[Hm, it seems I was a little late in the posting order.]
He didn't belong here, that was for sure. He'd fallen from the cliff only a few minutes prior to landing face-first in the underbrush in a final, pathetic attempt at flying. But he knew now it was hopeless. He would never fly as he once did, soaring over the barren world where he once resided. Getting one's wings torn off was never a pleasant experience, especially if it involved a severe cracking of bone and shredding of flesh; it was said an angel's wings were things that they were carry forever but Haelo was now immortal proof that such a concept was as mythical as the being he was. Wherever he was now, this outlandish place he known only as Earth, it was nothing like ruined world he'd originated from.
He was as foreign to Earth as was vice versa. He was a warrior that spanned thousands of years, fighting monsters most others would know as demons and he was among the seven of his kind that was most dedicated to delivering the souls of the damned back toward the light. For Haelo was no ordinary angel, no run of the mill celestial being that was thrown onto this cursed plane of existence as punishment, but a former member of what was known as the Angelo, or Red Angel. Seven beings united to save innocent souls unjustly cast into the black abyss, but this was a fragment of his past, something not even that could be summoned with the help of the demon that reluctantly bonded with his soul.
"Ugh! You sicken me! You're such a weakling," the voice of Maelzedek muttered in Haelo's head. "You're trying to reach back for something you'll never catch. What kind of idiot are you?"
"You won't provoke me, demon, if that's your intention. An Angelo is capable of resisting such damaging emotions," he responded firmly, speaking to thin air.
Maelzedek relinquished a throaty rasp of a chuckle, "But you're not one of them anymore! And don't you forget it. You were stripped of your powers and sent on this loathsome exile just because you didn't want to use this new power inside you: Me."
Haelo felt his face grow slightly hot in a pale, impotent rage that began to well in his chest. "Oh, what do you know, idiot? You're just as helpless as I am. What can you give me that I can't already do myself?"
"I could make you fly again. I know that is what you desire most."
"Think what you like, but what I really want to is to be rid of you. You're as worthless as any demon. I doubt even your master would have any use for you!"
"Fool!" Maelzedek screeched in his head as suddenly a compounding headache overcame Haelo's senses.
"Gah!" The rogue angel sank to his knees, the leather wrappings around his legs sinking to the soil. The migraine the demon set upon his senses was as assaulting to his mentality as it would probably be to anyone else. For some reason, even after the pounding desisted, his shaking hands ached to snap a neck.
"That," Maelzedek spoke once more, "is for your insolence, you righteous bastard. There's more I can do to you from within than you could even try without. Don't think that I don't want to get out of this sickeningly holy body as much as you want me gone! And be forewarned: I'm going to kill you when I get out."
With his hands still shaking, Haelo uttered back, "We'll see, demon. We'll see."
He quickly rose to his feet, staggering slightly as one who wasn't used to gravity might. It was as if he was learning to walk for the first time. His form was tall and swarthy, something that wouldn't be expected from a former angel and built in a fashion that spoke of his years of fighting. A few scars touched his arms here and there as well as the ones on his face, one crossing the right of his brown and another smaller one on his lower lip. Despite the fact that he walked in a tattered half-robe, wrapping around his waist, shoulder and hanging down his side, black leather leggings with their own belts and buckles on them as well as a thick belt that went about his waist like a sash, he was exceptionally beautiful, in the typical seraphic sense. There was almost a dying glow in his presence as he dragged himself through the daylight of the Draconi Forest.
Haelo needed a walk, that was all; just a moment to clear his head before he would try to figure out a way to deal with his monster. But there was little time to think before a pair of voices reached his ears. They seemed to be of both a man and woman and somewhere nearby! His ears perked up and the innate curiosity in him directed his interest their way. A soft smell of rain itched at his nose but he held back a sneeze at the thought of being discovered and forced to socially interact. He just wasn't good in the dealings of humans.
Slowly, he crept forward, keeping his divine spear, the Jihukoten, in hand in case of any sudden moves. But as he listened tried to listen in on what words ensued, a few points the scantily clad female said perked his interest. The main one however was, 'Magic.' He'd heard of this ability bestowed to some lesser beings, power to perform amazing feats unknown to the natural world. Yet as his mind worked like a clockwork machine, he understood that if this woman was a beholder of esoteric arts of magic, perhaps she could help him.
He cringed inwardly at the thought of having to spend the next thousand years or so with a demon bickering at him all the time.
