Unfurled Wings Novels & Stories

Or maybe he did. Maybe he just didn’t care. He stepped forward. The beast unfolded its wings. The sky cracked open. And everything rushed toward violence.

“This saves us three minutes—three minutes that mean the difference between freedom and a bullet. Brace yourself for the noise.” I lifted my clothing, and the tension in my wings eased. The strips of skin parted, and the bone ridges slowly, crackling open. In a heartbeat, the wings fully unfurled, catching the dense air of the pine forest. The movement made an enormous noise—the soldiers would know our exact position immediately. “Hold on tight,” I said, and the girl instantly clung to my back, keeping the core secure beneath her cloak. And then, under the last fading light of dusk, we rose.

The abandoned Shadowland Amusement Park looked like a forgotten skeleton under the moonlight—its rusted rollercoaster tracks curled into the sky like broken ribs, and the ticket booth stood half-collapsed near the gates. Weeds cracked through the asphalt of the empty parking lot, reclaiming the space in crooked green veins.

He took great care not to touch its wings as he tried to help it take flight once more. Damascus quietly whispered words of encouragement as it flapped it wings. The dove stopped and looked up at him as if it understood everything he had been saying. Damascus stopped talking and stared back at it. Suddenly the dove flapped its wings and left the cradle of his hands. It flew up and hovered for a moment. As if silently thanking him.

They stretched wide behind him, crackling with heat so intense the air rippled. Rowan stared, frozen. Kai swore under his breath. “Those aren’t fire wings. They’re something else.” Mistara stepped forward slowly. “Those are the markings of the Unbound Flame. A form that should not exist.” Rowan forced her legs to keep moving. “Azeriel listen to me. You can control this.” “I can’t,” he whispered, voice breaking. “It hurts.” One of the wings twisted violently, sending a streak of dark flame toward the sky. The summit trembled again. The fire from his body rose higher, pulling, swirling, trying to break free of everything holding it down.

What thoughts are going through your pretty little mind? Lifting her head, she cracked her neck and unfurled her wings from the skin between her shoulder blades. The thin blue fabric of her dress moved as they reached out from beneath it. Her shoulder blade jutted with a slight scraping sound. The brown flesh-covered wing emerged. Unfolding like an accordion. Flexing her shoulder blades caused the ten-foot span to straighten, whispering over the furniture before relaxing. Utterly silent he took a step back and ducked to evade one flexing wing.

He stepped back. “Begin.” Around me wings burst into the air. White. Gold. Silver. Soft feathers rustling in the wind. I took a slow breath. Then let mine unfold. The familiar rush spread across my back as the wings extended behind me. A few students glanced over. Whispers again. But this time I ignored them. Focus. In. Out. Extend. Retract. Again. By the time the Headmaster dismissed the class, my wings folded smoothly into my back without hesitation.

Mane had just employed one of those many moves: Exploding Wings. Mane’s mumble was the trigger for the huge fiery wings that grew on his back. The wings were several dozens of meters long and several meters wide. When they appeared on Mane’s back they rose high into the sky, and flapped rapidly. Yet their beating didn’t lift Mane up or take him into the sky. With the beating of those wings, the cry of a Phoenix filled the ears of all who were here, and several large flames descended upon the retreating goblins, burning them all to a crisp. The fire was stronger, completely eliminating the goblins in less than a second.

Everything around them seemed to grind to a halt for a suspended heartbeat, the world collectively holding its metaphorical breath in anticipation. Then, with no preamble or warning whatsoever, a resounding boom akin to rolling thunder echoed across the desolate landscape. A pair of massive, glossy sable-feathered wings erupted from Enzo's back in one explosive motion the next instant, their emergence accompanied by a rush of scorching air. The raven wings unfurled with a resonant snap. Their magnificent expanse easily eclipsed twenty feet across as they stretched to their full, imposing span with a bone-rattling flare.

As she drew a deep breath, the light answered—brightening along the edges in a soft, steady flare. She drew her shoulders back deliberately this time. The weight shifted. Not dragging, not forcing. Now perfectly balanced, as if her body had always been waiting for this. Subtle muscles along her spine engaged, powerful and unfamiliar. The wings unfurled behind her in a slow, measured arc, feathers of living flame sliding into place one by one. They were larger than she had understood in the heat of anger and panic of new and unknown. Now they were arching high above her head and curving wide enough that their tips nearly brushed the chamber walls.