Walking home from a party late at night, stumbling half drunk but not as drunk as her friend Wendy who joy carries back to their shared dorm room. “You’re heavy y’know.” Joy groans, Wendy barely supporting her own weight, a couple shots too many to keep herself standing. “Takes one to..knooow one.” Wendy mutters nonsensically, Joy only groaning as she hefts Wendy up a little more to keep her upright. “One day I’m gonna get annoyed having to carry you home after you drink too much, I think that day is today.” Joy mutters, rolling her eyes as a couple of similarly drunk jeering frat boys cat call as they pass by.

 

Searching for her student ID to get into their building, Joy glancing around curiously as the wind begins to pick up fiercely, breaking out like a storm from nothing. Blinking like she imagines she’s hallucinating when the night itself begins to shift, forming into a circle of twisting night, bright red cracks shattering open that almost look to break through reality itself. “What the is..” Joy begins to say, stepping back cautiously. The tear shattering open and throwing both Wendy and Joy back and thudding across the grass.

 

Thunderous footsteps shaking the ground beneath her. Coming to and staring up. Eyes wide in terror at the sight in front of her. Cloven hooves that shatter the ground beneath their steps, spikes of bone that almost drip in flame, a beast standing twice as tall as anyone could hope to be. Horns atop its head and eyes lit in a terrible flame, piercing through Joy’s soul, fear shaking through her body whole as the beast bristles with its gnashing teeth, its face long and a mouth that winds almost across its whole head.

 

Thoughts to scramble back, to get up and run but left entirely paralyzed. Heart thumping in her chest so loud she hears only the beat of her heart and the snarling beast. Every thunderous footstep bringing it closer, looking over her like the beast has cornered its prey.

 

“Hey, pick on someone your own size.” a voice shouts, the beast turning its rabid gaze from Joy and looking up. A woman who Joy swears is terribly short, standing there with a grin on her lips all too cocky. The beast’s hooves crunching into the ground, charging past Joy with lightning fast speed, tearing up the ground in its tracks. Appearing in hand with a flash of fire, an axe of bone falling into the beast's hand, swinging it overhead as he prepares to cut right through the woman in front of it. Joy shutting her eyes as the axe swings down.

 

The sound of a furious clash ringing out, so loud it shakes the ground in a thunderous shockwave. Joy staring eyes wide at the sight in front of her. The axe of the beast met against glowing green fire that morphs into the form of a sword. Almost twice as tall as the woman wielding it, her eyes glowing bright green and plates of shell like armor that form over her skin. “That’s it, don’t look at the arrows.” she grins, the beast snapping to look back, arrows dripping of lightning, cracking through the beast and sending it stumbling.

 

Footsteps ripping past Joy, another woman charging forward. Fire ripping from her hands, shots ripping out and tearing into the beast, sliding under its legs, shots ripping into its crackling skin and making the beast shout, turning back towards Joy, howling as its feet dig in to rush forward.

 

Another arrow crackling into its shoulder, charging forward still towards Joy, eyes locked on its easy prey. A rush ripping through her, more than the furious pounding of her heart beating in her ears. Something furious ripping out from her and lead without a thought, reaching out with her hands and and in the same wild shifting energy, cracking back the beast as it charges. Her world turning black as her eyes shut and her body goes limp.

 

“Is this truly your fight, go to their reality, save those who know nothing of us?” a voice comes to Joy, one she’s never heard but sounds so familiar, staring at the world around her, blurry, faded like a memory or a dream. A figure she can barely see in front of her, one that dares almost to resemble a turtle stood tall. The feeling of wings on her back that seem like the most natural thing she’s ever felt, a muscle to barely be noticed.

 

“The humans have always needed help, from the whispers of beyond to their own machinations. These demons though, these demons are why I wield the fire, why the great one named me, named us warcaste.” Joy feels herself speak, but the voice sounds foreign to her, words spoken in a language she understands but has never heard before. “You always were a stubborn sort. I suppose then I have no choice

 

“I’ve made my mind up, I’m not going to be stopped from going to their world.” she speaks, catching the sight of her feathery hands. Something entirely not human of her form.

 

“I figured, so I’ll follow you into their world.” the face she can barely see smiles back at her, trying to peer through the fog just a little more but struggling to see anything more. “We won’t see each other, know each other. Memories of here, it would be beyond us.” her voice whispers solemnly, the fog beginning to grow thicker as her world turns to darkness again.

 

“We’ve always found each other.”

 

“Hey I think she’s waking up.” a voice dully reaches Joy’s ears, coming back to consciousness feeling like every bone in her body has been battered and torn apart. Her eyes fluttering open just barely and catching a familiar sight in front of her. The woman who’d taunted the beast and stood up to its blows. Joy shooting back in surprise at the sight of her. “Woah take it easy. You had one hell of an outburst there.” the woman says, Joy noticing she’s not on the grass outside her dorm building. Laid out on a couch in an unfamiliar room, the sound of something playing on a tv in front of her and the sound of footsteps from another room.

 

Equipment boxes stacked in corners, a few too many computers to be considered normal. Set out less like a home and more like a base. “Outburst?” Joy stares at the woman in front of her, too confused to question much else.

 

“Oh first time, that makes sense. What’d you see?” the woman asks, leaning forward curious, staring at Joy like there’s nothing out of the ordinary.

 

“Yeri, she just woke up. Give her some space.” another woman calls, one she doesn’t recognize but the sight of her immediately makes her eyes go wide. A tail swinging between her legs, cat ears that flick lifelike atop her head. “Fine, fine. I’ll go grab Jess.” Yeri gets up, walking out begrudgingly.

 

“Sorry, she prefers to get right to the point.” the woman in front of her takes a seat by the side of the couch, far enough to give Joy some space. “I’m Tiffany, who you met before was Yeri and my wife Jessica you probably saw charging headlong into a fight as she likes to.” Tiffany smiles assuringly, Joy feeling her heart sink at the chances of the monster tearing a hole in reality being a hallucination falling deeply low. “What’s your name?” Tiffany asks, seeing Joy reluctant to answer. “I know what you must be thinking. That this is some strange nightmare or wild hallucination. It’s okay, I understand you must be scared. I was when I first got these.” Tiffany points to her ears, Joy not feeling all too much more at ease but urged still to speak up.

 

“I’m Joy.” she whispers, Tiffany smiling assuringly. Joy caught staring at Tiffany, watching the flicking of her ears, Joy can only muster to speak one thought. “You’re a cat?” Joy mutters, feeling like she could’ve asked a thousand other questions, her mind still running wild searching for some amount of sense to be made. Tiffany simply laughing, nodding with a flick of her ears. “Not quite, perhaps we should talk about what you saw, then this will make more sense.”

 

“What I saw?” Joy stares at her blankly, thinking of what she’d seen after she’d passed out, what seemed so familiar and yet entirely unknown. “The vision, what seems so.. Vivid yet far away, blurry but feeling like nothing is out of place.” Tiffany says, seeing Joy glance down, knowing all too well what’s going through her mind, how surreal it all seems and yet all too impossible to deny. “I.. I had wings.” Joy whispers, swearing she sounds entirely crazy but Tiffany simply nods. “And there was talking about other worlds, demons, the warcaste. I don’t know.”

 

“All like a memory you’d never experienced?” Tiffany asks, Joy only able to nod numbly. That both Tiffany and Yeri immediately knew she had seen something when she fainted giving her only concern. “Do you remember what you did when the demon charged you before you fainted?”

 

“I-I felt power, something just.. Exploded out from me.” Joy rubs at her forehead, feeling like an anvils been dropped on her. Tiffany sitting back and sighing, reaching a hand out to her side. “Don’t be scared, this might explain in easier terms what happened.” Tiffany says, Joy staring in shock as lightning seemingly rips out of thin air, crackling in Tiffany’s hands. Forming quickly into a shape, a bow that crackles with electricity, forming solid in her hands. “What.. the .” Joy whispers, jaw left open in shock. “The vision you saw, it won’t have explained everything and I’m afraid this won’t make much sense till you begin to figure it out yourself. I’m what we call a fae, we’re spirits from another world that became human so we could fight demons like what you saw.” Tiffany says, letting the bow in her hand vanish again into thin air. Joy blinking at her making sure she’s seen the cracking lightning from Tiffany’s hand and trying to make sense of what she said.

 

“What.. the !?” Joy says, completely lost for words. Everything Tiffany said sounding like the ramblings of a mad woman, unable though to deny the sight of what she can summon up out of thin air or the ears atop her head and the tail that flicks to and fro. “The power you felt, the first time you’ve felt it?” Tiffany asks, watching Joy nod just barely, scared by how much Tiffany seemingly understands of all the wild experiences she’s felt in a short period of time. “I know this seems like insanity but I know all the more what it is to go through this without knowing what’s happened, what you are.”

 

“Me.. no, no. I’m a student and.. This is just crazy and I’m gonna go, I need to go..” Joy stands up, Tiffany not moving to stop her. “I know you feel it, that whisper that wasn’t there before. Something in your soul that dares to be explored.” Tiffany says as Joy nears the door, listening to the abrupt stop in her footsteps. “That vision, it’s the first of many and however much you deny it, that truth is hard to run from.”

 

“Look, this is all..” Joy mutters, startling when Tiffany stands up and points behind Joy. “Crazy, a hallucination. I know what you think, so look on that instead.” she says, Joy noticing the feeling of something fluttering at her back. Flittering and beating with a pulse that shakes the air, wings adorned in white and black feathers. Feeling them at her back like she’s had them for as long as she could remember. “Oh god .” Joy exclaims, feeling faint and stumbling towards the ground. Tiffany just barely catching her. Joy feeling her wings flutter still, panicking as she tries to scramble to her feet. Tiffany looking her in the eyes with a gaze that almost holds Joy still, placing her hand against Joy’s.

 

“Breathe, listen.” Tiffany says, compelling something fiercely primal in Joy. Taking a deep breath and listening to the pulse of something beyond her heart, so unfamiliar and yet feeling like it’s always been there. Beating with every movement of her wings, with the energy she’d felt as the beast charged her. “You can hear it, I know you can.” Tiffany steps back as Joy manages to stand up, the shock fading from her eyes as she listens to a voice within her she’s never heard before.

“W-what is it?” Joy whispers, feeling the panic subside. The pulsing through her body, through her soul itself that dares to tell her she doesn’t need to fear. Tiffany staring Joy right in the eyes, her own shifting to turn gold, narrow like cat eyes. “It’s you, it’s just a feeling you haven’t listened to for a long time.” Tiffany’s eyes turn to bright gold, sharp like cat eyes peering into her. “You feel those wings like it’s as natural as walking, don’t you?”

 

“Oh I’ve gone insane, this has to be insanity.” Joy starts to slump against the wall, shaking back upright when she feels her wings press back against her. “Now you’re going to say I can fly aren’t you.” Joy groans, pressing her head into her hands. Muffling her screams into her hands. Staring up concerned when she only hears a slight chuckle from Tiffany. “Would that be so bad?”

 

“I’m a college student, I study, I go to parties I shouldn’t and carry my friends home when they’ve drunk too much. And now you’re telling me I’m.. what, a spirit from another realm and we fight demons.” Joy groans, feeling her whole world shift on its axis. Jolting slightly in surprise when she looks up to Tiffany standing so close in front of her. “Tell the wings to fade.” is all Tiffany says, watching expectantly as Joy simply stares at Tiffany confused.

 

Listening to the feeling in her that seems so ever present now, telling it like a thought as any other, like to move a muscle or speak a sound. Her wings fading from her back, returning as if they were never there. “I awoke ten years ago, with the ears and the tail.” Tiffany points to the top of her head, her cat ears flicking slightly. “Nobody could tell me what I was or what had happened, I only had the first vision.”

 

“The vision..” Joy whispers, still not an ounce of sense to be made from what she’d seen. Languages spoken beyond this world that she understood more than anything she’s ever known, like pieces of a past life being uncovered. Tiffany seeing the confusion in Joy’s eyes, mirroring what she once felt. “Languages you’ve never heard but you understand, all of it more like a memory.” Tiffany says as her cat eyes almost peer through Joy’s soul, a look of knowing. “The first is always confusing, eventually you have more and these things become clearer.”

 

Rubbing at her forehead, feeling like she has a wrecking ball thrashing around in her skull. Joy only able to listen to the newfound voice and what Tiffany’s said. “So what now?” Joy asks, coming to terms with what wild world she’s been into.

 

“You can go home, forget about all of this. It’s easy enough to hide the wings with practice. Or,” Tiffany sits back, her eyes losing the golden glow. “You can see fully what you are, what we are.” she stands up, offering Joy a hand.

 

Wondering if she’s gone absolutely insane when she reaches out and takes Tiffany’s hand, diving into a world that dares to shatter what she knew.

 

Stepping out of the room, Joy can only think it’s not what she expected. Only imagining it’s a small warehouse clearly repurposed, what looks like a fighting mat covering most of the floor, a makeshift shooting range in a corner. Jumping about with a familiar glowing sword in the middle of the mat, Yeri leaving a trail of fiery light with every practiced swing, coming to a stop when she sees Joy walking down the stairs, tilting her head curiously. Joy seeing the same armor that had formed over Yeri when she’d fought the beast, her fiery green visage trickling out before it vanishes with the armor.


Jessica standing at the bottom of the staircase, a slight smile as she looks up at Tiffany and a piercing gaze as she sees Joy, almost measuring her up.

 

“What is this place?” Joy mutters as she walks down the steps with Tiffany. Staring at the assortment of equipment strewn about. “It’s home, maybe not all too traditional though.” Tiffany chuckles quietly, taking Jessica’s hand in her own as she steps onto the floor.

 

“You’ve met Yeri. A little over eagerly on her part.” Tiffany says, looking over to the floor mat as Yeri walks towards them, somehow seeming even smaller than how Joy had seen her when she taunted the beast, wondering how she could stand up to something so monstrous.

 

“What!? Excuse me for wanting to know what she saw.” Yeri shrugs, Jessica’s glare piercing enough to make Yeri wipe the grin from her lips.

 

Joy finally looking at Jessica up close, ears and a tail like Tiffany’s, eyes that glitter of an almost stormy glow, spots across her skin like a tiger, the fur of her ears orange instead of Tiffany’s black. “The little bird arrives, you made a.. More dramatic entrance than I thought you would.” Jessica says, staring into Joy’s eyes like she knows her already. “You knew this would happen?” Joy asks, Jessica nodding knowingly.

 

“You’re both terrible at easing her into this.” Tiffany groans, Jessica squeezing Tiffany’s hand and brushing their tails together assuring her. “Let her know this world, she is of it the same as we are.” Jessica says, Joy only staring blankly in confusion. “Sorry, I’m Jessica.” she waves slightly to Joy, exchanging a glance with Tiffany seeing her glare, Jessica simply shrugging. “Uh, I’m Joy.” she says, still staring around the place curiously, “You must be hungry, you were out cold almost the whole day.”

 

Hearing Jessica, Joy’s eyes go wide realizing how long she was knocked out. “It’s been a day? My friends will be worrying about me, I need to go home.” Joy scratches at her head panicked, Yeri simply laughing.

 

“Your friend you were carrying home seemed a little too out of it to even know there was a demon trying to kill you both. I think she’s probably still nursing a hangover.” Yeri says, Joy struggling to remember the details of the night before, what happened to Wendy after they were both knocked to the ground. “Is she okay?”

 

“Well other than the headache and a nap on the grass, yes she’s fine.” Yeri says, rolling her shoulders. “I don’t know how you carried her though, limp drunks are too damn heavy.”

 

“You’re all.. This is all, it’s what exactly?” Joy wonders, stepping away from them as she looks around the warehouse, all of it built like the hideout of a group of renegades in a movie. “You saw what we do, we stop the demons when they tear through into this reality.” Tiffany says, motioning around the warehouse. “And this all helps to stay practiced.”

 

“Y-you keep saying demons, are they..” Joy stops herself, even with the state of her world shifting, feeling her question might still be ridiculous. “From hell? No, well at least not the fiery doom and torture type hell. We call them demons cause.. Well they tend to look the part.” Yeri says, exchanging a nod with Tiffany.

 

“Are there.. Is it just all of you?” Joy asks, feeling the want to flinch a little with every question knowing none of it helps her come back to her old reality. “No, there’s more. But we all have our own callings.” Jessica says, her stormy eyes growing brighter, a look like she stares right through Joy. “Some choose to lead a human life. Those of us who don’t,” she motions to Tiffany and Yeri, far beyond a normal calling. “We do as we once were.”

 

Feeling overwhelmed, all that Jessica says explaining an ounce more of what they are but doing little to make Joy feel any sense of normality return. Stumbling forward as she feels her knees go weak. Yeri catching her before she crashes to the floor. “, let’s sit you down.” Yeri groans, lifting Joy over to a chair.

 

“I know what you must feel, so lost, confused by so much that seemed only fantasy.” Jessica kneels in front of Joy, reaching towards her hand before she stops seeing Joy flinch back reflexively. “Your visions, I see them. All our visions, I see them. I know they’re frightening and while the language might come to you, nothing else makes sense.” Jessica says, her stormy eyes focusing into something fiercely clear, like lightning held still. “It will make sense soon, I promise.” she presses her hand to Joy’s, a wild shot of energy ripping through Joy from her hand, up her spine and furiously flooding her whole body. Every sense tuning out before the world fades away.

 

Battles, wars more furious than anything to be seen in a history book or witnessed in life. Battlefields scattered in blood and death. A hammer in hand, glowing of a red flame, dripping of blood. Hands shaking, arms worn down in the throes of battle, her body aching to collapse, stood in triumph still.

 

“We must make these choices, we will be burnt from existence if we do not raise the warcaste once more.” a voice shouts, Joy’s vision shifting to the blur of some kind of gathering. Arguments erupting in the crowd, two figures in the center of her vision staring at each other in anger. “That time is over, let the humans fend for themselves!” the larger figure shouts, the crowd erupting into a rabble. “And when they finish with the humans?!! They will come for us once more. Let those of us who fight go to war once more. The seers know this to be true.” the first voice growls, fiercely rumbling through the crowd.

 

“We will be human?” Joy’s vision shifts again, still a blur but somewhere much darker. The feeling of a hand clutching her own tightly, the same green aura she’d seen in her first vision stood beside her. “Will we even remember our lives, have our powers?” the voice beside Joy questions, worry clear in their voice. “If the humans cannot stand to them, what point is it that we become human!?”

 

“I believe, that we at some point will have our abilities restored but.. I cannot speak to what we will remember.” another speaks, solemn as they step forward. Beside Joy, the green aura speaking up again. “You would ask me to not even remember my anxa. All for the possibility we might, might be able to save our home?”

 

“These are the sacrifices we must bear.”

 

Shooting out of the visions with a jolt, Joy stumbles forward. Falling to the ground and feeling the need to heave the contents of her stomach across the floor. The divide between reality and the visions feeling too thin a veil for comfort. “Breathe now, it’s alright.” Jessica pats at Joy’s back, encouraging deep breaths to bring Joy back her sense of equilibrium.

 

“What.. what was that!?” Joy gasps, processing all she’d seen, all of it flooding her mind. Not just visions, memories, her memories. “What am I..” Joy whispers, fearing she knows the answer all too much to imagine running from it.

 

“I knew you once, little bird. Fought as you did.” Jessica says, Joy gathering the strength to look up at her. “You know the weight of your hammer, the flutter of your wings. You’ve seen it, the choice we all made.” she whispers, Joy feeling for once the world begin to stop spinning, “I speak what seems like madness, tales of another world. You see it now cause once you lived it.”

 

Sitting up, Joy feels the presence of the spirit within her, the wings and something far more fierce, the spirit of an old warrior that beats with her heart. “How did you do that?” Joy whispers, watching Jessica’s eyes turn clear as she leans back.

“Our callings are what we once were. I am a seer, my duty was not to fight but to see.” Jessica says, Yeri rolling her eyes behind her. “Just say you can see the future.” Yeri grumbles, Tiffany elbowing her shoulder to make her quiet. Jessica only shaking her head slightly, chuckling quietly. “In simple terms, yes. It’s complicated but you have seen enough for a day, the rest will come in time.”

Taking a deep breath, Joy watches Jessica stand. Struggling to her own feet as Tiffany helps her up, shaken by the visions like Joy. “So what am I supposed to do?” Joy asks, lost still by what purpose her newfound ability dares to be used for. “For now, you should rest. You can go home, never see us again and forget this still if that’s what you like.” Tiffany helps Jessica to sit down, turning back to Joy, her ears raised almost questioning. “Your purpose is yours to decide, we only offer understanding what you are.”

 

Realizing how exhausted she feels, Joy nods. What Jessica had made her see feeling all too tiring, memories like she were there reliving it in the very moment. “You’ll feel more yourself when you’ve had something to eat and some sleep. It’s tiring, seeing it all at once.” Yeri says, the reluctance still in Joy’s eyes struggling to feel anything but her world shaking apart. Finding herself laying on a couch in the warehouse almost without a thought, before she falls asleep contemplating her strange new world.

 

Replaying the visions over, Joy struggles to have any amount of restfulness. All what seems like some kind of fever dream but feels too real to be the working of a hellish dream. Waking up to the smell of something cooking, the sounds of quiet chatting and laughter. Rubbing at her eyes as she sits up. Looking around her, Tiffany and Jessica stood beside each other, Joy catching sight of their tails entwined, Jessica’s head rested on Tiffany’s shoulder. Both of them talking quietly while Tiffany watches over the stove.

Yeri sat at the table, fiddling with some device Joy doesn’t recognize but Yeri seems intently focused on. Barely looking up when she notices Joy rousing from the sofa. “Feeling any better?” Yeri says quietly, glancing to her side making sure Jessica and Tiffany are still caught up in their own little world.

 

“Uh, I feel like I still just woke up into.. This.” Joy motions around, still not sure what’s kept her still listening to the three of them, wanting nothing more than to claim they’re all crazy, the truth of all she’d seen keeping her far too curious to run from it all. Snapping from her thoughts when she hears Yeri chuckle, looking over at Joy from working on her device. “ I went through what you’re feeling, maybe not as abruptly, but they were the first to help me decipher what was going on. Not exactly an easy question to answer when you’ve started to form armor and create a sword twice my size with just a thought.”

 

Pushing aside the gadget she’s working on, Yeri standing up from her seat as she strides over to Joy. “Two years ago, I had to go through the same. Thinking they’re both just two crazies, that every word out of their mouths was some madness. But I hadn’t met them till a couple weeks after my own change.”

 

“Seems like all of you have a story.” Joy groans, rubbing at her head to calm what feels like a bowling ball crashing through her mind. Yeri chuckling under breath, looking over at Jessica and Tiffany. “We might have the spirit of a past self, warrior or otherwise. But other than what we manifest, we’re only human.” she sighs, leaning her back against the table. “I thought.. What anyone would think when armor comes over your skin and you start hallucinating in strange languages.”

 

“That you’ve gone crazy..” Joy whispers, glancing up at Yeri. Seeing her green eyes Joy hadn’t noticed before, shimmering like emeralds as Yeri smiles just barely. “I think that whoever we were before, they made a cruel choice. That our awakening is more likely to drive us mad than it is to make us thrive.” she stares over at Jessica and Tiffany, watching the way their tails play together and they giggle quietly with unspoken sentiments. “Sometimes we end up okay.”

 

“I have a life, friends, I have exams to study for. Wings and visions aren’t part of.. It shouldn’t be.” Joy mumbles, wondering why she hasn’t gone running off already. Yeri only shrugging nonchalantly as she turns her attention back to Joy. “Right now it’s hard to treat this as anything but the end of life as you know it. You see a warehouse that looks pulled out of Blade or something, you must think this is all we do.” Yeri points around her, all that’s fit more for training than to live in. “We train, we fight. That’s what we’re compelled to do, but we can go home, we can live life the same as anyone else. Except for the whole demons tearing through reality sometimes, but you get used to that.”

 

Listening to Yeri, for what feels like the only words she’s heard since the beast on campus that seem to make sense. “You can go home, study, see your friends. But whether we told you, or you learned how the visions want you to, we wake to this.” she sighs, standing up from leaning against the table, Joy feeling compelled to ask before she can think otherwise. “You all, you bring these weapons out of thin air and then say I can do it.. How?”

 

“Now you’re speaking my language.” Yeri grins a little too excitedly for Joy to feel comfortable.

 

Standing on the practice mat, Joy only thinking what could possibly have compelled her to agree to this, barely believing in the wings that come to her with but a thought, much less a weapon. “You sure she needs this right now?” Jessica looks over at Tiffany, both of them stood to the side watching Joy and Yeri set across from each other. “It’s important to learn how to control the spirit, if she wants to learn there’s no better time.”

 

“C’mon Jess, did you scry the fates and see anything bad happen here?” Yeri grins, the armor coming over her skin and the green flame bursting like an aura around her. “You know that’s not how being a seer works.” Jessica says in protest but resigning to let Yeri continue.

 

“You know how to bring out your wings don’t you?” Yeri asks, the green fire of her aura burning down low. Joy nodding as she listens inward, to the fluttering sound of wings beating against the wind, till she feels the muscles at her back, the somehow familiar strength of what she’s never used or known to possess.

 

Wings of white and grey, every movement that dares to hold power enough to draw the wind to its will. A span so great it stretches like the image of an angels wings.”That’s a hell of an image.” Yeri stares wide eyed, almost entranced before she snaps out of it. “Now we just need to bring out your fire.”

 

“You’re both warcaste Yeri, but you’ll have to explain what that means.” Tiffany groans, Yeri only rolling her eyes at Tiffany. “Thanks smart . Look, it’s the same as how you bring out the wings just with a little more fury.”

 

“A little more fury?” Joy stares at her blankly, nothing from inside her that pushes up to fill in her questions. “Y’know, get mad, feel the fire of your spirit.” Yeri shrugs her shoulders, looking at Joy like she should know it all immediately. “You felt it when you crushed the demon, just do that.”

 

“I crushed it!?” Joy stares wide eyed, Tiffany muttering frustrated towards Yeri. “What? It was kind of awesome.” Yeri chuckles, turning back to Joy. “Look, the fire is that new voice inside you, the one that brings out those wings, it’s the actual flame burning around me right now.”

 

“What she’s saying little bird, is that the same as your wings lay within, something more furious but alike is there just the same.” Jessica offers, her own aura of flame glowing bright before quickly vanishing. “Listen to the side of you that angers, that ignites fury and you’ll hear it.” she says, watching with curiosity.

 

Trying to focus on anger and all things like it, Joy only feels like a child trying to work up into a tantrum. Confusion of trying to listen to all they’ve told her, the fright of waking to a world she can’t imagine will ever be the same, frustration that what passed for truth seems as feint as an illusion now when beasts tear through reality and wings spread from her back. Frustration, fear for all she doesn’t understand and below, seething like a long forgotten rage and pulsing of an ancient unending flame. The rage of a warrior.

 

Feeling the grip in hand, a familiar weight, a history that speaks in its grip. Not just in blood and bone but the souls it has crushed under every swing. A hammer glistening in a handle like ivory, its head carved in the visage of a raven made abyssal like obsidian. White flame bristling around the hammer, flushed across Joy’s body in an aura rippling a shadow of a furious raven.

 

“Well then, show me what you’ve got.” Yeri moves into stance, her own sword forming out of her green fire. Joy for once not feeling the confusion, the wonderment of what she’s learnt could mean to her now. Only the eagerness in Yeri’s eyes, the drive to meet the exhilaration flooding through Joy’s veins. “I can take it.”

 

Charging not by her own feet, Joy’s wings thrash and whip the air, slipping forward as if a bird diving for the kill of its prey. Movements she can’t remember learning but comes to her as easy as walking.

 

Clashing with a roar so thunderous it shakes the ground, hammer against sword, movements of inhuman speed carried by masterful finesse. From the ground to the air, Joy and Yeri moving with the experience of partners who have sparred a thousand, ten thousand times. Till Joy’s hammer hovers just before it strikes a blow, Yeri’s sword held poised in a ready lethality just the same, a standstill.

 

Joy’s fire burning down, the hammer disappearing from hand, wings vanishing with the flame. Stood across from Yeri and heaving for breath, not of exhaustion but exhilaration. “See, now wasn’t that fun?” Yeri laughs, Joy staring at her hands barely able to believe she just fought with them, moving with grace and speed beyond any ability she thought possible, shaking with adrenaline pulsing through her.

 

“I can fly.” Joy whispers, feeling now the extent of what she is. Cascading through her with the realization in some form, it’s what she always was.

 

“Feeling crazy now?” Tiffany steps up to the mat, Joy’s body still filled with the rush of the spar. “Like I’ve lost my mind.” Joy answers, falling to sit on the floor as she heaves for breath.

 

“Good, it’s a little easier with some madness.” Tiffany laughs, offering Joy a hand to help her stand up from the mat. “So what now?” Joy reaches for Tiffany’s hand, standing with newfound confidence.

 

“I might scry the threads of time and the spirit, but what you do Joy, what you do is up to you. Go home, think about it all.” Jessica says, her eyes glowing stormy.

 

“And when I’ve done that?” Joy whispers, wondering if she might even think of an answer. Jessica handing her a blank card with a phone number scribbled on it. “Call us, or don’t. You could forget we ever met.”

 

“And.. what I was before, if I decide what’s wrong or..” Joy glances away, Jessica giggling under breath. “Nothing is written in tales yet told. You’ll know the way little bird.” Jessica nods, stepping back towards Tiffany. Joy staring at the card, a choice held right in her hands. “Think on it, you’ll find your answers in time.”

 

“I’ll take you home if you want.” Yeri offers, her own flame gone stood as the image of a girl seemingly like any other, what Joy knows now to be a fighter more than capable. Joy nodding, filled with the trepidation of stepping into a world now far different.

 

Sitting in the car with Yeri, Joy stares out at the city as they drive in relative silence. Questions floating in her mind but too timid to ask even more than she already has, even scared still that she might not want to know the answers. Glancing over at Yeri as they come to a red light, meeting her gaze for a moment before Joy looks away shyly. “Something’s on your mind.”

 

“It’s nothing, really.” Joy shrugs, Yeri scoffing and shaking her head. “Better than sitting her in silence, c’mon.” she hums, watching Joy turn to look over at her.

 

“Do you all live there, in the warehouse?” Joy asks, Yeri’s eyebrows turning up with curiosity. “I wouldn’t say any of us live there. But when we need to train or get ready for a tear, it’s where we go.” Yeri says, focusing her eyes back on the road as the light turns green. “Is that really what’s on your mind?”

 

“There’s too much on my mind.” Joy sighs, her fingers threading through her hair like it might comb out her thoughts. “When that hammer was in my hand, I felt as if I had always used it, that it encompassed everything I was, am?” Joy stares down at her hands, a weapon she had never wielded in her life and in its summoning into reality itself, the experience of a fighter, a scarred warrior's memories to become her own. “You all said they’re memories, but I never felt these things before, fighting, anything like those visions.. The rage.”

“And you wonder how any of that can possibly be you?” Yeri says, taking a deep breath in thought. “I know it’s strange, being told you once were someone else entirely. I think that whatever we were is complicated and I don’t know enough to say it all eventually makes sense. We’re different than anything considered human, but if the we from the visions is the same as the we now, I doubt it.” Yeri pulling the car over as they reach close by the campus, sighing thoughtfully.

“So why do you go chasing after monsters?” Joy asks, a simple question that carries a whole path before her. Yeri staring out at the campus, not far from where she’d taken the demon down. “Who’d go saving the pretty girls from the beasts if I didn’t.” Yeri smirks, almost like she completely means it and the stakes of fighting paranormal monsters is simply the cost of it, Joy feeling her face flush slightly even considering the madness of Yeri’s statement. “You don’t have to make your mind up about anything, but if you wanna spar again sometime, call me.” Yeri says, reaching for Joy’s palm staring at her with eyebrows raised till she opens her palm, Yeri penning her number over Joy’s palm. “I’ll see you around, Joy.” turning off the engine as they both stare out towards Joy’s dorm building. The damage of the beast's attack seemingly gone.

 

“How is.. Everything is gone?” Joy stares out bewildered, Yeri shrugging barely. “The demons remains can’t stay in this world and the rest, well, more to remain unexplained even to me.” Yeri says, watching Joy step out of the car, looking back before she shuts the door. “Can I ask one more question?” Joy bites her lip, feeling as if she’s already chewed Yeri’s ear off.

 

Yeri shaking her head nonchalant, staring at join expectantly. “If we’re all spirits of animals in some way, what’re you?” Joy says, tilting her head curios when Yeri bursts into a gentle laugh.

 

“A turtle.”

 

Arriving to her dorm room, Joy almost expects Wendy to be leaping out furiously worried or the police to come looking for her from her parents imagining she’d gone missing. Instead finding Wendy curled up and still nursing a headache, not a care to question where Joy’s been. Her room exactly the image of the mess she’d left it in. Falling onto her bed with an exasperated sigh. Wendy turning over groggily to look across at Joy.

 

“Long day?”

 

“Something like that.”

 

A week passes, a week of life that almost feels normal. No wings, no hammer or fire. Almost normal, till she shuts her eyes and sees visions repeat with vivid clarity, till some nights she dreams in what feels like dreams that aren’t her own and in the quietest of moments, the newfound voice that reaches out to her, scratching at the back of her mind, clawing at her to dig just a little deeper.

 

Staring at a paper she should be writing, watching the time pass by without a single word written, Joy trying not to look over at her phone, at the thought of calling Yeri. Looking at Wendy, her roommate long asleep, Joy picking up her phone with a rush. Dialing Yeri before she can stop herself, almost hanging up as the first ring goes.

 

“Hey there, shouldn’t you be studying?” Yeri says, Joy swearing she can hear her proud smirk on the other end. “How’d you know this was me?” Joy whispers, staring over at Wendy, content when she only snores quietly. “It’s a gift… Also only three people have this number.”

 

“Look I.. I need a drink, I feel like this past week has been..” Joy mutters, Yeri cutting her off with a quiet laugh before Joy can fall deeper into her thoughts. “How’s tea sound?”

 

“Tea works.”

 

Walking down to the cafe Yeri had given her directions to, still open so late at night. Quiet inside, some students focused on their laptops, half asleep likely kept up only by the mass of coffee.

 

And sat by a booth towards the back, nursing a steaming cup in hand. Her baggy hoody and hair tied up in a ponytail, even with her tired eyes Yeri’s gaze still piercing right through Joy. “So, what keeps you up this late?”

 

“I was studying.” Joy sighs as she takes a seat across from Yeri. Certain she hadn’t so much as remembered anything she’d read or put a word down to the page. “And I’m sure that’s why you called, study tips.” Yeri laughs, her smug grin almost showing even as she takes a sip of tea. “Well it’s not to spar again.”

 

Rolling her eyes, none too impressed with Yeri, Joy seeing the sense in why Tiffany hadn’t wanted her to be the introduction to every revelation. “Has anyone ever said you can be irritating?”

 

“No never.” Yeri laughs, pouring a cup for Joy and pushing it towards her. “So then, what’s got you so desperate for me so late at night?” she smiles clearly pleased with herself, Joy taking the cup from her both to hide her grimace and the slight blush on her cheeks.

 

“I can’t do anything but think about it, all of this. Wings I can’t exactly deny having, every time I close my eyes all I see is those visions replay in my head and none of it makes any more sense. How I’m supposed to grasp this just seems so impossible.”

 

Shifting forward and placing her hands under her chin, Yeri hums in thought, twiddling her fingers as she looks right across at Joy. “Understanding is simply what we convince ourselves we know.” Yeri sits back, for once the smug look leaving her eyes. “Tiffany told me that, when I first faced these things like you do now. I said she was full of .” she chuckles more to herself. “But who’s gonna be happy to take your word that reality only seems the way it is cause you’ve never known any better.”

 

“You seem like you adjusted.” Joy remarks, taking a slow sip, watching how Yeri shrugs, through her hair. Sharing at least in part the same confusion. “I didn’t know to shed my armor for weeks, I faced those visions the same as you but was given what seemed more like a curse than anything else.” Yeri sighs, shifting back and crossing her arms across her chest. “I had a choice to adapt, or go mad. So eventually you face the fact reality isn’t what you always thought it was.”

 

“And what made you fight?” Joy wonders, the question that’s given her the most pause. Leaping to battle beasts of another world, charged by the will of a past life. “I’ve fought my whole life. Wielding a sword and fighting monsters, well it seemed like a natural choice and much as Jessica can see, some visions remain unexplained.” Yeri whispers, looking away from Joy. “I won’t give you answers to your questions, at least not ones you’ll want to hear, so maybe I should go..” Yeri starts to stand, before an explosion shatters the windows of the cafe. Slamming them back, rubble ripping up furiously with the sound like a thousand strikes of thunder ripping out all at once.

 

Coughing up dust, Joy comes to almost thinking she’s dead as she opens her eyes. No pain or injury she can feel but cradling her tight, back against the blown out cafe window, Yeri with her green flame, armor plates across her skin. Leaping to take the blast before Joy had even felt anything. “Are you okay?” Yeri coughs, spitting dust from her lungs, wiping dirt from her eyes, relieved to see Joy alive. “I think so.” Joy says, trying to get to her feet.

 

Yeri pushing through the rubble with strength enough to toss the larger pieces blocking up the floor, looking over for anyone trapped. Stopping still when she hears a roar that shakes even underfoot, one that screams with monstrous fury. Far more wild than Joy had heard from the beast on the campus. “Oh .” Yeri shouts, pushing back through the rubble to the streetfront, pushing through the dust of the explosion.

 

Horns that swirl with an unnatural shadow, blood red eyes piercing through the dust. Rising to size, its presence staring down at Yeri. Twice as tall as the last demon and bristling with rage. Spikes of bone ripping out of its hunched back, skin like ash, rippling with the hardness of steel. Claws hung by its fingertips, ivory bone dripping with fire.

 

“You’re a big one aren’t you.” Yeri shakes her head, staring up at the demon with the same resolve as the last. Green flame swirling in hand, forming into her sword.

 

“Meddler!” the demon shouts, the dust from the explosion rocketed back with the noise, clearing the view. Joy only staring in horror as the demon looms over Yeri.

 

“I know you have choices to be made. But I’d appreciate a hand.” Yeri glances over at Joy before the demon strikes with furious speed, claws crashing against Yeri’s sword with enough force to send her tumbling back, ripping up the ground beneath her. Joy catching the sight of the same claws about to rip into her, before she can even think, her wings spreading from her back and pushing her back with a thrash against the air.

 

Looking up as the beast snarls again, both hands raised to strike, Joy left without the surge of instinct to dodge. “Oh god, how do I..” she mutters, moving to run, in the panic of the moment, even things that came naturally feeling far away, her wings lifting her from her feet enough to just barely dodge another swipe.

 

Watching Yeri get to her feet, stagger from the impact that sent her flying. Joy feels the fire, the drive of spirit.

 

“We will face war together as we have all else.” a voice rings out, a whisper in Joy’s ear. The blur of a vision but somehow clearer, like the world doesn’t shift wildly. “We fought the demons once, how can I ask you to do it again?” she hears, spoken from what feels like herself.

 

“How can you think to do it again and all alone?” the voice says, almost intimidating in their surety. “We might not even find each other if we do this.”

 

“My little bird, we are anxa.” the voice speaks, the sight of a familiar green flame igniting in front of her. “Destiny, fate, they are no match for our bond.” she whispers, grasping Joy’s hands. “I am your sword, I would cut through all to be with you in this realm, in any realm. If that means war, then I will fight beside my love once more.”

 

Snapping back to reality, feeling like every moment of the memory had been relived, but not a second passed in front of her. Joy feeling the fire burn through her, the flame that burns not for destruction but calls to her. Calls like it sees a kindred spirit in pain, a love long missed. Yeri staring at Joy with eyes wide open, her fire burning in the same intensity.

 

Hammer in hand, wings fluttering with practiced ease. Not a word needed between them, two souls linked by a connection far more powerful than anything Joy has ever felt.

 

Wings whipping against the air, shooting up with relentless speed. Yeri charging forward, her sword ripping up the ground behind her as it drags, grabbing the demons attention. Claws coming to strike at her, stopped with the force of a bolt of lightning ripping through its chest, the mark of an arrow.

 

A frenzy of bullets ripping through the air, cracking through the demons legs till it falls to its knees. Joy flying up, catching the sight of Tiffany’s lightning illuminate bow, Jessica ripping through the street with catlike speed.

 

Yeri slamming her sword across the demons waist, tearing open its ashy armor. Joy reaching a height far above the demon, raising the hammer in hand before she dives down with a of her wings pinned back.

 

Crashing through the sky, a pyre of flame whipping up around her, hammer finding its mark. A clash so mighty lightning rips from the hammer, shattering the demon, breaking the beast in one mighty strike.

 

Settling on the ground as the dust clears, Joy stares at the destruction. The demon’s body beginning to disappear but the devastation around it remaining. Joy’s thoughts somehow not caught on the giant demon, the furious devastation. Only on Yeri as she walks towards Joy.

 

Yeri brushing at Joy’s hair with her fingertips, pulling Joy down and pressing a kiss to her lips. “My past.. She missed you.” Yeri whispers, stepping back slightly, feeling the same pull as Joy. Emotions that feel long forgotten, buried. Just as alive brought to the surface.

 

“She missed you too.”