Prologue: The Blood of a Thousand Angels

The Abyss of Souls: Act I: The Awakening

Prologue: The Blood of a Thousand Angels

The azure sky was blackened by the dark clouds that hovered above the sea of trees down below. Within the dense foliage there was a small opening whereupon a fifteen year old girl with cyan hair, and cat ears sat submerged in a large pool filled completely with blood. Her physical features sans her cute yet terrified face, and her strong, yet frail arms were enshrouded by the intensely grotesque, and violent scene.

Her eyes began to open, “Where am I!?” she confusedly rubbed her eyes. What in the Hell is going on!?”

A figure clouded in the shadows walked up to the pool where the girl sat dormant.

“What do you want!?” she started to struggle, but to no avail.

“My dear child,” the figure began to speak, “You can’t escape those chains!”

“Hmph!!” she struggled once more, succeeding in only getting blood on her face.

“Try all you want, you won’t break them!” the figure clenched its fist, “Mere physical strength can not break the alchemic bonds from which those chains are forged.”

“Ahhh!! Ahhghh!!!” she tried even harder to escape.

“Stop struggling!” the figure stroked the bottom of the girl’s chin with its index finger, “You don’t want to get anymore blood all over that pretty face of your’s do you?”

“What do you want from me!?”

“Relax, child, I won’t hurt you.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“If you want free then you haven’t a choice. Only I can unshackle you.”

“Well,” the girl let out a sigh, “may I ask you something?”

“I will answer only if it suits me.”

“What is this?” she peered into the depths of the pool.

“The blood of a thousand Seraphim. Or as they are more commonly known, High Angels.”

“What is its purpose??” the girl began to cringe.

“That, I’m afraid is confidential.”

“MIKO!!” a voice sounded seemingly from nowhere, “MIIKO!!”

The girl awoke to find herself unscathed lying in her own bed.

“Dammit Miko!” the voice came from outside her bedroom door, “If you don’t get up we’re gonna be late for class again!”

“Hana!” she got up off her bed. “Thank the gods it’s you!”

“Miko, another nightmare?” a girl of about sixteen clothed in a brilliant white robe (though the robe looked more like a schoolgirl uniform than a true White Mage’s robe. These kinds of robes were standard for students of the Gamian Magic Academy. The color of the outer robe designated the wearers focus in their studies, white for White Magic, black for Dark Magic, purple for Black Magic, and blue for Alchemy.) stepped through the door. Her innately cute face was hidden behind her haphazardly fashioned brown hair. Her bangs had blue streaks in them for some reason beyond fashion. Upon her face was a pair of glasses that seemed to stay crooked no matter how much effort was made to fix them.

“What!? Hana!?” inquired the shaken Miko.

“Hurry!! We’re gonna be late for class!!”

“Sorry,” she sighed, “I did have another nightmare.”

“What about?” Hana embraced Miko.

“I honestly don’t know,” she put her head on Hana’s shoulder, “I don’t know anything about these dreams. What they mean, or anything else except that they’re connected to my past. I can’t explain it, but I’ve really begun to think about who I am.”
“You’re Miko,” Hana pulled her saddened friend closer, “You’re my friend and that’s all that matters to me.”

“Thanks, Hana,” she sighed once more, “but that’s not what I meant. I just,” she started to weep. “I just...don’t have any clues about my past, my family! I’ve never even seen my parent’s faces.” She stepped back a little ways, and lifted up her shirt pointing at strange rune in the center of her chest, “This is all I have along with my catalyst,” she picked up a dagger off of her dresser, “and these strange nightmares.”

“Don’t worry, Miko!” Hana kissed her forlorn friend on the cheek, “You have me! And I’ll always take care of you! If you want to learn more about your past I’ll do everything in my power to help you!”

“Thanks, Hana!”

“Hey, what are friends for!” she rubbed her face against Miko’s.

The girls then left for the Gamian Magic Academy. The town of Gamia was a rather small medieval town almost completely void of commerce. It has very few shops only ones that sell the necessities for its residents to live along with a few Magic Shops here and there. The only reason anyone even lives in Gamia is for its world renowned Magic Academy. Reasons as to why the academy itself didn’t bring vast amounts of commerce, and tourism are unknown, but it’s rumored that the headmasters have something to do with it. Many of the headmasters believed that shops, and tourist traps would distract the students from their studies.

The academy itself was a monumental structure. It looked similar to a castle from medieval Europe. Inside the academy hallways upon hallways of marble floors and stairways stretched out for what seemed like an eternity.

“Huhh! Huhh!” the two girls panted as they ran through the classroom door.

“Ah! Miko, Hana late again I see!” their professor was not pleased. “Care to explain yourselves this time!?”

“We’re sorry,” Hana apologized, “We don’t have an excuse.”

“You girls know the drill.”

“What are you going to ask this time?” whined Miko.

“Hana, I want you to tell me the definition of ‘Magic.’”

“Magic is any phenomena, or other action that involves the use of an elemental force to alter the physical, meta-physical, or molecular properties of any biological or organic construct, or to use said elemental force to conjure any other type of supernatural phenomena.”

“Very good, Hana, now if you weren’t as scatterbrained as you are intelligent!” The professor turned her attention towards Miko, “Miko, I want you to explain the difference between Mana-Magic, and Chakra-Magic.”

“Mana-Magic,” Miko began to answer, “is the most basic form of Magic. It uses the Mana from around the caster as well as the Mana within the caster to conjure the elemental force. Most common Mana based spells also require an incantation as well,” she yawned. “While Chakra-Magic simply uses the caster spiritual energy to conjure the elemental force.”

The rest of the day dragged on for Miko as she continued to dwell on her past.
“You okay?” Hana asked Miko as they made their way to the entrance hall after their classes.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Miko replied in a forlorn tone, “Don’t worry!”

“AHH!!.....” Hana cried as they entered the lobby.

“What is it?!” Miko’s eyes went towards her feet. Streaks of blood covered nearly every square inch of the marble floors. “What the Hell is happening!!?”

The girls looked towards the center of the lobby. Bodies of their fallen classmates littered the bloodstained marble floors. Amidst the sea of chaos was a sullen looking girl wearing a tattered black robe. Her hair was crimson much like the sea of death she had just wove. Blood stained nearly every inch of her body. In her left hand was an enormous greatsword much too heavy for any normal human to hold even with both hands. While her right hand was covered in scales, and had claws where her fingers should be. She seemingly had no remorse for what she had done yet her crimson eyes belied a strange sense of innocence.

“CHRISTA!!” a rather eccentric young blonde girl wearing an even more eccentric red dress, and a fierce blue aura sped towards the bloodstained assailant. The girl’s dress was odd in multiple ways. It didn’t completely cover her right shoulder, and despite its size didn’t leave much to the imagination. Just by glancing at her one could see the complicated, and intricate curves that made up her exquisite body. “This isn’t you!!” she tore off her dress revealing a plethora of daggers, knives, and short swords she had hidden over her undergarments. “Alchemic binds release!!” she snapped the dress in her hands, “Dress Scythe!” A strange blue light shrouded the dress, as the light dissipated the dress transformed into an enormous scythe. “Hah!” she swung her scythe at the demon girl, but her attack was easily parried.

“What’s wrong, Frey!?” Christa hopped into the air, “Am I not the person you thought I was!?” Her voice grew darker, ghastly even.

“I know you’re not like this!! Whatever the hell this is FIGHT IT!!”

“I am a Nephilim!” Her eyes grew darker, as pitch black wings shot out from her back, “This world has grown stagnant I shall put an end to its suffering!”

“That’s not something the Christa I know would say!!” she readied her weapon for another strike, “Find your true self it’s in there somewhere!”

“The Christa you knew is dead!” she licked the some of the blood on her claw.
“I loved you, like a sister!” she started to blush “maybe even something more. I won’t let you do this!!”

“Love is meaningless! This world is full of nothing, but hate. It all must be eradicated!”

Frey began to chant something under her breath, but was struck down as she did. She fell to the ground, lifeless. Her body was then swallowed by an intense green light.

Miko, and Hana gazed on in unparalleled horror as their peer was slain before them.

Miko drew her dagger, and began chanting, “O spirit of darkness shroud us in your embrace!” A cloud of darkness gathered where the girls stood, “Desperna!” They disappeared from sight, and made their way towards the exit.