When Angels Sin

07. A Forbidden Dream

Julian

Julian lay shirtless on his bed, shivering from cold despite the warm summer night. His bandaged leg still ached, and his tortured back still burned. He lay in complete darkness, the sound of his heaving breath and the pounding of his heart echoing within his ears, until images started to appear at the back of his slipping mind.

Julian... Julian...

He heard his mother's voice. He looked up at once, and despite the darkness that enveloped them, he could see her clearly. She looked as beautiful as he had always remembered, her gentle brown eyes shining as she smiled at him. And he realized that he was dreaming, for his mother was long dead.

"I brought you something," his mother said, and he found that she was holding a sword in her hands, handing it to him.

He was now certain that he was indeed dreaming. He had always asked his mother to get him a sword, ever since he was a little child. It was his biggest dream, to hold a sword and swing it like he saw the winged knights do. But his mother had always scolded him for asking such a thing, for it was forbidden for a human to hold a sword and fight.

Julian smiled as he reached out to take the sword from his mother's hands, when he realized that she was not handing it to him. She was pointing it at his heart. A large war sword with a sharp blade, glistening through the dark. Julian quickly looked up at his mother's face in horror. But it was not his mother anymore. It was a girl with ivory wings and cold honey eyes, standing arrogantly before him as she pointed her sword at him.

"Slave!" the girl sneered.

***

A dull ache still lingered in his wounded leg, and his back still throbbed with pain as he struggled to put his clothes on. He was still weak, having fallen with a vicious fever for the few days following his punishment, as well as losing a lot of blood.

He scowled as he recalled the cause of his suffering. Alina... That little bitch. He had stupidly let his guard down and allowed her to unchain Achilles. If he had been more careful from the start, nothing of that would have ever happened. He wouldn't have earned a whipping that nearly cost him his life. But he had underestimated her, fooled by her delicate appearance and her pretty honey eyes. She was pretty indeed, despite her arrogance.

Julian frowned as he found himself thinking about her that way. Who cared if she were pretty or not? She was a winged one. A spoilt and selfish creature who despised and abused the likes of him. He hated her and her kind.

They were arrogant monsters, believing themselves to be the descendants of Angels who had been cast out of Heaven centuries ago. Known as the Fallen Angels, they were cursed with mortal bodies and earthly desires, a punishment for disobeying God's command to serve as guardians for the humans. But how, prideful and mighty as they were, could the Angels serve such lowly and impure creatures? So in revenge, the Fallen Angels rebelled and descended to Engeldom where they enslaved those very same humans, forcing them to blindly obey and serve them in return.

Despite his unpleasant situation, Julian knew he was lucky to still be alive after all. Thanks to Mikal, another cold and arrogant winged one he hated, but also admired. He had not expected Mikal to find Achilles. But to his surprise, Mikal had kept his promise and managed to bring back the untamed beast, saving Julian from certain death.

Julian bent down to put his boots on, only to stop as his eyes fell on a new box lying on the floor by his bed, added to the many ones he had been receiving for the past week. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Lucian... It had been a full week already since the whipping, and Lucian was still sneaking into Julian's room every night, leaving all sorts of sweets and gifts as an apology for hurting him.