Azrael talked and talked and talked. Lorcán listen intently and never interrupted until Azrael was completely finished with her journey from the little cottage in the human village to the library that’s held every single piece of information from the beginning of time. By the time she had finished, they had entered into a small room away from the seemingly infinite cases.

"Well, it seems that you have had quite the adventure these past few weeks." Lorcán sighed. He moved across the room scanning over each codex. "You're here for answers on your… situation?"

Azrael nodded and watched Lorcán half-heartedly. Her mind swam through the memories of the past few weeks. Some nice, the shared dance with Raden, others not so enjoyable, chaos magic running loose through Líadain. She felt her chest tighten at the thought of what Raden had said to her in Kokkinos. She wanted so badly to hope he hadn't meant it and a part of her had faith, but coming to know him. She knew that he never wanted to love her and she was just living a delusion.

Lorcán glanced over and saw the melancholy expression on Azrael's face. "My dear what's making you so sad?" His voice was laced with warmth and comfort like that of a parent trying to comfort their hurt child.

"Have you ever been in love with someone that doesn't love you back?"

"I can't say that I have. I have found the life of solitude to be best for me." Lorcán simply explained. Azrael's shoulders dropped a bit. "Why do you think this certain person doesn't love you back?" He knew exactly who this was.

Azrael looked up and saw the warm brown eyes swimming with sorrow. This wasn't making her feel any better. "They told me."

Lorcán pondered for a moment. He knew how these death angels operated. No matter what they did and thought the one thing that was burned into their DNA was to always follow the orders of their creator. Even if that meant hurting those they had come to express feelings for as that was solely against their design. "I'm truly sorry that has happened to you."

"Thank you," Azrael whispered.

"But that doesn't mean you're unlovable. Remember that." He winked and went back to looking over codexes.

What if I am unlovable? She thought to herself.

A few minutes went by and Lorcán happily pulled out a rather large codex and smiled. "Come here Azrael." She walked over and saw the codex. It was a deep purple that gold trim and a small flower etched in gold on the center of the cover. "This here is full of some of the rarest plants known in the world. Many have magical properties."

"Why this one?"

"Ah, excellent question! I'm preparing to build a garden for a group of sprites I rescued from the illegal seller a few months ago." He opened the codex to reveal pages of colorful plants. Page after page is full of beautiful illustrations and descriptions.

"You did all of this?" Azrael was entranced by the beauty of this book.

Lorcán smiled and lightly nodded as he closed the codex with a loud pop. "Some of my greatest work." He paused for a second as if hesitant. "I know that you are busy, but I am throwing a ball, a masquerade if you will. It would be my pleasure to personally invite you and your friend for the night."

Azrael's eyes widened. A ball? "But we've just met and I'm a complete stranger to you."

"Yes, this is true. However, this has been my favorite conversation that I have had in a long time. No political or trade route arguments. You have truly brought me joy today it is the least I could do." Lorcán had childlike joy in his smile. He waited patiently for Azrael to answer.

"Well, I've never been to a ball before. I don't have anything to wear." Azrael began to internally panic. What would she wear or how to even afford such a gown?

Lorcán shook his head and laughed. His laughter filled the room with warmth and light. "No need to worry my darling. I will make sure to have the finest gown made for you." Azrael couldn't thank this kind man enough. She had never seen so much kindest from one person. "Now let's go and find your friend and see what discoveries he has made."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

~~~*~~~

Raden was sitting at a large oak desk with several codexes surrounding him. The first two codexes were a bust and gave little information on the war at all. In fact, it was mostly on the politics surrounding the war and how it affected both mortal and celestial worlds.

Raden let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his hair. This was impossible.

"Can I help with anything sir?" The small fire elemental that had brought him down here was now standing in the doorway looking up at Raden. Hands behind his back awaiting an order.

Raden craned his neck to the side to see him. "Yes. Yes, actually you could. Specifically, where are the weapons that were used in the war?"

The elemental walked over and pulled a small letter from the wall hooking it to the desk. Raden watched this small little creature make its way onto the desk and pull one of the large codexes in front of him. He shook his head and moved on to the next and then the next. "All these are the political side of the war. Come on." He hopped off the desk and pulled at the bootstrap of Raden's boot.

Raden followed this elemental out into the small room again. This was where the major codexes of wars past were kept. Under lock and key. Raden followed the little guy to a section that Raden hadn't even considered. The elemental looked up at Raden. "Would you help me up?" Raden bend down and the elemental hopped into his hand. He stood back up and the elemental looked at the shelf in front of him. "Tried this one." Raden set the elemental on his shoulder and pulled out a smaller codex. It was blood red with no name or anything on the cover. "This should have what you're looking for. If not then I have one other place we could try."

Raden set the elemental down. "Thanks." He mumbled and stalked back to the little room and desk.

He moved the rest of the books to the side and opened the new one. Pages of swords and powers. Nothing stands out and Raden was getting fed up. This was beginning to feel like a waste of time and poor Azrael was sitting alone. How the anxiety grew in Raden as each minute went by with no answer and the potential for something to happen. That was until he reached the end of the book.

Chaos Magic?

The Demon armies of Thiago have acquired a dangerous weapon. It seems that beings who have been cursed with chaos magic are being used as weapons for Thiago's reign of terror. Great casualties among celestial and mortal armies. Chaos magic renders the healing properties of the angels useless and completely destroys the bodies of humans.

If confronted with this weapon, do not engage. Run for cover.

Nothing more was written on the weapon. Raden flipped through the last pages and saw nothing else written. He angrily shut the book. This could very well be the turning of the war for them and it wasn't looking good. Raden took a deep breath and decided that he wouldn't tell this to Azrael. This was too much of a burden to bear and he couldn't stand to see her in a state of anguish if she knew how powerful she could be and how much danger she would become if in the wrong hands.

A knock on the door frame caught Raden's attention. He turned and saw Azrael smiling at him and his eyes went wide. "How in the world did you get in!"

"That would be me." Lorcán appeared a few seconds later.

"Lorcán here is the creator of this place. He brought me in with him." Azrael explained. She peered over Raden's shoulder and saw all the codexes on the desk. "Did you find anything?"

Raden quickly glances at Lorcán then back at Azrael and gave a sad smile. "Nothing worthwhile. Wasted trip." He shrugged.

Azrael's face felt only for a second though. "Well, maybe not a completely wasted trip." She looked back at Lorcán and he smiled. "Lorcán here has invited us to join him at a ball he's throwing and I was wondering if you would want to go?" There was that tiny piece of hope.

"We should get going. We don't want any more mishaps like Asra." Raden whispered to Azrael. She frowned and nodded.

She looked over at Lorcán and gave a sad smile. "He's right. We would just cause trouble."

"Nonsense. I will have the best security there at the ball and you two would be perfectly safe. I insist." Lorcán smiled at the two. Raden however could feel the weight of anger Lorcán had for him under that warm smile. "Besides I would love to speak with Raden on his travels." He leaned down to Azrael. "One can never have enough books to write."

Azrael looked back at Raden with pleading eyes. She mouthed, please. Raden looked at her then at Lorcán. He internally groaned. "Okay okay. We can go."

Azrael leaped and hugged Raden as tightly as she could. Raden was caught by surprise and wrapped his arms around her. He however was faced with a tight-lipped Lorcán whose eyes were void of the warmth he carried for Azrael. A completely different person than a few seconds before. Raden knew that he had pissed off yet another God.

That inner voice of Raden's began to chuckle. Oh, you're in deep shit now.

The elemental came back with some friends and cleaned off the desk and replaced all the codexes in their rightful places. Lorcán walked Raden and Azrael out and Azrael was excitingly chatting about the ball and garden with Lorcán. Raden followed behind them with a new weight on his shoulders. Gods only knew what would happen if Serkan got his hands on Azrael. And for the love of Merikh let's hope he didn't.