Rainbow Scales and Broken Angel Wings

The first thing I felt was a surge of seawater sending shocks of cold through my body. I sprang awake, spitting up water and gasping for air on a hill of warm, damp sand. My hands clawed at the grit, dragging myself out of the pull of the ocean and the watery claws of Death. I did it, I was safe still alive to face another day! 

I shakily got to my knees, but went down again with a cry of pain. I looked to see that my left leg was sliced open, blood gushing and dripping down on the sand. The salty ocean didn’t help cease the painful stinging that came from it either. The adrenaline in my body began to wane as I collapsed onto the sand. As time passed, I began to hear another sound besides the water. Footsteps were crunching on the sand, coming closer and closer to me. I looked up to see the silhouette of a woman. She was wearing a long white robe and had windswept curly brown hair. Silver bracelets winked at me in the Sun’s reflection. “Sir, Sir are you alright?!” The woman cried. I crawled towards her, grabbing at her robes and pulling her down to me. She yelped and stumbled, but didn’t pull away. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Storm…” I gasped, “Ship destroyed...my leg...blood… help me…” It was all I could manage before collapsing onto the sand again.

When I awoke, I was in a small bedchamber. Dainty star lights hung from the ceiling, with blue gossamer curtains flanking each side of the bed. The whole room was pleasantly warm and smelled like lilies and fresh bread. I looked down at my leg, seeing it was cleaned and bandaged with no blood or stinging. “I must be in heaven,” I said sleepily, “Shame I died in the girl’s lap, she was so pretty...” 

“Why, thank you sir.” I whirled around to see the woman from the beach giggling and holding a compress.

“H-how much of that did you hear?”

“Enough to be flattered that you thought of me as you were dying.” She gently pushed me down on the bed and laid the compress on my head. “My name is Yuna, it’s lovely to meet you!”

“And my name’s… Ray, it’s nice to meet you too.” I cringed inwardly, hoping she didn't notice the hesitation. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the grand kingdom of Kronos.” Yuna said sarcastically, “Home to a king who swears to rid the world of magical creatures and their supporters. A real gem of a man I must say.” I laughed faintly, trying to suppress the panic building in me. Just my luck for me, the crown prince of Kronos’s enemy kingdom, to wash up on their shores. I have to get away before someone finds me out. Yuna noticed my expression and gently patted my arm. “Are you feeling alright, or are you still faint?”

“Oh yes,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant, “I might just need some food or something, that’s all.” Yuna smiled and pulled out a basket of bread, grapes and a jug of water. I grinned broadly in return.

“You’re an angel, I swear you are. First you heal me, then you produce food out of nowhere? Magical.” She pulled a grape from the bunch and tossed it in her mouth.

“Well then, consider me your guardian angel. Your every wish is my command Ray.”

The bright mood we had disappeared when the wooden door swung open. A portly man with golden robes and a white moustache entered the room, followed by a few stone faced guards. “Dear Sister, I’ve been looking all over you!” the man said happily. Yuna's smile dropped and she immediately fell into a bow.

“Father, I’m so glad you’ve returned from the city safely.” The man-Father- smiled brightly down at Yuna, but his cold gray eyes promised ill intentions. 

“Thank you dear Sister, rise.” Yuna rose and sat back down in her stool. “Oh, who’s our guest?”

“T-this is Ray, he washed up on the beach after last night’s storm. I brought him here because he was injured…” The man turned his thundercloud eyes to me and held out a hand. “Minister Honest dear boy. But you may call me Father if you wish!” I hesitantly took his hand.

“Nice to meet you sir-uh Father…”

“Our dear Sister Yuna has such a kind heart. She’s even disobeyed my orders not to go outside to save a stranger. Such an angel.” Father put his arm around Yuna’s shoulders in what was supposed to be comforting, but felt a lot more predatory. I nodded and tried to smile in response. “Yes, Yuna is really sweet. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her. But don’t scold her too much, she did just save my life.”

Father laughed uproariously.

“Oh dear boy, don’t you worry about dear Sister! I’ll make sure to reward her for her good deeds today!” Yuna gave me a quick smile and patted my hand reassuringly. 

“I’ll be okay Ray,” Yuna reassured me, “You just need to focus on recovering.” Father clapped me on the shoulder.

“See, nothing to worry about! Guards, take Sister Yuna to her room. And make sure to send her down for her reward later on this evening!” The guards nodded and pulled Yuna up from the stool. I watched helplessly as she was dragged from the room and out of sight. Father sighed and shook his head with a little smile.

“Well I best be off. You stay here until you get better my dear boy.” Father opened the door to my room. “Oh, one more thing,” he added, “There’s a wonderful hot spring on the east side of the church. Does wonders for stiff muscles! I highly recommend it!” I perked up at that. A whole pool of wondrously warm water all to myself? There seemed to be another gem in this place besides Yuna.

The hot spring was pure heaven. I sighed and sunk down in the warm, bubbling, rose scented water. My leg tingled as water wrapped around the long gash on my leg. But the best part was the view. I could see the whole kingdom from the massive window. Little lights from everyone’s houses glimmered in the dark horizon. The moon was shining behind the clouds, making silver rims around them. I waded over to the window. Any second now… 

As the clouds moved away from the moon, I felt myself transform. The spaces between my hands and feet had now grown skinny, pearlescent webs. The gills on my neck opened up, gratefully drinking up the warm water. My skin gleamed pink, green and blue as scales grew along my entire body. As the moon was fully revealed in the sky, I sighed in relief. It was wonderful to finally be in my true water sprite form again. 

My webbed hands, legs and fins smoothly cut through the water as I zoomed around the spring. The blue water was so clear and pristine, it was like swimming in a giant sparkling sapphire. I swam and dove and twirled for what seemed like hours, before coming up to float serenely on the steamy surface. 

A sudden crack ripped through the air. I flinched and whirled to look at the doorway. Another crack followed by a scream sounded as I swam closer to the door. Then, loud yells echoed through the building. I enchanted water to surround my gills before grabbing a robe and running out. I followed the sounds downstairs, flinching as the sobs and screams got louder. Finally, I saw a half open side door where the sounds were emanating from.

“Shameful, ugly, insubordinate wench!” a man screamed, “I’ve been nothing but kind to you for years and you still insist on disobeying me!” I peeked around the door to see Father standing over Yuna, her robes baring her back, a long braided whip clenched in Father’s hand. My heart twisted in horror as I saw the fresh blood dripping down Yuna’s back. 

“P-please Father…” Yuna cried, “Please… I didn’t mean to disobey you, I just-” Another crack. Another loud sob as tears poured down Yuna’s cheeks. 

“Your pathetic excuses mean nothing to me, wench! I brought you here out of the goodness of my heart! Without me, you would be rotting in jail for being a heretic! No one but me would ever let a Demon Healer into their midst, but did you appreciate my kindness? NO!” Five vicious cracks sounded against Yuna’s back. She howled like her back was being set aflame, crimson blood streaking the floor. I couldn’t take it anymore, I couldn't just stand there while this innocent, kind woman was being so brutally tortured in front of me. I pulled some of the water surrounding my gills and carefully threw it between the cracks of the door. Yuna and I watched transfixed as my water ball hit Father in the face with a loud, crashing splash.

There was a tense silence as Father shook the water from himself. He bolted to the door and threw it open. I quickly hid behind the door and crouched into the shadows. A few tense seconds passed as Father’s thundercloud eyes found nothing suspicious in the dark hallway. I heard his heavy footsteps retreat back into the room. Shuffles and yelps sounded until I saw Yuna being thrown out onto the floor. Father slowly stepped out of the room, chuckling as Yuna frantically scooted away.

“Here’s your reward for saving that boy from earlier. We’ll end early tonight.” He pulled Yuna up by her robe and dropped her on her feet. “I have some investigating to do tonight. I hope you’re grateful for my mercy. Now, go.” Yuna shakily bowed and hobbled away, her body shuddering with pain and her bloody lashes gleaming wetly in the moonlight. As Father strode down the hallway and disappeared around the corner, I shook behind the door. How dare that man do this to Yuna, how dare he?! I slowly stood and began walking down the hall. I was going to rescue Yuna from this church and this horrible man, even if it was the last thing I did.

I was waiting now, twisting my hands in my lap. I had attended mass that morning and was still angry about what was said. Father had preached to the kingdom’s people that God had smitten them all with magical creatures as punishments for all of their sins. “We must purge the kingdom of the Devil’s creatures!” Father had said vehemently, “Only then will we achieve peace and prosperity!” I managed to slip a note to Yuna as the service ended.

“Come to the hot springs at midnight. Tell no one. P.S How’s your back doing?” Now here I was, anxiously waiting. But I needn’t have worried. In a few minutes, soft footsteps sounded on the stone floor. I turned to see Yuna, sadly smiling at me from the doorway. I ran towards her and gave her a hug, careful to avoid her tender back. Yuna shook in my embrace as she wrapped her arms around me in return. We stood like that for a while, Yuna silently crying in my arms. “Are you feeling okay Yuna?” I asked softly.

“No,” Yuna sobbed, “Everything hurts! My mind, my soul, my body, everything…” Yuna sniffled into my shoulder as I patted her head. “But how did you know about my back? How could you have seen?” I looked out the window to see that the moon was half concealed.

“Well, you’ll find that out soon. But you’ll need to turn around.” Yuna nodded and complied. I sunk into the water again and waded around for a few minutes. The moon slowly creeped from behind the clouds, illuminating the rocks once again. My gills opened, scales grew on my body, fins and webs grew in their respective places.

“Alright you can turn around now.” Yuna slowly turned to see me in all of my glory. My scales glittered in the light as I floated large balls of water in the air, showing all of what I could do and hoping desperately that she would accept me. Yuna gasped and sank down to her knees, the moon reflected in her awestruck eyes.

“My gods,” she whispered, “What is this? Who are you?” I smiled and gave a mocking bow.

“Prince Ryanair, prince of Fhamina. Youngest son of a king who banished me after figuring out that his dearly departed wife gave him a water sprite for a son. The ship I had chosen to run away on was struck by lightning and I couldn’t get into the lifeboat in time. The current was too fast and I was swept away. And now I’m here.” Yuna’s eyes were still transfixed, but sadness was building in them as well.

“I’m so sorry Ray- I mean Your Highness…”

“No no, Ray is fine,” I corrected gently, “I prefer that to anything else”

“Wait, but that means…” Yuna's eyes filled with tears, “You found the room and-” The look on my face confirmed her suspicions. More tears fell down her cheeks. She cried into her hands, her skin becoming red and blotchy.

“I-It’s so awful! It hurts to stand, and walk and bend over to do anything! I usually go to the other nuns for help, but they’ve been ordered not to heal me completely or else the same thing will happen to them!” She pulled the silver bracelets she was still wearing, “I can’t even use healing magic because Father sealed it away with these…”

“What happened before I came?” I asked. Yuna sniffed and shook on the floor.

“A few months ago, a man came to our church for help. He was bleeding and looked like he’d been attacked by someone. I was the only one who was able to fully heal his wounds. It was another successful night… Until we discovered he wasn’t a man…” I cursed under my breath. I had a feeling I knew what was gonna happen.

“He was actually a kitsune who snuck into the kingdom. I found that out during the day of his beheading-” Yuna’s cries became heartbreakingly loud, “People thought I was a devil-worshipper who could heal demons. I was scheduled to be executed as well, until Father stepped in and said that he would take me in. But only on the condition that I couldn’t perform any more magic. So he has my life in his hands, he could turn me over anytime he wants…” Yuna finally looked up from the floor. Her eyes looked so dead and hopeless, like the fight and hope had just disappeared from her.

“What do I do? I can’t leave, I can’t stay, I can’t fight Father. I’m powerless against him.”

“I know exactly what we’re gonna do.” I climbed out of the water and took Yuna’s face in my hands. “We’re gonna heal our wounds. We’re gonna run away from this place. I’ll help you get your magic back. And then when we’re ready, we’ll come back and burn this place to the ground.” Yuna shook her head and pushed away from me.

“No no no, you don’t get it! Father’s way too smart and has eyes all around the church! There’s no way we can do that!” 

“That’s why we need to plan!” I said insistently, “We’ll come together, we’ll put our own eyes around the church, and we’ll get away from this place! But I do need your help Yuna. Will you do this with me?” We both stood for a long while, me waiting for Yuna to make a decision. Finally, she spoke.

“I still think you’re completely insane Ray… But I am willing to try.” My eyes lit up and I gave a loud whoop. The water from the spring leaped from the pool and danced around as my whoop echoed around the chamber. Yuna shushed me while trying to conceal her giggles behind her hands. It took a few minutes but I finally managed to calm down the waters and stop my laughter. 

“So!” I said, with a mischievous little smile, “Are you ready to gain back your magic and get some revenge?” Yuna adopted the same smile and stuck out her hand.

“Only if you’ll be my ally for our journey and beyond.” We shook on it, the warmth of her hands contrasting with the coolness of my scaled ones. She pulled me in her arms and gave me another hug. “Thank you so much Ray. I don't know what I’d do without you.”

“Well you won’t have to worry about that ever again. From this day forth, I’ll always be by your side.” I looked out the window at the myriad of stars peppering the night sky. Tonight was the night that Yuna and I started our journey to freedom. We would experience victories, losses and moments where we want to quit outright. But as long as there were stars still lighting the sky, I swore to keep my new angel safe.