Space Angels: find the Gift (complete)

ЄD0Ɲ: The City ~ Chapter Fourteen

    ЄD0Ɲ

Cherubim landing zone ~The City

14 - happy landings

Borak dropped Fereshte and Sofiel off first, in a landing zone Jango hadn't liked the look of – a desolate place where the heat shimmered above sculptured mounds of orange sand and nothing grew. He appreciated the lack of Seraphim songs during the journey to the Cherubs' destination though, but when he'd said as much to Cylvah, she ignored him, instead concentrating on her mission updates. He'd ignored the chimes his narrator had sounded every time it updated the mission, so he shrugged his shoulders and, tapping his ear, finally checked them.

 Name: Jango

 Order: Cherub

 Missions: 1

Abilities: Speed, Wind Control, Swordplay, Natural Morphing, Multi-Sight. Only Natural Morphing, Swordplay and Multi-Sight can be used when an Edon being.

Mission parameters:

Topography: City

Danger Rating: Medium to high

Greetings, Jango. Although you were commended for your bravery in your last mission,  this one is very different. Worry not, I have faith in you all. And remember: your Lǽran will always guide you. Your contact, Cherub Ecad, has messaged me through his Lǽran. He's identified two landing zones where the Gift has been known to exist and I have briefed him on your arrival. He will meet you at an arranged destination close to the landing zone. It appears he has been in deep cover on this planet for a number of Edon years. His caution suggests you must also tread careful. You must give him the fifth Lǽran shell.  It will amalgamate with his own, allowing him to update us with his situation report and the latest information about Edon. I'll pass it to cadre members through Lǽran transmissions. We don't know Ecad's cover Quintessence. He could be old or young, male or female. Your Lǽran will pinpoint your meeting place, supply your mission sentence and Cherub Ecad will give its correct reply to identify himself. You may not morph into an ox or lion in front of Edons.

 Borak.

Jango wasn't happy to discover his contact was another Cherub, who probably had more ribbons than he did, but couldn't contain his excitement. It was tinged though with a quantum of apprehension: Why was Cherub Ecad in deep cover and who was he hiding from?

Jango felt relief when he arrived at the Cherub landing zone. It was in a far better place than the Seraphim had drawn, a beautiful green field, blooming with flora so bright he had to adjust his Multi-Sight to cope with the stunning spectrum of colours. There were elegantly-shaped trees with delicate pink blossom and beds of flowers whose hues were quite unfamiliar before his narrator had shown their images during the voyage. On Kaelestia, such varied colours only existed underground, in the metal ores crammed with gold, copper and grey nuggets or the hard crystalline slabs used for the Dominions' desks or as decorations within the interiors of Kaelestia's buildings.  

Borak's buffer had no colour though, for it was invisible now. Buffers were not just barriers against missiles, a Throne could change its composition to hide himself, as he'd done when they slipped past the countless security and observation defences orbiting Edon, using frequencies and elements the Edons couldn't detect, and now, using light-bending ones – rendering the area around Borak indistinguishable from its surroundings. The Edons, who were either lying down in the warmth or sitting on wooden pews nearby, were oblivious to Borak's huge body and the two Cherubs now standing beneath him.

Jango thought they were pathetic. Their soft wingless bodies would never withstand a Kaelestian's power and he couldn't understand why they lazed so happily in the light of their inferior star. Still, now he was finally here, he breathed in the heady aroma of the fecund verdure overrunning his senses, while Cylvah, perched in eagle form at his feet on the thick green grass. He told her to take wing using her Cherub speed to avoid detection before Borak had bid them farewell and disappeared upward. Now suddenly visible to Edons, Jango strolled towards the green space's exit gates. He stopped when he reached a lengthy pathway, gasping at mechanical conveyances speeding past beyond its edge. His Lǽran warned him to go no further as the vehicles would not stop for him. Enjoying the roaring sounds of the passing chariots, Jango realised this highway was a road. They had roads on Kaelestia, of course, the biggest, the esplanade between the palace and the city, and there were great passes, once hewn through the rock of the mountains by the Grimlicks, made especially for the Kaelestians who had no wings. Through her Lǽran, Cylvah told him she could see a complex network of roads from her high vantage point; far more than they had on Kaelestia and thick with chariots of all shapes, sizes and colours. Jango had learned many Edons liked to walk along the pathways beside them. So he did too.

He felt strangely naked without the familiar weight of his wings on his shoulders, and his sword by his side – both had disappeared when he morphed – but he felt liberated and lissom without them. Though he loved to fly, he revelled in this mortal Edon form: no need for ox's hooves anymore. He had Edon feet now, with toes that moved inside his shiny footwear. The Lǽrans had supplied the garments and, although they were loose-fitting and comfortable, the shoes were his favourite. They were almost as elegant as a Dominion's, with a silver buckle and made a confident clacking sound as he moved over the ground – so much better than his clip-clopping hooves. He would enjoy walking everywhere. It would be different. He could still send out Scintillas if he wished, though only three at a time, and he considered this a good trade-off. Borak had advised him to remove the mission ribbon from his hair but his pride forced him to replace it when Borak had gone. Now as Jango set off on his search for the fifth member, he wore it under his hooded jacket. His narrator had warned against it, but Jango ignored the annoying creature. Occasionally it would whistle in his ear when he got too cocky, which was quite a lot. Jango didn't care. He was striding confidently through a city on the planet Edon, a magical being moving among primitive aliens, and couldn't contain his excitement at the newness of it. He felt keenly the essence of the boy king he was impersonating: the youth's regal arrogance heightened his own.

Cylvah was flying above the clouds, where he thought she belonged, keeping watch on him, she believed, but he didn't need protecting. He felt elation as he strolled on, even smiling at an old Edon male with iron-grey hair, leading a tiny animal on a chain. The male didn't smile back. Jango remembered the lesson about Edon generation gaps, the old and the young distrusted each other on this planet, but he simply shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way, confident he'd complete this mission with little help from the others.

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