The Stranger- Chapter 10

The next few days consisted of Kendell coming to the manor far too early, waking me up, and teaching me things from the book. I had considered killing myself. This was torture. Just pure torture at its best. God help me. Somebody, please, save me from this blithering idiot-

“Annabelle! Listen,” Kendell sighed and pointed to another picture of an angel. I almost groaned, expecting another pure white winged, blonde haired image of perfection, but sat there in silence as I looked at a white haired angel, her white wings covered with black vine patterns. She held a metal staff with an amethyst molded into its tip, and wore shining armor over a long white dress. The title read, “The Purity”.

“This, is what we believe you are. White hair. Green eyes. Porcelain skin. No one else in the world has that description except for you.”

I took the book from him and read the small passage, my boredom replaced with curiosity. This was supposedly, me?

“The Purity is the angel that has the power to balance the world. She provides healing powers to those who need it, and can destroy anyone as quickly as one could blink. While other angels are solely light, the Purity is the true balance. She is the power of the light and the dark, creating the ultimate pure power, uniting the sun and the moon. Humans have been fooled into believing the dark is evil. It is not the darkness one must fear, but the terrors within. The Purity creates safety for others in the light of the sun and moon, yet only awakens to her true power in the time of war between God and Lucifer. For it is then, that the Purity will need to keep the greatest balance in the lands of Heaven, Earth and Hell. She watches the humans when there is no war, staying with the Fairy Queen. On the rarest of occasions, the Purity is hidden and disguised as a human in efforts to keep her safe from enemies.”

I blinked. Fairy queen? Oh Lord, fairies… I rubbed my temple and let out a heavy sigh. Honestly, I still couldn’t believe that I could be this thing, even if I had all the evidence right in front of me. It was just too much!

“Annabelle, it may seem hard to believe,” I shot Kendell a look as he spoke, “but trust me, this is as real as the hair on your head.”

Damn white hair.

“Wonderful. And Fairy Queen? What does the book mean by that?”

Kendell sighed, “Fairies are fallen angels that didn’t get cast into hell, but didn’t make it back into the gates of Heaven in time before they closed. They roam Earth now and have a hierarchy like the angels and demons.”

“Oh…”

“I think you know enough about your angels and demons now…”

I nodded sharply.

But then I saw the mischievous grin cross his face, “Well, maybe a little more review…”

“No! We’re absolutely fine, I know enough!”

“Well…”

“Kendell, please…”

He chuckled, “Fine.” I was about to smile in relief when Kendell reached in his book bag. Yes, Kendell decided to bring a book bag today. Out of that book bag, he pulled a thick book and dropped it on the table, letting it land with a loud thud. The book was leather bound, old, and had a faded title. I wearily scanned the title,

“The Magick of Angels.”

A loud groan escaped my throat and I dropped my head on the desk the same way Kendell had dropped the book. These “lessons” took hours, and Kendell would snap at me when I looked out the window, kept glancing at the clock, or stared at my piano and violin for too long. Well excuse me, for wanting to do what I enjoy most instead of listening to his “lesson”.

“This is what’s going to take the most time. There’s so much an angel can do with their magick, although it’s not recognized as magick. Witches with their hexes and what not are what people think of when you say magick, it’s a shame. Obviously we don’t use black magick, but we use the power of pure light to eradicate darkness and it can be quite destructive.”

“Fascinating. Are you going to let me look at the book now?” Kendell had been rambling on about angel magick, but he kept his damn hand on the book so I couldn’t take it.

A chuckle escaped his throat as he slid the book to me. I eagerly picked it up, truly fascinated by the thought of using any form of magick. It had always been an interest of mine. The table of contents listed what angel magick was, how to use it, what you could do with it…

Absolutely fascinating.

Maybe now these “lessons” would be a little more tolerable.

“Annabelle, just because you think magick is interesting doesn’t mean this is going to be any easier for you. It takes a little bit of time to get used to it.” I shot Kendell a withering look and started to flip through the book.

“Every creature has a flow of energy in them, whether it be humans, animals, even rocks and plants. The universe has an unlimited energy source, one that we’ve come to know as magick. Angel magick is the power of the universe magnified by the angel’s light to either bless, heal or defend. All angels have access to it, but some are stronger than others because of their rank in the angel hierarchy. Demons also possess magick, but it is a dark, bloody magick used to curse, wound and attack.”

I heard Kendell chuckle as I practically shoved my face into the book, briefly reading the pages as quickly as I could. The introduction to magick wasn’t long, only five pages or so. The section on how to use magick was much longer.

“To use magick requires great willpower. Meditation and practice are a must to ever truly master the flow of energy around you. Spells are simply magick concentrated through words. Only humans use them for most magick, which is a system of Latin spells called forcecraft, while demons only use it for extremely complicated hexes and banishing. An angel does not use spells, they simply use the power of manifestation to concentrate on what they want to achieve. Angels wordlessly direct their magick to others around them, causing them to be extremely strong creatures.

To use magick, one must concentrate and harness the energy in them. While it sounds simple, it requires extreme discipline of the mind to accomplish. The mind must be sharp and clean from the average clutter so one can focus properly. Meditation is a skill that is valued to aid in such concentration.”

“Huh.” I put the book down and my brows furrowed as I processed what I had read. Focus and manifestation… It wasn’t very far from what I had already been doing. There were too many times where I simply focused on something to happen, and it did in a matter of minutes. Could that have been magick, or luck? I looked at Kendell and raised an eyebrow in question, hoping he could tell me more about what I had done in the past.

As if reading my mind, he responded, “Yes, Annabelle, you usually got what you wanted because you were particularly gifted with the power of manifestation. However, you’ve never used magick properly before.”

“What do you mean by ‘properly’?”

“I mean,” he leaned closer, “you’ve never taken full advantage of the energy around you. There is so much you need to learn, but you’re off to a good start, seeing as you can already concentrate fairly well.”

I puffed out my chest in protest, “Well, let’s see what else angel magick can do, then.”

“Your shoulder didn’t heal itself.”

My hand unconsciously went up to the shoulder Wraith had bitten before and I squeaked, “What else?”

“Virtually anything,” a devilish glint appeared in Kendell’s eyes as he raised a hand and a swirl of golden light came from it before I heard my violin playing. My head snapped towards it and my mouth fell open as I watched the violin float, the bow dragging itself across the strings and playing some of my favorite songs. I turned back to him and grinned, before the piano started playing with the violin. It was magnificent. The paper from my writing desk began to fly around the room in time with the music. Small orbs of light darted around the room, and the walls began to fade away. Soon everything except the piano and violin had seemingly disappeared, even though I was still sitting on the seat. Everything illuminated into a view of the ocean, something I had never seen before. The table and seats we were in looked like a rocky cliff, the water only a few feet below us. I could smell the salt in the air and feel the water splash up from the rocks. There were even some whales out farther into the sea, water sparkling in the sun, gulls crying from the sky.

“Wow,” was all I could say.

“This is just a small fraction of what you can do,” I nearly jumped as I felt his breath on my neck, his words overwhelming me. The illusion faded and the walls of my bedroom returned, the violin resting next to the piano, both quiet. No more ocean. No more gulls. Just reality, again.

“How long will it take to learn?” Excitement filled my chest and I sat up straighter.

“That depends on you,” Kendell reached into his pocket and found a small stone, placing it on the table, “Try to make this float.”

I gave him a questioning look and he simply motioned to the stone in response. Fine, then. The stone was smooth, flat, gray, clearly from a stream. Letting out a deep breath, I stared at the stone and tried to imagine it floating. Willed it to float, even. The minutes trickled by, my concentration so intense that the stone was the only thing I saw.

Then the stone wobbled slightly.

I knew I didn’t imagine it, the stone did move, but not enough. Countless images of the stone in the air were set into my mind, but then something shocked me. There were small particles of what looked like light floating around the stone. They were everywhere, actually, just floating about. Why had I never seen them before? My concentration slipped and I sighed, staring at the stone that hadn’t really moved at all. The golden specks of light had disappeared as well. How?

“I can’t do it.”

“And you won’t, if that’s what you believe,” the stone propelled itself into the air. Glancing at Kendell, a twinge of irritation and even envy ran through me as he stared at the stone, looking completely care free and even bored.

“How do you make it look so easy?” My question came as a whine.

“I’ve been doing this for centuries. You have too, you just don’t remember.”

The stone gently fell back onto the table. The ice blue eyes I had become so familiar with over the years were hard, wise, sharp… Completely the opposite of what I was used to. He folded his hands together and sat in silence for a moment.

“You need to use manifestation, as in you need to visualize what you want.”

“That’s what I did… But I also saw these gold specks.”

A small smile lit Kendell’s face, “That would be the light energy surrounding you. When you visualize the rock to get it to move, what do you see?”

“I see it just floating…”

“Try visualizing how it gets to floating. And use the light energy to make it rise. Those gold ‘specks’ are going to be more important than anything.”

My head snapped to the clock. It was almost time for bed.

“Annabelle, focus…”

“Huh? Oh.” Once again, I stared at the little stone and concentrated on it. As the concentration intensified, I noticed the small specks again. They floated around aimlessly as if waiting for someone to direct them. Determination overtook me as I visualized the specks floating under the rock and lifting it up. The image continued to cross my mind as I focused on the stone, but the specks continued to lazily drift through the air. My focus increased. The specks seemed to drift the smallest bit closer to the rock. I watched them come closer and closer until they finally settles under the rock. I was surprised I hadn’t given myself a headache, willing the specks to push the stone up. After another few moments, the rock wobbled and started to move upwards. It moved only a fraction of an inch off the table, but still, it had moved. Exhaustion hit me when I tried to push it up further, causing it to fall back onto the table with a faint clack.

“That’s a start,” there was a smile in Kendell’s voice.

“Ugh, I’m exhausted though. And it’s getting late anyway…” I leaned back in my chair, head falling back and arms lying by my sides.

“I know, but still, it’s progress. I thought you’d be much slower,” he stood up and pushed in his chair, “I’ll get back to the iron shop and let you rest.”

“Thank you. Good night,” I smiled at him.

“Night,” he glanced at me as he opened the door and walked out.

Author's Note

Aaaand it's the boring phase of the story. -.- oh well...
Finally hit 50 pages on word...? x3
Comment? :D

Reviews

[Review]

for reasons unknown i really like the boring bits of the story those parts seem to be the meet of it for me so i found this chapter rather nice great job the relationship between Kendall and annabelle has grown a lot in this chapter and i think these parts of a book are essential