Azra-El Series Arc 2 Ch. 02

Note from Author: Apologies for another massive delay. This time I have a decent reason. My whole family got sick from Covid in May, and my mom had to be hospitalized a few times (from the side-effects). She was partially vaccinated and didn't have the worst of Covid symptoms. However, she suffered quite a bit after Covid. Anyway, she has made a good recovery since.

This was the reason I couldn't focus for a few months, and then I had a massive writer's block. However, I hope to get things going now. I will try to publish the next chapter within the month.

Editors: Self-Edited. Looking for a volunteer, though I expect Drastic to come back. Chris may be busy, moving forward, and I would like to have a 2nd editor.

Proofreader: Pinku Lady.

Patrons: Thank you to all my patrons who have stuck with me, despite my long absences. This chapter is dedicated to you guys. :)

Ted Miller, Tom Ail, Dylan, Eduardo Garcia, FallenOmega22, Fjordor, Lucas Spicer, Marcel Hearns, Daniel, Mike Siegmund, David Hunt, Leon Faulk, Pinku Lady, RogueXVII, uthr, Valkania, Amarjeet Lokhande, Clay LaVal, DNAJester, Peter Ferguson, SB, Shan, Scott S, Shan, Aporjo, Gregarious, Scolymus, Vibrant Dragon, Ibr88, Abhi, Alejandro Salas, ATK-49, Awilix38, B Liz, B. Vijayan, Bipen, BramBora, Brennan White, Bole, Curtis Young, D5834, Dantees, Dareliisko, David, David Whyte, Ebogie, Fips[0], Elijah Capricorn, Flypenguin, Frazzle_Dazzle, hexd0t, Hunter Stusynski, Jay, Joshua Rudd, Josh Loyens, Kanavu, Krisse, Last First, Merov, Michael Wall, Niax, Nightshade, Oblivion, Random Task, Ravi, RedSpectrumRays, Rui Salvaterra, Scott Knox, Stephen Lewis, Stuhero, Tllmxn, Torasque, Wypuxx, Yamibomb112.

Lore: The words "erefah" and "osher" are derived from the jewish words "terefah" and "kosher". I did not replicate the words as I wasn't sure if it would offend anyone. If it is offensive in a way that I do not understand, please send me a message and I shall change them.

Azra-El Series Arc 2

Chapter 2

Why don't you cunts go suck on a twig - Liz

oOoOo

LE 643, 1st Bianca (dawn of the new year)

Sixty feet of wings and the mournful cries of a fledgling Quetzal cut through the empty skies that hung over the mountainous forests below. It had been two hours since Siofra and Sky left the Heavenly Union; and Siofra's tears had long since dried.

The pixie silently hung on to the daunting back of the Quetzal Commander. She kept throwing glances over her shoulder, despite knowing full well that it was unlikely that anyone was coming for them. Her life was not in immediate danger, yet her heart and mind were a desolate mess. Ironically, her only solace were Sky's screams.

The ringing of a VP brought movement to the demon's still body. "Yes?" she gruffly answered.

"Leraye."

"Mazi," the demon acknowledged. Siofra remembered the demon with the red-scarf, who had separated from them at Fortalice Xueying.

"I've received confirmation that the princess has indeed activated the entrance to Edeina," Mazi informed Leraye.

Siofra perked up at her words.

"Shall I head over to Zagros?" Leraye asked.

"No. It's best if you find a safe spot, for now. Molechya is looking for you."

Leraye remained silent.

"A battalion was posted at Zagros in anticipation of this scenario. Wait for us at a discrete location until I contact you again."

"Understood."

The VP went silent.

"Where are Blaze and Elyssa? Are they safe?" Siofra burst out, clutching the sides of the demon's black corset.

"Edeina. If they make it out, you will be able to meet up with them in a week or so," Leraye responded.

oOo

General Wu Mei's office was silent, despite being occupied by the General and all her senior officers. Crown Princess Yingyue Shangdi sat in the General's chair and glared down at them. Only Wu Mei could match her gaze, despite being the focus of her anger.

"I swear," Yingyue finally spoke, sweeping her gaze through the room, "if there is any indication that it is your incompetence that has led to my niece's abduction, you will all pay dearly."

"And you!" she said, looking at Wu Mei. "You let your hatchling daughter take command in such a crucial battle? Has peace addled your mind, Wu Mei?"

"I assure you, Your Highness. Despite her age, Xuan Er was my best option in those circumstances. If you do remove hindsight, you will realize that she has performed excellently." Wu Mei calmly explained. Her smile was absent from her face, but she still exuded her ever present serenity. It managed to cool some of Yingyue's ire.

If it was merely the loss of the Massive Energy-Node Weapon (MEW), Yingyue's reaction would not have been so flagrant. Over the years, Blaze had become the little princess of their family, and she was extremely fond of her. Now that the demons seemed to have abducted her right under their noses, she could not contain her fury.

Nonetheless, she took a deep breath and calmed herself. There were things that needed to be done, and for that she had to clearly understand the situation. "Explain this to me first. How have you concluded that the demons are involved in Blaze's abduction, besides basing it on the coincidence of the attack? I was informed that the leader of the Quetzal Squadron was unaware of his disappearance."

"Two things. First, before being taken, Ms. Siofra Eoiwagn of the pixies shouted that the demons knew the princess' location. I am not sure how she reached that conclusion, but she may have heard something that the others did not. Second, the researchers at Qunrun ruins have found the mechanism behind the device that spirited away the Rhyka. They do not know how it works, yet, but they are sure that it has been tampered with. Since Elyssa Marigold was able to access it after the Rhyka's initial activation, we can assume that the device is not meant to work only once. It is likely that the device was tampered later with the intention of not allowing us access to wherever the device leads. I can only surmise that this was a part of the demons' overarching plan, possibly intended as an alternative to the Quetzal Squadron's mission, and that the Quetzal Commander was simply unaware of it."

"Could the pixie have been involved?"

"We cannot be sure, but I find it unlikely."

"Have you managed to obtain any information from the Quetzal Squadron?"

"They will only speak to Princess Yingjie."

"She is coming. Make sure to curtail any information regarding the captured Quetzals and their riders. No one besides those that are already involved must know of this, especially the Malakim."

"I have already sent the instructions, Your Highness."

Yingyue gave a slight nod of approval. "What was the young Malakim doing here?"

"We are not sure. I have informed the Malakim about her disappearance and sought information regarding her activities at the ruins. However, it may take a while before we receive a response. Nikolett Lovag was here as a part of University of Bologna's research team, but she also seems to have been discreetly investigating the ruins on her own."

"And Su Gungong? What exactly happened to her?"

"The Duchess of Anyin is under the influence of a debilitating poison. She is unconscious, but her life seems to be in no immediate danger. Several physicians are working on an antidote. They say that she should make a full recovery. Until our soldiers reached her castle, her staff were unaware of her condition. They thought her to be asleep in her chambers."

"How convenient. How was the poison administered?"

"That is the irony. It seems to have been administered through a wine that was sent as a gift by Rhyka Fenghuang. We are unsure if the poison was already in there or if it was added later. The angel who served the wine is nowhere to be found."

"A Hela spy?"

"I do not know. The angel has been working under the Duchess for more than a hundred-and-sixty years. If she was a Hela spy, why did she not kill Su Gungong? It was a ripe opportunity to eliminate one of our deities. Did she grow fond of the Duchess?"

"It seems you have very few answers," Yingyue stated, dryly.

"It was either a very complex plan or an extraordinary culmination of several forces acting at the same time."

oOo

Blaze woke up with a start, his back hurting from its awkward position against the stone-wall of the ruin. He'd had a bad dream, but he couldn't quite remember what it was. Only a lingering sense of foreboding remained.

He looked around for Nikolett and found her standing by the entryway, gazing into the forest, with parsed lips and solemn eyes. Her hair was still black, but her makeup and disguise were gone. Her expression and posture stirred something inside him.

The forest around was alive--a stark contrast from the previous night. The birds chirped, the insects hummed, the animals scurried, the branches creaked, and the leaves rustled.

Wind! Why is there wind? It carried with it a birch-like smell--minty, sharp, and invigorating--along with a hint of sulfur which somehow gave it an interesting texture.

There was also more light--whiter and brighter--making the forest less dreary than the previous night. However, there was no sun in the sky. It was as if a translucent film hung over the land, perpetually blocking light from the outside.

Blaze stood up, felt the reassuring presence of Kaya's whip by his hip, and walked up to Nikolett. "Why the long face?" he asked, somewhat jovially, trying to bring some mirth into her solemn eyes.

"It has been at least six hours. Either the ones who came after us have been transported to a different location, or they were unable to activate the pedestal. If your theory about this place being a massive spatial dimension is true, then they should have at least been able to pull us out. I am afraid that none of this bodes well for us," Nikolett explained, without averting her gaze from the forest.

Blaze peered out the door, and found the forest lush and green, buzzing with oversized insects and birds he couldn't identify. A raven-sized avian with blue wings, a brown body, and a long, colorful tail, swooped down from one of the tall, white-barked trees and snatched a fist sized dragonfly out of thin air. Its razor-sharp teeth crushed the insect's carapace and spilled green blood.

"If there is an entrance then there must be an exit." Blaze stated the not-so-obvious, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Despite finding her current vulnerability weirdly attractive, he did not wish to see her like this. Usually, there was always a calm sense of control and confidence in the way she carried herself.

"Why would someone go to the trouble of arranging such an elaborate, puzzle-filled dungeon, only to send us to a place of no return?" Blaze argued. "If it was me, I'd want people to get out so they can tell others about how awesome the dungeon is. Did we not decide last night that we would go out and explore? Let's just do that. There is no point in worrying."

"There is nothing to guide us or give us a sense of direction, Blaze. No sun, no landmarks. I am afraid that we might simply end up walking in circles, lost, or unable to find our way back," she said, all in one breath.

"Do you want to wait it out here?" he asked the rhetorical question.

"No!" came an unhesitant reply.

So, Blaze walked back to the middle of the room, manifested his wings, and leapt into the sky. He flew, but his wings felt very heavy. He was unsure if it was due to the absence of world energy, or if it was simply harder to fly inside this space. The gravity itself felt no different than usual.

He came to a hover at a height of a couple of hundred feet, and calmly looked around the landscape, though it was a struggle to keep himself afloat. He was alarmed by how fast his energy seemed to drain.

Just like Nikolett had mentioned, there was only an unchanging forest for as far as he could see. He spotted a creek, but he was unsure if it led to anywhere significant. There was, however, a steady cool breeze blowing from the direction facing the doorway of their ruin.

"We will follow the wind," he said to Nikolett, upon returning to the ground.

There was a surety in his voice that surprised himself and seemed to allay some of Nikolett's worries. Blaze wasn't quite sure why he felt so, invulnerable. Though it was an illogical thought, he refused to believe that he travelled between universes simply to starve to death inside of an isolated spatial dimension. It would be a terrible irony. He was Blaze! If anything, he was meant to go in a blaze of glory. Not die in a place where no one would find him.

He picked up a chipped rock from the rubble, walked up to the wall beside the door, and scratched out a message.

Heading north of this doorway. Plan to follow the direction of the morning wind. Will leave star-shaped marks on our trail, along with an indication of the way we are headed. Find us if you can--FAQR and Spy.

"Howz it?" he asked, finishing their signature with a flourish.

"Looks good." Nikolett's lips curved into a wry smile.

"Ready then?"

Nikolett let out a heavy breath and nodded.

"There is a creek to the north-west of here," Nikolett pointed, when they stepped out of the ruin. "Let's get a drink; and if there are any sentients in this place, a creek may be the best place to find their tracks."

They only made a little headway into the trees and the thick underbrush, when loud rustling erupted from the nearby thicket.

They jumped away from the brush, and Blaze pulled out his whip.

"Eep!" Nikolett cried, as a terrifying head with two antennas popped out of the undergrowth. Its circular mouth had rows of nasty teeth that seemed to be chewing on a mixture of rotting leaves and the decomposing remains of some long dead animal. A thin oily sheen covered its purplish-black carapace, making it seem like polished metal.

Then, it began moving. Hundreds of spiky wood-like legs moved in harmony against the scrunchy leaves. Drrick drrick, its rickety joints creaked, and Blaze felt a mix of fear and disgust. He shuddered.

The creature was a mammoth of a millipede: eight feet long and two feet wide, and its body made of tens of jointed sections.

Blaze cracked his whip at the creature, not really trying to hit it. It threw him an uninterested glance before disappearing back into the bushes.

"What the Hela is that!" Nikolett cursed from Blaze's arms, and he felt a shiver run through her body. He couldn't even recall the moment she had jumped into his embrace.

Just from her expression, he could see that she was unnerved, so he obviously had to play it cool.

"Don't tell me you are frightened by a silly little Giga Worm! Weren't ya all cheeky about me being afraid of ghosts? Tsk Tsk," he shook his head and wrapped his arms around her.

"You know what that is?" she asked with raised brows.

"Not really. But I doubt anyone does, so I took it upon myself to give it a name," he grinned. "Now that I think about it, Giga Worm doesn't do it justice. How about... Maximus Wormeus?" he said, highlighting the words with his hand. "Maxi for short. It sounds all scientific too."

"Don't give a cute name to something that nasty looking," Nikolett rolled her eyes, pushing away from him.

"It looks like a harmless scavenger. I think all worms are..." Blaze said, with a little more seriousness.

"Maybe so. However, if there is one creature that big, then there may be others, and those might not be as harmless. We must proceed with caution."

Blaze agreed but a sudden thought popped into his head, driving away his disgust for the worm. "Do you think I could ride Maxi?"

"Huh?"

"Just imagine. I could sit on its back and hold its antennae as reins. What animal would dare to approach us then?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It may not be so docile if provoked. Besides, I am not going anywhere near that thing!" she said with apparent disgust.

"Tch," Blaze clicked his tongue. "You wormist! Why don't you understand Maxi's charm?"

"You don't actually find that... that thing cute, do you?!" Nikolett asked in amazement.

"Well, I find you cute, don't I?" Blaze responded, before realizing what he had admitted. "And, you are about as pleasant as Maxi," he quickly added, walking away without waiting for Nikolett's response.

Nikolett's eyes widened at his words. A little color rose in her cheeks, but it quickly disappeared.

Letting out a sigh, she followed him in silence.

This time, the two paid much more attention to their surroundings.

The forest was lush with all sorts of vegetation; some of which Blaze felt were a little anachronistic. The tallest of trees bore a striking resemblance to the dawn-redwood trees from Earth, and they were interspersed by a variety of gingkos and trees with ash-wood trunks and wide cone-shaped canopies.

Below the larger trees, the forest floor was covered with various cycads, ferns, horsetails, seed ferns, grasses, and forbs. Little rabbit-like creatures that moved like rodents scurried along, picking up food to hoard, while feathered dino-chicken with gorgeous feathers in a multitude of colors chased after the rabbits and the insects.

And insects were aplenty: from palm-sized dragonflies and giant--seemingly herbivorous--ants to slightly larger but common-looking insects. There were so many new and odd-looking species, including mammalian and reptilian, whose evolutionary lineages that Blaze couldn't wrap his mind around. They almost seemed fantastical, yet they seemed to live in perfect harmony--prehistoric and current species living in tandem and forming a stable life cycle. Thankfully, most of them seemed uninterested in Blaze and Nikolett, which allowed them to walk through the forest as mere observers.

I wish Kaya was here. She would know if and how many of these are from Azra-El's past.

About a mile from where they started, they came upon a thin rivulet burbling over smoothened pebbles and fallen branches. They were greeted by an arm-sized lizard, resting on a large boulder by the stream; and despite Blaze's attempt at getting friendly with it, it hissed, jumped into the water, and quickly scuttled away downstream.

"Strange. I would have thought that a relative of yours would wanna befriend me," he told Nikolett.

The air by the stream was cool, humid, and sweet-smelling. Flowering plants with beautiful white flowers grew over the naturally formed levees, their smell pleasant but unfamiliar. A palm-sized moth landed on a nearby flower and began to drink its nectar with its long and curved needle-like sucker.

Blaze walked up to the bank, lowered his hands into the stream, and swilled down a few scoops of the water. He was parched and the water tasted sweet.

Nikolett observed him for a few moments before following suit. When she finished, she found him looking up at the canopy to figure out the direction of the wind. The stream seemed to be flowing windward.

"Do you still resent me?" she suddenly asked, in a small voice.

It took a moment for Blaze to respond. "You tried to rob me of Sky, Nikolett. He is family, so what do you think?"

"I had no choice!"

"You always have a choice, and you made yours," he said, bluntly.

"There are things that are larger than our feelings, Blaze."

"Oh yes, boosting the legitimacy of the Malakim is certainly a large thing," he responded, sarcastically.

"The demons are growing in power, while the Heavenly Union remains splintered, despite the facade of unity under the Banner. The Malakim may be involved in some spurious things, but we are strong, and those under the Cardinal Superior have nothing but the welfare of the HU in their minds.