If Only In Our Dreams

Chapter 11 - The Dark Angel

The sounds of leaves swaying in the wind, birds and insects chirping in their natural habitat, the glow of the sun's rays beating down on the dark being that stood so suddenly in the clearing of the forest. Looking as beat down and rough as he felt, Eekainine slowly tilted his gaze up towards the source of light in the clear blue sky with a scowl.

The natural state of Earth sickened the demon to no end.

After having spent an entire year in Hell, Eekainine had become accustomed to the atmosphere of that world and which environments he ran into. For the majority of his time spent in the land of the demons, he remained within the Fourth District - the same place he was in when he awoke next to Zekai during his first time in Hell.

The Fourth District was the only area in Hell in which the hybrid was technically welcome. And that was solely because that particular society resided within the subconscious realm of dreams. Where he had awoken that first time had been the physical plane of the Fourth District, having landed on the simple desolate surface of the land, not knowing that the true heart of that land rested within a dream world he never had access to up until that point.

Over the whole year in which Eekainine had spent isolated, in exile, away from his true home lands, he spent the majority of his time inside of this separate reality. Even when in other parts of Hell, be it the First, Second, Third, or Fifth Districts, the distortion of coming out of a subconscious state of being into a physical reality played constant tricks on the hybrid's mind. There were often times where he'd question what was truly real, or if where he was and what he was seeing was simply part of his own mind still stuck within a dream of some sorts, buried deep within the true foundation of the Fourth District.

Physical reality no longer seemed feasible. Not until he found his way back to Earth.

As the hybrid stared up into that clear blue sky, eyes squinted from the rays of the sun, fists clenched tight down by his malnourished waist, the fresh air he breathed in was an immediate indicator that where he stood was indeed physical and real. The first few seconds of breathing in that clear air made him feel sick to his stomach. As a demon, he had been stuck in such an unclear state of mind due to where he had been, that the simple crisp winter air was enough to upset his state of being.

With his best efforts, Eekainine wiped that scowl off his face by closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths to fill his lungs with that earthly air. While his eyelids were gingerly shut, he remembered why he had fought so hard to make it back to the surface. Over that entire time of being banished from Heaven, he never once stopped thinking of how to get back home.

There had to be some way.

But it took an entire year's worth of researching and brainstorming to finally reach some sort of sensible conclusion.

Once Eekainine opened his eyes again, his gaze settling down onto the vibrant forest before him, he pushed past that sickly feeling of being on Earth to begin his next quest to reach home. If his calculations were correct, he should have landed in a remote part of Japan where a certain darker sort of angel lived.

Chokichi Kazuko was one of the most controversial angels in existence. His studies and experiences with dark magics had been overlooked by the Council for so long that he had become one of the exceptions to what angels were "supposed" to be. It was a mystery among most as to why he wasn't cast out and become fallen for simply working with dark magic, and even more so when he began a romantic affair with a demon. The Council, however, always proposed some form of excuse to get past the matter, claiming his studies to be necessary for understanding the rival species and to prepare for what could potentially come.

Eekainine had always known who Chokichi was and what sort of life he lead, but never had the opportunity to work side by side with him since they were part of different classes in the angelic society. Eekainine lead the warriors class, while Chokichi would be placed under the mages class, never allowing them to directly correlate with one another unless it was ordered underneath some important mission.