[crisis_vyper]

Well, I suddenly have this random impulse to start a story. I don't know if this one will become an epic or not, but please do enjoy.

************************************************** *******************************
woke up in this barren world. No life, no plants, just a barren wasteland as far as the eyes can see. And the place is as dark as black as the darkest of black inks, even the stars fail to shine through the night time sky. I was afraid, but yet this world has touched something inside my heart, a place in which I can have tranquillity in my heart. But something inside me says that I need to walk.


I started walking trying to explore my new surroundings, and then after some while, I found a small figure right below the dune where I was standing. I slide down the dune and then I found to my surprise a woman. She looks as if she was in her late teens, actually around my age. Her hair is auburn and is down to her shoulders, and her eyes are of a dark green hue, which is beautiful to me. Her face is well defined, but yet gentle. her lips are not too thick, but not too thin, instead it is unique. She invokes this feeling that I have me her before and the only thing I can use to describe her is the overused word: Cute.


As for her clothes, she is wearing a T-shirt with a 'S' emblem similar to that of superman in the middle of her chest, and she is wearing some jeans. They may be simple, but they suit her mighty fine.

But what is her name? I then thought up of something that is both funny and yet dignified. It's like a reflex.

"Well, I guess I will nickname her the Lady for now....until she wakes up and tell me her name."

I then looked at her, and he looks weak, and she is muttering something. I kneel down beside her and lift her body up a little with my left arm, and holding and facing her head to my face with the other. I try to listen to what she is saying, but before I can really hear it, something came out from the sand.


It was a beautiful thing. It have beautiful wings of jet black feathers, each one as dark as the darkness of night. Her body is serene and graceful, and her white translucent gown shows it, but yet they exhibit an aura of something that is not of this world. Her hair is as red as that of blood, but yet it has the yellow timber of saffron. Her face is a very beautiful one, her pale skin as pale as that of non-shining silver, and her features are very distinctive and sharp. Even with all those features, her eyes contradict her beauty and show the barren sadness that no human can possibly understand even if they can live for a thousand years.


She floats above the sands and as the soft, cold winds of the desert blows, she sings but not a tongue of this world. The voice that came out from her lips is chilly but yet alluring as well, as if it was the voices of sirens. As I hold the weakened Lady in my arms, I spoke to the omnipotent figure.

"What is it that you want?"

And then the figure speaks in the tongue of Man. But her voice is not unlike the one that she use for her unearthly song, instead this voice is stern and all-powerful, but yet is is as sweet as summer's dew.

"All I want is that you show me the light into the barrenness of this bleak world."

"But I have not what you seek. Are there not others?" I looked at those sad eyes. I was expecting an answer from her mouth...but instead her forehead shines with a light of a thousand suns. before I can even think of showing awe, I have an image right before my eyes, actually more to my head.

The image first shows a land of unparallel beauty, with flowers on the fields as far as the eye could see, the blue azure sky with magnificent birds soaring as they have done for so many millennia. The mountains are awe-inspiring and beautiful at the same time, with the snow-capped top enhances its beauty.

And then, I see children. Children.......they are laughing and playing so peacefully and enjoying themselves like they have never experienced any hardships before in their lives. I actually can feel the innocence of those kids as they run by the fields of flowers.

But suddenly something within me tells me that this scene will end up in a very tragic and cruel fate.........
************************************************** *****************************

Well, C& C is recommended.

[crisis_vyper]

No replies yet...... okay.

Part 2 now.....

************************************************** ******

I hate it when My feelings are right. Suddenly the beautiful flowers start to wither into brownish husk, and then became dust. The mountains are crumbling, and as each part of the mountains started crashing down each boulder sends a shockwave and disperses the dust away to all direction. The sky starts to turn into a sickly dark purple and swirls about, engulfing the blue azure sky.

The corrupted sky then starts to swirl around and formed what looked like a face. This face is despicable to to speak. The 'skin' of this 'face' is badly wrinkled and scarred, and each one of those 'scars' struck out lightning bolts. Its mouth is horribly mutilated, stretching from one ear to the other, making a deformed and unnatural smile. His 'teeth'....my god, I just can't describe it properly without using the word disgusting.

Then, that 'thing' in the clouds started laughing in an eerie, loud and cold voice. As the laughter comes out, the children started to get scared and they all squat and started to put their hands over their heads. However, amongst the darkness now prevalent throughout this image, there is a bright flash of light from behind men. I turned back, and there I see that mysterious angel again, but this time she have no sadness in her eyes. In her eyes now, burned the determination and the ferocity of a lion.

And the other thing I have noticed is that instead of a dress, Her upper body part have a dark blue armour, each plate ornate with symbols unlike what I have ever seen before. Each one of the plates of armour is designed like a leaf, with the veins of the leaf is of the purest of white gold. Her gauntlet have a similar design, but with each part of the knuckle having diamonds, pure white diamonds.

She walks past me, and as I see her walk towards the devilish figure a sword materialized before her hand. This sword is slightly curved, with the middle of the blade encased in runes of an unknown language. The cross guard of the sword shapes up into blue sapphire wings, and the rain guard of that sword is a ruby rose, each petal shining through the darkness as brightly as ever. I can't see the hilt, as she is holding it, but I can see the pommel. The pommel has a red stone in it, surrounded in a gold hexagonal frame.

I see as she walks towards the thing in the sky and then she sang. Her voice is the same one that I heard just moments ago. The children have light in their eyes, the light of hope. They stood there looking at her.

"Singing?" I said it out aloud. What kind of fool would sing when they are fighting against an omnipotent being?" But I was wrong. The thing in the sky stopped laughing and looked at the angel with a very serious stare, as if anticipating something bad is going to happen. And the children.....they have a look in their eyes.

I wondered to myself what is going on? My answer came with the sword shining with a bright blue light. The gust of wind that accompanies the light is strong enough to push me back a few feet. I tried to look through the light, but to no avail.

Suddenly, I heard some metal clashing with each other. Unable to see because of the light, I can only guess what is going on. The clashing gets even more intense with every moment. The clashing continues for sometime and then as suddenly as the flash has arrived, it has stopped.

What I see before me is a very sad and brutal sight. The angle is badly injured, each part of her body and face having deep wounds from some unknown weapon. And the worst damage can be seen in her wings. Her wings are ravaged as if it was damaged by a sadistic animal. Each part of her wings has been broken, and some of the bones are even jutting out from her wings. She is coughing blood, each cough gets even worse.

My god. What kind of weapon can do such damage to an armoured fighter?

Just as I wondered about the weapon, I heard a very heavy footstep. The footstep is accompanied by a clang, and with each step the clang gets louder. I then saw a figure standing above the fallen angel. It is a heavily armoured knight from head to toe, more so than the angel herself. the knight is wearing a very deep purple armour, closer to black. Each part of the knight's armour is twisted into weird sharp and jagged edges, and his shoulder pads have agonized faces on it, and it gets creepier as the faces starts to be alive screaming with a high, shrill shrieks. His face armour is shaped like that of a snarling dragon, each part as jagged and sharp as the rest of his armour. The eyes of this thing shine with bright burning amber.

But the most outstanding thing about this knight is his weapon. His weapon is demonic. The edge of the sword is made out from sharp bones, with the edge of the blade jagged like those of a shark. The fuller of the blade is organic in nature, its red flesh pulsating as times goes by. At the end of the fuller, there is an eye, an unnatural one. It is of bright burning blue with white pupils. The sword is evil.........

The Knight then started to speak, and to my surprise it is in the same tone as the voice of the 'thing' in the sky just moments ago.

"Well, well, well. Look at you Adyta, you are but a wreck compared to the beauty I have often associated with the mosty powerful of the Seraphim. this land have seen enough of the guidance of the angels. I once remembered how I was banished from these lands just because I was in love with an angel, all the while when I was a mortal man. And who is this angel? You. Yes, it is you my Adyta. I give you my heart and my soul, caring everytime for you."

So the angels name was Adyta. And then the injured angel speaks.

"Yes, Valdation. I know your love, I know your heart. But I can't possibly be in love with an animal...."

"Silence! It is not I who want to be an animal! It is your Lord who wants me to be the Slaughterer of innocents! He gave me the command to slaughter the infidels that are trying to be free from his influence! You think I felt no guilt? I obviously do......but that moment when I killed them all, men women and children, which I know that our Lord is not what he is. And thus I decided to take matters into my own hands. If God himself is the Devil, then I as the Protector of the Faith must kill him! ANd I did! I decapitated that swine and snake!"

"And that's why I can't love you......for what you have done. The lord asks you to kill the demons that have plagued our lands for centuries." Adyta cough again, now with even more blood rushing from her mouth.

"Yes, they are demons, but yet they are alive as you and me! They at least live their lives without lying to themselves! But what about us? We can't even question our Almighty Lord! And the worse....we can't even have love in our lives!" The knights voiced toned down into a gentle voice, more like a frustrated voice.

"Valdation, love is not forbidden. But love between an Angel and a human is forbidden, you know that more than I do. You are the Protector of the Faith, while I am the Seraphim of War." Adyta's eyes ifs filled with the sadness that I know of.

"You, Adyta of all people should know this contradiction. You used to love me, in secret and from the eyes of the Lord! " Valdation's voice rise up. "Don't you remember the times we have?"

"Yes, I do Valdation, and it was a mistake on my part." He eyes teared up, and she is coughing even more blood. "You killed the Lord like you are some kind of rabid animal......i will never forget that look."

"It is you who made me kill him! If it is not for you, I wouldn't be the Protector of the Faith in the first place! I could just be a normal farmer.....a normal farmer. But you discovered a gift in me, and I used it to do God's dirty work!"

Adyta just kept on crying, "Why did you go to the side of the demons....Why?"

"It is because they know what I have to Go through for you! They know it! I am just following the thing called love! And even though I slaughtered their kind, they still forgive me for what I did!"

The knight then takes off his helmet. His face is not unlike the one in the clouds. His hair is is of starlight grey, and his eyes are of the purest and lightest blue, And his features are that it is carved by the angels.

"I gave my soul o you, but you pushed me away just like the onther angles. You are even more heartless than the demons themselves. And thus I know that I will never believed thwe Light again. And thus I gave my soul to the side that have not forsaken me, and I became one of them."

He kneels down to the injured angel and put his helmet beside him on the ground. He began to dematerialized the demonic sword. He then puts his left arm on her injured chest.

"And with each rank that I climbed, I became even more powerful. I soon become so powerful that I was able to best their Lord and take his head. And with his soul and body, was I able to fashion myself the sword that have given you this dire damage. The name of this sword is the Angel's Heartbreak. Its power is such that it can absorb away the powers of the one's it have defeated even though it didn't deal the finishing blow. But funnily, it didn't absorb all your powers away, just weakening them."

Adyta looked at him with sadness and disgust, and yet love all at the same time. The man spoke to her,

"I will spare you, as I am still in love with you, and now you are too weak to stand up to me. As for the rest of the angels.....they will be joining the ranks of your god. Now, begone !"

A dark portal appeared from below her body and absorbed her away. As I see her fall into the darkness, I noticed that he looked at the children and he did a hand gesture, a flick of a wrist. And al the children suffered deaths that I could not express in words.

************************************************** *****

Suddenly I found myself back again in the desert, with tears running down my cheek.

"Now you know why......." the angel says

I understand the basic thing, but still......

"Do not worry if you do not know most of the implications that are brought forth before you. I too have trouble understanding what happened on that day."

"Adyta..." I said her name while looking at her eyes, “what happened between you two?"

Adyta took sometime to answer that one. “A long long time ago,I once search through the lands for the one that was going to be name the Protector of the Faith by the man known as God. I found him in a farm, a beautiful farm. The senses in me tell me that this is the one, but yet I have an attraction for this man. it is forbidden for an angel to fall in love with a mortal, but I did." She coughed a little, but it is a cough of weakness.

Apparently she was not completely healed from that attack. I wondered how long she took to heal her wings and skin....

"We are happy together, and we are in love with each other. But we kept the relationship low and hidden. He protects the people from the invasions of demons, while I lend a helping hand to him. We angels can never intervene directly you see." She gives out a wryly smile. I can see that she is still hurt by it.

"But one day, God have discovered a demon hideout, and he asked Valdation to cleanse it. He disagreed with God, as he will not kill the innocent, even if they are the demons. I saved him from God's wrath...and persuaded him to do it for me. I am trying to protect him from God, but I actually have tossed him down into the jaws of the Demons themselves. He did kill all of them, but he became a different man. He became a very depressed man, and I should have known then that he has guilt......One day he walked up to God and kill him. I was shocked. The other angels had decided to banish him out from the lands and into the demon's, hoping that they will kill him for what he have done. I was torn, but I decided to leave him in the arms of the demons. Another mistake on my part."

I looked at her, and she has a sadder look in her eyes. I understand how she is feeling, but somehow I agreed with Valdation's view as well.

"He amazingly joined the demons and became their leader. He lead an invasion force into the region of Light, and took over. Almost all the angles are killed by the horde, and the people are enslaved. I am the only angel left... I was spared by my enemy."

I looked at Adyta. And then I asked her the question that I am though about just a few minute ago." Why did you sing just now Adyta?"

“I sang to see whether or not there are demons nearby. And it is also to see whether or not the girl is a demon herself. She is human." I looked at Lady, and seeing her in my arms, I was relieved that this lady here is not out to get my life.

Suddenly, Lady started coughing. I looked at her and I noticed that she have some blood across her lips. I panicked and I begged Adyta to heal her. But instead of healing her, Adyta dissapeared.

What kind of sick joke is this?! Lady is dying and now Adyta is gone? Then suddenly, a ethereal voice comes out from nowhere.

"I am actually dying, and instead of using my powers to prolong my suffering I will heal her with all my life force."

"Adyta, what are you talking about? You can't just...You just popped out from the sand just to die?!"

"I know what I am doing, child. I am keeping myself alive, but barely. When I noticed your presence, I mustered the last of my strength to appear before you from the Immaterium. And now I am closing in on my limit..."

I looked at Lady and I started thinking about the images.........and something bad just popped up in my mind. What if Adyta.....

"Do not worry, I will not take over her body. Nor I will live inside her. I will just heal her and that is all."

I was doubtful, but still I trusted Adyta. I gave a nod, and a blue aura envelopes Lady. I feel the warmth of the aura, and yet I feel like something is getting cold.

"I am gone, my child. I leave it to you now to save your race.............and my gift to the two of you will be........" Before she finished the sentence, she is already gone....forever.

But now, with a lost of a live, another can be saved. The aura surrounding Lady slowly dissipates the blue glow weaker by every moment. I looked at Lady at the face again, and this time Lady slowly opened her eyes.....

************************************************** ********

[crisis_vyper]

And now for chapter three.

************************************************** ******

Lady woke up and looks around, seemingly disoriented by her condition just moments ago. She then looks at me in the eyes.......I was mesmerized by those eyes. They are beautiful I must say, until...

DUUUSH!

She punches me in the face, and head on at the cheeks. For someone who is just dying minutes ago, she has a lot of energy to waste around like that. I fell backwards towards the dunes. The Lady then stood up and started shouting with all her might.

"Who on earth are you, you pervert? You can't just put a woman in your arms just like that?" She proceeds with a little kick on my leg.

"What did I do? For all I know, I just saved you from getting buried in the desert and die! Darn......I knew it that things just don't pop out in the middle of nowhere without some dangers."

The Lady looked at me with a look that is somewhat confused, both from embarrassment and anger.

"Well, sooory! I am just reacting to the situation okay? I just woke up and I found myself in the arms of a man like you okay? At least you could have tried to explain it to me."

I tried to tell you woman., I said in my heart. Girls and women are totally unpredictable. Why do god not make everyone the same? Oh wait a minute, god is dead. And I am the only idiot who knows it ...I think.

She walks towards me and looked at me, with her arms crossed. Her face tells me that she is mad, but just as random as it is, her expression changed. She smiled, and hand me her left hand.

"My name is Sam, and you are?"

I was astounded by the change in attitude, but being the gentleman I am I decided to forget the little grudge that I have and said my name.

"My name is Vincent. Nice to meet you……..man, my first impression is not one of the best." I handed out my hand and she grabbed it.

“Nah...it was my fault to react that way to a guy that saved my life somehow." She smiled, and it was so....charming. She helped me up, and then I patted the sand off my pants.

"Well, it looks like it is pretty barren here. Looks like we have to walk our butts to some place where there is water and food."

"But which direction?" Sam asked? Good question, but a simple one to answer for now.

"We just walk straight, but don't put up your hopes too high that we will bump into something."

Sam nodded, and then we walked straight to the unknown.......

**************************************************

Deep somewhere in the land of the demons, high above the highest mountains a figure was sitting on a throne fashioned out from skeletal remains of both humans and what seemed like a bird. Due to the infernal swirling of the evil clouds that plagued this region, his form is hard to be seen. But in front of the figure there is an orb that is made out of the darkest of the black minerals found in the demon kingdom floating before the figure. The orb then glows faintly with the aura of purple and stopped .Suddenly the figure speaks.

"How I missed the days of the old where we have something to fight against. This place has let the blood within me become as cold as the coldest of winter, and my bloodlust sluggish. But now, I feel something is coming, something that could warm up my blood again for slaughter and perhaps challenge me to another battle. Interesting.....Adyta is dead now, but there are two mere mortals who are blessed with her powers. Hm.....it is a man and a woman huh? However, I can neither see their location or who they are."

The figure then snaps his finger and a black portal appears from the ground. And within the black portal, there is a dark figure rising out from it. The figure then speaks. "Yes my lord?"

"I want you to find me a pair of interesting mortals who are travelling together. Scatter your minions across the lands and find out who are this people, and kill them" The figure on the throne said with a smooth and calm voice, but a voice with venom in it.

"I shall be done, my lord." The figure from the portal again enters the portals and disappeared from plain sight.

[crisis_vyper]

The two travellers walked through the desert, travelling down a straight path for 3 straight days now, but they themselves don't even know it and they are weary and tired. All that they want is a good bed, a good food and drink, and especially for Sam, a good bath. Vincent, his tongue jutting out from his mouth is mumbling something, his words unintelligable.

But as they walked across the land, far away a figure have been watching them.........

************************************************** ********

"I want to stop and sleep, even if it is all sandy and crap...." At least that is what I said, but it sounds like I was talking through a fish tank. If I want to, I will just lie down and sleep. But something tells me to walk on. And look at that....Sam looks weary, but she is still fighting on to move her tired little legs to the bone. I mustn't lose out to her.

I walk and each step is just getting heavier by the minute. Urgh.......why did he wind up in the desert anyway? Hey, that is a mystery isn't it? Why am I in the middle of the desert, and why I can't remember anything before waking up in the desert. And wait a minute..........how long has it been since Sam and I have a sip of water? If not mistaken it have been a few days since they all drank any type of liquid............and we haven't die yet? I wonder wha........

"LOOK! A TOWN!" Sam screams in excitement. I looked upwards and there, like a miracle a small cluster of light can be seen not so far away. Although it will take some while to reach there, but now at least they know that they will reach somewhere. Well, even though he can't thank god for saving them, but at least there is still lady luck.

************************************************** ***********

The figure looks at the two traveller, jumping around the desert. The figure looks around and he spots the city as well, with all its lights shining like a diamond in the middle of nowhere. The figure then starts stretching around and then he swirls his palm in a circle, and then a portal appears before him. The portal is glowing with a malicious purple, but the figure is not afraid of it instead walking directly into it. As he enters in the portal gets smaller. By the time his whle body enters the portal, the portal dissapears into thin air.

************************************************** ***********

After all that walking, they have finally reach the town. It is a good thing now that they are in the town, but yet I feel somewhat weird. Something is burning in my arm, but what? Well, maybe it will go away once I get a rest.......

First things first.......I put my hands into my pocket, and search for my wallet. I feel around in my pocket and I felt a hard, square object in it. That's my wallet allright. I grab it and pull it out from my wallet. I just looked at my wallet for a while. That black book-like object with my ID in it, my membership cards, and the most important thing of all, my money. I check the money compartment to see how much is there in my wallet. I have enough.

I then put my wallet back into my pocket, and then I looked at her, the companion for my long walk across the desert. I wanted to ask her about how much cash she have on her if any. But she walk right in front of me and started to go towards the nearest building, a hotel to be exact. I just sigh and walked with her into the hotel.

But before we could enter into the hotel's doors, the bouncer of the hotel stood right before us. He is a big man, but his whole body is covered with a robe, and his face hidden behind a hood thus rendering his face unrecognizable.

"Who are you people? You shall not pass unless you show me your magan."

Seeing the bouncer's size and seeing my own, I said to myself in my heart that he can and will beat the crap out of me if I force my way in. And what is a MAgan anyway? Must be some rich people stuff. And now my right arm feels weird, so I will not stand a chance at all.But then.....

"We are customers of course! You can't just push away your customers like that for Magan...whatever that is." Sam said that with a lot of gutso.

who do you think you are girl?........I said in my heart. I know I am going to be in so much trouble.

"Then show me your Magan. IF not, get out from here and you will not be hurt."

What on earth is a Magan? Damn we are so totall.......

LUB-DUP. LUB-DUP. LUB-DUP

URGH........, damn, that hurts! My arm now is pulsating with pain. I can feel my face is raining down cold sweat. It hurts, and it feels like a thousand needles jabbing into my skin. And with each jab, there is a large pulsating pain. The pain grows stronger, and now it is unbearable.

"ARRRRRGHHHH!!!!!!" Suddenly a bright glow comes from my arm. It is a bright blue light, and it seems that my arm is slowly being deconstructed piece by piece. I was horrified......but yet I was mesmerized. And it seems that I wasn't the only one who is feeling this way. Sam is looking at my arm with those feelings on her face. But funnily the Bouncer is not suprised, staring at the arm......

Then my arm start to reconsruct itself again. But this time it did not become my arm.....well it is my arm, but yet it is not. It becomes a pure black, fully armoured arm. The dark gauntlet covers the wrist, the hand, fingers and forearms, with each of the edges of the armour ifs finished with burnished gold, while the knuckles are studded with red rubies. The couter have the same colour as the gauntlet, but with the round couter slowly tapered into a sharp point after the elbow. The pauldrons covers the shoulder , covering the armpit, and the back and chest. The pauldron is oval in shape, its single large dome-shaped piece, studded with 5 rubies covers the shoulder with multiple lamés riveted together attached to the arm and upper shoulder. The point between the the chest armour joints with the shoulder plate have a red ruby in it, encased within a circular gold ring. The armour is beautiful, each one of the fine gold lining looks as if the armour have veins and arteries.

I tried to flex the fingers of my armoured arm to see whether it is my right arm or not. And to my suprise, the fingers of the armoured arm moved.

So...this is my arm., I said to myself as I move the other parts of the arm. Elbows, shoulders, wrist.......it is very flexible and light for all its physical properties. Well, I don't know why, but I am thinking that this thing is my arm.

"Well boy, it seems thatt you have a Magan. But even a normal mage can reconstruct his arm to something else. Now show me the thing that separates the Magan from any normal sorcery." the bouncer's hood moved . Sam looked at me with amazement. Well, I can not blame her for that. It is not everyday that someone made his or her arm into a suit of armour out from thin air.

But mage? Sorcery? This world is totally bizarre. I though mages and magic are just made up? Man am I beat........but now I have to focus on the task set before me.

Well, now that he say it looks like a ...what is it? A magan, yeah that's the name. Now I have to show the abilities of this thing. But what is a Magan suppose to do? Man I hate moments like this......I got it, but I don't know how to prove it. Then I heard a voice in my head. At first it was very muffled. Then, it becomes clearer and clearer. And it feels like I was in whole different dimesion altogether. And I am.

************************************************** *
Do you want the power?, the deep, masculine voice echoes throiugh my head.

Who are you?, I answered back the voice in my head. This is weird, it feels like I have someone living in my brain. It is very uncomfortable. That thing can talk and it is in my right arm!

I am the darkness solidified, the void dragon, the ruler of the night.....I am the magan, Mephiston. I was called by the song of the Seraphim of War from my slumber......but despite my efforts to get into my former master's body, she transfered me into your arm, and thus you are my master now. You may be young, but you have potential. So...I will ask you again, and only once, do you want the power?

The song.....so Adyta did not tell me everything I need to know. But she did say that we will have something. Maybe this is that something. I said yes to the voice.

As you wish, my master.......and it seems that you need the power now. Straighten your arm, and raise your palm straight up. And just say Marduk.

**********************************************

Suddenly I was brought back into the reality of the situation. I just followed the instructions that Mephiston have given me, and as I say the words "Marduk", my arms started glowing red and shoots out a beam of red light. But instead of the red light travelling in a straight line, the light flies upwards and spread out into a red entity. The light deforms and it started to grow and transform. Finally the object that it have formed descended and hovers behind me. The pedestrians started to look at this thing in both shock and awe.

It have pure black scales, and its wings have blood -red membranes, and each of the wings are at least 30 feet from tip to tip. Its head and neck looks like a gigantic armoured serpent with a golden, elaborate crest on its forehead, horns sticking out from the sides of its head, long red mane andbeard, and prominent topaz eyes with a black thin slit like those of a cat. The jaw is large and opened, with a long, thin tongue jutting out from his mouth, moving and slithering like a snake. The body of the creature is pure black. It doesn't have any arms, but it have two large, chicken-like legs with large black talons on it and a serpent-like tail which ends with tail spade with few long, sharp thorns. The size of the creature is huge, its head reaching the 4th floor of the hotel. The thing roared with a scream that sounded like a mix between an eagle and a lion.

Sam was dropping down on her knees, suprised and shocked by this thing that I have summoned. But the robed man did not falter at all.

"Well, it is a Magan alright. You are a summoner, and you have one fine Magan there...Please enter the hotel......this hotel is the best hotel in town and it is only for Magan masters such as yourself."

[crisis_vyper]

And now...........Chapter 5.

************************************************** ****

Well, I do not believe it..... I just summoned a dragon out from my arms! How cool is that? But with new items, there will be more troubles. Now....How do I make this dragon disappear?

Suddenly the dragon dissipates into tiny little red particles, falling down upon the street like blood-stained snow. That's odd, I was just thinking about how to make the dragon disappear. Maybe that will work with my arm,. I concentrate and just think that my arm will be normal again.

And sure enough, Mephiston deconstructs himself, and reconstructed into my arm again. I moved my arms around, and I feel glad somehow that my arm is back.

"So....now we can enter in the hotel right?" Sam said that with a smile towards the robed man. The man pulls down his hood, and finally we can see his face. Wait a second........It's a mask. His mask is white, as white as the purest pearls. But there are some mysterious flame markings across his mask, the flames constantly moving around on the mask as if it was a real flame. But the mask has no openings of any kind. Although the mask covers most of his face, I can still see his hair and skin colour. His hair is like those of burned sienna, and his skin...his skin is of mithril silver. Wait a minute....silver?

"Well, since you are with this man, you can go in with him." The voice of the masked bouncer is very metallic. What is this thing? The thing turns his back on us, and he puts his palm on the flat surface of the glass door.
I wonder what he is doing. But soon enough, I found out the answer. His hand started to melt into the glass door and he pulls it and opens up the door.

"Each one of this doors are 10 times tougher and heavier than this building. No normal human can force it to open, only a Magan can do that. But it also depends on the Magan as well. Heh..." the masked bouncer chuckled. Sam and I entered into the hotel, albeit in small steps.

************************************************** ***
Somewhere in the town................

A portal opened up behind a dumpster in a dark alley. And from the portal, a figure comes out. The figure is a tall man with long silver hair, bright emerald-green cat-like eyes, a long black trench coat, white metallic pauldrons and belted black boots. His face is menacing, but yet charming and alluring. His delicate face enhances his beauty even more. But the thing that separates him from a normal human is that he have a wing, a bluish-silver spiralling, metal wing, but the wing is not attached to his right shoulder, instead it is floating peacefully on it. The wing then dissipates away into thin air. The figure smiles, and started walking out from the alley. The figure then talks to himself with a cold, melodic voice.

"Now then, it is time to hunt."

************************************************** ****

Sam and I walked towards the lobby, seeing the majesty of the hotel. The ceiling was filled with artistic paintings of the night skies, and the paintings are moving around by some unknown magical mean. The pillars which supported the ceiling looks similar to Greek architecture, but yet they looked very different altogether. The marble pillars have grooves on it, but yet the interesting thin is that the pillars are sharp rhombus, with vines of exotic flowers covering it. The flowers are unique, as their petals looks like butterfly wings. The floor and the pillars are made out from the finest of marbles, and the lining that holds the tiles are made out from gold. The lobby is like a pantheon, as it have a feature so reminiscent of a Greek temple. I then walked towards the hotel's counter. Sam follows along.

" Um...excuse me. I would like on....."

"Two!" Sam said that pretty fast.

"Okay 2 rooms, and preferably close to each other."

The lady at the counter has a rather sweet face, with her hair tied up in a bun. "How long do you plan to stay here sir?"

I looked at Sam, and expect an answer to come out from those mouth. Sam did not disappoint me. But I wonder how much do we have to pay for a night?

"3 days, 2 nights." The lady at the counter then types into her computer and sees the screen. She looked for awhile and she looked at us with a little smile. Something is just not right here......my gut always have this super-instinct crap.

"Sorry madam and sir, we only have one room left. And that room is the honeymoon suite."

Honeymoon suite?! Crap.....now what? We looked at each other, knowing the implications. I talked to the lady in the counter again.

"Um....are you sure that's the only room left?"

"Yes, sir. Today we have an influx of Magan masters. Magan masters know that a Magan hotel offers special privileges , they tend to get in here pretty quick."

"Special privileges?" I questioned the lady with a smile.

"Yes, all Magan masters and their guest do not have to pay for food, drinks and other customer services, and we are required by law to serve food and drinks to all comers and to give our customers the best degree of customer service and hospitality towards magans. A normal Magan hotel is by hotel standards a 5-star super deluxe luxury hotel. “ The lady smiles back at me.

"We also provide training centres for aspiring Magan masters and experiened ones as well. More often than not, however, some hooligans or mages will try to enter the hotel premises without proving that they are Magans. So now, some of the hotels like ours, introduce the Mana golem to verify the magan users."

So....that thing is a golem. But golem aside, this is a dream hotel. But what is the price for one night?

"I see. So if we take the honeymoon suite, how much would that cost us?"

"Well, actually nothing sir. Magans will not be charged anything. But you to make a payment."

"So how do I pay if I don’t use money to pay you? How?"

"You are new to the Magan hotel aren't you?" She said that with a sweet voice. "You need to pay us in Mana."

"Mana?"

"Yes sir. We will have to extract your Mana away. Well, what we will do is to take some of your Mana, and then we convert it into Manon. Manon is the currency that Magan uses for special Magan-related matters. Depending upon how strong your Magan is, the energy transfer may just feel like you have a slight gentle touch or you will feel like you have no energy at all. But don't worry, the good thing is that Mana is rechargeable, albeit it will take some time."

I looked at Sam, and looks like she have to relent on this one. She nods her head.

"Alright, we will take the honeymooon suite. How much Manon is it?"

The lady types on her computer for some while, and she turns her face to us. "That will cost you a total of 300 Manon."

She then presses a button at the side of her computer, and suddenly a part of the counter deconstructs and reconstructs into a big, black hole. Judging from its size, it can fit a human hand in it.

"Well, now you will need to summon you Magan and put your hand in here."

I though hardly and I managed to summon Mephiston again. The black armour rattles, as if it was annoyed to be summoned for this purpose. "Okay, so which hand do I put in the hole?"
The lady at the counter the points the raises up her right hand. She smiled as she does that. I put Mephiston (and my arm of course) into the hole. It is pretty deep, as it can fit my entire forearm in it. Suddenly I can feel something clamping hard at my hand. I jumped a little during that moment.

The lady chuckled with her palm over her mouth. "Don't worry, we are not cutting you hand off. We are just securing it for the Mana extraction."

Suddenly my arm have a very dim, red glow. I can feel that the energy in my arm were sapped away. Mephiston's plates rattled louder.

"It looks like your Magan's first time having its energy sucked out."

As I stand there, my arm feels a little exhausted, and the rattling of the plates gets even louder. Then, I can feel that the clamps are releasing my hands, and I pulled it slowly. Mpehiston is still rattling the plates of the armour, seemingly disturbed by the experience. Then the hole closes. But instead of becoming the counter back again, it becomes an hourglass. Inside the top bulb, there is a black ichor swirling violently inside.

"This sir, is your mana. And it seems that your mana is of a fine quality. Now see the hourglass and see how the mana is changed into manon. It will take at least 1 minute to complete transforming the mana."

As the ichor moves downward like a lava lamp, flowing through the narrow tube. But instead of landing down as ichor, the mana is transformed and lands down as big, white coins. For the duration that one minute, I see more and more coins drop down like coins being put inside a piggy bank. A total of 10 coins are formed from the black ichor. The hourglass then becomes into a part of the counter again.

"The transaction is completed. Here are your room keys; your room is room 902. Thank you".

I thanked the lady and Sam and I start walking towards the elevator. As we entered the elevator, Sam starts speaking.

"Vincent, that was weird. " I agreed with her.

[crisis_vyper]

chapter 6.


A man walks amongst the busy night bazaar of the town, He watches the people come together to trade and buy items, from the humble carrot to the finest diamonds. The people around are happy and going on with their lives. But the man smiles at their fragility, seeing each one of them as a breakable shard of the weakest glass. The man's bright emerald-green cat-like eyes looks around, as if he was looking for something. His long-silver hair gently floats by as the wind blows it. His steps are heavy, but yet silent and as he walks, his eyes glow with a dim green-light. He looks at a particular place, as if he has found what he is looking for. A building, a hotel to be exact. The name of the hotel is the "Rising moon", and the outlook of this hotel looks as if it was an elegant sail, its white structure gleams as if it was made of the purest white.

How fitting it is that this place is called the Rising moon., the stranger says in his mind and he looked up into the night sky, seeing a full moon behind the tip of the sail-like structure of the hotel. He walks towards the hotel, with a glee in his eyes.

*************************************************

Sam and I looked around the hotel room. It was splendid, with its walls coloured with the slight yellowish-white, and the carpet is of the darkest red. A small chandelier is dangling in the middle of the suite, while below the chandelier there are red velvet chair and sofa, with golden-coloured armrest and gold legs. The table in the middle was made out from a plate of transparent glass, levitating by some unknown means. The curtains are coloured with the darkest of yellow. The room have a rather majestic view about it and it looks as if it was fit for a king. I walked towards the balcony of the building, while Sam is busy exploring the rooms.

I push the sliding door aside, and I take my step on the balcony. It was very spacious, with a very Greek design. I walked closer to the edge of the balcony and put my arms on the balcony. I looked at the view. The town's buildings form a beautiful display of lights, while the desert shows a cool and clean look. This elements combined are very pleasing to the eyes, giving a strange calm in my heart.

But I noticed that my right arm have this weird feeling inside. It is as if there are slithering snakes in my veins. It feels weird, but I think that feeling came from Mephiston. I wonder what is he doing in my arm anyway? And it seems that he knows Adyta. Is Mephiston Adyta's Magan? I started wondering about Magans as well. What are they? Are they living? Or are they something else?

"Hey, Mephiston...."

Yes, master?, he speaks, but his voice is in my head.

"I was wondering about Magans and stuff. What are Magans anyway?"

Magans are the personification of life, but yet we are the personification of death. We are what you people call as spirits. We are ourselves, but we are you.

"I do not understand...."

we are your psyche. Although we are floating in this world, but there a re only number of us. We only go for those who we share something in common, for the better or the worse.

"But there is a hotel here, and that would mean tha...."

I have been in these types of places before. the rooms here takes so much space. I can sense it....the others. I know there are only a few of us here. This 'hotel' has only 30 rooms in total and 45 magan users

"45 Magans? That's a rather big number."

No......it is not. Magan users are the rarest of all the powers on this earth. Magic powers are common throughout the lands, but the Magans are a reare and perhaps, a dying breed. Magic can be learned by any foll if he have the spirit for it, but a Magan user must be born with the ability to use a Magan. Most of the time, the Magans will die with their masters. But Magans with exceptional powers, such as myself will often float by in the Realm of the DayBreak for centuries at a time, before I find another one who will wield me. My last master was gone aeons ago.

"Hm...... but I have to ask you three things."

Please do..., Mephiston's voice is still cold, but yet it is not as threatening anymore.

"First one, what is the Realm of the DayBreak? And I recall that I see another type of Magan, not unlike mine. What is that Magan? And third one, who is you previous master?"

Well, I will start with the Magan question. That thing you saw just now is also a Magan. Each Magan have an shape and ability unique only to itself, and even I do not know what are they. But there are several types of Magans in this world. There are the Xadens, such as myself. We merge with our master to be able to use our abilities. Then there are those who are summoned separately from the body of the master, these Magans are called Yaden. The there are those who are the combination of the two, where a Magan have at least half of his body merged with the user, while another part of the Magan is summoned separated from the body. These Magans are called Zadens. You need not think of which one is common and which ones are rare........they are all equally rare.

I decided to walk into the suite again, after spending some while on the balcony. I walked and I see that Sam is already asleep on the bed. She sleeps like a child who sleeps after a busy day. I decided to not disturb her and I walked towards the sofa. I sat on the sofa, just lying down with my head on the soft and comfortable armrest. Mephiston then continues to answer my questions.

As for the Realm of the Daybreak, it is the place where all the Magans come from and go back. It is a birthplace and an afterlife for most of us. I said earlier that a Magan dies with their master, no? Most of the normal Magans will return back into the realm as energies that will be reformed into another new Magan. But special Magans such as myself, are not bound by the cycle of rebirth and thus able to come back even aeons after our last master are dead.

I see that even magical powers have an afterlife as well. I smiled as I imagine the Realm of the Daybreak.

As for your last question......I do not remember my master. All I can remember is that my master always has despair in his heart.Did I answer all you questions?

Well, I guess I have an amnesiac Magan here. Oh well, you can't have everything in the world.

"Yeah that will be all. I need some rest. Take a rest will ya, Mephistion?"

If that is required of me....


***********************************************

The delicate-faced man with the green eyes decided to just turn away, as if he wants his prey to live for another day. He smiles and shakes his head sideways.

"It's not fun killing a prey that can't strike back."