'Just hold the sword and guard the tree.'
Nel's guts churned, his little knuckles strained as he gripped the handle of the little sword that shook in his hands. But his face had been serious when he nodded. His face had stayed serious until everyone had gone to fight the Void.
He was alone in the garden. 'This sucks.' Nel chucked the sword straight into the soft grass and kicked it for good measure. 'Ow.' Turns out swords are hard.
Nel looked up at the tree. Grand and looming. Perfect brown bark, rigid and hard with the eons. Thick, arching branches and perfect, green leaves. Heavy, crawling roots, some bigger than Nel himself.
And up in that glorious canopy, below the churning, glittering sky, were two apples. Bright and glimmering. Purple and Gold. Purple like the churning war outside the garden.
The Tree of Life always helped Nel calm down. When the laughter felt like barbs through his flesh. When the others patted him on the head like he was some sort of child. He only needed to look at the tree, at its wondrous patterns, its perfect leaves.
Not this time.
Nel kicked a tuft of grass and it sprang right back up. 'I could do something,' he grumbled. 'Thalos gets to go fight and I have to do his job?' He kicked the grass harder and it sprang right back up.
Nel huffed.
The rumbling shrieks of the void born reverberated through the garden, shaking the grass and quivering the leaves. The clashing of weapons and shouts of the gods did nothing for Nel's nerves. He picked up the sword.
Nel swished the sword around in the air, a child fighting imaginary beasts. 'I could fight, I'm strong,' he whined.
Some movement caught his eye and he looked up into the tree again. But it was just the grand war at the gates, reflected on the gleaming, purple apple. It was nothing.
'You could be powerful, Nel'Arion,' a voice said from somewhere. A woman's voice? A girl's voice maybe?
Nel looked around, looked up and down, and looked behind him. There was no one left here. It was just him and the garden. 'Who said that?' Nel asked of the empty air.
There was no answer. Nel held the sword in front of him as he made a circuit of the tree. There was definitely no one there. Frowning, the tip of the sword quivering, Nel expanded his patrol, keeping the tree in view the whole time.
Still nothing. With a sigh, he lowered the sword and trudged back to the tree. 'I could have taken them, you know,' he complained to the tree. 'If it wasn't just my stupid brain.'
***
The mood was dour around the garden. The smell of blood and smoke was omnipresent. The huts and houses were dark. What few people could be spared to rest lay on the grass with glassy eyes.
Nel conjured doves, conjured butterflies and dragons. The glimmering shapes of his illusions fluttered through acrobatic maneuvers that had always gotten smiles and praise before.
But the gods were quiet. Were dull and dour.
'Thanks for trying.' Sylith patted Nel on the head as she passed him on the way back to the gate. 'It's just not the time.'
Nel frowned, severely, and kicked at the grass that he could never so much as bruise. His sword hung limp in one hand, less than a twig compared to the weapons of the other gods.
'I don't know what to do,' he complained to no one. 'How am I supposed to cheer them up if no one pays me any mind?'
He hadn't heard the voice again, but he had kept talking to the tree in hopes of flushing out what he was sure was a spy. Now, it was just a habit.
'If there was something I could do…' he sighed. He knew as well as anyone that there was nothing he could do.
'You could be powerful, Nel'Arion,' that same voice said, that same distant girl.
Nel raised his sword. 'Ah ha.' He hurried around the tree, looking all over. There was still no one in sight. What had he said to get the tree to respond?
'How could I be powerful?' Nel asked slowly, staying vigilant.
As Nel crept around the base of the tree, it seemed like his ruse had failed.
'There are many routes to power,' that girl's voice said.
Nel almost jumped out of his skin. 'What? Where are you?' He hurried around the tree again, sword flailing before him.
'I am here as you are here.'
There was no one there.
'Where are you?' Nel asked again, afraid that if he was any louder, he would draw attention from the gates.
But this time the voice was silent.
'What are the routes to power?' Nel asked. He was sure he knew the answer, but maybe if she spoke again, Nel would be able to spot her.
'The physical and the magical.'
'Oh, of course.' Nel very nearly hit himself in the face with the sword as he went to slap his forehead. 'You're speaking to me with magic. Trying to corrupt me, no doubt, so I let my guard down.'
Nel squared his shoulders and stood up straighter. He relaxed his grip on the sword and it stopped shivering in his hands.
'I'll not be swayed,' Nel proclaimed.
*** Hours Passed ***
Nel was in the form of a dog, a cute little Shiba Inu. Lumina threw him up into the air, higher than the bright green treetops of the garden. High enough to see the smoke and the roiling, purple Void at the gates.
She was just about smiling when she caught him. Nel remembered to bark and her smile got a little bit brighter. 'If only you were a fearsome wolf and you could help us at the gates,' Lumina said, scratching under Nel's chin.
Nel forgot to smile, but had the sense not to insist that he could help.
Lumina's smile faded. 'I'm sorry,' she said. 'You are helping, keeping the Tree safe. A fearsome, adorable dog.'
She scratched him on the head and this time Nel remembered to do the doggy smile. But Lumina's face stayed serious. She put him down.
Nel was kicking grass again.
'Are you a toy dog, to do tricks?' that girl's voice asked. 'Absent the power to really help?'
Nel looked up at the glorious patterns of the huge old tree. There was no one there. There was no one around.
'I'm not a dog,' he grumbled.
'Are you not? Running after your masters with a grin plastered on your face, trying so desperately to make them smile?'
Nel kicked the grass harder, it made no difference. What physical power could he possibly have? What chance could he have to help the fighting when he couldn't even hurt grass?
But no. He wouldn't be tempted.
'Do you think they respect you, Nel'Arion?' the girl teased.
He looked up at the purple apple, gleaming and rippling in the light of the endless stars. But it was just a trick of the breeze. The fruit couldn't talk. It was some voidborn creature trying to distract him from his important work.
'Do you think they gave you this task because it's important?'
Nel stamped his foot. 'It is important!' he insisted. 'If the Void reaches this tree, everything will be lost. The balance will be ruined forever.'
'Why is everyone else fighting at the gates, then?' the girl needled. 'Are you so powerful that you could take on a threat that destroyed all the other gods?'
Nel sighed and looked at the perfect grass under his angry feet. What was he supposed to say to that? He was useless. He was so weak he'd been given the only job that kept him from fighting with everyone at the gate.
But that wasn't quite right, was it? He was good at one thing, surely. In a much steadier, calmer voice, Nel posed the question: 'How could I become stronger?'
'The best route must be magic,' the girl said. 'Are you magical, Nel'Arion?'
This shapeshifting, these illusions, they weren't magic. Nel had always been able to do them. He had been made to do them, he was sure. To entertain and inspire. Perhaps to deceive. Perhaps to extract information.
'I don't know any magic,' Nel pronounced. 'I'm… um… far too weak for something like magic.'
'I could teach you,' the girl said. 'I could teach you to become powerful. Then the gods would respect you.'
Nel almost couldn't believe this was working. 'Oh, is that right?' he asked, too loudly, looking around the garden as if he were checking for eavesdroppers.
'You could be more powerful than all the gods, Nel'Arion.'
Nel did have to admit that that sounded good. But he was sure it was all lies. Just some voidborn spy trying to trick him into letting her into the garden to destroy the balance.
'What could you teach me?' Nel asked, still too loud.
'What do you know of curses?'
***Some time later... ***
The war did end. Endless as it was. The garden remained unchanged. There was no celebration. There were no gods left to celebrate, or so it felt in the luscious, perfect garden. Hundreds had marched to war and now only twenty remained.
On the very threshold of victory, the Void had simply vanished. There was no victory to celebrate. There were only dead to mourn and enemies to fear.
'Nel,' called Noctus as Nel passed through the village. 'How about something fun? Perhaps some birds?'
Nel stopped and frowned. He could barely remember the last time he'd tried to entertain the others. There had seemed no point. No one cared. No one wanted him there.
'Um…' Nel waved his hand and a pigeon appeared above him. It flew over to Noctus, perched on his head, then took a shit and disappeared.
Noctus flailed at the empty space around his head while Nel snuck off, back to the tree. At least everyone else found it funny. That was something, right?
'Still doing tricks for them, little dog?' the girl asked.
Nel scowled. The patterns he'd learned formed around his fingers.
'No,' the girl said, voice harder than Nel had ever heard it. 'You're being watched.'
Nel clenched his hand and the symbols disappeared. He didn't look around furtively, didn't act suspicious. He just kept on walking around the tree and, when he came around to the other side, he saw who was watching him.
Sylith and Noctus frowned vaguely through the lush greenery of the garden, the strong trees and bright flowers, at Nel. They stood at the edge of the gods' little village.
'He just seems so sad, you know?' Noctus said. 'And he never performs anymore.'
Sylith nodded. 'I wonder if we were too dismissive during the war. He did his best. We could have been more appreciative.'
'Perhaps we could formally invite him to perform?' Noctus said. 'So that he knows how much we appreciate him.'
'A good idea,' Sylith said. 'We should have the others sign the invitation, so he knows that everyone appreciates him.'
They left their post at the edge of the village, where they had been watching Nel's slow and sporadic patrols around the Tree and the garden.
*** Sometime Passed...***
Nel gazed intently into the glimmering orb of purple light in his hands. Sigils and runes floated by in the purple haze as he tried to focus on them, tried to remember them. But they faded back into hazy meaninglessness.
'You need to concentrate, Nel'Arion,' the girl said.
Nel looked up at the wriggling, purple apple high above. 'I am concentrating, apple,' he whined. 'It's hard and you know it.'
'How much have you seen, Nel'Arion? How much do you know?'
Nel sighed and the orb dissipated from between his hands. 'I have seen much and I don't know enough. It's difficult.'
'How long has it been? You still don't know enough?'
Nel flexed his fingers and glyphs and sigils appeared and faded around his hands. 'How could I ever know enough? They still don't respect me.'
'You have not shown them your power, Nel'Arion,' the apple whispered.
'And why should I?' Nel asked the rippling apple. He knew illusions, he knew it was simply a facade to convince him this spy was part of the garden and not some outsider trying to trick him.
'They would respect you, if you showed them your power.'
'They would execute me for a traitor,' Nel said. 'They would know I've collaborated with you and they would get rid of me. Think about it.'
The girl's voice was quiet.
'I already told you, I don't know enough,' Nel grumbled, holding his hands in front of him, ready to bring back that purple orb.
But before he could accidentally reveal himself, he heard a swishing in the garden off to his left. He quickly drew his little sword and turned to face the approaching threat. But it was just Sylith.
Nel sighed. 'Don't sneak up on me,' he said. 'I'm on guard duty.'
Sylith nodded seriously. 'And I should have considered that,' she agreed. 'But you know the threat is gone, yes?'
Nel shook his head furiously. 'I don't know that,' he insisted, still holding the sword. 'And you don't know that either. The Void wasn't defeated, it vanished. Perhaps it is preparing some other strategy, some other means of attack. We need to stay on guard.'
Sylith saw an opportunity. 'But we also need to keep our morale up, Nel'Arion,' she said, and reached down to hand Nel a card. 'And you're so good at that, too.'
Nel took the card. It had only been the size of Sylith's hand, but for Nel it was nearly the size of his whole body. 'What's this…' he trailed off as he read.
"Nel'Arion, we wish to formally request your presence as an entertainer for an upcoming event to boost morale." It was signed by all twenty of the gods who had survived the war.
'Oh,' said Nel. His heart rose. So they did appreciate him? Isn't that what this meant? But… 'But I should be protecting the Tree of Life.'
'Perhaps you are right, and the Void schemes against us,' Sylith said gently. 'But in this time of apparent peace, wouldn't it be nice to go back to how things were?'
No, though Nel. They don't appreciate me. They just want me to do tricks and bark for their amusement.
'I…' He started to say that he couldn't do it, that his task was too important. That the spy he had been engaging all this time would take the opportunity to… but he couldn't refuse an invitation from all the gods, could he? They would think he had been corrupted, and he still didn't have enough evidence to prove the existence of the spy.
'I accept,' he said, forcing a smile. 'I'll do some tricks for everyone. But I don't think I should keep away from my post for too long.'
Sylith nodded gently. 'We will appreciate your presence for as long as you can stay away.'
With that, Sylith left to wander back to the village.
Only once Sylith was out of sight did the tree speak again. 'A glorious return to the stage for the performing dog.'
***Hours Passed***
The evening of Nel's performance, the sky was a glorious, deep navy blue, the remains of the sunset staining the horizon in brilliant reds and oranges and purples. The perfect green trees and bushes and grass of the garden waved pleasantly in the eternal breeze.
All of the remaining gods were gathered in the main square of the village where Nel stood, trembling, on an intricate, decorated stage. It had been so long since he performed. So long since the crowd had wanted him. Now even these sad remains of his old audience felt overwhelming.
Nel took a deep breath and conjured a spotlight to centre stage. The murmuring and muttering of the crowd quieted as he stepped into the light. He couldn't be sure that Sylith had told everyone that he would not be staying long.
'I do have my duty to attend to,' Nel called to the crowd. 'And thus I'll simply have to cram in as much fun as I can before I return to the Tree of Life.'
A wave of muttering led to smiles in the crowd. Someone even went 'woo, fun'.
Nel started with music, a simple, plinking sort of melody played by an illusory badger on the lute. More animals appeared with more instruments, slowly building harmony and rhythm, keeping quiet and sedate.
Two rabbits appeared from nowhere to hop around the stage in time with the music. As the band grew louder and quicker, the hopping turned to dancing. The dancing to a samba replete with flowing capes and dresses. As the first song finished, the rabbits kissed, passionately.
'Oh, none of that,' Nel waved awkwardly at the rabbits as the kiss only got hotter and hotter. 'No one wants to see that.'
'I do,' a voice shouted from the crowd.
Nel shook his head. 'Such debauchery.'
A curtain descended around the rabbits, blocking their passion from the crowd. That same voice went 'aw', but turned into a chuckle when squeaking started to come from the curtain.
As the curtain started to shake and wave, Nel hurriedly waved at the band to start playing. A quicker, percussive song struggled to cover the sounds of the imaginary rabbits' behind the curtain and Nel kept waving at his barnyard animals to play louder.
The music rose and rose, and the squeaking rose and rose, and Nel got visibly more flustered as he waved furiously at the bend. The crowd were all laughing by now and Nel tried not to let it bother him.
With a crash of symbols, the curtain exploded into a wave of little rabbits that poured over the stage and out into the crowd. A net appeared in Nel's hand and, as the music turned to that carnival music that everyone knows, he tried to chase down the rabbits across the stage and through the crowd as everyone chuckled and clapped.
The band played sound effects like a slow slide-whistle as Nel appeared to struggle to pull the massive, bulging net back toward the stage. With each great heave, his tiny body grew bigger and stronger, muscles straining against his magician's outfit.
Finally, Nel climbed onto the stage to a rattling drumroll, easily twice the size he had been when he started, and three times as broad. With an almighty heave, Nel's costume exploded, along with the net, pouring into a stream of doves that took off into the night sky and revealing little Nel standing there in nothing but his underwear.
As the band played a dimming song, Nel took his bows to the thundering audience, grin plastered across his face. They loved him. The gods roared with laughter and thundered with applause.
But weren't they laughing at him? Weren't they laughing at his humiliation? Hadn't it always been like that? Laughing at the way he expressed and contorted himself?
With his final bow, Nel's typical red-gold clothes and black cape unfurled on him. The band melted back into the dimming garden.
'With that,' Nel called. 'I must return to my post.'
The gods stood, their applause becoming uproarious with cries of 'encore'.
'I simply haven't the time,' Nel called.
He hopped down from the front of the stage and the whole structure burst into illusory barnyard animals, a sea of rabbits and a wave of doves that fluttered away into the sky.
There were cries and whoops and thunderous applause and Nel hurried through the crowd. Perhaps he was overthinking it? Perhaps it had always been like this, but they were laughing with him, surely? They were clapping and shouting for him, surely?
As the applause died down and Nel reached the edge of the garden, he heard a voice from behind him. Muttered and quiet but clearly audible in the still quiet of the garden.
'It's not like his job is important,' someone muttered. 'He could have kept going.'
No. They were laughing at him. All they wanted was for Nel to stay and embarrass himself. They didn't care for the art of it all, only the humiliation and spectacle.
Maybe the Apple was right.
*** Hours passed...***
'Your plan seems to have backfired,' Elyra said, watching Nel scowl through his patrols around the Tree of Life. 'He barely leaves the tree at all, now.'
Noctus rubbed at his chin. 'It seemed such a good idea,' he complained. 'And Nel seemed to enjoy himself so much.'
'And yet…' Sylith sighed. 'I don't think he's even talked to anyone since then.'
'Just the tree,' Elyra said.
'We shouldn't have left him alone for so long,' Sylith said.
'Should we have prioritised the little trickster over fighting the war?' Noctus said. 'He'll recover, I'm sure.'
'You're right, I suppose,' Sylith said. 'I just worry about him.'
'Don't worry too much,' Elyra said. 'Last time it only made it worse.'
Sylith sighed. 'I suppose so.'
'You say he talks to the tree?' Aden's deep voice seemed to come from nowhere and the other three gods startled. He was standing just behind them, as if he had been there the whole time.
'Oh, Aden,' Elyra huffed. 'You shouldn't sneak up on people.'
'People should be more observant,' Adan intoned. 'We are not in the clear, yet.'
'See, that's what Nel said, too,' Sylith said. 'That he shouldn't leave his post because the Void may be scheming against us.'
'Hmm,' Aden rumbled. 'Perhaps I, too, ought to have been more observant.'
'You think he's right?' Noctus asked.
'I think he spends too much time gazing at the purple fruit.'
*** Sometime Later...***
Nel didn't always spot Aden when he was watching, but the Apple always spotted him. As Nel went to practice the curses he had learned, went to gaze into that purple haze to learn, the Apple commanded him to stop, to look around.
It was so frustrating, Nel couldn't help but complain. 'Why can't he just mind his own business?' he whined, kicking the grass.
'Their performing dog has stopped performing,' the Apple said. 'Is it not natural for the master to worry when his pet's behaviour changes so drastically?'
Nel groaned and kicked at the grass some more, to no avail. 'Wasn't it you who said I should stop performing? Now you're telling me that I should?'
'I said no such thing,' the Apple chuckled. 'I simply described the situation you've found yourself in.'
Nel sighed, but made another circle of his patrol before he said anything more. 'What should I do, then? If they suspect me, then they'll make me stay away.'
'You can't let that happen, Nel'Arion,' the Apply said, hurriedly. 'You're the only one who understands. You're the only one who can help me.'
Nel sighed again. 'How can I help you? I can't do anything.'
'Are you not so much more powerful now?'
'Am I?' Nel demanded, too loud. He took a breath and continued. 'All I can do is practice in the dark, alone. How should I know if I'm more powerful now?'
'Nel'Arion, you already have power here,' the Apply said. 'They underestimate you. They do not know what magic you wield. How could they stop you?'
'Stop me from what?'
'From taking me away from here. Taking me somewhere time moves. Where I can bloom and grow and finally be free of this accursed tree.'
Nel looked all the way up the accursed tree in question, up the glorious brown, patterned bark. Up at the perfect green leaves and the pearlescent purple apple.
Would this help his plan? To secret away the Apple? If he took it to the overworld, where time moved, would he remove the threat from the garden?
*** Sometime Later...***
'You don't understand, Adan,' Nel insisted. 'I have to keep guarding the tree.'
'My word is final, Nel'Arion,' Adan gazed coldly down at Nel. 'You are not acting with right mind. You will be removed from this duty.'
Nel clenched his fists, looking up at the giant, winged form of Adan. 'I need to stay here, Adan,' he insisted. 'Or else… something… will happen…' He still had no evidence, though, did he? Nothing but his newfound curse magic. But that only incriminated Nel, didn't it?
'A new guard will be assigned, Nel'Arion,' Adan said. 'Perhaps when I am convinced that you are recovered of mind, we will have this discussion again.'
'But…'
'My word is final.' Adan flicked just a finger and Nel was wrenched across the garden and hurled into the village.
When he looked back, Adan was gone.
It was simple coincidence that Sylith was nearby to where Nel had been flung. She approached as Nel stood up and dusted himself off.
'Nel? What happened?' Sylith asked, crouching down to take a look at Nel.
'You had something to do with this.' Nel was sure of it. 'You just want me to perform for you. You got Adan to relieve me of my duty.'
Sylith stood, towering over Nel. 'I did no such thing, Nel,' she said. 'True I wondered if you were too fixated on your work. But…'
'You admit it, then?' Nel demanded, pointing up at Sylith. 'You wanted me relieved of my duty?'
'I didn't want that, Nel,' Sylith insisted.
'What did you want, Sylith?' Nel shouted. 'Did you want your performing dog back? Did you want to point and laugh at little Nel, just doing his best?'
'Nel, that's not…'
'Nel, you're acting like a child.' Noctus, who had been brought by the shouting, interrupted Sylith.
'How about you, Noctus?' Nel kept on shouting. 'You just wanted more doves?' Doves burst from the ground all around Nel, swirling around the three of them. 'You just wanted me back to playing the jester? As if my task wasn't important?'
'It wasn't important, Nel.' Noctus immediately descended to Nel's level. 'It was needless busywork just to keep you out of harms' way.'
'I…' Nel stopped. Hadn't that been what she said? Hadn't that been what he knew? 'I see.'
Nel turned on his heel and strode away into the garden.
*** Sometime later...***
'Nel'Arion, what do you think you're doing?' Adan demanded, voice thundering through the dark and quiet garden.
It was the dead of night. The flowers had closed up to await the return of the sun. The village was dark. The everpresent breeze was silent as it wove its way through the leaves and branches and grass.
What Nel thought he was doing was what needed to be done.
What Nel appeared to be doing was scaling the Tree of Life, hand outstretched toward the purple Apple that rippled and wavered with the spectre of the girl trapped inside.
Adan flicked his finger and Nel was wrenched from the rough bark of the tree, little hands and little arms unable to hold against Adan's power. But as Nel was hurled away from the Tree, he dissolved into grains of sand.
Another Nel sprinted from the bushes on the far side of the Tree from Adan and started the same frenzied, scrabbling climb, more arms sprouting from his sides and he pulled himself toward the canopy and the fruit.
Adan's finger flicked and Nel came away from the tree with chunks of bark held in his many hands. But he burst into a shower of crawling, biting spiders over Adan as he was flung away from the tree.
Three more Nel's scrabbled up the tree as Adan wiped the illusory spiders from his face. Adan clenched a fist and all three illusions crumbled into dust.
The village was starting to light up.
Dogs were barking in the brush. A bear bigger than Adan thundered from the perfect trees of the garden. Adan didn't even flinch as he flexed his fingers. The bear collapsed into a wave of water and then a tide of doves, cooing and circling Adan, blocking his view of the tree.
Nel dug dozens of little hands into the bark as he climbed like a spider up the side of the Tree of Life.
'Nel'Arion, you had best stop this foolishness,' Adan intoned. The doves fell to ash.
Eagles and hawks and owls descended from the canopy to claw at Adan's eyes, illusory claws passing harmlessly through his flesh, blinding him just as surely as real claws.
Adan raised a hand and with a low boom, a shockwave spread from him. The birds were blasted into feathers and sand and ash and Adan suddenly found himself elsewhere in the garden.
He was nowhere near the Tree of Life. Nowhere near Nel'Arion.
There was no noise, no shockwave, no sudden destruction. The garden suddenly went dead. The leaves faded to an ordinary green. The breeze still for the very first time. The grass crushed and snapped and bruised underfoot.
In his hand, Nel held a luminescent, purple apple.
'Nel,' called the girl. 'You've done it. You've freed me.'
'I…' Nel didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do.
'Nel, you must be quick,' the girl hurried. 'You must send me down to the overworld, before anyone comes.'
Glyphs and runes and sigils formed around Nel's fingers, burst into wide, spiralling arches and rings of mighty power. Tore at the fabric of the garden with barbs and claws and teeth.
Nel stared into the purple haze torn into the yellowing grass of the garden. He gazed down to the world far below, to the colour and texture and variety of it.
'Nel'Arion, what have you done?' Adan's voice boomed through the garden and Nel's trace was broken.
'I…' Nel didn't know what to say. 'Good luck.' He hurled the apple through the portal his own power had torn in the fabric of the divine realm.
The runes and glyphs and sigils faded and the gate was closed. And there stood Adan.
'Nel'Arion,' Adan intoned. 'You have destroyed the balance of things. You have destroyed the eternal garden. You have done what the Void could not do.'
Nel was lifted into the air by Adan's force as the god strode toward him.
'I… what are you talking about, Adan? I've finally succeeded. I've finally rid the garden of the threat I've been trying to guard for the last eternity.'
'You have destroyed the balance, Nel'Arion.' Adan lifted a hand and Nel was dragged through the air closer to him. 'I name you Fallen.'
'Adan, please, you don't understand,' Nel tried to plead. 'That spy has been…'
'You are cast from this place, Fallen,' Adan proclaimed, his words a storm through the ordinary garden. 'You are banished, forbidden.'
Glyphs and sigils burst from Nel's hands, flooded toward Adan. 'Adan,' Nel shouted over the storm. 'Listen to me for once.'
But the purple magic washed over Adan like nothing more than smoke. 'You will never return to this place, Fallen,' Aden proclaimed. 'You have been corrupted. You are no longer welcome.'
Finally, Adan lowered his hand and Nel hurtled toward the ground.
But it was simply not there. When Nel should have landed there was nothing beneath him but cloudy, blue sky. There was nothing beneath him but that glorious, multi-coloured land far below.
Tears streamed from Nel's eyes, floating in the air around him as he burned toward the distant ground. 'Why?!!' he screamed to the heavens. As he was free falling he closed his eyes, all he could hear was the air current echoing.