Snow Angels

Snow Angels
Media Information
Length	Pages 94-187
Published	January 6 2006 - April 21 2007
Series Guide
Previous ← To Hell and Back	Next River-Side Stories →

Snow Angels is the second major story chapter of Slightly Damned. This chapter details the events involving Rhea Snaketail and Buwaro Elexion as they meet Kieri Suizahn after arriving from Hell, and the beginning of their exploration of Medius.

Summary

After leaving Hell, Rhea and Buwaro are on their way to Rhea's village. Going through the forest, Buwaro finds something: an unconscious white bunny wearing cuffs and looking injured. As he's still under the pain of losing Sakido, Rhea suggests he keeps it, and names it Snowy. She also spots tracks in the snow that could well belong to other Demons. As an undead and a Demon, neither of them belong here, so they sneak into Rhea's old house to get some rest. There, she introduces Buwaro to the concept of eating food, as well as many other household objects he's never seen before.

That night, the bunny has transformed into a blue-haired girl, who immediately becomes afraid of Buwaro. She tries to defend herself from the other two, but they prove harmless and don't seem to understand the situation. Rhea leaves them alone to go get food, and Buwaro apologizes to Snowy for scaring her, which seems to confuse her. Alone in Rhea's room, he puts on Sakido's sun necklace for the first time, which causes him to painfully grow small wings. When Rhea returns, she finds the two of them in much better terms; she tends to Snowy's injuries and tries to get some explanation out of her, but the brace on her neck seems to make her unable to speak. Rhea simply assumes she's mute and moves on; however, as Humans are not allowed to enter Rhea's village, the three of them should leave as soon as possible.

The next day, the three of them leave for the Human village of Farun. Rhea gets separated from Snowy and Buwaro, who encounter another Demon: her name is Lazuli, and she's here for the "Angel". Buwaro doesn't know what that is, and even less believes that Snowy is one, still thinking her to be a snow bunny. Another Demon, Talus, shows up and pushes Buwaro off a cliff, with the goal of capturing Snowy; but Buwaro climbs back up and still doesn't believe them. The Demons reveal they were the ones to have braced Snowy, and when Buwaro shows off his pendants, they want to get their hands on it; but Snowy and Buwaro manage to run away, meeting back with Rhea.

The three of them are chased onto a frozen lake, and stopped by Lazuli's ice magic. However, before she brutally murders them all, Rhea tricks her into revealing Snowy's real name, which is what undoes the restraints; she becomes able to speak and fight back. She takes on Lazuli while Rhea and Buwaro try to evade Talus. They manage to make him drop Snowy's sword and own sun necklace that he's been carrying; Snowy recovers them and manages to stand her ground. She fights Lazuli, and Rhea causes Talus to fight in the cracking ice, enough for Snowy to stab him. She manages to get a hit on Lazuli too, and both Demons fall into the lake, taking Snowy with them; but the latter manages to make it out. Eventually, Snowy reveals the truth: her name is Kieri Suizahn, and she's an Angel from Heaven. She fell to Medius with two of her friends, including her twin brother Kazai, following an incident with a dark portal. Her bunny form is actually a curse from Toski, one of the Twelve Guardians of Medius, who's known to hate Angels.

As they talk, the three of them reach Farun, where Kieri parts ways with the group. As Buwaro's appearance would scare people, Rhea heads in alone first to get him some clothes, and meets with her Human friend Jake in a clothing store. He doesn't know Rhea's been dead for months, and she tries to cover it up, claiming she was ill. She returns to Buwaro, only to find out the clothes she's been given consist of a snazzy pimp suit. Yet it works to conceal his identity, so they enter town and head to the inn as to meet with Kieri and her brother; but it turns out he's already left. They keep Kieri company, and she tells them about some of Heaven's culture, such as her uniform. It turns out the pendants Buwaro and Sakido were wearing are Holy Emblems, with the sun-shaped one granting Angels wings and the star-shaped one boosting their concentration and magic power. How Demons could use them is unknown, as these are protected by a spell that hurts them; but Buwaro's pendants seem unaffected. Rhea wonders whether Kieri could read the book she's found in Hell; she and Buwaro recall Sakido's effort to bring the both of them to Medius.

The next morning, Kieri tells of how she, her twin brother Kazai and his friend Sanjulo first arrived in Medius and met the Demons from earlier. She was separated from her group and captured, using her curse to evade them, at which point she fell unconscious and met Rhea and Buwaro. The latter wants to help her reunite with her friends, but Rhea objects as they have little clue of where they went. She leaves it to fate, flipping a coin: on tails, they help Kieri, on heads, they do nothing. It lands on heads, but she decides to help out anyway. As their only direction is east, they decide to head to Riverside City.

Fights and Events

• Rhea, Buwaro & Kieri vs Lazuli & Talus