Dark Decree prologue

Dark Decree: Episode one





                                                 (Prologue)





         The night sky glared with the crest of the three moons hanging high above the earth plain.  The heavens dazzled and brought upon peace and tranquility to the night, and silence to all those who rested. IN the distances of the valley stood a towering mountain that touched the heavens with its massive size. Breaking the rim of the sky, the mountain possessed a kingdom rested in the surface of the peak. Spiraling around the mountain were walls of white stone that protected the city carved into the wall of the mountains and bridges standing as passage through the city. The city did not rest as the skies above did, but screamed in terror of the flames bursting throughout the entire mountain. Explosions and cries echoed, and fear spread through all that lived in the mountain. Screams echoed through the night, and the dreadful cries of those being slain by beasts and men of terrible intents. Upon the peak that touched the stars was a massive castle with its pale umber stones and crystal diamond shaped points that trembled with the quake of the disturbance. The magnificent castle with its stone angels upon the corners of every tower became obscured by the smoke from the flames below within the city.  The impelling torcher that hailed outside also penetrated through the walls of the castle; knights of both forces raided the castle and fought. Men that stood with silver and blue armor and capes, charged against men who wore pure sapphire blue armor and possessed a serpent emblem upon their shoulders. From the midst of the carnage, two beings emerged with a buddle in their arms. Leading was a tall, slime blonde haired man who wore royal garments of blue with a white sash, and whom followed was a beautiful brunette dressed in a purple and white priestess uniform. IN her arms was a small buddle that she held near and dear to her breast.

“Come on!!”

         Both raced to the far end of the castle, sprinting down the hallways and across bridges to another section of the castle. The eyes of the brunette trailing behind are caught by the catastrophic scene of the dying city below. Tears swelled in her eyes at the painful sight; women and children being slaughtered in the street, building collapsing over, and flames engulfing everything.

“Dear God…”

         The blonde haired man quickly grabs her hand and drags her away from the open window of the bridge.

“There’s nothing we can do!!”

“Why is this happening?”

         The man replies as he shook his head in shame.

“I-I don’t know.”

         Finally the two reaches the end of the hallway where two iron double doors that bared two massive lions upon the surface awaited. The tall blonde man pushes the doors open with all his strength until they slammed into walls, echoing a thundering sound. As he glared up, he saw a single being sitting in the throne at the top of a staircase. The man that sat there was a tan toned gentleman with short black curly hair and possessed hazel eyes that intimidated both the man and the young woman.

“...Azura”

         The blonde gentlemen said with a growl in his voice.

“I see you have finally arrived Alexander.”

         Azura tilts his head to set his eyes upon the woman standing behind Alexander.

“It is nice to see you again Amelia.”

         Both Alexander and Amelia tensed in anger at the mere sight of Azura sitting in the throne; their teeth clinch and their hands form into fists from the intensity flowing within them.  But Alexander’s eyes fell to the floor at the bloody bodies lying at the bottom of the staircase; an elder man and woman that wore similar garments as Alexander did. His eyes widen in shock of the presences of the two. A shiver trailed down his spin and his hands began to quake from the shock.

“Mother… Father…”

         Anger then resumed, but flaring ten times more than before. The horror of seeing his parent’s bloody corpse set Alexander into a rage. Around him, flowed two separate walls of energy that feed his intensity until it erupted and unleashed carnage that carried through the room. Amelia leaps back and covers the buddle that she held in her arms from Alexander’s great power. As his body glared with a blinding white aura, his power and anger stirred the room as though a twisted had touched down; throwing debris and the bodies of his parents in the air.

“BASTARD!!”

         From behind, a gentle touched fell upon his shoulder to ease him. Alexander glances over his shoulder to see Amelia staring stern. He is confused of Amelia’s true intention at this moment; holding a puzzled expression upon her face as his powers subsided into nothing.

“Amelia.”

“Alexander, take her.”

         Amelia hands Alexander the buddle she held in her arms. Underneath the blue blanket was a beautiful baby girl with large green eyes and curly brunette hair.

“Get as far away as you can. I’ll buy you some time.”

         Alexander is astounded by Amelia’s plot, nearly becoming speechless, but his heart grasped out to her.

“No… Amelia you can’t.”

         He quickly grabs her by the arm, trying to convince her not to go through with it.

“You will die if you face him.”

         Amelia stared into Alexander’s weeping eyes, but could say nothing as she felt the tears forming within her own.

“We can’t take that chance of you both dying. The monarch’s power must continue on, or it will be lost. It’s my duty as a Priestess of the Monarchs to protect you even if I have to sacrifice myself.”

“…Amelia”

         His voice quivered in sorrow.

“I have to... For the sake of our child and our future.”

         She places her soft gentle lips upon Alexander for the last time. Tears ran down both of their cheeks, as they knew this would be the final time that they would see each other in this life.

“I love you…”

         Amelia smiles.

“I love you…”

         She turns and faces Azura with a grim look gleaming from her face.

“Now go!!”

         Alexander shook his head in despair of never seeing Amelia again, but could do nothing but flee as she said. As a flicker of light, Alexander disperses into gleaming white orbs and soars out of the window into the night. Azura stared out the corner of his eye at Alexander fleeing from the scene.

“Where does he think he is going?”

         Amelia trudges forward towards Azura. With each passing step pebbles of stone began to arise from the floor beneath them. Around her, energy roars from within; forming a lavender beam of light around her.

“My dear Amelia, are you seriously challenging me?”

         He said with a smile. Amelia’s body takes a complete transformation; gold and purple leather armor appears. Her purplish dress gains golden trim that stretched down to her ankles. Upon her shoulders, two white shield guards appear and upon her forearms as well. Above on her head, a white crown appears with a blue sapphire ruby in the middle. Behind, two large iron angel wings appear floating from her shoulder blades. Amelia lifts her hand to her side. With the energy flowing around her, she forms a naginata with a wing crested on the side of her blade. Azura chuckles at the amazing sight of Amelia’s profound transformation.

“…A priestess of the All Mighty. Alexander was smart to bear a child with you.”

         Amelia lifts her blade towards Azura stepping down from the thrown.

“Silence your tongue Azura”

         Each step he took down intimidates Amelia.

“…A child who is half Monarch and Half Priestess. Her powers will be a great challenge even to me, but you know…”

         He halts at the very last step of the staircase.

“How will the other Monarchs feel about a being that is more powerful than them?”

         Out of rage, Amelia lashes out at Azura with god like speed. Her power growing with each passing second destroyed the stone floor beneath her as she soared toward him. Azura did nothing but smile as she lifted her blade and descended down upon him. But before she could strike him, a being of pure black iron appears in front of him and with a gigantic shield and blocks Amelia’s attack.  The strike emitted a powerful current that took away the walls of the tower in a single sweep. Resting her blade upon the iron plated shield, Amelia could do nothing but stare at the iron knight before her.

“Ugh”

         In an instant, she leaps to a safe distances between the two of them. Azura appears out by the iron knight’s side with a devilish grin.

“Amelia… It is going to take a lot more effort to kill me.”

         He snaps his fingers. The echo carries out through the entire castle. That moment, the room filled with iron knights similar to the one by Azura’s side; surrounding her instantly by great numbers. Azura glances up with a demonic smile, and orders the knights.

“Kill her…”

         The knights quickly leap into battle to kill Amelia, but the light Priestess prepared herself for the onslaught. Her wings shatter into glass blades and then sweeps around the room in a gust of wind. The attack wipes away the first assault of knights, but not the second. Amelia lunges forward and pierces the heart of the first knight in front of her with her naginata. She spins around; knocking another portion of the knights down. She then unleashes a barrage of attacks with her long spear; bashing knights’ chests in with the bottom of her weapon that possessed a heavy steel ball.  She then stabs a knight in the privates, and then splits him in half. Amelia whirls her weapon around and begins to lop off the heads of the aggressive knights charging for her. One nearly catches her off guard from behind, but her instincts alarm her of the knight’s presence. With her free hand, she grabs the knight by his neck and slams him into the stone floor. She then grabs him by the ankles and starts to use him as a mace; hammering other knights from left to right. Finally after an endless barrage, she grabs the knight by his opposite arm and rips him in half. Throwing the body pieces to the floor, the knights begin to tremble in fear of her power. Amelia stared fiercely at the horde of dark knights with a piercing evil glare as she tried to gather her wind for the next attack. Suddenly a blade pierces through her chest from behind so quickly and without the hint of its wielders presences. From the side, Azura appears with a tamed face that displayed no emotion towards his kill.

“I didn’t want to do this Amelia. I just wanted the world to know the truth.”

         Blood poured from Amelia’s mouth, but still she tried to speak.

“What truth?”

         Azura lowers his head, as though he was ashamed of what he knew. He exhaled before speaking his words to ease his nerve.

“…Something that my kind has done to destroy the balance of this world.”

         Amelia slowly turns to glance over her shoulder at Azura as blood profusely poured from her wound.

“I do not understand. Are you apart of The Awakened?”

         Azura cuts his eyes toward Amelia, holding his blade still in her chest.

“No. I have launched my own campaign with the time I have left to return to the world the order it once had.”

         Gradually he drags his blade out of her chest. Amelia stumbles forward, but remained on her feet with the little strength she had left. Azura watched her until she fell to her knees finally; fading into the afterlife. Amelia stared with dull faint eyes. Within her chest, she could feel her heart subsiding; failing with each passing breath.

“Don’t worry Amelia. You are moving on to the great kingdom of the All Mighty.”

         Amelia’s eyes fainted into pale blue; her vision fading from reality to memories of her dear family; Alexander extending his hand with a gentle smile. The memory of her daughter as she held her for the first time and stared into her gorgeous green eyes appeared. Amelia smiles and speaks the name of her dear daughter with joy in her extinguished breath.

“Machina…”

         Her heart gives out. Empty, she falls to the floor in a pool of her own blood. Azura’s eyes held the expression of content; shaking his head while he wiped the blood from his blade on his sash. He commands his knights as they stood around the room awaiting his command.

“Find Alexander and the girl.”

         The knights bow and then disperse into the shadows; traveling in the forms of shades to track Alexander and his daughter.





         At the bottom of the mountain, Alexander reached the dense forest down below the mountain base in a clash of thunder. Appearing in his mortal form, he rises from the burning spot where he stood with Machina tightly held to his chest. He looks down at Machina as she rested quietly as though she hadn’t heard a thing to disturb her. Tears fell upon her cheeks, calmly awakening her from her deep slumber. Alexander knew deep within his heart that Amelia had passed from the empty feeling in his chest. The despair of his beloved consumed him greatly; nearly bring him to his knees from sorrow. For that brief moment, Alexander could do nothing but see the visions of his beloved smiling at him and the memories they shared.  But his sight was cut short from the noises Machina was making. Alexander glances down at Machina lifting her hands and smiling at her father. The sight of this beautiful daughter brought somewhat joy back into his heart.

“You are all that I have left Machina.”

         Machina’s innocent eyes rise above the appearance of her father. Alexander thought it to be strange, until he turned and looked above him. Falling from the kingdom in the mountain was Azura’s dark knights following after him and Machina.

“Shit.”

         Alexander dodges out of the way as two of the knights crashed directly where he stood. Soaring back, Alexander whips his hand across in front of him; unleashing two beams of light. The beams buried into the ground underneath the unsuspecting knights. As the dust cleared, two massive lions of white armor explode out of the earth and latches on to the knights with their claws and teeth. The two beasts begin to rip the knights apart with their bear teeth and claws while Alexander escaped with Machina in the forest. Racing through the forest, he implies to Machina.

“I have to get you somewhere safe.”

         Alexander dispersed into his orbs of light again, and hurls off through the forest at impeccable speed.



         The other knights land to find the remains of their comrades lying on the ground in a puddle of black blood. The knights glare up at the two lions growling and digging their claws into the earth ready to strike. From above, a dark cloud flashing with lightning falls to the earth. The clouds dissipate and Azura appears before them. He glances at the lions with no fear in his eyes. From his side, he lifts his hand glaring with dark energy from the tip of each of his fingers at the two lions standing only a few feet away from him. Beneath the lions, hundreds of serpents’ spring from the ground with their fangs engaged and consume the lions until they drug them back down into the earth.  He then turns toward the knights with a grim expression on his face. With a loud forceful tone that echoed through the forest, he orders the knights.

“Find them!! Kill Alexander, but bring me the child alive!!”

         He begins to cough heavily. A knight tries to help him as he continued to cough profusely, but Azura waves him off.

“Just go!!”

         The knights disperse, leaving Azura to himself in the midst of the forest. Kneeling down, Azura tries to catch his breath. His knees begin to feel weak; shaking from the strain of his own weight. He looks down at his hand and sees blood dripping from it. He then wipes his lips, because of the stream dripping from his chin onto the ground beneath him.

“Damn it… It’s getting worse.”



         Several miles away, Alexander finally has come to a small quiet village many miles away from the mountain. He reforms into his human form with Machina crying in his arms. He rocks her to calm her down and stop her from keeping up a fuss that would wake the small village. She does, slowly she calms herself; rubbing her eyes indicating that she was tired. Alexander knew it was late and that she would be at this hour.

“I know sweetie, just give me some time to find you a warm place for you to rest.”

         He walks the street of the village; searching for a good suitable home for her.

“Let’s see.”

         He comes to a large stone home toward the south side of the village. From the size and the structure of the home, it looked as though a wealthy family lived there.

“Hmmm”

         Alexander walks to the doorstep of the home, still observing the place before setting Machina down. He lifts his hand upon the door and closes his eyes to see who lived on the inside. His vision looks into the home; witnessing a mother, a daughter and stocky beard man that lived there. He witnessed their daily routine, observing them as though they were spirits roaming throughout the house. The mother, cheerful and lovely possessed a white spirit, which pleased Alexander. The daughter held a white spirit too, but in the center of her chest was a spark of a red aura. This puzzled Alexander to the point that he was skeptic of the girl. The beard man worried Alexander greatly. His spirit was pure red, and his action and expressions toward his wife angered Alexander.

“This will not do.”

         From a far, dogs began to bark; alarming the presences of the knights nearby. Alexander gritted his teeth under the decision of his daughter and where she should be raised.

“Damn it!!”

         Once more he placed his hand on the door, but this time he saw despair in the home. Alexander saw the breaking heart of the mother as she wept upon her bed and the daughter that wept with her. In the corner was a small crib with a large man dressed in black standing over it. He turned to face the both of them and the father standing by the doorway. He shook his head with a depressing glare on his face and then walked over to touch the mother upon her shoulder. Alexander then realized that, this family had lost something dear and precision to them. He returns to his natural sight and instantly glances down at Machina. With thoughts fluttering in his mind, he quickly reached a decision. Quickly he disperses and enters the home. He places Machina down in a basket near the kitchen of the home. Once more he looks down at his beloved daughter, and then kisses her upon her cheeks.

“If I don’t see you again Machina, I just want you to know that both your parents loved you.”

         He then forms a small orb with his hand with fluttering wings of fairy. He lifts it to his lips, and whispers to the bouncy orb of light cheerfully bouncing around in his hand.  He then let’s the orb flutter into the air and commands it.

“Go tell the mother.”

         The orb bounces twice in response and then shoots off upstairs like a bolt of lightning. Alexander then takes the necklace from around his neck and places it in the basket where Machina rested. With a twinkle in his eye, he tells his little daughter.

“Take care Machina… The fate of the world will be in your hands one day.”

         In a flash, he disperses and quickly exits the house unnoticed. Upstairs, the little small orb finds the room where the wife and husband slept. It easily peaks in through the door, but jumps back because of its bright appearance. Quickly it tones down its glaring presences and swoops in. The orb lands right next to the mother’s ear and enter her mind swiftly. Within her dreams, she saw a child in her arms laughing cheerfully and growing up to be a beautiful woman. She sees her daughter in a wedding dress and then quickly transcended to her grandchild being born. All of those happy and peaceful vision retracts into one single moment; Machina crying in the kitchen floor. The mother quickly awakens from her sleep; rising quickly in her bed in tears.

“…Oh my God.”

         The orb sneaks its way out of the ear of the redhead mother; drifting along the wall trying to remain unnoticed. But its light still gave its presences away. She looks over and sees the orb paused against the wall as her eyes locked in on it.

“What is that?”

         The orb goes into a panic, and explodes out of the room; ripping the door in half and emitting a loud thundering noise that nearly woke up the whole neighborhood. Astounded, the mother could not believe what just happened right in front of her eyes. Her beard husband leaped out of bed, but quickly fell to the floor from the alarming ruckus. The mother then corresponds to the dream she had, and the presences of Machina sleeping in the kitchen.

“Oh God, the baby”

         She leaps out of bed and races down stairs after the orb. Her baffled husband still remained confused and half asleep.

“W-w-w-w-what baby?!!”

         The orb finally appears over Machina in the kitchen still asleep in the basket. It hovers over her until it finally went down and bit her upon her little toe to awake her. As the mother reached the bottom of the stairs, she could hear Machina crying out loud. With each step, her heart pounded even heavier with her cries. She reaches the kitchen where the little light awaited by Machina’s basket. The mother’s heart drops at the sight of Machina’s beautiful presences. She covers her mouth to hold in her bellow. From her eyes, tears fell with joy at the sight of the child resting in her kitchen.

“My God.”

         The mother walks over to the basket in the corner where Machina cried and fell to her knees.

“… A baby…”

         She picks Machina out of the basket gently and takes her into her arms. With so much care and love, she rocked Machina in her arms to calm her down. Her eyes filled with joy and happiness of Machina’s presence in her arms.

“Where did you come from little one?”

         The orb flutters up to the wall and begins to burn a message in the wall for the mother to know. The orb spells out upon the wall in burning letters “This is Machina… Take care of her please; it will make us happy for someone with a good heart to tend to her with love and warmth. We know she will bring joy into your life.” The orb bounces in front of her with its sparkling wings, waiting for her reply. The red haired mother smiles as she nodded with joy.

“I will love her like my own child.”

         The orb bounces again with extreme joy and happiness, but then fades into nothing but mere dust of its former self. The mother then looks down at Machina with a large smile upon her face and implies.

“So you are Machina?”          

         She rubs her cheeks with her finger and bounces her until she giggled.



         Upon a stone arch bridge, Alexander stood watching the sun arise over the mountains with all its glory; presenting a new day upon the world. Alexander leaned over the arch way staring out at the sun with an empty glare in his eye. In his mind, the days he spent with his beloved and his new born daughter flourished his mind with happiness and prosperity. The images of his family brought a tearful smile to his face as each passing moment and memory brought life back to his heart. But his delightful smile fades as he realized that he wasn’t alone anymore. Stepping onto the bridge was Azura, slowly creeping up to him as though he was a predator. Alexander remained still as if he unnoticed Azura’s presences, until he asks.

“Why? After everything we have been through?”

         Azura pauses in his footsteps; frozen by the sudden question. He stares as he places his hands in his pockets and slumps in his posture.

“Alexander… You know the truth that has been hidden from the world. It is not right for us to play as if we are gods and control humanity.”

         Alexander replies yet still unmoved.

“But we had peace. We had order…”

         Azura abruptly cuts his sentences short.

“We have manipulated the world and molded it into something we wanted for ourselves. For centuries, we have abused our power and took nearly everything for the humans. We are not living in peace. We are living within our own comfort, because the people fear us. They fear us because of a lie we whispered in their ears for us to be gods among them… Which we are not!!”

         Alexander final faces him; standing tall as the sun rose upon his shoulders.

“You are talking about the Decree.”

         Azura simply stared into the eyes of Alexander; knowing all too well that he understood.

“I am fighting for freedom. The world needs to not fear us, but see us as symbols of honor and order.”

         Alexander nods.

“I see… Well answer me this…”

         Azura replies.

“What is it?”

“Why did you kill some many people? So many innocent people died last night… And why? Why did you kill Amelia?”

         Azura turned his head in spite of the severe question. He lifts his head as he closed his eyes and felt the warmth of the rising sun on his face.

“That was the hardest thing I had to do. I loved Amelia ever since we were young. I supported you and her when you both began courting without the others knowledge.”

         He turns back and locks his eyes with Alexander; staring stern and angered.

“… But I did not wish her to see what this world is going to become.  So I sent her home to the All Mighty’s kingdom to live in harmony for eternity.”

         A dark aura begins to flow around Azura; arising from his body as if steam emitted from his body.

“But us Alexander…”

         His power erupts into a violent wind flowing from him alone.

“We shall be punished for our sins.”

         Alexander erupts exactly as Azura, but with the flow of white aura swirling around him like a cyclone.

“I shall punish you for YOUR SINS AZURA!!”

         They both dash towards one another, raging with power that stirred the river beneath them and waved the trees out by the bank. Clashing, the powers of light and darkness violently erupted into a massive explosion that shook the earth and roared to the heavens. The blinding light from their clash spread for miles across and towering high into the sky which many could see in the distances. After several moments of catastrophic winds and impelling force, the hemisphere energy subsided into nothing but a crater that divided the river which the two stood.



{12 years later}…