“You called her Angel!”  Rose burst into fits of laughter.

“What?  Did I say something wrong?”  Ryder looked nervous, like he was about to throw up.

“No, not wrong, per say.  You, more or less made a commitment.  It’s your own fault for trying to be mysterious.  In her eyes you are this powerful mysterious stranger… that called her an Angel!”  Rose returned to hysteria.

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean?  When she first saw you she was curious at least, infatuated at most,  don't flatter yourself it is the outfit, and a small part mysteriousness.  She was probably closer to curious, from what I can gather.  You as a curiosity, an intriguing albeit powerful man, and you called her beautiful, not only that, but you since you called her Angel instead of saying beautiful, you have to always refer to her as such.”

“Why?”

“Ryder trust me on this, she may not consciously expect it, but a small part of her will, and i guarantee you she will consciously be disappointed if you don't.  One more thing, what is one thing angels can do, that she cannot.”

Ryder thought for a moment, there were plenty of things that angels could do that Keirah could not.  Rose would not know most of these things because it isn’t really part of her path of wisdom.  “Flight.”  He answered.  Ryder never answered with doubt, it answer as if asking a question.  It was always a firm decisive answer.

“Exactly, and how do they fly?  With wings of course.  The problem is, everytime you call her angel, some part of her is going to think of that, now she knows that you can't do anything about that, but I know you can.  You made us these amulets to give us abilities, how about you make one to give her wings.”

Ryder said his thanks for her advice, unfortunately, he could not fill a request, he would need physical wings large enough to bind in a spell.  Daddy, Comel has an emergency he needs you right now.

On my way sweetheart.

Most basic magic could be done without any tools, but dimension travel required a wand, one of which hee removed from his robe.  He created a doorway to the prison realm and stepped inside.  “Comel, what is wrong?”

Comel was in tears, sir some of the magical beings who lived in another dimension you discovered somehow found a way to this one.”  Ryder immediately put powerful wards preventing normal dimension travel into this dimension.  “That's not the whole problem sir, it, it is the prisoner.  I wanted to try a rehabilitation method, it seems to be working but he killed all of them.”

Ryder panicked, “Where?!”  

“Sector 203”

Ryder ran over there at .9c, he was there in an instant.When he got there though he was relieved, the creature were not dead, they just pretended to be.  They were very near death, and played dead as a last ditch effort to survive.  Ryder conjured a cone shaped rock, he inscribed the symbols of the aether and healing ont to the surface.  It would emit healing to all the magical creature in the area.

Comel appeared next to him, “This was not your fault Comel, it was an accident, if this rehabilitation program is working keep at it.  This is your prison, now though, I am going to beat the prisoner to an inch of his life, please prepare the medical ward.”  It took ryder all of seven seconds to complete his task.  He placed the prisoner in the medical ward and returned to the beings.  He proceeded to return them all to their home dimension.  He paused the las creature was a pegasus, a young one not yet fully grown.  Ryder had learned that things happen for a reason, and he decided to trust the Aether.

Ryder asked the pegasus, “what is your name?”

“Avondale, my Lord Warlock”

“Avondale, I beseech thee, allow me to take your wings, they will return in time, but the process will be excruciating and you will be without your freedom,”

“Warlock, you know what it is you ask of me, and its implications, a pegasus values his flight and freedom above almost everything.”

“A woman wise in her path told me I needed to make a spell to give a lady wings, but I must have wings of proper weight and measure.”

“I see the truth in your words, and the wisdom of your advisor, I will grant this request, but with my own in return.”

“Ask and if it is within my realm of power, you shall have it”

“In four years time in this realm, ny wings will return to full strength,  I ask that you provide space in your realm for magical creatures.  The magic is greater in your realm, I remember what it was like.”

Ryder was confused, this pegasus was far too young to be alive then.  “You shall have enough space for all of the creatures in your realm.”

“You have made a deal with a magical creature, as such I have unlocked your power, and grant you the title of Wizard.”  Ryder felt the energy inside him double.  “Your commitment is far beyond the scope of my will, I expected a large forest, you promise an entire planet, I am pleased.  By my right as the Second Lord of the Aether, I unlock your power and grant you the title of Magus.”  Ryder felt his power expand again, this time fourfold.  “You may proceed.”

Ryder nearly choked, the Second Lord of the Aether!  This being was far older and far more powerful than he could possibly imagine.  There were Ten Lords of the Aether.  Each in rank, one being the highest, there fellow bings were also caste in this way.  First were the Dragons, Then the pegasus and unicorn were second, pegasus being male and unicorns being female.

Third were the Fae, fourth was the Phoenix, for there was only one. Fifth were the Centaurs , in the middle for they were half man.  Sixth was the Griffon, and Hippogryph, male and female respectively, seventh were the Manticore and Sphinx, again male and female respectively.  Eight were the Nyads, Ninth were the Dryads, and finally Tenth was Man.

“The process of removing the wings was clean, but extremely painful, imagine having your arms slowly cut of with a boxcutter, except it was magical in practice, so there was no cutting, just a long painful spell and poof your arms were gone.  Ryder healed Avondale, and bound the wings to a belt.

The belt was made of an Aether metal called mithril.  It was smithed with magic, and had a caduceus as the buckle.  When the wings were bound, the metal turned white, and shown as bright as the sun, after a few moments the light died, and left the purest white in color, with the buckle made of gold.  If Ryder knew how much power was in that belt, he would have held more reverence.  Je named it Keiranel, after its intended recipient.  The belt shown brightly once more, as if it were pleased with the name,  it was also the name of the Aether rune for healing.

Ryder didn't believe in coincidence, so he felt the name was apt.  Just as Ryder returned to his realm, the doorbell rang.  A few moments later he heard Saul’s voice in his head, master, these guests are here for you.  He saw the two images Saul put in his head and was shocked.

Keirah and Kevin were at the door.  Ryder knew that he should have a gift for Kevin, even if it were not as grand.  He quickly created a mithril ring that would make Kevin indestructible to self inflicted wounds.  He gave the ring a gold color with a black inlay and put it in a ring box.

Now prepared to meet his guests, he switched his outfit, he decided to go for impressive, so he chose a black suit, with no tie, and the jacket open in a casual way.  He walked through the lobby doors that opened to the entryway.  “Kevin! Angel… What a surprise.”

“Why do I get the feeling this was not a surprise at all?”  Kevin seemed a little pissed off.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Actually it was I was expecting you to come by tomorrow.”  Ryder was being honest.  “I am Ryder Roarke Bayman, this is my abode, and I have gifts for you.”

Keirah blushed, then paled when, when she saw the ring box in front of her.  Ryder unaware of the faux pas he just committed crost his arms and pushed them forward.  “You know you have to have wings to be an angel.”  Keirah said poignantly, she was not sure how she felt about him calling her Angel, but she was not ready for it to stop, yet.

“ All in due time.”  Ryder said.  Keirah thought it was eerily cryptic.  She made a motion as to open the gift.  “Uh-uh, not here I have a special place for this kind of thing.”  Led his guests through the house to a room that looked like a boxing gym.  “This is my training room  Kevin why don't you open yours first.”

Befor Kevin opened his gift he said, “My name is Kevin Conway Oa,  I go by KC thank you for your gift.”  KC opened the box and saw the ring.  He immediately slipped it on.  “What does it do.”

“It makes you indestructible to self inflicted trauma, now you can punch bad guys, trees buildings, hel you could run right through them.  It basically makes you an unstoppable force.  You can still be hurt by other forces, like getting hugged by a truck.”  Ryder looked to Keirah with a smile.”  No offense Angel.”  Keirah did not see the humor.

“Awesome!  Why would that offend Keirah?”  Keirah passed the details to KC telepathically, to which he laughed.  Keirah must have sent another message, because KC quickly sobered up and said.  “That is definitely not funny, but the mirth still hung in his eyes.”

Keirah opened her box and gasped, the pearlescent belt still held a little light.  “When you work with the Aether long enough, you learn there are no coincidences, the rune for healing is called Keiranel.  This is the belt’s name.  It is an artifact of power sort of like Excalibur, but I have a feeling this one is far more powerful.”

Keirah went to put it on as her cands came to the center, Ryder reached out and stopped her.  Clasping her hands in his and stepping in close.  “I do not know what will occur when you put it on, It most likely will be excruciating.”  Keirah nodded, slightly conscientious of their distance, but Ryder pressed.  “Angel, imagine the most painful experience in your life, then combine it with every ounce of pain you have felt, mental spiritual and physical, then multiply it exponentially.

“I do not believe in coincidence, and I made this belt for you, but you do not have to accept it.  One more thing, I am pretty sure it will give you a spark.”

Keirah’s shot open, “an Aetherspark!”

“How do you know of such a thing?”

“Arcana.  She was like a mother to us.”  KC interjected, but neither Ryder or Keirah broke their contact.

“So you are the secret.  No matter, do you accept my gift?”

“I do.”  Keirah instantly blushed, but the implications seemed lost on Ryder.  How can he be so naive and his violet eyes be so intense.  She thought to herself.

Ryder stepped back, Keirah clasped the belt.  Magic swirled around her, she was lifted into the air and a white light burst forth.  It was so bright it blinded her brother, but Ryder’s eyes were more protected.  He saw the whole spell.  The magic in the the belt ate away at Keirah’s suit.  Ryder gazed upon Keirah’s naked form in amazement.  His eyes traveled up and down her body, briefly hanger over her small supple breasts, before he realized what he was doing.

White metal with golden edges crawled up her legs to create knee high sabatons.  The same metal and gold edges, slid down from her waist making a battle skirt, leaving six inches of skin between the nee and the skirt.  AT her shoulders, the metal appeared again, flowing down her breasts, to stop four inches above the navel, and was the same height all the way around,  with a slight tapering, upside down v in the back. Cloth was formed, and covered the back and descended to where the bottom of her pelvis would be and cme around the sides, leaving her belly exposed.

Small pauldrons were formed on her shoulder and ended midway down her upper arm,  gauntlets covered her hands.  Anywhere where cloth padding was needed, the cloth was colored a dark purple, under the pauldrons small spots here and there.

Suddenly her blonde hair was pulled forward, and turned gold, and appeared to hold light.  A white cloth hood was pulled over her head, resting on the top of her forehead.  The hood was snug on her head, but wide, allowing for her face to be plainly seen, even from the side.  At the top of her head was a small band with a small caduceus medallion.

That was when the pain started.  Keirah was immediately thrown to the ground, her body wracked with pain, two long slits formed into the back of her armor , then her skin.  White wings of splendor, grew from her back, in the most painfully slow of ways.  Ryder shed a tear in sorrow for the pain she felt.  Powerful Magic was always worse on the receiving end, this process was probably twice as painful as Avondale's ordeal.

The wings grew to ten feet in length each, with one segment of three feet, and two segments of three and a half feet.  The wings folded into there three and a half foot resting state then Keirah was lifted up and the wings were spread.  Keiras right wing hit KC in the face knocking him unconscious.  Keirah was lowered to the floor and were wings naturally folded again.

Keirah opened her eyes, she now had golden irises, but that didn’t surprise Ryder.  He was too busy being embarrassed.

“What?”  Keirah’s recovery was much faster than Ryder expected, which caused him to turn an even deeper shade of scarlet.

Ryder felt a power grasping his mind.  “I… I saw…”  Ryder returned to his senses and pushed the power away.

“You saw what?”  It was too late to now, she would detect any lie even before the transformation, but there was no way he could avoid it.

“I saw your skin bare.”

“You saw me naked?!”  Ryder nodded.  Keirah tried to move.  “Why can I not move.”

The spell, it is not complete.”

Keirah noticed Ryder staring at her intently, “Beautiful.”  He muttered.  Suddenly all the wind was sucked out of her sails, and her stomach was doing flips.  Without warning her eyes focused on a preternatural level, she could see every curve and contour on Ryder's face, the vibrant but distant energy in his eyes, the, what is that?  She thought, coming from the outer corner of his left eye was a column that followed his jawline to his chin.  It was slightly shinier than the rest of his face.  He was crying!  Why?  She remembered the pain she had endured.  He was crying, for me.

Her eyes returned to normal and the scent of strawberry filled her nose.  She did not know what it was, but then information followed.  It was desire, but not lust, lust smelled like chocolate, this was unadulterated passion, for her.  She could no longer be angry at Ryder.  She may have just met him but the power she had been given told her all she needed to know and she Loved him

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Whew another one down, if you think the story is moving to fast, dont you worry, their will be plenty of delving into the characters, but at the same time I have to remain trew the the characters of the characters, and sofar none of them have a very reminiscing attitude.   More backstory will be given in the chapter after next.  For now hang tight and bathe in the happenings.  ^,..,^