The beginning of the battle played out much like it had in the past. At first, Chirabanui was clearly anxious and afraid. He attacked quickly and often missed. Not only was his accuracy

suffering from his anxiety, but his attacks were easy to predict. His anxiety also made it easier for Andrentureasu to hit him. It soon became clear that she had the upper hand.

However, Chirabanui's anxiety was fading. As he became more focused on the battle, Andrentureasu lost the upper hand.

Eventually, both of them were getting tired. They both had to stop for a moment to rest.

Andrentureasu said, "We're the most powerful beings in existence. Both of us know that. If that's the case, then what were you so afraid of?"

Chirabanui said, "We are, I think, the most powerful beings in this part of existence, but we are not the most powerful beings in ALL of existence. Not by a long shot. Although both

of us were once fairly high up."

"Did we know each other before our first battle?"

"We did. Do you remember that sooty owl you fought in your first incarnation?"

"I…I do! I was an albino Barn Owl, wasn't I?"

"Yes, you were. But it wasn't the first time we met. What is your very first memory?"

"I remember hatching, and being in the egg."

"Do you remember ANYTHING before that?"

"How could I? It was my first-wait a second. Did I exist before that?"

"Yes, you did. I was just trying to see if there was something she had missed."

"Who? Chirabanui, what happened before I was born as an owl?"

"It's a long story, but I'll tell it to you anyway."

Insert story breaker here

Andrentureasu sat in a beautiful field of flowers. A sun shone down from the sky, illuminating everything and making it warm. Literally everything had a divine glow. Andrentureasu

was one of a race know as angels, all of whom lived under the care of a being of pure light, known as Celestia. She always made sure that the angels all stayed safe.

The angles had long, blond hair, white robes, and had large wings that were like a bird's. All of them, male and female, had immense beauty. They all looked like humans, but were

part energy. They also could reproduce much like humans. They did so often. Due to the frequency of births, there were always lots of children running around, playing games.

Andrentureasu, however, didn't have any children. She had never gotten around to it.

Celestia gave the angels everything they could possibly want. They lived in immense luxury. They all lived in an immense palace, each of them having their own room. The palace had

an even larger garden, where all of them could enjoy the outdoors. To them, it was a paradise.

However, their paradise was marred by only one thing. A bit of a distance away from the palace were two mountain ranges. They were separated by a large valley. Inside the valley

was a large forest. Not that long ago, something had caused the trees in the valley to become corrupted by darkness. Celestia said that she knew what was causing it and that the

angels should be afraid. She said that it was a being of pure darkness, whose name was so terrible, it could corrupt any who heard it. She had said many terrible things about the

being and its followers. Andrentureasu, however, eventually began to have her doubts. Beyond Celestia's words, there was no proof that the beings of darkness were really evil.

Celestia didn't know that Andrentureasu thought that. In fact, she had often said that Andrentureasu was the perfect example of an angel. She had faithfully followed Celestia and

always obeyed her. This made her the one that Celestia trusted the most. She was treated with immense respect and got to see Celestia whenever she wanted. At the time, it had

seemed like a dream come true.

Lately, however, she had begun to doubt Celestia's "purity". She never allowed the angels to go beyond the palace garden. When Andrentureasu had brought this up to her, she

had said that it was for their safety. Andrentureasu had also found a passageway that was blocked by a strange barrier in Celestia's part of the palace. She never brought it up to

her. Celestia always said that she would never hide anything from them. If that was true, then why the blocked-off passageway?

Andrentureasu had slowly but surely lost her trust in Celestia.

As she sat there in the field, a thought suddenly came to her mind. The corrupted forest. Celestia always said that if they ever went into the forest, they would be corrupted and

destroyed in moments.

Andrentureasu wanted to see if that would actually happen. However, she would have to wait until nobody was looking, for the forest was beyond the palace grounds.

After some time, one of the angels decided to have a contest on the side of the palace grounds opposite from the corrupted forest. All of the angels went there. Even Celestia herself

attended. During the contest, Andrentureasu snuck away and headed towards the other side of the palace garden. When she got to the edge of the palace garden, she stopped.

She moved her hand over the border. There was no sort of barrier in her way. She ran over the barrier towards the forest without looking back once. She stopped when she got to

the edge, reluctant. After a few moments of hesitation, she walked into the forest. The first thing that she noticed was that nothing happened to her. She felt perfectly normal. The

second thing she noticed was that it was dark. She was very interested by the dark. Living under the care of Celestia, she had known nothing other than light.

It got darker the deeper she went into the forest. Eventually, the forest gave way to a large clearing. The sky was completely covered in black clouds, blocking the sunlight. There

was a large mountain in the middle of the clearing. There were also trees with odd-looking fruit, although Andrentureasu didn't know what they were. None of the trees in the palace

garden had fruit.

After looking around for a bit, she felt something rubbing her leg. She looked down and saw what looked like a fluffy black puppy with red glowing eyes.

Andrentureasu was amazed. She had never seen anything other than the other angels and Celestia in the palace grounds.

She gently petted the puppy. It really liked the petting. Andrentureasu was quickly charmed by the puppy.

She heard something and looked up. Strange creatures were roaming around the field. Some of them ate the fruit on the trees. Some of them ate the various plants in the clearing.

She suddenly heard a loud roar coming from the mountain. Everything looked towards the mountain. Perched on top of it was an enormous dragon that was black and had glowing

red eyes. It was looking directly at Andrentureasu. When she realized that, she was terrified.

The dragon leapt off the mountain and flew straight for her. Terrified, she looked around for an escape. More creatures surrounded her on the side, but not behind her. She tried to

run, but she tripped on the uneven ground. The dragon landed in front of her. She waited for it to attack her.

Instead, it said, "What are you doing here?" There was absolutely no hostility in his voice.

Andrentureasu was calmer, but still scared. "Who…who are you?"

"I am Karantius, the ruler of this darkness."

"Do you know…Celestia?"

"Ah, yes, Celestia. I knew her quite well. In fact, we were once the same being."

"Are you serious?"

"Quite. When we split apart, I think that we got the wrong personalities."

"I see."

"Say, would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Not at all."

"I can't help but wonder what Celestia is like now, but I can't go and see what she's doing myself. Neither can my subjects. I would like to ask you if you would let one of my spies

enter your body and see what Celestia is doing. Anything the spy sees, I will also see."

"I agree."

"All right, then. Chirabanui!"

A black orb materialized in front of Andrentureasu.

The orb said, "Touch me and you will absorb me."

She did so. At first, she wasn't able to tell. Then she heard a voice inside her mind.

"Hey, is it working?"

Yes, it is.

"Good."

Karantius said, "Very good. You may leave now."

When Andrentureasu finally got back, the contest was ending. She got to the back of the crowd just as it ended. The other angels clapped. She clapped too.

An angel near her said, "That was amazing!"

She said, "Indeed it was."

Afterwards, the only thing the angels could talk about was the contest. Andrentureasu was able to join in the conversations and answer all the questions asked to her accurately

and without causing suspicion.

Chirabanui continually asked questions about things that Andrentureasu didn't know about, such as where the animals were and why none of the trees had fruit.

When everything had calmed down, Andrentureasu snuck to the passageway that was blocked by the strange barrier.

"I wonder what's behind this barrier…hey, I just thought of something."

What?

"If we were to bind ourselves to each other, I think we would be able to break the barrier. How does that sound?"

I don't think that barrier can be broken with your powers alone. I would have to have some power myself, and I don't.

"…"

What?

"They really DID get the wrong personalities when they split apart."

I have power of my own?

"Yes, and you have a lot of it."

All right, let's bind together.

When they were bound to each other, they both felt complete. Andrentureasu thought about the barrier disappearing. The next moment, it was gone. She was impressed by their

power.

She walked through the long, dark hallway. She saw a bright light coming from around a corner. She walked towards it, wondering what it was.

"Could it be…no, it couldn't be."

What?

"Get to that light. I want to see if I'm right."

She walked even closer. Just when she was about to turn the corner and find out what the light was, a large hand grabbed her by the waist.

"NO!"

What is it?

"It's Celestia!"

When she turned around, she was in for a bit of a surprise. Before, Celestia had always been a ball of light. Now she was a yellow dragon that glowed. The dragon was what

Celestia really was. And she looked angry. She took Andrentureasu to the gardens, where she summoned all of the angels. When all of them were there, she said, "Angels, we have

had a spy in our midst. This is the spy." She held up Andrentureasu for everyone to see. They all gasped.

Andrentureasu looked at herself. Her white robe was now black, as were her wings. She also wasn't glowing anymore.

Celestia looked at Andrentureasu in the eyes. "You may be a creature of darkness, but I can still punish you."

Panicking, Andrentureasu tried to get the other angels to realize that Celestia had been lying to them all along. They refused to listen to her. And it made Celestia even angrier.

"How dare you accuse me of lying to my beloved followers! I was going to take it easy on you and sent you back to where you belong, but you have made me change my mind! I

shall give you the worst punishment possible! You shall spend the rest of your existence as a mortal being!"

A portal appeared on the ground several feet behind Celestia. "When you go through that portal, you shall lose all your memories of this place." She threw Andrentureasu into the

portal. Chirabanui quickly separated from her so that he wouldn't lose his memories too. Andrentureasu went through the portal first. Just before Chirabanui went through the portal,

he heard Karantius yell, "Celestia!" She turned in the direction the voice had come from. And that was the last thing that Chirabanui saw, for he went through the portal the next

moment.

Insert story breaker here

Chirabanui said, "And we've been stuck in the mortal realm ever since."

Andrentureasu was impressed. "I think that's the best story I've ever heard."

"It's not a story! It really happened! And it happened an incomprehensibly long time ago."

"I still think that it's just a story."

Chirabanui gave up. "Fine. Call it whatever you want. Let's just get back to fighting."

"I forgot that that's what we had been doing. I'm all set to resume fighting. Are you?"

"I've been resting for quite a while and I'm still tired. But I have no choice. I-ow!"

Andrentureasu hit him with a sneak attack. And she kept hitting him.

Chirabanui said, "You're-ow-as clever as-ow-ever, Andrentureasu!"

Soon, he began shrinking, just like before. It wasn't long before he was the same size as Andrentureasu.

She was about to finish him off with her claws when she remembered what he had said. She flew up high, charged her megablast, and, when it was done charging, unleashed it

onto him. It destroyed him in an instant.

She flew down to the smoking crater that remained. A small black cloud hovered in the air. It stayed in the air for a few moments before dissipating. Chirabanui was finally gone.

For a few moments, Andrentureasu was relieved. Then she remembered. Everything and everyone that she ever knew was gone forever. As that reality sank in, she became very

sad. She didn't know what she would do now. And knowing that she could have prevented it all from happening just made her feel worse. There was no way to reverse it…or was

there?

The moment she thought that, the sadness left her heart. She was powerful. Was she powerful enough to go back to the past and fix her mistake?

It was worth a try. It was the only option.

Closing her eyes, she focused her power and imagined that she was on Albatria in the past, fighting Chirabanui to save the Albatrians from his tyrannical rule…

Author's note: In an attempt to encourage reviews, I shall slow my publishing rate to one chapter per week. If you have a problem with this, just PM me. At least I'll try to

slow myself. I might not.