4

Chapter Eight

Origin

Ajin jumped back at the sudden appearance of Sando. And Sando just sat there enjoying the petting from Diku. His head came up between Diku’s elbow and shoulder.

“Magnificent creature, isn’t he?” asked Diku.

Ajin was at a loss of words. His silence only deepened when Diku’s appearance changed to that of Angel’s, but without wings.

“Now it’s your turn, Legend.” Stated Angel.

With that statement said, Ajin transformed into his alternate identity. Sando became confused and whined. He was looking at two identical people in black and white clothing. Which was his master?

“Sando,” said the one in black “I’m Angel, and that’s Legend.” Angel pointed to Legend.

“Ok, Sando, time to go.” Said Angel after Sando was no longer confused. With that, Sando dissipated into mist that soon vanished.

Then Angel disappeared too. Legend looked around, trying to find him.

“Behind you.” Came the answer in Legend’s ear.

The sudden appearance of Angel’s voice in Legend’s ear caused Legend’s wings to suddenly appear and nearly knock over Angel.

“You should be more careful with those.” Stated Angel as he reappeared in front of Legend.

“You have got to stop doing that.” Replied Legend. Why and how did he do that? Thought Legend.

“You’re probably wondering how I did that. The answer is that it’s one of the many things I can do. You probably can do that too.” Stated Angel.

“But how did we get this ‘ability’?” asked Legend.

“From dad of course.” Replied Angel.



Nito’s freshman class was visiting the Dacelo Art Museum on a field trip. They had seen all sorts of interesting paintings, sculptures and statues. There was about an hour until lunch and Nito and his best friend Gary were already bored.

“Let’s go see if we can find something better.” Suggested Gary.

The best friends waited until the class came to a corner, from there they snuck back until they arrived at a roped off hallway.

“In here.” Said Nito.

They walked down the roped off hallway that ended at an opened-roof courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard, a metal statue stood depicting a man with wings. The man wore a trench coat that seemed to be swaying in the wind. His right wing was opened half way, and his left wing was lying against his back. On his left hip he wore a sword. He held it in place with his left hand and his right hand on the hilt. Nito walked closer to look at the sword. On the top on the hilt, a round gem was in place. The gem seemed to glow slightly with an inner light. Interesting. Thought Nito. Dangling from the hilt was what looked like tear-dropped shaped gems.

The wind began to pick up, and the gems seemed to move in the breeze.

“Nito, read this.” Said Gary, pointing to a plaque at the foot of the statue.

The Legend of Angel. Read the title.

Tales say that this statue of Angel was made in remembrance of the thief Angel. Some say that it was made to protect woman in need. It’s been said that Angel once devoted his life to stealing great works of art, as well as protecting woman. Angel was known world wide for his acts of courage and thievery. Tales also say that as Angel was dying, a sculptor abided his last wish. His last wish was for the sculptor to make a statue out of metal. The sculptor finished the statue and showed it to Angel. The people within the room said that as Angel died, the statue seemed to move and groan, almost as if it accepted the spirit of Angel within its metallic body.

“Think that story’s real?” asked Gray.

Nito shrugged and looked into the sad face of Angel. With his hair covering his eyes, Angel only looked sadder. Why are you looking so sad? Thought Nito. The wind began to blow with more ferocity. The boys looked up and saw that the sky had turned from its normal sky blue to a dark, menacing gray. Thunder started to boom.

“We should head back to the class,” Said Nito. “they’re probably wandering where we are.”

As Nito and Gary started to turn to leave, lightning struck the statue. Nito turned around to see what the flash of light was. The statue seemed to absorb the energy of the lightning bolt. Then, it looked like the statue withdrew its sword from its hilt and point it in Nito’s direction. This seemed to release the lightning bolt’s energy, sending it hurtling into Nito.

Nito felt like his veins were on fire. The energy coursed through his body, causing Nito’s clothing to start to smoke. While this was going on, a thought came into Nito’s mind. Thank you. It was said with such clarity, that it seemed to block out the pain for a split second. The next thing Nito saw was the gray, stormy sky, then darkness.

Nito woke up to find himself lying in a bed. Nito tried to sit up, but a pain between his shoulder blades caused him to wince and lay back down.

“Good, you’re awake. That was a pretty nasty hit you got from the lightning bolt. Luckily the statue absorbed most of the bolt’s energy, otherwise…,” said a man sitting next to Nito’s bed.

“You might’ve not of made it.” Continued the man.

“And you are?” asked Nito.

“I am Doctor Gray.” Answered Dr. Gray.

Nito was released the next day from the hospital.



“So that’s how dad got this ‘ability’.” Said Angel.

“Think the statue passed on Angel’s spirit into dad?” asked Legend.

“Not sure.” Angel looked at his watch. “It’s eleven-thirty. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

Angel spread his wings and flew off into the night sky. Soon after, Legend too flew off.



The night that Nito was released from the hospital, the unexpected happened. It was late and the rest of Nito’s family was asleep. Nito was just about to get into bed when intense pain ran up his spine. It felt just like when the lightning bolt had hit him, only worse. So much pain. Thought Nito.

The pain moved to between Nito’s shoulder blades. He collapsed to the floor, the pain was too much. Then, the pain seemed to intensify. Nito felt like he was being torn apart. No position Nito tried would lessen the pain, it was too intense.

When one more burst of pain shot through Nito’s body, he thought he would die. But to his relief, the pain vanished as fast as it had arrived. This relief only lasted for a minute or two. The pain returned, with more intensity. No more!

As if on command, the pain changed to a cool, numbness feeling that seemed to emit from between Nito’s shoulder blades. The cool, numbness feeling overpowered Nito’s body one last time, then it vanished. In its place, it left two doorknob sized bumps.



Diku woke up, fully refreshed, and stretched. Diku sat up and noticed that his wings were visible. He just shrugged and stepped from under the bedcovers. Diku walked to his closet and picked out a Hurley long-sleeved shirt and some jeans. After a quick visit to the bathroom, Diku headed to the kitchen for some breakfast. I wonder how mom feels, since she’s the only one in the family without wings. Thought Diku.

Diku walked into the kitchen to find Kyra sitting at the table. Luckily Kyra looked up right as Diku hid his wings.

“What are you doing here?” inquired Diku, as he poured his cereal.

“My parents wanted to talk to yours about this weekend and I tagged along.” Answered Kyra with a smile.

“What’s going on this weekend?”

“Your dad and I are going to a Halloween party with her parents on Saturday night.” Answered Diku’s mom. “Ajin’s parents are going as well. So the three of you will be staying here to pass out candy to the trick or treaters.”

As soon as Diku finished eating his cereal, him and Kyra headed off to school.

“Looks like this Thursday is going to be a gloomy one.” Said Kyra in her best weatherman voice.

“Slight chance of rain, maybe even a small amount of snow.” Continued Diku.

The two of them continued talking about the weather. Then Kyra brought up the subject of Angel. They had been talking about how Diku found out last night that Ajin was his twin brother.

“It was the most fun I’ve ever had in a long time.” Kyra continued to talk about her little ride with Angel. Of course, Diku already knew all about it. Diku watched Kyra as she recounted last night’s event. Her face lit up with joy when she got to the part where Angel had flown high speed into the clouds. After that, she said that she and Angel had laid upon the water tower and just talked.

Once they reached school, they headed to Kyra’s locker.

“Grrr! Why…won’t…this…book…come…out?!” Kyra said frustrated. Kyra was trying to pull a book out of her locker, but she was doing it wrong.

“Try this.” Replied Diku. He reached into the locker and pulled out the book.

“Thanks.” Said Kyra, feeling stupid.

The first bell rang, causing students to begin to disperse to their classes.