Amira looked at her brother and smiled at him. She couldn't help but to laugh at his humorous self. The chains were really starting to hurt her now, and she was sure that she was going to have a bruise from it. Looking at Dominic, she wondered what he was planning on doing. Hopefully it wasn't any type of halfway thought of plan of his. There was something about this guy that meant he wasn't going to take anything from anyone. Once the pair started to fight, Amira flinched when her brother got hit by Elris. "Dominic!"

She called out to him before feeling the chains around her drop along with her afterwards. She turned to look and see Cal behind her. She smiled lightly at him before he picked her up and got her out of there. She wanted to stay and help her brother somehow. Something inside of her told her though, that Elris was way too strong for her. She would just be more dead weight in the whole thing. "You have to help him." She turned and looked at Cal before getting off of the horse she was on top of.

"You just have to help him, I know I can't do anything at the moment, so I'm totally useless right now. But you can do something can't you?" Amira hated the idea of her brother fighting Elris alone. To be honest she still didn't even know who the strange man was. All she knew was that he was evil and had some sort of strange power or something.

Dominic knew this situation wasn't right, but he had the plane up, the dream world, so it should be okay, right? Things were in his favor here. So, he stood and listened to the man as he spoke, not sure what to say in response. When their eyes met, he almost felt like he was choking. Maybe it was just the overwhelming sense of fear. "Prince Dominic a pleasure to see you finally I can meet you, I challenge you for a duel no powers no tricks so we can see who here is more deserving of the crown and you and I both know that's me. Elris is my name and let's make this more interesting alright if you win then you can have your sister back and we will part our ways but if I win your going to do a little task for me holding Darius scepter for a minute maybe a second and I take you captive if not killed."

D-do what? Dominic question, hesitating greatly when Elris was done speaking. Hesitating proved to be his biggest mistake as, in under a minute, the other man had him by the throat and his head was throbbing in pain. He gasped for breath, trying to find what little air he could to breathe. Then, before he could even reach for his sword or think of a way to react--he was too stunned to do a thing--he was on the ground, heaving and gasping for air. His eyes widened as he stared at the ground, the dream world around them crashing away without any notice at all. Wh...what just happened? "I won now onto our little agreement don't you think?"

The agreement? What agree--oh, that one. He gulped, his throat sore. What could he do now, in a situation like this? Could he try and fight back? He could, but that would be a death wish. This man, Elris, whoever he was and whatever hole he crawled out from, was strong. He glanced up and saw that Amira was no longer chained to the tree. This brought a feeling of relief to him, though he wasn't sure what happened to her. He closed his eyes for a moment. As long as she's okay, it doesn't matter about me. Opening his eyes again, Dominic got to his feet to face Elris, trying to hide away the pain he felt. "What do you need me to do?"

Cal looked back at the prince and the strange man. There was a sort of evil and pained arua that surrounded the man, though Cal had no idea why. The princess said that he should help the prince but Cal didn't know if he could. He looked back at Amira with solem eyes and then got off the stallion saying
"go quietly and quickly back to the castle, me and Dominic will meet you there" he looked at the man again "it is imperitive you are quiet, i am not sure that i can save you again" he whispered to the stallion quietly and then finnaly said "good luck Amira" he smiled and then walked next to the Prince "Dominic... it is not like you to go down so soon..." he looked at the man "hello stranger...would you mind telling me your name? No tricks i just wish to speak to you... i have no affliction to the kingdom... i am the Blue fighter though you may call me Blue if you so desire"

Elris looked at Dominic and he lifted him back into the air without any use of his power but one of his eye's did look were Dominic was looking and he said calm "I can't have any problems, my name isn't important and you are helping the prince I'm not a retard your the blue fighter you have come here not on my orders and you have helped the princess." The ground shacked and a huge builder hit both the princess and that other guy "Prince I want you to lead me to were I want to be other wise I will make your sister mad enough to kill you wile making you mad too want to know how?" Elris spoke with the cold ghostlike voice into the princes mind "This is how so don't go and run away when I release you again alright." He let the prince go and the sword flew into Elris hand "A Alabord Demari master smith of Hyrzua he makes true masterpieces sadly that it has ended up in your inexperienced hand's I began with a kitchen knife I stole out of the kitchen of your castle." Elris put Darius scepter in the prince his hand and it began to glow on the right side "Just follow the glow no tricks." He looked around and then gazed to Loki "Who are you?" He sent to the Loki's mind with a perfect actor face of his cold face "Play your role by following the prince your mission will not be compromised as it will be good of you in case of failure to retake the prince." Elris let Loki fly to him and set him at the side of Dominic "Here's a companion to keep you company as your kind of person needs company."

Amira looked at Cal and could understand where he was coming from. It seemed everyone had some sort of fear of that man. She watched as he walked away and went back over to her brother's side. Could she really just leave her brother again. She was worried about him and she wouldn't be a good sister if she would have just left. She was going to have to get over her fears and suck it up for her brother's sake. Amira couldn't show her weaknesses in front of Dominic anymore. Taking a deep breath she quickly walked over and behind her brother.

She was able to hear that the man's name was Elris. His powers were still uncertain to her though. "I know you told me to go back, but I can't leave Dominic." She whispered in Cal's ear watching as Elris passed her brother some sort of scepter. Amira watched as the thing glowed and she couldn't help but have a weird feeling about everything. Why did he need her brother for directions? It was more of a joke she asked herself. He should have asked someone else, Dominic wasn't the best when it came to giving directions to people. But seeing that this scepter was suppose to point him in the right direction, made it easier.

Cal looked at the spetor with inquisitive eyes. He had never really seen anything like it before as it glowed gold. The man had passed it to the prince, saying something of a companion to be with Dominic. Before Cal could investigate though something knocked him away, almost hitting out of view of the others. He growled, his eyes seeming to glow sapphire blue. Though he wouldn't attack, not yet,he had no idea what this man's intentions were and as such it would be too hasty to stop him. The princess ended up with them and he sighed. He admired the princess in some ways but in others not so much. The only power she had was healing ad that took away her own life force, that wouldn't be that useful if the prince or he was killed or heavily ingured
"Fine... but be careful, i don't wanna have to explain to Dominic why i let you get heavily ingured or even killed" he whispered back.

Maci laughed as she scared the little Guardian away, then realizing she kind of mess up the plan. “Hey Akane, go after this guardian, sorry for making you chase, hey it might be fun. I’m going to go talk to Elris, tell him this guardian got away, but tell him what i think.” With that Maci jumps up into the air and spreads her wings and starts heading towards the headquarters, thinking Elris would be there. As she flew through the forest, dodging branches and tress, along with forest animals, which were just scared of Maci.

As Maci was heading towards the Chronos headquarters, she heard familiar, the voice of Elris. Maci then changed directions and heading to where she heard, then got to a clearing of the forest, and where Elris is, and by a lake, but Maci just ignored that. She flew up to Elris and landed next to him, right next to the lake. “Hey, the guardian got away, my fault, ask Akane. But I’m tired of being your tool; Ishkur is probably the only person that likes being played.” Maci said, then looking back to other people who she just noticed, her back to Elris. "You know Elris, if it wasnt for me or Akane, there wouldnt be Ishkur, thinkg about that." Maci said, as she opened up her wings and was about to fly off.

Akane watched as the guardian took off int eh forest trying to escape, her wings flapping once with enough force to stop her mid fall and shake the trees below. She looked over at Maci with a pissed off look if she hadn't interrupted the guardian would be on the ground under her boot right now. “Hey Akane, go after this guardian, sorry for making you chase, hey it might be fun. I’m going to go talk to Elris, tell him this guardian got away, but tell him what i think.” With that she was already flying off. "I have to chase her after SHE fucks it up?!" She let out an angry sigh as she took off into the forest and started to follow the broken branches from the guardian. "This is such Bull Shit!" She yelled making the wind go to her back increasing her speed. "You want escape that easily!" She yelled hoping the little guardian could hear her. Oh the pain she was going to inflict upon her when she caught that little bitch.

Elris looked at Maci for a short moment analyzing what was happening but he wasn't surprised as such thing was going to happen in the near future but it should have happened after he had build it not before she had to see how weak she truly was. "I understand." He rose his hand up, most times Elris didn't need to make any movement with his body but for this kind of power would it be perfect. He shot Maci into the lake with great speed letting water fly everywhere "I fully understand, Chronos isn't in need of your serves anymore thank you for your cooperation." He looked to the lake for a few seconds as he thought of how strange it was that these creatures could kill him so easily but not swim but then it was only situation. "Go on."

The rhyme was famous but also a misery to have to code and in the ages it had become a very silent and bended message that was only known by a select view but it had spelled it perfectly in Elris eye's.

From the sky it came
Red as the eye's but still not the same
Were the sky's though the other
With the golden scepter of the mother
You can find the star stone's place
but beware it's as mace
Madness and sadness brings it's might
When on the wrong flight
May none ever find it
As none can withstand it
As none can live with it

Elris had heard this rhyme from a priest when he had pushed him to insanity and it seemed to be half code half reality refereeing to flight as destiny and the mace as the place of hiding and the three last pieces were warnings but it was mostly clear expect the scepter of the mother referring to Daruis scepter that was gifted from a far queen called Mother on one of his ancestors.

[Tab, you better read this when you're back]

Listening to Elris was really getting to Len; yes, the guy was in charge, but he stayed out of the middle-man stuff. It was all well and good that he said they had influence over the majority of the troops, but the loyal forces were the most powerful, the most patriotic, and importantly, the most magic-resistant. Elris could lead the Angles around all he liked, but if Len hadn’t helped out at the beginning of Chronos, where would it be now? He just stood and nodded, watching as Elris and Abomination left, then sat down and sighed. This was really escalating now, and the bizarre thing was, he hadn’t left this room in days, maybe even a couple of weeks now, and he still knew exactly what each department of Chronos was doing. Len pondered the outside; the massacres of the Angels, the chaos of the Royal lands, the fear driving through the farms... and his family. Chronos mook family had been transported out ages ago, except for his. Would they survive this?

A series of knocks on the door interrupted his thought pattern.

“Yes, Jamesson?” Len noticed his exhaustion in his words. Jamesson entered, complete with tray of tea-making facilities. Ah, was it that time already.

Jamesson laid the tray on the desk. “Cheers.” Len was just glad there was someone out there in this company he could trust. It was a little unorthodox that this was his assistant, but nevertheless, everyone needed a confident.

He reached over and began pouring. “I knew Chronos would be trouble, but I didn’t quite expect this. I feel like I haven’t seen Virchow in forever, the Boss is taking interest in only the Angel-related business, and the Angels... well, I’ve only met one, and they seemed to be a bit of a, um, unusual deposition.” And drink. Ah... it was a good idea annexing the tea farmland in the early stages. Yes, maybe there were a few dozen important mines, but the tea was worth it. “What’s going on down the hierarchy?”

“Well, sir, the scientists seem to be complaining of a lack of materials, as well as believing their work is underappreciated. And, er,” he glanced at a clipboard. “Oh! The workers are still low in morale, wanting to know exactly what is going on with the Angels.” Len placed his tea down and groaned. How many times would he have to talk to the works about the Angels. Or maybe talking wouldn’t do. Maybe he had to go further. “Which subjects do we still have in Holding?” The tone was low and cold; Jamesson could sense why he wanted to know. “Sir, please don’t do that. If the boss-“

“If the boss finds out, I’ll take the fall.” Len downed the rest of the tea and stood up, making way towards the door. “Besides, I have another project to check. Here’s a job for you: go down to Dr Lex and tell him to prepare my project. I’ll be there in a couple of hours.” He slid out the door before Jamesson could reply. The PA rubbed his face with his free hand, trying to massage out some tiredness. Being Len’s PA was certainly interesting. He could say for certain that no other regular in Chronos got this much information. And after seeing what happened to the others... yeah. Definitely the right choice, this job. He looked down at the scrawling on the clipboard. ‘Dr Lex, 2 hours, Adaven’s project.’ Ok, mostly the right choice. He picked up the tray and left, soon having to make his way down.

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Holding was an unusual place. Some of the failed Angels still had research possibilities, and were kept down here. Chronos’ best guards, equipment and magic-resistant items were used here, as an escaped Angel could quickly take down the buttresses of the building. Luckily, there had only been one breakout, and Elris himself had stopped it. The guards knew the price of failure after that. Despite his ranking and ability, Len was forced to have a guard follow him around ‘just in case’. His escort led him to area 4, and Len took the lead down a tight corridor, barely enough for him to fit through. He felt the heat of the torches as he walked down, their yellow glass coverings creating an unusual effect down the passage. A door appeared on the left, Cell 4-4027, holding Angel ID 4027, obviously. Len peered in as he passed, noting the Angel’s appearance. Green skinned, looking sickly. Apparently, he had some sort of allergy to the yellow light in the corridor, a measure to help contain him. A few more steps took him past Cell 4-4888, the Angel dubbed ‘Taser’. This one had the ability to create lightning from his body, but a cell made of pure iron disrupted his power. The Angel jumped on the door as he passed, a slicing noise filling the air as he impaled his hands on the spikes on the door. Of course, this one was messed up, and didn’t even feel it. Len’s facial expression said it all; that one really weirded him out.

The next door was what he wanted. Angel 5174. Len mentally went over the file he had read. Most Angels had the problem that their AT fields were too weak. Indeed, it seemed as if that problem was beginning to resurface in the working Angels. 5174 had different problems, though. The AT field was too strong. It had a permanent presence on this plane, and was slowly seeping into it’s mind. There had to be some sort of middle ground, though, but the problem was they needed to study him in order to secure any sort of theory, and no one could get close enough before the field started having an effect on them, crushing their mind. The only remedy was someone completely immune to magic... now where could you find someone like that?

The cell’s watcher handed Len a syringe. He would likely only have one chance at this, the syringe’s matter being susceptible to the AT field. “Good luck, sir,” the watcher muttered as he wound the chain to the cell’s door. Len slowly moved inwards, the door slamming behind him. The cell was small, probably only able to fit around 20 people. The walls had been built in white tile, but decay had taken its toll, and on top of that, the empowered AT field cast a wavy pattern across the area, ultimately shading the cell blue. And in the corner, sure as ever, was 5174: Safeguard.

Safeguard was in the corner of the room, huddled on a bench with its arms over its body. It was difficult to tell in this light, but Safeguard had some... irregular features. The skin was pale blue, and the eyes dark black, with no visible iris. Scrawly hair matching the eye’s colour dominated the head, the untidiness obvious by the fact they were not expected to keep up appearance. Apart from the odd colour, Safeguard could pass as normal; well, if it wasn’t for the wings. They were exceptional, really. A spectrum of colour, made entirely out of energy. Unusable, yes, but terrifying in the right situation. As Len moved further towards it, the arms went down and it stared, right at- er, near him.

“That’s right, I’m immune. So we can do this easy if you want to, Safeguard, but I’m leaving with this full.” Len twizzeled the syringe in his hand as Safeguard slowly uncoiled. It stood up and edged towards him. Len stiffened, not sure what to expect. “You never got a weapon. I know that. So why not-“ Len was cut off by Safeguard spontaneously leaping on him, slamming him against the portcullis door. The syringe fell out of his hand as he used both to hold the Angel away from him, the creature thrashing about like a rabid dog. Struggling to maintain a hold against the construct, Len attempted to lift his leg, and gave it a swift kick to the stomach region. Safeguard keeled over slightly. Well, something worked there. Len drew out his right leg’s kukri and went for a slice on the arm. The blade cut the air and embedded itself in Safeguard’s forearm.

“Oh bugger.” Len hadn’t anticipated that. Safeguard pulled out the kukri and the wound healed instantaneously. In response, Len swiped out the other leg’s knife. The Angel adopted a fighting stance. “The hard way it is,” Len said smugly, before blocking the creature’s first strike.

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As well as being Len’s PA, Jamesson had some basic admin duties. The dull stuff could be quite welcome after serving with the Angels and their bosses. His first duty alongside Len had involved ‘testing’ one of the prototype Angels. And by ‘testing’ he meant cutting holes into it to find out how long the regeneration took. Every time he received an ‘urgent’ notice, he just remembered that, and he kept sane.

After placing some more papers on Len’s desk, Jamesson decided it was finally time to go see Dr Lex. The thought placed ill on his mind. Dr Lex wasn’t head scientist for the primary reason that he disagreed with Elris a LOT. The last straw had been the invention of the anti-telepath field; blocking the ability of telepathy to work within the area. And Elris, furious about the creation of something that impeded his power, made it clear Lex would never have a position of power in the company. But, it made sense. If you wanted a project developed without Elris finding out, who better to go to?

Jamesson tidied his modest desk and began the walk to the labs. The first walk was down the main staircase; splendid architecture, but he was too occupied by the looks of Chronos workers passing him as he descended. He never got anything from them. No threats, or violence. But he knew they hated him for his opportunity. There was one guy, Marcus, who had applied alongside him. He found out three months later that Marcus had been used to test for that Angel... the first success. ‘Maci’, wasn’t it?

Mulling over whether this was a ‘success’ or not, Jamesson suddenly felt a bit sour. Morality was never his strong point. He reached the end of the staircase, the deepest basements (Well, second deepest, but he wasn’t allowed in Holding) where the labs laid. The bleach-like smell of the labs had always deterred him from making an appearance, but he had seen the maps of the building enough to know the layout perfectly. The left corridor was the darkest of the branches from this pit, and Jamesson was reluctant to enter. Still, he had a job to do. As his footsteps echoed, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was some sort of warning, expecting a sign saying ‘Abandon Hope all ye who Enter...’

A wall suddenly appeared in front of him, nearly getting the better of him. As he tried to look for a secret door or something, he noticed a small beam of light from under a door, down a barely noticeable corridor to the left. It was so dark, it was no wonder he hadn’t seen it. Treading carefully up to the door, he considered knocking. After all, he did have to deliver the message. But... Dr Lex was terrifying. He once killed a mook by yelling at him. Neither option sounded-

The door swung open. “Yeshellowhat?” spat a bulky, grey-haired man dressed in a mix of lab gear and battle armour. Jamesson jumped; he had been taken by surprise, coupled by the suddenly intense bright light in the lab, causing him to slip and fall to the ground. “If this is some sort of practical joke, you’re doing miserably.” The doctor’s posh accent became more noticeable. Yep, this was him. Dr Lex had been a member of the nobility, but had been too insane to ever be taken seriously by the rest of the land, causing him to join Chronos in the first place.

Jumping up and trying to keep composure, he tried to keep on the doctor’s good side. “I, I have a me-message from Mr Ad, Adaven, Dr, Sir, Man.” Yeah, he did a fine job there... The man raised an eyebrow. “Ah, is it time already? I must admit, I haven’t exactly been keeping track of the project. Interesting. Please, come in.” Lex moved to allow him in, and Jamesson reluctantly entered. The lab was a peculiar place, much like the others. Scientific kits, research papers, all the usual stuff. Apart from a most unusual device in the far corner. A central sphere of white (Pure Magic?) tapped by pipes that surrounded it, most leading down into a central construct below the glow, and a couple of pipes pointing up, funnelling into bizarre spinney thing. A polite cough reminded him where he was. “Enjoying yourself, are you?” asked Lex. Jamesson was hypnotised by it. “What is that?” Lex moved up to the device and patted the sphere. “This is my famous telepathy-blocker. Too heavy to lift in here without telekinesis, but of course, it cancels it, so it’s been here since. Maybe when Elris isn’t so far up himself he will appreciate my genius.” Oh dear, this can’t go well. Best get back to why I’m here.

“Mr Adaven told me to inform you he wants the project in two hours.” Lex twitched into a stiff-looking posture. “Already? I’ve had barely any time to work on it! Who does he think I am?!” Panicking, Jamesson picked up a piece of scrap wood and cowered behind it. “Because I am some sort of genius!” He peered over the scrap and noticed Lex walk over to a compartment, picking out a key. “Angels are just manipulation of standard Human DNA. But if we take the DNA of someone with powers, we can find out how to amplify it into inorganic materials. And, just as Adaven asked, I have perfected it. Well,” he added, “Nearly.” The doors swung open, and inside was a suit of armour. If fit had been designed for Len, then it was a tight fit. The plating was an unusual pale violet colour, shining exponentially in the glow of the device, with a multi-coloured trim. Nothing exceptionally difficult. Well, except for the veins of pure white that appeared to supply the magic to the entire suit. Even so, what could be so ingenious about it?

“I’m... not really following this. What is it?” A swipe around the head was his first answer, followed by the doctor’s explanation. “This, boy, is the pinnacle of magic-utilisation! One ordinary suit of zephyr armour-“ Zephyr? Not the most durable material. Odd choice. “-enhanced with tracks of power harnessing, designed to replicate a person’s magic ability and strengthen it to be permanently on.” His voice escalated in volume as he went on. “Which, in your boss’s case, means complete and utter protection from any sort of magic attacks, EVEN those made by passive powers, such as an invisible crossbow bolt, or a fist from a healer.” His voice quietened for the last piece. “This suit levels the playing field for him. Of course, I don’t know what happens if someone with a different power uses it, but that what experiments are for!”

Jamesson walked up to it and placed a hand on the chest plate. Cold, with the unusual feeling that came with magic items to the non-users. “But... why has he authorized this?” Lex rummaged through his papers on the desk. “I believe this is the only excuse he needs,” he said with a silent, solace tone, holding up an executive order. Jamesson took it and read the text:

“Just in case – Adaven”.

He looked back at the old man. “In case of what? The Angels would never attack us.” He thought about that. “Would they?”

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The kukri pierced a few hairs as Len ducked and rolled away towards the back of the cell. Safeguard pulled the knife out of the wall, tearing out tiles and kicking a load of dust around. Len adopted a crouched position on the bench, noticing the watcher and his guard trying to decide what to do.

“Just watch the door!” he ordered them. “I’m fine in here!”

This came as Safeguard swung a leg round, narrowly missing his face. Len hadn’t seen the claws on Safeguard before. After all, the wings kinda took your attention. The Angel continued a spin, choosing another stab attack. Len’s reflexes paid off, raising his own knife up to block the swing, and he took the chance to kick Safeguard in the shin. It’s balance off, it tried to recover by jumping on him, but again he had moved and the Angel went into the tiles. When it turned its face to Len, he saw the broken nose reverse back into shape.

Right. Maybe it was his turn. Len made a lunge, lancing forward with his kukri, repeatedly stabbing the construct in the chest. And again, the cuts healed up when he removed it. Occupied, he had barely any time to avoid the blade headed right for his neck. His manoeuvre brought him back to opposite his foe, the two of them on either side of the cell.

Safeguard made a relatively conservative move, lashing out with the kukri and slowly moving forward. Len copied him, and the two met for a quasi-slap fight. Blade ricocheted off blade multiple times, sparks flying off either side. Counting in his head, Len tried to find an opportunity. ‘Two, three, five, seven, ten, eleven, now!’ He made a flicking attack, and sure enough, Safeguard was off-guard. The knife was propelled out of his hand, and a bemused look tried to enter the coal eyes. Len began panting. How much more could this-

The thought had barely finished when Safeguard grabbed it’s jaw and screamed. It was so unusual. Not so much a scream, but a call of darkness...

*Pt-tash*

Len stumbled as a tile whacked him round the head. His balance went, and he fell against the wall. Aah... that was a little bleeder. He turned his gaze to the Angel. It was... pulling it’s jaw off? At least, harming itself in some way. And this was affecting the AT field. The tiles on the walls were misbehaving, as if their reality was changing. Some followed the path of the first and whizzed off the wall; others simply dropped to the ground; the rest disintegrated. Len felt a little something he wasn’t used to – panic. Lucky his power would protect him from similar effects. He flicked round the knife and prepared to jump the Angel. It stared right into him as he made the jump. The kukri stabbed right at it, and stopped in mid air.

“Oh, for-“ he squeaked. Len was immune. The kukri wasn’t. It glowed with a field similar in colour to Safeguard’s skin, before slamming into the wall, taking Len with it. His skull cracked right onto an exposed brickwork wall. As he tried to recover, it moved into the other wall, catching the exact same spot on the other side, before swinging him back to look directly into the thing’s eyes. It released its jaw and stopped the scream, giving a blank look right in his face. Len kept a grip on the kukri for some reason.

“Go on then, freak. Give it a shot”. Safeguard continued to look right through him. Len braced for a punch, or a stab, or a kick, or SOMETHING. Without warning, the kukri shot back, sending him flying into the door. He lost his grip, and the knife fell out of the door, clattering to the ground near a very lucky watcher. Len yelled a series of obscenities, and his brain refused to unclench his face. This was easily the most pain he had ever suffered. A few deep breaths, and he could open his eyes to see... Crap! Safeguard reached a hand out and pulled the kukri Len had knocked out of his reach back into his grasp. ‘Dammit! Think, Len, think!’ He looked round for something, anything- hello. The syringe. This was his last chance. He reached under the door and made a reach for it, Safeguard slowly and confidently making its way towards him. No! He was a couple of inches too short! Of all the-

“Here you are, sir!” called his guard, placing a spare syringe in his hand. Len didn’t have time for gratitude, instead seizing his chance. He leant round, charged forward and stabbed the syringe straight in Safeguard’s eye. It reflected the pain, a different scream emanating from it.

’SKRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!’ The cold tone echoed through Holding. Len drained some eye fluid, then removed the syringe and tossed it in the air. In one swift movement, he kicked Safeguard straight in the chest, flicked out his arm’s kukris and went for the dual strike to the heart and brain, before catching the sample. Safeguard flailed it’s arms as the scream died down into a gargle. Len decided to finish the job with a kick right between the eyes. The Angel remained oddly still, the energy wings disappeared, and the odd colour of the shield disappeared from the room. It was over.

Len had a few deep breaths while scanning the remains of his enemy. Still, this was an inconvenience. He hadn’t anticipated such a fight, and was behind schedule. One last look at Safeguard, and then he turned and walked to the door. “Open!” The portcullis lifted and he emerged, in between the watcher and guard. He addressed the watcher first. “Clean up the mess, then go down to the archives and have Safeguard removed,” he ordered. The watcher saluted, before entering the cell. Len faced his guard and handed him the syringe. “Take this to the labs and have them analyse it. I have to go change,” he said, looking at his suit. Tie was shredded, shirt was covered in dust and blood, and the jacket had numerous cuts. So annoying.

The guard saluted and left. Len looked back in the cell, at the watcher trying to fit the Angel into a body bag. ‘And that was a bad Angel. I can’t imagine what the successes were like,’ he thought to himself. Then again, he had an advantage. And speaking of advantages, he still had to follow up on Dr Lex. One last look, then Len turned and made his way out of Holding. Quarters first, then labs for the results, then to Lex. After all, Jamesson should be there by now.

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“I’m not sure I’m alright with this...”

“Don’t worry boy, it’ll be fine! A few strap adjustments and it fits like a scarf.”

Jamesson felt the chest piece shorten slightly to create a better fit. He wasn’t sure how, but Dr Lex had convinced him that he had to try the suit on to make sure it was the correct size. However, seeing as it had straps he was a little suspicious as to the real reason.

“There. How is that?” Jamesson did a few movements. In spite of being a modified suit of armour, it was surprisingly light. “Feels fine, but how do I test the ability boost? I don’t have any.” The doctor clicked his fingers and pulled out a syringe containing a sky blue liquid. “Side result of my Angel work. This little beauty is water control. However, as a booster, it works for only around 5 minutes.” The doctor pierced his neck with the needle, that and his face being the only exposed flesh. As the concoction entered his blood, he felt... well, there was something, but he couldn’t tell what. He was still a bit doubtful it would even do anyt-

He braced as a load of water was tossed over him. Popping open an eye, he saw Lex with an empty bucket in front of him. “Was that completely necessary?” he asked as he went to wipe his eyes. And then noticed no water on his face. Sure enough, he was bone dry. “Interesting,” the doctor whispered in that odd way. “For water control, the power extends to resistance to the element... I wonder what this would do for the prince’s black hole power.”

That statement confused Jamesson. “Wait, why does that matter? If this was designed for Mr Adaven, why are there straps and an adaptive ability?” Lex shrugged off the question. “That is irrelevant. Besides, this is far from perfect. There is still much work to do!” He walked over to an empty area of wall, and pulled on a notch in the stonework, opening a door. A secret door in a lab? That seemed a bit cliché... The doctor motioned him in. Jamesson tried walking in the suit. It was, well, a lot easier than he had expected. The plates felt as if they flowed over his body. He shuffled past Dr Lex, ducking a little despite perfect headroom, and ended up in a dark alcove. There was an identical door about two meters from the other, but other than a torch, the room was empty. Jamesson looked around, confused, as Lex closed the door.

“I’m not sure this is... what kind of experiments do you do?” A slap round the head follow. Jamesson rubbed the whack, despite wearing the amour. “Foolish boy. This is one of the most important magic developments ever created! So important, I... don’t know how it works. In fact it was accident, but still! Watch this.” He opened the other door, and shoved Jamesson through. He fell over as he moved, and ended up face down in a load of grass.

Whoa, hang on. Grass? Jamesson held his head up. They were in a field, a stone wall sealing off about an acre, with some sort of small barrack-like building on the opposite side of the area. He stood up, shocked, and noticed the top of a hill about 200 yards behind the building. He turned around and saw... well, everything. Over in the distance, maybe about 20 miles away, was Hyrzua. You could easily recognise the city. Unique architecture, and bloody huge. Jamesson looked at some of the landscape. The forests... the lake. Hmm... they must be near the mountain range. Wouldn’t be a surprise if Rukital was hidden behind a hill or something. It was a splendid view, yes, but it didn’t answer the question.

“What the hell?”

“A good question,” Lex replied over the light wind. He shut the door and Jamesson looked at the exit. It looked as if someone had built the corridor right there in the field, but there was nothing behind it. Just the two meters of stone wall. “That used to be a supply closet. I was carrying some pure magic when I tripped and spilt it on the door. It seems that at the exact same time, someone else did the same to this holding cell, and they got linked. As you can tell, we are in the mountains, around 40 miles from the HQ. I wish I knew how to replicate it, but as I said... a mystery. So no one else knows about this. It’s annoying though; I can’t figure out how to get back my supply closet.”

The wind intensified, and the visor on the amour slammed down. As he pulled it back up, Jamesson ventured a question. “Well... what is this place anyway? And why is there magic here? I didn’t think Chronos had permitted magic research outside HQ.” The doctor began walking towards the barracks, and Jamesson followed after him. “Well, we needed to test the Angels in external conditions. Elris doesn’t know it, but Len authorised some tests to be done in remote, outside areas. This is Outpost Cyrus IV.”

“So why is this place decommissioned?” It was a good question. There was no one around, and Angel experiments were still ongoing. By now, they had reached the structure. The walls were a combination of stone and a dark, yet light metal. It resembled the bottom half of a pyramid, with three doors of the slanted side of the building. “Oh, it hasn’t been.” That was... quite an ominous response. He pulled up one of the doors, and Jamesson looked inside.

There was an Angel housed in the small space.

It’s hair reminded Jamesson of that working Angel... Ishkur, wasn’t it? The skin was paler, and the wings looked diseased, a sickly yellow colour only half full with feathers. A hand covered it’s face. Angels did that a lot, as if it was some sort of trance state. “In fact, the next experiment begins now...” Lex’s voice cut through, and Jamesson’s attention diverted to him. He had hopped over the stone perimeter. He tried to follow suit, put when he placed his hand on the stone, a powerful magic blast appeared, knocking him backwards. The visor shut again. Lex sneered at him over the fence.

“So sorry, Jamesson, but I need this testing before Adaven takes it from me. The wall has an anti-magic field built in, so with the armour on, you’re going nowhere.” He leant a clipboard on the wall. “Now, get him Poet!” Jamesson looked back over to the open door, and the Angel emerged. It’s face was terrifying, enhanced by the wings behind it. The eyes were that of a feral cat, and the skin appeared to hang off the face. It turned and grinned at its prey, revealing an upper set of razor-like teeth and an empty bottom layer.

Alarmed, Jamesson propped himself back up and ran for it. The Angel couldn’t fly on its wings, but it ran just as fast as he cold. As he approached the wall again, he tried a jump, but once again the magic barrier intensified, knocking him backwards into the ground. Dazed, he watched the Angel close in on him, chanting something.

For the skies we come
Hope of salvation
For this great nation
Where the end has come.

The wind accumulated in its hand and a trident formed. Walking over to Jamesson, it grasped it in both hands, and stabbed down towards him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The new suit was a jaunty number; crisply cleaned, allowing the blue tint of the material to show through. Len self-pleasingly fixed the collar as he entered the main research lab. The torches were encased in white-tinted glass to create a very dream-sequencey area. The further he walked into the complex, the more scientists appeared. His destination was right in the centre, the genetics lab. Len shoved the door open and made his way to Dr Layway. She was the principle geneticist for the Angels, and Len had tasked her with reading Safeguard’s DNA to find the AT field solution. Maybe then, Elris would give him some respect.

As he approached the doctor, she spoke first. “Mr Adaven, these results, they’re-“ Len couldn’t be bothered with an explanation, and interrupted. “Do they explain the AT field intensity?” Layway gave a slight cough. “Well, yes they do. We can identify the problems, and integrate an improved structure in further Angels. But-“

Len make an obviously exaggerated sigh. “That won’t do, Layway! I need the changes brought into the working Angels.” She began to speak, but he went over. “I don’t care if it’s genetic, find a way to do it!”

Layway’s temper frazzled. “SIR!” she yelled, “THERE IS A PROBLEM!” Len tried to begin a few sentences, shocked by a subordinate shouting at him. “There better be if you think you can talk like that to me.” The doctor moved round next to him and showed him a diagram. “Sir, we’re finding these codons all over the sequence. All identical in sentient, working Angels. We think it may be the key to a working Angel.”

Running it through his mind, Len found one response: “How is this a problem? Working Angels, surely that’s a good thing.” Well, that could be a moot point, but it was definitely their objective. “Well, sir, we checked the inserted structure with existing records. You know, the higher ups such as yourself. And it seems... they match the Master’s.”

“...What does that mean?” Len didn’t get genetics, but this didn’t sound good. “We believe the sites used are the areas that code for our abilities, and specifically, if anything were to happen to the master... the Angels will become unstable.” Blink. “That... that’s not possible!” The doctor shook her head, causing Len to grasp her by the shoulders. “Katie! Who did this?! The entire project is in disarray now!”

The scientist squirmed uneasily. “We don’t know sir. We believe it has been present since the first Angels, and replicated into the later ones.” Len released his grip and repeatedly banged his head on a desk. This was bad. Of course, Elris was powerful. Matching the prince in terms of power levels, yet even he wasn’t immortal. What would happen if he died of old age? He spoke between headbangs: “Can you – be 100% - sure – about that?”

“We believe it’s more than likely sir, and preparing to counter any results. But, um... there’s more.” Len stopped in mid-bang. “What?” “There are more unidentified areas we never saw before, and we have no idea what they do.”

...

...

Len tried to describe what happened to him in his mind. He believed the term was ‘white-out’.

“Layway... fix this. I don’t care how. Just. DO.IT. I’ll be back soon, and I expect SOMETHING. Don’t let anything get back to Elris if you value your life. I’ll do what I can. But I have an appointment. Ciao.” He made a beeline for the door, pausing after he had opened it. “Oh, and I want to see Virchow. And- er, whoever came up with the AT field.” He left the lab and entered his thoughts.

CRAP! This is the worst thing EVER! How did this get entered under our noses? If Elris ever does anything stupid, the Angels will... hang on, wasn’t he going to- Aw, hell. Calm down, Len, calm down. Go get the armour, then discuss this with Jamesson, Virchow and the other one. I mean, it may not even mean a thing. Maybe it’s coincidence. Or... what if HE placed his DNA inside them. It would guarantee obedience. Wouldn’t it? GAH! I wish I understood genetics! Maybe Lex can help me. Speaking of which...

Having been in his head the entire way, Len arrived at Dr Lex’s lab, the familiar aftersound of the psi-blocker at work in the background. He found the shadowed corridor, and entered the lab. “Rei! Is it-“ Hang on. Where are they? The lab was deserted, and the closet he presumed housed his project was empty. Len looked around, puzzled, before noticing the door in the corner. Sigh. If Lex was up to his old tricks...

He walked over and poked his head through. Huh. This corridor wasn’t on the maps. He closed the door and walked over to the other one. This time he swung it ope n... Oh, now this is unusual. Farmland? If Lex had developed a portal and neglected to tell him, he was going to be pissed. Before he too got a chance to admire the view, he saw someone on the ground in- his armour! Lex, what are you doing?! An Angel was closing in. Dammit, not much time. Shutting the door, Len dashed towards the two. He began to make out details of the Angel. The trident, the wings, the teeth. Poet – ID 1019. The file said it had been destroyed. This could be a problem.

Len jumped as he closed in on them, coming between the guy and Poet. The trident came down, dissipating as it hit his immune skin. He hit the ground and stared up at the Angel. “Sir?” a hopeful voice came from behind. “Jamesson, are you wearing my clothes again?” He didn’t listen out for a reply, just focusing on standing up to face the monster. “Angel ID 1019. Classification ‘Poet’. Named for its tendency to speak in – what I must admit is pretty bad – poetry. Major faults: rapidly degrading biological structures, and aforementioned speech. Just a quick question; how have you survived until now?”

The Angel wore a blank look, before reciting:
Chronos’ power
Seeks to conquer
Yet the divine path
Evades them.
In this hour
We fix her
Lest destiny’s wrath
Brings the end.
A loud groan emitted from Len, which he worked into proper words. “Spare me your poetic justice.” He flicked out his arm kukris, slicing straight through the sides of Poet’s skull. As its eyes cried blood, the Angel fell to the floor. Without hesitation, Len kneeled down next to Jamesson, panic filling the PA’s eyes.

“What is going on here?” Jamesson was frantic, as if he couldn’t believe what was going on. “I don’t know, sir. Dr Lex had me put this on, then brought me here and put the Angel on me!””You have to admit, it was a good plan.” The doctor’s voice jumped from behind them. Len stood up to face – ok, he has a crossbow. “Plan? How does killing Jamesson constitute a plan? The guy has not strategic worth. No offense.”

“None, taken sir,” a weak voice piped. Lex wiped his forehead. He was sweating heavily, obviously nervous. A good sign. “I knew you would turn up to save him. Didn’t plan on you taking out Poet so easily, but nonetheless I think I have you now. Especially now you have discovered the codons.” Len had to ask at this point. “What is a codon, and what are you on about?!” Lex grinned. “You would love to know, wouldn’t you? Too bad. You’ll die ignorant.” He pulled the trigger, and the bolt fired towards Len’s heart. An in that instant, he had just one thought:

What is a CODON?!

The arrow pierced bone, catching several veins and just one important artery. Objectively, it was probably better Jamesson had jumped in front of his boss, the bolt entering his leg and, quite importantly, saving Len’s life. Panicking, Lex dropped the crossbow and made a dash for the portal. Len’s thoughts were immediately with Jamesson. “Are you alright, Jamesson?” He released a pain-induced groan. “I have a military-grade bolt embedded in my shin, sir. That sort of thing really puts a crimp on your day.” Jamesson looked at Lex moving toward the door. The doctor was about halfway. “What’s he going to do, sir?”

“Die, that’s what.” Jamesson noticed Len pick up the crossbow. “Terribly sorry about this, chap.” He yanked the bolt out his leg. As Jamesson spouted obscenities, Len lined a shot. 100 metres, probably. He took a breath and fired.

Lex opened the door just in time to receive a bolt through the stomach.

Picking Jamesson up and supporting him against the wall, Len tore off a leg from the trousers – Jamesson’s, not his. That would be ridiculous – and fashioned a bandage. “Sir...” he began before Len overspoke. “If you tell me you love me, you’re fired.” Jamesson laughed, but continued. “Sir, what was he talking about? What’s a codon, and why do I feel like someone is judging me?

“I wish I knew, Stanley. All we can do now is go back to the office. I have a lot to digest, and some tea sounds fitting.” Giving Jamesson some support to walk, the two made their way down to the portal. All this... it would probably have no effect, but what if Layway was right? What if Elris had more meaning than he knew?

The two of them passed over the body of Dr Rei Lex, the only link they had. Many thoughts went through their heads, but Len spoke only one:

“Jamesson, you’re gonna have to clean my armour.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two sugars went into the tea, and Len took a mouthful. Katie had done a good job of suppressing the information, and now all had to do was figure it all out. At least the boss wasn’t around. He and the Angel had left ages ago, and they were yet to hear news of what had gone down. Len leant back in his chair and considered what would happen if they were right, and Elris died. Would the Angels go crazy? Scratch that, crazier? Well he still had time.

A knock at the door, and Jamesson entered. “Sir, a report for you.” Len stared at it before reluctantly taking it. “Any talk among the lower ranks?” “No sir, everything is as normal. What do we do?” Len had filled him in on what had happened. If you can’t trust your PA, who can you trust?

“We wait. Something will happen sooner or later. Anyway, I believe the AT field guy will soon be here. I doubt he knows about this, but I’ll keep an eye out. Thank you, Jamesson.” The man bowed, and left. Len leant back into his chair. The last couple of hours felt like some of the longest in his life.

Minutes flew by as the sickly man dwindle towards his destination, the ultimate area he was heading too was not far away but the fact that the previous angels wandering had driven all the sounds and comforts of human company away, leaving nothing but the vague sounds of electricity slithering in the walls along with the random bout of wind curling and dancing in the air past his ears in a most delicate yet graceful fashion as if the air even when forced to move in small supply within the concrete walls of Chronos still managed to swiftly dance upon the skins of all it passes. It was a shame that the only skin the wind danced on was a thin layer of wrinkles that bared more ripples and bends in its hide than the most furious of waves in the deepest sections of the worlds sea, the veins upon looked as if they had been steamed to some sense due to a black tint they had on them with a only a slight shade of painted red at the sides to resemble flowing blood while other sections crept along in a rather distressed fashion of venom green and strange collision of light blue along with some of the previously mention green had developed a slapped together puking color which traveled down from Carloz's elbow down to his wrist in a very bold and fat fashion. The purple glove that covered his palm was now a much more lighter sight than before when in the dark, while the fabric had a slight distortion to represent a combination of silk and cotton of some sorts the colour itself had a very passive aggressive theme, in a way the purple had thrown itself into light as if was an opening curtain to a theatre although the fuzzy feel it had due to it silk managed to tame the colour down before it could become overly imposing to someones eyes. Carloz still donned that cloak around his body, it would be hard to ultimatately tell the reason for it as it was hardly a very impressive sight, it draped over on shoulder and had just managed to grip onto the other, completely concealing his body from sight apart from his gloved hand that protrudes from its shadowy veil, one would assume that it is disgust at his body that forced him to hide his self in such a manner which it did a good job at doing in fact due to it managing to extend all way the down to the ankles of his feet when standing. In many ways Carloz look like that of a grim reaper as the large sheet of clothe was a black so powerful that it simply ignored the attempts the lights in the hall made to illuminate it, shrugging of any reflections or shines and merely staying a dark tint so deep that it could easily inspire images of the most darkest of shadows hiding in the most cloudiest of nights.


Carloz skinny legs pushed his cloak back and forth around his waist when placing his feet across the long and daunting hallways of the Chronos base, each step emitting a small smack of hardened leather as it head butted the smooth surface of the tile floors that layered across the various grounds of the facility, the hint of strength in that smack would suggest that the soles of his boots were focused at areas, most likely shaped into a structure rather than just being completely flat. More like a mans heel which is considerably short enough to be considered a shoe, the tips of his shoes poked out like puppies peeking from the bottom of curtain or hanging bed sheet, each with their noses to the floor while a smooth curve of brown leather leaded up into the darkness, sprayed somewhat with a smudging texture of different browns that varied in intensity at random points with no clear coordination. The taps of leather and the humms electricity all battled for the centre stage within the cold and isolated silence that was produced within the halls that Carloz had grown to call home but despite the raging struggle all was dominated by the stressed pulls of air that came from the mans lungs, each breath sucked into the atmosphere and swallowed as much of the transparent element as possible but no matter how long or short his intake was, a underlining tone carried along which caused him to generate a higher and more out of order sound of weases. Carlozes breathing remained the same as he carried on down the hall, his cape twirling about as if it was trying to escape its host infected body when being hit by both the vibrations his hips created when moving and the collision of the air that was breezing past and into the frame of Carloz, his mouth inched wider for a moment than closed slightly while his nostrils flawed in a similar manner before coming to a sudden halt, remaining still in movement, his eyes staring dead forward with a more widened state for a moment while the sounds of breathing had come to a halt "Caaaaarrgghhhhh..." He suddenly let in a loud release of wind, arching his neck forth and stretching the bones in his neck just enough for his face to poke out of his hood while he lunched a series of spit the size of raindrops across the floor, vaguely showing up as they clashed into pieces across the ground before blending in to the background due to their transparent nature. Carlozes slowly retracted back within the confines of its hood but only after he had swirled some more oxygen up his nose and flexed his nostrils a few times with a swift sniff and roll of his tongue, making him spend a extra second standing before carrying himself across the base to a door. A red door actually, it was not anything ultimately special but it was indeed different, there were no other red doors for the average workers which properly was more or a less a symbol of hierarchical importance. The entrance generally was a blood like tint, it was smooth all through and it would not really surprise someone if this was coated with flesh blood everyday due its strong sense of colour but of course the idea someone would do that is simply folly and foolish but none the less it could easily be convinced due to the sheer strength of shading this construct had, it especially stood out in the mist of the gray and borderline blue mixtures that was normally painted around the place.


The door had a border, it was rather bulky for the most part but not overly invasive to say the least but it would at the very most be worthy of stealing a quick and apathetic glance from any passerby since it was fat, it would be a decent guess to say it was a foot wide in total while the standard border for doors in the Facility was a humble half a foot or smaller depending the location and the size of the door of course, it was also painted in a slick and inky black although it had just enough light in it to be considered a close gray if it was put in the angle or not peered at correctly but apart form that it was rectangle shaped just any other door and so was the border itself. Carloz stood staring at the smooth surface it presented for a moment, his healthy eye glimmering slightly while his black one seemed to become more stale and cold than usual, each shimmering just a tad before raising his right had an inch or two and then stopping it, letting a small sound of his cloak brushing skin enter the air with a barely hearable "shhh" as he froze, the joints in his fingers bumped out a tad as a he closed his fingers more inwards for a split second while his hand fell in a feathery fashion just a mili-metre before suddenly opening up and reaching for the door handle (you thought I was going to describe that didn't ya'....well..I am...smart ass)his fingers clutched onto the steel, feeling its cold skin that crawled ontop of the orb like object, it was perfectly cut and partially easy to grip due to its design but the idea of being scolded made it more slippery than any grease or oil but if one was to come this far it would be insane to go not through it right now. A slow click entered the air as he twisted his wrist, forcing the bone to rise out of his along with a number of veins for a moment as he pushed the red door forward a little, pouring light upon the floor in a thin ray, growing bigger and bigger before revealing a shadow upon the ground as the entrance opened up enough for him to come into view "Ishkur told me..." He started off rather confident and calm at first but soon it broke into a breath of silence before rattling slightly with a change of tone, it was ultimately hard however to tell if it was stress, fear or distraction as it the change was actually very subtle "That you wanted to meet me. I apologies for not knocking but I am rather..." He paused for a moment again but this time it was as if he was diving into the silence to search for a word "Rushed" He spoke a tad harder this time to make it stand out "I'm sure you understand, sir"His voice had grown more of a Rattle in his throat as he reached the end, almost as he was hoping he would understand than actually really being confident of him having the empathy or sympathy to do so. All the while as Carloz was talking his feet dragged his being into Len's office, now standing at a respectable distance which was not too close but perhaps a little too far but perhaps for someone in his state he would not be all to pleasant to look at or smell at this point.

Dominic studied the odd sudden glowing coming from the scepter. It unnerved him for some reason, as if he was being told both by this scepter and by the odd man, Elris, to go somewhere that he should not be going, to look for something that should not be found. It was glowing towards the pond, he silently noted, but said nothing about it at first. He needed to clear his head. With his sister standing perilously behind him, the Blue Fighter somewhere nearby, and Loki by his side--all he could think of was how much he wished they'd all just go away. He understood they were trying to help him, he really did; and he understood they were all trying to support him, he got that, too; but what they didn't understand that by 'helping' they were actually impairing him. With them around, he couldn't risk a fight and, no offense to either of their skills or powers or abilities, but he hardly lasted a minute in a fight against Elris and he somehow doubted any of them would either. They were just as large at stake here as him. Not to mention, each and every one of them were weaknesses. As rude as it might sound if it were said aloud, to Dominic, he saw them as just three big, obvious weaknesses, urging him on and nagging at him in the back of his mind; little demons whispering to him, They could be killed at any second now...and there's nothing you could do.

A creature flew in from the skies and the raven-haired Prince jumped, holding the scepter tightly as if it actually meant something to him. He studied the creature with wide, awed eyes. Is...is she an Angel? Wings on a human body basically fit the description to a tee. This was his first time seeing one and, though he knew they were dangerous beyond all reason, it excited him in an indescribably way. Like a child meeting their favorite celebrity or getting to go on their favorite amusement park ride for the first time ever. It was something surreal, something that one would always think would never actually happen to you, because it always happened to other, more deserving people. But when it happens, you think Wow, now I'm that person. And it feels kind of...nice. In a sickening, scared-for-my-life sort of way.

Dominic found himself only able to watch in awe as Elris cast the Angel into the lake, never to return again. An almost empty, disappointed feeling came over him. It was as if by doing that, Elris had confirmed the existence of angels was a bust. The Prince had grown up with preachings of God and Angels and Saviors and all that jazz, and though logically throughout the years he'd managed to convince himself none of that could possibly be true, a little piece in the back of his mind supposed he always wished it had been. But, he supposed, it was for the best. One less Angel to worry about. He was getting too distracted. He needed to focus on the situation at hand.

"You know pops," Dominic said, forcing himself to bite back the bile he felt building in his throat, "all work and no play makes a man grow old and gray." He was referring to the fact that Elris seemed to be dealing with 'work-related' issues of 'employee' backfires. It was a stretch, but Dominic always made a joke work, whether it really did or not. He patted the scepter in his hand, letting it bounce up and down. "Come to think of it, I think I see a few gray hairs growing in that thick head of yours. You might wanna watch yourself. Stress isn't too easy on people, y'know? Take a break." He wasn't sure what he was even getting at, but he was overwhelmingly nervous and stressed and freaked and, more than that, confused, so his mouth worked on its own as he circled around the lake, searching for the glowing area the scepter was pointing to. I shouldn't be doing this.

"So that 'Angel' wannabe... Didja make her?" He smirked widely and winked at Elris. "She was pretty cute. You've got good taste, my man." Shut up! "She's not the one who kidnapped my sister, is she? I heard it was some boy. I wonder if they were dating. If so, I bet that guy Angel'd be pretty mad with what you just did..." He hummed for a moment. "Then again, I wonder if Angels could even date other Angels? Do they feel those kinds of things? I mean, what kind of date would they go on if Heaven is supposedly a perfect place, right?" He hardly took notice that half-way through his rambling, his voice grew slightly higher in pitch and louder in volume. His hands were shaking almost uncontrollably. It was hard for him to keep a good grip on the scepter. "If you made the Angels, does that make you the 'God' of this situation? I mean, I'm supposed to be a descendant from 'God' so, does that make you my dad?" He laughed nervously, strained and unnerving. His eyes were trying to focus, but his vision kept wavering, bouncing around the area, trying desperately to just find the place the scepter was pointing to. "Hear that, Amira? I found Daddy!" He laughed again.

Then he just stopped, his face going blank. He stood, staring at the scepter for a long time, a good five minutes, without saying anything at all, his thoughts just as clear as his expression. "It's pointing to the lake," he finally said, pointing at it.

Elris looked at Dominic cold asking himself if the prince really wanted a answer it was obvious that he was just rambling wile trying to figure out how to run away or take Elris down "I'm bold for your information and my project are almost completely emotionless as emotions are not functional enough to be kept expect one or two emotions hers was cruelty and sympathy a black white being that we made because of using two gens but she was the first so we accepted it but traitors die. I'm not god, there's no god he's a picture made up form the human mind needing a goal and leader so one person was made up to function as that and I'm not related to you in any way as we share no traits." Elris looked to the lake as soon as the prince said the star stone was there it was pretty logical as the crater held water and became a lake. He walked to the side of the lake and picked up a dual blade from Maci that had come from the cruel side he had given it to her at her beginning and when a angel died then it's weapon remained he wanted it back. "That makes it more complicated." Elris could swim and he jumped into the water out of sight dragging the prince with him as he still would come in handy later. Elris propelled himself to the deepest point of the lake finding a entrance were the water stopped and a large cave appeared. He fell from the ceiling were the water stopped on the floor feeling his back hurt and the prince was carried by Elris power trough the water ceiling and on the floor "Funny isn't it, the world greatest treasure and nobody knows it's here and nobody ever tries to find it out of respect for the lake, fools." In the middle of the cave was a car sized red glowing gem that seemed to whisper and thing as the maddening glow reflected by the pure golden walls "A rhyme lead me to this. Some years ago I bought a clear red gem from a fisher that had found it and it contained more power than needed from that gem we made the false angels granting them there powers and abilities. Nobody knows as it makes every body mad if toughed expect me but that crystal has run into a hunderd years hibernation to rebuild it's powers so it's useless now. I wouldn't look at it to long or it will fry your mind to dust wile it has done so much for you. your red eye's are a mutation caused by this gem as it shares your eye color and all our magic come originally from this gem as it sinks it's power in the world and we use that power to our wishes. There's no god only a maddening meteorite with endless power that sinks it into the land also the scepter is made from the same gold that you see around here but then it was blasted of when the impact came. Any question?" Elris began making the preparations for the grand project but it would take some seconds and the prince would better answer quickly. In Chronos many scientist and ken got the message "Activate protocol Alpha on my location." Wile this happen end in Chronos mercenaries from the southern lands came on shore invading Altor attacking and overwhelming Masari and beginning to make ready for the reinforcement from the north. It wasn't hard to get the two surrounding country's at Elris side a little money and the southern people joined his cause wile the northern people wanted to raid Altor and take there refund for what had happened in the time of Kenta so now Elris had a massive force at his side outnumbering the Altor forces 78 to one wile also being better trained or stronger and then the corrupt statesman were not counted with him and with the prince at his side there would be total panic all over Altor and Amarevia and with the grand project the people would kill themselves from fear.

There were a lot of things going through Dominic's mind. He was trying to figure out what was going on and what he should do about it, mainly, but one thing he did not expect was for Elris to suddenly jump into the lake. Is he nuts? he asked himself. Another thing he didn't expect was to be dragged in with Elris into the lake. He had just a second of surprise to gasp for air before plunging into the watery depths below. When they landed it what appeared to be a cave, he landed, glad to be on something solid now. He ran a hand through his soaked hair, glaring at the man he felt he had no other choice but to follow.

He listened, glancing around every so often, as Elris walked and talked. What the man was saying sounded strange to Dominic and trivial. It was hard to keep up with all the information. He was filled with awe as they stopped nearby the giant red gem, but he heeded the warning not to stare for too long. Just being in the vicinity of the thing managed to unnerve him. "...Any question?" Elris asked, finally finishing off his lecture. There were many, but only two came to mind at the moment.

"If you had that much power in the palm of your hands," Dominic started, trying to even fathom it, "why would you pass it on into other creatures? Even though you made them and they worked for you, just like that Angel back there, they could of turned against you any time they felt like it. Right? So why didn't you just keep the power for yourself?" He paused for a moment. "And my other question; If this gem is the reason for my eyes, then why me? Why only me and not my sister or anyone else in the Kingdom? Someone more suited to the position?"

Elris looked to Dominic and he lowered Domenic's right to rule from one to zero but his expression kept the same and he gave the people more time to do there jobs so he could answer the qeustions"I'm not pious as you know and I know your also not pious or you wouldn't have dared to do anything expect killing yourself to make it a easy job. Your sense of thinking is still believing as you see power as might but power isn't might it's weakness. Every gifted magician is or arrogant, lifeless or stupid as they don't have to do anything there power delivers everything making them weak and then they die. In other words the more power you have the faster it goes away I have a mind to use and skills to form that's my power I killed that angel by the lake because I knew her weakness and how she would react and how she thought making me superior." The second questions was a bit more complicated but he could compress it. "You haven't been randomly chosen but you have been targeted as this gem is not a rock it's intelligent enough to plot. Kenta didn't have red eye's only a eye condition causing extra blood flow to the eye's making them appear more red, but the stone then got to use the mistake and delusional priest of this world to chose a worse and worse prince as the more people die the stronger it gets and so it comes to you the one that grew so useless that a mere castle servant became a fiend making worse fiend's to kill everyone it has planed this. I'm going to give it what it want's a empire in trade for power and of course immortality and maybe this country. I don't know but maybe it has made me to do it but it and I don't care as only the presence counts the past is already gone." Elris didn't feel a thing but he kept his eye's on the red gem uncovering the voices that talked in a other world language but still not understanding the gibberish that was the result "Don't feel bad about it your meant to be a failure. May I also ask you how you could have thought that you were the ruler of this world wile all you could do was spend money and please the people? Also there's the fact you probably dislike your function wile I would have loved it but instead you became a spoiled teenager with a large ego and no potential to rule wile I would be ruling the world by now." This was pretty interesting for Elris as the prince was one of the few people he didn't totally know and he had the time but he could already feel his organs retracting from the magic energies in the room and a line of blood came out of Elris mouth and dripped on the floor because feeling the pains more than ever wile ignoring it could he pin point the place were it came from and it seemed to be his throat so he wasn't in to much damage or any possible fatal injuries as breathing was not really needed for his body in a so high power environment.

Carloz had only been there a second, his eyes fixated on the man in front with a rather slow descend of his shoulders as he took a breath in a more relaxed environment when not in the confine of working or wandering off to work although his the slightly extended edges of his observers gave off the hint that he was still aware of the official nature of the meeting he was in. The sickly fellow weakly let his chest expand and shrink a little as he sucked air into his lungs, remaining rather calm and un-disrupted with no coughs or weases at the moment, that was until a sudden shake abrupted within his hip and thus making his whole sides vibrate gently with a weak hum of electricity and moving clothe mixed with metal. Those once awake eyes suddenly split apart to fulfill a set of large and different colored orbs, both thoroughly fixed on the path in front of him as he quickly no longer focused them anything in particular although they swiftly spiraled towards the ground as he re-positioned the bones in his neck to do so "Haaaawcrughhhh..." He quickly splintered forth a number of saliva as he froze in shock and his chest kept dancing in and out in a swift, quick manner when losing all of his air, stuttering a number of broken weases until another heavy ball of wind poured out from his lungs "Haaarrrgh..." He continued to let a echo of this sound as his coughs carried on in a weakened repetition before finally stopping to a normal breath once more although it would be fair if someone said that he sound noticeably more stressed and strangled this time.

The frame of the man was curled with its own shadow when now leaning forward to avoid showering his inner fluids all over his second in commands office, the shade was now curled around face resulting in only the deep black robe to be seen whilst his threads of hair hung out from the curtain of darkness that now dressed his face, all his details covered beside the slight hint of of a mouth at the very dent that took place at roughly around his neck area. His pale skin seem to be so much more darker due to this although the wrinkles were hidden and so was his veiny visage that swamped his physical frame, well his arm was of course still showing all of these items that was until he arched it into a L shape fashion and then quickly withdrawing his velvet swollen limbs into the depths of his sheets, letting the shadows devour it all the way up to his elbow before stopping for a split second and as it did so the did the rumbling sensation that covered his body "Uh. Excuse me..." The man murmured forth in a half hearted and very stretched manner as if he used up all the air he managed to store after his cough into just speaking those two words, the fact that his tone was weak and barely filled with emotion also hinted at this possibility although to his credit he did he muster a quick bump of his head in acknowledgement to the man before straighten his spine once more into a rather lazy example of a straight line, all the while doing so, pulling a small black square and then peeking roughly in its direction with his one again visible blue eye that had remained just and wide and shocked as it was a moment ago. The man slowly expanded his nostrils and made a whisper of intake as swiped the air around him to restore his reserves before tilting neck just a tad then placing eyes once more onto the Lens face "I apologize..." He said with a entirely new sense of purpose to his tone as it was now far more powerful which was a rarity for him while also somewhat happy, heck he even morphed that ugly face of his into a half slide of his lip, making a smirk while his eyes shined just a tad when now in the light once more "But I am afraid urgent duty calls. Tell Ishkur his complaints will be dealt with soon for me if you can. I would so appreciate it.." Carloz once again had a smoother and more confident melody quirk to his voice than usual, it screamed as if he was able to deal with any problem in a swift breath although before could he provide evidence for his change in attitude he was already gone without so much as a goodbye, he even left the door ajar.



The atmosphere had changed dramatically compared to before. The scene now around the man was lifeless and dull, four walls that had a dark grey to them that would make even a prisoner feel depressed while each were dressed in a hard, concrete and powerful fashion, the fact remained they were colorless with no decoration or difference almost like they were made to be ignored or perhaps to simply keep the world out, well they could certainly do that as one would be surprised if even an angel could break through these due to sheer sense of strength they had in them. Darkness had spewed over the corners and floors like tars was seething through the cracks in the ceiling, dripping all around like an infestation of pure black cockroaches while the thin lines the attached everything together shared a shade so heavy it would feel like starring into the abyss if one looked too long into it. The room could be said to be about ten metres big in length and Fourteen metres wide and one would feel free and unbound in such a place, it lacked any desks or bed and it was for sure not a food hall yet something managed to devour a large section of the rooms space. A massive set of caterpillar like tentacles reached out to the very ends of the room, each scale in a big merged ring while being colored in a feeble red, each of them curling up there spines towards the end of the environment only to stuff there skulls into a box the size of regular mans torso that was firmly bolted into the ground, each letting out a gentle hum that skipped every second in the air as there was fans spinning away inside. The boxes themselves were not really worth defining, just pure metal crafted into a perfectly symmetrical frame that sat in location, never showing actions or gleaming with color. The sickly man place his feet roughly between the two, each grounded with there soles roughly similar while the tips pointed in alternative directions from another while is cloak hung lazily upon his body, un-flinching due to no breeze or movement from its host that now only peered at the ground below which had a small set of wires scurrying across it, each like threads of a hair although all of them were different colors so perhaps dyed hair would be more appropriate, one blue, one green and two yellow whilst a last one was a stripped red and black, all of them stopped just between Carloz's feet and jumped into a set of opening on a circle upon the ground, firmly tucked into its frame which by the way was a heavy shining teal that glowed as powerfully as any of the most magical skies or the arua of the most enchanted waters. That teal burned the light away, searing its from the ground roughly half a metre away while also creeping upon the vestments of Carlozs, hugging his waist and brushing off the shadows from his shoes and lower cloak where his legs would be. That one black eye only vaguely let out a rare glint fro withins the mist of its darkness, like a angel managing to crawl out of the depths of oils and show the world a glance at its halo before being devoured once more into the putrid bile of sickness that infested his body, his other eye did the same although it seemed much more natural and hopeful in that one but none the less they both curled up the skins above and below there frames as he managed to pull of a sly smirk in the darkness "Figures...that it would come to this..." He murmurs out to himself as he slowly places his gaze along the massive figure that lurked with the darkness "Alfred. Turn on the lights. Its time..." with that a sudden "click" entered the air along with a flood of fake and cosmetic light coming to banish the darkness from sight and this revealing a man standing at the side of the door where the room started. He was roughly at the size of six foot three which was stunningly big for a man of science, he also donned a long. haunting white labcoat as standard uniform for a researcher although it was mostly worn because it was free. The fellow long overcoat swung slightly to the side as he moved his hips to peek in the general direction of carloz, his feet poked out with a set of fine and rather well rounded formal shoes which happened to be equally polished and strong in a vague blue tint, the rest of his frame was for the most part hidden due to to the massive labcoat he wore, a few bruises resided on it and the obvious marks of former smudges mixed with cuts had symbolized that had been through many years of use although part from that its sleeves dropped forth around his wrists and his collar remained by his chin just like any other. The mans face was actually very healthy and strong, he could of easily been a modle with his slick black hair that was carefully combed down to a humble and nerdy attire while his face bare no signs of aging or stress although his eyes were rather hard but made up for it with a powerful gray that could match the steel of a blade.


The room echoed with the claps of firmly shaped soles for a few seconds as the heavier set man lumbered forth, placing himself just a few steps behind carloz who was staring at the device before him "Are you sure. It dosen't act normally when in light..for some reason.." The stranger remarked in a rather dead pan manner, his eyes somewhat tired as it peeked forth to the wires to the ground. That gaze moved up, inches at a time to poke themselves at the sides of the device. Two long arm chair like legs extended from its torso, each colored in a dark gray that could equally be identified from the steel of torture equipment, each of those arms rest like shapes of metal were smoothly cut ending with a faceless but utterly professional curve to the ground before becoming flat, whilst it was well crafted a few details cluttered its perfect frame. four small cylinders were jammed into the tops, all of them resting in a opening in the metal that had a small craft of crust sitting around it. Each of these cylinders were a red that would be easily mistaken for dried blood, those objects reached to the size of ones hand while baring a small hole on each side that had nothing to offer but black to the world. The gaze of that man moved on, creeping up the four metre long arm rests that reached out in a diagonal fashion and up to the begining of what seemeds to be a frame of an orb, an orb of steel to be more exact. The orb was stricken of all detail across its skin, being once again smooth all the way through although what it did do to catch the eye was to be enormous in size, reaching the stature of atleast seven metres thick and ten metres long while reaching six metres wide and with its massive size it only slumbered there, peering forth to those infront of it with a massive lock within the centre of it that shined a powerful silver glistening with an arch of people extending there arms forward to an unknown light outside the frame of the device, the lock that sat there simply glowed while having a hole far too big for any key as it roughly the size of ones arm, the rest of the orb had a collision of two fat borders that went along in a perfect row around the machine while having a tiny line to hint at it being able to be spread apart although by gears or by the release of the lock that sat down on a section of it was unknown. The device gazed back in a way, it was alot like an eye with that key hole there although very few eyes are made of a light ebony steel that failed to shine or reflect anything nor did any eye have a set of two arching metal cubes on its side that reach out to the sky with massive plugs that was currently connected to an fathomable amount of wires that reached into the wall behind it "Yes...I'm sure.." Carloz replied in a low but ready tone of voice and with that the two turned their heads towards one another before approaching the item until there was but a inch left between steel and skin. The sick man slowly twirled his neck a second to the side and then proceeded to place his palm against the object whilst starring at it with a pair of adoring eyes "There may be a god afterall..."

-----------------------------------------




Working with the device was hard, most of the main hardrives to actually interact with it had to be personally set, mostly due to that Elris did not want the controls for it be just sitting there for any person that stumbles in to tangle with nor did he want others to know about them so the two were left doing a lot of heavy lifting and then brain work. It took about ten minutes but before they could moan the room had atleast five screens sitting on rather slim boxes with a number of un-readable batches of numbers flickering by across the screens "Think its almost time..." Said the man now at the opposite side of the room tapping his fingers upon the keyboard of a small screen that flashed a few orange symbols at him every now and then while the glow of blue haunted his face "Elris told me to carry something to alert me about this near the time...I'm surprised he did not just jump in my skull and yell at me..must be doing something important with his powers.." He uttered forth in a rather half focus and half smug voice while he slammed his finger tips upon the keyboard infront of him, numbers of red warnings and various oranges symbols popping up over and over "Jeez. Why does it program have to be so complex..it does one job for fuck sake..." He let out in a rough bout of aggression before taking a silent breath and then speaking once more "but, yea. I think we got minutes left, we've been messing about with codes for atleast forty and it all seems fine. Still can't get this thing to actually get up and do something though. Wonder what hes going to do with a big hunk of metal in the middle of some open area..." His voice sounded curious although his smile was neatly tucked away within his hood along with a pair of airs that glared over his shoulder with a sense of anticipation that could be easily seen as that of a wolves when closing in on its prey.
"Activate" suddenly entered his ears for a moment before quickly dismissed as he swiftly spun his head around to stare at his comrade with wide eyes, each looking just as shocked as each other before yelling "Its time!.." before the rest of the mans words could be heard. The two men quickly started hop forth about in quick runs as they swiftly made their way to each of the monitors, occasionally tripping over eachs over feet or falling entirely before getting up and bashing away at the computers. This continued on for atleast a minute before the two quickly passed each other once more and then stopped so quickly they skidded to opposite direction and then one more time to turn their heads at the orb and then the computers, all with the words "release" planted across there screens in bright yellow letters.


"Bzzt.."

"Bzzzzzzt..."

BRZRZRZRZTTTT!!!!!"

Electricity quickly jumped across the frame of the massive device, each time increasing and growing fatter whilst being colored in a white so powerful it could scare away the most powerful of shadows and darkness, all the item this white curled about for a second on the machines before fading, once again it came and this time another and another before suddenly glowing brightly as the various bolts of lightening coursed through its frame like that of a snake snaring its tails around a host, all of them trying to crush the shell but with no avail and thus only getting more frustrated which results in them moving again. This electricity sparked and bolted, it zoomed and flied and tried to fry whilst growing in intensity until the point its massed in what was like white flames that reached out in a powerful roar as its completely devoured the device and then.


....

...

..


Nothing. Nothing stood there. All that was left was a large of pool of wires that used to be connected to it and the those two sets of large tubes that was jamemd into its hips, both now just making noises as they blew air into the room where the two men stood. The tips of the wries now had vomitted up variou copper innerds and small bits of plastic since they was directly wired in before the device they were attached to left on its own.


A sudden thud was heard that was so loud it reached past the crack of the most heaviest war hammers against the sturdiest of armors while shimmering forth with a slow ting that echoed when in the mists of the cave that it now sat within. The device slmacked its arm rests against the ground which resulted in a number of pebbles and rocks being flung forward as it landed by Elris, sending a shockwave of wind across the terrain infront of him strong enough to make most men stumble slightly. There stood the machines, its scalp weakly burning a weak flame that flickered and waved its arms in the air like the arms of innocence reaching out for someone to save them before dying and leaving not a single mark upon it frame. The lock upon its body only stared forth at the prince and nothing more, no movement or feelings took hold, just a big device that stared forth.

Orel flew through the forest as fast as her wings would carry her. She was unsure what it was that had tried to stop her but it scared her. Worse she heard the screams of the creature as it flew into the woods angrily aiming to kill Orel. Her mind worked frantically as it tried to think of a way to escape Orel's current predicament. As she dodged branches and vines Orel came to the conclusion that it was a fake angel that was chasing her, and likewise it would be impossible to fight it head on until she knew me. If they could kill her Master then she did not think she stood a chance.

After several miles of speedy flight, Orel could swear that the creature was catching up with her. I have to hide, I have to get away. she thought as she nearly dodged a branch that clipped a few feathers off her wing. A small river suddenly opened up in front of her and with a splash, Orel dove into it, quickly changing back into her normal form as quickly as she could. Her chest was getting tight from a lack of breath towards the end of the change and with a few struggling kicks her head broke the surface. Orel took several deep breaths before she gathered a small amount of wind and pushed it into a small sphere around her. Orel descended beneath the water but this time with a very small air pocket around her. It was only enough to breath for 15 or 20 minutes and was using up way to much of her energy in fighting against the current, but Orel viewed it as necessary in her escape. She did not have time to fight an angel, but that was her excuse. Truth is, Orel was to afraid to fight it. And as she sat in her little bubble, she shook herself in small sobs, once again overcome with her fear and the loss of her Master.

Appalled and offended, Dominic wasn't quite sure what to do in this situation. Here he was standing here, in a freaking underwater cave for Christ's sake, having a conversation with a complete stranger who claimed to be named Elris. He wasn't even sure if he should believe that with all the crap that was spewing out of this man's mouth. A glowing red gem of some sort of unimaginable power, a suddenly-discovered underwater cave that this man just happened to know about, stupid random massacres, insults up and down about him being a bad Prince, a bad leader, and that he shouldn't take offense to it, and, oh not to forget, last but not least, the Angels. Those high and heavenly frauds. He was sick and tired of all of this; of not knowing what's going on around him in his kingdom, not knowing how to act or how to respond properly, not knowing what's going to happen next and fearing it. He was done.

In the last couple of hours, he'd been dragged around, beaten miserably and shamefully by this stranger, given orders left and right... Exactly who was the Prince here again? Oh, that's right. He was. Prince-flipping-Dominic. And he was ready to take control once again. Glaring heatedly at Elris standing in front of him, he maintained his temper. "I don't get you," he seethed out. "You drag me all the way here for a trap, have all the chance in the world to kill me, yet you don't; instead, you use me to find this stupid cave you easily could of found yourself. You find this all-powerful gem and make some cheap, trashy, disgraceful, wannabe Angels out of it, that you then kill, instead of keeping the power to yourself for--oh, I dunno--something more useful and productive. You use these Angels to kill people--which, again, you could just do yourself, but you don't. For what?" He had to take a breath to hold back his temper, but it wasn't working. "For what? To play a game of pretend? To give your sick little self the false impression that you can play God? Or maybe you're trying to change the minds of the people just because they don't have your same opinion on the religion." He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Or maybe you're just some jealous rat who didn't get to be Prince and wants to take it out on me and my Kingdom."

Dominic shook his head and laughed under his breath. A laugh of pity. He looked to the ground while he did this, but then his red-tinted eyes shot up again, staring Elris down. "No. I've got it now," he said with a dark smirk growing on his face. "You were probably just some boring little kid who had a suddenly tragic life before him. Then, scared and confused with no mommy or daddy to help you, you turned against mankind and the Kingdom! You found power with your hatred and you decided--yeah, this was the life for you. You formed this whole plan in your head. A perfectly ingenious plan that would masterfully succeed your revenge--a plan that would hold all the hatred you have for mankind in a fist that you can control. Then, you create the creatures and the minions and set them loose, so you can sit back on your pedestal and watch over it all with a smile on your face." He snorted. "You're nothing but a low-rate villain. There's nothing 'different' about you or 'special' about you. So what, you have more power. So what, you're smart enough to come up with this stupid plan. So what, you found a stupid gem and created some stupid dead-beat flying rats. You're just an under-rated, cockier version of me. You're nothing."

When he was done with his little rant, something hit the lake hard enough for Dominic to hear the splash all the way from within the cave. He looked up at the roof with confusion and waited a second, his temper dwindling down quickly. "What is..?" Then--a monster. A creature. A device. Nothing like he'd ever seen before, seemingly 'appearing' and landing on Elris's side. He didn't have a second to react before the roof caved suddenly in with the shaking impact of the thing; water hit him and he went swirling backwards, back to the entrance where they came in. He held his breath, but water got up his nose and he sputtered, water rushing into his mouth. He was smart enough to close it before he swallowed too much and drown, but now he was out of breath and the surface was so high up...

Closing his eyes and begging for some teeny tiny of luck, Dominic swam towards the surface where he could see the sun fading away. His vision went blurry, but he couldn't reach the surface. It seemed so close--he thought he could feel the oxygen in the air above. He reached out for it, desiring just that one little touch, pleading in his mind for that little bit of air--

But it never came. The world faded around him, the water rushed into him, and he blacked out.

"Ishkur break is over." The words embedded themselves inside the Angel’s head and he groaned in response, bring a stray and blood covered hand to rest on his forehead. “Right, right…I’m coming,” Reluctantly the creature rose to his feet, frowning down at the blood soaked clothes he was forced to wear. I suppose it’s my own fault really. Ishkur shrugged off his complaints, making his way outside, making sure to close the door silently behind him. “I’d like to see Maci or Akane pull off something like what I did. I am perfect. They aren’t.” Ishkur span on his heels to face off in the direction of Lake Sinaoha. He dragged his weary body for a few steps until he came to the edge of town and a forest standing in front. Walking was no longer an option. “I wish that other human was here…Oh how I’d love to deal with him.” Stretching out his blood-dripping wings, Ishkur took to the skies, flying rather slowly over the forest top. His arms and legs dangled loosely, not having enough energy to even attempt to get to Elris quickly.

As Ishkur came close to Lake Sinoah, he was met with a fountain of water, quickly skidding to a halt in the air and staring forward into it, head tilted to the side in confusion about what could cause such a spray. As the water fell back into the lake he stared down to the ground, no one was there, not even Elris. Exhausted the creature plopped onto the ground with a slight thud. All of the grace he had held before, vanished and replaced with a wave of tiredness. He blinked through half closed eyes around at the clearing before slowly making his way over to the lake. He slightly bent over, eyes growing wider to stare into the depths of the lake. A rush of water was dying down and a figure was struggling to get to the surface. "What the-?" He lent in even more and reached out to touch the surface of the water. "Cold." Ishkur stated frowning and quickly yanking his hand away from it's surface. The person had ceased to struggle now, and Ishkur called out to them. "Hey!" Without any response the Angel sighed, shaking his head from side to side. It's just a human, why should I care? Once again his eyes were drawn to the figure in the water, slowly floating towards the surface. Ishkur let out a long and pained sigh, folding his wings behind him and without another thought; dove into the water.

The water washed away the blood from his hair and clothes, the weight of them and his wings dragging him down towards the bed of the lake. His eyes were shut tightly but he felt himself falling, surrounded by a cold sense of death, unable to breath and his lungs were slowly collapsing from the pressure. Darker and darker the world was becoming, the Angel fighting the urge to give up. Eyes quickly snapped open to stare forward in the murky depths of the lake. Ishkur kicked his legs hard, pushing more water behind him with his arms and making his way towards the figure. It seemed to be male with black hair wavering in the current of the water. However Ishkur's eyes were drawn to a particular place behind the male, a cave which was flooding quickly with water. Elris he's in there isn't it? Ishkur mentally sighed, clinging onto the figure and kicking his legs hard until he reached the surface. Bursting out of the water and spreading his wings carrying the male bridal-style. He stared down at his face for a few seconds, water dripping down from his hair and onto the other's face. I really hate water... Never again... After recovering, Ishkur flew over and landed gently on the ground, he continued to stare down at the male's face for a moment. Who the hell is he? Ishkur had to wonder to himself. And what was he doing in that lake?

Elris looked to Dominic and his facts but Elris face kept being cold but just before the end his face showed a little more coldness then before "True, I already knew that." The machine came but it came with a tremendous power on the ground creating a shock wave but Elris didn't care the roof would hold it but then it didn't? A short moment of confusion in his mind and he stopped the water from hitting him wile looking up seeing the prince swim away knowing he wouldn't reach the surface. Elris turned to the gem raising it out of the water letting it slowly move to the machine and putting it were it belonged in the eye as the lock opened for him when it felt his power and the gem was now in the eye and but still there was no smile or emotion feeling the same emptiness as before as it started to work the machine would start and the world would know who was the smartest and the strongest but still no accomplishment in Elris. He could operate the machine in a second knowing it precisely, the lightning started in the form of blood red light filling the now filled with water cave but this lightning wasn't hampered by water as it began to blast into the cave walls evaporating water everywhere as the entire lake began to let out steam. Elris had always been untouched by almost everything as his power could also serve as shield but it didn't stop the red beam of power and it shot Elris into the water against a wall almost knocking him out but his will was enough for him to make a bubble of air making a tube reaching to the top of the lake but Elris already felt his organs screaming and his sight became blurry but he kept conscious looking to the machine wanting to see it happen. The birth of the first and only perfect being it would be uncontrollable of course but it would thank him for it's creation and that would be enough.

Elris had dreamed of this day going from library to library searching in forbidden knowledge even getting the grant change to look into the holy books of the so called god and this creature was the result of all that knowledge. The angels all of them were experiments to successfully guide the power and to control it as good as possible and the many failure proved it was hard to do. Success lies in trying so Elris just kept doing it and he had succeeded in making the arrogant pathetic unthinking angels that he largely hated but now this would be no angel this would be a god. He would brainwash every one changing history removing all of these princes out of history, but then that prince did seem to have a little bit of people knowledge so he would at least be called in his history but then again not as the nicest person. Elris found it foolish every body foolish living useless things Chronos useless that prince was useless he only did something with a purpose they would all be died on a moment but he would stay he would make something immortal something perfect.

(Description of machine was pretty confusing so I can have done something wrong in that area)

Dominic felt air rush back into his lungs as he was lifted out of the water. He thought he'd somehow managed to drift to land, but instead of stopping, he was lifted higher and higher into the air. He could tell by the slight breeze brushing over his face. There were hands holding him, he knew. But whose hands? Had someone actually jumped in and saved him? He didn't find this idea too unbelievable. The strange floating feeling went away soon enough, but the person was still holding him. He wanted to stay here in this state forever; calm and peaceful, melted away in his subconscious without the cares or worries of the outside world. There was just the darkness to comfort him. There were no murderous Angels, no power-mad man named Elris, no ridiculous device, no blood-shed, no frightened faces. It was just him and nothing else. But, he knew he would have to wake up and return to his duties. He couldn't just brush it off. He couldn't welcome the darkness just yet.

Sputtering and coughing for the second time that day, Dominic gasped for air. He squinted as he shifted in whoever's arms and blinked, trying to figure out what was going on. He'd been drowning. There was the cave, the gem, Elris...and that strange device. Oh, yes, he remember it all now. Opening his eyes fully, Dominic lifted his head back to see who it was that saved his life. Instead of meeting with the face of who he thought it might be, like Loki or the Blue Fighter, he was met with someone he'd never seen before. The male's face looked nearly expressionless, his clothes faded and stained with an unnerving color, and...wings? Metallic wings hooked to his back. That would only mean--

"A-Angel!" Dominic suddenly stuttered, quickly shutting his mouth when he realized he'd said that out loud. Even more uncreative than the last one. Metal wings? Really? he couldn't help but think as he pushed his way out of the person's arms. He felt himself drop briefly to the ground with a thud, but was on his feet again in a second. He looked the creature over. There was no doubt he was an Angel, wearing clothes stained with dried blood no doubt. But he was soaking wet, as well. Did that mean he'd been the one to save him? Dominic was confused. This murderous tyrant rescued him from drowning. For what? Because he was the Prince maybe? He couldn't be sure. "I would thank you, but I have a feeling that you don't deserve it," he said lowly. He looked behind him, relieved to see Loki, the Blue Fighter, and his sister still standing safe, before returning his gaze quickly back to the Angel before him. "Why did you save me?"

Amira watched as her brother was taken away. under the lake? She wished she could have followed him, but figured it was best to let him go alone. Of course she was going to worry about him the entire time though. He was the one thing she truly had in life to cherish and she wasn't going to let anything happen to him. Sighing she looked at the other two before watching her brother disappear. She bit the corner of her lip in anticipation as to what was going on down there. What if Dominic didn't come back?

Before she knew it, Amira was pacing around in anxiety. She stopped when she heard something hit the water. Whatever it was she just missed it. "What is going on?" She questioned to herself before continuing to walk around. She started to bite on her finger nails out of a bad habit she had. She tended to do that in tight situations. "Come on what is taking so long?" She asked out loud running a hand through her hair. Amira decided to sit down before she had a heart attack from being so nervous. Closing her eyes, she tried to calm herself down. It didn't work. Opening her eyes again she frowned. Seeing as it was taking her brother way too long for her opinion.

She quickly stood up when she saw the same male angel from before. Watching him dive into the water, she wondered if he was going down to kill her brother or something. Walking over to the water she took a step back seeing the angel was bringing her brother back up. Wasn't he supposed to be killing them and not helping them? She stepped back again to let the pair have some room before she knelt down next to her brother. "Are you okay?" She asked him quickly scanning over his body for any injuries he may have had. She was a nervous wreck right now.

Eyes would continue to dart towards the others which surrounded him, one of them he vaguely recognized, the other two he had met before. The Princess and her savior. Ishkur mentally scoffed, emitting a low chuckle, desperately fighting the urge to knock them all unconscious once again. How dare they stare at me. If only I could erase memories then I'd- "A-Angel!" Ishkur's thoughts were broken and eyes fixated on those of the one he saved. Cold yellow eyes staring deep into those crimson orbs of... The Prince! Ishkur growled to himself, mentally cursing over and over again as the Prince pushed himself away from the Angel's grasp, falling to the floor and quickly returning to his feet. I saved the Prince!? Elris is going to kill me for that! I've got to do something... "I would thank you, but I have a feeling that you don't deserve it," Ishkur smiled deviously, he had to agree with the Prince, he wouldn't of saved him if he knew what he was. But that was about to be fixed. "Why did you save me?" He asked in a low voice as his sister ran to him to check that he was okay.

Ishkur watched them for a few moments, un-affected by the compassion he felt between them. They cared deeply for each other but none of that bothered Ishkur. "Don't flatter yourself your highness, Ishkur said with an malicious smile plastered on his face, taking a few steps forward towards the two. "I wouldn't have saved you if I knew who you were," he paused for a second, running a few excuses over in his head. "I just mistook you for someone else. Someone I like." Ishkur finished by sending a wave of energy at everyone, it could be seen and sparking with electricity. He took to the air, hovering above them all, manifesting a black shuriken in his hands.

The tides of water quickly swayed as back as the powers of the red gem quickly out reached and slapped the elements of the earth away with each strike, reducing the once proud streams of water into withering vague litters of steam, each slash from the reds lights cleared another section every time, all of them like bulls heading out at crooked patterns at a speed too fast to see for the eye before slamming there horns into the surrounding area resulting in the sounds of thunderous echoes that roared through out the depths of the world, forcing its ways into the ears of everyone near. The crowd of devastating fluxes that flung from the gem increased, extending the arms like that of occupus while wildly slashing at the now empty floors of a once full and lushful lake. What was once holy land at been wasted away under the anger of a arcane leaving no quarter for the water to recuperate apart from from some tiny holes in the ground where they made puddles, cowering from the the massive sense of forced that had just been un-leashed upon the once powerful legions of nature. The sounds of splashes hinted at the cries of agony from the sea as it was ripped to pieces and burned to nothing but steam and easily lost sprinkles of liquid by the various celestial knifes that plunged into its very being, tearing it to shreds and evicting it from the palace it used to know as home. The hisses of a bitter prey filled the air as the red powers slowly started to lazily tire of flinging there arms, each second passing the shots of red shimmered down and eventually started to act more relaxed and calm before hovering to a father falling pace and then finally blending into the surroundings as they disappeared from the fabrics of reality. As the thunders stopped, the madness ceased and the water gone all that crept into the ears of those near it was a gentle but moderately loud "Hiiisssssttttt..." as the steam left the patches of earth and floated higher into the air, the hint of strength in its shimmers gave the idea that the metal was also sizzling from the once radiant energy that had only moments ago been used as a torso for the wrath of the ancient gem that now layed within the lock that acted as a decorative eye.

A mist now polluted the land where the lake had been, the device shrouded in a valley of clouds that hover along the ground, as if the waters ghost was taking a long stare at where it once stood, shifting about aimlessly around the massive machine while the sounds of hissing continued before slowly letting silence take hold again when the bitter sounds of ocean finally came to halt and the growls of the possesed machine had stopped, leaving but a vague yet serene bundle of sheepish gas's in place that soon started to divert there attentions away from the construction that sat within the lake. Seconds past, only few but it was enough to close your eyes and imagine yourself somewhere else, it was enough to think and feel for moment as the winds blew away the mists from the skin of the steel machine that now appeared in a dark and shadowy manner when still having a sheet of milky steam around it, although the strength of its outline grew as the rows of white kept shifting away, shuffling like a set a of gates opening up casually to its goal or a crowd looking for something to peer at which slowly dwindle away from the device. As the wind shooed the mist away, a breeze shudder around the necks and spines of anyone in its range of the lake, reaching down and dancing in a fragile swoop that collected a gust of mist and draw it back up to the sky, filling the clouds with the evaporated sea. The sky soon opened up just an inch, just a tiny inch that was enough to let the sun peer down at the machine which was now in plane view, its massive lock imitation eye staring at them while glaring up with a red strong enough to macth the the rage of the most passionate of men, it simply sat there, nothing happened, no noises occurred nor did any one or any thing get hurt for at least a minute, maybe two until a second wind came and brushed the hair of those around while whispering a "Shhh" and soon to follow, as if awakened by the world, a click. A small, metallic and rather gentle one judging by how swift as well as weak it was on its delivery.

"Click it went off again, and again and again, exactly six times these clicks went on before ceasing, what was to follow was movement. The device was slow all along and careful with how it acted, as if it was a baby trying to learn to walk and so it very nervously let one of the cylinder like tubes in its long arm rest shaped legs lift out, making a small winding sound as it did, soon the other one on the opposite side followed before the last four doing it just a mili second after each other, forcing a double click to enter the air. Silence once again stood before a long squeak wandered in and then stopped like a pair of feet that suddenly had to skid to stop themselves as they ran, as it stopped the sounds of dripping water joined the simple orchestra of sound before being out done by another longer squeak, this time the eye twitched before twirling to one side and staring at all those on the land in a curious way before finally dropping off, showing a set of tiny arms that held onto the device as it did that had now been torn apart in there grasp. A shatter was heard as the impact upon the ground made it land face down and thus smashing the gem inside it. Now all that was left was a big ball, its middle wielding a twin set of metal frog like lips that went all over its front. A tiny sound of steel twirling went on as the lips managed to slowly spread themselves apart,each time the thuds of gears inside it clapped quickly like that of trains hitting the tracks as it lifted open its metallic eyelids to reveal a small glimpse of shine that let out a mercury taste into ones eyes, it was soft and easy yet bright like that of a polished blade. The sense of shine it gave off was as pure as the water it had jut destroyed although the barer of such a tint was a spherical twin of its outer shell, revealing itself to be another orb hidden inside its mouth.

At that time all sound stopped, it was as the very environment was waiting in baited breath at what was to come out, even the suns ray only extended like an orb widening at the sight of something of extreme interest upon the frame of the strange device. All of a sudden the smooth egg like circle grew a black line upon it belly, as if had been just cut with perfect precision before growing wider and wider, revealing only more darkness withins it stomach, a darkness that was slowly devouring every physical aspect of the machines core, a core that shined with the tranquility only a moon could give on the most rarest of nights was slowly being taken over by the night it tried to keep back. That wound of shadow moved across the landscape of its frame before inching to a hovering stop as it reached the joints that connected the device to the two armrest like support beams on both of its sides. The sounds of humming electricity filled the air in a majestic manner, as if there was a hidden choir of souls lurking in the shadows of everyone as the pool of black wobbled like that of water before quickly letting out a quick "BZZZT!" to the sky as it grew solid with a flash. A second to breath past before a tiny drip of black hit the floor below the machines feet, sitting there like tar as a finger poked it out. One small limbed sat out of the darkness, its skin the purest of white that can only be dreamed off, its perfect tint easily made the fur of white stallions envious, its color was so un-diluted that even for those far away that tiny shine could be seen from its flesh and with time time that glow increased as a hand reached from the depths of the machine, standing there open as if to feel the air before suddenly twitching its finger and forcing the black to swirl to the insides of the device, revealing a figure of nothing but a nightly tint apart from its perfect hand. standing in an up right position within the opening of its old home. The mouth now sat upon the floor, using its big lip to act as a step so the shadowy figure may rest its foot upon it as it walked onto the ground.

The figure only stood there however, motionless as it had the outline of a skinny, completely symmetrical being that neither had too much muscle nor too little, it was just in the shape to be considered physically, at least in outline, perfect. The hair it had slided down upon its shoulders and down to its knees, both in long and silky looking locks of black that swirled gently around its legs as the wind managed to stroke its lower legs. The person appeared to be utterly naked although the shadowy waters on it and the distance between the lot at the lake made it hard to identify the figure as a man or a women. It stood at what one could guess was around Six Foot Five although it body was slender enough for to be considered a abnormally tall female which left debate for its gender. The person slowly lifted its leg just a tad and then proceeded to place its foot upon the mechanical eye lid below that now acted as its stair, making a soft clap of flesh on metal as it did. With its head straight and its eyes and all other features hidden by black tar he/she/it only stood on that spot before placing its other foot on the now stripped bare ground of the former lake, standing there the figure just kept its head straight with its eyes close, slowly twisting its eyelids open to reveal a set of rays to glow forth that dressed everything in a shining warmth that could be considered heavenly, it dance along like pillars of light that put the sun to shame as it steered its sight at those before it, sending a sense of comfort. Its gaze somehow had the ability to make one feel as if they was in the arms of both their mother and their father, warm in the safety of someone stronger in a world not yet understood.

Elris stood up it seemed all the water had evaporated strange but then again not impossible but more important was that it had happened. When the hand appeared Elris for the first time in his live was surprised as the hand was just... perfect. His own seemed to be nothing in comparison and the entire body was more than his cold dead eye could take as he burned the picture in his mind. It seemed so perfect again then the eye's opened obviously spreading as Elris had intended goodness but instead he felt a shiver coming down his spine staying there to spread a unnerving feeling. He stood up form the rocky floor feeling his back hurt a little from the impact and there was a little bit of damdge in his body but nothign dangerous so he bowed deeply and respectably "I'm Elris your maker but still not worth being in your presence what is your name? I'm more than happy to serve providing knowledge when you need it." Elris straightened his back to try and look his perfect being in the eye's but the gaze burned his eye's he put it down to the light and his eye's having problems like looking in the sun.