Chapter 105: A Biblically Inaccurate Angel

It was four days later when Redell was flagged down at a temple of the Healer. The situation was explained to him, and he contacted Laius, who was his ride. Soon enough, Amara Edea and her personal portal and partner, Chelsea Hayeth, were at the Adventure Society for a grand total of five gold rankers (real or pretending) in the same place.

Amara Edea had half a mind to put her fist through Erin Nisei’s face, but was restrained by Chelsea’s good sense. She didn’t care for Erin’s ideology or her justifications. She was a traitor and she deserved death.

“You’re Lawrence?” Amara said, arms crossed and looking down at the scrawny iron ranker who shivered like a cat left out in the rain standing warily in front of a doorway opened to it. Even for a gold ranker, Amara was tall. Leonids were on average the tallest race, and she approached their average. It was not just Nara that felt like a child next to her Olympian stature.

“Y-yes,” despite his chattering, he managed a response.

“You know astral magic theory?”

“A-a bit. Nothing compared to you, Lady Edea.”

“You. Come with me. I have a research study.”

She picked up Lawrence with no exertion.

John stared at the iron ranker that looked like he was about to lose consciousness because his rapid breaths weren’t getting any oxygen into his brain. He’d need that brain soon. John hoped he could pull himself together.

“Good luck soldier. We’re counting on you,” he saluted.

******

A silver lining of Nara’s suffering was that it was pointless for Ceram to harass her. She hovered between senselessness and unconsciousness, with flickers of waking cognizance punctuated by indescribable pain.

How long had passed?

She was back in her room. She didn’t remember moving here, but she had already lost her sense of reality and time.

She was startled awake by a low rumbling within the facility. The room was well soundproofed, so whatever had caused it must have been powerful. She felt vibrations echo throughout the room, sending pins of pain shooting up her body, causing her to double over and wince.

The booming shakes repeated. The low rumble echoed in her bones.

Was there an earthquake? Could an astral space have an earthquake?

She forced herself to roll out of her bed, falling with a thump onto the floor. She peeled off the blankets she had cocoon herself into, undoing her human burrito form. Supporting herself on the nearby wall and furniture, she slowly pushed herself to the exit door of her room, and pressed the panel.

It was night. She saw the stars in the open air lake that her room bordered. She struggled down the hallway. A shake sent her tumbling to her feet, but the pain was indetectable in comparison to what she currently suffered.

She was confused, as were the others. Other doors opened, captives waking from their slumbers to gauge the situation. Aliyah ran to Nara’s side, supporting her.

“What’s happening?”

Aliyah shook her head, “I have no idea.”

The two struggled forward, step-by-step. Each shake shook the surface of the lake, sending waves and ripples scattering across the surface in chaotic geometries.

They made it to the edge of the main hall, where the some of the remaining captives peeked out from behind cover.

A massive hole had been torn off from the facility, revealing their position at the top of the stone spire. Through the hole, Nara could see the forest that surrounded the spire. Flashes of lightning streaked through the forest, and thunderbolts fell from heaven like the wrath of Zeus. Lightning created fractal patterns, as if the sky itself had shattered.

The fighting continued for only a short while.

While she was distracted, she was lifted up into the air like a kitten.

“Eh?”

She looked up to see a jet black panther man.

“Laius?!”

He patted her head with his furred paw-hand, then carried her under his arm like a football.

“This way,” he said. Although he had spoken softly, all the captives turned towards him in attention—his aura nudged them, guiding them to follow. He walked forward, a small and cautious group following behind him. The Adventists had no leonids with them. They dared to hope that he was not an Adventist but a rescuer.

Jiro’s was relieved, although his scowl was bitter. Yulia had left just a few days ago. If only she had waited, they could return together to the Magic Society and their homes.

There was a flying skimmer waiting where the hole was. Laius carried Nara past that detestable arch entrenched in the center of the room.

“Can you…destroy that?” she asked.

He nodded, then flicked a throwing knife at the arch. It embedded itself in its frame, then shadows erupted from the knife, consuming the arch like a monster born of the void. The knife clattered to the floor once every last portion of the arch had been annihilated.

“Nifty.”

“Is that wise?” Aliyah said, “We could have studied that. There may have been an arch portal network. Perhaps its interdimensional nature would have revealed a path to your world, Nara.”

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“Fuck that arch,” Nara said. “We’ll find another way.”

As Laius guided the group towards the skimmer, Nara found herself looking for a familiar face. That thistle haired celestine.

“Are you looking for Lina?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re worried for the enemy?” Jiro said incredulously.

“She’s not a bad person. I think.”

“The gold ranker was buying time for them to escape,” Laius said. “We did not kill them.”

“Why not?” Jiro demanded.

“Non hostile.”

Jiro’s brows creased but he said nothing further. He wasn’t one to argue with a gold ranker in the first place, but his own twisted emotions and anxiety bore to a recklessness he didn’t know he possessed.

The captives boarded the skimmer, which shot through the sky.

“That’s…Amara, right?” Nara asked, “Is she fine alone?”

Laius nodded.

Relief washed over her. They were being rescued. Captives felt the same relief; their spirits were uplifted. They hugged each other, nervously rejoicing in the skimmer as they were treated to a light show. It was a contagious happiness that even Nara’s pain could not dampen.

The skimmer flew over the forest, then descended to a clearing where there was a small building in ruins. The building was constructed to protect the astral space aperture. Evidently, Amara tore it apart. The stone was blackened and blasted apart. The swirling aperture almost glowed.

The aperture was large enough for the skimmer, and it carried them through. The outside looked no different from the inside. The astral space they were trapped in wasn’t particularly different from Sanshi’s natural landscape.

“How did you find us?” Nara asked.

“Bracelet.”

“I thought that its signal couldn’t go past dimensions.”

“Amara made it.”

Nara didn’t think it could, but Amara had studied her fare share of astral magic. Another wave of pain washed over her, and she struggled to hold onto consciousness again. She didn’t want to slip into another hallucination here and now. She wanted to be home. She wanted to know, for sure.

Laius passed her to Redell.

“Nara,” Redell said. He stood in front of a portal she recognized as Laius’ obsidian arch, “I’m going to take you to the church of the healer. They have the equipment there to help you. I’ve analyzed your condition, and I can see you’ve been infested with a parasitic magical beast. I don’t recognize it but…we will figure it out.”

She looked towards the portal arch.

“I…”

“Nara?”

“I might be hallucinating. I’m not sure.”

He held his hand over her, a cleansing light eliminating the afflictions on her, “There were toxins on you. They’ll come back in time, but they’re gone for now. You can rest easy. You’re safe now.”

His large arms and tall statue felt reassuring indeed. He set her down on her feet, and held out his hand. She placed her hand into his large, warm, and comforting hand.

Suddenly a biting pain erupted from her left arm, as if someone had grabbed her shackle and pressed down, hard. She screamed out in pain, her vision swimming.

“Nara!”

She turned her vision behind her to see who had grabbed onto her.

“Nara, you cannot go through the portal.”

She saw a familiar face she did not expect. A beautiful celestine of lilac and thistle, whose normally peaceful expression was focused and stern.

“Lina…? Didn’t you escape with your people?”

“Open your eyes, Nara. You need to wake up.”

She yanked down hard on her arm. Lina’s bronze rank strength crushed the flesh on her wrist and cracked her bones, shoving it up against the burning rod.

She collapsed to the floor; eyes filled with tears. The floor, Nara realized. Not grass.

She looked forward again, her vision transformed. She was sitting right in front of the portal arch. The glow illuminated her face, inches away.

“What…?”

“Nara. You were hallucinating.”

Lina knelt down, taking Nara’s face between her palms. She felt her warm skin touch hers, palms on her tear-streaked face. Her last hallucination had been so real. She had felt the rough skin of Redell’s hand, just as sure and warm as Lina’s hands were now.

Nara realized with a sinking feel of dread: How…how was she supposed to figure reality from dream now?

“Listen to me Nara.” Lina’s voice cut though her uncertainties. “If you want to keep your autonomy, you cannot go through any portal. Do you understand?”

“I-I don’t…”

“Repeat after me. I will not go through any portal, ever. Repeat it!” When Nara hesitated, Lina raised her voice, shocking Nara out of her stupor.

“I-I will not go through any portal, ever,” she repeatedly shakily.

It was good enough for Lina. “It’s a promise,” Lina said with a sweet, sad smile. Her fingers touched Nara’s face delicately wiping away her tears.

Ah, this must be what an angel looks like, Nara blankly thought, if they weren’t biblically accurate.

“What are you talking about?”

Did she say that out loud?

“Why…why did you help me? I don’t understand,” Nara stammered out through her pain.

Lina pushed back Nara’s messy hair, and gently kissed her forehead. It felt almost reverent.

“To my world,” she began softly, her voice a gentle lullaby whisper. “Outworlders are signs of good fortune.”

Nara’s blood froze. She stared into Lina’s glimmering lilac eyes.

She should have realized sooner: “You need to run,” she choked out.

Lina was not rushed nor impatient; Nara subconsciously knew why. She looked as if she wanted to stay for a moment, rising with a gentle, lingering sway, but decided against it.

Lina stood and vanished into particles of light.

*****

Nara knew Lina was dead.

There was no way she could survive. A bronze ranker could not escape a gold ranker. Even if she was actually a silver ranker that had managed to disguise herself as a bronze ranker, the power gap was far too large. With each rank, the gap in power increased to the next. Iron to bronze rank was the smallest gap.

Lina ran, not so that she may live, but so Nara would not see her die.

Her hesitation was whether how she wanted to spend the last few moments of her life; next to the person she sacrificed her life to save, or out of her sight so she would not suffer her death. Since her goal was to keep Nara from entering the portal, she chose the latter.

Nara slowly dragged herself away from the portal, leaning against the nearest piece of furniture, feeling like she had been numbed with an overdose of anesthetic.

It was in the late hours of the night; the common rooms were empty. Someone was usually posted outside her room to prevent something like this from happening. Either they were dead, or they had been removed to prevent their interference.

She didn’t understand why Lina had stopped her, even if she was an Illusae. ‘A sign of good fortune’ wasn’t enough to sacrifice her life for, was it? Was it the knowledge Nara held within herself? It may have been valuable enough for Lina to trade her life for.

She didn’t feel valuable enough for anyone to trade their life for. She was just a person, same as anyone else.

She didn’t want this burden. She didn’t want this value.

“Lina,” Nara repeated. It was the name of her savior.

It could not be her real name—Zariel had had a fake name as well. Nara didn’t know what her real name was. Since she was too exhausted to make her way back to her room, Nara fell asleep on the floor for another restless night of sweet-as-poison dreams.

*****

“Nara?”

Nara was shaken awake by an Aliyah who was extremely concerned.

“Nara, what happened last night? Jiro said he was removed by a silver ranker.”

She looked up at Aliyah’s concerned faintly glowing gold eyes.

“I…almost walked through that portal.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Yes,” she confirmed, her voice a scant whisper.

Something wasn’t quite right with her. Aliyah could feel her despondency. Her teammate and friend was rapidly deteriorating. Each day, she seemed more hollow, more aimless, more confused, and more broken.

Today was worse. Far worse than she had seen.

Nara wasn’t moving, so Aliyah picked her up and carried her to the secluded study they frequented. She had stopped shivering from pain entirely. Combined with her silence, Aliyah was afraid not that Nara would cross the portal, but that she would never recover from this even if she survived it.

Aliyah hugged her friend who seemed very small and very delicate.

“Nara, what happened?” She said firmly, doing her best to coax the answer out of her.

“…Lina is dead.”

That was a surprise.

“They killed one of their own?”

“She was Illusae.”

“…I see.”

Aliyah could guess the events that unfolded. Those in charge of this prison facility saw that Nara had started moving in her room. They removed her door guard, Jiro, and let her walk to the portal arch in her delirious state. She had been about to cross the threshold when someone stopped her—the Illusae, Lina. That was a death sentence.

They had been so close to success, only for it to be foiled in its final moments by a traitor in their midst. Raina Bow and Hellis Fallen must be brimming with incandescent fury.

What will happen now? Aliyah wondered.