The Hidden World

“Hello young lady,” Vin greeted with a kind smile. “Can you introduce yourself to us, please?”

“I’m Yuna,” she said. Yuki noticed her fingers tugging on each other behind her back. 

“Um, elf. I’m sorry, I don’t believe I got your name.”

“It’s Yuki.”

“Yuki. Why did the Fiddler want us to see Yuna?” Vin asked.

“I’m not quite sure myself,” Yuki replied with an apologetic shrug. “He said something about Yuna needing training and seemed to suggest that without training, something bad would happen to her. So, I brought her here as fast as I could.”

“You’re hoping that we will know what he meant, I assume,” Vin said.

“I do. This seems to be related to archangels. That’s something that I’m not well rehearsed in as you could probably tell by my lack of knowledge on your history.”

“Hmm. Gabriel. Can you look at her?” Vin asked, turning to the other man at the table. 

“Sure. What do you want me to look for?” Gabriel asked. 

“Potential. And lineage.”

“Got it. It’ll take just a moment.” With that, Gabriel began giving Yuna a hard, long look. Yuna began shifting around in place, looking at Yuki with questioning eyes.

“It seems you have questions, Yuna,” Vin said. “Feel free to ask them. If we have answers, we will give them to you.”

“Oh,” Yuna said. “Um. What is Gabriel looking for? I mean, what does potential and lineage mean?”

“Ah. I see part of the reason why the Fiddler wanted you to come here. Do you know what you are, young lady? Do you have a guess perhaps?”

Yuna hesitated, pressing her lips together as she considered her words. Yuki could see that she did have a guess. It was right at her tongue. She just couldn’t say it out of the fear of being wrong.

“Don’t be scared, Yuna,” Vin smiled gently. “I think you do know what you are.”

“An angel,” Yuna said. “Is that what I am?”

“It is. How long have you known?”

“I never knew. Only guessed,” Yuna replied. “Maybe around a year now I’ve had that suspicion.”

“A year. What led you to your suspicion?”

“Well, the Fiddler said a few comments to me when I saw him for the first time,” Yuna said. “He called me a fledgling. Since he was an angel, it made sense that he was calling me one, right?”

“Did you have any clues before that?” Vin asked.

“Right before the Fiddler told me that, there was a clue. I made some kind of barrier. It didn’t feel like normal magic. I didn’t say anything. But he dispelled it with a single wave of his hand.”

“Ah. Was this the only time you’ve used this magic? Do remember any other occurrences?”

“No. I haven’t been able to replicate it. I don’t know how.”

“How old are you, Yuna?”

“I’m nineteen.”

“Nineteen and no wings. Interesting. Gabriel, what is taking you so long? Did you run into some trouble?”

“Kinda,” Gabriel said. “She’s a hard read. I’m almost done though. Keep talking.”

“Okay then. Yuna, I think I know why the Fiddler said to your friend that you would be destroyed if you don’t receive training,” Vin said. “He was being a bit hyperbolic. You won’t be destroyed as in dead. You’ll be fine. But your potential will. Without training, it will be impossible for you to use the magic of the angels after a certain amount of time. Your wings only come out when you can control that magic.”

“But why would the Fiddler care about one angel?” Yuki asked. She had her own suspicions, but she wanted to hear what Vin thought. 

“Why indeed. I do not know and that is why I asked Gabriel to look at the young lady though he seems to be struggling.”

“I’m doing just fine,” Gabriel grunted. “It’s taking a bit longer.”

“I revise my words. He’s being meticulous,” Vin said. Gabriel replied with a satisfied sound, his eyes still glued onto Yuna. Yuki looked at him a bit closer and noticed his irises glowing ever so slightly. “But as for why the Fiddler did what he did, I can only throw out wild speculations.”

“We might have time,” Yuki replied. “Throw one at us.”

“Well, she might be family of the Fiddler and he somehow knew from looking at her,” Vin said. “It would be a bit far fetched, however. I do not know if the Fiddler has family, but I don’t believe he does. It’s the only possible explanation though that doesn’t delve into the realm of insanity.”

“Hmm. An intriguing possibility.” Yuki agreed with Vin that it wasn’t likely. The Fiddler didn’t seem the type to have family and if Vin said he didn’t have any in the city, then the likelihood of Yuna being related was very low.

“I’m done,” Gabriel announced. He had a slight frown on his face. “And I’ve found quite a few interesting things.”

“Really? Enlighten me,” Vin said. 

“Well, let’s start with the obvious. She’s an angel. She has angel blood in her,” Gabriel said. “She also has an elemental affinity for water.”

“She has an affinity?” one of the other archangels asked. It was the other woman who Yuki hadn’t heard speak yet. Laurel. Yuki quite liked her soft voice.

“That’s what I said.”

“You know what I meant, Gabriel,” Laurel sighed.

“Well, I can’t say for sure that she’s an archangel,” Gabriel replied with a shrug. “This is where things start getting confusing for me. She has angel blood. She has an affinity. But there’s just something different about her. She doesn’t quite look like us.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vin asked sharply.

“Her shine is brighter than any I’ve seen,” Gabriel explained. “She’s an archangel, there’s no doubt about it. But I’m curious as to what her lineage is.”

“She’s brighter?” Laurel repeated. “How much brighter? It could just be a gift.”

“Yeah, I might undersold the brightness. If you’re a bonfire, she’s a star.”

“That’s a lot more brighter,” Vin commented. 

“Oh gods. I think I know what’s going on,” Laurel sighed. “It’s not a gift then. Her magic is much too strong for it to be a gift. Her lineage must be from something higher.”

“Higher? She’s the offspring of an archangel?” Vin asked.

“No. You know that archangels don’t always produce other archangels. Besides, even if she was the child of an archangel, her shine wouldn’t be so much higher than us.”

“So something higher than an archangel.”

“Yes,” Laurel nodded. “And do you know who is higher than any one of us?”

The four archangels quieted as a slow realization dawned upon their faces. Yuki didn’t know what this realization was, but she could tell that it troubled them greatly.

“Are you saying that she’s a Shining Child?” Carol asked in a hushed tone.

“That seems to be the case. Gabriel’s eyes have never been wrong.”

“But then who is the father? He must be quite the man to attract the attention of our Lady.”

“Quite the man indeed. But I don’t believe he is from this city. We would know as this isn’t something that we could have missed,” Laurel said. 

“Um, excuse me,” Yuki interrupted. “Would you mind sharing what you’ve discovered? We don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Excuse my colleagues, please,” Vin apologised. “This is something that is quite shocking to us. I’ll put it to you in very simple terms. Yuna’s mother seems to be our Lady, Uriel.”

“Uriel?” Yuna repeated. She looked at Yuki. “Like your AI?”

Yuki sighed. Any other time, she would have laughed, but this wasn’t the right time for that. 

“No, Yuna. Not like Uriel back home,” Yuki said. “Uriel. As in, the Great Archangel Uriel. The leader of the angels.”