❝God save thee, ancient Mariner
From the fiends, that plague thee thus
Why look'st thou so ? - With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.
Ah. well a-day. what evil looks
Had I from old and young
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung❞ - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Z O E W I L K E S
T H E A L B A T R O S S
P A R T TWO
II
Valour Academy
It was a while before everybody calmed down and retreated to their beds. For the school being a old and really frightening academy it was quite a surprise to learn that this bed really did feel like a luxurious cloud; I felt like I was floating. Amelia and Hannah were sound asleep, but I looked at the two spare beds. If six of us were here - the twins, me, Bart, Richard and Toadie. I wonder where everybody was, maybe they could’ve gone to heaven or hell. It was probably likely for Tiff to go to heaven but Tom? Nope if the bastard got to heaven before me, I’ll be questioning the angels. He might be down in hell, I snickered to myself. Jackson and Demi would probably be in heaven, they never swore, drunk or did something outrageously reckless. Why was I thinking about the idea of heaven and hell, I was agnostic so I wasn’t sure if there was a God or not.
I couldn’t help thinking about my Father’s family though, they were all catholics and deeply religious. They forced me to go to Saint Catherine’s. My Mum was the most materialistic person you probably could meet and she was never one for spirituality and Freya, well she was exactly the same but she often did ask questions and try to think about how things can function but I think that made her so much more talented at science. Me? I was never so sure. I have tried ouji boarding, went to Church and read the bible but each time, it was kind to hard to believe something like this might have happened. I’ve never been gullibe, I have always been hard to fool according to Toadie but on certain occasions I do try and believe things. When I tried the ouji board nothing happened, when I went to Church with my Father’s Grandmother , the vicar couldn’t answer my questions and said it was all about belief, and reading the bible I found it to hard to trust it. Then again, something in my brain was telling me there has to be more than this when I was doing all my coursework, exams and my part time job as a waitress.
Who was Puerum? What power did he have? Why was we here? What did Belphegor mean about a albatross? What was even an albatross? Wait shouldn’t I be in heaven or hell? I was to tired to process everything. So was I understand this was a school. ‘Valor Academy’, was this a school for the dead? Was this the afterlife? No I watched the Angel Beats anime and I don’t have the stomach for that. I hope there was a chance that I was still alive.
Hell, I needed a drink to stomach all of this.
What kind of school let demons wander around on their own free will? Maybe, they didn’t have their own free will, I deduced.
I needed to explore this school, I needed to learn who people are and I needed to see Professor Momento. That was on the top of my to do list but as I got out of bed I realised that I was still in my Saint Catherine’s uniform. These were my only clothes, so I guess it was goodbye to my leather jacket, converse and skinny jeans for a little while. I went outside of my dorm room to see that Belphegor was watching me.
“ And where are you going Mistress?”
“ Get the fuck away from me,” The rope burn was still there and I didn’t trust him.
“ That is your three thousand and thirty first sin right there,” Belphegor laughed right there.
“ So you know all my sins?” I asked, my stomach dropped, there were somethings that I was not proud of.
“ No I don’t have the power to know all of them, I only know your number which is your albatross,” Belphegor finished.
“ To be honest Belphegor I don’t like the sins, how can the bible say it’s a sin to be gay, fat and proud?” I thought of Ryan, how he was tormented throughout of his life and he turned into the mess because of God.
“ I told you not to question the reality Mistress,” Belphegor laughed. “ If you want my opinion though, all the Gods up there are just as bad as me, they may consider himself perfect but perfection is overrated, they like everything to fit together.” Belphegor paused as he was deep in thought while I on the other hand was just confused on what to think about everything, there was more than one God? “ Mistress, I think you need to go to the library.” The teal demon started to show me the way as I followed him.
I really didn’t know what to think of Belphegor. Was he my friend or foe? I couldn’t trust him.
I stared out of the Academy’s windows, the red skies had turned to black and there was a red moon. Not a single star was in the sky, it was like the Academy had defied the stars. The celestial white forcefield had surrounded us, the school obviously wanted to keep something out that was another question added to my list - What were they keeping out? There was so much to speculate about.
“ Belphegor how many demons reside here?” I questioned him as he led me down a flight of stairs.
“ Three princes of hell such as myself and probably thirty in total I imagine, but soon it’ll turn to four Princes of Hell,” Belphegor grinned, showing his yellow golden teeth.
“ One of my friends is a demon?” I deducted straight away. Now I was in fear of this place.
“ You’ll see Mistress, anyways we are here,” Belphegor turned his back on me as I turned to face a white marble door.
“ STOP! You do not have permission to enter,” The door revealed a reflection of a beautiful womanly angelic face. “ I’m Deuel one of the under angels to the head angel Harahel, the angel of knowledge, you do not have permission to enter this sacred library.”
“ Why did the demon Belphegor bring me here?” I asked Deuel.
“ Deuel, she does not know about her albatross and how to bring it down, I’m assuming that her friends won’t know either and if these are the guardians according to the prophecy, how do you expect them to protect us all?” Belphegor creeped up on the mirror.
“ Get away from my reflection you traitor!” Deuel shouted as she backed away from the demon, it was like his existence inflicted pain on her, the way she acted. Deuel reminded me of Hannah. “ And fine I’ll have to take this case to Harahel.”
“ What case do you wish to bring me young Deuel?” Harahal entered the reflection. Harahal was a muscular man, who was slightly rounded. He wore a white gown and he reminded me of the paintings, I saw in a art gallery once when Saint Catherine’s had a school trip.
“ Can a sinner go into the hallowed halls of the cherished, solemn and our beloved library of Esther?” Deuel asked Harahal.
“ The custos needs to learn of her Albatross and how to defend herself against it, so she can start her training properly and if Momento was right about them beating... beating him,” Harahal finished uncertainly. “ This is what we’ll do, we’ll give you a promise to see if make you worthy to enter the library of Esther.”
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. Queen Esther said this to her cousin Mordecai so that she could save the Jews, Esther showed her spiritual courage, how much she was prepared to sacrifice and her influence, that’s why one of our libraries is named after her,” Harahal explained. “ Do you promise to exhibit the same qualities as Queen Esther and when in time me and my partners turn to you, requesting your help, you’ll eventually become one of us?”
“ Stop this!” Professor Momento entered the hallway. “ Zoe is not intended to become one of the angels, you know perfectly well that I can have you cast down for this Harahal!” Professor Momento looked like he had been feeling betrayed while Belphegor stood beside him guilty as Snake had him in chains.
“ You’ll regret this Momento! I will have the doors closed to Esther, Mary and Vashati forever!” Harahal exploded.
“ You can’t do that Harahal Momento has the power over Vashati! The Guardians took that library off you!” Snake’s vain popped out.
“ We’ll soon get the sacred Vashati library back!” Deuel piped up.
“ Very well Harahal, old friend, please be gone,” I turned and looked at Momento his eyes were full of betrayal and I looked down at the elf who turned away from me in anger. These hallways were translucent white and the gleamed, the hallways were obviously pure and holy. I stared at the amazing portraits of the angels, then I looked at the proclaimed Prince of Hell but it was Snake who supplied the answers.
“ You wanted to go back to Heaven didn’t you Belphegor?” Snake hissed, pulling on his chains.
“ Yes, I’m sick of rotting down here, I want my wings back, I want my freedom,” Belphegor roared.
“ Well you shouldn’t have been so lazy,” Snake spat. “ You aren’t the first Belphegor of Sloth remember, think back what happened to the last, he ceases to exist and now that’s the direction you are now heading! Damn you back to Satan, you bastard!” Snake roared, as Snake and the rest of the soldiers I saw before showed up and took Belphegor away.
“ Never trust a demon Zoe,” Professor Momento looked up at me and gracefully left.
* * * *
I went back to bed, everybody was still asleep. How could they sleep, knowing that four of our friends or in Tom’s case acquaintance, are missing? I’m a worrier, so I guess that’s the reason why I was not sleeping. Amelia had to started to stir and Hannah stretched her arms, I guess everybody was waking up but I looked out it was still black outside. Then again, we weren’t on Earth as the white forcefield kindly reminded us.
This was going to be shitty, Hannah started to scream as she woke up.
In the matter of fifteem minutes, Amelia and Hannah, arguing. I just stood there always the quiet one and paced around the room trying to ignore them both. So what had happened when me and Toadie left if there was no heaven or hell? I pondered. Something felt wrong and I didn't think it was this place but this place did feel eerie, I felt like we were being watched by someone else; someone who was easy to see but we couldn't see him because this person was playing a game with us.
" This is all your fault!" Amelia screamed.
" How this is my fault..? " Hannah looked confused as did I.
" Your stupid boyfriend, got us into this detention why couldn't you have just said no to skipping class? What was so important for you both to get Tiff & Toadie into trouble?" Amelia bellowed.
“ Are you actually for real Amelia? Talk to the hand, it was our anniversary you bitch!” I literally facepalmed.
The two girls started swinging insults at each other, Amelia's eyes were flashing, Hannah was swearing at her. But in a moment I saw Amelia looked hurt and Hannah looked vulnerable. Amelia muttered something then Hannah pounced on her. I had enough of them both.
“ STOP IT!” I shouted. “ Stop being so self-centred and get your shit together, incase you haven’t noticed we are in a academy and we are in the middle of this super crazy mystery with four of our friends missing and your boyfriend is missing Hannah! What the fuck is wrong with you?” I lost it, probably because my head was banging with all these questions and I just generally felt like shit.
I need a shower. Badly.
" Sorry I feel like my body was changing, almost like a power was building up inside me and I felt it even more when we were frozen..." Hannah started to explain and Amelia said she felt suspicious as well, when I explained I felt like crap and I couldn’t sleep. It must be because of something to do with this place...
We heard a massive crash into the door, it was some students, two fairies and a superhero...? They ushered us into another room that was full of clothes and shoes, bags and jewellery. They all look tailored and very expensive. Professor Momento stood in the middle of the room, while Bart and Toadie even more confused than us, stood at the other end of the room.
“ Who cares about clothes, I want a shower and some food,” I whined as the Professor just gave me that look. That infamous look which means just shut up now. I need sleep, so I glared at him.
" Now I need to tell you six all of you are Guardians, this means that every single one of you are destined to protect the academy, eventually one day you will all be teachers here. This means that you have every single power stored within you and you can use it to protect everyone, but these powers don't come easily you are going to have to learn them all by taking lessons here!" Professor Momento finished.
“ Ugh more school,” Richard sunk down into a heap of clothes defeated while everyone else groaned.
" What does this room have to do with it?" Amelia asked.
“ You’ll figure it out,” The Professor left the room.
" I think he wants us to pick a costume," I muttered irritably.
She did have a point, the room was covered in costumes from a Green Lanterns costume to a Witch’s Dress.. to a Ninjas outfit... to a sparkling red dress. Was this a inside joke to have superhero costumes? Richard, Bart and Toadie started to amuse themselves by trying on batman and robin costumes then forcing Toadie into the batgirl one while I sat there laughing.
" I want wings!" Amelia cried.
" I want a tiara!" Hannah yelled.
" What do you think you were getting an actual costume? I was only going to let you pick out your school uniform and get extra clothes!" Professor Momento entered the room again and laughed, I looked down at my own school's uniform blue tartan. Finally I will get out of these clothes.
Then he left, while Amelia who had a similar taste to Hannah in fashion were already fighting over a top. Bart went to pick a denim jacket and Toadie and me were left standing, not knowing what to do. Me and Toadie were forever in our skinny jeans, tracksuits and baggy jeans and converses, but all these clothes were tight-fitted and were made to suit people like Hannah, Richard, Tom and Bart.
" Ok lets try and help each other out..." Toadie said.
We went around the aisles, we were thankful there was converse and skinny, and then we split up for a while to get pyjama's and stuff, Hannah and Amelia had bags full of stuff while Bart only picked out of a couple things but everyone was busy. Bart moaned every time Hannah picked up something pink. I decided to experiment and follow Amelia’s lead by getting some leggings, skater skirts and peter pan collar tops. What was left to do was formal wear and tops, Toadie just picked some casual suits and things out. While I was stuck then I saw it, it was a short white mini - dress with daisies that covered it, I thought it looked lovely then I was done.
" Finished?” Momento appeared out of no where and I got a massive shock, then the bags disappeared and he said the stuff was in our rooms. He said our friends arrived apart from one girl, who was still missing. So it was either Demi or Tiff, still missing. The same people who took us from our rooms ushered us back into and once we appeared in our rooms. A massive timetable appeared on the door, what classes at 2AM? It was Demi....Demi was here! Me and Amelia give her a massive hug but then we looked at the timetable, ourselves they had weird times and it was nine lessons per day.
" What they still have maths here?" I groaned, they had normal lessons as well as Potions class, Shadow Realms learning, Training your magical pets...well getting a pet was an upside!
" Wait before I forget... what happened with you all when me and Toadie went down the massive black hole?" I asked.
" Zoe..." A voice came from the corridor while I told the girls I was going to get Toadie which was a lie because I didn't even know which room Toadie was in but I kept hearing someone call my name which I didn't like at all. I ran out into the corridor.
He was perfect.
I just stared in amazement at the perfection that was in front of me, he looked like a work of art. The man’s jaw appeared like it was chiseled, he had rough golden hair and pearly smooth pink lips.
" I'm Peuerum & Zoe will you please meet me at the gates tonight..." I have something to tell you.
" How do you know my name?" I asked.
" Shh...my love....." Wait? WHAT! This was getting to creepy for my liking. I know this was some sort of magical academy but there was something stirring within me saying no Zoe don’t trust this guy. My instincts have always been right and they haven’t failed me yet, Belphegor being a prime example.
" My love meet me at the gates tonight," I wasn't letting this guy go so fast.
" What I'm not your love!" I demanded an explanation.
" All will be explained, just come to the gates, I’ll tell you about the albatross,” He disappeared and then I got the shock of my life when Toadie came out of his room. Great all five guys were here, Richard, Tom and now Jackson was confused.
“ Hey Jackson!” I waved awkwardly.
“ Aren’t you going to say hi to my awesomeness, don’t worry I’ll save everybody,” Great the king of cockiness came back. If this douchebag is going to save everybody we are in trouble.
“ We haven’t got a hope in hell then,” Jackson spoke in his emotionless voice, stating what everybody was thinking.
“ Agreed!” Everybody spoke simultaneously.
“ There’ll be a day where you’ll be begging for my awesomeness and after the horrors I’ve witnessed at that castle, you are going to need it!” Tom turned around.
“ What castle?” Bart grabbed him.
“ Don’t touch me Norman,” He grunted.
“ Tell me what you know about this castle,” I said.
“ Me, that idiot, Demi, and Tiff were stuck in this grey castle, everyday was like a black out and I don’t remember much but we were greeted by this white vapour, saying that this war keeps raging on, death will play his hand and you will perish Daughter of Eve, he spoke those words to Tiff,” Jackson answered.
“ Where’s Tiff?” Bart asked worriedly.
“ I don’t know now get off me,” Tom was getting angry.
“ I honestly don’t know Bart, when Snake and the other soldiers came for us, this white vapour had took Tiff away but the strange thing was, is that man started to cry when we mentioned that the white vapour thing took Tiff away,” Jackson’s normally had a emotionless face but you could almost see that there was a hint of anxiety.
“ We definitely need answers,” I stated.
“ No shit captain obvious,” Tom snorted.
“ Bugger off arsehole,” I responded as I walked away, trying to collect my thoughts.