Here I stand upon the brink of oblivion.

Here I stand upon the dawn of creation.

Here I watch the universe die.

Here I watch the universe live.

Here I write our tale, the tale of how this universe died.

Here I will write our tale, the tale of the birth of our universe.

Here I will start the story before the end.

Here I will end the story before the start.

Here the foolishness, hatred, deception, lies, love, lust, faithlessness, broken dreams and shattered hopes will be laid bare.

Here purity, truth, honesty, virtue, justice, charity and hope will be corrupted.

Here the final death will end.

Here the final death will start.

Here I will end.

Here I will begin.

I, the Duality King, will account for all my sins.

I hope that this account will survive by some miracle.

I hope this account will not survive by some miracle.

I hope who ever reads this may learn from our mistakes.

I hope none will learn from our mistakes.

I hope the paradox will be broken.

I hope the paradox will never be broken.

I prayed that this fate might be averted.

I pray this fate might not be averted.

...

For I am the Duality …

I reign supreme forevermore and nevermore…

Chaos Stars:

Chronicles of the Ascension

Today, the universe is quiet. The battle cry of a trillion guns no longer resounds across space, but it will not last. It never does. It never has. It never will.

The Warlords, masters and mistress of war, have agreed to a ceasefire; for the first time in thousands years the immortals have silenced the universe they crafted into an endless machine of war. The universe has been irrevocably changed. Millions of planets have been blasted out of existence; billions more rendered incapable of supporting life of any kind, entire civilizations have been wiped out or fought to the last against the infinite armies of the Warlords. How much culture, knowledge and more have we lost in these pointless wars across thousands of years?

The powers that once were, like the Time Space Administration Bureau, are now unrecognizable. The voids between worlds and between dimensions have become the battlegrounds, just two of many. Vast armies clashed in the jungles, plains, mountains, glaciers, and seas of a thousand worlds. Primitive savages with iron weapons clashed with cyborg soldiers with guns that even reality groans in pain upon the touch of a trigger or mental command. In the name of their masters, by either by deceit full lies, misguided loyalty, or personal choice, they slaughter each other in the name of vain glory and desperation to appease their immortal gods. All for the sake of their ancient grudges that had consumed the universe in the flames of war.

They are immortal beings; powerful beyond belief, they were born in the days when the TSAB did not know the touch of the Dark Angel. Even the names of the immortals have faded from memory. Some doubt that even they themselves remember their names, but some accounts of fighting have reported speech in ancient tongues that were no longer spoken by any mortal and what could be names when the immortals clashed in battle.

There are a number of them, not so many as humanity, but too many. For they are a species apart from mortal man; guided by goals beyond the ken of we who feel the touch of time. The greatest amongst them are the White Devil, Lighting Goddess, Reaper, Dark Angel, Blood Hammer, Golden Lady, Alchemist, Dread Knight, Wolf Lord. There were more like them, but many have been killed or vanished over the past five thousand years. Below the immortals stand their immortal slaves, warriors of old that have sworn to follow their masters to death and beyond. Those warriors are blessed with ancient arcane magic and existences without mortal weaknesses gladly serve their eternal masters as the generals, admirals, and commanders of the vast hosts.

Some say the Warlords are magic incarnate. Others claim they made a pact with eldritch monsters. Still others claim they are vengeful ghosts of hatred and loathing that have been allowed to exist in the mortal realm beyond death. I have no idea which may be true, but I will find out. It was these beliefs and the temporary peace that drove me to seek answers.

I wanted answers; who these Warlords? What their story is? How did it end up like this? Why do they hate each other with a passion that snuffs out stars? These mysterious titans, who we know so little about, will be unmasked by me and cast down by my allies. The end of their age is coming; soon their armies will rise up against them. My work will hasten their fall, swaying more to our side before the last civil war comes.

Days after the ceasefire was signed an old man approached me while I patrolled the streets of the jungle city we had taken from the forces of the Reaper. Insurrectionist and loyalist to the old regime still lurked about, actively fighting us in the city and surrounding jungle. Praxis IIV was a class II world with natives who thought iron weapons were the peak of technology and if the rebels kept fighting us we would be forced to destroy the planet with the dreadnoughts in geosynchronous orbit. Such was the value of life in this age; none! The human life had no value in the eyes of the Warlords and their warriors. Humans were numbers to them, not the unique and special life forms I knew them to be. The thought of invaluable species, young and intelligent life cut off so soon by a whim of our master or any Warlord sickened me.

The old man who approached me handed me a thick, leather bound book and hobbled away before I could speak. He turned the corner and I gave chase, only see the body of the old man dissolves into dust. With an unsteady hand I opened the book and read the first page…

My name is Dylan Von Saphera, rifleman of the 908th company under the banner of the White Devil.

I am the one who ends the time of the Warlords or at least I'll try to...

He had come to Japan to get away from fighting that had raged for the last six years of his life. . The last six years of his life had been lived in the ever growing shadow of a madman hell bent on his destruction; the same madman had murdered his parents when he was a year old. All around him the darkness had grown by the year. He watched his mentors and friends fall to the madman followers one by one. The journey to send his enemy back to hell was a long and tedious, but in the end he had succeeded. Never again would that madman kill or return by archaic necromantic rituals. He had assured that the soul of the madman was torn to bits, never to return to the land of the living. The cost to destroy that soul had been high and the scars still burned, but he had to push onwards.

So he did as many others would have done once they completed a long and arduous task. He went on vacation, even though it would cost him greatly. The first week in Japan had been blissful. Far from the pressure of the homeland's media, the wannabe arm candy, awards, speeches, and corruption, he found a quiet bliss in the coastal Uminari City. The fighting had left its mark in the form of a stick, a ring, and a cloak. All three bore power unimaginable and as he cast down the madman, he gained a new title; a rank that set him above mere mortals, yet he had no wish to accept the title when it was offered. Legends now adorned his hand, back, and wrist as he made his way once more towards the sound of battle. He had wanted to spend days on the beach, hiking the mountain trails, and generally enjoying life, but fate conspired against him. Local conflicts were none of his business, yet this had grown out of control.

Uminari City was silent. Someone had cast a barrier over the location to prevent the locals from coming to any harm, but he had found himself trapped by the barrier. The wand in his hand called for him to move forward and join the battle. The ring on his finger, gleaming darkly in the half-light, whispered sweet entreaty's from the lusting dead on the far side. The cloak, hanging lose and limp off his shoulders, rendered him invisible to mortal eyes and called for him to assume the garments that were rightfully his. He might refuse his title, but he knew the power of the tools granted to his station.

He looked down at his blue jeans and gray tee shirt. "I'd rather not have to replace theses." There was no helping it though. Walking unarmed and unarmored into a battle was a death sentence. "… Azriel, begin setup."

"At once Master," a female voice answered robotically, seemingly coming from his ring and wand at once, betraying her mechanical origins. "If we could find my missing components we would be nearly invincible."

"You've only mentioned it a dozen times since we came to Japan. I don't need that much power anyway, not right now at least." He swore he heard her scoff at his statement, but something like that wasn't far beyond the realm of magic he hailed from.

Magical energies began to swirl around him faster and faster. In a flash of purple light he was transformed. The dilapidated wand took the shape of two hand sword, long and light for the metals of common man were trash before the arcane blade he held. The hilt was inset with the gleaming black stone of his ring where the blade met the black leather wrapped handle. The pommel was an elaborately carved grinning skull, pale as the moon. Crimson tears appeared beneath the eyes, defying gravity as they crawled up the handle. A voluminous cloak, complete with a hood, draped itself over his body as if he were a grim reaper of folklore come to claim the living and drag them off.

"Set up complete. What is your will Master of Death?" Azriel asked.

"Scan the area and find the location of the fight. I want my vacation, my peaceful vacation, back quickly. And don't use that title! It gives people the wrong idea," he commanded though he knew Azriel would never obey. She, at least he thought of Azriel as a female, had a will and mind of her own. Her only loyalties lay with the bearer of the title. It was she who had chosen him to take the mantle of Master of Death, above all others, and he was beginning to suspect her claims of being an object from a long dead civilization from another galaxy might have some merit. It would go a long way to explain her quirks that he was sure a normal magical object shouldn't have.

"Understood, my master. Scanning now…scan complete. Magical signatures located. Distance 873 meters north, 376 meters east, altitude 34 meters, five unique signatures. Anything else my master?"

"Any idea of the power levels of our trigger happy friends?" he asked.

"No accurate measurements can be taken at this distance. Judging by magical output the best estimate is at least two warlock ranked magic users. Engage Reaper Mode?" Azriel asked.

"No, engage Fury Mode, scythe form," he commanded. The sword in his hand glowed for a moment and reformed its self into a black scythe; for Azriel was the scythe and the sword. The black stone was set in the forehead of a skull that made up the tang of the weapon. "Let's go!" Four black wings formed at his heels, physical manifestations of his magic brought on by the acceleration spell inherent in Azriel's Fury Mode, and he shot towards the battle. The air was still as he dodged between buildings, a side effect of the barrier that had cast the night into a gray half-light.

"Master, why are we intervening? While I do not wish to miss the bloodshed, we are in a foreign land and our status is shaky as it is. An intervention meant be seen in the wrong light, especially regarding who and want we are."

"I know, but I want my peace and quiet for this vacation. As for you, don't kill them no matter how tempting it may be…unless I tell you too. That should keep our problems to a minimum," he hoped, though he felt it might just be in vain. A fight might come to dealing out death notices once more. The only he could do was control the carnage he caused, not the extent of the combatants would go to with a third like himself suddenly appearing. "And no rampages either. It was hard enough to explain the herd of elk you slaughtered last time. A bunch of humans…I don't think I could escape that one." The sounds of battle grew. He heard the crash and crackle, slash and hiss of magical attacks crashing into each other.

Azriel seemed to giggle, or at least what might have passed for a giggle if a machine could giggle. "You could kill the investigators."

"Then what? Be hunted by that faction for the rest of my days? No thank you," he shot back.

"There are other worlds, infinite worlds out there you could make a new beginning on. No one would find us and if they did we could deal with them. In time nobody who wish to live would challenge us."

"Live like that woman…that's always an option. Ah! Here we are!" The telltale flashes of magic came from the roof top of the hospital. Two of the magicians were dueling near the edge and a portion of the roof was on fire, judging by the smoke. "The question is how do I go about my entry? Ambush or a sudden appearance in the middle of the fight? Any ideas Azriel?"

"A dynamic entry while you shout something suitability impressive perhaps?"

"Nah, too flashy, beside that's a hero thing, not to mention impractical" he said, shaking his head.

"I would like to take this moment to inform you that by the definition of hero you are one. Why do you not act like one?"

"All fiction is a reflection of reality in some way. What happens to the heroes in the stories? Hooray you get to save the world and then die for it in the sequel or some other fate like being forgotten and left to rot. No thank you. I like living and living comfortably. They create people like Ginny too and that was bad, remember? The mass letter swarm during Christmas? That time in France?"

"Assessment complete. You are in denial," Azriel stated.

"WHAT? I am not!" He was glad the crescendo of battle drowned out his voice. He still had the element of surprise. "Fine, we'll talk about this later. Prep a Nova Blaster and an Aegis Shield." Azriel was, by her words, a singularly unique Intelligent Device capable of feats far beyond the limits of other Devices. She claimed she was from a long dead universe that had destroyed itself and she was one of the few weapons from those last days that had survived. The ability to prepare two spells for casting was a trait unique to her class of Devices of which is proudly proclaimed she was the only one.

"Spells ready, awaiting your command."

"Alright then, we rush up that wall, get above the battle, and let that Nova Bolt free," he said as he grabbed the scythe with two hands. He felt the blood race in his veins as he started his ascent. Azriel had made the dream on unaided flight a reality for him, but it was apparently a trait common to many Devices she had known.

"I would like to point out the fact that no plan survives first ..." Her words were lost to him in the sudden rush of wind as he stormed upwards to the battle.

A devilish grin came over his face as the roof edge appeared before him. His brilliant green eyes shone with a glee that wouldn't have been out of place on a devil's face. Time seemed to slow as he blasted past the roof edge and into the empty sky. He saw three figures; two locked in combat, and knew he had his target. The fighting pair was the most dangerous of the three magicians. The blonde haired woman behind the two combatants looked to be a support type he could deal with later or quickly she tried to do something.

He was pleased by the looks of surprise from the blonde girl, maybe nine or ten, and older girl was about his age, with what appeared to be reddish hair that neared pink, who were locked in combat, some axe scythe hybrid weapon against a flaming sword. Soon the fools that dared to make so much noise during his vacation would pay. A jade colored magic triangle appeared beneath his feet. "Fire," he commanded as time seemed to return to normal and made a sweeping arc with the scythe.

A massive bolt of green lighting, created by his mana and shaped by Azriel, struck the two with tremendous force. The dust cloud nearly blinded him before he could escape to a higher altitude. Only battle honed instincts saved him the next moment as a sword crashed into his innate barrier, built into the cloak he now wore. The pink haired, it really was an extremely light strawberry blonde that he had to call pink, woman glared at him as her sword sought to pierce the shield. For a millisecond he considered letting the shield break and hope she would be off balance, but the barrier was nowhere near strong enough to hold back the monstrous strength the woman put behind her strike. "Aegis Shield, release!"

The swordswoman was forced away by the sudden appearance of the shield inside her guard. The barrier flickered as something else smashed into it from the other side. A glance over his shoulder revealed the little blonde girl and her scythe trying to break the shield with a mere physical attack. "Azriel, overload the shield!"

"Yes, my master."

He felt the shield pulsate with the sudden influx of magical power and shatter explosively. The force of explosion propelled him downwards as he had planned; he regained his footing a meter above the sidewalk none the worse for wear. His foes had been forced away by the explosion, but appeared unharmed.

"Who are you?" the little blonde yelled, descending to be level with him.

"Nobody of importance really. Now then can you and your sword wielding friend put an end to this fight so I can get on with my vacation?" he asked her nicely.

"You will not harm my Mistress!"

A wave of flames hurtled towards him. Quickly he raised a shield as the fire impacted the hastily thrown up shield. Seconds later, a furry of strikes battered his barrier with unwavering ferocity.

"Reaper mode, Blaz form," Azriel acted on her own accord and shifted into her sword form.

He threw himself backwards as hard as he could. For a moment he was free of the pounding of furious strikes. Gritting his teeth, he counter-charged the swordswoman. Blade met blade is a symphony of steel as he tested his opponent trying to find a hole in her defense. Every stroke he gave was blocked as she flowed from offensive to defense like water. With every strike she made, he was forced to call upon desperation and let Azriel guide his hands in their desperate defense. The swordswoman was far more skilled than he in the art of the sword.

Abruptly the swordswoman was forced to wheel around as the blonde girl struck with her scythe's weapon's energy blade. He activated his Flash Move, the four black wings crackled as he pumped mana into them, and blitzed the blonde. He lashed out at the blonde with the broad side of his sword, aiming only to wound the fastest fighter enough to slow her down. The blonde vanished with her own Flash Move and he found himself once more exchanging blows with the swordswoman. So focused on his desperate defense, for the swordswoman seemed to have gotten more powerful or at least more force behind her strikes, that he never saw the bolts of lightning careening towards him.

He vaguely felt the sensation of flying and then the force of impact against a fall. His Barrier Jacket, the technical name was apparently Death's Shroud, absorbed most of the impact with the innate barrier, but he had been hit. He felt the bruises starting to form as he stood. The fact that he had been hit aggravated him. During the war he had gone out his way to overpower his enemy and he always wondered why they cursed him for his speed and ruthless. Suddenly he knew why. It hurt his pride to take a blow he should have seen coming and deflected with easy. The blonde girl was faster than he and the swordswoman was strong. Was this the same feeling his enemies had felt when facing him? Overpowered and helpless before a ruthless onslaught of power; it would explain why many of his foes had fled moment after engaging him. He made a choice in that lull moment, fueled by a hurt pride and a burning will prove his mastery over the other two fighters, "Azriel remove the Shroud, switch to the secondary form"

"Master, your armor will not be able-"

"That's fine. I need the speed to keep up with the swordswoman." He pulled himself up as the bulky cloak vanished. It was replaced with a long black jacket with silver highlights along the collar and plain gray pants. "Prepare Nova Blaster and Fiendfyre Whip." He took to the skies as the swordswoman crashed down were he had previously been. She yelled something in a foreign tongue that reminded him of German and her weapon changed into what he recognized as a sword-whip.

"Aegis Shield!" He barely had any time to throw enough mana into his shield when the sword-whip struck. The weapon moved to attack him on every angle, hoping to find a weak point in his shield as the swordswoman deftly cut off his angles of attack.

"Fiendfyre!" he called the cursed flames into existence. The sword burst into demonic flames and he threw them towards the sword-whip as they roared in fury, reflecting his wounded pride. Cursed flames met the whip as he sought keep the steel from reaching him and he tried to push forward. Being pinned down was never a good thing and the blonde girl could strike at any moment while he fought the swordswoman. Swiftly he overloaded the shield and poured his magical power into controlling the cursed flames into two strands, one he wrapped around himself after taking a deep breath and the other he blindly struck out. In a single moment they could turn against him and seek his destruction. Calling upon all his battle experience he broke the two streams into four and then eight. Like the many headed hydra he lashed out, breaking his cocoon of flames in an all-out assault. Sweat rolled down his face as he barely controlled the flames direction and sought oxygen. The flames would east at anything and the valued oxygen needed to breath was no exception.

He heard the streams impact the woman's shields, but she used her whip began to meet his flames, trying to deflect them as he held back two streams that on her purple shields. Sweat rolled down his brow as he sought to control the flames, but he felt his control slipping. The mental focus, willpower, and mana needed to use and control the cursed fire whip was exhausting to even the most powerful wizards.

Abruptly her whip retreated; the rest of the streams of cursed fire pounded into the woman, but cascading off her shield before he sent them against her again. He was forced to change tactics and try to envelope the woman and suffocate her. ~Shift Azriel,~ he commanded over the telepathic link they shared. Azriel shifted from sword to scythe and the triangle beneath his feet appeared again as the Nova Blaster took form. He threw the rest of the cursed fire towards the woman and dashed after it. With a single thought he set the cursed flames into the ground and smashed into the woman's barrier with Azriel's blade swung in a mighty overhead blow. "Nova Blaster!" he screamed. The green bolt impacted the shield at point blank range from the Azriel's blade. He was thrown backwards head over heels. He recovered in midair and saw his opponent was in a similar state. She looked dazed a second, but recovered too quickly for him to take advantage of it.

The roar of thunder brought his attention skywards just in time to see a lighting blot careening towards him. Azriel saved him from greater damage with a hastily constructed shield, but he was set into the hard pavement below. His magic was getting low, his black hair, normally untamable, was standing straight up as the arcane sparks danced around him, and long jacket that had once been the robe was torn in several places. He saw the blonde girl go after the swordswoman in a flash of yellow light. The two escalated their battle into the sky above the hospital as they sought some height advantage.

Unsteadily he climbed to his feet, but soon recovered. He took to the air once more, eager to end the fight. As much as he felt the thrill born of battle, he knew he was outclassed. He had to end this fight quickly before he had to retreat. "If only I could still apperate," he bemoaned, "I hate having only half my magic converted…" He threw himself into the sky, speeding towards the battle with no real plan other than a mind to end this fight in the quickest manner possible.

"If I'm a devil then I'll use my devilish powers to make you understand!"

Those words rang out, even over the flames that cackled and danced on the rooftop of the hospital. He understood the importance of such magical contracts and words made in high magic environments. Even the youngest wizard, newly introduced to magic, knew the danger of such words that might be purposely misinterpreted by the extra-dimensional magical beings as magical pacts; pacts they needed to enter the material plane; most of the time the devils and other extra-dimensional magical beings were, by in large, content to stay within their dimensions.

Legends told of vast armies being exterminated by a single devil, of powerful mages and wizards blasting a devil with everything they had to no avail. And now this little girl, she couldn't have been older than the blonde girl, walking out of the flames singed and bleeding from the bottom lip could have just signed such a magical pact. Words held power and magic always listened to those who commanded it for good or ill. "Azriel, did someone just sign a pact with a devil?"

"Unknown. Surface scans indicate the girl in question has a mana output much higher than earlier scans. This may be due to the range of the preliminary scans though and is within the margin of error for Linker Core measurements. Assessment: Deeper scans required."

"Damnit, that's last thing I need! A fool running around with a devil pact while I'm on vacation! We'll end this fight with a single spell. O ye Lords of Darkness hear my plea and open the...UG!" Blue chains from a binding spell ensnared him. They pulled tight leaving him gasping for air. He felt his magic being locked away by an overwhelming force. Only the bare minimum needed for a magic user to survive was allowed to slip through the binding chains and circulate through the mana circuits. The only blessing was that the other combatants were equally bound by the blue chains he saw as his head and neck were untouched.

A man in a white suit appeared in front of him. He wore a white mask concealing his face, but had the strangest hair he had seen since coming to Japan, slightly spiked blue hair. "Strange… an interloper. We'll deal with you later," he commented with an ominous chuckle. "You are a strange one though…" The man tilted his head oddly to look at him then vanished, only to reappear on the rooftop of the hospital. Another man, identical to the first down to the last hair, joined his twin on the roof. Both waved their hands and took the form of the blonde girl and brunette who made the devil proclamation. One of them cast an unknown spell and a light blue triangle appeared on the rooftop. In a small flash of magical energy a brown haired, Japanese girl, around the same age as the scythe girl, was in the center of the summoning spell.

He frowned at the two mages who tossed summoning magic around like it was nothing. To casually cast such powerful magic around like it was nothing spoke of great talent or premeditation. He was leaning towards premeditation; something about the situation was off, very off. Risking damage to his mana circuits, he forced the trickle of mana from his arms to stay within his budding linker Core. In theory he might be able to break free of the binding spell with a sudden burst of raw mana, but the danger lay in drying out his mana circuits and damage to his body. Slowly his heart rate little by little, he began to focus as he watched the scene unfold on the rooftop. The small mana trickle was enough, but he needed time to build up enough mana.

The two summoning mages said something to the newly arrived girl that drove her to tears. They summoned a floating book and gave a command. The swordswoman, the woman in green, and the most recent arrival he who hadn't noticed until then, a wolf like beast, began to dissolve as if made of dust. The sparkling dust of one hue or another, that he assumed was mana of some form he had never seen before, shot towards the open, floating book in a cascade of light. The devil pact girl began to scream as the little red headed girl with the hammer started to dissolve before her. He caught the name clearly as the girl screamed in agony as only when one saw their best friend die and their cooling corpse fall beside them might scream; a sight and sound he had seen and heard all too often when Slicing spells were thrown about the battlefields of Britain.

"VVIIIIITTTTTTTTAAAAAAAA!"

Black magical power began to gather around the summoned girl, drawing his attention away from the screaming girl who had broken down into sobs. The once blue triangle beneath the summoned girl turned a dark purple. The two illusionist mages used a Flash Move to vanish, leaving the book floating the air still glowing with dark magic in shades of black and purple. On its own accord the book floated towards the girl and she was lost from his sight as black and purple magical power, raw mana, concealed her.

Suddenly the binding vanished. He stumbled a bit and took a deep breath before, letting the building in his budding Linker Core burst free of his body in the form of sparks from his hands. Looking back for a moment he saw the girl in the circle be fully consumed by the magical energies as the gray skies darkened, something he assumed any barrier of this scale would try to prevent. The real blonde and brunette were yelling for the girl to respond as a black vortex of magic formed around her, both having flown closer to the third girl the moment the binding spell had been released. The raw might of the dark magic emanating from the vortex was far greater than even the strongest of the dark magic masters he had fought during the war. This power felt…older, grander, deadlier than what their mana had been, but they had fallen to him and so would this…phenomena if it came to death dealing.

"That is going to ruin my vacation without a doubt. What the hell, I guess it's time to make some new friends…or at least temporary allies." His Flash Move carried him to the roof top, a few feet from the brunette. The feeling of raw dark magic was even worse the closer he got. It was hard to imagine the pain the girl in the center was feeling. "You two," he pointed to the two girls with his scythe, "what's the deal with this…book?"

"You!" The blonde's anger was apparent as she gripped her scythe that was now in a staff form.

"Hn? Fate you know this person?" the brunette said rather obviously to the blonde's tone.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! Calm down girl," he said quickly trying to placate the blonde. Perhaps pointing at someone with a weapon was a bad idea when trying to make friends one had attacked first. He let Azriel fall to his side, a non-threating move or so he hoped the blonde girl would see it as, but he could bring it up just as easily again. "I'm just trying to stop a domestic disturbance from wrecking my vacation, nothing personal. You people insist on fighting where I can hear you and it's a bit annoying, all the bangs and crashes you see. Sure it might be nice to watch other people beat the crap out of each other sometimes, but this is what? The third time you people just have had to fight around here. It's just getting annoying while I'm on my well-deserved vacation."

"Sorry, we were just trying to stop this world ending artifact from consuming all life on Earth," the brunette answered with refreshing honestly and bluntness as she whipped some soot off her white dress with the back of her hand. Her eyes were open and honest, even if they were in pain. This child was the empathic type who wore her heart on her sleeve.

"Another day at the office then. Name's Harrison James Potter, or Potter Harrison, but just call me Harry. Now then, when you say 'world ending artifact' what kind of world ending event are we talking about?"

"All life being wiped out by an ever expanding darkness. The plant ripping itself apart, that sort, but we'll stop it," the brunette answered with a thin smile. "My name is Nanoha Takamachi, Pleasure to meet you Potter-san

"The pleasure is mine. For the time being I will assist you in bringing down this…thing." He was glad that his old instructors had shown him universal translation enchantments otherwise he would actually have to learn the Japanese language. "By the way, just call me Harry, I deal the respect stuff enough back home."

"Okay! This is Fate," she pointed to the blonde girl "but you already knew that since you two already met."

He swore her brightness was contagious. There was a…lightness around her. "Now then, what's the plan?" The blonde was still suspicions of him; she watched him cautiously and seemingly fearfully. As she edged closer to the other girl, Harry couldn't help but recall what one of his own friends had said about him after a hard won battle; 'I pity any children you have Harry. You're terrifying when you're angry. The cloak makes you look like the grim reaper and you have the savagery to match him.' It seemed Neville's words still rang true. He was a monster created to fight the darkness of the magical world, hardly the ideal material for a father. He didn't want or need any child to fear him like this blonde did only from exchanging a few blows in the heat of combat.

It was a pity he had to deal with the swordswoman during the fight. The blonde, this Fate girl, had the slim yet powerful body and she had seemingly matched the swordswoman in melee combat before he interrupted. She was fast too and her magic seemed to be lighting based, an elemental magic that was supposedly extremely volatile. His own lighting spells were mere recreations of the electrical effects, imitations of real lighting, but no less deadly than real lighting magic.

"We wait and see what comes out then save Hayate," Fate answered, keeping Nanoha between them.

"Sounds good to me. Hayate is the girl from earlier right? The one that was summoned?" The staff Nanoha's hand caught his attention when the red gem flashed some curvy writing. He assumed it was in response to a telepathic command from its master as Azriel might do the same, but without the curvy text.

"Yeah, her name is Hayate Yagami and she's the mistress of the Book of Darkness," Nanoha said.

"We should move away from Hayate, so we have room to maneuver against whatever comes out," Harry suggested reasonably. "Book of Darkness…really! I mean how much more ominous can you get. It's the Book of DARKNESS!" he muttered to himself. Why did things that wanted to end the world use exact same set of terms? "I suppose Kitten Cannon doesn't have as much effect as Doom Cannon…"

"The real name of the book is the Tome of the Night Sky. It's a Lost Logia we have been looking for," Fate supplied.

"Er, what's a Lost Logia?" His attention as captured by the sudden changes in the magical vortex adn his question was left unanswered. The dark magic was gathering into a single point, dissipating the vortex. "Here it comes!" he yelled the warning. "I hope you have more allies because whatever coming out of that thing is going to be strong as a bone dragon at least."

"A dragon!" Nanoha gaped in disbelief.

"Yeah, scaly thing, claws, breathes fire or poison as the case may be, yeah that sort of dragon. Which is equally believable as the three of us defying the laws of physics, throwing magic around and this Logia thing," he replied sardonically.

"Oh! I get it!" she said brightly, completely missing the point.

They were openly violating the known laws most wizards and muggles accepted as fact. For all intensive purposes magic ran on a different set of rules and the girl simply didn't understand that. She was young and he was forced to chalk it up to ignorance, but she still should have had some clue. Even monkeys understood objects fell when thrown up in the air, yet gravity was being seemingly cancelled out by mana. "She really is oblivious," he stated while looking at Fate, who was still warily studying at him before she nodded and mouth 'at times'. The vortex died away and he sighed at what emerged. A young woman, about twenty or so, with stark white hair and red eyes in a short black dress stood at the one time epicenter of the vortex. "Honestly I should have expected this…all the pretty ones are evil…"

"Once more I must destroy the world…" she said softly.

"Give Hayate back!" Fate demanded, hoisting her hybrid weapon in a threatening manner.

"Stop this! She wouldn't want you to do this!" Nanoha pleaded with the woman, her staff held loosely at her side, but white knuckles told of her death grip she had on the staff. "Let Hayate, Vita and the rest of them go!"

"My mistress sleeps with my guardians in their own happiness. That dream is what I give them instead of eternal rest. I will grant the wish in her heart. This world will end. I must make it end before I lose control."

"Wake her up then! You claim to know what's in her heart so you would know that this isn't what Hayate would ever want! She just wants to be happen and she can't be happy if you destroy this world," Nanoha vainly argued.

The woman smiled sadly at the girl and shook her head. "I cannot. The world of pain she experienced, the loneliness, the abandonment is too great to ignore. For her continued safety she will sleep until all is dust. The world of pain will pass away and she can be happy."

"Then you can't be reasoned with. So be it," Harry stated as he prepared a Nova Blast. "Nanoha, Fate you do want her alive or dead?"

"What? We have to save Hayate and we can't blame the Book for doing this. She's doing this for Hayate!" Nanoha was aghast at his casual suggestion of death. "She's just given into her despair. If we can make her see hope again then it'll be okay. Hayate can take control of the Book and then the problem is gone."

"You see the best in people. Nobody is beyond redemption in your mind." Harry raised Azriel to launch the Nova Blaster. "I envy you. Nova Blaster!"

The lightning bolt hurtled towards the Book woman. It met a purple shield in an explosion crackle, sending green sparks all about. The woman was unfazed and called her equivalent of a Barrier Jacket into existence. A blue long coat with gold trim covered her body as red bands wrapped around her arms and legs and six black wings flared from her head and back.

"I know you. You are the Master of the Hollows," she said raising an arm.

"Guilty as charged, but what's it to you?" he was surprised by this Book woman knowing what Azriel was and held back his next attack in surprise. Not many in the eastern lands near the mythology of the western magical world, let alone the eastern muggles. It wasn't beyond belief that some of the eastern muggles near of magic; after all, the East had been very open about magic since the dawn of time and had been so up until their destruction by the Coven.

"I will…I must…destroy her. She is … The data has been lost," the woman said curiously. "Interesting, it seems the data was ruined some time ago. You must die here. The Hollows must perish, that is all that remains of the data. Annihilation protocol engaged" She raised her hand high and black magic began to gather. A black dome formed in the blink of an eye concealing her from view as the hospital roof was torn to shreds.

Harry left the rooftop the moment he saw the cement start to rip and tear under the mana flow. The two girls were right behind them as they halted several hundred meters away from the woman, on the rooftop of another building. Looking back he saw the dome was growing and consuming more of the city. Without a doubt the dome was a wide area destruction spell that would most likely explode outwards when it reached it maximum size.

"Fate, get them out of here!"

He heard Nanoha yell and whirled around. While he had been looking the growing spell, Fate had found two girls and stood with them on the street. Near the intersection two girls about the same age as Nanoha and Fate clung to each other in fear. "Civilians at a time like this…" he grumbled. "At least I'm out of sight for the moment. The fewer who see me the better…" Many civilians had been killed in the skirmishes during the fighting back home merely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Too many had died in the crossfire from both sides…

"Master!"

He heard Azriel's cry as he looked up to see the dome of darkness rapidly approaching. In mere seconds it would be upon them. "Aegis Shield!" he cried as the dome overtook him. Like a never ending sea of dark energy crashed against and was deflected off his shield. He poured his power into maintaining the shield. Teeth gritted, he threw more power into the shield, gaining a few precious inches of breathing room. The unending assault began to slow a little at first, and then faster as the waves died down, their wrath spent.

Sweat covered his brow and he gladly dropped the shield as the final wave of energy dissipated. It took all of his strength not to collapse in heap. A quick glance revealed that Fate and Nanoha were no better off, but the two civilian girls were fine at least on the surface. The building around them had been leveled, annihilated and ground into nothing but a fine powder that coated everything. The woman stood at the epicenter of the blast, in the very center of the crater that had once been the city and was now a massive, perfectly circular crater.

"Is everyone alright?" Nanoha cried.

"I'm fine," was Fate's quick answer. "Suzuka, Arisa are you okay?"

"Fate, get Arisa and Suzuka and go! Find our friends and Chrono." Nanoha looked towards him before spilling her plan. "We'll draw the Book of Darkness's attention away by going on the offensive."

"We need a plan now! Before that Book woman attacks again and I'd rather not have to ride out that spell again," Harry shouted down to them as he took to the air to gain a better view of the area.

His words were punctuated by a sudden column of flames bursting from the street. He could see similar gouts of flames all across the city, consuming building and street. The spell had apparently expanded downwards too. The natural gas lines probably were broken and probably would be fueling the fires making anywhere they ran a potential mine ready to blow at the slightest spark. The barrier covering the city would contain the damage and keep the non-magical people from being harmed, but once it fell… A barrier like this one could only take so much before it fell. All magic would fail under extreme pressure from the inside and this barrier would be no different. He cursed whoever had unleashed this monster. "The natural gas lines are broken! This city is going to turn into a bomb if we fight here anymore. We have to get out of here!"

"Okay!" she chirped as they shot towards the Book woman. "We can lure her away from the city!"

~Prepare a Wraith Shot and Nova Blaster.~ Looking ahead, he saw the Book woman raising her hand and another sphere of black magic gathering in her palm. "Oh you bitch! No you don't!" He wasn't sure he could ride out another blast from that massive spell, but this time he had the advantage of distance and time. Much like wizards these mages needed time to cast wide area spells. He was sure that the book woman had taken on the mana style of a mage rather than a wizard, but the girls he was aiding had to be mages. There was no mistaking their movements for those of witches; he wasn't about to mention it at the moment. It would be better if they thought him a mage like themselves for the time being rather than what he really was.

~Yes my master. Wraith Shot confirmed, Nova Blaster confirmed.~

Harry didn't halt he flight towards the Book even as the magic triangle formed at his feet. He savagely swung Azriel in front of him, "Wraith Shot!" Five orbs of green magic formed and he cast them towards the Book woman, who was waiting on the rooftop. The magic orbs rocketed towards the woman, leaving a blazing green trail. A dozen pink orbs joined his, not doubt cast by Nanoha. He grimly watched as the woman faced the oncoming onslaught approach with stoic silence and unmoving resolve. He saw the gathering black orb vanish from her palm at the last moment before impact. The orbs smashed into her shield, filling the air with explosive results. "We didn't get her," he yelled to Nanoha as he halted, waiting for the sparks to settle as the flames of mana brunt themselves out second after impact.

"Are you sure?" Nanoha replied hesitantly. "I'm sure I hit her."

"She dropped her wide area spell at the last moment. She's still functioning in there," he quickly replied. "Do we fight her here or not?"

We have to lure her out of the city. How about over the water?" Nanoha asked the older boy.

"Sounds fine to me," he quickly agreed with her as the dust cleared. They could have fought in the city and maybe the final explosion when the whole city went up in flames might injure her, but it would probably cost them their lives. His mana supply was hardly enough to stop such an explosion after his recent fights and then finish such a fight. He tore towards the sea and looked over his shoulder. The Book woman was following them at a steady clip. He rolled over, but kept his momentum pushing him forwards as he aimed the next spell. ~Nova Blaster!~ he fired the spell towards the woman and rolled back to face forwards. He heard the green bolt crash into another spell, telling it had failed, but he hadn't expected it to bring down the woman alone.

~Behind!~ Azreil warned suddenly, and he looked over his shoulder

She raised a hand towards him and cast some spell, but the words were lost to him. His eyes widened when dozens of blood red daggers appeared around him. Dropping downwards towards the ruined city on the edge of the new crater, he heard the daggers crash into each other, before righting themselves and coming after him again. He flew towards the water line, desperately swopping and spinning to avoid the lethal daggers. His years of Quidditch on a broom and natural aptitude in the air paid off, but it seemed that as the chase wore on the daggers only increased in speed. Too late he saw one increase in speed. ~Remote viewing?~ Skimming the surface of a ruined building he dove through a broken window of an office building, trying to lose the speeding dagger to no avail.

A hastily cast Aegis Shield saved him from worst of the impact as he exited the ruined office building from the other side. Another dagger slipped past and delivered a lacerating strike to his lower calf. He hissed in pain, but kept flying towards the sea. Vaguely, he was aware of Nanoha blasting the Book woman at random intervals as they tried lured her away with varying sucess. ~That damn Book has remote viewing! She has too! Is that even possible? There's no other way she could have tracked me like that.~

~I do not know Master of Death. I can postulate that she may have them homed into our mana signature, but such a task would require deep and invasive scans that are impossible at a distance,~ Azreil informed him.

~I hate remote controllers! First the Blood Born bastards and now this? Why is this sort of stuff my life story? Nova Blaster!~ Once more he cast his spell with minimal aiming, trying to delay the daggers, and once more the woman sent her accused daggers after him after they were knocked aside or destroyed.

A quick look ahead revealed that the area before them filled with faintly glowing bind traps the Book had laid. He had been so focused on dodging the daggers, he had narrowly missed falling into a bind trap. It was a crafty book; he gave it that much credit. Against another lesser wizard like himself her trap might succeeded. "Ahead!" he warned the girl as they swooped past each other, both dodging daggers and ice spikes. He missed her reaction as he swopped to avoid a barrage of ice spikes that hit a building and shattered.

The smell of the ocean assaulted him at once and he suppressed a sigh of relief. Nanoha gestured further out to sea. He nodded and threw another batch of Wraith Shots in the general direction of the woman. He had given up aiming with his mana running low. Fiendfrye was far too difficult to control and in his current state it would consume him before it reached the woman.

The game of cat and mouse finally ended over the open ocean miles from land. Sweat rolled off his brow and his leg stung with every slight movement and sea wind did nothing to help the wound. His temporary ally was no better off. Blood rolled down her right arm, her white Barrier Jacket was dirty and ripped, and her movements were unsteady. She probably had never expanded a large amount of mana in a single battle, nor had to fight a siege were every spell had to count. He wanted to kick himself for forgetting the same thing. He was use to wizards giving in after a short but fierce battle, very few wizards were brave enough, smart enough or stupid enough to fight a long battle or had the power needed to maintain a long term barrage of spells.

"Damn, I wish I knew some healing magic…" He cursed his refusal to learn the healing arts, but the attraction of battle magic had been too great him to resist. It wouldn't have mattered either way. He had a limited spell conversion options during the war and he had needed battle magic to annihilate Voldemort and his hordes. They had others dedicated to the healing arts, but his allies and friends were half a world away. He was well and an truly on his own in the midst of a fight while he was neither wizard neither mage nor sorcerer.

"I'm done running," he said to the wind as he looked to the ruined city. Beneath him the sea began to roar and above dark clouds gathered as the Book approached. The Book woman stopped a fair distance off the shore, her arms fell to her side and vacant eyes stared forwards, as they faced off over the sea. "What's she doing?" he asked in wonder as he hefted Azriel warily and readied another Aegis Shield.

"Hayate is talking with the Tome I think. She's trying to take back control," Nanoha exclaimed with obvious pride in her friend's supposed actions.

~Contact, behind us,~ Azriel suddenly informed him

"What?" Turning he saw several dark figures approaching from the opposite direction of the city in a flash of light. "Incoming," he gruffly told the girl as he tied to make a plan to deal with both the new comers and the Book behind him. The logical operation was to retreat and prevent any flanking from either side, but the incoming figures were still unknowns. If they were hostile he might just have to retreat and let the Book woman rampage a while longer. When he chanced a glance at his temporary ally, he saw that Nanoha looked quiet excited. "Who are they?"

"My friends. They're finally here so we can save Hayate," she proclaimed with a smile. She gave the newcomers a weak wave, grimacing in pain.

The new arrivals halted before them but he didn't relax his grip, ready to swing Azriel at a moment's notice and take a head or limb. Fate had returned, her task completed, and she had brought the cavalry. The first was a red haired woman in a skimpy white top and cut off shorts with armored gloves and boots that made him raise an eyebrow at her attire. It really wasn't casual clothing; provocative was a better term though. She wore a short black cape and had what he would almost have to call dog ears; anthropomorphic wizards weren't unheard of making it a small leap to assume mages could have similar abilities. The second was boy, about the same age as Nanoha, with neck length blonde hair. He wore a green and cream colored tunic, a tan cape and boots and fingerless gloves. The last was a boy with blue hair in a black great coat with a small spike on each shoulder. I really don't want to know why both those boys look ten. What is it with youth here and magic? Sure the Ministry of Magic restricts magic use by young wizards and witches, but I always thought the Eastern wizards have similar restrictions. I guess these mages don't care about kids and children all that much.

"You're here!" Nanoha cried, joy in her voice.

"Good job. I've directed my Enforcers to start damage control in the city. We should have the fires taken care quickly. The gas won't be too much trouble either," the blue haired boy, no older Nanoha herself, informed them as if he were a commander. "That just leaves the matter of the Book."

Harry kept half an eye on newcomers and, occasionally, looked back to the Book woman. He was just waiting for someone to give him a reason to attack or make the first move. Enemies on every side…

~Just like old times master~ Azriel quipped.

He was inclined to agree with her. It wasn't the first time they had found themselves in the midst of enemies and potential enemies. ~Keep you scanners on the Book woman. If she moves tell me at once.~

~As you command, my master.~

"You," the blue haired demanded pointing at Harry with his staff, "who are you? What is your business with the Book?"

Harry for a moment considered striking the boy down for his demanding tone, but decided to humor the boy. "My name is Harrison Potter, but my friends call me Harry, of which you are not. My business here is my own and that Book woman," he jerked a thumb towards the woman in question, "is of no interest to me. Or at least she wasn't until I learned she has plans to wipe out all life on this planet, which I'm fairly fond of mind you. I wonder why that is…" he trailed off. By all rights he should have turned against the muggles and wizards for all the manipulation they had using in regards to his life. From the British ministry of Magic to Parliament to the Prime Minster of the United Kingdom, he ought to have hated them all and already started a war of revenge, falling on them like the deathless lord his title proclaimed.

"Harrison Potter, Harrison Potter, Harry Potter… That name is familiar for some reason," the blue haired boy mused.

"Perhaps A History of the Modern Wizarding World by Joseph Leywyn," he suggested rhetorically. Hermione had gone up in a wildfire of hate over that book after it was released. The dust from the war had barely settled when it came out with its own version of the Second Wizarding War. There was no way this boy, a mage by his weapon and association with Nanoha and Fate, could now about such a book meant for wizards.

"That's it! You're a wizard!"

Harry gave the boy a mocking applause as best he could with Azriel in hand. How does a mage know about that book? I thought all the mage spies were exposed on orders from the International Confederation? Guess they weren't a thorough as the reports suggest. "Got it in one. Give that boy something good, perhaps a car or maybe a trip to the moon or a one way ticket to death," Harry swung Azriel to face the boy, who wisely stepped back beyond easy reach of the scythe. "Yes, I'm one of those oath breakers, heretics of magic, lost and damned kin, but that makes you a dog of the TSAB or a thrice damned sorcerer." He had no love for the Time Space Administration Bureau. His hatred for the TSAB had been festering for years. He had uncovered a number of books, later coming into possession of a number of incriminating documents, covering the last thirty years of the cold war between the wizards and TSAB. He knew of their willful inaction during the first rise of Voldemort, refusal to assist in the madman's removal and the wizards killed on their orders to uncover agents that had broken the alliance the two had held for so many years. "So you're with the TSAB, eh Nanoha," he stated to the girl, there was no question she was with them if she greeted the TSAB's dog so quickly. "A pity and a waste of talent," he said sadly.

"Yes, so is Fate. I don't understand. What's going on here Chrono?" Nanoha asked.

When he looked around he saw the rest of the group appeared equally puzzled by the boy's actions towards their apparent ally. They honestly knew nothing about the wizard and TSAB history of alliances, betrayals and bloodshed between the two magical races. They were hardly the same race of magic users; their histories and styles might have related to each other in the distant past, but never would they be one race. Each had their own pride to tend to and the other rubbed them the wrong way to make unification possible.

"Nanoha, get away from him," Chrono commanded coldly. "That man is a danger and cannot be trusted."

Nanoha, for her part, looked perplexed and worried. "Why? Why do you two hate each other? You haven't even formerly greeted each other. It doesn't make any sense."

"Wizard," Chrono ignored Nanoha's plea, "I'll let you go for the time being. Leave this place and never return, heretic. Never contact anyone in this crowd again and I won't come after you."

"I suppose you have a ship is in orbit, pup, if your arrogance is anything to go on. That must be why you're so confident." Harry let out a mocking laugh. "Your authority does not reach this place. Earth is not your domain, I may do as I please and my pleasure to stay here."

"If you stay then I will forced to take you into custody for abuse of magic, interfering with a TSAB investigation, and conspiracy to steal a Lost Logia."

"I am a Wizard, you lot," Harry pointed the rest of the group, "are mages or so I've deducted. Wizards are the…a race of magical humans like mages, but completely different. Technically speaking, I'm a soon to be Exiled Wizard so I can go crazy and not get in too much trouble!" He gave the boy a sadistic smirk. "By the way, the correct term is apostate, not heretic," he mockingly chided the mage boy. "For the sake of the English language get it right, even if you have a translator spell or some technological thing translating for you. I hate having to go its funeral every time those Americans ocem up some new street lingo."

"Oh great! Not only is he a Wizard, but he annoyed his own government too. Were do you people come from? You people have that warped morality license to defend yourselves, what's you call it? The Statue of Secrecy otherwise known as do-what-you-want-and-erase-memories-of-anybody-who-sees-you-doing-it," Chrono spat at Harry.

"Go ahead try me, pup. You know that all it takes are two words, two simple words that every child of this world learns, to end your life. Three words and your group will die in a flash of green. Still think your ship can save you? I'd assume that all these people are your fellow pups or should that be slaves. I know how the TSAB rolls," Harry dared the mage boy. Raising Azriel above his right shoulder, he changed his stance, left knee bent forward and back leg ready to propel him forward. He was ready to bring a swift and powerful blow against the boy. ~Flash move, close range. Get me in striking distance,~ he instructed Azriel. One blow, that's all the opening I'll have. The ball is in your court mage. Do you want to die or not? Will you act or force me to act?

I shut the book. My arms trembled ever so slightly. Somehow I knew this book was more than it seemed. The characters seemed so familiar to me, so very human and colorful like the people of my village. This story, the characters were humans who no longer existed. They were people of Earth, before the planet had been turned into a nightmarish fortress. Yet they were utterly alien. Had humans ever acted these characters did?

I could scare imagine a world like theirs, untouched by war. These characters seemed powerful like the mages of old; why did they not serve some greater power? They were arrogant and friendly in ways I was unfamiliar with. Yet they were so human. They hadn't seen the vast fleets of warships, slipping dimensions to wage endless war, the deaths of whole solar systems as stars were extinguished without a care, or the mechanical grandeur of a Griffon Solar Fortress crawling with it automated drones and driving the warmachines ever onwards.

This book was important for some reason and enthralling. It had me under its spell of these alien humans that were still so familiar to me. Securing it in my pocket and rejoined my squad. Though I had no idea who the writer was, but I knew the information within the pages would be revolutionary. I could feel it in my bones, there was no need for a Oracle of the Golden Lady or the consul of a Solar general.

My only hope to finish reading this enthralling book rested on the lack of any Inquisitor presence within this solar system over the next few days. I felt the magic power surrounding the book, not all of it pure like the White Devil's magic. I was hardly a powerful mage myself, let alone enough to sense whose magic was on this book; I barely had enough power to fire the magitech rifles for a long time. Her Inquisitors were trained to track down the magic of other Warlords and given almost complete freedom to do so by any means necessary. When the fact remained that she had personally empowered and trained each Inquisitor, the threat of discovery was always high so long as I had the book and even then they might kill be to get the enthralling book.

I ignored the curious looks from my teammates and pointedly ignored any attempts of conversation for the rest of the patrol. Only my silence on the nature of the book would save me. These men in my squad were friends though, loyal to me but not a rebel like I. I had no wish to fight for any of the Warlords, the monsters, but when you are given the option of watching your entire village flayed alive or fighting until death and beyond, the choice is clear. They still hoped in a brighter tomorrow with the White Devil ruling over all, yet when I told them the old man had a mental condition they passed the event off as nothing. I would have to watch them though. No one could harm the book. I felt strangely compelled to protect even as we finished our patrol and returned to the old fortress on the edge of town we had made into our command center.

The book…the secrets in it would change the world. It had to be protected by me otherwise no one would protect it and its precious secrets. That I knew instinctively.

A/N: Long story short, I've been off at college and the Chaos Star saga died. Now I've decided to reboot the entire thing from the beginning. For all purposes it is a completely new story, leagues better than the original in my opinion. I've fixed the flow of the combat and scene, cut a lot of material, reworked a lot of character actions/words and added a lot in its place. The original version of this story will be kept on this site for archival purposes.

Hopefully this is a better, more intense and in-depth saga opening to the saga than the first version. Grammar mistakes should be expected and updates may be slow as I work through each chapter. Cheers!