Rachel Abery was having a strange dream.
A continuous electronic beep followed her thoughts as she lay on a bed wearing a patient gown and stared at a purple ceiling. She was in so much pain she could barely move. The source of the stony pain was coming from her back; it felt like a boulder was crushing her. Another notable sensation came from the center of her chest, but it wasn’t painful, just a peculiar toasty itch.
Rachel averted her eyes from the pockets of light on the ceiling, stared down at her arm, and focused on it. Multiple extension tubes were inserted into her forearm, connected to a syringe pump machine, and electrodes snaked into her back and down the collar of her gown. She looked over at the monitor by her side, showing her real-time vitals: the three strips of steady, undulating lines and bolded numbers to the side suggested she was fine.
Then, she noticed a gray stone in her hand that looked like a piece of brain matter. She managed to turn her head to the side and looked back into her enervated self in a tall floor mirror.
White lesions climbed up her long, slender neck and dotted her small, triangle-shaped face, but the rest seemed normal. Her curly ash-blonde hair was fashioned into a crown braid as usual, and her hazel eyes were just as dazzling as ever with their gold flecks.
With a grunt, she turned her head again and scanned her surroundings. She was in an ultra-modern lab with complex medical machinery keeping her company. The clean floor was blue-purple, and the walls were white with a single stripe of violet across.
The dream got weirder as a familiar face entered the room in a fantastical getup: a hooded white cloak and a silver mask covering the lower half of her face marked with cryptic symbols.
She approached Rachel, lowering her hood, and those special dark cobalt blue eyes of hers looked sadder the closer she got.
“Does it hurt too much?” Violet asked and checked her vitals on the monitor.
Rachel noticed Violet was wearing a security uniform under her cloak. She wondered what she ate before bed to create such a weird dream.
Violet shifted her focus to the syringe pump and started tweaking it. “Sorry. I can only increase the intake just a little bit. It doesn’t always happen, but for some, liquified unicorn horn can get addictive. Especially this synthesized kind.”
Violet was spouting nonsense, making Rachel grin. It was all so silly, the things she said in her ridiculous outfit, all with a stern demeanor.
After Rachel tittered aloud, Violet whipped over at her with widened eyes.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” she repeated in a feeble voice, approaching Rachel while shaking her head. Violet cupped Rachel’s crusty, lesioned face in her hands. She studied her silently.
Rachel laughed hysterically, causing the beeping monitor to go erratic.
Violet let go and started to do weird things with her hands, making them glow pink along with her eyes. She put her radiating hand over Rachel’s forehead and stood still. After a couple of seconds, Violet backtracked and paced around the room.
She exited the room and returned a couple of minutes later with a wooden bowl in her arms. The size of the bowl in Violet’s tiny arms made Rachel chuckle. It was adorable like a child throwing to carry something twice their size.
Violet gave her another concerned look before settling the bowl down and producing a packet. She ripped it open with her teeth and poured the thick, blood-red liquid from it onto the bowl.
Dream Violet was a marvel to watch as she repeated her weird hand signs and spouted gibberish.
She’s some sort of badass witch doctor. Rachel started chuckling again at the curse word she had said in her head. Oh, she was acting naughty, and it was hilarious.
What happened next was in line with the dream so far, but still unexpected. A ghostly image of a smiling boy with a bowl cut, way over 6 feet tall, appeared in front of Violet. He was dressed casually with a silver cross dangling from his rosary bead bracelet.
Violet crossed her arms. “Thanks for accepting my call.”
“Oh? You’re thanking me?” The boy said. “How intriguing and delightful!”
“Isaac, can we… not do this now?”
The friendly boy, whose name was Isaac, frowned and looked down at Violet. Their height difference was staggering, yet Violet felt like the biggest threat between the two. “Oh, dear Sister, what is wrong?”
Isaac detected Rachel and started moving around the room while analyzing her. “And who is this?”
“That Power angel is behind this. It’s unprecedented.”
“Those lesions… it’s angel sickness.”
“Not quite,” Violet said, dejected. “I got rid of the Euphorous infestation in her brain using my cleansing spell earlier this morning, but they popped up again just a few hours later. Her purity levels aren’t just going up, it’s fluctuating. I have a record of it plummeting to 0.8 percent before skyrocketing to 92.6 percent. It’s insane. The disease isn’t just changing her Container but her soul’s functionality as well.”
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“So, you want help?”
“This is closer to your expertise, yes, but it’s not just about her. There are others, too.”
“Wait, so this is the First Sphere’s secret project.”
Violet raised a brow. “Oh, so you know, of course, you do. I know listening to angel affairs is a hobby of yours.” She moved up to Isaac, balling her fists. “We need to plan an attack before they get the upper hand.”
“An attack? On Heaven? You want to continue where the previous generation left off?”
“We just need to take out the higher-ups.”
“And what if we win? What then?”
“We’ll worry about that when it comes to it, but right now, we can’t let those monsters do whatever they want.” She pointed at Rachel. “This is just the beginning.”
“So, just me and you?”
“I don’t trust Gill. Ashlin wouldn’t be interested because angels are valuable clients of hers. As for the rest….”
“They wouldn’t agree to work with you.”
“They are cowards.”
“Even Hezekiah?”
Violet curled her lips to the side after the mention of the name. “He’s… coming around, but this would be too much for him.”
Rachel wondered how they came to know the king of Judah personally. Isn’t that guy dead? She chuckled again, earning her a look from Violet and Isaac.
“The euphoria is settling in nicely,” Isaac said.
Violet scoffed. “It’s possible; it’ll just be the two of us for the attack, and to be honest, with the right preparation, I think we can win. We gather some creatures from the other realms. We aren’t the only ones who hate angels.”
“I don’t hate them, Sister,” Isaac said, waving a hand.
“But you think they are incompetent, so please….” Violet said in a soft voice. “Let’s start working on a plan to eliminate them.”
Isaac placed a finger on his chin. The sight made Violet shudder and bare her teeth.
“What are your terms?” Violet asked, reading his mind.
“Violet,” Isaac started. “You know what I want.”
“No. Ezequias is mine,” she said with a striking glare, her violet eyes glimmering.
“Oh, Viola,” he lamented. “Why can’t we share?”
“What you want from him will get him killed. That Amalgamation Spell set up by Skaggsy and Gussalen? It’s obviously a suicide pact.”
“And what if it is? It’ll be for a good cause.”
“You don’t even know what is behind that door.”
“I know it will bring deliverance.”
“No, you don’t!”
“My Garb told me, Viola.”
“Whose previous owner was a wackadoo who tried to fuse her soul with the Overseer.”
“Viola… talk to Hezekiah… convince him to open the door with me, and if we live, then I’ll help cure your friend, and we can eliminate the Second and First Sphere angels together.”
Violet sighed. “This was a mistake and a waste of time.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Sister,” Isaac said with a red carpet smile. “I, for one, don’t share the same sentiment. It’s always great to see my siblings.”
“Well then, just to let you know….” Violet said in a sharp, cold tone. “Stay away from Ezequias or else.”
“Or else…” Isaac raised a brow; his amicable smile twisted into a crude one. “You’ll kill me? I thought you were on humanity’s side.”
“I have no problems with getting rid of people who get in my way,” she said casually. “And I don’t really consider you human.”
“That’s hurtful.”
“Isaac—“
“I’m not going to stay away from him.” He said, maintaining his smile. “Sorry.”
Violet stared silently for a moment and then tucked her hair behind her ear. “Okay, then,”
“What happens now?”
Violet smiled. “I look for a way to kill you and make sure you stay away from Zeke for good.”
“Good luck on that!” Isaac said hopefully.
Rachel finally regained the strength to speak again. She could feel it like a sudden release of adrenaline racing across her body. She fidgeted on her bed, smiling with her eyes widening.
The monitor went haywire as the vital signs undulated rapidly, and the numbers shifted to extremely high digits and then nosedived to a concerningly low decimal over and over.
The device blew up in a sparkly burst.
As Rachel opened her mouth to speak, Violet’s head jerked to the side, and blood squirted out of her ear.
“She just spoke in archaic Enochian,” Isaac said in awe. “Never seen an ailment that did that. Fascinating.”
Violet rushed to Rachel, tilting her head to the left and clenching that side of her face. “Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, listen to me. I am going to need you not to speak, okay?” She said while nodding to her. “I’m happy you have the strength to speak again, but you have to remain quiet, ‘kay?”
“You should document this in the codex,” Isaac said.
Violet ignored Isaac and pushed a finger against her lips while fixed on Rachel. “Shhhhh.”
While giggling, Rachel imitated Violet like a kid and pushed a finger to her lips.
The smile lasted only moments as her body gave up, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She convulsed violently, shaking the electrodes off her body.
“Oh my… she just hit 99.9 percent purity,” Isaac said. “She’s going into White Shock.”
Violet rushed to Rachel and hastily tweaked the machines she was hooked up to.
“Sister… this project of the angels, they couldn’t have done it alone.”
“You can leave now!” Violet shouted as she started performing spells on Rachel.
“Sister,” Isaac said calmly. “There’s one thing you’re not paying attention to. Her Container has been changed, yes, but that’s not all. Her soul. Her Mana Gauge has to have been changed as well. A simple examination will draw you to that conclusion. Now, who in all of the Realms is capable of changing a person’s Mana Gauge like that?”
Violet froze and stared back at Isaac.