Kaia the Argent Wing

The man approaching was one I recognised from before the Storm. Pastor Thomas was an older man with just the dregs of his old dark hair remaining amongst the grey. He was one of those older people who carried himself with an arrogance that no longer matched his height and build.

"Who would you be?" Cynath asked mildly.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me!" Pastor Thomas said, drawing himself up as much as he could. "False god, demon! Begone!"

Cynath's hand twitched and clenched into a fist that to my system-honed senses crackled with power. Her voice remained calm and collected when she said, "In days past, I would have killed you where you stand… but just as humanity has grown and matured, so have I."

There was a crowd growing now, and it was… let's just say I wouldn't come out as bisexual to them unless I wanted to find myself beaten black and blue.

"Captain, you cannot seriously be considering an alliance with this… thing that claims to be a god!" Pastor Thomas barked, gesturing up at Cynath's floating figure.

"I…" the Captain stammered, but he was interrupted by a loud crash as three firefighters burst through the doorway that led out into the fields.

All three of them had shields and axes drawn and at the ready, and when one of them spotted Cynath, his eyes blew wide and he drew his shield up. Then he saw the Captain and, still glancing warily up at the goddess, shouted, "Cap! Those spider monsters have climbed the walls! Jennings and Sarah were keeping watch and they must've seen them…"

Oh shit. The monsters could be right outside by now and— the workshop! They kept it open!

I turned and made for the exit, hell bent on helping my friends in there, but the panicked firefighter stopped me. "No! There's hundreds of them!"

"We need to make sure everyone knows to hide—" I began, but he cut me off.

"And open the door so the monsters can see in here? We need to keep quiet…"

Gods damn it!

As if acting out of pure spite against the request for silence, the pastor shouted, "Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve!’” "

There was silence after his little sermon, and everyone who had a brain between their ears slowly turned to stare at the door.

Nothing happened, no bugs began to smash down the door… which the Pastor saw as an opportunity to take a deep breath and continue. Before he could utter more than a squeak, the Captain lunged for him and covered his mouth.

"Everyone shut the fuck up," he growled, low and menacing. "My job is to keep everyone safe, and if that means that I, personally, must make a deal with the devil then so be it. Cynath, what do you need from me?"

"Your pledge that you will govern this settlement with honour and grace. Your pledge to protect all those within, regardless of who they are, so long as they do not harm another of your wards." Cynath intoned quietly. "This includes any who might fall under the modern designation of queer or lgbtq. I protect my own. This is non-negotiable."

The Captain frowned, and the pastor in his grasp squirmed with renewed outrage. Some of the other people who'd gathered to watch the spectacle also appeared angry, but thankfully kept their mouths shut.

"I pledge to protect all those within this settlement, regardless of who they are, who they… love, what they identify as, or who they worship, so long as they do not harm anyone," he said, and to his credit he didn't grit his teeth or roll his eyes or anything. "I pledge to keep them safe, even from one another."

"Good enough," Cynath nodded, then turned to me. "My lovely angel, it is now your turn. As my champion and my angel, I need you to go to each corner of the school and touch it, reciting, 'I bless this land in Cynath's name'. Only the bounds of the school, too. I am still a fledgeling god under this new system."

The Captain must've been distracted, because the pastor squirmed out of his grasp and shouted, "I will not stand for this, I will not! You damn all of our souls to—"

His words were cut off by a screeching crescendo, and a moment later something hit the door hard. It was one of those heavy swinging doors with the big emergency levers, so it would probably hold for now… Unless people started screaming and attracted the whole horde, which is exactly what was happening.

The door began to shudder and crash to a discordant rhythm, and an icy black spike punched a hole through it.

“We need more people!” the Captain called, waving to someone near the internal entrance into the gym.

Hefting my axe, I approached the door with apprehensive determination. Everything was going to shit so fast…

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I glanced back to see Chloe with a few hex bags in her hand. She nodded to me, her expression dark and committed.

“Silver!”

I looked past her and saw Cynath still hovering near the pastor and the Captain.

“Yes, my Lady of War?” I asked, naming the domain of hers that I needed most right now.

She smiled, and in a flickering instant she was in front of me. With all the gravity one might knight a monarch, she placed a hand on my head and said, “I name you my avatar, until Edgewood High is safe under my storm-structured protection. Go, sweet angel, and kill the monsters from beyond the veil.”

Taking her hand away, she looked into my eyes and nodded just slightly… and my vision went white. Power like nothing I’d ever felt before coursed out from my mind, burning a path through my veins like moonlight fire. I gasped, and dimly I was aware of my feet lifting off the ground.

Words began to drum out of my lips to the cadence of war drums. I’d never heard them before, and yet somehow I knew what to say for the transformation to continue.

“I pray unto thee, lady of ladies, goddess of goddesses. O Cynath, queen of all who strive, general exultant. Thou art the light of the moon and the noble heart, O valiant daughter of Suen. I bear armament in your name, I raise your standard most high, for I am your wrath and your shield. I am the silver flame that burns the flesh from your enemies’ bones! O furious Cynath, summoner of armies! I am your winged avatar!”

When my vision returned, I was a full metre off the ground, wings beating furiously to keep me there. In my hand was a shining silver sword-axe thing… I think I’d seen one in history class once? Looking down at myself, I saw I was wearing beautiful silver scale-mail, but with solid plates over vital and external-facing areas.

Allowing myself to drop somewhat unceremoniously to the ground with a thump, I reached up and lifted my helmet off to stare at it in wonder. It looked like some sort of moon-eagle’s head, with a triangular swept-back shape, except for the beak which was the noseguard. Out the back was a horizontal fan of red and gold feathers. It was really fucking badass… but I could also vaguely tell that it wasn’t actually real. I mean, it had heft and it would block attacks, but it was made of magic.

Wait.

Hold on.

Flexing my back muscles, I stared up in awe as two powerful gunmetal grey wings rose up. The edge of each feather shimmered like it was dusted with precious gemstones. I finally had my angel wings! I wonder if I could keep them?

“H-hey… Silver?”

Chloe’s voice startled me, and I turned to look at her. She pointed to the door, where there were now several ragged holes in the heavy wood. I nodded and turned to face it, putting my helmet back on and shifting my axe-thing into a better grip.

Cynath was nowhere to be seen, although I had a slight suspicion that she was watching closely. As for everyone else, though… they couldn’t decide whether to stare at me or the impending breach in our defences.

At that moment, a whole host of people bustled through the interior gym entrance, and then stopped and stared at me. Included in that group were all of my friends, including Finn… I tried not to blush as I remembered how my kiss with him felt.

“Get ready! Those things are going to come through that door any second now!” I said, and turned to not-so-subtly hint to the Captain that he should take charge.

He got the memo, thank goodness, and after shaking himself slightly, started barking orders… starting with me. “Silver, as of now we’re here to back you up! I’m not waiting for them to completely ruin that door either. On my mark, we’ll pull the emergency releases and charge out. I want to push the fighting far away from the door. If we can, we need to thin their numbers out as much as possible in the process. Then Silver will use those impressive new wings of hers to fly out and bless the grounds of the school. Until that’s finished, everyone else will be holding the line. Do not let any of those monsters through to hurt the civilians, got it?”

The relative mundanity of the Captain giving orders galvanised our small force of fighters, and they gathered around the battered door.

“On my mark!” The Captain called when we were ready. “Three… two… one… mark!”