ExDraco: *sigh*
Risk: Why the sigh, X?
ExDraco: Oh, nothing serious. It's just that I'm wondering how after this chapter I'll quite literally have almost ZERO OCs left. Ah, well.
Risk: Don't get too down. Maybe more OCs will come eventually?
ExDraco: Doubtful. Still, might as well wait until the end of the year. That was when I set the deadline.
Risk: That's the spirit! Now, mind if we get on with the story?
ExDraco: Good idea.

Fallen Light

Chapter 3: Distant Allies

-?-

Location: Centrales City, Pylius Protection Army HQ
Date: 16th April 2179
Time: 10:27 AM
Historia: Present

My eyes stayed closed as lights flashed across my black sight, a wave of red light periodically going across the spiraling darkness that I experienced with my eyelids covering my sight. A low hum accompanied the moving line of red light, and the whirring sounds of the machine that coupled with the comfortable bed that I lay flat and silent on was a fine accompaniment to the original silence in this medical check-up room. I heard the faint sounds of a pencil's graphite tip scratching words onto a piece of paper, writing against a wooden clipboard, a soft carving sound that finalized the array of sounds that echoed through the otherwise dead silent, air-conditioned room.

After a good two minutes, I heard the whirring slow to an eventual stop, the low hum cut off from its pattern and the red light dimming to nothing. It was finally silent again, until I heard the command that would finally end this torturous medical checkup.

"Please get up, Silver."

My eyes fluttered open and my body reawakened from a nearly unconscious state, and my sight silently assessed what I saw hanging above me: an electrical fluorescent lamp the was plastered to the white, newly-painted ceiling, with multiple air-cons positioned around the large medical emergency room, providing absolute comfort to the sick and injured patients here. My arms responded to my mind's commands, shifting back while creating friction against the bed, a shuffling sound emanating from the spots in which they touched. With a little strength, I eased myself up, finding myself staring face to face with the doctor that was assigned with my medical condition.

"Well, nothing seems to be wrong so far," the female doctor mentioned, "all your statistics seem to be in order and your health and body systems seem to be functioning just fine. It seems your hybrid form did absolutely nothing to affect your essential life systems, but we'll have to undergo another two weeks of testing just to be sure. But for now, I think you're ready to go."

"Thank you, doctor." I found myself replying, "So, when will I need to return for my next checkup?"

"The next checkup is scheduled for this coming Tuesday, I hope you enjoy the next four days. I will see you then."

Without another word, I grabbed my locket which I had left on a small white table beside the bed and walked towards the exit, the electronic doors opening upon sensing my presence and closing as I walked away. Outside the dull and drab medical room, I entered a corridor of electronic white walls within the HQ of the glorious PPA and Centrales City. Though I have to admit, the walls were pretty lame too, with nothing but white painted on them and data system-like lines etched into their designs. Really, nothing special.

The PPA's HQ was underground, and the entrance was really a classic, an elevator that spanned fifteen floors, the top floor being the ground floor of the tallest building in Pylius built right smack into the center of Centrales City, with another seventy floors aboveground. Out of the eighty-five floors here, I had only visited one so far in the two months I had been here; it's gonna take a while before I finish exploring the whole place.

I travelled slowly through the white data-like corridors, passing by many humans who lived in the service of the PPA. We were a completely industrialized organization that sought the peace and protection of Pylius, and our current threat was that of Betrayal Force. The PPA was a humongous organization, our networks spanning more than half of the entire world of Pylius and our members reaching numbers of over two hundred thousand.

But, like I said, many 'HUMANS', and for all I knew I was a hybrid, which expectedly elicited many suspicious glances and stares from the people I passed by, to which I simply ignored until my walk ended. I was standing straight in front of another electronic door, and beside it was a keypad lock plastered onto the wall, wires and many other forms of electronics running through the entire system of the HQ. I quickly entered the key code that would unlock the door to my personal room, and the door opened with the door splitting in half before each half disappeared behind the confines of the walls, a whirring sound distinctly being heard.

I entered the room, and the electronic doors immediately closed upon sensing my presence. Originally, my orders were to remain inside of the HQ and undergo a series of tests to determine my physical well being, since I had only recently obtained my hybrid form. I heard that the Brigadier General also possesses a hybrid form, which is the excuse that the Marshal gave me when he told me to undergo my tests; the fact that the Brigadier General, despite his high rank, had to go through the same thing.

If one were to put the entire 'population' of the PPA into a pie chart, us hybrids would probably only take up 0.0001% of the whole lot, and that is a really small percentage. Since the humans here constantly thought of hybrids as abominations, we weren't well liked here. Not even the Brigadier General could avoid some hateful comments from time to time.

Ah… I'm thinking too deeply into things. I better go and wash up. Maybe it'll help clear my mind.

I stepped into the bathroom that came as part of the room that I was assigned to when I was found to have a hybrid form. For, and I quote, "in case of contamination". The bathroom was almost like a work of art. The same plain white ceiling and ceiling fluorescent light, but tiled with blue ceramic and blue walls. It came equipped with a bathtub and a toilet, which was more than enough for me.

I turned the knob to the showerhead, and the water began gushing out like a waterfall, accompanied by a distinct yet slightly annoying squeaking sound that sounded like rusty metal. Which, of course, was just normality when it came to bathtubs. Once the water had filled up two-thirds of the bathtub, I covered the bathtub in bubble bath soap, and stepped in, throwing my clothes to the ground without a care. I did so love to stay clean.

My hybrid form was a girlish one, which elicited many mocking remarks from the people here at the PPA. A sylveon hybrid that was accompanied with hybrid traits of a pink hue, a normally girlish color. And with that hybrid form also came with the low threshold for dirty places, and my skin would react drastically to dirt or mud, causing it to itch like crazy, and the last time that happened it was like I was burning alive, in a itchy kind of way. That was why I always looked forward to baths or anything that included water. It kept me clean and free of impurities, keeping the itchy feeling away from me.

After twenty minutes of submerging myself in the transparent liquid with a layer of bubbles and soap and as my skin began to wrinkle, I stood, still in the tub and used the water gushing from the showerhead to rinse the remaining soap off. I stepped out, dripping water onto the carpet spread all over the floor, grabbing a towel and drying myself before pulling on a fresh new set of clothes. I threw the towel and the dirty clothes into the nearby laundry bin, to be taken for laundry. I turned to face myself in the mirror, silently assessing my new appearance even though I had seen it for over three months.

My eyes traced over my figure from top to bottom. I scanned over my distinct short, black-pink hair, with M-shaped bangs and blackish sylveon ears and bows, with one on my left ear and the other on my collarbone. Quite contradicting to a sylveon's natural biology, from pink to black, from happiness to darkness, I mused. My eyes moved down a little, my silvery blue irises sparkling in the mirror. My complexion was the most hilarious, some would laugh, a soft pink skin color despite my gender. A slender body type could be seen in the figure that moved around in the glass screen, mimicking my small movements. I wore my everyday outfit, a black T-shirt and a pair of black long pants, coupled with a pair of dark brown army boots. On my right backhand was the PPA's insignia, a majestic eagle with a sphere of energy being carried by its golden wings.

A knock on the door to my room awoke me from my daydream. I quickly walked out of the toilet, approaching the door with my hands reaching for the handle, all the while saying 'Coming, coming!' I twisted the doorknob, and it clicked into place, the door swinging open with a familiar face at the doorway. Think of the figure this way: glasses, well-kempt brownish hair, and a white lab coat. There was only one person in this entire facility that had someone like that.

"Professor! What are you doing here?" I asked the man at the door, curious as to why he would be knocking on my door this early in the morning.

"Good morning, Silver. I trust you had a good night's rest, because I will need to run some tests on your DNA. We just received now information regarding the hybrid serums, and we need a sample of hybrid DNA for the tests. I would take Miles', but I can't seem to find him anywhere."

"Ah, if it will help further your research on the hybrid forms, I'd be glad to do it."

"Great! Please follow me to my lab."

-3rd Person-

Location: Centrales City, Pylius Protection Army HQ
Date: 16th April 2179
Time: 10:53 AM
Historia: Present

Whilst Silver and Professor Cole Salinger headed to the Professor's private laboratory to run the tests on the hybrid DNA and the serums, the hybrid in question and mystery, Miles, had run off to practice one of his many forte abilities: Herbalism.

The jumpluff-hybrid was in the PPA's private greenhouse, where the PPA grew a wide biodiversity of medicinal plants, both rare and common ones. It was one of the places where Miles could feel calm, among the many plants that he had so much experience turning into medicinal remedies and potions. He was rather good in that field of expertise, turning mere leaves into potions that could cure an injury within seconds. Only he, out of the entire PPA, could perform botanical miracles like that.

He walked slowly and calmly through the forested maze of plants, some growing in bushes on beside the stone tiled path, some growing up high in small clay pots that hung from the ceiling and some grew just by themselves in patches, where the rare plants usually grew. His eyes sharply and slowly surveyed the multitude of available herbs and plants, going through the list that he had embedded in his memory. He stopped, picked up a certain herb, before mentally checking it off his list, and continuing on his slow trek.

The same cycle repeated, over and over again for the next few minutes. He would stop at times, only to pick up a certain herb. He did it over and over again until his list was completely checked off, stashing the herbs he had picked from the various places in a little leather bag which was specially designed and made to carry a multitude of herbs. Soon, he reached the end of the tiled path, and at the end was what he saw every time he came here, and yet he still marveled at the sight. Species upon species of rare plants that even he had only read about in picture books and only dreamed of seeing, and now they were all available for his use.

He picked one out of the ground, a small plant with a glowing bulb, and he stashed it along with the rest of his herbs. He spun around, taking the same path in the reverse direction, and the soft whirring of the mechanical doors that separated the greenhouse from the rest of the HQ.

A couple minutes flew by, even though to Miles it felt like a few seconds as he ran through the recipe in his head over and over again, just to make sure nothing would go wrong. He soon reached the privacy of his own personal bedroom, complete with a bed, a bathroom, a chandelier and a worktable. On the worktable was all of his equipment, and things like test tubes and a Bunsen burner along with the rest blended into a blur of apparatus that he usually used to concoct some of the most potent herbal miracles.

Meanwhile, as Miles set to work on his potion with all the herbs he had picked up from the greenhouse, somewhere rather far from here and slightly into the past of the timeline, a battle was about to restart.

Location: Lyra Woods
Date: 14th April 2179
Time: 5:24 PM
Historia: Past

The two hybrids stood their ground, staring each other down with eyes as poisonous as venom. Both blood red, with a slit-like iris staring straight into a human-like iris. If looks could kill, both their looks would have long vaporized the entire forest, leaving nothing but devastation and destruction in its wake. Without even moving from their locations, they both raised one hand as energy began to gather in massive amounts in both their palms, dancing around their fingertips.

One was toxic purple, an acidic energy that was fired in liquid form, melting down anything and anyone that touched it. One was forest green, an energy drawn from all of nature, a flexible terra energy that could be manipulated into different forms. The energies surrounded their palms like dancing flames, in their respective colors, but neither was giving the first strike, leaving a miasma of tension hanging in the air, separating the repressed rage that the two hybrids wanted to unleash on each other.

Then finally, one spoke, "Let's finish this quickly, shall we, Adrien?"

"Finally, something we can agree on!" Adrien hastily replied, firing his Toxic attack at Risk as he enunciated the last words.

Risk easily saw the Toxic coming, sidestepping out of the way but amazed at the effect the toxic attack had of the plant life behind him. It melted the bark, then the trunk, until it ate through the entire tree and the remaining collapsed, taking down several trees with it. Adrien took advantage of Risk's temporary distraction and fired another Toxic at him, which Risk dodged easily, then returned by unleashing Terra Flare once more, creating a gigantic explosion that pushed Adrien back with its sheer force.

Adrien charged up another attack, compressing the nearby energy and converting it into the purplish toxic energy, before releasing the purple energy in the same form as Risk's Terra Blitz, multiple Toxic shots instantly vaporized the surrounding trees, with just as many aiming for Risk's life, as he sidestepped and slid on the green grass just to dodge all of them. Mid-slide, a blitz of terra shots came again, which Adrien instantly countered with his Toxic attack.

The smoke cleared once more, with the two hybrids unfazed and completely unharmed. Risk struck first this time, firing a Terra Blitz at Adrien, which he once again countered with Toxic, as thoughts such as 'Why is he continuing this futile attempt to strike me from a long-range?' going through his head. The two energy attacks collided, creating a small bang accompanied by a loud 'BOOM' sound, the force of the collision created a powerful disturbance in the air, causing Adrien's black hair to flutter in the wind. Another plume of smoke came and went, but Risk took advantage of Adrien's temporary blind sight to launch another attack, switching from ranged to melee with a Leaf Blade.

Risk's plan did not go very well. He had the element of surprise, but he underestimated Adrien's abilities. Adrien's keen reflexes kicked in, and he returned Risk's attack with a Leaf Blade of his own, the twin green blades blazing like a torch in the midst of the forest shadow, illuminating the forest in a bright forest green. The sound of steel smashing steel could be heard from the leaf blade attacks clash, an outward force of wind blowing outwards bending nearby trees.

Risk immediately pulled back his attack, before charging again to meet Adrien's leaf blade in battle. Both their bodies moved with the flow, dodging and counterattacking each other at godlike speeds without even pausing to think of battle strategies. Their punches and kicks combined with slashes and swipes blurred together into flashes of sparks and battle sounds, not even the tiniest detail noticeable in the midst of their heated battle.

Finally their melee clash ended with a full-powered attack from both sides, the force of the impact sending them both skidding across the grass back to the ends of the battlefield. Loud panting noises could be heard from both of the exhausted hybrids, completely worn out after the intense battle. And yet, they still went on, tearing at each other's throats once more as they locked in fierce melee combat.

A slash of green flashed across the battlefield, which the grovyle-hybrid dodged by side-stepping, before countering with his very own Leaf Blade attack, with three streaks of green glowing furiously from his leaf blades attempting to slice his adversary in half. Each threw their blows, but none seemed to land a direct hit, and the same pattern went over and over again through the intense action.

Another full-powered clash and the battle came to a temporary standstill once more. They were both worn out, almost unable to continue and on the brink of collapse. The next mistake would decide all of it.

"Terra Blitz!" Risk invoked the attack's name, sending glowing green spheres of energy flying towards his serpentine opponent.

Adrien finally unclipped his ace, Eversio, the explosive-bullet rifle that let no target escape its wrath. Despite the multitude of green energy spheres flying towards him, Adrien remained unfazed, grabbing the Eversio with ease and cocking it in the general direction of Risk's location. Loading what he knew to be the final killer of this battle, he unleashed his finishing attack.

"Vastitas!" Adrien shouted, pressing his finger onto the trigger, unleashing a barrage complete with 120 explosive bullets that bombarded and countered the Terra Blitz, outnumbering the attack with ease and rained upon Risk like a meteor shower, creating a mix of smoke and fire. The smoke, served as a good smokescreen for Risk, as he emerged from the smoke cover shouting, his six leaf blades glowing fiercely amidst the evening shadows, ready to take down his opponent. Adrien, however, had long anticipated that.

"Toxic!" Adrien covered his hand in the purplish energy, and met Risk's Leaf Blade with his own attack. The whole clash happened in an instant, and it wasn't until a good three seconds had passed before Risk began screaming in agony. He had every reason to. The Toxic attack had completely dissolved his leaf blades, the acidic effect of the attack seeping into his blood and striking his nerves, creating a pure explosion of pain as he clutched his leaf blades, squeezing them in a futile attempt to coax the poison out.

"Hmph. You fazed me for a while with that new trick, but in the end the result remained unchanged. You are still no match for me." Adrien said, laughing maniacally in the shadows, standing over his fallen opponent and gloating his victory.

I… I can't… I can't lose! Risk's thoughts blasted through his mind.

His emotions gathered, converging and fusing its raw power with Risk's fierce willpower, creating a swirling whirlpool of energy deep within Risk's very being, released into the material world as a black swirling aura. Adrien's expression slowly changed to one of dread, as he stepped back, feeling the pure energy radiating from the black swirling aura that now surrounded Risk's body. Risk's irises turned from blood red to pure night black, as if possession had taken over his body. The swirling aura became even larger, the energy radiation accompanied by a enforcing wind blowing Adrien back much further, even though he was still hanging on and his feet still touching the ground.

Adrien managed to open his eyes for a moment, catching a glimpse of the strange familiar, yet new power that his opponent now grasped. A shadow of a fallen angel appeared like a transparent shell that surrounded Risk's chaotic self, the power he radiated now taking apart trees from afar, the immediate vicinity of nature now completely ruptured by his energy. His body began to rise, levitating in the air and defying the very logic of gravity. The fallen angel shadow began to flap its black wings, and Risk followed its movements, stretching his hand back around his waist as if he was preparing a strike, as if he was wielding a sword. True enough, a shadow of a blade as black as night materialized in his hand, and now the fallen angel shadow began clearer.

Adrien would have gathered more information, if he didn't experience what came next. Risk's body flew up straight into the sky in an instantaneous black flash of energy, with the energy dissipating the moment it reached a certain height in the sky. He raised his blade high above his head, before slowly bringing it down to his shoulder's height. He then mimicked the shadow's movements, swinging his blade back and bringing his free right hand to the front, as darkness energy began to swirl around and collect around his black aura, making it even more menacing and bigger than before.

He then brought the sword down by swinging diagonally down, and in one instant; all the collected darkness energy converged into one point, before the energy dispersed in Adrien's direction. Beams upon blasts of dark energy were fired, and split into even more blasts of energy as they touched the forest canopy, desolating the ground and surrounding nature by bombarding it with impact upon impact of dark energy, with the servine-hybrid no longer able to hold his ground. The force of the blast sent him flying three miles away, far from the immediate vicinity of Lyra Forest. The impact of the blasts created a gigantic meteor-like crater right smack in the middle of Lyra Forest, with no sign of life in that area left standing.

With the attack executed, the dark energy dissipated, and the exhausted grovyle-hybrid began falling from the sky.

-Serene-

Location: Skyward Peak: Tri-Room
Date: 16th April 2179
Time: 11:23 AM
Historia: Present

"So, what shall we do?" I asked the other two consuls.

"Lady Serene, I suggest that we investigate into this 'fallen angel', he could pose a threat to our operations." The Ophanim, Barielm, spoke.

"I agree with Barielm, Lady Serene, it is in the nature of a fallen angel to cast darkness over the light, and the Icarus Resistance is indeed the very embodiment of mortal light. If this fallen angel were to learn how to control and utilize his powers, I'm afraid we would lose many angels in the fight against him. Darkness thrives in fallen wings, and chaos comes with it." The Cherubim, Rizen, spoke.

"Hmm…" I pondered over what to do, the stress of the decision falling upon me. "Perhaps this fallen angel may pose a threat to us, but until he really does, we cannot be certain. Jumping to conclusions have been the destroyer of many relationships and decisive battle many a times, and I will not allow conclusions to destroy the Icarus Resistance."

"Spoken like a true Seraphim, Lady Serene. However, while we are on the topic of this fallen angel, I would like to present some… distressing developments." Barielm said.

"What might that be, Barielm? Allow me to further comprehend the situation."

"Very well, milady." He paused, before shouting a command the reverberated through the room, "You may enter."

The massive doors of the Tri-Room opened slowly, a loud bang preluding its opening. An angel stepped in, with the mark of a 'Dominion', the highest angel rank in the second sphere. He was a mightyena-hybrid, most distinctly noted by the coat of gleaming silver fur that he possessed.

"And who might this be, Barielm?" I asked.

"This is my personal assistant, Aeth. He is a mightyena-hybrid and one of the best Dominions here. I sent him on a recon mission quite some time ago, around the same time you sent Virtue Excius to investigate the fallen Survival Lab. When he returned, the information he had gathered was both alarming and astounding." Barielm explained, before facing Aeth and continuing, "Aeth, I would like you to present your findings to Lady Serene."

"Yes, milord. I will do just that." Aeth replied, showing utmost respect to the Ophanim.

Aeth walked slowly, approaching me with each footstep until he stood right in front of me. From his person, he revealed a leather-bound book that was rugged and torn through age and time. The writing on the cover page was faded, scribbled on with white chalk. It was not a very pretty sight, papers protruded from its pages and the cover page had already begun to tear.

Aeth said as he produced the book and a piece of written parchment, "Lady Serene, this is a book of old I have recovered from my recon mission, and this parchment contains what I believe to be valuable information about this fallen angel. I hope you will carefully look through each page and come to a decision."

"Very well, Aeth. I shall do just that. Barielm, Rizen, we shall adjourn our meeting here. I will carefully consider all the information that is found within these pages, and another meeting will be held in due time to finalize our decision on the matter."

"May you come to a decision soon, Lady Serene," Barielm said.

The meeting was adjourned, and the other two consuls, Barielm and Rizen headed off to who-knows-where. Although I did notice Barielm head off with Aeth and were discussing something in private as they left the meeting room, I wasn't too worried about it. Right now, my mind was focusing on one thing and one thing only, the notes that Aeth had presented to me during the meeting. I grabbed the book and parchment, and headed off into my office, just beside the Tri-Room and accessible by a stairwell that leads downstairs. Once there, I clicked open the door and closed it shut, before lighting the multiple "sunlamps" that I kept down there. The light produced by them illuminated the whole room, and I sat down at my desk, pouring through the leather-bound book.

Page after page, there were faded words and letters and symbols, all inscribed onto the torn and tattered book by some form of writing material. It wasn't anything that could be found in this century anymore, that I knew for sure. The words were faded, but I did manage to make up a few words, most of which didn't make sense until the missing words were put in, and even then it may not have made sense.

After flipping over and over through the pages of the ancient book, I finally gave in to the futility of my abilities. I had never studied anything about ancient languages, and no matter how hard I looked at the symbols I knew I would never be able to decipher them. Tossing the book aside in utter frustration, I calmed myself down and proceeded to look at the parchment. I was also torn and tattered, but it was rolled up quite neatly and tied together by a blue ribbon in a knot.

I untied the knot, unrolling the parchment. The first thing I saw was mere brown colors, no words at all. I was confused at first, but then a convenient puff of air blew from my mouth, blowing off the first layer of dust on the paper and revealing some of the letter hidden under it.

"Hmm, its just layer upon layer of dust covering the words… I suppose I could try that…"

I threw the parchment, unrolled, up into mid-air, before thrusting my hand forward, unleashing a forward blast of wind that sent the dust scattering onto the wall behind it, the remaining winds causing a slight stir in the items that I had in the room. The dust had been completely blown off, and now I could clearly see, words that had been emblazoned onto the paper by black ink of some kind, along with a mysterious insignia that I hadn't seen before. I grabbed the paper, and sat down, carefully studying the words that were on the parchment.

I had no idea what the words meant, it was in a language I understood, but the words seemed to be structured like a riddle or a puzzle, and I was really horrible at these types of things. I could ask Raven, but she was still on a mission as of now, so I surely couldn't ask her even if I wanted to. Still, words are powerful things, and could be used as incantations of some sort. Believing in that type of old saying, I began to recite the supposed incantation that was written on the olden parchment, reading it out loud word-by-word.

"Seekers of light, divine and pure, may thou holy radiance give birth to the realm of sleep. Beholders of darkness, corrupted and evil, thou eternal shadow shall hold and support thy cataclysm of dreams. May thy energies dance the endless skies, and show thou sacred child spirits of premonitions." I spoke the last word, ending what was on the parchment.

At first, there was nothing. Literally, I was hoping that something would happen. Perhaps the parchment would glow, perhaps the world would end, perhaps this whole place would explode, perhaps a sudden explosion of a nearby star would engulf the whole universe, perhaps some sort of dimensional rift would occur and rip the very fabric of time and space to shreds, the possibilities were endless. Expectedly, I was a little disappointed when nothing happened, but it was during that short moment when something happened.

I found myself getting sleepy all of a sudden. My hands became numb, and my fingers willingly dropped the parchment, the torn and tattered piece of paper floating to the ground. My legs became jelly, and I stumbled backwards, with my strength sapped to the point I could barely stand. My eyes began to close, and my vision began to narrow. My head started spinning until I could no longer hold consciousness. I collapsed on the ground, asleep and unconscious. The last thing my eyes could capture was the parchment glowing and disintegrating into dust, before darkness overcame my eyes and took me to the depths of sleep.

-Miles-

Location: Centrales City, PPA Headquarters
Date: 16th April 2179
Time: 11:45 AM
Historia: Present

Burying my fingers into the small porcelain pot of green herbal leaves, I picked up a small handful and hovered my hand over the boiling pot of cyan-colored liquid, before shifting my fingers at a slow pace, the leaves being released from the grip of my fingers and slowly fluttering down into the boiling liquid. With a ladle, I stirred the mixture in a clockwise direction, slowly savoring the minty smell of the herbal concoction. Finally adding in the vial of potion that I had created prior to this pot, a small bang finally occurred, signaling the completion of the remedy, coupled with the bubbling lime green liquid.

I separated the liquid into a total of 40 vials of liquid, before sealing and storing all of them in a small backpack. A first-aid kit, if you will, since these potions were meant to be an all-healing remedy. It was dubbed the Caelyx Potion by the person who came up with the recipe, 'Caelyx' meaning 'heavenly', and the potion's effects were both immediate and miraculous that it just seemed to be a gift from heaven, hence the name.

Once I was done, I grabbed one vial of the liquid and put in the sling bag that I had for gathering herbs, and left the room, hoping to get some fresh air after around an hour of dealing with herbs. Mixing those herbs was something I enjoyed, but too much of it can give one a headache. It was a good idea to get some fresh air every now and then.

That's when the strange thing happened. I walked through the corridors of the lowest basement level, and then I heard a faint voice.

"Wait…"

"What?" I said, finding myself to have muttered it out loud, eliciting multiple strange looks from the passing people as I turned left and right trying to determine where the voice came from. Everyone seemed to look normal, with no one trying to prank me or anything like that… Maybe it was Xaleil, or at least that's what I would have said if he hadn't gone on that mission with the BG (Brigadier General). Everyone around me just kept walking, no one looked even remotely weird, and the only strange thing I could see here… was that I was turning and twisting in the middle of the walkway. Then I heard the voice again.

"Wait… you… can't…"

"What?" I said a second time, on instinct, getting me nothing more than even more suspicious looks from the general public. I thought I was going nuts. I thought that my dad would say that it was just a hallucination. And that's what I assumed it was. I just kept walking, trying my best to pretend that it was nothing more that what it probably was – a hallucination. I continued blending in with the rest of the crowd, heading to the place where I knew the skyrocketing elevator was. After all, I did say I needed some fresh air.

But luck wasn't on my side, since I didn't even get a chance to get to the elevator before I got another mental 'note' from the mysterious and strange voice.

"Wait!"

The voice shouted this time, and it gave me a minor headache as I stumbled back a bit, knocking into a bunch of people before I regained my balance. My eyes opened wide, as I realized that the voice I was hearing wasn't false at all! It was very and indeed real, and my 'lunacy' was nothing but something my mind came up with to deal with something weird that was happening to me.

How the heck do I talk to this person?

"Why not just try talking in your head? I can sure hear you."

I got another sense of shock, stumbling back a bit, but making sure not to knock into anyone. That confirmed that I wasn't crazy at all. With panic building in my lungs, I rushed back the way I came, zoomed past my doors, into the room, and slammed the door shut, a whirring sound locking the door in place. I threw my sling bag to the floor, adrenaline pulsing through my blood as I slowly seated myself on my bed, taking deep breaths to calm myself, all the while experiencing the cooling feeling the air-con had on the beads of sweat that had appeared on my forehead.

After I had calmed myself down enough, I closed my eyes and focused, trying to communicate with the voice.

Hello? Are you there?

"Well, it's about time you managed to hear me and NOT panic."

Who are you?

"No time for that now, I need to explain some things to you, and I need you to do exactly as I say."

Alright, but I don't know if I can trust you… My daddy wouldn't be very happy if I snuck off and did something illegal.

"Hmm… what if I told you that this was to help a friend of yours? Would you listen to me then?"

Which friend? I don't have many friends except… Xaleil… Are you saying he's in trouble?!

"Exactly. Now you get it. Now, do exactly as I say. Grab your sling bag and stock it up with five vials of the Caelyx Potion."

I listened to the voice, obliging with his request and grabbing the sling bag that was on the floor, placing four more vials of the lime green liquid inside.

Alright, now what?

"Good, now what I want you to do head to Xaleil's mech lab. Before you do so, prepare for a couple of battles. Remember to grab your Gale Tamers."

I followed what he said, my mind currently thinking of only Xaleil's safety. I grabbed a new set of clothes, and threw them over myself, replacing my original set of clothes, and grabbed my Gale Tamers, blue iron boots that helped in increasing my attack power. With the sling bag slung over my back, I exited my room as soon as I had entered, and I headed over to Xaleil's mech lab.

Xaleil's specialty lay in mechanics and technology, so he spent most of his time here, creating new weapons and technology to help in the battle against Betrayal Force. I'd seen it a couple of times, but the stuff that was here always left me in awe. Inside the mech lab, I could see lots of mechanical weapons, cannons, and a whole lot of other stuff that blended together.

Alright, I'm here. Now what?

"Now, I want you to look around for anything that looks like a sword's hilt, and grab it."

I walked around, looking through the multitude of mechanical high-tech items that were kept in this treasure trove. There were a whole lot of weird things, and I could barely tell one apart from the other, but eventually after ten minutes I walked past a wooden cardboard box, and inside I looked. There were a lot of small mech parts that seemed all very high-tech, but once I dug through the items and reached the bottom of the box, I saw a piece of cuboid-shaped item that was sky blue in color, and it sure looked the right size for a sword hilt. The voice confirmed it.

"Good! That's the one! Now grab it!"

With a slight hesitation, I eventually brought my hand to grab it from the box of stuff, and I stuffed it inside my sling bag, and prepared to leave while hoping that nobody would find out that I came here. At least, that was my plan, until the door whirred open and my daddy was standing at the doorway, a little shocked to see that I was there.

"Miles. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, great, you were caught. Ah, well, your dad was supposed to be part of the plan anyways. Now, I know you won't want to lie to your dad, so I'm gonna make it simple for you. Don't. Tell him that you were interested in the piece of metal I just had you take, and ask him what is it. I guarantee you'll be fascinated. Now, I'll be leaving now, just in case something happens. But if the findings from your dad's discovery just happen to be interesting, signal me and I'll explain everything. Good luck."

The voice then disappeared, like I felt a mental hole suddenly left in my head.

"Miles, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing daddy, I just wanted to ask…" I produced the cuboid sky blue item from my sling bag, before continuing, "what this was. Xaleil once showed it to me, but he didn't have time to tell me about it because he went on that mission with the Brigadier General."

"Oh, that. Well, come with me to my lab, and I'll show you what it is. I think you'll find it interesting."

"I wonder…" I muttered.

-Peleus-

Location: ?
Date: 16th April 2179
Time: ? PM
Historia: Present

I awoke in a prison cell. The first thing I noticed when I awoke was that not far from where I slept was a wall made out of thirteen steel bars, emanating a faint blue energy and deeply embedded into the ceiling and ground. Then I took notice of where I was currently holed up in, which was a relatively clean and well-kept bed. Other features of the prison cell included a sink and a toilet, which pretty much was all there was in this hole. Then I took notice of myself. I still had all of my clothes on, which was great, since I just had this pair of clothes washed a while back at a forest river. I looked up, taking note of the ceiling lamp that hung above me, casting light and heat over this dull prison cell amidst the thick humidity that loitered in the air.

I managed to put some strength into my aching arms, and push my body up, seated on the bed with aches all over my body. Instinctively I whirled my head twice in a circle, causing my neck to be freed of the aches that plagued it and after awhile my body began to feel better after the long hours of unconsciousness. I felt better, so I got up, twisting my body left and right, stretching the muscles that cracked and ached. Eventually, my little stretching session came to an end, and I was once again able to focus on where I currently was.

Well, sure, it didn't take a genius to realize I probably had been captured by that servine-hybrid, who most probably worked for Betrayal Force, and I was being held captive here, wherever 'here' was. I took another detailed look at the steel bars that held me captive, and noticed some more interesting developments. The bars were… pulsing, lack for a better word. Literally, the bars were glowing with strange insignias that curled up and down the bars like mystical decals that dug into the ground, creating cracks and veins that pulsated with a blue-ish glow dimly.

Strange… why would prison bars have decals? Brightening up the place seems to be a really lame reason… Ah well, I may as well get out of here.

Converging the surrounding latent energy present in the air, I created three streaks of flame that whirled around in my hand before condensing into a physical form: a blazing fiery whip that glowed brightly in the darkness, illuminating the entire prison cage. I swung the whip in a diagonal swing, the streak of blazing flames striking through the prison bars with a vengeance, creating sparks of flames as it struck.

The bars, despite my original thoughts, stayed unharmed. For some strange reason, the decals just glowed in a wavy sort of way when I struck the bars. Upon seeing that my work did absolutely nothing, I went on frenzy, striking the bars with the flaming whip multiple times at fast speeds, striking over and over again without giving much time for an interval. In spite of all that, the bars remained… unharmed.

The decals… they must be put in place to protect them from energy attacks. IF ONLY I HAD MY SWORD RIGHT NOW!

I looked around, looking for anything to use as a weapon to break open the bars, decorated by decals and protected from any means of attack that I had. I was searching through the really gross sides of the dull prison cell, and saw some things I shouldn't have seen which quite literally sent chills up my spine, but I ignored them and continued searching for some sort of raw material to make into some sort of weapon. I kept looking until something rather miraculous happened; a light that shined bright and white appeared out of the corner of my eye, accompanied by a sound that emulated an object being materialized.

Instinctively, I spun my head around to take a look, and what I saw almost made me tear in happiness. It was my silver sword, laying there on the bed I found myself awake on, a faint light revealing it like a piece of precious treasure. I grabbed the sword with newfound hope of escape, and rushed over to the gate that was holding me prisoner. I carefully unsheathed the sword, what little rays of sunshine left shining faintly through the barred window that gave an outside view reflecting off the blade's silvery metal. I threw the sheath to the ground as I held the blade over my shoulder, drawing energy into the blade. I then released it all at once in a diagonal slice which thrust forward at the same time, invoking 'Argent Slice!'.

The bar collapsed, as I had hoped, and I was quite literally free to go. With the sword still unsheathed, I traced my finger over the blade, feeling the smooth edge of the recently refined blade, before thrusting my free hand forward and bring it down in a diagonal motion, the blade glowing sterling silver as I invoked, 'Awaken, Silver Fenrir!' A circle of energy swirled in a clockwise rotation in the same dye as the blade, before a small yet bright bang occurred, creating a cloud of mist in its wake. As the mist cleared, the silver wolf that I had come to regard as my partner appeared.

By that time, I had already long overstayed my escape. The alarms suddenly sounded through out the reasonably high-tech prison, red lights flashing like doomsday approaching. The sound of multiple footsteps sounded off from the left and the right, signaling the untimely arrival of the guards that would soon be here to apprehend me. I would, of course, be ready for them. Temporarily absorbing the physical form of Argentum into my blade, I charged up energy in preparation for the swarming soldiers.

It didn't take them long to finally get to the end of the flight of stairs. But by then, it was a tad too late. My preparations were long complete, and I managed to charge a little extra to give the attack a little boost. I heard shouts of 'There he is!' and 'Seize him!', but it didn't matter. They'd all be dead soon. As their bodies soon began to swarm my only possible escape routes, I unleashed my attack. A curtain of silvery energy erupted from the ground and sent energy waves blasting off in all directions as I thrust my sword into the air, invoking 'Argent Incarnate!', the only points where the energy was kept from annihilating the entire prison was the blue decal prison bars which absorbed and canceled the energy of my attacks.

A smoking husk of fallen bodies littered the corridors of the dull prison, which were lined with prison cells with decals similar to the one I had just broken out of, but were all completely empty. Paying no heed to anything but my escape route, I dashed past all of the fallen Betrayal Force soldiers and made a beeline for the stairs that led to the upper levels, taking two steps at a time at a pace that would bring shame to the speed of light. My escape, however, was brought to a screeching halt when I reached the ground level.

A certain servine-hybrid was waiting for me, the same one that captured me and brought me here.

"Now, what may I ask, are you doing out of your cell?"

ExDraco: Well, that sums up the chapter.
Risk: I've got a bone to pick with you, author!
ExDraco: What can I do for you?
Risk: What's with that telepathic guy!? HE WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND IN THE SCRIPT OR YOUR LIST OF COLLECTED OCS!
ExDraco: Ah… He doesn't exist. Yet…
Risk: *stops ranting* Yet?
ExDraco: And this is where this link comes in: topic/147484/111404323/1/
Risk: What's that link do?
ExDraco: Not for you to bother about, now get out of here while I talk to the audience.

P.S. For those who still don't mind sending me OCs, the link will take you to a page where I list things about OCs for Fallen Light, and right now I really have a shortage of OCs. Right now, the only thing I have on the page is a request for three OCs, so I hope anyone who still doesn't mind can help. Thanks for the continued support of KrazyKoldKyurem613 and StylishDescent and for all readers' patience! See you next chapter!

P.P.S 28th April Update:
I just realised that the link above can't be copied into the search bar, so please go to my profile to check the link to my forum, where you'll be able to submit further OCs according to a slightly different OC form.