Angel Monarch

Lead by Bea, the group of eight ran through the endless snowfields. They had been running for hours and their bodies were slowly tiring, but still they went further.

While running Vicky felt weird, like someone was watching her, but when she looked to the side there was no one there. Still, her hands trembled, from anger or from fear she didn't know.

Her eyes were full of determination and her soul full of terror. In her head the doubtful questions kept popping up.

'What if we don't make it in time... Will she truly forget me?... How do we even save her?... Are we even going in the right direction?...'

Her last question was the simplest to answer. Suddenly Bea held up her hand and all of them stopped. On the horizon the snowy plain ended and a large stone field took its place.

They began to move again, but a lot more cautiously since they had no idea what caused all the ice and snow to melt. When they reached its edge there were scorch marks all over the gray rocky ground, like something very hot melted and burned some of them.

The group stared further ahead and saw a very large boulder. They looked at each other with confusion, then went further to see what the giant rock was... a corpse.

As they came within a two hundred or so meters in its proximity, it became very clear that it was the carcass of a large bird, possibly the Holy Phoenix. But strangely enough Sera was nowhere to be found.

With slow steps they went to inspect the dead phoenix, but before they could get even close to it, a strong and commanding voice echoed through the plains.

"Leave!" Was all she said. Vicky's eyes snapped to the top of the carcass, where a breathtaking woman stood. Her usual white armor changed into gold, and her eyes were much more fierce and wary.

When Vicky was about to run and hug her mother, Bea quickly caught her and pushed her into Faith's care. Only after a few seconds of angry squirming did she actually pay attention to Sera's demeanor.

There was no warmth in her eyes or posture, it felt like she was treating them as hostiles and soon it became clear why. Behind Sera an old man appeared, he was grinning down at them like he already won... which was sadly true.

At the front Bea's face paled, her mouth trembled a bit. She just stared at the two of them standing on top of the phoenix's corpse. She only whispered one word, "No..."

They all knew what this meant... They were too late.

Since non of them responded to her command, she spoke again. "Leave now! I won't repeat myself for the third time!"

Her eyes focused on each of them, trying to gauge their strengths and powers. Her hand was casually kept at her side, ready to summon her sword in a moments notice. Sera stared every one of them in the eye, but when her eyes found Vicky's something strange happened.

A bit of recognition crept in. Sera turned her head, like she might remember her daughter. But before any more could happen a small wrinkly hand touched her shoulder. Harold whispered something in her ear, that Vicky couldn't hear.

When her mother looked at her again, there was only resentment in her eyes. It broke Vicky's little heart to see an expression like that, on the person she loved more than anything.

From her eyes rivers of tears made their way down her cheek and she kept on repeating one sentence... "Please, don't leave me..."

It made no difference for Sera and slowly her irritation turned into anger. She held out her hand ready to summon her sword, but then someone else finally spoke.

"You Bastard! Harold you motherfucker, I will skin you alive!"

Sera, Harold, Vicky, Bea and everyone else turned to the person who spoke with surprise. It was someone even the group didn't think would speak, the quietest one of them all... Faith.

Her face was twisted in mad anger and the members of the group quickly remembered Faith's devotion. Unlike everybody else, she actually worshipped Sera like her own personal goddess... What would you do if someone desecrated her image.

But unlike the group, Harold and Sera hadn't got the slightest clue of her identity. They looked at each other with raised eyebrows. The eye contact lasted for a few moments, then Harold ended it with a pointed glance and a head movement towards the group.

Sera's eyes changed again, this time they became straight up furious. Her hand slowly caught on fire, then a magical blade made of white flames formed. She raised her sword towards the eight of them.

"This is my last warning. Leave alive, or stay here dead!"

Finally after staying silent throughout this interaction Bea stepped forward and looked straight into Seraphine's eyes.

"You dare threaten us? After all we have been through?... That old man might have took your mind, but I won't give up on you!... Seraphine, you probably don't remember me, but I do! Fight it!... There must be a small feeling of doubt within you!"

Sera's face seemed to get a bit confused and she shook her head a little, trying to shake of the strange sensation. After a second she returned to her angry state.

"I don't know what mind games you are trying to play with us... Me and my uncle had been together since the destruction of Newber!... He saved me and always cared for me!"

The expression on Bea's face soured. It didn't take much to understand what feelings and memories did Harold replace. Her eyes met the old man's, who was just watching this all play out with a grand smile.

"So that's how it is... You changed her memories about me and Vicky, so she would feel the same way about you... You are a disgusting human being!" Bea then turned her head and spoke to Seraphine again.

"He is not your uncle, just a parasite that changed your memories and even took away most of them!"

Her eyes changed again, and she seemed to be really close to remembering, but slowly her anger returned. "You are lying! He is the only person who cares about me!"

"No mommy! I care about you more than anyone else!" Said Vicky while constantly crying.

This time Sera took a step back and her face twisted into a fearful expression. The flames in her hand became smaller, and her empty left hand touched the place where her heart was. It looked like she was in a horrible pain, like her very soul was aching.

"Who-Who are you?" She asked. Vicky stepped closer to Bea and took her shaking hand.

"She is your daughter, whom you forgot about. Do you still believe that old man? You have truly forgotten your own daughter?"

Bea placed the final nail in the coffin. With a distraught face Sera fell to her knees and the flames in her hand went out. The smoke left behind slowly dissipated into the air. Her face was twisted in agony and confusion.

Her eyes couldn't seem to focus on anything and were constantly moving around. It was like her very mind was in total disarray. While breathing heavily and trembling on the ground a wrinkly hand began petting her hair.

"Shh... It's okay my little angel... Uncle Harold will fix everything..." When she heard little angel her eyes jumped to Vicky for one second, then changed target and stared at Bea with horror.

Through the moment of clarity Sera reached out her hand and mouthed one word to the group... RUN.

In the next second she fell over unconscious. Above her Harold just stared at the body for a while, then with an angry expression looked at Bea.

"You dare ruin all my work! You know how long it took to get her here, to evolve with exactly this creature? Months of planning, all for nothing!" His mad rage was barely contained, which surprised the eight of them. Why wasn't he attacking?

"What did you do with mommy?" His expression changed from anger to amusement in less than a second, and he began laughing madly.

"Well, since you and your bitch mother stopped me from making this little angel do everything I say because of her caring personality, I simply erased most of her sense of self!..." *Laughter* "Good luck making her remember anything now!"

From the ground Seraphine slowly rose. Her face wasn't angry or scared, like before. It was simply soulless, her whole being has disappeared, or at least most of it. There were two things that remained, her sense of loyalty towards Harold, and her bloodlust towards everything else.

*Mad Laughter* "My little murderous angel, why don't you take care of these pests so we can be on our way!"

From atop the dead phoenix Seraphine stared down at her friends and family, then gradually a mad smile spread on her beautiful face. In her hand the white flames came out again and her eyes turned bloodshot.

She only said two words before jumping down... "With Pleasure!" .net