Space Angels: find the Gift (complete)

ЄD0Ɲ: Ŧhe CiŦy ~ Chapter Nineteen

ЄD0Ɲ

Cherubim landing zone ~ ЄD0Ɲ: Ŧhe CiŦy

19 - wires (1221)

Cylvah soared above the clouds, loving the feeling of the wind in her feathers. She'd flown through one to see how different it was to a Kaelestian cloud. A Cherub could influence weather on most worlds. One of their tasks on Kaelestia was to move clouds around, fill them with dust particles and make them rain on dry places. Or to cover the seas with enormous dust-filled formations to cool the mighty winds before they became dangerous hurricanes. But Edon clouds were different: they could do all this by themselves and she marvelled at the miniscule organisms that drove the clouds like a collective of tiny aviators. Inside, the cloud was a cool, dank and dark place; its secret heat filled its crest, making it fluff up.

She surveyed the cityscape with its web of chariotways and iron tracks bisecting the land; myriad structures - towers, domes, jagged and block-shaped. And everywhere there were colours: the greens of leaf and grass, the browns of bark and brick and rooftops, a spectacular departure from Kaelestia's creams and whites. Her narrator, who she'd named Sunshine, had tried to explain the science behind how Edon trees and plants got their colour from sunlight and atmosphere and how Kaelestia's ecosystem was influenced in different ways by their giant blue sun and its rich air, but she didn't understand it. It didn't matter - she only knew every planet was different. Her eagle form was smaller too. "My wingspan is tiny compared to home, Sunshine, how am I supposed to travel quickly?"

"Worry not, Cylvah. The size must fit the planet, or it will look odd. Besides, you're using Natural Morphing - in Cherub form you can use your abilities, including speed...but not where it can be noticed."

She wondered if her lion form would look like a kitten.

"It won't here," Sunshine said, reading her mind.

She flapped faster, the wind rippling her wings and the sunlight warming her feathers. She wished she could be an eagle forever.

Using her eagle eyes, enhanced by Cherub Multi-Sight and its superior range of light frequencies, she had marvelled at the varying skin tones of the Edons, how they used their hands to demonstrate what they were saying and their ingenious array of clothing. When she'd warned Jango about the Edon called Benji, she'd even noticed the angry frown on Jango's face before he'd told her to retreat.

"I'm with Cherub Ecad now so I don't need you," he'd said bossily through his Lǽran. "Besides you're scaring the pigeons. You can fly around all you want as long as it's high up. Wait until I call. That's an order, Cylvah."

She clicked her beak at the memory. Who did he think he was? He always bragged about his one mission, and how he knew so much about Thrones, but she knew much about them too - she'd worked closely with them in the Kaelestial Palace when she was a Seraph - and felt like putting him right, many times. But I'd never flown with one on a mission before this, she admitted to herself, and he had. Although infuriating, she had held her tongue. It would also be wrong to challenge a cadre member with a ribbon. She was just pleased to get away from him.

She used warm air currents to carry her along, gliding across the skyline, still comprehending the endless rows of Edon homes below, a complex weave of architecture, occasionally separated by small verdant patches.

Her keen sight picked out a tiny flash running along a wire, attached to ubiquitous tall wooden poles planted across the landscape.

"These lines are part of the communication network I mentioned in one of our lessons, Cylvah," Sunshine said.

"Oh yes, they can't interact with their minds, so they invent ingenious devices to contact each other."

"Yes, that's right, but these flashes do not tally with any of the chronica globe's records. Ecad's Lǽran is updating us on many things, perhaps we will find out what they are soon. I have determined the source of the flash, it was sent by a female who was very sad."

Feeling bored, Cylvah tracked it for a league or so. It zinged along the wires, before eventually slowing near a row of buildings in a field. She became aware of more flashes criss-crossing the network of wires suspended above the field, each travelling in the same direction, but focused on the one she had followed. Its path led to the tenth building at the end of the row, and into an upper room.

There, an Edon female sat behind a barred window holding a receiving device to her ear. She occasionally talked, with a smile on her face, but mostly she listened to the person on the other end. Cylvah sent a Scintilla down to investigate but couldn't make much sense of it, for it was only half of a conversation, really. After some time, the woman put the contraption down and smiled. Cylvah noticed a golden glow behind the building become brighter.

Another flash zoomed along the wire and the woman was soon talking to someone else. This time she looked sad because the caller had ended the conversation abruptly. The glow behind the building diminished. The woman behind the bars waited, sipped from a cup, and looked thoughtful.

"That's strange," Cylvah said to herself. She decided to investigate these puzzling frequencies with her Multi-Sight. A loud screeching sound suddenly pierced the air and sinister shapes blocked the sunlight.

Four birds, their feathers a tarry black, were buzzing around her, taking turns to swoop at her tail feathers, snapping their blunt black beaks near her head, their raucous cawing assaulting her ears. She sent a Scintilla to translate their cries.

["You're not welcome, vile avis. Leave this place at once! We're not scared of you!"]

"What's happening, Sunshine, are all Edon creatures as aggressive?"

"This is not Kaelestia, Cylvah. On this world, you are a predator. These creatures believe you mean to take their food or worry their nests. They are simply protecting their interests and their territory."

"But how do I evade them without killing them?"

"Use your Cherub speed. But do not attract attention by flying straight - travel upwards."

The birds were dive-bombing her now, slicing feathers and flesh from her brown wings as they passed. She couldn't outmanoeuvre them - they were too quick. She pulled her wings into her body and began to drop below them. They changed tactics for they knew that if she could turn on her back she could bare her pointed weaponry. Her beak was deadly and her claws could exert a thousand pounds of pressure in a grip of death. They changed their flight paths at once. Twisting in mid air, she tracked their formation. They were about to swoop again but this time in unison, each approaching from the four directions of her airspace. She waited for less than a second before accelerating at a rate nothing on Edon could match. And as she soared into the clouds, she heard the sounds of beak and claw connecting as the four black birds collided with raucous squawks of surprise and a flurry of black feathers.

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