The Return of the Seraph

[Seraph]

An off feel floated over the Valley of the Lotus, plants soaked up the mysterious energies that was flowing through the land, growing quickly to enormous qualities. The farther it was from any of the cities in the area, the larger the plants seemed to get. Animals, even the most aggressive in the area, stopped their pursuits and relaxed as they watched the air that flowed through the valley, as if they could see something none of the other creatures could.

Flowing through the air was the essence of a creature that hasn't existed on the earth for nearly 10,000 years. It slowly began to focus in the depths of the valley, the plants in the area flourishing to life and the animals in the area slowly gathering around to watch the now slowly forming lights dance around in the small clearing. It took a while, slowly beginning to consolidate in the clearing into a sort pillar of light.

The sound of the world had been so distant from his ears for so long, the events of the world had only appeared to him in quick little flashes that he couldn't fully comprehend in the limited state that he placed himself in in order to jump through the spances of time. He was slowly regaining the feelings he once had, the hard touch of the dirt below him, the tingling feeling of the grass against his skin, even the chill of the wind that waft through the valley. The scent that the wind brought with it filled his lungs, a brilliant scent that he had to ponder a moment before he gathered that it was the calming scent that came after a light rain that had pattered the world in this lonely valley. He listened to the sounds of the world as it moved back to him, the sound of the curious animals that slowly wandered up to where he was re-forming his pure essence.

Slowly a shape began to form from the light. Its hair was long, silver and beautiful, his skin, too, was pale and beautiful, almost giving the feel of purity. His face was contorted into a soft smile as he listened to the animals slowly make their way up to him. He was sitting, cross legged on the ground, like he was placed in a meditative state. He was draped in a collection of clothes that formed an odd white robe. He took three deep breaths and the essence remaining in the air slowly started to slip into his body, the light of the area slowly started to go out as the essence disappeared. Then it was dark again, lite only by the stars and moon in the sky. He took another deep breath in, opened his soft blue eyes that looked upon the animals around him in a caring feel, then let it out again. As the air escaped the creatures lungs, his eyes slowly started to shift from the joy and warmth they showed, to the cold steel look of a warrior arising once again to strike out at the evils of the world. Here sat Seraph, the General of the once widely known 7th-wing militant force, that once existed during a war that little, if any, would know anything about in this world.

[Shin]

With such a large gathering of energy it wouldn't be a surprise if it attracted people to it. Not only that, but the light that the forming of Seraph gave off would have been enough to catch the attention of anyone that had a reason to be this far from civilization.

Ryuku was such a person, he had been travelling several miles away when he first felt the large presnce of energy. He was unable to identify it at first, which only peaked his curiosity. So like the animals that made their way to Seraph, Ryuku was no different. He was actually one of the first creatures on the scene, standing atop a formation of rock on the edge of the valley he watched intently as the being formed.

It wouldn't be until Seraph was near completeion, before his first breath, that Ryuku pin pointed the energy. It had been some time since he had felt it...sometime indeed. The presence of an angel and simply judging by the ammount of energy it was a powerful one.

Ryuku didn't know the specific angel, he didn't expect to. But an angel forming was still nothing that could be tossed aside or thought of as an everyday occurance. He could feel the calmness flowing from him, the celestial presence that coaxed the animals into their docile nature. Ryuku was immune to the effects but it was still pleasant to be around, even for a being such as himself.

Ryuku assumed that the angel was getting it's bearings when it first opened it eyes. Ryuku had come to be in a similar fashion only a few months ago and the process had been disorienting to him, eye-sight, hearing and even the sense of touch could be overloading stimuli when the brain wasn't used to it.

"Greetings, Holy One." Ryuku would finally speak from on top his perch, now sitting cross-legged his hands gently placed on his lap, fingers tapping his knees.

[Seraph]

The angel, still letting his sense flow forth from him and get use to his existence on this plane once more. His eyes shifted up to the other figure, but shifted back to the animals as they slowly walked towards him. He slowly raised himself to his feet, a hand extending outwards as a Doe neared him enough that he could reach out and scratch behind the creatures ear. He felt something within the man that had appeared, something of an existence that he had thought had stopped existing itself, along with other angels of his style.

Smiled down to the Doe, "Go, my friend, go and return to your daily chores," his voice was soft and almost musical and soothing, it rang in the depth of a persons being. He patted the beast upon his head, then turned his attention away from it and towards the man who had come to watch him return to this plane. The lean, yet muscular figure of the angel shifted his entire form to face Ryuku.

"Hmmm... I figured that this place would be alone, I suppose I'm wrong." He paused for a moment, taking a second to take in the power of that being, as well as make a formal bow to greet the man. "Greetings, sir, I am Seraph, of the 7th-wing. Is there a need in this valley that my presence can assist with?" He returned to his neutral stance, his eyes locking with the sitting man once again.

[Shin]

The angel had a way with animals, that was for sure. But then again it was a supernatural presence and it was an angel. Ryuku didn't know why he was so surprised, he shouldn't have been. He couldn't remember the last time he was in the presence of anything celestial, it had been some time he was sure, so long ago that he couldn't remember.

Ryuku couldn't remember a lot lately and that bothered him more then a little. His lack of knowledge and strength had been something he was still coming to terms with, he had worked so hard in the past to earn what he had and now that was all gone.

The creatures name didn't ring any bells with Ryuku, but the mention of the 7th Wing sound vaugely like something he should have known about. Again he cursed himself for not being able to remember. He shrugged it off and put his mind to the matters at hand. It sound like Seraph didn't know why he was here... or if he did he was good at playing dumb.

"How should I know?" Ryuku stood from the rock, stretching into the night sky with an audible groan. "The only thing of interest here as far as I can tell is you. Though, the world isn't in the best of shape as far as I can tell. But... then again... how much do I really know?" Ryuku was in essence talking to himself as he was prone to do from time to time.

"I am in a similar situation as yourself. There aren't many human civilizations anymore... something happened. Im not sure what, but something destroyed alot of humanity." Ryuku would more then likely come off a little cold when he spoke of humanity and humans, but that was only natural to someone like him. The race irritated him to no end but his own exsitance was tied to their survival in a way, and so helping them had always been in his best interest.

"How rude of me!" Ryuku smacked himself in the forehead, and with a single leap off the rock landed a few feet infront of Seraph. An impressive jump by anyones standards. "I am Ryuku Manzarth Obsedian, but you can call me Ryu." He extended his hand to Seraph.

"So, why is someone like you in a place like this?"

[Seraph]

Seraph raised a brow to this man, then shrugged lightly and extended his hand to shake his. "I have come here because it was a peaceful enough land, and little to no chance of having my arrival taken note of by those creatures I try hard to hunt." He removed his hand from his, "I only ask if something is happening in this area, because a creature such as yourself is walking through it."

Seraph looked about himself, then back to Ryu. "So, Ryu it is. Are you aware of any demons in the surrounding lands? If not, do you know of any towns near here that might need some assistance of any sort?" He took this question as a time to start walking, he could only hope that Ryu would follow him as he moved. His eyes searched the surrounding, trying to find a path that he might begin to follow.

"You see, I have returned to the world because of the turmoil that I have felt from it. It appears that it is teetering upon its own destruction, and part of that destruction has already taken place." He moved through the trees that surrounded them, then paused for a second and turned to Ryu. "So, tell me Ryu. What is a Omni doing on this world himself, especially if he is unaware of the reason for its current state of being?" This fact deeply confused the angel, he knows of the Omni, as he fought aside with some of them back during the war.

[Shin]

"I have't ran into any demons myself, nor have I sensed any. But Demons are one of those things that are always about." Ryuku said a he walked, talking like it hardly mattere. "Demons will always be here." He said, again talking to himself.

He was taken back by the fact Seraph knew of his race, Omni's were exceptionally rare astral beigs during the time of th great war only several dozen had ever existed, Ryuku being one of them. The fact that Seraph was so easily able to pick up on Ryuku showed how old he really was.

"I am the only one of my kind. Therest were either killed or rest within the Obsidian Soul." Ryuku mention the ancient artifact, it had been something that resembled a soul, but in truth it was something that molded to a person soul or in Ryukus case gave him a soul. It had ben a collection of Omni essences, an artifcial soul.

"I had been one with the energies for longer then I can remember. But something happened here and because of that I was violently torn from them, and lost much of my power in he process. Possibly the same thing that called you to this realm, but, I do not yet know what it was." Unlike before when Ryuku spoke he had a stern tone to his voice, he spoke of somehing he cared about and so he put emoton behind his words, mainly anger.

[Seraph]

As they wandered through the forest, Seraph listened to the mans words. While they talked, he tried to piece together the events that had flashed before him while he still floated in his essence form through the folds of reality. "I saw things, destruction, death, horrid things happening down here. I know they happened some time ago, but how long or what exactly it was, I'm not fully aware. I say we should get to a city near and ask, its always wise to be aware of the happenings of the world when your trying to decide your next move."

He looked over towards the Omni that was walking beside him. "What, then, have you been doing since you arrived here, back on this world?" He wanted to get as much as he could gather about the world and this was one way he's learned to gather it, learning it through someone else memories. As they talked, he kept them walking towards a path that he had noticed a little ways away from the clearing he appeared in.

[Shin]

"Those are things that I would not want to see." Ryuku said honestly, he had his fill of death and destruction when he was much younger, his dreams were one of the few places he was free from such torment. Ryuku couldn't imagine something as personal as that being violeted.

"Wandering. I have not really gone anywhere. I haven't had the focus to go searching for answers, though I admit that it must be done. It seems the fates have brought me here instead. Afterall we are both in similar situations."

It was pure speculation, but it could easily be seen as destiny that the two were to meet as they had. Both were extraplanar beings from a world long past, both brought forth from their sleep for reasons that neither understood. It reminded Ryuku very much of a Bard's tale gone bad.

"Ther is a major road back to the east, either direction should take us towards a town, maybe even a city." Ryuku gestured back the way he came. "Or, unless those wings were for show, we could cover alot more ground from the air."

[Seraph]

Seraph smiled, "can you fly too? I would rather not carry you." He pulled himself to a stop and shifted his attention to the Omni that had so quickly appeared to befriend him. He would wait a few moments for Ryuku to answer before he started to transform and loosen his wings in this world once more.

It would take Seraph just a moments concentrations to shift, but so much would change in regards to him. In less then a second seven glorious wings flared to life from the seraphim's back. The wings looked similar to wings of a large bird, but appeared to be made of light that took on a liquid flow to it. They floated behind him, and all the trees and underbrush that it touched quickly flared to life around them. His eyes began to glow with a silver sheen to them, as did his hair. His hair also floated wildly around his head, taking more of a silver light glare to them, almost appearing to be alive and having minds of their own.

He stood their in his angelic majesty, his eyes piercing through the darkness of the night at Ryuku. Between his wings and hair, the area around them was lightened as well. People from miles away would see the glowing light, this was something Seraph could do something about if he felt that need for, but at the moment he felt like flaunting his powers, since its his first use of them in many ages.

[Shin]

"I have a little to much dignity to allow myself to be carried." Ryuku said with a chuckle, taking a step back from Seraph. He watched as the angel underwent a most impressive transformation. Ryuku was forced to divert his eyes from the light, looking at the ground.

When Seraph was done Ryuku was already in the air, only a few inches, but off the ground. His own style of flight was far less glorious in it's appearence but no less effective. By no means other then will power Ryuku had lifted into the air, there was no light, no air whipping around him, he appeared normal, except for the fact that he was no longer touching the ground.

"You may want to dim the light. If we approach the city looking like a falling star we'll no doubt attract unwanted attention." With that Ryuku slingshotted himself into the air, he left no trail behind as he flew and possessed no aura ... it was simple, but it was flight.

[Seraph]

As Seraph used his wings to push himself off from the ground, he let the illumination of his wings to slowly dissipate so that they wouldn't draw attention to themselves as they moved towards town, like Ryuku had suggested. He lifted himself high into the air, his eyes scanning the world around them for signs of life. As he looked out over the Valley, his eyes saw five major area's that were populated with humans.

First he noted the city of Luoyang, a massive city by the looks of it. It appeared to have seven walls that looked almost like they were separating the city into different defensible positions. Seraph decided it was to large and to many opportunities for things to go on, and moved on to his next sight. Feng Huang was very interesting as seraph looked up it. A massive stone palace that raised from the ground and had a walled harbor, but again, Seraph was looking for something without such a militant feel to it.

He looked over the cities of Shenjing, a beautiful port city that would lead to the sea that flowed away from this land, and Wei which was located by a large lake that was fed by three separate rivers. He decided he would want to head to Shenjing after a time, but still not wanting to go to deep into the city life of the world just yet he would avoid it. Seraph also decided that he would make a stop by Wei and investigate the chapel that he could see in there, just not yet.

After searching the area he decided he would head off towards Chang'an. It wasn't so much of a city from what the angel could tell, but a collection of small towns that built near each other. He pointed in that direction "There Ryu, lets go and see what we can learn in that land, then move along when we have gathered what we want, or as much of it as we can." Then the angel leaned himself forward slightly and took off in the direction of Chang'an at a steady pace.