All righty, here's the next chapter of my awesome story! (Even though peepz have yet to review my last chapter, this one's been put up because I didn't do one last week, so this one is filling the spot for this week's chapter, in case any of you needed explaining.) Similarly, we get some explanations in this chapter~! Yayz! Some stuff will be explained (from the previous chapter) Wooo! Anyways, read on, and enjoy my latest plotbunny!

Summary: Kurt is a Fallen, an indescribably beautiful race of demon–angels. Kitty is a fledgling priestess with a hidden power. Kitty knows that Kurt isn't her enemy, but can she prove it?

Fallen Angel

16. Explanations

Kitty was floating in darkness. What had happened to the strange realm? The multi-colored lights? Kurt and Sparks? She remembered, dimly, Fervior's Spirit arrow hitting her, and she being sent into blackness… She looked around slowly. Where was she now, though?

This is your mind, Kitty.

The odd, rumbling, yet somehow familiar voice caught Kitty off guard. "Who's there?" she called, trying desperately to peer through the inky darkness that showed no sign of ending.

Then a small flame lit up a little ways away from her, growing in size until she could see the shape of the fiery dragon she had seen before in the other realm.

Sparks.

But what was she doing in Kitty's head?

As if in answer to Kitty's thought, the dragon stated, The dragonfire within you has brought me here.

"You're really Sparks?" Kitty questioned before she could stop herself.

The dragon nodded its head. Yes. I am sorry for deceiving you. I am the Guardian of the Shrine of Stars.

"Wait…so the girl you were before…that wasn't really you?"

The dragon shifted back into the form of Sparks, asking, "You mean me looking like this?"

"Yeah."

There was a slight ripple in the darkness and the dragon had reappeared. You must have your explanations, hmm? Very well. We have time, for the moment. Sit, and listen well. This is a story that happened well before your time.

Kitty sat obediently and cleared her ears, waiting attentively.

The dragon cleared its throat and began. This was long ago. You may remember that in the Tribe of the Moon, I have a mother. The dragon paused. She is my mother, truthfully, for I was born a part-fairy, part-Fallen. But that was eons ago. The Shrine of Stars was then recently built to protect the First Fallen's gateway, and it required a Guardian. I was as young as you saw me when you met me in Treehaven—your age. I could tap into the element of the dragonfire even then, and I had always assumed it was the dragon's fire that gave me my red hair.

Around that time the leaders of the Tribe of the Moon began looking for a suitable candidate for the Guardian; I went up to the Shrine of Stars and sat outside the portal's binding-circle. And it was then that the heart of the dragonfire appeared to me, and I have kept it ever since. When I returned with the tiny star shining on my palm, the leaders knew that I was the one. Becoming the Guardian meant becoming something else. You would leave your old life behind; though I retained my ability to turn into my old form, which would serve me well in the years to come; and be ever-vigilant over the circle, to never let the gateway be opened if there was still a chance that it could be done without. The heart of the dragonfire guided me to my new form, and I became a dragon, fittingly. Although it was thought that I would take on a new name for my new form, I chose to keep my old one, as it satisfied my new form as well.

The dragon stopped and glanced at Kitty, who looked as though she really wanted to ask a question.

Yes, Kitty? the dragon rumbled, looking faintly amused and exasperated.

"Why did you come to Treehaven? And how did you become blind if you weren't born that way?" Kitty looked on the verge of another question, but a glance from the dragon-Sparks silenced her.

I came to Treehaven because… The dragon sighed. There is another story I must tell you. I, still Guardian, learned of Fervior's rising. He was originally sent to the Shrine of Stars in order to see if he could be contained. I learned then that his soul had been shattered by a Spirit arrow, Karma's in fact, and deliberately; and that darkness had mended it. Fervior's soul, still broken, was held together by threads of darkness. I know not where he got them; I know you have heard the Treehaven version of his story, no doubt from someone who knows it better than I, and the memory you saw was real.

After Karma shot Fervior with her arrow, his soul splintered, this was the point where he seemed to go mad. He was thrown out of Treehaven, eventually coming to the Shrine of Stars. I know he went to the swamps later on, and attempted to exact revenge on Karma for destroying him, through attacking Treehaven. But Karma tried to free his soul from the darkness instead, but only managed to snap a few of the chords of darkness. This was what allowed him to be caught by the Fallen of Treehaven, at least only for the time of one day. He escaped to the Forest later through use of shadow-walking taught to him by the darkness in his thoughts, and many thought that was the last of him.

But Fervior's darkness was only growing. What was left of his good soul was either buried in his subconscious, or locked at the back of his mind. The darkness had won control of Fervior's body, and somehow it persuaded him to wish to open the gateway, for a reason which I am not quite certain of, and which eventually led to us coming here, to stop him.

As to my being at Treehaven, and being blind… The dragon-Sparks sighed, Kitty waited, wondering distantly if this was some sort of record in the making, either for the long amount of Sparks's talking, or for Kitty herself being silent.

I left the Shrine of Stars because I had failed to prevent Fervior from attacking Treehaven. When he came, I could have intervened. But I sat in the shadows, and waited. And so the Shrine, a complex layer of enchantments allowing the barrier to choose whether to keep people in or out, chose to throw me out. I reverted to my old form outside the barrier, as my dragon form was born of my status as Guardian, and if I was no longer within the shrine I could not claim to be so. I was surprised to find myself with no sight. But I told myself this was my punishment, and set myself on a course for Treehaven, as one of the largest Fallen villages, and the one I knew Karma to be from. I hoped to find an all-elements user who could stop Fervior. But there were none at the village. None had existed since Karma.

And then, I learned of you, Kitty.

"Me?"

Yes. You were an intriguing human who was interested in the Fallen. And once I heard your voice, even though it was a bit different, I knew you were Karma's reincarnation. As such, you should have access to all of her elements. Including Spirit.

"Wait." Kitty frowned. "If I'm supposed to have Spirit, then how come I never knew it existed? And how come Fervior has it? I thought his gift is only metal?"

Not exactly, the dragon corrected. Fervior's more obvious gift was metal, yes, but buried beneath that was a hidden gift: Spirit. It was a practically unknown element, and I believe only two Fallen have ever carried this element, and only one still lives. Fervior and Karma could both use Spirit, and because of that, they bonded, in a way. You remember the memory the Spirit arrow showed you?

Kitty nodded; unbidden, Karma's tear-streaked face rose into her mind's eye. Why had she been so sad? And Fervior had seemed to know all about it, and even accept it. Maybe because Karma was the one dealing out the punishment? Kitty stopped her trail of thoughts as Sparks spoke again.

Karma felt that Fervior was becoming too reckless; learning how to use his gift was one thing, but using it on humans was another. I think he was being influenced by the darkness in his heart, even then. Karma could see things that others could not; for that she was wise. She could see that something in Fervior was turning, and she hoped to stop it. She thought that because he, too, was a user of Spirit, it would not hurt him as badly as it would others—for Spirit arrows are devastating to your mind. And Fervior, because he knew she was right, and because he knew, too, that he was becoming something terrible, accepted her punishment. But neither of them expected for his soul to shatter. And that gave way for the darkness to fully manifest.

The dragon trailed off, realizing she had covered everything Kitty had asked about. Anything else you wish to know?

Kitty shook her head slowly. "I think I know everything now… Wait, how could Fervior turn the tooth back into its original form?"

Its magic was linked to the element Spirit. He would be the only one able to generate the Spirit arrows it creates. It never worked for you because you never knew the element existed, and its presence was overshadowed by the other elements. And Spirit may not even come for you, as its nature has been so suppressed by your other elements.

Kitty took a deep breath. "That's…a lot to take in."

Indeed. Come, the world awaits you, reincarnation of Karma, all-elements user, human-turned-Fallen—Kitty.

The dragon blew a breath of flame, and it lit up the darkness. Kitty felt the darkness slipping away, and the dragon faded from her view seconds before everything went blinding white.

Well, wasn't that interesting? (That seemed like a lot more words on my Word document) So what did yah think? You know you want to review! *points to the button* Dooooo itttt!

~ Shadey