Feathers and Shadows

Chapter 16

I stood gaping at everything around me.

"This is heaven." I managed.

"Yep, believe me know or do I need to take you to meet God?"

I spun towards her.

"You can do that?!?!" I screamed

She stepped back,"Yeah."

"Oh can I please?"

"Sure. Do you have any wings?"

I looked at her dumbstruck.

"Wings!" I shouted.

"Yeah wings. All of us have them, the number of wings you have is how powerful and influential you are."

"Really? How do I get them?"

Tayli laughed, "Just imagine wings coming out of your back and feel it."

'Just feel it I mimicked." I took a step back and concentrated hard. Tayli gasped and my eyes shot open.

"What? What's wrong?" I said.

"Your wings! They're..." She trailed off.

"My wings are what?"

"I've.......I've never seen so many or....."

"Or what and what do you mean so many?"

She looked up into my face and said, "You have twelve wings." I stared dumbstruck.

"Twelve!" I shouted.

"Yes, see for yourself, but that's not the weird part." Tayli said.

There was a crystal clear pool nearby so I could see my entire body, sure enough there were twelve wings, only they weren't all demon wings. They alternated between the black featherless skeleton like wings of the Demons, and the white eagle like wings of an Angel.

"What.....how...." I said, not for the first time.

"We need to take you to Gabriel right away, he'll know what this is." Tayli said.

"Wait, isn't Gabriel an archangel?"

"Yes, God took mercy on the three archangels Gabriel, Michael, and Azazel. So they were allowed in heaven and serve God with infallible loyalty, they each have twelve wings."

"Twelve, so I'm as powerful as them?" I said.

"Yes, and no." She said.

"What do you mean?"

"Walk with me."

We started on towards the Silver City talking the whole while.

"So," I said when we reached the gates,"let me get this straight. I'm special because I'm not any of the types of people, including human?"

"Yep, also because you have alternating wings, I'm sure I've heard of what it is somewhere. I'll have to dig and find out." Said Tayli.

"Huh. Awesome." I said as we came upon the gate.

"Who goes there?" A voice shouted from above.

"Who goes there?" I shouted back, " what are we Mideval times? Sup peep we be wanting in yo."

A shadow appeared over the palisades and seemed to grow. Then I realized he was jumping down.

"Woah, what the fu-" I had time to say before he hit the ground with an explosion. Dust and debris rained down on Tayli and I, and I coughed trying to clear the air around me. Suddenly the wind picked up and the dust cleared away to reveal a striking man. Tall, tan skin, eyes like green daggers and six wings. Angel wings. Only these weren't white, they were black, like Dylan's. His face and poise were also a lot like Dylan's, as well as his lips. I heard something land behind him and say, "Dad, what the hell? Why did you drop down like that? Marcus isn't going to be happy about his road being broken again." Out of the dust came the source of the voice. Dylan.

"Oh, that's why you dropped. Ruby, put your wings away it'll attract attention." I realized I was still sitting on the ground staring like a retard at the two remarkably similar figures before me.

"Oh yeah," he said,"this is my dad, Xander. Dad, meet Ruby, the classmate." The man named Xander strode over to me and offered his hand.

"Xander Ristvak." He said short and crisp. I accepted his hand and was hoisted to my feet.

"Ruby HellNorth." I said just as brisk.

His stoic expression widened in surprise for a moment.

"Well met, HellNorth." He said, then drew a sword out of thin air and swung at me.