[h3]Into the Depths of Heaven[/h3]

[i]Lucien and Alma

Close to Heaven’s Gate[/i]

Lucien examined the shattered remains of Heaven’s Gate critically. It was heavily guarded by Blackguard. Unusually so. Against one or two of them, he could have fought his way through. A squad he could have ran through with some injuries to show. With some luck he could have even done it with a few squads. But not this...army that was guarding the Gate. “What are you hiding...or guarding against.” He muttered. The Fallen Hunter was a good distance away from the Gate, examining it with his enhanced eyesight. It was certainly a fortress. Not one he was going to get through easily.

But Ariane was in there. And, more importantly, so was Hazumi. 

“Might as well get this started.” He sighed, drawing his sword. This was going to get bloody. He hated it when it got unnecessarily bloody.  Something prickled at the back of his head. Perhaps it was a sound they had made, or perhaps it was just a sixth sense for trouble and violence. Regardless, he knew someone was behind him. In a second he had whirled around, sword at the ready. 

It was a girl. A young woman by human standards. She had dead eyes and a familiar, unsettling, bearing. She wasn’t attacking, which was a hopeful sign. Then again, she might also just be waiting for reinforcements. “Who are you. Why are you here.”

Alma regarded the Archangel that stood in front of her, analyzing the man. She recognized his face, even though she never met him. Something calling him out to her in the back of her memories, though she couldn’t fully remember. It was something her Father once spoke about, an Angel that he had a keen eye on.

She waved it off as a coincidence, he spoke about a lot of people. It was the only thing he found entertaining these days. Watching people go about their lives and make all the wrong decisions.

Snapping herself out of her train of thought, she tilted her head in curiosity as she spoke. “I’m on my way to Heaven.”

“Aren’t we all.” Lucien replied, sword still at the ready. “If you’re on your way to Heaven, go ahead. Good luck with getting past all the Blackguard. They don’t seem inclined to let anyone through. Least of all random girls walking through.” He didn’t trust this woman. She reeked of danger. And nothing. Not a single hint of Essence. That was more than enough to put him on edge. “I’ll ask again. Who are you.”

“My name doesn’t truly matter… Names are useless pleasantries.” She walked past him, starting her walk down the hill. She suddenly stopped and turned her head slightly. “If you wish to pass the Gate, then I suggest you follow. They know me…” Letting that settle in Lucien's mind, she set off towards the Gate. She pulled out a flashlight from her belt, and shone it towards the gate in bursts of 3 short bursts, and 3 long bursts. A simple call that she and the guards had between them. It would help put them at ease.

Lucien stared at the woman. Either she didn’t know who he was, didn’t care, or was leading him into a trap. He stared at the Gate again. It was his best bet of entering Heaven without a bloody fight. [i]This could kill me. Or it could make things a hundred times easier.[/i] He debated a few more moments before shrugging. If it was a real offer in, great! If not, it wouldn’t be the first time he had fought himself out of a suicidally lethal situation. 

Nonetheless, he followed the nameless girl cautiously, ready to bolt at an instant if the Blackguard so much as gave a hint of being ready to attack.

Alma walked up to the gate, greeting the checkpoint guards with a nod, who all returned it likewise. The one in front tilted his head to check over Alma’s shoulder to see Lucien approaching in the distance. “Is that Arch with you?” His voice echoed with the mechanical static of his Voice Comm that his enclosed helmet emitted.

“Indeed. I can always appreciate a helping hand.”

Lucien kept his silence as he examined the interactions with the Blackguard. A familiar face, if not one that was higher ranking than them. They hadn’t attacked yet, which was comforting, but not comforting enough to make him let go of his sword. He followed her, but cautiously. There was only one way into Heaven, and he didn’t want to fight his way through it.

He raised an eyebrow at her comment of ‘helping hand’. She hadn’t even told him what her purpose was.

The soldier’s helmet suddenly blared with a blue light for a moment, scanning the Archangel. “That’s a dangerous man you have there for company. But that's none of our concern.” He turned away from the duo and mumbled something into his helmet, the static was too prominent to hear what he was saying.

Alma herself could care less what or who Lucien was. There were bigger problems to deal with.

The soldier turned back around towards Alma, beginning to speak. “The Wall on the other side is overflowing with Elders. We are managing to hold them off, but they seem to been in endless supply. They are spawning from an unknown source in the ruins of Reingard.”

Lucien’s wings flared out, his sword have drawn, before the man finished speaking. Slowly, as it became clear that the Blackguard wasn’t going to attack, he relaxed. His head tilted at the mention of Elders, teasing at some long lost memory. “What am I getting myself into…” he muttered, waiting for Alma to continue or elaborate on exactly what he was going to be fighting.

“The old Capital…” Alma muttered to herself. She turned to Lucien, walking up to him, looking him up and down, surveying his equipment. “Hmm…” She hummed to herself in thought. “What do you know about Elders?”

“They’re dangerous. I remember that much. They’re an old name. One I haven’t heard in centuries. Certainly before the Great War. You’re going to have to remind me. Because if they’re back, I’d like to remember how to kill them.” Lucien replied, eyeing the Blackguards around them.

“Just use your sword. It will be enough.”

Lucien shrugged. “That was the plan before you came along. Don’t see a reason to change it now.” He tilted his head at her. “Why are you here? The infested, ruined, and violated lands of Heaven aren’t exactly broiling with trouble that should attract your kind.” He narrowed his eyes. “Or is there something you’re not telling me?”

“My kind? You don’t know anything about me…” She turned to the guard and gestured at him, making him turn and speak into his headset again. “I’m here because I’m searching for someone. Someone important.”

“I know your type. You wouldn’t be here unless something extremely dangerous was going around. Solus was the same.” Lucien replied, still keeping some of his attention on the guards around him. “Everyone is important to someone. Even the lowliest of Demons. Who are you looking for?”

“Solus…?” Alma raised an eyebrow at his mention. “You knew my father?”

“Of course. Fought beside him in the Judas war. You seem to have inherited his charm. You still haven’t answered my question.” Lucien idly checked the edge of his blade, making sure it wasn’t dulled by recent use.

“Well…” Alma replied, a little more curious about the Angel. “Solus and Hazumi have… vanished… from the world. I’m here looking for them.” As she finished, a low rumble of an armored Humvee creeped up in the distance. “That’s your ride…” Said the guard to the pair. “It will take you to the Gate. From there you will be on your own.” Alma nodded her thanks, awaiting the approaching vehicle.

Lucien blinked in surprise. “Solus is gone too. Things really are bad then.” He looked distastefully at the truck, his wings flaring as he  shifted in discomfort.  “I’ll follow in the air. Not about to trap myself in a metal box with no way out should things go wrong.”

“The automated turrets will blow you out of the sky, plus there is nothing between here and the gate, and that’s as far as the Humvee goes. But if you want to be filled with lead, that’s up to you.” The guard advised him as the Humvee pulled up beside them. Alma immediately strode towards it and got in.

“Aaurus above…”Lucien groaned, following the girl reluctantly. He put himself in the car gingerly, doing his best not to pin his wings down or otherwise damage them. “What are we going to do? Wander around the ruins of Heaven, shouting out names and hoping they pop up?”

The car moved forward with a jerk, setting off towards the military base. “No. We are looking for clues. Something that will help me find them both. And as far as I have been told, they were last seen in Heaven.” Alma paused to move a bang of hair away from her eye. “I’m Alma, by the way. We might as well know each other's names if we are going to be working together. At least for the time being.”

“I thought names were useless pleasantries?” Lucien said, the ghost of a smirk on his face. “Lucien, though I assume you already know my name. As for clues, I suggest we just find a trail of bodies. Solus was usually good about leaving those behind. Other than that, there’s not much in Heaven that could interest them. At least, there wasn’t when I left it.”

“If there are Elders, then there’s something of interest now…” Alma said offhandedly. The vehicle passed several buildings, with heavily armed soldiers running in the direction of the Gate. “Driver, what the Gate’s status.” She asked. “Dire. It’s getting hit with wave after wave of infected. Angels mostly, tentacles sticking out of them and shit.”

“Wasn’t Heaven evacuated?”

“The survivors, yeah. A few thousand.” There were 150000 angels who had repopulated Heaven in the past year in an attempt to rebuild their old homeworld. If only a few thousand made it out, then the situation truly was bad.  “The rest are like possessed, superpowered zombies. Tough as fuck to take down. And they are coming at us in the hundreds, sometimes thousands depending on the day.” This whole affair was hidden from the news. The outside world had no idea what was happening here.

Lucien sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “This land should never be reinhabited. Too much death. Too much hate.” He looked out the window, giving a harsh chuckle. “Some things never change. How long until we start killing things again.”

“There’s the Gate now.” The driver stated as they approached a massive, heavily damaged ornate archway. It was scared from the ancient Great War, when the Fleshshaper’s Abomination destroyed it and it’s Keeper. But beyond the Gate, should have been the bright skies of Heaven, but they were dark, rotten, and smoke filled. Not a trace of the Sun could be seen. They drove through the Archway, and were greeted by more military buildings. Tanks, VTOLs, Mech Suits, every bit of military hardware was being repaired, rearmed, or already on it’s way to battle. They passed them all, until they reached an enormous concrete wall, it’s perimeter stretched as far as the eye could see, and it’s height reached some 200 meters into the air. “That’s the Wall. This is where you two get off.”

“Of course it is.” Lucien quickly scrambled out of the Humvee, taking a deep breath, his lip curling in disgust. “They smell even more corrupt than the Demons. Abominations.” He swished his sword through the air a few times. “Come along Alma. We have things to kill.”