Cyril was once more lying down on the warm sands of the indigo deserts of Heaven. The suns had long set, but Cyril was still partially awake. His head buzzed with thoughts and there was this persistent nagging in the back of his mind….
Cyril looked up into the stars thinking about the way things had changed in recent years. Heaven was flourishing culturally and economically, despite the idle threats of the Oneiroi. His plea for help dealing with them had been well received, and the Northern Ocean was all but cleansed of them thanks to Zero and Ryuzaki. And partially Emily. That was another thing. He had taken on Emily as a travelling partner as well. She was strange and sometimes Cyril felt like they knew nothing about each other, but they both trusted each other completely. It was an odd, almost parasitical relationship. Emily stuck to Cyril to see the universe, and Cyril let her come along to stave off the loneliness. It had never been all fun and games with the two. It seemed that whenever they were together something awful would happen. Some mega powerful group would attack them and attempt to take over his planet. Cyril would get into a fight with someone. Emily would be altered genetically. Things like that.
There was also Ryuzaki. Artik had died and left Ryuzaki in his stead. It was a strange thing to do, considering Artik had hardly even known Rick. But then again, Artik was a strange fellow. Hideki Ryuzaki had started out as a bewildered human, strangle sheltered from life. Originally, Cyril had enjoyed his companionship as well, but now something seemed to be changing. Ryuzaki had changed from that special brand of peace and order over the universe. Cyril gave a heavy sigh. He knew the type well. Thought they were helping everyone by oppression. But it didn’t work that way, as well he knew. People have to choose to be good. Poor Rick… Cyril hoped it didn’t end so badly for him.
Cyril dug his fingers in the sand and felt them tickle his palms. It was nice to relax for once. He was sure he wouldn’t get the chance to kick back for quite awhile now. He could no longer coast by on the dragon balls. He was free of the Ki Corruption now and had managed to surpass his final transformation, Burning One. He was potentially the strongest of the Seraphim now, but he was not the strongest in the universe anymore- not by a long shot. Amaterasu, Riza’s daughter, took that title. She was a Lunar Saiyan in her final form. One hundred billion power level. Riza was well above him too, at over eight hundred million. Cyril was only near one hundred million. It would have been a relief to know that he was no longer the strongest defender in the universe if he knew Riza’s and Amaterasu’s motives. Cyril really wanted to trust the two, but Riza’s behavior was too erratic and questionable to hazard a guess. Amaterasu was certainly the daughter of her father, she would likely trust and side with him whatever he does. Perhaps. Cyril was terrified that they might pull something and he would have no way to keep either of them in check. Cyril gripped the sand tightly. He had to get even stronger. Cyril just had to get strong enough to keep his planet and friends safe from any dubious actions. Cyril briefly resolved not to take a page from Rick’s book and go into crazy dictatorial mode in his pursuit of power.
What Cyril had to do first was finished achieving each of his transformations. All the trips to the Pool of Origins had scattered his continuity relating to this transformations. If he was correct, he still had to achieve the Fourth Wing transformation and the Nova Seraph transformation. It was weird how the effects hadn’t kicked in despite Cyril being much more powerful than the requirements.
Cyril checked the position of the stars for the time. It was around 11 o’clock. That’s a nice number, thought Cyril. Good solid number, 11. “Hng!” Cyril gripped the right side of his chest. There was a sudden, sharp pain in his right heart. Cyril jerked up and ground his teeth together in pain. “Gaaaah!” Cyril stood up with some trouble and his back began to crawl with a tingly sensation. “Okay, Cyril, get it together,” Cyril grunted to himself. “Third and fourth wings are coming in wrong- wrong!” There was a loud ripping sound as the nubs of the next wings tore through Cyril’s skin. “Gah! Doing everything out of order must have SCREWED SOMETHING UP HOLY SHIT THIS HURTS!” Cyril was almost brought to his knees from the pain. Cyril brought his hands up and his ki whipped up around him, trying to numb the pain with his healing powers. Cyril winced, it wasn’t working very well. He needed to get to a hospital. Cyril, panting heavily, thought back on his schooling in Seraph anatomy. He knew that such malfunctions were uncommon, but there was a method.
Okay, Step 1: Stay conscious, STAY CONSCIOUS.
Step 2: Stand up straight or else the wings may accidentally puncture some vitals.
Step 3: Relax, the tenser you are, the harder it will be for your wings to come through.
Step 4: Get to a medical center, but do NOT teleport if it is within your ability. The sudden shift will disrupt your wing growth even more.
Cyril mentally went over the checklist. Well, he was conscious and standing straight so that was good. He had managed to numb the pain a bit, so he was a relaxed as he could be. However, the nearest medical center was miles away. Cyril could tough it out in the desert, but there would be plenty of blood and it would definitely attract some unwanted attention from the animals hereabouts. Cyril wasn’t sure how long the process would take as it varied wildly from Seraph to Seraph, but he knew he should at least make an attempt to get to a hospital. It was better than sitting here for the wolves to get him. Cyril looked up and scanned the horizon, no sign of anything yet, but they would come. Cyril began to limp across the vast desert to the city, somewhere out in the darkness. A fugitive running. Fallen from God, fallen from grace- Cyril shook his head. He wasn’t in a musical and this wasn’t France, Earth.
Cyril paused, wait. “I have a space ship.” Cyril rolled his eyes at his own forgetfulness and whistled. Cyril looked around for his ship. Cyril frowned and whistled again. Cyril turned all about, but there was still no ship. Cyril growled, it would seem Emily had stolen his ship again at a most unfortunate time. “I’m going to kill her!” Cyril turned suddenly as he heard a howl from far away. A solitary night wolf stood on the horizon, howling. “Well if it’s only one…” Cyril muttered to himself, mind in a fog. There would be an entire pack nearby if there was one night wolf, but Cyril wasn’t thinking straight and forgot about this. Cyril, with a grunt of pain, took his hand from his chest and leveled his pointer finger at the night wolf. A thin, concentrated beam of ki shot out and impaled the night wolf. It’s howling abruptly devolved into a loud gargle. Another set of howls erupted behind Cyril, a sense of urgency and bloodlust in them. Cyril turned quickly and winced. He couldn’t move quickly like that. The rest of the pack was now running at Cyril from behind, barking madly. Cyril held up a palm and a large wave of ki rushed toward the pack. The wave of ki fizzled out just as it reached the running pack and Cyril looked as it hand as if it had betrayed him. Another bout of pain shot through his body, “Arrggh!” Cyril clutched his chest again. Cyril was going Nova and his ki would be completely unreliable until his transformations were complete. “Emily!” He called out as the wolves gained ground. Cyril began stumbling in the opposite direction, away from civilization, but also away from the running night wolves. “Emily!” Cyril whistled furiously. Cyril slung his arm back and again a wave of ki burst from him and fizzled out. Cyril knew he wouldn’t be able to outrun them and that Emily would not hear. Only one thing left to do now, he supposed. Cyril stopped and broke a cardinal rule. He teleported to the nearest hospital and promptly blacked out.
“Cyril,” a voice shook him impatiently, “Cyril, I’m sorry, you idiot!” Emily was leaning over Cyril’s body. “But couldn’t you wait just a damn minute?”
Cyril frowned. “Emily?”
“Yup. I heard you whistle the first time, but er… I didn’t realize it was so urgent.” Emily looked sheepish.
Cyril patted Emily’s hand, “Well you made it anyway, thank you.”
“What? No, you appeared on the ship in a bloody mess and I took you to a hospital. They kept you for a day or two and said you were done transforming.”
Cyril grinned, “Great!”
Word Count: 1,539
