A monastery; 1300 a.d. in the middle of nowhere...
Monks have gathered in front of the altar, praying to God for an angel.
A light appears, hovering above the altar, growing...
The light bursts and drops Falcon onto the altar, still clinging to the sphere.
Falcon slams down on the altar, the monks gasp and bows down.
The altar drips of blood, running in streams from great singed holes on Falcon's chest. He can barely draw his breath, continuously coughing up blood.
A young monk steps up to the altar and shouts: “He needs help!”
Falcon's eyelids slides together, while he's thinking: “Why can't I just die!?”
He awakens wrapped in blood-soaked cloth, and a cross round his neck.
“Joon...” a soft female voice almost whispers.
Falcon looks around the room, seeing no one.
“Dammit! I always forget that! Ok, hold on a sec...”
Falcon can't believe his eyes, could it be another Moon-Dreamer? With wings??
“Is that better?” an angelic visage asks. Falcon answers by coughing blood on her... “You are injured...Let me help you...”
She embraces Falcon and lifts him off the bed and onto his feet.
He touches her long, pink hair, and just can't take his eyes away from her sky-blue eyes, feeling an incredible warmth on his chest.
“What are you?” he asks.
“Didn't Sky-Tech teach you anything? God, how narrow-minded they are!”
she says furiously and pushes Falcon away, her white dress now covered with blood.
“Uhm... I know how to kill people in many different ways...?”
Falcon nervously says.
“Well, for your information, I'm an angel. You can call me Star, and NO, I'm not from Noo'Rahd, only the body is anyway...”
Falcon looks confused at Star.
“The...body...?” he stutters.
“Did you not learn anything at that facility? Didn't you meet Xeni and Zaz?”
Star asks and takes Falcon's hand.
He just stares blankly and asks: “What facility? Xeni and Zaz who?”
“Sky-Tech! Ring a bell? And Xeni... you two are supposed to...” Star pauses and sits down with a sigh.
“Oh, why must your life be so complicated?! Of all the assignments to choose from, why did I pick your name?! Here I am, almost telling you your future...”
She hangs her head. Falcon pulls her off the floor and asks: “What's with Xeni and me? Who is that?”
Star smiles. “You'll find out...When you meet her, she will go under a name starting with F, and between you will be a big L. That's all I can say at this time.” “I'm still confused...” “You'll just know when you see her...” Star smiles, but turns to a frown “Uhm... Joon... Can I ask you a favor?”
Falcon looks questionably at Star. “Sure...What do you want me to do?” “Well...You see...” Star looks ashamed. “I...I want you to take my place in a duel...”
Falcon grins and bursts out “Hah! I can kill anything alive!”
Star looks nervously at Falcon and says: “Well...you have the knowledge of how to kill...but...I pulled you out of Sky-Tech's hands too soon. They never got to increasing your muscles power, but they did fiddle with your brain...So you should be able to remember your days on Noo'Rahd, and even read minds if you concentrate,”
Falcon's grin expires quickly. Star looks Falcon in the eyes.
“The thing is that this duel is of divine proportions...and I seriously doubt that mental abilities of such a small capabilities will cut it...
Although...no, no, no, no, what was I thinking!”
Star looks down at the floor, Falcon lifts her chin with his finger, stares her in the eyes and asks: “What?”
“I can ask the gods to grant you Stones of Divinity...but it's highly irregular to grant mortals semi-immortality.” Star answers a bit reluctant.
“Do it...” Falcon says softly.
Star stutters: “A-a-are you sure?” Falcon nods and smiles.
She smiles and rips Falcon's bandages off, revealing a great patch of bare skin on his chest. Star blows him a kiss and vanishes.
Falcon a bit confused on what he has agreed to walks about the monastery.
The monks stare at him as he passes by.
He comes to a big room with a fountain and several doors.
The water looks clear and tasty, and Falcon is thirsty...
He bends down to take a sip, but is interrupted by the reflection of someone behind him. He turns around only to face a 3 meter tall, armored person.
Several whispering voices from nowhere says “Ezekiel...Ezekiel...”
The armored figure grips Falcon's throat firmly, and submerges his head in the fountain. Falcon squirms for air. The mighty fist raises Falcon to eye-level with the giant. Water and words make out: “Ooh arr ooh” from the gasping wolf-man.
A thunderous voice echoes through the armor. “Ezekiel,”
Ezekiel slams Falcon down on the stone floor and from seemingly nowhere he draws a huge sword. Falcon was stunned by the impact, Ezekiel kicks him onto his back. An echoing laugh roars through Ezekiel as he skewers Falcon’s stomach. Ezekiel slices Falcon several more times across his chest and limbs and let's the sword dangle above his “private parts”.
In the distance Star is calling out for Joon, and Ezekiel turns around.
His heavy armor clanks out of the room, just as Star enters.
She sees Falcon in great agony on the floor, soaked in his own blood.
“You are SO NOT dying! My boss would kill me!” she mumbles in a furious kind of way and throws Falcon onto her shoulder.
As she walks along the hallways she complains: “I just got my dress cleaned...but does he care? NOOOOO! I'd kill him if I wasn't supposed to keep him alive! I HATE MY JOB...”
They enter a room with a stained glass roof, giving the room a strange glow.
Star slams Falcon to the floor, face up, and mumbles“That's for messing up my dress...TWICE...” She spreads Falcon's arms and legs and draws a circle around him with salt ,then she yells: “Let him have it!”
A red beam centers on Falcon's chest, and something pushes him through the stone floor and leaves him in a 1 meter deep crater.
“How are you feeling?” Star smiles, and Falcon replies with a smile: “Can we do that again?”
“No, it's time for you to rest...I know you feel hyper right now, but trust me...” Star looks worried. “So...How does 'semi-immortals' sleep then?” Falcon inquires. Star replies: “Say 'Sleep' and how many hours you want...”
“Something like; Sleep 10 hourssss…”
Falcon disappears into thin air, Star smiles and disappears too.
10 hours later they reappear, in some other place than the monastery.
The heat of the cave-like place was blistering, but yet so cold…
Falcon and Star was standing on a small island surrounded by lava, with ice flakes on. A hand sticks out of the lava and a red, winged beast pulls itself up on the dusty rock.
“Who is the challenger?” it says.
Star pushes Falcon forward and says: “I've chosen Joon to take my place,”
The beast laughs, and steps up to them.
“You really believe a mortal can retrieve the stone?! HAH!”
Star puts her hand on Falcon's shoulder and whispers: “You will win, Joon... You will win...”
Star holds out her other hand and grabs a spear from thin air.
She gives the spear of holy design to Falcon.
“Try to impale him with this. It should be like a poison to him,” Star whispers and steps back. Falcon is afraid, very afraid.
“So you trust angels, Joon? You can still join forces with me...” the beast says.
Falcon shakes his head and tightens his grip on the spear.
The beast sighs: “Then I'll have to kill you...The name of your death is Azrajel, and I'll make it swift...”
Azrajel crouches down, he suddenly assumes the shape of a giant snake and lunges at Falcon.
Falcon dodges the enormous jaws, and in a blink of an eye he throws the spear into the snake's forehead. Azrajel shifts to his original shape and breaks of the shaft of the spear, leaving an oozing wound with a spearhead in it.
He snarls and swings the shaft at Falcon.
Falcon takes a mighty blow to the head, and Azrajel looks terribly weak and trips.
The hands of Falcon start to glow, and Star shouts"Throw!"
Falcon holds up his palm and directs it towards Azrajel.
A ray of purple light shoots out of Falcon's hand and Azrajel barely gets onto his feet. He pulls the spearhead out of his forehead and seems invigorated.
Azrajel advances despite Falcon's energy-beam.
Falcon starts shooting another beam from his other hand, but Azrajel pushes on.
At arms length, Azrajel grabs Falcon by the throat and pulls him into his arms.
Azrajel blazes into a fiery being with Falcon in a tight embrace.
Falcon experiences pain of inhuman proportions and tries to make a discharge of energy at Azrajel, but can't get it out.
Falcon concentrates harder, pressing all energy out of the Divinity stones.
He sees the fight is lost, and just let's go of everything.
Falcon's chest explodes in a incredible flash of light.
Azrajel drops Falcon, falls over and extinguishes.
His body is covered with crystalloid shards, a blue liquid runs out of his mouth and his body shrivels to dust.
Star runs over to Falcon and rolls him onto his back.
Falcon's chest is nothing but a cavity, bloody with a cracked ribcage.
Star gathers the shards from Azrajel’s dust, and crushes them between her hands.
She turns back to Falcon and pours the dust into Falcon's chest.
“Please say you'll pull through...”
Falcon's chest begins to regenerate lost organs and bones. He sits up and coughs up a huge amount of blood. Star throws herself at Falcon and embraces him with a smile and tears in her eyes. “I knew you could...Oh God, I knew you could...”
Falcon catches his breath and wipes his mouth.
“Couldn't this have been settled in another way?”
Star shrugs her shoulders and replies: “I don't call the shots. I only obey...”
Falcon spits out a small purple stone, and says: “You obviously like bossing me about. But he mentioned you were to retrieve a stone, so...”
“You just spit it out, at least a piece of it...”
“I'm still god-like?”
“You're the next best thing...You only have a fraction of the power you had just a few minutes ago, but with it you will reach quite far.”
“What was so special with THAT stone?”
Star pulls Falcon to his feet.
“That stone was vital for my promotion, but it's function is shape-shifting. And I estimate that with it's weakened condition you can alter your body slightly.”
“So, I'm a shape shifter?” Falcon asks.
“Not exactly," Star strokes his wing "But I do believe you can retract these babies. Maybe even make your gills functional.”
Falcon concentrates, making his wings shrink and eventually disappear.
“Seems you got it, Joon," Star smiles "I think this pretty much wraps it up.”
She lays her hand on Falcon's forehead.
“I'll hitch you a ride to 4152, so you can find Xeni.”
“Who is Xeni?” Falcon inquires.
Star laughs, “She's a vixen, like the one in your dreams. Happy? Now close your eyes and you won't feel a thing, although it might hurt a bit...”
The both vanish in a flash of light.