Stepping down onto the solid ground, Rosa raised her hand to her face to shield her eyes from the blinding light. The new world she had found herself in was nothing short of what she had heard.
The sun's rays were truly the brightest that they could be. And the weather was fair, treating her with a cool breeze that offset the star's warmth. Like the spring season was nearing its end and the more forgiving days of summer were ahead.
As her eyes adjusted, she squinted through the gaps between her fingers, seeing the glorious sky above. Sheer golden clouds with different arrays of oranges and yellows bouncing off of them. In the broad celestial sphere were also gargantuan floating mountains, each adorned with their snippet of Paradiso architecture. Each segment was a small piece of a large puzzle, never to be whole. Scattering through the air were the ever-flowing streams of flowers, their scent carrying along with the wind.
It took her a moment to realize that many of the flower petals were not just petals, but feathers as well. Familiar feathers that belong to the wings of the Laguna. As her eyes finally focused, she could see in the sky that the mass of specks floating about wasn't just flowers, but hundreds if not thousands of Affinities. The many angels flew about, kicking up the clouds as they went.
"Oh my…" Rosa gasped out, as the entire view became clear.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" Balder said as he stepped to Rosa's side, looking up towards the grand sky. The portal closed shut behind them, and Balder's feather dimed until its pulsing magic vanished, waiting to be used again at his command.
"I must say, those pesky pigeons do know how to keep a place presentable. Too bad, we're going to make a mess of it all," Rosa readied her guns once more, looking about the sprawling mass of angels flying about.
Balder took a moment to observe his surroundings, using the floating mountains and the never-ending marble sculpted statues to refresh his memory of where he is. He took a inhale deep, pondering the smells for a brief moment.
"Rosemary, but also Dianthus. We are close to the Ed-Nas, the flower is used for the coronation of passing souls. We do not have far to go!" Balder stepped ahead, reaching the very edge of the earth they stood on, looking down the endless drop below, but could see other hovering landscapes were spread out. He turned back to the path ahead of them, leading up to a tall structure, a church is someways. "It should be this way."
"Balder, look out!" Rosa called, rushing to his side.
Balder looked up just as he heard the vigorous flapping of wings, watching as a group of Affinities landed down in front of him. Rosa spun around to see more flanked them from behind. Spears and swords in hand, the Laguna brandished their weapons, heads continuing to cock and sway as they watched their intruders closely.
Balder's backed up until it made contact with Rosa. The couple brought their weapons up in a matching defensive pose. The Laguna squawked, small burst of Enochian spitting out from behind their golden masks.
"Umbra filth, tainting the great Jubelieus' soil. And the traitor Sage at her side!" An Affinity rang out, clanking its spear's butt into the stone pathway.
"Do not fret over filth, Babylon Torgi, your blood will soon taint it as well," Balder brought his glaive to his front, separating the blade in two, and swiping them down, the swift movement causing his robe to flutter.
The Affinities all exclaimed in unison, their foreign roars ringing in Rosa and Balder's ears.
"You call us wicked! Know your place human, you offend the great one with such words!" The Affinity raised its spear, springing out into an attack. "Away with you!"
The creature's words barely made it out of its beak before Rosa's well-placed bullet obliterated its head, dropping the angel in its place. The others were still for a moment, a hesitation swept over them as they looked amongst themselves.
"Come now! I did not come all this way to be met with such cowardice!" Rosa stepped closer, her eyes sweeping over the clustered group. "You have no quarrel killing an innocent little girl, what is one more Umbra Witch to you?!"
Rosa's words resonated a familiar pain, and anger that was ignited like a match to a trail of oil. She didn't wait for their response, nor their next move, she sprung at them while she had the chance.
With a volley of bullets, Rosa's body spun and contorted as she picked off an angel one by one. Balder jumped in and began his flurry of slashes, keeping low to the ground as he stayed out of Rosa's way. His glaive cleaving through the angels' flesh like butter, moving onto the next one before the previous one could even fall. He alternated between each blade as he ducked and weaved through the Laguna.
The angels barely had time to react before the light and dark duo cleared through them. Their lifeless bodies slumped over and crashed to the ground, as their weapons clattered against the hard stone.
Rosa straightened up, looking over the pile of bodies before the hands of Inferno reached up to start taking them away. Balder reassembled his blade, returning to her side.
"This way you said?" Rosa asked, a noticeable dark tone had returned to her voice.
With a silent nod, Balder took the lead down the path. With a fast enough sprint, he leaped into the air to take on his Wolf form. His magic seemed to bolster back to life with the mighty sun raised high. But the wound in his shoulder still stung with an unforgiving burn. Rosa stayed close behind, as her Tiger came roaring out of the shadow and thundered down onto the stone.
Descending the winding stone walkway, the Wolf and the Tiger's claws scrapped with ear-piercing shrieks as they hugged the corner, bending down around the stairway. Large cherub angel statues adorned each side of the passageway. Keeping pace with one another, they jumped and cleared any obstacles in their path. With Balder in the lead, he made a strong push off of the ground, making a leap of faith to the next floating island within their site. He paused after he landed, his massive head swiveling around to meet Rosa's gaze. Without hesitation, Rosa followed closely behind, a deep growl rumbled in her throat as she prepared her jump. Letting loose a mighty roar, she cleared the distance and landed safely alongside Balder.
Balder let out an energetic howl, a boisterous encouragement to his mighty counterpart. His nose sniffed the air and along the ground. The scent of nearby Dianthus sent his synapses ablaze, pinpointing the location even further.
"This way!" Balder said, the voice magically projected through the air as he swung it back around to look at his wife. Rosa's lips curled back into a fierce sneer, her dark red eyes darting upward. Balder turned back to see another group of the Third Sphere descending downward, nosediving in their direction.
"Let's move!" Rosa commanded, her giant paws pulling her forward. Balder gained speed to stay parallel to her. As the angels descended, the two beasts charged even faster. An Applaud was drawing close, but Rosa used her momentum to push herself into the hair, her back legs allowing her to become airborne. The angel wasn't anticipating the large cat to spring up so far and outstretched its wings in a panic to slow itself down. It only sealed its fate, as Rosa's maw latched onto its neck and brought it down with a bone-chilling crunch, crushing its trachea with forceful chomp.
Using his speed, Balder lept to the air as well. But instead of greeting the approaching Dear and Decorations with his teeth, he outstretched his paws and used the hovering head to push himself even further into the air. The dazed and confused angel wobbled as the wolf ricochet off of its face and onto the neared Affinity. There he used his bear teeth to shred it to pieces. As he began to descend, Balder pushed off of its limp body to the next, hoping between each one and killing every other few. Rosa used the opportunity to her advantage. Shedding the tiger's skin, she unfurled her bullets into the dazed laguna. The small Decorations only needed one to two bullets to make them plummet, and the remaining volley demolished the larger angels. All the while, she kept her stride forward. With all the poise and grace an Umbra can muster when moving with urgency.
With Balder finishing off his last foe, he began to free fall from the sky. Twisting around, his wolf body quickly morphed into the flurry of feathers. Breaking out with a massive wingspan, a marvelous Peacock form took his place. While he fluttered back down to the earth safely, he let out a victorious call.
Even while moving forward, Rosa managed to look up and grant Balder a bright smile. The beautiful bird slowly reached the surface, where a human Balder's feet touched down. Rosa's feet came to a halt as she found herself by his side, both at the very edge of the mountain, eyeing the next one ahead.
"My, I haven't seen that form in quite some time. You always did look marvelous with all those feathers," Rosa commented, a cheeky tone sprung about in her voice. Balder took hold of a stray feather that had come from his own wing. With a swift movement of his arm and a flick of his wrist, he combed back his hair that had draped messily over his face.
"I always thought it looked better on me than it did on them," Balder's quip made Rosa blush, a red almost matching her lipstick.
It was a warm feeling to see her smile again, but more so a safe aura to be felt. Their sorrows and worries could slip away, even for just a second. A nostalgic blanket draped over them as their equal prowess in battle could once more be united on the battlefield, relishing in their own confidence and elegant fighting styles.
Peering over the edge, the clearing to the other side seemed too much of a stretch for their four-legged forms. Exchanging looks and with a unified nod, the two took their leap, as their bodies morphed to their smaller beasts within. Balder's balletic wings sprung to life. Rosa's form took on the shape of a raven-black Falcon, whose wings were tipped with a red hue.
With their fowl vocal cords screeching out, they swooped through the air, taking turns passing over and under one another. With the security of solid ground below them, their beast forms returned, their hotfoot dash never faltering as they pressed on, the overwhelming smell of the pink-colored flower filling their nostrils.
But their stride wasn't without more interruptions. Instead of the usual fodder of the Third Sphere intervening, the Second Shere began to take notice. Before they could reach the edge to the next jumping-off point, a Fearless and Fairness crashed down in front of them. Rosa and Balder pushed their claws deep into the stone as much as possible to prevent running into the Laguna's slashing tails. The halo symbol burned brightly as it broke apart the stone on its impact. Rosa seamlessly transformed from her Tiger to a mid-swing attack, coming down hard onto the Fairness' head to the right. Balder managed to swiftly strike his glaive upward as his human form reappeared, slashing into the lodged tail of the Fearless.
The two Laguna stepped back, their metallic heads splitting open to let out their creaking howls, razor teeth lining their elongated mouth. The cries echoed, reaching the ears of more Laguna above.
"Hush now little doggy, there's no need to call for more of your friends," Rosa closed the distance and placed another hard kick to the Fairness, interrupting its call. Balder's glaive left his hands as he managed to lodge into the thick armor of the Fearless. Puncturing it enough to make contact with the flesh underneath. The cold steel drew blood from the angel's head, diminishing its cry for help to a pathetic whimper.
Balder dashed and received his weapon from its flesh, the crimson blood contrasting against its golden armor and along its blue skin. Removing its blade,h he ducked underneath its incoming talons, slashing at its chest as he danced around the creature.
Rosa was having similar luck, leaping overhead as the Fairness charged her. She placed a round of bullets into its back, as she came down with a Wicked Weave kick. Madama Khepri's tall heel immediately pierced its body, pinning it to the ground to elicit with a weak yelp before it perished.
Rosa turned back to see Balder leap overhead and bring his blade down directly through the Fearless' head, its body slumping over to a similar way its twin did.
Despite dispelling the Laguna so quickly, there were many above that heard its cries. Rosa and Balder looked up to see a mass even greater than they had seen before, falling down upon them like locus unto a ripe wheat field. The many screeches and war cries of the incoming angels were horrifying to listen to, an ironic feeling to have when looking upon God's messengers.
"We cannot keep fighting through them all. If they follow us to the Ed-Nas, we will have no way of retrieving Cereza safely. We must lose them!" Balder said, his body already shaping back into his wolf form.
"I'm afraid Paradiso knows we are already here, it will be quite a challenge to shake them off our trail now," Rosa said, her tiger from leaping off the edge with him.
The next mountain they managed to land on stretched out with more mass. The edge was nowhere in sight, instead, large structures loomed in the distance.
"You'd be surprised, but these small patrols are just pests to what we can see next. The remaining Cardinal of Virtues has not been alerted of our arrival. But if they find us, it could mean our odds of escaping are reduced to nothing. If they know where we are going, they will try to be one step ahead of us. We cannot let them get a hold of her soul! They could do worse than pass her through Ed-nas…" Balder huffed as he raced along the path, the stone fading away to dirt, as the age of the area had begun to show.
Despite the cleaned and proper structures, they had passed through beforehand, this particular edge of their world seemed more ancient. The statues passing by aged even in this land of perpetual sunlight.
"Do what? Convert her to an angel?" Rosa said, a gasp spilling out between her tiger's heavy grunt.
"Or to disregard Fortitudos final wish, and banish her to Inferno. Or even…" Balder paused, the thought that he wrapped around his brain seemed to slow his pace.
"What? What is it?" Rosa said, frantic.
"They could just destroy her soul altogether. She will not rest in either afterlife. She would just be...gone," The words grappled Rosa's heart. A low and pained growl unleashed from his core.
"No! I will not let that happen. If what you say is true, then we must shake off these pursuers. Do you know of away?" Rosa said, her large head turning to look at Balder, but seeing the Laguna still trailing behind. A mass of Glamors began descending from the clouds with slithering bodies.
"There is one path...it might still be there! A secret crevice that my brothers and I would venture through. It is out of our way, but it should bring us back around to the Ed-nas. This way, love!" Balder veered to a sharp left, Rosa's claws kicking up dirt and grass as she swerve to match his angle.
Their new path brought them over a hill, jumping down across boulders and a rocky ravine, The light of the sun was getting smaller, the coldness growing stronger as they went further in. Rosa looked back to see the Laguna were trying to keep up, but the unmatched speed and clean agility over the rocky formations led them further down into the pit.
Balder ahead continued to sniff the air, picking up a new smell that he had recognized.
"Aha! Elfin-gold! We are heading in the right direction!" Balder said, a proud feeling overtaking him.
"The light surely gifted you with a nose, Balder. And you can remember it all!" Rosa's heavy claws clamored onto each stone, crushing them slightly as her weight bared down. She let out a loving chuff, which reverberated in her throat.
The bottom of the ravine was closing in, and a clearing could be seen ahead. Most untrained eyes wouldn't be able to spot the small opening in the side of the mountain's face. It was the dark cavernous entrance, with no light to be seen from the outside. Rosa looked back to see if the Laguna were still catching up from the other side of the hill, but they remained out of sight.
"There! In the side of the mountain-" Balder's words were cut short as a sudden long spear embedded itself into his back. A pained howl escaped his lips before he tumbled and rolled across the sharp surface.
"Balder!" Rosa cried, her tiger form releasing a pained howl as she watched her lover hit the ground with a hard impact. Her red eyes looked up to see a few stray Applauds along the edge of the other side of the ravine. They had placed themselves behind the large boulders, hidden from her sight.
She ignored them, focusing her attention on Balder who was struggling to stand up. His canine whimpers reaching her ears as she closed in.
"Be still, my sunlight. I have you!" She said as she tucked her head under his belly. With some assistance from him, she managed to roll him over onto her back, charging forward to the tunnel's entrance before any more spears made contact. The sharp weaponry hit the muddied surface with a deafened thud, as Rosa cleared the entrance with a powerful leap.
She kept her pace forward, her vision adjusting to the dark and seeing through it like it was the day. Balder could faintly see with his wolf eyes, but his luminous powers faltered to help in the dark. The space narrowed, pushing her to slow down and carefully maneuver around some tight spaces while trying to keep a wounded Balder on top of her.
She stopped when she felt she had made it far enough in, turning her head back to listen for any approaching footsteps or clamoring weapons. Thankfully, neither of those noises met her ears, only the pained and labored breathing of her husband.
"Balder…" She tilted herself to the side to lay him down gently. Her wide tiger head brushed against his soft fur as she let out another saddened chuff. Shedding her cat form, her hands brushed across his snout. Balder managed to slip back to his human form, the spear still embedded deep in his back.
"Balder, my love, speak to me!"
"That...hurt," Balder said, a small smile twitching across his face. A poor attempt to ease her worry, but the blood trickling down onto the damp stone only worsened the situation.
"I will remove it. I can bandage it up as much as I can, but I cannot heal it," Rosa said, her words dripping with anguish.
"It was the weapon of a Laguna...if it is the same with my fight against the Seraphim, then it will not heal quickly," Balder slowly leaned forward, the spear moving with him as it stretched upward towards the ceiling. The way his head and hands moved about, it was clear he could not see in the pitch-black the way Rosa could. She placed reassuring hands on his shoulders, keeping him still.
"Will you be able to manage for the remainder of our journey?" Rosa asked, lengthening her hair before snipping it off, mimicking Isabelle's method.
"I will have to. Whether or not it is fully healed does not matter. I must push on," He said, before flinching to bite down onto his sleeve as Rosa quickly yanked the spear from his back. A disturbing squelch rang out into the echoing cavern.
She watched his wound for a moment while she mended the make-shift bandage together. It remained open, but the blood flow slowed down ever so slightly.
"It appears to be healing, just...at such a costly slow rate," Rosa said, while she gently began to pull the bandage together around his body
"I will be alright, my moonlight. I can work through the pain. It is nothing…" Balder said, his eyes falling forward, staring at nothing. "It is nothing compared…"
Rosa's hands dropped her work to the side, and grasped a hold of his face, turning it towards her.
"Save that rage, save that fury for them. Use that when we need it most," Rosa said, a similar fire still building inside her. She said it to him like she had to convince herself as well.
Balder weakly nodded, turning his face forward once more. While Rosa carefully pulled the binding taught, Balder's gaze drifted through the dark, his hands blindly feeling over the ground around him. His fingers graced a nearby rock, and he made contact with something besides stone. A meager cluster of moss atop it. A faint smile drew across his lips.
"Elfin-Gold…" He muttered, his fingers grazing over the surface of the soft and spongy flora. "We used to call it Dragon's Gold."
"Who did?" Rosa asked her focus still mainly on the work at hand.
"Simon and Edwin. We would sneak off and explore in these caverns whenever we had the privilege to visit here. A small pocket of the world that even the light of Paradiso could not find," Balder said, gaze still fixated on the moss. He could feel Rosa halting her movements for a moment, watching him carefully.
"But we found that wasn't true, as this moss is proof of that. It needs light to live, meaning…" Balder looked up, to see a faint sunbeam appear, as it shot through the cavern's ceiling, far up, stretching beyond the great height of the mountain's peak. An impossible thing to behold, but it was there. The passing clouds obscured its light for a moment before it appeared again. A faint and flickering light.
"Despite being in the darkest place, the light of Jubileus finds a way to shine its way through…" Balder's eyes slunk away, his head slowly dipping down into his chest. The two remained quiet for a moment, just their breathing rang in their ears. But the sharp snap of Rosa's fingers jolted Balder upward.
From the tips of her fingertips, an assortment of glowing butterflies emitted into the air. Their bodies glowed with vibrant magical power. The soft hue of purple and oranges was enough to light up the entire cavern they occupied.
The whole cave was filled with moss, the walls and rocks covered with individual small patches. The butterflies scattered and spread throughout the room, the light glistening off of the misty plants.
Balder clutched onto a clump of the earth and pulled it close. Bringing it to his nose, he smelled the familiar scent of a past long gone. Rosa could feel his shoulders tense up as she placed her hands back on them. She was surprised to see him hand the clump of moss towards her, insinuating to embed it in his bandage. Whether it helped with the healing process or just pain, she heeded his wish and began to tuck into the wound gently.
She stopped again to feel him try to stifle a cry, his body convulsing suddenly.
With a gentle pry, she used her nimble fingers to turn his gaze back towards her. His eyes were just as misty as the rocks surrounding them. Unspoken emotions were relayed between the two, as Rosa pressed her head against his forehead, her arms reaching around to bring him in close to ease his pain. She was mindful of his newly found wound, not pressing up against it too hard.
"I miss them…" Balder whispered. Rosa nodded, her eyes closed shut as she remained pressed against him.
"I'm so sorry Balder...I wish I could have stopped it," She said.
"I wish I had too…" Balder said, slowly breaking away from her face, their piercing eyes connecting.
"But it does not matter now. I have mourned for them already but...It still has not gotten easier," Balder shuttered.
"It may never get easier, my sunlight. The most you can ever do is cope with it," Rosa's warm hands grazed his face, her butterfly glasses reflecting the light around them in a beautiful dazzling way.
Balder nodded as he exhaled a tired sigh. Rosa returned to the bandage, carefully finishing the final knot.
"Did our little one...enjoy the sunlight?" Balder spoke up, his words quiet. The soft chuckle Rosa let out made him turn around slightly.
"She adores the sunlight, dear. She was awake from when the sun first rose into the sky until the darkest of night. She practically fought to stay awake, more times than not falling asleep mid-sentence," Rosa's fingers gingerly meddled with the makeshift cloth. The bright smile that he wore brought some relief to Rosa.
"Ah, our dear sweet child is at least somewhat like me," He said.
"Oh, Balder, she takes after you in more ways than that," Rosa said.
"Really?" Balder perked up, excitement growing in his voice. "Like what?"
"Well, she could be very stubborn, and sometimes wouldn't listen when I asked her to do something," Rosa said, a small smirk drew across her face.
"Very funny, Rosa. I suppose you're going to say I also fret over my hair and she did too," Balder said, his excitement dropping to a slightly annoyed tone. Though through all of it, he did find Rosa's jest amusing, as he returned her smirk with another.
"Why, yes she did!" Rosa chuckled once more. "Why do you think she had them in those large ponytails? Having her hair hang straight down like yours would have been a disaster comb out."
Balder gave a small chuckle of his own.
"And she asked about you, quite a bit," Rosa continued.
"She did?" Balder's voice got quiet.
"Oh yes. It wasn't too long ago I finally sat down with her to explain everything. At least the important parts. Once I told her about you, she just… fell in love. Every day she would ask me when we could go visit you. Or when you would come to visit us. No matter how many times I had to tell her that it wouldn't happen, she would just be excited about the next day. She was my brightest light on those days when everything felt so dark…"
Balder clenched his fist, with his face turned so Rosa could not see him fighting back more tears. His chest ached with a sudden heat of anguish. He tried his best to stifle it, but his suddens sniffling gave it all away. Rosa dug in closer, placing reassuring hands on his shoulders.
"Oh, my dear sunlight, I'm sorry. I did not mean-"
"Don't be, it's a silly thing. To be shedding this many tears," Balder wiped them away, trying to refrain from breaking down even more.
"Nonsense, she is our little one. You have every right to feel such a heavy sadness over this. No one can take that away from us. Do not let go of that," Rosa said, her voice turning suddenly stern. Not directly appointed towards Balder, but a fit of overall anger to whoever cemented this idea into his head.
"I wish I could have been there for her. Just for one day, to be with her. Whatever she wanted to do, I'd do it. What I would give-"
"You will Balder. You still have that chance," Rosa said.
Balder took a deep inhale, composing himself.
"You're right. There is still time. Not all hope is lost," Balder said, his tears wiped dry, and retained his composure once more. Rosa finished it all with one taught knot along the bandage
The somber moment was interrupted as the ground around them started to tremble. The walls shook as loose stone slid from their resting spots, shattering or bouncing off the surrounding protruding boulders.
The two looked up, listening as hard as they could as the sound of a large being was moving overhead. The butterflies fluttered about in a panicked pattern, reflecting the sudden change of Rosa's attention.
Somewhere, far above, the low rumble of sound could be heard. Not just the movement of a gargantuan figure passing by, but the familiar pattern of syllables and harsh tongues echoing through the air.
Balder's breath was caught in his throat.
"Temperantia."
"What?" Rosa said, snapping back towards Balder.
"A Cardinal of Virtue. He does not sound angry. From what I can make out, he is offering a hymnal prayer. He is more than likely still be mourning the loss of their brethren and hasn't been notified of our arrival," Balder sighed.
"But that will not last for long. Quickly then, we best take out leave now," Rosa gently ushered Balder stand up, and he immediately obliged. With the lights surrounding them, they continued their path down the dark and narrow passage.
Their persistence paid off as a cleared path came into view, stepping onto the smooth and level surface was a relief to Balder's wound, keeping himself steady as he moved on. Rosa and her butterflies followed suit, but another massive crumble from above caused the two to stop and listen. The butterflies scrambled and suddenly dissipated. Dark enveloped the tunnel once more.
"Damn. Keep still Balder, I will summon more," Rosa instructed as she lifted her fingers up above her head.
Before the new batch of luminous butterflies could appear, Balder sensed something ahead of him. Something had moved in there, but he could not see in the brief darkness that surrounded him. His nose crinkled back as the overwhelming smell of rosemary filled the air.
The butterflies came to life, igniting the tunnels ahead. But Balder stepped back in a perplexed manner, seeing Rosa was already in front of him. Her eyes watched him carefully.
"Rosa-"
He stopped himself, his senses connecting the dots. He could feel the presence of Rosa behind him, and the sound of reaching for her guns. His brow furrowed and summoned his glaive to his side.
"Very clever," He muttered, before swinging his glaive out towards the Rosa in front of him. She backflipped away from his blade, looking up to him with unmoving eyes.
"But you will have to try better than that," Balder spat. The Rosa in front of him squinted her eyes, and without a word charged ahead at them. Balder felt his own Rosa leap over his shoulder, meeting the doppelganger in his stead. She blocked the imposter's chance to unfurl its whip, which had appeared in its hand with a golden aura.
Rosa lifted her leg up with a powerful kick, pushing the false Rosa back. It used its momentum to flip once more, and in the air shed its false identity. With a blinding white light, a Joy appeared from it. Landing on its feet, it readied its weapon, offering the two of them a confident chuckle.
Rosa didn't wait for the foe to stand off anymore, she cleared the distance in the narrow passageway, furiously unleashing blows to the angel. The Joy met her prowess with near equal power. The Joy managed to evade her attacks, but she began to falter as Rosa's flurry never ended. The Joy was being pushed back, unable to see where its footing would land it.
The Umbra Witch led the Joy to just break her cover, leaning back ever so slightly as her balance was thrown out. Out from under Rosa's arm, Balder's glaive slipped by with lightning speed, piercing the angel before it had time to retaliate.
The feminine laguna slipped a harrowing cry before it crumbled to the ground, Inferno awaiting it. Rosa straightened up, eyeing back towards Balder.
"She got my lipstick color wrong, didn't she?"
"It was the first thing I noticed. That and her stench of rosemary nearly killed my sense of smell."
"They sure do love that herb, too bad it doesn't do a thing against Umbra Witches," Rosa remarked, adjusting her glasses with the barrel of her gun. She stepped over the little bloodstain that was left across the ground, moving aside for Balder to continue.
"Now, shall we? Again?" Rosa said, exasperated. Balder let out a tired sigh,
"Yes, let us go," Balder took the lead, the butterflies flying ahead of him.
Breaking through the small clearing, the heavenly light streaked across their faces, eyes dilating as the sudden light caused them to flinch, even the Sage.
They found themselves beneath an enormous bridge, connecting from the landmass they had just passed through onto the next major area. They could see in the distance, a larger glowing emanating from the structures a top of a hill that ascended further into the island.
The overbearing smell of Dianthus struck their nostrils, and the faint sounds of angelic singing could be heard echoing through the valley.
"There it is, We just need to cross the bridge," Balder pointed.
"We'll surely be spotted if we do. Perhaps we can take flight underneath it?" Rosa asked stepping to the edge of the drop-off, and endless fall beneath them. Balder nervously looked over the edge, his hand reaching to the sore wound on his back.
"Do you have the strength to do it?" Rosa asked, worry returning to her.
"It is risky. The forms will drain me more than before," Balder gently probed the wound, flinching when his fingers made contact with the soaked spot. He could feel underneath it, the slow healing had diminished to nothing. It had become stagnant. Though, he found it best to worry Rosa anymore with this news. He brushed it off as nothing.
"But we are running out of options. And the more we sit and ponder the more time we waste. I will do it," Balder said, heaving in a deep breath. With a rather pitiful leap compared to his others, Balder's body morphed back to the Peacock form.
Rosa's eyes furrowed with a twisted knot in her stomach. She saw the wound reflected into his other forms as well, as a large bloody gash remained on his feathery back. Despite the wound, he pushed on with an unyielding vigor, fighting through the pain to speed across the endless skies.
Rosa took to her Falcon form, staying close to him in case anything were to happen. Their bodies were obscured under the massive structure, the clanking sounds of marching angels resonated as they flew along the bridge's underbelly. The faint songs in the distance became more prominent, and the hymns they sang became more clear.
Landing safely along the elevation's cliffside, they clamored up the steep lede hastily. Balder more than once barely lost his grip, as the pain in his shoulder stung even more.
As they gained a solid footing on the flat earth, they quickly dove behind a dilapidated wall, the stone surface worn away from standing for an eternity.
Ahead they could see a slew of patrols, the grounds overflowing with the Third Sphere. Weaker enemies, but with more numbers than they could handle. Balder turned to see where they could go.
"Let's try this way, around the buildings," Balder led, keeping himself low as Rosa slunk behind. They darted to any available cover that they could find, hugging the floating island's edge as they stayed out of the peripheral vision of the bird-like angels.
They took a turn to down a narrow alleyway but found an Affinity guarded at the end, his back turned against them. Balder stilled himself, ensuring that it did not hear them. He turned around to see another way was possible, but the only option would be to try and scale another cliffside, exposing themself to the entire army of Laguna that marched about.
He turned back to the angel, stealthy closing in on it with one section of his glaive at the ready. With one fluid motion, he grappled the tall creature and slide the ornate bade across its throat, silencing it before it could manage a panicked squawk. It slumped over, and Balder quickly receded back down the alleyway to place its body away from view. Balder looked back out, ensuring the coast is clear.
They ventured on, using whatever they could to keep from the site. Statues, overflowing flora, trees, and all the other majestic pieces of the environment Paradiso was littered with.
They cleared the hill, keeping their heads on a swivel to watch all of the unsuspecting Laguna that was around. Ducking behind more nearly-crumbled buildings, they used the outer edge to their advantage.
"We are so close," Rosa whispered, her speed picking up as she started to get ahead of Balder. He was about to respond when he folded in on himself. He halted in his tracks, his hand quickly wrapping around to put pressure on his wound. He could fill it now, it hadn't just stopped healing, it was beginning to open up further. His wound was getting worse.
He began to sweat more, a shiver coursed through his skin. A fear wrapped around his mind as he felt the oozing warm blood begin to flow even more.
"Balder-" Rosa started, turning back to him.
"There!" An Enochian cry came from nearby. Balder looked up to see he stopped in the opening of an alleyway, exposing himself to anyone passing by.
Two Affinities immediately spotted him and charged down the narrow passageway with spears at the ready. Balder got his glaive at the ready but saw in his peripheral vision Rosa readied herself near the entrance of the alleyway, out of sight from the oncoming forces.
Balder remained still as the angels closed in, but it was mostly due to the pain the straddled him, keeping him down. The angels reached the mouth of the alleyway, and Rosa wound back her slender leg with a powerful thrust, unleashing a fatal kick to both the angels as soon as they were upon Balder.
Their necks snapped with an unnerving crack, toppling over onto themselves as they slid down against the wall. Rosa swung her head down the alleyway to make sure no others were following them, alerted to their cry.
After a few seconds of waiting, Rosa was satisfied with their safety and turned back to Balder. She immediately pulled him up off the ground, bringing him over behind the wall to hide from any other passing patrol.
"Focus, love. You cannot be so careless now," Rosa said, a stern tone that surprised Balder. But he meekly nodded.
"I know. I'm sorry it's just…" Balder hesitated, feeling the wound sting along his back. "It's nothing, it won't happen again."
Rosa stared at him down for a second, seeing the hesitation in his face. But she replied with a quick nod, returning to her swift stride back towards the distance hymns. An exhausted Balder slowly picked up speed as he returned to her side.
"Up there, it's an overlook. We can see across the entire Ed-Nas that way," Balder pointed, a steep incline hanging to the right, that would bring to the highest point of the valley. The aroma of warm nectar and sweet honey passed by along the wind, a sudden change from the usual scent they had been smelling.
They carefully scaled the far side of the rock face to stay out of sight. They broke out onto the clearing, soundlessly approaching the edge where two Applauds stood and watched, an elegant stone railing in front of them. Balder and Rosa exchanged a look and nodded, both coming up behind the angels and putting them down with one swift and silent attack.
The bodies disappeared, as Rosa and Balder took their place. They cautiously looked over the edge to the site below.
"Oh my…" Rosa gasped with such pure amazement.
Below them, a sprawling passage of Ed-Nas laid before them. A bridge, with its usual golden aura. But it was no ordinary stone bridge. It appeared to be made entirely of light. A transparent floor showed the drop below it. But it was apparent that you could not fall through. As the two pairs of eyes scanned across the large mass of souls slowly walking over the bridge. Faded outlines that had just as much transparency as the bridge.
People of all ages, races, and gender. It was hard to see, but each person seemed dressed still, it what could have been the clothing they wore when they had passed.
They marched wordlessly, heads and sight looking about and up towards the angels that surrounded them.
Rosa and Balder's eyes followed theirs, seeing from their high point that various types of angels stood at their posts along the long and winding bridge. They could hear it now, the long and droning hymns were emitting from them. A passing song, never-ending and forever playing, to greet the new souls to their eternal sleep.
The end of the bridge couldn't be seen, it curved up further into the clouds, lost into the sun. Souls were still marching up towards the very end, even more, angels were posted there.
The worried parents turned their gaze back to the section in front of them, a panic knot both tiring their stomachs.
"There's so many…" Rosa said, her head swiveling back and forth. "How will we know if she is down there?"
"We just have to look, she more than likely hasn't passed on yet, the path leads much further out than what we can see."
"How do you know she isn't already gone? It will take us ages to wait here for her to appear! If we can see her!" Rosa said, her widened eyes falling into Balder. "Let us just go down there and look!"
"We cannot be brash! Come to your senses as I did for mine. We cannot jeopardize it all now, not when we are this close!"
"There might not be a mission left to jeopardize! Sitting here and waiting will not be the solution that will bring our little one back," Rosa turned back, her body inching closer to the railing as she went climbing over it. Balder's hand reached up and grabbed her to pull her back.
"Are you mad? Stop and think!"
"There isn't time anymore! The other angels will surely catch up and find us! We cannot"-"
"Stop! Get away from me!"
A voice rang further over the hill, a small, helpless voice that belonged to a little girl.
Balder and Rosa froze amidst their bickering, widened eyes locking in on one another.
They knew that voice.
"No! I don't want to!" the voice cried out again.
Balder and Rosa bolted, taking off over the hill while trying to evade the other angels' line of sight.
Once they reached the bottom of the hill, they could see it. Amidst a blooming garden with an oversized water fountain, sat a little girl and an Affinity. The angel was unarmed, hunching over the child, and carefully trying to coerce her to get up and move.
From a safe spot, Balder and Rosa stopped to get a better view of what was happening.
There, on top of grey stone, was Cereza. Her entire being was just as transparent as the other souls they had seen. The little Umbra had reached down and grabbed ahold of some small pebbles, pelting it at the looming bird. The angel recoiled as it covered its face. It clucked in surprise, backing away slightly.
"I said get away from me! I'm not going with you!" She screamed again, her fists balled up in a fit of anger.
The two parents let out a struggling gasp, reveling in the pure luck that they had stumbled upon their little one so easily. It felt wrong like it was a trap. Like a twisted joke, the Laguna were playing to twist the knife that was already buried so deep in their heart. But she was right there. Right in front of them. They were frozen, the sorrow that gripped them earlier planting a seed of doubt as they hesitated to just run out there and grab her.
The angel sputtered out some Enochian. It was unclear what he said exactly from that distance, but it was clear he was attempting to assure her, as politely as he could.
"No! I want my mummy! I want my daddy! I don't want to be with you! You big, stupid, scary monster!" The anger was wrapped with some fear, as the little girl continued to back up.
The angel approached her once more, its huge hands reaching down to grab a hold of Cereza to hoist her up. Its hands grabbed hold around her waist. Cereza unleashed a truly terrifying cry, as she began to thrash to keep away.
An instinct kicked in, a volatile maternal emotion wretched Rosa forward unknowingly. She broke through the overlapping bushes, breaking out into a full sprint as her heels clicked down onto the stone.
"Rosa!" Balder protested but was already emerging from the bushes with her.
"Little one!" Rosa cried.
The Affinity's head snapped up, seeing the two intruders quickly closing the distance. Stepping back, and almost tripping on its gargantuan feet, the angel clucked with a perplexed sound. It raised its hands up in a defensive manner. With no weapon at its side, it knew that it had no chance to fight the formidable that approached, only to show it meant no harm.
Not offering it any form of mercy, Rosa's fist raised with a sharp twinge of purple magic. She snapped it forward with a full thrust, despite still being a few feet away and the punch just landed in dead air.
The angel only had a few seconds to look and tilt its head in confusion, before a large void appeared behind him. A portal into Inferno. Emerging from the doorway was Madama Khepri's massive hand, clenching down onto the unsuspecting Affinity before snatching back into her world.
Cereza barely had time to react. She watched it as it was yanked from this realm, a look of bewilderment rather than fear warped her tiny facial features.
It finally clicked into her head, as she processed the voice she had heard behind her. She spun around, her transparent glowing aura shifting across the solid ground, and a huge beaming smile streaked across her face.
"Mummy! Daddy!" Her voice rang with a sound of relief and happiness. She wiggled her little legs to stand up, while Balder and Rosa, side by side, ran up to their small wonder, arms already outstretched as they both hoisted her up.
"Cereza!" the two parents cried, enveloping her in a tight squeeze.
"I knew it! I knew you would come!" Cereza said, giving an even tighter squeeze back.
While their child giggled and laughed into their chests with a burst of overjoyed laughter, Rosa and Balder let go of it all. Any walls they were forced to keep up for the sake of the mission crumbled, their grace and poise toppling with it.
They let their tears flow as they held on tight to their cheerful little one, never wanting to let go ever again.