Chapter 4: A World of Angels
10 months later…
"Did you guys see the news!?!"
"Man… I wish I was chosen to have those wings. Imagine if he had a partner. Like a winged buddy!"
"Having one person with wings in this city is already lucky enough. Imagine one of one thousand, here, in this city! The odds of one would be 1 in 8, 000, 000. Two?! In a city of 8, 000, 000? That would be 1 in 64 trillion!"
'If only they knew' Not really trying to eavesdrop on their conversation a slight smile appears on my lips. An inherent ability with these wings was that one could hear even the faintest of sounds. Pretty much all my senses were heightened which I found quite irritating at first but after months of practice, I was able to control it.
In the past ten months, a lot has changed in the world. The 'winged', people who were gifted the ability to perform supernatural feats, have become a worldwide phenomenon. They defied the laws of the world and were capable of pretty much anything.
One key thing about the wings is that they can't be seen by regular people, although there is a way for them to be visible. The 'Winged' individual reveals their wings. It's quite cool watching as it seems like the wings come out of a camouflage. Although, that's not the same with the Winged themselves. Fellow Winged can see each other's wings.
A key weakness of the wings I've found is that in order to use these "Winged" powers, you must have your wings out.
Musing about the 'Winged' individual they spoke about, I was a bit curious about their identity. Though keeping their identity hidden was a smart decision on their part.
'Wonder if there are any others like me who are not known to the world.'
With the world the way it was right now, people or more specifically, militaries and governments wanted the power these Winged people carry.
In the week following this drastic change, many individuals came out with their newfound power, showcasing these wings to the world. Naturally, people were skeptical with many wild theories being thrown around.
Some of the more entertaining ones were that we were government experiments, aliens, or angels. Many also compared our arrival to those webnovels with OP protagonists.
When it was revealed that this ability was Granted to an exclusive 1,000, people were already keeping track of all confirmed and suspected 'Winged'. Only about 100 were confirmed with thousands suspected. Based on that, the age, place, or even circumstance of these Winged individuals didn't seem to have a pattern. A 16-year old schoolboy in Malaysia, a 71-year old teacher in Russia, 40-year old soccer coach in Brazil. No correlation between any of them yet people made theories and looked for a pattern.
'In no way am I a protagonist.' I laughed at myself.
'With my f*cked up past and nobody background I'd be the last person to be the main character.'
"Hey dude! What you giggling about?"
I look up to see Jayce, one of the few friends I have.
Over the past 10 months a lot has happened to me. First off, I started opening up to Dae, still not quite parent level, but I put a lot of trust in him ever since we met. Secondly, he managed to enroll me into a fairly good highschool, which I was excited about. I was self-taught in pretty much everything since my upbringing never had a chance for education to take root.
It took a few months to get adjusted with the entirely different lifestyle that I was now living, but as I thought, humans are scarily good at adapting.
Jayce was one of those extroverted people who got along with everyone in the class. I can still remember our first interaction when I just transferred halfway through the last school year.
He approached me with a fascination just like everyone. Primarily because of my eyes. They were both fascinated and intimidated by my lack of pupils. I heard many whispers and due to my advanced hearing, not all of them were pleasant.
That was when Jayce approached me, lifting the fear of the class as he managed to get the class off my back. Over time, they got used to my unique appearance. Maybe because we were teens about to enter adulthood, but they were way more mature about my appearance then I thought. Then again, the appearance of these 'Winged' individuals took the world by storm so that may have added to the reduced attention I was getting.
Ever since that day, Jayce has been able to break the ice between me and the rest of the class. I still didn't open up much, but I at least wasn't isolated so it felt nice to be included. It seemed that life was actually heading towards the bright side.
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The school day ended uneventfully as usual and as I made my way back to Dae's apartment I noticed a bit of a commotion the street across from me. It appeared to me that a group of guys were ganging up on a girl about my age.
'What kind of cliche story is this?'
I'm not a hero.
Am I a good person?
Hell no.
All my life was filled with heinous actions. I'd become desensitized to this sort of sh*t.
Ignoring her cries and pleas for help I just kept walking when her and I made eye contact.
'F*ck.'
I'm not that heartless, but I also did not want to get involved.
Speeding up I turned into an alley away from view before I took off my hoodie and shirt to allow my wings to have room. Taking one of the feathers, I threw it in the general direction of the girl before catching her backpack and practically dragging her to safety, bringing her across the street.
Both the thugs and girl were confused but the girl managed to regain her composure quickly before sprinting away from the scene. Shortly after the thugs also gave chase but in their way was a cop car that just so happened to round the corner.
'I shouldn't have done anything.' Cursing myself for acting out. 'Welp, what's done is done.'
Picking my things back up and walking to my apartment complex I just lay in bed not even bothering to change or take a shower. I just wanted to sleep.
"Maybe Dae's good guy nature rubbed off on me more than I thought." I muttered to myself.
Dae had been educating me on what is morally right and how to do good. I pretended to care as I thought it was a hassle. Why should I care about someone else's problems? But here I was actively helping a random girl.
Over the past ten months I had played around with these wings on my back and with it I gained some insight.
I had full control over each individual feather but it took a lot of mental concentration which was why I was mentally exhausted. There were other abilities attached to the feathers as well as a unique aspect for each Winged.
I hadn't experimented much myself on what my unique aspect was. I spent most of my time trying to be normal. The less use of wings, the more I'm like a regular human.
I had secretly trained and tested these abilities when Dae was away. I still didn't want him to find out about this secret.
About a month into hiding my wings I was tempted to just reveal it to Dae but I was scared of his reaction. I didn't want him to leave or abandon me. There were many uncertainties still with these wings and a decent portion of the population were still hesitant about these individuals who suddenly had a huge deal of power.
One of the major advocates for the restriction of Winged people was the police as they were seen as a threat. Which I see as understandable. Imagine if someone with supernatural abilities started causing havoc. That was people's biggest concern.
Dae being a cop, I was even more scared that his perception of the 'Winged' wasn't great as the police themselves disliked the vigilante style NYC's Winged took care of criminals. It made many in the police force feel inadequate.
Speaking of Dae. As I was resting on my bed I heard the door open signifying Dae returning home.
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DAE'S POV
'These Winged people are such a headache.'
I internally wished this Winged individual would just reveal themselves so we could work with them but that didn't seem like it would be the case.
'At least none of them have turned against us yet.'
I noticed Ray's shoes on the doorway signifying he was home.
'As long as he's safe I'm happy.'
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