Andreas was awakened by the sounds of distant shouting from outside the cell.  He sat up, his mind still hazy.  How long had he been asleep?  His head still throbbed and he felt a dull pain on his face.  

There was a crashing sound and loud banging against the metal door.  His heart began to pound.

“What’s going on?” he asked timidly.  “Who’s there?”

The metal door was torn from its frame as if it weighed nothing.  Dim light from the corridor trickled into the cell.  Andreas gasped and cowered.

A familiar figure stood in the doorway, black wings open, and silver eyes glowing.  Andreas’ eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped.

“Viro…”

Viro folded his wings behind his back and walked into the cell.  Andreas trembled.  His breathing was erratic.  He curled up as Viro approached.

Viro held out his hand to Andreas.  Andreas looked up.

“Viro?”

Viro looked at him softly.  His silver eyes had stopped glowing.

Andreas slowly got up and took Viro’s hand.  “Viro…you…came back for me?”

Deep, agitated voices were heard from down the corridor.  “The demon’s in there!  Quick!  We must get him!”

Andreas gasped.  “Oh no!  They’re coming for you!”

Viro wrapped his arms around Andreas in a protective embrace.  He spread his wings and put one of his hands on Andreas’ head to shield him.  He flew towards the wall and crashed through the concrete.  Andreas yelped and squeezed his eyes shut.  When he opened them again, he saw that they were high in the air.  It was early morning and the sun had not risen yet.  He gripped Viro tightly.  Viro held him closer.

After flying for a while, they landed in a forest clearing.  Viro set Andreas down amongst the pine needles and dried leaves.

“Viro…” Andreas murmured.  He was still processing what just happened.

“Andreas…” Viro whispered.  Andreas’ heart melted.  It seemed like such a long time since he had heard his voice.  Viro reached out and put his hands on the sides of Andreas’ face.  He touched their foreheads together.

Are you all right?

Andreas gasped.  It sounded like Viro’s voice was in his head.  “What?  You can speak?  I mean- speak my language?”

I’m sending ideas into your mind and it’s being translated into your language.

Andreas’ eyes widened.  “But…all this time…have you been able to understand everything I’ve said to you?”

In the beginning, no…over time, I began to understand you…

“Oh…but why couldn’t you have spoken through my mind before?  It would have made it so much easier to communicate.”

If I had done this earlier, I would have frightened you away.  You would have thought I was a…

“Demon…” Andreas murmured sadly.  Viro looked solemn.  “Are you…a demon?”

Viro looked at him.  What actually is a ‘demon’?

“Huh?”

Those people keep calling me a ‘demon’, but I don’t know what that means.

“Um…a demon is…something evil…”

Evil?

“Something really bad.  They harm people.”

Viro was taken aback.  Have I…done anything wrong?

“No…you haven’t!  I mean, I don’t know if you did anything before I found you, but you haven’t done anything wrong the whole time you were staying with me.  What happened before I found you anyway?  Where did you come from?”

I’m from another world.  Separate from yours.  There’s a barrier between our realms.

“So it is true…”

I could see your world through the barrier and I was curious about it.  One day, I found an opening in the barrier, so I went through it.  I flew around and explored.  It was so fascinating.  But, when I turned to go back, I was suddenly attacked.

“By…those people?  The ones who came after you?”

Yes.  They attacked me and I fell into the sea.

“Oh…”

I thought that was the end.  But when I woke up, you were there.  Well, I saw Bjorn first, but you were there.

Andreas smiled, then his eyes widened in panic.  “Oh!  Bjorn!  What happened to him?  I haven’t seen him since I was detained.”

I’m sorry.  I don’t know.  I was too busy flying away and I didn’t see what happened to him.  Viro noticed the faded purple bruises on Andreas’ face.  His silver eyes began to tear up.  I shouldn’t have left you there.  They hurt you…

“No…it’s fine…I told you to run.  They said they were going to…eliminate you.”

“Eliminate?  You mean…”

Andreas wrapped his arms around Viro and buried his face into Viro’s shoulder.  Tears began to roll down his cheeks.  His voice was shaking.  “I…I don’t want you to die, Viro.”  He broke out into a sob.

“Andreas…”  Viro uttered.  He put his arms around Andreas’ waist.  Andreas calmed down after a while.

You know, ‘Viro’ isn’t actually my name.

“What?” Andreas lifted his head.

It just means ‘man’ in my language.  I misunderstood you when you first introduced yourself and Bjorn and thought you were just describing what you were, so I did the same.

“Oh…then what is your name?”

It’s…I don’t think you’d be able to pronounce it…

Viro sent a series of intricate sounds that seemed unspellable.

“Um…yeah, you’re probably right.  I don’t think I’d be able to pronounce that.”

You can just keep calling me ‘Viro’ since I’m already used to it.

“Sure, if you’re okay with that.”  Andreas thought of something else.  “We should look for Bjorn.  I wonder if he found his way home.  Can you take us back to the house?”

Of course.

Viro spread his wings and picked Andreas up.  Andreas held onto him tightly.  Viro flapped his wings, sending out a whirlwind of forest debris.  He propelled them into the air.

As they flew, Andreas turned to Viro.  “What happened to your wings after you fell into the sea?  You didn’t show them the whole time you were staying with me.”

They must have retracted from the shock of being attacked so suddenly.  I kept them hidden so I wouldn’t scare you, since it appears that people here do not have wings.

“Ah yeah, we don’t.  If people saw you with wings, they’d immediately think you were a demon.”

Does having wings make someone a demon?

“Um…”

Birds have wings.  Do people consider them to be demons?

“No…they don’t.  It’s just…people are not used to seeing wings on a person.  Although…” Andreas’ expression became sadder.  “If you had the wings of a dove rather than the wings of a raven, people would look upon you more positively.”

Really?  Why?

“Um…it’s just…imagery…symbolism…”

I don’t understand.

Andreas frowned.  “Yeah, when you think about it, it’s rather arbitrary.  But then…why did your wings reappear when that person held out that glowing object?”

I honestly don’t know.  It felt very painful when he did that, and the wings came out on their own.

“They said they were from an organization that has been guarding the barrier for centuries, making sure no demons get through.”

I’ve heard rumors about such beings, but I always thought it was something the elders told us to keep us from venturing out.

“Elders?  Are there a lot of…people like you?”

Like me?

“With wings?”

Yes, where I’m from, we all have wings.  Different colors too.  My wings are this color because my hair is this color.

“Oh…”

I think I see the lighthouse up ahead.

“Oh, great!  We’re almost home.”

But…something’s different.  The light has gone out.

“Oh no!  I must have been gone for a long time.  I need to refill the lamp oil.  Can you take us to the gallery deck?  I can get into the lantern room from there.”

Viro swooped down and they landed onto the gallery deck.  Andreas’ eyes widened when he saw that the lantern room’s windows had been broken.

“What happened?”  He ran to the door and pried it open.  He stepped into the lantern room and gasped.

There was broken glass everywhere.  The Fresnel lenses had been completely smashed.

“No!” he cried.  “Who did this?  How’d they even get in?  I always keep the door at the ground level locked.  Did they break the lock too?”  His hands were shaking and his breathing was erratic.  “How am I going to fix this?  The ships out there depend on the light!”

Viro slowly put a hand on Andreas’ arm.  Andreas turned to him.  His breathing began to slow down.  Then he thought of something else.

“Viro, can you take us back down?  It’s faster if you fly.  If they broke into here, I’m worried that they broke into the house too.”

They went back to the gallery deck.  Viro wrapped his arms around Andreas and held him tightly.  He jumped onto the railing and descended downwards.  He glided towards the ground and landed.  He set Andreas down.

Andreas turned around.  He took one look and screamed.

“The…house…” he gasped as he dropped to his knees.  “They…burned it down…”