"Why are you here?" I angrily asked whilst looking up at the angelic figure in front of me.
I could tell that this was indeed Alice since like me she still had some of the same traits as in her human form just like I had.
The only difference was that she never had been a human to begin with. She was just pretending to be one, pretending to be family, pretending to be my sister.
She softly smiled. "It has been a while, hasn't it? I am glad to see you again."
"Yea right! You are the angel of time. And yet, in the span of more than five years you couldn't help me out once! You didn't even explain what was going on. How and why, I came back like this. And yet you have the audacity to come to me and smile like nothing happened?"
She kneeled in front of me so that we could see eye to eye.
Even tough I was roughly four meters at the moment, she was still a fair bit larger than me. Which had to be expected from such a high-level angel. I guess that the only reason that I didn't burn up just from looking at her was because she had concealed her presence.
"I see my wrongdoings. And I am truly sorry for that, Gustave. But you must understand that there are certain rules that I musts follow. Even the gods themselves have to. And even after all that you went trough due to me, here I am asking you for help."
I hesitantly took a step back. "What do you mean? What would you possibly ask from me?"
She looked around as if she wanted to see if the cave itself had eyes. Then she leaned forward and whispered something in my ear.
I immediately jumped away and shielded myself with my wings.
"What is wrong with you? You're an angel! You are supposed to be on the side of the gods."
"Indeed. And that is why a demon has to do it."
"Even if I wanted to help you. I can't imprison the gods. No one can!"
She moved further into the cave to make up for the space that I had created between us. "If my brother space, and I help you. Then maybe you can. I know their names, their true names. It is just that we are not allowed to do anything with it."
I now came closer as well and circled around the angel. I let my tail scrape over the stone floor, creating a trail of dim glowing sparks behind me.
"And then why would you want to do that? Aren't you scared of falling?"
"No." she said after taking a deep breath. "I am simply doing what has to be done. We have to stop them before they destroy everything. All the worlds we worked so hard on, all the people that we love so dearly. I can't just watch and let the gods destroy everything even if it means standing against them."
I stretched my wings and them neatly folded them on my back. "So, you are so selfish that you go against your lords, and drag me along in your shit just because you don't the plaything you can easily create more of to be destroyed? Do what you want then. But leave me out of it."
"I know. But they are living, breathing, and thinking beings. I can't let them all die; I don't want their lives to be for nothing. Can't you see that the gods want hell to swallow everything so that they can end it in one go? Look at those people behind you. You wated to lead them to a world that wasn't dying right? Tough it may work for now. Sooner or later that world will also be destroyed as well. Please just help to put an end to this, if not for me, then do it for them."
I looked behind me and saw the frozen figures of the people I cared about. Leonor and the dwarf still talking and laughing. Allenya and my father caring about a peacefully sleeping Zosimos with Quetzalcoatl curiously looking at the child. Alex, Elisa, and Nathan happily sitting in one of the corners of the cave. Even Noah and Beatrice who were caring for the people that came with.
"Still… I can't do it. I can't leave them. Not now. They need me."
"Then I will send some angels to secure their safety. They will be fine."
I bit my lip to the point where it almost started to bleed. "Fine but let's make a deal out of it. I will help you imprison the gods. And you will make sure that they live safe and fulfilling lives. The moment even one of them can't meet these requirements the deal is broken, and I will stop holding the gods down to care for them myself."
She smiled and reached out her hand. "We have a deal."
I could feel the tingling sensation from a deal being made running through my body.
"Good, then can you let time flow again? I would still like to at least give an explanation as for why I'm leaving."
"Sure. I will be waiting outside."
With a flash it was almost like she disappeared. And if she had not told me where she went, I doubted that I would be able to tell where she was right now.
A few humans who had been paying attention to me were visibly confused about the fact that I was suddenly somewhere else. But I ignored their stares and quickly told the people close to me to come by trough their minds. This confused them even more.
Once everyone was here, I collected my courage and spoke. "The angel who was supposed to slay the beast came and I was able to make a deal with her. She will make sure everyone is fine. But in return I have to help her with something. And I don't know how long that will take… I don't even know if I am going to get back at all. But don't worry, the moment something goes wrong I will probably be able to get back and help you out. I just wanted to say goodbye, just in case. And thank you all from being here for me. Take good care of yourselves until we meet again."