Chapter 258: Not an angel.
Convincing herself that she was worried about nothing, Sunshine got to work. She folded her left hand into a fist and placed it over her mouth. The elbow sat on the table.
With her right hand, she scrolled among the jobs highlighted by the system.
Job 1: Broken compass.
"System is this not supposed to be in the repair section?"
[From my perspective the compass is not broken, it keeps spinning endlessly, when it stops, it points in one direction. Planet Kriever.]
"Okay...and is this where the owner is from?"
[No, the owner is a treasure hunter from the united world of Meostry. The compass was probably a recent acquisition.]
"This compass is home sick." Sunshine typed her opinion on the screen in the part reserved for advice by professional repairman.
Job 2: Wanderlight lamp.
[It’s a self-guiding lamp used in very dark worlds. Its problem is that it keeps wandering off. Sometimes it disappears for hours but it always returns.]
"Seems to me that the lamp is interested in seeing what is beyond the user’s path. He should just let it be."
She advised the owner to tether it and set perimeters for exploration.
Job 3.
Then she heard her walkie-talkie crackle.
"Suni come in."
Sunshine grabbed it and left the space. "I am here." She was already in full blown panic mode because Hades was only to contact her if something was wrong.
"Come to the church NOW!" His loud voice boomed through the room.
She wasted no time in grabbing car keys and hurrying out as she was. Like a maniac, she sped the car off to the church and nearly run over residents that were fleeing from the church.
"Dammit!" she said she pulled the car to a stop and hurried out. "I knew that I should have insisted that the father stay home." She blew her whistle, demanding for attention. "Everyone be orderly."
Soldiers joined her and the evacuation became more organized. When the last residents left the church, Sunshine turned to the soldiers. "No one enters unless I give my permission. This church is off limits."
"Yes ma’am." Major Elio said motioning the men to take positions around the church.
He did not miss an opportunity to look at the bubble. The Major could have sworn that the birds were smiling.
Sunshine closed the doors and began to walk slowly towards Father Nicodemus. She paused, only because Hades grabbed her hand.
"Are you sure you should be approaching him? Maybe we should give him time to cool off." His eyes were deeply laced with concern, if the father dared to hurt his wife, they would be holding a funeral tomorrow morning.
His eyes moved from her to the beam above where the Father was perched like a bird.
Sunshine eyes trailed over his hand to his face. "I am a superhuman too, remember? I will be fine." Her warm smile untied the knot in his chest; he let go of her arm but hesitantly.
The quiet room was slashed by the sound of flapping wings.
"Alright father, you need to come down now."
He glided through the air, wings spread vastly. His feet touched the ground and the wings tucked a little behind him.
Sunshine approached him, pulling a chair to sit on. "I always thought that you had high emotional stability, but I guess I was wrong. You seem scared and you scared the residents too."
"I....I do not know what to think of this Sunshine." Father Nicodemus raised his eyes to the ceiling like he could see heaven’s gates.
Sunshine’s gaze followed his, then back to him. She said nothing, only pulled her brows together.
Tears started streaking down Father Nicodemus’s face. "This has to be a divine calling....but why me? I cannot lead these people. I am not strong enough."
Sunshine eyes rotated in the orbits, then she stood up, raised her hand and smacked him hard across the face. "Get back to your senses, nobody has called you."
She wondered what the correlation was between religious figures and awakening these wings. Seriously, someone had to be messing with them. She used to think they were exclusive to Pastor Salem but apparently that was not the case.
Father Nicodemus spread his wings and hissed at Sunshine.
"Don’t you dare!" Came Hades’ voice, he raised his gun to the priest whose wing lashed out like he was about to retaliate.
The wing moved back. Father Nicodemus choked and cried out ,"I am sorry, I didn’t mean....."
Sunshine shook her head. "I understand what you are going through. Like we have told the many others that have awakened, you need to calm down. Your abilities are connected to your emotions so control them."
"I am trying." He whispered.
Sunshine grabbed his arms and shook him. "Listen to me attentively father. You are not some divine being, this is not a gift sent to you from heaven. All you have are Clarion wings.
This is an awakening like any other. So, do not go around calling yourself an angel or acting like you are the son of God or something. If this ability messes with your head and you cause chaos on my base, I will rip your wings out.
If I do not rip them out, I will clip them or smash them to dust. Then, I will kick you out of here. Do you understand?" She asked him.
Father Nicodemus held back on answering for a while then nodded. "What about the woman."
"You mean the one whose fingers you cut off?" Dwayne asked from the back.
Sunshine’s mouth dropped open. "You sliced off someone’s fingers!!"
Father Nicodemus let out a tiny sob. "I did not mean to do that."
"Do not worry, she will be fine. She was rushed to the medic bay, and they are being reattached already." Hades told him.
Father Nicodemus placed a hand to chest as he practiced his breathing. "Thank God." As he became calmer, the wings returned back inside his body. He groaned like they hurt.
"The pain will go away eventually." Sunshine told him.
Father Nicodemus explained to her in a small voice. "It happened as I was giving a sermon. First my shoulders hurt so bad then they forced themselves out of my body. It was a mess. But I don’t understand what happened. If this is an awakening, why me? I did not touch anything or eat something unknown."
"Sometimes people just awaken out of nowhere with no explanation whatsoever." Sunshine answered. "From now on, you need to join us in training. But if you do not want this ability, if you feel like you cannot control it, there are suppressants that you can take to take away the ability but only temporarily."
"But you do not have to decide immediately." Hades added. "Think really hard, there are a lot of people that would die to have such a power given the times we are living in."
Father Nicodemus looked at them. "I do not need to think, this came to me for a reason, to protect God’s people. I will train hard and be available whenever I am needed to save mankind."
Arching one eyebrow, Sunshine narrowed her eyes at him. All would be fine as long as he did not carry himself around like some divine being. Honestly, it was relieving that the matter was settled quicker than she expected.
"Alright then, go and rest. Church will be closed for a while I guess." Sunshine said as she stood. "And father, please tell your believers that this is an awakening and you are not an angel. I will not spare anyone that causes trouble because of your wings." She said firmly.