Hello guys, the last two weeks have been intense. I've been collapsing in bed after work almost every day. But so far I have been learning a lot and haven't met too many dicks at work, so I'll count that as a win. Can't believe I'm turning a year older in just three days, the number has got to stop going up! Anyway, happy weekend and enjoy the chapter :)


Eden was a little mad.

She hung suspended by the pulsating threads, her limbs twisted at unnatural angles. Blood dripped from where the bindings cut into her skin, but her expression was serene—disconcertingly so. A faint smile played on her lips, indulgent, as though they were taking a walk together in the Garden.

"It's good to see you again," she said softly. "You've grown."

Issa couldn't look away from the gruesome threads. "Eden, I can—"

"Don't come close!" The sharpness of Eden's voice stopped her midstep.

Eden exhaled shakily, several strands of grey hair clinging to her damp, discoloured cheek. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but you really mustn't touch me," she said. Her sightless eyes seemed to pierce right through Issa. "Not without your glory."

Issa started.

How did she know?

As though reading Issa's mind, Eden's smile returned. "You lived with me for years, sweet girl. Who do you think picked butterflies out of your hair every morning?" She tilted her head, her voice growing fond. "You spent all day making those butterflies. Playing with them. When you left, they didn't calm down for weeks."

As Eden spoke, the two bloody butterflies landed on Issa's sleeve. Issa gazed at their broken, trembling wings, her mind spinning. She'd stayed in the Garden? She'd stayed with Eden?

"I left?" she echoed.

A crease formed between Eden's grey brows. For a moment, she seemed to measure Issa's confusion, gauging how much had truly been forgotten. "You were sixteen," she said at last. "Luce pushed you too hard. I don't remember what he was teaching you. I told him to be patient, but you know how seraphs are." She sighed and shook her head. "You lashed out. Blew a hole in him, I think. Then you disappeared."

She let the words hang in the air for a moment, before continuing, quieter now. "We looked for you. Years and years… but you were gone. Where did you go, Terra? Heaven? To Michael? Have you been happy there?"

Issa stared at Eden, questions clawing at her throat.

Why did you even look for me?

Did you look in Hell?

Did you end up here because of me?

"It's… a long story," she said finally. Issa forced herself to focus on the threads. But even the steady drip of blood seemed to echo Eden's words in her mind, each drop a reminder of truths she didn't know if she could face.

She summoned the Life within her, allowing the green warmth to bathe her body and lend her its power. Her senses stretched outwards and brushed against the threads. Each thread had its own heartbeat—and there were hundreds and thousands of them.

"Eden... Edvardiel is alive," Issa said. "He's in the Garden."

Eden froze.

Her expression barely changed, but Issa felt Eden's feeble heart racing through her extended senses.

"You're certain?" Eden asked, her voice barely audible.

Issa nodded. "Yes. We've been working together to stop the Apocalypse."

For a moment, Eden seemed to absorb this, her face unreadable. Then she exhaled a trembling breath. "You have no idea how much I prayed for this day," she murmured. "All those years…" She trailed off, her eyes growing moist. "Terra. I am… so sorry. What Luce did to threaten Eve… to get our son back… It was wrong." Her expression grew pained. "After your mother vanished, I thought keeping you in the Garden would keep you safe. I never dreamed it would cost you so much."

Her memories.

Her powers, that Lucifer had tied to Edvardiel.

It was nothing Issa didn't already know. Nothing she didn't understand. She wanted to say so, but she couldn't find her tongue.

The silence that followed felt heavy, stretching taut like the threads above them. Eden's face grew more pained, her serene mask slipping, but her voice remained steady. "I hope you don't blame Edvardiel for it."

Issa blinked, startled. "No! Of course not. I—" She struggled. "He's… he's wonderful. I love him." The words tumbled out unbidden.

The faintest flicker of surprise crossed Eden's face, followed by something softer, deeper. She didn't say anything for a moment, simply watching Issa.

Then, quietly, she said, "And yet you're here. Alone."

She studied the threads, searching for a way to free Eden. Their strange, pulsing life throbbed under her senses. But as she tried to understand what they were, she hit a wall. The threads stretched through Hell's gates, into Lilith's territory.

"I'm the only one who can close the gates." Issa hesitated. "I was made for this."

But she no longer sounded certain.

Eden didn't press. Instead, she leaned forward, her bound form swaying. "Sweet girl," she said, her tone gentle despite her obvious, excruciating pain. "You are not a key. You are not a weapon. You were not born to fulfil a single purpose."

Issa felt her eyes grow wet.

"Terra, listen carefully. You can't close the gates without glory." Eden's voice grew urgent. "Only half of Hell's gates is open and it isn't Earth's half."

Issa's gaze flew to Eden in shock.

Was Eve alive, after all? Was Michael dead?

"But how?" she asked.

"I don't know, sweetheart. When your mother died, I tried to carry on her task. But Heaven is not doing its part."

That changed everything.

She had no glory, not with the Edenium in her blood. In the end, she couldn't do it.

Heart pounding, Issa felt for the threads once more, following them in the opposite direction. If she couldn't close the gates, she was going to at least free Eden. But the other end of the threads went out of Hell, beyond the void and towards… Earth?

"What are these threads?" she burst out in frustration.

"Puppet strings," Eden rasped out. "Lilith uses them to control her Acolytes. But if you cut them, you'll destroy their souls. So you mustn't do it. Go, Terra. Go get help."

Horror upon horror. Despair upon despair. They were truly in Hell.

Issa swallowed. "Let me help you first."

Eden's blind eyes didn't waver. "You've helped me more than you know," she said. "You've done enough. Now you must return to Earth. Go, sweetheart."

Issa looked up at Eden.

The older woman was right—she did need help. But did Eden truly mean what she was saying? Did she understand what she was asking for?

If they needed glory to close the gates, only one person might be strong enough.

Issa's nails bit into her palms as she closed her eyes, wrestling with herself. She'd come this far alone to keep him safe. Her heart clenched as she remembered the way he'd been forced to cut off his wing. She remembered the demon blue that had claimed more than half his body. She remembered how she'd held him as he'd almost died.

Eden's past words echoed in her mind.

He's safe. That's all that matters.

I don't want blood on his hands.

But there was no one else. The threads pulsed around her, a cruel reminder of the countless Nephilim who remained slaves to Lilith's whims.

Everything in her screamed against what she was about to do.

"I'm sorry, Eden," she whispered, her voice breaking. As the last dregs of her pride crumbled into the ashes below, she summoned her angel. "Edvardiel, I need you."