100. Blue Skies

The deep blue of Paradise felt wrong after spending so long beneath Solonell City’s red sky. As Isaac passed through another cloud, he shivered slightly and ground his feet into the grasses a little harder with each step, just to affirm the earth’s solidity. Surrounded by an endless expanse of sky like this, he couldn’t shake the fear that he might float away and vanish into that sea of blue.

The air in front of him shimmered, just barely catching the light, and Isaac stopped. The gates of Paradise were exactly as reflective and endless as ever. He furrowed his brow, realizing that he didn’t have a plan for how to get in. Placing a palm against the walls, they rippled as usual. He kept a hand against the gates and started walking to the side, hoping to find some sort of handle, but it was perfectly smooth. So smooth, in fact, that his palm easily glided across the surface. It was as though he were touching ice that had lost its coldness.

Isaac narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t foolish enough to try to break through, but he also wasn’t keen on letting a giant reflective wall stop him.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled the tablet out, taking a second to study the device. His eyes wandered to the gate, then back over at the tablet. It was imbued with Lilith’s magic, and Isaac was fairly certain Lilith would have the power to open the gates. Isaac stepped forward. It was an unlikely shot, but assuming the walls were magical, perhaps they would be able to sense Lilith’s magic.

Isaac turned the device on, and as the screen glowed gold, he carefully pressed it straight into the gate.

Another ripple expanded outward from where the tablet was, but this one was significantly larger. The entire surface of the gates seemed to wave, the perfect reflections contorting slightly and gleaming with every motion. Isaac pressed the tablet into the wall a little harder, and this time, the wind around him picked up. What had once been a light breeze accelerated into a gust, whipping up the grasses and continuing to speed up until, all at once, it stopped.

Isaac jumped and almost dropped the tablet when a voice echoed around him. It seemed to come from the entire expanse of the gate itself, and so many layers spoke in perfect unison that it was impossible to pick out individual voices.

“Child of the Upper World. You do not belong here. Leave at once.”

Isaac swallowed, but kept his feet firmly rooted to the ground. “I’m investigating a series of murders,” he said, raising his voice slightly and speaking as clearly as he could, though he guessed it wasn’t necessary. “I need to talk to the angels.”

“The matters of the other realms are of no concern to us.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Yeah? Well at least one of you is clearly involved with ‘other realms,’ so excuse me if I don’t buy that.” Isaac made sure to keep the tablet steady as he spoke. “I just need to ask a few questions, then I’ll be gone. Shouldn’t be a problem if Paradise really had nothing to do with the murders.”

Silence answered back. Isaac frowned, waiting, but still there was no response. He was about to lift the tablet and try again when a faint rumbling sound made him pause. Alarmed, Isaac stepped back, yanking the tablet with him, and stumbled as the ground beneath him began to tremble. Grasses shook, and deep cracks formed within the dirt as though it were made of glass. Isaac’s eyes widened as sections of the ground began to fall away and disintegrate, leaving nothing but the sky in their wake.

“Shit!” Isaac scrambled to his feet, eyes darting wildly about until they landed on the distant subway station. Dashing forward, he sprinted across the fracturing ground, leaping over newly formed fissures and struggling to keep his balance as the ground shook even more.

He glanced back, and the cracks were continuing to follow behind him. They spread like crawling roots with no end in sight. At this point so much of the ground had broken away that Paradise looked almost entirely like an endless sky, no bottom or earth in sight. Turning forward again, Isaac forced himself to run faster.

As the subway station drew closer and closer, Isaac inhaled, steeling himself, and leapt into the air just as the ground beneath his feet crumbled away. For a second he hung, suspended in the air, before gravity came crashing down. He landed hard against the ground, his shoulder knocking into the subway station’s edge. Isaac grit his teeth, but quickly stood back up again.

The vibrations stopped. Isaac turned his head, muscles tense and ready to run as he studied his surroundings. The small patch of land near the subway station that he was currently standing on was the only visible ground left. Everything else had been stripped away, shattered and crumbled into nothing, leaving only that deep blue behind. Like this, standing on an isolated floating island of earth, it was as if the former path had never existed at all.

“Wow, haven’t seen that happen in a while.”

Isaac jumped, his back hitting the subway station’s railing. If he didn’t still have the tablet in a vice grip, he was sure he would’ve dropped it.

Hovering just beside the platform of land, white wings practically glowing in the sunlight, was Casimir. The man grinned, carefree and gleeful as ever. He waved cheerily, but the action did little to settle Isaac’s growing unease.

“Haven’t seen you since, uh, the tournament I think? Anyway, it’s been way too long!” With a steady flap of his wings, Casimir flew forward, lightly landing on the floating island as well. Up close, his wings looked even larger than usual, casting long shadows across the ground.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“So, whatd’ya do to piss off security so bad?”

Isaac frowned, his eyes darting between the angel and the subway station behind him. “I just came to ask some questions,” he said, keeping his voice as steady as possible. He swallowed. “The System went down for a bit, and there were…there was a string of murders.”

Casimir kicked the ground idly, body language still perfectly relaxed and casual. “Oh right, I heard about that! Man, that tournament must’ve taken a lot out of Lilith if stuff like this’s happening now.” He spun around to face Isaac again. He wished the man would stop grinning like that.

Casimir leaned forward slightly, looking like a schoolyard gossip about to impart a secret. He spoke in a conspiratorial voice.

“Hey, wasn’t Olzu one of the victims?”

Isaac squeezed the tablet so hard that his fingers stung.

“Don’t talk about him,” he said between gritted teeth. Any earlier unease dissipated. His mind flashed with images of the tournament, of the angel’s mocking tone, that cold stare when Olzu fell. It would’ve been easy for Casimir to have caught Olzu, Isaac realized. He would’ve barely had to lift a finger and a barrier would’ve formed. But he’d chosen not to do anything, had simply stood by and watched.

Casimir raised an eyebrow, and that action only made Isaac’s anger grow. The angel’s utter lack of care, once a simple fact of his personality, maybe even endearing at one point, now felt purposefully malicious.

“Woah there, touchy subject I see. Sorry sorry.” He raised his hands in mock surrender even as his eyes scrutinized Isaac, a practiced and detached motion that was at odds with his ever present grin.

“Ohhh, I see,” Casimir finally said, cocking his head. Isaac narrowed his eyes, unconsciously holding the tablet a little closer.

“What?”

Casimir pointed at him, and his smile somehow grew even wider. “You’re investigating the killings, and now you’re here to question me, right?”

Isaac took a deep breath, trying to get himself to calm down somewhat. He couldn’t afford to miss details because of his mood. When he replied, his voice was steadier. “I’m trying to narrow down a suspect pool and get more information about the victims. Since most of the victims were demons—“

“You thought you’d come visit good old Paradise, the Inferno’s favorite enemy,” Casimir interrupted. “Hm, not too bad of an idea.” He casually flicked a blade of grass off of one of his feathers before turning back to Isaac. “But also, you totally suspect me, don’t you?”

Isaac ground his foot deeper into the grass beneath him. “Can you blame me?” he retorted.

“Eh, depends on the evidence. But go on, I’m listening.”

Isaac didn’t like doing as Casimir said—it felt like yielding—but he forced himself to list off the evidence he’d gathered so far. The specific victims, their strange and violent wounds, the timing, the history. All the while Casimir continued to stare at him, practically unblinking.

By the time Isaac was done, he felt like he’d been talking for hours. He swallowed, throat now dry, and made sure to keep a constant eye on the angel, who had gone eerily quiet.

And then, abruptly, Casimir started to laugh. Isaac took a step back. It was his usual boisterous laugh, filled with glee, one that seemed to ring even louder in the wide expanse of Paradise. By the time it had died down enough for Casimir to respond, even the angel’s wings had started shaking in amusement.

“Yeah, that’s pretty damning, isn’t it?” His smile didn’t waver as he began counting points off on his fingers. “I’m definitely strong enough to have done it, I don’t need to take the train so timing’s even less of a problem, I hate demons, and making wounds like that with my barriers is super easy.” He shook his head in amusement. “Sure lines up well, doesn’t it?”

Whatever response Isaac had been expecting, it definitely wasn’t that one. He blinked at the angel.

“That’s it? You’re… not going to defend yourself?”

Casimir shrugged. “Eh, I can tell you don’t really like me after that whole Olzu thing, so it feels kind of useless, you know? I mean, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t do it.” He chuckled. “But it sure looks like I did.”

The earlier anger returned in full force. Isaac took a step forward, fingers clenched into a fist. “Can you at least try to take this seriously?”

The angel raised an eyebrow. “What, you want me to come up with a defense or something?” He scratched his hair, cocking his head to the side. “I mean, I kind of thought it was obvious.”

Isaac frowned, eyeing the man warily. “What do you mean?”

Casimir let out a long sigh and took a few steps forward, deceptively quick. Isaac nearly jumped when the angel suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder. The touch was light—casual and friendly—but it still made his skin crawl.

“Let me put it like this,” Casimir said. “Say the System went down for me and I decided to go on a murder spree.” He leaned closer, looming over Isaac with that same constant, unchanging grin. “Do you really think there’d only be twelve victims?”

Isaac froze. Creeping dread hit him full force, and he forced his legs to move and step back, away from the angel. His hand darted over to grip his shoulder instinctively, and though there was nothing wrong with the area, Isaac could still feel a persistent chill climbing through his veins. His heartbeat pounded against his ribcage, and despite his best efforts, it refused to calm down.

Throughout it all, Casimir simply observed with steady, sharp eyes. It was that same distant, icy look Isaac had only caught a glimpse of during the tournament.

When the angel’s carefree grin returned, Isaac couldn’t tell if it was better or worse.

“Tell you what, how about I help you out!” Casimir’s wings flapped a few times, sending out sharp gusts of wind. The grasses waved and contorted.

Isaac watched the man carefully, muscles still tense and tightly wound. He took another step back. “…How so?”

“Well, I’m guessing Lucius locked himself away somewhere, right? And he probably knows the most about the victims and suspects or whatever, so it’d be a whole lot quicker if you could just question him.” Casimir pointed at himself, practically beaming—a gesture that did nothing but put Isaac even more on edge. “I’ll go get him to talk to you! Easy, right?”

Somehow Isaac sincerely doubted things would go so smoothly.