Sariel

The day I met the angel was an ordinary day like so many other days.

There was a lull in the fighting, and all three of us were at the Kraej City headquarters for a meeting with the desk jockeys. As I was walking downtown, a girl called out to me from the other side of the street.

“Sariel! I’m here!” she said. She was a pretty thing, all long blonde hair and big blue eyes. Nice figure, too. Her blue dress was old-fashioned, primly buttoned up in front, with a high neck and turnover cuffs. She looked as though she’d stepped out of an old photograph.

I didn’t recognize her, but it would be ungentlemanly to ignore her, so I crossed the street to where she was standing in front of a cafe. She ran straight into me and threw her arms around my neck. Or she tried to. She was too short to do it until I bent down to help her out.

“I’m so glad we found each other! I hope we can find the others!” she said.

She smelled of honeysuckle and incense, a pleasing combination. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I have always been a man who enjoyed being embraced by a beautiful girl. She was soft and warm in my arms.

Alas, all good things must end. Eventually, she pulled away from me and searched my face for something; I didn’t know what.

“Wait a minute, you’re not Sariel!” The girl’s joyful expression changed into one of extreme disappointment. Her brows drew together and the corners of her little pink mouth turned down. Her entire body sagged, and, for a moment, I was afraid that she was going to fall down on the street.

“I am Sariel,” I said to her.

The girl must be one of those unfortunates who weren’t right in the head. There was no way a person with all their mental faculties in order could mistake me for anyone else.

How many people had platinum blonde hair, green eyes, and my EL height? Fragging few, if any at all. And it would be too much of a coincidence if they were also named Sariel.

“No, you’re not the Sariel I know,” she said, sighing. “Sorry.”

“Miss, are you lost?” I asked. From her dress and shoes, she must be from a wealthy family. For one thing, the bracelet and necklace she was wearing were real gold, studded here and there with pearls. Perhaps she’d escaped from her minders.

“Why do people always ask me that? No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

“Where do you live? I can send you home,” I said. This wasn’t exactly a rough part of town, but there was no place in Kraej City that was truly safe for a girl who looked like her and had an undeveloped sense of street smarts. If she was truly feebleminded, then she was in danger.

“Really?” She seemed surprised, and her blue eyes searched my face as though she was trying looking for something.

“Yes, really,” I said.

“I was separated from my friends, and I have very little cash on me. Could you buy these from me, and show me to a good hotel?” Taking off her jewelry, she offered it to me.

“Keep it. You can pay me back when you find your friends.” It would also give me an excuse to meet her again.

“Alright, thank you. My name’s Asteria.”

I walked her to where I’d parked my vehicle. I wasn’t sure what to make of her. On the surface, she seemed normal, but what kind of person in their right mind would blithely get into a car with me? Didn’t she notice how the people around us were crossing the street to avoid walking near me? Times were so bad that I had to wear my sword, wand, and gun in plain sight.

“My car’s just a block away,” I said.

Asteria tugged on my sleeve. “Wait, you’re walking too fast!”

“Sorry,” I said. I slowed down to match her pace.

Not many people would dare to touch me. If she’d mistaken me for a friend, the hug was understandable, but she had to be totally fearless or crazy to grab me by the sleeve.

Everyone’s seen the news reports of me, Seraph, and Uriel fighting in the war. Once, I was popular among the ladies of Kraej City. Nowadays, most of them won’t return my calls. Once, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs had welcomed me with invitations and free drinks. Nowadays, when I walk down a street, the owners of those same establishments hung a “closed” sign on their doors.

I couldn’t blame them. Who would want a weapon of mass destruction drinking in their bar, driving their other customers away?

“Thanks a lot! I wasn’t sure which hotel was safe,” said Asteria. “And I don’t think I have enough money on me.”

“Why don’t you call your family when we get to the hotel?”

“I’m an orphan with no family. My friends and I just arrived in the city, so I don’t have anywhere to call,” she said.

“How did you get separated?”

“It’s not my fault! They were the ones who got lost. You’d think three grown men would know better than to jump headlong into-” She paused and sighed. “Ah, what’s the use of complaining? Anyway, we’ll find each other.”

Asteria whistled in admiration when she saw my shiny new car. This was the same model Magnus Kraej used. I opened the passenger side door for her, and we spent the short ride to the nearest Kraej Hotel chatting about the weather.

Since I was going to be paying for her stay, I picked a mid-range hotel instead of the more luxurious one she was probably more used to. My assumptions about her background were confirmed when she looked around nervously at the hotel lobby and said, “Are you sure this hotel is safe?”

“This hotel is mostly used by officers and Kraej staff,” I said. Not the high-level ones, of course. Those stayed in an exclusive and much more high-end hotel.

The front desk staff looked alarmed when I walked up to them with Asteria in tow.

“Good afternoon, sir. How may I help you?” A receptionist greeted me.

“Don’t worry, I’m not staying here. This girl is my guest, and she needs a room,” I said.

The receptionist none-too-subtly side-eyed Asteria. “Sir, we don’t normally allow minors to stay in our rooms unaccompanied.”

“I’m not a minor! I’m eighteen. I mean, I’m twenty-one,” said Asteria.

She wasn’t even sure how old she was? I was sure she was lying since she didn’t look a day over fifteen.

“Miss, do you have an ID?”

“Um...” She looked at the floor and hunched her shoulders defensively.

“Her companions will be joining her soon. She just needs a place to stay for now.” I slid my black credit card across the counter. The receptionist didn’t ask for any more details.

I walked her up to her room and handed her some credits. She didn’t have any luggage, so she’d have to buy clothes and other necessities. “Always keep your door locked and don’t open it to just anyone. If someone knocks, ignore them and call the front desk. Tell them there’s someone in the hallway trying to get into your room.”

“I’m not a child! You don’t need to tell me that,” said Asteria.

“Just be careful. I’ll check on you sometime tomorrow,” I said.

Why was I concerned about this strange girl? What was it about her that made me feel protective?

“Wait. If my friends find me, I might need to leave with them right away. Why don’t you take this as payment?”

She took out an artifact from her pocket.

“What the frag!” I plucked it from her hands. It was a heal artifact! Regular artifacts were worth more than a regular person could earn in a lifetime. Cure artifacts were the rarest type, but heal artifacts were almost as rare. And this one looked like it was of the highest quality, too.

I was tempted to take it. The artifact was worth more than three hotels.

Asteria giggled. “I see you’re also artifactsexual…”

“This is a heal artifact.” I should really give it back to her. I might be the mass-murdering psychopath my enemies called me, but I wasn’t someone who would take advantage of a feebleminded girl.

“It’s cool, I have plenty of those.” To my shock, she pulled out another heal artifact from her pocket. “I’m a healer.”

“You’re a healer…”

On this continent, anima manipulation was an ability that only one in fifty possessed. Of those, fewer than one in a hundred could muster enough anima to light a candle or its equivalent in the other elements. Magicians who could heal were one in a thousand. Magicians who could heal at her age? Maybe one in ten thousand.

Things made a little more sense now. I’d met a genius neurosurgeon once. He was cool as a cucumber and highly skilled in the operating room, but a useless airhead everywhere else. Word was he needed his wife to watch over him to check if he’d tied his shoelaces properly. Was Asteria one of those dotty genius types?

Asteria used her keycard to open the door. Then she walked inside. “Yes, I am. Thanks for the help. See you tomorrow! Or not.”

She closed the door.

I’d give her the artifact back when she reunited with her friends. In the meantime, it was safer with me.

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