A Wish To Forget

3 - Nomenclature; Skulls Grow On Bark

With her wings unfurled and flapping, she searched for the demon. Her hair moved with the wind, often getting in the way of her sight. It was inconvenient and quite annoying so she'd have to tie it up, but not right now-she still had to search for her 'travel companion'. Spotting him should be easy; his hair was black as night. She'd seen people donning the same color a few hundred years ago, and quite unfortunately, they were burned after being captured unjustly. All fallen had the same hair color as him and she'd internally questioned it when her god made it so because black hair was associated with demons during those times. The thought were immediately erased from her mind once they popped up for questioning her god's choices was blasphemy and a betrayal of his trust.

It was pleasing to look at Raziel from above, and so was looking at the outside world from above. Soon enough, she spotted the demon near the barrier. He scrutinized it with his lips pressed to a thin line, amusing her immensely. He must have tried to leave and failed to do so. The demon, noticing her presence, craned his head up to look at her.

"Hey, care to help, miss bird?"

'Miss bird...? A strange choice of address.' She gracefully landed on the ground right next to where he was, a cloud of dust forming with the flaps of her wings before they folded. The demon was certainly sharp for noticing her; she was hundreds of feet in the air and was especially discreet. "Shall we go?"

Sanciel's expression worsened and he let out a forced 'yes'. He watched her walk through the impossibly durable and solid barrier with ease and cussed the differential treatment between them. While yes, he was on enemy territory and it was only right for the land to cater to its residents; he was still a guest. An involuntary guest, to be specific, but that's gotta earn him something.

"Is your mind drifting elsewhere? Focus." The angel's head poked out of the barrier. She gestured for him to follow but Sanciel looked at her skeptically.

"How am I supposed to get through it?"

"You're not supposed to. The accompaniment of an angel is required to leave."

"I figured." He began to walk towards it and placed his hand over it-an appropriately-sized circular hole appeared for his hand to go through. "You have to be near, then?"

Before she could reply, he already made his way through, a pleased look appearing on his face afterward. Sanciel rejoiced at his successful 'escape' from Raziel-he'd never come back if he could. Now, to say he was fearful of the god was correct but not enough that it had an impact on his life. He was just caught off guard and in addition, his reaction was perfectly reasonable and perhaps even underwhelming.

"My name is Eithria, not miss bird."

The angel-Eithria-broke him out of his musings by introducing herself. She waited for him to answer and after a few seconds of silence, she realized he had no intentions to do so which was fair, given that she did abduct him. Her polite smile persisted through, nonetheless, eyes locking in on his, "What should I call you?"

"Anything," he said and walked ahead of her, waving his hand dismissively. "Call me a demon, call me anything."

Sanciel fixed his collar so it wouldn't flare up as he walked, repeatedly pressing it down with his hand until it stayed how he liked it. Eithria trailed after him, her hand on the hilt of her sword by instinct but his overthinking mind told him it was because she had a desire to kill him. How should he know? There's barely a trace of intolerance in those green eyes.

'Is she a royal guard for Syrilon's royal family? She was wearing the royal knight's armor back then, or was it also a disguise? She must have changed her clothing... But then again, why is she so impractically dressed when she's a swordsman? Unless she's a mage, not wearing enough armor is detrimental at times but even so...'