@ReusableSword "I'm gonna be honest with you... I dunno if we should be doing this, Develius."Amongst the dispatched forces, two young scouts flew to the east as they scanned the surrounding area. They were new recruits, armed only with a sword, a dagger, light armor, and the pair of wings on their back. The one speaking was a lanky individual, with short brown hair ending with a tip above his forehead, who had just finished boot camp and was on his first assignment in battle. The other angel, a similarly shaped angel but slightly more muscular and had longer blonde hair, was also another rookie recruit, but seemed more calm regarding the situation.
"Relax, Aeneas. We're simply here to check the perimeters for any sign of activity and report what we find to Lord Hyperion." Develius responded as he flew ahead,
"Just precautionary measures, nothing more."The short haired angel timidly looked at the ominous spire in the far distance, emitting the black hue as it laid on top of a dead wasteland of a crater. He's getting all the wrong messanges from it.
"I don't know, man." Aeneas replied unsurely,
"I have a reaaaal bad feeling about this. It's giving me the willies.""Dude, man up a little, yeah?" Develius responded assuringly,
"With that attitude, you'll never rise to the ranks of the High Guard. I'm surprised that the others hadn't bullied you already for this timidness."Soon enough, the duo then perched themselves over a cliffside rock as they both overlooked the spire and everything around the nearby valley.
"Although," the blonde angel blurts hesitantly,
"I too would be lying if I didn't sense anything suspiciously ominous about it either. Like, it's not everyday that a gigantic black spire erupts from the bloody ground and causes everything to repel from it.""What do you think is in it?" Aeneas asked curiously.
Develius paused as he began to wonder himself.
"I don't know..." he admits dryly,
"All I know is that it's almost certainly heretical in nature. Everything within it's radius is... well, dead, or is staying the hell away. Whatever it is, it must be working for chaos, or more probably, for darkness."Aeneas shifted his weight slightly as his wings rustled softly in the cold breeze.
"I-I mean," he states quietly,
"My body wants to finish the mission. Like it wants to really see this to the end and to make our Primarch proud... but... my mind is just... screaming at me."Develius' eyebrow perked up curiously as he lended a careful ear to his partner.
"What do you mean?" he simply asked.
The smaller scout remained silent for a long minute before responding.
"There's this... this..." he stammers initially,
"This... uh... fear you know? This utter sense of dread. It's like my mind is stuck behind a great unbreakable wall of doubt and darkness and all kinds of insecurities. It refuses to let me go in too close. I-I don't know what will happen if I - I mean, we, - enter within it's radius."Develius sighed as he placed his hand on his partner's shoulder.
"Listen Aeneas... I have my doubts as well." he says sympathetically,
"Who knows what we may find or encounter in there. However, we must remember what Hyperion has told us. To be an Angel of Light, one must overcome the manifestations that our obstacles emit. The enemy represents our doubts, our fears, our despair, and our insecurities. Some amplify them more so than others, but only if we let them control us from the inside. Once you conquer the fears within you, the enemy simply disappears like the simple illusion he is. The light always reveals the truth, remember?"Aeneas simply nodded with a light smile.
"Yeah..." he answers calmly,
"You're right. He's right. I'll try my best to do that."He then proceeds to stand up and stretch his arms.
"So, I suppose we'll continue going yeah?" he poses,
"Let's not keep him waiting, so let's~"Suddenly, the two angels would hear a low animalistic growl behind them, making Aeneas jump in surprise as he whips out his blade to engage whoever approached them.
"GAH! WHO'S THERE?! SHOW YOURSELF!" the angel cries in an utter panic.
Yet the only thing they could see is the vague outline of a green reptilian body dropping down from a tree as it scurried down to the crater below. By the time the angels looked to see where it went, he was gone from view. Aeneas whimpered as he squats down and puts his hands over his head.
"Oh gods, let's go back please! I can't take this!" he whimpers cowardly in a standing-fetal position.
Develius sighs as he simply facepalms in embarrassment. But before anything else can happen, they quickly notice activity arising from the spire...
@A Lowly WretchAs Hyperion stares into the Spire's void-like essence, movement began to become prominent within the nearby caves as darkness bellowed into the forest floor below. It became obvious to the God of Light regarding who he was dealing with, sending an onslaught of memories regarding the battles of old during the Holy Crusades. He tightly grips his holy spear of light, Longinus, as it itself attempts to create a bubble of light around him to counteract the darkness if it gets near. The rivers of darkness congealed into one massive pool of void and up from the depths rose a giant gloaming feminine figure of bleak twilight. Despite being several miles away, the golden knight can still see her just barely peaking over the horizon. He knows exactly who she is all too well and was prepared for nearly whatever is to be thrown at him.
Upon her creation, Hyperion's aura of light began to expand significantly to make his presence known. The angels behind him hid in the bask of his golden glow as even they drew their weapons in the attempt that they would have to do battle against her.
"Oao." boomed Hyperion with a voice that megaphoned throughout the entire valley for miles,
"Goddess of Darkness. I have no need to introduce myself. You already know who I am and why I am here. I have nought any reason why you've erected your darkness at this time and place, but your gloaming darkness is not wanted here. Recall your darkness immediately and there shall be no conflict. It is only for your own good."As soon as he finished, the crater began to expand higher at a rapid pace, slanting the surrounding ground at a forty-five degree angle. The aura loomed over him as it got closer and closer to his position. Hyperion's bubble of light was able to keep most of the fear-aura from affecting he and his angelic forces as he stood his ground as an immovable object. Yet the unstable swirling of this heretical body did occasionally seep through his pure bubble. He would find himself fading in and out of reality and fiction, seeing his gleaming golden armor turn jet-black for only a moment before reverting back, and even noting the tips of his angelic feathery wings corrupt into wings like those of a bat or dragon's. Even the eyes behind his helmet would turn in an out from being white to red and back to white again. Yet Hyperion stood his ground, with the angels behind him stood in both awe and utter terror at what divine intervention is going on around them, not daring to move out of their leader's protection bubble.
And soon, the God of Light began to walk towards the crater, struggling against the intense power of this dark spell. With his divine light casting a beacon for his men to follow, they slowly began to approach the thick of it, as the darkness howled and swirled around them in such a chaotic fashion.
"Cease this vile, childish, behavior!" the God of Light boomed through the howling of the darkness,
"Or I will have no choice but to purge this darkness by force!"
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