5. 𝒹𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑒 π’Ήπ‘’π“ˆπ“‰π’Ύπ“ƒπ“Ž

𝒹𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑒 π’Ήπ‘’π“ˆπ“‰π’Ύπ“ƒπ“Ž

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    NANOWRIMO πŸ“
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  • NANOWRIMO πŸ“

    centered paragraph

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

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    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    † 𝐈𝐍 π“π‡πˆπ’ ππ‹πŽπ† ‟

    𝒸𝒽𝒢𝓇𝒢𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇 π’Ύπ“ƒπ’»π‘œ ✢ π‘π‘œπ‘›π‘›π‘’π‘π‘‘π‘–π‘œπ‘›π‘  ✢ π’Έπ‘œπ“π‘œπ“‡ π’Έπ‘œπ’Ήπ‘’π“ˆ

    † πŽπ“π‡π„π‘ π‚πŽππ“π„ππ“ ‟

    π“…π’Ύπ“ƒπ“‰π‘’π“‡π‘’π“ˆπ“‰ ✢ π‘”π‘–π‘Ÿπ‘™ {π‘π‘’π‘“π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘’} ✢ π“‹π‘’π“ˆπ“ˆπ‘’π“ {𝒢𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇}
    { ππ‹π€π˜π‹πˆπ’π“ }

    Β 
    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    κœ°α΄Κ€ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ, Κ™α΄‡ΚŸα΄α΄‘: α΄›Κœα΄‡ Κ€α΄ΚŸα΄‡α΄˜ΚŸα΄€Κ

  • NANOWRIMO πŸ“

    centered paragraph

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    0_1595495667562_dulcifera6.png

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    † π•πˆπ‘π†πˆππ€π‹ 𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐋 ‟

    ❝ π’΄π‘œπ“Š π“Œπ’Ύπ“π“ 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒽𝒢𝓋𝑒 π“π‘œπ“‹π‘’π’Ή π’»π‘œπ“‡ π“ƒπ‘œπ“‰π’½π’Ύπ“ƒπ‘”. ❞

    † 𝐓𝐇𝐄 ππ€π’πˆπ‚π’ ‟

    π·π‘’π‘™π‘π‘–π‘“π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘Ž {"𝐿𝑒𝑐𝑦"} π‘€π‘Žπ‘ŸΓ­π‘Ž πΊπ‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘Γ­π‘Ž-π½π‘œβ„Žπ‘›π‘ π‘œπ‘› ✢ 𝟸𝟿 ✢ π‘€π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘‘π‘Žπ‘™ {𝑉𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑙}

    𝐅𝐂 & 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 ✢ Malaika Firth. When possessed, glittering white-gold wings sprout from her shoulder blades.

    π‹πˆπŠπ„π’ ✢ The dandelions that used to stubbornly push their way out of sidewalk cracks every year, the few plant and animal encyclopedias that survived the Apocalypse and are currently stored within the library of the Imperium Sanctus { π‘‘β„Žπ‘œπ‘’π‘”β„Ž π‘ β„Žπ‘’ β„Žπ‘Žπ‘ π‘›β€™π‘‘ 𝑒π‘₯π‘Žπ‘π‘‘π‘™π‘¦ β„Žπ‘Žπ‘‘ π‘’π‘›π‘œπ‘’π‘”β„Ž π‘“π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘’ π‘‘π‘–π‘šπ‘’ π‘‘π‘œ π‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘™π‘¦ π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘Žπ‘‘ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’π‘š 𝑗𝑒𝑠𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑑 }, flowers in full bloom, when - pre-Apocalypse - ice cream brands would make vegan versions of their products, bright floral-print clothing, the other Vessels { π‘“π‘œπ‘Ÿ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘šπ‘œπ‘ π‘‘ π‘π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘‘ }, the sun and sky and sea

    πƒπˆπ’π‹πˆπŠπ„π’ ✢ The Archangels’ master plan to mold and re-make the planet into their version of perfection { π‘€β„Žπ‘Žπ‘‘ π‘Ž β„Žπ‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘Ÿπ‘–π‘π‘™π‘¦ π‘ π‘‘π‘Žπ‘”π‘›π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ π‘€π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘™π‘‘ π‘‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘‘ π‘€π‘œπ‘’π‘™π‘‘ 𝑏𝑒! }, how it seems like many of the Nefilim have fully renounced their half-human roots in favor of furthering the cause of Hell and Lady Lilith and { π»π‘–π‘š }, somewhat resents the fact that Heaven began to intervene when Hell started wreaking havoc on Earth but apparently couldn’t be bothered to do anything when humans committed atrocities against other humans { π‘œπ‘Ÿ 𝑖𝑠 π‘‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘‘ 𝑗𝑒𝑠𝑑 β„Žπ‘œπ‘€ πΏπ‘–π‘™π‘–π‘‘β„Ž π‘€π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘π‘  β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ π‘‘π‘œ 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙? }, people who hurt others for no reason, all the bigoted assholes who were sexist/racist/homophobic/et cetera pre-Apocalypse

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    † π‡πˆπ’π“πŽπ‘π˜ ‟

    ππˆπ‘π“π‡ππ‹π€π‚π„ ✢ Granada, Spain. She lived there with her father's family until she was twelve.

    𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 & π…π€πŒπˆπ‹π˜ ✢ Fernando Álvaro GarcΓ­a Rosario { π‘“π‘Žπ‘‘β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ }, Annemarie Johnson { π‘šπ‘œπ‘‘β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ }, Alexandra Josefina GarcΓ­a-Johnson { π‘¦π‘œπ‘’π‘›π‘”π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘ π‘–π‘ π‘‘π‘’π‘Ÿ }, Kellan Enrique GarcΓ­a-Johnson { π‘¦π‘œπ‘’π‘›π‘”π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘‘β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ }. Dulcifera has had no contact with neither her immediate nor extended family since the Apocalypse, and knows that they're most likely dead. Still, it doesn't keep her from searching, every once in a while.

    ππ„π…πŽπ‘π„ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 π€ππŽπ‚π€π‹π˜ππ’π„ ✢ Dulcifera was born in Spain, but her family moved to the States { π‘†π‘Žπ‘› π·π‘–π‘’π‘”π‘œ, πΆπ‘Žπ‘™π‘–π‘“π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘›π‘–π‘Ž, π‘‘π‘œ 𝑏𝑒 𝑒π‘₯π‘Žπ‘π‘‘ } when she was twelve, thanks to her mom’s job. She did well enough in school and went to a fairly decent public university, double majoring in environmental science and public policy { π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ π‘šπ‘–π‘›π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘–π‘›π‘” 𝑖𝑛 π‘†π‘π‘Žπ‘›π‘–π‘ β„Ž }. After graduating, she worked for an environmental non-profit for two years before going back to school. She eventually joined the Peace Corps and began helping with on-the-ground campaigns in Latin America; it was through some of these connections that she met a group of prominent environmental activists in Guatemala and decided to join up with them. She was still in Guatemala, waiting for her flight back to the States, when the Four Hoursemen razed the world as she knew it to dust.

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    † 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 ‟

    π‹πŽπ‚π€π“πˆπŽπ ✢ Normally, Dulcifera splits her time between { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΌπ‘šπ‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘’π‘š π‘†π‘Žπ‘›π‘π‘‘π‘’π‘  } and { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΊπ‘™π‘’π‘Žπ‘šπ‘–π‘›π‘” 𝐢𝑖𝑑𝑦 } - though she most certainly spends more time in the Imperium Sanctus - but she's currently imprisoned within { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘π‘–π‘›π‘‘β„Ž π‘‡π‘œπ‘€π‘’π‘Ÿ }.

    π†πŽπ€π‹π’ ✢ To somehow escape Lilith’s clutches, though the likelihood of that happening seems to grow slimmer by the day. And, in the long term, to push back the forces of Hell so that humanity can begin the long, slow process of re-building their world...while somehow preventing Heaven from twisting the Earth into their vision of it.

    𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 ✢ That Hell will emerge victorious. That Lilith will twist and warp her mind so much that Dulcifera won’t be able to recognize herself when it’s finally over { π‘œπ‘Ÿ π‘‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘‘ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ β€˜π‘π‘’π‘›π‘–π‘ β„Žπ‘šπ‘’π‘›π‘‘β€™ πΏπ‘–π‘™π‘–π‘‘β„Ž β„Žπ‘Žπ‘  𝑠𝑒𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑑𝑒𝑑 β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ π‘‘π‘œ 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑗𝑒𝑠𝑑 π‘›π‘’π‘£π‘’π‘Ÿ 𝑒𝑛𝑑 }. That Raphael will somehow sense the doubt in her, and abandon her to Lilith in favor of a Vessel who is more devoted to Raphael and the cause of Heaven, rather than Dulcifera’s simple, straightforward devotion to fighting for humanity - nothing more, and nothing less.

    πŽπ‚π‚π”ππ€π“πˆπŽπ ✢ Vessel for Archangel Raphael { β„Žπ‘’π‘šπ‘–π‘™π‘–π‘‘π‘¦; π‘π‘œπ‘šπ‘π‘Žπ‘‘π‘  π‘π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘‘π‘’ }

    π‘π”πŒπŽπ‘π’ ✢ The most common rumor surrounding Dulcifera in { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΌπ‘šπ‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘’π‘š π‘†π‘Žπ‘›π‘π‘‘π‘’π‘  } is that she was actually awarded her Vesselship via an β€˜outstanding occurrence’, as she was supposedly never particularly religious before the end of times. In { 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙'𝑠 π‘‡π‘œπ‘€π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘  } and { π·π‘’π‘§π‘Ž }, rumor has it that Lady Lilith is using her as a test subject for some kind of attack that she is planning against the Sanctus and the other Vessels. There is much speculation as to what the nature of this attack would be, and if it has anything at all to do with the golden egg.

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    † π–π„π€ππŽππ’ & π–π€π‘πƒπ‘πŽππ„ ‟

    π–π„π€ππŽππ’ ✢ Dulcifera most commonly wields a shield and a long spear { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ 𝑑𝑖𝑝 π‘‘π‘œπ‘’π‘ π‘’π‘‘ 𝑖𝑛 β„Žπ‘œπ‘™π‘¦ π‘€π‘Žπ‘‘π‘’π‘Ÿ, π‘œπ‘“ π‘π‘œπ‘’π‘Ÿπ‘ π‘’ }, both of which are Blessed with Raphael’s divine power. She occasionally uses a longsword, when the circumstances call for it.

    π–π€π‘πƒπ‘πŽππ„ ✢ Despite the fact that her wardrobe is overflowing with ornate crowns and gleaming golden jewelry, Dulcifera actually prefers simple, practical clothing. Pre-Apocalypse, she wore cargo shorts and t-shirts and sandals, but as a Vessel, she’s usually found in some sort of white gown with long, billowing skirts. Dulcifera tries to keep her hair out of her face when she can { 𝑖𝑛 π‘π‘Žπ‘‘π‘‘π‘™π‘’, π‘ β„Žπ‘’ π‘€π‘’π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘  𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑛 π‘Ž π‘π‘Ÿπ‘Žπ‘–π‘‘ π‘π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘€π‘› π‘™π‘œπ‘œπ‘π‘’π‘‘ π‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘’π‘›π‘‘ β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ β„Žπ‘’π‘Žπ‘‘ }, and her battle armor is a shimmering, shining silver.

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    † π“π˜ππˆπ‚π€π‹π’ ‟

    𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒 πŒπŽπ’π“ π‹πˆπŠπ„π‹π˜ π“πŽ 𝐁𝐄 π…πŽπ”ππƒ ✢ Pre-abduction, Dulcifera spent most of her time on the training grounds of { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΌπ‘šπ‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘’π‘š π‘†π‘Žπ‘›π‘π‘‘π‘’π‘  }, or visiting the refugees and providing assistance to the kitchen/infirmary staff as needed. Nowadays, she’s most often in Lilith’s chambers in { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘π‘–π‘›π‘‘β„Ž π‘‡π‘œπ‘€π‘’π‘Ÿ }. Lilith usually has her chained to the wall, but sometimes she’ll get creative.

    ππ„πŽππ‹π„ πŒπŽπ’π“ π‹πˆπŠπ„π‹π˜ π“πŽ 𝐁𝐄 π–πˆπ“π‡ ✢ Unfortunately for Dulcifera, the current person she spends the most time around is Lady Lilith.

    π’π“π‘πŽππ†π„π’π“ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 π“π‘π€πˆπ“ ✢ Compassion

    πŒπ€πππ„π‘πˆπ’πŒπ’ ✢ Dulcifera is quiet, careful, and cautious; although she’s not usually awkward or anything, she’s never liked being in the limelight or being put on the spot. She also is not much of a risk-taker, preferring to go into things knowing just what she’s getting herself into. A bit soft-spoken, Dulcifera tends to fade into the background - before { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π΄π‘π‘œπ‘π‘Žπ‘™π‘¦π‘π‘ π‘’ }, she was never someone who wielded great power or influence over others purely from her inner charisma or the force of her presence { π‘‘β„Žπ‘œπ‘’π‘”β„Ž π‘›π‘œπ‘€π‘Žπ‘‘π‘Žπ‘¦π‘ , π‘π‘’π‘œπ‘π‘™π‘’ 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑑 π‘‘π‘œ π‘›π‘œπ‘‘π‘–π‘π‘’ π‘€β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿπ‘’ π‘ β„Žπ‘’ π‘”π‘œπ‘’π‘ , 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 π‘Ž 𝑉𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑙 π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ π‘Žπ‘™π‘™ - π·π‘’π‘™π‘π‘–π‘“π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘Ž 𝑠𝑑𝑖𝑙𝑙 β„Žπ‘Žπ‘ π‘›β€™π‘‘ π‘”π‘œπ‘‘π‘‘π‘’π‘› 𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑑 π‘‘π‘œ 𝑖𝑑 }. Dulcifera moves quickly and purposefully - although she won’t go as far as lose sight of her surroundings - and all things considered, she’s usually rather gentle { π‘π‘’π‘“π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘’ πΎπ‘–π‘›π‘”π‘‘π‘œπ‘š πΆπ‘œπ‘šπ‘’, π‘ β„Žπ‘’ π‘€π‘Žπ‘  π‘žπ‘’π‘–π‘‘π‘’ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘π‘Žπ‘π‘–π‘“π‘–π‘ π‘‘ }. She’s a good listener and usually speaks in a calm, measured voice; she rarely loses her temper, and even if she does end up being upset or angered by somebody else, it’s more than likely that she’ll keep it to herself rather than addressing it directly with them. Her aversion to confrontation has also been indirectly translated over to her typical strategy, in battle: she’s always been more of a defensive fighter, rather than someone in the vanguard.

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    † ππˆπŽπ†π‘π€ππ‡π˜ ‟

    Dulcifera has seen the Earth that the Archangels envision, and she wants no part of it.

    Just look at { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΊπ‘™π‘’π‘Žπ‘šπ‘–π‘›π‘” 𝐢𝑖𝑑𝑦 }, the so-called Abode of Angels: glory-bright and blindingly brilliant with buildings made of jewels and sweet songs and gleaming golden chariots and that horrible, horrible menagerie with animals that know nothing of running wild and free at its center.

    They call it a paradise and perhaps it is, to some people. Dulcifera knows that it would be all too easy to get lost in the bliss, living out the rest of eternity in a world that seems more dream than reality.

    But that isn’t { πΈπ‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘‘β„Ž }. To Dulcifera, humans were born to laugh and love and change and grow; to run barefoot and sing songs and make beautiful things and read poetry and get their hands dirty with a bit of sweat and soil. And the planet has changed and been made anew with the forces of the universe alone - the energy from the sun fueled the Great Oxygenation, an aestroid ended the Age of Dinosaurs, the Last Ice Age created the Sixth Extinction; tectonic plates collided and rain fell and life flourished and rotted and mud and mountain burst out of it all. What do { π»π‘’π‘Žπ‘£π‘’π‘› } or { 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙 } have anything to do with it?

    In { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΊπ‘™π‘’π‘Žπ‘šπ‘–π‘›π‘” 𝐢𝑖𝑑𝑦 }, everything is beautiful and glitters with the Glory of God, and to Dulcifera...it’s so terribly stagnant. There is no wildness in the City the Angels call home; there are no wildflowers stubbornly sprouting through cracks in the sidewalk or long-grassed savannas or labyrinthe rainforests filled with beauty and terror alike. And maybe { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΊπ‘™π‘’π‘Žπ‘šπ‘–π‘›π‘” 𝐢𝑖𝑑𝑦 } is a better place, because there is no struggle for survival, no question as to whether the gazelle will outrun the cheetah - but damn it all, Earth does not belong to { π»π‘’π‘Žπ‘£π‘’π‘› }. Dulcifera fights for humans, and humans alone. She wants no part of the Archangels’ grand plans to β€œstart a new age on Earth”.

    But - fighting on the side of { π»π‘’π‘Žπ‘£π‘’π‘› } is still infinitely better than letting { 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙 } win.

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    Before { πΎπ‘–π‘›π‘”π‘‘π‘œπ‘š πΆπ‘œπ‘šπ‘’ }, Dulcifera fought for humans, and she fought for their land. It’s only fitting that she does the same afterward, too.

    Dulcifera’s first job was at an international environmental network that organized in support of indigenous activists in { π‘†π‘œπ‘’π‘‘β„Ž π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ πΆπ‘’π‘›π‘‘π‘Ÿπ‘Žπ‘™ π΄π‘šπ‘’π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘π‘Ž }, where the campesinos had seen their ancestral lands ravaged by corrupt governments that spoke of β€˜neoliberalism’ and β€˜progress’ and β€˜modernization’. From the oil in { πΆβ„Žπ‘–π‘Žπ‘π‘Žπ‘  } to { π΄π‘šπ‘Žπ‘§π‘œπ‘›π‘–π‘Žπ‘› π‘π‘Žπ‘‘π‘‘π‘™π‘’ π‘Ÿπ‘Žπ‘›π‘β„Žπ‘’π‘  }, people were seeing their entire lives - along with the planet - destroyed, and what else could Dulcifera do besides stand and fight?

    A few years later, Dulcifera was in { πΊπ‘’π‘Žπ‘‘π‘’π‘šπ‘Žπ‘™π‘Ž }, organizing with grassroots activists and KΚΌicheΚΌ leaders. She met people who had been threatened and shot at, all for what? For wanting to sing and plant trees; to live a peaceful life on the land that belonged to nobody but the Earth?

    And so, Dulcifera fought.

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    The Apocalypse came and went, and Dulcifera survived.

    When she first made her way to { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΌπ‘šπ‘π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘’π‘š π‘†π‘Žπ‘›π‘π‘‘π‘’π‘  }, Dulcifera had no intention of becoming a combatant herself. She helped where and how she could - the kitchens, the infirmary, book-keeping and inventory - but her life before, as well as her dedication to helping the other refugees, caught the attention of { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ πΆπ‘œπ‘’π‘›π‘π‘–π‘™ }. Dulcifera was hesitant at first, because she’d been a lifelong pacifist, but they eventually convinced her to at least become a Nun.

    Dulcifera was surprised when { π΄π‘Ÿπ‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘›π‘”π‘’π‘™ π‘ƒπ‘Ÿπ‘–π‘›π‘π‘’ π‘…π‘Žπ‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘’π‘™ } chose her as his Vessel, but he’d seen her fierce loyalty and passion for protecting her fellow mortals. Dulcifera accepted, of course, but now that she’s trapped within the depths of { 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙 }, she wonders: does her Lord-Prince know how little she cares for their { πΊπ‘™π‘’π‘Žπ‘šπ‘–π‘›π‘” 𝐢𝑖𝑑𝑦 }, their vision for a new Earth, their { π»π‘’π‘Žπ‘£π‘’π‘› }? Does he know how she marvels at the world, even now, because despite everything there are scorpions and beetles and rattlesnakes that hiss and twitch in the desert air: beautifully, brilliantly alive. Despite the ash and dust and despair, the planet - and humanity - lives on.

    Does Raphael know that Dulcifera will always, always have more faith in the strength and resiliency of her fellow mortals than she does in the β€œgoodwill” and divinity of { π»π‘’π‘Žπ‘£π‘’π‘› }?

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    Dulcifera doesn’t know what { πΏπ‘Žπ‘‘π‘¦ πΏπ‘–π‘™π‘–π‘‘β„Ž } wants from her. All she knows is that they abducted her from the walls of the Sanctus, somehow, and that she needs to get out of { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘π‘–π‘›π‘‘β„Ž π‘‡π‘œπ‘€π‘’π‘Ÿ } before she loses herself in Lilith’s blood-bright clutches.

    Her Lord-Prince sends her visions of { π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ 𝐸𝑔𝑔 }. Lilith sends tendrils of darkness swirling through her mind, planting seeds of doubt in everything the Nuns and the Archangels have told her. Sometimes, Dulcifera isn’t sure what’s real, and what she’s imagining.

    But when she’s desperately clawing her way out of the terror and confusion, she remembers things like:

    𝑆𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑦 π‘‘π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘π‘’π‘™π‘–π‘œπ‘›π‘  π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ π‘‘β„Žπ‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘›π‘¦ π‘€π‘–π‘™π‘‘π‘“π‘™π‘œπ‘€π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘ .

    π‘‡π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘™π‘™π‘–π‘›π‘” π‘π‘–π‘Ÿπ‘‘π‘ π‘œπ‘›π‘” π‘“π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘š { π‘†π‘Žπ‘› π·π‘–π‘’π‘”π‘œ }; π‘›π‘œπ‘–π‘ π‘¦ π‘π‘Žπ‘€π‘  π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ π‘ π‘π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘’π‘β„Žπ‘’π‘  π‘“π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘š { πΊπ‘’π‘Žπ‘‘π‘’π‘šπ‘Žπ‘™π‘Ž }; β„Žπ‘Žπ‘Ÿπ‘‘π‘¦ π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘Žπ‘‘π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘›π‘›π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘  π‘β„Žπ‘’π‘π‘˜π‘™π‘–π‘›π‘” π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ β„Žπ‘œπ‘œπ‘‘π‘–π‘›π‘” π‘–π‘›π‘‘π‘œ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘‘π‘’π‘ π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘‘ π‘‘π‘Žπ‘€π‘› π‘œπ‘’π‘‘π‘ π‘–π‘‘π‘’ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘€π‘Žπ‘™π‘™π‘  π‘œπ‘“ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘†π‘Žπ‘›π‘π‘‘π‘’π‘ .

    𝐴 π‘ π‘π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘π‘–π‘œπ‘›, π‘π‘œπ‘–π‘ π‘’π‘‘ π‘‘π‘œ π‘ π‘‘π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘˜π‘’ - π‘π‘’π‘Žπ‘’π‘‘π‘–π‘“π‘’π‘™ π‘Žπ‘›π‘‘ π‘‘π‘’π‘Žπ‘‘π‘™π‘¦ 𝑖𝑛 π‘’π‘žπ‘’π‘Žπ‘™ π‘šπ‘’π‘Žπ‘ π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘’.

    π»π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘šπ‘œπ‘‘β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ, β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ π‘“π‘Žπ‘‘β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ, β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ 𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠. π»π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘π‘œ-π‘€π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘˜π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘  𝑖𝑛 πΆπ‘Žπ‘™π‘–π‘“π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘›π‘–π‘Ž, β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ π‘π‘œπ‘™π‘™π‘’π‘Žπ‘”π‘’π‘’π‘  𝑖𝑛 πΊπ‘’π‘Žπ‘‘π‘’π‘šπ‘Žπ‘™π‘Ž. π΅π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘”β„Žπ‘‘ π‘“π‘™π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘Žπ‘™ π‘π‘Ÿπ‘–π‘›π‘‘ π‘‘π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘ π‘ π‘’π‘ , 𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑 π‘π‘–π‘Ÿπ‘‘-π‘“π‘’π‘Žπ‘‘β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ β„Žπ‘’π‘Žπ‘‘π‘π‘–π‘’π‘π‘’π‘ , π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘‘π‘‘π‘¦ 𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 π‘π‘œπ‘™π‘™π‘’π‘π‘‘π‘–π‘œπ‘›π‘  π‘œπ‘“ π‘‘π‘’π‘ π‘’π‘Ÿπ‘‘ π‘Ÿπ‘œπ‘π‘˜ π‘‘β„Žπ‘Žπ‘‘ π‘ π‘œπ‘šπ‘’ π‘œπ‘“ π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘¦π‘œπ‘’π‘›π‘”π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘“π‘’π‘”π‘’π‘’π‘  π‘”π‘Žπ‘£π‘’ β„Žπ‘’π‘Ÿ.

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    Lilith wants her to Fall, to give in to the darkness that she has fed into Dulcifera. She wants her to betray the secrets of the Archangels, to show them that even their divine Vessels can be corrupted by { 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙'𝑠 } flames.

    But Dulcifera has always been more girl than Vessel, more human than divine. And like all humans, she is neither dark nor light, good nor evil. Like the planet they inherited, she is simply - { π‘π‘’π‘Žπ‘’π‘‘π‘–π‘“π‘’π‘™π‘™π‘¦, π‘ π‘‘π‘’π‘π‘π‘œπ‘Ÿπ‘›π‘™π‘¦ } - alive.

    ━━━━━━━━━━━ β‹…β€’β‹…βŠ°βˆ™βˆ˜β˜½ΰΌ“β˜Ύβˆ˜βˆ™βŠ±β‹…β€’β‹… ━━━━━━━━━━━

    κœ°α΄Κ€ ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ, Κ™α΄‡ΚŸα΄α΄‘: α΄›Κœα΄‡ Κ€α΄ΚŸα΄‡α΄˜ΚŸα΄€Κ

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