Demon Rising: The Ballad of Asura

The God Trails

     As Halo arrives outside the Crystal City, he takes a look around at the home he has been away from, for far too long.
         "Ashinamia I have arrived," he says over the com as he starts walking to the city being half a mile out.
        "Good to hear Halo, Everything is falling into place. Now just convince the Angelic Council to follow you and we will have total control." Ashinamia's voice comes over the speaker on the small circular device in a low pitch. Being late he must have been woken up or was almost asleep when Halo contacted him.
        "In a few hours Likuta will have control of the earth and then Orion can start. You are to find anyone that is a threat to your power or is against you in general and admit them to the program as soon as possible. Silence their voices” Ashinamia says and a small amount of static comes over the speaker as he turns off his own. Continuing to walk towards the council building, Halo draws the attention of civilians and bi-standers who look concerned about the blood on his clothes and the scratches on his chin. Reaching the council building Halo ignores security and heads towards the meeting room.
          "Sir you really can't be in here are you lost?" A female security guard asks him standing in front of the door keeping him from the council of the eleven archangels. Not seeing the point of explaining himself to her he pushes past her knocking her over, having obviously misjudged his abilities, she goes down easily and he pushes into the room, interrupting a meeting between the angels.
         "Excuse me little boy are you lost?" One of them says to him. The angel being at the head of the table and his uniform tells Halo that he is the leader of the council.
         "No, I am exactly where I need to be Archangel Michael. I am exactly where I need to be and you, Michael, are in my seat" Halo says with complete utter confidence as the angels in the room laugh softly to themselves and Michael looks at Halo. 
         "Your chair? Boy I worked hard to become the leader after Arcus fell and we had no one of royal blood to take over his rule" Michael looks at Halo as Halo grins and walks over to the Arch Angel.
        "Ah, poor Michael worked so hard and yet his achievements are going to be taken from him, for you see archangel I am the son of Arcus." The room goes silent in disbelief and Halo shifts on his feet crossing his arms. 
        "Jeez with how silent things got you think id admitted to murder." the angels turn to each other and then Michael stands and looks down at the boy.
         "If you truly are the sun of Arcus then you must undergo the trail to prove it. You will be put through challenges only a god can withstand. We as archangels have all gone through the challenges and survived." Michael says crossing his arms and the rest of the angels stand and Gabriel walks over and stands next to Michael and Halo grins.
        Three days pass and Halo prepares for his trials the entire time. In that time, he forges his sword,   choosing the style of a British cutlass, measuring in at four and a half inches long and about half an inch thick at its thickest. Wearing baggy camouflage pants, a tucked in white tank top, a tight black belt, and combat boots laced all the way up and over his pants he walks out of the room he was assigned the two scratches on the side of his chin scar over and his green eyes shining in the light of the hallway. He walks to the hangar bay of the small cruiser they are on.
         "You will have to survive twenty-four hours with no food, no water, and no outside assistance. The entire time you will be hunted by the most dangerous animals we know of in the most dangerous conditions ever recorded in the history of the galaxy" Michael watches Halo as Halo walks to the edge of the ship that is flying just above the tree line. Below the planet is ripped by having undergone constant quakes caused by continental shifts and volcanic eruptions as gravity from the larger planets around it have taken their toll after a millennium of  constant tugging and ripping due to planetary orbits that are too close together.  
        "Sense the atmosphere is withering you will also have an oxygen mask and two tanks each hold 12 hours of compressed air. Now Halo you have a thirty-minute leeway you only have to go twenty-three and a half hours to prove yourself." Michael says strapping the oxygen pack onto Halo making sure it is tight and not going to fall off.
         "Why twenty-three and a half hours? That seems a bit odd for this kind of thing" He says looking at the archangel who has finished putting the air tanks on him.
        "Because my time was the best and came in at twenty-three hours" Michael looks at Halo completely serious as he stands straight up and walks away ending the conversation. Taking a few steps back Halo takes a quick deep breath and lets it out slowly and a buzzer goes off. The second the buzzer rings Halo runs and jumps out of the ship putting his oxygen mask on as he does so. The brisk air rubs against his exposed arms like sandpaper as he falls to the tree lines and opens his parachute. Drifting past the trees using the air current he glides to an opening deep inside the forest and without missing a beat removes the pack connected to the chute and starts running. As he runs the ground starts to shake violently below him and he grabs the closest tree that he can for support, some of the older trees getting uprooted not far from him. The second the shaking stops he starts to move again winding his way through the minefield of fallen and broken trees. As time merges into itself and hours become minutes and minutes become seconds he finds a cave and decides to get out of the intense heat of the sun that s beating down on him through the thinning atmosphere and even though he decided not to because it could be fatal he allows himself to slip into a sleep if only for a few minutes. At least an hour passes and he would feel the ground shake under him and this time much worse than the others.
         Shooting up he'd see the ground is cracking apart due to the violent shaking, forcing himself to stand up he pushes off the wall of the cave and runs towards the cracking ground to get out of the cave and then make an immediate turn around. Running as fast as he can he can feel the ground cracking and falling apart underneath him as he tries his hardest to run faster. His efforts are shortly proven vein though as the ground is falling faster than he can run. He finds himself free-falling towards a river of lava one hundred meters down. Seeing the threat he spreads his wings the drag catches him inches from the magma the intense heat from the boiling rock turning his flesh red and singing his hair as he starts carefully flapping his wings and taking himself up back to the surface and he sets himself down gently and lets himself fall as he pants out of breath and scared out of his mind at the near death experience he just had. After a few moments he regains himself and stands up a bit shakily. Looking around he decides to determine the time using the sun. Basing it from what he knows he has been their twelve hours, he had slept longer than he wanted to, so he decides to head the way the ship he was on went.
        Walking he goes for hours before the shaking catches him again, but this time it was different. Instead of the quick violent shaking of an earthquake, this was soft uniform, more like something heavy impacting the ground. Looking around for the source he hopes he doesn't find it knowing it was most likely not friendly to him. Unfortunately it found him and he feels a hot rough gush of air against his neck. Taking a deep breath he turns around slowly but nothing was behind him. At least nothing he could see, however he could see that his vision was slightly blurry. Taking no risk he slowly starts to rub his eyes to cure the blurriness thinking it is his eyes, yet it did nothing. Taking the hilt of his sword in his hand he squats down keeping his eyes on the distortion his free hand quickly searches for a rock. Finding one he slowly stands and pulls his sword no more than a few inches from the sheath so that it is moving freely, taking aim at the distortion he prepares the rock moving it in his hand so he has a good grip he tosses the rock as hard as he can at the distortion in his site and contact. The rock bounces off of the object and slowly the distortion turns into a massive basilisk, a dragon with eight legs no wings and a massive double hinging jaw that can crush even the hardest of bones, protective shells, and scaled armor. Halo stairs at the creature directly into its eyes showing no fear but trying not to make it attack knowing his sword is not sharp enough to puncture the creatures’ thick hide.
         The creature’s bright yellow eyes stare into Halo's eyes as a low grumbling grunt comes from the creature’s mouth as if it is warning the young angel. Hearing it Halo starts to back away, but to his misfortune the ground starts to shake again and split open to the extent he falls over and the basilisk starts towards him. Halo immediately forces himself to his feet and starts to walk using his arms to stabilize himself,  the best he can knowing the creature, is much more stable on its eight legs. The second the quacking stops he darts, he doesn't look behind him nor dare stop for a moment knowing the basilisk could be a mere few yards from him. Finally reaching the tree line he starts up the thickest tree he can find and he starts climbing up it as fast as his arms and legs can carry him. Looking down from the tree he sees the basilisk had lost interest and it most likely didn't even come this far into the woods by the lack of footprints. Slowly and cautiously he works his way back down the tree and checks his oxygen gauge.  
        “Two hours left. OK i can do this i just have to stay low. That thing is hunting me i just know it is", He lets himself fall against the tree and he pulls his sword from his sheath and lies down. The sun is setting and he feels 'safe' at the base of the tree, if only slightly, he knows in a pinch he can run up it. Laying his sword next to me he decides to wait the last two hours out. Listening to the panicked wildlife he slowly starts dozing off again. Sleeping for now more than an hour and thirty minutes he is awaked to the ground under his head giving out and falling into the crevasse that opened up while he was asleep. Jolting to his feet functioning on pure adrenalin he scrambles backwards and he fills he has backed into something. Knowing that their wasn't another tree this thick he slowly turns his head. Lying behind him is the massive Basilisk laying curled up and mimicking a rock to help it catch pray.
         Having felt the angel bump into him he lifts his head and looks at Halo a low growl rumbling through its throat and it moves to bite into Halo's fleshy torso. Scrambling to his feet Halo runs as fast as he can this time he knows the beast is behind him. Feeling the ho breathe from the beasts nostrils on his neck as he runs he makes a sharp turn around a tree and grabs for his sword to realize it is still on the ground at the tree. Making a mad dash for the tree, Halo manages to grab his sword as the Basilisks grabs his air tanks with its jaws puncturing them causing what little air he has left to start leaving the tanks rapidly. Throwing the boy like he was a rag doll. Running at him, the basilisk tries to get to Halo who is forcing himself up. However the basilisk is stopped by a mess of branches that Halo slide under when thrown. Standing up Halo pulls his sword up as well, his arm and torso bleeding from scrapping the ground, his white shirt covered in dirt and grass stains, and the knees of his pants torn from the entire ordeal.    
         Raising his sword he walks close to the basilisk that is trying to break through the thick bushel off branches preventing him from reaching the angel. Getting no more than a few feet from the basilisk, Halo aligns his sword and as the basilisk roars at the angel. Halo thrusts his sword through the roof of the beast’s mouth silencing him. Pulling his sword from the mouth of the beast he takes a few steps back and falls on his ass. Breathing hard he pulls the ruptured tanks from his back and looks at them. Struggling to breathe after so much work with so little breathable air he starts to become light headed.
         Finally his body gives when pushed and he passes out, when he wakes he is back in heaven. Looking around he slowly starts to sit up and notices he is in a massive room. Standing up he winces and rubs his chest softly feeling a sharp pain in his lungs. Pushing past the pain he walks towards the adjacent bathroom and enters it. Walking to the mirror he turns on the cold water and cups his hands. Leaning over the sink he splashes the cold water into his face and looks up at the mirror and notices he is in a royal robe of some sort. Looking at the pattern and insignia.
         "Looks like they believed me", he says aloud and looks at himself in the mirror. "HM best make my own unique look". Taking a pair of scissors and clippers he shaves the left side of his head and trims the hair on the right so that is just barley goes past his nose and over his eye. Putting them back and cleaning up the hair he walks over to the wardrobe. Opening it he looks at the uniforms and suits inside and picks out a suit he puts it on, it immediately turns from the deep jet black to a bright and vibrant purple. Sliding on dress shows he walks out of the room grinning and a large golden halo forms over his head as he walks the halls of the heavenly castle. Walking to the council room he is meet by the angelic council.
          "Not bad for a twelve year old now is it boys and girls?" He smiles and sits at the head of the table "Now let’s get down to business. I want construction of facilities on the planet of Eden to be started immediately. These facilities are to remain top secret to us and the people working them. As well as these facilities i want six fleets built in secret do not let anyone know and i want them built in the darkest part of our territory. The flag ship for these fleets is to be called the tranquility and you, Gabriel, Shall be her captain. As for the rest of you, you are all having your own fleets yes but they aren't to be secret." Halo says looking out the window and the council stand s and bows a bit stunned that he has his first moves planned out so well. Leaving silently they all go their separate ways and start their respective tasks.