Ash to Dust

7_: The Dark side

Dawn was approaching in the silence of the forest.

All four of them were on edge and were since Symon had been silent last night. All night and the only sound that had been drifting to them from the DarkWood had been the sickening shocks and pops of the change. All the while Akia had not spoken or given any indication she was even alive.

"Can you tell what she is?" Alice asked to Symon when the sun started to rise above the trees. He just raised his eyes and nodded once towards their backs.

"Why don't you turn around and look for yourself?" A dark voice came from behind the group and washed pleasantly over them, like velvet but leaving chills running through their bones as soon as it was gone. All three of them turned to look but Symon just smiled and nodded in greeting. As soon as Raven saw her, her mind balked at the most beautifully unnerving sight she'd ever come across.

The woman that was Akia now stood no more than a few steps away, the sunlight not quite reaching her figure for some reason. She was somewhat taller, built powerfully lean and her skin had paled to snow white, a stark contrast with the pitch black of her long nails and straight hair and the majestic feathered wings that unfolded from her back.

Her forearms had somehow retained the same texture of the DarkWood's bark, a rich, dark brown with long darker twisted veins. The feeling of her presence had changed as well, there was a pressure now on Raven's skin and an aura of unrestrained power and death hanging around that had never been there before. The feeling of a dangerous predator nearby, the shadows that never seemed to leave her figure, the silence that seemed to surround her, the muscles shyly lining her body and the contrasts of it all added to her presence.

What truly made Raven recoil was the sight of her eyes, two bottomless pitch black abysses with vertical, slightly reflective and black slits as pupils.

There had been people in Raven's life whose eyes and gazes had put her on edge, but she didn't feel on edge now. Oh no, she felt dragged well over that edge and down into its black abyss. It sent her nerves crawling under her skin and Akia wasn't even looking directly at her. Her eyes were focused on a spot a little behind her, the one where Symon was seated.

"Darkangel." Brobdin breathed, with both mind and voice.

Akia unfolded her wings and stretched them, Raven gauged they measured about thirteen feet from tip to tip. She heard Alice gulp audibly beside her, then the wings closed in front of the girl protectively and she hugged her clothes and weapons to her chest.

"Should we head back?" Symon voice rang out in the air, startling everyone out of their reveree. Raven nodded and they all picked up their belongings. Akia managed to adapt some clothing to her new figure to look decent in the city and they all started walking back towards Raven's house.

No one talked for the whole trip back, Symon helped Akia to get used to her new wings' weight and walked hand in hand the whole way although she seemed a bit lost, overwhelmed and sometimes her eyes were just staring into space.

They arrived at the house a little later, had breakfast together and prepared for the day ahead.

The others left for their lessons at the Academy and Akia and Sy remained alone in the house. She gave him a small wry smile and after carefully getting up, spoke in that strange new voice that sounded like wonderful velvet caressing his skin.

"Would you come outside with me and try to see what I can do?" The first answer she got was a devilish grin spreading over his whole face.

"I was thinking about something more interesting but maybe you are right, you should get comfortable with your body first." He said, grinning like a fool.