Jenny wiped her face. She looked at Miriam who was licking the blood off her arm. Then they both looked down at the harpy. It was twitching and struggling in the water, one of its wings bent impossibly, giving the creature a crooked, broken appearance, like a coat hanger twisted out of shape.

  Crackling noises came from its spine. Its bones clacking and snapping, the harpy was shaking like it had a bad cold. It shut its eyes and its beautiful face sunk below the water. It stopped trying to move, and its wings curled back as its white hair trailed in the water.

  Miriam stomped forward, a snarl on her blood-smeared face. “I'm going to rip your wings off and make you watch while I-”

  But Jenny summoned her hatchet back with a flash and said, "Wait."

  "Wait?" snapped Miriam her eyes flashing with rage. She looked like the enraged Miriam from before, the one hell bent on eating Jenny. "Do you know what these things do? They snatch us up and eat and eat and eat cause..." She slapped her stomach. "We don't die. We just grows back. They can rip us apart as many times as they want. Do you know what that's like?"

  "Yeah," said Jenny, disgust squeezing her insides. It was what had happened to Yeshua. Over and over, healing each wound, healing every time a piece was ripped way. And then he’d continued letting that happen, by choice at least, as he fed himself to the deaths.

  Why was the afterlife so fucked up? The harpies, the angels... This place was torture. She looked down at the harpy. It deserved what Miriam wanted to do to it. The violence was just part of the cycled after all, Jenny knew it. She knew the harpy deserved far worse, but something was holding her back. Was it guilt?

  Was it just cause the harpy could talk? Because it wasn’t a mindless creature like the angels? Jenny squatted down and grabbed a fistful of wet, white hair to look the harpy in its beautiful eyes. Water dripped down its pale face. Its eyes were blood shot, its mouth open as pained wheezing sounds escaped its throat.

  Did shed want to spare the creature just because it was beautiful? It looked desperate and angry, and it wasn't speaking anymore, no more laughter, no more threats. No more melodic voice. Jenny didn't want to kill the creature. She got the sense that they were stuck here too. Trapped in this madness with everyone else. But did that forgive its actions?

  Would madness forgive her own?

  Besides, the harpy would know things about the world. Maybe it could tell Jenny how to find Susan, what the best place was for an invasion. Something. Am I just looking for an excuse to not kill it?

  And if I heal it and it wants to fight some more...

  I'll roast it alive

  I can't just leave it here with a broken neck. But then the angels would get it, and it wouldn't be on Jenny or Miriam. It was the harpy's own actions that led to its death.

  Would it even die? What if it was immortal? She didn’t know anything about it, and Iblis didn’t have an answer to that question either.

  "I can heal you," said Jenny finally. Miriam gasped indigently, protesting.

  The harpy’s eyes went wide, beautiful heartbreaking eyes that made Jenny's heart hurt. How could this creature be so cruel? It couldn't be. There had to be hope for it. Confusion furrowed its brows as its lips curled, and it whispered in a raspy voice.

  There was no longer any hint of a melody in its voice now. “Why would you do that?"

  Jenny licked her lips, dried blood stuck to her cheeks and her chin. She squeezed her hatchet. "If you'll help me. I'm looking for someone and-"

  "I would never help a human," snarled the harpy, twisting its broken neck, howling from the pain. Its wing flicked Jenny's nose.

  But the attack was a pathetic attempt; it didn't hurt at all. The feathers were wet and clumped together, and the harpy looked more like a sickly elderly patient now, thin and small. Its white hair stuck to its scalp and its back and shoulders. And the creature reminded her too much of someone who’d fallen and needed help getting back up.

  But then she felt something else. She saw the harpy's expression change - and it wasn't disgust anymore, it was fear, panic-stricken fear, and a feeling, a strange premonition, like the weighted feeling of the air right before a storm broke loose, right before a downpour. She'd felt it before. The sinking feeling of doom back in the world of deaths as it rained blood. But what was happening here?

  Jenny glanced back at Miriam who looked blank. She stood stiffly, looking almost paralyzed, staring at the sky. Jenny craned her head up and saw an enormous silhouette descending from the red light. It had wings so large they seemed to blacken the sky.

  She didn't need to see him to know who he was – Azra'il. Iblis’ rage burned furiously inside her, and the name surfaced in her thoughts almost as if it was a system notification, but then a notification came anyway, and it only made her feel worse.

  Angel (Stage IV) (level 332)

  Oh fuck. She wanted to cry out. Triple digits. His level was in the triple digits. He was stronger than Yeshua or Iblis or anyone else she’d met; Jenny had no hope. Even if Iblis activated her as a vessel and she had all her stats boosted. She felt that deep down inside, and she looked around, trying to find a place to hide. She tried to speak to Miriam, but the girl was muttering something, and repeating something in Arabic over and over, shaking, tears running down her cheeks. It sounded like a prayer. Like she’d given up whatever of her mind she’d held onto and succumbed to the fear just as all the other souls had.

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  “Miriam,” Jenny hissed, but the shadow overhead was closing in, and the harpy was crying softly. The harpy was terrified, shaking, its broken neck almost forgotten as it muttered something about forgiveness, about how sorry it was. Its eyes met Jenny's, and it was almost as if it didn't see Jenny anymore.

  Oh, fuck.

  I have to hide!

  I cannot let him find me!

  Ignite! She screamed silently in her head, plunging her hands into the water as blue flames erupted from her fingers. Instantly, with a glorious hiss, a cloud of vapor erupted around Jenny, a thick fog hiding them all from view, and she dashed through the water for the collapsed part of the wall, throwing herself behind several large cobblestones.

  A moment later, as soon as Jenny sank into the water and leaned against the wall to hide, a furious wind blew away the steam. The ground, the walls, and maybe even the world shook as the enormous angel landed. A wave crashed over the cobblestones and rained down on Jenny who turned to watch, finding a crack in the stones to peer through.

  The angel was huge. He was far larger than the desecrated angel, wide and built like the front of an enormous truck. His shoulders were so wide and muscular, each of his arms would've been big enough for Jenny, Miriam, and even the harpy to climb inside. He towered over them all, Jenny couldn't even see his head, but he had to be about half the height of the enormous wall. Around his legs fluttered the horrible loincloth. The one Yeshua had said was cut from the skin of tarnished angels.

  "Now isn't this a curious sight?" His booming voice echoed all around them. "A harpy brought down by a human soul? I knew something smelled promising out here."

  Miriam hadn't moved. She stood there in shock, trembling, water dripping down her pale skin. Her long dark hair stuck to her face and her back. The harpy lay in the water, one of its wings twitching weakly. “Forgive me,” it said, its voice melodious again, as though it was singing in prayer. But it was strained. It was in too much pain. “Help me, master. I am hurt.”

  Azra’il walked over to the harpy, his loin cloth flapping between his monstrous thighs as he placed his hands on his knees and knelt, bringing his face into Jenny's view. Dark gray like ancient stone. Eyes that burned with red light, and those horrible snakes with ruby colored scales that shone slick like blood. Their tongues flicked out to taste the air, and fear clung tightly to Jenny's chest. She couldn't move. If he spotted her, she'd throw her hatchet...

  Her hatchet was in the water a bit away from the desecrated angel's corpse. She couldn't' risk summoning it back now. She couldn't even risk breathing too loudly. Maybe instant acceleration then. She could dash away, summon the hatchet, throw it over the walls and then teleport to it and-

  Azra’il picked up the dead desecrated angel by its green head, blood gushing from its face, water dripping from its unmoving body. The talon stuck out like a demented horn, and Azra’il laughed. "How did a soul break your talon, harpy? Aren't the talons supposed to be a harpy’s greatest pride?"

  The harpy muttered something - and panic-struck Jenny's heart like drums. Would it tell him that Jenny was here? But whatever the harpy had said, Azra’il didn't seem to care. He turned his gaze to Miriam, red eyes sparkling. His voice dropped to a low rumble, and an ugly smile turned the corners of his lips. "My, my, I thought something smelled different... Was I just smelling you?" His eyes narrowed, and Jenny got a sick feeling in her stomach.

  Miriam must've too, because she covered herself again. Her face fell. She was too frightened to do or say anything.

  "Oh, come on now. You don't have to be shy." Azra’il said in a and mock gentle tone. He called her gorgeous for a human, willowy and easy on the eyes. She would taste beautifully. He extended a long, powerful arm. Each finger might've been thicker than Miriam was, and the girl stood there, pale and trembling, not even daring to look up. "I am called Azra'il, the Guide. The Warden. You may call me Master. I am sorry to have not made your acquaintance before."

  Miriam didn't move a muscle. She stared at the hand out stretched for her

  And then Azra'il shouted, causing Miriam to flinch, causing all the waters to crash about and slosh against the walls. His deep, booming voice carried down the corridor like a thunderous train. “IT IS PROPER TO INTRODUCE ONESELF WHEN SPOKEN TO!”

  Miriam clapped a hand over her ears. She cried out, and her cry broke Jenny’s heart.

  Jenny buried her fingers into her palm, wondering what she could do. How she could get them out of here. Should she open a passageway. Here? Could she? She felt rooted to the spot. This was worse than the bursts of fear she'd felt before, when the blue desecrated angel's light had stricken her. This was... This was far worse.

  "Very well," said Azra’il, patting Miriam's head with his hand. He lifted her hair and rubbed his finger against the side of her face. "I deem you beautiful and I will know your name one way or another." His fingers curled around Miriam's body, picking her up like a doll. She cried out, her fists uselessly striking his enormous hand. He just laughed. "Come. A new princess to add to my collection."

  "Master, please...” came the choked voice of the harpy, all pretense of melody dropped. “I can tell you something...”

  Azra’il straightened up, his head disappearing from Jenny's view as he raised Miriam off the ground, water dripping from her dangling feet as she cried softly. "Do not speak to me, harpy. You know what it is to fail me."

  Jenny's heart was in her throat.

  “Master, please!” screeched the harpy, but the response was a heavy, horrible crunch. Azra’il had stomped on the harpy, crushing the creature in the water. The ground shook. Stones fell away from the walls around them, and a wave larger than any before crashed over Jenny’s head. She squeezed a hand over her mouth, forcing herself to stay as still as possible.

  With a heavy wing beat, Azra'il flew upward and away, and the suffocating feeling lifted. Jenny waited for a long moment before collapsing.

  Iblis roared in her subconscious. Her entire body shook with his rage and flames spilled out of her eyes.

  He is a monster, said Iblis. He has grown stronger since he conquered my world, my people. We cannot stop him as we are.

  “That’s why we’re building an army, right?” Jenny let out a long breath as she pulled herself up. But that creature was what they were up against. An angel so monstrously powerful his very presence was suffocating. Water dripping off the cracked scales of her armor. But at least, Azra’il hadn't spotted her. He didn't know she was here, and that made her feel relieved. A relief only made her feel guiltier.

  Disgusted with herself, she kept picturing Miriam's wide eyes, looking around for help, kicking and struggling in Azra’il's grip, her feet dangling. What had he said? A new princess for his collection? Was he going to...?

  Jenny shuddered with rage and disgust and fear. “I can't let that happen to her. I have to save her too.”

  Why did he take Miriam?

  “I have to help her too,” whispered Jenny, closing her eyes shut to try and control the flames. But she couldn’t stop shaking. She wasn’t sure how much of it was Iblis’ rage and how much was the sheer terror she’d felt. Azra’il was a giant. A giant so powerful that-

  The harpy is still alive, said Iblis, cutting through Jenny’s spiraling thoughts.

  “What?” she whispered. But he was right. They could hear muffled sobs. The harpy was still alive. She felt Iblis pull toward it. Felt him leaving her body, streaming out of her eyes and her mouth, a fire that she was exhaling.

  Before she could ask what he was doing, she saw his sparkling blue light shoot across the water. He brightened the space momentarily, everything shimmering blue, before he descended on the Harpy’s broken body and all its feathers roared to life with blue flames.