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Aden sighed as he flung himself onto the bed.

“What did I get myself into?” He asked as he pulled the covers over his body.
After he affirmed his pledge, he was dismissed from the room. Elizabeth stayed behind and talked with the elders more. He was escorted to a building not far from the House of Elders. It looked like a grand five-star hotel with plush red carpets and ornate furniture. It was nothing like Aden had ever seen. He was quickly checked-in and in his room.

“Not much, really,” Elizabeth’s voice pervaded the room. Aden sat up with a start, surprised to see her walking towards him from the doorway.

“What are you doing in here? Aden asked.

“I’m here to tell you the great news,” she smiled and sat on the edge of the bed. “You have a mission to complete from the Council.”

“What? Already? I just got here.”

“Well, now for the good news; I’m to accompany you and train you all the way.”

“So there was good and bad news?” Aden smiled and gave her a hug.

“Oh, I guess there was,” she smiled also and returned the hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Aden’s face immediately flushed red. What was she doing? Did she mean something by that?

“Well, I’ll fill you in on everything else tomorrow. For now, get some rest, you’re going to need it for the next few days,” her eyes sparked with an intensity of things to come. She got up and walked out with a goodnight and Aden fell asleep dreaming of a land in the sky.

Aden awoke slowly as the soft pink light of the sun shone in through the window of his room. He got out of bed and dressed just as Elizabeth bounded through the door into his room.

“There’s a reason there’s a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door handle along with the locked door, you know,” Aden grumbled.

“Aw, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,” she frowned playfully. She suddenly grew serious and said, “be ready, you’re in for a tough workout today after we leave.”

Aden nodded reluctantly, but admitted he needed a lot of help with his swordsmanship. He still wondered how he actually managed to defeat the skeleton monster in his head.

Shortly after, Aden and Elizabeth had made their way to the portal and fell quickly down to Wrath. There, they returned to the archway in the forest and crossed the water to the main park area. After a little bit of walking under the green canopy, the two found a small clearing. Here, Elizabeth stopped and flopped down onto the ground.

“What are you doing?” Aden asked, looking at her quizzically. He watched her with a befuddled look as she rolled around on the grass, an appraising look on her face. She jumped up and her armor and scythe appeared on her body and in her hand respectively.

“This is a great spot to start your training,” she said stamping the stave of the scythe into the ground. “Get out your equipment so we can spar a little and I can appraise your fighting and help you improve.”

“Uh, okay,” Aden replied with a nervous look. He just barely killed the thing in his head; he had no idea how to really fight. How was he supposed to do well in a fight against Elizabeth? She was an angel who had had much more experience then he.

“First,” Aden raised a finger as soon as his armor materialized around him and his sword was in his hand. “Since the blades of our weapon can easily cleave us in two, how do we keep from cutting each other?”

“I knew you would ask that. You always think ahead,” she said, smiling. Oddly, the comment made Aden feel something in his gut. It had been happening a lot recently.

“And I have an answer to your question.” Suddenly, a soft yellow light outlined her figure and a circle of the same color grew from under her feet. The grass moved like a strong wind was flattening it to the ground, but no air moved. The trees swirled around in the unmoving air making such a ruckus that Aden could barely hear himself think.

“Loco a obex inter illa ornamentum, permissum haud vulnero adveho,” Elizabeth chanted in a deep, low voice. After a couple seconds, the grass and trees stopped moving and the yellow light and circle disappeared.
“Wow, that was impressive,” Aden gaped, feeling the sharp edge of his sword and not being cut by it. “What does it take to do that?”

“Just a lot of practice. And a knowledge of the right words.”

“Would I be able to do that?”

“You’re a very talented person; so I’m pretty sure, with some practice, you’d be able to do magic like me. Now let’s get to that sparring. The spell protects the person you hit from harm so you can’t hurt them with your weapon.”

With that, she struck downward with her scythe. Aden had barely put up his sword when her weapon knocked his down and then knocked him on the forehead. His head snapped back from the blow. Dazed and confused, Aden looked in front of him for his opponent. She wasn’t there. He looked on either side of him and found no one. Suddenly, he felt the cold metal of defeat touching his neck.

“Nice try though,” she smiled at him putting away her equipment. Aden did the same and sighed.

“This is going to be difficult.”

“It’s going to be easier after a little bit. Don’t give up. You need to strengthen yourself is all.”

“I guess you’re right,” Aden sighed again.

“Of course I’m right. Now, drop and give me twenty!” Elizabeth barked in a stern face that immediately changed into a giggling one. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to say that.”

“Twenty what?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Push-ups, of course.”

“Why?”

“To strengthen your arms and other muscular muscles, silly,” she clocked him on the forehead, V-8 style. “You need to be able to hold that sword as if it were a twig in your hands. You’ll be able to swing it around with more power and easily block attacks.”

“Do I have to?” Aden whined.

“I guess not,” Elizabeth sighed sullenly. “If you don’t want to be all buff and good-looking. Also, if you want to not be beaten by a girl I suggest you do your push-ups.” Aden sighed, defeated.

“Yes, mother,” he growled.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing,” he got down on the ground and started his exercise. He only got to five before he fell flat on his stomach, soaked in sweat, and arms already weak from fatigue.

“Oh c’mon, I know you’re not that weak,” she scowled at him, disappointed. He gave her a sharp look and slowly kept on chugging.

Aden got up sweaty and weak in his arms. He glared at her for humiliating him, even if it was just her he was in front of. Sure, he wanted to be strong to fight in battle and look muscular to impress Elizabeth, but she didn’t have to make him look a fool while doing it.

“Happy now?” Aden growled again.

“Yes, very,” she smiled sweetly. “Now, as you do 100 sit-ups I’ll tell you our mission.”

“Why the sit-ups?” Aden asked, skeptically.

“Because I love a man with rock hard abs,” she rushed up to him and rubbed his plushy stomach, she then bounced back to where she was.

“Ugh, fine,” he said as he lay down on the ground and started this new exercise. “So… what’s our… mission?"

“Have you ever heard about the gatekeeper of Hell?” She asked, getting serious now. Without waiting for an answer, she continued. “That’s our mission. We must find and destroy the gatekeeper.” Aden stopped and stared at her.

“And how do you suppose we do that?” He asked, putting his arms on his knees.

“In Ancient Roman history, the god, Hades, ruled the netherworld, which is essentially their Hell. Hades kept the netherworld guarded by a fierce beast so that no lost souls could escape their punishment in Hell. This beast was called a Cerberus,” a twinkle came to her as she figured out the object of their mission. “Do you know anything around here that resembles a Cerberus?”

Aden understood almost immediately what Elizabeth was talking about.
“Let’s go!” He said, slowly getting up, fatigued. They started running toward their destination when Aden stumbled and fell flat on his face.

“Are you okay?” Elizabeth asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I might be just a little too tired,” he panted.

“Here, I’ll refresh you for now to get you physically fit, and when you’re ready I’ll teach you how to do it too,” she smiled and closed her eyes to concentrate. Hundreds of white feathers surrounded him in a bright light. Almost immediately, his muscled stopped aching and he felt lively, strong, and fresh. As soon as it appeared, the light faded and Elizabeth appeared still smiling.

“Thank you,” Aden smiled and the two ran to their destination.

They sat behind bushes on their high school campus, staring at the statue of the Cerberus in silence. The hole was still in the dome of their school. Aden smiled at the sight. The statue sat unmoving, stone cold still. The two sat in the shade of the bushes with the tree behind them, the sun, boiling hot, right above them. It was as if the earth right underneath them was red-hot magma, giving off waves of intense heat. The air was still, not a person in sight (not that they would have been seen anyway).

“I completely thought it was that evil dog next door,” Aden said, frowning. Elizabeth glared at him and replied in a sharp whisper.

“Are you serious? Don’t you remember your history? You stood next to this statue everyday for the past 3 years. How could you not figure it out?”
“Well, you said its name was Cerberus. That’s what the owner’s call that beast of a dog next door. And I don’t like history, remember?” Aden whispered back. A silence. Then.

“Why are we whispering?” Aden’s face ate dirt as it was hit from behind by Elizabeth’s hand.

“I’m serious,” Aden’s voice became louder. “It’s a statue for crying out loud. It won’t come to life. It’s made of stone.”

With that, the statue burst into flames. Molten rock oozed to the ground as the stone melted from the heat. The three-headed Cerberus leapt off its perch on the pedestal and raced for their hiding spot.

“I think he heard you,” Elizabeth said accusingly. Aden saw its powerful legs propel itself forward. He suddenly remembered that there was a Cerberus in the statue. He had met it just a couple of days ago. It got right up to his face and scared the crap out of him. He was that scared now. How was he going to help Elizabeth with this fight? He could barely even use his sword.
“Aden, get ready, here it comes,” she shouted gripping the shaft of her scythe tightly.

“I can’t,” Aden said softly. Millions of thoughts ran through his head, all of them telling him he wasn’t ready for a fight like this. He wasn’t strong enough to take on anything.

“What?” Elizabeth paused and stared at him, eyes wide. The Cerberus was almost on them.

“I can’t do it!” Aden shouted and ran off, as far as his legs could travel. He hoped the monster wouldn’t catch him. He also hoped Elizabeth was right behind him. He couldn’t hear anything outside the incredibly loud buzzing in his ears; tears fell down his face as he thought about his failure. His first mission as an angel and he wasn’t ready for it. He really needed more time to get ready, get stronger.

He ran for a good half hour until his legs wobbled like jelly and he slowly walked into an alley. He fell against the cool, marble wall of the building and slid to the ground, panting heavily. There was no clanking of his armor as he fell; he had wished it away without thinking. It felt good to not have the weight of it pressing down on him. He liked who he was before all of this happened. Nothing but routine took hold of him in those days. He felt comfortable about it. This new life was crazy. It was too much for him to handle. Up until today, he was just going through the motions, believing it was just a dream and that he would wake up soon to his regular life. He realized back there he wasn’t going to wake up from this dream, this nightmare. It had actually happened. All of this was real. It frightened him to death.

The sun was setting over the wall, now. Wrath would soon be dark, even though the sky above was still baby blue. He suddenly realized how long he had been gone from Elizabeth and started to worry about her. Had she gotten away from the Cerberus? A shadow appeared at the mouth of the alley. Aden sigh with relief at the sight of Angel wings protruding from the back of the figure. She was okay. He stood up and ran to her.
“Elizabeth!” Aden called. She turned toward him and smiled under the glare of the sun. He embraced her and she returned it. Her body was warm and soft. He felt comfortable, even safe, with her. She was always there when things went badly. And things were going really badly now. She always calmed him down when his mind was going crazy, like now. Something in his stomach began to feel warm and tingly.

“I was worried about you,” Elizabeth cried, holding him tighter. “After you ran off, I kept the Cerberus busy so it couldn’t get after you, and then I flew off to look for you. I began to worry that some demon had gotten to you when I couldn’t find you and hour or so later. Thank Zeus I found you.”
“I’m sorry Liz,” tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke. “I just can’t do this. I can’t. It’s too much for me to handle. All of this is just too much!”
“I understand,” she smiled at him again, that warm feeling flooded back to him. “ I shouldn’t have pushed you so far. I shouldn’t have taken on the mission before you were ready. You need more skill to wield your blade like an angelic warrior. A little more training and you’ll be ready to face that Cerberus with me. Okay?”

Aden nodded and pulled away from the embrace although he really didn’t want to. A streetlight popped on and flooded the opening of the alley in a soft, copper light. That was when he noticed the huge gash across Elizabeth’s stomach.

“Liz!” He exclaimed, pointing. She looked at her wound and her eyes went wide in surprise.

“I must not have noticed it in my haste,” she gasped and fell into Aden’s arms, catching her just in time. There was so much blood. Her white dress with the light blue trim was soaked in the crimson liquid.

“Liz! How do I heal you?” Aden cried, panicked. He received no answer. So much blood, her face was ashen white and he started to worry he would lose her. How did she do it? Aden screamed at him to find something that would save her. He found nothing around him that would do anything. He couldn’t lose her, not now. She was what helped him get through this whole thing. She kept him sane. What would he do now? Tears came to his eyes as he realized it was hopeless. He couldn’t save her, no matter what he did. A tear fell from his cheek and landed on her white dress.

At the same time, unbeknownst to him, something reached into his subconscious, for the Angel Complex. This opened a new door. A surge of energy flowed throughout his entire body. Feathers rained down upon him. A bright white light engulfed them both, although he could see this time.
Elizabeth’s naked form lay in front of him at chest height. He could see her soft, supple breasts. He couldn’t help seeing them; they were there, right in front of him. It wasn’t like he was trying to look. His eyes went from her breasts to the gash in her stomach. He could see all the broken blood vessel and ruptured organs in her stomach. It was like her skin had become invisible. Instinctively, he put his hand over the wound and white light spewed from it to every affected vessel, organ, you name it. If it was broken, it was getting fixed. He could see it all connect in slow motion. It seemed like minutes, but it was only a few seconds until everything was fixed and looked as if nothing had happened to her.

He looked at her beautiful face; the warm sensation came back to his stomach. Her chestnut brown hair hung down from her head. He noticed her sapphire eyes were open and looking around. Subsequently, he noticed, finally, that he too was naked in front of her. His face burned red in embarrassment but he remembered that all the times she had healed him he couldn’t see anything.

“But she was in the position I am now when she healed me. That means…” Aden’s face flushed redder that it was before. The last thing he saw was her sapphire eyes and red face. It seemed as though she realized what was going on.

What seemed 5 minutes in that storm of angel feathers was only three seconds in the alley. The feathers fell and disappeared, revealing Aden holding Elizabeth, tears still in his eyes. She opened her ocean blue eyes, looked up at him and smiled. Aden smiled back. There was an awkward silence when both remembered what happened in the swirling vortex of feathers.

“I guess it was your turn to save me,” Elizabeth said shyly, her face still red in embarrassment. Aden smiled inside; it suited her well.

“Yeah, I guess,” Aden, laughed a little, his face as red, if not more than, hers. They both got up from the ground, she in her spotless white dress and he in his black T-shirt and jeans. The walked out of the alley towards the park in the center of the city, towards the clearing there were in earlier that day.

The next three weeks were spent training Aden in the art of swordsmanship. Elizabeth had used a sword when she first the joined the Angelic Army before settling on a scythe. So, she taught him with a sword, made him do push-ups and sit-ups, and sparred with him. The first sparred in the daylight until his skills had improved enough to warrant fights at night, where his sense would be tested more than his skill. They slept in sleeping bags they “stole” from the nearest outdoors store- nobody could see them, so why not -? and camped out under the stars. The beautiful, twinkling lights in the sky awed Aden and made him remember what was really up there.

Over the time spent in the clearing, Aden’s muscles had grown and his skills grew more and more. He had even bested Elizabeth while sparring one night. The next night she used her scythe and easily beat him. She used it from then on and he gained more knowledge on fighting. The final night of his training came with a triumphant victory over her.

“I think,” she panted. “You are ready. Get some sleep, hun, you’re going to need it tomorrow.”

Aden found it strange she called him “hun.” She had started saying it after he healed her. What did it mean? He asked himself while lying in his sleeping bag that night. Did she like him? He could feel he definitely liked her. What happened in the vortex of feathers only solidified his feelings. He liked her, but how was he going to do something about it? His thoughts floated around the question as he fell asleep.

The sunlight woke Aden in the morning; the ground still cast in wall shadow. The grass smelled sweet and dewy. He got out of the sleeping and found Elizabeth surveying the edge of the clearing.

“Peaceful morning, isn’t it?” She said as he walked up to her. He could see light on the treetops and watched as it ever so slowly crawled down the trunks of the trees.

“Yes it is,” he smiled at her. She smiled back.

“But not for long,” she snarled, he smile fading to a smirk. Aden sigh; he was going to have to get used to that.

It took them fifteen minutes to get back to the fountain. Their armor and weapons appeared in a golden dust on their bodies and in their hands. The stood in front of the stone figure, waiting. The stone Cerberus’ fur was sharp and detailed and each head was in a silent fierce roar. Suddenly, the statue erupted into flames. The two quickly stepped backwards and prepared their weapons for battle.

The monster leapt through the flames on the pedestal towards Elizabeth. Aden slashed at it with his sword, the weapon weighing much less now in the muscular arms. The sword connected with the beast’s back, creating a gash that reached to its spine. The Cerberus fell to the ground with a thud, blood gushing from the wound and matting its golden-yellow fur. It quickly leapt to its feet and lunged again at Elizabeth. She batted it away with the blade of her scythe and began to slice down on it. The monster leapt away just in time, her scythe embedded in the ground. Noticing her trouble with her weapon, it leapt again. The putrid breath of all three heads permeated her nostrils when it reached her face. With a well-placed kick, she knocked the Cerberus away again. Aden rushed in and swung his sword down on the beast again. He connected, grazing its side with the tip of the blade. It howled in pain as blood seeped from the wound, making the animal’s fur turn a sickening orange. It snarled at the two teens, realizing it was a big disadvantage.

After a few seconds of waiting for the Cerberus’ next move, Aden grew impatient and lunged forward with his blade, ready to impale it. The monster easily sidestepped him and sunk all three sets of teeth into the back of his leg. Aden stood straight up; his sword flew from his grasp and landed a good distance away. He cried out in pain as a chunk of his flesh was ripped from the back of his leg. He could feel the warm blood flow down what remained of his leg. The pain was terrible, as his hot irons were placed at the spot the beast had latched onto.

Elizabeth rushed to her friend’s aid; with a clean swipe of her scythe, she cleaved off a head of the Cerberus. Crimson bloods spurt from the stub where the head had been. Aden cried out in pain, as he lay there helpless to do anything. The pain in his leg was almost unbearable; he didn’t think he could even stand.

The beast relinquished its grip from Aden to focus on the girl. He quickly rolled out of the way as Elizabeth sliced again with her weapon. It narrowly missed the bloody animal as it leapt for her this time. She sidestepped it but received a nasty cut on her arm from the razor-sharp claws of their enemy. Beads of the red liquid seeped from the wound. Elizabeth whirled around swinging her scythe beside her and cut open the Cerberus’ stomach. Bones and chunks of flesh flooded out of its body in a rank green liquid.

Aden, still on the ground crawling to his sword, almost lost his breakfast from the putrid stench. He was breathing laboriously through the pain and blood loss, angry with himself for doing something so stupid. Meanwhile, Elizabeth had decapitated yet another head. It sailed in the air and landed right in front of Aden’s outstretched hand. He screamed in terror at the, which was frozen in a grisly snarl. He threw it away with some difficulty and continued on.

“Sorry!” Elizabeth called, panting as she hit the beast with the flat of her blade, knocking it away again. The undead creature roared and ran at her. She impaled the blade of her scythe into the monster’s back. It didn’t even seem to know it had been impaled with anything because it ran right into the girl, knocking her down with a surprised yelp. She lost her grip on her weapon as it was pulled away from her. She could see the tip of the blade protruding out of the bottom of the Cerberus. Noticing the girl didn’t have a weapon to protect herself, it leapt for her face. Trails of blood gushed out behind it as it flew in the air toward her. The seconds ticked like minutes as she saw the creature flying at her, its eyes wide in excitement for the kill. A flash of metal caught her eye and the monster flew off to the side, missing her by a foot. She saw Aden’s sword sticking out of the side of its face, blood slowly flowing from the dead carcass. She looked in his direction; he smiled at her and weakly waved his hand before he fell back to the ground, unconscious. She quickly rushed over to him, the white light already consuming them both. The feathers appeared soon after and swallowed them up. The light quickly faded and revealed a blushing Elizabeth and a frowning Aden, though also red in the face.

“You did that just so you could see me like that didn’t you?” Aden smirked.

“No! I did not!” Elizabeth shouted her face completely red. “Plus, I didn’t expect it to do that.” This made Aden blush almost as much as she.

“Don’t I have to do the same thing?” He asked her, shyly. Then, he noticed she was completely healed.

“No, I can heal myself, remember?” She knocked him on the back of the head. “I think you want to do it just so you can see my breasts!”

Aden smiled ever so slightly and received a slap across the face as punishment. Their embarrassed-ness quickly passed, however, for something was happening to their school. The ground started to shake. The part of the school with the dome started to crumble. The noise was deafening as the stones smashed against each other. The rest of the school followed with a deafening roar. Soon, it was a flattened piece of rubble lying there.

“What the Hell just happened?” Aden gaped at the wreckage.

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth looked at it quizzically.

They walked up to the ruins that was their school and went in. After a couple minutes, Elizabeth called Aden over. He came running. He looked at what she pointing and gasped. It was a stone staircase that led underground. A faint red glow could be seen far off near the bottom.

“So this is,” Aden started.

“Yup,” Elizabeth interrupted. “We’re going to Hell.”