Part I - Awake
My body feels hot, all I see is a light in the distance ripping through the darkness. A single feather floats in grace as the golden pallet glistens and shines in the light. The darkness begins to swallow the light as the horrors of the emptiness begin to overcome me. I struggle as the floor below me begins to swallow me slowly. I pull, grab, kick, but to no avail. I drowned. I gasp for air as I awake in my bed with my hand in the air. "Xander!" I hear my name being called in the other room as I shake off the nightmare as just another nightmare. I get out of bed and walk towards my door and open it to see my sister standing there and pouting. "What's wrong?" I ask. She lets out a "hmph" and says "I've been calling you for the last five minutes the food is ready!". "I'm sorry sis I overslept pretty heavily, they had me working on the ruins again.." she became visibly angry as she heard me say this. She shouts " Again?! Those damn old lazy geezers putting a child to do all the heavy work for them." I smile as I reassure her " Don't worry it's okay, and it's really good money either way. We both know we need as much money as we can get." she pouts again as she mumbles under her breath and heads to the kitchen. I follow behind her In glee to finally eat. I sit down and make a prayer to god thanking him for the food he set on our table. Before I began to eat I turned to my sister and asked her "Did you make enough for mom? And is she feeling any better yet?" she nods and says "Yeah I did, but make sure to let her know you're gonna head out to work again". I smile and nod as I dig into my food, as food here in the desert wastelands is uncommon to come by. Most of us in the village are pretty poor and try to share around as many resources with each other as we can. But there are those in the village who are overcome by greed and selfishness that they hoard some of the food and water to themselves.
I end up finishing my meal as the last time I ate was two days ago. I stretch out my muscles and then head to wash my plate. My sister shouts from the table and says "Make sure not to let those scumbags scam you from any money alright ?! or else they'll have to deal with me! Understand Xander?!" I nod and then she stands up and walks towards me and gives me a hug "Thank you, you're the best brother ever. Just don't overdo it okay? I love you." she says as she hugs me tighter and tighter "Okay Emily ! you're hugging me too tight. I'm gonna go say goodbye to my mom." She lets go and I begin to walk to my mothers room.
I hear mom's coughs from down the hall. I open the door and see her coughing into a rag. "How are you feeling mom? Are you able to eat okay?" she hides the rag and turns to smile at me "Oh Xander my baby boy, yes my love I'm feeling so much better." I smile and say "That's good ma, I'm getting ready to work now okay I'll be back later today, make sure you eat and drink lots of water okay?" She visibly gets mad as she yells at me for working "Xander how many times have I told you you need to stop doing all that heavy labor for those scummy thieves. You don't need to work. I'm doing better now. I'm gonna get back to work soon!" I frown as I lie to her "Mom I'm not working with them okay? I've only been doing work around the village. I'm fine, I'm not a little boy anymore!" She sighs and finally concedes. "Fine, just be safe okay? I love you Xander." as she smiles at me once more. I smile back and say "I love you too mom."
Part II - The ruins
I put on my cloak and turban to cover me from the desert heat and sun. I get my bag with all the tools that I keep hidden under my bed. I strap the bag on my bag and head out to the village. Making my daily stops to check out the shops for any medicine and any water. I come by old lady Mena's shop "Hello again Xander. Heading out to work on the ruin's today?" I smile towards her and nod "Yeah how'd you know?" and we both simultaneously answer the question "Because I'm a fortune teller!" we both break into a small laughter. Then she asked "Are you finally ready to hear your fortune, young Xander?" I grin and pull out a red bright apple that looks extremely ripe. "Does this answer your question?" She begins to grin as well "Very well sit down and young Xander and lay your hands upon mine and you shall know the fate of your future" I laid my hands on hers as she began to chant with her eyes closed. Then she paused for a moment as she began to shake a little. She recoiled in fear as she gasped and opened her eyes to look down at me. I look at her with a concerned look on my face and ask "what… what's wrong?.." She manages to bring herself to center and calm down. "Soon, an angel will receive his wings and shine his light on the darkness." I quietly asked "Isn't that a good thing?.." She stays silent. I turn around and begin to walk "Okay I'm heading gonna head to the ruin's."
I walk to the outskirts of the village towards some ruins in the desert. There I explore the ruins in search of anything valuable and earn a pay from the other workers at the site for the loot I'm able to find. I reach the top of the desert hill that overlooks the village and ruins. I'm able to catch what seems to be a new person walking into the village in tattered clothes and a cloak. Maybe he got lost in the desert and wandered here. I shrug it off and slide down the sandy hill and run towards the site. I see the boss talking to the other workers so I try to sneak past them to not get scolded for being late again. And right before I almost managed to sneak past one of the workers pointed me out. I damned them under my breath as the boss grabs me from the cloak and punches me on the head "Goddammit you imp. How many times have I told you not to get here late! You're working overtime again!" I bow and make my way down the ruin's.
As I make my way down the ruin's I light one of the torches and make my way deep into the ruin's once again I take out the map I made of the layout of the first few floors and swiftly make my way past through the halls to reach the next floor. I was told not to head any deeper than the third floor but they're probably just keeping me from getting any valuable loot. I smirk, they probably think they can take advantage of me but they don't know a single thing. I reach the stairs to head to the fourth floor and bring out a dagger I kept tuck away. Good thing I bought it off that merchant for only two potatoes. I shine the torch down the steps to make sure there's no traps or anything of that kind. I walk down the stairs as I hear my steps and the sound of the torch crackling echo throughout the ruin
As I reach the bottom I lay dumbfounded as I stare face to face to a wall. "A dead end, seriously? There's no way. There has to be something on this wall. I place my hand on the wall as I feel around it, and I start to feel some engravings around the wall. I place the torch on the corner of the wall and I pull out a brush from my bag and begin to scrub on the wall. I pick up the torch again and look closely at the wall. It looks like a bunch of drawings on the wall. I begin to make out the drawings as it looks like a bunch of angels flying in the air and demons on the fighting. I look further across the wall and I see what seems to be a small village and a single demon killing people, and then what seems to be a small boy. As I lean on the wall to get a closer look the wall begins to shake as an opening appears. "Haha I knew there was an entrance to this wall! You can't trick me!" As I walked into the room It seems to resemble something like a church or chapel of some kind, but what caught my eye was a single golden feather falling from the middle of the room with an odd light making it glisten. I grab the feather before it hits the floor, then suddenly I start to feel dizzy and everything starts to become dark and my body becomes numb as I fall to the ground.
Part III - Prophecy
I woke up again in cold sweat near the entrance of the ruins. I opened my bag in a daze and pulled out a small broken pocket watch still in a daze, it was hard to make out the time. I stood up and looked outside but there was no light. "Dammit I fell asleep and it's late, my mom and Emily are probably waiting for me to get home" I pack my things and put my bag on and step outside again. Oddly there was no one outside as if they all just disappeared. I shrugged it off and began to walk up towards the hill that overlooks Tetra village. But as I reached the top I froze to see the horror. Tears began to run down my face. The village was burning down and there were dead bodies on the streets. But only one thought crossed my mind. they're safe right? they have to be.. I rushed down the hill leaving my bag behind tripping and rolling down the hill. Unphased, I stand up as I run to the entrance of the village. I try my hardest to ignore the faces of the people who laid on the floor. They're all okay right.. Yeah everyone's fine, everyone is okay. I run around the corner passing the stand where Mena's shop was and ran straight to my house. I opened the door as time began to slow down. I see a blood trail from the entrance to the inside of the house. The air felt cold, fear began to creep behind my mind. My breath became heavier with every step I took into my house. I follow the trail of blood to the kitchen, and look around the corner. Time froze. Silence. Coldness. Warm tears. My breath became so heavy I began to throw up all over the floor. I hear my name as I try to compose myself. I glance over as I see my Mom and Emily on the floor. I see my mom's bloodied hands reach out for me as I hear her call for me. I rushed over. I grab her hand and try to speak "Yes.. ye.. I..It's me mo… mom" my tears running down my eyes as my heart ached and overwhelming pain. "Run.. my baby boy.. run.. It's okay .. don't worry me and Emily.. are… just … resting… we'll catch up to you… I love you Xander.." I began to hyperventilate as tears swelled in my eyes as I screamed out my agonizing pain that was tearing my heart and mind apart. I shouted "PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME PLEASE! MOM PLEASE!! TALK TO ME! WAKE UP WAKE UP!" silence was the response. Then I heard steps behind me as I felt an evil feeling creep behind me. I glanced back and I saw a Demon cloaked in black air stumbling inside my front door.
Part IV - The Demon of Tetra
Realizing I've come face to face to this demon my body begins to react as I try to run. My body and mine were in sync, both screaming to run from certain death. I try to exit through the window in the kitchen but in a blink of an eye the demon dashes right to me striking me once to the stomach launching me outside. I laid on the floor. I tried to breathe but my lungs could not pull any air. My whole body ached from that one strike as my body recoiled with pain. I started to cough blood as it felt like my lungs drowned with the blood being poured into it by the injury done with that one punch. My vision became fuzzy, but I watched the demon crawl out from the window he punched me out of. Stand up. Breath. Move. Move. MOVE. MOVE. MOVE. My body did not want to react as the demon slowly walked to me. It lifted its leg and stomped on my right arm. I felt my joints and bones break on impact. I tried to scream but nothing could be heard. He left his foot on my elbow and grabbed my forearm and started to pull. The pain was unimaginable as every single muscle on my body was being torn apart slowly but harshly. The blood started to flow and gush. I couldn't take it anymore. I looked at the face of the demon once more. I enjoyed every single moment. My fear slowly started to become anger as I realize that this monster found every single murder and paine he caused enjoyable.. My heart started to beat faster and faster as rage began to over take me. This monster ENJOYED WATCHING THE DEATH OF MY MOTHER AND SISTER, HE ENJOYED WATCHING THE DEATHS OF EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE VILLAGE. "I'll… ma… ke.. YOU PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I pulled my arm free from the grasp of his foot, completely ripping my arm off. I stand on my feet and strike the monster in its face. He stared back at me unphased. "I swear on my life I'LL SEND YOU BACK TO HELL!!!!!" The monster strikes my stomach again and slices at my left arm leaving me with no arms to fight back. Then the rage in my body had built up completely as I started to feel some sort of heat pour from the center of my body. I screamed and let everything out as the heat in my body poured out into the air burning and melting everything around me. All that was left was a crater with glass shards all over the floor. My body felt cold as I stumbled to my side. I start to fall as someone catches me before falling to the ground. I look and see the kind face of a man with white long hair. "Don't worry child, we'll take you …. safe … you c… call me .. Ke…gi Ti…a." I fell unconscious.
Part V - Sacrifice
I awake as I lay down in a stone room with a lantern in a corner being the only source of light. I tried to move but my body didn't want to. Every inch of my body ached with any tiny movement I made. I gave up and laid there, thinking to myself how am I still even alive. I was already sure my death was assured once that demon had stepped foot in my house. Breathing still hurts but at the very least I'm able to breathe properly now. I can't even begin to imagine how I was able to survive any of it. Then a thought accrued to my head. My arms… I have nothing left.. Maybe after all, surviving was my curse. The thing Mena had said was a lie, there was no angel to save us all, there was nothing but pain and death… we all had suffered the wrath of a demon who merely used us for entertainment. This thought had angered my heart again as I remembered everything that had happened. The poor and pitiful state I was in had no effect on me as my mind was set on vengeance. That demon would not get away with using us from Tetra as play toys. I'll show that demon the wrath, hatred, and torment in return for killing everyone. My body ached as I stood up from the bed I laid on, I set my feet on the cold stone floor as I threw my body weight on my barely stable legs to stand. The pain was unbearable but I can't just sit here and rest while that demon is out there killing more innocent people. I begin to slowly walk towards the wooden door at the end of the room. I lean my body against the wall as I lift my leg to put my foot on the knob of the door and open it. The pain was unimaginable as I could feel every muscle burn and ache of any stress of use. I stumbled outside of the door and the hall was dark and damp. At that very moment of standing in the middle of the hall a feeling had come over me. It felt very pleasant. A warm and gentle air had come from the left of the hall. I start to walk towards it as the feeling becomes greater and greater the closer I get to the source of it. I squint my eyes when I see a figure emerge from the darkness. A woman? She starts to run to me when she notices my gaze. I stood there as the pleasance from the air felt heavenly. She kneels and asks me "What are you doing? You shouldn't be out of your room yet! You'll injure yourself more! C'mon I'll carry you back." without any response she picks me up and carries me back to the room I woke up in. Once in the room she asked me "Why would you put yourself in so much pain? You aren't strong enough to do anything especially in your state. What do you expect to accomplish with your power?" I sat there and thought, she was right. What can I do? All I did was almost kill myself in rage merely repelling that demon. I frustrated myself at the thought of me being so pathetically weak. Tears started to run down my cheek, gritting my teeth and then glancing at the women. "How do you know about all these things? Who are you?" she smiles a kind smile and replies "Oh sorry I forgot to tell you, I have been taking care of you as well as everyone here at Tiara's. You can call me Thea. But none of that is really important now is it. I can feel your frustration. How about I offer you a deal. Deeply from the bottom of my heart I feel for you, I'll help you get the power you want. I'll also help you master your new found ability." My mind peaked interest as I heard the word power. I reply " You mean I can become strong enough to beat that demon? And ability? What do you mean by that?" Her smile begins to fade as she finally opens her eyes for the first time, revealing her odd cross shaped pupils that are a deep blue. She finally replies to my question and says "I'd gladly tell you everything you want, but I'd like you to devote your life to me. If you do, I'll show you the path to God and help you become an angel." I broke into laughter because of the nonsense she started to tell me, but when I caught her glance again she hadn't moved a single muscle and kept her poker face. She opens her mouth and says "You don't believe me? I'll show you. Seeing is believing isn't that right?" At that very moment some sort of air started to flow out from her as something started to move from her back. I laid stunned as golden feathered wings sprouted from her back. She asked me again " Will you devote yourself to me and gain the power you want to slay the demon who slaughtered your entire village? Or will you lay here in regret for the rest of your life. I stared astonished, slowly nodding my head to her request. She begins to smile as she steps out for a few minutes and comes back with a pair of weird looking gauntlets. Thea straps them to my arms from where I had lost them. "I'm sorry my child but you will have to suffer a little more pain. Show me your resolve." I prepare myself for the worst . I feel the steel arms pierce my skin and flesh sending a cold shock throughout my arms and soon after a pain that would be indescribable. It felt like my own life was being drained from my arms making me scream in agony. The pain would pulsate through my entire body sending shocks to every single nerve in my body. After a few seconds of utter hell the gauntlets would begin to heat up and becoming a bright red before laches would open up the metal castings and let out a smoke of pure heat. Thea puts her hands on my forehead as I feel a cool and refreshing feel surge through my whole body. "Good job, you've passed. We can now get you on the path of righteousness to become one of God's Advocates. Now rest my child we can start your training soon." She softly and gently tells me as she lays my head down on the pillow lifting my pain, which puts me to sleep.
Part VI - Two Years of enlightenment
I stare at myself in the mirror of my room as my muscles have become defined. I look pretty built now and the feeling of my new arms are almost natural. After learning the use of aura and my ability I'm able to control the gauntlets by binding the aura I produce into the fingers and individual pieces of the complex piece of armor. I've trained my muscles to be able to move swiftly during fights. I've come close to reaching Thea's expectations. I also heard from Ketsugi earlier today as well it seem's I'm getting sent out on a mission today. My heart was beating louder than usual, but maybe it's because there's intel about a demon showing up. The anger that has been hidden below my heat is beginning to boil once more last the thought of my pitiful self two years ago flashed through my memories. The demon that destroyed my village. No the monster that engulfed everyone into hell, I shall bring judgment and release them from their prisons and into the gates of heaven. My thoughts are cut shortly as I catch a glance of my eyes In the mirror changing to a blueish color. No, it must just be my mind tricking me. I head to the armory to put on my armor, cloak and turban. I look at the mirror once more and think to myself. I should cut my hair a little shorter, Mom and Emily would probably scold me if they saw me.
I head to the briefing room with Satoru the alchemist of Tiara, genuinely he looks like an absolute maniac but he is very well composed around everyone and myself. He might be a little scary sometimes but overall he's been very kind to me. He walks me to one of his alchemist rooms he uses for his basic forms of transportation. "Now tell me Xander how are you feeling ? Are you excited ! Haha This is very exciting for me as well ! I've been wanting to see your abilities in full display !! Haha, well who knows what might happen just be careful and let me know immediately if you need to be pulled out of the mission and I will do so! Now go ahead and step into the circle ! I will begin the teleport process! Haha, remember to hold your breath while you're traveling through the shadows! Okay I'll be watching, good luck !" And with not even having a chance to answer any of his questions I fall into the pool of shadows unable to feel anything. I held my breath for what felt like hours but not being more than mere seconds I emerge onto the outside of the world.
Part VII - Daki where the Demlns reside
It was a cold night at the town of Daki, but I had felt a small hint of bloodlust in the air. "Well at the very least this town lives up to its name. The Town of Mercenaries huh.." my nerves start to kick in after realizing that this was it, my last two years of training and trust in God led me here. I felt fired up as my gauntlets start to heat up. "Oops already getting carried away." I release the steam from my gauntlets as it clanks open and then back into place. "Time to hunt demons.." I start to walk into the darkness of the town only lit by dim lights. After a few minutes of walking around the town a thought occurred to me: how the hell am I supposed to find the demons!? "Dam-" my eyes felt a small shock as I glanced to my left. I sensed an odor coming from one street leading to the center of town. This smell disgusted me but intrigued me more as I followed it farther into the town. Finally arriving at the source in the town plaza I sense something appear right behind me. I dash forward and flip to avoid whatever was behind me then see a woman stand there staring at me. The source was coming from her. I readied my hands to fight. "You have a really good nose there, I can already tell you're not from around here are you. A word of advice, whatever you're being paid for that contract is not worth your life.. it's best for you to lea- wait .." she begins to stare at me for a couple of seconds before opening her mouth again "You're trying to become God's Advocate aren't you .. in that case you've come to the right place.. right Cazo?" At that moment my instincts told me to look up as I was towered over by a man standing behind me, his red ruby eyes piercing my soul, but before I could react he threw a strike to my right, launching me to the wall. I walk out of the whole in the wall stepping through all the rubble. "Good I'm still alive" I say under my breath as I take a stance. I crack my neck and say "You only get one free hit. Output : fifty percent" my gauntlets begin to heat up. I lift my arm towards them and taunt them with a hand gesture to fight me. The tall man.. no.. the giant demon starts dashing towards me. He throws a jab at my head. I barely dodge and land a strike on his torso, burning a hole into his shirt and skin instantly. He backs off recoiling in pain after the burning sensation. I crack a smile and let my guard down for a split second as I feel a kick coming from below me striking the bottom of my chin nearly knocking me out, stumbling backwards. I catch myself and release more aura "Output : Seventy-five percent" I try to strike downwards to the source of the kick landing on nothing but the gravel on the ground. I feel another punch to the back of my head making me black out for a split second and then coming back to my senses. I release more aura into my gauntlets ``Output : One-Hundred percent" and strike recklessly around me hitting absolutely nothing but air and rubble. I start panting in exhaustion and frustration. The woman demon begins to laugh as she says "Don't tell me you're done already" my heartbeat begins to beat faster and faster as rage begins to overtake me. I hear a whisper in my ear "Xander if you need me to pull you out of your mission tell me now" I scoff and say "Shut up" I clamp my gauntlets together releasing all the built up steam. I take a deep breath as I compose myself again. And before I could react the woman disappears again and I feel hands behind my back. In a blink of an eye I end up in the middle of the air above both of them and land inside of a cube like barrier in the middle of the sky. I stared down at the demons who looked at me with amusement. I realized that this was my end, the cube began to shrink slowly. Memories began to rush in my head. Memories of my Mother and sister sitting at the dinner table laughing and eating ending with the memory of them laying dead on the floor. "I won't let you… STOP ME FROM GETTING MY REVENGE !! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH" I clasp my hands together again burning through all my aura " OUTPUT : TWO-HUNDRED PERCENT! HEATWAVE!" My gauntlets shined a bright red releasing and endless amount of steam to try and break the barrier. I screamed and screamed pouring everything I have into breaking the barrier stressing my body to its limit. "GOD THIS CAN'T BE IT I'M NOT DONE YET. I NEED JUST A LITTLE MORE POWER ! GRANT ME A MIRACLE! I SHALL SLAY EVERY SINGLE DEMON THAT LAYS ON THIS EARTH. I WILL AVENGE EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE!!" My body is about to give out. All the aura I had was burnt into this last ditch effort… my vision begins to blur. My body shuts down for a second and then suddenly I hear a voice in my head "Do not give in to the temptations of evil my child. You have worked hard enough. I applaud you for following my path. Now rise and release the angel within you." I felt a sensation rush through my body as new aura began to leak through forming a white cloak around me. I take a strong stance again and clasp my hands once more "ANGEL RELEASE !" And begin to scream at the top of my lungs releasing all the aura and breaking through the barrier. I land on the floor and try to stand but my vision blurs once more and I pass out.
I felt another wave of aura flush through my body as I began to regain consciousness. I stand to see both demons pouring blood-lust, I unleash 200% Heat output on my gauntlets with ease releasing steam as it heats up; creating a smoke screen around me. I take a stance and take a breath, the ground below me breaks as I launch my body into a full sprint dashing out of the smoke screen straight into the towering monster. I try to strike his head but he manages to dodge my strike. I try to recover after a full power swing but he takes the free shot at my stomach, stabilizing the burst of momentum from my lounge. I flinch from the strong jab against my stomach, without hesitation I recover and take a stance on the ground. "Output : Two- Hundred and ten precent. Full Power Magma Volley!" The Demon had no chance to react to a full power flurry of attacks at this distance. To my surprise he shouted out "Dimensional Barrier : Aegis Puddle" He matched me blow for blow putting a barrier in between his palm strikes and my punches. It started slow, one punch per second, then two , then four, then seven. We were throwing strikes clashing back and forth, both of us moving at the speed of twelve punches per second, not giving a single split second of recovery. My body started to feel the strain of this new found power that awakened in me, but my mind ignored the fact of pain. Feeling my veins pulsate with each few swings, "JUST A LITTLE FAASTEERRRRRAAAAAHAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" My body begins to hurt immensely as I do one last single stride of effort into a punch shattering the barrier and striking the right side of his face, burning it completely. His reaction speed saved him from certain death. I take a deep breath as I release all the steam built up in my gauntlets . Every muscle in my body was pulsating in sync. "Damn I can't move, everything hurts. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to stand." The drench of sweat dripped from my body as it rained on the shadow I stood on. The two demons started to approach me as I stood there unmoving, but in a split second Ketsugi emerged from the shadows putting on a display of terrifying aura and scaring both demons off into the night. Ketsugi picks me up by putting his arm below me and lifting me off the ground. "Great job kid, you have a lot of potential. Even now you may be closer to your true goal huh. Let's head back."