Celestial Saga: On Twisted Wings

[Radikal_Dreamer]

I've been wondering whether to post this for a long time now. It's been done for a couple of months, but it still needs a bit of editing (I'm a lazy bastard when it comes to that). I guess, though, since we want to start off a second renaissance of sorts here, I'll help by putting something up.

The book is pretty much 'finished' at 148 pages, single spaced 12 point Times New Roman. There are two Acts in the book. The first is titled The Death of the White Dragon, and the second is The Resurrection of the Black Phoenix. The first act has 27 chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue. The second act has 20 chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue. That's all just to give you a scope of what you're getting into.

As for the subject matter, the story deals a lot with what makes a hero, memories and past, and freedom.

Next, here's a map:
Map

It's not extremely important that you look at that. I really made it for my own reference, but I figured that I could put it up anyway. It helps a bit with directions. One day I'll make it better looking, lol.

Since I said memories play a heavy role in the plot, all memories are in italics. I might change that to a color or something if people have a hard time seperating the italics from the non-italics. Aside from that there are no other big formatting things to let you know.

Also, for warning, I'm very heavy with my references, so if you don't like getting beat over the head with slightly obvious allegory, then don't read this... I guess.

Anyway, without further ado, I give you a story of betrayal, intrigue, love, loss, and all that other shit authors try and cram into their books in order to sucker others into reading it.

Celestial Saga:
On Twisted Wings

By Trevor Koenigs




Act 1: The Death of the White Dragon

At night the darkness reigns. When day arrives, the sun rises and all that remain are the shadows. These shadows serve as a reminder of the painful darkness.

Prologue
“What do you want for him?” A voice slithered out of a dark mouth and into a dark room. In the back, there was only a black silhouette of a man on a large chair. Not a single feature could be made out, because the only source of light on that end of the room was the tiny lit end of a cigar.

“Nothing...” The other man said, still standing in the dimly lit doorway.

“Nothing?” The man in the doorway walked forward into the black, leaving the light of the hallway. He accepted the darkness and let it curl around him. “So, you’ll give me the one I want for no fee at all?” This man took a puff of his cigar and savored the smoke in his mouth before pouring it out into the air. He flicked the ashes off the side of his giant chair and onto the floor. For a second the light brightened, then, slowly, it dimmed back down again before he could put the cigar back into his mouth. “I don’t believe it. I could offer you anything. I would give you power, money... anything... just name your price.”

“I just want one thing.”

“Ah, I knew you couldn’t be this giving.” He puffed once more on his cigar. He ran his free hand through his thick, black hair and contemplated what the man in the doorway could possibly want.

“I want the pleasure of killing him.”

“Really...?” This intrigued the man in the chair. He did not expect it to be this easy.

“I want to see him suffer.” This was definitely unexpected. “I want to see his blood.”

“Interesting... ” With another puff of his cigar, he continued, “May I ask why?”

“He took everything I ever had... He took my very existence... Just know that he will be dead at your feet within the next day.” With this he turned and walked back out into the light of the hallway.


***


“My God, why have you forsaken me?” A man whispered just as he felt the pain in his back. He knew what was about to happen.

Slowly the blade entered the body. Just as it pierced, a pool of blood poured out onto it. A sea of red slowly eclipsed the metal. The man gasped for breath, but the sword had already ripped through his lungs. His muscles lost the grip of his own blade as he saw the tip of his assailant’s sword come through the front of his chest.

The man behind him pulled the sword out and watched the rag doll body fall to the floor. He walked up to the dying man and whispered in his ear, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.”


Chapter 1
The night had introduced itself to unwilling people. It came just like any other night. The cold darkness drifted across the calm waves, up the rocky cliffs, and then it crept up the rolling hills. It slithered its way through the cobblestone streets, through the glass windows, and right up into the peoples' eyelids.

A gentle click echoed throughout one of the darkest back streets. After a few seconds of weariness, another click echoed. One boot stuck out from the alley. With another click, the other boot left its dark home. Connected to the faded black boots was a long, black cloak. The only sign of humanity, a lock of brown hair, rested upon the man's shoulder. The rest was black.

Tears from the sky poured down and gently pattered on the stone road. Right now the man stood beneath the cover of a canopy. The dark red material sagged down from the power of the rain, but, nevertheless, it held the weight above him.

The heavens could still be seen through a small hole in the clouds. The man slowly revealed himself to the dim light of the moon. His feet moved as slow as he could make them. The boots made tiny splashes in the pools on the street, each step echoing lightly off the stone buildings surrounding him.

His head did not look up towards the lord of the night, but instead he gazed downward at the stones. They were intricately woven together in the sort of pattern one would see in a quilt. He watched as each drop of water hit the puddles and sent more tiny drops back into the air. This was the way of the world.

As he walked, the water fell onto him. It slowly soaked into his cloak. The drops that could not find a place within the cloth gently glided down and fell to the earth below. Try as he may, he could not take away every tear.

A smaller stone house stood across the road. When he reached the house he stopped just before the three steps. He hesitated a few seconds, just gazing downward. He hadn’t crossed these stairs in three years. Three years he had been away from home. Now, on this rainy day he would step up those stairs again.

Slowly, he lifted one foot and placed it on the first step. His head lifted and looked at the wooden door. He wondered what would happen when he entered. Three years...

Next, he lifted his body up to the first step. After a sigh he went up the remaining two and put his hand on the doorknob. Slowly, he turned it and creaked open the door. After he was fully inside, he wiped the water from the knob on his cloak and stood in the doorway. Everything was just as he had left it.

A picture hung on the wall in front of him. Within the confines of the dark brown oak frame he saw his past. He was so happy the day they had that picture painted. His joy seemed endless that day. In the picture he had his arm around his girlfriend. Her light brown hair had absorbed the perfect sunlight of the day. It reflected the light back so much that she became the sun. Her light blue eyes looked straight at him so happily, and her pearly smile seemed celestial.

He smiled too, in the picture. He thought he would hold onto her forever. Nothing else in the world mattered but the two of them. The heavens had opened up and sent an angel down to him.

As he stepped into the next room he saw the small, wooden table they used to eat on. There, atop the oak sat a china plate. To the left of the plate rested a fork, a spoon, and a knife. His place had been set for three years...

He slowly walked past the table as he turned his head to take in the entire room. His eyes followed the heavenly white walls until he saw the fireplace. On top of the stone mantle he saw a single rose. Now it was old, wrinkled, and discolored. It didn’t look like the flower he had given her three years ago, but he knew they were one and the same. “Keep this and look at it whenever you want to think of me,” he had said to her. It was so fragile now. It looked as though just touching it would break the precious petals off and turn them to dust. He hoped the same thing had not happened to his love.

He turned and walked left from the fireplace into the next room. With only a slight gasp, he stood nearly motionless as he just looked. There she laid, like an angel atop the clouds. She had a white blanket resting over her body. Her angelic hair cascaded down, like a beautiful waterfall, from her perfect face. As his eyes moved to her face, he slowly stepped forward. He placed his hand on her cheek and caressed her smooth skin as she slept.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered to her.

“I’ve missed you, too.” Her lips moved gracefully as she said it. He knew she was still sleeping. He watched as she slowly opened her eyes as if she was afraid there would be nothing there when she awoke. He stared into her blue eyes, which, to him, had turned everything from night into day. “Where have you been?” She asked as she rose, still afraid he’d just disappear from her sight forever.

“I have spent my days in darkness, but now I found my way back to heaven. My goddess, I have returned to you.” He pulled the hood from his cloak down, revealing his face to her. He had one scar on his left cheek, but the rest looked all the same to her. She stood up, using the bed to support her. She was still shaking with disbelief.

“You’ve been away for so long...” She said, staring into his eyes, as if trying to assure herself that it really was him. A tear began to form in the corner of her eye. As she looked into his eyes, it slowly glided down to her cheek. He lifted his hand and wiped it off. With this, she leaped into his arms and hugged him.

An eternity had passed in the blink of an eye. Each of them cherished every moment they had together, for they had not touched in three years.

“Why have you been away for so long?” She whispered, but when her eyes opened she saw nothing but the wall. It was too good to be true. He would never return to her. Slowly, she moved her hand to her face to wipe away the tears that had come with her sleep. Then, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the blank white ceiling.

“God...” she whispered. “Why?” Her eyes remained wet from tears. Soon they formed a pool and had to flow down her cheek. She didn’t bother to wipe them from her face this time. They just rained down from her cloud towards the earth below.

“How could you taunt me... with... that dream...?” She whispered, shaking with anger. “Do you even know the extent of my love for him?” God did not respond to her, as always. She received nothing in return... nothing but silence. Her heart seemed as though it were about to burst from within her. She screamed, breaking the silence. More tears flowed from her eyes as no response came. “How can you do this to me!?”

She searched her mind, frantically trying to find what she had done wrong. There must have been something, somewhere. God did not take away Eden without a reason. She rolled back onto her side and watched her tears soak into the bed. Three years in Hell...

Chapter 2
Two loud knocks penetrated the lonely shadows of day. She had heard nothing and said nothing until now. She just sat at the table and thought of her dream, feeling as though the sorrow would drown her. She could still taste him on her lips and feel his warm arms around her waist. Her stomach churned just knowing that they were not there, that he was lying in a grave somewhere right now. His life was gone and here she was, living without the sun.

“It’s Judas... Are you alright in there?” The soft voice came through the door. Her head didn’t move from it’s current position. “Celaestis? Hello?” She sighed and put the picture of Uriel that she had been staring at into a nearby drawer.

“I’m here.” She tried her hardest to take all the depression out of her voice so that he wouldn’t question her when he came in. Discussing the dream with Judas would be out of the question.

“Well, open the door then.” She peeled herself from the chair and shuffled over to open the door for him.

His brown shirt hung loosely from his broad, muscular shoulders. The long, black pants dragged behind him and covered up his matching leather boots. His black hair seemed unkempt, though he fought this by pulling it back into a ponytail.

She didn’t even bother looking up at him, and, instead, she just walked straight back to the chair. Celaestis tried to mask the sigh that came out when she plopped back down, but she knew Judas heard it.

“What a warm welcome...”

“I”m sorry, it’s just...” Her voice trailed off. She still didn’t really want to tell him her dream, but she knew he'd bug her until she did.

“Come on, you can tell me. What’s wrong?” Quickly, he moved to the chair next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. The hand stayed still, as if he thought she wouldn't notice it there if he didn't move it at all.

“I just had a dream, that’s all.” She looked up at him and tried to force a believable smile, but it came off as an awkward smirk. He hesitated, and then, accepting her words as genuine, he smiled back. He knew she probably didn't want him to pry, and, to keep her happy with him, he didn't say anything else about it.

“So, what do you say to a little walk?” he asked. She actually didn’t like the idea of being alone with him right now. For the last three and a half years she felt awkward being around him. She had known him all her life, though, so she felt bad about her somewhat new feelings. He had always tried to be there for her, and she knew that. He just never seemed to help much.

They met as children in the orphanage. Neither had parents. Judas did, for a while, but they were murdered in front of his eyes just before he came to the orphanage. She remembered his first day at the orphanage when they were both about five years old.

The tiny girl walked into the main room of the orphanage wearing only her fuzzy pink pajamas. She clutched a small brown teddy bear that she had for as long as she could remember. To her it was like a lifeless, motionless replacement for the parents that would never be there for her. In the corner of the dimly lit room she could make out a lumpy black shape.

“H...hello?” she whispered to it. “Are...are you a demon?” she asked, slowly stepping towards the mysterious thing. “Are you going to hurt me?” she asked, still continuing on her path towards the strange blob.

“No...” A sob came back.

“Well then, what are you doing?” She couldn’t understand why someone would be sitting in the corner of the dark room this late at night.

“Crying...”

“Do you miss your mommy too? And your daddy?” she asked him. She was now close enough to see his head nod twice. His shaggy black hair went down past his dark eyes and swayed as he nodded.

“Would you like to hug Teddy?” She pushed her bear into his field of vision. He hesitated a few seconds then took the stuffed toy from her. After examining it, he pulled it close to his heart and hugged as hard as his little body would let him.

“Don’t hug him too hard. He’s sensitive,” she said, sitting down next to the boy. She looked at him and saw that he really was crying and that his tears were getting on her bear, but she didn’t mind, though, because she had cried on him many times before. “What’s your name? Mine’s Celaestis.”

“Judas...” The muffled voice came through the now dampened cloth of the stuffed animal.

“Well... Judas... Let’s be friends.” He only responded with a nod.

“Yeah, a walk would help me out a bit. I could use a look at the sun.” She laughed a bit and lifted herself up from the chair. “So, where to?”

“How about the market?”

“Sure. I’ll race you to the end of the street!” The words barely came out of her mouth before she started running, and they didn't end until she had a significant lead.

“No fair! You had a head start!” he yelled after her as he stood and ran to try and catch up.

“There’s so many people here today,” she said as she stood and looked at everyone packed into the small town square. The scent of baked goods, especially the strong smell of honey, instantly tickled her sensitive nose just as the noise began to pummel her ears.

“Five Kelli!” “Two Kelli!” “I’ll take it!” “I need three. Do you have three?” “I’ll buy it!” “No, no, I want that other one.” “Are you sure all the rooms are full?” “I need somewhere to sleep.” “What do you mean every thing’s booked?”

“It’s way too crowded today... I wonder what’s going on,” Judas said, narrowly avoiding someone who was obviously in a hurry to get to the fruit cart just behind him.

“I’ve never seen it this way before.”

“Everyone, calm down, calm down.” A voice came from the other side of the market square. A small stage for plays and other public functions occupied that side of the square.

“It seems like we’ll be getting our answer,” Judas said to Celaestis. The crowd hushed only a little, but most seemed too intent on doing whatever their petty minds thought they absolutely needed to do right this instant.

“Quiet please! Everyone quiet!” The mayor stood on the stage, trying to force the crowd to notice his pleas. He nervously ran his hand through his short, light brown hair as he tried to shout even louder over the noise of the crowd. “Everyone, please!” After a few minutes of waiting for the crowd to calm down, he finally had their attention.

“As you all know, the Venicians will be staying here in Akeldama for now. Accommodations from every citizen will have to be made. As of now, there is no more news on the movement of the Asura.” The crowd continued their panicked talking. The mayor jumped down from the platform and made his way through the crowd to Judas and Celaestis.

“Just the man I was looking for!” he said as he approached Judas.

“Why would you look for me?” Judas asked, turning to the mayor.

“Come now, we all know you’re the biggest expert on Asura.”

“What do you mean?” Judas snapped quickly.

“I mean that you served in the war under the glorious Uriel...” The mayor said, giving Judas a confused look.

“Oh... Yes, that...” Judas said nervously. “Well, I guess I should make a speech then?” He tried to cover up his nervousness with confidence now, and he hoped the mayor wasn’t suspicious.

“Yes, please.”

Judas pushed his way through the crowd and climbed up to the stage. This time the people hushed quicker than with the mayor. Most of them, however, did so because they thought he would have some sort of news on the Asura movement.

“As you all may know, I served in the army a little less than a year ago. I served under the great hero Uriel. Day after day he fought them bravely. Never once did he think about the life he risked to save others. Every night after a raid he’d turn to me and say ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ Now, every time, I would look at him, questioningly, and ask how he knew that he’d see me tomorrow. After all, we were in the heart of enemy territory. He’d always turn to me and say ‘You must believe in yourself. You must have confidence that we will win. I know that life will not be destroyed so easily.’” The crowd stayed silent during all this, because they loved hearing things about their beloved hero, Uriel. “Now, friends, I urge you to stay confident in the face of darkness. If you believe, you will see the light of tomorrow. If the Asura come here I urge you to fight with everything you have. Life will not be destroyed so easily!” A loud roar swept through the crowd as they absorbed the confidence and hope Judas portrayed in his speech.

Judas hopped off the stage to meet Celaestis. They walked together until they found a spot outside all the hustle and bustle.

“Nice speech,” she said to him. She was still curious as to why he had been angry at the mayor, but she didn’t really feel like prying. She also didn’t feel much like talking now, because his speech had reminded her of the dream she had.

He would never come back to her. Right now Uriel was nothing but a memory of a hero. He wasn’t a hero, though. Heroes couldn’t die. Good always triumphed over evil in the form of a hero. Heroes didn’t have graves or tombs...

“Uriel... How could you die?” The tears just kept flowing from her blue eyes. She felt so much pain at this moment. Hundreds of people surrounded her right now, yet she felt so alone. They just wished to catch a glimpse of the hero’s tomb, and she just wished to be with him again.

In front of her stood the stone they pulled in front of his resting place. It was a giant square with an inscription.
Uriel,
Loved by all
Valiant and brave
You fought the darkness
You sacrificed yourself
For the good of all
You will always be
a hero

“He is no hero!” She shouted through her tears. The crowd became hushed as they watched her. She couldn’t stop the flow of tears. She just wanted him to herself. She didn’t want him to be a hero for all these people, and she didn’t want him to be some sort of martyr. She wanted him right here by her side. They didn’t love him; only she did. They knew nothing...

“Heroes don’t die!” Most of all she didn’t want to share her grief with all these people. They didn’t care about her at all. They barely cared about him. They only cared about whether their precious lives would be saved. He was only a tool for them.

She kept crying and began to pound her fist on the giant stone. “Uriel... please... don’t die for these people...”Her voice came out in a choked murmur.

“You’re quite right...” a voice whispered into her ear. “They don’t deserve someone like Uriel. They don’t deserve to be saved at all.”

“Judas?”

“Yes... Now, come, let’s get you out of here.” He supported her and led her out of the crowd.

[Radikal_Dreamer]

I don't know if anyone's reading this yet, but I'll post more anyway.

Chapter 3

“Why’re you here?” She whispered to the night.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I let my house be used for the refugees. I knew you were all alone in here and...”

“Judas...”

“Okay, I’ll go sleep on a park bench.”

“Don’t be ridiculous... I wouldn’t let you do that. Come in.” Celaestis opened the door and let him into the light and warmth of her home. “How many people are in your house?”

“About ten or so.” Judas took off his long black jacket and placed it on the nearby coat rack. Underneath that, he wore a plain black collared shirt and black pants. When he reached for the coat rack, he saw the painting of Celaestis and Uriel. After looking at it for a second every bone in his body ached. Then, he cringed and forced his gaze back into the house. Unfortunately, this time his eyes fell upon the flower over the stone mantle. “You still have that old thing?”

“What?”

“That dead flower...”

“Uriel gave it to me before he left. I probably won’t throw it away for a long time.”

“Those flowers last a long time, but not forever...” Judas said as he sat at the table. He wasn’t talking about the flower at all, and he hoped she’d catch what he really meant. His eyes now fell on Celaestis. She wore silky pink pajamas which showed off her perfect body. Her loose shirt went down so far that he could practically see straight down to her breasts. She was probably trying to sleep before he had arrived here... His gaze went down the hourglass-shaped curves of her body and back up again.

“Would you like something to drink? Coffee or tea maybe?” Despite being late in the night, Celaestis didn’t really feel like sleeping right now. She knew her dreams would be another lie to taunt her meaningless existence.

“I’ll just have some water, thank you,” Judas replied and waited for her to come back with it. He found himself staring at her backside until the very moment it could no longer be seen. Then, he looked around the room. He had been in here so many times since Uriel’s death and almost nothing had changed.

Celaestis came back into the room with two glasses of water. She placed one in front of Judas and then sat down in the chair across from him.

“So, do you think the Asura will attack here?” Celaestis wasn’t worried so much as she was just trying to create conversation. She didn’t really fear death. In fact, she almost welcomed it.

“I can assure you that they won’t,” Judas replied. The confidence of this statement caught Celaestis off-guard.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because, why should they attack us?” Judas said, quickly. “There’s nothing of importance here. If I’m not mistaken, they’d probably head straight to the capital.”

“Do you think we have a chance?” There was an awkward silence following this question. Judas knew the answer to this, but he hesitated in putting it into words.

“I think that we will have a hard time without someone like Uriel leading. Uriel rallied everyone together against the Asura. The world needs heroes...”

“What do you mean?”

“Well...” Judas thought for a few seconds. “People seem to just sit around and wait for someone else to do things for them. They look to the prophecies and think that they will be saved. ‘Someone else will come save us... eventually,’ they say. They’re quick to point to someone else and forget that this problem is theirs too.” He took a drink of his water before finishing his thought. “Then, people like Uriel become martyrs for nothing.”

Judas took another drink and thought for a while. Celaestis did the same. A silence had found its way into the room, but both seemed too lost in thought to even realize how quiet it was.

“You see... People think that one day the sun will rise and everything will be light again. In reality this is more like the night sky. Uriel was but one star. One star can’t light up the entire night sky...” Judas said this and looked over to Celaestis. She nodded and that was the last thing said until both had finished their water.

“Well, I’m heading to bed. You can use the extra room,” Celaestis said, pointing towards a door right behind Judas' seat. Judas nodded and watched Celaestis turn and walk away. “Happy nightmares...” She said to Judas.

It was a known fact that everyone had nightmares every night. For most they were of the Asura. Those beasts had the ability to enter one’s dreams, and perhaps this was one of the most frightening things about the creatures. They would be there every night you went to sleep. No one knew when the dreams started, but it was assumed that they go back to the beginning of the war against the Asura. In this case, they’d been around for longer that Celaestis or Judas had been alive. History books put the war somewhere between four-hundred and five-hundred years ago.

“Goodnight, my love...” he whispered. She couldn’t hear him and so she kept walking. Judas stood up and went into the guest room. There wasn’t much to it. It consisted of a one-person bed with plain white blankets, a nightstand to the left side of the bed, and an small unlit candle on the top of that very nightstand.

Judas closed the door and took off his shirt. He crawled into bed and stared at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to take him.

Slowly, Judas’s eyes opened to the dark of night. He found himself surrounded in black, for he had entered the dream world.

“Judas...” a woman’s voice called out to him. He searched his mind to try and place the voice with a face. It definitely did not sound like the Celaestis. This voice had an intense hatred to it, and it almost burned at his ears to hear it say his name. “Do you not recognize me?” He could find nothing in his mind that would give a clue as to who spoke to him right now.

“No... Who is this? Show yourself!” Judas was angry and he let it show in his own voice. It changed from the soft tone he used with Celaestis to something like that of a military leader belching out commands.

From behind him he heard footsteps echo throughout the black void. He quickly turned to see who made the noises. It was a woman of about twenty-five years of age.

“Remember me now, Judas?” His eyes were fixed on her as he soaked in her image. She had dark crimson hair with a few blue streaks. Her eyes were dark brown, and her face was full of tiny scars. She wore a tight, dusky blue short sleeved shirt and baggier black pants on top of her gray Asuran skin. She had one gray dragon-like wing on the right side of her body, the end of which curled in slightly. The other side had a tattered and lifeless piece of what was once a wing. She also wore a red cape only slightly less drab than her hair. It once came down to the ground, but was now tattered and torn near her knees. She had a sword on her belt, and the blade of the weapon went about three feet before it came to a broken edge.

“Ah, how could I forget you, Aku?”

“God only knows,” she responded.

“I wouldn’t think you’d believe in something as trivial as God,” Judas said.

“I’m standing right here,” she said as a smile grew on her face.

“A bit full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“The power to give life... and the power to end it,” she said. “It seems fitting.”

“Well then, God, what happened to your other wing?” Judas asked with a smirk.

“Oh this,” she said as she moved her left hand over to feel her tattered wing. “You didn’t think I would fight for what was rightfully mine?”

“So that’s what this is about...”

“Oh, you thought I was only out for revenge?” Aku asked. “Oh don’t worry, I am, and you’ll be dead soon.”

“You took my kingdom?”

“It was never yours... It was never Abel’s... It was mine.”

“What’d you do to Abel?” Judas examined her, trying to force an answer before she even said it. In his mind he knew what happened, though.

“As I said, you didn’t think I would fight for what is rightfully mine?”

“I’ll have to be honest with you, Aku, I thought nothing of you.”

“Typical male...” She was now standing only about five feet from Judas. “So, would you like to see what happened to the one you left in charge?”

As she said this, an image materialized around them both. They now stood in a garden between two rows of orchids. The garden was set up in a square formation with various other flowers surrounding a great apple tree. Each side had four rows of individual flower gardens, alternating between two different kinds per side. Each row was about three feet wide, and they all stretched out to the wall of the room.

An old stone balcony surrounded the entire garden. Thick green vines entwined everything in the room. The tree reached up past that balcony, and some of its branches hit the outer wall.

The room did not have much of a roof, because a large rectangular skylight took up most of the middle.

“Eden...” Judas whispered the name of the garden to himself. This was once part of a castle used by humans. Asura slaughtered those humans, and now everything lay in ruins except this garden. He turned around to see the door from which he had come last time he was here. The word “EDEN” was carved above the door.

Aku began walking around the tree towards the back of the garden, and Judas followed. Abel stood, staring at the carving. That wall was not infested with vines, but, instead, it had a perfectly visible mural. The previous inhabitants carved a great dragon coiled around a burning apple tree.

Abel had his long, brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He wore only black pants. His upper body was bare, showing off his own gray skin. His wings curled in and over himself. Half his sword stuck out of the soil next to where he stood. The giant wooden door under the word “EDEN” began to creak and open.

Another Aku entered the scene. This one had two full wings, no scars, and her cape was also full length this time. Just as Judas had guessed, those flaws all came from this coming event.

“I believe you have what I want, Abel.” The unscratched Aku’s voice flooded the garden with anger and hatred. Abel turned to see his sister coming towards him.

“What do you mean?”

“You have disgraced our father by serving that jackal of a man,” Aku said, still walking towards her brother.

“Our father was a jackal...”

“Why don’t you tell him that when you see him.”

“Aku... You’re not...” Abel backed up a pace and gripped his sword.

“I said that you have something I want, and I will stop at nothing to get it,” Aku said as she pulled her sword from her belt. Abel followed by ripping his from the ground.

“Aku... please...”

“Pleading for mercy will not help. It will only make your pain far more pleasurable.” Aku came within a few feet of Abel and both had their swords ready.

She lunged at Abel and caught only his sword. With as much force as she could muster, she pushed him back and he flew against the carved wall. He stood up and felt the back of his head with his free hand. He took the hand off his head and look at the blood.

Not wasting time, Aku jumped at him, trying to cut off the hand he was looking at. Quickly, he moved out of the way and swung his sword as she passed. A bloodcurdling screech went through the air as she hit the wall. Pieces of the ripped wing fluttered to the ground.

“Are you ready to end this, Aku.”

She stood up and laughed at her bleeding wing. The blood had been smeared all around the carved dragon’s mouth, and her face was cut up from its run in with the rough stone wall. “I’ll be ready to end it when you’ve taken your last breath.”

Aku lunged at Abel again. He dodged and spun around, attempting to hit her in the back. Instead, his sword caught her cape and ripped it off at her knees. Her sword plummeted straight into the great tree.

“Aku, come to your senses...” As he said this, she ripped her sword from the tree and turned to him.

“I told you, I will not end this until you are dead and I have what is rightfully mine. I want my father’s kingdom!” She swung her sword and he caught it with his. The fight went on back and forth for a few minutes, the hatred she had for him building up with each swing.

Finally, she missed his sword and hers flew into the stone wall behind him. The tip of her blade broke off and flew a couple feet before resting in a bed of flowers. She quickly whipped around and, expecting to catch his blade, she sliced his hand.

His sword and hand fell to the ground as the air filled with yet another cry of pain. He fell to his knees and grasped at his handless arm in hopes of stopping the blood.

Aku put her sword down to her side and walked towards him with a smile on her face. “Beg for mercy,” she said. “I have the power to let you live.” His tears fell and mixed with the red blood on the walkway. “I have the power to destroy.”

“Please... Aku...”

“More!”

“Please... let me live... please...”

“Not good enough...” With this she pulled her sword back and swung it as hard as she could, aiming right for his neck.

Chapter 4

“You’re keeping them away, aren’t you?” The waves could be heard gently patting the soft sand on the beach below. Celaestis sat on the edge of a bluff that stretched out for a couple miles. While this was now in her dreams, this place really did exist in life.

She spent a lot of her childhood looking out into the sea. Perhaps, to her, the sea was something like what her teddy bear had been. It was a substitute for an actual parent. Sure, it couldn’t cheer her up when she was depressed or congratulate her when she achieved something, but it was always there for her. Its waves became like a soothing pat on the back from a loving mother. She could trust anything to the sea.

In this dream she still wore the silky pink pajamas that she had on when Judas was at her house. The air felt perfectly warm, though, so it didn’t matter that she had on such light clothing. The gentle breeze caught her light brown hair and it floated off in random directions. She sat with her feet dangling down the bluff and leaned back on her arms.

She stared down, watching the waves as they slowly came in. A few trees and shrubs grew below her, but the bottom of the bluff mostly consisted of large rocks. A path to the bottom wasn’t anywhere near where she sat. This was more of a lookout point towards the sea. Trees lined the rest of the upper path that paralleled the water.

It looked as though someone had painted a perfect sunset over the sea. The artist carefully placed a few soft looking clouds in the sky so as to make it look less bare. Then, he took a beautiful pink and painted the sky with it. A dab of brighter pink made the sun. As one’s eyes moved further away, the color turned more purple. With one swipe of his brush, the artist painted another strip of pink onto the sea. Outside this one strip of pink, he painted the rest of the sea a deep purple.

“Is this how you occupy your nights? Dreaming of the sunset?” Uriel’s voice came nearer as he said this. In this dream he did not wear the cloak that he had on last time. Instead, he had on a pair of baggy black pants and white, sleeveless shirt.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been able to dream... the rest are nightmares”

“Yeah, it’s me keeping them away,” Uriel said as he reached where Celaestis sat. He was reluctant to join her, though. He had his sword out the whole time, so he sheathed it and looked down at her. “Would you like me to stop?”

“No,” Celaestis said, still not removing her gaze from the great pink skyline.

“Well, can I have a seat?”

“If you want to...” Celaestis said this with very little emotion, and her eyes stayed fixed on the water. Each wave was like another memory piling up on top of her. Each memory was one that she didn’t want to accept, but only for the fact that it would make her miss the past so much more.

“Well, last night’s welcome was much more warm.”

“Because I thought it was really you...” Celaestis’s eyes began to fill with tears, and then, Uriel sat down next to her.

“What makes you think this isn’t me?” Uriel asked as he turned towards her. He took his hand and brushed a lock of hair away so he could see her face. He wrapped it around her ear and looked at the soft white skin of her cheek.

“I was there when they put you into the tomb,” Celaestis said, still unmoving. Her cold eyes didn’t even shift to catch a glimpse of him.

“I promised you I’d be back...”

“So?”

“So, you think I’d go back on my promise?”

“It was a promise a dead man cannot fulfill.”

“But here I am...” Uriel’s eyes, too, began to flood with tears. “I have to make you believe me...”

“For all I know you’re just one of the Asura,” Celaestis said, still trying to hold back her own tears. Uriel saw one of these coming down her cheek. He lifted up his right hand and wiped the tear away.

“Celaestis, please...” After a few moments of silence, he spoke up again. “Follow me,” he instructed. Uriel stood and looked down at his unmoving companion. With a sigh, she stood up, still with reluctance to even look at him.

Uriel quickly walked down the path, knowing that curiosity would make her follow. He let the lightly pressed grass and dirt trail guide him until it reached a wall of trees. Then, he walked off the path and straight between two giant oaks, Celaestis still close behind. After a few feet the bluff appeared again, but this time there was a little path down to the beach.

“You found this?” Celaestis said as she looked down at the small walkway toward the bottom. Not all of it could be seen, because the path dipped and curved several times.

“Yeah, it’s a way down to the beach!” Uriel exclaimed, hopping across two rocks just the size of his feet. He knew that she often stood on top of the bluff looking down, so he tried to find a safe way down to the bottom. After a few days of exploration, he found it.
Uriel kept walking, still not turning back. He concentrated on getting down. The path was pretty steep and it took a lot of concentration to climb to the bottom without slipping on a stone and twisting an ankle.

“Here, hold my hand and I’ll help you down this part.”

“I don’t know...”

“I won’t let you fall. I promise.”

After a few minutes, they both reached the bottom. The waves washed in about five feet from where they stood. They felt their feet sink into the warm summer sand.

“Wow, it’s even more beautiful down here.” Celaestis wiggled her toes and let the wet sand massage her feet as she looked out towards the purple water.

“Wait till you see what else is down here!”

Uriel took a few minutes to let the view sink in again, and then he continued on towards his right. By now Celaestis realized where they were going, but she followed anyway. Her tears had dried up on the way down, but she still tried not to look at him.

A small black cave slowly came into view. It was on an angle so that it still faced the sunset. At that point the bluff slowly went further out into the water.

“It’s a cave?”

“Yeah! Come in, Celaestis. I have something to show you.”

Uriel’s left hand reached out and wrapped around Celaestis’s. Her hand instinctively took hold of it, and then, he led her into the mouth of the cave.

“This has the most perfect view of the sunset. Trust me.” Celaestis didn’t try and prove or disprove his theory. Instead, she stayed looking straight into the cave, overcome with joy.

Before coming, Uriel spread a blanket across the stone floor. He placed a small, lit candle in the middle of it, and he put a large, wicker picnic basket to the right side.

“How perfect! Uriel, you did this?”

As she saw this, she gave up and looked to Uriel. Again, her eyes began to well up with tears. She hugged him as tightly as she could. As the sun set and night filled the sky, she stood in the arms of her love.

“You remember?” Uriel asked. Celaestis looked up at him and the two kissed.

***

Judas bolted up to a sitting position. He lifted his right arm and rubbed the sweat from his forehead. After a few minutes his breathing started to steady and he could think straight. His thoughts ran through his dream over and over. Finally, after he calmed down a bit, his thoughts centered upon the setting of his dream. His mind drifted back a year.

“What’s this place?” Uriel asked as he was the first to enter the giant room. He wore baggy, torn black pants and a tight white muscle shirt. All of his clothes were full of dirt, and his face still had remnants of mud clinging to various areas, though it did look like it had been cleaned shortly beforehand. His sword and sheath were hooked on the right side of his body.

“Don’t know, but it seems a bit out of place,” Judas answered as he came in behind his leader, Uriel. He, too, wore ripped baggy black pants and a tight white muscle shirt. Both pieces of clothing were issued as part of the military. There was another shirt that went over the white muscle shirt, but almost no one actually wore it. Some rolled it up and used it as a headband or a washrag.

Most of the soldiers did wear body armor. Uriel and Judas wore some, too, but had taken it off back at camp to give way to more free movement. These two did wear the least amount of armor, though. They both felt that the loss of movement wasn’t worth the protection the armor gave. Asura are known to hit so hard that they pierce through most armor, anyway.

Judas was one of the ones that had used his extra shirt as a headband. He had ripped a smaller piece of the shirt off and had it tied around his forehead. His medium length, black hair was pulled out and around the headband so that only the front could be seen.

Unlike Uriel, Judas had two swords attached to his belt. One of them was the standard issued sword. It had a plain white handle and a standard cross guard. The sheath was plain white leather. There was really nothing special about it. It was because of this that Judas picked up one of the higher ranking Asuran commander’s swords. The Asuran sword had a black sheath, and it was decorated by two intertwined serpents on the hilt. The upper bodies split off and became the two sides of the cross guard. A red-eyed skull was in the spot where the two serpents separated.

While he hadn’t quite perfected the art form quite yet, Judas was getting increasingly better at using two swords at once.

Uriel obtained his sword because of his outstanding performance in the first few months of his military career. He was given it when he became a commander. His sword had a white sheath and a velvet red grip. Two white, angelic wings broke off of the grip to form the cross guard. The blade had an etched flame design all the way to the tip.

“Wow...Now this is interesting.” Uriel stood in the doorway and let his view of the room soak in. He just looked about it in amazement. “Beautiful, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah...” Judas went past Uriel and headed towards the tree. Judas reached up towards one of the low hanging branches and picked off an apple. He rolled it around in his hands for a few seconds, examining it, and then turned to Uriel. “You want one?”

“No thanks,” Uriel said, still standing in the same spot.

“You sure? It’s been a while since our last meal.” Judas took a bite. “Good apples...”

“Nah, I’m still good.”

“Just don’t complain to me when you’re hungry,” Judas said to Uriel. He laughed a bit and moved into the room.

“This is really a fantastic room,” he said, still admiring the garden.

“It’s just a room, Uriel.” Judas leaned against the tree and slid down it until he was sitting on the soft green grass.

“No, no... Don’t you see it?”

“You’re freaking me out Uriel...” Judas was a little agitated by Uriel’s obsession with the room. He really did like the room, but he’d much rather have Uriel just sit down and eat an apple with him to enjoy it.

“Look at this here.” Uriel was now looking at the giant carving of the dragon. Judas turned and looked around the trunk of the tree. Judas was more intrigued with the carving than the rest of the room, so he stood up and walked by Uriel to stare at it.

“Wow...”

“Hey, can you read that down there?” Judas saw some writing below the giant carving. It wasn’t in any language he could read.

“Hmm...” Uriel moved closer to it and knelt down to read. “This is an ancient language, but I think I can decipher it. Give me a second.”

“Wow...the story of the beginning...” Uriel said, still concentrating on translating the ancient text.

“So... What’s it say?” Judas asked, getting slightly impatient.

“In the beginning there was man and dragon, and it was good. Man lived happily in the garden. This was until war began. The great dragon Azazel started the war against the other dragon, Kakabel. Many men sided with Azazel. During the war, paradise was burned to the ground. After the war, man saw its sins. Man looked at what it had done with shame. From this point on, man tried to forget its pact with Azazel. Try as it may, mankind could not completely shut out the influence of the dark one. May this be a reminder that man rejected paradise. It was our sins that took us from Eden.”

“Asura believe this too?” Judas questioned.

“Well, I don’t know about that. This castle wasn’t always Asuran. This was a human country a long time ago. This writing here is an ancient human priest language, so I think this was from them and not from the Asura.” Uriel stood up from his knees and backed away to take another look at the carving.

“Quite amazing that this room survived then,” Judas commented.

“And it’s not really falling apart, either...”

“You sure you don’t want one of these?” Judas questioned again. By this time he was done with his apple. He tossed the core to his left and turned to his comrade. Uriel shook his head. “Your loss.”

“Come on, let’s go back to the group.” Uriel headed for the door. With one last look towards the carving, he left.

[Radikal_Dreamer]

Chapter 5
All she could feel at this moment was the pleasure. Her entire body trembled as she held him to herself. Their lips separated long enough for her to whisper “I love you.”

Slowly, as the pleasure faded, Celaestis’s eyes opened to the light of the sun and the darkness of a world without Uriel. She still didn’t know whether she believed he was real or not. Right now it didn’t really matter to her, though.

She stared ahead at the window in the side of the room and watched the shadows pass by. The warmth from the sun made it feel as though she never left his arms. He was still there, holding her. Maybe he was real now. He just took the form of the sun and chose to shine down on her. He was in spirit form, hugging her entire body.

“Uriel...” She whispered as she turned and looked at the ceiling. “I miss you,” she said as she closed her eyes and imagined his soft touch again.


***


“Damn...” Judas’s mind had shifted from years ago to now. He sat up in bed trying to plot out the best course of action he should take against his newfound enemy.

She was never part of the equation for him. He’d never thought she’d do something like this. He thought she’d just obey Abel. He also thought that Abel would be more capable of maintaining order. Apparently he was wrong about that. Now, his mind drifted back to the day that he appointed Abel.

“Can I trust you?” Judas asked. He sat at the far end of a dark room. Only his silhouette could be made out. He flicked bright orange ashes from his cigar to the ground as he spoke. After his sentence was complete, the cigar went back to his mouth.

“I should be thanking you,” Abel said as he stepped further into the darkness of the room. His wings were spread almost as wide as the door, and they blocked out almost all the light from the hallway.

“You should be killing me...”

“Why? If it weren’t for you who knows how long it would be until I inherited my father’s kingdom,” Abel responded. Judas let out a puff of smoke from his cigar and watched it float up and dissipate into the black room.

“So, I can trust you?” He flicked some more ashes to the floor.

“I’d defend this kingdom with my life.”

“And your sister?”

“She will obey me or die,” Abel said with confidence.

“It seems everything will be in order, then.” Judas sucked in some smoke from his cigar and savored the flavor before releasing it into the air.

“May I ask why you’re leaving?”

“I have some unfinished business. There’s someone I must see.”

“May I also ask why you did it?” Abel asked. Judas knew exactly what he was talking about. He rolled the smoke around his tongue for a few seconds and then opened his mouth. The smoke twirled in the black air and separated until it could no longer be seen.

“Jealousy...hatred...greed...Essentially the same reasons you don’t care that I killed your father.”

...The same reasons Aku had betrayed him now.

Less than a year ago Judas was on top of the world. He was the ruler of a kingdom, and he was a hero.

“It’s true, I was there,” he said as though God almighty had chosen him alone to witness the events. He was the only one, and he considered that a privilege.

“What really happened?” Judas was speaking to a newspaper journalist right now. After returning, he talked to a lot of them. Each one wanted the first-hand story. He also had to give several speeches about Uriel and his death. He had practically become a celebrity.

“Well, see, we all arrived at Osiris’s castle. As you can imagine, he had amassed a rather large army, and he had so many guards.” Judas was leaning backwards comfortably in his black leather chair. He didn’t care that this was a professional meeting. He acted as though the interviewer didn’t matter to him, despite that it did. Each and every interview added to his growing ego.

“How many were there?” The journalist asked over the sound of his own pencil scratching at the paper he held. He stopped only for a moment to wipe a dot of sweat from his forehead, and then he went back to his scratching.

“I don’t really remember. It was about twenty to thirty,” Judas said, “and there were only thirteen of us. These weren’t normal Asura, either. These ones were very good with their weapons. Within the first few minutes, half of us were dead. Slowly, we fought them, until it was just me and Uriel.”

“And how many were left after that?”

“I’d say about five. After a few minutes of sword fighting, we won. Uriel had sustained a few wounds in the process, though. I had my share of scratches, but he was bleeding rather badly. He had to tie his arm up with some cloth.”

“Only you and Uriel were alive after that?” The journalist was still busy writing every word Judas said. This story would be read by so many people, so he needed to set the facts straight. Everyone’s hero had died and he was interviewing the man who saw him last. Judas was, essentially, everyone’s connection to the dead. He was a sort of mediator between death and life, between past and present. This was how everyone saw the story.

“It was just us. Uriel and I went over to a few of them who still had seconds left. He spoke to them and we watched them drift from this plain of existence.”

“That must have been hard.”

“It was... To watch your companions die right in front of you... You can’t imagine how much that still haunts me.”

“And then...?”

“We went into the main room.”

“Osiris’s room?”

“Yes, Osiris himself. We both went in and tried fighting him. He was a master with a sword, though. He stabbed Uriel and I realized that he had very little time to live. I had almost no chance against Osiris by myself. I picked Uriel up and ran.”

“He did not chase you?”

“He didn’t care...As far as he was concerned Uriel, our hero,, was as good as dead. Why should he chase after us?”

“So, you took him out of the castle and...”

“And, as we were leaving, he died in my arms. The blood loss was too great. I tried to put pressure on it to stop the blood from coming, but it just wouldn’t. He died just outside the castle.”

Now Judas sat with nothing. His kingdom was gone, and every advance he tried to make on his relationship with Celaestis just wouldn’t work. She hated him. This fact still had only just begun to sink in.

He contemplated Aku for a few minutes. There would be no way he could attack her in the dream world. Sure, the Asura would be all over the continent, but they could all be there in her dreams. There’s no way she’d sleep without every one of them by her side. That option was definitely out.

He thought for a few minutes. Try as he may to come up with a better solution, there was only one. He knew that he had to go to her and kill her. There was no other way around it. He couldn’t just disappear, though. He’d need some sort of excuse.

Then, he realized that Aku might be stupid enough to send her army after him. He’d just wait for it to attack, and then he’d make his run for it. Everyone would assume he died in the attack. He knew that Aku wouldn’t wait, either.

Judas laughed as he realized something. The refugees in town were because of Aku. He had given Abel instructions that they were not to come near him and he knew the last town was much too close to be from his control. She was sending her army after him. At this rate it would be here very soon. He just had to wait.



Chapter 6

“Well, how was your sleep?” Judas asked as he adjusted the collar on his shirt. He had just come out of the guest room and saw Celaestis sitting at the table. She was having an apple for breakfast.

She swallowed what she had in her mouth before answering Judas' question. “It was just fine.” She realized that it'd be suspicious for her to have not had a nightmare, so she quickly added to her sentence. “Well, it was as fine as dreams can be.”

“Any word on the situation?” Judas asked as he pulled out the chair across from Celaestis.

“None that I've heard. I haven't been outside yet, though.” She took another bite of her apple and turned her stare from the front window to Judas.

“Ah, I thought you may have checked.”

“Well, from the looks of it, people are back to what they were doing yesterday.”

“Buying up everything in the town?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, thanks for the room. I suspect that everyone's out of my house by now, so I should be going.” Celaestis nodded and watched as Judas went to the coat rack and put on his jacket. He reached for the door handle and then turned back to Celaestis. “You do know where Uriel's sword is, right?”

“Yes, why?”

“I'm just not so sure about my promise last night.” Judas turned and went through the door before she had any chance to respond to him. Celaestis didn't think much of it, though. She merely thought he feared the Asuran army. After all, he knew their fierce tactics firsthand. He was merely concerned about her.

Judas walked down onto the cobblestone street and looked at the people as they went past. They all went to his right, towards the market. His house was to the left.

He walked and pushed his way through the crowd until he came to where he lived. All the buildings on this lane were either connected or within a few feet of each other. He had a small section of a house. It was connected on both sides to buildings owned by people whom he had never even met. He started renting it shortly after he came back from war. The person who previously lived there had died in battle. He didn't know the man, though.

The property owner was the one that forced the ten people into his house the previous day. He didn't really care, though, as he could see Celaestis because of it.

Judas walked up the steps of his plain white house and opened the door. Just as he had thought, no one was there. His house consisted of only a few rooms. The room he was in now was the dining room. It had a table and chairs in the middle. The room to the right was his bedroom, and there was a room on the left. That was the kitchen.

There were probably a few things missing from his house because of the company he had in there the previous night, but he didn't really care. As long as they didn't take his swords, nothing mattered. He turned to his right and went straight through into his bedroom. His blankets and pillows were tossed on the bed as though someone had just rolled out and didn't care that they were not in their own house.

Judas went to the side and knelt down on one knee. He bent over and put his hand under the bed and pulled out a long, wooden box. He picked it off the floor and placed it on a flat part of his unmade bed. After that, he put down his other knee as he undid the two clasps for the box.

His two swords sat in the box, still in perfect condition. Ever since his time in the military, he had sharpened them every day. He knew he would need them once again. That time was coming soon.

Next, he knelt down again and pulled out another box. He placed it next to his swords and undid the two latches. When the cover was lifted, it revealed a small crossbow. Normally, one did not have to use this that much against the Asuran warriors, because they came down to fight, but every once in a while a stubborn one would refuse to land. Sometimes when one was about to die, it'd fly off into the air. This crossbow was used to pierce their wings and bring them back down to the ground.

Judas took his swords and hooked them up to his belt. Then, he took a strap from the crossbow's box and wrapped it around his left leg. This was where the crossbow would sit. He grabbed a handful of bolts and stuffed them into his jacket pocket. After this, he took one bolt and loaded the crossbow.

Just as he loaded his crossbow, a flood of pain entered his body. It started in his back and then continued to engulf all of his flesh. It ripped through his veins and burned his skin. With a sudden gasp, his body was pushed forward, and a sword came piercing through his chest.

His entire body began to shake as he looked down to see his blood pouring over the foreign blade. Then, the sword was pulled out, and the force pulled his abdomen backwards as he toppled to his hands and knees. He stayed resting for a few seconds, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Judas took his left hand and felt his wound. He let the blood flow over his hand and smiled as it slowly came to a stop. His shaking hand pushed him up to a standing position, and he turned to see his assailant.

“What the hell?” Judas was greeted with the sight of an Asuran warrior. He was wearing normal Asuran armor which consisted of a gray, stone-like material worn as a breastplate, wrist guards, and shin guards. They didn't really need much armor, anyways, as their skin was slightly tougher than any human's, and they could kill almost any human before being touched.

“That's precisely what I thought the first time I died,” Judas said as an even bigger grin formed across his face. He stared at the Asuran warrior and watched the fear engulf him. First he began to shake, and then Judas could see the sweat beads form.

“What are you?” The Asura asked.

“Well, at first I thought I was human, but humans are frail and weak,” Judas said, still grinning. His right hand reached onto the bed and grabbed his crossbow. “Then again, so are Asura.” With this, he pulled the crossbow out in front of himself and pulled the trigger. Within seconds the Asura collapsed to the floor with a six inch bolt lodged neatly between his eyes.

“There will be one who will surpass death. Like a phoenix, he will rise and dispel the darkness from the world,” Judas whispered to the dead Asura's ear as he reached out, pulled the bolt from the its head, and placed it back in the crossbow.

“...and so it begins...” Judas said to himself as he felt for his wound. By now the it was just a scar. His clothes still had holes, but his body did not. His shirt also had a decent sized bloodstain on it, but he didn't care. He knew he'd probably have more wounds later.

The pain had left him at the same time that his mortal wound did. All he had left now was a memory of the pain.

Somehow, amidst the agony of having a sword driven straight through his body, Judas had not heard anything that was happening outside. Slowly, the noises of the outside world pierced through to his mind, and he realized that it really had began. Aku's forces were now attacking Akeldama.

Judas walked to the opened door, listening to the screaming victims. He stood in the doorway for what seemed like days. His war memories came back now. Judas remembered his first battle against the Asura, and then, suddenly, he was there again.

“Here they come! Get ready!”The gritty voice of the commander could be heard over the hushed whispers. Judas stood in a trench with hundreds of other soldiers, most of which wouldn't see the light of the sun after this day. Judas waited, sword out of his sheath. When the Asura came, the soldiers were supposed to lunge their swords into the beasts' bellies. This was while they tried to do the very same thing.

A swarm of about fifty Asura had just come over the horizon. Judas' heart was pounding. What if he could die this time? What if he was really not physically immortal?

His eyes stared, frozen in awe of the Asuran warriors. How could man beat these? He watched as the black shadow that blocked out the rising sun changed into fifty distinct shapes. It all seemed so slow, and yet so fast at the same time. Within what seemed like seconds, he was thrown to the back of the trench by the force of fifty beasts.

His body slammed into the cold dirt, and he strained to see what happened next. With the first Asuran attack, nearly half the humans were gone. The man who had stood to his right was now lying at his feet, struggling for breath. A blow from one of the Asura had left him with a giant cut straight across his chest. His government issued uniform was now stained with his very lifeblood. He would live for only seconds before succumbing to death's icy grasp.

Judas looked to his left and saw another one of his comrades. This one had succeeded in hitting the Asura that was nearest to him. The beast was sliced in the stomach and had flown straight into the back of the trench. Its wings had been broken and were strewn about his body in a most painful manner. It was so close that Judas could feel its breath on his neck.

He turned and looked into the Asura's eyes. Within those black circles, Judas saw hatred, agony, fear, and despair. Then, he turned and watched the man walk toward the gray mass with his sword held high in the air. Those same emotions were painted in this man's eyes, too.

The human used all his strength and, with a downward cut, chopped the Asura's head completely off its body. Judas just continued to stare into the eyes of his fellow man. This wasn't man killing beast, it was beast killing fellow beast...


Chapter 7

The moment passed by so quickly that he had no idea how or even why it happened until after. It was as if he had just awoken from a dream. He knew that he previously laid on a stone table with no knowledge of the outside world, but now he sat with his eyes opened.

Somewhere in his dreams he had crossed the line from death to life. He could not pinpoint it, but he knew the transition was there. It was the same sort of transition as he made when he woke up. Maybe the problem wasn't in the changes, but in the environments of the changes. It was dark in his dreams, and now he sat in a black room, void of all light. Going from one to the other would be quite seamless.

He knew that, once he died, he continued to reach out from within the darkness. He found Celaestis within that darkness. At the time, he had accepted it as reality. He thought that, somehow, he had entered her dreams after dying. Now that he was back in reality, though, the thought occurred that he may have dreamed the whole thing. What if that was not really Celaestis? Could it have been a figment of his imagination, made up to help him through the black abyss of death?

“The prophecy,” he whispered, despite being the only one in the cave. “There will be one who will surpass death. Like a phoenix, he will rise and dispel the darkness from the world,” Uriel said, repeating what he had been taught from as early as he could remember. This was the great prophecy that everyone looked towards. It was believed that the savior would lead humanity against the Asura.

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. This would be the mark of the day of the fulfillment.” Uriel's mind recited the prophecy and then instantly shot backwards.

“Osiris' castle...”Uriel said as the giant building came into view. There was really nothing magnificent about it aside from it's massive size. The dark gray stone material almost blended into the brooding clouds behind the castle. Stones seemed to be missing everywhere, and one giant crack slithered it's way up the right wall.

The castle had three towers that could be seen from Uriel's viewpoint. There was one for each side of the door and one giant square tower in the background. They all knew that the giant tower would be where Osiris' room was located.

The two walls stretched on past those two towers and back into the forest that surrounded the building. The walls were at least ten feet taller than any tree in the area, and could be seen from the very outskirts of the forest. Then, the towers themselves extended another ten feet. The biggest tower stood to the right of the two guard towers.

Two guards stood at the opened gate. Right now they were talking to each other and paid no attention to the direction that Uriel and the others came from. Uriel turned to watch his soldiers coming through the forest.

They all wore their normal military uniforms. These consisted of the same black pants and white muscle shirt that Judas and Uriel wore. A few of the men did wear their over-shirt, though, which was just a blue, collared, long-sleeved shirt. Most of them had used their over-shirts as washrags. Two, excluding Judas, had also tore theirs up and used it as a headband.

Once all twelve of them had assembled in front of their commander, Uriel began to speak. “This is it, men.” He tried to sound confident, but he knew that some of his nervousness escaped into the air above the crowd. “This is the closest the human army has ever come to Osiris' castle.”

Uriel stopped for a few moments and looked down the row at his men. These were not just his soldiers. These were his friends, and he knew that he was now leading them into danger. Possibly, none of them would return. He looked at each one, and they all had a look of confidence. They all trusted Uriel with their lives. He knew that each one feared this castle and the events that would take place inside it, but he knew that they would follow him to the end of the earth.

It was this very notion that almost made Uriel sick with sadness. He knew he was about to risk his life for humanity, and he accepted this. He did not, however, accept risking other people's lives. He struggled to rid himself of the guilt that a commander must feel.

“We may very well die here...” They all nodded solemnly.

“To life!” Judas shouted, raising his sword into the air. The rest gathered into a circle and raised their swords.

The two guards heard this sound and began running towards the group. Judas was the first to notice, and quickly had one lying on the ground with a bolt through his heart. The other one rushed at them with its sword out, but Uriel quickly stabbed it in the stomach and sent it flopping to the ground.

“Move, move!” Uriel shouted as he ran towards the open door. They needed to do this quickly. When they went in they saw that the hallway split two ways. Small candles lined the walls on each side and provided the only lights.

Uriel chose to go through the hallway on his right, because they had seen the giant tower in that direction. The hallway extended about twenty feet and then turned to the left. When Uriel reached the halfway point, a few Asura appeared around the corner behind them.

“Keep moving!” Uriel shouted to the back of the line. “Fight and move!” Before his last sentence came out, though, more Asura appeared in front of him. The hallway was too small for a lot of sword work, but he managed to deflect the Asura's first blow and plant his sword deeply within its body.

The next one was also dispatched within a few sword movements. Uriel went up and over the bodies and continued. He picked up his pace so as to reach Osiris before the entire Asuran army found out they were there. The hallway turned to the left and then, after about ten more feet of hallway, it opened opened up into a giant courtyard. The back of the line was still fending off Asura as it ran.

Uriel ran out into the courtyard and stopped. The others filed out behind him and saw exactly what he saw. Each of the other three walls had a door and each was flooded with Asura. In the middle of this courtyard was the giant tower.

“Go to the tower,” one of the soldiers said. “Get in and we'll fight out here.”

“Yeah,” another agreed. “Uriel and Judas should hurry and kill Osiris.” Uriel hesitated, but knew he had to do it. Judas and Uriel ran to the tower and opened the doorway. Judas was the first to enter, and Uriel looked back at his soldiers one more time. They all nodded to Uriel and then turned to await the coming Asura.

Uriel turned and shut the wooden door. Judas was already starting up the flights of stairs.

“If there are any Asura, let me take them. You go straight to Osiris,” Judas said as he continued up the stairs. This tower was also only lighted by small candles that lined walls.

One Asura came rumbling down the stairs and Judas stuck to his word. He deflected it's blow and forced its sword to his right side. At that time he tried to use his other sword to kill the beast, but it was too strong and pushed him back down the stairs before he could hit it.

Uriel was already around the corner and up about twenty stairs when he heard Judas' fall. He looked down to see if Judas needed any help. He saw his companion laying across the stairs and the Asura about to plunge its sword into his body.

“Go!” Judas shouted as he rolled and the Asuran sword hit the stone stairs. Uriel hesitated long enough to see the door open and another Asura come in. Judas was now between the two beasts. “Uriel! Go!” Judas shouted as he backed down the stairs. By this time the Asura stood up, and his ally was rushing to help.

Uriel turned, knowing that he had to go. He knew that Judas still had a very good chance at coming ahead in that fight, as he had fought two at once many times previous to this. He heard the four swords coming together many times on his way up. His ears concentrated on the fight. If Judas had died before he reached the top, he would know it.

Finally, he came to an unguarded doorway. He reached out towards the doorknob and hesitated, still concentrating on Judas' fight at the bottom. When he finally heard the screech of a dying Asura, he entered the door.

Uriel found himself in yet another hallway. This one, too, was lighted by only candles. He could see an opening into a room a few feet ahead.

“Uriel,” a voice said from inside. Uriel walked forward until he reached the opening. It was a dark, bare room. The only thing that could be seen was the silhouette of an Asura in a chair. His wings were folded in as much as possible, so that they could barely be seen. This gave him the image of a man.

“I've been expecting you,” Osiris said. Uriel stood in the light from the hallway, and gripped his sword tighter. “Before you kill me, though, I have a few things to say to you.”

“What?” Uriel took a step into the room, still gripping his sword as tightly as he could.

“Uriel... You should know that the Asura were once humans.”

“Huh...?” He had never heard this before. To humans, they were nothing but beasts. “How...?”

“Azazel...”

“You're trying to trick me...” He couldn't comprehend what this meant. They were always monsters. How could they be humans?

“Surely you know of Azazel...”

“The great dragon?” Uriel questioned.

“The very same.” Osiris laughed to himself before continuing. “You see, Uriel, it's all true. Humanity has been denying it's inner will this whole time. Since the very beginning, we've pushed back the influences of what we call the dark one. The Asura have accepted this influence. The transformation started centuries ago, and we are slowly becoming like him.”

“So, the nightmares...”

“Are Azazel's doing. He gave us these powers.”

“Azazel...is...still alive?”

“Hah, yes, I suppose the beast himself still lives. I haven't seen him, no, but I doubt we'd be alive if he was dead. We sold our souls to him long ago, Uriel. Our lives are his...that was the deal...and all so that we could win this war.” This was all quite shocking to Uriel. The nightmares had been there since the very beginning, and to know that it was humans that had done that to them... To know that these beasts that had been killing humans since the before he could remember were humans just like him...

“That's right, Uriel, we're humans too. After all these years, that's all it's been. I know it's been easier to simplify what you've been doing by telling yourself that we're inferior beasts, but the truth is that we were once the same.”

“So, why fight?”

“Well, I don't exactly know why the war started in the first place, but it's been this way for centuries. Why continue, though? Well, you humans refuse to accept one thing. We are all children of Azazel. Accept it and become like us. You're nothing but inferior and frail humans right now, and that's all because of your precious pride. No amount of prophecies will change the fact that we are the darkness... All of us... not just the Asura.”

Uriel stopped for a few moments, thinking. He had come here to slay a demon, not a human. That's when it happened. But, this could be a trick. And then, it happened.

“My God, why have you forsaken me?” Uriel whispered just as he felt the pain in his back. He knew what was about to happen. During his life, he had been told that he was the prophecy. He would slay the darkness. The Asura would fall to his feet. Now, it seemed like the very same God that placed him at the top had kicked him straight to the bottom. He was forsaken...

Slowly the blade entered his body. Just as it began to pierce, a pool of blood poured out onto it. The metal was slowly eclipsed in a sea of red. Uriel gasped for breath, but the sword had already ripped through his lungs. His muscles lost the grip of his own blade as he saw the tip of his assailant’s sword come through the front of his chest.

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.” The assailant had whispered this into his ear before everything turned into black.

...and now here he was, sitting in his own tomb. He tried to piece everything together. Surely, he had surpassed death. That part of the prophecy was fulfilled. God had not forsaken him after all. He had risen from the dead with nothing but a scar. One of the first things he did when he awoke was feel his chest. Nothing remained but a slight scar.

Now, as the savior, he needed to dispel the darkness, but what was the darkness? Was it truly as Osiris had told him? “No...”

Then, it came to him. Osiris had admitted that if Azazel was dead, they too would die. Uriel realized what his mission as savior was. He needed to kill Azazel to rid the world of the Asuran darkness. Then, the prophecy would be fulfilled.