#school man

soooooo ummmmm

I’m go on hiatus for Time Traveler Leo for idk how long

The blade was designed to mimic an angel blade, brought back by a Viking trader from one of his expeditions.  It had exchanged hands a few times in the interim- the metal had been touched by souls in India, then Jerusalem, then Constantinople, before taking a straight shot northwards.   If he closed his eyes and focused, he could follow the path, reading each soul that had left fingerprints on the blade in the past three years since its forging.

It had been offered up to him in sacrifice- the trader who had bought it had returned home only to find that his wife had died in childbirth and the baby was stricken with fever.  It was a valuable weapon- the metal could only be found in India, and traveling there was a harrowing journey- but the man had declared that he would give up that and everything else if it meant his child would get better.

Gabriel had taken him at his word.  The man, once so consumed with worldly possessions that he would leave his pregnant wife on a rumor of wealth, lost everything.  His ship, safe in harbor, was wrecked in a freak storm that didn’t even touch the other boats.  His servants abandoned him, carrying off his gold and expensive fabrics and jewelry.  His large house, envy of all his neighbors, went up in flames.

Loki demanded sacrifice, after all.  That was the pagan way.

The virus that had stricken the babe’s lungs vanished.  She chortled at her father’s face, reaching up to tug on his hair, red as her own.  She would grow up strong and healthy, never touched by sickness or injury.

And as soon as Gabriel had doled out the justice, he forgot the tiny family.  He had only eyes for the weapon, because it had his name on it:

Saint Gabriel the Archangel.

That really wasn’t fair.  He was doing a great job on Earth, and now some Christian was trying to drag him out of hiding by making pretty weapons with his name?  He tossed it aside; it hit the stony ground with a clatter.  “I bet you can collect the full set,” he grumbled, spreading his invisible wings.  “Let’s get Michael and Raphael too- yay!  Collectible weapons!  Next they’ll be selling cards with our kill stats on them.”  He pumped his wings against the air to launch himself into the ether between dimensions.

A second later, he set down near a forge in India.

He hadn’t realized how accustomed to the winter weather he’d became.  Landing in India was like stepping into a sauna; immediately he began to shed layers, vanishing them one by one back to his home on the shore of the North Sea.  Only when he was barefoot, wearing just his tunic and light pants, did he turn towards the man making the archangel-inspired weapons.

“Alright,” he called out, walking into the wide open door of the forge (and certainly not bothering to knock).  It was like walking into a wall of heat, somehow even hotter than the tropical sun.  “What’s this I hear about making archangel blades?”

The smith turned around, confused by the sudden entrance.

Gabriel opened his mouth to give him a good talking to- probably call it blasphemy, or something along those lines.  It would be just enough to scare him into stopping his work, or at least, not putting Gabriel’s abandoned name and title everywhere.  But he was distracted by a sudden presence outside, and he turned.

His breath caught.

Gabriel had seen beauty.  He had seen the vastness of the cosmos, the galaxies that swirled in eternal dance.  He had seen continents rise from the ocean, had seen the birth of plants and animals and birds and fish.  He had seen angels and archangels, seraphs and cherubs, powers and dominions.

But in an instant, he forgot all of those.  Behind him, the smith fell prostrate, but Gabriel only stepped forward as though in a daze, to stand in the yard and face her.

On the surface, she was no more than a pretty southern girl.  Her patterned dress was cheerful and bright against the deep tan of her skin.  She stood lightly on her toes, as though ready to dance, but she stood with the straight, strong posture of a queen.

In his angelic vision though, Gabriel saw a flash of the truth.

Eyes burning with mischief and chaos.  Midnight blue skin freckled with stars.  Fangs glinting between plump, slightly parted lips.  Four arms- the hidden two were playing with a lotus flower.  A sword hung at her hip, clinking against a skirt of bones.  She was a monster.  An absolutely stunning monster.

(But wasn’t he also a monster?  His true form burnt people to dust, after all).

“Oh, uh, hi,” he said, and cursed himself, face flushing hot (it was probably just the heat of the forge behind him).

“Loki the Trickster.”  The goddess’s hips swayed with each graceful step as she approached him.  “What a surprise, finding another chaos god here.”  She paused, and gestured around at the jungle.  “A bit far south for an Asgardian, aren’t we?”

Gabriel forced his eyes to remain on her face, to not wander lower.  Her human form was lovely, and her true form was toned and athletic, the skin raised here and there with scars from past battles.  “Yeah, no, I mean- Just checking out this guy’s swords.  Um- I found one.  Up north.  Back home, you know, so I wanted to figure it out- So, you got a name?”

You stupid idiot!  He felt his blush deepen and he tried to focus on her thick black braid- there was nothing exciting about hair, right?  It was just sleek and long with not a single strand out of place, and okay, maybe he liked good hair; was that so wrong?  Seriously, what was wrong with him?

But the goddess only chuckled.  “Kali the Destroyer.  I’m sure you’ve heard of me?”

He gasped out loud- or more likely, choked on air.  Kali the Destroyer?  He had heard stories about her- vague rumors about a creature so powerful that she could stomp out the sea, who destroyed evil with a zest that terrified even her own pantheon.  She was good, technically, but she was gleeful in her destruction.  She had consumed demons and punished sinners and fought in battles that would have made Mars himself tremble.

And dear gods, she was beautiful.

“Yeah, uh, once or twice,” he choked out, gaze shifting down from her face.  That was a mistake- now he was looking at her breathtakingly long legs, deep midnight blue skin dappled with sunlight shining through the trees surrounding the yard.  Her feet were bare and muddy.

“Mmhmm.”  Though it wasn’t even a word, it was the smuggest noise Gabriel had ever heard.  He was struck dumb, and she knew it as she began to pace around him, like a lioness surveying an antelope.  “Why are you here, Loki?”

Her forearm brushed Gabriel’s as she passed him.  It sent a tingle down his skin, unlike anything he had ever felt in Heaven.  He shivered, but not, he realized, in discomfort.  He wanted to feel it again.

“Was this man giving you trouble?”  She nodded at the smith, who was still laying with his face pressed into the dirty ground.  He whimpered at being included in the conversation.

Gabriel had to lick his dry lips to talk.  “No, no, nothing like that- just checking out his work, is all.  Um…”  He felt prickly all over.  It was too hot here, and Kali was close- too close.  He could sense her power, rolling around the clearing.  It was near tangible- even the fire in the fire in the forge sprang higher, crackling in the quiet.

“Was his work satisfactory?”  Kali picked up a blade from the outside display and tested the sharpness with her finger- a droplet of red appeared against the midnight blue of her skin.  She licked it off, glancing over at Gabriel quizzically.  Her tongue was blood red.

He swallowed hard.  “Yeah, it was fine,” he said, voice coming out just a bit too high pitched to be natural.

“Pity.  I was hoping for a kill.”  She set the sword back and stepped towards the door.  Gabriel wrenched his eyes upwards- in the humidity, her dress clung to every curve.  He took a deep breath to try and compose himself.

“Although,” she mused, standing in the doorway and watching the smith breathe, “Before I caught wind of you, I found a man beating on his wife and son.  Blood might still flow today.”  She half turned, studying Gabriel with an unfathomable expression.  “How would you deal with such a thing up north?”

He was being tested- he didn’t know what she wanted to hear, but he wanted to impress her.  Needed to impress her.  She still looked more amused than anything, like he was a curiosity giving her a modicum of entertainment. Gabriel’s muscles clenched uncomfortably at the thought of her growing bored and moving on.

“I would destroy him slowly,” Gabriel said.  He swallowed hard, considering how he would do it.  His mouth felt too dry to speak.  “First, I would give his wife and child the money and means to run away.  Then I would bring a plague of locusts on his fields.”

Kali nodded, crossing her arms as she listened. The lotus flower twirled between two fingers.

Gabriel tried not to think about his sweating palms and continued.  He spoke slowly, carefully trying to think out the hypothetical course of action.  “Once the harvest fails, I would turn his neighbors against him, one by one, so that nobody will allow him over for dinner in the wintertime.  And then, when he goes out to chop wood, he’ll realize that the rats chewed a hole in his boots.  So he’ll get frostbite and trip when the wolves go after him.”

He froze, considering.  Kali raised an eyebrow.

“Wait- no.”  He shook his head.  “A lynx instead.  She’ll play with him while he tries to run away.  But the axe will have stuck in the tree he was trying to cut, so he won’t have any weapons.  And then maybe he falls into an ice river and hallucinates his wife…”

Kali’s lips were quirked up in a smile.  “You’re a sweetie,” she said with a little chuckle.  “Going through all that trouble.  Good work ethic.”

Gabriel blinked.  “Work ethic?”

“To be frank, I would just stab him.”  Kali reached out and patted his arm.  “But your idea is good too, Loki.”

His breath hitched when she touched him- he hid it in an awkward cough.  Somewhere outside the little forge, a hunting horn sounded, and Kali straightened.  “Ah, my people.  I’m off.  Get out of here, Loki.  Winter Viking god like you will pass out in this summer weather.”  Stepping out into the yard, she smiled at the sun.  “You have to enjoy these good days before the monsoons roll in.  I’ll see you around, I’m sure.”

When she stepped past him, one of her true-form arms reached out and tucked the lotus flower into his pocket.  Then she vanished like she had never been.

Gabriel pulled the flower out of his pocket with shaking fingers and sniffed.  It smelled like ash and smoke.

“Oh brother,” the smith said, finally getting the nerve to lift his head off the ground.  “Don’t fall for her, man.  She’s crazy.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Gabriel murmured, smoothing his thumb over one of the petals.

Special thanks to @scrollingkingfisher for the grammar check