A Brief Introduction:

After her health succumbed to the dismemberment of her hand, after the long and arduous quest to find the culprit who raided her Mother?s grave, a weakened Renna had managed to retrieve the stolen artifact and fled to her homeland of the Crystal Forest, abandoning her Rhy?din operations altogether.

She eventually recovered in her own monolithic fortress of T?Barack Opalith and set into motion a series of plans to rise into what she claimed to be, her ultimate destiny.

One day; without a second warning to her subordinates, Renna issued the command for her Undead horde of Black Monks; led by her Daughter and closest minion Mura, to invade the peaceful province of the Silent Forest inhabited by a pacifistic race of Wood Elves, for reasons unclear. Successfully, Renna?s army enslaved the entire populace in her surprise attack, where little resistance was met, all in just under one week.

Consequently, her actions had awakened the ire of one of the Elves? allies, the Kingdom of Lysander, thus throwing Renna and her newly established kingdom of Zarcurgis into a long and bloody campaign of conflict. It was during the very beginning of this war, that one of the most important people in her life had appeared in a rather inopportune moment.

Rise

Chapter 1


Part 1: Providence

Although the intruder was but a stone?s throw inside of her Kingdom?s boarder, Renna was not in the least bit amused of the trespass. For several days now she had felt something out of synchronization with the world around her, like as if a piece of a long forgotten puzzle, drew ever closer despite her willingness to ignore it. But now, finally it has come to threaten and to complete the picture of a heritage she had shunned from the local recall of tainted memories for far too long.

She had judged by the strange appearance of this Angelic one?s aura, that she was certainly of a different continent, and more than likely a soldier of a foreign Order that has come to conquer the lands that belong to her by birthright. Renna had only heard stories and fairytales of such hierarchies abroad in faraway lands, stories passed down to her through her Father and Superiors years and years ago, when they were all alive.

The weather had turned rampant above the scorched soil of Zarcurgis, the morning sun blocked out by a swift advance of storm clouds that arched bolts of light to scour the crystal trees, leaving them partly uninjured. The thundering rain soaked the ashen earth until it could no longer absorb the heaven?s life giving bounty, turning the deadened grass of the outer most edges of Renna?s boarders into a mashed mixture of mud and dried hay.

The Betrayer was not going to sugar coat this meeting between sworn, natural enemies of opposing factions. Despite their familial origins, this was an act of war and she will treat it as such!

She stood in a rather sinister manner, hunched forward like an old witch, her burning liquid of larva coloured eyes wide with frenzy, smouldering upon the woman who stood several meters across from her in the mud. Undisturbed by the drenched black cloak she wore that weighed heavily down upon her shoulders and to stick firmly close to her skin.

Renna flared her wingspan wide; playing a simple game of dominance, like a savage wolf protecting its den by puffing out its fur and baring its teeth. She growled out her words for the intruder to hear loud and clear above the splash of falling rain. ?Hail, my distant Sister,? her sarcasm evident, ?dare you not know the ancient pacts between our fragments?? Her rage spat out her next words in a raised duality of voices that was neither Daemon nor Human, ?What business have you here, to step upon my domain, Angelic??

Wind tore at Celia's wings, pulling loose feathers free as they held wide against the storm. This familiar feeling rolled off of the supposed Angelic before her like the rain itself, and it brought a wild shift in eye-colour from deep grey to endless black, spattered with flecks of gold and white.

Severed and broken, there was nothing left to hold the Archon to this or any other realm any longer, and it showed in the loose stance she adopted.

Words veritably dripped from her lips, reluctant and challenging at once, though a deceptively demure smile remained upon her face. "I no longer belong to any sect, dear Sister." Her hands, small and slight of build, once thought too pure to even hold a blade, clenched into gritty fists as she continued. "I have been Severed, and have no business anywhere." Her smile seemed to ask a dangerous question. So what will you do about it?

She felt strange, displaying such confidence without the power to back it up as well as she'd have liked, but if the best she could hope for was a death in battle, she was going to make it a painful one.

?You do not look like an outcast. None like I have known? All those who are cast from an Order are normally demoted down as a mortal, or are sent to Nemesis itself.? Renna tilted her head curiously to one side, her eyes narrowing at the woman suspiciously. She did not believe a single word of it, and why should she? ?You may have been ?Severed,? my dear sweet kindred, but I think you do not know the true meaning of the word.? The Betrayer took a step forward, ?Prove your inferior position to me, and I may consider your statement true, and allow you to live.?

She lifted a finger to the mud drenched ground before the woman?s feet, ?On your knees, then you will tell me your true name, and tell me the identity of the God and sect of which you serve. Either that, or I may just sever you in a very different way from which you claim...?

A slight twitch, wings rustling against the winds, and the Archon's eyes narrowed. Her smile remained spitefully soft. "I was not cast out. I was abandoned for what I am." Her wings stiffened, and spread to their full span before the woman questioning her and demanding obedience. She gave her name and title, though she remained standing throughout the listing. "I am Celia, Arkheizi, Severed Champion and Commander to the Goddess Arkhe. The tainted blood of the Second generation flows through my veins." Her pride in stature was apparent. Her chest was puffed out, shoulders squared, wings spread, and eyes as black as death.

Though, she gave herself away with the faltering smile. If this woman wanted to bring Celia to her knees, it would take more than words and teeth.

?A Champion? Ahhh! The Goddess Arkhe? I have heard of that one before? But tell me, is it not ironic, though?? Renna mused, ?That they require instruments of destruction to complete their desires of peace and prosperity? You know what I think? I think it?s all bullsh*t, and that we?re nothing but pawns for their amusement.? She snickered then, her long tongue slithering out past her lips to lick about the lusty orifice, ?Celia, Second Generation?? Her smile faded, her face suddenly less threatening and all the more serious while her wings, folded calmly behind her back, ?Sister? Are you, untainted??

"We were brought up to understand that conflict is inevitable on the path to peace." Celia's smile faltered at the serious expression, her body stiffening unconsciously. Her wings relaxed, and locked behind her in an apprehensive way. Black eyes flickered from the woman's own to her tongue and back again. Miniscule strands of grey could be seen attempting to force their way into the outer edges of her irises. Hearing her name spoken by such a being sent a shiver down her spine, and something dormant stirred, if only factually. "Untainted...? I am the firstborn of Arkhe's second generation. My body and blood weren't crafted by the Goddess herself. For all I attained," Her demeanor remained prideful, strong. "I was still a pariah."

"And what of you? I can sense no others in this land. Were you cast out? Was your Order destroyed?" A moment of pause, and her eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

?Conflict is an act of the God you serve! Gods and Goddesses are the bane of existence,? She hissed, slashing her right hand through the air, punctuating her comment with her bliss and fanatical dogma that had long been brewing for years, ?Tainted you are Sister, for you are but the thinned blood of an Immortal who is beyond life or death, who is beyond the understanding of us pawns in the grand scheme of their playful design! But? You, are inferiorly ignorant. You, are too pure. Too blind,? She chuckled, ?Can?t you feel it? You are more pure than I could ever hope to achieve, my beloved Sister, no exile you have suffered can succumb to the sin that is I!?

Renna had once again released her signature cackle and wicked grin, ?There are no others here? None of your Gods. Nor your Goddesses. There is only I.? She opened up her arms as if to embrace her rival, ?The Order that once ruled here was slaughtered for the sins they committed against their own worship? For you see, I killed them. I, Renna, the Hand of Abolition - as decreed by my Mother destroyed them all!? She allowed her arms to fall to her sides, ?I, am, the Goddess of the Dark that shall darken the skies of this world under my banner, and banish all the followers who do not see me as their one true God, into True Death??

"You took it upon yourself to shatter an Order, and assume a throne to reign supreme across this land?" A flicker of old power ran through the Angelic's body as Renna spoke and stood there, and Celia shuddered against it.

"You remain unchallenged in these lands through force alone?" The power to break an order was beyond a threat. Beyond anything she'd faced. Without her power, she was damned from the start. This familiarity was almost painful. The feeling she'd nearly forgotten. It begged her to claw at her skin, to relieve it in some way. Her eyes burned black, though white roamed at their edges. Like a feral dog backed into a corner, Celia stood ready to hurl herself upon her apparent foe.

"And what could a Goddess such as you find so disturbing about my mere presence? What would bring you to the miniscule path I walk, my dear Sister?" Another flicker of power surged through her body shook again. The pain would be unbearable under less dangerous circumstances. As it was, it fell to the back of her mind. A dull throb here or there, and a grit of her teeth.

?They were tainted by their own beliefs, Sister? They deserved their fate. They served to die... You would have done the same if you were in my position if you had seen how low they fell.? Renna straightened herself, eyes half lidded, squinting as droplets of freezing cold rain threatened to stab into her eyes. She could feel something inside of the woman. But what? A distant surge? Perhaps this inferior is not as weak as The Betrayer had first come to think?

Was it a rising power? Or was it only simply dormant, and only just awakening? Slowly her smile curved into a loosely fashioned grin, revealing a set of now mutated shark-like teeth, which deepened the vague wrinkles in the corners of her eyes and the scar upon her cheek. ?The Orders are impure imitations of philosophies twisted to suit their own means. You know this, Sister. You too; I am sure, have witnessed this first hand.?

Holding out her right hand towards her, The Betrayer started to chuckle her words, trying to appear as kind as possible, ?Sister, join me. Or die.? How hypocritical of her to preach the other Orders? dogma as outright evil for their sins, while she stands here before another of her kind lying to her face, while threatening her with death if she did not bow to her superiority. ?Don?t waste your life resisting my coming embrace. Become enlightened. Bow before me.?

Celia was unsure of the situation. The silence she presented answered Renna's accusations; something she would begrudge her for, for the time being. Her stance remained dangerous, though a way out had simply... Presented itself.

A subtle itch began to play about her eyes as they took on an orange-tinged black, and she contemplated the hand before her. Delicate-looking hands relaxed, uncoiled from their tight fists, and slid liquidly up her thighs to rest upon her hips. A single snow-white brow arched, over slightly narrowed eyes. "You would offer me salvation from the weakness of the Divine?" Her eyes faded to a deeper black, with barely a hint of orange playing across the surface.

A greater surge of power came and brought a tremor to the Angelic, and left a sustained piece of what she'd lost. A faint, false light began to shimmer around her body, stealing its glow from the little light that had been left in the world around it. Alternately, the area around her darkened, seemingly drained of its luminosity to fuel her own.

A smirk crossed her lips, and she began to understand what was happening. But how best to coax the beast from its cage? "Show me that you have the power to bring my death, and I am yours to command."