Ascension by Christopher De Sousa

creature extended its wings and thrashed with them throughout the air; with each movement this creature made, it felt to Katherine as though it were an extension of her own body.
    But just when it seemed her senses had been restored, she felt her sight grow momentarily hazy, and soon awoke to find herself in what appeared to be a classroom. She saw a copy of herself, at least a girl who looked like her, standing up before the whiteboard and panicking. To her right, there were all her English classmates seated at their desks, gawking up at the girl who’d frozen before delivering a single line.
    She glanced downward, to the coat of golden fur about her chest and to the coarse concrete pavement a couple of flights below. She had become the Gryphon, or at least she was reviewing past events from the creature’s own perspective. As she peered into the classroom, her eyes zoomed about with incredible precision, capturing every aspect of her surroundings down to the most minute of detail.
    She soon felt herself peel away from the window. From below, the horned woman stood still and glared up at her, engulfed in a cloud of insects. The demon waved her arms about as though she were conducting the swarm’s very movements, and the insects promptly rushed toward Katherine in a frenzy. She could feel herself fly off in the distance, attempting to lose them in their relentless pursuit.
    â€œPlease, clear your mind of all troubling thoughts,” this voice asked of her, a voice that filled her with confidence and belief. “I need you to focus on the here and now if I am to save you.”
    Once more, awoken by these words, Katherine found herself standing in her own skin and gazing out through her own blue eyes.
    â€œSo wind spirit, you yet live,” said the horned woman, before conjuring up another swarm of insects. “To think, I believed my children had successfully disposed of you.”
    â€œYou were sloppy sister,” the masked figure grumbled. “Your children only weakened him.”
    Katherine looked down at the gryphon; his breathing had grown heavy, and he was painted with gashes and cuts all about his rough and bulky exterior.
    The horned woman reached out, now entirely coated within insects. “He has little energy left. He may as well have saved us the trouble, and just keeled over and died.”
    â€œIf he is as weak as you claim, it is only appropriate that you bring his misery to an end post-haste,” said the masked figure.
    The insects fluttered and crawled forth from the female demon’s flesh, and converged upon her open palms. With the fierce stroking of her arms, she released of this new swarm upon Katherine and the fatigued Gryphon.
    Unsure of how she should respond, or what she could do, the sound of a bomb going off had oddly brought her comfort. With her eyes widened, she glanced up in dismay, for a cloud of fire and flame had engulfed the swarm whole.
    The horned woman angrily glared back at her masked brother. “Unbelievable. I thought you claimed you’d rid us of the father.”
    Katherine looked toward the porch; badly wounded and with blood pooling about the chest of his green jacket, Duncan crawled forth while he clutched at a pin.
    â€œImpressive,” said the masked figure. “I was certain he’d been lost to the shadows.”
    She saw Duncan crawl forward, reaching for his revolver. “Your kind should be well aware by now. You should never take humankind so lightly.”
    But despite his best efforts, firing each round with rapid succession, the bullets merely crashed directly through the masked figure’s cloak.
    The horned woman cackled and proceeded to form a new and much more expansive swarm of her insects. “Well isn’t this rich? How many times over the centuries have we heard these words so easily roll from the tongues of babes? And yet the result is always the same.”
    With her eyes now fixed on Duncan,