Chapter 7a: Our New Home
Adrian crouched next to the doorway, holding his breath. He could hear voices and objects hitting the ground coming from outside of the room. The Order soldiers were searching for him everywhere they could, flipping over tables, opening doors and cabinets. Mixed in with the sounds of conflict were gunshots from Saralyn, fighting her own battle outside.
He couldn't deny that he was scared. He had zero combat experience and he was going up against three Order soldiers on his own. Every other situation he had been in, he had either won because of sheer luck or because he had help.
"Check the other bedroom." Adrian heard from right outside the room. The doorknob began to squeak as the door slowly swung open. Adrian leapt from his hiding spot and kicked the door as hard as he could, sending the visitor to the ground with a loud thud of metal hitting wood and a cry of shock. Adrian kicked the soldier's weapon to the side and grabbed the man and held his realm silver sword to his neck.
"Don't move if you want to live." He told the Order soldier. The frightened man nodded his head the best he could. The two of them stepped into view of the other two Order soldiers.
"Drop your weapons or he dies!" Adrian yelled at them, brandishing his sword against the man's neck. The two of them looked at each other. They tried to flank Adrian, but a slight press of his sword into the man's neck convinced them to back off.
"You bastard… Taking one of our friends hostage?! Are you devoid of honor?" One of the bolder soldiers asked. "We should've killed you the moment we had you captured!"
"Too bad you didn't. Drop your swords, and put your hands against the wall. Or your friend dies." Adrian said in his most intimidating voice.
"J-just do what he says, okay? I don't want to die. I have a wife back home, alright?" Adrian's hostage stuttered nervously.
"Do what your friend says. For his and his wife's sake." Adrian muttered coldly to the hostage's allies. The two Order soldiers finally did what he asked of them. Reluctantly, the two of them dropped their swords to the ground, two loud clangs ringing throughout the ruined house. They stood against a wall and put their hands above their heads. Adrian slowly dragged his hostage out of the house.
"And stay put! Or else he dies!" The surrendered men let out a shout of frustration.
Turning around, he saw Saralyn about to enter the house, stopping abruptly when she saw his husband holding a hostage. She looked at Adrian with an expression of disappointment on her face. Adrian responded with a shrug.
"Not very honorable of you to be taking hostages…" Saralyn mumbled.
"What? I was outmatched. No time for honor when the cards are against you."
"Whatever. Are the other two okay? I really want to get out of this damn forest already. It's making me lose my mind."
"Alright, we leave as soon as we deal with the hostages. Say, realm silver doesn't actually hurt the targets but incapacitates them, right Saralyn?" Adrian asked. He needed to make sure the hostage knew he wasn't going to die.
"Yeah. That's right."
"Good…Don't worry, this won't hurt. You heard the lady." Adrian dealt what would've been a killing blow to the hostage, letting him crumple to the ground. Saralyn looked down at the unconscious soldier for a second, shaking her head and moving to the house.
"Hello?! What more do you want from us?!" One of the soldiers asked. "Can we go n-" Two gunshots rang out as Saralyn silenced the remaining two Order soldiers with two rounds of realm silver.
"Let's get going. I've dealt with enough Order soldiers to last me a lifetime. We've got to let Lescatie know about what we found in that prison as soon as possible." Adrian called out to Saralyn, expecting a response. Instead he got silence. "Saralyn? Is everything alright there?"
Adrian quickly re-entered the house only to hear a scream and another gunshot. Saralyn was leaning against one of the cabinets, grasping her leg and seething in pain. A sword laid next to one of the Order soldier's hands, the tip covered in blood. Saralyn looked up at Adrian and cracked a pained smile as he rushed over to her.
"What happened?!"
"Looks like you're not the only one who's using underhanded tactics." Saralyn spoke through gritted teeth, her voice strained. "One of them pretended to be stunned. They managed to get a good cut on my leg. I'm losing a lot of blood here."
"I'll try and find something. Keep the wound covered and try to stop any more blood from leaking out." Adrian rushed around the house, eventually finding a towel on the floor in Sharon's bedroom, having been knocked off the towel rack by one of the intruders. He quickly scooped it up and brought it to Saralyn, wrapping it tightly around the dhampir's leg wound.
"Better?"
"Slightly… I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to walk."
"Don't worry, I'll carry you if it comes to that." Saralyn gave Adrian another pained smile.
"Thank you. But I think I can walk on one leg if you help me." Adrian nodded and wrapped Saralyn's arm around his shoulder. The two of them left Sharon's house and set off towards Aliville.
The forest was alive with the sounds of insects… and the sounds of yelling. It turns out that the group that had ambushed them at the house wasn't alone. In the distance, Adrian could see the yellow glow of torches as another group of Order soldiers began advancing towards the house. If they saw them, they were done for.
"Keep going. Faster. I know it hurts, but if we get caught, we'll be dead." Adrian warned Saralyn. She seemed to put a little more effort into her walking, moving just a little bit faster. Sharon's house disappeared into the fog of the forest, no doubt being fully controlled by the Order at this point.
"Don't have to tell me twice…" Saralyn grunted as she limped on. Adrian could tell she was already getting tired.
After another thirty minutes of walking, Saralyn was walking even slower than before. Adrian scanned the nearby area for any Order soldiers. There was nobody in the immediate area and he couldn't hear anyone. Thankfully, they had reached the edge of the forest, and if Adrian's timing was correct it would take them another thirty minutes to get to the town.
Saralyn finally collapsed against a tree, sighing. She gingerly felt the area around the towel on her leg, wincing in pain as she tried pressing on it.
"I feel dizzy Adrian… We need to stop. Please. We're far enough away from the Order." Saralyn begged. Adrian nodded. With a great deal of strength he lifted Saralyn up in a bridal carry and began searching for an area that had somewhat soft grass. Saralyn touched his cheek with her hand, smiling ever so slightly.
"Save it for when we aren't being hunted down, alright?" Adrian whispered to her as he laid her down on the grass. "Get some rest. I'll wake you up if we get spotted. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
Saralyn nodded, closing her eyes. Adrian was tired but refused to rest, instead opting to lay as low as he could to listen for the sounds of their hunters. He did this for hours, not hearing anything. The Order soldiers must've gone in the wrong direction when searching for them, Adrian deduced. For once he was grateful that every tree in the forest looked the same.
Waves of fatigue washed over him. His eyes began to droop. With a yawn, laid down and tried to get some rest.
A couple hours later, Adrian still hadn't fallen asleep. Saralyn on the other hand was fast asleep, snoring loudly. Adrian decided to spend his time staring up at the stars, thinking about everything. He still hadn't seen Sharon. He wondered if she was looking for her, or if she was even alive. After a few hours of doing nothing, Adrian's thoughts were broken by Saralyn's voice. He quickly turned towards her.
"Adrian…Blood…" she whispered quietly, probably afraid that someone would hear her.
"What? Now?"
"I want to drink some of your blood. It might calm the both of us down. I'm not in any condition to have sex right now, but I can do this."
"Alright, fine." He exposed part of his neck to her.
Saralyn slowly bit down on his neck. Both of them slowly relaxed, with Saralyn eyes narrowing in pleasure. Both of them forgot their current predicament and enjoyed themselves quietly. Saralyn eventually stopped after about fifteen seconds. Clearly, she had listened to Adrian when he asked her to control herself when she first started drinking his blood.
"Finally learned some self control?" Adrian teased her with a smile.
"You know I couldn't control myself the first time. Your blood tastes amazing. All the other dhampirs don't know what they're missing out on. They always insist that sucking blood is disgraceful." she smiles back.
"Yeah, well, they're not doing their husbands any favors." Adrian turned towards Saralyn's wound. "How's the wound? Does it still hurt?"
Saralyn cautiously reached out her hand to touch the towel. "It doesn't hurt anymore but it's starting to feel numb. Is that a bad thing?"
"Not sure. We need to get you to Aliville as soon as possible, that's all I know."
"Agreed. Thanks for the blood, though. I feel a bit better now." Saralyn sighed. The two of them tried to get some more rest for the remainder of the journey to Aliville. Adrian's rest was once again interrupted by sounds of people talking. Saralyn quickly snapped to attention, staying quiet and looking around.
"Search everywhere! They've got to be around here somewhere!" A voice yelled.
No! Not when we were this close! Adrian thought to himself as he wracked his brain for a way out. The only option was for them to lay as flat as possible and hope that the Order wouldn't see them. The talking grew louder, before someone finally stumbled upon their hiding spot.
"We found him! Sharon, come over here!"
Sharon…?
Adrian quickly got up, startling the poor search party member. "Sharon? Did you say Sharon?"
"Yes. She's here. She came to our town and basically collapsed in the streets of exhaustion. When she came to, she said that we needed to look for you." The man turned towards Saralyn. "Who's she?" He asked confusedly.
"Long story. But she needs healing. Her leg has been messed up pretty badly during an encounter with Order soldiers and she can't walk without my help." A familiar face came bounding out from the trees.
Sharon stopped in front of Adrian, almost ramming him to the ground. "Adrian! Thank god you're okay!"
Adrian felt a massive weight being lifted off his shoulders. "I'm glad to see that you're okay too. Listen, my wife here-"
"Wife?! You're married now?! Oh, I'm so proud of you-"
"Not now! She needs help! She got hurt badly by an Order soldier. Her left leg is completely busted. I practically had to carry her out of the forest."
"Not true…" Saralyn smirked.
"Oh. Of course." She kneeled next to Saralyn. Sharon's horn began to glow white as a shimmering beam of light flew from into Saralyn's leg. Adrian couldn't see the healing process but after a few seconds Saralyn immediately stood up. She tore the towel off her leg, revealing it to be completely healed.
Saralyn held her hand out to Sharon. "Thank you so much. My name is Saralyn, by the way. Adrian told me about you. He was worried sick about you."
"I figured. You're lucky, having him as your husband." Saralyn smiled and nodded.
"If you don't mind me asking, do you guys have transportation to Aliville, or are we going to have to walk there?" Adrian inquired.
"We've got a couple horses. You two can always ride on my back if you want…"
"N-no thanks… I'll just take the wagon."
"Your loss." Sharon waved toward the search party member that had discovered Adrian and Saralyn. "Damien, get the wagon. Tell them we found what we were looking for." The man ran off, returning a minute later with a horse drawn wagon.
"Get inside, let's get moving." Adrian and Saralyn both climbed inside the wagon as it began moving towards Aliville.
"You know, the moment Sharon woke up, she immediately started to make a rescue party for you." The driver said to them from outside the wagon. Adrian recognized him as the shopkeeper he had spoken to just a day prior. "I thought you were dead for sure. But then you just turn up out of nowhere, and with a wife too. Lucky."
"Listen. The Order had the balls to move in right next door to Aliville. They've been running some seriously screwed up projects right under our noses in some prison in the middle of the forest. Me and Saralyn here are going to try and get to Lescatie to warn them about what's going on and get some help." Adrian explained his plan to the shopkeeper.
"Not to boast, but our town guard is quite formidable. You could just point us toward this prison and let us fuck up the Order. Are you sure you need to get Lescatie involved?" The shopkeeper asked. Adrian remembered his conversations with the locals; Aliville didn't bend to the extremists or the Order.
"This is bigger than just one prison. There are hundreds of prisons just like the one all over the world. We need Lescatie's help. They're the perfect people for this situation." Saralyn explained. "Oh, and we did your work for you already. We started a prison uprising. It's completely overrun by monsters now." She continued, a tone of pride and self satisfaction in her voice.
"That's impressive. Anyways, we're going to be at Aliville soon. The two of you are free to stay at the hotel for the night, so make yourself at home. Sharon paid for you, but I'm not sure about your wife."
"I'm sure the hotel will make a compromise."
Adrian entered the room after a long conversation with Sharon involving what he and Saralyn had come across in the prison, as well as scheduling a ride to Lescatie. The unicorn was sad to see him go, but she fully understood his reasoning.
The first that he noticed was that Saralyn was on the bed, completely naked. For some reason, she looked even more attractive than she did before. There was a basket with pink fruits in it sitting on the bed with her.
"I see you're in the mood again." Adrian remarked. He pointed towards the basket of pink fruits. "Where did you get these?"
"Come on. I missed last night. I need to make up for it! We're married now, you can't just expect a mamono to go a day without having sex. I was walking past so many married couples and I got all flustered…"
She then pushed the basket of pink fruits towards him. "They're called prisoner fruits. They taste absolutely amazing. I nearly ate the entire basket while you were gone. They also… changed me, to say the least. Notice anything different?"
"You look better." Adrian smiled at her.
"Better is an understatement." She looked even sexier than she did before eating the fruits. This also made him realize he was married to her. Sex counted as marriage for mamono. And he was completely fine with it. It felt natural, like they had been together already. Adrian now understood why every person in the streets holding hands with a mamono looked so happy.
Adrian took out one of the fruits from the basket and bit down into it. It was the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted. He could get addicted to it. Needing even more, he quickly swallowed it and reached for another one.
"Good, right?"
After devouring about ten of the fruits, Adrian began feeling very hot and bothered whenever he looked at Saralyn. She grinned back. "Ready?" she asked. Adrian nodded.
Both of them completely stripped naked, Saralyn taking extra long, making an act out of undressing. It only aroused Adrian further. She finally finished, and beckoned for him to come with a single finger.
His penis was already hard due to the amount of mamono mana that was in the prisoner fruits. Adrian jumped onto the bed, and shoved his dick into Saralyn's mouth. She let out a muffled cry of surprise, but the way her eyes narrowed in pleasure told him that she was enjoying it. Adrian began moving his hips back and forth as fast as he could.
After about thirty seconds, Adrian felt that he was approaching his limit. Saralyn began bobbing her head up and down faster and faster, eager for what was about to happen. He could've sworn he heard her say "Give it to me!" but it was too muffled for him to be sure.
The floodgates opened, and he let out an enormous amount of semen into her mouth. Adrian's vision went purely white for a second. Saralyn let out a moan of pleasure and happiness as she released her mouth from his cock.
Strangely, he noticed that it was still hard. Must be the fruit, he thought. Saralyn gazed at him with a mixed expression of lust and love. She held her arms out to him for a hug and kiss, and he accepted without hesitating.
Both of their lips touched. Electricity ran through Adrian's head the moment they made contact. The dhampir's tongue practically tied itself with his, coiling around it, circling it. It made the taste of prisoner fruit from earlier feel bland to him in comparison. Both of them stayed there for an indeterminable amount of time. As far as Adrian was concerned, Saralyn was the only other person in the world.
Eventually, she withdrew herself. "You know what happens next, right?" she said breathlessly. She lied on her back, and presented her womanhood to me. Adrian slowly slid herself into her, Saralyn letting out a very loud cry of happiness.
On his knees, Adrian began thrusting back and forth into her, and out of her. Both of them let out moans and grunts of pleasure. "I love you." Saralyn managed to gasp out in between moans.
"I do too." Adrian said.
Saralyn looked like she was in heaven when he said that. She began thrusting upwards incredibly hard, rocketing pleasure throughout his entire body. Eventually he couldn't take any more of it, and with a loud cry, he released inside her.
"Ahhhhhhhh…" she breathed out. "You don't even know how good that felt… How about I repay you?"
Adrian nodded, eager to continue. They had started at around mid afternoon, and by the time they finished, it was mid afternoon, again.
One week later
Adrian had learned that the earliest trip to Lescatie would take a week to get to Aliville, but he wasn't complaining. He and Saralyn had enjoyed themselves while waiting, both non-sexually and sexually. He had even begun to notice improvements in his stamina and strength, like being able to run faster and lift heavier objects. Saralyn was overjoyed to hear that, saying that he had become a full incubus.
The two of them had come to the Aliville depot. The ride to Lescatie had finally arrived. Sharon had visited them one last time to wish them well on their journey.
"The two of you stay safe. Best of luck on your adventures." The unicorn said as the wagon set off, waving as she disappeared in the distance. Adrian got comfortable, leaning against Saralyn's shoulder.
Ten days into the trip
Adrian and Saralyn had stopped in a small town along the route to Lescatie. Both of them entered over to a small shop that sold weapons and armor for adventurers, run by a cyclops. Saralyn argued with the cyclops for a lower price on a box of realm silver bullets, while Adrian mindlessly perused the shop, bored.
While looking around, something caught Adrian's eye. There was a black hat with a single red feather on top of it. Sharon had given him the encyclopedia to take with him on the trip to read, and Adrian recalled that this was the hat that the dhampir was wearing in the profile.
Adrian grabbed the hat off the shelf and brought it to Saralyn, who had finished arguing with the cyclops. "I was thinking of buying this for you. Does it look pretty?"
Saralyn put the hat on and looked into a nearby mirror. "Wow, this looks better on me than I thought. Let's buy it!"
"You look great. I saw the dhampir in the encyclopedia wearing it, so I thought you might like it."
Both of them held hands, and walked out of the shop back to the wagon.
Twenty days into the trip
Lescatie
They had finally arrived at Lescatie. The anubis and her husband that had driven them there said goodbye to Saralyn and Adrian and went their own separate ways. Saralyn and Adrian sat comfortably in their new house, generously provided to them by an high ranking demon of the extremist faction.
"We're finally here." Adrian sat down, exhausted.
Saralyn entered the room, looking excited. "Good news. I found a mindflayer who is willing to help us with our amnesia. We'll go tomorrow. We can finally get our memories back! Isn't that exciting!?"
"I'm looking forward to it. It's high time we finally remember our pasts."
"Me too. Let's go to bed, we have a long day tomorrow." Saralyn walked towards the bedroom, Adrian followed close behind. Eager.
For once, both of them woke up at the same time. Adrian had chosen to end their nightly sex earlier than usual, with Saralyn begrudgingly accepting. Adrian enjoyed sleeping on a comfortable bed for once as opposed to outside, or in a cramped wagon.
They heard a knock on the door. They had arranged for the mindflayer to come to their house. Saralyn and Adrian quickly threw on their clothes, and answered the door. A pink-skinned mindflayer wearing a white coat stood outside.
"Hello? Saralyn and Adrian?" The mindflayer asked.
"That's us. You said you can help us recover our memories."
"Correct. I've helped many people struggling with mental issues. This should be easy." The mindflayer smiled reassuringly. "Please sit down so I can begin."
Adrian sat down on their bed, with the mindflayer sitting down next to him.
"Just lay down, and we'll get started. Don't worry, it won't hurt." The mindflayer took out her tentacles, and inserted them into his ears.
Adrian kept hearing weird squishing noises. It didn't hurt, but he felt very strange. His body began heating up.
"What's going on?!" Saralyn noticed Adrian's skin glowing orange faintly. A feeling of dread replaced the excitement she was feeling over regaining her memories. Adrian's skin began glowing brighter and brighter until…
"Get back!" Saralyn yelled as she pulled the mindflayer away from Adrian. There was a flash of red and orange light. His vision went bright yellow for a second, then stopped.
When he regained his sight, everything was on fire. The entire room had been engulfed in flames. Saralyn and the mindflayer had hidden behind an overturned table, and peeked out. Saralyn grabbed Adrian, and the three of them bolted out of the house.
"So what happened this morning?" A demon asked the two of them.
"I was suffering from amnesia. So we called a mindflayer to try and cure it, but something happened. My body began feeling incredibly hot. Next thing I know, everything is on fire." Adrian explained.
"I see… My best guess is that you're both being affected by a highly reactive memory-curse. One that negatively reacts to attempts to remove it."
"..." Adrian and Saralyn were both silent.
"Either way, until we can find a way to remove it without triggering it, or we can find the person who cursed the two of you, I suggest that you two start a new life. I've cleared both of your names, so neither of you will get in trouble for this incident. I've also found a new house for the two of you." She handed out a slip of paper with an address on it.
"Best of luck to you two." The demon waved as they left the office.
Adrian and Saralyn both walked to their new home, deep in thought.
"A new life, huh…" Adrian thought to himself.
Chapter 7b: A Betrayal of Trust
Thirty-one years ago
Raniel examined the Order's newly captured land. The skies of the mamono realm had given way to clear blue skies, and the mamono realm flora crumbled into dust as the mamono mana that gave them life faded away.
At her feet, was an injured succubus. She had covered her eyes and was sobbing. "Go on, then. Finish her. We've got a celebration party to get to." A voice from behind Raniel shouted.
Raniel stared at the succubus, then back at the captured land. What was the point of this? What did we gain? She thought to herself. The mamono realm was relatively small scale. Many of the inhabitants hadn't expected to be raided by the Order, so none of them had been prepared for the attack. She could think of no tactical advantage this land had, nor any resources it contained. The inhabitants didn't have any ill intentions towards the Order, and just wanted to live peacefully. They didn't even manage to capture most of the inhabitants; All they did was force them from their homes.
Raniel made a choice. One that would affect her life forever. "Play dead." She whispered to the succubus. The succubus was shocked but complied nonetheless.
Footsteps came up behind her. "Did you hear me? I told you to finish her off." Her assigned hero said to her.
"Already done." Raniel pointed at the "dead" succubus in front of her.
"Good. Let's get back to base. I've got a party to go to and women to meet." Her hero turned away and left.
As soon as Raniel knew he was gone, she kneeled next to the succubus, and began healing her injuries. "Run away." She said to her.
The succubus didn't need to be told twice. She nodded and sped off towards where the rest of the inhabitants fled to. Raniel watched her disappear into the horizon. She sighed, and began flying back to their outpost.
"Raniel, go get me some more wine." Her hero slurred as he waved his glass around in front of her. People celebrated the fall of the mamono realm all around her. Everyone except her.
"Don't you think you've had enou-"
"Just do it. You're here to serve me drinks and look pretty." Raniel slowly nodded and took the glass to the bar.
She hated this place. She hated these people. What am I doing here? She thought to herself. This was not what she envisioned being a holy companion to a hero would be like. She stared back at her hero. He had started out fine when they had first met, but over time, the victories over the mamono changed him for the worse. The money and gifts that townspeople had showered him with had corrupted him. Ironic, considering his job was to fight
He wasn't even that good of a hero. Raniel recalled a time where he all but hid behind her as she faced off against a hellhound during battle.
"Chief God, why did you give this man your blessing?" She murmured under her breath, trying to ask her god for answers. There was silence. Defeated, she refilled the wine glass and brought it back to him.
"Good girl." He got up, and went to where his friends were talking amongst each other. But as he walked over to them, Raniel saw something fall out of his pocket. It was a letter. Raniel picked it up, looked around, and made the decision to read it.
Dear Nathaniel,
Life has never been better. I barely have to do anything during battle, my new friend practically takes care of everything for me. I have so much money I have no idea what to do with it. This is brilliant, I've been getting more fame and political power by the day. Soon I'll be able to take my money and get out of this shithole, and live somewhere nice for the rest of my life. You're welcome to come with me if you like. -Julian.
Raniel stared at the letter in shock. Shock turned to anger, anger turned to rage. How could he do this to her?! He was right, she practically did take care of everything for him. She made another decision. Pushing aside her obedience for the Chief God, she began plotting.
"Julian."
"Yes, Raniel, what is it?"
"I need you to come with me. Chief God's orders."
"Fine." Julian got off his lavish chair and followed her outside.
"We'll need to fly somewhere. Hold on to me."
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see." Raniel gripped Julian and began flying to a nearby cliff.
After a couple minutes, Raniel set Julian down near the edge of the cliff.
"Are you going to tell me what we're going to do?" Raniel began mentally preparing herself.
"I'm going to give you something you deserve." She quickly shoved him off of the cliff. He screamed in fear and anger as he plummeted to the ground below. Raniel peered over the edge and heard a crack when he hit the ground.
She flew down to his body, only to find that he was still alive. His heroic blessing had saved him. "Why…?" He choked out.
Raniel didn't see it fit to give him an answer. She took out her sword, and plunged it down into his chest, killing him. Putting away her sword, she began walking. She didn't know where she was going, all that she knew was that she had to get away from here.
It had been a year since she had betrayed her hero. Since then, the inhabitants of the mamono realm they had raided had come back for revenge, converting the hero's city into their new home. One of the Order's major cities, Lescatie, had also fallen. She had reason to suspect it was because of Chief God's negligence.
She had no regrets about what she had done. Out of curiosity, she tried to speak to the Chief God.
"Chief God, you're a terrible leader. Your heroes are terrible people, and you barely care about your followers. You couldn't even beat the Mamono Lord and her husband. You couldn't stop Lescatie from falling. You're an incompetent, clumsy, and weak failure of a god."
No answer. Figures, she thought to herself. But suddenly, she heard a voice in her head.
"Color me impressed."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Ophelia. And I have to say, not many angels have the guts to pull off what you did to your hero. Many of them just go crying to the Chief God for answers. Not like she gives any, of course."
"So, why are you here?"
"I'm here because we share beliefs. The Chief God has to go." Ophelia spoke proudly.
"What can the two of us do to her?"
"That's where you're wrong. It's not just the two of us. Thousands of Heaven's inhabitants all want the Chief God off her throne, and for good reason. I've been planning something. We're going to set this world on the right path. Are you with me?"
"Let me think." Raniel sat down.
"Oh, come on. Surely overthrowing a incompetent, clumsy, weak failure of a god is a better use of your time than wandering the world without a purpose?"
She was right. Raniel didn't have a purpose. She had gotten rid of the one thing that gave her purpose.
"Count me in."
"I knew you'd make the right choice. Welcome back to Heaven, Raniel. You'll make for a good assassin." A bright white light enveloped Raniel's body as she was transported back to Heaven.
Order City of Arcani
The two priests both wished each other goodnight and went to bed. The oldest of the two, Henry Serrano, yawned, exhausted from the day's work. Keeping everything unsavory under wraps was a time consuming, nerve-wracking job. But it paid off immensely. His family constantly thanked him for all of the luxurious gifts he and his twin sister were able to provide them with, even if some of them were slightly suspicious as to how they got such expensive items from.
He and his sister Audrey had just gotten done with a speech to the people. The two siblings did talk to each other in private afterwards, and while they felt guilty about lying to the people so much, they both agreed that anyone else in their position would've done the same and that they just cared for their family.
The middle aged man greeted the maid and walked up the stairs to his bedroom. He entered the lavishly decorated room, took off his clothes and jumped into bed. Despite his best efforts, after a few hours he couldn't fall asleep. He used some of his limited magical ability to turn on a few of the candles, grabbed a book and began reading.
"I'm not surprised, Henry. The guilt of your actions keeps you up at night."
Henry nearly had a heart attack. He frantically looked around the room, looking for the source of the voice. His eyes fell on a figure in the darkness, just barely illuminated by the candles. It looked like a valkyrie. But what would a valkyrie want with him? They only appeared to heroes, as far as he knew.
"A–a-an valkyrie of the Chief God? How can I be of service to you, your grace?" The man stuttered.
"Drop the formalities. I know what you've been doing."
Henry tried to scream for his guards to come help him, but nobody came. The consequences of trying to arrest a holy messenger would've stopped him any other time but now. He tried to get up and run out of the room, but the doorknob refused to budge. He pulled it as hard as he could, but it barely moved.
"For your information, I don't serve that useless fool anymore." Henry turned around, seeing the angel standing right behind him. A hand grasped his throat, lifting up into the air against the wall. He kicked the valkyrie as hard as he could, but they refused to move. His movements became weaker and weaker, eventually stopping altogether. The valkyrie dragged the corpse back to the bed, and pulled the blanket over him.
Audrey Serrano opened her eyes. Morning already? She thought to herself. She looked out the curtains. It was still dark outside. Leaving her room, she decided to go to her kitchen and get some water before getting some extra sleep before having to wake up for real.
She passed by her brother's bedroom. It was completely silent in there; Usually, he snored so loudly that she could faintly hear it from her room. Shrugging it off, she walked to her spacious kitchen.
She kept a small personal basin full of water in the kitchen to drink from during nights like these. Grabbing a glass from a nearby cabinet, she began to fill it up when someone grabbed her by the back of her neck and shoved her into the water. She frantically tried to push herself out of the basin, but couldn't. Managing to turn her head slightly, all she could see from the outside was a murky image of an angel.
Everything went dark for her shortly afterward.
Raniel opened her eyes. It was not often that valkyries slept, but she decided that she needed a little shut-eye to wind down after her last mission. The targets had been dealt with swiftly and quietly. Nobody had seen anything.
The twin priests had just got done doing a speech of their own. Raniel had listened to them spew lies and propaganda under the guise of "protecting the people", and portraying Aperia as criminals and traitors. It all disgusted her. How dare they act like they care about their citizens, when all they care about is lining their own pockets?! Raniel had thought to herself. If anything, she believed she was doing the people of Arcani a favor. Once they were under the Matriarch's rule, they wouldn't be suffering.
She was impressed at how Cassiel didn't say a word to her. She had half expected the recruit to chicken out of the mission, but she had done her job swiftly and silently. She truly was good when she didn't hesitate.
"Come on, team. Let's go home." She called out to Ophaniel, Nuriel, and Pahaliah. The three angels spread their wings and flew off towards Aperia. Cassiel and her followed close behind.
"Good work." Raniel complimented Cassiel.
"I did well because they deserved it." Cassiel said.
"Still holding onto what happened at the bridge? Let me tell you a story, Cassiel."
Raniel retold her story about her past. How she was forced to fight useless battles for the Order, how she betrayed her hero, how Ophelia had helped her find her purpose in life. When she was done, Cassiel spoke.
"This is supposed to justify your actions?"
"How many times do I have to tell you that there are going to be civilian casualties, no matter how hard we try? I told you how I joined the Matriarch because that's why I fight. The Order needs to be torn out by the roots, and remade. So what if a couple people die? We will have saved millions from the tyranny of the Order."
"You've lost your way. What happened to Raniel who cared about saving lives?" Cassiel grunted.
"Whatever. Let's just get back to Aperia."
Three months later
Lescatie
Druella walked to her meeting room with new resolve. Ichoriya and Arcani had both been annexed in quick succession. What happened in both nations was no coincidence. Ophelia had begun her plans.
Druella had taken to investigating Aperia before. She had several steps she needed to go through if she wanted to transform a human nation into a mamono realm. First she needed to find evidence of significant human suffering or wrongdoing by the nation's government to which she could use to convince monsters to join her cause, then she could begin planning.
Yet, she had found no such thing in Aperia. The citizens were happy. The government allowed monsters of all kinds. There was almost no corruption, and anyone that was found abusing their position would be swifty punished and relieved of their position. The only thing that she found unnatural was their enormous hatred towards the Order, but as far she knew, they never actually did anything. Until a few months ago, when they had ignored Castor's attempts at diplomacy and declared war.
Druella sat down in the meeting room, waiting for a certain someone. After a few minutes, the door opened, and a dullahan wearing Lescatie's armor walked in.
"Meryl, Good to see you. I have an important job for you. Are you up for the task?"
"Always, Lord Druella."
"So here's what's going on. Aperia's been getting very aggressive over the past few months. We need to stop them from taking any more unnecessary lives."
"So let's turn Aperia into a mamono realm. Simple enough." Meryl grinned.
"No, it's not that easy. That stubborn angel must have anticipated us. She's set up magical defenses all over the city. She has people monitoring Aperia's imports to catch any corrupted items. Ophelia even has mamono sniffing out anyone that uses anthropomorphosis. We need to do something different." Meryl's frown faded a little.
"So, any ideas?"
"What few spies we have report seeing a very few angels that aren't too enthusiastic about the turn of events in Aperia. I say we use that to our advantage. Get them to come over to our side."
"Where do I come in?"
"You are to create a team of mamono that specialize in stealth. Our spies are stretched thin, and we need more monsters out there gathering information." Druella sighed. "Make sure you only use the best of the best; This isn't some carefree backwater human nation. These people are specialists."
"Got it. Further orders?" Meryl seemed excited.
"None. You've been an invaluable asset to Lescatie ever since I took over." Druella looked at the tattoos of the insignia of Lescatie on the dullahan's cheek. "Another one?"
"I want to show my love for this country. The state of this country was awful before you came, and I'm glad I was able to help change it." The dullahan saluted to Druella.
"Best of luck to you, Meryl."
"Thank you, Lord Druella." The dullahan ran out into the streets, eager to begin her work.