THE APPOINTED HOUR

[fatecrash]

It wasn't long ago that the sun finally dropped out of sight, and the clouded sky overhead is still streaked with pink. The street is quiet, the lights of the buildings overlooking it not yet lit. A slight breeze ruffles the grass by the pavement. It's a peaceful scene.

That is, until a greyish shape about three foot tall and roughly as wide cannonballs out through the second-storey window of the library in a hail of noisily shattering glass.

Only half a second before he can make his own bloody stain on the sidewalk does Anghel remember to flutter. It takes some logistical rejiggering, since he insists on clutching his pen in one wing and his small notepad in the other. But he manages, touching down at the base of a streetlamp after only a little bouncing and hardly any grazes at all.

"The Hour of Judgement is nigh!" he cries. "The radiant gates of Heaven call to me! If I can endure this final bitter ordeal, never again shall the world succumb to -"

He trails off into a shiver, his fluffy chest puffing out in the cool air. "No, wait," he breathes, his voice quivering at least as much as his feathers. "Could I have been mistaken? The unholy winds of Niflheim howl, a harbinger of the End Times... Their maddening symphony weaves a Prison of Ages as I speak. I fear it is... too late. The night encroaches..."

Comments

[fatecrash]

"...Bah!" Anghel contrived to scowl through his beak as he hopped upright, although his half-hearted huffing indicated someone who wasn't particularly upset trying very hard to sound like they were. "Have you forgotten, Render of Earth and Sky? I am Anghel Higure, Bloodstained Angel of Judecca! And the time for idleness is long past. See you not the tendrils of obscuring blight that threaten to choke us as we stand?!"

He took off again, his grey wings clattering, and this time barrelled straight into the elevator panel up ahead.

[drinkbrewfight]

"I did not forget. After all, I did not know." Chen held the door open long enough for Anghel to get through, then casually looked around the library without any particular regard for haste. Bearings gotten, he followed after the bird, shaking his head a little at Anghel's destructive recklessness. "Now, where is it we are going in here?"

[fatecrash]

"We must ascend through the sphere of Purgatorial flame," Anghel said matter-of-factly, "into the long-lost hallowed reaches of the Primum Mobile. ...Second floor."

Behind him, one of the elevators opened its doors with a muted ding.

[drinkbrewfight]

"Ah, I see. These are not the kind of elevators I am used to..."

Still, Chen had a working brain. When he stepped inside and saw the row of buttons, '2' jumped out as an obvious choice. He pressed it with one large paw. "Safer, though."

[fatecrash]

Anghel nodded almost as sagely as someone who had any idea what the enormous panda man was referring to. "Yet even within these sacred grounds, the Lords of Hell may work their corruption in mysterious ways," he said. "Patience and vigilance, o Blessed Guardian of the Sundered Cloud."

He was serious about that, too. He would not attempt to hurl himself at any of the scenery until he felt the telltale wobble of the floor beneath them, at which point he of course rocketed straight into the door.

[drinkbrewfight]

"I see no way to fall off of it or run into its shaft when it isn't there, so I think it is much improved."

Chen patiently picked the bird up yet again, and stepped through the doors as they opened. "You might want to consider waiting for doors to open. I am not certain you are doing much beyond rattling your ribs with your charges!"

[fatecrash]

Undeterred, Anghel shot out of his would-be saviour's arms as soon as the lift doors slid open. If they'd been a second earlier, he would have been fine! And now that they were open, he could hit the ground... not quite running, because running indoors is bad, but at an appreciably speedy walk, his head bobbing back and forth in a blur. "Onward!" he cried. "Our time runs short, and the shadows grow long!"

On this floor his proclamation seemed to be more or less accurate. While a few library assistants could be seen scuttling between shelves, pinkish-grey doves somewhat larger than Anghel with nametags pinned to their collars, every table in sight was clear and every comfortable chair obviously unoccupied. But there was still a tie-wearing bird sitting at the counter out front for now, and as Anghel bounded past him he slumped, wordlessly burying his face in his wing.

[drinkbrewfight]

One bird was strange, but now he was surrounded by them and not entirely certain how it had happened. But one advantage of being as round as Chen was the ability to roll with it, so that is exactly what the pandaren did.

"Where did you last see them?" He peered around curiously as he followed Anghel, keeping a close eye out especially on the floor. Who knows where bird feet could kick an object?

[fatecrash]

Anghel, meanwhile, had his beady grey-violet sights set in one direction only, hurtling towards the light novel collection in the back of the library like a one-pigeon landslide. "Do not be mistaken, my friend. The Prison of Ages cleaves no longer to the prayers of mortals," he said, apparently oblivious to the fact that his newfound companion was taking much more care with this search than he was. "In my folly, I thought it sealed beyond this realm forevermore. Yet the prophecy of -"

Thunk.

"- aaghh."

The bookcase rocked back and forth rather alarmingly. So did Anghel. Only after a moment or two did he regain enough of his composure to fluff his feathers out again and give his head a little shake. Still, at least the impact seemed to have slowed him down.

It was at this point that one of the library doves reached up with her wingtip to tap Chen on - not quite his shoulder, more like the small of his back, but an effort was being made. "Excuse me, sir... Are you a friend of Yoshio here?"