Flight of Angels
Prologue
"You can't escape death, heretic!" the sk'kirrim warrior shouted angrily. "The Sky Lord's judgement shall rain upon you!"
A flicker of maroon here, a flash of black there as the warrior's prey continued to elude him and the two Clerics following. If that one brat hadn't gotten away before, the job would have been a clean one… now it had to be finished.
"You can join the rest of your family in their doom!"
The warrior smirked and drew closer, closer to where he knew the heretic had to be hiding. There weren't many places to hide in this keep… he would find the brat.
*****
The sk'kirrim prophetess Lucia watched everything, knowing that this time there was little she could do. That thought galled her, but she pushed that feeling out of her mind. All that she could do was to place it into the Sky Lord's hands and have faith that He would take care of everything.
*****
Something darted past the sk'kirrim warrior, and his hand reflexively shot out and latched onto an arm. With a deft motion he sent the other person reeling into a corner of the room, trapping them. He smiled in wolfish anticipation, his broadsword unsheathed and glittering lethally. The heretic cowered behind a curtain, attempting to hide, but the trap had been sprung.
"Ha!" the warrior snorted, still smirking. "There is no way out for you now, heretic. You will burn in eternal hellfire… and so will that conniving hellhound Lucia. Just another one of her worthless followers who needs to die."
The broadsword swung in a deadly arc, aiming to decapitate-
-But the heretic suddenly vanished. Gone. The smirk abruptly dropped off the warrior's face as he glanced wildly around, his mouth hanging open. "Wh-where'd she go?" he finally gasped incredulously, unable to locate his missing quarry.
"Perhaps it was a teleportation spell?" one of the Clerics suggested, and raised her eyebrow.
"No… no, she just… disappeared… she's gone!"
"Disappeared?" the other Cleric thundered. "But that's impossible! She was far too young to be any kind of wizard!"
The three utterly befuddled sk'kirrim stared mutely at each other for a moment before the female Cleric spoke again.
"We can't tell anyone about this little fiasco," she warned.
With that, the three heretic hunters left the keep. There would be no prize for them tonight.
*****
The heretic sk'kirrim felt a sharp jolt and landed with a 'whump' in a small forest clearing, a forest unlike any she'd ever seen before. The very world itself felt alien to her- but her bewildered gaze immediately snapped to the strange, winged girl a few feet away from her. The other girl was sitting cross-legged on a tree root with her eyes closed as if she was meditating. Even as the heretic stared the winged girl seemed to detect her presence, and her hazel eyes snapped open to regard the sk'kirrim with what appeared to be wonderment. Incredibly, a small, timid smile appeared.
"You came…"
*****
Needless to say, Lucia was just a little bit angry about what had but recently occurred. She had been half-tempted to drop a chunk of brimstone on the heads of those so-called 'heretic hunters', but that definitely wouldn't have done much besides anger whomever else was out there. Or, even worse, it could have killed innocents while she was at it.
"Miyu!" she called, searching for the missing sk'kirrim girl. "Miyu, the hunters are gone! It's safe to come out of there now- it's just me, Lucia!"
"An almost ghostly shape appeared behind Lucia and solidified into her ever-constant companion over the past two centuries. "Hey, you forgot about ole Cloud over here," he put in, his once-human features drawn into a fake pout.
"Oh, be quiet and help me look for Miyu," Lucia murmured, intent on her search. She wasn't in the mood for Cloud's jesting. "Meiyuda, this isn't funny anymore! You can stop hiding now- don't be such a child!"
"She's gotten herself into trouble, most likely," Cloud remarked.
"Again," Lucia grumbled and pulled on a silvering strand of blonde hair.
"I daresay we've rubbed off on her," the Guardian said cheekily, grinning. The part of him that had once been a Thief was coming out, much to Lucia's irritation.
Though normally unshakably calm, she was worried to death about Meiyuda- ever since the girl's parents had been killed several years ago for heresy, Lucia had been taking care of her and at least trying to keep her safe. Unfortunately, Miyu had an uncanny talent for getting into trouble and a huge stubborn streak reminiscent of someone else Lucia knew very well.
She wasn't dead, though, and she didn't seem to be hiding anywhere in this old keep…
"She just isn't here at all," Cloud concluded. "She's somewhere else entirely- maybe not even on this continent." The Guardian thought for a moment. "I know she's alive, though, and you do, too. It looks like this might be something to go see our old friend for. Maybe she can use one of those… whatsitcalled… one of those… scrying spells."
Lucia nodded. "We'll have to find the solution ourselves this time. I think the Sky Lord has left this one in our hands." A grim smile appeared on her elfin face. "Let's go find Firehawk."
As she said that a light breeze began to blow, ruffling her hair into a blonde halo.
*****
Miyu stared blankly at the strange girl for a moment, rubbing at her rather sore backside, and felt something almost… feathery. It wasn't really feathery, so much, but…
"Whoa…" she breathed. "I knew I had wings, but- not like this…"
It was then that Miyu noticed she had more than just the strange winged girl for company. There were two other winged females as well- besides the hazel-eyed girl with blonde hair and wings like a small forest bird, there was also a girl who seemed the living embodiment of fire, and another, silver-haired girl dressed completely in blue. With a shock, Miyu noticed that the latter had no pupils. The one with the fiery wings wore a rather sullen look, but what frightened Miyu even more was the way the silver-haired girl seemed to be staring right through her with those pupil-less eyes.
To her, they all looked like angels- but not like any angels she'd ever heard of. As the four stood there a breeze began to pick up, playing with each girl's hair in turn and setting the silver-haired angel's icy wings to tinkling like wind chimes.
"Wh-where am I?" Miyu finally managed, after what seemed like an eternity.
The fiery-winged angel replied. "Welcome to Beirzie," she said somberly.
*****