Face of Eternity : The Little Angel

Inclement weather was coming down like a blanket over the land, forcing me to take cover under a leafy tree to gather my bearings. The sudden shift from demonic dungeon to frozen forest was jarring to say the least.

There’s no way any of this land or snow would have survived the blast from my Stardust Nova, so I had to have been transported somewhere else when I blew up that dungeon. Although, where that was, I couldn’t say for sure.

I had to admit, this demon lord's ability to confuse and manipulate reality was messing with my computer powered brain. It made it hard to adapt to any one environment. One thing’s for sure, I appreciated this scenery a lot more than that dingy old dungeon.

Those poor people though… Strung up and having the life sucked out of them. I needed to save them. But before that, I needed to get back to Verrenville.

-MAP UNAVAILABLE-

“Just my luck.”

Without my map, I couldn’t figure out where I was. Even if I could figure it out, this was still probably the demon's domain, so anything could change at a moment's notice. He could probably keep me trapped forever if he wanted. But if he tried that, I’d just blow up again until I was free.

I considered flying upwards to get a better vantage point, but the moment I spawned my wings I fell back down like a clipped bird.

*Pwoof!*

Right back into the snow I went. The damage done to my wing from before was still keeping me grounded. I guess even if I could have flown, the snow was as dense as a bad anime character, so there wasn’t any seeing through that.

As I dusted myself off, I noticed I was wearing a nice white coloured dress, similar to my favourite one. But the oddest part was that my body had much more pronounced feminine features.

Could it be…?

My shiny metal arm bracers had a mirror finish to them. I lifted one up and looked at my reflection, seeing that I was a grownup.

“Ooh!” I let out a coo, twirling around and letting my dress flow with the wind.

The last time this happened, I was in a virtual world. My grownup form was supposed to be my internal avatar for it. But something felt different this time, like it was actually my body and not a virtual recreation. I had to wonder if this was also part of the demon's tricks too.

Nevertheless, I looked really cool and was probably twice as strong as a big girl.

“Alright. So where should I go now?”

Every direction was kinda the same thing. It was all just a blizzard and a variety of trees. I could have gone any direction and pretty much had the same chance of finding anything.

There was something weird about the trees though. From my understanding, trees are supposed to lose their leaves before winter to protect themselves from the cold. All these trees still had leaves, and the temperature was well below zero, clearly signifying the harsher season. So why did they all look so unprepared?

There was a rumble around me, almost like a sound was trying to reach my ears, but couldn’t breach through the thick snowfall. Even turning up the sensitivity of my audio receptors wasn’t making the sound any more discernible.

“Kaassa…”

Wait, that sounded like a voice. It wasn’t causing that rumble, but I was picking up on it because of my higher sensitivity. It was close too.

To be honest, it kinda sounded like a cat. Was that Mella?

“Asssaaan...”

Assa…assassin? What was that voice trying to say?

I listened very closely, pinpointing what direction it was in.

“Kaaa…”

The sound faded, then it stopped. But luckily, I knew which way it was coming from.

I dove from my cover and trudged through the brutal blizzard. There wasn’t much time to find whatever was making that sound, because it would be buried in a mere few minutes.

While walking, I made sure to leave some marks on the trees using stardust energy, just in case I had to come back this way. The traces of stardust left in the bark was enough to leave a noticeable bright spot.

“Not much further…” I encouraged myself, knowing that the sound was coming from an area just ahead.

There was a clearing in the forest. Snow was especially brutal here without trees to block it. A small little patch of shiny red was sticking out of the mounds of white.

As I reached down to grab it, I realized that it was someone's pants, still on too.

I quickly attempted to pull her out, noticing she was a very young girl. Definitely younger than me in my normal form. I started really digging her out, but the snow just kept piling.

“I’ll get you out of there!”

Both my arms stretched out. Waves of stardust energy radiated out of me.

All the snow around us vaporized, clearing enough space for me to see the little girl on the grass. She had a white shirt with baggy red pants and lots of very pretty red ribbons. Was this a miko?

Her body was too cold. She was in critical condition and needed to be warmed up, otherwise she’d die of hypothermia.

She was small, so I could carry her. But that didn’t mean I had a way to prevent her from freezing. The best I could do was up my own body temperature and hold her close.

A red light flickered deep in the forest. It was faint, but a readable source of heat.

“Anything’s better than this,” I said, chasing down that light. This little miko girl’s life depended on it.

It felt like the weather was fighting me as I pressed on. The wind was blowing opposite of the way we were heading, making the cold and snow hit even harder.

To keep the winds from abusing the poor thing, I folded my wings in on her like a blanket. That was about the most movement I could make of them.

Stardust energy from my spear was doing a really good job of melting a path forward, but it could only do so much.

Was the girl still okay? Her vitals were fading. I had to find her shelter and care fast, or she’d be done for. That point of light couldn’t have looked any further away…

“Hang in there!” I shouted.

It felt like hours past by. Days. I lost track of time while heading for that light. But I didn’t want to give up, because I was traveling for two.

I grit my teeth and pressed on. Even the wall of inclement power wouldn’t hold me back from saving this life.

“Come on…” I growled. “Come on…”

How much further did I have to go? Was the light traveling away as fast as I was heading for it? It was the same brightness as when I first noticed it.

“I am not giving up. I’ll get there. I promise!”

The snow was up to my chest. My stardust spear could barely fight through it any longer. Even a synthetic life form like me has limits. But where I would live on in subzero temperatures, this child would certainly meet her end.

“I won’t give up!” I shouted as I pushed further.

The snow hardened, making it all the more difficult to dig through. Even the stardust heat wasn't cutting it anymore.

“No!” I screamed. “I’ll save her!”

The snow climbed to my shoulders. If I stopped for a moment to rest, it would all be over for the girl.

“I can’t…give up!”

My wings were the only thing protecting the girl from touching the cold white fluff. I bundled her up even tighter behind them.

"You won’t die on my watch!” I announced. "Flame Wall!"

My heart turned hot orange, followed by my eyes and hair. A wall of flame rose up from the earth and blasted away a volcanic path through the snow.

Suddenly, the light turned blue. I took advantage of the development and ran at it. Now it seemed to be getting brighter.

Finally, I made it to the light and found a house.

“Hallelujah!”

It wasn’t cold inside, but it wasn’t warm either. With what little resources I had available, I had to gradually raise the girl’s body temperature. If I did it wrong, she’d go into shock.

I placed her in a bed, changing her out of her wet clothing and into something dry I found in a closet.

There was a blanket just above a heater in the corner of the room, which made it really warm. I wrapped the girl up in it, hoping for the best.

It seemed like things were stabilizing a little, but it was still up in the air…

“You’ll be okay…" I held onto her tightly, adding my own body heat to the equation. "Please, God, let her be okay…”

…

There was movement...the girl was starting to shiver!

“Okay…that’s good!”

That shivering was a good sign. It meant her body was able to mechanically fight against the cold. She wasn’t dying anymore.

But she wasn’t out of this yet. I had to get her temperature climbing. Using my very limited emergency care knowledge, eventually, her body got just under the average for a human.

I was getting good vitals now. From here, her body could take control and warm herself up. I set a fire in the fireplace and turned up the archaic coal heater on the other side of the room.

With all this heat, the girl finally recovered, but she needed to rest for a while. All I could do was monitor her condition.

-In the Arms of an Angel-

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