Authors: Nikita Francois
Standing in
the corner of the lab was what can best be described as a winged beast. At over
seven feet tall, covered in black fur, this was not an ordinary animal. It was
staring straight at me, baring its teeth and growling while its wings were at
full span. It was crouched low as if ready to take flight.
“What do
you see?” asked all of the technicians, eerily calm.
“What do
you mean ‘What do I see?!’” I screamed. “There’s a BEAST in this room!!!”
The
technicians calmly placed all of their instruments on the table. They then
walked without concern to stand in a huddle by the disappearing wall. One
pulled a headset from his lab coat pocket and spoke calmly into the microphone.
“We have an
Espial.”
“What are
you doing?!” I asked, incredulous. “Why are you all so calm? That thing is
going to attack us!”
The beast snarled and snapped in my direction and sat down on its hind
legs.
I slid off
of the surgical bed and slowly backed away from it, toward the technicians.
“Yes. I
understand. She will be sent to the termination chamber,” said the technician
into the headset. The beast in the corner immediately vanished into thin air.
“What?!
What happened? What did I do wrong? What’s going on?!” I blurted.
Suddenly, the
wall wobbled and in floated Rider, along with the woman in blue. However they
looked like nothing I had ever seen before. I stared, astonished and my mouth
dangling open, slowly sinking to the floor. Rider was glowing, an orange hue
around him and he had bright yellow wings opening behind him. The woman in blue
also emitted an aura, royal blue in color with sky blue wings. The tips of her
spiky black hair were blue as well. Attached to both of their hips were long
swords, Rider’s sheathed in brown leather and hers in a long red scabbard.
“You? You?
You both are…” I stammered, unable to comprehend what I was witnessing.
“The Espial
is ours,” said Rider to the technicians. “We’ve watched for too long as you
worked for Sato, exterminating them.”
“We’ll see
about that,” the technicians snarled in unison. They all began to simultaneously
remove their lab coats. Revealed for the first time, they too had wings, yet they
all emitted a dark gray aura. Their wings were a dirty, unkempt black. Their
skin began to flicker and wrinkle, turning a dark gray. Their hands and feet
transformed into claws with their nails becoming thick yellow talons.
Both Rider
and the woman in blue unsheathed their swords. The woman took a defensive
stance, holding the sword above her head with her right hand, her left arm
extended forward, palm up facing the technicians. Rider rushed forward,
wielding his sword as if he was born with it. The technicians screeched in
unison as they began flapping around the room. Rider jumped and impaled the
first technician with his sword, his wings keeping him suspended in the air as
he did so. The others screamed in agony when the first was killed. The one with
the headset ran toward him, growling like a rabid dog. Rider spun midflight and
with a backwards swipe, decapitated this beast. Again, the remaining two
screamed in pain. Rider landed softly and faced the last technicians. They both
jumped up and took flight toward him. Right as they extended their claws to
grab him, he knelt down. The woman in blue leaped over his head, and with a
diagonal slice, severed both technicians from one’s head straight through to
the other’s torso. They landed with a thud, dead on the floor. The woman
floated gracefully to the ground, wiping her sword clean as she did so.
She glanced
at me and winked. “Nothing like fighting with a clean blade.”
I sat in
silence. Shock had taken over my entire being. I tried my best to find words,
any word at all. But my mouth just opened and closed like a flapping gate.
“Sol. We
must leave now.” Rider stood in front of where I had collapsed to.
“I’m…I’m
so…I don’t know…” I slurred, still in shock. My shoulder blades were beginning
to ache terribly.
“Don’t
worry. Everything will be explained. But we must leave quickly.”
“Why? What
is going on? Why do you have wings and why are you so…so…orange?”
“This has
all been captured on security cameras. I’m sure the Capitol Excellency Building
is sending reinforcements as we speak. Hurry!”
Rider and
the woman in blue pulled me to my feet and led me through the disappearing
wall. We entered a long bright white passageway. It seemed to go on endlessly,
with no doors on either side.
“Where are
we going?”
“We’re
heading to the ARC,” responded the woman in blue. “By the way, my name is
Sacra.”
“What’s the
ARC?” I asked as Rider slowed.
“You’ll
see,” he answered. “In due time.” He stopped in front of a blank wall. He
reached out his right arm and made a quick, swirly motion with his index
finger. The wall wobbled and disappeared like the one in the laboratory.
“How did
you do that?” I asked, curious.
“Again, in
due time,” he replied.
We were in
an underground brick tunnel space, with a ladder in front of us leading up to
the surface. Sacra began to climb up. Rider motioned for me to follow. I
grabbed the rungs and headed up, Rider following after me. Sacra removed the
grate above us and fluttered to the sidewalk, her wings rippling gently. I
pulled myself out and immediately had to shield my eyes. Everything was too
bright. I also began to feel immense pain in between my shoulder blades again.
My muscles felt as if they were ripping apart, my skin itching terribly, and I
thought I felt bones shifting. I crouched down moaning in pain.
“I know,”
said Rider as he floated out of the manhole, leaning toward me. “The serum is
fully wearing off. You are using your eyes for the first time. You are truly
seeing. The memory wipe was unable to take hold in your system. And your
physical transformation was not reversed in the process.”
I did not
fully understand what he meant. I tried to remove my hands from my face to look
around, yet everything was too vibrant and colorful. The pain in my back began
to subside, a dull ache taking its place unlike before, when it would wane
entirely. I could tell that no one was outside and it was strangely quiet. I
turned to ask Rider where everyone was when we heard the sirens go off.
“That’s the
alert from the Capitol Excellency Building. They know what has occurred and
everyone is being placed on lockdown. We must get off the street and make our
way to the ARC before the military heads this way.” Rider grabbed my left elbow
while I continued to shield my eyes with my right arm. Sacra placed her hand on
my right shoulder and they guided me toward an alley.
“Here,”
said Sacra. She gently removed my arm from my face and handed me a pair of
sunglasses. They were round and oversized, with jewels decorating the frames. “These
were once a fashion statement. But I think you could really benefit from them
now.”
I put them
on and looked up. I could still see Rider and Sacra with their wings and auras,
yet the vibrancy of everything around me was slightly muted.
“Thank
you.” I said softly, still in a daze.
She gave me
a bright smile and nodded. “You’re welcome.”
“Perfect,”
said Rider. “Now we must head to the Airbus. Glinda is awaiting our arrival for
takeoff.”
“Who’s
Glinda?” I asked, at a loss for who he was referring to.
“She’s one
of my three associates I mentioned at the ceremony. We sent her to prepare the
Airbus when we watched what happened to you in the laboratory.”
At the
mention of the lab, I stopped short.
“Oh no!
What’s going to happen to Luke? And the others?” I asked worriedly, ashamed I
had forgotten about him.
“Luke and
Angelica encountered some trouble when they stepped into the stone archways. We
are currently determining the location of Levi Boz, who should have been
transported to the military training center after a memory wipe. We were unsure
about you from early on, which was why we let you continue into the lab.”
“Where is
Luke now?”
“I can’t
answer that at this time. But please do not worry. Again, everything will be
explained at the ARC.”
My mind
raced wondering what could have happened to Luke. We approached the end of the
alleyway. It was blocked by tall trees and shrubs. The greenery did not seem to
fit the dinginess of the alley. The sirens began to shrill in my ears.
“It’s
blocked.” I said. “Where can we go?”
“Looks can
be deceiving.” grinned Sacra. She unsheathed her sword and thrust it into a
narrow slit in between two different-looking bushes. All of the shrubbery
creating the wall began to twist and tousle their branches. The two different
bushes shed all of their leaves. Their branches began to roll back into
themselves, soon revealing a human-sized opening. Looking through, I could see
the meadow Luke and I had discovered.
“It’s the meadow.”
I said. “I’ve been here with Luke.”
“Yes. This
is where the Glinda awaits us.”
We stepped
through the opening and into the lush landscape. The bushes closed behind us
and to the left on a flat, grassy plateau sat a jet plane, engine roaring
several yards away. I could no longer here the sirens blaring in the city. Sacra’s
wings opened fully and she took flight toward the plane, landing outside its
door.
“Hold
tight,” said Rider as he put his right arm around my waist.
“What are
you…,” I sputtered just as his wings opened and we lifted off of the ground,
heading toward the plane. I looked around momentarily before I closed my eyes
and took in the feeling of the wind rushing us, blowing through my hair. Each
downbeat of his wings provided us with increased height and acceleration. We
were only about twenty feet off of the ground, yet we flew quickly and it was
the most exhilarating experience I had ever had. He landed us softly at the top
of the staircase leading to the passenger entryway. Sacra stepped aside for us
to walk in then latched the plane door securely in place. She knocked on the
cockpit door twice, and went in, leaving me and Rider alone in the cabin.
It was a
small plane, with enough room to seat fifty passengers. Yet it was a clearly
luxurious aircraft. The seats were tan leather, with extra cushions and a
footrest for each seat. The center aisle split the two rows, yet had ample
walking space. In between every pair of seats was a box with a touch screen on
top. Rider took one of the aisle seats up front and after pressing several
buttons on the touch screen, a tray descended from the ceiling. It held a plate
with pastries I had never seen before and a thick white beverage in two
glasses.
“Have a
seat, Sol,” he said with a compassionate smile.
I took the
window seat next to him. The ache in my shoulder blades was becoming extremely
uncomfortable. I fidgeted around my seat until I found a position that hurt the
least. The plane then began to taxi around the meadow. A woman’s voice came on
from the plane’s announcement system.
“Welcome
aboard the ARC Airbus. I am your pilot, Glinda. I would like to give a special
welcome to Miss Soleil Arch. You will be flying soon, Sol. Pun intended.” With
that I heard a soft giggle and the microphone clicked off.
“Glinda has
a flair for the dramatic,” smiled Rider. “In fact, her name isn’t truly Glinda.
She took on the name after reading
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
.”
“What is
The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz
?” I asked, confused.
“Ahhhh.
That was well before your time,” he replied, with a touch of sadness. “Anyway,
I believe it’s time I begin explaining a few things.”
“I agree.
Why don’t we start with why I can see your wings all of a sudden and why you
can fly?”
“Yes. I
will answer those questions. But we must first begin with you, my dear Espial.”
“There!
There’s that word again! First the lab technicians called me that, then you.”
“It’s not
just a word. It’s part of who you are.” As he said this, I began to tilt back
as the plane revved up into the air for takeoff. I felt my brain and stomach
push further into my body as we climbed altitudes. My shoulders tensed in an
attempt to brace for the pain. I inhaled deeply, praying that the ascent would
end soon. Once the plane leveled off, Glinda’s voice came on the system again.
“Lady and Sir
Rider. We are now at cruising altitude. Our trip will last approximately ten minutes.
Sacra will be passing through shortly with some goodies. So sit back, relax,
and enjoy the flight.”
“Alright.”
I said. “Why is that word ‘who I am’?”
“An Espial
is not a descriptive term. An Espial is someone who is born with the ability to
see things as they truly are. The lenses you once wore never would have corrected
your eyesight. You were born with the ability to see all beings in this world.
At least that’s what we initially thought.”
“What do
you mean?”
“Espials
are humans who possess the incredible gift of true sight; seeing humans,
angels, demons and beasts of all forms. And since you were born, we were sure
that you would be an Espial. But now we see that you are not an Espial.
However, we did not consider that you would be one of us.”
“And
exactly who or what are you?” I asked, hesitantly.
“I am an
angel.”
I silently took
in his statement for a moment. I reached up and slowly removed the sunglasses
Sacra had placed on my face. Once they were off entirely, I studied his features.
Truly analyzing him, I saw that he had a very smooth, blemish-free face. His
eyes were a sparkling amber, which matched the color of the aura he emitted.
His wings were tucked behind him in his seat, but I could see the tops of them
above his shoulders. They were a striking gold, reflecting the sunlight and
causing flecks of yellow to bounce off of the touch screen surface of the box
in between us. Sacra came in and placed two glasses filled with an aqua-colored
liquid on the tray. She smiled sweetly at me and went back into the cockpit.
“So you are
an angel?” I asked suspiciously.
“Yes.”
“And you
are saying that I am an angel as well?”
“Yes. And
no.”
“How can
you mean yes and no?”
“Because of
your ancestry. We believe that you are not simply an angel. You are possibly an
arch angel.”
Again I sat
quietly for a moment. I began to shake my head. “But I’m just…no one. I’m Sol.
That’s all. ” I replied, unable to process all of this information. “What
you’re saying cannot be possible.” I felt a sudden twinge in my shoulder
blades.
“It is very
possible. Your last name is shortened from arch angel. It began with your great-grandfather,
Solomon Arch. I knew him well as we both accepted our roles as warrior angels
around the same time, although he was older than I. He ranked higher than me
and I served him as a lower ranked cadet for many millennia, fighting for the
good of mankind.”
“Let’s say
that I believe what you are telling me. If my great-grandfather was so
important, why did you think I wouldn’t be an arch angel? Why did you think I
would be an Espial?”
“Because
your mother is an Espial and your father was an arch angel. Children born unto
such a combination have never been arch angels. Yet they are always Espials.”
My eyes
widened in disbelief. “My mother is an Espial?!” I cried.
“Yes,”
replied Rider, as he reached down and pressed a button on the touch screen.
“But wait.
The lab technicians wanted to terminate me because they thought I was an Espial.
How did my mother manage to escape termination if she was one too?”
“Because
your father saved her. That was how he was killed. They were both fifteen and attending
their Oculation procedure. He and your mother had been dating at the time and planned
to marry immediately after the procedure. His father, the son of Solomon, had
told him from a young age what he truly was. So your father faked his Oculation
exams in order to pass and go undetected. While headed to meet his life mentor,
he overheard the call go in for Ruth’s extermination when she failed the
procedure due to being an Espial. He ran into her laboratory in an attempt to
protect her, yet was killed by the very technicians you faced today.” Another
tray descended from the ceiling on which rested a platter of mixed grains and
nuts. He reached in and pulled out a handful, popping them into his mouth one
nut at a time.