Chants: Chapter 6 - Mortuus et vivit - 'Dead and Alive'

A Fantasy/Adventure book about a 17 year old girl who wakes up to find everyone she loves is missing and the whole world, at least until she meets a mysterious figure in the shadows.....

It was cold in the corridors, Theo was right his room was much nicer than the guest room. It was probably the warmest room she'd been in the whole two weeks. It was filled with books and canvases hanging on every inch of the walls.

It was just as elegant as the rest of the Praetorium but this room had his take on home. There was an unfinished drawing sitting on an old easel, it was charcoal and very skilled. It described open fields dotted with lakes and trees, and a single cottage with a huge garden filled with flowers and bushes creating the walls and an archway. A small envy crossed her mind, she'd always wanted to be able to draw like that, her escape was reading and writing, she could spend hours writing stories based on dreams or things she'd seen that day.

*   *   *

Cami wasn't sure what he meant by stay in his room but she hadn't bothered to ask, she felt a bit uncomfortable to get into his bed because then where would he sleep? So instead she settled for the huge armchair in the corner, it was big enough for her to curl up against her knees and hug herself.

Slowly she began to fall into a deep sleep, for some reason I was the deepest sleep she'd ever been in. So deep that even when she felt someone come into the room, she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. She felt a low and familiar chuckle, it was Theo. Still with her eyes closed, he cradled his arms around her and lifted her so she rested against his chest, both their hearts were beating out of their chest as if they wanted to burst out and mangle into one. He then placed her gently on the bed and covered her in blankets that felt like warmth had been trapped in them.

*   *   *

"Cami, wake up! It's me!" Theo was screaming at her but she couldn't move, or tell him she was okay.

Everything was dark, only a speck of gold embers that seemed a forever away, she started to walk towards it, it was cold and distant in the room but as she neared the embers it began to grow warmer. She realised that the room she was in was lighting up, and the ember was flickering violently.

Then the flickering started to coincide with a voice, it was speaking.

"Camille Decour, you are expected here soon." The voice spoke slowly and deeply, "I see your father did not tell you, very well, I will expose the truth of your being." Panic rushed through her mixed with sadness, she was now thinking about her father. She tried to speak but it was like her voice had been taken from her throat. The voice continued -

*   *   *

"Protectors are made when two lesser angels have a child then their children and so forth inherit those powers," She thought of so many questions but then the room around her, plain and still lit dimly, jumped into life. Two people started walking around her, through her, deep in conversation.

"They are the head greater angel and a new greater angel, one you might know. They are arguing over- you." The figures words had been silent up till now, they were coming into volume. The ember was silent.

The tall thin figure spoke first, she recognised him. No.

"We can't rip her away from her life, Theo, the London Praetorium. That's her home now." Next spoke the larger figure, grey haired but with golden eyes, each like a sun, solitary and alone.

"She is one of us, she needs training, to be here. How will the world react when she figures out what she can really do. When she learns how to use her new powers, she's already starting to recognise one of them." Suddenly it all clicked into focus the second figure, the one she thought he was familiar sharpened. He was no longer a blur, it was her father, as if he knew she was there, he turned looked straight at her and said-

"She can handle it. I know she can". Slowly the figures blurred out again and eventually they faded from the room.

"Your father was a greater angel, he had so much power that he ran from here with you, he found a family and became the man who your carer was married to. He knew he couldn't keep it from you forever but then he was taken by the head greater angel. Your carer did really die in a car crash but your father just came back here." She felt like she'd been punched in the stomach but, she felt her voice return- "Do you have any questions?"

She coughed and spluttered- "What does that make me!" She screamed.

"We don't know, you're a new species of protector. No greater angels have ever had children before. You have the same powers as a greater angel you're just a warrior as well so instead of powerful magic you have more physical power." The ember paused, as if waiting then continued at the sight of her face. "This is a privilege I've shared with you Camille, use it wisely. If you prove your worth the won't remove you from Earth. Be careful."

*   *   *

The ember faded, she was alone in a dark room, scared and panicked. She heard Theo fade back into sound....

"CAMI PLEASE WAKE UP."

She slowly opened her eyes then bolted upright smashing Theo's forehead into her own, it was distinctly warmer here.

"Cami what happened! You were asleep then you had some sort of fit!"

"I was.... I don't know where I was. It was a room and there was a sort of ember. It spoke to me, it said that my father was a greater angel or something and that that meant I was a new species of Protector, one with greater angel blood. The head angel wants me to go there, wherever they are." His face filled with a mix of confusion, panic, anger and worry.

"Artius." He muttered under his breath, it had a worrying sense of anger and hatred in the word. He continued whilst helping her out of bed, "We need to find August.".

Author's Note

Again sorry for the long dialogue :)