NOELLE’S POV,
It is still dark when Gabriel and I arrive at Hallow Forest. It seems no one has arrived yet. All of a sudden it goes silent everywhere around us.
”Gabriel? I have a bad feeling about this,” I say anxiously.
The ground begins to shake, and hundreds of dark humans seem to emerge from the forest. I see fear in Gabriel’s eyes, and I get ready to fight. I look at Gabriel and he is whispering, ”I am sorry.”
Before I know it, he has hit me with a lightning bolt which makes me fly into the bushes. I cannot move or speak, and I just lay there hidden watching Gabriel fight while I cannot do anything.
”That bastard did this on purpose to save me,” I think to myself.
I watch Gabriel hit dark human after dark human with his lightning. But there are too many so at one point a dark human manages to sneak up on him and put some kind of collar around his neck. The moment the collar goes around his neck all Gabriel’s powers seem to disappear. Gabriel gets knocked out and the dark humans take him with them into the forest.
”NOOO!” I scream inside my head and tears slide down my cheeks. It takes 30 minutes before I can move my body again. I struggle to get up and quickly limp into the forest. It is not hard to follow the trail of a group of dark humans so large. I start running when my body seems to be working again and I follow the trail for a while. I slow down when I hear drums and laughter. I slowly approach and hide behind a big tree to see what they are doing.
Gabriel is tied to a big rock, and he has knife cuts over his whole body. His head is hanging on the side because he seems to have passed out. One of the dark humans is just starting to carve the name Hades on his chest. I feel sad and angry at the same time when I see what they did to Gabriel.
“I have finally found a good guy, so I am not going to let them take him from me,” I think to myself.
I don’t care that I am outnumbered by 1 to 100. I would rather die than let Gabriel suffer any further. I channel all my anger and walk into the open spot.
“Hej! You better put down that knife or you will regret it,” I shout.
All their heads turn and the one carving Gabriel’s chest speaks up, “Ow my look what the cat dragged in. Another piece of art for us to sculpt.” The other dark humans laugh viciously.
“You better step away from him right now,” I say with a threatening voice.
The dark human looks at me amused, ”What are you going to do about it beautiful?”
I give him a deviant smile and say, “Don’t you worry about that.”
I let some of my anger out and dark clouds emerge. The sky turns pitch black, stars disappear, and rain starts to pour down. My eyes are as black as the sky and when I clench my fists thunder and lightning come down from the clouds.
The dark human is not smiling anymore. “Get her,” he commands the others.
They all come running at me with high-pitched battle screams. To buy me some time I command all the air that is near to gather around me and create a big tornado blowing around me. My hair is blowing in the wind and electricity is crackling around me. I focus my thoughts and throw my arms to the side. The air shoots in all directions the dark humans get blown away and fall to the ground. Trees and bushes get blown off the ground as well and crush some dark humans on their path. While the remaining dark humans try to get up, I start to make a massive air bubble from all the rain. I concentrate and levitate the water above all the dark humans around me. I slowly lower it so that they are all trapped in the water. Once I have every one of them covered in water, I turn it into ice. Then I look at Gabriel and build up all my anger inside with my arms against my body. When I feel like I can’t hold it anymore I let it go and open my arms with a loud scream, “WRRRAAAHHHHHHH.” The ice shatters into tiny pieces and all the dark humans have pulled apart. Limbs are laying everywhere but none of them are alive.
The only one that is left is the one that was carving Gabriel. He holds his knife and stands in a fighting position. I walk to him with a furious look on my face and with a blow of wind I let him fall on his back. I kick him in the face, take his knife, and put it straight into his heart. I quickly run to Gabriel I hold his face in my hands and try to wake him up.
“Gabriel? Gabriel? Wake up please!” I whimper. My heart sinks to my chest when I see how bad he is bleeding. I quickly get him off the rock and lay him on the ground. I take off the collar but still, there is no reaction. I start crying and I feel panic coming up.
“Get it together Noelle. Think about what you learned from Faith today. Maybe you can save him,” I think to myself.
I take a few deep breaths and gather some rainwater. I feel so sad and depressed thou that it seems impossible to produce light music right now.
“Think Noelle, stay calm, and think about all the good memories with Gabriel,” I tell myself.
I close my eyes for a moment and think about the first time I met Gabriel how handsome I thought he was. I remember his smell of pinecones, fresh snow, and musk. I think about him saving me from Hades. I think about him giving me back my freedom and teaching me how to trust again. I think about how he looks at me and about how it feels to dance with him. Lastly, I think about how it felt when he kissed me, and my stomach seemed to explode into butterflies.”
I smile a little bit and then my hands are filled with light. I combine it with the water and then look at all the wounds on Gabriel’s body.
I realize just going back and forth with the water over the wounds is not going to be enough. I decide to try something based on instinct, but I have no idea if it will work. I take the healing water and let it melt inside his body. I imagine it going into his blood vessels and spreading through his whole body. I imagine his body being filled with light and healing from the inside. I move my hands over his body in flowing movements and whisper, “lux sanitatem.”
When I look again his body seems to glow in the dark. When the light dims out, I look at his face hopeful that he will wake up. I put his head on my lap and stroke his hair. I feel like I just got kicked in the stomach and I start crying, “Gabriel please come back to me. I can’t lose you. I love you!”
I put my face on his chest while I sob, and rain keeps coming down on us. We both lay there in the rain and thunder, and I feel like I don’t care anymore what would happen. I just lay there holding Gabriel because without him nothing makes sense. Through my eyelashes full of tears, I look at the dark sky when I see a shimmer of gold emerges.
HADES POV,
With a loud bang 2 big feet land on the ground of the open space. Everything goes quiet and it seems like all the light has disappeared. Hades looks around the open spot and sees body parts lying everywhere. Trees have fallen and the ground is uneven. It looks like a big storm has passed through. He walks around the open space and notices that there is a collar lying next to a big rock. He walks towards the rock and sees that one of his generals is laying there and still breathing. He sits down and grabs the general by his shirt.
“What happened here?” he asks with a cold voice.
The general has problems speaking, “G…. g…. got attacked.”
He spits blood while speaking. Hades doesn’t seem to care. “By how many?” he asks.
The general coughs, “Just one. She killed all of us with magic. I have never seen it before so many different kinds of magic by one person.”
Hades his eyes go dark, “Did she use mind or fire magic?”
The general shakes his head. Hades gets up, “Good, I better go talk with our little Sea King. Curious to find out who this lady is. Maybe it wasn’t Gabriel that killed my daughter after all.” The generals breathing becomes raspier by the second.
“Please my lord heal me,” he begs.
Hades looks at him stoic and asks, “Before I forget is Gabriel dealt with?”
The general gasps for air. “He seemed dead, my lord,” he answers.
Hades walks away smiling and the general’s eyes become full of panic. “My lord? Don’t leave me,” he begs.
Hades does not look back and summons a portal. He walks through the portal right into the Sea Realm.