I felt an angel oh so close, though one I could not see

I felt an angel near today, sent to comfort me.

********

The ash was all-consuming.

It spread across the enormous cavern. Like dunes in a desert, it rose and fell like frozen waves.

Even without any breeze, the little airflow swirled more ash all around. Some of it lay so heavy, and for so long, it had solidified. The lone structure in the cavern, massive and burned, towered in the distance.

Diana could see hints of the splendour of Anor Londo in its design, though it had long faded.

Charred black, crumbling remains were all that was left. The ash mounds had crawled up its edge, so thick and tall that the Amazon could not tell its original size.

Only a hint of warmth permeated the air, like a flickering flame trying to heat a too-big room. The only illumination came from holes in the ceiling, letting the faintest radiance of the sun in.

Atop a pile of corpses, Mikael sat.

There had to be at least two dozen black knights below him, their blood pooling with the ash into a dark mud. It was a gruesome sight, with appendages separated from bodies, rent armour, and a cloying scent filling the air.

He looked like an old warlord, those who carved their kingdoms and countries from the bodies of their foes. His armour bore the scars of combat and the scorch of their enchanted weapons.

Had Diana been the naive girl who first left Paradise Island, she would have condemned him on this sight alone.

He looked like the worst tales her family had told her about the barbarians of 'Mans World.'

A fiend that needed to be stopped for justice to prevail.

After her time as Wonder Woman, the sights she had seen and the things she had been forced to do, all Diana could feel was pity.

And a hint of admiration.

Pity at a man taken from his home and tossed into a cruel and dying world. A man who liked to sing and joke was forced to kill his way to freedom. Though his foes were mindless undead, which went a long way to making the image in front of her more palatable, Diana noticed how the journey was wearing on Mikael.

He still sang and joked, but he spoke more and more about the end and freeing them. His smiles, present even when trapped in the Asylum, were rarer.

Priscilla answered a lot of questions the women had about the world.

It hadn't painted a pretty picture.

Diana feared knowing what Emma had seen in Mikael's mind more than ever.

Yet fear would never rule her.

"I'm thinking of calling it; Mount Mikael," the undead said as he stood from his perch. He wrenched his halberd from the spine of a knight, carefully making his way down the pile. "I'd plant a flag if I had one."

Despite herself, Diana felt a tug on her lips. She still did not like dark humour, as a rule, but sometimes he said something absurd enough to make her laugh.

"And what, pray tell, would your flag look like," she played along.

The way his drooping shoulders perked, his back straitened, and his eyes glimmered with amusement filled her with joy.

She preferred the joking Mikael to the dreary figure atop a pile of corpses.

"Something appropriately majestic, none of that boring try-colour stuff," he rubbed his helmeted chin in mock contemplation. "A dragon is a must, of course."

"Of course," Diana agreed with equal mock severity.

She followed him as they walked towards one of the exposed structures, sitting beside him as he dangled his feet over a long drop.

He liked high places, she knew.

"It also must be white, so there must be a colour for the contrast." He continued as he brought out a cloth to clean his equipment of the gore that permeated it. Now that they were away from 'Mount Mikael,' the smell wasn't so present. Ash still filled the air, but not enough to drown out his unique scent of surf and sun. He smelled like home. "Here's what I'm thinking. White background, purple rabbit head with an open mouth and a white dragon in its jaws."

"Why purple?" The bunny made sense, but why purple?

"For the beast of Caernobog, of course!" He exclaimed, hands going to his heart like she had stabbed him.

"That rabbit was white, and I am not sure Artoria would approve." For once, Wonder Woman got one of his references.

"I'm not talking about the movie," he explained, as if to a child. "I am talking about Fou! That fuzzy little bastard is the only good thing to ever result from Merlin. Artoria would approve one hundred percent. I am planning on beastnapping it when I drop her off. Or at least getting some floof time in before I leave."

Diana's mouth quirked, having heard tell of Merlin's Cath Palug from her friend.

Then her lips flattened as she shifted topic.

"You know she wants to go with you," Diana's eyes softened as he froze.

Over the last few months, it had been clear Mikael did not desire their company longer than necessary.

More than a few of the women opposed this.

Diana felt she owed it to her friend to do all in her power to aid her in her romantic endeavours.

"I know."

Though the amazon could not see his face through the helmet, how he sighed and drooped made her heart clench in sympathy.

Both for him and for Artoria.

"Is it so wrong that they are coming to be fond of you?" She asked softly. "From my understanding, many are happier now than ever."

"It is not wrong," he said, sagging some more. "I'm not one of those 'boohoo, beautiful women like me, woe is me,' edge lords. In any other situation, I would be thrilled. The lures are not mind-control. I wouldn't have purchased them if I did not plan on using them in the future. All they can do, like dragon aura, is encourage romance, not create it from nothing. It is simply a more extreme version of dressing well, being friendly and attractive. You all were supposed to be immune, but they can still ignore it with enough willpower. Like you."

"Then why?"

Diana ignored the pit in her stomach that his last words caused.

They were not appropriate.

"This is a case of 'it's not you, it's me.'" Mikeal chuckled hollowly, the sound void of his usual good humour. "For reasons I can't adequately explain, I cannot return their affection. It would be better to let them move on with their lives rather than string them along like some dumb harem protagonist. It will suck, but we will be better for it in the long run."

"Can't? Or won't?" The words came out harsher than she meant, but Diana couldn't accept his response.

It would be too sad for everyone involved if they parted, never learning or trying to build something beautiful.

"Can't." He looked her in the eyes as if trying to make her understand. "I quite literally cannot put it into words. Raven knows a bit if you want to ask."

"And Emma?" She couldn't help but ask, well aware that something had happened between the two that they were hiding from the rest.

"Emma is," he struggled to find the words. "She read my mind too deeply at the wrong time. It's no secret I had to use a command seal. It was for both our sakes."

"What did you order her to do?" Diana asked, morbidly curious.

"It was a while ago, but I believe my exact words were, 'Never delve deeply into my mind.' 'Never tell anyone what you find there.' and one more order. I used all six of my seals to make sure they stuck." He looked so sad, as if remembering his actions was physically painful. "I'm not proud of it. I initially purchased the seals because they were cheap and extremely useful. I was half surprised it worked since I cannot interact with you all."

"She's been telling everyone that you've been delaying things. Putting off facing this 'Gwyn.'"

"She's not wrong, technically," Mikael explained with a weary sigh. "If I just focused on getting here, I could have arrived at the kiln a week or two ago."

"Then why didn't you?" She knew it wasn't out of malicious intent.

If so, Mikael wouldn't have reached this far at all. He would have remained with Priscilla when offered the chance.

"A few reasons," he shrugged casually. "As much as I want to be free, there are still good people in this world. I tried to help them as best as I could. I can't solve all their problems, this world is still ending, but I can make their lives a bit easier than I could when this was a game."

"Admirable," Diana wasn't flattering him. His willingness to help, and his determination to keep pressing on by himself, they were all traits that she admired. Though he claimed to be no hero, sometimes a little kindness could make all the difference. "Will they be joining us on the Island?"

"No," he shook his head emphatically. For a second, he looked almost... scared? "While a few could qualify, I become responsible for anyone bound to me. I only tested it out with Priscilla because I wanted to know if capturing was possible, what the effects would be, and if she could be used as a loophole. I had hoped that because she was initially part of this world, I could use her as an intermediary between the Island and me."

"But she never gets summoned," Diana finished his thoughts for him. "She stays on the Island. Mostly in her room. In fact, I believe she is most taken with video games." He snorted in wry amusement at the thought. "Is that the only reason you have delayed this confrontation?"

"I am also scared," he admitted honestly. "Scared of what comes next. I hope I just need to beat Gwyn. That it will be enough, and we can all go free. I know this world because of a game, Dark Souls. It was a trilogy. I fear beating Gwyn, the first game's final boss, will not be enough. That I will have to complete the other two to free us. I am also afraid that when I beat him, I..." He stopped suddenly.

Diana listened as he poured his heart out. He usually kept his cards close to his chest. This was a rare moment of vulnerability.

She wished she could comfort him, hug him.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

When he did not continue, she spoke.

"If that happens, none of us would blame you. A few more months on the Island wouldn't be so bad." She tried to soothe his worries. "An extended vacation. We will continue to help any way we can."

"Thanks, but it would still suck," he sighed.

"Then let us take it one step at a time." She shifted tracks. "Nothing is certain until you defeat this Gwyn. Tell me about him."

Mikael took a deep breath, regaining his focus before following her order.

"Gwyn is or was, I suppose, the chief deity of this world. He ruled for millennia during the Age of Fire after defeating the Stone Dragons of the previous era. It was a prosperous time as civilization flourished. He wasn't perfect, but I can tell he wasn't a complete tyrant initially. Amoral, but not malicious. But then the Fire started to fade, and things deteriorated."

"Why is that?"

"In this world, fire represents many things," Mikael explained. "In this case, not only did the Fires of the First Flame serve as Gwyn's source of power, but it also acted as a representation of the world he had built. Light. Civilization. The gods themselves."

"It is a reverse case of Prometheus' story," Diana nodded, seeing a parallel. "Gaining flame granted man the means to grow. Losing it means de-evolution. Stagnation."

"That's a good way to think about it," Mikael nodded. "Gwyn tried everything to preserve it. Some tries weren't so bad but had negative consequences, like trying to create a second flame. That led to the birth of demons, but he managed to contain them. Other actions were repugnant. He sacrificed untold millions of mortals to keep the flames burning. All bonfires are made from the bones of mortals. Eventually, Gwyn threw himself on the pyre and committed the first true sin of this world. The natural order of this world was to transition from one age to the next. From the featureless Age of Ancients came the Age of Fire, the age of the gods. Following was to be the Age of Dark, the age of man."

"Like how Oranous and Gaia birthed the Titans who supplanted them, only to be overthrown by the Olympians and humans in turn."

"Pretty much, though Gwyn would not allow it," Mikael spoke grimly. "He bound the Dark, never to let the fire truly fade. This corrupts the world, locking it in a perpetual cycle of fire growing strong, only to wane again. Every time growing worse until time and space deteriorate and collapse. All lands will converge at the end, and the remaining survivors will flee to another world or attempt to build atop the ashes of ruin."

"Defeating him will stop the deterioration?" Diana asked, hopeful that there was some small glimmer of possibility.

"Nope," Mikael answered cheerfully, popping the 'P.' "It was already way too late when I appeared in the Asylum. The sin already committed. We are simply on the first cycle. Gwyn has doomed the world, and I cannot even blame him. I would have done the same."

At her disbelieving look, his smile softened to a sad one.

"Gwyn is not a villain, just another victim," Mikael explained. "In a way, he is even a hero. He saw his world ending, his family fracturing, and his subjects being cursed. He tried everything in his power to stop it. He succeeded, preserving his age for thousands of years. His children live on, as do many of his subjects. Did he take the wrong steps? Of course. But, at the core of it all, I think he did the best he could."

"You make him sound admirable," Diana admitted reluctantly. She was mature enough to know even the vilest of foes may have admirable traits. "You should tell us more when we are free, especially about how you defeated him. I imagine it will be a battle for the ages."

Mikeal shook his head, still smiling sadly.

"That is one of the saddest parts," he said, staring at the charred remains of the building in the distance. "A tiny tragedy atop a mountain of them. The man in that Kiln is no longer the god he was. Gwyn isn't the army leader that took up arms against the Everlasting Dragons anymore. He isn't a god of sunlight and lightning. He is no longer a valiant warrior who stands tens of feet tall. Gwyn is a husk, barely larger than me. He is hollow, mindless. When he fights, it is without the skill of a veteran but the instincts of a dying animal. I expect I faced a more significant challenge facing his executioner than I will find with him."

"That just means you will emerge victorious all the easier." Diana almost patted him on the back, only stopping herself when her hand was halfway through his armour. "It sounds like mercy to slay him now."

"It will be," Mikael said as he stood. He eyed the Kiln in the distance before turning to her. "Do you mind opening the portal for me?"

"Of course," the amazon also stood, willing the door to open.

It came as quickly as ever, a shimmering rectangle of pulsing pale white energy.

Mikael unlatched a box tied to his belt and threw it through the portal. It disappeared with nary a ripple.

"One way or the other, I won't need it anymore on this side. Medea can sort through it. I imagine some of you girls will find my collection interesting." He explained, seeming to find his resolve.

He turned, starting to make his way to the Kiln.

"We'll be waiting for you," Diana called after him, but he only waved that odd wrist waive of his.

Perhaps it was fear of Mikael dying.

Maybe it was her desire to motivate him.

Perhaps it was annoyance at having her words waived off.

Perchance, it was the image of a good man walking in a field of ash all alone to face a god.

Maybe it sprang from those emotions bubbling in her chest that she kept to herself to support her friend.

Either way, something pushed her to shout her following words as she stepped through the portal back to the Island.

"Don't you dare leave us!"

Diana did not see Mikael stumble at her words.

She was long gone when he turned in surprise to stare in her direction.

Diana was not there to hear him whisper to himself as if a mantra to remember as he continued towards the Kiln of the First Flame.

"Don't you dare go hollow."

********

As Diana reappeared in the mansion, she continued towards one of the sitting rooms.

The villa was large enough to hold three, one large enough for the dozen women to fit in comfortably and then two smaller ones. It was to one of these latter ones that she headed.

She had been summoned while grabbing some food. On the way, Wonder Woman noticed Robin and Glynda playing cards.

"Go fish," the archeologist called. A card was telekinetically carried from the mixed pile into the teacher's hand.

It looked like Robin was about to win.

Nearby, already eliminated from the game, Yoruichi and Tsunade were seated on a loveseat. They each held a saucer of Sake.

Judging by the flush on their faces had been drinking for a while.

Diana allowed herself to smile.

The blonde Hokage reminded her of Shiera, serious but with a temper. She was a warrior who had experienced many losses, Diana was sure.

On the other hand, Yoruichi reminded the amazon of a female, dark-skinned Barry. Playful, flirty, but willing to get serious when it mattered.

Even if they were set free and went their own ways soon, Diana was glad to have met each of these women. They were all admirable in one form or another.

Heroes in their own right.

Some quite literally.

Wonder Woman arrived at her destination, the small living room lacking the bay's view but with an entire home theatre system.

"How did it go?" Artoria asked as she entered. The blonde was lounging in one of the recliners, a massive tub of popcorn in her hands.

The group had learned early on that King Arthur got her own portions if there were snacks or food. Trying to take food from her was like stealing gold from a dragon.

The exception being mashed potatoes.

The one time Medea tried to make food from Artoria's home country had also been the one time any food on her plate went uneaten.

"As good as can be expected." Diana took her own seat facing the massive television. "I do not think he will lose, but he grows ever wearier with each passing day. I hope his fears are unfounded and it will be enough to defeat Gwyn. If he must trudge through more suffering, I fear who he will be on the other side."

"As do I," Medea agreed grimly before shifting the subject to a lighter topic. "It is a shame, though. We just started this one. I was hoping to finish before we left."

Everybody had tried various hobbies in an effort to stay occupied while on the Island.

In the weeks since her arrival, Priscilla had taken to playing video games, for example. Reading, training, hunting, and spending time at the beach were some of the most common.

Only Glynda really watched television. She enjoyed her 'soaps.'

Then, while perusing the library of shows and movies, Diana came across 'The sword in the stone.' A charming animated tale of King Arthur.

The afternoon that followed was one the amazon remembered fondly. Artoria had been adorably bamboozled by the film, pointing out numerous inconsistencies and problems.

That set a tone where Diana would try to find more renditions of her friend's misadventures, and the blonde would tear them apart. Medea had joined them in this exercise at the first opportunity.

Watching the Monty Python version had been the funniest so far. Diana could not remember the last time she cried from laughter.

Their most recent discovery, a show called 'Merlin,' had Artoria chomping at the bit.

Apparently, the famous wizard was quite the character in her world.

While the show took a more realistic edge, for all its magic, it had been one of the most inaccurate so far. Even Diana knew that Merlin and Arthur should be of different ages.

"Indeed," Artoria responded, devouring more popcorn. "I hope we can continue into the future. I wish to see where this tiny 'Mordred' story leads. He is much different than my own traitorous son."

"Speaking of," Diana interjected politely as the next episode began. "If it is not too personal, how did that work in your world. Was Morgana a man?"

"No, she was female. A crafty witch and dangerous foe," Artoria replied.

"Then how did...?" Medea asked in turn, leaving off the end of the question.

"Merlin." Artoria looked as if someone had spit in her food.

She spoke the name as if a curse, as if it alone was enough to answer the question.

In a way, it was.

The Incubus was as infamous as he was famous.

"Well," Medea shifted topics once again, sensing her friend's unwillingness to elaborate. "We will have to force Mikael to let us stay. I'm sure we can come up with something." Artoria's mood improved rapidly at the idea.

The next few hours were spent happily, Diana's mind off the subject of a lone man in a dying world.

As she went to bed, she resolved to ask Tsunade about Mikael when she returned from her summoning in the morning.

Only, Tsunade wasn't summoned at 9am as expected.

Nobody was.

3pm as well passed without anyone disappearing, as did 9pm.

By that point, everyone had noticed the discrepancy.

Even Priscila, who spent most of her time in her room playing games and was never summoned, noticed the change in atmosphere.

The first day passed in confusion but without too much worry.

The second and third days without summoning saw tensions rise.

By the fourth and fifth, many women were at wit's end.

Artoria passed her days in stone-faced silence.

Medea no longer cooked meals, spending all her time in her workshop, sorting through the bottomless box Mikael had provided.

Yoruichi started to spar with Scathach at every waking moment, a decision the Celt agreed to.

All the others maintained distance, trying to occupy themselves.

Two women were the most surprising.

Priscila remained wholly unconcerned. She still spent her days playing video games, reading books, and practicing her singing.

Emma Frost was frantic.

The mutant paced everywhere, muttering to herself. Her usually perfectly prepared appearance was deteriorating by the day. Bags formed under her eyes. She wore fewer designer clothes and more baggy sweats. She drank herself to sleep every night.

Sometimes the mutant would walk up to another of the women and start to say something, only to cut off her words and storm away.

By the end of the sixth day, Diana had enough.

Without warning, Wonder Woman marched up to the White Queen, grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the large sitting room.

"Call the others," she ordered.

"Huh," was the intelligent reply from the blonde.

Emma looked a mess, but Diana would talk to her about that later. They had more important matters.

"The others," the amazon repeated. "Call them to the meeting room."

From Diana's knowledge, Emma had been a very powerful psychic before her summoning. Like the rest of the women, her abilities had been enhanced by their arrival on the Island. The mutant could reach out anywhere on the Island without aid, easily able to call the other women from wherever they were.

The mutant stared at her seriously before sagging and nodding her head in defeat.

While unhappy, she had seen the plan in Diana's mind and was going along.

Good.

Diana was no stranger to having to coral stubborn personalities. One was not friends with Batman and Superman without having the spine to stand up to them.

Like the rest of the building, the main living room was well-appointed. It was the largest room in the house, with a crystal chandelier hanging from the wooden ceiling and artistic tapestries hanging from the wall.

Unlike the other gathering rooms, this one lacked the extra features such as the television and stocked bar. It was only furnished with loveseats, chairs, recliners, side tables, and a soft burgundy rug covering most of the floor. There was enough seating for two dozen people, more if they didn't mind being intimate.

From the control panel on the wall, Diana banished half the seats to the wall. Then she gathered eleven into a circle in the center of the room.

Taking a chair, the amazon kept an eye on Emma. The platinum blonde sat in a recliner beside her, surly and quiet.

She must have already called the others as they trickled in one by one. All eleven women trapped on the Island had gathered in only a few minutes.

"I thank you all for coming," the heroine began. She eyed everyone in turn, making sure she had their attention. Some looked curious, like Priscila, but most looked serious, like Artoria. "We should have done this the first day, but I think it is time we pooled our resources and knowledge. We are trapped here. Mikael has been beyond our reach for almost a week. We need to do something."

"What can we do?" Yoruichi asked helplessly. The Shinigami was sprawled in an undignified heap horizontally on one of the recliners, her head and feet dangling over the edge. "I've been trying to bust the bubble around us for the last few days. Still no luck."

"I have attempted to willfully manifest a portal to Mikael with no success," Raven spoke up.

Her words were monotone, but Diana was familiar enough with the cambion to sense her frustration. The former Teen Titan was also staring at Emma more intensely than usual. The blonde mutant paid her no mind, eyes closed and brow furrowed.

"I know nothing we have attempted has succeeded," Wonder Woman spoke, sensing the mood deteriorating. "This is to pool our knowledge more than anything. What do we know?"

"The dragon is still alive," Robin spoke. Though she looked calm, Diana knew she was on her sixth cup of coffee. It was still before noon. "I have been checking up on it regularly. It shows no sign of waking, no matter what I do, but it still breathes. If we accept that it is another body of Mikael's, he is still alive."

"Our Bard would not fail," Priscila chimed in. She was barely paying attention, eyes locked on a handheld gaming console.

Diana felt a spike of frustration at the hybrid's nonchalance but smothered it.

Arguments would get them nowhere.

"I, too, trust that Sir Mikael will succeed." Artoria agreed before continuing. "Could this simply be an intermission? It was always possible he would need to defeat three challenges instead of one. Could this be a period between?"

"It is possible," Medea hedged, looking unsure. "Mikael has told me that each game is set thousands of years apart. Time is unstable there. If so, I have no idea how long this will last."

"Why don't we cut the bullshit?" Tsunade harshly interrupted. The former Hokage had remained staring at Emma the entire time. Diana, too, had kept half an eye on the mutant. Many times she made to speak, but no sound left her throat. "Ice Queen! Tell us what is going on, or I'll carve my fist into your cold face."