How it all began
Long ago, when the world was two; the loss of life fed the insanity of another, turning it corrupt. This corrupt soul forced offerings in order to revive the dead, bringing the worlds into turmoil. Using exspheres, gems of power, the soul shaped these offering to his liking, using more human lives in the process. Finally, eight heroes joined together and lay to rest the corrupt soul and revived the Great Mana Tree. The revival of the Great Tree brought prosperity to the now joined together land called Symphonia. The exspheres were either destroyed or carried into space with another world. Sadly, the prosperity did not last.
Suddenly the Great tree died and withered away, ending the prosperous times. With the infinite flow of mana, the life-sustaining force, gone from the land, it started to whither and die. As the mana flow came to a trickle; it seemed there was no hope for Symphonia to continue to live. Until one day…
On the outskirts of the solar system lies the world of Derris Kharlan, the world of mana. Only two structures exist on this derelict world, the city of Welgaia and the empty castle of the legendary hero and villain, Mithos. One might think that nobody lives in these places anymore but that one person would be greatly mistaken. One man calls the empty world his home. He is Kratos, almost 8,000 years old; he’s been waiting to die for almost 4,000 years, and today will finally be that day.
Kratos Aurion was a young-looking man that seemed to be in his mid-twenties. He walked across the jade-colored floors that resonated with his footfalls towards the moving floor tunnel that went to the center of the city. He stopped suddenly and sighed. The city had been his home for the last 4,000 years and he rather tired of it, but he had a duty to protect the exspheres so nobody could use them again. Buildings the same color as the flooring towered over Kratos as stood there thinking. The purple hazy sky shone overhead, interrupted by dozens of skyscrapers no longer occupied. He was snapped out of his reverie as a crackling, purple ball of electricity came flying at him. He jumped out of the way just in time. Kratos’ chestnut eyes looked at where the assault came from and the widened in surprise to see whom it was.
“Kratos. I guess it’s not much of a surprise to see you here,” a man with ocean-blue hair tied in a ponytail down his neck said to the opposite man. He was cloaked in a long, black cape that billowed with every step, along with white leg guards and an ornately decorated breastplate. He carried beside him his weapon of choice, the Swallow-blade. It was a doubled-sided sword and double edged decorated with runes on the middle and hilt that lay in the center of the two blades.
“Yuan, I never expected to ever see you again. What are you doing here? More importantly how did you get here?” Kratos asked lifting an auburn eyebrow at his unexpected guest.
“The summon spirits allowed me to get here,” Yuan sighed and continued on. “I am on a mission for them, so to speak. I am to bring to Symphonia an exsphere from the Holy Ground of Kharlan.”
“Why do you need that?” Kratos asked.
“The spirits tell me that an exsphere can house an abundant amount of mana, enough to, in theory, revive the tree, Yggdrasil. The world is in dire need of mana; Symphonia’s life is fading quickly with the loss of the tree. I have come on behalf of the summon spirits to bring life back to the lifeless world of Symphonia.”
“Don’t you know where exspheres come from? Human lives! They’ve been sacrificed to create these objects!” Kratos argued.
“But it’s to save the world! How can you not part with one exsphere when it is to save more lives than those here in Derris Kharlan.”
“Because an exsphere with too much mana is dangerous. Remember, I was part of the organization that took advantage of the exsphere’s power. I know these things and how they work.”
“I need an exsphere to save Symphonia and I’m not leaving until I get one!” Yuan raised his sword and charged toward Kratos, who reacted quickly and blocked the blow with a blood-red sword glistening with runes. He shoved off Yuan’s monster sword only to block a slash from the other end of the blade with a metal shield decorated with a red chevron. Yuan knew he had the advantage on Kratos for the moment and decided to take action. He mentally reached for mana while continually attacked Kratos.
“Cardinal strike!” He yelled as he leapt into the air and brought his sword down onto Kratos’ shield. Electricity coursed through the air as bolts of lightning fell from nowhere into a cross, striking him and shocking him where he stood behind his shield. A little dazed by the shock, he returned the onslaught, bringing his sword down on Yuan, blocked, slash to the left, blocked, slash to the right, blocked again, that smile on his face was getting annoying. He gathered mana and…
“Hurricane thrust!” Kratos knocked away a thrust from Yuan and countered with his own. A blast of air circled around his sword and when he connected, it blew forcefully out, sending Yuan flying backwards. He landed hard on the jade tiles, then slowly got up to see Kratos mumbling to himself, an ornate, brown circle glowed on the floor under him. Yuan quickly realized what was happening and ran to stop him. It was too late,
“Grave!” Kratos commanded; mana flowed from him into the ground towards his charging opponent. The flooring under Yuan started to crumble as a huge, gray pillar of stone sent him sailing straight into the air. More pillars rose up at angles to crush it’s target, but Yuan reacted quickly. As one of the pillars came to meet him, he braced a leg against it and pushed off, landing away from the area. He then charged towards Kratos again; his sword was ready to slice into him. Kratos was rather surprised to see his foe dodge his spell, but he was prepared for him.
Yuan came at him, thrusting his double-sided sword only for it to be knocked away from the other blood-red sword. He then brought around the other end of the sword only to be blocked again by Kratos. Yuan kept swiping his from the left, right, an upward thrust, a slice from above; all were blocked. Finally, Yuan saw an opening in the impenetrable armor; he jammed his sword right into Kratos’ chest. He stumbled backwards in shock; blood ran from the large wound and pattered onto the jade flooring, turning the color a sickly brown. A few mumbled words from Kratos covered his form with a bright, emerald light.
After the light faded, the gash was nowhere to be seen. That wasn’t the only difference in Kratos’ appearance. Soft, transparent-blue wings sprung from his back, flapping back and forth. Yuan gasped at the transformation. He knew Kratos had an angelic form but he didn’t think he’d go to that just to protect some silly gems. Either way he decided to even the odds. He summoned mana to his back and released it. Bones rearranged and grew as pink, thin, feathery wings grew out from behind him. Kratos wasn’t surprised, as he knew that Yuan had an angelic form too.
The duel was sent to the sky as both leapt into the air. Steel clattering as each exchanged blows that knocked each other in opposite directions. Yuan tried a swipe at his side and actually nicked Kratos, his foe flinching from the slice on his leg. Kratos returned the favor by managing to get past his enemy’s defenses and creating a large gash in his side. Yuan landed on a rooftop panting hard; beads of sweat poured from his body and stung his new wound as he contemplated his next move towards his opponent. Kratos floated in front Yuan looking as if he hadn’t even moved. Getting an idea, Yuan leapt from the rooftop under the opposing angel and passed idly by. Kratos was confused at the passivity of the fly-by; he thought that Yuan would surely strike at him. That was until he noticed the ring of crackling electricity circling the space between the two buildings he was standing in.
“Indignation!” Yuan screamed from his position on the streets of Welgaia. It was too late for Kratos to get out of the way of the spell; a powerful bolt of lighting fell from the glowing white sphere of mana in the center of the circle and struck the angel of Derris Kharlan. Sparking with bolts of static, Kratos Aurion, the angel that protected the exspheres fell from the heavens limply, landing with a resonating crack as his neck broke and severed his spinal cord. Kratos had finally gotten his wish; his face paled as the life left his body and dispersed into the surrounding area. Yuan limped off to retrieve his prize.
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