Page 6 of Daman

“Leave him alone!” Lycus yelled. He slammed into the soldier’s side and began pummeling him with his small fists.

The man placed me down and grabbed Lycus. “Pest.”

The soldier punched Lycus in the face and sent him to the floorboards. He didn’t move. With my vision blurring from tears and my heart shattering into a million pieces, I screamed and charged at the soldier.

“I’ll kill you!” I stabbed him in the gut and yanked upward, sliding the blade through his stomach.

The soldier spit up blood, but he didn’t fall. Instead, he grinned again. How was he still standing?

“D-Daman?”

I whipped my head around to Lycus. His lids fluttered as he tried to open his eyes. Blood dripped from his lip, and an angry bruise was already forming on his jaw. I pulled the dagger from the soldier’s gut and rushed over to my friend.

“I’m here.” I gathered him in my arms.

Lycus peered up at me, paler than he’d ever been.

Heavy steps sounded behind me. “I cannot harm you, but the other boy isn’t so fortunate.”

“Do not touch him!” I jumped to my feet and whirled around to him.

He raised his sword, and I watched it come down toward Lycus, almost as if time itself had slowed. Something came over me then. A kind of strength I’d never felt before. It tugged at my insides and shot through my veins.

My tunic ripped as a great power burst from me. Black wings knocked the soldier’s sword aside, and my body lifted off the floor. The wings weremine.I was hovering in the air. How?

A bright light consumed the room. And then, a man with large white wings and hair of the same shade appeared. He thrust a sword of fire into the soldier. A guttural scream pierced the air, and the enemy dropped down dead, his eyes wide open even in death. They were no longer black.

“Who are you?” I asked the white-haired man. My strength slipped, and I crashed back down to the floor. I didn’t know how to control the wings. I still couldn’t believe they were mine.

“I am called Lazarus. I’ve come to take you from this place.”

“No.” I shook my head and rushed over to Lycus. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. He’d only lost consciousness. “I will not leave him.”

“Your friend is barely clinging to life.” Lazarus hauled me back to my feet. I thrashed against him and punched his torso. It was like hitting a rock for all the good it did. “Do not waste time trying to save him. Death has him in its clutches. He will draw his last breath before the sun sets on this day.”

“No!” I kicked at the man. I was all Lycus had in this world. And he was allIhad. “Lycus! Open your eyes.”

He didn’t.

Lazarus dragged me outside, and I screamed as his wings lifted us off the ground. I watched the only home I’d ever known fade away.

As I was taken higher, flying above the treetops, I could’ve sworn I heard a howl in the distance.

***

“This is where you’ll train,” Lazarus said as we reached a field with targets on one end. It was the first day he’d allowed me to leave the room he’d thrown me inside of after he’d taken me from my home.

“Train for what?”

“My army.” He motioned to a group of other boys who were fighting with short swords. They appeared to be my age. One had bright red hair, like an apple. Another had raven-black hair. One was smaller than the rest and, after fighting for a bit, slumped to the grass and closed his eyes. “You’ve always felt different than everyone else, yes?”

I nodded.

“These boys are the same. They’re the sons of fallen angels, just like you. Train with them. Bond with them. For they will become your brothers.”

“I had a brother! And you made me leave him!” I swung at Lazarus with my bare fist.

He caught my hand in his grip and twisted my wrist, sending me to my knees. “The boy called Lycus died shortly after we left. He was too ill. No amount of healing tonics or herbs would’ve helped him.”