Me and Faye decided to give up on the rooftops. The risk of falling was too large, and we wanted to be as close to Yoseph as possible.
We found a ladder, and quickly descended it, making our way back to the streets of the sleepless city.
Clank.
We heard a loud sound coming from the direction of Gavalis' palace.
"Someone else has joined us," Faye said from beside me, voice slightly worried.
I kept my own nerves in check and continued down the silent streets.
I wasn't sure why the prospect of somebody else entering the city was unnerving, but it was.
Many of the current divers in the third layer were murderers, like myself. Being on guard was only natural.
After a while of walking, we came to our first change in scenery.
There was a gated fence between two towering buildings, and behind it was a garden made from white grass.
The garden was mottled with vibrant flowers and was seemingly empty. I stopped and looked at it, confused.
This place stands out like a sore thumb. Why is it here?
As I was lost in my thoughts, Faye stepped past the fence, and into the garden. She reached over to pick a flower from the white grass.
It was a rose.
"There's something strange about this place." She said to me whilst inspecting the flower. "This isn't a real flower."
"What do you mean?" I said as my confusion grew deeper.
I stepped into the field to get a closer look, and as soon as I did, I realised I had made a mistake.
Clank.
The gates magically slammed shut behind me. We had stepped into a trap.
Faye dropped the flower and instantly held out her hands, materialising something between them.
I stood readied, preparing my wings in defence.
A mystically black essence began to form from the white grass, a contrast in colours forming into a tornado-like form on the opposite side of the garden.
Whatever it was that had done this was powerful.
Faye huddled up closer to me, holding a red rose between the fingers of her right hand.
I wished she had a blue one. The strength boost that it had provided to me on the rooftops was incredible.
We watched the black mist rise, before slowly falling and returning to the grass, and what it revealed filled me with fear.
It was a woman.
She sat on the grass facing towards us. Her skin was inhumanely pale, and her white robes draped over her entire body.
It only took one glance to realise that she wore the same robes as the divers.
Her hair was white like the grass, and her eyes were a mismatch of colours. One blue, and one red.
All the flowers of the grass had become wilted and died, leaving stains on the surface.
A Fallen Angel! This soon?
The woman watched us with strange eyes, her face surprisingly friendly.
"It seems you are both braver than the boy with the crown from a few moments ago. He didn't even dare glance at my domain."
So Yoseph came past here.
Her voice matched the calmness of her face, and it almost made me lower my guard.
No, she's the enemy.
"Who are you!" Faye demanded fiercely, but the angel was hardly startled. Instead, she patted the ground beside her and flashed us a smile.
"Come, children. Have a seat, and tell me what Gavalis has told you about us 'Angels'"
I was confused by her words. She spoke as if Gavalis' was a liar.
"I don't need to sit to tell you what he said about you. You have a soul source in your heart, and we have been ordered to take it and bring it back to him."
I spoke whilst remaining near the locked gates, not daring to step any closer to the woman. Faye did the same.
Then, the angel let out a laugh or more of a chuckle. She seemed to be young. Not much older than ourselves.
"Yes, yes of course. He told me the same thing. And look at me now." She said as she gestured her hands towards herself.
"Soulless."
"What are you talking about?" I demanded, not liking what I was hearing.
"I'm talking about the truth behind the third layer. You both came from the same place as I did, so why do you insist on trusting a demon?" The angel's voice slowly began to grow more aggressive, making me want to back away even further.
But the gate was locked, and tall. We would not be able to escape in time.
"I killed an "Angel" just like you have been ordered to. Ripped the soul crystal from his heart with my own two hands and brought it to Gavalis' like a dog. I walked right into his chambers. Right into his trap.
It was some sort of playground to him. An arena where he tests his sword against the divers before corrupting them, turning them into "Angels" and then taking the soul stone for his own use."
Part of me was in disbelief, but the other part felt like I expected it. I had faced so much deceit within the last year, that I no longer felt surprised at betrayal.
Especially not from a demon.
"What does he use the soul stones for," Faye asked, and I noticed a strange twitch in the angel's body.
"The soul stones are you used for his s-sword." Her neck twitched against, twisting her head slightly to the side.
"W-ith e-every stone h-h-h." At this point, she twitched gruesomely, spasming as though she had been possessed.
Her eyes rolled back to her head as she rose to her feet, as though being strung by a puppet.
No. She is possessed. This is Gavalis' doing.
The corruption.
The angel looked up to the sky, and as she did, her feet slowly began to rise from the ground. Her body was hovering a few inches above the snow-white grass beneath her feet.
The black essence that had originally formed upon our entering was returning. And now, it was flowing around her body like a dance.
Then, the mist gathered above her head, and she outstretched her hand to reach for it, gripping onto the essence and turning it solid.
We slowly watched as the darkness formed into a sword. A long katana, easily as tall as my entire body. And yet she wielded it above her head, in one hand.
After the blade had finished forming, she landed back on the grass with grace, and into a readied position. Onyx black blade poised in an offensive stance.
There was a madness in her eyes. No longer the human calmness I had seen before.
"I am sorry." The white-haired angel's voice said solemnly. "But I do not control my actions."