War of Hearts

05 - Eden

The palace was situated high atop the hill overlooking the town, its countless pointed towers making it resemble an eccentric crown. The roof was grey slate and the walls were cemented with white stones that glistened under the summer sun. It was as big as a thousand ordinary houses of Angelic and employed a huge number of townsfolk as servants. The palace was surrounded by grazing pastures which housed the horses. The Angel army headquarters and royal gardens were also situated here. A high stone wall with protruding iron spikes encircled the palace, marking its boundaries. It was heavily guarded round the clock.

"This is magnificent." Albia whispered, wide eyes flitting from one object to another. 

"It's the Capital, Albia, they don’t call it Eden for nothing." Atlas replied, walking along with his two sisters, all three of them sharing their signature angular, elongated, sharp bodies, with hair like spun sugar, inconveniently beautiful faces with high cheekbones and eyes like does.

"Look at that statue!" Basilia gasped suddenly, pointing at the cascading waterfall on the right side of the palace. It was the Derath waterfall, from which the Darranoi river sprouted and coursed through the Angelic Capital, nourishing the lands, providing fertility and refreshment. In the middle of the large pool where the cascading water gathered was a large sculpture made of feniaster stone, a rare blue tinged mineral found only in Angelic.

"Who is that?" Albia asked. 

"Zeus," Atlas replied.

The statue was lifelike, with the god standing over twenty feet tall, holding a lightning bolt and looking up at the sky, his expression thunderous.

Both Albia and Basilia paid attention to their brother, Atlas who continued, "It was built on our birthday to thank Zeus for giving life to Angelic and for us." 

"If that’s so, why didn’t we know about this?" Basilia questioned. 

"And how do you know, when we don't?" Albia asked, raising her thin eyebrows. 

"It was mentioned in one of Julian Roosevelt's novels," he chuckled, "and you guys never read." 

"Why waste time on such frivolous, fictional things like novels when our attention is much needed elsewhere?" Basilia scoffed, and promptly changed the subject to something else. 

Amongst the crowd was a young man, carrying a small boy on his shoulders to show him the royal families. He was tall, averagely built with dark brownish straight hair. He was dressed in black with a symbol of two swords on his belt, in what appeared to be a uniform.

Upon seeing him Basilia nudged Atlas's arm and gestured towards the young man.

"What's that uniform?" She asked. 

"What uniform?" He retorted, trying to find what Basilia was trying to show him. 

"The one carrying the boy on his shoulders." She said, staring at the young man. He had a smile of gold, rich with happiness and love. 

"That's the Angelic sailor's uniform," Atlas paused and observed the man more clearly and commented, "The full black suits him." 

The young man noticed Basilia inspecting him which made him smile. Basilia returned the smile without hesitation. She had no idea why she did but she knew that she wanted him to notice her. He showed her to the boy on his shoulders and the child began waving at Basilia. Basilia smiled and created a wave of glitter in the air from her fingers and sent them towards the boy. Everyone cheered and laughed trying to catch the glitter but the young sailor kept staring at the Air Angel as if he had witnessed the presence of a Goddess. She grinned once more before walking past them towards the parade. 'He’s a thief, not a sailor,’ she thought, ‘a stealer of hearts.’ 

All the royal families were following the platoon of soldiers and the Angelic brass band into the palace, they were receiving bows and cheers from the ordinary Angels of Eden and they were enjoying it. 

The Angelic brass band was leading the parade, followed by the Angelic soldier platoon and lastly the royal families led by Angel Fire who was being accompanied by her two children; Cael and Parisa. Then Angel Water with her children Zarak, Michael and Anakim, followed by Angel Air with her children; Atlas, Basilia and Albia. Finally, Angel Earth with her children Alexander and Alexandra walked in the parade with pride inside their hearts, they were followed by the army platoons of the four Angelic lands; Fire, Water, Air and Earth. 

"Where is Ever?" Her majesty the Queen, who was standing on an aisle, overlooking the welcome ceremony of the royal angels, asked from her youngest daughter, Elizabeth.

"I don't know, mother. I tried to find her but she was nowhere to be seen," Elizabeth said, trying to find Ever among the crowd of Angels.

The queen raised expressive eyebrows. "She's never late for any special occasion. Ask Julian to check on her."

"Right away, your majesty."