It was time now when there a chance to breathe for something new to be born. Though in Angela’s mind the chance to give birth to life was all of the time but varying degrees. This something new was something that he would know of. Something that she had failed to do by herself. Old magic was nothing to be trifled with and she knew that. She bided her time and she waited for someone who could maybe benefit from this proposal. Not all Gods would care about this situation but this one… This one could.

While she weaved her tapestry of life within her throne room her fingers ever nimble through the fabric that she wove, Angela hatched a plan. Her green eyes looked up to a rainbow-colored phoenix. Drae had one just the same. “I need you to do a job for me sweet one.” The phoenix sang its sweet song to Angela as she worked on the weave.

A quill and paper appeared so Angela could begin to write. The letter wrote itself as she spoke. She fluffed out the tapestry and when she did so birds and butterflies escaped from it causing her to sigh.

“Dear Xunatar,

I think I know of a way to get Colden to trust in you more. It may or may not intrigue you that much I am not sure on… but I do know that he would be appreciative of it and perhaps more cooperative. Come see me for tea if you are interested. I’ll explain more about it should you come.

Sincerely,
Angela

P.S. The bird bites so be careful… His name is Arcus. He’ll show you the way here should you agree.”

She wiggled her pinky finger and the letter rolled up and floated to the bird’s leg. A ribbon of red tied around it to secure the letter. “Be safe Arcus and don’t be agitating, please. I wouldn’t want to have to rebirth you and your pretty feathers.” The bird scoffed at her and a chuckle escaped her lips. “What a temperamental bird…”

Arcus took off to find the dark lord to deliver the letter entrusted to him. He would be on his best behavior but no promises.

There was an eerie beauty about the isle of eternal night- many would fear it but some that walked in the darkness would find it utterly awe-inspiring. Softly did the god feel the whispers of those that prayed to him, of asking him for safe passage through the evening all over the realm. At this time, the season was at its most dangerous peak for if the nature of the cold didn’t get to them, other dangers were certainly waiting for their turn to strike. He sat seldom upon his throne, seemingly in a trance-like state as he listened but never answered a single one of them. Only the roaring sounds of the cold fire drove the silence away from his halls; that was until he sensed something close to the balcony. It reeked of a power not belonging to him or the isle and sluggishly rose up and trekked over to the disturbance.

The bird certainly stood out for the rest of his creations but he let it inside regardless and observed the parchment tied to its leg. Xunatar retrieved the letter, uncaring for whether he would get assaulted or not- his body was like the shadows themselves and would simply faze the blowout. It was hardly surprising to learn that both the phoenix and the note were from Angela and steely blue eyes quickly read through the note and sighed before the words were altered and rearranged with his chaotic will alone.

“I will be there tomorrow.”

Short and simple, the demon king tied the note back onto the bird and shooed it away to return to her. Considering how guarded the boy was to him, even with how he appealed to his desire to protect the girl that owned his heart, this must have been some plan that she concocted. He returned to his seat and cut himself free from the calls and prayers for the time being.

–

As promised, he went to her home the following day. It vastly differed from Discordia, something he had very much expected but still wasn’t thrilled about regardless. While his realm was known for its coldness, hers felt much hotter and tiresome for him. His was much ominous yet held a peculiar charm, while hers held a more obvious allure. The heat was little more than annoying as he trekked through the jungle and made it all the way through the courtyards of the palace.

The hooded man cast his eyes around, looking for any trace of the goddess. He was sure that she was aware of his presence by now. There was still some uncertainty that whatever she had up her sleeve would turn the boy to his favor, but he had plenty of time to play with the idea of it. The shadows shifted beneath him and shrouded him, barely visible around his outline, but it was there to comfort him from the warmth of the realm.

“What are we to discuss today, Angela? Though your sister is dead, her stubbornness is plain to see on Colden. Perhaps not as abundant as Cyprus’ but he carries it like a sword against me.”

Angela finished her tapestry as Arcus returned to her. She knew what the letter said even before she opened it. She was not foolish enough to believe that Colden would give in to his father so willingly but… this idea might help some. So she watched and she waited.

The queen was a good host as he entered her courtyard it disappeared into a vivid sea of night and stars for but a few moments before he appeared in a water garden. There on a center platform sat Angela with quite the spread laid out on a table. His feet was planted solidly on wood that bridged over to where she was. The night sky was high and the air was crisp and cool much like he preferred. “I do hope that this is much more to your liking Dear Xunatar.”

She offered him a seat of crystal and smiled at him as Arcus flew over them. “Light please if you will Arcus,” she motioned to a set of candles on the table and before long the phoenix dived down onto them. He was the light for this evening as he became many flames of gold.

“Aye, stubbornness runs in that bloodline even in Lotus and Eldora too… but not as much as Colden. His heart is very guarded and the only one who can truly be in it is the girl. I don’t think he even trusts me as much as her.” She poured them some tea and watched the steam rise from them. For a few moments, she was quiet before bringing the teacup to her lips and blowing softly. “But… If you could perhaps make his true dream come true… The one thing he wants more than life itself… I think he would be a lot more open to you. I can help you do that or more so you could help me do that. Alone I am not capable of doing it. You know what I speak of.”

Her hand lifted and she pointed to her eyes. “The girl’s eyes cannot be healed until the spell an elder god put on them is broken. The one true wish he has is to give her sight. Wouldn’t that be something? He would be more open if he got his wish. Crystaline holds the key to him being open. She is a light that is guiding him slowly back to the pedestal where he belongs. My sister knocked him off of it and led him astray but with her, I do believe he will find his rightful spot in the world. Sin or not sin, the ultimate gift we can give him isn’t something only one god can do.”

The day slipped away and with it, all the heat dispersed as well, though his aura was still kept close to him like a blanket on a Glaciem night. It was much more out of pure laziness that he refused to drop it rather than to insult his hostess. Xunatar approached at a casual pace over to Angela’s table and placed his hand on the back of the seat. “Forgive me for being rather…skeptical about your proposal. I suppose that it would a much more difficult matter than move the heavens and the earth itself further apart.” But he was still willing to listen and took his seat.

Who she was hinting at was a very obvious person- it was the same one that he had strung Colden along with to even get him interested in learning about how to conjure, wield and control hellfire. Crystaline was very special to his son and was the key to this plan of the goddess’. Even before she had voiced what she wanted him to help with, he knew. Dante had informed him of why she was blinded and how even a dead elder god’s spell couldn’t be broken that easily. Had it been the opposite, to begin with, he would have used that as a bargaining chip earlier. “Yes, I’m aware of your niece’s plight. There was nothing I could think of doing to alleviate her of the curse. And I was also informed that neither could you.”

At least not by themselves, they couldn’t. Together? Would a pair of deities be able to undo one that was more powerful? Xunatar weighed his options- if they would succeed, then he was sure that the boy would be grateful enough to comply with him more so. But the question was what did his aunt have in mind. Furthermore, what was in it for her? He stroked his chin tenderly as it became more apparent that he was considering this. It proposed the perfect opportunity to win Colden over and also to learn much more in general.

“I can agree to this, but I would like to know just how something like that can be undone. Anything that could bring her harm would certainly make him trust either of us less, worse for me than you though.” A slender hand reached out for his own cup and took a long sip of the tea. “As far as I know, this is uncharted waters, but you have stroked my curiosity enough, Angela.”

“To be honest, I expected you to be skeptical of me. We’re at the opposite ends of the spectrum you and I. Family is what binds us and partially what drives us.” She watched as he took his seat before she began to give her proposal.

“True, I couldn’t do anything. I’m a sphere of healing but yet I couldn’t break what Judge did to her. He gave her sight but he did so in a way that was barbaric. He never did believe in healing things or giving things up easily. However, he did love Crystaline. His son was married to my sister and Crystaline was his adopted grandchild. She lost her eyesight to disease when she was just a baby. I was a skilled healer in DaeLuin but nowhere near where I had to be for her.”

She mulled over the question for a long period of time. “Uncharted waters to crack yes but in the period of time since Colden asked me to give her wings… I’ve been working on a solution. I would have never brought you to the table without a detailed plan of what we could do… Or for that matter a detailed image of what the spell looks like. I’ve had enough time in my checkups to look at the spell cast on her. The first mistake I had was thinking of it like a curse. Because it does blight her, however, this was a god’s blessing. It’s why I had trouble even attempting to reverse it in the first place.”

She took out some papers with some alchemy sigils and spell circles. “This is the detailed formula of the blessing on her. After that is removed her blight can be cured. It allows her to see auras instead of actual sight. Like I said, Judge was never a person to heal atrocities but rather to be creative. The main problem is that my power is only half of his. If my power is half then with you we would probably have enough to break it. It’s taken me a year to even get this far. I had to trial and error a lot since Colden would have caught on to me had I done extended amounts of time on her.”

Angela sounded a tad annoyed but she let it go for now. “If he knew that I was sending certain magics into Crystaline to see reactions he would have lost it with me. Only if I get results would he ever be alright with it. If she hurts he gets angry and tries to fix it. If she weeps he gets angry and tries to fix it. The last thing I need is the Sin of Envy getting angry and there no solution. We’ve seen that enough already. The key to this problem is within the blessing itself.”

She sipped on her tea some more and leaned back. “I also believe that demon blood could weaken the blessing on it a bit because of her Angelic bloodline. Too much would hurt her but just enough… Even in nature the most harmful of ingredients are helpful. That’s why we would make a good team on this. I am an alchemist I always have been and I can figure this out easily enough but the proper text… That is where I am struggling. He was a god of wisdom and there is no telling if there is a problem with the spell he weaved. It could be perfect but our best bet for right now is to find an imperfection in the cast. If there isn’t one… We will have to think of a way to create one but if the spell is imperfect it could hurt Crystaline if we try to break it by force. This is the dilemma I am in. The wrong move and Colden will be vengeful with us.” She thought about it and frowned. “Again.”

He knew nothing of this Judge fellow aside from the tiny bits of information that were scattered in the wind. Books about him condescended each other in how he was and what he stood for. Some labeled him as a unique and creative genius; the others spoke of him as a cynical madman that was too intelligent for his own good. To learn that it was him that “blessed” the girl did nothing but add on to the curious mindset of his.

Colden’s devotion to her was the one thing, aside from getting him away from that shrew of a woman that was his mother, to break and remold him away from the spoiled and incompetent brat he had become without Xunatar’s full guidance. While it was too late to mold him into one of complete use for the god, he could still have some sway over him. Perhaps the young man would know of it when Crystaline would recover, but his love for her would easily outweigh his distance with his father, and he would use that to his advantage.

“I suppose that the wording would be ironic, but at least it hadn’t harmed her any further than that.” His eyes shot down towards the scribbles Angela did; while they didn’t make quite sense to him since he wasn’t revered in the skills she could boast, he assumed that she was putting the puzzle together for them to solve. Which made the demon ponder what it was that she needed from him. Alchemy wasn’t his sort of thing, after all. “It makes sense, perhaps we would match his strength together. Had you brought me into the loop sooner, then perhaps I could have distracted Colden enough for you to experiment further. But I do appreciate the wait until more concrete evidence came.”

Xunatar took another sip and let the warm enter his insides. There was no getting around that heat but it bothered him very little. He studied the images for a while as if he actually knew what they meant but then she proposed the problem. “Perhaps looking at it straightforward is the problem. If Judge was as good as they said he was, then we must look at it from a different angle. But you are right- we have to have the solution ready before trying it out on her. Colden may not like it if there’s potential to harm her, but if it can’t be avoided, then I will think of something to keep him from getting in the way.” Dealing with him was the simple matter to this whole array of problems they would face. “Perhaps I have misheard from earlier, but is a solution to this is to recreate the spell made by that god?”

Angela looked down at the papers and shrugged. “No amount of experimentation without you would have been sufficient. Plus I do need you with me. From the moment Colden asked me to give the girl her sight back and I couldn’t… I knew what the problem was. However, putting everything together has taken a long time. I am very thorough.”

She relaxed a bit in her seat as they tried to figure it out together. “There’s also the option if he won’t do it because you are involved. It means we will have to be very, very convincing. You will have to make promises that you will keep. Anything less will make the boy run away even more so than he already has. Not to mention he won’t be very pleased with me either.”

After some thought, she gave her ideal solution. “I can attempt to recreate a lesser version of it… I believe the spell has angelic properties to hold onto the girl’s body. The reason why you are so necessary is to put holes in it. Your magic, essence, blood whatever you want to call it is very potent demon blood. It is the exact opposite of what I believe he used.”

A magic circle appeared next to them on the floor. It glowed with brilliant holy light. “This is the spell that is on Crystaline. Apply your blood and see if it works. Blood or magic it really doesn’t matter what one you do.” She smiled up at him. “I believe the result will be all the same. I’ve studied it day in and out now and I believe this is the answer. Should it work we can present it to Colden and Crystaline without any doubts.”

As skeptical as his son could be with him, Xunatar was feeling just as much with this whole plan she concocted. But considering how he was able to persuade dear Colden with the promise that the boy could protect the girl he loved, should this plan work, then he would likely feel indebted to the god for life. Healing Crystalline would help to unravel the distrusting nature that Cyprus had installed onto him.

Angela’s words were true even if he didn’t want to admit it- without the proper ingredients, how could they truly wield the necessary results? His presence was needed for this and to be honest, he couldn’t very well blame her since it would have taken some good convincing in the first place to bring him here alone. “Promises aren’t a problem for me. For most, it’s people having to be very detailed that they seem to have trouble with. One must be thorough and specific with me, lest they ended up like they had back when I was serving the crossroads.” But if he needed to, he would bend somewhat backward for his young son. “Convincing him will be tough, but I think he loves the girl more than he dislikes me.”

Her conclusion made him straighten his seat and ponder about whether to actually go through with this. Spilling blood wasn’t an issue, as quickly as he could bleed it would heal. But was this all worth it? Mixing angelic and demonic properties could wield results that they dared not dream of. The goddess’ sister attempted to get entangled in something she couldn’t very well understand and he’d hoped that Angela would be smarter in approaching uncharted waters.

His eyes cast down towards the magic circle and could feel the unsavory holy magic summoned. It was enormous and sickening but he endured it and stood up. Raking at the palm of his hand with a long nail, he drew up a good amount of blood and squeezed his hand over the circle. The drops fell into it and he eyed her, “I’m guessing that it will break if proved successful, but just how much blood will we donate to her plight?”

“I think that tends to be how it is with all long-lived creatures even myself. We thrive for simplicity if only to derail whatever it is the seeker wants.” She smirked towards him. She had done it plenty in the past where people had not been specific enough with her. “I do believe that if I tell him I found a way to restore her sight that he would be willing and would bring her along as well. It’s just making sure this is all right.”

Angela’s green eyes watched as he went over to the circle and let his blood fall. There was a barrier of sorts that stopped the blood from hitting it. The demonic essence began to almost scream in frustration allowed cracks to form in the barrier above the circle. “That’s what I needed to see.” The blood burnt away and Angela’s own magic came in and seeped through the cracks shattering the barrier and she watched as the spell disappeared. “It’s not so much the angelic nature you will be touching. I had hypothesized that it would take a defense against you. However, once you break the barrier there is a window of time where you can undo the spell.”

Standing up she moved over to Xunatar. “Just enough that it doesn’t taint the spell underneath. The spell circle that Judge did will be much stronger. We won’t know exactly how much until we actually do it. I’m thinking almost twice as much more than you just did. After that, I will need to take over and destroy the circle before it has time to reform the defense it had. I think that Colden will be angry at first when he sees you but then… when he sees what we can do to help her that he will listen.”

She crossed her arms and looked deep in thought for a moment. “Restoring her sight is easy after we get rid of the false sight she was given. I can mend anything… I can make most diseases go away. I can even undo the damages of said diseases… However, this course that Judge had taken to gift her some form of sight seems more like a damn experiment. On his own grandchild no less.” She shrugged a bit and looked a tad uncomfortable.

“If these results are to your liking… We can set up a time to meet with the two of them and get this over with. Hopefully, this will give the boy some sort of trust towards you.”

–

On the day of the meeting, Angela sent an urgent letter to Colden and Crystaline both. That way they would both know what was going on.

Crystaline laid in bed with Colden when the phoenix flew into the room. “What’s that noise?” Crystaline looked up at him and made a face. “A bird?”

Inside the letter read:

Dear Crystaline and Colden,

Much progress has been made on Colden’s one true wish. Come to the temple immediately and try to keep an open mind. The meeting is today so make sure to show up. We can give it back to her now.

Sincerely,
Angela

After hearing the letter Crystaline cocked her head. “That’s an awfully weird way of inviting us. What does she mean?” She didn’t press for an answer but she did finally get up. “We should get dressed so we can go.”

Life had been quite interesting for Colden in the last few months. Already he had another niece and a pair of nephews from his half brothers and sisters. It was odd considering the ties he had with his kin, but regardless he enjoyed the company Estelle and the boys were. He was sure that Crystaline did as well, as best she could anyway. Aside from that, most of his time was spent with her either at his home or hers. The two were quite inseparable, perhaps sickening at times to others. But it had been the happiest he felt in his life. Not to mention that he hadn’t seen his father in a while, though he was fully aware of his shifting in domains. Even if he no longer held Lies, there was little reason for him to trust him. Xunatar was still a damn snake in the grass.

This morning, the pair happened to be at her home and he was snuggled up against her in bliss when he heard something at the window. Peeking up, he placed a hand on her shoulder, “Yes. Looks like…a phoenix?” He rubbed his eyes and looked again; sure enough, he was correct. “Not sure why its here though…” Climbing out of the bed hastily, Colden approached the bird and saw a letter attached to it. “A note?” He carefully took it and undid the seal and looked to Crystaline before reading it out loud. The more he read, the more excited he got over the advancement of curing her alignment. Though, she did make a good point- something was off here. Why did Aunt Angela phrase her words in such a matter?

“Perhaps we are overthinking it…but this is great news, Crystaline.” He then started to search for some clothes for the both of them and continued on, “This may be our chance to get your sight back and then you can see the world and everything in it.” There was a split second where he wondered if she would like how he looked. What if he didn’t measure up to the standard she might have had of him? It was a hard pill to swallow, but he reassured himself and helped her get dressed. “Let’s just see what happens. She seems to have confidence in whatever is stored, so we have to trust her, right?”

When they arrived at the new realm of hers, he was in awe of the beauty of this place. Despite his attempts to capture every detail he could for her, words couldn’t really do it too much justice. When she would get her sight back, then she’d agreed with that, he was sure. Reaching the actual temple, the smile on his face faded quickly as he not only saw his Aunt, but also…his father.

“What…is he doing here?”

He looked to Crystaline, “It’s father.”

Xunatar glanced over at the duo from afar and sighed. “Relax, Colden. I’m here to help…”

Suddenly everything made sense once he thought back to the letter and read between the lines. God, he was aiding her in this. The boy felt like taking Crystaline and running as far from the pair of deities as possible, but…had it not been him that wished for her eyesight to return? Had it not been him that said they had to trust Angela? This was damning beyond belief and he looked at his aunt with a questioning, stern look. “Why him of all people?”