Karina's small one-bedroom house survived despite the destructive outburst that seemingly happened last night. The air felt tainted with cinder when they reached. Karina walked up to the entrance, observing the consequences of last night.
'How could the damage suddenly be minimized like this?'
"This is just impossible...it wasn't just a fire right?" Dario nodded in response, his observant gold eyes eyeing the property, his tight all-black fit intensifying his intimidating demeanor.
"It was deliberate. Not done by a human either, obviously."
Karina was scared, her heartbeat taking pace thinking of all the unfamiliar possibilities. Dario forcefully opened the door, barging in.
The inside was a mess. The ashy scent was dominant, and most of the items and furniture were in pieces or displaced and disfigured.
This was indeed deliberate. Slowly noticing the details, things were disguised to seem natural.
"How would you find who did this though?" Her voice faltered. There was always a feeling of dislike she got from Dario.
"We need memories, traces. Those are particularly effective when fresh. Gabriel is the angel of memories and the past. He can help decipher at least a bit."
"So..if you guys have all the different powers, why aren't you invincible? The world is still fucked. Still bad. If you guys are so powerful why can't you help? Save? Fix?"
"Balance. We are of a different realm..and we're connected. But that doesn't mean we can play with the natural balance. Us using our power for anything that disrupts the balance by a mass or frequency slowly weaken our powers, our energy. Our presence in our own realm or earth slowly becomes small. It's like being a half-dead creature. Just there." He crouched down, "So..you can imagine. No one is that compassionate to tamper with the natural scheme of things."
Karina scorned, "You're saying no one, not even one angel felt the need to do something for the world?"
He thought for a while before saying, "Actually, yes. But as you see, we aren't fond of being enemies to balance. So, anyone who tried to do something of mass effect would face punishment."
"Oh." To which Dario just shrugged.
Jonah and Gabriel walked in, taking a look around. Dario updated them before they could ask.
"It's probably a deliberate attempt. Not human either. I think we can get something if we embody…"
"You mean if I try to embody the trace?" Gabriel's tone and demeanor were at the extreme compared to Dario's. Gabriel was always calm and composed in his tone, his words. Dario was the opposite.
"What's embodying?"
"It's a term in our realm. It's how we embody things, for example, how Gabriel can embody remaining traces of memories of this place. He can feel the presence, sometimes images." Jonah explained.
"Just a trace." Dario insisted. Gabriel gave him a tired look, eventually giving in.
"Okay let's do it." Gabriel moved forward glancing here and there. He held his hands out, absorbing the traces remaining in the house. He abruptly closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, his head tilting slightly. A surge of energy felt like it shifted upwards for a second then dropping down.
Gabriel regained composure, sighing. "I found traces of a presence."
"What?" Dario eagerly demanded.
"I found...your trace, Karina. Not in terms of being present during the fire. But something different. I also found..an angel's presence. A different one at that."
Immediately after hearing those words, something switched in Dario's attitude. His face was touched by suspicion, turning cold towards Karina. Gabriel weirdly maintained his emotionless state while Jonah was visibly confused and shocked.
Dario looked at her in disgust, "What are you hiding?" He sneered, edging closer.. Jonah immediately caught up, holding Dario back. "Calm down."
Karina's heart hung heavy, as she stuttered, trying to find words to form a proper sentence. Her breaths became faster, "I-I'm not...hiding anything...please, don't hurt me."
"Don't act like an innocent helpless little thing." Dario sneered at me again.
"I'm not! I don't know what the fuck you're talking about! You think I have something to do with this?"
"Yes! You have. You're definitely working with someone, I know that. I see through your human act." He was burning with resentment.
"Why would I want to burn myself in my own house?! You're making no sense!" The sudden accusation overwhelmed her, as she felt the need to cry but held it in hard
"You really haven't seen the worst of people have you?" He was unsympathetic, looking so sure of his assumptions.
He clenched his jaw, edging nearer, now just a few inches away from Karina's face. He hated her. "I'll end you. Soon. I'll destroy you and the person you're working for." His golden eyes flared, fixated on her. "Watch me." Crippling fear spread in every cell of her body, her breathing more uneven.
"Please. I didn't…"
"Let's see, mundane." He ran out, shutting the door behind him, a loud bang as he did.
Karina let out a deep sigh of relief, pleadingly looking at Jonah, who was grim. "I'm sorry Karina."
"I-It's ok...I'm okay...I'll stay here Jonah. I want to...I can't stay at your house." Jonah agreed, his head down, before leaving himself.
A huge weight was again on Karina's shoulders, mixed with waves of fear. She clumsily landed on the small couch with torn material.
Who could she possibly be working for?
Could that person be Dario's enemy? Could that person be the reason Dario's stuck in here?
Karina swiftly sat up and ran into her room. She searched for her computer in her drawer and was successful. The computer was somewhat usable, thankfully. She opened the browser and typed up any keywords about Enkeli and these angels.
'No search results found'
She grew more and more frustrated. Nothing came up. Were they that unknown?
After good thought, she decided to stay at a hotel for the night. She packed everything she could find.
As she was packing precious items lying around, she came across a bunch of books. Her eyes landed on a specific book that was.... translucent.
Grabbing them all, she just continued thinking it was just the stress.
After getting everything she needed, she cautiously headed out, missing the lurking presence hiding in the shadows.