by Tj Dixon
I find myself holding my breath in anticipation and have to force myself to breathe. Mother places the soul stone on the forehead of the angel and pours into its slightly open mouth the dark blue potion that we spent so long concocting. The angel begins to toss in its sleep but mother quickly backs off and moves onto the next one. The soul stone stays in place, held by magic. Mother needs to finish and return to safety before the angels actually wake up. From the angels reaction I am certain the potion and stone are working correctly.
Most of the angels look like Peter and Juliet, except for their huge size. Just like Peter and Juliet they are fire angels. It seems mother is helping the fire angels first as she moves onto another similar angel. Other than the fire angels there are a few other types too.
There are five angels that look like hundred foot tall human men. Other than the size they look like Contractians with their blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes. They have black cloth wrapped around their entire body like bandages, leaving only their heads uncovered. Peter described them as lesser angels.
There are two angels about two hundred feet tall that are human shaped but covered in snow and with a tail and wings made from ice. The snow acts a bit like clothing or I suppose perhaps it’s more like armour. I wasn’t surprised when Peter called them snow angels.
There is also one smaller angel. Apparently it is an angel of love. It is less than two feet tall and looks just like a tiny Contractian girl with pale skin, blue eyes and blonde hair wearing a short purple dress. It looks harmless but according to Peter this angel is by far the most dangerous angel here.
Mother flies between the angels placing the soul stones on their foreheads and pouring the potion down their throats. I offered to help, but the positioning of the stones is far more complicated than it looks. I just couldn’t get it right. So mother is doing all the work. At least she isn’t coming with us though. She’ll be safe once she’s back in the temple.
It isn’t long before all of the fire angels are tossing and turning in their sleep. Mother moves onto the five lesser angels next and after that the two snow angels. Mother hesitates for the first time as she stands over the last angel. The tiny angel of love. Mother looks to Sor who shifts beside her. After a deep breath mother places the soul stone on her forehead and pours the potion down her throat.
“Take me back please.” Mother tells Sor who shifts away with mother. A few seconds later Sor is back. As if that were a signal, the angel that mother used the first soul stone on sits up. As it does so the other fire angels stop moving for a second and then all sit up together. Then they stand. One of the angels has blue fiery eyes just like Peter. All the other angels look towards it. It looks at us, no not at us, at me. I can feel its fiery gaze directly meeting my own stare.
“Thank you.” It roars in my head. I feel like my head will burst but then it is gone and then the fire angels are leaping up into the air. Behind the fire angels there is a smoky trail. As the fire angels soar up into the sky the lesser and snow angels begin to sit up.
“Follow them.” Sor tells us and shoots upwards, following in the fire angels’ trail. I jump up into the air too and so does everyone else. We don’t use flight magic though. Instead we will our dimensional bubbles upwards. The effect is the same as flight magic but we’re actually moving the air around us and anything in the air too. I still just think of it as flight though.
Yu Kii is flying beside me and nobody is very far from me. We are so close that our dimensional bubbles overlap forming one big dimensional bubble out of all sixteen bubbles. Staying close like this should be the safest option. Outside the bubbles it is getting a bit darker and I sense the air is much thinner.
“Your work was a complete success.” Yu Kii tells me.
“It was mostly my mother, but yes it worked perfectly. It would have been awful if nothing happened after Peter and Kuroneko gathered all those soul stones. We were so lucky to find enough to wake all the angels.” I tell Yu Kii.
“Me too.” Juliet says quietly. Jenny and Juliet are just below me.
“Yes, thank you for your hard work too.” I tell Juliet.
“You did well for a human and a Fallen Angel.” A small voice says from directly behind me. I turn my head to the left and see the angel of love. She kisses me on the left cheek and disappears. I feel normal but my heart beats quickly from shock. I hope she didn’t use any magic on me.
“Just a kiss.” Juliet says quietly. I breathe a sigh of relief and my heart slows a little.
“She was cute.” Yu Kii says.
“Dangerous.” Juliet whispers.
“Juliet’s right. She was the most dangerous angel there.” I tell Yu Kii.
“Ahead. Dangerous.” Juliet tells me in a panic.
“There’s fighting just ahead. Don’t stop. Just fly straight through the gate.” Sor warns us.
We reach the fighting in moments. There are fire angels and winged human shaped ice demons fighting each other. Both are the same size as the fire angels we just woke. The sky is completely dark now but we can still see each other clearly and the angels and demons too. The huge fire angels are using fireballs bigger than they are and walls of fire that are truly vast, but the ice demons are using spiked ice balls and walls of ice that are just as big.
Sor leads us through the fighting, constantly veering and bending our path to avoid getting hit by the attacks. One fireball does hit us but the dimensional bubbles hold it off. We catch the attention of both the angels and the demons but they are too busy fighting each other to worry about us. Hopefully sending the angels comrades back to them may have earnt a little goodwill. Hopefully enough to avoid getting attacked if an angel does find the time to do so.
“Near.” Juliet whispers.
“It’s just ahead of us.” Sor tells us.
A moment later we are past the fighting and a huge grey rocky surface is directly above us like a ceiling. On the rocky surface is a stone circular gate with a constantly swirling, distorted rainbow of dark, mostly metallic colours that fill the gateway completely. Sor shoots into the gateway and we follow right behind her.
As we enter the gate we’re entirely surrounded by the constantly swirling colours. My body feels like it is being pulled on from every direction and at the same time pushed forward.
As we move forwards the colours take on a purple hint and eventually we are entirely surrounded by dark purple. Then the purple takes on hints of blue before becoming a dark purple and blue swirling mass. As the dark blue becomes stronger the purple fades until it is entirely gone. Then the blue becomes paler and paler until we can see clearly.
Below us is an ice floor that extends as far as I can see or even sense. Above us is nothing. There are a dozen huge lumps of ice moving swiftly towards us from straight ahead.
“Stay together everyone, or we won’t be able to talk. There’s no air outside the bubbles.” Sor warns us.
“We’d better not lose the bubbles then.” Yusa says nervously.
“Cold kill first.” Juliet whispers.
“The cold would kill us first.” Grunti agrees.
“You’re not helping.” Sor tells him with a glare.
“Fire mages attack. Ice mages try to undo any attacks the enemy use.” Grunti tells us. Fire magic makes sense against ice magic, but how am I meant to undo the enemies’ attacks? Asuna, Yusa, Aventurine, Angelika and Water Lily all look to me and each other in confusion.
Jenny, Sherry and Fire Rose each send a tiny ball of fire at an enemy. The fireball is no bigger than their hand but when it hits the enemy it expands into a huge cloud of fire. How does that work when there isn’t any air to burn? The enemies seem hurt, but not badly. Juliet launches black lightning at an enemy and it instantly melts. A second black lightning bolt strikes and melts the next enemy and then a third bolt and a fourth. Turning my head I see it wasn’t just Juliet. Sor has been attacking with her own black lightning. Only one of the twelve enemies is still alive and even as I think that it gets h
it by both Juliet and Sor at the same time.
“That’s one powerful attack you’ve got there, Juliet.” I say appreciatively. She ignores me and looking closer I realise she seems to be in pain. “Maybe we’d better not rely too heavily on it, if it hurts that badly.”
“Fine. Makes me stronger.” Juliet says and she seems to have recovered. Then she looks at Yu Kii. “Which way?”
“This way.” Yu Kii says confidently pointing straight behind us.
“Make sure to keep in formation.” Sor reminds us and then leads the way.
“Are all the enemies here that strong?” Jenny asks Juliet.
“Weakest. Others strong.” Juliet says.
“If our fire didn’t even hurt the weakest enemy here that’s not a good sign.” Jenny says.
“Did hurt.” Juliet says.
“Perhaps if you all attack the same enemy at the same time it would help.” I suggest.
“Lightning better. Flames weak here.” Juliet says.
“Then next time, fire and wind mages attack at the same time.” Grunti tells everyone.
“What about earth mages?” Helski asks.
“Save your mana.” Grunti tells her.
“Ok.” Helski says unhappily.
“We only have three and we’ll need them all later.” Grunti tells her. It seems he’s not being unfriendly towards her anymore.
“Ok.” Helski says a little happier now.
“We can both do earth magic too.” Sherry says and Cherry nods.
“Only use the element that your angel stone is attuned to. If you try using different elements you’ll only waste your mana, because the angel stone won’t enhance them.” Grunti tells Sherry.
“You said three but there are four including you.” Sherry says.
“I’ll be too busy to help with the earth magic.” Grunti tells her.
“Too busy with what?” Sherry asks.
“More enemies ahead!” Sor warns us and sends a bolt of her black lightning straight ahead. There are dozens of huge ice lumps heading straight for us this time. Juliet sends a dozen black lightning bolts out at once. They all hit and all melt the enemy, but Juliet gasps in pain. It doesn’t stop her sending three more black lightning bolts out straight away, but Sor quickly warns her. “Don’t overdo it, Juliet.”
Jenny, Sherry and Fire Rose all send tiny fireballs at the enemy again but this time no sooner has the first fist sized fireball shot out than a second and third tiny fireball has followed it. I’m truly impressed as all three fire mages keep up a steady chain of fireballs that constantly hit a single ice demon without a single miss. The clouds of fire are huge as the fireballs explode despite their initially small size.
It isn’t just the fire mages that are busy. In addition to the black lightning that Sor and Juliet send out Cherry, Tomo, Tabi and Mirai are sending normal lightning. I can’t hear the attacks because there’s no air connecting the targets and our dimensional bubbles. Despite the lack of air the lightning like the fire is still able to attack effectively. Under relentless assault by fireballs and lightning some of the ice demons melt and fade away into nothing. There are enough though that some will reach us.
“Let’s just try to take control of their ice as if they were ice golems.” I suggest.
“It’s worth a try.” Asuna agrees. Aventurine, Angelika, Yusa and Water Lily nod in agreement.
I focus my water sense on one of the ice demons. It’s huge and filled with mana but I try to force my will on its mana. It resists but thanks to the angel stone I am able to bring it to a halt. I even manage to create a mana leak, weakening its defence. A hail of fireballs hits it and melts it in moments.
I quickly turn my focus onto another ice demon and bring it to a halt. I manage to create a mana leak again and this time lightning pounds it, quickly melting it. I look for another target but realise we’ve already beaten the enemy.
“That went well.” I say in surprise at how easily we won.
“Juliet seems to be in trouble.” Jenny says and turning I see that Juliet is wincing and clenching her claws in obvious agony.
“She took in too many souls. Now she needs to purify them. She’ll be fine soon. We should continue, but Juliet needs to finish purifying those souls before she steals more.” Sor says calmly.
“Can manage more.” Juliet says.
“Don’t.” Sor warns her furiously.
“We can handle the enemy.” Jenny assures her.
“Only weak so far.” Juliet warns us.
“We’ll manage. Rest and focus on those souls you’ve already taken so you can help us against the stronger enemies.” Sor tells her.
“Ok.” Juliet says reluctantly.
“Same direction?” Sor asks.
“Yes, Peter doesn’t seem to be moving.” Yu Kii says.
“Not moving far?” Sor asks.
“Not moving at all.” Yu Kii says.
“Maybe he’s beaten the enemy and he’s resting.” I suggest.
“No. There’s no way he could beat all those enemies on his own. It seems more likely that either he’s a prisoner and being tortured or that he’s hiding somehow.” Sor says.
“Being tortured?!” I exclaim. I’m not the only one who’s shocked by the casual suggestion.
“I’m sure he knows plenty of information that the enemy would love to get.” Sor says with a shrug.
“Let’s continue quickly.” I say and Sor nods in agreement.
“Follow me and stay in formation.” Sor tells us and then speeds ahead. We maintain our formation. Not that there’s any particular order to our positions but staying in one big bubble ensures we can talk to and support each other.
We fly onwards without encountering any more enemies for a while. Perhaps half an hour even. Not that there’s a dimensional timekeeper here to check. At first it is nerve racking but it soon becomes boring to fly over this vast land of ice without anything to do. I consider talking but I don’t want to get too distracted or distract anyone else too much. Plus talking with everyone listening in would feel weird.
There’s nothing like a complete lack of privacy to make you really value privacy. That makes me wonder how we’ll deal with situations where privacy just isn’t optional. Grunti was talking about not being here a whole week, but the Kuroneko seemed to think it would take longer than that. Either way it seems to me that we’ll be here longer than a day. We don’t have any food either now that I think about it. I can at least produce water, but not eating for days could become a serious distraction. The enemies here aren’t the sort we can defeat whilst distracted. At least Juliet has long since recovered from earlier.
“We’re almost there.” Yu Kii tells us.
“Maybe Peter killed all the enemies.” Tomo says.
“Enemies ahead. You jinxed us!” Sor complains.
“Just more ice lumps and only about twenty.” I tell her.
“That’s not too bad then.” Sor says and as the ice lumps get a little closer Sor sends a few black lightning bolts at them. Each lightning bolt hits and melts an enemy. Juliet sends three black lightning bolts too and hers hit and kill three enemies too.
I focus on an ice lump and quickly force a mana leak. Jenny’s fireballs hit and quickly melt it. I switch to another target and easily create a mana leak in it too. Jenny’s fireballs melt it in moments. I don’t remember them discussing it but I get the impression the fire mages are each pairing up with an ice mage. The wind mages on the other hand are all targeting the same enemy and it only takes moments for them to melt their target even without anyone weakening it.
“All done.” Sor says sounding a little relieved.
“Ice dragons.” Juliet warns weakly. That doesn’t sound good and Juliet seems to have gone pale.
“How many?” Sor asks.
“Three.” Juliet says.
“Only three.” Sor says sounding relieved.
“Dangerous.” Juliet warns.
“Everyone target the closest one as
soon as it gets close enough to sense. Water mages focus on weakening and slowing it as much as possible.” Sor orders.
A moment later an ice dragon a hundred times as big as the academy is right in front of me so close I could touch its icy lips. It grins at me but it isn’t a nice smile. It is the face of death. My own death. All of our deaths. Just smiling as if it hasn’t a care in the world.
Juliet and Sor attack with black lightning but the ice dragon ignores the attacks and continues to grin at me. Why doesn’t it just finish us? Is the dimensional bubble stopping it? I recover my senses and try to control its mana but I might as well try to hold back an ocean with one finger and no magic. Fireballs and lightning strike the ice dragon but it continues to ignore the attacks.
The ice dragon reaches towards me with one claw and pierces the dimensional bubble. The bubble doesn’t pop like an ordinary bubble, but instead deflates slowly. Jenny pulls me into her bubble just before the bubble collapses onto me.
The dragon laughs and reaches towards Jenny’s bubble. I try to raise my bubble again but the angel stone refuses to obey my will. My clothes revert to my school uniform. There’s no escape for me this time. With Juliet already sharing the bubble with Jenny there are three of us. Maybe Juliet and Jenny might be able to escape into another bubble, until that one is pierced too. For all three of us to escape in time though is nothing more than wishful thinking.
As the dragon’s claw touches Jenny’s bubble Grunti appears in front of us and bites the dragon claw. The dragon is just as shocked as I am. For the first time the grin fades from its face. The ice dragon brings its open mouth full of ice fangs towards Grunti and tries to swallow him. As it does so though, Grunti throws something into its open mouth. The ice dragon melts instantly.