A little over a week and Velvet recovered enough to wander her own house. It was so weird, being back here again. So many times in dreams, she came through here. Whether she was married or alone, this place was always full of life.

Another life, another time.

And unlike those other times, she had somebody watching over her while Amelia got the groceries.

Lailah, the fire malak.

It always happens to be the fire ones, doesn't it? Velvet mused, leaning against the banister. Not like the spirit of fire was bad, but she was rather loopy. Unlike Magilou who's antics for attention primarily focused around terribly woven lies or sexual innuendos, Lailah had a certain air that made her stand out.

An otherworldliness that felt out-of-touch, maybe a bit dated. But her love of puns felt at home. Almost too at home.

Reflexively, she pinched herself.

"You itchy?" Lailah asked, tilting her head. "I've got this scratchy stick. Only for a down payment of five gald!"

Her eyes narrowed. "Lailah was it? Mind if I ask a question?"

"Oh! Go right ahead."

"Just what were you doing in front of those graves?"

"Looking at them. I remember Shepherd Hume and Amelia talking about them. But Hume even commissioned a gravestone for you."

"I wasn't even dead."

"I know! A grave mistake, don't you think?"

Velvet held back a smile. It was bad. So damn bad, but that wasn't the point right now!

"Do you feel anything about the others laying there?"

Lailah shook her head. "Not really, no. Why?"

She opened her mouth, words failing to leave. "No… It's nothing."

"I'm back!" Amelia called from the doors, hauling in a few other goods.

Velvet shuffled her way over, eyeing some of the stuff. Lailah giggled, taking a few things, spinning them around before setting them neatly on the table. An assortment of winter vegetables, and meats.

During her internment, Velvet found that she had a sense of taste back. Incredibly muted and slightly off, at least to her, but it was something. Maybe there was a way to shock it back into shape, but with the way these two were feeding her, it was definitely for regaining her muscles.

"Huh. You know, there's plenty of prickleboars that la –"

"No prickleboar." The brunette sharply cut her off.

"But there must be plenty of them roamin –"

"I said, 'No prickleboar'!" Amelia's voice raised.

"Alright, fine, no prickleboar then." Velvet frowned. The hell was her problem?

She calmed down, pulling out a pouch behind her back and handing it to Velvet. "It's hard finding a weapon like that, you know?"

Hesitantly, the therion unraveled the pouch. Instead was a brand-new wrist blade. One to replace the very weapon she broke during her last battle.

Handing the bag back, Velvet immediately attached it to her dominant arm. A simple flick and the blade deployed. She yelped, falling to a knee. The recoil shooting up her atrophied arm like a poison.

Lailah and Amelia stepped over as she held them back with her other arm. "I'm fine…!" She gasped, looking at the blade. It was rather simple, a double-edged weapon like the one she used before becoming a therion.

Velvet closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she set the blade retraction on slow and flicked her wrist again. This time, the blade slowly returned.

"Luck. Just luck."

"If it was luck, you'd be high flipping already." Amelia rolled her eyes, taking the rest of the food for storage and dinner.

-.-.-

Another day, another chance with the brunette gone, doing errant. The clothes she wore were simply too small. Even in that ever dreamscape, her body grew. Maybe it was the fact of being a daemon, or maybe… just maybe… as a human, growing older as any woman would.

Looking through the equipment box upstairs, she wiped the sweat off her brow. Figures. The training mat that she used was tossed out or removed. If it stayed here, it might've rotted between the constant frosting and defrosting with the changes of the seasons.

Heading back to the ladder, Lailah looked up, calling out.

"Yo-de-lay-ee-hoo! You fine coming down?"

"It's not like I'm gonna jump." Velvet huffed. Oh, she remembers the time just hopping onto the floor was simple. And as a daemon, she probably could.

But getting up here was already a hassle, even with quirk recovering muscles thanks to daemonic regeneration.

Once back on solid ground, she heavily sighed and leaned against the ladders support.

Lailah simply smiled back. And Velvet wondered if this malak knew that she was basically her guard until Amelia returned. Were they hiding something from her? And why did they if they were?

"Maybe you want some porridge Amelia made before she left?"

Groaning, she rubbed her eyes. Anything to get her out of her energy slump. "Alright."

Getting herself to a chair, Lailah set off to serve her. From the corner of her eye, Velvet spotted extra weapons that Amelia brought. Beyond her bastard sword and cutlass combo, it appeared she brought a long poleaxe in the shape of a hammer. A body made of some type of red wood.

She wasn't an expert on spear weaponry, that was Eleanor's specialty, but this looked a little heavy for just swinging it around. Not like she's seen Amelia without a shirt on. It just looked clunky for somebody that was just a bit smaller than she was.

That was another topic. In the past seven years, she did grow somewhat. But with her body atrophied and weak, it's not like she could tell. Just gotta wait until she was better.

"Here you go!"

Thoughts fluttered away and Velvet took a bite of her food. She could feel its texture, a bit on the slimy side, but a muted warmth of berries and almonds tickled her tongue. Nodding, she looked back at Lailah, who beamed considerably.

"… May I help you?" The therion hesitantly asked.

"… Oh! Sorry, zoning out here and there."

She wanted to bang her head into her food. How much longer until Amelia returns?

-.-.-

Stealing some of her sister's clothes, Velvet gently unraveled the frills. They just weren't her thing. Never was, and not willing to change that now. Her motion skills were improving, and her hands shook less when doing more focused and precise actions. Fingers pulled at the loose strings that held them together as she fitted them again.

Perfect.

She looked into the mirror. There was a gaunt in her cheeks slowly filling. Her body looked less skeleton. Muscle was growing back, and she felt healthier. Maybe it was because she was still a daemon, but how much of that was because she was a therion.

Was she still a therion?

A thought brushed her head. Once she was recovered enough to defend herself, she would march to the Empyrean's Throne to see Laphicet. No, Maotelus.

She remembers the time when Eleanor gave him that name. All derived from the name given to him. The panic running through her blood as she ran through the Earthpulse.

For her, it was just a few months ago. For everybody else, seven years.

Rubbing her temples, she felt another headache coming. Velvet propped herself against the wall, closing her eyes. The feeling reached her forehead then disappeared.

Maybe she was just getting hungry. This seemed to follow a pattern.

Parts of her wanted to just run out and practice on a few wild animals. From what she observed between Amelia and Lailah, there were no daemons roaming about. Which made sense; they were former Exorcists after all.

But what was Lailah's reason for staying? Perhaps she didn't know? But that didn't make sense either.

Sniffing, the air lingered with the scent of baking apples. A light dash of cinnamon saturated. Velvet wiped a small bit of water from her mouth. With some sense of taste back, anything would taste good.

So long as it wasn't burned.

Walking back to the kitchen, she found Amelia and Lailah lightly talking by the table. On the table, the same baked apples she smelled rested in a simple clay plate. Cautious, Velvet took a seat to the other's warm smiles.

"Smelled the apples huh?" The brunette chuckled. "It was Lailah's idea. I'm a decent chef, she wanted to try some cooking too."

Velvet snagged the apple, still weary of the two. She looked at the apple then back to Amelia. The other human blinked, wondering why she was stalling. Lailah beamed like a cat finally catching its prey.

She took a bite. Though dulled, the sweet freshness of an apple and its juices filled her mouth. An old familiar taste that took her away. Then came the spice and savory hint of cinnamon came right afterwards.

Overall, not a bad thing.

"Not bad."

Lailah laughed, holding herself together. Amelia lightly chuckled. And soon enough, Velvet joined in.

But their peace lasted for a short time. The brunette suddenly stopped, turning her head to the front door. Her eyes widened. "Somebody's tripped the wards."

"This late?"

Velvet blinked. Did they sense somebody coming?

"Pack your things Velvet Crowe." Amelia turned back. "We're leaving now. Lailah, help her out."

The urgency. The dread. Lailah's usual carefree smile disappeared under a veil of direct command. The fire malak ran into her room, packing things into a bag. Velvet got up. Her bones and body still rebelling against her better instincts.

These two were prepared. Almost if they expected something like this to happen. How long did they know? What was chasing them?

Running to her room, Velvet packed whatever she could. A mixed blend of her and her sister's clothes. She bit her inner lip. I'm sorry Celica.

Stuffing her things in, the therion grabbed her weapon. It fit just perfectly. A single flick of her wrist and the blade protruded. This time, with no issues.

Back to the front of the house, Amelia set away the plate for the apple. Velvet could see her shiver.

"Lailah, the lights. Now."

The fire malak snapped her fingers and the house went dim. Under the sunsetting sun, the orange and dark light painted through the windows. Lailah disappeared in a ball of red light, falling into the Legate's body as she opened the door.

She poked her head out.

Left.

Right.

The brunette cocked her head. Whether or not she was an Exorcist or not, she had experience in sneaking around. Keeping to the shadows of the village, they skirted through leaves and branches, making minimal noise as possible. Near the gates of the village, small torches lit up.

Like a ritualistic ceremony, ten people stood at the gate, five in line.

White straps light blew in the breeze behind their grey masks. The usual white and cloth-like trim of Exorcist helms were gone, replaced with curved and metal split visors. Each helmet had a thin colored line, going from one ear to the other, atop the head. Gone were the long flowing capes and white-gold Abbey look. Replaced with light armor on their chests and ribs, shoulders and thighs, dimly glowing an inferno that beckoned hellfire.

Behind trees and bushes, Amelia and Velvet immediately stopped. Breathe. Their small march away from the center left them.

As soon as they were out of initial sight, they hurried through the gate and fled into forests.

Back to Telliesin. Back to civilization.

Shadows moved still.

More of these special Exorcists patrolled the general paths. An invisible gaze lurked among the trees and rocks. Velvet took a moment to pause, her heart threatening to beat of her chest.

"Move!" Amelia tapped her over and met.

Blade locked with blade. A dance of small sparks skirted passed her eyes. A thick blade mere inches from her face.

In the dark, the wind snapped with every swing. Velvet hopped back, feeling something burn in her arms and legs. Her eyes weren't adjusted to fighting in this. Watching and listening as Amelia and her opponent grunted and coughed.

"Disintegrate!" A flame roared to life.

The therion couldn't believe it with her eyes. This girl almost floated with her weapons, kicking, slashing, and propelling herself upwards with her opponent's helpless body, vainly defending.

"Falling Lightning!"

It only lasted for seconds. Amelia slammed her opponent into the ground, one of her longer twin blades stuck in the Exorcist's chest. The masked man howled, gurgling under his blood, clawing and fighting until he became still.

"Run!"

The forest lit up. An inferno grew in the background as they hurried to Telliesin.

Back to civilization. Away from the chaos. Velvet took another look as her eyes widened. That's where Aball…!

Lailah manifested again, yanking her away from the sight as Velvet flailed.

"N-no, we need to..!"

"If we go back, we die!"

She continued to fight back as the flames in the forest smoldered.

"W-who are these...?"

Amelia growled, shutting her eyes.

"The Morrígan Wings…"

A blade formed in ashes of the Abbey, Shepherds of Fire

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