When he was young, he thought he knew the true nature of everything. He believed that he could see past the facade of a person to reveal their true colors. This manifested in a very peculiar way. Every living animal had a pair of wings, some as blinding as the light of the sun, others as dark as the blackest night.
One of his earliest memories was of him as a child, playing in a field, while his mother was setting up a picnic for the two of them. Tired, he returned to his mother’s side and sat on the blanket she had set out, beaming with joy while a paper plate with his favorite foods was placed in front of him. His mother sat opposite of him, showing a weary smile as she told him not to eat too fast. He recalled asking her why she wasn’t eating, to which she replied she wasn’t hungry.
During the meal, he looked to his mothers back, and as he focused his eyes, 2 luminous white wings, grayed with time and age, began to show themselves before him. He laid his eyes upon the comforting sight of those familiar wings for some time, and afterwards his eyes began to wander to the others in the meadow, to look upon their wings as well.
Many of the children had wings that shifted and changed like a tide, shifting between the looks of their parents’ wings and that of a new set, one belonging only to them. As his eyes lazily drifted between the families, he noticed a girl sitting all alone in the grass, staring at the ground. This wasn’t what caught his eyes, however. What caught his eyes were the wings laying gently upon her back.
There was not one pair of wings, but two, and these wings were nothing short of magnificent. The first pair, attached to the back of her shoulders stood grandly outward, as of to take flight any second. They shone in a golden hue, radiating outward like the sun, while the second pair was centered on her lower back, gently holding the child as if in an embrace. These were much less vibrant, and looked as though they had been through a war, with breaks and badly healed scars littering them. A golden color was visible emanating from them as well, but this was muted, almost like someone had taken the light itself from the color.
When he gazed upon them, an inexplicable feeling of sadness welled up inside his chest, a sadness that compelled him to step forth and walk up to the girl. Standing before her, he suddenly realized he had no words to say. She looked up, as if she had been interrupted, and glared at him.
“Hi, I’m Erron” he awkwardly stuttered.
“Marienne” she replied curtly.
Before he could think to stop himself, he blurted out the question he knew he would get no response of.
“Why do you have two pairs of wings?”
Her gaze went from piercing to curious, as if he had said something odd.
“Forget it.” He said. “Mom always tells me that no one but me can see them.”
With those words, something seemed to have clicked in her mind, and a look of understanding flashed across her face.
“Where are you from?” She asked, her gaze softening somewhat.
“Here!” He replied enthusiastically.
“Oh” she said, ending the conversation.
He tried to keep talking, but she had seemingly lost interest, and no longer responded to his prompts.
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Years later, the boy was now a teen, and the interaction he had with the girl of 4 wings had receded to the back of his memory, becoming something he hadn’t recalled in years. He was 16 now, and his peculiar ability had saved him many troubles in life. He learned that he could usually gauge the trustworthiness of someone by their wings, and act accordingly.
He hadn’t told anyone of this ability in many years now, fearing that someone would put him in a mental hospital, or worse, experiment on him to discern the root of his ability. Even his own mother thought the wings were nothing but the product of a child’s imagination, having heard nothing about them for many years. Occasionally she would reminisce of those times, but nothing more.
He was in high school now, and average by every definition of the word. His grades were mediocre, though his intellect could be called above the average of his age. He simply didn’t apply himself to school, opting instead to work part-time to support his mother. They had never had money, though he had never suffered for it. His mother made sure of that.
He worked to support her as she had done for him for many years, much to his mothers dismay. She wanted him to focus on education, so he could go further in life than she had, but his priorities lay in his mothers slowly declining health, knowing that an education would be meaningless without having her to share the achievement with. In fact, he wanted to drop out of high school to support his mother full-time, but she would simply never allow that.
With a sigh, he got ready for school, dreading the experience like usual. He wasn’t bullied, but his teachers were uncaring and he never felt like he could have a true connection with his peers, though he had a couple of friends at school.
The ability to see what he believed to be the true nature of those around him had crippled his ability to make meaningful connections, even with those he had seen to be good in all aspects of the word. All people had faults, and seeing them laid bare was not good for making real connections. Not to mention the wings needed interpretation, interpretation which sometimes could mislead him of the true nature of people.
He had once made a very close friend with a peer who seemed to have a good heart, with lovely feathered wings of cream on his back, only to find that those wings, like that friends personality, only seemed nice, though they were sharp as daggers under the surface. That friend had hurt him deeply, deeply enough to question the validity of his ability.
Walking out of the small rented apartment he lived in, he looked to the many apartments similar in design to his, dotting the suburban street he had become all too familiar with. He made his way to the bus stop at the end of the road and sat down on the old squeaky bench. As he did, he looked to the other 2 kids of similar age as him that were already sitting on the bench waiting and focused his eyes.
Just as I thought. He mused to himself.
Fiery red and a healing green. They haven’t had any changes in their wings for months now, maybe even a full year.
He looked to the other kids at the bus stop, the elementary and middle schoolers who had wings still in the process of becoming what would in the future be the final form they would take.
The elementary schoolers change daily sometimes, though never too significantly. The middle schoolers, on the other hand, change slowly, as if they’re in the process of becoming what will one day be their end result.
He for many years now had been exploring the limits of his ability, trying to find a clue as to what exactly it was or why he had it. His understanding of the ability itself had become rather good, though he still had none of the answers he sought for.
In that moment, a faint memory crossed his mind, as if it could hold some of the answers he had been looking for. A memory of a girl with 4 wings, an oddity that he had never once seen again, despite the many long years separating him from that moment in time. He wondered if that girl had any of the answers he wanted, as the bus pulled up to the stop.
The whole school day went by in a flash, with no event of note happening, and the same happened at his part time, the gas station that he went to nearly every day after school. In fact, it wasn’t until his shift was nearly over, and the clock was approaching midnight, that he saw a gorgeous young lady with long, platinum blonde hair walk in to the gas station.
She strode as if the height of dignity couldn’t even reach her feet, and when he looked in to her eyes he saw a cold, regal air reflected within them. As he stuttered out his usual greeting, tripping over his words as he went, he got curious as to what kind of wings could possibly adorn her back. So, as she came up to the counter with her merchandise, which was a few sweet snacks and a pink cupcake, he focused his eyes to her back, hoping to get a glimpse into the true nature of what seemed to be an unapproachable beauty. He was instantly stunned in to silence.
“Hello?” She said. “I’d like to check out now please”
After another couple seconds of silence, he seemed to realize that he had slipped up, and quickly checked her out. As he did so, his head was reeling, for on her back stood not 2, but four wings, radiating a brilliant golden light. As he was still processing the event, the lady grabbed her bag and turned as if to leave.
“Wait!” He shouted “I need to ask you something.”
She turned around, already halfway out the door and answered coolly.
“What is it?”
He quickly grappled with the words he meant to say, before realizing he had nothing that he could ask without looking odd.
“Never mind, I guess” he sighed out, seemingly disappointed by his lack of ability to articulate himself.
“Oh, ok.” She said and promptly left.
Right after she left, a simple question he could have asked popped into his head, and not wanting to miss this opportunity, he ran out of the store and quickly looked for the woman. She was briskly walking away now, and was almost too far for him to even see her past the suffocating darkness of the night, and scared that he would miss the opportunity, he blurted out the only thing he could think to say.
“Marienne!” He shouted.
The girl quickly turned, face showing an unreadable emotion, before walking back up to him and forcefully grabbing him by the arm.
“What did you just say?” She said, her voice quivering.
But before he could even begin to reply, something curious happened. When the clock hit midnight, a blinding light quickly assaulted him, leaving him feeling disoriented and sick before he passed out on the spot.