The Dream Catcher: Rise of the Guardian

Chapter 1

                                                                                  -Caleb-

I watched as the sky above me grew darker.

I sat on the edge of the tallest tower over looking the city.

This has always been my favorite place to go to when Aryen acts too much like a human and scolds me for not cleaning my room.

For centuries, Aryen and Amara has become my only family. The other elders? eh, not so much.

I haven't seen them for a long time.  Ever since my powers came to flourish, the Elders fear that Lustre might come to find out of my existence and kill me. They decided to stay away to keep me hidden.

Sometimes though, I can't help but think that they stay away cause they don't want anything to do with me.

My life suddenly shifted to a big change the day I turned 18.

For 17 years I lived a life of a normal teenager. I went to school, played with friends, and did everything a  normal kid would do.

Aryen too, thought my father's original mortality had spared me from becoming what I am now.

I guess my so called "gifts" as Amara would call it,  just wanted to mess with our heads and thought it would be fun to surprise everybody.

Specially me.

It did a damn good job of fucking with my brain.

Before this,  I had no idea of what I was to become. All i knew was, I wanted to be a soldier and board a ship set to sail towards unknown lands. I've always admired them and dreamed of also wearing a swanky gold outlined uniform one day and fire rifles to  the sky. All of it looked pretty awesome to me back then.

I also didn't even know the true existence of Angels or Demons or any of the crap I know now.

Back when I was a kid, I would only hear about them through the stories Amara and Aryen would tell me.

I had this one particular favorite about an Angel named Alleria who saved his husband Greigo from the evil Lustre who tried to trap him in hell. Alleria succeeded in freeing her husband but lost her life as Lustre followed them above ground and out of nowhere pierced her on the back with his sword.

Greigo got the chance to escape and lived his mortal life until the day he died.

Its a pretty Jackass ending to a good story if you ask me but Amara said it was what Alleria would've wanted for Greigo.

Most of the time, I  would contemplate about having gone through with my plans of running away when Aryen grounded me for an entire week .

I was 12 and got into a fist fight with another boy 2 years ahead of me in school. 

But then again, nothing beats finding out  you're a one of a kind freakshow hybrid who would get awkwardly long dark wings for his 18th birthday instead of a normal birthday cake when other kids would get a horse or a shiny dagger.

As a matter of fact, getting a horse didn't sound that bad to me at all. I would've called him Ranger if Aryen had gotten me one.

Instead, I got my powers, marks on my body appeared,  and a huge smack in the face of what I really was.

 Aryen and Amara took me out for a picnic on the day of my 18th birthday. Amara even took me to the local market place to buy all the ingredients for the food we were gonna bring.

Back in the 18th century, we didn't have those fancy new gadgets or classy restaurants to celebrate in. Instead, a picnic on a cliff over looking an entire valley was what we already called, privilege.

The food Amara cooked for us was amazing. I did some pretty serious damage to the roasted chicken the second I sat down beside Aryen who was peeling the skin off an apple with a knife.

Amara laughed when Aryen realised I devoured the good parts of the chicken leaving him the bottom half without the legs. Aryen shot me a cold stare as I happily munched on some corn.

My stomach was so full I had to stand up so I could breathe properly.

I walked around and stood a few feet away from the cliff. I looked over to the small town that resided at the bottom of the mountain. I was pretty far up that I can see the lines of the whole valley and the beautiful river that surrounded it. It sparkled as the sun fell closer to the ground.

My gaze was still fixed on the outlines of the river when a sharp pain shot up my back. I fell over to my side and screamed in Agony. It felt as if my entire back was on fire.

Aryen and Amara quickly ran over to my side and asked me what was wrong.

"My back! My back feels like its on fire! Please! Help me!"

Aryen grabbed his knife and cut the back of my shirt up to get a clearer look.

" Oh My Goodness!" Amara said as she  motioned the sign of the cross. I saw worry in her eyes that didn't help in calming me down.

"Amara! Hold him down!" Aryen yelled as he pinned my left side to the ground. Amara with great force, did the  same to my right.

"Please! It burns!"

I was faced down in the dirt as I screamed louder in agony.

I felt something coming out of my back. It hurt like hell and tears started to fall from my eyes.

"What's happening to me?! Aryen! please!" Aryen gave me a worried look but didn't answer.

I felt something rush out of my back and I screamed a longer cry of agony. I struggled and  stood up. Shock fell on Aryen and Amara's face when I got out of their grips and both of them fell back.

Even I was surprised to have over powered Aryen. He's more or less 5 feet taller than me and I was already a good 6 feet. He had a very strong built and could carry sacks and sacks of grain  like they were nothing.

It felt like the world around me was spinning as I stumbled to keep my balance. I fell on my knees and let out a final scream as  I arched back. Black feathers flew from both sides as a look of confusion shot across my face.   Trying to catch my breath, I turned and couldn't believe my eyes when I finally  saw what came out of my body.

 A pair of wings!

Long, powerful, black wings that faded to gold.

I somehow found them beautiful, but still confused as to why I had them. I remember asking myself what the fuck I was.

Then I felt Aryen grab my arm and everything around me went dark.