Cliff - 3
"We have not been entirely truthful."
It was to that voice that she truly woke up from her slumber. Her eyes fluttered open, her hands, both grasped together in prayer, both took a place at her side as she looked to the eyes of the angel.
The pure eyes that seemed to pierce through all of her issues, and in that moment Rosa felt true peace. With a hand ruffling through her hair and another gently comforting her back.
Rubbing circles.
But for some reason, her voice refused to find purchase, no words could describe the feeling she felt at the moment.
Nothing more than true peace.
"Do not worry…" He softly sang, his voice ringing with an angelic tone that soothed her.
Enough that Rosa found purchase with her hands. On the side of the bed where she pushed off and truly faced Gabriel, the angel that had burst into her heart.
With hope.
"Deceitful about what? Was there no need for purification, was it a mere deception."
She shook her head, "No, there is truly a need for purification. But the subject." She gestured to the window, where the cold air touched their skin. With a cold that seemed to have some sort of purpose.
Gabriel rose, gently taking her hand in his, and with another smile, looked over the window. But what he saw brought surprise to even him.
For this to happen in the beginning of the game. When the tower had just started whirling its gears.
It truly lived up to its reputation as the hardest game.
Yet even so, with the odds against him, he felt no pressure. Merely a smile as he gazed to the undead that roamed the streets.
At the dark knights made of bones, with eyes of purple gazes. Of the necromancer that commanded them. To even the burning pillars of monsters feasting upon each other.
It truly was a scene from hell. But for the strangest reason they did not force open the doors. As if by some magic they were protected.
Yet Gabriel knew, oh did he know, that this would not last forever. Maybe not tonight, or even the night after. But one day those protections would end.
And with the shine of the death knight's eye, his baleful gaze washed over the city. It too knew.
Gabriel was on a deadline, but even so, all this elicited… was a vicious smile. A challenge.
"Cyclical, a cycle repeating forever after…." Gabriel muttered to himself, "For a change to happen in this cycle of death, of life and death, one must gather their will, to be courageous and find their heart."
The muttered ramblings of a wandering knight, a passage he read in research. But the quote resonated with Gabriel.
"Wise words." Rosa muttered to herself. Her own gaze focused on the angelic light that shone with Gabriel's resolve.
…
…
…
Morning came before even he could tell. A plan, it raked its way through his mind. One of violence unbefitting of his current form.
But as Rosa had pleaded and the feast that had been prepared for him. There was no chance that he would miss out on it.
A challenge had been set, and with it, his mind set ablaze.
Immediately upon the morning sun the undead had ceased their materialization. A final purple gaze before they fell through the ground and back to the underworld where they belonged.
And so upon that moment Gabriel rushed from his room. Ignorant of the shadows that followed him towards his destination.
Had he looked for one more moment then maybe he would have seen them, but if's and but's, they were unnecessary.
An angel ran through the streets, bare feet against cobble. Stone that dug into the soft skin, creating bruises that healed seconds later.
He barely even noticed the gazes upon his face, all of the people that had rose from their houses after the night had set.
No, he had noticed none of this as with one more leap he found his wings flapping across the swamp.
It brought him to a desolate place. Filled with poisonous snakes, giant bugs, and frogs that seemed able to grasp anything.
But as he laughed, sword strung across his waist. He found purchase on the nearest frog. Its tongue reached for him.
Practice, thousands of hours of flight and aerial practice trumped any amount of skill the frog had. But even so, the speed and strength still was enough to grace his side.
[20/100]
Gabriel's health ticked down, merely upon one touch. But that was nothing compared to the pure adrenaline that poured through his veins.
With bloodshot eyes, and a side stained with blood, he pounced.
Sword rose from his side and sliced through the tongue. A substance tried and failed to grasp against his wrist.
And with a gaze to the side he confirmed his opponent.
[Spotted Frog]
[5]
[?/?]
[Bleed inflicted -20hp per second]
The tongue flittered out once more, but the lack of reach and the blood running from the end stopped any advances.
All because the frog had never tolerated such pain. So much that it recoiled its tongue back with only one pass.
It hopped towards Gabriel, but it was useless as with a single flitter of his wings he was meters away from where the frog would land.
He gripped the sword with both hands, and the ground flipped. Where the sky was once up and the ground down.
Now it was the opposite. A switch of fates as Gabriel flickered his wings once more.
A divebomb with both his hands pushing his sword deeper into the frog.
A faint gasp from the side, gone unnoticed by the angel. But it mattered not as he watched the frog fall dead to the ground.
[500 XP gained]
[+Level+]
…
[Gabriel]
[4]
(300/1600)
[HP: 100]
[Mp: 600]
[strength: 1(6)]
[dexterity: 1(11)]
[vitality: 1(1)]
[intelligence: 1(6)]
[SP: 12]
[Traits:]
[Mythical Trait: One who has traversed the void - a level beyond normal, beyond even extraordinary, a man who has conquered more than a single one should ever be capable of. I gift to thee a boon created with the last vestiges of my life. May it help you grow ever stronger, for the man who had killed me should bow to none, be lesser than none.]
[Rare Trait: Angelic Wings - gain the ability to fly and the beauty of an angel sculpted by a master sculptor. +1 str and int +2 dex for every level]