Skyborn

Sometimes I wish I hadn’t been born. Now, before you assume I’m all depressed and shit, let me clarify. I wish I hadn’t been born because of what I was born as, which is a Skyborn. What’s a Skyborn you ask? Skyborns are a special variation of your general homo sapiens; we’re stronger, faster, and more agile than a human. At the age of 14 we go through the “Feathering”, a ceremony at which we gain our wings. What happens at this ceremony is a process of excruciating pain and immense relief and excitement. I hate the whole thing, I hate the way we have to step onto the altar in that stupid robe with our back showing, I hate the way the Flokian activates the aeromytes in our blood, I hate the way our flesh sears and sizzles as the “tattoo” appears on our back, I hate it all. I just want to be normal, I didn’t ask for this. But noooooo, this is where I end up. Sigh…..

My name is Anumati Xihe, but my friends call me Matt. I guess they get that from the “mat” in my name. Heh, funny, I honestly don’t really have any friends, except for one. Her name is Levana, she’s the only one who doesn’t treat me differently just because I was born into the Elites, and she’s one of the best people in the world. Speaking of Levana, she decided to wake me up the morning before my Feathering by pushing me right out of my bed.

I wake up to the sudden feeling of falling, my eyes fly open and my heart races in a panic, where am I? What happened? Those questions are answered once my face hits my bedroom floor, I hear Levana howling with laughter on my bed.

“Dude, your face, PRICELESS!” She says as she pounds my bed with her fist, struggling to stop laughing.

I roll my eyes as I push myself up off the floor and glare at her, rubbing my head. “Who let you into my room?” I ask even though I already know the answer.

“No one” She replies. “I climbed in through the window, you should really get better locks, yours are SOOOO easy to pick” She jumps off my bed and walks up to me, looking me up and down. “You’ve gotten taller, what are you, 5’9?”

“5’10 actually” I say, edging around her to get downstairs.

“Well in any case, you look like you’re ready for your Feathering”

My face drops and I sigh. “Oh right, that thing.”

“What is your problem with getting wings man? Wings are awesome” She says while following me down the stairs to the kitchen.

“I just don’t see why we need to get them, I don’t want to stand out you know?”

She chuckles, jumping up onto the counter and sitting down. “Kind of hard to not stand out when you’re an Elite, I mean, you’re meant to be trained as a soldier dude”

I sigh again, “Yeah I guess so” I open the fridge and grab myself the OJ, needing some tangy sustenance. “So when is the Feathering?”

“By my calculations, four hours”

“So what do you wanna do until then?”

“I figured we could take a walk, maybe play some Halo, hang out.”

“Sounds good to me, let me just make some breakfast first”

“I’ll take some bacon and eggs”

I turn and look at her with my eyebrows raised. “Bitch, do I look like your personal chef?”

“No you look like my best friend, who’ll make me breakfast because he’s such a nice guy.”

“Fine, but next time, you make it”

“Sure yeah whatever you say pal”

I groan, knowing she won’t, and grab the cooking supplies, PAM cooking spray, non-stick pan, spatula, all the necessary tools for eggs and bacon. I continue this process, trying to make sure I don’t end up making a mess as I’ve done so many times before. Of course I inevitably end up dropping an egg. Anyways, I eventually get breakfast done (after wasting about four eggs) and hand her a plate of crispy bacon and peppered, over-easy eggs.

“Mmmmm looks great, compliments to my chef” She smirks, knowing she got what she wanted from me, yet again.

“Yeah he’s great” I sit down across from her, eating what I made for myself. Mom’s probably out at work, as usual, which explains why it was up to Levana to wake me up.  I wonder if she’ll show up to my Feathering, probably.  She did with my brother’s Feathering. She tends to treat us the same.

“Sooooo, wanna go on a walk?” Levana asks, leaning her elbows on the counter casually.

“Sure I guess, just let me put the dishes away” I say as I get up, getting the plates and rinsing them. I put them in my dishwasher and me and Levana head for my door. As soon as we open it we are bombarded with a blinding light and I can’t see anything.

“Ah god! What is that?!” I exclaim, putting my hand up in front of my face to protect my eyes from the light.

“That would be the sun, you know, the burning ball of gas in the sky?”

“Oh right, that” I blink rapidly, trying to get the dancing spots out of my eyes. “Jeez, must have been very dark in there”

“Yeah I’d say it was pretty dark, my eyes are used to rapid light transitions though. So this is easy, you okay?”

“Huh? Oh yeah I’m fine” My eyesight finally clears as I look around town, looks normal, people walking around, some flying overhead. Couple teens older than me flying overhead, pulling off stunts. Looks like a pretty normal day for Portland.  Levana smiles and grabs my hand, pulling me forward so fast I feel like my arm might pop out of its socket.

“Come on, I wanna show you this amazing shop I found downtown. It’s so cool; they have a LOT of old antiques.”

“Alright alright just stop trying to dislocate my shoulde……” My voice trails off as I see an armored guard coming towards us, and he does not look happy.

“You two out for a little stroll?” The guard asks us, his voice deep and rough.  Levana doesn’t miss a beat, standing up straight and using the most respectful voice she can.

“Why yes sir, I was just taking this youth out for a walk before his Feathering, giving him a little time out”

The guard looks down at me, his eyes narrowing. “Shouldn’t he be preparing?”

Levana nods. “Yes sir, we were just on our way back to his house”

He buys it and looks back at her. “Very well, carry on”

She quickly thanks him and we head back to my house, him watching us the entire way.

“Jesus fuck, that was close!” She says as we get back inside. “I didn’t think there would be any guards in this part of the neighborhood.”

I look at her confused. “What was that all about Levana?”

She looks away from me. “Nothing Matt, don’t worry about it”

“What do you mean don’t worry about it? Why am I supposed to be inside? It’s just the Feathering”

“I said don’t worry about it Matt” She turns to me, her face very serious. “It’s none of your concern until after your Feathering, don’t ask me about it again, understand?”

I nod slowly. “Alright…..”

“Good, now come on, let’s get you ready” She takes me by the arm and drags me to my room, sitting me down in my desk chair. “Now just hold still…”

Three hours later she has me prepped for my Feathering, my hair swept back and held in the traditional ponytail, the gray robe flowing around me, my bare back exposed.

“I’d say you look about ready, come on, let’s go”

“Alright Levana”  I get up, standing tall as I walk down the stairs and out the door, heading for the altar near the edge of town.

When I arrive I see the usual crowd, people I know, family, and of course, the Flokian and his followers.

The Flokian greets me with a tender smile. “Greetings Anumati, are you prepared for this?” He asks, his voice soft, like silk. I didn’t let his caring demeanor fool me though, this man was about to cause me great pain, even a fourteen year old could understand that.

“Yes Flokian, I am ready”

“Then step onto the altar my child”

I do as he asks, stepping forward onto the altar, the Flokian wastes no time in placing one hand on the top of my head and other on the small of my back. He begins to chant in the supposedly ancient language of our kind (Even though we’ve only been on Earth for about 60 years). I begin to feel a rising heat in my blood, and I know that the Aeromytes are reacting to the Flokian. The heat starts to focus in my upper back and I prepare to bite down on the towel they gave me.

My eyes shift along the crowd and stop on my brother, standing there in his Military uniform, he doesn’t look happy, which is weird. This is a happy time for my family, I’m getting my wings, why isn’t he happy? I look over at my mother, who has tears streaming down her face, why is she crying? What’s wrong? I don’t have time to dwell or think about these too much since the heat focuses even more and my skin starts to sizzle, the pain is agonizing and my jaw involuntarily opens as a scream escapes my throat. My howls echoing through the town, oh god it hurts.

I can feel the shape of each individual line imprinting itself into my skin. It’s too much, I can’t take it, the corners of my vision start to darken, hold on Matt, hold on.  Be strong, don’t pass out, don’t do it. I can’t though, I can’t manage to stay awake, and just as the ceremony is finished I pass out; as I fall to the ground I catch a glimpse of my ethereal wings, pure white. Huh What a weird color……..