Azra-El Series Arc 2 Ch. 00

As soon as the two spheres touched, the crimson dome surrounding the node twinkled out of existence. The warring angels and demons stopped in their tracks and witnessed Jie Er hovering over a precarious sphere of white and black-crimson.

The two energies dangerously swirled around each other, forming a strangely oval shape, before collapsing in the blink of an eye, like a star collapsing into a singularity.

"Ying Jie!" Nezha Shangdi cried, as it appeared that Jie Er would be sucked into the singularity.

However, her cry of anguish was drowned by the earth-shaking explosion that ensued the next moment, followed by a brilliant flash of light. Shockwaves of energy sent the angels and demons tumbling in all directions.

Raw energy wreaked havoc through Jie Er's energy reinforcement and wings, sending her flying towards Mt. Olympus. If not for the Banner in her hands, she would have perished almost instantly. She sailed for more than two yonders, before she crashed into a rocky cliffside. Her battered and bloody body slowly slid down the cliff-side, and into the snow below.

As she lay sprawled on her back, her face was marred by a look of gut-wrenching anguish. Her body was in tremendous pain and her whole existence seemed like it was on fire, but her anguish did not stem from physical pain. For in that moment, Jie Er felt all alone.

She could not even sob as she stared into the sky through teary blue eyes, her sorrow lending her face a poignant beauty. She watched her bloodied feathers float around for a fleeting moment, before twinkling out of existence. Their temporal nature seemed to reflect everything about her own life.

The sorrow she felt prolonged her consciousness, but her body and mind soon began to give in. However, just before her heavy eyelids fell, she spotted a unique feather.

It was a brilliant, orangish-red feather, quite striking amongst the bloody, crimson ones. She found it extremely beautiful, and for some reason, it mellowed the ache in her heart. She wasn't sure if the feather was an illusion, created by her cloudy eyes or her failing consciousness, but she knew she was going to remember it.

***

When Jie Er awoke, she found herself in a comfortable but foreign-looking room. The bed she lay on was an exquisitely carved four-poster bed made of teakwood; an expensive wood, native to Aranya. A pretty peacock, with her feathers open and its neck craning towards the sky in the anticipation of rain, was carved on the headboard behind her.

Jie Er's body ached like never before, and she felt thirsty and famished. There was a strange heaviness in her nirn, and she felt difficulty in breathing through her anja. She reached for a cup of water on the cerafent-shaped nightstand by her bedside, but quickly withdrew with a gasp, as a sharp spike of pain coursed through her spine.

Michelle Lucian, who was dozing on a wooden rocking chair by her bedside, was awakened by her cry. She filled up a bronze mug with water and handed it to Jie Er, who quickly gulped it down. There was no sign of Nezha or Ying Yue. She knew that there might be a good reason for their absence, but she could not get rid of the thought that they just didn't care enough.

"I am sorry, young one," Michelle said, sadly.

"Did I fail?" she asked, fearfully. Now that she was no longer influenced by Hela's wrath, she deeply cared for her success.

"No, you succeeded wonderfully! You may have even managed to deeply wound Hela, though I think it would be too much to hope that she has perished," she said, giving her a warm smile.

"What about the demons we were fighting against? Is everyone safe?"

"We had a few losses, but nothing substantial. The demons simply scampered away, once they recovered from the explosion. We saw no sign of Hela, and the only reason we think she is still alive is because the Hela Empire has not collapsed. If Hela is dead, the rest of the devils will begin warring amongst themselves for power. The thing that holds the demons together is their fear of Hela."

Jie Er nodded and glanced at the door, wondering if her mother or sister would come in any moment, now.

"So, why are you sorry?" she asked, after a moment.

"For letting you face this tribulation by yourself. For the suffering you have endured. For letting you become tainted," she answered, dolefully.

Jie Er's expression did not change. Becoming tainted did not come as a surprise. She had known it the moment the pressure of darkness had lifted.

"Can it be healed?" she asked as an afterthought, though she already knew the answer. If she could be healed, she would have already been healed. She was surrounded by the strongest, and the wisest angels in the HU.

"I am afraid not... We have tried everything. I have tried everything... It is my fault. I should have handed over the Banner of Light to you. To hell with the treaty between the HU and the royals. You were the purest angel I have come across in my lifetime, purer than I was. Yet, I hesitated, thinking I could wait until after you accomplished the task at hand. I am truly sorry..."

"It is alright," Jie Er replied softly, "I do not think that I ever wished to be the wielder of the Banner of Light, especially now. You will find another angel more appropriate. For now, I wish to try living my life for myself, at least for a little while. It is not like I can be of much use as a tainted angel, anyway."

"That is not true, young one. I am sure you have many other talents, and I am sure you will get through this, only to return stronger. I believe in you. We-"

"Thank you, Prima Lucian," Jie Er cut her off. "Your words and thoughts mean much to me. However, if you do not mind, I wish to be alone, for now. I am sure you have other matters to attend to."

Michelle Lucian sighed and stood up. She had hoped to provide some comfort to the young ivka, maybe even prevent her from falling into hopelessness. Becoming tainted was one of the most traumatic things that could happen to an angel, especially those tainted through no fault of their own.

"Live well and prosper, young one. Seek me out if you ever need me. I will be leaving for Caledonia tomorrow, to decide on how we must deal with the aftermath of the phenomenon. The Malakim believe that it is best if we hush the whole thing up, and let rumors spread that it was nothing but a freak natural occurrence... Anyway, I plan to visit Xian, next month. We will speak again, then," she said.

With a pat on Jie Er's cheek, she left, hoping she would be able to get through her more when she was in better condition and mood. However, she did not realize that she would not hear of Jie Er again until another sixty-odd years had passed.

When Jie Er recovered from her physical injuries, she took her leave from her royal family and disappeared into anonymity. Nezha did not even attempt to persuade her otherwise, and Ying Yue's heavy-hearted words had not been enough to change Jie Er's mind.

oOo

LE 634, 22^nd Bloom, near Varan

There was a reason why Jie Er chose Varan as the place of her residence. To the south-east of Varan, between her home and Mayang, the village where she worked, was a leyline node. It was one of the closest nodes to the one where she had been tainted.

Though she had given up hope on being healed of her taint, Jie Er had speculated upon a wild theory that her cure lay in the leyline nodes. She felt that if she could form a connection with a node, just like Hela had, she would be able to separate and remove the taint from her secondary nirn, which were the root of her archangel wings.

Jie Er had already come to terms with the resentment in her heart, so all that was left, was to remove the darkness that had been born because of it.

So, every evening, on her way back from Mayang, she sat by the location of the theorized node, and meditated, attempting to connect with the world-energy, not just through her anja, but through her consciousness. It often seemed like a fool's errand, but she did not give up, and soon, it became a daily ritual.

However, that day, her mind finally managed to connect with something. She had left work early that afternoon, as she had finished printing her latest batch of books, so she decided to spend more time at the node.

She sat by her usual Bael tree that bore a sweet, fig-like fruit, and immersed herself in meditation. She started by slowly breathing in and breathing out air and energy, until both of her organs were in perfect sync with one another. Soon, her other senses receded into the background, and her focus locked onto the world-energy.

Her anja attuned with the node, and her consciousness was swept into a nebulous mass of free-flowing energy that was neither dark nor light. It had no color, but its effervescent presence was palpable. A tremendous amount of world-energy coursed through her body, and Jie Er felt her entire existence light up, making her feel euphoric.

However, the sensation only lasted for a brief moment, before something unexpected happened. She felt her consciousness and energy being pulled, by something far off to the west, as if it wanted to wrench her mind and energy out of her body.

Panicking, she tried to pull herself out of the node, but she couldn't detach herself from whatever it was that was pulling her. The node, instead of providing her with world-energy, began to suck the light-energy out of her nirn. She sensed the existence travelling towards her, and the concept frightened her.

Unable to think of anything else, she brought out her crippled archangel wings.

Again, something unexpected happened. The taint in her archangel wings reacted wildly with the node. The light energy that the node had sucked out of Jie Er's primary nirn began to repel the taint.

Immediately, Jie Er forced her taint into the node, and it worked. The repulsion cut off her connection, and Jie Er's body slammed into the tree behind her.

Panting heavily, Jie Er checked her nirn, as her energy resources felt greatly depleted. Her primary nirn were a little damaged, while her secondary nirn still retained their taint. However, Jie Er only felt happy that she had escaped the ordeal relatively unscathed. Time would heal the damage to her primary nirn.

Jie Er glanced up at the sun and took out her fob watch to check the time. She realized that she had been connected to the node far longer than she had realized. Suddenly, she had a strange thought. The existence that pulled at her had been coming towards her. How far did it travel?

Out of curiosity, and a responsibility to warn others if she had attracted something nefarious, Jie Er brought out her wings and began to fly west, in the general direction of Hela's node.

She traveled for a couple of yonders before she began to wonder if she was being foolish. Was the entity even corporeal?

Just as she decided that she should call it a day and head back home, she spotted a strange sight on the grasslands. A fiery-orange-colored angel egg lay beside a small creek, and a young angel with hair matching the color of the egg looked cluelessly around the grasslands.

Did that child just hatch? Where is her mother?

She began to descend. The child spotted her and scampered into the egg, as if the flimsy shell could protect her. This simple action arose both amusement and an inexplicable maternal instinct inside her.

As she got closer, the color of the egg called up a memory from the depths of her mind. The color perfectly matched the orangish-red feather that she had assumed to have been an illusion.

The color soothed her heart, and she felt a great closeness towards the child; a closeness she had not felt since Vida and Eva had passed. At that moment, Jie Er decided that this child, if she did not have a mother, would be hers.

oOo

LE 634, 3rd Maia. Jie Er's cottage

It was a sunny Hathordie (Saturday) morning in Varan, and Rebecca Flynn stood outside Jie Er's cottage, ready to challenge the beautiful angel once again for her house.

Rebecca was a first lieutenant in the Red Rose division of the Aranyan Army. The division was the standing army of Maga, but her battalion belonged to the special forces, and they were only staying with the division for training purposes.

The red-headed angel had moved to Varan five years ago, along with her battalion. She had met Jie Er at a party hosted by her battalion's major, who had invited all the officers of her regiment, and the important civilians of Maga, to an outreach party of sorts.

Rebecca had never been sure why Jie Er was there, but from the very moment she met her, she felt an unexplainable attraction towards her. As the evening wore on, she found herself hanging onto Jie Er's every word and noticing every tiny movement that she made.

She didn't quite understand it at first, because angels were not naturally prone to "romantic" partnerships. So, she parted with Jie Er that evening, confused and thinking that her strange attraction would pass. However, it didn't, and worse, she did not run into Jie Er anywhere else.

It took two years for Rebecca to come to terms with her feelings, and she finally decided to seek out Jie Er. She approached her major, who had introduced her to Jie Er at the party, and asked her for Jie Er's information. She had learned many things about Jie Er that day, and all of it only made her even more attracted to the gentle, kind, and unassuming angel that Jie Er seemed to be. It also made her want to protect her and take care of her.

The very next day, Rebecca flew to Jie Er's cottage. However, upon seeing her, she was at a loss for words. She had never experienced nor seen anyone express the sort of love she was experiencing.

Unsurprisingly, she had made a comment on her beautiful hair, and then continued to challenge her for her property. Her militaristic mindset and a momentary lapse of judgement had made her think that it was a good idea to win Jie Er's house from her, and then invite her to stay with her, so they could live happily ever after.

Unfortunately for Rebecca, Jie Er handed her ass to her, after a brief and overwhelming display of martial skill. However, one thrashing was nowhere enough to daunt the dauntless Rebecca. Besides, her main goal had never been to defeat Jie Er. Thus, she kept coming back for more, month after month.

As Rebecca screamed out her challenge that morning, she did not expect it to be any different from all the other times in the recent past. An exasperated Jie Er would come out, lead her to the open grasslands, give her an ass-whooping, offer a few words of consolation, and invite her into her house for a cup of water or tea.

However, Rebecca's words were stuck in her mouth, when a red-haired brat opened the door, instead of Jie Er. For some reason, the kid awfully reminded her of herself, when she was younger.

"Who are you?" she asked, with raised brows.

"Go away, stupid! You look so weak, and you wanna fight my aunt? How shameless!" he said, with a slight, but perceptible sneer.

oOo

LE 635, Gather. D'Warka

Arethusa, third princess of Arcadia, hailed from the Sea Nymph Isles, located beyond the south-eastern edge of the continent. The Sea Nymph Isles were an archipelago of islands, coupled with the floating cities of the Nereids.

Each of these islands were presided by their own queens, but they maintained a close and codependent alliance with one another, and thus, were collectively known as the Sea Nymph Isles. The High Queen of the Sea Nymph Isles was chosen on a rotational basis, every twenty years.

The island of Arcadia was presided over by the Merchant Queen Artemisia. However, the queens of the Sea Nymph Isles were mostly figureheads, though they possessed a lot of wealth and power, usually earned through their own means. The real governance was done by a central senate with multiple representatives from each of the isles, and island-based legislatures that governed their own lands.

Arethusa was the third daughter of Artemisia and was only thirty-six years of age. Her oldest sister, Agave, a hundred-and-sixty-eight years old, helped her mother with the politics of the Isles. Her second sister, Actaea, a hundred-and-thirty years old, was set to take over her mother's trade empire, which traded not only with the angels, but also the demons, all the way to the sirens on the opposite corner of Azra-El.

Thus, Arethusa grew up as a care-free child, with very few responsibilities. She possessed an irrepressible wanderlust, and even as a young mer, she swam across the various islands, all by herself, often without informing her family. She swam with the Mami-Wata, who worked either in their fields or in their factories, and played with their children. Hence, she never possessed the same prejudices towards the inland mers, that were common amongst her people; they considered the inland mers inferior, both morally and intellectually. Through her friendship with the Mami-Wata, she learned a lot about the lives of the merangels around Azra-El.

Arethusa had always been an idealistic young mer, and even as a child, she dreamt about uniting all the mers of the continent and bringing them under one united banner, so that every sentient of the water could prosper in the same way as the nereids.

Her mother never attempted to change her ideas, for she wished that at least her youngest daughter could explore her dreams and seek out the truths of the world. She was sure that time and experience would teach her more than she could with her words. Moreover, she had two practical older daughters who doted on their sister as much as she did, and thus, was not too worried about Arethusa's future.

So, on Arethusa's thirty-fifth hatchday, when she went to her mother to ask her permission to go on a trip around Azra-El, she immediately consented, giving her all the resources she could ever need, along with two arch-nereids to take care of her on the journey. Artemisia felt it was safer to just help her daughter go on her trip, rather than deny her, and take the chance of her going away on her own.

Thus, in the month of Bloom in LE 634, Arethusa set off on her journey around Azra-El. At first, she simply traveled along the coasts of the continent, on her mother's merchant ships, but after making a roundtrip, she ventured inland into the HU; her mother forbade her to visit the demonic lands until she was older and stronger.

After traveling through various countries of the Heavenly Union, she finally found herself in D'Warka, just in time to witness the YAMAT and the USMAT.

Initially, she had only been interested in watching the YAMAT, but the popularity of The Blazing Fury among the undine of D'Warka piqued enough interest, to make her go and watch one of her matches.

She instantly became a fan of the Fury. She found her attitude and combat style unique and interesting, especially among the angels, whom she often found to be a little stiff. Soon, she began attending all her matches.

She was there at Blaze and Siofra's match, and she felt a strange kinship with the two of them, especially as she could see herself doing the same for some of her Mami-Wata friends.

Then, she witnessed her match against Nikolett Lovag. Everything about the match deeply moved her; from her daring high-risk maneuvers, to her use of her supporters and music to bolster her performance. She was quite disappointed when Nikolett won the match with a simple yet unexpected move.

Then, she watched Siofra display the Righteous Fury, and it sent shivers of excitement through her body. What sort of an angel Blaze must be to make another feel so much for her?