" Did you hear me? Stand. Now. "
The angel barks at you as you lie on the ground unable to move in the rubble of the destroyed kitchen. The angel then walks closer to you and kneels down in front of you, seeing the apparentness of your injuries. Your neck aches horribly in pain from you being strangled and it's so intense that you feel like your neck might be broken. A rumbling sound can be heard outside as the angel speaks to you.
" It is not your time yet. I cannot leave Father Izael's orders unfulfilled. "
The angel says as she stands her sword up against the wall next to you and pulls out another shorter blue blade from within her wings. She then puts the tip of the blade over your heart and a fire ignites on your chest. You begin to panic for a moment, but then realize that the fire isn't hurting you at all. You watch in amazement as your concussion and all of your pain disappears as if this fire is burning all of your injuries away. Then once you're fully healed, the fire goes out and you feel amazing as you sit up, looking the angel in her eyes. Before the angel can speak again, you quickly plead to her in a worried tone.
" Come on! I need you to help Veronica as well! She's down the hall in the room on the left! "
You get up in a hurry and head to the door, but as you look back at the angel, you see that she isn't following you. She looks at you with a look of annoyance, stands up, and grabs her sword.
" My orders were to bring you before Izael and the other gods so they may speak to you about a matter that is of the utmost importance. I will not waste time and stray from my path to help some human woman if it isn't a requirement to fulfill my duty. "
" Ok then. "
You say as you walk back up to the angel and get in her face, irritated that she's refusing to help the woman who nursed you back to health after you hit the surface of the planet.
" I'm not going anywhere without Veronica. Come with me to help her or you can take your ass back to Izael empty handed. "
The angel rolls her eyes at you and responds in a monotone voice.
" Very well. I was given orders not to lay a hand on you. Take me to this woman so we can be on our way. "
You lead the angel down the hallway into the room where you found Veronica and you see that Veronica is unconscious. You kneel down next to her and notice that more of her skin has blended into the golden flesh that you saw earlier, and the golden chain looks melted now as her skin still progressively turns to gold. You pick Veronica up in your lap, clean the blood off of her face and body with her tattered clothes that were on the floor and look up at the angel with desperation. You can hear more rumbling coming from outside as you speak to the angel.
" Please… Do that fire thing with your blue dagger to heal her and make her feel better as well… "
The angel gives you a pitiful glare as she looks down at you. You can see a fear in her eyes as if the angel knows a grave truth that she isn't telling you.
" I cannot heal this woman. This woman is beyond saving. "
" What?! "
You reply as you set Veronica back down and stand up in front of the angel.
" Veronica saved my life! You healed me, so heal her too! "
You say, frustrated.
" No… You don't understand. "
The angel replies as she stares at the golden flesh on Veronica's body.
" This woman has been given a horrifying curse. A curse given to mortals who are unfortunate enough to come into direct contact with the chain of Nahzgor… This woman has The Curse of the Slave. "
The angel kneels down and gently runs her hand across the golden flesh on Veronica's body.
" My blade can heal wounds, but it cannot cure curses. I'd say this woman has three sun cycles before the curse consumes her entirely and she becomes just like the creature that almost took your life earlier tonight. "
No… I refuse to believe this. This can't be the end for her. She saved me and now she's gonna turn into a monster? I just spoke to Veronica this morning and she offered me coffee… Why can't we go back and change this? Aatu's the God of Time, right? Can't I just ask him to go back and save her? Who's gonna take care of Mimi? Mimi… Mimi!!
You pick up Veronica's body in your arms and walk quickly out the front door.
" Where are you going!? "
The angel asks firmly as the door closes behind you. You go outside with Veronica in your arms and see the entire village around you burning. You run through the smoke, towards the alleyway where Mimi was hiding and see the alleyway completely crushed by the surrounding buildings. The shed that she hid inside of is completely buried by the burning rubble of stone and wood.
You run up to the rubble and shout for her.
" Mimi!! MIMI!! "
The stones are too big and heavy for me to move. She ran into the shed here… I saw her.
You drop to your knees and hug Veronica's body close to you as you begin to break down, but right as your eyes begin to water, you hear a voice from behind you.
" Star Faller? "
You turn around to see Mimi peeking out of a barrel next to a house across the road. She has a worried look on her face as she sees you on your knees holding her mother's body.
" Mama? "
As you stand back up and quickly walk to Mimi, she runs and meets you in the middle of the road, giving you a hug. She then lets go of you and looks visibly upset at the sight of her mother. Tears pool in her eyes as she speaks to you.
" What happened to Mama? "
The rumbling you've been hearing grows louder as you look at Mimi with a look of sorrow and tell her the truth.
" I found her inside. A monster cursed her… We're going to find a way to save her. Are you okay? "
" Star Faller… "
Mimi looks up at you.
" I heard alot of banging and scary sounds inside after you went in. I had a bad feeling about the shed so I moved to that barrel. After I did that, the buildings fell on the shed and crushed it. I think the kitty's blessing told me to go to the barrel and it kept me safe. Then I heard you calling my name and the next thing I saw was you holding Mama over by the alley. "
Of course. Faerah is the Goddess of Luck. It makes sense that Faerah's blessing would protect Mimi by making her lucky.
You hear the door to Mimi's house open as the Angel walks outside towards you. The ground continues to rumble and you realize what the rumbling is coming from after you feel it this time.
Something colossal is making its way towards you.
" Human! "
The angel shouts at you as she storms in your direction.
" You need to leave. Now. "
You feel Mimi hide behind you and give you a shy hug about the angel. Once the angel reaches you, she opens a blue portal beside you.
" If I'm leaving, then Veronica and Mimi are coming with me. "
You tell the angel as the angel gives you a serious glare. Before the angel can respond, the ground then begins to rumble extremely violently this time and you almost lose your balance. You both turn to the side and look down the road to see a pair of colossal flaming wings towering above the horizon and reaching into the sky.
" It's here… "
The angel says fearfully as a colossal monstrosity slowly approaches from the horizon.
" Star Faller, what is that? "
Mimi asks in a quivering tone as she looks at the flaming wings that are piercing the atmosphere. The angel speaks as the three of you all stare up at these monumental wings that are ablazing before you in a destructive fire.
" The monster that cursed your mother was a cultist of Nahzgor… and where there are cultists… there are always dragons. "
A tremendous demonic roar rattles your bones and it hurts your ears as this titanic beast finally emerges. Its golden scales glowing with an incredible heat and its flaming golden eyes appear to be glaring directly at you. You stare back at it in terror, taken aback as the sheer size of this beast feels impossible. This beast has to be at least 10,000 feet tall with a wingspan that's able to cover the entire horizon.
As the beast slowly walks towards you, the ground shakes more and more violently. Buildings collapse and the village around you continues to burn before you hear a crack of cosmic lightning. The sky then begins to melt into a rift as a beautiful display of blue lines come from the rift down into the village. You realize that the blue lines are hundreds of angels falling from the sky as they zoom past you, and you look over at where the angels are headed to see a flood of golden cultists chasing and chaining up the villagers that are trying to escape the approaching beast on the horizon. You watch the cultists catch the villagers by stabbing them with a golden meat hook that's swung on a golden chain, and after the villagers get caught, they get ragdolled around and strung up against the surrounding environment. Their screams of pain break your heart as you watch these people become cursed with the very same curse that Veronica was given. After the blue streaks of light reach the surface of the planet, the angels' counter assault makes a bloody mess of the cultists as they butcher them with their holy blades, cutting through the solid gold limbs of these monsters like butter as the angels do their best to protect the villagers.
" Go! Now! Take the woman and her child with you! My duty now is to stay here and protect the innocent life here within this village! Izael and his siblings of Light are waiting for you on the other side! "
The angel says to you as she materializes her holy blade out of thin air. You look at her with a look of gratitude and say one last thing before you step into the portal.
" Thank you. "
You tell her as she ascends into the air, flying at lightning speed directly towards the gigantic dragon on the horizon. Mimi holds Veronica's dangling hand as you carry Veronica's body in your arms and you both step through the portal.
The Gods of Light await your arrival.