Chapter 75 Love and betrayal
The palace seemed to grow more silent, as though the ocean itself leaned in to listen. Bioluminescent lights embedded in the walls dimmed slightly.
Hazel shifted on the jellyfish-shaped seat, her golden tail curling instinctively beneath her.
“Is there something I'm missing”?
Hazel asked looking at Alora with so much curiosity.
Alora did not answer immediately. She turned away, walking toward a massive window carved directly into the palace wall. Beyond it stretched the endless abyss of the deep ocean, dark yet alive with faint glimmers of motion. Her reflection shimmered in the glass.
“Love”.
Alora finally said.
Hazel blinked.
That was not the answer she had expected.
If she was Zariel's lover, why didn't he tell her anything?
“Love…”
Alora repeated, turning back slowly.
“…and betrayal”.
She said with her eyes filled with regret so deep it felt like it was poisoning the sea itself
Inside Hazel’s mind, Zariel went very, very still.
Hazel felt it. For a being as chatty and sarcastic as Zariel, he was awfully quiet now. It was almost as if he wasn't even there anymore.
“You loved him”.
Hazel said softly, the realization forming before she could stop it.
Alora’s lips curved into a sad smile.
“I did more than love him, I trusted him. And in my world, trust is rarer than mercy”.
Hazel swallowed.
“Zariel… what did you do”?
She asked and she finally felt him let out a sigh.
“Nothing, it is a complicated story”.
Alora returned to her throne, lowering herself with slow, deliberate grace. When she sat, the palace lights brightened again, as though responding to her command.
“Long before your kind named us fallen, Zariel was a guardian, a warrior of balance.
He walked between realms, hell, earth, and sea… keeping any one side from tipping the scales too far”.
Hazel could see the smile from on Alora's face.
“He was perfect, even better than Lucifer and all those who rebel.
He was strong, until he wasn't”.
She said and swung her hand, creating some sort of veil in front of Hazel's eyes.
Hazel could now see Zariel as he once was.
Tall, radiant, with wings forged from melted gold and burning liquid. His presence bent the world around him, commanding without cruelty. Different creatures from every realm stood beside him, demons, sirens, witches, all united under a fragile truce to join him and bring balance.
“He fought for those who could not fight for themselves”.
Alora continued as she walked and stood beside Hazel.
“Lower races, mortals, supernaturals who were crushed between celestial wars. I admired him long before I loved him”.
The image shifted. Hazel saw Alora beside him, not as a queen, but as a warrior. She looked fierce and unyielding, her trident stained with the blood of beasts.
“We were unstoppable together, until the Council grew afraid”.
“Council”?
Hazel asked with her eyes still fixed on the view in front of her.
“The Celestial Accord”.
Zariel answered quietly from inside her.
“They decide what balance looks like… without ever touching the scales. They made me the villain”.
Hazel felt anger spark in her chest.
“So what happened”?
Alora’s eyes darkened.
“Zariel was ordered to step aside. To let an entire coastal realm burn so hell could avoid open war”.
The view changed again.
Hazel saw and heard the screaming, flooded lands, creatures dragged into the depths while they begged for their lives. Mortals drowning beneath blackened waves with no say over their lives.
“He refused”.
Alora said.
“He defied them”.
Hazel clenched her fists and nodded sharply.
“Good”.
Zariel let out something like a humorless laugh.
“That’s where the trouble began”.
“The Council declared him unrighteous”.
Alora continued.
“Not condemned… but stripped. They tore his essence from his body and cast his remains into the Damned Ocean, and forced me to chain it behind the Black Gate, making me! punish the only man I ever loved”.
Hazel looked pissed, she was so mad that they ruined such a beautiful story for their own selfish reasons.
“What about the octopus guarding the gate"?
She asked and a part of Alora's lips raised as though she had expected the question.
She turned and looked at Hazel and Hazel was also looking at her.
“That is exactly why I asked you to leave that place.
That is Maximus, a minion to Lucifer, and one who is entrusted with the task to make sure no one ever gets Zariel's body out.
The meal I want us to have is a decoy so we can plan”.
Hazel nodded, it was all making sense and Zariel wasn't saying anything so she knew he also agreed with it.
“But… why didn't you just tell me you two had a thing”?
Hazel asked Zariel but Alora answered.
“Because I was the one who betrayed him. It was I who turned him over to the council, and it was I who ruined his chance of saving the world one last time.
I could never ask for his forgiveness, let alone brag about once being his lover. I don't deserve it”.
Hazel sighed.
“Well, what's your plan? How do we get past the gate to get his body”?
She asked.
“Your soul is a key.
The only one that can open the Black Gate without destroying the balance is you”.
Hazel raised a brow, confused and suspicious.
“Hold on, was this planned? Have you both been waiting for me”?
She asked but Zariel immediately spoke inside her.
“That's not the case Hazel. I wasn't placed in that box myself. If you're the only one who can open my box, it only makes sense that you can open the gate.
Plus you have the power of the golden orb, you should be able to break into anything without disrupting the balance”.
He said and she sighed.
“If I get my body back, what happens next"?
She asked and Alora looked at her seriously.
“The ocean will decide”.
Hazel moved back, seeing the look on his face.
“You don’t just want his body returned, you want him judged”.
Alora didn't deny it.
“Not me, the sea”.
The ocean outside rumbled faintly, as though in agreement.
Hazel exhaled slowly.
“He has one more thing to do before he can be free”.