Becoming a Saint

Our plane would be landing very soon. At our lowering altitude the ground became a lot clearer.

From my window seat I could see flat topped mountains known as mesas, big open spaces with cacti dotting the land, and bits of foliage to give the ground a little bit of lush greenery here and there.

With my telescopic vision, I even spotted some giant turkey things walking around. I think those were monsters.

Way off in the distance though were big clouds, hovering over the land and blanketing down uncountable amounts of snowflakes over everything. It was winter time in the northern hemisphere, but the equator shouldn't have any weather like that. The sun stayed consistent through the year, so it should be pretty hot.

Deserts and snow don't usually go well together. It's been trained in me and just about everyone else that they're polar opposites for a reason. Watching them mix was like seeing a forbidden colour of life.

As reported to us, it wasn't a natural occurrence at all. Someone did this, but nobody could trace who it was.

“Nice view, yeah?” Yamin was sitting next to me while we were landing.

If I suspended the idea that this snow was causing trouble for thousands, it actually was very pretty. I activated the ocular camera in my eyes and recorded the view in high quality.

“It's one for the history books,” I said.

Marek raised me a thumbs up from the set of seats in front of us. “I agree. Documenting this will be a once in a lifetime experience.”

“With the weird places the church has us go, once in a lifetime experiences are pretty common,” Indena said.

None of us could argue with that. In quieter times where we didn't have to worry about life or death situations, things like this seemed a little more interesting to explore for fun. It's like the difference between a pleasant work trip and being hot dropped into a warzone.

~☆☆☆~

Uncle smoothly landed our plane at the local airport. A few guards from the town greeted us at the bottom of our loading ramp. They had very similar military jackets and berets to the guards in the mainland. The only difference to the ones back home was their uniforms and rifles being a sandy yellow instead of grey.

A priest completely dressed in black scurried out from behind them in a rush to greet me.

“Saint Yalda the Archangel…” He picked me out of the bunch pretty quick. “God has had mercy on us, sending you.” He got down on his knees and gracefully took my hand. He was getting teary eyed, as were the guards behind him. “I…we…we are unworthy to be in the presence of such a holy angel.”

Normally a lot of the more zealot types like him creeped me out, but he looked really genuinely relieved and happy, not crazy at all. It made me feel like he was really desperate for my help.

“Don't be sad. I promise we'll make things right with your town.”

He nodded, pulling off his glasses and whipping his eyes with his sleeve.

“Forgive me. But sometimes I question if my life has had meaning as a priest. Seeing you reminds me that their is still light shining on this world from above.”

My crystal heart felt warm to his words. He was very humble. It made me feel like doing everything I could to help his people.

I really needed to remember that just me being around was going to inspire people. It was weird to think I was so special, but it wasn’t something I wanted to goof around with.

The priest explained the situation to us on the car ride to the town, but most the info we already knew about. The only thing we didn't know was that the cathedral there was housing everyone and keeping them as warm as possible, but it was too crowded to keep that up much longer. No fatalities, thankfully.

The car ride to the town was nice at first, but then the ice on the road made it feel a little more perilous.

When we got to the town after nearly sliding off the road ten times, cold white fluff was piled everywhere, almost as tall as me. I could have probably tunneled under this stuff if I wanted too. No wonder peoples homes were being damaged.

“My apologies for the state we're in…” the priest said. “We would have had a much nicer greeting for you if it were safe to get around, Saint Yalda.”

He didn't need to apologize for anything. We were hear to help, and I didn't need a red carpet for that.

Indena placed her hands into the snow. The tattoos on her arms lit up bright orange, her eyes also brightened the same way. A wave of orange energy trailed down her body and spread across the snow, quickly vaporizing it into steam.

“There.” Indena dusted off her hands. “I'll do that everywhere to keep this place from looking like a western Santa's workshop. Then we can get to work on the power grid.”

The priest was no stranger to seeing magic, but he was impressed by Indena’s aid, even calling her my disciple.

I didn’t even need to look at her to know she was fuming over being called a disciple. Either it was her not being very religious, or considering me a teacher that set her off. I’m just glad she channeled that frustration into getting rid of all the snow. You don’t wanna know the words she was grumbling under her breath the whole time…

~☆☆☆~

As parts of the city became habitable again, a few individuals responsible for governing the town met up with us and the priest. The mayor of the town was among them. They all had a similar reaction to me as the priest did.

Once everyone's emotions started to calm, we got down to business, talking about what we were going to do going forward for the people.

"Everyone has been trying to stay strong during El Frío,"  the town mayor said to us.

"El Frio?" Yamin questioned.

"That's what we're calling the snow storm..." It translated into 'The cold.' Which is a pretty fitting name for this situation. "...But now that the Eighth Star is here, I think that spirits will rise. If only the temperature can do the same..." The mayor sighed.

Uncle and Marek were planning to try and fix the mana power grid, which would do a lot to make the people feel better, but it would be a while before that was repaired. In the mean time, we had to try and make everyone feel a little more comfortable.

They needed heat, food and shelter. All those things were quickly dwindling. So we had to put our heads together to come up with something more sustainable.