CHAPTER 9

He received no answer, so he brought his arm back and then threw the glowing ball towards Jaida. She watched in fear as it grew larger the closer it got to her. It was going to hit her, she knew it, but before it could reach her, Arius swiped his arm through it, breaking the ball of light apart. It eventually dissolved away, and Arius' arm seemed completely unharmed. The light hadn't hurt him at all. He shot a dark glare at the man before him, looking a bit threatening even to Lucius. The white winged boy only snarled in disgust.

"Pathetic," he sneered. "Protecting a worthless human. They all have to die anyway, so why not just let me kill her now?"

"Just shut up and get on with it," demanded Arius as he prepared himself for a fight. However, Lucius only smiled as his body began to fade. It slowly turned a white color, and before they knew it, he looked like nothing more than a figure made of cloud mass. Without so much as a word, he dispersed, leaving behind no trace that he had even been there.

Jaida stood there in a complete state of shock as her mind raced to try and register what had just happened. At one point she had been sure she was going to die, but Arius had protected her. She began to wonder why when hundreds of new questions formed on her mind. Who was that man? What was the council? What did he mean about the human race having to die? There was only one person who could answer this for her, but she highly doubted he'd tell her anything.

She watched as Arius relaxed a bit. His wings soon folded and began shrinking down into his back, once again leaving no visible indications that they had been there. He then allowed his nails to return to a normal size before he turned around and fixed Jaida with a hard stare. He didn't seem angry at least, but he was in no way pleased with her.

"Um…" she began cautiously. "Arius? W-who was that?" Arius just gave a disgusted scowl before walking over to her.

"That was an angel," he snarled, watching the surprise wash over her face. "Not so fond of them now, are you?"

"He…he was an angel?" she questioned, still in a state of disbelief. "But how…? He tried to kill me."

"Damn right he did," said Arius as he slammed his hands into his pockets.

"Thank you," she said, and his expression faltered a bit. It was obvious he wasn't used to being thanked for something. "You really saved me."

"D-don't be stupid," he stammered quickly, his scowl once again appearing on his young face. "I only did it because I knew Lucius wouldn't want me to. That's all."

"So you did it to get back at him?" Jaida asked, sounding a bit disappointed. She had been hoping that maybe Arius wasn't as cold as he wanted everyone to think.

"Exactly," he told her as he walked towards the door. "Now let's go."

"Wait!" she called as she ran over to him. "I'd like an explanation. You owe me that much."

"I don't owe you anything," he said as he began heading down the staircase. "You can't tell me what to do."

"Please Arius?" she pleaded desperately. "This is my home, and I wanna know what's going on. What did that man mean when he said the human race had to die? Exactly why are you two here?" Arius didn't say anything as they entered the hallway. He still hadn't spoken by the time they left the building, and Jaida knew better than to probe. If his mission was that classified that he couldn't tell her about it, then she wouldn't bother him.

"…Lucius wants to destroy the planet," Arius answered at last, earning him Jaida's attention. "He's here because the angels despise the human race. I don't blame them, but not even we'd go far enough as to exterminate the Earth."

"But why?" she asked, sounding disappointed about something. "Why do they hate us so much?"

"Because the human race has become so pitiful. You rely far too much on technology, and then what do you use it for? Wars. Your countries build weapons in order to destroy one another. You're all so blind and ignorant, and I guess the angels are sick of you. You see, they believe that only the creatures deemed as 'worthy' have the right to keep living, but they're the ones who decide what worthy actually means." He clenched his fists tightly out of anger. "They have no right to play the part of God! But that's why I'm here. The council sent me to stop them from destroying this world. For some reason, they think the human race is worth saving. Why, I don't know, but I'm not about to disobey."

Jaida said nothing as they walked down the streets, heading back towards her house. So much had happened in just one day, and it seemed like the more time she spent with Arius, the more confusing everything got. She had only known him for about four days, and already he was messing up her normal life. Now the question was if she believed him. It was hard not to, but something didn't feel right. Perhaps there was more to this than he was letting on. At least it was nice to know that he'd protect her from Lucius, even if it was just to tick the angel off.

She stole a glance at Arius' scowling face but quickly averted her eyes to the ground. She really wasn't all that fond of the black winged boy. He was cold, rude, and arrogant. He was the opposite of the people she usually kept in her company. However, she had to help him in order to guarantee her life. Besides, if what he had said was true, he was actually there to save their planet. It was hard to believe that a creature as demonic as him was their savior. Again, though, this aroused a question in her mind that she had contemplated a few times before. Could she trust him? Could she really trust this Deslyan that thought of humans as nothing more than insects? For now, she didn't have a choice. She would just have to keep an eye on him until she could come to her own conclusion.