Chapter 8a: The Peacekeepers
Lescatie
Saralyn and Adrian immediately made it their number one priority to inform Lescatie of what they had discovered at the prison. Immediately after sharing the documents with Lescatie's military, someone had contacted them, asking for them to meet up so they could talk. Adrian opened the letter they had sent them, written by a "Meryl".
"Dear Adrian and Saralyn, The documents you've shared with the Lescatian Military have piqued my interest. I'd like to know more about your experience with these "Graycubi" as you call them. Please meet at the Loumède Cafe tomorrow afternoon, so we can talk. -Meryl"
"She sure is concise." Saralyn remarked.
"We should go. I'd feel better if we gave our side of the story to someone." Adrian suggested. He put the letter in his pocket.
"Me too."
The next day, they slowly walked over to the Loumède Cafe. It had begun to snow lightly the previous day. The white of the snow stood out against the reds, blues and purples of the mamono realm, creating an interesting variety of colors to look at. Everywhere they looked, mamono children were enjoying the snow. A young whitehorn buried herself in the snow to hide from her friends, while a yeti and a yuki-onna were competing to see who could make the best snowman. Adrian and Saralyn smiled as they watched.
They walked into the cafe that the letter mentioned. It was relatively quiet, with only a couple mamono and their husbands sitting down at the tables. A succubus sat at the counter, staring longingly at the married couples in the cafe. A dullahan with the insignia of Lescatie tattooed on her neck waved the two of them over to a table. As the two of them sat down, The dullahan pushed two cups of tea towards the couple. Taking a sip out of her own cup, she began to speak.
"I'm glad you took the time out of your day to meet with me." The dullahan shook Saralyn and Adrian's hands.
"It's no problem. You're Meryl, right?" Saralyn asked.
"That's right. Meryl Tanner, captain of the Lescatian Peacekeepers. I was wondering if you could tell me about how the two of you stumbled upon these 'Graycubi.'" Meryl took out a small notepad.
"Adrian had been captured by Order soldiers and was being interrogated. I broke him out, and the two of us had intentions of freeing the imprisoned mamono. Along the way, I had come across what I believed was a 'Gray Incubi'. An archmage with incredibly high reflexes, strength, and magical aptitude. He was controlling a spell that was capable of imprisoning mamono."
"Alright. Interesting stuff. Tell me more."
"We got rid of him, and managed to free the prisoners. Together, the two of us and the prisoners freed the humans that were trapped in the prison." Saralyn took a sip of her tea.
"Later on, we were ambushed by another group of graycubi. The two of us just barely managed to defeat them all." Adrian added on. Meryl scribbled something down in her notepad, and put it away.
"Sounds like quite the ordeal."
"It was, believe me. Words can't describe it completely."
Meryl leaned over the table. "The two of you must be very capable fighters, then."
Saralyn was rather shocked at her conclusion. "Umm… Ms. Tanner, I've only been an adventurer for about five months. And Adrian barely has any combat experience."
"We could give you formal training. Call it recruiter's intuition, but the two of you sound perfect for the peacekeepers."
"We're not looking for a position in the Lescatian military…" Adrian denied. His time in the forest had been enough action for a lifetime.
"That's a shame. The Peacekeepers could use ex-heroes like you."
"Heroes?" Adrian and Saralyn asked simultaneously.
"The two of you don't know you're heroes? That's not exactly the sort of thing you forget." Meryl laughed.
"But I haven't been blessed?" Saralyn asked, confused.
"Neither have I." Adrian responded, just as perplexed.
"I was a hero for Lescatie before it turned. Heroes have the ability to sense when another hero is nearby, like you two. I can also sense a portion of the Chief God's mana in you. The two of you are heroes, whether you like it or not." Meryl took out her notepad and began writing things down again, while Adrian and Saralyn remained silent, pondering the new information.
"Just to clarify, both of us are suffering from a 'highly reactive memory curse'. I believe we were a part of the Order at one point, we simply don't remember our time there, though."
"You two are the most interesting couple I've ever met, you know that right?" Meryl remarked. She pulled out a slip of paper with an address on it, and handed it to the two. She got up, and began to leave. "Either way, my offer still stands. If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." She walked out of the cafe, waving.
"Well… Are we?" Adrian asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Let's just think about it…"
Adrian Walker slowly drank his tea on the balcony of his new home in Lescatie, staring out over the dark realm. He had been living here for almost a month now, and he couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Both he and Saralyn worked as guards for Lescatie, giving them the chance to talk to many people. The inhabitants of Lescatie were the most friendly people he had ever met, although that wasn't saying much since he didn't remember a majority of his life.
Despite his newfound happiness in Lescatie, he would never find out his past. The "highly reactive memory-curse" had stumped the most prestigious dark mages and witches in Lescatie. Despite their best efforts, they were never able to find a way to remove the spell without triggering the highly violent reaction. Adrian sighed in anger.
To whoever gave me this curse, if I ever find you, I'm going to… Adrian stopped himself. Thinking about it only made him angrier. Taking a deep breath, he took a sip of his tea and closed his eyes.
Something that also bothered him was something that Lescatie's military called "The Quiet War". Back in the prison, Saralyn had seen documents talking about something called a "Gray Incubus", or "Graycubus", beings of "neutralized mamono mana". They were super soldiers for the Order with natural resistance to charm spells. Saralyn realized there were prisons all over the world churning these things out, something that lingered in the back of their minds constantly.
To make matters worse, an organization led by a seraph known as Ophelia was targeting the Order using guerilla warfare tactics. Stories around Lescatie portrayed her as a disgruntled angel, betrayed by the Chief God, fighting for revenge. Others portrayed her as a megalomaniac looking to overthrow the Chief God and take her position to wreak havoc on the world. Either way, the citizens of Lescatie were upset that humans were dying. Adrian knew the conflict was going to escalate.
Saralyn walked out onto the balcony and sat down beside him, snapping him out of his daydreaming. The dhampir had brought out a tray of cookies and a small dish with alraune nectar in it, their new favorite snack since they had arrived.
"You look like you're deep in thought." Saralyn remarked.
"It's nothing."
"You know, you don't have to hide things from your wife."
"Just… what's going on in the world right now. The Quiet War, the documents we found back at the prison a month ago…"
"Me too."
"You've been worrying too?"
"Ophelia scares a lot of mamono too. A couple dark valkyries said that she was the Chief God's second in command when she was in heaven. She's dangerous."
"And what are we supposed to do about it? We don't hear about her attacks until after they're over. How are we supposed to stop her?"
"We could join the Lescatian Peacekeepers." Saralyn held up the piece of paper with the address Meryl had given them.
"Let me think about it…I don't know how I feel about risking my life on the battlefield. Our experiences in the forest gave me enough near-death experiences to last me a lifetime. " Adrian looked out at the sunset, munching on some of the cookies Saralyn gave him.
"Of course."
"Did you hear? Another high ranking Order Priest died the other day." A dark mage gossiped with a witch under an umbrella.
"But it's only been a week!" The witch exclaimed.
"Yeah. I'm just as surprised as you are. Crushed by a falling concession stand. What a way to go out!"
Adrian passed by with his groceries in hand, having overheard the conversation. There had been several of these mysterious deaths in the past month or two. All of them, high ranking Order members.
"Has the Order done any investigation into their deaths? This can't be a coincidence."
"They have, but there was no evidence of any assassination attempt. No traces of mana, no physical evidence, nothing. Either this assassin is incredibly experienced or it's a coincidence."
"You think it's Ophelia?"
"They would lead traces of mana behind. Angels aren't THAT skilled. So far, they've managed to capture Ichoriya and Arcani, but they aren't making any other moves. It's got to be someone else."
Adrian turned away and walked back home. Things were escalating, and he didn't like it one bit. Full scale, long term war was something this world was not used to. Adrian had heard stories about small skirmishes between the Mamono Lord's army and the Order here and there, but nothing ever lasted more than a couple months, usually ending the mamono's favor. This was new.
He reached their house, and entered the kitchen. Inside, Saralyn was cooking up some sort of salad for dinner. She had taken cooking lessons from a very kind kikimora in her free time, and the fruits of her training had paid off greatly.
"Smells delicious."
"I'm glad you like it, Adrian. Did you get the stuff I asked for?"
"Yeah." Adrian put the groceries on the counter. He prepared himself for the question he had wanted to ask for a month now.
"I've been wanting to ask… Should we take Meryl up on her offer? I've been hearing things about the Quiet War escalating more and more, and it's been bothering me a lot. I keep feeling the need to do something, anything about it. Do you feel me?"
Saralyn stopped what she was doing and turned around, grinning. "Well, it took you long enough. The Quiet War's been escalating for a while now. You just got the news?"
"It's been getting particularly bad. High rank Order members have just been dropping like flies. One got crushed by a concession stand the other day." Despite the serious subject matter, Adrian couldn't help but stifle a laugh.
"Anyways, do you want to join too?" Adrian asked her.
"I've wanted to for a long time. Call me crazy, but I want to see some action."
"Saralyn, you're a dhampir, not a salamander."
"Well, it's not just that. Dhampirs just naturally have a sense of adventure. Being a guard for Lescatie just isn't cutting it, if I'm going to be honest."
"I can understand." Adrian agreed that guard duty sometimes got pretty boring.
Saralyn finished making dinner. She sat down, sliding a bowl of salad towards Adrian, and the two of them began eating. Not wanting to talk about wars anymore, the two of them began chatting about their day at work together. After they finished their food, the two of them retired to the bedroom for their nightly routine sex.
Rubbing his eyes, Adrian woke up and yawned. Saralyn was already out of bed, a rarity for her. He got out of bed and dressed up, putting on some clothes he had bought just for the occasion. Saralyn was already downstairs, making breakfast.
"Good morning, Adrian." Saralyn looked up from what she was doing to greet him.
"Good morning, Saralyn. You're up early."
"I was excited for today. No more standing around in one place for half the day."
"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad. You were constantly meeting new people."
"The only person I want to be with is you." Adrian blushed slightly. "How thoughtful of you."
Saralyn smiled and continued working on breakfast. The two of them ate, and set off to the address that Meryl had given them. Instead of a cafe like last time, the address had led to one of the many barracks that Lescatie had. Remnants of when the Order was in control, and a reminder of Lescatie's power.
Meryl was waiting for them outside of the building. With her, a wyvern and her husband/rider, a dark elf, and a kunoichi sitting on benches outside the barracks. All of them looked up at once, surprised at the newcomers. Meryl practically sprinted over to them.
"Look who it is! I was beginning to think that the two of you had changed your minds."
"We were going to just have a civilian life, but the stuff about the Quiet War escalating made us rather… compelled to do something. Besides, being a guard was boring. Standing in one place for several hours sucks." Saralyn responded.
"I understand completely. Why don't the two of you introduce yourself to the others? I have some things that need finishing up." Meryl went back into the barracks.
Both of them walked over to the area that the other recruits were sitting at. The dark elf looked at them with amusement, while the wyvern and her husband busied themselves by talking to each other. The kunoichi seemed uninterested in their presence.
"The two of you are married, aren't you?" The dark elf asked.
"Yes. What about it?" Adrian responded.
"You're a rarity." Most mamono who join the military just leave after they get a husband. Can't see why'd you come back for more."
"Well… We just felt compelled to do something about this war."
"A respectable motivation. My name is Sinclair, by the way." Sinclair shook both of their hands. Adrian noticed that her hair was a mix of black and white as opposed to pure white like most dark elves.
"Nice to meet you, Sinclair." Sinclair sat back down. The wyvern and her husband came over to them, looking to talk.
"Jordan and Naira. Don't worry about Sinclair, she's always acted a bit judgemental. She's nice once you get to know her."
"Adrian and Saralyn, nice to meet the two of you."
"It's going to be nice having some new faces in the Peacekeepers. For a long time, it was just us, Sinclair, Ava, and Meryl. Meryl is nice but she's usually off doing other things when she isn't running us ragged, Kari can be… hard to talk to sometimes, and Ava barely talks." She pointed at the kunoichi.
Ava looked up from her book, and waved at the newcomers. Meryl came out of the barracks, and called out to them.
"I just finished setting up your guys' room." The dullahan beckoned for them to come inside the building. "Come and see."
"We get our own room?" Saralyn asked. From what they knew about the Order's time in Lescatie, they didn't seem like the type of people to give their soldiers individual rooms.
"Exciting, right? Besides, it would be very annoying to listen to your partners having sex constantly without any walls in between."
"Not sure if having walls helped that much…" Sinclair glared at Jordan and Naira. The two of them smirked back at the dark elf.
"Have trouble with us fulfilling our marital duties?"
Sinclair looked back at Adrian and Saralyn, shaking her head. "This is what I have to put up with. Promise the two of you will be better?"
"We'll try." Adrian promised.
"Good enough, I guess."
All of them entered the barracks. It was sparsely decorated, consisting of a hallway with four doors leading to the bedrooms, the kitchen, a small commons room, and a briefing room.
"Adrian and Saralyn, please follow me to the briefing room. The rest of you, you have an hour break until training starts again." Meryl ordered.
"Well, thanks for the extra break from training." Naira said as she and Jordan went to the commons room. Sinclair followed them, and Ava went to her room.
Adrian and Saralyn entered the briefing room, where Meryl was seated in front of a large pile of papers. "So, first question. Do you know what we do here?"
"No, we don't." Adrian shook his head.
"Well, the Peacekeepers were created as a result of the Quiet War. Whenever the Order and the Arms of the Matriarch try to kill each other, it's our job to try and stop that from happening. We're 'keeping the peace' by preventing huge battles from breaking out. Mainly through sneaking into their bases."
"Doesn't Lescatie's military already do that?"
"Well, we can mobilize faster and silently, plus our members don't immediately leave after they get a husband. At least the ones we have now."
"What happened?"
"About seventy-five percent of our members eloped after they found a husband during their missions. That's the problem with having mamono soldiers. Sinclair, Naira, Jordan, Ava, and now you two are the only ones left. That's why I train them so hard. There's less people to cover up their mistakes."
"I see. That does seem to be a recurring problem in Lescatie's military…" Adrian remarked.
"I don't have any choice but to let them go. Who am I to force a newly married couple to risk their lives by staying in the Peacekeepers? Still, it's upsetting when I lose someone particularly skilled. One time I had a mantis who was nearly perfect across the board. Then she found someone who struck her fancy, and vanished forever. That still hurts."
During her monologue, Adrian noticed something on Meryl's finger. A ring.
"Meryl, are you…?"
Meryl noticed him looking at her finger. The dullahan quickly put her hands on her lap where he couldn't see them.
"Why don't the two of you go spend some more time with the others?" She practically shooed them out of the room.
Adrian decided not to ask, out of respect.
Chapter 8b: All in Order
A powerful looking, serious man dressed in intimidating armor walked through the camp of the Order base, on his way to his superior's tent. His armor was covered in scratches and dents, but his face was completely unscathed. On his shoulder was a sheath, containing an ornate sword.
He passed by a fellow order soldier on his way to the office. The soldier took the opportunity to criticize him.
"Look who it is. Hero Marshall. You know, just because everything turned out well, doesn't mean you can just do whatever you want and ignore the plans I laid out for you."
"We got what we wanted from the Aperian outpost and more. If you have a problem with that, take it to my superior. I'm sure he'll be willing to listen to you."
"Go to hell, Marshall." The soldier shook his head.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Marshall entered the tent where his superior was waiting for him. He had an expression of equal parts impression and disappointment on his face.
"Kovalt Marshall, what am I supposed to do with you?"
"Keep me around, so I can keep doing good for the Faithful." Kovalt responded, irritated. Ever since he took out an entire Aperian outpost single handedly, the Order had done nothing but nag about him going off course.
"You know, you're lucky that you're so good in battle. Any other hero, and they would've been demoted to garrison duty for pulling the stuff you do." His superior sighed.
"It's a good thing I got all of these precious documents that the Aperian captain had on hand, right? Thanks to me, this mission's been a victory and more."
"I guess you're right."
"Uh huh."
"Just… at the very least, warn us before you go charging in like that. And try to be a bit more friendly to your fellow soldiers too. Anyways, we're going to be packing up this camp and leaving soon"
"Uh huh."
"You're dismissed." Kovalt left the tent, feeling annoyed. His superior was the only person who had any sort of sway over him. He believed that the extra documents that he retrieved from the Aperian captain would've excused him from going off course. He knew he was walking on thin ice. Everyone wanted him gone, but nobody was able to deny his record as a hero.
One-hundred and five missions against the mamono, and recently the city-state of Aperia and their allies, and he had come out victorious on all of them. He was a symbol of fear and awe in both his allies and his enemies.
Why the Chief God had never sent a valkyrie to be his partner perplexed him. Was it his reckless attitude? It paid off, most of the time. His motto was "No risk, no reward.", much to the displeasure of his allies. He could use a servant of the Chief God by his side.
Kovalt decided he was going to help tear down the camp. The sooner they got moving, the sooner he would be able to get back to his daughter. She was used to him leaving for extended periods of time, but he had been gone from home for much longer than usual this time. He wanted to cherish what little time they had together before he had to fulfill his hero's duty again.
Thirty days later
City of Monoghon
Thirty days. Thirty days he had been gone. Kovalt could not wait to rejoin his daughter. He had so many stories to tell about his time in the Order. She looked up to him not just as a father, but a role model as well. The ten year old girl loved hearing about his stories, and had expressed enthusiasm about becoming a hero for the Order.
He rushed down the streets of his home city, towards the home that had been given to him by the Order. Being a high ranking hero meant that they were able to live comfortably. They had given him anything he could have ever wished for, in exchange for his work. He wouldn't want to live any other way.
Finally reaching the porch of his house, Kovalt opened the door and entered the house. A spacious main hall decorated with beautiful looking paintings and lit by ornate candles greeted him. A servant was dusting off one of the paintings, and looked up from what she was doing to greet the man of the house.
"Hello, sir! Little Kari has been waiting for you for quite some time. She's been very excited for your return."
"Thank you, Sora. I'm excited to see her too." Kovalt ran upstairs to where Kari Marshall's room was, but Kari came out first.
"DADDY!" A little girl rushed out of her room, arms outstretched with a huge smile on her face. Kovalt opened his arms and hugged his daughter.
"I missed you so much!" Kari exclaimed
"I did too." Kovalt smiled.
"Can you tell me about your journeys? Where did you go? Did anything interesting happen?" Kari rambled on.
"Slow down, sweetie. We can talk all about it after I finish making dinner. I bet you're pretty hungry, aren't you?" Kari nodded.
"Alright. You run along now." Kari ran off to the playroom, excited to hear about Kovalt's time away. Kovalt smiled. Kari was truly the light of his life. Other than…
Kovalt stopped that train of thought before it began. Thinking about her mother always puts him in a bad mood. He was reminded of why he fought for the Order, his last promise to his wife, and making a better world for his daughter to live in.
Stories from survivors of Lescatie depicted monsterized children pouncing on their parents, and vice versa. Kovalt wondered how places like Zipangu or the Mist Continent knew that mamono would do such things. Kovalt had even purchased a book about mamono for the purpose of researching their strengths and weaknesses, and came across a section of the book which he would never forget.
"The whole family can become one, and experience bliss while having threesomes, or, on the other hand, the mother can treat even her own daughter as a rival and struggle over her husband in the same way as struggling with another monster over a man, vying for the husband by having sex. The desire for one's own father is not to be denied, and incest is never condemned."
Kovalt burnt the book and spent several days praying to the Chief God to wash his mind of the horrible things he had read in the book. He vowed to never buy any reading material from monster-tolerant territory ever again.
Pushing aside his hateful thoughts towards mamono, he busied himself by cooking dinner for Kari. His worries slowly drifted away as the two of them engaged in enthusiastic conversation about his work as a hero.
Five years ago
"Catalina, just stay with me. Everything's going to be ok. The priest is going to get rid of the corruption. Just push away the dirty thoughts. Pray to the Chief God." Kovalt carried his wife in his hands to the church. He himself sent a prayer to the Chief God, begging her to save his wife from the transformation.
Everything had been fine. The two of them had taken a walk through a forest. It was always so serene, so peaceful. They had never expected a pack of werewolves to be hiding in the darkness, waiting to add another member to their pack. Kovalt had managed to scare them off, but not before one of them scratched his wife.
Kovalt practically broke the doors to the church as he rushed in. A priest looked up from what he was doing in shock and surprise.
"HELP US!" Kovalt screamed. The priest grabbed Catalina from Kovalt's hands and laid her down on a large table.
"No, no, no… It's too late…" The priest muttered as he put his hands to his mouth.
"What?!"
The priest didn't respond to Kovalt. He quickly uttered a prayer to the Chief God.
"Kovalt… what's happening to me… I feel… weird…" Catalina Marshall laid on her back. Dark gray fur had begun appearing on her arms and legs, and her fingernails were in the process of morphing into claws. Her ears had turned from rounded to triangular, and a bushy tail had begun to poke out from her hind legs.
"Can't you help her?!" Screamed Kovalt at a priest.
"She's too far gone. We have to put her down."
"Bullshit! You can't do anything for her?!"
"Like I said, she's too far gone!" The priest began channeling holy magic through his hands, and he slammed his fist into the half-transformed werewolf Catalina's stomach.
Unfortunately for the priest, the holy magic wasn't enough to end the werewolf's life. Catalina jumped up, clutching her stomach in pain. She burst through the doors of the church, and out onto the streets. Kovalt and the priest gave chase, sprinting as fast as they could after her.
Thirty minutes later, they had lost sight of her. She was nowhere to be found. The priest had presumed Catalina to be dead, stating that the wound from the punch would be enough to finish her off. Kovalt was left to grieve over the loss of his wife.
"God damn it…" Kovalt said to no one in particular. Fucking mamono spreading their 'love' and their 'pleasure' and their 'happiness'. We were fine as humans, yet they feel the need to spread their unholy 'gift' to everyone they can get their hands on! Kovalt felt something wet fall from his eye, and onto the ground.
He slammed his fist into the ground, causing a small crack to appear in the path. His hand was bleeding, but he didn't care at all. I'll kill them… I'll kill them all! I'll show them that they can't just go around corrupting as they please! Mark my words, Catalina, they WILL pay. Feeling renewed from his goal of revenge, he pulled himself up and began walking back home.
He reached his home, but there was someone waiting for him on the porch. Kari Marshall, his daughter.
"Daddy… Where's mommy?"
"..." Kovalt had no idea how to respond.
Kovalt awakened in a cold sweat. It was all a nightmare. He sat up in his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"Chief God, why didn't you help her…" He heard no response. Perhaps he already knew the answer; perhaps the Chief God's method of saving her was giving the priest the holy magic needed to kill her.
He got up from his bed, and put on his clothes. He decided that some fresh air would help him take his mind off things.
Exiting the house, he began walking. The city was rather quiet, it was cool outside, and stars dotted the clear skies. It would have been beautiful to anyone else, but he was unable to appreciate the serenity. Eventually, he came to that forest. He lived on the outskirts of Monoghon, so he was able to reach it within a few minutes of walking. Going deeper, he came across a tree with a gash across the trunk.
Painful memories surfaced from a dark part of his mind. Turning away from the tree trunk, he began to walk back towards his house.
Aperia
Cassiel sat in her personal chambers in Aperia, looking into the mirror. Her wings drooped, and her halo barely glowed. She couldn't take it any more.
Eleven kills. Eleven people that simply had to die because they were supporting someone that was abusing their power for their own profit without them knowing. In Raniel and the rest of her squad's words, "there was no other way".
Cassiel thought back to the Fallen God's offer. She was genuinely questioning her allegiance to Ophelia and Aperia. Were they any better than the Order? Were they worse? Cassiel pondered to herself.
"Do you wish for my help?" A disembodied voice spoke. Cassiel immediately knew who it was.
"I'm thinking about it."
"Having a change of heart, little angel?" The Fallen God asked, curiously.
"I said, I'm thinking about it. Besides, you tried to corrupt me against my will."
"You've been thinking about it for a bit for a while now. People who don't deserve to die, are dying. Isn't this what you wanted to prevent?" The Fallen God questioned.
"I'm not ready for the entirety of Aperia to turn on me because I accepted power from their worst enemy. Besides, how can you guarantee that I won't lose my mind from lust when I become a dark angel?" Cassiel's mind shivered at all of the things that Ophelia and Raniel had told her about dark angels. Single-minded beasts constantly seeking pleasure, with no regards for anything else. They had described Pandemonium as a horrifying void of nothingness where all the inhabitants did was have sex for all eternity.
"I could prevent such things from happening. And what Ophelia told you about me is wrong." said the Fallen God, sounding slightly hurt.
The backdrop of her room faded out and gave way to a large, open plain with dark purple skies filled with black clouds. Dark angels, valkyries, and priests dotted the fields, all fornicating without a care in the world. Cassiel panicked, immediately trying to cover herself up as if that would stop the corruption from entering her body.
"Where did you take me?!"
"To Pandemonium, my dimension."
"Send me back! I don't want to be here!"
"Not yet, little angel. I want to get rid of those nasty misconceptions that Ophelia planted in your head about Pandemonium. Do not fret, your purity is safe. You will not be corrupted, I have made sure of it." The Fallen God explained. Cassiel slowly relaxed, taking several deep breaths.
"Fine."
Cassiel slowly explored the dimension, wary of everything she saw. None of the dark angels, valkyries, or priests paid her any mind. Despite being given immunity to the corruption of Pandemonium, she still felt incredibly uncomfortable.
As she walked through the dimension, she saw buildings, shops. Surprised, she went over to investigate. Beings controlled purely by lust didn't seem like the type of people to run a business. Upon closer examination, most of them were empty, but some of them had mamono inside. There were even mamono restocking the shelves, working.
"Surprised? We aren't what you think we are. We aren't entirely dominated by lust, we just enjoy feeling it." The Fallen God explained.
Cassiel didn't know how to react. Her entire perception of the Fallen God had turned upside down. She began to question what Ophelia had been teaching her. Maybe the Fallen God and her followers weren't so bad after all.
"You're saying… I can retain control of my mind if I become dark?"
"Of course you can. You don't have to go to Pandemonium if you don't want to. You don't even have to swear loyalty to me." Visions of the real world replaced Pandemonium.
Cassiel was suddenly in a small cottage, near a river. A dark valkyrie and her husband were sitting together on a sofa, reading a book together. In the dark valkyrie's hands, was an infant dark valkyrie, with small black wings just barely poking out from her back. Again, none of them paid any attention to Cassiel. On the wall was Aperia's badge, given to members of the country's military. She recognized it.
"Milner…? Danik?" Her words fell on deaf ears. They continued reading, without even looking up at her.
"This could be you…"
Cassiel was having trouble processing everything. "Take me back to Aperia." She requested the Fallen God. In an instant, she was suddenly back in her room. Nothing had changed since she had last left.
"After everything I've shown you, do you still oppose my influence?"
"...No." Cassiel had a hard time getting a single word to come out of her mouth. Everything felt real. The Fallen God wasn't lying. She couldn't believe what was happening.
"Good!" The Fallen God's voice took on a cheery tone. "Now, for my next question… Do you want to become a dark angel?"
Cassiel didn't respond. She stayed silent for almost two minutes, pondering her decision. If she turned dark, she would be branded as a traitor to Aperia. Raniel and her teammates would all hate her. At best, she would be exiled. At worst, she would be killed. If she stayed pure, which didn't seem possible at this point unless she called out to Ophelia for help, she wouldn't be able to stop Aperia from killing innocents.
She made her choice.
"I want to become a dark angel."
"I am glad to hear that. Don't worry, Ophelia won't interfere this time. I've made sure of it."
The feeling Cassiel had when the Fallen God had first tried to influence her returned, only stronger. She collapsed to the ground, sweating and breathing hard.
"Don't worry, it will be over soon." The Fallen God reassured her.
About thirty seconds later, it was done. Cassiel's skin had been dyed a rich looking blue, her wings turned jet black, and her halo glowed a bright pink. She felt a rush of energy through her body, and she quickly stood up.
"Now that I have saved you, I want to ask a favor of you."
"I thought you said I didn't have to help you." The newly transformed dark angel responded, irritated.
"Cassiel, we have mutual goals. Aperia has long been an anathema to my teachings and core values, despite the fact that I just want to help them. You hate that they're killing innocent people. We have mutual goals. Unless… you have some you love, then you're more than welcome to not help me." The Fallen God explained.
"I don't love anyone in particular…" Cassiel admitted. Her work with Raniel ensured that she would never really be able to establish a connection with a man. Besides, her fear of the Fallen God prevented her from ever trying to. "So that's why you chose me?"
"Out of every angel I have saved, you seem the most driven. You want to help Aperia. Save it."
"I guess you're right…"
"So come on then, Cassiel. We have work to do and people to save."
