Saints & Sinners

From heaven and hell, a new world will come,

On the fated day when two become one,

The angel without wings will have no fear,

For she will be saving all those she holds dear.

Five years, that's how long the prophecy had taunted me every night at the end of my dreams. In a world that was so filled with light, my mind had always been plagued by corners of darkness.

Looking out of the window, the sun was just starting to rise, its golden hues lighting up the hills and rivers of Deltora. I watched as every home in the city began waking up, slowly lights turned on and the cogs of another day started to turn. Every second of life here was designed to be perfect - almost as if the Goddess herself had designed it. He hadn't though, my father had. King of the Angels, and every bit the man you'd think him to be.

My door began to creep open "Is my little angel awake?" my mother called, sailing through the room gracefully in her floor length, gold trimmed dress. She was always the picture of grace and beauty, I just hoped I'd look half as good as she did when I finally turned of age and took my true angel form in a few days time. "We have much to discuss, Princess." She continued to coo "Like about the ball, where we'll find out who your true fated soulmate will be."

The ball of anxiety that choked my throat every time she mentioned me finding my soulmate, I had never told her about the prophecy. My grandmother was the only one who knew, and everyone already thought she was too crazy to believe her if she did tell anyone.

"Mum, we don't know that I will find my soulmate straight away yet, I haven't even seen my true angel form yet..." I sighed. In our realm, as soon as an angel turned of age, they would undergo a form of a transformation. In our day to day forms we still appeared like humans, but we would gain the ability to shift into our angels. The purer the angel, the purer their angel would appear.

Everyone in my family had golden angels, their skin shone like armour and they acted every bit as heavenly. Non royal angels could appear as any colour they liked, there was only one forbidden colour. Red. Red angels were seen as having the devil entwined with their souls, and so they were cast out as demons, walking the path to the fallen realm alone.

The war between the fallen realm and ours had gone on for longer than a millennium. Dark angels, or "demons" as my father called them, only wanted to be known as equal to us. They didn't want to do harm, but when you force an entire race of our species underground... it doesn't take a magician to tell you it was never going to end well.

"Shanara, stop terrorising our poor daughter, she has her dress fitting for the ceremony in an hour." My father bellowed down the marbled hallway of our home.

"The man lives in a castle and I still can't find a way to escape him." Mother grumbled beneath her breath. My parents had always loved each other dearly, but marrying the King of the Angels certainly had its drawbacks. She was never alone, and never allowed to do as she pleased. There was always some kind of an agenda for the day, and always someone that needed her help, normally more than me. "Get washed and put on a clean dressing gown Aziel darling, meet me in the dressing room in half an hour." With that, my mother kissed my forehead and left the room. No doubt to chase her manic husband down for her list of tasks for the day.

Slipping out of my silk sheets, I walked into the en-suite and stepped into the cold shower that definitely needed a few more minutes to warm up. The cold blast was welcome, finally bringing me to understand the reality of what was planned for the day.

A dress fitting for an angel ceremony didn't happen very often. Girls were seldom born to the angel royal families anymore. The last female that had been born into my family turned out to be a dark angel. My aunt, Naeth. I was only six when her ceremony took place.

She stood at the angel's altar, looking as equally royal as my grandmother. Twenty five suited her, and we all knew her looks would carry her for the hundreds of years that angels could live. But then, without warning, she began to scream as she shifted. Her skin grew dark and tight, bursting into flames of scales and her hair turning black as night.

"RED ANGEL!" the crowd shouted angrily, and I hid behind my fathers hand. His other hand covered his face, and I felt him tremble. He knew what was coming next. Naeth shifted back into her human form, blackened tears running down her cheeks. Without a word, she took off the family crest ring, down the aisle, and onto the road that connected our realm to the one below it.

Nobody spoke a word about the day after, my grandfather had to abdicate and pass the throne onto my father. Siring a demon was frowned upon, and he knew he would no longer be seen as fit to sit on the Deltora throne. Days later he passed, and everyone blamed the grief of losing his only daughter to the realm of demons.

Shower finished, I pulled on the fluffy white dressing gown that hung from my door. This is the most comfortable I would be all day, I knew that the pulling, prodding, poking and squeezing was still ahead of me. We might be angels, but vanity still consumed us, even on the most important of days.

The walk along the hallway was surprisingly quiet. Normally you would find hordes of servants milling around, catering to my fathers every whim. Today there were none.

What on earth were they all doing?