Beckman, leaned back in his office chair with a sigh; ever since arriving home he had immediately began typing down notes for an extensive additional budget review. The reputable professor had been typing and jotting down notes as if he were a man possessed, until at last, he noticed that the sky was turning dark and with that, decided to prepare a quick bite to eat.

As the doctor left his study to enter the kitchen and reached for the fridge, he could not help but be awed at the revelation that Tsukune had given him after his presentation; the very fact that a being of his life's investment in pursuing was somehow still alive.

Apollo existed.

"I wonder if i'll ever get the chance to meet him." Dr. Beckman muttered to himself as he resigned himself to making a light salad. "To think...how much knowledge he could bestow... I'll have to try and appeal to that Vampire..."

"That will not be necessary." A broad, deep voice responded, causing the doctor to turn in horror; the ingrediants of what would have been his meal, spilled across the kitchen. Leaning with his back against the door frame, was the robe clad figure that was Apollo. Beckman's breath was frantic as the deep stare of the Harbinger's guised blue eyes, stared deeply into his own.

"I do believe there is an saying amongst humans: Talk of the devil, and he is presently at your elbow." Apollo spoke again, somewhat amused at the good doctor's skeptical reaction; the doors of his home were locked and he had not noticed any sign of forced entry.

"This is just too conveniant; if you're THE Apollo...show me." Beckman bravely retorted in spite of the fear causing his legs to weaken. Apollo's glance lightened somewhat as he nodded.

"Do not be afraid, human; I am not here to cause you harm and I say this for what you are about to witness is often more then what many a man's mind permits in this day and age to accept." Apollo kindly replied before standing firmly. The doctor's eyes widened in a mix of awe and horror as the figure before him shifted into a taller, more toned, stone-chisled form. Beckman's focus however was toward the horns upon the figure's head, the one irisless amber eye conflicting against the slit blood red eye, the razor sharp claws on each of his fingers, the powerful tail which swayed from his posterior and on the magnificent span of his black feathered wings.

"...You're a...you're the..." Beckman stuttered as his legs finally gave way and the good doctor was forced to slide against the fridge as he landed on his rear.

"Yes, Dr. Beckman; I AM Apollo..." The Harbinger responded with as gentle a voice as his humanoid state would permit, though it was still enough to force the human before him to flinch. Apollo gazed at him as if to say he had seen enough and returned to his human state.

"So. I would believe you have many a question; you surely seemed to have that in mind at the presentation." Apollo stated amusingly.

"...Apollo...the Annunaki..." Beckman began as he tried to find his voice, then flinched as Apollo offered his hand.

"Time truly distorts fact, permitting the game of Chinese Whispers to play on and alter the nature of how those descending percieve the past. No, Doctor; I am not an Annunaki, I am, as the closest word in modern English would define; a Harbinger." Apollo replied in a collected manner as he knelt down to Beckman's level.

"But...but the tablets state..."

"I am afraid you have been the victim of a clever hoax." Apollo explained as the nervous human eventually began to regain his nerve. "Or rather, you have gathered nothing short of propaganda; left behind by the remnants of a generation who sort to hide their former shame."

"I...don't follow you... The carbon dating of the tablets was set at fourteen thousand, two hundred and thirty one years of age!" Beckman tried to retort in denial. It was clearly something that Apollo realised that the good doctor did not want to have to face. The Harbinger could not help but have some sympathy for the man.

"Fourteen Thousand years ago; I was not known to the world." Apollo stated grimly as he recalled all the millenia he had spent in self-exile. "While the carbon dating of those tablets is accurate as to the stone itself; the text itself is much younger. My reign did not begin until just under Ten Thousand years ago and I made as little encounter with man as possible."

"...Just how old are you? And how are you still alive?" Beckman whispered then shook his head apologetically for his abrupt, unintented rudeness.

"Twenty Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty-Five, from when I last counted...perhaps older?" Apollo answered thoughtfully before shurgging his shoulders "I have long since forgotten. Time before my re-emergence was somewhat insubstantial and as such, it matters not. As for how I still live; that is complicated."

"And you say these tablets and the word's they depict; they're nothing but properganda? Why would anyone go to such lengths?" Beckman asked; his fear now replaced with a professor's curiosity.

"The 'True Ones' that are mentioned; they are indeed Vampires and it was among this race that most likely created these fabricated accounts." Apollo replied directly. "Better to live with some distortion of truth then to live in the shame of the absolute."

"What truth?" Beckman asked earnestly before grabbing a pen and paper from the nearby table. Apollo took some time to think of how to explain; there was much to detail and it would perhaps take the rest of the human's lifetime to comprehend it all, if ever.

"...Yes, humanity and Ayashi once upon a time, lived amongst each other; but it was not as peaceful as you have been lead to believe. You Humans bolster an incredible talent of survival and an insurmountable skill when it comes to adapting to your surroundings; you are capable of defying nature's law by flying in craft, you are able to treat wounds and illnesses that would otherwise end your life and you are capable of fantasy of such grandeur that many delve into novels and as such, become Gods in their own little worlds." Apollo explained in length before breathing deeply.

"However, with these exceptional gifts and the unfortunate circumstances of you being prey to many a predator; your kind adapted to combat and as such discovered the art of war. With the discovery of that art, desire elevated to greed and violence for the sake of violence followed after."

Beckman stopped writing notes as Apollo elaborated, almost as if in riddles. The Harbinger noticed and coughed in apology before looking down as he recalled the memories.

"For a while back before my return to the world, man and Ayashi co-existed in an unparalled alliance; Man for the talent of development and Ayashi for the power to make what would be, by yourselves impossible; even by today's standards. However, mankind's accelerated progression lead to arrogance and believing yourselves invincible, rebelled against those who had worked alongside you and sort to wipe out Ayashi of all kinds with extreme prejudice. This was, the start of the First Man-Ayashi War."

Beckman could not believe what he was hearing; Man had been the ones to instigate a war of unparamounted destruction against not just another country, but of an entire way of life.

"...Apollo...may I call you that? Forgive me if i seem skeptical, but surely it did not just turn out like you say." The Doctor suggested hopefully, the response merely doused his hopes.

"Good Doctor, I remember a time when humanity was pure and hopeful; peaceful and co-operative." Apollo responded saddened. "...And without my race to guard you against the circumstances that lead you to this 'evolution' if you will, you were left with no option but to walk the path you walk; even now."

"Your race, guarded us?" Beckman asked curiously and recieved a nod.

"Yes. My race; the Harbinger's one true goal was to protect man from having to resort to such measures so that you would just survive. The Vampires of old, believed you to be nothing more then a herd of cattle; existing to sate them and to serve them; we believed differently. We saw your potential and we knew that a true golden age could arise if only you could be allowed to do so" Apollo's face gave off the grief he was fighting to contain.

"When my kind were wiped out... man was left utterly defenseless; easy prey for the Ancient Vampires; you survived because you adapted, hardened but as such; became as blood thirsty as they. For thousands of years, we had fought the Vampires of old; we fought, we died, we killed for the sake of your innocence and the grand goal...only for it to be lost after just mere decades of our absence."

Beckman's mind reeled with the facts that the ancient being was portraying to him. The Doctor was still skeptical of some factors, but he could not deny that Apollo was speaking nothing short of the truth.

"...What wiped out your kind?" Beckman almost regretted asking the question as the Harbinger breathed out heavily and strained hard to retain the agonising pain within his mind and in his heard.

"We wiped ourselves out." Apollo eventually muttered painfully. Beckman decided to change the subject; while his mind reeled for more elaboration he could clearly tell that such memories caused Apollo pain, though he could tell that there was so much that the Harbinger was just not saying.

"Apollo, A Vampire by the name of Tsukune said that you did actually try to bring about a co-existance with both sides. Was he telling the truth?" Beckman offered sincerely.

"I did. Five centuries ago; based on the faiths that were most popular that I gulliably believed, practiced peace. The witchhunts, superstition, crusades: behold the result." Apollo responded, still pained. "And now the same drama is unfolding once again, I fear. Though man has not responded in arrogant supremecy at the moment, I simply believe it will be only a matter of time. However I can only hope that fate does not inevitably repeat itself."

"You mean with the Vampire i spoke to; I believe he and another by the name of Akasha overthrew you fifteen years ago?"

"Overthrow is perhaps an ironic term. There is a difference between submission and defeat; I may be willing to do what is right; regardless of the consequences it may have for me, but I simply cannot find it within myself to harm anymore of my family then I already have." Apollo responded defeatedly; Beckman's jaw dropping.

"Tsukune and Akasha are your family?!" The Doctor couldnt believe his ears at the revelation.

"Yes. Akasha was a young girl I adopted shy of a thousand years ago. Young Aono...well he was converted; rather profaned by my Granddaughter, through Akasha into a Vampire. His blood is my blood and as such, he is kin; regardless of how we see things in a different light." Apollo stood up and breathed in.

"But I believe that is enough, for today, I shall now take my leave." Apollo declared with finality before walking out of the kitchen; Beckman quickly walking to catch up with him.

"Please, there must be more you can tell! If you only give me the time, I can perhaps help?" Beckman offered desperately. "For the sake of my research and the potential for co-existence..."

"If you wish to help, good Doctor...tell young Aono nothing of my presence here." Apollo replied sincerely. "And also, be aware that co-existance is still a long ways off. I merely hope I am wrong and that the world is truly ready for what the boy intends." Apollo reached into his pocket and pulled out the Philosopher's Stone before giving a small smile. "It was truly a pleasure conversing with you. In spite of the pain of some memories, it was truly a pleasure speaking with you, good Doctor; perhaps soon we can meet up and converse, rather then me arrive unannounced?" With that last statement, the Doctor was forced to look away from the immense flash of light that sudddenly eminated from the stone. When he was finally able to look again, the Harbinger was gone.

"...I just hope i can remember all that!" Beckman exclaimed as he rushed back to his study; his mind reeling with new facts, from his unofficial interview with the Harbinger.