Everything had to be perfect for the Arrivals, whenever they might finally arrive, and thus was Kaethe committed to where she was rooted. Laid flat on her front, the angel’s diligent stare beamed through the stained glass windows of the cathedral -- a glorious structure with spiraling staircases and intricate architecture, yet its magnificence stood only knee-high to an angel such as herself. Her sky-blue eyes lit up with joy when she imagined the little lives making use of the sanctuary, and her cheeks flushed from excitement to think of their gratitude towards her for having made the elaborate building. More than that, they would be grateful that she had created the entire city, of which her huge size lay in the middle of, either side of her walled-in by the various estates she had lovingly handcrafted. The vast yet hollow community was her personal project, a territory only she among her angel-kind was dedicated to developing.
“I wonder what they’ll name this place,” Kae hummed to herself, still pondering how to improve the cathedral. Her head lifted higher, allowing her to peer inside through the incomplete roof and into the central chamber. As grand as the building would be to humans, Kae’s size made it all appear fragile, like a mere model still being pieced together. Floating beside her at the ready was a cottony Aether cloud, a magical material that she pulled from like clay, and then shaped in her fingers to materialize anything she envisioned. “Maybe they’ll call it… Kae Town! Or, would it be Kaetroplis? Heh-heh, maybe~”
But that was thinking far ahead, that she knew. For countless ages, not a single soul had entered the Aether -- the afterlife paradise she and the other angels tended to eternally. Though Kae remained divinely optimistic, it appeared unlikely that an Arrival would make use of her city soon, let alone a thriving community of worthy souls.
Daydreaming like usual, Kae propped her head into a palm and held it steady in front of the cathedral. Her remarkable height lay spread flat across the market plaza and its main road, which she had thoughtfully architected to be generously wide enough for her to do so -- but only just enough. Bundles of her white robe filled the narrow spaces between the shape of her enormous figure and the rows of vacant businesses, allowing almost no space for her to shift about in, but she was comfortable with the street she had designed. Stretched out flat on her front, Kae allowed her feet to kick idly behind her, familiar enough with the layout to know nothing should be broken by her. Anything she did accidentally damage could be fixed easily enough with her Aether cloud, and so she dwelled on the cathedral’s design, her head hovering above its missing-roof as she thought of what else to add.
But in an instant, Kae found herself literally thrown into her work when her body suddenly surged forward; her weight crashed upon the cathedral’s wall when a tickling sensation swept her exposed soles. “Fffaa-haahaa! H-Hey, what’s--?!” Kae squealed with staggered laughter, her messy smile wrongly expressing the worry that plagued her. Reactively pushing on the cathedral for support, she felt the structure shudder and creak, threatening to give in -- unlike the tickling of her feet. Though Kae tried to restrain herself, a wave of forced amusement had her collapsing forward, bulldozing through the tall, arced entrance. Her fingers raked through rows of pews, her elbow blew out a bell tower, and her bosom smashed apart the holy altar. Once ghostly quiet, the sanctuary was now a cacophony of ruin as debris stormed down into gravely piles, crumbled yet more into dust as Kae’s girlish laughter writhed over top of it.
“Haha! The c-cathedral...! Oh, n-no, h-haha…!” Kae giggled and groaned, lifting herself onto her hands and knees. When she turned her head to find what had tickled her so spontaneously, she already knew what to expect. Scattered over both feet was the red color of at least a dozen diminutive demons, with even more supporting them farther down the main road. She scoffed at their sight, but could not cease her huffy laughter; “Hey…! Pfft, y-you guys! Stop, hah! Y-You made me-- ughh!”
The demon warriors were beyond reasoning with, as usual. Agents of chaos, their existence was bound to dismantling the idyllic afterlife the angels prepared for Arrivals. When a strike force team happened upon Kae’s developing city, they thought only to wreck what they saw without hesitation, not accounting for the angel to be nearby. It was a surprise to them, then, when her massive feet kicked into their ranks -- an accident on Kae’s behalf, but a relentless assault on the demons all the same. Without meaning to, Kae’s toes had torn into their ranks like battering rams, and so by the command of a demon general, a counterattack commenced.
Yet such an attack, even with all the savagery that came with it, was evidently ineffective. Despite their advantage in numbers, the relatively minuscule size of the demons limited their offense to a mere annoyance. They climbed and sprawled over Kae’s feet nimbly, claiming the wrinkles and her traditional wrappings as footholds to maneuver with. From wherever they could balance themselves straight, they then attacked down at the plump soles, armed with tridents, clubs, and claws that the angel’s skin passively deflected. They snarled viciously and cheered on their own efforts, but the sounds of their blitz did not reach Kae. Their violence only earned a reflexive flinch from her feet as she curled in her legs, a rush of movement up the plaza that detached any unbalanced demons.
That minimal result to repel Kae’s feet proved to encourage the demons, inciting them all into an uproar led by their general, the largest and loudest among them. Standing thrice as tall as his subordinates and boasting a spiked mantle, he conjured and then hurled a ball of fire at the broadest point of the angel -- Kae’s hide, as its roundness was angled upwards in the prone pose she was caught in. The direct hit combusted bright like a firework where it struck a hill-sized cheek -- it could have set a house ablaze, but the hellfire did nothing more to Kae than garner an embarrassed wince, and the point of her ire.
“Ha… hah, a-alright… You guys have had your fun…” Kae’s laughter trickled as she reeled a foot inwards, brushing away the demons that still raided her there. For the other foot and its tickling, she impatiently kicked out into the air and flexed her toes, shaking away those that clung to her. The minions groaned and gagged as they were tossed onto rooftops and roads, scurrying away from the lost encounter if their injuries did not immediately turn them into the ash they were manifested from. The most persistent were those trapped between the digits, strangled tight in a pinch of toes before finally being dismissed into soot.
With a battalion still behind her, Kae was prompted to rise to her fullest, a height that towered above the demons and the city. She glared at the evidence of their mischief: buildings that were ravaged, gardens set ablaze, and the taint they left on everything they touched, an unholy corruption that cursed all things good. Kae shivered disheartedly, witnessing her hard-work be eaten away -- she sorrowed more upon the broken glass and looted businesses than she reacted to the raid occurring up to her ankles.
Soon did her attention rightfully turn to the demons responsible. Kae’s loom was enough to make the most cowardly of cretins fret away, though her expression was not a scowl, but a pout. Her hands perched on her hips, “I’m gonna have to start all over because of you! I don’t have time to mess around. Shoo, shoo!” Behind her dismissal was the threat of her foot, which she first lifted and lowered in a smooth, slow arc. She gave ample time for the demons to skitter aside, but from that footfall onwards, her mercy lessened. When groups brandishing weapons opposed her, she struck them down with low swings of her feet, and then swiped at any stragglers with the broad side. The most daring of demons challenged her foot even as it fell upon them, but all the same did her toes trample over them, leaving behind smudges of black where their forms were crushed.
Kae chased the demons back to where they came: a fissure from the ground of Aether, a portal to the underworld. They delved down into the hole, clambering over one another as the tremors of footsteps crept closer. Even the general, bold as he was to hold his position, was easily uprooted -- he had a speech prepared, too, but the angel would hear none of it as she plucked him by the mantle. As he flailed and barked, his minions retreated completely, making him the last one to be dropped into the fissure. He managed to grab the stony edge, fighting still to stay on the surface, but that effort was vanquished when Kae’s sole descended onto the portal, stomping him down into the darkness.
After grinding at the ground for a few more moments, Kae removed her foot, revealing the fissure to be fixed. What remained was a barren patch of dirt just outside the town, just one of many blemishes caused by the demons. Kae reflected on all that had been tarnished, a demoralized gaze summarizing the damages to the city -- that was in addition to the cathedral, of which some debris was still scuffed over her chest like dust. Ultimately, no repairs could undo the taint of the demons, and so Kae came to a remorseful decision.
“I’m sorry, Kae Town… but, I can’t let the taint linger and spread...” Kae swallowed and held her hands to her heart as she committed her foot onto one of the first buildings she designed. The roof instantly caved in under the pressure, followed by each subsequent floor; wood broke into planks, glass shattered into pieces, everything snapping and crunching together into a cobbled mess of remains. The home that the demons had corrupted eventually disappeared beneath the foot, as did the taint that had been rotting it all to ash. It was a blow to Kae’s heart, yet only the first of many little houses she would have to stomp out.
But as Kae marched over blocks of buildings, her mood gradually improved, the usual bounce returning to her footsteps. Always the optimist, she looked ahead at new beginnings and the possibilities of starting fresh. Perhaps she also enjoyed trampling the old and empty city while no one was watching, playfully acting out the role of a divine destroyer, but more importantly was she hopeful for the future. She would build a more perfect city, as she always did when her projects were foiled by the demons one way or another -- but, sooner than Kae or any other angel assumed, the hollow age was nearing its end. After a millennium of monotony, an Arrival would be ascending to their domain.