Chapter 6 - The Prophecy

The Prophecy

"She was dubbed Angel. Everyone described as one. But everyone knew that even though she might be an angel, she was also a devil. She was the cause of her mother’s death.
But she went on not knowing what happened on the date of her birth. Sweet old Vyu knew it was best to keep it a secret until Angel was ready. The rest of the village had enough sense to keep quiet.
Angel grew up to be a shockingly beautiful girl. With long, pink, flowing hair, great beauty, and determination, she was an imitation of her late mother.
They would visit her grave often. When Angel was younger she would constantly ask how her mother died. As she grew older and realized that her father wasn’t planning to give her any answers, she stopped pestering him, but she still thought about it.
By the time she was fourteen, the war was still raging on. There has been war for nineteen years now.
Vyu was still commanding their army. None others has been killed but it was still as it was fourteen years ago.
Everyone fell into a daily schedule and nothing changed and nothing even moderately interesting occurred. Nothing until the death date of Miirii*.
Vyu and his daughter walked slowly toward the cemetery. Although, one could argue that it’s not even a cemetery at all. After all, it only has one residence.
"Hi Mom." Angel whispered, setting down a bouquet of flowers.
"We’ve come again, Miirii*"
Then they sat down on the dirt and sat there gazing at the tombstone.
"Dad," Angel finally said, breaking the silence, "how did Mom die?" She glanced at her dad’s face for any signs of finally revealing the big secret.
Vyu sighed, exasperated. "Angel, how many times have you asked me this question?"
" One hundred seventy-eight times."
"And my answer always was……"
"You’ll tell me when the time comes."
"Exactly."
"But Da-ad. I’m not a baby anymore. I’m fourteen! I can handle it."
"I think I am aware of your age, Angel."
"Just tell me!" she whined tugging at his sleeve. "Please."
"When the time comes."
"But why can’t you tell me now?"
He turned to look at her. "Because you’re not ready!"
Angel, red in the face, jumped up and turned to look at her father. "Dad! I’m not your little girl anymore! I can understand that you thought it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to know when I was younger, but I’ve grown up now! I should know what happened to my own mother!"
"Angel, it’s hard for me to tell you this."
"It’s hard but not impossible!"
"Angel! Try to understand! I-I just can’t tell you right now!"
"Why?" she asked with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Give me one good reason why you can’t tell me and I’ll never ask you about it again, until you’re ready."
Vyu gazed at the grave. He looked anywhere except at Angel. "I can’t tell you because…….."
"Because what?"
Vyu stayed silent.
"Because what, Dad?"
He still refused to look at her. It slowly dawned on her the cause of her mother’s death.
"It’s because of me, isn’t it? I’m the cause of Mom’s death?" she whispered the last part and her voice cracked.
Vyu grimly nodded. " I don’t think it’s totally your fault. I think the stress and danger of the war was already catching up to her. But when you came, it was the last straw. She couldn’t take it all. So she left to a better place."
Angel was shocked. "Oh." Was all that she could manage.
Vyu pulled Angel into his lap. Even though she was fourteen, he knew she needed comfort right now. "I know this is kind of hard to take in. Don’t blame yourself. It doesn’t help. In fact, I was blaming myself for your mother’s death for a while. I was absolutely miserable."
"Do you hate me?"
"Of course I don’t! Why would you ask that?"
"Because I killed her." Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I know she would willingly give up her life for you, and she did. So would I when the time comes. Now, come on. Lets go home. Bye Miirii*" He scooted Angel off his lap and stood up.
Angel waited a few seconds by the grave. "Sorry Mom." Then she turned and followed Vyu home.
When they returned to the hut, Vyu instantly flopped onto a chair.
"Dad? Do you want me to get you a cup of tea?"
"That would be great, Honey." He said with his eyes closed.
"Yes, I’ll put honey in it."
As Angel stood there adding honey to the tea a big puff of red and blue smoke filled the room and blinded Angel. Soon the smoke filled her lungs and she began to choke.
"Angel? Angel! Are you ok?" Vyu didn’t get an answer. "Angel!" He rushed into the kitchen to be greeted by colorful smoke.
Coughing, he pushed through the smoke and found Angel on the floor with spilled tea and pieces of glass beside her. She was suffocating.
Suddenly, strange voices were heard by Vyu and Angel.
"Now see what you did! I told you not to use so much smoke!"
"You used the same amount of smoke as I did!"
"Ugh. You annoying me soooooooooo much, you know that?"
As the smoke cleared, they could see two figures, one blue and one red, standing in the middle of the room.
The blue girl turned toward her sister. "See! You almost killed her! No wonder they dubbed you the Devil!"
"Who are you guys?’ Angel asked once she got her breath back.
The red one turned to her with a surprised look plastered on her face. "You don’t know who we are?"
Angel shook her head.
"Hmmm. I thought everyone knew who we are." The red one told her sister. "I’m the Devil. And this is my sister, your namesake, Angel."
"Oooookkkkk." Angel said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"You don’t believe us." The Angel said. "It’s understandable. But I’m not going to waste time explaining. We have places to go, things to do."
"Ok. So what are you doing here?"
Devil was the one who answered this time. "We are here to deliver a prophecy."
Angel blinked blankly.
"You know, those things that rhyme and they tell you what is going to happen. Just for a heads up, they never make sense."
"Come on Devil! Hurry up. I have an appointment with the mall." The Angel urged.
"Alright alright."
So the Angel and the Devil told Angel her prophecy, taking turns talking with every line.
The Fate of the war shall be revealed
When the hate and distrust is healed
The lone enemy shall be hid and untouched
‘Till the future needs him much

In another puff of smoke, the Angel and the Devil disappeared leaving Angel and Vyu wondering what it all meant."