Micheal arrived on a new realm. The floor was made of clouds, and the sky was endless. Everything seemed to have some kind of gold or silver trim. Every cloud he saw had a silver lining to it. He saw a small town not too unsimilar from the one Nightmare Jackk had. It seemed to be the same town as Jackk’s, just with a filter on it. Micheal looked at himself, wondering if the magical opulence of this world had affected him in any way. Only one thing had changed, his veins and arteries now gleamed in the sunlight like never before. He felt stronger on this world, more connected to it.

“Hey there!” a woman called out to him. She wore a pure white suit, trimmed in gold, along with a cowboy hat and boots in a matching color. She flew over to him on white feathered wings and landed gingerly before him. She had two guns in the holsters at her hips that Micheal assumed she would be using later.

“I feel like I know ya,” she said, her accent the same as Jackk’s.

“That’s odd,” Micheal responded

“My name is Jill,” she told him.

“Like Jack and Jill?” Micheal asked.

“No?” Jill said questioningly, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I thought you might have had something to do with Nightmare Jackk,” Micheal responded.

“Well, you are right on that one kid. I’m Jackk’s opposite. The warden of a district of heaven. This’s probably the exact opposite of where ya came from,” Jill explained.

“You’re actually wrong about that last bit. I came from Shogun Noryki, not hell,” Micheal objected. “I’m hoping you’re a better person than Jackk was.”

“What’d that bastard do to you?” Jill asked.

“Send the entirety of the wardens after my blade,” Micheal said with a jarring calm.

“Damn kid. Wait a minute. I know that blade. That’s the divine blade! It was stolen from us archangels by a goddamn shadow slave. You will give me that sword or I will end your bloodline!” Jill shrieked at him.

“I am not giving you my sword. I have to keep it until the stranger comes back. I think that's what I have to do at least,” Micheal said firmly.

“Then that is your choice mortal. I will just have to take it from you.”

Jill leaped up, launching herself into the sky with her wings. As she went to pull one of her guns out of their holsters, a shadowy thing was thrown towards her. It latched onto her arm and all movement from it halted.

“I knew you would be just like Jackk,” Micheal yelled up to her.

She ignored him, crying out instead, “Stupid shadow core! I know where you’re hiding, you demons!”

A figure jumped out from behind a rock that Micheal somehow hadn’t noticed before, flying towards him.

“Cyborg guy?” Micheal blurted confusedly.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The figure continued darting towards him without a response.

“I have to fight you, don’t I?” Micheal said.

“Kill him, Ivan,” the vaguely insectoid shadow that still clung to Jill’s arm exclaim-hissed.

The cyborg swung his robotic arm forward, aiming for Micheal’s head. Micheal ducked and unsheathed his blade.

“That blade is rightfully ourss,” Ivan hissed.

“Oh really? Try this out then.”

Micheal activated his sword, golden light blasting out of the hilt. He swung the newly formed blade straight at Ivan who brought up his metal arm to block the blow. Ivan hissed in pain at the proximity of the holy object but continued fighting nonetheless. Ivan backed up and extended his metal arm, swinging it around for a short while. Micheal waited to see what happened when Jill came crashing down into Ivan. Jill stood up, dazed from her crash, and looked over to Micheal. Her eyes had become filled in with purple, no traces of whatever they were before remaining. The skin on her arm, her neck, part of her torso, and the lower part of her head had become dark as the night and her veins glowed with the same purple light as her eyes. Her outfit was becoming darker as well, albeit much slower.

“I see the truth now Ivan. We shall take this artifact from the man of unclaimed flesh and bring it to master,” What-Was-Once-Jill said. The darkened skin was slowly spreading across her body, corrupting her further. “This world will be his. All will be his. None shall remain untouched by the shadows once he has completed his work.”

“Um. That’s concerning. I should definitely work on killing you now as well. Whatever just happened needs to stop.”

The thing that had been Jill grabbed one of her guns with her blackened arm, but immediately dropped it as soon as she touched it. Her hand caught fire and she jammed it into the floor of clouds. A satisfied look appeared on her face as the cloud extinguished the flames. Micheal’s blade burst into flames as he figured out what he had to do. The two things-that-probably-weren’t-people-but-still-might-be noticed this extremely fast and rushed to turn around and run off.

“Come on Schlek, leave the silly host behind and come with me. You cannot change the fact that we are bound,” Ivan screeched softly at the other not-a-person.

What-used-to-be-Jill slumped to the ground moments later, and the vaguely insectoid shadow burst out of her, taking the darkness with it. Jill stood up and looked back at Micheal.

“Should I be fighting with you?” She yelled at him.

“I think that's up to you. I’m fine with a ranged battle if you are,” He yelled back.

“But all you have is a sword,” she stated.

“A magic sword,” Micheal said.

“Ok, ranged battle it is.”

She pulled a gun from her holster and aimed it at Micheal. Micheal turned his sword off and placed it back firmly in its sheath. He held his palm out, aiming it at the woman flying in front of him. Her wings beat steadily as he shot a shard of jagged metal straight for the hand she was wielding her gun with. He hit, a massive gash appearing on her inner wrist as her gun went off, sending the shot somewhere into the sky and her gun through the cloud layer.

“Does this mean I win?” Micheal asked.

“For now,” Jill grumbled.

“Good enough for me. Can you help me get back?” Micheal asked.

“Why would I do that?” Jill muttered.

“Because you’re an angel?” Micheal’s words were tentative.

“Fine,” She said before shooting him in the chest with her other gun.

“Wait no don’t shoot me I said help me,” Micheal yelled before his body dissolved into white smoke.

“He had that coming to him,” Jill said, blowing the smoke from the barrel of her revolver.

“Oh shit—” cough “—I breathed it in—” cough “—aw god dammit. I shouldn’ta—” cough cough “—done that.”