Kaia the Argent Wing

I wasn’t far from the third corner, out in the parking lot, but with the frigid wind gusting at speeds that felt like it might strip my skin from my muscle, it felt like much further. The battle hadn’t found its way to this side of the school yet, so it was only the wind getting in my way.

Crouching low, I reached out and touched the concrete rim around the small grass island that separated the parking lot from the sidewalk. “I bless this land in Cynath’s name.”

Another beam of moonlight lit my location, and with it came a wave of exhaustion. Oh my god. This was…

My inner class sense wobbled, threatening to flip, and I gasped with sudden fear. Oh shit, I couldn’t swap here, not where anyone could see!

Using the adrenaline that the fear of discovery granted me, I took off at an exhausted, loping run for the final corner of the school. Every step I took, my class tried to flip, but I held it, desperate to stay as Silver at least until I could get somewhere safe.

Every time I threw off the transformation, though, I felt something shift inside me… or inside my class. Oh gods, it hurt…

"What's… happening… to… me…" I gasped as I pushed for the last consecration site.

"You've run out of time in your angelic form," Cynath replied. "The pain is because you're resisting the transformation back."

"I know but… why does it feel… like I'm hurting my other class?"

I was so close. Just another dozen yards…

"You aren't," my goddess replied, sounding just as exhausted as I felt. "But… well, you'll see when you allow the transformation to happen."

That was ominous, and also very unhelpful. If she wasn't worried, though, I guess I could focus on getting this quest done.

When I staggered to a stop at the last site, I collapsed to my knees and pressed my palm to the concrete. "I bless this land in Cynath's name…"

The moonlight speared down from the heavens once more, but this time it was joined by three other pillars of light, one for each other corner. From each one, two walls of silvery magic rushed out to meet their counterparts, until the whole school was enclosed in warm moonlight.

"It's done," I said, grinning despite how chapped my lips were.

"So it is," Cynath said with a sigh. "I am going to need to sleep for a little while. I used a lot of energy today. I would suggest you find somewhere to transform before the acceleration goes too far."

"Acceleration?" I groaned, pushing back to my feet. Where the hell should I go? Back into the school, just duck into a classroom? What about my clothes?

Cynath coughed awkwardly. "Did you know that as Ishtar, I had an entire order of priestesses who were born… much as you were? They were so good, so devout, that I incorporated that into my godly domains."

"Huh?" I grunted, confused. Crap. Some guards from the school had just seen me.

Pretending not to have noticed them, I turned and stumbled away, looking for an alley to disappear into. Then… if I could hold it, I'd try for my safe house.

"I do not have the energy to answer more questions or explain, I'm afraid. Speak… soon…" then she was gone, her last word whispering off into the wind.

I made it into a nearby alley, then shuffled into the next street over. Every step was taking a toll on me, though. I wasn't going to make it to my safe house.

Thinking as fast as my pain wracked brain could muster, I turned and shoved at the door into the nearest home. It was locked. Fucking… argh!

Lifting my axe, I aimed for where the locking mechanism sat and hacked at it. With my storm-buffed strength, I easily carved through the flimsy wood of the door, and I shouldered my way inside. The axe slipped out of my fingers, and I left it to lay there on the doorstep.

A quick look around revealed that the place had been given a cursory looting already, mainly for food, but there were no monsters. Alive ones anyway… the living room had scattered human remains throughout it where a mutated squirrel had eaten the owners of the house. I knew it was a squirrel because it was dead in the kitchen, with its teeth and armoured plates removed. A group from Edgewood had clearly been through the house already.

When I made it into a bedroom, I finally felt safe enough to let my classes switch. Oh boy, I was not prepared for the clobbering my nervous system received.

I lost contact with all my senses for a second, and when I recovered I was prone on the floor. Oh god, my limbs felt like they were being compressed by the weight of every nightmare I'd ever experienced.

Climbing to my feet, I glanced at a mirror that was on a small bedside table. Nothing appeared too different… I think my shoulders were a little… odd? No idea.

Taking Silver's ruined clothing off, I saw that I wasn't packing anything different either. Odd… I'd expected more changes, but instead I just felt like I was hurting all over.

Like an elderly person, I gathered some fairly nondescript men's clothing from the dresser in the room and put them on. Silver's clothing went under the bed, and once I retrieved the axe, it followed. I'd come back for it all later, even if the clothes were wrecked.

Making my way back outside, the pain continued to hammer at my body and psyche. What… what had I done to myself?

Each step was more difficult than the last, until suddenly I was on my knees in the street outside the school.

How… I didn't even remember getting here…

Gods, I was so cold, and the pain… it wouldn't stop…

"Kai?"

I looked up when my name was spoken, and there, along with two other firefighters I didn't recognise, was Chloe.

"Hey… Chloe," I mumbled, blinking to keep her in focus.

She frowned… I think. "What are you doing out here?"

"Exp—ploring…" I said, gasping as another burst of pain seared my nerves. That was pretty much all I could come up with as an excuse for what must appear to be an extremely inefficient death wish.

"Vaughn, can you get him back to the school? I want to keep looking for Silver," Chloe said with a vague look of distaste in my direction. Still, she knelt and took off her jacket to drape it over me. "Kai, did you see Silver come past?"

Chloe was so pretty. I wished she didn't hate me… I wished we could've been friends. I wished I'd stood up and stopped people from teasing her with that stupid name I made up. Gods, how a single fuckup can alter the course of multiple people's lives.

She must've been so lonely until Estelle… but then why did they break up? Neither of them were the type of person to do anything horrible enough to cause the level of anger that'd come between them. I mean… once the anger was there, Chloe was definitely the type to trip someone she didn't like. Estelle was also the type of person to subtly turn her friends against a person… which is what she did.

Gosh, before they suddenly started hating each other, our group had barely interacted with her… although I was aware that at least two cliques had gone out of their way to be nasty to her—

"Kai!"

Chloe's voice snapped me back to reality for a second, and instinctively I tried to push back to my feet. "Y—yes?"

Her reply took a second to come. "Shit. He's in a bad way. We need to get him into the school now."

Ohhhh right. Chloe asked me about Silver. Silver who got shot down by the big angry sky bird…

"Silver's… gone… hurt… Angel juice all used up…" I murmured, and fell forward.

Someone caught me, and they were so warm.

"What do you mean, she's gone?" Chloe asked urgently, while helping me move… somewhere. I wonder where we were going?

"So warm," I giggled, nuzzling the source of the warmth.

My nuzzling was met with exasperation. "Kai!"

I giggled again. "Me!"

"Chloe… I think you'll need to wait until he's safe and healed," a gruff male voice said. "He's hypothermic."

"You're right," Chloe's voice said, and it sounded so far away… "I'm just worried about her. Everyone saw the lightning slap her out of the sky. I hope she's okay."

I hoped Silver was okay too. She was very very warm, though, so she had that going for her. So… warm…