I decided to do a wide circle around the high school, through the suburban neighbourhoods where I would point everyone I saw inwards. Despite my fears that the high school might be a dungeon, I figured there would be enough people to secure and clear it. If it was even a dungeon at all. Maybe I was just being paranoid. I didn’t even have evidence that they were a thing.
The next street over, I found a pair of high schoolers I vaguely recognised from the year below me. Both were scrawny looking geeks with brown hair and glasses, although one of them looked like he'd made an attempt to regularly work out. I wish I'd had the dedication and willpower to push myself even as much as that.
"Hey dudes," I said, trotting over to them. "I'm sending people inwards to Edgewood High. Hopefully once we’re there and safe, we can figure out what’s going on.”
“Who put you in charge?” the buffer of the two nerds asked, frowning.
That pulled me up short, and I stammered, “Uh… nobody, I’m just trying to help. You don’t, like, have to do what I’m saying.”
“Steve,” the scrawnier guy said, shoving his friend lightly. “Chill. She’s just trying to help.”
“She has bunny ears,” ‘Steve’ said, pointing to the sides of my head. “What if she’s a trickster monster?”
Covering my ears with my hands, I took a step back. “Look, the class I got is… weird, okay?”
"Alright," Steve said, crossing his arms.
The other one shuffled awkwardly forward and offered a hand. "Uh, my name is Ben. We were at my place gaming when that big earthquake happened and the weird choice thing got in our heads. You got that too?"
Grateful that he wasn't being strange like his friend, I took his hand and shook, even if it was super weird to shake hands with another person my age. "Yup, I got two crafting classes and something called Fallen Angel. It sounded cool so I took it."
"I'm a Spellthrower, whatever that is," Ben replied. We both turned to look expectantly at Steve.
He grunted, and when we didn't take that as an answer, he said, "I got Bowman. I think it’s because I was into archery, but my gear is at my house.” He paused, sizing me up again. Up, being the most important word in that sentence, because I was taller than him. “My house is in the opposite direction of the school.”
“Well, if you have a legit bow and some arrows, you should definitely go grab them,” I said, because, well, it was true. Okay, and maybe also because agreeing with him might get him to be less confrontational.
That, apparently, was the right thing to say. Steve waved a hand in my direction excitedly. “See! She agrees with me!”
Ben folded his arms and pouted. It was… kinda cute. “You didn’t even like her five seconds ago, man.”
“Yeah, and you wanted to find someone who would kill a monster that we haven’t even seen yet,” Steve replied, gesturing to me with more emphasis.
I perked up. “What monster?”
“Any monster,” Ben sighed. “They exist apparently, and I need a ‘prominent piece’ of them fixed to a staff so I can actually use my abilities.”
“Would the tooth of a mutated rust-flavoured squirrel count as a ‘prominent piece’?” I asked, dropping one of the straps of the pack off my shoulder so I could swing it around and grab the item in question.
“The fuck is a rust-flavoured squirrel?” asked Steve.
“I don’t know, a squirrel the size of a husky with rusted iron armour and teeth,” I shrugged, feeling my cheeks flush with a teeny tiny bit of embarrassment. I hated the idea of people thinking I was weird, and my name for the squirrel probably counted as that.
"Let me touch it," he said eagerly.
It was only one of the small teeth I gave him, but when he took it he grinned. "This is the money! Now I just need a stick!"
"Well… there's plenty of houses. Any old broom handle would work," I said, feeling that familiar spark of happiness that I got whenever I helped someone.
"My mom has one! BRB," he said, and bolted for one of the nearby houses.
Steve and I stood there awkwardly for half a minute, before he asked, "So… what abilities does your angel class have? It's got big main character vibes from the name."
Ah! My stupid face! It was flushing without my permission! "Oh, ha, nah… I bet there's some way cooler classes. Imagine someone with a class like Seraph or whatever. I mean, Ben has Spellthrower. That sounds way cooler."
On Steve's face, one singular eyebrow rose to touch his floppy fringe. "Uh huh…"
"As for abilities, well… I have some sort of empowered strike, a lay-on-hands thing, and a weakening aura that hits enemies," I said, rapidly flustering. God, I hated attention, especially attention that made any sort of big deal about good qualities people mistakenly thought I had.
"Try activate the aura," he said, and the terrible eyebrow of judgement fell, replaced by eager interest.
"Oh, um, okay…"
How does one even activate an ability?
I cleared my throat. "Weakening… aura…?"
Oh god, the way I said that sounded so pathetic, even with my new voice.
Steve snorted out a laugh, but shut up when I pouted and glared at him.
Okay so saying it definitely didn't help. Maybe I should, like, ask the ability?
In an effort to do just that, I mentally poked the slot in my abilities menu blob thingy. It jiggled, and a few spots of colour fell out of it, but nothing happened. Oi! Don't ignore me!
I poked it again, harder and with much more conviction this time. Nothing happened again, but I felt a… thread spin off from it. It was weird, it just flapped in the mental wild, doing nothing useful—
Something reached out on the mental plane, something terrible and vast, and it took hold of the thread between two perfect fingers of thought.
An unclaimed angel. How intriguing! Oh, and aren't you just an adorable bundle of hormones and confusion? Just my style, if I'm honest. Okay, little cutie, I'll power you. Invoke my name… oh, by the cosmos, what was my name again? I had… yes, so many names. Something else we may soon have in common, eh? Stardust, but I do so love secrets too, and you're already keeping some juicy ones! Ah… but names, which of my names shall we choose? For you, I think Chelu will be appropriate. I did so enjoy the two forms I used for that society. A young sensual naked woman, or a towering goddess of wrath and destruction. Such a lovely dichotomy!
"Thanks…" I thought, trying to interject on her monologue.
You're welcome. I'm going back to sleep now.
Oh. Okay. From super wordy to napping in a heartbeat. Chelu… the name didn't ring a bell, but she was supposed to be a goddess? Didn't the other angel say I would have to choose? I didn't even get any other choices!
Ah well. I guess I could try the aura thing now?
This time, I pushed at the blobs of sensation and thought, and I felt an incredible power rush through my body. My eyes closed somewhere along the way, but now they burst open and I gasped. Beautiful silver threads of light were wisping off my body and it felt so damn good!
“Whoa,” Steve blurted, staring at me with wide eyes. “Okay, it’s all fucking real, it’s not just in our heads… look at you!”
“I’m… I’m glowing!” I said, looking down at my hand while it emanated magical energy. So cool!
“Hey guys, I found something better!” Ben said, rushing out the door. “Look, driftwood! It’ll… be… wow…!”
I was grinning at him, when I saw one of the perfectly manicured bushes at the edge of his family’s property begin to shake. Oh, shit! Dropping my pack, I dove in and took both the tooth and the duct tape and threw them at him. “Strap that to your stick!”
He barely got time to try and catch them before another rust squirrel lunged out of the bushes with a screeching how of rage. Taking my squirrel-tooth hatchet, I rushed the monsters as fast as possible. I think my aura must’ve enraged them, because they weren’t even looking at Ben. Their hate-filled eyes were fixed squarely on me.
Flipping the hatchet in my grasp so that the pointed side was ready to strike, I reached with excitement and desperation into my newfound power and pushed my empowerment spell into the spike. My underhanded swing caught the leading squirrel under the jaw. Silver light exploded out from the point of impact like a small flower, followed by a tiny pinprick of black that splashed out around the wound. The spike of my axe bit deep into the skull of the monster, and it fell instantly limp. Holy fuck, I one shot it!
Its companion jumped at me, raking those awful rusty teeth down my arm. I gasped, and pain blinded me for a second while I tugged my axe free and tried to escape the rabid assault. Dimly, I was aware of the boys screaming behind me, but their words didn’t make any sense to me.
Just as I was regaining my footing, a spike of ice flew past me and hammered the feral squirrel right in the face. It squeaked with pain and recoiled, shaking its head side to side. If it weren’t for my accelerated reflexes, I never would’ve been able to see the opening, assess that I could take advantage of it, and then act. This was angel-me, though, this was Silver, and Silver could do shit like this.
My axe took it in the side, but even though I pushed my mental empowered strike button it only hit with mundane force. I could feel my ability sitting there in my mind, but it was spent, still refilling with mana. Ah, crap. Cooldowns were the worst!
To my surprise, Steve appeared at my side with my wood-cutting axe and swung it with two hands. Sparks flew in all directions when the blade bounced off rusted armour. Still, his attack stunned the creature, and I was able to hammer my axe into its unprotected neck.
Blood sprayed everywhere, and I danced out of the way with a disgusted squeal. “Ew!”
“Fuck me, that was intense!” Steve exclaimed. “You’re so fast, that was awesome! And dude, Ben, you cast fucking magic!”
The boy was practically vibrating with excitement, and I stifled a laugh, instead looking down at my bloodied arm. Gross! I could see my flesh moving where the skin was peeled slightly. Ew, ew, ew!
Wait, I could heal!
Taking my uninjured hand, I wrapped it around my arm and willed the last of my abilities to work. More silver energy radiated out of my hand, and sweet, merciful relief washed up my arm. When I took my hand away, my lovely soft skin was unbroken, and even the blood was gone.
“Well, it’s safe to say that all three of my abilities work now,” I said with a shaky laugh.
“Damn straight!” Steve grinned, while Ben approached with eyes that couldn’t quite figure out where to look—My healed arm, my still glowing body, or the melting ice next to the dead squirrels.
Ah, oh god! The way he taped the tooth to that stick! That was awful! “Dude, you’re not going to be a crafter, that’s for sure. Give me that staff before it explodes or something!”
I decided to do a wide circle around the high school, through the suburban neighbourhoods where I would point everyone I saw inwards. Despite my fears that the high school might be a dungeon, I figured there would be enough people to secure and clear it. If it was even a dungeon at all. Maybe I was just being paranoid. I didn’t even have evidence that they were a thing.
The next street over, I found a pair of high schoolers I vaguely recognised from the year below me. Both were scrawny looking geeks with brown hair and glasses, although one of them looked like he'd made an attempt to regularly work out. I wish I'd had the dedication and willpower to push myself even as much as that.
"Hey dudes," I said, trotting over to them. "I'm sending people inwards to Edgewood High. Hopefully once we’re there and safe, we can figure out what’s going on.”
“Who put you in charge?” the buffer of the two nerds asked, frowning.
That pulled me up short, and I stammered, “Uh… nobody, I’m just trying to help. You don’t, like, have to do what I’m saying.”
“Steve,” the scrawnier guy said, shoving his friend lightly. “Chill. She’s just trying to help.”
“She has bunny ears,” ‘Steve’ said, pointing to the sides of my head. “What if she’s a trickster monster?”
Covering my ears with my hands, I took a step back. “Look, the class I got is… weird, okay?”
"Alright," Steve said, crossing his arms.
The other one shuffled awkwardly forward and offered a hand. "Uh, my name is Ben. We were at my place gaming when that big earthquake happened and the weird choice thing got in our heads. You got that too?"
Grateful that he wasn't being strange like his friend, I took his hand and shook, even if it was super weird to shake hands with another person my age. "Yup, I got two crafting classes and something called Fallen Angel. It sounded cool so I took it."
"I'm a Spellthrower, whatever that is," Ben replied. We both turned to look expectantly at Steve.
He grunted, and when we didn't take that as an answer, he said, "I got Bowman. I think it’s because I was into archery, but my gear is at my house.” He paused, sizing me up again. Up, being the most important word in that sentence, because I was taller than him. “My house is in the opposite direction of the school.”
“Well, if you have a legit bow and some arrows, you should definitely go grab them,” I said, because, well, it was true. Okay, and maybe also because agreeing with him might get him to be less confrontational.
That, apparently, was the right thing to say. Steve waved a hand in my direction excitedly. “See! She agrees with me!”
Ben folded his arms and pouted. It was… kinda cute. “You didn’t even like her five seconds ago, man.”
“Yeah, and you wanted to find someone who would kill a monster that we haven’t even seen yet,” Steve replied, gesturing to me with more emphasis.
I perked up. “What monster?”
“Any monster,” Ben sighed. “They exist apparently, and I need a ‘prominent piece’ of them fixed to a staff so I can actually use my abilities.”
“Would the tooth of a mutated rust-flavoured squirrel count as a ‘prominent piece’?” I asked, dropping one of the straps of the pack off my shoulder so I could swing it around and grab the item in question.
“The fuck is a rust-flavoured squirrel?” asked Steve.
“I don’t know, a squirrel the size of a husky with rusted iron armour and teeth,” I shrugged, feeling my cheeks flush with a teeny tiny bit of embarrassment. I hated the idea of people thinking I was weird, and my name for the squirrel probably counted as that.
"Let me touch it," he said eagerly.
It was only one of the small teeth I gave him, but when he took it he grinned. "This is the money! Now I just need a stick!"
"Well… there's plenty of houses. Any old broom handle would work," I said, feeling that familiar spark of happiness that I got whenever I helped someone.
"My mom has one! BRB," he said, and bolted for one of the nearby houses.
Steve and I stood there awkwardly for half a minute, before he asked, "So… what abilities does your angel class have? It's got big main character vibes from the name."
Ah! My stupid face! It was flushing without my permission! "Oh, ha, nah… I bet there's some way cooler classes. Imagine someone with a class like Seraph or whatever. I mean, Ben has Spellthrower. That sounds way cooler."
On Steve's face, one singular eyebrow rose to touch his floppy fringe. "Uh huh…"
"As for abilities, well… I have some sort of empowered strike, a lay-on-hands thing, and a weakening aura that hits enemies," I said, rapidly flustering. God, I hated attention, especially attention that made any sort of big deal about good qualities people mistakenly thought I had.
"Try activate the aura," he said, and the terrible eyebrow of judgement fell, replaced by eager interest.
"Oh, um, okay…"
How does one even activate an ability?
I cleared my throat. "Weakening… aura…?"
Oh god, the way I said that sounded so pathetic, even with my new voice.
Steve snorted out a laugh, but shut up when I pouted and glared at him.
Okay so saying it definitely didn't help. Maybe I should, like, ask the ability?
In an effort to do just that, I mentally poked the slot in my abilities menu blob thingy. It jiggled, and a few spots of colour fell out of it, but nothing happened. Oi! Don't ignore me!
I poked it again, harder and with much more conviction this time. Nothing happened again, but I felt a… thread spin off from it. It was weird, it just flapped in the mental wild, doing nothing useful—
Something reached out on the mental plane, something terrible and vast, and it took hold of the thread between two perfect fingers of thought.
An unclaimed angel. How intriguing! Oh, and aren't you just an adorable bundle of hormones and confusion? Just my style, if I'm honest. Okay, little cutie, I'll power you. Invoke my name… oh, by the cosmos, what was my name again? I had… yes, so many names. Something else we may soon have in common, eh? Stardust, but I do so love secrets too, and you're already keeping some juicy ones! Ah… but names, which of my names shall we choose? For you, I think Chelu will be appropriate. I did so enjoy the two forms I used for that society. A young sensual naked woman, or a towering goddess of wrath and destruction. Such a lovely dichotomy!
"Thanks…" I thought, trying to interject on her monologue.
You're welcome. I'm going back to sleep now.
Oh. Okay. From super wordy to napping in a heartbeat. Chelu… the name didn't ring a bell, but she was supposed to be a goddess? Didn't the other angel say I would have to choose? I didn't even get any other choices!
Ah well. I guess I could try the aura thing now?
This time, I pushed at the blobs of sensation and thought, and I felt an incredible power rush through my body. My eyes closed somewhere along the way, but now they burst open and I gasped. Beautiful silver threads of light were wisping off my body and it felt so damn good!
“Whoa,” Steve blurted, staring at me with wide eyes. “Okay, it’s all fucking real, it’s not just in our heads… look at you!”
“I’m… I’m glowing!” I said, looking down at my hand while it emanated magical energy. So cool!
“Hey guys, I found something better!” Ben said, rushing out the door. “Look, driftwood! It’ll… be… wow…!”
I was grinning at him, when I saw one of the perfectly manicured bushes at the edge of his family’s property begin to shake. Oh, shit! Dropping my pack, I dove in and took both the tooth and the duct tape and threw them at him. “Strap that to your stick!”
He barely got time to try and catch them before another rust squirrel lunged out of the bushes with a screeching how of rage. Taking my squirrel-tooth hatchet, I rushed the monsters as fast as possible. I think my aura must’ve enraged them, because they weren’t even looking at Ben. Their hate-filled eyes were fixed squarely on me.
Flipping the hatchet in my grasp so that the pointed side was ready to strike, I reached with excitement and desperation into my newfound power and pushed my empowerment spell into the spike. My underhanded swing caught the leading squirrel under the jaw. Silver light exploded out from the point of impact like a small flower, followed by a tiny pinprick of black that splashed out around the wound. The spike of my axe bit deep into the skull of the monster, and it fell instantly limp. Holy fuck, I one shot it!
Its companion jumped at me, raking those awful rusty teeth down my arm. I gasped, and pain blinded me for a second while I tugged my axe free and tried to escape the rabid assault. Dimly, I was aware of the boys screaming behind me, but their words didn’t make any sense to me.
Just as I was regaining my footing, a spike of ice flew past me and hammered the feral squirrel right in the face. It squeaked with pain and recoiled, shaking its head side to side. If it weren’t for my accelerated reflexes, I never would’ve been able to see the opening, assess that I could take advantage of it, and then act. This was angel-me, though, this was Silver, and Silver could do shit like this.
My axe took it in the side, but even though I pushed my mental empowered strike button it only hit with mundane force. I could feel my ability sitting there in my mind, but it was spent, still refilling with mana. Ah, crap. Cooldowns were the worst!
To my surprise, Steve appeared at my side with my wood-cutting axe and swung it with two hands. Sparks flew in all directions when the blade bounced off rusted armour. Still, his attack stunned the creature, and I was able to hammer my axe into its unprotected neck.
Blood sprayed everywhere, and I danced out of the way with a disgusted squeal. “Ew!”
“Fuck me, that was intense!” Steve exclaimed. “You’re so fast, that was awesome! And dude, Ben, you cast fucking magic!”
The boy was practically vibrating with excitement, and I stifled a laugh, instead looking down at my bloodied arm. Gross! I could see my flesh moving where the skin was peeled slightly. Ew, ew, ew!
Wait, I could heal!
Taking my uninjured hand, I wrapped it around my arm and willed the last of my abilities to work. More silver energy radiated out of my hand, and sweet, merciful relief washed up my arm. When I took my hand away, my lovely soft skin was unbroken, and even the blood was gone.
“Well, it’s safe to say that all three of my abilities work now,” I said with a shaky laugh.
“Damn straight!” Steve grinned, while Ben approached with eyes that couldn’t quite figure out where to look—My healed arm, my still glowing body, or the melting ice next to the dead squirrels.
Ah, oh god! The way he taped the tooth to that stick! That was awful! “Dude, you’re not going to be a crafter, that’s for sure. Give me that staff before it explodes or something!”
