Nocturn-Part 2

Sworn to avarice through such devilish means, I donned my cloak and exited to the terrace overlooking the city below. Many evils lived amongst us here quartered in their purgatory as we saw fit. Beside their roomy courtyards and spacious streets rested Archers; our very own soldiers. The lights of evening swept with the moons in blue and white casting aglow the steady nightlife that defined Nocturne. Leaning forward I grinned contemptuously revealing my voracious appetite for truth. Flooding the ledge in shadow my wings carried me upon the cavernous draft, and as I squandered my hapless delights I expounded upon my purpose gliding above the city.

I saw the Archers stiffen as they came to attention in the presence of one of their Masters. The Nightbreed looked up with varied expressions of fear and awe, each gaping with fangs of ruin for their jailer. I kept my eyes hard in front of me before their turn. The familiar powers stirred in my blood to form the trinity and as soon the current opened. Disappearing through the gateway I joined my brothers in Eden.

The court rang with anticipation as the Kindred began to arrive. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Zerachiel and Remiel sat upon the dais with their heads together. Julian remained beside Fade when the chaos closed in; deafening in its sweet caress the madness caught within the resounding walls of the amphitheater. The Seth was static and dense, intoxicating when joined with mass trinity inviting the familiar euophoria that accompanied Gatherings. A booming voice rang as everyone was present bringing on the bell of silence. Uriel flew to stage and kept his spread while pacing the audience now hovering for his speech; as Uriel was a reknowned poet and his speeches were enticingly charismatic. His speech did not fail them. <My Kindred, we are entering a new age of warfare, as Michael has reported of the gathering Spawn at each gate in preparation. He swore to have heard his name mocked in reminstration of an ensuing battle. They have intelligence of The Seth and of its potential giving us reason to fear for you. As they cannot get to us because of you, it is there our suspicion lies. We believe they will come after you.> (Angry threats erupted from the Kindred. A sense of pride emerged from the archangels who were witness. Micheal nodded his head in approval, but Uriel mtioned for silence saddened that the Kindred would be in such direct danger of their all-time enemy s wrath.) Gabriel joined Uriel in the air and paced in the opposite direction. There was a glimmer soon after and the invisible path became a shimmering ring. Gabriel looked down at the Kindred wearing his customary, stern expression. <What the General saw cries with truth. We are on the verge of a new war. The battles we ve known are mere squirmeshes next to this new plot.> (Raphael joined the other two though upon another ring within the first. Meanwhile the kindred began to resonate with a passionate fire. What he said had the effect of escalating the Kindreds anxiety) <I have visited the gates and attempted at healing potential breaches. Bearing the key to each I have applied to them the most complicated of formulas. Anyone who would breach it must go through each one of us. This will provide their major complication, for in order to achieve their goals it is not The Seth alone that will achieve it for them.> (Julien, Prince of The Kindred stood at that point. He addressed the archangels in the ring.) <If it is henceforth going to be thus, is it not wise to provide us all with a piece of Raphael s formula? For were it only necessary to capture one Archangel and one Kindred will it not make their job much easier? I propose that you choose so many Kindred at random and bestow them with a fragment of this formula, so that none shall ever know who bears it; not but for those Kindred alone. These chosen Kindred will not be able to verbally reveal their secret but must be vulnerable to expose it.> He smiled knowingly, <And for a Kindred to ever be vulnerable is a true feat accomplished by none in our time.> There was a veretable buzz at the Prince s suggestion, and the Archangel s turned their heads toward each other. Finally, Raguel entered the ring with Raphael. He addressed Julien first. <It is certainly a wise suggestion you place. I happen to know *Elohim* would not allow the endangerment of either without just cause of all our betterment, and the longevity of Heaven. It is a fair judgment to place equal risk upon The Guardians and their Kindred. I add that, in response to Prince Julien s initiative there will be a summit following this gathering. We shall choose anonymously those who will bear this responsibility.>

After the commotion died down in response to this event, Zerachiel shadowed the fading noise in his wingspan as he commanded a new ring within the second. His words provided new insight to the danger of the oncoming war. <I bear intelligence from recent souls of Satan s influence. I was convinced therupon that possessions increased as well as their persuasive bribery. Mortal men and women are being used as catylists to make this war polydomensional. There are many methods of mortal worship, and giving oneself to The Light is more perplexing with its many versions than giving into the simplicity of the more singular and oftimes secular evil.> During this pause Remial, the last archangel sitting the dais, dissapears to land opposite Zerachiel. His words concluded the seriousness of the situation. <I have resurrected more mortal souls into guiding angels than ever before in these last several decades. My reasoning and per *Elohim s* instruction, has ever been to maintain hope and to guide the faithful toward the mainstream of a fathomable divinity residing over them. Hope is the universal key to combine the strength of mortality, and thus the most secretive weapon against this most onerous evil. I have recently allowed for their lengthened visibility to choose conceivable prophets and nurtured their will in order to become better judges for themselves. The Seven agree that this has been our first official offensive, and that is how it was seen to Satan and his Spawn.>

The Seven had spoken, and The Kindred were enlightened. Following The Gathering, as was tradition, a grand feast appeared falling from the great rings stood upon by the Archangels. Great tables stood where once lingered therein the Seven s wingspan, and The Kindred held back nothing for this luxury. The Balance was practiced broaching necessity bespeaking Good and Evil. This was easily interpreted into such comparable simplicities as polydimensional war followed by feasting; since what was as true as faceless drama was multi-faceted pleasure. The Kindred knew how to indulge in this familiar tradition well. The Amphitheater centered in Eden became their playground. The Kindred unleashed their discipline and while free of it were encompassed within their Trinity s considerable influence, and whilst beguiled by its liquid conduit gracefully rose in its tempest. Emerging explicit in their lust they complimented their legendary ardor by reveling in an orgy.