“You know there’s a good chance that he might not even show up, you know?” a voice called from inside of Avery’s head.

Avery scowled and focused on running. “Look, I’ve been everywhere else… The only thing that I can think of at this point that would lure in Ezrael is a monster like this… Do you have a better idea, Jester?”

“Not particularly, but I’m just trying to keep you grounded,” he called back.

Avery rolled her eyes. Of course she knew that there was a chance that Ezrael wouldn’t show up, but this was also the exact kind of thing that Ezrael had been documented showing up to help with, so she had to hope for the best that she would be able to find him here. Now that Misra was with her, she felt even more like she needed to prove that she was trying and that she could find her brother.

The entire time they were running towards the creature, it was becoming increasingly clear that it was rather large. The ground was shaking every few seconds and even from here, they could hear the buildings being destroyed. Misra’s feet were killing her and even after the night of sleep that she’d had, she was still extremely drained after four straight days of consciousness.

Upon arriving at the section of the city where the creature was, they were both taken aback. They knew that the creature was large, but it was much bigger than either of them could have possibly guessed.

The creature seemed to be some kind of elephant-like beast, but much much larger. It just barely skimmed underneath the top of a fifteen-story building. However, despite the destruction that it was causing, it didn’t actually seem like the beast was trying to be antagonistic towards the city. All the tremors they had been feeling was just a massive creature moving fairly normally. However, it was also clear that this was a creature of Ser, given the dark smoke billowing off of every part of it and even if it wasn’t being openly antagonistic, it was still causing a good amount of destruction to  the city around them just by simply walking.

“I think that it’s likely this creature is mostly mindless, but it was created to be large and destructive without really any thought needed. It’s going to be hard to take down, but the only opposition we should be facing is how tough this thing actually is,” Avery said, already forming a seal on the back of her hand.

Misra nervously stared up at the massive creature, not entirely sure what it was that Avery thought she would be able to accomplish against such a huge beast. “Uh… How exactly are we going to take this thing down…?”

Avery coated her swords in wind while forming several wind arrows around her. “I scanned the city while we on the way and I can tell that there are no people here, so we really just need to take this thing down. I’m going to try and create some holes in its ankles and then I want you to form some stone spikes to widen those wounds and take this thing down by its roots, alright?”

Before Misra could even respond, Avery was flying off and using her swords and arrows to create as many wounds all over the ankles of the creature, causing it seemingly no distress. Not having any other choice, Misra began to use the rock of the fallen city around them, forming it in to spikes and launching it at the injuries Avery had made. Much to Misra’s surprise, her shots were actually able to injure the massive beast, slowly eating away at its legs until finally one gave way, splitting it apart completely. The creature let loose a thunderous roar of anguish as it was crippled. However, it began to make its way back up, smashing through buildings at it did.

Avery and Misra repeated their same strategy twice more, finally reducing the large creature to only one leg and leaving it no way to get back up. They were going to simply leave it there and allow it to deteriorate naturally, but then, out of nowhere, a metal blade was launched through the air, whizzing past the two apprentices and cutting right through the core of the massive creature. The blade retracted and the creature began to turn to smoking back mist.

Avery and Misra whirled around in confusion only to be met by the sight of the exact thing they’d been tracking, the fallen angel. They were dressed in a strange cloak lined and embellished with black feathers. Their hair was extremely dark brown with streaks of pure black in it. And just as they’d been looking for, they were missing an eye. A black swath of bandages was wrapped around a presumably injured left side of their face.

Misra stepped forward, dropping all of her extra gear and holding out a hand. “Hello. Are you the fallen angel? I’m Misra. I’ve been searching for you…”

Before Misra could continue, the figure bolted away. Misra rushed forward, presumably to try and catch them, but Avery caught her and shook her head. “I think there’s a good chance he’s much faster than you, but I tagged his aura, so I can track him now. Don’t worry, we’re going to get him.”

Misra nodded and the two of them set off, following behind the fallen angel, making sure to keep out of their line of sight and hopefully, if it was Ezrael, the range at which he could sense them. Eventually, they tracked him down to a large cave in the top of a mountain. They waited at the base of the mountain, ensuring that they were staying in this place. Once they had confirmed that he was staying, they swiftly made their way up the mountain and in to the cave. Once inside, Misra closed off the entrance and the two approached the huddled up fallen angel.

The cave was mostly barren except for some very basic cooking implements and food. The fallen angel was still fully covered and seemed scarred of them.

“Please, we’re not here to harm you. We just want to talk to you. Could you remove your mask so that we can see you?” Misra asked cautiously, taking a seat on the ground a few feet away from them.

They seemed to calm down a bit and eventually fell down to the ground and sighed, removing the mask that had been obscuring the right side of their face before. Misra immediately began to cry as she saw the face of her lost brother.

Ezrael averted her gaze. “Hey, sis…” he said, his voice gruff and hushed.

Misra seemed to be at a loss for words, but instead stood up, walked over to Ezrael, and threw her arms around him, tears pouring down her cheeks as she clutched him tightly.

“Ezrael… I thought I lost you for good… After Viktor… I just… I didn’t know what to do with myself and now you’re here and I… I’m so sorry about everything…”

After a bit of initial shock wore off, Ezrael wrapped his arms around Misra and smiled softly. “I’m here, Misra… And… I’m sorry too… But I couldn’t be around all of you… It was just too painful… I thought the visions were because of the cursed eye, but even with it gone… they’re still here…”

“Uh… it’s not gone,” Avery added, causing both of them to turn to her.

“What do you mean?” Ezrael asked.

Avery motioned to her observer’s eye. “I can still see some of the cursed eye remaining within you. It’s not just the eye that you have to remove… It’s a lot more than that… I have experience with that… I cut mine out too and well, even with that, I still had to have surgery to get it fully removed from my body in its entirety.”

Ezrael’s eye widened as he stared up at her. “Oh… Sengario almighty… I’m such an idiot to think I could remove it so easy…”

“If you come back with us, we can actually get the rest removed, I’m sure. It’s really pretty easy. You just need someone who knows what they’re doing, “ Avery added.

“Right, well… I suppose I can do that… But… what will the family think… Is Viktor still… missing?” Ezrael asked, turning to Misra.

As he looked at her, he found her eyes still full of tears. “Ezrael… I’m so sorry…”

Ezrael stared at her in confusion and then back up at Avery who seemed to be tearing up as well. “What? What is it? What happened to him…?”

Avery knelt down on the ground, not able to meet Ezrael’s gaze. “He… gave his life… for me… He’s… not here anymore…”

Ezrael stared at the two of them, tears welling up in his eyes. He fell in to Misra, clutching her tightly. Misra returned the embrace and the two just stayed there for a bit. Ezrael realized then that he needed his family more than ever right now and they needed him. Wiping away his tears, he made his way to his feet and nodded to the both of them, his eyes still wet.

“Alright… Let’s go home…”