The Chill of Steel and Shadow, The Beginnings End

Prologue

"The quieter you are the more you hear and see and understand and even feel. Quiet fills yourself up. There's wisdom to be found in listening."
— Unknown source

"Very well my darling, I will tell you of that tale once again." A feminine voice, soothing and silky glided through the chill moonlit air. Listening to such a voice could lull one to sleep and peace. Thus she began to speak her tale. The tale of Time and Withering Shadows, The tale of The Beginnings End and the Chill of Steel. Knowledge from the beginning darkness came from a codex so ancient and worn that the title had faded to nothing. Perhaps this was the truth of time? In this book of sorrow, at least that is what is referred to as it stated many things through the most prevalent was this.

"Long ago three beings were dredged up in that primordial dark. One, born of nothingness, named thee, Infinity, it only wished for solitude and the realm of the quiet and thus sought out the dimensional gap. But the other, the older of the two, one who had no beginning nor end, named Eternity wished for something far greater yet humble. What it wished for...was balance...and in so...upon taking up the mantle of thou which takes all life. It was named...Death."

"At least to those that exist they know of the curse that is death. This decay is rooted in the universe and even in souls. Eternity became the force known as time and ruled with his curse of death. To do this he created a monolith of his power in which later would be referred to End-World, the first and eventual last realm and the new center of the darkness. In light of the creation of the tower the gray mist formed and swirled around The Dark Tower, it's black iron flesh writhed with a mild silver glow. The Void began to constantly expand. With the dimension beginning to calm Eternity attempted to find his only potential bondmate Infinity. He searched in the black for time unknown nor knowable. He eventually found that he could not stray too far from the mild gray light that stood out like a beacon in the black. The tower stood like a blade tearing through the dark somehow brighter than the darkness even though it was of the deepest of blacks. The dragon's soul mate was gone into the place later known as the Dimensional Gap. The dragon was struck with an all-consuming sorrow and he bled the first dragon tear."

"A dragon tear?" The other younger feminine voice asked.

"Yes, its a tear made of blood and soul. It would only happen if the dragon has lost itself. Now no more interrupting! I myself have some much-needed sleep I must catch up on.

"Sorry, sorry Oka-san continue."

"Where were we? Ah yes. The beast forced his soul from his body all the while crying crimson tears that streaked down it's blackish, silvering body. The body fell. The scales filled with crimson, the soul gray and withering, swirling with similar black smoke and mist. The soul joined the stream of mist and curled up around the tower, before spreading across existence."

"And then it was gone. The body was curled around the tower. The body then began to mold into a silver wall around the tower. The blood spilled out around the body and formed a flower. The roses filled with shards of dragon scales sharp enough to tear through the reality. As all stilled in the gray only the silver walls and the infinitely tall tower swirling in what would later make of souls, this rift energy spiraled up the tower. Thus the Dark Tower was formed and the turbulent blackness became a soothing abyss with time and decay ruling as the great balancer of the black.

The book frequently talks about the beginning originally having no light. Only an empty, infinite black. Now a small gray sliver shone like a beacon in the dark abyss. Like a lone waning ember. Then there was the other entity that existed in this blackness. Not having a name of its own it is commonly referred to as God, The Almighty, or the Maker by its creations. It was the sum of all things: good and evil, light and dark, physical and mystical, joy and sadness. And, within its eternal dream-state, it considered itself—all of its myriad facets. Seeking a state of total purity and perfection, The Maker cast evil from itself this created the Devils and Demons of Hell, but with the new plains of balance created by Eternity, the Maker then created the Angels of Heaven.

"The Makers dissonance began to fade and for a time he blessed his various creations with realms of their own. Of course, this could only happen for a time as this existence has been created on the aspect of balance through decay. These discordant parts formed into the antithesis of the Maker, a being simply called The End; the first Primeval. Though separate beings, The Maker and The End were bound within the black. There they warred against each other in an unending clash of light and shadow for ages uncounted, neither gaining the upper hand. At last, their energies spent after countless millennia of battle, they delivered their final blows. The energies unleashed by their impossible fury ignited an explosion of light and matter so vast and terrible that it shattered that current reality."

"New forms of life came from the Shards, Splinters, and Slivers left. The original Shards were the strongest of all of the fragments and bonded or formed into various beings that became the Aspects. All of the original Shards all started with the same amount of strength and relevance. It was not random which Vessel got which Shard. Each represented a different powerful concept. Some of the first creations where Cultivation, Ambition, Devotion, Dominion, Endowment, Honor, Preservation, Ruin, Chaos, Gaia, Tartarus, and lastly, Eros. With His blessings, they bore even more gods and goddesses, carved out ascendant realms of their own, their own throne world's. Eventually, they built a cosmos of universes and unfettered realms. Respectively, the different universe contains different worlds, such as the universe that consisted of the Human world among its realms. The Last Realm is the name of this particular universe. Fitting, as it is the last realm that was created. The Human World, or Earth as the Humans call it, shares a close link with two other separate worlds. Heaven, and Hell. All of the light began to smother the Void."

"The Maker looked upon all of the light and happiness and he felt accomplished, however apart of him sneered inwardly. All would be reduced to naught, just like that terrible darkness of before. He stole shards from beings and brought them to the darkest part of space and bound them there. Now soulless these newly Arisen beings would eternally fight the dark. They would be his Heralds of the end times and protect his creations to come. Finally feeling the Void call, he closed his eyes and finally The Maker had his rest."

"As aeons past the Makers children began to establish order. The Angiris Council being the head of peace. It is comprised of the seven Archaspects who hold dominion over the High Realms. They determine the laws by which all angels, demons, and gods must abide. Each of them embodies a pure aspect of creation: valor, justice, hope, fate, and wisdom. They are mediators, created in time immemorial by The Maker to keep the balance. The Angiris Council placed their great quarters atop the pillar of reality and time, The Dark Tower. It is said that the Tower is all that is left of the original period of the Great Dark."

They were always wrong, the interpreters of the dead God, The Almighty, and Maker. The seal and The four horsemen of the apocalypse. There were no actual horsemen and the seal had already been broken from the very beginning of time. The horsemen were just the signs of the awakening of the Arisen back into this reality, a warning against what was to come. Then the Desolations came. There was something that corrupted all of them. Something in that terrible abyss of the beginning something else had existed. In the deep dark below, beyond the space where time wakens and yawns, beyond the shadows cast by the great leviathan of Eternity, the Primevals stirred. Within cities where geometry and madness shared the same meaning, constructed from thought, from unnatural impulse, the Primevals dream dark machines into being. Only souls keep these engines roaring, heard screaming across distant stars. The only aura can power these machines and as of now, only souls can fill their void, sublime in its vast emptiness. In their own throne world created by a Shard which they stole, Braize or damnation was created. They wanted to take the throne of Eternity, The Dark Tower and claim the omnipotent power and omniscient knowledge that came about with the power of time. The appearance of the Arisen or Heralds as they are otherwise known is said to announce the coming of a Desolation. The Desolations were cataclysmic events involving the Heralds and the Void. They were massive, realm-wide wars. After each Desolation, civilizations lay in ruins. Between Desolations, the Heralds are trapped in Braize, or Damnation, being tortured by the demons of the Void. Heralds that die during a Desolation are sent back to Braize; those that survive are supposed to go back voluntarily. The Heralds being there, as established by the Oathpact, prevents the Void from returning to reality. After several centuries of Desolations, during Aharietiam, also known as the Last Desolation, The Quiet One, the Ivory Herald chose to hold a passage by a northern waterway by himself, a near impossible task. While he managed to defend it successfully, he was eventually killed in the fighting because of his wounds and returned to Damnation. However, The man was the only Herald to die in this Desolation. All of the other surviving Heralds, wearied by millennia of torture, chose to abandon the Oathpact, leaving only The Quiet One bound to it. They believed that as long as one Herald remained bound to the Oathpact, this could end the cycle of Desolations. The man alone remained bound to the Oathpact and returned to Damnation to be tortured for an eternity of eternities.

They used the prospect of the Arisen holding such power for themselves whispering to the gods. Thus The Eternal Conflict began. Each side suffered unavoidable casualties. And those that cared for peace were deteriorating at an extreme pace, taken over by the whispers of the Primevals in the Void. The Tower's defenders were slowly deteriorating in number. That was until the quiet one returned. His return was supposed to bring victory to the side of the defenders, but their horror he only sought balance. Wisdom, the Quiet Arisen had somehow fallen and great wispy skeletal darkness, the mist from Braize spread around him. What could have caused an Arisen to fall, something higher than even the angels? He fought now on his own side, he fought with mist that froze reality with wraiths within that swarmed the battlefield. With no allegiance who could stop Wisdom, who has knowledge of all combat. The reason for his departure soon became known terrible black flame coalesced around him. The same flames of a dragon, the creatures they so desperately slaughtered to create weapons.

That day the Herald ended the conflict. Most that survive refuse to speak of what happened that day, but they remember and they fear. The Aspects were somehow all killed during the collapse of the Dark Tower, it is thought to be the Ivory Herald's fault. A ceasefire was then made and to this day the war has been in a stalemate. Mist now seeps out in the night covering all of the realms at night.

"The End."

"Mouuu. Okaa-san! Why do you always end it this way? Why not add more to the story? You haven't changed it since when was even a kid. And I always wondered why the Ivory man would do such a thing to himself"

"The Ivory Herald, The Herald of Wisdom was most devout in his duties of keeping the dark at bay, but in a manner so serious that most never called him out on his almost fanatical obsession with seeking answers to all. The youngest of the Archaspects, Hope was the only one ever succeeded in pulling him from his studies often attempting to teach him to enjoy their existence. Still, Wisdom would read, try to learn more. None new for what causes other than his duty as a Herald, not even his apparent beloved younger sister could glean that information from the Quiet One. In truth, Wisdom had already found out about the lie of the so-called universe and was desperately searching for a way to 'save' it. Not for himself, but for the only kindness that was ever shown to him, by Hope. And I haven't changed it at all Rias, because the full story was never written. And with that, she ruffled her hair and turned to leave. "Remember Rias the official peace summit may be held, after which we can attempt to deal with this marriage situation."

She nodded forlornly and rolled over to sleep.

Sighing quietly to herself Venelana closed the door behind her and looked out the window to Hell's fake moon and pondered on the man that saved her, the Pale Raven, and what had happened to the one known as Death.

Ch. 1 Heiress and a Dance With Death

The people faded away, the arches, that vaulted roof vanished. She raised her seared eyes to the fathomless glare and saw the black stars hanging in the heavens: and the frozen winds and mist from the Survivor of Braize chilling her face.

The pink eyes cracked open. Those pink eyes soon closed as a slight and somehow dainty yawn escaped luscious red lips. Stretching in the process caused the bed sheets to fall away revealing a nude and overly buxom form of the heiress of Gremory.

Scratching her crimson locks as she made her morning stroll to the shower looking less like an heiress and more like a tired teen. In the process of her stroll, she noticed that it was raining outside.

As she entered the bathroom she took note of the pink staining her eyes, having used to be the color of her father's line with the awakening of the Bael's power of destruction she had become for lack of better term more devil-like. More powerful and even more seductive in her figure. However, her power of destruction was particularly uncontrollable for a Bael due to its strength, but her family did not care and she was still named heir apparent.

Feeling the warm water flow off her body was one of the many comforts that she genuinely appreciated, her thoughts suddenly went inward and she thought of the dream that she had of her childhood. She let out a sigh as she ran her hands through the crimson locks that fell to her ankles. Darting a pink eye to the right she saw the pleasantly smiling face of her queen. She knew it was a facade. "Yes Akeno, I am currently bathing."

"Yes, I see that my king..." her eyes suddenly opened and were a tad grim. "The duke called and said there was another stray." Rias' eyes hardened. "Give me a moment to clean."

It was a dark, gloomy morning at the town of Kuoh. The wind was breezing at a gentle pace, such a pace that would warm the hearts of those that take morning strolls. As always the mist faded through the air heavy and thick, the raising of the sun not yet banishing the wispy grays. The ominous fog had settled in all of the realms including Earth. The mist would coil and twirl in the late evening and then would fade away at dawn. Though the rain was lightly falling and most stayed indoors early in the morning even if the fog had become common over the centuries. Some would say that this particular breeze of air at such a time makes this morning a peaceful one and indeed it seemed to be, the wind lightly blowing the broiling mist in the arcs and the light rain causing the fog to be lower to the ground. But for the group of people that were heading towards an abandoned building would say otherwise about this morning. For this morning, it was an unpleasant time to be outdoors, as this particular group of people was hunting down a monster that dwells in the abandoned building they were approaching. This monster is what they call: a Stray Devil. They are Devils who were once servants to the master who reincarnated him or her until he or she decided that they had enough and either left their master or killed them in cold blood. Their lust for freedom and their selfish desires were the main cause of those Devils going stray.

And this group of Devils, who wore clothing that was fit for a high school however, the females' uniforms were rather risque. They were here to make sure that this creature is taken care of. The leader of the group was named Rias Gremory. She is a gorgeous woman with long, crimson-red hair that reached down to her thighs with a single hair strand sticking out from the top. She had lovely blue-pink eyes, paired with her heart-shaped rear and massive knockers she was well sought after for her overly endowed figure. This woman was leading her group, who consisted of another woman whose beauty and bust size somehow surpassed her rival and her detainer Rias'. She had violet eyes, and long raven-black hair tied in a ponytail with a few strands that arched down her back past a butt that was a rival to her bust and then reached her legs. A young woman with blue eyes and blonde hair that fell down to her back, which she sometimes styles in a ponytail, a quiet girl with hazel eyes and short, white hair, who looked apprehensive in her movements, and a young man with short, spiky brown hair with two, short locks behind his head and matching colored eyes, who was acting nervous on this hunt that Rias filled him in on

As the group finally made it to the abandoned house, Rias turns her head towards the brown-haired man and got his attention. "Ise, I want you to watch closely as my servants do battle." The man who Rias calls "Ise", whose real name is Issei Hyoudou, nods his head in affirmative. "Oh, okay." Rias then sets her sights on the blonde and white-haired girls. "Yumi-san, Koneko-san, you two approach the door first." The two girls nod in response and walk slowly towards the entrance of the abandoned house. As they did so, the blonde, Yumi, grabbed the hilt of her sword with narrowed eyes at the door, and the white-haired loli, Koneko, cracked her knuckles while having a neutral expression. Yumi reached for the handle of the door until… Schick! "KYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Everyone lets out a gasp when they heard what sounds like the carving of flesh, followed by an agonizing female scream. "Buchou," Yumi turns her head towards Rias with slightly wide eyes. "That scream!" Rias nods at her words.

"Um… Buchou? What's going on?" Rias turns her head towards Issei and gives her an assuring stare. "Get behind us Ise.

Akeno, I trust that you will help take care of my servants." "Yes, Rias. Whether I like it or not I am also your servant." The ponytail girl, Akeno, puts on a serious face as she conjures yellow thunder from her hands, surprising the brown haired boy. After getting a nod from Rias, Koneko kicks down the door and the Devils went inside, with Issei following from behind as Rias commanded him. As they got in, their eyes widen when they see a female creature in front of them. 'There she is,' Rias says in her thoughts. 'It's the Stray Devil. But… What happened to her?

"NOOOOHHH! Such a waste of flesh~!" BONK! After serving on the Stray Devils naked top half, Issei was immediately silenced by Koneko with a punch to his head. "Quiet, perv! She was stray and she has been done in." She warns quietly with a stern expression. "You'll have us noticed by whatever killed the monster." Issei nods in response while rubbing the bump on his head with anime-tears. Rias rolls her eyes at his behavior before scanning her eyes around in search for the what had who killed the Stray Devil. As her blue-green eyes continued shifting left and right, they zipped right back to the Stray body and slightly widened to see that her chest was torn asunder and not only leaked blood but a blue-gray mist like that of an extinguished flame.

A chittering sounds like bones scratching stone and suddenly a demonic like figure with a tail that curls out of its upper back loomed in front of them moving at a speed that the devils and the hybrid could barely follow.

TCHTANG!

The body of whatever the demon figure was, was essentially torn into two halves the upper half being rent with a massive smoldering hole. The body flew and collided into the wall to it's right. The circle of the wound flickering lightly with flames and the body turning to ash.

The sound was a deafening clang and slightly disoriented those that heard it. "An exorcist?" Rias' thoughts were running at the speed light essentially hopping from one negative to the next. The group scanned the darkness of the warehouse hoping to find the sight of their savior.

"There!" Akeno called out. Rias turned her gaze at the shadowy mist that revolved around a gray-white light. Moments later the devil's where blinded momentarily multiple flashes followed by more cracks of thunder. As their eyes adjusted to the light of the flashes they took note of the figure there. He was a young looking man that could be described as somber by both clothes and features. After dodging a particular swing of bone-like claws dripping with shadow his hood fell away. A handsome face with sharp features, almost unnaturally pale skin. Onyx-black near chin length messy hair that fell around his eyes and nose. He held an emotionless gaze far worse than Koneko's and under his eyes, bags were slightly visible showing that he lacked sleep. He wore a large black long coat that fell to his ankles. Under the coat, he wore a dark gray collared button down shirt. A large, old, tattered, and long gray-black hooded cloak wrapped around his neck and falling down just before the ground. The cloak was made of and consisted of ribbons. The strips of dark gray cloth were sewn together at the shoulders and chest. It rippled a coiled around him as he moved they noticed that the mist did the same coiling and undulating around him.

After five more seconds of searching, her eyes, as well as everyone else's shift towards the dagger-like blades lodged into the wall. Absolute work of art that could only be of supernatural origin. It leaked a slight mist from the pale blade. They soon realized that the blade was ghastly in appearance because the blade was of some sort of crystal. While his appearance surprised them, since the Devils, minus Issei thought the figure was an Exorcist, the halfling was having other thoughts.

"Is that Dredgen-san?"

The bladeslinger let out a quiet grunt as he unsheathes another blade it seemingly flying from the sheath into his hand and then it was tossed spiraling towards one of the demons beheading it. All the while dodging another of the demons flaming claws and blocking another with his blade.

"I think I know who that is, Rias we need to help him!." Akeno spoke worried fraught with fear.

Rias interjects. "Akeno it matters naught that you may know him, with the fact that this man is dealing with supernatural means that he is surely an exorcist, he will attempt to kill all of his here."

"Either way, we better help and-" Before she could continue any further, Akeno notices that the bladeslinger was still dodging twirling through the air being pulled this way and that. He did not appear to be fazed at the demons wailing and their laughter.

"Buchou! We need to hurry and help him, we can't just leave him to these demons can we?" But it was too late. The demons swarmed attempted to quench their rage with him as kindling. Only for the bladeslinger to fall towards the ground. Mist trailing behind him and appearing as a cloud several feet away the ground crackling with frost. The bladeslinger didn't have a problem with dodging their attacks as he noted in his mind on how sluggish they were. The Devils were in bewilderment at the man's speed. He was constantly moving left and right in great lunges to avoid the demon's claws and flames. Suddenly seeing an opportunity, he leaped up into the air floating there momentarily pushed up by some unknown force, his cloak spread around him. Holding his hands out as he fell the two blades lodged into the wall started to spin end or end towards him at alarming speeds. As he landed he gripped the blades and used the momentum and some other force began tearing the first charging group of Thrall into pieces of gore and blood. The vortex of the mist around his feet seemed to follow his sword swings and throws. He pulled out two more blades and the air was like a cyclone of pearlescent blades and mist twirling and singing through the air. The sounds of the bone beasts screams were only matched by the explosive retort of the blades striking home.

The Devils watching the battle could not believe what was happening. The blades twirled through the air and thrummed in an almost rhythmic manner. As the man kept killing, blood or that was what they assumed was blood, and gore painted the ground and walls. The massive demons let out blood-curdling cries of pain as they fell on their backs with a loud thud, which caused the ground to shake, forcing the Devils watching to try and keep balance. After growling in pain and rage, the demons that survived were silenced one at a time by the blades. Sheathing the ones in his hands and pulling the two lodged into the wall to him. Akeno called out running to him than a beast of azure tore through this dimension. Azure fire alighting bone and a sky of ghastly gray and red with a sun of crimson blazing behind it causing the harsh red light to bleed through. Foul mist bleeds through the tear adding to the mist already in the room dimming it further. The image of hate was slowly creeping into her mind. She saw the hate and the starlight and almost went mad, but as the tear closed and Rias was returned back to reality. After the Akeno shouted she suddenly stood stock still. Rias was about to yell out to her when several things happened all at once. The gray-cloaked figure was suddenly behind Akeno pulling her into his chest.

A pitch black spiraling vortex made of emerald with trailing shrouds of shadowy arcs suddenly exploded outward completely entrenching the bone demon in the shadow.

And what were these odd bone demon fell to the ground essentially torn in half by the great arc of shadows and blades? Standing tall with his hand dripping smoke and liquid shadows like the beasts with a twisted weapon that screamed to her senses something akin to what she felt when dealing with an angel or exorcist. His cloak of ribbons and long coat twisting in the air, while all lay still and silent. Culled by the terrible echo that was caused by his weapon. Akeno who still was in his arms shifted and inspected him owlishly and stayed quiet. She went as if to speak, but he suddenly pulled away and scanned her for harm. She watched as Akeno's hair fell around her holding the ruined ribbon. The gun that had fired burned away at her left shoulder burning the clothing away, but not causing harm to her. The man then seemingly heard something and shot once more the terrible echo ringing out as it lit the dark in ghastly green. He had fired into the darkness without looking. A more humanoid cry of pain and a slight thud. It was a woman.

A rather perverted one by the clothing that she wore and her rather lewd body. Seeing the state she's in, the Gunslinger slowly approaches the fallen angel. As the fallen lifts her head up to look at him, her eyes widen in fear as she, along with the rest of the Devils finally got a perfect look at his face. The mans face held a very cold emotionless expression.

His gray-white eyes were narrowed at the creature as he made his way towards the fallen. His round had torn her left wing off causing tears from the fallen and a flutter of feathers. and probably would render it useless and unable to grow if the smoldering flame that caused the wound was anything to go by.

The Devils, especially the fallen, notice that his eyes were carrying not anger, but curiosity he stood over the now kneeling and trembling fallen.

'Raynare is here? Yes, she can finally what she deserves!' Issei thought happy about what the man did to her. He and the other devils where suddenly flummoxed. He's not killing her…" Issei utters, anger visible in his voice…

Rias thought on the situation and was quite surprised and could not reply. 'Was he really an exorcist' While the redhead watched on, she heard a distinct sound of giggling and shifted her eyes to her halfling ward. The former's eyes slightly widen, but she then rolled them when she saw that Akeno had a sultry gaze towards the man. Rias understood why she was looking at the scene like this, knowing how her friend was into S&M and she also knew of her slight crush on the older man, and therefore, Akeno found the unknown supernatural entities strength and cold nature to be a beautiful sight to see. Akeno was elated to see the fear instilled on the fallen's face causing her to lick her lips and rub her thighs together at the sight. Rias then let out a sigh as her giggles continued.