Miriam ran down the hallway, her Imago in its brights scarlet and green and black. The locusts all swarmed around her, landing on the thorns protruding from her arms and legs, or flying in her wake. “Quinn. Joy. What are you doing here?”

“Russula,” said Joy. “She was taken. Up here. We came up to—”

“Stay here,” said Miriam, rushing through the door. The flood of locusts followed behind her.

I looked around the hallway. There was even more blood now. By some miracle, the girl with a broken wrist was still there. She was wearing ripped jeans... or had they been normal jeans before this? Her shirt and pants were covered in dust and dirt and even footprints. Despite her injury, she scrambled back on all fours as I approached.

“Don’t be afraid—"

“Get away from me!” she screamed.

“I want to help you,” I said. “I didn’t mean to hurt your wrist.”

She weighed the options in her mind. The others had already left her. She was all alone. Though she stared at me defiantly, she let me come closer. “Y-your hands...”

The carapace was flaking off of my hands, revealing the soft pink flesh underneath. Seeing the transformation, her eyes widened. She reached out to touch my palm with her good hand, and I reached for her injured wrist.

“What are you doing?” asked Vespa.

“I’m helping her out,” I whispered. “What does it look like?”

Though at first she recoiled from my touch, eventually she assented. I cradled her hand in my own. I was by no means a doctor, but I was trained in first aid, and I knew that she needed to fix her wrist in place if it was to heal properly. “Do you have any loose cloth?” I asked.

She hesitated before pointing to the blue bandana tied around her arm. With her wrist as it was, she couldn’t untie it herself, so I helped untie it for her. With my clawed finger, I tore the bandana into two strips. Now all I needed was a splint. I looked around for a stick or bar, until I realized I had one already. Holding out my hand again, I imagined my weapon in miniature, without the blade. Just a pencil-sized rod of chitin, solid enough to help keep her wrist, for now. To my surprise, it went off without a hitch: a small orange stick came out of the palm of my hand, hard like plastic, if a bit glossy. With care, I set it straight, tying the stick to her hand and wrist to hold the joint in place. Complete, I stepped away, and the girl looked up at me. “Thank you,” she said. “Wait...” She scrambled back again.

Confused, I turned to see Joy standing behind me. Though not in a combat stance, she still held her spear, pointed delicately at the girl’s forehead. “Joy?” I asked.

“She should forget what just happened,” said Joy.

“Isn’t it a little late for that?” I said. “At this point, everyone is going to know. May as well let someone have a good experience for once. Otherwise they’re all going to think we’re—”

Footsteps. She was running away, a cloud of dust kicking up in her wake. Joy flew forward to catch her, but I held her back. “Come on,” I said. “It’s not worth it.”

“Don’t you get it?” she said. “Where do you think she’s running?”

The door opened and slammed shut behind her. The door to the classroom. Where Russula and Dawn and Miriam... “We need to go after her.”

“Miriam said—”

“I don’t care what she said.” I hurried up to the classroom door and followed the girl inside.

The door slammed shut behind us, and we were in the classroom. The curtains were still drawn, blocking out any light from the moon or stars, leaving only the molten glow from the crumbled bits and still-living bodies of Echoes scattered around the floor. The desks and chairs were scattered on the floor in piles

On our side, Miriam stood, surrounded by locusts. Her Imago was still intact, though the armoured plates were covered in cuts and scrapes. She stood with proper form still, her rapier drawn and pointed towards the figure standing on the other end of the class.

It was a Demon, dressed like Ollie had been; she wore a suit of overlapping plate armour, with an ancient roman-style helmet and shield. Between the gaps in the helmet, spiky locks of bright yellow hair peeked out. And in her hand, she carried a double-edged shortsword, pointed right back at Miriam. “Dawn,” I whispered. The same one who we’d seen just a day ago.

Behind her were several humans, including the one with the broken wrist. They all stood with the Demon, though none of these were brandishing weapons. Within the crowd was the girl with the broken wrist, saying something to the girl beside her. Who was... was... was Rocky. Somehow, the little girl with frizzy orange hair looked fierce and defiant with her hair tied back and the bandana wrapped around her forehead. She glared at us as she watched, filming... everything with her camera. “It’s the bug from Vancouver,” she said.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Dawn chuckled. “Yes, dear. But don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe from them.” She flashed her blade, “Just keep our little guest safe.” Guest? As the crowd moved, we could see finally see her. Russula. She was transformed, her body plated in warm browns and oranges, but struggling against steel bindings and the Echoes that were holding her in place. We rushed towards her, but a cloud of locusts blocked the way. “Not yet,” said Miriam. “Dawn is more important to deal with first.”

Joy was having none of that. She flew right for her friend, smoky-gray wings spreading wide as she zipped across the classroom.

Dawn seemed amused by the attempt. Inky-black Echoes leapt from the crowd, slamming into Joy and sending her crashing to the ground. Dawn walked up beside her as she recovered, slashing off her wings at the base and kicking her in the head, hard. Joy’s skull slammed against the wall and she collapsed, unconscious. The Demon raised her sword to stab at her chest.

And Miriam intercepted the sword with her own just in time. “You see?” she said. I saw, alright. Pushing Dawn back, the two became a swirling dance of blades as their swords struck each other again and again and again. Dawn clearly had the advantage in raw strength with her heavy armour and shield, but Miriam was faster, darting quickly and using the host of locusts to confuse her opponent.

I took advantage of the situation to rush to Joy’s side and drag her out of the line of combat. “That was scary,” I muttered. “It felt so... like Joy was in real danger.”

“She was,” said Vespa. “Dawn is effective at killing Angels.”

“Killing?”

Wait. No time to think about that. Russula. Russula was still there. The people were distracted, watching the clash between Miriam and Dawn. This was my opportunity. There were only a handful of Echoes holding her. If I was quick, and quiet, I could just...

It didn’t matter. She saw me before I even made a move. “Enough play,” said Dawn. “Take her away.” Russula screamed as the people and Echoes grabbed her arms and legs and dragged her out into the garden. We ran for the door, but it was slammed shut before us, and a flashing blade sliced right through the handle. I clawed against the smooth surface, but it was pointless. The windows, perhaps? We ran to the glass, slammed our blades against it, but it wouldn’t shatter. Where was Thea and that bird when you needed her? “Nice try,” said Dawn. “But I wouldn’t let you ruin the whole point of this operation.”

I turned toward her and lunged.

She knocked me back with her shield and I tumbled to the ground as well. The thing had far more force than I’d realized, and I crashed into the glass hard. My head was ringing. I managed to fold my wings before she slashed, but the overhead strike was coming, and my glaive was still suck underneath me.

Again, Miriam came in at the last moment to block the strike. But this time, the strike had been a feint. Miriam’s rapier touched only air as Dawn’s shield slammed into her shoulder and sent her crashing into me. The Demon’s sword arm came around and struck the side of Miriam’s head with the flat of her blade. Dawn immediately tossed the shield aside, grabbing the dazed Angel and roughly turning her around, stabbing her repeatedly in the nape. Though the locusts swarmed violently around her, Dawn simply kept going until, with a horrifying crack, she extracted something from the back of Miriam’s neck. Holding it up to the window, it gleamed, shining all the colours of the rainbow. A crystal. Miriam finally came to, turning her head to stare in horror at what the Demon was holding. Then Dawn put half the crystal into her mouth and bit down, hard. It shattered into pieces, and Miriam screamed.

“What—"

“How do you kill an Angel?” said Vespa. “By unmooring her from her connection to the tapestry of time.”

Miriam slumped forward, gasping for breath as her Imago reverted rapidly, dissolving around her and flaking off, the raw flesh underneath. She tried desperately to get up, but iron-studded sandals pressed down against her back. She screamed something in a language I couldn’t recognize.

“Like I would let you regenerate?” said Dawn. “I don’t leave jobs half-finished. If Quetzal hadn’t ordered me not to, I’d have taken you all. But he wants the glory for himself. Stupid. It’s his move, though. For now. I’ll get my chance eventually.” She smirked, pressing down on Miriam’s back. The locusts continued to accost her, but she brushed them away.

I pushed myself up, grabbing my glaive. Dawn was still distracted, taunting Miriam on the ground. I had an opportunity again. I knew she was fast; she’d easily be able to react to any movement that I made. I’d have to find a way through her guard somehow.

My blade flashed at her. Dawn smirked as she turned to bat aside my weapon, slamming her shield into... the air. Having distracted her with my thrown weapon, my strike landed true, the tip of the blade slipping in past her armour and hitting her in the thigh. It was Dawn’s turn to scream, the venom in my stinger doing its work. She stared at me in shock, but recovered quickly, forcing me back with her own sword. She limped back, brandishing her weapons despite her injuries.

“You can’t run now.” I said. “Prepare yourself.”

She laughed at that. “I don’t know what sort of Demons you’ve met,” said Dawn, “But we’re not like them. There are those of us out there who are petty little thieves. They crawl around and have their fun until the Angels hunt them down. The Angels get to smile and laugh and think that they’re helping. That they’re making the Demons go away. And then, there are real Demons. Those who understand that this is war and that anything, anything at all, is fair game to win.” Echoes surged forward, scrambling on the ground. At first, I was puzzled. These were by no means a threat to me. And then I realized that they weren’t meant to be.

They swarmed onto Miriam and started eating her alive.

And she wasn’t an Angel anymore. Panicked, I ran to her, clawed and kicked and stabbed at the creatures tearing at her while she was still weak. She was shouting something, but I couldn’t understand her. All I knew was that I needed to protect her, or she wouldn’t make it. The locusts seemed to understand the same, covering her body to protect her from the teeth and claws. It seemed like forever before the molten creatures let up. By then, the Demon was long gone, and the sun was nearly peeking over the horizon. We’d exchanged one dawn for another.