Chapter 1

CERALYNN

She stood at the base of the dilapidated stone stairway that spiraled up the side of the mountain. The speed at which the air all around her grew colder, felt odd to her. It was now snowing, ever so lightly, yet it was still snowing. Grey clouds covered the skies above, wind rushed around the mountains, and into Cera's face. Her dark brown hair whipped in the wind as she threw her hood up, trying to block some of the ice cold wind.

    One step at a time she walked, for one step too far right, could mean the end of her journey. She could still hear her grandfather's voice in her head, "Do not ever, go up that mountain, Cera. Ever." Well that always just made her want to go up that mountain ever the more. He would never tell her what was on top of this mountain, though, when she asked. One step at a time, and she would eventually make it up there.

"Have I ever told you the story of the Demon?" Her grandfather asked one day as they sat around the blazing fire in the hearth of their home. Cera sat in a chair besides Anthony in his own. Cups in their hands filled with warm wine, she shook her head. "The Demon. He was a man who brought terror to the world. The Eastern Kingdoms, across the great sea fell to his sword. People say he wasn't even Human, that he was some sort of monster in the flesh of some Human." Ceralynn's eyes were wide as she listened intently to the story. "He was a bastard of a man. The Demon brought nothing but destruction in his wake, everywhere he went, death followed.

"He was the one that brought an ancient evil back to the world. Because of what he did, an evil force was unleashed." Anthony said, then took a swig of his wine. "That was just the start of how the world got to how it is today. The Demon brought this world to it's doom. Nobody could stand before him, nobody could stop him."

"What happened to him?" Cera asked, eyes still wide.

"Well, eventually, he was slain. Betrayed by his own men. His men surrounded him and filled him full of arrows. But it was too late. Evil had been unleashed upon the land." Anthony took another drink of his wine. "But that was a long time ago, and the evil was eventually beaten and sealed away forever."

    Time seemed to drag on forever, and the snowfall only got worse the farther up she climbed. The wind was beginning to bite through the tough leather of her clothes. With gloved hands she pulled her large fur cloak around her body, which seemed to help a little. Luckily the stairs were fairly large, so she didn't have to cling to the mountain. Yet still, the thought of falling scared the hell out of her.

    Ice was starting to appear on the stairway and hang from various bits of the mountain. She had been walking for at least an hour and still, she had more to go. She found herself beginning to side step to avoid the ice, maybe a fifteen year old girl should have listened to her grandfather. She was starting to think that she had made a terrible mistake, freezing cold, any step could be her last, yeah. This was a terrible mistake.

    Cera stopped walking and looked back over her shoulder, down to the world below. It looked so small from where she was, so insignificant, yet she knew that the exact opposite was true. She was but a speck in this world, and the only person that would miss her if she fell, was Anthony, her grandfather. She shook her head, she's come too far to turn back now, she continued forward.

    Just then, as she rounded the corner, a giant castle came into view. Her eyes grew wide with excitement and for a moment, she was no longer cold. She had made it, almost. As she pushed upwards and her head cleared the top of the mountain ledge, the wind almost took her off the side. She screamed as she clutched at the mountain, scrambling to keep her footing. A few moments passed and she could still hear her echoe, ripping through the mountains.

    She flipped her hood back up, wrapped herself up with her cloak again, and pressed forward. The snow was thick up here, covering her ankles, she was thankful she took her thick insulated riding boots. This mountain top was oddly flat, almost like the tip of the mountain was sliced off. She focused on the castle in the distance. It was huge, dark and gothic looking. There was a massive portcullis in front, with walls that completely blocked the way around it. As she got closer she noticed the portcullis was ripped open in the corner, big enough for her to slip in. How would somebody ever rip through that steel? She didn't give it another thought, she ducked down and slipped through.

    She was now standing in what looked to be a massive courtyard. Straight back was another, even bigger portcullis. In the middle was a broken down fountain, a statue of a scary looking warrior was standing in the middle of the frozen water. Beside it was the husk of what appeared to be a once massive tree. Built into the wall, to Cera's left was a very large building, with what looked to be a cross on top. A temple?

    Cera approached the temple, carefully eyeing the entire building, studying it, as if it was going to attack her. As she moved in front of the big wooden double door, she tripped and fell flat on her face. Snow entered everything that it could manage, and she was now colder than she thought possible. She stumbled to her feet and saw she had tripped over an old campfire. People have camped in front of this building? She assumed they were raiders.

    Shaking off her fall, she approached the big doors, examining the symbols, clueless as to what they meant. She reached out and touched the cold metal embellishments, and the door let out a loud crack. Startled, she jumped back and watched as the door slowly began to open. What just happened? Did she do that? With tremendous curiosity, she entered the temple.

    It was so dark in there she could barely see. She unclipped the torch from her belt, along with the flint and steel and began trying to light it. Strike after strike, the torch failed to light, "some of that magic, grandpa always talks about would come in handy right about now!" Cera said, growing even more frustrated. With one final strike, the torch bursted a flame, its warmth caressing her cold cheeks. She lifted the torch and pointed it forward.

    Her mouth dropped open, this room was huge, she still couldn't make out all the details but she could see how far the room went. There were seven statues surrounding the room. Holding the torch up high, she could see the statues had to be about twenty feet tall. Making her way over to the first statue on her left, she flung her cloak over her shoulders and wiped away some dust and scale from the plaque.

    The statue before her, looked to be a man sitting upon a massive horse. Most of the words on the plaque were too small to withstand the corrosion over time, due to neglect. There was one word, bigger than the rest, at the bottom of the plaque. "Conquest", she said out loud as she moved to the next. This statue too, was a man riding a massive horse and upon it's plaque, was the word "War".

    Cera made her way to the next statue, this time she wasn't sure what she was looking at exactly. This man was standing tall, without steed and had the wings of a great dragon. Horns protruded from his forehead and curled up and over his head. At the bottom of his plaque she saw the word "Lightbringer". Studying the statue she found herself perplexed, the man looked like something straight from one of her grandfathers nightmarish stories. Yet, his face looked calm and gentle making her feel unfrightened.

    She caught a glimpse of a door off to her right, hiding in the shadows. Diverting her attention to the door, she moved in closer. She reached out and touched the old wooden door, pushing it open revealing a large room. Stepping inside she could see what looked to be a library with a large wooden table in the middle. Eight chairs surrounded the table and in front of furthest chair was a large tome on the table.

    Cera ran her hand down the chairs as she made her way to the tome. Everything was so dusty, and cobwebs hung from various things throughout the room. The tome was weathered, she could tell that it was old. It had a metal clasp and lock, holding the book shut. Whatever was in that tome, she figured was once very important. She blew the dust from the face of the tome and ran her fingers down the center. The tips of her fingers buzzed with a sensation she had never felt before.

    She pulled her hand back with haste and studied her fingers. She then placed the palm of her hand upon the tome and that same feeling rushed up her arm and coursed throughout her entire body. The cold brittleness that took home within her body melted away in an instant. Her entire body was tingling, she felt amazing, like she could do anything. Her couldn't help but shut her eyes and take it all in, she was in bliss, all her worries in that moment had vanished.

    Just then a powerful force of energy blasted through the room, sending the chairs across the floor and books flew from the shelves. The force pushed Cera backwards almost causing her to drop the torch. The lock on the tome popped open and it flew open upon the table before her. Some kind of energy flowed from the pages in the book and into the air around her, whipping like a raging river. This energy then shot straight into her pushing her back into one of the bookshelves, and in a moment, it was gone.

    She ran through the door and back out into the middle of the room with all the statues. Fear gripped at her throat, almost taking her breath away. A figure stood in the middle of the giant doors she had opened. She swallowed hard, unsure of what to do she just stood there, frozen. The dark figure began walking towards her, it was tall and moved slowly. She began to back away, until she hit into one of the statues. Her heart pounded in her chest so hard she swore the dark figure could heard it.

    It reached a hand out before it and a burst of a bright blue light appeared in a ball above it's hand. The light shot up into the air and exploded, shooting light everywhere within the room, illuminating everything. "Grandpa?!" Cera said, screaming out of shock. "How did..." her voice trailed off. A smile cracked his old weathered face as he approached her.

    "Thought I made myself quite clear." Smile still on his face, "to never venture up here, Ceralynn?" Anthony wore his usual robes he would wear out and about in town, an very old pair of red robes. His white beard almost shined in the light he somehow conjured from his hand. He let out a chuckle, "that's like telling a pig not to play in the mud."

    He quickly made his way before her, looking up at the statue behind where Cera stood. "The hall of heroes." Looking behind himself, at the giant doors he said, "how did you get those doors open?"

    "I touched them." Cera said, "and they just opened."

    "Interesting..." Anthony's voice trailed off.

    "Grandpa, I'm still trying to figure out how you even got up here?" Cera asked. "And what was that light trick you did?"

    Anthony chuckled again, "I suppose it's time you learned the truth." Confusion befell Cera's face. "Magic." Cera furrowed her brows even more. "I can perform magic. One you saw there was just a taste of what I could actually do."

    "Magic?" Cera could hardly believe what she just heard. "But magic has been gone for thousands of years Grandpa! You said so yourself!"

"Yes. I did." Anthony made his way around the room, looking at each of the statues within. "Because that is the truth. Most of the Human population lost the ability to use magic. If they learned of what I can do, it would mean the end of our lives as we knew it. I am sorry that I kept it from you."

Cera ran her fingers through her hair, all kinds of emotions flipped around within her. Anger, sadness, excitement. So she chose to avoid them and said, "What is this place?"

"We are standing in the Hall of Heroes." He said.

"The Hall of Heroes?! I thought it was only a legend! The teachers have talked about it. Wait a minute, Conquest? War?" The color drained from her face as fear began trickling down her spine. "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse..."

Anthony let out a burst of laughter. "History got a little lost over time. Eventually these champions became known as the Four Horsemen, yes."

Cera ran over to the first statue she read, "This is Conquest! The first Horsemen!" Anthony made his way over to her side. "Wait..." She studied the face of the statue for a moment before letting out a loud gasp. "She was an Orc?" Cera was pointing and stamping her feet in her excitement. This seemed to have just made Anthony laugh. "It's not funny Grandpa! Orc's are mean and savage creatures who raid our towns! Rape the women and steal the little babies, so they can sacrifice them to their blood gods in the north!"

Anthony only laughed harder at this, causing Cera to grow even angrier. "You have so much to learn my girl, is that what they are teaching you these days?" Anthony asked.

"It's common knowledge, Grandpa! Everyone knows this." Cera said.

"Its funny how things get so skewed throughout time." Anthony said. "When the Sundering happened, magic began to fade from the world. Strife grew between the different races of the world and over thousands of years. Any love between the different races, is long forgotten." Anthony pointed over at the other statue. "Cera."

"Yes, Grandpa?"

"I am not from this time." Anthony said. Cera just stared back at him, not sure what to say. "And neither are you."

"What... do you mean? Not from this time?"

"We are from the past." Anthony said as he walked over to a statue that resembled a woman. "Thousands of years in the past, before the Sundering." Cera didn't know what to say. Before the Sundering? How is that possible? How did they get here? Why doesn't she remember any of this? Her head began to spin, she grew dizzy from all of this, it was too much she thought as she plopped down on the base of one of the statues. "I made a promise to your mother. To protect you, to take you somewhere far away. I sacrificed most of my power back then, but I had just enough to bring us here."

The girl wiped a tear from her cheek, "are you actually my grandfather?" Cera asked, looking up at him.

After a long paused, he finally answered. "No. I am not your biological grandfather." Tears welled up in Cera's eyes again, then escaped down her cheeks. "That does not mean that I do not love you, my girl." Anthony knelt down besides Cera. "The world's fate was uncertain then, there was a massive war going on, that shook the very foundation of the world itself."

"Who was my mother? What was she like?" Cera asked.

"She was very brave." He chuckled as he stood up, looking over at the woman statue before them. "Her name was Skyler. And she's right here." Cera looked up in disbelief, cheeks still wet from the tears. "You look just like her. She was a warrior. One of the only Humans Michael ever saw as an equal."

"Michael?" Cera asked, as she stood up. Anthony looked over at the statue next to Skyler's. A menacing looking man, armor adorned with what looked to be skulls, sword and shield and a helmet with its crest in the shape of a large crown. He had giant wings too, like that of an eagles wings. "Wait a minute. Like the Archangel Michael?!"

"That is what the Humans call him now, yes." Anthony said, with a smile.

"He's a legend! One of the greatest warriors to ever grace this world! That he was the true embodiment of hope and justice."

"Ah yes, more of the fairy tales your teachers say huh?" Anthony said.

"I resent that, old man." A dark ominous voice pierced the cold still air. Cera could see a massive dark figure walking towards them, she didn't even know he was there. From his back, the figure stretched out two massive golden wings like that of an eagle, before making them vanish in a cloud of golden smoke. "I do believe I'm rather magnificent." His voice was deep and haunting, sending chills down Cera's back.

Michael was easily about seven feet tall, his armor as black as night. Cera could tell he had been in some battles, judging on how weathered the armor looked. Dim blue flames burned where his eyes would see through his helmet. He did not look at all the way the stories said he would. Michael's rondels were the shape of small horns, his pauldrons had massive skulls etched into the metal, with a larger horn at the top.

"Good to see you again, old friend." Anthony said.

"I haven't stepped foot in these halls in quite some time." Michael walked over to the statue known as War, and looked around at all the others. "Conquest. War. Justice. Death."

"Did you know them?" Cera asked Michael. She still couldn't believe that she was talking to the Michael, the one and only Michael. Her voice had a slight tremble.

"Yes. Good people. They..." Michael noticed the open door to the right of War's statue. "How is this door open?" He rushed over to the door and pushed his way in. Cera and Anthony rushed in after him.

Cera could see a look of astonishment cross onto Anthony's face, "I just pushed it open. I saw that book there and when I touched it some weird things happened." She said.

Anthony ran over to the tome on the table, picking it up. She could see his eyes light up, like he had just found a long lost love.

"That's what I felt..." Michael said. "She doesn't know, does she?" Anthony remained silent.

"Know what?" Cera asked.

"Nothing, give us some privacy. I need to speak with Michael." Anthony signaled for her to leave the room. Which she did, reluctantly, and not completely. She stood just outside the door and listened as best she could.

"He's returned." Michael said. "He's been freed from the prison somehow."

"What? How is that possible? How do you know?" Anthony asked.

"I felt it, and I've noticed the Chaos have begun to organize again. And is it coincidence that when he becomes free, Cera just happens to awaken?"

"You don't know that's what happened." Anthony said.

"Don't be so naive, old man. You know what's happening here."

"If he's back, if he has truly found a way out of his prison, we're doomed. We couldn't defeat him back then, how can we possibly stand a chance now?" Anthony asked.

"We need to summon them."

"What? How? They were sealed away with Abbadael, the location of the seven seals was kept a secret from us all. It's been thousands of years and nobody has found them yet." There was a long pause as Michael just stood there silently. "No. Absolutely not."

"There is no other way!" Michael's voice was terrifying. How could he be the Archangel that saved Heaven? That beat and cast out Lucifer?Nothing makes sense. Ceralynn began to feel sick.

"I will not put her in harm's way! I promised her mother I would take care of her!" Anthony too, was growing scary. This was a side she never thought was possible from him.

"And you have! She could be the key to all of this, given who she really is! She can find where the seals were hidden." Michael said. "I let you take her after you sacrificed your power to seal Abbadael away. You've never listened to me old man! Listen to me now, heed my council."

"There has to be another way!" Anthony said, just before he stormed out of the library and passed Cera. He stopped dead in his tracks. "Cera, be very careful. We're not alone here."

Michael made his way out into the main hall, drawing his sword and shield from what seemed like out of nowhere. They materialized right before her eyes, like a crackling blue flame transforming into the solid objects. "They've been searching for the tome. But it was hidden behind wards that shielded it from their vision."

Cera ran up behind Anthony and Michael, "What's going on? Who was searching for that book?"

"The Chaos. Forces born of hatred. The evil forces that were defeated. They were driven back across the Great Sea, thousands of years ago." Anthony said. A loud screech ripped through the courtyard and found its way into the Hall of Heroes. "Locusts. Chaos foot soldiers."

The old man's eyes glew white as he brought his hands together. He unleashed a blue light, then threw it at the temples door, created a shield, blocking entrance.

Hideous looking creatures stormed into the shield, snapping and snarling showing their sharp teeth. They all stood before the entrance as more and more piled behind them. Red eyes, black skin and yellow teeth, Cera had never felt fear like this before. There were so many of them, and there was only three of them. "What do we do, grandpa?!"

Some of the Locusts began breaking off and climbing the sides of the buildings. Soon they were on the roof as well as bashing at the windows. It seemed like there were hundreds of them, clawing and smashing at everything, crawling across the building looking for a way in. Pieces of the ceiling started to break free and fall to the temple floor. Michael stood vigilant and used his shield to block any debris that fell over them.

"There are way too many of them!" Michael said as a piece of debris broke apart across his shield. "They are trying to take the entire temple down on top of us!" The barrier blocking the entrance started to break, claws ripping through into the temple. The windows began to break as well as more and more Locusts threw themselves against them. The debris falling from the ceiling began to quicken and grew in size.

"Cera! Run into that room and bring me that Tome!" Anthony said. Cera immediately ran off for the book and returned shortly after, tome in hand. Anthony slapped his hands together and closed his eyes. He began to mutter something in a language Cera has never heard before. The barrier broke free and Locusts started charging them, snarling and snapping their teeth. The windows smashed and Locusts poured in through the walls. The air grew cold, and the ground beneath their feet began to rumble. Holes blew through the ceiling dropping Locusts towards their heads.

Anthony shouted as his eyes snapped open, white lightning seemed to burst from his hands and eyes. A protective barrier shot out from Anthony and expanded, smashing into the Locusts as they charged and sent them flying outwards. The beasts crashed into the walls and statues in the temple. "That should hold them for a time!" The old man cried out.

"We're running out of time!" Michael said as he watched all the Locusts smashing into the protective bubble around them. Some had swords, some had axes. "The Demon." Anthony gave Michael a puzzling look, as if he didn't know what Michael was talking about. There was a long silence.

Anthony looked over at Cera, sweat beading down his head, she could see an immense sorrow in his green eyes. He kneeled down in front of her and placed a hand upon her cheek, smiling. "I love you, Cera. You may not be my flesh and blood but I raised like you like me own." A crack shot up the side of the shield.

"They're breaking through!" Michael said.

Anthony stared at Michael for a moment, then looked back at Cera. Another crack ripped through the magic barrier holding back the Chaos. He took the tome from Cera and started flipping through the pages. "Stop him before it even begins." He said. "There, before the Sundering." Anthony stopped flipping pages.

Anthony closed his eyes, the air around them grew still and cold, he began to wave his hands before him. He was summoning something. "I can only hold this open for a moment, Cera! I'm nowhere near as strong as I used to be. But when I do, you have to jump through. You are our only chance. The portal won't be big and I won't be able to go too." Another crack split through the shield. "I'm sending you back just before the Sundering, before the Horsemen fell!" One of the Locusts tore a small hole in the shield.

"Find Gideon! Say the phrase Malakka Dorei. It means BLANK. Only a few people know. Gideon will know immediately what to do." Anthony was struggling trying to open the portal. "He will take you to me, I'll be able to use this book to find the Demon."

"How will I know what Gideon looks like?! And what about you?!" Cera asked.

The portal ripped open behind Ceralynn, crackling and buzzing and zapping at the area around it, it was very unstable. "Oh, you cannot miss him. Trust me, everyone knows Gideon." Cera wiped away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. "This timeline is lost child. This future is lost. You must find Gideon and find the Demon and kill him before he summons Abbadon."

Multiple sections of the shield started to break free, the Locusts trying to rip themselves through. "Go! Find Gideon, he will bring you to me and Michael, we will find the Demon. Remember Malakka Dorei. Say It." The shield broke, big enough to let some Locusts through but Michael was ready.

"Malakka Dorei!" Cera Said. Michael slashed through one and smashed the face of another with his shield.

"Good. You got it." Anthony was doing all he could to keep that portal open. "Desperate times, calls for desperate measures. You can prevent this future from happening! Now go!"

Cera turned and jumped through the portal, her vision engulfed by a ray of different colors just before ripping through and dumped into a bush. Brushing herself off she stood up and looked around at the surroundings. She landed in some kind of forest. Huge trees, green bushes, chirping birds and buzzing bugs. She could see the bright blue sky high above the canopy. She realized how hot it was as she stepped out of the bush. Looking behind her, the portal was still open, she could see the Chaos charging Michael and Anthony as the shield gave way. The monsters surrounded them just as the portal closed and vanished.

This was real, this was actually happening, and this was the first time that she had ever been on her own without her grandpa. She could see something that looked to be a road beyond some trees and shrubs. Slapping a bug that buzzed into her face she pushed forward and started cutting through the bushes. Cera bursted through the shrubs and birds flew from the bushes they were hiding in. She found herself on the road and looked for anything that could help. There was a wooden sign post at the corner of the road where it split into two more.

Reading the signs nailed to the post revealed three names she could only assume were the names of towns. "Flagus, Ironwood and Harlo." Cera said aloud. She decided to head towards a town called Flagus.