She was born into the thrashing and clanging of metal against scale, an unknowing child into the dangers of the End War. Clad in barely more than a lump of rags, the girl looking nothing short of an unassuming corpse among the other corpses that had been slain in the place where she appeared. In fact, she was hardly noticed as her eyes fluttered open, arms wrapped around her body like a shell as she was met with a great pain in her aching body.
The bright light of the sun was a foreign sensation to her as she stirred, cradled by the broken concrete on which she'd landed. She found that trying to process the sounds of shouting and snarling that greeted her made her head hurt, so in reply to the world that was oh-so-unwelcoming to her, she let out a soft moan. As it so happened, a demon corpse came hurtling towards her with such a force that it tossed her to the side, forcing her upright. It was at that moment that she learned how to walk, because only with her legs could she escape the whirlwind of danger that she suddenly found herself in.
This is strange… she thought with a small shiver, jolting towards the hollowed-out shell of a building, out of sight of the two factions clashing in midair. Where am I? What is this horrible place? Where… where did I come from? Not quite the usual questions that she would have been asking herself, but seeing as she'd just come into existence, it was a normal thought process.
Looking out from behind the crumbling concrete, she was momentarily blinded by the sunlight reflecting off of a shining coat of golden armor. Just as quickly as it came, it went again, and was replaced by the bloodcurdling scream of a demon being ripped to shreds. It just so happened that the child had landed in the middle of a particularly nasty spat between the Hellguard and the demons that plagued what was once the Kingdom of Man. All had died out by now… all, it seemed, but one.
The girl yelped as the head of the decapitated creature landed at her feet, and she pressed her shivering body against the remnants of a wall as a flash of white hair and a commanding voice broke through the sounds of the scuffle.
"Hellguard, to me!" Uriel shouted as the last of the demons fell. One of the angels swept past Sarah and she covered her mouth, hoping to mask the sounds of her heavy, frightened breathing, to no avail. He paused for a moment, looking around as he landed.
Please don't let him find me… she prayed, shutting her eyes as though that would make a difference.
Suddenly, she felt the vice grip of a metal hand on her arm and she let out a frightened whine as she was dragged forward. The angel she'd tried to hide from had spotted her through the glass window and had drawn her out of her hiding spot to face his commanding officer.
"I found her hiding in that building, Uriel," he said gruffly, pushing her forward onto her knees. He raised his sword to her back. "She could be infected, what to do with her?"
Uriel landed in front of the girl, who was bowing her head onto the ground in terror. Sarah looked up as she was approached, tears streaming down her face as she whispered, "Please… please don't kill me…"
"Can it be…?" Uriel asked in awe, grabbing the girl's hand, where a scrape had left a trail of blood across her skin. "Child… are you human?"
Another angel joined the group, one whose robes were long and beautiful, and whose back carried a strange device unlike the other angels. He looked at Sarah, blinking his blind, gray eyes at her in shock.
"Unbelievable…" he whispered, gesturing towards her. "Her soul is unlike one I have seen in a long time… perhaps she is the salvation that we have long awaited?"
However, before he could say more, a loud shriek was heard somewhere in the distance.
"Uriel!" one of the angels shouted. "There are more of them… hundreds! Zutal has sent her reinforcement legion to battle us!"
"To arms!" Uriel shouted with a wave of her sword. "Azrael," she said to the other angel, "we must take her some place where she will be safe. If she is indeed human… then we cannot let any harm befall her."
"Quickly then," Azrael replied, gesturing upwards. "I will open a portal that will take her to Eden. It is the only place that Zutal will not be able to reach for the time being."
"Let's go," Uriel agreed, but Sarah pulled away.
"Who are you?" she asked fearfully. "What's going on? Where am I?"
"All will be explained in time, child," Azrael said with a sense of urgency. "We must leave before Zutal's forces arrive. Hurry now, take my hand and we will bring you to safety."
Sarah hesitated, but after a moment she reached for Azrael, who pulled her to him tightly before lifting off of the ground. Sarah gasped, grabbing onto his neck tightly and burying her head into his silken robes as they rose over the buildings towards a glimmering sky scraper in the distance.
"There!" Uriel shouted, pointing to a hole in the side of the building, and Azreal nodded, beating his wings until they were headed for the entrance at an impossible speed. Sarah clung on to him for dear life, refusing to let go until her feet were both firmly on the ground.
"You have a strong grip," Azrael commented as she stumbled onto the ground, feeling slightly nauseous. "A strong grip means a strong will to live… I'm sure whatever danger you face, you will face without fear."
Sarah couldn't quite understand what he meant, almost completely sure that she wanted nothing at all to do with this conflict that she found herself in.
"I don't want to hurt anyone," she insisted. "I just… I just want to go back to wherever I came from."
"Hm…" Azrael said, walking up to her and pushing a handful of wavy, brown curls from her forehead. He knew immediately what he saw there, the glowing half-circular symbol of the Charred Council that all so feared, resting ominously on her brow.
"And… where is your home, exactly?" he asked. Sarah looked away.
"I… couldn't tell you," she replied quietly, and Azrael shook his head.
"Nevermind," he said, gesturing his hand towards a glowing blue circle that had just opened up in the ground. "We must get you to safety. Hurry, through here."
Sarah felt Uriel appear behind her, putting a hand on her back to guide her towards the rising light. "Don't worry," the angel said comfortingly. "We will both see you on the other side."
Not knowing what else to do, Sarah let herself be guided towards the light, looking over her shoulder every once in a while at the strange landscape she was about to leave. This place… she thought in awe. Why… does it seem so familiar?
It wasn't a moment later that she was sucked into the void, vision fading into black until she appeared in another setting entirely.
She stumbled forward, feeling slightly disoriented as she shook her head a few times to clear her vision from the blurriness that had come from passing through the portal. She now found herself on some sort of floating platform, and as she carefully inched her way over to the crumbling edge, she gasped as she saw that the ground beneath her fell away into an endless sky.
She took a frightened step back as Uriel and Azrael appeared behind her.
"Quickly now," Azrael urged, pushing her towards what looked like an incomplete bridge. "We must get you to safety."
Sarah swallowed reluctantly. It seemed like those horrible shrieking creatures were gone now, and the beautiful people with their white, feathery wings were being gentle enough with her… so after a moment she nodded, and allowed herself to be guided towards the round, marble arches. She paused at the edge.
"There's nothing here!" she protested, referring to the fact that there was no ground for her to walk on. The other side of the bridge seemed to be some sort of island, covered with beautiful trees and waterfalls. Sarah wanted to cross, but it didn't seem like there was any way that she would accomplish that.
Azrael shushed her gently. "It's alright. The bridge was hidden from view a long time ago, but if you are human, then you will be able to cross."
Sarah didn't quite know what to make of it. She thought they'd already determined that she was human? Or was this some sort of ultimate test? The thought of being human seemed right to her, almost like she knew that this was what she was, but she wasn't completely sure. She wasn't completely sure of anything other than that she was alive for whatever reason, in a place where she surely should have been dead.
She took a step towards the edge and paused, taking a deep breath. One foot, and then the other, and then she was at the threshold. Her foot lingered over the edge until finally she set it down, and was amazed to find that beneath her, the air somehow began to shimmer and glow in the place where she stepped. She drew back in fright, but as the initial shock faded, she stepped forward again. And again, and again… and soon she was walking over the bridge to the other side, to Eden.
Azrael and Uriel flew at her side, every once in a while glancing at each other in amazement and disbelief. Sarah didn't notice this, as she was too busy marveling at the fact that she was crossing an invisible bridge. Eventually they arrived at the other side, and Sarah, with what little she remembered, was almost completely sure that she'd never been so tempted to kiss a rock.
"What is this place?" she asked once they began to go up the stairs just beyond the bridge.
"This is Eden," Azrael replied. "This was the first gift to Mankind, given to you by the Creator."
"You will be safe here," Uriel assured her. "Stay close to the tree, and—"
Suddenly, she stopped as a large shrieking noise was heard from the far side of the bridge. All three looked back to the platform, where the portal that had just been blue was now suddenly glowing an angry red color.
"Oh no…" Azrael said, drawing his sword. "They've corrupted the portal… quickly Uriel, we must seal it!"
"Let's go!" the angel cried, and together they darted for the portal, leaving Sarah to stand, scared and alone, at the top of the steps. Feeling quite vulnerable so out in the open, the girl suddenly spotted a small outcrop of rock just beneath a waterfall around the bend from the bottom of the steps. Gritting her teeth against the fear, she began to run back down, careful not to trip on the sharp rocks that lined the edge of the staircase.
With a small yelp, the girl leapt into the water below, running for the small cavern as more and more of the demon birds swarmed into the sanctuary. They cried out as they spotted their prey and Sarah screamed as they began to rush towards her, cutting her off from the cave she'd been running to.
Uriel and Azrael saw this and called out to her to run, but Sarah saw nothing but their moving lips through the swarm of fiery red birds that were now aiming to attack her. She ran away from them, climbing and leaping over rocks as more and more latched onto her scent. Soon she was almost swimming in the water she was running through as, in her final attempt to escape, she found herself on a ledge with nowhere to go but down.
The bird swarmed her, and before she could stop herself, she took a step back and began to fall.
Sarah didn't even know what she was screaming at this point, or if she was even screaming at all. The cries of Zutal's minions were too loud to hear much of anything. She didn't know how long she fell, but it seemed like an eternity before one of the demons finally caught her in its razor sharp claws and began to carry her off. She wriggled and fought against it, but couldn't really do anything against its monstrous strength. Tears streamed down her face as she screamed for it to let her go, but it didn't seem to understand her – or if it did, it wasn't listening.
Nor was it a smooth ride. It seemed like there was some sort of rivalry going on, since it took only a few moments before another bird of similar design appeared and attempted to steal Sarah away from her captor, likely to claim the prize for herself. The cries of the fighting birds were deafening as after a moment, the bird let go and Sarah began to fall again. This time, she landed right inside of a swarm of them, where at least three birds began to vie for her. Her throat was choked shut with terrified sobs as she was tossed from one demon to another, until finally it seemed like her bruised body could take no more. Her eyelids began to fall shut as she took a deep, painful breath, and just as a strong beak clamped around her midsection, everything suddenly went black.