Hello there any and all reading this. I would just like to state that this is the very first story I have ever made, so bear with any rookie mistakes I may make and feel free to give me criticism and any tips on how to improve.
I will try to replicate the canon characters' personalities to the best of my ability, but I can't promise that the characters will behave exactly like they do in the source material as I plan on tweaking some minor side characters a tad.
There are going to be numerous OC's in this story serving as both minor and major characters. So if you absolutely disdain OC stories, this is your warning. That aside, I hope I don't leave (too) much of a bad impression via this story.
To give a time frame for this story, it begins between Gasper's training and the Leaders' Summit.
I do not own High School DxD or its canonical characters. Those belong to Ichiei Ishibumi solely.
A Gift… A Shard.
In a plane separate from reason hovers a light, watching on as a single seam within a surrounding cloud of twinkling realities begins to fade to black. It growls in an almost displeased manner, causing an accompanying cloud of figures of varying shapes and sizes to tremble out of both fear of the deific being and as effect of the very force of the low growl. The light, despite not having a face nor body to speak of, unmistakably turns towards a hooded figure carrying a corpse of an unidentified, hound-like being.
"Is there a problem, my Anomalous Lord?" the figure spoke to the light.
"I have changed my mind on this one. I feel it would be more interesting to let it continue on than to let it reset. The actors still have some potential for my amusement," the light spoke as the realm before it teetered on the brink of utter annihilation.
The hooded figure kneels down, holding the corpse up as if it was a sacrifice.
A shard broke off from the light and hovered towards the corpse. Upon contact, it flooded into the body and gave it power immeasurable. It stood back up, alive and well once again, with glowing eyes of an intolerable brightness. The hound walked into the blackening rift.
Soon after, the shadows engulfing the rift began to fade. It faded until it was as bright and luminous as the other twinkling dots surrounding the star-like light. The might of a single blessed mutt was enough to bring this realm back from the verge of destruction.
From the rift, the shard of light gifted to the dog floated back towards its progenitor, its host nowhere to be found. The shard merged itself with the light.
Another hooded individual approached the light, kneeling before it immediately.
"My Apostle. I trust you have found the Vessel," the light spoke.
"I regret to say otherwise, my God. Forgive me," the figure spoke with a light, male voice.
"Then why have you reported to me with your task unfinished?" the light questioned, a rumble in its voice accompanied by mighty force.
"I may not have found the Vessel as of yet, but I have triangulated which division of the cosmos it is in," the figure answered.
"So, you wished to update me on your progress? You should've stated so," the light spoke, its voice mellowing out in all areas except its resonating power. "I must remember that you are new, so I can't expect you to perform as well as my other Apostles. That being said, don't expect my leniency to be limitless. I chose you for a reason; I expect you to follow through with your end, lest I cast you out to the infinite expanses to be torn asunder by the abominations of this plane."
"Thank you, my God. I shall return to my search," the figure spoke before a rift opened from behind. The figure turned towards it.
"Before you leave, I have yet to bestow you with your own Shard. For that, I must apologize," the light spoke, a fragment of itself breaking away and hovering towards the figure. It refined itself to form an eldritch eye before it merged into the figure's being. "You will need it for when you find my Vessel. Without it, you will surely perish. With it, you can also call upon me for power and directions among other things. Do note that I can be fickle and may not even answer. You, like all of my Apostles, are part of this divine orchestration; therefore, entertaining me is one of your requisites for being in my grace."
"A gift and an apology from you are far more than I could ever ask for in my existence, but I will most certainly commit that to memory. Thank you, my God," the figure spoke before entering the rift, the ripple in time-space closing behind it.
It may take me a while before I actually start writing Volume 3. The reason for this is that I have yet to come across my missing notes, so I may have to start again with them. As expected, that could take a decent amount of time ignoring the other responsibilities I am to tend to. I apologize for any disappointment.
As always, thank you all for reading this far.