Caution for this chapter - CHARACTER DEATH! That's all I'm going to say.
一番天使が死ぬ エレキテリオン
Log 12: Elekiterion, the First Eagle to Fall
At the edge Kitakigi, the forest nation north of the Plains Country, a winged figure could barely be made out in the trees in the fading twilight. He crouched on a high branch, a hand fingering the handle of his morningstar while the other held up a barbed feather. The creature had found the feather a few hours ago, in an Oblivion Gate outside the Plains capitol of Fanasia.
The ryûka chieftan is awaiting you later.
The voice of a man he had not heard in millenia replied gently in his thoughts. "Thank you, then, lord...."
The creature sighed - he had forgotten that the one he spoke to had lost his memories in his awakening. Elekiterion, ôji-sama. I am your Regent, Elekiterion.
His connection with Keythedrian was abruptly severed. A tingling sensation prickled down his neck, making the two pairs of emerald wings on his back rustle lightly. The tree's branches behind him wavered slightly.
"My blade senses your presence, Regent ... come out now...."
Elekiterion dropped the feather as he brought his morningstar into a ready position. The voice he had heard was of a human female, one he had last heard in another Regent's memories decades ago. Of course, that Regent was Banished, so there would be no sorting through memories to learn her identity. His only way to identify her was to leap from the tree and step before her - she was by the tree, anyway....
"Why do you call on me, lady, on this winter evening?" the angelic Regent lowed once he set foot on the snow before the woman. The lady was clothed in skimpy crimson armor, her ebony hair and scarlet cloak her only protection against the cold. A sword bathed in violet flame was unsheathed in her hands. Violet eyes stared blankly at the angel's naked body, as though she well knew of the angelic taboo against human emotion, and their physical lack of perception of the climate.
Astralægia called me to you, Elekiterion, the woman spoke in the memory-speech of the angelic ranks. You did see my sword ... didn't you?
Elekiterion nodded; the flame of the violet-bathed sword grew in intensity. "Yes ... it is Kuroiandagia...." The sword's name grated the angel's being as he spoke it.
So you know what I have come for, Lord Regent....
The woman bore closer to Elekiterion, her sword raised over her head. Elekiterion could see the feral madness in her eyes, almost like that of the lupine ruler of Kitakigi's forests, as she bore down the weapon. The angel brought up his morningstar into the blade's path, but the keen edge of the sword cleanly cut into the weapon, cleaving it in two until--
In the castle Basilica-on-the-Bluff, Keythedrian, the Prince of the Eagles, gasped shallowly while the servants packed away the remains of the evening meal. He dropped avellonis, clutching his heart as he wrenched his eyes shut. Fire was burning through his body, a sensation he had not felt for millennia.
A hand gently clasped his shoulder. "Keith? What is it?" It was Kathryn.
He could not reply; the sensation rushed through his soul, emerging in a sharp cry as it intensified.
Faint in his mind, the voice of the Regent he last spoke to echoed:
She has come ... beware of ... the angel-born.... She bears ... Kuroi--
Then the voice vanished, as did the pain and a thousand lifetimes worth of memories.
In the forest, Kayle stood by a tree, Kuroiandagia in her hands. Ivory blood dripped from the blade into the snow. Before her was the body of an angel - a Regend, if her memory prooved correct - stabbed in the heart. His face was frozen in a confounded expression.
Before she could blink, the angel's body vanished in a flash of green light.
{ Ashita wa Motto and ending animation plays.... }
Yep, our villan is getting to work right away! But to keep everybody's minds off the violence, I was planning on a special issue. It will feature the starting and ending songs, but I want to do a "behind the scenes" kind of thing throughout these special issues, and I'd like to know what background information I should release first. Just tell me, and I'll add in what most people want.
The next episode is a giant fight scene, just to let you know, and I got a *little* inspiration for it. Whee!