When Ellyrie opened her eyes, all she could see was white. She was standing, though whatever ground held her was indistinguishable from the void all around her. Her head spun around, her breath quickened. "Where, where am I?"

"Could you ask a harder question? Ah, humans. You're not where you were. Far away from it. Further than you can think. But it is not quite a place, well it is but I would need a human lifespan to explain. Look, you're nowhere right now, is that good enough?"

When Ellyrie looked back, she was now facing a woman. A little taller than the captain, she was dressed in a pale white gown. White was her hair that ran down all the way to her ankles in a mane wider than her thin frame, white was her skin like flawless ivory. But black were her eyes, pools of dark that drew Ellyrie in with a sense of impending dread.

The captain had to look away, her heart was racing. "Nowhere? But how, alright. Why, then. Why am I here? And who are you?"

The woman leaned her head to the side. "Well that is a bit easier." She bent her knees and sat down on the thin air, crossing her legs. "I am Seraph. Seraph-Historia. I know you have not heard of me and under normal circumstances it would have staid that way. But it is not every day that someone cheats death in such an interesting way as you did. That is the why."

She rose her index finger and leaned back in her invisible seat. "Your path seems paved with very interesting turns, and I would like to see it keep continuing. Intervention is something I generally loathe, but things require a little nudge here and there from time to time. Your chest."

Ellyrie followed the direction of Seraph´s finger and looked down at herself. Across her chest, from one side to the other, ran a ghastly scar, a faint light emanating from the tissue.

"No mortal, primal or even a god could survive a strike like that, let alone recover. You had a real angel at your side at the right time." Seraph´s lips curled into a smile, so wide and void of any positive emotion that it sent shivers down Ellyrie´s spine.

"She doesn't know what she did, how it works or what there is to do now, so don't pressure the poor thing, alright? She merely acted on an ancient instinct." Seraph stood back up, the sound of her bare feet tapping on the ground echoing endlessly. The woman ran a finger across the scar. Her touch was neither warm nor cold, but behind it the captain felt a restraint that was unnerving.

"She tied herself to you, you are tied to her. If you get separated, or she dies, then this little thing will burst open and swallow you whole. You understand?"

Ellyrie stood still, yet every fibre of her being told her to run, to flee as if every last cursed being of the plains of ash was on her trail. But she couldn't. The captain nodded her head. "I, I will keep her safe."

"We will see."

All air left Ellyrie´s lungs when Seraph turned away from her. How long had she stopped breathing?

"That shall be everything then. Stay out of trouble, and remember that your heart tells you things better than your mind. If you need to run, then run."

The woman gave Ellyrie one last look over her shoulder as she rose her left hand into the air. "Don't make me intervene again, it is such a pain."

She snapped her fingers, the ripples of the sound disintegrated the whiteness of the room. It burst into a myriad of colours, a disorienting prisma that blinded the captain. She had to close her eyes. When she opened them again.

She stared up at a plain, white ceiling.

Around her bed sat her friends, the Hope´s guard, and while relief was spread across their faces, it could not undo a deeper seated worry.

"Captain." Mellador was the first to speak. "It is good to see you finally awake, but I am afraid graver things are requiring your attention."

Next to her bedside laid her armour, cloak and sword. Without another word the Hope´s guard stood up and left the room, with Cairon storming out first, Aeneya giving her captain a pained look as she left last.

With shaking hands Ellyrie got dressed, strapped her weapon to her belt and hurried outside. Her comrades were staring out down toward the wall and beyond. Ellyrie followed their gaze, and her stomach churned.

The fields beyond the city´s walls had become a killing field. Massive pits had been dug out in exact measurements and distances from each other, filling out a raster of staggering proportions. People were dragged out of the tents or up from the ground, towards a pit, shot or pierced by one of the gardists, and dropped in the pit, for the next one to follow.

"This can't be real." The captains knees grew weak, her breath quickening. "They cannot be serious!"

"The acting Lord Commander of the Guardians of the Truth Immaculate has sentenced the remaining population to be executed, stating extreme circumstances of danger." Thaeus had his arms crossed in front of his chest, every muscle strained to it´s limit.

"Yeah because they cannot be asked to do their work of investigating, so they just kill everyone." Cairon was trembling, grasping his staff with both hands. "Say the word captain, it's just a few hundred gardists and hunters, we can take them!"

"Do not be ridiculous!" Aeneya walked into his path, spreading her arms. "We cannot attack Guardian forces, do you have any idea what that would mean? We could just as well try storming the capital, we would be as good as dead either way."

"So you're just going to stand here and watch as they kill the people we came here to protect? What was the point, why did we fight if they are just going to kill the ones we could save?" Cairon stomped his foot down, but halted in his march forward.

"This is not the task of some upstart, Cairon." Mellador´s voice brought a halt to Cairon´s rage-filled trembling. "The Grand Master of the north is overseeing this operation. If he sanctioned this act, then he must have a good reason for it."

"What good reason can there be to kill thousands of innocent people?" Cairon´s voice had quieted down, though the anger continued to simmer through.

Ellyrie finally took astep forward, and all eyes of her comrades fell onto her. "Who is leading this operation, maybe if I talk to them I can get them to stop!"

Nobody answered her. The Hope´s guard exchanged looks, even Cairon looking worried.

"What is going on? Please, I know it may be difficult but I'm the heiress right? They have to at least listen to me whoever they-"

"It's Serafin."

Thaeus´s words froze every drop of blood in Ellyrie´s body.

"Serafin is the one who decided on the action. The order we received has her signature."

Ellyrie stared down at her hands, then back at the slaughter field beyond the gates.

"That, that's a really sick joke, Thaeus I, I didn't know you liked that sort of thing." Her voice was trembling. "There's no way Sera could do this, we've been together since we were kids I, she couldn't hurt a fly, every time she bruised me during training she cried the whole day I."

Her voice lost itself at the unmoving gazes of her comrades. The sorrow written in their faces. Their pity.

Ellyrie sunk to her knees, her arms wrapped around her chest. "Sera can't do this, she would never. I, I need to talk to her." She stumbled to her feet. Her legs near collapsed on her, but she struggled forward. "It's, it's me, she'll listen to me. Her superior must've threatened her to make her do this, if she knows we can help her she'll stop this I know."

Aeneya pulled Ellyrie into a hug from behind, halting the captain. "Please. You haven't seen her in ten years. Mellador and Cairon ran into her, and she really sounds like she became a Guardian, through and through."

Fiona had been running her hand across the blade of her scythe, not taking her eyes off the killing fields once. "What glory lies in such meaningless deaths. How can they offend my mother, the pale lady, so."

Aeneya let go, her gaze lowering to the ground. "If you, truly want to go, then we will not stop you of course. But, I think it may be better if we just left this behind, and tried to forget it. That way you, and we all, could try remembering Sera for who she was instead."

"You, you all are not with the lord commander?"

The new voice drew their attention, and the weight of it overwhelmed the frail man standing in the doorway of the infirmary. It was the priest of the Mother, now quivering in his boots.

"We certainly aren't, but what does that matter to you?" Cairon snarled.

"I, I had a feeling from the moment that their ship arrived that things would not end well for the people who survived, so I hid those I could reach before the gardists under the temple, past the sepulchers. Please, you have a sky ship don't you? Please take them with you!"

Ellyrie looked back at the fields one more time. She did not need to think about her answer.

They marched down the streets toward the temple, always on the lookout, but they saw not another human soul. Even a ship as mighty as the "Purity" could only hold a few hundred combatants, and those were already hard pressed to contain their prisoners, leaving the city abandoned.

They waited at the entry to the temple, pacing along the grounds.

"This is way, way too dangerous captain." Aeneya´s eyes continued to gaze down toward the fields. "If they find us out we will be in direct violation of a Guardian´s verdict, not even the Sovereigns or your father could do that without consequences!"

"They wont, they have way too many people to kill down there, we'll slip past, drop them off somewhere safe and be gone before they know it." Cairon was balancing atop his staff, staring up at the shadow the "Purity" cast down on them with disgust.

Finally the priest returned, and with him a small flock of people. They looked miserable, malnourished, still dressed in the rags that they had worn on the night of the attack.

Ellyrie paused one more time, then she nodded. "Alright, everyone follow me. You can take our airship, you will be safe, I promise you!"

There was little time for cheer, the spectre of the "Purity" urged even the elderly to march as fast as they could. Who collapsed or couldn't keep up was picked up by Mellador, who slung them over his shoulder like feathers.

They raced towards the Sky tower where their ship had docked. The survivors were lead downstairs, Thaeus and Cairon distributed some of their supplies to them while Mellador and Fiona headed toward the elevation room to ignite the crystal furnace.

Aeneya took the helm and Ellyrie severed the ropes holding them to the tower. The sails filled with a strong southern breeze, and they took off.

Moments after however, a cannon ball soared through the air, narrowly missing the front of the ship.

A melodic voice echoed through the air, coming from the Purity.

"Captain Ellyrie of the Sky Knights. By order of the Guardians of the truth immaculate, you are to present your vessel for inspection before you may leave this space. If you fail to comply, we must consider you guilty of breaching the truth of orthodoxy."

Ellyrie stared back at the great ship. The "Purity" was four or five times larger than the "Herald of Justice", and significantly better armed. If all their batteries fired they would be blown out of the air within moments.

The captain took a deep breath, and turned to Aeneya. "Set course for the "Purity". It's not like we have much of a choice."