Palan returned to the area where he killed Ross and Kore. By the time he arrived, the second sun was beginning to rise. The angels’ remains were missing, only a bloodstain and a few flecks of flesh proving that they were even there. He narrowed his eyes at the scene and continued forward, heading towards the impaled heads in the distance. They acted as a demarcation between the forest he was in and a valley that was obscured by vines.The forest was unusually quiet as Palan passed through it, occasionally stopping near bloodstains. He wasn’t sure if they belonged to angels or wild animals, but he had the feeling that it was the former. As he got closer to the macabre border, he began to see skeletal remains decorating treetops, causing him to raise an eyebrow. The amount of dried blood on the tree tru
Palan frowned, the smell of metal entering his nose. Faint sounds and discontented grumbles entered his ears. “Can’t we just give up, Jeb?”“We’re not going back until we catch that demon. I’ve never failed a mission before, and I don’t plan on failing one now.”Palan turned around to glance at Madison who was still hopping after him. She didn’t seem to notice or care about the group of angels ahead, preening her feathers. She raised her head and stared back at Palan. He sighed and asked, “Just how long do you plan on following me?”“I’m not following you,” Madison said and tilted her head. “You’re following me.” Palan took a step backwards. Madison hopped one step forwards. She let out a ch
“Hey, the sun is about to set, you know?” Madison asked as she hopped after Palan. He ignored her and continued to walk ahead. Wings flapped behind him, and he whirled around just in time to see Madison take flight. She hovered in the air, staring at him.“Are you leaving?” Palan asked, gripping the handle of his dagger.“Yes,” Madison said. “It’s time for curfew.” As the second sun continued to set, Madison’s feathers gradually darkened from sky-blue to black with a hint of purple. “Let’s go; I’ll carry you.” She dove for Palan with her talons outstretched. His eyes widened as he leapt to the side and twisted his torso. Madison’s claw grazed Palan’s chest, leaving behind a line of blood. “Eh? Why’d you move?” She perched in a tree and tilted her head.Palan brought his dagger in front of himself and hunched over, readying himself like a sprinter. Madison dove at him again, but Palan managed to avoid her. She frowned. “What are you doing? Solra will be mad if we’re late.”“I never sai
The first rays of sunlight were beginning to pierce the sky. Elrith finished putting on the last piece of his red armor and stepped outside of his tent with his feathered helmet underneath his right arm. A tower shield that was wider than he was hung on his back, its bottom scraping against the ground and its top rising slightly over his head. His white hair was longer than Raea’s, extending past his shoulders. Traces of stubble could be seen on his jaw.“General!”Close to two thousand soldiers stood in formation. The majority of the soldiers in the front were saluting with their lances in their right hands, tips pointing towards the sky and ends on the ground. The soldiers in the back were demons of varying sizes, each equipped with their own specialized weapons. Two soldiers appeared by Elrith’s side and folded his tent within five seconds before dashing off towards the elephants standing behind the army. Elrith nodded and placed his helmet on his head. “Passable,” he said. He whir
Palan stared at the giant earthen spider-cube as it scuttled away into the distance. Cleo’s words sprang into his mind, “How is this even fair?” He could hear her high-pitch voice complaining away and couldn’t help but to agree with her. The gap between him and an archangel ruthlessly pressed down on his pride. He gritted his teeth and sniffed the air. Maybe the gap would shrink after he ate that oversized dog-monkey. He wasn’t counting on it.Palan had been hidden throughout the fight, watching Igor’s every move while the wolf-gorilla demon hunted down the elephants and fought the angels. He found that, although he couldn’t just bury himself underneath the sand, it was a lot easier to hide within a forest than out in the desert. He was confident that no one had noticed him, and nodded as he turned away from the earthen monstrosity in the distance. As he followed the trail of blood Igor left behind, he couldn’t help but wonder what method Pyre had to kill an archangel.Labored breaths
After forcefully stuffing the remainder of Igor’s body into Palan’s mouth, Madison let out a yawn and sat on the ground with her legs crossed. Palan was twitching in front of her with a belly like a pregnant woman’s. A black puddle of liquid spread out from underneath Palan and rose upwards in strands, trapping his body in a birdcage-like structure. Madison shuddered as the liquid began to fill in the gaps and fully cocoon Palan’s body, forming a black egg at the end. She tilted her head. “My egg was definitely better.”***Raea paced back and forth across her room. Cleo’s head turned back and forth like a pendulum as she watched Raea bite her nails and mutter to herself. Pyre sighed. “Calm down, Miss Raea. You’ll saw through the floor at this rate.” He tapped his pipe against the edge of the seat, causing ashes to fall onto the floor.Raea whirled around and placed her hands on her hips. “Calm down?” she asked, glaring at the angel who couldn’t see her. “You heard him, right? He said
Palan floated in a sea of white light. There was no ground or sky, his body suspended in nothing. He tried to speak but found that he couldn’t move his mouth—or any part of his body at all. Palan would’ve frowned if he could. There were no sounds or smells; his body was unable to feel anything. The white light burrowed into his body, dissolving it piece by piece. His skin fell away, revealing the red muscles and tendons underneath. His muscles eroded strand by strand until only his bones remained. His eyes melted into a gooey mush, causing his vision to turn black. Holes perforated his bones, creating a structure similar to a termite mound before his bones dissolved completely. The only thing that remained was his brain which floated around aimlessly in the whiteness.Although Palan couldn’t see, billions of images flashed through his mind. A humanoid figure with hunched shoulders pounded on its chest and shrieked before tearing apart a tree with its bare hands; its frame reminded Pal
Michael, Elrith, Elrith’s attendant, and Pyre stood around Raea’s bed with Cleo hiding underneath it. The golden cocoon was still pulsating on top of the covers. Elrith had arrived at the outpost, and berated Michael for providing false information. Michael got into an argument with him, calling him a young whippersnapper that needed to learn how to respect his elders. Pyre had walked in on them and informed them of the anomaly happening to Raea which led to the current situation.“You walking corpse,” Elrith said, glaring at Michael. “My baby sister was under your care and this happens? First you come back and beg for my help, and then you provide me false information about the rebel army. Was that not enough? Are you that bitter that I surpassed you?”“I’m not bitter about anything, you little brat,” Michael said and pointed at Raea’s cocoon. “I didn’t do anything to cause that. Don’t pin the blame on me when everyone knows she has two deadly sins.”Elrith’s face darkened as he clen