Of The Beginning: Marked: Book Two

By Nicole Green

They stood on the edge to the end. Watching one world fall, as another came into being - a second chance for The Three Brothers to protect what they held most dear.

And protect they would - each in their own way, as Atropos brought more into their fold. Yet, a feeling of unrest haunted the first angel. Tamynaen Jacob felt it in the core of

• Language: English
• Publisher: Imagined Worlds
• Release date: Oct 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9780578990675

Nicole Green

I write contemporary romance novels that stray a little bit outside of the genre. I've always had trouble coloring in the lines, so to speak. I published three full-length novels with Genesis Press: Love Out of Order (February 2010), The Davis Years (February 2011), and Holding Her Breath (July 2011). I am now venturing out into the self-publishing world, and I love it so far. My first novella, Pink Champagne, is available here at Smashwords and in most other places e-books are sold. I hope to publish two more novels by February 2013. Visit my website for updates about those.

Book preview

1

The old world was gone. Turned to dust and ashes after the blood spilled into the rivers, lakes, the oceans – poisoning everything the waters were supposed to nourish. It had all been by design. Boredom and power – a game, nothing more – nothing less. It was time for something new. Something more entertaining, at least that was the hope. If only his twin brother would stop yapping for one moment. As if somehow he thought he could make Atropos care about the insignificant lives of the creatures they breathed life into, molded and shaped. They didn’t matter. Their lives over before they’d truly begun. They couldn’t truly affect change. What took him mere seconds to do, took them years – hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years. It was pathetic really. It was no wonder the Council of the Gods, The Gala, used these humans and elves, as their servants. They were no good for anything else. And yet… some of them showed promise. He had decided to keep those ones, needing to bring a bit more excitement into their game. Hopefully the three he had taken would be worth something at least. Already his first choice had proven quite entertaining indeed as he switched between anger and sadness, despair and laughter – something Atropos had trouble understanding. Emotions were baffling to him. He felt almost nothing at all.

Atropos stood in his flourishing garden over a mirror bright pond as he tried to ignore his identical twin. Reflected in the smooth surface was Lucvoyeur, radiating silver; he looked angry. The statuesque face rippled as he shifted his jaw in annoyance, before finally opening his mouth again to voice his already known opinion, "It is completely despicable to let a world go to waste. You made those people destroy each other! You, brother, disgust me."

Lucvoyeur, it hurts that you think this of me, but it is the rules of our game which allow me to do this, Atropos laughed, although he didn’t quite feel it. Only the hints of what he believed humor would feel like. His golden sheen wafted out. Don’t worry. Your time to take over approaches; if you can get the people to take your fruit. He moved closer to the edge of the mirror-like water – eager to begin. It was something they should have already started, Come let us begin or do you want to stay in hell forever?

Lucvoyeur’s lip curled over his teeth and he spread his fingers out over the surface and began calling on his godly powers, Halendonia. Not hell. I don’t mind being there. Truly, I just don’t enjoy watching you play with the beings in the living world.

Mimicking his brother, Atropos, raised his hand and the two combined their powers to begin the creation of the new world they named Islandrial.

Locked inside his garden, Atropos was unaware of what his three angels did. He didn’t even know how much time passed as the new world was called into being like that of a beating heart. For his angels, time seemed to stand still. Their world was frozen in time; their minds locked on the destruction of their world. They could not process what had happened and each retreated into their own escape.

For a time, the three brothers stood shoulder to shoulder watching the clouds bash themselves against the cliff face – expecting a glimpse of what they had left behind. Memories spun through their minds like a book caught open in a breeze. They tried to comprehend how their world simply ceased to be. They leaned on each other and, ultimately, Gabriel and Mitchie looked to TJ for guidance as he was eldest, but for the first time in their memory, he didn’t know what to do other than wait for Atropos to return from his garden. His young face was paralyzed with creases. His dark hair whipped around him, fanning out like a dark halo. His eyes were a vibrant yellow green alternating quickly between a clear blue almost too fast to see – it made Mitchie nauseous to watch and he looked away.

Mitchie ran a hand through his already tousled dark brown hair. Tears welled up behind his warm brown eyes threatening to spill onto his tanned aristocratic face. His years of leading the strongest army in their world was the only reason he could keep his tears at bay – at least in front of his two adopted brothers. His training couldn’t keep out the thoughts of the last time his fingers brushed across the silky brown hair and his lips touched down on the unlined pale forehead of his one love. Ella. I failed. I’m so sorry, but I failed. If I hadn’t accepted the offer… If I hadn’t chosen this path, would I be with you now? Would we be in an eternal sleep together or wandering through whatever life is after this – or maybe it is only darkness? Would it matter? This feels a bit like hell… a bit… empty. What are we supposed to do now?

The other angel shifted his wings as he bit his lip, a deep sadness engulfing him. However, he was resigned to the belief it was for the good – after all, it was Atropos’ will. Gabriel turned his golden head to look at the seemingly younger men and the wind blew his thin hair into his icy-blue eyes. He shoved it aside, trying to think of something to say to make the other two feel calmer. It was a rare occasion that he lacked words, but this was one such time as he tried to push his own memories aside like he had his wind-swept hair. Memories best left forgotten. Tucked away like treasure in a chest. He didn’t want to remember the blood-soaked battle fields or his elder brother standing with chained daggers above a pile of bodies looking almost unrecognizable. He didn’t want to remember the years he had felt locked inside a power-hungry empresses fortress and even the good memories were painful as he glanced at the turbulent white clouds crashing into one another.

Their Elder continued to stare into the boiling clouds. It seemed he had no intention of moving anytime soon. Images rose in his mind of the final slaughter before they returned to Haven. Young children had fallen around him like bloody rag dolls as he unmercifully sent them to early graves. He had been unaware of what he was doing. Had no recollection of how he had gotten there, like he had been a puppet moving without conscious thought only to reawaken at the worst possible moment. Bile rose in his throat, how could I have let myself become that? I felt nothing… I tried to stop it… I tried so hard and failed. TJ felt his carefully cultivated calm breaking like old marble after years of being left outside to weather and crack. His breathing came quicker as his world shattered around him, my whole reason for becoming an angel…I wanted to help people. To save them… Instead, I murdered. I failed them…Kali, Erinn… Oreal… Heather… he barely caught the strangled sob before it escaped…Hayle… His heart thundered in his chest – the beat erratic. Spots danced across his vision, threatening to pull him into the dark. He welcomed it. It sounded peaceful. Maybe I’ll fall through the clouds… what happens when there is no world to be dropped into? Would it swallow me whole and spit me back out or would I just keep falling? He contemplated trying. It seemed better than being stuck there at the edge of the end with nothing but soured memories of failure to keep him company.

Mitchie looked from the clouds to TJ, seeking comfort in his humor that came at the lowest of times. Instead, he saw his cheeks flushed, eyes still shifting colors almost too quick to see, and heard his strangled breathing. His normally impassive best friend was worse off than both of them. It caught The General off guard as he normally seemed impassive about everything. Then, Mitchie remembered what Herok, the wise golden dragon of Astyreian – their old world, told him before it all came apart, His life was basically a tragedy. One day it will be too much. Watch out for him Micheal. He looked at TJ’s completely emotionless face and turned to Gabriel who raised an eyebrow in silent question.

It was too much for TJ. Too much for all of them, but The Priest knew more than even TJ realized about his past. It was slowly consuming him like turbulent waters and he needed to let it out before he was pulled into the rip-tide. Let’s go inside. Come on. We have a lot to do. We haven’t been back in so long, Gabriel said after finally finding his words. He gripped TJ’s shoulder, forcing him to turn. He softened his voice, pulling out his counselor training from his preacher past, Standing here staring isn’t going to change what happened Tam. Why don’t you go and play your music? Mitchie and I will clean up. He tugged at his shoulder again and, this time, TJ moved numbly inside, letting Gabriel lead him like he had led so many others before. Gabriel couldn’t remember another time in the hundreds of years he had spent with TJ, ever leading him anywhere. It had always been the other way around, but now it was his turn to be strong. His turn to guide them. Care for them. Do what TJ had always done for each of them. He pushed open the door to their area, intent on finding a way to keep them busy – keep them moving steadily forward and leaving the past where it should be.

The half-elf mindlessly walked to his room, just as Gabriel tried to speak to them again, but he didn’t want to listen. He just wanted to bleed out everything he had just witnessed. He didn’t want to be there. He wanted to go back to that day under the sycamore and laugh in Atropos’ face when he asked him to be his first angel. He wanted to tell him to fuck off. He wanted to take Lucvoyeur’s hand instead and go to Halendonia – he’d heard the weather was great there. Okay, maybe I made that part up, but it’s gotta be better than this. TJ threw the door to his room open and swept his long fingers over the porcelain keys of his grand piano, tickling the ivory and black. He dusted it slightly before pulling out the black bench, then TJ sat, closed his eyes, and began to play. The music came straight from a place he typically kept locked against the world. A place that was swirling like a maelstrom waiting to devour him if he let it see the light for too long, but just then he wanted it. He wanted to be pulled down into the center, to let it feed off of his emotions. To grow bigger and bigger until he could no longer contain it and release it into the universe. Maybe someone out there needed this song. This music. Maybe they could tame the creature.

Gabriel and Mitchie hovered in the doorway, worried at the music spilling from the instrument and into the hallway. They knew it was a window into his soul. Into the emotions he kept hidden behind his mask of calm indifference. The pure white feathers of his wings were sticking out from the muscles he kept clenched. The two younger angles stood next to one another in the doorway until The Eldest’s wings were, finally, gracefully tucked behind his back, and his fingers begin to paint a melody with a few calmer notes fading in. They both breathed a little easier as his pain began to wash out and through him.

Come on, Mitchie mumbled, He will be okay, but you know TJ will be at it for days. Gabriel nodded and reached in to close the door, but Mitchie shook his dark head. He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his dark brown eyes, Leave it open. It’s nice to listen to and he rarely plays the same thing twice.

That’s true. I didn’t want to disturb him, but then again, Gabriel sighed as he watched his shoulders shaking. He knew if he moved around the piano that he would see tears streaming down his angular golden cheeks, but there was nothing he could do. It wasn’t like TJ would ever let one of them comfort him in any way. He had one of the worst aversions to touch Gabriel had ever seen – and he had seen a lot, heard a lot, in his line of work. He is in that mood. Completely oblivious to everything. Let’s leave him be, Gabriel turned and walked away towards the living room down the hall, his back stiff with clenched muscles as he chewed his lip, deep in his own dark thoughts.

Dust coated everything, while a few papers lay scattered over the sofas, chairs, and tables. One of TJ’s spare guitars sat on a stand in the corner while a dagger of Mitchie’s lay on a cushion. Stacked books covered one of the chairs looking forlorn with dust. The two men glanced at each other in resignation to their chore, while the haunting music filled their ears. The nominal tasks were what they needed though. It gave them something they could complete successfully and see the tangible evidence of their work, while their thoughts could sift through the memories and thoughts of what happened to their world, despite everything they had done to stop it.

***

Gabriel and Mitchie didn’t see TJ again for almost two weeks. Their worry for his physical body was little as they did know he was alive and eating, but they hoped he was also healing. Yet, neither felt willing to interrupt him. Both men understood this was TJ’s way of coping and dealing with emotions he nearly refused to feel. It was his unboxing of everything he normally kept hidden.

The second angel desperately wanted to help him, but didn’t quite know how. He wanted to say something, yet, understood nothing anyone said could describe the grief which seemed to swell up in the chest and overcome the only survivors of Astyreian. Mitchie dissuaded him from even trying to talk with him and Gabriel felt a crack shifting at his foundations as it became even more aware to him how strong the bond was with TJ and the third angel.

He buried the jealousy away as Mitchie spoke, TJ is a solitary person. Let him be. Gabriel nodded in understanding, despite it going against every instinct he had. Gabriel was a talker. He wanted to talk through what had transpired, instead he went back to writing in his notebook as he tried to remember and duplicate every detail of their lost world with precise strokes of his pencil and pen before going back to color in more details. Gabriel felt the emotions of his brothers more than he cared to express, it was his power, but he could only write it. He could not change how they felt.

Without saying a word TJ, finally, appeared, a guitar in his hands, and flopped down on one of the stuffed armchairs – his legs over one arm with the guitar on his stomach. His fingers still subtly played notes and let him speak without words. The other two hesitated to say anything, but TJ beat them to it with a simple question as if nothing drastic in their world had shifted and changed, What have you two been doing?

They floundered for a moment at his calm question after weeks of hiding in his bedroom. Mitchie blinked rapidly and cleared his throat, before responding, Not a whole lot. Cleaning and recording. Atropos is still locked up in The Garden.

TJ nodded, That’s to be expected. He is creating a new world in the hopes that this one will last better. He sighed before continuing, not quite remembering having that conversation with Atropos, but knowing it to be true either way. He frowned, not meeting his brothers eyes, I’m sorry I wasn’t around to help out. I… wasn’t myself.

It’s okay. Happens to the best of us, Gabriel gave him an encouraging smile, grateful that he was back amongst them. Grateful and hopeful that they could begin to move on and find out what would come next. He couldn’t help buy ask You’re okay now? Feeling better?

TJ shrugged with nonchalance that the other two knew was mostly feigned, Yes. I’m better. He didn’t look up from his guitar. I think I’m going to get some fresh air. Take a flight. He hesitated a moment and reached up to tuck a long dark lock of hair behind a delicately pointed ear, then extended an invite, Either of you want to come along?

They glanced at each other and realized how much they had missed their elder brother and his quiet, thoughtful ways, along with his sporadic bursts of laughter, and pranks, We’ll come. We haven’t really gotten out yet, Mitchie admitted with a thoughtful sigh as he answered for the both of them without a second thought. He knew Gabriel would want to come with them.

Finally, he looked up and brushed his dark hair fully out of his face, I think we should go on a camping trip. Just get out of here. What do you say?

That’s the best idea I have heard in weeks, Mitchie grinned, it had been a long time since he had been cooped up like this and he hadn’t realized how badly he had been itching to get out under the open skies again.

Without speaking aloud, the three brothers stood and walked down the hallway which seemed to be casting darker shadows than usual. They entered their rooms and packed their bags. None of them took much; just a few spare clothes, a blanket, towel, and soap. Each took a few books and notebooks. TJ took his flute and violin, Mitchie painting supplies, Gabriel some weaving. They met in the hallway again and went to the kitchen to throw provisions in their bags and pots, and then they left.

***

The wilderness enveloped the three angels who knew every inch of the tall forest created by Atropos to his specific requirements. There were no harmful animals here. Everything lived and died by Atropos’ will. The red deer galloping through the clearing provided the men a hefty number of meals, once TJ taught them how to clean the creatures. Gabriel seasoned the meat while Mitchie watched over the fire he made by tossing a handful of his ruby red fire into the nest of logs without a second thought. It took him a moment to remember his humanity and how once he had needed to painstakingly gather the right amount of tinder and coax the logs into burning with matches or worse – flint and steel. He pondered over that idea that he wasn’t truly human any longer. It wasn’t a loss exactly, it felt more like the sheading of a skin, but he wondered how he hadn’t quite realized it until now. Looking at the others, Mitchie wondered at what point they had realized they were ‘other,’ before remembering that TJ said he had already possessed powers when he was still alive in the traditional sense. Gabriel’s powers were more subtle, so perhaps he still had yet to see himself as different. Frowning, Mitchie stoked the fire to build more coals for supper.

TJ took his time in guiding Gabriel and Mitchie on long hikes up to the foot of the mountain and over the foothills, while imparting his vast knowledge of plants and their uses. Mitchie sketched the plants with help from TJ – who it turned out was a wonderful drawer. His painting needed help unless it was water color, so he left that to Mitchie. Gabriel cataloged the different plants he knew were good for healing and if they were toxic or edible with help from TJ.

How do you know all of this? Gabriel finally questioned of TJ as he pushed his sweaty golden hair out of his red splotched face. They had just stopped from the heart pounding rate Mitchie was forcing on them to reach the foot of the mountain where a waterfall crashed into a small lake in sapphire colored ribs of water over steel colored rocks. It was their favorite spot in Atropos’ wilderness. The moss-covered shores were soft as down and the best bed they had ever slept on. The deer and other animals did not fear them here and they walked among each other like old friends. When the sun was at its peak, it turned the river to gold on a clear day and when the moon took over, the waterfall crashed like liquid silver into the depths of the lake filled with the best fish in Haven.

TJ pulled a flowering plant from the water’s edge and put it into the basket Gabriel had woven a week before. Slowly, carefully, TJ unraveled the memory of his old friend. He felt her absence like a wound. Felt the ghost of her careful ministrations like a tangible ache. Keeping his face impassive, TJ softly spoke, There was a woman, my eldest sister – Heather, had been friends with. Her name was Colette. He said pronouncing the name Co-let-uh. She helped take care of me once Heather died. Colette was an elven healer and a genius when it came to herbal healing.

She sounds like a pretty impressive woman, Mitchie said with a grin, To take care of you, that is. You don’t exactly make it easy.

TJ threw a palm full of wet leaves at Mitchie, who ducked, causing it to smack into Gabriel’s chest. It made a lovely deep brown splotch across his light blue shirt. The second angel drew a finger across the muck and smelled it, making a face. TJ expected a reprimand for his childish behavior, but instead, uncharacteristically, Gabriel plunged his hand into the mud himself. He flung his collected goo at TJ before tackling Mitchie into the water with a crash of sparkling droplets. TJ tried to dodge the missile, which made him trip right into the arms of his brothers as they flew out of the water at him, dragging him back into the depths like the tales of the sea monsters from their homeland. The battle ended with belly laughs, breaking through their dark cloud for the first time in years.

Refreshed from their dip in the cool water they laid on the shores in patches of radiant sunshine, letting the warm air dry their clothes and skin. The Three Brothers made camp by the waterfall that night trading stories as they cooked a dinner of fresh fish while talking about their lives before becoming angels. They had before, but it was only in passing conversation with the pressing weight of responsibility hanging over them.

My sister and I used to visit our grandmother who was really into elven folklore and healing. She told us about this festival they used to have in their ancient forests. It sounded beautiful. Ella and I tried to re-create it with paper lanterns after she told us the tale, but we ended up almost burning down the stables. We didn’t really think about what would happen once the lanterns rose to the thatched ceiling.

Gabriel and TJ laughed as they lounged against the logs. TJ pulled his bow against the strings of his violin, not imparting that he had been a part of many of the actual ceremonies in Layendria – the homeland on the world of Astyreian for the elves. He let the whisper of a smile cross his face, How old were you?

I was eight and Ella was five. It was way too easy to convince her to do things, even if I was old enough to know better, Mitchie laughed – a hearty sound, tinged only slightly by sadness for the loss of his sister. He was getting better at not letting the grief overwhelm hi, - instead letting the good buoy him up. I always got her into the worst sort of trouble.

TJ grinned at that, remembering his own friends who were like that. They were memories, he normally kept a tight grip on, only letting himself take them out and look at in private. That night, he let them trickle out like a single drop of water merging with another until his hands carefully held them. Quietly he spoke, That’s how it was with my best friend Jake. I was always dragging him into things. When I first learned I could speak into peoples’ minds, I used to do it in class when the teachers were lecturing. Jake would start laughing or nodding along to what I was saying and then the teacher would call him out for an answer, TJ moved his fingers up and down the strings with a quick easy grace as he talked, He could usually make something up quick enough that they knew he was getting away with something, but they couldn’t pin anything on him. Drove them crazy.

My friends were always suspicious about how I knew what they were feeling. We used to play a game where each of my friends would try and take on an emotion and I would have to guess what it was, Gabriel smiled and looked at his brothers who just stared at him. He frowned, It was much more fun than it sounds… I guess I was never much of a trouble maker, unless you count my position in the Rebel Army and betraying Empress Medicèe.

Mitchie rolled his eyes as he laughed, Gabe, you are so straight-laced sometimes it kills me, but that’s alright. The two of us need someone to ground us or we would be all over the place and never get anything accomplished.

Thanks, Mitchie, Gabriel chuckled as he put more wood on the fire, I appreciate that. Deep down he couldn’t help but feel the difference between him and the other two. Feel how unnecessary he saw himself. He wasn’t like Mitchie who had gotten TJ to speak and share and laugh before he had ever become an angel or who could control fire as if it were second nature, who had skills with a blade only paralleled by TJ. Then there was TJ who sometimes seemed to be something else entirely – somehow above their place with his gifts. TJ who could control all of the elements – even if he struggled with water – and who could speak into their minds without a second thought. TJ who seemed to have an unfathomable amount of power – who had it before he was reborn as an angel. Gabriel felt their differences and how out of sync he was with the two dark haired men.

They spent their time wandering through the forest following deer runs and climbing up and down the foot of the mountain. They hunted animals and forged for forest fair – mushrooms, plants, and berries – for their meals. They bathed in the streams and ponds.