# Road to ArchAngel - **Timeline:** Pre-Rewind - **In-Story Date:** 2186-2859 - **Perspective:** Lateresa --- The heavy oak doors of the upper solar clicked shut, but the silence that followed carried the bitter sting of smoke. June stood before the mahogany desk with her apron hem stained with soot and her usually immaculate composure frayed at the seams. She had left the castle in haste two hours earlier after a breathless maid had slipped through the servants' entrance, whispering that ArchAngel Daniel and his inner circle had ambushed Valaciel near the disused freight depot behind the common ring. Lateresa looked up from her paperwork, her gaze sharpening instantly. "You found him?" "I did, My Lady," June replied, her voice tight and trembling with suppressed outrage. "I arrived just in time, but not before they had their amusement." Lateresa set her quill down. "Tell me." June took a steadying breath, though the memory of what she had witnessed made her fingers knot into the fabric of her skirt. "They had cornered him in the stone culvert behind the loading bays," June said. "Daniel and his circle were waiting for him. Selaphiel had him pinned face-down to the flagstones, holding him flat against the stone while calling him a wingless cripple. Daniel stood by the wall with Joseph and Camael, laughing." Lateresa's breath caught in her throat. "She manifested a divine dagger," June continued, looking directly into Lateresa's eyes. "She held him down with his face flat to the stones, carved the blade along the old scars on his back, and told him she was curious if she could help set his wings free. Then she drove a brand of concentrated celestial fire straight into the cuts." Lateresa gripped the edge of her desk. "She burned his back to the bone," June said, her voice trembling. "The stench of scorched flesh filled the entire alleyway. Selaphiel kept mocking him, demanding to know where his wings were hiding, but Valaciel clamped his jaw shut and took the agony in silence. When he passed out from the shock, Selaphiel drove an armored fist into his ribs to force him awake. I heard her shout at him not to pass out, just as I broke through the colonnade." Lateresa gripped the edge of the mahogany desk until the timber groaned, fine cracks spreading beneath her gloves. Both pairs of her wings snapped wide behind her, blinding white-gold radiance flooding the room and rattling the leaded windowpanes. June lowered her head against the crushing pressure, waiting in silence. A tear dropped from Lateresa's face. She wiped it away, but another streamed down. Rage and sadness broke the composure of the Division Two Commander as she bit down on her lower lip. Slowly, she dragged her divinity back into her skin, her wings folding flat against her mantle. "What happened when you stepped in?" Lateresa asked, her voice flat and low. "I stepped between them with your division seal," June said softly. "Daniel sneered, but he backed off once he saw the crest. He called him a stray living on borrowed time, told Selaphiel to leave him, and walked away." "And Valaciel?" "I had our disguised medics transport him to a secure clinic under common names," June said. "He survived the burns, and the healers dressed his wounds, but the scarring across his back will linger." Lateresa closed her eyes, her jaw clenched tight enough to ache. "Keep the guards doubled around his district. Never let Daniel's lackeys catch him alone again." --- For seven centuries, Valaciel drove himself through high-tier rifts, grinding his Combined stats toward the apex. Daniel's circle kept their distance from the reinforced guards, but the reports June brought to the solar carried a new pattern. "Every few years, usually after stepping out of the gates at dusk, he walks toward the inner noble ring," June said, setting the dispatch down. "He keeps clear of our estate gates and passes the sentries without a word. He stops right at the boundary line where the common cobblestones meet the silver paving of the nobility." Lateresa looked up from her desk. "And what does he do?" "He simply stands there," June said. "With his patched canvas satchel over his shoulder and his back bare and straight. He tilts his head upward and watches your balcony for ten, sometimes fifteen minutes in total silence. Then he lowers his eyes and walks back into the common ring." Lateresa exhaled, her breath shuddering against the glass as she looked out over the distant streetlamps. How many times had she stood on that very balustrade looking out over the streets, completely unaware that his quiet eyes were watching her from the boundary stones below? "Next time he comes," Lateresa whispered, her hand resting against the cold glass, "do not chase him away. Just let him look." --- In the final year of the ninth century after his arrival, the long vigil reached its impossible zenith. The year was 2859. June entered the solar without knocking, carrying a sealed parchment bearing the gilded emblem of the Grand Council Registry. "My Lady," June said, her voice tight with bewilderment as she set the document on the mahogany desk. "His Combined stats have broken the ultimate threshold. He has officially ascended to ArchAngel." Lateresa stood up slowly, her heart hammering against her ribs. "ArchAngel... Did you see him return? Did his wings show?" "I did not see them, My Lady," June replied, shaking her head. "He cleared the gate checkpoint with his cloak pulled tight. But when I searched through the council registry dispatch, they labeled him 'Wingless.'" Lateresa's eyes narrowed, a cold edge cutting into her voice. "Wingless?" Lateresa repeated, picking up the parchment. "That is impossible. They would never officially recognize a wingless ArchAngel. That must be altered." "ArchAngel rank was supposed to make you an elite of the angels," Lateresa murmured, staring at the wax seal. "Not many ever reach there, and even fewer ascend to the rank of Cherub. The last known two were Lucifer and Lilith." June looked down at her toes, her voice hesitant. "My Lady... is he really worth all this? You don't even sleep well anymore." Lateresa looked wearily at June. "I don't know," she whispered.