Soul Tied ✔️

Xirasti age 8.

***Flashback****

“You’re a freak,” Tara says. Then she pushes my shoulder. “You’re nothing like us other demons. Something is wrong with you and we all know it.” The look of pure hatred in her icy blue eyes. My body starts to tremble because of how scared she makes me.

“No, I’m not a freak,” I say softly looking to the ground.

“Look at you…” She sneers. “You’re purple and you have a tail. You even have wings and you can’t even fly!” She reaches out and pulls at one of them gripping hard. “You can’t even go on soul missions ’cause you’re a baby. You’re useless.” She sneers at me.

“Stop!” I beg. I raise my hand and it begins billowing out black smoke and I push my hand out in defense. I watch as she is moved back a few feet. How did I do that?

She laughs menacingly. “Is that all you got?” She uses her hands and pushes me hard in the chest. It happens in slow motion. I lose my balance my arms outstretched grasping at the air hoping for some way to stay on my feet. There is nothing to catch me I fall off the rocky ledge into the darkness of the cavern.

The cavern walls still have light half shining on them from the torches in the courtyard. The rocky walls have arms protruding out of them with hands gripping trying to grab a hold of something, anything. There are so many of them. No more light. It’s just darkness now. Some of the hands connect and grab me by the hair. Other hands scratch my face and tear my clothes.

All the while voices are coming from the wall a clangor of sorrow. The moaning, pleading, wailing, and blood-curdling screams are overwhelming to my ears. My throat hurts because my screams are mixed with theirs. There are no lights no hope just the endless black. I can normally still see in darkness but there’s nothing here to see. There are no cavern walls anymore. Nothing just me hurtling downward.

The further I fall the voices start to dwindle away until there’s only silence. Now that it’s silent I rather have the voices. It was stopping me from thinking. All alone, free falling the panic starts setting in. So many questions run through my head in quick succession. How long have I been falling? Does this cavern have a bottom? If it does am I going to die from the landing? Will I be stuck here falling forever?

I’ve been falling for a while now. Then I started to see lights on the cavern walls. The light is dim at first but the further I fall the brighter it gets. I turn in the air to begin falling on my stomach so I can see where I’m going.

There is a bottom to the cavern and I quickly come upon it. I feel myself flickering in and out. One second I’m in one spot the next second I’m in another. The ground is close now I squeeze my eyes tight and wait for the impact. I brace my head. I flicker and am tossed to a different spot right before I flicker to a different spot right before I hit the ground. My body hopped a few times then slid to a stop. If I hadn’t flickered at that last moment I would of been killed.

What was even causing me to flicker and move around like that? Almost like I was being teleported. My arm hits something hard and solid. Intense pain radiates from my shoulder to my hand. I look down and my arm is bent at a weird angle. My eyes were wide in terror and I started to feel queasy.

Then I hear there is a chain rattling next to my head. I lean on my other elbow and wince. I hurt all over. I notice there’s a crunching sound whenever I move.

What is this sensation? I realize my teeth are chattering and my back is wet. My good arm instinctively wraps around my chest. I sit up and the crunching noises happen again. I squint my eyes because the light is bright bounding off of the wet white material below me. Tiny dots of white flutter in the air around me.

What is this stuff? I hold my hand out and watch it dissolve on my skin. Despite myself, I smile. “Am I in heaven?” I whisper to myself. I can see my breath coming from my mouth when I speak. My arm throbs with pain and a feeling of being stabbed and sharp pins and needles along with numbness.

“Demons can’t go to heaven…” A younger-sounding man’s raspy voice comes from behind me. I gasp audibly and turn my head around to see who speaks. I hurriedly stand so I can see who the voice came from.

Everything is too bright I can’t see him. I’ve spent my life in the dark. Cold and light are not things I’m accustomed to. I raise my good hand to shield my eyes and it’s not helping.

“I’m good! I could go to heaven. I don’t hurt anyone.” I tell the man my forehead scrunches up and my little hand turns into a fist. I’m gritting my teeth from the pain.

“You may be good but they will never let you in.” He says as if he’s never heard such a thing. “There are no exceptions.” His voice comes out roughly like it’s hard for him to speak. I feel my face scrunch up and my tiny fist gets tighter.

“You’re innocent now. That I can tell but they will never see you but for what you’re a demon. They think you’re evil and that it is the nature of who you are, of what you are. Just like how I don’t deserve to be here. Yet here I am.” He laughs but with no humor.

“I know you’re not evil little one. I’ve been to heaven and it’s lacking. I wouldn’t waste time thinking of such a dull place.” His calling me little one makes me smile. Heaven is dull? I wonder if that’s true. He would know me better than me since he’s been there. Yet I’m still curious about what it’s like there.

The sound of chains comes from near me and I jump. I blink my eyes a few more times. The light is starting to be not too much for my eyes. I force my eyes open and they adjust.

I look to the side and I see frozen chains jetting from all over the wall heading to multiple places. These chains are long in size and wide in width. They lead to a wall of frozen ice pinned to something. A man sits encased in a frozen block of ice on what looks like a throne. A few chains are bound on the inside of the block attached to spikes that impale him. Four spikes total on each side. One in each shoulder, one in each rib area, one in each thigh, and one through each foot.

A wall of ice stands behind the throne. Pure white wings almost like a bird are splayed to a full wingspan. Frosted over and spikes with the chains attached to them impaling each wing multiple times. It’s horrid to look at. I gasp and scoot back scared of what I’m seeing. It’s like how some humans collect butterflies and put pins in them to keep them in place inside a case. Just like the ones Thorne has on his desk. Who would want to hurt something so beautiful?

Then I notice a sizable gap in the cavern ceiling. Where bright light is shining through, that’s where the falling white stuff is falling from. There is more coming in from the top than there is down here. There’s an ice pillar that starts at the top near the hole and comes all the way to the bottom of the cavern. I move over a bit to get a closer look and there’s a crater in the stalagmite under the opening.

I look back to his wings. He’s an angel. My eyes go wide with realization. He has to be dangerous that’s why he’s locked up like this. But… he is an angel… He’s better than us demons. Or maybe he is not dangerous at all maybe the ones who put him here are dangerous. I look at his face his eyes are a shocking bright white flame burning out of where the sockets should be.

I notice that his hair is walnut brown in shade and it falls into his eyes. One piece of hair looks particularly more stubborn than the rest. His pale white skin makes his brown hair stand out more. I swallow hard then stand to my feet my legs wobbly and cold. It’s hard to stand since one arm isn’t working. I try to hold it with my other hand but it feels awful.

“Who did this to you?” I inspect his wing. Tears are starting to fall down my cheeks freezing against my skin. I can feel his stare on me. I look towards his face again and the white flames are gone leaving behind light brown eyes. At least what part of his eyes I can see through his hair. I can see the pain in them. How could someone do this?

“Some really bad men did this to me.” I ponder what he just said.

“Why did they do it though?” I tilt my head trying to understand.

“They were scared of me. More than likely they still are.” He says bitterly.

“You don’t seem scary.” I came to the decision.

“That’s because I’m not… I’m just… misunderstood.” He says and I can relate. Seeing is how I just got pushed down here for the same reason. “Can you keep a secret?” He asks.

“Yes, I can.” I nod my head excitedly.

“You’re going to be the one that frees me. We’re going to become good friends.” He forces a half smile but it’s a look of strain from the pain he’s in.

I’ve always wanted a friend. A friend who’s an angel is even better!

I realize though that in order to save my friend I need to get back. “I don’t know how to fly… How am I going to get back?” My voice starts to rise from anxiety. I raise my arm. “What about my arm? I say lifting it to him. I think it’s broken.”

“It’s okay.” He says in a soothing tone. “Put your arm in a way that will cause you the least amount of pain. I’ll instruct you how to fly.” He gives me instructions and I follow them and practice what he’s saying. He’s patient with me and doesn’t get upset when I mess up. In no time I’m laughing and zipping around the cavern. My arm is still feeling numb.

“Now get me that small rock over there.” He nudges his chin in the direction of it. I do as he says. As soon as I pick it up the rock starts radiating white light. “When I want you to come visit me that rock will light up like this…” The rock goes back to normal and then the rock beams the same white light. “You need to be careful when you do come to visit me. Don’t be seen.”

Still in awe of the rock, I nod my head. The rock dims.

“What’s your name my friend?” He asks.

“My name’s Xirasti. What’s yours?”

“It’s nice to meet you Xirasti. You may call me Sam.”

****End Flash Back****