Chapter 17~~~ Sentencing
Lucia's POV
Blinding lights burn itself in my retinas as I peel my eyes open from the darkness. I am instantly forced to close my eyes against the glaring light. With a deep breath I try again once more to slowly open my eyes against the glaring white room, slowly easing my eyelids apart until I can see the world around me. Arching white walls shimmer around me like I'm standing in the middle of a mirage, all the same glowing white color, nothing like I expected Stagnum Ignis to look and extremely reminiscent of the walls of heaven.
Once established there is no imminent danger, I finally take note of the blinding pain radiating through my skull, leaving me gasping for breath. Only managing to force it out of my mind when my eyes alight on the two red haired figures lying unconscious on a raised platform across the room, the sight causing all the air escape my lungs.
"Ahreal? Carli?" their names slip out, barely a whisper but loud in the silent, too large room. I drag myself to my feet and move toward where they lay, only to be placed in my tracks right at the edge of the platform I seem to be placed in. Glancing around myself in confusion, I attempt to move forward again, only to have my foot stopped by an invisible barrier. Focusing on the space in front of me, I rest my hand on the barrier before me. Walking slowly around the perimeter with mu hand sliding along the barrier, I find that the walls run the entire way around me, a small square about two meters in size.
"Where are we?" I whisper, the only response more silence, until a groan sounds from the other side of the room and Carli rolls slightly to the side.
"Carli." I call again louder, "come on, wake up," Carli groans again, and her eyes flutter open, before she pushes herself up so she is sitting, facing me.
"Luc? Where are we? Where are the others?" she asks, the words echoing against the walls, too loud in the silence and I flinch at the noise, freezing for a moment, waiting for someone to enter and find us awake. When silence returns there is no sign of movement, I release the breath I didn't realize I was holding and reply.
"I don't know, but we have to find a way out before whoever brought us here comes back. Is Ahreal okay?" I whisper back. I look on the silence as Issa shakes Ahreal awake, causing the angel to groan in pain and clutch her head before opening her eyes to the blinding room around her.
"Do you know where we are?" She looks around herself, disorientation clear in her eyes, until the slow dawning of recognition replaces it and brief hint of fear flickers to the front.
"The Archial Command Center. In Heaven. Mikheal must have gotten to us before we…" her voice trails off as footsteps starts to echo off the walls moving towards us at a rapid pace. Heart racing, I wait in silence eyes never leaving the arched entrance far to the left as the footsteps come even closer.
As the commanding figure enters the expansive room, my eyes flick over to meet Ahreal's as her words are confirmed. Mikheal pauses in the arched entrance, his dark, emotionless eyes taking in taking in the three of us where we stand, unmoving, staring back at him. with confidence of someone in complete control of the situation he moves further into the room until he stands a few feet from Ahreal and Carli's prison.
"Ahreal I expected more from you. Working with Lucifer? I thought you were a dedicated member of our cause." His voice holds enough disappointment to have all of us doubting our actions, despite of his misunderstanding to what we are truly doing.
"Mikheal I." He raises his hand silencing Ahreal.
"You have a chance to explain yourself during your trial, until then, you will listen to what I have to say." Ahreal nodded in acceptance, despite the burning rage in her eyes, "You Ahreal stand accused of consorting with Lucifer an enemy of heaven and God himself, of breaking an oath and visiting the human father of your half breed child, and aiding known, powerful members of Lucifer's army in evading capture." As he speaks the anger on Ahreal's face grows, though it slowly becomes clouded my more than a hint of fear at the implication of his words; a trial means almost certain banishment either to Stagnum Ignis or to the mortal world where she just lost the love of her life. "Your half breed child will also receive trial for her sins; consorting with the enemy, and aiding wanted fugitives."
"Neither of them did anything wrong, they were both only trying to stop Lucifer." The words spring out of my mouth before I can stop them and I can only stare in the silence as Mikheal turns his gaze on me, hatred blazing across his face before he re-schools his expression to a blank slate of icy indifference.
"You are not to speak unless spoken to." He bites out his tone even icier than his expression, "As a known accomplice of Lucifer to destroy heaven, a half breed, and extremely powerful weapon that Lucifer created and trained to assist him in his futile attempts you have been sentenced," he paused for a moment as if to add to the weight of his hands but before I could pull myself together and argue his words finishes leaving me frozen in the place even when he turns and walks from the room, "to die."
All the air disappears from my lungs and I gasp for air. Fear sneaking its way through me as I listen to his footsteps mocking me with those words over and over; 'to die' 'to die' they seem to say even as the echo from the walls slowly fade to nothing. The only relief is that they won't send me back to Lucifer. If they kill me, yes, I wouldn't be able to hurt them, he wouldn't be able to use me against my family, but I wouldn't be able to stop him either. How can I protect them if I'm dead? In no time blazing anger forces the fear out, a red haze clouting my vision as a ringing sounds in my ear.
"We have to get out of here." I say cutting off the worried tirade of the two angels across from me. "We have to stop Lucifer before it's too late. And as far as I can tell Zak and I have the best chance of doing so. Ahreal is there anywhere out of here?"
"I don't know, this building is designed for the sole purpose of holding angels who break the laws of heaven and earth, it was designed after Lucifer created your brother. It blocks our abilities. Only an archangel knows so I have no idea how to get us out of here. I don't think it's possible without outside help." Her words soften the ever-burning anger in my chest. I pace the small space available to me. I have no idea how long we have before Mikheal or someone else will be back for us. I pause for a moment with a sigh and my eyes rest at the invisible ceiling above me. Knowing it is useless before I begin, I lift my wings, hoping against hope that the ridiculous notion will prove useful. When my hand meets the soft tingle of the barrier, my feet barely a meter of the ground, I let out a groan and drop back to the ground running my fingers through my tangled hair.
"What do we do?" I ask
"Well certainly you shouldn't be planning an escape; no angel or half-breed for that matter, can get out of those cells. Not unless they are released by an Archangel." A meek voice answers, growing louder as its owner creeps ever closer for whatever shadow she is hiding in.
"Who are you?" My words hang in silence long after the echoes recede, but whoever spoke does not reveal herself and if not for the similar looks in confusion written over Carli's and Ahreal faces I would have assumed I imagined to voice.
"I am a wingless, collected by Gabriael herself and chosen to remain with the angels to serve our Father." The voice spoke from directly behind me and I whirled, defensive despite the meekness of her voice and the harmless of the Wingless. A young girl who could barely be above 16 stood behind me the slight blur to her outline indicating the truth of her words; she is a Wingless, a human soul that was deserving of heaven and then chosen to remain with the angels rather than move into the human level of heaven.
"How did you get in here?" confusion laces my tone, and a small smile tilts her lips.
"As I said these cells are designed to keep angels in, not human souls. Gabriael sent me to deliver your meals." She murmurs, dipping her head to the tray in her hands. With a slight hesitation in my movements I step forward and accept the tray from her, barely having time to step back before she is once again in the open and carrying two more trays over to the opposite cell.
As food is delivered to Ahreal and Carli, my eyes drop to the tray I hold in my hands and I sit down as I realize we might as well eat while we figure out a plan. Lifting the bowl of broth from the tray my eyes fall on a piece of paper that had been hidden beneath the bowl. The word Lucia written clearly across the front. My heart stops beating in my chest as I reach for the paper with shaking hands.