[hider=Mary] Name: Mary Alias/Nickname: N/A Age: 23 Appearance: [img=http://digital-art-gallery.com/oid/113/r169_451x253_19537_Vivaria_Venzel_2d_portrait_girl_woman_blonde_picture_image_digital_art.jpg] Only her eyes are pitch black. She stands at 5ft 3in, usually wearing a worn blue jacket, white shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. Social Status: She really doesn't have one...she just follows Julian. Relations: Julian is the one she's closet to, but she does remember a Vampire Mairyell. An angel and a rather scarred man are only distant memories, kindness in a sea of horror. General Activity: She follows Julian.He's been her protector for more than a year now, and frankly, she probably won't be able to go off by herself. Abilities: Soul Consumption: This ability isn't [i]really[/i] Mary's. She's just the vessel for it. In the hours before Hell's Gate was broken and Judas began his insane war against everything not human, a Demon calling himself 'Sir' selected Mary as his latest subject for a creation he calls 'The Abyss'. Two groups of his thugs were sent to activate her. One of them succeeded, and Mary's body underwent an extremely violent bonding process with the Abyss. Through the efforts of Julian, Judas, and Solus, the Abyss was sealed in her mind. Unable to do damage to her, but it's ability remained undiminished. Whenever something dies around Mary(be it Angel, Demon, Iotan, or Human), it's soul doesn't go to the Void. The Abyss eats it. No rebirth. The end of a cycle. With each soul consumed the radius it can consume a soul at death extends. Since Mary was there when Hell's Gate first broke, The Abyss's radius is roughly 4 miles. Equipment: A simple pistol and ammo for it. Personality: Will show IC. Biography: Before she caught the eye of the Demon Lord Sir, Mary was nothing more than a first year College student. She was going to major in Biology. Her father and her mother were both happy. If divorced and single each. Her father was a gun shop owner, and naturally taught her how to shoot. Her mother was a rather wealthy Architect. All in all, her life was good, if not perfect. That all changed roughly a year ago. She was on her way to her father's home, to visit him after visiting her mother. It was just supposed to be a simple visit to her father. Halfway to her father's home, at a stop sign in an empty street, something attacked her. It broke through her window, snapped her seat belt with it's sharp claws and dragged her out of the car. She had enough time to draw a breath to scream, and then something hit her heard on the back of her head. She promptly lost all consciousness. When she woke up next, she was in the back of a van, blindfolded and tied up with a vicious headache, listening to a nasally voiced person beg someone else to allow him 'just a little sip' of her blood.The other voice, one she presumed was driving, kept wearily denying the nasally one his desire. Mary managed to maintain her composure until she felt the nasally one's breath on her neck. Then she lost it. A few minutes of panic later, there was another blow to her already aching head. Darkness was almost a welcome friend now. She had no idea where she was, or why she was in the hands of these..people, but she knew she wasn't in her safe familiar world any more. When she woke up again for the third and final time, she was tied to a chair, gagged. Her captors were arguing about what to do with her. The nasally one wanted to kill her and find a new girl. Apparently, they hadn't eaten in days. The other one, Fredrick as she came to learn his name, didn't want to irritate some 'Sir'. Henry, the nasally one who wanted to eat her, suddenly lost control and attacked Fredrick. In the resulting battle, Mary had an opportunity to escape. Luckily for Mary, whomever had tied her up wasn't good a knots, and she pulled herself free(if rubbing her wrists raw and bleeding in the process), and yanked her gag out before running for her life. The fight suddenly ended with dual roars of rage behind her, as they found she had disappeared. What happened next has largely become a blur. She remembers eyes, blue eyes. Grabbing a sawed off shot gun. Terror. Corpses. Gore covering her. Hugging someone. A woman defying the eyes, obviously terrified. Then they were gone, and she was in an apartment. That's when things took a turn for the worse. Far, far worse. After listening to Julian and the vampire Mairyell threaten each other(she thinks so at least), she asked for a phone to call her parents. After being threatened by Mairyell, she then actually got a phone, and dialed it. They were on the other line. More specifically, Fredrick was. He tried to convince her that if she didn't come back to them, her parents were dead. Only Henry ruined that. By announcing, loud enough for her to hear through the phone, that he had finished eating the old woman and old man with the guns. Mary dropped both phone and shotgun, the latter destroying the former with a loud bang. Her knees gave out and someone caught her before she truly fell. She's not sure who. After what seemed like hours, filled with screaming and disgustingly true insults, someone put her in a bed and delivered food to her. Not that it would do much good. She wasn't planning on eating it anyways. She could feel her choices slipping away from her, the noose tightening around her neck. She couldn't fight them. And she certainly couldn't outrun them. But she could deny them what they wanted. Her shotgun still had a bullet left. Dumping her food off to make it look like she had eaten it, she took her shotgun and left Julian and an angel's presence, saying some lie to let them let her go. She thought she had it all planned out. She'd find an alley, put the gun to her head, and pull the trigger. Simple. Just another unsolved corpse in the city of Loom. Then of course, Julian had to find her. To this day,she's not entirely sure what happened. Something scary, at first. A voice...and pain. But then Julian himself came and talked her out of it. She put the gun down, cleaned her gore stained self up, and for the next few hours was something approaching normal. Certainly not happy, but definitely not suicidal. Then of course, Henry and Fredrick came back. Unfortunately for them, Mairyell and Julian were there as well. It was a short fight, where both Henry and Fredrick died. Henry far more horribly than Fredrick. Mary still has nightmare's about his death. When she's allowed to have a different nightmare than her usual. For a moment, it seemed like things would be fine. Then, a werewolf arrived, flicked a bead into her chest, and she blacked out in pain. What followed next was several realms, all of them hellish, all of them scaring and scarring her. By the end of it, the Abyss was sealed away, but not without leaving it's mark. Mary now has pitch black eyes, and plenty of memories. [/hider] ------------------------ [hider=Luciana]Name: Luciana Alias/Nickname: The Last Gatekeeper, Keeper of the Balance. Age: Apparent, 29. Actual; She was created a little while after humanity was. Race: Gatekeeper, specifically the Human Gatekeeper. Appearance: [u]Archangel[/u] [img=http://www.wallmay.net/thumbnails/detail/20120714/angels%20fantasy%20art%20artwork%20warriors%201400x1018%20wallpaper_www.wallmay.com_87.jpg] She gains two inches(From her human form). Same eye color. [u]Tamer Angel[/u] [img=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IOVD_BQqZd4/T-TAJglzNnI/AAAAAAAACNg/96F3OXb4DHE/s1600/gandex.ru-20809_6ebc8e6722d9bf18f51d174a68aac501.jpg] She shrinks down to 5ft 3in in this form, with the same colored eyes. [u]Human[/u] [img=http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/data/501/medium/J7EKKEGDY6LH1337391803947.jpg] She stands at 5ft 8in in this form, with a black long sleeve shirt, black jeans and black combat boots. She also has a long red trench coat. There are two tattoos on her palms. A white and gold, destroyed, gate on her left, and a shattered harp on her right. [u]Hellion[/u] [img=http://geewall.com/mmc_uploads/4926-artwork-demon-wallpaper-1920x1226.jpg] Her height and size varies based on her whim. [u]Lord[/u] [img=https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pu94m5EJ8iQ/UY5jwD05ZHI/AAAAAAAAAC8/HxL2KP7RyDQ/s0-d/2344605-Illidan.jpg] She gains another three feet without her horns, which add another foot. Her eyes stay the same. Social Status: Those who serve the Gospel(and know she's more than just a rumor, a legend) want her dead, as she's one of the very few who actually know how to use the Essence Sword, which Judas possesses. As far as she knows. Likewise, if they know she's still alive and remember the Great War, most Demons remember her as a traitor and most Angels remember her as a Demon. Both want her dead. Relations: [u]Captured in her rings[/u] [b]Human(grey jewel)[/b]: [url=http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/083/9/a/postapocalyptic_paladin_by_fetsch-d3cd086.jpg]Richard[/url]- A human whose taken the arrival of Demons badly, losing much of his sanity. Richard believes he's on a mission from God to strike down every fiend of Hell he finds. This includes Humans with even a hint of Demonic taint in them. He kills most of the Gospel 'heathens' he finds as well, because they strike down Angels. Servants of Heaven, and thus, God. He spotted Luciana in her Hellion form, and tried to kill her. Luciana didn't appreciate that, and he didn't seem placated when she turned to her Angel form. However, she didn't want to kill him.Thus, Richard was dominated and captured. [i]Powers[/i]: Despite his madness, Richard does possess real power. It's mostly a magical resistance and a remarkable ability to see through illusions, but he can imbue his shield with 'holy' energy, blocking most magical damage done to it. He can imbue his limbs with that same energy, making him a match for any Hellion. His weapon is the last thing he imbues, slipping through most magical shielding and armor with ease. [b]Angel(Pearl)[/b]: [url=http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mau4ez2EEB1rxekheo1_500.jpg]Ezekiel[/url]- Ezekiel was once a loyal Battle Angel to the Council, serving it the best of his ability, even when the Hordes of Hell came to Loom and Angels were dying all around them. He still believed in their leadership, even fighting off the infamous Kinslayer to protect the trio he had attached himself to when Loom fell and they were all scattered. He believed in them even when he threw himself at a Demon had very little chance of beating and surviving. The Council had to survive. So he fought this demon. Nearly died, but he killed it. But the Demon had to get it's last laugh. It cursed him with petrification(much like the human myth Medusa). The Demon died before the curse could be completed, so Ezekiel became a living statue. Without the Council members to guide him(Them having ran far away to survive), he wandered. And he found the Keeper of the Balance. The Council painted her as evil incarnate, so Ezekiel attacked her. Luciana didn't want to waste time killing him, so she dominated and captured him. [i]Powers[/i]: As a living statue, Ezekiel is natural more resistant to damage than others. His strength and speed and flight ability are undiminished as well. However, his repairing as a Battle Angel is slightly...different. Rather than be like most Angels, he has to put together the chunks and pieces of himself he loses. As long as he has pieces of him that are more than just dust, he can put himself back together. [b]Demon(red jewel)[/b]- [url=http://artfiles.alphacoders.com/423/42374.jpg]Rachel[/url]- Rachel came to the Surface after the Gate was so thoughtfully broken down by that mad human, Judas. She just wanted to see what it was like, really. What she found was the structured chaos of humans, sprawling all over the surface of the planet. She just found pure chaos as the forces of Heaven and Hell fought, and Judas made a little army all of his own while another human tried to stop him. She didn't care. What she did care about, however, was all the free meals running about. Humans are such emotional creatures...and when emotions failed, she could always drain their life force. Various emotions powered her spells, and life force was just pure energy. It was a perfect situation for her. Until that inquisitive bitch The Keeper came poking around, finding her in the center of a settlement that seemed to be drained of emotion. Before she could even offer an explanation, Rachel was dominated and trapped in that damn ring. [i]Powers[/i]: As stated above, Luciana feeds on emotions. And, when those are in drained, the life force of whatever her tendrils are touching. She can drain someone's anger, lust, hate, happiness, whatever the emotion is, she can make it disappear, consuming it. When she has turned her victims into emotional husks, she wraps a tendril around them, draining them into literal husks. She uses the emotions to power her spells. Naturally,different emotions power different spells. Anger, for example, powers offensive spells, while Love powers defensive spells. Her tendrils can be used as weapons, ina pinch, and if she has enough time she can drain the life force from someone. If they're unsuspecting..or just don't care. General Activity: Recently, she's retreated to Kenan, planning her next move after unsuccessfully trying to get into Judas's fortress city. She has to get the sword before the madman can cause any more damage to the Balance than he already has. Luciana fears it's too late to return things as they were. Abilities: [u]General:[/u] [b]Form Change:[/b] As a Gatekeeper, Luciana is neither human, Demon, nor Angel. She came before the Iotan, created at the same time Humanity was created. The third sister. The third Gatekeeper. Now, obviously, she couldn't be a Gatekeeper physically, as the human world had no gate. But she served the same purpose as Melody and Heaven's Gatekeeper. Preserve the balance. Only she could move between the worlds to do it. As such, she can switch between her five forms. As Angels certainly wouldn't want humans or Demons interacting with them in Heaven, and Vice Versa for Demons. [b]Snake Bite:[/b] Despite her power, Lucian couldn't fight to keep the balance preserved by herself. She needed allies. Allies she was connected to at all times. Thus, the Snake Bite came to be. Named for the burning scars left behind as if a snake had bitten the receivers. It does three things. 1. Connected the receivers to Luciana mentally. She can speak telepathically to them and, in extreme cases, force them to do what she wants. 2. Creates a shield like an invisible second layer of skin that blocks some damage. 3. Ups their power levels as she changes forms. Angel and Demon Form one, the Snake Bite Receiver can do things that once would have tired them easily. Angel and Demon form two, they can do things that once would have killed them had they tried it. Notes: I won't be using snake Bite to fuck anyone over. Characters and PC controlled NPCs will only receive it if permission is given first. The full amount of time it takes to change forms(usually from human to Hellion or Tamer) is a minute(or one post between when she starts and when she ends). She is essentially vulnerable in this state, and if someone was to hit her hard enough, or hit her enough times, or similarly interrupt her changing, she reverts back to the previous form. If she's wounded in one form and changes to another, wound(or equivalent of) goes with her to that form. Abilities are limited to that particular form. The Hellion won't be dominating people, and the Tamer won't be throwing fireballs or manipulating light or what not. Her weaknesses change based on her forms. For example, in her Hellion and Lord forms, she'd be weak to gold, silver, and light. Not so in her Angel and Human forms. Currently, there's only one person in the world that has the snake bite. A vampire called Mairyell. Or, as Luciana remembers him from the alleyway that soon brought Szayeis, Roachy. She suspects he doesn't know he's the proud owner of one. [u]Second Angel Form, Original/Archangel, abilities:[/u] [b]Illusion[/b]: Luciana can create powerful and subtle illusions. The more people she tries to affect, the less effective it actually is, going for power rather than subtlety. If she tried to cast an illusion on a whole army, for example, she could make everyone in the army see it(resistances and other such things notwithstanding), but it wouldn't be very believable if they really looked at it. At a distance..maybe. [b]Weather Channeling[/b]: Luciana can channel the forces of the elements. Though, it's far more likely that they'll run out of her control than she'll direct them against her enemies. If she's in an area with a Weather Angel already, it's weakened. More controllable, but nowhere near as effective as a weapon. Loom, for example. [b]Complete body control:[/b] Luciana has control over her body like the Angels of old. Down to the smallest drop of her blood, she can manipulate it, use it as a weapon. If she's not killed immediately, and is still conscience, she can heal and repair any wound, given time. [b]Superior Physicality[/b]: Luciana's strength, speed, and reflexes are a match for Demon Lords and Archangels in this form. However, even she is a slave to stamina. She can't take on whole armies in this form. [b]Premonition[/b]: Like an advanced spidey sense, Luciana can get the general direction and type of attack going to come at her, seconds before it's actual sent(Completely sporadic. I'll roll a single die and anything above a four causes it to work.) She also has the dominate ability from her Tamer form, though it's notably weaker than if she was in her actual Tamer form. [b]Essence Shatter[/b]: The primary reason Luciana doesn't use this form, the suppression on her Essence breaks, announcing her presence far and wide, like a mini sun. Any Angel wanting revenge, Demon wanting to evolve, head hunter wanting fame, or Gospel fanatic wanting to kill her would be able to find her and be drawn to her. Subtlety would be gone, as anyone with even the smallest ability to sense Essence would sense her. Not ideal. [u]First Angel Form, Tamer, Abilities[/u] [b]Dominate:[/b] Luciana makes a loyal slave out of a weaker willed individual. And they serve her, willingly or not.(If she tries this with PC's or NPC's it'll have to be with player permission and even then only for three posts. If she doesn't use a PC, it counts as a post.) [b]Capture:[/b] In Tamer form, Luciana has three rings. She can capture and store one creature in each ring(provided she's dominated them) so that she doesn't have to enslave a new creature each time.(Will not be workable upon PCs). Limit of five, provided she has extra containers. [b]Essence suppression[/b]: Unless you know her essence fairly well, she simply a Surface Angel. Suppression leaves when she uses her abilities(not including releasing those she has captured), announcing her presence. [u]Human form[/u] [b]Essence Suppression[/b]: Unless you know her Essence fairly well, she's just a human. Removed when she uses Sixth Sense. [b]Tough[/b]: She can take more damage in this form than most humans. [b]Sixth Sense[/b]: Luciana can sense any Demons, Chimeras, Angels, and Humans within a 100 foot radius. Given time(as in, if she stares at them long enough), she can even differentiate between the types(Surface, Archangel, Hellion, etc.) [u]First Demon form, Hellion, abilities[/u] [b]Insubstantial[/b]: In this form, Luciana isn't so much one creature as billions of tiny ones, united by a shining blue sub species. A hive mind of sorts. As such, she can dissipate and reform herself to her desires. However, she can't get any taller than 5ft 8in in this form and be something more than a very tall line of her creatures. She only uses consume and rapid breeding to maintain the same number at starting, not to increase. When they're forming a body, Luciana's speed is based on how thickly they're put together. A thickly packed form would be able to pack a harder punch, but would be slower. A thinly packed form would be fast, but weaker in punching. Alone, they have wings and they're about as fast as your average dragonfly. [b]Rapid breeding[/b]: the creatures that compose Luciana's body breed like rabbits on multitudes of steroids, able to rebuild any losses they sustain within minutes. The blue ones far slower than the black ones. Slows down overall when blue ones die, and the more she has to rebuild. [b]Consumption[/b]: Tiny creatures mean tiny mouths, and Luciana can swarm over and devour pretty much anything given enough time. Flesh and cloth naturally being the quickest, armor and such taking longer. Can only eat, if she uses every creature in her body, up to 800 pounds. [u]Second Demon form, Lord, Abilities[/u] [b]Elemental Control[/b]: Luciana can control six elements(fire,water,earth,air, light and darkness) and subsets of them(lightning, metal, ice, shadow, etc.) to a powerful degree. However, the more powerful the spell, the longer it takes to build up. And, the more she uses an element, the more it's opposite grows weaker(More fire=weaker water, more earth=weaker air, more light=weaker dark.) [b]Flight[/b]: Her wings are capable of it, even if they look ragged. [b]Resilient[/b]: Luciana is very hard to damage in this form. Only Archangels and Demonic Lords have a chance. However this can still be beaten down and fades over time as she takes damage. [b]Essence Shatter[/b]: The primary reason Luciana doesn't use this form, the suppression on her Essence breaks, announcing her presence far and wide, like a mini sun. Any Angel wanting revenge, Demon wanting to evolve, head hunter wanting fame, or Gospel fanatic wanting to kill her would be able to find her and be drawn to her. Subtlety would be gone, as anyone with even the smallest ability to sense Essence would sense her. Not ideal. [b]Superior Physicality[/b]: Luciana's strength, speed, and reflexes are a match for Demon Lords and Archangels in this form. As in her Archangel form, she can't fight off entire hordes. Equipment: [u]Harp[/u]: Luciana's traditional twin pistols have changed into a small, 12-string, harp with three jewels on it(one red, one grey, and one pearl). A gift , or perhaps inheritance, from Melody. While nowhere near as powerful as the original, this Harp is still capable of three things. Oddly enough, one piece of it is a completely different color than the silver. A pearl white sliver, of all things. [b]Shield[/b]: Luciana can create a shield to block an attack. The size and shape changes with how many strings she uses and how long she plays. [b]Shockwave:[/b] By dragging her fingers across the strings, Luciana can create a wave of sound(lasting 3 feet before disappearing) to knock anyone away from her that she feels has gotten to close. [b]Calm[/b]: Luciana can play a tune that calms all who hear what they exactly hear changes listener to listener. It could be a haunting melody, or a lively jig. Whatever makes people not want to stab her anymore. It should also be noted that the harp changes shape according to her forms. Tamer, five rings. Archangel, battleaxe. Hellion, bits of metal in her blue core. Lord, a kind of blue gauntlets. All of them have the jewels, in one way or another. None of the Harp's abilities can be used in any form other than human. Personality: Will show IC. Biography: At first, Luciana's duty was simple. She'd travel between the three realms, keeping the peace(and Balance) and killing those humans, Angels, or Demons that would try to do something stupid. Open the Gate to dominate human kind, declare war on Heaven, do something to end the cycle of rebirth of Demons and Angels. It was never truly easy, especially when powerful Demons decided to get on the more enterprising side of things, but it was simple enough. Then, of course, the Demons and the Angels had to do declare war on each other, and make her job far more complicated than it had to be. Seeing as the leaders of both sides refused to listen to her and other intelligently minded members of their race(who may or may not have been owners of her snake bite), she had to do the interesting thing of fight for both to ensure that neither got the advantage of the other and eventually they both tired of it. Unfortunately, she failed to take into account just how long lived each of the races were, and how long their memories were. They didn't tire of war, and the attrition of war began to affect the Angels. They didn't get reborn as quickly as the Demons did. They weren't ready for war at birth as the Demons were. Soon, the forces of Hell reached Heaven's Gate. Of course, to get into Heaven they had to destroy the Gate and kill the Gatekeeper. No small feat, especially with Luciana trying to kill them as well. But the Fleshshaper created a monstrosity of immense power that was never seen before and hasn't been seen since. This giant..worm, destroyed the Gate and her sister. Luciana would have killed everything and anything in her path to the Fleshshaper, if she hadn't immediately suffered unbelievably agonizing pain and went into a coma that lasted thousands of years. The balance had been broken, and what had once rested on three shoulders now rested on two. Luciana reacted badly. When she finally awoke from her coma...she wasn't exactly sane. Prone to bouts of agonizing migraines, psychotic rages, and abrupt mood swings, one would have classified Luciana as decidedly insane. With the recent events of Hell's Gate being destroyed as well, sanity as returned to Luciana. The Balance is no longer half-working and half-destroyed. Luciana is now thinking clearly, and has two goals. One: Fix the gigantic mess that has become the three worlds. Two: Slowly, painfully, and brutally kill Judas. Revenge is always a nice bonus, after all.[/hider] -------------------------------------- [hider=Lucien]Name: Lucien Alias/Nickname: Kinslayer Age: Apparent, 23. Actual, Pre Great War. Ancient. Race: Angel Appearance: Armor- [img=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BXy4rFG5E3k/UD49pdpn_KI/AAAAAAAAAo8/zYyWK_5MKNI/s1600/angelof_justice_in_armor.jpg] Face- [img=http://essence-of-the-world.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/8/0/19808675/897530.jpg] Note: His helmet is gone, lost in the last battle for the sword with Judas, the Cowards(the other Original Angels left in this world, the Council), and whatever Demons happened to be about. Lucien stands at 6ft exactly, with a 15 foot wingspan. It should be noted, that unlike most Angels, his wings are more black then white, though there is some white feathers left. Social Status: Angels deem him a traitor, Demons and the Gospel deem him an Angel. Most want him dead. He is on neutral terms with Omnity and those who actually don't try to kill him. At least one Iotan likes him. Relations: He's intimately close with an Iotan called Ilana, an Original Angel like him. Though where that's going neither of them are sure. General Activity: Currently, he's in Loom trying to find a Gospel soldier with enough power or connections to get him close to Judas. Failing in that, he kills them. Abilities: [b]Superior physicality[/b]: Lucien is much stronger, has better reflexes, and faster than your average human, a match for any Angel or Hellion. [b]Rapid healing[/b]: As long as he's conscious and not immediately killed by a blow, Lucien can himself Extraordinarily quickly. [b]Demonic resistance[/b]: Lucien has a resistance to spells and manipulations of the Demonic kind. Equipment: His sword, and his armor(minus the Helm). Personality: Will Show IC. Biography: Once, Lucien was a soldier of Heaven. He believed what most of the Angels of that time believed. Humans were primitive, but far more equal than the rest of them, and Demons were evil, but there could be light in even the darkest of places. THat was before the Great War. Before he was betrayed, his daughter slain, and he had to watch as Heaven burned. When the Great War began, they appeared to be making good progress. They attacked the closest realms of hell and destroyed them. The Hellions and Surface Demons were no match for their might. Two more battles were won, and then the Lords of Hell decided to get involved. The war went from an easy fight to bloody struggle in a matter of minutes. And it only went downhill from there. they began to lose, steadily. And then a group of Angels claimed they have found a way to win the war for them. Lucien's daughter was to be the first subject. And then...well...Lucien himself can explain. [b]"It was towards the end of the Great War. Hell's forces were marching steadily towards Heaven's gate and there was nothing we could do to stop them. We had lost this war of attrition. When we died, our souls went back to heaven and then were reborn, but we took time to grow into our full strength. When we beat our opponents, our only benefit was knowledge how to kill that type easily, and there was always more, always stronger." "The Demons, however, when the Demons died, they were reborn and ready to fight within seconds of being reborn. When they beat their opponents, they were one step closer to evolving, to becoming stronger. For everyone we slew, dozens would leap up in it's place, desparate to kill an Angel and consume it's essence. We had been retreating for years, and the only victories we gained from the conflict were coming back from it alive. Then the Cowards came, proclaiming they had found a way to make us stronger. To turn the tide against the Demons." "We were desparate enough to believe them. The Demons were almost upon our doorstep, and we had no where else to turn. My daughter, she had just come of age two days ago. Old enough to be sent to the War front. She was so proud, so eager to do what she could to fight against those that had taken her mother and threatened her home. She was the first to volunteer. I was there when they injected her with the substance. It felt wrong. It's essence was Demonic, but suppressed. I should have stopped it as soon as I felt the wrongness in the substance, but I didn't, because I still trusted the Cowards." "For the first few weeks, she was fine. No notable change, she was just normal. She survived her first conflicts, I made sure of that, and she served Heaven to the best of her ability. I had never been prouder, never been happier. Three days before the Fleshshaper's monstrosity reached the Heaven's Gate, she began to change. To sicken. Her wings darkened, and she began to puke a black liquid. It grew worse and worse, and when I confronted the Cowards they told me they had made a mistake. It was a Demonic Parasite that they thought would help us. Obviously, they were wrong. Before I could kill them, the Fleshshaper's construct arrived at the gates." "We managed to slow the creature, but not stop him. The Cowards were being held accountable for their claims. They needed a scape goat. My daughter's wings were now black, and she was nearly unable to move by herself. So they used her. Claimed her wings had blackened because of the betrayal she had done, helping the Demons get that monster to the Gate. They dragged her before a mob." "They dragged her in front of a mob that tore and spat at her. They made me watch. They claimed she deserved no trial because of her sin. Then they took a sword and decapitated her to the roar of the crowd." "Minutes later, the Fleshshaper's monster broke the gate. Everyone panicked and tried to stop the Demons from flooding in to the opening. In the chaos, I was left unguarded. In the chaos I found the Coward who killed my daughter, and I [i]killed[/i] him.He was the only Angel to not die by a Demon's hand that day. The survivors scattered to the human world as Heaven burned." "The Cowards perfected their formula there. They got to mind control the newest generation. Black wings, sin of their forefathers. It was disgusting, and I was sealed in onyx and unable to stop them. They [i]created[/i] Dark Wings. They claimed it was sin that they had to wash off...their own sin, perhaps."[/b] The Council, or Cowards as Lucien calls them, quickly secured their power over the fledgling Surface angel population, killing or sealing away those who opposed them. Lucien got stuck with the latter, and many years passed before he was freed. The exact amount is unknown to Lucien but he's sure that it is the hundreds at least. When he was freed, he met a Dark Angel called Hazumi, the next reincarnation of his daughter's soul. Even if she's technically a different person, fatherly instincts don't die off easily. Lucien became a sort of protector to her. Then, of course, she became the sword of Essence and was soon consumed by Judas. Lucien was dragged into Iota before he could do something stupid like try and kill Judas to get the sword back. [/hider]