The Angels with Clipped Wings

Kaisra slowly opened her eyes to see Kian and her father sitting on her bedsides, exhaling in relief. She realized she was in her room. Pain suddenly pounded within her skull as a flood of memories poured in all at once. The YDS. The cave. Saving Elise. The Forgotten Catacombs. The monster that attacked her. She remembered suddenly burning up, but that's where her memories were foggy. 

 

"What...what happened to me?" she asked. 

 

Daedalus put a hand on Kian's shoulder. 

 

"Let me talk to her alone."

 

Kian nodded, stood up, gave a quick salute to his Emperor, and turned to Kaisra. 

 

"I'm glad you're alright," he said before turning to walk out. 

 

Kaisra smiled. When Kian left and shut the door behind him, Daedalus took his daughter's hand in his. 

 

"Do you remember that bedtime story that I used to tell you when you were a little girl?" he asked her. 

 

"The one about the angels with clipped wings?"

 

"That's the one, although I doubt you even remember how it ends. You would always fall asleep before I was able to finish," he chuckled. 

 

"It served its purpose then," Kaisra giggled. 

 

Her father's face gradually grew serious again at Kaisra's comment. 

 

"Its purpose wasn't to make you fall asleep."

 

Kaisra stopped giggling and looked into her father's eyes. They held the same faraway look from the night they stared at the lantern with her name. She crawled over to her father and sat next to him, smoothing out her purple night gown. 

 

"How did it end then?" she asked him. 

 

Her father glanced at her before taking a deep breath. 

 

"Well, after the jealous mortals bound the angels and clipped their wings, they locked them in a dungeon several feet deep so that they would suffer for eternity."

 

"But," he continued, "There was one among them who had saved a single full feather from his wings. He used it to pick at the locks and managed to open the dungeon's trap doors. From there, they all used what strength they still possessed to climb to the surface. When the sun's rays shone on their backs, they sprouted fresh, new wings and flew to freedom."

 

"The sun..." Kaisra murmured, remembering that that was the meaning of her name. 

 

Her father stood up and walked over to the windowsill. 

 

"Kaisra, we were once a great people on the surface, but, by mandate of our own King, we were trapped down here to suffer and die."

 

Kaisra's eyes widened at the revelation. They were the angels with clipped wings. Everything about their society began to make more sense to her, yet she had so many questions. Why would their own King do such a thing to his own people? Why would he be so cruel? How long have they been down here? Kaisra decided to ask the one question that bothered her the most. 

 

"But, why can't we just go back?" Kaisra asked, "Why don't we just climb to the surface and escape?"

 

"We tried to do that when the epidemic broke out," her father confessed, "Kian told me he had told you about all of that." 

 

Daedalus' eyes became glossy.

 

"Kaisra, your mother was one of those people who were sick. We tried to break through to the surface, hoping to somehow find a cure before it was too late for her and for the others. But the King saw what we were up to and stopped us, accusing us of trying to make the people of his kingdom sick." 

 

Kaisra's heart stopped. Her mother. That was why she never had a chance to meet her mother. That was why she disappeared. Tears began streaming down her face. Her father left the windowsill and squatted in front of her so they would be eye to eye.

 

"Kaisra, during your YDS I had the doctor assigned to you do something very important. You might not remember having done this, but you barreled through the walls of the cave and created a way for your team to get out."

 

Kaisra froze. 

 

"I...I did?" she asked, the blurry memory somewhat taking shape, "What those doctors did to me...that was you? But why?"

 

"You have an amazing ability that was locked up inside of you until my scientists found a way to allow it to manifest."

 

"I...I don't understand," Kaisra said, shaking her head.

 

He grabbed her hand once more.

 

"In time you will," he assured her, "I will explain to you everything you need to know. But I need you to help me get all of us out of here. Help us grow our wings back."

 

In that moment, something about that soft, shy, naïve girl changed. She could finally share her father's pain. Because of their previous King and everything he had done, they had lost their home, they were condemned to suffer and die, and while Daedalus lost a wife, Kaisra lost her mother. The spark Daedalus had seen before was now a flame, and Kaisra's heart began to harden like his own. After a pause, she gave him her answer.

 

"Tell me what you need me to do."