Jade gasped in alarm and fell back in terror. Her torch fell from her grip and clattered onto the stone floor, but the creature's eyes lit the whole cavern anyway. More sudden, jolting cracks ran along the stone until they covered almost the entire cocoon. Jade had scrambled back by then and was pressing herself against the opposite wall, eyes wide with fear.
Then, all at once, the whole cocoon shattered. Little pieces and chunks of stone flew all over the cave and Jade yelped, shielding her face with her arms. One of the bits of stone hit her arm, making a gash and surely an impending bruise. She winced, lowering her arms from her head to look at it. Then she looked up past her arm, and stopped.
Standing there in place of the statue, head down, arms limp at his sides, was... An angel. His hair was longer than the average male's, about down to his neck. His bangs covered his eyes as his head was bowed, but Jade figured they were probably closed anyway. He had broad shoulders, wearing what looked like some medieval version of kaki shorts, and there was a distinct lack of shirt going on; but it wasn't hard to figure why. It would be hard to wear a shirt if two holes would be ripped in the back all the time because of the angel's mighty wings.
Jade was in shock as she stared at the figure till, suddenly, he tipped over. He fell on his side off the pedestal and she gasped, running over to him. "H-Hey, are you okay?!"
She heard him groan softly and she sighed.
"Jade? I heard something explode! What did you do?!" Genesis called from above.
"I - I really have no idea!" Jade replied, looking up. "Gen, I think you're gonna have to run and get he-"
"Jade..."
Jade stopped and looked down at the angel she now knelt beside. Had he... Had he just spoken...?!
"...Yeah." Jade said. "Jade Magellan - I'm Jade Magellan. I'm not gonna hurt you mister. Uh... Can you hear me...?"
The angel didn't reply. He rolled onto his front and pushed himself up into a kneeling position with a grunt. Jade watched as he stretched out his wings, the bones in them popping and he shuddered in satisfaction. He let his wings relax and then he looked up, his eyes opening. They were a pure, inhuman orange, surrounded by yellow, orange, and blue face paint - why did he even have that paint? "You have freed me, Jade Magellan..." He spoke in an almost monotonous voice, with very little emotion.
There was quiet in the room, Jade speechless. Then she heard Genesis from above. "...Who the hell is that. What did you do."
The angel looked up towards his voice. He stood up a little too quickly and grunted as his knee buckled, making him fall against the wall. Jade cringed and got up, moving to his side. "A-Are you okay mis-"
"Felladere."
"...Pardon?"
"My name is Felladere, Jade Magellan."
Jade nodded slowly. "Erm... Nice name, I'll call you Fells for short. So... You have wings, yeah, do they work?"
Fells glanced back at his wings and they fluttered, a few feathers falling to the ground. "Indeed." He replied after a few moments.
"Could you... Could you maybe fly me and my friend back up there?" Jade asked, pointing up to the hole she and Sara had fallen through. Fells looked where she meant and thought a moment before nodding.
"Okay, whoever you are, just get Sara up here and then we can use the rope to get Jade." Genesis asked.
"Who is that?" Fells asked Jade.
"That's our friend, Genesis. We call him Gen." Jade said.
Fells nodded. "Very well." He walked over to Sara and picked her up with a huff. The Italian remained completely unconscious. Fells looked up at the hole in the ceiling before he spread his wings and flew up. He gained just enough momentum to close his wings to fit through and still go up. Genesis grabbed his arm, pulling him onto the ledge safely. The doctor stumbled back as he did and looked him up and down. "...Whoa."
Fells set Sara down gently on the ground. "Is there a rope, Genesis?"
Genesis nodded. "Uh... Yeah." He sorted through his bag and brought out a coil of rope which Seto instructed all the meds was a very useful thing to bring along.
Jade watched the end of the rope drop down from the hole. "Climb up!" She heard Genesis instruct. She grabbed onto the rope and was just about to pull her weight on it when she heard it.
A dull thud, like stone hitting stone. Jade blinked and looked behind her towards the sound. There another was movement and she realized the rocks of the caved-in doorway she'd noticed before were shifting. Her eyes widened. Someone was trying to get in.
She was about to look up to tell the others, but then she saw a flurry of brown feathers and suddenly, Fells was standing beside her. "They are not here for you."
Jade was now thoroughly confused. They had only been here to take a stroll along the corridor, but now she had woken some angel who was now protecting her from some people she didn't know - maybe they weren't even people. All of this was happening so fast and no explanations were being made; she was overwhelmed with unanswered questions.
She saw Fells step in front of her and in his hand appeared a glowing light. The light spread out into the shape of a long, thin cylinder until it solidified with a wooden texture and color, like a regular old staff. The rocks shifted again, a few tumbling down, before Jade remembered herself. She reached back and grabbed her crossbow off her back with a few bolts.
Fells wasn't paying attention to her. "Tell your companions to leave this place; they will be safer away."
Jade looked up. "You heard him, Gen! Get back to the base. We'll meet you there!"
"But what abou-"
"I'll be fine, I have a shirtless angel watching my back!" Jade smirked, loading one of her bolts into the crossbow and sticking the other between her teeth. "Now get going!"
She heard Genesis mutter something before footsteps headed away. Jade held her crossbow ready as the rocks shifted and a hole was punctured. Jade narrowed her eyes readily. The rest of the rocks quickly fell, and there she saw two unfamiliar people. Both of them had wings. The one closest then was tall, long white hair, and a long white dress with elegant gold patterns all over it. She had an old, stern look in her eyes. Jade recognized her as Archangel herself, creator of the Archangel realm. Why was she even here?
The other angel was slightly shorter and he seemed male like Felladere. His hair was black, longer even than Archangel's. He wore a black robe draped over one shoulder, a sash around his waist. His wings were white, arced downwards slightly. His orange eyes were trained on the two. Like Fells, both angels weren't wearing shoes.
Immediately, Jade moved around Fells, aimed, and fired.
Her bolt shot forwards and embedded itself in the center of Archangel's chest. She looked down at it, studying it disinterestedly, before pulling it out and dropping it easily. "Ah, how I love humans. Such simple-minded creatures you are." She said. "Shoot, kill, win. That is all this is to you."
Fells looked around him before he quickly spread his wings and grabbed Jade, bolting past the two angels with a slightly inhuman speed, using his wings to help propel them forwards.
Jade knew not what to do besides follow the angel she'd recently freed. He was gripping her hand too tightly for her to pull away anyways.
After they were running several moments, he turned his bright orange gaze on her. "Are you ready?"
"R-Ready for-?!"
Before Jade could finish, Fells yanked her closer to him, put his arm under her legs, and as they ran out of the passage into a vast underground canyon, he flapped his wings and took off. Jade's eyes widened as she saw the ground quickly getting farther and farther away and her arms wrapped quickly around his neck in alarm.
She heard shouting behind them but the sound dulled. "Let them go. He will have to return soon anyway."
Jade wasn't sure how long they were flying because at one point, she buried her face in his chest and pretended she wasn't flying. Then they landed on solid ground and she immediately scrambled out of his grip. She fell on her side, but quickly climbed to her feet, stumbling against a tree, panting hard.
Fells watched from where he stood solidly a few feet away, folding his wings. "Are you alright, Jade Magellan?"
Jade took a deep breaths as she looked around her. They were in a forest; the one around the exit of the underground passage, only a few miles out from the base. She slowly looked over at Fells as the color returned to her face. "Wh-What was th-that all about?! Who w-were they?! Wh-What are you?!"
Fells held up his hands. "Please relax, Jade Magellan. I mean you no harm."
"You better start answering my d-damn questions or I'm gonna cook your ass like a chicken!"
"...I am not a chi-"
"SHUT UP AND TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE."
Felladere looked startled by her sudden inclination in volume. He thought a moment as she glared at him before he spoke. "My name is Felladere." He said. "I am a Michaelix Valkyrie serving under the human Demigod. You are half human; therefore, I am your protector. And I am indebted to you for setting me free."
"Yeah, about that, why were you imprisoned in the first place?! I don't want some fugitive with wings following me around calling himself my-!"
"Jade Magellan." Jade stopped as he put a hand on her forehead. "Please calm down. You are safe. I am not a criminal, I am not a killer. I am a protector, and I will answer your questions, but this does not seem like a very suitable place to speak."
Jade looked around at all the trees and nodded, standing up straight. "R-Right... Follow me." She started walking westward.
Fells watched her walk past him curiously. "Would you prefer I fly us-"
"No."