They did what they were trained to do. The safety of the queen and the new civilians was their only concern. They stayed behind to hold off the enemy ambush with no intention of returning ...

... and that's why they didn't.

General Starve scans the area for survivors. The broken and charred remains of the small 3SR squad Quinn took with her are scattered throughout. There's no movement. The silence beckons a lingering sense of dread as he realizes this rescue mission might just be a body count confirmation. It's a fucking mess. This is what's left of the soldiers who fought angels and lost ... but the queen's daughter isn't with them. A calm yet chilling voice invites itself to the tranquil massacre.

"As much as I enjoy rewarding your lack of attention with the sound of my voice, I'd much rather retrieve my sister."

"This is where your mom said to go." says Starve. "We're here to bring back whoever we can. These soldiers made sure she got home in one piece."

“Were she to have returned in several pieces, she'd be fine in a day. Though I suppose I should express my gratitude." Prince Descil picks up a smouldering torso. "You've done a fine job. Perhaps you might confirm that my sister isn't here." He drops the body and it crumbles into chunks of ash. "This one seems distressed. Pull yourself together, soldier."

"Alright. I get it. We'll move on." says Starve.

"What about Tegan?" asks Temptation. "Is he here?"

"Your Tegan is with her." Descil looks off to the right. "Though he may not be for much longer."

"What? Let's fucking go then!" She climbs on a beast carrying a load of large weapons. "C'MON DAD!" Starve joins her.

"Follow." Descil throws his wings open and ascends over them before taking off at full speed. They give chase, both becoming worried upon recognizing their location. They're headed towards Tempy's home village.

"Dad ...."

"I know. We'll help who we can." He places a hand on her shoulder.

"What if there's no one to help?"

"Then we'll kill who we can."

They speed through a warped narrow valley to the nameless little town. The distinct blue flashes of angel's fire scar the rumbling passage. They hear the battle grow louder as they approach but there are no screams, no sounds of the women and children tha- "SHIT!" yells Tempy as the valley walls crash down onto her and Starve! The burning debris crushes and impales their ride, pinning them briefly until another blast from the angels dislodges them! A moutless, emotionless giant with an azure halo and wings of light hovers over them. Forced to leave their beast to die, Tempy tries to grab one of her weapons. "FUCK!" Blasted again! The explosion clears to reveal a wall of hardened white flame had blocked the attack. "Thanks Henna!" she shouts before breaking through the barrier with a spiked hammer way bigger than her. The angel glows brighter as it prepares anothe- NOPE! Descil divebombs into that fucker, shattering its halo! Its massive body collapses and its head hits the side of the valley with Tempy's hammer immediately following it! She keeps swinging her mallet into the broken mush that used to be its head. Henna stops her mid swing and points up at three more angels hovering high above them.

"Why aren't they fighting?" asks Starve.

"Probably because they don't need to be here." says Henna. "This place was deserted when we got here." The remaining angels leisurely float away.

"Where's Tegan?" Tempy drops her weapon, her gaze fixed on the empty village as she faces Henna.

"Who, pretty boy? He's keeping an eye on our new friend. Follow." She leads the rescue party into a crevice off to the side of the town. "Watch your step." The walls are peppered with the Frost. It's not long before they find Tegan standing in the center of a wide circle of blood, staring at an angel that's completely encased in the crystalline infection. "Did it tell you anything?"

"Only that I should always let my conscience be my guide." says Tegan.

"Ok. Did it tell you anything fucking useful?" Henna asks dryly.

"It said some shit about no purification was needed when they arrived ... ugh ... looks like everyone bailed a while ago." Tegan holds a fresh wound on the left side of his neck. His left arm hangs limp and his clothes are partially singed and stained with blood.

"Teegs! You had me worried! Standing there looking like shit!" Tempy runs up to him. He grabs her with one arm and pulls her into the circle.

"I'm fine. Pssh ... looking like shit. Fuck you." he teases.

"Am I lying though? And you're bleeding."

"Only to keep the circle from drying up."

"Badass." Tempy salutes him.

"Think so? I'm not a big fan of bleeding to stay alive so we killing this fucking thing or what?"

"Of course we are." Starve cautiously gets as close to the immobile angel as he can without stepping on the contaminated ground. "This shit will keep spreading if we don't kill it. Since it's here though, we have a chance to get some information."

"Ever heard of Google? Y'all figure out the internet around here yet?"

"Get serious, Private."

"No then? Alright, let's ask the frozen murder messiah instead."

"Temptation, take that dumbass outta here." demands Starve.

Tempy follows her dad's order, pulling Tegan away by his shirt as he goes on about not letting the angel convince them to accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.

"There is nothing to be learned from this creature." says Descil. Both him and his sister share the same unamused look.

"Not all of us are as informed as you are, your highness. Gimme a sec to educate myself." says Starve.

"I'll rephrase that. There is nothing YOU can learn from it."

"And why is that, Descil?" Starve is quite noticeably annoyed.

"You won't ask it the correct questions, cycling through the typical irrelevant topics such as 'What do you want?' and 'Why are you here?' which it won't answer in a way that will further your understanding of it or its motives. This is because they have no motives. These things are the pawns of something far greater than themselves and you."

"But not greater than you?" he snaps with a tripple eyed squint.

"That has yet to be determined." Descil smirks as he shrugs his shoulders.

"Children taken by violence and desire. Peace awaits us within Creation."

The angel's words resonate through the cave, settling in their heads with an odd warmth. There's a genuine kindness in its voice that makes Starve and Henna slightly uneasy ... not Descil though. His long ears fold in on themselves and become flat to his head.

"You talk peace but kill us on sight." says Starve. "Sounds like hot holy bullshit to me."

"We are Creation.
Thus we return ourselves."

"The fuck does that mean?" He hears Henna and Descil chuckling behind him. "Fine. Talking to it is pointless. Let's wrap this up."

"We welcome the light."

A familiar force fills the area. Blank and heavy. Calm and intimidating. The trio knows they have two options, stop the angel from completing its prayer or run.

"And Creation set forth to vanquish the darkness cast by that light."

They should strike now but the weight of the words holds them in place ... not Descil though. He walks past Starve whose eyes have started to bleed and Henna who struggles to raise her hands to cover her ears. His feet touch the Frost covered ground and the ravenous crystals begin to consume him as he confronts the living statue.

"Burn the unclean.
Darkness undone by fi-"

"We're done here." Descil flies through the angel's head and halo, ripping them to shreads with his bare hands!

Outside, Teegs and Tempy stand a good distance away from each other while entertaining themselves with the dismembered corpse of the angel who totaled their ride home. The valley is littered with its body parts.

"Alrighty! Send me another!" shouts Tegan as he wields Tempy's hammer like a baseball bat with one hand. His neck wound has healed but his left arm is still in bad shape.

"You're not hitting this one!" She winds up an indistinguishable piece of the deceased angel. Mimicing the form of a major league pitcher, she rockets her projectile at Tegan.

"Woah!" He blocks with the hammer but is spun around by the impact! "You tryna take me outta the game?"

"You can't win if you can't play!" she shouts back with a laugh.

"Y'know ..." He looks at the hammer. "... good point."

"You wouldn't fuckin dare!" Tempy books it!

"Is that so?" Tegan chases her with a wobble while holding the weapon over his head. "C'mere! You started this!"

"I brought my ass out here to save you and this is how you treat me!" The two juke around laughing like idiots.

"Looks like YOU need saving now!"

"You're REAL tough with MY hammer! Pussy!"

"Good point again!" With a wide swing he hurls the hammer at her! It spins sideways and clips her legs with a snap! "Ssssss ... You ok?"

"Agh! You bitch! Hahaha!" She hops on one foot to avoid putting pressure on her other leg with freshly exposed bone sticking out. "Who throws a hammer!"

"Old school videogame baddies!"

"Wuhaha- What? Oh shit. Hey Dad!" Tempy scrambles to stand up straight as Starve approaches her.

"Stop fuckin around. We gotta get the prince to the MD now." Starve stretches his wings. His are never hidden and are normally just folded close to his back. "Fuckin angels killed our transport so you're piggybacking it .... Why's your leg broken?"

"Uhh ... those damn angels, man! Must've got me with that blast."

"Way to push through the pain, my little brawler."

Henna and Descil emerge from the crevice. The prince's hands and feet are frosted. With the infection creeping up his wrists and ankles, he holds his hands out in front of himself and nonchalantly looks at his sister. Without a word she conjures a sharp wall of hardened white flame from the ground, instantly cleaving his hands off!

"Oh wut ..." Tegan is astonished. Henna breaks off a chunk of the wall as her brother quickly leaps over her. With one swing of the improvised fire blade, she slices off his feet! His limbs regenerate before he lands back on the ground. "... the fuck?"

"Well then ... guess we only gotta get you and the Private to the MD." says Starve while kneeling to let Tempy climb on his back.

The siblings exchange glances acknowledging their badassery. Tegan expected the queen's kids to be understandably impressive but after witnessing the pair in person he's left with one thought. What the fuck is this family? They're powerful and confidently so. You'd think a massive military force would've been sent to secure the princess and get her back to the city but no. Instead, her brother showed up ... and she was fine when he did! They exude an air of superiority that they obviously inherited from their mother. However, if it wasn't for the way they carry themselves, you wouldn't be able to tell they're related. Despite being twins, they look nothing alike and neither resemble the queen. Then again, who can say what Quinn actually looks like? Her offspring don't shed any light on that mystery either. Descil is as tall as his sister but doesn't have any of her cat-like features. His long white hair and tan skin is a strong contrast from her red and grey. Both don't seem too keen on being fully dressed unless you count jewelry and tattoos, which Henna has way more of. In fact, it's clear from the scars on his shoulders that Descil's arms were once covered in tats but had been torn off and regrown at some point. The ink or whatever it is that he still has is stationary unlike his sister's, indicating that the design was meant to be permanent. His body is flawless otherwise, including the parts he just regenerated. Did he intentionally leave the scars or were the injuries too severe to heal completely?

"Hey, pretty boy!" calls Henna. "You hiding a pair of wings or what?"

"Uhh ... nah. No wings here."

"Then quit staring at my brother and come here!"

"What if I likes what I see?" he jokes as he walks over.

"Heh, buddy ... you don't even know what you're looking at." She exchanges another glance with Descil before scooping Tegan up in her arms. Her wings shoot out of her back! The ability to fully retract limbs is rare outside of shapeshifters but again ... the queen's kids.

"I've always wanted to be swept off my feet." He leans back dramatically with his right arm slung over her shoulder. "Whisk me away, fair maiden."

"Maidens don't usually do the whisking." she laughs.

"We can switch. Might take longer to get back."

"Hmm ...." She pauses for a moment before pulling her wings back and placing Tegan on the ground. She gives a nod to Descil and watches him fly off with Starve and Tempy. "Start whisking."

Tegan does just that. He hoists her up with his good arm, she drapes hers around his neck and with that, they're off.

"Don't drop me." she teases.

"I have yet to let a lady down, madame." he boasts as he jogs away from the village. "By the way, I believe it's customary for the hero to get the girl in these scenarios."

"You're more of a chauffeur than a hero but tell you what ... get me back and I'll rock your shit, little man."

"Yes ma'am."