Ethere: The New Dawn

by FirestarX37

As Demone ravage the three planes of existence, a forgotten prince of a forgotten world musters the last light in his aid.

Ethere: The New Dawn

Prologue:

Necro, Abyssion Galaxy

There it was; the horizon, bearing the sun in its arms. That sun would soon shine upon a new era of Arinoc's unending history; an era of darkness, indefinite in its depth, and unyielding in its grip upon humanity. Yet I rejoiced at the thought, for despite its hate of all mankind, the darkness welcomed me, of all people, and in payment for my service as its ambassador to beckon in the new age of Arinoc, it would make me the king of kings, with rule of all land as far as the eye could see!

As my gaze swept across the great hall of Light, a sneered came to my face at the once greatest of the great, a place of hope and radiance, now reduced to a mere stepping stone of the darkness. And I laughed at the irony. For all their endless columns of gold, and materials mined from across the known universe, Lighteria was no more. As stood there contemplating the darkness, armies amassed of Mirkosis led by Shades raged across Ethere, land of light- pushing ever back the Army of Angels and Auras that was now light's only resistance. Since the Great Strike destroyed Lighteria- taking with it the ten most powerful Couronne wielders and their Wingdagens with them- the armies of light fought a losing battle desperately without the leadership link needed for battle. Thus, the irony was that their great five columns of elements lay in ruins leading to a throne devastated beyond recognition. The five star elements were scattered across the universe, and the throne of Radiance, with long lines since the purging, was no more. The blood of kings, with a history of majesty leading back eons was now destroyed. With no clear heir to the throne, the last remaining houses of Ethere battled endlessly in small pockets of resistance, each hoping to reach a city, unbeknownst to them, that was already rubble in the ground. And the funniest part was that they refused to work together as one to defeat the abyss because of it! I laughed silently at the Angels in all their might.

The Halls, each one previously leading to an Elemental Tower with grand arches, were decorated with great victories led by Drakengar the Great. Those were in ruins too. And the towers of light, along with its great city were destroyed.

As I was finally called from my musings into the presence of an Oscuras Demone, I kneeled in reverence.

"What newsss have you for me of Arinoss?" In began in with the hissing adapted for those without fluency in my language. As it sat forward eagerly, and motioned for me to speak, I began my report of one the very few planets for which an Oscuras Demone is responsible for.

"The darkness descending on Arinoc is beyond any hope to escape" I began easily, but the silent unbidden thought came that yet it welcomes those who come to it with open arms. Thus is how I came to know the ecstasy of wealth, and soon, so very soon, power. However, anything I can now imagine as power, for my human mind cannot comprehend the depth of thought in my master's twisted mind, will be akin to comparing a drop of water to the Amazon River; as the darkness descends.

"Even now, the most powerful of my minions wipe all traces of hope from the planet. For I have the ultimate protection; as you well know- The demon device imbedded in my soul warns me long before a threat to my power is even born. With my Demon Sight," the gift of the demons to ensure my "cooperation", "I can find all who might stand against the darkness, and destroy them utterly while they're still in the grasp of childhood. I have already helped destroyed the light's mightiest stronghold. In this we have accomplished what none before us has ever dreamed of. We have destroyed in the most absolute way possible, the Palace of Light, the resting-place of the greatest of spirits the Light Elementals have ever summoned. This time, now, is when we, the True Elementals should strike; when we are at the zenith of our power, and the Light is wavering for the first time is 3 billion years. In this my victory on Arinoc is already complete, for within the year the Arinoc will have spiraled down into unconquerable darkness, the light stronghold is already gone, and the hope of the people will be so diminished that even the brightest of Auras, the mightiest of Angels will be unable to beckon it back. I laughed at the new horizon.

New Pyron; Celestial Capitol

There once came one dark knight who rode forth from the dread plane

Upon the mortal world he descended, where he met the first light

Light and dark clashed as the galaxies fate was decided

The Great War raged for centuries past as star and abyss clashed

Back and forth the tide of battle went,

As light and dark called forth armies such as the mortal plane had never seen

A millennia past, until Gaea, mother of all and none, could stand no more

She called upon power of both light and dark, together, and set forth an apocalypse

Thus life in all its forms was vanquished for the first time,

In earth's unending story

From oblivion, three planets emerged, Abyss, Ethere and Arinoc

To ravage the galaxy again, in unending war over Gaea's Gift

As I walked along the new paved path to Lighteria Palace, I was once again awed by the majesty it commanded in its wake. The citadel of light was organized as a pentagon. The five star elemental towers, fire, water, earth, wind, and light, stood at the five points of the pentagon. Each also had Pyron's most powerful artifacts stored there. This means that all, of course, housed their own Star weapons; representing each element. Fire Star, the flame tower, had spirals of fire alternating with light that led up to its golden meteor guardian sitting atop the lighthouse. It also held the fabled Flare shield, armor that protected its user against any attack, and could fire a blazing sheet of inferno. Aqua Neo, the water tower, was surrounded by mist, obscuring the rippling azure waves below. Aqua Neo held the infamous Hydro Fury, arm armor that gave its chosen the power to command water; not unlike Sea Serpent, its water guardian. The earth tower, Land Spire, was made of sand, burnt by thunder to form glass as clear as the air itself. This tower contained the powerful Earth Spike, leg armor with vicious points made to spear enemies, as Earth Spike also gave its user light speed. Earth's guardian, Dragon, has the same awe-inspiring speed. Vortex Force, the air tower, was a glimmering silver, mined from meteors that fell on Ethere. Vortex Force held no weapon, but contained the Tornado Armor, a breastplate that offered both defense and offense, and the Silver Wings, that allowed its chosen to soar the skies with amazing speed- like the Silver Swift, wind's guardian. Last, the Light tower, Radiance Divine, held the crown of diamonds that shone with heaven's own light. Radiance Divine itself shone like the sun due to its guardian, the Light Pegasus.

Leading from the towers was a pathway paved in stars; to represent heaven's light. However, before entering the palace proper, servant's quarters, courts, etc., you first had to move through an outer ring of Aura, Angel, and Couronne schools. You see, each element had its own Elemental-Knight army, healers, and Couronne wielders stationed adjacent to its tower. This was why we thought ourselves invulnerable to any dark force's attack. With all the most powerful Couronne, greatest generals, and healers able to bring one back from the very gates of death, Ethere, for the first time, let down its guard. Thus, when we were the weakest, was when the Abyssian galaxy hammered all its magical power and fury onto Ethere. This of course, broke through our foremost shields as a child would smash an ant. In fact, our people were so unused to any threat coming from Abyss, that if it weren't for a few rebel Couronne watching the skies, Ethere would have become a void- destroying the balance of life forever, and ending the known universe. In the Angelic language, the "void", is the worst things an Angel can say- because it means an endless black hole with no life or death; just a sense of nothingness- the opposite of everything Angels believe in. As it was, however, a warning got through just in time for every living entity on Ethere to watch death's gates open for them.

That day, the day that in a desperate move, all the races living in the palace were suddenly swept away in the largest Sangem ever created, was the day when it all was destroyed. When the Great Strike came, only the most sensitive star mages had even an inkling to what was about to happen; so shielded was the strike from even Star Couronne senses. Thus, as the Great Strike neared, only Sauveur, the Great Summoner and Prophet, knew Ethere's end was so near. In the final moments before all around him was destroyed, he drew all of Pyron's life energy about him, and drew forth the Great Sangem planted in Lighteria's center. In this he threw all five towers of light, and all beings inside them, to the other end of the universe, where Arinoc stood; the only planet weak enough to be completely ignored by Abyss and all his creations.

Chapter One: The Confrontation

Theropian, Arinos,

As the first rays of the sun struck Arinoc; and Saeryion awoke from his sleep, quite suddenly, he felt a strange stirring in the very back of his mind. It was as if someone was sifting through his very soul, and weighing it against infinite others. However, as suddenly as it had come, the scrying was done, and had moved on to another person. Before he even had time to contemplate what this new sifting could mean to him, the alarm bells throughout the village of Theropian sounded to arouse the town's folk to the coming threat of the Ksukara.

Ksukara, a nomad kingdom to the north mostly held only mountainous terrain; so the kingdom was suffering from a near-starvation economy. They could have, of course, requested help from the Council, but, the Ksukara were too proud for that. So the only obvious solution with so many warriors and no farm land was to raid the nearby villages for food. Most of the time, Theropian the Hidden Grove was invisible to the untrained eye, until of course, Ksukara soldiers accidentally stumbled upon us in their daily scoutings. Since then, the Hidden Grove had become one of Ksukara's prime targets, with all of its agricultural land and farmers. However, the farmers of Theropian and nearby villages all banded together against the Ksukara soldiers; until one time a couple years ago when the Ksukara actually broke through. They utterly mutilated our defenders so obliquely that after that, none dared offend them. Since then, the Ksuk come back every harvest time to "collect" our goods. Obviously, life hasn't exactly been at its prime lately.

However, this harvest was different; and miraculously so. When dawn arose, the Ksuk, naturally, were already waiting a little outside the township borders waiting for the farmers to rise and collect the harvest to feed the Ksuk kingdom. However, unfortunately for them, entering from the other side of the Hidden Grove was the army of Relian, protectors of the sun throne.

As the alarm bells rang throughout the village, Saeryion rushed into the street to view the situation at hand. Saeryion, was slim of build, though tall, with an angular face topped with golden hair, and two large green eyes that shone like emeralds. Saeryion was considered amazingly exotic in a farming village where metal was out of place. He lived in the outskirts of Theropion; which was organized like a square. The wealthy merchants lived towards the center of the square; where they were protected by 2 rings full of stocky and strong farmers. The orphanage was located even farther out than the farmers because they were considered the trouble-makers, and also quite worthless with no responsibilities to live up to.

As he surveyed the quickly escalating situation below, he noted that though the quickly moving cavalry, and close by foot soldiers obviously outnumbered the Ksuk garrison stationed here, any sensible commander knew that the Ksuk could, and would use their knowledge of the area to pester the regiment with minor skirmishes until the regiment crumbled. Luckily, Saeryion, and his friends at the orphanage were already arousing a rebellion against the Ksuk. So, he rapidly gathered his small band of four friends together, and arranged a plan.

Aria, the only girl in the group, and newest member, was the first to suggest a plan. She said excitedly, "We have to help Relian out! It'll be a chance to prove to the whole village that we aren't just trash to heap in the outskirts and hope the Ksuk are distracted by us! Its our duty to help protect the sun throne!"

"But any number of unpleasant things could happen to us!" exclaimed Mero, the pessimist of the group. Then he unhappily proceeded to name them off as fast as he could; his small tanned face, lanky body, and slate eyes showing more and more rebellion against the plan as each barely plausible event passed his lips. In fact, he continued on his tirade until, Derk, threatened to stick him in a trash can on the way out of town. Derk, the classical farmer, was stocky of build, and short of humor; but made a loyal friend. His outburst forced Mero, to settle into an unhappy silence each contemplated the obstacles vs. the rewards. This continued for several second until Aria finally managed to convince both parties to listen to my opinion; after all, I was the unelected leader. As I cleared my throat, I calmly announced my view.

"I thoroughly believe we should aid the Sun throne; for many prominent and justifiable reasons. First of all, do any of you like giving so much food to the Ksuk that we stay in a near-starvation state? If we help this regiment, in all likelihood, we'll be well protected, and after the knights overwhelm the Ksuk kingdom by shear numbers, we'll also be celebrated as local heroes!"

Even Mero couldn't resist an opportunity to prove to the town that we were worth while; and doubly so because I had provided a perfectly plausible solution to all his protests. Also, the rest of our party also agreed with me. So, with dreams of heroism, a lighter step, and Mero still grumbling his head off despite a firm denial that he was definitely not grumbling, we set in the general direction of the Blue Eagle army.

We obviously couldn't just stroll out onto the battlefield, so after much debating, (during which Mero drove us to the brink of insanity) we decided that there were only two options. We could either cut around to the back of the town, and use the cattle herds as cover for a quick sprint to the back of the knight's encampment, or we could cut a long arch south (the battle, and knight's encampment was to the north of town) into Erwn's forest, and move along the edge of the foremost trees until we arrived behind the knights. The second option was much favored by all, so our small band sneaked into Erwn's forest quite undetected because to whole village knew about the battle about to rage, and had all agreed to the unspoken rule to stay inside their houses until a victor emerged.

As we traversed the plains outside the town full of golden wheat, all except Aria, and I gazed at the vast fields of wheat ready for harvest with an almost admiring gaze. Before Aria arrived here a week ago, I always felt slightly different from the others because of my lack of "appreciation" for the land. Well, it wasn't quite lack of appreciation, it was just that I didn't view land as a precious. I always seemed more drawn to the wild forests, and friendly animals. Today, however, the feeling of displacement soon passed as we walked along into the first of the great oaks in Erwn's forest.

As I entered the vast oaks, sudden calm seemed to envelop me. Here, I was the leader, and the most skilled forester in all of Theropion. The farmer's and merchants seldom ventured into the forest; content with their own homes, and reluctant to endanger anything of value. However, in doing so, the missed the vast beauty of the forest land. All around us was signs life; a dozen chirping crickets, the sunlight streaming through the break in the canopy, the soft moss-strewn floor, and unforgettably the great majestic might of the towering oaks. Unfortunately, in our mission north, I had but a moment to admire the silent majesty around me.

Quickly, our group cut along the forest edge, heading for the knight's encampment some miles away.

By nightfall, we had covered over half the distance to the encampment, but we all agreed it was time for a rest break. Aria started gathering wood; Mero tried unsuccessfully to start a fire, Derk gathered water, and started on a soup, while I, with the only bow, went hunting for any small game I could find. We all finished our tasks less than a candlemark later, and could be found sitting around a happily burning fire drinking water, eating a few fish I managed to snare, and sipping a meat stew made out of the single hare I had shot. After that, we all fell promptly asleep, not even bothering to put out the fire, and unaware of the threat waiting just beyond the fire's light; waiting until we were helpless.

My friends and I woke quite suddenly when a very sharp object was pressed onto my throat. From my limited view, I could see that the rest of my friends were similarly restrained; so crying out wouldn't do any good, and would probably earn me a slit throat. A harsh, raspy voice whispered into my ear so softly that I had to strain in order to hear it.

"Listen carefully now; your life and all your friends hang in the balance depending on what you tell me. We're the foremost squadron of scouts from the Blue Eagle regiment of Relian. You seem quite suspiciously close to the Blue Eagle encampment, and the only reason you're still alive is because any sensible spy would at least put out the fire. Now tell me, why are you here, and who sent you?"

In a muffled and strained voice, I answered the warrior. "My friends and I mean no harm. We come from the village of Theropian, and when we awakened seeing a battle about to happen, we realized that your army would be at a serious disadvantage without someone who knew the terrain. "

"But why should you help us? How do you even know that we're on your side?"

"If you haven't noticed, the Ksuk tribesmen are slowly starving my village; and any retaliation leads to the total mutilation of the rebels. Other than that, we could clearly see you bear the Sun Throne of Relian proudly, and we are known to be within the borders of Relian."

The man just gave a grunt of acknowledgement at the end of my speech, and before I could react, a sharp stabbing pain hit me on the back of the neck, and brought the relieving darkness.

As I struggled back into consciousness, the first thing I noticed was the change of surroundings. I obviously wasn't anywhere near the woods anymore; that much I could tell from the smell of the place. The tent I was in was meticulously clean, and every bit of it sterile. It also seemed to be divided into two sections; one for private usage (the half I was in) and the other half for public audiences. Currently, in the opposing half, two people seemed to be arguing about me.

"Atteeention! You can't just bring a total stranger into the middle of a battlefield! Do you realize the tactical advantage you could have given the enemy? What if he was awake the whole time, and escaped with information about our exact numbers, organization, and everything else! You could have lost the battle for us right there! Promptly state your reasons before I downgrade you to a private!"

"Well sir", began the other man hurriedly and in very small voice, "I questioned the boy on all of the required statements and he answered relatively well; and as far as I can tell, he was telling the truth. Also, he seems too conspicuous to be anything other than a boy. However, my word is never as good as yours, so I brought him here to be further interrogated."

As the first man pondered these new facts, and dismissed the second man without punishment, I finally regained the power of speech.

"Excuse me", I croaked, and was astounded at the rate my voice had degenerated at. None the less, the first gentleman, and commander of the armed forces, heard my pitiful excuse for a voice, and edged cautiously into the room. He looked about forty, with gray streaks in his hair; but it was relatively hard to determine his exact age for two reasons. First of all, besides the gray streaks in his hair, his body was well toned, and muscular. He wore a dark navy suit, with many badges on one side, golden buttons down the middle, and a slip of chain-mail showing from the inside. His face was chiseled, with a prominent, squarish chin, a roman nose, and grey-blue eyes. He eyed me with suspicion that I couldn't blame him for. After all, all he had to go on was the measly report of one scout. However, his voice seemed friendly enough, and even held a little concern for me.

"So you're awake. Before I can begin to trust you, I need to know why you and your friends were heading towards our base. Do you think you're strong enough to answer through a full-scale interrogation?"

"Yes, I guess so," I replied when I could speak again. After I confirmed I wasn't in any pain, Kilerl (which I later learned his name was) started interrogating me mercilessly. His pointed questions forced me to reveal all I knew about the village, the Ksuk invasion into our territory, what I knew Relian as, and of course, why we were there, etc. All of the questions were hard to answer to, but Kilerl continued his ruthless interrogation well into the afternoon until he was satisfied with all of my answers.

"You may now go see your friends. Many of them awoke before you, and should be finished with their interrogations by now. Ask my aid to escort you to the med-tent; you'll have plenty of time to converse with me later.'' Kilerl ended this with a rather harsh, empty chuckle that never reached his eyes. However, I wasn't one to wait around once given the o.k. I got the attention of one of Kilerl's aids, and sprinted after them to the med tent. Once outside, I got a pretty good view of what the Blue Eagle encampment was like, and I was quite impressed. A small army of tents spread out before me, with thirteen rings emanating from the two general's tents. I was currently in the officer's ring; which was 4th from the general's ring. The aid, a boy about my age with large owlish eyes, led me to a tent in the tenth ring, and left me before a large mud-brown tent with the Red Cross over it. I immediately ran inside.

Within the tent, while my eyesight was still adjusting from the bright of mid-afternoon, a large brown shape tackled me giggling. Then two other larger brown shapes started beating me with pillows. However, after the first few minutes, and my eyes began to adjust, I started fighting back with the nearest pillow I could find. My friends and I must have fought for a whole candle mark before a gentle nurse started untangling us from the pillows. The first person to tackle me was obviously Aria, with the girlish giggles. The next two shapes were Derk and Mero, intent on punishing me for leaving them with each other.

However, after everyone settled down, they were eager to hear what had happened to me while they were sleeping. We hurriedly seated ourselves on one of the immaculate white cots patients were treated in. Then I quickly found out from bits and pieces of the story (with Mero interrupting everybody) that while my attacker actually spoke to me, my three friends just got knocked out when the leader gave the signal that I had answered correctly. When Derk, Aria, and Mero woke up, and found them selves in an infirmary situation, they were quite confused. (Well, most of them were just confused; Aria lashed out fists pummeling and eyes burning until a nurse managed to assure her they were in no harm)

I then related the whole story from the point where we were captured, to the generals ruthless interrogation, and finally to how I got here, and what I expected was going to happen.

After my piece was finished, we sat in companionable silence, until Aria butted in. "So what do you think they're going to do with us now?"

"I don't really know, but it looks like we're about to find out", I stated as I pointed to the dark shape of Kilerl flanked by two bodyguards approaching.

"I have consulted the general on what he thinks we should do with you. Currently, he is undecided, but wishes to speak with the group of you for further interrogation. Come."

We were escorted under guard to the center of the sea of tents; where the general resided. As my group and I entered, the humongous, foreboding shape of the Blue Eagle general blotted out everything else.

For an eternity, we stood there, totally cowed by the appearance of this giant; while he weighed our worth. Finally, much to our surprise, and dismay Aria broke the silence.

"Well, are we going to stand here all day, or are you actually going to begin the interrogation?"

This outburst surprised all those present; especially us. When Aria first came here, she seemed unbelievably shy. She only spoke when spoken to; even among us, her peers. This behavior continued on for more than a week, until finally, Mero, Derk, and I "broke the ice." From then on, she was the funniest and most loyal friend one could have, but still had an affinity for others outside our small circle of friends that none of us could understand.

This particular outbreak also surprised the giant, "You are either amazingly brave or unbelievably stupid with an outbreak like that. You could have just sentenced you and all your friends to the block with such disrespect. However, in Relian, I cannot condemn you for disrespect; the interrogation shall begin."

Fallor, the Blue Eagle general, shot out question after question to each of us at random, leaving no time for recovery, and draining each of us of the last drops of knowledge our minds held. This subtle attack on our consciousness continued for the rest of the afternoon, and well into the night, before he was finished with us. And of course, by then we all felt like total imbeciles with our lack of knowledge about the Ksuk army, and even further about what little we knew about Relian. However, I felt especially sympathetic for my other friends; I was partially prepared because Fallor asked many of the same questions Kilerl shot at me. My friends had no due preparation, and Fallor seemed particularly interested in cowing Aria for her earlier disrespect.

When the relentless interrogation finally ended, we were all perfectly ready to crawl back to the filth of a town we came from, and never leave the five foot radius of the orphanage's yard. Unfortunately, Fallor had different plans for us.

"Kilerl, my second in command, was quite right. All of you seem to be telling the truth, and actually might be of help to our campaign against the Ksuk. However, there are a few small items we'll need to address. Our regiment is actually on planning to take back the whole of the border, and making sure the Ksuk don't return. We're rather sorry at how late this help has come; but it takes time to bypass all the generals, and get a sanction from the United Court. The point of this is that if you truly decide to help us, you will be continuing with my regiment throughout our campaign. Also, after this campaign is over, due repayment will be amassed. Any or all of you could retain large deposits of money, status, or even qualification to enter a military academy at the capitol. However, in order for this to occur, you will have to agree to the common terms of every soldier in my army, and enough time away from home to follow this whole campaign through. With your eminent knowledge of the surrounding countryside, we'll need you throughout our mission. I will give you one day to decide. Meet me back here tomorrow at sunset."

After this, we were escorted back to the med-tent, and left there discuss our options. As usual, Mero started the conversation by voicing his pessimistic opinion.

"Do you realize what could happen if we went with these dupes? How do we even know we can trust them? All they've treated us to since we arrived is interrogations and prison-like treatment. Does that spell trustworthy to you- - "

He got that far before Aria interjected fiercely.

"Oh come on! Don't be the imbecile you always are; we're already knee-deep in this battle and we can't just run away! Are you going to run away from everything in life?"

Her unchangeable position on the topic quickly split our small party against each other. Derk, with his love of the plains, was as determined as stay in the village, as Aria was against it. I sided reluctantly with Aria, and (of course) Mero sided with Derk just as reluctantly. However, our opinions didn't seem to matter much; Derk and Aria argued back and forth well into the night, while completely ignoring us. Eventually, and unfortunately for all within hearing distance, they battled throughout the night, and most of the morning before retiring still undecided.

Our party slept for what remaining hours of time before the meeting fully out of it, and woke more tired than before. Non-the-less, the guards took no pity on us, and escorted us roughly to the general's tent. Even through my bleary eyes, I could still see the general better in daylight. He had heavy features like Derk, but the size difference was readily apparent. He towered over us all at six and a half feet tall; but still seemed much less intimidating without the shadow of dread that hanged over us when we met him at night. He invited us in promptly with military efficiency, and quickly asked us our decision.

"I need to know now if you stand with us, or not. We'll be launching, the first attack on the Ksuk tomorrow afternoon, and need reliable informatives. What is your decision?"

"On this we are still undecided. Aria, and I will stand with the Relian army throughout this campaign, but Derk and Mero are promptly against it."

"This is easily solved; we'll send a small honor regiment to escort them home; they'll be local heros, and you two can help us here on the battle front."

This was an ultimatum that no one liked, but we couldn't see a way around it. So tomorrow morning was going to be the last time Derk and Mero, our loyal friends, were going to see us for more than a year.

Later that night, a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach awoke me with a start. I felt a weird, yet comforting feeling of something within me settling down. It was as if I had my own personal friend, mine, and mine alone. Unfortunately, as soon as I seemed able to sense it, an in ignorable need for sleep overwhelmed all other senses. That morning I would awake with no memory of the incident at all.

That morning will probably stick in my memory forever. An honor guard met us as soon as we had awoken, and gotten dressed, and took us (with much more respect) to edge of the encampment. There, we finally said our heartfelt goodbyes, and waved at the rapidly disappearing riders until they crested the hidden valley. Now the real work began.

Since the general trusted us, we weren't kept under heavy guard anymore; only left with a solitary aid to guide us around the encampment. However, before we were even allowed to recollect ourselves, we were led stiffly to the general's tent again.

"We have a slight problem," began the general. "The Ksukara have moved much faster than we imagined. It is only by pure luck that you managed to get here before they have made any major advances. So far, our two armies have only had a few small feints to test each others reaction. Unfortunately, today our spies among the Ksuk troops have informed us that they intend to attempt a pincer strategy since they just received reinforcements. This could quite easily spell disaster for our soldiers. If we get caught successfully in the pincer, our campaign may come to a premature end. This obviously means that we need info about the surrounding territory. Now in order for our military strategist to predict where they might strike, we need a map of all the surrounding area."

So the rest of our morning and well into the afternoon, we sat and drew a very detailed map of the surrounding vicinity. Theropian sat in the middle of the valley, while the Knight's encampment lay to the south, and the Ksuk base was located in Theropian's northwestern fields. Then we identified the fringes of Erwn's forest, and its ability of camouflage. We also cited the need for the knights to shed all their heavy armor. We suspected that the most of the war would be fought in guerrilla battles located primarily in Erwn's forest; thus reducing the effect of armor to a hindrance. Fallor grudgingly, but acknowledging ordered all of his knights, cavalry, and foot soldiers to remove their armor. The final, and most prominent point Aria pointed out was that we could spare both peoples much bloodshed by using a stealth maneuver. All we had to do was sneak a small, highly trained band into the Ksukara base. That party could destroy the head of the army, effectively disabling the whole Ksukara army. Aria and I obviously had to go.

After this General Fallor dismissed for the rest of the evening, so he could discuss the possibility of this operation with his various commanders and majors of all the units in Blue Eagle's vast army. We went on our way, and had the first (and most likely only) relaxing dinner. Since we were officially "a part if the army" now, we were also expected to dine like the army.

Aria and I made our way to the food line located inside a vast, domed food hall. In order to compensate for amazingly large amount of soldiers stationed at the Hidden Vale, over twenty large tents were sown together, and covered over the six steel posts. Five were arrayed in a pentagonal shape, and the final one was put up in the middle of the vast tent. Other than providing shade from the relentless sun hanging over high-noon, the blown up tent held over fifty tables set below it for food. Opposite the entrances was a large table where food was served. Six tables had been pushed together, and totally covered with precious the food stuffs.

Today, Aria and I arrived just after the big rush; and before any quick eaters attained seconds. Though military fare is most definitely not the best, it is descent. Today the special was better than most others. The fry cooks had most likely worked hard all day long to complete the vast array of smoked, baked, fried, and sautéed foods spread before us. We quickly loaded our plates with smoked salmon, fried shrimp, and a load of freshly baked apple pie. Well, maybe the fare was much better than what the average soldier received; all due to Head Frier Quinton. He made sure every speck of food ever taken out of the kitchens was superbly spiced, and cooked. Any chef taken in by him was strictly forced to eat any food they cooked that didn't meet Frier Quinton's designations.

Anyway, we seated ourselves at a random table near the doorway. On my right side sat Aria, and on my left was seated an exotic female first-class. She introduced herself shortly after she finished stuffing down all her food.

"Hello, my name is Nina," she stated in a weird, suspicious tone of voice. After a moment's more contemplation at my face, she continued the conversation nastily.

"Oh! I know who you are! You're that kid who tried to sneak past Golstar! You know, he's very proud of his reputation; and now you've gone and spoiled it! You're such meanie!" She made an ugly face at me, and quickly scooted away too the other side of the table.

"Oh, don't mind her." A voice interrupted from the right. "She's just jealous because before you sneaked into the perimeter of the camp, Nina was the arrogant girlfriend of Golstar. She should be thanking you right about now for getting her away from that ugly butt-face. Anyway, my name is Zion, and I assure you I'll be a much better lunch partner than she was."

After this, I took a moment to look at our new lunch partner. Though she wasn't particularly pretty in the normal definition of the word, Zion had large blue-green eyes, a well-muscled, slender form, and had a light in her eyes that made up for her lack of exotic looks. Because of her, who we later found out to be Fallor's second in command, no one else bothered us for the remainder of the lunch period, allowing Aria and I to absolutely stuff ourselves crazy.

The next morning, we awoke to blast of a trumpet, bringing forth a new dawn. While we were still sleepy-eyed and dazed, our page quickly marched us to Fallor's tent in preparation for the stealth maneuver.

"I have consulted with all of the general's within my army, and our head military strategist. They have all agreed with consensus that your proposal is the most recommended. However, in order to out run the Ksuk, and stop them before they launch their pincer, we will need to start now. All of your associates have been notified, and prepared. They now are under your command, had you been ready." stated Fallor in scorn.

"I, unfortunately, have just received orders that should I not take care of this growing threat within the next week, I will be relieved of my command. Because of this, I give you one hour to prepare to lead this troop. If for some reason you cannot fulfill the time limit, I will be forced to follow previous orders, and launch a full scale assault that will both destroy the Ksukara kingdom, and your home town of Theropion."

"You can't do that! If those are the actions you will take, and destroy innocents, then you are no better than the Ksuk!" protested Aria.

"I do not control my betters, and either should you make the attempt! If you think my actions unprovoked, then I suggest you use what time I give you to stop them."

With this, Aria angrily broke free of the confines of the tent, and marched off to prepare with me in trailing closely behind. We were to be ready within the hour. However, despite Aria's objections, I truly believed that even if it meant destroying my only home, if this action would spare Relian and other's threatened, I would sacrifice my town, and my people for the greater good. Unfortunately, upon my first suggestion of this opinion, Aria's quick temper ignited all around it.

"How can you even think of that? These are your people! Regardless of whether we complete this mission or not, innocents should not be held responsible! Look at it this way, right now, you hold the lives of hundreds of people at your fingertips, are you going to throw all of those lives away?"

"Aria, you have to understand, while Theropion holds hundreds of people, we're talking about a kingdom of people! The fate of Relian may depend upon this! If the Ksuk defeat the main of the army here, they may push all the way to Asyllun, the Relian capitol. And I know Relian can push the Ksuk back easily, but without preparation, thousands of lives will be lost!"

After this, Aria just looked at me as if I was a plague, and ignored all attempts at continued conversation. Within the hour, we were ready.

"These men are now under your command. There are eight total, and including you, we will be sending an assassination squad of ten. Understand that you must complete this mission in forty-eight hours. If you time runs out, and you have not yet returned to our encampment successfully, we'll have no choice but to launch a full scale assault upon the whole Ksukara Kingdom."

Throughout this speech by Fallor, I could feel the tension build up as Aria fiercely held her tongue. However, without incident, we began the long trek to the main Ksukara outpost in the north.

As we traversed within the confines of the Ksukara kingdom, guilt was the unfortunate feeling that began to build up within me. Even though we never entered a town, we did pass by a small settlement inhabited by the young wives and children of the soldiers of Ksukara. Seeing this only added to my feelings of guilt. From only this one settlement, even I could see the desolation, and decay of the Ksukara people. And even though I would never see the Ksuk again in my life, that small village forever represented to me the hardships of people; such hardships that they even affected the very life of the land.

Suffice to say that this march was much harder on the body and mind, then the trip with Aria, Mero, and Derk that I took to reach the Blue Eagle encampment. Every hour was a grueling strain on nerve and mind as everyone (including me) realized the danger we were in as our group neared the confines of the Ksukara encampment. Every minute- moving from one cover to another, without rest or break, all because of Fallor's ultimatum and the obvious level of security within three kilometers of the camp. Thus our group, tired, and fatigued, reached the Ksukara Center of Operations, where Akysl, the king and general of the Ksukara people resided.

Unfortunately, the encounter with the village only strained my nerves further and added the dreaded guilt, which struck at me viciously; as we stalked inside the K.C.O. (Ksukara Center of Operations) We were involved in an assassination attempt after all! ; was this truly right? The question I constantly asked myself. No one else, however seemed to have that problem, and with all the, stress, and fatigue, I didn't particularly wish to add my burden onto anyone. So alone, and in depression, my suffering was mine and mine alone. Still to this day, I wonder if my guilt was to blame for the first slip up in the mission.

Upon finding the Ksukara K.C.O. we first sent out Derek and Pyle, two skilled scouts to reconnoiter the area. They returned with an impromptu map drawn on some bark showing the K.C.O. to be a pentagonal structure apparently with five different sectors. Another interesting detail they returned with was that the K.C.O. was immense in size, and only appeared to have been inhabited in the last five years since the invasion of Theropion. Unfortunately, none of this truly reached my head during the time I heard it. To this day I will always think to how destiny could have passed me by, had I paid more attention to small stirring within me at the mention of the strange gigantic pentagonal structure, that in worlds past, had once been known as the forgotten legend; Lighteria Palace, capitol of all light in the universe.

At first, the operation went well enough. We split into five groups, each entering one of the sectors, and planning to meet at the throne found at the intersection of all five areas; thus maximizing our success rate with five different chances. By some chance or fate, I was drawn to the brilliant red sector, and Aria seemed in a trance as she walked slowly towards the zone with ever-changing spirals around it.

As I quickly found out upon entering my region, each sector was a long winding maze to the untrained eye. It started as a relatively straight-forward hall with multiple entrances and exits, but rapidly shifted into a mind-boggling maze with multiple traps and confounding dead ends. Upon realizing this, my partner promptly decided to desert me and find a different path without forewarning. I hadn't even realized this until the final cry from his throat reached my ears. This jolted my out of my reverie long enough to realize someone was behind me, and fully ready to end my life quickly.

As the sword blade flew down faster than any normal man could dodge, something stirred for the ump-teenth time within my. As if under the control of some spirit, my body lithely dodged away faster than a snake, and struck like one too. My attacker, stunned from my speed and strike, was quickly prey to unconsciousness with my lightning quick punch to his stomach, and roundhouse kick to the head knocking him against the wall, and into the realms of blackness. However, with the threat upon my life thoroughly neutralized, my strange speed rapidly retreated back into the confines of the mind, and left only exhaustion; unbelievably dangerous in the current situation.

Fortunately for me, my body recovered at a descent pace and I was again forever fighting my way to the center, only this time alone. Once again, as I traversed the confines of the never-ending maze, my friends wandered into my thoughts again. In particular, I wondered how Aria was doing, and if she had met the same fate as I now faced: trapped in an endless maze with both my retreat blocked, and only fighting forward. Once again however, my thoughts quickly reformed and focused on the current situation; not allowing the luxury of day-dreaming. However, one idea kept on coming through, over and over again as I went farther into the labyrinth. I'm definitely not so lucky as to not fall into any traps along the way, but one thing that kept on repeating itself was the way all the traps were devised. Almost all of the traps now seemed to focus somehow on using fire, and flame to traverse them. For example, the first trap I was met with would coat the unfortunate in gasoline so if they so much as grazed one of the walls covered in matches, they would go up in flames. The next trap, involved an ever-burning torched that came at you from all direction as you crossed the large expanse where this occurred. However, both of these paled in comparison to the magma vent. Someone, or mother nature herself had dug a hole going hundreds of feet in both directions, and every few seconds, a jet of fire would blaze across the hole. Crossing this was my current dilemma.

First of all, this wasn't any little manhole. I mean this thing wasn't three feet in diameter; three feet was closer to a fraction of the radius. If my guess is correct, this hole-of-blazing-death could have been fifteen feet across! Unfortunately mulling over this situation wasn't an option thanks to the numskulls chasing after me. Evidently someone found our previous battle, and had alerted the Akysl, king of Ksukara. So, before I knew it, a group of five men were chasing me down; and with my retreat blocked, (and no weapon) the only other option was move forward. So I gave a ferocious leap across the hole, and as my hand slipped on the blank rock face, light disappeared, and flame roared up behind me, ready for new and fresh prey.

I think he is the one. Ten years ago, my home planet, Pyron, was destroyed by a focused attack by all the powers of Abyss. Then after the explosion of our planet, Pyronions still loyal to the old Light Throne, gathered on Arinoc, the only remaining planet standing in Abyss's way after Pyron's destruction. Doing a little here, a little there, we gradually grew in power as time went on. Unfortunately, Pyronion birth rate was never high, and with our numbers reduced to a mere hundred survivors, children were no common sight. However, there was one legend that could save us all. The old holder of the light throne was fabled to have the ability to renew and create new planets. Thus is how Pyron as a planet survived so long. Without renewing and rebirthing the sun of heavens, Pyron would have turned cold and inhabitable trillions of years ago. And rumor has it that the prince of light, now leader of the heavenly races, still lives! And thus, I set out to find him.

As the flames rose before me, ready to burn me to a crisp, they parted, as if daring not the hurt me. And then I saw, between twin columns of flame, sat a small orb, no larger in diameter then the ring upon my finger. However, it glowed, and blazed forth a light as if from the heavens as I neared. So, with dream-like clarity, I reached forth, and took the orb of glowing light. Upon my touch, it blazed even brighter, and I was held immobile, as the golden orb of flame entwined with my aura. Then darkness greeted me, once again.

When I woke up, I found Aria standing over me with a worried gaze.

"What happened to me?"

"How am I supposed to know? I just found you lying here in the middle of the maze. At first you were burning hot, but after a while, you cooled down to normal temperature, and I've been waiting here since."

"What happened to your partner?"

"Oh, him?" she said with a roll of her eyes," he ran straight away after he saw a few of those goons coming for us. Also, I don't hear any other movement, so I assume the other four deserted us too."

"So we're the only two left?"

"Yep"

"Grrreat."

As Aria and I walked slowly through a hall identical to the one I started out in, except that in my original hall, fantastic images of a bird engulfed in flame decorated the walls. Here, the decorations involved a majestic bird of enormous size flying gracefully in the air. We then picked a random exit, and followed it, and then I voiced one of my foremost queries to Aria.

"Doesn't this place seem out of character for the Ksukara? I mean they are a relatively primitive race, and normally don't take to building palaces like this."

"This wasn't built by the Ksukara." was her cryptic answer.

"Then who the heck could build something like this? The whole structure; including all five sectors is at least a thousand feet in diameter, not to mention how tall it is. The Relian Royal Castle could fit itself in any of the five areas; and that took over three years to build!"

At this, Aria gave no reply, and we continued walking in silence.

After my inquiry about the palace, conversation, and all attempts at it were promptly cut off by Aria. I soon discovered why. But to me, the immediate problem was Aria. She seemed to withdraw into herself, and in doing so, changed her very demeanor. Before entering the castle, I used to know Aria as a fun-loving, amiable, and pretty, if slightly on the lanky side, type of girl. I knew her as this for over two years, and I'd never seen her so withdrawn; so surprising was this change, that I never even noticed the transformation of our surroundings. She seemed much to stressed to me for the first time since I met her two years ago. Her mouth tightened, from a ready smile, to being so pinched, that I truly believed, I would never see her smile again. All her muscles tensed, as if waiting to die, but worst of all was the change in her eyes. They seemed to have aged ten years in the span of mere hours, and all the life had left them. She seemed to staring off into the next dimension, and I was afraid for her. So afraid, that I never even noticed that the maze had ended, and we were emerging into a great hall, of all great halls; until her eyes opened wide, and the pupils contracted, looking death in the face.

I nearly blew up with vehemence. On the verge of my final and complete victory, these two children somehow get undetected from the tiny border town of Theropion all the way to the citadel of light without notice from any of my five elemental generals, or my hyper-sensitive gift of demons. My generals would be punished severely for this. I believe a sacrifice of five to the great Abyssion king would be in order. Now I must take care of this threat myself, and dirty my own hands on this filth.

This was not good. As Saeryion and I steadily plodded on towards the center of Lighteria Palace, I could feel the pulsing waves of black energy emitting from the center of what had once been the shining hope of our people. Now, twelve years later, I walked towards the very center of blackness upon this world. And if Saeryion proved to truly be the one that could save us all, then he must feel them too. But until his powers emerged in adulthood by Pyronion years, he would only be as powerful as the average mortal. And so, I must protect him, the hope of light. Thus I was caught, between revenge upon the killer of all I held holy, or protection of hope, our greatest ally.

Unfortunately, as I neared the opening, a great flash of light in the mental plane, nearly blinded me long enough for that vile creature, to destroy me. However, as his pinprick of a glinting ice energy spike flew towards me at unbelievable speeds, I was still recovering from the equivalent of a supernova exploding on the mental plane. So, I blindly gathered the tiny amount of energy allowed to me by my un-armored form, and brought together the energies of wind and air itself to form a shield of storm with the hardness of steel directly in front of me. I was pretty arrogant for a minute there, thinking that whatever attacks the Dark Master of Water could pull off, were no match for the ultimate shield I had constructed. My arrogance nearly killed me. Sure enough, the spear of ice snapped straight through my greatest defense, and knocked my body against the wall like a doll with a bone-cracking- sound. Luckily, the storm wall I formed was just enough to hinder the lance from killing me outright. However, if I could just manage an armor transformation, I could still get Saeryion and I out of here before the Dark One could kill our only hope. Then, as I gathered the final energies stored deep within the well of my soul, he suddenly started walking towards me. As he stood looking down upon me with those ferocious black eyes, both hands came up above me, and abruptly, I started moving upwards. Then as, I reached his chest level, with my body totally paralyzed by his iron grip, I suddenly felt a tug at my stomach, not in the physical plane by any means, but in the spirit plane, for he was beginning to remove my soul. Then, as the tugging grew more and more insistent, my soul finally broke free of the bounds it held to my body, and I felt a sensation of nothingness total and complete, as if depression weighed more heavily upon me, than the world weighed upon Atlas. This voiceless torture continued, with my soul struggling fruitlessly every which way, until a sudden and furious explosion of flame erupted where Saeryion once stood.

Pity she didn't die outright. It probably would have saved her a lot of pain. Now I was forced to extract her soul. I really didn't expect her reactions to be that fast either; conjuring a level two wall of storm for protection, and within the quarter of a second time frame before me ice spear hit her too. Hmmm, maybe I should consider that one more carefully. Oh well, time to finish her off before the fool draws enough power together to armor herself. However, a slight problem intervened. As I systematically withdrew her soul from the mortal body it was encased in, the mere mortal child who came with her suddenly erupted with more aura, potential, and Pyronion strength than I had ever found in any being. Finally, a descent challenge from those pathetic stragglers left over. And who knows, this one could even be the rumored prince of Pyron, who "supposedly" survived. But than again, his aura isn't that powerful. These thoughts ran through my head, as I flew through the air, and collided harmlessly into the wall, from nicely formed Inferno Rush attack performed by this unknown youth.

I stood dumbfounded by the door, as Aria somehow shielded herself from the supernatural attack, that couldn't be described by anything other than magical. At least that's what I thought as I stood there staring at the steadily glowing figure who had unleashed the attack from his bare hands. It looked somewhat like ice, but traveled much too fast to be anything of the sort. And the guy conjured it out of mid-air! None the less, when he started hurting Aria, consuming her very soul, something within me told me that the girl I had known, laughed with, almost loved, was losing the entity of herself; her being. This sent me into an unbearable anger, all consuming and destructive just at the sight of Aria limb body and blank eyes, and the look of glee upon that demon's face at the destruction of another being in a way worse than death. Then all the memories of the tube of flame, and the brilliant orb of power in the middle, came rushing back at me with such a vivid force, that it left me dazed for a moment.

While I was still digesting this new information, the fury of an ancient power arouse within me again, at the renewed and more common gasps of pain coming from Aria. But what mostly set me to fury was not all Aria, as I'm ashamed to admit. It was those unfeeling eyes of his, eyes that encompassed no feelings of remorse, sadness, or even happiness. Eyes that were as black as the Abyss, showed me the true being inside; they showed me his soul. A soul that was rotting away at the core, and desperately trying to break free of the iron grip from some misshapen thing, that clutched at his soul with an unrelenting grip of the devil. And the soul almost spoke to me; begging for its release, even if in death. And the man inside, was ignoring his soul, the very essence of himself, and turning towards the abyss, an unending hole of despair and pain; and willingly! That's what angered me the most, his uncaring attitude to himself and even as his heart withered away into blackness; his soul being drained, while he turned a blind eye to it all. This enraged me so much, the test of the orb was over, and all its powers now mine.

First, I watched, bathed and encompassed by a barrier of light, suspended in the middle, as the brilliant red orb, gently detached itself from the halo of my soul, where it would always have a place. Then, the small glowing ball (for it now it resembled nothing solid, but with more an ethereal component) split into five small glowing structures, and each one flew at my command to both my arms and legs. Then, the final and slightly larger orb flew back to my chest, but didn't enter, but rather flattened itself and spread around my chest as if it were armor able to flex and change at a moments thought, instead of the ethereal ball it was a moment before. Next, each of the other four orbs located at my hands and legs, extended a small glowing strand and connected itself to the main structure centered at my chest. This, as I felt a moment after, was the connection of the power of flame to my body and thus enhancing my body's durability, strength, speed, and all other attributes, as well as creating foot armor (with the ability of flight) and giving me the ability to draw off and control the powers of flame.

After this, the glowing barrier shattered and I was dropped back where I was, not a split second after I started the transformation. Then all my anger came flowing back and I just reacted upon my first response as a human being. I charged head long into the dark one, unaware that I had unconsciousness gathered the newly given powers of mine, and created a shield of aura in front of me. Thus I crashed into Him sideways, with the force of a battering ram, sending him flying well into the wall of the Great Hall. Then, as Aria fell because of his lack of concentration in her anymore, I picked her up gently and set here down near the way we had come in, but I was still aware that her soul was quietly suspended above her body. I would have had more time to worry, but then his next attack hit me from behind, sending so much piercing pain throughout my back that I was forced to cry out.

An Icicle attack not unlike the one he sent at Aria hit me full force in the back, dented my armor, and sent me colliding into the wall at the other end. (The icicle surely would killed outright it wasn't for the flame armor both taking part of the hit and blunting the icicle from mere heat generation.) Unfortunately, I wasn't as near as fast recovering as the Black one. Then he picked me up effortlessly with one arm, and stated quietly "I don't believe you know what you're up against kid. My name is Atlantis, and I'm the true ruler of this land."

Then with a speed akin to the lightning he controlled, 9 punches with his undeterred hand flew into my chest with amazing speed; then as if with an afterthought, he threw me side ways head first into the wall. To continue the beat down, he walked back over to me and tried to belittle me more by simply stepping on me. But this single act enraged me no end, and with a renewed burst of titanic strength, I grabbed his leg, flipped him sideways, then started bashing him into both walls continuously until a sudden blast of water burst in through the sky, and killed my aura by depleting it into almost nothing. (Water Fire) Then He took this small reprieve to dust himself off, and focus his energy. With his eyes now upon me, those horrible black holes of eyes, he watched me struggle to move, to get up, to fight him again. And every time I managed to raise my head a few inches above the ground, he would step casually upon me, and force my face and spittle into the cold hard ground over and over again with the force of a drill. And every time I could hear part of my bone cracking, the very essence of my physical being broken over and over again. Without my armor, I was nothing to him, just a mere mortal, struggling with the last of my strength to protect, the closest thing to love I had ever had. Of course I had never told Aria, and I never would, but every day my heart would flutter when those brilliant blue eyes fell on me, and every day I would be just as determined to hide it all behind my mask of friendship. But now, it was beyond that- this man, who knows what's he's going to do to her? Whatever it was, I couldn't let it happen with even my meager sense of honor. So I struggled on forever and ever, just to protect her, even through his harsh biting laughter, and teasing blasts of pain- I struggled on.

Then when with one more kick, my bone cage would collapse, and death would finally open its arms to me, a brilliant blue streak moving as if with the air, and not against it swooped in, and carried me away- or at least it tried to. As I neared the exit with this amazing maiden of air, He jumped in front of it blocking the exit. Then we flew to each exit in turn trying to get out, but His speed went unmatched. He blocked us at every turn, at every attempt to escape, he somehow got there first. And with that insane laughing exploding from his mouth with random taunts, insults, I could have lost my mind. Then he seemed to become bored of this game we fought for our life, and simply punched the maiden carrying me. As if she cared for me more than herself, she cushioned herself from the collusion, than laid me down with the utmost care before facing him again. But as she cautiously put me down, I got my first good look at her face. I swear, at that moment I would have done anything for the wearer of that face. The brief view I had was enough to tell me this girl was an angel. She had perfectly oval face (not too wide not too thin) and small pointed chin to show her stubborn nature. Her ears and nose were delicately formed, but one could tell this wasn't one to be messed around with. Her nose was small, with a slight tip, and fine aristocratic bridge. But her hair and eyes were the things to marvel at. Her hair was a brilliant blue, and when she moved, her hair glittered and changed from aqua to turquoise to deep blue, and innumerable shades. Her eyes were like wells of water- with a depth unimaginable, but they showed her emotions. Blazing blue angered, calm aqua when relaxed, sky blue when thinking, turquoise at the slightest jest, the possibilities are endless. This one was truly an angel- she even had wings! Brilliant white, this is what an angel was supposed to be like. Then the dark one attacked again.

"Interesting, a human descended from the angels, here. Your kind are extinct, if I were you I'd start running for my life!" with this, a laugh burst forth from his mouth and echoed dully off the walls of the chamber. "The angelic races are gone. Pyrones, Aerons, Hydros, Terrans, Angels, all gone! It looks like you and your friend over there may be the last survivors of a pitiful race. Guess I'll have to change that." He hissed more than said with a sneer appearing on a face ravaged with maniacal insanity.

Then he launched himself forward drawing his hands in a large circle around from the front first, then to the back releasing 13 crystals of ice in a sphere.

"Die girl!" He hissed in a fury as the 13 icicles moved so fast they disappeared. Circling around the girl, she braced herself as they whizzed toward her at ferocious speeds.

At the last moment, with her arms over her chest, she became ghost-like, and the 13 icicles collided into each other shattering into a thousand razor sharp pieces. After the smoke cleared, she smiled smugly and said "Oh, come on Atlantis, you of all people should know of the Ethereal skill."

"How did you manage that girl? Only Aerone Angelics have that ability!" he hissed in fury.

Smiling very smugly indeed, she said "And what else would I be?"

"Impossible, Aerone Angelics are extinct like all the other races of light!" As if releasing his anger would make her vanish, endless waves of icicles barraged the angel. But when the smoke cleared, she stood there without a hair awry, and seemingly oblivious to the waste of ice around her.

"Looks like someone has thrown a tantrum. You've already seen a Pyrone," pointing to me, "and an Aerone, so what makes you think the other races don't exist?"

"They don't girl, I've see it with my own eyes! The last of the light races died before me on Ethere more then millennia ago!"

"As long as an heir to the True Blood Throne still lives, the Angels fight on. So it has been for a millennia, the dim and wavering light fights on!"

"The True Blood lives on no more!" snarled Atlantis, "All of the Archangels and their descendents died in that first blow! They were in the heart of that blast that shook Heaven and Hell, a blast that crippled forever the might of light!"

With this statement, both of his hands clasped in twisting gesture above his head, and a phantom wind let out ferocious howl. In seconds, a twisting, spinning mass of ice rose above him like a striking snake. First Atlantis disappeared among the coils, then in another few seconds all visibility was lost, and naught could be heard but the howling of the wind, and I tried to protect myself as the previously grand and unwavering Great Hall, shook in its foundations.

"Try this Angel."

The wind howled like a living thing, and the temperature dropped like a rock. On moment, it was a warm day, 60 degrees at least, then in seconds the temperature plunged to 20 below. Dressed in loose shorts and a sleeveless shirt, my extremities quickly became numb, and I desperately crawled towards the entrance. While I was promptly ignored, flashes of light danced all around me as Atlantis and the Angel dueled. With each clash of ice on wind, sparks flew, and flashes lighted the area. But Atlantis was loosing strength. With my Inferno Rush, all of the waves of ice, and his summoning of his demonic form, his energy was exhausted. Instead of fighting back and forth as each attacked at defended, Atlantis no longer had the strength to attack. Defending and retreating more and more, it was obvious the Angel was going to win.

However, one thing the two of us didn't realize was that desperation...

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