Alicia slowly came to, feeling both numb and sore at the same time and his mind foggy. That immediately set off a red flag in his head. He had never felt like this before, the healing pools in the observatory could heal all but the most severe wounds according to his mentor. So why wasn’t he in one? The only reason he could think as to why he wasn’t in one, was that they were full of Celestials that needed it more than him. He could vaguely tell he was lying on a bed but beyond that his eyes refused to open. 

 

Actually, where was his mentor? Or even one of healers?

 

The Celestial didn’t know how long he sat there, minutes, hours, days? He couldn't tell. Nothing felt right. But as he sat there the memories slowly came back to him as the fog in his mind went away and with it so did the pain come to the front of his mind. The trap could feel every muscle he had ache as the pain registered.

 

‘The observatory…’ Alicia remembered what happened, his home was attacked by some unseen force and so was he by extension. The Celestial tried to call out for his Mentor, a healer, or even a guardian but all that came out was a pitiful whimper. “mhn…” 

 

Alicia tried to sit up but dropped back onto the bed after his arm gave out beneath him. His arm twitched in pain and he could barely keep the whimpers from escaping his mouth. He tried to open his eyes again but they barely twitched, using his other arm the Celestial slowly dragged it across his… bandaged chest? More red flags popped up, Celestial healers have rarely ever had to use bandages on another celestial. In fact the last time he had ever heard of bandages being used was a few decades before he was ‘born’.

 

Deciding to shelve the bandage situation for the moment Alicia dragged the hand to his face. Feeling a bandage over one of his eyes nearly sent him into a panic. It was only the fact his other eye was uncovered that prevented  him from panicking. Alicia tried to call out again but his mouth refused to let the words leave his throat. Grasping for petals at this point Alicia took a breath and prepared himself.

 

With a shaking arm he forced his eye open and was greeted to an unexpected sight. Rather than the stone ceiling he was expecting the Celestial was greeted to a wooden ceiling much like the ones the mortals he protected lived beneath. The panic that was leaving him just moments ago returned with full force. Alicia couldn’t form a coherent thought as he stared at the ceiling above him. 

 

Thankfully Alicia didn’t have to worry as his eyes rolled to the back of head and he passed out.

 

(TCOD)

 

When Alicia reawakened he immediately noticed the bandage that was covering his eye was gone, something he was thankful for. He could still feel the pain coursing through him but it seemed less than what it was before, sooo yeh. His arms still shook when he moved them but he had to find out what happened to his mentor, his people, and his home, the questions wouldn’t stop gnawing at his mind.

 

His legs had, what did the mortals call it… pins and needles? Any way he couldn’t really move them until he started to get blood to them so Alicia gritted his teeth and pushed his body into a sitting position. His body cried out in pain as he did so. 

 

‘Need… to find out… where i am.’

 

Once he was in a sitting position he looked around the room, it was… Alicia didn’t know how to describe it. After years of defending the mortals' towns the rooms start to look the same, at least to him they did. A wooden dresser, plain bed, a side table, a wardrobe, and a few decorations were all there was in the room. Shakily he threw a leg over the ledge, hissing lowly as the ‘pins’ spiked. The Trap took deep breaths of air, already feeling a bit exhausted from the effort it took to do that simple task.

  

Using the side table to push himself up out of the bed, Alicia stood for the first time in possibly days. He tried to walk forward but his legs gave out beneath him, causing him to slam into the side table and knocking off a tankard full of water in the process. He flinched  at the crashing oise.

 

(TCOD)

Downstairs.

 

Eerie hummed happily as she stirred the pot of stew she was making, her grandfather sitting at the table idly sorting some playing cards from his youth. Today had been a great day for the inn, a good sized group of guards had gone through the sleepy town of angel falls after the mayor had sent word to stornway and were now staying at her inn for the time being, and her new Pie recipe had been a smash hit with them. All in all it was one of the best weeks She’s had in a while.

 

“Grandpa can you grab me an onion?”

 

“Of course my dear.” 

 

Heading over to one of the many cabinets inside the kitchen the elderly man grabbed a large onion. As he made his way back they both heard a crash come from upstairs and shared a look, they knew for a fact most of the guards from stornway were patrolling the region around Angel Falls while the rest made sure the meager defences in town were still intact.

 

“Go check on the child, I will grab father Jesse.” the old man said, already making his way to the inns door, faster than one would expect from such an old man. 

 

“O-ok.” Taking her stew off the fire Errin made her way upstairs where their only guest was. She quickly made her to the room upstairs where she knew her mysterious guest laid in rest, at least they should be. Her thoughts drifted to their… surprising arrival.

 

(TCOD)

Flashback.

 

It was a beautiful day in angel falls, the birds were chirping, the morning dew glistened in the morning light, and all the inhabitants were chatting happily. Well most were, they had a monstrous thunderstorm last night.

 

“Did you see the lightning last night?” villiger #1 asked as she gathered some coins.

 

“No, but i sure heard it! I don’t think angel falls has had such a fierce storm in… ever really.” Villiger #2 replied.

 

“It was really strange, the lightning was purple. My kids got really scared last night because of it.” Villiger #1 shivered.

 

“I bet, Larry said he had to spend an hour coaxing his cattle out of the barn. Oh Hello Errin.”

 

“Hello miss Veronica, how are you today?” Errin said with a smile.

 

“I’m doing fine my dear, come for some more vegetables?”

 

“Yep, i-”

 

SPASH.  

 

Errin was interrupted by a massive wave of water erupting from the waterfall, showering everyone in water. Everyone looked at the rapidly rippling water in shock, and really could you blame them. For a few moments nobody moved, seemingly rooted in place. Then Errin saw it, or rather she saw them.

 

Floating up in the water was a person wearing a tattered outfit. Errin rushed forward, a few other people having noticed them as well followed her. Drew, the town's resident lumberjack, dived into the water and reached the person in but a few moments. It was only once he had managed to swim back with the person did Errin manage to get a closer look. Their outfit while it may have been a beautiful piece was now charred or torn in places where it wasn’t soaked, the orange hair that laid around their head like the setting sun was frayed and uneven.

 

As Drew went to get any water out of their lungs Errin had to cover her mouth in horror all across her? Body were horrific wound that seemed to be branded into her skin by some horrific monster. The innkeeper could feel bile running up her throat and ran away so as to not throw up on her?

 

“Out of the way! Let father Jesse though please.” Errin heard one of the sisters of the church gently parted the crowd so as to allow the aging priest through. Said priest took one look at the girl laying on the ground, let his jaw drop at the sight, and rushed as fast as he could to the child that was very clearly injured.

 

“Minor heal.” a light green light encased the priests hands, who directed the spell towards the child. Slowly the child's breathing became less erratic as the spell took effect, unfortunately the Priest had to stop the spell after 4 seconds.

 

Father Jesse greedily sucked in deep breaths of air, he was never able to hold the spell for long but it seemed this child had been hurt far more than he had thought.

 

“There, it should be safe to move her.” Father Jesse stumbled as he stood up and the sister had steadied him before he could fall. “We just need to get her into a bed to rest.”

 

Flashback end. 

 

It was amongst the most traumatic events she had ever been privy to, granted their guest was also one of the most confusing people they had ever met. At first glance they looked like a young girl, albeit one with a unusual hair color, but when they had removed their scrapes of clothing they found out they were a very femanine young boy. It was a very confusing day for her and one of the nuns that had helped her.

 

Even So when Errin opened the door and Alicia snapped his eyes onto her with a look of shock and surprise, Errin was by his side in an instant, further surprising him. She immediately started to check the bandages adorning his body to make sure none of them were starting to show signs of him bleeding, were loose or had lost pressure.

 

“Are you ok? Nothing feels broken does it, what parts hurt.” Errin was like a mother hen at the moment, like she was checking over her little chick. Heh.

 

Alicia could feel his chest move faster as he stared at the mortal who by all means shouldn’t be able to see him. He vaguely recognized her as the mortal he had prevented from being ambushed the last time he was below in the Protectorate. With a raspy voice he spoke.

 

“You… you can, see me?”

 

The indigo haired girl gave the boy a confused look, momentarily stopping her transgressions.

 

“Of course I can see you silly, why wouldn’t i?” 

 

For a few seconds Alicia stared at her trying to process the fact that now only could this mortal see him but was also interacting with him. He had never heard of such a thing happening before, he had read in the great library of the Observatory that their halo’s casted a passive illusion over the Celestial preventing their mortal charges from viewing them, and for good reason. If their charges could see them fighting monsters they might be tempted to join the fight, putting them at risk.

 

Alicia ignored the mortal in front of him, who was trying to get his attention, and raised a shaking hand to his head ready to feel his golden halo. When his hand grasped air the Trap’s breath quickened and his pupils shrunk as the reality of his situation set in. Then, he screamed.

 

“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!”

 

In a… rather impressive show of acrobatics Alicia had managed to jump away from the mortals grasp, leap over the small bed he had just gotten out of, get to the other side of the room where the cabinet laid and climb inside of it in less than 30 seconds. Considering the celestial had fallen a few thousand meters at least not that long ago and had been struggling to simply sit up, it was surprising he even made it without falling. Anywho.

 

Errin removed her hands from her ears and blinked owlishly as the cabinet looked to shake just the tiniest bet if you looked close enough.

 

“E-ehh?…”  

 

(TCOD.)

 

“Thank you for coming on such short notice father Jesse.” the Old man said as he led the priest inside.

 

“It was no problem my friend.” While the Priest had a calm, dignified look he was actually a bit worried about the child. It was far too soon for the child to wake up, and he knew that for a fact. He had seen grown men a part of the military take the same near mortal wounds and take weeks just to start waking up and yet this child young enough to be his son had apparently started waking up and moving after a mere 11 days. 

 

Father Jesse and the old man were surprised to see Erinn pacing at the bottom of the stairs with a nervous expression, one that changed once she saw the two enter the building.

 

“Oh thank the Almighty you’re here Father Jesse, the child somehow managed to hide in a cabinet when I tried to check on him but he refuses to come out.” The relief was visible on Erinn’s face once she saw him. “he keeps saying I shouldn't be able to see him along with some other things I couldn't make out.”

 

“Really? Are you sure?” her grandfather asked.

 

“Absolutely.”

 

Father Jesse’s eyes narrowed at that. Not quite sure what to make of that, beyond that is not normal.

 

“Can you show me which room she is in.”

 

Erinn nodded and quickly led the elderly priest upstairs to the room adjacent to the stairs, where the young boy should still be hiding in. Hopefully he could figure out how to help the child before he ends up hurting himself.

 

Inside the room, more specifically the cabinet, Alicia shook in fear along with something else he couldn’t figure out. For some odd reason his stomach hurt but he couldn’t feel anything sticky which meant he wasn’t bleeding and if he was bleeding on the inside he would probably be dead by now.

 

He could also feel tears running down his face because of the fear.

 

‘Why could she see me? Where is my halo, my wings, my mentor!” a pit formed in his stomach and ice filled his veins as a worrisome thought wormed it way in his mind. ‘Di… did the almighty tear away my wings? Have I gone against him in some way?        

 

Now this wasn’t a very good thought, but it was the only thing that made a bit of sense to him. After all the only Monsters that might be capable of removing a Celestials wings had been hunted to extinction centuries before he was ‘born’ not only because they could greatly incapacitate Celestials but also because a single group of certain monsters, such as the everkilling machines could bring ruin to entire kingdoms if they were left to their own devices. The only being that should be capable of removing a celestial's wings would be his creator, the Almighty himself. But… for a Celestial to have it’s wings removed, Alicia didn’t know what that meant in his case, they would have to commit some of the most serious crimes possible. 

 

At least that's what the elders had told him and his kin back when he was being trained in the observatory.   

 

Alicia was brought out of his thoughts by the door opening and more than one footsteps echoing inside the room. He could hear them whisper just outside of the door but made no moves to find out what they were saying.

 

“She’s in here father.”

 

“Thank you Erinn but I'm afraid I must ask you to leave the room for a minute while I talk to her.” Alica could tell that was a male speaking but not one he recognized. 

 

“Of course, please don’t hesitate to get me should you need anything.”

 

“I shall.”

 

Knock, knock.

 

“My child? Are you still there?” the man asked after Knocking on the Cabinet door, making Alicia flinch for reasons unknown to him. “I’m Father Jesse, priest of the church of the Almighty. I would like to check up on you. You got hurt really bad a few days ago and i wanted to see how well your recovering.”  

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

“...no?” Alicia was hesitant to speak to a mortal, even if they were a dutiful servant of his creator. 

 

“My child, please come out. I’m sure you're hungry and you need to rest in an actual bed. Not inside a cabinet.” for another moment nothing happened and Father Jesse grew a bit worried that the child wouldn’t come out. Then, the Cabinet slowly opened and a pair of pink eyes peared from the darkness, stared at him for a few seconds, before the young boy slowly stepped out. Father Jesse, seeing the child's legs start to shake, gently grasped the child's hands and led him back to his bed, also noticing him tensing from his touch. “There we are my child. Now I'm going to ask you to stay here for a moment while I grab you a bowl of stew to slowly eat. It wouldn’t do to have a growing boy go hungry now would it.”

 

“Um…”

 

“Yes my child?” 

 

“... what is stew?”

 

Father Jesse stopped just as he put his hand on the doorknob and gave the young boy a look of confusion, one that was matched by Alicia. That… was not the question he was expecting and for some odd reason Father Jesse felt like he should expect more of those questions in the future.