The angel awoke feeling less pained than he remembered being. He instantly felt himself laying on a bed, a warm one. He was wrapped in a cocoon made from the bed cover. Despite what had happened to him, he felt pretty close to comfortable. Regardless of this revelation, he tried to sit up, but stopped as he felt the skin on his back pulling. He went back down and thought for a moment; someone had stitched up his wounds.
He looked around the room he was in and spotted a pair of Alicorn fillies sitting together, staring at him with curiosity and fear. He just stared right back. The younger of the two fillies got off the seat they were on and left the room while the other remained where she was, staring at him with more curiosity than fear. As neither one spoke, the Angel returned to examining the room. It was large with marble floors, stone walls and a stone roof with wooden supports. Marble pillars stood at each corner of the room. All of this was consistent of a Royal Castle. The room he was in wasn't a medical bay, but seemed to be a makeshift one.
The darker Alicorn emerged a few moments later and left the door open. A dragon entered, tall, slim and green. Her horns were white and the underside of her wings were an earthy brown colour. Unlike most dragons, this one wore clothing; that is to say she sported a brown cloak around herself.
"You're awake." she said, stating the obvious. The Angel remained where he was, looking at the dragon as she sat on the bedside.
"Yeah." he replied, though he knew it wasn't a question. Terrain noticed his voice sounded kindly, much like an Angels were supposed to be. She also noticed his right eye was closed, seemingly by default.
"My name's Terrain, what's yours?" she asked, trying to mimic the kindly presence.
"Mar, Mar Grimm." he replied, again as kind as he sounded before. Terrain had difficulty believing that she saw what she did when he landed.
"You're an Angel, aren't you?" she asked. Mar nodded, then seemed to consider his answer.
"Well, I was." he replied. That response told Terrain what she'd suspected from the beginning. He was fallen. She nodded in understanding at this new information.
"Well, fallen or not, it's nice to meet you, Mar Grimm. Say, that last name; is that in any way tied to the Grim Reaper?"
Mar smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm him, or I was. The term we use is Angel of Death, it's more formal and the big guys are all about formality." he said, trying to sit up again. Terrain helped him, placing a hand around the small of his back and pushed. As Mar managed to sit up, he leaned back against the wall, the cool stone doing wonders for his burning wounds. He groaned with satisfaction at this.
"Thanks. Getting your wings ripped from your body hurts like nothing else." he said, rubbing his shoulder.
"I can't imagine. Care to tell me how and why you fell?" she enquired.
"Not really." he replied, his expression passive. Mar then turned to look at the two alicorns. "So what's their story?"
"Nobody's sure. They haven't spoken at all, not even to each other. I think they're in shock. Either way, they scream whenever someone tries to touch them. I'm the exception to this and I think you might be too, seeing as how they haven't left this room." she replied. Mar considered that story and held out his hand to them. The two fillies hurried off the chair and jumped up onto the bed, burying themselves between him and Terrain. Both Angel and Dragon raised their brow at the action. "Seems you've become a hero in their eyes." she commented.
"You too by the looks of it." he motioned to the darker of the two who had begun rubbing her head against Terrain's thigh.
"It's strange that they've taken a liking to me. I'm not really into kids." she said.
"Neither am I. But you can always trust those like us to not be overly possessive. I think that might play a part in their trust in us." he said, patting the alabaster pony's head ever so gently. Terrain tried to do the same, being careful not to accidentally claw the filly.
"It's a shame we can't find names for these two." Terrain commented.
"Celest and Luna, daughters of Gaia." said Mar. Terrain looked at him in total confusion. "I'm the Angel of Death, remember? I see the names of the living above their heads when I want to." he added for clarification. Terrain didn't even want to enter that conversation.
"Can I get you anything?" she offered. Mar thought for a minute before answering.
"Some water would be great." he replied. Terrain nodded and patted his leg under the covers. "Thanks." he added as she got up to get him his water.
As Terrain went to get Mar his water, she spotted a few others running, namely a Pony, Dragon and a Gryphon. Curious, she followed them. She didn't expect to see what she did. A small group of demons had infiltrated the defences everyone had placed up, and were holding hostages.
"Alright, here's how it's gonna work. We're gonna take six of you. Anyone complains, we take you in addition. Understood?" declared the lead demon. He was a tall red creature with long arms, clawed fingers and a face like a Timberwolf without the timber or the fur. He had scars all over his body.
"How dare you! You have no right to take any of us." a pony called out.
"This isn't about rights and privelages. We do what we want simply because we're stronger. It's the nature of the food chain. You're number one, bucko." the leader said. One of the lesser demons approached and nabbed the pony before he could escape.
Terrain took this moment to grab the sword that she believed belonged to Mar. She'd hidden it in her room which wasn't far from the location everyone had gathered in. She opened her door and closed it quickly and quietly. The room was pretty simple. She didn't like hoarding useless trinkets like most. She spotted the sword by her bedside. Why she chose to put it there of all places, she wasn't sure. It would have made more sense to put it near Mar himself, but she couldn't seem to part with it.
As she returned to the group, she noticed that the demons had chosen five already. "You won't leave here alive, we've got the Angel here." one of the ponies called out. The leader began to laugh as if the mention of Mar was a mere joke.
"That Angel failed to hunt and kill a single demon the night he showed up. I'm willing to bet he's no more than a trainee. And believe me, I've had my fair share of encounters with them. As you can imagine, I've been victorious every time." he said, tracing over some of his scars. Terrain then noticed one of the demon going for the last pony that had spoken out. She chose that time to act. Without thinking, she drew Mar's sword and swung it down. The demon had just grabbed onto the pony before it began to scream in pain. its arms had been sliced off and the stubs began to burn. The creature withdrew back into the group it had entered with. All eyes were on Terrain who took an aggressive stance.
"If that's how the food chain works, I'm going to put myself above you." she threatened. The red demon just grinned.
"Mmm, yes please." he said, wiggling his hips. Terrain growled and charged him blindly. She went for a swing but missed. The demon was too fast He whipped around Terrain and grabbed her arms, pulling them back. Terrain dropped the sword and was forced to arch back as the demon brought his knee to the small of her back and pushed forward.
"What do you think boys? Is she breeding material?" the demon asked as Terrain's brown cloak slid out of the way to reveal her figure. The other demons just chuckled gleefully. Terrain was embarrassed, but ultimately pissed off. She struggled against the demon, but that just made the others wolf-whistle as her movements aroused them.
"That's funny, I didn't think Demons had standards." a voice cut through the laughter of the other demons. Everyone stopped to look at the owner of the voice. Even Terrain, who recognised the voice stopped. "That was some nice swordplay, Terrain, but you could do with some practice." the voice said again. The Angel, Mar Grimm stood before the leader of the demons, his torso bandaged revealing to his enemies that he was in a weakened state.
"Mar, what are you doing? You're in no condition to move, let alone stand up to demons." Terrain argued.
"Mar? You're him? The Mar Grimm? Oh my friend, you're a Legend even in Tartarus. There are a lot of big faces that want you dead." the leader said, abandoning Terrain and turning to him. The demon noticed the sword Terrain had used and picked it up.
"There are even bigger heads in Heaven that want me dead these days. In turn, I want them dead, I'd even become a demon in order to make that happen." he said. Terrain wondered if that had anything to do with his falling.
"I see. Well I'm afraid I can't let you live, you see my bosses have put out a bounty on your head. I intend to collect now that you're within my sight and clearly weakened." the leader declared. Mar just shrugged and raised his hand as if to pose a question.
"You're resolved to collect a bounty, I'm resolved to make Heaven fall. I wonder who's resolve is stronger?"