Azrael walked through the crystalline desert. With a slow rhythm he moved his feet and placed each one carefully, almost as if he was walking on ice.
Gabriel on the other hand had his two pairs of wings outstretched and flapped them every 30 minutes. Keeping a distance between her and Azrael, Gabriel did not help Azrael in any way but he did inform her of the place.
"This place as you can see is similar to a desert, there is not much to see and not much to do. But it's not like the desert either, in the desert the most you would have encountered were sandstorms, sand spirits and maybe a sand worm. Here on the other hand the place is much more aggressive..."
Azrael placed his foot on the ground and it crunched creating spider web-like cracks. Azrael froze at that moment and carefully shifted his weight to the same foot he had just placed. The ground cracked much more and his foot sank a couple of centimeters into the ground. Carefully he placed the next foot, this time the ground did not crack and Azrael let out a sigh of relief.
At the same time Gabriel continued with her explanation, whether Azrael would listen to her or not that was Azrael's problem not her. Even so she was precise and did not hide information, that was not in her nature, even though Azrael does not like her for the thousands of sins he has committed even so her Angelic nature makes her a kind and compassionate being.
So if at some point he asked her for help or consultation she might agree, as long as that help did not interfere with the progress of the mission itself. After all Gabriel's main objective is to train Azrael until he becomes an Angel.
"There are thunderstorms, much stronger than the ones you know plus lightning expands and connects on the surface. So if you are near a storm you can only run, plus there is also the terrain that is very treacherous, now walk carefully because at any moment maybe it will break and you will fall a few thousand meters, but if so I would help you."
Gabriel already had a smile on her face and was more relaxed. Now she had to follow and Azrael, and more than once he would suffer. Gabriel enjoyed that suffering, as a sinner he deserved to be punished for his sins, unfortunately she could not punish him in an orthodox way so she could only punish him in an unorthodox way.
Punishing someone who has done wrong is the right thing to do, but she does not have to punish him to death, she has to punish him until he repents. That is one of the many angelic philosophies.
But her smile also arose for another reason.
Hope, that Azrael would perceive something like Perseverance in her actions that for Gabriel was just a small activity to kill time. That made her happy and the feeling of hope arose in her body but that hope was as small as a grain of rice but still it was as significant to Gabriel as if it were an oasis in the desert.
'Yes, there is a chance little by little I will be able to change his mentality, maybe he will stop thinking so aggressively, be more kind and grateful, maybe he will even start doing good deeds under his own will...' thought Gabriel as her eyes sparkled with joy as she watched Azrael walk down the road.
At that very moment the ground cracked and the crystals smashed into Azrael's foot causing blood to begin to fill the place. That made Gabriel's smile swell even more.
But there was one change Gabriel wondered if it might actually pan out in the future.
'Will he stop killing?' she thought hesitantly.
'Killing is the best option for solving problems from Azrael's perspective. That murderous intent and desire is so ingrained that I don't think it's possible for you to change it. I hope you can change it, because if not, I don't think you can even become an Angel...' The joy that was once strongly rooted in his body dimmed.
The rice-sized flame of hope began to fade as if a strong wind began to whip it, but that wind stopped but the size of that flame of hope dimmed quite a bit now it was just a spark. But that spark held firm against the strong winds of uncertainty in her heart.
'I have faith, in you to change Azrael. For the future of the race of Angels, I have faith that you will change.'
'What the fuck are you doing?! Help me heal my foot wounds" Azrael ordered annoyed. At the same time he lifted his foot, on it you could see several crystal shards deeply embedded in it. It wasn't the first time this had happened so he didn't pull them out himself.
Since when a crystal breaks it is much more susceptible to shattering into smaller pieces, if he were to pull it out now it would break and small fragments would remain embedded inside his foot. That's why Gabriel had healed it several times, so it wouldn't bleed to death.
Waking Gabriel from her thoughts, Gabriel's forehead appeared that suddenly a vein was beginning to throb visibly. The smile on her face became so stiff that it almost seemed false. She clenched her hand into a fist and it glowed golden.
Suddenly the fist hit Azrael's head and he fell to the ground writhing in his childhood memories where he committed thousands of sins.
As he writhed Gabriel repeated one of her thoughts only out loud.
"I have faith in you Azrael. That you stop seeing death as the only way out" As Azrael writhed, Gabriel moved the power of Faith and healed Azrael's wounds, causing the crystals embedded in his foot to close and expel the crystals.
x-x-x
|You have arrived at the crystal cemetery, your journey through the lands is about to end. Continue to persevere and may your will not falter.
"...is it going to be like this all the time?" said Azrael with a face of disgust.
He didn't mind that it was motivational, but...
|You're walking through the crystal lands, you're doing great!
|Your feet have been cut constantly but you are still standing, your strong will is to be admired!
|Your feet have been broken countless times, your blood has marked the path of a desolate land. Your pilgrimage is to be admired, and your feet have grown strong!
|Skill acquired: The pilgrim's path|
"When did you acquire an ability?" asked Gabriel as she approached the system window curious she hadn't noticed much just paid attention to no crystal golem of a high rank approached.
"I don't know, but seriously tell me how to silence the notifications or at the very least stop being so motivational. God it's so over the top I want to gouge my eyes out right now" He said in annoyance.
"Ya! Shut up and test the skills already!" roared Gabriel as her hand flared into an intense golden light.
"Fine! Fine! I'm coming, and I'm supposed to be the villain" Azael muttered as he concentrated a bit on his body, but he couldn't feel anything.
"Wait, I don't have any mana! How do you want me to use this ability! Stupid Angel!"
"Not all abilities need mana or an energy source. Some work by expending your physical energy or mental strength. Keep trying it would be good to know how it works maybe it will be useful for you" Said Gabriel while looking at him.
"Good" Azrael replied as he closed his eyes again concentrating on trying to activate his new ability.
Azrael's face scrunched up with effort trying to figure out that towards his ability he didn't feel anything unusual, nor did he feel anything that would tell him how to activate his ability.
'Shit again...' Azrael remembered when he discovered his healing ability. He had failed to activate it the first time, the abilities were not intuitive by any means, he had discovered his healing ability in a bet playing Russian roulette.
He had lost and shot himself in the head, but the bullet didn't go all the way through his brain, instead he was at a point where he was still conscious and able to be saved if he got to the hospital in time. But he could not go to the hospital, at that time he was wanted by the entire government of the earth for all his crimes, both terrorist and countless others. Also the person he was playing Russian roulette with would not take him to the hospital.
At that moment when his body fell on the ground with his head pierced by the bullet, his body felt a strange click, he could not tell the specific reason. Maybe it was the proximity of death that activated him, maybe the sensation of the bullet impacting his brain, maybe it was even fear or just a simple coincidence. But he managed to survive and his healing ability finally worked.
This time it was different, he was not in a critical moment or anything like that, instead the Angel in front of him was asking him to use it.
Even he didn't think he could do it.
But suddenly he felt something strange in his own foot, like a sleeping sensation that could be awakened. The sensation was strange, it was as if he had to clench his buttocks to avoid shitting himself, only applied to his feet. He didn't have to squeeze his toes instead he had to squeeze the heels of his feet in some way he thought possible but there was that feeling of squeezing the heels of his feet.
At the same time as he felt himself squeezing the heel of his feet, he felt his feet getting warm but not in an uncomfortable way.
"Wow" Said Gabriel as she looked at Azrael's feet.
Azrael's feet glowed a fiery red hue.
Azrale felt the warmth of his feet, he also felt a rehabilitative cessation that took away his tiredness and made him feel much more energetic. He no longer felt short of breath from all the walking, now he even believed he could walk for another 3 hours before sitting down to rest.
Azrael's feet glowed a fiery red hue.
Azrale felt the warmth of his feet, he also felt a rehabilitative cessation that took away his tiredness and made him feel much more energetic. He no longer felt short of breath from all the walking, now he even believed he could walk for another 3 hours before sitting down to rest.
Azrael opened his eyes and looked at his feet carefully, he bent down for a moment but his feet didn't feel warm, it was strange, they felt warm even though they were red like fire.
"How is it?"
"They are fine but only that, I feel like I can walk more and maybe a little more strength in my feet but nothing significant."
"Is there any change in you? For example do you feel more tired or do you have a headache?" Gabriel couldn't help but smile with a bit of excitement.
This planet wasn't supposed to be very significant it was just a planet of sand and crystal. The coincidences that Gabriel and Azrael had experienced had been just coincidences. But Gabriel even believed it was fate.
'Please, no, I don't want to run into those Weavers and their loom of destiny...' Gabriel thought with a shiver.
"My head hurts a little but nothing significant."
"Then let's move forward, if you feel more energy then we'd better go, we don't want the crystal golems to come here, well better said you don't want the crystal golems to come here."
Azrael heard Gabriel's warning but dismissed it himself. Gabriel's description reminded him of the stone golems in one of the space rifts on his home planet.
Those stone golems were not intelligent, they couldn't even talk, they were dumb and easy to deal with, even a child with no skills could run away from them as long as he didn't anger them.
"Hmm, they must be Golems similar to the ones I know, maybe they are some variant of the stone golems on my planet" Azrael chuckled.
"Aha ga ga gra ba" Azarel chuckled and made awkward movements as he laughed. "They are silly beings, even if they see a footprint of mine they won't follow me, they are silly as a little guy."