Kaia the Argent Wing

It was on the way back to Edgewood school that the Captain began to ask uncomfortable questions.

“Where have you been?” He asked, sounding tired. “Why are you so hellbent on avoiding the refuge we've built?”

I grimaced and avoided his stare. “I was recovering… I have my reasons… and it’s not like I’m entirely avoiding it. I have a house just over the road.”

When I glanced back at him, his eyes lit with sudden understanding. “The house we can’t get into.”

“That’s the one. I’m not always there… but that’s where I’m based out of,” I nodded.

He grunted and was silent for almost ten seconds before he replied, “Alright. At least we know where you are.”

It was clear he was getting frustrated with me, but… I couldn't keep my secret if I did what he wanted. Right after my coma, I might've considered telling everyone about my transformation ability once I was comfortable. Now, though, I was even more firmly committed to keeping it a secret from the public. The way some of them spoke about Silver was creepy. I couldn't imagine how painful my life as Kaia would be if people knew the truth.

“What are your plans now?” The Captain asked as we approached the gates of our fledgling settlement.

Thinking for a moment, I glanced up at the sky to gauge the time instinctively but the cloud cover made that difficult. It had to be mid afternoon by now, though, especially with the thirty minute trip to the mysterious tower that was now our first outpost.

Something suddenly occurred to me, and I stopped on the dirty snow just inside the gates. “Ah, Captain!”

He stopped and raised an eyebrow at me.

“Before I rushed in to help the scavenger crew, I was on a different fact finding mission,” I said, and proceeded to explain what I'd found down the hill.

“A black man with gear made to fight monsters,” he mused aloud once I was done. His brows creased in thought for a second, then he snapped his fingers. “Bandon! Those folks were as tight knit as a community can be. I bet they've survived in some form.”

Bandon, or Bandon Flats as the maps knew it, was a black neighbourhood just over the highway I'd intended to investigate. Technically speaking, the industrial district directly down the hill was also part of Bandon, but that was only because the Bandon neighbourhood used to extend out that way before they rammed the freeway through the middle.

“It'd be amazing to make contact with them,” I said. “Maybe try to help them, or teach them about Cynath.”

“Oh, absolutely,” the Captain agreed. “I could send some folks with you to help.”

I threw him a side eye. The way he said it made me think he had an ulterior motive. “Okay.”

We parted ways after he got my promise that I'd lead a party to make contact with Bandon, and I was suddenly unsure of what to do next. Anything I could do here was as Kaia, not Silver.

Oh, wait! I had an attribute orb to monch! I'd get some more later as gifts to give to the Bandon folks.

Pulling it from my pocket, I willed my mind to consume it, then inspected my options.

The first thing I realised was just how close to level 8 I was. It felt like a few more monster kills would tip me over the edge.

Second was that I had an additional section to my Angel class that was almost… greyed out? It didn't give me any real information about itself either… it was just there.

With a shrug, I went to apply my attribute point to—

“Are you Silver?”

The grating and vaguely annoying voice of Pastor Thomas drew my attention externally once more, and I met his beady eyes.

“Yes?”

He looked me up and down with so much hostility I wished it'd been leering. “You don't look like an angel of the lord, I—”

“I'm not,” I interrupted with weary exasperation.

Like he was in the dawning moments of a car crash, his eyes widened. “What?”

“I'm not an angel of the lord,” I explained with every scrap of patience I could beg, borrow, and steal. “I'm an angel of Cynath, Goddess of Combat, Wisdom, The Moon, and Honour… among a whole bunch of other random domains she's picked up over the years.”

Oh, oh, tell him about the time I represented lesbians frolicking naked in the woods!

Ignoring my liege deity as she attempted to add mischief to her domains, I smiled sweetly at the annoying Pastor, waiting while he processed everything I'd just said.

To my surprise, he didn't immediately start screaming about blasphemy. Instead, he matched my false civility. “Young woman, are you not aware that no other gods exist besides our Lord God? It was written in stone and history. You must see that this goddess of yours is nothing more than a demon playing tricks on you. It is, of course, clear that you have some truly noble power and blood. Watching you fight those creatures was without a doubt a sign of divine anger. I must note, however, that you lack a halo. Perhaps God has taken yours as punishment for your betrayal of his faith?”

“I don't think angels of Cynath have halos,” I said, unsure of how to handle the false kindness I was getting from him.

“A convenient excuse for her, don't you think?” He asked sweetly.

“I mean… I guess?” I shrugged. “Maybe I just need to level up? I haven't asked her.”

He looked almost genuinely concerned when he said, “I do not think so, and as a Pastor I have a special connection to the divine, and I can tell you that you should be careful. God’s tests are myriad and subtle, and I fear you are failing yours. We would not want—”

Just as he'd interrupted me, a new voice overrode him. “Silver! I thought you'd fucked off into the snowstorm again! I need to talk to you.”

Groaning, I quickly allocated my orb into Speed and turned to greet Chloe. She was stalking towards me, thundercloud overhead and my axe in her hand.

“Hey…” I said, cringing slightly.

Before I could say anything more, the pastor’s face contorted with sudden and unhinged rage then rapidly shifted to feigned concern as he whirled on Chloe. “Excuse me, child. I am speaking to Silver. I know your parents had issues with you in the past, but surely your parents taught you not to interrupt your elders.”

Fuckin’ hell. Seeing that rapid expression shift scared the crap out of me. My stomach was ice for a split second. Then I saw the flicker of fear that his dismissive words had elicited in Chloe, and a new, alien emotion settled into my heart. It was like anger, but it felt almost like a shield, or a wall, or… I don't know.

Either way, I raised my hand and summoned my axe. It sprang from her grasp, earning a startled squeak from her, then landed in my palm with a meaty thwack.

“Pastor Thomas, that was very rude,” I seethed, doing my best to keep calm. “Go away.”

“Rude?” He sputtered, eyes widening with hurt and the tiniest hint of fear as he stared at my axe. “She is a… a… a stain on this community! She—”

“Come on,” I said to Chloe, nodding with my head for her to follow me further inside the school.

She didn't follow for a heartbeat, and glanced at the Pastor almost as if asking for permission by reflex. Then her gaze hardened and she turned, following behind me. Hearing him sputtering indignantly behind us was extremely gratifying.

The moment we stepped through the jury-rigged not-so-automatic front doors of the main building, I offered her the axe back.

She gave me a confused look. “What… why are you giving that to me?”

“You're still angry at me, remember?” I grinned. “You didn't give it back yet. I just took it for dramatic effect.”

She stared at it, then shook her head and made a strange half frustrated, half amused sound. “Keep it. Oh, but I still expect an explanation! Why didn't you give us any idea where you were! We were worried!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Who is we?”

“Um… I…” she spluttered, then pouted prettily and looked away. “That’s not the point! Where did you go?”

“I was hiding, sleeping, and recovering,” I said, almost telling the truth.

“Silver!” She groaned, expression flickering between a dozen different emotions, including desperation, anger, rage, and finally defeat. “Fine. Fine! You're gonna do what you're gonna do.”

I hummed lightly in response, but otherwise let her think while we walked. I wanted to visit the shrine while I was in Silver form, and this seemed like the best time to do it.