Dreamer

Chapter 1: Mael

No one was sorry to see him die, except Mael.

It wasn't even conscious, more like a feeling in his guts. He deserved it, told his head, to which his stomach responded with some unrecognizable protesting noises, like a student rebelling his teacher, but failing in lack of passable arguments.

Or maybe he was just hungry.

"Seems like a scout." Lysander poked the Demons corpse with his sword, making its flesh flinch. Blue, leathery skin, claws like a griffin, and an over dimensional beak in the middle of his bird face. A Cobalt Demon, class two. The kind of demon usually roaming around Britannia at night. Quite easy to take out, and yet his stomach turned and limbs grew weak at the thought of this just being the beginning.

"Could be a coincidence." Mael mumbled. Considering his luck it wasn't, but he prayed that just for once he would be home in time for dinner.

Lysander laid a hand over the demons dead body. It started glowing, just like the corpse, and seconds later everything that remained of the monster were small particles of light floating through the air. "They usually fly in packs. And before nightfall?" he said.

"Should we split up, Sir?" He flinched at Hermias voice beside him. Sometimes she stayed so quiet for so long, he just forgot about her. "Mael?"

"You two stay together." he said, watching the light disappear into the orange sky. It was almost sundown. "Check on the human settlement east of here." Or was it east? He frowned, eying the forest around them. Had the trees always looked that blurry? "It's east, isn't it?"

"When did you go to sleep last night?" Lysander asked, and Mael shivered at the glare he send him.

"Last night last night, or the last night I slept?"

"Are you kidding me."

"Boys." Hermia stressed. "We should get going. The sun is almost down."

"Yeah, we should." Mael said, stretching and backing off Lysander a bit. "I will scout the area, we meet home in an hour latest. If you find anything, contact me."

With these words Mael spread out the four wings on his back and ascended into the sky.

"This discussion isn't over!" Lysander shouted after him, but he was already out of his scoldings reach. When did you go to sleep last night? When was the last time you ate something decent, douche bag? Lys really made up for what Ludociel missed the time. Playing mother hen.

Okay, maybe he should have slept more than five hours in the past two days... And maybe he should have eaten some breakfast... But starting a fight on duty? Really Lysander? That did not really help Maels already weak authority.

He blinked a few times, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Stay awake. Just another hour. Ludociel would be mad if he messed this up, and his stomach twisted just thinking about it.

They had been following a trace since the early morning, a promising one too. There had been rumors about the Demon Clan hording a whole nest of heavenly bronze, a material used for special weapons most Goddess soldiers carried. The already rare metal had been short lately though, and they finally seemed to have found the reason for that.

But now Mael and his group might have stumbled over something entirely else. If that Cobalt really was a scout like Lys said...

Mael felt the sleep overcome him. The lids fell shut over his burning eyes, and the weight of his wings suddenly seemed to triple. The next he remembered was falling towards the forest, startling just before hitting the high trees.