It was a place alien to earth, a strange, ethereal realm. There stood two figures, their bodies casting long shadows against the white temple walls. The first was a man in a white silken robe, from within his body seemed to extend a brilliant illumination, forcing one to avert their eyes from his mere presence.
The other was a young woman with white hair stained with dirt and blood. Her glorious, angelic image was tainted by the filth of the lower plane.
“You... failed?” the man spoke, his voice echoing through the temple, which resembled the architecture of ancient cities like Athens or perhaps Uruk. “Against a lowborn Daeva and a Shard that hadn’t even fully awakened? I am disappointed in you, Saraviael. What do you say in defense of this pathetic return?”
“Their awakening was... explosive, A shard that had only just awakened shouldn’t be able to wield such raw energy, it caught me off guard.” The girl, who looked to be a teenager in age, at least physically, began to make excuses to the man before her. “If I had been serious from the start, things would have been different. The Dregs don’t put up much of a fight, I wasn’t ready.”
“Silence, I’d like to avoid cutting out your insolent tongue. I have no interest in an explanation of your failings… tell me, how should you atone for this sin against me? What punishment do you see fit for this transgression?”
“I will return to the mortal plane and destroy the Daeva and the Shard, redeeming my honor and glory! Should I fail again, cast me from heaven, as a failure such as that does not deserve the mercy of a swift execution!”
“I agree, you shall get that chance, what kind of father would I be to cast aside my children after a single failure?” He placed his hand on her chin, forcing her to look at him, as she had been avoiding eye contact. “But you’ve made a fool of us all with this failure, I cannot allow you to live without any sort of punishment. You’ve never failed before, so I’ll be lenient… fifty lashes should suffice.”
Saraviael’s eyes widened, a look of fear replacing her dower expression from before. But she couldn’t move her legs nor speak up against Him, His presence was too overwhelming.
“... Yes, thank you… father.” she replied, turning away from him.
She reached for her own clothing, robes similar to His, but not as intricate. Her hands trembling, she pushed the robes off her shoulders and allowed them to fall to the floor. She stood there, completely naked, her body shivering not from the cold, but fear.
“This filthy hair… is in the way.” He spoke, running his hand through her grime covered white hair. With a swift movement, his hand cut through it like a blade, and her waist length hair was reduced to a short bob that didn’t even reach her neck.
The main raised his hand, a whip-like construct made of flame materializing within his grasp. An unsettling sound of fire crackling mixed in with the snap of the whip as it cut across her back. The force cut her flesh, and the flames licked at her skin.
But she wouldn’t scream, and even against such a painful attack, she wouldn’t allow her legs to buckle. She stood strong as the whip slashed into her back again and again.
She was a knight of heaven, something like this couldn’t break her. She had to be stronger, or else she would never be able to atone for her mistake. With each crack of the whip, her body tensed up the moment right before it struck her, but she remained silent.
And when it was over, He placed his hand on her bare shoulder. She looked up at him, confused, but he merely smiled at her.
“Good girl.”
-
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! What the fuck am I doing?!” Rocketing into a sitting position in my futon, the sound of my heart beating in my ears. A cold sweat dripped from my forehead and down the tip of my nose as my chest sharply heaved in panic. It’s ok, it’s fine… it was just a dream.
No it isn’t, that really happened! Grabbing my hair with my hands in frustration, I practically tugged it out at the roots
“Did I just declare a rebellion against God?! Am I one of Geki Nagai’s manga characters or something?!”
“Takeru, stop shouting in the middle of the night!” My mother called out to me from the adjacent bedroom. “And don’t swear, you sound like a delinquent when you do that.”
I couldn’t sleep, my anxiety was getting the better of me. I scrambled to find my smartphone, and quickly texted Raza, though since it was so late I doubted she would respond. After a few deep breaths I managed to slightly calm down, enough to properly read what I had just written and sent to her.
‘OMG plz help I can’t even summon a sword how am I meant to defeat the light tribe I’m freaking out!!!’
Dammit, why did I send such a stupid text?! After I tried to act all cool yesterday, I followed it up with this?! As I was regretting my actions, her response came in despite it being past three in the morning.
‘Wanna come up and sleep on my lap? It calmed you down when you were Ahriman ;)’
What the hell did she mean by this? There was no way that was true!! Also, I thought she wasn’t interested in me like that after she realized I was also a woman? Does this mean I still had a chance… wait, when did I start wanting a chance with another girl?!
“Dammit, your memories are really screwing with my head here, Ahriman.” I sighed and fell back into my bed. I grabbed a plush animal from a pile to the side of my bed, a large blue shark that had been a popular meme a few months ago, and hugged it close to my chest.
Thanks to the soothing power of the BLÅHAJ, I soon drifted back to sleep. My dream world was populated with many blue sharks that flew through the sky, and I took a ride on one of them along with Raza… I’m even dreaming about her now, the fuck?
In the morning, I was once again faced with a horrific reality. Today I had to go to school, as it wasn’t Sunday anymore, and while I was pretty casual about things… I’m not going no-bra to high school. I picked up a bright pink lace one that looked completely against my fashion sense and reluctantly put it on. Well, I tried to put it on… when was the last time I hooked one of these things.
“Need some help?” my mom asked, seeing me struggling with the clasp like I was a teenage boy.
“G-Get out!” I shouted, slamming my door shut and locking it.
I grappled against the damn bra for a few minutes, but finally remembered how to do it in a flash of inspiration. It really wasn’t that hard, I was just overthinking it.
On the way to school, Raza walked by my side, and one of my unwanted lackeys ran up to me. I couldn’t remember his name to save my life, but I guess that didn’t really matter.
“Boss! I hear you took down an entire biker gang single handedly, when did you get so strong?!”
“Uhh, well… I didn’t see any bikes… it was certainly a gang though.” I responded, glancing over to Raza, who didn’t seem to want to ask any questions. “The older brother of that punk from the other day brought them over, wanting to get payback or something, I beat them so fast I forgot what they said.”
“You’re so fuckin’ cool, Takeru! I wish I could be as strong as you were, can you tell me your secret?” he asked me, a common question I heard from these wannabe delinquents.
“I’m not sure if it’s something I can teach…” I mumbled, picking up my pace to keep up with Raza, which left the guy I was just talking to behind in the dust.
All throughout the day’s classes I wasn’t able to think about anything else except what I had gotten myself into. Well, it’s not like I did it, more like I was dragged into it by force, but still. It was impossible for me to focus on class, as all I could think about was the swirling memories and feelings of a long forgotten war.
Ahriman in those memories was a god of destruction, nearly invincible and immensely powerful. When he walked, the ground shattered, when he swung his sword, the sky ripped apart, mountains crumbled, and armies fell. I wasn’t anything like that, how the hell could I do anything against Him?
Finally, the lunch break began, and I was able to escape the classroom. I quickly found Raza and we headed to a quiet corner of the school courtyard. We sat below a tree, and she brought out a store bought bento lunch box from her bag. I slowly opened the wrapper on a yakisoba bread I had bought earlier, and she gave me a serious look as I took a bite of the cheap food in my hand.
“You need to eat better than that to maintain your strength, my l- Takeru!” She snatched the bread from my hand with a sigh, then pulled out a second lunch from her school bag. “Thankfully, I anticipated this and bought two!”
I was forced to take the bento, and was suddenly very grateful to be in the back corner of the school where nobody else was. Raza wasn’t the most popular girl in the school, but she was attractive and, more importantly, single. Despite being a woman myself, the guys saw me as a rival whenever I got too close to other girls. I’m sure hanging out with Raza publicly will bring a lot of ire from the guys, and my fangirl club, urgh, as if I didn’t have enough to deal with right now.
I ate the lunch box I was given, even if it was only store bought, I couldn’t ignore her kindness… but...
“Would have thought you’d make a homemade bento...” I said without thinking, and Raza just stared at me in confusion. After an awkward few seconds, she finally replied.
“O-Oh… of course, my mistake… I’ll make it myself tomorrow!” she stammered, her face turning about as red as her hair did when she used her Daeva abilities. If you didn’t know any better, we probably looked like a couple who had only started dating a few days ago, even if that wasn’t remotely what our relationship was like.
After lunch we went back to class, and the day passed slowly. Eventually, class ended, and the two of us began to head out of the school. I tried to think of anything to talk to her about, but we ended up working in silence most of the time. Most of the school had already emptied out aside from some athletic clubs, it seems we were both in remedial classes which took longer to let out.
We walked side by side down the empty hallway, god, why couldn’t there be a single other person… This was too awkward. I felt like I was a highschool boy alone with his crush in an anime romcom. Ahriman’s memories are messing with me again, and I keep seeing her as super cute.
“Hey, Raza… do you want to come over to my house tonight? For… for dinner, I’m sure my mom would be glad I have a female friend for once…” I started to ask her to hang out with me later, but she didn’t seem to be paying attention.
The hallway was still, not a student in sight. Silent, motionless. Raza pushed me back, an energy flaring up in her body. Unnatural wind blew around her as her hair turned red and two horns ripped out of her skull. In her hand, her rusty spear materialized.
“They’re coming, stand back, my Liege!” Raza gripped her weapon with both hands, taking up a combat stance.
A burst of white light crashed through the windows before us, showering the hallway in a rain of glass shards. A bright light shot through the hall like a bullet, Raza’s spear cutting through the air rapidly. Two blades clashed in a rain of sparks, and the attacker skidded to a stop.
Standing before us looked to be the Valkyrie from before, though her hair had been roughly cut shorter, with her bangs hanging to the same level as the rest of her hair now. Below her armored robes, it appeared her body was wrapped in bandages.
“I hope you enjoyed your short respite, scum.” the angelic woman faced me, ignoring Raza entirely, her sword pointed at my throat. “I am Saraviael, Lord’s knight of the third order. By this holy blade and His name, I will slay you and wipe your filth from this plane.”
Her expression, which was blank throughout our previous encounter, now showed a look of hatred. But there was more than that, there was a pain in her eyes, a desperation in her movements and voice.
“Doesn’t look like I can talk my way out of this, not that I’d want to.” I flashed a cocky smile at
her to hide the panic I felt inside, raising my hands into a boxing stance, doing a few quick jabs.
“It won’t go the same as before, you trash!” the angel, Saraviael, pulled her sword back, lunging forward towards me in a flash of movement. But her blade never reached me, clashing once again with Raza’s demonic looking spear.
“Don’t act like I’m not here!” Raza growled, knocking the angel’s blade aside and preparing to thrust her own weapon. “I may just be a footsoldier, but I can still defeat a single Executioner!”
“You wield the power of the Suura well, for a low level soldier.” the angel commented, sidestepping Raza's counter thrust. “But you’re just that, low level… you have no chance against one who has obtained the next level of power, the power of Saocant Urvan!”
“..!” Raza froze at the mysterious words, and a memory from Ahriman’s lift flashed before my eyes.
The Suura are the weapons both sides fought with, but there was a more potent weapon, the ability to bring out the unique ability of one’s soul… the power to burn one’s own Aura to increase their fighting power and bring forth strange, inhuman powers. This technique was called Saocant Urvan, I remember now!
Wait, isn’t it really bad if this angel can do that and we can’t?!
