Little Russia

[SINIB]

Lubei

The bright yet oppressive sensation confirmed his suspicious. He didn't know the true seeming of this holy leader, but her divine power was unmistakable. And if Lubei was going to choke on it anyway, he'd do it at the feet of her throne and make her remember, not outside the doors like a mutt.

He slammed them open with his foot and shifted the unstirring Vanguard higher in his arms. "The Demon King of Black Ice requires an audience with the Seraph!" He yelled out into the massive structure, striding in without a hint of shame.

Little Russia

As soon as he opened the doors, a dozen young women barred his paths-their reaction speed to his entrance was nearly instantaneous, as if they'd been expecting him and waited just behind the doors for him to make his dramatic entrance. A dozen staves blocked his path, with divine power emenating from each of them. They were scarcely larger than children, but their poise and disciplined stances showed off skill far beyond their apparent years.

Another young woman walked down a grand set of stairs behind the alter, carrying a bible as well as a large cross the size of her body strapped to her back. "And what business does the Demon King of Black Ice have with the Lady Seraph? I must respect your audacity for coming here in this situation, if nothing else-although, I can sense a desperation painting your motives beyond that." She stood behind the wall of staves, head covered by a habit. "Speak. Our lady is gracious, and has the power to forgive even your kin."

[YOLF]

Lubei

The demon stopped in the front of the staves only as they pushed against his body. His eyes swept over the guards with the insight of experience, but before he was finished, his mouth was already moving.

"My purpose is not meant for me. This man," he said, raising the crippled Vanguard, "needs healing now. We fought in error, were made fools by a greater danger, and he paid the price. It would be even more foolish to let him die."

Lubei's severe face seemed carved from ice weathered by the ages like a grand monument.

[SINIB]

Lubei

The demon stopped in the front of the staves only as they pushed against his body. His eyes swept over the guards with the insight of experience, but before he was finished, his mouth was already moving.

"My purpose is not meant for me. This man," he said, raising the crippled Vanguard, "needs healing now. We fought in error, were made fools by a greater danger, and he paid the price. It would be even more foolish to let him die."

Lubei's severe face seemed carved from ice weathered by the ages like a grand monument.

Anastasia

The young woman raised her hand, and the sisters whom had been blocking his path promptly stood at attention with military precision. "I am sister Anastasia-do you speak of the disturbance in the accursed forest?"

She stood on the tips of her toes and looked him seriously in the eyes, leaning forwards and matching his intensity with a glare as cold as iron.

[YOLF]

Lubei

Lubei's jaw tightened. Cold unwillingly seeped out of his pores, but he pulled it back into his gut, letting only a smidgen of snow flake off his brows.

"The very same. Well?"

[SINIB]

Anastasia

There was a momtary pause as she considered his words. She took a breath and nodded. "You may enter. We have much to discuss."

[YOLF]

Lubei

Lubei repressed a groan from the back of his throat. He was balancing on a knife's edge, but his blood wasn't the one spilling if he pressed down.

"Him first. Explaining will take time." The demon stared through her with no figment of holiness, but the hardened bearing of a sovereign nonetheless. There was no negotiating when it came to this point.

[SINIB]

Lubei

Lubei repressed a groan from the back of his throat. He was balancing on a knife's edge, but his blood wasn't the one spilling if he pressed down.

"Him first. Explaining will take time." The demon stared through her with no figment of holiness, but the hardened bearing of a sovereign nonetheless. There was no negotiating when it came to this point.

Anastasia

"He will be taken care of. We talk now." She replied with an equally firm voice. "The Lady Seraph desires information on the blashhpemy that occurred there. I will not fail her."

One of the nuns pressed her hand upon his companion, and the two disappeared beyond Lubei's sight. He would have to take their word for it.

[YOLF]

Lubei

His eyes traced the space where the wounded warrior and the nun vanished from, and his empty hands clenched into fists. They shook for a moment but he let them down without another word, and his likeness returned to that of a statue of ice.

"Where should I start? There were four of us in that place choked in otherworldly essence, when it happened."

[SINIB]

Lubei

His eyes traced the space where the wounded warrior and the nun vanished from, and his empty hands clenched into fists. They shook, but he let them down without another word, and his likeness returned to that of a statue of ice.

"Where should I start? There were four of us in that place choked in otherworldly essence, when it happened."

Anastasia

Anastasia's eyebrow twitched. She wanted to berate him-visiting that place was forbidden by Her herself. Nobody was to enter without a direct order from the Seraph to do so. It had been closed down, or so she had thought. She knew her superiors were in a synod discussing its dangers, the advent of the false angel, and how to cleanse its filth from these lands.

She'd felt Ivanna's fury on that day, and thinking about it made her shudder.

Refraining from mentioning any of this to Lubei, she gently shook her head. "At the beginning-if we are to prevent a calamity, we will need to work together and to work fast. And in order to do so, we need as much information as we can gather." She looked up to him, a faint flush on her cheeks. "Please."

[YOLF]

Lubei

Glances like that annoyed him. But preventing a calamity, in that they were of the same mind.

"When I found myself in this realm, I suspected that wretched forest instantly." Lubei crossed his arms, beggining his tale in aspiration of the same clear tone that his teacher in warfare of another life employed. "There I met the creature called Uria. I couldn't know whether she was faerie or a half-divine accident, but she seemed to understand the purpose of the area. And as she was unwiling to share or show until being humored, I decided to accompany her."

He paused and inhaled harshly. The prior visit to this territory was not necessary to mention. He forgoed mentioning it, or the retreat that followed his pitiful display.

"The ruins - slums - on the other side of the river, have you seen the sickness on display there? We wandered into that, and I neglected to watch her every move. She intended to help, and as a result, hundreds of dying and withering humans", he dragged out the word with a trace of hesitation, "were... changed."

Changed into unrecognizable spawn, into beings that Lubei could find no obvious fault in, but also no sense of belonging in nature, no sense of comfort. A kind of help that none of them had asked for, none of them had the chance to refuse.

[SINIB]

Lubei

Glances like that annoyed him. But preventing a calamity, in that they were of the same mind.

"When I found myself in this realm, I suspected that wretched forest instantly." Lubei crossed his arms, beggining his tale in aspiration of the same clear tone that his teacher in warfare of another life employed. "There I met the creature called Uria. I couldn't know whether she was faerie or a half-divine accident, but she seemed to understand the purpose of the area. And as she was unwiling to share or show until being humored, I decided to accompany her."

He paused and inhaled harshly. The prior visit to this territory was not necessary to mention. He forgoed mentioning it, or the retreat that followed his pitiful display.

"The ruins - slums - on the other side of the river, have you seen the sickness on display there? We wandered into that, and I neglected to watch her every move. She intended to help, and as a result, hundreds of dying and withering humans", he dragged out the word with a trace of hesitation, "were... changed."

Changed into unrecognizable spawn, into beings that Lubei could find no obvious fault in, but also no sense of belonging in nature, no sense of comfort. A kind of help that none of them had asked for, none of them had the chance to refuse.

Anastasia

"Yes. I know of the southern slums." She replied. "We have plans to restore order and sanity to that land, but..." She shook her head. "Our plans don't matter to you right now. Who is she? Who are you talking about?"

[YOLF]

Lubei

"She's the one who caused the forest to shake and to rise to the sky." And a child, he told himself. A child far too powerful and far too blasphemously self-centered, reigned by a perspective that painted over lesser needs.

"She said that the time was right for something to happen there, and we went back. That's when we met the warrior I carried... and another one, a summoner. But there was a tangle churning underneath the woods, supporting that unnerving atmosphere like a thousand eyes encircling every step you took inside. In the fight, she tore that thing free, and pulled it around her. Into her. I'm not sure."

[SINIB]

Ivanna

"Please, leave him at the door, I will deal with the rest myself."

Just as the junior Nun was about to rap her knuckle on the door, her Lady spoke up and preempted her. It filled her with a sense of awe at the all-knowing nature of Her. She always seemed to know what was going on, but there was a twinge of disappointment in the back of her mind. She'd wanted to get closer to Ivanna; to have a moment in order to bask in the warmth and glory of Her...

Without questioning her orders, she rested the dying man upon the wall and prepared to leave.

>>>>>

Ivanna opened the door and carried him inside herself, cradling the unconscious man with her lower right wing. "Poor thing." She muttered to herself, reaching down to run a finger down his ghastly injuries.

"Rejoice, human. For it is not your time yet." She let out a soft angelic cry and began to sing in Greek. Four seperate voices intoned atop one another, all at different pitches and tempos. It resonated through the room, growing louder and more intense with each passing second, but no less haunting and beautiful.

_{Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.}
"Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς..."

Vanguard erupted in clensing fires which focused on his wounds as she sang. The bleeding stopped, color returned to his skin, and limbs began to regrow from his stumps.

[SINIB]

Lubei

"She's the one who caused the forest to shake and to rise to the sky." And a child, he told himself. A child far too powerful and far too blasphemously self-centered, reigned by a perspective that painted over lesser needs.

"She said that the time was right for something to happen there, and we went back. That's when we met the warrior I carried... and another one, a summoner. But there was a tangle churning underneath the woods, supporting that unnerving atmosphere like a thousand eyes encircling every step you took inside. In the fight, she tore that thing free, and pulled it around her. Into her. I'm not sure."

Anastasia

The young woman turned around and began to walk away. "Follow me. This discussion is not going to be short, and it is not suitable for prying ears."

[YOLF]

Lubei

Lubei stared at her small, retreating shoulders for a moment before marching after. Never did he think in this life he would follow a servant of a zealous divinity deeper into the latter's territory to have a long talk over tea. He assumed there would be tea. But comforts aside, the Seraph sounded no more likely to approve of the rampant dangers of Uria and that evil forest than him, and if the lightning warrior could be saved... maybe this would be worth it.

The demon would still rather be in his meeting hall listening to bullheaded warmongers and ignoring them over a stupid novel until they finally got tired.