After The Fall

Muses Freed

As the sun set they entered Vandalia. Cars littered I-70 and the ramps for the exits. The group gathered around the metal dragon that over looked the access road and began grumbling about the slow progress. To punctuate their dissatisfaction a fleet of Saurian ships flew over their location. When the Cahokian Spire arose from the ground, the Saurians immediately started to attack it. At first they worried at every passing fleet and battalion that the Spire would fall. Sounds of battle would echo through the air, and then everything would go quiet, and our travelers worried that it fell, until the next battle. Now, 80 miles away, the sounds were more faint, but the battle raged on.

" Come, shelter we must seek." They all turned, including the dragon, and started up the hill. Ahead laid a shattered arch laying in the parking lot of an Econoline Hotel. "I wonder if they allow pets?" Pupil pondered out loud. The sisters shot him an odd look.

A few moments later they wandered into the lobby, Pupil was looking around, searching impatiently for something. He hopped over to a crushed front desk and shuffled through the debris.

"Five star rating receive you will not." he said, still digging around.

The girls looked around at the damage. Ceiling tiles were scattered around on the floor with large chunks of insulation mixed in for good measure. Light fixtures hung from the ceiling, held up only by their wires.

"Ah ha!" exclaimed Pupil as he pulled something silver from the wreckage. He carefully placed it on the broken counter. It started to slide away from him. He snatched it back up and slammed it back into place. With his tongue sticking out of his mouth, and his right eye closed, he slowly released his grip on the object. He watched it to make sure it wouldn't move. Then he tapped the top of it, and it rang. Pupil smiled when the bell worked and waited, expecting someone to come to the counter. No one did, so he rang it again. He smiled at the girls, and ignored their looks they shot him, and rang it again. He began to drum his fingers on the counter, growing impatient. "We are never going to get a room!" he exclaimed to them.

Erika walked up to him and grabbed his arm. "Come on." she said to him.

"Oh, self service hotel. Pick out our own rooms we will." He said as she pulled him down the hall.

A low grumble came from behind them. Pupil looked back and saw the dragon trying to come down the hall. He couldn't fit, he barely fit in the lobby. Pupil looked back at the sad dragon eyes. "Stay boy, stay. Safe here we are. Especially with big brave dragon guarding entrance." The dragon seemed satisfied with what he said and curled up on the floor with his head facing the entrance.

They found a couple of adjoining rooms that weren't totally destroyed and settled in. Pupil walked in and turned on a light, its soft glow cast long shadows on the wall.

"What about the TV?" Eriana asked.

"Nothing ever good on anyway. Come, plan we must. May have been good fortune that brought us here."

"Hows that?" Erika wanted to know, she was fascinated by the light, it wasn't even plugged in.

"Sense a Nephilim I do."

"There's a mound here? Never heard of one being here."

"Mound long since destroyed. It rests under a mine. Mine looks like lake now, no mine anymore."

The girls looked at him for the first time since the battle at the Spire. They both noticed something different about him.

Eriana spoke up first. "Pupil, your skin looks different." she said as she poked his forearm. "It's soft."

"Yeah, it looks healthy now, instead of waxy," Erika agreed with her sister. "And you have a hair."

Pupil had been pinching the skin on his arm and noticing it was indeed different when Erika mentioned the hair, "Ha ha, girl make jokes. Say I have pupil hair."