Raven

Chapter Three

Slade

Gods I have never seen anyone look so terrible, so defeated, like Raven did. She barely made it past the door, when she collapsed on the floor. At first it looked as if she just stumbled and fell down, but when she didn't get up I knew something was seriously wrong. Before I could get to her, something strange started to happen to her, There was this hum in the training hall, and a blue light suddenly surrounded her, giving her an otherworldly glow. Then she started levitating, as if some unseen hand started lifting her of the floor. The other cadets looked scared and awed at the same time. About six metres into the air she stopped, and the blue light grew more intense. it looked as though she was in immense pain, her body bucking under it. Then as if the light pulsed, wings burst forth from her back, huge pitch black fluffy wings, the kind angels have, her eyes glowed an intense violet and there where these rings on her wrists glowing. Her hand reached out, and suddenly out of nowhere this huge broadsword appeared in her hand, glowing just as intensely blue. I swear I could hear a woman's voice speaking to her, but couldn't be sure, then she descended, and her wings retracted and the sword disappeared, just as she hit the soft mat under her.

I ran to Raven and skidded to a halt right next to her on the floor, she was flawless, just like this morning when I saw her sneaking into the back of the hall during the welcoming meeting. The girl has sass, and packs one hell of a kick. She was so still, almost deathly still. My breath stopped for a moment, please don't let this woman die on my watch, not on my first day! Raven mumbled something under her breath, I sighed in relieve. Lifting her head gently, cradling her in my arm. She is so small, petite, yet she is dynamite on the battle field. Gods this woman can fight, I saw most of her battle on the drone cameras that went out with her unit, before some deranged Demon took out the system completely.

She mumbled something again, sounding a bit panicked. "Call the infirmary for a stretcher and some medics, The Lt needs immediate medical attention." I yell at some of the cadets, who are just standing around staring. I look down at Raven, she is covered in all kinds of unknown Demon parts, but has no injuries, that fall was suppose to have broken something, how the hell did she get to the compound with out assistance anyway. "Your going to be okay, please just don't die on me yet" I whisper to her. Oh gods the Brigadier is going to have my arse for this. Raven was his prized Lieutenant, he bragged about her skill to the other sectors, she is the reason I took the transfer, to see who this amazing warriorress was. Most women worked in the infirmary, or taught the cadets who were still too young for training, or they cooked for the young ones. It was very, very rare for a woman to be a skilled warrior after the Apocalypse happened.

The medics came, and I moved back to give them some room to work. First they took her pulse, the medic shook his head as if something was wrong, next he used a stethoscope and listened to her heart and lungs, that's when her eyes flew open, most probably from the cold instrument on her skin but she remained calm. Then the medic checked her pulse again, and informed us Raven was right as rain, only needing a good old shower to clean her up. They left, I moved forward as Raven got up from the floor. "Go get cleaned up, I will see you later once your done" I tell her. Then turned around and found the other cadets gawking at her and gossiping, hearing some the remarks, I got angry, didn't they know what she was? How dare they say these things of such a beautiful creature. They should feel honoured to be in presence of a dark angel. They are rare warriors, are sent to protect the humans form the evil that is out there.

"Get back to training!" I shout at the cadets, stopping their gossiping at once. I turn and see Raven go into the Locker Room, heading to the back where the showers are situated. I bark out a few more orders to the cadets then head out to the communications room to call in the search and rescue team, soon they will have recovered the bodies of the fallen cadets. Their families will have to be informed and a service arranged for their burial. Entering the comm's room, I head to the communications officer, "How far out is the recovery team?" I ask him. "Sir they are heading in as we speak". "And the rest of the demon hoard?" I hope to the gods those fuckers went back into Rift. "No sign of then General". I keep an eye on the drone footage in front of me, then turn to head out.

Walking down the hall, I think of what the hell I am going to say to these kids parents, they were so young, too young to die in a demon hoard attack. Shit this is not how I imagined my first day at sector 10 to go. After my shift was over, I'm heading to the canteen for cold beer. I make the left turn in hallway towards the dorm rooms for the higher ranking officers, a cadet passes me, and I stop her, "Which room is for Lt. Raven?" She looks skittish, "Room 204, Sir". and off she went on her business. I continue further down the hall until I reach 204.

I knock on the door, and wait. From inside I hear footsteps approaching, and then the door opens. Shit Raven looks like she's been to hell and back. "General?, please come in" she motions for me to enter. I walk in and stop next to the small standard table and chair setup that are standard for these rooms. "Please, Sir have a seat" and pulls the chair forward from the corner. She settles on the chair on the opposite side of the table, moving some books to one side. I look her straight in the eye and ask her, "How are you feeling Raven?" She looks confused, like she is not sure what just happened. "I know I should be dead!", she jumps up and starts pacing. " Hell, I should be demon food by now!" Throwing her hands in the air, she turns back and glares at me, "How did I get back in the compound?" The million dollar question, the one I have no answer for and it seems neither does she. " The demon you took out in mid air, fell into our field drone, taking it out, we have no idea how you got back to the compound". She stops, and just stares at me as if I just revealed a government secret. Then she pushes both her hands out to me, "What are these?" I look at the arm bands and then up at her, "Those are your new weapons". Looking astonished, first at me then at her wrists, "What do you mean 'weapons'?" I rise from my seat and approach Raven, taking her hands I turn them palms up. Pointing at the writing on the bands, "These words are the spell you speak to unleash the weapons the Gods have given you, and by the look of the letter I think this is Irish Gaelic, meaning the Goddess of war has deemed you her warrior in the battle for humanity." "How do you know they Gaelic?" she has a challenge in her eye, the same one she got when we were sparing this morning. "It reads 'Claidheamh' and the other one reads 'Tuagh', meaning you wield a sword and an axe, the gems are where the power of the spell is stored to keep them hidden, they also hide your wings from sight". "My..my..my what?" she laughs, "Okay cowboy you must have hit your head on a rock or something, there is no way on this green earth that I have wing!"

I grab her by the shoulders, walk her to the mirror on the wall and turn her around, lifting her shirt at the back, I show her the scars left by her wings, "Tell me that again after you have seen these!" She glares at the mirror, first at her reflection of her back, then accusingly at me. "What the fuck happened to me?" Turning around to face me, I look her in the eye "You died and then became Awakened!, you are no longer human, your a dark angel, warrior of the Goddess Morrigan."