Chapter 49: 32 – Tender Reunion

Amara finally felt that her new home was reaching the point where it could be considered liveable. 

The room adjacent to her bedroom became her storage, kitchen and maintenance room. Amara had managed to set up all the tech needed to get the home batteries working, together with small windmills that she kept moving with her divine skills to generate electricity.

Of course Amara could generate electricity with the divine skill she created, but it took concentration and there was the risk of frying whatever she was powering.

Learning how to set everything up had taken quite a long time. Amara had spent countless hours reading on the net while hanging her phone through the portal to Earth. 

Partly because she had quickly destroyed equipment when she forgot about using fuses.

But by reading up on the internet and through trial and error, Amara now had a functioning electric supply system. 

The mess of wires that littered the floor on the way to the bedroom still remained though. Amara hadn’t come up with a permanent solution for them yet.

Now all I need is to find a way to get permanent internet access. 

When I finally learn how to do enchanting, I’ll see if I can create some kind of quantum entanglement between two items. Like plugging one end into a modem on Earth, and keeping the other plugged into a router here. Or two identical phones, that send and receive the same data. Perfect, if possible.

Amara sighed and took another sip of tea while reading a novel she downloaded on her phone as she laid on a sofa in her bedroom. 

It had been over a year since Ezme had left for the battle. Amara had lost a lot of the motivation to keep training, which slowed her progress. She still practised daily, but much less than she did during the first months after settling in the silver city.

Frustrated that she didn’t have the old comforts of home she had on Earth, Amara had begun kitting her home with new furniture and setting up the electronics so she could power all her devices.

The sofa was one of her first hauls. Like almost everything else, it was larger than necessary, as it was the modern kind that could double as a bed when needed. 

And Amara hadn’t stopped with getting one, and ended up with three. In the middle of them was the oversized living room table, and beyond it the largest television she could find. All to create a living room corner in the bedroom. 

An amusing thought made the corner of Amara’s mouth rise. I’m certainly compensating for something.

Amara glanced down at her chest. Not because of those though. I’m comfortable with their size.

Amara emptied her mug and leaned to refill it with tea from the pot on the table. Realizing that the pot was empty, Amara sighed as she stood up and walked over to the adjacent room to refill it.

Amara went to the side that was her kitchen. Several shelves lined the curved wall with snacks and different things she could cook, one of which was completely designated for tea and coffee. 

Maybe I should hold back on my consumption a little. 

Though saying that, I don’t exactly have any reason to hold back either.

Amara still didn’t have any running water system in her home, so every time she had to either make water with Creation or get it from somewhere else with Realm Gate. The last option was the preferred one.

Wouldn’t want to make something like distilled water by accident. I don’t know all the minerals that are normally in drinking water on Earth. 

Amara had also gone back to heating water with a regular water boiler for when she made tea. Even if she could make the water boil instantly with magic, during the last year she had missed the nostalgia of waiting for the water to be boiled.

Once Amara finished making the new pot of tea and was putting the unused tea back on the shelf, she heard the large bronze door in the main room open. Startled, she froze up.

Who’d be here? Nobody has ever come to visit me inside my room. Other than... 

She’s back!

A wide smile spread on Amara’s face as she turned around, but her foot caught in the loose wires on the floor.

The sudden tug on the wires caused the home power battery that Amara had set up on one of the shelves to fall down on the floor with a loud crash. The friction caused when the battery left the shelf made the shelf wobble, causing more items to fall down.

Amara winced as she stumbled to regain her balance and heard all the items fall down.

Crap. Hope I don’t have to get a new battery.

This is embarrassing. Guess I can’t make a cool appearance anymore. 

I’m just going to have to embarrass her more.

Amara smiled as she shouted. “Fluffleees!”

Seeing Ezme’s resigned expression Amara grinned wider. Look at her, she is embarrassed already because she knows what’s going to happen!

Amara squealed as she wrapped her arms around the angel. “I missed yoouu!”

Gently rocking them both as Amara held Ezme tightly, she became aware that Ezme had made no attempt at hugging her back, nor chided her.

And Ezme was shaking so slightly that Amara barely even noticed.

Is she angry?

Amara pulled away and held Ezme’s shoulders as she looked at Ezme’s face. 

“What’s wrong?”

Amara saw the angel’s wet, dead eyes as she peered up at her. Ezme quickly inclined her head to hide her face, but the moment was enough. Amara finally realized that something was far more wrong that she had expected. She knew those eyes.

It was the same eyes she had seen in the mirror after her parents died. The eyes when life suddenly had lost all of its meaning. When you had become a rudderless ship adrift at sea, and everything felt hopeless.

“...Did you lose someone?” Amara asked hesitantly.

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Ezme shook her head and Amara saw a tear drop towards the floor. Amara wrapped her arm around Ezme’s shoulders to pull the angel's small frame against hers before putting her hand on the back of Ezme’s head, patting it gently.

Amara’s heart clenched as the angel’s shoulders began convulsing. What could’ve happened?

Amara’s brain was trying to figure out what could’ve happened as Ezme’s shaking intensified when the angel whispered something inaudible against her shoulder.

“Could you repeat that?” Amara asked with concern.

Ezme drew a shuddered breath before she whispered. “...We killed them. The mortals.” Ezme’s shoulders shook intensely and she sobbed loudly as her voice broke. “I killed them.”

Amara couldn’t comprehend the words at first. Kill the mortals? Why? There’d be no point in it, right?

Amara thought for a moment. Ezme wouldn’t lie. Especially not about something like this. Ezme wouldn’t kill mortals without good reason. Maybe they were betrayed.

Stop Amara, don’t jump to any conclusions.

Just look at how bad Ezme feels about it.

Ezme was still shaking, but Amara could tell that she was tense. As if awaiting judgement, and she wasn’t elaborating.

Amara pulled away and hooked her arm behind Ezme’s legs as she picked the angel up. Why do all my romantic moments have to be ruined by weird circumstances? Sigh.

Ezme flinched as she was picked up but didn’t struggle against Amara, putting her head against Amara’s shoulder. After walking into the bedroom, Amara sat down on the sofa with Ezme in her lap. While holding Ezme’s back she used Realm Gate to pull the teapot from the adjacent room to the low table in front of them. 

Amara poured the tea into her mug and handed it to Ezme, who reluctantly unclenched her fists to receive it.

Amara wrapped her arm around Ezme’s waist while she let her hand stroke the angel’s back. Amara patiently held Ezme whose grief would come in waves, but was calming down over time. 

While comforting Ezme she tried to keep herself from making any assumptions. Once Ezme seemed to have calmed enough Amara decided to ask with a gentle whisper.

“What did you mean?” (Amara)

Ezme’s jaw quivered, but she eventually managed to speak up. “...W-we ki-killed the m-m-mortals. A-all-all of th-them!” 

Ezme began shaking again as her voice broke and Amara held her a little tighter. “Can you tell me why? I thought you said you were setting up a defensive line.”

Ezme nodded, making her cheek rub against Amara’s shoulder. “We did. The world we fought on was ceded to the demons.”

Amara frowned. So that’s why I didn’t see any kind of preparations being made.

“But why did you have to kill the mortals? Couldn’t you evacuate them?”

Ezme sobbed and shook her head. “The souls are tied to that world. If we evacuated them, their souls would return to that world after death, and fall into the hands of the demons.”

Amara’s expression soured. She was trying not to think too deeply about the circumstances, just trying to get the general outline. Amara suspected that once she thought about it deeper, the anger she already felt bubbling up would take precedence. 

Ezme needs me now. Stay calm.

If killing the mortals is required to save their souls, it makes sense logically. This is a question about strategy, if it was necessary to sacrifice that world or not. 

As far as I can tell by Ezme’s interactions with the other angels, she’s just a rank and file soldier. She follows orders, she doesn’t come up with the strategies.

And she obviously didn’t want to kill any mortals. Even on Earth, the punishment for insubordination is severe. I have no idea what it’s like for angels.

“...Did you make the choice to cede the world to the demons?” Amara asked.

Ezme merely responded by shaking her head.

Amara stroked Ezme’s back before she asked the second question. “And did you give the order to kill the mortals?”

Again Ezme shook her head. “No. That was Alarice.”

Of course. The bitch. 

I’m going to let her know a piece of my mind later. Preferably with my fists. Give the Stinky Stick a couple test runs.

Scratch that, let’s just use the Chaotic one instead. Yeah, Inferno sounds good. I should-

No. Stop it Amara. Later.

Amara suppressed her anger and held Ezme tightly as she unclenched her jaw. “Then it’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

Ezme’s face jerked up as she stared at Amara with her surprised, tear-filled bloodshot eyes and asked while hiccuping. “Y-you do-don’t hate me?”

Amara smiled softly and raised her hand to pat Ezme’s head. “I would never hate you, Fluffles.”

New tears filled the angels eyes and she began shaking again with the new wave of sobs and hiccups. Amara pulled Ezme’s face towards her neck and let her hand run over Emze’s back and wings when she whispered.

“It’s okay.” (Amara)

Ezme moved her arms up and wrapped them around Amara’s neck as she wept. For a moment Amara thought she would be strangled by how tightly Ezme clung to her, but she didn’t chide the angel and instead continued holding Ezme and stroking her wings.

“It’s okay, Fluffles. It’s okay.” (Amara)

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