Crystaline loved all the flowers and the description he told her. Their surroundings sounded beautiful. She held onto Colden’s arm and snuggled into him as they made their way to the palace. Once they were in there she froze up as Colden got a bit… well cold sounding. Then he told her it was Xunatar and she tilted her head a bit. What would he be doing in Angela’s realm? She held onto his arm a bit tighter for a few moments.

Angela shifted in her chair before standing. “Because it took me a long time to find a way around it. Your father gaining godhood was the only possible way to cure Crystaline. It’s the angelic based blessing on her that is keeping me from helping her.”

Crystaline winced just a bit and she thought about it. “The one Grandfather put on me?”

“The very same. In order to get the angelic seal to crack and let my powers in I would need a god on my level with demonic blood. It helps actually that it is Xunatar and it had to be him. You’ve been…” Angela looked for the best word. “Spending quality time with Crystaline and that helps greatly. Whether or not you want to think about it you have put the defense of the blessing up because of your half demon blood. I took that into account when I designed how to break it.”


The half angel put her head on Colden’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “Will it hurt?”

Angela hesitated a bit and gave an apologetic look to Colden. “I’m not sure. I’ve never removed a blessing of this caliber from anyone before. The fact this is taking two gods, to begin with, is insane. You remember the chaos ruby in the Harena correct? It is that level magic that is sealing her. Your father and I have found a way to crack it and I can force my way in to dispelled it… Whether or not it hurts we have no way of knowing. This is completely uncharted waters that have only been tested on paper. This is the only way to get her eyesight back. I want to stress that to you.”

To say that he wasn’t thrilled with this outcome would have been a complete understatement. Of course, he wasn’t expecting his father of all people to be a source of a solution much less wanting to aid him in anything that didn’t benefit him to some degree. Even helping to free him from his accursed mother was only done because she was a hindrance towards the demon king’s whims. How else did they expect him to take this news?

He felt Crystaline’s grip on him and that was the only reason why he simmered down long enough for their Aunt to answer. Of course, Xunatar was the only demon that was currently blessed and was the only way to figure out if her plan would work. Colden still cut his eyes at his father, not trusting him to be here out of the goodness of his heart. His anger subsided momentarily as his face turned bright red when she announced what the two of them had been doing a lot of lately. Could she had said it any more plainly, why doesn’t she? Especially right in front of his father? Xunatar’s facial expression didn’t change so his son assumed that he had an idea that’s what they were doing. Then again, perhaps he’s too used to it with Dante to care if his other children partake in sex.

“What do you mean, not sure?”, he said, his voice raised slightly before he calmed down. This wasn’t fair, Crystaline had been through enough and now she was to suffer more, if not worse? He couldn’t put her through that, but it wasn’t also his place to speak for her. Sight or not, she was still her own person and if this was truly what she wanted, then there was little he could do but be there for her.

He looked to his father once more, who seemed to have summoned a chalice of sorts and soon he noticed that there was blood filled to the brim. Was it his blood? Xunatar settled it down on a table nearby and shrugged. “This should suffice for the procedure if this is what you wish to undergo.”

“Just why?”, Colden said after mustering up the strength to confront him. “Why are you helping us? What’s in it for you?”


“It’s the only way I can see undoing what your mother has done to you, and for me to make amends with my own haughty parenting”, the God replied as he fell back against his spot on the wall, back leaning up against it as he watched from the shadows.

“Crystaline…whatever decision you decided to do, I will support it.” His hand took to hers and yet he couldn’t shake the feeling of what his father said to him. It was an oddity to see him apologize for anything, much less to him. But a part of him wanted to believe that he was doing the honest thing for once for the sake of it.

Things, however, never turn out so easy though.

“If she’s okay with it, then I will be as well.”

Angela moved over to the chalice filled to the brim with blood. “We’ll find out. The prototype magic circle we did was only a fraction of the power the one on Crystaline is.” The goddess threw out a caution and turned to look at the angel who was very much glued to Colden’s side. “You don’t have to do this if you are scared.”

Crystaline got a stubborn look on her face and did a bit of a foot stomp after Colden asked her if she wanted to do this. It looked more like an act of defiance and making herself known. The small quiet angel whose presence was known took a step with Colden’s hand in her own. “I’m going to do it. I’m a burden right now despite what Colden may say. Despite what my family might say. I need to do this for myself. I want to be able to see my children and… I want to see Colden’s face. I want to be selfish just this one time.” Her voice no matter how sweet it sounded had an aura of authority to it for just this one moment.

There was a smile across the elder goddess’s face as she mulled a bit. “Cathrine and Sularia both chose a fine heir for her crown.” It might not have been known for everyone that Crystaline was the wind’s chosen. She held her hand out and took Crystaline’s free hand. “I am not going to guarantee this won’t hurt. I won’t play the saint who say this will work. The chance is good it will but just in case it does not I do apologize.”

“I know Aunt Ang… I thank you, both for trying to do this for both Colden and me.” Crystaline gave a smile and it didn’t seem like the girl had any fear in her.

The goddess led Crystaline away from Colden as her hand dropped his. She was laid down on a small bed that had been prepared. It looked more like one of the stone beds from her old temple. Angela took a big breath it appeared even she was nervous about this. In the goddess’s other hand she held the chalice. Once Crystaline was laid down the temple seemed to fall away and they were left in a darkness.

Across the floor spread a large magic circle. It was massive and Angela made a shooing motion at Colden. “Get to someplace high.” Underneath him, the temple boosted him up so he was in the air away from her and Xunatar.

Another deep breath left her as she dumped the chalice of blood all at once onto the ground. It started as a low rumbling at first but then… the wave of energy came. It was enough to throw even Angela a little bit off her feet as she planted herself. “Stay steady Xunatar!” She yelled over the sheer screaming of the magic. Angela had warned him she didn’t know what was going to happen when she did this.

In the distance, a creature began to form. It was a mangled mass of magic with keys and symbols. “God damn it,” Angela said as she started to blast the circle with own magic. “I’m going to need you to keep that thing distracted. I didn’t actually think it would materialize into a creature. Keep it away from her or it could consume her at this point.” Angela’s magic set up a boundary but she was too busy trying to crack the seal underneath them. “I just need about five minutes Xunatar.”

After the allotted time came and passed she finally got the circle to crack. She took the magic with her bare hands and pulled it off. “COME ON DAMN YOU.” With the force of all her magic, she pulsed it. The realm shook never having felt that much magic come out of the goddess all at once. She had been playing it safe for Crystaline but now… There wasn’t a choice.

Crystaline had been screaming in pain the whole time now but Angela had only just now noticed. The magic burst like a thousand shattering crystals and so did the creature that had come with it. Taxed she fell to the ground for a few heavy heaves. Her green eyes looked from Xunatar to Colden and finally to Crystal who was laying silently. “Hey… Kid.” She got up with shaky legs and ran over to her. She was silent and not breathing but it was how cold she was.

“Not in my realm,” she yelled out in anger. However, just when Angela had gone to pull in more of her magic Crystaline’s blue eyes flickered opened and she slowly sat up on the stone slab.

“Why are you…” Crystaline’s voice trailed off as her eyes met with Angela’s. There was a heavy breath again as Aunt and Niece met for what appeared to be the first time. They were no longer clouded and Crystaline seemed to be holding her breath in now as she let it out. She looked to be in shock.

Taking a breather Angela sat on the floor and leaned back on her hands looking up into the void of the room she had conjured. “Thank goodness.”

Colden still didn’t know how to make heads or tails out of this thing. While it was true that Crystaline’s sight could possibly recover and this would be their best chance to see, he was still skeptical about his father’s motives. But when it was made clear that she wanted to go through with this, he couldn’t do much other than to look at her in awe. She was so sure of herself, even if she was masking any fear about this, and her reasons made him speechless. As much as he could have been against it, he couldn’t bring himself to try and derail her from it. It would have just been cruel. “I’ll be here for you, Crystaline”, he said as his hand tightened around hers in support. He wasn’t too surprised to learn that she was the chosen heir to her court- Liz didn’t seem much like one for a leadership position and between the two, the younger sister was much more level-headed. Xunatar, on the other hand, did raise a brow upon learning the news, but he could see why this solution would have been sought out either way- to avoid a literal sense of “the blind leading the blind” scenario to occur.

She was taken by their aunt and he followed right behind them until she was laid on the bed. From there, an unsettling feeling crept up from him as the area dimmed and he immediately looked to Xunatar, who seemed to have no idea himself as to what was going on. Colden has lifted away from the group, even with protest, and his father gave him a quick glance before his eyes settled onto the girl right before the blood from the chalice fell onto the ground. The demon king felt the quake like sensation and stumbled himself before finding his footing again. He had once warned the goddess’ sister of the foolishness of mixing angel and demon blood the way she had intended, and it seemed like they would see a sample of what could possibly happen.

Gods, the sound aggravated him greatly yet the worse hadn’t come until the creature’s arrival. Given that this was Judge’s power behind the ailment, it would only make sense that the lost god would make their mission all the more difficult and place fail-safes in case the spell was tampered with. His eyes shifted into pure black as he gazed upon the abnormality and soon the shadows beneath him stirred violently before shooting out towards the thing. They coiled around its form and limbs as they morphed into chains of darkness to restraint it. “Continue on!”, he spoke, his voice booming as the chains grew tighter and more shadows crept beneath it. Slowly did the thing sink into them to further keep it at bay from the child as he slowly approached it as if taking a study.

“What the hell is that!?”, Colden exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the thing and wishing he was down there to help. There was no mention of strange creatures trying to kill her! Why in the name of the gods was that here, to begin with? Xunatar kept the thing under control though he felt the effort taxing on his mana as the thing wrestled against its restraints. The girl’s cries were barely noticed by him, but his son was a different matter. He was just about ready to damn near climb down when the circle shattered and he nearly fell off from his perch and Xunatar forced the being to be consumed enough by the darkness until it exploded and fell down himself. Never had he felt his body as tired as it was since his ascension. It stroked his interest some more about this Judge and how his magic worked. Perhaps he would have to look further into this matter but for now, he kept quiet about it.

The boy somehow found his way down and rushed over to her, nearly tripping a few times, expecting the worse in his mind when she didn’t stir at first. The room was silent except for his aunt’s words as she was about to do something to save his love’s life when she woke up.

Thank the gods that she was still alive but as he made it over to her, Colden noticed right away that her eyes…they were no longer cloudy but instead the most beautiful shade of blue he had ever seen. Xunatar gathered himself up and dusted off while Colden quickly embraced her in a hug and even tried to swing her around. “Crystaline…” He had been so worried about her and held back his tears as he looked at her with his biggest smile yet. “Are you okay?”

“I know you will be.” Crystaline gripped his hand in return. Colden would have an important role in the Rosenite court system as it appeared… Consort to the Queen was a big deal.

Once the ceremony had begun things immediately took a turn for the worst. Once Colden yelled Angela had all she could do not to answer him as she concentrated. She couldn’t answer him just yet. Not without the spell breaking her concentration… Together she and Xunatar defeated the entity and the magic circle.

Angela was taking in huge breaths of air after she knew Crystaline was alright. “That was one hell of a fight… I don’t think I’ve felt something like that in ages… Not even when I went against Dalanesca.” Angela finally let out a laugh as she watched the two lovers interact.

Crystaline looked at Colden for the first time and she was instantly blushing towards him. She didn’t shy away from him but she eeped when he picked her up and twirled her around in his arms. Tears were in the corner of her eyes. “Colden…” She didn’t answer him at first. “You’re everything I knew you would be.” She threw herself enough so she could hug him tightly.

The goddess finally got up and brushed herself off. “That was what happens to magic when its host is dead. Especially that from another realm.” She directed the words to Xunatar. “Had nothing to do with angel and demon magic… and everything to do with that man. However,” Angela stole Crystaline from Colden like a doll as she plopped her back down. “Let me get a look at you and make sure everything is alright.” She checked each eye and she was in shock for a moment or two.

Turning her back to Crystaline the goddess looked out towards Xunatar. “Her eyesight has been fine for years. It’s the spell that was put on her that kept her blind… It was put on her right after the fever took her sight so most likely due to either her Angelic blood or her Rosenite blood she managed to make a complete recovery… Judge crippled her and we couldn’t see it because of the spell…” Looking to Colden Angela laughed a bit. “Fate is funny… If he hadn’t put the spell on her you two might have never met.”

“My legs are like… jelly almost.” Crystaline looked exhausted now that the shock had worn off. “I’m so tired…”

“If you weren’t tired I would be worried,” Angela replied as she pet the top of the girl’s head.

Though that didn’t appear to stop Crystaline as she got off the bed and made her way over to Xunatar. There was a moment or two where she stared up at him like he wasn’t a monster… but it was the same way she looked at everyone. She wasn’t shy as she embraced the dark lord, “Thank you… If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be able to see Colden right now. Both you and Aunt Angela… Thank you both.”

To be blunt, Colden couldn’t have given a single damn about Crystaline’s title or eventual role. He cared only about her and her well being…and happiness. Even if there was pain that she’d have to endure and nothing much he could do about it, he would be here to support her desire. Worried eyes watched on as his Aunt and Father went to work against the defenses set by an elder god. At times, it felt as though he couldn’t breath air into his lungs, anticipating when he could finally come down and rush over to the girl’s aid when this was all said and done.

And he did just that once everything was in the clear. Perhaps he was a tad bit too happy with her making it out safe and was swinging her about like a doll, but the worst was over. And what more…she could actually see again. When she began to talk, Colden placed her back down on the ground before she made her own excitement known and he held onto her tightly as if she would slip away into the darkness if he didn’t. Xunatar had recovered and glanced over to Angela’s direction before looking upon the spot that the creature had last been seen. “An intriguing fellow…” Already there had been preparations made in his mind to search out any information he could of the elder god, perhaps to study his methods or something much more. His son found himself lonesome after Crystaline was taken to be inspected and then looked dumbfounded at the results. “I don’t get it, if she was going to recover from it herself, then why did he curse her?” A sick sense of humor? Or could he see into the future? Gods, they were an enigma for the young man to understand and he doubted that he ever would be able to.

Moving back over to her side, Colden looked over to his father, the man that only held that title but did nothing really to earn it. While he still had his doubts that the god helped out of kindness, Crystaline thought otherwise, to his shock. The Demon King stood motionless as she slowly approached him but was caught off guard by her embrace. He brought up his hand to pet the top of the girl’s head, “No need to thank me. None of this would have been possible if Colden hadn’t been so driven to give you back what was stolen from you.” When the hug ceased, Xunatar turned to walk away, giving a half wave back to them as he disappeared into the darkness.

Colden himself was perplexed the generosity offered and trailed behind Crystaline. “Don’t tax yourself too hard, Crystal. You have just been through hell and back.”

Angela thought on the question. “The domains back on DaeLuin were… more defined then ours were. He was the strongest but he was no healer. There might have been no way he could have known she would be fine. In his eyes, he most likely thought he did the best thing for her. We make mistakes too Colden.” Angela reminded him softly. “Sometimes the mistakes are small… and sometimes the mistakes are big enough to make the world hate you.”

Crystaline was an amazing little angel. At least Angela thought so as the tiny little woman found her way to the Chaos God. It must have been weird to see her so determined as she hugged him. A man that could and would destroy just about anyone for his own gain. It made Angela smirk a bit. “That must is true but you still helped me. All things must be taken in for the proper thanks to be given.” She felt his hand on her head and gave a smile that only Crystaline could produce. She had such a good heart.

Giving the wave back Crystaline watched as Xunatar left them. “I’ll be fine Colden. Really. I pushed myself every day until now and there’s no need to stop just because I feel a little jelly-ish.” She thought about the word and laughed. “Everything was worth it though… The hell. The pain. Everything. Now I get to see you!” She jumped on him with excitement as she squealed. “You are the absolute best. Now no one can ever say anything bad about you… or… Or…” She thought about it and put her hands on her hips once she was on the ground. “Or I’ll punch them right in the face!”

Angela finally let out a laugh. “Alright… I think I’ve heard enough.” The room turned back into her throne room and Angela was gone from sight.

“I’m serious. You are the best Colden. I love you!” She pulled him down and gave him a fierce kiss to his lips.

Gods, they were confusing as hell. Oh, Colden was well aware of his father’s deeds as of late. He tired to avoid talking about such subjects because he didn’t want it traced back that he was Xunatar’s son. No, not after everything he had done. Even saving his life from his mother was just because he was some device that could be used. But this? Saving Crystaline’s eyesight with Angela? This was beyond jaw-dropping. He couldn’t fathom that he could do good, let alone be able to see it with his own eyes.

Crystaline had a good heart to approach the God and no fear in hugging a man that was quick to damn hundreds if not thousands of lives for his own pleasure. He kinda grew uncomfortable when Xunatar patted her but he was more at least when he left them. To do who knows what. Shaking his mind free of him for now, he turned his complete attention over to her. “I’m happy that you can see again. You deserve that and plenty more.” He was legitimately surprised when she threatened to punch someone if they insulted him. To be honest, he would have probably deserved it from his own attitude from before, as well as what he had schemed to do with Cyprus. That horrible woman. “Relax, you won’t have to do that”, he said, half laughing before turning to his aunt who let herself out. The room cast out the darkness and things returned to normal. He was excited to let the others know that Crystaline was better again. Well, maybe not Dante, the pervert. He’d probably see it as an opportunity to hit on her or something.

“I love you t…”, he managed to breath out before she used her new found confidence and strength to embrace him. Gods knew that he didn’t fight it, or want to anyway. He returned her kiss eagerly and held onto her before reluctantly pulling away. “Too.” Well, he wanted to finish his sentence before laughing and hugging her tightly. She was what made him happy, genuinely happy for a long time now. She wouldn’t have to worry about him straying away. Hell, if Dante really didn’t these days, then that was one thing he could look up to him for.