Stone Wing: The Steinur Trilogy

Chapter 1

It was raining that day in Boston. Not very hard but just hard enough to require an umbrella if you were going more than half a block. The sky was a softly boiling kind of grey, filled with heavy clouds that leaked their tears down onto the earth and its inhabitants. He had always enjoyed days like today. There was something about the crystalline drops of liquid weeping down from above that held a sort of poetry to him. It was days like this he would find himself seated on one of the various benches throughout the boundaries of his sanctuary. He didn't bother with an umbrella, he enjoyed the thudding of the drops on his skin and clothes, enjoyed watching the water run across his skin in rivulets. There was no drawback really besides the wetness of his clothing. He was impervious to cold, to its side effects that would normally cause illness or physical atrophy among the humans. Perks of having flesh catered from stone. Jackson sat in silence as he just listened close, his range of hearing extending around the entire graveyard. His black messy hair matted down against his head and his eyes shut tight. The sound of rain pattering, obviously, there was the voices of some people just outside the fence that guarded his territory. The sound of their feet shuffling quickly across the wet concrete to get out of the dreary weather. Further out still the sound of cars and city life, never ending the deeper you went into the city. This caused a little scowl to grace Jackson's typically stoic features. He remembered when it was just a colony, hardly a carriage would roll down the street, and that was only if some fool of wealthy stature decided to come visit the colonies on a whim. Jackson eventually snapped his thoughts back to the present, it was far too often these days his mind would wander to years past of his lifetime, it never did him any good to ponder on the past. He drew his focus back inwards, simply scanning the well kept grounds of his sanctuary with his sense. The smell of rain was overwhelming anything else his admittedly mediocre ability to catch scents was not particularly his strongest suit, he was no werewolf after all. It wasn't his eyes, nor his nose that caught the irregularity, but his ears. His head shifted just barely, not enough for anyone who didn't know to look for it to notice the change in behavior. Through the sound of falling rain and the cacophony of noises echoing from the city he could hear it. That little tell tale humming noise radiating from the grounds to the west. 

Jackson rose to his feet and moved his hands to tuck inside the pockets of his pea coat and he let a slow sigh of air expel from his lips, the contrast in heat from his breath and the cold air around him causing a puff of steam as he did so. He let his eyes slip open and he began to walk.  The flagstones underfoot lining the pathway from the entrance of the yard all the way to the small little chapel farther behind him slick with rainwater as it dribbled off to the sides and in between the cracks. He came closer and closer to the irregularity, one he was rather familiar with by now, and soon enough his feet carried him off the path and into the rows of graves. His every step careful not to press down into the dirt over some unfortunate soul buried deep below the ground. He could feel the blades of grass slide against his boots, the cold wetness surrounding his feet on all sides was almost comforting, yet he remained more than glad he had chosen waterproof footwear for the day. No one enjoyed wet socks. Eventually he found himself coming to stand under a willow tree, its figure grown tall over the years and the long dangling leaves cascaded down to form a natural green curtain of flora. He reached one hand out and very gently brushed this aside to slide his way inside the secluded little area so he could look upon his guest. 

It was a man in appearance. His slender and lithe frame completely dry despite the weather, clothed in a shimmering white robe that fell from his shoulders all the way down to his ankles which were bare, unlike his feet which were strapped into a pair of simple sandals. His hair was long, but not unkempt. In fact it would've been considered much like a woman's by anyone who did not know better. Some of it was twirled up into a neat pony tail on the back of his head, leaving two long strips of his golden hair falling down low while the pony tail lifted a large portion of the hair upwards before allowing it to fall down between his shoulder blades. When Jackson approached from behind the man turned just a little, exposing his features. It looked as if his flesh was rendered from perfect slates of marble, his jaw sharply defines, his cheekbones high. His lips, despite their little smirk which ignited just the smallest hint of a fiery anger in the pit of Jackson's stomach, were full and flawless. Yet it was his eyes that were the give away. At least to someone of Jackson's knowledge. Their color was a burning orange. Bright and powerful, like that of a raging forest fire in full tilt. 

For a moment the two shared a long silent look, Jackson with expressionless features adorning his face, and the guest with that little tell tale smirk and confident glare. Finally Jackson just let out yet another sigh and stepped forwards until he was evenly placed beside the man and shifted his gaze forward to grace the large trunk of the willow tree with its inspection. Its gnarled bark twisted and turned all around, all the way up into the splitting of the branches. 

"Hello Gabriel." Jackson said with a sharp tone, short and to the point.

"Jackson..." Gabriel's shimmering voice faltered for a moment and he lost that confident look in his eyes before he just sighed and followed his hosts look to the tree. "I do not enjoy calling you that name. It is not the one given by our father." Gabriel's words caused a sharp clenching of Jackson's jaw muscles. He forced control, composure. 

"I lost my right to that name when I was brought here Gabriel. You know my kind took mortal names." 

"This does not mean I have to approve, nor agree." Gabriel responded almost too quickly to the statement. Of course an Angel of God would not agree to such a thing. To his kind it was unthinkable. 

"What exactly do you want?" Jackson was not one for small talk, especially not with Angels. He held no love for them, despite the fact they were once brothers. 

"I am here with no one else's knowledge. To give you a warning, some information if you will. You may do with it as you please." Gabriel's tone had changed drastically. It became solemn and serious. Something Jackson had not expected from his estranged brother. "There are rumors, that the Nephilim are being rounded up." 

This came as a clear surprise to Jackson. His eyes darted from the tree towards Gabriel as they narrowed down into an almost glare of suspicion. "By who?" It may have sounded like an obvious question, but the fact that the Nephilim were being bothered by anyone seemed highly unlikely. They were the children of Half-Breeds and mortals. Always abandoned by the Angelic parent before birth. No one ever wanted anything to do with them so why bother now?

"Everyone." Gabriel said as he met Jackson's gaze evenly. "Angels, Demons, other Nephilim. They are vanishing one by one, some found murdered, others simply vanishing into the wind as if nothing happened." 

"Why tell me this. What do I have to do with it?" 

"I want you to find out why."

"That isn't my job Gabriel. I don't work for you anymore." Jackson composed himself quickly as they exchanged words, the rain falling around them on all sides. He hadn't noticed until now but no rain had trickled down between the leaves onto their shoulders. No doubt because of Gabriel. 

"I know. But it is a chance for you to be redeemed. To come home and take back your name."

That was hardly the answer Jackson wanted. In fact it was the last thing he wanted to hear coming from the lips of someone far above him. It lit a dangerous fire in the pit of his abdomen. 

"I'll think about it Gabriel. You should leave. Your father would be angry if he knew you spent so much time here. You know the laws." Gabriel let his burning gaze wander over the hard features of his exiled brother in silence for a few seconds before he just let a little knowing smile dance over his features. He turned without a word and began to walk, his figure shining and dancing like light was striking hundreds of facets across the surface of a cut gem. His voice echoed sweetly through the air, like a whisper from a lover in the golden hours of the morning. 

"Our father." 

Just like that he was gone as soon as he came. The rain immediately falling down and sliding through the leaves over head to light drip onto the shoulders of Jackson who stood in seething silence as he just stared into nothing. Lost in his own thoughts, his conflict, until eventually he let loose yet one more sigh for the day before he turned and left the shade of the willow tree. Redeemed? Really? Gabriel still believed in that drivel? Jackson just shook his head and laughed bitterly out loud to himself. However even as he found his feet back on those water polished flagstones, making his way back to the chapel, He could not help that little fire of hope that ignited in his soul. Maybe there was a chance after all. Maybe it was worth looking into. Because if he could get back home, he would do everything he could.