A Pair of Wings - Sanders Sides

8. Old Scars Torn Open

The moonlight shone down on Janus as he traversed the muddy forest of Angelmont. A cool breeze blew past him, contrasting his frazzled and burning mood. Tonight, his heart weighed him down, and past bruises were showing again. He swore if he ever saw their portrait again, he might rip his eyes out and bawl like a pathetic child. He barely finished any work that day. Even the thought of them hurt his soul and reopened his wounds he thought would finally heal. Another breeze passed him, making him breathe in a deep breath. Now wasn't the time to be unfocused. As skilled as he was with angel hunting, one could attack at any time and rip him to shreds. Plus, he needed to get some work done for his angel hunting business and he intended to continue it being the best in Angelmont.

Janus took another breath, feeling the cool air enter his lungs. At least some of his muddled thoughts about them would go away. He looked out into the forest ahead as he hid behind a tree, making sure there weren't any other angels around. Once the path was clear, he took off, going deeper into the forest. Thank goodness there weren't many other angel hunters out. A breath of fresh air and some alone time was what he needed the most. It was something he hadn't had in quite a while. He hadn't gone angel hunting by himself in almost forever now that he thought about it. It was refreshing not being in the market selling angel wings all day. Of course, it was a joy, but he missed the adventure and action that came with it.

A scream echoed through the untamed forest, followed by the ripping of flesh. He dashed as fast and as carefully as he could through the muddy forest towards the noise. Noise meant angels were close by and that meant business. He'd be able to strike one if he were quick enough. Action was just around the corner and he couldn't wait to see it. That was, until the dead bodies of the angel hunters appeared in his view. He hid behind a bush, the blood spilling everywhere around the dead as their bodies were ripped apart in front of him by an angel. Their corpses had blood pooling everywhere all over them and a few looked like they had their hearts ripped out. One even had their guts hanging out of the gapping slash on their stomach. It wasn't exactly the newest thing he's seen, but his heart always sunk seeing it. The world needed more angel hunters to slay those beasts. They did nothing good.

Janus scanned the area, peeking out from the bush he hid behind. It only took him a second to spot three angels, two bigger ones, and a small one. Even with the distance between them, he could tell the two angels towered over the smaller one. Both of their wings were magnificent and very well kept and the color on their wings were bright as well. The one with red wings might be a hair too big for anyone so he looked over to the one with green wings. Its wings seemed much better sized, even if they were still on the bigger end of the scale. He glanced over to the smaller angel who was already a bit injured. It'd be an easy kill, but it was a shame that it only had one scrappy wing. He would've been able to make some good money off of it if it weren't for the missing wing.

After taking another deep breath of air, Janus took his crossbow out. He looked over to the angel with green wings, and with a careful hand, he took aim. His eyes locked on to it as another cool breeze passed by. His heart raced with anticipation, ready to strike until...

"Are you okay, Virgil?" one angel started, cutting the silence, "I can fly you back up to the hollow."

"Or you could help me eat all these dead humans!"

"Remus! That's disgusting! You shou-"

"I'll be fine guys..." the injured angel said, the two others now turning to it. It held its side as it stood with a wobble. "The arrow only scratched me..."

There was a small silence between the three of them until one spoke.

"Fine, if you insist. Remus and I will keep scouting the area."

The injured angel nodded, a tired look forming on its face as they disappeared into the mountains. Janus crouched behind the bush, his heart thumping, and his face hot as he tried to process everything he just witnessed. The angels could talk. They spoke to each other in an actual civilized manner he'd never seen before. He held his head in his hands, feeling the grooves of his old scars on the left side of his face. A jumbled mess of thoughts and memories flooded back to him. Those angels seemed all too familiar to him, and the fact they acted like people baffled his mind. They were monsters to be killed! Yet, here they were talking, and caring for their injured, a trait he knew only humans possessed.

"You know, Roman..." the green winged angel started, "We could try and invade the humans-"

"No, my army isn't big enough, and even if I wanted to, I'd be risking too many lives."

"Then we should try to-"

"No! If you want to go to war with those monsters, do it yourself!"

There was a tense silence between the two of them, Janus listening with an eager ear.

"You can't keep us all cooped up in our hollows forever, Roman..." it sneered, "You can't coddle me anymore..."

Soon the green winged angel flew off into the mountains. The red winged angel sighed as it flew into another direction through the forest.

Janus' eyes filled with awe and curiosity, but a shiver still ran down his spine at their words. The fact that they were intelligent enough to create an entire army of angels waiting to fight off humans boggled his mind. Such a notion would be laughed at, but with what he'd witnessed? It was a pure believable fact that these were people. These were people he'd been slaughtering. His mind tried to push the thought away, but he knew truth was the most powerful thing one could know. He couldn't just get rid of it.

Janus touched his scars again, his fingers falling into the grooves. Those two angels had somewhat familiar faces and voices. His heart banged at his chest as an old faded memory came back to him. A shiver ran through his whole body. As he kept a hand at his scars. The memory was a blur yet still so clear in his mind. He looked back to where the two angels had stood, imagining them. Then he looked over to the dead angel hunters laying in their own blood. Various organs and guts spilled out of their shredded bodies. To a non-angel hunter, this looked like a massacre, but he'd gotten used to the sight long ago. His mind soon wandered back to those two angels. Monsters they were but something in his heart itched at him that told him otherwise.

As Janus was about to find another angel, thunder rang in his ear and the wind started to pick up. He turned around, gazing at Angelmont and the dark gray storm clouds rolling over the beautiful kingdom. He shivered as a cool wind threatened to drag him deeper into the forest. As much as he wanted to continue hunting, it was unlikely to be able to catch one in a raging thunderstorm, let alone find one. He sighed as he put his crossbow away. With a gentle hand, he grazed over his scars, knowing he needed time to process what he just witnessed. He knew he needed to come back and search for his answer. The mud squished under his feet as he walked back to Angelmont, sure he found a familiar face.