Damen ran through the green fields of the New Kingdom, with his pet beast at his side. He ran past trees and grasses, past large bushes, and through a forest until her reached a clearing - the top of a cliff. Damen plopped down on a weed patch, exhausted, with his beast right next to him.
"So, Vex, watch this." Damen pointed towards the sky, and the beast looked up. A thin blue light shot from Damen's finger into the clouds, and suddenly the sky grew bright. Multicolored streaks rained down, turning everything they touch into rainbow-like mirrors. After a few minutes, things turned back to normal.
Vex shrieked with delight as it flapped its wings, and Damen laughed.
"Calm down," he said as he patted its head. "It's just an illusion..."
Vex suddenly looked up and emitted a low growl. Damen looked up and saw two of the New Kingdom's seraph guards fly towards them.
"Oh great..."
"You!" one of the guards said. "Do you know that magic is forbidden in the Ethereal?"
The other guard joined in. "We will have to take you in."
Damen sneered. "If you can catch me!" Damen waved his hand and suddenly, a strange rainbow sphere engulfed the guards.
It took the guards a few minutes, but they finally realised the sphere was an illusion. When they finally escaped it, Damen and his pet was gone.
Dameon arrived from his tour of the vast kingdom. He went straight to his room, and found Selene sitting at the center. Selene looked up at Dameon, and beckoned him to come near. Dameon sat next to his queen, and looked at the item she held in her hands.
The wing-shaped pendants, the ones those two had received while they were still babies, had fused together in one piece.
The two felt a cold wind that seemed to come from the piece, and saw a bluish portal emerge from its center. They watched, and saw figures and scenes of what seemed like a war. Selene watched in horror as she watched scenes of death and destruction of their beautiful Kingdom. Then, the item shimmered, and flashed a scene from their past. They watched and relived the birth and disappearance of their son. Then, near the end of the visions, the two saw the dark shadow of a young figure. Then the images faded.
Selene looked to Dameon with tear-filled eyes.
"He's alive..."
Damen hovered near the New Kingdom's castle, and looked at the hundreds of guards posted there. Vex, who seemed impatient, whined slightly. Damen sighed, and faced his pet.
"I know you're hungry," he said, "But through THOSE...?" Damen pointed at the guards.
Vex whined again, and did a flip. Damen rolled his eyes.
"Oh okay... just quit the acting."
Vex flapped his wings in delight as Damen began an invisibility spell.
Vanguard, the huge beast that sat next to Dameon's throne, became impatient. It lifted its huge snout and emitted a deafening roar. The whole palace shook with the beast's voice, and Dameon ran into the room, with Selene right behind him. Vanguard started pacing the room, seemingly in concentration. Dameon stared at his Beast, then scratched it behind the ears.
"What's wrong, Van..."
The Beast suddenly tensed, then jumped over Dameon and at Selene!
The Great beast Vanguard bared its fangs as it leaped towards the Seraph queen. Selene screamed, and fell in a crouch. The beast spread its wings and soared over Selene's body, and slashed an area behind her.
Then something unexpected happened.
There were three crimson lines where the beast slashed. The air rippled, and then two figures materialised - a beast, and a saeraph.
Damen put his hand to his chest, and when he looked at it, he saw blood. He looked at the surprised King and Queen, then flashed an evil grin. With a wave of his hand, a flash appeared.
Then Damen and Vex was gone.
A month has passed since that incident in the castle. Damen sat at the cliff, watching the sun rise. Then he saw something unexpected... an army of celestials, rising in the sky. Damen quickly cast an invisibility spell on himself and the sleeping Vex at his side. Then he flew, alone, to look at the army.
"Darael, you lead the first segment. Sevaon, you lead the third. Circle east, and wait for my signal."
"But what about the guards? They equal our army!" Sevaon complained.
The first speaker gave the saeraph a piercing glare. Sevaon backed away. Darael hesitated, then hovered closer. Damen also flew a bit closer, as to hear the conversation.
"Laurek, I have a feeling..."
Laurek looked around nervously, then said in a whisper, "A spy?"
Damen felt a bad feeling inside his stomach as Darael nodded. Laurek shook his head.
"No matter, we shall strike soon enough."
Damen watched as Sevaon's army flew east, and Laurek's west. Just as Damen was about to fly back to the cliff, Darael turned and stared straight at him. Darael pointed. "Seize him!"
Damen felt strong arms hold him, and his illusion faded. He looked at the seraph leader, then shook his head.
"How did you...?"
Darael laughed. "Your weak spells are dispelled by my amulet," he said, pointing to a glowing pentagram at his chest. "Nothing you can do will hurt me."
Damen waved his hand for a flash spell but nothing came out. "Damn you, lousy son of a... damn seraph!"
Darael laughed even harder. "And you think you're not?" The seraph stopped laughing. "You, Damen, the lost child of Dameon and Selene. You don't know, but I took you from your bed in the castle years ago. I raised you, but you ran away when you were only three summers old. Now, I will use you to get what should be mine."
Darael's gaze fell to the north.
"The New Kingdom, and Selene."
Sevaon swore as he saw the castle double it's guards. He took a look to the west, and his keen eyes can make out the silhouette of Laurek's segment against the sun. He looked back at the castle just in time to see the guards charge.
"Attack!" Laurek shouted. "For the glory of Inferno!" The second segment's troops unsheathed their swords, and rushed to aid their comrades.
Dameon stood up, looking towards the front of the castle. He looked at the beautiful seraph at his side, then at the Great beast. Selene gazed at Dameon. "We must fight." she said.
Dameon nodded, then the three rushed out to meet the onslaught.
Damen was led to the battlefield by strong arms, and with the seraph Darael near, he can't do anything to free himself. Damen's mind spun with Darael's words. If Dameon was indeed his father, why didn't he even search for him? Couldn't they leave the castle, even for a day?
Hot tears flowed down his cheeks, partly of rage and partly of joy. For once, Damen would know what it is like to have a family. For once, he would know the feeling of love.
Selene cast a glowing white ball at a group of soldiers, and burned them to a crisp. Dameon shot miniscule fireballs at the charging army, and managed to injure half of them. He let out a curse as he saw yet another army approach from the south. Dameon was about to shoot a huge fireball at the approaching army, but stopped. They were waving a flag of truce.
Darael flew past the fighting armies with 2 soldiers holding Damen following him. He stopped a short distance away from Dameon and Selene, then sneered.
He grabbed Damen roughly by his shirt and pulled him close. Darael looked at Damen's face, then at Dameon. Then he laughed.
"He really does look like you!" Darael said.
"W... what are you talking about?" Dameon asked, his voice low in suspicion.
"Don't tell me you already forgot, years ago, when I took your only son!" Darael threw Damen back to his soldiers, and Selene gasped.
"Damen!" She said as she rushed to her long-lost son. She took his face in her hands and peered into his eyes. "Damen..."
Selene felt Darael approach, who put an arm around her waist and pulled her away from her son. Darael wrapped his arms possessively around Selene and sneered at Dameon.
"Choose," said Darael, "Give me your wife and Kingdom, or you son dies!"
"Never!" shouted Dameon, but Selene shook her head.
"Take it. Take me. I don't care." Selene looked at Damen. "Take all you want, just don't take the life of my son."
"Selene..." Dameon started, but Darael interrupted him.
"Soldiers, release the boy. And Dameon," Darael turned towards him. "I don't want you to set foot near the palace again!"
Dameon only glared at the seraph as he took his son gently by the arm and flew off with Vanguard trailing behind him.
Dameon, Vanguard, and Damen flew towards the cliff where Dameon and Selene had first met. They landed and sat on the soft grass on the cliff. Then Dameon did something unexpected. He smiled.
"Damen," he said, "Why do you use an illusion on yourself?"
Damen was surprised. No one knew about his illusion, how did Dameon, a father he never knew he had, know?
Damen took a flat piece of rock from his pocket, and threw it over the cliff. His visage, which was that of a saeraph, wavered and became clear. Dameon's smile faded as he beheld the sight in front of him, which was more majestic than he had expected.
Damen closed his eyes, and then opened them and looked at his father.
An angel with black wings, Dameon thought.
Damen, my son, is the legendary Black Angel!
"The Kingdom is ours!" announced Darael, with Laurek and Sevaon standing next to him. "All hail the Inferno!"
All the soldiers cheered, and Darael left his two partners and headed towards the room where he locked Selene.
He opened the door carefully and looked inside. There, Selene sat on a chair and was staring at a figurine. She looked up, and when she saw Darael, turned away.
Darael walked to her side and put an arm on her shoulders.
"You and I were meant to be," he said. "Not you and that lousy son of Hell!"
Selene pushed him away, and Darael grabbed her and pulled her face close to his. "If I can't have you," he said, "No one will." And Darael kissed Selene long and hard.
"What is it?" asked Damen. He touched the pendant that his father had put around his neck. Damen felt a tingling sensation as small bursts of arcane energies flowed from the pendant to his body.
"It's a focus," said Dameon. He gazed at his son. "You know how to cast illusions, don't you?"
Damen nodded, and said, "Illusions, and nothing more."
Dameon nodded, and pointed towards the pendant. "That was given to me and your mother by the Ghosts of Life and Death. It holds powers that even after 20 years we haven't found out yet." Dameon paused, then said, "One of the powers was that to turn illusions into reality. But only if given to the legendary Black Angel."
Damen looked up. "Me...?"
Dameon nodded.
"Why me?"
Dameon looked at his son. "I have faith in you." Dameon stood up and looked at Damen, then at the two beasts playing in the air.
"His name's Vex." said Damen.
Dameon only smiled.
Weeks had passed. Selene sat on her bed, sobbing. It had just turned to night, and she knew in a few hours Darael would come and make her sleep with him. She gazed at the unbreakable window, then she saw something strange. The sun had just set, but...
Why was the sun up again?
Darael, Sevaon, and Laurek stood in the castle's court, with their legions of soldiers. All stared up at the sky. Then suddenly, rainbow steaks rained down turning everything they touch into mirrors. One of the streaks fell on Sevaon. His figure tipped, fell and shattered.
Darael and Laurek stared in surprise, then looked up to see that all that was left of their once-vast army was the broken shatters of glass. Darael laughed. Fate is strange, isn't it? One day, you can conquer the world and the next, as weak and helpless as a newborn baby.
Darael was laughing even as a fireball flew to take his life.
The New Kingdom. The Ethereal. Restored to its glory, the threat gone once and for all. Dameon, Selene, and Damen ruled their fellow celestials with justice and kindness. The Ethereal plane became legendary throughout the entire intersection of planes, and its people basked in the glory of it all.
All it's people except one.
In the Palace dungeons, Laurek sat chained to the wall. His mind had long ago shattered, like the bodies of his once-vast army.
Laurek sat, talking to himself, talking to the wall, as his spirit began to leave his body.