The Battle Within An Angel

Twenty-Three | Maddox & Claire & Wesley

Maddox watched as all of the other members of the cult lowered their hoods from their heads. Clearly, their leader had been the pudgy man.

They all wore friendly faces, but Maddox was more than eery of following them. His mind felt as if he were living in a paradox, always switching perspectives while tied together by a bundle of unending confusion.

Maddox looked around himself. Everything had remained as it were before, spare the light of the sun which had grown nearly unbearably hot, seemingly out of nowhere.

Time had flown by, but hours seemed like seconds. Maddox put his hands on his knees as he tried to remember everything that had happened only what seemed to be moments ago.

I didn't see her die, I heard a growl, I heard screams, and now I'm being talked to by a cultist.

All I remember is faded in a pitch-black memory.

"What do you mean they're coming for us? Why us? Why not you? Or someone else?"

The pudgy man chuckled at Maddox's questions. "You're special, my dear boy," he shook his head. "All of you have powers! Who said they were coming for only you? All who bear unexplainable powers, especially the one that the healer girl has, are wanted by evil souls."

"Why Claire's, then?" Maddox turned his head to the side, still trying to make sense of the situation.

"Because," the man sighed. "She has the power to either save the world or to destroy it. We're running out of time! I can answer everything you want to know after we make it back to our home!"

I have nothing to lose.

Maddox wearily placed his hands in front of him. "Hold on."

Maddox extended his feathery white wings from his back, this time on his own accord. Anaia couldn't control him anymore, though the chip in his neck remained.

He felt weightless as he took flight, a feeling of euphoria taking over his mind. He hadn't felt this happy in years, but then again, he'd had no reason to. He felt like a bird being let out of a cage that was cloaked in a dark cover. He was free.

He flew until he saw the heads of Claire and Wesley, who sat underneath a lone pine tree in a desperate attempt to escape from the unrelenting heat.

Eager to land without hitting the ground with a hard thud as he had when Anaia was the cause of it, Maddox lowered himself slowly to the ground, landing on his feet in front of the two.

"Come on, I have someone you need to meet." Maddox looked at the two who were exhausted from a sleepless night. They had only gotten a few hours of sleep each, and neither of them was in the mood to leave, especially in this heat.

"If it's that shaking chick from last night, I'm out," Wesley groaned. "I'm so sleepy I can hardly move."

Maddox smiled slightly at him, then took a glance at Claire. "You seriously need to come. You know you can save the world, right? And there are demon dudes that want your powers? And yours too, Wesley. And mine. I need you to meet these people before it's too late to fix this."

Wesley looked seriously at Maddox, then burst out laughing while shaking his head. "Haha! What kind of crack have you been smoking? Demons? You believe in that stuff?"

Maddox rolled his eyes. "We have powers that we can't explain, and I knew the Devil herself. So yeah, I believe in it. Now come on!"

Wesley and Claire stood up slowly with a song of tired moans.

"He probably stayed wide awake all night. Cult's got to his head," Claire whispered to Wesley. They both chuckled.

"I heard that. Ugh." Maddox crossed his arms in disgust as he watched the two stretch and stand underneath the tree, taking their precious time to move.