Masking Pain Through Generosity: The Feathers Of Remorse Fall [Guild Of Heroes]

Connections, appearances, management and leadership. These were some of the core components of the work that Cirno Iramasha had found herself under. The woman was traveling through different dimensions to gather resources, making whole factions affiliated with her organization, create allies, invest in her members and essentially take The Guild of Heroes from a group of rag-tag team heroes to someone with a legitimate front for being a major player in interdimensional affairs. And it was all started with but a simple desire to birth positivity, light, and goodwill in a cluster of worlds filled with such vile darkness that grips at the soul.

Yet, with all this work and responsibility bearing down on the weight of one individual, the celestial couldn't help but begin to feel and wear of tear of such a demanding cause induce her own feelings of exhaustion, doubt, and negativity. So, once she was out of the limelight, the woman sought to seek refuge in Karakura Forest and let the blood of her fallen angel's essence ring through this serene space.

The woman wasn't short by any means, but her adult stature shrunk to an adolescents height as she walked deeper into the forest. While a gray mist washed over the woodland area, The Iramasha's eyes soon shifted from aqua blue to blood red. And, none too long after that, the oceanic hair of the woman that flowed down to her back faded in the wind and all that remained was short, gold hair which passed not an inch pass her neck.

In response to this shift of blackened energy pouring into the forest, the heavens themselves became filled with an overcast from its once sunny sights. Following this shift in the environment, The Fallen Angel felt a sigh of relief come as she had time for herself. There was no need to put on the act of some unstoppable hero. Instead, this was the time for the sins, guilt, and heaviness which chains Cirno's very ego and soul to come forth in the form of Erna. Which is why the last change to be seen was the corrosion of her azure dress turning to black.

[How Erna looks now]

With this change complete, Erna felt as if she had shredded her clothes, let loose that tight suit and let herself truly be who she was: a deplorable fallen angel doing what she can to make this world and the people who live in have a happier life than herself with her tainted hands.

So it is why she did not feel remorse, nor did she bat an eye, when her powers started exterminating demons and hollows left and right. As this dampened stroll took a turn for the bloody as these spirits tried to slay and subdue The Fallen Angel. Instead, strings of crimson and shade overflowed from her body, purged these corrupted souls and purified them so that they could be reincarnated and have a shot at a better life than the one of sin they led. That was her gift to her enemies.

Yet -- what was her gift to those who were her allies? Distance. It was hard to find time for the people she cared for because of her extravagant desires. So this sense of disconnect, detachment and remorse grew to only make Erna's sense of self, power, and ego that much stronger within Cirno. And it is why, instead of wholly becoming a child in this form, it almost seemed as if Erna was growing at the same rate these clusters of guilt tore at the seams of Cirno's essence.

Thus, for this reason, Erna saw fit to wander through this world of lost and attempt to find that connection with a project she had invested in long ago: Henrex Astillon.

Perhaps finding missionary service with helping to cultivate that boys spirit would take the woman off such grim, morbid and outright immoral thoughts. As there was such a fine line of morality when it came to the actions of Erna that she bordered on the line of almost viewing herself as no better than her demons. Yet, the voice of Cirno that still rang within herself knew she was greater than that.

Thus, she proceeded forward, pinpointed the vicinity where the boy was standing and decided to let her presence come forth as she stepped ahead of a few bushes nearby.

"It's been some time hasn't it, Henrex?"

With those words uttered out, the chains of fate had locked their destiny together and the boy had not an iota of what the woman had in store for him going forward on this day. If the goals for herself and her faction were any indication of how grandiose her ambitions were, then driving that same sense of purpose into others could only produce magnificent things.