Welcome to Liberum

NOELLE’S POV,

I pass out in Gabriel's arms as soon as we fly away. When I wake up, we are still flying but the first thing I see is an actual sky with stars.

''We are in the Mortal Realm?'' I look up to look into Gabriel's eyes. For the first time, his piercing blue eyes look at me with kindness, ''Yes we are, we will be at our destination soon.'' I look in front of me but all I see are clouds. ''Am I your prisoner now?'' I ask softly.

Gabriel's voice sounds manly but has a warmth in it I haven't heard before, ''No Noelle, if it is up to me, you will never be a prisoner again,'' he slows down a bit, ''Look we are there.''

We shoot through the dark clouds and on the other end there are mountains everywhere. In the mountains, I see lights and people. There are swimming pools made of rocks on the sides of the mountains. In the pools I see mermaids and shark men and on the mountains humans and angels are mixed.

''Welcome to Liberum,'' Gabriel says and he flies us to the biggest mountain in the middle. We fly to the top where there is a big room with openings on all sides. Gabriel puts me down and I walk to one of the holes to look at the surroundings. I see so many different people everywhere in the mountains and the air. They all seem so happy.

''What is this place?'' I ask without taking my eyes off the sights. Gabriel walks next to me, ''This is Liberum which is Latin for free. I am sure you know my reputation to be Hella's assassin. Only nobody knows that I never killed any of the people she asked me to. I always gave them the choice to leave everything and come live in Liberum or die. No one ever found out.''

I look at Gabriel surprised, ''You let everyone hate you to save these people?''

He looks at the mountains with a smile, ''Small price to pay for all the lives.''

A group of people storms into the room and a black-haired woman jumps in Gabriel's arms. The rest follows and they all have a group hug.

''We are so happy that you are okay Gab,'' the black-haired woman says.

After a while they notice me and their eyes become wary, ''Who is this?'' Gabriel smiles and walks towards me, ''Guys this is Noelle the last heir of the witches.''

They all look at me with shock. ''Come on guys don't be rude introduce yourself,'' Gabriel says lightly.

The woman with the long black curly hair comes at me first and stops in front of me. She looks me over like she is assessing if she can trust me, ''Hi my name is Holly, I am Gabriel's sister.'' Now that I see her from up close, I can see she has the same piercing blue eyes as Gabriel.

Then 2 men come towards and give me a handshake. ''My name is Nolan, nice to meet you,'' says the man that has chocolate skin and warm ember eyes. The other man says, ''I am Zeus, intrigued to learn more about you, Noelle.'' He has brown hair until his shoulders a long beard and one green and one brown eye. Then a small woman pushes them away and immediately hugs me. She smiles, ''My name is Faith, welcome.'' She has a small, upturned nose, freckles, light brown eyes, and shoulder-length blond hair.

Holly walks to Gabriel, ''What happened Gab? We lost all contact 3 days ago.''

Gabriel sighs, ''Well I have good and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?''

Nolan claps Gabriel on the shoulder, ''Let's start positive.''

Gabriel looks at me, ''Well Hella is dead thanks to Noelle.''

They all look at me now. ''How?'' Zeus asks.

''We can talk about that later, but the bad news is that I couldn't stop her in time. Hades has returned,'' Gabriel replies.

Holly curses, ''Fuck, fuck, fuck, what do we do now? We have to make a plan and start preparing.''

Zeus looks at me, ''You are the witch from the prophecy, aren't you?''

I look back at him, ''Seems so but I just found out so don't expect miracles from me.''

Gabriel snorts, ''You should have seen her Zeus, she had access to so many different magic. elements, witch fire, and more.''

Zeus's eyes get big, ''She is our only hope for survival then.''

I walk backward, ''Whoho slow down. when I had those powers, my ancestors were helping me. I have no idea if I can reproduce the magic again.''

Holly walks to Zeus, ''Well what are you waiting for let's test her.''

Faith stands in front of me, ''Stop it, Holly, you are scaring her. You don't know what she has been through, she must be exhausted and besides, we don't even know if she wants to help us in the first place.''

I look at Faith and Gabriel, ''You mean I have a choice? I can leave if I want to?''

Gabriel's eyes soften, ''Of course, Noelle none of us would ever force you to do something. Liberum means free so when you stay here you are free. But maybe you could rest a bit and then we can talk about what you want?''

I feel relieved but also exhausted, ''Sleep sounds good.''

Faith puts her arm through mine, ''I will walk you to your room.''

We walk towards a door and behind me, I can hear Holly and Gabriel having a discussion immediately. I just want to walk through the door when I hear a loud shrieking sound. ''WRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH,'' I turn around quickly, ''What was that?''