Valitharian Arc II

by AaronMikaski

Ten years have passed since the Genesis Crisis has passed, and humans and Blue-Bloods are finally coming to terms. However, a darkness is rising once again, and friends must call upon an old ally to help.

Valitharian Arc: Phase II

Jason

Chapter 1

Ten years have passed since the Genesis Crisis (as it's been aptly named), took place. Many different events took place in that decade. First and foremost, Humanity got over themselves and acknowledged us as a superior race. Don't get me wrong, there are still many people sought out to eliminate the Blue-Bloods. Blue-Bloods is the slang that was given to us. You see, we are not like humans, we are the next step in their evolution. We were born with special abilities and powers that exceeded humanities abilities. Humans at first saw us as demons, who sought to destroy the human race, but with eight billion people in the world, there were the few who saw us not as catalysts, but instead as protectors, angels sent down from heaven to keep the world safe. We are none of those, it was just time for humanity to evolve and we are there evolution. We choose whether we want to protect or destroy. What do I think about this topic, I choose not think about it too much. I digress, this acceptance that humanity has developed lasted throughout the decade. I never said that it was going to be easy for humanity to abandon their immature behavior. In truth, I'm actually surprised that it took only a decade. Usually, century of ongoing prejudice doesn't cure very fast. I mean look at the civil war, sure the union won the war, but some people down in the south still grasp to that petty belief as if it was all they had.

Three presidents had taken office, first was Grey Wolf, Don't know if that's his actual name, the second was Jesse Blackfields, a humble man who, like Grey Wolf, had sought out to liberate the Blue-Bloods. And shortly after, new amendments had been added to the constitution. You know how the women suffrage had given the women the same rights as men, or how the freedom walk, that was led by Martin Luther King Jr. given the Black people the same rights as whites. That's pretty much what happened. We were given the right to vote, work, and go to the same school as humans. Don't get me wrong, we didn't get nearly as good a payment as a human, but it was a start. The current president, is someone name Darion. The last name is completely unknown. Right now he hasn't done anything, but he just started his term in office. That pretty much sums up the decade right now.

Valitharian High School, is still running, it now is a college for our kind. Those who wish to control their powers come here. Mr. Valitharian was still the humble owner of the building. Today, we were expecting a visit from the president himself, which caught us all off guard. We didn't think that the president of all people would be able to make it out here. Sure enough, he arrived in a black limo. I was surprised to see a kid with him. He couldn't have been more than ten. He walked by the president's side nervously. "Nice to meet you Mr. President," Mr. Valitharian said in his usual gruff voice. Damion shook Mr. Valitharian confidently, "Pleasures all mine, Mr. Valitharian." "And who is this," Mr. Valitharian asked peering down at the kid. "This is Jack," Damion said, "He's my child." "Why did you bring him here," Mr. Valitharian asked puzzled. "Ah, he's a Blue-Blood just like you," Damion said, "I decided I would let him tag along and learn about where he's going when he's older." "Really now," Mr. Valitharian said immediately interested, "And what's your power," Mr. Valitharian asked. "I can read thoughts," Jack said timidly. "Really, mind giving a demonstration," Mr. Valitharian asked.

Jack looked around and his eyes locked with mine. Almost immediately, his face went from nervousness, to regret. "Umm, could I have a volunteer," he asked masking his face. I stepped up. He put his small hands on my forehead. "You are Jason Delarosa, you are a probationary student, with a demonic entity within you known as Chain, and he is the prince of sin. You made a pact with him, the pact was—," Jack eyes widened and he began to breath heavily. He backed up slowly, pure fear was stuck on his face. "What is it," I asked. "You… how do you know that name," Jack asked fearfully. Damion ran over to him and calmed him down "Calm down, you're okay," Damion said with a hushed voice. Jack nodded slowly. "Sorry, it's a common side-effect, if he reads someone's mind, he's not exactly reading it, he's more reliving it," Damion explained, "If the target went through some traumatic experience he begins to feel the effects of it." The color in Jack's face began to return, "I'm alright, sorry Jason, didn't mean to frighten you." "What did he mean 'how do you know that name," I asked inquisitively. "I could only guess he's referring to an incident in which someone you knew had disappeared," Damion explained, "I had mentioned that he relives your memories, so if a dear friend of yours passed, or a relative, he would know." "But that doesn't explain why he asked how did I know that name, speaking of which, who is it that you are talking about," I said looking at Jack. Jack looked at Damion nervously. Damion straightened out anxiously, "Well, Mr. Valitharian would you kindly show me around the school?"

Mr. Valitharian glanced at Jack curiously, but returned his gaze to Damion, "Of course, does Jack want to tag-along?" "No thanks, I'm going to explore a little," Jack said walking down the hallway opposite of us. "Meet us here in an hour, son," Damion called. "Right," Jack called over his shoulder. Mr. Valitharian walked Damion into the hallway perpendicular of us. "I don't trust Damion or Jack," I said, "Devin, Blaine, Dalton, follow me." Dalton, a tall, tan man, walked out from behind the crowd. Dalton's power is the ability to identify someone simply by looking at them. Blaine appeared in a burst of flame. His long blond hair tumbled down his face. Devin was right behind me the entire time. We all followed Jack down the hall. He made a turn branching off the main hallway and into a classroom. He looked around the hallway quietly, "So, what exactly do you gain from following me," Jack asked ominously hushed. "What name did you freak out about," I asked stepping out from behind the door. Jack gave a strangely familiar smirk, "You know my father's last name, how?" "What, no I don't," I said. "Oh right," Jack said, "You know his relative." "You better start making sense kid," Blaine said making his hand catch fire. "You do realize in a moment's notice I could summon dad's guards who could easily dispatch you," Jack said, gesturing to a black neck band. "Blaine, stop, if you kill this kid, no telling what kind of repercussion that could have on the American citizen," Devin said. "Dalton, what do you got," I asked. "I got nothing on him, my powers have no effect on him," Dalton said, "What are you?"

"My real name is none of your concerns," Jack said coyly, "I will tell you only this, though. Stop trailing after a dead legend, Damion doesn't want people sticking their nose in place they don't belong." Jack walked passed us and explored the rest of the college. "What do you think he means 'stop trailing after a dead legend,' you don't think he means Mariat," Devin asked. "I'm not sure, but I think I know how to find out," I said, "you guys stay here and find out some excuse for my absence, I'm going to the White House again."

Chapter 2

"Do you really know what you're doing," Chain asked in his normally hollow voice. "Of course," I said, "I'm going to shadow the president, because he obviously knows something he's trying desperately to keep from us." "And if you get caught," Chain asked. "Chain, if we get caught you can possess them and get them away," I said. "And where are you going," A terribly familiar voice said behind me. In an instant I was grabbed by the arm and flipped onto the floor. "Hey sis," I said grudgingly. "What are you doing now," Heather said putting her foot on my stomach. "I was going to go do a quest," I lied. "Aha, without your friends," Heather said skeptically. "I need to be independent sometime," I said defensively. Heather got her boots off my stomach and helped me up, "Try not to get to into too much trouble, okay." In the back of my head I thought, "That's impossible," but because I wanted to appease to the empress of castration and destruction, I said, "Yes ma'am." I walked over to the doorway where all the missions are. I looked around me to make sure I wasn't being followed and ran out the door and toward the driveway. I saw the black limo with four guards standing around. "This will be interesting," I said, "Let's first blind them." I raised my hand and a large blizzard erupted from the sky. I walked out of seeing distance which wasn't far considering the snow was blinding them. I was lucky to see that the trunk was completely unguarded. I grabbed some fresh snow from the ground and put into the lock. I made the snow melt and form a key in the perfect shape of the lock. The lock turned easily, and I hopped in. I closed the trunk and stopped the blizzard.

I think I heard a guard say, "Damn bipolar weather." I would assume that he's talking about the clear skies turning into a blizzard, and then going back to clear skies. "Okay, now we got the means of getting to airport, what next," Chain said. "I'll start hatching a plan now," I thought to myself. I planned out everything from the confines of the trunk. A few hours passed and I began to hear approaching footsteps. I heard the car doors open and close again and then the engine start up. I put my head next to the back seat to see if I could hear anything. "So did you find everything okay, Jack," Damion's voice said, though it was muffled. "Yeah, I sure gave Jason a scare," Jack said, his voice was a lot clearer. "Does he know," Damion asked. "No, Jason's smart, but he's not that smart," Jack said coyly. "Oh I'll show you, you little brat," I thought to myself.

For a few hours, I laid in the cramped confines of that trunk, lying as close to the trunk as possible so I don't starve myself of oxygen. Suddenly I felt the car slow down and stop. I heard everyone getting out of the car. I waited a moment until I could leave without being noticed. I closed my eyes and concentrated as hard as I could. I made ice form between the car and the trunk and forced the trunk open. I cracked it open just a few centimeters and looked around. There was one man standing in front of the trunk looking away. I sighed and froze his blood. I jumped out of the car and snuck around the airport looking for Damion and Jack. I saw them going to the private jet part of the airport. I ran out of the airport and snuck around to the plane yard. I saw a plane that had the colors of the American flag. "I have my money on that one," I said to myself. I jumped over the fence and ran for the private jet. I jumped into the cargo bay which was loading all of Damion's and Jack's luggage and made myself cozy in the back of the plane. I closed my eyes and reopened them revealing any and all bodies of water. That including humans. Just in time to reveal someone coming into the cargo bay. I held my breath and hugged the darkness. The guard looked familiar, oh yeah, he's the guy I froze back at the limo. "Anyone in here," he asked gun ready. I felt Chain pushing my arm up at him. "Chain don't do it, we're in enough trouble for leaving school grounds without permission, we don't want to kill anyone." "No one will know he died if the water in his body expanded and made him disappear," Chain said. "Not now, save that for actual danger," I thought to myself.

I felt myself regain control and I hid until the guard went away, but he didn't. He began to get real close to where we were at. I froze the water particles in the air and formed a crude club of ice. "Sorry I have to do this," I whispered to myself. "Bill," an official voice barked, "What are you doing in here?" "Sorry I thought I saw someone sneak in here," Bill said looking back. "Well get out of there, the president will be boarding momentarily, let's get on the plane," The apparent commander barked. I watched as Bill and the other left the cargo bay and the door seal shut. I sighed, "That was a close one." I dismissed the club into a mist of water. "Well you best make yourself comfortable," Chain said, "It's going to be a cold and treacherous flight." I nodded, the last thing we needed were angels coming after us. Oh right, as Jack said Chain is a demon and I made a pact with him. The Archangels, as they call themselves, are constantly hunting us. There are two that are just worst, Jesse and Blake Dennis. They are brothers who have been on our tail ever since the Genesis Crisis. Dominic had ratted me out about who I was, and apparently the Archangels didn't pay to kindly to harmless demons.

I felt the plane's turbines begin to spin faster and the plane begin to move. I secured myself behind a wall of luggage as the plane lifted off the ground and into the air. "I hate flying," I thought to myself. Luckily the cargo bay was far from the wings so I didn't get that deafening whirr that came from the turbines, and there were no children to kick the back of my seat. Nasty business, that one. I felt for my phone and felt a cold jolt of panic run down my spine, I left my phone back at the school. "Well, I'm screwed," I said, "Heather is probably trying to call me right now." "Well, now there really is no turning back," Chain said happily, "Might as well finish something in your now limited lifespan." "Not helping," I said, and closed my eyes. I surprisingly slept pretty easily, despite the lack of oxygen, and exceptionally cold air. My dream was nonsensical and uninterpretable. Then I began to hear a voice, it was telling me to wake up, it progressively got louder until it was a shout. I jumped out of my sleep and looked around, I quite put my finger on whose voice I heard, but I'm glad I did.

I could feel the plane descending and the turbines spin getting slower. "Okay, what's the plan," Chain asked, "How are you going to get out of here unnoticed?" "I'm going to have to knock them out," I said. "Good plan," Chain said. I felt the planes wheels bounce off the pavement getting a progressively shorter gap between each bounce until we were rolling. Once the plane had made a complete stop, I made myself ready to attack. I heard the door open and ran. I was immediately stopped by a dozen armed forces. "Get on the ground and don't raise your hand," One commanded urgently. I knelt on the ground as they put hand cuffs on me. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this," I thought to myself, "Chain now." As soon as one of the officers made contact with me, I felt lightheaded, as if something that's been maintaining my balance had just been ripped off. I heard gunfire, and looked up. The officer that was supposed to be apprehending me just shot all of the officers. I put out my hand and caused the water in the rest of the officers to expand to the point where there body exploded. I kept doing the process with smaller and smaller pieces until the bodies look like nothing but small pebbles. The officer put his hand on my shoulder and I felt energy return to me. The officer fell on the ground unconscious. "That could've ended better," Chain remarked. "No kidding," I said, "better get rid of the loose ends." I put my hand on his head sapped his very life force out of his body. I then proceeded to turn him to the same state in which his fellow officers were.

I walked away from the incident as calmly as a murderer could. Getting away from the yard wasn't as bad, I was able to escape the plane yard undetected. "Okay, Phase II, getting to the White House," I said marking off my invisible check list. I could definitely see a large storm brewing, this will be good for me if I get into a sticky situation. The real problem will be getting into the White House unnoticed. I've been thinking about this for a while and I think I got a good idea to do. If Chain could get ahold of one of the guards I might be able to just get escorted to a nice area to hide and spy. The only drawback would be withdrawal symptoms. Chain is like cigarettes for lack of a better word, not exactly addicting, but now he's a part of my life, if he's gone for too long I will begin to face symptoms of withdrawal, not fatal but it could blow this entire operation. The other idea is that Chain just brings me a guard and I quickly jump into his gear. The drawback to that, is if they find me out, this will be my identity that's endangered. As I ran for the building I quickly thought of whichever way to do this. Finally, I saw the White House in the distance and I had to make a decision now. I formed a coin made of ice. I know it's pretty sad that I have to resort to the vanilla decision making ritual but, I was running out of both time and opportunities. "Heads is Chain, Tails is me," I said and flipped the coin. The coin landed and landed on a makeshift eagle carrying arrows. "Dress-up it is," I said and ran for the White House.

Chapter 3

When I'm not becoming an enemy of the state and most likely nation, remind me to take a few pictures, seriously this place is beautiful. I made myself to the gate and looked around for some guards. Finally, I saw someone walking out who looked official enough. I pointed at the woman and I felt Chain separate himself from my body. My leg lost balance and I had to freeze them to the ground to stop myself from collapsing. The woman walked back in looking dazed. I watched through the gate waiting for a guard to walk out. Sure enough, a guard walked down the steps and open the gate letting me in. I unfroze my legs, and I walked clumsily towards the entrance. We both walked around the building to an area where I could change without being spotted. Finally, we found a nice area that was in a blind spot, no cameras, no windows, nothing. Chain left the guard and I felt my energy revitalize, I stripped the guard of his tuxedo. I felt more than a little wrong taking the clothing off of people but I needed to gain access to the White House. After I got into the tuxedo, which was a size too small, I checked my identity. Charles Mason, age 23, and male. "Don't suppose you could have got someone who had a larger suit, eh," I asked Chain teasingly. "Hush yourself," Chain said, "You still look like yourself, they'll notice for sure, I'll summon a Gemini Demon to assist." I felt another presence enter my body. "Gemini, take on the form of the body in front of us," Chain commanded. Gemini made a guttural growl and I felt my body begin to shrink and my face began to get pudgier. My fingers began to get longer and looked younger. I made a small ice mirror and checked myself in the mirror, I looked like Charles in every way now. I walked in casually as if nothing happened. Luckily the rest of the guards were more worried by the woman who inexplicable collapsed in the middle of the floor.

"Infiltrate the White House, check," I noted walking past the worrisome guards. "Ah, Charles," a familiar voice said behind me, it was President Damion. He was being shadowed by some shady character, I couldn't get a good view of his face. "Mr. President," I said trying to act as stuck-up as I could. "Oh Charles, I told you to call me Damion," Damion said, "Anyways, if you're not doing anything I would like you to accompany Jack and I as we head to the Pentagon." He said this as if he was inviting someone to his house or something, seriously. I swallowed down that thought and said, "You're bringing your son with you?" "Yes, he has a vital role in the plan I will be talking about at the Pentagon," Damion said with a sly smile. My metaphorical wolf ears perked up, "Plan?" "Yes, you'll be the first to hear about it too," Damion said with a friendly smile, "So what do you say, want to join us?" "I'd love too," I said. In my head I said, "Hell of a good find here, Chain." "Thank you," Chain said. "Wonderful," Damion said happily, "We leave tomorrow!" "Does this guy ever get tired of traveling," Chain asked, "I mean he just got back from a trip to Europe, you would think that after a trip like that, he would be exhausted." "Yeah, but he doesn't have to deal with fussy children, smelly people, or ripe air," I thought, "He probably lives the dream on a private jet." "Right I forgot about that factor," Chain said. "If you're coming with us, you can just stay here, we'll be leaving pretty early in the morning," Damion said. "Charles and Damion must be pretty good friends," Chain said. "Thanks," I said as casually as possible. "I'm going to grab some extra clothing," I said walking out. "Okay," Chain said, "So is it just me or was that too good to be true, you'll be listening to their secret, you got a place to sleep, and what's more they didn't even notice." "Yeah, we should be careful about this," I said, "How long does Gemini stay here?" "He'll leave on my command, so don't worry about that," Chain said.

I found a nice area where it void of any cameras or window and made locker out of ice. "Chain, open a passage to the school's channel," I commanded. The locker began to groan a little bit then it settled down. I opened the door to find that there was no end to the locker, we were now looking upon the planes of Oblivion. I put out my hand called my weapon by name. I felt a soft leather make its way into my hand. I pulled out my hand to find my sword, Cerulean, glimmering in the moonlight. I'm so glad that I always grab onto the hilt, instead of the blade. I then proceeded to grab my combat clothing from the locker, then I paused. What if these clothing are a giveaway? I stuffed the clothing into the locker again, and instead grab some comfortable sweat pants, and an oversized shirt. "Chain if we do get captured, I'd like you to have a gate ready," I thought to myself. "Already done," Chain said, "You've been thinking about it for a while so I decided to take the liberty of getting it done." "Excellent," I thought to myself, "Then in that case we should be fine, for now, we just need to watch out for the Dennis brothers." Chain sighed, "Let's hope they don't come for us, I'm not in the mood for angels at the moment." "Agreed," I said as we got ready to hunker down in the White House of the United States of America.

I had no trouble finding my room, I just had to look for the door with Guest Room plainly written on it. Oh wait, I forgot, there are 25 bedrooms in the White House, lovely. I searched around the maze of a house trying to find my bedroom until I found the bedroom I was looking for. I walked inside to find three other people in there. "Wrong room," I said getting ready to head out. "No you're in the right room, Charles Mason," the woman said. She had black hair, and icy blue eyes. I felt my heart drop, it was Heather. There were two men with her, I remember both of them, one of them was with Mariat at the time of the Genesis Crisis, I'm pretty sure his name was Darius, the other made my blood freeze which is something that doesn't normally happen to me. It was Mr. Valitharian, with a slightly amused look on his face, which was hidden by a face of fake disappointment. "No I'm pretty sure this is the wrong room," I said acting like I didn't know them. I turned and found a large Minotaur standing in my path. He swung his large axe with a ferocious speed. I did a back flip into the air and landed right in front of Heather. She grabbed my arm, "I got him Larce," Heather said. Great they brought Larce with him. Larce was a shape shifter, but he had the power to shift into fantasy creatures as well. Larce's body began to change back to its true form. A tanned boy with black hair and purple eyes, along with the student body president suit. "Hello Jason," Larce said with a playful smirk. He wasn't a bad guy at all, in truth he was actually fun to hang out with at time. He just lacked that ability to stay out of things that don't concern him.

Heather jabbed me in the back releasing Gemini from my body. I felt my body begin to grow back to its normal size. "Hey, if the president finds out, I'm toast," I shouted spinning around. "Oh don't worry, we already knew," Jack said popping from behind Larce. "You honestly shouldn't underestimate our abilities," Damion said right behind me. I spun around, sword ready. He put his hand out and stopped the blade mid-swing. "How did you get behind me," I asked startled. Damion sighed, "Well look like gig is up." "What gig? What are you talking about," I asked completely confused. "Put your weapon away and follow me, I'll tell you what we've been keeping," Damion said pushing my sword away harmlessly, "I'll tell you about what actually happened to Mariat."

Chapter 4

I sheathed my weapon and followed Damion timidly, as I walked I could feel my sister's aura grow with such anger, I think I was choking on it. Damion opened a large door that lead to the main office. "Please, take a seat and I'll tell you what's been weighing heaviest on you mind," Damion said gesturing to a table. I sat down with Larce, Heather, Darius, and Mr. Valitharian. "What do you mean 'what actually happened to Mariat'," I asked. "Well as you know, Mariat had disappeared in the midst of that flash," Damion began, "Well, his body was obliterated, just as the worst would expect." I felt my blood run cold, "So he's dead?" "Well… dead is a harsh word for it," Damion said, "As you know, when Blue-Bloods take the lives of other Blue-Bloods, the survivor takes their power as well. Dominic had many powers, but his main power was by far the most special of his abilities." "What was it," I asked, "And furthermore, what does this have to do with Mariat?" "Be patient, I'm getting to that," Damion said sharply, "Dominic's main power is known as Reborn. It allows him to move on to a newborn body, when he dies. He will keep all the memories that he had of his previous life, at the cost, he forfeits all of the powers in his previous arsenal, beside that of the Reborn ability." Damion grabbed a pitcher and poured himself a glass of water, "This ability of Rebirth works for all circumstances beside the fact that if he dies at the hand of another Blue-Blood, the power goes on to him or her. This was Dominic's one and only weakness. Now, when you woke up, you saw Dominic had been apparently impaled, correct? Now who do you think could've done that?"

I felt metaphorical dots connect, "Mariat killed Dominic and gained the power of Rebirth," I said. "Indeed, which in this case, means that Mariat is still out there, just in a different body," Damion said, happy that I had realized how this all added up. "Okay, then where is he," I asked. "That's the problem," Damion said, "Mariat's whereabouts are unknown, we can't lock in on his location through his power, because he forfeited all of his power when he 'died.'" "Then how do we find him," I asked. "That seems to be the question now doesn't it," Damion said, "We don't know, we only know that he's alive, that's it." An uncomfortable silence rose about the table. We all sat there for a few minutes wondering about how to find Mariat. "Look, if Mariat is alive, shouldn't that be all we need to go on with our lives," Larce spoke up, "I mean he's alive, why not just let that be that, and go on with our lives?" "But what if Mariat is stuck in a weak body, unable to unlock his full potential," I asked. Larce opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by the sound of the door slamming open. "Mr. President, I think you would want to see this," a guard said urgently. We all followed the guards to the entrance, in the middle of courtyard stood a boy, he was probably ten years old, except something was different about this one. He had this overwhelming aura, something that I've never felt before. It was dangerous, evil, but worst of all, it was strong. "You feel that too, right Chain," I asked. "Yeah, there is something definitely wrong about this kid," Chain echoed in my head. One of the guards approached kid with curiosity, "Hey kid, you're not supposed to be here, th-," the guards stopped talking and began to reach for his chest, a red mark had begun to form. I immediately knew what it was. Demons have many different powers that manipulate the many different Gates of Hell. The strongest of demons are allowed to make markings known as Death Marks. They got different flavor markings. Black means the owner of the mark will die almost instantaneously, purple mark means that the owners death will result in the death of anyone within the vicinity, and red marks means that the owner will die in a most slow and agonizing way. The mentioned looked at the red mark questioningly, "When did I get this tattoo," he asked. Black veins began to form inside the guard's body, consuming his body. He began to scream loudly. It was a wail of unrestrained pain. He crumpled to the ground as the guards body began to twist in most unusual ways. Then his body began to stretch until his limbs all got dismembered. No one could help the poor soul so I put him out of his misery by cutting off his head with my sword.

The kid laughed maniacally, "Chain, looks like you have grown a soft side for humanity." I pointed my sword at the boy, "Who are you?" "Oh, allow me to introduce myself," The boy gave a short bow, "I'm Resin, Messenger of Hell." "What are you doing here," I asked. "I came to deliver a message to you," Resin said, "Here." He handed me a black envelope. "That's it," Resin said and begun to burn. "What was that," Heather said. "Demonic messengers, most reliable means of mailing things in Hell," I replied observing the letter, "They are able to traverse through Oblivion, and can enter our plane of existence." "What would someone from Hell want with you," Heather asked. "Better question, who summoned it," I said, "These require great sacrifice to summon, demons and humans alike often pay with a lot more than an arm and a leg to get the service of a Demonic Messenger." "Well, what's in the letter, maybe it'll tell us who," Heather said, gesturing at the letter. I made a blade out of ice and slit the top of the envelope. In large bold writing it said, "WE KNOW." "We know," I read, "What does that mean?" "It must mean whoever wanted this message delivered, must know something about Mariat," Damion said looking at the note. "Okay, but the question is, who," I said looking over the note. "Maybe there's something on the back," Larce said.

I flipped to find a cross with wings, the symbolism of the Archangels. "Wonderful," I said sarcastically. "What," Heather asked worriedly, a voice I don't hear directed to me often, "What's that symbol, Jason." "The Archangels must know something about Mariat," I said grimly, "If I had to guess, this is their way of working over a trade." "Trade? Trade for what," Damion asked. I sighed bitterly, "Trade information about Mariat's whereabouts, for me."

"What do you mean for you," Larce asked, "What would Archangels want with you?" "Archangels have made many taboos on what to do, and what not to do, among the worst of them, is to make a Demon/Human contract," I said, "If they find out you have broken even one of the taboos, they hunt you down with extreme vigilance. What interest me the most, is the fact that they would go through such trouble just to get to me, to the point where they summon a demon messenger to go to the human world." "What's so interesting about them summoning demonic messenger," Larce asked. "Think about it, Archangels aren't very fond of demons, but demons have a more reliable source of messaging," I replied, "To think that they really needed this to get to me, must mean that they must really hate me now." "What are you going to do then," Heather asked. I smirked with confidence, "It's not every day that I see the seraph actually get pissed." "No, you are not actually considering this, are you," Heather asked. I was amazed by how scared Heather was reacting to this, "We need to find out about Mariat, he didn't deserve to die." "Then it's settled," Damion chimed happily, "How do we get you to the Seraph?" "We have to find one of his officers," I said, "And I think I know just how to do that."

"What do you plan on doing," Mr. Valitharian asked. "Angels, like demons, can be summoned, but most humans never summon angels because they think that praying is enough," I explained, "And plus, in order to summon an angel you must be able to speak Romanic Latin pretty fluently, seeming how that type of Latin is a dead language, not many people in this world speak it now." I looked up and saw the storm beginning to draw closer. I grunted, "I need some chalk." "Darius disappeared through a portal and came back out a few moment later with Sarah. "Good idea, Darius," I said. Sarah tossed me a box of Crayola Chalk. "Why do you have this," I asked, surprised that she kept something so childish. "Any sort of drawing utensil, I probably have, Jason," Sarah said. "So you plan on summoning an angel," Heather asked. I nodded, "It's the fastest way to negotiate with them." I got onto the ground and began to draw a ritual circle. "Now listen, the angel will ask you if this is your sacrifice, say yes and demand the whereabouts and looks of the incarnation of Mariat Blante," I said as I finished up the circle. "And what about you," Sarah asked.

"I'll get back one way or another," I said, as I completed the symbol for an angelic ritual. "I don't suppose any of you have a bible," I asked. "I do," Damion said, "It's kind of standard issue for all presidency." He ran back inside the white house and disappeared. "Are you sure you'll be able to handle yourself against the seraph," Heather asked. "I'll be fine," I said, "I'm your twin brother after all, and plus, Chain and I have more than a few trick up our sleeves." "Just be careful," Heather said worriedly, "I know I don't say it much, but I worry about you." "You know, sometimes I feel like you have Multiple Personality Disorder," I said, "I mean in the White House, you were about ready to break my arm." "I only did it because I worried for you and the wellbeing of our school," Heather said, "If Damion wasn't president, and instead you did this for any number of other presidents, you probably would've been killed and started a war with America." Damion ran out with a black leather book with a cross on it. "Is it safe for you to hold this, I mean isn't a bible dangerous for demons," Damion said cautiously handing the book to me. "Maybe, if it was an Old Testament," I said, "The bibles that have been corrupted by human fingers have no effect on humans." I walked into the middle of the circle and flipped through the pages of the bible. Finally, I found what I want, a ward for evil spirits:

Vade retro Satana,

Numquam suade mihi vana,

Sunt mala quae libas,

Ipse venena bibas!

The outline of the circle began to glow, "Okay, I'm going to command an archangel," I shouted from outside the barrier, "When he comes, I'll be subdued, and you ask for information on where Mariat's soul is now!" I recited a summoning spell in Latin:

Unum te Archangeli de caelo incipiunt a negotium! Emittet verbum suum, contrahant!

For a moment nothing happened, then the center of the circle began shoot into the sky like a beacon, cutting right through the storm cloud. A booming voice echoed, "Who summons Archangel Sephiel!" "I, Jason L. Delarosa, want to start a negotiation," I yelled at the sky. The voice paused. Suddenly, chains shot out of the ground and condemned me to the ground. A man with large white wings descended from the sky and landed with grace on the ground, "Well, well, I thought that we were never going to find you, but alas, you just give yourself up?" "I wish to begin a contract," I said calmly. "And under what terms would this contract be known for," Sephiel asked observing the chains that are latched to my body. "You give my friends the knowledge they need to find a close friend, and in return, I give myself up," I said. Sephiel pondered the terms. He looked at my friend and then at me, "Fine then, it's a fair contract, I accept." Sephiel turned his attention to my friends, "What is the information that you need?" "We wish to know the whereabouts of Mariat K. Blante's soul, along with the exact location and a picture of his new body," Mr. Valitharian said.

Sephiel grabbed a white envelope from his robe and tossed it to them, "That will hold all the information that you need," Sephiel said. He turned his attention back to me, "Chain, Prince of Blasphemy, and Heir to the Throne of Hell, I'm surprised that you gave yourself up so willingly, but lo and behold, here you are where you should be," Sephiel said happily, "Well shall we be going, I'm sure the Seraph has a lot to say to you."

Chapter 5

In a flash of light I was off to Heaven, never thought I would say that. Finally, after a few minutes of feeling air sick, we were on the platform of heaven, I now had a collar on with a Chain leash. I had heavy iron hand cuffs and iron ankle cuffs all connected to a chain that was coming from a black hole. If I had to guess the hole lead to Oblivion, the plane that lies between all dimensions. I felt pain shoot through my arm and crumpled to the floor. "Sorry, it's kind of standard to put this on your arm," Sephiel said. I looked at my arm to find a black etching marked on my arm, a Limiter Tattoo. Powerful angels like the Seven Archangels use these to subdue dangerous demons, such as Chain. It weakens the powers of demons exponentially. I hid a smirk, "I'm fine, let's get this over with." Sephiel smiled, "I was thinking the same thing."

We walked through the gates that lead to Heaven and walked through the many courtyard all the way to the courthouse, pretty much the place where they judge all demons, witches, and sorcerers. If they are proven guilty (Which they often are), they are casted into Oblivion where they live out the rest of eternity swimming in nothingness. If they are somehow proven innocent, they will be sent to Earth to live out the rest of their life, unless it's a demon, if a demon gets caught by angel, it pretty much means imminent Ticket to Oblivion. In case you haven't caught on yet, angels don't take to kindly to demons. We walked up the steps of the courtyard and found the Seraph waiting outside. "So I take you got my message," The Seraph asked. "Yes," I said, "I'm impressed you went through such extent to get to me." "You've been causing enough troubles to our vigilantes, so I decided to put you down myself," The Seraph sighed. The Seraph is the supreme judge, and works under the law of God. "Do we even have to go through the trial," I asked, "I mean it's obvious you're going to prove me guilty." "Yes, we must go through the trial, its standard, and plus, I want to hear your side of the story, because you have a very peculiar case," The Seraph said checking my bindings. I could feel Chain squirming at the very presence of The Seraph.

The Seraph has an aura that kills off demons, I'm the only thing separating Chain from The Seraph's aura, so Chains only feeling discomforts. The Seraph led us inside the very clean courthouse, until we got to the court. It looked a lot like a court you see in the news, when they are showing off trials. I sat at the defendant's side of the court and Sephiel sat at the other side. "What I don't get a lawyer," I asked jokingly. "Let's get the vow out of the way," Sephiel said. Archangel Raphael came in with one of those "Ye Olde Times Bible" and put it in front of me. I put my hand on the bible. I could feel the holy crest burning Chain so I made this go quick. "Do you, Chain, vow to speak the truth, and only the truth," Raphael recited. "I do," Chain grunted. "Do you, Jason L. Delarosa, vow to speak the truth, and only the truth," Raphael repeated to me. "I do," I replied. I took my hand off the bible and sat down. "Now then, let's get started," The Seraph said looking over some documents.

"You, Jason L. Delarosa, stand guilty of the charges of demonic pacts, do you deny," The Seraph asked. "No," I said, "I do not deny those charges." "What say you in your defense," The Seraph asked. "Was I wrong," I asked. "What do you mean 'were you wrong'," The Seraph asked, "Demonic pacts are dangerous, evil, and most of all, forbidden." "What is 'dangerous, evil and forbidden' about these pacts," I asked questioningly. "Demons are all inherently evil," The Seraph said. "Are you saying that all angels are good," I asked inquisitively. "Of course," The Seraph scoffed, "Where are you going with this?" "So to repeat what you are saying, all demons are bad, and all angels are good, am I correct," I asked, "What about Lucifer?" "What about him, he's the devil and the father of the creature who lives within you," The Seraph said justly. "Yes, but before that he was an angel just like you, in fact he would pull rank above you Seraph," I said, "He was an angel but then he went bad, so would that be contradictory of what you said?" The Seraph paused, he opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it. "If this is the case, wouldn't that mean that demons are able to redeem themselves, just as Lucifer was able to corrupt himself," I continued, "So I ask you this question again, am I wrong, because I have committed no sin, I made this pact for protection, I don't see protection as being sinful." The Seraph looked at his followers and then looked at me. He then sighed and said, "As much as I hate to say it now, you sin is still standing, you made the choice to make a pact with a demons, so I hereby condemn you to Oblivion for Demonic pact." He hit his gavel on the podium. I felt the chains around my torso, neck, arms, and legs begin to tug me towards the black portal.

I smirked, as the chains tugged me into the abyss known to hold all of God's and the Devil's secrets, condemn for eternity. Or so they think.

Chapter 6

Isaiah

I really need to see a psychiatrist when I get the chance. Man that's sad, a ten year old needs to see a psychiatrist because he suffers from some weird form of schizophrenia. I can hear this voice in my head. Yeah, go figures. He says that he's using my body to keep him from disappearing from this world. Honestly, I could live with this, but unfortunately, he gave me these weird super powers and knowledge I didn't even know existed. Along with that, I sometimes talk to him out loud by accident, and my classmates think I'm some sort of schizophrenic psychopath. Probably not those words exactly, I mean good God, could you imagine a normal kid saying that? I digress, the point is, I don't know what this Mariat fellow wants from me, but that's if he wants anything. I've tried asking why he would disappear from this world, but he keeps giving me the same unsatisfying response, "I'll tell you when you're older, you probably won't be able to comprehend it." Try me. On the bright side, I pretty much know everything in class, because of this knowledge.

You know, I could live with being seen as schizophrenic, or crazy, or even weird. Oh, but my luck just gets better and better. Let me start from the beginning. So it was just a normal weekend for any normal ten year old. I was in my room playing with my bionicles and Legos, making some sort of complex object. Then, a knock came at the door. I was the only one in the house, beside my brother Jake. Jake is fifteen years old, so he was busy doing God only knows what. So I, being the only currently active one in the family went to answer the door.

When I opened the door a man, probably about twenty-six years old was waiting. He had blond hair and tanned skin. The most defining feature, though, were his eyes. Deep red, like blood. "Um, may I help you," I asked. I was seriously getting bad vibe off this guy. "Yes, I'm looking for a boy named Isaiah," The man said. "Might I ask who this is," I said suspiciously. "Oh just a friend," The man said. "Yeah right, buster, if I met a creep like you, the only time I would be friends with you, is behind bars," I thought to myself. This guy, seriously looked like a serial killer. "Sorry," I said calmly, "Isaiah isn't here right now, maybe if you tell me your name I can hand the message to him." "Oh that can't be right," The man said grabbing me by my shirt, "Because your right here, aren't you?" "How did you know," I said trying to separate myself from his grasp. "Honestly, did you think that you could fool an adult," The man asked coyly. "To be honest, yes," I said bluntly. Probably not very smart. "You're coming with me," The man said with a smirk. I yelled for my brother, but of course no response. Honestly, why even call him my brother? The man carried me away from my home and towards an alleyway. Great, not only am I going to die, I'm going to die in the most stereotypical place in the world, thanks Fate. The least you could've done, is given me a better place to die. The man threw me on the ground. I felt a stinging sensation shoot through my hand. I looked down and saw that my hand was cut by a broken bottle. Figures. "Okay, you got me, I pulled a little fib, but is kidnapping really necessary," I said keeping whatever was left of my confidence safe. "Trust me, kid, I could care less what you say, I really only care about that guy you're confiding with," The man said.

"How do you know about him," I asked. "Because I knew him when he was alive," The man said smirking. "So what are you going to do, does this guy have a bounty or something," I asked holding my cut hand to keep it from bleeding. "Well, yes, he killed my lord, so I must avenge his death naturally," The man said. "You have a lot to answer for don't you," I thought to myself, "Who is this guy anyways?" "His name is Blaine, I met him once before," The voice said with a hollow voice. "So Blaine, what do you plan on doing, then," I asked. Blaine flinched a little when I said his name, "How do you know my name?" "You're an adult figure it out," I said calmly, though I definitely didn't feel the part. "So he IS with you," Blaine said, "Good, to answer your question, I'm going to kill you." Now it was my turn to flinch, "Now come on, and let's be reasonable, if you want him so bad, you can have him." "Hey," The voice shouted him my head. "Sorry that's impossible, so I'll settle for just killing you," Blaine said. He snapped his finger and two adults in cloaks drop down from the roof of the two buildings we were in between, and seized me. The next thing I knew I was pinned against a wall. "This hardly seems fair," I said. Blaine ignored me and pulled a knife. "Now then, hold still," he said. "Do I have a choice," I asked. "Isaiah, let me take over, I'll be able to take these guys on," The voice said. "Sure, and how do I do that," I thought to myself. "Just relax," he said. I don't know how I'm supposed to do that when I'm about to be murdered, but I somehow managed. I felt my body move on its own. A flash of light shot out of my hand, and knocked the two adults in cloaks away from me.

Blaine grunted and backed up. I fell to the ground and got back up, though I didn't feel like I did before. I was devoid of all emotion. "So tell me, who's this leader that I killed," I said, "Because I've been known to kill plenty of people." "I'm pretty sure you know who it is," Blaine said. "Ragnarok," I asked. "Indeed," Blaine confirmed, "You foiled his plan, for that you must die." He lunged at me, but I quickly sidestepped. "You disappoint me," I said, "Oh well, fire does sound like a fun power to have." He lunged at me again, but this time I stood my ground. My hand began to form a ball of light and energy. I brought up my hand right into his stomach. It went right through his body like putty. "Now then," I said leaning up to his ear, "I condemn you to Oblivion, for treason against Earth." A black portal opened up and Chains spewed out of it, grasping on to Blaine and pulling him back. I saw Blaine's face at that moment, scared, panicking, and full of terrible comprehension. And just like that, the portal closed, swallowing Blaine along with it. "Darn, I didn't get his power," I said, "Oh well, nice timing Isaiah." I felt myself regain control of my body, and collapsed. I got back up but collapsed from a jolt of pain that shot through my hand. I looked at the cut and saw that it has begun to swell up a bit. "I should probably get this disinfected," I stated obviously. The really sad part is that my cut hand was my good hand. I used my weaker hand and pushed myself up. "You have a lot of explaining to do," I said as I walked slowly home. "Yeah, I'll tell you everything, but first, let me tell you what happened after I died," The voice said, "But let's settle for names right now, I'm Mariat."

Chapter 7

Jason

When I woke up, I was laying on… nothing. That's literally all I was laying on, nothing. Just a void that somehow managed to make its own mass. "Oh so you're awake," A familiar voice said behind me. I looked back and saw a man with black hair, red eyes, and pale skin, with black shirt, ragged black cloak, and jeans. "Who are you," I asked. "Why, I thought you would know your own Arcanist," The man said. "Chain," I asked. Chain gave a short bow and smiled, "Yes, for once I'm in the flesh to." "You have your own body," I asked, "Why haven't you used that form instead," I asked. "Well, you see, my body is bounded to the planes of Oblivion," Chain explained, "But my soul is able to freely move amongst the different dimensions." "So this is Oblivion," I asked looking around, "The walls of all of the dimensions." "Indeed," Chain said. "How are we going to get out of here," I asked, "You and I have a Limiter Tattoo, so we won't be able to leave via powers." "Actually, you have the Limiter Tattoo, you received in my stead," Chain said. "Oh so you can use your power fine then," I asked. Chain nodded, "But my powers alone won't be able to break out of Oblivion." "So what do we do," I asked. "We need to find a witch or sorcerer," Chain said. "How do you suppose we do that," I asked. "Archangels have subdue many witches and sorcerers for usage of the Dark Arts," Chain said, "So I know there are some."

"Yeah, but how do you know they're still alive," I asked, "I mean witches died off during the Colonial age, when pilgrims were making early settlements in Early America, and that was nearly four hundred years ago." "I don't think you know Oblivion very well," Chain said, "Oblivion exist outside the boundaries of time, so time doesn't move at all here." "So pretty much were condemn for a literal eternity with nothing to do," I asked. "That is if we can't find a way out," Chain said. "How is finding a witch or sorcerer going to help us anyways," I asked. "Witches know how to dispel hexes, charms, or pretty much anything magical for that matter," Chain said. "Fabulous," I said, "Then let's do some witch hunting." "I should probably warn you of a few things," Chain said looking for a place path. "Okay, explain on," I said.

"There have been people casted here many eons ago," Chain explained, "So chances are, the inhabitants may be completely insane, disfigured, or both." "That doesn't sound any different than Hell, Chain," I said. "In many ways, they are the same," Chain agreed, "But Hell gives pain to keep its residence entertained, Oblivion is just a void, an abyss that leaves you with nothing to do but ponder your own existence," Chain said. "Cute, so they must be like monks at those Buddhist sanctuaries who seek 'Enlightenment,'" I said. "Except, you know, there probably millions of times more insane than a monk," Chain said, "The point is, stay behind me, seeming how you're completely useless, I need to keep you alive." "Hey, I still got my weapon," I said angrily, "Cerulean!" "You probably shoul-," Chain tried to warn but got interrupted by a blade that came zooming in my direction. "Ha, see here it come no-," I tried to say, but then felt the hilt of the blade hit my face and knock me on the ground. "Yeah, unlike you summoning it from your locker, you won't be able to control its speed," Chain said, trying hard not to laugh. "I see," I said holding my hand to my face.

I pushed myself off the ground and picked up my sword which had skidded away after using my face as a stop. "Well, let's get moving," Chain said, "The sooner we get that Limiter Tattoo off of you, the sooner we can get back to our dimension." Chain put out his hand a large scythe formed from the shadows. "This is Catastrophe," Chain explained, "My best weapon." I found a piece of a broken mirror and checked to see if that hilt did anything to my face. Instead I found that both my eyes were blue again. "Wow, isn't that a sight to see," I said observing the mirror. "Wow, vain much," Chain asked. "No not that, I was saying that both my eyes are blue again, like when I was just a human back then," I said. "Don't get to comfortable, it'll go back to normal when we get back to our world," Chain said walking off. I ran after him, "Let's see if we can find any cool relics here," I said looking around. "I doubt it," Chain said, "Any powerful relics, holy or unholy, are kept in the angelic archives. It's a sort of library." "Wow, do you always have to shoot down my dream," I asked. "Of course," Chain said happily.

A few hours pass of nonstop walking, and I was beginning to see why people went insane here, there was not remarkable feature, just pulsating darkness everywhere. I sighed of boredom, "How much longer do I have to wait?" Chain sighed, "I don't know, honestly I never ventured very far in Oblivion." "So tell me the story of why your body was bounded to Oblivion, I thought you were Hell born," I asked. "I am, but I got caught in the same predicament as we are now, banished by The Seraph," Chain explained, "I've resided here for a while now." "Wait so you were able to traverse through Oblivion," I asked. "My soul was able to, but my body is trapped here," Chain explained. "Wait if that's the case, then if we do get these Limiter Tattoos off, then you will be able to escape to the physical world with your body intact," I noted, "That means that I won't have you as a conscience anymore." "Indeed, when you think about it, The Seraph helped you and I," Chain said with a smirk on his face. Suddenly a large rumble was heard, and the sound of an explosion shortly followed. "What was that," Chain asked. "Beats me, let's find out," I said, "I'm looking for a little fun."

We looked around and found a puff of smoke in the distance, we ran towards and found a very familiar face. "Blaine," I exclaimed, "How did you get here?!" "Jason," Blaine asked, "What are you doing here?" "Hey I asked first," I said, "It's been a while, what happened?" "You're not going to believe it, but I found Mariat, but I can assure you he's not like what he used to be," Blaine said. I noticed blood had spattered on his clothe. "What do you mean he's not what he used to be," I asked. "I mean that he had become dangerous, evil, and violent," Blaine said limping over to us. Blaine looked over to Chain, "Who's this?" "Oh right, you never seen Chain in a physical body have you," I asked, "Well here he is, Chain in the flesh." Blaine regarded Chain. "Wait you ran into Mariat," I asked, "How did you know it was him?"

"He told me, right before he summoned these chains that pulled me here," Blaine said, "What is this place anyways?" "This is Oblivion, the wall that separates all dimensions," Chain said. "Wall," Blaine asked. "Think of it like this," I said, "You got this hotel with a lot of rooms, the rooms represent all of the dimension in existence, the walls, floors, and roofs are what separates our original dimension from the other dimension, Those walls, floors, and roofs are all the planes of Oblivion." "Is there a way out," Blaine asked. "Well we have a way out now," Chain said, "You don't have a Limiter Tattoo." "Limiter Tattoo," Blaine asked. I rolled up my sleeve to reveal a black marking on my forearm. "This prevents me from using any sort of power," I explained. "Great so I already have a way out, what do I need to do," Blaine asked. "Concentrate all of your power on me," Chain said and held up a black orb, "This little baby, will transfer all of your energy into extra mana that I can use."

Blaine, without hesitation produced blue flames and shot it out as a stream of heat. The orb pulled in all of the energy like a black hole, until Blaine was completely out of energy. Chain began to put all of his energy into the ball until it glowed a bright green. "Okay, you guys get a little distance from this thing," Chain said. Blaine and I backed up a little bit. He nodded and threw the green sphere down. The explosion was huge, but Chain made all the energy go in a vertical direction. We sat and stared in awe at the power made a huge cloud of fire and smoke. "A rift has opened up, we can transcend to our dimension," Chain called. He released the force that was keeping the smoke from billowing out the side. The smoke expanded like lungs getting breath. I held my breath and ran into the smoke. I felt myself fall into a hole. Blaine and Chain fell through after me. The Rift was a lot different from Oblivion. It was a space of swirling lights and colors. I could make out the looks of people to our side. "Okay, this is the rift, you can walk through dimensions in this area, do not touch any dimensions unless you are certain that it's the correct one," Chain warned. "How will we know if it's our dimension," Blaine asked. "You will see it stand out, like a memory, when you see it, it will trigger a sort of nostalgia," Chain explained. We split up and looked in different directions. I was getting tired of this seizure inducing dimension. The background was always active, and changing, making it feel like everywhere I went was a different area. Finally, I heard Blaine's voice calling from a few yards away. I ran after him, hoping that he found the way out. "This is the way," Blaine said pointing at the dimensional bubble. He was right, I felt nostalgic just looking upon the dimension. Chain ran over and sighed, "Well done." I touched the bubble and felt as my arms and legs, got pulled into the dimension, Blaine and Chain both following after me. "Don't worry Mariat, we'll save you," I thought to myself, as we plunged into the desert.

Chapter 8

Isaiah

Mariat's word weighed upon me like a truck. I sighed, passing on my stress for another time. "So, what do we do next then," I asked. "I need to find a means of getting my body back," Mariat said. "Wonderful," I chimed in sarcastically, "I don't really feel like picking up every atom of your body." "Luckily you won't have to worry about that," Mariat said. "We just need to find an Angel of Death." "You mean like a Grim Reaper," I asked, "Um... is that safe?" "It should be, Angels of Death aren't allowed to kill people unless they were fated to die," Mariat said reassuringly. I sighed a little bit. I inspected the gauze on my hand to make sure it was staying there. It ached badly, and I could feel the wound pulsating. I sighed, "Well how are we going to find an Angel of Death," I asked.

"They aren't incredibly rare, and their eyes are a dead giveaway," Mariat chimed. "Oh, and what about their eyes are a dead giveaway," I perked up grabbing my jacket. "They got Inverted eyes," Mariat said, "The pupils are white, the iris stay where they are, and the white part of the eyes are black." "How are they not noticed," I asked. "Well apparently only ethereal beings are able to see them," Mariat said, "So were going to have to ask one of my friends." "Is this friend going to try and kill us," I asked suspiciously. "He shouldn't," Mariat promised. "Great," I said with an immense amount of lackluster, "Then let's get this show on the road."

I walked over to my brother's room and yelled through the door, "Hey, I'm leaving." "How long will you be out," My brother asked, surprisingly. "Watch this," I muttered to Mariat. "Days, weeks, months, maybe even years," I shouted, waiting for his nonchalant response. "Okay, I'll tell mother and father," My brother said. I sighed, guess he wasn't paying attention was he? I walked out the door, and looked up at the house, "I wonder how long I'll be gone," I muttered to myself. "Relax, I'm sure that Jason is back at the school, it's not that far from here," Mariat chimed happily. "Great the lead the way," I said and relaxed all my muscles. I felt my body catch itself again like last time. I wasn't Isaiah anymore, I was Mariat.

Chapter 9

Jason

So when I regained my senses, I was in a hot desert. I got to my feet and looked around, nothing but tan, dry sand for miles. I saw Chain in his physical form laying on the sand facing up. I walked over to him, he was smiling. "What are you smiling about," I asked kicking him in the arm. "I'm finally out of the abyss, eons of having nothing to do, no remarkable features to look at, and I'm finally out of there," Chain said happily. "Yeah, well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you haven't noticed, we're in the desert with no way of telling where we are," I said. Chain got off the ground patted off the sand that clung to his ragged cloak. We saw Blaine walking towards us. "How did you get over there," I asked walking over to him. "I woke up before you did," Blaine explained, "I decided to see if I could find any signs of civilization." "Any luck, then," I asked. Blaine shook his head. I sighed and looked at the dry wasteland. I never did like deserts, and now, I didn't even have my powers to keep me safe. The sun was beating relentlessly at us, as we trudged through the sand. I was breathing heavily, Blaine was too. My legs were about to give out, until I heard a large explosion in the distance. I looked up and saw a big pillar of sand and smoke towering over a large dune. "Finally," I remarked, "Maybe there's some people here."

I put the rest of my energy into my legs and ran down up the dune. What I saw was incredible. A large dome-like crater had been made, one man in the very center. I could faintly make out black wings on his tiny body. He then disappeared as Chain and Blaine caught up to me. "Anything," Chain asked, heaving a big sigh of exhaustion. "There was a guy, but he disappeared when you came over the horizon," I said. "Where is he now," Chain asked. Just at that moment, the man appeared right in front of me and lunged at Chain. Chain staggered to the ground as the man created a massive scythe out of nothing and raised it. Chain put his hand to the ground, and large black thorns shot out of the ground and tangled the man in a vicious tether of Thorns and black roses. The man dropped his scythe, which evaporated when it hit the ground and hung from the thorns helplessly. Chain got off the ground and brushed off the new accumulation of sand on his cloak. He then created his own scythe and put up to the man's neck. "Now then, why did you attack me," Chain said, staring at his victim with hatred. "You smell of demons," The man stated simply. Now that he wasn't trying to impale anyone, I was able to get a better look at him. He had long black hair, that tumbled at the side of his face, a long, slender, and pale body, but the most distinguishable part, was his eyes. The sclera was pitch black, and his pupil were white. His iris was a sort of violet color.

"I know those eyes," Chain said, "You're a Grim Reaper, aren't you?" "Indeed I am," The Reaper said, "I'm Gilbert." Chain put his scythe away. "Wait, you're not going to kill him," I asked. "I've probably already alerted the Archangels that I'm here," Chain said, "I was given a second chance in this world, I intend not to screw up." He snapped his fingers and the thorns vanished back into the ground. "What do you mean you're given a second chance," Gilbert asked, cocking his head to the side. "I escaped from Oblivion, just now," Chain stated plainly. I saw him freeze for a moment, "What's the date today?" "2025," Answered Gilbert. "Dang, five years have gone by," I said. "No," Chain said, "We went five years into the future, time doesn't flow in Oblivion, but the rift has now sense of time, even if you do return, you may never get back to the time you were dropped in." I sighed, "Hey, Gilbert what were you doing out here anyways, we heard a big boom coming from where you were at, what happened?" "I was killing a few Anomalies who had escaped from their realm," Gilbert said. "Hmm... Do you know where the nearest village is," I asked. "I'll lead you to it," Gilbert offered. "Um no thanks, you know I don't want you and Chain killing each other," I said as kindly as I could. "Under angelic tradition, if the demon escapes from Oblivion, then he's no longer wanted by the Archangels, I won't cause any trouble," Gilbert said. "Wait why does that make sense," I asked. "By tradition, if someone escapes from the otherwise inescapable, they were fated for something in the world," Chain explained, "And not even celestial beings interfere with Fate."

I looked at my arm, the black etchings still marked there, like a battle wound, "Well if we stop by the college, I could really go for a dispel on this thing, I feel so helpless with this thing on me." "We'll probably make the trip there, see if Mariat made his way back," Chain said. "Oh speaking of which, I wonder how the expedition went, I wonder if they found Mariat's new body," I wondered to myself. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Blaine said, though I sensed a bit of bitterness in his voice. I slowed down so I was right next to Blaine. "Don't worry, we'll save Mariat from Ragnarok no matter what it takes," I said comfortingly. Blaine gave a slight nod. "Well then, let's go find Mariat," I said happily and started off to our destination.

Chapter 10

Mariat

Observing the caves etching I was able to make out a few details that I otherwise wasn't able to see. Isaiah mentioned it to. The etching showed of this big circle with these sort of arms, stretching outward. In the center of the large circle, I saw a small dot. It kind of looked like an eye. "What do you think it could be," Isaiah asked holding the torch over the hieroglyphs. "Not sure," I sighed, "I haven't seen anything like it." "We should get a move on, they'll be after us pretty soon," Mark said, "No telling what those dogs found at our decoy." "Indeed," I agreed, "Come one Isaiah we best get going." Isaiah sighed, he was a trooper, but he was still a young Blue-Blood, and we have been traveling for a while. "Could we take break at the top of this mountain," Isaiah said, grabbing his scimitar. "We'll see what it looks like up there," I said. Isaiah heaved a large sigh and walked outside the cave.

As soon as I walked out of the cool cave, I was greeted by a warm spring breeze. I sighed contently, it had already been two month since I regained my body, but I still got this incredibly nostalgic feeling from the spring breeze. "Mariat," Mark said, interrupting his thought, "The Hounds are getting close, my scouts said that he saw him last, when they were just reaching the foot of our neighboring mountain, we should hurry." I nodded and looked over at Isaiah worriedly, I didn't want to strain him too much. Isaiah must have noticed my gaze, because he gave me a reassuring look, "I'll be fine."

We walked up the mountain to see if we could get a good vantage point from up there. For the moment the walk was silent, beside the quiet breeze that ruffled the trees. Then Mark paused. He looked back and gave an angry look behind me. I turned back, but nothing was there. "Mark, what's up," I asked. "The Crimson Shadows are close behind us," Mark said tensely. "Come on, we'll fight from up there, it'll be easier," I order pushing my way to the front. We ran the rest of the way, making our way to a flat surface on the peak of the mountain, bare of any trees. "Isaiah, were going to be fighting, you might want to prepare," I told him. Isaiah nodded and closed his eyes. His arms and hands began disappeared and got replaced by shadowy talons, Ragnarok Limbs, as we called it. He opened his eyes, to reveal black scleras and red irises, which seem to burn into people's souls. "How many are there," I asked. "Five, highly skilled," Isaiah said, "We would do best to use the Cerberus formation." I nodded, "Then it's settled, prepare to battle," I commanded. Mark got onto his hands and feet, and began to turn into a Hell Hound. His hair began to elongate into large, bristly, black strands. His eyes went from a calm blue, to a dark shade of red. "I wish I could transform like that," I thought to myself. I waited for a clever response from Dante, but I forgot that he was no longer alive. A pang of sadness hit me like a brick. I shook my head, I was going to have to think about this later.

I put my hand into the air, and the sword Genesis appeared. I looked at the glittering sliver blade. Its hilt was pure white with a blue sapphire in the center like an eye. I began to hear footsteps and knew that the Crimson Shadows were close. They ran up with their familiars in front of them. I looked at the translucent spirit animals. "So we finally found you, Mariat," One of them said, "I must say that you've caught quite the bit of trouble for us." "I wouldn't have to if you would just leave me alone," I retorted. "Yes, but I'm afraid that your essence is important to revive our lord from his slumber," He said. "Well then, come and get it," I said pointing Genesis at them, "Isaiah, get rid of their familiars." Isaiah pointed out his limbs, which began to stretch with incredible speed. The talons raked all of the familiars in one swipe. The Familiars vanished into a bunch of strands of spiritual essence.

The Crimson Shadows began to lunge at them, three taking on me, and the other two separating to take on my comrades. I put my hand in front of me and a symbol glowed in the air for a second. A black portal opened up in front of me and a giant man in a cloak ran out of the portal with a scythe. I ran behind him, hoping to make them lose their footing. I lunged at one and thrusted my blade at him. He ducked and brought up a dagger. I sidestep and punched him to the ground. I put my hand out in front of me, and Chains burst out of the ground ensnaring the man and pulling him to Oblivion. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Isaiah lunging at the other Crimson Shadow. He shot out his arm that stretched and grappled onto his enemy. He jumped high into the air, spun around flinging the enemy into the ground a huge amount of force. Isaiah was growing to be an impressive warrior. I got so distracted at that moment, that I forgot at that moment that we were fighting. I turned around and realize that my summoning had disappeared, and they were running at me now. I shot a bolt of lightning at one, knocking him on the ground. I put my hand out a different symbol appeared. A black portal opened up right in front of the last one and a gray hand popped out and grabbed onto him. The hand began to squeeze tightly until the cloaked man's head drooped, out of lack of oxygen. I saw that Mark had already defeated his attacker and was trotting happily over to me. His fur began to shorten as his human form emerged. His eyes returned to its watery blue. Isaiah walked over as well. His hands dissipated into a swirl of black mist, and his eyes went back to being its regular maroon color. "That was fun," Isaiah said happily. "Indeed," Mark agreed. I snapped my finger and the pale hand that was holding onto the attacker let go and returned to the ground. I then put out my hand and chains pulled in the incapacitated attackers.

I sighed, "Well that took them off our tail for a while, we should probably get moving, if we're going to stay ahead of them." My comrades nodded, "Yeah, but let's get something to eat first," Isaiah said, "I'm starving."

Chapter 11

Jason

I sighed as I plopped onto a ragged couch completely exhausted. At first I was glad to be back to my world, where it was nice, and had actual features, but now, I kind of wish I could just lay in Oblivion, able to sleep in the pulsating darkness. I sighed as a dry breeze rushed through the window. "I hate the deserts, and I hate not having my powers even more," I spat, drinking a warm bottle of water. Chain sighed as well, "Yes, it is a bother having to look out for you." "So who is it you're looking for," Gilbert asked. "A boy named Mariat," I answered. "Mariat, why does that sound so familiar," Gilbert muttered to himself, though for some reason, I felt he already knew that name very well. I heard Chain's chair rattle. I looked over at him and realized that he was shivering. His piercing red eyes, were widened and glazed over. "Chain, are you alright," I asked sitting up nervously. "I'm fine… just got a chill," Chain said, though his voice sounded more like he was trying to assure himself. I didn't buy it. "A chill, in this kind of environment, I mean I know it isn't like Hell, but come on, it's plenty warm in here," I said teasingly. Chain nodded, settling down from his little episode, "I think I might just be getting overwhelmed by the fact that I'm back in the human world." I nodded, though I could sense something deeply wrong with him. Having him as my conscience does that. Gilbert and I shared nervous glances, but dropped the subject. "Anyways," I began, "We need to get back to Europe as soon as possible." "Europe," Gilbert echoed, "That will be a long and exhausting journey." I nodded, "Thank you Captain Obvious, but we need to get there, see if Mariat made it back safely."

"Then when do we leave," Chain asked standing up, unsteadily. "We'll leave at night, it'll be easiest for us to travel when it's coolest," I said. Then something struck me, "Gilbert, you're a reaper, right?" "Yes, why do you ask," Gilbert asked suspiciously. "Well then you're an ethereal being, correct? What's your Ethereal Power? "Think about that question," Gilbert said, "I'm a reaper, what possible power could a reaper have?" "To Hell if I know what your power is, I don't know if Reapers are diverse," I protested indignantly. Gilbert sighed, "My power is the ability to cause instantaneous death to those who are around me." "Nifty for battle, not so much for travelling," I muttered. I sighed, "Well looks like we're going to have to walk or drive, but for right now, I really just want to rest for a bit." Chain nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I imagine not having the share of my energy must be hard on you." "It's definitely a bother," I said laying on the bed and closing my eyes, "And with the added bonus that now I can't use my powers, it's kind of obnoxious." I relaxed and quickly fell asleep, finally.

I was shaken awake by Chain, "Come on, it's time to head out." I rubbed my eyes still a bit drowsy, but I didn't protest. Gilbert and Blaine were already up and ready to get moving. "Wait," I said, "Gilbert why are you still with us, I thought you were going to just help us get to this village." "The truth is, I need your help," Gilbert said, embarrassed, "I don't usually rely on other people to help me, but I've been hunting a soul that had defied Death, but he's incredibly powerful." I nodded, "Sure, we'll help." "Yeah, after all you did lead us to a place to regain ourselves, so we kind of owe you this don't we," Blaine said. "Thank you," Gilbert said, appreciatively. I got myself ready and headed off into the cool desert.

For the most part, our conversations were quiet and short. Then, Blaine walked up from behind me, "So what are you going to do about Mariat?" "What do you mean," I asked. "He's corrupted by Ragnarok, so how do you intend on rescuing him," Blaine asked nervously. "I'll see if I can reach out to him without having to harm him, but if it comes down to it, I will kill him," I said staring Blaine in his red eyes. He was the complete opposite of me. He had red eyes and blonde hair, I had Blue eyes and black hair. He was short and stumpy, I was tall and slender. He controls fire, I control water. It's kind of interesting how we became friends, considering that we were nothing alike. Then Chain stopped, "I smell something," Chain said cautiously. "What is it, Chain," I asked, "Demons?" "No, it's mortal," Chain said, "It's a pack of Beowolves." "Beowolves," I asked. I stared up at the moon. It was a crescent, "I thought they came out during full moons." "That's a common misconception," Chain said, "You're thinking of Lycans or Werewolves." At that moment I saw a shadow zoom past. I brought out my sword and got into a battle stance. Chain and Gilbert both summoned scythe. Blaine produced a hammer out of fire. Suddenly, six Beowolves appeared out of nowhere and growled viciously, baring razor teeth. For the moment we just stood there, ready for the fight begin, then they charged. One of them ran at me, but I sidestepped its claws, and thrusted my sword into its neck.

Black, viscous, blood shot out of the monster's neck and covered my shirt. "Son of a…," I began, but couldn't get the words out, as tow more rushed me. I dodged the first's attack, but got knock down on the second. I laid on the soft sand, dazed. I tried to get up, but then the wolf pinned me to the ground and roared. At that moment, I felt the weight of the behemoth disappear in an instant. I opened my eyes and saw that Blaine had knocked the monster away with his hammer.

He knocked the monster into the air, jumped, and then slammed the monster back into the ground with an atomic force. I got up and picked up my blade. I saw the one that I had dodged lunging at Blaine. I hit the button on my sword's hilt and its complex contraption transformed it into a large golden pistol. I aimed and fired the pistol right at the wolf's eye. It collapsed to the ground, mid-lunged and died. Blaine looked at me and nodded appreciatively.

We looked at Chain and Gilbert, but they were fighting as if they rehearsed. They slashed right through the other three Beowolves, in a storm of glistening blades, black blood, and roars of pain. In an instant they had disposed of the Beowolves like they were nothing. Chain held out his weapon for a little while longer just to make sure that there were no more. Than he through his weapon into the ground, and it disappeared. "We make a good team," Gilbert pointed out. Chain nodded, "Indeed, you're pretty good." "Hey thanks for the help back there," I said to Blaine. "No problem, you helped me back there to," Blaine said happily. I sighed and sheathed my weapon. Then I caught up with Chain. "Hey, how did you fight with such harmony," I asked. "I'm not quite sure," Gilbert said, "I guess he just shares my fighting style." Chain nodded thoughtfully.

I noticed the sky get brighter and looked back. "Looks like the sun is coming, we best hurry," Chain said, "Come, let's get moving." I nodded, then a thought came to mind. "Hey, Gilbert, who is it your looking for, and what did he do," I asked. "He's wanted for defying death, and stealing his body back from Grim," Gilbert said, "This offense is punishable by a one way ticket to Hell." I shuddered a little bit, Chain had gave me a vague description on it what Hell was like, but it sounded horrifying just thinking about it, "Yikes, sounds like defying Death is probably not the safest thing to do," I said. "Indeed, it's not," Gilbert said, "Death is the true law of this world, the one thing all creature face." I nodded, "It must be an honor serving Death." "It is," Gilbert said plainly. "So who is it you're looking for," Blaine asked. Gilbert looked at his scythe, "I'm looking for Mariat Blante as well."

Chapter 12

Mariat

"Mariat," Isaiah whined, "We've been walking for ages, could we take a break?" I sighed, "Yeah, let's take a small break." Mark sighed, "How much longer until we get to the Arc?" "Not quite sure," I said, "The trail is faint, so we must be still far, but I can still see it." I sat down and unpacked a few sandwiches from the pack that I was carrying. "Mark can you smell anything," I asked. "No we're clear for the moment," Mark confirmed. I sighed and passed a few sandwiches to my comrades. "Has Erebus been speaking to you lately," I said to Isaiah. "Not really," Isaiah answered, "But occasionally, I get the occasional nightmares from him." "Will you be alright," I asked, concerned, "Nightmares in these context shouldn't be taken lightly." "I'm sure there not that bad," Isaiah protested, "And besides, he's given me enough strength to give myself Ragnarok Limbs in not only my arms now." "Oh, what has he taught you," Mark asked, interested. "I'm now able to separate it from my body, and make wings," Isaiah said proudly, "Erebus has been helping me hone my powers as an Angel Hunter." "That's good," I said, "I'm glad that Erebus has been coming around to you."

"So what exactly do we intend on doing once we get to the Arc," Mark chimed. "That's up for debate," I said, "We need to see if a path has opened up." "And if said path does open," Mark urged. "Then we'll be able to bring back Jason," I said happily, "And your master will be back at your side." Mark nodded softly, eating a chunk out of his sandwich. "What happens after we get Jason back," Isaiah asked, "After all, we have no use of him now, since we found that nice Reaper." "Nothing," I said plainly, "He sacrificed a lot to save me, so I must return the favor." "Why can't you just reverse the process of opening Oblivion, except this time you allow things to escape," Isaiah asked. I had thought about that before, but I didn't want to risk going into Oblivion, then not being able to get back out. "Why take a risk, when there's a doorway that will be opened for us in time," I asked. Isaiah gave a thoughtful nod.

"Oh, did you ever get word from Jason's sibling after her vigil," I asked Mark. Mark shook his head softly, "Nothing, I hope she's okay." "I'm sure she is," I said assuring Mark, remembering my first and last impression of Heather. She had nearly killed me with her Crimson Rapier when I had returned to the school. I took a shaky breath, that's the last time I cross Heather. I finished up my sandwich, "Well, we must still be on guard of Grim Reaper." Isaiah paused and looked down at the last of his sandwich, "I wish Garry didn't have to die for us." I patted Isaiah on the shoulder, "Don't worry, his death wasn't in vain, for we are still alive and well." Isaiah gave a weak smile. I stood up and stretched my legs, "Well are we ready to get going?" The other two stood up and nodded. I heard a snap of a bush, and spun around immediately, ready to strike. A tall man in a familiar black cloak stepped out from the bushes. Another Reaper had entered the scene. "I must say, you know how to give people trouble," The Reaper said. "And to what name do I call you," I asked grabbing Genesis from the heavens. "Kade," The Reaper said. "Well, Kade," I began, "I don't intend to bend to Death's will so easily this time." "And why," Kade asked, "Why are you so keen on breaking the laws of death?" "Because my Death wasn't supposed to end there," I said pointing my blade at Kade. "No death is fair, Mariat," Kade said sympathetically, "But Death is Death, it happens to all." I had enough of his speech on fairness. I prepared to lunge. Kade heaved a sigh, "You leave me no choice, I was hoping to solve this diplomatic, unlike my brethren, but it seemed it can't be helped." Two daggers appeared in Kade's hands. He then vanished into shadows. We all put our backs to each other, staring off in each direction. Just then a flurry of blades appeared out of nowhere, leaving me a cut up mess. I collapsed grabbing my arm which was covered in gashes in blood. Isaiah ran to my side, "Mariat!" A force deflected his run, and instead it launched him a few meters back. Mark was about to run to my side but I stopped him. "You'll end up just like Isaiah if you do that," I said, "Attend to him, I got this one." "What touching loyalty you have," Kade's voice echoed from the air. I felt anger surge through my body and a source of energy I knew too well, Ragnarok residual energy.

My body got shrouded in a black mist and I lifted myself to my feet again. My wounds quickly healed. "Using Ragnarok's energy, eh," Kade's voice echoed, "Guess I'll have to step up my game as well." Kade appeared in front of me with a mischievous smirk on his face. A black shroud of energy began to ensnare him, making a large skull appear all around him. The skull-shaped cloud began to darken, and Kade's figure disappeared. Right before my eyes, A real skull began took shape and large black tendrils spouted out of the back. The skull upper jaw lifted revealing a gaping black maw. "Annihilation form," I heard Kade's voice echoed. I tossed Genesis away, which vanished, and put my hand over the ground. A dark symbol appeared under my palm, and a sword shot out of the ground, "Chaos," I muttered, "Lend me your strength." The black tendrils shot at me like bullets. I slashed right through them like they were nothing. I began to run at the skull itself, but saw that a large light was forming in the maw of the skull. I stuck out my hand and a barrier formed in front of me, just as a bright beam shot out. My barrier deflected beam upward, but the force did do a lot to the barrier. I redirect where the barrier was facing in hope of shooting the skull with its own power. I managed to nick the edge of the skull. The skull shrieked and it's looked wavered and flickered like a hologram. I saw Kade holding his head and crumpled to ground. I ran at him hoping to take advantage of the weaken barrier. I jumped and raised my sword ready to attack the body that was holding this abomination together. Just as I came in contact, the skull reappeared and shot me back. I groaned and got to my feet. "Impressive, Mariat," Kade said confidently. Black tendrils reappeared and pinned me to the ground. I saw the skull ready another beam. I struggled vainly to free myself from the tendrils. I closed my eyes, ready to die. But just at that moment I felt a rush, as my body got violently jerked away from the blast.

I opened my eyes, to find Isaiah in his Angel Hunter form, carrying me into the air. Large Black wings were flapping vigorously at the air. I sighed, "Please don't make me wait that long again." Isaiah gave a smirk, "Sorry, I was a little dazed from that barrier." He stopped and got ready to throw me back at the skull. I saw the skull ready to fire another blast. "Throw me I got an idea," I said. He raise his shadowy arms and threw me back at the earth with incredible speed. I created another reflective barrier, this time pointed directly at him. The blast reflected harmlessly off me and hit the skull right in the eye. The skull faded like it did last time. I put my sword out ready to stab right through the skull. I slashed right through Kade and the skull, landing on the ground with a heavy thud. The Skull wavered and disappeared in a flurry of black particles.

Kade stared wide-eyed at the half of his body that was laying in front of him. I sighed and released my Ragnarok powers. I felt my body get heavier and I nearly collapsed, but I caught myself. I dismissed my blade and called upon Genesis. I walked over to the Reaper and finished him off. I sighed and fell onto the ground exhausted. Isaiah landed right next to me and released his power as well. Tom walked over and kneeled beside me, "Are you okay?" "I'm fine I'm just exhausted now," I said.

I laid on the soft grass for a while just gazing up at the night sky, breathing in the fresh breeze, allowing the pain all over my body to disappear. Mark was busy training Isaiah to manipulate Ragnarok's Limbs a little bit better. I sighed, this team is wonderful. They're powerful, smart, intuitive, and best of all, they have similar ideas as me. The other group I had wasn't nearly as powerful as I was, so it was kind of a bother acting as their chaperone. These guys on the other hand, were of equal strength as me. I closed my eyes and sighed deeply, reflecting on the last five years.

Chapter 13

Isaiah

5 Years ago

Mariat and I, took turns running seeming how I wasn't some God-Like creature and didn't have the stamina to run for miles on end, but he couldn't keep control of my body for very long, because it wore him out, so I decided to walk until he was ready to move again. Finally, after days of moving we made it to the large structure that was Valitharian College. As I walked up the grand stairways two gargoyle like creatures stopped me. I let out a small yip like a dog that fell badly. "Calm down, they won't hurt you if you show no harm," Mariat said. "Right, and I'm supposed to be calm when they have large spears pointed at me," I asked. "They're testing you," Mariat said. Reluctantly, I fought my instincts and calmed down. The creatures stared at me, then at each other, then they drew their spears back allowing me to pass. I walked into the expansive college and stood in total awe at the entrance. The interior was beautiful. Polished marble for the floor and large marble pillars jutted out of the ground and held the ceiling up. "This is incredible," I said stunned. "Don't get off track, let's find Mr. Valitharian," Mariat said. I walked up to a man, "Excuse me, could you point me to Mr. Valitharian?" The student spun around, "And who might you be," He asked sizing me up. "I'm simply wishing to speak with Mr. Valitharian, do you know or not," I asked irritated. "You don't have that much respect for adults, do you," The man asked. "Apparently not, now then do you know where he is," I asked one last time. The man sighed, "Sorry kid, but Mr. Valitharian is out right now." "Do you know when he gets back," I asked. "No, it kind of depends on when they find who they're looking for," The student said. I sighed and thought to myself, "Well, what do we do now." "We could just stay here, and hope for the best that they are on their way," Mariat said. I nodded, "Well thank you for your time," I said and walked off. "Whoa, hold up," The man said running after me, "How did you even get past the guards, are you a Blue-Blood?" "In a sense," I said discreetly. "How did you get here without one of The Directors," He asked. "I tend to do a lot of exploring," I said calmly, and walked off.

"This is incredible," I said, "You actually went to this school?" "Yes, I wasn't here for long, but I did get a great impression of this place," Mariat said. I was interrupted when a large blast of energy shot centimeters from my face. I spun around to see a man, very different from the guy I met at the entrance, staring at me intently. His arm was outstretched and smoking, leaving me to believe that he was responsible for nearly killing me.

The man gave a cruel smirk, "You're a little young to be in a college kid." "And I suppose that blasting children to smithereens is the appropriate punishments," I asked, slightly sarcastic. The man's smirk disappeared, "So you're a smart alek, eh, I hate to tell you this but I'm not overly fond of smart aleks." "And I'm not overly fond of people who try to kill me, so I guess we have mutual feeling of each other," I retorted. "I should probably do this," Mariat said, "You're only giving him more of a reason to kill you." I sighed and relaxed. I felt my body beginning to move without me. Just at that moment, the man shot a beam of energy directly at me. I felt my body whisk away in a jolt of lightning. When I regained my bearings I found that the beam was nowhere near me. I smiled, "My turn." I waved my hand and electricity sparked from my hand. I pointed my hand at the man, as I produced a bolt of electricity, which shot the man against the wall. The man got up, but he definitely didn't wear that smug face of confident.

His shirt was singed, and a large black spot was left in his chest to signify where I hit. "Next time will be your head," I said charging up another attack. The man didn't say anything, but he didn't look like he was quite ready to give up. I caught a flash of color in the corner of my eyes and realize that we had an audience. "Looks like we're the center of attention," I said. The man produced two guns from his pants and pointed them at me, "What are you?" "Is that really how you ask questions," I asked. He shot the pistol, grazing my cheek. I sighed, "Man, you really don't know when to give up do you?" I put out my hand and a large symbol appeared. Roughly twenty spear like objects, sparking with electricity, appeared out of the air. "Nighty night," I said with a cruel smile. I waved my hand and the spear like objects shot right at the man. The man fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Did I hear Mariat," A female voice called out. I looked around trying to locate the source. A woman with black hair and dark blue eyes walked up to me quickly. Before I had time to react she pulled a red rapier and kicked me to the ground holding the sword to my neck. "Where's Jason," she asked with a violent look in her eyes. "Oh hey it's heather, haven't seen her in a while," Mariat said. "Glad to know you friends want to kill you," I said. "I honestly don't know where Jason is," I said scared out of my wits. Alice stared at me, and for a moment I thought she was pondering killing me.

"Enough," A man barked, "We don't know if this is actually Mariat to begin with, but we'll find out soon enough." Alice glanced at the man then receded. I got up and dusted myself, "Thanks," I said, "Who are you?" "Devin, Devin Livergood," Devin said putting his hand out.

I shook his hand, "What did you mean 'we'll find out soon enough'?" "A simple test," he said, "Mariat was a class 10 fighter, we want to see your skill, if you are who you say you are, then you'll have no trouble in the arena. Devin turned and headed down a hallway. I shrugged and followed him. We soon came to a sealed door with a pure white room visible through its window. Devin hit the button and gestured me inside. The door slammed behind me as soon as I entered. "This is probably when I take charge," Mariat said. "Are you sure, you used quite a bit of energy back there," I asked. "I'll be fine," Mariat said. I sighed and released control of my body. Then, the familiar feeling of being possessed took me again. "Alright 'Mariat,' are you ready," Devin's voice echoed over a speaker. I nodded. I looked at one of the walls and realized that the windows were mirrors on this side. I took a good look at me and realize that my eyes had changed from a maroon color to a gold hue. Was that how I always looked? I turned away as a loud clang boomed around the room. A wall lifted up revealing a metallic endo-skeleton similar height to that of a normal human. The body began to move, its arm lifted up revealing a large sword. I put up my hand and a bolt of lightning formed in my hand. I soon realized that bolt was a blade of its own.

The android ran at me with super speed slashing at me. I barely got my blade in the way to block. I could feel the momentum of the blade lifting me off my feet. "Dammit, Mariat were going to fly if you don't do something," I said. "Yeah, yeah, already on it," Mariat grunted. At that moment I could keep my feet planted and went soaring. I stuck my finger at the wall. "Are you planning on breaking my fingers," I asked in a panic. As if in reply, a circle appeared on the wall. When I landed it felt like I just jumped and landed on the wall. I kicked off the wall and soared at the android. Before the android could react I slashed off both arms. I skidded across the ground and readied another lunge. The android began to fidget awkwardly, as if trying to move its dismembered arms. I kicked off the ground and ran at the android with a final jab. At that moment another blade stuck in the way of me and the droid. There was another robot. In fact, make that twenty more. "What the hell? Are you trying to kill us," Mariat asked. "This should be no problem for you Mariat," Devin said coyly over the intercom. I sighed and jumped away to the edge of the arena. I scanned frantically for any signs of a strategy. I smirked. "Mariat, what are you planning," I asked. "I got a good idea," Mariat said simply. Mariat stuck his finger at the ground under the twenty droids. A circle formed under them. It flashed and the droids flew into the air. I waved my hand in the air and mini circles trailed wherever my hand went. They flashed shooting sword-like objects in the air. They began to seek out targets slashing as they reached droids.

Debris fell to the ground with a hollow clang. I sighed, "Are we done?" There was silence over the intercom for a moment. Then Devin's voice rang over the arena, "We got one last test, standby." Another door opened, much larger than the other ones. A large, heavily-armored, android stepped out.

"Okay," I said, "Got any other good ideas?" "I don't know what to think about this one," Mariat admitted. "Lovely," I said. The android brandished a huge sword, much larger than anything else I've seen. "We're so hopelessly screwed," I said. "We don't know that, it may be slow because of that armor, if so we could pull through," Mariat said. As if in a reply, the android disappeared and reappeared behind me. It kicked me across the arena slamming me into the wall. "Nope, definitely fast," Mariat grunted. The android didn't even give us time to regain our bearings, it raised its hand forming a ball of black energy. "I'm not going to be able to deflect that, I'm out of energy," Mariat said frantically. I don't know what came over me, but the next thing I remember was standing where I was, a huge crater had formed behind us, still smoking from the energy. "What just happened," I asked. "I have no clue, but whatever happened it saved us," Mariat said, "Let's just leave it at that." The android ran at us with the same speed. I jumped to the side as it ran into the wall. "It's like a bull, it may be fast but it's not able to control its speed," I stated. "Right, dodge as much as possible," Mariat replied. The android recovered from its failed attempt and ran at us again. "This is the only thing we can do while we wait for our mana to return," Mariat said. "Let's just hope for the best it doesn't try to kill us with that energy blast," I said. "Okay, Debby Downer let's get moving," Mariat replied. The android repeatedly tried to lunge at us, but failed every time. "Does it not have any other strategy," I asked. "Doesn't seem like it," Mariat replied.

Finally, the droid was showing signs of damage. Its gleaming armor was now dented and tattered. Its originally quick moves, were growing slow and weak. "Do you think that you can pull off a good final attack," I asked. "We're about to find out. The android lunged at me, though drastically slower than before. I put out my hand. A circle formed in the air and flashed. The android repulsed from me landing to the ground with a heavy thud. It began to stagger up slowly. I formed my thunderbolt sword and made another circle. I lunged into the circle sending me soaring at the droid. A spiral of electricity and energy spiraled around me. "Odin's Gate," I yelled and shot right through the droid with a clean slash. I skidded across the arena and spun around. A large trail had formed marking, the distance in which I travelled. I felt myself regain control and I crumbled to the ground with exhaustion and pain. I picked myself up and looked around to see if any more enemies were there. It was clear now. "Okay, are we done," I asked. Devin's voice echoed again, "Indeed, welcome home Mariat."

Chapter 14

Isaiah

2nd year

After proving myself as Mariat, I was welcomed into the college with open arms. They immediately called up Mr. Valitharian and President Damion. They came to the school as fast as they could. Apparently Damion was Mariat's grandfather. I allowed Mariat to catch up with his grandfather, before we got down to business. "So, how are we going to get Mariat's body back," I asked. "There is a ritual that will allow you to go into the Reaper's home dimension," Damion began, "It will take some time to learn of the ritual, but we got the most valuable piece to this operation." "Oh? And what is that," I asked. "Jack," Damion said simply. "The child, what can he do," I asked. "He's far more than just a child, he's a reaper, his reaper name is Jack the Ripper," Damion said, "We just need to find out how to get you to Grim." "Grim," I asked. "It's the world where reapers reside," Jack said, "They say that the Grim Reaper is a living thing, but it's not, it's our home." "How long do you think it will take to find out about the ritual," I asked.

"It should only take a few years," Damion answered, "These are ancient rites we're talking about, I will need to pinpoint where a manuscript resides and go back into time to retrieve it." "In the meantime," Jack spoke up, "I got to study you Isaiah." "What? Why me," I asked. "Your soul doesn't look like a blue-blood, nor does it look like a human," Jack said, looking over me. "It may be the fact that I have a blue-blood and a human soul within me," I said. "That may be the case, or you're not human or blue-blood at all, you might be a different sentient being altogether," Jack said. "Why would you think that I'm something besides human," I asked. "Devin said it himself, you survived that blast without any injuries," Jack said, "No blue-blood, much less human, could've escaped that without sustaining injuries." "Mariat protected me," I replied. "But that's just it, isn't it, Mariat couldn't have, you said that he had no energy, and that kick he took the moment before the blast would've been enough to keep him dazed long enough for that blast to hit him. So, it must've been you, Isaiah, you were the only one who wasn't affected by the kick and could've done something." "What could I have done," I asked. "That seems to be the question, doesn't it, not even I know that, but whatever it is, it's stronger than blue-blood and humans," Jack said.

Jack began to study many different mythological beings that I could've been, but he couldn't find any. Along with studying we were also supposed to train regularly. After soul wrenching meditation, Mariat was now able to move outside the body and take over someone else's body. It was hard on me when that happens, it felt like I was having all the nutrients in my body sapped out of me. At the end of the day I would lay in my bed, completely exhausted from training. "How long do you think this will go on for," I asked. "Days, weeks, month, maybe years," Mariat replied. "That's wonderful, glad to know that I'm doing this for maybe years," I said sarcastically. I fell asleep finally but didn't stay that way. I woke up to the frantic sound of knocking. I clumsily got up and opened the door, "What is it?" Jack and Damion both looked overjoyed, "We found the rite to get you to Grim." Immediately my eyes widen, "Really?" "Yes, follow us," Jack said. I followed them to a large expanse in the middle of the building. A large symbol was sketched in the floor, wall, and roof. "This circle will get you into Grim, you'll have to find your own way back," Damion explained. "Come one," Jack said, stepping into the circle. I stepped in and Damion begun the rite. The ground began to shake violently and soon a large black hole formed around the expanse of the circle. We plummeted into darkness and I soon blacked out.

When I woke up I found that we were in a dark metropolitan city. It looked a lot like New York, but the JumboTron wasn't on. For that matter no light was on. It was just a dark New York. I looked around and saw Jack was already looking around, though he didn't look like he did. He was taller and a lot more brooding. He had black hair, inverted eyes, and expansive black wings that folded across his back. "Jack," I asked disbelievingly. "Yes, this is my Reaper form, let's not dilly dally, c'mon," Jack said walking down the road. "So this is Grim," I asked. "Indeed, it looks a lot like Earth, except it isn't quite as populated," Jack said. "Hey Mariat, are you there," I asked. A different voice echoed, "No but I'm here." "Who are you," I asked. "Erebus," the voice echoed, "I'm your Mentor," Erebus replied. "Mentor," I asked, "Where were you my entire life?" "I'm just now able to reach you," Erebus said, "Mariat was an entity that took up all of the space in your body for a secondary entity, now that Mariat is gone I can be here." "So what are you going to do," I asked. "I'm going to teach you how to hone your powers," Erebus said. "Powers? No, I'm just human," I protested. "Really? That's not what your reflection says," Erebus said. I turned instinctively to a window and gasped. Jack turned and looked at the reflection to.

I had black orbs with red irises. My originally brown hair was now white and glowing. "What the hell," Jack asked, "What are you." "That's a good question," I said, hypnotized on my reflection, "I don't know." "You are an Angel Hunter," Erebus said. "Angel Hunter," I asked to myself. "Yes, you are a unique species of ethereal beings, not quite known by humanity," Erebus replied. "Why don't I look like that in physical world," I asked. "You haven't unlocked your soul to that yet," Erebus said, "That's where I come in, I'm the one to teach you how to unlock your soul, and help you carry the burden of this power."

After regaining my bearings I kept walking, still a little dazed by this new weight of information. I kept the whole "Angel Hunter" information from Jack, seeming how he was an Angel of Death. No telling how he would react. We walked through the dark street, "Where are we heading to anyways," I asked. "Mariat would be in the Heart of Grim," Jack said, "We will have difficulty getting there." "Great, thanks for making me feel better," I said. "Well, well, if it isn't Jack the Ripper," a voice echoed behind us. I spun around to see another reaper standing there. "Belethin," Jack said with a grudging voice. "Now, now no need to be so hostile," Belethin said, "I see you finally got a soul, that's something right?" Jack grunted and turned away, "I need to get moving." "Hold it," Belethin said. He looked directly at me, "What creature is this?" "I'm only human," I replied. "Really, your spirit says otherwise," Belethin said coyly. He walked up to me and looked me over. "Do I look like anything but human," I asked. "You definitely have a good disguise if you're not human," Belethin asked. He poked my face, "Man that is a clever disguise." I smacked his hand away, "I'm human dammit!" Belethin backed away startled. "C'mon," I said turning and walking into the lead. "Sorry about him," Jack said, "I'm not an overall fan of him either." "I can see why," I said.

This city is really huge, I mean, I know its New York, but this is just ridiculous. We've been walking for hours and there has been no sign of difference in this city. "Are we nearly there," I asked. "We should be," Jack said, "You'll know when we are getting close when you feel a death-like foreboding." "I've been feeling like that since we set foot in here," I said. Jack stopped, and pointed into the distance. "There," Jack said, "Up ahead." I squinted but couldn't see anything, "What am I looking at I don't see anything." "Exactly," Jack said, "That's the Miasma." "Miasma," I echoed. "Yes, it's a highly toxic fume to mortals," Jack explained, "Any mortal that steps into that will die nearly instantaneously." "Great, and I assume that's where we are heading," I asked. "Yes," Jack said. "Of course, otherwise it wouldn't be easy for us," I said, "How do we get past the Miasma without killing me?" "It shouldn't kill you," Jack said. "Why do you say that," I asked. "Because you're not mortal, you're something else," Jack explained. I bit back an insult, "I'm not anything but human." "You'll be fine," Erebus urged go on. "And if I die," I asked.

"You won't, I wouldn't let you die," Erebus said. "Somehow I wouldn't put it passed you," I said. "Glad to know that my student has so much trust in me," Erebus said. "I didn't ask you to be my mentor," I said. Erebus remained silent on that remark. "Okay, let's go," I said reluctantly, "If I'm going to die, instantaneous is the best way to go." Jack smiled, "Great! Then let's get going.

Chapter 15

Isaiah

That could've went better. I had no problem getting past the Miasma, that wasn't the hitch. The hitch when a thundering boom echoed through the entire city. The Miasma dissipated instantly to reveal an explosion a few blocks from us. "If I had to guess," Jack began, "That's where Mariat is." "We'll never make it in time," I said. Without warning Jack grabbed me and expanded his wings. "Waa! What are you doing," I asked struggling under his grasp. "You best prepare your stomach, we're going to fly the rest of the way," Jack said.

Jack's wings flapped off the ground with a powerful push and we went soaring across the city. "Why didn't you do this before, that could've saved us a lot of trouble," I yelled over the wind. "I didn't feel like carrying you that far," Jack stated. I bit back screaming anything for the fear that he would just drop me. "There he is," Jack said, slowing down his speed. I followed his eyes and saw what he was looking at. A boy with brown hair and golden eyes, was walking out of the destruction completely unscathed. No one could have survived that but him. "Let's drop and pick him up," I said. Jack swooped down and gracefully landed in front of Mariat. "Thought you guys had abandoned me," Mariat said. "No time to stand on ceremony," Jack said, "We need to get moving before the Re-," A sharp bang cut off his sentence. Jack stared wide-eyed ahead, then at his chest. A hole had been torn through his clothing. "Ru...n," Jack said before his before his very body began to swirl around and disappear into the place where he had been shot. He disappeared with a quiet "Swoosh."

Standing behind where Jack was a bunch of people in black robes, probably the government officials. One of them was carrying a gun that was still smoking. "Well, today sure is eventful isn't it," The man said, "First one of our own commits treason, then someone destroys the government building, and then Mariat tries to steal his body back." Many more Reapers began to touchdown in the ruin courtyard. If I had to say, probably about fifty of them were here. "Stand back," Mariat said standing in front of me. "You're tough, I'll give you that," The Head Reaper said, "You would need a lot of strength to get past our guards and destroy our courthouse, but alas your attempts prove meaningless and futile." As if in reply all of the reapers began to grab their weapon. I thought that Reapers only wield scythe, but I was wrong. All of them had different weapons. Nunchucks, guns, knives, swords, etc. "You can't possibly think you can get past us," The Head Reaper said. "Well I'll definitely try," Mariat said. "How are we going to get out of here," I asked myself. "You need to take on the form of the Angel Hunter," Erebus said. "I don't know how to do that," I said. "Well you best find out soon," Erebus said. "Aren't you my mentor, aren't supposed to teach me," I asked. "I want to see if you can do it out of instincts," Erebus replied. "You're so useless," I said.

The battle erupt immediately and I ran to the edge staying out of the way of Mariat. Mariat moved around like water. Bobbing and weaving through the enemies. Suddenly, I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I spun around to see Belethin behind me. "Well, well, if it isn't my favorite not-so-human friend. I looked above him to see a giant hammer. He raised the hammer and brought it down on me. I narrowly dodged the hammer and ran elsewhere. "Don't try to outrun Death," Belethin said happily. "Dammit," I said, "What should I do," I asked myself. Meanwhile, Jason wasn't looking so good either. His fighting was getting slower and he was running out of energy. I saw a change in light from the corner of my eyes and spun around to see Mariat being flung at me. He collided into me knocking me off my feet. I lay there completely dazed. I staggered to my knees and looked around. I saw Mariat leaning on a column that was ravaged from the impact. I saw the reapers grouping. I crawled over to Mariat and stood in front of him. "Get out of the way mortal," The Head Reaper said smacking me out of the way. I doubted this guy's strength far too much. I got flung a few meters away from Mariat. My everything burned from beating I took. "Fine, let me take control," Erebus said, "I'll teach him." "I can't trust you," I protested. "You don't have much of a choice," Erebus said, "If you don't do something, then Mariat dies." I pondered that notion for a second. He was right, I couldn't do anything in this state, so Erebus was my only choice. "Fine," I finally said, releasing my control.

An overwhelming amount of power surged through my body, even more than Mariat. I picked myself off the ground. Belethin saw me get up and walked over to me, hammer ready. "Well, I hate to kill children, but I'll make an exception for you," Belethin said raising his hammer. Before he could bring it down a shadow slashed right through him. His body dissipated into nothingness. The rest of the reaper looked at me with pure fear.

"What are you," one of them asked. I spoke though it was not me speaking, "I'm a myth that rarely get told about in manuscripts, yet, am a source of legend and fear amongst your kind." "And what would Reapers have to fear," One of them asked. I looked at my hand. They began to transform into black talons five times their original size. "I'm an Angel Hunter," I stated. A few of them flinched. The Hear Reaper, however did not move, "Angel Hunters haven't been seen in hundreds of years, I don't think that's what you are." I smirked and walked over to him. While I walked I observed myself in the mirror again. I looked exactly how I looked the last time I saw my reflection but this time it was different. I had a black, thorn-like tail, shadowy wings, and wispy horns. Reapers attacked me, in a myriad of ways. They shot, slashed, and jabbed at me. My tail just deflected it like it was nothing. I walked straight up to the Head Reaper and gazed into his inverted eyes. "If I'm not an Angel Hunter," I asked with a creepy calmness, "When what am I?" Before I could answer I jabbed my talons through his body. He dissipated into nothingness like everyone else. I turned to the remaining Reapers. "If you know what's good for you, you'll run now," I said with a soothing, gentle, but extremely sadistic tone, as if I was hoping they wouldn't.

They all scrambled away from me. Teleporting, flying, or just plain out running it. After I was sure everyone left I turned to Mariat. I made a circle into the grass, and made a symbol in the middle. I picked up Mariat and dropped him in the center. I began to speak something in a language I never heard before and the circle opened up like before. This time, however, the hole was bright instead of dark. I fell into the hole and it sealed behind us. At that moment I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in a bed. I slowly got up and looked around. "Mariat," I called out. No response. I got out of bed and walked around the house. Suddenly, I heard footsteps and got ready to fight, though I don't know what I was expecting to do.

A man stepped into the bedroom. He flinched when he saw I was awake. The man had blue eyes, jet black hair, and a pale complexion. "Oh, so you're awake," He said, "Wonderful, I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up." "Where are we," I demanded not ready to let my guard down. "Don't worry, you're safe in my home, for the time being," He said, "I have a few questions to ask your friend when he wakes up." "Who are you," I asked. "Mark," He answered, "Mark Velthiem."

Chapter 16

A few month before Chapter 10

Mariat

When I woke up, I was in a warm bed, in a nice home, with food on the table next to me. I could get used to this. Then the best realization hit me, I was in my body. No longer did I rely on Isaiah to get me places, I could walk with my own two feet now. Then the worst realization, where was Isaiah. Last time I remember, I got completely obliterated by those reapers, was Isaiah still back there. Better question, how did I get back? Ugh… so many unanswered questions. I got out of the bed and looked around. Isaiah was nowhere in sight. I opened my door and looked up and down the hallway. Nobody. "Hello," I called out. "Ah, so you're awake," a voice said. I looked around, but saw nothing. "Oh right, how rude of me," the voice said again. A black circle appeared in the wall and a man stepped out. The circle took the form of his shadow and the wall was back to its normal self. I jumped back, startled by this stranger's means of making an appearance. "Sorry," The man said, with a slight amused expression, "Hope I didn't startle you." "You couldn't just walk down the hall like a normal person," I asked, "What if I had heart problems?" "Ah, but that's no fun," The man retorted. He held out his hand to help me out. I accepted it, "Where are we anyways, and who are you?" "I'm Mark Velthiem, and you are in Israel right now," He said, "You must be Mariat no doubt." "How do you know my name," I asked, "Do I owe you something."

Mark let out a chuckle, "No, I know you because of the stir you made in Grim." "Are you a Reaper," I asked, even more suspicious. Reapers and I didn't really hit it off so well. "No, but I do have connections in almost all Realms," Mark said.

"Well, judging by your way of making entrances, and the fact that you know Grim, I'm assuming you're not exactly human, are you," I asked. "No, I'm Hellhound," Mark said. "Hellhound? You don't exactly look like a Hellhound," I observed. "Well, of course not," Mark said, "I needed to keep a low profile until I found you." "And what exactly do you want with me," I asked. "You have affiliations with Jason Delarosa, correct," Mark asked. "Um, yeah, why," I asked. "As you know, Jason has an Arcanist named Chain," Mark said, "You also know that Chain is actually a demon, and none other than Satan's son." "Oh, let me guess you're his dog and you're trying to find him," I joked. "Yes," Mark said, "I'm impressed by your intuitive nature, they were right about you." "They," I echoed, "Who's they?" "My connections to this world," Mark explained, "I keep tabs on all organisms within this world." "Anyways, I'm assuming you think that I know where Jason is," I said. "No, you wouldn't be able to know," Mark said. I was taken back by that eerie comment, "What do you mean?" "Chain, er, Jason, was subdued by Archangel Sephiel and was dragged into Oblivion," Mark said. "I need your help to bring back my master." "How would we be able to bring them back from Oblivion," I asked, "Isn't Oblivion an unbreakable prison?" "Yes, but it only gets its name because Archangels put a limiter tattoo on the prisoner," Mark explained, "And plus I have tabs on an ancient monolith that should help us form a rite to open Oblivion."

Suddenly a stark realization, "Did anyone happen to be with me?" "Ah, you must be talking about the young whelp who got you out of there," Mark said, "Yes, Isaiah is in the living room." "'Got me out,'" I asked, "What do you mean, isn't he just human?" "Sure he doesn't look the part, but Isaiah is a legendary being that was thought be extinct," Mark said, "All angels fear them, he's an Angel Hunter." "'Angel Hunter,'" I asked, "I've never heard of such a thing." "It wouldn't be surprising," Mark pointed out, "The bible, or any manuscript, for that matter, doesn't even mention it." "Why," I asked. "If I had to guess, it's probably because not ethereal being want to read the fear of one of the most dangerous, and unholy creatures in the world," Mark said. I have a hard time believing that Isaiah is dangerous, or unholy. I walked over to the living room and saw Isaiah reading something. "Mariat! You're alive," Isaiah said surprised. "No need to sound so surprised," I said teasingly. "Well, you were in pretty bad shape when I rescued you," Isaiah said defensively. "Right, about that," I began, "I was wondering how you're taking this whole not-being-human thing." "Well, it's definitely a lot more weight to handle," Isaiah admitted, "But on the other hand, think of the prospect of adventure." I gave small nod, amazing how much he reminded me so much of myself.

"But anyways," Isaiah said, "How are you doing in your new body?" "I guess I'm going to get used to walking again," I admitted, "But I think that I'll be back to my old self in no time." "That's good," Isaiah said, "I heard what Mark said, are we going to do it?" "I haven't quite thought that far yet," I replied, "I need some time to eat, drink, rest, and all the other essentials to living." "Right," Isaiah said. I could feel a tense atmosphere between me and him. "It must be great not to have a voice in your head, huh," I joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Well, about that," Isaiah said shifting around uncomfortably. "What is it," I asked. "You kind of gotten replaced," Isaiah said, "His name is Erebus, he's my Mentor." "So pretty much he's like your Arcanist," I said. "I guess," Isaiah replied.

A clattering was heard in the kitchen, "I'll cook both of you a good meal, then we'll sit on the topic," Mark's voice could be heard. "Okay, thanks," I called back. I walked back into my room and looked at my body through a mirror. I looked exactly how I did before I died. Maybe a little skinnier. "So Dante, you haven't said much," I said. No response. "Dante," I called. A stark realization hit me. I died, so Dante must've been pulled to Oblivion. I was able to escape with my life, but he wasn't able to make the trip. I felt an incredible amount of guilt lay on my shoulders. I shook it away, "No time to revel in past, I need to look at the goal." I paused. What is my goal? I would say fix what needs to be mended, but truth be told, the humans and Blue-Bloods have been working hand-in-hand fairly well. All was forgiving for President Black's death, and I don't think that Ragnarok will be coming back any time soon. Really, I just need to keep moving, Ragnarok's vigilantes will be keeping tabs on me. That probably means that I need to get rid of Isaiah. No sense dragging him into this mess. Then I realized something, Isaiah's in as much trouble as I am. Ragnarok's vigilantes don't know that I got my body back, so they probably still think that Isaiah holds my soul in his body.

I guess I can't leave him after all, or just until Erebus teaches him how to control his power. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Dinner's ready," Mark's voice sounded. "Okay, I'll be there in a moment," I called back. I walked out of my room and took a seat at the table. Mark placed a bowl of soup down, "Sorry that it's not exactly filling, but you of all people need the soup, Mariat," Mark said. "No it's fine, I appreciate you taking care of us," I said. "Now then, down to business," Mark said, taking a seat at the table, "Will you help me?" "I see no problem, I need to keep moving anyways," I answered, "Those Ragnarok vigilantes will be on my tail now." Mark stared at me with worrisome eyes, "They won't be the only ones chasing you now." "What do you mean," I asked. "You broke a cardinal rule in Grim," Mark said, "Mortals aren't allowed to steal their body back." "So now I'll have Reapers on my case to," I asked. Mark nodded. "Great, even more enemies for me," I said sarcastically. I looked at Isaiah, "I don't think it will be safe for you then." "I knew you were going to say that," Isaiah said. "Actually I might be safer if he came with us," Mark said, "Isaiah killed one of their own, and so he's in the same bit of trouble as you." I looked at Isaiah. It was true I couldn't just leave Isaiah to fend for himself. "Are you sure you want to come with us," I asked, "It's going to be incredibly dangerous." "I won't be any safer at my house," Isaiah pointed out, "And plus, I feel like I can learn how to fight for myself if I stay with you." "We'll be walking nonstop with little to no breaks," I warned. "I don't care, I'll do what I can so I'm not useless," Isaiah said determinedly. "Then it's settled," I said, "We'll help you Mark."

Chapter 17

Jason

Cold wind whipped through the air, spraying snow and dust into my face. "Can we find a place to stop," I asked, "It's freezing out here." Blaine touched my shoulder. Heat surged through my body. "Thanks," I said. "No problem," Blaine said. "Where are we," I asked. "We're on the Western side of Russia," Gilbert stated. "No wonder I was so cold," I said, "I really wish I had my powers." "Don't worry I know a guy who could get rid of that for you," Gilbert said. "Where is he," I asked. "He's not that far actually," Gilbert said, "That's part of the reason I led you into Russia." "I hope he can actually help us, I don't much like freezing weather," Jason said. "He's an expert at dispelling," Gilbert said defensively. "What's his name," Chain asked. "You should know," Gilbert said, "He's one of your father's generals." "Which one, there are four of them," Chain said. "Alciel," Gilbert said. "Ah, then there is no way he can fail," Chain said happily. "I don't really feel safe seeking aid from a demon," Blaine said. "You've been seeking help from us nearly your entire time at Valitharian High School, Blaine," I pointed out. "Right, but at least you were part human," Blaine countered. "It'll be fine," I said, and lead the way.

We reached a tall building with a sign above the door written in Russian writing. Gilbert opened the door and lead us inside. The shop looked like a pawn shop. Many different oddities laid scattered around the building. A man speaking in a Russian language could be heard behind a door with a sign that probably read, "Staff only." I looked around and the various object in the shop. Some were weapons, like old rusty swords, other were wind chimes and other various things of questionable purpose. A man with a white beard walked out and stopped to take a look at us. He glanced around and spotted Gilbert. He immediately rushed to him and gave him a bear hug. They exchanged greetings and then the old man spoke with a heavy Russian accent, "It's been too long my friend, I would think that you would be at home after what happened." "I would but I was sent out to find Mariat," Gilbert said. The old man glanced at the rest of us and then back at him. "Don't worry they're friends, I'm sure that you already know one of them," Gilbert reassured.

The old man walked to each one of and stopped on Chain. "Are you who I think you are," he asked in disbelief. "Glad to see you again, Alciel," Chain said, hugging the old man. I was appalled by the amount of love Demons showed one another. I always thought that they were dangerous and fought each other often. "I need to get the news to your father, and Veltheim," Alciel said frantically. "That can wait, I came here for a reason," Chain stopped him, "This young man has a limiter tattoo on him." "When did you start helping humans," Alciel asked. "Well, we've been through a lot." "I don't know how when you've been stuck in Oblivion the last few decades," Alciel said. He walked over to me and grabbed my arm. "It's been a while since I've seen a limiter tattoo," Alciel remarked. "Will you be able to remove it," I asked. "Of course I can," Alciel said, "Come on." Alciel gestured with a wave of his hand to follow him. He walked towards a wall and placed his hand against it. A symbol glowed under his hand and the wall grinded against the floor as it opened. The wall revealed a flight of stone stairs. He walked down the dimly lit stairs. Blaine shuffled away, "I think I'll wait outside." We shrugged and walked down the dimly lit flight. We walked for a while, but not too long. We finally reached a large clearing of stone with more oddities that just upped the chart of strange.

There were floating spheres, living swords, and many, many other things. Alciel looked around a large bookshelf and pulled out a large tome. It was incredibly new looking. "New addition," Alciel explained happily. Alciel pulled out a large table with a pentagram on it. I placed my arm on the pentagram and waited while he flipped through the pages.

Si abstuleris de medio eius veram pugnat , quod impedit hominem ab huius fati The star in the center began to glow and the tattoo began to recede from my arm. As it did that I felt my powers return. The star stopped glowing and I felt just like I did before the whole incident with the Arch-Angels. "Okay," Alciel said happily, "You're healed, now if you don't mind I have some catching up to do with Chain." I nodded and looked around. I saw this orb on a pedestal that had a murky look on the inside, like a mist. I was strangely hypnotized by this orb. I saw strange images popping inside the glass ball. I reached out to touch the object when I heard Alciel scream at me, and break my thoughts. "What do you think you're doing," Alciel asked sharply. "I saw something in the orb, and I got this urge to touch it," I explained. Alciel flinched at my statement. "You... saw something," he asked apprehensively. "Y-yeah," I stammered. Alciel glanced at the orb, and then at me. "What's the problem," I asked. "This orb is a can tell the future," Alciel explained, "But it hasn't been functioning in years, I had all but given up on the thing." "So what does it mean if it's working now," I asked. "It means that someone wants you to succeed in this quest," Alciel pulling a chair in front of the table, "Sit down." I sat and looked at the sphere. "Now then," Alciel began, "Let's see what your future holds. Put your hand on the sphere." I did so and waited apprehensively. The ball began to glow first, very dully. Then the light got brighter until I couldn't bear to keep my eyes open. Soon the light gave away to total darkness. When I opened my eyes I was in a gray clearing clearing. Looking around I saw large gray pillars sticking out of the ground. "Where am I," I asked myself, expecting Chain's sarcastic response. Nothing, I'm on my own for once... and I hate it. I walked over to one of the pillars and looked at the etchings on it. Nothing I could understand, it must've been written before any known civilization. "Amazing isn't it," a voice said behind me. I spun to see a man with tan skin, black hair, red eyes, and a tuxedo on, "Millions of years older than the oldest known civilization, and yet it manages to be quite intact." "Who are you," I said raising my sword. "Bah, put your toy away," The man said waving his hand. The sword flung out of my hand. "I can use my water powers now," I said. "Don't be stupid," The man retorted, "If I came here to kill you, I would've done it by now." "Then what do you want," I asked. "I came to reward you for saving Chain," The man said. "And who might you be to have associations with Chain," I asked. "Why, you couldn't tell," The man asked, "I'm his father." Chapter 18 Jason "You're," I trailed off, unable to comprehend his presence. "Yes, I'm Satan," He said. "What do you want," I asked forming a spear of ice. "Don't worry, I'm here to help," Satan said. "I don't know how I feel about getting help from the Lord of Hell," I said. "Is it any different than signing off half your body to the Prince of Hell," Satan asked. Can't deny that logic, it's true. I made my spear dissipate, "What do you want?" "You sure do seem to like that question," Satan said, "Then again, it does seem to be the only logical question." He whisked his hand and a large table appeared with a chair on both sides of it. "Please, take a seat," Satan said. "You know, when I think of Satan I always thought of him as devious, dangerous, cunning, and deceitful," I said bluntly, "You're quite a bit different then my thoughts." "Well, I guess you could say that bible has a tendency to be misgiving," Satan said. "Fair enough," I said, and took a spot at the table. "Now then, as I said, I'm here to help you," Satan said. "With what," I asked. "Getting through your toughest trial ever," Satan said simply. "That must be a pretty hard trial, because I've been through some tough ones," I said jokingly. "You have no idea," Satan said, "First thing first, what is your plan at the moment?" "Find Mariat and destroy Ragnarok," I said. Satan flinched a little and then smiled, "Why Mariat?" "He still houses Ragnarok's soul," I said. "Really, and where did you here this little ditty from," Satan asked. Something about his smile made me feel like my blood was turning to ice, and yes, I know what that feels like. "Blaine," I said suspiciously. Satan didn't say anything for a while, then he cackled maniacally. His laughter filled the clearing for a few minutes before it shied away. "What's so funny," I asked. "Oh, don't trust anything unless you got decisive proof Jason," Satan said. "Are you saying my friend is lying," I asked. "You take it however you want," Satan said, "Just, be careful who you trust."That made my entire body go stiff. Was Blaine lying to me? Is Mariat actually free? "Why would Blaine lie to me," I asked. "It may not be lying as much as it is bending the truth," Satan said, "Trust me when I say there's a difference." "But why," I asked. "That, I cannot say," Satan said. I slammed the table and stood up, "Dammit Satan!" "Sit down," Satan said with bone chilling calmness. I faltered and sat back down. "I think you fail to see how much of a privilege it is that I'm here," Satan said, "I don't usually associate with humans." "The bible says otherwise," I countered. "Bibles can be misgiving," Satan repeated, "In truth I hate humans, which is part of the reason, not openly explained in that 'book', I left Heaven in the first place." "If you hate us, why don't you destroy this world," I asked. "Believe me, I would if I could," Satan said. "What do you mean 'if you could,'" I asked, "Aren't you something of a God?" "Huh, I wish," Satan scoffed, "In truth, I'm not almighty like your God." "Why is that," I asked. "Let's think of this logically," Satan said, "If I were created just like God, same ability and everything, who's to say I wouldn't create my own world, and destroy yours." I nodded, that seems to be pretty logical. "But we're getting off subject," Satan cut in, "I came here to help you." "Ah, that reminds me, why are you trying to stop Ragnarok," I asked. "Finally, a good question," Satan said, "Ragnarok wishes to destroy the entire world, which I cannot have." "Then just call him back," I said, "I mean you did create him didn't you?" "I wish I could but he's stuck in the over world, and I have no power in this world," Satan said sadly. "Your son has power in this world," I said. "Yes, because his blood is compatible with this world," Satan said. "What does that mean," I asked. "Well," Satan said, "Chain was born in the over world." "Okay, what do I need to do," I asked satisfied with all my questions. "You need to get to this, here, Ark, and meet up with my servant Mark," Satan said. "Mark," I echoed, "I feel like I've heard that name before." "Chain mentioned him no doubt," Satan said, "Mark is subservient to Chain." "So I'm supposed to meet them here," I asked. "Yes, but you must hurry, you won't be the only one trying to get here," Satan said. "Who else wants, or better yet, can get here," I asked. "The Four Catalyst," Satan said. "Would Blaine be part of that group," I asked. Satan didn't say anything. He just nodded. "Ah, before I forget," Satan said, "Take this." He took a small bottle out of suit and slid it across the table to me. I grabbed the bottle and looked at it. There was a colorless liquid in it, kind of like water. Although, this liquid looked incredibly different, it seemed to glisten in the sun more than water. "What is it," I asked. "It's an Obligatory serum," Satan stated, "It's a tasteless, odorless, potion that will shut down the frontal lobe of the brain, responsible for decision making. They will be more susceptible to suggestions." "So it's like a mind control potion," I said. "Yes, but be careful with that," Satan warned, "You can only use two people." "How will I know when to use it," I asked. "You'll know when the time is right," Satan said. Suddenly, a bell toll could be heard. It sounded like those large ones you hear at church. "That's my cue," Satan said rising from his chair. "Wait, you haven't told me where the Ark is," I said. "Look in the place that no man has come out of," Satan said and disappeared. I was left in the clearing, alone. "Look in the place that no man has come out of," I quoted, "What does that mean?" The ground began to shift violently and grabbed onto one of the pillars to keep my balance. The ground began to break and I lost my grip on the smooth pillars. I only saw a small ray of light. A female's voice rose from the abyss. "Don't worry young hero, seek me out and all will be answered," The voice said, "Seek Gabriel out and all will be revealed." "Where is Gabriel," I called into the dark. "Seek him out or all hope will disappear," The woman's voice said. As if in response the light flickered out leaving me falling into darkness. I woke up with a start in the chair that I was sitting in, before. "Oh, you're back," Alciel said. "How long was I gone," I asked. "A few hours," Alciel said, "So why don't you get something to eat and then I have a few questions for you." "Where are the others," I asked standing up. "Oh, there upstairs," Alciel said. I walked up the stone stairways and walked on to the main floor. "Hey, welcome back, what happened," Chain said. "I met your father," I said. Chain flinched. "I think I misheard you, I thought you said you met my father," Chain said. "I did," I said plainly, "He was nice." Chain's face grew extremely pale. "Oh my God are you okay," Chain asked worriedly, "Did he hurt you?" "Easy, he was fine, he's trying to help us," I said frantically. "Help us," Chain asked, "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Sata- father doesn't help people without a hefty price." "The price was rescuing you from Oblivion," I explained. "Really, that was the price," Chain asked inquisitively, "I'm afraid that doesn't sound like him." "Why's that," I asked. "Father expects me to be able to make my way out on my own," Chain said, "I'm probably a failure to him." "That's not true," Alciel burst on to the main floor, "Satan was exceptionally worried about you, so he sent Mark for you." Chain flinched. For a few minutes the building was awkwardly quiet. "Anyways," I said breaking the silence, "Satan told me to meet with Mariat at the Ark." "The Ark," Chain asked, "What that?" "It's some sort of shrine if I have to guess," I replied, "It's been incredibly preserved for millions of years." "Mariat," A voice shouted. I spun to see Blaine standing in front of the bathroom doors, "And what did Satan say about him." Suddenly Satan's words echoed into my head, "It may not be lying as much as it is bending the truth." "He didn't say anything," I lied. I don't want him to suspect that I know about his association with Ragnarok. I reached into my pocket and felt the glass bottle that holds the Obligatory Potion. "I also got another message to meet a guy named Gabriel," I said. "Gabriel," Chain echoed with a grim face, "He's an angel." "Cute," I said, "Where is he?" "No one really knows, I mean we didn't even see him at the trial," Chain said, "You would think that a lot of angels would want to see me disappear into Oblivion again." I nodded "Well, wherever he is, we need to find him." I don't know why I was so keen on finding him, but that woman sounded so familiar, and I feel like this Gabriel fella can tell me about the treachery that lies behind one of my friends. Chapter 19 Mariat "Isaiah watch your flank," I called over the roar of fire. Isaiah looked at his side just in time to dodge a blow from the attacker. "Who is this guy," Isaiah asked, "He's a lot different from the other Crimson shadows." It was true, I could tell from the start that this guy was a lot different from his companions. He was wearing a mask unlike his companion. The mask had a symbol that kind of resembled that of half an oblivion sign. The dot in the center was the eye hole. He wielded a rapier. He lunged at me, rapier ready. I parried the sword with my own and kicked him into the fire. "Hey, Mark, do you think that you could stop this fire, it's making it too hard to see the enemy," I asked. Mark barked, and the flame died away. Now that the flame was gone I was able to see the man staggering upward. "Who are you," I demanded. The figure remained silent. Fine, I'll just have to beat you into submission," I said and ran at him. He dodged and placed his finger to my forehead. I felt pain shoot through my head, like my head was collapsing. I fell to the ground, writhing in pain. I felt a breeze go right by my body, and heard a huge thud. I opened my eyes and managed to look up. Isaiah had shot him into a tree with his hand. "Thanks," I gasped. "No problem," Isaiah grunted. Suddenly, Isaiah's arm began to tremble violently. I head Isaiah scream in agony as his arm disappeared into a burst of black mist. His real hand started to bleed profusely."What the-," Mark asked rushing to his side, "Are you okay?" Isaiah couldn't speak, hewas going into shock. I saw the figure getting up, his mask's symbol was glowing a crimson red. His cloak began to rise as his cape parted to reveal red feathery wings. "What are you," I asked in awe. "I am the savior of Ragnarok, and the Second Catalyst that will bring your world's demise," The figure finally said, "I am Belethius, Catalyst of Nyero." Belethius then raised his sword. The sword began to disappear into a mass of black smoke. The black smoke began to grow until almost all of Belethius's body was covered. The smoke then amassed back to his hand and disappeared, revealing a large single edged blade. The hilt was pure blackness revealing a red eye in the center that looked around. The blade was a color of color and was jagged like uneven teeth. He rushed me, throwing me off balance. He kicked my leg out from under me and brought the sword down on top of me. I closed my eyes, waiting for the blade to tear right through me. At that moment I heard a sharp "Ping," and a moment later heard a large thud. I opened my eyes to see the blade was out of Belethius's hand was stuck in the ground a few meters away. I turned to see a woman with black hair, pale skin, and stunning blue eyes. She was holding a grey bow with an arrow nocked back already. It took me a while to realize that it was Heather. She shot another arrow that spread into many black orbs. The orbs burst releasing a black smoke that seemed to suffocate me. I felt my body getting tugged, and soon I was out of the black mist with Mark and Isaiah. I fought screaming pain in my muscles and looked around. Belethius was facing off against Heather one on one. I shot up and grabbed my sword to help her. Heather was shooting a barrage of arrows at him while he was blocking them. He then readied a lunge. I jumped in front of her and blocked the swing. "Thanks," Heather said. "No problem," I grunted. He jumped back and readied another attack. I shot lightning at him hoping to stun him. He slashed the lightning bolt like it was solid. He stabbed the blade into the ground and five black tendrils spewed out of the ground. The tendrils shot at us with incredible speed. I slashed one and its tip fell onto the ground. The tendril immediately regrow the tip back. "Dammit," Heather exclaimed, "This guy's just full of surprises!" I glanced around for some way of defeating all of the enemies. I saw Belethius in the center of the circle of tendrils, holding a black sphere with both his hands. I watched in dismay as the sphere got bigger. "Heather, he's charging something," I warned, "It could be dangerous, I suggest we end this quickly." Heather nodded and jumped into the air, "Artemis's Rain!" Her body jumped in front of the moon and readied a bow. A giant circle formed in front of her bow as she shot. When the arrow passed through the circle, more arrows formed. I watched as the arrows stuck all around the area she shot including the tendrils and Belethius. She landed with perfect grace and swung her bow. The bow began to fold in on itself and turn into a rapier. She lunged at Belethius. Belethius jumped into the air and put the black sphere in front of him. The sphere shot straight at Heather. I bolted to save Heather but was too late. A large crash was heard and the entire Earth rumbled at the force of the sphere. Smoke, ash, and dust, spewed out of the ground, suffocating me. I fell to the ground, gasping for air. I looked up, eyes watering, to see Belethius standing over me, sword put to my head. "I'm quite disappointed," He said halfheartedly, "I was expecting a little bit more of a challenge." I finally lost consciousness, and fell into pitch darkness. Was this the end?

Chapter 20 Isaiah

All I remember was feeling unbearably pain going through my arm and then passing out. When I woke up, I was laying in the cool grass with the sun beating down on top of me. I sat up and felt a surge of pain shoot up my arm. I looked at my hand and saw a large gash in it. It was swollen to the size of an orange, it had an angry red color with a greenish yellow color in the center. I shuddered at the sight. I used my weak hand to pick myself up. I looked around but my breath caught in my throat. The entire earth in front of me was gouged out like someone took a godly ice cream scoop and took out a chunk out of the ground. Dirt, ash, and another black material scattered all across the ground. I looked around but didn't find Mariat. "Mariat," I called, "Mariat!" "He must've been captured," Erebus said. "But for what," I asked, "I thought they wanted to destroy him." "Maybe they found another use for them," Erebus said. I shuddered to think of what they were doing with him. I finally found Mark, sprawled next to a broken tree, suggesting that he must've been incapacitated at the time of Mariat's kidnapping. I shook him awake, "Mark, Mariat's gone, wake up." Mark shot up, "Where is he?" "Do you think I would say that he's gone if I knew where he was at," I asked.

Mark glanced at my hand worriedly, "Will you be okay with that injury?" "I'll be fine," I said, "We have bigger things to worry about." Mark got up and looked at the large plot of earth now overturned and scarred by destruction. We first checked the large crater amongst the epicenter of the destruction, if there was any place to start, it would be there. We looked down at the giant hole and saw a woman sprawled in the center of the crater. "Do you think she's alive," I asked. "I guess there is only one way to find out," Mark said. He jumped down the crater and grabbed the girl in his arm. He jumped back up and laid her in the less destroyed place of the plot. He placed his hand to her neck, checking for a pulse. "She's alive, barely," Mark said. "Do you think that we'll be able to revive her," I asked. Mark had a grim look on his face, "I'm not sure, humans don't recover as well as other creatures." "You could give her a bit of your life," Erebus said. "How," I asked. "It's kind of the opposite of using your Ragnarok Limbs," Erebus said. "Why did we ever agree in calling it that," I asked, "I mean we're fighting Ragnarok so why did we name it that?" "It was named that before this began," Erebus said. "Why," I asked. "We are a creation of Ragnarok," Erebus said, "We were created as a juggernaut against angels." I swallowed hard, "You mean that fighting Ragnarok would be liking fighting our father?" "Indeed," Erebus said, "But that's beside the point, were losing her fast, if you're going to get her back you might want to start now." I nodded, she was losing a vital fast. I placed my hand to her head and closed my eyes. I felt my power drain from my body. I kept going until I couldn't bear to lose any more energy. I removed my hand from her head and lay down next to her gasping for air.

I could hear the woman breathing regularly again. "Okay, you get some rest," Mark said, "I don't know what you did, but it did quite a number on you." He didn't need to ask, I closed my eyes and was instantly out. When I opened my eyes, I was on a beach. I could hear the gentle lapping of the waves. I looked around, it was unnaturally bright. I looked up to see the moon in the sky though it was different. It was visibly cracked, and far closer to the Earth than usual. "Welcome to the Nyero," a familiar voice said behind me. I spun and saw the familiar face of Erebus. His long black hair flowed down his back. His pale skin showed brightly in the moonlight. His white eyes glowed in contrast to his pitch black sclera and pupil. "Nyero," I echoed questioningly.

"This is the home world of Angel Hunters," Erebus explained. "This place is incredible," I remarked. "Indeed," Erebus agreed, "To this day, it remains to be one of the purest dimension, we are the only ones who have access to it." "Why did you call me here," I asked. "You're probably wondering how Belethius was able to cut through your Ragnarok Limbs," Erebus said. I nodded, I was curious how he cut through my powers so easily. "As you know, Ragnarok is our creator," Erebus went on, "When he created the Four Catalyst, Serena, Belethius, and Roxio, he created them to have the power to kill any creature that got in his way, even us." "That's only three catalyst," I pointed out, "Who's the other one?" "That's the thing, no one knows," Erebus said, "Each of the Catalyst control a different dimension. Roxio is in control of Grim, Belethius is in control of Nyero, and Serena is in control of Hell. The last one is in control of the human world, he or she could be anyone." He continued when I didn't answer, "This is just a theory, but Mariat is incredibly powerful, imagine what kind of power Ragnarok could achieve by making him his Fourth Catalyst."

I felt my legs turn to jelly, "Are you saying that they took Mariat to become a servant of Ragnarok. Erebus looked at the ground, pain on his face, "I can't tell whether that's true or not, but it's possible." "Wait, but that doesn't make sense, why did they try to kill him when he was stuck in my body," I asked. "I was wondering that to, but I think I found a reason why," Erebus said. "What if Ragnarok's former Catalyst was still alive at that time?" "Do you know who it would be," I asked. "Just a thought, what if Blaine was the original Catalyst," Erebus asked, "After Mariat condemned him to Oblivion, Ragnarok looked for Blaine, but couldn't find him, then, Mariat came back from Grim with his body. And they showed a particular interest in him."

"So what do you want me to do," I asked. "Follow me, I know someone who might be able to help," Erebus said, turning around and walking towards the forest. I followed and looked around at the lush green trees and undergrowth. I saw a puddle a few steps ahead of me and looked at my reflection. I was in my Angel Hunter form. I looked at my hand and forced them into powerful black talons. "Is this all I can do in my power," I asked. "No, when you get more skilled with forming limbs, you can start forming actual weapons," Erebus said. "Can you," I asked. Erebus spun around and put his hand out. Black smoke began to grow thickly in the air. It began to concentrate into one area and turned into a solid black katana. "That's cool," I said. "Yeah, and that's only a small part of what an Angel Hunter can do." "So who are we seeing," I prompted. "A woman who knows of the fate of this world," Erebus answered. Suddenly a bell toll rang. Erebus paused and looked back at me, "This will have to wait for another time, you must return to your world." "What," I asked. "This could help us stop the destruction of our world." Erebus nodded sadly, "We don't have a choice, because your world is calling you." My body began to feel really light and I started to float back through the trail we took. I felt a rush of cold hit my body like a brick, then I was submerged in darkness.

When I woke up I was surrounded by fire, "What the Hell," I asked jumping up. "Ah, so you made it," A voice said behind me. I spun around to see a young man in a dragon mask. The mask covered up most of his face leaving only his icy blue eyes and a few strands of black and white hair. I tried to turn on my Angel Hunter form but it wasn't responding. "Don't worry, I'm not here to cause any harm. "Who are you," I asked. The man bowed, "I will guide you to your destination," The man said, "I am Gabriel."

Chapter 21

Jason

After regaining my power, things move fairly quickly. Storms were no trouble, monsters didn't stand a chance, and I was finally able to fight for myself. The only thing that was slowing me down was my thoughts. Every time I looked at Blaine, I couldn't help hearing Satan's voice repeat that ominous sentence, "It may not be lying as much as it is bending the truth." We had just reached Idaho in America. I was quite surprised at how quickly things have gone. It feels like just yesterday I was back in Russia. I can't wait to see Heather again, I'll bet it'll be surprising to see me back to simple Blue-Blood.

The only real problem right now are my powers. I think that I had been using Chain's power without realizing it. My mana is really low and I can barely do what I used to do when Chain's spirit was still with me. Nonetheless, I'm still glad I can use my powers again. It's not even like this is detrimental to me, I can just use ice weapons while I regain my power.

"We're getting close to a resting spot," Chain said, "We should stay there and rest for a while." "Sure, I'm getting tired," Blaine said. I nodded, "Sure." Gilbert remained very quiet. He's been rather unusual lately. He doesn't say that much ever since our talk with Alciel. Anything he does say is usually quick and no more than a mutter. How does he expect us to be team if he won't communicate? After we reached, a small hotel got myself a nice shower, no sense wasting my power if I can help it. As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom Chain was waiting for me. "Let's take a walk, I need to talk to you," He said and walked. Confused, I put on my shoes and headed outside. We walked up the road, until we were away from the rest of the team. "What's up Chain," I asked. "What Satan tell you," Chain said, "You're a terrible liar, Jason." I sighed and looked around, No sign of anyone, "He said that Blaine is bending the truth about Mariat, that he isn't actually still under Ragnarok's control." Chain looked unfazed, "I figured as much, there was always something off about Blaine." "What are we going to do about him," I asked, feeling guilty about having to lie to someone who has been my friend for so long. "We'll have to get rid of him," Chain said, producing a vial from his pocket. "You don't actually mean killing him, do you," I asked. "We can't allow him to pull the first move, we must get rid of him before he gets rid of us."

I gulped, "I-I don't know if I can do that." Chain nodded and gave a small sympathetic smile, "Luckily, now you don't have to, I can do this myself." A flash of light ignited into my peripheral vision. I spun around just in time to dodge a fireball heading in my general direction. "What the," I gasped. Another fireball ignited and shot at me. I put my hands against the ground and water shot out of the ground to absorb the fire. "So you know," A familiar voice spoke, coldly. My heart sank as I saw Blaine's cold red eyes staring intently at me. "Why did you do it," I asked, "Why did you side with the creature who intends on destroying our entire world?"

Blaine chuckled, "Ragnarok promised to destroy the human race, and give me a throne of the new world reborn." I knew exactly where this was coming from, Blaine was an orphan, his mother and father had died while humans tried to kill Blaine. He must have never got over that incident. He threw another ball of fire directly at me. I ducked and the ball of fire exploded when it collided with a tree. Chain stepped up, "Revenge never helps anything, it only succeeds in driving people crazy." "I bet you would know all about that wouldn't you, Chain," Blaine said coldly. I glanced at Chain. His eyes showed with the same fury I saw when I was looking at his past. A general of his father had killed his lover Dimitra. I still remember his face at that moment, a face of murderous intent. Suffice to say that the general didn't last long. "I would, I know what it can drive you to do," Chain said coldly.

Blaine made his hammer, Ignis, Appear. "Blaine don't do this," I pleaded, "This isn't you, this is Ragnarok manipulating you." "Do you think I care," Blaine asked, "As long as I die with the comfort to know that the rest of humanity will perish, I don't care." He lunged at me and the hammer smashed into the ground next to me, creating a large smoking crater where it landed. "No sense reasoning with him Jason," Chain said readying his weapon, "He's too far into his vengeance." I nodded and created a locker to get cerulean, "Chain guard me while I get my weapon." Chain nodded and stepped in front of me. A locker made entirely of ice formed in front of me. I placed my hand on the locker. A stark realization hit me, I don't have connections to the Oblivion anymore. Chain was my only medium that allowed me to summon stuff from Oblivion wherever I was. I cursed to myself and turned the locker into a sword. "What happened to Cerulean," Chain asked. "I can't make an entry way to Oblivion without you, which means I'm going to have to make do with it," I said. Blaine made to first move by slamming his hammer into the ground sending up a mountain of flame. The flame began to take shape into a giant dragon and lunged at us. I concentrated on the air around us and made a shell of ice. The dragon collided into the ice. I began to repair the ice as it melted. The fire soon subsided and the ice gave away to water vapor. Chain jumped into the air threw his scythe into the ground. A purple spell circle lit up from the ground around the scythe.

A black sort of foam spewed out of the ground and began to take the form of a humanoid figure. The figure lunged at Blaine and kicked him high into the air. Blaine whipped his hands in the air and the figure turned into smoke and engulfed Blaine. The smoke solidified and took form of a snake. The snake bit Blaine in the neck and then dissipated to smoke. Chain finished the combo with a giant fist forming from the black smoke. "Hell's Wrath," Chain yelled as the giant fist collided with Blain and struck him to the ground with incredible force. Chain landed next to his scythe and jerked it out of the ground. It still amazes me how powerful he's become now that he's managed to get his body back. Blaine laid in the crater that was made from his fall still for a second. Then he began to twitch and move again.

He cackled wildly and got back up. "Did you think that I would be able to kill me so easily," Blaine asked. "Actually, to be completely honest, yeah I did," Chain said, "Not many people survive that kind of an attack." Blaine stood up completely, his wounds were already healing, "Ragnarok blessed me with indestructability." I didn't even get time to register what he said. He lunged at me and slammed his hammer into my chest knocking across the field. I recovered myself in midair and slowed my descent by slowing the movement of the water vapor in the area until it turned to a shell of water. I hit the ground and the water lost its form and spread everywhere. I got up in time to see Blaine fighting Chain. I looked around my surrounding to see if I could get there faster. I saw two trees standing next to each other, good for a slingshot. I didn't hesitate to create a strand of elastic ice, (Is that even a thing?) and laced around the two trees. I stretched the strand as far as it would go and shot myself. I felt my neck jerk back as I went across the field at breakneck speed. I began to form ice on my hand put them in front of me. I squinted my eyes as they began to water. I felt my body jam into something squishy. I opened my eyes wide and immediately felt sick. I just jammed my ice weapon into Chain.

Chapter 22

Jason

I fell to the ground and the ice began to sublimate. "I… I…uh," I stammered. Chain collapsed to the ground black liquid spewing out of his body. "Wait you're the son of Satan, you can't die, right," I asked. Chain looked at me grimly and collapsed. "Fool, haven't you ever wondered why his powers are compatible on Earth," Blaine said with a smirk, "His mother was mortal, making him half human, therefore he is also mortal." I stared at Chain in pure horror at what I had done. The black liquid began to seep into my jeans making my legs feel cold. "Now then I'll finish you off," Blaine said, making a blue flame burst from his hand. I stared at the flame in horror, my body want to move, but my mind said, "I deserve it." "Goodbye, Jason," Blaine said putting the flame in front of me, "It's been good fighting with y-," A sharp Thunk echoed from him. I stared at him and saw him staring wide-eyed. His flame dispersed and he fell to the ground, a black pointed metal object was sticking out of him. I stared ahead and saw a figure in a hood. A mask cladded over its face. I wanted so badly to do something, but I couldn't. Instead, I sat limply as the figure approached and put his hand over Blaine. A circle formed over Blaine's body. A mask shot out of the circle. The mask looked like a disassembled star. He put the mask in a bag and then stared at me. I took notice in the details on the mask. It was a pentagram. "Well then, you look like you've seen a lot," A female voice said from the figure, "I would just kill you and put you out of your misery, but I have orders to just grab something, so goodbye." The girl began to sink into the ground and then just disappeared. I stood up and looked at Chain. He was still alive, but barely. I jolted out of my daze and immediately try to freeze the blood flow.

While I was doing that I was sobbing to myself. Chain was my greatest protector, my best ally, and my closest friend. He had been stuck together for so long, that now I can't imagine life without him. Before I knew it was screaming like a lost child, didn't know where to go, didn't know how to face the problem, it seemed like the only thing I could do was try and hope for the best. Suddenly a hand rested on my shoulder. I looked up and saw a woman standing over me. "Don't worry, you'll be fine," the girl said. She hugged me and I instinctively hugged her back, I didn't know who she was or what her purpose. I only knew that I needed someone to hold. I soon black out and fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up in a dark corridor, I looked around drowsily. I had a splitting headache, my eyes and nose were encrusted with tears and mucus due to crying so much, and my limbs were sore. In short I felt awful. The corridor was dimly lit by a lantern next to me. I picked up and stood up. The corridor went in both directions, and I couldn't see what was at the end of either of the corridors. The first thought that ran through my head was, "Where am I?" Then, a fresh shroud of grief as another thought ran though my head, "Where's Chain?" I shook away those feelings, if I'm going to find him, I can't stand here grieving. I decided to take the one to my left. The corridor was dark and it almost seem to be suffocating me. The darkness seem to press against my chest making every breath an excruciating labor. Then I realized, the darkness was actually suffocating me. I had thought that it was my nerve, but I felt my breath becoming shallower. I stopped and looked around, I remember this feeling. I had felt this same way when I had first formed a contract with Chain. Was this just a memory? I tried to form a weapon out of water in the air, but to no avail. There wasn't any moisture in the air.

I didn't really want to keep moving in fear that I wouldn't be able to breathe and die from asphyxiation. Meanwhile, I still didn't know where I am, how I got here, or where Chain is. These thoughts kept on swimming in my head. Then another thought came to mind, "Is Chain even alive still?" I didn't even know that. I sighed and tried to steady my thoughts, if I'm going to be able to persevere, I'm going to have to think about my course of action. Suddenly, I heard footsteps echoing through the corridor. I desperately look for something to use to defend myself. I then looked around and saw a bit of dried blood on my hands. I gulped and concentrated on the blood in my hand. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My hands screamed in pain as a spike of frozen blood shot out of the palm of my hands. I resisted screaming in fear that the thing coming for me would hear it. I broke off the spike and turned it into a blade. I closed the wound with some ice and readied to fight. The figure began to make its way out of the shadow. It was a woman. She had brown hair, cobalt eyes, pale skin, and plain white shirt with blue jeans. Her skin and eyes seem to radiate some sort of light. "Put your weapons away," She purred, "I'm not here to hurt you." I don't know what it was about her voice, but it seemed to radiate trust.

I let my blades dissolve back into my skin. "Who are you," I asked. "I'm Alice," She said taking a step towards me. I felt like I've heard that voice before. For the life of me, however, I couldn't figure out where or when I've heard that voice. "What do you want," I asked. Alice just smiled and walked into the darkness. I began to run blindly though the darkness trying to catch up. I soon tripped and looked back. The hallway where I had originally been was now crumbled and ruined. I saw that I caught my foot on a piece of rubble. I got up and the ground began to shake. I looked up to see the roof began to break and fall. I ran faster and faster but wasn't able to outrun the destruction. A piece of the roof fell on me and knocked me to the ground. Dazed I looked around to see Alice walking over to me. She crouched in front of me and dropped an amulet in my hand. Not a moment later the floor gave away and I fell into darkness.

I woke up in a bed. I was drenched in sweat, tears, and mucus. I was looking up at the roof. I sat up painfully and looked around, adjusting to the bright light. I was in a hospital. I guess that was all a dream. I felt around my clothing and found something bulging in my pocket. I took out and realized it was the amulet from the dream. It was interesting looking. It kind of looked like a tree with a bunch of symbols surrounding it. I'm thinking it could be Celtic, but I can't be sure. I suddenly realized that I still didn't know what that dream was about, nor did it answer any of my questions. I tried to stand up but I was really weak. I collapsed to the floor. I got back up and looked around. I need to find out what happened to Chain. I walked to the door and checked the bright corridor. It looked like a normal hospital. Normal looking people walked around either with IVs in them, or with a white doctor's coat walking from door to door. I realized that I was in the same clothing as the other patience.

I walked through the same corridors covering my back side. I finally made it to the desk and asked for my clothing. She glanced at me with a grim look and grabbed the rags I called clothing. They were tattered and covered in soot. There were holes that were brimmed with ash. I sighed my pants were in many ways the same state. "You can trash them," I said, "The last thing I need is to look like a male Victoria's Secret model." I tried for a smile. I need to keep the little bit of my humor if I'm going to stay sane. "Do you want some clothe from our Lost and Found," The counter-lady asked. "No, did anyone come in with me," I asked. The girl gave a puzzled look and then shook her head. I sighed. I recovered the meager fifty dollars from my pants pocket and then trashed them.

"I don't know if this will work," I said as I began to draw a circle in the dirt a few meters away from the hospital. I made a small blade and cut my hand. I let the blood hit the ground. As I watched the circle began to rotate, and I sighed with relief. A black humanoid figure came out of the ground and bowed. "How may I serve you Jason," The figure said, "It's been a while." "Yes it has, Lucas," I said, "Could you access my bank, please?" "How much do you wish to withdraw," Lucas asked. "Let's start with $500," I said, "Could you grab my sword and combat clothe, please?" Lucas nodded and disappeared. I waited a few minutes. Then Lucas began to form again. He dropped an envelope, and gave me a fold of clothing and a sheath. I sighed as I put on my new outfit. It feels good to be in this again. I strapped my sword to my side and checked the ammunition in its hilt. As I walked I realized that I was completely alone. I had no leads on where to go either. I began to ponder what happened to Gilbert. I didn't see him at all. I shook away the thought, I need to find out what happened to Chain, and I need to focus on the mission ahead of me. I need to stop Ragnarok from destroying this world.

Chapter 22

Isaiah

I sighed, there hasn't been as little as a sign of Gabriel. He said he would be meeting us at the Bermuda Triangle where Ragnarok has been taking refuge. I'm beginning to think that maybe we're at the wrong island. I don't know any other Island in this God forsaken ocean though. Nobody does. And the constant worry of what happened to Mariat is driving me crazy. The idea that he might be corrupted is terrifying. I've seen the power that Mariat can wield and it's no laughing matter. "Hey, Isaiah," Heather's voice said from behind me. I spun around to see her walking over to me. She made remarkable recovery after that showdown with Belethius. Can't say that for myself. That wound on my hand has only proceeded to get worse, and every time I try to form the Ragnarok Limbs in that arm, it becomes just a mass of disfigured muscles. Then, when I stop the power my arm is in worse condition than before. I looked at the swollen hand, now beginning to redden the entire arm. It's definitely an infection, but I don't know how I'm supposed to heal it without some Antibacterial cream. If I try to heal it manually, I'm afraid it won't heal right and I'll never be able to use the arm again. At the same time however if I don't heal it, I'm going to face worse injuries. "Isaiah," Heather was now right in front of me, snapping her fingers in my face, "Earth to Isaiah come in." I shook myself out of this conniption and focused on the present, "Yeah, what?" "Mark, might have found something, come one," Heather said. "Wait, what did he find," I prompted. "I don't know it was some kind of… arch of some kind," Heather said, "I looks a lot like the St. Louis Arch." I sighed, and caught up with her. Sure enough we came to a large arc jutting out of the ground, I'm quite surprised we didn't see it before.

"What do you suppose it is," I asked, partly to Erebus. "Not sure," Mark said, "Humanity has never seen anything like this." Taking a closer look at the arc I could see a bunch of strange symbols, like hieroglyph, engraved into the metal. "This is the place," Erebus said. "Are you sure," I asked, "Where is the entrance?" "The Arc would open in the presence to one of the Masks," Erebus explained. "Wonderful, so now we have to wait for the bane of our existence to come for us," I said sarcastically, "And then what, do we just ask, 'Hey we need to borrow the source of your power to stop your master from doing exactly what you want him to do.'" "We'll need to force him to do it," Erebus said. "And how exactly do we do that," I asked. "I don't know, we've seen what they are capable of," Erebus said. "Maybe there is another way in," I said, hopefully. "Mark," I said, "It's the entrance to Ragnarok's lair." "Great! How do we get in," Mark asked. "We need a mask," I said. Mark just stared at me with total disappointment, "Well, we saw Belethius's power," Mark said, "So were pretty much screwed."

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine," Heather said, "Though, it is true." I sat in the soft grass and looked at the arch, so close, yet so far away. It's tantalizing. I hope that Mariat is okay. I laid in the grass and closed my eyes, for just a moment. When I opened them I was back on the beach of Nyero. I stood up and looked among the shimmering water. "Why am I here," I asked myself. "Yes, that is an excellent question," a voice spoke behind me. I spun around to see Erebus, "I brought you here to get you into the entrance." "What," I asked, "How?" "We remain to be the sole creation of Ragnarok," Erebus said, "We were also his former sentinels before the Four Catalyst." "So how do we get in," I asked. "Your blood should work," Erebus said, "I'm sure he hasn't gotten rid of the blood seal yet." "Great," I said, "I'll leave now to get in." "Hold on," Erebus said, "What about your hand?" I paused and looked at the infected hand, "I can handle myself without it." Erebus gave an amused look, "I like the courage, but in all reality you'll get massacred in there without your second limb." "So what do you suggest I do," I asked. "It is true that if you heal it with your powers, you'll probably won't be able to use it the same way again," Erebus said, "However, you could make into an actual weapon."

"How," I asked, excited at the prospect of being useful again. "Well it's like getting the Ragnarok limbs, but you concentrate the power away from your body," Erebus explained, placing his hand in front of him, "Meanwhile, you need to think about the weapon you want to appear." Black mist began to gather in his hand. The mist elongated and to form of a large spear. "It's rather difficult to begin with, but it gets easier with practice," he said, dismissing the weapon back into mist. I nodded and placed my hand in front of me, palm outstretched. I closed my eyes, and went through the process of getting my Ragnarok limbs. However, I tried to move the power away from my body and focus it next to my hand. I thought of something simple, a sword would do. I opened my eyes to see mist beginning to take form. I got so excited to concentrate. The blade dispersed back into mist. Sheer energy of it knocking onto my back.

"You were doing well, up until you got excited," Erebus said, "You need to remember to keep focus." I nodded and sat back up. "Other than that, you did really well for your first time," Erebus encouraged, "Just keep calm, and you'll be fine." I nodded and gave it another try. This time managing to get a solid sword in my hand. However, upon giving it a swing, the hilt turned to mist and it flew right out of my hand. "What happened there," I asked as I watched the rest of the sword disappear. "Maybe the sword isn't your suit," Erebus suggested, "In your life, has there ever been a weapon that you wanted to use more than anything?" I thought to myself, thinking back to my childhood, has there ever been a weapon I wanted to use? "I suppose I've always wanted to master a pistol," I said. "Good, try that," Erebus said. I thought of a regular pistol as I concentrated on the air in front of me. I felt the handle of the pistol touch my hand. I grasped it and opened my eyes. "Excellent, but guns are exceptionally difficult to master with this power," Erebus warned, "Not only do you have to summon the gun, you also have to summon the ammunition as well, so be careful." I nodded and thought about a clip of generic pistol ammunition. It formed in my hand and I put it into the gun. "Good, now give it a try on that tree," Erebus said, gesturing towards a tree. I aimed down the sight and shot the pistol.

The gun stayed solid through the entire session. "Now that you have gotten standard weaponry down, time to test your imagination," Erebus said. "What do you mean," I asked. "You see, one of the reasons Angel Hunters are so powerful, is because of their ability to not only form weapons, but modify them to react to certain circumstances," Erebus explained. "I'm not following," I said. "It's difficult to explain, but think of your gun as a living weapon," Erebus explained, "It has a drive to live, and it will use different resources to survive." He sighed, obviously seeing my blank expression, "I'll show you." He formed a spear in his hand. It looked generic enough. He ran at the tree, and stabbed it. For a moment nothing happened, then the tree behind the one that Erebus struck toppled over. I squinted to notice that the blade had passed through the first tree and cut through the other tree. The blade was connected to a wire that would have been invisible had the moon not casted a glow on it.

"See," Erebus said letting go of the spear, "You can make your weapons do much more than act like a generic weapon." "That's great I'll try it ri—," I was interrupted by the tolling of a bell. "You have to learn on your way," Erebus said promptly, "I'm teleporting you Ragnarok's vigil." "Wait, what about my friends," I asked. "There's no time, they'll find their own way in," Erebus said. Black mist began to gather around me, and before I could protest, I was engulfed in darkness.

Chapter 23

Jason

I ran to the shore, completely out of breath. A giant serpent had found me when I passed through the forest. Now I have been running through the forest for about a half an hour. I skidded on to the damp sand and turned back to see the snake crash through the forest. It coiled up in front of me preparing to lunge. I smirked, he's in my territory. It lunged baring large fangs that could impale many men at once. I pointed my finger to the damp sand and pointed at the snake's mouth. A geyser of water shot out of the sand, drawing right from the ocean. It shot into the Snakes mouth and froze. I pointed at the ocean and pointed into the air. Gallons of water shot out, separated, and froze so they were shaped into intimidating looking spikes. At that moment, the snake broke his mouth free from the ice pillar and crashed his head into the tower sending shards of ice into the air. It let out a ferocious hiss and readied lunge. I pointed at the snake, and the spikes rained from the sky stabbing into the snake and piercing its thick hide. The snake let out a shriek as it crashed to the ground, sending sand flying everywhere. I closed my eyes as the sand began to buffet my skin. When I opened them again, the snake was beginning to disintegrate, leaving a skull and a large spine embedded in the sand.

I sighed and look past the shore, after pondering what Satan said, "Go to the place where no one returns," I finally know where I needed to go, The Bermuda Triangle is the only place that not much is known about because people disappear in that place. I was on the Gulf of Mexico right now, so I could just stride across the gulf. I stepped onto the ocean and walked across the water. I put my hand to the surface and closed my eyes, I let my vision go past my vantage point and soon spotted an archipelago in the area where the Bermuda Triangle lies. I nodded and felt my body submerge into the water. A few seconds later I was on a few meters away from shore. I swam the rest of the way, grateful for the warm sun and refreshing ocean water. I climbed onto the shore and forced the water out of my clothing. I looked across the moorland. Nothing out of the ordinary. I climbed one of the hills and saw a few figures walking the hills, they seem to be calling for someone.

"Hey," I called, hoping to get their attention. They stopped and ran in my direction. I began to recognize one of them. "Heather," I asked, "Is that you?" "Jason," the woman called, "Oh thank goodness you're safe!" She ran faster and collided me giving me a huge hug. She then slammed me to the ground and put the rapier to my face, "Don't you EVER do something stupid like that again." I laughed a little, "I'll try not to." She seemed satisfied and put her weapon away. I got myself up. "Who is this," A man climbed the hill, "Heather do you know him?" "Yes, this is my brother Jason," she said. "Jason," he asked, "Where's Chain?" I paused, this had got to be Mark, the servant of Chain. The inseparable friend of his. What will he do if he finds out I impaled him. "Yeah, Jason, where is Chain," Heather asked. "I… erm," I stammered. "He's gone," A voice spoke from behind. I spun around to see a man with Icy blue eyes and black and white hair. I prepared my weapon. "What do you mean he's gone," Mark asked. "He was taken back to Hell," The man said. I froze, was he covering me? "Who are you," I asked. "I'm Gabriel," he said, "I'm here to help."

"Gabriel," I repeated, "I was supposed to find you." "Yes, and I'm here," Gabriel said. He gave me a subtle, but incredibly visible expectant stare, as if to say play along. He gave me a completely unreadable look. "We can't worry about him, he's back in Hell with his father so it's no problem," Gabriel said, "Right now we need to worry about stopping Ragnarok, Jason do you still have the amulet?" At first I didn't understand what he was talking about, but then I realized that he was talking about Alice's amulet. I pulled it out, "Yeah, what is it for," I asked. "It will help us get into Ragnarok's Vigil," Gabriel said. "Wait, but why did a girl have it," I asked. "That girl is the daughter of Satan," Gabriel said, "She is the Ragnarok's keeper." I paused, Satan's daughter? That means she is Chain's sister. "It only makes sense that she would have a mean of entering Ragnarok's lair," Gabriel went on. I realized that I had probably met Alice before then. Or Chain has introduced me to her. "Anyways," Gabriel said, "That amulet will help you get in." I nodded, "Why does Alice want to stop Ragnarok?" "She's the daughter of Satan," Gabriel said, "Didn't Satan say that he wants to stop Ragnarok?" I nodded and suddenly, I began to make sense of all of it. He probably had Alice give the amulet to me.

"C'mon," Heather said, "Let's stop this." I nodded then I remembered something. "Gabriel, you're an angel aren't you," I asked. Gabriel nodded, "Why are you helping the demons?" "Ragnarok's actions will affect all ethereal beings if he wins," Gabriel explained, "We have called a temporary truth with Satan and his demons to stop this." I nodded, it feels good to finally have some of my questions answered. I still had one question however. "Heather, where is Mariat," I asked. "He was kidnapped," Heather said. "What," I asked, "By who?" "One of Ragnarok's servants." "He's undoubtedly in Ragnarok's vigil," Mark said. I began to climb down the hill, Mark, Heather, and Gabriel behind me. "Jason I would like to talk to you," Gabriel suddenly said. I glanced at him then at Heather, "Go on ahead, we'll catch up." She gave me a worried look. "Don't worry sis, I'll be back soon," I assured her. She nodded and caught up with Mark. "What is it," I asked. "You might have difficulty getting Mariat back," Gabriel said. "Why's that," I asked. "He will be corrupted by Ragnarok's power," Gabriel said, "He will probably fight you." I suddenly felt sick, Mariat's power was strong enough to defeat Ragnarok once, imagine that power added to his arsenal. "How will we get him back," I asked. "Satan gave you an Obligatory serum, didn't he," Gabriel asked.

I grabbed the bottle and looked at it. Satan had said that I would know when to use it. It works for two people. So, I used it for Mariat, but what about the other guy? "Don't worry about the next dose, you'll know when the time is right," Gabriel said, as if reading my thoughts. That potion will take care of Mariat, but he will most likely not take it willingly. I gulped, "I'm going to have to force feed him, won't I," I asked. Gabriel nodded. "Is that it," I asked. Gabriel gave another nod. I began to run, but then realized something. "Gabriel, thanks for covering me back there," I said. "Covering for you," he repeated questioningly, "Oh no, he's actually alive I brought him back after you disappeared." I jumped, Chain's alive still. I suddenly felt lighter, and much happier. "Thank you."

I caught up to Mark and Heather. There was a giant arc jutting out of the ground. I looked at the amulet. I began to hum, then flew out of my hand into the center of the arc. Light began to spew out of the amulet as the arc turned to a gateway. I gulped as I looked into the shimmering lights, behind here lies our final battle. The lives of billions are at stake. I looked at Heather, "Are you ready?" She gave me a nervous glance then nodded. I looked at Mark and asked the same. He nodded as well. Gabriel nodded and gave me a thumbs up. I walked into the light. Now begins the final battle.

Chapter 24

Isaiah

Thank goodness for night vision, I don't think anyone could navigate through this maze without a light. I have been walking through this labyrinth for about twenty minutes now. I'm so paranoid that I constantly look over my shoulder. To put into context, I feel like I'm living inside a nightmare. Everything looks intimidating, and I get a huge foreboding feeling whenever I walk past a new corner. I'm glad the labyrinth wasn't insanely difficult. I already could see the exit so that's promising. The next room wasn't a good feeling either. It was a large expansive room with a door on the other side. No doubt I'm going to fight something here.

Literally right after thinking that, the door behind me slam shut and I was stuck in the room. A large golem fell from the dark roof and looked at me with dull grey eyes. I formed my Ragnarok limb and weapon. It began to lunge at me. I dodged and clawed through the stone joints. I cut through easy and jumped back to prevent any sort of retaliation. The golem looked at me with its eyes as if scanning me. Then its body began to morph until it took form of me. It began to use the Ragnarok limbs as well. It ran at me and I sidestepped clawing at its other arm. This time I couldn't cut through. My claws bounced off harmlessly. It gave a small smirk then it rounded its lunge and raked my back with its claw.

I collapsed to the ground blood pouring out of my back. "Well," The doppelganger spoke, "That certainly wasn't difficult." I smirked and rolled to my side evading a talon that stabbed into the ground where my face would have been. I shot the pistol at the doppelgangers eye. It shrieked as it staggered backwards. I stumbled to my feet and checked my back. The wound wasn't that deep, but I healed it anyways. I sighed as the soothing feeling came over my back like water. The doppelganger stared at me with bitter resentment. It lunged at me. "I could be trying out that power Erebus taught me," I thought to myself. I imagined my bullet splitting into miniature bullets and shot my weapon. As I imagined the bullet split causing catastrophic damage to the golem. The legs began to crumble until they were dust. The doppelganger tried to crawl to me but I just shot it in the face and it disintegrated.

I sighed saw the two doors open, "He's trying to exhaust me," I panted, "Well, it's working." I exited the room, and saw a smaller room. In the center of the room was a person sitting. At least I thought it was a person. It had humanoid figure. It had one of the masks so I'm assuming this is like a boss battle at the end of a dungeon. The figure looked back and saw me. "Aww, if it isn't the Angel Hunter," a female voice said, "I'm Serena, and I'll be entertaining you today."

Why did I have a feeling that "entertaining" was just a charming way to say "murdering?" Anyways, she unstrapped her crossbow, "Shall we begin?" She shot arrow at me, I dodged, not daring letting it touch me in case it's as dangerous as Belethius's weapon. I shot my gun. It spread into millions of other bullets. She threw her crossbow away and put her hand in front of her, a barrier formed just to stop the bullets. "Impressive," she said, "I'll have to try harder." She shot fire balls at me. I smirked, this I could block. I put my hand in front of me and defended myself from the fire. However, the fire began to heat up my arm, until became almost unbearable. I ducked under a rock as she kept hurtling fire at me. I looked at my arm, it was steaming but unscathed. I aimed my gun over the rock and shot a few rounds, each one splitting into a hundred more. She jumped into the air and put her finger in front of her. A black circle formed in the air, shooting a rain of black swords at me.

The blades cut right through the rock and I had very little time to dodge the storm. I concentrated on giving myself wings. I felt new forms of limbs connect to my body. I jumped up and soared across room. She stopped the blade storm and twirled her hand in the air. Dark clouds began to form in the room, and the whole room lit up with lightning. I dodged as the pillars of lightning would shout from the cloud erupting in a roar of power and noise. "She's keeping the pressure on me, I don't have a chance to hit her," I thought. Then I remembered something. "When I stop concentrating on my weapon, it burst into a black cloud with enormous energy," I thought, "I wonder if it works on her." I shrugged, worth a try. I soared downward and right above her. I dropped the gun with a full magazine and stop thinking about it. Just as I suspected, the gun burst, and with the added power of the magazine, it sent her back a bit. The clouds dissipated and I had time to attack her. She began to crawl backwards. I began to pick up speed. Faster… faster… Thunk!

Pain erupted as she shot an arrow that landed me square in the shoulder above my Ragnarok limb arm. I crashed into her and we went sailing across the ground. I finally stopped after crashing into a rock. I laid there dazed by a mixture of pain and expending too much energy. I opened my eyes to see Serena above me, a crossbow in hand. "You were quite a bit more fun than most of my other assignments," She admitted, "But all good things come to an end eventually." My mind was too loose to concentrate on making my weapon appear. And my Ragnarok limbs have disappeared. I could only lay there and look pitiful. As she caressed the trigger I closed my eyes tightly, I've failed.

Thunk! I opened my eyes to see an arrow stuck in Serena's head. "Gotcha, Bitch," I heard Heather's voice across the room. I slowly looked to see Heather, Mark, Gabriel, and another kid who looked a lot like Heather. Heather had her bow and arrow poised to make another shot. "Are you alright, Isaiah," Mark said running to me. I gave a small nod. I watched as Serena's mask began to disappear with a cloud of smoke, revealing her face. She was so young, so… normal looking.

"What a pretty thing," Gabriel said looking at the girl, "What a shame." "Damn that Ragnarok," the boy murmured. I got up clumsily and took the arrow out of my shoulder. More pain erupted in my shoulder. I healed it quickly and my other injuries.

"What happened to you," Heather asked, "We thought we lost you." "No, I went ahead, thank goodness you came when you did," I answered. "Well, we better get going then," Gabriel said gesturing to the opened door. I walked clumsily still regaining my bearings. I stumbled and fell on top of the boy. "I'll help," he said, "I'm Jason." "I'm Isaiah," I said. I balanced myself and kept walking. The entire walk through the corridor was silent. I sighed longing to speak with Erebus. I haven't heard from him at all. Shortly we reached another room and found another corridor. This time a large Behemoth was in the center, growling as we entered. We all prepared to attack. I sighed to myself, "This is going to get old."

Chapter 25

Jason

I was a little surprised that the maze wasn't all that challenging, I was also surprised to find the enemy in the first room already defeated. I wasn't surprised, however, to find that the girl that I had encountered back in Idaho was here. I was surprised to find a kid in here, however. Something told me that he wasn't any normal kid, I mean looking at the girl's wounds before her death I have a sneaking suspicion that Isaiah had caused those, and if that is the case, then he is much more powerful than I would ever imagine. I digress, the next room held a pretty good looking fight. A Behemoth, if I had to guess, probably Hell-born. Anyways, as if we were a team we fought from each angle. I got to see Isaiah's powers in action and let me just say, color me impressed. The behemoth bellowed in defiance. I could see it was calling up more energy. We had to finish it quickly. It brought every attack with ferocious speed and power. At the moment, my powers were somewhat useless because there is no presence of water.

My gun-blade handled it nicely though. It would try to attack me, and I would sidestep returning with a magazine of bullets. I also got to find out that Mark was a Hell Hound. That was interesting. Anyways, the final blow was dished out by Gabriel who is actually a very skilled spell caster. He pointed his hand into the air above the Behemoth and a large sword of light and energy shot out and cut right through the skull. "Well, that was fun," Heather said, sheathing her weapon. "Let's keep moving," Gabriel suggested.

The next room was similar to where we found the girl, It was pitch black in here. Gabriel made a ball of light form in his hand. He shot it across the room. As it glided it left a little trail of light to follow. When we entered the room however, the door at the other side slammed shut. "What now," I asked, "We have to get past there." "Yes, you do," A voice echoed through the darkness. I squinted to notice black mist was beginning to gather in the center of the room as a figure began to take shape. He had a mask similar to the last one, except the symbol was different. It was like a star but it had a little dot in the middle. "But the only way you'll get past here is if you defeat me," the figure said. His voice was of a male. "You must be Roxio," Isaiah said, "The Third Catalyst, and Ragnarok's general of Grim." I blinked, how did this kid know so much? "You are well studied," Roxio said, "Yes, I am that of who you speak." He formed a large black scythe in his hand. "Don't let that scythe touch you, it will sap at your life if it gets even the smallest cut," Isaiah warned. I nodded and readied my weapon. I didn't have time to react as he disappeared and reappeared right in the middle of the group. I was just able to stagger away from the blade, as he spun it around. I lunged at him and brought my blade down, but he poofed into a cloud of black mist as my blade cut through him. I realized the mist was forming behind me.

I managed to spin around and parry his swing, but only just. He delivered a kick to my solar plexus that sent me soaring across the room. I skidded across the floor and bumped into the wall. I only had time to see Roxio managing to hold his own while everyone attacked him. Not even Gabriel was able to hurt him. He jumped as Heather tried to lunge at him. He jumped onto the ceiling, and launched back to the ground with amazing force. I got back up and rejoined the fight. I saw Isaiah off to the side observing the fight. He then nodded, "Try to disarm him!" Everyone began to change their strategy readying to disarm him of his weapon. I thought about how I could try and get him away from his scythe and then it hit me, I could literally wedge myself between him and the scythe. I looked at my hand and thought about the last time I had tried to turn myself to water. It didn't go well. I sighed, and released all of my tension. I felt like my body was being lifted off the ground. I crawled along the ground as a puddle of water. I climbed up his body, keeping the same temperature as he was so he wouldn't feel anything. I began to cover the scythe careful not to touch the blade. I began to turn to ice and, like a charm, he could get his grip on the scythe and ended up throwing it into the wall. I turned my body back to normal and hoped for the best that my body parts were the same. I picked up the scythe. Roxio turned to a cloud of black mist and appeared right in front of me.

I've never wielded a scythe before. So, when he came at me with a bunch of black tendrils trying to impale me the only thing I could do was run. I wasn't fast enough and I tripped on one of his tendrils. I looked back to see he was about to kill me. At that moment a voice echoed in my head. "I'll take care of this," it said. I felt my body beginning to do things I wasn't making it do. I stood up and spun the scythe deflecting the tendrils. I began to lower into a stance that I knew all too well. "Chain," I asked. "Hey, how's it hanging buddy," Chain said in his usual sarcastic self. I wanted to hug myself, but I couldn't control my body, "Chain I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—," "You didn't do anything wrong, we have never fought side-by-side with each other before, we had no strategy for that," Chain interrupted, "And besides, I'm still very much alive." I began to run at Roxio, summoning Chains from the ground to restrict Roxio. Roxio turned to mist and appeared right behind me. I smirked and summoned up a restriction circle. He couldn't escape now. "What," Roxio grunted, "How?" "Your master's time of tyranny is up," I said, "And it ends with your failure." Without a moment hesitation I plunged the scythe into his neck slicing right through it.

The mask turned to smoke just as the first mask did. "Master," Mark asked behind me. I turned around, "Well, if it isn't my friend," I said with true sentiment, "It's been a while Mark." "Oh, master," Mark kneeled onto the ground with his hand across his chest, "I have missed you, sir." I put my hand on his head, "I've told you not to bow to me, Mark." He rose, I could see his eyes were glassy with tears. "Are you taking half of my body again," I asked Chain. "No," He said, "You deserve to have your body back." "Chain," I began, "I need your help still." There was a moment of silence, "I'm still magically bounded to you," Chain began, "Are you sure you want me to manifest again." "Jason," Heather said, "Wait, and please think about this." I nodded, "I have, and I found I have never felt complete without Chain, he has been living within me for so long that I have come to appreciate his constant presence." Heather nodded, "Fine, but I just want you to know, I've missed your normal look." "I know," I said, "You've made very clear, but this is my choice." "Is that a yes then," Chain said. "Yes, Chain, I command you, manifest my body again!" My body began to regain control, but at the same time, I could feel another presence within me.

Along with that, the knowledge that Chain has also was shared with me. I fell to the ground, gripping my head as the knowledge flooded my head, and along with that, the immense power now back at my disposal. After a moment I could finally see straight again. I stood up and gave a smirk, "Now then," I began, "We have a world to save."

Chapter 26

Isaiah

I've seen some crazy stuff in my life. Demons, reapers, people wielding elements off all different kinds, monsters… the list goes on. But by far the most bizarre thing just occurred in front of me. I just witnessed Jason talking to himself then all of his limbs began to twist, and his eyes turn different color. Finally, after all that happened, he had two different colored irises. One was his original dark blue, the other was a blood red color. "Now then," Jason spoke, with a bone chilling smile, "We have a world to save." I've noticed that Mark was standing closer to Jason. Must be the half-presence of his master. "How cute," Erebus said, "It's good that the dog found his owner." "Erebus," I yelled, "Where have you been, I haven't heard from you at all." "I was making… preparations," Erebus said ominously. "Right," I said. The next room was the same as the room with the behemoth in it. This time there were two large serpents. I readied my weapon, but Jason put his hand in front of me, "Allow me," he said, "I need the exercise." He cracked knuckles and prepared to fight. The first snake lunged at him. He simply put his hand on its snout and whispered something. The snake's body began to shudder and then it attacked the other snake. They writhed on the ground flipping dust everywhere. Meanwhile, Jason was charging a ball of pure black energy. The ball reached the size of a beach ball and he shot it. The ball collided with the snake obliterating both snakes in one blow. Jason looked back, his red eye glowing just a bit bright than the blue eye. "Alright, it's clear," Jason said with a smile. I shuddered, he was no doubt more powerful than Mariat.

We entered the next room. It has become an incredibly repetitive little walk. Belethius was sitting on a stone sharpening his weapon. "So you made it," He said calmly, "I must say those who came before you never even came close to this far, color me impressed." "We will stop Ragnarok at all cost," I said, bitterness rising in my consciousness, this guy was responsible for corrupting Mariat and harming his friends, he will pay. "What do you mean, 'those who came before us,'" Jason asked. "You aren't the first to try and stop us, but may be the last," Belethius said, "There is no time for new defenders." "We'll be the last because we'll stop you," Heather said. "Yes, Mariat said that as well," Belethius said, "But now he's one of us." I saw Jason smirk. Was he happy? "Enough of this though," Belethius said, standing up and readying his weapon, "You've proven to be a nuisance to my master's plan, so it's time for me to put you down."

He didn't give much time to react he had already succeeded and knocking Heather and Mark away. Jason and Gabriel were the only one that were actually holding up against him. I tried to attack him but he kept deflecting my attack. Soon even Jason and Gabriel were getting tired. There movements were getting slow and sloppy. Finally, Belethius was facing me, and I must say that I wasn't looking forward to it. He lunged at me, I dodged his swings shot my pistol into his gut. He disappeared and reappeared behind me. I rolled out of the way, but wasn't able to recover in time. I looked just in time to see him bring his sword down upon my shoulder cutting right through it.

Pain erupted where my shoulder use to be, and I screamed as blood spewed out. I was beginning to get light headed and my breath getting shallow. Was this how I was going to die? I thought to myself. I was losing grip of reality and parts of my life were flashing in my mind. So soon? The images began to fade and I felt my body beginning to slip away. No! I felt my body again. I have a mission to finish! I opened my eyes and felt my body lift off the ground. Belethius turned to me and flinched. "Well, you're more resilient than I thought," He said and readied his weapon again. He lunged but this time he wasn't able to get near me. A black engulfed my body and I felt my body growing new limbs. I looked at my arm, now just a nub grow into a black arm with talons. I saw scorpion tale beginning to form. Belethius jumped back, "Interesting." I walked onto the ground, the floor disintegrating as I touched it. He tried to rush me again. My tail instinctively shot at him and jabbed into the ground in front of him.

I smirked as I lifted my tail flinging a chunk of floor at him. He slashed in half, but wasn't able to react to my lunge. Grabbed his throat and pinned him against the wall, "You don't deserve to be an Angel Hunter." I grabbed his sword from his hand and stabbed him in the throat. There was a gurgle sound and then his mask faded, revealing a man with black hair, pale skin, and no eyes. He collapsed to the floor as the rest of his life spilled out of him. I felt my body's energy fading away. I soon collapsed to the ground and looked up at the ceiling. I felt my eyes getting heavier, heavier. I felt my breath slowing down. Hopefully we'll live… I soon felt my body drift into sleep.

Chapter 27

Jason

When I woke up, I saw blood in a pool a few meters away. And a few meters from the pool was Isaiah laying on his back. Belethius was leaned up against the wall, blood drying up at his neck. I stood up and stretched my stiff muscles. I limped to Isaiah and found that his breathing was slow and shallow. I kneeled beside him, "Isaiah?" "Is he dead," Chain asked. "No, not yet," I said, "But he's close. I checked for any wounds, but his body was in shape. I noticed that one of his arm was black and had sharp talons unlike his other. His skin was pale and cold. I reached into my pocket and fumbled for an Elixir. I took a small bottle of a red liquid. "This should make him live. I took the cap off and dropped the liquid in his mouth. It took a while but his breath became fuller and color returned. "I'll leave him for now," I said. I woke everyone who had fewer injuries. Everyone, beside Isaiah, began to gather around Gabriel, who began to heal everyone.

Isaiah began to sit up and look around. "I'm alive," he asked surprised, "How?" "That would be my doing," I said kneeling beside him, "How are you?" "I'll feel fine," Isaiah said, "Better than fine." "Poor kid," Chain said, "Have you noticed his aura?" "No, I can't see it," I said. "Precisely my point, his aura is nonexistent," Chain said, "His life is bounded already." I gulped, I hope that's not bad. "Hey, Jason," Isaiah snapped me out of my thought. "When Belethius said that Mariat is on their side, I saw you smile… why?" "Oh, it because I'm not worried," I said, feeling embarrassed that I had showed my thoughts, "I have a way of getting him back." "Really," Isaiah sat up, "How?" I pulled the potion out of my pocket this little baby will help," I said, "It's an obligatory serum, It is 100% effective and will make the person who ingested it do whatever I say." Isaiah had an unreadable look on his face, to be honest it was kind of scaring me. There was something about his eyes that reminded me a lot about myself. "Right," Isaiah shook his head as if dismissing something, "Anyways, thanks for er… saving me." He got up awkwardly and looked at his arm.

I looked at him as he walked away. "What is it about that kid," Chain asked. "I don't know, it's just that he reminds me a lot of myself," I said, "His eyes give this look as if he's having a conversation with someone." "Maybe he is," Chain said, "It's already proven that he isn't human." I nodded. After everyone got ready we headed to the next room. It was large and we expected to see a beast of some kind, but nothing. Instead, we heard footsteps coming from the hallway. It was running and soon I could see who it was. It was Mariat! "Oh thank God," Mariat said, "I finally found some familiar face." He approached. I was about to approach him. "Kill him," Chain ordered. Without thinking about I stabbed my sword right into his stomach. "Chain, what the Hell," I asked frantically as Mariat collapsed to the ground bleeding out. "That's not Mariat," Chain said. As if on cue, Mariat burst into a cloud of dust. I heard a slow clapping sound echo through the room and soon a man walk through the corridor ahead. "I must say," The man said, "I wasn't expecting you to catch on so quickly." The man had a mask, the same mask that I saw come out of Blaine. "Then you must be," I paused, "Mariat." The man halted, then removed his mask. The brown hair tumbled down his head and his golden eyes seemed to glow, however they seemed darker than last time. "I'm glad you made it here," Mariat said, "I wanted to finish you off myself." "Mariat don't do this," Isaiah said. "I'm afraid I must," Mariat said, though there was something about his tone that seemed off. "You heard it to, then," Chain said. "Yeah, he isn't all there," I said.

"Well," Mariat said putting the mask back on, "That's enough chat for now." He pulled out a black lance. The blade had the shape of a thunderbolt. "Not holding back," I said. We all ran at him. He just stood there as we ran at him all at once. I took the first attack. He disappeared as soon as my blade passed through him. He was sitting on the rock, reading a book. He's toying with us. Heather shot an arrow at him. Mariat caught the arrow and looked at it. "Quite the point," He said. He threw it back Heather at the same speed. Heather dodged it. "Fight us you coward," Mark said. "Coward," Mariat asked, "I'm the coward? And this is coming from the guy who had watched my kidnapping without even helping." Mark flinched. "Mark is that true," Isaiah asked, "Why didn't you help?" "Enough," Gabriel barked, "He's trying to turn us against each other." "Gabriel is it," Mariat asked. "Yes, what do you want," Gabriel asked. Mariat leaped off the rock and faced us. "How must it feel to have to team up with demons to defeat Ragnarok," Mariat asked, "I bet it must be embarrassing to have to rely on them." "I'm not relying on them, we are in a mutual advantage here," Gabriel said.

There was something about his voice that suggested much more than just that. "You noticed it to, Jason," Mariat said, "He's using you." "That's not true," Gabriel said. Mariat chuckled, "Yeah? Then tell me, where is Alciel," Mariat asked. Gabriel flinched, "I don't know what you mean." "Oh, you don't do you," Mariat asked, "Allow me to elaborate, then." He stabbed his lance into the ground. "You kidnapped Alciel, and you're using him as a bargaining token," Mariat said. Gabriel looked startled. "What," Chain asked, "So this is what the angels have been up to." "Shut your mouth," Gabriel said stomping ahead of everyone else, "Don't believe him he's trying-," Thunk! Gabriel's body straightened and his mouth was caught midsentence. He collapsed to the floor, the lance sticking out of his back. "Man, that guy was annoying," Mariat said.

We watched as Gabriel's body began to disintegrate into golden dust. The lance disappeared and reappeared by Mariat's side. "Now then, who's next," Mariat asked. "Mariat is so different," Chain said, "It's like it's not even him." It's not I thought to myself, I refuse to believe that this is his wish. Isaiah lunged at him, weapons ready. He dodged the claws. Isaiah put the gun to his head. "Nice idea," Mariat said, "But can you actually pull the trigger?" Isaiah paused. Mariat chuckled, "I didn't think so." He kneed him in the gut, making him collapse to the floor. He then kicked him back to the group. Mark dashed and caught him midair. Mariat leaned on the lance. "I thought you guys would be tougher," He said indignantly, "This will be way too easy." I stepped away from the group, if anyone's going to beat him, it has to be me. "Well, Jason," Mariat said, "I must say, you didn't change that much did you?" "Don't play games with me Mariat," I growled. Mariat chuckled, "Fine, let's fight." He lunged at me, lance out in order to impale me. I sidestep and caught the lance. I jerked away from him and slashed at his black cloak. He jumped away. Heather ran in to help, but I gestured her to stay back. "I don't want you to get hurt," I said. Heather nodded. "How touching," Mariat said, looking at his cloak, "I see you and your sister made up."

"Mariat," I commanded, "Your fight is with me, leave them out of this." Mariat shrugged, "Fine then." "You know, he seems incredibly lazy," Chain said, "He seems to feel know pressure." "You know, if you want me to leave them out of this," Mariat began, "That also means you get rid of Chain." I paused, how? Mariat placed his hand on the ground and a black circle formed where his hand was. From it, a shadowy figure emerged, with an incredibly familiar scythe. I could feel Chain's body receding. "What's wrong," I asked. "That's… taking my soul away," Chain grunted, "He summoned me." "Yes," Mariat said, "This is the embodiment of Chain, his soul is trapped in here for now, defeat me and I will release him." I no longer felt Chain's presence, again. Chain was in that figure. "Don't worry about him," Mariat said, "He'll be fine, but my fight is with you not him." I unsheathed my blade and readied it," My power was back to normal heights, and not only that, I can only use water now.

Still, I had his weapon so now he has to rely on his powers. He shot a bolt of lightning at me. I dodged out of the way, shooting at as I dodged. He deflected the bullets as if they were nothing. He shot the ground with electricity and the ground erupted with a cloud of dust. I was blinded by the cloud that enveloped me. I began to note that the cloud was getting warmer. I soon realized his strategy. I dodged out of the way as the lightning shot into view. He's using the particles from the dust to charge his electricity! Damn him! I thought to myself. At this rate, I'll be roasted. I needed to get out of here. I jumped out, of another lightning bolt.

I scanned my surrounding, just brown clouds everywhere. Finally, I managed to see the figure of Mariat. I fished in my bag and found a bottle of water. I shrugged, worth a shot. I chucked the water bottle in the direction of Mariat. He stopped and looked at the water bottle. I made the water bottle explode getting all over Mariat. I then froze his damp clothing. The dust cleared revealing Mariat frozen to the ground. He regarded the ice, "Nice strategy." "Now it's time to finish this," I said holding up another water bottle. I reached into my bag and grabbed the potion. "Oh, and what is that," Mariat asked. "You'll find out," I replied calmly as I approached him. I uncapped the bottle, ripped the mask from his face, and forced his mouth open. I trickled the potion into his mouth. He gurgled but then stared blankly into the distance. "We want the real Mariat," I commanded. Mariat stared at me and then gave a wicked smile. "I'm afraid you have the wrong man," He said as his body disappeared.

I heard Mariat clear his throat behind me. I spun around to see him holding a knife to my sister's neck. The other people were all on the floor unconscious. "Man, I'm glad I thought ahead," Mariat said, "You would've won pretty easily there." "Let my sister go," I screeched. I took a step towards him, but he put the knife closer to her neck. "Your weak, Jason," Mariat said, "I you had no one to slow you down, you would've gotten farther." "You said this was between me and you," I said. "But of course I wasn't going to allow you to set the rules for the battle," Mariat shot back. I sighed and calm down, don't move and think! I thought, what can I use? I remembered the ice was still behind me. How can I make it turn to water without alerting him? I crumpled to the ground and slammed my fist onto the floor. As soon as my fist hit the floor the ice collapsed to water, "Dammit just let her go, please!" "Really," Mariat asked, "Now you're acting like a child, stand up." I got up slowly, all the while giving my wrist subtle twist to move the water. "Honestly, are you one of those kids," Mariat asked, "You don't get what you want you begin to cry and whine?" I silently wanted to just slap him, but I had to bide my time, while the water made it towards him.

Mariat kept making common jokes, I began to get really impatient but finally the water had made it past him and levitating behind him. I flicked my wrist and the water shot at his hand freezing over it. He dropped the knife and Heather staggered away. I ran at him using the water create needles. The water came back instantly and formed into a sharp spike. Mariat recovered his wit and tried to summon a bolt of lightning. I threw the spike at him. He dodged the spike, but wasn't able to recover in time. I threw two more water bottle which froze his feet to the ground. I used the water from the last water bottle to freeze his hand together.

He struggled but electricity didn't break the ice. "Now then," I said, "Time to finish this." I took his mask off, and forced his mouth open again. I force fed him the rest of the contents. His face eyes look of defiant dulled to a liquid calmness. "Now, Give us back Mariat," I commanded. His eyes over and his body fell to the ground limply. The mask disappeared from the ground. I sighed and fell to the ground exhausted. I looked at the empty potion and realized that I got rid of our easy way of getting rid of Ragnarok. I sighed, "Well let's hope we can defeat Ragnarok on our own. I looked at the shady figure that held Chain's soul. I touched it and the figure evaporated. I felt Chain's soul return to me and all of its knowledge. "Thank goodness," Chain said, "I thought I'd never get out of that place."

I rested up against the wall, trying to regain the rest of my energy. Meanwhile, everyone else woke up and Heather went to go heal them. Mariat was still out cold. Finally, after a fitful rest, I got up and went to see how everyone was doing. "Good job, Jason," Mark said. "Yeah, that was incredible," Isaiah said. Heather was kneeling over Mariat trying to revive him. I walked over to her, "How's he doing?" "He's fine, he'll wake up shortly," Heather said. Almost on cue, Mariat began to twitch. His eyes fluttered open. "What happened," Mariat asked, "Where are we?" "It's a long story," Heather said. Heather began the story and as we reached the end, Mariat looked away in dismay. "I'm so stupid," he scoffed, "I shouldn't have tried to face him head on." "There's nothing you can do," I said, "You back, and that's what matters." Mariat nodded, "So, what happens now?" "We have beaten all of Ragnarok's catalyst," I said, "Which means that we bring the fight to Ragnarok." Mariat got up shakily and went to join the rest of the group.

Everyone looked at him silently. Mariat ducked his head. "Guys," I said, "He's no longer an enemy, c'mon give the guy a break." Slowly the group began to set aside their bewilderment and settled into talking with him. For once everyone looked happy. Maybe they were trying to get rid of the lurking fear that they were about to fight embodiment of destruction.

Finally, after everyone got done talking I stood up on a rock and whistled trying to get their attention. Everyone gathered around and quieted down. "Alright guys," I said gulping down my anxiety, "I know that I'm not your leader, but I feel that any fight is only complete with a speech so her goes." I cleared my throat. I don't like speeches. "We are about to go for the biggest fight in the history of mankind," I began, "It will definitely not be easy, but I'm sure we can do it. How, you ask? Because we have something worth fight for. Friends, family, and the other seven billion lives at stake. We're not fighting for our lives only, this is all of our battles. They would call this impossible and preposterous. But I say that we make the impossible possible. No one has ever gotten this far, so we can't turn back now. So, our only other options is to protect this world, or die trying! Let's make a miracle happen!" Everyone cheered. I jumped from the rock and gestured to the final corridor, what lies beyond this corridor is our fate, our purpose, the very meaning of our existence. So what happens now is up for fate to decide. All that can be said now is: Let's give Ragnarok Hell!

Chapter 27

Mariat

I do feel guilty for what happened, but in my defense, I didn't have much of a voice in that situation. Still, I'm glad that I'm fight for the right cause this time. I'm keeping the cloak however, the cloak is cool. We entered the final corridor. The corridor opened into a large staircase going downward. A brazier in the middle of the staircase dimly lighting the way down. I gulped as the dank air made it impossible to breathe. Soon, the corridor opened to a large cave. It was strangely familiar. I couldn't help feeling like I remember this place. "Hey, Mariat, remember this place," Jason asked. I shook my head, "Not clearly." "It was the place where you fought your first monster with us," Jason said. Suddenly, the cave looked a lot less like foreign territory. This is where it begun. This is where it ends. Win or lose, we have come to fight.

We looked around. A small waterfall trickled from the opening in the roof. That was where I had destroyed the roof to get out of the cave. I was stunned by the amount of desolation that had happened. The cave however looked serene with the desolate landscape. A small pond had formed where a crater was. Plant life was flourishing, so were small insects. I sighed, it's almost normal.

"Do you like it," A voice spoke behind them. We spun around weapons ready. A boy was sitting on a ledge staring at us intently. "Do you like what I did with the place," He asked again. "Are you Ragnarok," Jason asked. The boy looked at Jason. "And what's say I am," The boy said, "Do you need something?" "We came here to destroy you," Heather said. The boy gave an amused look, "Yes, I am Ragnarok." He jumped off the ledge, "However, I think that you have overreached your powers." "No, we overreach you," Mariat said, forming electricity in his hand. Ragnarok stared at Mariat with a face of pure amusement. He then cackled and rolled on the floor. "Oh, that's good," Ragnarok grinned, "I must say, I'm quite impressed with all of your courage." He stood up and dusted himself off, "But it would seem that luck has run out for all of you."

"You'll pay for what you have done to Lord Satan and his son," Mark growled. "Aww, the lap dog has come to," Ragnarok smiled, "I see that you've been keeping those ticks out of your hair." Mark snarled. "Don't play games with us, Ragnarok," I said, "We aren't here to talk." "What's with the face," Ragnarok asked innocently, "You were so funny when you were on my side." "We brought him back," Jason replied, "And he's more than a little pissed at out." Ragnarok gave a glance to me but returned to Jason, "Ah, Chain, I see you lost your body again." A flash of resentment showed in Jason's eye.

Mark stepped forward, hatred as visible as light in dark, "Don't speak to my master as an underling!" He then lunged at him transforming into a dog as he ran at Ragnarok. Ragnarok movement was slow and lazily. He put his hand in front of him and chains shot out of the shadows restraining him. Mark struggled fruitlessly. Jason ran ahead, "Mark!" Heather tried to stop him, "Jason don't!" Just then a large spike shot out of the shadows and impaled Mark. Ragnarok flicked his wrist and the limp body of Mark was sent flying back to the group. Jason jumped into the air and caught Mark. He skidded across ground. He gently laid down Mark, "Mark, please don't leave us," Jason said, but his voice was different, it was Chain speaking. Mark shifted back to his human form, blood spewing out of his chest. "Master," Mark croaked, "It's been a pleasure serving you…"

His head then went limp as his body turned to shadow and disappeared. Jason just sat there staring blankly at the space where Mark was laying. "Jason," Heather crouched beside her, "I'm sorry." "Bastard," Jason said, "I'LL KILL YOU!" Water shot out of the pond and turned into thousands of icicle spikes. The light shimmered in the ice and danced on the walls and floor. He stood up the spikes levitating above him. He pointed at Ragnarok and the spikes went soaring across the cave in Ragnarok's direction. Ragnarok lazily pointed his finger in the air and a large purple circle formed between him and the spike. The spikes broke on contact. Jason ran at him while he was deflecting the ice spike. The shards of ice began to move to his hand and made big scythe. He swung the scythe at Ragnarok. He jumped the slash, but as he was in the air, a spike formed on the ground above him. It shot up, surely that would've done the trick. He placed his hand on the spike and a circle formed on the spike. The spike disappeared into the circle. He pointed at Jason and another circle appeared. The spike shot out of the circle grazing Jason's cheek. He touched the spike and it turned into a snake and lunged at Ragnarok.

Ragnarok wasn't able to dodge the snake and it bit down hard on his arm. It latched on drawing blood into its crystalline body. Jason flicked his wrist and the snake returned to his hand, the blood still in it. "Well played," Ragnarok admitted, inspecting his arm, "You're a good fighter, no doubt about that." "That's only half of my trick," Jason said coldly. He placed his hand on the ground. The ground went black. A red pentagram flickered and rotated about the circle. He place snake with the blood on in the circle. "A summoning technique," Ragnarok mused, "I must say that looks quite advanced for your age." Despite the power resonating from the circle Ragnarok seemed completely unfazed, in fact he seemed almost happy.

A black figure began to take form in the shadow. As it stood up the body began to take form and color. It was Ragnarok! "You summoned a shadow of me," Ragnarok asked, cocking his head to the side, "My, my, you are a prodigy of summoning." The clone began to lunge at him, summoning swords from the darkness. Real Ragnarok dodged the blades effortlessly. He jumped and stabbed right through the shadow Ragnarok with his hand. "But it is only a shadow," Ragnarok commented. He fell to the ground the clone turning to a liquid-like film of shadow.

"Are you done," Ragnarok asked. Jason stared in total shock at how quick that was. He flopped to the ground, the circle disappearing. "Excellent," Ragnarok smirked and launched himself from the ground. I ran and blocked Ragnarok's lunge. The pure force of his strength was almost too much but I held him off. He lifted and twirled around for a kick to the leg. I jumped and shot a bolt of lightning at his leg just as it passed. He jumped back, his pants, singed. "You're faster than before," Ragnarok observed. I stood up, "Jason snap out of it!" Jason just stared blankly at the ground. "It's no use" Ragnarok said, "He's given up hope." I crouched inside of Jason, "You have to snap out of it, you've come too far to give up now." "I lost Chain's body and now I lost Mark," He said blankly, "You're right Mariat, I am weak…" "No that's not true," I tried to comfort him. "If I hadn't of been careful, Chain would still be here," Jason went on, "If he were here, he would have stopped Mark from dying." "You can't blame yourself now," I said, "C'mon wake up."

He kept rambling on about how it was his fault. My head was beginning to hurt from all of the sadness. I sighed, and raised my fist. I brought down the fist and hit him across the face. "Snap out of it, will you," I said irritated, "If you don't wake up, then this was all a lost cause." "Oh, it was a lost cause, when you stumbled in here," Ragnarok's voice was in his ear. He spun around but was too late. Ragnarok kneed me in the gut. His strength sent me flying across the floor and I felt the wall of the cave stop my movement. Ragnarok then proceeded to beat the rest of the people to a bloody pulp. Soon, everyone was laying on the ground, unconscious. Have we failed?

Chapter 28

Jason

I laid on the ground, face throbbing from where Mariat punched him. Too dazed to move. "Mark," Chain echoed. He's been saying that for the longest time now. His voice was quavering. There was a shallow coldness in his body, as if my body was hollow on the inside. I couldn't move. I could only watch in horror as Ragnarok wrecked our team. C'mon you need to snap out of it! I told myself, Wake up! No matter how much I tried to coax myself into moving the heavy weight of grief, dread, and guilt weighed him down. Maybe, it's best that I died… I mentally shook my head, I can't think like that! The world is at stake, what happened to my speech? Something about that stirred me, I had lead them, I had started the fire in their heart, and it's my responsibility! Suddenly, my feeling returned. I could move again. I staggered to my feet. I saw Ragnarok skipping around like a kid. How am I supposed to beat this guy with just Chain and me? "Mark…" Chain answered. Make that just me…

"Oh, you're back," Ragnarok said with a smile, "I must say, you put up a good fight, but can your little friend help you anymore?" He knew about Chain's psychological blow. He disappeared and reappeared in front of me. "So tell me," Ragnarok said walking circle around me, "Do you really think that a mere Blue-Blood can defeat, I, Ragnarok, god of destruction, chaos, and darkness?" I looked through my mind searching for a sharp comeback. Then it hit me, he needs his Four Catalyst to unseal his powers. The idea that he was using only a fraction of his power was terrifying. I shook my head, no time to think about that, now.

"Tell me," I began choking my nervousness, "What will you do once you've won?" "Well, it isn't obvious," Ragnarok scoffed, "My catalysts and I will control every dimension and destroy Earth, I will finally destroy the heavens and prove Satan that I am the superior being!" "Really," I said, "About your catalysts though…" Ragnarok paused, "What do you mean, 'About my catalysts?'" "Well," I said, preparing for the worse, "We killed all your catalysts." Ragnarok looked at me with disbelief. Then his eyes widened with the realization that his long plan has been destroyed. "You… killed my… Catalysts," Ragnarok asked, trying to keep his composure.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I lied, I honestly didn't give a damn about what happened to him. "Do you have any idea how long I have waited for this moment," Ragnarok asked, "Millennia's upon Millennia's!" His body began to flicker, "No! Not yet, I'm not ready to go back!" His body began to disappear and soon nothing stood. I breathed in satisfaction. I was about to turn around in tend to my friends, but then I heard his cackling. "Honestly, did you think I didn't know this," His voice echoed. I spun around and his body reformed, "Did you like the acting, I've been working on it all day." I was frozen with shock. "I saw your face by the way," Ragnarok mused, "I must say you face was absolutely priceless, watching you being coaxed into that smug sense of satisfaction was brilliant!" I had no words to express my confusion. "Oh, don't look at me that way," Ragnarok sighed, "You did manage to delay the end of the world, I'll have to charge for a longer amount of time." Dammit! I exclaimed to myself, and many other curses I'd much rather not got into details about.

"Well then," Ragnarok said, "Since you survived this long, I want to award you." Ragnarok snapped his fingers and a black sphere formed above him. The sphere disappeared showing the four masks. "You can see my transformation and be the last one to witness the world be destroyed," Ragnarok said as the mask began to orbit him growing faster and faster. Soon, the mask glowed and Ragnarok's body transformed into a large, disgusting slimy beast. Four tendrils were at his sides displaying the symbol of all the masks. "I know not the most attractive appearance," Ragnarok said, "But don't think of this as my final transformation, think about it as a cocoon for something better." Suddenly, the sky brightened and a beam shot down to the ground. Velarius, Michael, Raphael, and Sephiel were standing in front of me. "I must say, I didn't expect to see you again," Sephiel said with a smile. "Yeah, much less, allying with them," Raphael muttered.

The ground opened up and four demons erupted from it, Alciel, Lucifer, Lucius, and Satan himself. "Where's the man upstairs," Satan asked. "He isn't coming, this is your mess you need to clean it up," Velarius said, "Meanwhile, you can stop referring to us as if we are friends." "Whatever, feather-face," Lucius said, "Ah, Chain it's good to see you again!" "Mark," Chain repeated. "He's…damaged," I explained. "Tch," Satan said, "Chain I swear to all that is unholy if you don't snap out of it, I won't bring Mark back!" Suddenly my body wasn't in control anymore. I ran to the side of the demons, "Ready to fight, father!" "Now that's better," Alciel rasped, "Milord, permission to criticize." "Permission granted," Satan said. "You were an idiot to create Ragnarok," Alciel said bluntly. "I know," Satan said defeated, "But as any demon is, we take responsibility for our creations, can't say the same to those white wings." "We're only here to clean up your mess," Sephiel said diplomatically, "Had it been any under circumstances we would be trying to murder you." "Key word is 'trying'," Lucifer said.

"Ah, good timing, creator," Ragnarok said, "I was hoping to kill you in your homelands, but this will do, I can tie up loose ends along the way." "Your time of being a homicidal creation is up," Satan said, "It's time to put you down now." "Ah, but you have no power in this world," Ragnarok pointed out. "I don't need powers to defeat you," Satan said, "I have my fighting skills and my generals." Raphael cleared his throat. Satan gave him a baleful glance. "And the angels," Satan sighed, "I guess." Raphael gave a satisfied nod.

"Enough talk," Ragnarok said, "I have waited enough time to kill you." The symbols on the mask began to glow and shot multi-colored blasts of pure energy. The party of angels and demons and mobilized. Alciel shot black blades from his hands cutting through Ragnarok's slimy mass. Lucifer rained explosive beams of energy from the sky. Lucius began slicing through Ragnarok's body with twin black swords. I formed a scythe in my hand and lunged. "Sorry for the whole Mark incident," Chain apologized. "Don't mention it," I said. Satan formed his own scythe and joined Chain on the assault. The Archangels flew around shooting white swords, shooting arrows, and dispelling Ragnarok's attempts to defend himself.

Ragnarok roared and the entire air shifted its direction sending everyone sprawling. "Do you think you can best my power," Ragnarok shrieked, "I will obliterate you!" He readied his tendril for another shot. But just as he was about to fire. A ball of black energy blasted the energy off Ragnarok. Ragnarok shrieked in defiance. I turned my head to see a man with long black hair, with black sclera, white irises, and white pupils. "Erebus," Ragnarok voice was on the edge of fury, "Do you dare attack your creator?" "We have grown tired of your tyranny," Erebus said, "We have come to take our world back!" "We," Ragnarok asked, "What do you mean 'we?'" On cue a bunch of spiritual bodies flew in through the roof and attacked Ragnarok. "My people," A voice said behind him. He turned to see Isaiah, his body was the same as the newcomers. "I will fight by my brethren," Isaiah said and flew into the battle. As he watched the chaos unleash he noticed that Reapers had also joined in. Along with that, Mariat and Heather were fighting hand in hand on the ground.

I joined the fight and with it we were able to cut Ragnarok's defense. Ragnarok changed back to human. "Hey c'mon this is entirely unfair," He complained, "I can't beat all of you!" "That's kind of the idea," Heather said. Satan nodded, "Now it's time to end the abomination I called my creation." He placed his hand in front of him and Ragnarok was swallowed into a black hole. "He won't be bothering us for a while," Satan assured, "My friends will make sure." He gave a pointed glance to the angels. "Well," Lucifer said, "It's time to head home." Satan nodded and turned his attention to me. "Chain, do you want to come with me," Satan asked. For a heartbeat I thought Chain was thinking about going back to Hell but then he spoke, "I'm fine with where I'm at, I've a new life here." Satan nodded and disappeared with the rest of the demons. He looked around and saw Isaiah talking to Mariat. He then disappeared into a cloud of mist. He must have headed home, I thought. The Reapers had already retreated, except for one, Gilbert. He called for Mariat. He strained to hear them, "…Going to bring you back to Grim," Gilbert said, "But since you did help save Grim, we'll give you a second chance." With that he disappeared with the rest of his people. I noticed the archangels staring at me expectantly. They gestured me over. I cautiously walked over.

"We've been thinking," Sephiel began. "That's new," I retorted. "You can live the rest of your life in peace," Sephiel said ignoring his comment, "You have given us the answer to the question you asked long ago." "Which was," I asked. "Were you wrong," Raphael answered embarrassed. "We may have been too harsh on some demons," Velarius said, "I don't deny our prejudice." "Anyway, to the point," Sephiel said, "We will allow you to live in peace, so goodbye." And with that they disappeared.

I sighed and headed to where everyone was gathered. "That was by far the best fight I've had in years," Mariat said, "I'm glad I could share with everybody." Heather nodded, "I'm glad I could fight by my brother's side again." I nodded, "I couldn't be happier that this is done." "No kidding," Heather said, "I'm going to have gray hairs by thirty." We laughed. It felt so good to just laugh. We were finally normal again, it felt good to finally be over with this.

Our fight for survival is long from complete. We'll constantly fight new enemies, new challenges. However, we have proven that no matter what happens, we can combat it. If I've learned anything from this, teamwork, no matter who it's with could mean the difference between life and death. I don't know what lies in my future, but I can easily say that no matter what it is, it can't be as bad as Ragnarok. So, yeah, we have finally reached the end of this story, my life will go beyond these books, but my life ends at the period.

Acknowledgments

We are done! I'm so finish with this story. No longer will I attempt something like this. Or at least until I'm ready to follow up with this and not get lazy. The story was okay, I guess, I just felt like there was more I could've done with it. But at the moment I'm done with this story. I don't want to delve into these cursed pages ever again. I never thought I'd finally finish this book. I'm not going to say that this isn't my fault because it is, I admit it. I'm lazy and my mind wanders too much. Hopefully the next story I do will be easier to write.

Okay, now to delve into the actual contents of this story… I found that there was a drastic change from first volume to this volume. First change that was supremely obvious to me. In the first volume the idea of Blue-Bloods was hereditary and genetic. In this story I make it seem more fantastical (Not that the first wasn't.) I added to much supernatural to the second story. So now I have typical demon vs. angel thing going on. I'm not saying that the story isn't good (I honestly don't know otherwise.) I'm just saying that I strayed too far from the original storyline. I noticed this happen in Incarnadine Warrior as well, along with the many other mistakes I have left in that book.

I'm not sure whether my writing is good as it is long. Maybe by having a large story I induce the illusion that it's a good, well thought out, book (Did I say that out loud?). Regardless, the story is done, and I couldn't be gladder. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go let myself recover from this long story. So if you have an idea on how I can make this better please tell me! Ciao!