A Daughter of Nyx

by Alexie Aaron

  “This interests me. May I come along?” Vili asked.

  “Please.”

  “Tell me of your wife.”

  “She is very pretty and strong. She can fly and disappear when she wants to.”

  “Show him a picture of her that you keep on your phone,” Baxter instructed.

  Ted accessed the app and showed him the BBB poster. “They call her the ice queen.”

  “She is a beautiful woman. Normally, daughters of goddesses can be flawed. Medusa comes to mind.”

  “But that wasn’t her fault,” Ted defended.

  “True,” Vili agreed.

  They had reached the campfire. Vili summoned Ulf. A man the size of Ed walked over. His wolf claw necklace rattled when he walked. His beard was long and had mementoes tied into it. The muscles of his arms and thighs were so big that he almost had a comic book look to him. His eyes were blue and clear.

  Vili spoke to him in the old tongue and translated the man’s answer.

  “They come from a place that is always bitterly cold. Heat is their worst enemy. It is what keeps them from overrunning Muspell.”

  “Are they afraid of fire?” Baxter asked.

  “The heat of it, not the sight of it.”

  “There goes my fire fountain idea,” Baxter said, frowning.

  “What if we used electricity?” Ted asked. “It burns.”

  “Interesting. But it’s also invisible. We don’t want to needlessly harm bystanders because they can’t see the forcefield.”

  “Lasers?” Ted suggested. “Think cyclone fence in design and starts ten feet up.”

  Baxter explained the best he could to Vili, and he to Ulf. Ulf nodded and wanted to see the picture of Ted’s woman. He then offered Ted his necklace in trade. Ted graciously declined.

  “Come and speak to my brothers before you leave,” Vili requested.

  Odin adjusted his eyepatch and stared at the modern-day men. He nodded his head as he listened to why they had come. “I approve. The longer you can hold them off, the better it will be for us.”

  “I’m going to do my best to keep the door closed,” Ted promised.

  “You can try, but greed always finds a way,” Odin said. “It is our fault for not sinking it in the sea. That way the giants would have been tired by the time they made land. Surtr’s fire would still come but gradually. First the sea would boil, and you can picture the rest.”

  “Have you seen Surtr?”

  “No, I haven’t, and I hope I never will. Which one of you is married to the daughter of Nyx?” Odin asked.

  Ted raised his hand.

  “Tell me of her exploits.”

  “She killed four Nephilim, one singlehandedly. She killed Ruax in minutes. Aosoth in a likewise time. She is the mother of my two sons and our adopted son. She died thrice and came back to life.”

  “Most impressive. Let me see that device you hold.”

  Ted brought up the picture. Odin looked at it and waved Ve over. “This is our daughter of Nyx. Display her image on the clouds so all the men can see who they will have waiting for them when they arrive.”

  Baxter watched as the god pulled the colors from the air and painted the clouds, and soon Mia stood before 1,000 Norsemen in naught but a tiny bathing suit. There was a pounding of clubs and axes. Coarse guttural comments abounded.

  “Some of the men want to know how a skinny man such as you can hold on to such a woman,” Odin asked.

  “With both hands,” Ted replied.

  ~

  Victor tossed Mia deep into the cold water. She streamlined her wings before she hit and shot out of the water, pushing off from the bottom with her superhuman legs. Opening her wings, she flew back at him. Victor tossed her deeper. This time she faltered. She broke the surface, coughing.

  Victor flew low and picked her up and took her to the island.

  “I’m sorry, but I have no idea how to bring myself out of the water when it’s that deep.”

  “Why not run along the bottom until you can?” Victor asked.

  “It’s so simple and yet so beyond me,” Mia said. She found her shirt and pulled it over her cold body. Clouds moved between them and the sun, and she shivered. Mia was cold but wouldn’t complain. Instead, she started to run along the beach until she built up some sweat. She came back and pulled off the shirt. “Toss me in once more.”

  Victor did so and was pleased to see Mia fly out of the water closer to the island. He was ready to give her a pass and take her to Nicholai’s to rest up, but she had met the challenge.

  “I need to eat,” Mia said as she plopped down and lay on her back looking up at the sky. “Do I have to catch my own? Because I surprised a school of lake perch out there. I’m so hungry I could eat them raw.”

  Victor shook his head. He handed her shirt to her after shaking out most of the sand. He gathered his things. “Come, let’s go to Nicholai’s. I don’t like sashimi.”

  Mia flew with him and waited in the between until the coast was clear before they landed on Nicholai’s beach and made their way to his house.

  Nicholai watched them from his perch. Mia was laughing at something Victor said. Victor stopped and helped her up the dune. Was this a sign of intimacy? He walked over, and in the guise of helping her to brush off some the accumulated sand, he read the last day’s events from her memories. He was proud and disappointed at the same time. Victor kept his honor but also his cherry. This must be why the birdman was such a fierce fighter; he had blue balls.

  “Mia’s hungry.”

  “I don’t cook lunch and dinner.”

  “Can I borrow something to wear and some money? Ah hell,” Mia said. “I’m too tired.”

  Victor picked up Mia who had collapsed on the deck. He pushed through the door, tossed her in Nicholai’s bed and walked out, shutting the door.

  Mia didn’t protest. She was already asleep.

  “I’ve ordered a feast to be brought here,” Nicholai said, handing Victor a large glass of juice. “How is she doing?”

  “Better than expected. She works really hard. We are two-thirds of the way there. I’m open to suggestions of how to unite the archangel abilities with the other two?”

  “I’ve never dealt with stardust before.”

  “She uses it to become unholdable. I have tried to contain her myself, and she is there but not there. I can see her, but I can’t touch her.”

  “What can she do while in this state?”

  “I’m not sure exactly. Surgery, so she can connect with stable molecules.”

  “Wake her. I need more information.”

  Victor opened the bedroom door, and the bed was empty. He walked out and looked in the bathroom, and it was empty too. He returned to the bedroom and saw two earrings lying a headspace apart and Mia’s wedding ring to the side where her sandy t-shirt was laid out on the bed. Inside the t-shirt was her bathing suit.

  “Nicholai, come in here!”

  Nicholai walked in, and Victor pointed to the position of Mia’s things. “It’s as if she evaporated.”

  “What happens when she becomes stardust? Think.”

  “She floats a bit, she’s weightless unless she concentrates,” Victor said.

  “Mia must have changed in her sleep and floated out of here. You go and look for her in the between. She hasn’t been gone that long. You may be able to wake her. You can’t contain her. Who’s her guardian angel?”

  “She has two. Sariel and Altair.”

  “I’ll try to get ahold of them.”

  ~

  Altair was angry. He had just come from a meeting with Michael, and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had approached his general to ask him to relent and help Lucifer. Altair knew Lucifer’s faults in war games, and he feared Lucifer would sacrifice Mia in order to achieve victory. Michael put a hand on Altair’s arm and gave him the bitter truth. It was something that he was having a hard time accepting.

  “We’re recalling the angels. We are leaving Eart
h for one of the other worlds. Any paranormal beings who aren’t tied to the planet and have their own way out, will also be warned. Humans, Hell, Purgatory, demons, and Mother Nature will just have to deal with whatever the outcome of this door situation.”

  “But it’s not open yet.”

  “There are sixteen prophesies. All tell us that it will open. None give a favorable outcome. This is Earth’s end. I have alerted Azrael to the situation. Many of our comfort angels will be working with him to move the souls of the innocent on.”

  Altair was stunned. It was like the Cuban Missile Crisis all over again. The angels were recalled, but the humans involved backed down. The Cynosura’s endgame was going to destroy the world. Greedy men and women, who thought only of themselves and their continuation, were playing their final card.

  “Why aren’t you smiting them? You have the power.”

  “We haven’t been directed to do that,” Michael said. “I have asked Luke’s guardian angel to collect him.”

  “Why not take the parents too?”

  “They will not be able to sustain life where we’re going. Anyone who has stardust-embracing genes is being recalled.”

  “Shit. You realize Mia’s embraced stardust. You promised her to Lucifer.”

  Michael frowned. “It was hard enough to sacrifice her to keep Lucifer happy. I couldn’t tell her about the end of her world. She will fight the pull and stay and fight.”

  “The pull will rip her apart when we leave. We will be killing her.”

  “Then the light will send her on. She has earned her place in whatever heaven she chooses. Azrael will make sure of this.”

  “Who knows we are leaving?”

  “The Brotherhood has just been told as they are earthborn and will stay here. Soren will be sending his elite team to back up Lucifer’s minions.”

  “The human race. Why aren’t we fighting for them?”

  “I’ve asked that question again and again. The universe will accommodate the innocent and those who pray for forgiveness. The light will send their souls on. I have to have faith that they will be provided for.”

  “I will not go with you,” Altair said.

  “Tell me why I shouldn’t forcibly recall you?” Michael asked.

  “I can make a difference. Mia and Lucifer will need my guidance and my sword. I will not sit back and give Nordin, Mia, her family, and friends to these monsters. The light will be overburdened. I don’t have faith that these people, who have made such a difference, won’t be split apart. Where is their reward?”

  “Don’t you think this tears me apart?” Michael said. “When it became evident that Mia was the daughter of Nyx in the prophesies, I fell into despair. I thought when she embraced stardust, I could bring her with us, along with her sons who have enough angel DNA to survive the trip.”

  “She wouldn’t leave her husband and friends.”

  “The recall wouldn’t have given her a choice. We are taking all with stardust in their genes. The light is recalling them now.”

  “How come I don’t feel the pull?” Altair asked.

  “Because you’re an archangel. You have been given free will. I now grant you immunity. Altair, it has been a pleasure to have had you back in the fold again, even if our time was brief.”

  Altair hugged Michael.

  Michael held him a minute longer to whisper something to him.

  Altair smiled.

  He heard Nicholai in his head. He tuned in. Mia was gone. Nicholai reported she had fallen into an exhausted sleep. Had the pull taken her while she slept? Altair surmised that it was quite possible, in her state, she became stardust to recuperate. He flew to the area above Nicholai’s house and searched.

  Mia turned over and hugged air. She opened her eyes and only could see white. She flipped around and saw nothing below her. “What’s going on?” she asked. She summoned her wings, and the weight of them stopped her ascent. “K. I’m not dead.” She batted them hard and managed to move downward.

  A flash of light moved below her.

  “Help!”

  Altair heard her. He could see Mia because of the large black wings. She was resisting the pull. Altair sped to her.

  Mia clung on to him for a moment. “I don’t know what’s going on. Can you help me?”

  “You have to reject the stardust. The stardust is pulling you away from Earth.”

  “How do I do this?” Mia asked.

  “Has it joined with your other selves?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Good. Think of yourself as a semi with two trailers attached.”

  “Got it.”

  Altair smiled. Mia trusted him. He could have told her to be a dancing bear and she would be one. “Put all the archangel shit in that last trailer.”

  Mia concentrated. She concentrated all her might and exorcised what she considered was Heaven-given, and before he told her to, she unlatched the trailer and let it move away from her.

  Mia screamed in pain.

  Altair held her.

  She batted her wings and pulled away from the rising stardust. When the connection severed, Mia clung to Altair. “I have nothing left,” she said, retracting her wings before she fainted.

  He bore her weight and took her downward. He landed and set her gently on the beach. Withdrawing his wings, he scooped up the naked woman and headed for the house.

  Nicholai saw them and called to Victor to return as he ran out and took Mia from Altair’s arms.

  “Where did you find her?” Nicholai asked.

  “She was being pulled by something akin to the light. I had her reject stardust in order to stop her from being taken. She isn’t whole right now. I have no idea who she’ll be when she wakes. How did this happen?”

  “She was asleep and then gone.”

  “She must have slid into stardust. Heaven is recalling most everyone with genetic stardust. The angels are leaving.”

  “I just heard from Soren. I will have to leave soon to gather a flock of warriors, but I can’t leave her broken,” Nicholai said.

  “It’s time to make a decision. Heaven fears that Lucifer will not be successful or that Odin will lose. Everything points to Surtr walking out of that door and destroying this planet. Who do you feel is better at her side, right now, you, Angelo, or Victor?”

  “Victor united the superhuman with the birdman. She had tired, so they were taking a break when this happened.”

  “I say this was fate. If Mia had united the three, she would not have been able to reject the angel inside of her. She exorcised the stardust like it was a demon. It was the only way to save her. She will no longer hear the call or feel the pull. She will have a great emptiness that she will need to fill before she will be battle ready.”

  Victor landed. “I will take her to Komal’s island and ask He-who-walks-through-time to give her more of his blood. I will have Angelo rebuild her mind house. It must be crumbling with the angel mortar gone. Nicholai, you go and reform the battle flock. There is no one better to lead the second wave than you. I will stay at her side.”

  “But you’re our greatest warrior.”

  “I still need to teach her. Euthymia’s battle experience was little. When this situation was originally presented to me, I looked for something that could turn the tide. I knew I needed to be able to produce and direct a great power. That’s when I remembered what the first Victor had done when the world was new. He and his battle partner Astrid had been experimenting with the power of the death spiral. They found, if they broke apart at a crucial moment, there would be an explosion of atoms, causing a small rip in space. All I know is that they were able to direct a mighty shock wave out of the earth’s atmosphere and, in a sense, bat away an approaching asteroid. I’m certain that if Mia and I are able to perform the fabled doomsday spiral and direct the shock wave directly at the door, then we can stop this Surtr. Together, we will save the world.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better if you did this with whomever has the soul o
f Astrid now?” Altair asked.

  “Astrid’s soul is now residing in a gentle but ancient birdwoman who lost a leg to disease. She was the first one I sought out,” Victor said. “That’s when I thought of the success of the waterspout and Mia. But first I had to get her birdman wings back, so I made a deal with Michael.”

  “There are so many things that could go wrong,” Nicholai argued.

  “Originally, I counted on Mia’s ability to become stardust, but that’s gone now. So we’ll have to practice it over and over again,” Victor said.

  “Isn’t this a mating ritual?” Altair asked. “I have seen golden and bald eagles do this. I have seen a few die if they don’t break apart at the right time.”

  “It is dangerous, but it doesn’t produce the mating ritual with birdmen,” Victor explained. “There is more involved for us. For us to mate with a female, we need to kiss her deeply. Our saliva causes a physical change within the female. As you have noticed, we have large organs. No kiss, no mating.”

  “Contrary to popular belief, eagles don’t mate in the sky like Nephilim do. The death spiral is a mating dance, nothing more,” Nicholai informed Altair. “Why it ever occurred to the original Victor to use it as a weapon astounds me.”

  “According to the lore, he and his partner noticed that there was a small disruption in the air when the eagles parted. They tried it, and they found the higher and faster the spiral, the larger the disruption. They only took it to the extreme when the earth was in danger.”

  “Is it really necessary?” Altair asked. “Are you perhaps maybe too focused on what you can do and not what Abigor’s army or the squadron can do?”

  “Believe me, I don’t want to do this at all, but I will. If there is no other way to stop this monster from setting our world on fire, then I’m going to be prepared. Mia is going to be prepared,” Victor insisted.

  “Mia is a peacemaker not a soldier. I have no idea why Nyx chose her,” Altair admitted.

  “In the goddess’s mind, she was the best suited for the task. Remember, Nyx can see the future,” Nicholai reminded them. “She also gave Dieter a gift. Do we know what that was?”