For Terra in Excelsior

The climb to the top begins with but a single step. 

 All of creation suffers, young ones. Only in accepting our own mortality can we make a difference. Only in bearing the burden of our failures can we find the strength to go on. Only in detachment from glory, or honor, or jealousy can we hope to spare others from grief.

 Librarian Secundus Thryn of the Doom Eagles M 41

City of Kuoh Japan 2003 M 3 

Hyoudou residence time unknown. 

Issei was drifting peacefully in the space that was entirely his own, a place to contemplate and debate a place that was the breeding ground of as his parents called his overactive imagination. He was going to be seven in a few days, and he was excited for the party he anticipated that his parents would plan on throwing for him. He was happy to see Akio and Irina along with the many other acquaintance that he had made in the years he had been in school. He hoped that he would get plenty of new books for his library and he really wanted the new book that had just been released from his favorite sci fiction author.

He had been an abnormal child from his apparent genius status and from the many other strange things that occurred in his life such as his dreams. His parents never genuinely believed him when talked about the worlds and things he saw there. The massive cities that resembled mountains, the warriors clad in gold or the many colors of the rainbow. Or the giant men whose size was bigger than any Issei had ever seen. Twenty-one faces stared back at him in his dreams every night but for some reason they were brighter and clearer tonight.

Two were so foggy and obscured that Issei had long ago stopped trying to see their faces. He had gotten many feelings from them. Pride for what they had done. Happiness's for finding them again in the cold dark void. Contentment from the knowledge that they were accomplishing the task set before them. And then shame, hate, and disgust for how their fates turned leading them to paths unspoken. The other nineteen were separated into two groups with the two ones who looked identical in every viable way split between the two standings. The twins would move back and forth between the teams at random and that had confused Issei. The group to the left was led by a massive man clad in armor that made the armor of the past look vile and pathetic. All of these men had that armor, but it varied heavily from each. The man that led the pack on the left had a bald head and what looked like some kind of wolf pelt on his shoulder. The feelings Issei had for this man were a mixture of the good and bad as a whisper came from the man.

 "We are so close to the fulfillment of our dream of Unification. Do not abandon us. We need you and your leadership, I cannot be the one, I am unworthy of the honor of being Warmaster."

The whisper faded and Issei looked at the man with pity and understanding. He had felt abandoned by the one he had looked up to. The one who had never been far from his side, the one he trusted with everything he had.

 "Father."

The whisper rasped and Issei looked again at the rest of the giants on the left. When he looked at each it was as if he had known each of them by heart. Their stories, their struggles, the ills, and highs that had beset them. The feeling that Issei felt most though was remorse and regret. He had wronged them in many ways, often minor, but for some the wrongs had been on a level that was beyond the scope of morality. The red cyclops looked onwards, the man with what appeared to be nails in his skull joined him as had the man whom Issei would have made the comparison to an unhinged Batman. The giant next to him had his head bowed in prayer looked up and Issei saw the fanaticism in his eyes. The look that disgusted him it was the same look his friend Irina's family had.

Yet there also extreme pity, the man before him had been tortured by the one who had found him and had claimed the position of his adopted father. He had been broken and then made to follow his first family into the monster he had become. The rest of the seven stories were told to him by the whispers who were growing in intensity. Issei had noticed that with each face he had gazed up he was getting closer and closer to the men's height. He looked down at his body and noticed that it was clad in armor that was golden. A look to the left saw a two headed eagle on the pauldron and the motif was repeated several more times on various parts of the armor. His gaze fell upon the twins, and he could not feel anything from them except confusion.

He had now made his way to those on the right. At their head was a man in blue armor with a laurel wreath atop his head and a symbol of some kind on his knee's plates and breast plate. Issei felt uncountable pride and respect for this son. The feeling tainted only slightly with the hint of regret and shame. He had quickly seen

that regret was the emotion that was shared predominantly between all of them.

Just like the left crowd when Issei had looked upon on the right, they spoke

their names and achievements in a voice that was now louder than a whisper

becoming a hurricane of sound. Building to its peak before finally it stopped at

the face of a man with the wings of an angel. Issei could not look away at any

point during this and was vastly scared when the voice that had been a whisper

up until its last form spoke again. This time it was behind him. He jerked in

that direction and saw a man his height with the exact same armor and heraldic

symbols looking directly at him. His hair was a midnight black and his eyes

just like his armor were gold. The same gold Issei's own eyes would become at

points when he was afraid or stressed. His opposite continued his gaze ever

forwards.

"It's time to wake Issei."

He spoke and the voice held the wisdom of a man who had experienced everything, every single path in life a man or woman could tread. Known and unknown.

 "Wake Issei. You are in incredible danger. Do not tarry here and wake!"

 Issei Hyoudou woke with a jolt.

City of Kuoh Japan 2003 M 3

Hyoudou residence 10:20 pm 

Issei's world as he woke was lit with a great and blinding gout of flame. The almost 7-year-old jerked out of his bed in panic. The shelves that held his books were on fire as were most of the objects in the room. Issei in his fear bolted across the room, kicking his door open with such great force that the door flew off its bolts to the wall. The wooden door slamming onto the wall across the hallway as Issei ran out and down the hall. The fire was everywhere, nothing was being spared from its wrath. The pictures of Issei and his family that were hanging on the walls were turning into the fine black powder of ash.

'I need to find my parents!'

 The thought was lightning quick, and Issei was moving before he had finished it down the long hallway to where his parent's room was close to the stair way. He kicked open the door again, sending it flying onto a burning bed. What he found in his parents' bedroom made his stomach sick. The smell was the first thing that hit

him. It was the smell of burnt cooked meat and it was polluting the air. That

smell made him eject the contents of his dinner up his throat and into his

mouth. The bile made it past his teeth and onto the floor next the right side

of the door frame. Looking at the ground next to the burning bed was the next

sight that would haunt the seven your old for the rest of his life. There on

side of the master bed on top of each other were the still burning remains of

Gorou and Miki Hyoudou.

Issei gazed at the man he had looked up to with awe curled up into a ball on the left side of the bedroom floor with a silent scream of agony still clear on his unburnt face. His mother the woman who had doted him and had always been his bedrock of support was also dead. Like her husband she was curled into a ball and the same silent scream could be seen on her face.

Issei would have made his way to their bodies and tried to carry them out of

the inferno but the voice that had haunted his dream interrupted the attempt.

'You must flee!'

Issei shook his head tears falling to the floor and evaporating into steam.

"I cannot leave them here!!!!! I must try and…."

The voice interrupted Issei again.

 "If you stay you die!"

 A pause.

"Your parents would want you to live Issei, flee now live for them!"

Issei glanced back at the bodies before with great reluctance fled from the room. Issei ran down the staircase dodging blocks of the ceiling that were falling and smashing onto the floor. He ran towards the back of the house not daring to look at what his home was becoming. When he got to the back door, he was horrified to find that the fire had warped the metal doorknob and he assumed that the rest of the doors in the bottom of the house were in the same condition. He panicked for but a moment before the voice spoke again.

"Use the closet chair from the table and break the window."

 Issei did as was instructed, grabbing a chair and with all his strength threw the chair against the window. The move broke the window's glass. Issei moved to the counter and began his climb up. When he reached the top, he saw the jagged pieces of glass that were still in the frame. He hesitated for a second before he launched hissmall body through the hazard and landed with a grunt on the lawn of the backyard.

He booked it towards the trees in the carefully cultivated public land. With

only a second glance back at his home Issei's innocence died upon the pyre of

cruelty and evil that had violently pushed itself out of the dark shadows. The

seven-year-old ran and would continue to run long past the horrific explosion

that finally broke the wards scheme and turned the black night into a fire

storm. 

 City of Kuoh Japan 2003 M 3 

Hyoudou residence 10:30 pm 

The house exploded as the fire inside finally hit the sabotaged gas line. The force of the explosion then the shock wave that followed could be felt halfway across the city. Tens of thousands of windows broke scattering glass across innocent screaming people on the streets or in the buildings those windows had been on.

The window of Cleria Belial broke sending glass across her bedroom and throwing her forward out of her bed by the force of the explosion. She landed and almost immediately cleared the drowsy mess out of her eyes before she ran to her closet then the dresser grabbing clothes. She was halfway dressed when the door to her bedroom was opened by one of her peerage.

Cleria tossed a look over her shoulder and saw that it was her queen a woman with the color of seaweed green hair, pink eyes medium height, and hourglass figure. Cleria snapped a question to her second.

"What in the name of Lucifer was that?!!! What direction and district did it come from!"

 Being in a high-ranking position in the ratings games of the underworld and devil society had made Cleria and all those in the higher brackets learn quickly and

painfully to assess the situation at a quick pace. Actions had to be considered

fast and moves needed to be made swiftly, while also gathering more information

as the game continued. Her queen had pulled up a magic circle tied into the

wards that surrounded the city and less than a moment later the answer was

given.

 "East side of the city in one of the middle-class neighborhoods,"

 She paused before continuing.

"What was one of the middle-class neighborhoods."

That made the furiously dressing King stop and pause for

but a moment before she continued dressing at an even quicker pace than before. After another fifteen seconds both women ran from the room and there in the great hall of the mansion that housed Kuoh's unofficial ruler was the rest of

her peerage. They were all ready and with a snap of her fingers their king led

them through a magic portal and onto the street closest to the blast zone. That

street was 3 blocks away and the situation there was bad. People were running

around aimlessly shocked awake by the explosion, pets, children, and adults

were running frantically or screaming in terror. 

Cleria's peerage had to fight its way through the crowds running away from the epicenter. When they finally got there fifteen minutes later it was to a gigantic crater. Three blocks and a half of one containing people who had been sleeping unaware of the world outside of their dreams had all vanished in just a few seconds. Debris was still falling from the sky slamming into people who were still close to the blast zone. Cleria immediately gave orders for her queen to make a call to the emergency services and then barked to her peerage to stop as many objects as possible from hitting her people. That order was immediately followed withouthesitation and the devils extended from their wings. They took to the air and began the upward battle that now faced them. 

City of Kuoh Japan 2003 M 3 

5 hours after the explosion. 

Cleria's face was drenched in sweat, mud, and grime. The nightmare that had happened tonight was finally nearing its end. She and her peerage had worked nonstop to try and lend aid to Kuoh's emergency services as they work. The heads of said services had been made aware that they were receiving aid from the other hidden side of earth as many of them doubled as people who had signed contracts with Kuoh's local devils.

A short five-minute session held with the services heads had led to an agreement that the wall that was supposed to be kept between the two worlds was nullified for the duration of the crisis. Cleria's peerage openly used their powers and specialized skills to work alongside the emergency services. Mind wipes would be applied after this disaster was over. Such agreements between the two sides were actually quite common and many natural disaster zones where the other side had laid their claws into would receive help from their hidden neighbors. The

supernatural world had the two-faced hypocrisy of despising humans and the

effects of humans.

Yet one of the unspoken hidden rules that nearly all who made their home in the supernatural acknowledged as a reality was that they were too deeply connected and dependent on those same things that they hated and looked down upon for their survival. It was why the supernatural powers would try their hardest to crack down on what was their versions of terrorist organizations.

The death toll was still being investigated but the authorities were even at their most optimistic projections were looking at nearing around 1.500 people who were dead as of right now. However more bodies were being found every minute along with pieces of bodies. The epicenter had been determined to be in one of the most densely populated areas in the eastern half of Kuoh. It was there after two hours of searching for survivors andslowly finding but a scant few that they had found the source of the explosion.

A gas line had been in bad disrepair and a small fire had broken out before

spreading to the line thus leading to the explosion. It was a tragedy that

could have been prevented had the maintenance crews for the district simply

done their job better. Heads were going to roll and already Kuoh's mayor had

promised the panicked and terrified residents of his city that there would be

consequences for this tremendous failure. Cleria had been present at both

ground zero and the press conference when that was announced. This was a night that no one in her peerage would ever forget. Cleria made a small note to get

aid from mentalists in the underworld as soon as possible as they had all been

traumatized by the events of tonight.

The fallout from tonight would create additional problems as the senators that made up the devil race's ruling governmental body would be forming a committee to try and see if more could have been done by Cleria and her peerage. It would be a waste of time and resources as her enemies in the senate would take this opportunity presented to them on a silver platter to try and have her removed from being the one incharge of the city.

Territory that was actively controlled by a family from the seventy-two pillars was hard to come by. The Great War had made almost all the territory that the nobility had once possessed on Earth to be slowly and steadily abandoned. New territories were being formed now that the pressure from the other two Abrahamic factions had lessened but the process wasextremely slow as the devils had to get every single major entity in an area ensnared by their iron clad contracts. This lack of a gateway for the pillars had led to brutal attacks both physically and politically against the few familiesthat had territory left topside.

Nothing would come from it as her cousin Diehauser was the unchallenged emperor of the ratings game's having never been defeated in the mock battles fought to please the masses of the underworld. It was a huge part of the original reason that she had Kuoh to begin with. Theother major factor was that her family was a supporter of the Great Kings Faction or GKF. One of the most powerful political parties in devil society. The others two parties being the New King's Faction or NKF and the now almost extinct Old Satan Faction, OSF.

Most of the GKF would continue their support of her rule, but those who were eager for a territorial acquisition would join the NKF in try to have her removed. Cleria sighed again that the politics of the underworld were worse than the humans mainly because of the fact the players were neigh immortal and had plenty of capital to spare and play with.

A rustle from the tent flap drew Cleria away from her thoughts, it was her queen Sukuri Jong who looked every bit as tired as her king covered in the same filth. Sukuri had been Cleria's third piece added to her peerage and there was genuine respect and admiration between the two. Suku before her reincarnation into a devil had been an Oni from Japan's Youkai population. The queen was someone you did not want to cross.

Her already incredible physical strength that an Oni started out with had been increased even further with the queen piece inside her chest. The piece has also given Oni a massive boost in her magical prowess, and she was joking referred to as the Spellblade of the Setting Sun by several of her human pieces.

"You look like dog shit, my king." 

Cleria had always appreciated the bluntness that her queen approached life with. 

"If I look like dog shit Suku what does that make you look like." 

 Sukuri deadpanned back.

"Much prettier dog shit." 

Cleria held back a great belly laugh that almost popped out of her with a heroic effort. She smiled softly before turning back into a marble statue.

"You would not just be here to tell good jokes Suku. What is it?"

Suku's face hardened before she conjured a spell that was a replica of the magical energy found near the epicenter.

"I quadrupled checked ground zero my king. It was so faint that for a moment I

thought that my eyes were deceiving me but there were two magical signatures there. One of the sigs was a holy one and it was clearly an angel with two wings."

She paused for a second before her face hardened further.

"The second sig was that of a portal opening and then closing. I could not get a

read on whom it belonged to. And before you ask, I had our bishops and my

contracted magician look at the sig too. They are equally stumped."

Cleria was now incredibly worried now. An angel being that close to the epicenter and a magical portal sig that was neigh impossible to narrow down who had conjured it. That was extremely telling that something big had been going on in her territory. Why hadn't the wards she set up around the city not alerted her of

an angel's presence? The answers were hidden from sight and probably would be

something that would continue the atmosphere of distrust and hatred between

devils and heaven.

There was one person she knew that would not attack and kill her on sight within the heaven faction that might know something. An exorcist that she had met in passing about 2 months ago. The first meeting had been rough but the two had bonded over tea at a local place a town over from Kuoh.

The conversations had been enjoyable and the two of them now meet weekly just

for being able to enjoy their favorite drink. He was a guy that in another life

Cleria could see herself with, however she and he were both happily married. He

to a fellow exorcist, that Cleria was often told stories of when they meet and

her to a now dead husband who had fought in the devil civil war. Cleria missed

him dearly and in her moments of melancholy she would visit his grave telling

him of her year. The lady of Kuoh looked at her queen with serious eyes.

"Keep investigating this Suku you have my unlimited support, drag anyone else you need in. I am going to talk to someone who might have information about the

angel."

Suku took on a grin.

"Is it that cute exorcist that you meet every week?"

Suku was the only one in her peerage that knew of the friendship.

"I am he might have answers."

Suku nodded.

"I'll keep you updated when we make a breakthrough."

Suku left the tent and left Cleria with her own thoughts.

Town of Mikato 3 miles east of the city of Kuoh. 7 am

The golden light of the sun rising hit Issei face making one of his eye's squints

at the star around which earth circles. The boy drowsily looked around to see

if the sun's rays were entering his bedroom and his mom had come in and seen

that he was still fast asleep. That thought made him jolt up and wiping his

eyes he saw that instead of his bedroom he was in an alleyway behind a dumpster.

The memories of last night slammed into him like a hurricane. His mom was dead. Her silent screaming face looking up from her unseeing eyes to his meant his dad was dead too. Issei threw up again the last bits of the dinner last night

painting the alley floor. When he was done with the bile, Issei let out a desperate

frightened scream that was both physical and psychic. The action caused several

people in the area surrounding the alleyway to immediately put their hands to

their heads to stop a serious migraine. The scream would have continued longer

if not for the voice that had been Issei's silent watcher for his entire life.

'Issei, you must calm down and control yourself emotions,'

Issei almost instinctively began doing just that calming his thoughts and feelings.

The scream ended and those affected by it were not left with the migraine that

had threatened them moments before. Now it was just a mild headache that could be easily treated. Issei's cries were now whimpering and feeling as if he was

on the brink of madness he yelled out to the air for all to hear.

"Who are you!"

The voice was still not speaking for long enough that Issei swore that he was mad

now. That belief was proven wrong when it returned.

"That is an exceptionally long, painful, horrific, and depressing tale. I am the remnant of a once great and powerful man who built an empire out of the ruins of the civilization that had come before and the man who led my species to ruin. I

once held the title of Master of Mankind, Emperor Beloved by All, and a million

more epithets. Now, now I am simply one who you can call Revelation."

Issei saw for a moment the man from his dream as Revelation spoke again.

"We can unpack this all at a later stage, for now we must find food water and

clothing for you."

Issei nodded duly. He was right I need those things now that they are gone. Issei got to his feet and slowly made his way from behind the emerald dumpster that had been where the adrenaline had worn off and where his body had finally landed. The boy made his way to the entrance to the alley and peered out onto the sidewalk and street he was on. He did not recognize the place at all. The child

looked at the buildings and saw a sign for a bakery. Issei's stomach growled

with hunger, yet Issei did not have money for food. Revelation's voice filled Issei's

head.

"I will lend you whatever aid I can Issei, you are correct we do not have any

money. Do you have any idea how we are going to fix that?"

Issei shook his head he did not have a plan. Well, that was not entirely true there

was a way to get the money needed for everything, but it would be wrong. His

parents had taught him that stealing was wrong and that it led to nothing but

trouble in the here and now and in the future. His stomach growled again this

time louder, and Issei felt as if he was at a crossroads. Revelation stayed

silent even though Issei could feel what the spirit thought. Death or compromise.

Issei considered what other paths he could walk forward with. He could go up to an adult and tell them that his family was dead and his home now ash. Yet his parents had also warned him about strangers. Maybe a police officer or someone else with authority? The more Issei thought about his situation the less sure he was. Each choice was an avenue of different problems and solutions. His stomach growled and Issei finally made a choice. It disgusted him but the now was what mattered, not the future. Revelation chuckles inside his head before saying.

'The future matters too my son, but I see what you are leaning towards, I'll lend

you my aid in anything and everything you intend to do, this I swear.'

Issei could tell that Revelation was completely serious but the flash of emotion from the tall man with the wolf pelt on his shoulders said one thing.

He is always lying.

Issei shook his head trying to get these feelings that were clearly not his out. Issei then steeled himself and made his way across the street to the bakery.

The door opened the bell onto of it ringing. The woman on duty that morning looked up from the counter expecting a customer, so it was a major surprise when upon looking up she saw that nobody had entered the shop. She shrugged and got back to taking stock a few minutes later the door opened again and just like thefirst time she saw nothing. She had been doing a recount of her bread loafs and returned to the task.

2 hours later she realized that according to her last count three loafs were missing. She recounted again and the count was the same as before. She thought to herself wondering if perhaps she had been miscounting, she then nodded that was probably it. She had been awakened violently by her next-door neighbor who had been shouting in the middle of the night that a terrorist had detonated a bomb in nearby Kuoh. She had felt something but had almost immediately fallen asleep again. That was probably it the assistant thought as she went back to counting again putting the incident out of her mind.

Issei was running as fast as he could down the street away from the bakery with three loaves of bread under his right arm. He was surprised that none of the people who were out and about that morning were not paying attention to what was clear robbery. Revelation supplied the answer.

'I dampened your psychic presence and your movement, we are all but invisible to people, video recordings devices and cameras.'

That was ridiculous Issei thought but it would be useful in protecting himself from

those who would do him harm. Eventually Issei found himself in front of an old

worn-down apartment building in a neighborhood that clearly had seen better

days. Many of the buildings here were run down, rusted and in some cases in

complete disrepair. Near this old apartment building was a junkyard that was

piled high with the trash of humanity's daily lives. Issei cautiously made his

way over to the complex and gently opened the door leading into the building.

The central hall was absolutely empty of near everything, out of the corner of

his eye Issei saw a few pieces of furniture that were either rotting away or

completely rusted.

He slowly made his way up the creaking stairs to the second floor, the hallway here was foiled with atrophied doors. When Issei touched the knobs, they would usually fall out of their holders. The last door before the stairwell to the third floor was actually in surprisingly good shape and when the boy touched the knob it easily opens the door.

Issei despite what Revelation said about this being suspect entered the room. The inside of the apartment was still grimy and messy, but it looked livable. Issei was pleasantly surprised when he found running water from the faucet and shower. Despite the good conditions and water, it was clear that no one lived here no clothes or other essentials of life present. So, Issei got to work making this place his own. He put most of the bread away in the cupboard that was in the kitchen. Before he ate 3 slices of bread and then went to see if there was a bath or shower. He found that there was indeed a shower and that the water was running there too. The seven-year-old took a short shower cleaning the dirt and grime he had accumulated from the night before. After he exited the restroom after getting dressed that Issei finally found a hint of who had lived here.

In one of the two bedrooms in the apartment were the tattered remains of posters

on the wall. Issei could not make out what they had said he did however see

that the bedroom had once belonged to a kid. Suddenly and without warning

things in the bedroom started to change from a decaying state to that of a very

clean and well-kept room. On the bed sitting there smiling was the shade of a

boy looking at Issei peering into the other boy's soul. He did not say a word

and Issei slowly started to back away towards the door when the boy on the bed

released a wave of thoughts and emotions. The primary feeling was sadness

tinged with a hint of abandonment by someone, the other feelings were of fear

and unease before the last was a sense of pure joy.

'I'm glad you are here; don't worry about me. I'm long gone but you are the one that needs this place now. Please use this place, my family and I wouldn't mind it.'

The specter gave one last look at Issei before smiling and then the room returned

to its previous state.

'What the heck was that! '

Issei was incredibly uneasy with what happened. Revelation answered the question.

'You are experiencing psychic imprints. The remnants of what people had once felt. They will come oftentimes in areas where things that triggered extreme

emotional activities happen. I will teach you how to block them out for the

most part and weaken the overwhelming feelings.'

 Issei now trembles in fear.

 'What am I becoming?!!'

Revelation did not seem to want to respond before finally saying.

'You are going to undergo many changes from this point onwards Issei but the short and easy answer, you are becoming like what I eventually became. Something far above the rest of our species. I will be here every step of the way.'

Issei didn't understand what that meant but a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him full force and so he made his way to the bed and entered the realm of dreams.