In the ancient legends of the Seraphim, there was a vague and poorly documented time before they had become the dominant species on Heaven. In this ancient and mysterious time there were creatures of massive power that lived in peace with the Seraphim when they were still an uncivilized, barbarian race who didn’t know any better than the humans do now. These creatures went by many, many names. They also travelled amongst the Seraphim in many different forms…
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Cyril stood alone on the soft, but dry, misty grass of his home planet. The wind blew softly, comfortingly. It whispered in Cyril’s ear. It whispered terrible things that were not soft, nor were they comforting. They were things that instilled panic in the mind and despair in the heart. Things that would make the bravest angel’s wings wilt and fold back. The soft and caressing wind told Cyril that he needed to be ready because something worse than the Ix was coming. Something far, far worse than Cynric was here on the planet. The wind screamed that it was right behind him! Cyril turned with a gasp and looked behind him, eyes wide with fear and breath coming in short punctuations that smacked the air. The atmosphere was cloyed with the sudden stench of earth and rot. Nothing was behind him. At least, it wasn’t there anymore. Cyril swallowed and, not for the first time in this week, he was afraid- very, very afraid.
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Earlier that day, Cyril had taken Zayn the Saiyan to Heaven to train under his watchful and knowledgeable gaze. Zayn had made good progress and Cyril was confident that some day he would be a valuable asset. But Zayn wouldn’t be a great help any time soon of course, as right now he was still very weak. Zayn was stronger than Cyril had found him of course but still too weak to be of any help. He walked the fine line of apprenticeship where the apprentice can sometimes do more harm than good. Once Cyril had decided Zayn had trained enough he had sent him back to the planet of his choosing, but remained behind. While training with Zayn Cyril had noticed something, something off about his beloved Heaven. He wasn’t quite sure what it had been, but it definitely did not bode well for the serene and peaceful planet from universe 42A. When Makoto had summoned Cyril had taken the opportunity to dump Zayn off on Makoto. Cyril needed to be alone now.
Cyril was standing right where he had left Heaven originally, waiting for his ship to come back to him. It didn’t take more than five minutes before a slightly abrasive, yet warm, humming sound filled the air and his silver capsule of a spaceship slowly appeared in front of him. He wondered why it had disappeared to begin with. “Hello…” Cyril paused uncertainly as he wasn’t sure what to address the space ship as. He had yet to name it. “I’ll… get around to it.” Cyril said ponderously. The Seraph had more pressing matters to attend to first. “Computer, show main interface and do a sweep for organic life on Heaven.” Cyril rubbed his chin as a holographic three dimensional screen appeared in front of him. Heaven was artfully displayed and the image flickered and danced as a scan was conducted. The image stopped flickering and disappeared. It was replaced with a series of letters that formed words, and numbers that came together to form figures. It read:
“Wildlife Population: 100,000,000.
“Sentient Population: One Seraph.”
Cyril read the interface and frowned deeply when he read “One Seraph.” It was just another reminder that he was all alone. Cyril passed his hand over the interface in a dismissive manner and the screen disappeared. Cyril tapped his foot in an irritated manner as he thought about what could be bothering him. “Computer, search for geographical anomalies in and on Heaven.” The three dimensional hologram of Heaven reappeared and showed a very detailed image of the layers of the planet. Cyril observed the image very carefully and went over every centimeter of it. “Hmm.. I don’t think that mountain was there before.” Strange. Mountains didn’t just pop up out of nowhere did they? “And what about that river?” There was a tributary forming from the small pool that was at the bottom of the Stairway to Heaven. Odd. That pool has been there for millennia and not once has it change. Cyril spun the three dimensional globe of Heaven around. He stuck a pencil he had gotten from nowhere in particular through the mountain and to the other side. “Hmm…” The mountain’s top was exactly across from the pool, more specifically, the point where it broke into a tributary. “Computer, show weather since Heaven’s appearance in the North Galaxy in Sector A 12.” The computer showed that it had been storming heavily in the area since he had left Heaven the last time. “Computer, show weather records for Sector Z 12.” A massive storm broiled in the mountainous area as well. But… well this was odd. It seemed that the ground was dry as a bone there. “That can’t be, it has been raining for weeks over that area, how can the ground possible be so dry?” Cyril spun the globe around and looked intently at the area round the Stairway to Heaven. The ground was positively saturated with water. Or at least, with what appeared to be water but wasn’t quite… what is that? How is any of this possible? What could have caused this? “Computer, search for ki abnormalities on Heaven.” The three dimensional hologram of Heaven appeared again and colors shifted smoothly over the surface of the model. Cyril felt very uncomfortable with all these unusual occurrences and there was a bad taste in his mouth. He slipped on his weighted training clothes just in case (he believe the heft gave him a little protection from attacks.) Cyril watched the screen intently and analyzed the figures and colors shifting across the screen, but he never got to finish. Cyril felt a pressure in his head and felt faint. His eyes went blurry and he could feel blood running down his nose and tasted the sharp, metallic pang of blood in his mouth. The ship in front of him glowed and screeched but the sound was muffled and Cyril had already hit the ground.
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It was night. The stars glittered and twinkled brightly in the sky. The lovely blue tinted moon hung in the sky and one could vaguely see the Silver Palace hanging upside down from it, if you really examined it. The nocturnal predators were slowly creeping from the (sometimes slightly hallucinogenic) thick silver forests. Foxes with thin and dainty legs crept from the meadows, their light gray fur beginning to thin in preparation for the warm season. Howls rolled across the indigo plains of Heaven as the night wolves awoke and began their nightly song. There was another creature awakening in those beautiful, wild plains. It was massive and powerful and beings throughout the galaxy feared it. But there was also another thing waking up and it was small and actually pretty weak compared to how it used to be. This thing, no, person, woke up hanging off the edge of the Stairway to Heaven. The water trickled lightly over his feet and went on to fall off the cliff in a beautiful display of gravity and cohesion. The feet of the person stirred and drew themselves from the lavender tinted water with a moan. But wait a minute. It sounded like I meant the feet moaned, haha! Silly me. I mean to say that the person moaned as he drew his feet from the lavender water. The man was slightly singed as if he had been exposed briefly to extreme heat. Blood trickled from his nose and the ground sucked it in thirstily. Just in case the reader has not gathered, this slightly singed and bloody man is Cyril. Just to recap- here Cyril lay face down on the top of the Stairway to Heaven with blood trickling down his nose and he was slightly singed as if he had been briefly exposed to extreme heat. Everyone clear on the setting now? Excellent, then on to the rising action.
”Oh sweet baby night wolf on a full moon my head hurts!” Cyril moaned as he struggled to his feet. He wiped the blood from his nose and smacked his dry lips together. Cyril tried to spit the slightly dried blood in his mouth out but could not work up enough saliva. Cyril got back to the ground and drank from the river. He took a few moments to recover before looking around. When Cyril did he wasn’t very happy about what he saw. On the ground the misty grass was dead. The ground was cracked and resembled the dry, indigo plains the resided in the south. The twin suns were rising now to the east and north, night changed to day as Cyril stood on the now dry cliff. On the ground words were carved into the earth and read ”WE COME.”
Cyril stood alone on the soft, but dry, misty grass of his home planet. The wind blew softly, comfortingly. It whispered in Cyril’s ear. It whispered terrible things that were not soft, nor were they comforting. They were things that instilled panic in the mind and despair in the heart. Things that would make the bravest angel’s wings wilt and fold back. The soft and caressing wind told Cyril that he needed to be ready because something worse than the Ix was coming. Something far, far worse than Cynric was here on the planet. The wind screamed in his ear that it was right behind him! Cyril turned with a gasp and looked behind him, eyes wide with fear and breath coming in short punctuations that smacked the air. The atmosphere was cloyed with the sudden stench of earth and rot. Nothing was behind him. At least, it wasn’t there anymore. Cyril swallowed and, not for the first time in this week, he was afraid- very, very afraid.
Word Count: 1,702 plus 10lb WTC
