And yet, she’s right.We all should be given a chance to repay our debts fairly.
“The system isn’t fair.It’s not set up to be, and I think that should change.”
I smile at her.After so long with only my sister’s awful ways for company, I cherish her closeness, the passion she displays while talking about her mission and all the demons she’s working with.
Funny, I didn’t think angels were supposed to be friends with demons.But as she chats, I find myself taken with the way her mind works and the challenge that is providing me in contrast to my sister’s ways.
Gellara takes my hand again as we creep through city streets.Where her palm meets mine, static pops and zings.I like it but somewhere deep in my mind I know it’s wrong.
Or at least, that’s what Celestial society would tell me.
“There, look…” Gellara whispers.
I glance in the direction she’s pointing and my heart plummets.Hovering in the air are the fragments of a soul.
Half eaten.
Shredded.
Unable to heal.
There’s no corpse, which means I continue to hold hope that she can be saved.The air stinks like necrotic skin only fouler.Souls aren’t meant to decay.Hints of stale fish, old coffee and sulphur drift around me.
“Oh,” I lean forward and gag.Gellara rubs my back, but nothing comes out.Just the hideous sound of dry retching.
When I steady myself, a fundamental piece of me has broken.
“Why… why in heavens would she do this?”I whisper.
“What does she want?”Gellara asks.
“To change our world forever.Destroy fate.Create a new system where free will reigns.”
“Then she would need an awful lot of power to do that.Souls are sources of power.If she had one pure enough it might suffice, but without that, I suppose if she ate enough of the mortal ones, she may garner sufficient energy for what she’s trying to do.”
I blink at Gellara.She has so many words, so many thoughts.She’s clinical about this, sticking to the facts when this feels anything but objective.What she says lodges in my mind, though.I lock it away for later.
The shreds of soul drift on the wind.They glint translucent, almost pearlescent.Magnificent, but equally gory.The tips of the pieces are frayed and stained bloody pink.Whoever that poor soul was will never be able to return.They will never resurrect, never rest.
Gone.
Lost to whatever hideous plan Interitus has to destroy our world.
Gellara tugs my hand and leads me down another alley in silence as the weight of what Interitus has done settles on me.Surely, Interitus will be damaging her own soul behaving like this, or whatever angelic parts remain, at least.
Gellara goes rigid.
“Wh—” I start, but her hand slams over my mouth, silencing me.
She points around the corner of the next street and into another park.It’s a huge open space lined with trees that lead into a forest.In the tree line, a figure is crouched over a mortal body that is unnaturally still.
I prey to the angels it’s not Interitus and she hasn’t killed a human.I shake my head.Of course she wouldn’t.
My throat thickens; a bitter lump makes it hard to swallow.
The figure turns and my world falls apart.
It’s her, my sister.
