《Laus Deo》23/44 - Sydney
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Abigail
Abigail let her head slide to the side as she stared out the passenger-side window. There was little to see at this hour; mostly outlines of trees and rooftops in the roadside murk. But every once in a while they sped by a lit-up sign announcing the name of the local train station. Elias had turned off the freeway too early, so they now drove along the meandering suburban road, which seemed to play leap-frog with the Newcastle train-line.
"Do you think Ramiel will ever show up again?" Abigail said. "He left about as suddenly as he arrived."
Her disappointment with the night's conclusion was still palpable. Harold and Abigail had been attempting small talk with Giorgio when Ramiel strode into the kitchen. In two well-phrased, but clinical sentences he thanked them for their help and announced his departure. Then he gestured for Giorgio to follow him and the two angels marched out together. Neither Abigail nor Harold even had a chance to glimpse Raphael.
"All adventures have to end sometime," Elias responded.
"Najran and his lot are still out there."
"True, but that's for the angels to deal with now."
Slowly, the station names became more familiar. Berowra. Mount Kuring-gai. Warrawee. It wasn't far now. After Turramurra, Elias took a left, finally turning towards the coast. Another half an hour and they would be home.
Abigail glanced down at her still-tingling hands and tried to concentrate on the coils of energy within her. A spark of pale yellow light flickered between her fingertips, then dissipated. Even if their part in this story was over, Ramiel had already left an enduring mark on her life. She was nephilim, she could never forget that.
Elias glanced over to his sister. "Will you stop it?"
"Is it distracting you?" Abigail asked.
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"Nevermind me. You're shaking; you've exhausted yourself."
Abigail held up her hand. Damn, he's right. She glanced down and realised it wasn't just her hands. Her entire body trembled as if she had spent the last hour swimming in icy water, rather than sitting inside a heated car.
She shrugged. "No pain, no gain. My squad coaches always said that kind of stuff. I imagine it's the same with this."
"But what's the gain?"
"Hasn't your flashlight battery ever died on you?" Abigail snorted. "Are you serious, Eli? There are probably a million things I could do if I tried."
Elias pursed his lips and adjusted the volume of the radio. "I bet it's not as easy as a matter of trying."
She shook her head; there was no winning here for either of them. As the crackling radio dominated the car cabin once more, Abigail turned her focus to the glovebox handle. She needed to push it forward a mere couple of millimetres and the glovebox would pop open.
It should have been easy, but as they sped through one suburb after another, the flimsy plastic handle refused to budge. Sighing, Abigail rested her head against the headrest and closed her eyes. Maybe I did overdo it.
The dashboard clock announced it was seven minutes to midnight when Elias finally pulled up by their house. The cold night air caught Abigail's breath as the climbed out of the car and although the house stood cold and uninviting, she scrambled towards it.
Inside, however, was as cold as outside and Abigail wished Elias hadn't refused Harold's offer to have them stay the night. While Abigail plugged in the electric heater, Elias flipped on the lights throughout the house. She wondered if this was her brother's attempt to chase away the uncomfortable realisation that this would be the first night the two of them would spend alone here. With Ramiel there Abigail, and likely Elias too, had focused on the angel's presence, not the absences.
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"Is this yours?" Elias picked up an envelope that lay on top of the textbooks he had left stacked on the coffee table that morning.
It wasn't sealed, so when he flipped it over two bronze coins fell out. He caught one, but the other rolled under the table. Thrusting the letter into Abigail's hands, he scrambled to retrieve it. Abigail lifted the lip of the envelope. Inside she found a thick, ivory-coloured sheet of paper with a handwritten note.
Dear Abigail and Elias,
I owe you a debt of gratitude for the patience and care you have shown my dear friend Ramiel throughout his time with you. And I assure you, he too is humbled by your hospitality. If Ramiel seemed curt upon departing, please do not take it as a sign of his indifference. He is a creature of the sword, not of words.
He has relayed to me his concerns about your welfare now that he has departed and Najran is yet uncaught. I have, therefore, strengthened the warding around your house. Four marble slates are now hidden under the ground of your property. These are ward anchors, take care not to disturb them.
You will have found two coins with this letter. When you leave your house, keep one of these coins on your person. Should you ever require assistance, place the coin between your clasped hands and say either my name or Ramiel's.
May the Lord Creator ever watch over you,
Raphael
Abigail grinned, and when Elias re-emerged from under the coffee table with the second coin in his hand, she showed him Raphael's letter.
"That's decent of him, I suppose," Elias said and held up the retrieved coin. It was about the same size as the 50 cent piece. However, instead of the coat of arms on one side and the queen on the other, this one had a complex sigil stamped into both sides. "Witness Protection and ten million dollars would've been nice too."
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Messummer (Capstone Writing Assignment)
|3X Wattpad FEATURED| Messummer's life changes when a futuristic boy stumbles into her ancient world. She must now help him front to his own time before his love for dinosaurs traps him forever. *** Ever since her father's death, Messummer has wanted nothing more than to prove she can survive in her fragile world. She decides to enter her valley's Great Flying Race as a rite of passage. It's a race only the bravest flyers attend. While Messummer is preparing for it one day, she meets a creature she has never seen before. His name is Daniel Matton. He stumbles into her world after a malfunction with something called a "time machine". Fascinated by this new species, Messummer kidnaps him (not that Dan has much of a choice) and takes him on a journey like none other. Of course, that's only after Dan concludes she's not going to eat him. Just when it seems like the two friends' connection is growing, disaster strikes. What starts off as a bonding experience is now a fight for survival. Will Messummer and Dan escape the horrendous Tyrannosaurus Rex, or will the 11.0-magnitude earthquake swallow them before he can even try to kill them? Will Messummer find the courage to tell Dan who she truly is? Will Dan ever return front to his own time? Above all, is their friendship going to survive the calamity? *** *Cover by @AnecdoteofAstrina on Wattpad!* Word Count: 7,000 🥉 3rd place in the April Awards' Short Story Category.⭐ Featured on @Speculative Fiction || Breaking the Space-Time Continuum Reading List.⭐ Added to @Speculative Fiction || Featured Speculative Fiction Stories Reading List.⭐ Featured by @Ooorah in their Tevun-Krus #100 || Dino Punk section.
8 162Apollyon's Curse
Within the pages of folklore and fantasy, tales of people who chase after the dream of eternity, of living forever, rarely find a happy ending. They are either struck by the grim truth of reality, give up, and return to mortality or face a ghastly realization of their wishes. The latter often the worse fate, as they come to realize, only far too late, that what they sacrificed was worth far more than the time they gained. Ultimately, the common thread in these stories is that “immortality is as much a curse as it is a blessing”. People either realize it early and give up or are doomed to inevitably face its consequences. In the world Enrich lives in, that saying does hold merit. Every pathway towards eternal life has shackles of its own. They bring those high above down to the ground, evening the playing field. It is thanks to these fundamental laws that ambitious mortals are able to defy the heavens and achieve immortality themselves. The variety of methods result in each of these bindings varying in intensity and degree of freedom. Enrich’s path doesn't break this trend. Though, after what he did to himself, most wouldn’t even consider him a living thing anymore. On the day of his ascension, a world’s worth of souls were melted and recast. On that day, the human’s path had reached its conclusion, recast into Apollyon. An artifact, a weapon, is eternal, after all. As for the curse? The payment will be made, as it must. So why not offload the curse to someone else? Mortals throw their lives away for all manner of petty reasons, noble or otherwise, especially in desperation. Eventually, someone will be willing to foot the bill. Most will if given the chance. The bait is far too tempting, after all. Power, status, knowledge. All at their fingertips. If only they say “yes”. And Apollyon is very willing to help any lost souls. If they give up everything in return, of course.
8 116Escape From Paradise
God is dead and the tears of the citizens of Paradise won't be enough to wash away the blood. Mwene, a gifted mechanic, believes his long lost father is the cause of this earth shattering revelation. His search for answers tangles him up in a journey to the edge of the galaxy, with the world government on his tail, where he'll find answers to god, reality and most importantly, himself.
8 190Star Wars Episode IX: The Descendant of Evil (Novella #1) ✓
|12X WATTPAD FEATURED| After the Beacerika injures her, Rey battles with the Light and Dark sides of the Force while it takes her on a journey like none other-though supernovas and wormholes-right back into Ben Solo. *** Rey remembers the day she and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo fought the Praetorian guards perfectly. Nevertheless, since the battle, something's changed inside her. She is not the Rey she remembers. Her Force abilities are no longer a gift; they are a threat. Everybody, including Rey's friends, fear her power. She must sacrifice everything she loves and give herself to the conflicted Supreme Leader if she is to change her fate. Nonetheless, something is hiding in the ashes of the galaxy-the Descendant of Evil. Now it is up to Rey and Ben to stop this growing threat. As the galaxy crumbles, Rey will face danger like she has never faced before, including a wormhole, a supernova, and a Force-sensitive monster who swears allegiance to her. As she moves closer and closer to her supernova, her friends will try to save her. However, at the end of the day, Rey and Kylo Ren are the only ones who can change the fate of the galaxy. They are the only ones who can take the name "The Rise of Skywalker". *** *Awesome cover by @dorkiest_nerd on Wattpad!* *Start Date: July 2018* *End Date: June 2022* Word Count: 30,000-35,000
8 204The Kings Human Queen
Alex's life was just starting, she just graduated from high school and was finishing her last summer at camp before heading off to college. But all that changed in an instant.Xavier was King of the werewolves, the King of Alpha's. He had been around a long time. He gave up hope long ago of having a mate.**********Warning this book contains adult scenes and sexual content. Please try not to be too harsh, but please feel free to leave your comments and thoughts.Do not steal my story.I do not own any of the photos used, I got them from Google.
8 105When the heroine becomes paranoid (Quick Wear) [GL] [MTL]
When the heroine becomes paranoid (Quick Wear)--Warm the new recruit is assigned tasks by the main system. She needs to play the role of a female supporting role or a cannon fodder villain in each world, complete the main task, and become a stepping stone for the male and female protagonists to the peak of success and the great harmony of life.One hundred tasks, after completion, still maintain the original intention, want to retire, plan to use the points to exchange for a relaxed world to enjoy the old age.However, due to the sudden OOC of the female protagonists in several of the quest worlds, their attributes changed greatly, and the main line of the world was forcibly changed, and they did not go into great harmony with the male protagonists, which led to the collapse of the main line of the quest world, and all Warm points were frozen.The wealth of the family is so impoverished that it is nothing more than that.In this regard, the method given by the system is to let Warm go to the collapsed world and reduce the blackening value of the heroine.-----------------------Collapse of the world 1: The popular queen and the president of Duojin: In your eyes, I am someone who wants to marry into a wealthy family?Collapsing World 2: Gao Leng, Paranoid Academic God and Arrogant and Domineering School Master: You treat me well, are you sympathizing with me?Collapsing World 3: The richest man in the capital and the Merry Prince: You just can't live without a man?Collapsing World 4: Demon disciple and Xianmen master: Master, I hurt so much, do you really have the heart to kill me?...etc(World Hopping) ( Quick Transmigration) (Quick Wear)Tsundere, Almighty, Suffocating VS The Birth of the Awakened (Paranoid Crying Bag)Protagonist: Warm/Warmth/Wen Nuan X Heroine from different world are the same person-----------------------RAW LINK: http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=5879756-----------------------ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TO THE AUTHOR
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