Angelica sat side by side with Anderson inside the helicopter, they were separated from the cabin by a wall, so the pilot did not disturb them as Anderson spoke at length with Angelica. Although the speed was not up to the angel's standard it could've been worse. Anderson had explained many things to her along the way. Although his pronunciation and accent were still terrible, he was far better off than the pilot who could not even speak the same language.
Apparently that would become a common occurrence, as Anderson explained that the language Angelica had spoken her entire life was now just a relic, found only in ancient texts and spoken by only a few of those who studied them. That meant she would have to learn a completely new language. At least those thoughts were enough to keep her distracted from the sorrow trying to push into the forefront of her mind.
What she had learned about the world terrified her. There were no longer any Gods. All devils and deities had disappeared, and so did most of the other powerful beings which had once trod the world. What replaced them was the new world, where common men could rule over those even more common. Where there was little if any magic and society was reigned over by what they called technology. It was a horrible and terrifying though to Angelica. Thousands of years' effort was wasted, sacred grounds were defiled and traditions lost all their meaning.
"We are going to arrive soon, lady Angelica," Anderson spoke as he looked out of the window, "Would you please hide your wings? Although they are beautiful they might startle most people,"
"Alright," Angelica agreed with reluctance. Although she disliked to hide what was granted by her lord, she was determined to grasp this opportunity the best she could. Her gilded wings were retracted, rapidly vanishing into her back. She also looked outside the window, and a vaguely familiar sight appeared in her eyes. She could see a bustling city, metropolis swarming with people. With devote believers. And at the top of a hill at the very centre stood a great cathedral, overlooking the entire city. It was…, "...Beautiful," Angelica gasped and a single golden tear ran down her cheek. For once or was not filled with sorrow.
The pilot said something and the helicopter began to descend. They were still at the outskirts of the city and landed down on a black platform with a yellow circle and a symbol Angelica didn't recognise.
"Also, would you please put away the jewel?" Anderson asked, looking at the large crimson gemstone Angelica was still clutching to her chest. Hearing this request she firmly shook her head, she was not ready to let go, "Alright," Anderson did not try to force her. Finally they landed and Anderson was the first to step out, while Angelica looked outside the window for a bit longer. As soon as Anderson was outside the vehicle, a blond woman rushed in to the landing area and immediately began to tell something at Anderson, small droplets forming the corners of her eyes. Her great youth was at contrast with the elderly visage of Anderson, and so was her relative beauty. Her bickering only stopped when she noticed Angelica, as the woman stopped speaking mid-sentence and stared with her mouth stuck wide agape. Something fell to the ground to Angelica’s left, it was the pilot who had dropped his helmet and was also frozen, staring at Angelica. Looking around, Angelica noticed that they were not the only ones. Almost everyone in the vicinity was stunned and gazing at her, unable to take their eyes off.
It was not difficult to realise the reason for that. Angelica was an angel, and all angels had a very special inborn ability: In the eyes of others their bodies would take the form of most immaculate and perfect beauty, far beyond what the beholder could even imagine. It would scry the most perfectly perceived beauty in the hearts of all who looked on and manifest through their gazes. Naturally this ability had a limit, it was only supported through the naturally leaking divinity of the angels’, and the closeness to perfection was deeply related to the amount of power consumed. Since Angelica could be considered among the most powerful, if not the most, among angels, this illusion that enveloped her could partially deceive even the eyes of Gods, and perfectly draw the most deep-rooted desires of mortals. Perhaps due to the turbulence constantly assaulting Angelica’s consciousness, she had forgotten to keep in mind just how vulnerable common men were to her appearance. Also, Anderson appeared just fine while talking and looking at her the whole time.
That raised a great question. Although Anderson was a bit more powerful than those around him, he was still only the biggest fish in a very, very small pond. Even if he practised his mental fortitude throughout his entire life, he should still stand no chance resisting an ability that could affect Gods. That made Angelica interested in how the man managed to remain unaffected throughout their prior conversations. However, it was not the time to ponder about that. Angelica restricted her charm as much as she possibly could, probably bringing the others’ perception of her down to a great beauty from unfathomable perfection. When she had done that, the people around mostly began to recover. Anderson seemed confused at first but quickly realised what had probably transpired. Seeing that they were beginning to recover he gave Angelica a surprised glance, stopped to study her for a few seconds, before he turned around again and waited for the other woman to regain her wits. Then he pointed towards Angelica and said something, likely introducing her.
“Angelica, this is sister Erza,” Anderson finally spoke some words Angelica could understand, “She is a close friend to me, I hope the two of you will get along in the future. Now, let’s move, you are attracting a lot of attention,” he said and stepped forward. The woman reached into the pocket of her pants and handed Anderson something. He seemed surprised for a moment before he smiled and said something, likely a thanks. As Anderson put the item around his neck Angelica quickly recognised it: It was a silver cube attached to a chain. Her heart felt some warmth to see this tradition still kept. It represented the founding block of creation. The first piece of the world that her lord had laid, long before even Angelica had been born.
Stolen novel; please report.
As Anderson moved forward Angelica followed, still clutching the large gemstone. Erza kept sneaking weird glances at her, hardly even speaking with Anderson the entire way. Seemingly still affected by the earlier events. They walked along the streets of the city, although the path was complex Anderson appeared to know the way completely by heart. Many people gave Angelica startled stares, perhaps stunned by her beauty or wondering about the gargantuan gemstone clutched to her chest. Meanwhile, Angelica was looking around, spotting many people with the same cube chained around their neck. Though to her disappointment, there were quite a few people who were not wearing one of the pendants. As they trod through the city they eventually entered a rather deserted side street, there Anderson knocked on one of the doors and said some words Angelica could not understand. The door was soon enough opened and they could step through. The two men standing behind also seemed slightly taken aback as Angelica walked past them.
Once they entered the underground tunnels the traffic thinned significantly. Among the few people that they encountered beneath the city, all of them were wearing the pendant, and they appeared much less affected by Angelica’s beauty. In fact, some of them managed to not stop in their treks when they spotted her. The tunnels had many doors, corridors and entrances, though Anderson still appeared completely confident in the way. There was little speaking along the way as Angelica and Erza didn’t speak a common language, something Erza found out when she tried to start a conversation a couple of times only to receive a confused stare back.
“We are here,” Anderson smiled as they turned right on yet another corridor. There was a single door at the end of the tunnel. Upon entering Angelica found herself inside a sizable apartment that was at stark contrast with the solemn stone tunnels. The modern furniture inside was foreign, yet still mostly recognisable to Angelica. The hardwood floor tiles were a bit closer to what she could recognise, though their polished glimmer was a bit different than what she used to know. The electronics around her, on the other hand, were strangely disturbing. The widescreen television on the wall, the hardline phone in the wall to her left and the electronic light overhead, each of them disturbed her greatly. Although she was told that such things existed, it would be difficult for Angelica to come to terms with them. How could common men craft light without magic was over her head, and the transmission of pictures or images through long distances she had heard about was something few could do even with magic.
“This could be considered our base,” Anderson said, “In this apartment I could be considered a leader. We are a small task force of magically blessed. Usually we work as a team, though I just happened to be returning from a lone task and happened to fly near the site where I found you. You should try to get some sleep, I will make sure that you can meet some of your kind as soon as possible. They should be able to answer most of your questions,” Anderson finished and called out. Three more figures walked out and looked at Angelica with curiosity. One was another woman, though she was much older than Erza, and even appeared to be around the same age as Anderson. Her hair was grey and wrinkles covered every inch of her visage, though her kind smile was only reinforced by her elderly appearance. Next to her was a man, black-haired with a full beard. He didn’t appear older than thirty, though a cutting scar ran down his face, clearly passing through his grey and dead left eye. The man was also very muscular and almost grizzly. The last person was the exact opposite of that. His hands were skinny as though there was barely any muscle on his bones, and his thin waist made him appear to be someone struggling on the brink of starvation. His ginger hair was long and curly and his beardless visage youthful, definitely marking him as someone below twenty years of age. Angelica also noted that all of them were wearing the cubical pendant.
Anderson spoke with them for a while as he introduced Angelica, which also caused surprise to surge to their face, before he turned back to her, “I will introduce you to everyone later. You should go rest now, I will try to get everything sorted out before you wake up,” with a smile he then spoke to Erza, and she motioned for Angelica to follow. As Angelica was lead out of the lobby deeper into the building she noticed that Anderson smiled, turned around and left.
She was lead into a small room with a single bed, some furniture and one of those electronic lights. Erza pointed and Angelica sat down on the bed, to which Erza smiled, though it was not difficult to see that there was some different emotion churning behind her eyes. A moment later the elderly woman walked into the room, holding a plate with pieces of something on it. Seeing Angelica's confusion she took one of the things and put the piece into her mouth, making sure to also chew distinctly. Seeing that it was food Angelica nodded in gratitude as she smiled and took the plate. She did not need food to sustain herself and thus never felt hunger, but the fact that she could no longer even recall how food tasted was enough to make her look forward to the meal. Erza and the woman looked on as Angelica gulped down the sweet fruit pieces before they gave her one last smile and turned to leave the room. Angelica stretched out over the bed, still clutching the jewel with one hand, as the light was turned off and the doors shut. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Soon enough her thoughts reached a realisation
She was alone once again. Alone in her dark small room. She was once again alone in a dark empty room.
Her heart began to beat faster, and her breathing became ragged. Her eyes flew open only to see nothing, just total empty darkness. Her hands began to shake and her chest grew tighter and tighter. Terror began to overwhelm her.
It was all just a dream.
She was back alone in that dark room.
Angelica realised that she had never met Anderson. She never found out what happened to her lord. She never tried to return to the Holy city. She was never let go.
It was all just an illusion. Just a desperately conjured dream. It had never happened.
She was still locked away in that dark room. Forever.
Angelica felt the invisible walls around her collapse on her, and the darkness engulfed her heart. Her world collapsed into tears and screams just like it had many times before.
And she screamed and screamed and screamed, fully aware no one would answer.