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theflashdriver · 3 days

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Horns and Wings (Silvaze: Angel + Demon)

Blaze was certain that she’d taken a wrong turn somewhere, but retracing her steps appeared to be a fruitless endeavour. The guardian of the Sol emeralds had left the palace for the nearest town and initially found things to be up to snuff. Citizens had been going about their daily business; working at market stalls, getting lunch and generally going about typical daily business. The day was still somewhat young, high noon was on its way, and the sun was shining on a blue and cloudless sky overhead. It would be a nice day for a walk if she wasn’t so confused by what she was seeing.

The style of the buildings in this part of town ran contrary to what she recalled, they were all so tall and glassy. There were a few towers in town, but none so close together as here; they were watchtowers spaced near the edge of village for defence against the sea. These were more in the style of those she’d seen in the other world’s metropolises: the tall tower blocks and office buildings, symptomatic of a high population. Contrasting that, the buildings she could remember just passing were largely made of painted stone with red slated roofs. The towers she knew belonged in this town were much shorter than these skyscrapers, made of old stone.

This oddness wasn’t reflected in the citizens walking the street near her; despite the change in buildings, the populous looked as they had in the other part of town. Predominantly koala citizens walked the streets, carrying groceries and other such ilk in woven bags while dressed in the typical, bordering on beachwear, casual garb she was so used to seeing. She didn’t see one person dressed in the more formal workwear of the other world’s offices, the shirts and ties weren’t at all present, and yet the skyscrapers were filled with life. Through one window she could see what looked to be group of students surrounding a lunch table and through the next a set of stairs, being descended by a Koala dressed in red.

As she looked back on her path, the princess was forced to pause. She stepped to the side as a troupe of children, led and followed by a teacher, passed by. There were no fewer than twenty of them, dressed in tiny bucket hats to keep the sun from their heads. They too seemed unbothered by all this; their walking caravan didn’t stop to take in the towers. If anything, they seemed to be staring up at her in surprise, but the princess was used to that.

There was a strange stillness in the air, amplified by the casualness of those around her.

How could she have missed so many skyscrapers, centralised entirely within what she’d forever known as a homely little beachside town? In fact, she had seen the town from the upper floors of the palace so many times. It’d been a while since she’d visited but surely she’d have noticed all the work required to make this change; she’d probably even have had to approve it due to her role as princess.

Just where in town was she? How had this otherworldly infrastructure hid? She’d come to town to visit a seismologist, having received a letter from him containing some outlandish claims. Southern island wasn’t prone to earthquakes but there had been some strange tectonic activity as of state. Apparently, it’d started as minor, ignorable, but seemed to have built over the past days. The princess was set to observe the readings be taken today and, most probably, provide funds for a new machine to further confirm the findings and allow for greater planning. That oddness should have been enough to hold her attention, but the strangeness of her surroundings was just too much.

Calling this place a town, given the size of this section and its bustling populous, felt strange. The area’s features were not more in line with that of a city. The most time she’d spent in one of those had been a lifetime ago, and that city hadn’t been in a typical nor functional state. In truth, she hadn’t spent more than a week in a truly living city, let alone seen one built. Like all infrastructure though, Blaze knew they didn’t just pop up overnight.

The street was still so long; she couldn’t see its end. Countless skyscrapers, alleyways between them, still lined the path ahead; making it difficult to see to the rest of town. All she could really see beyond the street was the blue sky and sun above. Just how huge was this part of town, how could she have missed it?

She felt foolish but she had to figure this out, if she didn’t then it would nag at her for the rest of the day. If the people here were so used to this street, they surely had to hold some insight. Embarrassing as it might be, especially given her status and history nearby, it would be quickest to ask a passer-by for information and perhaps directions to the seismography office. That way, she could treat two confusions simultaneously.

Ahead of her, walking with what looked to be a brown paper bag of groceries clutched at his chest, was a koala dressed in yellow. He looked to be a little older but, like most of her citizens, considerably shorter than the feline. By the sunglasses perched on his nose and the light smile on his lips, Blaze decided that he didn’t look to be in a hurry and appeared approachable, albeit unfamiliar.

Just as the citizen was set to pass, Blaze raised a hand in gesture in an attempt to catch his attention, “Excuse me, I was wondering if-

Coldly, as if she wasn’t even there, the otherwise friendly looking koala entirely ignored the princess and kept walking.

Blinking slightly at that, Blaze ignored the rudeness and again glanced ahead. A young couple, tote bags at their sides, were walking hand in hand only a few metres ahead. Surely at least one of them would hesitate long enough for her to ask her questions.

Again, she raised her hand, almost waving, “Hello, sorry to interrupt, could you-

They’d moved to give her a wider berth, not so much as glancing in the cat’s direction as they casually passed her by. It wasn’t as though she was invisible, they’d plainly moved to slip beyond her, but it was just so bizarre. They hadn’t even looked at her. Stepping to the side again, Blaze hesitated to take in the bustle of the street.

Usually, the princess’ presence prompted a handful of reactions. Some citizens could be quite over the top, bowing and greeting her overly formally, while others would whisper among each other and point. Thinking of that though, and based on the ignoring reactions she had received, Blaze’s mind was cast back much further. When she was a child, when her pyrokinetic powers had been new to her and were poorly controlled, it hadn’t been uncommon for people to ignore or even flee her. People would generally keep their distance out of fear. This wasn’t quite the same, there was no look of panic or scorn, but the parallel came to mind.

Frustrated, Blaze resumed her march down the street. The road was oddly long, though she supposed the buildings’ size explained that. She’d only now noticed the ground too was different, it didn’t have the cobblestone or flat dirt of the town’s other pathways. A raised pavement lined both sides of the street but in the centre, unmistakably, was the lower and flatter concrete roads she’d seen used by cars in the other world, complete with its painted markings. But cars didn’t exist in the Sol dimension, this was so bizarre. People were using it as they would a typical path though, walking wherever they pleased.

Looking for street signs or public maps, her mind still lingered on those who had ignored her and that shade of her past that hung in their wake. Was there some explanation she was just missing? Today had progressed rather quickly, she’d gone from the palace to walking the streets on a mission more promptly than normal, but that was because her itinerary had been clear. She supposed that was an oddity in itself but not impossibly strange.

Something did feel off though, perhaps her overthinking had just led to tenseness? Was something maybe wrong with how she looked, had they avoided her for that reason? She looked down at herself, still progressing, and saw nothing out of place. Her heels were in place, her tights were unblemished, her royal long coat was well pressed, and her white gloves were immaculately clean. Everything looked normal; she reached up and confirmed it, from her tail to the tip of her ears, nothing was out of place.

Her fist clenched and she felt her expression sour as she kept walking, pushing back her insecurity as she scanned the nearby buildings. It was odd that none of them had signs outside of them or even above their doors. As far as she recalled, even in that destroyed city, when such buildings were used for businesses, they’d almost always have some sort of signage- names at least, if not directions. Did that mean they were all residential? Blaze doubted the town had a high enough population to fill so many structures, she’d passed by at least fifteen of the multi-storey behemoths.

There were still no crossroads too, it’d all just been one straight path for what must have been minutes now. It was meant to take less than half an hour to cross town as it was, or at least it had been up until today. What alleyways there were looked weirdly tight, as if they’d only just be wide enough for her to slip down. It wasn't as though she thought taking them would lead her onto a better route. With the town stretched this large, and its topography so changed from what she recalled, Blaze rather doubted she’d pop out at a recognisable location.

She picked up the pace, hearing her heels clack against the pavement over the bustling sound of the populous. All their sounds faded into white noise as she pushed herself to scan for the seismography office. Was it one of these tall buildings? She didn’t recall visiting it before, maybe it’d been relocated? Come to think of it, she knew of a seismologist who lived on a nearby island but not one on Southern Island. Still walking, she checked her coat pockets for the letter in hopes of finding an address only to realise it wasn’t there. She swore she’d put it in her pocket but, evidently, she’d left it behind.

A hissed sigh breezed past her lips as she kept walking, turning back now would mean being even later than she almost certainly already was. A glance to the sun proved it to be shining directly overhead, signalling that noon had arrived, but as Blaze took another step, she felt something strange beneath her feet. She froze in place, glancing to her surroundings only to find that no one else had stopped. It’d been gentle, but for a moment the pyrokinetic swore she’d felt the earth-

Before she could complete that thought, the earth torn from beneath her feet. She was thrown onto her backside as a great rumbling rocked the ground and the earth stretched upward in front of her as if it was a metal breastplate being beaten out of shape. The princess leapt back and to her feet, her eyes were immediately upon the citizens.

Panic had immediately set in, while some had frozen in place most people were running in all directions. Some were making for alleyways; others had rushed into buildings but all of them were in danger. The earth was still shaking, people were starting to fall. Due to the height of the surrounding buildings, a single loose windowpane could spell death, let alone a fallen building.

They weren’t prepared for an earthquake, they weren’t regular here, she had to act, “Everyone! I need you to-

A cacophonous crunch cut over the beginnings of her command and the panic of the people, her eyes shot back to where the earth had bulged only to find a second enlargement. Something was trying to breach the surface; this wasn’t an ordinary earthquake! Whether it was Eggman Nega or some unknown threat, she was the first line of defence. Protecting her people came before protecting herself.

“Get inside and get under something! Find a basement if you can!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, just in time for the concrete to fan up again directly in front of her.

Out the corners of her eyes she watched people flee, some of them were rushing toward buildings but many were still in a state of panic. Regardless of whether people were listening though, the space around her was clearing. She clenched her fists as the road stretched for a fourth time, creating the shape of a four-point star ahead of her. The princess concentrated, channelling her will toward her hands in preparation for the fight.

But her flames refused to manifest. She glanced down, opening her hands only to see white glove. Why wasn’t it coming, why now, what was wrong with this day?! Blaze concentrated and concentrated, trying to pool heat at various points of her body and surge it into her hands… but she couldn’t create so much as an ember. Of all the times, having stuck to her even through death, her flames had chosen now to abandon her.

A final roar of earth being torn snapped her vision back up to the ballooning earth. At the centre of the four swollen sections of road, the ground had burst, and tarmac had flown in all directions. A second later the shaking had ceased, an uneasy silence filled its wake. A heartbeat later, like a geyser, a black-purple liquid burst upward from the depths and soon began to rain back down. The princess double-stepped back, narrowly avoiding the slapping of the heavy sounding liquid against street.

For a moment she thought there was a chance it was simple, that perhaps an oil vein had burst or something else of that nature. Then she saw the dark liquid start to shift, pulling itself into innumerable smaller puddles rather than one giant one. Even as that happened, the earth continued to haemorrhage; spilling more dark ichor to create more puddles and enlarge those already present.

Having gauged the range of the output, Blaze took a single step closer but the dark spillages lurched in response. From each of them, two arms emerged as if reaching for her only to fall short and catch the ground. Each finger was gnarled into an elongated claw, it was as if the dark liquid had coagulated into a crystalline mass. The hands continued to reach, albeit in different ways. Some grasping in her direction, pulling along the ground, while others pressed against the street as if pulling out of the ground. Regardless of method, the results were consistent.

From each pool of ichor came a creature three Blaze’s height. They had egregiously long and thin necks positioned to be hunched over, broad chests with pointed shoulders and hanging arms with faux musculature, formed from a hardened version of that dark matter. The legs were even grosser in their mimicry of life, veiny and ending in taloned feet. Despite the sizeable width of the demons' shoulders and waists, at the gut the creatures were crumpled as if the two halves had been forced together.

While she would have simply seen the hardened ichor as monsters, three key features identified them as something familiar and yet different. Their faces were mouthless and they wore a single black eye like that of a cyclopses, but crowning each of their heads were two giant black horns. Coiled over their broad shoulders, almost like militaristic pauldrons, hung dark wings that ended in black yet bony protrusions. Completing that appearance was a long, almost worm like, tail that ended in a sharp arrowhead. They were no regular monsters, they were demons.

The moment they had fully manifested, the puddles at their feet had vanished. The instant they all stood straight, the dark geyser ceased its gushing and Blaze heard another rumbling of earth, as if something was shifting beneath the earth. For now at least, all of the buildings were intact. Her people were safe as long as she stood to defend them.

Despite her lack of flames, Blaze didn’t hesitate. She rushed forward with calculated abandon, certain over her goal. Her first punch landed with force, striking the centre of the monstrosity’s chest, but it wasn’t as solid as Blaze anticipated. Despite its size, punching its central mass seemed to return that area to liquid and caused its still solid upper half to fall into sludge. All she had to show for it was some ichor on her glove and heels, a splattering of it across her clothes.

She didn’t let the ease of her first success go to her head though, she lunged sideward and clawed through a second monster and then a third. It was only then that the creatures began to react: the closest pair went to grab her only to claw the air. She’d pressed forward, charging between their grasp to deal a punch to each of their chests and rend straight through.

Maintaining the momentum from that manoeuvre, Blaze spun with her arms extended. The technique was best formed while cloaked in flames but her pushing still produced none, not a single spark emerged. The technique was still effective, three more forms flopped to the ground, but Blaze couldn’t help grimacing. Coming to a halt, having carved her way to form a small clearing among the demons, Blaze took a quick breath and used the moment to analyse her surroundings.

Out the corner of her eye she saw something shift and horror whipped her tail straight. One of demons she’d already bested had regrown from the spilled ichor, having torn itself from the ground once more. Her physical attacks were breaking them, but only temporarily! She flexed again but her flames again refused her, leaving her hand empty as she palm-struck another of them. As it slopped apart, Blaze realised she was in too deep to pull back now. Though they hadn’t moved quickly, the demon crowd had shifted to surround her: putting the feline at the group’s centre. She couldn’t see a way past their giant forms.

She spun in place like a top, throwing punches and elbows wildly as the demons approached in their same sluggish way.The princess presumed that if she could thin them out here, albeit briefly, she could build up the space required to leap over and out the swarm and ideally buy the time needed to plot a more complete plan of action. If they could regenerate freely, this was a battle she couldn’t win. Especially while her powers were failing her.

Punch after punch, blow after blow, she used the opportunity afforded by each dissolved demon to form a new plan. Her only hope was to keep moving through them, there was no going over or around them. Blaze turned her attention to the demon directly ahead of her: intent on fighting forward until the other side was breached. Using what little space she had to build up a punch, the unpowered pyrokinetic stuck cleanly through two of them only to jump back as a third behind them lunged grab her with a taloned hand.

She felt something skitter onto her cheek as she pulled back from her last attack, her gaze darted to her hand. Up to her elbow was partially stained with the black-purple ooze, but her left hand was now entirely covered. She swung her left at an encroaching demon, but didn’t feel her hand make any sort of impact. The monster buckled but it didn’t break; the ichor was cushioning against her blows! She tried to pull back but found that the hand had stuck fast, the gunk on her arm had stuck to the demon’s body. A glance to her right hand proved it to be cleaner, but the ichor was amassing on it to. Wincing, she closed her right fist and aimed with a section that was still white; it found purchase against the monster’s body and freed her from its hold.

Just as she’d noticed notice their lingering effect, the demons’ aggression appeared to increase. As the one ahead of her collapsed, coating more of her frame in its ichor, those surrounding her rushed to crush her using their massive forms. Still without her flames, the princess new she had to rely on speed alone. She pushed forward, opting to shoulder charge through the demon straight ahead of her only to be met by another.

It was already throwing a punch! Momentum carried her through the first monster, she used her cleaner right hand to blast through its punch and onto the other side, but she felt the splatter weighing across her body. Her right eye had gone dark; she instinctively reached up to wipe it with her right hand only for it to stick to her head. Panicking was flaring higher than ever, but no flames came with her emotions.

In moments like these, when the pressure was on, they had always come to her aid! Why here, why now!? They were tied to her emotion, set to explode with stress and panic, her people were in danger! If she fell, then they’d stand no chance!

Her free eye darted across the battlefield, there was no time to think. They were already upon her! Blaze was forced to use what little she had left, a rising knee to the chest disposed of one demon before a follow-up kick liquified the one behind it. She hadn’t truly noticed until she’d swung but, by running across so many fallen demons, their ichor had already begun to claim her shoes.

With her right arm stuck at an odd angle, her balance was off. She landed on her feet but only scarcely, wobbling and kicking up more of the darkness. She felt it splatter up her jacket, the ichor’s weight was now becoming undeniable. The forms ahead of her were still innumerable, she couldn’t see beyond their wall of bodies, but she knew she’d been pushing forward. They’d been trying to rush her: surely, they hadn’t maintained their formation?

She attempted to tug the hand from her face but again it refused to move. Pressing on, she spun to throw another left-footed kick only to find that her foot was also entirely covered. She bent her knee, intentionally missing the nearest demon for fear she would become stuck to it, only to stagger anyway. Her spinning had been brought to a sudden, almost elastic, halt and she’d been forced to put her other foot down.

Immediately panicked, Blaze tried to keep moving only to find that her legs refused her. A glance down immediately provided an answer as to why, her shoes were fully sullied with their ichor, and she was stood in their puddle like remains. She only had one limb left, and it too was almost entirely covered. As one of the creatures rushed at her, she threw a clawing grasp only to have hitch on the creature’s chest.

It didn’t stop running! She turned her head away and winced only to feel it collide with her and immediately turn to liquid, splattering across her shoulder and back. Realisation came instantly; they weren’t set to rend her with claws, their intent had always been to wrap her in black. What would happen if she was totally covered?

One after another, they ran and tripped into her. It was as if paint was being poured on her in massive waves, growing thicker and heavier as it aimed to coat every inch of her body. She threw punches, elbows, and all that she could; but the creatures refused to break until they had fully collided with her. They’d come from all sides, from her back and blind spot, locations she stood no chance to defend against while rooted to the spot!

Her knees buckled as the sixth liquified itself against her, by the ninth the world was black, and the twelfth knocked her to her back. Even after she fell, despite the barrier the ichor provided, Blaze could still feel them piling atop her. One after the other after the other. Though she couldn’t see it Blaze felt their weight distribute and heard the splatter, they were still turning to liquid and pining her in place. The weight had grown too great; her flailing was decreased to heaving against the darkness.

Then, finally, stillness arrived. She heard and felt no more shifting forms, but she too was unable to move. Across her body, tight and heavy, the liquid was smooth and yet tough. If she was trapped beneath the entirety of the demons’ mass then her people would be safe in the short term, but Blaze couldn’t make that assumption. What if they had arisen elsewhere? What if some had lingered behind?

Imprisoned within the dark, it felt as though she was trapped under water that carried the weight of iron. Though she hadn’t dared to breathe, she was certain the shear mass impounding her wouldn’t allow her chest to fill. Blaze squeezed her eyes shut tighter, trying to focus on what had just failed her. It was her only way out, there was no other choice, if she couldn’t use her power then she would die!

She fought to crease her brow and dug her fingers into the dark. Finally, having refused her for so long, heat began to pool across the princess’ body. From the top of her head, at her lower back and running down her tail; warm energy began to pool into her body and race toward her chest. She felt it build and build, its latent potential preparing to explode outward and redoubling with each passing second. Every ounce of will, both to break free and save her people, was set to be become reality.

Only when the tension had built to its crescendo, when she could feel the fire bristling beneath her skin, did the princess allow herself to explode. The effect was immediate and a thousand times more pronounced than she’d anticipated, the weight of the liquified demons seemed to slaw from her body in mere seconds. As fire whirled around her, exploding from every inch of her form, the pyrokinetic princess couldn’t help but grin. In the end it had all worked out.

Blinded by her own fire, Blaze slowly rose to her feet. Flames were flagging from her as if to make up for their time spent in absence, so quickly and casually that she could not bring them to halt. The moment she realised that a new sort of panic struck her. Quickly, Blaze attempted to angle her fire upward, forcing it out of her body, but it refused to cease roaring from elsewhere. From the small of her back, from the tip of her tail and the top of her head, though she still couldn’t see it Blaze could feel fire rolling in all directions. She opened her hands and concentrated, pushing greater and greater flares into the air but still she was blind, and her power had gained a life of its own!

Blaze felt a wave of heat explode outward from her, going directly against her will. The energy she’d built up among the ichor had simply been too much. She’d filled a bottle to burst, no cap she could make would seal it back. Splitting her attention, angling as much heat as she could both into the ground and the sky, Blaze now lost track of time. She could have spent mere minutes, or an entire hour simply stuck there, unable to move for fear she’d spread fire further across the town but equally unable to stop herself. Eventually however, though the flames did not cease, they withdrew enough to let her see through.

All her fears had been made manifest around her. Where those out of place skyscrapers had stood tall and gleaming in the sunlight, now stood metal husks with windows popped broken by the temperature. She couldn’t hear screams from within, the rumbling the flames on her body was too loud, but her fire had already reached the roofs. Blaze could see no escape for the occupants! Down the road in both directions, no matter where she looked, her devastation had spread everywhere. History flashed in her mind.

The cityscape had been changed, but not by those demons. It’d been by her hand. Crisis city had been made again; not by the efforts of Iblis but by those of Blaze the cat.

Dark clouds, forged from her own smoke, even filled the sky! The blue that had once been present was now totally blotted out; the sun’s light couldn’t breach the devastation she had wrought. Memories claimed the feline, rushing through her mind and heart like a hundred daggers.

Flames still clung to her body; they still limited her vision. Blaze stepped toward the nearest skyscraper, forcibly tearing the fire from her face, only to hear a squelch sound over that sound of her own burning. With an earth-shaking roar, she finally removed the fire from much of her frame but, no matter how she tried, it lingered on her hands. As her gaze was drawn down to them though, it looked beyond them and saw that the ichor still surrounded her. Not only did it persist, but it was bubbling and writhing.

From the black tar that had once encased her, now glinting with red embers, arms of the demons emerged from the black.Before she could blink, still distraught at the devastation she’d brought, what little good she thought she’d done unmade itself before her. Her burning of the darkness had been for nought. She had rushed people into those buildings, hoping to save them, only to pointlessly set their salvation alight.

The buildings, the demons, they all looked so huge; it was as if she was a child again. Back in the city when she was but a kitten, a struggling lonesome entity in the waste; trapped among the devils! Panic flushed the feline with adrenaline, and she felt heat instantaneously erupt in her palms. Her teeth grit: control, she needed control! The city was under siege by monsters but there was no point saving it if she was set to destroy it. She had to carve her way back to the palace and retrieve the Sol emeralds. With them, there was a chance she could save even just a few citizens!

Flames flew from her hands like bats from hell. She rushed the nearest demon, spinning and striking it squarely in the gut. She threw elbows and kicks, finding that the ichor no longer stuck to her as it had before. Punches, fireballs, uppercuts, and palm-strikes all made contact on that demon’s towering form. But none left so much as a scratch; they weren’t breaking as easily as before.

The non-reaction didn’t give her pause but, as Blaze pulled back to throw a punch with all her speed behind it, the sight of her shadow caught among red flames brought the princess to an instant halt. While much of her body’s outline was still the same, one by one, three differences became clear. The pair of pointed shapes behind her back tore at her attention, immediately forcing her to turn and look.

Two leathery black wings, pointed along their lower edge and wide enough to wrap around her shoulders, had emerged from her shoulder blades, tearing through her tailcoat! As panic set in the wings folded inward, just as reflectively as she gritted her teeth, revealing a tail unlike that she’d had before. It too was jet black and, rather than the fur which had cloaked it before, entirely smooth, ending in an arrow like point. As terror gripped tighter, it too shifted to straighten in the manner that her true tail had before. Eyes wide, shaking, Blaze reached up to the top of her head. As her shadow had suggested, her skull was topped with horns. They were short but sharp to the touch, lightly curved inward.

She wasn’t trapped with the demons; reality didn’t match how she’d been as a child, but how she’d felt. The horns, the wings, the tail, it all painted a plain picture. She was among the demons because she was one of them, whether she wanted to be or not. The fire at her core, in her heart, was the same as what drove them. It was responsible for the world’s destruction and thus so was she.

The world was spinning, her eyes found permanent purchase on neither the surrounding monstrosities nor the features of her degradation. Her mind was burning hotter than her hands, her eyes had blurred as tears had come to fill them.Something primal twitched within her, unleashing years of buried panic and overthinking. The newly made demon rushed the closest of its kin, throwing a flaming punch at its chin. What followed was a reckless hail of blows, each one of them carrying more power behind it but leaving her more open to a counterattack that never came.

Despite how hard she wailed on them, regardless of how ferociously she fought, a truth soon set in and forced Blaze to freeze. She couldn’t hurt them. She was one of them, and so she could not hurt them. When her powers were gone it had been fine, she’d been able to strike and break them, but with their unlocking her true heart had been revealed. They were the same.

Her fist was still to the closest demon’s chest, its body was unchanged, and it’d hadn’t moved an inch. It wasn’t even looking at her! She punched it again and the result was the same. Gritting her teeth, she pulled back and focused as hard as she could, trying to snuff out what she’d longed so hard to conjure mere moments ago. Before them it had been fine, before them they had broken!

When will wasn’t enough to quell her flames, Blaze slapped her hands against each other, when that wasn’t enough, she smacked her thighs before finally dropping to the ground. She struck the tarmac with open then closed fists, but she couldn’t even feel the contact. It was all flames, undeniable flames!

Trying to act, trying to do anything that might make a change, she threw her left arm toward the closest flaming building and tried to quell what she’d created. The fire was huge, exploding flames were waving from the roof as if clawing at the black sky they had created. Blaze concentrated, she tensed every muscle and focused all her attention, but she couldn’t get a grip on the flames! No matter how she tugged at them, they refused her will and continued burning with that same ferocity. They’d become like the damage they were doing; permanent and irreversible. They’d simply grown too strong.

Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, a feeling of utter uselessness consumed her. Her head dropped; eyes were thrown to the tarmac. The flames were hers. This was all her fault. Fire had already claimed her surroundings, it had surely spread further than she could see. It wouldn’t be long until the entire town was engulfed. The people she’d sworn to protect were burning in their homes.

The princess forced herself back to her feet, her tears hadn’t doused her burning hands. There had to be something she could do. There had to be someone she could help! Even something small, even just informing her people and moving them somewhere actually safe. Regardless of whether she was a demon, they were still her-

Even through her blurry eyes, something caught the new demon’s attention. It was like sunlight had pierced the clouds, golden light cast over her and the demons surrounding her. The feline instinctively turned, looking up, only to see a shape imposed in front of the black sky she had created.

It was unlike anything Blaze had ever seen. Sets of white wings, difficult to count, were folded protectively around a central mass to create a sort of orb. Protecting those wings, alternating in size and position but each overlocking to form a broken sphere, were six golden rings which looked to be emitting the light Blaze had noticed.

Just as she’d begun to grasp the form, counting six wings in total, the rings halted their orbit. The light faded from her surroundings, she noticed that the other demons had turned their cycloptic gaze up as well. A sound overwhelmed the burning, only comparable to a high note being played in a flute.

She staggered a half step back, feeling tension build in the air, just in time for a more concentrated ray of light to blast downward and fill the street in front of her. It blocked the entire street ahead of her, that half of the town vanished in an instant. Another beat passed, the from around her just stood still. Just what was this? What had happened today? Between these demons, her own transformation, the state of the town and now whatever this was, something had been brewing ever since she’d awoken. Was this angelic form the cause?

The moment that thought crossed her mind; the golden ray began to push forward. Before Blaze could react, she saw it pass over a row of demons and reduce them not to sludge but dust. It could kill them!

The princess was pushed backward as the rush began, the cycloptic demons were running from the ray! Whatever this entity was, it was acting to protect her people from the demons, it was true and good! But after those thoughts passed, another rushed to the forefront of her mind.

She was one of them; it would treat her as it just had them!

No matter what had happened, she still had her duty to her people. She had to survive to save as many of them as possible!

A stampede of devils fled the light and Blaze was among them, rushing down the street. She weaved between the bodies; though they were certainly faster than when she’d fought them, their bulk was clearly hampering their movements. She could touch them now that she was one of them, weave under arms and brush past thighs without worry of contact, they were treating her as one of them. There was no fight in it, she just had to survive!

Blaze ran and ran, finally reaching the front of the pack only to find the skyscrapers before her were just as devastated as those behind her. It seemed impossible that her flames would have stretched this far this fast, especially given the building’s metal composition, but she didn’t have time to focus on yet another oddity. Though she still saw light cast ahead of her, Blaze threw a glance over her shoulder and found that the ray was still in pursuit. She couldn’t tell how greatly the demon’s numbers had thinned, but they were much fewer than they had been before. Whatever the sky entity was, it was more than matching the monster’s pace.

Her eyes returned to the front; she felt her flames burn brighter as fresh panic boiled across her shoulders. If it was only pursuing her, would its light move to target her? Could this winged entity angle its beam to strike with precision?

The road ahead was barren, not a citizen or another demon in sight despite the flames. She supposed she should think herself lucky that no one had fled back out and into the street, but that was the only silver lining. Her eyes crossed to the left, the side of the street she was closer to, and noticed something pass.

Alleyways! There was a way out of the street and, hopefully, to where some of her citizens had fled. She drew further left only to feel the earth shake beneath her; exactly as she’d felt before the demons had arrived. Blaze grit her teeth, trying to ignore it as she pushed on. There was no time to slow before she turned; instead, she put her hand to the ground and fully slid as she broke from the pack and into the far left.

Her shoulder clipped the left wall, she bounced from it and into the right, but kept running. The heat of the walls hadn’t even phased her, but the view ahead did. Somehow, the tower blocks weren’t limited to just one road! Impossibly, the alleyway ahead between the two skyscrapers seemed to stretch on without end. The instant a skyscraper would end another was there, leaving not so much as a crack between them.

Just as that realisation processed, Blaze saw her horned shadow cast in gold light ahead of her. She dared to look back and her fears were confirmed, why had the light followed her?! Had it already disposed of the other-

Her thoughts and body stopped in an instant as foot failed to land on tarmac. The demon felt herself fall, out of instinct her demonic wings seemed to beat. They did enough to slow her tumble but they were two untrained to lift her free, regardless of her burning panic! That earthquake moments prior, its origin had been revealed! Just as before the earth had split open, but this time it’d formed a crevice rather than a geyser.

Above her was a dark world growing darker, but bellow proved to be much worse. While it wasn’t exploding outward, beneath her spanned a lake of that dark ichor. Her plunge was inevitable, but she fought it for as long as was possible and, somehow, the light didn’t pierce find her in the darkness.

She’d almost convinced herself that she’d be able to stand on the ichor now that she was a demon, but but her foot remained trapped beneath the surface. It was just like before! No matter how her wings flapped, it was as if that whole pool had cement around her ankle. With every centimetre and inch she sunk lower, her chances of rising diminished.

Though her will remained strong, her wings gave out. The curving of her spine from her tug of war against the dark meant she fell back first and felt the liquid before it consumed her. Her flames had saved her last time though, they had to again!

The fire at her hands raged, they managed to breach the surface despite the weight on the rest of her body. She was almost out of breath; she’d been running and fighting for so long. Blaze flailed and clawed burning hands across the surface, each managed to pierce and tear at the dark but she felt herself sink deeper with each moment. Dizziness soon set in.

She was striking blindly in the dark, lungs burning, when it happened. Something outside her view, something she hadn’t felt before, cut through the flame to grab her by the forearm. She felt the ichor grow lighter and lighter, suddenly it was as if she was floating on water rather than sinking in mercury. Blaze dared to open her eyes and found that, rather than darkness, golden light was ahead of her. That grasp took hold of her other arm, but Blaze couldn’t return it. It was as if whatever was holding her wasn’t truly there.

With a gentle tug, Blaze felt the ichor leave her body and the golden light grew much less harsh. She was being pulled upward by what seemed to be a sunbeam, tugged up toward the crack in the tarmac and toward a sky of blue! Before she breached to reach the world, her eyes looked to her extended arms only to see a set of handprints in her flames where she felt the grasp.

Upon emergence, looking to her side, Blaze found the skyscrapers were still present- but they had all been restored! There were no fiery holes and no burning rooftops; her people were working inside as if nothing had happened! Despite its impossibility, Blaze couldn’t help feeling grateful.

But the pull didn’t stop at ground level, Blaze soon found herself on eye level with the top of the skyscrapers. Beneath her though, the town truly wasn’t as she recalled. Citizens were walking the streets, but they weren’t the people nor the streets she recalled. A city spanned for miles beneath the clouds, blue rivers flowed straight through it. The harsh industrial section she had been in was contrasted by those of alabaster architecture, buildings that looked historic yet maintained.

As she processed those features, noting their vague familiarity, Blaze again looked to the sky. She’d expected to see the same form she had before, great white wings and golden rings cast against the blue sky, but instead she saw something smaller. They were hard to make out, having positioned themselves directly in front of a white cloud, and the light tugging her upward wasn’t helping matters. It was only when she was a few mere metres away that she recognised him, despite the oddities.

“S-Silver!?” She called out, her voice guttural with panic.

If his psychokinesis hadn’t been pulling her in, his golden eyes and glowing grin would have, “Blaze!”

Though those key features were the same, there were some oddities about his person. What caught her attention first was the halo floating just about his usual, messy, quills. Matching its angelic nature, behind the hedgehog a pair of feathery white wings had pushed out from where his back spines usually hung.

Before she could even process his entirety, his hands took the place of the psychic hold on her forearms, “I found you! I was so worried!”

Without a moment’s notice or a greater explanation, the hedgehog shot forward and pulled her into a ludicrously tight hug. Her head was pushed over his shoulder as he pressed all his fluffiness against her. It would have been so easy to melt into him then and there, but the contradictions and questions were still swirling in Blaze’s mind.

She did however return his hug, bringing her still burning arms to awkwardly wrap beneath his brand-new wings. As she did that, her pointed tail came into view and wrapped around his waist. Her wings too moved to curl around his shoulders. This was just too much it was too strange.

She closed her eyes and bit her tongue for a moment, but soon pushed back to look him in the eye, “Silver, what-

Blaze blinked. Though the hedgehog she’d just seen was still before her, his positioning and angelic features had entirely vanished. Rather than floating upright in the sky, his back to the cloud, Blaze was looking down at him; her hands pressed on a mattress at either side of his body. His arms were still wrapped tightly around the small of her back.

She blinked again, glancing across the room. They were in a bedroom, her bedroom; the half-pulled curtains of her fourposter bed were obscuring much of it but this space was absolutely that she knew so well. She could see her desk, the balcony window and the room’s entrance; everything was where it should have been.

A duvet was flush against her back, she could feel no wings between her and it. Her tail snaked its way out and into the blue light the hedgehog was naturally emitting, revealing it to be normal and fluffy. Heat fanned across the princess’ face, but she pulled one hand from his side to pet the top of her head. No horns.

The inconsistencies in the town’s layout, her powers failing her and even the towers’ accelerated destruction prior to miraculous restoration all suddenly made sense. It’d all just been a stupid dream, she’d been too caught up in it all to tear apart the inconsistencies. The oddities like that demon appearing in the alleyway and her citizens ignoring her, the way she’d transformed too. No wonder she’d felt so emotional through it all, her own mind had been making up the scenario.

A sigh slipped free from her lips as she replanted her arm at his side. Just as her mind had reconstructed Crisis city, it’d revived many of her childhood fears. When they were small, before and even for a while after they’d first met, she had truly though of herself as one of Iblis’ spawn. She’d bordered on feral, having been ostracised from what few settlements remained due to her pyrokinetic nature. Stones had been thrown at her, she’d been chased through the streets and made to bleed by those who should have been her own.

The hedgehog shifted in his sleep beneath her; she felt his hands paw at her back. He had been the only exception, at first at least. He had d been seen as an outsider too, but a much less dangerous one than her. She’d thought him a fool for wanting to be her friend and, truthfully, there had been merit to that line of thinking; she had been a pyrokinetic entity in a world destroyed by fire after all. But, little by little he’d worn her down and in doing so unknowingly eaten away at her insecurities.

She’d let him sleep here tonight, as she had many nights prior. While at first she’d felt greedy about these infractions, knowing it wasn’t proper for a royal, those feelings had long fallen by the wayside. It wasn’t at all surprising that she’d dreamed of that place and time, if anything it was odd that she didn’t more often.

Adrenaline was wearing thin; it was surely too early to wake. Slowly, gingerly, Blaze lowered her head to rest upon his chest fur and clavicle. Like clockwork, a contented murmur sounded from him and again his hands plied to pull her closer. To appease the sleeping psychic, but mostly just because she wanted to, the princess brought her own arms to curl around him.

Blaze the cat knew wasn’t a demon, despite what she’d historically told herself, but Silver? She couldn’t think of a person more fitting to call an angel.

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theflashdriver · 3 days

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theflashdriver · 6 days

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#SILVAZE #blaze the cat #silver the hedgehog #SONIC #BLOOD #VAMPIRE