Mitherael was at the edge of his strength. And his sanity. His constant torture was chipping away at his last bit of reserve strength. When he finally felt the chains leave his limbs, he looked over weakly at the goblins chittering at each other.
"Quick! Bad one sleeps! Hurry!" the scout urged. Mitherael had a rag shoved in his mouth when he tried to yelp, but it was only to keep him quiet. The scout pressed a clawed finger to his lips. At this, Mitherael nodded in understanding. "We help. But. Quiet. Okay?"
He nodded again and let himself get carefully carried out into a waiting portal. Ikarius and Iltherael were the ones ready to retrieve him. He was laid out on a stretcher, and they both grimaced at the state he was in. Iltherael muttered, "This is bad."
"I know. I can only wonder about his mental state. It looks like he's been kept fed, but..." Ikarius sighed. At the thoughtful look Iltherael had, Ikarius was quick to say, "And Anaurael can't help him. We don't know how he is."
"True," his brethren sighed. "Let's get him back to town."
"He'll...come for me..." Mitherael seemed to whimper. "He's in my head..."
"He's losing it," Ikarius mumbled. Iltherael only nodded, and they quickened the pace. When Gurzick appeared with a portal to Westmarch, it was quickly used. Mitherael was taken to the city's main healer. The older man studied his symptoms and sighed.
"Intense fear in him. Complete traumatization. What happened to him? I don't see any physical wounds at all. This is all in his mind. All I can recommend is complete relaxation with no stress," the healer said. The mortal angels could only grimace at this news. That would be impossible.
"Let me talk to one of the stationed angels," Ikarius said. "Keep watch on him."
"That I will," Iltherael nodded. Ikarius moved quickly to where Tyrael's quarters were and knocked on the door. At the sight of the angelic warrior, he showed who he was. He was let in.
"Tyrael is not in," the warrior said.
"I know. But, we saved Mitherael. His mind is...I don't know if it's broken, or if it's just on the brink of full mental collapse! He keeps thinking that Diablo is going to come back for him," Ikarius said.
"He will not be allowed up in the High Heavens. He may get culled," the warrior warned.
"I know. But, we don't know what to do with him here."
"I see. Let me seek advice for you," the warrior nodded and teleported back to Heaven. As he waited patiently for an audience in the Angiris Council chamber, the other powerful angels were locked in Anaurael's mind. She was dreaming again, and Imperius was cradling her close in his sanctum.
"I am waking her up!" Imperius growled.
"LET HER DREAM," Anarius advised. "YES. MANY OF HER DREAMS BODE ILL. BUT, THEY DO PREPARE US FOR VARIOUS THINGS. DO REMEMBER THIS."
"Sire, I have yet to see Mother dream," Itherius said softly. He was able to touch his mother's mark not long ago, and he loved being with his family in her mind.
"If she becomes unstable..." Imperius started.
"We will wake her," Malthael agreed. Imperius gave out a shudder. He hated watching her dreams most of the time. Some were good. Most were not. With the others there ready to watch, he could only relent once again.
Imperius was standing alongside the Crystal Arch with a sensation that something was wrong. That something was missing. Realizing that he missed Anaurael's presence, he moved to where her chambers should have been. When he moved to the wall her door would be at from within his sanctum, he realized it wasn't there. Then he paused with shock when he searched for her in his special, mental way. She wasn't in Heaven at all. He couldn't even sense her!
Thinking hard, he went to Sanctuary where he usually visited her. Something told him that she may be there, instead. He saw her working on the garden. It was during the day, and he was expecting her to be running to his side. Instead, she simply looked up and stared at him with surprise.
"Can I help you?" she asked. Her mark from him was missing. Her hair was blond. She was still a mortal angel, but she held none of his Light. And she didn't know who he was. She appeared to be in her late teens here, but he knew that something was completely wrong with this.
"Anaurael?" he asked carefully.
"Um...yes?" she said softly. "Am I supposed to know you?"
"I thought...you were my ward...my champion...I..." he was struggling to find the words.
"This is the first time I've ever seen you. I'm sorry...but...I have to get back to work..."
"No. You were in Heaven with me!" he said. "You belong with me! Surely, you know this!"
"I beg pardon?!" she said with shock when he moved to grab her. She dodged him and backed away with a heavy frown. "Look. I don't appreciate what you're trying to pull! I don't know you! And, with how you're treating me now, I don't think I want to know you."
Her words hit him deeper than any known wound he ever had. This was his worst nightmare...
Before the dream could progress any further, Anarius shattered the dream. Anaurael gasped herself awake, Imperius was beside himself with his own personal form of shock, and the others didn't know what they could do to help him. Anarius was the one that transported them both into her mental sanctum. Imperius couldn't speak. Neither could she.
"I..." he started. All she could do was rest her hand on his cheek and smile with the devotion he always knew she had for him. After a few minutes went by, she was able to talk again. She knew what she had to say to destroy this negative moment in full.
"It's a dream," she said in the gentlest way she could. "I will never forget you. You are my life. You are my reason to live. It always was. It still is. It will never change."
"I love you..." he whispered and crushed her to him.
"I love you, too," she whispered back and let him kiss her fiercely. In her mental sanctum, he knew they were safe from everything. When they came around in the physical sanctum, he was holding her dearly to him. His helmet was already removed, and he was pressing his invisible face into her neck.
"Please...don't dream...anymore..." he whispered, as he cradled her.
"Imperius..." she frowned and continued to hug him close.
"That one...I just..." he started. She pressed a finger to his invisible mouth now to quiet him.
"Wake me up, if you ever see my hair like that again. Don't let the dream continue. I don't want to dream any dreams that have me like that ever again," she said softly. "That will tell you right away how the dream may turn out. Can you do this?"
"You have my vow," he muttered and kissed her with the raw passion he held for her. "When I...heard you say...how you never wanted to..."
"Hush, love," she soothed. "I always want you in my life. That I can vow to you."
He finally gave a sigh of deep relief. She continued run her hands over his head to comfort him. After a bit of time, he finally said, "I know that Itherael is to be with you soon. However, I will feel upset over this. I know it must be done..."
"You can still be with me in your core form. I still need your offspring in my soul. We just cannot be like this as we are now until the physical one takes."
"It will always be on my mind..."
"You can train the troops to distract yourself."
"Hmm...that I can..."
"And, the moment the offspring takes, I will call for you."
"And, when I can have you this way again, I will give you the salve. Your body will be mine again," he muttered against her ear. At the glowing smile she gave him, he gave out a soft laugh. She knew he still felt uneasy from the dream. She had to remain with him now to ensure he regained himself. Then she had an idea, and she looked at him lovingly.
"Imperius...do you want me to look inside your mind?" she asked.
"In...my...?" he seemed to pause at that. "Focus with me. Let us see if you can."
"I will," she nodded and did just that. When she closed her eyes, she felt herself pulled in somewhere. As her mental eyes opened, she could only stare with awe.
A golden waterfall of Light was what greeted her. It fed a pool at the very bottom that seemed to be an endless well of his Light and valorous wrath. On looking around herself slowly, she realized that she was actually in a room that appeared to resemble the Angiris Council chamber, and all around her were the glowing blue plants of Heaven. They seemed to line around the back of the circular pool and the walls of the chamber in a very neat, even way.
The white, gilded gold walls had wide, open windows to allow maximum sunlight to stream through. The diamond tile floors looked like polished mirror glass under feet. She was warm here in his mental room. She felt safe around the massive, sword-bearing angelic statues. However, the untainted, pure Light of the water from the vibrant falls was the only thing that truly dominated here. It seemed to spill out from a diamond-glass, cliff-like ledge that was lined with the same angelic sculptures that graced Heaven. These same statues graced either side of the roaring waterfall of Light in a valorous and regal way. At the top of where the waterfall started stood Imperius. The waterfall started where he would stand in the Angiris Council chamber.
He gazed down at her with a form of love that warmed her body and soul at once. He jumped down in a wave of his own Light and slammed down to reform at her side. His body glowed with a molten, golden glow that matched her hair rather briefly before fully reforming. She was simply speechless when he reached down to pluck her up in his arms to regard her gently. "It appears that this is my mental sanctum with you. Isn't it?"
"It would...appear to be so..." she said softly. "It looks almost like the Angiris Council room! I would have thought to have seen a landscape..."
"I have no need for that."
"Apparently you don't," she smiled.
"What do you think?" he chuckled.
"It's beautiful, Imperius," she whispered. He kissed her gently and continued to hold her close. Now that he was completely reconciled with her, the angel waiting in the true Angiris Council chamber was confronted by Izarius.
"Brother, how can I help you?" Izarius asked.
"Mitherael was saved. His mind is...broken, it appears," the angelic warrior sighed.
"I'm not sure if Anaurael should attempt to fix him," Izarius admitted.
"Your concern reflects mine," the angel agreed.
"I would almost wish that the salve we have can fix mentality as well as physical flesh. It is a shame. Imperius would not allow her to be near him, either," Izarius said in heavy thought.
"Neither would any of us," Imperael said when he walked over. "He was around Diablo."
"He also desired her," Izarius said.
"What?" Imperael asked. He didn't know this.
"You are not aware of the mortal angels that removed their wings to see if they could seek Anaurael?" Izarius asked. A form of rage seemed to filter from Imperael now. "Let me explain."
"Yes. Please tell me before I start hunting down our mortal brothers..." he growled.
"Mitherael had befriended many of our forlorn brothers. They did not know that Mitherael actually planned to keep Anaurael for himself. He saw her when Imperius left a viewing chamber, as she was growing up. Mitherael saw who Imperius was watching. He began to desire her. He made his own following here and convinced them to remove their wings. They are paying the price for it now," Izarius said carefully.
"This...Mitherael. He was the one with Diablo's Soulstone?" Imperael asked.
"He was."
"And he ran from those that wanted to help him?"
"He did run."
"I am going to talk to him. Now," Imperael growled.
"Do be careful," Izarius warned. "You are a valuable asset to Heaven. And you are also locked in Anaurael's mind. If anything happens to you..."
"Nothing will happen to me. I am Heaven's bastion of defense! Anything that threatens her, I must see to it. This is also a direct threat to Heaven, too. I will return shortly," he muttered. He teleported down with the angelic guard, and Izarius moved to a viewing pool to watch calmly. At the sight of Itherael, he explained the issue.
"I shall watch. You stand guard in Anaurael's chamber," Itherael said.
"Very well," Izarius nodded and did that. Itherael now moved to pay critically close attention to all that transpired in the viewing pool.
When Imperael appeared down on Sanctuary, the angelic guard advised for him to wait.
"We need to see where he is. It will not do for us to be seen easily," he said. "I shall go invisible and look for him."
"Very well," Imperael nodded. After five minutes, the guard came back.
"As I thought, he is in a healing tent. There are others with him. Ikarius is going to try and have him moved to another location. He is convincing the main healer that Mitherael's mental state will cause too much trauma to the other patients," the guard said. "We are trying to get him moved to be outside the city walls for safety. It may be easier to take him to New Tristram. Westmarch is far too populated with mortals."
"Good. Let me know when he is moved. I will follow you wherever you go," Imperael nodded. It took an hour for this to be accomplished, but he didn't mind. He was good at waiting patiently. He kept himself preoccupied by studying the inside of Tyrael's room here. He clearly didn't like mortal tastes. He was used to the glorious buildings that Heaven held. Not basic dirt and wood flooring of this room. It was too dark. There weren't enough windows. The candles barely shed off enough light.
When the angelic guard came back, he let Imperael follow his teleport imprint to the smaller house in New Tristram. This house was purposely set far off near the edge of town for quick meetings in the woods. Imperael could only grumble at the lack of light in it, but it was done so to keep prying eyes out. Mitherael was now set up in a tent that was safe for him to be seen to. The move took some time, but it had to be done.
When the door opened to the smaller dwelling that Imperael waited in, the angelic guard walked in with Ikarius. At the sight of Imperael, the mortal angel's jaw simply dropped with surprise. They hadn't met yet.
"This is Ikarius. He is a bit of the leader to guide the other mortal angels when Tyrael is not here. Ilerael would also assist, but it is this one that does the most to guide them," the angelic guard said.
"Is that so?" Imperael growled. He clearly didn't trust him. "Take me to the one that was stolen away. I need to evaluate him personally."
"Sure. Ah, this way..." Ikarius said nervously. Imperael went invisible, as he followed him out. "So...when did you come about?"
"Anaurael and Imperius were doing a Lightsong. I was called forth," Imperael grunted.
"Anaurael?! She was able to assist?" Ikarius blinked.
"Yes. She has a Song. And it matches the Song that Imperius has. Nothing will touch her, if I can help it," he growled dangerously. Ikarius could only agree to that in full. When Imperael finally saw the suffering man in the solitary tent, his defensive stance was clearly present. "He is heavily corrupted!"
"We figured that," Ikarius said. "We just don't know what to do."
"Please...kill me..." Mitherael seemed to gasp out.
"If we kill him, whatever is in him may get released, too," Imperael muttered. "If Imperius sees him, he will get killed. The taint of Diablo is strong on him."
"Don't...take me...to Heaven..." Mitherael seemed to plead. "He'll...find me..."
"Delusional..." Ikarius winced.
"No. He's being honest," Imperael sighed. "He can get tracked. He has been in a rather...close proximity to that one. As long as he didn't touch the stone..."
"Never..." Mitherael coughed and sat up at last. His hunger gnawed at him, and he managed to take down a mouthful of flavorful stew meat ready for him in a small bowl.
"I wonder..." Imperael mused aloud. "Malthael discovered that he has the ability to remove the demonic essence from a body. Anu granted him that ability now."
"Did he?!" Ikarius said with shock. "Do you think he could help Mitherael?"
"I will ask," Imperael nodded and teleported back to Heaven. He appeared in Anaurael's bedroom where Tyrael was tending to the children. Arthurius had just woken up and started to cry his hunger. "Tyrael, please let Izarius assist with him. I need to speak with you."
"Oh? Very well," Tyrael nodded. Izarius was curious on what was going on, but the baby needed to nurse. He was quick to deliver Arthurius to Anaurael and Imperius. Tyrael was soon lifting Mal from the cradle, and he saw it was Malthael. "You want to listen in?"
"Yes," Malthael nodded. "Um..."
"What?" Tyrael asked.
"I think...um...food?" Malthael blinked.
"Ah. You're hungry? I thought you'd be able to talk normally," he chuckled.
"I'm...forming words. It's...different," the boy said carefully. He was doing remarkably well for lacking the proper teeth, but he was getting there.
"Now that I can understand. If you like, we'll try to have various conversations later to help with that. Okay?" Tyrael smiled. Malthael nodded at that. He was carefully fed some strained meat and vegetables that would work with his small body. As much as he still needed to nurse, he was finally starting on the solids. "What is your concern, Imperael?"
"Mitherael was rescued. His mind is...questionable. He does not want to be brought here, but Malthael did have the ability to do something with that one mortal's soul. We think he may be able to assist again to draw out the demonic essence. This way, Anaurael does not need to intervene," Imperael explained. Tyrael now looked at Malthael. The boy had on a rather thoughtful look.
"Make me happy," Malthael said. He was placed back in his crib with his mound of toys. Several of them had shakers, and that easily distracted the mortal mind for Malthael to appear. "I'm ready. Let me see him..."
"Of course," Imperael nodded and teleported back down. Malthael easily followed and now studied Mitherael with intense scrutiny. "What do you think?"
"Who's with you?" Ikarius asked. Then he paused when Anarius was able to grant Malthael flesh. Of course, he had to stand within the two pillars of the Arch to do so, but he was also able to watch everything carefully this way.
"Let me see him..." Malthael muttered out again to be heard by the mortal angel.
"Of course..." Ikarius swallowed and backed away. Malthael smirked at him and bent down to study Mitherael. He was not pleased at all.
"Heavy corruption. Diablo's scent is...intense. Imperius will kill him if found. Hmm..." Malthael thought intensely. "I can attempt...but..."
"I'm ready to kill whatever appears!" Imperael growled. Then Imperius slammed down behind them. They all turned to regard him.
"I have to be here. Anaurael understands. Tyrael and Izarius are with her. Malthael, try and pull whatever is there out of him. If it does not work..." Imperius said carefully.
"I understand..." Malthael nodded. Imperius called on Solarion and glanced over when Itherius appeared to help his father.
"No! You need to go back!" Imperius ordered.
"I cannot, Father," he said solemnly. Ikarius blinked at what Imperius was called. Of course, he never know about Anaurael's offspring. "I need to kill my first demon. Why not this one?"
"Hmmm..." Imperius sighed hard. "Your mother will worry."
"My Mother understands," Itherius chuckled. Imperius muttered to himself and shook his head.
"Well...he is your son..." Malthael smirked.
"As your flesh is my son, too," Imperius retorted. "Very well. But, if anything goes wrong..."
"Mother won't let me hear the end of it. I know," Itherius nodded. Imperius nodded back and looked at Malthael to proceed. His scythes were soon out and slowly passed over the body.
Mitherael screamed in pain, as his soul was slowly extracted. At the film of red that seemed to intermingle with it, Malthael carefully let the red mist curl about one scythe, as the other pulled it taught. He sheared away the red mist from the white silken thread carefully. While the white thread was allowed to sink back into the mortal angel, the red mist was tossed away. It formed into a terribly powerful demon and lunged to merge back with Mitherael. It seemed to resemble Diablo in form. It showed how exactly how bad the corruption was in him.
"Anaurael is not here to shield him! Hurry!" Malthael growled and was quick to attack with Imperius. Itherius was swift on his feet and impaled the demon's neck. As it howled with rage, Imperius and Imperael advanced as one. Malthael was neatly dismembering it. When it turned to glare at Ikarius, Imperael punched it in the face.
"Get out of here! Take Mitherael with you!" Imperael ordered. Ikarius was quick to grab Mitherael and haul him up and out of the area. When the other mortal angels appeared, they were quick to help take Mitherael to safety.
"His taint was removed, but the demon is still here. Imperius and a few other angels are attacking it," Ikarius explained quickly. "We'll wait until it's over."
"I'm still...not safe..." Mitherael shivered.
"Shut up," Ophyrael growled and ran a hand through his short, spiked, black hair. He looked over at Sithus with his deep blue eyes and asked, "What do we do with him?"
"We'll figure it out," Sithus sighed. When they saw Imperius's signature Light imprint leave, they were quick to head over to find Imperael burning the limbs. Malthael was gone the moment the demon was dead. Itherius was also gone. He had dealt the killing blow with Imperius's guidance. Those that didn't see Imperael yet were in shock at his sheer size and stature.
"Keep watch on Mitherael. Ensure his safety," Imperael ordered lightly. The men nodded and watched him leave. As Anaurael was applauding her angelic son's valor in the kill, Imperius was still quite worried. Diablo was able to corrupt a mortal angel. He could easily do so again.