Fan Fiction ❯ Angel Wings ❯ Chapter 5:The Empress Emerges ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: The Empress Emerges

Iris tossed and turned in her sleep. She awoke with a start from her nightmare. Her breathing was laboured and she a cold sweat on her brow. As her breath slowed she looked at her clock which read 4:30 am. Just four more hours till school starts, great . . . She rubbed her forehead and laid back on her bed and tried to go back to sleep.

Iris felt wide awake when her alarm clock finally went off. She hardly got any sleep last night. Her mind was too scared about what would happen at her school the following day. She said a silent prayer to the gods hoping the only people who saw her were her friends and if not, that she had the strength to stand up to them.

When she boarded her bus she immediately noticed a change in attitude from her fellow peers. They know, she thought fearfully. She took her seat near the back of the bus like she always did and acted as if nothing had happened. There was an unusual silence on the bus that morning and it was that silence that scared her even more.

Iris went through her morning routine as usual. She got many stares and heard few people whispering. They all know! Well, hopefully this is as bad as it will get. Hopefully . . . Iris walked into science class and sat beside Eva in the back or the room. Eva took notice of the fearful look hidden in her friend's face.

"Isabel? Are you all right?" she asked. Iris nodded but Eva wasn't going to believe that. She knew that there was something else wrong. "You can tell me Izz, c'mon." Iris sighed and faced her friend.

"Okay I scared, no petrified! What if everyone gangs up on me? Or, or what if-" Eva silenced her immediately.

"They won't gang up on you and if they do you can always fly away right." Iris didn't look the least bit satisfied. "What? You can't blame me for trying to cheer you up." Iris let out another sigh and hoped to the gods that she would encounter no misfortunes for the rest of the day.

Her next two classes were the same as her first. She received many stares and "dirty" looks along with whispers and unwanted comments. When the lunch bell went she felt relieved. She let out a heavy sight and went straight to her locker than to the cafeteria to meet up with her friends.

"Okay, lets go to the roof now." Iris said in a demanding tone. They rushed to the third stair well. They ran up the stairs in a hurry. All were gasping for air when they made it to the roof. Everything was going fine or so Iris thought.

Without warning Matthew along with his 'gang' burst through the stair well door. "Demon!" Matthew yelled. Iris turned to face him reluctantly.

With all her courage she managed to yell, "What the fuck do you want bastard!?"

"Oh now aren't we a little touchy."his tone sickened her to the bone.

"So what the fuck do you want Matthew?" he ,along with his "gang" laughed.

"Oh I think you already know demon." Iris rolled her eyes.

"Did you not learn your lesson in the forest on Friday night?" she asked as she cocked an eye brow. Matthew looked at her confused. "Oh don't tell me you and your 'friends' didn't forget running away from me scared shitless?" they still looked a her confused. "I'm the one you tried to shoot Friday night you idiots!" the 'gang' began to laugh again.

"That's hilarious Isabel but I think I remember what that bitch looked like and you look nothing like her." Iris rubbed the corners of her eyes revealing two small navy blue triangle birthmarks, the mark of an Angalikan. She then shook her head vigorously until her hair was at full length.

Matthew, his 'gang' and Iris' friends looked on in shock and surprise. "Now Matthew, do you remember me?" she smirked at him. Matthew found himself speechless and afraid. He knew of her powerful capabilities which scared him mostly.

From out of the blue, one of Matthew's 'gang' members reached into his black leather jacket and pulled out a black gun which had a silencer attached to it. Iris looked at him fearless. She no longer feared guns or any other weapon for that matter. Her friends on the other hand gasped in utter shock. "I'll kill you demon!" he threatened. Iris looked at him and cocked an eye brow. The colour in her eyes swirled and changed to gold. Her birthmark triangles began to glow and changed from navy blue to gold. Her long blond hair swayed in the wind and changed too. It changed to a golden blond with silver and white streaks.

"Really? Why don't you try?" he placed his finger on the trigger. "Or are you too afraid to?" he pulled the trigger and a the bullet sped towards Iris but soon came to a stop. Everyone looked on mesmerized. Iris looked at the bullet and watched it fall to the floor. "You see, your weapons cannot hurt me." her tone had grown cold and chilling.

Iris lifted her right arm and held out her hand with the palm facing the 'boy' holding the gun. Her hand began to glow and the wind grew stronger. The neckless around her neck, too began to glow.

"Iris no!" Cassandra and her older sister Bonnie burst through the stair well door. Iris looked at her cousins annoyed.

"What do you want?" Iris growled. The two cousins moved towards Iris cautiously.

"This isn't right Iris and you know it." Cassandra remarked. Iris narrowed her eyes in dissatisfaction.

"Isn't right? They killed my best friend! And it's people like them why we are hated so much! It was people like them that killed me!" Cassandra and Bonnie looked each other a bit confused.

"Killed you? What do you mean?"

"You may know me as Iris Dove but over thousands of years ago I was Nephari Cosmos."

"Neph-Nephari Cos-Cosmos?" the two were shocked and speechless.

"Yes, Nephari Cosmos Empress of Angalika, the greatest civilization ever know to man but never acknowledged anymore." she glared at the 'gang' of boys. "They all deserve to die for what they have done."

"No Iris." Iris turned to Cassandra.

"No?" she let out a sultry laugh. "You dare order me? Ha! I think not." Melody stepped forward.

"Isabel . . ." Iris turned to Melody. "Isabel or who ever you are, please stop. Please . . ." Iris gasped as her eyes, birthmarks, and hair all returned to normal. She then shut her eyes and fainted. Melody ran and grabbed her before she hit the ground.

Bonnie and Cassandra turned to the group of boys and glared at them. "You better leave." Cassandra warned them. All of them didn't hesitate to leave and rushed to the stair well doors. Cautiously Iris' friends approached their friend.

Eva looked at Bonnie eager to ask her list of questions she now had. "Um, Bonnie right?" Bonnie nodded. "Could you do myself and my friends a big favour by telling us about the history of Angalika?" Bonnie looked at her sister and sighed.

"Fine." she said as she took a seat on the ground beside her sleeping cousin. The rest of Iris' friends sat down, eager to listen. "Thousands and thousands of years ago, during the time of the civilization Atlantis was a another civilization known as Angalika. Both were great and large islands in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. For many years the two civilizations were at peace with each other even though they were considered rivals.

"Well, one day the Atlantians wanted to rid the world of the Angalikans so the could be the superior race. However, they underestimated the Angalikans power. You see, the Angalikans had created this neckless which was a black orb attached to a golden chain. This neckless had the power to see into the future and once the Empress, Naphari Cosmos, saw this she ordered that when the Atlantians did attack that their island be placed on the bottom of the Atlantic and hidden from mankind for eternity.

"When the Atlantians finally attacked, the Empress put their plan into motion and Atlantis began to sink. Everything was fine or so the Angalikans thought. What they did not know was that the survivors spread themselves across the world and turned the world against them. Since then our people have been hated."

"Whoa! Wait a minute! What happened to Angalika? There is no island in the Atlantic today so what happened?" Eva wanted the facts straight.

"Well, one night an assassin snuck into the palace in the centre of Angalika and murdered the Empress. When her body was found in the morning the Privy Council made the decision to destroy Angalika and live in hiding among the humans. It was the only way they knew how to live at the time." there was a silence which was short lived by the soft moans of Iris.

"Isabel? Isabel? Are you alright?" Melody asked sincerely. Once her vision cleared Iris sat up right. She rubbed her head and looked around.

"Uh, what happened?" she asked as she rubbed her temples.

"You went all weird and crazy!" Alex shouted while trying to hide is laughter. Eva turned to Alex and held up her hand to slap him. He quickly went into a submissive state.

"Well what really happened was . . ." Amy went on to explain everything in full detail. Iris was shocked beyond belief.

"I . . . I claimed to be Naphari Cosmos?" her cousins nodded and Iris felt like she was going to faint once again. "Do you have any idea what tis means!?!" her friends were clueless except Melody, Calista and Bonita. They knew exactly what it meant. "I am the reincarnation of the great Empress!" she looked and felt flushed. "Oh my god . . . I can't believe this . . ."

"So what's the big deal?" Rachael asked, looking clueless as ever.

"She is our saviour!" Calista exclaimed in excitement.

"Saviour . . ."Iris repeated. She was still in shock. Me? The reincarnation of the great Empress Nephari . . . this is too weird . . .

Iris went home early that day from school. Her cousin Bonnie offered to drive her home and Iris kindly accepted. Both Bonnie and her sister explained things to there aunt, Iris' mother. Iris staggered to her room where she fell asleep.

Bonnie, Cassandra and Iris' mother sat at the kitchen table all drinking a cup of tea. "So, you're saying that my Iris claimed to be Nephari." Bonnie nodded.

"It was really weird thought aunt Nora. Her eyes and hair changed. She even sounded a bit different." Cassandra remarked as she stirred her tea once more.

"She changed? How?" Nora asked both intrigued and concerned.

"Well, her eyes became a gold colour and her hair had streaks of white and silver. She just didn't look like our Iris but she did." Cassandra ran her finger through her hair in frustration. "It's confusing . . ."

'Iris walked the streets of an ancient city alone. The streets were filled with people. Iris looked at the people more carefully and noticed they were Angalikans like herself. When the other Angalikans caught sight of her they all either bowed or curtsied. Iris smiled at them and gestured from them to rise from their position. The Angalikans smiled graciously and said their thanks and praises to her and addressed her not as Iris Dove but as Empress Nephari Cosmos.

Iris found herself laying on a large bed supposably asleep. A man entered her bedchamber through the balcony. He strode over to the bed grinning evilly at her. From his belt, he unsheathed a sharp, jewel incrusted dagger. He grabbed Iris by the scruff of her golden night dress waking her up. But before she could say or do anything, he thrusted the dagger into her chest. He withdrew and exited from the balcony.

Iris let out a scream of pain and laid on the pearl white sheets of her bed. The blood poured heavily from her chest, staining the silken sheets. The doors swung open and in ran a man with sparkling, sapphire blue eyes and unruly black and blue hair. He was wearing a simple blue, short sleeved tunic and black breeches.

The man ran to the Empress's body and held her close. "I'm sorry Cadell . . ." Iris murmured. He took her hand in his and held it against his face.

"Don't say such things Nephari. I won't let you die." the strength in her body began to weaken.

"Cadell . . . don't worry . . . we'll be together again . . . maybe not now but . . . in the future . . . in another life . . ." she gasped for air and tears began to fall from her golden eyes. "Just remember . . . I'll always love you . . ." she took her last breather and laid lifeless in his arms.

"Nephari . . . no . . . No!" tears fell from Cadell's eyes as he sobbed.'

Iris awoke from her dream startled. What was that? Was it my memories of my past life, my life as the Empress?

A/N: So what did ya think? I'm actually happy at how it turned out. It's a lot better than I was expecting. Well hoped ya enjoyed it!