When We Were Still Human by Vaughn Foster (best ereader for textbooks .txt) 📕

sphere. After a moment, Val realized that the sphere appeared to have some kind of lens.

“Are you here to see Marian?”

Still dazed, Val turned to the water to see an enormous horned sea serpent leap from the water. Red and blue scales shimmered in the sun before disappearing back beneath the surface. Some of the angels smiled, then returned to talking. Others had never glanced up to begin with.

The child ran off to wherever she’d come from and Val stumbled back, muddled and disoriented.

Monai

A Guaraní sea monster falsely believed to have been a deity. Captured by Castiel in 1403 a.d., it has been domesticated to live in Le Ciel. The natives have taken to calling it “Marian.”

Val clutched her chest, unprepared for the vision the Mark threw upon her. And with that vision, came the manic fear that blazed her insides reset. It was a weight crashing back down from all sides. She was a monster and murderer in-in... Heaven of all places! A monster running from a vampire who worked for an angel, who also wanted her to kill everyone on earth. She grabbed her head and squeezed. Her temples pounded but she didn’t wake up.

“Are you okay?” She looked up to see a concerned couple standing in front of her. Before she could process a reply, she saw a dark shape slowly rise from a shadowed portion of the street behind them.

Val shoved past angels and took off again, pushing herself faster than she had before. There had to be somewhere out of the city she could go. Somewhere he couldn’t find her.

Careening past a group exiting a café, Val vaulted several tables and their patrons, then skidded back to control. Warmth spread through her chest. She figured adrenaline must have jumped the Mark into helping.

Left

Nearly crashing on her face, Val changed direction, and sped down another alleyway.

Right

Right

Without hesitation, Val followed her internal directions until she reached what appeared to be a dead end between buildings.

Up

A strange sensation in her hands brought her gaze down. Fingernails extended to black claws and the surrounding skin wrinkled and greyed. A shiver racked her spine, followed by the thick taste of blood that made it hard to swallow. She stared at her hands and could remember screaming. Not hers, but someone else’s. A lot of someones.

Gritting her teeth, she looked over her shoulder. Vladimir’s shadow wasn’t looming behind, and when she focused her hearing, the closest person was at least a block away. Another strong pulse from her chest brought her back to the wall. Pressing her hand to the brick, she pulled back and dug her claws into the stone. One hand after another, she scaled her way to the top until she was standing on the roof’s ledge.

There was no outer wall, gate, or any real separation. It was like the city’s construction had come to a jagged halt. Golden streets and buildings gave way to lush grass. Mountainous rock and trees surrounded the green’s perimeter to form a semicircle. Ironically, scaling the building had been unnecessary; looking down, it was clear the street over would have taken her to the same place.

Directly centered across the grass was a wide cave opening. It looked like part of the hillock had collapsed on itself. Vegetation transitioned to dried earth and trailed a path deep underground. She didn’t need further magic direction to know that that was where she needed to be.

Val dropped to the ground and winced as pain exploded through her now-shattered kneecap, down her leg, then back up her spine. The bone sewed itself back together quickly enough, but she was shuffling for several minutes before her natural gait returned. It was now apparent why Crystal had explicitly forbidden “superhero landings.”

Struggling to her feet, she made her way to the earthy mound. It now seemed ominous and domineering on ground level. Leg injury withstanding, she crossed the field and peered down into the mouth of the cave.

Glittering specks lined the walls of crumbling earth. As she half-expected, the specks, upon further investigation, turned out to be runes. Unlike before, however, these didn’t translate. Instead, staring only warranted a tingle shooting down her body and a metallic taste in her mouth. Common sense said to turn back, but she couldn’t. Her feet moved on their own accord, and the sun was snuffed out behind.

Val was unsure how long the stony path stretched, much less how long she’d been groping her way in the dark. It’d been a constant downhill journey with few turns or alterations. Further still, the darkness fought her night vision. Everything was placed in an unnatural shadowed haze.

She’d been walking too long and the silence was driving her crazy. Panic rattled against her skull. Maybe she had missed a turn. Maybe, this was a random hole that led nowhere. Maybe this was a trap. A hundred other alternatives blossomed forward and nearly made her turn back.

Nearly. As she pressed deeper into the earth, light began to trickle into the shadows like stars. White runes flared defiantly over the path from ethereal posts. Val was almost disappointed by the lack of stalactites, but filed it away for the best. While she would probably survive, there was always the fear that she’d be impaled passing underway.

The path was, as she guessed, no wider than two arm spans. With the new illumination, however, she could see it was widening. As the runes grew more frequent and luminescent, the Mark in her chest began to stir. No vision or direction came, but she felt a distinct connection with the symbols. The magic throbbing around her was the same as the magic in her chest.

She missed a slight ledge and tripped. When she straightened, the stony passage had broadened out to a proper cave. Fluorescent runes of white, purple, green, blue, red, black, and