“Are you crazy?!” Viressa shouted.

  “Just because it worked out last time, there is no guarantee you would be so lucky again,” Lioren warned.

  Cedric crept towards me, tugging gently on my arm. “I don’t want to lose you,” He whispered.

  I smiled knowingly, then reiterated my stance on the matter. “We are not ready to face the Elves with our current strength. If they attacked now, we would die. No question about it.”

  “There’s gotta be something else we can do!” Zorrack exclaimed, slamming a foot on the ground in frustration.

  “I should at least come with you… tour guide and all,” Kril reasoned.

  I shook my head. “No, I need you all to stay here. Especially you, Kril. Even without Assault Mode, you are the strongest. Without you, our chances would be even worse if the Elves came.”

  “Our chances are worse if you aren’t here as well!” Viressa argued.

  Azazel climbed down from around my shoulders, morphing into his human form. However, he didn’t have the cocky smile I was used to seeing. “Brother, I believe in you, but is this really the right decision?”

  I don’t know.

  “I am. If push comes to shove,” I paused, breathing deeply. “You guys can retreat to Lunarius’ territory.”

  “What?!” They all yelped in terror.

  “Lucivar, you can’t be serious!” The female demon said incredulously.

  “I don’t trust him,” Kril added, crossing his arms.

  “Look, I’m not saying it will even need to happen, just…” I trailed off, steeling my emotions as I continued. “I’d rather take the chance on the demon’s generosity than have all of you get slaughtered.”

  My companions regarded me grimly, each one sitting back in thought.

  I didn’t wait for their arguments, knowing that the longer I waited, the farther the Elves would push towards my territory. “I’m going. If something happens,” I gestured around at the beautiful houses, trees, and landscape. “Know that your lives are worth more than this.”

  You ready?

  [Yeah, yeah, let’s go already. I’m about to fall asleep.]

  [Abyssal Rift]

  [You know, since this skill can take you to the Demon Realm, wouldn’t it also let you go to other realms as well…?]

  Shut up, I’m trying to focus.

  [We could go say hi to the Aspects.]

  SHUT. UP.

  [Or we could kill them.]

  Joshua, I swear—

  [Heaven heaven heaven heaven heaven heaven heaven heaven…]

  My vision was swallowed by darkness as the black tendrils took hold of me.

  Then, my eyes opened to a sea of white.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?!” I raged, running my hand through a soft, white cloud beside me.

  [Honestly, I thought you were smarter than to trust me.]

  “You’re a fucking piece of shit you goddamn—”

  “Who the hell are you?” A holy voice demanded.

  Then, a high-pitched scream.

  “Demon! A demon has appeared in the Celestial Realm! Help—”

  I clamped a strong hand over the girl's mouth, staring into her frightened eyes. I glanced around, breathing a sigh of relief when I realized there was no one else around.

  Heaven was surprisingly similar to Hell, although a lot… Brighter. A vast landscape of whitened ground surrounded me, as if I were stepping upon literal clouds. Unlike the Demon Realm, which was encased in a sprawling red ceiling, there seemed to be no limit to the sky in this place, and two roaring suns were lit ablaze above me. Interestingly enough, I could see floating Islands all around me, which seemed to be where the majority of people hung out. They varied in size and shape, towering masses of earth and rock magically suspended in the air. I could see the runoff from rivers flowing down from the perimeter of the islands, each one fading into a light mist as they cascaded down to the cloudy floor beneath me.

  I slowly returned my gaze to the holy being before me, taking in her stature. She seemed roughly my age, at least, my age back when I was a human. She wore a silky white robe and had two massive, feathered wings spreading out from behind her. Blond hair cascaded from her head, falling a few inches below her neck. She had stopped resisting, instead choosing to stare desperately into my eyes.

  “I’m not gonna hurt you, just don’t scream, alright?” I said, slowly pulling my hand away.

  She didn’t waste a second.

  “Help! Help! A demon—”

  She continued to protest, muffled cries escaping from the palm of my hand.

  Are you serious? What’s even the point of this, you idiot? Am I supposed to gather an army of clouds?

  [No, this is the point.]

  What kind of objective is ‘impress me’? You better take me back right now…

  [I’m not taking us back until you finish my quest.]

  I’ll fucking kill you!

  [You could, but I’ll just respawn back in your head anyway, so who cares?]

  “Goddamnit!” I shouted in frustration. The angel, still held in my strong grip, withdrew at my exclamation. “Sorry about that,” I started, then stopped, trying to think of a way to get out of the predicament.

  I could try to torture Joshua…

  [Good luck with that, buddy.]

  Or I could wait out the three-day cooldown on Abyssal Rift…

  [You’re friends will be long gone.]

  Or I could do Joshua’s quest…

  [Ding ding ding.]

  Fuck.You.

  I sighed, then slowly picked my hand off the angel's mouth.

  “Die demon!”

  [Holy Light]

  A mildly bright light shone from the angel's head, a small golden halo appearing above her blonde hair.

  “Is that… the best you can do?” I questioned blankly.

  She stared forward, then screamed again. “Help! Help!”

  “Gosh, just shut up, will you?” I sharpened my claws, then lightly poked the angel in the arm.

  “I’ve been hit! It’s over for me!” She gasped dramatically, falling to the floor.

  [Twin Blood Chains]

  I summoned a chain, wrapping it tightly around the girl’s body. She continued to wail, but I pulled a piece of magma worm hide from my inventory and stuffed it into her mouth.

  “Look, I don’t want to kill you, but you need to stop screaming. It’s making my head hurt.”

  The angel did not stop, wriggling like a snake from within my tightly coiled blood chain. I stared at Joshua’s quest, wondering how I should proceed. “How am I supposed to torture an Angel? I don’t have the stomach for that…”

  The girl stiffened at my words, looking me dead in the eye.

  Then, a thought hit me.

  I reached out a clawed hand, slowly approaching her neck. The angel closed her eyes, and I could see a single tear falling down her cheek.

  Then, she began to laugh.

  It was a wild cacophony of muffled sounds, like a washing machine buried behind several sets of soundproofed walls. I had let my claws shrink back into nails before making contact.

  I was tickling the angel.

  The brutal torture continued until the girl seemed nearly out of breath, then I removed the hide from her mouth.

  “Give up yet?”

  “Please—” she sputtered, still giggling uncontrollably. “Please! I surrender! Make it stop!”

  [Torture at least one Angel into submission (1/1)]

  [Kinky.]

  Fuck off man.

  “Good. Now,” I began, letting my hand fall to my side and unwrapping her from the blood chain. “I need some information from you.”

  The angel shook herself free, then regarded me fearfully, her eyes tracing the tips of my fingers. “What do you want?”

  “First, is there a way I can return to the Mortal Realm?”

  “I don’t know! I was reborn here like, a few minutes ago! I’m only on page thirty of the booklet for crying out loud!” She wailed.

  “OK, OK, sorry. Jeez,” I muttered, gesturing with my hands to quiet the upset angel.

  “And who does… that?” She pointed at my hand. “Without even asking for a name first?” Her face flushed a deep red.

  “Sorry,” I sputtered. “My name’s Lucivar.”

  After a moment, the angel decided to respond. “Atea.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I replied, sticking out a hand. She recoiled, hiding her face behind two hands, then slowly peeked out. She hesitated for a moment, then grabbed it, trembling slightly.

  “I… I thought demons would be meaner, based on what the booklet had to say,” Atea said sheepishly.

  “Not all of us,” I replied, grinning. “Now then, I have one more thing to do before I can get out of here, care to join me?” I offered.

  “Uh, I guess?” She stammered in confusion. I lifted the angel from the ground, and we began to walk.

  “What is the Mortal Realm?” The angel asked, and I began to fill her in on the basics of this world.

  I’m like Kril back when we were first reborn in Hell…

  [What goes around comes around, as they say.]

  “I see,” Atea said, stroking her chin. “Then, your goal is to return to this… Mortal Realm?”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Wait, but if Angels are people who were good in their past life, doesn’t that make you a bad guy?”

  “Think of it like a fresh slate! Who we were before doesn’t really matter!” I replied hurriedly.

  [Yeah, cuz you were boring as hell before.]

  Atea contemplated for a moment, then smiled in agreement. “Sounds good enough for me!”

  Well, that was easy enough.

  [I’m still waiting to be impressed, kiddo.]

  I looked up, observing the huge floating landmasses above me. Perhaps something up there would be able to help me out. The issue was, I had no way of getting there. I turned, stopping suddenly, and Atea mirrored my movements.

  “You have wings… You think you could fly us up there?” I asked, pointing to the island directly above us.

  “Well, I’ve never used them,” She mumbled.

  “It’ll be fine! You were born with them after all, it’s probably like riding a bike.”

  “Bike?”

  I waved my hand dismissively, then stuck both arms out.

  Atea observed the gesture for a second, then wrapped herself around me. We stood awkwardly still for a few moments.

  “Uhm, let's start flying?” I prompted.

  “Oh!” She exclaimed, flapping her wings.

  Suddenly, we were in the sky. However, our flight path was ever so slightly crooked.

  “Watch out!” I screamed. I felt my insides jostling around unnaturally as we hurled through the air. The angel lost control, plummeting us several feet downwards and causing me to nearly vomit Barkmaw Stag meat all over the pristine white robes she was wearing, before her wings caught wind again. We soared upwards, both screaming in terror, then crash-landed on a soft, grassy surface.

  I gingerly lifted Atea’s arms off of me, then stood, taking in our new surroundings.

  The island was large, so large that I was unable to see the entirety of it even when we were plummeting from the sky. Ahead of us was a massive mountain, and the cliffside protruded in such a way that I was unable to make out what lay at the top of the peak. A huge waterfall cascaded from the cliffside, sending a breeze of white mist around us, and a large stream of flowing water fell in torrents off the edge of the floating island. I saw a number of interesting creatures dotting the surrounding environment, as well as a clearly carved out path in the grass to our right.

  Interestingly enough, the trees surrounding us were outfitted with horrendously blackened leaves.

  “Is this Heaven or did we fly backwards and end up back in Hell?” I wondered aloud.

  A system message answered my call.

  [You have entered the domain of the Aspect of Chaos, Isarion.]

  “Aspect of Chaos? Is that like the two angels you said you met back in the Mortal Realm?” Atea asked, gingerly rising from the ground. Somehow, her pristine white robes hadn’t even gotten dirty.

  Well fuck.

  [He sounds fun. I would be impressed if you killed him, to be honest.]

  Suddenly, the creatures surrounding the lake turned, all at once, as if controlled by a single being.

  Then, they spoke.

  “Who dares enter my domain?” They demanded together, eyes blackening with a cruel energy.

  [Who the hell are these “guest” guys?]

  [Then how do they know when the story updates?]

  [Make an account then you dumbasses!]

  [Lazy bums.]