Ellripoe On that fateful day when the Creator opened the heavens and allowed it to rain for 40 days and nights, during the days of Noah, before Jesus took his first breath on what we now call Earth, a sword fell with the rain. Like a single rain drop of hope among the blood of the guilty, the sword held a promise. A promise that could change the entire world. It fell somewhere in the deepest, most mysterious parts of Earth, behind a door of green and yellow it lay. Like all gifts from the sky, the sword had a name.
******
Rain slammed her locker door and laid her forehead on the cold metal. Soft vibrations played on the tip of her nose as the sea of middle school bodies streamed past her. Bursts of laughter, playful shoves, and the same over-used swear words rang through the hallway. Taking a deep breath, Rain pushed herself off her locker and put on the fake smile that came instinctively to her. Her soft brown hair played along her serious brown eyes, eyes that belonged only to her Hispanic family. Like a teenager holding a boulder on her back, her shoulders were slightly hunched. As she nudged herself through the hall with the confidence of an eighth grader, she spotted one of her friends. "Looking good, LaChaine." Rain poked her buddy playfully and walked on. "Only the best for the flyest!" LaChaine called over her shoulder, doing her best to both mask her hispanic accent and sound cool. Rain smirked and patted her on the back. And that was it, for the briefest of seconds, Rain had forgotten. But now that she was reminded of the pleasure of having someone to mess with, even her fake smile disappeared. She clenched her teeth as the beginning of a tear formed on the corner of her eye. Not caring who saw, she slammed her hand on the nearest classroom door and marched inside. Rain found herself in a dark and dusty storeroom. She set her backpack down softly while ignoring the bell that announced the beginning of class. Carefully sitting on a cardboard box filled with old workbooks, Rain set her head on her knees and allowed herself to watch in horror as her brain replayed the events that had forced her entire self to crumble. It had started out as the best day ever. Rain and her two best friends, Ariel and Jess, had been spending the day at the mall checking out cute guys and struggling to eat Chinese food with chopsticks. Cracking jokes, laughing and hugging each other for all that life was worth, the day had passed as quickly as anything. Rain remembered that they had walked into the old Native American store that was playing cultural music and smelled of dust. As Rain and Ariel, the high school junior with the artistic scar on her dark cheek and the makings of a leader, browsed through the endless stone bracelets and animal themed shirts, Jess was sorting through the boxes in the back room. She brushed her hair out of her light-skinned face as her coffee-colored eyes betrayed curiosity. Her graceful figure gave the impression of a proud person, when, in reality, she was the most sensible girl Rain knew. When everything seemed to be empty packages, she found the unthinkable. Jess snapped her head back and gasped as a soft, pulsing green light hesitantly spread across her complexion and filled her vision. It was coming from a strangely shaped box in the corner. The box was bursting with squiggles of lime colors and was making strange howling noises. She opened the glowing box and peered inside, her heart beating at 100 miles per hour. Then, a sound like no other came hurtling from the light. "Ariel!" With every ounce of her voice, Jess screamed towards her friends. Faster than a lightning bolt, her friends were at her side. Jess pointed and forty pairs of eyes followed her hand. A portal, swirling with colors of green and yellow, was slowly growing from the glowing box. Rain gasped as the feeling of being sucked into a vacuum made her hair pull in the direction of the portal. With one last glance at the store, whose customers had become frozen in shock at the sight of a futuristic contraption, Jess, Ariel, and Rain were sucked into what could become their worst nightmare.
******
"Thou must awaken... Open your eyes." Rain slowly became conscious. She was surrounded by a field of purple grass. She lay next to her friends who were in the same state of confusion as she. Armies of perfect clouds were marching above their heads in the dome-shaped sky. Everything was silent, not even a breath of wind was blowing. "Who else heard the voice?" Ariel tried to put on a brave face. "The voice thou heard belongs to me." The trio gasped as the owner of the silky voice rose from the ground. It was completely covered in dark purple feathers and carried the swagger of a king. It resembled a lion with a large snout and pearly white whiskers. It did not look like a creature from Earth. With a voice sunk deep in pain and frustration, yet still able to speak with calm and restraint, it spoke, "Do not dareth ask questions until I have finished. My name is unknown to thou humans and carries a meaning too deep understandment. Thou have found my portal, my doorway to the outside world and must help me. Thou must learn the truth." Jess trembled slightly but kept quiet. Ariel lay still, watching the feathered lion pace back and forth. Rain shifted from foot to foot, terrified as it came closer and closer, but managed to keep a stone face. "My father, your god, sent me to this beautiful planet that he created and allowed me to name it after myself." It paused after seeing their astonishment and added, "Yes, I am an angel, sent from the skies above. Over time, the name was changed and my legend disrespected. I hold anger towards humans and choose to hide in exile here, behind me doorway, until a brave soul helps me restore my name. I cannot help this planet if it isn't named after me, complicated, I am aware of it. Thou will assist me in my plan by saying a few words into a sword that can be only described as magical. I will receive questions now." Even though it spoke with confidence, there was something behind its eyes that resembled... that resembled what? Dead silence followed until Rain had the strength to ask in a shaky voice, "Who--what are you?" It looked down at the recoiled figures and allowed a certain softness to enter its golden eyes. "The second son of the Creator. The North Star that thou sees every day. The single raindrop that can save this planet. I..." It allowed a dramatic pause to reign for a few seconds, "... Am Earth's guardian, looking out among enemy stars, searching for anything that might be of danger to this planet... and stop it. But, I can only defend and protect this planet from enemy gods if the name returns to be mine. I hold no power if it isn't." The girls tried to quickly process the information that was almost too much to bear. "What can we do to make sure that Earth stays safe?" Ariel took charge and asked in a louder and more stable voice that made her seem guarded, wary of the angel. "I have a very sharp glass sword that can grant two wishes, remember this, two promises. I can't wish for them, being a powerful semi-god, but a mortal can. I need for thou to say 'The promise I need granted is for the Prince's name to be restored and his legend rewritten.' If thou say this, I will be able to protect this amazing planet once more." Jess signaled for the group to talk together. She was pondering about the mysterious lion who seemed to speak without telling the truth; it seemed like it was hiding something important from them. After a few minutes of whispered arguments, the trio nodded their consent. The only thing they asked for in return was the knowledge of the creature's name. After many rejections, it finally agreed. "My glorious name is..." It paused, wondering if revealing its greatest weapon was the smartest thing ever. It shook the thought away and said proudly, "Ellripoe." After these words were spoken, it began to change. "I cannot guarantee that this will work. But, whatever you do, do not unwish this promise in the future. Things will only get worse... believe this, peasants, my temper is not something to be trifled with." It seemed to become more and more pompous as it spoke. It was slowly morphing into what can be called impossible. Exactly one minute later, in place of the beast that stood with such nobility, lay a sword on the moist grass. Its blade was made of sharp, silver glass with a dark purple handle. The hilt of the sword was decorated with two simple purple feathers. Designs unknown to humans were embedded on the powerful glass blade. In a deeper, more commanding voice, it uttered these final words: "Do not fail me." Ariel and Jess stared unbelievingly at Ellripoe. All three started to doubt if they were doing the right thing. With a look that said, "It's too late to back down," Rain finally gathered the courage to speak past her parted lips. "The promise I need is for the Prince's name to be restored and his legend rewritten." Seconds passed in absolute silence. The three friends and the one creature waited expectantly. Suddenly, a massive wind whipped everybody's hair around and around. A howling noise was growing louder and louder until it screamed in all their ears. The best friends lay huddled on the ground, protecting their heads from the torture they were receiving. Seconds seemed like an eternity, but finally the howling stopped. Everything stood still. Then the minds, eyes, and souls of every girl opened. At first, they only saw visions of explosions occuring on the surface of Earth... of Ellripoe. They saw images of newspaper headlines say things like "The Biggest Man on Ellripoe" or "Astronauts See Ellripoe from Space." They saw new wars being fought to change many things related to the name of the planet, but still, Ellripoe held its title. Philosophers and scientists tried to make sense of the name Ellripoe to no result, and they died trying. To put things simply, they saw history being rewritten to fit the glorious name of this Prince. And the results were not good. ****** Rain woke up with a painful throbbing in her head. Smoke filled her nostrils as she fought to get air into her lungs. As she looked around, she found herself where the mall used to stand in her hometown. In its place was a tall, official looking building. There were many bonfires throughout the neighborhood. Huddled figures crowded around every fire, they were trying to escape the cold. Everywhere, everywhere, discarded papers, unwanted pets, and empty beer cans littered the streets. The sky was a color red: the color of blood. Everything was so different. She noticed that Jess and Ariel where nowhere to be seen. Rain looked everywhere for her friends, behind buildings, down the streets, into dark allies, and as she passed more and more people, she began to notice something. They were all Hispanic. Not one white, black, nor oriental person could be seen anywhere. Fear began to fill Rain's heart as she wondered if the promise that Ellripoe asked for changed history so much that there were no more people who weren't Hispanic. If that was true, she wouldn't find her friends anywhere, Ariel was black and Jess was white. She grabbed an outdated newspaper and read all about how the last war to keep the name of Ellripoe was won by the Hispanics who easily outnumbered all of the other races combined. To control other race's population numbers, they murdered all the young people under twenty years of every single race other than their own. And only Rain knew what truly happened. Reality made her heart and soul stop cold. She dropped the newspaper and ran towards where the mall used to be. Sprinting inside the air-conditioned building, with presperation flooding her face and her breath rasping painfully in her throat, she closed her eyes; she knew the entire layout of the mall by heart and took the right steps to stand in front of where the old Native American store used to be, hoping against hope that the portal was somehow still there. Telling herself to find Ellripoe and wish her life back. Allowing her thoughts to once again become peaceful and calm, she opened her eyes. Rain was staring at a wall. Hysteria entered her heart and she slammed her fists into the wall and cried out, "Ellripoe!" The bricks gave away, not used to being beaten. She slammed her hands into the walls again and again, digging deeper into the wall, ignoring the blood running down from the cuts in her hands, determined to go back to the meadows of purple, determined to get her friends back... But it didn't work. They weren't coming back. Rain sank to the ground and cried herself out of mind, time, and space. When everything seemed at its bleakest and thoughts of suicide crawled in, unfamiliar yet comforting arms held her and picked her up from the floor of the building. "Calmese, hija, estas perdida? There, there, child. Are you lost?" The beautiful Spanish swirled from the tongue of the dark latina as she stroked Rain's hair. "You should be in school right now. Can I help you find your parents?" Rain nodded painfully and allowed herself to be comforted. A few weeks after her parents found her and she was established back to "normal life", as everybody called it, Rain got used to her daily schedule of going to an all-Hispanic school, of breathing in air filled with smoke, of watching her little brother, too young to know terror, splash and play in the pools of other people's blood. She tried her best to forget what had happened. She did her best to forget her best friends and their definite slow and painful deaths. She couldn’t help but wonder if they remembered what had happened under the dome-shaped sky. She was doing well, until LaChaine got her to smile.

****** Rain stood up and exited the storage room. Not a trace of a tear was left on her face. Since she replayed the pain of her loss, she had found what she was looking for: a reason to fight. A reason to keep searching for the portal. A reason to bring life back to how she remembered it: not perfect, but definitely better than this. She still had one more promise from the hidden sword. One more wish from the lying, decieving creature who had so cleverly hidden itself. One thing was definite, nobody in the world was able to find an angel who wanted to stay hidden... and Rain knew that it was impossible for anyone to find Ellripoe.
Except herself of course.

Sneak a Peak:
Rain ran to the soot covered figures. Her breathe caught in her throat. She embraced them both with tears mixing with the blood from her cuts. Her tired voice choked out,
"You're back! You're back!" They hugged her closely, relieved to have her safe in their arms.
But they couldn't stay there for too long...

... Ellripoe was coming.