Disclaimer: I do not own Slayers or Storm Hawks.

Tale of the Ages

It was a long, long time ago, during the war between the Gods and the Dark Lords. Plague Bearer Death Fog, the Dark Lord of the Sky World, tortured the living beings of his domain with his terrible power. Creating deadly storms that would last for centuries and spreading agonizing illnesses throughout the land, he was sure to destroy the world and return it back to Chaos. However, his adversary, Whitewind Dragon Malpheed, was determined to stop him and saved the last pure land in her world.

The two fought each other, reshaping half of the world into a desolate wasteland, with only high peaks that reached beyond the clouds. Both of their powers rivaled each other, one with the brilliance of the dawn and the other with darkness beyond the dusk, but they both knew one would make it out alive. The battle had lasted millennia, but with the last of her strength, Malpheed finally sealed Death Fog in a deadly crystal. But in return, the God had lost most of her strength to continue on. She had asked both her dragon children and the Guardians to protect this world. They had agreed, letting her leave this world peacefully and her body becoming the Great Barrier that protected the land that remained untouched by evil.

Afterwards, Mazoku and High Dragons fought each other for the fate of the world. Sometimes their battles would involve helpless humans who could not defend against their power. The dragons were sorry for the damage they had caused to humanity, but the destruction was far too great for the humans to consider it a true confession. The fighting continued for at least a centaury until a human stumbled upon a secret for defeating the Mazoku that plagued his world.

His name was Belial Cyclonis.

Through the cultivation of crystals and crystal manipulation, Cyclonis create an army to defend against the attacking Mazoku. The dark demons were no match for the powerful stones that the human army had used against them and soon found themselves in the same position as their master. The humans took the Mazoku-created crystals and used them against the now retreating Mazoku and soon the High Dragons, who had done nothing to help the human's suffering long ago. Once both races were thought to be extinct, Belial was then made ruler of the sky world.

In retaliation to his rule, many worshippers of both the Gods and Mazoku and even the Guardians of the Sky World had confronted Cyclonis, saying that he had now disturbed the balance of the world. Belial was angered by their accusations. He was the one who had saved his race from death of both Mazoku and High Dragons and now, he was considered to be the one who had wronged? His final step to make his rule absolute was his order of the destruction of both these worshippers and the Guardians. Many fled for their lives, hiding in secret from Belial's wrath. It was in this hour that no one could stop his tyrannical reign.

Many years had passed and still, the Cyclonian Empire ruled what was now called a part of Atmos. However, they were soon stunned by the rise of a new heroic breed. The sky knights, who had believed that the Cyclonis family had reign over their world in an oppressive system, stood up against the empire in hopes of freedom. A half of a century passed and many had fallen during that period. Where would the future lead now? Maybe our little group would give us hindsight...

"… That's it?"

"That's it."

"… I… Didn't quite get that." Lina, Amelia, and Zelgadis turned to Gourry, not surprise by their friend's reaction. The group had been sitting in the inn they were staying when a mysterious story teller had offered them a tale in exchange for proper charity.

Lina sighed, knowing that she was going to explain in a short, understanding version. "After the God and Dark Lord popped off, both sides went overboard with the fighting, leading to humans overpowering them with deadly rocks. That led to the humans to overpower other humans, which led to a revolution in which the two factions are still fighting to this day…" The sorceress sighed after telling the whole thing in footnotes. "Though… I'm kinda disappointed in the ending. He just left it off on a cliffhanger."

"I agreed," Zelgadis spoke up from his place, "It sounds like an unfinished prequel…"

Amelia looked up with a worried look on her face. "It sure is, but I didn't like the retaliation against the Mazoku and High Dragons…" She then looked down at the floorboards. "Even though Mazoku are supposedly bad, I think they shouldn't hunted down to extinction, especially if there was going to be a greater evil afterwards…"

"Hey, hey, Amelia, that was just a story. I doubt someone would just defeat a bunch of Mazoku using a bunch of dumb rocks anyway. It's even impossible now to just defeat a Dark Lord, even with the strongest spells," Lina comforted Amelia, before standing up and shouting, "So, let's forget about that! Where's my dinner?"

"Yea, I'm starving!" shouted Gourry as well, as the waiters quickly ran over to their table with their feast. Both Lina and Gourry soon started to devour everything they had ordered plus some. Everyone, including Amelia and Zelgadis watched with sweatdrops forming on top of their heads. The story teller also watched, only chuckling to himself.

"These are certainly interesting people…" he said to himself, before standing up and walking away, not being notice by others. "Lively characters like these are truly rare in any world, especially Atmos. I wonder what kind of future it would have if both they and the Storm Hawks fought alongside each other." And then once out of the inn, he disappeared into the night.

Author's Notes:

Yea, this one is more Slayers-involved, more or less. I was kinda creating an origin story of Atmos in relation to the Slayers universe in terms of their God, Dark Lord, history before the actual show time, etc. I possibly did a pretty good job… Though you guys might call shenanigans on the crystals defeating the Dark Lords, but remember when humans could do Holy Magic? Yea, it's just like that.

So why did I choose these things for an origin story? Well, I felt Death Fog was definitely the Dark Lord of Atmos, being that the Storm Hawks' story takes place in the air. Malpheed is following the names of the other Gods, plus her title came from a spell in the Final Fantasy Series (Yea… I should have come up with a better name). For Belial Cyclonis, his first name came from a fallen evil angel that somewhat describes his fall into darkness.

Also, the Story-teller guy is not Arygyn or any other Guardian. He is an original character that I made for the Storm Hawks/Slayers universe as a Demon General of Atmos. His hobbies are writing, telling, and reading stories, mostly macabre, gothic, horror, and especially tragedy. If you want, you can imagine him being like the Count of Monte Crisco from the same anime, only much darker and crueler… Or not.

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, especially the ones I didn't mention. Thank you, Hawk-Masters, Fluffyfuzzball, blueyblonde, and Kitten2007. Have some treats on the house! I hope you guys review in the future!

So, Please Read and Review!