Chapter Text
When one lone soul leaves the mortal realm, they rush through the many scenarios of what can happen after. Some believe they will crumble into nothingness, others think they will become something else entirely, and a selective few follow their religious beliefs of what comes after. Despite what they believe in, they all end up in one place.
The Aether
With a warm and welcoming embrace, souls walk over to the grand gates. As they do, they recall the details of the lives they have lived, finally letting go of regrets and filling that missing part of themselves that had crumbled away in their lives. And as they pass through the gates, they enter through those grand doors with a smile knowing that they have made it to their final resting place.
That's how Pure Vanilla Cookie, the Paladin of Truth, sees it anyway. He watched many souls pass through into the Aether, and should they ever decide that their eternal rest shall reach its end, they can decide to go back to the mortal realm where they take on a different form from their previous life. Then they go on and live out another experience.
With his station planted within the very middle of the Aether, he along with five other paladins are there to provide and accommodate the souls in any way. That way they continue through their cycle as it is within a soul's nature to return to the mortal realm after they healed from their weary and lengthy stay at it.
As the head of the Paladins that help protect the Aether, it is in his blood to keep anything that can bring harm to the Aether out as they are the heavy line of defense — it is his duty to defend it against anything that might threaten it. And yet with all this ethereal light, whispers from the shadows marinate, brood and watch for the smallest opening.
Yes, mortal beings have the capabilities of committing atrocities beyond redemption due to the naive nature of the soul and what it must commit to survive. But this darkness can become much worse if their lives extend past their date of death. Their soul will become unstable, attracting darkness from the spawns of the evil itself, the witches. Once the darkness has seeped and claimed it, it will absorb darkness by any means necessary until it becomes aware of the planes of existence. With this level of awareness the havoc that it can cause is immeasurable.
Thankfully it doesn't happen to cookies often.
White Lily Cookie, the Paladin of Freedom, landed at the front steps of the Grand Soul Archive, her wings folding tightly against her back as she entered with a solemn look. Despite the turmoil weighing on her thoughts, the Archive was nothing short of bright, warm, and elegant.
She walked past drifting souls, their reflections gleaming across the pearl-polished floors beneath her feet. Ivory and cream columns spiraled upward, supporting wide arches as the ceiling rose high above, golden detailing catching the light with every step she took.
Her footsteps echoed softly through the grand halls as her gaze passed over the countless scrolls stored within towering shelves, each one packed with care and precision. Cherubs flitted between the corridors and their desks where they would pause to record the lives of the souls that resided within the Archive.
This was also known as Pure Vanilla Cookie's main station where he took great regard in recording every cookie's bakeday and the life they had lived in between until their crumble date. Listening to the many stories of these souls was his favorite pastime for he listened to cookies recall their memories with a large smile on their face. Keeping records of what the soul has done before it purifies itself keeps track of the many more stories that the soul will have when it comes back, a system he created so that the soul can return to the living world with no regrets. Despite flicking his pen to the words of the soul speaking in front of him, his attention was caught elsewhere when his friend walked along his archway.
He weirdly enough never bothered with doors unlike the other Paladins.
But the look he spotted on White Lily’s face raised his concern. He kindly dismissed the soul in front of him with a smile, then turned and began to sort the pile of scrolls that had begun to grow in his desk. He should really be careful with how many he ends up writing at once, he'll certainly confuse himself.
The soul shyly walked by and quickly waved at White Lily Cookie and she offered a smile and waved and waved back in return watching them leave, once they were further enough she spoke.
“It should be another quiet day today, Gingerbrave and his crew of messengers have reported little to no possible breaches.” White Lily Cookie went to one of the scrolls holding it and analyzing it in her hand. When he turned back from placing the scrolls away He had looked at her with intrigue. He placed his glasses down as his attention shifted to her from the moment she said ‘should.’
“Yet?” He gave her a knowing smile. Then he turned around once more to place the last of his scrolls away.
“The whispers are loud within my ears. And this presence, it feels like it is creeping slowly.” White Lily Cookie pointed out, she among all the paladins was quite perceptive even more so than he is at times.
“Nothing gets past you does it? But you are correct. Another soul was fully corrupted but its power seems to be diluted, muted even.” He placed his hand under his chin as he turned to face her, tucking his feathers on his tightly.
In that moment White Lily's eyes grew wide. “You don't think they -”
“A fluctuation has appeared near the barrier!” Wizard Cookie shouted as he walked up to both Paladins with Gingerbrave and Strawberry Cookie approaching behind them. Gingerbrave slid in with both his knees already planted in the ground as he bowed his head low, his other companions getting down to do the same motion. Which made Pure Vanilla's feathers steel themselves from the surprise, he hadn't seen him coming. He quickly spawned his staff — its large eye analyzing the three better.
“I'm sorry Mister Pure Vanilla! It was my mistake. I should've sensed the corruption better!” He said as tears threatened to spill from his very eyes as the poor kid began hugging his leg. With a small chuckle at their display, Pure Vanilla kneeled down to ruffle his hair. White Lily Cookie covered her grin.
“Oh my. No need to fret Gingerbrave, we are already addressing the problem.” He held his hand and helped him stand as he motioned the others to do the same. Before walking behind his desk to place away his last scroll.
White Lily Cookie stepped up, “We know that this soul is concealing itself, so I must ask that you tell Hollyberry to start patching the barrier up, I will take care of it. Pure Vanilla?”
She turned to him only to see him already write the report to check and see who's available to take on this task, he rolls up the scroll and in a flash of stars the paper is sent up to higher authority. In an instant it's delivered back and he checks the writing within.
“So the task of handling the soul is assigned to you and….me?” Pure Vanilla gave the scroll a bewildered look. He is the paladin of truth, yes, and his attacks are powerful but his magic focuses on healing. Usually the mortal shell of the soul needs to be destroyed, so he would imagine maybe Dark Cacao Cookie or Golden Cheese Cookie to help.
White Lily Cookie looked into his mismatched eyes with similar curiosity but it's not the time to question the situation. She tugged at the sleeve of his robes, snapping him out before his mind ran off without her. “Hey it's alright, these are not your forte but the sooner we leave, the sooner we can get it over with.”
He hesitated as a feeling of unease rose within his chest. He's not sent out as often as he is used to. Usually when he is sent out, its with Hollyberry Cookie to manage and eliminate minor enemies that attempt to approach the barrier, but he wouldn't say this lack of confidence is due to inexperience; don't make that mistake, it's more so the veil of mystery that surrounds this soul, it's not a normal corrupted being, one even messengers should notice with ease. But no matter, after sending off the messenger crew they flew over to the grand gates zooming past the very souls he finished interviewing, waving at him gleefully as he passed by.
“It's been a while since you've gone to slay a corrupted mortal.” White Lily Cookie spawned her staff as they both descended down from the Aether as the mortals below watched them twinkle in the moonlight like two comets, it would be quite the problem if they were to be seen so their robes were made to be blinding. Though a cloak spell wouldn’t be too bad, can’t be too careful.
“Well someone had to handle setting the Aether into the new system.” Pure Vanilla sensed the muted presence of the corrupted being quickly following it up north, both were traveling at breakneck speeds to reach their destination as they watched the environment blur right past them.
“Ah yes, the new system that's been around for 250 years.” White Lily indulged him lightheartedly as a hand covered her chuckle.
“Still new enough.” Pure Vanilla looked over the terrain, he never got enough of the many different colors and hues of the mortal realm.
Although the colors shifted as they reached their destination. The sky was already darkening to a soft lavender as the sun set itself behind the mountain. At the base of that very same mountain stood a large cave surrounded by a wilted forest. Despite its corrupted presence being hushed it emitted waves of darkness that disturbed the wild life and absorbed the life of the plantation around it. It looked sickly. He dived down to the ground with White Lily following, they should inspect this closely.
“It's been a while since I've seen this type of damage, but I've never seen it on such a large scale…” He mentioned upon landing on the grass it was dry and brittle, he picked up some only for it to crumble within his hands. Then a low guttural growl emitted from the cave making them rise in high alert. Though there were no footsteps to match the noise, it must be asleep.
“It's there.” White Lily Cookie didn't hesitate to step forward her stride carrying her right into the mouth of the cave Pure Vanilla followed with a look of sorrow, the familiar weight of duty settling heavy in his chest.
She gazed into his mismatched eyes, offering what solace she could for the gruesome act they are about to partake in and Pure Vanilla nodded in agreement as they walked towards their next rite of severance.