The Angel and Her Darkness

Chapter 1

Nesta, Cassian and Azriel had just been enjoying their breakfast in the House of Wind when suddenly the air in front of the table distorted and a portal appeared. After months of Bryce seemingly randomly appearing in their home, no one was really surprised when Bryce stepped out of the portal and dropped herself into a chair, propping her feet up onto the table. She was followed by an exhausted looking Hunt.

“You'll never believe what these idiots in the council came up with now…”, Bryce started prattling as soon as the portal closed. This had also been a common occurrence as of late. Midgard had formed a council of leadership after the fall of the Daglan in their world and as ‘saviors’ of their world Bryce and Hunt had a place on the council, which led to many occasions of them appearing in the House of Wind to vent their frustrations about the decisions of said council.

“Saying we should reconsider if their methods really were so barbaric, fucking idiots all of them, what did we even fight a war for”, Bryce exclaimed angrily.

“They are still onto that energy thing?”, Cassian questioned.

“Yes, apparently people are not capable of existing without their fancy cars driving around so we should start sacrificing the souls of our dead again so that they can feel good showing off their money”, Hunt sighed.

After Bryce had destroyed the Firstlight core in the war, the energy slowly started waning and it was clear that very soon Midgard would fall back into medieval standards if they didn't find a solution soon.

“Love, why don't you tell them why we are actually here right now? Not that I don't enjoy the company but we kinda had a purpose this time”, Hunt softly said to Bryce.

"Ah, yes. So I have been thinking”, Bryce started.

“Well that's something new”, Azriel murmured under his breath earning him snickers from Cassian and Hunt and a foot against his shin from Nesta and a sharp bite of magic into his shoulder from Bryce.

“Behave”, Nesta admonished.

“Listen to mother Nesta shadowboy”, Bryce smirked, earning her a playful glare from Azriel and a delighted laugh from Nesta.

“So yes I was thinking”, Bryce started again. “There must be alternative ways to power our machines than the magic of our people. So when I was talking with Lydia the other day we thought about how people of Midgard come from so many different worlds and how I should be able to open portals to most if not all of them because of the Horn and my powers. So what if one of these worlds has a way to fix this without having to sacrifice the magic and souls of our people.”

“None of us really know what's out there”, Nesta said thoughtfully. “But it is quite likely that there might be a world out there that has similar devices to what you invented and possibly found different ways to power them.”

“You might want to talk to Amren about that”, Azriel said, drawing all eyes in the room towards him.

“Why would we ask Amren?”, Hunt questioned, remembering the small female from one of their trips when she had been visiting Nesta while they came through the portal.

Azriel looked conflicted for a moment before he sighed.

“Amren has been getting flashes of memories lately, of her life before the prison. She has been working with Bryaxis to access them more fully”, he said nonchalantly, drawing a sharp inhale from Nesta.

A grin spread over Bryce’s face as she turned towards Nesta.

“So you have finally convinced Cassian and Rhysand that she is no danger to them?”