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Fallen is a series of short stories, beginning with Fallen: Angel and continuing
through Fallen: Friends, Fallen: Faeries, Fallen: Fyora, Fallen: Feathers, Fallen:
Star, Fallen: Finale and Fallen: Risen. Read them in that order if you wish to
understand the story better.
I screwed up my eyes, trembling as the ball of light
magic rushed towards me, waiting for the end. Suddenly, a figure appeared in
front of me, outlined against the light. We were both thrown backwards over
the edge of the cloud platform by the impact of the magic. I didn’t feel the
cold rush of wind that I had expected, the sensation of falling. I opened my
eyes to see familiar white fur.
"Angel?" I whispered incredulously, not daring
to believe.
"I will not let Dreamer be hurt," she whispered.
She sounded tired and strained. She'd taken most of the magic for me and it
had exhausted her. She was hovering in the air, holding me up with difficulty.
"Thank you," I said with immense relief and gratitude,
overwhelmed that she considered me worthy enough to save. Then I paused, for
another thought had hit me. I would not let her fall again, just for me.
"Let me go," I whispered. "Angels should fly…"
"No." She sounded stubborn. "Dreamer is my friend."
"But you have to stay with your Faerie…" I said.
"Else you'll fall…"
She gave me no answer. She summoned a small amount
of light to her paw, her magic regained, and began to melt the chain that bound
her to the Faerie.
"No!" I cried. "Do that and you'll fall! Your
wings will be broken and useless again. You'll be fallen. You'll have to live
on Neopia until you fade away from grief…"
I was hysterical, trying to stop her. It was
not worth it. I was not worth it. She could not be allowed to sacrifice everything
for me.
Her gentle sapphire eyes regarded me for a moment.
"I shall be free," she said. "And Dreamer shall
be safe."
The chain suddenly snapped, broken clean in half.
Angel bowed her head gracefully as her wings folded up, useless again, and we
plummeted downwards, leaving the Uber Light Faerie on the cloud platform far
above us. The wind whistled through my ears as Neopia grew bigger below us.
Angel's wings began to shed their feathers, leaving a bright white trail behind
us, like a falling star, emblazoned across the early pink dawn.
We clutched tightly together as we fell.
"Dreamer…"
"Angel…"
***
The sun beat down fiercely above me. I opened my eyes and was half blinded
by the fierce light. My mouth was bone dry and I rolled over groggily, filling
my mouth with sand. I choked and spat as my brain slowly reassembled the previous
events into some semblance of order.
"Angel!" I shouted, suddenly remembering. My
cry echoed along the long stretch of sand. I was alone…
I stood up quickly, my head pounding, and brushed
sand out of my fur.
"Angel!" I called again. I looked up and down
the beach but she was not to be seen. I began to run along the sand, searching
and shouting frantically.
I rounded the point and that's when I saw her.
She was impossibly beautiful, truly a creature
fallen from the Faeries. Her pure white fur contrasted with the golden sand.
Her chest lifted in a gentle rise and fall and her soft fur rippled in the slight
breeze. She was spread-eagled on the sand, her eyes closed. It was as the first
time I saw her. But this time, her wings were totally gone, with not even a
feather left to show for their absence.
I rushed up to her, my mouth numb at her beauty
but my heart abounding with joy. As I reached her side, her eyes flickered open.
Their brilliant blue perfectly mirrored the endless sky above.
"I am here, Dreamer," she said quietly and smiled
as I hugged her fiercely.
"Here to stay?" I asked.
"Here to stay, forever and for always."
I buried my head in her fur, losing myself into
it, and she embraced me. For a moment, we lost all sense of time and place,
remembering only each other and how close we had come to losing that. Eventually,
I spoke.
"Will you not miss… it?" I asked, gesturing above.
She answered honestly and simply, as normal.
"I will miss the flying, yes, but nothing more."
I smiled in spite of myself. It was an Angel's
answer.
"You belong there…" I murmured.
"I belong here now. My wings are forever gone;
I will never rise again." She said it with a measure of acceptance and stoicism
in her voice, and a new-found maturity.
"But I have a very special friend and so I will
be happy…"
"Oh, Angel," I said embarrassed. I was overwhelmed
by emotions. "I thought I had lost you forever…"
She shook her head vehemently.
We lay there on the sand for a while, just being
together, until the heat became too fierce. And then, we went home.
***
True, she was fallen again, with no chance to ever rise. True, she could not
fly again, wingless forever. But she was Angel again, except for now she was
a normal pet (if Angel could ever be described as normal) and so, she could
live a normal life and be happy. And I was lucky enough to be her friend. Maybe,
in some way, by accepting Angel, I'd accepted more about myself. That I was
worthy of having happiness, that I should not feel guilty for having such a
special friend. If the longing to fly ever grew strong within me, I could take
the feather Angel had bequeathed to me, the feather that had fallen from her
wing, and think over her sacrifice for me. And the longing for flight would
ease, just for a while. For I had her. And in her, even wingless, I could find
my own form of flight. For she was my Angel…
Now you have fallen. Asi desca (You have fallen), too far….
But you fell for me.
The End
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