Author: Gift of Reading
Word count: 1482
Story: Wings
Chapter: One
E m b a r r a s s m e n t
My face was burning bright red as I ran out of the change room, chasing after another girl. In her hands she clutched a bundle of clothes, my clothes; which left me running around my bikini bottoms with a towel wrapped around me. Why were my friends playing a prank now, especially since they knew I had to pack to leave for training.
"Come on! I thought you were faster than this," taunted my friend, waving my clothes above the pool. Oh I was faster than she thought, but I didn't dare speed up, I may risk being exposed if I did.
"Give it back!"I yelled as I went to snatch the bundle out of her hands, but she hoisted them out of my way. "Come on! You know I've got to be somewhere!"
"That's why I took them," retorted my friend. "You're always doing something and you never tell us what. So tell me and I'll give them back."
Angered I finally lost my patience and sped up just a little more, but just enough that I could get my clothes away from my friend.
"I told you, I'm not allowed to say," I replied, walking back towards the changing room. I added in my head, "Besides, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Finally I was dressed; my friend had left in a huff earlier, which left me to wander the streets back home. I payed for some chips and went over to my bike, which was chained up in the car park next door. Well it wasn't really are car park, more like a strip of road that no one bothered to maintain.
A sudden screech echoed in the air just outside the car park, when I looked up I saw a truck trying to stop; but ended up swerving its back wheels forward. The screech came to an end at the front section hit the pool's sign; smashing the window next to the driver. I was glad I had decided to wear shoes as I ran across the glass littered road to check up on the driver.
There were no flames that ate the engine of the car, no smell of petrol that burned the throat, no sign of crimson blood across the ground. I finally reached the driver's seat after what seemed to be an eternity, the driver seemed unharmed; but I had heard that sometimes car crash accidents left the victims with internal bleeding. But the man seemed fine, I couldn't hear him over the yells of panic from fleeing witness's. Instead he turned around and started talking to someone – so there was more than one!
Finally I managed to get all of them out of the car, unharmed; once out I finally got a good look at the passengers. One was a teenage girl younger than me, no more than 16 or 17; her chocolate brown hair hung in curls beside her pale face. There was another man; he looked very nice - his head was covered in a crown of blazing red hair that was topped by a small grey bowler hat. Finally I saw the driver, he had smooth black hair that he tied back in a loose ponytail – he also had a strange scar that covered part of his neck, it looked to familiar, almost like-
I gasped, it was him. I thought he had died during Arisen's attack, but here he was; standing in front of my in the flesh. He looked down at me with the same black eyes that he had last time, but now they had a sharpness to them that only war could give. His calm mask cracked as he recognized me, shock spread all over his face.
"Maya?" he asked, uncertain. I nodded at him, he still remembered me! All of a sudden I was lifted into a chest crushing bear hug from the red head.
"I can't believe it's you!" he bellowed into my ear. "We've been wondering if you survived!"
"If you don't let go now Tysen she won't survive another minute," said the driver, motioning to me; I was still struggling to breathe even after he let me go. "Sorry Yamaru, but it's just been soo long."
The girl walked up to me and looked at me shyly, I smiled; of course I would remember her.
"Hello Ria." Ria's face brightened and she hugged me to, but not a bear hug like Yamaru had; it was more like the tender hug you give to someone after a close relative had just passed on. I turned to Tysen, who looked at me with uncertainy, like he was trying notice something wrong with me to prove it wasn't me.
"Hello Tysen." He just stared at me, the shock was hidden behind that mask of no emotions again. Finally he nodded, it seemed I was just accepted as the real deal now.
Just as we began to tell our stories we heard the angry chorus of honks in the street, but over the noise you could hear a young boy yelling something about a flying truck. A flying truck is impossible you may say; but when I looked up there in the sky was a truck, with a pair of pitch black wings stretched from its head.
I swore and started running down the car park, calculating how much thrust I could get from the air around me to life me up in the air. But I skidded to a stop as the entrance, two trucks were jammed up back-to-back in front of me; about 2 – 3 metres stood between them.
Damn it, I though turning around and running back to the others; who watched me with a confused look. When they demanded why I had turned away I explained that a) there wasn't enough distance between the trucks for me take off and b) I wasn't going to show them. Ria stared at me confused, even though we had been best friends before the war she still had no idea what we all were.
We all jumped into the truck which was quiet luxurious for its size, it had a driver's seat and it passenger with about a metre between them. Behind them sat two more seats, behind the both of the chairs, but one was littered with the glass from the broken window. Finally at the back sat a lounging seat, stretching the full length of the cabin.
I jumped happily onto the back seat and found it was quiet comfy despite the plastic covering, Tysen sweeped some of the glass onto the ground and out the door, but leaving the seat and took the one in front of it. Ria sat in the seat opposite the glass covered on, watching me with intent eyes; I knew she was going to question me to eternity to get an answer as to what I couldn't show in public. Yamaru took the driver's seat, starting the engine with a deep rumble.
"So what can't you show in public?" asked Ria, here came the suffering.
"Didn't you ever hear that 'curiosity killed the cat'?" I asked with a sigh, when she nodded I knew it was no use keeping it secret anymore, even from a human.
"Well, everyone in this cabin (excluding you Ria) has a wing." As if to prove my point; feathers started gliding smoothly out of my back, slowly forming pure white wings that stretched at least 6 metres in length from tip to tip when stretched out of full length. Stunned she looked around at the others, who also were bearing wings (all white as well) – Tysen had short wings that resembled a hummingbird's, reaching out about 4 metres at full length. Yamaru had similar wings to Tysen but his were closer to a sparrow's, his wings were sharper and longer as well.
"Now I can see why you didn't want them to be seen in public," whispered Ria, clearly shocked. I smiled, "That's not all."
I lifted my right arm - which had managed to get a nice bruise from Yamaru's hug – and a beautifully decorated armour appeared out of nowhere, joining itself with my arm to add extra strength. When it disappeared from sight there was no more bruising, just my arm looking completely normal.
"That's Guardian Armour," I told her, matter-of-factually. "So that means I protect the Queen."
"The Queen?"
"Yer, the Queen," answered Tysen, also holding up his arm as his armour disappeared. "But this isn't the place to discuss this, let's go before someone discovers us."
We all nodded in agreement as the traffic cleared and we entered the road.
"Damn, I didn't even get to eat my chips," I mumbled under my breath, chuckling escaped Yamaru and soon we were all laughing so loudly that people outside were starting to back away from us. "Good riddance."
S u m m a r y
Humans and Wings living in the same world; humans believe that they are the true rulers of the planet, but without Wings to help keep the balance between the two they would fall into poverty. Why does a secret species live undetected in the world? What can they do? What can I do?
I'm Maya, a Wings. When the world is threatened by Arisen – a evil lord who wants nothing more than everyone at his knees – will Ria, Tysen, Yamaru and me be able to protect the balance.
And what is this voice in my head talking about? Something about Arisen, but what...
I d e a
I always loved the idea of being half human and half bird, the thought of flight always riddled my thoughts. One day (well actually yesterday) I had a small scene from this chapter played in my dream, from then on I started daydreaming about it and it grew from there.
P r o g r e s s i o n
Tysen, Ria, Yamaru, Arisen and Arisen's Nameless Servants started to fill the gaps as the story progressed in my mind. Then I thought it needed a twist to the main character (Maya) so obviously I had to make her somehow related to Arisen but I didn't know how, finally it clicked – but I'm not telling what the secret is, that would ruin the story. But a hint; it's related to the voice in her head.
D e f i n i t i o n s
Wings: the term given to those who have discovered their inner wings, extremely strong wings (such as our Queen) can discover the inner wings of an inanimate object and control them.
Hummingbird: Those who have the wings of a hummingbird, used as guards of the Queen; because their wings allow them to travel at high speeds and dodge attacks in midair. But first they must go through training to build up their strength.
Sparrow: Those who have wings of a sparrow, they are the healers of the Wings Kingdom. Their much more capable than hummingbirds with strength and endurance and equal them with speed and agility, but they're peace loving so they refrain from fighting unless it's against their own.
Arisen's Nameless Servants: Arisen is the evil lord trying to take control over the Wings Kingdom and the human world using dark magic; Arisen's Nameless Servants are those who follow him and do his every command. They all wear a helmet that covers the upper part of their face and their wings turn pitch black and seemed frayed.
Wings Kingdom: The name given to the group of people who create and enforce the laws of the Wings. The law basically is two main laws; do not reveal your wings to a human and do not touch another's wings.
Guardians: The name given to those who guard the Queen. They train young wings to control their power and force the law upon wrongdoers.
Guardian Armour: The legendary armour that appears when its wearer calls; though the only people with this ability are Guardians. Once called it can cover certain part of the wearer's body (say an arm) and heal any ailments, also it is impossible to penetrate it unless you have mastered the Dark Arts.