Aiyanna's Story

Pacing, constantly back and forth back and forth. It's what Adya always did and along with pacing came worrying. She looked down on earth through their fountain at the monstrosity that Zuu left behind her. She had called a meeting with all of her angel sisters to discuss this. Just because the merchant did many wrong things didn't mean that everyone who was with him did those things as well and deserved to die a horrid death. And what about their families most of them were good people who did not deserve losing their family. Adya took a pause in her pacing when he heard the sound of wings. A small smile fluttered across her lips, it was little Aiyanna the youngest of the sisters and the most innocent and gullible.

(Aiyanna's posts will be in bold)

Aiyanna swooped in and flew around her sister "hiiiii Adya!" She chirped as she made her way to the ground "what's wrong big sis?" She asked frowning and moving over to her. Young and naive she may be but the little one had always been perceptive of feelings. "You don't seem happy not at all" she said flying around her sister humming.

Adya turned to her and smiled softly her best fake smile she could muster. "Why would you say I'm not happy, I'm just waiting for everyone to gather" she said softly staring down into the fountain at the streets painted red with the essence of lives lost. She knew at that point Little Aiyanna would be fluttering behind her looking over her shoulder her suspicions confirmed when she heard a little gasp and a "how horrible!"

Nakhti swooshed down into the Fane courtyard. Folding her wings to her back, she walked over towards her sisters. "Oh how lovely it feels having.." She paused, seeing her eldest and younger sisters peering into the fountain, both looking as if tears were about to start streaming. Curious, she flew over to take a peak herself.

"But, why would.. how could..." As much good as Nak brought forth from the humans, she had little to no tolerance for the vampires and their cruelty. "I can't believe her! The little trader." Drawing her sword, Nak took on a red glow. "Dispatch me, Adya! She's overstepped her boundaries, sister! She needs to be struck down, stripped of all power. She's not attributing to any balance at all!" Nakhti rambled on, furious at Zuu's betrayal and careless behavior.

Adya looked towards her sister that just arrived "You know I would if I could Nak of it was my choice and my place but it is not" she replied as she wiped her eyes then pulled young Aiyanna away from the fountain and wiped her face. "Don't cry my little bird" she said holding her close. "But I do agree we need to figure out something and some way to deal with her.... we might need to talk to mother." she said.

Aiyanna snuggled her oldest sister "what happened to ZuuZuu why is she doing this?" she whispered and trembles as she looked to Nak.

Nak swallowed her frustration. "I know why." She spoke. Zuu fed into the very same feeling that was enveloping her at the moment: frustration. As Angels do bid good will, that doesn't mean they aren't prone to the same feelings of anger that the Dark Lords fed off of. Zuu wanted to strike out with Nak so many times, but Nak refused to let her. She didn't trust that the Angel would only fight for justice and truth, but for sport. This would, of course, throw off the balance in which the angels worked so hard to keep. Unfortunately, Zuu couldn't accept this, and fell victim to Adrastos' cunning offer of freedom.

"I won't be talking to mother about anything. Zuu has openly overstepped her bounds, Adya! That alone gives us the right to intervene. And you know how long it takes to gain audience with Mother. If we wait that long, we risk the lives of more innocents!" Nak flew up and landed in front of Adya, "You seek out the audience, fine. At least give me permission to approach their new King, to let it be known that he is breaking High Law if he continues to let Zuu rampage like this!"

Adya set Aiyanna down on the floor. "I will request an audience with mother, but I think it is best we all go to speak with the king. I will not grant you permission to go see him alone you are too emotional right now to think clearly." she stated frowning at her. Adya paced, "I believe we all need to go but the brothers might be there as well as Zuu and well..." she gestured to Aiyanna who was playing with a bunny she had snuck into the Fane of Light.

Aiyanna hopped after the bunny and giggled softly as she scooped it up and held it to Nak "Isn't she cute sissy, I named her Petunia!" she said gently stroking the little rabbits fur. "I must say I miss the old ZuuZuu" she said looking towards the fountain and signed.

Nak lifted the rabbit to her chest, and rubbed her nose on it's fur, "Petunia, huh?" She sniffed, causing the rabbit to twitch its' ears. "He sure smells like one!" She softened in mood whenever confronted by Aiyanna. "I miss her too, Aiyanna. However, she's not coming back, I fear. Her body has been possessed by a monster; we should imagine Zuu within Heaven, sitting with our Queen Mother, at this very moment." She handed the bunny back to Aiyanna, and ruffled her hair.

Nak walked over to Adya, touching her arm to pause her pace, "I don't want Aiyanna going with us to speak to the Dark Leader. Perhaps it's time she finds a human for particular guarding. Something to keep her busy and safe while we're away. He has already stolen one of our kind, I refuse to let that happen again." She looked over at Aiyanna hopping along with the rabbit in play, "A child, I think." Children were special to choose as Guarded Humans. If they were young enough with an imagination, Angels were allowed to show themselves, and actually interact.

Adya smiled at them watching how they interacted with each other. She signed and moved to them, "Yes to us Zuu is in heaven" She stated simply and rested her hand on Nakhti's shoulder and said "I agree we shouldn't bring her along" she said staring at the little girl. "I don't know what to do with her though we cannot leave her here though" she said softly.

Aiyanna beamed at her sisters completely oblivious to their conversation and cradled the bunny like a baby. Humming and singing to it happily. "So guess what there was this little boy playing in a park who saw a hurt puppy and he helped it and got it water and food and his mommy let him take it home." She said excitedly "I am his friend now, he calls me Aiya!!!" she said and continued to ramble on about him

Nak offered, "I think she'd make a good Guardian for a child. She can't help but bring hope and joy with her everywhere she goes. What else is there to offer the children of the world today? Especially when their parents are constantly being condemned and sought out by Dark Souls." Nak had been considering this option for Aiyanna for quite some time now, but it wasn't her decision to make. In order for an Angel to be granted Guardianship over a human child, they had to prove themselves pure and without fault. As Aiyanna was still so young herself for an immortal, she met both requirements.

Adya nodded and thought about what to tell Aiyanna. She looked to Nak "once you give them a heads up that we are coming we need to talk to Aiyanna about what she needs to do." She stated simply and walked over to the fountain once more and looked inside with a sigh noticing how the victims families came and found their deceased loved ones. She looked up and tucked her long blonde hair behind her ear and called "Aiyanna please come in here " she said tapping her chin thinking "We need to put it in simple terms Nak remember that" She said reminding her sister knowing that Nak could get ahead of herself.

Aiyanna flew into the room singing aloud "La la la la" as she swirled in the air "What is it my beautiful sisters?" she asked floating around Nak and rested her head on her shoulder "I put Petunia in a little prairie room" she said giggling "I made flowers grow everywhere!" she cheered. "but you guys called me?"

"Mmhmm." Nak replied, "We're going to go visit our brothers!" She wrapped her wing around Aiyanna, enveloping her in it's heavy embrace. "Me and Adya will both be with you. Would you like to meet a brother your age?" Nak reached for her hand, "You'll be coming of the age where you will receive a child to guard. I think it's time you learn about our Brothers, what do you think?" Perhaps giving her a goal to work towards would help her not wonder as to why and what Nak and Adya would be discussing with Adrastos while they sent her to play with a darker companion.

Aiyanna's eyes went wide as Nak mentioned their brothers. She had met one before he was the oldest and when she was around him she felt like all of the joy had been sucked out of her and she thought she would never be cheerful again. She trembles "Do we have to go see them?" she asked her eyes terrified until there was the mention of her getting to be a guardian of a child "Really? When when?" she asked her hair began to shimmer gold proof that she was really excited about something. "Wait I have to meet this brother my age before I can guard a human?" she asked looking at her pouting as her shimmer dulled severely.

Nak nodded. "That's how it works, you see. You must first learn to calm yourself around an equal force, a Dark one. They aren't supposed to attack children, so your innocent will be safe, and you won't be bothered by a Dark Lord while guarding. That's not to say though that they won't try to approach you in the future. If you're to be given a responsibility such as an innocent, you must first prove that you're not afraid of our immortal opposites. You must learn to understand them for what they are, and what it is that they do." Nak stopped, not wanting to overload the young angel. "Does that make sense to you?" She asked.

Aiyanna listened to her and nodded "I have to learn to not be afraid of our brothers... if I am to be guarding an innocent child and they cannot touch or hurt an innocent... then why do I have to meet them if I will probably almost never be approached by them?" she asked confused. She ran her fingers through her pink and blonde hair over and over worried.

Adya stared into the fountain once again, she watched the water intensely. "There's a disturbance," She whispers as the water in the usually still fountain began to ripple. "Nak come look at this" She said frowning most worried that the brothers were planning something terrible and terrifying.

Nak patted Aiyanna's shoulders, and lifted herself to fly over to Adya. Looking into the fountain, she willed it to show her the darkest of evil within the corners of the world. An imagine trickled atop the water, one of Adrastos arriving at, "Ulfang's Castle!?" Nak looked to Adya, "Why would he be going there?!" She knew her sister didn't have an answer, but was thinking out loud her questions. Unfortunately, the image trickled back to merely water as it showed Adrastos being shown inside. "Ulfang has always had a protective spell around his castle, as long as it stands, not a single Angel can see inside it's walls without actually going there, and they both know this." Nak said.

Adya looks at the image before her in the water. She let out a deep sigh "I'm sensing that we will be needing to gather our army together, I believe we will be fighting in a war soon, but first we need to go visit the brothers." She said looking to Aiyanna "Get ready baby sister we are about to leave." She said going to change into something more protective "Nak can you help her put on some enchanted armor under her dress in case things go wrong over there" She said ignoring Nak's question and then glanced at the fountain once more before storming out of the room.

Aiyanna walked up to Nak, Nak, Adya is being scary why is she acting that way?" she asked frowning her eyes showed sheer terror in them as well as worry about her sister.

Zuu steps back a bit and chants another incantation in that awful, grating language, and within seconds the rune she drew glows fiery red (the Angelic wards usually glow yellow) and the door explodes inward, splinters flying everywhere, shattering the glass of his window and knocks over several items on the Guard Captain's desk, where the Captain himself sits startled, the man's piercing blue eyes wide. "What in hell?" asks the man, but he reacts too late. Within moments Zuu has thrown the robes off and dashes forward over the desk, the gold slowly "trickling" from her wings and hair, showing the bloody crimson underneath as she lifts the man by the throat, a big smile on her face. Strangely, her smile holds hardly any malice, but her grip around the man's windpipe is enough to show her intentions. "Hi there, friend! I'm afraid you've been a little bad. And, it's time for you to pay for your crimes. Don't worry! I'll make it quick." she says cheerily, though the last few words are said with a dangerous edge to them.

The man, whose arms are still free, gasps as he grasps for his dagger and swings it wildly at Zuu's face, the blessed blade searing her flesh as it slashes across her cheek, causing her to cry out and recoil momentarily, stepping back a few steps as she drops the man, who quickly gains his bearings. He hadn't become Captain for nothing, and his stance shows quite a bit of fighting skill. He grins. He thought he had the upper hand due to his blessed blades, and he was sure more guards were on their way. He draws his sword from its scabbard, holding the dagger in his offhand. "C'mon then, luv! Try and take me!" he says boastfully. When Zuu looks back up, her gaze is intense and angry. "You shouldn't've done that," she says, growling, "you should've just died like a good little man."

She dashes at him quickly as he swings his blade, ducking under the blessed steel and knocking his arm away as she delivers a powerful punch to his stomach, the force throwing him back against the wall with a loud "oof". He falls to his knees as a small trickle of blood drips from his mouth. He raises his dagger to try and parry Zuu's next attack, but she's too quick, kicking the dagger from his hand, causing it to clatter uselessly to the ground beside them. She then kicks him in the face with enough force to shatter a few of his teeth, his body going limp momentarily. This gives her the opportunity to dash over and grasp his dagger, and although the hilt burns her flesh she grits her teeth and deals with it. "You're going to regret hurting a guardian, dirt!" she almost yells at him, her voice laced with madness. She crouches down beside him and begins to saw at his blade arm, right at the joint in his elbow.

The man begins to scream terrible screams as blood leaves his body, and this just causes Zuu to cut faster. More guards arrive suddenly, as she's about halfway through, and she turns to greet them with a dagger thrown into the eye of the closest one. She lets out a feral growl as she turns back to her primary prey and tears his arm off at the elbow, having sawn enough off to allow her superior strength to do the rest of the work. She spins back around just as the first guard dashes at her, using the dismembered forearm to bash the man in the face, breaking his nose and spraying blood on the guard behind him, who's severely traumatised. Before he has time to react, she dashes at him as well, driving the bony part of the forearm through the man's stomach with a disgusting crunch as she moves on to the next, tearing his spear from his hands and throwing him out the window, where he falls ten stories to his death. She turns back to the guard captain, who's bleeding severely from the stump where his arm was minutes ago. She grins as she kneels down beside him, running a bloody hand down his face, smearing hot red substance over his rough features. She hopes she's got an audience in her "sisters".
"No use running from justice, you see?" she says tenderly as she gestures back to the severely wounded and dead guards. The Captain is too damaged to respond. "No answer? Well, I suppose I'll have to show you the seriousness of your crime in a more...palatable manner."

She lifts him up by the throat again, shoving him against the wall right next to the window. She reaches behind her for the spear -- she had taken it for this very purpose -- and pulls it from her back, slowly running it down the man's stomach, trembling with gruesome delight at all the suffering she feels from him. She pulls her arm back and, after just a moment of anticipation, slams it forward, bringing the tip of the spear with her. The spear point goes into the man's chest right below his sternum, puncturing the lower parts of both lungs as it drives all the way through him, barely missing his spine and driving deep into the stone wall behind him. One of the good things about cursed weaponry is its strength, and the spearpoint buries itself deep within the wall before it's too damaged to continue. She steps back and admires her work, nodding with approval. Then, she gets another idea, causing her grin to grow. If one saw only her, they'd simply see a gleeful little girl, but her surroundings make her innocence much less believable, and so does her next action. She runs two fingertips through the blood that pours from the man's arm and flaps her wings so that she hovers just above him, writing something in blood upon the wall above his head in the beautiful, swooping font of the Angelic language. As she steps back to admire her work, she smiles happily. "Perfect!" she says, and she gathers up her now bloodstained robes before diving out the window and spreading her wings to their full width, swooping off into the night.

The text upon the wall reads, in dripping bloody letters, "Now Darkness Reigns"...

Standing over the fountain, another image fluttered into view. One of Zuu, and her victims, "Adya, come back!" She looked from the fountain to Adya, "Change of plans! Stay here with Aiyanna until I return!" Without further notice, Nakhti took off in flight for Lionsridge, hopefully she could catch Zuu along the way. The woman was out of control, and needed to be stopped. The Guardians of Night had never sentenced a human to death in such a cruel way, Zuu was doing it all wrong. Deep inside, Nakhti didn't want to see Zuu struck down, but if she wasn't stopped, that's exactly what would happen.

(OoC: I apologize ahead of time for the rambling in this post. I'm still trying to get a feel for things and hope this is a helpful introduction into the story)

Celeste didn’t go directly to the fountain despite having felt a disturbance within the Fane. In her experience, it was best to let the worst of ill feelings pass before considering action (if it was ever needed at all). More importantly, it was difficult to tell if it was a true disturbance she felt or a lingering shadow of her own thoughts. Returning from the land of mortals was never quite simple for her—it felt like something was missing every time she saw the golden spires of home. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was exactly, but as always, she pushed it away from her thoughts as she retired for the day. Even angels had a limit to their powers, and her recent string of innocents to aid seemed to get longer with every outing.

My power will grow in time. I simply must pace myself accordingly. But even Celeste knew that wasn’t quite enough. Humans grew in number every day, and even if the angels weren’t already busy keeping up with it all, the vampires weren’t helping. There were even times when Celeste was convinced the angels themselves were corrupted in some way—after all, if they were so pure and vigilant, how could they have not resolved the ill deeds of their shadow kin? If there was no conflict within the Fane, if they were all so secure as they believed, why would there be defectors?

Celeste pressed two fingers against her creased brow, closing her eyes as she forced her breath to slow. Her worries were her own burden to carry, and dwelling in them would only weigh down others. So she collected herself, bringing her cloud of troubled thoughts to her personal dwelling. She was an angel, yes, but the walls of her “house” were encased in marble with nary a precious gem to decorate door handles or portraits. By contrast to the rest of the Fane, the chairs she used for personal conversation were paltry sticks, made from cherry wood and sporting simple woolen cushions. What made her dwelling even more odd was the copious number of books and bookcases—not filled with secret spells and forbidden histories, no—it was all literature she had obtained from humans. Series of pamphlets from philosophers of the 1700’s, discourses of morality as written by religious figures of the world, even scientific patents and magazines of the latest politics were contained in her personal library.

And that was a very guilty possession. Though angels did guide humanity, they weren’t part of it. They didn’t actively engage with adults nor took a part in their lives. They were silent guardians, ghosts, privy to all of humanity’s joys and woes without ever actually experiencing human lives. Yet, something made Celeste feel different when she opened up a book and allowed the authors of the ages to speak to her. She could imagine their voices as if they were personally addressing her, hear the scratch of their pen on paper as they paused to think. Sometimes her gaze would race across the pages, her whole being bent on finding the resolution to a passionate argument. Sometimes there wouldn’t be a resolution and she’d be left fuming about some human matter that didn’t have any bearing on her at all.

But human histories weren’t the only thing she kept. Among the store of mortal knowledge was a single book—a half-finished book written personally by her. She kept her spells and experiments with them within the tome, mostly for reference, but also in the case that she should, well, disappear for some reason. Outside of reading, magic craft was her favorite practice. She liked how frustrating the puzzle of her own power was, how a word not quite perfect or a disrupted focus could break an otherwise perfect spell. That brought on a whole other genre of human treasures she kept safe within an unsuspecting chest—hand puzzles made from metal, wood, and plastic and anything else she could get her hands on. Even a Rubix cube, of all things, was one of the toys she’d turned around in her hands again and again until she could solve it at break-neck speed.

Not that anyone was ever to know. More importantly, it wasn’t a time for toys or a long pondering session. Celeste strode into her parlor only long enough to pour herself a glass of ambrosia—that sweet, sweet juice made from the sacred peach trees growing exclusively within the Fane. She let the liquid swill around on her tongue, feeling its cool texture soothe her mouth before leaving a rich, fruity trail down her throat as she swallowed. It visibly relaxed her features as she drank, and her mind slowed its pace as she focused on the sheer pleasure of the moment.

It didn’t last too long. That disturbance she’d felt before was still clinging to the back of her mind, and she knew it was time to confront it. After putting away her “meal,” she set off for the great fountain, losing no time as she stretched out her wings and pounded them into the sky. Only moments later, her metal boots touched the ground near the sacred water of the great fountain. She stood slowly from her landing crouch, looking about to find what other fellow souls were near.

And then it hit her. Summoning, someone had been summoning angels to the fountain. And like a massive dolt, she’d written the sensation off as being her own paranoia. There was a silence, and in that silence, Celeste felt a sickening weight crawl into her stomach, threatening to keel over her proud posture. Yet she managed a tentative glance toward the angel she knew simply by force of presence—Adya, the eldest, the one all looked to in times of trouble.

Instantly, Celeste clicked her feet together, bowing her head as she placed a hand over her heart. “Sister, forgive my tardiness. I just returned from my duties.”

Adya was sitting on the edge of the fountain her fingers trailing in the water she had her eyes closed as she hummed softly. She was summoning the rest of the angelic kind. She had changed into her armor, it was light as a feather but as tough as dragon’s scales. It flowed down her body in a shimmering dress it did not look any different than her usual garb. She had her long silver gold hair in a braid pulled away from her face and it was draped over her shoulder. She rose from her seat and stood before her sisters and knelt down to help adjust Aiyanna’s armor which was a pair of tights made of the same material as her own dress, and she tugged down her skirt a bit to make her decent and making sure all of her skin other than her face was exposed she wanted to protect her baby sister with all of her being.
”Adya why are we doing this..? Are we going to have to hurt Zuu Zuu and our brothers?” she asked. Aiyanna was a very peaceful little angel she did not even like the prospect of endangering other beings even ones who deserved to be hurt.
Adya had finished fixing her sisters armor and rose to her feet “I don’t know Aiyanna we need to protect and restore the balance of the world, and Zuu keeps throwing it off, something must be done” She stated then glanced up noticing Celeste entering the room. “Celeste nice of you to join us and don’t worry about tardiness we have more important things to discuss, Zuu and the Brothers are causing havoc on Earth, we need to talk to them and I want everyone prepared to fight and everything in case we have to, so I want every single sister in armor” she said looking to her seriously. “Do you think we can be fully prepared?” she asked finally.

Sorry accident!)