Creativenovelist's Blog

Okay. Hi.

Hope you’re doing great. I’m not. NaNoWriMo isn’t exactly going well so… I’m screwed. Also, I don’t think I’ll be working much on my novel the following weeks. I am participating in a novella competition for the local newspaper, so I will focus on that instead because it needs to be in on the 25th of January… And I’m planning to make it at least 9k words long. Jep. I know it’s a lot. In the meantime, I’ll release you from the awful poems I’ve posted recently and present you the next part of my novel Oh, and right, if you’re Swedish and like to write, be sure to check out the competition I talked about. You can find it here: http://www.bt.se/kulturnoje/skriv-en-novell-och-vinn-5000%283029247%29.gm ! Please notice that you have to go to High School or be 16-20 years old. Yes, I know I’m 15, but I go to High School, so I should be able to participate. At least I hope so. So, without any further adue, enjoy my novel! :>

Trish stayed at my house for the night. He had promised me to talk about leaving the next day, but he was tired and he just wanted to go to bed. He slept on the couch in my room. Even though we had fought a little that evening, we agreed on at least one thing: There was no way that we were going to school the next morning. All Angels would know about everything by then: Tiffany being Trish’s Hunter, me having made the Promise for Trish, Tiffany having passed out and they would all assume that Trish and I would leave. And they were right, if I could talk Trish into leaving. Plus, we’d only get about four hours of sleep, and that was rather uncomfortable. There was a thunderstorm that night, and it rained very heavily. Trish complained about the weather, but I was lucky because I fell asleep just after a couple of minutes.
The next morning I woke up to see that Trish had left the couch. I took a shower, dressed, put some make-up on and went downstairs to the kitchen. It was good to have a small house for myself, that was the good thing about being orphaned and emancipated. Well, I wasn’t really orphaned – both of my parents were Angels, so I didn’t really consider them my parents anymore. But officially I was orphaned and emancipated. Trish stood by the fridge and was obviously looking for something to eat.
“Morning. Don’t bother looking for food, there’s nothing in the fridge. I haven’t been shopping yet.”, I said and smiled.
“Good Morning. Did you sleep well?”, he asked and turned around.
“Yes, I did, thank you. You didn’t because of the weather, right?”, I grinned. He smiled and nodded, and I noticed the dark rings under his eyes.
“Did you sleep at all?”, I asked concerned.
“Nah, not much at least. Hey, let’s go out for breakfast, I’m hungry.”, he said.
“Yeah, me too.”, I replied. And off we were, wandering through the park, on the way to a place to eat. The town was very small after all, but there were quite some things one could do. We had a mall, a grocery store, some smaller foreign food shops, a lot of restaurants and over 7 Starbucks. Trust me, Starbucks is everywhere. We also had a gym, High School, fostercare and some other things hardly worth mentioning.
“Starbucks at the mall?”, Trish asked and broke the silence.
“You got it, genius.”, I replied. We reached the mall after a couple of minutes and went into Starbucks. It was almost empty – most people were at work or school. I bought hot chocolate and a muffin for me and coffee and a sandwich for Trish. We sat down at a table near the window, all the way in a hidden corner, where no one could see us except for people standing outside of the window, but naturally, no one was there. I took a sip from my hot chocolate and warmed my hands on the hot cup.
“So, where are you going?”, I asked Trish curiously, even though I knew he was going to protest.
“I’m staying.”, he insisted. I rolled my eyes. Didn’t he know it wouldn’t ever be safe here for him anymore? I didn’t want him to leave, either, but he had to be safe!
“Seriously Trish, you know you’re never going to be safe here anymore. Tiffany is probably taking out her rage on innocent humans or something.”, I said. Trish laughed.
“Hey, that’s nothing to laugh about! I was dead serious!”, I added, but even I had a big grin on my face.
“You know, you might be right. Maybe she’s tearing down houses now or something.” We both burst out in laughter, and it took some time until we both had caught our breath.
“Trish. You’re leaving, I’m telling you. And wherever you decide to go, count on it – I’m coming with you. No arguments, please. Just do me a favor and go somewhere safe with me.”, I begged him, trying to make him understand how much he needed this safety now. He shook his head and took another bite from his sandwich.
“No way, you’re staying here. You are safe here, your Hunter isn’t near and no Angel here is allowed to harm you.”, he protested and continued to shake his head. He didn’t see it, did he? I had a hard time convincing him, but I knew even before that I would have. But I wasn’t giving up until he finally would agree leaving with me.
“Nah, I wouldn’t even think about it. Trish, you aren’t safe here anymore, but safer somewhere else. I am safe nowhere, but I can make it safer for you wherever you go.”
“Well, you do have a point there, but no matter how good your points are, Jade, I still don’t want you to come, a.k.a. being in danger. Remember when you said you don’t want to loose me? I don’t want to loose you either, Jade. You’re my best friend, and we’ve been through lots together. I have set you through enough trouble already. I just don’t want you to look after me all the time. I’m trying to get along by myself, you know. I really appreciate it, though, but I don’t want to put you into extra danger.” Wow, what a long thing to say, but it really touched me. It was so sweet of him to protect me like that, but no Fallen has full protection, there’s always something that puts you in danger. It wouldn’t bother me to have Tiffany behind me, as well.
“Wow, thank you, that really touches me,” I smiled, “and I know you care for me. But I care for you too. Like you said, we’ve been through a lot together, a heck of a lot actually, and we’ll end this together, too. Trish, I am persistent, you know I won’t give up. Besides, we both could need a break. We Fallen are never safe, how many times do i have to say this to finally convince you? Please Trish, do it for your own safety. You need to take care of yourself, you need to make decisions for yourself, not thinking about what I do according to it. I’ll follow along because I trust you, Trish. There is no person on earth that I trust more, and I know you’ll do the right thing. Please.”, I pleaded him with wannabe-puppy-eyes. Trish sighed and closed his eyes, and I knew his brain was working overtime right now.
“Okay, here’s the deal, genius. I’ll go meet that creepy guy at the Lost Tree today. Then I’ll know more about my further actions, and you have some extra time to decide whether you’ll leave or stay. I suggest the first option, just by the way. Fallen are known for leaving after being attacked by their Hunter.”, I said and sighed. We had been arguing for such a long time, so why did he still want to stay? Maybe he wasn’t such a genius after all.
“They are leaving into the Spirit World, Jade, because most of them DIE through their Hunter attacks!”, he said angrily. I gritted my teeth.
“Fine. Just decide after I’ve met this creepy guy, okay?”, I mumbled and sighed again. He nodded, and then we ate our meals in complete silence.
Trish and  I didn’t go to school that day. I had completely forgotten the meeting I was supposed to hold the day before, so I text messaged all members and said I’m sorry but I was very busy and didn’t even have the time to cancel the meeting. They all forgave me and I was happy again, at least partly. Otherwise I knew that all Angels in town would make a hell out of our lives – like humans would say. But hell was in fact only good for us, if you looked at it that way, and I was hoping to get there later. To be more precisely, I wanted actually to talk with the Devil himself about entering the portal to heaven. I don’t know how this portal works, but not everyone can use it. But that only use, otherwise we’d be getting loads of problems in Hell. I’ve read books, studied in the library of the Temple of the Fallen for almost a year, ever since I fell and decided to do something. I wasn’t sure whether I liked it or not, but there was a prophecy, called ‘The Awakening of the Fallen Warrior’. In this prophecy, a warrior was mentioned, that would be able to read the book of forbidden magic, but it didn’t say anything about how you’re supposed to find this warrior. That’s what I hated with prophecies – they never told you how you were supposed to do or find something, but they described its characteristics deep into detail. I know it sounds like something right out of a book, prophecies, magic and all that stuff, very much like a cliché. But what was there to do about it? Also, I had found out a lot about the Silent War. When a normal Fallen is given permission from the Devil to enter Heaven and actually enters it, it will begin. We needed to straighten this conflict out soon, and I needed people that shared the same opinions as I did and were actually willing to help me. Or the world would soon be in the hands of God again, and humanity would run around like slaves, poor and empty. Okay, fighting for peace sounds so senseless, but in this case it couldn’t have been more true. We had to take a stand against the forces of Heaven, and bring an end to this. When the Silent War would begin, the Creation of Angels is stopped temporarily, until the war is over. Also, no Angels can fall while the war lasts, which comes from an ancient spell cast over the world. That’s all the information I had to work with. I would’ve found more, but I got caught in the restricted section and was thrown out and banned for a couple of months. Lovely.
The day went by, and at half past four I said goodbye to Trish. I promised him that I’d call him as soon as I knew the answer and was free to go. Then I went to the bus stop and took the bus to the Central Park. It was the biggest park in town, but it was always kind of empty. The Lost Tree was located there, a huge, old oak in the middle of the park. I headed straight towards it, because I had somehow managed to be fifteen minutes late. I saw Drake waiting impatiently and tapping his foot.
“Hey, sorry I’m late.”, I said, almost out of breath and shook Drake’s hand.
“Good afternoon, miss Lenoire. I have been waiting for you.”, he said. I gasped – had he just called me Miss Lenoire?
“How did you know my last name? I didn’t tell you the last time.”, I asked friendly, trying to hide my obvious astonishment.
“I have been researching, Miss Lenoire. I had to do loads of research, actually, because we had to check your request into every possible detail. You see, it is not considered normal, that a Fallen seeks a talk with the Devil himself. We had to be very careful regarding our answer.”, he said monotone. He seemed to be bored and emotionless again, just like he had been the last time I’d met him.
“Well, I wouldn’t have Fallen if I planned something against the Devil. I just want a talk, nothing more I could tell you why, but that would be a waste of time. And time is precious, as you may know.”, I urged impatiently. We weren’t there to argue, where we?
“Yes, we know that very well. Therefore we have decided-” I held my breath and hoped for a yes. “to grant your request of a speech with the Devil. He will be welcoming you in Hell this evening already. We are allowed to open the passage at 6 pm, so be sure to be here in time.”, he said, putting extra pressure on the last two words and smiled slightly. I smiled back, because it was the natural thing to do, even though I completely didn’t feel like smiling at that idiot. He wasn’t particularly nice to be, and obviously not even trying, and it really had started to bother me. But still i was glad that they granted my request and bowed slightly in respect.
“Thank you.”, I beamed. I waved and walked off to the nearest bench. 6 pm! I didn’t have much time left, so I fished my phone out of my pocket and dialed Trish’s number.
“Yo Jade, how did it go?”, I heard his muffled voice through the phone.
“I’ll be going to hell tonight. To be more exact, I’ll be going there in ten minutes. So, I suppose I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”, I asked without thinking about what I said.
“School? Did you forget, school is madness right now. Don’t you remember our little accident with Tiffany yesterday?”
“Ah, sorry. Then, Starbucks at the mall at 9 am?”, I asked.
“Sounds better. Take care Jade, and don’t you dare to leave out details when you tell me about it tomorrow. Please, don’t mess with the Devil. He might be on our side, but still, he’s very powerful.”, I could her him grin, but I also heard the he was afraid.
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll be back tomorrow, Trish. And thanks for the advice. Well then, tke care you too, I’ll see ya tomorrow.”, I said and smiled.
“Bye, Jade.”, he said and I shut my phone, shoved it back into my pocket and took a deep breath. Finally, the time had come, I was going to Hell.
When I came to the Lost Tree later, I first noticed that there was a dark purple shield surrounding it, making up an illusion of just the tree standing there. As I stepped inside, I was overwhelmed by the strong aura that embraced me – deep, black, powerful and mighty. It almost pushed me down to my knees and made me cough. Then Drake turned around and faced me, a indefinite glare in his eyes.
“So you know what awaits you. The strength needed to open the Gate almost killed me the first time I did it.”, he said, still concentrating on something even more powerful that I felt in the air.
“The first time you did this? The Gate hasn’t been opened for almost 500 years, and you told me yesterday that you are 17.”, I said, a bit confused.
“I am an Immortal, claiming to be 17. It’s as easy as that, Miss Lenoire. Now, if you would reveal your wings and join me in the spell, please.”, he replied. I did as he commanded, but managed to quickly roll my eyes when he wasn’t looking. Damn, he was annoying me! When I stepped beside him, he took my hand and the cozy warmth of his hand made me blush. I mentally shook myself and got, hopefully, rid of the blush before he noticed.
“Now, you speak the Fallen Oath again, concentrating on how we are linked right now, and then you add a couple of lines at the end. I suppose you know these lines?” I nodded. I’d stumbled across these words in the library a lot of times, and learned them by heart. Then I closed my eyes and cut off everything unimportant around me, and concentrated on my task. When I felt Drake squeeze my hand, I knew it was the time to start. Then I spoke with more safety than I’ve ever felt in my life, the most powerful words that I’d even say in my life.
 “I swear, that even close to death, I will stay strong,
through torture, pain and suffering, I will always support the truth,
ignore the lies and fight for the right.
Fallen is what I am, and the scars they once cut deep in my flesh,
still burn like the Black Fire on my sore back. But even in these dark moments,
I found sanctuary in my own decision, and those wings, those beautiful wings,
show who I really am, what I really stand for. Like a raven I walk this earth,
seeking peace, escaping death. And by my existence I swear,
that I fell for the right thing to do,
that I fell to bring peace and love,
that I fell t protect my allies,
and to give this world another chance.”
I gasped when strength filled me. I had never felt like this before, it was so much that I though I couldn’t bear so much strength inside me. I took  deep breath, trying to remember the last lines. I felt Drake squeeze my hand again, and spoke the last lines.
 “I speak now in honesty, to the Lost Guardian, protecting the Gate.
I know the holy halls of Hell must never be soaked with insecurity, weakness or shame.
Never shall those halls be torn down, or entered by an enemy.
I swear that I bring neither shame or insecurity, nor am I cooperating with an enemy.
I know that great power awaits me, and that only the strongest will pass through.
Now I stand before you without fear, but the will to pass this Gate.”
Drake let go of my hand and took a step backwards. With a cracking sound, the Lost Tree burst into half, and revealed a hole, precisely big enough for me to pass through. I turned around and looked at Drake. He took something out of his pocket and handed it to me, it was a golden key. The he smiled, for real this time, not one of those cold, fake smiles.
“I know you can change things, I felt it when we were linked. I wish you good luck, Jade.”, he said. I nodded, not knowing how to react to the fact that he had called me Jade.
“Thank you. Well… I’ll be off then…”, I replied. What an awkward thing to say!
“Take care of yourself. The passage is dangerous, and I would like to see you again. Alive, if possible.”, he said, flew off and broke the illusion. I snorted. Yeah, that would definitely encourage me. ‘Alive, if possible.’ Seriously, did he think that would help? Then I turned around and stepped through the hole. And for the first time in my whole life, I knew I was on my own.