Heretical Edge

Young Sariel Learns Her Theriangelos

Two small blond children, barely old enough to be considered teenagers by future Earth standards, ran together across the grassy field. Well, to them it was an ordinary grassy field. Humans might have been perplexed by the crimson red tint as opposed to the lush green they were accustomed to. The children were laughing while racing one another, each struggling to reach their destination first in order to claim the appropriate bragging rights. That destination lay a bit ahead of them, where a dozen of their classmates and the tall, lanky man with long dark hair who was serving as their current instructor were already not-so-patiently waiting.

At the last possible second, the boy put on a burst of speed and pulled ahead by a fraction of an inch, bursting into his own applause and cheering for himself while jumping up and down. “See, I told you I could win this time!” he crowed, spinning in circles so quickly he almost fell over.

“Ahem,” the man in charge of teaching them, known as Peniel, spoke up with a raised eyebrow. Though clearly intending to at least gently chide them, he couldn't entirely keep the amusement out of his expression. “I see the Trouble Twins have elected to join us today after all. Delightful.”

“Sorry, sir!” Lucifer chirped without even the faintest hint of being so. “We were with the Director. He had a lot to talk about, but he said we should hurry and come to class once he was done.”

One of the other students, a girl with short red hair, made an audible scoffing sound. “By which he means they were being scolded again. Because the stray can't stop getting Lord Jehoel’s son in trouble.” Her voice had a sing-song quality to it, universally recognizable as childish taunting.

Peniel held one hand in a gesture for her to stop, his voice mild. “That's quite enough.” His eyes passed over Lucifer before settling on Sariel herself. “I assume everything has been handled to appropriate satisfaction, and that you are both prepared to focus properly on today's demonstration?”

The so-called Trouble Twins (it would be some time before Trouble was upgraded to Apocalypse) gave short nods together, their simultaneous motions and matching vocal chorus helping to show why everyone treated them as though they were such close siblings despite the complete lack of any genetic connection. “Yes, sir, we’re ready!”

The lesson they were working on was a very specific, very useful bit of magic. It was known as the Theriangelos spell, which allowed the caster to create an animal out of their own aura, one they could manipulate and see through. The specific animal itself couldn’t be predetermined or dictated. Rather, its form was dictated by a variety of factors, most revolving around the person themself. What your Theriangelos turned out to be was a very important revelation to young Seosten students, and almost always accurately predicted, at least in many ways, what sort of person they would grow up to be. Though whether the Theriangelos was more influenced by who the Seosten was destined to be, or the Seosten tended to allow themselves to be influenced into becoming that sort of person due to their belief in the Theriangelos prediction, was a subject of some debate. Either way, this was always a very big moment as the Seosten grew up.

It was the red-haired girl who went first. She was known as Anahita, and her own Theriangelos turned out to be a Gyfhsta, a large shell-covered creature that those on Earth in the future would most likely associate strongly with a snapping turtle. At least, if a snapping turtle had been six feet tall, nine feet long, and normally bright purple. Because Theriangelos were always a mix of red and the color of their summonster’s aura, Anahita’s version was crimson mixed with blue.

Several other students went next, with mixed levels of success. Some needed more practice, and their instructor promised to continue working with them. Finally, however, he turned his attention to the ‘twins’ and asked for them to take their shot at it. Lucifer gamely went first, though he had to try twice before managing to pull it off properly. Once he did, a red-and-orange Jaculus appeared nearby, drifting in a lazy circle through the air. The Jaculus looked like a snake with wings and a single pair of legs that it could land with like a bird, or tuck up against its lower body so firmly they all-but disappeared. They were ambush predators who tended to hide in the high branches of trees, waiting for an unsuspecting victim to pass by underneath to be lunged on. But perhaps more importantly, the Jaculi were very hard to train, preferring to go their own way no matter what it cost them, and were also extremely protective of what they saw as theirs. And that wasn’t limited to other Jaculi either. A Jaculus tended to bond strongly with other animals within its territory, and any attempt by outsider predators to hunt those animals was met with fierce opposition. They saw everything within their territory as under their protection, even if they intended to take some of those for food themselves at some point. Anything living within their claimed territory belonged to them. And while quite small in the grand scheme of things, they were very quick, very venomous, and fierce enough to be a threat even to those quite a bit larger and more outwardly dangerous.

Suffice to say, none of the assembled students were all that surprised by what Lucifer’s soul animal ended up being. Though they might not have guessed it ahead of time, they all thought it fit their classmate quite well. Especially given what they had learned about him in the time since Sariel had appeared at his side and become his sister in every way that mattered.

And speaking of Sariel, once Lucifer’s demonstration was over, it was time for the girl herself to take her shot. Ignoring a few muttered words of derision from Anahita and a couple others who were still annoyed about her presence (or, more importantly, her close connection with a boy they liked), Sariel took three attempts to make her own Theriangelos appear, her nervousness over the whole situation not helping with that. But finally, after a whispered word of encouragement from Lucifer, she managed to buckle down and complete the spell properly. Once she did, all the assembled students and their teacher watched as a simple red-and-silver Shehk appeared. To humans, it would most resemble a deer or antelope, standing just under four feet tall at the shoulder, with a long, narrow pair of somewhat spiral-shaped horns rising from its forehead. The Shehk were capable of running almost one hundred kilometers per hour if spooked, and could jump over a hundred meters up from a standing position in order to escape to higher ground. Finally, in a true emergency, one or both of their horns could disintegrate to create a burst of obfuscating smoke that could choke and blind their attackers, growing back after several days. With all that, they were very good at escaping any danger that happened to present itself.

In truth, few of the students knew what to make of that revelation. Some claimed that it made sense that her focus seemed to be on escaping, while the others pointed out that they'd never actually seen her run away from a confrontation. Avoid being dragged into it as much as possible, perhaps, but not simply run away. Hell, the closest they had all seen to an actual fight as far as Sariel was concerned was when the girl had been cornered by a boy who tried to intimidate her into stealing something important from Lucifer. She hadn’t run away from him at all. In fact, she’d lunged at the boy for the suggestion, tackling him to the ground before needing to be physically pulled off after repeatedly striking him in the face. Only the influence of Jehoel, Lucifer’s father, had prevented Sariel from being ejected from the school.

There seemed to be a strange disconnect between what they knew of the girl, and what her Theriangelos ended up being. For most, it was enough to leave that as a question mark. But for Anahita, seeing that the girl she believed was her rival for Lucifer’s eventual affection was supposedly most-connected to an animal known for escaping and running away was a delight. She believed that this meant she could finally drive Sariel to leave, opening the way for her to help console the boy who would clearly become her future mate. And possibly even her husband, once the time was right. But first, she had to get rid of the competition.

Over the next several weeks, the students practiced more with the Theriangelos spell on their own time. They became much better at summoning and controlling them. Sariel in particular enjoyed vicariously living through her Shehk, watching through its eyes as it ran very quickly through the school grounds.

It was during one of those runs that Sariel found her enjoyment suddenly interrupted when a larger figure abruptly appeared in front of her animal. It was another Theriangelos, Anahita’s to be specific. The huge snapping turtle-like Gyfhsta lashed out, its beak narrowly missing the Shehk’s own throat as the deer creature managed to jump backward a bit.

“Anahita, stop!” Sariel protested, looking over that way toward the nearby girl. Her vision was split between seeing out of her own eyes and seeing through her Shehk’s, several hundred meters away. The other girl had chosen her ambush spot well, as one of the school buildings blocked her animal’s escape to the right, the Gyfhsta covered most of the forward and left positions, and there was a large tree behind them. As quick as the turtle-like creature was at snapping with that powerful beak, the Shehk was in trouble.

“Oh come on,” the other girl teased, “don’t you want to see which of our soul-creatures is a better fighter? Or do you already know the truth? Here, I’ll prove it once and for all. Just stand still and it’ll all be over. Then everyone will know where we stand.” She was smirking before shifting her full attention back to seeing through her Gyfhsta’s eyes. One quick snap and she would break its neck and show everyone how much better she was.

And yet, that didn't end up being how it went. In that instant, as the Gyfhsta’s beak lashed out, aiming for its opponent’s throat, the cornered deer-like creature changed. Within the span of half a second, it reared back on its hindlegs, the forelegs lashing out as though to kick at the incoming beak. But it didn’t kick. Instead, its front right hoof transformed, becoming a large furry paw, which closed around the powerful snapping beak and forced it shut. The other newly-formed paw gave the creature a bonk on the head, knocking it flat against the ground for a moment.

That was when both girls, and everyone around them, saw the truth. They had all believed that Sariel’s Theriangelos was a Shehk. Instead, it was a much rarer creature, one nearly extinct after most had been taken by the Fomorians. It was an Arcteuphos (arc-tao-fuss). In their natural form, they would appear as any of several potential prey-like animals, like the Shehk. But once sufficiently threatened, the Arcteuphos would temporarily shift into its combat form, that of a truly enormous creature that humans would associate with a bear. Standing just over ten feet tall at the shoulder when upright, and weighing over two thousand pounds, the Arcteuphos preferred to spend most of its time in its smaller, more unassuming form. But when presented with no other choice, it would shift into that larger form and end the threat.

It did so then, Sariel reacting reflexively by extending the steel-like claws from the Arcteuphos’s left paw while its right kept the Gyfhsta’s beak firmly shut. With a loud roar, those claws were driven down through its head, ‘killing’ its enemy instantly and leaving the snapping turtle Theriangelos to disintegrate.

It would be fine once summoned again, of course. No real damage was done. But Anahita was left to drop to the ground, staring that way in complete disbelief. “Wha… what…?”

Gradually, the students who had been watching that confrontation made their way up to the newly-revealed Arcteuphos. After a bit of hesitation, they began to pet the creature, awed by its strength and size when presented with a threat that it had no choice but to confront head on. And, as the years went on, their classmates would all agree on one thing.

Sariel’s Theriangelos truly had been perfectly matched to her.

******

Sariel And Lucifer Learn The Extent Of Her Olympian Power

A small, sleek shuttle craft, barely larger than the human jet fighters that would exist in the far distant future, dropped through the thick cloud cover surrounding a planet that the Olympus had begun to investigate as part of its deep space exploratory mission. Though it was barely equipped with weapons, the research shuttle had a very impressive array of sensors and was capable of providing the ship with all the answers they needed about the planet below after a single quick orbit once they were close enough.

“I don’t like this,” Lucifer announced from his position in the copilot’s seat. He was there rather than piloting himself simply because he happened to have better luck with the somewhat finicky scanning equipment they were supposed to use. “You know Kushiel doesn’t like us. She doesn’t like you in particular. Why would she volunteer us to do a job that could make us look good? The last thing she wants is for the rest of the crew to start wanting us around even more.”

Though they were, technically speaking, members of the Olympus crew and empowered by Tartarus just like the rest of them, Lucifer and Sariel’s position was far more tenuous than others. They had, after all, been the ones to ensure that no other Seosten could be taken through that procedure by destroying the portal leading to Tartarus. Granted, that hadn’t been their intention. They had gone in to save the young Chayyiel, who had been trapped there. But in doing so, the portal had ended up being shut, preventing any other Seosten from being given the gifts that universe could provide, potentially forever. While some of their new companions understood why they had done what they did to save Chayyiel, others thought the war effort was more important than one child, and that she should have been left behind.

Either way, they were both seen as the pair who were responsible for ending what could have been a way of creating a whole new army of superpowered Seosten, potentially turning the tide in this endless war against the Fomorians. They were only allowed to join the Olympus because it was possible they could be useful there. Though they were not given any actual assignment beyond caring for Chayyiel herself, the ship’s chief scientist, Cahethal did allow them to assist her at times. She, at least, seemed to tolerate them so long as they did their jobs and didn’t bother her. But Sariel believed that if they made themselves even more useful, the rest of the crew might stop seeing them as such a useless burden.

Now, as Lucifer voiced his concern about Kushiel’s intentions, Sariel’s head shook. She was mostly focused on keeping the shuttle level through the rough turbulence. The young Seosten scientist barely knew how to pilot at all, and kept having to double-check the instruments and follow the instructions of the onboard computer as it gave her advice on how to avoid losing control. They really should have come with a pilot who was more qualified so they could both focus on the instruments, but Kushiel had said the job only required the two of them. “I don’t know, Luci. But you heard what Cahethal said. The clouds are blocking our normal scanners, and there could be massive Tilethium deposits buried down there. If we can map them out for the mining ships to move in, that could provide enough materials for seven, maybe eight more cruisers. They need to know where that Tilethium is. Besides, all we have to do is fly level in one full circle around this completely uninhabited planet. We can do that, right?”

“Yeah?” Lucifer retorted a bit suspiciously. “And who was it that told us it was uninhabited? Kushiel. How would she even know, if the clouds block scans? I still think we should’ve waited for--”

In mid-sentence, he was abruptly interrupted by an alarm blaring from the console. Primly, he noted, “See?” Then his hands danced over the controls before the young Seosten man blanched. “Damn it, other ships. I told you the place wasn’t uninhabited! Those have to be pirates, this planet is one of their hideouts. I knew we weren’t far enough out of Kovank territory!”

“How many of them?” Sariel asked, already moving to send the alert up to the Olympus. Unfortunately, the computer informed her that the cloud cover was blocking all communications, while also effectively blinding the Olympus to what was happening down here.

“I’m counting one gunship and four fighters,” came her adopted brother’s terse reply. “All of them a hell of a lot better armed and shielded than we are. And they’re coming up fast. Can we make a break through the clouds?”

Sariel shook her head. “We’d never make it. They slow us down too much, and the ship can barely hold together through that stuff even when it’s not under fire. We need to go down.”

“Down?” Lucifer sounded incredulous. “You realize that’s away from people who could help us.”

“They can’t help us if we blow up before they even realize we’re in trouble,” Sariel pointed out. “Hang on!” She took the controls once more and sent the ship diving closer to the planet. It gave a loud groan of protest, reminding them that it was a scanning and research vessel, not a starfighter. Meanwhile, the actual starfighters came up very quickly behind them. Now they were in visual range rather than just being on their scanners, revealing vessels that were shaped like a pair of handaxes set against one another, with the ‘blades’ forming the ship’s engines while the handles were where the pilots sat. A few laser shots bounced off the shuttle’s shields, taking them down by almost a third even with those glancing blows.

This was, in no uncertain terms, not a combat vessel.

Producing a field engraver, Lucifer started to draw a quick transportation spell against an open spot in the wall of the vessel, but Sariel shook her head with a grimace. “That won’t work, the clouds don’t just block scans, they disrupt magic transport too. If you try to send us through them, we’ll just end up getting scattered in about a dozen pieces though the atmosphere.”

Even as she said that, one of her hands jerked the control stick to the right while she simultaneously grabbed a lever and snapped it down almost a full inch, slowing the ship by about one-third. At the same time, her thumb clicked three quick times against the button on top of the stick in rapid succession. A half-second after that, she shoved the throttle back up to full, yanking back and left on the stick. Eyes narrowed in concentration, she moved her hand from that throttle up to the wing control and shifted them up while simultaneously pushing down and right on the stick, sending the shuttle into a sudden downward spiral while tapping the button with her thumb twice more.

All of that happened so rapidly that Lucifer barely processed as it was going on. When the stick was jerked to the right, three powerful laser shots that would have obliterated them passed through the space they had just been in. The abrupt deceleration put the source of those shots directly in front of them, just as Sariel’s finger tapped the firing button those three times. Normally, the pitiful lasers this research vessel was capable of wouldn’t stand a chance against these advanced military fighters, at least not without needing to shoot them several dozen times. But Sariel’s aim managed to put the first two shots precisely where they needed to be in order to slightly disrupt the vessel’s shield for just a second. The disruption wasn’t even that large, causing a tiny hole to appear in its coverage directly in front of the engine. That hole vanished almost immediately, lasting just long enough for that third shot to slip right through. Though not an especially impressive weapon, the laser still managed to do enough damage in that direct hit to that exact spot of the engine to send the fighter into a spiral.

When the shuttle subsequently shot back up to full speed while flying up and to the right, a missile from one of the other fighters sailed through the spot they had been in for that brief moment. The missile immediately changed course, pivoting around to follow as Sariel sent the ship into that quick downward spiral. In the midst of the hard spin, the missile shot past them once more, just barely missing the shuttle’s left side on its way. That time, before it could adjust, Sariel fired those two shots. The first struck the back of the missile, making it explode almost directly next to one of the other remaining fighters, the one that hadn’t fired it. That explosion sent the fighter into a deadly crash against a nearby rock pillar. At the same time, it also managed to do just enough damage to the last remaining fighter, the one that had fired the missile to begin with, to take down its shields. And that was when Sariel’s last shot pierced right through the cockpit and killed the pilot.

In the span of only a few short seconds, despite having only the most basic of piloting instruction, she had managed to destroy three much more advanced and dangerous starfighters with a rickety old shuttle. Which left the gunship, itself almost three times their size and armed to the teeth, to finally come within weapons range. And as it did, the enemy vessel opened up with every single one of those guns, sending a hellstorm of lasers and missiles their way. Clearly enraged by the deaths of their companions, the gunship’s crew weren’t taking any chances. They intended to utterly vaporize this intruder.

And yet, despite supposedly barely knowing how to make the shuttle move, Sariel found herself acting instinctively. She sent the ship into a tight corkscrew spin up and away from the incoming shots, just as rapidly reversing course to send them back the other way just as the gunship adjusted its aim. Without thinking, she sent two quick shots that way through the mess of incoming fire. Somehow, those shots managed to not only avoid being intercepted by the swarm of lasers coming their way, but actually struck a pair of missiles before they could entirely escape the barrels they were being fired from. The resulting explosions devastated those barrels and ensured no more missiles could be fired. At the same time, it also heavily damaged the ship’s shields, leaving only spotty, weakened coverage.

On the other hand, those lasers were still coming hot and heavy. Three more impacted the shuttle’s side, plunging their own shield down to almost nothing. Yet Sariel paid little attention to that. She evaded the worst of the incoming fire with a wide loop that took them around closer to where the worst of the damage had been done by the broken missile tubes. That side of the gunship had less intact weapons, so the laserfire was easier to avoid. Though easier was a relative term. Piloting the equivalent of an old Earth van meant they weren't exactly maneuverable.

Nevertheless, Sariel maneuvered it indeed. Making very slight adjustments every half second, she sent them directly toward the gunship while it continued to bombard them with as many weapons as it could bring to bear. Each shot missed their ship by mere feet, some coming close enough to almost blind the two as they sizzled past the cockpit. But none could actually hit them to do that last bit of damage that would destroy the shuttle and end their lives.

Even as she was evading every incoming shot with those minute adjustments, Sariel continued to bombard the other ship with the shuttle’s own rather pitiful lasers. With the damage that had been done to the other vessel’s shields, they were able to break through. Still, it would've been impossible to penetrate its armor. Would have been, at least, if she hadn't been aiming for the holes left from the damaged missile tubes. Somehow, despite the incredible distance between, the rapid speed they were maneuvering, and the impossibly small targets, she still managed to send laser after laser through those broken tubes and into the gunship itself where they could do much more damage to its internal components. Not to mention the people themselves.

At the last second, just before they would have collided with the enemy and ended up scattered over several hundred miles of the ground below them, Sariel set the ship into a dive, avoiding a full collision by less than a foot. Above them, they could hear the enemy alarms blaring loudly, just before a violent explosion rocked the shuttle. Their shields were completely gone, and the ship was sent hurtling toward the ground by the concussive impact. An instant before they would've crashed into it, Sariel managed to regain control, bringing them back up in time to see the remains of the gunship drifting down in several hundred pieces. Other than that, the sky around them was clear.

It was over. The fight was done with, and they had survived against all the odds. There were no more enemies on their sensors. With the loss of adrenaline from the end of the battle, Sariel slumped back in her seat. She was breathing heavily, and now felt exhausted. “I… I think you should fly back to the Olympus now so we can check in, and bring more help in case there’s more of them after all. I can’t… I… I…” She dropped her hands away from the controls after retaining just enough forethought to activate the autopilot, trembling violently.

Lucifer, for his part, stared in shock. His mouth opened and shut a couple times, without any actual sound emerging. For once in his life, her adopted brother had been stunned into near-catatonic silence. Once sound finally managed to escape him, it came in a wheeze, before he blurted a single, very important word. “How?!”

Turning her head a bit to blink sleepily at the man, Sariel offered a little smile, almost delirious from her own relief. “Oh, well, I guess it turns out my power isn’t limited to only aiming and controlling my own body. It extends to things like ships too.

“Fascinating.”