The Godsends ~ Reyna

Not gonna lie, I was rather scared. These people just broke into the tavern, obviously looking for Spectre. They looked like Heavenlies, or angels even, but I'm not really sure anymore. I mean, I thought angels were supposed to be creatures of honor, nobility and equality? Besides, what could they possibly want with Spectre? Unless......no, she can't be. She most definitely doesn't fit the description of a murderous angel. But back to the present. If I wasn't scared enough before, I got even more afraid for my life when the girl, Cortana, spoke again, her voice piercing through my mind.

"Trophonia?! We're waiting!" she said. The soldiers holding us 'kids' tightened their grip. "Okay, I guess you don't care enough to keep them alive. Azriel, kill the fairy first."

All three of us tensed up.

"Cortana, maybe we shouldn't-"

"Shut up and do it Az!"

The male angel flinched slightly at the female's words, but gave the soldier holding Lykfilia the signal to go on.

There was a sound of silence when the soldier raised his hand, readying himself to strike down on the girl.

We were all waiting anxiously for the hit, but the hit never came. I heard quick whistle of air fly past me, and then the soldier took a step back, letting Lykfilia go and falling down on his back.

It took me a moment to realize what had happened, but I quickly saw it. There was a golden shuriken in his neck, and he was currently bleeding out on the tavern floor. I heard a definite gasp from Cortana, and we all turned around.

"So one angel wasn't enough? You keep killing them Tropha, How can you live with yourself?" Cortana said tauntingly.

"Dear Cortana. It gets easier and easier, until it becomes a part of your mind, heart and soul. For that matter, he was a heavenly, slightly more human than an angel."

We all turned around, expecting to see Spectre standing there, but it wasn't her. Well, yeah, of course it was Spectre, but she didn't look the same as before. She looked a bit younger, and her hair was longer and tied in a ponytail. Her electric blue eyes- sorry, eye, was radiating such hate, if looks could kill, Cortana would've been reduced to ashes. The other one was dormant, as if it were waiting, and pure white.

"So what if he was a heavenly! It's still murder!" Cortana shouted at her.

"And? Killing demons for sport never bothered you." Spectre replied coldly.

"It's not the same!"

"OH BUT IT IS CORTANA, IT IS!"

Nobody saw her move, but with the blink of an eye, she had gone across the room, now holding a knife at Cortana's throat. The soldiers let go of us, and drew weapons, now focused on the murderous fallen in front of them.

"We're all just creations of the void after all, the only difference is that some of us are hated, hunted and feared, while others are loved, respected and even worshipped as gods." Spectre continued talking, her voice so full of hatred she was close to exploding. Even the other guy, Azriel was slowly backing away from her, like he didn't have a death wish or something.

Taking a step back, and summoning her quarterstaff, Joyeuse, Spectre gave her a warning.

"Messing with me is one thing, but how dare you break your way in here, and hold my friends hostage, and expecting there to be consequences? Leave Cortana, or you won't go alive."

Cortana took a step back as well, drawing her sword.

"Oh really? Try me Trophonia."

"Ut youll 'animadverto si qui ex sanguis effusus est, Cortana." Spectre replied, gripping the handle of Joyeuse tighter.

The heat radiating from the two angelic weapons was so intense, the candles on the nearest tables started melting down to liquid, and the liquid vaporized.

Right before the two angels charged at each other, the tavern shook, and they both hesitated, as an image started to form.

In between the two girls stood the angel that had previously given the order to kill Lykfilia, Azriel. He spoke up, gesturing them to stand down.

"So. Spectre is the name you chose for yourself as one of the fallen."

"It has a certain meaning to it." She replied to him, never once breaking eye contact with Cortana.

"It's nothing special, not for a traitor to her kind." Cortana spat the words out like poison, putting her sword back in its sheath.

"What?" Lykfilia sounded surprised.

"She didn't even tell you?"

"About what?" I asked nobody in particular, but becoming incredibly suspicious of the entire situation.

"About the fact that I killed one of my own kind. An angel. It happened around a thousand years ago in the first war, the one that started the war of survival." Spectre turned back to Cortana. "It's been so long I can't even remember the details. Oh wait. Yeah. Now I do. You killed the love of my life, so I destroyed your world. " she finished, putting emphasis on the last words.

"You killed Athuriel?" Azriel just as shocked as I was.

"But that means-" I started.

"Shut it Reyna, it doesn't concern you, and if it wasn't for your mythology knowledge, you'd still be none the wiser." Spectre snapped at me. Her voice was full of hate and disgust, but it wasn't directed at me, I could sense that.

I took a step towards Sirius, who had been lookin at the floor for quite a while now.

Lykfilia took a deep, calming breath and walked slowly towards them, putting her hand on Spectre's shoulder, calming the angel immediately with her nature connected powers.

"Why are you here?" She asked quietly.

Azriel turned to her, speaking calmly.

"We, or, Cortana, came here because we were directed here. We'd been told that the person we'd been looking for was hiding in this place."

"You were directed here? By who?" Spectre's voice became more questioning that threatening, and she took another step back from Azriel, finally breaking her eye contact with Cortana.

"I think you already know who. You just refuse to admit that you were betrayed from the inside of your tavern" Cortana spoke quickly, and her voice hadn't changed one bit from when they'd first arrived there.

"Oh believe me Cortana, I knew from the moment you guys showed up and started to hold my friends hostage. You see, they were the only ones that weren't held in a deadlock with a knife at their throat. I also want them to know that I don't blame them. They were just doing what they thought was right." Spectre replied to her statement with a calm, cold tone, all emotion completely dead.

"Why is it nicknamed The Ghost Tavern ?" Azriel asked her, gently trying to change the subject.

"It got the nickname Ghost Tavern because humans can only accidentally find it, and they can't bring others back with them. They can only give them the area cordinates, nothing more. To most people, it doesn't even exist." While Spectre explained this, Cortana moved forward, so that now she was standing in front of her, with Azriel slightly behind her.

Spectre cleared her throat.

"But speaking of nicknames, the Godsends? Really Cortana? Could you possibly have chosen a more obvious name?" she said, earning herself a kick to the ribs from Cortana herself.

"Calm down Cortana." Azriel gave her a warning look. "Come on though, what's a better way of looking for you than forming a knight guild in the capital city of Araycien? Besides, the name was my idea, not Cortana's. That's not even why we came here. "

All of us were rather surprised by the angel's words.

"Then why did you come?" Spectre replied to what he said.

"Raziel wants you back. He said he wanted to give his second best soldier a second chance, and the mission squad." Azriel finished telling her their true purpose.

Spectre let out a sigh of slight annoyance.

"Azriel, you can go back and tell my father I'm not coming back. Ever."

Cortana laughed at her reply, and landed a hard blow on her chest again, making Spectre fall down on her hands and knees, spitting out blood.

"I thought you knew. I thought Raziel might finally become a man and tell his second in command who I really was, but apparently not." Spectre stood up, wiping the blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.

"Y-your father died on a mission Trophonia, don't be ridiculous. " Cortana's voice faltered for a second, and I was sure no one had noticed except for me and herself.

"I see. So he didn't tell you. Well, to make a long story short, I'm Athuriel's older sister, and Raziel's unknown child."

"You're lying. I know it." Cortana's voice was on the verge of breaking, but she regained the strength it had sooner than I thought.

"Cortana, Raziel's orders were to find her, let her consider the offer to return, and then leave. She said she doesn't want to come back, let's go back to Worthwood headquarters and call it a day. I'm sure Spectre will find a way to contact us if she changes her mind. " Azriel wanted to leave before disaster happened, I could see it in his eyes.

Before I could register what was happening, water started rising around the angelic soldiers, forming a sort of bubble. Right before the bubble closed, Spectre looked Sirius dead in the eye and said,

"Scio quid feceris, et ego te juxta condictum revertar. You know what I mean Arden."

Then the bubble closed off, exploding the second the last airpocket sealed.

When I wiped the water from my eyes, they were gone.

What the hell just happened?