The Revenant Angel

“Aaahh!” Felix screamed and leaned back with such force that he nearly tipped over the couch.

There was no way. She was dead, broken and abandoned for a hundred years, yet she was standing, and staring right at him with her piercing red eyes.

“What is this place?” She asked.

“Um, my workshop…”

“I see.” She looked around, seemingly unimpressed. Snapping back to him, she asked, “And who are you?”

“Felix…”

“Very well.” Turning away, she climbed up to the window, looking out at the ruined cityscape.

“I assume you are the one who healed me?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Getting up, he took a few steps towards her.

She remained silent, just staring out at the ruined skyscrapers and night sky.

Felix, his mind still reeling, finally managed to speak up, demanding answers. “Hold on, how are you even alive!?”

Without turning, she asked, “What’s happened with the war?”

“The war?”

“Yes. It looks like the city’s been evacuated.”

Felix paused. She’s been asleep for a hundred years. She had no clue what’s happened in that time. “The war… It’s over…”

Her eyes widened. “That can’t be right.” She turned to face him. “Where is everyone then?”

“Um…” Felix wasn’t sure how to approach this subject. “How long do you think you were out for…?”

She thought about it for a second. “It can’t have been longer than a few days.” Felix’s expression told her how bad her estimate was. “A few weeks? It certainly hasn’t been more than a month…” Again, his face said everything. “Impossible, it hasn’t been an entire year, has it!?” But Felix winced at her guess.

Solemnly, he told her the truth, “It’s been… a hundred years…”

“What…?” Her eyes widened and she took a step back in shock.

“The war…is long over…and it took civilization with it.”

“No…” She staggered. “That can’t be…”

“It is. I don’t know if you had any leftover business, but I doubt it matters anymore.”

She looked down at her hands before replying, “I see… So that’s how it is…” After a long silence, she took a deep breath and looked up at Felix. “Anyway…” she started, “thank you for healing me, Felix.” She placed a hand over her heart. “I am Velvet, one of the Gwehrtain Angels.”

So it’s really true, he thought. Maybe that’s how she was able to come back to life.

Velvet turned away.

Now that she was alive, the question came of what to do next. It’s not like she had anything or anyone else out there, assuming she could even survive in this world by herself. Of course, she wasn’t his responsibility, but he couldn’t just throw her to the wolves, so Felix bashfully suggested, “Um, since you don’t really have anywhere else to go, you can stay with me if you want.”

Without looking at him, Velvet responded curtly, “Very well.” She hopped down and walked past Felix. “Now if you would, please make me a cup of tea.”

“Tea?” It took him a second to remember what it even was. “Oh, sorry, I don’t have any.”

“You don’t have any tea!?” She raised her voice in shock.

“It doesn’t grow in this region. Sometimes merchants carry it, but it’s so expensive that only the rich can afford it.”

Velvet was overcome with abject despair. “I-I see…” It looked as if her very life force had been drained from her body.

“Um, is there anything else you’d like?”

“No, that’s quite all right, thank you,” she said before walking off, sulking.

***

Felix and Velvet were walking through the abandoned streets together. She had taken a liking to accompanying Felix during his scavenging, although she wouldn’t word it like that. Excuses like “Gathering information firsthand is key,” or “I had best come along to make sure you don’t hurt yourself,” were usually her pretext.

Felix wasn’t sure what to make of Velvet at first. She was always so cold, but even just her presence brought him a kind of warmth.

Velvet was particularly interested in relics of the old world.

She was looking over a model train when Felix asked the question. “You were alive before the war, right, Velvet? What was the world like back then?”

“The world before the war?” She was a bit surprised by the question and put down the train. “Well, I honestly don't have much to say. I spent most of my life on Father’s estate, and that was for only a few years until the war started.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it was just me, my sisters, and Father. I only left after…” She went silent, her face tinged with cold anger.

It seemed to be a touchy subject, but Felix tried to reply sympathetically. “The war hurt everyone…”

“Indeed.“ She paused and looked up, her expression softening.” Father talked about the war sometimes. It was strange. He knew it was going to happen before it even started, and he thought it was a tragedy, but also considered it necessary.”

That piqued Felix’s interest. “Necessary?”

“The war would pave the way for his dream to come true, is what he said.”

“And what was his dream?”

Velvet looked down. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

She didn’t respond.

It was strange. Gwehrtain had some big dream, but his magnum opus, the Gwehrtain Angels weren’t privy to it? Felix thought about saying that maybe she was Gwehrtain’s dream, but that was just too corny. Nevertheless, Gwehrtain seemed like quite the character. Predicting the war wasn’t a common feat.

Not much was known about the war, most of the information regarding it had been lost, but just about everyone knew the basics. The world was split into two major powers, the Federated Republics and the Collective Union. These two superpowers fought a total war for years, causing unparalleled damage and countless deaths. The conflict would eventually end as both sides deployed the newly developed weapon, the V-Bomb. The V-Bomb allegedly used some of the darkest and most advanced magic, but while its design has been lost, its effects are still known. It was powerful enough to wipe out entire cities and would leave behind a miasma that would spread for hundreds of miles, poisoning all life it came across.

“Felix!”

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a stern order from Velvet.

She was holding up the model train she was looking at earlier. “Please carry this for me.”

“Yeah, no problem,” he said before taking the item and carefully putting it in his backpack.

***

Today, Felix was walking through the outskirts of town, once again with Velvet. He wondered how long she’d stick around for. Felix never minded the solitude, but the days were a lot brighter with Velvet there to walk and talk with.

“Felix… Why did you heal me?”

“Why?” Caught off guard by the question, he wasn’t quite sure how to answer. “Well… It just felt like something I had to do.”

“Something you had to do?”

“Look, I don’t quite know why myself, but I know you didn’t deserve to be left like that. At the very least, I wanted to put your soul to rest.”

“I see…” Velvet lowered her gaze, deep in thought as she fiddled with her fingers. Looking back up at him, she hesitated before nervously saying, “Felix…”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Would you…” She had a hard time choking out the words, but she steeled herself. “Would you like to–”

But before she could finish, a cry for help sounded out from afar. Looking in the direction of the noise, they saw a woman running towards them, covered in blood.