Xellie had been laying on the sofa staring into the fabric. It didn’t feel like she had been there long, but she had lost track of time as her mind went numb.

The creaking of the back gate alerted her to the return of Mattos and Ary. She glanced at the dust dancing in the sunbeams filtering through the shuttered windows, then rubbed her face. The very last thing she wanted was for anyone to see that she’d been crying.

“Hello?” Mattos called, peering around the wall into the room.

“Find anything?” Xellie asked from the sofa, staring at the shutters so she didn’t have to face them.

“We have some interesting stuff, yes. But what did you do? Sit in the dark all day?”

“Well if you must know...” Xellie shuffled and sat more upright indignantly. “A wizard lady showed up and electrocuted me a bunch of times before I drove her away. She was working for Ashmeviti who apparently is sending people to hunt me down now on his behalf... I was just getting my energy back.”

“That rough huh,” Mattos said, not really sure how to reply. “Well, we found a bunch of information about a place called Lafayein... It’s a settlement on the islands across the Illr peninsula. The place was abandoned after an invasion by ‘something’ it wasn’t clear on what, some accounts say a great demon, others say a fallen angel. A few people stayed behind until the land became uninhabitable.”

“Huh, that sounds a lot like your town doesn’t it?” Xellie said thoughtfully. “A Valkyrie invasion could easily be mixed up over time as a ‘fallen angel’.”

“That’s what I thought!” Mattos said, snapping his fingers. “Except Alpinheim doesn’t have the whole evil energy destroying the environment thing happening, so it must have been one hell of a demon that was summoned.”

“My people have a legend,” Ary said. “We live outside of the restricted zone, but, they say, the most powerful demon lord to ever exist was summoned in the midst of a tragic love story. And the emotions were so strong that it tore into the very land and the town was lost to the sea. It’s a popular tale told to children about the power of emotions. It’s easy to destroy someone’s world and have them lock everyone out, just like the restricted zone.”

“That sounds excessive, but, I guess we know where we need to go then,” Xellie said, biting her bottom lip thoughtfully. “I just don’t know if we’re prepared to fight him yet.”

“Oh?” Mattos raised an eyebrow at this statement. “What happened to all the bravado you had the other day?”

“I guess I had it knocked out of me,” Xellie answered with a pout. “Demons don’t scare me, but his human minions? Yeah, they do. I don’t have it in me to kill humans.”

“That’s fair.” Mattos sighed. “Well look, you’re probably going to have to do it - is a human working for Ashmetivi any better of a creature than a demon anyway?”

“A human can change their ways....” Xellie trailed off and looked down at her feet. “Maybe it’s unlikely but doesn’t everyone deserve a chance at redemption?”

“Well, what’s the cost of that chance? Entire cities destroyed? People murdered? What about your own survival?” Mattos pressed. “Look, I get that it’s not going to be easy, but people who do that kind of thing are usually too far gone to change.”

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Ary who had been sitting by silently listening to this conversation suddenly joined in.

“If you don’t survive you won’t be able to do anything that you’re planning, right? People who sell out to demons are the lowest of the low and don’t deserve any consideration.”

“I guess....” Xellie said hesitantly. “Maybe I’m overthinking it because they’re my... used to be my friends.”

Mattos closed his eyes and exhaled sharply.

“I’m sorry. That must be hard.”

“I’ll get over it!” Xellie said, clasping her hands together and forcing a smile. “I’m just being silly and sentimental.”

Ary and Mattos exchanged uneasy glances in response to this reaction, not sure what to say next.

“So umm, hey....” Mattos said after a few moments of silence. “We haven’t really talked about this Valkyrie thing... Do you have any special powers or something like that?”

“I’m just good at fighting.” Xellie shrugged. “I don’t think it’s a Valkyrie thing, rather - my brother taught me well.”

“It might be!” Ary said excitedly. “When I made your wings come out you were so fast!”

“It’d be pretty cool if you could fly.” Mattos mused. “We should try and find out what you can do.”

“So let's see what happens.” Ary sat delicately on the sofa next to Xellie and closed her eyes, placing one hand on Xellie’s back.

Faint, fuzzy, ghostly white wings unfurled, opening up and spreading themselves across the length of the sofa.

Ary stepped away and looked at her work in admiration, as Mattos watched on in awe.

“Did you do it?” Xellie asked, trying to look behind her, causing Ary to giggle. “I can’t see it.. Stop playing jokes on me.”

Everything was starting to look strange to Xellie, the dark room they were sitting in seemed brighter and colours were contrasting with each other more. The air began to fill with whispers, no particular word was audible but they were getting louder and louder.

Rubbing her eyes to try and make sense of what she saw, Xellie stood up, shaking her head as if it would silence the voices she could hear in her head and stumbled through the villa to the backyard.

She heard what sounded like a chilling scream in the distance, yet somehow Xellie knew it was part of the voices she was hearing.

Trying to blot out the racket in her head, she grabbed a hold of her sword and held it before her, staring at the tip of the blade.

Without the usual twist of the hilt, the energy blade crackled into life, longer and wider than before, glowing a bright white instead of having its usual golden hue.

“Hey Mattos!” she called over her shoulder. “Come and look at this!”

“That thing is bigger than you are,” Mattos said with an impressed whistle. “But can you fly?”

“Oh. Huh,” She lowered the tip of the blade to the ground. It fizzled out quickly, returning to its ordinary metal blade form. The idea of flying hadn’t crossed her mind, but Raye could do it, so perhaps it was possible!

With Mattos and Ary looking on in amusement, Xellie jumped off the ground just a bit higher than she normally could, but to no avail. She jumped a few more times, then stopped, pouting in frustration.

“I don’t think I can,” she said, rather put out by the failure. “I can’t even feel the wings if they're even there.”

“I have an important question. Do you think you can fight Ashmeviti like this?” Mattos asked.

“Like this? I think I can take on anything.”

“Then that’s settled, let’s cross those nasty plains and go to Lafayein.”