Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

Power Grid Out

The window slid open with a dull hiss, and a cold wind kicked up into Eris's face as little flakes of snow intruded upon the room, dusting the windowsill and nestling into her long, black hair like pearls rest against sand.

Eris gently slid one leg over the cill and then the other activating her gravity belt so she floated, feet never touching the newly felled snow under her window. She wore a long, black wool coat, and a dusty pink beanie, though she let her hair flow free down around her shoulders. The coat had been tailored for her by Martha specifically, and so had a flap on the back that allowed her ribbons to trail out and flare like they were supposed to.

Wind kicked up another gust of snow as she slid the window shut, and her hair waved in wild undulations around her face.

It was unusually dark outside, a thick layer of low hanging clouds insulating them from the light of the Impetus star hanging high above. The light that did manage to make it through was cold and diffused leaving a dull grey darkness, and the black skeletal silhouettes of leafless trees hunched in the darkness against the cold.

Eris let her ribbons flare, not worried about anyone seeing her.

Eris was very sneaky, not because she was particularly skilled in the art of stealth, but it is easy to be sneaky when you can be sure no one is paying attention. So her ribbons unfurled in the darkness, whipping in the wind as they slowly propelled her forward over the dark snow and towards the forest, using up what energy she had stored from napping in the cold winter sunlight.

Eris did not have to worry about things like temperature the way that other humans did. Her skin was starborn skin, meant to withstand both incredible heat and cold without issue . She had learned of this strange ability only by accident when she had bare handed a pan from the oven right in front of Martha who screamed her name loud enough that she almost dropped the sheet of cookies. It was ony through the memories of humans was she able to understand the meaning of temperature.

It was a pretty cool superpower to have. She could walk into boiling water without much issue or take a nap in an ice puddle in winter, and with a gravity belt and her ribbons she could glide, like she did now, over the silent winter scape.

The surveillance vehicle watching the house did not see her go, no one did.

More cold snow pelted her face, but the sensation was only a memory inside her head. Eris did not have to wear the jacket or the beanie, but she still wasn't entirely comfortable in showing her other-ness even to herself. Even now she was well aware of her monstrous appearance. A pale skinned humanoid entity with coal black eyes floating through a dark winter forest only on the power of stored energy.

Anyone who accidentally ran across her might assume she was a monster or a witch.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Just last week some woman at the grocery store had accused her of being possessed by the Void because of her eyes, and it only took Martha intervening with threats of a beating that let the woman back off.

Martha and Jim had apologized to her on behalf of other humans, but Eris tried not to think about it. Humans had a habit of being afraid of things they didn't understand. Meant a human that is afraid of something and odds are they have almost no experience with it. Either no experience or too much.

Her silent foray led her through the dark corner of a winter forest, and towards the glittering lights of the city. Eris was well aware that she was the most dangerous thing in these woods, but still, there was soemthing about an Earth forest in the dead of winter that made her shiver, and despite her sure knowledge that there was nothing with a mind in her general vicinity other than hibernating squirrels, she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was being watched, that there was something else in this forest watching her, annoyed at her trespass.