“Father!” the young man shouted desperately as he struggled against the people holding him. The villagers were dragging his father away to the altar after they decided that he was too old and sick to be useful. Jay knew that once his father was there, he would never see him again.

“Just give up, Jay,” sighed one of the men holding him. “I know you’ve never been to a sacrifice before, but you should be thankful that the Angel lets us sacrifice useless people.”

Jay hated the villagers for being so devoted to the Angel. He hated the Angel most of all, but he knew that the villagers would gladly throw him in his father’s place as soon as he said it, and his father had made him promise he wouldn’t do anything reckless. 

“The Angel is coming!” the villagers fell to the ground, forcing Jay to do the same. Jay looked up to see the dreaded figure flying down from the sky. Its skin was dark gray, as cold as ice. Jay could only make out its glowing red eyes from the distance. It looked familiar, even though he was sure that he had never seen it before. It landed in front of Jay’s father. To Jay's horror, the frail man dissipated into dust which was inhaled by the Angel. It beat its powerful wings and flew off into the distance.

The villagers returned to their homes, chattering as if nothing had happened, but Jay couldn’t move. He stared at where his father had been standing a moment ago. Anger began to boil inside him, and he felt his eyes burn.

Everyone Jay knew had dark eyes, but Jay’s was crimson red, and it glowed whenever he was overwhelmed by murderous rage. It made the plants and animals around him wilt and die. Jay thought this had something to do with his childhood that was wiped from his memory, but his father had always avoided explaining. His father always told him never to let his anger out of control because every time it happened Jay felt like he was becoming less human. Jay had listened, but this had also made Jay powerless to save him. Jay had never felt angry enough to want to actually kill someone. He didn’t even know if his powers would work on the Angel, but he would have to try anyway. It was the only thing he had.

***

Jay walked to the altar and looked up as soon as he heard the sound of wings pounding the air.

He had never been this close to the Angel. His head began pulsing painfully as it approached him. He felt like he was about to remember something that he had forgotten for a long time.

The Angel was made of gray metal. How could a living thing be made of metal? He wasn’t sure if his powers would work on it. The Angel looked old and broken, though. Not at all like the eternal powerful figure that people described. It advanced towards Jay, and the two pairs of red eyes met. Encouraged by the Angel’s battered appearance, Jay was about to unleash his power, but a grinding metal voice stopped him.

“It’s good to see you again.” the Angel smiled.

Suddenly, searing pain pierced through Jay’s head.

***

He had never been able to remember his childhood, but now he clearly remembered being the Angel’s prisoner as a child, along with many other children.

He also remembered what he had learned from the Angel. People thought that the Angel was one being, but Angels were actually a rare parasitic species made of metal, needing a host human body and feeding on their life energy.

Angels continued their species by planting a dormant Angel in a young human body. Success was very rare, which was why all the other children didn’t survive. Jay’s eyes turned to the color of the Angel’s after the future Angel was successfully planted in him. He was able to use its powers when he strayed from his humanity by having murderous rage, but every time he used it he would be giving up more control to the parasite inside.

Once the host body of the parent Angel became old, it found the child that it had created and absorbed itself into the new body, changing the human body into a perfect Angel.

When Jay was finally returned to his father, the little boy forgot everything from the trauma. Jay never told anyone about what happened, but his father guessed that the Angel did something to his son. Jay’s father knew that no one could escape from the Angel, so he at least tried to avoid reminding his son about the Angel.

***

“I was going to start looking for you,” a sneering metallic voice jolted him back from his shock. “You saved me a lot of trouble by coming to me first.”

Jay realized that he was already under the control of the parasite inside him. It had urged him without him knowing it to confront the Angel, even though he had no chance against it. It had made Jay stupidly try to defeat the Angel with its own powers. Before he had time to react, the Angel crumbled into dust, forming the shape of huge wings and rushed towards Jay, completely encompassing his body.

Jay felt himself suffocating but felt the Angel inside him come alive. The cold metal ripped out Jay's consciousness.

***

The new Angel examined itself. The soft human skin was now coated with metal, the eyes glowing coldly. The villagers had gathered when the Angel appeared, and they had been stunned to silence from what they had seen.

“No witnesses.” decided the Angel. It unfolded its wings and advanced towards the villagers.