Chapter 36

**Merianna**


Before I knew it we passed the edge of the mountain and hovered high over the forest that grew on its head. It was only then that I could properly see what the area looked like.

Most of the trees and vegetation were darker than the forest below, with a dark mist slithering through the canopies. The mountain looked like a deity had taken his or her hand and swiped the top of it off to leave most of the mountain peak flat. A few edges were rough outcroppings for caves and rocky hills, but most of it was forest territory.

I almost couldn't believe that, that was the place where Noch had unceremoniously dumped me. What if I ran through the forest and fell off the side of the mountain? He told me nothing of what the surrounding area would look like. He didn't warn me about the Rippers. He didn't warn me about ANYTHING.

"I am going to kill him." I growled to myself as Hezerial descended to the forest floor.

"Whom are you going to kill My Lady, if I may ask?" Hezerial asked excitedly as he peeked at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Nochtandriel." I groaned out in frustration.

Hezeriel just gave me a confused look which I shook off. "You will most likely meet him very soon. At least before I get the opportunity to skin him alive."

He smiled at that as we landed on the forest floor and started walking towards the area where he had found me. "I would love to meet the target of your vexation before you dispose of him My Lady."

I snorted. "You say that now. Wait until you meet the cockroach."

Hezerial laughed and hefted my satchel higher up on his shoulder. I was glad to see that he also hadn't lost his grip on the Rune Reaper in our trip up the mountain.

For some reason talking to Hezerial felt comforting. "Truth be told, I feel like skinning him alive, but at the same time, I know that I would not be able to follow through with my threat." I said with a smile.

"Why is that My Lady?" Hezerial asked curiously.

"Because he is too much like family." I chuckled halfheartedly. "He vexes me, yet he also does not allow me to wallow in pity. He would forever try to find a new way to rise my ire just because he knows I would jump on the chance to fight him." I looked out into the dark mist of the forest, almost hearing his voice calling me a demon child as he has done so many times before. "I swear, if I had had a brother, he would have been like Noch."

Hezerial chuckled lightly. "Sibling-hood is still something very foreign to me My Lady, but familial ties are closer to my grasp I suppose."

I smiled at that. "I have a big family now."

"You do?" Hezerial asked with a surprised jerk.

I just chuckled. "I do. Everyone in the Order-,"

"BLASTED DEMONIC SPAWN OF THE DEVIL! COME OUT OF HIDING BEFORE I HAVE TO -,"

A sharp yelp cut off what was obviously Noch's booming voice.

"Don't you start with that!" I clearly heard Nelia yell at him. "It's your fault she's out here! What if she's dead? What if she's seriously hurt? It's all your fault!" I heard her rebuke Noch, with a sharp thump and another yelp from Noch.

Go figure that I could never lay a hand on Noch while my dainty little healer of a sister could almost beat him senseless when she has a mind to.

"What manner of creature is that My Lady?" Hezerial asked while looking up at me with wide eyes. I nearly laughed out loud at his honest question.

"*That* would be Nochtandriel, and my little sister Nelia. With Nelia already carrying out my wishes upon Noch." I answered with a grin.

Hezerial just blinked up at me as he continued walking in the direction of their voices. "I assume it is towards them that we wish to travel?"

"It is."

"Somehow My Lady, I do not feel confident in leading you back into their hands." He said as he looked warily straight ahead through the fog again.

Chuckling I ruffled his hair playfully. "No worries Zerial. They are family."

There was a small jerk in his step as I used the shortened version of his name I had mulled over. Saying "Hezerial" every time felt slightly long winded.

"May I call you Zerial?" I asked, almost worried that he would refuse the nickname.

"Yes My Lady. You may call me whatever you wish." He said with a pleased smile stretching his handsome face.

"Good! Because saying your full name every time feels like a chore."

He chuckled at that as the mist finally cleared enough for me to see two figures spreading out to search through the thick brush that infested these woods.

The smaller figure looked up sharply at Zerial's chuckle and took a step closer to the bigger figure that also looked up from his search.

"I hope you have been ripping Noch to shreds Nelia. He deserves it." I called out playfully as we got closer to them.

"Meri!!!!!!" Nelia squealed in absolute delight as she suddenly sprinted over to us. Only to skid to a sudden stop when she saw my new companion. She looked desperate to give me a hug, to ask a dozen questions and yell at me all at the same time while she eyed Hezerial warily.

I poked Hezerial on the side of his head as his grip on me tightened. "You can put me down now."

He squinted up at me. "My Lady, you know fully well how I feel about you tromping on this infested undergrowth."

I gave him a scalding glare. "It's not infectious, it's not going to bite me, and it's not going to swallow me whole either. I would like to stand on my own two feet now please."

He withered under my glare and reluctantly bent down to let my feet land on the ground as he eyed the surrounding area distastefully.

Nelia promptly crushed me to her in a fierce hug that caused several vertebra in my spine to pop.

"I've been so worried! Where were you! Why didn't you come to the gate when it opened?" She pulled away from me and held me at arm's length. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?! I thought you had been killed! I thought Noch had sent you to your death! I was ready to rip his head off his shoulders!" She ranted as she shook me. It felt like she was rattling my brain and trying to make scrambled eggs out of it.

"I'm f-fine." I managed to get out through her violent shakes. She stopped shaking me for a second and then looked me up and down critically.

"Your dress is torn." She said severely, and without any warning lifted up the hem of my skirt right past my knees to inspect my legs.

With a small shriek I struggled to keep the skirt down as she inspected me. "Nelia! Noch and Zerial are here! You can't just go throwing up a woman's skirts while in front of men!" I squealed in mortification.

"Who's Zerial?" She asked with a frown that she shot to Hezerial who had turned his head away the moment Nelia had lifted my hem.

Yanking my skirt from her hands I moved away a little, just to make sure that she wouldn't be diving through my dress without a fight.

"Nelia, Noch. Meet Hezerial, Hezerial, this is Nelia, my twin sister and the sultry hag to her left is Nochtandriel." I introduced as I pointed Nelia and Noch out to Zerial.

"I'm not a sultry hag you demon child." Noch said in reply to my jab.

Hezerial turned his attention back to Nelia and Noch and bowed at the waist. "It's an honour to meet the family of My Lady. I am Hezerial, fallen archangel of the heavens and sole Guardian of My Lady."

Nelia had started staring at Zerial with an almost hypnotized look before his last sentence left his lips. At the end of it she just had one thing to say.

"Huh?" She supplied brilliantly.

"And who might this wonderful "Lady" of yours be?" Noch asked curiously as he lifted one of his eyebrows.

I heaved a heavy sigh as Hezerial slashed a brilliant smile in my direction. Groaning audibly I half-heartedly lifted my hand as the guilty party in question.

"Huh?" Noch supplied next. He quickly looked back down at me with a questioning expression. "Merianna, what kind of vile pile of troll shite had you gotten yourself into?"

Given that he just used my actual name, he must have been very surprised, if not floored by his assumption.

"I have no idea how this came about!" I defended myself vehemently while throwing my arms over my chest in a cross formation. "I'm completely innocent here!" Then I pointed to him violently. "Someone forgot to mention that this area is infested with Rippers!"

"What do the Rippers have to do with the current situation?" He accused back while pointing violently to Hezerial, who was looking at our exchange with wide eyes and a cocked head.

"They have everything to do with the current situation!" I yelled at him as I took a step closer to him.

He took a step closer to me as well. "Fallen Angels in general don't just go dropping into anyone's lap who's in trouble!"

"I wasn't just in trouble, I almost got killed!"

"You look completely fine to me!"

"Because he saved me!"

"And you just let any stranger who pops in to the rescue become your Guardian?! What did Fog and Ara say about strangers?!"

"He's not any form of magically inclined Human being!"

"And that makes it better?!"

Noch and I were practically right in each other's faces as I was forming my next rebuttal.

My would-have-been brilliant rebuttal died on my tongue though, as a sharp pain exploded over the top of my head. Which caused me to curse and fling my hands over my head. It felt like my head had just been split in two, making my eyes burn and tear up in pain.