Chapter 35

**Merianna**

I felt comfortably warm as my senses slowly started coming back to me.

*What happened?*

*Did I fall?*

*Did I*... My thoughts trailed off as my mind tried piecing events back together through the haze. My ears were ringing slightly as feeling started coming back to my body.

Nothing really mattered right then though, I was warm and comfortable and my eyes didn't feel like they wanted to open any time soon. It almost felt like I was spirit walking, yet I knew that I was still in my body.

A warm and humid summer breeze wafted up around me, and I refused to move. It felt lovely as I savoured the peace.

I started hearing birds singing somewhere close by as my breath traveled through the air languidly. A warm hand rested on my head, stroking my long hair lazily. I probably fell asleep on Fog's lap again. Sometimes when Nelia and I went for a picnic with Jasnine, Fog would join us and I would sometimes lay my head on his or Jasnine's lap and snore away while Jasnine and Nelia jabbered on about herbs and things that didn't appeal to me.

Most often than not, when I was prodded awake again I would find my head decorated with weaves and flowers. With Fog having long hair, having lived centuries and being a small part Fae, it came as no surprise that he knew how to weave hair just as well as Jasnine or any other long lived woman.

Even though the end result was sometimes irritating, it never crossed my mind to stop them from using my hair like weaving grass. There was just something so calming about having someone gently tugging and tucking my hair. Even just stroking the thick strands always calmed me at a soul deep level.

I mumbled something incoherent and turned on my side, snuggling into the pampering hand. The hand on my head stilled and I felt the person I was using as a pillow shift in position.

"My Lady?" Came a deep strong voice from above me.

Everything froze for a second.

*Wait a minute...*

*My Lady?...*

*Noooo.....*

*My Lady?*

*Wait, what?!*

My eyes sprang open and I twisted quickly to get off of whomever I was lying on. Tumbling blindly into the grass I whipped around wildly to see who I had been using as a pillow.

A guy with golden blonde hair looked back at me with a shocked expression, his hand still in the same spot where my head had been moments before. The moment my eyes landed on his diamond blue ones all the events came crashing down on me.

Hezerial was his name. Hezerial, the blasted fallen archangel that claimed that he was my Guardian.

"Where am I?" I asked quickly as I scanned the surrounding area. We were sitting underneath a big tree in a small grassy clearing, the sun shining down brightly on the area.

"You are in an area that had not been violated by the Rippers. We are roughly still in the same vicinity." He said cocking his head to the side and crossing his legs.

"Why was I on your lap?" I squeaked.

"You had lost consciousness My Lady. I could not allow your head to rest on the earthen floor." He replied like he was disgusted by the idea of me sleeping on the ground.

That was when I noticed something else. "Why are my laces undone?!" I shrieked as I quickly grabbed the fluttering laces on the front of my dress and quickly pulled them tight over my chest and tied them together again as they were supposed to be. My face heating with embarrassment and anger.

"I did not realize how deeply the poison had seeped into your body before I was able to get to you. The healing I did right after finding you was not enough. I had to continue the healing after you lost conciousness My Lady." He said as he blinked innocently back at me.

"That does not explain why my laces are undone!" I yelled, tugging the laces in question into an even tighter knot.

"Oh, your breathing was being inhibited while you were resting. The cloth of that dress is not very flexible and did not allow for you to take deep even breaths. I had to loosen the laces in order for you to rest comfortably."

He said it so simply and without the slightest bit of hesitation. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to hit him so badly that my hand was twitching to do just that. Although, looking at his face, I figured that my hand would be hurting more than his face afterwards.

Giving my laces a good tug I stood up to survey our surroundings. A few clouds were traveling slowly across the sky overhead. It was also bright. Very bright.

My heart suddenly dropped down to my stomach. "What time is it?" I asked with trepidation.

Hezerial looked up to the sky for a second. "It is almost what the mortals would call, noon, I think My Lady."

"Curses." I spat out as I ran my hands down my face in dread. "Oh she will not be happy. She'll most likely kill me when I manage to get back. Cut me up into itty bitty little pieces, toss them into a fire pit to turn me into ash, feed my ashes to a boar or sheep then cut the boar or sheep into itty bitty little pieces, then toss it's pieces into another fire pit an-,"

"What is the matter My Lady?" Hezerial interjected my stressed mumblings.

I turned my pale face to him. "She's going to kill me." I mumbled dejectedly.

Hezerial jumped up in alarm. "I will not let any harm come to you My Lady." He vowed vehemently in all seriousness.

I just gave him a droll stare. If he had known my sister at all he would not be making that statement so confidently. "My sister Hezerial. My Sister is going to kill me. Especially for making her worry. Which by this time is exactly what she will be doing, with gusto." I groaned as I moved back to the tree.

Hezerial blinked at me as if he was having trouble following my line of thought. "Your sister will kill you? But, I understand that the dynamic of sibling-hood is slightly different. Or am I mistaken?"

Now it was my turn to blink up at him. "For how long have you been on your own?"

He frowned slightly and folded his arms over his chest as he looked down at the ground. I could see the wheels in his head turning, and turning and turning, and then do some more turning. I just blinked again as I waited for his answer.

"Hmmm, I am unsure as to how to answer that question. The realms of existence besides this one are all different from each other. Time flows differently within each, and I have been traveling through them all as I awaited your call." He said looking back at me.

"Of course you were." I said flatly. What else would an angelic guardian be doing other than traveling through realms as he waited for his supposed charge to come back, if they ever did. I still thought this angelic had the wrong person here.

"Hezerial, are you sure I am your so called "Lady"?" I asked slowly, just wanting to make sure that he heard my question, and not a different variation of it.

He puffed up indignantly. "Yes. You are indeed My Lady, my charge, the one I vowed my guardianship to. You are most certainly My Lady, without a doubt." He said as he pinned me with those diamond blue eyes.

I truly did not know how to respond to that. On the one hand I wanted him to just be a random confused angelic that mistakes a random girl in each era as his true "Lady", comes to his senses soon, and then goes about his merry way again. And on the other hand, I felt sorry for him. His conviction was so strong, what if I truly was his Lady and I was just unable to reach my past memories?

Everyone in the Order that had been reborn always told of triggers that open up their past memories. A familiar face, a smell, a song or dance. Yet I have not experienced anything like that with seeing his face. I had no flash of an image move across my sight at his appearance, or a stab of recognition at hearing his name.

It was all just feelings. I felt like I should know him. I felt like I recognized his energy. But actually knowing and understanding where he fit into my existence was beyond me.

But that was something that I could ponder on at a later stage. Nelia would be worried sick. I was supposed to be at the gate's location hours ago. I wondered if Noch had even bothered to send out a few people to search for me.

Sighing dejectedly, I glanced back up at Hezerial who still looked as determined as ever. "I suppose that I'm stuck with you then, aren't I?"

His face broke out in a big grin. "Without a doubt."

"Perfect." I mumbled, and started walking around him to grab the Rune Reaper that I spied leaning up against the other side of the tree.

"Where to now My Lady?" He asked excitedly.

"Home." I groaned out as I grabbed the Rune Reaper from its spot. The runes lit up at my touch and sat comfortably in my hands once again.

I turned on my heel and started marching up the side of the hill that sloped upwards to my right. I didn't wait for Hezerial to catch up and didn't look behind me to see if he was following along or not. He could go back and hide under the rock he crawled out from for all I cared.

As I marched my way towards the faint buzz of dark energy that I had been in the middle of not too long ago, I heard Hezerial's footsteps thumping behind me as he caught up quickly with his long strides.

Suddenly an arm caught up my legs from behind and I was lifted up high into the air. My Rune Reaper was tugged out of my grasp as I squeaked and flailed to find my balance. I ended up sitting on Hezerial's bicep as his arm curled around my legs. He bounced me once and shifted me so I slightly sat on his shoulder.

"What are you doing?!" I asked as I gripped his head tightly to keep from falling.

"As I had previously stated My Lady. I refuse to let your feet touch the rancid soil of that place, and since you are heading towards that direction, I assume that we are going back the way we had come." He said drearily as he eyed the direction distastefully.

I didn't even try to mumble my refusal and demand for him to put me down. I knew he would just try to pick me up again once we reach the area in question.

I shifted a little on his shoulder and noticed a strap under my butt. "What's this?" I asked as I tugged at it with my hand without looking down.

"It is the satchel that you had around yourself while in that area My Lady. Since you had it with you I assumed that it possibly had something important within, so I picked it up along with your weapon." He explained.

"Thank you." I mumbled half-heartedly. And I say half-heartedly because:

1- Yes it was very important, Nelia would kill me if I showed up without it,

2- I most definitely forgot about my hard earned herbs myself, and

3- I still wasn't convinced that he was my guardian, and yet he was being so nice to me.

I could practically feel the joy radiating off of him as he walked with me on his shoulder, his left arm supporting me effortlessly.

"It is my deepest pleasure My Lady." He said as we started ascending the hillside.

As the forested area thinned I noticed that we were at the bottom of a mountain, and a very big mountain at that. It appeared to have a whole forest growing on the top of it as with a grounded forest. So I assumed that, that was where the nests and the herbs were, and Noch had dumped me on the tip top of this blasted mountain. I was quite sure that if I had blindly run from the Rippers without turning to fight them off I would probably have run straight off the edge and plummeted to the ground beneath.

"Hold on tightly My Lady, I am about to fly." Hezerial announced, and no sooner had he stated his intent than his wings appeared and unfurled from wherever he was hiding them.

"But-" My comment broke off abruptly with a shriek loud enough to raise the dead as the air suddenly pummeled me, and threatened to send me tumbling. Hezerial's grip around my legs was strong, but I doubted his grip would help my stomach muscles keep me upright. I quickly shifted the air around me into a barrier to kept me stable and balanced as we propelled onward.