Akil: Half-Angel

[Justin-sama]

My name is Akil, this is the story of how I came to be what, who, and where I am. I suppose I should start with explaining what I am, I am a half-angel, someone who is halfway between death and life and was good enough for heaven. In essence, I have all the abilities and bonuses of being an angel and of being a human, I can go any way I want and use my powers for whatever I want, but I also suffer the consequences of being human. I can die just as easily, and can become ill with a disease or other infectious entities.
As a half-angel, I have angelic powers which involve healing, spells of righteous devastation, and more. My body has the ability to hide the fact that I'm an angel, except for my bleach blond hair and sapphire blue eyes.
I must be boring you with the details, so I'll get to telling the story...
*
It was a beautiful day, the sky was clear with only a few small clouds here and there, the stream beside the path was crystal clear, the grass was green, and the flowers blooming.
I looked down at the sparkling stream as I came to the bridge, where it met another stream and formed a pool. I had brown hair and brown eyes, I was still perfectly alive.
Despite the fact that it was a beautiful day, it was quite cold. I wore my roughed up hand-me-down coat and mittens. A cold wind blew and I decided it was best to head home. As I left I heard footsteps, I turned to see who it was, but there was no one there. I shrugged and walked home.
As I neared the entrance to the village, which was surrounded by a raging river, I saw someone laying on the shore, just barely out of the water. I ran to see who it was and turned them over. I fell back on my hands and gasped, it was my brother, he had been missing for some time, and we had assumed he was just on a trip to another village.
My brother's glazed eyes stared at me without seeing, the jaw hung loose and seemed to be in the middle of trying to say something, his skin was pale and his cheeks sunken in. I poked him, “Brother? Are you okay?” I said softly.
My brother's glazed eyes didn't move, his mouth stayed still, and his chest didn't rise. I put my ear to his heart and gasped, he was dead. This was all too much for my currently 9 year old mind, my brother dying, the one person who had raised me since I had been abandoned being dead. I didn't want to believe it, but there the truth was, staring at me with unseeing eyes, I fell back and stared as a cold sweat poured from my face while I held back tears of grief.
I don't remember what happened next, just that I woke-up and there were adults talking in a room and I was in a bed lying down. I listened in on their conversation and caught small bits of sentences like 'did he drown him? Or did the man drown himself?'
I instantly knew I was suspected of murdering my brother.
I remember being afraid beyond belief and curling up in a corner and shivering. All the while, I was thinking, What if they say I did do it and sentence me to die? What's going to happen to me?
Apparently, while I was still cowering in the corner, they came to the conclusion that my brother was too good a swimmer to drown in those waters and that I had done it and should be severely punished. I remember hearing the punishment and my eyes dilated, they were going to tie me to a cross and stone me while whipping and burning me.
After I heard this, I got up and didn't even try to make my attempted escape silent, I jumped up to a dresser from the bed and tried to open a window, it wouldn't budge and they caught me. They thought I hadn't heard a single word they said and decided to try to deceive me into thinking that I was playing a game.
While they built up the cross and fire pit and gathered stones and whips, they announced that there was going to be the execution of a cold hearted murderous little wretch, no one but brother knew my name, Akil.
I remember sitting in that small room and praying to the god of that village to spare me, to send some sort of help, and saying that I was innocent, but that was to no avail. When it was time for the execution, they came and lead me out, they tied my wrists to the cross and lit the fire beneath me.
I cried out, “Please, no! I didn't kill him, he was dead when I found him! Please!” But they didn't believe me.
One yelled, “A lecherous little orphan like you has no place here anyway!”
Another roared in boisterous laughter, “I'll break his leg, watch!” and he threw a stone, fortunately he was drunk and missed my legs entirely, unfortunately, he hit my stomach and the rock was sharp enough that soon my tattered clothes turned crimson in the area.
I looked down at my blood seeping out of me and gaped, then a crack like thunder resounded and my right arm exploded with a scarlet flash, I looked over to find blood bursting out of it, I began to cry and sob.
My torment seemed to go on for hours, maybe even days, before someone came forward, he was in a white cloak with a hood. He turned to the crowd and threw back part of the cloak as he stuck out his right arm while yelling out, “What has this poor child done to you, that you must torture him with suffering and death? Do you doubt the words of an innocent child, who knows not a word of falsehood?”
One of the townsfolk pulled out a knife, “He killed our most helpful citizen, he's lied about not killing him this entire time! And now, now you come and say that he's innocent! Who are you to say who is and isn't innocent?”
The stranger pulled back his hood and the townspeople gasped, it was my brother, except his hair was white and his eyes gray, “I am the one who you say he murdered, I slipped and fell off the bridge and hit my head on the bottom, I drowned on accident. And I cannot go to heaven, until I see to the safety of my little brother, whom you are trying to kill!” he said angrily as a power emanated from him, causing his cloak to fly up and his gray and white clothes to rustle, his white hair remained unaffected though.
“Brother! I thought you were dead! But what happened to you? You weren't those colors before.” I cried out in joy, I instantly cringed as I realized how much talking hurt at that moment.
Brother looked back at me and smiled, “I did die, but I have an assignment before I can go to heaven Akil, and that is saving you and bestowing the power to defend yourself upon you.” he said as a ring of light formed around his feet.
Suddenly, the light flared and everything went blank for me, when I awoke, I found I was down and off the cross, and somewhere along a road. I struggled to rise to my feet but couldn't, the pain was too intense.
I heard the sound of horse hooves pattering down the stone road, the sound stopped as two wheels appeared in my vision, I looked up to see a girl open up the buggy being pulled by the horses, she had blond hair and green eyes, her face was fair, and her hair was done in a single braid in the back.
She looked at me as if she felt compassion or mercy, I tried to speak, but I found that my jaw was swollen shut and wouldn't budge.
She turned back to the carriage and told someone to get out and pick me up, a few moments after she did this an older looking man's head appeared in the door, he gasped when he saw my injuries.
The old man climbed out and picked my limp body up and set me down on a padded seat of the carriage. Then the world went dark.
I slowly came to consciousness, everything was fuzzy at first, but slowly everything cleared up and I tried to sit up to look around, I couldn't, I began to panic, I looked around with my eyes, I was in what seemed to be an infirmary.
Three people walked in, the two people that helped me, and someone who seemed to be a doctor. The doctor lifted my hand and felt my pulse, he shook his head and looked at my eyes. He turned back to the others.
“By all rights, he should be dead by now, I think he must have something or someone guarding him.” the doctor said calmly.
The girl came over and sat in the chair beside me, she looked into my eyes, “Your eyes, they weren't originally blue were they?” she asked, “and you're hair wasn't blond before either.”
My eyes dilated, my expression turned from agony to shock, I inhaled a rasping breath and exhaled two words, “Brother's... gift...” with that, my world slowly went dark.
I awoke again later, I looked around, everything was dark, I tried to move and found walls or barriers on all sides, I panicked, they thought I had died, I could hear weeping from outside, I tried to cry out, but my throat was raw, I bashed my fists into the barriers until I heard footsteps and a voice.
“Grandfather! He's alive, I can hear him hitting the inside of the coffin!” the girl cried out.
More footsteps came and light flooded my vision, I squinted and tried to sit up, a firm hand on my chest put me back down, “Now, now, you've been through a lot in the past few days I'm guessing, you were almost dead when we found you, and we think you did die while being treated here. But I'd like to ask one question, what's your name?” the old man said as I stared around.
I opened my mouth and tried to speak, but the only thing that came out was a raspy voice that couldn't be understood.
“Hmm? Not able to talk yet I see, we'll let you wait a few days, or maybe you could write?” he responded to my attempted vocalization.
I tried to move my fingers, but they wouldn't cooperate, I shook my head.
“Well, then, get up, let's see if you can at least walk.”
“Grandpa! Let him rest!” the girl said as I sat up and tried to climb out, I stood on my feet and they instantly folded beneath me.
“See? He's not ready to move around at all, the most he can really do is sit up,” she said as she turned to me, “We'll find out who you are and what happened soon enough, you don't need to push yourself, my name is Amaryllis.” she smiled in the exact same way my brother smiled, I pulled my self to a sitting position and nodded.
I looked at my hands, they were swollen and bruised, my wrists were bandaged with wounds from the rope ripping off the flesh, I looked down and for the first time realized that I was in only undergarments, my face instantly turned crimson, and my stomach followed suit as the wound had just torn open again. I looked away to hide the blushing and noticed my right arm was bandaged and bleeding again, I winced.
“See, Grandpa? He's nowhere near healed enough to move around.” Amaryllis said as she disappeared, the old man picked me up and set me on a wooden bench.
Amaryllis reappeared with a box, she pulled bandages out of it and began taking off my old ones and replacing them. I began to blush and she noticed, she smiled again.
“Embarrassed at being found in the condition you're in, or is it just that you're next to naked?” she said as she removed the bandages around my right arm and replaced them.
I had forgotten that I was only in my undergarments, my face turned bright red and she laughed as she closed the box.
“Don't worry, I've accidentally walked in on grandpa when he was in nothing but a hat, he was quite drunk then.”

what do ya think?

[Justin-sama]

REVISION!!!

CHAPTER 1
My name is Akil, this is the story of how I came to be what, who, and where I am. I suppose I should start with explaining what I am, I am a half-angel, someone who is halfway between death and life and was good enough for heaven. In essence, I have all the abilities and bonuses of being an angel and of being a human, I can go any way I want and use my powers for whatever I want, but I also suffer the consequences of being human. I can die just as easily, and can become ill with a disease or other infectious entities.
As a half-angel, I have angelic powers which involve healing, spells of righteous devastation, and more. My body has the ability to hide the fact that I'm an angel, except for my bleach blond hair and sapphire blue eyes.
I must be boring you with the details, so I'll get to telling the story...
*
It was a beautiful day, the sky was clear with only a few small clouds here and there, the stream beside the path was crystal clear, the grass was green, and the flowers blooming.
I looked down at the sparkling stream as I came to the bridge, where it met another stream and formed a pool. I had brown hair and brown eyes, I was still perfectly alive.
Despite the fact that it was a beautiful day, it was quite cold. I wore my roughed up hand-me-down coat and mittens. A cold wind blew and I decided it was best to head home. As I left I heard footsteps, I turned to see who it was, but there was no one there. I shrugged and walked home.
As I neared the entrance to the village, which was surrounded by a raging river, I saw someone laying on the shore, just barely out of the water. I ran to see who it was and turned them over. I fell back on my hands and gasped, it was my brother, he had been missing for some time, and we had assumed he was just on a trip to another village.
My brother's glazed eyes stared at me without seeing, the jaw hung loose and seemed to be in the middle of trying to say something, his skin was pale and his cheeks sunken in. I poked him, “Brother? Are you okay?” I said softly.
My brother's glazed eyes didn't move, his mouth stayed still, and his chest didn't rise. I put my ear to his heart and gasped, he was dead. This was all too much for my currently 9 year old mind, my brother dying, the one person who had raised me since I had been abandoned being dead. I didn't want to believe it, but there the truth was, staring at me with unseeing eyes, I fell back and stared as a cold sweat poured from my face while I held back tears of grief.
I don't remember what happened next, just that I woke-up and there were adults talking in a room and I was in a bed lying down. I listened in on their conversation and caught small bits of sentences like 'did he drown him? Or did the man drown himself?'
I instantly knew I was suspected of murdering my brother.
I remember being afraid beyond belief and curling up in a corner and shivering. All the while, I was thinking, What if they say I did do it and sentence me to die? What's going to happen to me?
Apparently, while I was still cowering in the corner, they came to the conclusion that my brother was too good a swimmer to drown in those waters and that I had done it and should be severely punished. I remember hearing the punishment and my eyes dilated, they were going to tie me to a cross and stone me while whipping and burning me.
After I heard this, I got up and didn't even try to make my attempted escape silent, I jumped up to a dresser from the bed and tried to open a window, it wouldn't budge and they caught me. They thought I hadn't heard a single word they said and decided to try to deceive me into thinking that I was playing a game.
While they built up the cross and fire pit and gathered stones and whips, they announced that there was going to be the execution of a cold hearted murderous little wretch, no one but brother knew my name, Akil.
I remember sitting in that small room and praying to the god of that village to spare me, to send some sort of help, and saying that I was innocent, but that was to no avail. When it was time for the execution, they came and lead me out, they tied my wrists to the cross and lit the fire beneath me.
I cried out, “Please, no! I didn't kill him, he was dead when I found him! Please!” But they didn't believe me.
One yelled, “A lecherous little orphan like you has no place here anyway!”
Another roared in boisterous laughter, “I'll break his leg, watch!” and he threw a stone, fortunately he was drunk and missed my legs entirely, unfortunately, he hit my stomach and the rock was sharp enough that soon my tattered clothes turned crimson in the area.
I looked down at my blood seeping out of me and gaped, then a crack like thunder resounded and my right arm exploded with a scarlet flash, I looked over to find blood bursting out of it, I began to cry and sob.
My torment seemed to go on for hours, maybe even days, before someone came forward, he was in a white cloak with a hood. He turned to the crowd and threw back part of the cloak as he stuck out his right arm while yelling out, “What has this poor child done to you, that you must torture him with suffering and death? Do you doubt the words of an innocent child, who knows not a word of falsehood?”
One of the townsfolk pulled out a knife, “He killed our most helpful citizen, he's lied about not killing him this entire time! And now, now you come and say that he's innocent! Who are you to say who is and isn't innocent?”
The stranger pulled back his hood and the townspeople gasped, it was my brother, except his hair was white and his eyes gray, “I am the one who you say he murdered, I slipped and fell off the bridge and hit my head on the bottom, I drowned on accident. And I cannot go to heaven, until I see to the safety of my little brother, whom you are trying to kill!” he said angrily as a power emanated from him, causing his cloak to fly up and his gray and white clothes to rustle, his white hair remained unaffected though.
“Brother! I thought you were dead! But what happened to you? You weren't those colors before.” I cried out in joy, I instantly cringed as I realized how much talking hurt at that moment.
Brother looked back at me and smiled, “I did die, but I have an assignment before I can go to heaven Akil, and that is saving you and bestowing the power to defend yourself upon you.” he said as a ring of light formed around his feet.
Suddenly, the light flared and everything went blank for me, when I awoke, I found I was down and off the cross, and somewhere along a road. I struggled to rise to my feet but couldn't, the pain was too intense.
I heard the sound of horse hooves pattering down the stone road, the sound stopped as two wheels appeared in my vision, I looked up to see a girl open up the buggy being pulled by the horses, she had blond hair and green eyes, her face was fair, and her hair was done in a single braid in the back.
She looked at me as if she felt compassion or mercy, I tried to speak, but I found that my jaw was swollen shut and wouldn't budge.
She turned back to the carriage and told someone to get out and pick me up, a few moments after she did this an older looking man's head appeared in the door, he gasped when he saw my injuries.
The old man climbed out and picked my limp body up and set me down on a padded seat of the carriage. Then the world went dark.
I slowly came to consciousness, everything was fuzzy at first, but slowly everything cleared up and I tried to sit up to look around, I couldn't, I began to panic, I looked around with my eyes, I was in what seemed to be an infirmary.
Three people walked in, the two people that helped me, and someone who seemed to be a doctor. The doctor lifted my hand and felt my pulse, he shook his head and looked at my eyes. He turned back to the others.
“By all rights, he should be dead by now, I think he must have something or someone guarding him.” the doctor said calmly.
The girl came over and sat in the chair beside me, she looked into my eyes, “Your eyes, they weren't originally blue were they?” she asked, “and you're hair wasn't blond before either.”
My eyes dilated, my expression turned from agony to shock, I inhaled a rasping breath and exhaled two words, “Brother's... gift...” with that, my world slowly went dark.
I awoke again later, I looked around, everything was dark, I tried to move and found walls or barriers on all sides, I panicked, they thought I had died, I could hear weeping from outside, I tried to cry out, but my throat was raw, I bashed my fists into the barriers until I heard footsteps and a voice.
“Grandfather! He's alive, I can hear him hitting the inside of the coffin!” the girl cried out.
More footsteps came and light flooded my vision, I squinted and tried to sit up, a firm hand on my chest put me back down, “Now, now, you've been through a lot in the past few days I'm guessing, you were almost dead when we found you, and we think you did die while being treated here. But I'd like to ask one question, what's your name?” the old man said as I stared around.
I opened my mouth and tried to speak, but the only thing that came out was a raspy voice that couldn't be understood.
“Hmm? Not able to talk yet I see, we'll let you wait a few days, or maybe you could write?” he responded to my attempted vocalization.
I tried to move my fingers, but they wouldn't cooperate, I shook my head.
“Well, then, get up, let's see if you can at least walk.”
“Grandpa! Let him rest!” the girl said as I sat up and tried to climb out, I stood on my feet and they instantly folded beneath me.
“See? He's not ready to move around at all, the most he can really do is sit up,” she said as she turned to me, “We'll find out who you are and what happened soon enough, you don't need to push yourself, my name is Amaryllis.” she smiled in the exact same way my brother smiled, I pulled my self to a sitting position and nodded.
I looked at my hands, they were swollen and bruised, my wrists were bandaged with wounds from the rope ripping off the flesh, I looked down and for the first time realized that I was in only undergarments, my face instantly turned crimson, and my stomach followed suit as the wound had just torn open again. I looked away to hide the blushing and noticed my right arm was bandaged and bleeding again, I winced.
“See, Grandpa? He's nowhere near healed enough to move around.” Amaryllis said as she disappeared, the old man picked me up and set me on a wooden bench.
Amaryllis reappeared with a box, she pulled bandages out of it and began taking off my old ones and replacing them. I began to blush and she noticed, she smiled again.
“Embarrassed at being found in the condition you're in, or is it just that you're next to naked?” she said as she removed the bandages around my right arm and replaced them.
I had forgotten that I was only in my undergarments, my face turned bright red and she laughed as she closed the box.
“Don't worry, I've accidentally walked in on grandpa when he was in nothing but a hat, he was quite drunk then.” she said while smiling.
She got up and left with the box, I looked around and wondered what had happened to me. For all I knew, I had died and gone to heaven, but that was all I knew.
As I sat and pondered, Amaryllis came back with a chair that had wheels on its side, the old man helped me into it and I soon learned that I could propel myself by pushing forward or back on the wheels, with this as my transportation, I soon forgot about the condition of my body.
Time seemed to pass in the wink of an eye and I could use my voice, legs, and hands properly again, I introduced myself to Amaryllis formally and explained all I could of what happened. She seemed to be shocked into a state of awe by what I said. After I told her what I knew, she told me that the village had been completely destroyed, and that I was the only survivor.
My pupils shrunk, “How could brother be so cruel? All the time I've known him, he's been kind, considerate, and benevolent at all costs. Even if he was sent as an angel of vengeance, how could he do that?” I said while shaking, tears filled my eyes and ran down my face, dropping onto my white tabard and mantle. I wiped my face with the red sleeves of the shirt underneath it.
I stared down at my red pants as I continued to wonder, “Why? Why did he do it? He said all he had to do was save me from my death and give me the power to defend myself. So why did he do it?” I continually whispered to myself.
Amaryllis put her hand on my back, “It's okay, I'm sure he was just following more extensive orders that he couldn't tell you about.” she said softly.
I gritted my teeth and shook, my back began to hurt and suddenly wings unfurled while ripping out holes in my clothing. I got to my feet and took off, leaving everything behind me, I flew through a window and out into the open air.
“Brother... what have you done to me?” I said softly as I drifted on the air currents...















CHAPTER 2
I soon landed on a grassy knoll overlooking a small pond, I walked down to it and stared at my reflection, my bleach blond hair was blown back by the wind, my ice blue eyes were rimmed with red, and my wings spread out farther than my arms could reach. I hated it.
“Why... why couldn't I just have been left to die? What's so important about me? Is innocence really that great? What has it gotten me!?! Nothing! Nothing but pain and suffering!” I cried out to the heavens as a heavy wind picked up, causing the water to ripple.
I don't really remember what happened after that, only that I sat by that pond for hours until I heard a voice.
“Look mommy, it's an angel boy.” a small child said, I turned my vision enough to see them, the mother just kept pulling her child onward, openly ignoring me.
I turned my vision back to the ground and seethed, I didn't want to be alive at the cost of the villagers' lives. I hadn't asked to be saved at the cost of the townspeople of my home.
I sat there for what seemed like hours again, but, as fate would have it, Amaryllis found me.
“Akil, please, you're being unreasonable, just come back, your wounds haven't fully healed.” she begged.
I looked up, “Haven't they? You keep saying they haven't, but they have been nothing but scars since I regained use of my voice.” I said calmly.
“Please Akil, you have no where else to go.”
“I have NO WHERE to go! I didn't ask to be saved by you, I didn't ask to be rescued from my torturous death at the cost of the villagers' lives! I have no where I can go where I can fit in, no one acknowledges a once dead person, no one even really cares. You don't care, you only feel sympathy, and I don't need any of it! All I need is to find my own path, to be on my own to live as I please!” I said coldly as I rose to my feet and walked out onto the water of the pond, I looked down, the water was easily beneath my feet, not above them.
Amaryllis burst into tears, “Akil, please!”
“You cry for me, but do you really mean it? Would you be willing to risk yourself to get me back and come over here?” I said, by then I had reached the middle of the pond and stood there.
Amaryllis ran to the water and tried to dive in, but her old man stopped her by saying, let him go.
Amaryllis stopped and sank to her knees as I turned my back and gently drifted into the sky. I looked back to see what she was doing and I gasped in horror. In her grief, she had stabbed herself in the chest with a small knife.
My senses came back and I immediately dropped to the ground, “No... what have I done?” I asked myself softly as I dashed towards her, “Please... please be alive.”
I reached her and fell to my knees, I removed the knife from her limp and fragile body. I hugged her to me as I cried softly, “Please, please don't die, I didn't mean it, please!”
I don't know what happened, but the old man said that a blinding light emanated from my body and blinded him. When he regained his vision, he saw me unconscious and Amaryllis lying beside me, perfectly alive and in a similar state to me.
All I remember after that incident, though, is waking up in their infirmary again. Amaryllis was sitting in a chair beside me, she was convinced it had been a nightmare until she saw me unconscious and pale.
She noticed me wake up and smiled while weeping in joy, “You're alive, I thought you had died.” she said.
I looked down at the sheets, too ashamed to speak to her, but I finally looked up to the ceiling and muttered one word, “Angel.”
Amaryllis heard me say this and looked puzzled, “What?”
“I think I know what I was turned into, or at least partially into, an angel. How else would my hair and eyes change colors, and my back sprout wings?”
She put a finger on her lower lip and looked up at the ceiling while she thought, “I think our library has a text that pertains to someone, or something, like you. I'll go get it.” she said as she rose from her seat and left.
I stared at the ceiling, retracing all the recent events in my mind, my death, my reincarnation, my realization, and my suffering. Nothing made sense, it was like everything was throwing it's most confusing obstacles at me.
Amaryllis returned with a large dusty tome, she set it down in front of me, the title read Engel Leben und Zug, translating to Angel Life and Trait. I opened to the first page and began to read.
When an angel saves the life of an innocent from execution for crimes not committed, that innocent attains the powers of an angel and becomes an arbiter of justice for the world. However, the angel that saved the life of the innocent is stripped of their wings and powers, and sent back to earth to live out a one-hundred year sentence for interfering in mortal affairs.
I gasped when I read that first passage, “No... he did that for me, knowing he'd have to suffer.” I whispered.
Amaryllis looked at me funny, “What?” she said.
I looked up and quoted the book, “'When an angel saves the life of an innocent from execution for crimes not committed, that innocent attains the powers of an angel and becomes an arbiter of justice for the world. However, the angel that saved the life of the innocent is stripped of their wings and powers, and sent back to earth to live out a one-hundred year sentence for interfering in mortal affairs.' Brother knew this, yet he saved me from my death.”
“But the book says that he is to be here on earth for a one-hundred year sentence. So, there's a chance we could find him.” she replied.
I shook my head, “the book says 'That angel shall be held in a dungeon which mortals cannot find, he shall be stripped of flesh daily, and tortured until he is begging for death.' he's unfindable.”
I turned back to the beginning page of the book, hoping to find an index of some sort. There wasn't one, I turned to the back, nothing. I sighed and looked up from the book, “I'll have to read the entire thing to learn about my powers... I don't remember learning to read... when did I do that?”
Amaryllis shrugged, “Maybe it comes with being an angel.”
“Maybe.”

[Anriasia]

Gah... xD It's so long, I'll finished reading it i another time, So far it's good though. ^^