We were brought before Fortitude. He took one look at Analim's wings and sighed deeply. "I allowed him this honor as a gift to you, Dabriel Lchaim. I honestly believed we could keep him from Falling if we kept him close." He only shook his head with disappointment clear on his face. "It seems that it was not to be." he said at last. He did not look happy at all. Analim was shivering in fear and bawling at his feet. "I must take responsibility for you. I gave you this position you now hold, Throne Analim. It gives me no pleasure to do this. What say you, wretched child?" he said. Analim was too emotional to even beg for his life. As he tried to hold onto Fortitude's leg, the god mercilessly kicked him. Analim bled from the nose as he laid on his back. "Do not presume to touch me. Since I do have pity for such a young angel, I will not kill you." He then turned directly to me. "He will be released to into one of the worlds and he will be exiled from Vallysium." he decried. I said "I feel it is my fault for sullying your name with him. I will take responsibility and go into exile with him."
Fortitude sighed and said "That... may be for the best." He allowed me to choose the world. I decided to go to the world where we took our Archangel Exam. I was very surprised that Mydaiel, Nanael, or Suzie did not offer to come with us. Being cut off was the worst thing to happen to an angel. It was totally understandable, but I thought they would do it for me at least. Regardless, I did not hold it against them. Several seraphs took us there to ensure that we actually went. I had no plans of cheating them. It was sad to see Analim's wings droop from the grief and shame. It did not help that they all rang bells and shamed us literally every two seconds. We were gone and not allowed to come back. That did not mean much for us. I was level 110 and Analim was level 85. There was simply no human that could harm us. The first place we went was to the estate of the Lady of the North. We were centuries too late and there was no trace of it behind. None of the sculptures that Analim had made still stood when we went to look for them.
Apparently, she was caught and executed a couple of years after Analim left the estate. He sobbed into my shoulder when a traveling scholar told us that. I was in my female form and Analim was not showing his wings. It was to hide our true angelic nature from humans. We had to tell him we came from the other side of the mountains. The scholar was confused and I had to tell him a story. "I'm sorry. You really must excuse my friend. He was so drawn into the tales of the Lady of the North, that hearing what had happened has shaken him to the core." "That so. Well, Keep quiet around the officials. To this day, there are many rebellions in her name. Soldiers and officials allike will not hesitat to part your head from your body if they hear of your... sympathy." the scholar said as he have us a hard look. It was blessing and a curse in a way. A blessing in that no one could recognize us. A curse in that nothing we for which we mattered in the end. Her struggle, the triplet's ambitions, Analim's tempation and Fall. All of it meant nothing in the end.
I said "It is no use dwelling on the past. We must move on and find some shelter." He took some time before he finished sniffling. He asked where we could go and I suggested the capitol. The scholar had told us that life in the capitol was tough as the Emperor was feuding with some of the other high ranked clans and some of the generals. That was never a good sign for a country. But it was also a good venue where we could rack up good deeds and make new names for ourselves. We walked there to get a lay of the land. Most of the people were poor and oppressed by corrupt officials. It was a few weeks by the time we got to the town closet to the capitol. We had been there to help a recently widowed woman give birth safely give birth and teach her to nurse her son. It seemed to be doing wonders for keeping Analim busy and his mind from exile. It was then that we heard word that the emperor had died. The line that killed the Lady of the North was dead. Now was the era of the Zhǎngchūn Dynasty under its first ruler, the 14 year old Wang Jing.
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