It's barely after dawn the next day as all the inhabitants of the valley gather together. The atmosphere is grim and tense. Most of them already heard the story from the four horrified teens.
Azeal sits limply underneath a small platform, his hands and wings both shackled. He stares at nothing, not even raising his head to look at his audience.
"......... and for his dangerous crime of using black magic to drain the life out of a living thing-", the Elder is speaking on stage, glaring down at the criminal. It's a serious offense to use magic anywhere in the Caelum's mountains, and black magic is looked down upon everywhere. "Azeal will be sentenced to exile, and left for the spirits to punish him".
A group of six warriors surround Azeal in a circle. They all have metal poles that they use to nudge Azeal until he stands up. He's poked and prodded through the crowds, almost being put on display.
"Azeal! Fight, Azeal! Run, my baby!", the distressed and familiar voice is the only thing that could make Azeal look up. His mother is fighting again his aunt to get to him. Donnel only gives him a cold look. He could break out, he could run away, but he doesn't.
The warriors take Azeal to a ledge before they loop his chains around their metal poles. They dig painfully against his wings. Two of them grab onto the poles and carry him while the rest are just an escort.
The warriors fly up with Azeal carried on a spit between them. They fly out in the opposite direction of Azeal' home, but the end up flying over a different beach and out over the water. Azeal barely registers what's happening.
When they get out far and high enough, the warriors let Azeal's chain slip off the poles. He's never fealt so helpless in the sky before.
Azeal drops like a rock towards the water. He feels a metal pole slam into his chained wings, breaking one, when they swoop by. The six of them take turns to hit his wings as many times as they can before Azeal falls into the ocean. His wings are broken in so many places that it's actually a relief when he's greeted by saltwater and darkness.
*****
Everything after that is hazy, but Azeal is shocked to open his eyes again on dry land. Two girls are crouched over him and examine his chains and bruises.
"Whoa..... he's awake!", the girl with dark orange eyes is the first to notice.
"You're right, Tristle. I was sure he was dead! I heard that Caelum exile their own like this, but I didn't believe it!", the other green-eyed girl looks at me with pity.
"Poor thing must be exhausted. Come on, Valana, help me get him inside", Tristle replies, already looking for a way to get the chains off.
Azeal doesn't know where he is or who they are, but he's alive. The spirits kept him alive. There's still something he has to do.
A/N
Azeal is a side character I came up with in my story "Don't Forget". This is a short story just to explain his past. I hope you all enjoyed it!
