Sorry for the delay, schools been in the way and been having mondo mucho homework. Hope this BIG update makes up for it :D!!!!
**************************************************
As Flonne walked into the dinning room, she grew a surprised look on her face as she saw how big the place was. There were practically four different square shaped tables, all about five feet long and wide. As she looked up, she saw a giant chandelier, made of pure gold.
"Ah you came." A mysterious voice said, sitting at the middle of a table on the left. Flonne looked at him surprised, not knowing that he was in the room. But her face went to shock though; the stranger looked exactly like Seraph Lamington. But the weird thing was that he had a mixed red white robe, blonde colored hair and red colored eyes, just like Flonne's.
"S-Seraph?" Flonne said questionably, surprised at his look. The stranger just shook his head.
"Not quite. I am the Seraph's brother, Teristial." He replied, as he waved his hand over to Flonne as a sign to take a seat. Flonne, still nervous, knew that there was something wrong about this whole situation, but on the count of everyone's kindness and hospitality, she figured for now she wouldn't have to worry. She decided to go along with this and took a seat, on the chair directly opposite of Teristial.
"Um...I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I really think I should..." Flonne started, but soon stopped as she felt a sudden pain in her back again. As she looked in agony, she saw her wings growing wider, just a few inches away from her tail. She became really nervous since she didn't know whether or not he knew about her strange occurrences. As she looked, he had the same expression on his face as before.
"It's alright. I already know." He said, causing Flonne to be shocked. "As you can observe, many others in this castle underwent the same thing you went through." Flonne had a million questions running through her head at the time, but only one that seemed most important to her.
"Um...why are you...um..." Flonne tried saying, thinking of a polite way of putting her sentence together. Teristial just smiled, knowing what she wanted to ask.
"I'm afraid it's my brother's evil doing..." Teristial said, causing Flonne to shoot an instantly angered face. She started glaring angrily as she stood up suddenly.
"What the hell are you saying?!" She shouted, banging the table. Teristial was a bit surprised, but with her current condition, he wasn't surprised. "The Seraph is the kindest man I've ever known! How could you say things like that about the Seraph, much less your brother?!" Flonne breathed heavily, before she felt surprised at her sudden outburst. She had never been so rude before. She wondered if it had anything to do with her strange changes. When she snapped back into reality, she took a seat quietly.
"Oh, please, forgive me." She said, beg fully as she bowed. "I-I didn't mean to...to..." She started to rub her hands roughly as she was trying to think of a way to apologize. Not only did she swear to a higher angle, even if he is part demon, but she also realized that she swore to the very brother of the one she respected most. Teristial just shook his head as if understanding.
"There is no need to apologize to me Flonne." He said. "It's quite natural for those undergoing the changes like the rest of us." Flonne looked at him, surprised at his kindness.
Flonne just continued looking down at her lap, squeezing her fists tightly in shock. She's never known herself to be so angry before. It was as if the anger came from some other place. But, in her current state, she shrugged it off, trying to get back on the subject at hand.
"So…why am I here?" Flonne asked nervously, hoping not to anger him. Teristial just took a sip of what appeared to be wine, to Flonne's view. After gulping down the weird looking liquid, he set down his glass, closing his eyes disappointingly.
"Flonne, you must rule with me." He said, as he opened his eyes again. Flonne looked at him a bit shocked.
"W-What?!" She stuttered. "You…you can't be serious. I mean, I don't wish to be rude or anything, but I'm needed elsewhere…" She said, thinking back to what the others are doing at this time. Teristial just raised an eyebrow, making Flonne nervous.
"Needed? Are you sure about that?" He asked, knowing what was on Flonne's mind. She just thought to herself for a few seconds about all that's been happening ever since the other day. She knew that deep down that she should only be at Laharl's castle, serving him and teaching the other demons about love, but she also knew, or at least thought, of how she attacked Etna without even realizing it. Her eyes started to water a bit as she started to realize to herself that they would most likely kill her if she ever went back. She was so deep in thought, she didn't even notice Teristial appearing right behind her.
She jumped a little as he put his hand gently on her shoulder, unaware of his sudden appearance.
"I assure you, you'll be much safer here than you will be at King Kri…I mean, Laharl's castle. " As he said this, he raised his other hand as it started to glow. Suddenly, a strange portal like hole, like the size of a large tv screen, appeared in front of Flonne. As it started to shimmer with it's strange array of green, silver, and golden lights, it suddenly cleared as Flonne could see Laharl with a group of others on a dirt road, not that far from the castle. But, to reality, Flonne completely unaware of it, she was being hypnotized as she watched, hearing only what she would fear, and what Teristial wanted.
"Ok, listen up!" Laharl commanded. The others stood at attention, ready to take orders. "Were going after Flonne. She attacked one of my vassals, and anyone that simply thinks they can get away with trying to kill another of my vassals will be severly punished!" Laharl shouted sternly.
Flonne had her mouth gaped open in shock at what she was hearing. It's true this meeting was taking place the same time Laharl sent out his other vassals, but she was hearing something completely different. She hoped that whatever he was saying, it wasn't true, no matter what was going on.
"Anyone that so much as comes back with Flonne, without even the slightest injury towards her, will be punished!" Laharl yelled, raising his fist as he tightened it. "She is to be brought back alive or dead. It won't matter, seeing as how I'm going to kill her myself if I get the chance!"
Flonne's eyes completely widened as of now. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. As she stared in sadness and shock, the image started to disappear. Teristial just simply looked back at the girl, giving her time to cope with the pain she just received into her heart. He knew that until his plans had been fulfilled, she would still have the emotions of love and stuff in her heart. He could started seeing tears roll down Flonne's face, still with the same expression she had on before. After a few more seconds, he spoke.
"Flonne…" Was all he was able to say before she ran out of the dinning room, covering her eyes with her arm, running back into the room she woke up in, crying. He could easily tell as he saw tears begin to fall from her face, racing to the ground as they dropped. As he saw Flonne had finally left, he gave a slight grin, knowing that everything was going according to plan.
Meanwhile, Laharl watched in his castle as the mage finally set up the portal to Celestia. He knew what the plan was: Get the Seraph to answer all the questions he had, and help find Flonne since he's the one who possibly caused this to begin with. As the portal opened, it shimmered a strange bright glow, before suddenly beginning to shrink very slowly. Laharl looked at the portal, surprised at it's sudden minimizing.
"What the hell is going on?!" Laharl stammered, looking at the mage, who appeared to be sweating.
"Something is trying to close the portal. Hurry up and get in before I lose control!" She yelled, channling all her power just to keep the portal open as much as she could.
Laharl was angered, but knew he couldn't focus on the mage at the time, all that mattered was that he went through. He took off in quick speed, and the minute he entered the portal, it instantly closed behind him. The portal master fell to her knees as she breathed heavily. She felt completely drained from whatever was trying to keep her out. The weird part about it is that it takes very powerful magic to keep one from opening a portal. Even though it was Celestia, all portal masters were able to at least send them to the giant stone gate that was locked from the outside. Whoever was trying to keep her from opening the portal was very powerful indeed.
As Laharl fell out of the portal, which quickly diminshed behind him, he looked around, surprised at what he was seeing. Everywhere was dark, as if it was night. The sky, the sun, even the clouds were dark grey. But what really shocked him was the stone gate had been completely shattered into two. Laharl knew that something was wrong, and he was prepared to anything as he went through the stone gate. When he came out through the other side, his surprised only grew as he saw what appeared to be pitch black crystals growing from the ground. And to top it off, there wasn't anyone around. If a huge battle took place, he would expect somewhat of blood.
But, he couldn't focus on these thoughts, for as he walked, he heard something following him. He stopped after walking a few feet, slowly taking out his sword. He quickly turned around in a split second, expecting to see something. But there was nothing in view. He closed his eyes as he figured if he couldn't see what was stalking him, he could simply hear it. There was nothing for a few seconds, but all of the sudden, he heard something lunge right at him from behind. He turned around, ready to attack. Before he could react however, the stalker pounced right on him, causing him to lose grip of his sword as the beast pinned him down from his arms and legs.
Laharl looked back at his attacker. His eyes widened as he saw the mysterious sstalker. It appeared in the form of a demonic dog, but completely dark as a shadow. It had glowing gold eyes, leering at Laharl who could do nothing to get the beast off of him. Laharl watched as he saw the beast opening his mouth slowly, revealing a pair of razor sharp teeth. Laharl knew that he was about to be the beast's next meal. As much as Laharl struggled, he couldn't break free of the monster's tight grip, as it started to opened it's mouth more and more. Right when the beast was about to bite with full force, a dark, purple blast suddenly rammed into the great beast, incinerating it completely.
Laharl felt a mix of relief and confusion of his sudden rescue. When Laharl looked, he expected to see some sort of mystic, great warrior or mage. But, to his disoppointment, the only thing he saw he was saved by was the one thing he hated more than love.
"Muahahaha! Whoever thought that I, the Dark Adonis, would end up saving..." He started saying in cheer, before Laharl interrupted.
"Mid-boss?" Laharl said, surprised. Mid-Boss fell to the ground in depression as he heard this. He began to grow angry as he got back to his feet.
"How many times must I tell you? I am the Dark Adonis?!"
"Mabey I should just call you dad?" Laharl suggested, raising an eye brow. Mid-Boss felt a sudden sweat drop, wondering how he figured out his true identity. He coughed sarcastically, as he finally decided to make a decision, hoping that Laharl would change his mind.
"As I was saying, I, Mid-Boss..." He said a bit disoppointedly, "saved you."
Laharl just grunted as he knew that Mid-Boss was just trying to cover his real name, but didn't pay much attention to it as he picked his sword up and looked around again.
"What's happened here?" Laharl asked, a bit angered at his welcome. Mid-Boss just looked cautiously, as he started to grow a bit of a more serious face.
"We don't have time to answer. We have to get out of here before they show up again." He replied, starting to run towards a light that Laharl didn't seem to notice. As Laharl looked back though, he started to understand why Mid-Boss ran, seeing that almost ten more of these strange creatures were starting to run towards them. He took off with burst speed in the same direction Mid-boss was going, with the beasts following close behind.
Laharl couldn't tell if he could run any faster, seeing that no matter how fast hey ran, the beast kept getting closer. Laharl looked in front of him to see that they were nearing the light filled dome-like feild. Right when one of
the beasts were about to lunge in for another attack, it disintigrated into smoke, as it went past the light. Laharl looked back, breathing heavily at the long run they had just went through.
On the other side of the dome, he saw the strange demons growling in anger, knowing that they could do nothing to get around. They let out another hiss before retreating. Laharl sighed as he watched, but quickly remembered he had no idea where he was. As he looked around the room, he saw angles kneeling in prayer, all in rows and sections like you would find in a church. What shocked Laharl most, was what it was they were praying too: Seraph Lamington was encased in a giant black crystal. Laharl had no idea whether he was alive or dead. All he did know is that Seraph wasn't moving.
"He's been concealed by strong magic." Mid-Boss finally said, answering one of the hundred questions Laharl had on his mind at the time.
"Haven't you tried to release him?" Laharl asked, a bit surprised at what the possible answer would be. Mid-Boss just shook his head as a reply.
"My magic isn't as strong. Whatever encased him is something we've yet to witness." Mid-Boss replied. Laharl looked back at the giant crystal.
"I'm not dead." A mysterious voice said. Laharl looked around in surprise, knowing who the voice was, but no idea where it came from. He gaspd as he suddenly looked back at the giant crystal, seeing Lamington staring right at him. Laharl just gave a slight grin.
"So, you're not completely dead after all." Laharl said.
"And it's a good thing too." Mid-Boss added. Laharl looked back at him, questionably. "He's the only thing keeping those creatures outside of this place." Laharl looked back outside, surprised, that he was maintaining this dome the entire time. As he did, he saw more demons circling around the dome, trying to find a way in.
"So what the hell are those things?" Laharl yelled a bit, angered at all the confusion.
"We call them shadow beasts." Lamington relpied. Laharl looked at him, a bit confused.
"What the hell happened here Seraph? I want answers, and I want them now!" Laharl shouted. The Seraph just closed his eyes, sighing before he finally responded.
"Fine, but I must tell you the whole story then, and it takes place, back to just a few months after Flonne was born." He answered. Laharl's eyes suddenly went wide at what he just said, knowing that something did involve Flonne.
"My brother, Teristial, and I were just like good friends. Whenever I chose to do something stupid back then, he always had the knack for getting me out of trouble. I even respected him for it, for that some cases he took blame from me when the current Seraph we were working for saw us mess up. We were good friends…" The Seraph looked away for a moment as if in thought.
Laharl could see his face growing to depression as he did, although Laharl could understand why perfectly. To have a friend betray you to do something like this, it's just terrible. But as to what he had to do with Flonne remained the question. He began to get ready to listen as he saw Seraph finally looking back at him.
"Everything changed the day the Seraph decided to elect the next Seraph." As he said this, he stared to have a flashback of the past. "Obviously, I had a good intention that Teristial would be the next one. But, to both our surprise, Seraph pointed to me for his choice."
"What?!" Teristial stammered. "How could he be the next Seraph? He can't even work right!" The Seraph just shook his head.
"It matters not. He will eventually turn into a great Seraph and as such I choose him as the next." The Seraph replied.
"That's not right though! I should be the next!" Teristial said, squeezing his fist in anger. "I'm way more qualified than this loser!" I looked at my brother in disbelief at what he was saying. I may admit I didn't find myself qualified at the time, but to hear what he was saying was just madness.
"Your anger is the very thing keeping you from being the next. I can see darkness clouding your mind. My decision is final, and it shall never change." Those were the last words the Seraph said before he turned and walked away. I saw my brother shaking. I knew it was not in fear though, it was in anger. I tried placing my hands on his shoulder, hoping he would calm down. But he just simply shoved it away. When he turned to face my, I saw great hatred burning in his eyes.
"This isn't over. I will be the next Seraph at any cost!" He shouted, before he ran away. I was still in disbelief at the time, but what worried me was what he said. He would do anything just to obtain what he wants, and wouldn't matter who got hurt in the process."
The Seraph stopped again to take a breath in. He looked at Laharl intently, as if in question.
"What?" Laharl asked, seeing Seraphs inducing stare.
"Do you believe in signs from god, Laharl?" Seraph asked. Laharl just closed his eyes and smirked.
"I don't even believe in a god. And I especially don't believe in signs." Lamington just chuckled a bit at this.
"That is what I used to have thought too…until he tried to kill Flonne." The minute he said this, Laharl's eyes widened with a blank stare.
"That night, I saw my brother acting weird. I had figured he was up to something. I was worried about him, I wanted to talk to him. But that night, it had rained tremendously. I looked up at the clouds, surprised at the sudden change in weather. Then , I heard crying, crying that came from an infant. When I found the source of the crying, I gasped at what I saw: My brother had it laying down, holding a knife. It was on our offering table, the very thing we used to make donations to our beliefs and judgments. My brother turned around, glaring at me with burning red eyes. I was worried at first before I saw him grin. What he said and did next scared me.
"Watch this brother, with this sacrifice I shall summon the one demon that will put an end to all my problems, and everyone will suffer for their betrayal."
The minute he said this, I panicked as I saw him cut his wrist. I was worried if he was going to kill himself. But instead, he dripped the blood around the baby, in the symbol of forbidden magic of us Celestians.
"Brother stop!" I shouted to him. "Dark magic is forbiddon! The Seraph will execute you personally for this!" My brother just smirked at this.
"You mean you right? Go ahead. Go ahead and stop me. Kill your own brother." He said with a grin.
He smeared the blood around the infant, in the shape of the forbidden symbols. A small portal opened, and out of it a dark spirit arose. I knew whatever it was, it was the spirit of pure evil itself. I couldn't help what I was watching as I saw the spirit being absorbed into the body of the infant. The crying of the infant just grew a bit louder at this.
"And now, with this blade, I will destroy the soul of this body, and replace it with the soul of it's new demonic spirit!" He raised the knife right in the air, ready to stab the baby.
"Brother!" I shouted louder than I ever did. As he looked back, what he saw caused him to stare blankly. I shot out my magic and turned him into a lily. I just stood their in shock at what I had just done. I couldn't believe I turned my own brother into a lily. But, hearing the crying again, I ran to the table, wrapping the baby around in the robe I wore that day, to keep it warm from the rain. I knew that even though I stopped my brother, the spirit was still stuck inside Flonne. If I told anyone, they would've made sure the demon wouldn't awaken, no matter what the cost was. So I decided to keep it a secret. As I looked back at the lily though, I knew what I had done was right, but my heart ached in pain, knowing that I couldn't keep him that way forever.
I decided the only thing I could do…" The Seraph just closed his eyes, not wanting to answer.
"You turned him into a demon, didn't you." Laharl said, finishing the sentence for him.
Meanwhile, Flonne just stayed in her room. She was sitting on her bed, with her legs dangling over it, crying into the pillow. She couldn't believe what she heard Laharl said. She was crying so much, she didn't even see Teristial walk in.
"I see you're more upset than I'd thought." He said. Flonne just looked up, still with the saddened face she had and tears coming down her face. She just closed her eyes, not wanting to say anything, still with tears coming down. Teristial sat right next to her. He held her head and gently leaned it to his chest, comforting Flonne. He stroked her hair as a sign of comfort, telling her that she could trust him.
"Flonne, if you would help me rule, we can create a Utopia." Teristial said. Flonne sniffled a bit before replying.
"U-Utopia?" She asked, still with tears coming down. She wiped her tears with her hands, trying to calm down. Teristial nodded.
"A Utopia is a world of absolute piece, with no violence, crime, or death." He said, with a calm smile. "In this Utopia, everyone would be one as equal. There would be no need for sadness, only kindness." When he said this, Flonne calmed down even more. "And, on the top of this Utopia, you would reign as the one who helped claim peace throughout the land."
Flonne just sat there, looking down on the bed. She had finally calmed down, still with a sniffle.
"I…I…" Flonne started. She didn't know how she was going to respond to this. Teristial gently leaned her against his chest again. She found this rather soothing, considering all that's happened to her.
"This is an extraordinary offer. We can bring peace to everything everywhere." Teristial commented. Flonne just buried her face into his chest.
"I don't know…Laharl…" She started, before starting to cry again. She knew if one thing was for sure, Laharl would definitely NOT agree to this peace thing, much less knowing that she thought that he wanted her dead. Teristial didn't need her to say it. He knew that she had agreed to help.
"Tell you what Flonne, why don't you head on town and visit the village. It's entirely run by fallen angles." He said, gently nudging Flonne so she could stop leaning on him. Flonne just sniffed as she started to calm down.
"But...what about the people Laharl hired to..." Her eyes started to fill with water as she couldn't finish the sentence. Teristial just nodded.
"You'll have no need to worry. I'll have my best troops patrolling the area, making sure you're safe." He said. Flonne grew a slight smile before she hugged him.
"Thank you..." She said, wiping the tears from her eyes. As Teristial watched, she saw Flonne heading for the door. Before she could open it herself, the door opened from the outside, as two guards were waiting for her. Flonne waved back to Teristial, who also waved back, as she left with the guards. Once she was out of view, Teristial chuckled to himself.
"This is going to be too easy." He said, grinning...
