** Dear Readers, (if you read this note in Azrael’s Chapter 0.3, skip to the story!)
Your first choice in Caelus’ story appears at the bottom of this chapter. You will see it in bold. Choose wisely, some choices are small, but others have the butterfly effect and will change the course of the story for other characters across the Sonder books as well…
Once your choice is made, comment your selection. The choice with the most votes will dictate the next chapter - other choices will ALSO be written for minor choices, with enough votes, so you will be able to follow your path with the numbering of the chapter. The Prologue here is numbered 0.# (this section is 0.3), Part One will be 1.# etc. Your choice’s path will be 0.#.A. For example, after this section, 0.3, if you choose path B, you will proceed to 0.3.B to see your choice on the page. Once the next part is ready to begin, for example, once we leave the Prologue and move to Part One, the major choices will be locked and change the plot going forward, and minor choices will affect the relationships between Caelus and everyone around him… **
~ ~ ~
His emotions were on a rollar coaster. He was still angry. But his heart pounded, his palms became sweaty. The ice shivered within him, coiling into his stomach like frosted butterflies.
Her… He longed for her like he had only seen her last week. His Kia. Her name was honey on his tongue. Her small face, her smile, her laughter... He needed her like he needed air. He could never forget her.
But he couldn’t dare to hope. Caelus took a breath, pushing down the longing, and dialing up the anger to protect his heart. He slammed his fist on the table, startling his guest.
”Temper-“
”Don’t start with me!” He stood again, hands on the table as he leaned forward, towering over her statuesque dignity. “How dare you. How dare you come in here, centuries late, and taunt me over her. You dare to show your face to me, you dare to bring her up! You dare to mention my kingdom!”
He trembled. She merely sat, pinning him with those eyes of hers. Even under the hood, shadowed, he saw them. Voids. Endless. “Are you quite finished?”
He grit his teeth, leaning closer, letting his breath frost in her face and she scowled in displeasure, but she did not flinch from him. “I will end you,” he whispered.
Her brows raised and she threw her head back, laughing - she laughed. She laughed at his threat.
Suddenly she was no longer laughing and he felt his muscles all stiffen at once. He tried to move. He couldn’t. Not even his fingertips. Involuntarily his body sat back down, his hands folded in his lap just like hers had been. He tried to open his mouth. He couldn’t. Then he realized he couldn’t even take a breath. Panic started to rise as he strained. His eyes found hers, the only thing she allowed him to move.
She merely stared at him, impassive. Waiting. His ice flared to life inside him, but couldn’t get out. It thrashed and screeched in his head, urging him to kill her, to let it loose.
She continued to wait. His head started getting light. His lungs burned to move, pinpricks of glitter forming at the edges of his vision. Still, she sat. Finally, after a couple minutes, he felt his lungs release and he heaved a breath, heart pounding hard to get his desperate oxygen delivered. He panted, but could move nothing else.
”Now, are you quite finished?” Her voice held no more amusement. He was silent. She wouldn’t allow him to speak yet. “You will remember who I am, Ice Wraith. And you will now address me accordingly. I will no longer tolerate your… Childish displays.”
She paused, then flicked her wrist like she was swatting a fly. All at once his body was released and he pitched forward. He didn’t know how, but he would kill her. Everything had its weakness.
As if she could hear his thoughts she smirked, purring, “where were we? Ah, yes, your little… Kia,” she breathed his name for her and his fist clenched. How she knew-! She must have been watching long before… “Oh, she’s alive, Ice Wraith. She’s alive, and she is also your key.”
He didn’t dare to speak. His heart pounded. He clenched his fists.
”Now,” she purred, leaning forward, holding his hands in hers on the table top like a lover, “shall I tell you where she is?”
His jaw slackened and he shot to his feet again, “where?!” Where did he need to go? He forgot his prior animism. All that mattered now was getting to his Kia. He could deal with the hag once he knew for certain if she was even alive. It was too good to be true.
”Before I tell you, you must know. There’s a teeny, tiny little problem. An obstacle, if you will.”
”Tell me where she is, problems be damned!”
”You already know where she is - she’s waiting for you. Searching. Oh, how her little heart beats for you, but, it really is too bad…”
“What is? Tell me, damnit!”
“Well, Ice Wraith, she doesn’t remember you.”
His heart plummeted into his stomache. He dropped back into his seat.
”And…”
”And…” he echoed, voice hoarse, mouth suddenly very dry.
”She belongs to another.”
”She can’t belong to anyone! She is- She’s-“
”Yours?” The old woman smirked, mocking, patting his hand on the table. He finally realized she was touching him and yanked his hands away from her in disgust. “Oh she’s been claimed alright. You’ll find she will be… Difficult to convince otherwise.”
”You-! You did this-!”
”Remember, your last tantrum did not go over well,” her face suddenly changed, and under the shadowed hood those young features turned to rot. Flesh was missing, one of her eyes remained, bluer than the sky at dusk, but the other was a cavern. He didn’t remember her ever having blue eyes. He swore they were brown before.
”Tell me what I need to do.”
”Much better. Now, first thing’s first,” she pulled a box from under the table at her feet, a box he hadn’t noticed when she came in, and slid it across to him. “You will need to wear this, when you see her. I will come to take it back from you later, so do keep it in good repair.”
He cocked a brow, pulling off the lid to see a vest. A fae vest. His fingers trembled. He hadn’t seen clothes from his kingdom in ages. He pulled it free and stilled, “this is mine!”
“No, it’s not,” she smirked, “anymore.”
He stood, throwing on the vest, determined to see his Kia that day, no matter how far he had to go.
”No, it’s your cousin’s now, you know, The King.”
”Oh, you do enjoy my anger!” Caelus snarled, buttoning the vest. It was a blue velvet, azure and deep, with embroidered gold knotwork.
She grinned, “maybe a little. Within reason, Ice Wraith, you know how friends do like to tease.”
”Your definition of, ‘friends,’ is lacking, hag.”
”I would admonish you again for your disrespect, but now I realize our friendship permits certain liberties in address,” she flicked her wrist at him dismissively. “No matter, Ice Wraith, you must adhere to my instructions carefully. Wear the vest. I will return for it. Only then will I reveal to you how to use your key.”
His brow furrowed. Was he referring to Kia as a key, an object?!
”Calm yourself,” she purred, grinning yet again. “Even friendship has its limits.”
”Indeed it does,” he warned.
”You know where she is, go now.”
”What do you mean? How can I know?”
He looked down at his hands, his fists clenched. When he looked up, she was gone. And with a start, he realized, he did know where she would be. And it wasn’t far from here. He stood, knocking his chair back and rushing for the door.
“Hey, you need to pay for your table!”
He ran. He ran like he never had before. His lungs burned, his muscles strained. And he ran. He couldn’t push himself fast enough, he couldn’t get there soon enough.
”Kia!”
He saw her, still, beautiful. She stood in the middle of a frozen lake, face turned up to the sky, watching little snowflakes descending from the heavens, the very first snowfall of the year taking its first breath.
He almost slipped on the lake in his haste to reach her. “KIA!”
She didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge his voice. As he neared, wanting with everything in him to wrap her in his arms, bury his face in her neck and inhale her into his very soul, he hesitated, “Kia?” He stepped closer. His eyes finally trailing over her in full.
Her hair was only blonde at the tips, the roots were silver, shimmering like a grey silk under moonlight. His gaze ran down her form and his brow knit together on his forehead. Her hands were blue. She wore no shoes. Her feet were blue. And she was shivering.
He stepped in front of her, her vacant stare was no longer the aqua he remembered. Instead, her eyes were a pale violet with hints of blue at the edges. She didn’t blink, not even when a snowflake fell onto her silver eyelashes.
Without another thought he bent, sweeping an arm under her knees and scooping her up, holding her close into his chest. Finally she stirred, blue lips parting as if to speak, but nothing came out as she finally looked at him, startled out of her trance.
”Ssh, Kia, I’ve got you now. And I am never letting you go again.” He burried his nose into the top of her head, breathing deeply, his heart singing. She smelled the same. She might look changed, but her scent was just the one that haunted his dreams for all these years.
He needed to get her somewhere warm, quickly. He began striding across the lake, a heavy peace in his chest. He didn’t know how she was here or why she was here, but it didn’t matter. He had her now and he would fix everything she needed.
A growl interrupted his thoughts, reverberating through the frigid air. “You touch what’s MINE.”
He stilled, turning to watch a beast stalk steadily towards him. It was mid-change, its human body cracking and lengthening into long limbs with massive paws, fur sprouting from its skin. Its muzzle lengthened, teeth sharpening, that growl surging from its snarling maw.
As the change settled in the creature, it readied to pounce, massive, fur like obsidian. It was almost his height and he hesitated, holding her closer.
** Caelus’ choices:
A : Carefully, he set her down on the icy lake. She stirred, shivering violently, her gaze wide, darting between him and the beast. He stepped away from her, ice pouring from his skin to form sharpened shards hanging in the air as a hilt, then a pommel, then a great two-handed sword solidified into his hands. He took a stance, daring the creature to lunge.
B : “She needs help, she’s shivering,” he stepped back, lifting her blue fingers to show the creature. “Shift back and help her.” Fighting now would only get her killed and she needed help now. She couldn’t wait in the state she was in. It was the best way to protect her.
C : He spun on his heel and ran, clutching her close. She didn’t have time for an alpha male pissing match. And the icy lake… This was his world. He let the wraith that lived in his blood free as he ran, letting the ice slicken under them as the beast howled, lunging after him.
Choose wisely, dear readers… **
