Belle’s POV
I continued to walk towards my building then to my classroom. I sat close to the front because this professor speaks so softly that it was quite difficult to hear him from the back.
I studied the rose that Selene gave me. I counted how many petals there are. The curves of each petal. The gradient color creates; darker bottom and it gets brighter upward and outward.
Suddenly, I felt lonely.
I’ve been trying to keep my mind off of Reign or Joanna. I’ve been making myself busy. But let’s face it, my mind isn’t going to be quiet unless I do something about it. I want to see Reign again. I want to understand her pain. The pain that I’ve probably caused in my past life. I want to at least fix it. But how would I do that if she’s nowhere to be found or I don’t know who I was as Joanna?
I want to see Reign again. Every day feels like a routine when she’s not around. Wake up, take a bath, go to university, go home, help mom bake, do homework, then sleep. There’s no one randomly showing up or a person I could annoy every second.
“All right, class.” The Professor greeted. I wouldn’t have noticed him entering or talking if he hadn’t made a noise by moving the desk chair so he could sit on it. People were rushing into the classroom and to their seats. One student, on the other hand, stood beside the professor. I wonder who that is.
“I remember assigning work for you to submit today. Is that right?” He asked.
We all said yes. I took out my work from my bag and placed it on top of my desk.
The professor started coughing. I’m wondering if the professor could see the student standing beside him because he is not acknowledging the person. He’s wearing an overall coat, a beanie, gloves, thick pants and heavy shoes. His face is covered with a mask too. Honestly, his figure doesn’t look like he’s a student. But who am I to judge?
The professor started coughing once more.
“Ugh, sir? Are you alright? That doesn’t sound like a normal cough.” A student raised the concern.
The professor just waved it away and proceeded to write something on the board. He stopped in the middle of it and dropped the marker he was holding. He then started coughing once more.
Why isn’t the person beside him helping him? I stood up and tried to help our professor as he fell to the ground and started coughing when a light brightened the whole room.
“Oh god, what now?” I looked around and saw that the other people in my room were frozen. It’s been a while for this.
I turned to my right and saw two familiar faces standing by the window of the room.
“Stand back, Holy Soul.” The male figure said.
The two of them took out shiny swords from their side and stood in front of me. Angels. What are they doing here now?
“That is not a normal person.” The female figure said.
“What?” I asked.
“Newter, stand back or you’ll get hurt.” The male figure said.
Newter?
Newter! My whole body shivered. I took a step back and stumbled onto my desk. This is the guy that Reign has been warning me about.
For some reason, I don’t quite trust these two angels in front of me. If this was Reign, she would have shown up already just like with Anthony before but these two angels didn’t even do anything until I was about to get close to Newter.
“That’s a demon.” The male figure said.
“I’m sure he’s not,” I said.
“There’s pure demon energy I feel on him.”
“No, according to Reign, that’s a person that’s working for Poreskoro,” I informed them.
The two angels turned their heads toward me.
“Reign? The half-demon? Who kidnapped you?” The female figure asked.
“Y-yeah…”
“You should never trust a demon.”
“Well, where were you when Anthony attacked me? Reign was there. I didn’t even have to call for her.”
“I’ll be taking that one.” Newter pointed at me.
“You are rotting.” The male figure said.
“I will return to my old self if you hand her to me.” I know Newter is smiling behind that mask.
The angels started attacking Newter. Newter smells so bad that it’s spreading across the whole room. He smells like rotting meat.
“Run!” The angels shouted at me.
I sprinted towards the door and ran as fast as I could. I don’t know where to go but I continued running anyway. Something got smashed from the room I was in. I’m not sure what that was but I know the smell of Newter is coming closer. I don’t know if there are more angels coming to help me but I think I’m going to need more help.
I think I know what to do. I’m not sure if cinnamon and candles are important but I still know how to draw the sigil. I’ve got my blood so I think I’m good.
I searched for a quiet place and took a simple bottle of water I found randomly in the hallway. I’ve got nothing any more but this should work, right? I drew the sigil and stabbed my hand with a pen in my pocket. I didn’t feel the pain for now but that’s something I’m going to worry about later.
I let a drop of blood onto the middle of the sigil. “Reign!” I shouted.
The hallway is stinking already. I let my hand rest in the middle of the sigil but nothing’s happening. Maybe I do need those other ingredients but I don’t have any of those right now. I tried again. I slammed my palm in the middle of the sigil and shouted her name again.
I tried and tried but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to work.
“Please, Reign.” I cried.
I covered my nose with my shirt because it’s been smelling already. Newter is close. Very close.
I turned around and saw that he was already catching up to me.
I tried one last time to hit the sigil with my palm. “Reign!”
I stood up and gave up. She’s really not coming for me, huh? She really hates me that much. I was preparing myself to run when I hit something in front of me.
“This better be really important,” Reign asked with a very stern voice. Her eyes were as sharp as the last time I saw her.
“Reign...ugh…”
“What’s that smell?” Her hands held both of my shoulders and tried to search for the smell. Does she really think it’s me? Finally, she found where the smell was coming from. Turning her back towards me, she immediately shoved me behind her and faced Newter. She took out a sword from the thin air and blocked Newter as he rushed toward us.
“It’s been a while, half-human.” Newter’s mask was already off. I could see his smile from Reign’s back and it was the most disgusting thing I saw in my whole life. There are maggots crawling inside his mouth.
“Try brushing sometimes. Might help with the ladies.” Reign kicked him really hard which made him fall to his back. “You must be really desperate to come here on your own.”
“Look at me!” Newter screamed. He removed his gloves to see his rotting fingers. “I need her. I need her!”
“You did this to yourself.”
“You know how this works, Reign. You should be helping me, not her.”
“This is the outcome of your own doing. She’s got nothing to do with this.”
The hallway started to brighten.
“Angels?” Reign glared at me. “What did you call me for?”
“I…”
Newter started running towards us again but Reign was prepared. She pointed her sword outward so that when Newter lost his balance, as he ran, he crushed his way towards Reign’s sword, impaling himself onto it.
The two angels finally appeared in front of us.
“Demon.” The female figure said.
“Angel.” Reign said back. “Delivery.” She shoved the point of her sword towards the angels, swaying Newter along with it.
“Not your business.”
“Say that to the Holy Soul.” She took a step sideward to reveal me to the angels.
“You summoned a demon?” The male figure saw the sigil that I made. “Aren’t you supposed to be burning?”
“The sigil is weak. It’s not going to harm me.”
“But you’re here. So it worked.” The female figure pointed a sword at Reign’s neck.
“This is what I get for saving the Holy Soul?”
“I have a name.” I groaned.
“Holy Soul, are you betraying us?” The male figure asked.
“No! It’s just I needed more help.” I argued.
“More help? Are angels not enough?”
“Could I go now?” Reign asked.
“And never return.” The female figure said.
“Wait. No!” I interrupted. I moved forward. I covered my nose as I got closer to Newter. He’s still alive for sure but for now, he’s gone. “Reign just saved me. She always does. I don’t even know where you’ve been the past months but Reign was always around to protect me.”
“We’re always watching.”
“Really? I almost died lots of times but you’re just watching?”
“We cannot always interrupt unless it's important.”
“I’m about to die?”
“You’ll get reincarnated again. The reason why we’re here now is because he’s going to take your soul. That’s it. Otherwise, we shouldn’t interrupt.”
My mouth fell open. “Is that...Is that all I am to you? A Holy Soul?” I took a step back to hide behind Reign again. “She never made me feel that way. Not even the first time we met. She still took care of me. And you’re just watching from up there? Because you think I’m just going to reincarnate? This lifetime meant a lot to me. I don’t just come and go! I am a person with feelings who wants to cherish memories!” I held Reign's arms tightly.
“But that’s all there is. That’s the reason you exist.”
I felt like my whole world was crashing. My sole purpose in this world is to be a guinea pig? “No...no...I don’t want this kind of life!”
“Belle?” Reign’s voice softened.
Tears fell from my eyes. “I don’t want to forget anymore. I don’t want to feel like an object just to experiment with how this world works. I’m a person. I feel things. I’m someone. Not just a Holy Soul!”
“All right. We’re going.” Reign slid Newter’s body off of her sword and returned the sword into thin air. She tightly held my hands.
“Don’t you dare.” The male figure raised his sword towards Reign.
“We’ve been doing this running and chasing for the past hundred years. I’m used to it.”
Before the angels could make a move, we already disappeared and teleported to a different place.
Comments (1)
See all