Chapter 1

Could it be true? The seraph looked out the large window in his room. Was Mithos truly trying to bring about an age of lifeless beings? How could he have been so blind? It irked him that Yuan was right. The half-elf had picked up on Mithos' crazy schemes long before Kratos did. Yuan went on and on about how Mithos was going against Martel's wishes. Kratos cursed himself for being so naive and defending Mithos. But they were friends… they promised they would always be Mithos' side. This, however, was too much. And Kratos knew this. Mithos had purposely hid the facts, but it shouldn't have been so hard to put together. Kratos knew that he had to confront Mithos. He looked at himself in his reflection and examined himself. Over four-thousand years old and he still maintained his youthful appearance of a man in his early thirties. He stood with his arms crossed in his white and blue uniform and his hair all messy covering part of his face. What had become of him? He looked out to the world beneath him and thought about all the suffering that he had allowed. He was not ignorant to what had already been happening but now it was going too far. He decided he had to confront Mithos now or he would never atone for his sins. Kratos walked through the familiar halls of Derris-Kharlan to Mithos' room.

When he entered Mithos was in his adult form sitting with his feet on the table and his arms stretched behind his head looking to the ceiling. "Hello friend," he said without taking his eyes off the ceiling. Kratos shifted uneasily as he knew his old friend would not take this news well. Mithos seemed to sense his hesitation and sat normally. "What's wrong?" he returned to his child form. His blonde hair swept to the side revealing his innocent-looking blue eyes. Kratos had to mentally steel himself. When he saw Mithos like this, it always reminded him of their past, thousands of years of memories and friendship. Mithos knew he could manipulate his friends when he looked like this. Any loyalty to Martel always prevailed when he maintained this form.

"Mithos, I have some… concerns," Kratos managed.

"Well certainly we can talk about this, sit." He kicked the chair next to him back and instructed Kratos to sit. He obeyed and stiffly sat slowly. "How can I ease your mind?"

"Mithos. Do you remember our goal and promise to Martel?" Kratos asked after a pause. Mithos looked hurt at Kratos' question.

"Kratos, what do you think I am doing? Martel wished for a world without discrimination-"

"By turning everyone into angels? I realize now what you're really after," Kratos interrupted him. Mithos looked taken aback only for a moment but explained, "Kratos this is the only way."

"It's wrong," Kratos said sternly.

Mithos stared at Kratos measuring him up with his eyes. He then sat back and brought his hands together. Kratos remained his stern expression and met his eyes in silence. "Kratos… there can be no world without discrimination. Haven't we already tried that?! This is the only way!" His voice got louder toward the end and he was standing now. "I am going to bring the age of lifeless beings so that everyone is the same. No more discrimination! Look how half-elves are treated to this day! Kratos we have been dealing with this for thousands of years. It is not going to change otherwise. Martel would have wanted this."

"No she would not want people to be getting hurt- she would look for another way," Kratos maintained his composure. He couldn't help but see where Mithos was coming from. All those years ago before they were powerful enough to step away from it all, they had seen all kind of discrimination and fought in the ancient war for the very same reasons.

"Kratos, do you not trust me?" Mithos got closer and lowered his voice but this did not disguise the intensity with which he spoke. "After all these years? All those promises- did they mean nothing?!"

Kratos felt a pain of guilt and looked away. "No, but it is because of those promises that I can no longer support you."

Mithos' face fell. He suddenly looked like the child he was. "You… you're leaving me?" he asked incredulously. "Please Kratos… don't lose hope! We can do this! It's only a matter of time!"

Kratos stood and turned to walk away. "No! Stop! You won't leave me! You can't leave me! NO ONE has sacrificed more than I! NO ONE has lost more than I! We've tried every way… haven't I lost enough?" His voice calmed to almost a whisper. Kratos made his way to the door when suddenly a transmission came in from Lord Kvar.

"Lord Yggdrasil, I think we have found a very promising subject," Kvar said with devious excitement. Mithos turned sharply annoyed at the interruption. Kvar looked surprised, "I apologize for interrupting my lord. But you might want to see this…"

Mithos transformed into his adult form and let out his wings. "Kratos, look."

Kratos breathed in deeply and turned to the screen. He was mildly surprised to find desian officers bringing a subject into the room Kvar had been observing. Kratos watched in silence. "This is subject A012. Prepare to commence," a desian man said. Some men were getting supplies together, others were strapping the subject to the examination table. She was a frail young woman with long brown hair. She looked scared and fought back against the men who were bounding her. One man came from behind her and gagged her which made her freak out more and scream. She could no longer fight back much as she had been strapped. Kratos grew more disgusted as he watched but did not say a word.

Kvar spoke, "A012 has been very susceptible to our treatments my lord. I believe she is the perfect subject for the Angelus Project." Yggdrasil simply looked on looking for proof of the worth of these words. They gave her something through a shot and her panicked muffled screams were like knives to Kratos, pushing his guilt deeper and deeper. This medication calmed her down a little but her eyes still shifted watching every movement of the men in doctor uniforms and her breathing was getting faster. "We are ready, Lord Kvar," one man said who looked up at the room from which Kvar was observing. Kvar turned to face the screen waiting for Yggdrasil's order. Yggdrasil turned to Kratos, "I told you we were almost there friend." He turned and nodded to Kvar who gave the order to commence.

Kratos could not see well because the men were blocking the view from his angle but he saw the men pull out tools and start working on the subject. He could hear her muffled screams. Kratos left his drop jaw when he saw one man turn and pick up a crystal with tongs and turned. The cry of agony was unlike any other he had ever heard. There was a light that shone around the table and desian soldiers from around the room tensed up and pointed their weapons at the subject fearing that the experiment took a turn for the worse. Even the doctors took a step back, blinded by the light. The subject writhed in pain and arched her back in pain screaming so loud the gag no longer muffled her pain. The light faded and after a moment the subject dropped to the table lifeless.

The men in the room stood shocked and Kratos sighed and turned to walk away.

"We will succeed Kratos…" Yggdrasil said.

"I am sorry Mithos," Kratos said with sorrow in his heart because for the first time in a long time he allowed himself to feel pain. He knew somewhere he was doing the right thing, but after so many years he was turning his back on his former student, friend and companion. It was harder than he expected… the memory of Mithos' words stung. Just as he was about to reach the door there was a beep. Kratos' heart stopped and he turned. The beep regulated and slowly established a normal pattern.

"I don't believe this…" he heard Kvar say. Yggdrasil drew closer as if getting closer would make it real. The beeping was the monitor on subject A012. She was alive.