ASCENSION ZERØ

THE WAY TO DAWN

CHARLES LEE

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events are fictitious, and any similarities to

real people, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

THE WAY TO DAWN

2011© by Charles Lee

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Table of Contents

Chapter One - Canyon Ruins

Chapter Two - Reunion of the Fallen

Chapter Three - Sin Before Tragedy

Chapter Four - Elysium

Chapter Five - Invasion

Chapter Six - At the Heart of Despair

Chapter Seven - Michelle‟s Past

Chapter Eight - The Thin Line between Love and Vengeance

Chapter Nine - Cody‟s Past

Chapter Ten - Where Dreams Collide

Chapter One: Canyon Ruins

It‟s been months since Derexen‟s decided to use Terra as an anchor to the light realm.

The world has been sinking to the rising darkness. City after city, town after town, much of the

world is now under the influence of permanent night. And where there‟s darkness… there are

secrets.

Greyshio flies high above the lands of Terra with crossed arms and a flat monitor screen

mounted and angled between his legs to display coordinates. He calmly stares down to the dark

world below. If only there was an easier way to track these fiends, he thinks. “How far are we to

the nearest disaster?” On the computer screen, the ship replies to his question. All surrounding

areas have already been connected. “This piece of crap didn‟t even answer the question. It can‟t

even hunt a single Righteous Kira correctly.”

The screen flashes. Energy signature below matches previous encounter. “Land, now,”

Greyshio commands.

The white uniship gains speed while gradually descending. The ship lightly lands on

rocky ground with cliffs, hill dips, and wide canyons. The glass cockpit pops open with Greyshio

jumping out. He slowly looks around while adjusting Braveheart hanging from his back.

“Conceal,” he says.

The ship glows with every inch of the craft‟s metallic structure shining and spreading

across itself before becoming invisible. He continues to silently look around the open area. I may

not be the best at picking up energy levels, but the ship is right about someone being here, he

thinks.

Greyshio begins treading the rocky grounds and down the hill. Standing at the canyon‟s

edge, he looks down at the flowing river before looking to the other side of the finely discolored

layers on the canyon wall. Many areas of the canyon walls have small openings he didn‟t think

much of at the time. Suddenly, the narrow path he was walking shakes. Greyshio maintains his

balance and sees a large ruby red Demi running up the wall below.

It has a long narrow head with black eyes going down the left and right sides of its skull.

The boney dehydrated Demi scales rapidly towards Greyshio with its four long arms and curved

set of drooling teeth reaching to the corners of its head. Its stubby tail swings around as it shakes

its head madly while climbing and leaping with its hind legs.

Greyshio, without any worry, takes his sword and effortlessly throws it into the Demi‟s

skull with the flick of his wrist. He walks away as it falls to its death with an echoing screech.

Greyshio raises his hand over his head to call back his sword before smoothly sheathing it. This

should be a good place to start, he thinks.

Suddenly, he stops when the ground rumbles once again. He looks below and sees a

countless number of similar Demis rushing out of the hollows of the canyon. He grunts. This is

ridiculous, he says to himself.

Greyshio quickly begins running down the slowly narrowing path. The Demis try

snagging at his feet while he chops and hops over the needy hands. Like an ant swarm, the

creatures follow his every movement from the side of the wall before blocking his path.

He looks back and sees them slowly coming from behind. There are even Demis

climbing over each other just to have a chance to eat him.

“Hmph,” Greyshio grunts before smirking. He turns his back from the path‟s edge. “I

don‟t know if it‟s wise to use this in such an area. But I don‟t have much choice.” A Demi rises

over the edge and screams at him. “Heh, screw it,” he says, smirking lightly.

Greyshio jumps onto the wall and leaps far from them as they try desperately to grab him.

He turns around with light energy beginning to build at the tip of his sword. Like a ball of

glowing yarn, its tangled streams of light formulate as he slowly falls.

“Riftazition.”

With one mighty shot, hundreds of light streams crash into the canyon wall killing, many

Demis on impact. In a descending arc, Greyshio falls headfirst to the bottom while a rock slide is

caused by his attack, swatting the remaining wall climbers. Greyshio fires a light string from his

hand and attaches it to the other side of the canyon before controlling the wind.

Using the wind, he softly hits up against the wall, moments before a Demi breaks from

the wall near him. Greyshio kicks himself off the wall before the creature can finish its strike.

When he comes back in, he stabs the Demi in the head. It screams out and continues to swipe at

him. Greyshio slashes off its hands and repeats this strike three times before busting through the

wall with the creature.

Once inside the wall, Greyshio stands from the slowly graying, crumbling Demi. He

roughly pulls his blade from the monster‟s head as he notices the inner wall of the canyon‟s

dimly lit by a weak blue light from the other end.

While treading softly, the light that‟s barely guiding him is gradually becoming brighter.

Greyshio passes a large opening to the left of the wall, evidence of where the Demi emerged

from.

At the end of the area, the light shines brightest from a narrow passage up ahead. After

turning and squeezing through the narrow hole, he finds tubes with glowing blue liquid

embedded in the walls, curving around the corner. He follows the eerie tubes and discovers

dozens of mounted glass cylinders held by mechanical structures in two rows going deeper into

the cave. Each cylinder is filled with the same lightly bubbling liquid from the tubes, connecting

to the back of the machines.

Greyshio slowly walks the rows of cylinders with a strange expression at what he‟s

seeing. “What is all this?”

Inside the cylinders are assorted pieces of flesh, organs, and limbs of once living

creatures. Greyshio stops in front of a cylinder where a floating half-whole creature with one arm

and a humanlike physique lightly bumps the glass. It has sharp long fangs barely closing its

mouth. Its severely damaged skin sticks to its bones and the half curved horns on its head.

“Hideous beast,” he says with mild disgust.

Greyshio continues to walk through the aisle of cylinders till he suddenly hears a

woman‟s faint voice in the distance. He crouches down and moves quickly, but quietly. He

makes it to the end and follows the tubes to the edge of a high cliff.

Below are open hollows appearing to have been hollowed out manually. Against the

farthest wall of the oval passages is a single cylinder with glowing tubes hanging from the wall

and connecting to the machine. To Greyshio‟s fortune, he spots two members of the Righteous

Kiras standing before it.

Perfect, Greyshio thinks. He lies on his stomach and moves slowly to the edge for a better

view. That blue-haired woman. She was at Fortlindo—Bonnie I think. But who‟s the other guy?

“It‟s a shame,” Bonnie says, putting her hand on the glass. She looks to the ground. “I

worked so hard. So hard. And just like that. Derexen dismisses „Project Immor‟ without any

reason or explanation.”

“And you‟re not mad about that?” the brown-eyed muscular man asks.

“A-a-a-a.” She turns halfway to him. “Address me better, please,” Bonnie says with a

high tone and a smile.

He grunts. “And you‟re not mad about that—my lady?”

“Hmm, close enough.” She turns back around and looks down. “And yes—I‟m upset. But

no matter. I won‟t allow irrationality and fear to be the end of my legacy.” Bonnie lifts her head

to the glass and grins at the sight of his reflection. “Brings back memories, doesn‟t it? That

nostalgic origin. The others couldn‟t even remember theirs. But you do,” she says before turning

to him.

He looks away from her. “What will your next order of business be?”

“Are you embarrassed, Gabriel?” She walks up to him and starts lightly pulling his cheek

while he remains unfazed. “I didn‟t think you could even get embarrassed.”

Gabriel grits his teeth and slaps her hand away. “Enough!” She steps back and glares at

him. He lowers his head. “Forgive me, my lady. I didn‟t mean to be disrespectful.”

“Tch, damn right you didn‟t. Apologize again!”

“I‟m sorry, my lady. I am sorry for my utter disrespect.”

“Again!”

“I, Gabriel, am sorry for my despicable actions that lead to the offense of my lady.”

She smirks. “That‟s better. Much better.” Bonnie pulls out her pocket watch. “I wonder if

that girl gave any thought about what I said.”

“If she‟s smart, I‟m sure Valerie will come around.”

“Of course she will. She‟s a timid girl. But she owes me her life. And since she‟s never

been able to find her place in the world is reason enough. She‟ll work towards the cause. But for

now, that‟ll be all, Gabriel. Go meet back with Aquarius and resume the assignments Derexen

has given you.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Gabriel politely bows, but before rising, he clenches his jaw with displeasure. He turns to

his left and exits the area through the hollowed passage.

Bonnie turns and walks back towards the cylinder. She stares into the glass and prepares

to put her hand on it when suddenly, the sword Braveheart is wedged deep into the glass after

being thrown from a high altitude.

Blue fluid leaks and streams from the glass as the cracks gradually spread. She steps back

as the pressure becomes too much for it and breaks. Out from the cylinder is a naked, pasty-

skinned, hairless man with glowing blue veins all over. His milky eyes do not react to the fresh

air blowing on him.

Bonnie quickly turns and looks up to see Greyshio standing on the cliff. “Yoooou!”

Greyshio just stares at her with no care to her reaction. “What have you done you stupid, stupid,

man!? You are destroying delicate research, you imbecile!”

“Delicate?” Greyshio says. He jumps down and uses a wind gust produced from his

palms to break his fall. “And what possibly could you be doing that‟s so delicate?”

Bonnie looks as if she‟s on the verge of growling with her overly angry expression. “You

imbecile… Do you even know what these samples are? Or how old they are? Or how hard it was

to collect them!? Or even how hard it is to preserve them and try to use what‟s left!?”

“So it‟s that important to him, huh? I‟ll be sure to destroy everything here then. So

Derexen has something else to wish he didn‟t lose.”

Bonnie looks as if she‟s about to throw a fit while stomping her foot. “You‟re ruining my

legacy!”

“I don‟t care whose legacy it is. If you‟re with Derexen, then you‟re as good as dead.” He

raises his arm to call back his Empyrean blade. Bonnie steps back with suppressed fear on her

face. “Bet you‟re wishing you had left, huh?”

Bonnie grunts. My research, she says to herself. I can‟t let him get away with this. I need

to stop him or he‟ll ruin everything. Without warning, they hear a groan. They look over to the

destroyed cylinder and see the glossy, slimy man trying to stand. He continues to struggle until

he‟s fully up, shaking just to keep balance.

He looks to Greyshio. “Kill…” he says in a dry rasp. “Kill… Kill…”

He raises his arms and slowly walks toward Greyshio. Bonnie glances at Greyshio with a

nervous chuckle. “Looks like he wants to play with you.”

Greyshio turns to the man. “Be gone, corpse.” Greyshio effortlessly throws a fireball at it.

The man screams as the flames engulf him and drops him to the floor.

Greyshio looks to Bonnie when suddenly, the man beings to stand again. “Kill… Kill…

Kill…”

All the burns suddenly heal. “What the—” Greyshio says. “I said die, minion!”

He swings his sword into the ground and uplifts a rock that shapes into a spire through

magically manipulation. It pierces the man‟s heart, fading the blue from its veins and stopping it

from moving. But for only a moment.

The man‟s blue veins relight as he continues his approach with the rock spire falling out

of its closing wound. “Kill… Kill… Kill…”

Bonnie smiles and begins walking backwards. “I surely was not expecting this. Though

incomplete, it appears I was able to reactivate the least damaged sample. You have fun with your

new friend. I‟ll salvage what remains after I make my escape.”

Bonnie crouches down and makes an incredible leap into the air and onto the cliff,

leading back into the cave of cylinders.

“Stop!” Greyshio shouts.

Greyshio fires a light string to the rocks above the hollowed opening. But the once slow

moving man becomes agile and leaps up to slam Greyshio back to the ground. They roll across

the dirt and come to a halt with Greyshio pinned by the slobbering man. The man tries to bite

him as Greyshio holds him back from his face by pushing him away with his forearm.

“Get off!” Greyshio says before swinging his blade across the creature‟s face. To his

surprise, the attack‟s incomplete strike causes his sword to be lodged in its face. But it still did

not die. “What the hell are you?”

It pulls Greyshio up from his arm and tries to bite him. Greyshio pulls away, but the pale

creature manages to scratch him across the cheek. Greyshio grunts and steps back before

magically retrieving his sword. It does not pursue him. It takes its hand and sucks the blood off

its fingers and from under its nails. Shortly after its bloodless injury heals, colorless hair starts

lightly sprouting from its head. Its eyebrows grow back in with its glossy appearance dulling.

It looks to Greyshio with brown irises. “Kill… Eat… Destroy,” it says as the hair on its

head stops growing at his shoulders.

Greyshio stands straight. How do I kill this guy, he thinks. Blunt trauma and piercing

doesn‟t do it. Neither does fire. I‟ll try and behead him as quickly as possible. He looks up the

cliff Bonnie was on. And if I hurry, they‟ll still be time to track her.

Without warning, the naked man runs at Greyshio with more speed and balance than

before. Greyshio calmly waits till the last second and does a solid two-handed upward strike,

sending the man‟s head flying into the wall. He drops to his knees before hitting the dirt.

Greyshio turns to the body. “I should‟ve done that from the beginning.” As he prepares to

shoot a light string to the cliff, the body rises again. He turns to it with a surprised expression. Is

it immortal? It rises and walks over to retrieve its head. “I‟m through with you. This will be your

last stand,” he says with a little frustration in his voice.

Greyshio fires a light string at the body‟s back and pulls him down. When he pulls him to

the ground, the body‟s flesh begins to burn as it desperately tries to get away. That shouldn‟t

hurt, Greyshio thinks with a slightly surprised face. His stare becomes focused. He‟s vulnerable

to light magic. Greyshio begins to swing him overhead a few times before hurling it against the

wall near him.

It slides down barely moving. Greyshio points his sword at the body and turns the blade

flatways. From the base of the blade, to the tip, Greyshio smoothly glides his hand across it,

releasing a barrage of silver needles. Suddenly, it begins to shake uncontrollably as it falls back,

thrusting itself up and down from the waist before glowing a bright white and exploding into

chunks. That should be the end of it, Greyshio thinks, looking at the dulling remains.

“That won‟t do,” Bonnie says from the cliff with much dismay in her voice. Greyshio

looks up at her and narrows his gaze. Bonnie has a bulky cocoon of black paper sheets floating

next to her. The papers have red glowing words written on them in a hard to read penmanship

and a large strange symbol at the head, connecting all the letters. “This is a major defect if it can

simply be defeated by heavy exposure to light based particles. Hmm… More must be done about

this.”

Greyshio points his sword at her. Bonnie tilts her head and smiles with her hand on her

hip, glancing behind him. Greyshio makes a slightly confused face before looking back. In mid-

jump, the once bodiless man is about to attack Greyshio with its quickly regenerating, skinless

body. Greyshio ducks and does a heavy kick to slam the man to the wall.

“Fade into the light, fiend!” Greyshio shouts as the stringy lights of Riftazition begin to

form.

He fires the attack after a light charge and fills the man with holes. Its entire body breaks

up into black fragments burning upward as he molts into nothing. Greyshio fires a light string

above Bonnie‟s head and quickly begins to climb up. Bonnie immediately runs off into the cave

with the floating cocoon.

Once at the top, Greyshio rushes into the cave. When he reaches the area with the

cylinders, he sees most of them are open. Many of the organs and other assorted flesh pieces

were taken, including the half destroyed fanged creature he saw. Where could she have gone? he

thinks. Greyshio tightens his fingers on Braveheart‟s grip. She isn‟t too far from detection. So

where? He then notices one of the cylinders ahead is irregularly placed.

He walks towards it and looks in between to see a metal door. As he tries to slide it over,

he hears a light ticking from the other side. “What is that?” he says. He continues trying to move

the cylinder until the ticking gets louder. A heavy odor comes from behind the door. That‟s gas!

he thinks with an alarmed expression.

Greyshio immediately sheathes his sword and runs back out where he came and jumps

off the cliff while firing a light string. In mid-swing, a mighty explosion goes off from inside the

cave. After hitting the wall, he watches the cave collapse with the sounds of Demi screams filling

the air. Greyshio grunts before sliding down the extending light string. He reaches the ground

and looks towards the hollowed passage Gabriel took.

He quickly runs into the darkness. Greyshio slows as the light from outside is no longer

bright enough to guide him. He fires a light string through the cave and latches on the wall at the

end. She isn‟t warping, Greyshio thinks. Either there is something else she‟s trying to get before

going, or I‟m walking into a trap. When Greyshio reaches the end, he finds the light string

attached to a large rock with two pathways to choose.

He places his hand on his sword‟s grip and looks to his left before walking through that

route. It‟s getting harder to pick up her location. Is she far or is there interference? He uses the

same method as before and has his light string be his guide. The passageway he‟s chosen

requires more turns than the previous areas he‟s traveled.

Finally, a bluish light becomes visible up ahead. Greyshio cancels his light string and

moves on with caution. At the end of the tunnel, he encounters a wall with a half oval curve

below. He gets on his knees and crawls through.

When he stands, he sees a stream running through the cave and out through a small

opening leading elsewhere. The ground near the water has a soft blue glow that appears to be

slowly fading. Around the stream are a few glowing blue stones with little black essence sacs

sloshing around inside.

“You‟re too late,” she says. Greyshio looks up and sees Bonnie across the stream. “I‟ve

collected everything.” Next to her are two round spheres wrapped in the same black papers as the

other cocoon. She pushes up on the bridge of her glasses before looking his way. “Whatever you

do now will not slow me.”

“Nothing besides your death,” Greyshio says. Bonnie goes into her robe and pulls out a

flask with four colored liquids inside that are separated by a thin structure in between each.

“Celerity!”

Without thinking, Greyshio bolts towards her while unsheathing his sword. When he

nears, he slashes downward at her body and the cocoons. But Greyshio and his attack are

propelled by an unseen energy, knocking him into the stream. The moment he hits the water, an

electrical discharge goes off and he screams out with his body jolting from shock. He grunts

loudly on his back and pops his chest out as he turns over.

Bonnie grins deviously. “Oh, I‟m sorry. But when you stood near those stones the

electrons latched onto you. And when you tried to cross the stream, you caused the stones on this

side to react to you. Get it? Electrons of the same properties cannot exist in the same space. Such

a mysterious section of the canyon this is. To have a stream serve as a divider but not be able to

actually pass through because of the cave‟s properties. I wish I had more time to understand it.

This valley holds some of the world‟s greatest unknown secrets. But alas, it is time I bid you

adieu.”

“I won‟t let you,” he grunts as he forces himself back to his feet.

Bonnie goes in her robe and pulls out a black marble-sized sphere and drops it next to her

to open a black portal. The cocoons enter the portal one by one. Bonnie turns her smirking face

towards him. “Vous serez bientôt tomber. Au revior,” she says in a cutesy way while tilting over

the flask.

Bonnie passes through the portal, moments before it closes. Greyshio sees the mixture

slowly coming together. He turns back and hastily crawls under the hole. He stands and shots a

bundle of light strings while running quickly through the dark. Greyshio pulls out the remote for

his aircraft and presses the button. As he speeds through the cave, retaking the ways he walked,

he feels heat behind him and looks back briefly to the sight of a gradually growing bright red

light.

Greyshio races down the final turn of the cave where the outside light is in his sights. He

slashes the cave walls rapidly while running, causing the rocky walls to collapse with each strike.

“Celerity!” he shouts as the heat he‟s trying to avoid feels hotter. He sheathes his sword and

cancels his light strings. Whirls of wind generate at his hands as he rushes faster. It‟s weak! he

thinks while looking down at his hand. The moment he exits the cave, he crouches and spins.

“Uni!”

After reaching the middle of the open space he jumps up, launching like a rocket using

the wind as his propulsion. His aircraft arrives with the ship‟s windshield up. Greyshio grabs the

edge of the cockpit and pulls himself in. The windshield shuts and the craft takes off with great

speed. Suddenly, the canyon he escaped from collapses in on itself with intense red flames

heating the air immediately.

“Oxygen!” Greyshio shouts as a mask with a tube connected to it drops from above. He

puts it on and breathes slowly. Warning: Oxygen levels in area have become too thin for

survival, the ship reports. “Why do you think we‟re leaving?” He looks straight ahead with a

stern pondering expression. I thought it was getting harder to breath down there. A chemical

reactive explosion that causes extreme heat with enough recoil to collapse an entire cavern while

sapping enough oxygen to end all surviving life. She isn‟t one to be underestimated. “Take me a

safe distance from this place.”

The ship breaks off to the east and carries Greyshio above the clouds and out the valley.

Chapter Two: Reunion of the Fallen

Far from other societies lies a city called Orcelin. It‟s a large dark city with buildings

over sixty stories tall. From within this blackened city, only streetlights and a few building lights

remain in use. The sidewalks have a strange sparkle from within the cement. There are few

parked cars on the streets after most residents fleeing during its takeover. The city‟s color

scheme is dark blue, gray, and black.

Orcelin is now a forgotten city that used to have much life. After being seized by the

Righteous Kiras, it‟s become dark and comatose. Derexen‟s reasons for taking this city have to

do with Orcelin being Terra‟s greatest minds in technology. Over eighty-five percent of Terra‟s

technology comes from this city alone. But Orcelin‟s ever-spanning weaponry advances and

trade ports became cause for concern.

This far spread of territory made other neighboring cities fearful of their progression. In

time, Orcelin became self-reliant and no longer a valued trade partner with other locations. Even

though Orcelin remained on good terms with others in the trading business, it was still rumored

as an untrustworthy partner. Because of this and many other rising rumors about the city,

people‟s fears about Orcelin being a major war threat only caused its existing relationships to be

strained.

A young woman and a little boy wearing hooded robes enter the city. They slowly

explore its dark depths as they walk down the middle of the street.

“What is this place?” the boy asks.

“This is one of Derexen‟s greatest successes,” the woman replies. “This city has already

been taken over, but still has humans living inside it. Many of them are now staff members of the

organization.”

“I thought once you take over a location, all of its residents cease to exist?”

“Normally, yes. If a location is taken over, some people survive by hiding till they can

escape their homeland. Others stay and fight to protect what little land that‟s Demi free. But after

trial and error, Derexen has found a way to keep the Demis at bay. Because Demis fear us, we

darklings must always enforce the primitive law of oppressive power when reason is out of the

question.”

The little boy looks up at her. “Mommy, why do you think he kept most of the humans

alive here?”

“He was curious about the inner workings of their advance civilization. With their

knowledge, he could utilize it to the organization‟s advantage. Everything he has done up to this

point is only the beginning of a much grander design. The number of doors that will open by

having the backing of Orcelin is remarkable.”

“If everything is already in order, then why did we come here?”

They stop in front of a toy store before the young woman kneels in front of the little boy.

“Oh, Coda, there‟s so much for you to learn. We‟re here to maintain that order. Demis and

humans living in harmony is not a simple task. So every week, Derexen sends one of us to his

prized regions. So far, there have been only small problems, but Derexen fixed that. Now let‟s

take a break and pick you out a new toy.”

Coda becomes excited and runs into the store. The young woman takes a few steps and

stops with a suspicious feeling of her surroundings. She then shakes her head and walks in the

store.

Although the store is ill-lit, this didn‟t stop Coda from running around picking up many

toys. Behind the counter is a frail old man in a white button-shirt. He shivers at the sight of the

young woman approaching him.

“Hello, Mr. Powell,” she says with a light smile. “How is business?”

“Business?” the old man replies nervously. “Its-its-its fine. Thanks for asking.”

“How has the city been since Derexen last visited? Any murders on either sides?”

“Not-not that I know of.”

“So no one has died as of late?”

“I don‟t know.”

“You don‟t know? You have to leave your shop sometime. You‟re telling me you don‟t

see anything?”

The frail old man begins to sweat. “I never leave my shop anymore.”

“Then how do you eat?”

“Mrs. Bakersfield brings me food and clean clothes all the time. I even have a shower in

the back.”

The woman notices his excessive perspiration. “You‟re sure sweating a lot. Are you lying

to me?” she asks, giving him a devious smile from under her hood.

“N-n-no. It‟s just hot in here.”

“No it‟s not,” she says with a straight face.

The tension begins to build as she refuses to take her eyes off him. Coda runs over to the

young woman with his arms full of toys.

“Mommy, I‟m done!” he says excitedly.

“No, Coda. I said a toy, not fifty toys.”

“Awe, okay.”

Coda puts all the toys on the floor and begins to search through them. The old man stares

at them, looking disgusted. “How can monsters have children?” he mutters. “Aarggh!”

The man screams in pain as he falls to the floor and starts whimpering. The woman leans

over the counter and pulls out a silver katana from his leg. The hilt is wrapped in pink and black

wool with a crescent shaped guard.

“I heard you,” she says without even glancing at him. “If you ever call us monsters again,

I won‟t be so nice next time.”

“Mommy, can I have this one?” Coda says while jumping up and down.

Coda holds up a state of the art titanium jet plane. It is a replica of the original jet plane

the people of Orcelin used to own.

She smiles at him and pats his head. “Sure.”

“Yay!”

He hugs her and holds her hand as they walk out the store.

“Oh, and Mr. Powell?” He stops shaking and freezes to her words. “Don‟t cry too loudly.

You don‟t want the monsters to be alarmed and think it‟s feeding time.”

She closes the door behind her. The two of them leave the store and take a short cut down

a dark alleyway. Halfway down the alley, the woman suddenly stops and looks around slowly.

“Mommy, what‟s wrong?” he asks with a confused look on his face.

She continues to dart her eyes around the alley until she hears something fall in the

distance.

“Coda, move!”

She quickly pushes him to the wall. A sword slides out from her robe sleeves as she

raises them to defend. At that moment, Greyshio leaps from the shadows with his sword raised.

He dashes towards her and throws all his weight into her. She slides backwards out the alley with

her feet mounted on the ground. Her back is pinned to the wall of the bread shop. As the two

struggle to push each other‟s swords, she quickly kicks him a quarter of the way into the alley.

He flips back onto his feet and shoots a light string from his hand that attaches to her

chest. Greyshio swings her over his head and into a large pile of garbage in the alley.

Coda runs over to her. “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”

The woman rises from the trash with her hood down and her long black hair hanging over

her right eye. “I‟m alright, Coda.” Her dark green irises and sharp pupils lock with Greyshio.

“We meet again, Greyshio. A fortuitous occasion indeed.”

In her left ear is an earring with the glossy white letters “RK” outlined in black. On the

left cheek of her pale white skin is a strange black tattoo that stands for „justice‟. It‟s an X shape

with crescent markers at the four points.

Greyshio slowly walks towards them. “Sophia Garrett. There hasn‟t been a day I haven‟t

thought of killing you.”

“Always the sweet talker,” she says sarcastically.

“As your angel of death, I will send you to that dark abyss where you belong.”

“Don‟t you hurt my mom!” Coda shouts. “I won‟t let you kill my mom!”

She grabs Coda on his shoulder. “It's okay, Coda. This situation between us goes back

further than I care to remember. And by the way, Greyshio, the name‟s Sofherie. I‟ve thrown

away that painful name. Even though it made me who I am today.”

“And your unholy alliance is what made me who I am today,” Greyshio says.

“Don‟t put all of it on me, Greyshio. I‟m more like the underlining end to your hypocrisy

of always doing what‟s right.”

Coda looks up at her. “Mommy, I still don‟t understand.”

“Allow me to tell the story,” she replies. “It all began a few months after the takeover of

Yock City. Derexen had a temporary base set up in an old church. And it was moving day.”

Sofherie steps from the trash and back onto the ground. “Aquarius was sent out on a solo

mission to give us full control over the area we were staying in. During those times, we didn‟t

move in pairs. That came later. But then, the unexpected happened.”

She kneels down to Coda and puts her head on his shoulder while staring at Greyshio.

“Our darling hero came to save the day,” she says mockingly. “Greyshio came bursting through

the walls as if he owned the place. You should have seen him, Coda. He had so much rage in his

eyes, swinging his sword at Derexen. He was trying so hard, but his attempts were meaningless.

Once Derexen grounded him, he stood back up with his sorrowful, pitiful face. Then came the

ranting:”

“Derexen, today is the day I will avenge Dean and Brad,” Greyshio said. He looked to

Lex. “Lex—I will cut you a deal. If I beat Derexen, you stop this craziness. This is the last time I

will offer to help you. I wish you would wake up and see that Derexen is just using you. He

doesn’t care about your well-being. I can remember a time you said you hate bullies. Well guess

what? Derexen is a bully. He bullies world guardians and innocent people who shouldn’t have to

suffer under his rule.” Alexus does not rejoice to his plea. “Lex, come on. Stop following him

and help me kill this dirtbag.”

Alexus shook his head. “If you are cutting me a deal, then maybe you should do the same

for someone who used to mean something to you.”

I emerged from the doorway. And shockingly enough, he remembered me this time.

“Who is that?” Greyshio said. “You look like… Sophia! Is it really you?”

“Hello, dear,” I said. “Did you miss me?”

“I—”

“Don’t answer that! I already know.”

“But, Sophia? I just can’t believe you’re alive. It’s so good to see you again.”

“I wish I could say the same, but I can’t. You forgot me, Greyshio. As if I was nothing to

you. That night when our village was at its end, you screamed your head off calling your friends.

Brad! Demeseus! Brad! Demeseus! But you never called for me once. Where was I in your list of

people to call for? Was it not enough that I was your girlfriend and I loved you? Was it not

enough that I nourished you, held you, and catered to you whenever you were in need? You make

me sick to the very core of my shattered soul. Now I have nothing left to give you but my hatred

and regret.”

Derexen brushes off his shoulder. “You see, Greyshio? You blame me for taking your

friends. But in actuality, the ones to blame are you and Demeseus. There is no one else to look at

except you two for why things have turned into what they are today. If Demeseus wasn’t such a

bully, I wouldn’t have Alexus. If you weren’t such a neglectful human being whose only aims are

to please his own needs, I wouldn’t have Sofherie. This day has been shaped by the constant lack

of concern from one human to another. So don’t blame me for this grim future you’re living in—

because you only have yourself to blame.”

Greyshio falls to his knees in disbelief he was to blame. “No, this can’t be true. I am—not

to blame. I can’t be I… No. This is your fault because… I’ve waited all this time to fix this. And

yet…” Greyshio’s hands began to shake. “I’ve wasted so much time!”

Greyshio bolted towards Derexen in a rage. He was grounded in a single hit. But he got

up time and time again before I intervened. I fended off his sword attack, swung around him, and

broke his arm.

But he wasn’t done. He slinked his way to me while dragging his sword. “Sophia, why? I

loved you and you’re hurting me. Sophia… Sophia… Sophia.”

When he got close to me, he passed out and began to fall towards me. I didn’t want his

sad sack on me so I punched him in the face. We looked down at him, wondering who should kill

him. But the place was about to collapse. Aquarius finished his mission too quickly. But we

figured he won’t live through the area’s shape shift. So we left. Greyshio should have died. But I

have no idea how he survived.

“And here we are today,” Sofherie concludes. “Now that we are all caught up, shall we

finish this?” Coda puts his toy away and gets in an inexperienced fighting stance. “Step back,

Coda. I‟ll take him. I don‟t need my little man getting hurt,” she says kindly.

Coda pleads. “But, mommy I—”

“Coda, listen to mommy. Get on the roof and stay out of harm‟s way.”

“Okay.”

Coda stalls for a moment and glares at Greyshio. He quickly climbs up the alley pipe and

gets onto the roof.

Greyshio‟s eyes intensify, making Sofherie give an ominous smile. “Bring it, baby.”

Greyshio runs toward her doing a sliding thrust. Sofherie does a high-flying somersault

over the attack and lands behind him. She quickly swings her sword toward his face. He blocks

it, but the force from the attack slams him up against the wall.

When Sofherie attempts to stab him in the face, Greyshio quickly ducks and rams her in

the stomach with his shoulder. He does a follow up attack and punches her in the face. Sofherie

hits the ground and kicks his feet from under him. She lifts her leg and drops it on his stomach.

Sofherie quickly stands and does two somersaults to gain distance.

Greyshio stands soon after and lifts his sword over his head. “Fissure!”

Greyshio slams his sword into the ground to create a narrow row of jagged rocks racing

toward Sofherie. She jumps high up to evade the attack. The last rock fragment continues to rise

and grazes her side. She falls from the sky and lands on the dumpster, dropping both her swords.

Sofherie lies face down on the ground before slowly pushing herself up. Greyshio runs

over and kicks her open wound. Just when he‟s about to stomp on her, she swiftly rolls out the

way and stands up. Sofherie clasps her hands and separates them. In a flash of light, her dropped

swords return to her hands.

Coda continues to nervously watch while biting his nails. “Mom, let me help you!”

“No, I got it!” she says with a determined look in her eye.

Sofherie dashes toward him and unleashes a barrage of dual wielded sword attacks. She

attacks relentlessly with high-speed slashes combined with several reversal sword strikes. Her

refined slashes cause his sword to be wedged in the wall. Although Greyshio pauses briefly,

that‟s all the time she needed to do a follow up combo. Sofherie tucks her swords under her arms

and begins doing an angled spin on his body.

Like a meat grinder, Sofherie is rolling him off her body a numerous number of times

with blood all over. Sofherie begins to slow to a complete stop. She ends the attack with an upper

slash from his waist to his neck. The large gash splits open his shirt. Greyshio‟s eyes roll to the

back of his head before he hits the ground and slides towards the rocks. His back is pressed

against them as he sits unconscious to all around him. Sofherie walks toward him and stops at his

feet.

Sofherie raises her sword. “This is it. My pain. My sorrow. My hate. And my—” For a

moment, she‟s saddened to Greyshio‟s defenseless posture. “It ends here. Farewell.”

Greyshio suddenly wakes before she thrusts her blade into his face. He quickly tilts his

head for the sword to pierce the rocks. Sofherie attacks with the other sword, aiming for his neck.

Her attack is suddenly stopped. She looks down at her sword and sees Greyshio‟s bloody hand at

the base of the blade. When he slowly opens his other hand, Sofherie see fire and light swirl in

his palm inadequately.

Their eyes meet, as Greyshio grins at her. “You‟re right. This is over. Flare‟s Light!”

When the sphere of light and flame explodes, Sofherie is sent flying through the air

screaming. Greyshio pulls her sword out the rocks and dashes toward her. Sofherie‟s left foot

finally touches the ground a few seconds before she can get her other foot to do the same. She

continues sliding before coming to a stop. Sofherie nearly falls over from lack of balance as

smoke comes off the burns on her body.

Sofherie‟s body hunches over after the attack. Before she can react, Greyshio swiftly wall

jumps his way to her from left to right and smashes the heel of his foot into her cheek. He lands

and does a round-house kick to her head with several following punches.

As she begins to fall toward the ground, Greyshio swings her sword to remove her head.

At the last second, it vanishes. Once Sofherie hits the ground, he stares strangely at his hand

before looking down at her. In a flash of light, the sword he was holding returns to her

unconscious hand.

What kind of swords does she have? Greyshio wonders. They aren‟t Empyrean blades.

But they have a similar feel. “What are they?” he asks before kneeling down to touch them. Coda

jumps down from the rooftop as Greyshio leaps back before he lands on him.

Coda gets on his knees and begins to brush Sofherie‟s hair back. “Their theoretical name

is Soulkins. To some extent they‟re the watered-down version of the Empyrean blade. These

weapons are usually born through a person‟s soulful connection to another Empyrean blade

wielder. Soulful blades that only exist as long as the original wielder does.”

Coda glances at Greyshio. “In this case, you,” he says with some detest. “But there may

be a chance that even after you‟re gone, she can keep these swords.” He lightly smiles while still

stroking Sofherie‟s hair. “They‟re kind of symbolic. It‟s like a reminder of what she lives for…

And what she must do to live on. The day you die, these blades may vanish. But at least she‟ll

finally be free from you,” he says with a bunched brow.

“How do you know all that?” Greyshio asks with slight intrigue.

Coda shakes his head with an annoyed look. “Derexen may not hate you, but I do. You

do know who you tried to kill, don‟t you!?”

Greyshio is not even slightly affected by Coda‟s distress. “Was it Derexen who

discovered this?”

Coda grunts. “Your obsession—is not worthy of an answer,” he says strongly.

Coda‟s angry eyes turn all black as a great force hits Greyshio. Greyshio is sent spiraling

through the air, bursting through the row of rocks sticking out the ground. He continues to soar

all the way out the alleyway and into the bakery window. He slams into the shelves of bread with

all the other shelves falling on top of him.

Coda‟s eyes revert back to normal as he looks down at Sofherie. “Mommy…” he says

softly.

Her face begins twitching. “Grey—shi—o.” Coda tightly embraces her as the two of

them shimmer and vanish.

Greyshio rises from the fallen bread. “That kid has power,” he calmly states. “I

underestimated him.”

Greyshio begins to hear something move from behind the counter. He waves his hand

and calls Braveheart to his side.

Two trembling hands rise from behind the counter. “Don‟t kill me,” the old woman says.

“I‟m just forced to work here against my will.” She slowly emerges from behind the counter.

“Were you fighting those devils from the Righteous Kiras? Please, you have to help us.”

“I won‟t help you. You need to solve your own problems,” Greyshio says coldly.

“But, we‟re not strong like you. We need help.”

“Your problems are none of my concern. I‟m only in this for myself.”

“How could you be so cold, you, you—”

“Stop looking for a hand out and take matters into your own hands.” Greyshio walks out

the store and looks down the vacant alleyway. They‟re still here in the city. I can feel them.

As he walks down the city streets, a group of Demis cower beside a building. One of

them howls and leaps up in the air to attack Greyshio. Greyshio waves his sword in one swift

sweep without losing a step and leaves a gash in the creature‟s torso. The Demi hits the ground

as a grayed ashing corpse.

Deep in the city lies the Lagoto hotel. Coda has taken Sofherie to give her a chance to

recover. He watches over her, holding her hand while she lies in bed unconscious. “Is Greyshio

the source of your pain? Then I‟ll make him go away, mommy. I‟ll make him go away forever.”

He stands up and shimmers out the room.

After he left, Sofherie grips the sheets and distorts her face. “Coda…don‟t.”

Greyshio finds himself at the city mall. Just like the rest of the city‟s buildings, no one

was around or inside. “This seems to be the fastest way to them. They couldn‟t have hidden

themselves from me better?”

Suddenly, he begins to hear childish music come from within the mall. A row of poorly

lit lights begin to brighten the lobby and lead to a dead escalator. Greyshio shrugs his shoulders

and begins to follow the lights.

He slowly walks up the escalator and hears a very faint voice. “Just a little closer,

Greyshio. The end is near.”

All the stores are either closed, destroyed, or poorly lit. Running in and out of the stores

are three-foot tall Demis with muscular arms, rippling chest and abs, carrying out a variety of

items.

Their legs are short, but strong enough to carry their large torsos. They are bright yellow

with no mouths. Just white eyes and two holes on the top of their heads. They are hairless

creatures with large hands and small black dots on their backs. The dots form a pattern. The first

dot is off on its own while the other five form an incomplete capital H. The next dot is also alone

while the other eight form a misshapen sideways capital Y.

For some reason, the six of them are stealing electronics, digital equipment, and wires

from the electronic stores. The creatures see Greyshio and stop for a moment before quickly

ignoring him and resuming their task. The Demis are taking the items down into an open sewer

grate. They are passing them to a similar yellow Demi wearing a black commander uniform.

Greyshio notices this and literally walks right by them with no concern for what they are

doing. He walks past several indoor trees and stops at the last one, wondering why the music

stopped. Just before he‟s about to move, a brick comes flying out the branches and hits him in

the head, knocking him unconscious. Coda jumps out of the tree and begins to tie a rope around

his ankles. After knotting it, he begins dragging him through the mall.

“You bring her pain and unhappiness,” Coda says “But if I kill you, mommy will be

happy again. She deserves…a better life than she‟s had.”

Once Greyshio finally comes to, he finds himself back home in Berlin Waltz. His hair is

once again long and spiky. He lies in his bed looking at the ceiling, confused to what‟s going on.

Where am I now? he thinks. This is my old room. Which means, I‟m home? But how

could I be here? I could have sworn so much has happened. Was it a dream? It had to be a

dream. That night was so horrible. I lost everything. But now it seems fine. Which means that

day never happened, right? Greyshio dismisses his thoughts and gets out of bed to get dressed.

“Greyshio, breakfast!”

He knows who called and it brings an earnest smile to his face. “Okay, mom! I‟ll be right

down!” After he finishes putting his shirt on, a sharp pain goes through his head. He raises his

hand over his forehead. What was that just now?

“Greyshio!”

“Sorry, mom! I‟m coming!”

He runs downstairs and into the kitchen. He gives his mother a kiss on the cheek and

hugs her.

Mrs. Basque kisses his cheek. “Morning. Your plate is on the counter.”

Greyshio sits down to a plate of eggs, sausage, bacon, and pancakes. Next to his plate is a

glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Just before he gets to chow down, three people come into

his house. To his joy, it‟s his friends Brad, Demeseus, and Sophia. They sit at the counter and

simultaneously say, “Good morning, Mrs. Basque.”

“Good morning, children,” Mrs. Basque replies. “I assume you‟re here for breakfast?”

“Yes!” Brad says with a big smile. “Even though we already ate at our houses.”

Demeseus looks over to Brad and nudges him. “Brad?”

“What?”

Sophia giggles and moves her seat next to Greyshio. “Hey, baby.” She gives him a quick

peck on the lips and rubs his back.

“What will it be, boys?” Mrs. Basque asks.

“I want three waffles with bacon,” Brad says.

“I want three waffles with sausage, eggs, bacon, and cheese, so I can make a triple-decker

deluxe sandwich,” Demeseus says with great enthusiasm.

“Are you sure you‟re eating enough?” Mrs. Basque asks jokingly.

“I don‟t think your food is ever enough.”

Mrs. Basque chuckles. “Would you like some breakfast, Sophia?”

Sophia politely shakes her head. “No, thank you. I‟m not greedy and fat like these two

are.”

Demeseus becomes alarmed. “Who you calling fat, you—”

“Hey, let‟s not speak too bluntly in front of someone who is older and a female,” Brad

says, pulling on Demeseus‟s shoulder.

As the three of them continue to argue amongst themselves, Greyshio smiles at his

reunited friends. This is good, he thinks. Suddenly, another sharp migraine hits him. He drops his

fork and spills a bit of his juice.

Sophia wraps her arms around him. “Greyshio, are you okay? You don‟t look so good.”

“Dude, can you hear us?” Brad asks upon standing.

Greyshio‟s vision is blurred before slowly clearing. “I‟m fine. I‟ve just been having these

intense headaches since I got up this morning.”