The morning came. Despite being much smaller and lighter, I could feel Selyse lying close to me. At some point, she had removed all her clothes and laid partially on top of me. Surprisingly, she produced a lot of body heat from being so small. I had no intention of disturbing her until I heard a knock at the door. I did the best I could to move her off me, which resulted in her rolling over and facing the opposite direction, still sound asleep. I heard another knock. "Master Thadeus, please open up, it is important." The voice shouted through the door.

I quickly hopped off the bed and rushed to the door. Upon its opening, I had a male wearing light leather armor, kneeling, with a dagger at his side, holding up a sealed scroll. I grabbed it out of his hands. "My lord, there's been an incident that requires your assistance. Gabriel wants you to take care of it personally. It is of utmost importance to go at once." He stood up as I started to walk back into the room.

He trailed behind and caught a glimpse of Selyse's exposed body, quickly averting his gaze. "My apologies, My lord, I had no idea. If I'd known, I would have waited a little longer," he said apologetically.

Without looking back at him, I said, "It's fine," and set the scroll on the table. "I have some questions, but you must speak softly while my servant sleeps. She had a busy day yesterday, and I wish to allow her to sleep in a bit longer as I planned to do most of my tasks from here today," I said, hoping that he wouldn't question it.

He nodded. He started to speak softly. "Yes, yes, I will do as you request. My lord, these are orders from Gabriel himself. He has already dispatched several teams to take care of this problem, but none have returned. So, he assumed the worst. As Gabriel's right hand, you can accept this task yourself or assign more teams to take care of it. But as I said… several teams never came back."

I undid the twine that kept the scroll closed, unfolded it, and found it to be very brief and to the point.

"Captain Thadeus, please find a team capable of taking this task or do it yourself if you feel it's not worth sending a team to it in your place. Whatever option you choose, report to a taskmaster with this letter and show them the words at the very bottom. They will open a portal for the team you pick, yourself, or a mixture. I don't truly care who goes, but this task is critical and must be done quickly."

At the bottom, it looked like some coordinates were mixed in with random letters. I didn't understand any of it. I placed the scroll on the desk and walked over to the bed. The messenger was still there, staring at Selyse in her vulnerable state.

"Advert your eyes unless you wish to become blind and no longer of use to Gabriel or the kingdom in general."

His facial expression changed from envy towards the young lady in my bed to sudden fear, and he quickly walked out, shutting the door behind him. "Just great…" I thought out loud. I had planned to spend the day reading that mysterious book I didn't understand that Selyse had appointed out and possibly understood. I felt it wasn't a coincidence she pointed that one out. But, instead, I was being sent out on a mission.

I reached over to the bed in hopes my arms were long enough to reach her, but she was out of my reach. I stood up and walked to the edge of the bed, placed my left hand down, and used my right hand to nudge her in hopes I could wake her. As I went to place my hand on her back, she rolled over. Instead of nudging her back, I ended up with a handful of breasts. Out of curiosity, I gave it a light squeeze to see if it felt like the others I had felt. They weren't as large as the females of Gabriel's office that night nor as squishy. But this woke her up, and she just stared at me for several seconds before smiling.

"Hello, master; morning to you too." She said, smiling.

I slowly moved my hand away and cleared my throat. My eyes were still looking at her chest, but I was lost in thinking about what I would have to do. My thoughts changed from thinking about the mission to wanting a deeper encounter with Selyse if I didn't return. Wait, if I didn't return? What am I talking about… I have that item that allows me to respawn.

I realized that whatever mission was in store for me, death wouldn't matter to me here. I looked at her, trying to figure out what to do. There was, yet again, another knock at my door.

"Enter," I shouted.

The door opened slowly. It was the guard from yesterday that I was distracted by and requested to bring me a map.

"Ah, perfect, I am glad to see you as I have a request for you."

He placed a round cylinder-like object on my desk before standing at attention. "Anything, sir!" he shouted.

I looked back at the bed. Selyse was putting her clothes on. "I've been called upon for a mission by our Master, Gabriel. I plan on doing the mission myself as we have sent many out, and they've failed to return." I turned to face him. "The floor I found you on yesterday is a room of several other female servants there." I was thinking out loud more than talking to him.

"Yes sir, what about it?" he asked.

I walked closer, placed my hands on his shoulders, and put my head against his. "My servant shall be placed with them while I am gone, and you, nor any other guard shall lay even a feather on her. If I come back and discover anyone has touched her, misspoke to her, or punished her in any way, shape, or form…" I paused momentarily to let him take this all in and ensure that he knew I was serious. "I will behead you personally as I gave you the order to ensure that her safety remains of the utmost importance, and if I find out you or anyone else had sexual relations with her while I was gone, you will pay for that. Is this understood?

He took a step back, and his face looked as though a child had just opened a present only to discover the box held no contents. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. He pointed to Selyse and motioned her to come to him. I turned back to see that she was hesitant and wanted my permission first. She had heard the whole thing, as I was not trying to be quiet about it. I looked back at the guard, waiting for an answer. He hadn't said anything this entire time.

"Answer me. Now." I demanded.

He looked at me again but was able to find words this time.

"My lord, I shall make such a promise to ensure that your servant shall remain in good hands with the other servants. I shall make accommodations to ensure that she and the other female servants she stays with shall be given other orders until your return. If your death is confirmed, though, the deal shall be off, and your servant girl shall be placed back into the pool of slaves or servants." he counter-offered.

I turned around, staring at Selyse. She smiled at me and motioned that she wanted off the bed, so I assisted her down. While holding her, I walked her over to the guard.

"What do you think?" I said, looking at her. "Do you think these terms are acceptable?"

The guard looked confused. "This servant doesn't speak, nor has ever made a sound. Why do you talk to her as though she will give a response?"

Selyse looked up at me, and I knew what she was thinking. "Go ahead," I told her. I really hoped she showed some form of defiance towards this guard. He was nowhere near Gabriel's level of bad, but I could tell that had I not been Gabriel's right hand, he would have probably treated me differently. She turned her attention to the guard.

"Listen, bad man," she quietly said. The guard looked down at her with a look of bewilderment, not knowing whether to be angry about being spoken to like this by a servant or surprised by the fact that the first words out of her mouth to him had been what they were. He leaned over to face her, which scared her a tiny bit as she buried her face into my chest. He raised an eyebrow.

"If bad man hurt me, my Master will end you. You be nice, he be nice." She continued, sounding a little snarky in her tone.

"Oh? I'll have you know that if he does not return, I shall enjoy taking you for myself." He replied, with lust in his eyes. "However, I doubt he won't return, so it will be my pleasure to ensure that you and the other servants, at his request, remain safe." He added.

I set Selyse down, and while she was hesitant, she slowly walked over to the care of the guard. "Remember… if anything happens to her, I'll have your fucking head."

He kneeled and stood up, and the two of them left.

I didn't feel right in allowing him to take her or watch her, which is part of why I chose to include the other females in that room as well. I knew I could count on them to keep an eye on her while also getting a much-needed break. I walked over to the bed, sat, and leaned to pick up my armor. As I was putting it, I heard someone else come in. I didn't even have to look up to know it was Gabriel. Great.

"My right hand, I assume you got my message?" He asked.

"I did, yes," I said while still fiddling with my armor.

"What do you plan to do about it? Are you going to try to gather a team to go?"

I finally had my armor on. "No," I said quietly.

"Are you going to go yourself, then? He asked, sounding surprised.

"Clearly, nobody else is competent enough to do it, so it's time to do it myself." I was trying to sound annoyed as if it was incredibly inconvenient to me. Which it wasn't. I wondered if I could bring Selyse, but I knew it'd be far too dangerous for her, and I didn't want to expose her to that.

"On my way down, I encountered your new personal slave. I must admit, she seems like a real gem, and had you not chosen her, I might have considered her for myself". His tone lingered in my mind, prompting me to question whether I had made a mistake in not assembling a team capable of successfully returning success.

"Yeah, she's great. Her company pleases me." I said, trying not to raise suspicions.

"I see you got her some clothes ordered. The tailor told me that you demanded clothes for her to be made, as she should be dressed properly as my right-hand man," he said, trying to find an explanation.

I looked at him and stood up. "It is my belief that a servant of your right hand should match her Master. The clothes she had before may have been fit for a servant of those down in the lower levels of the Kingdom, but as a member of your castle, I will not be seen with a servant in such filthy clothes." I said with a hint of frustration in my voice to get my point across. I was slightly nervous as I couldn't tell if he thought I was being defiant or not towards him. In reality, I just wanted her to have better clothes as they were essentially falling apart. I didn't care what they considered her and the others in her position; they should at least have some decent clothes.

Gabriel put his thumb under his chin and looked like he was thinking, his eyes staring at the floor momentarily. He started to pace around the room. I watched him as he continued to go back and forth in the room. At this point, I was trying to figure out if I had made him realize that this was a good idea or if he didn't like the idea and was starting to wonder if he had made the mistake of choosing me from everyone else to be his right hand.

"Thadeus," he finally said, looking at me. "Do you know why I chose you?" he asked in a soft tone. I looked at him, confused and unsure how to respond.

"I chose you because of your capability to think on the fly and for your ability to fight and survive. Those were the qualities I was looking for in a right hand. The other potential subjects failed to have all these qualities. That is why I chose you."

Again, I looked at him, confused as to how we went from talking about Selyse to this.

"Thank you, sir. It is an honor to serve you," I said as I kneeled.

"Thadeus, I've thought about what you said and think you're on the right track. You make a good point, as the servants and slaves of the castle should have higher quality clothing. They do serve us, after all. I think that was a good call for your servant, and I will make it a requirement to reclothe all of them." He stated, sounding as if he was doing a nice thing for those less of him.

Gabriel didn't do things just out of the kindness of his heart. There was always a reason for his generosity towards most individuals. Although these servants and slaves were already, well… servants and slaves, he would expect something in return from them. Not much more he could do to them at this rate other than abuse their bodies and crush their spirit further. There was nothing good about him, and he had no redeeming qualities about him.

I was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say. On the one hand, this surprised me greatly as I did not expect him to see this from my point of view while on the other, but on the other, I feared what he had in mind for the others. He may just have agreed with the demand I requested of the tailor.

"It's okay; you don't need to say anything. However, I'd like to present you with a deal as I have little faith in you returning from this mission. If you make it back, all the servants you left yours with will be released to you. You'll also acquire that entire floor and everything occupying it. However, if you fail your mission, I am going to take your servant for my own, and I will tame that bitch until she willingly submits to me." He declared, suggesting I wouldn't return as he looked towards the window.

I walked up behind him and tapped his back with my sword still in its sheath. "Better start getting that floor ready for me. I want all the guards on that floor to get lost, and I expect to see all my servants in elegant-looking clothing and a keg of some fine wine for when I return. This mission will be nothing to me." I expressed confidentiality. "If you don't mind, I'll be leaving soon and would love for you to leave this room." I added, sounding annoyed.

"If you come back unsuccessful or don't come back at all, I hope you know I will take great pleasure in getting to know that bitch of yours." He snapped back as he stormed out.

I reached for my magical bag, then the scroll. I dug through the bag to ensure I had everything I would have needed—two extra swords, the ball, and a random book about spell casting. I leaned over to the desk, grabbing the scroll. I made my way to the balcony, with knowledge of how to fly now and an even better idea of how to land that didn't include crashing face-first into the ground.

I walked to the hand-carved stone fencing and stood on top of it. I figured since where I needed to go was in the lower Kingdom, I'd jump from here and attempt to just sorta glide my way down. I jumped, expanded my wings, and felt warm air push against my wings. I figured out that I could slightly turn my wings to allow me to control where I was going while gracefully falling from the sky. I had a general idea of where I had to go, and as I got closer, I could see it.

The general area had multiple round stone gates with different emblems carved into them. I remember going through these quite a few times on my earlier missions and was somewhat familiar with them. Down below me, I saw several others wearing basic gear and equipment given to those of this level. While I was gliding around, I started to hear a commotion. I looked around to find a place to land as close as possible to what appeared to have been a fight that broke out between a couple of others regarding swords. I landed behind a crowd of onlookers and started to make my way through the dense group of people.

"MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY! THE RIGHT HAND OF GABRIEL IS HERE. STOP THIS AT ONCE." I eventually yelled out. At this point, the only ones who appeared to hear me were behind me and kneeling, which started a chain reaction as others realized why the rest were kneeling. At this point, the group began to quiet down.

"You two!" I pointed at the ones I had seen fighting. "Explain yourselves," I demanded.

One of them looked up; he had a bunch of cuts on his face and a black eye. Despite his feathers being darker blue, you could still tell he was hit in the eye. I looked at the other one, grabbed his chin, and adjusted his gaze to look directly at me. After looking at him, it was evident that he had clearly won the fight. Since he had no scrapes or bruises.

None of them spoke up and chose to look back down at the ground as several guards came rushing over, throwing some of the spectators aside to make their way to the middle. I turned around to face them.

"Stand down, I have this handled. Had you been doing what was expected of you, this may not have happened." I shouted at them. One of them looked angry and tried to hop over the others, but the ones closest to him pulled him back.

"You fool, that is Gabriel's right hand!" the guard exclaimed. They all stood in place, unsure what to do. I looked at them disapprovingly before turning my attention back to the two young angels on the ground.

I looked at the group of young angels who were still surrounding us. The guards joined them in kneeling rather than trying to usher them away. "Guards, do your jobs, you idiots. There are still at least a few dozen people here who don't need to be. Handle them, and I'll handle these two." I said, feeling beyond annoyed by their lack of action.

The guards stood up and started shouting at everyone. "Get lost! There is nothing to see here. If you do not leave immediately, Gabriel's right hand will have a far worse fate than we will give you. Go on! Disperse immediately!"

They quickly stood back up and ran in any direction other than this spot. Once they had all run away, one of the guards tried to talk to me, but I ignored him and motioned for him and the others to leave. I wasn't too interested in conversing with them; I was more interested in why these two were fighting.

"One of you needs to speak up and explain your actions." I demanded. Something I disliked about the position of power I had was others rather be silent over wanting to talk, and trying to get people to talk to me other than Gabriel, the servants, and Selyse was difficult. I was in a hurry as I wanted to get this mission started but was delayed already by these young ones wanting to fight each other rather than saving it for the field.

Neither spoke, and I didn't have the time to stand around, not receiving a response from anyone. I placed my hand over the face of the one who was hurt in the scuffle and healed his face. "The "e. Your face is back to normal. I have a mission to do myself, which I need to get going. Good luck to you two." I turned around. "Oh, and don't fight each other. Work together if you want to survive."

I then walked towards the portals and equipment stands. One of the portals was disabled, while the other two had a steady stream of others going in. It wasn't how it was when I arrived here almost two years ago. During that time, it was small groups of 5-6 others. But these groups were massive and had slightly better armor.

As I got closer, I heard someone shout, but before everyone stopped what they were doing, I shouted as loudly as I possibly could: "I swear upon Gabriel, that if any of you stop the operations to kneel upon my arrival, there will be consequences." There was another shout from elsewhere, and everyone went back to their business. I couldn't believe the number of others who were there. I estimated there to be about a few hundred.

Someone came running up to me, and judging by the symbol on his armor, he appeared to be a medical assistant. "Sir! Master Angel, sir!" he shouted as he was running towards me. His voice sounded urgent.

"What is it?" I replied, expecting possibly some bad news.

"The mission that the Divine Order had sent a large team on about a week ago, we had a few return. Two of them are heavily injured, while the other is blind. They left in a group of fifty and only came back as three." He sputtered in a panic.

"Take me to the survivors right away!" I demanded.

He quickly turned around, sprinting towards an area out of sight of everyone else. They had moved these three behind a tent and used barrels to prop them against. One of them had bandages covering his face. Across his chest were sword and claw marks, and his armor was missing whole chunks. Judging from the straps and pieces of armor still there, it looked like his armor had just been ripped through. The back of his armor remained untouched. I touched one of the marks on his chest.

He let out a groan. "P-p "ease… no more…" he" said.

"Do you know where you are?" I asked him, unsure. The one next to him answered instead.

"Up until myself and this one next to me on the other side got him here, he had been unconscious for half the trip back." He said, looking at the ground. I then turned my attention to the one who spoke.

"Can "you look at me?" I asked him.

"There's no point; I can't. My eyes were also damaged in the fight. I can only see my hand if I place it close to my face. Other than that, the ground here is completely fuzzy. It's almost complete darkness for me," he said, taking short breaths and sounding defeated. It was a miracle we managed to make it back. We would have probably died in that forsaken land if it weren't this one, " he added.

I looked at the third one; he didn't seem to be moving, and he didn't have any visible wounds that I could see right away.

"Sir, he died shortly after we pulled them through the portal about six hours ago. We had a healer look at him shortly after they arrived, but there wasn't anything we could do for him," the medical assistant said.

I shuffled back over to the one with the chest wounds and bandages all over his face. Some spots on the bandages indicated that he had been bleeding heavily. Somehow, his chest wounds weren't bleeding, but his feathers had lots of dried blood covering them.

I looked back at the Medical Assistant, who was standing there looking like they could do nothing more to help these three. "Hey "do me a favor?" I" asked him.

He looked at me and nodded.

"I need you to keep an eye out and keep this a secret, okay?"

He continued looking in my direction, unsure what was going on. He stood up and started to look around. I went to unwrap the blood-stained bandages from around the head for the one who appeared to be in the worst condition of these two.

There were at least several layers covering it, and upon removing the bandages finally, I saw why. He appeared to have several small spike-like objects in his head. I was surprised he was still alive. I looked at the medical assistant, who was already reaching into a bag and looking for a tool as he walked towards me. He pulled out some medical prongs and handed them to me.

"This may hurt, but I promise you'll be okay." I assured him. I wasn't sure what these were, nor did I want to touch them. I grabbed one just above his left eyebrow and slowly pulled. I put my hand over his mouth as I didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to us. As I started to pull it out, it emitted a sickening, wet squelch that caused me to look away as I continued to pull. I could feel the heat of his breath start to hit my hand, eventually turning into a muffled scream. As it popped out finally, it turned out to be a claw of some sort approximately two inches in length, had a curve to it, and was multiple shades of yellow. The medical assistant stuffed some fresh dressings in the wound as I started on the second one. This continued a few more times as I removed the other claws one by one.

I slowly removed my hand from his mouth. He was quietly crying from the pain and was possibly in a little bit of shock. The medical assistant didn't know what to do as none of the healers were proficient in their skill. The most they could do was apply basic healing techniques and call it good, considering how brutal the aftermath of the attack was.

"Remember how I said to keep this a secret? This applies to all of you." I stated as I started to remove the dressings packed in his head. I placed my hand over the general area of the wounds from the claws and began to heal them. Slowly, the marks around his head started to dissipate. Once I was satisfied it was good enough, I started on his chest, hoping that nothing was stuck on the inside as I didn't want to stick my fingers in there. I repeated the same process there as I did with his head. Again, once I was satisfied with how his skin looked, I stopped.

He let out a couple of coughs, feeling his chest and head. "Shh," I suggested.

I turned my attention to the one in the middle. Whatever attacked them appeared to be a strong adversary as it managed to kill about forty-seven somewhat geared angels. Whatever it was, it really did a number to the previous one and the one to the left of him. I placed my hand in front of his eyes, hoping that this would work. After a few seconds, he blinked, stated that he could fully see again, and thanked me.

I shuffled over to the one on my far right and looked back at the medical assistant, who looked surprised by all this. I couldn't blame him since, before him was the right hand of Gabriel, healing lower-ranking angels with a master level healing ability. He had probably never seen it before. He looked at the lifeless body, and his facial expression changed to doubt. I leaned the lifeless body forward and noticed a thick piece of wood sticking out from his back, along with some scratch marks. It appeared he had no protection on his back, as there were at least several different swipes at him. I wasn't sure if my healing ability would have been able to bring him back, but I at least wanted to try. I placed my hand on his body, wondering if I could just heal him back to life.

Upon trying, something was different this time around. It was just gold rather than the normal combination of Gold and White. In my mind, I could see a blue-colored swirling ball of energy. I mentally tried to reach out to it while also focusing on the healing of this poor young angel. I heard "Okay" in my head, and the next thing I knew, the young angel woke up, gasping for air as if he were a fish out of water.

The medical assistant advised him to "Take it slow, take a slow, deep breath. "You're going to be okay, thanks to the Master Healer here." he assured them.

I stood up and took a step back. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed us, but they were all too busy doing other things. "Sit down next to them," I told the medical assistant.

He went and sat down next to them without question.

"In terms of what I did here, what did you see or experience?" I asked them, grabbing the handle of my sword, hoping that this empty threat would scare them enough to not want to speak.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

They all looked at my hand now on the handle of my sword.

"N…nothing?" the one who was previously dead said. The others looked at him before they all started to agree in unison.

"Perfect." I said with a sigh of relief. "You three, come with me. Right away. As for you, medical assistant, you may go back to your post."

He got back up and ran off while the others struggled to find their footing but eventually managed to stand up.

I started to look around for anyone who looked important. I saw an Angel who donned a long black cloak with brown lines on it, holding a clipboard-like object and using a quill to jot down information. "Follow me, single file line," I told them.

We came out from behind the tent and started to approach him when I heard someone yelling my name.

"THADEUS! THADEUS!" he stopped, panting, as his hands were on his knees. "I have… I have been… looking for you… for a while now. I have a message for you from the top!"

I took the message but didn't read it yet as I was preoccupied with these three behind me. I looked over my shoulder to make sure they were still there.

Thankfully, they hadn't wandered off. I didn't think anyone would try to take them from me, considering my armor clearly showed who and what I was, and it was clear they were with me. But you never know.

As I approached the man in the black cloak, he turned his attention to me and was very casual. Which was nice.

"Ahh, the Hand of Gabriel has graced us with his presence and appears to have brought friends with him!" he spoke excitedly. "Have you and your crew come to inspect the progress of our increase in supplies being given to this newer generation of soldiers? Times are getting tougher, I'm afraid. I do sug-"he continued before I interrupted him.

"No, for whatever reason why you think I'm here, it's not for that. The three…" glanced behind me real quick. "Correction, the four behind me have different business between us. I stepped to my left. "The three right here have returned from a very dangerous mission and have a report to give to the High Order right away. They were the only survivors out of a group of fifty. Get someone to escort them right away on behalf of Gabriel." I ordered, adding, "The "e three are to be welcomed as heroes as they will be able to provide some much-needed intel for the Kingdom. Should anything happen to them…" I balled my hand into a fist, extending my thumb and making a slashing motion.

"Yes, yes, of course, very well then." He replied. This time, he sounded nervous, and his attitude had changed from excitement to nervousness. He told me he'd handle it as he called over a couple of guards and explained the situation. They looked at these three and motioned at them to follow. The three young angels left with the guards, sprinting away from the area.

"Very well, sir, that's been done." The scribe said.

I didn't respond to him but turned around to the messenger, who had also been trailing behind me.

"Updated orders from Gabriel before you leave. While you're on the current mission you're about to embark on, you will be making a detour to the place marked on the updated map. It is within the area, and we need you to check the area out to gather intel." He stated in an official-like manner. He handed me the scroll, bowed, and ran off.

"Ooooh, a mission for the mighty right hand, eh? How daring of you!" the scribe said in a demeaning manner. I ignored it and handed him the other scroll. He paused for a moment to look at it before his eyes looked as though they'd pop out of his head. "Ohhhh…. Okay… uhm, just so you know, we have lost at least thousands of soldiers in varying levels of skill to this place, and your orders are to eradicate the beast followed by a day or two of reconnaissance. If you make it back alive, I'll be shocked."

I ignored him and pointed to the portal. "Open it, lets goooo." I yelled. A group of guards came over, and all drew their swords and raised their shields. These guards were elites, as they had dawned full golden armor, helmets with wings on the side, and incredibly thick shields.

"OPEN THE DEAD ZONE PORTAL!" someone shouted. The portal started to hum as energy began to flow through the runes. One of the elite guards looked back at me. "You have seven days to do this task. We won't wait on the other side with you for any longer than that." he shouted. He looked around at his men, raising his sword up. "C'mon, let's go! FOR THE ORDER!" and rushed straight in.

I stepped through the portal myself, and the other side looked as though it was war-torn, with dead bodies everywhere, with various weapons sticking out of carcasses, trees that looked as though they had been smashed into smithereens, and an eerily looking fog. The landscape looked as though it was a swamp. It was dark compared to the Kingdom. The sky was overcast. It was incredibly dreary-looking

"Welcome to the dead zone, Thadeus. Your seven days start now, and if you're late coming back here, we aren't waiting for you. You'll have to find your own way back somehow or just perish. Good luck, " he said casually, as if he had said this plenty of times.

I couldn't help but think this was a ploy by Gabriel himself. That fucker was hoping I'd die, so he didn't have to give up an entire floor and a room full of servants to me. He probably knew I'd not waste the time and energy to gather a team and just do it myself. I looked at the map given to me, and it showed where I needed to survey for intel and where the target they wanted dead was at. The map suggested that by foot, it'd take at least 5 days to reach the target and another 4 to reach the recon zone on foot. But I had 5 days to do two jobs and 2 days to make it back.

I looked at the guards and yelled: "I'll see you pricks in a week."

"We doubt that, sir, but on the off chance you do, we'll be here." The captain yelled back.

I started to run, as standing around was only wasting precious time. Time that I didn't have. I was quickly approaching the outskirts of the secured zone, as the entire area had large wood spiked defenses surrounding the area and a few trenches here and there. I stopped to peek into one of the trenches and saw the body of what appeared to either be a small human child or an elven bone structure. I could tell that it wasn't one of my kind, but from how it was facing, it looked like a defender. I don't have time to stop.

I glanced at the map to get a general idea of where I was. Thankfully, everything was drawn in such a way I could figure out where to get easily. I looked behind me and could barely see the portal in the distance. According to the map, it should've taken far longer than it did for me to run here. "What the…" I wondered out loud. I looked at the map and calculated that it should have taken me about an hour to cover this distance with how the map made the distance seem. Ahead of me was going to be a large open field, then a wooden bridge that went on for quite a while over the swamp, then some sort of large tree. The target would be somewhere near the tree, which was marked with a blue circle.

I looked up at the sky again, wondering if I should try to bypass everything and fly my way there. Other than what I had learned about this place from the scribe and the guards, I didn't know anything about this strange place. I could fly through everything, but this entire forsaken place may be incredibly hostile outside of the secured zone.

I took a knee in the dirt, and retrieved my bag from the shoulder, placing it down in front of me. I reached in and grabbed the resurrection item, and held it momentarily before placing it back into the bag. I retrieved my two smaller swords and placed the katana into the bag. If I was forced to fight anything, I wanted two light, one-handed, short swords over a large, heavy sword. After retrieving what I needed, I hopped into the trench and found an old metal but rusty shield. I lifted the shield and placed the bag down before covering it up with it. Had something happened, I would have resurrected in a safe, out-of-the-way spot rather than somewhere dangerous.

After I was sure that the bag was well hidden, I stepped out of the trench. I didn't think to take the map with me, but seeing as the only major defining landmarks on the map were the portal, secure defensive zoned/perimeter, bridge, and giant tree, I figured it should be easy to figure out where I had to go.

As I was about to squat to jump in the air to take flight, I heard a horn from behind me. I couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but I heard the rumbling of multiple soldiers in heavy armor coming my way, followed by a light dust cloud. I could see a flag above the crowd, and it suggested that a larger regiment of the Holy Order Guards had been dispatched out here. I quickly hopped back into the trench to retrieve my bag. I grabbed the shield to make it less suspicious when I came out. Which, in comparison to me, was tiny.

"MASTER ANGEL, WAIT, DON'T GO YET!" someone yelled. I looked in the direction of the voice, and someone who was far ahead of the rest came before me.

"Master Angel, there's been a change of plans. The entire elite royal guard will hold this defensive line until your return. The information- "he stopped, taking a chance to catch his breath. "The information the three you ordered to provide the Order with has changed your entire mission. First, this is for you." He said as he handed me a small box. "Secondly, Gabriel has agreed to meet your request preemptively as he has received news from the Holy Order's future-tellers telling him that you end up making it back. Rather than allow himself to be humiliated by your return, he chose to give you the floor all together and all the women, including your original slave, to you. You will be responsible for all their actions." I hated how she kept being referred to as my "slave". It's not like I chose to dress her up in a skimpy nightgown and underwear. But that was all the tailor had, and it was a far better option than her previous clothes.

I took the box from him and opened it while he was speaking. At that moment, I did not care about what he had to say. In the box was another armor badge that had "SO-T4" on it.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Oh right…" he kneeled. "My name is Captain Darius. I am the second in command of the Holy Order's Royal guards. My orders here are to hold this outpost until your return and to give you these items and briefly tell you about them." He stated, with confidence in his voice. "The badge indicates that you are also now part of Gabriel's Special Operations team. Due to you taking it upon yourself to do this mission, it was decided you'd supervise all operations placed under his watch. The other Master Arch Angels disagreed with this decision, stating that it gave Gabriels forces far too much power to do whatever, but the Holy Order eventually disagreed with them stating that you clearly were the best person for the additional position and how they could've picked you. But nobody, other than Gabriel, saw your potential until it was too late."

I looked down at him. I now had as much time to do this mission as I needed, but didn't feel right taking my time as I had others counting on my return. The sooner I came back, the sooner they'd be safe again. The thought of Gabriel touching or assaulting Selyse made my blood boil. I didn't understand why, though. I didn't have any romantic connection to her, as she was merely a random acquaintance. At least I didn't think she was more than just an acquaintance to me.

I shook my head. I didn't have time for this. In fact, this was a huge waste of time. I closed the box and placed it in my bag, as I had something more important to do. I started to walk out of the secured area before Darius shouted, "My lord! One more thing!"

I turned around, giving him a sort of "Seriously?" look.

"It is important that you take the box back out, as there is something else in there for you." He stood up and leaned in close. "It is something we smuggled out from your personal servant. She insisted on wanting to come give it to you herself, but given the circumstances and situation, it wasn't possible." she quietly said.

I retrieved the box from the bag and opened it. Underneath the badge was a small piece of paper. Darius turned around and started to walk away. Holding the small, discolored piece of paper, it looked like she had drawn a picture of her standing next to me; my arm was comically stretched down to her hand, with hearts above her head. Attached to my hip was a sword, and below her and I, some words that I couldn't read. It looked like the writing of the text she had randomly picked out for me to read that one time. I placed the picture back into the box.

At this point, I was so distracted that I had completely forgotten what I was doing. I couldn't help but think about her again and had already missed her despite probably only being gone for a few hours. I had been so lost in thought that when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I grabbed the arm belonging to it and threw whoever grabbed me to the ground. As they came into view, I realized I had just thrown a member of the Royal Order's guard to the ground.

I kneeled and carefully removed their helmet to reveal a very dazed look in their eyes. Despite wearing heavy armor, I managed to flip them 180 degrees with such ease. They finally were able to make eye contact with me.

"My apologies Master. I tried to call your name, but you appeared to be frozen. I won't make that mistake ever again." His tone matched the look on his face. He lifted his hand up, to which I grabbed it and helped him back to his feet. "Master, while you have plenty of time, the captain would like for me to remind you that we do not wish to spend more time than we must, here. Please continue right away." he said, gently grabbing his helmet from the ground and placing it back on.

I decided to quit wasting time and took flight. I got up high enough to look around and figure out if I could fly straight to my destination or not. I could see the bridge. It was very long and winding, and at some points, parts were underwater. I went to fly out of the secured zone before smacking face-first into an invisible barrier. Despite wearing a helmet, it still hurt. I softly landed back on the ground.

"My lord, I thought you knew. But I'll refresh your memory. This whole sector had barriers all over the land that prevented flight in certain areas. It will be easier on foot." The guard stated. I looked over at him as he cleared out the trench and placed the slain's skeletons to the side. They probably set these barriers around to hinder hostiles from reaching areas easily. It also explained why the map wasn't from a top-down view.

I looked at the guard, choosing not to say anything, and walked out of the secured zone and into the unknown. While I didn't see anything from the air, I was sure I'd run into some sort of trouble. As I exited, I drew one of my swords as I didn't want to be caught off guard. I started to think about how it was odd that there were barriers over the secured zone and other zones. What was the point of the trenches, and the defenses set up then?

I took off running into the general area of the bridge, but along the way there, I was engaged by two small, green in color creatures that had jumped out at me from some tall grass.

They let out a high-pitched scream that was almost deafening. I could have easily outrun them but chose to fight them instead. Due to my size, I couldn't duck to avoid their attack, so I grabbed the closest one by its neck while swinging my sword at the other one, cutting it in half. The other one was trying to get his mouth close enough to my hand to nibble on it but failed to do so. While holding him, I leaned down and stuck the blade of my sword in the dirt.

I switched from holding his neck to his leg, and like a pitcher about to throw the final strike during the 9th ending, I threw him as high as I possibly could. As I threw him, I could hear his high-pitched little scream as he went flying. To my surprise, though, he didn't hit anything and eventually just vanished into the sky. I retrieved my sword, wiping it off against an old stump. I couldn't get all the blood off, but the dirt came off at least.

Seeing as how one of these attackers were able to just fly through the sky freely like that, I made another attempt to take flight. To my surprise, I could get high enough to touch the clouds. For some weird reason, this fascinated me, as I had never touched a cloud before. It was always sunny in the Holy Kingdom, with no clouds, but it was always a comfortable 71 (21 c) degrees. Perfectly comfortable for not us but probably for the humans who "lived" there as well.

But here? It was incredibly damp and depressing and had an odd shade of green in the area.

Being this high up allowed me to see further than before. At the end of the bridge, I noticed some structures but realized I was running out of light. I decided to land and managed to find a tree that was somehow untouched by all the battles in this area. I searched around the tree to ensure I'd have no surprises had I fallen asleep.

Something about my kind made sleeping optional for us. Unlike humans and some other races, we could go months without sleeping. While it wasn't required for any of us to sleep, we did so anyway. Thinking back to this time, I didn't know how long I could go without sleeping before just passing out. But years later, I discovered I could go almost a year without sleep and still function as if I had slept just the night before.

After searching for a few moments, the general appeared to be safe. As darkness approached, I sat down in front of the tree. I was surprised at how large this tree was as I was tall myself. Selyse was a full-sized human, and even I towered over her by quite a few feet. From what I had seen, others like me were tall. Something I didn't realize back then was that our highest was based on how much energy-based power we had. More powerful beings could be more than 24 feet tall, while those with little power could be the size of an average human. It is interesting to look back and think about how, at one point, I was the size of a young crabapple tree.

I sat there, wondering how long it would take until the sun came back up. My brain kept telling me that the sun should be up, and I felt confused as to how it was dark already. As it became pitch black out, I could still somewhat see. Rather than seeing in color, though, it was as if everything turned into different shades of gray.

I looked above me into the branches of the tree, wondering what I was going to face that had managed to demolish so many warriors of the Kingdom, causing this area to be completely closed off, and why the Holy Order's Knights were tasked with protecting the portal while they awaited my return. Whatever it was, it had to be something insane to have caused panic for them to abandon the outpost and portal here. Had I not been told that it was foreseen I'd come back victorious, I would have thought I volunteered for my death.

While deep in thought, I heard a branch break off to my left. I quickly stood up and scanned the general area. It was mostly flat land, with a few stumps scattered about and a stagnant pool of water. I continued to watch the area when suddenly I heard the same sound from the other side of the tree. I quietly reached down to my right side with my left hand and placed it on the handle of my sword. I carefully backed away from the tree slowly, watching for anything that may give what was near me of my movements, but also watching out for anything sneaking up on me.

I slowly started walking around the tree, ready to pull my blade out if anything popped out at any moment. I got to the opposite side of the tree and noticed what appeared to be a trail of fresh blood in the grass that wasn't there before. I took another step away from the tree and decided to whisper out, "Hello? Is someone there?"

I waited for a response but instead heard the sound of a body hitting the ground. Something about this made me uneasy as I didn't hear any noises other than the cracking from the branches being stepped on and the thump sound. I slowly started to make my way around to the other side of the tree, my hand still on the handle of my blade. I saw what appeared to be a leather shoe of some sort, and then slowly, more of whoever this was came into the picture. Upon fully rounding the tree, it was clear to me that this appeared to be an Elf. I looked around, this time more carefully scanning my surroundings before taking a knee to examine this elf more closely.

As I went to place my hand on them, it just went through them as if they weren't there, and the body vanished with no explanation. I didn't know how to process what I had just seen, as this had never happened to me before. I stood up, retracing my steps to find the blood trail again. I walked around the tree several times but yielded no results. It was as if it had been a figment of my imagination.

I turned, facing away from the tree, and as I did, several soldiers of various races came towards me. I put both my hands on my blades and drew them. Something about them gave me chills down my spine as it looked like they had risen and emerged from the swamp. Their eyes showed no signs of life. Some of them had arrows sticking out various areas of their bodies, stumbling about as if they had far too much wine. I raised my swords in front of me; my right hand was at eye level while my left hand was near my waist. "Halt! Who goes there?!" I shouted.

In unison, I heard gurgles and moans in return and heard what sounded like "Annnnguuul" from one of them in the crowd. Suddenly, with how my night vision worked, I had picked up the energetic outline of someone. But I wasn't quite sure what or who it was.

"Aush kel mae, Anguil. Do'sk aulark." The figure shouted. I didn't know what it was saying, but I noticed the herd of zombie-like soldiers had fallen silent, with their soulless bodies collapsing to the ground.

While I could see this figure's outline and a few features, I couldn't fully see it due to how my night vision worked. The outline of the figure was black, and I could see that it had elk-like horns emerging from its head, along with objects dangling from them. Their face looked as though it was partially fleshy, while the rest was potentially bone, with both white and gray spots. Which I interpreted as this was somewhat of a living being before me.

"Is that what killed so many? Did I get further along in this forsaken place than I realized?" I thought to myself.

Something else caught my eye. Something I had missed before as I couldn't see one of its hands. I saw a staff in their left hand, it glew a very dark color and had a swirling white color coming from it and could tell its mouth was moving but could not make out what it was saying. Whatever this thing was, I did not have too great of a feeling about what was going to come next. I decided that I'd try to move in before it could do anything to me. As I took a couple of steps forward, readying to rush the being, the unanimated bodies before me rose once again.

I looked at the lifeless bodies before me, who were walking towards me, some with weapons in hand. I looked in the direction of where the portal was as I thought about retreating, but something came over me, and I decided to stand my ground. The corpses picked up the pace a bit as one of them gurgled; "CHURRRGE"

The two that came within range of me first had shields in their hands with arrows sticking out of them and wielding swords in the other. While I was using what were considered "short swords" by my mind, they were the equivalent to a Bastard Sword for a human, and considering how long my arms were, my range far exceeded their ability to get close enough to hit me. I swung both my swords at them, chopping their heads off. The others stopped, and they had started to retreat. I began to notice something different going on with the being standing afar.

By this time, I could see in the distance that the sun was coming up, as my vision was slowly returning to normal.

The being turned fully around, looking up at the sky and then back at me.

"D'ar lok, Anguil," it said as it started to walk away.

"Oh no, you don't," I shouted at it and started to charge at it, jumping over the unanimated bodies that lay before me. I was not going to let this being get away, not after it had acted like a puppet master and launched an attack on me.

I jumped further than I had expected as I was now just feet away from the being but not quite within range of a strike from one of my blades. The sun was up enough now to where I could see with my normal vision. I did not realize the horrible stench this monstrous beast emitted until I had gotten closer. It smelled as if I had been under a pile of decomposing bodies that had been left to rot under the hot sun. I nearly puked but managed to keep my composure.

Part of its face looked as though it was rotting away and had worms crawling in and out of it often, while the other half looked as though it had sewn together several different pieces of skin. What I thought were horns sticking out of its head were just large horns that had been stabbed into its back. They were brown in color, looked as though they were covered in algae, and had some trinkets hanging from them. It had wide shoulders and donned a large black cloak.

The being took a fighting stance, extending its arms out as far as it could. The staff itself looked like it was carved from a large wood branch and emitted a mix of gray and black energy from the tip.

The being spoke. "You shalls dieeeee, and be part" it paused as it adjusted it's lower jaw, "be parts of the damned." It hissed.

Rather than responding, I lunged at it and swung the sword in my right hand at its chest in a swiping motion, followed by another swipe from my left. It just looked at me and let out a cackle, indicating that my initial attack was a failure. I jumped back again to think about how to go about this but had no time as I had to jump out of the way again as it swung the staff at me. This time, the energy swirl was about 3 feet in diameter.

I managed to jump out of the way without getting hit and watched as the staff contacted the ground. It emitted a small explosion, and everything within the blast radius turned black. There was now a gray spot directly in front of him.

He cackled again.

"Sillies Angel, yous wont win." It taunted.

I made eye contact with the being, trying to figure out what to do. How to defeat this being. In the back of my mind, I knew I could fight this thing and succeed. But I was truthfully panicking in the moment as I wasn't sure if I could beat this being. I slowly slid my swords back into their sheaths and took a step back. I had an idea, but I wasn't sure if it would work or if I truly wanted to do it, as I might fail. But at this point, I had already made up my mind.

"So, what is the plan then?" I asked it.

"Theee plans issss for you to join my legion of deeeead. More Angelsssss, morrrrre.”

I looked down at the ground, seeing a twig on the ground. I leaned down to pick it up and looked back at the being. "Isn't it fascinating how we can take something as simple as this stick here, and we can lightly pull on each end of the stick in an upward motion, and it bends but only as long as we don't put too much pressure on it?" I asked it.

The being looked at me, giving what appeared to be a look of confusion. He held his staff back upward like he was allowing me to give my final words. There was no energy coming off the end. He continued to watch me and listen to my words.

"It's interesting what you can do with something so simple. I could draw one of my swords and turn it into a tool of some sort, or we can knock down a whole tree like the one behind me and turn it into a chair, table, or other objects." I said as if I were trying to talk about the wonders of such simple inventions. He continued to watch, intrigued about where I was going with this.

"But, like everything else around us… it's fragile and can easily break." I snapped the stick in half while looking at him. Something clicked in my mind as I broke the stick, but unsure if it was going to work, but I was sure as hell wanting to try it anyways.

I shifted my body sideways, with my right side pointing at the being, my right hand looking facing him directly. The being started laughing but had no clue what I had planned. Up until this point, it had fought those who weren't skilled in anything. I speculated that if I was able to heal others and bring them back from the dead using my ability to heal, it might have the reverse effects on the undead. But I didn't want to reveal to it what I was planning in advance.

I let out a chuckle. "Do you want to make a deal?" I asked it.

He looked at me and cackled so hard that his bottom jaw fell off. He reached down, retrieved it, and continued to laugh for a bit longer. "Whats could you possibly offers me others than your lifesss?" he replied.

"If I can place my hand on your face without getting hit by your crazy explosion skill, I will submit myself to be part of your weird, soulless army. But if you miss then you must come with me back to the Holy Order and allow yourself to be judged before the Master Arch Lords. Do you accept?" I offered, sounding serious.

I took the silence and his placing his staff out in front of him as signs that he didn't agree to at least part of that.

"Okay, well, have it your way then…"

I decided to use my speed to my advantage as I knew that I was quick. I was just hoping I'd be fast enough to dodge his attacks and be able to place my hand on him long enough to reverse-heal him. I took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled. I could see the energy swirl start up again on the staff. "Well… there's no better time than now…" I thought to myself.

I pushed myself forward, charging straight at him, looking at his face to see if I could determine when he was about to attack. I noticed he slightly looked at his staff, and his arm started to move. I quickly landed on my left foot and used my right foot to kick me to his left. I ended up kicking a bit too hard as I managed to slide through the grassy marsh, nearly falling into the stagnant pool of water. I looked up and saw a black arrow-like line quickly approaching me. I noticed the staff was actively transferring the energy to the ground, and his other hand was being used to direct it.

I ran towards the line of death coming at me and made a giant leap towards him. However, I wasn't quick enough as he reset himself and raised his staff in my direction. As an inexperienced flyer, I was far too close to move out of the way. I placed my hand out and screamed as loud of a battle cry as I could muster, as my right hand emitted a bright gold light that overtook the wave of death. I wasn't sure what happened next as I felt my body lose consciousness.

When the energies clashed together, it emitted such a blinding light that I wasn't sure if I hit the target. From what I was told later by those guarding the secured zone, the moment I made contact, they saw and felt an enormous explosion consisting of blue, gold, and white colors. It was so bright that it made the sun like a dim lantern in the sky. The explosion caused the entire region to shake so violently that the portal closed for a short period of time before those on the other side were able to restore the portal and send more soldiers in, fearing the worst, only to discover that everyone in the outpost was okay.

When I finally regained consciousness, I was back in the secured zone. There were multiple guards around, facing away from me in a circle with their shields facing outwards. One of them noticed me.

"CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN DARIUS, HE HAS AWOKEN! " the guard shouted. I looked around for a moment. Next to me were my swords, my bag, and the staff that the undead guy had used. The staff was not emitting any further power and looked as though it had been cleansed, as its color was now white.

Two guards lifted their shields and made an entrance as Captain Darius approached. He walked through and sat next to me. The guards returned to their original position.

"Thadeus, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"What do you last remember doing, and how were you able to accomplish that?"

I looked at him, trying to think about what had just happened. He looked at me, patiently waiting for an answer.

"I remember settling down by a tree when dark hit, then I… lets see… I heard something around me, but found nobody. Then I noticed some odd-looking soldiers with large beings behind them, and when I engaged and took two of them out, the rest just fell to the ground."

Captain Darius was attentively listening, nodding as I talked, and looking as though he seemed interested in knowing more. So I continued.

"and then I started to fight with this… skeleton-like creature, who shot these waves of death out of his… well… this staff right here…" I pointed at the staff and continued, "After I realized swords were useless, I decided to try and expel it using a healing ability I've been studying. Then the next thing I know, I'm in this circle, being guarded."

The captain nodded. "I.. I see. Do you want to tell us what happened and where you got that healing ability, or shall we just leave that as the official report, because from what all of us experienced and saw here Thadeus, that's not what happened." He stated, with some concern in his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Master Thadeus, the issue is that a Master Level healing/revival skill was used in that fight. Had it not broken the portal temporarily, we would just believe your story." He said, quietly, while peaking above the guards before returning to a sitting position.

"Look, nothing is going to happen to you regardless. But we must be on the same page to make a similar report, " he said. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket, handed it to me, and looked away.

The note read:

My men are loyal to me and only to me. I figured you would have tried to hide the truth from others and wrote this ahead of time in hopes I wouldn't have to show it to you. While Gabriel and the others cannot see through you, I can. You have a master-level healing ability. I am looking to eventually start a rebellion, take the Kingdom for myself, and replace Gabriel, Michael, and the others with more capable and understanding angels, as the Kingdom has become corrupt.

When we took our oath as Elite Royal guards, we swore our lives to defend the best general interests of the Kingdom, and as of right now, the Highest Master and the Master Level Angels, one of which you serve, do not have the best interest of the Kingdom or other races in mind. Please help us.

I was in shock when he showed me this. I tapped his shoulder and handed him the note back.

"That is my story, and I am sticking to it," I said, not wanting anything more to do with this note, let alone the knowledge of this. I didn't plan on reporting him to Gabriel or anyone else, for that matter. His future mission was far more of a suicide mission than anyone could be sent on, and that was saying something.

"Okay, well, Gabriel is waiting for you back at this castle for a debrief. Let's forget about the moment we shared. I shall write the report according to your words but with more clarity within your answers. Come on though, let's get out of here. You did something amazing for these lands and for the Holy Order." He pointed up at the sky. "Look for yourself," he stated happily.

I noticed that it seemed brighter when I woke up, but I hadn't thought about it. I stood up and looked around me. The swamp was still a forsaken-looking marshland, but there was more color to the lands, and the eerie fog seemed to have dissipated. It was great to look up and see the open sky.

Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy it for long as I collapsed to the ground and passed out…