Update time! I hope that everyone is enjoying the story so far. Just to let everyone also know, there is another picture up on my profile page. This one was done by the very talented Raspedra Twilight. It's a picture of Sutra, let her know what you think. Check it out. Anyway, here's the next chapter for everyone.

Chapter 9: Angels

Sutra was excited to find out that she could count on Storm and her group to collect the crystal shards, seeing how they could easily follow the Summons Spirits. All she really had to do was pick a good time to come in and take them from the group. Of course, she knew that she had the perfect bait to bring the shards right to her. She looked over at Anna who was still trying to take in everything that she saw around her. Sutra believed that she had gained the girl's trust and it would be easy to get her to take the shards and to capture her mother with her in possession. All she had to do was keep up her little act for a while longer. Who knew, maybe Anna could eventually become a good apprentice someday, abandoning her parents and friends all together.

Sutra was ready to take the next step in her plan and she decided that she needed to find the Cruxis Crystals that she could use herself. Sutra wasn't really sure if she really wanted to live forever but she could always come up with some way to return to normal if she changed her mind about it. She didn't mind the fact that her body would stay the same, it would help her in battle years down the road. Sutra turned to a nearby angel and called it over.

"Take is to the Cruxis Crystals, we're ready for our transformation," Sutra commanded him. The angel simply nodded as he led the two of them through the endless hallways in Welgaia. The angels all stopped and stared as the two made their way to the vault where Storm and Kratos had stored away the last few Cruxis Crystals for safe-keeping. They definitely didn't know that someday and evil woman would be led straight to the vault along with Anna.

Anna was beginning to get more and more nervous with every step towards the large vault. The angel opened the lock and opened the huge door to the crystals. The door itself was about twelve foot tall and Anna wondered how large the crystals inside must be, or how many there were. Anna's knees began to shake as she thought of what the consequences of what she was doing could be. What if there really were no crystals and this was all a trick Sutra had come up with to kill her. Anna realized that she was stuck, if she didn't go with the transformation Sutra would probably kill her, if she did who knew what would happen. Would she really get angel wings like her mother? She had never seen any sort of crystal on her. Anna took a step into the vault and realized that inside of the enormous storage room, there were only about five crystals and the rest was empty space. The crystals were sitting up on a pedestal and Sutra walked over to the crystals and grabbed one and looked at it and a smile spread over her face.

"With this we will be unstoppable," Sutra laughed as she threw a crystal over to Anna who could only stare at the gem. "Go ahead and put it on," Sutra urged her as she placed her own crystal on her neck.

Anna watched as Sutra began to glow as the crystal's power began to take effect. Suddenly, a pair of cold, black wings appeared out of her back. The wings were lined with a crimson color and sparkled crimson as Sutra flapped her wings a few times to get the feel of them. "So much power," Sutra muttered as she turned around and looked at Anna who was still string dumbfounded at Sutra, unable to say anything.

"Well, go ahead and put on the crystal already," Sutra said impatiently, her voice beginning to grow in anger.

Anna slowly put the crystal to her neck and felt it attach to her skin. There was no going back now. She felt a surge of power rush through her body. It was the same tingling feeling as when your foot falls asleep except it was flowing into every crevice of her body. It was an amazing feeling as she realized that she could hear much farther. Suddenly, two wings popped out of her own back as she looked backwards and saw the two crimson colored wings flap behind her. Anna loved the feeling that she had and she wanted more of it.

"Well?" Sutra asked her, noticing the different looks that Anna had appearing over her face.

"I love this feeling, I want more," Anna said as she smiled at the feeling that was inside of her.

"We'll get more, but we need to collect the crystal shards first," Sutra replied. She didn't expect to get that kind of reaction from Anna, but she was excited that Anna had the potential to become power hungry. If she wanted more power it would make it easier for Sutra to get exactly what she wanted. Anna could become a fellow villain instead of just bait. She could do all the work for her, but she needed to work a little more on her...and Storm.

"I will go to Triet and meet up with your parents, they know where the shards are. I don't want them to see you just yet, you need to learn how to control those powers first. I'll tell you when the time is right for you to return to Symphonia. While I'm gone get more acquainted with Derris-Kharlan," Sutra told her. Anna nodded at her and attempted to fly around Derris-Kharlan but was not so skilled at flying completely straight.

Sutra flew over to the teleporter that would lead her back to the Renegade base. She needed to have a little talk with Storm.

She was in some sort of glass cell as she slowly opened her eyes. She could tell that she was in Derris-Kharlan, but she couldn't tell where. The lights were very bright around her and her head was pounding. She didn't have much energy but was barely able to move. The glass covering opened and someone walked over to where she was laying. She looked up and tried to focus on who was looking at her. She felt a hand touch her cheek and ran down to her chin. The hand was very gentle at first but when it got to her chin it grabbed her and forced her to look at the person in the face.

Her eyes slowly focused on the person in front of her and she realized that it was none other than Mithos Yggdrasil hovering over her weak body. Storm immediately began to panic at the sight of her old teacher. She knew that he was probably very upset at what she had done and he was ready to teach her her lesson.

"Ah Storm," his voice said softly, "It's been quite awhile and I still remember what you have coming to you," he finished.

Storm watched as his hand flew up above her head and began to make its way towards her face...

Storm bolted up and was breathing heavily as she looked around her only to find that she was sleeping in a field somewhere between Triet and Iselia. She looked next to her and saw Zelos slowly begin to stir as he realized that she was up.

"What's the matter Storm?" he asked her as she tried his best to calm her in her panicky state.

"It was a nightmare," Storm told him.

"I thought that we got through this years ago. Are they about Yggdrassil again?" Zelos asked.

"Yeah, but now they're different. It's nothing from my past, he's coming back. I just know it and he's out for revenge, on all of us I'm sure," Storm told him as he reached over and brought her head towards his chest. He began to rub her back, hoping to relax her a bit.

"We'll all do everything we can to keep him from coming back. I promise that I'll fight him before he can ever touch you. He'll have to go through me first," Zelos told her.

"Thanks Zelos," Storm said quietly.

"Feel better?" he asked as she nodded softly at him. "Well, then let's go back to sleep," Zelso offered, but Storm stood up instead.

"I think I'm going to go and take a short walk to think a little. I can't really get back to sleep after that," Storm told him.

"Okay, but promise you'll get some sleep. Please be careful out there," he told her.

"I will," Storm promised him.

Storm walked away from the campsite and soon got the strange feeling that someone was following her. She spun around quickly to see Sutra fly swiftly down from a tree with her black and crimson wings. Storm was amazed at her appearance. She revealed her own blue wings and prepared to attack the new angel, realizing that Sutra was already one step ahead of them with her new wings and angelic powers.

Well, that's the end of this chapter. I hope that you're enjoying this. I realized how long this story should be. I'm really just getting started. Don't forget that this is just the first story in this Dark Age series so there's a lot of stuff coming yet. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed, please review and don't forget to check out the new picture with the link on my profile page and also check out the Storm forum if you get bored. Thanks for reading!