Angel Monarch

In the morning Sera opened her sleepy eyes and nearly jumped to her feet from surprise.

She didn't remember falling asleep and was quite bewildered to learn that she used David as a pillow.

By the time she had woke up, he was already awake. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment.

"Good morning Sera... I don't want you upset you, but there is something really important I need to tell you!" He leaned in a bit closer then whispered into her ear. "You snore very loudly."

With seemingly no reaction Sera began raising her head off of David's legs, but in the next moment she slammed it down. The back of her head hit him straight in the nuts.

He started violently coughing while Sera just stood above him laughing.

Luckily for him nobody was there to see this interaction. He would've never heard the end of it, if his cohort had seen him get headbutted in the balls.

"Okay... Fine... I deserved that... Fuck that hurt! You would think as an ascended I would feel less pain getting hit in the balls, but alas... life sure as hell works in mysterious ways..."

Her laughter increased a bit, but she soon turned back into her previous cold self.

"Where are the others?" She asked while looking around. There was some leftover breakfast next to the burnt out fire, but that was all.

While waiting for the answer Sera sat down and began munching on the cold monster meat. With a sigh and a small limp, David sat down next to her and began eating the meat too.

"I sent them away to scout out the Dardanelles. The wraith supposed to have left already, but I won't risk my and everyone else's life on incorrect intel. They each went to different parts and after about another hour they should be reporting back."

The meat was really dry so Sera took out her water canteen and drank deeply.

"You should've woke me up. We have to move out soon and I don't want to look lazy in front of your soldiers." Said Sera and took another bite of the food.

David looked at her for a few seconds then just sighed and shook his head.

"You really are hard on yourself. It doesn't matter how hard you work, if you die before the finish line!" He spoke more seriously than usual, but Sera didn't raise her voice and just answered in her empty voice.

"If I die than I will resurrect." Her voice sounded even more hollow than usual, which caused David's face to scrunch in anger.

"How many more times?!" He tried to say it without shouting, but it didn't really work.

Sera stared at him with a confused look. "I can resurrect infinite times, if the question referred to that?"

He just slowly shook his head and looked towards the cloudy gray skies.

"No you idiot... How many more times before you lose yourself?... I haven't died even once in my life, but I know for a fact that what your ability gives has a price... How many more times before you finally go insane?... A thousand... Five-hundred..."

His voice held non of its previous anger and only sounded concerned. Sera didn't dare to look up. She just stared at the mangled piece of meat in her palm, then with a quick move she burned it to a crisp.

Her eyes slowly moved up until they met David's. A small tear ran down her left cheek as she spoke.

"Not many... I don't exactly know... Possibly a few dozen more before it's over..." She turned silent again, but didn't look away from his face.

"I can feel it you know... I never told this to Bran since I don't want to worry him even more, but I can feel it... The wall inside my mind, which keeps all those deaths and bad experiences contained... It's slowly breaking..."

"All those memories currently feel like some past traumas that I suffered long ago, but... *sigh* But if they come back all at once... I... I don't..."

She couldn't even finish the sentence before the thoughts about her future survival made her into a crying mess.

What she currently felt wasn't fear or dread. It was the knowledge of dying and not being able to do anything to stop it. The pain of everything she was working for failing because of her own weakness.

The worst part and what made this whole situation so repulsive is that she wouldn't even die permanently. Instead she would be like a living corpse.

Her current self was emotionless, but she at least still had her morality... What if she lost that small part of herself too...

That would be even worse than permanently dying...

Seeing her like this really surprised David. He known Sera to be a very strong-willed, powerful, smart and rational person, but he had never seen her vulnerable.

Without hesitation he pulled her into a hug and stayed like that until she calmed down.

It took a few minutes, but eventually she stopped sniffling and pushed David away a bit.

He looked at her with concern, but her expression suddenly changed returning to its emotionless self. Soon he realized the purpose of the fast change.

From their right, originating from the forest, footsteps and quite voices could be heard. It seemed like their group had came back from the scouting.

Before they actually arrived David took one more glance at Sera, but no matter how hard he tried there wasn't even a tiny remnant of her previous desperate self.

He sighed a bit and looked at the ground dejectedly. Whatever was going on with Sera, she needed people who can support her, especially now. If not, he was afraid what will happen in the future.

What she was trying to make, was a huge undertaking, and it seemed like this knowledge was slowly crushing her. There was something in her eyes, not quite fear, but the breaking of her strong will. The knowledge of possible failure was suffocating her.

Sadly there was no real way to help her. Not from David anyway. There was only one action he could make, and that is telling everything to Bran.

It would be wrong since he would go around Sera, but she definitely needed someone reliable near her.

Before he could ponder some more, both of their teams came out of the forest. There was nothing to really report. They saw no signs of the wraith and even the frost from last night had fully disappeared.

They quickly packed up the small camp and ventured forth heading straight for the strait.

Before reaching the place Sera went ahead just to make sure everything was alright.

She stood atop a cliff looking out at the few kilometer span of water, which they had to cross. The sight was beautiful and thankfully she spotted no creature that would cause any issues.

Soon after that she went back and they began taking everyone over the water.

Everything was going well, but something didn't quite seem right. Sera was making the last trip back. There was only David she needed to bring across when she felt the change in the air.

The wind that was constantly blowing suddenly stopped, like it froze. Her breath made the cold air show and she also felt her body cool down.

With faster wingbeats she arrived back at the cliff where David was already shivering from the cold.

"W-we sho-sho-should... g-g-go b-back!" Said David with a bit of fear showing on his face.

Sera didn't say anything. She just grabbed David and flew as high as she could manage, while trying to keep away the cold with her flames. It was like trying to put out a housefire with a garden hose, it helped somewhat but they were still slowly dying.

Her speed increased further. They still had time since the wraith hadn't shown itself yet.

It took only a few seconds to arrive on the other shore, but still she kept increasing her speed.

The others had run away already, they knew that there was nothing they could do and it was also protocol to always try to save the ones you can save.

There was no telling how fast she was going, but soon they caught up with the others just as her mind was starting to get cloudy.

The frost had stopped spreading inside her, but there was no telling how much damage it had already done. She knew that her life wasn't in danger, but she was also about to pass out.

In her arms David was already unconscious, but after a quick check-up she breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive.

The others on the ground finally noticed them and they also saw their trajectory which headed straight for the ground.

Sera could barely keep her eyes open, but when she did all she saw was a giant furry creature grabbing them out of the air. Panic began rising inside her, but she soon noticed who the beast actually was.

Kathy, after plucking them out of the sky in some strange, large flying cat-like form, landed a bit further ahead.

Everyone hurried to her and they breathed a sigh of relief when they noticed both of their leaders alive and unconscious.

Somewhere far away, but also close by, a giant scream could be heard. It caused all of them to groan in pain and they quickly realized that their previous sense of safety was an illusion.

Without saying anything Kathy changed forms again, this time into a large six armed gorilla. Using her two middle arms she gently held both Sera and David, then she began running away from the Dardanelles.

Close behind her everyone followed and they haven't stopped until they were dozens of kilometers away.

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