Zeke and Isaac were the last to land on the bridge.
As for the others, Ugo and Naomi examined the giant arched door and moved their hands across its carved surface while AJ stood focused on her glasses as she cleaned them.
Looking away from them, Zeke spotted his medical bag near the railing and walked over to it. He peered downward—a floor of angelic sigils was just a few feet below. “I guess there was no way to continue flying down.” He grabbed his bag and walked back to Isaac. “Are we still far from the garden?”
Isaac gave out a laugh. “We’ll see…”
“Also,” Zeke said and put his hand over his chest. “Even though our purity levels have been raised... I don’t feel all that different.”
“Usually, it’s not noticeable for normal people unless you reach close to zero or one hundred percent, but I can assure you that your soul is radiating at new levels of purity as of now,” Isaac said. “When you start using magic more frequently, you’ll notice.”
Seconds later, the bridge quaked as the massive doors creaked open. Everybody wobbled on their feet.
“We got the door to open,” Naomi announced with a small hop.
The trembling abated, and a new path was revealed.
AJ held her glasses up to the light momentarily and then put them on. “Let’s move.”
Zeke and his group walked up to the door, entered, and stood on the top step of a wide spiral staircase with no end in sight. Small round windows dotted the walls and descended along with the stairs, allowing white light to brighten their singular path.
Isaac plopped onto the next giant step and turned back, cueing them with a mile-wide smile. They started moving.
Just getting to the end of the staircase felt longer than getting to the end of the broken bridge, but nobody was showing discomfort or tedium. Ugo explained the intricacies of role-playing video games to Naomi — party members and their roles, strategies to take down bosses, and the importance of hoarding special one-use items. The ultimate gamer dilemma was saving the most potent consumables just in case you really need them for a future boss but never using them because they’re too rare — a classic catch-22. Naomi seemed to be way too intrigued.
AJ was moving down the steps rhythmically and counting under her breath, exerting herself even further than necessary. She was using it as a workout. Zeke could never. Just flying on its own was enough exercise for his entire week.
Isaac was staring forward, lost in thought. What kind of thoughts could be going through that special mind of his? Zeke studied him.
A voice disrupted his concentration.
“Hey, what’s stopping Nananiel from just cursing our Mom again after we cure her?” Ugo asked Isaac.
Isaac sprang back into a lucid state and turned to focus on Ugo. “Oh, that’s a good question,” he said. “There’s a fundamental fact about curses. Affecting someone with the same curse the second time is not very effective. In fact, the effectiveness is slim to none.”
“Why? Because of antibodies or something?” Zeke said and then chuckled.
“Oh, yes, that’s a suitable term,” Isaac said. “Antibodies for the soul.”
Zeke gave Isaac a glazed look. “How can you say that with a straight face…?”
“After surviving a curse, the individual gains greater resistance to it, no matter their affinity to Mana or even purity levels,” Isaac explained. “It’s similar to demon possession. After surviving a possession with the help of a well-done exorcism, their immunity grows, but only if they regulate their purity levels and don’t let it plummet.”
“You’re saying that a person can’t be possessed by the same demon twice?” AJ asked.
“A demon rarely goes to possess a human they already did in the past because of the resistances they’ve developed. This is even more true for Minor Demons. Surviving an attack from them can grant you resistance to an entire species,” Isaac rambled. “Maintaining optimal purity levels and supplements, wards, and sigils can prevent demon attacks on their own.”
Round and round they went as they continued to descend…
AJ added arm stretches to her exercise, and Ugo moved on to telling Naomi about superheroes in comic books. Zeke worried about all the useless information he was filling her head with. She really just looked like a teenage girl to Zeke, childish and harmless then, he thought back to her first night in the hospital. There was a point when she spoke to them maturely and had an austere air around her. What was that about?
Isaac confirmed Violet’s theory about her being something otherworldly, even more otherworldly than an angel, not that he needed his confirmation anyway.
A voice disrupted his thinking again—a scratchy voice.
“Zeke, with all that thinking you do, I find it hard to believe that you still haven’t heard the voice of your Healer’s Garb,” Isaac said.
“Maybe, since it’s all cluttered, that’s why he can’t hear it,” Ugo said.
“And with your mind being cluttered with disgusting things,” AJ said to Ugo, “neither of you may have the chance of ever hearing it.”
“Perhaps they haven’t faced a challenge perilous enough yet,” Isaac said. His smile twisted a bit, and it made Zeke nervous.
“Dude, we survived a demon and an angel attack!” Ugo barked.
“Minor Demon,” Zeke corrected.
“Still a freaking demon!”
“Why don’t you teach them how to use it, Isaac?” Naomi asked innocently.
“No, that’s something they need to hear on their own,” Isaac said.
“Why do I feel like you already know the names of their Healer Garb’s?” AJ muttered while eyeing Isaac.
“Because I do,” Isaac said, “but they must learn to listen on their own.”
Ugo groaned loudly.
Naomi patted him on the back. “You’ll get it.”
Round and round they went as they continued to descend…
----------------------------------------
Human bars were another source of entertainment for Nananiel. They had a sporadic nature to them. One night could follow a monotonous routine, while another could feature a harrowing spectacle of hectic group fights, human females tossing beverages into the faces of eager males, and others in drunken stupors making a fool of themselves. Some nights, he would sit at the counter for hours and overhear stories that reminded him of the telenovelas he would never admit to any angel he liked to watch occasionally.
He sat alone at a table with a cup of water in his hand while several despondent humans chugging beers and wolfing down greasy, calorie-ridden food sat nearby. It was another boring night at Heath’s Sports Bar. The TV played a late-night talk show, making the lounging even more tedious.
Someone occupied a seat on the other side of the table.
“Sorry, I like to be alone….” Nananiel trailed off, glancing at the woman, and then did a double-take. The scorching angelic aura was undeniable. The legendary Power Chief had escaped from Limbo.
“Irin, when did you—?”
“Just now.”
Irin was clad in her usual crimson-red suit; however, holes were burning through the fabric and continuously multiplied. Her singed hair was expelling embers, and her face was covered in soot and cracks. A red glow glared from between the cracks. She was moments away from exploding out of her Container.
“Irin, you got out!” Nananiel said, holding back the urge to pop out of his seat. He paused to recollect himself and asked, “Did any other angel get out with you?”
“I escaped on my own,” Irin said. Her voice sounded spectral with an undertone of fiery crackles, accentuating her struggle to stay connected to the Human Realm in her damaged Container. “I couldn’t find any other angel in Limbo. Were you able to?”
“No, I got out on my own.”
“There’s a possibility that some will never return.”
“No....”
“The spell those heathens used. I’ve heard rumors that angel souls can be used to reverse Griffin’s Seal. Didn’t think it to be true.”
Nananiel shivered, and it wasn’t because of the weather or his faulty Container. “So, the only Major Angels in effect right now on this Realm are you and me. Scary thought.”
“Because of your negligence, Nananiel.”
How long had it been? Thirty seconds and already, she was criticizing his leadership skills, but there was nothing she could say to him that he hadn’t chastised himself for already.
Irin folded her arms and scowled at Nananiel, heat simmering behind her eyes, literally. “To me, it doesn’t look like you seem all that worried, nor have you been doing much. Here, you are enthroned inside of this modern tavern. Unsightly of a Dominion, let alone a Dominion Chief.”
“I’ve been working nonstop since I’ve escaped. I would’ve searched Limbo, but that’s impossible, so I had to focus on retrieving Naomi. Now, I am waiting for my scheme to succeed.” He said, knowing well that even if entry to Limbo wasn’t nigh-impossible, he wouldn’t go. His memories of his time in the Realm were foggy and seemed like a lifetime ago. Yet, the dreadful sensation he would get from daring to reminisce was paralyzing.
“What does that mean?” Irin’s scowl didn’t go away; it blazed up.
Nananiel was convinced the look could set his soul on fire if he stared back at it long enough. So, he pulled his focus onto his cup as he explained. “Naomi has fallen into the hands of two members of the Tainted Generation. They’re keeping her in a Sub-Realm with powerful warding, but here’s the interesting bit: they don’t know how to use magic properly—”
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“Yet,” said Irin, unfolding her arms and placing her hands on the table.
Nananiel stared at them. Cracks were across the darkening skin, just like her face. The river of magma glowing from between the crevices was somewhat mesmerizing to watch. “I planted a multitude of Euphorouses into the mother of one of them. I am not proud of it, but I had to.”
Irin’s ring finger broke off with a small burst. “That’s your strategy for retrieving Naomi?” She said with her spectral voice gaining more vigor, more fire. Magma began to leak out from her finger’s stump and burned a hole right through the table, just like the ones on her jacket and shirt.
“His name is Ezequias Rosario, and he doesn’t know much. While in a state of panic and confusion, he’ll let the child out and beg me to lift the curse.”
“Did it ever occur to you that he could just request the help of other members of the Tainted Generation?”
Nananiel went silent. Realizing his blunder, he attempted to salvage himself. “They’re not always on the same terms….”
Irin slammed her fists onto the table, pints of magma scattered in the air. “How can you be this incompetent!”
Nananiel hissed as the droplets of holy magma touched his face. He pulled back, thinking back to the powerful witch he fought against, Violet Balles, the Neurologist. She was definitely on their side. But, no, the curse was a complicated one to deal with! Yeah, he could say that!
“They won’t find the cure in time…”
Irin smirked, but it was spiteful, mocking his foolish decisions. “War was all that you saw of the Tainted Generation, but you weren’t directly involved in the smaller-scale conflicts we had with several iterations of those devils. They are smart, Nananiel. Resourceful, powerful, and blessed with the most terrifying human trait of them all... determination.”
“This will work.”
“You understand nothing about the Tainted Generation,” Irin said, shaking her head. “Underestimating them will lead to your death. What does the First Sphere think of this?”
The First Sphere. The ones powerful enough to resolve all of this but chose not to. The ones who appointed him as Dominion just a little before Sister Paschar reported the birth of the Fourteenth Tainted Generation. The ones who let him take Naomi out of the cage. Nananiel understood it was misguided to think so, but it felt that this whole mess was their fault somehow, or was he using it as a scapegoat for his failures?
“They have given me an ultimatum….” Nananiel started. “Locate Naomi and fix the Seal. Elgorizel won’t even tell me how much time I have left.”
Cinders burst out of Irin’s face as she chortled. “Wonderful.”
Nananiel ignored the caustic comment. “How am I supposed to fix the Seals if the soul of the man who set it up in the first place is nowhere to be found?” Nananiel shifted in his seat. “He could be hiding in a Sub-Realm of Heaven, but I’ve been banished from all Holy Realms. I can’t even search there.”
Nananiel looked back at Irin and expected to find some hint of pity on her burning face, but no, she was just overjoyed.
“I always ponder upon the stories about your involvement in the Great War. Your victory over Skaggsy.” Irin said with a wolfish grin.
It was bait. The Thirteenth Damned was practically dead. But Nananiel couldn’t tell Irin that. He couldn’t tell any being that. A saying that humans had popped into his head. It went, “If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all.” Nananiel used the advice and took a sip from his cup.
Irin scoffed and got up. Half her nose broke off and shattered on the burned tabletop. “I am going to request an audience with the First Sphere and nominate myself to be your named successor.”
Nananiel glanced at the pieces of her nose spread across the tabletop. “Or we could just work together to resolve this, Irin.”
“I’ve had enough of your antics, Nananiel. This Realm warrants a formidable Dominion Chief entity.”
“What do you know about management, Irin? Death and destruction are all you know.”
Irin glanced at Nananiel and made a soft grunt. “I have a project in development. Once I present the idea to the First Sphere authorities, they’ll consider my nomination.”
“Let me guess, it has something to do with warfare,” Nananiel mocked.
“I hope they don’t exile you and, instead, demote you to a regular Dominion.” Irin bared her teeth, and her eyes glowed a flaming red. “Then, with me being able to command you directly, I can have some real fun with you, Nananiel.”
Nananiel gulped but maintained a stern look. “My plan will work,” he said with a fickle of confidence. “You should be resting. I can sense your Container’s instability.”
“After I speak to the First Sphere, I am going to work on my own to find the abominable child,” Irin declared. “You can continue your frivolous schemes on your own.”
Irin went for the exit.
Nananiel fixated on the cup. He worked for centuries for the position he had not earned but got, and now he longed for the days of being a regular angel. Perhaps a demotion wouldn’t be that bad, but was the First Sphere really going to let him off with just that? The penance had to be more painful than a status decrease.
Nananiel fantasized about what happened in tonight’s Hospital General de Anita episode and wondered if any of his fan theories came true.
He hummed the infectious theme song to himself.
----------------------------------------
The group reached the end of the staircase. A wide, colorless, polished hall greeted them. Zeke looked up at the ribbed vaults and then the rest of the ornate decorations that covered almost every surface. The large stained glass windows filtered the invading white light, making it a sharp gray.
Isaac pointed forward with the assertiveness of a sea captain. “Just a little more, friends!”
They all started moving. Sets of columns lined down the path they trekked through.
Naomi bounced over to Isaac. She stared up at him, wide-eyed, “Isaac, what do you think about angels?”
The air grew heavy as Isaac held her eager stare without saying a word. His expression became eerily wooden. After walking for about twenty seconds, he said, “I have nothing against them, but I do believe they may be incompetent, and that’s okay. I understand. It’s a difficult job.”
“Even the religious nut thinks so!” AJ cheered.
“I did not expect an answer like that,” Ugo said, “well, do you think you can do a better job, Zach?”
“Hmm…” Isaac raised his arm and looked at the cross hanging off his rosary bead bracelet.
“Well, Vee was right about them being scummy. I’ll tell you that,” Zeke said.
Isaac shot a look at Zeke and smiled. “Do you think she is in the right to hurt them indiscriminately?”
Zeke’s brows pinched together as he focused on Isaac.
“I know Violet is the Angel-Killer,” Isaac said. “She tortures them for a while before ending their lives. All in the name of humanity, she says. Isn’t our generation filled with the most colorful and intriguing people? We are so blessed.”
“How did you know that—?”
“I follow all the updates going on in Heaven, Hezekiah,” Isaac said. “I’ve seen Violet’s magic first-hand. With the state those angels’ Containers were left in, it isn’t wild to make that assumption. And then there’s the fact she admitted it to me when I confronted her.”
Naomi looked over at AJ for clarification. “Your friend is the Angel-Killer? I’ve heard terrible stories about the Angel-Killer. Unbelievable scary magic.”
“Indeed,” Isaac agreed. “Spells she inherited from her Garb that she augmented and modified herself to hurt angels exclusively. It makes it more fascinating that Hezekiah survived an attack from her and got out unscathed.”
Zeke flinched and glared at Isaac. Damn you, Isaac.
Ugo stepped in front of everybody, turned to them, and yelled, “Whoa, wait!”
They all halted, and all eyes fell on Zeke.
“Vee attacked you?” Ugo asked.
Zeke looked down at the stone floor and didn’t answer.
“And you didn’t tell us.” Ugo shrugged and scoffed. “I get it. You said nothing because you were afraid of what we would say. You didn’t want to hear the truth.”
A white-hot rage surged deep within Zeke’s chest. He raised his head. “And that would be?”
“Vee isn’t exactly on our side,” Ugo said. “Face it, she’s the villain.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Zeke hissed.
“She’s torturing and killing angels. She isn’t showing up to help us save Má, and she attacked you!” Ugo said. “You’re blind to Vee’s antics. You always have been!”
And there it was.
The anger was so great he had no idea how to express it other than smirking like a lucky bastard who won the lottery for the second time. Ugo wasn’t just pushing buttons but smashing them with a baseball bat.
It was only fair that he returned the favor.
Zeke took one step toward his brother. “Oh, wow.” He stabbed Ugo’s chest with his finger as he said: “You are accusing me of being blind when it comes to women? That’s hilarious!”
“You put Vee on a pedestal, Mano,” Ugo said softly.
Why was he speaking like that? As if he had the higher ground. Zeke pulled his finger back. “And you put every girl you’ve ever met on a pedestal!” he said. “Last year, you went to a concert of a band whom you don’t even listen to just to meet girls, and you had one conversation with a girl that lasted like, what, five seconds—?”
“You weren’t there!”
“I don’t need to be there to know it only lasted five seconds!” Zeke began to rant at rapid fire. “The next day, you tried to get a belly button piercing from some random guy you found online and ended up with an infection! And at the end of it all, what happened? Oh, yeah! The number she gave you was fake! A Chinese restaurant’s number!” He dropped his medical bag, pointed up at Ugo, and enunciated slowly with pure disdain, “You’re just jealous that Violet actually likes me, and I had a real chance with her, unlike you with every girl you claimed to be your soulmate.”
“Zeke!” AJ said.
Ugo raised a hand. “No, it’s okay.” He folded his arms and chuckled while shaking his head. “He is always like this when someone talks about Vee in a negative light, no scratch that, any mention of Vee gets him riled up. It’s always Violet with you.”
“Okay, I like her, so what? Do you have something against that?”
Ugo’s face contorted. “Violet attacked you! Do I really need to say it again? It’s pissing me off that you’re not pissed off!”
“Stop arguing, please!” Naomi urged.
“Stay out of this!” Zeke and Ugo barked.
Naomi shrunk back.
“Knowing how smart Vee is and the fact she is so well-versed in this crazy world of magic and monsters. I bet she knows the cure,” Ugo said.
“Oh, she does,” Isaac said.
“Terrific!” Ugo jeered and stayed away for a bit. “I’m curious, Mano.” He turned back to Zeke. Do you believe there is a good reason she isn’t here to help us now? A good reason why she attacked you?”
Zeke closed his fists and looked right into Ugo’s stupid brown eyes. “She can’t just give me the answer to everything,” he said. “I’m weak, and it’s helping me grow.”
Ugo stared blankly at Zeke for almost half a minute. “Man, for someone so smart, you’re really stupid.”
“You’re just jealous she’s looking out for me,” Zeke said, getting closer to his brother.
Ugo pushed him on the shoulder. “Would you stop with that nonsense?”
“Ugo!” AJ said, ready to engage, but was pulled back by Isaac.
“Let them resolve this, Avery,” Isaac said.
Zeke stopped, glanced at his shoulder, and then squinted at Ugo. “Yeah, I guess it’s a bit presumptuous of me to believe that you could be jealous of me with your perfect memory and everything.” Zeke noticed Ugo’s expression crease in confusion but paid no mind to it and continued, “Here I am, wasting hours of my life studying and practicing constantly, and sometimes I don’t even get the highest grades in my class while you can ace anything without effort and yet, you choose not to!”
Ugo stepped back, fuming now and about to throw a fit. “Okay, I was wrong! It’s not just Violet. You put everybody on this pedestal! What is wrong with you? Do you really think everybody is better than you? Get your head out of your ass, Mano.”
“You don’t have to work hard for anything. In fact, you choose not to, and you’ll be perfectly well off, I bet.”
“Do you think I enjoy having a perfect memory? Hyperthymesia is considered a condition for a reason, you asshole!” Ugo said. His eyes flashed, and he trembled and slurred as he went on, “I can’t forget anything about my mom. Do you remember how my mom died? She was sick and stuck in the hospital for months! I remember every trip my dad and I took to the hospital and seeing life fade away from her eyes slowly day after day, and you know what finally killed her in the end? A freakin’ medical error! Because some moron made a misdiagnosis and was adamant it was right, he sent her straight into life-support, and we pulled the plug! I remember every detail of that doctor’s face! His voice, his mannerisms, the way he enunciated certain words, and the weird things he did with his pen when he explained the procedure to my parents! The procedure that got her killed! Every detail of that day down to the goddamn temperature. I remember it all! Do you have any idea how hard it is to forgive someone when you literally can’t forget anything? I wish I could forget! I wish! But I can’t!”
“Ugo…” Naomi said.
“And then my dad marries your mom, and I learn you want to be a doctor. Do you know how hard it was for me to bury my feelings and root for you, anyway? Stop assuming that everybody is so happy and fulfilled and blessed.” Ugo took another step and tried to catch his breath.
Zeke paused. He still had something to say. “I’m still right about Violet, though. I know you liked her too….”
Ugo grabbed onto his collar and slammed him back into a column. Gasps filled the air as he nearly lifted him off the floor. “That’s not what’s important here—!”
“I’m not an angel!” Naomi said.
Silence took over, and they turned their heads to Naomi at once.