Qing looked up at the sky. Floating down from the roiling black clouds covering the firmament was a bright light, like a shining star descending from the heavens. Yet something nagged at his mind. There was an ethereal beauty to it, this bright, cold light. Then he realized it cast no shadows, nor did it illuminate the landscape around them. Its light seemed reserved only for itself and their eyes.

“My God,” Ghida breathed.

“No,” Cedric said sharply. “That is no God. It is an angel.”

“We’re saved!” Gorm shouted, and the sailors all cried out in relief, running forward towards where the angel was descending.

“Be on your guard,” Qing warned, his instincts screaming that something wasn’t right. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“It must be here to save us, to help us,” Ghida argued.

“Why hasn’t it helped us before?” Qing asked. “Why only show up now when we’ve made it into hell?”

“Maybe this is when we need help the most,” she countered. “Maybe it cannot access Elrydisan.”

Queen Ruqiya grasped onto Knut, her knees seeming weak, and she averted her eyes.

“That would explain why we have not seen angels in centuries,” Cedric mused.

Before they could continue their discussion, the angel spoke. Its words crashed over them like a rock concert with speakers dialed up to eleven.

“Qing, champion of two worlds. I have come to make you an offer.”

“Help!” Gorm cried out. “Save us! Take us away from this hell!” He reached his arms out for the angel.

The angel waved a hand, and the sailors all froze in place, like a movie that had been paused. They didn’t even seem to breathe.

A shock ran through Qing.

Why would an angel do such a thing?

“Did you kill them?” he asked, his voice tight.

“Who?” the angel asked, its voice resonating through Qing’s body.

“The sailors.”

The angel looked down, seeming to notice the sailors for the first time. “Do you want me to?”

“No!” Qing said. “I just... Why are they frozen?”

As the angel floated towards him, Qing’s gaze was drawn to its great wings, spread wide. It was a stunning being of indeterminate gender, beautiful and handsome all at the same time.

Qing stepped forward, putting himself between the angel and his companions. Its gaze remained glued to him, ignoring the others.

“What do you want?” Qing demanded.

“The path you tread leads to destruction,” the angel said.

“Why? Am I not powerful enough to stop Rufus from freeing the Devil?” Qing asked.

“You misunderstand,” the angel said, ruffling its wings. A few glowing feathers loosened, falling slowly to the ground. Where they touched, tiny flowers bloomed, only to wither and die moments later.

“The balance of this world has been broken,” the angel continued. “I have to to ensure it is corrected.”

“Great! Help us fix it,” Qing said. “Help us free Cleo and bring her back home. We will keep her safe there. I promise.”

The angel laughed, sending a tingling down Qing’s spine, and he swallowed.

It felt as if a friend had turned to him with a knife extended. Not yet making any threatening moves, but the trust balanced on an edge.

Is this a demon in disguise?

He mentally prepared to activate the shield of Petra’s Tear, and took a step left, ensuring Ghida was completely behind him.

“You misunderstand, champion. Our balance was broken centuries ago. Rufus, the devil’s errand boy, is about to restore it. I cannot allow you to stop him.”

Hearing those words felt like touching an electric fence, and he stepped involuntarily backwards.

“But you’re an angel. How can you be working with the devil?” Before the being answered, Qing looked at Cedric. “Wasn’t your god the one who banished the devil in the first place?”

Cedric stepped forward, chin raised and staff held vertically by his side. “Tell me, angel. Where is God? Why has he abandoned us?”

For a moment, the angel’s perfect facade cracked, uncertainty flashing across its face. “The plans of the divine are not for mere mortals to question,” it said. “Now, quiet.” It lifted a finger, and everyone but Qing froze. Even Cedric.

“Don’t hurt my friends,” Qing said, and raised his glaive.

The angel stared at him.

It took every piece of willpower Qing had to hold the gaze of those white pupils, and sweat ran down the side of his face.

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When he didn’t flinch, the angel rolled its eyes and said, “They are fine. Merely held still, avoiding any interruptions. I have come for you, and you alone.”

That means it want’s something from me. Can I use that somehow?

“Why do you want the devil to be freed?” Qing asked, knowing he needed information.

“It matters not to you. Listen instead to—”

“Tell me,” Qing said.

“Quiet,” the angel said, and with a flap of its wings, sent a gust of wind strong enough to knock Qing backwards. “Now, listen to—”

“Answer my question,” Qing said, picking himself back up, and dusting off the black feathers.

“It does not matter to you, nor will it. Do not force me to stay in this forsaken hellhole a moment longer, or I will retract my offer before it is even made.”

That’s good to know. It doesn’t enjoy being here. Though, that’s not a great surprise.

But instinctively, Qing knew he had to find a way to get this being off balance, and not follow its plan and wishes.

“Then go. A friend of my enemy is no friend of mine. Or as we say in Chicago, you can’t root for both the Cubs and the Sox.”

The angel’s lip twisted for a second, and Qing smiled.

Got him...er, it?

“Listen then, and be damned with the knowledge.” The angel breathed deep, nose crinkling at the smell. “For centuries, we have lived without purpose. No battles to plan or duels to fight. No victories to celebrate or defeats to forget. Each day passing, tomorrow the same as today and yesterday. Weeks and years and decades have merged into one monotonous sludge. There are not even humans to judge!” The angel shouted, fists shaking, spittle flying. Then it calmed down, taking a slow breath and smiling. “Tell me, Earthling. How long would you last, given nothing to do and forever to live?”

Qing’s jaw fell open and all he could do was stare at the angel. When he found his voice again, he asked, “You want to set the Devil free to pillage, burn, and rape Elrydisan, because you are bored? That is insane!”

“No. It is normal,” the angel replied serenely. “And I have come to stop your tampering.”

Qing activated his Magic Shield and equipped his glaive. “I’m not going down without a fight.”

The angel tipped its head back and laughed, its feet bopping up and down above the blackened ground, nearly touching. “‘Not going down without a fight.’ How amusing. But no, I have not come to slaughter you. I have come to make you an offer.”

“What?” Qing asked, suspicion creeping into his voice.

The angel flapped its wings lazily, slowly circling around Qing. “What do you think you could do against me? You would strike down an angel?” It placed a hand delicately against its breast.

“I would do as I must,” Qing said, his grip tightening on his weapon.

The angel smiled, showing teeth whiter than snow. They looked sharp. Predatory.

A chill ran down Qing’s neck.

“I am not here to kill you. I have come to offer you a way out. To return home to your Earth and be rid of your quest.”

Qing rocked backwards as if zapped with electricity.

How much does it know? What can it do? Is this a trick?

“Yes,” the angel said, as if reading his thoughts. “I know you are from another world. And I can send you back. In a heartbeat.”

“Will you do so?” Qing asked, pointing his weapon at the ground, his mind racing. “Can you defeat Quaxinor’ay and save Earth?”

The angel shook its head, and a feather fell from its idly flapping wings. “No. But I can send you back home, away from here. And if I do, it would remove you from your challenge. You can go back to being the normal you. Live with your family and friends.”

Qing’s legs went limp, and only the glaive kept him standing. He found himself believing the angel. Not only that, but a huge sense of relief flooded through him. He could put down the burden. What he had wished for so many times at night, before combat, during, and after. To leave this horrid existence behind and return to his old, boring, safe life.

He swallowed, unable to speak.

“I have watched you,” the angel continued, “speaking to millions of your earthlings. How you speak of your family back home. Why continue risking your life for these people on an unknown world? It’s not even yours.”

Before Qing could reply, the angel raised a hand, cutting him off. “I offer you this. Abandon your quest, and I will return you to your world. Fully restored. As if none of this ever happened. All you will be left with are your memories.”

Qing turned to Ghida and met her eyes. She couldn’t move, but somehow he knew she heard. She’d feel the words.

Even listening to this felt like betraying her.

The angel offered to solve Qing’s problem in one fell swoop. Give him what he had dreamed off, but doing so would come at the cost off—

Before he could finish his thought, the angel continued. “Let me show you.”

It snapped its fingers.

The world around Qing blurred and shifted.

***

Qing opened his eyes.

He hung in the space where he always met GG.

It was dark, with no sign of his benefactor.

Then a flash of light appeared, right in front of him, and GG said, “What are you doing—”

The world shifted.

***

Suddenly, Qing was back in the storage room where Blaine had taken him. But he was no longer strapped to a wooden cross.

When he rematerialized on Earth, he appeared under water. He instinctively held his breath and looked around, but saw nothing. The room was all black. The door must be shut, and the lights turned off.

Eyes wide, panic clawing at the back of his throat, he reached out in every direction, trying to figure out which way was up. His hands easily touched the walls. They were concave.

It’s a cylinder! The bastard is drowning me!

Qing’s foot touched the bottom, and he kicked off hard, shooting upwards, water streaming past his face.

For a second.

Then his head knocked against a heavy metal lid hard enough for him to see stars, and he rebounded down into the water.

His lungs burned for oxygen.

Qing placed his feet against one side and his back against the other and kicked, trying to break the wall. But he might as well have been a goldfish banging its face against an aquarium wall for all the impact he had.

Then, even from inside the tank, he heard a metallic rumble.

Light flooded in as the gates opened. But just as the room was lit, the world around him shifted again.

***

Qing collapsed, hands and face digging into the blackened feathers. Water dripped from his hair and he inhaled deeply.

“You fucking bastard,” he said, snarling up at the angel.

“Now that you have seen my powers, are you ready to…” The angel tilted its head and squinted its eyes at him as Qing stood and equipped his glaive.

He stepped towards the shining being, his weapon vibrating in his arms. The need to do violence surged through him, and it was all he could to stop from lashing out. But something told him he should not strike this being. Defend himself, sure. But he would not make the first strike.

He released one hand from the weapon and grabbed his other, pushing the glaive down, nostrils flaring as he breathed heavy.

The angel smiled. “Something bad happened to you,” it said, waving a hand. “No matter. I can return you to another position.”

Part of Qing wanted to tell the angel to go fuck itself. It was as much a part of the problem as Rufus. But another part of him knew he had to at least hear it out.

Think of meimei.

Qing took another deep breath, and licked his lips.

Then, looking away from his frozen friends, he forced out his question.

“Would you send me back with my healing ability intact and enough mana to cast it once?” Even asking gave him a rotten feeling in his stomach.

“No.”

A type of relief spread through him. But he had to keep trying, for her.

“Can you heal my sister?”

“No.”

“What about sending with me one healing potion?”

The angel tapped its chin and pursed its mouth before nodding. “If it will get you out of here. Then yes. I will send with you one health potion. Go heal your sister and leave my world alone.”

It felt as if he had been punched in the belly.

I can really save her.

Qing turned and looked at his friends.

All I have to do is betray them, dooming their world to an eternal cycle of death and horror.