All the Celestials and Fiends looked at the purple portal in shock upon hearing a voice they hadn't heard for hundreds of years.
"E-Eldest, is that you?" Zaphiel stuttered.
"It is I," the voice replied.
Zaphiel bit his lip. For the first time in a long time, he once again felt like a child who had done something wrong and was caught by his older brother in the act.
"Where have you been all this time?" Zaphiel asked, his voice rising. "We've looked all over for you!"
He couldn't help but clench his fists in frustration, disliking this sort of uncomfortable feeling. The feeling like he had done something wrong even when he truly believed he had done the right thing.
"I've always been with all of you," the voice calmly answered. "In these past hundreds of years, I saw how you lamented about being trapped in this 'cage,' like a bird who wished to fly in the sky.
"I have seen how Wormwood communed with the world, secretly giving cures to those infected by plagues and pestilence.
