Daystar

by Darcy Town

Bean turned as her quills melted in the heat. Ariel took a breath, pausing to recharge her flame. Bean spun around and snapped her wings. Quills the size of knitting needles shot out of her wings.

  Ariel took a quill to the leg. She ripped it out and tossed it to the ground, hopping as it healed. She grinned. “Your bombs won’t work if I can pull them out!”

  The quills on the ground vibrated. Bean turned to Ariel and walked over, burnt and limping. “What kind of daughter to Paimon would I be if I only had one type?” Bean snapped. Pink gas filled the air as the quills dissolved.

  Ariel choked, her eyes watered. She fanned her wings to get the gas away. Colorful spots floated in her vision. She snatched at the lights and threw flame randomly.

  Bean took a fireball to her chest. She was knocked off her feet.

  Ariel leapt through the air and landed near Bean’s head. Ariel could not see clearly. She swiped at everything around her. Her claws were long, thin, and highly sensitive. She scraped at the air until she nicked Bean’s leg. She closed her eyes and followed the sensation, ignoring the false images.

  Ariel scrabbled over until she felt flesh. She smiled and looked down at Bean. She flashed her rows of shark teeth. “Hello.”

  Bean struggled to roll away.

  Ariel slumped on her to keep her down. She bit Bean’s arm, taking out a chunk of flesh.

  Bean held her burnt chest and bared bloody teeth. She snapped them at Ariel’s face and kneed her in the chin. Ariel’s head snapped back, but her other arm was already coming down with claws out. Ariel scored Bean’s face, tearing her skin open down to her bone.

  Bean punched her in the stomach and crawled away.

  Ariel snarled. “Where are you going, purple thing!” She leapt and landed on Bean’s back. The talons on her feet sliced open Bean’s calves.

  Bean threw her head back, butting Ariel in the nose. She grabbed Ariel by the hair and flipped her over her shoulder; some of Ariel’s hair and scalp were wrapped in her fingers.

  Ariel held her head and yelped. She gained her feet and charged at Bean. She dodged to the left and grabbed one of Bean’s wings. She wrenched and tore. The wing came half off.

  Bean wailed. Her scream tore through the air.

  Jegudiel faltered in his flight. He scanned the skies, but they were only full of swarming angels, blue and white, nothing purple. He lashed out with arcs of light, throwing angels back, but the vision did not change. Another wail reached his ears. “Bean, where are you?!”

  Gabriel called back, “They are on the ground!”

  Jegudiel bolted to Gabriel’s side. “Where?”

  Gabriel pointed. “There.”

  Bean and Ariel wrestled on the plain. Jegudiel looked at Gabriel and Gaea. Gabriel nodded to him. “We are close to the city, we will be fine. Go!”

  Jegudiel wound up his arm and threw. An ethereal sword impaled Ariel through the heart and knocked her off Bean. She landed in the tall grass and did not rise.

  Jegudiel dropped to the ground and crouched. He scuttled until he reached Bean. She did not stir. “Bean? Bean!”

  Jegudiel scanned the plains, but saw no movement. Ariel stayed hidden in the grass. Jegudiel spared Bean a glance; three of her four wings were no longer fully connected to the muscle on her back. Her blood no longer pumped, but was sticky and thick on the grass. Her skin was cold. He had to get her to a healer, she—

  Ariel landed on his head. “Mine!”

  Jegudiel punched straight up, breaking her jaw. He grabbed her by the throat and flew upwards into the mass of angels above. His fury grew until he became too bright too look upon. Ariel tried to teleport away, but by his will, she was locked in place. Jegudiel smashed his forehead into hers, cracking her skull like an egg.

  Ariel shrieked and fought, but he was unbreakably strong. He wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed, cutting off her scream as he crushed her windpipe. Jegudiel ripped her head off in a twist and dropped her body. A ring of light tore through the sky, incinerating Heaven’s angels.

  Jegudiel gasped as his light flickered. He plunged and hit the ground next to Bean.

  Angel ash fell to the ground like snow. Jegudiel set Ariel’s head down and touched Bean’s brow. “Bean? Bean…” He pressed his forehead to her chest and sobbed.

  Bean opened her eyes. “Yoshi?”

  Jegudiel choked. “You live!” He carefully lifted her off the ground. “I thought you were d—”

  “Yoshi…” Bean slumped her head against his chest. “You are not sick anymore.”

  “No, I’m well. I’m—”

  “You’re older.” Bean looked him over. “You aged.”

  “Yes, Helion’s doing.” He kissed her forehead; tears ran down his cheeks into her hair. “I came to find you. I am so sorry, Bean!”

  Bean smiled. “You look good in your twenties.” She snapped her teeth at him feebly. “Edible.” She coughed up blood. “Though I find myself not entirely hungry at the moment.”

  Jegudiel hugged her gently. “Bean, I am so sorry for what I did to you.” He rocked her on the ground. “I am so sorry. I know that words don’t make it better, but you need to know that you are not those terrible things I said. You are not vile; you are not revolting. You are wonderful and special and worthy of anyone’s love. I was the terrible one.” He kissed her cheeks. “I love you so very much.”

  Bean’s eyelids fluttered. “I love you too.” Her voice slurred. “You’re back to being my Yoshi.”

  “Yes!” He handed her Ariel’s head. “I brought you a present.”

  “Oh, thank you. Just what I wanted.” Bean smiled and held on to it as if it were a teddy bear.

  Jegudiel stroked Bean’s hair and noticed that her wounds did not heal. “Bean, heal yourself!”

  Bean yawned. “I can’t get energy for it.”

  Jegudiel looked to her wings. “I am not a healer, Bean.” He placed the wings back in place, but they did not reaffix.

  “Gaea can repair me. Do they still live?” She looked to the skies.

  Jegudiel nodded. “Come, I can find them again. They have gone for Eden!” He lifted her and held her against him, holding her wings carefully. He jumped into the air. His body let loose rings of light, vaporizing any that approached them. With love set right, he was impervious.

  ***

  Paimon frowned. His sphere was large; it had grown to the size of the moon. The others found it greatly impressive, but he did not. “You guys realize how large the fucking sun is right?”

  Furcas swooped down near him. “No, never been.”

  Paimon glared at Furcas. “It’s a lot bigger.”

  “But you’re doing fine!”

  Paimon pulled in more of the residual leftovers of the sun exploding. “Sure if we had a century! Do you know how hard it is to pull in energy and elements in a universe that is a little lacking at the moment?” He scowled at the starless sky. “How hard is it to find Gabriel anyways? He’s not out here; he has to be in Hell and he looks like me, kind of hard to mistake him for anyone else!”

  Furcas wrapped his arms around Paimon and kissed his neck. “They’ll find him.”

  Paimon took a deep breath. “We’re not even sure that he’ll help us!”

  Furcas leaned his head on his shoulder. “Can you think of any other way to make the sun bigger? Something we could do without him? Come on, wouldn’t that just rub him the wrong way?” Furcas bit him.

  Paimon stared at his arm, then back at the sphere. He watched Furcas’ jeweled angels decapitate shockers. The angels burst into light. He eyed Furcas and smiled. “How many of Heaven’s angels do we have left?”

  Furcas looked up. “Lots.”

  Paimon nodded. “Call in Berith, Andy, and the new kid. Get them behind me.”

  “What is your plan?”

  Paimon grinned. “You’ve played Pac-Man. You know how this works.”

  “You’re going to eat angels?”

  Paimon kissed Furcas’ cheek. “No, giant sun Pac-M
an is going to eat angels and consume mass that way. I am going laugh my ass off while it does.” Furcas left his side, leaving Paimon to hum and roll his sun back and forth like a giant bowling ball.

  ***

  Gaea and Gabriel dove towards the ocean over Eden. Shockers flew under them, sending bolts up at Gaea. Gabriel flipped them over and flew upside down, taking the hits in his back. His hair smoked, his halos flickered. Gabriel’s teeth fractured under the stress of keeping his mouth shut. He would not let the pain or weakness show, not to her.

  Gaea pressed herself up from his chest. “Gabriel! Stop trying to take every single blow!”

  Gabriel grimaced. He spit out a tooth. “If you take even one, things begin to die, Gaea. Nothing dies if I take a few more shots.” He rolled to the left and threw his arm out. Bombs like Paimon’s erupted in front of the shockers, sending them into bits that hit the water.

  Gaea looked down. “Levi! Levi!”

  Leviathan breached. “Gaea! Where have you been? Who’re you with?”

  Gabriel dove. “Will you be fine if I drop you to her?”

  Gaea nodded. “Of course, she will catch me.”

  Fire scored his back. Gabriel flinched. “Good, I did not want to offend or damage you, even slightly.” He threw a smaller bomb back behind them; his hair was drenched in sweat.

  Gaea cupped his chin. “Will you go to Paimon once you let me go?”

  Gabriel sucked in air as he tried to get the fire on his wings to die out. Leviathan sprayed them with water. Gabriel shuddered. “He doesn’t need me.”

  “But—”

  “The desire to not need me will get him around this challenge. He has lacked the proper motivation to put his mind to use; he can do far more than he thinks he can.” Gabriel dodged lightning bolts. “Ready?”

  “Wait!” Gaea held on to him. “If you aren’t going there, then where are you going?”

  Gabriel took another bolt to his back. His limbs spasmed. “I believe I will hit somewhere in this ocean of yours.” He looked at the water blurry-eyed. “It looks rather welcoming; I have not had a chance to be in an ocean before.”

  “What?”

  Gabriel flinched as fireballs shot past them. “I enjoyed our chat and I thank you for flying with me, Gaea. I wished that we could have flown to other places, I wanted to show you other worlds I found.” He twisted until her legs were knocked loose from his waist; he grabbed her wrists and kissed her cheek.

  Gaea’s red eyes went wide. “Why, Gabriel? Please come with me!”

  Gabriel’s eyes flicked to the mass of angels that followed behind. “I need to see you safely preserved, the water below is not a hiding spot. They can and will enter if I do. I will not be helping you by leading them straight to your doorstep, to the heart of your city.”

  Gabriel was struck with electricity. He let go of her wrists and sent her plummeting towards the ocean. He flipped over and threw his arms out. The sky erupted with green and brass colored explosions that tore through the air, reaching the topmost layers of the atmosphere. Energy reserves gone, he went limp. The illusion he had been holding faded, and his mass of injuries became readily apparent. He went unconscious and trailed smoke from charred flesh.

  With Heaven’s angels gone, those of Hell dove for him eagerly, still working on orders to destroy anything that was not them. Gaea plummeted towards the ocean. She watched in horror as he was run through with a stone spear and bound in barbed wire. Wailers and breathers arrived and fought for possession of their traitor, the two groups fighting with fire and metal, sound and stone. They fought over his body like a piece of meat.

  Gaea screamed in rage. She hit the water and jumped as her feet touched the waves. “Let him go!”

  Ouroboros coalesced out of the air, a roping many-feathered dragon with wings that blocked out the sky. “Levi! Is that Gaea? Where has she been?” He watched Gaea soar. “What is she doing?”

  Leviathan blinked her myriad red eyes. “I do not know!”

  Gaea tore Gabriel’s binding armor off and spread wings of lime green. She closed her eyes and dove into the sand at the shoreline, hitting it like a bomb. Debris and dirt were thrown into the air. The soil writhed. The living things in the area quaked. Animals fled. A roar and a rumble formed in the ground as the very earth came alive.

  “Gaea, no!” Leviathan dove beneath the surface of the water and called to her brother, “Chronos, Gaea’s gone crazy!”

  The sand and mud churned turning the area to a swamp. Trees erupted from the ground as Gaea grew in them. Bark and branches cracked and roped around each other. Grass and vines wrapped and bound foliage together; strong as iron. Wet snaps filled the air like bomb concussions. A leg ripped from the ground. Mud caked her limbs. At her head, two red embers erupted into flames for eyes. Grass rolled into roping dreadlocks. Gaea stood taller than any building, larger than her siblings, a combination of all. She breathed in and the air shuddered. This was the first time she had become behemoth and she defined the word.

  Gaea snarled and swung fists like clubs, pulverizing angels of both sides. She reached for Gabriel and plucked him out of the sky. She bared teeth dripping with sap at any that neared. She held Gabriel against her heart, and covered him over in soft leaves. Breathers turned and blasted her with fire. Gaea roared and blasted back with radiation, sickening and mutating angels until they could no longer fly.

  Chronos billowed out from the ground. Shifting shadows and smoke filled the air; he stood nearly as tall as Gaea did. He locked a smoky arm around his sister. “Gaea, what are you doing?”

  Gaea cradled Gabriel to her. “He saved me, I had to save him.”

  Jegudiel bolted by carrying an unconscious Bean. He was a speck compared to their size. “We need refuge and a healer! Where is Gaea—oh!”

  Chronos nodded to him. “We are going below, follow Leviathan!”

  The ocean split and a funnel free of water appeared. Leviathan shifted to a blue-winged woman and motioned for him. Jegudiel nodded and shot searing light at the beamers that followed him. He dove with Bean in his arms and descended into the ocean, Ouroboros followed. Leviathan closed the portal and froze the surface of the ocean. Wailers smashed into the ice, leaving behind bloody smears and feathers.

  Chronos was unaffected by fire, sound, light, or heat. He glared at the shockers that threw bolts blindly. He threw out his hands and the fliers slowed as if stuck in honey. He looked to the sky. “Belial! Appleadris, take care of these before others! They threaten the city!”

  Belial descended in a flurry of liquid metal. She speared angels as if they were olives floating in brine. She threw up her hands and the metal spears soared back up into the atmosphere, dragging the dying angels with them. Belial looked to Chronos. “Sorry they got by, we have had our hands full. Need anything else?”

  Gaea shed her tree form and reverted to a green, winged girl. She sat on Chronos’ palm and held Gabriel to her chest. “Tell Paimon that his brother will not be able to help him. Gabriel is…” she looked into his charred face. “He is not well.”

  Belial nodded and raced into space. She flickered out of Hell as Gaea and Chronos sank beneath the ocean with Gabriel held between them.

  Belial entered empty space, cold compared to Hell. She stared. Paralyzed angels floated in lines and columns in front of her.

  Berith looked up at her arrival. He gestured for her to move.

  Belial frowned. Heat wafted across her shoulders.

  Andy grabbed her and blurred away. He pulled her back behind the substantially larger sun. Belial gaped. “Uh, Gabriel is not coming. What is going on?”

  Paimon grinned and rolled his sun down the lines of angels Berith had created with Azrael.

  Azrael zipped around his head. “I wanna play! I wanna play!”

  Paimon shooed him away. “You’re not old enough to drive!” He saw Belial. “No little brother?”

  Belial shook her head. “He is near dead. Gaea has him.”

  Paimon gaped.
“Near dead, how?”

  Belial shrugged. “I do not know the details, but he looked terrible.”

  Paimon frowned. Furcas looked at him with concern. Belial kissed Andy. “I have to go. May I tell Dahlia anything?”

  Paimon pushed his Pac-Man and rolled into more angels. The sun flashed and took on mass. He nodded. “You can tell her that we might actually be able to do this on our own. Don’t suppose you can track some more angels out here? I never realized the potential energy they had. They’re like little batteries.”

  Belial nodded. “Will do. Give me an ETA soon.” She disappeared.

  Paimon frowned and flicked his wrists, sending the sun down another lane that Berith constructed from stunned angels. He grimaced. “Why is he almost dead?”

  Andy blurred to his side. “Maybe he did something brave?”

  Paimon snorted. “He’s my brother Andy, not Furcas’.”

  ***

  Belial jumped into Hell. She turned and shouted, “Paimon is doing well on the sun; he wants more angels to feed to it. Apple, help me. Dahlia, I do not have an ETA yet!” She took a breath. Shockers dove for her. Belial wrapped them in a metal net and teleported back to space. She threw them at Berith then teleported back to Hell.

  Apple caught Belial on her return. “You continue defense, I do not need to leave to make them go.” She flicked her wrists and took control of wailers. She forced them to teleport themselves. “You’re sure they want more?”

  Belial nodded. “They are feeding them to the sun! The little Berith is stunning them.”

  Apple grinned. “All right, well we can certainly give them more of ours.” Her child moved inside her. Apple smiled and held her abdomen. “Do I look rounder to you?”

  Belial looked her up and down. “Yes, but I did not think it was polite to say.”

  ***

  The remnants of the supernova expanded in an ever-increasing shockwave. Towards the center, energy swirled and jostled. Lucifer was bound up in it, captured by the lights and colors, the heat and energy. He swam, searching for nothing, content to remain.

  He threw out a hand to catch light, to mold and form it. He noticed he had a hand, a curious thing. He saw he had a body to go with it. He flew in circles. He noticed his wings, then the halos around his wrists and ankles. He sensed a vague familiarity, but beyond that nothing.