Gabrielle woke up to the feeling of something growing warmer and warmer on her face. Opening her eyes very slowly, the girl could see a candle burning very, very close to her eyes. By mere instinct she tried to move away, but her body was tied up to something. A chair, a stone chair by the feeling of it.

“Finally! I have been waiting patiently for both you and your little friend to wake up, Gabrielle.”

The girl blinked slowly, looking around to try and understand what just happened. The room was small, very small! Surrounded by ugly iron cages where small and malnourished children stared at her with saddened eyes. Or, well, not at her: they were all looking at Baraqiel, sitting on another stone chair right beside her, crying quietly…

“Please… don’t hurt her.” Bari begged in such a low voice. By the sounds of it, they must have been screaming for a long, long while.

“Sister, if you could please help me with the proper vessel? I wanna deal with the blank myself.”

Enrico nodded to Marina, who slowly walked over to the crying Baraqiel with one arm resting on a cast over her neck. Gabrielle couldn’t see what happened, for the Demiurge demanded her attention by pulling her hair and showing her a single, long metallic needle. Despite looking glossy and shiny, red stains were perfectly visible on its surface.

“You should feel proud, devil. I have been avoiding putting you in the proper Spire for a long while! I was afraid you’d break it... But I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?” The girl winced, as that first nail would go straight through her right elbow and dug deep, deep into her arm. The Demiurge smiled. “That’s it, quiet as ever. Despite it all, I will miss how little of a mess you make, Gabi.”

“Leave Baraqiel alone…!” Gabrielle finally gathered enough strength to yell. “They are so weak already, leave them be!”

“Oh, what’s another vessel lost this way.” The Demiurge shrugged, connecting a second needle into the girl’s left elbow. “If you die, you will be dying trying to save the whole of Jericho, so please! Be happy. Be merry! And beg for your ascension.”

“You will never… never be an angel.” The girl frowned further, her back growing more and more tense with the insistent sensation of those needles in her flesh. “No matter what you do, you will never see the whole tree! You are a fool!”

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“And you do not even know what you speak about!” Enrico spat on the floor, raising his nose proudly. “Someone told you a tale and suddenly you think you know all the truth? Fairy tales, that’s all you know, Gabi. I don’t deal with those, I deal in facts!”

Baraqiel gasped for air and squirmed in place, while Gabrielle simply looked around in confusion, feeling the itch of her body grow more and more painful the more needles sank into her flesh. Two on her legs, one on each shoulder, a few on her back and one right on her nape.

She could only assume Bari had it the same or even worse.

“There we go, all ready… this time I expect results.” The man walked slowly, letting Gabrielle follow him with her eyes as he arrived at his adored Spire, caressing the amber heart within. “We will even use a brand new stone core, so be happy Gabi. This is your one real chance to Ascend into something useful!”

There was a time when hearing that would have made Gabrielle’s heart soar, but seeing the faces on the cages and the crying eyes of Baraqiel… the lie of ascension now exposed for her to feel firsthand.

“May your souls finally find solace in the grace of the Gods, and may magic return to our desolate land.”

Gabrielle saw how the man once more caressed the shiny piece of orange stone before tapping it three times with a shiny silver ring in his hand.

Something would shake her from the very core, forcing her body to tense up and jitter no matter how hard she tried to stay still. She could see a light… It shined so brightly that not even squeezing her eyes shut could keep the void of white away.

“Amen.”

—

Finding everyone in the forests had been much harder work than Alejandra could have ever anticipated. People ran in all directions with no target in mind, all they wanted was to get as far away from the crazed Demiurge as possible. But alas, even if the darkness was starting to set on the skies above them, all people had been safely found and herded to a clearing in the forest. They didn’t really know where they could go from there! But at least they had gotten themselves some time… and they would need it, for work was far from over.

There were still children in the chapel, not to mention Gabrielle and Baraqiel.

You know, if they were still alive.

Alejandra shook her head as she tried to rush herself, running faster through the forest. Of course they would still be alive, there’s no way they wouldn’t! She just needed to run as fast as she could, praying for their safety.

The Chapel was very easy to find, luckily: there were plenty of different signs and hints lefts by the children with the years to find their way back, from little marks on the trees to strange piles of rocks and other forms of ugly artistry.

As the old stone building came to view, Alejandra stopped all of a sudden for a deep, slow breath. She had never liked the Chapel’s appearance, but it had never felt this foreboding to her. Even if it was ugly and badly built, the place had always been a shelter for those looking for a place to pray and rest, or at least it tried to be.

Now the terrifying experiments had tainted its image so much that the tall nun could barely push herself toward it.

The sudden screams and howls of pain coming from within certainly did not help her bravery at all.

“Calm down Ale, calm down. This is not the time for cowardice…” The blonde woman reprimanded herself, smacking both her cheeks loudly. “They need you, do it for them!”

With doubts still creeping into her thoughts, Alejandra pushed herself even further, and continued trotting towards the wicked Chapel.