Aquilon Company: Second Wind

Writer's note: Blue star Concave's hierarchy

Blue star conclave is some what of a secret organization, although most Spiral Knights who participated in action with these Valkyries know of their existence, few know their culture, ranking and practices. Here is just a brief run through.

Ordinary Valkyries are picked up from the main population (ie. average knights) and went under an initiation test to see if they have what it takes to join them. The success rate is fairly high at around 30%, however, ascending in rank is another thing entirely. Midnight is an initiate, but don't let the title fool you, he has already underwent training that will win him a fight against most Spiral knight recruit in one on one. In addition to that, Midnight gains clearance to the most basic of the blue star library, level 1 and level 2, where level 1 books tells the most basic thing like Valkyrie courtesies and how to wash your raiment properly, level 2 books deal with rudimentary sword arts, basic battlefield strategies and other weapon skills.

Being an initiate means you are the most basic foot soldier of the blue star conclave and are at the lowest tier of information. Books in level 3 and up will begin to contain dark secrets such as ways to become a fallen and the steps to initiate a dark ritual, while others archive the names of an entire Fallen warband (You can see why Xinde was angry when Midnight was caught reading a level 5 book, just a few sentences from the book could damn him.)

The ranking system of the blue star conclave goes roughly like this, there are two parts to the hierarchies, the chamber militant and the overseer administration. The two parts act autonomously unless one group suspects the other for corruption. As an initiate, Midnight is free to choose one of the two paths, but if he choose to become a soldier, he cannot order around an overseer of the same ranking while the overseer can still accuse him of corruption. The administration has more power overall but that also mean their selection is harsher than the militant. So Xinde, even at the age of 40 could still only have the rank of overseer (better than junior overseer but worse than overseer superior and lord overseer), that should tell you how strict the selection process is. Mostly in an effort to filter out the weak minded.

Gabryal might be there. Think about hordes. Then think about hordes versus rocket launchers and chainguns. Do what you want with him, or don't include him if you want. Just a point.

Gabryal can join, but his presence will be limited due to the fact that this is a prequel and he must be kept in one piece for the story later. Again, if Colray doesn't regard this as the official lore then I can go ham with the concept, we could always do with more explosions.

Yay! Explosions!

By all means, go ham. I'm looking at the story as more of a 'Blue Star Conclave' and Xinde and Midnight back story. Don't let me restrict your writing.

@Colray: Just a heads up, this story will be involving the origin of the Valkyries. Some really dark and dirty secrets will be revealed.

Writer's note: Xinde is pronounced Z-ing-d, her full name is Xinde Greyknight while Midnight's full name is Midnight Skyraven. You will be seeing more Blue star conclave members later on, Overseer superior Miss Repentia is the first and will not be the last side character you see in this story.Get it? Repent + ia = Repentia? MDJ always have the best names for his characters.

Chapter 1: A raven in the sky

Location: Haven, town of Spiral Knights

Flying with all haste to the cradle surface, Xinde and Midnight arrived at the outer boundaries of Haven. Landing near the grassy parks outside the main entrance, the two Valkyries were blocked off by Virgil, the warden responsible for the gate security.

"Warden please," said Xinde politely, "We need to talk with the spiral HQ about an attack on our fortress monastery."

"...Ugh..." Virgil mumbled in disgust at the sight of the blue star conclave insignia around Xinde's armor, "You blue star Valkyries have been nothing but trouble... two months ago, one of your own turned into a fallen during tier three expedition, he slaughtered no less than three squads before we gunned him down with a blitz squad. Two of my younger brothers were in those squad that were killed."

"You have my deepest apologies warden Virgil," Xinde apologized.

"Since why did saying sorry ever brought anyone back?!" Virgil sneered and poised for battle, "My younger brothers, they died on THEIR FIRST MISSION! Why don't you blue star Valkyries ever use those hidden books of yours to bring someone back?!"

"We are Valkyries, warden Virgil," Xinde pushed Midnight to the sideline and fell back to a defensive stance, "We are not angels of mercy... what was lost, cannot be brought back, even if we do bring your brothers back, are you prepared for the sacrifices needed?"

"I will do ANYTHING FOR THEM!!!" Virgil boasted, Xinde nodded her head and whispered the instructions through his warden helmet, suddenly, Virgil's legs trembled as he nearly fell over on his heavy plated armor. After a while gasping for air, Virgil's usual self was no more as he shaken in fear even after minutes passed, "You win!" Virgil submitted, "I wont trouble you any further, miss overseer... welcome to Haven..."

"What did you say to the warden, mistress Xinde?" Midnight asked as the student and master entered Haven.

"I told him what he wanted to hear," Xinde replied, "But it is clear to me now that immortality is a price few are willing to pay."

"Who would not want immortality?"

"Those who cannot bare the sight of those they loved passing away as their drifted in the eternity of time," Xinde concluded, "This is how our creator died, you read Codex Paradisia didn't you before it was stolen?"

"Yes..." Midnight lamented, "Father Paradise suffered much when he tried to bring the universe into being, I wish I could be just as strong as him."

"Lest his sacrifice be in vain," Xinde noted to Midnight, "May his undying light guide you on the path of righteousness, and on a final note, you must keep an oath of silence when others ask you the content of the book. The secrets of Codex paradisia dies with you, knowledge is power, guard it well..."

"Its secrets will not pass my lips," Midnight nodded, "I promise..."

As they passed the streets of Haven, knights wondered about and paid no attention to the two Valkyries as they walked by, only a few seasoned veterans noticed the anomaly, while Midnight and Xinde looked no different from other common Valkyrie out side the conclave, unique decorations on their raiment gave them away. Many scorns darted across the masses as the two Valkyries arrived at the front gate of the Spiral HQ. Only intel agent Kora was there to welcome the two winged visitors.

"Welcome to Spiral HQ," said Kora as she awkwardly rubbed her glasses, "Overseer Repentia messaged us about your arrival, come, make yourselves a home!"

"We won't stay here for long," said Xinde, "We simply need some information on the attackers who recently vandalized our fortress monastery. We have suspicion that they are affiliated with the Spiral Order."

Kora sweated like crazy when she was accused by the overseer, she quickly opened the security gate before running back to her quarter. No one seemed wanting to be involved with the blue star conclave. Entering Ozlo's private office, the Skylark captain glanced at the Valkyries before sighing in discomfort, he was not glad to see the blue star conclave violating his personal space.

"...What is it now?" Ozlo grumbled as he snuffed out a fresh cigar he recently smoked, "Your monastery was attacked by black knights? What does all all this have to do with the Spiral Order?"

Midnight felt offended yet he couldn't utter a word to rebut Ozlo, Spiral Knights had good reasons to dislike the conclave and their secretive ways.

"We found this azure guardian crest on one of the black knights before his body vanished into the fiendish realm," Xinde presented a blackened metal crest onto Ozlo's table, at first the skylark captain was skeptical but he soon frowned in suspicion when he got a closer look at the crest. The old badge was darkened by years of exposure in the fiendish realm, bent and molded by the ruinous dark powers.

"This crest... " explained Ozlo suspiciously as he squinted at the crest once more, "No crest of this shape and design had been made in the past two hundred years... this is one of the crests that was missing in my crest collection! How did you got your hand on this?"

"I already told you, Mister Ozlo," Xinde reconfirmed, "This belonged to the black knights that assaulted our monastery..."

"Long story short," Ozlo replied as he rubbed the sweat off his palm, "This crest was made for an expeditionary fleet departed from planet Isora two centuries ago, its goal was to dive into the dead space to look for organic lives, a decade later we lost contact with the fleet and the Spiral Order had presumed them lost to a hostile alien race or a black hole."

"This is ill news," Xinde frowned, "An entire Spiral Order fleet lost to the the dark gods, you have a full fledged heresy on your hand captain Ozlo."

"The blue star conclave sure knows how nose in to other people's business," Ozlo dismissed Xinde's suspicion, "How is it even possible for the fiends to corrupt an entire armada? Just for the reference, that ancient fleet contained some of the most powerful warships we ever produced, including its flag ship, S.O.S. (Spiral Order's Ship) Barbarossa, an 'Overlord' class battle cruiser. Only two were ever made and they were considered irreplaceable."

"Fiends are insidious plotters, Mister Ozlo," Xinde replied, "They may not have much physical presence in this material universe that we occupy, but in the fiendish realm, daemons and daemon princes ruled its eldritch landscapes... although their souls are too powerful to occupy real space for any extended period amount of time, their agents of corruption are always Harold for a greater daemonic incursion. The devilties and their pit boss that you are dealing with are only scouts for the main army, I suggest you to pull back your garrison troops and dig in..."

"And what does all this have to do with the black knights?" Ozlo sneered.

"The boundary between the two realms are getting thinner for reasons I do not know... I can feel it," said the overseer, "these corrupted knights are only the beginning, soon an entire fiendish legion will descend upon haven..."

"I have had enough of your superstitious rambling! Valkyrie hag!" Ozlo smacked his office tabled before leaving his chair, but right before he could call securities, his comlink holograph blinked. A distress call from ember light, the refugee camp for the Gremlin dissidents.

"Who is this?" Ozlo tabbed on the holograph.

"Sir! We are under attack by lord Vanaduke's forces!" the voice on the side screamed as views of ember light Gremlins and garrison knights alike were torched alive by a powerful fire storm, a dark fiery figure was in the center, it was Vanaduke, only this time around, he was no longer a brutish giant, he appeared to be in his uncorrupted form, a slim and tall nobleman. The last thing Ozlo saw was Vanaduke smashing the caller's head to a pulp with a mace before everything went to statics.

"You have been warned, Mister Ozlo..." Xinde spoke patiently, "This is only the beginning, act before it is too late."

"Kora!" Ozlo patched into the intel agent's com link frequency, "Dispatch forces to depth 18 ember light, full volcanic gears and cryogenic weapons! Vanaduke has left his throne, this is a code red alert! He is going to burn that stratum to ash, this will prevent us from making progress towards the core! Stop the king of ashes at all costs!"

"Copy that captain! Dispatching forces!"

Chapter 2: let the clockwork burn

Location: depth 18, ember light

The Gremlin refugee camp was all but doomed, Vanaduke lead his legion of undying warriors all the way from depth 28 to depth 18. Observing from the sky above, Xinde and Midnight descended upon the burning ruins of ember light, they could not allow such an incursion to succeed due to ember light's close proximity with the fortress monastery.

"This attack was no mindless savagery..." Xinde muttered, she knew the king of ashes was agitated by someone to make such an aggressive move, "Midnight, prepare the remedy the spray."

The blue star Valkyries had long prepared for the scenario where they have to fight in a burning inferno, with protective spray coating their highly flammable raiment, Midnight and the overseer ventured into the burning clockwork depth. In a dangerous combat situation such as this, Xinde adhered to conclave's doctrine and lead the way with her cold iron destroyer, Midnight shortly followed behind, armed in his blitz needle.

"HELP!!!" a vanguard Spiral Knight screamed as he stumbled in front of the overseer, Xinde tried to save him with the remedy but it was too late, the knight was burnt to a crisp by the unnatural fire. His charred skin soon fell off, revealing the burnt flesh, Midnight nearly vomited at the gruesome sight.

"Stand fast, Midnight..." Xinde held back Midnight and patted him on the shoulder, "... There is no time to mourn for him... we need to find a way to stop the fire!"

"But there is no water fountain here!" Midnight responded after swallowing back the sour liquid regurgitated from his stomach, "Fountains only appear in depth 25 and below! How can we get to them?"

"Remember your training, Midnight," Xinde noted, "We can counter the spell if we can find the one who is casting it! Vanaduke must have a sorcerer by his side... or the black knights..." After a brief moment of thinking, Xinde remembered the black knights using dark portals to bypass the fortress's outer defenses, "...Vanaduke couldn't have possibly mobilized his forces by himself! The black knights are assisting him!"

While Xinde charged for the nearest group of slag walkers blocking her way, Midnight stood behind and took aim at the heads of the weakened zombies. As they struggled to push through the numberless zombies that barred their way to the center of the fire storm, Xinde did not realize that they were been watched. At the center of the fire storm stood the king of ashes, he squinted at his monocular and laughed at two Valkyries' perseverance.

"Foolish birds..." Vanaduke mused as he retracted his monocular, "...May the fire of the dark gods reduce you to ashes and cinders!" Raising his mace high into the air, Vanaduke rallied his immortal army, "WARRIORS! TO BATTLE!!!"

Unknown to Xinde and Midnight, they managed to push through thanks to the fact that they landed on the burning legion's flank, only when Xinde got deeper into the burning town of ember light did she realize that the main battle was taking place else where, the army Ozlo dispatched was jammed in a stalemate with Vanaduke's forces, despite been slowly pushed back, Vanaduke paid no attentions to his troop's failures. Taking out an old Almirian string instrument, the king of ashes played a catchy solo as he watched in joy as some knights were pummeled into bloody pulps by several Trojans.

Charging towards the center of the fire storm, Xinde spotted Vanaduke, she was surprised by his new form as a regular sized noble man, the overseer carefully approached him from behind and leaped forward for a sudden strike. Vanduke. With his reflex increased by his new size, he instantly parried Xinde's attack with the beam of the string instrument.

"What are you doing here? king of Ashes?" Xinde stared into Vanaduke's burning eyes, "Why did you come here to doom these people who had nothing to do with you?!"

"Heh, Heh... " Vanaduke chuckled, contrary to his usual temperamental self, "How deluded of you, overseer... every death here glorify the dark gods! There is no reason why I am killing them other than that so they can revel in their bloodshed!" Breaking off his string instrument, Vanaduke dashed back and pulled his long mace out of the ground, "Your bloated corpse will make for a fine sacrifice!!! DIE FOR THE DARK GODS!!!"

Xinde only knew how much she was outmatched when Vanaduke swung his mace with superhuman force, each swing from the king of ashes caused a small earthquake. The ground became so unstable that Midnight could not take aim at Vanaduke, unable to assist the Overseer from afar, Midnight drew his blade only to be stopped by a Trojan warrior, with a powerful shield bash, the young Valkyrie was knocked unconscious.

"Midnight!" Xinde took off and fired revolver shots at Vanaduke, she made a quick landing near Midnight and recovered his body. The overseer was both upset and glad that her young student wanted to intervene, but he was foolish to think that he could take on Vanaduke in close quarter, even with Xinde's help. The king of ashes grinned as the two Valkyries flied away, when he looked back, his troops were almost wiped out. It was also the same time that a dark portal appeared before him, exiting Lord Ravadon, the perpetrator of the attack on the blue star conclave.

"So, how was scouring?" Ravadon asked gleefully at the Almirian lord.

"Good... these knights from the star are worthy adversaries," Vanaduke responded, "I look forward to fighting them again... but Ravadon... what should we do with the Valkyries?"

"Worry not brother," Ravadon ensured the king of ashes, "There is still a traitor we can exploit in their ranks, we will pull back now and prepare for the next battle!"

"...Yes, brother..." said Vanaduke as he followed Ravadon into the dark portal, after they vanished from the battlefield, the unnatural fires died down, in the aftermath of the surprise attack many knights died and even more Gremlin refugees were burned to ashes. Although the lost was more than acceptable by Ozlo's standard, it was nonetheless a demoralizing blow to the Spiral Order.

Xinde flied to a small sky island lingered in the middle of nowhere and laid down her initiate, it was on this island that a small chapel dedicated to the conclave's god, Father Paradise was erected. Mostly designed for the spiritual health of the members of the conclave, this chapel was largely forgotten except by Xinde and a few other overseers. Midnight was knocked cold by the shield bash and there was nothing Xinde could do to wake him up, sat aside, the old overseer prayed for her initiate's well being.Little did she know that Midnight was stuck in a limbo of white space, while trapped in the limbo, Midnight could not escape only to wonder about until he encountered a strange figure, a large man clad in grey stony armor, the man had his back against the young Valkyrie only to slowly turn when Midnight was close.

"Greetings, child," a cold muffled voice slipped out of the dark helmet vents of the man, that is, if he was a man, "I am lord Inceptron... the will of cradle... a great evil besets my world... will you be my agent of purification?"

"Who," Midnight asked, "who are you?"

"A man..." Inceptron muttered, "A man just like you... well, at least almost because I almost mistaken you for a woman..."

Chapter 3: calling to the night

Location: depth ???, blue star chapel

"Who are you," Midnight questioned the strange man in grey metal armor, as he got closer, the air in his surroundings got colder, he could swear that Inceptron was absorbing heat with his body of pure entropy, a man built up with nothing but the cold void, this was a thought Midnight would only have in his nightmare.

"SO... CHILD... " meanwhile in the limbo, Inceptron questioned ominously at the young Valkyrie one more time, "Will you cleanse this world of the daemons in my name?

"I..." Midnight mumbled, "I don't even know if I could trust you..."

"I see... " said Inceptron, "For start, I am no daemon..."

"Of course, if you were a daemon or a fiend I would have known," said Midnight, "The blue star conclave have taught me the ways of sensing dark energy special to their vile race. But you... I sensed nothing, no energy, inside that armor of yours is something darker than the deepest night... who are you? Some kind of forgotten dark god?"

Suddenly, Inceptron became agitated, slowly did his metal body trembled in anger upon the mention of the word 'god'. "I do not want to be looked upon as a god!" Inceptron coldly replied, "Not now, not ever... " For only a brief second did the strange man display any forms of emotion in his tone. "I will give you the power to slay your foes... do you choose to accept?"

Midnight hesitated, he knew there must be some kind of catch to a deal like this, although the hollowed man before him displayed no daemonic energy or influence of any sort, yet a strange but faint energy flowed within that suit of armor. After a few seconds of consideration, Midnight relented and bowed at Lord Inceptron.

"I will perform the duty given to by my conclave," Midnight nodded as he accepted the offer, "to slay the fiends in the name of father paradise and his eternal, undying light..."

"Very well... go forth into the light... lest it burn you whole... like a moth drawn to the flame," Inceptron walked up to the initiate and breathed in a portion of his own power into Midnight, how this man was able to connect with a Valkyrie in his dream, Midnight didn't know. As the energy gently coursed through his veins, the young Valkyrie re-awoken to see overseer Xinde standing in front of him, with her eyes relaxed to the fact that Midnight was safe.

"... No initiate should engage an enemy in close range like you did... much less if the enemy was the king of ashes" Xinde scolded Midnight for his rookie mistake, "What do you have to say for yourself? Young one?"

"I am sorry," Midnight felt ashamed, "...But, mistress Xinde, you were been outmatched, I was only going to distract vanaduke long enough for you to land a killing blow."

"I can distract him by myself," Xinde frowned, she was not flattered by Midnight's reasoning, "Father Paradise expected you to spend your life well, not to waste it against an enemy who outstrips you in every way. This time I will overlook your blunder due to the circumstances, but do not intervene again."

"I understand..." Midnight nodded in embarrassment, he held lord Inceptron inside his lips fearing that the truth many result in great punishments.

With the trails of the black knight ran cold and the fire storm citadel too hostile to infiltrate, Xinde took out her communicator and contacted her ranking superior, Mistress Repentia, "Overseer superior Repentia, this is Xinde Greyknight," the overseer spoke into the mic, "We lost the trails of the black knights, requesting more time for investigation." Repentia didn't respond, instead, a distress signals appeared on Xinde's communicator.

"THIS IS GABRYAL the HELLBRYNGER to anyone who is receiving this distress call!" *statics* "Me and a squad of Spiral order Valkyries are under attack by chaos spiral knights! They have already taken away three Valkyries with only me, Maria and Solotria remain, request immediate fire support!" *statics*

"What was that?" Midnight asked.

"Chaos Spiral Knights..." Xinde muttered, "So that is what they called them... let's not waste any time, we cannot let our trails run cold again."

The two Valkyries departed from the small blue star chapel and headed for the distress signal, while in flight, Xinde glanced back at the initiate behind her, she felt a strange energy coursing through Midnight's veins. Ignoring the minor anomoly, Xinde focused her attention back in locating the daemon prince lord Ravadon, who personally humiliated her and stole the sacred book of codex paradisia.

COOL! My character!

I honestly didn't expect Fem!Solotron to be brought into the mix.

THis is really good! I suck so much at writing. :(

"Flesh is temporary, Spirit is eternal." ~opening line of Codex Paradisia

Chapter 4: the first to fall

Location: depth 16, aurora isles

Xinde closed in on the distress signal and spotted three Valkyries from the sky above, a large group of Chaos Spiral Knights surrounded the older male with the heavy weapon while a younger silver haired female Valkyrie cowered behind some metal crates, the third female was snatched away just as the rugged heavy man was about to reload his rocket launcher.

"MARIA!!!" the man shouted but it was no use as the girl in skolver coat was taken away by a stasis bubble casted by none other than the infamous daemon prince.

"Such a precious little thing..." lord Ravadon grinned at the young Valkyrie girl as he creeped his armored claw across her soft cheek, "So pure, the dark gods will enjoy defiling someone as innocent as you! HEHEHHAHAEHAHEHAHEAHEHAHEAHEHAHEHAEHAHEHAHEH!!!!"

"Gabryal!" the girl shouted back at the man with rocket, "Help!!!" Judging from the cry of help, Xinde concluded that the man was Gabryal, the girl kidnapped was Maira and the silver haired girl should be the aforementioned Solotria.

"MARIA!!!" Gabryal tried to re-aim his massive launcher at the daemon prince's head only to be blasted down by a volley of rockets, Xinde looked back at the direction of the rocket and spotted a group of new Chaos Spiral Knights, their unholy armor oozed with excess growth of flesh as well as multiple small arms tangled in between. Each one of them hulking forth like a walking pile of mindless weaponry, they unleashed a hail of bullets upon Gabyral and Solotria while they moaned in agony themselves. Solotria was the first to look up into the sky in this dire moment to spot Midnight and Xinde orbiting the sky.

"Are those Valkyries from the blue star conclave?!" Solotria cheered with her hands waving in air, "WEEEE!!!"

"Midnight," Xinde ordered her initiate, "Commence aerial assault! Purification spread!"

Midnight nodded and switched his blitz needle to burst mode, with two additional sun shard grenades in the other hand, the young initiate descended upon the new foes. The mad brutes were blinded by the sun shards and Midnight landed to fire off the blitz needle, but contrast to what should have happened, the giant mutated Spiral Knights turned around and fired blindly despite having sun shard planted solidly into their faces. Seeing her initiate was been fired upon, Xinde quickly analyzed the situation and tossed her cold iron destroyer into Midnight's vicinity and created a protective bubble, the destroyer's aura was lethal to fiendish entities and the mutants fell back. Giving Gabryal just enough time to hit all of them in the rear with rockets, three massive explosions later, blood and guts were all that remained of the enemies.

"I didn't ask for your help, Blue Stars!" Gabryal sneered as he bonded up his own wounds, "You people are always a sight for more trouble!"

"For your information, Mister rogue Valkyrie," Xinde replied as she landed to retrieve her sword, "You were the one who sent a distress signal. I am overseer Xinde of the blue star conclave," she pointed back to Midnight, "And this is my initiate Midnight."

"Distress? ME? HAHAHAHA!" the rugged man suddenly laughed, "I am the Hellbrynger! I fight alone! I don't even have a communicator for that matter!"

"Wait, if Mister Gabyral didn't send the distress signal, then," Midnight, after recovering from the combat rush, came to realize something was afoot, "Someone else led us here... was it you Solotria?" Midnight turned to the silver haired girl who emerged from her cover. But before she could answer, Solotria cannot bear the excitement and hugged Midnight tightly.

"OH Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Solotria cheered as she rubbed her powdery cheek against Midnight's smooth jaw, "Wow I never knew the Blue Star Conclave was this AWESOME! Too bad I couldn't be apart of it, so I had to stick with the spiral order... but thank you anyway!"

"Ugh, it is fine," Midnight blushed, "The conclave taught me to help Valkyries in need, regardless of their organizations, say, Solotria, was it you the one who sent the distress signal?"

Solotria shook her head and pointed at the broken communicator around her waist belt, "Mine was shot when the black knight ambushed us. We were accompanying Gabryal and his girlfriend Maria when they attacked, they took three of my friends and Gabryal's-"

"-SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Gabryal corrected Solotria, "I am going after those damned Chaos Spiral Knights!"

"Wait," Xinde pulled back Gabyral before he rushed to his death, "Maybe we can join forces, we are tracking down the black knights in an attempt to obtain some information. Can we come to an temporary agreement?"

"Temporary partnership is not my thing, grandma," said Gabryal, "But if you and vanilla face want to come along, that is fine, just don't stand in my way!"

"We won't..." Xinde was beyond furious when she was called 'Grandma' despite been only a few years older than Gabyral, Midnight was equally as offended but the two swallowed their prides and tailed slowly behind the Hellbrynger. After following the silhouette of the marching fiendish army for a several minutes, Gabryal spotted Maria been transported into a dark portal by Lord Ravadon's lackeys, the daemon prince was not present but rescuing Maria was all that was in Gabyral's mind. Without even as a second thought, he rushed out into the open and fired rockets at the dark portal.

"That rogue Valkyrie is going to kill himself!" said Midnight as he watched Gabryal fired without taking cover.

"Gabryal is too stubborn to die..." said Xinde, "We will provide as much support as we can, but lest we forget our main goal, track down Ravadon!"

The hellbrynger could not bring punishments to what was already damned, the chaos spiral knights brought out more of their armored abominations to suppress Gabyral while the less armored black knights escorted the kidnapped Valkyries into the dark portal. Maria was the last to go, the rogue Valkyrie could not handle the incoming fire power and retreated. Back into a small wall of stony cover, Gabryal finally gave in and request help, "Overseer Xinde, may I-"

"You only had to ask, Gabryal," Xinde lashed into the sky and drew her ancient pistol, the raging Griffon, its bullet found their marks on the black knights and they exploded in an instance with holy light, while Maria was unharmed. The dark portal was almost coming to live as it reacted to the overseer's presence, its dark membrane of vile fiendish energy pulsated and eventually ejected an elite Trojan warrior dual wielding two massive hatchets into the realm of reality.

"I WILL CHOP YOU IN THREE!" the Trojan clanked the two hatches and charged for the overseer, Xinde, been the most seasoned warrior out of the three rescuing Valkyries, dodged the attack. The Trojan proceeded to charge at her like a raging bull, never seemed to run out of stamina. Gabyral and Midnight emerged from their cover to laid down support fire for Xinde, much to their dismay, With its back fully covered by shadow steel, the Trojan was virtually impermeable to bullets and had no weakness.

"What in the vog's b*tch mother is this?!" Gabryal yelled in frustration until he saw Maria been gradually swallowed by the dark portal, "MARIA!" with a terrible shout, Gabryal re-aimed the rocket landed a shot on the brim of the portal. The explosion was enough to destabilize the energy flow of the portal that it shrink down, saving Maria from a terrible fate, Solotria's companions were not so lucky as the last of their pleading cries vanished from this realm. With the portal collapsed, the Trojan warrior started to crumble as well, Xinde seized the opportunity and planted her cold iron destroyer into the torso of the frightening beast. Solotria, out of curiosity, witnessed the victory from afar.

"WOW!!! That was sooooooooo coooool!!!" Solotria cheered naively, little did she knew that this was more of a defeat to Midnight and his overseer than anything, their trail ran cold again, to salvage the situation Xinde glared back at the Trojan and interrogated it before it expired, a powerful fiendish entity like an elite Trojan cannot exist long in the material world without a power supply of dark energy, as the dark portal closed, so was its life force.

"Where is Ravadon?" Xinde twisted the sword on the Trojan's torso just to add insult to injury, "What is he intending on doing with the stolen book of codex paradisia?!"

"Heheh..." the Trojan cackled with a grim, deep voice, "Night shall fall onto this miserable planet for the last time... the first to fall, will now be the first to rise... hail... Dues...Ara-" the monster crumbled into stone before he could finish his threat against Xinde. While Gabryal reunited with his companion, Midnight rejoined with his mentor, "Is something troubling you? Mistress Xinde?" Midnight asked.

"...How far did you read into the Codex Paradisia?" Xinde slowly gazed back at her initiate and responded with another question.

"The Codex was long winded and was written in ancient Valkyrians..." Midnight replied while he tried to recall the passages of that ancient and accursed book, "I was told of Father Paradise and his great deeds of creating our world in a single effortless swing from his mighty blade of genesis, and then, he and the first mother conceived two sons who were our progenitors..."

"And what are their names?"

"Dues Immortelles, the child of light and the great father of all Valkyries and Dues Aradama, the vile traitorous son of void, he was also known as..." Midnight paused for a moment, enough for Xinde to finish his sentence.

"The first to fall..."

Edit: done some proof reading

You portrayed Gabryal perfectly. *Applause for MDJ's awesomeness* (I never really expected Fem!Solotron though....)

Weapon introduction:

Cold iron destroyer

This powerful, buster sword variant of the cold iron vanquisher that completely outshines its once superior brother the leviathan blade. The destroyer is a favored sword of the blue star conclave's veteran Overseers for its ease of maintenance and affinity to daemonic enemies. One of destroyer's the best feature is its ability to carry and adapt multiple enchanted runes to give the each cold iron destroyer its unique property, overseer Xinde's sword is coated in high luminaite, this allows her to create an aura lethal to fiends when the sword is dropped from the air. Xinde's sword also bears the motto of 'Ashes will be their end', a memento of her eternal service to father paradise.

'Goldwyn' pattern blitz needle

Standard issued ranged weapon for most conclave initiates, the 'Goldwyn' pattern blitz needle is well known for having a longer frame than their regular counter part that enables an initiate to hold the gun with both hands, this allows a greater accuracy from long range when daemonic enemies are strong in melee combat. Initiate Midnight carries one of these special blitz needles as a part of his initiation ritual, Xinde told him of the story about the gun's previous owner, a young female initiate whom she lost to a dreaded black kat horde of Margrel. And now Midnight must avenge her death by purging the pilgrims of the dark.

Chapter 5: call of the void

Location: depth 19, Aurora isles

"Gabryal!" Maria jumped into Gabryal's embrace as she wept in joy, "Let us never be separated again!"

Gabryal didn't speak a word, instead, he gently stroke Maria's hair while whispering words of comfort into her ears. Uncharacteristic of his usual cold, aloof self. Xinde, after examining the dark tainted grass landed, sighed, when she looked back at the rogue Valkyrie, the Hellbrynger left the area with a thumbs up in the air, a minor acknowledgment for Xinde's successful rescue of Maria.

"Can we still track down Ravadon?" Midnight asked, "And what is he planning to do? summoning the primordial fallen, Dues Aradama into the world?"

"No..." Xinde muttered, "There is no way a feeble daemon prince like him can gather enough sacrifice or dark energy for that matter to summon something that powerful into reality. Dues Aradama had been banished into the realm of Chaos since the beginning of time when he tried to devour the light. He was once the strongest Valkyries of them all, with only our great father Dues Immortelles capable of standing up against him, for only ten seconds that is..."

"Even if Ravadon is able to get the sacrifice necessary for the summoning," Midnight conjectured, "Is there any way we can defeat the primordial fallen?"

"Only Father Paradise in all of his glory can put down his wayward son..." Xinde sighed before collecting a sample of the darkened flesh of a deceased chaos Spiral knight, "But he died eons ago so that the great cycle can take place, life and death, love and hate, light and dark, his death ensured that no immortal can gain control over the entire universe, not even himself. All is assailable, if it lives, we can kill it."

"But it would be better if we can prevent the summoning right?" said Midnight after Xinde's long winded speech, "I don't think defeating Aradama would come at a light cost..."

Xinde frowned and considered Midnight's suggestions, but she could not think of any possible methods for Ravadon to sacrifice so many souls that it can satiate the hunger of the primordial fallen. But then, a spark flashed across her mind, "No..." Xinde's jaw nearly dropped when she came to the realization of Ravadon's true plan, "He is planing to sacrifice every living beings on cradle in tribute to his master! We must stop him!"

"How can he ensure that every single straw of grass on cradle is killed off?" Midnight Asked, the words simply escaped his mouth when he knew it was a bad idea to ask Xinde any further.

"I don't know... but he might find a way through reading codex paradisia," Xinde concluded, she stopped and turned to Solotria, who stayed behind after Gabryal and Maria had left, "Solotria of the Spiral Order, why are you still here? This is a blue star conclave investigation, it is none of your concern."

Solotria's large blue eyes trembled with tears and she spoke aloud as her fluffy cheeks compressed, "I just wanted to help!"

"Ugh... now I remembered why you failed the initiation test..." the overseer then mumbled some curses, "damned silvered haired snowflake..." Xinde ignored Solotria and moved on to examine the next set of corpses.

Midnight, being the only male in the situation decided to be the white knight for Solotria, "Mistress Solotria, please calm down and understand that this is highly dangerous work. We can't linger here for too long or else the fiendish dark energy may cause the corruption of your body."

"And remember to tell her," Xinde raised her voice from a distance loud enough for Midnight and Solotria to hear, "The reason why she failed to become one of us is because of her naivety."

"Naivety?!" Solotria protested with tears in her eyes as she clenched her fists, "I am not naive! I am a positive thinker!"

"Hurgh..." Xinde groaned in respond and ignored Solotria completely, been the more punctual older woman of the two, Xinde detested much of Solotria's naive mindset as it was very likely for girls like Solotria be tempted by the power of the Fallen. After examining the last set of corpses before they disinterested into the fiendish realm, Xinde nodded at Midnight and ordered him to follow. They dashed into the thick clouds below, Solotria tried to tail only to lost her directions in the mists.

"Please come back!!!" Solotria sobbed in frustration, disheartened by the conclave's neglect, "I just wanted to help!"

Solotria's cry made Midnight felt a sense of unease, "Mistress Xinde?" the initiate asked, "Why was Solotria rejected by the conclave in the first place?"

"She failed her test due to her naivety..." Xinde responded with a frown, "when she was asked what to do when one of her comrade is turned into a fallen, she answered to remain as his friend."

"I think the right course is to report your comrade's corruption to the nearest chaplain or overseer," Midnight replied.

"And that is why you are here..." said Xinde, "However, there are somethings that just doesn't add up... first you found codex Paradisia in a level 3 library... then someone created a fake distress signal to rescue Gabyral... could all this be mere coincidence?"

Xinde couldn't answer Midnight's quest for obvious reasons, an Overseer cannot come to blunt conclusions without clear evidence and the idea of a mad god pupating them in the dark was tantamount to blasphemy. Returning with ill news to the blue star fortress monastery, the council, in their marble meeting chamber was less than pleased, the overseer superiors and lord overseers grumbled furiously at each other upon hearing about Xinde's findings about lord Ravadon's plan. Mistress Repentia, been the youngest of the overseer superiors, stood up and spoke against Xinde, who was her former sister in battle.

"Are these allegations true?!" questioned Repentia as she frowned against her one time friend, Xinde Greyknight.

"The fiendish forces has never summed greater war efforts on cradle as they did now," Xinde replied, "First they attacked our fortress, stealing our most sacred book, this cannot all be minor incursions, brothers and sisters, this is a full fledged attack on cradle! Are you all blind!?"

"Silence! Xinde you deluded wretch! THERE IS NO WAY THE PITIFUL FIENDS CAN BRING BACK THE PRIMORDIAL FALLEN!" Repentia shouted down the overseer, she then glared at Midnight, "Initiate! Has your overseer fallen to the dark power?!"

"No!" Midnight sternly rebutted the accusation, "Xinde Greyknight is the greatest and the kindest woman I know! She would never sell her soul to the likes of fiends and daemons!"

"TCH!" Repentia hissed, "Your empty flattery about your overseer means nothing! You are both corrupted while fighting those chaos spiral knights! Brothers and sisters, we should cleanse these two from our ranks!"

"ENOUGH!" an echo blasted into the marble exterior of the high council meeting chamber and its loudest volume almost deafened Repentia as she was about to finish her speech. Walking into the chamber dressed in platinum silver armor, it was lord overseer Tempestus, one of the only male Valkyrie to earn the title of lord overseer in the past two centuries.

"Lord Tempestus?!" Repentia shriveled as if she was a devilite in contact with luminite dust, "What are you doing here?!"

"A better question, Repentia..." Tempestus glared back at the overseer superior, "What are you doing here, trying to depose one of your former friend? All in the hope of being promoted to a lord overseer?! Shame on you Repentia..." Tempestus then toned up his voice at the face of his fellow overseers, "Brothers and Sisters, the greatest of evil we have faced has returned once more for vengeance, Dues Aradama..." the mere mentioning of the name made half of the screamed in hysteria, many weakhearted ones fainted due to the fear they had for the primordial fallen.

"How can we stop the summoning, Lord Tempestus?!" one of the overseer asked.

Tempestus closed his eyes, "I have heard Xinde's words, the daemon prince Ravadon is planning on killing every single life on cradle to bring favor to the primordial fallen. And there is only one way he can kill us all simultaneously... detonating the core... move out, brothers and sisters, the time to act is now, cradle is counting on us!"

The Valkyries of the blue star conclave flied out of their fortress monastery and began the scouring of the chaos spiral knights, hundreds of silver clad Valkyrie knights marched into the sky and dived into the depths of the clockwork, where in the shadow their enemies were hidden, they fought in secret to protect the rest of the clockwork from the endless abyss. This was the sacred duty given to them by the great father, Dues Immortelles, the brother of Dues Aradama. It was said that the blue star conclave acquired its name in homage to the brightest star in the northern night sky of cradle, this star was a symbol of hope and purity, as if father paradise was watching them even after his death.

Critiquing shiz time! Maria isn't that affectionate to or however you write it him. It's kinda like in the paper magician, where eventually, the apprentice realizes that she was in love with her teacher the entire time. That's pretty much it, and I don't see anything else that should be changed

Character introduction:

Overseer Superior Repentia Astartis

One time sister of battle who fought along side with Xinde Greyknight when they were both young aspiring female initiates. Repentia is often bitter towards other Valkyries who show even the slightest sign of weakness. Remaining at a high standard of martial excellence, Repentia on one hand is an arrogant, self-absorbed battle sister while being a tenacious and resolved warrior woman at the same time. Her most famous victory came when she defeated Chaos Sorceress Aviria the vicious and Daemon prince Aven'Troy in the same day, ultimately elevating her rank to overseer superior.

Lord Overseer Tempestus Pius

The blue star conclave have long been notorious for its discrimination against its male conclave members (as if Repentia wasn't rude enough to Midnight), without any solid evidence, many high ranking female conclave members often speculate that male Valkyries have a higher chance of becoming Fallen due to their testosterone production aligned to lust and aggression, this leads to a major imbalance in the conclave hierarchy' gender ratio. Tempestus was the first to stand up against these discrimination and demanded equality in the conclave meetings, eventually, after nearly half a century of struggle, he became a lord overseer for his trouble and is one of the only male lord overseer in the high council.

Overseer Lysandra Kyras

Xinde Greyknight's overseer instructor when she was an initiate herself. Lysandra, near the end of Xinde's journey of becoming a junior overseer, decided to sell her soul to the dark gods. Her reason for defection largely remained unknown, but her death in Xinde's hands was a testimony to the dark power of corruption runs in the vein of every Valkyries, for one day Xinde, Midnight and everyone they knew may suffer to the same fate.

Flash back chapter 1: what lies before us

Location: 'Blue Star' charity shelter for gifted children, Haven. 10 years before the events of Aquilon company: second wind

A young Xinde Greyknight strolled through the white corridors of the orphanage, she had far fewer medals and purity seals back then as she enjoyed her armor been clean without the clumsy decorations. The overseer-to-be always thought that dressed in highly decorated garments was a sign of self-indulgence and the first step on the path of corruption. At the end of the sun light bathed corridor was a children reading area, where a few older orphan girls bullied the blond boy in the corner of the room, another shorter, silver haired girl stood helplessly as she tugged Xinde's armored sleeve, begging for help.

"Please, Mistress," said the young girl, who would later be called Solotria, "Those mean girls are up to no good again."

In respond to this, the young Xinde walked next to the oldest of the bullies and slapped her across the cheek with the back of her hand, "What is the matter with you?!"

The female bully felt victimized as she rubbed the swollen cheek, "this blond mongrel is going to be a Fallen! He is weak and too pure to ever be in the conclave."

Xinde knew of the tales, but she, like many wiser scholars in the blue star conclave knew that the superstition was false, "All of you, leave this room, NOW. I don't know who poisoned your hearts with the idea that your fellow brothers are worth less than sisters, but I will cease this, one way or the other..."

The bullies knew their place and left the room before giving a few more mean looks at the young boy, who was sobbing in the corner of the room with many cuts and bruises. Solotria wanted to stay but as soon as Xinde glared back at her, the silver haired girl caught the hint and left. After a while, the overseer-to be kneeled and turned the boy around so she could see his face, the boy was incredibly feminine and if it weren't for his boyish crying noises, Xinde would have mistaken him for a girl.

"What is your name? Mine is Xinde Greyknight."

"M-midnight Skyraven... " the shy boy replied, "That is my foster name, for I was born with none."

"That is quite a strange name," Xinde mused, "Have you ever considered giving your self a name?"

"Honestly my foster name is fine..." the beautiful young boy muttered, "The nuns here said that I was picked up on a night with full moon at exactly 0:00 AM, so they called me 'Midnight'..."

"You are a fine young man," Xinde looked into Midnight's eyes with recognition, "Don't let those girls tell you otherwise, come, let's get you to the infirmary."

Fate had much in store for the two of them, at the end of the corridor they were nearly obliterated by a major gas pipe explosion. Xinde was sent flying before fell on top of Midnight, nearly crushing the young boy with her own weight. Covered in blood and dusts, Xinde recovered to see Midnight coughing for breath next to a pile of derbies. The entire orphanage suddenly turned into a battleground as a band of Fallen Valkyries emerged from the main door and started to kidnap young Valkyries, only Father Paradise knew what fate they had in store for those who were unlucky enough to fall into their grasp.

Xinde looked back at Midnight and the boy started to cringe at the ghastly sight of the Fallen Valkyries, knowing that she was the only one who could fend the innocent children, fired away her brand new blitz needle. Two Fallen immediately fell over and the rest of the war band was shocked that someone was putting up resistance when they expected none, capturing the moment of surprise, Xinde grabbed Midnight and ran back into some cover right before a volley night hawk shots landed on their last known location.

"After them!" the leader of the Fallen said, "She is just one woman! Bring her and the boy to the altars of the dark god!"

Few more Fallen attempted to charge Xinde's position but they were quickly gunned down, for a moment Xinde was hyped and though nothing in the world could defeat her but that was when she realized that she only brought half of the ammunition required on duty. This was a day off for her after all as she was only visiting the orphanage to find potential recruits for the conclave. But those were trivial matters now for only survival was on Xinde's mind, Midnight tried to keep calm but he was terrified of the intense fire fight broke out between Xinde and the Fallen Valkyries, covering up his ears, Midnight tried to run back to safety only to be stopped by another figure. A hooded tall woman stood before him in a set of blackened overseer armor, her eyes glowed crimson red as she grinned away at Midnight. Xinde easily recognized the Fallen as overseer Lysandra Kyras, the person responsible for her training and initiation.

"Who is the good boy?" overseer Lysandra licked her lips as she approached Midnight, nearly making the boy trip over, "It will all be over soon, your innocent precious soul will make a fine sacrifice to fuel my evolution into a daemon prince!"

"Overseer Lysandra?!" Xinde looked back and saw her mentor, now corrupted by the dark power, stood before Midnight, the boy tried to fight back but Lysandra quickly snatched him onto her shoulder. Enraged by the betrayal, Xinde aimed for Lysandra's back but the shot was too risky as Midnight was carried around her back, serving as a meat shield. The fire fight intensified, interrupting Xinde's trail of thought and she quickly ran low on ammunition as the battle dragged on, knowing that she won't last against an entire war band, the overseer to be made a run for the mail hall of the devastated orphanage and encountered Lysandra once more, with the orphans and a few nuns bunched up near a dark portal, ready to be transported to the fiendish realm.

"LYSANDRA!!!" Xinde yelled out against her former mentor with her blitz needle clenched in one hand, "YOU TRAITOROUS FILTH!"

"Bravo, Xinde, bravo" Lysandra smirked, she turned around to reveal her now jet black wings, "You are correct, I have orchestrated the attack on the orphanage for many years, as a tribute to the dark gods who recognized my power... the blue star conclave is ancient, rotten and misguided, it is too late for it to return to its former glory, but it is not too late for you Xinde," Lysandra paused her speech and displayed a set of new weapons, a gilded griffon and a cold iron destroyer, both tainted by the power of the dark gods, "I have beguiled you to this juncture, but I have spoken one truth, you ARE my greatest student, the finest initiate the I ever known, join me in the service of the dark gods, become the murderess I know you to be."

"Mistress Lysandra, thank you..." Midnight nearly fainted when Xinde uttered those words, for a second he and most of the kidnapped Valkyries thought she was going to join her corrupted mentor, but a second later, Xinde looked up with a frown, "... you have shown me the truth that I was unable to see, all these years of apprenticeship a lie, I don't know what I am anymore," Xinde slowly lifted her gun above her breast, held it tightly inside her hands, "But I know this, I am no traitor, I would rather die!"

"Hmm, Pity... " Lysandra sighed with a lingering smirk, "But no matter, the death you desire is but a moment away."

Devoid of any visage of her former self, Lysandra was more than willing to fire upon her student. Xinde with her last magazine of bullets fired back but not before closing distance with her former mentor in hope of coming into sword reach. As the last round of bullet exited the empty chamber, Xinde ran in and drew her cold iron carver, she made a final prayer to the great father and aimed her sword at Lysandra's chest. The overseer to-be was fast, but Lysandra now had the ruinous power of the dark gods behind her, with a series of super human reflexes, the teacher slammed the student to the ground.

"This futile, Xinde," the corrupted overseer shook her head as she placed her boot upon Xinde's stomach, stepping into her guts, "But since you put up a good fight, I will let you watch as I drain the soul of the boy you so desperately tried to protect."

"NO!!!" Xinde watched as Midnight was lifted into the air with foul black magics, slowly the boy screamed as his life force was siphoned by the corrupted overseer. Clenching her teeth, Xinde reached for her cold iron carver and with a herculean amount of effort, she gripped onto the sword and jabbed it solidly into Lysandra's thigh right before she could drain Midnight of his soul. The boy was saved and Xinde found her second wind, grabbing her blitz needle, Xinde loaded a single bullet into the gun chamber, the bullet was in her pocket as a last resort, now aimed for Lysandra's eye socket. She held down the trigger long enough for her mentor to feel a moment of shame before pulling it to the full.

"Be judged."

Lysandra's brain splattered across the room and finally the reinforcement from the blue star conclave arrived to the rescue, the Fallen Valkyries retreated back into the fiendish realm but not before suffering tremendous causality on the way out. With overseer Lysandra dead, all the orphans and nuns were saved without a scratch, all except for Midnight. As a young Repentia Astartis arrived at the aftermath scene, she only saw her battle sister, covered in blood and dust with a young boy in her arms who was equally as injured.

"Lysandra, our teacher, she is dead..." Repentia muttered in a cold voice, begrudging Xinde for the death of their mentor, "Xinde, hand over the boy... we are relocating the orphans and the nuns to the blue star fortress monastery, Haven is not safe anymore."

"Please..." Xinde whispered back while kissing Midnight by the forehead, she could barely hold by the tears, "Let me just cherish this moment... for a while longer..."

Nice chapter

I knew Colray kinda quit on the main story, but I think I will continue on for a bit. Make sure to comment if you like this story to go on.

Chapter 6: Legion of the damned

Location: depth 28, Fire Storm Citadel throne room

200 years ago on board a derelict space craft...

Admiral Ravo of the Spiral Order 2nd expedition fleet was stuck in an hopeless struggle when his fleet of ships entered a fiend corrupted dark nebula...

Against the whispers of the dark gods, his crews fell into madness, to spare them from a violent death, Ravo made a pact with the primordial fallen...

As the pact sealed, Admiral Ravo and his army was transformed into a legion of chaotic madmen, soon, they shall set the universe ablaze...

We know them as, the Chaos Spiral Knights... scions of the dark god...

Vanaduke gazed into his pale, wrinkled palms, he had not felt his flesh for almost ten thousand years, it was both a joy and melancholy to realize that he was now the last living Almirian on the planet. His throne room was modified to be the headquarter of Lord Ravadon and his numerous associates, chairs and sofas surrounded a large circular table in the center of the room. On the table laid a map made from sown human skins, detailing the plans of summoning Dues Aradama back into this world. Vanaduke paid no attention to the map, all that was on his mind was the promise made by Ravadon to revive his kingdom, more and more he felt that he was lead into a trap, like the first time when he requested the help from the dark gods, the Kingdom of Almire screamed and burned.

"Lord Ravadon..." Vanaduke stared blankly at Ravadon, who was reading the stolen book of codex paradisia, no doubt scheming Spiral Order's demise, "... My burning legion will do their part, you just remember to do yours... when will the summon commence?"

"Just a few more deaths brother..." Ravadon smirked and closed the sacred book, he kept it under his leather belt for safe keeping.

"Do not call me brother..." Vanaduke grimaced, "I do not want to be associated with the likes of you!"

"What is wrong Vanaduke? We both accepted the gifts of the dark gods," Ravadon grinned, "They showed me the truth, the truth in power, freedom and strength, in this galaxy filled with false hopes and promises. My dreamed the day I share this gift with ever last living being in the galaxy, HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Ravadon's maddening laughter made Vanaduke cringe, he had pulped many Spiral Knights when they trespassed his throne but even the collections of all of their blood and guts on the mace could not compare to the sickening tone of Ravadon's laugh. His voice filled the room with death and despair even after hours he left the room. Two of Ravadon's associates remained: Aviria and Aven'troy, a chaos Sorceress and a fellow daemon prince respectively. Aiviria was a sultry seductress with a large fur cape that did little to cover her suggestive figure, she laid idle on top of a sofa, flipping through her magick tome while paying no attention to the king of ashes. Aven'Troy the daemon prince was always looking over Vanaduke's shoulder, no doubt assigned by Ravadon with watch over his shoulder.

"So who is this person we are trying to summon any way?" Vanaduke turned back to glare at Aven'Troy.

The daemon prince checked his long red finger nails and replied, "The primordial Fallen, Dues Aradama... this is all you need to know, Lord of Ashes..."

"Oh, Aven'Troy," Aviria gave a sultry chuckle to interrupt the daemon prince, "You don't have to be so secretive around someone as noble as the king of Almire. He won't spill what we told them, and if somehow he did, we can just kill him..."

"Tch!" Vanaduke frowned, gazing back at the sorceress.

"Long story short," explained Aviria, "Before the dawn of time, even before you miserable little kingdom existed, Vanaduke, there was someone quite like you. Those Blue Star Conclave Valkyries called him, 'Father Paradise', he died so long ago that no one even remember his real name or if he was a man for that matter."

"Cut to the chase, sorceress." Vanaduke clenched his mace tightly in his right hand, ready smash Aviria into a bloody pulp.

"Father Paradise created the world that you see now, with a single swing from his sword, the blade of Genesis," Aviria was not intimidated and continued with her sultry tone, "Or at least that was what those Blue berries thought, supposedly he was responsible for the separation of order and chaos, heat and cold, love and hate."

"Life and death?" Vanaduke interjected.

"Right on cue, Vanaducky," Aviria chuckled in an infuriating manner and continued, "The Blue Star Conclave believed that he was responsible for the inception of all things. But I am not so sure on that one, after all, he may have just pushed the boat out, but he certainly didn't build it.

"So Father Paradise didn't create the universe," Vanaduke crossed his arms, "then where did all the energy and matter came from?"

"I don't know," the sorceress rolled her eyes, "Dark matters? Precursors? Some geeks with nothing better to do other than having a place to stage their MMO video game ultimately to sell an excessive amount of in-game cosmetics? It could have been anything! So, as Father Paradise created the universe, he had two sons. One became Dues Immortelles and the other became Dues Aradama..."

"And let me guess," Vanaduke conjectured, "Aradama is the evil child while Immortelles is the child of light."

"Light and dark are not what you think they are, King of Ashes," Suddenly Aven'Troy broke his silence and entered the conversation, Aviria leaned back, shrugged in respond, "This is not some parable of what is right and wrong, both Aradama and Immortelles are the opposite side of a same crown... light and dark have been in a constant war ever since that inglorious fool first separated them. One time, light and dark were in harmony, the universe was tranquil and peaceful, that all changed when they were set apart and we are here to correct that."

"And Dues Aradama is the key to all this?"

"Yes..." Aven'Troy's vermilion eyes slanted, "Now mobilize your forces, we are about to breach the core."

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Midnight walked out to the Balcony of his resting quarter, it was nearly dawn break but he couldn't get any sleep after the events that took place. He remembered his first encounter with Overseer Xinde, that day when he forever owed his life to her, when she saved him from the grasp of the dark gods. Xinde was the reason why he was here, on the day he knew about the existence of the Fallen from that first hand experience, Midnight made no second thought on becoming an agent of purification to fight back against the the darkness. Suddenly, the boy Valkyrie's trail of though was interrupted when his mentor slowly entered the room.

"I see cannot get any sleep..." Xinde smirked as she slowly entered the sleeping quarter in her white sleeping gown, although Xinde was an aged woman with wrinkles and grey hair but she was a beauty none the less, Midnight always looked up to her as a mother figure, and sometimes even more than that.

"I should really try and get some shut eyes..." Midnight shyly replied while trying his best not to inspect Xinde's figure, "...Mistress, shouldn't you be accompanying the others in the hunt for the Chaos Spiral Knights?"

Xinde sighed and crossed her arms, slightly lifting up her breasts, "Thanks to Sister Repentia's temper tantrum, Lord Overseer Tempestus assigned me on a separate mission to isolate myself from her so we won't have a fight again..."

"Is Mistress Repentia still mad at me?" Midnight asked, "After all this time?"

"No, she hates me..." Xinde grimaced, "Remember the day when we first met, at the Orphanage?"

"Yeah, it was like yesterday..." Midnight glanced somewhat passionately at his mentor, remembering that she was his savior on that day.

"I killed my mentor, overseer Lysandra on that day, both me and Repentia were her initiates," Xinde continued, "Till this day she believed that Lysandra was redeemable at that point, but I think both you and I know that you would have died if I didn't deliver the killing blow to my teacher. She thinks that I am the one who was corrupted for executing Lysandra."

"You were pure and still is till this day, Mistress Xinde," Midnight smiled with confidence, "There is no way that you would fall."

"I said that about Overseer Lysandra once when I was an initiate..." Xinde replied with doubts, "If I am to become a Fallen, you must kill me."

Midnight nodded in silence, deep inside he was horrified by the possibility of becoming a Fallen, and even worse if that Fallen was his mentor, Xinde, the woman who raised him as an initiate and a son. But in the end, no matter the odds, he knew he was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect those he cherished, even if the Dark Gods were to take them.