by Avery Tingle
about it. But what have we got to lose now? We’ve both served the Radiant faithfully. I’m tired of being treated like I’m not good enough.”
The smile slowly faded from Reiko’s face, replaced by apprehensive curiosity. “Honey, what are you talking about? Who invited you to Mount Olympus?”
Angelica smiled, happy to hear her pet name out of Reiko’s mouth. “Hera.” Angelica whispered, “Hera invited me. And I want you to come with me.”
“Why?”
Angelica took a deep breath, and then took Reiko’s hand. “Because I love you.” She professed.
Shocked at the admission, Reiko cried. She wiped tears away and laughed. “Really?”
“Yes.” Angelica’s smile grew brighter. It felt good to finally say it out loud and not give a damn about who knew. “Yes. I love you, and I want to be with you, and I don’t care who knows.”
“Angelica, I…” A look of abject horror descended upon Reiko’s face as her eyes quivered, going over Angelica’s left shoulder. Curious, Angelica turned around and was suddenly grateful she hadn’t eaten in the past few hours. Standing a few feet behind her, staring as though she’d just committed the gravest of all sins, was her grandfather.
A myriad of emotions flashed through Angelica, but she finally settled on nonchalance. She was almost a pariah in her own home. What more could he do to her?
“I’m so sorry.” Reiko sobbed quietly.
Angelica turned back to her, squeezing her hand and massaging her shoulder. “It’s not your fault.” She declared, “You don’t have anything to be sorry about.”
Reiko nodded quickly and rose without looking and Chinwe. “I love you too.” She whispered before striding off.
Angelica smiled. No matter what happened next, she had no regrets.
At first, Chinwe looked down, to the right, clearly repressing some hateful words as he bit his lip. He then glowered at Angelica, his voice rumbling like an oncoming storm. “You…” He began shakily.
Angelica steeled herself for the worst.
He raised an accusing finger and finished his statement; “…you…are no longer welcome here, Angelica. I expect you to leave in the morning.”
Angelica had expected far worse. As she opened her mouth to reply, the pool beside her began to hum. The water rolled as though it was about to boil, and the magenta aura within grew bright.
Angelica and Chinwe exchanged knowing looks, and Angelica nodded. Whatever problems they had needed to wait. The obligation came first.
“Esme!” Chinwe called as the other residents began to gather around the Radiant. Reiko had rejoined her family, and once again, her mother had draped an arm around her shoulder. Angelica’s stomach tightened as she realized what Reiko would have to deal with when all of this was over.
As long as we’re together.
Esme approached Chinwe at the head of the Radiant, which had become a full-scale boil. “I thought there were no transcendent today.” Chinwe mused. Esme wrapped her arm around his and leaned on his shoulder. “I didn’t think so either, dear.” She replied softly, “But it’s not like we haven’t been surprised before.”
For the first time in her career, Angelica did not stand beside her family. She stood at the opposite end of the Radiant and awaited the transcendent. Her grandfather refused to look at her, but both Tatyana and her grandmother gave her quick, sad looks. Tatyana lingered for a moment, looking as though she was about to say something, and then decided against it. Angelica wished she could’ve said something to ease her sister’s suffering.
They knew it would be a long time before they saw one another again.
Angelica wanted to go to Reiko, to embrace her and take her away from this. She wanted to send comforting thoughts her way, but knew that the girl’s parents were in her head, monitoring her thoughts. Angelica decided not to wait until sunrise. As soon as this was finished, she’d hand off her transcendent to Tatyana—she was more than capable—and then depart, with Reiko, for Mount Olympus.
Angelica Reached in to the churning Radiant, trying to soothe the minds of those who were about to come through. Transcendent were often disoriented upon completing the journey.
She frowned upon touching the minds of those within the Radiant. Their pain was so pervasive that it gave her a headache. She winced as she withdrew her mind. Whoever was coming through had died in great pain--
An orange head pierced the surface of the Radiant, appearing to be melting. It glowed fire and ran like fluid. Those most simply rose out of the Radiant, this one appeared to be climbing stairs. It was hot, so hot that Angelica and others around her took a step back as it emerged.
It also reeked of rotten eggs. It groaned horribly through charred vocal chords as it continued to emerge, a humanoid body barely discernible as the entire creature appeared to be liquefying beneath the orange, flame-like film that coated it. Its arms and legs were too long to be human.
It wasn’t from Earth. It drug its feet along the ground, hunched over as it completed its emergence.
Angelica realized she’d been staring, frozen in place. Something was very, very wrong here.
Her apprehension was mirrored in the faces of her friends and family, who were horrified by the new arrivals. No one had ever seen anything like this. A few of the younger escorts held their nose.
Two more came forth behind the first one, and the three swayed uneasily as though moved by some breeze no one else could feel.
Angelica shook her head. These were not transcendent. Their presence was undeniably malicious. There was no confusion or fear in their minds; only pain, suffering, and a compulsion to share their torment with everyone else.
Esme forced a smile, pulling away from Chinwe and approaching the creatures, which were much taller than she was. Angelica wondered how her grandmother managed to stand so close to them without passing out from the stench.
Esme smiled up to the creature. “Welcome home--”
Those were her last words.
The creature’s hand shot out, grasping her face and lifting her off the ground. Her scream was muffled and muted as the fire-fluid poured out of its arm and enveloped her head, producing a horrid hissing sound. She tried to free herself from the creature’s grasp but her struggle ceased quickly as her hands were burned away.
Her body caught fire and the creature flung her away like a towel. Angelica watched as her grandmother hurtled through the air, crashing through one of the homes on the hill and igniting it.
Angelica reached helplessly for Tatyana, who angrily stepped forward. The creature at the right of the one who’d just murdered her grandmother raised an arm up and brought it down on Tatyana’s head. The young girl didn’t have time to scream or anything before the fire engulfed her entire body. The creature pushed down, disintegrating her into nothing as its arm touched the ground.
If Angelica opened her mouth, she’d throw up. Instead, she threw a mental command towards the entire village as she burst her wings, unable to take her eyes from the orange puddle that had once been her sister. RUN!!!
The other escorts screamed in terror and turned to flee. The creatures howled, the noise like stone grating on concrete. Their arms shot out, and they snatched the Angels out of the air like flies, enveloping them in their fire and then hurling them into one of the town’s homes. Within minutes, all of Isobella Flats was ablaze.
Angelica frustrated one of the creatures by weaving between its attacks. She was able to do this by forcing herself to stay in the creature’s mind; although there was no logic, rhyme, or reason, she could barely discern from which direction the next attack would come, and stay ahead of it. The dying sounds of her friends being slaughtered threatened to drive her mad with rage, so she blocked it out, trying to find Reiko.
She’d mourn everyone when the time came. In the meantime, she couldn’t afford to think about what had happened to her grandmother, to Tatyana…
She turned back to the burning city and saw her grandfather, stoic, being ba
cked into one of the few buildings that had yet to catch fire, a school.
One of the creatures lumbered towards him, creating an orange trail in its wake. Angelica tried Reaching to her grandfather as it closed in on him. FLY! GET AWAY FROM IT!
He either couldn’t fly or he ignored her; he merely closed his eyes as the creature simply walked through him, engulfing him, melting through the school and quickly turning the entire edifice into an inferno. Angelica gasped.
The creature had never stopped moving, didn’t even appear to notice that her grandfather was there. It had simply kept walking.
“REIKO!!” Angelica cried out, looking across the burning city hopelessly. She could no longer feel or see any of the townspeople. Isobella Flats had become a glowing burst of embers in the night. Reiko was nowhere to be found.
Angelica cried out for her again and coughed, nearly overpowered by the smell. The three creatures had separated and were moving about the blaze, searching for survivors.
It became an effort to stay aloft. Dizzy, nauseas, her clothes burnt from being grazed by these damned creatures, Angelica forced herself through it and extended her Reach. She hoped to feel Reiko far off in the distance, but there was nothing. No one had escaped.
Reiko was gone.
It had happened so quickly that Angelica had neither seen nor felt it happen.
The anger she’d been holding back slowly roiled to the surface as her home burned to the ground. The creatures seemed oblivious of one
