Darkness... Cold... A Void... There rests a soul traveling through the nothingness. There is the still soul of a Faerie, staring blankly into the darkness. Her tired dark purple cosmic eyes blink a few times, before a thought fills her mind.

'This is... familiar.'

Paimon's eyes glance around.

'I think... I've been here before?'

"Oh my dear, you have." A female chuckle is heard.

'A voice? You sound familiar, does Paimon know you?'

A shadow suddenly looms over Paimon, with a creepy smile and white eyes baring into her. "Oh, you do, you know me very well."

A confused look grows on Paimon's face. 'I- Paimon doesn't think she has met you before?'

The shadow tilts her head. "Oh, love, you just haven't figured it out yet. You will in due time... but till then. Keep learning, so that I may grow and finally return~" She disappears.

'Return, wait! Who are you, Pai- I want to know! You, tell Paimon who you are? Why are you familiar! Why does she know you! Are you her mother,or a sister, or something?!'

A crack appears in the void and Paimon grits her teeth in pain as she closes her eyes. She bits her tongue so as to not scream in pain. A dark feminine chuckle rings through the void as a large creepy smile  forms in the void, along the crack.

.

.

Paimon opens her eyes, everything blurry at first. But it slowly clears to see a wooden ceiling above her.

'Paimon doesn't know this ceiling...' Paimon says in thought.

Suddenly a child looms over her with a smile. The child has jade green hair and green eyes. The child smiles as she notices Paimon is awake.

"You're awake!" The child gasps in happiness. 

The child suddenly runs off before Paimon can call out to her. She hears the door open and footsteps runs down the hall.

Paimon slowly sits up, her body aching and her head hurting.

Paimon grunts as she rubs her head, feeling bandages around it. "Paimon feels like she drank an entire bottle of Sake." She lifts up a hand and feels her halo. "Whew, it's still there... Paimon probably would have felt if it wasn't there."

She looks around and spots a window a little ways from her. She looks out it as the Afternoon sun shines into the room. She sees the busy streets of Greendale.

Suddenly several pairs of footsteps run towards the door and the door slams open.

"Paimon!" Several voice shout.

Paimon grips her head in pain. "Don't shout, Paimon's head hurts!"

Paimon looks towards the door and sees Julian, Albuis, Demai and Rein running towards her bed. They all have bandages wrapped around them, Rein having the most.

Paimon smirks. "You all look like crap."

Everyone sighs in relief.

"Well, it seems like you're okay." Julian sits down on a stool beside the bed.

"You should look at yourself!" Rein grunts as he crosses his arms.

Paimon looks down at herself and notices she's not wearing her shirt as her chest and arms are all wrapped up. She blinks a few times and screams as she covers herself with a blanket.

"Stop looking, you pervert!" Paimon screams as she looks at Rein.

"WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE YOU YELL AT!" Rein yells.

Everyone sweat drops.

Demai kneels down and smiles at Paimon. "You all had us worried their, Miss Paimon."

Paimon rubs her head. "Wha... What happened?"

"Well after we left the cave, you gave the Duke the elixir and then just passed out on us." Julian informs. "I had to carry you back here. We're in the infirmary right now after we all just got treated."

"How long was Paimon sleeping for?"

Demai's cat ears tilt as she thinks for a second. "About 12 hours."

Paimon blinks a couple times. "HAH?!"

"The doctor said that you exhausted your mana supply and went over the limit, which caused you to pass out." Rein informs. "We're lucky it wasn't life threatening, doing something like that is dangerous."

"Well, we were in a very dangerous situation."

Everyone shutters. 

"Yeah we were." Rein mutters.

Paimon looks over everyone, seeing many bruises that aren't covered by the bandages. But she notices there missing one person.

"Wait, where's Teina." Paimon asks.

Everyone moves to the side and motions to Teina, who's laying in the bed next to her. Teina's completely wrapped in bandages, minus her face. She has a peaceful look on her tanned face as she sleeps.

 "Who knew she was a half-dark elf." Rein mutters. "And a female, which makes me relieved..."

"I'm glad she's alright." Demai smiles. 

"I'm confused as to why she would hide this from us." Julian starts. "Was she afraid of us?"

"Well, half-elves are the most abused race out there." Rein informs. "And being a half-dark elf, she'd probably been subjugated to stuff that'll give us nightmares."

Demai's eyes turn red as she grows a scary look. "If anyone tries to hurt her, I'll make sure they burn in hell."

Everyone shivers.

Suddenly the girl from before enters the room dragging the Duke behind her.

"Papa, Papa, look!" The girl points towards Paimon. "The Faerie's awake!"

Malird smiles. "I see."

"Who's the girl?" Paimon whispers to her party.

Julian clears his throat and stands up, motioning to the girl. "This is Hanna Numbred, the daughter of the Duke."

The girl picks up the hem of her dress lightly and curties. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Such nice manners." Demai smiles.

"Wait, so did the elixir work?" Paimon asks.

The Duke steps forward. "It did more than work, Hanna is much stronger now..." He shivers. "She snapped a branch twice her size, in half." He clears his throat. "But her magic is also stronger now to, and she used it to heal you and your party."

The girl smiles brightly. "It was an honor to save those who saved me!"

"She has healing magic?" Paimon asks.

Rein nods. "Yeah, it's pretty rare honestly. Many kinds of magic have healing properties, but straight up healing magic is pretty rare."

"I've been blessed by the gods." Hanna puts her hands together in prayer and looks up to the sky.

Paimon looks at Teina. "Do you know when she'll wake up?"

"The doctors think she'll wake up within the next few hours." Julian sits back down. "But why don't you go get some food with everyone, you must be hungry."

At that, Paimon's stomach loudly growls. The Faerie nervously laughs as she hugs her stomach, making everyone else laugh.

"What about you, Julian?" Demai turns to her leader.

Julian smiles. "I'm fine, I'll wait here for Teina to wake up."

"Are you sure?"

Julian nods. "Yeah, just go out and feed the God of Gluttony there." He points his thumb at Paimon.

Paimon has an emotionless look. "That's not funny."

Everyone chuckles as Paimon looks around.

"Where's Paimon's clothes?" She asks.

Hanna runs forward and grabs something under the bed, then puts it on the bed. "I cleaned your clothes, so they should smell nice; like flowers!"

Hanna sets Paimon's clothes on the bed. Paimon then glares at the men in the group.

"Turn around." Paimon orders.

The men all sweat as they turn around and Paimon puts her clothes on. Then puts on her star and sapphire hairpin. She then slips the Great Wolf tooth necklace onto her right wrist.

She then floats up and off the bed, as constellations fly off her. "Okay! Let's get some food!"

Rein pats his stomach. "I'm really hungry."

Albuis nods in agreement.

Demai stands up and stretches a little like a catch. "Well, I heard there was a good restaurant just around the bend. So let's go there."

Everyone agrees and Demai walks out of the room and Albuis follows her. 

"Well, let's go, Emergency Food." Rein walk out.

Paimon grows angry. "I'm not Emergency Food!"

The Duke and Hanna turn to Julian.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Julian." The Duke bows and Hanna follows his example.

Julian just rubs the back of his head. "We were just doing what anyone would do."

The Duke fixes his shirt and smiles. "You all are really humble, I wish more adventurers were like you all."

Julian just smiles and turns to his sleeping teammate on the bed.

The group walks out of the medical center and Paimon takes a deep breath.

"Ahh, fresh air!" Paimon cheers.

"The sun." Demai smiles as the sun shines on her.

Rein grumbles as he covers his eyes. Abluis stretches his arms out.

"Come on, Demai, show us the way!" Paimon urges. "Paimon's really hungry!"

Demai chuckles. "Okay, okay."

Demai leads the party through the streets. Someone walks past Paimon, wearing a large brown cloak. Paimon looks back at the person in question.

'Hmm, she looks kinda familiar...' Paimon says in thought. 'Paimon wonder's where she's sheen her from.'

"Paimon, you coming?" Demai calls out.

"Yeah, sorry!" Paimon floats after the party.

Half an hour later at the restaurant, people are staring at Paimon in shock. Paimon shoves an entire turkey leg into her mouth, then just pulls out the bone.

There are a mountain of plates in front of her.

"How can she eat so much?" Rein questions as he sets his second bowl of soup to the side.

"I have no idea." Demai eats a third plate of fish.

Albuis grunts as he uses a fork and knife to eat a large turkey. The utensils look small in his hands.

Paimon grabs a large mug and downs its contents, before slamming it onto the table. "Wew, I feel so much better."

Rein sighs. "There's goes all our reward money."

.

.

Teina grunts and her face scrunches up, then she opens her amber eyes. She looks around in confusion before spotting Julian.

"Hey, you're finally awake." Julian smiles.

Teina blinks a few times and lifts up her wrapped hands. Then reality hits her and she realizes she's not wearing her cloak. She sits up and covers her ears as she crawls back from Julain.

Julian holds his hand out. "Hey, hey! It's okay, Teina. It's okay."

Teina just turns away from Julian. "Go away! I don't want you to see me like this!"

"What, see the real you?"

"Yes!"

"Why?" Julian sits back on his stool.

"I- It's- Uh-"

"Because you're a half- dark elf?" 

Teina just nods.

"So, I don't care, none of us care. You're Tina. The Sniper of The Spirits of the Fae. You've kept us alive several times by hunting our food. You protected Paimon during the fight with that Angel."

Teina glances at Julian. "You... don't care?"

Julian nods. "None of us care. You're our teammate."

Teina lowers her hands, reveling her short pointed ears. "I... that makes me really happy."

Julian smiles. "I'm glad... but um... can you cover yourself, your not wearing a shirt."

Teina looks down to see her bare, modest size, chest out in open view. Teina swiftly grabs her blanket and covers herself.

"...Pervert." Teina mutters.

"What?!" Julian shouts in shock.

The door opens up and the rest of the party walks in.

"Of you're your stomach hurts, you ate enough food to feed five families!" Rein says to Paimon.

"Paimon was really hungry!" She defends herself.

"Hey, Teina's awake!" Demai grows a bright smile.

Everyone looks over to the dark elf, and she blushes a little in embarrassment.

Paimon rushes over and slams onto Teina, her head going between the elf's chest.

"Paimon was so worried!" Paimon looks up at Teina. "You had her very worried!"

Teina blinks a few times, before a smile forms on her face. "Sorry."

The rest of the party walks over as Paimon nuzzles in the Elf's chest.

"Are you okay?" Demai asks.

"You're not hurting anywhere, right?" Rein asks.

"How are you?" Albuis asks.

Teina looks at them all and grows a large smile. "Thank you for just worrying about me."

Everyone gives her a large smile.

.

.

.

Paimon yawns as she falls onto her bed, Nemuri hugging onto her side, rubbing her face on the Faerie.

"Paimon's still sore..." She whines.

Rein grunts as he lays in bed. "Tell me about it." He rubs his chest. "I can still feel that blade going through me."

Julian sits on his bed and looks at the holy weapon amongst his gear. "It's a scary weapon..."

Demai rubs her head on her pillow. "Hmm, so soft."

Rein looks around. "Where's Teina?"

"She said she wanted to go for a walk." Julian informs. "She was stuck inside all day and said she wanted to get some fresh air."

"I don't blame her honestly." Demai says.

Deep within the forest and inside a cave at the bottom of a cliff. Teina stops in front of the cathedral. She's wearing some simple clothes with a dagger on her hip. She runs a hand through her black hair and enters the building.

She looks around as she walks up to the altar with the basin of water. She looks over the altar and finds a plaque, which reads, "Only those whose blood has thine blood of the Six Loyal Angels or of her Holy Highness may enter the vault and its secrets."

Teina takes a dagger out and cuts her palm open, dripping some blood into the basin. The blood mixes into the water and after a second the floor opens up in front of the altar.

Teina grabs some bandages from a bag on her hip and wraps up her hand. She the heads down the stairs and walks down the long hallway as torches light up as she goes.

Then she enters the vault, finding it partially destroyed. She looks around at all the gold and jewels, before finding the empty statue and the painting above it.  

Teina walks up to the statue and the painting, then kneels down. She brings her hands together and starts to pray. Then after a few seconds, she gets up and leaves.

.

.

.

Paimon sits on Teina's lap, her head between her breasts, as the party sits in the back of the carriage. Rein glares at Paimon, while said Faerie gives him a smirk. Teina's wearing a new cloak, but she has the hood down.

"Well, there goes Greendale." Julian watches the Duke and Hanna wave to them as they head out.

Demai sighs. "I wish we had time to hit the hot spring one more time."

"I wish I had used it once." Teina mutters.

Rein leans back and crosses his arms. "I just hope once we get to the Capital, we finally get some real rest."

"At this point, I don't think that's true." Julian droops in depression. 

Rein groans and falls onto the floor of the mostly empty carriage. "I hate this job..."

"At least we're getting a lot of money for this." Paimon points out and smiles as Teina rubs her head.

"I guess you're right." Everyone agrees.

"We also need new gear." Rein rubs a hand over a large gash in his chest plate.

Demai agrees as she puts a hand over her curved short sword and dagger. "My blades have chips in them."

"Yeah, I guess most of our reward is going to new gear." Julian says with a sigh.

"Well, here's to another adventure." Paimon puts a fist up.

"To new adventurers!" Everyone throws a hand up.

.

.

.

.

A figure sits in darkness as their Dark Blue eyes stare down at a crystal ball.

A purple flash of lighting goes off behind them.

"So, did he retrieve it?" A mature feminine voice asks.

Sathariel's voice is thrown onto the table next to the crystal ball.

"He was going to betray you." Raiden walks up behind the figure. "So I took care of it."

"And what of the sword?"

"Taken."

The female figure hums. "Shame. We'll just have to get it another time. My goal is the artifact in Yanna." A smirk forms on her face. "The pieces are falling together one by one, even if it takes hundreds of years, I'll finish my goal."

Everything goes dark as a the female darkly chuckles.

Angel of Deceit Arc Done

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

02-27-2024

2600 words