1 The Beginning

Oh, Sweet Lullaby,

Rock my child to sleep.

For the cradle must not stop rocking,

For I fear for thee to awake.

Let the sweet voices of thy angels whisper in your ears,

Let the darkness shield you from prying eyes.

Let me be thine support because thine path is long and rough.

I shall give thee a weapon to protect thyself,

And a shield to protect thy friends.

Remember, oh child of mine,

For fear is thy best friend and thy worst enemy.

"Oh, woe is to my child for thee hath to face thy destiny."

-Lotus Snow

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"The time of beginning starts when something ends to pave the way for the new era to begin. An equal amount of energy must be given to create something new. A life flickers and ends, sending itself outward like a big bang. From the collection of energy sent out from death, the accumulated power greedily pulls the precious energy back in. Death has formed a black hole. From the void, a spark is let loose, signaling the beginning of a new creation."

–Snow

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"Aurelius! Aurelius!" Heavy knocking could be heard as the door violently shook. A male voice yelled impatiently at Aurelius to wake up from his deep slumber. "Aurelius! Get up! You are going to be late!"

Groaning, Aurelius' hand searched for the snooze button on the alarm clock. Lifting his tired arm, he slammed down in hopes of silencing the annoying ear-shrieking noise, but instead, the alarm fell over to the ground with a loud thunk.

Disheveled, feathery silver-white hair was tangled up in a bird's nest, covering half of his face as it tickled his nose. His hand reached up to brush it aside, and drool was smeared across his rosy cheeks and he wiped it away.

The morning sun peaked through the half-open curtains, bringing unwanted light into his room. He pulled his cover over his head in the hopes of getting back to the comfort of his bed.

"Aurelius! Get up! Why are you still sleeping?" The thundering roar jolted him awake. Who would have thought such a voice would be so loud that it would wake him from his peaceful sleep?

"Wha—?" he groggily replied. Waking up this early in the morning wasn't something that he was happy with. Sleeping until the afternoon and lazing away for a couple more hours was ideal.

"I'm coming in if you're not getting up in the next five minutes. You won't have a door standing here anymore."

"Can I do it tomorrow?" Aurelius weakly replied from his half-awake slumber as he halfheartedly waved over his head. He wasn't in the mood to get up so early in the morning, especially when he had stayed up past three A.M last night reading. He would usually read even later, but he couldn't keep his eyes open long enough to stay awake.

"No!" Lucian yelled. He was getting impatient in waiting for Aurelius. "Your initiation is today. Hurry up!"

Initiation. How could Aurelius forget? The reason he took longer to sleep was explicitly that reason: he was just too nervous. To occupy his mind, he read himself to sleep, allowing the words to bore him. It miraculously succeeded every time.

"Fine." Groaning with displeasure, Aurelius got up with a heavy sigh, and he scratched his bare chest. Pushing the thick covers aside, his feet touched the floor. With a shiver, the cold wooden floor jolted him awake with its welcoming morning wake-up call. An angry hiss escaped in between his lips.

"Why is the floor so cold?" Aurelius squinted, looking down on the floor. A light, thin sheet of blue ice covered the foot of the bed, leading up to the door. "Did Lucian set a cold spell on the floor again?"

Aurelius groaned, not liking what had transpired next to his bed. This was torture to him, and it wasn't the only time that Lucian had found different ways to wake him up.

"It's going to take a while for it to defrost again," Aurelius whined, bringing up his feet an inch off the ground to let it get warm before he tried stepping again.

Sleep.

He needed more of it.

Reaching over across the bed, where a chair stood, Aurelius grabbed his clothes. He pulled over a black t-shirt that had a white devilish tail design on the back of the shirt that stretched from the bottom toward the top. Two pairs of small angel wings were also decorated at the end of the t-shirt. Next, he pulled up his black jeans off the chair and put them on one leg after another. Gold designs lightly accentuated the edge of the clothes with an intricate floral pattern, giving them a subtle flair.

"Aurelius!" Lucian yelled once again, his discontent clear. Aurelius could hear Lucian impatiently rattling the doorknob a few times.

"Alright," Aurelius said in an annoyed but tired tone. "Alright. I'm almost done. Keep your pants on." He slid his shoe on his right foot. With a tired sigh, he got up and tapped his toes a couple of times, allowing his foot to settle in and get comfortable.

Lightly stepping on the floor, Aurelius tried his best not to slip. Tightly holding onto the wall, trying not to fall, he went past the small mirror half his size. He saw his golden eyes reflect at him.

What stared back at him was his disheveled appearance; his finger gently reaching up to untangle the ruffle on his feathered hair. Pushing back, a baby face frowned again at him, creating a small dimple on each cheek. He wasn't considered very masculine in many people's eyes, bordering between slightly feminine features on a male body frame. Women loved it; he hated it.

At times, he would be mistaken for a female instead of a fully grown man, even though he was sixteen years of age. However, his long slender arms and legs didn't compare to the standard of an Esequi Nuntis species. He was considered small, falling about five feet ten inches, while an Esequi Nuntis usually reached past six feet and headed straight to seven. Not only that, but his strange feathery hair and his unique, slightly tanned skin set him apart from the rest. He was considered an oddity in this world, which made people take a second glance whenever they saw him.

Like a newborn lamb, he wearily walked toward the door. A couple of times, his feet almost slipped under him, and he came close to making a perfect split. He had to use the wall to help himself move toward the door without falling. It was such a pain that when he got outside, he wanted to punch Lucian for setting up this deathtrap right next to his bed.

"I'm so getting back at him for this," Aurelius grumbled, stressing the word. He didn't understand why Lucian sometimes went way overboard with using his magic.

Lucian was considered a genius when it came down to magic and technology, but to use it on such a petty trick wasn't him at all. When compared to Aurelius, who didn't know how even to use magic at all, he couldn't help but feel jealous.

Lucian was the rising star in the upcoming Daemon youths. He was the top of the class, the best in everything that he did, and the youngest member to ever be placed into the Daemon's high-level group.

Aurelius sighed, scrunching up his eyebrows, and he took a deep breath to tackle the problem in front of him. The splash of ice on the floor was a little too excessive, making movement very difficult without skidding across the floor and possibly doing a splendid split. Just the thought made him wince as his legs came together.

Shakily, almost losing balance, he inched forward. His body did a weird squiggle-like dance that threw off his balance, where his foot caught on an unsuspecting edge on the floor, stubbing his toe. A sudden, horrible pain shot throughout his whole body. He howled. The moment he lifted his foot even an inch off the ground, he slipped backward and hit against the shelf that was next to him. It was full of collectible toys and books that fell on top of him as he crumbled onto the ground.

Aurelius groaned in pain. He pushed himself up as the books and toys tumbled off. With great difficulty, he picked himself slowly back up. His right hand reached over toward the back of his head, where he felt a pulsing pain.

Why?! Aurelius thought. I was doing just fine balancing without slipping!

He looked down and saw what had stubbed his toe. It was the door frame, jutting out just to make his life more miserable.

Pushing aside the toys, he got up with shaky legs. Carefully, he walked his way toward the door, shifting from one leg to another in a low crotch and holding onto the wall as if his life depended on it. Slipping up again wasn't something that he wanted to do any time soon, especially so early in the morning.

Aurelius was now fully awake and in pain; two of the worst combinations to be in. Turning the doorknob, the door jerked open. His head snapped back as he tumbled forward. Lucian stood in front of the door, catching him just in time before he could have another rough tumble.

"You alright?" Lucian asked. He pushed Aurelius back onto his feet and helped him straighten up.

"No," Aurelius said with an annoyed grumble. Having another close call made his mood even fouler, though he was glad that Lucian was there to break his fall. He brushed back his disheveled white feathery hair behind him and glared at Lucian. "I would appreciate it if you could stop waking me up with your ice magic. This is the second time I fell this week."

"What are you talking about? Asked Lucian. "Second fall? I don't know how to use Ice magic. It's not me," Lucian said, holding up his hand in front of him.

Aurelius blinked a couple of times to clear his vision. His senses were still slightly out of whack since that backward fall, making everything blurry. When his vision finally cleared, he noticed that Lucian was dressed up in his usual red and black outfit. A red bandanna was wrapped around his right wrist and chains were hanging from the buttoned shirt to his pants. He had sharp red eyes that sparkled with a ruby red hue, a very rough masculine, handsome face, but also an icy personality. This, coupled with his long black hair tied in a pony tail and very light brown skin that was close to a golden wheat hue, indicated that he had a high standing in the Daemons' race.

What Aurelius noticed was that compared to the Daemon species, the Angelous was more elegant and very beautiful. Their colors tended to be brighter and cheerier while the Daemons tended to keep darker and richer in colors. The society between the two races, Angelous and Daemons, could be considered the polar opposite of each other in personalities and ideals. They were Esequi Nuntis: one Daemons and the other Angelous.

"Then who did?" Aurelius asked, trying to calm down. His hand crossed in front of him.

Lucian was quiet for a moment, looking at Aurelius innocently and replied, "I think I might know who. I'll show you." He motioned for Aurelius to follow, going into a jog.

Early morning jogs had never been an activity that Aurelius enjoyed. It did fully wake him up; however, washing away any notions of sleepiness, but instead it was only replaced with fatigue.

They continued past the small cottage where Aurelius lived, and out into the open field where different pastel-colored flowers bloomed. It was a beautiful field, and birds would leisurely come in to dive for their daily meals. Some of them glanced up but didn't fly away as they knew that the two young men were no threat. Aurelius didn't have time to gaze upon the beauty of the land, however, as he was bent over, wheezing for breath.

"Lucian! Let me catch my breath. You're killing me." Aurelius' head flopped forward as he rested his hands on his knees. His breathing was shallow and heavy. He thought he tasted a bit of gritty sand from his dry lips, smacking his lips a few times to get it wet. It took a couple of deep breaths before he was able to bring himself back.

Running wasn't his specialty, stamina was his weakness, and he knew that he needed exercise. When he finally settled down, he scanned the surroundings. Out before him were small blue bunnies, hopping around the field and grazing on the flowers. Their ears and noses twitched, looking up at them as the bunnies munched on plants.

"An ice bunny," Lucian replied as if it was the typical answer.

"You serious?" Aurelius asked, not entirely understanding what Lucian was getting at. From his perspective, Lucian had just roped him into a morning jog to go bunny watching. There were times when Lucian did take him out into the wild to watch the animals out in their natural habitat, but right now they were short on time.

"I saw some of its blue fur nearby entangled with the wild flame flowers growing not too far away from your door. Ice bunnies have a natural habit of freezing everything around its vicinity while it's eating. Look." Lucian pointed at a specific bunny.

Aurelius followed the direction where Lucian had pointed. Aurelius squinted to take a good look at what Lucian was talking about. His eyes caught a glimmer of red and blue, sparking off around an ice bunny. Crinkles of ice started forming slowly around the ice bunny, freezing any vegetation near its vicinity. Only the flame flower countered the ice bunny's magic from going out of control. The ice stopped about a good seven feet away before the flame flower dissolved the encroaching ice; allowing the other plants to survive.

It was a strange sight to see an ice bunny eating away at a flame flower, mainly because they were different elements. Aurelius always wondered why the ice bunny didn't melt or get burnt from eating the plant.

"I see." Aurelius thought it over for a moment. He realized that he had to rehome any flame flowers near his cottage so the same incident of waking up and slipping on the floor didn't happen again. The problem was the flame flower's fire could easily burn his fingers. He had to go back to bring out some insulated fire gloves to pick through those hellish flowers.

Aurelius gave out a defeated sigh. There were just way too many things to do today and rehoming the flame flowers was another one of them.

"Let's go. We have an orientation that we need to attend." Lucian turned around and ran into a full-out sprint.

"Come on, more running?" Aurelius let out a wail of distress. Lucian had a knack of pushing him into running too many times. Aurelius didn't want to do an early morning exercise right after he woke up.

"Well, I told you I would be coming to wake you up early, but you still didn't get up. So, to compensate for our lost time, we're going to sprint there, or we're going to be late!" Lucian shouted out as Aurelius began his run.

Aurelius had no choice but to follow, his lungs crying out in riot from the strenuous activity.

They weaved through the tall majestic buildings, hopped over fences, raced through thick crowds, and ran straight toward the large looming gates that bore down upon the new students. Two silent and dangerous Angelous guards stood still. Their soft eyes and features clashed with their glorious armor and gave off an intimidating aura as they patiently watching over their surroundings. If Aurelius hadn't known any better, he would've thought they were statues, but that was the mentality of all Angelous guards. Barely moving, but serious in the work that they did.

Lucian and Aurelius finally slowed down. They went past the guards and through the gate that seemed to extend into a tunnel of bright light. The moment they came out from the other end, they were out in a beautiful open field.

The school grounds were heavily littered with students from Esequi Nuntis species. The Angelous students were all wearing white and gold school uniforms, while the Daemons had on all black and red like Lucian. The only difference was that Lucian had added extra accessories onto his clothes, announcing to everyone that he was a council member; differentiating himself from the rest even more.

In a brilliant red and orange outfit that was made out of fire and showed off quite a lot of skin, a Djinn proudly floated in a wisp of gray smoke. Djinns tended to stick together in groups. Many of the Djinns had geometric tribal tattoos plastered on their arms and also had horns growing out of their foreheads. The most memorable part of the Djinn was the third eye that was situated in the middle of their foreheads.

In brown and green clothes, a handful of mismatched humanoid creatures from different worlds made up the fourth group. They were many different shapes and sizes; all with their own unique cultures and races.

Aurelius straightened his rumpled clothes and gazed around with awe. Rare white flowers with pearly dews dripped down the side, giving the proceedings a glistening glow. Bees buzzed around the flowers, and birds sang their joy, welcoming in the new students.

Everything was natural; even the college building was made partly out of plants, twisting and winding around into an intricate design. In between, the plants were perfectly molded together, with cold metallic machines wrapped around them. Nothing was built by destroying the landscape, and instead they would rebuild on top or around nature. One could tell that the building was created and grown from a master architect, based on the natural and symmetrical design that merged seamlessly into the environment.

"We made it just in time." Lucian patted Aurelius on the back with a grin, startling Aurelius out of his stupor. "We should go find our seats before the ceremony starts."

Aurelius nodded. They walked through the thick crowds, trying not to bump into their shoulders. Thousands of brown plant chairs were placed in neat rows toward the stage. Both of them went toward the back, where Aurelius saw rows of plant chairs that were laid out in the open. Sometimes, he wondered who the architect was who had designed the beautiful school campus. Everything was perfectly picturesque; with nothing out of the ordinary.

He sat down, leaned back, and made himself comfortable. Students filtered in and found their way toward any open chairs that they could find. Loud, excited voices penetrated the air, and groups of different species made their way toward their seats.

Suddenly, the once noisy crowd quickly grew silent, and the sunlight that cast down upon the open field suddenly turned dark as night. Aurelius gasped in surprise. He hadn't expected the blackout to open on a bright sunny day as today.

Usually, something that was powerful enough to change an entire area was done by high tier magic. This wasn't something easily done by a low-level magic wielder but from a high-level Daemon or an Angelous with a tremendous amount of power.

One after another, stars that sparkled endlessly like jewels flew through the sky and embedded themselves into the darkness, representing space. Before them was a 3D projection of the universe, reaching every corner of the field, leaving the students to watch in silence.

A transparent but fluctuating energy wave stormed inwards into the center of the field. Something powerful was taking place in front of their eyes. A giant black hole began to suck in the nearby galaxies at a lightning-fast speed. In a flash, everything in the universe distorted as the black hole began to devour and destroy. From its ravenous hunger, the universe became pitch-black.

No sound.

No movement.

No life.

"Let there be light."

An unknown voice spoke out clear as day. The voice created a dizzying effect that made even the viewers clutch their seats. A single ping of the striking of a piano key could be heard, echoing strongly through the crowd. Aurelius couldn't help but be drawn by the mystical voice that seemed to sing with heartfelt emotions. Its vibrant, passionate voice continually sang; the sound of piano keys dropped in like a light trickle of rain, amplifying the song.

Aurelius thought he heard the sound of his heartbeat, growing louder and louder, mixing and merging with the drumbeats that played in unison. It was as if he was part of the universe, melding in with the music as one. He was completely enthralled in what he was seeing. Fascinated, he grabbed the edge of his chair, leaning slightly forward.

With a bang, the sound of the piano sparked into a burst of bright, electrical brilliance, creating a silent but deadly big bang. The waves of light brought a rapid change of time. The universe quickly expanded to billions of dust particles that compressed, burned, or froze in a matter of milliseconds. Millions of star particles and gassy substances cluttered together magnetically and began to form new life.

In the center of the void, a special planet called Infinitas Infinitio was being formed at a rapid pace. A small nucleus that formed tightly into a seed pulled in dust particles from far and wide. Like a sapling, it blossomed into a crystal lotus flower, while more and more lily pad petals formed around the flowery planet.

The whispers of the universe continued to sing the glory of its birth, bringing it with it a soul-shaking beauty.

Suddenly, the flowery planet began to open. A puff of seeds bubbled out from the center. It morphed and changed, growing into small flower buds, for there were two entwined together like twins.

The first pair of buds consisted of Void and Dark elements. The Void Bud was a swirl of inky darkness with thin transparent lines that tightly danced and weaved; interwoven with one another. The Dark flower bud, however, burned in a pitch-black flame. When the two buds entered the atmosphere, a massive shock wave was sent outward throughout the whole universe.

Phantom creatures of raven's darkness burst from the bulbs like magic tricks as they swept on a journey through the universe. Their flight was silent but deadly. They became giant black holes that devoured any nearby planets that strayed too close, silently merging into the void, leaving behind no trace but destruction upon their wake.

Once again, the flower spat out another seed, allowing it to morph into another set of elemental flower buds: Sound and Light. The Sound Bud was a flower bud; its shape a mix between a speaker and a trumpet, while the light bud burst in a blazing glory. Each rotated and shifted together, creating a symphony of an infinity, twirling among each other like putty.

It spat out white doves that changed into hot gassy planets that boiled into hot stars, while the dark ravens exploded and then imploded throughout the universe. The Sound Bud announced its first voice in a booming echo, creating a symphony of music.

Two more pairs of flowery buds appeared right behind.

They were Gravity and Neutral Elemental Buds, which lazily spread out their power through the universe, bringing with them a set of laws. One was transparent and had a slight grayish color, while the other drew in clusters of space rocks that formed around it. None of the tightly spinning rocks that rotated around the Gravity Bud ever escaped. The two flower buds radiated with precision; the stars followed its example, pulling in with the other nearby space clusters.

The next pair was the Fire and Electricity elemental buds. The blazing fire bud flourished in the dark space, ejecting firebirds in every flare, while electric snakes erratically coiled around the electric bud, buzzing with life.

Giant electric serpents darted outward to the nearest cluster of gas toward another, causing sparks to form as it converged together. For the snake had dived in deeply into the cores of the lifeless stars, breathing it life as a steady heartbeat of life. Rolling thunder echoed as electric storms littered various planets; making the planets inhospitable.

The firebirds blazed across the universe and settled down into any source of hot molten core that the snake had left behind, bringing with them a life of their own. Volcanoes erupted in some planets as if they welcomed the existence of new elements, as landmasses were continuously created and destroyed; reshaping the terrain.

Among the planets were groups that converged and collided with one another; devouring each other to gain mass. Electric sparks blazed forth, firing flames outward, and sucking in large chunks of rocks until they swelled in size. Eventually, some of the planets became twice as large, leaving behind only a small moon that revolved around the planet, while others only remained as chunks of debris, careening outward into space itself.

The fourth group of elemental buds were frozen blue ice and interchanging Water Elemental Buds. Millions of koi fish made out of water sprung forth from the Water Elemental Bud and swam through space. Not even a second later, they all crackled and became stiff as they quickly froze into giant boulders of ice. They became stray asteroids that traveled mindlessly through the universe.

As the blocks of ice traveled through space, they arrived upon different planets, and they crashed into the fiery, volcanic worlds. For those that did, their ice melted quickly as they entered into the stratosphere, until eventually they became rain. Some iced fish were too large, and they became trapped in the gravitational pull, becoming moons.

Following the koi fish were the Wind and Cloud Elemental Buds. A woosh of wind, swirling into a tornado, became a light blue bud, while the second was composed of a large fluffy gray thunderstorm cloud that intermingled into a variety of shapes. Since the entrance of the new buds, certain planets around the universe started to form thick milky gray clouds, covering their surface.

Rolling thunder echoed across the planets' surfaces as heavy rain pelted down onto rocky terrain. Water levels started to rise over millions of years as if time had sped up; eventually, one planet in particular formed growing oceans with large landmasses protruding out of the water.

The Earth and Wood Elemental Buds materialized next, forming into their own respective shapes. A shifting green core formed into an exotic foliage that wrapped itself tightly into knots; even a soft white bubble gently formed around it, keeping it alive in space.

On the other hand, the Wood Elemental Bud was brown with the thick twisted knots of a tree trunk. After both of the buds' entrances into the universe, green grass, wildflowers, trees, and a variety of plants sprung forth from the desolate land of water and land. The clouds parted way as the sky cleared up, allowing the sunlight to enter through.

Finally, the last Elemental Buds—the buds of the Spirit and Soul—were brought forth. These were not like any other Elemental Buds. Together, they swirled around each into geometric patterns of purple and violet. Their energy split into a swirl of lines, shooting out toward the other buds; tying them together.

A pulse of purple light erupted outward as the mysterious aura of a horse spirit thundered across the universe, galloping in an excited frenzy, and bringing life along with it. Animals that had never before inhabited the fertile ground crawled out from the ocean floor, growing, coexisting, and even preying upon each other as they evolved over time.

With the appearance of all sixteen Elemental Buds, the frenzied universe's activities started to calm down. Instead, the buds floated around the central flower in a geometric pattern. Each one of them began to fluctuate as their power synchronized. A blast of energy lines shot out from each bud, connecting to one another into an intricate barrier of a Metatron's cube like a giant puzzle piece. And with each passing second, the buds moved with methodical clicks and snaps, creating new and old patterns.

With a final quiver of its activity, a bright electric pulse was sent outward, until finally, the energy came back full circle. It changed into a dark electrical pulse that shot directly into the world of Infinitas Infinitio, signaling the end of the scene.

A powerful surge of energy washed over the crowd; revitalizing the students. Everyone was speechless.