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SVAfter the gray village, Nerea did not return to Heaven.
She stayed in one of the worlds.
She went from village to village, healing what Lucifer's mist had left broken.
Wherever she walked, the children played again.
Wherever she wept, the fields bore fruit.
The beings no longer called her angel.
They called her Mother.
Leo accompanied her.
Since he had learned to weep, his laugh was different.
It was no longer light alone.
Now it was light that had passed through shadow.
And because of that, the humans believed him more.
—Mother Nerea, can you cure everything? —the girl of the crooked flower asked her one afternoon; she no longer left her side.
Nerea stroked her hair.
Her wings of crystalline water shone under the sun.
—As long as love exists, everything can heal, little one.
In the Kingdom of Shadows, Lucifer heard that phrase in his black lake and smiled.
—Write it down —he told Hate—. That will be her sentence.
He called Caelum.
The fallen angel who had once been light and was now an abyss.
Caelum could no longer be healed.
The darkness had consumed him from within for so long that his own heart had turned to black stone.
—Go to Earth —Lucifer ordered—. Do not attack. Let her find you. And when Nerea tries to heal you… do not resist. Let her see what cannot be healed.
Caelum descended.
Nerea found him at the edge of a river.
He lay there, his wings broken, breathing with difficulty.
He did not look like a general of the dark army.
He looked like a wounded angel.
—Brother! —Nerea cried, running toward him.
Leo stepped in front.
—He is one of them! He is Caelum!
—He is wounded —said Nerea, gently moving him aside.
She knelt and placed her hands on Caelum's chest.
For the first time in a long while, Caelum felt water.
Not fire.
Not shadow.
—Easy, I am here now. As long as a wound exists, I will be there. Remember? That was my vow.
A crystalline tear fell from Nerea's eyes onto Caelum's wound.
The tear hissed.
It did not heal.
It turned black and evaporated.
Nerea went still.
It had never happened.
She tried again.
Another tear.
Another attempt.
The wound would not close.
The black stone of his heart beat and rejected the water.
—What… what did they do to you? —she whispered.
Caelum looked at her and, for an instant, was again the angel he had been.
With eyes full of pain, he took her hand.
—They did nothing to me, Mother. I chose to stay in the darkness so long… that the darkness chose me. There is nothing left to heal in here. There is no heart left.
He lowered his gaze.
—There is nothing left.
Leo stepped back.
Nerea shook her head.
She could not accept it.
Her gift was to heal.
If she could not heal, who was she?
—No! There is always something! There is always a reason to go on! —she cried.
She wept hard.
Tear after tear fell on Caelum.
An entire river.
But every tear turned black.
Caelum smiled with sadness.
—Thank you for trying, Mother. No one had tried.
And he closed his eyes.
He did not die.
Worse.
He let himself go.
His body turned to ash and that ash mixed with the river, staining it black for an instant.
Nerea remained on her knees at the shore, her hands empty, covered in black ash.
She could not heal him.
For the first time since the beginning of creation, Nerea had failed.
—No… no… —she repeated, staring at her hands—. I have to be able to. I have to be able…
Leo knelt beside her and held her.
But Nerea did not feel him.
She was staring at the black river.
—If I cannot heal… what am I? —she whispered.
In Heaven, Agnis felt a tremor in her sword.
Tarus felt something very heavy fall, not on his shoulders, but on his heart.
The Father, from His throne, closed His eyes.
A second tear ran down His face.
In the Kingdom of Shadows, Lucifer did not celebrate.
He watched the lake in silence.
—Do you see, Hate? —he said softly—. From Tarus I took his strength by making him strike his brother. From Leo I took his joy by making him weep. From Agnis I took her peace by making her doubt her justice.
He paused.
—But from Nerea… from Nerea I have just taken the only thing that held her up: the certainty that love heals all.
Hate watched the lake.
Nerea was still on her knees, unmoving.
—And what will she do now?
—Now she will do what every healer does when they cannot heal —answered Lucifer—. She will try to heal at any price.
His gaze grew darker.
—Even if that means entering the darkness to seek the cure.
Hate understood.
—And when she enters my kingdom of her own will…
Lucifer smiled.
—I will no longer need chains to hold her.
In the worlds, Leo lifted Nerea in his arms.
She did not resist.
She only repeated, in an empty voice:
—As long as a wound exists… I will be there…
Her eyes stayed fixed on the river.
—As long as a wound exists…
But her crystalline wings, for the first time, did not shine.
They dripped black water.