House of the Celestials: Crown of Stars Rewrite

Secluded Starlight outpost

Burnham Park, Chicago

Terra, Earth Solar System

Neutral free Zones

January 15th 2019

Moments earlier

 The Order outpost collapsed within ten seconds of the earthquake, most of the building swallowed by the earth, and nothing but smoke and the smell of ash welled up to the sky. Emily could feel the presence of death all around them, the feeling was quite suffocating but she was adept at blocking it out. They had been this close to dying. Well, again for her. If Leon had not resorted to using his Rapid step skill, they would never have made it out of there in time. She was fast, but her speed was nothing compared to someone from the House of Leo. The building was gone, but that was not concerned the two warriors as the ground around them rumbled, a quake generating throughout them. The Odyllic trembling as a pulse of energy shot down from the sky and fell upon them. Leon and Emily felt the space expand, the structure of reality twisting and changing as a tremendous amount of energy was expunged. And then the light was gone, but Leon and Emily were left unharmed. Though Leon had felt the force that was responsible for the light.

"Spatial force," He muttered. How the hell was a massive amount of Spatial force energy created to cover an entire city? That was the question Leon was asking himself. He didn't care anymore for the trap magic that had nearly killed him and Emily. Something was happening. 

"Someone must have cast a spell," Emily said.

"On that scale. Then that person must be a King Realm" Leon said. Emily could sense his frustration as he kicked at the ground. Chunks of debris and grass flew up due to the strength of the kick. "What the hell is going on on this planet,"

"Unfortunately, I think your hunch might be right this time," Emily said. She understood why Leon was mad but still, whatever was going on, all they had to do was investigate it. "We should head out..." Emily was interrupted by a big flash of light that fell on them. They both looked up, straining their eyes against the light to see the ship that was hovering in the sky above them. Emily recognized the ship as a vessel of the organization known as Golden Dawn. And beyond the light, waiting for them by the open door of the ship was... 

"Emanu," Leon said with a smile. The girl smiled upon Leon calling her name. She had pale skin, red hair that was tied in a ponytail, and a glowing orange armor protecting her body. On the chest of the armor were the symbols of Golden Dawn. Behind her were her fellow Guardians dressed in the same outfit. The Hidden World was a vast unknown world filled with so many unknown forces beyond just the hidden cities' within it. The Grey was not enough to protect the mundane worlds and the mundane humans from the threat. That was where the Golden Dawn came in. Just like how Starlight protected the Federation from Abominations, the Golden Dawn guarded the mundane world from all kinds of mystical threats from within and from outer space. As an Offworlder, Emily fit the category of being on watch by them, but thanks to her association with the Yesh Institute, she was cleared to be in Terra. Still, though, she turned to look at the hole where a Starlight facility used to be. What would Golden Dawn do if they found out about it? Probably not much. It wasn't like the Golden Dawn could pick a fight with Starlight, an intergalactic organization with more power than they could wield. Not when they had problems of their own to deal with. Emily took her eyes off the hole as the ship descended slowly toward the ground. Eman jumped down from the ship followed by the others. She raised an eyebrow at the hole behind us, then her attention turned to Leon.

"There's been a situation," Emanu said. 

"Does this have anything to do with the Rumbling?" Leon said.

"One of the Yesh Institute buildings has been hit," Emanu said. Emily was aware of what the Yesh institution was. It was a front for the Golden Dawn within the mundane world, some kind of company that dealt with research in medicine through biology and technological means. From what she knew about it, it was a well-renowned organization in the Mundane world.

"So you want us to help with it," Leon asked.

"Trust me. Both things are connected," Emanu said. "Get in,"

****

As their transport vessel traveled through the metropolitan city of Chicago, Leon expanded his Internal senses to the city, observing the empty streets and buildings. There was no one left in the city, everything was abandoned and taken by the purple light. He could sense the Odyllic still trembling though not as severe as it once was. He turned to Emanu, someone he had known since he was a child. The girl was speaking to her subordinates, giving them instructions.

"What's Golden Dawn going to do about this," Leon said. Emanu turned to him, the grim look on her face made him know that this was more serious than he realized.

"My Mom's handling the Echo fields," Emanu said.

"Echo fields," Emily said. Echo fields are a special type of Pocket space that naturally occurs when a large accumulation of Spatial force energy is grouped, forming an echo of a specific place location throughout the space-time continuum. It was a dangerous place that was also beneficial for cultivation and ascension. Cultivation was a dangerous path, and to walk it one must experience pain and suffering unlike anything. But then again, Echo Fields was a rare thing to come across. Emily had never been in one or seen one. But to think that several fields have appeared in this planet. Something didn't seem right.

"Right now, we have to worry about this breach," Emanu said.

The Breach turned out to be in a building located within the south loop of Chicago. It was a sixteen-story skyscraper that was giving off high levels of Infernal energy. The weight of the presence of death that Emily could feel made her think that the building would collapse at any minute. Leon could sense the dark energy but not the presence of death. But he was experienced enough to know that there had been a massacre in that building. The building was not cloaked within the Grey, which told Leon that the employee worked in a public capacity. Though the building belonged to the Yesh Institute, it wasn't one of its well-known research centers. The Hovercraft that had brought them here, was above the building cloaked within the veil. Leon and Emily stood by the open hangar peering down on the building.

"I take it the Breach is inside," Leon said. Emanu was behind him talking to some of her men. She turned and gave a nod to Leon.

"One of our Analysts was stationed here to keep an eye on a potential target," Emanu said. "We lost contact with her, and one of the branch offices detected a breach coming from here," A potential target meant that they had found someone who met the requirements to be Od sensitive. Meaning Golden Dawn could recruit them to become one of their precious Guardians.

"What could have set off a Breach," Emily said. "Shouldn't a facility like this be protected from such things,"

"There are security enchantments within the building," Emanu said. "At least there should be but someone seems to have gotten rid of it. Whoever they are, they are responsible for the breach. And not only that, from the readings, they gave off vast amounts of Infernal energy"

"Then we should go in and have a look," Leon said. He leaped off from the hangar. Emily sighed and followed him. She activated her Enhancement skill, Skywalk, which allowed her to easily glide through the air at a controlled rate. By the time Emily reached the roof, Leon was done using a summoned light blade to cut a hole in the roof.

"You do know there's an entrance right there," Emanu's voice came as she easily landed beside Emily. She had also used the Skywalk technique along with the agents she had bought with her.

"This is much more fun," Leon said with a grin. Emanu sighed as she took out a metal stick from her waist belt. The rod glowed with red runes imbued on it, and then extended into a long spear with a silver blade. Emily stared at the weapon in awe, though she did her best not to show it on her face. She wasn't surprised to see the girl with a legendary grade artifact, not with the family she came from. Leon turned to Emily, his grin fading. "Since you're the scout, the ideal move would be to make you go in first....but I'm going in. You can follow behind me," The way he said it seemed to be that he wouldn't budge on it no matter what Emily said, so she said nothing even though she felt mad at him for underestimating her. Yes, she just survived a near-death experience, but she was good. She had healed, and her core had channeled more mana enough for more fights to come. But she also could feel the guilt that he was feeling for putting her in the position in the first place which was why she kept quiet. Emily followed after Leon, landing in what was the corridor of the inside of the building. Though Emily was more skilled when it came to Internal sense manipulation, Leon's use of the skill was still kind of efficient. They followed Leon who tracked the direction of where the dark energy was coming from. After they got out of the corridor, they proceeded to take the elevator. Leon and Emily did, while Emanu and her agents decided to take the stairs. The plan was to meet up on the fourth floor where the dark energy was emitting from. As the elevator door opened, Leon summoned a golden sword while Emily pulled her gloves from her right arm. She had lost all her weapons after the fight so she had no choice but to rely on her abilities. They slowly treaded out of the elevator into the hallway and began to walk diligently to the office on the fourth floor. The door was opened, the rotten smell of egg and sulfur, a sign that Abominations had been here. They always brought with them that specific smell. The smell of the Infernal world. Emily hesitated...she could feel the presence of someone else... someone who had just been recently here. And there was also the blood-stained footprint that led to the elevator. The presence wasn't that strong for her to get a reading on, so she ignored it as Leon and she entered the office. The office was such a mess like some kind of battle had happened in it. And from what Emily could glimpse of the Mana residues, there had been one. She could feel the clash of foreign Manas left over within the Odyllic. One was mixed with Infernal essence and the other one was strange...She couldn't put a thought to what it was. She stepped on the broken wood that was dislodged all over the floor with torn books and glasses. The pieces of furniture were torn to shreds and by the desk was a female body. Dried blood stains were all over the floor, though it wasn't that dried yet. The smell of defecation didn't bother them as it was something they were used to. Leon went over to the body and checked her over. Her eyes had been burnt out but that was not what killed her. It didn't look like she had been killed by an Abomination either. And the other strange Mana that Emily had sensed didn't belong to her either. The door opened and Emanu entered. She calmly observed the room before she settled on the corpse. When it did, her eyes widened, and a look of shock ripped through it. She ran to the body.

"Dr. Dingle," She called out checking the body, her voice filled with shock, rage, and fear. Emily frowned upon seeing her behavior.

"You know her," Emily said. Emanu turned to them nodding her head. Her eyes closed as she fought back her emotions. She got up and went over to a cabinet and began to look through it.

"What are you looking for," Leon said.

"It's gone," Emanu said. "The files...Mccoy's files are gone,"

"Ok, can you start explaining things to us," Leon said. Emanu sighed as she kept looking throughout the office. "How does this connect to the Echo field."

"I guess since you're interim instructors, it's only fair to tell you," Emanu said. Leon and Emily were both Interim instructors for Yesh Academy- the facility owned by Golden Dawn that trained Od-sensitive humans on the secret art of the Mystical ways. After their exile from the federation, Leon and Emily were taken in by the Yesh family, a powerful family that had influence within the Federation and the Neutral free zone and had been given a place and a job to pass the time. The partner of their benefactor also happened to be the High Guardian of the planet Terra. So it made sense for the Golden Dawn to bring Leon and Emily along for something as sensitive as this.

"Dr. Dingle is one of our Analysts," Emanu said.

"Yes, we know that," Emily said.

"Her job was to monitor a 1-0-9," Emanu said. A 1-0-9 was an object or an entity clad in mystery and was unknown. "She was to determine if the 1-0-9 was fit for service..."

"So she was stationed here as a therapist," Leon said. He was examining everything in the room while Emily decided to use her Internal sight to scan the entire room, looking for any anomaly.

"Dr.Dingle was a Therapist. She also happened to be one of us," Emanu said. 

"There are slash marks on her wrists," Leon said. He was examining one of her arms, checking out the wrist. "This was done by a blade, not a claw."

"If an Abomination didn't kill her, then what did? Can you sense anything else? Anything off-" 

"Ssshh." Emily placed her index fingers on her lips, concentrating on extending her Internal senses through the whole building. There was not a single living thing left in the building, nothing but them and the Golden Dawn's agents... Emily froze just as the screams began.

"My men," Emanu said. Out of the three of them, Leon was the first to respond, moving quickly out of the office as the other two girls followed him.

They left the office and took the elevator down to the basement. Emily's body and senses were on high alert, this strange thing that she had picked up did not make her feel good. Not long ago, Leon and her had a tussle with an Erlking in the sewers and she nearly bled to death and burnt alive. Fuck... she felt like she needed some rest. And a hot bath. When the elevator opened, Leon took the front position, heading towards the position of... sounds of mana blasters going off bounced throughout the basement corridor. Flashes of light flew everywhere followed by the scream of pain. They were in what looked to be the boiler room, there were machines connected to pipes, the light was blinking in and out, and the atmosphere was practically tense. The agents were blasting their cannons against what looked to be a pack of reptilian creatures. Their skin was greyish-pale with scales, their lizard-like faces were filled with rows of sharp fangs. Emanu didn't waste time before jumping into the fray, her spear glowed red as it thrust through the air, skewering a whole bunch of them in one shot. She moved the spear horizontally, decapitating their heads, before spinning the spear and cutting through another row of them. Leon followed, his golden sword dancing through the air like a wheel slashing and severing the bodies of the Abominations. Emily had no weapon to use so she decided to go straight for what worked best. Her eyes glowed, and her Mana flow grew stronger. Darkness began to emanate around her as she used her hands to weave signs. 

[Darkness creation: Nebula arrows] Emily finished her incantation as a bunch of arrows made up of darkness materialized in front of her. She aimed her attack and fired on the Abominations that the Agents were blasting at. The arrow flew right at them, hitting them in the head where Emily had aimed at.

"Where the hell did they come from," Leon said as he decapitated a Lizard abomination. The sword style that Leon was employing allowed him to use direct blows with great efficacy due to Leon's skill. He was employing a wide-sweeping motion that allowed him to strike and slash as much of the abominations as he wanted.

"The Breach. Whatever came out of it must have turned the people in the building," Emanu said as she slashed and thrust as many Abominations as she could. She swept her spear in a circular arc cutting through a horde of them. Abominations were creatures of madness infected with the dark energy of the Infernal realm, a realm of pure chaos and miasma. And it was also possible to infect one with the energy. These Lesser abominations they were killing had once been humans but the infection had transformed them into monsters. They weren't humans anymore. Emily pulled up behind one of the Abominations behind Emanu and with a refined accuracy, she blasted the beast in the face with another Nebula arrow spell attack. The blast hit the face, a large chunk of it was gone, giving Leon the time that he needed to stab his blade through its heart. There was a frightening wail and the beast turned into a pile of ashes leaving behind a Shard. The other Abominations were shocked to see most of their pack members being killed.

"Must...Leave...have no business with Paladin...." one of the creatures said. It was a big, crimson-streaked fur ape in large bulky armor. "The girl...nee.e..d to re...trieve her."

"You can speak eh," Leon said. The creature hissed, then began to shriek making the other pack members respond to its call. The abominations turned away from them, fleeing away. Emily felt Leon's decision before he even began speaking.

"Find that breach. I'm going after them," Leon yelled as he activated his Flash movement, disappearing in a blink. 

"Leon!" Emily called out for him. Emanu ran up to her side. A strand of her hair was out of her bun, sticking to her blood-stained face which had no sweat on it.

"Let him go, we have to find the breach," Emanu said. Emily clenched her teeth knowing she was right. Whatever had come out of that breach was dangerous. Even though it was gone, its residue would be enough to spread out and infect the weak-willed humans and turn them into Abominations. Though for now, it was good, that most of the humans had disappeared. They needed to close it as soon as possible. They were in the basement, but the breach Emily had sensed came from further below. Emanu had a device that seemed to be tracking the source of the breach.

"I'm picking up on massive amounts of Infernal energy below us," Emanu said.

"That's because the breach is there," Emily said. She lowered her knees and put her right arm on the floor. Her hand glowed bluish, becoming translucent as her bones became visible. The ground began to crumble, disintegrating and revealing a hole large enough for whoever was left. Only three of Emanu's men were left, the others dead.

"Was that a spell," Emanu asked.

"No," Emily said. She said it in a way that she didn't want to speak more of it. Emanu shrugged as she decided to make the first move. She threw herself in the hole, her spear in her right hand and Luminent stone in another hand. The stone released a beam of light that revealed they were now in the Sewer drainage system of Chicago. Emily landed behind Emanu with a look of disgust on her face. She was holding one of Emanu's fallen men Mana cannon. 

"Another Sewer again," Emily said. "What's with you Terrans and your sewer?"

"What! They don't have a sanitary sewer system where you're from," Emanu said. Emily had lived on two planets her whole life. Her homeworld of Olympia, and Agartha where her school had been. And none of them used a sewerage system. They were advanced enough that they didn't need to transport waste from their homes to whatever disposal spot the Terrans used. No, their toilets and bathrooms had technology that disposed of the waste right there. Emily shook her head, unable to even continue thinking about it. She was extremely mad right now. They had walked for a while, still looking for where the breach was. As they continued walking, the device that Emanu had began to lose the signal. At first, there was a screeching noise from it, the screen glitching. She smacked it a couple of times and it would continue to work but as they got deeper, the machine began to fritz out. Emily understood why it was malfunctioning. She had sensed the energy that was in front of them. It was extremely strong. And then pairs of red eyes shined in the darkness.

"Hold it," Emily said. She pointed the blaster at the eyes as Lizard abominations came out of it. They were lesser Abominations, monsters that were consumed by the corrosiveness of infernal energy. Their mouths were dripping with saliva, their fits of hunger driving them insane. Emily didn't hesitate to start blasting them. She moved inhumanly fast, blasting them with excellent accuracy. Emanu was behind her, her spear snaking through the air with great accuracy too. Emanu's lithe body made her so nimble and fast that she moved through the air cutting through tens of them at once. The three Agents began blasting their cannons at the monsters.

"Where is the breach?" Emanu screamed. Emily blasted five Lizard monsters. As she blasted them she checked to see how much energy was left. Damn it. She was running low. She blasted three more and smashed one in the head with it. She had no weapon but that didn't mean she was powerless. Emily was not as powerful as Leon, but she was still skilled and knowledgeable. And she was well-trained in the Arcane arts. She expanded her Mental force, channeling her mana as she began to begin casting. She quickly made hand signs and weaved two offensive spells of an elemental nature. Spikes of ice formed from the ground, each of them running through fifteen Lizard monsters. In her left hand, she summoned a ball of orange flames, the light spreading warmth everywhere. Emily glimpsed a stray of black-tinted purple light beyond the Lizard monsters. It was like someone had painted a tear in the air. That must be the breach. These monsters were guarding it. 

"I've found the breach," Emily yelled.

"Then close it," Emanu said. "I've got your back," Even though Emanu was a Terran, like Leon and Emily who were Awakened Mystics, Emanu was a powerful Mystical warrior. Emily was sure enough that she could trust her to watch her back. And she had a legendary artifact that could supply her with more Mana. Her spear glowed red, hues of color seeped out of it, forming into blossoms of yellow flower, and then the petals of the flowers moved, striking twenty of the monsters. Emanu's spear art was also no ordinary art as she displayed a huge burst of power. Emily nodded as she released her ball of flames. It soared through the creatures blasting them apart. As the flames swept through the sewer, burning the monster, Emily coated herself in Mana, dashing through burnt corpses that were turning into ash. More Lizard monsters came out of nowhere, one swiped its claws at her, but Emily easily parried it away. She had armed herself with a pair of ice daggers, using them to begin to cut her way through the monsters that stood in her way. Emily didn't display any martial arts style but instead just simply slashed her daggers with her inhuman strength. These were lesser monsters, their only threat was their quantity and she was reducing them. Killing. That was what Emily was good at. She could feel a part of her trying to claw out, a part that...Emily tightened the wards within her head, caging that part back into the dark reaches of her mind. Her mind assumed its stoic stance, any trace of emotions was gone as she began calculating sequences of moves. After her calculations were done, Emily began to butcher her way through whatever stood in her path to the breach. Black blood dripped from the ice dagger as Emily finally got to it. The breach was partially sealed, like whoever had broken through hadn't bothered to cover it up. Which was why traces of infernal energy were coming out of it. Emily sighed. This was going to take up a lot of her energy. Emily placed her hands close to it and began to release a certain output of her Mana. Luckily for her, she still remembered how to deal with Dimensional rifts which she had learned from her academy days. As she channeled her energy to the rift, a roar came from behind her, a Lizard monster was lunging for her. But then a red spear tore through its snout mouth, plunging into the wet ground. Emanu appeared, her armor littered with guts and blood. Emily couldn't sense the remaining of her fellow agents, which meant it was just the two of them.

"There's still many of them," Emanu yelled. She swung her spear, thrusting the blade at the monsters, cutting them, ever she stepped through, a yellow line would appear and heads would roll up in the air. She made no effort, making it look like she was just crushing insignificant ants. The Odyllic began to tremble, the surface of the water on the ground began to ripple. Emily was shining bright with an aura of blue light, her hands were forming signs, arcane gestures that transmitted her intention.

"Get down," Emily said. Emanu got down, raising her head between her arms to cover herself, and she felt a surge of power, filling the entire sewers. She could sense the disappearance of all the Abominations, their lives snuffed out like they were candles. Emanu was like that for a while, all she could hear was her heartbeat.

"You can get up," Emily said. Emanu raised her head to see Emily resting her back against the wall and sitting on the wet ground. Her face looked like it was exhausted, and her golden green eyes which were so alien looked dull.