Act 2

Harmony's Corruption

Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion. Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

Valley of Valkyries, located a few hundred kilometers from the city of Eisengard.

"Go away!" a female angel shouted in an irate tone.

The hungry demon chasing the young angel seemed to laugh at its prey's defenselessness. Getting on its hind legs, the Hellhound leaped from valley to valley and jumped over depressions.

The female angel weakly waved her bow Vanquisher, Azusa Yumi, at the warring hound as her pure white wings propelled her backwards. She glided swiftly in the air, avoiding the attacks. Her golden locks swayed to and fro along her white face from all her moving.

Unabated, the Hellhound lunged at the angel and landed on a small balanced rock. It growled loudly at the angel, scaring her even more. In panic, the angel shot an arrow at the mid point of the balanced rock. The big rock on top fell and carried the demon with it to the depths of a long depression. The last thing the female heard was a faint howl followed by a strident crash, probably the sound of a boulder breaking from impact.

Sighing, the young angel wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. She turned around in thought that the battle was finally over. But, it was far from done. Another Hellhound challenged her to a death match.

She held the Azusa Yumi tightly with her left hand. In one fluid motion, the angel raised the bow from the downward pointing position up until it was vertically aligned, and she drew the string of the bow towards her face although there was no arrow.

Angels traveling through the valley of the shadow of death shall be horded by demons...

Relaxing her fingers, the angel released the string.

But the gods will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down.

The sound of the heavenly choir filled the area, paralyzing the demon in its steps.

"Critical Strafe!"

Instantly, a myriad of holy arrows crashed on the demon and were impaled on the platform in which the hound stood. The arrows and the demon vanished thereafter.

"Cornelia," called the gods.

"Yes?" she responded in surprise with round eyes as if she was talking to the gods personally or face-to-face.

"Eliminate your designated target, now," ordered the gods through a psychic link in which they were able to communicate to angels even from light years away.

"Um...what target was it again?"

"Forgetful young angel... Take down the angel with black wings."

"Why would you command me to fight my fellow angel?"

"Enough questions. Go and complete your task." With that, the gods shut off the connection so that the angel might not be able to respond any further.

Shrugging, Cornelia skipped and flew towards the unknown and let her senses lead her.

---

The sun was slowly setting and the day was nearly finished. Streaks of gold, orange, yellow and red colored the sky like oil pastel on a plain white canvas. Cornelia sat on one of the branches of a tree and relaxed her white wings after hours of endless traveling. She looked up at the darkening sky and grinned. Before long, the day turned into night. Heavenly bodies of great distances served as stars that lit up the sky while the moon gave light to the world of angels.

Cornelia almost fell asleep with the relaxing and cold breeze yet an unusual rustling of leaves startled her, turning on her battle senses.

She inhaled deeply. Jumping off the tree branch, Cornelia twirled in the air before landing on the ground bended-knee. Driven by her instincts, she summoned her Vanquisher and dashed into the woods. From afar, she saw a shadowy figure flying through the woods. The form had black wings and she confirmed it by the black feathers lying on the soil.

Cornelia chased her target in a zigzag path. She avoided low, stray branches of trees, displaced roots and the likes which made it hard to fly through the forest. Finally, the figure stopped outside the forest.

"Halt!" she tried to state in the toughest voice she could muster.

The figure, standing slightly taller than she was, turned around and glared at her with its dark eyes. This was no angel. It was one of the high-ranked demons of Artwaltz.

"You dare command me, puny puppet of the gods?"

Cornelia, immediately intimidated, could no longer talk for her words were stuck in her throat. The apparition took a step forward and sent a weak earthquake to its surroundings.

"T-the g-gods have ordered your judgement," her threatened voice came out.

The demon's laugh echoed all the way throughout the forest. "I, ArchHeart, am an official of Artwaltz. No little minion of the gods can defeat me."

Cornelia drew her bow and rapidly shot soul arrows at the demon. At normal instances, one arrow was enough to take down at least one Hellhound. However, not even one of the thousands of arrows went past through ArchHeart's demonic aura.

"Idiocy. Pure idiocy," insulted the demon as it bare a smug grin. Cornelia let out a yelp as ArchHeart started to make its move towards her. The demon may be a fraction slower than her, but one strike from its long horns, enormous claws or spiked tail would mean certain death.

Cornelia went back into the forest in terror. Her wings moved on their own in panic, causing her to occasionally trip and fall. She skinned her knees, sprained her ankle and injured her wings.

"Come and fight," ArchHeart dared the angel.

Tears were already streaming down the cheeks of the young female. She took one last fall and was not able to lift herself up from the ground.

"Die!" screamed the demon before raising its claw in preparation for a deathblow.

Out of nowhere, a crimson spear crushed the demon's claw into fragmented pieces. ArchHeart let out a painful growl, pulling out the skewered spear from its hand. Blood gushed out of the deep wound.

Cornelia quickly glanced behind her and saw an angel with black ravenous wings in contrast to her white dove-like wings. His crimson eyes and red spear appealed as very familiar to her.

The crimson spear disappeared from ArchHeart's grasp and returned to Cross' hand.

"Leave, ArchHeart. Thou'st not belong in this sacred ground," Cross said in his low-pitched voice.

ArchHeart snarled at the black winged angel. It spat out a dark fireball at Cornelia's direction. The female shrieked in fright.

Expecting something bad to happen, Cornelia hurriedly closed her eyes. After a few moments of nothing, she opened them once again only to see the black winged angel standing in front of her, just like before. A red substance fell down from the angel's arm and forehead. Blood.

Cross grinned chaotically.

For an instance, an unexplainable feeling of sheer horror rose in the demon's heart upon seeing the angel's grin. It almost seemed frightening enough to scare even the gods of Arcadia.

The blood dripping down immediately turned into ruby flames once it touched the ground. With small and controlled steps, Cross approached the demon, which began fleeing.

Massive, black, seraph wings spread out from the back of the angel. Blood ran down the left eye of Cross as he raised his right hand and pointed at ArchHeart.

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.

ArchHeart was stopped by a wall of fire that was barred to burn anything else but the souls of the corrupt and the hearts of the malevolent.

Answer my prayer and let chaos pour down this night.

"Chains of Chaos!"

Cross teleported-dashed to the demon from one angle to another while chains traced his trail. His path formed into a cross; the demon was mummified in the Chains of Chaos.

"Open, the Gate of Chaos."

A fiendish gate with two doors arose from the solid ground. On the left door engraved were angels and the gods while on the right were the demons and Lucius, the ruler of Artwaltz. The handle of the gate contained the shape of a bleeding heart pierced by a spear.

"Your sins shall be repaid in full with blood."

Cross snapped his fingers and the doors of the Gate of Chaos threw open. Within the gate was a world of complete darkness - oblivion. Black, shadowy hands with eyes came from the darkness within the gate. Though it struggled, ArchHeart was unable to move due to the chains. The demon let out a gasp as its fate was being judged. The hands slickly wrapped around the demon and slowly pulled it into oblivion. ArchHeart's screaming was muffled as other hands from inside the gate went inside its mouth and infiltrated the demon's system. Just before the demon was dragged inside, blood came out from its mouth and eyes, its bones snapped and cracked altogether and its soul was eaten by the phantom inside the Gate of Chaos. Finally, the terrifying gate closed its doors and disappeared from the sight of everyone.

Cross walked to Cornelia and held out a hand. The female angel neither said nor did anything because everything she had just seen scared her like nothing else. The vision she just had was horrible and terrorizing than any other event imaginable. It seemed like the forbidden Gates of Hell, a place much worse than Artwaltz, had opened.

"Stand up," Cross' voice shook Cornelia out of her fearsome thoughts. His calm, onyx eyes gave her a reason to accept the hand that was in front of her. It held a sense of trust and benevolence. And so, she grabbed onto Cross hand and let him haul her to her feet.

Without delay, Cornelia plunged back to the ground. She had sprained her ankle before and her wings were too injured for her to fly. Apparently, Cross had already predicted that case.

With a swoop of his arms, Cross carried Cornelia in a lover's carry with one of his hands supporting her knees and the other underneath her neck. He spread his wings and took off into the dark, night sky.

Cornelia dared not ask if they have met before. Though she was certain that they had, she noticed that Cross didn't seem to remember.

Soon, it also poured, soaking the two in rainwater. Cross was looking for a safe place to camp for the night. He turned his head to her and asked, "Were you hurt?"

"Can't you see that I sprained my ankle, skinned my knees and injured my wings?" Cornelia answered back, already back to her usual self.

"I did not mean that. Do you possess any serious injuries?"

"These are serious injuries!"

"Forget I asked."

With a sigh, Cross cut the conversation short. Cornelia just giggled like a giddy schoolgirl. He looked at her, his face lacking any emotion. "What do you find humorous?"

"It's nothing."

"What is it?" Cross asked in repetition while adding pressure to his voice.

"Geez, so grouchy," she teased, copying his emotionless face after.

Cross narrowed his eyes.

Cornelia grinned evermore.

Cross decided not to pay attention to the pointless conversation with a pointless person because it all seemed so darn pointless. After what seemed like perpetuity, Cross noticed a cave hidden under towering trees near the end of the vast forest. He swooped down in one mighty dive and landed firmly inside the cave without indirectly inflicting pain to Cornelia. Cross cautiously placed her down and let her lean against the cold, rocky wall.

"Thanks-" Cornelia started and was unable to continue.

"Cross," he supplied.

"Thanks Cross," she gingerly said, flashing him a passionate smile.

A snap was all it took to start a fire inside the cave without any materials. The glowing flame provided warmth and brightness that both of the angels dearly desired.

"Hey-" Cornelia called in vain before Cross flew out of the cave for an indefinite motive. He later came back with several large leaves and a handful of berries. Cross wrapped Cornelia's exposed skin and the wounds on her knees with the gathered leaves. The berries, on the other hand, were fed to her as medicine to recover her wounds and injuries.

Cross made his way over the opposite end and leaned on the wall, his eyes never leaving Cornelia. She observed this and was intellectual enough to know the reason behind it. She could somehow sense a slight feeling of care emanating from him.

"Your mission," the gods rang a bell her inside her mind.

That was when Cornelia remembered her current mission - to eradicate the angel with black wings. Was there any chance that the angel before her was the one she was ordered to kill? "After all that he had done for me, I won't be able to do that," she convinced herself mentally and involuntarily shut out the voices of the gods from her head.

"You have not told me your name yet," Cross stated with no emotion whatsoever.

"Ah, yes. I am the Princess of Eisengard, Cornelia Cartwright, very pleased to meet you."

Cross nodded in response. "Are you hungry?"

"What's my name?"

"...Princess Cornelia Cartwright."

"Then ask again."

"Are you hungry....Princess?"

"Just call me Cornelia." She smiled at him and looked straight into his eyes which reflected off the glint of the fire. Heck, he was too gallant and downright gorgeous for her to kill him anyway.

"Are you?"

"Nope, not re..al..l..y..."

Then, her mind and body shut down, causing her to faint. Cross quickly rolled to her side and caught her head before it hit the ground. He took off his fiery red cape and black shirt strapped to his sides with dark leather strips before gently placing them under Cornelia's head to serve as a pillow of some sort.

He knelt silently beside Cornelia and brushed a few strands of golden hair from her face. Cross, eyes wide awake, protected her every single minute of the night until the sun rose once more to a new day.

A/N: HEY YOU! YEAH, YOU, THE ONE SITTING IN FRONT OF THAT MONITOR AND THAT KEYBOARD WHILE STARING STUPIDLY AT THE SCREEN! Uh...hi. :D If anyone is truly out there, I thank you for visiting this webpage. I do hope you leave a comment, a suggestion, or a review before you close this tab. I wonder why are there only hits on the intro page. Is it that boring T_T? If by any chance that you came across this by accident, thanks for adding a hit even though you didn't read it. lol. Anyway, on to the next chappie.