, his member.
When he turned back to look at her she could have gasped. He was glowing. This beautiful man was glowing as brightly as she did that night in her room.
His hair was wet and slicked back away from his face, and it brought her mind back to a carved Adonis. The contrast between his browned skin and grey eyes has always been stunning but right now with the way he shone like a star he could've been the most beautiful angel in the heavens she would have ever seen.
His felt surreal.
And it was this feeling of awe she just couldn't shake off as she treaded through the water to get to him.
When she was within arms reach his palms reached for her waist before she could sink too deep into water, guiding her forwards to float on her back.
Now she lay utterly naked before him, and nothing could stop her cheeks from burning.
"Relax." He spoke softly to try and ease any tension. As soft as that reverberating voice were capable of. "I'm going to touch you."
Aura's chest arose with a deep inhale. She didn't speak.
"Are you ready?"