Grounded ~Book Four of Winged~

Home Again

Dominic

"Her fever is over 110. This is really bad." I tell Eli, setting the thermometer down on the nightstand. Eli is in the closet, looking for something. I look back down at Trinity. She's covered in wet cold towels. A boom suddenly audibly sound and a wave of energy pulses through the air, through my body, reverberating in my bones. Another wave of energy pulses through the air and all the candles and lights go out. I get a wave of light dizziness. All the candles relight and the lights come back on. I look towards the closet. What was that? Eli looks out of the closet. He obviously heard and felt that too. His eyes travel to Trinity.

"Where did she go?" I become confused and look. She's gone. All that is left are the wet towels.

"What just happened?"

Etheriel

"It's two circles right next to each other." Azrael comments while he and Zerach draw in their blood on opposite sides of a giant stone wall, but they remain symmetrical. I watch not able to help them. There is a spanning blood drawing on each side of the wall, but not connecting yet. The whole place begins to rumble and shake. A sonic boom sounds and a huge wave of energy floods past through my body. That's a feeling I have not felt before. Zerach and Azrael both stop mid finger stroke. Dust floats down from the ceiling.

"Did... Did someone just come back from The Pits?" Zerach whispers to Azrael, but it's perfectly clear in this silent room.

"Not just anyone... There's only a select few people who could have made an energy like that in the mortal world." Azrael replies.

"Who did they make Trinity bring back?"

Trinity

Pain courses through my body like a I was just slammed into a wall. I breathe in sharply and it burns. My muscles are stiff and my limbs are in pain. My head pounds in pain. I groan and open my eyes. The guy is holding me up, staring at me, examining me. I glance around. We are surrounded my black granite. The Temple of Lost Souls. The walls have a wall of flames lining them, lighting up the entire room. Several pairs of running footsteps echo around the room, but the people have not yet reached the room.

"Are you okay?" The guys questions and I nod, pulling away to try and stand on my own. I start going down, but he catches me and helps me stand. The footsteps get closer and closer. People begin to become visible in the hall coming into this room. I recognize Sammael and Cresil, from the celebratory feast for Eli coming back, but I do not recognize any of the over 13 other Demons. Sammael spots me and narrows his eyes, but only for a second before looking at the guy next to me. They all stop like thirty feet from us. No one approaches. They begin kneeling and bowing down.

"King Beleth, welcome back. We are so glad to see you have made it back from Death." Sammael speaks genuinely and I'm shocked to see him kneeling down for someone. King? I look at him out the corner of my eye. He is staring at all of them, not blinking. More running footsteps become audible in the room. A demon steps forward.

"King Beleth, I shall take that Human girl off your hands and dispose of her. No need to filth your sacredness." Beleth tilts his head looking at that demon. He looks at me and I fear that he is going to easily offer me up.

"This Human Girl has brought me back. Her braveness in the Pits and success and willingness to bring me back should be rewarded and celebrated along with my return! She is not merely a Human girl. Her name is Trinity and no one shall call her anything differently or treat her as any less than any of you stand here now." Beleth casually waves his hand to the side and the guy stiffens up and drops to his knees, clearly in pain. I watch in horror as his limbs begin to twist painfully. He screams in agony. His eyes roll back into his head and his entire being explodes, spraying all the demons standing near and next to him in blood. Beleth moves fast and stops a single droplet of blood from hitting me with his hand.

"Any other comments?" Beleth asks and I stand stiffly as he continues to hold me up.

"Welcome back, My King. We shall prepare a large celebration immediately for your return and to honor Trinity's accomplishment." All of Sammael's kids arrive including Dominic and Eli. They look extremely surprised to see me. Even more surprised to see the guy standing next to me and they immediately drop down and kneel.

"King Beleth, welcome back." Lucifer speaks and stands with a smile, approaching to the front of the group, but no further. Lucifer's eyes flicker to me and his smile falters.

"Ah, Lucifer, you know Trinity, yes?" Before Lucifer can actually answer he continues talking and no one dares to interrupt Beleth, "You do, I believe you are the cause for the lash across her abdomen." Lucifer smiles.

"Yes, that was me, my King." I already know where this will go. I see Sammael stare at Lucifer with a pained expression. A pained expression for his son. "I can take her to our family's dungeon if you would like, my King." Beleth stares at him, I still haven't seen him blink. Sammael shuts his eyes, waiting. Beleth moves and gestures to the bloody spot and people covered in blood and for a second I think that Lucifer is going to explode just like the last guy.

"Do you see that stain, boy?" He says boy in a degrading way and Lucifer glances, losing his smile immediately, understanding the clear threat.

"I apologize." Lucifer stiffly bows to me, looking up and into my eyes.

"Good, now let's see how my home has changed." Beleth begins to walk, helping me walk too. I still feel extremely weak and worn out and wobbly. Everyone parts for us, mostly for Beleth... The King. They bow as we pass. We walk past Eli and Dominic and they stare at me wide eyed and worried. We walk all the way out of the Temple of Lost Souls and I then start to sweat with my coat on. I pause to take it off and Beleth stops too. I pull away. I'm pretty sure that I can walk on my own now. I slip out of my coat and Beleth takes it from me. He holds it out and someone immediately approaches, graciously taking it from him. Beleth turns and stares at the city off in the distance. With a single wave of his hand a path opens up in the trees leading straight to the city. Beleth keeps me right beside me as we walk down the newly created path. Beleth stops beside a tree and touches a branch, examining it. He breaks off the tip, looking at the twig.

"I wonder how the Mortal world has changed..."