One

Star of Melody

Sewer tunnel

Downtown, Chicago

Terra, Earth's Solar system

Neutral free Zone

January 14th 2019

Leon gazed up at the midnight sky, millions of stars trailing across the sky while he was laid back on the grasslands in Xiargos Mountain. The stars were what made the night so beautiful, each speck of stars dotted up in the sky like paintings. And though there were millions of them up there, that feeling of loneliness struck his heart from just looking at them. The surrounding area was beautiful, tall giant trees below the Mountains, with a stream of rivers that led to a nearby lake, and a cool breeze that was not polluted like the world of Terrans. But nothing was more beautiful than the face of the girl who was staring down at him. She was in her early twenties, her brown skin shined brighter in the night, and her honey colored hair brushed against his ear as she whispered his name to him. Leon drew her close to himself, pressing his lips against hers softly while he breathed in the smell of lemons and junipers, the smell making his body relax enough for him to close his eyes. The feeling of exhilaration was so intense that Leon couldn't bear to close his eyes anymore. He opened his eyes to find the girl was gone and something was wrong with his surroundings. There was black smoke in the sky from the fire that was burning through the Giant forest below him. Leon tried moving towards it but then the shadows materialized from the ground, surrounding him on all sides. The shadows began to morph into humanoid shapes, the stench of Infernal energy oozing off them. He heard someone scream his name as one of the shadow shapes shoved a blade through him. He was tumbling, and then the shadows stepped aside to reveal a girl running towards him. It was the same girl from before but she looked different. She still looked amazing to behold but her Terran appearance was gone, replaced by an alien shade of green hair and golden green eyes. She was beautiful and fierce though a great sadness was within her. She knelt beside him on the ground, crying and calling his name. Leon wanted to clear away the tears from her face because he had made a promise to her. A promise that she would never have the need to shed tears for him. But something held him back. All he could do was watch the darkness surround her, taking her away from him, pulling him towards the raging light at...

"Leon! Leon! Wake the fuck up already." Emily's voice snapped, as her hand followed in slapping Leon Haravok back to the stinking sewage of Chicago. The place was dark with the sound of flowing water mixed with the disgusting smell of waste products. He blinked away the fog that was burning through his mind, remembering where he was and what he was here for. Leon pulled himself off the ground, groaning as Emily helped him up to his feet.

"That was close," He said smiling as he checked his armor. The energy blast that the Erlking had blasted him with had sent Leon flying across the sewer. He had been unconscious for some time- enough for him to delve back into his subconsciousness where his dreams had been waiting for him. He wished he had the time to find out the meaning behind these dreams, to analyze them, and to find out why they were troubling him... But time, it seems, was not on his side nor did he even have the patience for it. He was so close...

"You're lucky that blast didn't rip a hole through your chest," Emily said. "Lucky for you your Defensive skill is up to par." The pink highlight in her hair was stained with dirt. And so were the rest of her body. Sweat beaded her dark brown forehead, the sweat making her midnight black hair stick to cover half of her face. Her black jacket was torn and I could see a gash across her leg that seemed to still be bleeding, though it was slowly healing. Other than that, she was okay. Leon, on the other hand, was still feeling the brunt of the Erlking's attack. His ribs felt like they had been hit by a sledgehammer. If he hadn't activated his defensive skill at the moment of impact, he would be dead right now. His body shivered at the thought of it. This hunting trip wasn't going as smoothly as he had planned.

"I doubt luck had anything to do with it," Leon responded. It just wasn't his fate to die here. Leon thought to himself at the same time. It had been two months since the Senate had kicked them out of the collective planets within the Divine Federation and they were forced to relocate to Terra, one of the thousand planets in the Neutral Free Zone. Leon had spent most of his free time chasing down any leads that would finally get him to the Fallen Stars. But so far none of them had held up to be real. This was the twelfth one that he was chasing down and Emily had insisted on coming with him. The information he possessed had pointed him towards one of the many shitty sewers of Terra. It was there where he and Emily had encountered the dark beast breaking the Sacred Accord. Leon's first thought was that this lead was going to be easier than the other leads that he had previously followed on other planets. Reality had turned out to be more cruel than he realized. It turned out that the Erlking was more powerful than he had anticipated and due to that, Leon had underestimated the Beast. His head throbbed with pain from Abomination's attack. The memory of the vision came to his mind but he ignored it. He had to focus on what was at stake. Leon turned to Emily whose eyes were closed. She was tracking the creature's movement with her mind. Better her than him. Emily's skill as a tracker was above been his.

"It seems to be injured but it's still moving." She said as she opened her eyes. "This way" She ran off with him after her. They ran so fast that they were like the wind blowing through the sewer, moving as inhumanly fast as possible. Leon had to keep a mental note to slow his speed down to Emily's level as she was the one tracking the creature. The sewer was dark, but it did not affect them as their eyes were able to adjust to the darkness, Well enough that Leon could pick out the creatures waiting to ambush them within it. He summoned his Seriphium blade as the Striges- bat-like creatures with a humanoid looking face with a beak for a mouth and a long thin tail with a blade at its end. Leon channeled Od through his sword, activating its power as he slashed through the creatures. He cut through them so easily, not caring for their numbers as they tried to use it to overwhelm them. Emily was also fighting behind him, cutting them apart with her usual stoic face, her silver daggers flashing in the darkness of the tunnel. Fucking Erlking. Striges were not inhabitants of Terra, so how in the Nine Hells did it summon it? Heat flowed through Leon's veins as his blade shined brighter with it. He didn't want to waste his Od dealing with these weak creatures, but he needed to get rid of them to get to the Abomination. So Leon activated an elemental technique, releasing rays of golden light that shot like bullets, wiping the rest of the Striges.

"You couldn't do that at the start," Emily said as she continued tracking the Erlking. They resumed going deeper within the tunnel. Emily stopped moving as soon as they came to a dead-end and Leon stopped right by her side. The Erlking was waiting for them by the wall, one of its hands caught off thanks to Leon. It had stopped bleeding and no doubt if left alone, It would regenerate the lost limb. The creature was tall and huge with black fur covering his entire shoulders. It wore dirty pants that were ripped around the legs. The Erlking's eyes were bloodshot, its mouth opening to reveal the rounds of fangs that it had. The Erlking was playing around with symbols that were etched on the wall. They were glowing orange, power activating it as a crack formed on the wall, revealing a portal. 

"Leaving already. And I thought we were having so much fun," Leon smiled. Swirling his sword around, Leon got into a battle stance. " Before you leave, mind telling me what I want to know, pretty please."

"Stop playing with the prey and let's finish him off," Emily said with a bit of an edge to her voice. Though her face held no emotions, Leon could tell that her guard was up and she was exercising a lot of caution. He, on the other hand, had given up putting any defense. "That's what made him blast you before. Because you wanted to do it the easy way." He groaned desiring to drag the fight on as much as he could, putting some excitement that he had been missing out for weeks but Emily was right, as usual. He needed to get what he came for as quickly as possible and get rid of it.

"You're the ones who are gonna die, Paladins." The Erlking roared. Its bloodshot eyes were tinged with madness. For the fourth time since he encountered the beast, Leon wondered how the beast had become an Abomination. Among the thousand planets within the Neutral free zones, Terra was one of the planets with the lowest spiritual power. One didn't get to meet as many Abominations here due to their lack of interest in it. The Erlking jumped right at Leon at the same time that he leaped towards the Beast. Leon quickly used Sky-walk to move through the air away from it as he hacked his blade across its ribs. Blood splashed out as the beast tried lunging for Emily. A circle of light manifested around Emily, her cold eyes shined bluish as she made some gesture with her fingers. The air pressure around her increased then slammed the Erlking against the wall. Ice formed around it, binding the creature's movement, the cold permeating throughout its body. Leon swiftly landed in front of the creature. The beast was seething with rage, a thick spurt of saliva was coming out of his razor-sharp teeth. He felt a spike in the Odyllic around him, and the Abomination's dark power increased slightly. It released a blast of energy that melted the ice away, and with a huge sonic boom, his razor-sharp claws came for Leon's neck. He grinned ecstatically at the pathetic display of the Beast that was trying its best to fight back. Leon felt relief at the opportunity to release some of his pent up emotions against the pitiful creature. He summoned a blade of pure golden light that went through the backhand of its clawed palm, using the blade to drag the Erlking through the space around him, and then pined the creature to the ground. Blood gushed out, the heat of the light burning through the creature's flesh. The smell of the burnt skin only made Leon's heart beat faster. He swept his Seriphium sword at it, but the creature, in its desperation to avoid his blade, tore his hand from his Light blade. The exhilaration from this fight was beginning to wane as Leon could tell that this creature was not enough of a threat to him. Leon was a Paladin of the House of Leo, and sure he might be banished right now by the Federation, but he was the best of the best for a reason. Leon sighed as he judged the wound all over the Erlking. Some of its minor injuries were healing, but its torn left arm was regenerating slowly and its right hand was severely damaged. Maybe I should put it out of its misery. He thought...

Nah, fuck that. He vanished from his spot and appeared beside the creature, sending a kick at its face. The Erlking hit the wall with a booming sound that echoed through the sewer, but Leon didn't wait for it to recover as he made more combo attacks at it at frightening speed, a speed that was close to the subsonic speed. When the creature became disoriented enough, its body unable to support itself due to the vertigo it was experiencing, Leon finally summoned more of his Light blades which resulted in a golden shower of weapons on the erlking. When the dust cleared, a pool of blood was drenching his boots. The Erlking was bound to the same spot, golden swords, and spears pierced through its body into the ground. It was bleeding profusely, though it was still alive. The beast was more tenacious than Leon had judged.

"So are you going to tell me what you're doing down here," Leon said with a yawn. The fight was over.

"I'll tell you nothing," it muttered, throwing up blood. Leon with disgust in his mouth grabbed the beast by the jaw, smelling the taste of its fear. There was also the smell of urine and shit mixed in with it but Leon couldn't resist the tingling pleasure at the creature's pain. He smacked its head, breaking some of its fangs. It howled in pain, but that didn't stop him from smacking it again and again. The ecstasy that Leon once felt was gone, leaving behind nothing but a hollow feeling. But he still kept smacking the miserable creature till most of its fangs were gone. Then he grabbed the hair on its head and brought his face down to its ear.

"You don't have to tell us anything," Leon said. He nodded at Emily who grabbed hold of the Erlking's neck. Leon took some steps back to watch as Emily did her thing.

"Do you think that this female can get what you want from me?" It tried to roar but all it could do was groan out its words.

"Emily's the best at getting information," Leon said. "Don't worry, you don't have to talk for it to work." Leon quickly cut its tongue as it tried roaring again. Blood sprinkled out, staining its fur. He was tired of it making so much noise.

"This is going to hurt more," Emily said as she placed her hand at the Erlking's temple. The Abomination screamed in pain as Emily drilled through pieces of its psyche. Leon watched impatiently as Emily tore through every mental ward that it might have placed in its mind. As he stood there watching Emily, he couldn't help going back to the time when they were in Agartha before the Stellar Councils. It had been the fourth time Leon had been brought before them about his actions during missions. He remembered the way the Truth Seeker had dug through his head to see events from his perspective. It had not been a pleasant experience, someone being able to break down his wards and violate his thoughts. He could imagine what the Erlking was going through but it wasn't enough to make him change his mind about letting Emily do the same to it. The scream stopped as Emily let go of it. He vanished the weapons that were impaling the creature, letting it slump to the ground.

"I... I couldn't find anything. It's too murky in there," She said in a low voice. Though there wasn't a single shred of emotion on Emily's face, he could tell that she despised what she had done even though it was to an Abomination. The Erlking roared in laughter as it tried to get up from the ground with its remaining arm. Its tongue was probably back. It healed the tongue faster than the rest of its body.

"Fools. You have no idea what's com-" Leon shoved his blade through its throat, cutting him off. He couldn't help but watch as the blood spilled out of its mouth, the speck of light and life within its eyes that was snuffed away, bringing him as close to genuine pleasure, unlike the way their fight had ended up. Leon pulled his blade away and cleaned it with the sleeves of his jacket as the Beast's body disintegrated into particles of black dust. The kill was not enough to satisfy his frustration. Still, Leon could compensate with the Shard that the Erlking had left behind after it's death.

"Well, that's a waste of our time," Emily said. "You know we could have just taken it in for confinement. I'm sure the Guardians would want to know how an Abomination got to this planet."

"You remember that we don't work for the Guardians right," Leon said. "And besides I doubt Golden Dawn won't mind us cleaning up one of their trash, not after how many souls that shit has taken."

"Still though, I don't like messing on their turf," Emily said. "We're on thin ice as it is with Starlight if Golden Dawn decides we've overstayed our welcome..." 

"Relax, you worry too much," Leon said, bringing out a flask to chug on it. He figured that alcohol might put him in a better mood.

"I only worry because of you," Emily said as Leon picked up the Essence stone that came from the Erlking. It was a blackish-orange tinted shard that was filled with Odic energy. Leon added the stone to his collections in his dimensional storage, the silver band that was on his right wrist. "Still though, I wonder where the Beast was planning to go." They turned to the portal on the wall that had been deactivated as soon as the Erlking was dead.

"Probably somewhere in the Hidden world," Leon said, sipping his alcohol. Emily had gone over to the wall, examining the symbols on it. The runes on the wall looked to be ancient, though Leon had no idea how something like this could be underground in the sewer of Chicago of all places.

"I've never seen runes like this before," She said. Emily was very knowledgeable when it came to the Arcane art, so the fact that she couldn't recognize it meant something. "There's a slight similarity between the runes we use but it's not the same. Do you recognize it?" Leon took a look at the strange symbols, trying to make heads of them. The runes looked similar to the Celestial runes used by the Clerics of Starlight Temples but something about it felt different.

"Must be some kind of offshoot rune," He said. Leon touched it, and there was a spark of resistance that pushed his fingers off it. "Ouch," He sucked his index finger from the soreness. Emily bought out her Zodiak and began to capture the image of the wall. After she was satisfied with what she had, she turned to Leon.

"I'm going to send it to Ginny, and see what she thinks of it," Emily said. She put away her device, bought out a silver disk from her pocket, and placed it on the ground. "Ready to get out of here."

"Yeah," Leon said. Emily tapped the red button in the middle of the Exodus which activated a gateway. Blue light swept out of it and covered them, taking them away from the sewers of Chicago and back to the penthouse suite they had booked for their stay in Chicago. It was one of the few major hotels in this land that had among its clientele members of the Hidden World. As Leon and Emily walked through the entrance hall, one of the Receptionists came over to them. It was a Demi-human female, dressed in the hotel's black and red uniform. Her fox ear sprouted from her long braided brown hair, her fox tail twisting excitedly as she came to Leon. She had in her hand a tray that was covered with foil and was excited to give him the dish.

"Leo..Mister Haravok, Here's the dish I spoke of," She said, pushing the dish onto his hand. Leon remembered the receptionist from two nights ago. They had met in the bar of the hotel where he had briefly spoken about some of the Delicacies of the Hidden world he would love to try while he was in Terra. Later that night, he walked her to her place and some fun stuff happened while he had been there. He warmly received the dish from her, smiling at her. She blushed, trying to avoid looking at him.

"Thanks, Alicia," He said sniffing the tray. It was an unfamiliar scent but a good one nonetheless. Alicia squeaked and went back to her desk while Emily and he took the elevator up to their suite. He uncovered the dish as warm steam came off it. It was a brownish pud of meat. Leon took the fork, cut some chunks of it, and ate it. Hmm. It had a soft and warm texture that felt like it was sizzling as he swallowed it. He turned the dish to Emily who only gave him a look. It was a cold glare, but it said a lot more.

"It's really good," He said.

"Thanks, but I'm not interested in fried Slime pudding," Emily said as the Elevator opened to where their suite was. Leon had booked the room for their use while they were in Chicago and it turned out to be a good thing cause it had taken them quite some time to get any intel. The penthouse suite wasn't as luxurious as the ones back in the Federation, though it was still good enough for a planet like Terra. There was a fine view of the city that you could view from the terrace, two-level floors with four separate rooms upstairs, one of them a luxurious bathroom with an incredibly hot water system. The living room was filled with design-like furniture, an electric fireplace warming the room. It was all very mundane and backward for Leon's liking. He finished the dish and dumped it in the sink of the Kitchen.

"So when are we returning back to Luna," Emily asked. She was quite tired of being on this planet. Since their arrival on Terra, Emily had gotten quite sick of the planet itself. The food sucked, the air felt wrong, and the color of the planet just felt sickening to her. But she had kept all that to herself, not wanting to complain or make a big deal out of it. The Moon, where they were originally staying, thanks to Golden Dawn, was a lot better than the planet itself.

"Not yet," Leon said as he took off his jacket and jumped on the couch stretching his body.

"Leon-"

"I still have things to check out," Leon said.

"Fine. I'm going to wash up," Emily said. She couldn't stand the smell of the planet on herself. Leon nodded as he pulled out a silver tablet from the inside of the jacket he had taken off while drinking some more from his flask. While Emily cleaned up, he decided to check the Starlight network. He tapped the screen of the tablet. Sigils and glyphs sprung up from the screen, containing information that only a Paladin could read. Starlight Network was a telecommunication system used by Starlight to post missions and assignments for any Paladins who were interested in it. It could also be used by Paladins to send secret messages to one another if one didn't want to use the traditional Firelight system. Leoon swiped through the usual information that was stored there. There wasn't that much information about the Fallen stars except for the ones that he already knew about. A group of former Paladins who had turned against the Starlight order and the Federation and had started an Uprising twenty years ago. While most of them had been killed off or imprisoned for their "crimes", there were still fallen Star members out there waiting in the shadows for a second chance to start another Uprising. And Leon couldn't afford to let that happen again. He didn't care if Starlight and the Federation were trying to move on from what had happened, he wasn't and couldn't. Leon knew they were still a threat and he was going to do something about it. Finding them was just the issue. No accurate information out there except for the rumor that they had taken refuge in one of the worlds in the Neutral free zones. Though some of the information he had chased in the past was truly bogus, he believed that they were hiding somewhere in the Neutral Zones. Thank the gods they had been banished in this Quadrant of the universe and not somewhere else. Leon paused as he left the Starlight network, and began to check the Golden Dawn network for any strange event. He was not a part of the organization, but due to family ties, Leon had some pull with them. There were no recent reports or posts of any attack in Chicago about Abominations, which was kind of weird. Leon thought of the intel that had led him and Emily to that Abomination. That thing had been hunting and killing for quite some time, and its presence alone should have been enough to draw the Golden Dawn's attention. But somehow that Beast stayed under the radar. Leon sighed. He had truly hoped that the beast would have some knowledge about the Fallen stars but as usual, he had come up empty. Leon's hand went to his chest which was still hurting. He took a swing of his drink as he examined his hand which was shaking.

"So what's it like out there?" He looked up to see Emily climbing down the stairs, all cleaned up spotting a clean pink t-shirt and a black skirt with black leggings, her favorite black combat boot.

"Too quiet," Leon said. "It seems the Abomination's presence never reached the Golden Dawn's attention,"

"Any more information about the Fallen stars," Emily said. He knew she knew the answer to that but she wanted him to say it out loud.

"Emily..."

"No, Listen to me Leon, enough is enough. You've spent the last eight years of your life and mine, which I forgive you, by the way, chasing down any leads on the Fallens. And so far none of them have panned out anything." Emily said. She didn't look as exasperated as she sounded, the contrast between the sound of her voice and her expression was not something new to him. But he could tell that she was tired of this planet, and wished to get back to Luna. She was content staying in Luna till their exile wore off, then they could go back home.

"My source told me that I might find what I was looking for here," Leon said, thinking about the broker he had met who had sold him the information. Maybe he should visit her again. He had paid dearly for the information, and nothing had come out of it. well, he had gotten an extremely valuable Essence stone. But money was something Leon was lacking in

"Might. Well, it turns out that you didn't." Emily said.

"Maybe he did something to himself," Leon mumbled that part to himself. "Some kind of protection… He...He might have been able to alter his memory some way-"

 "He didn't. And who is this source anyway? Is it the same one that got us banished? Why won't you tell me who it is?" Emily asked. 

"You promised you wouldn't ask questions," Leon said. Leon didn't want to think about the incident that got them banished, even though he was grateful for Emily following him into his exile.

"Look, Leon. You know that I want to help you but we've been digging this hole for too long and we haven't found any bones yet." Emily said. "Maybe we should just let go and ride out this banishment till the Federation lifts it."

"You and I know that the Federation is not that forgiving," Leon said standing up from the couch. "The only way that we get to go back home is to prove that we were right all along and that the Fallen stars are out there." He dropped the tablet on the coffee table and headed towards the stairs.

"Where are you going now ?" Emily asked.

"I'm gonna go freshen up and get some answers," He said.