Wings of Destruction (5 page)

"As soon as we find a clearing, we can rest for the night,” Anael said as they fought their way through the forest, trampling weeds and stepping over fallen tree trunks.

“Let’s keep going." Sarah had been silent for the whole duration of the trip. Something about the way she hurried to their destination made Martin nervous. She seemed to grow more twitchy with every hour they spent together, pulling her scarf tightly around her face as if she was cold.

"We don’t know what awaits us at the tower." Anael looked at the keystone in his hand, the blackness of the gem seeming to draw his attention. “It could be a long and arduous climb.”

"I agree with Anael. I’m exhausted." Martin slumped down on a fallen log.

"I will collect wood to make a fire. Try to make yourselves comfortable." Anael left Martin and Sarah, wandering off into the forest. Martin fingered the gun stowed in his belt. Something about the way Sarah was acting unnerved him.

“Are you scared about the world ending?” Martin asked.

"No. I’m scared about the world not ending," Sarah said cryptically as she turned to look at Martin. There was a look of fear in her wide eyes that reminded Martin of a rabbit spooked by a predator.

Sarah went back to pulling a blanket out of Martin’s bag and lying it down on the carpet of leaves. They worked in silence until Anael returned with a pile of damp wood. They built stones around the pile while Anael worked on striking two stones together to make a spark. The wood was reluctant to catch light, smoldering a green, angry smoke before finally yielding to flame, but it soon became the only light in the dark forest. They huddled around it and warmed themselves, but Sarah never took the scarf from around her face. She was the first to retire to sleep, while Anael and Martin sat up for a while.

"You should rest," Anael said. "We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"If this is going to be my last night on Earth, I’d like to spend it with you." Martin looked across at Sarah, who had begun to snore. “Sarah’s been acting strange. What’s going on?”

"It’s not something for you to be concerned about. She will tell you when the time is right.” Anael looked into the flames. His eyes reflected the dying embers of the fire and they both fell silent for a moment.

"What do you mean? Why the vagueness? You’ve always been upfront with me.” Martin crossed his arms, trying to preserve his body heat.

"This isn’t my secret to tell.” Anael shook his head. “If she wishes to, she will tell you in her own time.”

Martin sighed. Whatever Anael and Sarah were hiding, he was not privy to it. He suddenly felt like an outsider again, the one in their little circle of three who was left out in the cold. Anael stood, spreading his wings in the dark. He looked almost menacing for a second, silhouetted in the moonlight. He placed his hand on Martin’s shoulder, squeezing it gently before retiring to his bed.

*~*~*

Martin woke with a start, fear coursing through his veins as noise reached his ears. He opened his eyes a crack to see Sarah rifling through his backpack. She found a knife and looked over it, testing its edge. Satisfied, she stood up and strolled out of the camp. Anael was missing as well. Martin waited until Sarah had been gone for a full minute before pulling himself up and following her sloppy trail.

He saw her down by the stream and watched as she untied her scarf, revealing a couple of days’ growth of facial hair. Sarah raised the knife and started to shave her stubble away carefully. Realization struck Martin like a lightning bolt. He felt instantly guilty for prying as Sarah’s words finally made sense. Sarah had been snippy with them for a good reason. She had wanted to remain herself in a world that was taking that from her one day at a time. The gangs had probably allowed her to remain well-groomed in order to satisfy their desires, but once she had been freed, that luxury had disappeared. Cruel fate was reverting her to a body she did not belong in.

Martin decided to return to camp, but he stepped on a twig as he backed up, snapping it in two with a loud crack. Sarah stood and looked around, the scarf falling from her lap. The knife glinted wickedly in her hand, and Martin had no doubt she could kill any intruder if she wanted to.

"It’s only me." Martin put his hands up and stepped out from behind the trees, shame apparent on his face. "I’m sorry. I didn’t know."

Sarah threw the knife to the ground with an annoyed grunt. It was swallowed by the carpet of leaves. "Well, now you know. Are you happy? I’m a freak, too."

"You’re not a freak."

"Tell the world that. Transfolk are only sought after by the gangs so we can fulfill their sexual fantasies. That’s why I ended up being a concubine."

"I’m a freak as well. I’m asexual. I can’t keep a mate for more than a few weeks." Martin lowered his hands as Sarah kicked the knife aside. "I’m really sorry, Sarah. I didn’t mean to pry. When you were short with me yesterday, I thought something else was wrong."

"You thought I might stop you from getting to the temple and ending the world?"

"Something like that."

"Yeah, well, I’m going to be the last person to stop you. I want this world to end, so God can fix me. Put me in the right body. If Paradise truly is a thing, that has to be an option. Right?” Sarah looked at Martin with searching eyes and for the first time, he saw the uncertainty beneath her usual confident demeanor.

"I guess so." Martin smiled. "I suppose you’d have to ask Anael."

"What about me?" Anael strode up behind them. "I went to find food for us and come back to find Sarah brandishing a knife."

"Sorry. We were just having a chat." Sarah shrugged and went back to the water’s edge, leaning back down and digging out the knife. "About how I’m living proof that God makes mistakes."

Anael bowed his head. "In Paradise, things will be better. God doesn’t make mistakes, Sarah."

"Right, okay. That’s why I’m in the wrong body, Martin here can’t abide sex, and you’re going to Hell. No mistakes."

"I can’t tell you His reasoning." Anael shrugged. "I don’t make the rules. I only follow them.” He turned his face to the ground, and for a moment, Martin swore he saw a glimmer of doubt in Anael’s bright eyes.

*~*~*

The group packed their things in relative silence, but the uncertainty that had lingered over them was now in the past. Sarah returned from bathing shortly and they set off. Looking up at the tree line, Martin saw the Tower of Elysius in the distance. He was sure it had not been there before, but then little about heavenly rules made sense to him. For all he knew, the tower could have sprung up overnight. His mind drifted back to Anael, and the thought that he might never be able to return to Paradise.

Anael stopped dead for a moment. Martin stopped right behind him, and Sarah came to a standstill as well. Anael held a black feather. Looking at his wings, Martin saw the stubs of more, growing in where feathers had been torn out by his abusers. Martin reached out and gently took the black feather from Anael’s shaking hand, looking it over with scientific interest.

"We’re going to fix this. That’s why we’re here." Martin dropped the black feather, letting it float to the ground where it became lost amongst a sea of rotting leaves.

Anael shook his head. "I have never Fallen. In the thousands of years of my existence, I was always the pure angel, the good angel. I cannot believe I have black feathers. I did what I had to do, Martin. It was not some act of carnal pleasure on my part, some degrading request born from my own twisted desires. It was an act of sacrifice."

"I know. You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

"Gabriel has messed this up big time, if you ask me." Sarah looked at the black feathers with disgust. "Makes you think that none of us are getting in up there. If Gabriel can turn away an angel for this kind of self-sacrifice—"

"You’ll get in. You have to." Anael shook his head. "If you don’t, I’ll come find you in Hell myself. I’ll challenge Gabriel’s ruling."

"Yet you don’t offer yourself the same forgiveness. Why?" Martin looked into Anael’s deep purple eyes, searching for the answer that eluded him. Anael offered no answer and simply continued walking forward through the thick forest.

*~*~*

They reached the tower as dusk fell upon them. It cast the monolith in an eerie shadow, one that seemed to suck all the light from the world, as if it was made from the absence of substance itself. Looking at the stone that Anael held, Martin surmised it was made of the same material. A doorway was set in the front of the tower. The trio paused, reluctant to take the final steps to their doom. Even Sarah hesitated as she looked up at the tower. It pierced the clouds like a black spear.

"It’s do or don’t." Sarah tapped her foot. "I say we get on with it. Lingering isn’t going to help us at all."

"You are right." Anael started to walk towards the tower, stone in hand.

"Stop!" a voice barked from behind them, muffled behind a gas mask. Martin spun around to see five figures dressed in red standing in the clearing, weapons pointed at the trio.

"Scrapers." Martin spat out the word.

"A mysterious angel, a breach of our base, then a black tower appearing out of nowhere. Did you think we wouldn’t come and investigate?" The leader of the Scrapers stepped forward. "My cock felt good in your mouth, angel. It was Heaven, all right."

Martin saw Anael’s calm face disintegrate into shame as he fell to his knees. It broke him, watching Anael crumple. He reached for the gun in his belt without even thinking, the rage and disgust at Anael’s rapist overwhelming his senses. His thoughts were red with hate, his ears ringing as his blood pressure rose. The Scrapers’ leader seemed not to see him, continuing with his sickening tirade. "I came right down your throat, didn’t I? You swallowed it all, hungry for my seed—"

"Shut up!" Martin watched Anael cover his ears and the last of his resolve left him. He fired the gun, catching the Scrapers’ leader by surprise. It hit him in an artery and blood sprayed from his neck as he collapsed. Martin took advantage of the surprise, firing again and again until all five figures lay in pools of their own blood. Anael screamed and Sarah covered her eyes as Martin kept firing until the clip was empty and the gun emitted a clicking sound.

The gun slipped from Martin’s trembling hands. He fell to his knees as he saw the bodies strewn about him. The carpet of leaves provided a soft landing, but he didn’t care. Anael’s question reverberated in his mind. "Have you ever killed someone?"

He had now, and he would go to Hell for it.

Anael knelt down beside Martin and whispered soothing words into the shell of his ear. Martin rocked back and forth, lost in the horror he had just committed.

"I’m going to Hell,” Martin whimpered.

"Martin." Anael pulled him close, wrapping his tattered pepper-and-salt wings around him. "It’s going to be all right."

"No, it’s not. I killed five men in cold blood. Murderers don’t go to Heaven."

“Then we’ll disobey Gabriel. We can live out in the wilderness and I’ll take care of you." Anael’s tender tone brought tears to Martin’s eyes and he forced them back, fearing that once he started crying, he would never stop.

"You’d give up your only chance of going back to Paradise?”

"I would." Anael whispered. “Those men deserved to meet their end. For a while, they made me believe that I wanted them, that I was the depraved one.”

Martin reached for Anael and pulled him closer until their foreheads touched. "I’ve been there.”

“I am sorry you are in a position to understand.” Anael closed his eyes and released a tiny sigh that tickled Martin’s cheek. Martin managed a smile, despite the grim situation. Closing his eyes, he could forget that dead bodies lay around their feet and that the end of the world was nigh.

"Where’s Sarah?" Martin’s eyes shot open in realization and he scanned the area, doing his best to ignore the corpses staring blankly into oblivion.

"I gave Sarah the crystal,” Anael confessed. “I thought it would be safe with her.”

"She went inside. She’s going to initiate the Black Rain." Martin ran towards the huge monolith, Anael in tow. He rushed through an archway entrance into a cavernous hallway. Stairs made of the same black material as the tower led upwards in a spiral that made Martin dizzy when he looked up. He climbed the steps two at a time, ignoring the screaming agony of his lungs and Anael’s calls to wait from below.

Martin reached the top of the tower, painfully out of breath. He clutched his side as he staggered through another archway. Light shone into an antechamber, colored by rainbow windows. Sarah stood at an altar, the black shard clutched tightly in her hands.

"Sarah, wait!" Martin watched helplessly as Sarah inserted the crystal into an opening atop the altar. Anael burst in as the shard liquefied and was absorbed into the dais below.

"I’m sorry," Sarah said. "I can’t stand being trapped inside this body any longer." Tears rolled down her cheeks as the tower started to rumble. Anael clutched Martin’s arm, keeping him on his feet as the ground shook violently.

"Anael and I are going to Hell. You know that, right?” Martin stared Sarah down with accusing eyes.

"You did what you had to do, and I have to do the same. I’m sorry." The windows of the chamber shattered, scattering colored glass across the floor. A sudden gust of wind blew Sarah’s blonde hair across her face.

Martin felt Anael’s hand come to rest on his shoulder. "There’s nothing we can do now except ensure Sarah goes to Heaven. Martin, you must forgive her. You must let your anguish go and offer her forgiveness so that her soul might be redeemed.”

"We could have had a life together." Martin pulled away from Anael’s grip, surrendering to his anger. "How can I forgive her for taking that away from me?"

"Please, Martin. Do it for me. She is nothing more than a victim of fate. She does not deserve to go to Hell any more than we do."

Martin stood still for a moment, trapped by the coils of his anger as he struggled to pull himself together. “Okay.” Martin’s voice was hoarse, strained by emotion. "I forgive you, Sarah."