03 - The Village

I set off in an attempt of finding people. Anybody I could take advantage of. My belly rumbled and I felt exhausted; something that I had only ever felt as a child. My bodily needs were constantly made apparent as I stumbled across the hot grassy plains.

After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few hours, I saw a village. It was small, little more than a collection of houses with a wall around, but it was just what I needed. I stopped for a moment and thought of a plan: I couldn't just barge into their homes and take what I wanted, which was what I usually did. I had to seem weak and 'kind', coercing them into helping me instead of forcing them. That would be difficult.

Luckily, I was a deception expert. You couldn't survive at the Heavenly Court without it. And when you 'accidentally' destroyed an entire sect, you had to seem like you were innocent and perfectly justified in your actions. At least my father had always bailed me out then. Now, I had no one to help me.

I circled the village and hid close to the main gate, watching. It was just an opening in a wooden fence and was guarded by two regular-looking boys of no more than 17 years. I sighed. I couldn't believe I was making myself do this, but it would give me time to think of an explanation and ingratiate myself with these barbarians. I took my leg...and snapped it.

It would heal on its own if left, but their strange empathy would force them to take me in. You may think that it hurt. It did. But not as much as having every bone in your body turned to dust and remoulded in divine flames. So I took it in my stride and replaced my icy stare with a truly pitiful look. I was debasing myself.

Stumbling up to the boys, I collapsed in front of them. While they stared down at my naked form in shock, I continued trying to crawl into the gate - showing my obvious conviction at entering.

"What the hell? Who is this? What should we do?" One of the boys asked in a jumble of words as the other turned me over and felt my pulse. Then they both saw my leg; bent at the wrong angle and rapidly turning purple. The previously nervous one turned white as the other cringed.

"George, go and find the doctor. He's not looking so good!" He said, in a daze. The one named George began to run before he could even finish his sentence. He was clearly weak-willed. The other, however, I was beginning to like. He remained relatively composed and took the correct action.

I used my soul gaze to look into them both as soon as I saw them. George was a Rank 2 Copper and the other was a Rank 3! So powerless! The fact that these were the guards meant that I was in a truly weak village. However, I couldn't say that anymore; I was weaker than all of them!

I heard raised voices and footsteps coming from within the village. George had found the doctor. I was lifted and somewhere along the way, fell asleep.

Oops.

When an angel sleeps, they can sleep for thousands of years. I hoped that I wasn't that unlucky. Otherwise, I would exhaust my meagre mortal lifespan before even waking up!

I awoke to a warm feeling. For a split second, I was worried that I was back in my fiery crater but then realised that I was just laid on a bed beside a languid fire. It was nice. I sat up and looked around, appearing to be in a small, circular room with minimal furnishings. Unfortunately, I was still naked.

Suddenly, I heard a click of the door handle as it swung open, letting in icy cold air and flakes of snow. They melted on the warm floor and I could almost hear them sizzle. A small silhouette stood in the doorway and quickly hurried inside, closing it with a resounding click.

"You're awake?" The small, feminine figure exclaimed as she removed excess furs from her head and body. She turned out to be a small old lady with thinning grey hair and glasses on the edge of her nose. The lady had a stern but surprised countenance as she looked me up and down in the bed.

My cheeks reddened for some strange reason. That was unexpected. She laughed at my reaction, "Don't worry kid, it's nothing I haven't seen before. What I'm more shocked about is how you haven't changed in four years!"

Oops! I'd overslept a little.