Falling ~Book Three of Winged~

Zerachiel - End

In the blink of an eye, we are standing by the spring and Zerach is lowering me carefully to the ground to a laying down position.

"Are you okay?" He asks, searching for injuries on me. I sit up as he lightly takes my hand and examines the cut across my palm. I stare at his hand which is still bleeding gold liquid and he isn't healing like Etheriel or Dominic does.

"You have some explaining to do." I mumble and he looks up from my hand and meets my eyes. Slight confusion flashes across his eyes. "You're blood... is gold colored." I whisper and look back at his hand which drips golden liquid onto the grass. Zerach seems to just notice he is bleeding as he looks at the cut on his hand from trying to get a grip of the rocks.

"Technically, it's called ichor." He clenches his hand into a fist and more of his blood drips onto the grass.

"Ichor..." I echo after him and he narrows his eyes at me slightly.

"Etheriel told you absolutely nothing about me?" He questions and helps me to my feet.

"Nothing at all." I answer and he leads me toward the spring. He makes me sit back down and he dips my hand into the cool water. I wince slightly as the cut comes into contact with the water.

"Well, my name is Zerachiel and over two thousand years ago, I left my position in Heaven and ran away. I am a extremely high up Archangel who went missing from Heaven. Angel's were immediately sent after me to track me down and bring me back so I isolated myself on this island and warded the entire island from being able to be found by any Angelic or Demonic beings. I have also warded myself for when I leave this island; although, my presence is so strong that it seeps through the warding and any Angel or Demon within a mile of me on the mainland can sense me like a ordinary Angel. This island is the only place that can hide me. Oh, and I'm reeeaally old." He smiles and pulls my hand out of the water, examining the wound.

"You left Heaven? Why?" I question and dip my still bleeding hand into the spring again.

"I'll be right back." And he is gone. He was there and then he just disappeared. I look around and I don't see him anywhere nearby. I look up at the waterfall and then at my hand and the slightly tinted water that is moving toward the river and being washed down it.

"Let me see your hand." I jump and look up at Zerach who has something in his hand. He sits down beside me and I hold my hand out to him. He smears a gooey-thick yellowish substance onto the cut. He spreads it along the whole cut. He examines it some more and then goes to the spring and begins rinsing his hand off.

"What is this?" I hold my hand up stiffly and stare at the thickening substance.

"Tree sap." Zerach replies and takes his hand out of the water, checking to see if it's still sticky. "Now, let's head back and we will get it wrapped up." He stands up and helps me up too. We start the walk back. Along the way, Zerach stops and takes some leaves off of a specific tree. We continue to walk and he stops at a different tree. He takes one leaf off of it and starts to walk again.


I slowly rotate my wrist, getting use to the bandage Zerach made out of leafs and sap. He put the leaf that he only got one of over the cut and made a glove-like bandage out of the rest of the leaves.

"How did you know how to do this?" I ask and watch Zerach start to cook.

"There wasn't always band aids and antibiotic ointment." Zerach responds and starts to quickly chop vegetables.

"Hey, how can you disappear and reappear somewhere else... like teleporting?" I question and he looks up from the vegetables, but continues to chop.

"Like I said... I was really high up and I'm an Archangel. Plus I wasn't kicked out of Heaven and they haven't been able to find me in order to disbar me so I have all my Heavenly abilities." I nod and watch as he looks back down at the vegetables. He pushes all the vegetables into a pan with the blade of the knife. He puts a little oil in the pan and sets the pan on the stove without turning on the burner.

Etheriel

"I miss Trinity." Dominic and I turn and look back at Malachai, who is following behind us, staring off into space.

"You don't even get to say that. Etheriel was the one who was dating her and he hasn't said that at all although I'm sure she is all he is thinking about." Dominic retorts and Malachai looks at him and then me. That's very true. All I can think about is Trinity. Is she okay? Is she eating well? Is she staying hydrated in the heat? Is she getting enough sleep? I trust Zerachiel, but he has been isolated for so long, I doubt he knows how to take care of someone who is basically human. He doesn't need to sleep or to eat. He has no perception of temperature so he doesn't know if it's hot or cold.

"But she actually talked to me. You guys ignore me and pretend I'm not here." Malachai's complaining brings me back to reality and I look back at him as we continue to walk through the forest. I look ahead of us and see the building that we are looking for.

"Because we don't like you." Dominic says bluntly and narrows his eyes slightly as we approach the building. Malachai doesn't say anything else and Dominic uses a passage to get to the door. He easily pushes the door open with his finger and looks inside. He goes to take a step inside, but it's like he runs into an invisible wall. Malachai stops walking and I glance back at him.

"Is something wrong?" I question and he stares at the building with a concerned face.

"Death." He mumbles and his eyes slowly find mine. "There are so many souls trapped in there. There is so much pain. They were murdered." He continues to mumble and I look back at the building and quickly walk to Dominic.

"I can't get in. I can't even use a passage to enter." Dominic comments and turns and looks at me. He looks behind me and then turns looking for Malachai. When he finds him, standing a distance away from us in the trees, he narrows his eyes at him. "What's he doing?" Dominic questions.

"He said there are a bunch of murdered souls trapped inside." I say to him and Dominic glances at me and then Malachai.

"Human?" Dominic questions.

"Has to be. Angel souls go straight to Heaven unless trapped in Hell and Demon's don't have souls." I reply and Dominic stares through the doorway into the dark abandoned building. I raise my hand and easily wave it through the doorway, where Dominic is stuck at the threshold. "I'll go in." I mumble and take a step into the building. I squint in the dark and slowly walk to make sure I don't run into the wall.

"Five steps and then turn right." Dominic calls and I continue to walk, listening to him. "I can't help you anymore than that." I turn the corner and hesitate, unable to see what's ahead of me.

"Most of the souls are ahead of us eight feet." I jump at Malachai's voice suddenly beside me. "But there is a wall about three feet from us and a doorway to the left." I set a hand on the wall and use it to guide me to the end of the hall. The walls are rough from the paint peeling. I turn left when I find the corner. Now, I know we are in a hall because at the end of the hall is a dull light coming from underneath a door. I hear Malachai following behind me and I worry if he is going to lose control with all the souls in the room. We get closer to the light and I open the door, summoning my angel blade. The door opens until it hits the wall. I immediately cover my nose with my hand and look away slightly. I swallow hard and look back into the room, counting. Eleven dead bodies. Malachai steps into the room and looks at each body, each soul. They must have been here for a while since they have already started decomposing. There is a camping electric lantern in the middle of the room that casts shadows across the faces of these humans.

"I need to see Trinity..."

Trinity

Zerach takes my plate from me and takes it to the sink. He begins to wash the dishes.

"Can I help at all?" I ask and he looks back at me with a small smile.

"Nope. Go get some sleep." He continues to wash the dishes. I go to my luggage and pull out some comfy cool clothes. I go into the bathroom and change clothes. I leave the bathroom and go over to the bunk beds and blow out the candles near the bed, making it significantly darker. I look at Zerach and see him still washing the dishes, taking his time. I crawl into the bed and lay on top of the sheets.

Etheriel

"What happened to her hand?" I ask and crouch down by the bottom bunk bed.

"It got cut." Zerach responds calmly.

"And your hand?" I question, looking up at Zerach, glancing at his hand which has a thin layer of a dried substance on it.

"Cooking accident." Zerach replies and Dominic scoffs. I look back at Trinity and push a little hair behind her ear. She is sleeping peacefully.

"You didn't tell her who I was. She had some questions." I don't reply to his comment and I figure that he told her who he was so it doesn't matter. "How is the search going for your Angel friend?" He changes the subject and I glance over at him.

"Not well." I reply. "And there's a war brewing between the races now."

"Another Angel and Demon war? That will be interesting, there hasn't been one since before I left Heaven." Zerach tilts his head and Dominic looks at him.

"It will be worse." Dominic comments. "The Human population has increased quite a bit since then. There will definitely be mass Human casualties." I almost forgot that Dominic is that old and was alive during that war.

"Ah... Yes, Prince Asmodeus, the Angel that fell and got dragged into Hell... and then became a Demon." Zerach hits a nerve. "Angel of Death, watch it, that's fragile." Zerach calls calmly and I turn and see Malachai holding a handmade vase. I look back at Trinity and smile slightly.

"Is she doing okay?" I ask lightly, changing the subject, and watch as she stirs slightly.

"Of course." He responds. "When do you think this will all be over?" He questions curiously.

"I don't know this is going to be one long and dangerous war. She can't get involved in this."