Before the Divine War, the green meadows of Axtral were graced by the magnificent presence of angels. These divine beings, avatars of the Gods themselves, were a common sight. But as the war between the heavens and the hells raged on, the angels became a rarity. Once towering and strong, with unparalleled beauty and the grace of angelic wings, their soothing voices were known to calm even the most devilish of creatures. Ian couldn’t help but release a breath of awe as he bent down to the child, marveling at the mere thought of encountering an angel.

“He is an angel? I didn’t know they exist. They should have…” He asked.

“Don’t make me repeat everything,” Hilda said in annoyance, wrapping a bandage around Lady Gloria’s torso and infusing her magic into Gloria’s body. “Look over there,” Hilda pointed out.

Up front where they stood, there was a small, dark crack that made its way through the illusion of the green meadows. Small light sparkles were on their way to purify the small cracks, patching them up. But the cracks of the Abyss were relentless, forcing its way through.

“This scenery itself is the domain of an angel. Right now, the angel’s unconsciousness is keeping the Abyss curse in.” Hilda explained.

“Then it doesn’t make sense why Krystol would keep an angel in this. Doesn’t it harm him to have an angel when he is housing a demon stronghold?”

Hilda sighed. “I’m never getting work done here. Country bumpkins.” She set aside the bandages and first aid kit. Swiftly from her pocket, she pulled out the same blue ring that she used to access the barrier. As soon as the ring moved closer to the unconscious angel, it glowed up slightly.

“He’s powering up the barrier itself.” Ian understood the situation, nodding lightly.

“This goes without saying that spells harnessing angel powers were banned long ago,” Hilda said, with a few movements. The ring danced between her fingers and landed back in her pocket.

“If we wake him up, the barrier will be destroyed. Then, we can call the army to attack the Island of Fetters.” Ian muttered.

“If he wakes up, this domain and the barrier will disappear. Whatever it’s suppressing would overflow as well.” Hilda said.

“So we wake him up,” Ian said.

“What? No, we don’t. We won’t be able to get out of this place.”

Ian studied the miasma seeping in. It was as thick as the miasma outside, which only meant that the source was just beyond the cracks.

“Look, the Abyss portal is just over there. Once we wake him up, it will uncover its opening. The miasma and demons should disappear if we seal the opening.”

Hilda glared at him, sending chills down his soul. “Easier said than done. We don’t even know if your method of sealing works. Which reminds me… Did you defeat the demon general?”

Ian laughed nervously out of a sudden, giving out a sense of confidence. “Of course not. I’m a human. The only way to defeat a demon is by freezing his core.”

“He is coming after us?” Hilda said, feeling for her sword.

“If he can break the barrier,” Ian mumbled. “The point is, once we close the Abyss portal, the demons won’t have their connection to the Abyss, right? And that means that all demons would be invulnerable. We don’t even need to defeat Krystol because he doesn’t have access to the Abyss.”

Hilda went quiet, considering his plan. “Krystol wouldn’t stop finding a way. He had a way to threaten the royal family. What makes you think that he would stop there? Waking the angel up won’t do much.”

While the two were speaking, the blue bear rubbed his two pink paws together, furiously hitting them against the angel’s chest. The bear gave a small roar once more, raising both of his pink paws and hitting it against the chest. Tears began to form at the edge of its beady eyes as it gave a small sob. Glancing around, the blue bear caught sight of a bird’s nest.

While Ian was speaking with Hilda, the small bear grabbed Ian by the collar and ran off. Furiously pointing at the bird’s nest, it jumped up and down.

“You want me to, what?” Ian asked, trying to understand its bizarre body language.

“Bears can climb trees, can’t they?” Ian asked, but only to receive furious punches from the bear. Ian surrendered to the painful punches, climbing up the tree. With a quick lunge, he managed to climb up the tree.

“You wanted an egg?” Ian confirmed, pulling out an egg from the bird’s nest. To which the bear nodded its head.

Ian refrained from voicing his confusion, reminding himself that he needed to rely on his intuition to understand the bear’s actions. As he passed the egg to the bear, he watched as its blue fur transformed into a soft shade of pink, and a glimmer of happiness danced in its eyes. Ian’s eyes widened with joy as he saw the pink bear.

“Sawl was right, there’s a pink bear!”

With great care, the bear cradled the egg in its arms and hurried towards the unconscious angel. Placing the egg on the angel’s chest, the bear raised its paws and struck the egg with force, enveloping the area in bright light.

Hilda rushed over, and they watched in awe as the bear rubbed its paws together, creating a small arc of lightning between them. Striking the egg again, Ian couldn’t help but wonder if the bear was trying to harm the egg. The light from the egg dimmed, and blue electricity surged through the small angel’s body, causing it to convulse and twitch. For a moment, Ian feared that the bear’s actions would harm the angel instead, but as the energy dissipated, the angel’s eyes fluttered open, and it let out a small, contented sigh.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“You woke me up, Bearsby…” a soft voice said, sitting up. His wings fluttered a little and folded back. He dreamily rubbed his blue eyes, followed by a small yawn. The halo diminished and disappeared as he woke up.

The small angel looked around, surprised by the sudden welcome. “A human and a fairy. Do you need me for something?” The bear, now wallowing in tears, gave the small boy a heartfelt hug, burrowing its face in the boy’s chest. “Bearsby… I’m still sleepy. If you don’t need me for anything, I’m going back to sleep.” The small boy placed his hand back on the floor, ready to sleep.

Bearsby was not amused, pulling the boy up at his collar and shaking him profusely. The boy raised his hand, examining his current state. “You’re right. I’m a little kid now. Did someone take my power?” The boy noticed Gloria lying on the floor.

Ian pointed out the cracks, which were getting larger. “Um…”

“This is what you wanted, right?” Hilda asked, her face twisted to one of horror.

The serene beauty of the azure skies and the green pasture shattered like glass, torn apart by the wrath of nature. The earth quaked and convulsed, opening up wide fissures that spewed forth molten lava. The scorching magma consumed everything in its path, melting the very ground beneath it. The once-lush meadows turned into a blazing inferno, with the searing heat reaching Ian and the others within moments.

He got up, making a small bow to Ian and Hilda. “Pleasant mornings, my name is Tartrasiel. I’m an angel, but my halo and wings disappeared.”

“We need to get out of here!” Ian yelled, picking up the small angel and bear and running away from the lava. Hilda grabbed the unconscious fairy, running beside Ian.

They picked up their pace as Ian felt the heat nick his feet. “We have two spell casters here. Any spells?”

“I can’t cast with my hands full,” Hilda said.

Tartrasiel, on the other hand, raised his hand to chant an incantation. His spell initiated but flickered for a while before disappearing. “I’m powerless.”

“That’s why we shouldn’t have woken him up.”

“How would I know that giving an egg to a bear would do that?” Ian retorted.

Tartrasiel realized, “Right. I guess we are down to one spellcaster. Do you have another egg? Give it to Bearsby.”

With a child on his right shoulder and a bear on his left, Ian wasn’t in any position to hand an egg over. “It’s in my pocket,” Ian said.

“Give me a moment.” Tartrasiel said, casting a telekinesis spell in Ian’s pocket. “Maybe don’t move around so much. It’s hard to get it out.”

Ian gave a forced laugh. “Would you like me to drop you down instead?”

Tartrasiel’s brow furrowed with concern as he held the precious white egg, sweat trickling down his cheek. Bearsby, once proud and strong, now appeared deflated and weak. With a gentle hand, Tartrasiel offered the egg to the blue bear, watching as it eagerly grasped it in its paws. The bear let out a joyful cry as its fur transformed from blue to pink once again.

“Bearsby, unleash your blizzard!” Tartrasiel exclaimed, pointing toward the direction of the rampaging lava.

Bearsby let out a fierce roar, though it lacked the intimidating quality Ian had expected. Suddenly, the egg glowed with a brilliant light that filled the space with sparkling flakes. The flakes swirled and whipped around in the raging wind, converging into a powerful blizzard that swept toward the oncoming lava, freezing it in its tracks.

“Why an egg?” Ian whispered to himself.

Seeing that the lava stopped in its tracks, Tartrasiel jumped off Ian’s shoulder. “That should do it.” The blizzard slowed down with time. The fickle snow rested softly on the barren lands. Ian and Hilda caught their breath, lungs trying to keep up with the speed.

Though the blizzard settled in the clouds of dust, the blanket of snow melted and evaporated at a speedy pace. Ian’s got his crossbow up, feeling for his ice arrows. He didn’t know what to expect for this trip, so he brought barrier bolts, ten fire bolts, ten ice bolts, and twenty normal crossbow bolts. He burned all three barrier bolts with the demon general he fought earlier. For this unknown monster, he had nothing in store.

“Get ready,” Ian said, loading his crossbow. His hand felt his two daggers, neatly tucked into the pouch on his back.

“Get ready for what?” Tartrasiel asked, giving Bearsby a head pat.

Hilda drew in her breath, ready for a fight. “That.”

“If you can’t fight, go hide in the corner there,” Ian said, pointing at the rock at the back.

“Hey, even if I am reduced to this minion shape, I’m still a pretty powerful angel,” Tartrasiel said, folding his hands and stomping his feet on the ground.

The ground quaked violently, splitting apart beneath Ian’s feet, causing him to stumble. Tartrasiel, with his stubby legs, struggled to keep his balance. Hilda let out a panicked cry and transformed into a panther, quickly scooping up the small boy in her mouth.

“Thanks,” Tartrasiel said, climbing onto the panther’s back.

As the earth trembled and cracked, a massive lava flow burst forth, engulfing everything in its path. The ground disintegrated into a smoldering mass of ash and smoke. Suddenly, a monstrous lava creature emerged from the molten earth, roaring and spewing molten lava in every direction. Its body radiated with blistering heat, melting everything in its path. As the ground shook beneath their feet, a monstrous creature emerged from the cracks in the earth. It was a gigantic lava worm, writhing and twisting in the fiery heat. Its body was thick and long, coiled tightly as it moved across the molten ground. Its skin was as black as obsidian, with deep grooves and crevices that glowed red-hot from the intense heat within.

The worm’s massive jaws were lined with jagged, razor-sharp teeth, each one crackling with sparks of fire. Its eyes glowed like embers, piercing through the smoke and ash that surrounded it. As it moved, it left a trail of molten lava in its wake, sizzling and bubbling as it flowed across the ground.

The sheer size of the creature was awe-inspiring, its length stretching for hundreds of feet. Its movements were slow and deliberate, each one sending shockwaves through the earth. It was a primal force of nature, a living embodiment of the fiery heat that raged beneath the surface of the earth.

Hilda slowly turned back into a fairy, “A lava worm is very tedious to deal with.”

Ian watched the lava worm in horror, jaw dropping down. “Abyss monsters. Fascinating and terrifying.” Any sword or weapon would just melt right through its skin. Needless to say, anyone would be finger-looking good in its mouth.

As if the challenge was not hard enough, beside the lava worm spawned three elemental spirits made of molten rocks. The lava spirit emerged from the depths of the earth, its fiery form casting an ominous glow in all directions. Its body was a molten mixture of red, orange, and yellow, with streams of lava running down its sides like veins. As it moved, the ground shook beneath it, sending tremors throughout the surrounding area.

The spirit’s eyes burned like two glowing coals, its intense gaze fixed on anything in its path. Its limbs were long and serpentine, almost like tendrils of lava that could reach out and ensnare anything in their grasp. Its movements were slow and deliberate as if it were savoring each step it took. As the lava spirit approached, the air grew thick with heat, making it almost unbearable to breathe.

“Isn’t this worse?” Ian gave a small gulp.

Hilda picked out her arcane focus on the form of a small locket and drew in her breath. “Spells are not my forte, but I’ll give it a try.” Her gaze turned towards Ian. “Close the portal.”

Ian took a step back, surprised by the sudden order. “But I can help you…”

“Go! Don’t make me repeat it twice!”