The new moon sky covered the wooded surroundings and pathways in the darkness that made it difficult for travel, but Quiver didn’t care; she just wanted her little sister away from the others and their ideas. Norah followed closely behind her sister, fearing what lay in the darkened corners of the woods that surrounded their path. The stars couldn’t be seen from the black clouds that covered their whimsical light, sending the woods in even greater darkness. A rumble of thunder echoed above causing Norah to flinch. Droplets of water began hailing from above, beating down on the soft grass, and the delicate leaves that hung on the branches, as the water continued to fall it soaked the travelers below. Their soaked clothes and hair weighed on them as if the burdens of Norah’s fate weren't enough.

Now it’s all clear. They want Norah to kill either the God of Death or the Goddess of Life. How could she do that..? She’s a child they can’t expect her to kill anyone, why do the Gods care now. They never have before, and who even knows if they’re there. Were they there when humans forced my ancestors to live in secret. No, we don’t need them now or ever. Quiver thought to herself as she continued to walk through the dark woods while rainwater streamed down her face. She looked over her shoulder to check on Norah but she wasn’t there, causing panic to surge through her body.

“ Norah..?”

Lightning flashed nearby with the rumbling echoes of thunder following it, Quiver kept looking around calling for Norah. She ran off the path frantically searching for Norah with the rain beating down heavier than earlier. Finally, Quiver looked up, spotting an explosion of green-violet fires beyond the trees. Quiver swiftly jumped from branch to branch following the colored fires to its source, to her side she spotted Taurus and Seek jumping from the branches on each side of Quiver.

“ Hellhound, what are you doing here?!”

“ We all sensed the little lassie’s flames from Seek’s home. We all came to help, Sean is above the trees.”

“ How did you find me?”

“ The scent of your fear was easy to find in this bandit infested woods even in a storm like this.”

Quiver nodded and continued on leaping from branch to branch getting closer to Norah, hopefully.

Norah was standing in the center with scorched stumps of former mighty oaks and birches scattered around her. The ground below her that was once soft fresh grass was now pure ash and dust, burnt bodies of her kidnappers laid lifeless near the frightened child. Small embers colored green or violet, that hadn’t been put out by the rain, were still burning in small patches in the ring of ash. Norah stared at the scorched bodies in horror, she looked at her small shaking hands that felt scorching hot as if she was holding the sun in her hands. She fell to her knees sobbing out of fear.

What have I done…? They aren’t waking up! Th-they were just half-elves and orcs...h-how could I do this…? I-I don’t want this...how do I- Norah’s thoughts were cut off by the sounds of feet approaching in a quick response Norah stood up then turned around releasing a blast of her colored fires at the encroachers. A golden magical force field had protected Quiver, Sean, Seek and Taurus from the blast, Norah’s eyes widened as tears continued to flood from her eyes. She lowered her hands and began to back away, stepping over the burnt bodies.

N-No I almost..I almost...I could’ve hurt them...I’m-I’m a monster. Norah ran back into the forest sobbing to herself while the rain still came down with random strikes of lightning and the deep snarls of thunder accenting the storm that plagued them that dark night.

After what seemed like hours of running Norah squeezed herself into a large abandoned badger burrow that was dug under a tree. Norah hugged herself with her wings as she panted heavily, as tears and rain water still streamed down her face.

“ I-I want Mama Willow..b-but Azrail took her away from me.” She whimpered to herself as she began to let her exhaustion take over allowing her to calm herself down to sleep in peace.

The warmth of the rising sun thawed everything from the cold waters of the raging storm from the previous night. Norah blinked her eyes open with her body shivering violently, she forced herself to come out of the burrow then began walking deeper into the forest. I can’t go back..not yet Mr. Sean will probably kill me for what I did...so will Quiver and Seek..I never wanted these powers...I never wanted any of this! I just want to be with Mama Willow and Quiver living in a small village...having a normal childhood. Not this. Azrail. He’s the reason this is all happening. If he just left Vita’s creations alone everything would be okay.

Norah sat on a rock with her knees to her chin and her wings closely hugging her body. She looked at the puddle in front of the rock, in the puddle she saw her reflection and saw how pathetic she looked. Her eyes were crusty from the tears, her cheeks stained with dried tear streaks that looked like dried up rivers, her little nose red from the cold, her fair brown skin was muddied from the ashes and dirt she ran through last night, and her hair, messy from the stingy humidity. Norah teared up again seeing what a mess she was, then she nuzzled her face into her arms to hide from the world and her deeds.

SNAP

Norah quickly looked behind her, spotting the shollie hellhound Taurus himself.

“ Relax little lass, it's just me, no one else.”

“ I’m sorry...I-I didn’t mean to hurt those bandits..”

“ Oh lassie ya didn’t hurt them. Ye killed them, you sent them off to Tartarus. Just like what the fallen angels did to your Mama Willow. But I ain’t angry at you,” Taurus said with a grin. But Norah only cried again in response. When she finally calmed down she shakingly spoke.

“ Y-you should be, I k-ki-k-killed so many lives…all were innocent how-” the way she said the word killed made it sound foreign and outlandish.

“ Let me stop you there Norah. Those hunters captured ye and threatened yer life. You did what you did in self-defense, ye brave for standing up to them. Please don’t blame yourself.”

“ How’d you become a hellhound…? Did you do something bad?”

“ Heh well well ye need a distraction from your problems. Aye, we did bad things when we were a normal dog, and hellhounds are really just a bunch of horrible people who are turned into demon dogs. Ye understand?” His voice changed into a fusion of two voices. They had the same accent but their tones were completely different. One sounded like any normal person while the other had a sly tang to their voice.

“ Yeah, I get it… what did you do exactly?”

“ Aye, during the time of the humans I was a normal dog owned by a man named Allen Scott. Allen was a nice guy, but he did have some issues upstairs. He killed people in the streets. Allen had quite the shocking death, and I was killed at the same time. Thankfully Azrail did his best to let us visit each other and do things together. Anyway Allen’s body is well preserved but he’s under punishment for a crime, so we share this body.”

“ Why would Azrail help you and Allen like that? He’s a heartless being, like everyone says. He took away my mother.”

“ Aye he can be, but think about it like this Norah. Everyone gets sick, old and some commit wicked deeds. They suffer from the pains of aging, and they will deteriorate from diseases. For them death is a release from the suffering and agony. Their souls get to live peacefully in the Kingdom of Heaven, as for those who do wicked deeds. Well they get executed, unable to harm anyone ever again, and their souls will be punished or given a second chance in Tartarus. Without death there is no salvation from suffering or eternal punishment.” His strange accented voice softened back to one voice as he talked. Norah nodded slowly and stared back at her reflection in the puddle. Taurus sat next to the rock Norah was on and sighed softly.

“ Seek is takin’ Sean and Quiver to Flora and Fawn. I can summon Seek to take us there when you’re ready.”

“ Let’s go...if I must..” She got off the rock and Taurus got up.

“ If ye say so lass,” the hellhound howled a beautiful song that somewhat soothed Norah’s nerves. Then Seek appeared in front of them and nodded signaling them to get on. Norah mounted Seek along with Taurus. Seek’s eyes began to glow a bright deep emerald then a green colored swirl of dust surrounded them like a casing then after some time the casing disappeared, revealing their new surroundings. It looked like a paradise.

The sky was bright blue with birds flying around happily and singing sweetly, the grass below their feet was soft and waved at them as a breeze snaked its way through the land. Wildflowers of all colors decorated the grasslands all over the place, herds of mythical beasts and normal beasts that had been thought to be extinct roamed peacefully together. Norah looked around in awe letting all of her worries melt away under the warm touch of the sun above. She began wandering around skipping happily, chasing butterflies, and smelling the richly colored flowers. Taurus followed her a few feet behind with a small kind smile tugging across his muzzle, watching her.

Shame she’s so innocent, maybe Azrail will postpone the plan. Taurus’s inner voice said in his head.

Taurus, the girl is our ace card. Don’t distract yourself away from Azrail’s plan. Replied the sadistic voice in Taurus’s head. He and Norah continued to wander around this colored paradise. While Seek disappeared into the ground below.

Quiver was sitting on an old log on the ground, staring at the beast filled grasslands with a fatigue feeling looming over her and a knot tightening in her stomach from guilt and sadness.

Where is that mutt? He’s taking forever to bring her here, Gods did he steal her? Maybe he took her to his- Sean’s footsteps approaching her to cut off her paranoid thoughts. Sean sat by her side and looked at her with concern in his eyes. Quiver glanced over at Sean, noticing his expression, she faked a smile and looked back out onto the grasslands.

“ You can’t fool an angel Quiver, you worry for Norah.”

“ Of course I do, it’s my fault she got taken after all. Then she ran off and now we’re trusting a maniac Hellhound to find her, we don’t even know if he’ll bring her back!”

“ Quiver, take a deep breath. It’s not your fault bandits are good at kidnapping plus it was dark and stormy and your mind was elsewhere. Norah ran away because she was scared that the mutt would bring her to Tartarus. And I know he’ll bring her back because if I and that rat have the same mission then we would’ve brought her here anyway, so she could unlock her full power.”

“ Do you mean the powers my mother had sealed away...?”

“ Yes. but why did she do that?”

“ Sissy!!!”

Quiver and Sean looked over at Norah, who was running over to them and tackled the two into a hug. Taurus later came into view and sat down watching Norah and Quiver squeal, giggle, and hug in reunion. Sean glared at Taurus and walked over to the hellhound standing next to him so the girls could have space. Taurus scooted away from Sean a little growling in some sort of demon tongue.

“ Fricken angels.”

Sean rolled his eyes in disgust. Wait, I understood that? But Vita said that demons and angels speak different languages. Sean thought to himself.

“ Sean! Taurus! It’s good to see you both again. How long has it been?”

The group looked over at the source of the mysterious sweet voice behind Sean and Taurus. The source was a man with bright yellow hair similar to the color of sunflower petals, light green fair skin with dark green freckles splattered on him, he wore a rich jade colored toga with a belt around his waist that looked like a vine. The toga was muddied a bit and it was decorated with silver-colored leaf and vine patterns all over the toga. His eyes were a shimmering emerald mixed with a light murky brown, on his head was a floral crown with poppy flowers and other bright colorful blossoms.

This is one of Vita’s children? Such a weakling. Quiver thought to herself as she raised a brow in judgement at Flora.

“ Not long enough,” Taurus muttered.

“ Flora, it’s a pleasure to see you, and we haven’t seen each other since the last time you visited your mother.”

“ Seek told me you brought the child. I’ll bring her to Mirai, she’s been expecting Norah.”

Norah slowly walked up to Flora with Quiver at her side. Flora crouched down to be at Norah’s eye level and smiled gently.

“ I’m ready Flora,” Norah said with a confident smile and determination sparkling in her eyes.

“ Alright follow me,” Flora stood up and gently held Norah’s hand then they began walking away. Quiver followed them from behind but Sean gently grabbed the elf’s arm stopping her. She looked back at Sean and groaned, getting the signal of staying behind. Taurus laid down in front of the log waiting with Sean and Quiver sitting back down on the log. Sean began to doze off, and the world began to spin making him pass out. In front of him was a silhouette of a man walking away, Sean’s eyes were filled with tears and he was shouting for the man to come back. He tried to run to the silhouette but something was holding him back and more voices joined him in his choir of pleas for the man to come back. Sean’s eyes jolted open from agonizing pain in his foot, he looked at the source. It was Taurus biting on Sean’s foot and Quiver was trying to get him off.

“ Taurus, what the Tartarus are you doing?!”

Taurus finally let go of Sean’s foot and spit out some leather from Sean’s shoe.

“ You’re the one who dozed off! The lassie was worried so I bet yer foot! She was about to start crying and I’m not gonna deal with that!”

Quiver blushed from embarrassment.