Isaac sighed. He stood in the town square of Vale, waiting. Felix was
supposed to have arrived hours ago. He was yet to be seen. Isaac sat down
on the lip of an ornamental fountain behind him and put his head in his
hands. He was so bored, he turned to study the fountain he sat upon.
It was carved out of a beautiful smooth limestone, and the ornament in the center was a figure of a beautiful woman. The statue had large and beautiful angel wings, and she held a staff in one of her hands and a book in the other. The face of the statue was calm and cooling; the face was beautiful and looked as angelic as the very wings on her back. Around her feet were several diagonally oriented jugs, each sending a stream of water into the bowl of the fountain. As well, the water seemed to come from the statue itself, somehow. Isaac sighed again. The statue and fountain were his favorite sights in all of Vale; strange how he had scarcely noticed it in the past. Sighing again, he cupped his head into his hands and tapped his foot.
The square was abandoned; everyone must've been at work. It was really unusual for the main hub of the city to be empty on a business day. Not so much as a merchant showed his face in the town square. Isaac grumbled to himself and began thinking about his life before joining Felix and the Paladins of Sol.
He was once an ordinary boy, son of Kyle and Dora. He was never far from ordinary, save for his desire to succeed in any endeavor he undertook. His father had raised him to be that way; his mother often commented on how much Isaac acted like his father. His childhood had been simple and humble, his father had a day job as a blacksmith and his mother was a seamstress. Young Isaac had always dreamed of becoming a swordsman, and his favorite gift ever given to him was a wooden practice sword his father had made for him when he was nine; he still had the sword in the trunk he kept all of his belongings in. Isaac had planned to pass it down to his son if he ever got married, though as a Paladin, that was never going to happen. His second favorite gift was the golden scarf he always wore; it was sewn by his mother for an especially cold Vale winter. He took to wearing it so much, he was hardly seen in public without it.
Garet, who descended from Barbarian blood, sought to become a swordsman too, and they became fast friends. Eventually, the two essentially became brothers in all aspects save for relation. The two fought, argued, worked together, and traveled together for a long time. The Mars Adept had been Isaac's fencing partner for the longest time, and both of the warrior's skills improved tenfold after their informal training. His life was grand, that is, until his fifteenth birthday.
When he reached the age of fifteen, he sought to get a job in his father's blacksmith shop until he could apply to become a Luna Knight. Isaac was never able to sign up for one reason or another; he was too young, the recruiter wasn't in, filing records, you name it. His father was indeed able to get a job for the young Venus Adept in the blacksmith shop. On his first day, there came two people who were particularly interested in buying a pair of unusual and difficult to find weapons. The two visitors were rather adamant about the weapons they wanted, and refused to pay the reasonable price Isaac's father had placed on the two items they desired. The two warriors stormed away after refusing to haggle. After work, Isaac was cornered by Garet, who invited him over to his house for dinner. Kyle gave Isaac the okay, and he had a rather merry time with Garet's family. He thought his life really couldn't get much better. When he finally reached home, he decided to take a peek into the window in his living room to see what his parents were up to. He caught sight of something no one should ever see: the sight of his own parents being brutally murdered by the two unruly customers.
Isaac tried to follow the two murderers after they left the scene, but his search was in vain for the two killers. The funeral was hard on young Isaac, and it was even harder to try to keep his father's business running. Isaac was not the weapon-fashioner his father was, and therefore the business folded in less than a year. Garet's family did their best to help care for him, but there was little they could do. Finally, Isaac put another application to the military in. The Knights of Luna promptly rejected him, and his dreams were shattered.
About two months later, he was hiking out in the fields surrounding Vale, when he caught sight of a group of travelers being attacked by a group of bandits. Isaac cut in with his wooden sword and beat the attackers away. Among the group was a raven-haired warrior named Felix, who turned out to be the leader of the Paladins of Sol. Felix claimed he could sense great power and goodness in the Venus Adept, and he immediately took him as an apprentice. The rest was history.
After joining the Paladins of Sol, Isaac committed the Sol Code to memory: Always help those who can't help themselves, respect your king, respect your master, remain pious, remain objective, never let your emotions take hold of your rational thinking, never start a battle with someone from behind, always do what is right, be charitable, be humble, be honest, show restraint, and perhaps most importantly, avoid death of friends and enemies unless no other course of action can be taken. The code also forbade falling in love, as it led to the loss of objectivity and clouded the emotions of the Paladin. Isaac lived by this code to the letter, and he never let his training slip away. He adhered to the code as much as Felix, who still managed to show his emotions without clouding his judgment.
Now, he was just waiting idly for his master to show up so they could move on. Isaac's head shot up as he heard footsteps coming from an alley behind him. He quickly stood and prepared to greet Felix. When the figure emerged, Isaac jumped in surprise and drew his weapon. The figure was not Felix, but rather a skeleton decked out in full plate armor, rusted long sword in hand. Isaac quickly drew his weapon and raised it to fight.
The skeleton raced forward toward him with an unearthly speed. Isaac quickly blocked the weapon with his sword. Slashing back horizontally, Isaac's long sword deflected off the creature's armor, and it seemed to smile at the warrior. They continued to match each other sword for sword, until finally Isaac struck the creature in the skull, knocking it clear off the neck bone. The rest of the skeleton fell to the ground and its armor made a loud clang. Isaac sighed, trying to relax. What was this creature doing here? Why in Vale? Isaac snapped back to attention when he saw three more skeleton warriors charge into the square. He quickly defeated each one like the first and sighed. That was four of those abominations. What was going on?!
"Isaac. . ." A ghastly voice from behind him sounded. Isaac spun on his heels to see into a dark fog. The black mist radiated from a black shrouded figure in its center; all he could make of it was that it was holding a scythe with a rather huge blade. It could only be the spirit of Death itself. "It's time."
"Never." Isaac shouted at the apparition as it drew closer to him. He held his sword in front of him, ready to block the scythe of Death should he decide to use it. Death was more than happy to comply, but Isaac blocked the blade with his long sword as he had prepared. Death swung again, and Isaac defended from the blade again. This time, however, the blade of his sword snapped clean off, and it clattered to the cobblestone ground below. Isaac pitched the hilt of his sword at Death, who simply moved his hood a couple of inches to dodge out of the way. Isaac was in trouble, no doubt about it. Death now swung his scythe again, but rather than hitting him with the blade, he knocked Isaac to the ground with the rod of his weapon.
"It is time." Death snarled at him. Isaac crawled backward and against a wall. He had nowhere to go and no weapon; how was he supposed to fight? Death drew closer, and Isaac closed his eyes, preparing himself for what lay ahead. His thoughts of blackness were halted when a blast of blue light appeared from behind Death. The apparition turned to face what caused the light, and Isaac sat in awe himself.
"Leave him alone." A cooling voice sounded. "It is me you must fight if you wish to get him." Isaac sat agape at what had just happened. The voice came from the statue; though now it was no longer a stone carving. It was alive, and it stared at Death with an objective gaze. The angel's robes were mostly white, although they were blue and purple in places. Her hair was a shiny cerulean blue, and her eyes were aqua in shade. Feathers fell from the wings of the angel with each idle flap of its wings, and the book she once held had disappeared.
"It is his time. There will be no one who shall stand in my way." Death charged at the angel, who simply flapped its wings and took to the sky. The angel quickly landed behind the spirit and smashed him in the back with her staff. Death flew forward, and he swung around at her with its scythe. The angel simply blocked the swing with her staff. Instead of swinging at Death again, she raised her hand and aimed her palm at the spirit. Blue energy surrounded her, and a rush of pure water slammed into the dark spirit, and it cried out in pain. The shriek was dark and hellish; it burned in Isaac's ears. He closed his eyes and covered his ears to try to escape from the torment. When he finally uncovered his ears and opened his eyes, he noticed the spirit of Death dissipating from the blast of power.
The angel put her arm down and sighed softly. Feathers still floated down slowly from her wings as she stood, seemingly docile. Isaac stood up and took a couple of cautious steps forward. He stopped there; he was stunned at the angel's presence. While the angel had tremendous power, she extruded a very calm and peaceful aura. The angel slowly turned to face the Venus Adept, who staggered backward a step when her attention became focused on him. The angel stepped closer to Isaac slowly and calmly. She obviously meant no ire, as her face was very calm. Isaac made no move to escape, but he did keep his guard up. Finally, the angel was within arm's reach of the young squire, and she approached even closer. Isaac found himself gazing directly into the cool aqua eyes of the angel; he suddenly had an feeling of odd discomfort.
"Do not fear me." The angel said, softly; so soft that it was scarcely more than a whisper. Isaac's discomfort quickly faded as he felt compelled to listen to the being. "Are you okay?" She asked, looking him over.
"Yes, I'm fine." Isaac replied, voice trembling lightly. "Thank you for saving me." The angel smiled, and drew her face closer to Isaac's. The Venus Adept soon found his arms and back warmer than before; he glanced to see why. The angel had wrapped her wings around him lovingly. This was very strange. The angel pressed her face against his.
"I'll always be here for you. Never forget that." She drew him into a kiss. Isaac, who had no idea what was going on, did little to resist. He was too tired and confused to understand what was happening. After the angel withdrew from her kiss, Isaac tried to form words.
"Who are you?"
"My name is not important. Just remember, I'll always be here for you."
"I don't understand."
"I didn't expect you to. I'll always watch over you, Isaac." She kissed him again, and everything went white.
************************
Isaac snapped awake in his billet. The room was still dark; he didn't know what time it was. Isaac sat forward and placed his head in his left hand.
"The same dream. . . again. How many days in a row have I had this dream?" Isaac muttered quietly to himself. He tried to think of the answer to his own question. He had lost count of how many times he had this dream days ago. He sighed. He couldn't discern whether the dream was good or bad, a premonition or just a dream. It couldn't be a premonition; Felix had always told him it was Jupiter Adepts who could see the future, not Venus. "Who is that angel? What does she want from me?" Isaac sighed again. The angel's words kept running through his head, mystifying him further. The words were calming, and his nerves were soon settled. He lay his head back down into his pillow. He figured he'd have time to try to sort this dream out some other time.
*************************
Isaac was shoved awake by Felix, who was now yelling at him for sleeping in. Isaac sat forward, yawning. The Venus Adept looked out the window; it was scarcely dawn, and Felix was griping at him.
"It's about time, Isaac. You may be a good pupil, but you sleep too much."
"Well, can you blame me after all the drills you put me through? It's pretty taxing on the body and mind."
"Exactly. That's what training is supposed to do. Now get dressed and meet me outside. I want to go over some early morning sword fighting techniques with you."
"Okay, I'll meet you outside in five minutes."
"Make it three." Felix ordered, leaving the room. Isaac yawned again as he rolled out of his covers; his master was acting unusually nervous. Perhaps Picard had informed him privately of something. Either way, Isaac didn't have time to think about that, but his thoughts inadvertently wandered back to his dream. It was only a dream, but it felt real; like it could happen. He swore he could still feel the warmth of the angel's wings wrapped around him as he slipped on his clothes. He sighed. He must be mad; his code forbade him from letting his emotions cloud his judgment, and he was letting it happen now. Shaking the dream out of his head, he quickly grabbed his long sword and dashed out of his billet to meet up with Felix.
"Nice of you to join me, Isaac. It took you long enough."
"Sorry, Master Felix. Shall we begin?" Isaac asked, unsheathing his sword.
"Of course." Felix replied, doing the same to his weapon. After crossing each other's weapons, they began to duel ferociously. The duel lasted for minutes; both fighters swung hard and fast, striking with amazing power and accuracy. The steel clashing could be heard quite some distance away, and the sparks flying everywhere were evidence of the intensity of the two participants. Felix's face showed a grim determination to school Isaac at the art of sword fighting, and Isaac's continence showed his stubbornness in obtaining victory. Finally, after Isaac swung at Felix vertically, Felix sidestepped and quickly swooped in, managing to get his sword point to Isaac's neck. "And that is where you get your head taken off your shoulders." Felix stated, pulling his weapon away.
"Good. It's one less thing to carry around." Isaac replied. Both of them laughed heartily.
"You're good, Isaac. You really are one of the best swordsmen in the kingdom; you're the only one who can last more than forty seconds against me."
"What about Dargon?"
"Yeah, well. . . he can last as long as you. I'll bet you could beat him, though."
"I doubt it, Felix." Isaac sighed. "Dargon's pretty damn good with a sword."
"Round two?" Felix asked, redrawing his sword. Isaac smiled, unsheathing his weapon and giving a look of 'you're not going to beat me again'. The two Venus Adepts leapt forward and continued to hone their skills against one another.
It was carved out of a beautiful smooth limestone, and the ornament in the center was a figure of a beautiful woman. The statue had large and beautiful angel wings, and she held a staff in one of her hands and a book in the other. The face of the statue was calm and cooling; the face was beautiful and looked as angelic as the very wings on her back. Around her feet were several diagonally oriented jugs, each sending a stream of water into the bowl of the fountain. As well, the water seemed to come from the statue itself, somehow. Isaac sighed again. The statue and fountain were his favorite sights in all of Vale; strange how he had scarcely noticed it in the past. Sighing again, he cupped his head into his hands and tapped his foot.
The square was abandoned; everyone must've been at work. It was really unusual for the main hub of the city to be empty on a business day. Not so much as a merchant showed his face in the town square. Isaac grumbled to himself and began thinking about his life before joining Felix and the Paladins of Sol.
He was once an ordinary boy, son of Kyle and Dora. He was never far from ordinary, save for his desire to succeed in any endeavor he undertook. His father had raised him to be that way; his mother often commented on how much Isaac acted like his father. His childhood had been simple and humble, his father had a day job as a blacksmith and his mother was a seamstress. Young Isaac had always dreamed of becoming a swordsman, and his favorite gift ever given to him was a wooden practice sword his father had made for him when he was nine; he still had the sword in the trunk he kept all of his belongings in. Isaac had planned to pass it down to his son if he ever got married, though as a Paladin, that was never going to happen. His second favorite gift was the golden scarf he always wore; it was sewn by his mother for an especially cold Vale winter. He took to wearing it so much, he was hardly seen in public without it.
Garet, who descended from Barbarian blood, sought to become a swordsman too, and they became fast friends. Eventually, the two essentially became brothers in all aspects save for relation. The two fought, argued, worked together, and traveled together for a long time. The Mars Adept had been Isaac's fencing partner for the longest time, and both of the warrior's skills improved tenfold after their informal training. His life was grand, that is, until his fifteenth birthday.
When he reached the age of fifteen, he sought to get a job in his father's blacksmith shop until he could apply to become a Luna Knight. Isaac was never able to sign up for one reason or another; he was too young, the recruiter wasn't in, filing records, you name it. His father was indeed able to get a job for the young Venus Adept in the blacksmith shop. On his first day, there came two people who were particularly interested in buying a pair of unusual and difficult to find weapons. The two visitors were rather adamant about the weapons they wanted, and refused to pay the reasonable price Isaac's father had placed on the two items they desired. The two warriors stormed away after refusing to haggle. After work, Isaac was cornered by Garet, who invited him over to his house for dinner. Kyle gave Isaac the okay, and he had a rather merry time with Garet's family. He thought his life really couldn't get much better. When he finally reached home, he decided to take a peek into the window in his living room to see what his parents were up to. He caught sight of something no one should ever see: the sight of his own parents being brutally murdered by the two unruly customers.
Isaac tried to follow the two murderers after they left the scene, but his search was in vain for the two killers. The funeral was hard on young Isaac, and it was even harder to try to keep his father's business running. Isaac was not the weapon-fashioner his father was, and therefore the business folded in less than a year. Garet's family did their best to help care for him, but there was little they could do. Finally, Isaac put another application to the military in. The Knights of Luna promptly rejected him, and his dreams were shattered.
About two months later, he was hiking out in the fields surrounding Vale, when he caught sight of a group of travelers being attacked by a group of bandits. Isaac cut in with his wooden sword and beat the attackers away. Among the group was a raven-haired warrior named Felix, who turned out to be the leader of the Paladins of Sol. Felix claimed he could sense great power and goodness in the Venus Adept, and he immediately took him as an apprentice. The rest was history.
After joining the Paladins of Sol, Isaac committed the Sol Code to memory: Always help those who can't help themselves, respect your king, respect your master, remain pious, remain objective, never let your emotions take hold of your rational thinking, never start a battle with someone from behind, always do what is right, be charitable, be humble, be honest, show restraint, and perhaps most importantly, avoid death of friends and enemies unless no other course of action can be taken. The code also forbade falling in love, as it led to the loss of objectivity and clouded the emotions of the Paladin. Isaac lived by this code to the letter, and he never let his training slip away. He adhered to the code as much as Felix, who still managed to show his emotions without clouding his judgment.
Now, he was just waiting idly for his master to show up so they could move on. Isaac's head shot up as he heard footsteps coming from an alley behind him. He quickly stood and prepared to greet Felix. When the figure emerged, Isaac jumped in surprise and drew his weapon. The figure was not Felix, but rather a skeleton decked out in full plate armor, rusted long sword in hand. Isaac quickly drew his weapon and raised it to fight.
The skeleton raced forward toward him with an unearthly speed. Isaac quickly blocked the weapon with his sword. Slashing back horizontally, Isaac's long sword deflected off the creature's armor, and it seemed to smile at the warrior. They continued to match each other sword for sword, until finally Isaac struck the creature in the skull, knocking it clear off the neck bone. The rest of the skeleton fell to the ground and its armor made a loud clang. Isaac sighed, trying to relax. What was this creature doing here? Why in Vale? Isaac snapped back to attention when he saw three more skeleton warriors charge into the square. He quickly defeated each one like the first and sighed. That was four of those abominations. What was going on?!
"Isaac. . ." A ghastly voice from behind him sounded. Isaac spun on his heels to see into a dark fog. The black mist radiated from a black shrouded figure in its center; all he could make of it was that it was holding a scythe with a rather huge blade. It could only be the spirit of Death itself. "It's time."
"Never." Isaac shouted at the apparition as it drew closer to him. He held his sword in front of him, ready to block the scythe of Death should he decide to use it. Death was more than happy to comply, but Isaac blocked the blade with his long sword as he had prepared. Death swung again, and Isaac defended from the blade again. This time, however, the blade of his sword snapped clean off, and it clattered to the cobblestone ground below. Isaac pitched the hilt of his sword at Death, who simply moved his hood a couple of inches to dodge out of the way. Isaac was in trouble, no doubt about it. Death now swung his scythe again, but rather than hitting him with the blade, he knocked Isaac to the ground with the rod of his weapon.
"It is time." Death snarled at him. Isaac crawled backward and against a wall. He had nowhere to go and no weapon; how was he supposed to fight? Death drew closer, and Isaac closed his eyes, preparing himself for what lay ahead. His thoughts of blackness were halted when a blast of blue light appeared from behind Death. The apparition turned to face what caused the light, and Isaac sat in awe himself.
"Leave him alone." A cooling voice sounded. "It is me you must fight if you wish to get him." Isaac sat agape at what had just happened. The voice came from the statue; though now it was no longer a stone carving. It was alive, and it stared at Death with an objective gaze. The angel's robes were mostly white, although they were blue and purple in places. Her hair was a shiny cerulean blue, and her eyes were aqua in shade. Feathers fell from the wings of the angel with each idle flap of its wings, and the book she once held had disappeared.
"It is his time. There will be no one who shall stand in my way." Death charged at the angel, who simply flapped its wings and took to the sky. The angel quickly landed behind the spirit and smashed him in the back with her staff. Death flew forward, and he swung around at her with its scythe. The angel simply blocked the swing with her staff. Instead of swinging at Death again, she raised her hand and aimed her palm at the spirit. Blue energy surrounded her, and a rush of pure water slammed into the dark spirit, and it cried out in pain. The shriek was dark and hellish; it burned in Isaac's ears. He closed his eyes and covered his ears to try to escape from the torment. When he finally uncovered his ears and opened his eyes, he noticed the spirit of Death dissipating from the blast of power.
The angel put her arm down and sighed softly. Feathers still floated down slowly from her wings as she stood, seemingly docile. Isaac stood up and took a couple of cautious steps forward. He stopped there; he was stunned at the angel's presence. While the angel had tremendous power, she extruded a very calm and peaceful aura. The angel slowly turned to face the Venus Adept, who staggered backward a step when her attention became focused on him. The angel stepped closer to Isaac slowly and calmly. She obviously meant no ire, as her face was very calm. Isaac made no move to escape, but he did keep his guard up. Finally, the angel was within arm's reach of the young squire, and she approached even closer. Isaac found himself gazing directly into the cool aqua eyes of the angel; he suddenly had an feeling of odd discomfort.
"Do not fear me." The angel said, softly; so soft that it was scarcely more than a whisper. Isaac's discomfort quickly faded as he felt compelled to listen to the being. "Are you okay?" She asked, looking him over.
"Yes, I'm fine." Isaac replied, voice trembling lightly. "Thank you for saving me." The angel smiled, and drew her face closer to Isaac's. The Venus Adept soon found his arms and back warmer than before; he glanced to see why. The angel had wrapped her wings around him lovingly. This was very strange. The angel pressed her face against his.
"I'll always be here for you. Never forget that." She drew him into a kiss. Isaac, who had no idea what was going on, did little to resist. He was too tired and confused to understand what was happening. After the angel withdrew from her kiss, Isaac tried to form words.
"Who are you?"
"My name is not important. Just remember, I'll always be here for you."
"I don't understand."
"I didn't expect you to. I'll always watch over you, Isaac." She kissed him again, and everything went white.
************************
Isaac snapped awake in his billet. The room was still dark; he didn't know what time it was. Isaac sat forward and placed his head in his left hand.
"The same dream. . . again. How many days in a row have I had this dream?" Isaac muttered quietly to himself. He tried to think of the answer to his own question. He had lost count of how many times he had this dream days ago. He sighed. He couldn't discern whether the dream was good or bad, a premonition or just a dream. It couldn't be a premonition; Felix had always told him it was Jupiter Adepts who could see the future, not Venus. "Who is that angel? What does she want from me?" Isaac sighed again. The angel's words kept running through his head, mystifying him further. The words were calming, and his nerves were soon settled. He lay his head back down into his pillow. He figured he'd have time to try to sort this dream out some other time.
*************************
Isaac was shoved awake by Felix, who was now yelling at him for sleeping in. Isaac sat forward, yawning. The Venus Adept looked out the window; it was scarcely dawn, and Felix was griping at him.
"It's about time, Isaac. You may be a good pupil, but you sleep too much."
"Well, can you blame me after all the drills you put me through? It's pretty taxing on the body and mind."
"Exactly. That's what training is supposed to do. Now get dressed and meet me outside. I want to go over some early morning sword fighting techniques with you."
"Okay, I'll meet you outside in five minutes."
"Make it three." Felix ordered, leaving the room. Isaac yawned again as he rolled out of his covers; his master was acting unusually nervous. Perhaps Picard had informed him privately of something. Either way, Isaac didn't have time to think about that, but his thoughts inadvertently wandered back to his dream. It was only a dream, but it felt real; like it could happen. He swore he could still feel the warmth of the angel's wings wrapped around him as he slipped on his clothes. He sighed. He must be mad; his code forbade him from letting his emotions cloud his judgment, and he was letting it happen now. Shaking the dream out of his head, he quickly grabbed his long sword and dashed out of his billet to meet up with Felix.
"Nice of you to join me, Isaac. It took you long enough."
"Sorry, Master Felix. Shall we begin?" Isaac asked, unsheathing his sword.
"Of course." Felix replied, doing the same to his weapon. After crossing each other's weapons, they began to duel ferociously. The duel lasted for minutes; both fighters swung hard and fast, striking with amazing power and accuracy. The steel clashing could be heard quite some distance away, and the sparks flying everywhere were evidence of the intensity of the two participants. Felix's face showed a grim determination to school Isaac at the art of sword fighting, and Isaac's continence showed his stubbornness in obtaining victory. Finally, after Isaac swung at Felix vertically, Felix sidestepped and quickly swooped in, managing to get his sword point to Isaac's neck. "And that is where you get your head taken off your shoulders." Felix stated, pulling his weapon away.
"Good. It's one less thing to carry around." Isaac replied. Both of them laughed heartily.
"You're good, Isaac. You really are one of the best swordsmen in the kingdom; you're the only one who can last more than forty seconds against me."
"What about Dargon?"
"Yeah, well. . . he can last as long as you. I'll bet you could beat him, though."
"I doubt it, Felix." Isaac sighed. "Dargon's pretty damn good with a sword."
"Round two?" Felix asked, redrawing his sword. Isaac smiled, unsheathing his weapon and giving a look of 'you're not going to beat me again'. The two Venus Adepts leapt forward and continued to hone their skills against one another.
