• The Eve of Eternity Side Story: Chronicles of Aegis – White Winged Angels


    -- 200 years ago... --

    “Firomis behind you!” a young man shouted frantically. Upon hearing his name, Firomis quickly turned and released a series of wind gusts in a circle, thereby creating a powerful shield to block the oncoming shards of earth being shot at him. “Haaaa!!!” He immediately retaliated with his own attack, a super shard and extremely fast arc of wind. The bandit who released the earth shards was instantly torn into two, releasing a scream of pain as it happened. “Thanks, Sethos! Now come, there’s more to be had here!” The two of them continued fighting alongside the rest of the militia that was fighting against the army of bandits and mercenaries. “It seems that Maximus is becoming a bit bolder, sending this army of bandits against us to capture the royal city. Tch, what a scumbag he is! It doesn’t matter how many of them he sends at us, the royal city will never fall!”

    Several black explosions suddenly lit up the battlefield, followed by the screams of victims caught in them. “Wha-what!? Is Maximus actually fighting this time?!” Firomis and Sethos stopped in their tracks, looking over the battlefield that was now torn with craters and fallen soldiers that were caught in them. The Royal City had dispatched over 100,000 soldiers to the battlefield, but they were now looking at casualties of over 75% losses. The bandits however, were almost 25 times in number, and had only lost 10% of their forces thus far. “That last attack... it just took out more than two-thirds of our forces... Firomis, we can’t win this battle anymore. We have to fall back and hold out at the gates until reinforcements arrive!” Sethos put his hand on Firomis’ shoulder. “There he is. It’s Maximus Farien.” Firomis was staring off into the distance where a man wearing a runed black robe was standing. “Master Firomis, please remain here. Allow me to finish the remainder of this battle myself.” A young voice suddenly spoke from behind the two. Just as they turned to look, the owner of the voice stepped out of a cloud of dust that was still in the air due to the black explosions. “Emperor... but... if we lose you then this will all be for naught!” Firomis kneeled down quickly, as did Sethos.

    The owner of the young voice was a man with bright red hair that was of medium length and fox ears on his head. The sides of his hair spiked out horizontally, while the back was short, with two long thick sets of bangs coming down his cheeks like saber tooth fangs. His appearance was like that of a young teenage, as he was still quite short and childlike in height. His red and silver clothing was elegant and fit him well, yet there were silver ‘tails’ on the sleeves and shoulders that seemed to fly behind him in the wind. “I do not plan to fall in this battle. I didn’t think that I would have to participate myself, but the sudden arrival of Farien is something even I didn’t foresee.” The Emperor suddenly began floating in the air and the tails on his clothing began to glow. All at once, the entire battlefield was notified of his presence and watched him. His voice suddenly echoed through the minds of the allied forces. “My dear citizens of Beythemisia please fall back into the capital. Carry the wounded and tend to their injuries. You have all done well in defending against such numbers, so please allow me to take care of the rest.” The eyes of the allied forces widened, but it was an order from the Emperor which meant that he had a plan devised already. Each person who was uninjured began carrying the wounded soldiers and quickly headed back to the city gates to watch and treat injuries of the injured.

    “So the child genius has come out to play huh?” Farien’s voice echoed through the area. The Emperor closed his eyes and raised his arms and hands to his sides. “Maximus Farien, you have done well to have made me participate in this battle myself. I greatly applaud you for your efforts to try and capture my hometown, but I’m afraid your assault will end here and now!” His body began to glow slightly, and his blue eyes began to glow as well. After a few seconds, fox tails began to appear behind the Emperor, quickly at first, but after the fifth tail, the emergence of a new one was slower. After the appearance of the fifth tail, a heavy pressure was suddenly felt throughout the entire battlefield. The bandits closest to the Emperor, even though they were hundreds of feet away, were the first to feel the pressure. Many of them began to shake without even being aware of it, but the ones further away were not feeling anything at all. A sixth tail formed finally, causing the bandits in back and the soldiers at the gates to finally begin to feel the heavy pressure coming from the Emperor’s power. As the seventh tail formed, the bandits in front had already began to pass out from the heavy pressure, while the ones in the back were falling to their knees, as were some of the soldiers at the gates. The eighth and ninth tails finally formed, causing all those on the battlefield except for Firomis, Sethos and Farien to collapse.

    Firomis and Sethos were more affected by the pressure than Farien, even at the great distance they were at from the Emperor, and had to get down on one knee. “Damn... that’s a pretty monstrous power you’ve got there Emperor. I have you hand it to you; even I’m starting to shake uncontrollably from that pressure. But I still have something you don’t have, a power far greater than yours!” Farien let out a roar as he began to glow black for a brief moment, a pair of black feathered demonic wings growing from his back. “Farien, your power is insignificant compared to mine. As you can see, your legs are still shaking, while my entire body has felt nothing from your power. I will remove your existence from this world so that it may know peace once more, even if it is for a short time.” Farien clenched his teeth and fist. “b*****d... I’ll teach you not to mock me!”

    Farien thrust his hand out forward and began chanting quickly. A large amount of storm clouds suddenly began to form in the air above the Emperor, sporadically releasing quick jolts of lightning in his direction. The Emperor, still floating in the air, raised his hand to the sky and began to ‘catch’ the bolts of lightning, turning them into a sparkling ball of energy. Irritated, Farien rose both arms and hands to his sides, creating hundreds of black swords made from his dark magic. As he thrust both hands forward, the swords turned the tips towards the Emperor and began soaring through the air in an attempt to pierce him. With one hand still capturing the lightning, the Emperor raised the other, causing several tall sheets of earth to rise up in front of him instantly, taking the damage from the black swords. Immediately after, hundreds of water droplets began to slowly form high in the sky around Farien and the Emperor. “Tch... I didn’t want to have to use mystic magic on you, but it seems that I’m being forced to.” The Emperor shook his head. “Mystic magic takes a long time to release; do you really think I’ll let you have the time to cast such magic? Your defeat is already certain; this battle will end with my next attack.”

    The Emperor began to blow air out of his mouth that quickly turned into a flame. The flame grew larger and larger, being fueled by a sphere of wind created by the Emperor, until it was large enough to separate into hundreds of tiny orbs of fire. “First, I’ll return to you that which you sent at me.” He threw the orb of lightning that he had been collecting in his hand quickly over Farien’s had. Farien began to move, but was unable to move before the attack went off over his head. The orb of lightning exploded into a burst light, creating domed, web like, endless stream of lightning spanning several miles in diameter. “What the hell is that?!” Farien began to panic, knowing that if he touched the lightning it would probably engulf him and trap him for good. The Emperor continued his attack, waving the back of his hand towards Farien, causing the orbs of flame to enter the lightning dome and glow brightly. Almost immediately after each orb had entered the dome, a sheet of solid rock in several layers formed around the lightning dome to act as a shield from the explosions now going on inside the dome. The explosions all happened at the exact same time, filling the entire dome with fire and turning most of the helpless, unconscious bandits into dust. The dome of earth quickly collapsed and melted in the inferno that was still burning brightly where the inside of the dome was. The lightning web had now shrunk, catching the important victim in its snare and preventing him from defending any further.

    “I’m surprised you didn’t die from that inferno of hell, but I guess I shouldn’t be if you consider that you’re a half demon still. Good bye, Maximus Farien.” Farien’s eyes opened widely as he struggled in pain from the lightning and fire that was engulfing him now. The Emperor vanished quickly, appearing again closer to the city gates as the orbs of water began to grow larger and larger, absorbing all the moisture in the air. A bright flash of blue light descended from the sky as the water turned into a pillar of ice several hundreds of feet tall and several dozens of miles in diameter. The pillar of ice remained there for several minutes before the Emperor snapped his fingers, causing it to shatter into hundreds of millions of tiny sparkling snowflakes that were dispersed into the areas of the city, and the surrounding outskirts of the city. The sky had already turned to night which made the appearance of the glowing snowflakes all the more beautiful. The tails of the Emperor disappeared quickly, releasing the heavy pressure that those with a magical awareness were feeling still. “Today is a day that shall be remembered for many years after this day. This day shall be known as the Night of Brilliance, the day that Maximus Farien was defeated by this capital city.” Firomis and Sethos finally regained their composure and stood up. “Don’t you mean the day he was killed?” Firomis looked at the Emperor and then the place where the pillar of ice once stood.

    “Farien... is not dead. I felt a strong surge of power engulf him just as his life force was about to fade away. I believe that was his Mystic power being used. It would seem that the power of Mystic magic can be used to restore a life, but doing so seems to use all the mystic energy the person has. Farien has lost a tremendous amount of power, which I believe is due to the loss of his mystic magic. If he should ever attempt to destroy this world again, I will look towards the two of you to stop him. I used far too much power in this battle, so I will remain in the palace over the next few decades in order to replenish my power. Although it may be fun to travel the world and pretend I’m sick also, since the public will never know any difference.” The Emperor grinned and vanished quickly. “Your highness! Is he really serious...?” Sethos looked at Firomis and shook his head. “I think it fits his personality quite well, being that he is still a child. Even so, he did use too much power in that battle so I’m sure he is exhausted. Something like that won’t simply be recharged after one day, or even one year. We will have to defend the city ourselves if anything else happens in the future.” Sethos said as he looked up at the night sky and the glowing snowflakes that were still falling. “Night of Brilliance huh?” the two of them looked around at all the glowing snowflakes and then out at the empty battlefield once more before retiring for the night.

    -- 185 years later... --

    “Evacuate everyone you can! I will not allow these bandits to burn down district two so long as I live! Those of you with water magic, extinguish fires as quickly as possible!” Firomis was calmly trying to take charge of the second district’s militia in order to prevent a bandit raid led by Toren Falsted from expanding further into the city. Many of the homes and stores had already been set aflame, and there were also many casualties already as well. The bandits were strong, strong enough to give the militia a proper fight if they were fighting fairly but the battle was not boding well for the militia due to the underhanded tactics being used. The sound of a young child was suddenly heard amidst the chaos of the raid and Firomis looked around quickly to search for where it was coming from. He ran in and out of burning homes, and then into alleys and back alleys until he came upon a young girl with blonde hair. She looked not any older than 6 years old, and yet she was here witnessing this horrible chaotic atmosphere of flames and death.

    “There there, it’s all right. Everything is going to be fine, I promise you.” Firomis walked over to the girl and picked her up, wrapping his arms around her tightly. Unable to do anything but cry, the girl simply continued. “Reemus! Take over for me here; I’m going to get this girl to safety!” Firomis called out to a young man who nodded and began giving orders in his stead. He quickly dashed out of the second district and into the Royal district in just mere seconds, finally stopping once he reached the Blossom Park. “There, see? Everything is just fine now.” Firomis smiled at the girl as he sat her down on the fountain. The girl rubbed her eyes and sniffled a few times. “Mommy... daddy... big brother... where are they?” she said as her eyes got teary again. “I... I don’t know, but I’ll protect you in their absence, I swear that I’ll protect you. What is your name?” he said as he wiped her tears away gently.

    She sniffled once more, and looked at him. “Ry... Rydia...” Firomis hugged her tightly again. “That’s a beautiful name. It fits you perfectly.” He smiled as she leaned back and almost started to cry again. Firomis put his finger on her lips gently. “Shh... it’s okay, everything is fine.” He closed his eyes and began to glow for a moment. Rydia watched him as she sniffled more until a pair of snow white angel wings grew out from his back, causing her to stop crying almost instantly. “You’re an... an angel...” she said as she stared at him intensely. It no longer mattered how much she wanted to cry anymore, because no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t as long as this man was nearby. “Yes, I am an angel. From now on I will protect you, since we are both the same. You too, have wings like mine, but you will need to learn how to summon them someday.” Firomis smiled once more and wrapped his wings around her, the warmth and soft texture of them causing her to fall asleep instantly. “There’s no doubt, they were after this girl. That means that Farien has come up with a plan to restore his lost power.” A shadowed figure came out from the nearby trees, still hiding in the dark areas of the park. “I see. Then I shall place the task of protecting her up to you for now, Firomis Caine. You are the one best fit to protect her, for now.” Firomis looked over at the shadowed figure. “What do you mean, for now?” He stood up with Rydia in his arms, his angelic wings disappearing. “As you well know by now, I am gifted with the power of seeing into the future. A young man will someday enter into this girl’s life, a man gifted in the talents light magic. He is the one that will be able to change the fate that this girl will walk. My visions of the future have been unable to read past the events of their meeting. This is something that I have never seen before in my entire life. Until that time comes, you will need to protect her with all your ability.”