Kaia the Argent Wing

I woke up when the wind battered the windows so hard that my sleep-addled mind thought there had been an explosion. I fumbled around looking for my phone for almost a minute before I remembered where I was and why I couldn’t find it.

The apocalypse.

Everything that'd happened up until that point hit me in a wave, and I instinctively curled up into a ball. Marc. Estelle, George… even my parents. Shit, so many people I'd grown up with, all dead. I tried to ignore it, but the bodies of the dead were everywhere out there on the streets. Hidden in cubbies where they tried to take cover from the monsters, or out in the streets where they were caught by them.

Oh god, the man who died last night, overcome with fear and dead to an accidental twist of fate. The storm…

I spent all night making shields while the wind and snow hammered the school and the scavenger parties who were grabbing everything they could. I could still see the process for the shields in my sleep. Build a diamond frame of wood. Take a still warm armoured plate from April, who'd hammered holes into them. Nail the plates to the frame. Flip the frame over, nail the heavy rope hand hold into place. Done. Next shield.

By the time we stopped, it was supposedly early morning. You wouldn't have known it looking outside. At least there were enough soft objects to sleep on now. I had a small sofa for myself, while most of my friends had a mattress of some kind. Oh, and blankets. So many blankets.

Sitting up, I looked around the classroom. I was alone, but evidence of my friends, and the other fighters who were boarding in the room, was everywhere. The windows were covered with sheets too, probably in an attempt to insulate them from the sudden blizzard outside.

When I pushed the blankets off myself, I was rewarded with a sudden smack to the sinuses. Oh my god, I smelled so weird. Was that my body odour? Why was it so… different?

My stomach rumbled, letting me know that it'd also been quite a while since I'd eaten. Time to get up.

I had one change of clothing, which I grabbed and quickly swapped into before I made my way to the bathroom down the hall. A bucket of water was there, and I used it to wash all the smelliest parts of my body.

Once I was freshened up and a little more awake, I headed down towards the cafeteria.

Idly, I wondered if that routine would ever feel, well, like a routine. It was clear the world wasn't returning to normal, and assuming the Edgewood survivors kept their shit together and we weren't killed by the blizzard or monsters… well, mornings like these would probably become the norm.

On my way, I saw a pair of fighters with tooth-axes and my makeshift shields. They each gave me a grateful smile, and one held up his shield, pointing to a fresh gouge in the metal. "Life saver, literally."

I returned the sentiment with a little wave of my hand before ducking into the cafeteria. It was pretty empty… except for the large number of children who were causing chaos on the far side of the room.

Giving them a wide berth, I grabbed some toast and a bowl of cereal, then sat down to eat. The toast was, I realised, a little out of place. How did they…? Right, the old fashioned way, with actual fire in an oven. Wild.

I was halfway through my breakfast when Ollie slid into the seat beside me. "Hey, it's the crafting hero!"

“What time is it?” I asked by way of greeting.

She laughed at my tired, dazed expression and said, “About one in the afternoon, I think?”

"God, that's late," I groaned. "I'm thinking the shields were helpful, though?"

"Hell yeah!" She smiled, and patted at her back where, indeed, one of my shields was slung. "Not my favourite thing to carry around, but it beats having your leg gored."

"I was actually going to try and make armour but… I'm not good enough for that yet," I said, and scooped up a spoonful of cereal. "Things seem calm right now, too. Is everything okay with Edgewood?"

"Yeah, things are okay. The scavenger groups have done some good work. Most people are way more comfortable now, and we have extra food. Storm is getting worse, but. Oh and there's a group that went down the hill towards Riddlebank who haven't come back, which has the cap and his folks worried," she explained.

Riddlebank was a suburb down the hill. It hugged one side of the river and was mostly newer, whereas Edgewood used to be its own town before the city grew and swallowed everything. It was why we still had a main street, actually.

Ollie lit up like she'd remembered something and blurted, "Oh right. I meant to tell you. So you probably don't know but people have figured out the new system a bit more."

I raised an eyebrow and gestured with my spoon for her to continue.

"So some folks got to level six, and guess what?" She said with her characteristic enthusiasm. When I didn't answer because my mouth was full, she barrelled onward. "They got access to a new ability for their class. No orbs needed. Oh and also some people realised that your level actually incrementally increases your stats according to where you've distributed any orbs you've gotten."

"Cool," I nodded, filing that tidbit away for later. I was on the cusp of level five right now, so maybe it would be worth going out to clear some more monsters out of the area.

"Buuuuut," she said, drawing out the word. "Some of the people with non-combat classes realised something when they went out with the scav groups. I’m sure you know about  all the crafters getting abilities suddenly, but it turns out they can get even more! Killing shit gives way faster experience than crafting. We have a few cooks who are level six now! This one suburban mom can actually boil water by looking at it. Has to be just water though. Tried it on a monster and nothing happened."

Crap. I didn't even know that crafting gave you experience at all… which begged the question, why not? Could I only level up as Silver?

Ollie, oblivious to my internal thoughts, continued, "So we were thinking, what if we take you out and grind some levels for you? You're super important for the community. Maybe you'll level up enough to make armour!"

Ohhh no… this was a problem. If I could only level up as Silver, and my friends took me out as Kai… it would be a complete waste of time but they wouldn't know it. How could I even begin to explain why that was so and keep my identity as Silver a secret. Fuuuuuck.

"Um… I think… like, the armour thing is more of a knowledge problem…" I mumbled, completely unconvincing even to myself.

She pouted. "Come on. It'll be fun, and helpful too."

"I'll think about it," I hedged, while trying desperately to think of a way around this problem. I needed to change the subject… "So the storm, is it getting bad?"

"It's chilled out—" she said, pausing to give me a look that confirmed the pun was very intentional. "—after it came running back to Edgewood. Only a foot of snow so far. Mostly it's just annoying."

"For now."

Leaning forward with a gleam in her eye, she murmured, "For now. There's rumours that some of the groups that went further out saw things."

Ohhh and there it was. The other shoe, descending as we spoke. "What things?"

"Nobody can get a clear look, but they reckon the things skitter," she said, way too excitedly. "Isn't that creepy?"

"Ollie," I groaned, rolling my eyes in amusement. "Why is it that every time you say the word creepy my brain auto-translates it to cool."

She laughed and threw her head back, "Oh my god. Okay. Yeah, you got me. I just like spooky shit."

"I will never forgive you for making us all watch The Conjuring," I said, trying to keep a stern, serious expression.

Rolling her eyes, she shot back, "You're so soft."

"Totally. I'm just a delicate flower," I joked, fluttering my eyelashes.

She laughed again, but confusion clouded her expression after a second. "Not physically, though. You always had that cute and gangly Loki style to you… why do you look…"

Ohfuckshitcrap. She'd noticed my vanished facial hair.

Running my fingers down my cheeks like I was feeling my stubble, I said, trying to shrug it off, "Oh, yeah… I found a razor."

"I mean yeah, but…" she coughed and leaned in, deadly serious now. "Dude… have you noticed any weird changes with your body?"

"U-um…" She totally suspected something!

"I have… uh… just look," she whispered and pulled up the sleeve on her jumper. On the back of her forearm was this strange pattern of raised dark blotches. The pattern was a sort of repeating delta formation with the point of the V's facing her wrist.

"What the heck," I muttered, and reached out. Pausing, I glanced up for permission and she nodded. When I touched them, they were hard but with a small layer of skin and fat between them and the open air.

"Spikes, maybe?" I guessed after a moment. "For defence? Have they been getting bigger?"

"Yup," she said softly.

She looked anxious, so I decided to confide some of my secret to her. "Okay, yeah. I've noticed my body is different. All my thicker body hair is gone. No chest hair, no facial hair, and minimal leg and arm hair. It's weird."

"Thank fuck," she muttered, closing her eyes in relief. "Dude, I thought I was alone. Are we turning into monsters?"

"No," I replied instantly. "I doubt it. Did you know there's normal animals out there with special abilities now? I saw a squirrel that can do a chameleon. Maybe it's like… our classes are giving us a few physical things as well as our abilities?"

"I hope so," she sighed. "It's scary. At least you just look a little girly. I'm growing monster spikes on my arms."

Girly. I looked… a little girly…

I bumped my hip earlier. What if my whole normal body was changing to match Silver? Oh crap!

"I mean that in a nice way!" She squeaked suddenly. "It's cute. Are you shorter too? I don't have to look up quite so far anymore."

My face fell into my hands. "Not helping, Olivia."

"Oi!" She laughed. "If you call me that, then I'm calling you Kaiden… no! Kaia! Because you look girly!"

Warm and fuzzy butterflies exploded in my gut like a grenade. Oh god, I really liked how it sounded when she called me that name. Fuck, and she arrived at it on her own!

As with every time some emotion confused the crap out of me, I grabbed my tray and stood up. "Ha ha," I replied, voice wavering. "I'm going to go see what's happening at the workshop…"

Her joking expression fell. "Oh, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry…"

"Nah," I said with a false smile and a shrug. "It's fine. I started it anyway. Sorry for calling you by the other name…"

She followed me when I handed my tray in. "Oh, I don't actually hate my name. It's just that everyone calls me Ollie so much it takes me a second to register Olivia. Plus, it makes people laugh when I complain."

"Alright… drama averted then," I said with a real smile this time. "Want to come see the workshop?"

Still shorter by quite a bit, she hopped a little to keep up with my long strides. "Sure!"