Since it was rainy season, rain fell softly against the sanctum windows long after midnight that night.
Most of the grand veiled sanctum had finally gone quiet after the a long day’s work.
Exhausted attendants slept wherever they could find space, novice maidens whispered prayers of gratitude in the dormitories, and the elder luminars remained gathered in the upper halls discussing the unusual strength of the demon.
Unfortunately for Anaqielle sleep didn’t come for her.
She sat alone in darkness inside her chamber.
The candles were already put out.
No sound could be heard in the room, only the rain sliding down glass while half-empty wine bottles rested abandoned across the floor.
The fallen angel sat near the window in silence, one leg drawn lazily over the other while moonlight touched the sharp edges of her face.
In front of her were pages, dozens of them.
Old scripture fragments, historical records and historical accounts dating back to since the sanctum opened.
Some stolen from restricted archives while others written centuries ago in languages no longer spoken by humans were from her private collections.
Isa stared at the mess from the bed.
“…I’m even afraid to ask.”
Anaqielle didn’t look up.
“You should be. I am just as afraid binge reading all these records.”
The helper sighed deeply.
“You’re researching holy psychology again. You’ve read and reread them three times now.”
“I’m researching faith.”
“That’s worse… and a terrible way to spend the night.”
Anaqielle finally lifted her eyes.
Her golden eyes were cold and focused.
“I’ve been approaching Laliya like a sinner.”
Isa blinked slowly.
“You say that as though she isn’t currently fantasizing about you every night. Which in many books is considered a sin.”
“She desires me physically,” Anaqielle admitted.
“Yes… And the problem is…”
“But emotionally?” Anaqielle leaned back slightly.
“Spiritually? Morally? She doesn’t feel swayed at all. She’s still s goody goody and I can’t stand that.”
Isa’s face fell.
“And you’re not going to let this go, are you?”
Anaqielle smiled faintly.
“No, I’m not.”
The helper sat upright immediately.
“No. Ana. Whatever expression is on your face right now… no. I know I am all for you getting back to heaven but there are some lines that I feel once you cross… you can’t come back from.”
The fallen angel ignored her warnings and picked up one of the older scripture pages.
“It’s written here that the sanctum teaches purity through dependence.”
Isa frowned slightly.
“What?”
“They raise holy maidens to believe goodness comes from the Radiance and warns them that the radiance is always watching their every move,” Anaqielle tapped one claw lightly against the parchment.
“They make the radiance sound like a creep that spies on maidens,” she laughed abit, finding the joke funny.
Isa looked at her.
Her heart felt that Anaqielle had been fallen for too long, the angel she remembered would’ve never made such a joke about radiance.
“Every kind act, every sacrifice, every compassionate choice is drilled into them since the moment they set foot in the sanctum.” Her eyes darkened thoughtfully.
“They are taught that the Light guides them toward it. How manipulative.”
“And?”
Isa was waiting for the relevance in what she was reading.
It was past midnight and if the conversation wasn’t going anywhere meaningful, she intended to bolt and make a run for it.
“And if I sever that connection…” A slow smile spread across her lips.
Isa looked horrified now.
“You want to spiritually isolate her.”
“I want her to question whether the Radiance ever truly cared about her.”
“That’s cruel.”
“Yes but it is the only way for my to win and return home.”
“Even you don’t question radiance that much and you’re a fallen. Why would you…” Isa sighed, she felt like talking to a brick wall and it wasn’t worth it.
Rain tapped harder against the windows.
Anaqielle rose slowly from her seat and walked toward the balcony doors, dark wings shifting faintly behind her.
“She trusts Heaven too much. That’s the problem.”
The fallen angel stared out toward the glowing sanctum towers below.
“And Heaven keeps rewarding her for it,” she whispered, and that was the second problem.
Every time Laliya chose kindness, the Light embraced her.
Every time she resisted temptation, her Lumen healed.
Every act of compassion strengthened her faith instead of weakening it.
Anaqielle could not defeat that through lust alone.
So she would attack the source instead.
The faith itself.
Isa rubbed both hands over her face.
“You’re planning something terrible, aren’t you.”
Anaqielle looked genuinely thoughtful.
The accusation crossed her mind but she denied it.
“Not terrible… just something heaven would consider sacrilegious.”
“Ana?”
“I’m going to save her.”
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Isa stared at her then laughed once in disbelief.
“Save her?” the idea sounded like mockery coming from Anaqielle.
The fallen angel’s gaze remained fixed on the rain.
“Yes, I’m going to save her.”
She said as though deep down she believed it and maybe she did.
With desperation clinging to her actions, there was no telling what she would do and how she’d justify her actions.
“By emotionally destroying her?”
“By freeing her from the brainwashing nonsense that the sanctum has fed her all her life.”
Isa stood abruptly.
“She’s happy and blessed by the heavens, I wouldn’t call that nonsense.”
“She’s obedient and hindering my return to heaven.”
“She’s kind!”
“She’s trapped by ideals that aren’t good for my ambitions.”
The sharpness in Anaqielle’s voice silenced the room briefly.
Her expression darkened.
“You didn’t see her during the exorcism.”
Isa frowned.
“I did see her.”
“No,” Anaqielle denied quietly.
“You saw a holy maiden being holy.”
The fallen angel’s eyes narrowed faintly.
“I saw someone so terrified of becoming imperfect that she would let herself suffer forever before disappointing Heaven.”
Isa paused because that part wasn’t entirely wrong.
Anaqielle turned back toward the table and spread several old documents across it.
She found texts on ancient demon incidents.
Records of failed holy maidens and the sanctum punishments quietly buried from public memory for those maidens who failed the path of ascension.
Her fingers tapped lightly against one particular page.
She went deep in thought.
Isa’s stomach dropped when she peeked at the page and saw what was on it.
“Oh, absolutely not.”
Anaqielle looked pleased with her reaction.
She took it as a sign that she was on the right track.
“The older sanctum doctrines were much harsher.”
“No.”
“Some holy maidens were abandoned after spiritual corruption.”
“Ana, don’t let ruin the remaining angelic pieces of you,” she warned from a place of care for her friend.
“Don’t fall further than you already have by stooping to levels only demons would.”
She noticed that Anaqielle’s were blackening at a faster rate than before since she got on the path of corrupting Laliya.
“They weren’t just isolated. They were purified and then got replaced.”
Isa crossed the room instantly and snatched the document away.
“She does not need to know that.”
“She does if I want her faith to crack. She needs to know what her sanctum does to maidens like her who fail the path.”
“That isn’t cracking faith!” Isa snapped.
“That’s emotional torture!”
Anaqielle tilted her head slightly.
“You say that like Heaven itself isn’t emotionally torturing her already by putting me in her life,” she let out.
Isa fell silent.
She hated when Anaqielle made points like that.
Points she couldn’t refute or argue against because they were absolutely true.
Heaven was toying with both Anaqielle and Laliya’s lives.
By putting Anaqielle in her life, they wish to sabotage her path to paradise and push her to hell, meanwhile Anaqielle was no better, winning meant carrying the burden of Laliya’s damnation back with her to heaven and failing meant becoming a demon.
There was no true victory in the game.
Both woman were destined to fall by each other’s hand one way or another.
The setup almost felt demonic, like something the devil would set to steal heaven’s beloved by using a fallen.
The fallen angel stepped closer slowly.
“You know what Laliya fears most?”
Isa didn’t answer.
Her own thoughts terrified her too much for her to respond to Anaqielle.
Anaqielle told her anyway.
“It’s not sin.” her voice softened dangerously.
“It’s abandonment.”
The room fell quiet again because suddenly the shape of Anaqielle’s plan became much clearer and much darker.
The fallen angel’s smile turned faintly cruel.
“She loves because she believes the Radiance loves her back.”
Isa felt cold.
“Ana…” she paused, ‘Maybe we should reconsider this’ she wanted to say because she had a terrible gut feeling that the game might not be heaven’s play but the devil’s.
But with no proof, she couldn’t say anything.
Especially to Anaqielle who had waited for that chance for centuries.
Golden eyes gleamed softly in the dark.
“So what happens…” Anaqielle whispered, “…when she starts believing Heaven would choose purity over her?”
Isa swallowed the urge to reply offensively.
“She’ll fall.”
“And my sinful arms will be the only thing left to catch her,” Anaqielle smirked.