I already have a topic exactly like this here, several pages back. However, in the time I was gone (again) I decided to edit it from top to bottom over again, changing much of the story significantly. However, I'm sure no one remembers the old version since I didn't get excessively far in it anyway. I hope to get some interested readers in any case though, so comments are always appreciated!

Hells Guardian

Book I

A New Beginning

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Part I

A New Beginning


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Prologue

The sun was setting just behind the gigantic Cathedral, the last rays of the horizons red light shined past its towers to the town square before it. Of the ground that could be seen past the many feet, it had been made in stone, each block in its own special place, clearly showing the amount of expense the country was able to afford. What separated the people during the day were four good, square sized pools of water placed around the risen area. Wide, yet small reaching, arc shaped bridges scanned across each pool, lightening traffic some as other citizens could make their ways around or just catch the fresh ocean breeze while standing on one of the bridges. However the end of the day was different from the others. The busy square was full of standing people, held back from a few lines of soldiers, each man carrying his own long barreled gun, their armor clad in black.

Ahead of the initial lines of protection to the citizens was one other line of soldiers, their guns held ready and upright. Standing in front of them, holding a special line of authority was a man in heavier black armor from the others. His long black hair was neatly combed, his left hand at the handle of his sheathed sword. That man was someone the citizens of Ibias knew, though not by name. He was the executioner of sorts where those who were found guilty against the government, subsequently the Emperor, were to be publicly put to death. While he was never the one to actually commit the act, his line of soldiers were there to do it for him. The man brushed his loose hair behind his head, unsheathing his sword, pointing the sharp tip of it at the center of the square, where the small bridges met. There, to the highest place of the elegantly created square was something quite foreign to it. Thus being a wooden cross placed upright, a man bound to it with his hands and feet by a tightly wrapped metal chain.

“Hells Guardian, you are ordered execution for war crimes from The Diablos War including the death of The Dark Lord Diablo under direct orders of The Emperor himself!” explained the man as his sword pointed at the captured man.

The name Hells Guardian had been synonymous with fear for a very long time. The thought of the scourge finally being caught and executed to the people was something beyond a relief. The man smirked as he brought his head up, facing the man raising his sword, pointed at him. His long, black hair had moved out of the way from his face, though much of it stuck to his pale skin. As he glared into the eyes of the man, he expressed no pain but instead seemed to show sick enjoyment, as if foreseeing what was to come which would entertain himself. Tilting his head slightly, his eyes squinted, showing his smirk even more so in the foreboding crimson light.

The man clad in the black armor swung his sword in the air, leaving it resting at his side. “Do you have any final words before you die?”

The one known as Hells Guardian grimaced to a frown, showing visible ill will towards everyone watching and the whole situation. As he spoke, his words were able to send shivers down the fiercest mans spine, his voice always so cold and malicious, as if every word he spoke was a dark omen of things to come.

“Humans…you are such fools, so naïve and unknowing in your sinful lives. The Emperor misunderstands, and all of you shall pay for your lives because of it.” Spoke Hells Guardian.

The chains around him shattered as the wooden cross burned to a lighting flame. His feet gently hit the stone ground, his black trench coat floating through the air, soon stopping gently against his black coated pants, the length of its cloak stopping at his booted ankles. A disturbing picture had set itself as he held his arm out, his palm outright with his fingers arched like a claw holding the one heart of the many which stopped for a moment of horror. The cross meant to crucify him on burned along with the pitiful, hopeful dreams of the people.

“As cowards swim in the eternal sea of strife, they shall sink like fallen stones off the Tower of Babel…” prophetically stated Hells Guardian as he reached his right gloved hand out towards the guard who stood among the recent chaos silent.

Their guns were grasped out of their hands by an unseen force, the weapons levitating in the air then had the barrels turned on their owners, and the guns loading themselves as Hells Guardian smirked, twitching his index and middle finger outward. Upon the motion, the weapons drew their load, gunfire raining down on the firing squad, bullet holes having formed in the lifeless, collapsing bodies of each soldier.

Loading themselves yet again, the weapons soon carried themselves over, pointing to the crowd, which now begun to panic and attempt to escape. The sound of gunfire heard itself through the countless screams yet again, bringing down those of which bullets came into their path. The gunfire seemed never ending as the many people were shot down by the hail of gunfire. As Hells Guardian crossed his arms with the smirk which could only follow death, a dark violet colored portal formed itself from just behind him, soon encasing his entire body. Just as his body had disappeared amongst the darkness, the same portal had done so as well, becoming nothing. With the man finally gone from sight, the gunfire halted altogether, causing the guns themselves to crash to the ground. Though the danger was gone, the crowd continued to escape through their shrieks and screams past numerous different ways out of the town square, leaving the bullet ridden bodies to rot where they lay.

Actually, I do remember this story. I think I posted in it too, a while back. I like the edits you made, and I still think it is very well done. I hope you continue on it!

*sigh* I've had chapters done for awhile, but I haven't had a lot of time recently with the school year coming to an end. But it is over, so I am optomistic that I will get these out more consistently. I did lose all of my data for the story so that was a...major setback. Year in a half of my life down the drain, all right! Anyway.

Chapter I

The winds were frigid and unforgiving as usual. Of the few walking outside, all of them wore heavy black cloaks to protect themselves. Almost all of the citizens have lived in this cold area their entire lives, besides the ones that went out to war only two or so years ago. The entire world was in need of rebuilding though the people in the winter cold certainly handled themselves well for taking one of the worst racial number beatings in their history. It was a fairly small town, but one of the safer ones aside from the villages which never did fare quite as well. The buildings were sturdy but still made of simple wood found in nearby small forests to the south. None of the buildings were above two stories high, even the nearby chapel which had kept its humble place since the townspeople could have remembered.

Inside the only inn of the village, sat what looked to be a doctor dressed in a white cloak in a simple wooden chair. Beside him was a young man laying in a bed that had surprised the doctor by the stirring of his body.

“Ah…he is coming to!”

The young man opened his eyes weakly as he stood up from the bed, confused. Oddly enough he noticed he was fully clothed which he found quite odd, that including a sword over his hip. The young man stood up, looking like nothing more than someone just entering adulthood. He certainly looked a bit wet behind the ears to be carrying a sword. Wiping his long and much entangled blue hair from his eyes, he glanced at the doctor, his eyes still plenty glazed over from a particularly long sleep.


“Where am I?” asked the blue haired boy, clearing his throat after sounding to be hoarse to himself.

“Welcome to Drakur. You are in the extreme north of Uteia. I am a doctor; you came walking in here just wearing what you have some time ago. You may have a small case of amnesia. Do you know your name?” asked the relatively young looking doctor, appearing probably around thirty himself.

He leaned forward getting out of bed, and to his surprise still had black boots on. Looking down at himself he noticed he was wearing black leather pants, which fit him rather snugly. He put his hands in front of his face, looking at them intently, almost seeming confused. He tightened his grip, seeing the whites of his knuckles. Standing up his leather jacket swayed slightly hitting his back which had a black tank top under the jacket. Putting his right hand on his hip he felt the cool zipper against his hand.

“Ugh…my head…” grumbled the blue haired man as he held his head with both of his hands shaking off the slight pain, his blue hair moving past his shoulders as he did so.

“Does the name Alex ring any bells?” asked the doctor trying to keep the young man on track.

Alex looked at the doctor, soon having his eyes focused to the wooden floor as he attempted to bring up a name through the little to no thoughts in his head. However ‘Alex’ kept coming back to him, until he finally remembered his own last name. “That’s my name. Alex Kisagari…” he said quietly, not necessarily to the doctor but just more of a realization to himself.

“Ah…I see. Well then...what type of government do we have currently?” the doctor asked, making a test to see how bad his patients amnesia was, though he was rather calm for witnessing a young man come out of a coma.

The young man had merely stared blankly at the doctor, having utterly no idea. The young doctor nodded, scratching his head. “Hm, well maybe that was a little too technical. What is the main world religion?”

“Um…I…I don’t know…”

He nodded at the statement, feeling that his next question should get an answer. “This is the basics of basics. What is the name of our planet?”

His mouth open slightly, Alex’s eyes wandered before setting down dejectedly. While he said nothing, it was obvious he had no clue. “Huh. Well that’s not very good. I’m sorry Alex but I’m afraid I have other patients. It’s the middle of the morning right now, so you have a full day ahead of you. I have your inn paid for a week until you can find some sort of a job here, unless you have a friend or family nearby you can go to. But, I’m off.” The doctor grabbed his briefcase, making his way out the door, though stopping for a moment, leaning back, looking to his patient. “It’s cold but it may be good for you to get some air. The longer the time you just spend going about things, the more your mind will trace back, you’ll want to get your memory back as soon as possible, or at least of what your brain will decide to give back.”

Alex stood in the middle of the room for a bit feeling rather hopeless as his only company left him. He soon decided to take a look at his surroundings, finding little use of going back to sleep in the morning. It was a simple room with a bed, and bathroom. The floor and walls were made of damp wood, which he found quite unpleasant. Alex decided it was best to follow the doctors own orders as he left the dank room, closing the door gently behind him. As he walked down the stairs, each step he took made a small, yet annoying creaking sound. The whole inn seemed tacky with him looking around and getting a general feel of the place. Alex originally thought just his room looked dank but the whole inn did. Not wanting to deal with any more of the depressing look of the inside he walked past the reception desk, opening the door to the outside.

Just opening the door he felt a quick, cold rush of wind to his face, which almost seemed to hurt. Yet he somehow felt that he was used to it, he wasn’t sure how or why but he was, that, he could not deny. Closing the door shut behind him, Alex turned around to confront the complete outside, his blue hair flying about in the heavy wind, snow flying up into his face. Covering it with his arm he was surprised to see a person in a black cloak standing next to him, leaning against the outside wall of the inn.

“So you have awoken…” said the strange man as he turned his head, showing dark, auburn eyes, yet having a set feeling of gentle kindness. They gazed into Alex’s own, deep blue eyes, which looked back, surveying yet confused.

The man whisked the black cloak off of him and handed it to Alex who put it on gladly, thinking of the frigid cold before anything else. The man didn’t seem affected by the wind, though it looked like he should have been. His black hair flew through the quick wind, but kept mainly in place, thanks in part to the small purple bow tied to his hair, making a loose ponytail. Wearing a black robe with a dark purple underlining, it was strangely cut to where the front and back was rectangular in shape, the sides nonexistent until the top of his waist, revealing black boots and loose pants of the same color, still waving violently through the weather. Alex glanced down at his figure, seeing a black, sheathed sword which was kept in place, as well as the rest of his robe to his undershirt, by two sashes tied together. One, a crimson red, the other a violet color while placed on the tight knot was a black button, showing a purple dragon as some kind of insignia.

“Xelos…?” said Alex, noticing the wind lowered his voice which forced him to speak up. As for the strange man, he said nothing but hinted for Alex to follow him with a wave of his finger.

Alex found himself following the man reluctantly. He followed with his long, almost mystical hair along with his black cloak, both of which waved wildly in the wind, which he was hoping to get away from soon, since it was clearly causing his face to actually sting. The street was covered in a thin layer of snow as his boots sunk down and hit the gravel road. Walking along Alex noticed all the buildings were made of wood, sturdy enough to handle the rough winds. There weren’t many of them however, a few smaller ones down a select few back allies. Looking along the sides of where he was walking, Alex saw the signs for the armor and weapons shop, tavern and inn. However the signs that hung off the buildings were flailing in the wind frantically.

Turning back ahead of him, he noticed the man that had given him the cloak was gone. Looking around, Alex saw the man in front of a small chapel. Alex rushed back and opened the door, into the chapel with Xelos behind him, closing the door behind both of them. Finally inside Alex tore off the black cloak and went to hand it back to the man that had just given it to him.

“Keep it. You will need it later.”

Alex took the cloak back and set it over one of the benches closest to him. Alex looked much more carefully at the face of the man. He could not place anything besides a name, yet the same memory of a smiling face of the man before him imbedded itself in his mind.

“So, you are Xelos?” Said Alex, hoping he was right for once. He was rather hopeful, or almost pleading in wanting desperately to find someone he knew.

“Your amnesia must not be terrible if you know who I am. It has been a long while since last I saw those gentle blue eyes. Not long after your father died.”

Alex seemed to get a dismal look on his face hearing the words from the man. Xelos looked much older than Alex was, though only about as much as that doctor. The man before him was obviously a vampire with the black hair and red eyes, though much more kind than the doctors he had seen, which were clearly blood red with his black hair. Seeing that Xelos looked to be in his early thirties it can be suggested that he was quite old as Vampires aged much slower than humans, from what Alex began to recall with the so called ‘basic knowledge’.

“What do you want me to say? I can’t even remember him. I don’t know where I was beforehand, or how he died.” Said Alex with his head down, looking at the simple wooden floor.

“You will gain it back eventually. As for your father…he has been dead for a long time. He was killed in battle. Oddly enough Hells Guardian was in that same war just made an escape from Ibias not even a week ago now…” Xelos explained who quieted his voice to a dead serious manner when speaking of the one that had escaped.

“Hells Guardian…Who or what is he exactly, Xelos?” asked Alex curiously.

“That is rather broad, but I suppose you should learn as much as you can now. Let me see…there is much you can say on Hells Guardian, but much speculation as well. To keep it simple, Hells Guardian is a powerful being like no other with extremely powerful dark abilities. His skills are unrivaled, to say he is a dangerous man is an understatement, though the reasoning behind what he does is unknown…” explained Xelos, having placed his hand under his chin.

The more Xelos spoke, explaining things, the more confused Alex seemed to get, though even that was not much to be confused about. “Take a seat Alex. I think what is important right now is that you at least understand the basics of the government and the religion behind this church we have seated ourselves in.”

Slowly taking a nod, Alex took the older vampires direction, sitting down on the wooden bench, placing room for Xelos to sit himself next to him, of which he placed his arm on the bench’s arm just at the end of it. Crossing his legs, he wrapped part of his robe over his two limbs, taking a sigh.

Thinking to himself, Xelos began to think how to exactly explain the obvious on the government and religion of things in Gaia. He was more used to having intellectual conversations delving deep into both than interpreting the blatantly obvious to him, to a confused young man, though being a young man he was quite fond of. While he did not show it, he hoped that Alex would remember more of him, but if not, he decided to bite the bullet and develop his trust he had formed with Alex before so many years ago yet again. It was a long time ago for him, even as a vampire, which he clearly understood just how old Alex was. Needless to say, looks could be deceiving, but young Alex didn’t need to know the entire truth about himself quite yet. He had just woken from a coma after all. He may as well be easy on the boy for a change.

I'm sorry you lost all of that stuff for your story...I know what a pain that can be, it's happened to quite a few of my friends, actually...Personally, I save myself that trouble by just keeping everything in my head. Anyway, it's really very interesting to read this story. In my own selfish way I'm glad you'll be getting more chapters up in a shorter amount of time (according to your first paragraph), because that means there's more for me to read. Unfortunately, this time I don't really have any real criticism to make on the story other than to just say that it's looking good. I look forward to reading more of this whenever you find the time to post it and, of course, keep up the good work!

Thank you for the support Dragon, I always appreciate comments, even if they don't have much for constructive criticism. It's just nice to know people are reading. I just want to know what people think really. We're off of explaining about the world, its government and religion now. From here on out the 'book' stays mainly story oriented. Certain questions from the last chapter may very well be answered in this one. From this chapter I tend to have a pattern with writing them that urks some people haha. In any case, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter II

Xelos sighed as he looked down the aisle that had a red carpet going down with wooden benches on both sides. At the head of it were a few stairs with a pedestal. Directly behind the pedestal was what normally appeared to be some sort of statue but it was actually a part of the wall. From the statuesque picture of the wall was the only part not of wood, but stone. The statue from the wall was that of a tall woman, her hand, reaching towards something above. Of what, most believers of the church thought to be heaven. The woman had a flowing band covering her eyes along with a robe appearing to be in the same kind of motion. Around the woman was a strange, yet colorful mural, the beauty in its art rivaling that of the statue itself.

The mural was of different colors yet seemed monotone when looking at it in general. One could tell it was aged by the fading of its colors, it had been with the church for a long time. In the painting were eight different creatures, each of a different color. Each entity different, a person could tell that each one was specifically meant for a certain element and emotion.

“That woman is the Goddess Seraphim. According to The Kadaj she is the daughter of God…”

“Goddess? Kadaj?”

Tilting his head down, he tried not to let Alex sense his annoyance, yet he found it funny, finding it difficult at first to explain the basics of basics of religion. “Well…do you know and understand ‘God’?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, God created every natural thing around us, humans and other races…right?”

“Well he got that right. ‘Thank God’ for that!”

“Yes, that is basically correct. Dioism believes God created, just as you said, everything and everyone. Besides what the races have constructed of course. Some atheists believe that the other races evolved from humans, but most tend to not believe them since they would have to involve the animals of the world evolving or devolving as well. Needless to say, a human is far from a bird. Also, other races such as elves and vampires have such different and advanced abilities from humans. There isn’t even a plausible, natural way for such evolution to happen, even over long periods of time…”

Looking at him with a blank stare, Xelos shook his head with a laugh. “So it seems I went on a little far…forgive me about that, I tend to go on about many things fairly often. In any case, the Goddess Seraphim, according to Dioism and the Kadaj, is the Daughter of God. Every five hundred years there is a prescribed vessel, always female naturally, who receives the spirit of Seraphim. That female vessel is primarily used for the church to spread peace and healing among the people of Gaia. However, one strange pattern has remained, that being, each vessel of the Goddess has met an untimely or early death. That reminds me, all of them have been rather submissive to the church, I wonder if that is merely because of the spirit or perhaps the Goddess prefers submissive women…”

“You’re dragging on again, Xelos.” Alex interjected.

Stopping abruptly, he realized this himself and closed his eyes to gather peace inside of himself, as he was getting irritated that he kept making the same mistake he had found himself making for years.

“Yes…well then. The Goddess is considered to be the Creator of Elements. While some think that kind of a title belongs to God, the Kadaj says that She created the eight elements. Gravity, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Darkness, and Light. Seraphim created the spirits of each element and had them encased in the eight Elemental Crystals which hold the raw power of each element. Naturally, anyone who has control of just one of the crystals would have complete power over that element. Of course they were put away in carefully made and hidden shrines, however they were eventually discovered, two thousand years ago. As for the Kadaj, it is the written scripture of God, its various writers thought to have had the spirit of God in them when they wrote it, thus the reason it is considered the most holy document around. However it has been copied countless times so many Dio followers have a copy of their own to study.”

Listening to the story, Alex continued to look at the statue of Seraphim which came out from the church’s walls. While nothing but a frozen object of art, he could imagine the holy woman on the earth back in ancient days. Seeing this, Xelos continued with a story, dealing with the beginning of the Kadaj which he had known for a very long time, as many, many others.

“Long ago, the planet was beautiful. It was only God, his Daughter and the angels in heaven. However there was turmoil in heaven. One of the highest ranking angels, Satanel, desired more power. He desired to be like God…to be God. Gathering his own angels, he started the first and only Holy War against God and Seraphim. It was a terrible war which ravaged a good portion of the planet to being inhospitable. However Satanel eventually lost. God cast him down to hell along with his angels. Seraphim, never wanting such a terrible thing to happen again, created two guardians of both kingdoms. Thus was the creation of Heaven and Hells Guardians.”

“Hells Guardian? That isn’t the same guy as the one you talked about earlier is it?” asked Alex almost getting worried about a man like that being on the planet in this current time and so real.

“All the religious people following Dio believe that the acts of this Hells Guardian are real. That the Hells Guardian we hear so much about is the same one of legend. It depends on your faith really; the Ministry has shrugged it away as some demented man using trickery. They seem more blinded by denial than anything else though. In so recent a time as ten years, he has committed the worst acts. Such as the General of the Diablos War, it terrifies most people, so it is rarely spoken of.”

“Hells Guardian was a general in a war?” Alex asked, confused.

Xelos nodded. “The General, he was the only one, which is saying something for his leadership skills in such a large army. The Diablos War ended only two years ago. Among the races it was starting to look like the Gaian Wars all over again…but we will save that war for another day. In any case, Hells Guardian and his army decided to start a war against all of the races, under strict orders of the Dark Lord, who held his kingdom in the terrible land of Volga. He had amassed a large army of demons called Diabolos and had Hells Guardian lead them to eliminate all other opposition and all the other races besides Drav’dek and Vampire. Nonetheless, the Diablos Army nearly won; however, the Dark Lord had betrayed the General, for reasons unknown. Interestingly enough, Hells Guardian joined forces with the commanders of the other races to defeat him. It was two humans, two elves, two dwarves, a Drav’dek, a vampire and of course, Hells Guardian himself. While those, besides the Drav’dek and Hells Guardian were all commanders against the Diablos, it ended up being seven who went into Volga. Eventually they all confronted the Dark Lord and defeated him, but at a high cost. By the end of the journey, of the nine, only four survived. Soon afterwards, a man named the Emperor and the Ministry took power, throwing the recent anarchist ways of war out. The races withdrew themselves into seclusion while the four war heroes were put on trial—“

“What? Why? Weren’t they helping out…the world for getting rid of the Dark Lord?” Alex questioned.

“Yes, the people all found it strange. It was expected that the Emperor was in league with the Dark Lord before and during the war. He probably wanted the four executed as some kind of revenge, or perhaps they knew he was allied with the Dark Lord, so he wanted to quiet them—permanently. A botched trial was held, all of them were found guilty. However during execution, one fled and has recently been a part of numerous church attacks. The other two disappeared under the radar and have never been heard from while Hells Guardian submitted for some bizarre reason, only to escape execution…oh about a week ago. Though not without killing the firing squad and numerous spectators before doing so, one can assume he pretended to be weak just for that. However, he seems to be planning something I sense to be rather sinister…” Xelos said, starting to ponder on various things in his mind as he rubbed his chin slowly for a moment, his eyes looking upwards to the ceiling.

Scratching his head, Alex had a certain something on his mind. “Xelos, you mentioned the Emperor and the Ministry a few times. Who or what exactly are they?”

“Ah, what an excellent question, my boy!” Xelos said enthusiastically, gaining his full attention. It seemed that he was actually starting to enjoy explaining things to the young Alex, after he finally got passed the simple minded things. Once beyond that, Xelos was actually in his true role.

“The Ministry, while a government fixture now, played a very serious role before that. While most of them are human, they have lived far beyond the length of a normal human life span. Two thousand years ago, elemental towers were constructed for each crystal, built just around the site of where each was found. Now, how the Ministry became involved is this: Before the towers were even constructed, there were eight very distinguished and respected scholars in the church who had studied the scriptures of the Kadaj, practically their entire lives. Coincidentally each of them was friends and comrades, believing that the Elemental Crystals were very real and could be found. Each of them went on their own quest to find one of the crystals and miraculously they actually found each one based on what the Kadaj said, even with stating vague locations.

“The Elemental Crystals are extremely powerful, giving whoever is in their possession, the full power of that particular element. Of course each of them received that power, changing their appearances drastically, but also giving unnaturally long life. They had soon pulled away from the church and were obsessed with keeping their own power. As they were considered leaders of the church once they had obtained the crystals, each of them ordered a tower be made to protect the crystals. While constructed, each of the scholars only intended to have it to protect their most precious possession, as they decided to be guardians of their own tower and each crystal as well. They continued with this for one thousand years, before mysteriously being made leaders of the planet, as to how such a thing came up and why they even accepted, is clearly unknown.”

With a look of bewilderment, “Wait…so then they were made as the Ministry in the government now, but that would make them over three thousand years old!” Alex said.

“That would be correct. However things are a bit different now. They were not getting along very well before the Diablos War, which had started twelve years ago. Before the war started, they split themselves into two, being the Ministry of Light and the Ministry of Darkness. Once ousted from power when the war started, they placed themselves back when it ended, of course, being just two years ago. However, the same issues among them have kept arising.”

“Like what?” the young, blue haired man asked, interested.

Xelos nodded to himself as he continued to look at the statue of Seraphim in the church. “Well, one thing you should know is that each member of the Ministry has his own private squad of soldiers. Not just a good batch of body guards either, though most are kept in reserve unless there are problems with the church. You see, each section of the Ministry army has their own region because the Ministry has power over the church. So if there are problems with the church, the specific Ministry soldiers are sent out.”

Alex nodded his head slowly, trying to understand. “I think I get it, but it’s still kind of confusing. Since the Ministry is the government…the government has power over the church. But what was the Ministry arguing about? Something with regions?”

“Yes! That is exactly it!” Xelos said, excited. “The Ministry has been arguing, even amongst their own sides, as to where the regions should be set. They have been arguing with themselves over it since before the war started, which had furthered tensions to get them ousted in the first place. You see the Ministry of Light has total power over the continent of Uteia, which is the very continent we are on. So the Ministry of Darkness has power over Andor. For example, the Ministry of Light is arguing amongst themselves for what regions each of them have control of. Each of them is obsessed with power and wanting more of it, so the bickering seems to never cease, thus no real problems that there are tend to get done unless the church is directly related.”

“Ah, I get it. So each member has their own region which their own private soldiers command over, to keep the people in check and protect the church. The regions confuse me though. Since each of them have elemental powers…wouldn’t the Minister who commands water have authority here…since it’s so blasted cold?” Alex asked.

His older friend smiled broadly, he knew Alex was an intelligent young man, he was glad to see it appear before him again. “You are quite a smart boy, Alex. The Minister of Water has jurisdiction here in northern Uteia. You see the regions were made based on where the Elemental Towers and origination of the Elemental Crystals were constructed and found. They often fight over specific towns, only by a few miles apart. Needless to say, the average citizen is quite irritated.”

“Okay…” Alex nodded, understanding how things were working with the government, at least in that aspect. “But why does the Ministry need power over the church? They aren’t related or connected to the government, so why bother? Doesn’t it just make things kind of uncomfortable to go to church with soldiers walking all over the place with weapons, or whatever?”

“Thus the reasoning behind the ongoing church attacks over the past two years. This terrorist group does not attack the church or civilians, but instead the soldiers residing there. You see, they attack when people are not expected to go to church, so they attack the temples to kill and injure the soldiers. The attacks are not against the church but against the government. A rather ingenious plan, though a bit violent for my taste…” Xelos explained, his voice trailing off as his head began to roll up to the ceiling, going into thought.

Quick to snap Xelos back to reality, Alex found it best to poke him with a question. Hitting his shoulder with the back of his hand, Xelos turned back to Alex. “Do these terrorists have a name?” he asked, though sounding slightly annoyed with his friend just going off into his own world.

“Ah, yes. The Black Hand would be what they call themselves. They wear black cloaks which cover their whole body and a part of their face with a purple colored hand plastered on the back. Sounds a bit sinister, but they mean well and are supported ‘underground’ in most towns that have them, or just a church. They are mostly comprised of citizens but their leader is unknown, not to mention it has been rumored that one of the three who escaped execution is a member of the organization as well.”

Alex nodded but seemed to have a sort of sad look on his face. There were so many terrible things happening. Hells Guardian killing people, those three that seemed like heroes just to be sentenced to be killed, at least they had escaped. He was unsettled with the government having command over the people and the church, it was like they were trying to control everyone with force. Then there was the Black Hand with them blowing up churches, just bringing more bloodshed. From what he took in, the world just got past some really terrible war, it only ended two years ago after all. But instead of peace, there was just more violence, it all sounded really terrible. He wanted to do something about it, but with being so confused, he felt lost in himself. Being like that, Alex felt that he couldn’t do anything for anyone, not even himself, at the moment.

“So…you told me all this info. I thank you for that but, what on earth am I going to do now? I still don’t know how I got here or what I’m even supposed to do now.” Spoke Alex with a heavy heart.

“Well I see you have a sword with you. Your physique looks pretty well toned. You obviously have done some battling.” Said Xelos, patting Alex’s stomach from which he felt some muscle tone from underneath the black tank top.

“I might have muscle but I don’t remember anything past waking up. I don’t even know how to use this sword.” Said Alex shrugging.

“Well just in case you cannot, go ahead and have one of these.” said Xelos with a smirk as he pulled a black pistol out of his trenchcoat pocket, handing it into Alex’s hands. “Technology has improved leaps and bounds from before the Diablos War. Sadly most of it is in weapons but nonetheless. With guns, instead of loading up one bullet at a time like older models, we have cartridges that we put in the bottom of the gun, so your bullets are preloaded and ready to fire. Understand?”

Alex nodded but seemed confused at first. He turned the gun upside down and pulled on the handle, easily taking the full cartridge out and snapping it back in. Alex then put the gun in the outside pocket of his leather jacket. Xelos went into the inside of his own trenchcoat and gave three extra cartridges to Alex who took them hesitantly, putting them instead, into one of the inside pockets of the jacket, against his side. However, Alex then looked back to his gun in his pocket and had a bewildered look on his face.

“Looks like you know more than you think you do, Alex” Xelos said with a small chuckle, which he partially hid with his hand to his mouth.

Alex put his hands on his hips raising an eyebrow, “What exactly do you have in mind, giving me a gun, bullets and talking about my sword?” asked Alex, thinking something was a bit off.

“I heard from the tavern that there was some Ministry business going on to a cave, north of here. It is a little too close to your father’s old mansion so I think it is worth checking out. We might run into some problems so I was just checking with you. I am sure you could use some brushing up on your adventuring skills, I have not been a part of one in a while myself. What do you think?”

Alex laughed, though sounding a bit forced as he brushed off a few extra strands of his long, blue hair out of his face. “Well if you’re going I don’t have much of a choice. I guess I’ve got this sword for a reason, anywhere you go I’ll go. There’s nothing else to do in this village anyways so…why not?”

Xelos clapped his hands together enthusiastically. “Well that is wonderful! We shall be off, put on that cloak, best to dress warm.” He said, pointing to the black cloak which was left over the bench.

Grabbing it, Alex thrust it over himself, quickly wrapping it around him as he could sense the cold approaching just as Xelos went for the churches door. As the cold winds blew through, he looked one last time at the statue protruding from the wall, the blinded Goddess, the one whom countless people had worshipped. He didn’t ask Xelos if there were other religions, but he had a feeling that even if there was, Dio was certainly the most important, it seemed special. Though just a cold statue, he felt warmth from inside himself when he gazed upon her white, chiseled frame.

I started reading this last night, but didn't have enough time to finish it til now. Creepy though, I didn't think Alex would meet the Hells Guardian so soon! I look forward to reading more, of course^_^

Well...while Dragon is the only one to post thus far, I'm sure not only she is getting me over 300 views with the first couple chapters. She already knows but...I have a horrible case of bad luck. I get a new laptop, and had to annoyingly email myself all of my chapters for this story and another. That was a pain in the ass, then not too long after that my laptop gets a virus and somehow got my writing, which was saved elsewhere anyway. Not sure how it happened, but all of my writing, two years worth, gone pretty much in a flash. I'm not one to complain, I know I left this on a cliffhanger, but it was a horribly devastating virus. I'm sure you all understand. This is my first fight scene for the story, so let me know how it is. Nonetheless, here is the confrontation of Alex and Xelos versus Hells Guardian.


Chapter III

Eight men stood sitting in same styled chairs, exceptionally well made from fine crafted wood. The wood makers of the chairs had extracted the special wood from an elven forest, which would be an especially rare find in the days people were now living in. The walls were carved out of precious marble while atop the walls hung similar draperies, which were what seemed to be banners of some sort. Each of these banners held a special color with a snake like dragon covering it. The banners were simple, with the colors, exempting one: Red, blue, yellow, green, brown, black, and white. The only odd one showed a strange, wavy mix of black, violet and small wisps of silver.

Stained glass windows of different sorts of images were painted in-between these different colored banners. Along the floor was stone, each block seemed to be placed with utmost precision, a grand red carpet placed from the doorway, touching the opposite wall to the door. In the center of the grand and quite regal appearing room was what a normal person would call a ‘dining table’. Four of the exceptionally styled wooden chairs were placed on one broad side of the long table, where another four were at the opposite end. At the head of the large table, sitting almost against the back wall was a black chair, clearly larger than all of the others. The back of it seemed to almost tower over the crouched man, his face concealed by a black cloak.

All of the chairs being used, the men on opposite sides stared each other down, obviously noticing bad blood not only in their eyes but in the air as well. Tension seemed to be high as each sat back in their seats. All of the men at the table looked quite finely dressed, wearing one vibrantly colored robe. Interestingly enough, the same colors of the banners along the wall matched with the man in front of them.

At the head of the large table, sitting in the giant black chair leaned back twiddling his fingers. The strange man’s voice seemed to be enough to send shivers down any person’s spine. As he spoke, it would remind any person of a snake, almost making it seem the man had a forked tongue.

“A rarity and honor to have all members of The Ministry at one place…at one time.” Spoke the man, with a slithering accent.

“Why did you want us all here in the first place? This is ridiculous if you ask me!” shouted one of the accounted Ministry members, his red cloak stood still at his feet, however his hair was always moving as it waved like a torch, his hair literally appearing on fire, though as the other members watching him, it was paid no mind to such a thing.

“There are more important matters to discuss rather than your petty clan wars.” Snapped the man in a brown cloak, his face naturally brown and hardened like dry soil.

“Well then, I consider it best that we discuss these matters quickly. It would be wise for the rest of us to return to our separate HQ’s as quickly as possible to avoid any confrontations.” Calmly spoke another man, the one closest to the black cloaked man, the ministry member dressed in white showing a radiant holy glow.

“Hells Guardian has escaped. It has been one week and nothing has been done. Why is that?” calmly said the one resting in the ominous black chair.

“It was directly under your control Emperor. Ibias is neutral territory. Neither the Ministry of Light nor Darkness has any real control on these islands.” Spoke one of the Ministry just down the table a bit, showing long, forest green hair that went down to the small of his back.

“And it is because of this that he has escaped.” The Emperor said, almost scolding. “Many civilians were killed. Hells Guardian is dangerous; he was taken too lightly by us all…a mistake that shall not be made again. He along with his comrades is unknown in location. As separate Ministry’s this only weakens our government. One man must be placed to obtain order, to put a leash on this dog that is Hells Guardian along with his cohorts.”

“I understand what you say Emperor, but from what we know, Hells Guardian has no ties to the other escapees from two years ago.” Said one finely dressed man, his oddly colored robes showing him to command over gravity and time.

The figure in the black chair looked up, though his cloak still covered much of his face, showing nothing more than a wrinkly chin and lips. “Is that so? Then I suppose his massacre in our great capitol just outside of the Cathedral was a mere coincidence?”

“That was his decided spot of execution!” said another in frustration, his hair streaming bolts of yellow lightning. “You are too superstitious for your own good!”

The Minister of Light tapped a finger on his chin for a moment. “It brings up an interesting point though. We have known of the religious sect of Dio known as the ‘Black Hand’ for some time. However, it was not until two years ago, to be even more technical, not long after the commanders of the old Alliance escaped, did the Black Hand increase in ferocity substantially.”

“Simeon, don’t be dense.” Said the one across from him, dressed in black, showing long, equally dark hair. “The Black Hand attack churches, even if there was a radical sect in the church, they would not attack their own holy grounds. Calling them part of the church would be false; the Holy Father denied any involvement with the Black Hand as well.”

“Oh come now, of course he would deny it. The Holy Father has been against us since we retook power. He holds on to prior moral values, he doesn’t trust us. Not to mention he is simply against us commanding over the church, despite the fact we are protecting them.” Replied another member of the Ministry showing his naturally frosty breath and light, pale blue skin; his hair soft behind his head like a gentle water spring.

“Don’t get cocky Levi!” said the man with flaming red hair aggravated by Levi’s remarks as he flung his hand onto the table. “You think the Black Hand just likes to attack churches? The only reason they are is because our military has put command over there. Civilians don’t really appreciate having guns in their faces as they go off to a damned prayer service!”

“Calm down Reuben…” the white cloaked man said with a raised hand calmly. “This returns us back to the point for protection. The church is unable to defend itself, the Black Hand feels that we are the enemy and will do anything in their power to get us out of the churches, but as of now with our separate clans, that is not possible. However, the point is that with Hells Guardian being so unpredictable, we cannot drop our guard, anywhere. I do not know of the Ministry of Darkness…” said Simeon as he gave a narrowed look straight ahead of him, to the obvious leader of that separate Ministry. “…But if anything we should strengthen our numbers in our designated areas. I believe Hells Guardian has some agenda; naturally if that is so then it could only mean violence and destruction. As to the three who escaped…”

The green haired man folded his hands into his lap as he surveyed everyone with his gentle eyes. “The three prior war heroes of the Diablos War—“

“—Considered traitors.” Said the dark and rough skinned man, interrupting the other Minister who sat across from him.

“It doesn’t matter. Our opinions are different, it was the Emperor’s wishes to execute them, and so it is pointless to argue as to if you found them traitors or war heroes…” the green haired man said, though being interrupted yet again.

Reuben of the fire element sounded a bit more than simply annoyed. “They were traitors to their country, their races and Gaia itself! Instead of helping with the injured and help try and salvage what was left after the ‘final incident’, they went off into Volga to get revenge on the Dark Lord…with the aid of Hells Guardian!”

“How can you justify that?” asked Levi, arguing with his opposite elemental counterpart. “It was because of the Dark Lord that the Diablos War even started, because of them we still are not facing absolute destruction that would be expected if Diablo was alive! Seven went in to right the wrong and only three emerged! Then you take the three survivors after going through that hell on earth and have them executed for war crimes?”

“It was four.” Pointed out one of the members with his sparking hair, small sizzling noises constantly being heard as his hair zapped around through the air just above his head. “Hells Guardian was thought to have been destroyed but as we know, he survived. But whether we think they were guilty of war crimes and should have been executed is irrelevant. Each of them has escaped and is in the wind, including Hells Guardian.”

“Finally the Ministry of Darkness shows they have brains instead of bark.” Retorted Simeon with a partial laugh. He turned his head back down the side of the long table to the Minister who was interrupted before. “Now, what information were you trying to get out, Naphtali?”

Nodding, he wiped a small bit of his long, green hair out of his face. “It is difficult to say as to whether the three from two years ago have allied themselves with Hells Guardian. I am leaning towards no…there seems to be something different with the Hells Guardian from before, during the war, and now. He seems to be plotting something, though again, I cannot say what. We should do what Simeon said, strengthen our numbers in our territories. But, as to what I was meaning to say earlier, the three escapees…the Drav’dek Lexian, the Elf known as Byrd and of course Xelos, the only vampire to have joined the Allies…”

“What about it?” asked Reuben irritated.

“Well, think from what we know of them through records and personal relationships. All of them were quite close, with the exception of Byrd to Lexian. Lexian as you know, was the commander of the Diablos Army, just under Hells Guardian himself, who as you know was the General. As to what Byrd is doing now, I would suspect most likely he would be doing or planning something against this government, or something to gather our, or possibly Hells Guardians attention.”

“There have been no records of some one man vigilante…the only reasonable explanation would be that he joined the Black Hand. Could that be explained for their sudden ferocity two years ago?” pondered the black cloaked Minister.

Naphtali nodded with a small smile. “That would seem most likely. As to Lexian…I imagine Byrd would be the opposite of what Lexian is doing. If Byrd is against Hells Guardian, of which he certainly would be, I’d imagine Lexian possibly helping the Guardian.”

“I do not think so.” Said the fairly silent minister in his partially silver garb, though showing his combed back, silver-gray hair. “Not a very good explanation but Lexian is more of a righteous man than many seem to think he is. The Drav’dek people were all about honor and doing what was right. Lexian thought fighting for the Diablos Army was right but he realized that it was the wrong decision, I believe he changed to defeat the Dark Lord to redeem himself. He may still feel terrible for what happened because of the war and take the blame on himself. I would not be surprised if he is somehow working for the government here.”

The Emperor had raised his head silently as one member found it outrageous. “What!? Lexian working for us? He is still a traitor! Absolutely preposterous!”

Raising his hand, the Minister of Darkness had his comrade lower his voice. “And what of Xelos? It is those who make no visible acts at all which bother me.”

Reuben scoffed the thought. “Please, Xelos? He was nothing more than a spy. Definitely the most intelligent man anyone may ever come across but I’m sure he’s just keeping his distance with the whole thing. He has nothing to do with it, Xelos didn’t even ‘escape’…after the war he just disappeared. For all intents and purposes, he’s gone.”

Taking a sigh from the long ended conversations, Simeon found it getting tiring. “Enough of this, our prime concern is finding and stopping Hells Guardian. As of now we should take the defense and protect our various resources. As for northern Uteia, Emperor, is Dracula still secure?”

“You should already know if it is secure, it is in your territory.” The Emperor said quietly.

“I know sir, but I have not received any word from your Black Raven’s you had intended to send.”

“They have already arrived as a proper defense. I shall send my commander for Dracula to be transferred to Clairvone. As for now…we shall be dismissed. I am sure we will all see each other very soon my brothers…” spoke the Emperor with a crooked smile as he raised his head further, revealing his cracked and pale skin.

__________

Alex had walked beside Xelos for some time, the town they were in, far out of sight. Not to mention the winds blew even fiercer. There was nothing but a vast desert of snow and ice, the weather being even more chilling with an icy wind that felt like it was cutting into Alex’s face. The heavy boots the two wore sunk into the snow, making them feel they weighed significantly more than they did. Alex’s black cloak flailed madly in the heavy wind. Xelos handled the weather much better than his counterpart, who would let out small irritated noises as he tried to rub his face.

Even with the white desert around them, it was not entirely flat. It became more difficult to pass along the further away to the town they went. It became increasingly rocky, Xelos was familiar with it all too well, and Alex on the other hand seemed to have had some difficulties dealing with the new terrain. His feet would no longer sink in the ground but instead he constantly lost his balance, with no snow only was more ice making it very slick as they almost seemed to be going nowhere fast.

“Are we going in the right direction Xelos?” yelled Alex, trying to raise his voice above the whistle of the wind.

“Yes we are young one! Have you noticed we are going slightly uphill? We are heading to the far northern edges of Uteia! Just to the east over those mountains is a special tower, but we will only be needing to head north just a bit further! Yelled Xelos back as he took a few heavy steps up the small rocky hill.

Alex grunted to himself as he carefully made his way up the rocky terrain. He had no idea what Xelos was on about with a tower over those tall, snow capped mountains, but he found it best to just leave it be. It didn’t take them long to find the cave in sight, Alex beginning to climb up the small, icy hill with his hands and feet. Thinking to himself, Alex wasn’t even sure why he was going with Xelos. He didn’t really have anywhere to go, he didn’t know anything, and even he needed explaining with the religion and government that every person should know like second nature. Even at that, it took a lot of time with a significant amount of information left out, leaving Alex to figure things out on his own.

Xelos stood at the small hill, looking ahead, seemingly into nothing. Grabbing onto the edge of the cliff with his gloved hand, Alex pulled himself up standing beside Xelos. Just beyond them was a small bit of flat plains of rocks and snow, the end only being a small mouth of a cave and the vast ocean. The sun was clouded but it still shone down upon the vast waters. Many glaciers shown in the far off coast, out in the ocean, towering much higher than any building that Alex had ever seen.

Xelos had his hands on his hips, surveying the ground. He silently slid down the hill, on the heels of his boots. Alex startled, seeing Xelos leaving, did the exact same. The snow slid up underneath their soles, landing softly in snow, for Alex the small ride wasn’t much for exhilaration, though it was odd how he had a much easier time going down than up.

Alex was just about to speak but Xelos raised his finger at him. Alex raised an eyebrow wondering what was going on. Xelos slid his feet through the snow carefully, putting his lips to Alex’s ear. “Look down at the mouth of the cave; it seems as if someone has the same agenda as us.”

Alex nodded, he then peered his eyes at the cave entrance. He noticed there were men in black cloaks, on the ground, the snow covered red with blood. He turned to Xelos, curious as to the potential situation. “Who would know about the place and go there besides us? And who are those dead guys?”

“Black Ravens. They are elite guards under The Emperor himself. Just as each Ministry member has his own guard and small battalion, the Emperor has his own as well. However, the Black Ravens are allowed in any territory and are specially trained. They are much more experienced soldiers than any others. Killing some just outside of an occupied military zone is quite bad…I am curious to see just who it is that is capable of killing Black Ravens and would know about this cave. Something important must be inside!” Xelos explained, sounding excited with what may be inside.

“I don’t like your enthusiasm, Xelos. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…”

“Nonsense Alex! We must continue forward, no point in turning back now. Let us go.”

_________

“Ugh, what is that putrid smell!?” complained Alex as they walked into the cave, with his nose plugged by his fingers.

“That ‘putrid smell’ is the smell of blood. Many have been slain here…let us move cautiously. You will grow accustomed to this smell Alex.” Explained Xelos as he seemed to get quite stern all of a sudden.

Alex seemed to already be accustomed to his mentor of sorts as a slight jokester, with even him tensing up that put Alex more on edge. Though he was more disturbed as to why Xelos would say that he would get used to the smell of blood.

The two walked slowly down a small and very dark tunnel, a disturbing presence seemed to hurt Alex more than his older counterpart. Xelos had his hand on the wall so he could at least know where he was going. Xelos turned around and noticed Alex holding his head, leaning against the wall.

“Alex, are you alright?”

“Ugh….yeah…..I-I’m fine. I just got a splitting headache all of a sudden…” mumbled Alex as he held his head, groaning from the pain, so much so he almost fell to his knees.

“Will you be able to continue on?” asked Xelos with a look of concern in his eyes.

Alex nodded and got back up, shaking his head feverishly. Alex then was the one to walk forward, just ahead of Xelos. The darkness of the tunnel lightened, Xelos assuming this was the chamber or larger part of the cavern. He was indeed correct, but as Alex was first to come out he let out a surprised, halted scream that he had seen something which disturbed him to his core. Xelos noticing this ran to the end of the tunnel, seeing Alex up against the wall just to his side.

Alex looked away from Xelos with his eyes clamped shut.

“Oh God…! Blood…bodies, there’s dead people everywhere!” yelled Alex as he was feeling very sick, the smell of blood repulsive, and the bodies strewn over the entirety of the chamber. His headache intensified as he squeezed his hands against his head.

Xelos put his hand on Alex’s shoulder for a moment, soon leaving to see one dead body that was closest to them. He kneeled down beside it, blood spattered along the ground near it, flesh torn apart along with shattered bones strewn along the icy ground.

“I was not expecting this…” spoke Xelos to himself as he inspected the body, moving his head around viewing the top of the body.

As Xelos looked he noticed the helmet on the man was totally shattered to pieces, most of the man’s head was splattered along the ground, along with blood, bones, and what had remained of his brain. Xelos stood up and looked away, heading back to Alex, who had not moved from the position he was in earlier.

“Since when could human’s explode!?” Alex yelled towards Xelos greatly disturbed by the sight.

“Calm down now Alex. Most people do not explode, I will give you that. The only chance of such damage would have to be from a very large gun. But there is certainly no such thing here from what I see. This person who did this…he has to be extremely skilled in the black arts. These murdered men…all of their heads and bodies have exploded from the inside and the man who did this must still be here. Whatever is here has got this one man murdering entire groups of government soldiers. Whatever is here is more than enough to do this sort of deed.” Explained Xelos to Alex, who finally had calmed down slightly, though not quite able to look directly at any dead bodies.

“Xelos, this can’t be a good idea, this guy killed all of these people! Who the hell has power to make people’s heads explode!?”

Silent for a moment, Xelos had one idea in his head, he knew of only one man who had that kind of power, though it was but one of many things he kept to himself. “We are about to find out…”

Alex looked to see his mentor already walking around, moving over the dead to an elevator opposite of where they were just standing. Alex shook his head in disbelief, at either Xelos’ courage or sheer stupidity. Reluctantly he followed, reaching the elevator in a matter of moments. It was flimsy and didn’t even have a door, just being a metal platform with cables leading down. As the two got on, it moved automatically, the squeaking sound of the cables to metal heard as they made their way to a lower level.

“Where do you think this goes?” asked Alex curiously, being careful not to fall off of the small platform, as the two held on to the small rail on both of their sides.

“Our purpose. That is all I can say for certainty. Though I feel a great sense of darkness approaching. Perhaps even I get a bit of the jitters…especially when wondering what may be head. The future is never certain after all.” Said Xelos, as he looked at the icy walls, gazing off into space it seemed.

Alex remained silent for the rest of the short trip. The clumsy elevator had halted, as they reached the other side. Alex looked up at the cables they had ridden on, to his surprise they really did not go down very far. A few meters at most.

Silently the two walked away from the platform, onto the icy ground, which to their surprised turned into a walkway. Instead of the cold walls, they slowly became stone walls as the two moved forward. Ahead of them happened to be the remnants of a door, blasted to bits, black burns along the hinges and sides of the walls to it. The two gave one another their own special look before moving on.

After entering the ‘doorway’ they began walking through a narrow hallway. The wall and floor soon looked substantially different A few lights flashing here and there as well, Alex was surprised to say the least, seeing things that he did not understand. It was quickly becoming a very strange day.

“Surprised Alex? I suppose this shows that The Ministry does get a bit more interesting and mysterious the longer we are around. This door must lead to the chamber…” said Xelos as he checked the locking device to the side of the door.

“How strange…it is unlocked…” said Xelos, scratching his chin.

“Who cares, just easier for us. Let’s go.” Spoke Alex annoyingly as he reached over, alienating Xelos and pressing the button to open the door.

Xelos was surprised Alex even knew what button to press. Perhaps his memory was returning subconsciously. Xelos thought not much of it past that thought as the two entered, assumingly another hallway. But instead it was a smaller sort of room, one large device and control panel at the very back of the icy room. As the two took only a few small steps inside, both had stopped in their tracks to a towering man over the console, bringing up a strange cylinder object full of this strange, green liquid from the ground. Though most disturbing was there being a man inside of it. While Alex looked at the man inside of the odd tube, he continued to feel that he knew him once before, or should have. His thoughts were quickly dashed when he felt his own sudden urge to look at the man before them.

The man stood up tall from the controls, his hands resting easily beside the rest of his black coated body. His body turned in their direction slowly, Alex finding himself in a cold sweat that he had not even noticed. His brow, cool and wet with a sudden fear he did not understand. The figure before them moved to confront them, standing still as his long, black hair stopped moving with him, as the same with his trench coat. Beyond his pale face, a piercing and dark, purple eye focused on Alex, freezing him in place. Like a trance, he could not move but continued to stare into that endless abyss of memories, thousands coming back to him in a flash. Xelos’ own eyes wavered to the man in front of them, the scourge of the planet itself, Hells Guardian.

You did a really really good job describing the fight scene. Sometimes I grow hesitant of reading something if it’s a somewhat long fight between a few people (a duel I suppose I could say) because sometimes it’s hard to follow or just drags on for ages with nothing happening...But! I can make a few exceptions to that somewhat steriotypical understanding of mine. I thought you did marvelous with the description and not once did I think it was dull.

Of course, I don’t mean to say I don’t like written fight descriptions such as that in a novel. I suppose I simply mean that as long as it’s described well without going so overboard in description one forgets what they’re suppose to be reading (I’m looking at you Robert Jordan!), it’s fine. If that makes sense? I’m not quite sure that’s what I meant to say, but I can’t think of any other way to put it >.o

Anyway, done with my small ramble. Wonderful chapter to read, as always. I look forward to whatever comes next!

Thank you very much! I do understand where you are coming from, I thought I just had a bad attention span with reading since occasionally I would forget just what it is I am reading. I've felt that way when reading Robert Jordan and another author, Tad Williams. Both fairly popular fantasy authors, I did know however that I would have some sort of an uphill battle since really, there are a lot of people who like fantasy and plenty who write them. I try to avoid the stereotypes, especially how things can sometimes drag on with nothing really happening. There are always the less exciting parts in a book, but its that way with just about anything you interact with, from video games to movies to books.

I do see what you mean with fight scenes sometimes getting a little too long or things getting lost. I try my best to keep the focus, especially during fight scenes, since there are some fight scenes that are a bit longer than this last one. At the very worst, as long as a fight scene I write does not recall someone of Dragon Ball Z, I can die happy. In any case, my point is that even though there are more than a ton of fantasy novels out there, I have worked hard on this one to make it seem different from all of the others that seem to mix together. Hopefully that can be noticed by others as I continue posting chapters. But thank you very much on the compliments for the fight scene. I've often considered that one of my weaker points in my writing, so thanks for the confidence boost. The comments help me to keep going. Also, I hope you found Hells Guardian fulfilling in at least some respect. You may notice how certain aspects of the story, and even the character himself, seem to grow as the chapters do. Anyway, just a bit curious of early thoughts of my main antagonist.

Another chapter shall be coming soon. So stay tuned...please. XD

Yeah, my brother reads him as well. I've never picked up one of his books though...



Well, he’s most definitely a man with a mission that no one else (or at least me xD ) knows too much details about. I actually like him, to be honest. I don’t know if that’s just because I usually have a soft spot for the bad guys and whatnot in books or what...But as a character I like the mysterious nature he presents...giving him the feel that he’s older than he seems and wants to get things right this time...Since (from my understanding) in the Diablos War he wasn’t quite able to accomplish what he wanted...So now he’s trying to do just that. Of course, Alex seems to mean something to him, and what that would be I look forward very much to finding out^_^

Never picked up one of his books because they're huge! Ha...oh, I'm terrible. He likes to go big though. Big and boring in my mind but I digress...new chapter. Probably was not right to be asking about Hells Guardian so early. The characters in the story and you reading it doesn't know anything...the only one who does is me XD. But only a couple more chapters and I'll be caught up to where I am. I'll have to get my butt in gear, hehe. Enjoy.

Chapter IV

His eyes moved away slowly to focus on Xelos who’s bottom lip was turned into a wavering frown. “It has been a long time Xelos.”

“You…You know this guy?” Alex managed to say, though unable to actually turn to speak to Xelos.

His older friend was unable to move his head to comment either, Xelos’ eyes narrowing as he bent his knees slightly in a small crouch. Sprinting out into a run, his body shook with his legs as he came closer to his intimidating target. Rolling into a cartwheel, he came back to his feet, though with pressing them into the cool tiled floor his body went through the air. Gravity soon bringing him back down, Xelos extended his right leg outward towards the tall figure. His leg found only air however as his boots skidded along the smooth floor. Xelos stood, facing the one he attacked, who dodged the attack effortlessly.

“Alex! Stay away, he is too powerful for you to fight!” Xelos yelled back to him, his eyes glaring with the heat of passion.

Suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his side, his feet slid along the ground as he held his ribs for a moment, looking outward towards Hells Guardian who spoke with a smug tone, as if he was fond of Xelos. “Has it been so long since you last had a worthwhile battle? You seem to have forgotten the basic rule of combat…never turn away from your enemy.”

“Last we met, we were not enemies.” The kind vampire said calmly.

Saying nothing, Hells Guardian merely stood where he was, his slender, tall build intimidating and awaiting the next strike. Wrenching his fingers into a claw type of look, Xelos ran up to his dark adversary, sending a flurry of punches his way, allowing the first few strikes hit with more power due to his rate of speed. Each blow was easily blocked however, Xelos ducking a waving leg attack. Balancing his body on his one hand, he struck at Hells Guardian with several running kicks, very much like Xelos was running along a wall. With his forearms they were blocked as he let his hand off of the ground, landing cleanly back on his feet, blocking a powerful fist in his direction which skidded him back a foot or so as Xelos’ heels slid through some of the gentle snow.

Silently a swinging kick came his way, to which Xelos narrowly ducked, turning his own body around he sent two straight punches his opponent’s way. With the last strike his arm was grabbed as he was thrown over Hells Guardian. The grapple was let go of however, having Xelos land on one bent knee he struck with his left leg at the side of Hells Guardians’ leg. He had already known it coming however, having jumped over the attack and his right leg being twisted around to meet with Xelos’ head. Straightening his one loose leg, an air of wind from his enemy’s boot had burst in front of his face, his loose ponytail flown off of his shoulder.

In hardly a moment’s notice, the heel of a black boot went down in front of him, to which Xelos was able to quickly back flip away from. On his feet, he held his hands loosely in front of him taking a sighing breath from the quick succession of attacks. He watched as Hells Guardian stood back up to his towering stature. Staring at him, though he held a face which lacked much of any emotion, there was a flare in his dark eyes which showed that of having his own vendetta. Xelos could tell that both Alex and he were not meant to even be where they were, being a mere coincidence that they had walked into some part of whatever plan the Guardian had. However, with being who he was right there and now, Xelos imagined that whatever it was, it would not mean well for him or the world of Gaia itself.

“Is something the matter…dear friend?”

Looking at Hells Guardian in wonder for a moment, his eyes turned to a rare, dark aura as he showed his irritation, Xelos’ white teeth gritting together. “Your words are poison, HG!”

“Is that a touch of anxiety I hear in your voice, Xelos? No…something else…” Hells Guardian spoke through his dark eyes as they shied away from Xelos, looking over his shoulder to Alex, who stood in a vacant stare.

Quickly shifting his body in front of the Guardian, he put his arms up with his loose fingers ready to form an attack. “You will stay away from him HG…he has nothing to do with this!”

Looking back to Xelos with a sinister smirk, he seemed to almost laugh under his own breath. “I grow tired of your petty nicknames.” He narrowed his eyes as the air grew increasingly tense, seemingly of his own growing presence. “The Reaper is at the door which is your soul and all he must do is open it to take you to hell…I am the Reaper!”

Lunging out towards the vampire, Xelos managed to dodge a fierce punch, just ducking from a swinging blow by his enemies other arm, sliding out of a kicking blow thanks to the ice. Bringing himself back up to his feet, he was nicked in the chin by one of the Guardian’s knuckles, though he used some of the force to put a kick in the back of his opponent. He seemed to have dodged it easily however, standing just off to his side as he wiped a small amount of blood from the side of his lip.

“Damn…he is toying with me. Yet he obviously means business…either way this is not turning out so well. I cannot display my full power here…yet it seems he has no desire to show off his own.”

As he pondered these nervous thoughts, he slipped into the defensive as Hells Guardian seemed to have just appeared before him as he put up his forearm, the part of his body being struck by several fierce fist strikes. Waving the powerful man off of him, he waved his left leg through the air in front of him, which to his slight advantage, had Hells Guardian slip off to his side where he cracked his arm, wincing slightly.

Hearing a brush of wind through his ear, Xelos’ instinct followed, putting his hands into the sand as half of a cartwheel, his legs swinging around and over him to keep Hells Guardian off momentarily. It seemed to have not worked quite as well as he was forced to lift up his knee, the dark Guardian’s foot knocking dusty ice from the wall Xelos was now against. Throwing a fist to Xelos’ head, he ducked and slid out from the attack as Hells Guardians fist broke out from the snow and ice covered wall.

Striking his left leg into the Guardians side, it was instead grabbed as he was pulled from the ground and through the air, tossed into the back of the relatively small room. His body rolled along the ground as he tried to regain his footing. He was able to do so for a moment but his torso slammed into an edge of the electrical equipment where his body slid to him resting on one knee. His arm resting on top of the various controls, he looked ahead with partially closed eyes, seeing the dark figure standing in his shadowy figure, some ways off. Several feet behind him, he noticed Alex, his arms seemingly shaky as he held something small in his hand. Xelos imagined it to be the gun he had given him, though his attention was served elsewhere as his eyes widened slightly.

With his right hand raised just above his head, the Guardians fingers were closed besides his index and middle finger, which were held together, a small purple aura forming. Throwing his arm down in a diagonal form to his left leg, the spiraling dark energy singed through the air. A moment before it was about to collide with him, Xelos jumped to his far side, his body smashing into the cold ground as an explosion of the electricity sounded, pieces of metal being torn asunder from the impact of the attack. Lifting his head up, he felt some of his back cut up from shards which ripped through his black robe.

As there was momentary silence, it was interrupted by a sudden bang from behind Hells Guardian. Three other shots rang out, though Alex watched in his fear and amazement as the bullets jetted off of some kind of invisible barrier around the Guardian and flew into the wall and ceiling, dusty snow falling as they hit. Beginning to turn around in a half grin, his eyes which brought terror to many, focused upon young Alex, who lowered his gun slightly, as if his attempts were for naught.

Taking but only a few calculated steps towards the blue haired Alex, he looked down upon him, a glare in his eye causing the hair on the back of Alex’s neck to stand on end. However, seemingly to the rescue came hurried footsteps, racing closer to the two of them. Alex noticed it to be Xelos about to attack Hells Guardian, coming to saving him from harm. The Guardian’s eyes only glanced off of the young man and to his side. In a lightning fast movement he had swiped his leg behind Xelos’ knees, sending his legs into the air. Alex watched, stunned, as Hells Guardian was standing perfectly still for a moment, his leg suddenly winding out behind him into the vampires chest. With the strangely powerful impact, Xelos was sent flying to the far end of the room, his head smashing into the hard wall before falling limp upon the chilly ground.

“Xelos!!” Alex screamed out, his eyes widened in shock that they could nearly fall out from the sockets.

“Death come the swifter to those who deny it.”

Though fear had set inside of himself for some time, the insinuation of Xelos being dead temporarily set him off. Putting his gun into the holster held together by his belt, he ran up to Hells Guardian, hesitating for but a second to punch him in the face, which caused the Guardian to grab Alex’s clenched fist.

“To a seasoned warrior, hesitation leads to death. When you hesitate to attack me…I show you something worse than mere death.”

Twisting his arm, Alex squirmed with the twinge of pain in his abnormally twisted muscles. With his remaining free hand, the Guardian proceeded to punch Alex in the side of the face. Somehow, he had gotten back up from his knees to feet, throwing a punch towards the mysterious man. It was blocked with his hand however, which hurt Alex’s arm again, receiving a firm punch into the stomach with an uppercut following, causing the young man to stumble several steps across the room.

The dark clothed man continued to walk towards him at the same, slow ended pace, as if imagining what his next form of attack to destroy his opponent would be next. As Alex looked up to see him only a few steps from him, he reluctantly swung his right leg at his side, which was easily grabbed. Quickly turning the leg around, Alex was flung to the floor, spitting snow out of his mouth. Suddenly he felt a painful kick to his side which turned him over several times. Attempting to get himself back up, he fell back down a couple times before making some advancement in returning to his feet, however pitiful he felt.

Up to one knee, he lifted himself up with a push from his hands which touched the ground, taking a few steps over to Hells Guardian who seemed to stand and wait. Though Alex was partially slumped over, he was just about to raise his fists, but was thrust back down with a firm kick to the side of his jaw, blood spilling from his mouth as he fell yet again. The Guardian lifted his left hand, with his palm pointing to the ceiling. With the movement he committed, Alex was partially raised into the air as well, part of his legs still dangling against the light snow. He stared as Hells Guardian tore off his right hand glove, crumpling it into the grip of his left. Coming up to him, he tore off the right side of his vested jacket, the seams partially ripped with the swift and powerful movement, showing Alex’s naked right arm.

“I see fear in your eyes…yet in reality you have not seen the true essence of fear.” He spoke with cold enjoyment, suddenly grabbing Alex’s arm with his naked hand, gripping it tight.

It was a great foreign feel to him yet the pain was severe beyond what he knew, a strong burning sensation spreading through his arm and chest as he let out horrid screams of pain. As Hells Guardian held the young man’s arm, a black symbol spread throughout his entire arm, the pain increasing as its strange poison continued on.

“So…Alex Kisagari, we meet at last. I always wanted to speak with you in person but at the time, something such as that was hardly feasible. As the pain you feel etches itself into your memory of me, I ask you to join me in this little quest…a quest for deliverance…to finish what I had started. Trust me when I say this young Alex…the people of this world shall understand the true meaning of destruction. By the end they shall wish for a new Diablos War than what I am about to give them.” He spoke to Alex, showing a sick enjoyment from telling this to him. However, he knelt down to come eye to eye with Alex; his face overlooking the young man’s as he stared with malice into his shaky and tear filled eyes. “Watch…watch as I destroy this world piece by piece. You may know nothing now Kisagari but trust me…trust me when I say this…it will not be until your last day, your last moment of mortality until you completely understand. When it happens, you shall become enlightened under the grace of God, but remember…He will never save you. Now sit, watch…enjoy as I crush this world under my thumb…”

Alex had stared endlessly into the strange, purple eye of Hells Guardian, becoming lost inside of it, through all of the memories he viewed and the dreamlike state he had found and embraced. Upon reaching his disturbed euphoria, his eyes had rolled into the back of his head as he blacked out. Taking a step back from Alex, the pupil of his left eye dilated and widened, a powerful explosion coming from behind him as the computer consoles were thrown to both sides of the room, an area to the back wall of the room was torn out from the inside, revealing the area outside, behind the cave.

Walking silently towards the wall which he had just decimated, his pupil had returned to normal, appearing long yet thin, and very much appearing to be that of a dragon’s eye. As he walked past the lifeless body of Xelos, his body was lifted up as well, both him and Alex levitated and brought behind Hells Guardian. To the outside, the cold winds blew fiercely as the Guardian’s hair was flown around madly. With the two bodies floating beside him, he grabbed each of them by the collars, holding them above the cliff, leading only to the icy cold sea, large glaciers sparingly seen along the northern ocean before them. Raising both of them above his head, he looked at both of their closed eyes with an emotionless stare before throwing the two of them into the cold waters. Watching them fall momentarily, he waited for their bodies to splash into the water, far below. Turning himself around, he entered back into the cavern as his trench coat waved with the terrible, striking gusts.

Once again, splendid! A bit shorter of a chapter than the others, I think, but that doesn't realy matter too much. Interesting tid bits on Xelos' background history. I don't suppose there are any hints to what Xelos' special power is in any of these early chapters? Heh, I wouldn't suspect so...but thought I'd ask =D

I shall now patiently await your next chapter.

Chapter V

His eyes gently opening, he awoke from his mysterious sleep. Looking straight above him from where he lay, his vision was quite blurry, much like water altering ones sight. As he blinked a few times, it started to come back to him, not just sight but his memory as well. He felt temporarily paralyzed as all it seemed he could do was look up at the dim light which went from bright to dark, due to the alteration of the swinging fan.

"Master Xelos?"

Abruptly feeling the need to sit up, he did so, though not without a stiffness in his back. Turning to the young man sitting beside him in a wooden chair, he felt a bit better, though his mind still being in a daze as Xelos spoke to the man vacantly. "Who are you?"

"Not to worry sir, my name is Han. You are on the 3rd Division’s flagship, the Luzadia. How are you feeling?" the young man answered, returning with a question to Xelos.

"I feel fine…" he replied slowly, noticing he was covered under a single sheet in a bed, fully clothed. Taking the sheet off of him, he set his feet down on the metal floor, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I hope I did not make too much of a mess. I would think my shoes were a bit dirty to keep in a bed."

The man stood up with a smile, moving the chair against the wall. "Not at all! Though I am supposed to sound professional, I have to say I’m a big fan!"

"Fan…?" Xelos said wearily, seeing his sword against the wall on the other side of the bed. Walking over to it, he began to strap it in between his two different colored sashes at his waist, which seemed to have loosened with time.

"Why yes! I really looked up to you back then, of course, I still do. I just never thought I’d see you here…or anywhere for that matter. Last anyone heard you just disappeared in the wind." Han said, sounding slightly flustered.

"Well, one must maintain their reputation. At times it is all a person has to live on." The aged vampire replied, with a kind of confident smirk. "But now I must question exactly where you heard of me…I do not recall many rational young men being fans of a fugitive…"

"Oh, of course not, that was before then. Speaking of which, I think that whole execution thing a couple years ago was completely absurd. I’m glad all of you managed to escape…well except Hells Guardian of course…..oh that’s right, where I heard you from! Pardon me, I tend to ramble when I get nervous…anyways, I remember you from Void, I was just a young student back then."

Memories were raised into Xelos’ mind, both of Hells Guardian and his days in the enigmatic Void. "I do not recall them taking younger students for combat training."

Han’s eyes drifted off into the air for a moment before returning. "Ah, right, well I wasn’t directly in training then. I was born and raised there. Back then you just heard rumors about the top guys; of course you were one of them. It’s a surprise you’re not anybody important…"

A bit taken aback by Han’s comments, Xelos gave a weak smile before taking the conversation off of the subject. "Well then…I did not think the government treated their prisoners so kindly."

Letting out a forced, nervous laugh, Han shook his hand in the air as he stood up. "No, no, you’re treated well here. Any other place, probably not so much. Our captain has been shying away from the Ministry; I suspect it will not be long before we are on the run as well."

"Is that so?" Xelos said with an intrigued look on his face.

"That reminds me…" the young man said as he came in front of a black steel door, it opened automatically for him, something not seen at all in the public, yet Xelos was unfazed as if he had seen that kind of thing a thousand times. "The captain wanted to speak with you. Apparently you two used to know each other."

"I see. Well then, lead the way by all means." Xelos replied with a nod, going through the door behind Han.

The door quickly shut behind Xelos, who noticed the black coat over Han’s body. It was different and seemed to stand out from any casual soldier. "I noticed your coat, Han. It looks quite fancy…certainly you must command some special position yourself."

Han spoke as he looked slightly over his shoulder, to the point he could still keep track of where he was going. Though with the dark metal halls, they were only big enough to fit two people going down two opposite ends. It seemed rather eerie, hearing the creaking of the boat through the ocean waters, the quick clanking of feet to the steel as dim overhead lights shined sparingly across the black floors. "It was issued to me by 3rd Division when I became Captain. As I am sure you know there are three divisions of the government held under the authority of the Ministry itself. Well…mainly the Emperor now since it is rare for them to be together, even less so for all of them to agree on something. But in any case, there are still at least two others who have this exact coat, so it’s nothing special."

He turned his head away from Xelos, concealing an almost greedy smile. "What about your clothing sir? It looks much more fancy and rare than mine…is there a meaning behind it?"

"Not really…I made it myself years ago. A certain position in Void had mandatory wear which was rather uncomfortable at the time…I was glad when it was over, so I made something comfortable. This has worked fine for me since then." Xelos explained, having a distinct feeling the conversation was failing fast when clothing comes into play.

"Ah, most fascinating…" Han said quietly.

"Damn! I was hoping for a really awesome story about how things were in the upper class over there."

The two walked silently for a moment before there was an abrupt shift in the boat. It caused Han to plant his feet along the floor as he held his balance. He turned to Xelos, who had one hand against a wall while the other was against his temple.

"Master Xelos! Are you alright?"

"Yes…I am fine. Just was never very used to boats is all…" Xelos said, attempting to explain himself, though feeling a bit foolish in the end.

Han helped him back into the straightened posture both of them were custom to. "Will you be okay? Clearly something terrible must have happened to you, seeing as you were out for a few days. If such trauma forces a vampire out for a few days, you would think it could be enough to nearly kill a man!"

Merely shaking his head and giving a reassuring smile, Xelos began walking with the young man again. While surprised he was unconscious for a few days, his mind felt to be a bit out of place. Of course as was his personality, he tended to keep just about every emotion or thought he had to himself. Returning his focus to a wider set of a door in front of him, he allowed Han to go through the center, which opened automatically. He naturally brought himself in as well before traversing up five or so small steps to a much brighter room with controls set along the side of the walls, several people sitting in front of monitors quietly moving their fingers along the panels. He imagined this was the bridge held in every kind of boat, although Xelos could tell this was much more elaborate than anything he had seen on a vessel in a long while.

Finally looking straight in front of him, he saw a man in specially made, black armor with folded arms. Long, neatly combed silver hair ran down his wide, armored back, gentle red eyes looking back at him peacefully with a growing smile. Xelos soon turned his intrigued stare at the technologies around him into a warm smile.

"It has been quite a long time Xelos. Did you think I’d never catch you?"

Turning into a wider smile, Xelos soon let out a hearty laugh. “Well, it seems all of us have made it difficult to find one another. I honestly did not expect you to be a high ranking officer in the government!”�

"And I did not expect to find you in the ocean. I suppose that makes us even." The silver haired man said. However, just as soon as their unexpected reunion was full of joy, his smile soon turned to a more relaxed expression. "While now is no better time to catch up, I am afraid most of it has to do with such unfortunate events which have taken place or are about to."

"As I would expect no less from you, Lexian. But really now, you will have to learn to lighten up eventually." Xelos said with a smirk.

"Heh, I trust you’ve stuck to your word about that sword of yours? Still have yet to spill blood on it?" Lexian asked, looking directly at the simple appearing sheathed sword on Xelos’ hip.

"Yes, if I managed without it through an entire war, being in boring seclusion would not cause me to unsheathe my weapon either. But I suppose your Death Scythe has already claimed too many for me to count in a two years time." Xelos replied, taking notice to the massive weapon over Lexian’s back, which really was not hard at all to see, but instead being much more like an eyesore.

"No, actually. No lives have been claimed by this weapon since we last met…" Lexian said under his breath, turning to look out into the sea through the wide open windows. "However, I believe I will have to use it to kill once again very soon. It is not what I wish for…but I sense it."

Xelos was silent for a moment, looking at Lexian almost with saddened eyes before speaking delicately to him. "…Why have you joined under the Emperor?"

Turning his head back around quickly to Xelos, he spoke defensively. "I have no choice Xelos. Once again I am bound to him, just like in the past. If I did not comply to aid him…he would have killed me."

"Hm…makes sense. Of all of us who survived, you are the only one the Emperor felt he could remotely trust. The Drav’dek is known for their loyalty. I had disappeared, and Byrd was always such a rebellious man no one can expect what he is capable of." Xelos said, crossing his arms in midst of speaking.

"Exactly. I am sure you understand my position. However, he has only given me one mission."

Xelos turned to Lexian, out of his own thoughts. "Only one mission in all this time? What is it?"

"To find and capture Hells Guardian, dead or alive. This ship is the only way of transportation to find him. Although…my lack of trust in our government grows stronger by the day. I have assumed I am on this suicidal mission just to be out of the way." Lexian explained, half heartedly.

"And yet you follow your one mission to a tee?" Xelos asked questionably as to Lexian’s current motives.

He shook his head with closed eyes before opening them to Xelos with a determined glare. "I have my own reasons for continuing with it…something seems different. Even though he was who he is…Hells Guardian, he still showed some sense of compassion during the war. It sounds foolish to say because of what happened but…I truly believe that. But now, it is as if he has lost all compassion. I have followed all traces and leads of him in hopes of finally speaking with him…as if talking with him I will find out what happened…or die in the process. It was on one of these quests where I found you not far from the last trace of him, surprisingly in the frigid ocean."

As if something had gone off in his head, Xelos’ eyes seemed to open as he finally gave Lexian his full attention. "It was inside an ice cavern occupied by the Ministry. Black Ravens were there, so I could tell it was an important area for the Emperor, having sent his private brigade. I found him inside, having killed everyone. I imagine he knocked me unconscious and threw him out to die…"

"What? You confronted him!? What was he like, did he seem different!?"

Xelos shook his head in dismay. "I did notice a difference from the past…something has changed him. He is different and is more dangerous now than he ever has been. I fear the worst but…I was traveling with a young man. He probably threw him into the sea with me…did you pick up a blue haired man?"

Lexian looked over his shoulder to Han, who merely shook his head as he listened to their conversation. He turned back to Xelos, though saying nothing, seeing him look out one of the side windows to the vast ocean.

"I pray Alex is alright. Yet…the sea is frigid and deadly…I am lucky myself. I believe he will be fine and taken care of in one way or another, but this guilt…would it have been so dangerous to use my abilities I have kept hidden for so long to overcome him? It still could have been for naught…I just hope my judgment was used correctly at the time."

Continuing to look out the window with his weary, amber colored eyes, he gently put his hands on the cool steel bars, ignoring the fact Lexian looked at him, clearly troubled with what Xelos was going through himself. "We will do what we can to find him Xelos. Not to worry, we will keep you safe on this ship."

Xelos gave a weak smile which neither Lexian nor Han could see. "It is not my safety I am concerned about…"

Well I'm finally caught up here now. Of course college has just started for me (I am so screwed), but I'm sure everything will turn out just fine! In any case, enjoy the chapter people. Comments are always appreciated, you could always PM me if your afraid of revealing your anonymity. XD Shutting up now.

Chapter VI

“Now honey…don’t cry. Everything will be fine. I promise.”

A relatively young looking woman got to her knees and put her gentle hand on the crying boys face. In a gentle motion, she wiped away the tears coming from his eyes. With every small motion she made, her silky blue hair swayed with it. Her eyes were the same sky blue color as her soft hair was, she seemed to be the closest thing to an angel. The only thing missing would be the holy wings. She was dressed in a light robe, made of the same blue color, just as soft as the other features of her.

“But mommy…dad is always worried, the humans don’t like us, you won’t let me play outside anymore…I miss my little brother.” Spoke the boy, shaking as he continued to cry feverishly.

The young boy shared many of the same features as the woman; it seemed quite obvious they must have been mother and son. The woman smiled, a very sad smile, but it seemed to calm the boy down considerably, seeing such a look from his mother.

“Don’t worry Alex. You can play outside again someday. Your father is very busy, he’s the leader of all the vampires, and he needs to lead them. When your father comes home, you can play outside. Edge needed to go somewhere safe, away from all of this. You will see him again someday, I know you will.”

The woman spoke softly, almost being reduced to tears by speaking about it. But she knew that she had to remain strong, at the very least for her son. Looking into his fearful eyes, those eyes reminded her of how she was in the past.

“You will grow to be a fine young man. You always listened to your father so well, never forget what he taught you. You have to survive. Can you promise me that you will survive?”

Alex wiped away his tears and gave a very determined look to his mother, “I promise I won’t die! I’ll be strong like dad! Or my name isn’t Alex Kisagari!”

The young mother swiped away some strands of blue hair, away from her face as she smiled at her little boy. “I will always be with you Alex. Or my name isn’t Myst Kisagari!” she chuckled to herself after copying what Alex had done.

Alex gave a big smile, showing his white teeth and a bright expression to his mother, the one that he loved so dear. As for Myst, she merely smiled back, a weak smile, but she needed to offer something back to Alex. She leaned forward and kissed him gently on his forehead, as she pulled away, Alex’s smile faded as he saw his mother shedding a single tear.

“Mommy…don’t cry. You said everything will be ok. Everything can go back to normal right? Daddy will be back home, and my little brother will be back too! Then we can play outside again! We don’t have to be afraid anymore when he comes back. You said so yourself.”Said Alex enthusiastically, or perhaps hoping to hear the right thing from his mother.

Myst was about to speak but held both of her hands over her mouth as she coughed weakly for a moment. She took her hands away slowly and looked back at Alex with a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Yes…everything will be just fine. Alex…I don’t know if I will see you again. Go outside, Xelos is waiting for you. Xelos will take care of everything, you’ll be safe. I hope…I can see you one last time.”

Myst stood up weakly and held her hands to her chest as she saw her young boy walking backwards towards the large door to the outside. The door opened before Alex got to it, showing a man in darkness, wearing all black, even having black hair, as dark as night. He went to one knee to see Alex.

Alex waved at his mother, confused with what was going on, but he didn’t know what else to do. “I hope I can see you too mom…”

Xelos motioned his hands for young Alex to come for him. “Do not worry young one. Everything will be fine; I will make sure you never leave my side.” Said Xelos as he gave his hand to Alex, which he grasped tightly. Xelos got back up, standing tall as he looked to see Myst again. Though it was the last time he would see her.

“Mrs. Kisagari…thank you for allowing me in your home, I hope I was beyond a commander under your husband.” Said Xelos, bowing his head to Myst.

She waved her hands and shook her head with a smile, “Of course not Xelos. You are just like family; you will be a fine guardian for Alex. Please take care of him…for me.”

Xelos nodded with a smile and gently closed the door as Myst was left in the large walls of that dark mansion. Alex looked behind him to see his mother gone, the giant mansion, soon becoming smaller and smaller.

“Where are we going uncle Xelos?”

“Somewhere far, far away…”

__________

Gentle waves crashed against the small rocks and sand, making its rhythmic, beautiful tone as white gulls cawed, flying through the air. Feeling warmth on his back, he blinked, opening his eyes, which hurt at first to the bright sun. While his body was stiff, he managed to stand up, getting his bearings as his senses returned to him. Wiping off sand from his clothing and face, he turned around, looking out at the glittering, blue ocean. Walking down just a few steps, his boots touched a small wave of water. Bending down, he took a handful of water to wipe away the sand from his face and out of his long, tangled hair. As he did so, the logic of him even up and doing such a simple thing crossed his mind.

“How am I alive…? I thought Hells Guardian would have killed me for sure. Then again…what he said made it seem like he wanted me to live. I wonder if Xelos is alive too. I’m sure he is…he isn’t the sort of person to just die like that. But this place sure doesn’t look like that cold village I was at when I woke up.”

Slowly standing back up, Alex looked down at his right arm, realizing that the strange mark left by Hells Guardian was still there. It was a strange experience. Having woken up from some coma with amnesia, hardly remembering anything. Yet in that cave, he recognized his own father, feeling that he even knew Hells Guardian in some kind of way too. Of course, it was just a feeling. Yet it felt like a dream, seeing himself as a young boy with his mother, and Xelos again. Things seemed to have been happening quite fast for him. He almost pitied himself, but pity was something Alex never allowed himself to feel or let anyone else feel towards him, if such a situation was to happen. At least to him, it was something he thought of negatively. One of the many things where he had no reasoning for.

Looking ahead, past the beach, there was a narrow, winding dirt path along a grassy field and a few trees which lead to what looked to be a small town. Without physically showing any hesitation, Alex began walking off of the beach, which seemed to slowly transform into lush, green grass as he walked. Heading to the dirt road, he walked along it, prepared to reach a small town in a world he did not know or understand.

As his face looked down to his walking feet, Alex had a dejected sigh. “Here I am, having no idea where I am or where I’m going, walking off to some town. I have no clue if Xelos is even alive…I woke up alone yet just as soon as he showed up I end up in another place I have no clue about, by myself again. It’s almost laughable if you think about it…”

Alex had jumbled thoughts to himself. While he was rather confused with the dream he thought he had, which seemed to be leaving him rather quickly, he recalled a flash of images he saw when Hells Guardian had looked at him. They did not seem to be memories of his. Alex had difficulty understanding why it seemed Hells Guardian had chose him, though as for what he chose him for, Alex did not have the slightest idea. Even though, those things went to the back of his mind as he realized something with just talking to himself. He pondered if he was slowly realizing his own personality. Besides general knowledge, having to just understand one’s self all over again looked to be another difficult part with having amnesia. While he wished he never had it, in time with him walking, he understood that he would have to take things a step at a time to deal with it on his own.

In time he had entered the city limits, though with just looking around, things seemed to be a bit off in town. Numerous villagers were grabbing their children, running into shops or houses. One man whisked right past Alex, nearly knocking him over. Before he could say anything to the man, the door beside him had slammed shut. Soon, hearing a number of running footsteps coming from behind him, he barely was able to get out of the way of soldiers in black, having green insignia on their right chest and across the back. One of these soldiers came out of his line towards Alex with a black pistol pointed at him as he shoved the young man into a wall.

“You like getting in the way of the Ministry kid?” The man said with a faceless black helmet on, going from the top of his head and latching onto his chin. He brought the barrel of his gun closer to Alex’s face, who merely stared between the gun and the man’s face. “I think you need to be taught your place. Lord Naphtali knows how to deal with disrespectful punks like you.”

One of the men leading the front looked back to the soldier intimidating Alex. “They’re already inside the church! Sorenson, hurry it up!”

Growling through his teeth, the soldier let go of the young blue haired man, running back with the rest of his small squadron. As Alex took himself off of the wall, he rubbed the back of his neck with his right arm which showed more clearly than he wanted it to from the rip he received from it. “Well…Xelos didn’t make the Ministry sound all that good but I didn’t think they were like that.”

While logic told him to stay away, he felt compelled to see where the Ministry soldiers were going. Slowly going into a small jog, he noticed a relatively small church being the site of some kind of skirmish. Seeing outside of the church, several soldiers were battling sword to sword with men in shrouded, black cloaks. Through some of its windows, he also saw lights going off along with gunfire. Upon looking at the little of what he saw, he remembered a group made of civilians that fought against the Ministry, or at least contained civilians. Believing the men in cloaks were merely townspeople and how he was just recently treated, Alex squeezed his hands as he narrowed his eyes at the battle several yards from him.

“I can’t just sit here and let innocent people die, protecting their town. I could be wrong…maybe this is the wrong decision but at least from what I see, this Ministry is no good. I should at least help the people of this town however I can!”

Running into the fight, Alex knew he did not know the extent of his skills. He was not sure if he even had a basic understanding of fighting, he just hoped he would be guided somehow and at best, would relearn his abilities as he fought without getting hurt. Throwing his clenched fist into the back of a soldier in front of him, the man fell to the ground immediately. The cloaked man with a sword of his own looked up at surprise to the young Alex. Two soldiers to Alex’s right noticed what he had done, running towards him. Standing there, he waited for one to come up to him with his sword. As the man swung his weapon, Alex parried it by sliding his left foot along with his body, using his other leg; he kicked the man in the side of the head, knocking him out. Turning his body with his left leg, he kicked the other soldier in the side before he had time to react, then kicking him again with his other leg, his toe hitting the man in the face. As he fell to the ground on his back, Alex looked down at himself in surprise. He seemed to be better than even he thought.

Seeing one cloaked man struggling with his sword bout, Alex thrusted himself into the fight. Taking the black clothed soldier by surprise, he punched him in the throat, sending him back several steps as he choked, dropping his weapon. Turning back to the man who was just struggling prior, Alex smiled with a nod. “Hope that helps!”

Then rushing through the blasted open doors, his feet trampled on top of the wood left over on the church’s floor. To his left side, part of the building seemed to have been blown up; a large boulder from the wall was laying on its side, which had a couple men in the black cloaks firing at soldiers who had made their way inside. Looking ahead of him at the top of a few stone steps, a man in particular stood out, standing where the podium would normally be. Just like the others, he was cloaked in black, though instead of having a sword or a gun, he had two small looking daggers in both hands. Bodies of soldiers were strewn around him as several others came up to him, a few being slain in a matter of seconds as they seemed to back off.

Seeing a soldier come towards Alex with a sword, he ducked it, tripping the man onto his face, kicking the sword out of his reach; he kicked him with his heel to the small of his back. Picking up his sword, Alex forgot about his own, running up to a soldier with a gun in both of his hands. As the man was about to point the gun towards the blue haired man, Alex sliced it in half with the sword he had taken, then cutting the man across the chest. The man on the top tier of the church had kicked down a soldier from the steps, obviously being thrown dead as blood dripped from both of his daggers.

Alex was taken by surprise this time however, as three soldiers rushed him by his side, making Alex jump back with his sword up, held with both his clasped hands. “Stay back! Don’t…Don’t make me kill you!”

A cloaked man came up to the one with the two daggers, pointing towards Alex. “Shouldn’t we help out the kid?”

“No. That isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone say that. There’s something about him…lets see how he deals with it.” Said the man, whose face was covered in the shaded darkness, besides his mouth and chin.

“What? How can you hear what he says through all of this gunfire?” asked the young man.

The cloaked man smirked under his hood. “I can just hear better than other people. Now get back to your position Vaan.”

Matching his sword with one, he sliced part of his arm as he caught his blade with another, kicking the man in the gut before hitting him on the back of the neck with the opposite end of his sword, most likely blacking him out. Swinging his sword out with his long arm, the other soldier ducked as Alex put his sword over his head, bringing it down, which the soldier was able to match, but with difficulty, taken aback by the strength Alex had. Throwing him down, Alex slashed the man’s side and then a narrow cut to his chest before kicking the man in the side of the head. He had been careful to try and not kill the men he fought, which may have put him at more of a disadvantage, seeing that Alex had the potential to be quite deadly. Turning his back, he looked above him to see the soldier he had momentarily disabled, except with his sword about to cut Alex down. Putting his arm up in survivalist defense, he held it there for a moment, before looking back up, seeing the man dropping his sword and falling flat on his face, a dagger in his back.

Stunned, Alex did not move until a man walked up to the dead body, grabbing the small blade out of his back and wiping it off on the edge of a pew. Alex reluctantly stood up; leaving the sword he had dropped on the floor. “W-Who are you?”

Showing his teeth through the cloak, he frowned, moving his head to its side in a pointing direction. Alex looked back, to see a boulder with two men in cloaks behind it, shooting at some soldiers. Taking a hesitant nod to the mysterious cloaked man, he ran behind the boulder between the two men. A young man, only about his age nodded to him with a smile. “Hi, my names Vaan! What’s your name?”

“Will you ever learn Vaan? Quit telling your name to every person you meet. This isn’t a country club!” said the man to Alex’s left firing an automatic pistol; a bit larger from the kind Alex was given.

The young man merely smiled to Alex after the older man’s compliment. “Don’t mind Paxton. He can be a little grumpy but that’s just how he is…that and he’s kind of old. I guess you get grumpier the older you get hehe.”

“You moron! I told you once I told you a thousand times, you call me Captain! Get it? C-A-P-T-A-I-N. And I’m not old! I’m only 27!”

“But I’m 17…18 in a couple months. Rounding up your still about ten years older than me. That’s pretty old.” Vaan replied, sounding a bit dense.

Paxton grunted as he fired his gun over the boulder. “Just shut up and do your job!”

Following orders, Vaan raised his sword over the boulder, which had the small barrel of a gun underneath it with a trigger inside the handle. Firing it a few times he knelt back down as Alex fired some shots from his own pistol before ducking for cover. “Sir, my weapon really is not very good for long range combat.” Vaan said to his apparent captain, Paxton.

“What do you mean it’s not good for long range? You have a damn gunblade! It should work for both.” Paxton said, sounding very irritated.

Vaan shook his head. “Its aim is off, it does fine for about ten feet or so, but the gun part just goes haywire past that. It should have gotten worked on before we left.”

“Well then…why didn’t you get it fixed?”

Vaan laughed a bit nervously as he held a finger to his bottom lip. “Well you see…we were in kind of a hurry and…”

“You moron! Taking care of your weapons should be the first thing you get—“

Paxton was about to carry on his apparent verbal punishment to the young Vaan but was thrown onto his back as a bullet hit his arm. Vaan put his sword back in its sheath as he ducked over to him. “Paxton!!”

“Augh! It’s CAPTAIN!”

“You really shouldn’t worry about such details sir. You’re injured!”

Paxton merely grumbled as Vaan held the blood from flowing out of his arm as Alex knelt over him as well. “Will you be alright? I’m sorry about all of this…”

“It’s not your fault, we started it. But the Ministry has no right being in our towns in the first place…” Paxton replied, wincing from the blow.

Noticing a shadow, Alex looked up, recognizing the man from before, though only from the weapons kept strapped to his side. “What happened?” He asked simply.

Alex quickly replied. “He was shot in the arm.”

“It’s my fault sir. I was careless.” Paxton said.

Alex seemed to be getting a quick understanding of the order in whatever organization they were in. Vaan seemed to be under this Paxton while he was apparently under the strange man with those daggers. “The soldiers are taken care of; we should be quick to get out of here.” The cloaked man said, though turning back to Alex. “What’s your name…and why are you here?”

“His name is Alex!” Vaan abruptly said, but everyone seemed to ignore him.

“Yes…my name is Alex. And I think what the Ministry is doing is wrong. They have no right to take over your town and belittle everyone through fear. I’m pretty sure of whom you guys are, I’ve definitely heard of you. I don’t know about blowing up churches, but stopping the Ministry, even through violence, is something that needs to be done. Please, let me join you…let me help.”

The man was silent for a moment, assumingly in thought. “Capable in hand to hand combat, swordsmanship and not too bad with a gun. There is something about him…how he speaks, the look in his eyes…he reminds me of someone…”

Paxton had made his way up to his feet, looking to be relatively unaffected by his wound. “Our town huh? Heh, yeah…okay, sure. What do you think?” he asked the tall, masked man as several other hooded men came around them.

The man showed a smirk to Alex. “…Welcome to the club.”

A man behind Alex threw a closed, black hood over Alex’s face, blocking out all sight and restricting air as he tightened a rope around Alex’s throat, screaming and gasping for air while cuffs were being put on his hands by Vaan. “I’m sorry, but it’s for the best Alex.”

As Alex let out muffled screams, Paxton came up in front of him, though Alex had no way of seeing him. “Sorry kid.” He said, his hood lowered to the point that everyone could see an x shaped scar on his left cheek as he thrust his non injured arm into Alex’s stomach, causing him to collapse to the ground, knocking him out of air. A few men, including Vaan helped to pick him up, silently carrying him out of the church.

(I'm doing this as I go) I lol'd at the beginning...about the anonymity factor.

(Introduction of the boss) For some reason, when I read, "I'm who the guys around here refer to as the boss...but you can just call me Jack if you like,", that reminded me of an episode in B5 that was on Jack the Ripper. At the end of the episode he said; "And my name...is Jack." (something along those lines). Don't ask why I thought of that when I read about your Jack, but I did >.< Anyway, that was slightly random on my part.

As for the story (just finished the chapter), it's as good as in the beginning =) Alex seems to be getting himself into trouble again, but I'm intrigued to find out what happens with him and the Black Hand. Quite interesting that you would introduce the Black Hand in the same chapter you would introduce the Holy Mother...(refers to a previous chapter, II I believe) since they destroy Churches and the like...It's making things quite interesting =) (not that they weren't before mind you).

Well, before I start rambling, I suppose I should wrap this post up =D The story is wonderful per usual (description, characters, dialog) and, as always, I look forward to the next chapter =)