“I’m glad you brought Mandy back with you,” Clarice told Aria with a relieved sigh. “She’s saved our bacon twice now.”

  “Yeah, she really is a gem, isn’t she?” Aria agreed fervently. “We need to congratulate Lucifer on a job well done with finding her.”

  “Good job, Satan,” Clarice grinned at Aria and Calypso as she mimed devil horns.

  Aria couldn’t stop the sudden image in her mind of Clarice dressed up in a sexy devil outfit. Her cheeks flushed as she hurriedly looked away. Looking away was futile, however, since they could feel her emotions through the bond. The sudden desire that flared in her core was followed immediately by a probing tendril of thought from Clarice.

  “Come on, sharing is caring,” Clarice told her with a look of faux concern.

  Aria squeezed her eyes shut as she turned redder. “It’s so embarrassing,” she protested weakly.

  She gasped as Clarice teleported, appearing so close that her body was pressed up against her own, their faces a hairsbreadth apart. “Show me,” Clarice commanded in a whisper that sent shivers down Aria’s spine.

  Aria’s brain short-circuited temporarily as she stared into Clarice’s dark brown eyes, desire flooding her body. The image of devil Clarice flashed through her mind again as she stared back into Clarice’s eyes with barely restrained hunger.

  Clarice started laughing delightedly when she saw the image, sharing it with Calypso. “I love the way your mind works, Aria. Devil’s horns are my new call sign.”

  Aria let out a disappointed breath as Clarice stepped back. She could feel the same desire emanating from Calypso as she saw the mental image Clarice had shared with her. Aria quickly tried to think of something else before they created another feedback loop. One of the side effects of the bond was that if two of them felt the same emotions it could create a feedback loop that reinforced the emotion. If she wasn’t careful, it would cascade down to Lexi and lead to all sorts of embarrassing scenarios for their fourth member, depending on what she was doing at the time.

  “I’m very curious about Mandy's counterpart from this reality,” Calypso murmured contemplatively, making an obvious effort to break the loop. “We should make a point of looking her up when we are finished with this.”

  “Speaking of finishing this,” Aria stared down at the moon in front of them near Gliese 12b. “Do you want to do the honors, or shall I?”

  “I’ll take this one,” Calypso offered, setting her harp down on her foot. It was a little awkward, since they were floating in the void of space. Well, void if you were using regular vision. Her ascended eyes could see energy lighting up the supposed emptiness of space everywhere she looked, a lattice of lines connecting star systems, planets, and other celestial objects.

  Calypso plucked a sequence of notes on her harp as she focused her will on the dissolution of the moon in front of them, reducing it to nothing but energy potential. The removal of an entire moon had taken seconds. Aria was still amazed and terrified by the power they wielded.

  Several ships began moving toward them from space stations in the planet’s LaGrange points. So far, the only spacefaring species they had encountered were demons. While the inhabitants of most worlds were similar to Earth, some of them were allowed to have more technology. It seemed to be based on the whims of whichever demon ruled over a planet. The human inhabitants had ranged in technology from mud huts to space stations with interplanetary travel. This world was clearly ruled over by one of the more lenient demons.

  “Shall we move on to the next one?” Clarice suggested wryly as one of the vessels fired a blast of energy toward them. Clarice simply opened a portal in front of the beam, letting it shoot off harmlessly into deep space.

  “Let’s boogie,” Aria grinned, opening up a portal to the next star system.

  They spent several days teleporting around to thousands of star systems as they purged moon after moon. They were near the galactic center when they found their first planet untouched by demons.

  “I’m getting a different feeling from this world than the others,” Calypso informed them with a frown. “The ambient psychic energy is worse than any of the other worlds we’ve been to yet.”

  A dozen angels suddenly appeared in a circle around them. They were holding a variety of weapons, from glowing swords to more advanced weaponry. One angel held what looked like a rifle pointed at Calypso. They all wore expressions of grim determination as they stared at the three Seraphim with open hostility. Aria wrinkled her nose at the stench. Were they demons in disguise?

  “There’s going to be trouble if you keep pointing that gun at Calypso,” Aria informed them in a dangerous tone.

  They didn’t bat an eye at her threat. One of them pulled out some glowing rope and began floating toward them purposefully.

  “Put your hands behind your back,” the man ordered curtly. “If we have to remove some of your limbs to make you obey, we will.”

  Aria heard the difference in language, even though it sounded like English to her. She knew her mind was translating it in real-time. She stared into the man’s eyes as she replied.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she spoke in a quiet voice, with all of the authority of her Seraph class behind it. The man hesitated when he heard the power in her voice. “If this is the courtesy you afford all angels, I think I prefer the demons.”

  His mouth tightened and he gestured to the man with the rifle. He squeezed off a beam of white light aimed at her arm. It never made it to her. Eyes blazing with light, Clarice had intercepted the beam, then vaporized the weapon before the men had time to flinch.

  “The next one of these asshats that attacks one of us is getting vaporized,” Clarice declared coldly.

  “In case you didn’t understand her,” Aria translated in the same quiet voice, layered with authority. “The next asshat to attack us gets vaporized.”

  The angels around them were staring in shock and growing fear as they moved back slowly.

  “Now, explain who you are and why you are trying to capture other angels,” Aria demanded, her voice filled with a commanding intensity. “Or we can make you explain it. Explain why you stink worse than demons while you’re at it.”

  Aria noted that all of the angels present were Dominions of the first and second order. They had clearly grown used to being the most powerful entities in the realm. She wondered what they were even doing in the mortal realm. They weren’t imprisoned in the chains of mortality, so they clearly supported the current power structure. She was pretty sure Dominions didn’t hang out in the mortal realm though.

  The angels seemed to be frozen with indecision. Now that they were looking for it, they could clearly see that Aria and her companions were more than they had bargained for.

  One of the Dominions of the first order sneered at her as he raised what looked like a wand above his head. A wave of darkness dropped around them like a cloud falling from the sky. Aria’s spiritual eyes were completely unaffected by the inky cloud. She could sense what felt like energy leeches trying to suck all of the energy from the area as the black cloud settled around them. It latched on to her soul and began to strain for purchase, clearly sensing a buffet of power within. It was a buffet the parasites would never enjoy. There was a single harmonic from Calypso’s harp as she plucked one of the strings. A shockwave flashed out away from her, burning the darkness away like a wildfire in dry grass.

  The single harmonic vibrated in the space around them with terrible effect. The Dominions around them grabbed the sides of their heads and screamed in agony as the divine instrument nearly unraveled their fragile souls with its power. Aria flashed over to the Dominion who had wielded the wand, grabbing him by the throat and pulling his face up within inches of her own as her eyes glowed with power.

  “I feel like we’ve been more than patient with you,” Aria growled in annoyance. “It’s time to start talking, Doriken, before I decide to rewrite reality with you as a carbuncle.”

  The sneer was gone from his face. All that remained was naked fear as he gaped at her in disbelief. “You...you...you are all dead!” he gasped in uncomprehending terror. “They destroyed you!”

  “Ah, so you finally recognize us, eh?” Clarice drawled as she floated over to them. Aria blinked as she realized Clarice was speaking the same language. “I suppose it’s no surprise that you volunteered to come play in the mortality zoo, Doriken. I remember when you used to try and volunteer to act as a guardian angel for humans so that you could make them suffer. You make demons look compassionate in comparison. I wonder what kind of horror show is going on in this system with a piece of garbage like you in a position of authority. Pretty bad, if the stench of your soul is anything to go by”

  Calypso joined Clarice in her inspection of the now terrified Dominion. “I remember him,” she said in a voice that should have left frost on her lips. “I’m sure he was ecstatic when he thought we were gone for good. Well, Doriken, I have some bad news for you. Reality is about to change drastically, and your Seraphim will have no part in the new reality. On the other hand, I have some good news for you.”

  He stared at her with a mixture of fear and hatred. Aria felt her hand twitch around his neck as several memories flooded her mind. Memories of the complaints from other angels of the horrors Doriken had put them through in mortality. Memories of his gloating face the moment before the divine instruments were played, intent on their destruction.

  “The good news, Doriken,” Calypso continued in a conversational tone. “Is that you won’t be around to see any of these changes. Clarice?”

  Clarice smiled grimly at the vermin in Aria’s grip, then blasted him with angel fire. He screamed in terror as it struck him in the face. It took several seconds for him to sublimate back into ethereal energy, the state from which he had originally been spawned. He screamed in terror throughout the entire process.

  Aria turned around to face the remaining Dominions once he was gone. They were all frozen in shock as they realized who they faced. Aria remembered her confrontation with the demon lord at the Tree of Life when he had tried to teleport away. A hint of a memory rose up from the depths of her soul memory and she laid out a web of dissonant energy that destabilized the energy matrix in the region that would jam any attempt to teleport or portal away.

  She had done it just in time. As Clarice and Calypso joined her to inspect the remaining Dominions, she felt several attempts to penetrate her web of dissonant energy. When they realized they couldn’t teleport or portal, several of them attempted to fly away. Calypso’s voice rang out with an authority that couldn’t be ignored or defied.

  “STOP!” She hadn’t shouted the word, but Aria could feel the universe itself halt its operation in the space around them at the power of her command.

  All of the Dominions froze. They stared back at her fearfully as their limbs refused to move. The three of them floated over to inspect the remaining Dominions. As Aria read the names in their souls, memories flooded to the surface of her mind. It was obvious why demons weren’t controlling this place. There were worse things than demons. She remembered the attempt to bind them when they had first appeared.

  “I have a feeling that any angels who came here for help are regretting it now,” Aria spoke in a calm voice, containing the disgust and distaste she felt for these monsters. “I don’t think there is any point in questioning them. Let’s be done with them and go see how bad the damage is.”

  Clarice nodded her agreement, her eyes filled with revulsion as she stared at the Dominions around them. “We should have done this before. We were too forgiving. Who knows how many have suffered at their hands because we didn’t erase them when we should have.”

  Aria brought her hands apart and clapped with all of her might. A brilliant flash washed away from her and tore through the Dominions like a tsunami. Their immortal bodies were dissolved and their spirits disintegrated as the impossible wave of light carried on past them to crash into the moon. The enormous soul trap fared no better as the tsunami of light washed over it, enveloping it completely before dissolving it down to ethereal energy.

  “Wow, Aria,” Clarice stared at the empty space where the moon had stood. “I guess we really didn’t need the divine instruments to get rid of the moons.”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Yeah, that definitely got more powerful,” Aria agreed, feeling a sense of awe at how much power they commanded. “I’m seriously scared of what we are capable of.”

  “I’m not,” Clarice muttered darkly. “The memories I have of those bastards make me grateful for every scrap of power we gain. As soon as I saw his name, it all came flooding back into my mind. The cult of assholes who tried to convince us that increasing the level of pain people suffered would make them enjoy the return to immortality even more. It was no surprise that none of them wanted to experience mortality.”

  “I’m scared of what we’re going to find in this system,” Calypso confessed with a look of dread on her beautiful face.

  The sight of dread on her face triggered a sense of rage in Aria. Her protective nature made her want to hunt down anyone responsible for making that beautiful face express such horror and extinguish their light from existence.

  “Let’s go see what we can do to make things better,” Clarice suggested gently. “It’s past time that these people experience something wonderful.”

  Aria nodded with Calypso, and they dropped down to the planet below. The first thing they saw as they dropped through the cloud layer, were dozens of pyramids on the shores of an ocean. There was a large city not far from the pyramids that was filled with industry. Hundreds of smokestacks were pumping out greasy black smoke. All of the buildings were soot stained and drab. There were no modern vehicles or horses or other beasts of burden. Instead, everyone was walking and pulling carts without the help of domesticated animals. Aria zoomed in on the land around them searching for any sign of life besides humans but found nothing larger than insects and small rodents. The psychic energy in the world was a miserable soup of suffering and fear.

  “Let’s go talk to someone and see what’s going on here,” Clarice suggested in a subdued voice. There was no sign of her playful nature as she observed the depressed energy pervading the land.

  Aria nodded and they dropped quickly down into one of the streets. There were undecorated buildings lining both sides of the street. Aria guessed they were apartment buildings and that houses weren't a thing on this world. The people in the streets were dressed in the same kind of clothing, as if the idea of styles and creativity were a foreign concept. They all wore a drab set of what looked like coveralls, both men and women. When they saw the angels land, they all dropped to their knees and pressed their faces to the ground. Aria felt her ire rise as she watched them tremble in fear where they remained prostrate.

  Aria walked up to a woman and knelt so that she was at the same level. She gently reached out and touched the woman’s shoulder. “Excuse me, Serena, could you tell me what the name of this city is?”

  Serena began to shake more violently when she felt Aria’s touch. At her words, the woman spoke quickly. “Aberjan, Exalted One.” Her voice came out in a strangled moan as she appeared to wait for some kind of punishment.

  Aria reached out a hand again, this time she laid it on the woman’s back and poured her aura of love and comfort into her. Serena gasped in amazement and wonder as she felt love flood her entire body. Aria maintained the contact and aura, knowing Serena would revert into a state of terror the moment she stopped.

  “Serena, I’m from another world,” Aria told her gently. “We are here to try and make life better for the humans of this world. We destroyed a dozen angels on our way here when we discovered that they were controlling this world. They were horrible angels who did horrible things. We aren’t all like that. I know you don’t remember right now, but you are also an angel, just like me. You were imprisoned on this world, just like I was imprisoned on my world not too long ago. If you wish it, I will give you the ability to become an angel once more, just like me.”

  Aria connected to Serena’s thought node as she waited for the woman to say something.

  They are trying to get me to speak blasphemy so that I will be condemned. If I say no though, she will be affronted and also condemn me. No matter what, I am going to be condemned. There is no escape this time.

  Aria felt her heart break for the woman, realizing what kind of hell they must have been living in. There was nothing she could say, even blanketing the woman in love, that would convince her that this wasn’t some kind of trap. She had been conditioned to be meek and fearful for her entire life, just like some religious cult back on Earth.

  “I’ve got this,” Clarice told her softly. She leaned down and gently pulled the woman’s face up off of the ground to stare into Clarice’s golden eyes. A shimmering golden tear ran down her cheek as she stared into the woman’s eyes, her own eyes conveying a boundless love. Clarice leaned forward and pressed her cheek to the woman’s cheek, transferring the tear.

  Why does she weep? Her eyes are so warm, I could almost believe...

  Serena gasped as the tear sank into her skin and her face began to glow. Her middle-aged face became twenty years younger. She stared at Clarice in stupefied shock, unable to comprehend what was happening.

  “I need to you to repeat after me,” Clarice told her firmly. “I will vanquish evil.”

  Clarice stared at her expectantly. Serena licked her lips nervously, then spoke the words.

  “I will vanquish evil,” she whispered fearfully.

  What is this feeling? Am I finally being judged? It doesn’t feel unpleasant though. Oh!

  Aria watched as the process swept over Serena, translating her into an angel. It ended with a brilliant flash out of her eyes and left her staring in wonder and disbelief.

  “You are an angel once more,” Aria told her with an encouraging smile. “Nothing can harm you ever again, and you can’t die. Do you believe me now?”

  Serena nodded slowly, her eyes filled with wonder as she felt more love and positivity than she would have ever thought possible.

  “What’s going on here?” a cold and merciless voice demanded from a few hundred feet away. Aria could smell the stench of his rotten soul from hundreds of feet away.

  Serena immediately collapsed back down to the ground and pressed her head to the cobblestones. Aria took her hands and pulled her back upright, rising as she did so. Serena stared at her in terror, even with all of the love flooding her system.

  “I’ll show you what we do to bad angels like him,” Aria promised her with a wintery smile.

  “Who the hell are you-” he broke off in a strangled croak. Aria had blurred across the few hundred feet and wrapped her hand around his throat, lifting him off the ground. He was an archangel, his large bird-like wings identifying him more easily than the runes on his nodes. He wore a much different arrangement of apparel than the humans. He was in long white robes, looking more like a biblical angel than the angels on Earth.

  “Hello, Drison,” Aria greeted the angel in a dangerous tone. “There’s been a change in management. Unfortunately for you, there will be staffing cuts as well. I can smell the stench of your twisted soul. There’s no room for angels like you in this reality.”

  He had been staring at her in terrified recognition as she spoke. He tried to jerk away as her eyes began glowing, flapping his wings in panic, but he was no match for her strength. Aria fired her beam into his face as she glared up at him. He lasted less than a second before he became motes of light that faded from sight.

  The people on the street hadn’t seen anything. They had remained prostrate with their faces pushed to the ground the entire time. Serena had seen it though. Clarice had held her upright to make sure she didn’t miss the clear display of power disparity.

  “See, Serena?” Clarice asked with a cheerful smile. “It’s time to clean house and get rid of all of the angels who have been tormenting the humans of this world. I know you have a lifetime of habits to unlearn, but you really are free from this nightmare. When we are finished, there won’t be a single angel left alive if they have treated any of you poorly.”

  “Who are you?” Serena asked in wonder, her eyes filled with awe.

  “I’m Clarice,” Clarice smiled warmly. “This is Aria, and Calypso. We are Seraphim, the highest order of angel. In the light realms, where angels originally come from, there are only nine of us Seraphim. There are four of our number who are responsible for you being trapped in these human bodies lifetime after lifetime. We are putting an end to that now and changing everyone back into angels again. We will need your help to turn everyone back into angels. Do you remember how I touched you with my tear?”

  Serena nodded, her eyes curious.

  “That’s all that is required to start the transformation process,” Clarice explained, smiling warmly as she spoke. “Once a person has touched one of your tears, they need to say, ‘I will vanquish evil’ and then they will turn into an angel. It shouldn’t take very long to get everyone on this world converted back to angels if everyone who is turned into an angel turns everyone they know into an angel.”

  “And just so you know,” Aria added with a grin. “Angels don’t need to eat, drink, or sleep, and they don’t feel pain or take any damage. You could be dropped off of the tallest tower or mountain and it wouldn’t hurt you a bit.”

  “Really?” Serena asked in hopeful amazement. She suddenly frowned. “But didn’t you hurt those other angels?”

  “There are only two classes of angels who have the ability to hurt other angels,” Calypso told her reassuringly. “Cherubim and Seraphim. If any Cherubim show up here, we will take care of them. The other Seraphim are too scared to leave the light realms.”

  “Can we get a little bit of information from you, Serena?” Aria asked as she glanced around at the prostrate humans all around them. “What were those other angels doing to you? Why is everyone so scared of angels?”

  Serena’s eyes grew haunted as she spoke. “They punish you if you break any rules or fail to fulfill all of your duties in a timely manner. They have purging rooms they take you to, and they hurt you. Sometimes they will take you even if you haven’t broken any rules or fallen behind. They claimed it was to purge our souls of sin. We were told that if we have any sins when we die that we would spend the rest of eternity in a purging room. They encouraged us to visit the purging rooms if we felt like we had sinned in any way.”

  “Sounds like the inquisitions on crack,” Clarice muttered darkly. “I’m so sorry you had to deal with this, Serena. Know that your suffering is at an end now. We are going to hunt the rest of the twisted angels down now. Please try to convert as many humans to angels as you can. We’ll come back after we have finished purging this world of twisted angels.”

  There were several people who had been listening to the entire exchange. One of them hesitantly lifted his head up off of the ground and stared at them with a mixture of fear and hope.

  “I think Linus is ready to be converted,” Aria told Serena with a nod toward the man. “Do you think you can produce a tear?”

  “I think it would be hard not to,” Serena answered, tears of happiness in her eyes. “Thank you, so much.”

  “One last gift,” Aria told her with a comforting smile. She pulled Serena into a hug, followed a moment later by Clarice. Aria made tears form in her eyes and the let them drop onto Serena. Clarice did the same, and as their tears collided there was a golden flash of light. When the light dimmed, Serena’s coveralls he been torn with Archangel wings.

  “Damn, I always forget that wings are hell on clothes,” Clarice muttered in irritation. She plunged her hand through a small portal and pulled out a shirt, along with some pants.

  “How about you try some clothes on from my world,” Clarice suggested with a grin. “I guarantee they are more comfortable than what you are wearing right now.”

  Serena looked around at all of the people, a blush forming on her cheeks.

  “Here, follow me,” Clarice told wryly as she opened a portal back to her room at the cabin. “You can change in here.”

  Serena gasped as she saw the portal, then again when she saw Clarice’s room inside the cabin. “Where is this place? It’s so beautiful.”

  Aria felt a stab of pity for the woman as she realized the dull, colorless world these people were stuck in.

  “This is the place where I used to sleep when I was human back on my world,” Clarice replied, gesturing at the sky. “If you looked up at the stars at night, my world is close to a small star really far away.”

  “You live in the stars?” Serena asked in wonder.

  “Well, you do too,” Clarice told her with a faint smile. “I’ll show you after we finish getting rid of the rest of the twisted angels on your world.”

  Serena hesitantly stepped through the portal into Clarice’s room. She was gone for several minutes while Clarice helped her into her new shirt. Aria decided to spend the time productively. She moved among the prostrate humans, distributing tears as she went. By the time Clarice returned with Serena, there were eight new angels waiting for her. They had heard their conversation, so they were more prepared for the change than Serena.

  Serena stared at the new group of smiling angels in surprise and then delight as she realized she wouldn’t be working alone after the Seraphim left her. She had been pretty when she was a human, but she was radiant now, especially with new clothes. The coveralls seemed to be designed to make woman as unattractive as possible.

  “Okay, time to go-” Aria cut off as she smelled a tainted soul. She looked upward as half a dozen Archangels came soaring into the city. When the new arrivals spotted the anomaly in the city where the newly minted angels were, they banked and swooped down in their midst. Several of the new angels dropped to their knees automatically, but Serena remained upright this time, though she looked like it was will power alone that kept her upright.

  “Hello, little peasants, it looks like it’s time for you to visit the purging room,” a tall blonde Archangel told them pleasantly. “I will personally oversee the purging of your sins.”

  “Good luck with that, you jackass,” Clarice told him derisively. “They aren’t human anymore.”

  The pleasant smile vanished from Meldin’s face as he noticed Clarice and heard her words. An unpleasant smile appeared on his face as he pulled out the same kind of wand Doriken had wielded. “I see we have some visiting angels from a neighboring world,” he stated with a welcoming smile. “Allow me to be the first to welcome you-”

  He broke off as the wand was vaporized from his hand by Clarice. While the energy parasites couldn’t hurt the Seraphim, the same wasn’t true for the new angels. The other Archangels quickly pulled out their own wands, which were just as quickly vaporized.

  “I’m glad you saved us the trouble of hunting you down, Meldin,” Clarice told him with a grateful smile. “You’re going to save us all sorts of time.”

  Meldin took a step back as he stared into Clarice’s golden eyes, fear filling his features. “I welcome you to Sardward, fellow angels,” Meldin declared with a welcoming smile that was only partially ruined by the quaver in his voice. “We didn’t realize there were any other angels around.”

  “When I’m done, there won’t be,” Clarice told him with a friendly smile. “Do you have any idea how bad your rotten soul stinks, Meldin? Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. Goodbye.”

  “No, wait!” Meldin cried out desperately, his eyes pleading. “We’re not all bad! The Dominions forced us to do this. We didn’t have a choice!”

  “Meldin, it’s time for you to visit the purging room,” Clarice threw his words back into his face. “Where I will personally oversee the purging of your sins. I’m afraid begging won’t save you this time Meldin. You have more demon in you than demons do. Enough monologuing. Goodbye.”

  He turned to flee just as Aria’s angel fire hit his neck, vaporizing him instantly. She and Clarice made short work of the remainder of Archangels.

  When they were finished, the newly ascended angels rose to their feet looking sheepish. Aria didn’t blame them for their behavior. They had been born into this nightmare world and lived who knew how many incarnations under the same tyrannical rule. It would take a lot of rehabilitation for them to overcome their fear of other angels.

  “Okay, let’s go find some more assholes to vaporize,” Clarice suggested as she rose up into the air.

  Aria smiled grimly as she followed Clarice up into the air and opened her senses to the world around them. She caught a whiff of tainted soul from the North. “I’m so ready.”