Chapter 147: Welcome Home to Chaos

Grace stumbled out of the collapsing cave entrance and immediately face-planted into a snowbank.

She blinked, spitting out some snow.

[Good going, Grace. Dignified. Very heroic.]

“GRACE!”

Petriel’s voice cut through the rumbling. Hands grabbed her shoulders, hauled her upright. Green hair and golden eyes filled her vision as the healer checked her for injuries.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Grace wheezed. “Mostly. The Mountain’s having feelings now.”

“Having what?” Valkyrie landed beside them, silver hair whipping in the wind from the geological tantrum happening behind them.

“Feelings. Lots of them. All at once.” Grace spat out snow. “She lost her stagnation. And, well, it turns out when you bottle up emotions for centuries and then pop the cork, things get messy.”

Another scream that sounded vaguely joyful and vaguely angry echoed from inside the mountain. A chunk of cliff face decided gravity was optional and started floating upward.

“We should go,” Valkyrie said.

“You might be right, yeah.”

They flew hard for twenty minutes before landing on a stable peak and taking a breather. Behind them, the Mountain continued its emotional breakdown.

“So,” Petriel said carefully, “you freed her from stagnation.”

“Yep.”

“By… annoying her into having emotions.”

“That’s the short version.”

“And now she’s…” Petriel gestured at the chaos, looking just mildly concerned.

“Processing everything… A bit violently.” Grace brushed rock dust from her hair. “But hey, no more stone villages. Mission accomplished.”

Valkyrie watched a flock of birds fly backward past them.

“You can bet Celestia’s going to have some opinions about this.”

“Celestia has opinions about everything.”

“These might be louder opinions. You’re sure we should go? Last time with the Flame we left things more… stable.”

Grace took a moment to think about it.

[Well… I came to take her corruption away. Take the feelings Eternia gave her away. I did that. At this point… What else can I do to the Mountain other than kill her? I guess I could come back later and check in on her, but yeah. This is the best I’ve got.]

“Yeah,” Grace finally decided. “I think we’re good.”

Grace’s ribs twinged. The bruises on her throat from having the life nearly squeezed out of her throbbed in time with her heartbeat. But she was alive, the Mountain was free, and she had shiny new gauntlets to go along with her rapier and armguard.

Overall, fairly decent outcome.

“We should head back,” she said. “Before this place gets even worse.”

“Will the Mountain cause more damage?” Petriel asked nervously.

Grace watched a tree fall as another of the Mountain’s screams echoed.

“Let’s not find out. Come on.”

—

The flight back to the Dominion took a tad longer than usual. Valkyrie insisted on regular breaks to make sure Grace’s injuries weren’t worse than they looked. Petriel fussed over every bruise.

“I’m fine,” Grace protested for the eighth time. “Angels heal fast.”

“Angels also die when Primals rip them apart,” Valkyrie countered. “And get torn apart when ancient entities decide to process their feelings physically.”

“The Mountain wasn’t going to hurt me. Just… express her disagreement very aggressively. With rocks.”

[Come to think of it… It seemed like the Mountain, both before and after the purification, didn’t want the purification. At that point, would it have been better to- no, no, stop it. It’s done. It’s in the past.]

They landed at the Dominion as the sun set. Grace expected the usual peaceful evening scene. Angels chatting, training, going about their eternal business.

Instead, she found a much more… chaotic scene.

“What the hell?”

The main plaza was full of injured angels. Not dead, obviously, but definitely worse for wear. Missing limbs that hadn’t been reattached. Gashes and bruises. One poor Bravery Sister was just a torso with wings, discussing how weird it felt to not have legs with her friends who were trying to comfort her.

“Grace!” Mara’s voice carried over the noise. The Compassion leader waved them over, hands glowing with healing light. “Good, you’re back. Petriel, come, we could use you.”

“What happened?” Grace asked, taking in the scene. She counted at least fifteen injured angels.

“Skirmishes.” Mara’s usual maternal warmth was strained. “Veil angels. Nothing organized, just random fights, but…” She gestured at the wounded. “I wonder how much of this was truly just simple disagreements that got out of hand and not…”

[And not the result of growing corruption,] Grace finished internally. She wondered the same thing.

Petriel immediately dove into healing work. Grace wanted to help but knew she’d just be in the way. Her healing skills were better than when she started, a lot better, but she was still not quite on the level of these specialists.

“Where’s Celestia?” she asked.

“Council chamber. She’s been in meetings all day.” Mara’s expression softened slightly. “How did your mission go?”

Grace thought about the Mountain having an emotional breakdown that registered on the Richter scale.

“Successfully. Ish.”

“Ish?”

“The Mountain’s no longer stagnant. Very, very not stagnant. Actively anti-stagnant, in fact.”

“That sounds concerning.”

“It’s fiiine. Probably. The local geology might be rearranging itself, but the villages are safe.”

Mara’s eyebrows climbed toward her hairline.

“Rearranging?”

“Little bit. Tiny amount. Barely noticeable, really.”

“Grace.”

“I should report to Celestia.”

She fled before Mara could ask more questions.

On the path to the council chamber, however, Grace couldn’t help but remind herself… At some point, she’d have to do something about the Veil. She just didn’t know when.

[As soon as I’m done with the Pillars. Yeah, as soon as they’re out of the way.]

She passed Diana arguing with three Bravery Sisters about patrol rotations. The taller angel looked ready to punch someone, which was normal, but there was an edge to it. Real worry under the aggression.

Their eyes met briefly. Diana’s expression flickered through several emotions before settling on her default scowl.

“You’re back.”

“Yeah.”

Diana looked her up and down.

“You look like shit.”

“Thanks. You look stressed.”

“Fuck off.”

But there was a mild relief in her voice. Grace wanted to say more, but Diana had already turned back to her argument.

[Right. Celestia.]

The council chamber doors were closed. Grace raised her hand to knock, then hesitated.

[She’s… probably very busy. And very stressed. Just get it over with.]

She knocked.

“Enter.”

Celestia stood at the great window, wings drooped with exhaustion. The setting sun turned her rainbow feathers into a prism of light that should have been beautiful but just emphasized how tired she looked.

“Grace, you’re back early. Any complications with your mission?”

“No, no. Mission complete. The Mountain’s free.”

“That so?” Celestia turned. Her ageless face showed every one of her centuries.

“Well, she’s not turning people to stone anymore. Very emotional about it. Possibly rearranging the local landscape to express said emotions.”

“I see.”

Grace shifted her weight.

“There were some side effects.”

“That… sounds less than ideal.” Celestia moved to her desk, fingers trailing over reports. “Though, I suppose we shouldn’t be picky about our victories. You do have a gift for creative solutions.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?”

“Perhaps.”

Grace chuckled, before taking a couple steps closer.

“About the Veil attacks,” Grace started.

“Yes.” Celestia’s moment of levity vanished. “Seventeen incidents in the last two days. Nothing coordinated, but the pattern is clear. Just being around any Veil angels carries potential for fights to break out.”

“Why now?”

“Likely the increasing awareness that you exist.” No accusation in the words. Just fact. “A good portion of angels defected from the Dominion to the Veil because they wanted to do more about the demon threat. You come in, wild card that changes everything, and perhaps some of them are feeling like they defected for no reason. They’re eager to prove themselves. At least, I hope that’s all that’s happening.”

“And Azrael?”

“Silent. Which worries me more than attacks would.”

Grace thought about the Level 100 floating above Azrael’s head. The casual power in every movement. One of these days, she could see that power in motion. Even be on the receiving end of it.

“What do we do?”

“We?” Celestia studied her. “We continue. You have two Pillars left. The Void and the Bloom. Both will likely be more challenging than what you’ve faced.”

“More challenging than making rocks have feelings?”

“The Void represents absence. Emptiness. The desire to simply… not be.” Celestia’s wings rustled. “And the Bloom is life without restraint. Pure, overwhelming growth. Eternia’s desire to just create and create and create… which she had to stop herself from doing, else she consumed everything.”

[Great.]

“When do I leave?”

“Soon. I want you to take a brief break before you go out again. But Grace…” Celestia moved closer. “Be careful. The game is changing. What worked before might not work again.”

“You mean I can’t just annoy them into enlightenment?”

“I mean the Veil is watching. Learning. And Azrael…” She trailed off.

“What about her?”

“She knew Eternia better than anyone. If she’s decided you’re a problem…”

The words hung between them.

“I’ll be careful,” Grace promised.

“Good.” Celestia turned back to her window. “Rest tonight, darling.”

Grace squirmed a little.

[Hehe… Darling?]

Dismissed, though, Grace headed for the door.

Grace left the chamber with more questions than answers. The hallway felt colder. Or maybe that was just the weight of everything settling on her shoulders.

Two Pillars left. An escalating conflict with the Veil. Azrael’s silence that meant nothing good.

And somewhere in the northern mountains, the personification of stagnation was learning how to feel joy.

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