Of Devils and Tragedy

„Retract your wings, I will carry us with magic. It isn't necessary to show yourself to the world for now." Responding to his uncle's words, Ezekiel retracted his twelve wings back. After a short moment of falling he hovered next to Uriel.

Meanwhile down on the ground more and more swords grew in different shapes and sizes. Nearly 50 meters in every direction were shredded trees. Most notably was, that every one of these swords exuded a clear holy aura. As they got closer, they could see a big abomination in the form of a hog. Instead of a hear though a humanoid torso and head grew outside. The whole monstrosity was pierced by blades and clearly dead.

Ezekiel was shocked and silent, but he was not scared. He already prepared himself mentally for what was to come. His instructors made sure to tell him the real situation in the outside world and often show him some visual proof. The creature down on the ground was most likely a stray devil. A servant that fled their master and devolved into a sorry excuse of a living being. That is not to say, that every stray devil is bad, there were enough cases of idiotic masters abusing their servants or even forcefully reincarnating humans or other races into their pawns. The now dead creature however does not come into being simply by running away or angering their master. No, these abnormalities happen, when the inserted evil piece is corrupted by a mad mind. Fortunately, this one was already dealt with before it could attack and feast on any more innocent people than it might already have.

While observing the creature, the swords slowly started to fade away and revealed in a young girl in front of the stray. She had some cuts and burns on her body and seemed confused and out of breath. Her blonde hair was full of dirt and she was unsteady on her feet. It was probably only due to sheer willpower and the adrenalin flooding her body that she was still standing and firmly gripping the wooden sword in her hands.

Deciding it was best to check up on her and get some answers, what exactly happened, Uriel began his decent. As they got closer to the ground, the young girl noticed them approaching and became defensive. Neither Uriel nor Ezekiel had their wings out now, so they were not easy to recognize as angels.

"Child, we aren't here to harm you. Would you let me see your injuries?" Uriel gestured to her not making any unexpected movements.

The girl did not move from her spot even after several moments passed

"Wh- Who are you?" she asked, without letting her guard down. The man and boy did not seem like bad people, but everybody who just comes floating down from the sky could not be ordinary and she was not going to take risks if it was not necessary.

"Uncle could you leave us alone for a bit?" Ezekiel asked, his eyes never leaving the young girl.

Uriel wanted to retort but seeing the seriousness in Zeke's eyes he reluctantly stepped back. He had to admit that it might be better for her when a child her age calmed her down. Without waiting any longer, he took to the sky to give them some privacy. He kept close enough to intervene when necessary, however.

"My name is Ezekiel, but if you want you can call me Zeke." Ezekiel tried to sound as normal as possible, which considering the situation, is pretty difficult. "What is your name?"

The girl kept staring at Ezekiel for a while. Ezekiel concentrated and felt a mix of different emotions coiling around her. She was feeling confusion, fear above anything else. But the longer their stare down lasted the more the feelings of hope grew. Hope that all of this was just a dream and her uncomplicated life would continue. But dream or not, nothing would come from inaction she spoke in a tired voice: "I am Jeanne. Wh-What is this thing and was it you that helped me?"

"How about we sit down? You seem pretty tired." Ezekiel suggested, moved away from the corpse, and sat down on one of the felled trees. Jeanne still gripping her wooden sword followed shortly after and sat down next to him.

"Tell me Jeanne, have you ever read the bible?" Ezekiel began with a question, which greatly confused Jeanne.

"The sister at the orphanage always reads to us every evening. But what does it…" Jeanne answered until Ezekiel cut her short.

"What does it have to do with this…?" Ezekiel said while pointing at the deformed monstrosity, making Jeanne flinch a bit. "That thing over there was once a devil, Jeanne. More specifically a corrupted devil."

"You want to say devils really exist?" Jeanne asked a bit doubtful, but it is hard to doubt something if proof is lying directly before your eyes. "And you said it is corrupted? Aren´t all devils corrupted? If it was not before my eyes, I would not believe it."

Ezekiel wanted to sigh but kept it in and thought of what to say. The reality sometimes is not easy to swallow. Suddenly tears began to streak down her face. Ezekiel felt her emotions spike again. Her fear and confusion were growing probably because the heat of the moment subsided and as did the adrenaline in her body.

"Huh? Wha...Why am I…" Jeanne began to stammer and looked at Ezekiel who just hugged her close to him. They stayed like this for a while long with Jeanne silently crying until exhaustion took her and she fell asleep.

It was at this moment, that Uriel showed up again and casted a small healing spell, dealing with smaller cuts and burns.

"You did good Ezekiel. How are you doing yourself?" Uriel inquired while sadly looking over to the sleeping girl. Her life would never be the same peaceful life she lived until now. But it was not surprising. Who could live a normal life in the knowledge of beings like corrupted devils roaming among the populace? As for altering her memory, that is obviously nothing angels would lightly do. As for why Uriel asked Ezekiel how he was doing? He knew about one of his abilities and he was sure Ezekiel used it to feel just how affected Jeanne was from the earlier happenings.

"I am alright. Her feelings were not overwhelming and only understandable considering the situation. I was born into this world. I cannot imagine how I would cope with it was I thrown into it like this."

Silence pervaded until Ezekiel spoke up again: "Uncle, what is happening with her now? She said she was living in an orphanage and I doubt anyone could relate to what happened to her. And I am not sure it was a coincidence, that a stray devil chanced upon her here."

Uriel thought for a bit before responding: "The orphanage here should be run by the church. I can tell Vasco to deal with things and transfer her to the Vatican. We can bring her with us Zeke, but I have a condition."

"What is it uncle?" Ezekiel asked, already guessing what the condition would be about.

"I want you to take care of her. Even if it is only a bit, she seemed to depend on you after her experience and to make it easier for her you will be the one to introduce her into our world."

"I understand." Ezekiel answered firmly, determined to give it his all to help her now that he has seen how affected she was.

"Then let us deal with the aftermath of this Ezekiel. A creature like this lying around with a big portion of the forest destroyed would raise too many questions if it is not handled properly. I want you to take care of the corpse while I handle the surroundings." Uriel stated before he began casting a high number of spells restoring the forest a good as possible.

Ezekiel wordlessly got up and walked in the direction of the corpse until he was only a few meters away. Concentrating he willed his power to come forth and engulf the stray devil. He did not hold back, and a bright golden and red light swallowed the corpse, terrifying power radiating off Ezekiel. In just a moment not even a speck of dust was left behind, and Ezekiel let out a long breath he did not know he was holding. His control over his power was growing by the day, but he still had slight problems not to overdo it. Furthermore, it was the first organic lifeform he used his power on, even if it was dead. Fortunately, it looked more like an abomination than anything humanoid. Until now he just occasionally trained on dummies or trees, but never a living being. Now that he was done with his task he went back to where Jeanne lied and waited for his uncle to finish. It was only a moment later that Uriel came back.

"You improved a lot since our last session Zeke. It is amazing at which rate you are growing. A few more years and you will leave me in the dust." Uriel commented good naturedly but serious, nonetheless. Ezekiel was by no means weak and considering his lineage, nothing would stop him from growing strong. If he trained like he did until now for another five years, he would probably overtake most of the seraphs already. The thing he lacks the most is experience, something Uriel would make sure he got enough in the following months.

Ezekiel only showed a weak smile in return.

"Alright then, let us go home" Uriel said before activating another magic circle for teleportation which swallowed all three of them.

With a flash of light only the tranquil atmosphere of the forest was left behind, the lack of noises the only abnormality to observe.