The Cockatrice flipped down from the ceiling, delivering a swift kick to Ennanis’ jaw. Clutching her chin, Ennanis staggered backwards, barely managing to swing her arm up in time for the Cockatrice’s fast-approaching silver claws to connect with her brace. Clenching her fists, the angel sent currents of Soleki racing through her armbraces, and the Beast squawked, recoiling instantly.

The angel jumped backwards, putting distance between them. She brandished her spear.

Meanwhile, the Cockatrice came at Ennanis. Her hands were glowing silver, flashing every time she raised them to catch the angel’s spearshaft, batting the deadly forked points away with surges of impossible strength. What she didn’t catch, she spun out of the way of, like dancing lightning.

But the Graveyard Commander was not cowed. With a few well-timed swings, several red lacerations bloomed across the Cockatrice’s skin. The Beast faltered, then leapt backwards. She brought a hand up to her side, wincing.

Ennanis continued to advance. The Cockatrice stumbled back, forced into the crumbling back wall.

Grunting, the Cockatrice slammed her hand back and dug fingers into the wall. Silver glow leached from her fingers into the stone, melting a scoop of rock clean off the wall. When the glow faded, a re-hardened chunk of rubble was in her hands. She flung it straight into the angel commander’s eyes.

A wall of flames rushed forth from the angel’s spearprongs, incinerating the debris. However, the flames had also blocked her vision for a second, enough for the Cockatrice to slip away from where she’d been cornered.

And then the Beast was behind Ennanis, silver currents trailing in her wake. A purple-gloved fist in a pink scalp, and a hard yank sent Ennanis falling backwards to the ground. Stalagmites dug their spines into the angel’s back and her wings.

The Cockatrice slammed the heel of her boot in Ennanis’ abdomen. The spear clattered from the angel’s grasp, reverting to ring form and rolling out of reach.

“Cocky and stupid,” the Beast gloated. But when she swung her silver-clawed hand to deliver the finishing blow, her body suddenly went rigid. Her eyes widened, only now noticing the thin, near-invisible strings of gold light restraining her movements.

“Wrong area, chickling,” Ennanis managed to jeer, her fingers curling as she telekinetically pulled the strings of light taut.

Anger rolled off the Cockatrice as she struggled against her restraints. Ennanis took the time to dislodge herself from the stalagmites and call out a name: “Lienna!” On command, the ring flew onto her finger. It flashed and spun into a spear, with which Ennanis readied a point-blank Soleki shot. However, at the last second, an explosion of silver ripped forth, and the Cockatrice broke free of her bonds, lunging aside. She caught the bolt of fire with her palm, and lobbed it back at Ennanis. Ennanis dodged, coughing as a thick plume of dust rose around her.

“Alright,” Ennanis heard the Cockatrice hiss before the dust cleared. “I’m done playing.”

The Cockatrice stepped forward—then thrust her hands backwards. Ennanis, who had been preparing to deflect a blast, was caught by surprise. A stream of silver currents gushed backward from the Beast’s palms, smashing into the already thoroughly-battered rock wall behind her.

The wall fell like a parting curtain.

Jauntily, the Cockatrice smirked. “You may think three’s a crowd, but if you ask me, this party could stand to be a little merrier.”

A hole had formed in the cavern wall, exposing a hollow in the rock. Awful chittering and scuttling filled the air, a dense and thick noise that invaded Ennanis’ senses.

From within the shadows, a writhing mass emerged, spilling over the cracked edges of the hole and making for her at alarming speed. A sea of black, madly-clicking beetles.

The Cockatrice curtsied. “Catch you later!” Flashing silver, she darted past Ennanis and clambered up the walls of the cavern, up to the tunnel that led outside.

More flashes of silver light came from above. And then the cavern shook.

Shards of rock rained down from the ceiling as stalactites dislodged themselves from their perches. They impaled the ground, turning the cavern into an inverted spike bed. Ennanis twisted this way and that to dodge them, still trying to shake off the scarabs trying to jump up on her legs. She hovered up into the air, but to her horror, half the beetles extended buzzing wings and flew up after her.

Finally, with a great flap of her own wings, bits of falling rock clipping through her feathers—Ennanis flew up for the mouth of the tunnel. But before she could reach it, the entire ceiling rumbled ominously. Spidery cracks ran across its surface, running down the walls, spreading across the beetle-swamped ground.

Until, with a final shudder, the tunnel caved in, and the cavern with it.

~~~

.

.

.

.

The night was silent.

The mountain was silent.

And then, suddenly—

The sky became momentarily alight. With a mighty roar, a column of fire erupted from the centre of a rapidly sinking crater in the foothills of Mount Casca. The shockwave rippled outwards, setting the wildgrasses on fire, and disintegrating the boulder nearby into smouldering ash.

From the rubble, the point of her spear raised high in the sky, Ennanis rose on tattered wings, gold eyes ablaze. Scorched beetles fell off from her arms, legs and shoulders.

“I- swear-” the angel commander raged, “Cockatrice!- I’ll kill you!”

Laughter echoed from somewhere distant. Ennanis strained to find its source, but before she could, she was interrupted by a crackle in her head.

Commander? Commander Zoleil, are you finally there? Your troops are still awaiting your instructions.

Ennanis’ face twitched.

Well?

With a sigh, she stopped in place. Reluctantly, she raised her hand, similar to what the General had done. The gold light issuing from her ring pinched together between her fingers, then split into a shower of beams.

“Good evening, Graveyard Division,” muttered Ennanis Zoleil. “This is your Commander speaking.”

~~~

The calm voice of the commander hummed through the second communication charm that had been added to the divisioners’ heads. Shivering dreadfully as they were, the angels were grateful for the pulse of warmth it sent through their bodies. Many ceased flapping their wings and huddled together as they listened.

“Good evening, Graveyard Division. This is your Commander speaking. This is a second communication charm, where I will give your orders,” said the voice of Ennanis Zoleil. And then she paused.

“Now, for those who are new: Forget everything that you’ve been told during your briefings. The Wardens don’t know the first thing about being undercloud at night. If you want to see next morning, listen to me.”

Surprise and shock rippled through most of the division.

“Who does she think she is?” a boisterous voice complained up ahead in the line. “Does she think the Wardens won't hear her?”

“Oh shut up!” hissed someone else. “You’re being tracked too!”

“None of us will be heard,” said a small voice.

“What was that?” snapped the angel in front, who lurched around. His eyes zeroed in on the girl who had spoken. “How are you so sure of that…” Then his voice trailed off as he appeared to notice the red ribbon looped below her uniform collar. “Apologies, lieutenant,” he said stiffly.

The girl brushed her hair behind her ear. She gestured around them, where the environment of barren rock had given way to thin coverings of moss and the errant sprouting fern. “We’re too far undercloud for them to track our sounds and actions clearly. It’s blurred and indistinct: think of it as trying to watch fish swimming deep in a murky pond.”

“Let’s say that’s true. Why would the Wardens bother tracking us?” demanded the male angel.

“The Wardens hope that fear alone will keep us in line,” another voice cut into the fray, a Brigadier. “So long as the defence of the mountain is held, they don’t really care what exactly we do.”

The cadet pursed his lips. “So, what’s the change in plan?”

“Stay right where you are. Don’t descend any further, or your Soleki will drain faster,” the voice of the commander rang through the lines. “The Brigadiers and Lieutenants will keep defensive formation. Do not fight any Beasts unless they come to you.”

Three thousand years ago, the Angel Emperor Prometheus had brought his Sun to earth, restoring life on the blighted plane. However, a thousand years ago, his jealous daughter named Medusa defected and created the Moon: a poisonous lake that appeared whenever night fell. With its waters, she raised a beastly, shapeshifting army to siege the mountain with, determined to seize the Sun’s power for herself.

In order to defend the mountain, Prometheus had had no choice but to build a battalion of his own. It was because of this that, though it was regrettable, some angels—a kind meant to bring peace—knew a life of war. At night, they would clash with the Beasts, sun magic against moon magic, known as Soleki and Lunaki respectively.

“...She wants us to stand by while she fights??!” the cadet’s eyes bugged. He was right to be taken aback. No matter how strong the commander was rumoured to be, it couldn’t be that she thought she could take on the opposition all on her own.

“It’s a necessary measure,” the Brigadier cut in. “You forget this is not an ordinary daytime mission. Without Soleki, you won’t be able to put up much of any fight. Commander Zoleil is just trying to reduce casualties.”

Without sunlight or its magic, angels were always at a disadvantage in the dark; while the Beasts had every advantage, connected to their Queen’s magic through moonlight. That was why these angels’ battalion had been so named. If you were sent to the Graveyard Division, you were as good as dead.

“She has that Lienna weapon, doesn’t she? Can’t we just use the Soleki from there?”

‘Lienna’ was the golden ring that Ennanis owned, a weapon that could store sunlight for use at night. There was nothing like it in all the world. No one knew where she got it from or how it worked, but she always kept it close by her. It was just another one of the Graveyard Commander’s endless mysteries.

“Lienna, too, is finite,” said the Brigadier patiently. “You’d only use up what Soleki she does have and hinder her battle.”

“Who will command us if she falls, then?”

“She won’t fall,” promised the Brigadier. Her voice grew icy. “But any of you are interested in throwing yourself into the fray, then do it now. Don’t expose the location of the rest of the division.”

And there it was, the new recruits realised. The real reason for the older soldiers’ conviction in this commander’s reckless plan. The punishment for going against the Wardens was demotions or imprisonment—but it was nothing compared to real death. Angels were immortal. They could live forever, if they never sustained a blow to their mortal weakness. Death, for angels, was… unimaginable. Inconceivable.

It was fear that held their reins, in the end. And the new recruits were no exception. That was why no one moved. As long as they stayed where they were, they would be safe. That was what was most important.

Of course, they didn’t know what would happen that night.

They didn’t know… that they were all going to die regardless.

~~~

Ennanis had many worries at present.

She might have survived the cave-in, but so had the beetles, apparently.

The insects had begun to crawl up from under the debris. Pop! Pop! Pop! Flashes of silver light sparked across the dark terrain, and then, standing where the beetles had once been, was an entire platoon of troopers in scarab-black suits. Glossy breastplates and long-feelered masks reflected the feeble starlight from the sky.

The beetle-Beasts charged at Ennanis, but she dispatched them with a single swing of her magical spear. Another came up at Ennanis from behind and pounced on her back, digging his pincer-fingers into her exposed skin, but Ennanis grabbed ahold of his wrist, twisted, and slammed him into the rocky ground. 

Ennanis gritted her teeth. She couldn’t afford to be wasting time on distractions.

But something also wasn’t right. There wasn’t supposed to be this many of them.

Something had changed… Ennanis just couldn’t figure out what.

She brandished Lienna around in a wide circle one last time, clearing the buzzing insects ahead of her, before reverting it to ring form. Then, flaring her wings, she shot up the mountain before they could follow.

Alone once again, Ennanis took a moment to focus her gaze upwards. In her mind’s eye, she could make out multiple gold spots further up the mountain, maybe two or three peaks up—the locations of her division’s members, lit by her communication charm. Mentally firing up the communicative channel, she relayed:

“Commander speaking. The Cockatrice is likely to be heading up the mountain at present. Do not engage her in a fight. Keep on your guard.”

Closing the message, she paused to catch her breath, watching as the spots on the mountain slowly split from their bright clusters and thinned into gold ribbons wrapped around the lower peak. Meanwhile, she took the time to heal herself—summoning scant amounts of Soleki from Lienna and spreading it over her wounds and the holes in her wings, yellow beams danced around them, mending the skin and knitting the quills back together.

She trekked up the crest of the mountain.