Angels weren’t meant to be wanderers.

                    Bitterness filled Tao’s soul as he touched the V-shaped scars on his back. Angels weren’t meant to be wingless, either.

                    Maybe he wasn’t an angel anymore — he did fall from grace after all.

                   Tao crushed the golden-brown leaves within his fists as he remembered his banishment from the heavens. The other angels had torn his wings from his body and threw him to earth. They told him that he was too selfish to be an angel, that he didn’t have an angelic heart. They told him he was a mistake. A defect.

                   The seasons had changed over a dozen times since he’d been here. Locked within the force-field bound borders of the tiny sylvan island, Tao couldn’t escape even if he wanted to. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was another person to talk to. But this island was vacant of intellects. There were no humans. No angels. Not even devils. He hated this hell hole. MAMA had sent him here to find peace and understanding but all he could feel was resentment and anger. The other angels were right, he wasn’t holy; he was a dark soul in disguise.

                  The worst part of this punishment was his attached immortality. Despite being wingless and halo-less, he was still immortal. This meant he would have to stay on this island for eternity. In solitude forever. Tao smirked as he remembered his first attempt at suicide on the first day. He was ready to die on that day. He was ready to become part of the air and water. He was ready to become nothing more than a sprinkle of mindless energy that circled the universe. But his suicide didn’t go as planned. There was blood when he stabbed himself in the chest with the sharpened edge of a thin branch. It’d sliced through his heart but he didn’t die. He couldn’t die.

                  Tao leaned back and stared up at the falling sun. In the far distance, he could hear the angels singing. Their voices only pierced his heart because he knew he would never be like them again. He was merely an aimless wanderer. An outsider.

***

                 The leaves rustled noisily at the peak of dawn, stirring Tao from his restless slumber. There were footsteps. Normally, Tao would’ve dismissed the sounds as animal tracks but this time he paid attention. Sitting up, Tao looked over his shoulder. Wonder and suspicion plagued Tao as a tall man stumbled from behind a tall oak tree. Dried blood and scratch marks lined the man’s face. His clothes were half-torn and raggedy. At first, Tao thought the man had been attacked by a wild predator. A feral beast of unimaginable proportions. But after closer observations, Tao realized the beast was in the man.

                Was the man cursed? Who would do this to him?

                “Leave!” growled the tall man when he caught sight of Tao underneath the canopy of a tree.

                Tao wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms, “No.”

                “You will get hurt if you don’t leave, stupid!” the man hugged himself tightly as he fought against the beast within in. Razor sharp claws extracted from the man’s finger tips. Tao shivered and watched in horror as the man clawed himself, creating fresh scar marks. Rivers of blood cascaded from his tore skin, darkening the man’s clothes. The man didn’t want to hurt himself but he couldn’t stop. He had no control over the beast.

                “Hey! Stop it!” Tao grumbled as he locked the man’s arms behind his back.

                “Get away from me. You’ll get hurt. I’ll hurt you. It’ll hurt you.” the man’s brown eyes flashed golden-amber as the beast gained more control of his body.

                “If I don’t hold you, you’ll get torn apart by the beast.” Tao hissed back. He winced as the man’s sharp claws nicked him by he didn’t release the man.

                “Believe me, I won’t die. The beast needs a host. It won’t let its host die.” The man let out a bitter laugh, “You better run before it decides to switch host.”

                Tao shook his head, “I don’t want you to hurt yourself. You’re bleeding.” It was true. Some of the man’s blood had even transferred over to Tao’s clothes. Up close, the smell of blood was disgusting. Vile. Even though Tao could bleed, his blood was scentless due to his angel status. The man’s blood, however, smelled like burnt copper. Tao gasped when the man twisted out of his arms and ran away. A moment later, he heard the fearful cry of a deer as it let out its dying wail. That sound was quickly followed by the bloodcurdling howl of a wolf. Tao slapped his forehead, for the first time he wished he was in solitude. This man, beast, whatever he was, was bringing distress and disharmony to his once-peaceful island.

***

                Tao saw the man several more times over the course of the next three months. Sometimes, the man would sit quietly near the shoreline, reflecting over his life. Sometimes, the man would be walk alongside Tao as Tao gathered local berries to eat. They barely talked, although they have shared a few meals together under the glow of the moon. Once in a while, the beast would take over the man. Those were the times where Tao tried to avoid the man. The beast was an uncontrollable creature. A killer with blood-soaked fangs.

                The local deer population had decreased dramatically over the past three months because of the beast’s constant predation. Unable to turn on a blind eye on the falling deer population, Tao knew he had to do something to stop the beast.

***

                It was a warm Wednesday afternoon when Tao went berry-picking again. Just as he’d expected, the tall man came along. Tao popped a raspberry in his mouth as he examined the unnamed man. The man looked dead tired. Dark circles colored the pale skin under his eyes.

                “I never knew your name. What do you call yourself?” Tao suddenly asked.

                The man looked up from the berry bush, “Me?”

                “Who else do you think I’m talking to?” Tao laughed under his breath.

                “You can call me Kris.”

                “I’m Tao. How did you get on this island?”

                “I swam here from the mainland.” Kris lowered his head in shame, “I killed a man accidentally because of the beast. I couldn’t live with myself after that event. I knew I have to get away from humanity, from civilization. I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore.” The man shook his head as he looked at Tao, “But this island seemed to be occupied as well. I can’t catch a break.”

                Tao moved closer to the cursed man. Boldly, he captured the man’s head with the palms of his head, “I remembered you said the beast can change host.”

                “Yes.” Kris furrowed his brows as Tao tightened his hold on his head, “What are you doing?”

                “Give me your beast. Let it out.” Tao commanded, pressing his forehead against the older man. The beast’s aura caressed his skin. It felt like burning fire.

                “You don’t know what you’re doing. Stop it!” Kris grouched as Tao began the beast from him. He wanted to push Tao away but Tao held him immobile.

                “Don’t worry. I’ll be okay. I’m an angel after all.” Tao scoffed slightly at his own statement, “Ex-angel. But still.”

                An angel? This dark-haired boy was an angel? Kris didn’t know if he should believe such a ludicrous response. Shouldn’t angels have halos and wings? Shouldn’t angels be in the sky? But it was too late to think, the beast was already slipping out of his body.

                Tao threw his head back as the beast filled the spaces in his body that was unoccupied by his soul. He could feel something changing within in…and strangely enough, it wasn’t the beast. Bright white light surrounded him, setting his skin aglow.

                Kris watched in awe as a pair of white wings unfurled from Tao’s back. Each feather was threaded with faint gold glitter, giving Tao’s wings a faint golden glow. A golden halo floated over Tao’s head, completing the final transformation.

                “How? Why?” Tao stared at his own hands. He could barely speak properly.

                Because you’ve done a selfless act. You can come back now, my child, whispered a soft feminine voice from above. MAMA.

                Tao smiled. He could rejoin the other angels. He could be in heaven again. Tao pressed a hand to his heart, he could feel the Kris’s beast within him but the beast had mellowed out. The beast understood who he was and didn’t dare to cause havoc.

                “I guess this is goodbye then.” Kris murmured.

                “It doesn’t have to be.” Tao plucked a feather from his wing and handed it to the human, “Call me and I’ll be there.”

                Kris held the feather in his hands. It felt so soft, so delicate. Beautiful like the angel before him. “Promise?”

                Tao nodded, “Promise.”