Blood Trees And Holly Legend

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Ash S. Night

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;"

Ecclesiastes 3:4, The Holy Bible

Prologue

Many, many years ago in a universe far away, there was a galaxy called Andromeda. In that galaxy, was a world called Gaea-terea. This world was home to a race of two beings called Sylph who were the children and chosen ones of God, and another called Terrens which were human. Sylph had once ruled this world as protectors' of the Terrens and nature, also as the Terrens sole connection to God. The Terrens and the sylph lived in harmony for many decades but Darkness began to eat away at the Terrens weak human hearts. The Terrens soon became jealous and fearful of the Sylphs power and so they tried to become stronger than them. When they realized they could not obtain powers of their own as the sylph had, the Terrens despised the Sylph and decided to eliminate them. They rose up and struck at the Sylph. A certain Terren man named Don Leniora engineered a weapon that absorbed the Sylphs powers and rendered the Sylph helpless. The machine then expelled solid orbs of different colors called matiria with the powers of the Sylph that it absorbed them from. So if a Sylph majored in water element a dark blue orb would be able to give the user spells the used water as a weapon. O r if the Sylph was a healer a light green orb would give the user spells to heal broken bones and other things, A fiery orange-red one gave the user the power to revive a unconscious person and was called a Phoenix Down, although only a certain kind of Sylph could raise a dead person, only Dai-tenshi could do that after they asked God if it was His will. But for the evil Terrens the matiria was more than enough to defeat the Sylph and make Terrens the only ones with power in the world. The once proud Sylph was beaten and cast down, helpless and at the mercy of the Terrens….

A few managed to escape with their full powers intact and went into hiding. But lost without their children the God of the world went into mourning, and the world Gia-terea began to fade. The Terrens in order to keep their world from dying went in search of a sylph with great power. They found a young girl-child somewhere off the coast off the mainland, and brought her back to Don, their newly appointed ruler, the very man who had engineered the downfall of her people.

Don hired scientists to create a machine that would extract her life-energy and put it into the planet to keep it alive; this energy would circulate the planet keeping it alive, but it was also cutting off their connection with God. When they hooked the girl up to the machine for the first time, it worked better than they could have ever hoped it would, but it caused the girl great agony, the scientists told Don what had happened but he didn't care he was more concerned with the results of the project. The Terrens from that day fourth referred to that energy as "The Life stream", and named the girl Kairisa Ritsuka.

Sixteen years later Kairisa has grown into a young woman and Don was appointed her guardian. By this time he had a daughter because he had captured another female sylph and married her so she would have half-sylph children. Half-Sylphs are very beautiful due to their sylpherian blood but do not have the trademark appearance that made them sylphs. The normal sylph appeared as an angel with huge wings and half- sylph did not have half-sylph were called Spherion. Sylph had powers yes but most were limited to major in only one element and very little power over the other five, but some were not and they were called "dai-tenshi" or "high angels". Kairisa was a dai-tenshi, thus making her very powerful, so her life-energy was really strong.

So Kairisa now had a "little sister" named Yenowa Leniora to take care of. But even though she was the older sister she was forced to become the handmaiden of the other younger sister, little more than a slave. Said little sister was now fifteen and was the sole heir to Don's fortune and "Daddy's' little girl". This particular day was her birthday and the party was tonight and they were currently getting dressed. Because Kairisa and Yenowa were related Kairisa could go to the ball and possibly dance if someone asked her to if she wanted.

But Kairisas' and Yenowas' old guards had retired and so two new ones had been appointed .There was one for Yenowa named Genesis .The other one was a newly promoted member of the Royal Guard . A certain man was coming that would change Kairisas' life and set in motion a course of events, that would decide the future of Gia-terea as it was known. This man's name was Vincent…Vincent Valentine…

Vincent entered the castle and reported to his superior, King Don. He was told he would meet the person he was assigned to protect at King Don's daghters formal birthday party. Vincent decided to were his blue suit to this party, while he was getting ready he went over the information he was given about his new "job" in his head. The job was to protect a girl about sixteen years of age. he was supposed to follow her around almost wereever she went, and where he could not go he was supposed to stand outside the door until she came out. he would be working with someone a former colleague of his from when he first joined the royal guard named Genisis. Vincent didn't really know the guy all that well, but Vincent was very observant and from what he had seen he didn't really like him all that much, but since he had to work with him he would do it. Vincent finished dressing grabbed his gun from where he had hidden it in the drawer on the small table by his bed and walked out the door. His charge seemed very mysteryous to say the least..but one thing in particular stood out to him, and that was her name. The girls name was Kairisa.....Kiarisa Ritsuka.

Finally! after standing around letting Yenowa try dress after dress on her, Kairisa at last just told her that she already had a dress and to go on to the hallway without her and she would be there in a minute... She picked out a dress she had designed and made herself a while ago, and she had her ladys-in-waiting there to help her put it on. The dress has a corset-style top with long off the shoulder bell sleeves that came down to almost cover her hands stopping at the second knuckle in her thumb with straps on the shoulders to hold it on in a dark almost black blue with a w scooped neckline showing off a little of her bust line. the dress had an egging on the neckline in baby blue and the corset ribbons in front were baby blue too. She had pants on in a shade one lighter than indigo blue with a train in navy blue attached to the front sides of her hips to make it look like she was wereing a skirt. To cover the part of her bust that was showing, a thin gossamer sliver-net-like fabric came from the tops of her sleeves to the straps and from the neckline to he collarbone to form the collar of the dress. to top it of she was weiring her a silver choker necklace made of one piece of metal with a ice-blue collared stone cut in a million facets and the stone shone slightly with a natural inner light that made rainbows reflect from it. this necklace was special in that it hid her true form, if it was remover she would transform into her angel form, 20 ft. wings and all.... the netting stopped just at the beginning of the necklace so it looked like the dress was attached to the decided to leave her thick silky strait thigh- length black and silver hair flowing down her back as she then got her shawl and retainer (AN/: an old style purse.) donned her thin siler circlet with the small ice-blue stone and walked out the door.

Vincent Was at the ball with Genisis stand at the top of the stairs with Yenowas' date and a smiling King Don in a pinstripe suit and his beutiful Sylpherirean wife in a tight low-cut blood red dress with gawdy gold and ruby jewellery, looking very dispirited and meek... as she stood next to her husband, waiting for theredaughter and her handmaiden/ half "sister"(AN/: there not really related, Yenowa and Kairisa.) to arrive, so they could go into the ballroom where the other guests currently resided. Just then they all her a sound of heavy oak doors being opened and of airy fabrics rustling as two young woman and their attendants entered the room. Vincent looked up to see a petite curvy young girl with a headful of mid back length softly curling bright yellow blond hair and big innocent shiny sea-blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress with a full skirt and rounded neckline trimmed with pink lace with a pink over dress with long sleeves and the hem ending half way below her waist line wear it tied together with a dark pink ribbon slitted down to just below the waist to reveal the dress beneath with a white macreme shawl and white high heels. But it wasn't her that had attracted and captured Vincents attention but the statuesquegirl BEHIND her. This girl waswering a corset top with pants disgiused as a skirt with some silver netting at the top and a circlet with a blue stoneand a chocker with-

"Wait a minite!" he wonderd

"That neacklace it looked..no it couldnt be.."

it looked like a Sylpherian necklace of sealing one blessed item that hid the sylps angelic form by suppresing some of there naturale traits. making them look more human and retacting their huge trademake wings into thier bodies, he should know because he hade one that sane size and shape exept the almost-clear lighted stone was red on his insted of blue. Exept hers seemed to flash all diferent colors, it was never one coler like most necklaces only dai-tenshi had necklaces like that, HIS was like that....

"Could this girl...could she be like him?...could she be a sylph too?"

Just at that moment she looked at him and their eyes met something akin to an electric shock jolted through both thier bodies at once and they suddenly felt as if they had known each other there entire lives...at least thats what it felt like for Vincent he couldnt be shure if she felt the same becuse other then a slight widening of her eyes she didnt realy look all that diferent...

Kairisa was startaled at the suden violed rush of sensation followed by unfamiler emotions in her body she wonderd adout this handsome sranger if he had felt something too...but other than a slight widening of the eyes nothing on his expression changed. he was tall, she was estemating about mabye 6 ft? 6.1ft? He had a elegant face with no exta facal hair and he had long unbound shiny thick jet-black hair he was werinsa blue suit and he looked...he looked....words failded her as she tried to describe to her self how he looked "handsome" was too colorless a word the only one she could think of was

"Perfect."

He was absolutly perfect in every way.... they were introduced and she found out that he was to be her new body gaurd meaning she would get to see him every day...well, exept for the days when she had to go to the lab and be hooked up to "The Machine" as she called it...but other than that he would be with her every day. he had a deep resonating voice that sent shivers up her spine. He told her his name was Vincent Valentine. A beutiful name for such a the ballroom and down the grand staircase with evry ones eyes one them, they mystiryous man with his beutiful, exotic, lovely companion. he saked her to dance and they danced all the songs together while staring into each others eyes. All to soon the dance was over and Vincent and the othe gaurd named Genisis esorted each lady to her room.

Vincent and Kairisa went to slep thet night with visions of the otherdancing in ther heads vincent dreamed of the beutiful girl with the two toned hair and sad eyes with the mystirious origin and wonderd what he had gotten himself into and how he would manage to keep his mind foucused on his work and the fact that Kairisa was at least ten years younger than him.

Kairisa dreamed about the handsome, perfectly mystirious Mr. Valentine and his beutiful eyes that were difent colors like hers and that her was twenty six years old and his birthday was on October the thirteenth.

Vincent fell quickly to his new line of work as a body gaurd he spent months with Kairisa and finaly convinced her to stop calling him "Mr. Valentine" and just " Vincent",only if he promised to call her "Kai" instead of "Kairisa" and she soon took to calling him "Vince" when it was just them together and nobody else was enjoyed being with her but was enerved at the fellings that had been growing in him ever since he first saw her...little didi he know that she felt the same about the tention between them got to be so great the he decided to take a vaction.

But while he was gone Kairisas' life took a turn for the worst little did she know that Yenowa was also attracted to Vincent and wanted him for herself and since shr was used to getting her own way about everything she made life impssible for Kairisa . Yenowa turned on her and since Don already thought of Kairisa as nothing less then a "battery" for the planet he was only too happy with Yenowas new attitude toward Kairisa. So Kairisa took the only couse of actoin left to her , she packed blue dress she made and a white dress exactly like it along with other clothing and necesties like food and some money she had been saving and ran away. she had been out one the sterrts of the slumes of the city called Midgar belowe the plate on which the more welthy people lived and were Dons home called the Shinra bulding, the biggest of them all was located whitch was were she had lived most of her life since she was captured until now. she was running down the streets one dat to get out of the rain disguesed as a boy when she plowed into what felt like a brick wall but from were she lay on the street she saw a pair of mans shoes . she stood getting redy to yell at the man she'd bumped into when she looked up and came face to face with, Vincent Valentine. he got her out of the rain took her to his room in the local inn and got her into dry clothing and make her some thing to eat he let her stay with him but since they hade only one bed in the room she slept in the same bed as him...her on one side, him on the other. one day the got into an argument about sonething stupid and Vincent left when he returned hefound peices of a blue stone one the carpet in the bedroom. her searched the house and found the bathroom door locked. he tryed to open it and was faced with a hysterical Kairisa trying to keep him out.

Finally he just knoked the door down and saw her cowering in a corner shaking like a leaf begging him not to look at her and that she was a monster. she has wings coming out of her back , her skin sparkled in the light and her eyes were purple with gold dots and a ring or sea-blue circleda cat-like silver pupil. She was a Sylph. he removed his shirt so it woulnt be torn and knelt infront of her he made her look up at him as he extended wings just like hers but a little longer his eyes changeed insted of beibg dark blu with flecks of red and gold and silver the were dark blue almost black with a ring of rea gand gold with a silver pupil. Kiairisa spoke

"y-you...your..."*snif* "just like m-me-e..."*snif*

"yeah I am an you not a monster you my soul-mate my yuuna...

Because they both Had the same tattoos on there face the were destined to be together they would be together for life and since almost nothing could kill a Sylph ten years wasn't that big of an age difference. the got married and Kairisa had four little boys one year after the other there names were Sephiroth,loz,yazoo,and kadaj...Kairisa was expecting again when the world was attacked by evil creatures Kairisa and Vincent fought to save Gia-tera when vincent was Morataly wounded and there kids were placed under a curse from which they would never awaken..but Kiairisa knew that if they were reborn in a new timline they would be alright their memories of her would be suppressed into their subconsciousness but they would survive so she took them to the lake oftears and sent them into the future..she had just released vincent and was about to follow them when a sudden pain blossomed in her chest . she turned around and saw her sister Yenowa who now was possessed by a evil spirit and was calling herself Jenova. the spirit Had changed her she was no longer beautiful but was now ugly with bat wings and blue skin, and silver hair with red eyd she tore the love from kairisas' heart and threw it into the pool. but with the last of her strength Kairisa sealed Jenova into a crystal for a thousand years and the fell together into the pool to follow Kairisas' children and husband into the future where they would meet again....and after all this Kairisa was still pregnant...

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Chapter 1

( One Thousand years later...)

She walked to the sound of rushing waves, the ocean she had made it! At last, the first part of her journey was complete…Her name is Kairisa. A name she preferred not to use, and for good reason, too… That name had brought Kairisa nothing but pain, so she often used aliases, the one in use now is just "Kai". Now Kairisa is a girl but when you look at her you could never tell. Not to say that most people even saw her she usually kept out of sight, sleeping in the woods or on the outskirts of a town, avoiding them whenever possible, and when she could not stay away from society any longer, she tried to stay unnoticed and make her stay as short and painless as possible.

Kai dressed like the shadows she tried so hard to blend into. She wore a black cloak that could double as cape when she wanted to look a little different; the ends of the cape were tattered so when she walked it looked as if she glided across the ground without her feet touching it. She would bind her chest with bandages to make her look like a man and she would walk like a man Also she had a voice disguiser specially made to make her voice a few octaves lower and sound emotionless, almost mechanical. It covered her eyes with a window so she could see through it and the microphone attached to the collar of her cloak with wires connecting it to the headset. Kai walked down to the damp stretch of sand and stood at the edge of the water, her tattered cloak blowing in the wind thinking that this was the reason she usually avoided towns, big cities, and the like because she tended to attract stares and, unwanted attention…People, humans, tended to remind Kai of animals all ways ready to attack anything the wasn't just like them, was not "normal".

Whenever someone saw what Kai looked like under her cloak it always brought trouble. Most times she would have to track the person down knock them out and erase their memories of her. She was at least 5'3(160cm) tall and could heal people or bring them back to life just by touching them. In her human form she also had partial control over the elements fire, water, earth, air, metal, and light. In addition to these and being able to breathe under water and walk on it too, Kai could also transform into an angel with huge wings that had black downy feathers near the top with glowing feathers of light below them, and she wielded an ornately decorated crystal scythe. Her normal appearance was just as unnerving in itself.

She had a frighteningly beautiful face that housed large eyes deep mysterious pools, the color of which was dark violet with a ring of gold then blue surrounding silver irises that contracted whenever she was upset. Skin so pale it was almost translucent .Long, thick, silky hair, jet black going down her back changing from her waist to her thighs to silver-gray. All of this combined with perfect body, immortality, and a singing voice that could rival a siren.

So all this just made Kai even more content to were her cloak and stay away from people. Kai stops her musing and steps out of her boots and steps toward the water her feet leaving prints in the sand even as the water rushes forward to wash them away. As she lets the water run over her feet then back again, Kai thinks back to the first time some on saw her face how they had said they were her and that no matter what they would not hate her..She also remembered that as soon as they saw her wings they had run, then returned later that night to her home in the town of Niblehime with the other towns people wielding lighted torches pitchforks and the other typical "drag the monster-freak-or witch (whatever they wanted to call it) to the town square and burn it at the stake in the name of God.

So that's what had happened to her and then once all the townspeople had gone she dragged herself from the ashes and staggered out of town to the woods where she searched till she had found a large snowdrift. Then dropping to her knees she slowly started to dig, through the snow and frozen ground deeper and deeper still. Until she had a hole about the depth of a grave then she crawled in and, using her powers she made the earth and snow close over her again…

She slept there a long time till all the ones who had wronged her and there decadence were forgotten in history and only came out centuries later long after the ashes from fires of hate had cooled and been swept away by the winds.

The mournful cry of a lone seagull broke Kai from her reverie. She mentally chided herself for being so absentminded. She had not time to be standing here reminiscing at the edge of the sea. Her destination lay across the ocean at the ruins of the forgotten city, were for Kai at least, her lonely journey first began…

As Kai walked, she briefly wondered why she was in such a hurry to get to that place. As far as she was concerned she had all the time in the world. Now that she thought about it she didn't know why, it just felt like she was being called, drawn to get there as quickly as possible, by something, or someone…..

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"The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied

upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand, will destroy them."

Exodus 15:9, The Holy Bible

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Chapter2

A tour group crunched noisily through the newly fallen snow, a young couple wanted to explore the ruins hidden beyond Panther Mountains. They had just come from the small village in the middle of the forest surrounded on every side by the mountains. They were oblivious to the fact that they were being followed. They failed to notice the silent shadow trailing them, high above them, springing lightly from tree to tree hidden in the skeletal shadows, cast from the trees overhead and the full moon in the sky.

A man (whose name was Vincent Valentine) silently watched the noisy little group from his vantage point in the trees above, but he was not the only one shadowing the three people. In the dense underbrush below he could see black shapes stalking silently and glowing, golden eyes staring hungrily out from the bushes. This place was called Panther Mountains for a reason…

The couple had been warned not to travel in the mountains past the village. Some said that the panthers guarded the way to the forgotten city. The man did not want to come but the lady insisted, they were archeologists and she wanted to lead an excavation of the forgotten city's ruins. If only they had listened, then they might have survived this night.

The group stopped and spread out; Vincent who was watching them overhead shook his head slightly. These people were just determined to see exactly how far they could tempt fate before it took action. They were setting up camp! He thought incredulously. They were never going to see the forgotten city anyway, but this, this was just too much it almost seemed like they were mocking him. Ignoring the villagers' warnings and coming here in the first place!

A grave error that they were about to pay for, dearly…

For a moment all was silent, it was as if the whole forest was holding its breath, waiting, for something, terrible. The only sounds came from the camp where the man was setting up tents and the woman was getting out portable pots and pans and other various cooking items including food, in preparation to cook something, and the tour guide making a fire. Then suddenly the stifling silence was broken as the panthers, with terrible roars attacked the camp. There were bone-chilling screams as the man and the guide were killed, but the woman having abandoned the pots and things when the large cats struck, went unnoticed by them. Vincent dropped silently to the ground and went over to the woman who was huddled in the shadows behind a large tree a few yards away watching with large frightened eyes, a hand covering her mouth in a feeble attempt to suppress a terrified scream. Bet she regretted her choice in coming here, bet she wishes that she had headed the villagers' warnings, Vincent thought wryly but, it's too late now… He kneeled next to her and she turned around slowly, and saw him. He motioned for her to follow him. Recognizing his human-shaped outline in the darkness, she looked at him for a moment then followed as he led her farther away from the camp. Once they were out of hearing distance Vincent turned to her, and a second later she stunned him by rocketing into his arms. For a moment he was still his arms lightly supporting her as her shaking, sobbing, and hysterical form clung to him, so surprised he was by her absolute trust, so sure in her assumed savior. Then he wrapped his arms tight around her and leaned down whispering in her ear "I'm sorry…" she shook her head then buried it in his chest thinking her was talking about the loss of her husband and the guide. "Please…"he whispered to her "forgive me …" she tried to pull away to look at him, but his already vice-like grip around her tightened. She started to struggle against him, panicking once more. With one arm still around her he grabbed a fistful of her short curly blond hair and wrenched her head back to look at him. He was once again, taken off guard by this woman. He was almost mesmerized by her big aquamarine eyes; they were so innocent, and scared. Shaking it off he pulled her head back farther, leaned down felt his fangs slide out of their sheaths, and bit hungrily into her pale unprotected neck. The blood curling scream that the woman had struggled to suppress earlier ripped its way from her then. He let out a small almost inaudible moan, as part of him savored the sweet taste of her blood on his tongue, the feel of her warmth flowing into him. The other, more human part of him was saddened at having to take life from another in order to feed his accursed body, retain his sanity, and kept his inner demons in check… Sometime later he awoke from the dreamless daze he always fell into when feeding like this, with a cold, empty shell clasped to him.

He carried the woman back to the camp and found her husband's body. He hadn't even been eaten, the cats weren't hungry they were just protecting the ruins from plunder, by the humans. He gently set her down by her husband and joined their hands together. When the bodies finally stiffened their hands would be locked together unable to be separated. His last act for them was to make sure that they were together, even in death. He closed the woman's wide open eyes and gently brushed her hair from her face. Then with his hand lingering on her cheek he whispered once more "forgive me…" then he stood up, jumped into the air and vanished, leaving the bodies and the ruined campsite to the night…

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