by Sonhaven, Grimm and Captain Sammitch
The angel Tayden hovered above the turbulent waters. This fierce force of nature had the potential of doing incredible amounts of damage. There were a lot of scared people down there on their knees praying for help. God heard them, and Tayden was given orders to help any way he could.
The thought that prodded his mind was, How did I get this assignment? This was a serious disaster and a great responsibility. The truth was that Tayden had never really been considered brave nor bright, for that matter, not exactly warrior-angel material. When Gabriel destroyed Sodom, Tayden was planting trees in what would later be called Mississippi. The last time he went to Earth was to help some guy named Jason Douglas find his car keys. Don't get the wrong idea; Tayden liked his work, it was just that, after a few million years of small stuff, one couldn't help but wonder about the change. Still, he did not hesitate to accept; he knew where his faith was.
Over the horizon, a boat tossed on the waves. With ears that ignored the deafening storm, he heard the faint prayer of a man who had just lost his footing. "God help me!"
As if there was no wind or resistance, Tayden was there and pushed the man back as he was about to fall. "Jesus, Ralph! you almost bought it. Everything is secure. Let's get below!" said a fellow hand.
"Yeah, oh, thank you, God!" Ralph barely got the words out, he was shaking so badly. Tayden smiled as he took a higher post in the air.
"Ya know... I can do this." Tayden barely got out the words, when all of a sudden he was falling. He looked behind him at empty air where his wings once were. For the first time, he could feel wind and rain on his face, then SPLASH!
Not since since the Great War had Tayden been afraid. He felt blood in his veins, which moments ago were not there.
"Oh, my God!" he screamed. "I'm flesh, and I'm drowning!"
As Tayden began to slip under the waters, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist lift him up. He looked over and saw a human boy breathing through gills next to him.
As soon as Danny Hearn had a decent grip on the man, he began to tug on the rope tied tightly around his waist. Suddenly, the two were being jerked forward quickly. As they were pulled closer to the ever-receding shoreline, their heads pulled above the water. Danny saw Grimm and Blackwulf pulling them in as quickly as they could.
As soon as they were on shore, Danny unfastened the rope and began to help Tayden up. "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so..."
"Not exactly the best time to go swimming, was it?" Dirk Bell yelled out.
"Just help him into the ship, Dirk," Danny said coldly.
"Danny, over here!" came Phil Smith's voice.
"What is it?" Danny came running to Phil's side.
"I think it's Ed." As the others came running up, they saw Edulcore's body lying motionless on the beach.
"So... what are we gonna do?" Grimm asked.
"I'm not really sure," Danny replied. "But maybe we can see if..." He looked up. Phil was running off down the beach at full tilt.
"Weird kid," Dirk said. "Figured he'd snap before too long."
"No, something's wrong," Danny insisted. "Phil doesn't just run off in the middle of something like this."
"Of course, we can be sure of this considering we've known him for -- what -- not even a week yet?" Grimm added.
"This is not time to argue," Blackwulf said. "We must help Comrade Ed."
"Shouldn't someone at least follow him?" Grimm asked. "What if he really has snapped?"
"Hardly something we can deal with right now," Dirk said. "Let's take a look here."
Danny looked again. Phil was far enough down the beach now that with a few more steps he disappeared into the uniformly swirling gray of the storm. Danny hoped Phil knew what he was doing.