Elvirund | ✔️

Chapter One

"Dr. Clover, we have another one."

"No surprise. Bring them in."

I was well aware of the situation I was in. Even with the hundreds I had trained in medical studies, it wasn't enough. All over the world people were dying, and we could only help so many. At the very least, China had picked themselves up rather quickly and begun the healing process. Their doctors had always been good.

"Aurelia – sorry, Dr. Clover – this one seems to be a strange case."

"What's so strange?"

"There are hardly any wounds but she's suffering greatly."

With a sigh, I held back my exasperation and opened the door. A small girl with minimal visible injuries was limp in the arms of Chip Elbane, my long time assistant and first pupil. At this point, I basically considered him my equal, and besides, we needed as many experienced workers to help manage as we could get.

"Bring her to the table."

I cringed as one of the men with Chip brushed a hair too close to my back. Chip was also the only one who knew my secret. Five years with him had given me trust enough to tell him most of my story. There were still things nobody would ever know.

"Chip, I don't feel good. Can you take over while I go to the restroom?"

One look at my face and he knew. Chip gave me a curt nod and I ducked through the door into the bathroom. Another flashback, and at the most inopportune moments. If I hadn't known the warning signs questions would have been raised for sure. Dizziness, a slight tickle at the back of my throat, and a stabbing pain at the base of my spine. Chip, for the record, was quite proficient at sensing the changes in my voice. I needed that.

"If you insist."

Alethia let the heat flow out of her. The light was blinding even through the blindfold and she gasped for breath. She braced herself; in a moment she would feel the tearing of her wings from her shoulders, and the next moment she would forget everything about her angel self. She would become a human with only the knowledge to cover the scars.

But as she materialized in the mortal world, something felt wrong. There was no pain. Her wings were perfectly intact. And she remembered Elvirund. Albeit, there were patches of missing information, things she couldn't quite recall, but her basic knowledge and education were intact. Something had been interfered with.

'Raphael, what have you done?'

She staggered to her feet and sighed quietly. Time to fix her mess.

I gasped for breath and tried to keep quiet as much as possible. Hopefully with the noise outside the bathroom no one would hear. My breathing slowly returned to a normal rate – normal for an angel at least. I had eventually learned that if you didn't lose your wings, they began to lose their pearly white color and turned black, feather by feather. The consequences terrified me, because the only angels in history to have ever been Restored were criminals who finished serving time without dying and Raphael. He'd been a first for many things, and an only for a great many others.

"You alright in there?"

That wasn't Chip, so it must've been Beckett. He had been my second student, and a very laid back man. Beckett and I weren't as close as Chip and I were; I was perfectly happy with the arrangement however. I didn't want too many close to me, and Beckett seemed to want his distance as well anyways. His deep brown eyes always warded off strangers that got too close, and his wide shoulders had a slight threat to them, as if one step too close was all it took.