“Anyway… thanks,” she reluctantly said. “Being touched by you like that was so utterly revolting and awful, I’ll be sure to keep that consequence in mind when taking aim from now on. Like fucking hell I’ll ever allow it to happen again. So thank you for the motivation to do better with my archery.”
“Glad to help?” Max unsurely replied. Standing back up he started to walk out towards the courtyard before Grace grabbed his arm and yanked him back with a startle.
“I’m not done talking to you yet,” she scolded him. Max blinked then watched her curiously as she held onto his shirt while lowering her head with a low murmur. “I know… I’ve been a little rough with you in the past. You deserved most of it… but not all of it.”
“Don’t worry about it, Grace. Let’s just put it behind us and-”
“I’m not done talking yet,” Grace growled, glancing up to him from behind her bangs with a vicious glare. Max squeaked then smiled nervously and nodded as he waited for her to continue. The elf took a slow breath before looking away with a remorseful gaze, her hand still tenderly holding onto his sleeve.
“You say you didn’t enjoy getting payback with spanking me like that, but I still think otherwise. At any rate, even if that’s true, I still owe you a little more to make us even.”
She hesitated with speaking further as she trembled a little from the thought, something Max curiously observed for a moment before she quickly yanked him over and forcibly backed him up against the wall under the sunshade.
“Grace?” he asked before she put her hand over his mouth, her eyes staring deeply into his with burning intensity while her mouth was quivering a little.
“Just… shut up… and close your eyes,” she ordered. He asked something in a muffled voice behind her hand before she slammed him against the wall again. “Don’t question me, just do it! Close your eyes… and… I’ll give you a token of my… apology.”
Max stared at her in bewilderment, seeing the elf nodding at him with an expectant look while he was held back against the wall.
“I’m not going to hit you or anything,” she promised. “Just… do as I say. Please.”
Max looked at her for a moment longer before closing his eyes. Slowly she removed her hand from his mouth, the elf silently gulping as she stepped closer to him. Holding one hand on his shoulder to keep him still she carefully held the other to his cheek, the elf very slowly moving closer to him as she anxiously looked from his eyes down to his lips then back up again. She got less than an inch away from his mouth before halting, her breathing needing extra focus to remain steady while her eyes began to close in anticipation. Before she could move forward to kiss him however a voice suddenly struck through the air with a mighty blare.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Lelu shrieked out. Grace hopped back with a startle while Max jumped from the cry, the two looking at each other in wonder and surprise for a split second before turning to see a furious centaur watching them.
“What… were… you… doing… with… my… MAX?” Lelu raged while swinging her fists up and down. Beside her was VelRyan, the man watching Max with an amused smirk and crossed arms, while behind them was Bermuda, the arachne coughing with dust wafting from the blanket of soot she currently had on her while staring at the two in question with disbelief.
“What is going on here?” VelRyan shrewdly asked, holding a hand to his chin with a knowing grin.
“Grace?” Bermuda wondered. “Were you seriously about to…”
“Uh…” Grace breathed out, and then turned to Max as he was looking around at everyone in nervous confusion.
“What? What’s wrong? Why is everyone looking at me like that?”
“Is that why you wanted me to risk my life attending Bermuda’s practice session?” Lelu screamed at him in a fluster. “Just so you could slink around behind my back and kiss her?”
“What? Kiss?” Max repeated with a jump.
“I wasn’t going to kiss him!” Grace shouted back with a deep blush. “Like hell I would ever want to do something as horribly gross as that! Shut your fucking mouth, cow!”
“So then what were you just about to do to him before we got here?” Bermuda asked with a smirk.
“None of your business, spider demon!” Grace retorted before looking away stubbornly.
“Max,” Lelu demanded, stepping forward with clenched fists and seething anger. “What were you two doing? Explain yourself this instant!”
“Doing? Us? I don’t know what you mean,” Max insisted shaking his head.
“Don’t play dumb with me! You were kissing her, weren’t you? How could you, Max? How could you?”
“Wait, we never kissed, Lelu. I swear, nothing like that happened. Tell her, Grace. Tell her. Grace?”
Grace remained silent as she averted eye contact with everyone, with Max anxiously looking to her then the others as an uncomfortable silence filled the air. Lelu growled furiously as she got ready to charge in her enraged state, with Max holding out his hands in a desperate attempt to halt her while Grace got ready to fight her off with a frustrated snarl. The centaur started to run forward a few steps only to then quickly slow down as something caught their attention.
“What is that?” Bermuda asked, hearing a very high pitched wail starting to grow from out of nowhere.
“What the hell?” Grace questioned, her ear twitching as she could easily hear it as well.
VelRyan and his daughter stepped out from the awning and looked up at the sky, something nearby harpies and hooded watchwomen were doing as well. Max, Lelu, and Grace looked out at the sky from under the covering as the sound began to intensify.
“What’s doing that?” Grace asked. “Is that from a harpy or something?”
“Bermuda?” Lelu worried, looking over to the arachne. “Are there any more of your frightful balls of death flying down at us?”
“No, and I’m going to ignore the way you phrased that, Lelu,” Bermuda answered, shaking her head.
“Now what’s coming our way?” VelRyan carefully questioned, carefully observing the sky above.
*****
Streaking down from the heavens above was something many might first believe to be a shooting star. Masked in a bright white aura, trailing shimmering radiances of snow and ribbons of light, plowing through the clouds in its decent towards Eden below; the chilling approach of the one hidden within the celestial projectile went unnoticed for many at first, yet was the focus of some who watched with anxious attention.
“Are you sure this was a wise decision?” a woman asked.
“Yes, of course,” another harshly snapped. “This is an opportunity that only comes once in a century. We would have been foolish not to seize it.”
The rapidly descending bloom of white light and trailing wisps of ice and snow shot through the clouds and careened towards a monastery nestled at the base of Red Peak.
“But still… elemental angels are considerably more dangerous and wild to send down there. Wouldn’t a normal angel have been enough for this task?”
“I will take no chances with this,” the second argued. “The renegade has been weakened and is confined to bedrest in that dump of an abbey; this is the perfect chance to finally take her out. That bitch can’t run from us anymore.”
From the falling star that howled in its decent, a silhouette was faintly seen within the shining light. It appeared to be a girl with feathered wings, flying downward at dangerously high speed with snowflakes and specks of ice trailing behind her in the sky.
“But there are others down there near the betrayer,” the first woman worried. “There are too many witnesses, and too many opportunities for an innocent to be caught in the conflict. This is way too risky.”
“I told you, I will take no chances with this,” the second sternly told her. “That fucking traitor is finally in the perfect condition for us to annihilate her without fail. She’s weak, helpless, and unable to fight back or even flee. This is the moment we’ve been waiting f
or, we will not receive another. And I don’t give a damn if there are others nearby, that won’t stop us from cutting this loose thread off once and for all.”
“But… this is likely going to cause a commotion. What if-”
“I told you I don’t give a damn! We’re taking this shot at that bitch whether you like it or not. Besides, we can kill multiple birds with one stone this way. According to our reports, not only is the renegade down there, but so too are souls who missed their destined departure from the land of the living. We can take them all out in one fell swoop this way.”
A shockwave blasted outward from the descending bloom of snowy light, the figure inside the blinding radiance picking up speed and slowly spiraling as she drew closer to the tallest mountains of Red Peak.
“But we haven’t received a request from the underworld to kill them yet,” the first woman worried. “There could be a chance they may not need to leave the living world. We should call this off, there’s too much risk of this turning out to be a terrible blunder.”
“We’re not calling it off. Not like we could anyway, it’s already done. She’s almost there, nothing can stop her now. Now shut up and relax, there’s nothing to worry about. I have this operation all taken care of and-”
“Hazial!” a third woman suddenly roared. “What the hell have you done?”
“What are you yelling about this time?” the second woman annoyingly snapped back. “I’m just doing my job around here. What’s with that look? Come now, Dorva, don’t tell me you’re doubting my call with-”
“I just heard you dispatched a snow angel down there! Please tell me you didn’t!”
The silhouette within the white light flexed her hands, showing her large claws that were ready to strike at her prey. Her wings remained rigid despite the intense winds blowing against them. And the chilling aura she gave off washed over nearby rocky spires she passed, coating them with a layer of frost.
“Of course I did,” Hazial snootily replied. “I handpicked her myself.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Dorva cried out. “Do you realize what you’ve done? Did you not read her papers first? Did you not come across any reason why she should never have been sent down there? Did you?”
“Yes, I researched her background and experience, and I know what you’re freaking out over. It matters not that she’s only ten years old, for an elemental angel that’s old enough to do our work. And according to her history report, she’s already had experience to back up my selection of her.”
“You didn’t read it all, did you? You didn’t read the whole thing, did you?” Dorva demanded.
A suffocating aura of chilling death descended upon Shadow’s Refuge, something many quickly took notice of as they not only could feel a sense of dread in the air, but so too a sharp temperature drop befalling the sanctuary.
“I read it all, I’ve got the papers right here,” Hazial snidely retorted. “I know exactly what I’m doing around here, despite everyone constantly thinking otherwise.”
“Incoming!” a harpy cried out atop the ramparts. The birds quickly started running around in a panic while a few cloaked watchers raised their arms towards the sky.
“Such an entrance to this place is not permitted,” one softly spoke. In the air multiple shining casting bases of pink and golden light appeared, stretching far across the expanse of Shadow’s Refuge in varying layers as they prepared to stop the incoming threat.
“Angel Class Rank S. Elemental type, ice. Designation, Arial the snow angel. Also known as the Snow Berserker.”
The screaming roar of the angel’s decent caught everyone’s attention in the courtyard, all eyes watching in awe as the blinding sharp white light pierced through the sky before crashing through the multiple barriers of the cloaked watchwomen with bright flashes and without slowing down in the slightest.
“Such power,” a hooded woman marveled as she recoiled from the forceful strike.
“84 confirmed kills. Three of which were traitorous angels themselves. She’s never failed in combat once, and thrives in dispatching multiple enemies at once with her mighty wrath. Everyone who comes across her ice dies without mercy.”
“Get behind me!” VelRyan ordered, pushing Bermuda behind him next to Lelu. He quickly held his hands out and erected a wall of interconnecting casting rings that stretched across the court to the walls on either side, the magical barrier glowing with dark gold and blue light as it grew taller to shield the buildings behind him. The hooded watchers above the ramparts casted their own barriers again, this time lining the walls of the courtyard with the magical shields to help contain the impending destruction.
“What is that?” Max cried out as he and Grace ran up behind the man.
“She’s the perfect weapon, a shining example of what elemental angels are capable of.”
With a powerful impact the angel struck down in the middle of the plaza, an eruption of broken stones and ice exploding outward along with freezing winds that blew all across the area. The magical barriers flashed and crackled with energy as they struggled to contain the shockwave from the hit, with VelRyan straining himself to keep his barriers going strong while the children behind him screamed from the bright light, deafening roar, and freezing gales that struck against them.
“Yes, she is,” Dorva agreed. “And I don’t think I need to tell you how valuable elemental angels are to us. They’re incredibly hard to breed, and the few we have are only to be used in the most extreme cases should no other option present itself.”
“I’m well aware of that. I’ve taken everything into consideration with my decision,” Hazial snapped.
“I’m so cold!” Lelu whined, covering her bosom and kneeling down on her legs with a dreadful shiver.
“Father, what’s happening?” Bermuda whined, covering herself the best she could while squealing from the icy air.
“Fuck that’s cold!” Grace cried out, holding her arms around herself with an uncontrollable shudder. She then noticed she was being held by Max, the boy holding her close to him while carefully scanning the billowing clouds of snow and dust for what crashed into the ground. Lelu and Bermuda shook off their chills before they too saw the boy keeping Grace close under his arm, the elf glancing to them then looking away with a flustered blush as she felt her body temperature quickly rising again.
“Have you?” Dorva quizzed her. “Tell me, what was in her report after her combat record?”
“Nothing, that was the end of the report.”
“Check again,” Dorva growled.
“Fine, if it will shut you up. Let’s see… hmm… where was it… hm… hm… ah? Oh… um… seems there was a page stuck to the last.”
“Read it, bitch.”
“Well this isn’t at all what I thought the weather would be like today,” VelRyan commented as the winds finally died down. Standing upright he looked around at the sight of ice and snow covering most of the courtyard while snowflakes were drifting about in the air. A large crowd of harpies and hooded watchers were gathering atop the walls and walkways around the plaza while a few of the birds were flying over onto nearby roofs to better see.
“Everyone okay back there?” he asked, looking behind. Max and the girls jumped and turned to him, then looked at Max again as he noticed Grace watching him with a timid frown out of the corner of her eye with his arm holding her close. She growled a little with a stubborn scowl returning to her face, prompting Max to quickly let go of her and raise his hands defensively with a weak smile. Before anyone could comment on what he did, everyone turned to see something eye-catching before them. Slowly rising to her feet in the middle of the court, surrounded by large spires of jagged ice and billowing snow, was a young girl.
“…what the fuck?” Hazial breathed out in horror. “Are you shitting me?”
“You goddamned fool,” Dorva condemned. “Do you now realize what you’ve done?”
“Why wasn’t this at the front of her report instead of bei
ng at the end like a fucking footnote? Who wrote this shit?”
She stood about as tall as Grace, sandals worn on her feet with thin straps intertwining around her lower legs. Her white and violet toga dress was cut short around her thighs and featured a small belt tied in place with long braids hanging off her hip. Her large feathered wings glistened in the sunlight, as they were actually comprised of feathers made of rigid ice. Her azure colored hair was smooth and draped down past her shoulders, her eyes being light blue while her expression appeared dull and emotionless. Her hands had large ice claws formed around them, appearing dangerously sharp and unnerving. She stood there, eyes unblinking and staring straight ahead at VelRyan and the children with a deathly gleam in them.
“Is that…” Max wondered.
“No way,” Grace said shaking her head. “It couldn’t be.”
“Wow,” Lelu breathed out.
“Father?” Bermuda slowly and nervously asked. “Is that… another…”
“It appears so,” VelRyan cautiously remarked. “This can’t be just a coincidence.”
Slowly the angel began walking towards them, her expression cold and empty while snow drifted from her wings with each step she made. Everyone watched in hushed silence as the girl approached VelRyan and the kids behind him, her steps gradually becoming slower and uneven as she wavered slightly. She stopped in front of the sorcerer, her eyes slowly glancing up at the man before turning to the children behind him.
“Hello there,” VelRyan said with a cautious smile. “That was quite an entrance you made just now. I hope you’re not hurt from that speedy landing.”
“I’m fine, sir,” the angel replied in a dull tone.
“Well that’s nice to hear. My name is VelRyan Avelrian, I’m the headmaster of this sanctuary you’ve decided to visit. What might your name be?”
“My name is Arial, sir.”
“Arial. That’s a lovely name. And what brings you here, Arial?”
Chronicles of Eden - Season II - Act II Page 36