Morning. The sun was up, the birds were singing, beauty was all around. In fact, some might say that it was one of the most beautiful mornings anyone had ever had the good fortune of witnessing. But in the church found deep within the city of Glast Heim, sunlight and songbird melodies were but myths. Little to no light ever penetrated the gloomy interior.
Kirono Winterheart awoke to the sound of a familiar, and rather annoying, voice calling her name.
"Hey sis, wake up, it's morning already..."
It always came as a surprise to her that her brother's voice always echoed with laughter. Spending a year in this hellish lair had not robbed him of his optimism and cheerfulness, unlike Kiro, who now seemed much older than a girl who had seen sixteen springtimes should. Perhaps this was the reason that Shinjii always referred to her as his older sister, when in fact he was the elder one, even if only by a month.
Though Kiro was still a child in a sense, death had nearly become as regular in her life as breathing. She had lost so many of her friends. She cursed this retched exile which was brought upon her by a crime that she had not perpetrated, and now others were suffering just to prove her innocence. Those newly inducted acolytes should not have been dragged into this chaos. After all, some of the stronger priests had met an early grave, and now the Forgotten Angels were becoming few.
Fate was cruel. Kiro was still grieving the loss of Seraphine when Gabriel had been taken away from them as well. Meredith soon followed. Of the original twenty or so priests and acolytes that formed the Forgotten Angels, only five remained. There were new recruits of course, but they couldn't replace those who had fallen. To make matters worse, all five were in bad shape. Cherry was ill, Bethany had suffered a breakdown, Michael had become withdrawn and laconic, and Cyrus was on the verge of becoming psychotic.
Kiro knew good and well that leadership was a big responsibility, especially since she was one or the least skilled of all the acolytes. The other four were already quite powerful, and had seen more years than Kiro, yet they still looked to the younger girl for wisdom and guidance.
She sighed and enclosed her locket within her hand. It felt cold against her palm. Ten years had passed since her beloved guardian Silver had given it to her, and she never once let it be removed from her neck.
"Sis! Come on! Time's a-wasting! Master Schale won't wait for you forever you know."
Once again, Shinjii's voice did quite an excellent job of shattering her chain of thoughts. After fixing her clothes and locating her prayer beads, she stood up and followed the impatient swordsman down the narrow, dank corridors of the sinister place that they called home.
Another day of training. She dreaded this task, and would avoid it if she could, but unless she did her best and strived hard, she would be stuck as an incompetent leader for as long as the Forgotten Angels were in existence. But everyday, she put on a mask similar to that of a smile and exhausted all of her energy and effort in her training.
She would never become a priestess, but it was worth all of the pressure, for soon she would be a shaman. Soon she would be strong enough to protect her friends, soon she would be worthy of being the leader of the Angels, soon. But for now, she must train. With all her practicing, she had almost suffered an emotional and physical breakdown, but that didn't matter. When she had completed her training, she could keep her guildsmen safe.