BLINDING light greeted The Obscurity as she opened her eyes, to which she flinched away, sitting up and covering her eyes.

“That actually worked!” Alice squealed. “I can’t believe we’re here!”

The Obscurity felt her heart speed up, not sure if she was shocked more by the fact that they were actually here or that she could move without struggling for control.

She’d finally wrestled control from Neve.

Tears threatened to escape her eyes, and she wiped them away in embarrassment. Human bodies were so annoying.

The Obscurity blinked several times to get used to the glare of Nirvana. She was more than sure that she would never actually get used to it, considering human eyes weren’t made to see this.

Not until they were dead, anyway.

“Are… are you okay, Neve?” Angelica said, and The Obscurity saw her figure shuffle toward her.

She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to put on the picture of confusion. “I’m fine. Just a little disoriented.” Her vision slowly cleared to show Angelica’s bright blue eyes gazing at her with concern. “Are we really here?”

Alice grinned, brown eyes shining in the extreme light. “Surprisingly, yeah. You actually did it!”

The Obscurity gasped as Alice wrapped her arms around her. “What are you doing?”

Alice recoiled, as if just realizing. “I guess I just got a little emotional there… Sorry.”

The Obscurity turned away and tried to hide her shiver of disgust. While Neve definitely didn’t like Alice, her hate for them was nowhere near as much as The Obscurity’s, and for the time being, The Obscurity had to emulate Neve’s behavior.

Considering that Neve wasn’t a friendly person in general, that wouldn’t be too hard.

Angelica cleared her throat. “We should get to the Transcendent before an Authority finds us. They might send us straight back to the Higher World.”

The Obscurity drew a blank trying to understand what she was talking about. The only thing she knew of was the Higher World. “What’s the Transcendent? And what’s an Authority?”

Angelica didn’t hesitate to tell her. “The Creator lives in the Transcendent, and an Authority is an angel who makes sure everything is as it should be.”

The Obscurity suppressed the smirk that threatened to overtake her face as she noted The Creator’s location. “An… angel?” she said, widening her eyes. Of course she knew they were angels—everyone in Nirvana and the Higher World was an angel except The Creator. But Neve definitely didn’t know.

Angelica and Alice exchanged uncomfortable looks. “Well… um…” Angelica trailed off, averting her eyes.

Alice took a deep breath and spoke. “Based off of everything I know about Earth, you probably know what an angel is. But you might not believe that angels actually exist. I mean, you don’t hit me as the religious type. In any case, they do. Everyone you come across in Nirvana will probably be an angel, and Angelica and I are archangels.” She glanced at The Obscurity, sighing when she gave her an even more confused look.

“There’s really no time to explain all of this, unless we want to get our asses kicked back down to the Higher World,” Angelica said. “We need to get to the Transcendent.”

Alice nodded, a small smile forming on her face as she said, “I’ve really missed this.”

The Obscurity could only stare as ivory wings grew from Alice’s back, flourishing across the path. They folded in toward her, hiding most of her body. The Obscurity reeled back as Angelica sprouted wings too, and they were even larger than Alice’s.

While The Obscurity had since known they were angels, and she’d seen wings before, they were still a shock each time. Majestic, dazzling…

Because of course, everything had to be beautiful for The Creator.

She forced her awed expression to stay in place as they both turned toward her. Alice narrowed her eyes, opening her mouth to speak, but Angelica interrupted her.

“I’ll carry her. We don't have to argue about it."

Alice nodded, tension visibly leaving her body.

"Excuse me?" The Obscurity said, stepping back as Angelica stalked toward her. "I don't think so."

Angelica rolled her eyes, stopping once she was only a foot away from her. "It's not up for discussion. It would take, like, an hour to walk there."

The Obscurity crossed her arms. "I don't care." I'd crawl there if that was what it took for you to not touch me.

Without another word, Angelica put an arm under The Obscurity's knees, the other around her shoulders, and picked her up bridal style. The Obscurity gasped as her world went off kilter, wriggling in Angelica's arms. A strong breeze blew in her face, and she craned her neck to see Alice flying off.

Angelica didn't waste another second, wings kicking up a storm to raise her into the air.

And they were off.

A steady shriek left The Obscurity's mouth, even as she choked on the wind rushing into her face. It was only a second before they stopped and continued to fly forward at a stagnant height. Her heart slammed against her chest, hands pinching her thigh to ground herself.

She had a great urge to get out of Angelica's hold and fall to her… well, Neve's death. But at the same time, she was terrified and had a revolting urge to grab onto Angelica to keep safer. If she fell, Neve would die, and she'd have to find a new human host, which was unnecessary, tedious work.

In the end, she stayed as still as possible in Angelica's arms, consciously breathing to calm herself down. As she relaxed, she couldn't help but feel… happy.

How great it was to be free.

Though it was more than regrettable that she was in Nirvana, if all went well, she could live on Earth soon. Just the thought made her smile.

But there was that little bit of guilt beneath all that optimism. Neve was the unknowing, innocent factor of the whole. She didn't deserve to disappear - to just be… gone and have no one the wiser.

She deserved better than the Obscurity had been given.

However, The Creator was the one at fault here.

He was always the one at fault.

The Obscurity forced the thoughts out of her head as Angelica descended onto silver cobblestone steps. She took in a breath of relief when she set her down, glancing around. Her hand shot up to block the immediate assault of white on her vision. Strangely, it wasn’t due to the sky—it was because of the radiant building they were in front of. It had an ivory sheen, almost glowing.

This had to be the Transcendent.