Collin was used to waking up in bad spots. Beaten, bloodied bruised. Tired, hungover, cold to the bone. Thanks to recent events, he even had a post plane-crash good morning under his belt.

Opening his eyes to an honest-to-God angel though?

He doubted anything would top that.

The first thing he did was rub his eyes, just in case he was still sleeping, or if it was some lingering half-waking hallucination, an aftershock from the strangeness his nighttime rest had burdened him with.

Then he slapped himself. Just to be extra sure.

Once he was certain it was no illusion, he looked it up and down, eyes narrowed in careful concentration to anything that would give it away as some costume or special effect.

He supposed the full body, golden-yellow armored exterior could've been approximated with something practically made... maybe even the glowing lines of sunny brilliance that illuminated its joints and tattooed its finer details.... Collin wasn't an expert in laser light shows or anything, yet, glowing eyes and neon lines couldn't have been all that tricky to pull off for a skilled costume department.

The articulate wings and floating halo, both wrought from crystalline solid light?

Nobody was hammering those things out for the fun of it.

"You're awake. Good. Hold still and don't move."

Collin did as it asked. Staying put as it seemed to appear instantly by his side in the blink of an eye, the motion punctuated by a blinding luminous flash that hurt to look at.

"This will take a second", the angel reassured him, as it reached out with a glowing hand, pressed gently upon Collin's chest. A sudden warmth shot through him, like a fire raging through his blood and flesh, travelling deep into his bones and washing over his skin. Every ache, pain, weariness and discomfort the prizefighter had been feeling vanished. In their stead was purest vitality, a strength of body and clarity of mind that Collin Merriweather had never felt before in his life.

"What was that? What did you do?"

The angel didn't answer him. Rather, he turned his attention away to another figure, slumped up in the opposite end of the cavern they'd been stuck in.

Wait, a cavern?

With a blood curdling jolt, the preceding events came back to Collin all at once. The centipede, the fight, that explosion…

Clarice!

Illuminated in the dark by the angel's radiance, he recognized her. Still as the grave against an earthen wall, dirt and dust and swamp muck caking her airline uniform.

Collin wasted no time rushing over her, skidding to a stop as he looked her over as best as he could.

She was breathing.

She felt cold to the touch, her heartbeat and pulse were faint, and there was no movement in her eyes when Collin pulled them back. But she was breathing at least. And that was good enough for him.

Thank God

"Thank God eh? I suppose I can pass on the memo to them."

"Wait…"

Collin turned his head back up to the Angel, standing aloofly to the other side of Clarice, leaning on a lance of light that Collin swore he hadn't been holding beforehand.

"…you can read my thoughts?"

The angel nodded.

"I can do a lot of things. It can be a drag at times, yet, the perks of being a higher dimensional being pay out every now and again. Time, thought, reality, I can navigate them in ways you wouldn't imagine. Which is why you, Collin Merriweather, fascinate me…"

The tone of voice resonated with curious mirth, its glowing golden yellow eyes shining twice as bright as its radiant orbs reoriented themselves into a cartoonish downturned crescent shape.

"What, do I have some special destiny in the works? Divine intervention up the wazoo? Chosen to overcome adversity all my life to shape me into some foretold badass warrior of legend? Because, to be frank; knowing angels apparently do exist is pissing me off… and if you're as perceptive as you say you are, you know just how badly I'm taking this new slice of insanity!"

The angel sighed.

"Hey, don't go thinking we're like the storybooks. Believe it or not, they came before, and my kin came after. It's not our job to intervene in mortal affairs and, frankly, you shouldn't want us to. I'm sure you wish that one of us could've descended on high when your dad took a turn for the worst, but if we answered one prayer, we'd have to answer all prayers and then boom! Suddenly life and death don't mean jack anymore, people lose their taste for self-determination, and the Earth becomes a giant headache inducing cat café for folks like me."

"Oh? Is that right? Then why are you here at all? Why! Why save us-"

"Don't get the wrong idea! I didn't save you. To be frank, your destiny is a big yarn ball mess we don't have time to untangle, but I can say this much; she wasn't going to let you die here. And she'd have managed just fine without you or me. It's what'd come after that warranted this little check-in…"

The angel lifted his lance up off the ground, twirling it theatrically before pointing in in the darkness, the spear illuminating the way seconds later like a giant industrial grade flashlight.

"I'll explain on the way. Now pick up Clarice and follow me."

Colling grumbled under his breath… but he wasn't about to pick a fight he had no chance of winning. And if nothing else, he reckoned they'd be safe so long as they stuck around the angel.

At least, as safe as you can be in this crazy island…

"Well, I'm waiting…"

"For an angel, you could be a bit more patient… hold on…"

Kneeling down, he got his arms around Clarice's waist and hefted her up and over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. He was glad she didn't feel hurt, even if her condition left much to be desired.

"When will she wake up?"

"Don't worry about it. She will. On her own time. Now come on, we have a long walk ahead of us."

"Right"

***

The angel wasn't kidding.

For the first few hours, Collin was of a mind to give it the silent treatment as he thought things over in his head, playing back everything he knew of the mess he'd gotten himself into. The island clearly shouldn't have existed, and whatever downed the plane… maybe it was why they were here, or the island was here…

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"Don't worry, you aren't dead or anything. Not giving you any spoilers for how the great beyond works but I can assure you that this ain't it."

The thought sat well enough with Collin, who then thought over a few other possibilities. Maybe they'd crossed over into another dimension, or time travelled, or gotten sucked into an alternate universe. Dozens of sci-fi plot beats from every tangentially related story Collin knew flowed through his mind. Eventually, he landed on the one thing he knew for certain; the terrorist he'd punched out. If anything had cause it, or was involved with that cause, then that goon was the only lead Collin had.

He broke his silence then.

"Hey, angel, did the terrorist bring us here?"

The angel shook its head.

"Nah. I've been watching that situation unfold… mind you, I can't get into his head... which tells me he's a pawn in this at least. Not to mention…"

The angel caught his words.

"Actually, that info drop can wait. You aren't mentally prepared yet."

Something in the way the angel spoke made Collin drop the subject. As if the tone of its voice carried within it a distilled certainty. An understanding of the negative outcomes such revelations would lead to.

"I'll take your word for it. So, what's your name them? Actually, do you even have a name?"

"Solaerion, the Angel of Valor," the angle replied, "and yes, all the Seraphim have names."

"I see. So, I don't suppose you're going to go over and help get us all out of this mess?"

Solaerion shrugged.

"Can't say. Time is weird, future events aren't set until they've happened, and I've glanced a fair few different ways this could all play out. I'm not exactly going to be able to help you return to normalcy I'm afraid. My duties require me to prioritize T̷͎̹̻͔̎̃͠͝h̸͋́̈́ͅẹ̷͖͚̲̬̯͗̒ ̷̳͖̟̈́̽͑͗̀N̶̬̱͕̏a̸̩̦͇̝̠͛̈́̊͜͝m̶̖̺͕͒̅͆̚ȩ̸͓̹͓̄̀̒̄̚ͅl̵̤̺̀̈͊̚e̸̢̙͓̤̳̽̒̋̐́s̵̢̺͊̈̅͠s̵͙͖̻̬̭͕̑̋ thing that came with you into New Eden. That said, all things considered, I doubt I'd get into trouble for lending a hand or two when and where it's really needed."

Collin stopped in his tracks.

"Oh, here we go. I already know how this conversation plays out y'know. You're miffed that I have to act cryptic and aloof and 'in-the-know' about nonsense you don't have a clue about. Listen, I get it, I'm sorry. This is just how I am. Don't blame me if you've got a problem with that, blame my maker."

Well, at least he's aware he's doing it.

"Listen, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not exactly having the best day either. You lot shouldn't have crossed the Partition Zone. But you did. And now we're all trying to do the best we can to clean up the mess. You, me, so on and so forth. So can you please be as easy to work with as you were back in that cockpit yesterday."

"…why didn't you stop us from crashing then? If you were around? If you knew? If it would cause us all troubles?"

"You don't think I tried! I fumbled that nightmare and a half because I kept trying to do that! Because I kept you as safe as I could, I didn't secure the kill on that N̶̬̱͕̏a̸̩̦͇̝̠͛̈́̊͜͝m̶̖̺͕͒̅͆̚ȩ̸͓̹͓̄̀̒̄̚ͅl̵̤̺̀̈͊̚e̸̢̙͓̤̳̽̒̋̐́s̵̢̺͊̈̅͠s̵͙͖̻̬̭͕̑̋. Now its somewhere inside New Eden and I've got to hunt it down before it tries to throw a monkey wrench into the figurative, well-oiled machinery that keeps the world as you know it trucking along."

Silence echoed through the cavern, the only ambiance the odd pitter pattern of cave ceiling dew against the ground, and the faintest hint of a breeze blowing through the tunnel.

"You can read my mind, right?"

The angel nodded.

"Then you know how terrified I am right now."

Solaerion sighed.

"Yeah... listen, the people on that plane aren't your responsibility. Don't blame yourself for not doing everything that you could to keep them safe. Whatever happens to them now, to her, it all boils down to the choices they make. They and them alone."

I wish it were that easy.

Collin looked at his free arm, clenching it tightly as he could. So much strength, so much power, all guided by years of skill and razor sharp focus.

And the moment he got to use that for something other than himself, he fell short. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't help anyone. Except himself. Just like always. Just like before. Just like with his father.

"Please don't make me carry the both of you. Come on, stop feeling sorry for yourself and get a move on."

What would you know?

Solaerion appeared before him in the blink of an eye, his luminescence blinding Collin for a moment. He felt his hand clench around his shirt collar and hoist him up one handed, so that they were eye to eye.

"You did everything that could've been asked of you. Your father's last thoughts were of how proud he was of you. He felt nothing but confidence in your future, knew you would do great things. Prove him right. Try and screw your head on right, grit your teeth, and accept the situation as it is; the world you knew is gone. Magic is real, and you're just a human doing the best he can in the face of outright impossibilities. You can either let it get you down, or you can try to bring the best you've got to the table, and see how far you can go. Now, please, for all that is good in the world, can we get back to walking and talking? Preferable about something more pleasant? Because I really don't like arguing!"

"… heh… hehehe… heh… neither do I. Never have."

Solaerion put Collin back down with a firm move of his arm, flickering back to his forward position, lance lighting the way ahead once again.

"I know, Collin. Ugh, drama, right? It makes me feel like a week-old, half empty beer can that rolled under a deep dark corner at a recycling depot."

"Not a bad way of putting it… so… if we're going to be walking and talking… I don't suppose you could answer some questions?"

The angel didn't look too thrilled at that thought, his winds drooping down in a particularly lax manner the moment Collin suggested it.

Even so…

"Okay, I guess I can save you some time and give you the basics. Stuff you'd learn anyways. Things I won't get yelled at for blabbing about to a mere mortal. Just keep your ears perked, listen well, and don't interrupt."

Collin was happy enough to do as asked.

Even when he was told of things he would have rather not known…