An angel’s road to hell

48. Of summaries, fate and a little bit of choice

Cassandra Pendragon

We stayed in bed a little longer, simply enjoying each other’s company but we couldn’t shut out the world forever, no matter how much I wished for it. Just when I had finished telling Ahri about my conversation with Lucifer my mom knocked on our door:

“Good morning, are you two awake? Can I come in?”

“Sure,” I replied while I simultaneously snuggle deeper into the blankets, I hadn’t gotten around to putting my clothes back on, yet. My mom rushed into the room like a whirlwind, most of her energy and spirit obviously restored. She closed the door behind her and scrutinised the bed, Ahri fully dressed on her side and me hugging the blankets closely, our tails tightly entwined. I was already preparing for one of the more embarrassing moments of my life, but my mom didn’t say a word. With a slight smirk she waltzed over to the table and dragged a chair around to the bed.

“Don’t get up, just stay comfy. Is the tea still warm, by any chance?” I shook my head. “No matter,” and with a flick of her finger my mom used her magic to heat the tea pot until steam rushed from beneath the lid and the smell of oranges and herbs filled the room again. With a glance to make sure I wouldn’t mind she grabbed my cup and filled it to the brim. Inhaling deeply she leaned back in her chair, her eyes half closed while she took the first sip.

“Ah, excellent. Now, how are you two doing? Did you sleep well?” While I was still trying to discern if she was baiting us Ahri leisurely replied:

“Much better, we did sleep through the night and with warm tea in the morning everything is much more bearable. How was your night?”

“I’d lie if I said good, but I’m managing. There is no point in dwelling on the past.” She looked at me and continued: “Your father wouldn’t want me to wallow in self pity as long as there is work to do, especially if my daughter already proved that life goes in. Allow me to say, I’m really happy for you two and I didn’t think I’d feel that way again for a long time. I can’t help but be curious though, how long have you known each other?” Ahri and I stared at each other for a moment before she silently gestured for me to do the talking. Fair enough, it was my mother after all.

“Well, I honestly don’t really know, but since the beginning of time would be a good bet.” My mom’s face showed a series of emotions from glee and pride to fear and surprise. I could see that she wanted to ask a question but I forestalled her. “I know that’s not really helpful so I think I should probably start at the beginning or at least as far back as I can. I can’t say how much you already know or guessed but here is what we remember of our story…” I talked for nearly an hour. I first spoke about angels and demons, their cores and how they functioned. Then I repeated what Ahri had told me about the dangers of any other races playing around with transcendent energies and described her first encounter with a piece of corrupted reality and the pact the angels and demons had made back then and that I hadn’t been a part of it.

I told her that Ahri and me, or Aurora and Lucifer back then, had fallen in love some time later but neither of us knew how or why, we only knew that one day Lucifer had used his magic to make sure we’d be together again in subsequent reincarnations.

“Now, from here on out, a lot of what I’m going to say is pure speculation but I think I’m not far off the mark…” I explained that Michael and some of the others probably got infected somewhere along the way and had been corrupted. I didn’t know what that actually meant but I thought it was close to a perversion of everything the infected immortals stood for. Michael’s desire to protect had become a drive to control and dominate for the greater good. And then I recounted how I had stumbled into the whole mess.

How Michael had seen me as a threat to his plans of ruling behind the scenes, how he had manipulated me through the death of Airu and how I had confronted him, alone. I spoke about my escape, that I had been resolved to get to the bottom of his scheme and that I had tried to convince Aurora to come with me, which hadn’t worked out. I quickly narrated that from Lucifer’s point of view back then, the whole affair was centred around the suppression of mortal ascension, he hadn’t known about the corruptive effects. I told my mum that I didn’t really know what had happened, but that Lucifer had died somewhere along the line, most likely killed by his siblings.

“After everything I’ve just said, you might be wandering why Ahri is even here. It’ll probably be for the best if she tells her yourself…” Ahri picked up the threat and talked about her first contact with Aurora and that her rebirth as an angel was vastly different from how it was supposed to actually work. She spoke about Aurora’s regret and that she had intended to make amends, Ahri didn’t know what had prompted her change of heart but she knew that Aurora had wanted to do everything in her power to protect Lucifer this time around. She had even been prepared to start anew to make sure she would be able to follow through, despite of anything she had promised in her previous life. She explained how Aurora had meddled with the incarnation, probably using Ahri’s blood as a descendent of the Arete family to tweak her evolution, how she had set off for Boseiju and why she had used her powers for the first time. “… and then I arrived at your palace. At first I only wanted to protect Cassy, keep her safe, but the longer I was around her and the more of my previous life came back to me the more I realised that I actually was in love with her, again. During the fight a few nights ago, when Aurora used up the energy she had stored in me to ensure I could use my magic, I was even told as much. You already knew parts of my story before, Helena, but now you know why it all happened.” My mom was silent for a minute when she had finished, her tea long since forgotten.

“I don’t know where to start… that tale… unbelievable. But for me, at least, a couple of things don’t add up. Would you mind if I asked some questions?” “Sure, go ahead”, I said. I had honestly expected some interruptions along the way but she had listened attentively the whole time.

“Do you know why it all ties together so neatly? I mean, Aurora had a change of heart precisely when Lucifer died and managed to just stumble across the means to be born into the same world?” Haltingly I replied:

“Umm… I don’t really know but I have a theory. There are two more immortals on this planet. Of Mephisto’s role in this game I haven’t got the foggiest idea but the other one, Amazeroth, as much as admitted that large parts of what transpired followed his design. You see…” I recounted what Ahri had told me this morning and what I had made of it. I suspected that Amazeroth had found out that some immortals had been corrupted but that he hadn’t had a way to change it or dispose of them, maybe they had been too powerful or maybe Michael had already had too much influence with the uninvolved ones, I simply didn’t know. So he had started to meddle, to create a scenario where there would be a chance. I didn’t know for sure but I thought the pact, Aurora, Amazeroth, Michael and the others had had to forge had prevented them from taking any direct action against one another. We couldn’t be sure until we would have a chance to talk to him but I thought he instigated parts of our rebirth and what had happened after to give us a chance to meet, far away from any other immortals and lingering obligations. Tears pooled in my mom’s eyes and she whispered:

“So everything we had to suffer through, every burned tree, every slain kitsune, was just an unfortunate side effect?” Heavens, she was right! Every drop of blood, every tear had been the result of Amazeroth’s meddling and the chains that tied him to the emperor. I’d free him alright, so I could put him six feet under myself. I shoved away the blankets and gently drew my mom into my arms.

“I’m so sorry.” She froze for a moment and panic welled up inside of me. Did she blame us? Before I could run down that rabbit hole, she sniffed into my ear and hugged me back. “I know, and just for the record, this isn’t on you.” She turned her head to look into Ahri’s eyes. “Neither of you. But I think I need some time alone. Get my head straight, maybe punch a few holes into a wall.” I didn’t try to stop her as she extracted herself from me and slowly got up, her eyes still wet. She leaned forward and kissed the top of my head and after a moment of hesitation did the same with Ahri. “Just for the record: you’re amazing and I love you,” I murmured as she left the room.

“I think she still likes you, or rather both of us,” I said. Ahri smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “She does, but I’m not sure if she should.” I blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?” “Cassandra, we are angels and you carry a demon in you pocket. It’s dangerous to be close to us, you saw it for yourself. Do you really think it’s going to get better from here on?” I was silent for a moment but I had my answer ready, it wasn’t the first time I had thought about it.

“Yes, yes I do. I don’t believe in fate or determinism, I believe that what we do matters, every single day, we have a choice. Life is dangerous, nobody survives, probably not even us in the long run. All we can decide is what we want to do with the time we have until then and choosing to push the people we care about away to make them safe isn’t one of the things I want to do. I’ll fight for them and protect them but I won’t ever take the choice from them to be part of my life. How would you feel if I ran away just because you can’t control your magic anymore and I can channel transcendent energy now? Following your own logic I should stay as far way from you as I possibly can until you caught up.” Her brow had furrowed while I talked but in the end she smiled for real and kissed me. “You just made it perfectly clear that I don’t have to worry about it.”

It was already close to midday when we finally left Ahri’s cabin hand in hand, I was even fully dressed and my pockets bulged immensely, I needed access to my dimensional stamp or an ordinary bag as soon as possible. I had a black ring on my finger, the first jewellery I had ever worn that didn’t feel clunky and a tarnished silver emblem, an acorn, a dwarvish token and a focus made with my blood were stuffed down my pants. Aurora’s letter and the toy I had saved from my room had been left on the table. Today was going to be busy. We wanted to check on the elves and their progress with their ritual, practise flying, hunting and teleporting together, talk to Xorlosh about weapons, armour and the possibility that we were flying into a trap and last but not least try to revive Mephisto.

The scene on the corridor hadn’t changed much but the smells and sounds were entirely different from the night before. Instead of rumbling snores I heard hurried steps of heavy boots all across the deck, muffled curses and exclamations in the dwarven language flowed up from the lower decks and the rigging and masts were creaking noticeably under the pressure of fully extended sails. From the smithy down below I heard the constant thumping of a hammer hitting metal. The smells of cooked food, I didn’t know where they were coming from, I hadn’t been to the kitchen yet, covered the earthy fragrance of an airship and the furnaces, opened to the maximum, added a smoky flavour to the mix. Occasionally a dwarf or two would come stomping down from the deck and vanish into the bowels of the ship or ascend the stairs. They all greeted us respectfully with a nod and a deep rumbling in the back of their throats which I interpreted as “good day”, some even bowed. We smiled and moved out of the way if someone was carrying materials along the narrow passage. Leisurely we made our way to the stairs and up onto the deck. A stiff breeze and glaring sunlight greeted us as soon as we opened one side of the door. We were much higher in the sky than last night and now that I focused on it I felt my lungs working quite arduously to provide me with enough oxygen.

Dwarfs were all over the place, scampering along the rigging, climbing up the masts, reorganising the supplies and tinkering with the sails. A flying ship didn’t have a steering wheel, air didn’t provide enough resistance to change directions that way. Instead the sails on the side were used to alter height and trajectory but this meant that the crew had to constantly adjust for a change in air pressure or the direction of the currents. At least 15 dwarfs were constantly fiddling with the ropes and movable parts. Near the stern a couple of crates had been used to form a small wall, encircling an empty space where Aspera and Astra were currently working. The planks around them were covered in glyphs, some still glowing with magic, others dull and some even crossed out or wiped away. A wide array of different plants and crystals was dispersed around them, a part already integrated into the growing ritual while the rest remained untouched. They were in the middle of changing some of the runes so we decided to not bother them and look for Xorlosh first.

It wasn’t hard to find him, his sonorous voice easily carrying over the ruckus. He stood close to the centre of the deck, coordinating the efforts of his “lads”. His brother Etosh was to his right, his black drum laid on the floor behind them. A metallic pendant with a green gem, probably an emerald, in the middle tightly clutched in his hands. They looked up when we approached and a faint blush rushed to Etosh’s cheeks as his eyes travelled over me. I took it as a compliment and smiled. Xorlosh, completely oblivious or simply uninterested, greeted us with a smirk.

“Ah, the sleeping beauties have finally risen. I was about to send one of me lads along to make sure you were still with us. Could you find the time to sleep?” Now it was my turn to blush but before I could deny anything, Ahri answered for us: “Wouldn’t you like to know? Did your imagination keep you up all night?” Etosh snorted and I had to laugh but Xorlosh took the accusation in stride.

“Of course, and I definitely wasn’t the only one. But I hear you, lass, none of my business. So what can I do for you? The elves aren’t ready and I wouldn’t advise disturbing them. I tried and got shouted at for me troubles.”

“We wanted to talk about the supposed destination of the kidnappers and we were wondering if you could help us, or rather Cassy, out with some equipment.” Ahri gently squeezed my hand, I was still trying to get over the previous exchange.

“Right, umm, you see, when Ahri first came to our kingdom, her air ship was attacked by pirates who bore glyphs similar to the ones we have seen on Boseiju a few nights ago. You know, the red crown?” He nodded. “We were wondering if they might have been from around here and if maybe the humans are not sailing towards Free Land but towards the Pirate Islands. Who knows, maybe it should be The Emperor’s Island by now, it has been close to seven years since then. He may very well have turned them into his new airborne army on this continent by now. We should eventually be able to find some clues with Astra’s ritual, but we have to look for them in any case. It would be a pity to rush towards the wrong target and cause trouble with the wrong people.”