Chapter Three

-Emily-

 When death comes knocking

Downtown, Chicago

Terra, Earth Solar system

Neutral Free Zone

Ianuarius 14th Y-909 C.E

 One thing Emily hated most in the world was lying. Especially to Leon. She held her breath, waiting for him to leave the room. As soon as she couldn't feel his presence, Emily bought out her Zodiak device. She switched it on and accessed the Starlight network. Emily had already sent Ginny the images of the strange symbols on the wall from the tunnel to try and see if she could decipher them, But now she needed Ginny's help for something else. Memories that she had pried from the Erlkings' minds rose up. It had not been easy breaking down all those wards. Emily had never met a mental defense that was as good as the Erlking, but luckily she was the best at getting the truth. One of its memories had gotten her attention because she had recognized It. It was a standard code used by the Starlight Order for Geographical coordinates. Written in Celestial runes. What the hell was a starlight code doing in the mind of a Dark Fae? Emily knew she should have told Leon about it. They were supposed to be in it together. But then again, there were things neither of them told each other. Ever since they had left Agartha for their exile in the Neutral free zone, Leon had become more agitated than he normally was. He tried his best to hide what was going on, but Emily knew him. Maybe better than she even knew herself. They had gone through every clue that they could find that could pertain to the Fallen Star's whereabouts. But they had come up short for so long. And now there was this. She wasn't sure about these coordinates, but if they were clues...she had to be sure before involving Leon. Emily put the codes in the Location algorithm while praying to the gods that this could be the clue they needed. But it came up empty. What the hell? She tried it again, and it came up empty again. Something didn't feel right.

"Ziron, Contact Ginny," Emily said to the tablet.

"Affirmative." the mechanical voice boomed. A flash of light and a hologram of Ginny popped up. She was dressed in a white coat, her goggles raised up her forehead. There were burn stains across her face, and her blond hair was messy. Probably from all the work she was doing. Her youthful appearance made her look like a bratty sixteen year old, but Emily knew better than that.

"Oh gods, it's you, Emily." She said flatly. Her lack of excitement at seeing Emily was a little bit disappointing. She probably assumed Leon had been the one contacting her. Emily didn't blame the girl. Half of their class at the Academy had been in love with the boy, while the other half had probably slept with him. Ginny was no exception to falling for his charms. Emily cleared her throat, letting the girl know how serious she was.

"There's something I want you to check out. I'm sending it to you now," Emily said in a cold voice. Ginny flinched at the icyness of the tone as Emily transferred the code from her Zodiak to hers. "Do you see it?"

"Yeah, some kind of code. A geographical code." Ginny said impatiently. Emily concluded from her tone that she had disturbed whatever work Ginny was doing. "You know you can just use the Starlight Network to track it down right."

"Tried that, but nothing came up," Emily said. "It looks like the coordinates we normally use, but the Network doesn't recognize it."

"Hmm, that's because the coordinates are not in the Networks file." She said, "Does this have anything to do with the unapproved mission you and Leon are on or the strange symbols you sent me?" Emily stared at the girl, a small titch by her lips showed her annoyance at Ginny.

"Yes, It's really important to Leon that we know where the coordinates lead," Emily said with a cool expression as she lied. She didn't mind using Leon to manipulate the girl into doing what she wanted.

"Hmm. Okay, but you tell him I helped with his mission, alright." She said. Emily gave a slight nod. Ginny smiled as she went on to do the work. It took her mostly about fifteen to twenty minutes before she was done. "Wow, whoever made that code was fucking good."

"But you've got the coordinates," Emily said tentatively. Ginny raised her eyebrows at her in a mocking kind of way.

"Duh, Of course I did." She said, "Didn't take me long to figure out what kind of code it was. It looks similar to the one used by Starlight, but there's a slight difference to it. That's why the system couldn't break it. Whoever made that code went to a lot of trouble to hide that location. I tracked the place down to somewhere in Chicago. Not far from where you are. Some kind of facility. I suppose it might be a Starlight outpost. But the thing is, there's no record of it in the Network system. Which is weird. Federation law states that all Starlight Order bases in the Neutral free zones should be registered. Where did you say you got this from."

"Can't say right now," Emily said.

"Well, whatever it is, it sounds dangerous. I've sent you the coordinates. Tell Leon to be careful." She said.

"Sure," Emily said, taking a look at the coordinates. She was right. The coordinate led to somewhere on this planet. Emily still couldn't understand how the Erlking had gotten hold of this information or why Leon's source would lead them to it. And that was when she remembered something else.

"Hey, Do me and Leon a favor," Emily said. Ginny raised an eyebrow at Emily, her impatience with her was beginning to show more clearly. "Contact the Guardians and see if they can send a clean-up crew."

"For what," She said. 

"We killed an Erlking that broke the Accord. Its body should be laid out there for a human to see," Emily said. Normally in cases when an Accord was broken, the Guardians were responsible for investigating and dealing with it. The Erlking had broken one of the most sacred laws of the Accord by feeding on humans, and yet nothing had been done about it. Even though Leon and her had gotten involved, they were not allowed to interfere in a planet's affairs outside the Federation. Still, something about the situation had irked her. Why didn't the local government of the Hidden World report anything to the Guardians? Shit, maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. Emily barely knew how things worked here on this planet or how the Guardians differed from the Paladins of the Federation.

"So you want me to anonymously call in," Ginny said.

"That would be kind of great," Emily said.

"Sure, anything for Leon," She said. And she was gone. Emily sighed as she looked up the coordinates again. The location was in a place called the Promontory Point in Burnham Park. Whatever this was, Emily had to check it out for herself. Before she brings Leon into it. Emily went back to the upstairs room to change her outfit. She had made sure to bring two combat gears with her. She wore the one that was not filthy from the sewer. Emily also brought out the Weapon's box that she had bought along on the mission. She pressed the opening rune on it, and the box opened. There were different sizes of daggers arranged inside it. Each of them was forged from Admant metal, making them conductive towards Od. Emily made sure to take as much as she could fit within her weapons belt. She also hid some within her combat boots. And then, she took out one standard Seriphium blade. The blade was a shortsword with a double edge, an onyx guard, and hilt. The silver blade had runes etched on it, the runes acting as pathways for the Odic energy contained within it. When Emily felt that she was packing as many weapons as she could possibly take with her, she activated her Exodus, which sent her right to the location.

 ****

There was a masonry field house atop a meadow in Promontory Point. Emily could smell the Lake from where she stood, cloaked within the Grey. She was still getting used to the feeling of hiding within the mystical field of this particular planet. It wasn't something she was used to. Terra was the only planet within the Neutral Free zone that possessed the weird attribute, and it was one of the reasons why Emily didn't like the planet. Inside the Grey, separated and hidden from the mundane world, was the outpost. Emily instantly knew something didn't feel right. Not because of the presence of death and sulfur that was coming out of the building. But the fact that there wasn't any barrier around it. Most Starlight bases had barriers for security purposes. And this was supposedly some kind of top-secret facility. She carefully walked through the front doors, careful not to step on any of the gores that were on the floor. Though the place was dark, her sight adjusted well to it. The smell of sulfur meant that an Abomination had been here. She pulled out some of her Adamant daggers and extended her senses around the building. No sign of life but death. Emily could feel the echoes of the pain and fear that had been imprinted within the building. Most of the power of the building was gone, but there had to be a backup power being supplied to the building because some of the lights further down the hallway were glowing. As Emily passed all the bodies, she could have sworn that she saw shadows etched on the walls. The shadows represented the imprint of the dead's soul within the Physical realms, and through the shadows, Emily could experience the death echoes that were reverberating throughout the building. She was suddenly aware of the necklace that was tied around her neck. She was half tempted to take it out and pray, but Emily didn't. Praying was something she had long given up on. She searched her surroundings, taking in the structure of the building's interior. This must be some kind of Science division facility. Most of the bodies wore white lab coats. And there was the House of Aquarius symbol etched in the front hallway. The House of Aquarius were the ones in charge of the science and tech division within Starlight. And most of the tech Industries within the Federation belonged to the House. So the symbol confirmed her suspicions about this facility belonging to Starlight Order. But why would the Order have a facility like this here on this Planet? As Ginny said, in the Federation constitution 10.2, Starlight Order could only establish bases within the Neutral free zones to monitor any danger or threat in any of the undeveloped worlds. But the base had to be outside the planet, not within, like this one. Just this building being here could be seen as Starlight breaking the law of the Federation. She entered a room filled with what looked like containment pods. They were broken and damaged from whatever attack had happened. More bodies were in here. One of the bodies wore a tactical uniform that she didn't recognize as that of the Order. There had to be a network hub around here. She found a Zodiak monitor and bought her tablet. If she could hack into the facility's network, maybe she could get some clues as to what this place was. And whatever the hell had happened here. She activated the Zodiak and commenced to connect to it through her own device.

"Connect me to the main network, Ziron," Emily said. A flash of sigils and symbols blew out of her tablet, the images appearing and disappearing at a fast pace.

"Password authentication Required," Ziron said. She couldn't take a chance on a guess. Wrong one, and this whole place could go up. She had no choice but to contact Ginny again.

"Contact Ginny again," Emily said to the tablet. Ginny popped up, her goggles were back to covering her eyes, and she had a hacksaw in her hands.

"You again." She said, "You know this is the most you've ever called on me."

"That's not.." Ok. Maybe it was true. Leon had always been the one to rely on Ginny when they needed technical help on their missions. "Can you just help me hack into this mainframe? It's for Leon. I sent a link to your Zodiak." She sighed and nodded. She picked up her tablet and began to work on it.

"Whoa!." She said. The look of surprise made her look younger than she was. "What the fuck is this."

"What is it," Emily asked.

"I've logged into the Mainframe. That part wasn't that hard. But the entire network is encrypted with some kind of code language I've never seen before," She said. "This is some high-end fucking encryption. Backed up by some kind of security enchantments I've never seen before. It's gonna take me some time to get through the system."

"How long will it take," Emily asks.

"I'm not sure. A day...maybe a week. I don't know, two weeks tops." She said, "From what I can tell, any mistake and the whole system comes crashing down."

"Fine. I'll transfer the data to your end. That should give you all the time you need." Emily said.

"Beat you to it. Already done." Ginny said. " This should be fun." And she was gone. Emily placed her tab back into her pocket after disconnecting from the Facility's Zodiak. As she turned away from the pods, something caught her eye. She went over to one of the pods and bent to pick up what looked like a rock. It burnt her hand upon contact. She swore, letting go of it. A little bit of aura was emitting out, and like that, the energy that had once been there was gone from the rock. She picked it up again, and the coolness she felt was staggering. Cold, like it was frozen. It must be some kind of mineral ore. Emily thought. She placed it in her pouch on her weapons belt. After that, Emily moved on to the other rooms, observing them. The rest of the rooms were also labs with more container pods. But they were empty, still no clue as to what they were studying. Emily began to get bored, so she took a look at the last room all the way on the lower floor of the base. This room was different from the rest as she couldn't sense the presence of death within it. When she opened the door, all she could see was darkness spread out throughout the inside. Even her eyes couldn't see through the darkness, but that didn't stop her from stepping foot inside. Her right leg stepped on what felt like stairs, so she continued going down. Emily took out her sword, activating the Odic power within it. The blade glowed with a brilliance of pale light, showing long stairs that led in a spiral fashion down the building. By the time the stairs came to an end, the echoes of death that Emily felt vanished. It was like she was in a different space, the atmosphere entirely different. As her leg touched the floor, candles of light began igniting around the room, showcasing a pattern of runes engraved around Emily. The room was shaped like a circle, the walls were made out of granites that had the runes glowing in an emerald light. In the middle of the room was a monolith, a huge palish shard of rock that was three meters tall. And on the monolith were the same symbols from the wall in the sewers that the Erlking had been guarding. Emily stared at it, still unable to recognize the symbols. They looked like the runic language used by the Federation, but there were slight distinctions between them that if one wasn't versed in the Annunaki language of the Federation, they would have mistaken it as it. But Emily had been a diligent and hardworking student, so she knew the Runic language quite well, and this wasn't it. She couldn't understand it, but what she got from the symbols was that it was telling a story, the same as the symbols on the wall in that sewer. If only she could read it. Emily was confused, unable to understand what the monolith was doing under a Starlight base and how it was connected to the same symbols that were engraved in a sewer on a planet like Terra. This planet was not a planet where one should be encountering secret runes, secret bases, or even signs of Starlight interest. As Emily's hand stretched towards the monolith, she picked up on the presence of something. Someone was watching her. She turned to the stairs of the room. She pulled out a dagger and assumed a battle stance as she slowly moved forward to the stairs. Though the candles filled the room with light, there were still corners that were packed with darkness. As she approached the stairs, Emily quickly turned around and performed a vertical slash. Her blade tore through reptilian skin easily, black blood gushing out of the neck of the monster that had jumped out of the darkness behind her. There was a hissing noise coming from the darkness, and within a second, a horde of humanoid reptilian Abomination descended on Emily. Emily quickly took a dual battle style with two Adamant daggers circulating Od throughout her body and reinforcing her physical abilities. She quickly cut through the first one, using her other blade to slash the neck of the next one. Black blood gushed out, the smell disgusting, but Emily's expression didn't betray any discomfort. Her movement was swift and precise as she hacked and slashed her way through the horde of monsters. One of the reptilian monster's tails swung at her, but she easily cut the tail off, sending a downward kick right at the head. Her leg crushed its skull, and she continued to quickly dance through the horde, her daggers flashing within the poorly lit room. It didn't take long for Emily to finish cutting them all down. In the end, she was in the middle of a pile of monster corpses. Most of her Adamant daggers had been sullied by the blood of the Abominations, the Od within them had diminished, so she couldn't use them anymore. Emily's breathing was still normal, but her senses were locked into the spot in the darkness where the monsters had rushed out. Were these creatures responsible for the bodies above? Emily doubted it. She could tell from the Odic force of the Abominations that they were of the Fallen type Abomination. Lesser Beasts. Interesting...

A flash of blue light and the dagger she used to parry the attack was thrown off her hand. Emily responded swiftly, taking up a spot behind the monolith as a shield as she took out her seriphium shortsword. Emily couldn't sense anything, but her gut was telling her someone was beyond the darkness. Another flash of blue light, and it curved around the monolith, heading straight for her. Emily moved aside in time, away from the blast. What the hell? The enemy fired two more shots, and she focused on the flow of the attack and the direction it came from. Emily threw her body backward, moving through the air as she cut through the air, dispelling the attack. A shadow figure appeared and fired arrows of blue light that had enough force to break through her defense. The presence wasn't demonic, but it didn't feel friendly. So Emily moved swiftly, springing off the floor, and shot out three more daggers at it. The shadow's shape was humanoid, which meant that it was cloaked in some kind of concealment magic. An enchantment that allowed whoever it was to blend with the shadows. Emily's assailant was wearing a shadow cloak. Emily knew about them from her past encounter with them. Too bad for whoever was wearing the cloak that nothing could escape her sensory skill. The shadow nicely dodged her attacks. Emily breathed in and out, maintaining the rhythm of her breathing. Her opponent manifested two blades that were constructed from pure Od and settled on a unique stance. Her enemy's battle stance showed no weak spot, only its intention to kill her. They circled each other before they began their attack. Emily could easily predict its movement of attack as it thrust its blade at her, even without reading the flow of Od around it. She dodged and deflected, keeping a distance while searching for an opening. Its attacks were incredibly fast and packed a lot of power behind the thrusts. She pushed back against it, sending her own blade at it. She executed a feint attack on its right side but proceeded to go for a frontal assault. The assailant moved quicker than she had anticipated, none of her attacks touching it. What the hell? Emily had never met anyone as fast as Leon before. But its speed was impressive. It was only due to her sensory abilities that she had avoided any strike on her. Their dalliance continued throughout the room, one moment, the shadow was pushing against Emily, and then the next, Emily would gain the upper hand, her fighting style switching quickly from defense to offense. Emily's use of the shortsword actually gave her a disadvantage against her opponent, who was using a double edge blade, made up of Odic energy. But it was only thanks to Emily's combat skill and her mastery of her battle style that she was able to survive for as long as she was. And then things changed. The shadow moved, vanishing from her sight. Emily looked around, up, her left, her right...behind her... maybe another frontal attack... no, it could be a feint attack too... the kick caught her on her left cheek. The force of the kick sent her flying to the ceiling of the room. Her back hit the ceiling, the pain and shock like a volt through her spine as she broke through the ceiling and appeared on the upper floors. Emily could taste the blood and debris from the crash in her mouth. She pulled out another dagger. She mentally blocked the pain from her head. Her attacker had returned back to the shadows, its presence cut off from her. Her back felt stiff and raw, but her defense had held up. Her broken jaw from the kick had already mended. Emily realized she was at a disadvantage in the fight. Her opponent was clearly faster and stronger than her when it came to power and speed. Even with her Reinforcement aiding her body, it was going to be a tough fight. Her attacker, a female by the way she moved, stepped out of the shadows. Though the cloak gave her the ability to travel through the shadows, Emily could tell that her speed had nothing to do with it. She spread the cloak apart to reveal the black combat gear she wore, similar to the combat suit that Emily had on. The only difference was that Emily's had the starlight symbol, while hers was just a plain one. Emily noticed the lean and muscular shape of her body. She couldn't feel her Odic force within the Odyllic, but just staring at her was enough to make Emily know how strong her opponent was. Something about her felt oddly familiar. She moved first, sending a bunch of Od constructed blades at Emily. She responded by chanting a level two incantation.

"Water creation- Waterfall descent," Emily pointed both her index and middle fingers of both arms on the ground in front of herself, giving form and shape to the ambient Od, then the command of the incantation converted the ambient od into Water. A surge of it rose from the ground, forming a defensive barrier that obstructed the Odic blades. There was a steam explosion from the collision, and Emily immediately took the chance that the explosion created.

"Water creation- Sea serpent strike," She commanded the steam to turn back into a liquid state, forming a large water serpent from it, which then struck her opponent. The attack sent her crashing through the pillars of the lab they were in. But that wasn't enough to defeat her, for she jumped out of the debris, somersaulting through the air as chunks of blue light came at Emily. She moved in response, using Rapid step- a Movement skill- to evade her attacks and then striking at her with her weapons. Her opponent had summoned a sword of blue light which she used to block all her attacks with such speed and technique that Emily couldn't help being astonished. But her face didn't reveal anything. They continued their dance on the pillars, standing horizontally on it as they both tried to find openings through each other attacks. The enemy was faster, and her strikes had more force behind them, but Emily's senses seemed to be sharper than hers as she could easily predict her flow of attack and then adjust her fighting style to keep up with her enemy, showcasing Emily's expert combat skill. But it still wasn't enough to avoid some cuts here and there on her cheeks, her arm, and her thighs. The enemy's light sword was able to bypass the Validus Emily had placed on herself, showing that her strength was greater than-

"What are you doing," the enemy said. Her voice wasn't cold, nor was there warmth to it. But strangely enough, there was something familiar about it. "Is this all you're capable of, Legens," A swipe from her and Emily was sent flying by the force of her slash, the dagger in her left hand cut into pieces. Emily would have been torn apart were it not for her Seriphium blade that took the brunt of her attack. Emily felt herself hit through the pillars of the lab, the momentum carried her through till gravity pulled her down to the floor, where her footing was able to balance itself instead of her falling down. She looked up in time to see a bunch of blue arrows trailing after her. Her leg picked up speed, moving around the arrows and parring some of them with her sword. The enemy appeared out of the hole in which Emily had broken through. Emily held her shortsword tightly, channeling more Od within the blade. She took a stance against the enemy and concentrated on her next attack. She had compressed the Od within the edge of the blade and released it simultaneously as she made a slashing gesture. A flash of white light in a crescent shape charged through the air at her opponent, who tore her attack with another swipe of the bluish light sword she summoned again. 

"Shit," Emily said. Even her Aura skill, Fang slash, was no match against her. Damn it. Emily rushed out of the lab, where a volley of more arrows claimed the spot she had been. She turned around as the enemy walked out of the room. She had two Odic blades ready, her movements showing off her killing intent. Think Emily. Think, damn it. She had already concluded that whoever her opponent was, she far outclassed Emily in every Reinforcement skill. None of her attacks had been able to reach her. Emily needed something that could bypass her defense. Something she wouldn't be able to see. Something like… It was a known fact that most living bodies were made of seventy percent of water. Emily reached within herself as she began to invoke the spell she had in mind. Blood werk was a type of Magic frowned upon by the Starlight organization due to Blood magic's association with Black Magic. It wasn't a skill that you would find possessed by the Holy warriors of the Annunaki religion. Irkalla, forgive me. Emily thought as she connected with the flow of blood within her enemy's veins. Just one thought, and she was able to reverse the flow of blood. Her assailant gasped out in pain, falling on her knees. Her life was suddenly in the palm of Emily's hand.

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" Emily asked. "Do you work here? Are you a Paladin?" No. whoever she was, there was no way she was a part of the Order. No Paladin would ever attack their fellow Paladins like this. Or use dark magic to command Abominations. Emily pushed against her blood veins, causing her more pain. She could see the shadows begin to peel away from her cloak. The shadow that covered her face eventually vanished. The enemy's face was covered by a black mask with some red sigils, and two horns shaped like antlers were at the forehead. "What happened here? Did you kill them?" Emily tightened her hold on the veins, controlling the flow of the blood within the arteries. Emily could pop her veins in her head if she wanted to. Give her a little bit of an aneurysm. Maybe more pain will loosen her-

"I'm quite disappointed," She said. She stood back up like the pain Emily was inflicting was nothing. "Blood werk is quite an impressive skill for a mere novice Mage, but it is still quite average. I had hoped there was more to you…" Emily's attacker slammed her fist on the floor, releasing a web of electric current that washed like a tide of the ocean over the entire room.

"Fuck." Emily swore. There was nothing she could do to evade the attack. It was a wide-range attack and too fast for her to avoid it. The force sent her flying across the room, her body getting numbed by the electric shock that was frying her nerves. Emily wasn't even aware of her consciousness fading into the darkness.

 ****

The pain was what woke her up. There was a ringing sound in Emily's left ear, a sign that her eardrum had probably busted. It would take some time for it to heal. Dust swirled around the room, obscuring her view from most of the destruction in the room. she tried to move, but a searing pain shot through her body. Emily looked at her stomach, where an iron pole had ripped through it. Not only that, but some of the ceilings had fallen right on her lower side. She tried to pull the pole, but the pain was too much. A pool of blood ran out from under her, spreading across the floor. Emily was losing too much blood. She was too weak from the blood loss to remove the pole, and she couldn't even move her arms if she wanted to. It was still numb and shocked from the electric attack. But she needed to remove the pole if she wanted her wound to heal, or she would die. Not immediately, but losing too much blood was enough to even kill someone like her. She was in a conundrum. She should have trusted her instincts which had been yelling at her to kill her attacker right there. No hesitation, just fuck her brain over. But she wanted answers from her. Answers for Leon. Dammit it. Now death was approaching her instead. Dammit. She needed to get rid of the pole. Shit. Where was Leon when she needed him? Had her assailant been a member of the Fallen Star? If only she had... Emily threw up blood from her mouth as a coughing fit ripped her lungs apart. The pain felt weird and unfamiliar. It had been a long time since she felt pain...shit...shit... the wards within her consciousness-the one that prevented her body from feeling any kind of pain had busted open. How did she lose control? The pain came again, and she thought of Leon. If She could just reach him...just get him to her... before she bled to death. Emily wasn't afraid of dying. Well, Paladins were trained not to be afraid of death. But for her...it was different. She believed in it. She believed in Irkalla, but she wasn't ready for it yet. Emily stared at the pendant hanging from her neck. The touch of death was coming for her, and yet it wasn't her time. Although even in this dire situation, Emily Legens maintained her facade of calmness and indifference as she swore and cursed the enemy who had left her in this situation. Fuck...Leon! Leon! Help me.

-Leon-

When Leon was younger, his Mother would bring him to visit Planet Terra. She had been born here as a Terran and human. She would bring him to her hometown, mostly during the summer, when the sun was blazing hot and the weather was really nice. She had wanted him to see what the human society of Terran was like compared to the other human civilizations within the Neutral Zone. There was a whole lot of difference. On other planets, in the Federation and the Neutral free zone, humanity was not cut off from the Odyllic like the Terrans were. Humans were highly aware of the supernatural aspect of the universe. Leon had grown up knowing that. So to visit Terra had been a whiplash to his young mind. But that didn't mean that Leon didn't enjoy his time there. She would take him to the part called downtown, where they would go to see the Broadway theaters or visit the museums to see some art. After their day of fun, they would then go to the park to relax and have some of that dessert called Ice cream. Leon remembered loving those moments because it was just him and his mother. There were other families having a good time, taking pictures and video recordings. As a kid, Leon would watch these families as they had a good time. And there would be this hot-soaring feeling in the pit of his stomach from watching them. Leon didn't know what those feelings were at first but as he grew up, he learned that it was a combination of his anger and envy at watching them. Only the thought of his mother could wash them away from him when he got those feelings. She would smile at him, and like that, it was gone. Leon didn't know why or how it was possible. Maybe it was the sadness that he saw in her eyes. A pain that she tried her best to hide from him. He hated knowing that his Mother was in pain and there was nothing he could do about it. But back then, he had just been a little brat. There was nothing he could do about it. But nevertheless, it pained him to see it. After his acceptance into Helix Academy, Leon stopped going on vacation to Terra. He focused on his training and studies. Focused on becoming the best of the best among the Paladins. And he did become the best of the best. He was on track to becoming the greatest. And now, here he was, back in Chicago and in one of its parks. The mental calling he had gotten from Emily told him that she needed his help. Somehow she had left some kind of imprint within his mind about her location. Leon bought out his Zodiak and unfolded it. The location pointed towards some masonry field house. He had hacked into the human network to see if there was any information about the building, but he couldn't find anything. Leon tried his best to figure out what Emily was doing here. As he got closer to the building that the coordination in his mind led to, Leon picked up on Emily's Odic signature. It was slowly getting weak, which meant...

"Emily," He swore. Leon rushed into the building without thinking. Something felt weird. Though he was surrounded by the smell of death in the air, and the physical signs that there had been some kind of attack, he couldn't find any bodies within the building. Only dried blood and a rotting stench. It was something that he would have focused on more, but...the only thought that he had in mind was following the dimming presence that he could sense. He had never thought of it before... losing Emily. He couldn't even entertain the thought. He got to a room where the smell of blood hung heavy in the air. The room had been blasted with some kind of attack. Leon could feel an electric current running through the entire room. The ceiling had come crashing down. Ash swirled around the room. In the middle of all this destruction was Emily. Her lower body was trapped by some of the debris. But it was the pole that went through her guts that made him freeze. The bluish current ran through the pole into Emily's body, shocking it. Some of the blood that had poured out was reversing back inside her body. But not most of it. She didn't have the strength to take back all the blood that she had lost. Blood werk was not an easy magic to control or use. Even on her best day, it took a lot of concentration to take control of one's blood. But Emily...Emily...

"Emily, what in Irkalla's name is going on here," Leon swore. He rushed over to her body. She tried to speak, but only blood came out of her mouth. "Don't talk." Leon grabbed hold of the pole, ignoring the shock, and tried to move it. She squirmed in pain at it. She glared at him as Leon stopped. He knew what that look was. She wanted him to pull it out. No matter how painful it was. He held the pole, and in one surge, the pole came out. More blood gushed out, so he applied pressure to the wound with his hand.

"How did you find me.." She grunted as she tried to stop the bleeding.

"You called for me, remember," Leon said. He summoned a wave of golden lights within the hand that was applying pressure to the wound and cauterized it. Emily bit down on her lips, but no sound came from her. As usual, her expression was unreadable. The only way that Leon could tell that she was in pain was from the way her body shook. After he was done cauterizing the wound, she sighed and laid back on the floor. Leon got rid of most of the debris that had fallen on her. Her wound had stopped bleeding and had begun the process of healing. But she had lost lots of blood, and her Odic force was awfully weak. It would take a long time for her to heal that wound completely. Unless he took her to the medic bay back in the Academy in Eden. She would heal faster there. She opened her eyes like she had heard his thoughts about taking her back to Eden.

"I never called for you." She said, " I don't have my Zodiak."

"The call came from your mind, not your Zodiak," Leon said. Was she okay? Leon was worried for her. She raised her eyebrows at him. There was only confusion on her face. Which meant that she wasn't aware of how she had made contact with him through her mind. She had unknowingly used her power due to the fear of death. Had she been that close to it... What the fuck happened, and what the fuck was she doing here. "So I take it this was the information you got from the Erlking that you kept from me." Leon looked around the room before looking back at Emily. She was having a hard time standing up, so he grabbed her arms and pulled her up.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you." She said.

"Are you, though," He said. Leon could tell that she was indeed genuinely sorry, but he wanted more of her apology. Yeah, he was a bastard, alright.

"Yes, I am. I know I screwed up, but I wanted to make sure that the information was right before-"

"Before I got involved, right," Leon said. He thought back to the mission that had landed them in exile. It was his fault that Emily was here and not back in Agartha. She had his back, and he knew she would always have it. Leon couldn't blame her for the lie. He guessed Vuelo's information was right after all. Damn that old hag. "What happened to you? To this building. What the hell happened." She explained to him how the information she had gotten from the Erlking led her to the building. An outpost that somehow belonged to Starlight Order. How she had found most of its workers dead. By the looks of the place, it seemed that the building had been attacked by Abominations.

"Abominations. Here in Terra, of all places," Leon said. He couldn't believe it. It was one thing for Dark Sidhes of the Hidden World to go against the Accord, but to have an Abomination here on Terra. "That shouldn't be possible" Abominations were creatures tainted by the Miasma- the Night air of the Infernal world- and were known as Depraved beings who feed on only one form of sustenance: the soul. As Paladins of the Holy Order of Starlight, it was their duty to hunt and exterminate all forms of Abominations. 

"I don't see how Abominations could end up here in Terra," Leon said. "Terrans have low Spiritual power, and this galaxy sector isn't known for spawning Abominations."

"Unless someone bought them here," Emily said. She told Leon about her assailant and how she believed her to be the one to use the Lizard beasts to attack the facility and her. Leon pondered on what Emily told him.

"Whoever she was, I couldn't really get a read on her due to the shadow cloak," Emily said.

"I've heard about it. Some kind of dark object used in the Criminal underworld." Leon said. Emily nodded. She brought Leon to a room that was filled with containment pods. They were all broken.

"I had Ginny hack into the mainframe system and transfer as much data as she could. Right now, she is trying to break through the security placed on it." She pulled out a rock from her belt pocket and gave it to him. Leon took the rock from her. "Cold as Irkalla, right."

"Yeah," Leon said. She took it back from him. "You think this has anything to do with the Fallen stars? Maybe your assailant was one of them."

"Maybe. I don't know. If this facility belonged to the Order, it would make sense for the Fallens to attack it." Emily said. "But using Abominations to do their work. I know the Fallens are terrorists, but why use such creatures to attack?"

"That's why they're called the Fallen, Em," I said. "They are the lowest of the lows."

"Come. There's more to see," Emily said. She took Leon to the lower floor of the facility, where she had discovered the Monolith. This time, Leon projected a ball of golden light as they walked down the spiral stairs. When they got to the lower floor, the Monolith was gone. Emily stood in shock at the missing rock that was supposed to be there. 

"There was a monolith with the same symbol from the sewer right here," Emily said. Leon looked around the room, his light peeling away every single strand of darkness.

"Looks like it's gone," Leon said. "Your assailant really covering their track," Leon turned around to see Emily, who was concentrating on the spot where the monolith was supposed to be. In the dent of the floor, a shard of crystal was jammed within the crack that formed on the floor. The crystal was white, and in the center was a pulsating color that seemed to be drawing in Ambient Od towards it.

"We need to get out of here. Now." Emily said. On the crystal were celestial runes, which were counting down. The runic number was just about to count down to zero. The world came to a frightening freeze, Leon's body felt detached from the flow of time as he grabbed Emily and activated his Flash skill. A burst of golden light wrapped around them, and they shot out of the building like a cannon blast. They broke out of the building as the entire place was engulfed in an explosion. Fire spat out in all directions. Rushing out like a stream of water, the flames tried so hard to keep up with them. But Leon was faster. Faster than the speed of sound. He made sure to hold Emily tightly as they landed outside of the building, and then he used his body to shield hers from the impact. Her body was still too weak from the blood loss. They rolled around on the grass, getting as far away from the burning building as possible. They lay on the grass, their bodies were sewn together, breathing hard and loud.

"That was fucking close," Leon said, smiling at Emily as the building burnt up. "I think I just broke my top speed."

"You don't say." Emily pushed him off her as she tried to stand. "My attacker must have left that behind."

"You think they were cleaning up the mess or trying to kill us," Leon said.

"I don't know," Emily said. "Whatever the case, we need Ginny to hack into that data as quickly as possible."