“This is where you will live from here on out, let me take you to your room, you must be exhausted, I’m sure!”

  Those were the words that the priest told to me when I was introduced into the church, had it not been for father Ecir, I wouldn’t know where my life would’ve been.

  I don’t remember much about my early childhood, I was taken in when I was only 6, still however, the few things I remember were forever ingrained into my mind, My parents were both harpies, my whole town community were, or so I’ve been told, my parents treated me like a freak, they called me unsightly, and kept me locked on a basement, I remember they called my white wings ghastly and they beled me as an abomination.

  I never asked to be born the way I was, they reduced themselves to just feeding me back then. If they even remembered my existence to begin with, for me they were the monsters, how can they even carry things with those winged arms of them?

  I look back at those times not very fondly, but god had other pns for my family, my birth town was in the middle of the empire and the demon realm, which pushed them to a difficult situation as they had to side to ally with the demons, and get demolished by the empire as they were the border, or side with the empire as we did, and get used as a resource for them, they despise demihumans after all.

  I remember the day vividly, when the fires of war raged my heretic vilge, I remember my mom opening the door to the basement I was kept in, only for the frame to give in and debris falling on top of her, how she pleaded for my help, only to fall on my deaf ears.

  This must have been divine punishment, this rotten town was finally getting the just dessert they were long overdue from, I’ve never been outside my home before that, so the sight was a show that would remain on my memories for all of my life, god decided to purge them all, everyone but me.

  I never found any other harpy after that, still, it didn’t take long before hunger stroke yet again, it was a couple of days since I st had something to eat, even if the fire was just st night, wondering if there was something edible left, I scavenged the burned remain of my vilge, the corpses were quite an awful sight but, my hunger overpowered any feeling of disgust I might of had at the time.

  That was the day I met father Ecir, he was much younger back then, barely turning 18 if my memory serves me right, he was sent there by the church in order to give proper burial to the people of my now destroyed town.

  I flinched on their arrival, were they going to harm me? I didn’t have experience socializing with anyone other than my parents back then, I was really on edge.

  “Wow...”

  “Ah, a messenger of god descended upon us to bless this forsaken nd!”

  I had no clue what they were going on about, still my stomach betrayed me back then, which in turn had them taken aback as well, perhaps they suspected I wasn’t a holy entity or something simir, but it was Ecir who came in and covered for me, not only that but he gave me his lunch back then.

  I must’ve looked like a wild animal, eating with my hands with no modesty or manners at all, he was however, the only one that continued to treat me nicely from all the missionaries that were sent back then.

  They carried out their bor, all the while father continued speaking to me while I ate.

  “What are you, baby? What are you doing here?”

  I didn’t know how to speak much back then, so I didn’t answer, just stuffed my face, I wonder how I didn’t frustrate him back then.

  “Can’t speak huh? Or maybe you don’t know how, do you know your name baby?”

  “Aisey”

  That I did know, it was repeated to me so many times, I have it burned in my mind, most of the time the two persons mentioning it did it with hate or while screaming, it was easy to memorize.

  “Ah, so you can speak! A-z? That doesn’t sound like a name, aren’t you getting it wrong?”

  “Aisey!”

  “I see? Ah forget it, is not important”

  Before I knew it, I finished eating all the food he gave me, in my mind I had rexed already, they weren’t bad people, I didn’t know it at the time but, I had just found my family, amidst all that chaos.

  “Was it tasty?”

  “Un!”

  “I’m gd”

  Ecir’s hand rubbing my hair was something I will never forget for the rest of my life, I thought he was going to hit me, as my parents did all the time, but no, his hand was warm and, and so caring, it was the first time someone was ever kind to me, so I kinda just glued to him, he was ok with taking me with them, he bathed me, clothed me and gave me food, we stopped in different towns on the way to the central church, he even spent the nights with me teaching me how to speak.

  As we couldn’t be together forever, back then he was a simple missionary, and I was left in charge of the central church orphanage back on the empire, I was the only non-human back then, but it wasn’t that bad, everyone called me a sign of good omens and things I simply couldn’t understand at the time.

  My childhood was pretty normal, I would py with the other kids, never again did I ever suffered from hunger or pain while there, the caretakers were all gentle and cared for us tenderly, we even had csses within the orphanage, I learned the nguage, to read and write, math, geography, history, everything that we would need for our life to continue when the time to spread our wings finally arrived.

  I however was put on a different program than the rest of the kids. However, since a very young age, my affinity to wield magic was more than apparent, so I was taught by one of the church priests on the way of magic.

  It seems healing magic was one of my fortes, honestly I was kind of impressed, as was father back then, we continued with healing magic practice whenever a kid would scrape his knee pying or a someone accidentally took a ball to the face, I was called to heal them as a way to practice, it made me happy that people relied on me, I finally found a home back then.

  “And then Lily took the whole basket and tried to carry it by herself but she tripped and made a mess of the kitchen!”

  “Haha, poor Lily, did you help her?”

  “Of course! We all cleaned up the floor and I even healed the nosebleed she got after the fall”

  “You’re such a good girl Az~”

  Father Ecir would come from his missions every now and then, to spend time with me, the way he always rubbed my head made me feel warm and fuzzy, I know he was busy and I was just a child back then, but I consider him as my father, he’s the only one that ever lent me a hand when I had nothing, he even gave me a name, Azaquiel, but everyone always call me Az.

  He said it reminded him of an old legend about angels, and that it sounded kinda simir to what I mentioned was my name back then, that’s how Az was my official nickname.

  Everything went smoothly, the days went by, and then months, and then years, and the day I turned 18, I was finally ready to leave the orphanage, as for what I would do now, I was more than sure back then, I became a missionary for the church, with my healing magic, I was an invaluable asset so I was enrolled without any hitch.

  Finally I would be able to help dad with his work, the idea excited me, to finally be of use to him, to help him and also cure the injured or sick, it was all that I ever dreamed of.

  Work itself was hell, we didn’t fight whoever, the amount of hurt people war leaves is...

  It’s nightmarish, people moaning and grunting in pain, the metallic smell of blood as there’s people with missing limbs or opened wounds that all needed treatment immediately, the amount was astonishing, we only had about half a dozen or so healers, so the work never ended.

  The war that the empire involves in is brutal, there’s a constant flow of soldiers and sometimes they do not stand the pressure of the battlefield, moments like this is when I wished to be moved to the eastern border, at least, even though there’s a war there as well, it’s pretty calm and from my understanding, peace treaties are constantly discussed between their two rulers, it couldn’t be that far off from peace I hope.

  Well it’s only to be expected, the Aldrid kingdom is run by humans and are probably just as civilized as we are, to my understanding the war has raged for a while but it slowed down considerably, unlike those nasty people over at the demon realm, I don’t understand why they won’t back down, have they not sustained enough casualties as us?

  I guess trying to negotiate with monsters is an exercise in futility, despite my constant compints, I won’t abandon my post, father Ecir still works for the better of the empire and has never compined even once, he’s my inspiration and role model, at least our interactions occur more often, it’s closer to a work partner retionship, but at the very least we share a dorm and meals.

  He’s still a missionary however, and I’m just a healer, so we move from location to location quite a lot, reporting back to the central church every now and then, and visit the caretakers and my fellow siblings that are still on the orphanage, life could be better but we’re working for a better future for all of us.

  That is until during one visit at the central church, those 2 people appeared, a couple of hooded figures, they razed through the entire cathedral, it didn’t matter how many holy knights, priests and people fought back, they were unstoppable, I’m not a fighter, all I could do was try to help the injured while I gritted my teeth in anger.

  We managed to evacuate the children so fortunately, the infant casualties were minimal, but not zero. I looked at the two figures with rage filled eyes as tears flowed down in my face.

  “*whistle* is that a non-human I see in the church, what are you doing here birdie, are you lost?~”

  The voice of a woman mocked me behind her covered appearance!

  “YOU MONSTER! WHY DID YOU DO THIS!?”

  “So you’re also part of the church? We were sent to look for something but, unfortunately that something is not here, sorry about the golden pilrs and historic constructions, I’m sure you can rebuild it to fit your hubris~”

  “YOU!!”

  I punched her angrily, but it was like hitting a stone wall, she simply gave me a head pat further humiliating me!

  “Good girl, try harder next time~”

  I don’t remember much after that, next thing I remember was waking up in a bed, it seems I was knocked unconscious, despite the pain in my body I got up and helped continue healing the rest of the injured people from that attack.

  Needless to say, it was a huge blow for us, but Father Ecir was one of the most shaken by it, he was never the same kind priest that I always knew of, not short after this he enlisted as a mage for the church, the empire helped us get back on our feet, but now dad was doing rather dangerous work.

  One day he came over to the tent where I was tending to more casualties of war, his squad was pretty hurt but fortunately, he only sustained scrapes and cuts, nothing life threatening, unlike our other brothers and sisters.

  “Az, thanks for taking care of us”

  “Oh it’s nothing! I like to help!”

  He made small talk while I was bandaging his body, his eyes grew weary and his voice was void of any joy...

  “Thank you, If only, if only those demons would listen to reason, they’re blood thirsty animals, unable to keep their instincts in check!”

  “I know father, do not let rage cloud your judgement, we must carry out the will of god and bring peace, so that we may not suffer from such atrocities never again”

  “Az... How is the central church reconstruction going?”

  “Slowly, they’re rebuilding only the necessities, it seems the orphanage within is not a priority, at least for a while”

  “That’s unfortunate, more so with so many children in need of such a pce”

  “It’s the sad reality”

  “Az I, I wish I could open my own orphanage one day, maybe once the war settles down, would that not be wonderful?”

  “It sounds like an excellent idea, I’m sure with father in charge, we could give a new home to many of kids in need”

  “It would be a dream, one can only hope”

  “Let’s work hard so it’s a reality one day, and who knows, maybe orphanages won’t be needed one day, that would make me happy”

  Our little conversation would become a reality, and around 26 years ter, war was officially over with the demons of the west. We have not reached peace per se, simply put, neither of them stand each other, they don’t tolerate each other not even to sustain a fight.

  War with the kingdom continued however, still, we as the church have all but run out of work, no longer do countless people carrying grievous wounds approach the church every day, missionaries stay in the church, biding their time, and father Ecir was promoted to one of the bishops for the church, in order to spread peace, we were tasked to go to the kingdom and found a base of operations there.

  That’s when he approached me, and asked me if we still shared that dream we had in the battlefield all those years ago, nothing made me happier, as did so with father Ecir, I wonder how long was it since I saw him smile like that, every day was a blessing, and the kids we took care of lived happily here with us,it was small, considering it was only father and I running it but, we make do ourselves.

  That is until one day a demon came knocking on the doorstep, she cimed to be the new town lord, I despise demons as does father, still she imposed herself on our humble abode, fortunately no one got hurt, but she mentioned something to father that I couldn’t quite hear, it made him really angry however.

  ...

  ...

  “Az, I have to go do some errands, can I leave you in charge of the kids for a little while?”

  “Sure! Safe travels!”

  Father left quite agitated, but came back perfectly calm an hour ter, and then became agitated once more after receiving a letter at sunset.

  “Az, I, I need to talk to you”

  “Yes father, what is it?”

  “I bear terrible news, it seems that demon is pnning an attack towards us and-”

  We were interrupted by the sound of the main gate. We both turned our heads and saw the gate opening, where two hooded figures stood. Both father and I recognized them immediately, without a second doubt, father attacked them with a spell, but it was obvious that it did nothing.

  “Now now, no reason to get so agitated, father~”

  I will never forget that voice, still I knew better than to attack immediately, I’m not a fighter after all, I stood no chance, the only hope would be to support father.

  “Calm down, we mean no harm, it’s just that, we received rather distressing news”

  They mentioned, waving a letter that made father angry once again, still he kept his composure, and tried to talk to these monsters.

  “I want nothing of you two, get lost”

  “Now now, we can help~ just-”

  “GET OUT OF MY CHURCH!”

  “*whistle* what a temper, very well then, sorry to disturb~”

  They both left in the blink of an eye, I hate that whistling of hers, it makes me angry.

  “W-what now father!?”

  “I have a selfish request Az, could you listen to me?”

  “Of course! What can I do!?”

  “Take this letter and fly south, to the church in the next town, we’re gonna be requesting help from our brothers and sisters!”

  “O-Ok! But the kids!?”

  “For now I will take them all to the study in the basement, better to keep them hidden than risk their lives, it’s also too risky to move them to the streets like this, we will hold out until our family can assist us, it’s the only thing we can do!”

  “Ok father! I will carry this with haste!”

  And so I flew, as far as my wings could carry me!

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  ***Ecir’s POV***

  And she left, for now, I need to prepare for when the guests arrive!

  It pains me to do this but it must be done, without them, our battle with the demons will not progress, it’s unethical but, I can’t sit down with my arms crossed waiting for the worst to happen, if the kingdom falls, the empire will be next, I just pray everything goes without a hitch.

  “Father Ecir?”

  “That’s me, did you get them?”

  “Yes and it’s not all”

  “Get your hands away from me!”

  To my surprise Gwendal came with the rest of the unconscious kids and people.

  “Milord, what are you doing here!?”

  “Father Ecir? What is happening?”

  “I fear the worst, and that the demon sitting in the pace might attack these poor kids, it seems my companions managed to save you as well?”

  “Ah so it’s that! Thank you father, I was imprisoned in the pace for several days, maybe weeks, you have my gratitude!”

  “It’s nothing, come inside, and take everyone, we need to pn our next move, and quickly, there’s not much time!”

  Why is Gwendal here, could it be a trap of the demons, is he also with them and is trying to sell me out? I can’t allow that, still he was always kind to the church and our mission here, he at least deserves salvation as does the innocent people gathered here today!

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  ***Back to Az***

  I flew as fast as I could, and returned back, only to see the city burning, I didn’t have the time to worry about such details, so I headed back home, once inside there was no one, or so I thought, catching my breath and entering the chapel I saw father as well as all my kids gathered in one pce.

  “Ah, Az, thank god you’re safe!”

  “Father, thank god!”

  “It’s ok Az, catch your breath”

  “What’s happening in town!?”

  “I don’t know, for now all we can do is hide and try to survive, I will take all the kids into the basement, can I ask you another favor Az?”

  “Of course!”

  “Run away”

  “E-eh!?”

  “If it’s only you, I’m sure you can escape whatever is happening”

  “There’s no way I can abandon you father!”

  “Understand, if a fight breaks out, we will both die, we need at least a survivor to tell what happened!”

  “I-if that’s the case then father should be the one to run, not me!”

  “Az, we both know I can’t run away, please just listen to me!”

  “I-I’m sorry father, I can’t!”

  “Then you leave me no choice, Azaquiel, with the authority granted to me as bishop from the church of light, I expel you from the holy ecclesiastical entity”

  “Father...”

  “Now go!”

  I couldn’t even get angry at father, I know he didn’t mean it, and I know that if he survives, he will deny with her heart ever saying that, still, it hurt more than I expected, feels like I was kicked from my own home, why is father so against asking for my help!

  Infuriated, I waited at the entrance of the church, maybe I can convince the demons that everyone left, and maybe, just maybe I could save everyone, that is until the demon calling herself the town lord appeared, and with a single kick I was injured quite severely again.

  Why am I so powerless! Is it just gonna be a repeat from st time! How many homes and families must I lose!

  My consciousness was fading so I focused everything I had to heal my broken ribs and my constant bleeding.

  It wasn’t until some of my kids managed to wake me up with tears on their eyes, did I finally finished healing my wounds, the kids were distraught, as were so, so many kids and people, it seems something happened but what caught my attention was father Ecir, his arms and legs bending in unnatural ways and gagged.

  “Father!”

  “Hey, not so fast!”

  A hooded girl stopped me, she seems to be guarding him for some reason, not allowing anyone to get close.

  “I-I’m a healer, I can help him!”

  “Ah, so you’re from the church as well? Either way he’s not getting healed, we ck proper restraints and we don’t want him trying anything!”

  “B-but-”

  “Nothing, get lost!”

  What happened!? The kids also asked me to help the people of the basement, I have no clue what it means, so I dashed inside despite the same hooded girl yelling at me from far away, only seeing the entrance to father’s study, the one he never let me enter before, and saw a pile of corpses, many kids with their throats slit lying lifeless on the floor...

  I felt sick enough for me to not react when the hooded girl dragged me out of the church. I asked her what happened but I couldn’t believe what she was saying, she’s obviously siding with the demons as she’s covered as well.

  I begged the girl however, since everyone, including my kids were on her side for some reason, to let me talk with father, taking his gag, I asked him if what they said was true.

  “Az... I... I can’t deny it...”

  “Father! why...”

  “I can’t take it anymore Az, for how long will the fighting continue! I-I can’t see the end in sight, I just, I had to take things into my own hands, as did the other bishops, I know I don’t deserve forgiveness but... if my damnation means the safety of future generations then, then I will do what I must to see it through!”

  I... I can’t believe what he said, Father was never one to take such a decision, what happened!? What motivated him to become like this! I flew away, I couldn’t hold my tears and distraught, it seems I misjudged the so called “demon” that is our new town lord, I will atone for my crimes, whatever it takes, I want to do what’s right, what the church has always done before such a barbaric administration!

  Joanne_carper