Getting the tooth (yes, tooth, as in one tooth) pulled out wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but rather it's the aftermath that's the killer. Here's my record: the gums bled for four hours straight, and after that they bled on/off. Usually the on-bleeding phase is about 30 seconds, and the off phase is several minutes. The numbness wore off about three hours after finishing, so about four hours after they stick the needle in. When they pull the tooth, you can actually feel it, and the pain can vary depending on your state. Eating is actually not so bad, but I have to avoid chewing with the right side, so right now the left side of my mouth is all sore XD. And, surprisingly, my cheek didn't swell up…
Anyway, I find it strange that people have been telling me such horror stories about wisdom teeth. Maybe it's just because I only had one pulled. I dunno if this advice will be good, but I'll put some pointers. Stay relaxed through the operation, be sure to floss often, don't bother the area too much (i.e. rub it, play with it with your tongue, etc), and probably sleep with your mouth closed. I'm not sure about the last part, but I have a feeling that it keeps bacteria from entering… Um, what else? Oh, it's a good idea to brush your teeth, even after the operation. Just avoid going too close to where the tooth used to be. It's also a good idea to take some pain relief tablets before going to bed if it hurts. The dentist should have some Advil if you don't have any. Now, I'm bending the rules a bit with this blip of info, so I better stop now.
Welcome to chapter 8 of The White Wings! Ein puts his new abilities to the test in this chapter, and he is kinda compared to his friends.
Cierra may break your heart during this fight… read on and you'll see what I mean XD
See chapter 1 for the ever-present disclaimer, and enjoy chapter 8!
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"Hey, Ritz!"
Ein carried a still-naked Fia out from the magic circle cave at Crystal Caverns and greeted Ritz.
"Hey, so you found her!" Ritz exclaimed. Then, he got a closer look. "Why the heck is she naked?" he asked, looking unamused.
"Uh, it's a long story," Ein replied uneasily. "Anyway, you don't need to look anymore, obviously. Thanks for helping though."
"Oookay. No problem." As Ein left, Ritz smirked at him. Naked… what the heck were they doing back there? I thought I heard voices, but I thought it was just my imagination…
Ritz suddenly looked back out at Ein. Since when did he have wings? Much less white ones? And glowing white wings? He shook his head. Am I hallucinating again? I sure hope not… that'll be the end of me yet…
Ritz hurried deeper into the cavern into the Magic Guild and reported what he'd seen to Claude. As he explained, Soala came out of the far back room.
"White glowing wings?" Claude asked. "That's… peculiar…"
"I don't think I was hallucinating this time," Ritz protested. "He's just taking Fia home right now. You can see for yourself when you next see him!"
"Did you say white glowing wings?" Soala asked. "Now that I have to see. Glowing wings should be a source of a huge amount of magical power."
"That may be true," Claude confirmed thoughtfully. "But do you really think you can convince him to stay here and provide magic power to everyone? He is Riviera's new guardian, after all…"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Soala's head drooped down. "And if we eat up his magic, how can he protect us?"
"I don't know anything about magic, so you two can go ahead and talk while I get back to work," Ritz announced.
"All right," Claude said. "See you later."
"Aye!"
"Still, I wonder how he got his wings back…" Soala pondered. "Since he gave up his wings for his diviner, is it safe to say his diviner's gone?"
"I seriously doubt that," Claude countered thoughtfully. "His wings used to be black, like Ledah's. If he got his original wings back, wouldn't they be black?"
"And yet, something's amiss…"
"But then again, his diviner was a holy one," Claude added. "Maybe that's why his wings are white?"
"Well, we could always ask him later," Soala suggested. "Let's stop this useless conversation of guesswork."
"Yeah, you're right," Claude agreed. "Okay, back to work!"
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In order to avoid as many people as he could, Ein took to the skies, still carrying Fia in his arms, holding her close in order to keep her warm. As he flew, trails of white sparkles danced behind his wings, attracting an airborne Serene to him.
"Hey, Ein!"
Ein paused in midair and turned to see Serene flying up to him. "Yeah, I found her," Ein called. "Call the search off!"
"Hold on, Ein," Serene held up a hand. "Why the heck is she naked? Are you being a perv again? And what's with the wings?"
"Ah, no, no," Ein shook his head. "It's quite a long story. I can explain to everyone during dinner tonight."
"Um, I want answers now… hey, get back here!" Ein flew off, and Serene followed in pursuit. "Hey! You know you're rude sometimes!"
"Have you noticed her condition?" Ein countered. "Look, she's completely exhausted! We need to get back to the house so she can rest!"
"O-oh…" Serene calmed down. "S-sorry, Ein…"
"It's all right, just so long as you understand."
Lina was there to greet them when they landed in front of Fia and Lina's house. "Hey, Fia's totally naked! Ein, you perv!" Lina diverted her attention from Fia to Ein and gasped. "White wings! Wow, they're so pretty!" She giggled as she poked at Ein's new wings.
"Lina, stop that," Serene warned. "Fia's tired."
"Uh, okay," Lina said with a small hint of disappointment in her voice.
Lina and Serene followed Ein into the house, where Ledah and Rose were waiting.
"Don't ask, it's a long story," Ein began before they could ask anything. "Come up to Fia's room with me, and I'll explain."
Ledah nodded, and Rose looked up at Ledah and nodded too.
After putting some clothes on Fia with some help from Serene as Lina stood by to watch Ein carefully, Ein tucked her into her bed and began his explanation, sitting on the edge of her bed. His wings folded beside him, and where they hit the bed the turned outwards. He told them everything about Andreia and the tests.
"Wow, sounds like a lot to absorb in a day, much less an hour," Rose remarked. "Light Angel… I've heard that somewhere before, I think…"
"Andreia said that Light Angels are a level higher than Grim Angels," Ein provided. "Only Grim Angels with pure hearts can become Light Angels."
"That's so cool!" Lina exclaimed, proceeding to poke at Ein's wings again. "These feathers are so soft!"
"She also gave me this," Ein began, pulling out his Angel Blade. "Oracion, it's called, the sword of justice and freedom."
"Oracion, huh," Ledah commented. "It sure feels powerful, like it could defeat me many times over with one blow."
"Defeat you?" Rose laughed. "Are you sure?"
"This power I feel coming from that blade is no ordinary power," Ledah explained. "There's an infinite amount of power packed into that one blade, and Ein is the only one able to unlock that power."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Serene said. "Hold on. You're saying that with this power that Ein can unlock, he can beat up practically anyone?"
"Andreia also said that the execution skill I can perform with this can defeat Seth-Rah with one blow, provided it's at full power," Ein added. "I need practice before I can perform such an attack, but my previous overskill is now just a regular attack."
"What did you say?" Rose gasped. "Disaresta? That insanely powerful attack that finished off Malice?"
"Yeah," Ein replied. "This weapon provides a massive amount of power to its wielder, which is me."
"Well, it sure suits you, since you're the new guardian of Riviera," Serene remarked. "Geez, man, it's like you could destroy Riviera with that kind of power."
"I wouldn't do that," Ein protested. "I risked my life to save this land, and now I'll protect it."
"Just what I expected to hear," Ledah commented. "I'll fight by your side, though now with that power I might not be much help anymore."
"Lina will help too!" Lina chirped, returning to the group sitting around Fia.
"Me too, of course," Serene joined in. "Let's all work together to protect this land."
"Emergency! Emergency!"
The voice came from downstairs. Claude had entered the house and was calling them. "There's this huge beast attacking the village!"
"A demon?" Ein wondered. "That can't be. All the demons disappeared with the sealing of the Accursed…"
"I don't see what else it can be," Ledah put in. "Come on, let's go."
Claude led the group of five to the town gates. Ladie and Cierra were in a desperate battle against the beast, which was about two stories tall and covered a radius of about five meters. Its head was shaped like a bear's, and its body was covered with a thick black fur. It had four limbs but stood on two, and its forelimbs were the size of logs. The body was simply a large, black, furry wall that covered a huge area. With a swing, the beast knocked out Cierra, while Ladie managed to partially dodge, getting hit on the leg.
"What the heck is that thing?" Serene exclaimed.
"Tch. It doesn't matter," Ledah said. "Death to all sinners."
Ledah rushed in to guard Ladie. "Get back!" he shouted at her. Ladie retreated back to the village gates.
"Come on, let's go," Lina cried. She pulled her bow out and loaded it with an arrow. "Ready, Serene?"
"Ready when you are," Serene replied. Lina let the arrow loose, and Serene took flight with Lina on her shoulder, pulling out her scythe with her opposite hand.
"Ein, what are you waiting for?" Rose asked.
"Huh? Oh, right," Ein said. "Sorry, I spaced out for a second."
"Man, get your act together," Rose chided him with a clean smack across the face. "You need to be alert as Riviera's guardian now."
"Yeah, I know," Ein replied as he took flight too, pulling Oracion out.
Rose looked up after him. That kid is both grown up and unready at the same time… she thought.
At the battle scene, Lina let loose another arrow, which lodged itself in the beast's arm. Letting out a howl, the beast swung its arm out at Lina and Serene, who managed to dodge.
"I don't know if I can get close to him," Serene said. "How can we do this?"
"Keep firing arrows, then," Lina replied. "It might not do much, but it keeps his attention on us." She let loose another arrow.
"I don't know about this… let's see what Ledah's doing…"
On the other side of the beast, Ledah glowed a bright red aura, and charged at the beast, ducking under its arm and striking several times to its side. Letting out another howl, the beast slammed its arm into its side, but Ledah managed to get out.
"Does this even hurt him?" Ledah thought aloud. "This seems almost impossible…"
He looked around and saw Serene and Lina some distance away, flinging arrow after arrow at the beast. The beast turned its attention away from Ledah and tried to swat them out of the air, but Serene managed to dodge all of them while swinging her scythe at an arm.
"Okay, here we go. Burn in the flames of judgment! Crimson Courrages!"
Ledah flared up, and his aura burned even more brightly. His wings absorbed the aura as he flew directly at the beast, flaring up Lorelei. The diviner glowed a bright red as he slashed at the arm, using his wings as secondary weapons. He flashed across the arm several times, attacking all-out. After a moment, he withdrew to a safe distance.
"Not even a scratch," Ledah exclaimed with disbelief, gasping for breath. "What's this guy made of!"
"Ledah!"
Ledah turned to see Ein flying up towards him. "Ein! So you finally decided to help."
"Yeah, let me handle this," Ein reassured him. "Let's test the might of the Angel Blade!"
"All right, I'll circle around to Serene and Lina to back them up."
"Gotcha. Here I go! Oracion, awaken!"
Oracion began to glow with a bright light, which flowed into Ein's wings and body, filling him with great speeds and power. The light also entered Ledah, and his body seemed to become lighter.
"What's this? I feel faster and stronger…" Ledah said. "Huh? Where did he go?"
Ein was off attacking the beast already. "What? What's with that insane speed? I didn't even see him go!" Ledah flew off to Serene and Lina's side, and he seemed to move much faster than before too. "That's remarkable power."
"This is the will of the Gods! Disaresta!"
Ein slashed the beast's arm several times, drawing blood with every slash. With the final slash, he completely slashed the arm off. Screaming with pain, the beast backed away a couple meters.
"I'm not done with you yet!" Ein slashed the air several times, and blades of light emerged from the tip to hit the beast's other arm. "Angelic Power! Come purge my enemy's sins! Angel Burst!
Ein channeled power from the light that he absorbed at the beginning of the fight. Reproducing the power, he focused the power into a huge ball of energy half his height. He then released the ball, which glowed as it flew through the air and cut cleanly through the other arm and continued to wreak havoc on the rest of the body.
"Whoa, he's powerful," Serene gasped in amazement from a small distance away. "Come on, let's get away! We don't want to be in the way!" She pulled Ledah with her and flew as fast as she could while carrying Lina on her shoulder.
"Now to finish this… Light Dragon of the White Night! Purge my opponent of its sins! Atropos!" Ein cried. He shone a bright white light, and his body purged with power. The light pulsed through Oracion, and made the sword grow several times longer. Now twice Ein's height, the light's power coursing through his body and wings allowed him to move at speeds close to the speed of light, and he came down flashing across the beast's body and head several times a second for five seconds, each flash with the power of Disaresta, before speeding high into the air above the beast and raising his sword to the sky. The sword summoned a huge blast of light that took the form of a huge dragon, shining a bright white light, about ten times the size of Ein, which emerged from the clouds and pointed down with its head right at the beast. With a swing of Ein's oversized sword, it flew downward right at the beast, cutting straight through. After going through the beast, the dragon was absorbed into the ground and dispersed.
The beast split clean in half and each half fell to its respective side with a resounding crash that fell every tree within a 2-meter distance from the impact, destroying nearly 50 trees. The halves of the body turned to stone, and little by little, the outer layers turned to light particles and disappeared into the air like shining water droplets.
"This is the duty of the Light Angels…" Ein's voice trailed off as he sheathed Oracion. The glow disappeared, and out of exhaustion and the sudden absence of energy, he started to fall down towards Riviera's soil.
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A/N: Don't worry, he's not dead. There would be no story with no Ein. However, this opponent was powerful enough to exhaust him, and so you see the results.
There needs to be more tension in my fight scenes, and maybe they should be a bit longer… A common tactic that many manga artists and story authors use is to make it look like the main character is losing. Maybe I should try that XD.
On the next chapter of The White Wings…
Chapter 9: Fia Awakens (Release on August 6, 2006)
The title says it all. Everyone has a chat about the battle that Fia missed while Ein sleeps. Don't get disappointed though!