Chapter 58: Chapter 58

THE TEMPEST

: The Tempest

The Tundra, Arctica

The shadows parted and a young man stepped into the ring. Once, he was inside he I saw that he was the most gorgeous human being to ever walk this face of the earth. He was god-like. He had soft brown hair that stood up in all the right places. His eyes were black pits, but not at all frightening. They reminded me of home and of warmth. His skin was flawless and white. It was like that of a doll's. He was lean with no awkward features. He was flawless and did not seem to belong on this earth. Even though he looked young , I could tell that he was ancient. He was an ancient power that could command the heavens.

"¿Eres dolido?" he inquired. His voice was soft, but, yet, it was filled with power. He sounded sincere as he asked about my well being.

I did not understand why he was asking if I was hurt. I touched my hairline and stickiness. I lowered my hand so that it was eyelevel. It was covered in red, red from my blood. I did not understand how I was bleeding. I did not even remember hurting myself. "Si, soy fino." I laughed for unknown reasons." ¡Me siento tan estúpido!"

The stranger touched my wound with gentle and soft hands. "¿Por qué?" He was running his fingers near the wound now. It not hurt anymore nor could I feel the soft pain.

" Porque, yo no me sentí. Estuve en mi propio mundo pequeño-" I stared in and stopped. I put to hand to my forehead. The blood was gone and was the wound. I looked back at the stranger, who was smiling now.

"¿Todo mejor ahora, no?" he inquired through his smirk.

*Still touching where the wound had been, I nodded. "SÍ."

*He touched my cheek. "Me llamo Adriano."*

I was still awed by the disappearance on my wound, but managed to spit out my name. "Me llamo Maria."

He smiled. "Sé."

This puzzled me. How did he know my name? If I had meant him before I am positive that I would have remembered him. He was one of those people who was impossible to forget.

The voices had started again. They were not the same as before. This time the voices sounded like those of teenage girls. " Maria, Maria, corre tan rápidamente como usted puede. Pronto, usted no podrá al aliento." They sounded desperate. They wanted me to run or I would not be able to breathe soon.

Adriano looked at me. He was probably wondering why I was not responding to him. He looked away and listened. I knew that he could hear the voices. His warm face turned to death. "Por favor, no les pague mente. Ellos no saben lo que hablan de." He sounded unconcerned as he told me to pay them no mind. However, there was something in his voice that made me think otherwise.

"¿Tu los puedes oír?" I asked.

He nodded. "Son el trabajo del diablo." His tone of voice was not welcoming. Somehow, I believed that they were the opposite of what he was saying.

I nodded as if I believed him.

"Maria, Maria, no le cree. Nos mató todo y la matará. Desea su alma." The voices sounded very desperate now. Their voices were growing higher and higher. They were almost shrill.

Adriano stepped forward and reached for me. I stepped back. He smiled. "¿Eres espantado?"

I did not respond and just kept stepping backwards.

He kept coming. "No, espantado,por favor."

I kept backing up. Soon, I backed into the barn. I looked around for somewhere to go, but there was nowhere. The shadows surrounded me and Adriano was still coming. Once he was close enough to touch me, he pinned me against the barn. He was rough, but very gentle. He smiled and drew my head up to his. His lips parted. I knew what he was going to do.

"Mi amor," he whispered as he inched closer.

I was trying to get away. I was not his love nor would I ever.

He leaned in and kissed me. It was not a loving kiss. It was making me weak in the knees. I wanted to collapse, but he was keeping me upright. I could not breath and felt my heartbeat slowing. I felt my body shutting down. None of that was the worst of it. I could feel my body being pulled apart. My soul was leaving me. I was escaping my shell. No, no, no!

"Si, si, si," Adriano whispered into my lips.

I was slipping. Darkness was caving in on me. Life was leaving me just as it had left my homeland. I felt my soul come out of my body.

Adriano let my lifeless body fall to the ground. "Maria, Maria,pertenece a mí." He reached into his pocket and took out a flask. The shadows surrounded my soul and forced it into the flask. He smiled as he capped the flask.*

He walked out into the centre of the barnyard and spread his black wings that had blended into the shadows. He did one final sweep of the barnyard and thrust into the air leaving the dust to settle in his wake.

Dear, dear reader. I hope you take heed to my story and take my warning in to account. Do not fall for the evil angel. He is the mark of evil.

The goddess takes many shapes and doesn't always come after you in the same way once. She will get you.

!

Aku's eyes narrowed. No, it wasn't just a shape. It was a ship sailing right at him. Ahead of him, he could now make out Aatu's back and he seemed to be taking several steps backwards. In fact, it seemed like he was going to run into him.

"Hey!" Aku yelled just as Aatu slammed into him.

Aatu just gave him another wide-eyed look as he seized the other wolf and started dragging him back away from the ship. "Move!"

Aku looked back at the ship, which was now cutting through the ice, leaving huge ice mountains in its wake. Behind it, he could make out an even more alarming sight. A wall of snow was racing across the tundra toward them. It was far worse than the snow that they had just came through. It was the kind of snow that could kill them within seconds.

Aatu grabbed onto Aku as they ran out of the ship's path. "We have to get on that!"

Aku looked at him with wide eyes. "Get on?" he gulped. He looked back over at the ship, which was still pushing its way through the ice. It was rather large and did not seem like it wanted to stop either. "How?"

Aatu studied the ship. "I have an idea!" He took off running back toward the ship's path.

Aku put his hands on his hips. "I am not going to die trying to get on that!"

Aatu looked back at Aku. "Well, you'll probably going to die away just standing there!"

Aku rolled his eyes as he looked at the incoming snow. Now, that was certain to kill him and there was only a chance that the ship could kill him. Either way, the chances of him dying today were quiet high.

Aatu was so close to the ship now that if he were to reach out, he probably could touch it. What was he doing? Now, he was actually resting his hand on the side of the ship with a determined look. Then, with one final grip, he heaved himself up onto the side of the ship. "Come on!" he screamed looking back at Aku. He seemed to be barely holding on as he looked at Aku. Now, there was something that Aku would not be doing if he decided to get on the ship.

Aku just stood there, watching Aatu and the ship go sailing away. The wind was picking and he could feel the snow creeping back toward him. He shook his head. Sometimes it just downright awful not to have the power to make any good choices. It was almost worse than not having any choices at all.

With a kick of his heals, he took off running after Aatu on his death ride. They were getting further not closer. In fact, the only thing that did seem to be getting closer was the storm. Aku looked over his shoulder. Within minutes, it was bound to be on top of him.

Aatu's eyes widened. "Hurry up!" he screamed.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" Aku screamed as he picked up his pace. He was running so fast that he felt like his legs were going to run out from underneath him. He reached out his arm grabbing and grabbing. He was so close…So close…Just a bit further.

The wind kicked up from him, sending bits of snow and ice down the back of his collar. He wanted to let up and shake it out, but knew better. The boat was getting further and further way with each passing second.

Aatu's hand reached out even further. "Come on!"

Aku stretched out his hand. He could almost brush against Aatu's fingers now. If he just went a little faster, he surely could make it. He could do it! He could do it! He reached out even further. There! He gripped Aatu's hand with a sure grip, one that he knew he could not lose.

Aatu swung Aku up onto the side of the boat. Aku tightened his grip, as he struggled to find some kind of a handhold. Why did Aatu have to make this look so easy? Finally, after nearly falling back into the boat's path about a dozen times, he did manage to find something to hold onto.

Aatu nodded at Aku. "I knew you could do it. Now, we just have to get to the top."

"What?" Aku exclaimed. He looked up at the top. There was no way he was going to be able to make that climb. There were barely any places for him to hang onto. "We don't know what's up there!"

"It's either we climb or we stay here and die." Aatu shrugged. "You tell me which is better."

Aku looked back up at the top. He didn't actually see anything up there that could kill them, but that didn't mean anything.

Aatu raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

Sighing, Aku looked back up at the top. "Do I really have any other choice?"

Aatu smiled. "I knew you would come to see it my way." With that, he started climbing up the side of the boat in a manner that was both impressive for both wolf and human.

Aku looked up at the boat. He changed his grip as he started to climb. Okay, this wasn't as bad as he thought. In fact, it was almost easy. He looked back at the storm which was coming at an even quicker rate. He supposed it was a miracle that it hadn't reached them yet. "Come on," he muttered to himself. The wind was starting to pick up to the point that it was actually starting to get difficult to hold on. He was actually starting to sway and could feel it trying to peel him off and drag him back down.

"Faster!" Aatu screamed over the roar of the storm. "We aren't going to make it!"

Aku looked back at the storm. It was now actually next to impossible to make out just where the storm actually started and ended. It was a whirl of snow that just seemed to blend together, making it impossible to make out any signs of life on the other side. It was a certain death for anyone who dared to get on the wrong side of it.

Aku scrambled up the side of the boat. A little bit of ice was just starting to stick to it, but it really wasn't enough to slow him down completely. By the time, he reached the top, Aatu was standing there looking around.

It was oddly empty. Aku listened, but couldn't hear any signs of life or much of anything over the storm for that matter.

"Now what?" Aku asked. Snow was once again whipping around him, making it almost impossible for him to even see Aatu. Well, he supposed if he looked closely, he could see Aatu's shape.

"I don't know," Aatu said. He seemed to be shifting around. "I don't see any signs of shelter."

Aku fought the urge to groan. They had to find shelter of some kind. The force of the wind was going to knock them over if they kept up like this. He did not like the thought of sliding over the edge and down into the icy bliss.

Suddenly, something grabbed onto Aku. He raised his hand, ready to strike it.

"It's just me," Aatu said.

Aku slowly lowered his hand. "Don't do that!"

Aatu just shrugged. At least he was now close enough for Aku to make out his features. "I think there' s a door over there." He pointed a little bit to their left, right on the ground.

Aku narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't see anything outside of snow. "Where?"

Aatu just rolled his eyes and grabbed onto Aku, dragging him across the way. Aku tried to dig his heels in, but couldn't find a grip. "Stop it!" Aatu screamed. "You're going to get us killed!"

"And you're not! How do you even know it's over there for certain!" Aku roared. "How I do know you're not leading me to my death!"

Aatu paused, staring Aku right in the eye. "I just know and I need you to trust me!"

Aku frowned as he felt Aatu lighten up his grip. "I do trust you, but you probably can't see any better than I can."

Aatu sighed. "I know how you feel, but I need you to just try and understand me. I am trying to save us. Staying out here will kill us for sure."

Aku gulped as the wind picked up. He knew Aatu was right, but he didn't know about the door. How would they know if they were going to go over the edge? How did they know that it was going to be safe? He had always heard that staying in one place was actually better than moving around.

Aatu started going back toward the door. Aku found himself holding his breath as they kept walking and walking. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe they would actually be okay.

Aatu knelt down as Aku held his breath. The other wolf slowly back to scarp away the snow, revealing what was in fact a trap door. He tugged, but it didn't give.

"Maybe it's jammed," Aku said.

Aatu shook his head. "I don't think it's jammed. I think it's locked."

He began to beat on the door. After a few minutes, Aku slowly began to realize that it wasn't going to work. Then, he heard it over the wind. It sounded like a creek. He stared at the door as it started it open. It was a creak! The door was actually opening.

However, when the door opened, Aku found himself wishing that it hadn't. Eelis was staring right at them.