Since the dawn of time, Terra has always been in the palm of gods along with their servant angels. Mortals crawling and clinging to the world became some sort of twisted entertainment for them, at least that was what Sophia and others thought. And it wasn’t like she could ask them what they thought about mortals…until now.

The angel who kept all the secrets flew above the raging flame after he had killed a man in cold blood. The moonlight casted his shadow over her making her feel insignificant and weak. When was the last time she had this feeling? She thought to herself. This feeling was like the night when she left her people behind and became the only elf roaming the land. But then, she recalled one of her earliest memories.

It was a sunny day in the library, and Sophia was in a church’s garden cleaning some statues with a wet cloth. She was a child and less carefree back then. She slowed down when cleaning the joints but then someone whispered into her ear all of a sudden.

“What is my little princess doing out here?”

“Ah! Oh- Mother.” Sophia said after managing to hold herself back from the shock. “I just felt responsible for cleaning these statues.”

The angelic statues guarded the garden with their shadow consuming the garden. Each was crafted from the finest marble with hard edges on their armors and symbols of the church. Anyone would mistake them for knightly statues if there weren’t any wings behind their back or halo above them.

“They could gather dust for all I care.” Her mother said.

“We should take care of these statues, Mother. Such powerful, benevolent-”

“Powerful? Yes. Benevolent? No. If I had a chance, I would die bringing at least one angelic bastard down.”

“W- What did they do?” Sophia asked.

“… I’ll tell you when you are older.”

Her mother’s eyes were filled with anger yet there was a drop of tear dripping down. She wiped it and elegantly left the garden without saying another word… At that time, Sophia didn’t understand what the angels did… they pushed a whole dragon clan over the edge of extinction.

She snapped back to reality. A reality that she wouldn’t dare to think of, not even in a million years. A being who avoided all emotions in service of their gods was right above her slowly flying down.

Her heart beat none-stopped, her hands trembled, and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She knew she could best against an angel with just two handguns and a few bullets. But then a thought came into mind amidst the crackling of the forest fire, a way to possibly save her.

She pulled a golden Deagle out and aimed at the head of the injured cultist on the ground. Before he could react, she pulled the trigger and blew his head off. His blood painted the ground below and merged with his crimson cloak. Then, she started praying on her knees while showing him the church’s logo on her deagle’s grip.

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Three golden sharp points projecting outward from a small circle looked like the points of a triangle. Between these three points were four smaller points, each jutting out in different directions and angles. Together, the points created the illusion of a star.

“Oh great servant of the gods descending from the golden citadel, my deepest apology for not welcoming you earlier. I meant no harm except for the cruel and the heretic.”

Gabriel landed on the ground and walked toward Sophia. With every step he took, his shadows enlarged and covered her. She closed her eyes tightly, not ready to face her death.

“The golden citadel? Who is the golden citadel?” Gabriel asked.

“Huh- I- I don’t-” She put away her deagle.

Before Sophia could answer, she, Gabriel, and Fluffy began to gasp for air since the fires had spread around them. The air was thick with smoke and burning wood with layers of ash and soot. The trees, once tall and strong, were scorched and blackened. Some of them had fallen, their remains smoldering.

“We can’t stay here. I think their base is nearby.” Sophia grabbed and held Fluffy in her arms while standing up gradually. “Let’s hide in there until the firefighters come.”

They began to run deeper into the jungle passing through the trees and scaring the hidden animals until they saw a cave. They entered the cave.

Inside the cave, there is nothing except for an old wooden table and a lantern. But then from the shadow, a little girl emerged and greeted Sophia and Gabriel.

She wore ragged clothes. Her long uncut black hair was a house of some small bugs and covered most of her face. There were burned scars and cut wounds on her legs and hands, some of them were fresh and still bleeding.

“Greeting new friends!” She opened her dried lips to say it out loud.

Sophia quickly put Fluffy down and ran toward the little girl, grabbing the child’s shoulder and examining her body. That is when she noticed on her leg a steel cuff connecting to the stone wall with a one-meter metal chain.

“Cover your ears, kid.” After the child blocked her ears with her hands, she quickly pulled out her Glock and blasted the chain out of the wall. “Don’t be scared, we will remove the rest later-”

Sophia noticed Gabriel walking to the child. She became cautious and tried to cover the kid but then she backed down after noticing the care and concern on Gabriel’s face.

“Who are you?” Gabriel asked softly as he kneeled down on the child’s level.

“Donna is Donna. Are you an angel?!” Donna said excitedly after seeing the halo and the wings.

“Donna… No, I’m Gabriel.” He said as he gently held her hands.

Donna stared at Gabriel, a little afraid yet didn’t pull her hands back. Gabriel’s halo and wings turned into a stream of yellow light and circled around his body before running to her body. As it passed through her arms and legs, it healed fresh wounds, lightened the scars, and then dissolved into thin air.

“Wow! Cool-”

Gabriel almost collapsed to the ground but then Sophia picked him up from beside. She held his right arm over her neck and tried to stand up straight. She looked at a tired Gabriel after he had used his energy on Donna without a second thought. Perhaps not all angels were bad? She thought to herself and switched to a softer tone.

“You can rest now,” Sophia said as she saw the forest fire outside of the cave but then she faced Gabriel and smiled widely. “Thank you, Gabriel.”

“Thank you, Sophia,” Gabriel responded as he breathed heavily.

“Don’t worry, new friends! I got this-” Donna said as she held her arm above her head but immediately put her hand down after hearing a voice coming from the burning forest.

“Anyone?! Anyone here?! Firefighters have arrived.” A voice said out loud as the fire got put down by small waves of water.

“We are here!!” Sophia yelled as she walked out with Gabriel while Fluffy was leading Donna out of the cave.