The Etherea Anthology

Ripped of Wings: Vol. II

Time has passed since the death of Lunox. It has been thousands of years, and Lunox's body is now flowing blood out of the kingdom of Lunaura. A Council of angels has taken over the authority of Heaven, and Lunaura acts as the gateway between Heaven and Etherea.

Erebus walked the streets of Lunaura, humming to themselves softly. He calmly hummed to himself. Suddenly, he heard loud crashing. Erebus turned quickly, most of the citizens turned their heads, concerned. Loud profane yelling was heard approaching closely. Erebus put his hand on his blade handle, as a young woman crashed through the window in an alley, slamming into the marble wall of the church across the alley. She was covered in glass, bleeding as she started hobbling out of the alley.

A few angels landed in front of her, and behind her, slowly encroaching. She panted and pulled a small knife out of her pocket. She held it out at the angels, trying to threaten them.

"I-I'll kill you..! I'm not afraid..!" she said, out of breath.

"Hand it over, and we will lessen your punishment." the angels said. They slowly encroached on the young lady. Suddenly, Erebus landed between the girl and the angels. He looked back at her before spreading his wings out as an act of dominance.

"As archangel of Lunaura I command you to stand down." Erebus commanded.

"But sir-" the angels began, but were cut off.

"Silence. I will not have the reputation of the Angels tarnished by such hellspawn. Begone from my sight." Erebus demanded now. The angels all took a step back from him before walking away hesitantly.

"What do you want with me, huh?!" The woman demanded to know from Erebus, and Erebus just smiled.

"I would appreciate it if you put back whatever it is you stole. That is all."

"So you're not gonna imprison me..?" She asked, almost seeming to soften up for a moment. "No, what's your real reason?!"

Erebus kept on smiling still, truly not masking intentions.

"I wished to do what was right." Erebus commented.

The young lady scoffed and began to walk away before collapsing.

Erebus caught her, and sat her down on a bench, laying her head on the polished wood as he slowly began healing her.

"Selene? Do you feel any better?"

"How do you know my name?!" She abruptly asked, waking up.

"The only other person here who is of Actius Luna."

Selene shook her head and shrugged, not knowing what that meant.

"Apologies, Luna moth I mean."

"Right...HAH!" Selene yelled out abruptly.

"Pardon me?" Erebus asked.

"I tied your wrists together, now you have to listen to me and answer my questions!" Selene said with full confidence this was gonna work.

Erebus looked down at wrists. They were shoddily wrapped together with what seemed to be old strings of some sort woven together. He barely fiddled with the ropes and they came off, not that Selene noticed.

"Your trap failed." Erebus commented.

"Wait what-" Selene looked back, the ropes were now held by Erebus.

"That's not so good of a knot. Judging by how you did it, it seems like this is a vanity knot, not a practical knot."

"Well how about you tie it yourself if you know so much!"