CHILDREN OF THE SKY

CHAPTER 3

Faith's rust-colored hair curtained her face. She scanned Lucian's unconscious body and noted how he seemed serene with his eyes closed. She gulped at the sight of his bare torso was covered in dry blood with shards of mirror lodged half way inside his skin.

"Okay Faith," she kept calm, cool, and collected. "You can do this."

With heavy breathing, her hand inched closer to one of the shards until it punctured her index finger. She gasped quietly and continued to compose herself. A green aura crept out of her fingers.

"That's it," she eased her breathing and closed her eyes. Half memories unfolded themselves in her vision.

A newly uniformed Savior with cropped auburn hair and a beard looked back with a heartwarming smile.

After waiting years, a perky schoolgirl with red, wild hair finally asked, "Mommy, when's Daddy coming back?"

"I don't know, Faith," a stressed woman with long, curtaining brown hair answered her.

"Big sister," a four-year-old boy in paint-stained overalls, accompanied by Max – a Labrador retriever puppy – found her. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," Faith fought the stinging in her eyes. "I'm… I'm fine, Ethan."

"War sucks."

"Promise me my big sister will never cry!"

"Ethan?"

"Mom?"

"Anybody?"

"Oh God, there's fire everywhere!"

The district she once lived in was set ablaze. Faith ran across the catastrophic zone, screaming for any survivors. She caught glimpses of the dead who were being showered by debris. Her callings were interrupted by the sharp sound of a dog howling. Curious, she followed the whimpers to find Max.

"Come on, don't give up on me yet," she helped him up. The poor dog was limping so she had to resort to carrying him. "There, you're safe with me."

Together, they ventured further into ground zero. Faith coughed throughout the black smoke while clutching on to Max. She frantically searched for any signs of her family. She had trouble tolerating the image of burning bodies strewn across the sidewalks. The glass windows of nearby houses all shattered, spraying the streets with shards. Faith managed to make haste to a nearby plaza where Max barked constantly: Ethan's body was found beneath a large, decrepit statue.

"Ethan!" She ran over to him and placed Max at the boy's side. "Ethan, wake up!" She frenetically searched for any sign of life and pitifully called for help. Max morosely limped to Ethan and licked his face. "God damn it," Faith almost broke. "Is there anyone out here?" Defeated, "please Ethan… Please don't die on me."

"Don't cry," she reminded herself.

The stone statue began to wear out, its cracks intensifying. Dust and minute debris showered them. Max mustered up the power to bark at this sight, catching Faith's attention. She stifled, "W-what is it?" She looked up, eyes large and mouth agape, at the idol crumbling over her.

She clenched her teeth and cringed, "No, not now."

An aura of green light exploded. Ribbons of green extinguished the roaring flames around her. The statue's face stopped moments before striking Faith's head. The girl opened her eyes and gave out a small, startled scream. Panting, she looked at the statue fragments suspended in midair. Her finger reached out to the stone face and traced the contours of its eye. Her hands wrapped around its head; her jade waves caused it to simply disintegrate into a fine powder.

"What in the—Did… Did I do this?"

Max's barking broke Faith's stupor. Ethan was wrapped in the emerald aura like a translucent cocoon. She ran to him and checked for a pulse at an instant. Ethan's eyes opened.

The sound of a heart monitor filled a room comprised of off-white walls, a bed, chairs and a curtain. A malevolent cancer had hit Ethan hard. To Faith's relief, the disease was unrelated to her healing of him.

He gave her sister a fragile smile.

Their hands interlocked.

"Thank you, big sister."

Faith gulped, holding back tears as promised. The pulse she brought back had ceased.

"Goodbye."

A much older Faith, with Max at her side, waited beside cold metal gates. The brisk wind played with her long flowing hair. Mystical jade ribbons danced around her hand.

Rose-tinted clouds migrated across the azure sky. The warm temperatures lowered their shields to the sun's fall. The wind's whisper echoed solemnly through the summer's terrain; branches danced in euphoria. The chirping of the songbirds slowly faded into a low hum. Innocent fingers climbed between plastic window blinds and separated them apart to provide a small opening. His bright blue eyes witnessed the natural symphony cascading to night: twilight at its finest. His fingers abruptly shut the blinds; his lupine ears twitched at the sound. Zane gulped as he looked around the room. Its naked, neutral walls were untouched by light artificial. At the far side was Faith tending to Lucian. Zane's sapphire eyes caught a glimpse of the sleeping boy, his chest bare and bloody. Zane winced, grimacing.

"Zane," Faith's hands hovered over Lucian's wounds.

The lone wolf-child found some strength to get up. He shuffled his feet to Faith with his tail between his legs. He fought the stinging water in his eyes when he saw three mirror shards covered in blood. In their reflection, he saw an unaffected girl with burgundy hair and blue-green eyes. Behind her was merely a sinister silhouette using a pair of childlike eyes as a mask.

Zane frowned at the image, believing, "Why do I feel like a monster?"

"I want to let you know," she admitted. "I forgive you."

His ears perked, "What?"

"You don't have to keep blaming yourself." Faith's hand emitted a green aura. "I never want to see you sad like that."

"But what about my?—"

Her green aura ran from the tips of her fingers and into the air, forming branching streams. Faith interrupted, "Your ears and tail?" She giggled. "Well, I'm going to have to get used to that! You really shouldn't hide them. It's who you are, you know? And if you want my opinion, they make you look cute."

Zane blushed. Awkward and uncomfortable, he changed the subject, "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"The… Your…" He had trouble finding words, "Your magical wispy thing."

She giggled, "I guess I had to accept that too." She added mentally, "Right, Ethan?"

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Huh?" She broke out of her reminiscing about her little brother.

"Will Lucian be okay?"

"Yeah," she was sure of it.

"That's a relief." Zane returned to the blinded windows and peeked at the orange sun falling to its slumber. Putting on an overcoat and knit hat, he said, "Well, I got to get going."

"Don't tell me you're a werewolf."

"No," he chuckled. "It's a little more complicated than that."

A hand bound with leather crawled across a gritty and dusty countertop to embrace a cool glass. Sweet and tantalizing liquor was within its greedy clutches. Its twin was playing with a lit cigarette; toxicity waltzed between his fingers. There was certain gravitation in these industrial and deathly gifts. The cigarette hand ascended to reunite with its master. His cold, dry lips parted. With obsessive inhalation, the owner closed his glassy eyes: killer ecstasy. The alcohol was next to go; he slurped down the poison, clearly unaffected by the weight of its consequences. With a sigh of smoke, his windows to his dark soul opened. They were a violent violet as powerful as a blossoming flower. The glass mug came down with a thud; dust unsettled. The man glanced at a small mirror nearby, seeing his angular facial structure, sunken eyes, and his long, charcoal hair arranged in disorderly spikes. He then studied the bar's patrons until the sound of the front door opening ringed throughout the pub. A pair of scuffed sneakers shuffled their way across the dirty floors.

Another drunken man in the corner of the bar scoffed, "Who let a kid in a bar?"

The boy simply ignored the remark and continued to the back of the bar. Awkward, he scratched his head, which was covered by a black, knit hat. With light blue eyes wide, he asked, "Damien?"

With smoke on his breath, "Zane, what are you doing here?"

"We need to go."

"Why?"

"I sense a Marauder nearby."

"In Somnium?"

"Yeah,"

"Shit." Damien stood up, left a couple of bills on the counter, and swaggered out of the tavern with a drink in his hand and Zane by his side.

"Lucian," the returning ghoulish and provocative figure taunted; his voice caressing the zephyrs. "What should I do to arouse you from your interminable slumber?" The reverie figure was undeniably real and not just a mere phantom of Lucian's mind. He was sitting on the edge of a clock tower, leaning on a gargoyle. His bright green eyes shimmered and his silver locks violently flowed with the wind. He grimaced, "I'm getting bored now, Light Guardian. And it seems your friends have arrived. Since you will be late, shall I entertain them mercilessly?" He silently snickered and held his palm out; his aura forming an arcane magic circle. With murmurings of incantations, the Marauder summoned a wingless dragon that soared through the air. "Wreak havoc, Tianlong"

"Ugh, great," Damien held onto Zane for support as they travelled across a park. "Remind me to never go to a bar again."

"I have," a disgusted Zane with his eyes golden retorted, "Countless times."

The concrete pavement vibrated beneath their feet. Bestial roars resonated through the air. Zane's golden eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh crap," Damien said. "What the hell was that?" Colossal reptilian claws crushed skyscrapers as it crawled across the industrial terrain. Its spiked, lizard-like tail slithered between roads, demolishing cars in its path. The beast turned around the corner and into the plaza in full sight. "No fucking way," a dark aura emanated from his hands, "A dragon?" With a clap, slim slabs of metal flew into the air with a black aurora cascading from them. The scrap metal all combined together and formed a missile launcher.

"The Marauder must've summoned it," A scythe materialized from a golden aura in front of Zane.

"Tch!" Damien spat out his cigarette, knelt and scornfully took aim, "Coward."

"Lighten up," Zane bared his sharp teeth, "This'll be fun!" With that, he charged towards the beast with his scythe glowing in his hand. He leapt off the ground, "Kyaaah!" And his blade plunged deeply into the dragon's foot. "Uh oh," Zane tried to pull out his scythe, but to no avail, "Seriously?" Zane frantically tried to get his stuck scythe out, pulling it in any direction necessary. But it wouldn't budge. He panicked, "Uh, Damien?"

"Hold on! I'm trying to get a good shot!" Damien's arms quivered and his vision was blurry. "Uh, which head do I hit?"

"God damn it, Damien!" He still attempted to loosen his jammed scythe. "Just shoot!"

"Crap," Damien winced and pulled the trigger. The concrete pavement beneath him dispersed into the air. The great recoil had sent Damien back a couple of inches. The screaming missile soared through the air. A thick cloud of smoke filled the night.

It missed!

"Shit."

"He's hopeless when he's drunk," Zane groaned in thought. He shoved his foot upon his scythe's handle with enough force to cause it to successfully pop out of the poor creature's foot. "Finally," He laughed triumphantly, until the beast roared and took flight. Zane desperately hung on to the draconic limb, "Whoa!" Casting his scythe away, Zane climbed up the dragon's leg. "Don't look down." He gasped when the wind picked up his knit cap and whirled it away into the night. His canine ears bowed in trepidation. "Oh no, that's a long way down. Keep calm and don't panic, Zane." He took a deep breath and continued scaling the flying behemoth. However, when the wingless dragon spat fire erratically, a rather hysterical Zane yelped out a lace of profanities and cried, "Damien!"

Damien managed to avoid the oncoming waves of fire. "Yeah, yeah," He reloaded his weapon with his dark energy. His hazy vision began to clear up when he took aim. He gritted his teeth, "Stop moving, you giant piece of shit." The missile launcher fired, leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke. He got off his knee and watched the missile shred across the sky. "Zane, watch out!" He snapped his fingers and his missile divided into three offspring missiles.

Zane managed to climb on top of the dragon's spine, "What?" He gawked at the trio of rockets heading his way. With a wave of his hand, he produced a shield of a golden aura. The missiles struck the dragon directly, resulting in a vigorous explosion. The beast trembled beneath Zane's feet. He struggled to withstand shockwaves even behind his shield. His tail slipped from underneath his jacket to provide him more balance. But when the dragon started to nosedive, spiraling back to Earth, Zane lost all balance and fell off the doomed beast.

"Zane," Damien yelled, dashing madly across the plaza. His weapon disassembled into scrap metal and faded back into murky nonexistence.

Zane's jacket slipped off at such a high speed. "Ah! No!" He tried so desperately to have it back in his clutches, but then he remembered Faith's uplifting remark:

"Well, I'm going to have to get used to that! You really shouldn't hide them. It's who you are, you know?"

Zane's eyes changed color to his innocent blue in realization. "My jacket is just a cloak, right? I only used it for hiding and nothing more. Why should I hide? Because people would think I'm a monster? That's stupid. It's just a part of me. Lucian... Faith... Damien, maybe: If they're truly my friends, they'll accept me." As the poor wolf boy hurdled towards the cold pavement, his azure eyes touched Damien's unclouded violet: trust. Zane closed his eyes...

And fell into Damien's arms. His ears flicked when he heard his dark savior silently chuckle. With a gasp, he opened his wide eyes. "Hey! W-What's so funny?"

"You look like a lost puppy."

"I'm not a lost puppy." Zane muttered when he stepped down, frowning. He tried to conceal a secret smile, but Damien continued to cackle. His tail gave it away. "Uh... Thanks."

"No problem."

The duo watched the overgrown, flying lizard of a dragon soar into the ground, demolishing the concrete pavement into fine rubble. Zane approached the poor summoned creature with his wide and curious eyes taking pity on the wild and serpentine ones. "Poor thing, don't you agree?"

"Yeah, sure," Damien barked impatiently. "Let's just kill it already and find the Marauder that summoned it."

"You kill it."

"Fine, suit yourself," Damien pulled his revolver out of thin air.

Zane winced at the sound of a fleeing bullet.

"Let's go, Zane."

Zane found himself alone, in front of a disintegrating beast. He watched the dragon's scales peel off from the body and float majestically into the sky. It was not long before the entire creature shattered into millions of crystals and soared elegantly into oblivion. With his ears and tail in a melancholic state, Zane sighed, "Coming."

"Shall I entertain them mercilessly?"

Lucian woke up in a cold sweat to a dark room, eyes wide. "He's real." He sat up on a leather couch and winced at a sudden, unyielding pain coming from underneath a foreign blue shirt. He stretched the cotton fabric to glimpse at several scars etched into his naked chest, "Ah, great." The memories of Zane's abnormal appearance and of a strange magic raced into his mind. With a deep breath, he stood up and let his forest eyes scan the night-painted room. An elderly Labrador retriever was found, sleeping in the nearby corner. The shimmering dog tag that was clipped on to its collar had read, "MAX". Lucian let out a sigh of relief; he was in Faith's house. He carefully left the room without disturbing the snoozing dog. He inched his way across the hallway and turned the corner to a living room. There was a very bored-looking Faith lounging in a black leather couch with a remote in her grasp, flipping through channels. Lucian reluctantly began, "Faith?"

"About time you woke up," Faith said. "God, there's nothing on TV. Come on in! Sit down!"

Lucian did so and cautiously asked, "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry?"

"How am I here? The last thing I remembered was—"

"Zane?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"You two weren't the only ones there, you know."

"But that doesn't explain the—"

"You're clueless," Faith sighed. "I guess it can't be helped. Listen, I'm not sure what happened, but I think Zane has an idea. I didn't know if whether you were scared or pissed off, but he explained that something happened to you when you went… you know, berserk."

"Berserk?" Lucian tried to defend himself. "T-The entire school was set on fire! People were dying!"

"You were hallucinating," Faith bluntly put it. "But Zane thought differently. Zane thought you had a premonition."

"A premonition?"

"Whatever it was, it set you on edge. Zane and I were worried and we had to follow you. And when we did… you attacked Zane."

"I don't get it. Why would I attack him?"

"You couldn't help it," Faith comforted him. "Zane said, 'Your powers had awakened.'"

"Powers?"

"Magical powers of light," Faith continued. "He went on saying how your hallucination—or premonition—was a form of initiation."

"So you're expecting me to believe in a thing called magic?"

"It's weird, huh?" Faith wondered, "You can think of life and what is normal in a totally different sense than what it actually is. You've got to keep living in order to know the truth."

"Life as we know it is just deception." Zane's words echoed in Lucian's mind. The image of Zane with his ears and tail had burned into his memory. If there was a shred of magical reality—an inch of truth—in Lucian's life, it was this. He was forced to ask, "What about Zane?"

"What about him?"

"His… you know." Lucian awkwardly cupped his ears. "Are they real?"

"I think they are," Faith said. "But you'll have to talk to Zane about that!"

"Why?"

"He's just nervous about what you'll think. He just wants acceptance."

"We've been friends since God knows how long. Why couldn't he tell me that he's a wolf-boy before?

"Maybe he was ashamed of that! I don't know!" Faith got up, "Listen Lucian, I'm not a miracle worker. Okay? What I do know is that something's going on and we have to get ready for it whether we like it or not."

"Wait a minute."

"What now?"

"How did I get here?"

"Oh yeah, forgot about that," Faith chuckled. "When you passed out, Zane and I just took you here."

"You didn't take me to the hospital or anything?"

"Nope."

"Why not? Wasn't I bleeding everywhere?"

"Yeah, and it took me a great deal of time just to clean that up!"

"But how—"

"I healed you."

Lucian's eyes widened, "You what?"

"You heard me," she grinned. "I healed you."

"No way," Lucian stood and winced. His scars stung him. "T-That's impossible!"

"God, Lucian, you can be such an idiot sometimes." With that, Faith took hold of Lucian's hands.

His forest eyes peered into her oceanic ones as the magical jade ribbons elegantly danced around the room.

"So," Damien lit another cigarette. "The Light Guardian revealed himself, huh?"

"Yeah," Zane said. "His name is Lucian."

"He's a close friend of yours?"

"Gosh, ever since I could remember."