Angel Evolution

by David Estes

  “Stay away from the girl,” Gabriel said.

  “Ahh, Gabriel, it has been too long since our paths have crossed,” Christopher said. “We should really do this more often.”

  “Stay away from the girl,” Gabriel repeated, more forcefully this time.

  “Now, you know I can’t do that. Not with you spinning all sorts of ridiculous lies in her ear.” Christopher opened his mouth to speak again, another sarcastic comment planned. Instead, all he got was a mouthful of dirt as Gabriel buried him alive.

  Despite his super strength, it took a few minutes for the demon to dig his way out of the deep grave that Gabriel had prepared for him. While holding his breath for that long wasn’t difficult for him, it wasn’t very fun with clumps of dirt in his mouth; he nearly gagged two or three times. When he finally escaped the earthy prison, the angel was long gone.

  As he spat the remaining filth from his lips, his teeth, and under his tongue, he vowed to get revenge.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Shortly after Christopher left, Taylor noticed a bright light in the distance, shining from the direction that the demon had left. She thought it might be the angel approaching, but when he didn’t appear after a few minutes, she assumed the light had come from a passing plane or falling star. When her digital watch read ten minutes past eight, she became concerned that Gabriel had stood her up.

  Two minutes later, a friendly, “Hey, Taylor, I’m glad you got the message,” startled her from behind.

  As she turned and saw the angel she said, “Could you please stop doing that? Arriving from the direction I am facing will be fine. Anyway, you’re late, I almost left.”

  He smiled, flashing his brilliant teeth. “Sorry, Taylor, I will try not to let it happen again. I was delayed when I ran into an old friend.” He laughed at this as if it was an inside joke and he was the only one on the inside.

  Quickly getting over her initial spat of anger, Taylor tried to lighten things up. “Thanks for the ride home last night.” She smirked. “I am shocked that I didn’t wake up. It’s a bit disappointing that I didn’t get to experience another trip on the greatest amusement park ride around.”

  “Oh you liked that, did you? You are my first passenger so it’s nice to hear such positive feedback,” he said. “Would you like another ride tonight?”

  “Hmm, tempting,” she said, “but I think I’ll pass. After everything that happened last night, I wouldn’t mind keeping tonight as normal as possible so that I know for sure it’s not just some weird dream caused by the meatloaf I ate for dinner last night.”

  “Fine by me. Why don’t we just find a quiet corner in the Commons to chat for a while?”

  Taylor agreed and a minute later they found a spot in the empty study hall; students wouldn’t start using this space much until later in the semester when mid-year exams were scheduled.

  Taylor said, “I have more questions.” She wanted to control the conversation this time as she didn’t want to be sitting in class the next day, unable to concentrate because of unanswered questions from her conversations with the angel.

  “Fair enough. I also want to thank you for not overreacting when you saw me yesterday,” Gabriel said.

  If he only knew what I was thinking when I first saw him, he might not be thanking me, Taylor thought to herself. In any case, she was glad that she was able to appear relatively unfazed upon seeing a real living, breathing angel. “No problem,” she said casually. “That leads to my first question: Why the hell did you show me what you are? You told me a couple of times that I was the first person…I mean, the first human, to see you as an angel. So…why me?”

  “You are special,” he replied. “As I alluded to yesterday, you observe certain details about me that most people don’t, or can’t, see. For example, the glow that you noticed is something that I have to control. Around most humans I can keep it sufficiently dim that they can’t even see it. However, to your eyes, I am never able to decrease the brightness enough; it seems you will always be aware of it….which makes you special.” He paused to let her take it in.

  “So you showed your angelness to me because you knew I could tell there was something different about you? That sounds ridiculous, you could have just stayed away from me or transferred to a different school and I never would have known a thing about angels and demons.”

  Gabriel’s face lit up with excitement. “Now you are getting to the heart of my reasoning. It is not because you could see my light, rather why you were able to see my light. That’s what makes you special.

  “We, as angels, refer to it as your aura. Each human has an aura, and as far as we know, it has always been that way. An aura is a light that comes from within you. In humans, that light is generally very dim, as opposed to angels, who have extremely bright auras. Because there is such a contrast, we refer to humans as having an aura and angels as having an inner light.

  He continued, “Your aura is much stronger than all other humans.”

  Taylor’s eyes widened. “Why?” she asked.

  “We have no idea,” Gabriel said.

  “Okay, so I have this big aura which allows me to see who you really are. Big freakin’ deal. That still doesn’t explain why you revealed yourself to me.” Taylor’s eyebrows were tensed into a scowl; she was getting frustrated upon hearing so much new information, but still not getting an answer to her basic question: Why me?

  “Sorry,” Gabriel said. “I’m still getting to that. Because angels have the ability to harness the power of light, we are also able to harness the aura of humans. With most humans, however, the aura is so small that the incremental power gained from them is of no real use to us. Even if we were to try to harness the power of a hundred humans, or a thousand, for some reason the power gained is not cumulative. In other words, we can only use the power of the strongest aura amongst the group.”

  “Are you saying that I am some kind of an angel weapon?”

  Gabriel’s eyebrows arched in surprise. “Very perceptive, but I wouldn’t exactly phrase it that way. You are not the weapon; more precisely, you are a potential power source for our angel fighters.”

  “Yeah, but how many could I power? Two or three angels?”

  Gabriel laughed. “Taylor, when I say you are special, I mean you are really special. You could actually power the entire angel army.”

  Now it was Taylor’s turn to laugh. This was getting absurd. She was just a rather average girl that had never done anything particularly amazing in her whole life and now she was supposed to believe that she was the secret weapon for a clandestine army of angels fighting a secret war against a vicious band of demons? She laughed again.

  “What’s so funny?” Gabriel asked curiously.

  “Oh, nothing. I just didn’t realize that whenever I stumbled over my words or said something stupid or tripped over my own feet that it was really just my incredible aura doing it all.” Taylor smirked.

  “Very funny. Your aura doesn’t affect your daily life and as far as we know, angels are the only beings that have any use for it. If you don’t believe me, we could do a simple test?”

  “What sort of test?”

  “I can harness your power and verify its strength.”

  Taylor tried to look nonchalant. “Will it hurt?”

  Gabriel said, “Nah, it may actually make you feel good, almost like a drug.” Gabriel knew from the human testing that occurred in the ‘60s that the short-term effects on a human were, in fact, kind of like a buzz and that eventually the human subjects would crave the angels’ use of their auras to the point of addiction. He certainly wasn’t going to mention the known effects of prolonged use of her aura; namely, deterioration of her vital organs, decreased lung capacity, various forms of cancer, and ultimately, death.

  “Okay fine, but only one test and just for a short amount of time.”

  Trying to hide his excitement, he said, “Let’s go.”

  So much for tonight being normal, Taylor thought, as t
hey left the Commons.

  Twenty minutes later, they were deep in the grassy field past the north end of the Commons. Along the way, Gabriel had answered her many questions about what other kinds of powers angels had and what effect her aura would have on them.

  He described the many abilities that he had at his disposal, including complete control of the power of light, extraordinary senses, and super strength. Not to mention the ability to fly at impressive speeds and with perfect precision. He also compared his standard angel powers to a Volkswagen Bug. He said that by using her aura, he should become more like a red Ferrari.

  In her mind she thought how funny it was that someone as perfect as he was thought they needed improvement. It made her feel even more average than usual.

  “Okay,” he said. “I’m going to start with one of my simple powers with no help from you.”

  “Go for it,” she said, thinking she would have no idea how to help when the time came.

  Gabriel backed away a few paces and aimed his arm in the direction of one of the many hay bales that dotted the field. Without warning, an orb of light was discharged from his hand. The ball of energy collided with the target less than a second later, creating a circle of blinding light.

  Taylor looked away, shielding her eyes. When she turned back, the hay was gone and in its place was a single, thin wisp of smoke and a fist-sized hole in the ground. She looked up at the dark sky, seeing only a handful of stars between the large clouds. Then she did a full three hundred and sixty degree turn. She could barely make out the lights from the campus in one direction. Looking back at Gabriel she could see that he was, by far, the brightest object in their near vicinity.

  “Pretty impressive,” she said, “but it was only hay.”

  “I can show you later, but the impact would have been nearly the same had it been a brick wall. However, on a demon’s flesh, a weak attack like that would have been easily repelled,” he explained.

  “I thought you said you needed light to use your powers? It’s a dark night and we aren’t even near artificial lighting,” Taylor asked.

  “My sensitivity to light is so high that I can draw enough power from the few stars in the sky to do what you just saw.”

  Now she really was impressed, although she wouldn’t admit it. The stars were millions or even billions of miles away, but somehow this angel was able to tap into their energy.

  Ready for more, she asked, “What’s next?”

  “Ahh, now for the real fun. Let’s see what we can do between the two of us.” He rubbed his hands together.

  “What do I need to do anyway?”

  “That’s the cool part,” Gabriel explained, “you don’t actually have to do anything. You just stand there looking pretty the way that you do.”

  Taylor’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing the beautiful angel refer to her as pretty, but she hid it by snapping, “Well on with it then!”

  Gabriel seemed immune to her abruptness. “As you wish, my queen,” he said.

  He looked at her intently, as if he was studying a piece of modern art at a trendy gallery, and then forcefully extended one arm towards her and the other towards a large rock outcropping on the edge of the field.

  Before Taylor saw the light, she felt her stomach drop, like she was in a free fall on a wild amusement park ride. She felt a warm tingling throughout her body; the feeling extended to her outermost extremities, from her fingernails to her toes to the tip of her nose, and everywhere in between. The sensation was not unpleasant like a foot falling asleep or hitting a funny bone; rather, it was like the bubbles from a sauna, kneading and massaging sore parts of her body. She noticed that she was now glowing similarly to Gabriel, her aura manifesting itself visibly. At that moment, for the first time in her life, she experienced complete, unchained, irresponsible, beautiful, pure happiness.

  All of these feelings and emotions poured through Taylor’s body in less than five seconds, and then a massive beam of light was projected from Gabriel’s outstretched arm. Gabriel roared; it didn’t sound like a cry of pain or fear, but rather a bellow of sheer physical effort. The beam charged through the large rocks as if they were made of recycled paper, and continued on a destructive course, tearing a wide path through the night-cloaked forest.

  Along its trail, trees collapsed or were disintegrated like toothpicks in a fire. At varying points, large explosions erupted high into the night sky. With a violent shudder, Gabriel finished his battle cry and collapsed in a heap.

  The incredible feeling streaming through Taylor’s body subsided and she was left laughing on the soft ground, as if she was being tickled by a thousand feathers. Her laughter morphed into concern upon seeing Gabriel’s exhausted body. His pants and shirt were torn and singed, like he was the sole survivor of a violent house fire.

  Taylor’s worry disappeared when she saw that Gabriel was grinning, in-between taking huge breaths of air. Upon catching his breath, he yelled, “That…was…AWESOME! The Council is never going to believe…” He trailed off. Pushing himself back to his feet, he put his arm around her shoulders. “You really are special, Taylor.”

  Taylor, still feeling the effects of the event, beamed proudly; a rare time when she was willing to accept a compliment. She did feel special, invincible even. As he looked seriously into her deep, brown eyes, she felt drawn to him. She tried to resist, but like metal to a magnet, she leaned in and kissed him deeply on the lips.

  When she pulled away, every nerve ending in her body felt at peace. She swooned and would have collapsed if not for Gabriel’s strong, protective arm curling behind her back to support her. She had never felt anything like this before. It was ecstasy. She knew then that she was in love with an angel. Abruptly, her life had meaning. She knew that this boy—this angel!—had something to do with her purpose in life. She wasn’t sure exactly what yet, only that she was getting closer to it.

  PART II

  “Oh when I look back now

  That summer seemed to last forever

  And if I had the choice

  Yeah - I'd always wanna be there

  Those were the best days of my life

  Ain't no use in complainin'

  When you got a job to do

  Spent my evenin's down at the drive-in

  And that's when I met you yeah

  Standin' on your Mama's porch

  You told me that you'd wait forever

  Oh and when you held my hand

  I knew that it was now or never

  Those were the best days of my life”

  Bryan Adams- “Summer of ‘69”

  From the album Reckless (1984)

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Gabriel was still in awe of the power that he had wielded through his use of the girl. After dropping her back at her dorm—via walking this time rather than flying—he returned to where he had conducted the experiment. In his mind he replayed the instant destruction that he had caused. He had never created a full beam of light before; it was always some form of an orb or a ball. Never a beam.

  Not to mention the distance reached by the weapon. He ran at angel speed along the course his test had taken, mentally calculating the distance in his head. Thankfully, he had the foresight to perform the trial at the edge of a large forest; the beam had caused damage for more than two miles! With a standard light orb attack, he could only reach distances of a mere 500 feet.

  The scope of the damage was also impressive. Anything in the direct path of the light had been instantly vaporized, including rocks, trees, and other vegetation. Any wildlife would have been wiped out, too. There were large craters at various points, evidence of the combustion that they had witnessed during the fireworks display.

  The one. She was actually the one.

  Growing up, he and his friends had often debated whether the legends they had heard were true. Their debates had started when a small angel in their group had come to them one day with a story that his father had told him. His father was a member
of the Archangel Council of the Twelve, which made him a very credible source.

  The tale went something like this: When the very first modern angel, Dionysus, began creating his army to fight against the demons, he had a dream. In his dream, he witnessed many battles in the Great War. The battles continued to result in a stalemate, with neither side making much progress. The angels and demons were both so strong and so powerful that they could thwart any attack from their enemy.

  Dionysus also saw a vision of a meeting of the demon Elders. They talked about preventing the angels from obtaining a weapon; the one weapon that would allow the angels to defeat the demons. They spoke of the weapon being held within a human girl. The one, they called her. Dionysus knew they were telling the truth, as he could see the fear in their eyes and the determination on their faces.

  When he awoke he was overjoyed. All he needed was to find the girl and force her to show him the weapon. He scouted the earth looking for the girl, and along the way learned much about the human race. Dionysus discovered that all humans had a light within them, similar to the angels, but different somehow. He named this their aura. The sizes of the auras varied widely, but most were rather weak, which was expected—they were only humans after all. He did, however, come into contact with a handful of humans with larger auras. These were extremely rare, but when he found them, he befriended the subject and was able to practice enhancing his powers through the use of their auras.

  He burned the spent bodies when he was finished.

  The effects of human aura use were impressive, with his strength doubling or tripling in some cases, but not to such a degree that victory against the demons would be guaranteed. It was at this time that he had another dream where he became privy to top secret information within the innermost demon leadership. He learned that the demons had, like him, scoured the earth in search of the girl and had also come up empty handed. They believed that the girl had not yet appeared on the earth. They formed a special operations force to watch for her appearance to ensure she could be neutralized before falling into the hands of the angels.