Raea threw Raphael’s wriggling corpse onto the ground. Despite the flames covering it, the blind angel’s flesh continued to recover. She glared at the wardrobe in the corner before narrowing her eyes at Palan. “You heard what he said.”

Palan snorted. “Yes. I did.” He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ve already said I won’t make a deal with him. That isn’t going to change.”

“Because you hate contracts?” Raea asked, taking a step forward. “If you hate them so much, then why didn’t you leave me for dead instead of reviving me? You could’ve lived your life however you wanted without me being an annoyance, but you didn’t. Is your freedom more important than Sely’s life!?”

“Are you sure I’d be trading it for your sister’s life?” Palan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Shut up, you selfish bastard! You always do things for yourself! I’ve sacrificed so much for you, yet I’ve gotten nothing in return,” Raea screamed as she flew at Palan, flames converging in front of her to form a halberd. Her face had contorted into a snarl, and her eyes had become completely purple. “I lost my sister. I lost my patience. I lost my kindness. Everything that defined me as a person, I lost it because of you!”

“Didn’t you gain wrath, envy, and greed?” Palan asked with a frown. He raised his hands and summoned a black hole in front of himself, obstructing Raea’s path. “You’re powerful now. You said it yourself.”

“Shut up!” Raea screamed and advanced forwards, slashing the halberd at the black hole. The two collided, creating fissures in the air. “All the power in the world won’t bring Sely back!”

Palan’s brow furrowed. “Won’t it?” he asked, glancing at the smirking wardrobe in the corner of the room. “Have you forgotten what you’re trying to do already?”

“I’ll kill you!” The halberd slashed apart the black hole, but the black flames dispersed in the process. Raea flapped her wings, lunging towards Palan with her arms outstretched. Red tears ran down the sides of her face.

“It seems like you have,” Palan said as he dodged to the side and positioned himself in front of the wardrobe. He used his powers of pride to slow down Raea’s charge, causing some parts of her body to be heavier than others and other parts to be lighter, throwing off her balance. Palan smashed the wardrobe with one of his tails, wiping the smug expression off of its face.

“Hitting me won’t do anything to help you,” the Creator said through his broken frame. “What do you say? Accept my deal and I’ll help you stop her.”

A snake’s head slipped underneath the wardrobe and tossed it at Raea, causing it to scream as it was torn to shreds. Palan exhaled as he avoided Raea’s flying tackle by leaping into the air. “Sorry about this, Andrea,” he said. “Bear with me for a minute.”

Andrea’s eyes widened as Palan’s tails released her. She screamed as she fell towards the ground, a black aura around her body, but stopped when she realized the floor wasn’t approaching as fast as she thought it would.

Palan hovered in the air for a bit before falling towards Raea after confirming Andrea had made it to safety. He kept a layer of pride over his body, repelling the black flames, but his skin was still scorched anyway. After losing his contract with Raea, he wasn’t immune to her flames anymore. “Raea,” he said and grasped her shoulders. “Listen to me.”

Raea screamed in response and clawed at his face. He used his tails to mitigate the damage, but blood still dripped from open wounds. Green smoke poured out of Raea’s mouth, causing Palan to curse and leap back. A black hole formed above Raea’s head, sucking the smoke away. “Raea. Think about it. The Creator can bring back Selena. Why are you attacking me? Look” Palan pointed at a lamp beside him.

Raea faltered as she glanced at the lamp. There were a pair of eyes watching her. “Bring her back! Right. Now!” She lunged towards the lamp and seized it.

“Your wrath is a bit of an annoyance since you can’t think clearly,” the Creator said as his new body was set ablaze. “Haven’t I already told you what you have to do to bring your sister back?”

“That’s nonsense,” Palan said when Raea turned to glare at him. “Why would my decision affect Selena’s recovery? He’s using you. I bet he can’t even bring Selena back from the dead.”

Raea stared at the lamp in her hand. “I can. Didn’t I show you her soul?” the Creator asked. “You should hurry and convince Palan before I change my mind.”

“He’s trying to impose a time limit on you to make you impulsive,” Palan said. “He’s tricking you. If a deal is too good to be true, then it’s not. What does he gain for reviving Sely? Why is he doing it? If he’s doing it out of the goodness of his heart, why doesn’t he just revive her right now? He wants something from us.”

“I’ve spoken what I needed to say,” the Creator said. The eyes and mouth disappeared from the lamp.

“He knows I’m right, but he’s trying to manipulate you anyway,” Palan said to Raea. He wasn’t sure, but her eyes seemed like a lighter shade of purple than from before. “Trust me. I can bring Sely back.”

“You?” Raea asked, tilting her head.

“That’s right,” Palan said and nodded.

“How…?” Raea asked as her brow furrowed. She wiped away her tears of blood as her eyes returned back to normal. Her flames flickered around her, threatening to billow outwards at any time.

Palan snorted. “I’ll threaten the Creator. I’ve seen his kind all the time in Eljiam,” he said. “They try to make you think they’re worth more than they really are when they’re actually nothing. The Creator wants us to think he’s the one in control here, but the reality is he needs us. I don’t know why he needs us, but what’ll he think if I decided to feed everyone here a cookie to break their contracts with him?”

“I don’t think the Creator would care,” Raea said, biting her lower lip.

“Well,” Palan said and shrugged as he pulled a heart-shaped cookie out of his bag. “We’ll see.”