chapter 3- Angel of the Raven Flames

✚Angel of the Raven Flames✚

Thunder rumbled in the distance as she stood at the edge of the narrow cliff, in her hands a small jewel that shimmered in the darkness, her only source of light besides the crescent moon in the sky. She held the gem as if it were her lifeline, her only means of existence in the world; the only thing that  really mattered to her.

She closed her eyelids over her two eyes, one eye amber and the other a sea green. Her dark brown hair gently swayed in the breeze as a light wind picked up. Slowly, she raised her palms up to the moon, the gem clasped between the cups of her two palms. Sighing, the girl opened her eyes and then watched the small embers erupt from the gem. The little flames took shape after swirling and dancing around the inside of her palms. From the embers emerged a small wolf, red eyes that were gentle with feeling, making the girl know the wolf meant no harm to her.

The wolf bowed its head to the girl,  leapt from the flames and landed by the girl. The girl studied the wolf for a moment, and then released it with a single command.

"Go. Find him." the girl said, and then the wolf was gone, spreading faster than regular flames. Where the paws met the earth, the wolf left scorch marks.

The girl blinked, trying to fend off her tears. But her feelings got the best of her, and her walls fell. She cried out, falling to her knees, and released the tears. From the jewel flames erupted around her, forming wings from her back. The girl cried, her emotions blazing throughout her entire body and soul, the pain almost too much to bear. It wasn't the flames that hurt her, though. It was the burden of the pain inside of her, the pain of the many souls she had healed and given her everything to.

The wolf howled as it returned, a man cloaked in shadow beside it. 

"You've come a long way from when we first met, Love." he said as the wolf sat beside him. He stroked the wolf's head, as if it was a young dog in need of it's master. The wolf then stood back up, and faded away to ash with a single nod of the head.

The man reached his hand out to the crying girl, knowing she needed him at this moment. "Come with me, Rhodes…" he begged her.

Rhodes, the crying girl, looked up at him, and bit her lip as she fought to hold her tears back again. "How can I trust you?" she asked quietly.

The man chuckled, slightly amused. "If I wanted you dead, you would have died long ago. You matter to me, Rhodes." That was when the man lowered the hood to his cloak, revealing a pair of blue eyes radiating with innocence and knowledge unlike any other. His face was sculpted and kind, his nose slightly large but fitting for his thin and fleshy pink lips. Rhodes focused on those lips, a feeling unlike any other passing through her. Had she known this man?

"Yes, Rhodes. You do know me. But I moved on from the past, from all the burdens around me. I made myself be who I am now." The man said. "You might know my name, buried deep into your mind… you just need to find it, that's all."

The man steps towards Rhodes, one foot at a time until he's kneeling down beside her, whispering into her ear. "Perhaps I could help you remember?" his lips grazed her ear, sending shivers down her spine. And yet, she trusted him with all her heart for some unexplained reason.

"Yes." she said. One word that would give her everything back.

The man placed his hands gently to her cheeks, stroking his right thumb close to her lips. He parted his own lips, as if to say something, but closed them once more. Then, he nuzzled his nose against hers lightly. "Remember…" he said, placing his lips on hers quickly.

Rhodes tasted vanilla and then her body heated, her fire wings wrapping around both of them as a name repeated through her mind, the memories crashing back. She deepened the kiss, letting go of the fear and worry, becoming her true self. When the kiss ended, she nibbled at his ear, whispering his name over and over again so she would never forget again.

"Walker, my Walker… The light that guides me from my darkness, my beautiful- beautiful, angel to counter the demons inside of me… I forgot how much I had loved you. But now I remember." Rhodes whispered.

"You protected me, my Rhodes, and now it's my time to protect you. Let me do just that, because without you- I would be nothing…" Walker whispered back. "Now, it's time that we fly. Do you trust me?"

Rhodes unwrapped her flamed wings from around them both. But they were flames no longer. Black raven wings replaced the flames, feathers that glistened like a black jem unseen before by the naked eye. Walker smiled, and from his back sprouted white wings that resembled dove wings, but much larger. He held his hand out to Rhodes once more, and she took it, standing with his help.

"Let's go.." he said, and together, they took off running, jumping over the cliff holding hands. As they fell, they snapped their wings open at the same time, and swept themselves into an air draft, soaring high into the air as the sun set. They knew then, their love would last forever. Black and white, Yin and Yang. Balance.