Chapter 1

Castiel’s Journey                Games Of Shadows

 

One.

        Castiel leads the way out of my village.

                The further we go, the more unbearable it is to look at.

                Everything has been destroyed.

                I feel like crying, but more out of anger and frustration than out of sadness.

                Why would anybody do this?

                “Castiel?”

                “Yeah?”

                “Who was that girl?”

                “Her name’s Amber.” He states, kicking a piece of wood into a flame of fire.

                Huh. Now that he mentions it, I do recall the Knight calling her by that name. “Why is she doing this?”

                Castiel shrugs. “Don’t know, don’t care.”

                “You must care a little. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be helping the knight and the mage to take her down.” I point out.

                He finally turns to look at me, a harsh look in his intense brown eyes. “Who said anything about helping them out? They’re the ones who follow me.”

                “Okay, fine. But you must care to have attempted to save the village. You’re a hero.”

                He rolls his eyes. “I couldn’t care less about your village. And I am not a hero.”

                I give him a dirty look.

                What’s his problem?

                He chuckles suddenly. “What, did I say something you didn’t like?”

                I don’t reply.

                “Too bad, young lady. This is the world we live in.” He puts his arms behind his head, looking relaxed. “Maybe now you’ll see the reality of things.”

                I fold my arms across my chest and distance myself from him.

                It’s not enough that my village has been burned down, but now this jerk has to talk down to me with his snarky remarks?

                “Hey!”

                Before I can reply, I feel arms around my waist and a gust of wind runs through my hair. I look up and see that Castiel is carrying me while simultaneously running to another area.

                “What are you—“ I don’t get to finish my sentence before he throws me on the ground.

                “Could you at least try to stay out of trouble?” he snaps at me.

                “What are you talking about?” I say. Then I look behind him and see two houses crashing down at where I was. “Oh.”

                He scoffs and begins to walk into the entrance of the forest.

                “Hey, wait up!” I demand, scrambling to my feet.

                He continues to walk, so I end up having to run.

                “What’s the matter with you?” I ask, once I’ve caught up to him.

                “Look!” he rages out suddenly.

                I back away from him and he follows, until I am leaned up against a tree.

                “You’d better learn to protect yourself, because I don’t plan on saving you every minute of my life. Get fit, or get lost.”

                I scoff. “Why don’t you get real? I’m only a girl who has never gotten in a fight before, what do you expect from me? Besides, you’re the one who invited me to come.”

                He moves his face closer to mine as he glares at me. “You invited yourself to come. I didn’t ask for the company of a weak tagalong.”

                We stare frostily at each other, not saying a word.

                It’s only then that I realize that he’s actually very handsome…and that we’re a mere kissing distance away from each other.

                I blush at the thought and turn my head away from him. “Fine. Should I just go back then?”

                “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?” he gestures towards my village, which is falling apart as we speak.

                My mouth opens slightly at the sight.

                Castiel must have felt sorry for me, because he finally backed off and sighed. “Let’s just go.”

                We walk side by side through the forest in silence.

                I glance over at Castiel, wondering what’s going through his mind. I can’t help but feel like I’m bothering him.

                “Something wrong?” he asks, making me jump. Before I can answer, he says, “Then quit staring at me.”

                I was caught!

                Ahhh… Castiel’s so cold. o(╥﹏╥)o

                After an hour of walking, we reach a field of plain, grassy land that looks perfect for riding a horse in.

                “This is perfect.” Castiel states.

                “Perfect for what?” I want to know.

                “For you to show me what you’ve got. You didn’t think I’d allow you to hang out with me if you didn’t develop at least some fighting skills.” He gives me a smug look.

                “But…I told you, I’ve never been in a fight before, so…”

                “Come on, you have to have at least some type of fighting skill.” I can tell by the look on his face that he’s growing impatient.

                “Well, I guess I do know a bit of magic…” My uncle had been a mage and he taught me a little of what he knew each time he visited. But that was years ago.

                “Then show me that.”

                “Okay.” I say a bit unsure.

                (Objective: Practice your fighting skills against Castiel).

                “Are you ready?” Castiel asks, standing about ten feet away from me.

                I nod and try to prepare myself.

                “Alright, show me what you got.”

                I close my eyes as I try to remember what my uncle said about controlling the magic.

                “Press ‘B’ to shoot fire at your opponents. If you want to switch to a different element, press the ‘X’ button and the menu for it will appear. You may use fire, water, earth, and air. As you level up, you will be able to use other types of magic, such as healing, lightning, and dark magic.”

                Remembering his words, I open my eyes and form a fireball, heat rising from my hands. Then, I shoot it at Castiel with all my might.

                He dodges it and it burns down a tree behind him instead. “Nice. But remember, strength isn’t everything. You need to have speed.”

                Taking note of this, I quickly whip out a stream of water at him. I’m satisfied when I see that his shirt is wet.

                “Ha, looks like I got you.” I smirk at him.

                “Not exactly.”

                “What do you mean? Your shirt’s all wet. Of course I’ve got you. Don’t be a sore loser.” I tease.

                He crosses his arms across his chest and shoots me a disgruntled look. “What I meant, was that you may have gotten me, but I’m still standing here. You want to actually hurt your enemy.”

                “I don’t get it. You just said it can’t all be strength, but now you’re saying my attack is too weak?” I frown.

                He chuckles. “You just need to even it out. You should try to make it fifty-percent strength and fifty-percent speed, ya follow me?”

                “You’re making my brain hurt.” Is my reply, which causes him to walk over and pull a lock of my hair. “Ow!”

                “Take this seriously or else I’ll make you go back to that eradicated village of yours.” He warns.

                “You’re mean!” I whine as he walks away.

                “We’ll take a break for now since I’m getting hungry. But after we eat, you’ll be training with me.”

                I let out an overdramatic sigh.

                Why did I get myself into this mess? щ(ಥДಥщ)