The creature froze. Its oversized ears perked up before it darted behind the brush.

  I stopped a few steps short.

  Someone was there.

  Right past the trees, in the clearing where sunlight spilled like silver across the grass, stood a woman unlike anyone I'd ever seen.

  Six wings, wide and patterned like layered leaves, rustled softly as she turned her head. Each feather glowed faintly, like dew lit by starlight. Her robes were stitched in flowing white and forest-green, cinched at the waist by a sash woven from living vines. Bark-textured bracers wrapped her forearms. Her auburn hair, tied back loosely with twine, swayed as she ran her hand along the head of a beast I didn’t recognize. Lion-bodied, ram-horned, with hooved legs and a scaled, reptilian tail.

  My breath caught.

  Not because I was scared.

  But because for a moment, it felt like I'd stepped into a different world.

  She smiled gently, not at all surprised by my presence.

  “Took you long enough,” she said, her golden-green eyes shining like sunlit glass. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  I blinked. “You… what?”

  The words barely left my lips.

  She bowed slightly at the waist, placing one hand over her chest. “I am Ariel. Archangel. Keeper of Beasts. And your guide.”

  An angel?

  I didn’t laugh. I didn’t scoff.

  Because deep down, I already knew something about her wasn’t normal. The way the air shifted. The way my thoughts had quieted just standing near her.

  Still, my lips parted as if to speak, but nothing came out. I just stared, trying to process the reality in front of me.

  Ariel tilted her head, watching with patient amusement. “You must have questions.”

  I gave a small nod, swallowing the dryness in my throat.

  “Then speak,” she said kindly. “Ask what you will.”

  I hesitated.

  “Why are you here?” I asked quietly.

  She smiled again, this time with a bit more softness. “To help you train. To help you understand your Grace… and yourself.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  My eyes dropped to the ground, unsure how to respond. That answer, it hit somewhere deep.

  “Are there more like you?” I asked after a moment.

  Ariel walked slowly toward the lion-like creature, placing a calm hand on its head. “Yes. There are many angels like me. We are called Anhael. Guides. Messengers. Protectors. Scattered across the vastness of creation, aiding those who’ve lost their way.”

  My voice dropped to a murmur. “If angels are real… does that mean God is too?”

  That question felt heavier than the rest. I expected a pause or some cryptic answer.

  But Ariel didn’t hesitate.

  “Yes,” she said. “Gods are real. Not just one, as many believe. But many older than time, scattered across realms, watching, guiding, judging. Creation is far wider than what you know.”

  My heart thudded in my chest. There was no mockery in her tone. Just truth. Matter-of-fact.

  “Then… why help me?” I finally asked, quieter than before. “Why someone like me?”

  She glanced back at me, eyes full of something I couldn’t quite name.

  “Because it is my duty,” she answered. “My calling. My purpose. You’re not as alone as you think.”

  A pause hung between us.

  Then she turned toward the forest path behind her, mounting the creature with the ease of someone who had done it a thousand times before.

  “Walk with me,” she said. “There is more I can explain… and more you need to see.”

  I didn’t move at first.

  My legs felt heavy, my mind still full of Raphael’s words, the echoes of my coach’s voice from years ago. The weight of all my failures. My mistakes.

  But then I looked at her.

  And I saw no judgment. No expectation.

  Only calm.

  I stepped forward.

  Ariel’s beast, which she called Leo, gave a low rumble as it moved, its hooved legs barely making a sound on the forest floor.

  “You named him?” I asked.

  She nodded from atop him. “Leotherium. That’s his race. But yes, I call him Leo. It suits him.”

  The three of us moved deeper into the forest.

  The light filtered through the canopy above in streams of pale green and gold. Every now and then, a faint breeze carried petals or tiny leaves down into the path. For a moment, I forgot about the camp, about the pressure building in my chest these last few days. Even the ache in my legs felt duller somehow.

  “People often forget the beauty of this world,” Ariel said softly, glancing toward the treetops. “When ambition clouds the mind, the eyes become blind to wonder.”

  My gaze dropped.

  She was right.

  Ever since camp started, I hadn’t looked up once.

  I hadn’t noticed the curve of the mountains, or the way the trees bent toward each other like they were whispering secrets. I hadn’t heard the soft chirping of birds or the rustling of life all around us.

  It had all become background noise.

  White noise.

  Because I was too busy chasing strength I didn’t even understand.

  “Rei,” Ariel said, slowing Leo to a gentle halt. “You were never meant to carry everything alone.”

  I looked at her sharply.

  She hadn’t said it accusingly. It wasn’t pity either. It was… something else.

  Warmth.

  I didn’t know how to answer. So I just followed her as the trail narrowed and twisted between thick roots and moss-covered rocks.

  Minutes passed. Maybe more.

  Until we reached them.

  Two enormous trees, their trunks wide enough to hide a house, loomed ahead like silent guardians. Their branches arched overhead, forming a natural gate.

  Ariel gestured forward. “Through here.”

  I hesitated for just a second before stepping past them.

  And the world opened.

  A vast glade lay beyond the trees.

  At its center stood a massive stone temple, weathered but elegant, carved with patterns I didn’t recognize. Vines crawled along its sides, blooming with faintly glowing flowers. Rivers, clear as glass, flowed in branching channels through the open grasslands, converging into a waterfall that cascaded down from the mountain behind it all.

  It didn’t feel like Earth.

  It felt sacred.

  “This,” Ariel said, dismounting Leo with a quiet breath, “is where your training begins.”

  I couldn’t speak. I didn’t even know what to say.

  My mind couldn’t catch up.

  “How…?” I started, but the question faded halfway.

  Ariel turned to face me fully, wings stretching behind her like a blooming canopy.

  “You’ve been carrying guilt that was never yours,” she said. “Running toward a version of yourself that doesn't exist. Straining to meet the expectations of ghosts.”

  My stomach tightened.

  She knew.

  “All I’ve done is try,” I muttered, almost defensively. “I’m not like the others. I don’t have power like they do.”

  Ariel tilted her head, studying me.

  “You have something more valuable than raw strength,” she said. “You just haven’t unlocked it yet.”

  I stepped forward slightly. “And you’re going to help me?”

  “Yes.”

  I swallowed hard, still unsure if this was a dream or some cruel trick.

  “Why now?”

  “Because time is short. The days ahead will test you more than any before. You must be ready. Mind, body, and spirit.”

  I looked at her.

  For a moment, all the noise in my head stilled.

  Even the fear.

  Even the pressure.

  Something about the air here made it all feel... lighter.

  Not gone. But distant.

  Ariel took one step closer, her eyes locking with mine.

  “So, Rei Moutsuki.”

  She extended a hand toward the training grounds behind her.

  “Are you ready?”

  [End of Chapter]