Angel Monarch

The six of them hid most of the inside, but what they saw was enough.

The room was white and bright, just like Sera described it. There was a large glass pane window on the far end, which showed the cave-like outside.

The room was mostly barren. There was a white nightstand and a basic bathroom to the side. Only one dominant feature was in the room... A bed.

After seeing the person lying on it, Bea broke down crying. Faith moved fast and hid the sight from Vicky, but it was already too late and she was screaming in anger and pain.

Similar emotions coursed through the others, freezing them with shock and sadness.

Sera was alive, but her state was horrible. There was nothing left of her. Most of her body was surgically removed.

Her arms and legs were none existent. Her lower torso was missing as well. Her chest was opened, with her ribs bent to the side. There were tubes moving in and out of her chest cavity.

There were machines built into her lungs, heart and other vital organs, each making sure she stayed alive.

All over her body the skin was removed, same as most of her muscles. Her spine was visible and a metal structure kept it straight.

The worst was her head and face. Her eyes, ears, nose and most of her facial muscle was removed. She had no teeth and in their place, a small metal spike stood out. She had no tongue either.

They watched her for a few seconds, then, out of concern, Damien took a heavy step closer. All of Sera's still working muscles contracted and her breathing and heart rate increased.

"Oh, my god... She is conscious... Just how much pain is she enduring?" said Melinda, and with that, the realization hit all of them.

Bea took a few deep breaths and composed herself. They couldn't move her in this state, so she had to heal her first. Her steps were slow and gentle, trying to keep Sera calm.

"Hey there... You probably won't remember me, but we were quite close once... I'm going to help you... Don't be afraid, the nightmare will soon end..." Continue reading at empire

She was sobbing while she spoke. With each step, she felt worse and worse. By the time she reached her past lover's side, she was trembling and barely keeping her sanity.

There was nothing else she wanted more than to cry herself into unconsciousness and wake up from this hell.

With her right hand, she tried to reach out, but did not know where to touch her. Each part of her body was flayed, but the nerves were kept intact, so she could still feel pain.

Sera continued to breathe frantically until she suddenly stopped, and it became normal.

Bea turned around and looked at Lilith. Her eyes were full of pain and sadness. She nodded towards Bea, then turned and buried her face in her husband's chest. They hugged each other while they shed silent tears.

Her body was still trembling, and her hands were shaking, but Bea pushed through her pain and touched Sera's flayed skull.

The hand glowed with its usual green aura, but no matter how much essence she poured out, Sera's body didn't heal. After a few seconds of trying and failing, she took a step back and broke down.

"What's wrong?! Why can't you heal her?!" shouted Melinda angrily.

Bea just shook her head, not saying anything. In reality, she had no idea why her healing didn't work, and after a while, she tried again... And again... And again...

She tried dozens of times, and used up more than half her essence, but it wasn't working.

"Harold must've done something to her, which shields her from your influence... We might have to take her like this..." said Damien, but he knew very well that it wasn't plausible.

The machines were directly connected to the walls, and without them Sera would die in minutes. There was nothing they could do... At least nothing they might not regret...

Bea stood up one more time and looked down at Sera. She felt conflicted between love and trust. She had one last idea of how to save her, but she feared it would cause the end of their relationship. It would be a break of trust.

She turned and looked towards their daughter. Faith was keeping her close, but she was wailing hard. It caused immeasurable pain in Bea's heart.

She thought about it a moment longer, then went through with it. If Sera would live to hate her, that would be a win in her book.

Everyone watched what Bea was going to do. They were hopeless, but still prayed for some miracle.

She raised her right hand and watched as the green aura condensed continuously. It turned into a small ball, which then further decreased in size, until it was the size of a fingernail.

The whole procedure took her a few minutes and thousands of her essence, but it was done. In her palm was a glowing green seed. It was different from the ones she planted. It wasn't for a Tree of Life, but for something much more important.

When Damien saw the seed, his eyes widened, and he walked up to Bea.

"Are you sure about this?... You aren't even sure what it will do to either of you... And what if it doesn't work, and you die with her?" he kept his voice down, so the others wouldn't hear him.

Bea just smiled at the seed with sadness, and whispered back, "I don't want to live without her. If we both die, so be it, but there is a chance that she will live, and I will take that!"

She took a deep breath and was about to continue, but Damien's next words gave her a pause.

"What about Vicky? How will she feel after losing two mothers at the same time?"

Bea glanced back at her daughter. She wasn't hiding anymore, and now stared at what her mother was doing. She smiled and nodded at Vicky reassuringly, but she felt anything but that.

She remembered the past two years. All the pain and suffering they endured together. All those times, they cried themselves to sleep. All the love and sadness.

"She is stronger than any of us. She went through more than all of us put together in only eleven years. She will understand it, and will forgive me," she said, still whispering. On her cheeks, tears ran down, as the possible cost of this action weighed down on her soul.

Damien watched her for a few seconds, then gave a firm nod, and moved back towards the others. He didn't argue, since there would be no point. Her decision was final.

Bea took another deep, shuddering breath, and moved the small seed towards Sera's chest cavity. She stopped her hand above the barely beating heart, and before dropping the seed, she recalled its description.

<Seed of the World Tree>

Description: <The World Tree's are the daughters of Life. They were brought into existence before time to help in the creation of different Realms. At first, each planet, plain of existence, anything that had living beings, was controlled by a World Tree. But as the first of the Empyreans rose, they were systematically killed, and their races faded away, leaving only seeds behind.>

You, as a Dryad, have the chance of becoming a World Tree. That road is difficult though, and requires sacrifices, the first one being... Choosing a place to settle forever.

The last word still echoed inside her hand as she let the seed fall into Sera's chest cavity.

It fell right onto Sera's beating heart, where it burrowed inside it. The heart then stopped beating. Bea watched in horror as her lover died. She was about to break down crying when something strange happened.

The veins in Sera's heart began glowing with a slight green light. It slowly spread around her body, and when all of her veins were glowing, the regeneration started.

It was a very slow, but steadily her muscles grew back, her ribs closed, her bones healed themselves. The machines that kept her alive were ejected from her body.

No one made a sound in the room. Everyone watched with hope as Sera's libs grew back. At first there were only bones, but then came the muscles and skin tissue.

Her face healed, too. The small metal spike got displaced by fresh teeth. Her skin, facial muscles, nose, ear and tongue all grew back.

When all of her skin was repaired, on her bald head a shower of golden lock grew rapidly. They grew until they reached her waist.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

After that, the glowing stopped, but she still wasn't breathing. Bea gently reached forward and touched Sera's wrist, but she felt no heartbeat either. Her touched caused something else though.

She felt a connection growing between them. It was like the roots of two trees, intertwining. It was small at first, but the more time passed, the firmer it got.

It took a few minutes to be fully established, and by that time, a green glow appeared in Sera's chest. It brightened and brightened until it disappeared for a few seconds, then came back even stronger.

The brightening and fading intervals decreased until her whole body exploded in green light.

It was so bright that they all had to turn away. Then it faded, and they heard a large, overly exhausted sigh that echoed through the room.

They all turned back and watched as Sera's chest rose and fell. Behind her eyelids she moved her eyes, then they slowly opened.

Her two golden eyes had changed, and now there was a hint of green lost in its depths. She looked at the ceiling, then turned to the side and stared at Bea in confusion.