Zero No Tsukaima Fan Fiction ❯ Zero no Tsukaima: Descension ❯ Chapter 14

HeroSeth and Rain make their way to the Tristain Magic Academy stoping along the way to rest a few times. The academy is only a half a day away and after a day and a half of traveling they finally make it to the large white walls of the place many of their adventures started out from. They make their way through the empty court yard no doubt with the loss of magic the Headmaster had sent them home. The halls are empty just the sound of a few conversations echoing down the hall. Seth stops outside of the Headmaster's office and turns to Rain, “Before you go in I need to tell you who probably is in there.” She nods and takes his hand, “Tayo and Griffen have both joined us. They really haven't changed from way back when but I guess they figure they owe us something.” The door swings open and Tayo walks out into the hall, “Or maybe we just wanted to save the world for once.” Tayo stops dead in his tracks when he notices who Seth was talking to, “Uh, Rain?” She smiles at him and he just nods nervously and steps aside letting Seth and Rain into the room. Seth sides steps revealing her to the now dead silent room. Saito squeezes past Zion and Airo and stops just a foot from Rain. He grabs her and with a laugh hugs her tight prompting everyone else to do the same. Saito whispers to her, “Dying isn't so bad the first time huh?” After everyone is done celebrating the return of a dear friend. They all sit down and wait for Colbert and the old Headmaster to return. After about twenty minutes a small mouse suddenly appears on the headmaster's desk and stands up on its' back legs. Colbert and the old man make their way into the room shortly after. Zion waits until the headmaster sits down and finally asks, “Did you find anything out from what we know?” The headmaster folds his hands in front of his face as he leans forward in his chair resting his elbows on his desk. “This is bad new but from what we have gathered perhaps not entirely impossible to fix.” Colbert continues with the story for fear of the information being confused, “From what we've read in the old library all that must be done is that the person or persons who committed the act must killed.” Seth sounds borderline happy with the news, “Great, so we just have to kill a few people, no problem.” Colbert shakes his head, “Not so simple.” “What does that mean?” “The world has no magic, but we've learned from the books that items that have been infused with magic will still have their power. I'm sure these people knew this as well and have probably collected the items already which means catastrophe for us.” Seth continues to voice everyone's questions, “What do you mean catastrophe? We've fought and beat people who were masters of all the magical elements, what is so bad this time?” Before Colbert can speak the headmaster answers, “It is a specific set of items that would be truly terrible if our enemy had them. While we were searching for books we came across one that was very interesting but also terrifying. It told a story of the creation of the world, a great battle in the heavens. Angels battled demons who were lead by a fallen angel who had at one time been the most trusted and admired angel of all. This angel became obsessed with power and wanted to rule over the angels himself so he tried to murder the master of the angels. He was quickly over powered and cast out of the paradise. Though he was defeated he managed to turn some of the angels to his side and also impress the demons who, though were weaker than the angels, out numbered them greatly. Using deception and promises the fallen one convinced the demons to rise up against the angels. A battle ensued and the energies released from the battle filled the empty world we live in now with the evils and virtues of humans and the beasts we call familiars. Zion cuts off the story, “I thought the spirits were created and then the spirits following what they were made for filled the world.” Colbert shakes his head, “That is true but the spirits being creations of true balance filled the world in such a way that is could have truly been perfect, but the battle released evil energies corrupting the minds of men. It is true also that good energy was also released creating people who would become legends for their courage and purity.” The headmaster clears his throat making Colbert stop talking off topic, “As I was saying. The battle raged on for days, and months. The demons having the superior numbers began to win but one soldier took it upon himself to fight through the enemy lines and finally though badly wounded reached the fallen one. Though he could no longer fight he used the last ounce of his strength and torn away the chest armor of the fallen one. Seeing this from afar a barrage of arrows followed soon after. Only one arrow managed to pierce the fallen angels chest and the rest hit the advancing demons and unfortunately the heroic soldier as well. Seeing their hopes for victory suddenly and drastically shift the demons fled back to where they came from. Now these holy beings the angels never aged and the ones killed would be reborn back into the world of man as this is how they where created. This too meant that the fallen one and his turned angels would be as well so as a last resort his soul was divided and put into different pieces of his armor.” Seth crosses his arms, “So what is the problem in the story the good guys win and that hero was reborn as no doubt a great human.” Colbert hit the top of Seth's head with his staff, “You weren't listening. If those pieces of armor where brought back together the fallen one could be brought back and none of use would stand a chance.” “What about the angels?” “When was the last time you got help fighting an evil that would destroy this world from an angel? We can't expect that to happen.” Seth tries to put everything into perspective, “Okay so the first thing we need to do is kill the guys that made this happen. Also probably if we come across some spooky evil armor we should probably do something to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.” Stephan gets up from his chair, “I can take us back to the tomb we where in and then we can track them from there.” “So its agreed, we are gonna save the world, again.” In a small village to the south of Tristain a small boy is sitting on an old tree stump just outside of a small town. He looks down at the ground and takes a deep breathe before hopping of of the stump with a small flipping summersault, showing off to no body. “Gabe come quick!” The boy spins around and sprints back to the town. His hair gets into his eyes and he trips over a horse cart and crashes to the ground. Without a moment to think about the pain or inspect if he is bleeding he gets up and continues to run until he reaches a house at the center of the town. Another deep breath and he opens the door and makes his way up a couple of steps to the second level of the home. He stops at the last door on the right of the small hallway and tries his best to part his hair so his face is visible. The door creaks as he opens it and before him is a dark room only lit by a small fire in the fireplace and a few candles, the room is familiar to him so he could navigate in pitch black anyhow. A labored breath brings the boys attention to the occupied bead in the room. He walks towards the bed and the person in the bed lifts his hand and the boy clutches hold of it and rests his forehead on both of their hands. “You fell didn't you Gabe?” The little boy shakes his head, against his hand, “I'm fine, it didn't hurt. Michael how are you doing?” Though the light is weak in the room a smile is visible on Michael's face, “Gabe, that is just like you, your forehead is bleeding, but you are asking how I am doing. How silly,” Michael starts coughing causing his whole upper body to shake. Gabe doesn't let go of his hand, soon Michael stops coughing. “Gabe listen, I need you to deliver a few things for me.” “Won't you be able to soon?” “Gabe please try to understand, I'm not long for this world, okay. I need you to deliver my armor and my sword to the headmaster of the Tristain Academy, can you do this for me?” “Yes, I can do that.” “I need you to go now, the sooner this is done the better.” Gabe walks over to the closet and pulls out a sword almost as tall as his four foot, ten inches body. The only piece of armor in the closet is a shoulder guard with crossing belts. “Gabe, if anyone asks your name tell them Hero.” “Hero? Michael, that seems a little strange.” “Please do it, for me?” “Okay Michael, I'll be Hero, but only until I bring this stuff to the headmaster.” “Thank you, now hurry you must do this as quickly as you can.” Gabe nods and leaves the room determined to do what was asked of him. He will become Hero until his task it complete. In the dark Michael closes his eyes and gently lets in the darkness of death, “Forgive me, me little brother.” Hero sprints out of town before anyone notices anything. He continues to run until he is far from the town and stops by a small pond a short distance from the main road to Tristain. Hero pulls out a small carving from his boot and leans over the water so he can see his face. Hero takes one of the belts from the shoulder guard and uses it to tie off a large portion of his hair and then using the carving knife chops it off. Scared to see what he looks like as the hair is falling into the water he keeps his eyes shut. He slowly opens one eye and then the other and he sees Hero starring back at him in the water instead of Gabe. He dunks his head in the water to get the cut hair off of him. After he pulls his head out of the water and dries it, by shaking his head side to side like a dog, he looks back into the pond to see his new look. His hair is much shorter and the way he shook his head to dry his hair has spiked it from left to right. He flattens out the left side and some of the right after a few seconds of further tinkering with his new hair style he feels content and decides to strap the shoulder armor to his left shoulder and using the crossing belt he secures the sword to his back so that the handle comes out from behind his right shoulder. “Okay, I'll be home soon big brother.”