Forever Fallen

Chapter 1

“I didn’t kill Thorn!” I scream wings ruffled in fear and anger.

“Zera, all the evidence is there. Your arrow was stuck perfectly into his chest; your knives were splattered in blood,” Rye, the ‘witness’, said in a ‘matter-a-fact’ tone. His orange eyes seemed to blaze with triumph as the judge, ruler, and also my mentor, Xander, said, “The evidence is clear. You, Zera Nix Silisten, are guilty of the death of Thorn,” Xander chokes as he holds back tears, “My son.”

The anger that once blazed in my eyes turned to clouded grief and sadness. Tears started to fall as I tried to keep my voice steady. Once my voice was even I yelled, almost pleading,

“Thorn was my-” my voice cracked and tears fall faster, “m-my best friend.”

I went silent; knowing if I tried to say anything more my voice would crumble into sobs. The silence was more painful then the conversation before because it caused me to think more deeply of Thorn. The floodgates of my mind shattered and my knees fall to the floor of the beautifully tiled courtroom I used to play on with Thorn when we were younger. Now, all of that, crushed. Xander was the first to break the silence but after what he said, I wish he hadn’t.

“You are to become a Fallen Angel, condemned to live on the wicked face of the earth forever, never to return to the world of God in heaven.”

Fear and sadness started to make my whole body tremble as he spoke the irreversible words of my punishment. The change started along with more tears as my feathers changed from white, to gray, and finally to pitch black. Grabbing one of my hellish wings, I scream in pure anguish, “No! Not my wings, please give me my wings back!”

My tears stream uncontrollably down my face and onto my newest set of wings. I look up to see the judge but my view was blocked by Rye’s hate-filled gaze burying into mine. The more I look, the more they seem to say, “I’ve won.” He had won my place in line. I was being trained to become the leader and now since I am being cast out, Xander is damaged. Rye will kiss his butt all the way to the top and take out anyone in the way,.

My face turns down as the guards came in to take me to The Fall. The Fall is the place where the Fallen Angels are sent to earth. I get up off the floor with a massive effort as they sat by me on both sides, leading me out of the court room that had the two figures eyes focused on me, one triumphant, one full of grief and defeat. As we walked I thought about how the punishment of being transformed into a Fallen Angel was even worse than death in most angels’ opinions.

The walk seemed to last forever but eventually we made it the end of the polished path, which had a small pile of my belongings next to it. My bow and quiver full of arrows, my knives, and I assume the small bag next to it had small food rations and some sort of warmth like a blanket or matches. They push me close to the end of the plank made of the same polished stones as the path. I stagger forward, wanting to fall without my wings tied but the two men grabbed me, one with a blade and the other with the Scepter of the Fated. The scepter was cursed, or blessed depending on the way you look at it. It is used to draw a tattoo of the person’s wings where they were to be. The tattoo causes the wings of the person to disappear and only reappear at nightfall then vanish again at sun rise.

I struggle until finally they had me secure and they drew the markings in between my shoulder blades. My shirt, along with the rest of the angel population’s shirts, made it extremely easy for them to mark me because my shoulder blades were open and my shirt ended around the small of my back. The only thing that made my shirt different was that I used a ribbon to make my shirt tighter and it ends now a little lower than the end my shoulder blades. My shirt is blue, with the black ribbon. I have sleeves but they keep my shoulders open, and shirt up. It’s fitting, but not suffocating. My top ends at the middle of my thighs. My pants are black leggings that go to my knee. I have a sheath for my twin curved knives also across my waist, diagonally going to my upper thigh. My shoes are just gray slip-ons. A shiver runs down my spine as I feel my long, black, straight hair lay on my shoulder blades for the first time. I brush my blue tipped bangs out of my bright blue eyes that are covered by black glasses.

As I finish looking at myself they push me forward, prompting me to take the jump but I turn to them to search for emotions in their eyes where there was none.

“Good bye.” I whisper to myself before I look at the world far below. The ruler of all worlds and existence, God, created a currant that scatters all Fallen Angels across the earth. I think of everyone I love and tears start to flow again. Who would think that an 18 year old girl would end up with such a fate, even with her innocence? I took a deep, shuddering breath before repeating, “Goodbye.” With that, I closed my tear swollen eyes and fall to the wicked earth below.