Despoiled Radiance (Chapter Six) (Patreon)

Themes: No Sex, Exposition, Light vs. Dark~, Scantily Clad Women

Word Count: 3,212

Summary: Gabriella the Archangel had succeeded beyond her wildest dreams... before the demons went and mucked with time travel.

Chapter 6  

The Archangel Gabriella looked upon all she had wrought and smiled, finding it to be good. It had always been a big of a gamble, this grand plan of hers. It was why she’d had to start out on her own, officially labelled as a rogue element by the Forces of Light. Those first days had been difficult, worming her way into the demon’s Fortress World and searching out the right human woman to put her faith in, rather than leading an army from the front as she was used to.

But leading legions of Angels against this world would have been foolhardy and self-defeating. No, the only way to properly take this planet had been her way. And so Gabriella and a small cadre of her most loyal angels had descended and began to set things up. Finding Celestine had been a stroke of good fortune and imbuing her with the energy of the light so that she could teach her brother and their friends how to use it had turned out to be a masterful stroke.

In the end, the demons and their demihuman pets had been completely blindsided by the rise of the Kingdom of Angelia and the subsequent rise of the Empire of Mankind. The humans with just a bit of help from her and her angels managed to carve out a large swathe of territory for themselves in such a short time. From there, Celestine had simply continued to build on her gains until finally Gabriella knew it was time.

Using the power of the Light to create Life, Gabriella had impregnated the Sorceress Empress personally, imbuing her with a baby girl that would be born with the potential to be even more powerful in light magic than Celestine. The blonde woman had been thrilled to receive Gabriella’s gift, and Gabriella had been even more thrilled to give it. The child was after all the next step in her plan and Analina’s eventual birth had signified a great turning point in the eternal war between the Forces of Light and the Armies of Darkness.

Analina had grown up slowly, but Celestine was restless and unwilling to wait. When her brother cautioned patience rather than action, she’d even had him replaced, a move that Gabriella still wasn’t entirely sure was the right one. Still, the red headed priestess that Celestine made the Holy Pope after Gregory grew into the roll beautifully, and once Analina came of age, they became known as the Holy Trinity of Angelia, the Empress, her daughter, and the Holy Pope Iris.

Those victories on the Fortress World had had farther flung effects than just that one planet though. After the Empire of Mankind had managed to conquer more than half of the Fortress World in the Light’s name, the Forces of Light across the galaxy could finally acknowledge the Empire’s existence and subsequently welcome and send them aid. 

The demons were far too late in their reaction, only acting in the eleventh hour as Angelic Forces across the cosmos launched advances all over the galaxy, assaulting demon world after demon world all along their borders. After all, the demonic legions were so focused on defending their fortress world that they couldn’t put as much effort into protecting their actual borders, sacrificing outpost after outpost as the Seraphim and their hosts moved forward, liberating and purifying planet after planet.

The most amusing thing though, at least to Gabriella, was the fact that even with all of their focus on that one Fortress World the demons were still losing to her creations. The Holy Trinity grew more powerful by the moment and Analina surpassed her already glorious mother on all counts. Gabriella had never been more proud, feeling a partial kinship with the young girl that she had in a way, fathered. 

And finally, here they were. War raged across the cosmos as the Forces of Light pushed demonkind back on every frontier. Here was where the real battle lay there, here on the Fortress World where it had all begun. Celestine, Analina, and Iris were assaulting the demon’s capitol as the Archangel watched them eagerly from on high. 

She watched as Analina used a beam of pure light to blast a hole through the demons’ shield. She watched as the Army of Light that humanity had created in the name of purity and justice spilled into that breach. And to Gabriella’s horror, she watched as the demons triggered an ambush that would overwhelm even the Holy Trinity and their strongest fighters. 

Beautiful and proud Paladins and Clerics fell left and right and Gabriella tensed up, ready to step in. But then she saw Analina preparing another beam of energy. Surely this would turn the tide back in their favor. The demons scum were cowards at heart; surely they would run in the face of such power. Analina managed to fire of the beam of pure Light and for a moment Gabriella dared hope. Then she saw it vanish into the swirling core of a dark monstrous construct standing in the breach.

The Archangel could sense the evil disgusting slimy taint of the Demon Lord that piloted the massive creation. He moved forward and then things went from bad to worse as the Army of Light was ambushed on all sides, not just at the breach but also on the hillside high above where they’d positioned their artillery. Gabriella shuddered in horror, unable to stay back any longer. Flying straight and true, the Archangel left her post on the metaphysical plane overlooking the battle and appeared in a flash of light high above the battle.

Lancing downwards, Gabriella gathered every ounce of power she had, aiming directly for the filthy Demon Lord’s horrific monstrosity. The Archangel fired a beam of light that was even larger than the one Analina had proved capable of, washing the area around the Holy Trinity and the Demon Lord in holy flames, killing every creature and healing every paladin and cleric within the vicinity.

And then time itself shattered. Gabriella found herself frozen in horror as she felt her feelings mirrored across the galaxy by a thousand Archangels on a thousand planets through the telepathic connection they all shared. The world began to rewind and as one, the leaders of the Light realized how badly they’d been played.

Gabriella suddenly found herself sitting in a chair that wasn’t really there, across from the Demon Lord who had been in the massive construct. She could not move, and judging by the way he was ‘sat’, he couldn’t either. The galaxy continued to rewind around them, but the Archangel only had eyes for her most hated foe, leaning forward as best as she was able and spitting her words at him angrily.

“What have you done?! YOU MUST NOT MEDDLE IN TIME! IT IS THE OLDEST RULE FOR BOTH OF US! The one thing neither Dark nor Light must ever do! What have you DONE?!”

The Demon Lord was utterly composed as he smiled easily at her, revealing rows of sharp little teeth.

“Rules are made to be broken Archangel. Did you think we would just roll over for you because you managed a semi-good trick? You should have known by now that we of the Darkness are sore losers. What have I done? I have unraveled all that you have wrought. Your triumphs will be made failures; your victories will be made defeats. Your trick will be turned back upon you and you will taste nothing but ash in your mouth. This is what I have done Archangel. In the end, the Darkness WINS!”

“But how?! How could you possibly do this? The power needed to perform this magic should be impossible for either of us! Neither Light nor Dark is meant to have power over time itself!”

Here, the Demon Lord grins viciously. 

“For once, you are right Archangel. Luckily for me, even with your amateur attempts at treachery and deceit, the Darkness still provides. An imp, from the very Fortress World that you sought to conquer managed to develop a device that can combine Light and Dark energy into a single source of pure unadulterated power. That construct that I was in converted the energy from your precious humans and even you into all that I needed to perform the forbidden spell.”

Gabriella didn’t want to believe it, not even the most minor of details.

“… An imp? You expect me to believe an imp is the cause of all our defeat?”

The Demon Lord blinked for a brief second and then his grin widened even further as he laughed at her.

“Oh dear, I hadn’t thought of it that way. But yes, I suppose it’s the truth. How very amusing. Ah, but I don’t really care whether you believe it or not Archangel. The time is fast approaching.”

Looking around, Gabriella gritted her teeth as she realized they were still rewinding in time. It was getting back towards the relative beginning now. Analina had been born and the Empire of Mankind was growing strong with Celestine at its head. Yet the rewind was beginning to slow down. Gabriella furrowed her brow, wondering why here.

“You have to know it doesn’t matter how far you go back. We’ll still win. You’ve just told me your entire plan. I know how to defeat you, you great big fool.”

She’d hoped her taunt would have a greater effect, but all it did was make the Demon Lord smirk evilly as he suddenly moved his arm, pulling a folded note from his belt and holding it up in the air.

“That’s adorable. You really think the Dark is that stupid? That I’m that stupid? I wouldn’t be telling you any of this if you were going to remember it. Neither of us is going to remember a damn thing Archangel. The future will be what it is. All the spell did was give me this one chance.”

A shiver of fear ran down Gabriella’s spine as she looked at the folded note.

“F-for what?”

But she didn’t get an answer, at least not verbally. The Demon Lord just winked at her and flicked his fingers out. The note disappeared into the rewinding galaxy around them and a moment later, everything went white as the Zarouk and Gabriella of a future that had never existed ceased to exist right alongside it.

-x-X-x-

The Holy Pope Gregory sat in a comfortable chair, listening to what the disgusting demihuman in front of him was saying with a considering look. And in that moment, because of a simple scrap of paper put in the right hands, everything from that moment on changed.

-x-X-x-

Gabriella awoke with a whimper, a splitting headache causing her to rub her head as she slowly rose from her uncomfortable lumpy bed, feeling like she’d forgotten something important. Unfortunately, hiding out on the Fortress World had become progressively harder as all of her plans failed and the Empire of Mankind fell to demonic influence, simply becoming the Empire of Man. An entirely misogynistic and sexist move, but then considering how powerful human females were in the Light, it made a certain amount of strategic sense for the demons to use their influence to curtail theirs.

Even if it made sense, Gabriella didn’t have to like it. She cursed as she walked down the hall from her bedroom. The Archangel had had to live like a human for months now, hiding away in a cave carved out into the side of a mountain, high above where anyone should have been able to walk to. Of course, her small cadre of angelic soldiers was not quite able to hide their light-given power like she was.

Letting out a sigh as she stepped into the hibernation chamber, Gabriella reached out to the first cocoon in the row, running her hands over the crystal as it glowed with faint light energy. Within it was one of her finest soldiers, a beautiful blonde angel named Vivianne. Her beauty was certainly without question right now, as the sleeping angel was completely naked. It was a side effect of the cocooning process, one could not go into it with anything else on them, or they risked having the item slowly meld onto their body while they slept.

The Forces of Light had used that to startling effect before, making Paragons of Light with living armor grafted to their bodies and swords of power attached to their wrists. But these angels were not meant for that kind of life. They were supposed to be able to go back to their old posts, to their old lives once they and she were done on this planet. Their armor and weapons sat on racks beside their cocoons, waiting for the moment they would wake up.

Unfortunately, Gabriella was not sure when she would be able to wake any of them. She was not sure when they would get to return to their lives of comfort and safety behind the Light’s borders. Everything had gone so utterly terrible; Gabriella just couldn’t understand how her plan had failed so spectacularly. Well, no, she supposed she knew the failure point all too well. That bastard, the ‘Holy Pope’ Gregory. He ha- a sudden sound tore the Archangel from her thoughts.

Spinning around, eyes wide, Gabriella heard voices coming down the hall. Hurrying over to the doorway, Gabriella risks using a bit of light magic, just enough to refract light around the entrance to the hibernation chamber, hiding it away behind an illusion of a rock face as she moved to meet her guests, fully prepared to kill if need be.

What she found surprised her and intrigued her. The group of human women froze up in awe when they saw her, but Gabriella could sense the light emanating from them. Flaring out a bit of her own, she watched on approvingly as they all fell to their knees in supplication. Focusing on the one at the head of the group, her eyes trailed over the incredibly skimp golden armor the beauty was wearing.

“Who are you? What is your purpose here?”

The leader, for that was surely what she was, bowed her head low, nearly prostrating herself before Gabriella. Her followers did the same, even as the first spoke.

“I am known as Selena. These with me are my comrades, my subordinates. We were once the Royal Guard of Angelia, assigned by the Holy Queen herself to guard her daughter. We failed in our duties, tricked by the treachery of the Holy Pope himself. Now we are rebels, hoping to one day save our Princess and retake the Kingdom of Angelia. We are hounded your holiness. We seek refuge, for we have nowhere else to go. If we remain under the open sky, the demons will no doubt find us in short order.”

Gabriella sensed no lies in Selena’s words, and so, despite her reluctance given their form of dress, she took them in. Over the next few days, the Archangel talked with Selena and her soldiers, listened to their woes and their tribulations, healed and fed them. She tried to offer them real clothing, but while they seemed happy with the gifts, even wearing them for a time, by the end of the day she would find the clothes on the ground again, and Selena and her girls would be walking around with barely anything on them once more.

On the fifth day, Selena and her group decided it was time for them to leave. Gabriella was of two minds on this, but in the end she chose to let them go, fearful that their overt use of holy magic was in fact drawing the demons to them across leagues of land. Gabriella chose to see them off, also intending to sweep the area outside the mountain briefly as she did so. Unfortunately, even the best of intentions can be waylaid. Even the smartest can be distracted.

Gabriella turned sharply to Selena, having been looking around with sharp eyes at the surrounding forests and plains.

“What did you just say?”

The former Royal Guard Captain blinked dumbly and repeated herself.

“I said that I wished we could free Celestine, save her from those damn Pig Orcs. It’s painful, knowing where she is yet not having the strength to save her. If I and my comrades attacked the Pig Orc village, we would end up as orc cows right alongside her, almost certainly.”

Gabriella stared at the scantily clad human. She could… see how it might be difficult. Selena and her girls meant well, but the Archangel had heard their pleasured cries in the dead of the night. The group of rebels fought for the light, but they still had nightly orgies that caused Gabriella to blush scarlet. Still, this… this was great news.

“I… where is she? If you know where Celestine is, you must tell me! Y-you said she was in a Pig Orc Village? How is that possible?! I looked everywhere, thinking the Dark Elves had to have taken her to parade around. I never suspected for even a second that the Pig Orcs would have her.”

A bemused Selena gave her directions to where Celestine was being kept and as she and her rebels departed, Gabriella took one last look at the well-hidden cave containing her comrades and bit her lower lip. It wouldn’t even take her a day to go to the location and get Celestine. Her angels would be safe until she returned. 

Nodding to herself, the Archangel took to the air on wings of light, foregoing caution for the moment and flying in the direction of the Pig Orc Village that contained her trump card. With Celestine, she might just be able to mount a successful rescue of Analina. And then, just maybe they would have the strength to turn back the tide and salvage this failing mission!

-x-X-x-

As the Archangel flew off, a pair of yellow slitted eyes watched her go. Then, those same eyes tracked down to the small group of scantily clad ‘rebels’ as they slowly worked their way back down the mountain. More specifically, the eyes centered specifically on the head of the group, where Selena walked at a steady pace, despite her two inch long high heels.

A slow toothy grin spread across Sebastian’s demonic face. The once human man was much transformed, as was his cohort behind him. All of them stared hungrily at their prey, the women of the Royal Guard that they had hunted down and played with for the past several years, slowly melting their minds, erasing their memories, and brainwashing them into the fuck happy bimbos that they were now.

But while Sebastian was eager to reacquaint himself with his dear sister, he looked towards the mountain where they’d just come from instead. His eyes focused on the spot they’d exited from and though he couldn’t see a cave entrance from down where he was standing, he knew it was there. His toothy grin ratcheted up a notch as he imagined the treasures that might be found inside.

“Oh my dear, dear Selena. What have you found now?”