Young Writers Society

Prologue

"Navayah! You dare betray us?" the woman unsheathed her sword, the wind causing emerald strands to flare behind her.

"You have the nerve to raise your sword to me?" Navayah took a step forward. The rumble of thunder surrounded them as lightning illuminated the sky below them.

"It was you, was it not? You were the one who killed the Divine!" the woman flew at Navayah as the dark clouds around them released their heavy burden. She soared forward easily, despite the high winds that pulled relentlessly at jade feathers.

"Why would I do such a thing? I have no desire for more power! I would have disposed of the other three Seraphs first. I am not as foolish as you." the wind grew stronger as Navayah lifted her arm. The other woman was almost blown back by the strength of the gusts fighting her small frame.

Navayah barely lifted her arm in time to block the slash aimed at her waist. She retaliated by grabbing the dagger sheathed at her belt and aimed it at the woman's arm.

The woman pulled back and raised her arms up above her head.

"Oh great spirits of the sky, hear my cry! I summon thee forth! Mihara come to my side!" a streak of light temporarily blinded Navayah. When her vision cleared she had to drop down quickly to avoid the huge fangs of the winged lion that had been summoned.

The next attack came far quicker than Navayah had thought possible for a beast of Mihara's size. The lion twisted in midair and bit her shoulder and wing all at once, holding her there. She tried to stab the lion behind her, but not only was it an awkward position, the lion's coat was so thick no ordinary blade could pierce it.

The woman whom had summoned Mihara began chanting in the language of angels, their language. She called upon the spirits of the dead to guide her in this ritual. Tendrils of bright blue light surrounded her as she once more held her arms up and her eyes turned pure white.

Navayah began struggling anew as she watched those tendrils inch towards her. At the moment, she didn't care if she ripped her shoulder apart. She had to get away.

Too late.

One of the tendrils latched on to her arm causing white, hot pain to sear all the way up to her shoulder. It felt as though her arm was going to fall off. Then another one attached itself to her, and another, and another. Before long, she was completely covered, having long ago passed out from the pain.

Slowly the tendrils faded away, leaving behind a white statue of Navayah. Her eyes were shut, it looked as though she were merely sleeping. The wing that Mihara had bitten was at an odd angle, since it had broken when Mihara pulled away to avoid the tendrils.

The woman motioned for Mihara to grab the statue of Navayah and follow her as she flew back towards the large blanket of pure white clouds in the sky. She was one of the only two left. She was wary of the other, it was his life work to seal things away, but he was a traitor to their kind. He would pay for his sins.

She walked through the elegant pearl gates that lead to the Celestial Sky and a young child came running, her hair the same deep red as Navayah's had been not so long ago.

"Mother! No! H-How could you!" the child froze in place, her eyes wide. She seemed to lose all strength in her legs as she dropped to her knees, muttering 'mother' over and over again. The woman didn't say anything to the little girl; she just gave her a sympathetic look and continued on her way.

She went to the Great Hall, where the white statue of a male angel was. She placed Navayah next to his form. She could still see him vividly, his electrifying orange eyes and rust colored wings. He'd been the epitome of perfection. She placed her hand on his cheek and silently renewed her vow for vengeance.

Thousands of years ago, when man-kind were just creatures living in caves and surviving day to day, a great war was waged in the heavens above them. If man had paid more attention to their surroundings, they would have noticed he changes sooner. The world began to grow colder and colder each passing day, and before long the great Ice Age was upon them.

There were only four people in this war, the strongest of the angels, the Seraph. They had been the ones that the Divine had entrusted to keep the Celestial Sky afloat and hidden from prying eyes. Their in-fighting were the cause of the drastic changes on earth. Already, one of them had been bested and sealed.

Each of the Seraphs represented one of the four cardinal direction; north, east, south, and west. Each with an equal amount of power and the ability to call forth one single celestial creature. They had been the most trusted by the Divine, only for them now to be trying to defeat each other in a battle of power and betrayal.

Eventually, all four Seraphs were sealed away, three done by each other, and the last sealed by the arch angel, Michael. The four Seraphs were gone, the Divine was gone. The Celestial Skies needed a leader, and they found that in Michael. He stepped up to take control, never alerting the angels below about what had happened.

He never told anyone what had caused the war between the Seraphs, many didn't think he knew while others believed it was so traumatic he'd made himself forget. He had looked up to them, they had been his role models. They had been everyone's role models. Incorruptible, sincere, trustworthy, everything that an angel should be, they were. Or, so everyone had thought. It took centuries to recover from their shock, and by then man-kind had grown tired of waiting for them to show themselves and other religions began to appear. Religions that had nothing to do with the angels who watched them, or the Divine that had loved them so.

Michael vowed to rememdy that, and began with wriing a book, acting as though the Divine had never died. He created stories to explain how the world had begun. Humans, they latched onto this book and named it the Bible. They began to call the Divine, God. And so the era of Christianity and Judaism began.