Angelic Divinity

Kiel followed behind her closely. He didn't like leaving her alone when she had bad feelings. Strange thunder and a headache forming behind his eyes.

Penny nodded, his lips still parted in surprise at his own actions. "Ah, yeah...okay." He swallowed and bit his lip.

Genesis nervously pulled Giselle closer to him, "Shhhh... I'll...I'll be right back. Stay here and don't move." He held her face between his hands and watched her.

Ren growled and did something he would regret in the morning. Using most of his magic, he dissipated himself and slammed into the ground as a bolt of lightning. Staggering slightly out of the burnt mark, he shook his head, pulling at the white streak in his hair, he crouched beside Gabriel. "Gabe...Gabe?" Roling him over, Ren checked his pulse. "He's alive...we'll have to get him inside."

 

tori hurried down the halls until she finally reached a window. it was hard to see at the angle of the window, but it appeared as if a small group was forming outside. she looked back at kiel nervously.
"we need to get outside."
tori started running without waiting for a response from kiel. as seraph it was now her job to always help in any way possible. she needed to have a constant knowledge of what was going on.

kaila took in a deep breath and wrapped her wings around her body, quicking disappearing in a cloud of smoke, only to reappear next to ren outside a short second later. she hadn't done that in awhile and could already feel herself being drained of her magic, but running through the halls would just take far too long. kaila looked at the human boy kneeling in the grass nervously.
"what happened to him?"

tristan looked up at the angels in a daze. he slowly stood, regaining his composure and picked up the sword gabriel gave him.
"the...the lightning. he was teaching me how to fight and the sword acted like a conductor...it just zapped him..."
he stood there lost in the flashback of what happened. barely noticing the female angel bend down to wrap one of gabriel's arms around her shoulders.

schuyler hurried back in the direction of where the funeral was. the shouting was feint and it stopped almost as quickly as it started, but she was certain that had come from there. it didn't take long for her to find her teachers and tristan gathered around one of her other professors.
"professors!"
she began running faster to clear the distance between herself and the others.

the fear didn't leave giselle's face as she gave genesis a quick nod. terror was frozen there on her face. it didn't leave for even a moment. her eyes were empty and hollow. she felt lost and confused. the forecast hadn't said anything about a storm. giselle always had a special ritual she did to help prepare for it. it made the intensity of the storm decrease in her house. now she was in a stranger's room, without anything familiar, and there was an unexpected storm rattling through the sky. her body jumped as another clap of thunder rolled through the air.

 

Kiel followed behind her, matching her stride without a word.

Penny followed close, he felt a wave of warmth hit him and tried to push the evidence of kissing Schuyler off his face and out of his mind. Who knew what the angels would do if they learned he'd kissed her without her permission.

Ren stopped Kaila, "Let's not move him right away. Stay here with him...Lightning is my jurisdiction...and whoever uses it for harm is going to hear it from me." He flapped his wings hard and flew into the sky, stopping another incoming lightning bolt with a shock of his own. Water rained down from heavy gray clouds above and beaded on Gabriel's skin.

 

Tori rushed out the doors, seeing everyone gather in the yard. Something was clearly wrong and it appeared to have affected their teacher.

Schuyler stopped short of tristan. It took only, but a moment to put the puzzle pieces together.
"what can we do?"
She was urgent and frantic, wanting to help in any way possible.

Another crack of thunder rumbled in the evening sky and giselle jumped off the bed. She took the blankets with her and she curled up in a nook between the edge of the bed and the wall. The small corner brought her some form of composure and solitude as her body was consumed in the sheets on the floor. It was all so terrifying and she was alone in an umfamiliar room. She felt lost and scared as she counted the minutes until genesis would return. She still wasn't sure how she felt about him, but he did save her life. That, giselle felt it meant she now owed him.
the first debt is always the hardest to pay back.
It was something she heard years ago from a familiar upbeat boy around her age.

Kaila noticed the rain and smiled. She muttered something silently to herself as she made the rain slowly go away. There was no way he was going to get sick AND be struck by lightning. Kaila takes a moment disperssing the rain, before acknowledging the student's presence.
"yes. Take the humans inside. Bring them to their rooms or tye infirmary. Whatever is closest. She felt awful the whole time.

 

Kiel crouched beside Gabriel, taking Ren's place, and frowned. Something tugged at the corner of his mind. Something familiar. Trying to grab at it, it slipped further away. Giving up, Kiel pried the sword out of his hands, only to have it disappear the second it left his skin.

Penny kept himself a distance away from the crowd and rubbed his head.

Genesis skidded to a stop behind Kiel and drew in a nervous breath. "Gabriel's swords are made of pure magic...they wouldn't conduct electricity like that. This was an attack on Gabriel himself. I'll find whoever did this..." he growled shortly before drawing his own red sword and hustling into the forest beyond the school grounds.

 

Kaila frowned. She hated when students just took off into the woods, especially recently. Since genesis took off there was nothing she could do now. Noticing how dark it was getting, it wouldn't be safe any longer.
"zadkiel, tori, schuyler, take mr. grimm and mr. perry inside. You shouldn't stay out on the grounds much longer. As soon as genesis returns i'll have him sent back inside too. Professor leahpar and I will take care of professor learbag."
She shooed them all inside.

Schuyler ran back to penny grabbing his arm, pulling him towards the entrance.
"let's go. I heard rumors that if you disobey professor camponella she turns you into toads during magics class."

Tori shifted nervously, giving glances between her teachers, tristan, and kiel. She didn't want to leave. Being the seraphim means knowing what's going on at all times. It would take a lot of work for people to take her seriously in her new position of power. She certainly didn't feel like she was in charge of all the angels. After standing there perplexed for a moment she finally heads back to the doors wordlessly.

Tristan stood shakily, picking up the sword and hazily walking inside. Everything was a blur now. The whole day had just been a whirlwind of downs, except for jean; but even that ended badly.

Giselle wrapped the blankets tightly around her body and rocked back and forth. It seemed like an eternity since genesis left, even though it had only been a matter of minutes. her heart was racing and every nerve in her body was on high alert.

 

Ren landed cautiously in Kaila’s meadow. Yellow eyes flicking to the darkness in the edges of the meadow. Easing himself into the darkness already present, Ren drew and automatic pistol from his hip, under his shirt. Taking a few steps around the perimeter of the meadow, Ren’s breath billowed out in front of him in a mist. Silently, he opened his wings, testing the air around him. Electricity fizzled on his feathers. “You can’t escape now…” Ren held himself still, only turning his head slightly towards the voice.

Penny nodded, turning with Schuyler.

Kiel followed Tori, grabbing her shoulder, “You’re just going to leave like this? Tori…I’ll protect you, no matter what. All you have to do is make them listen.”

A ghostly hand settled on Tori’s shoulder. Yves’ voice echoed in Tori’s head. “Create light, if they’re scared of the dark. Give a spark and the flames of the Seraph power within you will enhance it.”

Kiel motioned to Tristan, “Tristan, with us!”

Genesis halted in what seemed like a maze of trees. As darkness fell, Genesis felt fear grip his heart, creating gooseflesh to rise on his bare arms. He regretted leaving his jacket in his room. A sleeveless black sweater wasn’t enough against the cold. His boots snapped twigs in half as he moved through the trees.

 

tristan walked in a fog over to tori and kiel. His attention was on the sword in his hand until tori started screaming. It managed to snap him into focus for a moment. He stopped behind her.

schuyler was walking behind everyone else with penny when tori broke down in front of them all.

Tori stopped walking, listening to yves's voice in her head.
"i don't understand how i'm supposed to do that! How am I supposed to create light to make people listen to me yves? Nobody wants a teenager as a leader!"
She dropped to her knees angrily before noticing everyone staring at her. Nobody else had heard the seraph's voice. Tori looked hysterical shouting at the air.

Kaila shook her head and walked over to tori, lifting her up by the arm.
"come with me child. Everyone else in the school or you'll have detention tomorrow. And detention in my class is not pleasant. That includes both of you mr. grimm and mr. perry."
She cast a small barrier over gabriel's limp body and drug tori along to the forest. It was strangly thick of darkness in there. She had gone to the meadow numerous times at this hour in the day before, but it was never this dark.
"there's something wrong in here. tori you need to shine. If you don't become seraph it'll be a long time before we get another high court seraph. Things will become very bad with kryios in charge and we wouldn't know until the time came if the new seraph would be any where near as compassionate as ammittai. He chose you for a reason. I'm probably not supposed to be telling you this, but you need to hear it. Do you see how dark it is in here? .bz it's not supposed to be and i'm getting nervous since ren isn't back yet. You need to clear away whatever this is. I could do it but it wouldn't be the same and then I wouldn't be teaching you anything."

Tori stood there pained in the forest.
"i don't know how. I haven't ever used magic before."

Kaila looked down at her stearnly grasping tori's arm.
"you have to try. If you don't push yourself you're not going to get anywhere."

 

Kiel shoved Tristan towards the school. "Penny, take Tristan with you! Do as I say, now!" He watched Penny grab Tristan's arm and pulled him towards the school. Kiel rushed after Tori and professor Camponella. "Tori!" As soon as he set foot in the forest, the darkness swallowed him whole.

Ren exhaled slowly. "And if I say you're wrong?" The voice hissed at him. "You'd only be lying to yourself and whoever else loves you." Chuckling, Ren eased one foot around and spun on his heel, halting to a stop as he turned around. "I can live with lies. What I won't live with....is not seeing Kaila again." Ren tore grass as he circled again and let loose two bullets.

Genesis' breath came quicker as he progressed in the darkened maze.

 

schuyler looked back over her shoulder towards the woods before entering the school with tristan and penny.
"kiel is going to be in a lot of trouble..."
She shook her head and closed the doors.
he must REALLY like her. Tori's awfully lucky.

kaila stood there frustrated, but then took in a deep breath.
"this isn't the kind of magic first years are supposed to learn, especially in the first week. Tori close your eyes and thing about a flame. Like in a fireplace, greater than a candle, but more controlled than a wildfire. imagine your body warming by that fireplace in the dead of night. Sometimes it helps to picture someone you love sitting by you."
She waited a moment, seeing the distorted face tori made. wondering who she thought of.
"would you do anything for this person? Try as hard as possible to keep them alive?"
Kaila waited for toei to respond with a yes before continuing.
"good. Keep imagining that fire. Picture it slowly spreading, growing brighter, eliminating the darkness. Making it appear more like day then like night."
She smiled, seeing the faint glow appearing off of tori's body.

tori felt her body physically getting warmer. It was strange. She had never attempted to use magic before and the concept seemed foreign. The fire was raging behind her eyelids, getting so bright she thought the only way to make it go away was by opening her lids. Apparently she was right, because kaila instructed her to open them. It to her a moment to adjust. The forest had suddenly seemed so much brighter. Tori was searching in the darkness for the source of the light until she realized it was coming from her.

kaila smiled. There was only one last step to accomplish and it was something only tori could do.
"now you need to reach deep inside yourself. I know ammittai gave you his powers, his strength. He was quite proficient in magic, could almost easily outshine me. You need to summon that power to rid the forest of this darkness. To show everyone you're capable of being the seraphim. You can do this. You just need to dig deep. Believe."

tori took a deep breath and focused on her entire being.
all right. I'm trying to shine...for you. Please help. I don't want to disappoint.
She watched as all the darkness around her started to disappear. In the distance, she could hear her bame, but was afraod that if she responded it would all be for nothing. That it would disappear.

 

Ren noticed the light in the distance and felt something wrap around his ankle. Yanking him upwards, Ren hit his head on the ground and dropped his gun. "Whoa! Shi..." Knocking him unconscious, Ren hung from the tree for a moment before being pulled upwards into the leaves.

Genesis jerked to one side and something slimly dropped on his shoulder. "What the..." Wiping it off, he rubbed it between his fingers. Slime? Like saliva. Looking up, Genesis was greeted by a long pink tongue, slithering out of the tree tops and wrapping around his neck and lifting his feet off the ground. Struggling against the tight noose, Genesis grabbed at it, feeling the wet saliva come off on his hands and the living flesh beneath his fingers. Pulling at the tongue, Genesis tried to add space between his neck and the tongue so he could breathe. His boots scrapped against the trees and flailed through the air.

Kiel stopped, listening before changing directions and running towards the disturbance in the woods. "Tori?" He half turned again and saw the light, but before he could move towards it, his foot caught on something in the darkness and he fell to the cold ground.

 

kaila's eyes shifted through the trees. She could hear something up there and it didn't sound normal. a beight glowing light appeared around her hands as she summoned her bow. It was a bright golden color and she drew back an arrow, steadying the bow.
"tori, I need you to stay right here. Keep doing what you're doing. It's starting to clear, but there's something out there. I need to find it."
She gave her student a quick nod, before walking off. Kaila could definitely feel the presence of something monsterous. Kadaj said he wouldn't attack the school, but aparently fallen angels can't be trusted. Not like she didn't already know what. Entering the meadow, it seemed much more ominous in the black haze.
"come out come out wherever you are."
she kept the bow poised up at treetops.

tori stood there nervously, but did just as her teacher said.
"give me strength."
It came out in a whisper, but she could see that the light was growing.

 

Ren opened his eyes, blinking away the haze and struggled, pulling his arms and legs to no avail. He was trapped against something sticky. Hearing Kaila, he felt whatever he was trapped against vibrate and three barbed black legs stepped out of the darkness closer to him, a long tongue flicking out of a giant spider's mouth. "Ah, that's nasty...just...gross." He moved his head to the side as it's tongue slowly drew across his jaw. "Mmmhph....nasty..."

Kiel grabbed a rock in his palm, still hearing Genesis' boots against the trees, he figured he didn't have long until the other boy passed out. "Genesis!?" He looked up at Genesis' struggling form, gasping for air and his legs flailing about.

Yves' voice and a gentle hand prodded Tori in the direction of Kiel and Genesis. "Tori...let your light guide you. Seraphim will glow brighter than any other angel...if only you let it. Walk...in the direction I direct and we'll be able to save your friends." The flames of the old Seraph's power flickered within her.

 

kaila continued to watch the trees. She had great eyes but whatever this darkness was, was keeping her from seeing the beast. She still hadn't seen or heard from ren and it was bothering her.
"reny-poo where are you?"
She hadn't called him that since the first day. Their relationship had actually solidified, so reasing him with silly names didn't seem right anymore.

Tori nodded, listening to yves's voice. She took a deep breath before walking. She had to calm her nerves or the flame might go out. Tori walked silently in the direction of kiel's voice.
"he can't just do what he's told can he? For someone that's supposed to be my protector it feels like i'm rescuing him more often."

schuyler lead tristan and penny back to the infirmary.
"you guys should probably just stay in here tonight. It's probably one of the safest places."

 

Ren bit down on his annoyance at Kaila calling him some weird name. Glaring at the spider, Ren wiggled his left hand until the, what he assumed to be a web, loosened and he kept working at it. "You can't leave." Ren balked, flinching away from the spider as it closed in on him and the tongue clung to his skin and moved under the collar of his shirt. "Oh this is not happening... Kaila!"

Yves chuckled, "Of course... But I believe this time is a special time. He means well. These creatures were not sent by Kadaj. I'd need to get a better look at the creatures to see what they're doing here."

Penny held up his hands, "Hold on, we're just going to stay here? What about you? Schuyler, I'm not going to stand here and let you go galavanting off to God knows where."

A slender, tan hand poked Tristan's thigh and groped around until it gripped his pocket and pulled him beyond the curtain in the infermary.

 

finally.
Kaila whipped around so that she was facing the direction of ren's voice. It was dangerous to carelessly fire into the the trees because she could hit ren, so she enchanted the tip of the arrow so that it was on fire. She shot up, watching as the tree caught on fire. It made it easier to see and for a moment she caught a glimpse of ren stuck to something. Kaila leaped up into the air and started flapping her wings. A wall of fire seperated her from the strange spider-looking creature.
"ren! Don't worry. I'll free you."
She knocked another arrow onto the bow and aimed for the spider.

"i'll do my best to let you see."
Tori came to a stop when she found kiel. She followed his gaze upward, seeing genesis dangling from above.
"genesis!"
She quickly looked around for something to use to cut him down. It was hard to search and stay focused at the same time.

schuyler looked at penny dumbfounded.
"i was just going to go to my room. I'm not as reckless as the others. Even if I were to head back outside in that storm and the darkness, there would be nothing you could do to stop me."
She smug smile spread across her face until she noticed tristan's disappearance.
"where did he go?"

tristan was about to say something about a person grabbing at him, but only had time to swing up the sword defensively before he was pulled behind a curtain. The tan hand looked familiar, but he didn't want to get his hopes up in case it wasn't her. Slowly, he turned around to face the person that pulled him, still defending himself with the sword.

 

Ren cursed under his breath and tore his hand free, grabbing the spider's tongue and sending about 100 volts of electricity through it. The creature screamed and jerked away, giving Ren a wounded look.

Yves' power pressed a glowing magic sword into her palm. "Use this."

Penny lowered his hands and his head, "Oh...of course not..."

Jean's wide blue eyes stared at Tristan. "Hello to you too. And here I thought you'd be happy to see me." Jean poked his sword, "That's neat. Did you get that recently?"

 

Hkaila enchanted another arrow. It turned ice cold and when she shot it into the spider's shoulder, ice slowly started to cover every inch of it's body. A smile crept across her face as the flames started to reach the web, melting it and setting ren free. With a quick and silent utterance, the flames slowly started to dissipate. A smug grin was left on her face as she held her hand out to him.
"what on earth would you do without me?"

tori looked at the sword in awe, but didn't have time to say anything. Genesis had already been hanging there for too long. She leaped up into the air and felt her wings start flapping, carrying her higher. She didn't stop until her arms were right above his head. With a quick swipe of rhw blade cut genesis's pink noose. Tori grabbed him with one arm so he wouldn't fall, but since he weighed more than her tiny body, she quickly descended to the ground. Landimg on her leg funny.
"ow!"
She could see the glow slowly fading from her body since she lost focus, but was too concerned with the pain in her leg to care.

schuyler watched penny's expression and realized that what she said hurt him. It wasn't intended, but it did. She gave him a reassuring amile and grabbed his hand.
"hey. What are you upset about? I'm sure after just a couple training sessions with uriel in the arena you'd be,able to stop me in no time. If you can catch me. I'm pretty fast. And quick with a knife. Or two..."

Tristan was so shocked to see jean that he tossed the sword onto a nearby cot and wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"what are you doing here? I thought thst angel guy took you away because you weren't,supposed to be with anyone? But you're here?"
He held her shoulders but pushed her back a little bit to get a better look. Tristan couldn't believe she was back already. It had been a terrible day, but the sight of her made it ten times better.

 

Ren grabbed her hand and pulled himself up. "I would've gotten out sooner or later." Turning back to the spider, he re-summoned his gun to his hand and aimed at the slowly icing over spider. "That thing is disgusting...and it's about time I taught it a lesson."

Kiel scrambled up, clutching Tori to his chest, "Tori...are you alright?"

Genesis gasped for air and coughed, "T-tori? Th-thank you..."

Penny held her hand tightly. Thankful she wasn't like the other girls and simply thought he was being weak by worrying over their wellbeing.

Jean smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Yeah, Keenan wasn't happy...but I told him it wasn't his decision to keep me by his side. It was Kallai's. Plus....it's been a really long time since a human like me has gained the affection of another human. And....I like you." Her tan skin flushed and she rubbed her cheek against his chest.

 

kaila rolled her eys and smiled. She flicked her wrist and the bow, along with the arrows disappeared.
"just admit you're happy to see me and glad I saved you before you got wrapped up in a silk caccoon and had your blood sucked out.
Her face was smug as she landed gracefully on the ground.

tori covered genesis's mouth with her hand.
"don't...pfft...talk. You probably have a lot of damage done to your vocal cords and trachia. Talking will only make it worse. But you're welcome. Pfft...ow. I'm all right kiel. I don't think it's broken. It just hurts really bad. We need to get back."

schuyler lifted penny's chin up, to look him in the eyes.
"you should be proud. You've been given. You and tristan and giselle, you're going to save the world. Humans aren't supposed to know we walk among them, but you've been chosen. You're special penny."
She slid her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him.

tristan looked down at jean smiling.
"so I...i won't get vaporized for being with you? Because that would just be the icing after the day i've had."
He was glad jean was here with him now. There was something about her that he couldn't get off his mind. tristan ran his fingers through her hair. he wasn't one to just fall for a girl. Usually he was the one breaking hearts of girls. She was just so different, but in a good way.