Ashmadiel and Aaziakel

Garrick found himself within a familiar rocky desert landscape with a swirling dust storm marking the boundary of this imaginary space. Ashmadiel appeared in the edge of that storm and walked into the calm area. Seven feet tall but thin and wiry, and fully armored from head to toe in the suit which Garrick could call upon himself. Wings of a brilliant metallic-silver caught and reflected non-existent sources of fire as they sat folded back and unused. Ashmadiel walked forward, a sword made of fire held comfortably in one hand, until stopping in front of Garrick.

“Well met again, Garrick Faulkner,” Ashmadiel said. “I was saddened to learn that time has not tempered Aaziakel’s ambitions as it has tempered mine. I cannot thank you enough for your actions, and those of your friends, in removing his influence from that woman. Still, I cannot find myself hating him. After all, we were once partners in the fight to protect humanity.”

The scene begins to shift and the wispy outlines of the previous vision fill the space for a moment. Ashmadiel and Aaziakel, fighting side by side against an army of shadowy, black-armor clad figures which surround them. The vision ended almost as soon as it began. “You already know of this,” Ashmadiel said to Garrick. “Aaziakel and I were partners within the Shining Legion. Each of us was an outcast, but together we found acceptance and purpose.”

“Our differences complimented each other well. I was a warrior – a scourge upon all our enemies. I mastered the flames of my sword to cut down our foes swiftly and decisively. Aaziakel walked a different path. He self-studied the mystic arts, becoming a magii to support us with powerful magics. Together we defended humanity over and over.”

The wispy shadow memories played out around Garrick and Ashmadiel as the story was told. The memories showed the two angelic beings fighting against black-armored warriors, shapeshifting monstrosities, and demonic horrors. Always as before, Ashmadiel was a blur of swordplay while Aaziakel concentrated on mixing magic with the strikes from his diamond sword. Each scene came and went swiftly. The last scene was of Ashmadiel practicing sword forms while Aaziakel sat reading, a stack of scrolls in a pack next to him.

“Over time, we both found ourselves dissatisfied with the shape of the conflict. We each agreed that something new needed to be tried. I lusted to take the fight to its source. To defeat our enemies in a massive invasion of our own. He sought to strengthen the barrier between our dimensions, thus preventing any further incursions.”

“Time and again I presented my tactic to our Celestial commanders. But always my impassioned ranting was ignored.” Ashmadiel’s eyes begin to burn with a divine fire. “So I began to seek out like-minded compatriots amongst my sistren and brethren. I was not the only one disenfranchised with our leaders and who wanted to go on the offensive. Aaziakel was not among them. He pursued his own idea, one which the Shining Legion similarly ignored. Unbeknownst to me, he was also amassing a loyal contingent of mutineers.”

“Neither of us mentioned to the other what we were doing. We did not wish to implicate the other in our own treachery, you see. So it was with surprise that on the day my followers and I made our move to usurp our current leadership, so too did Aaziakel make his move with his followers.”

The story pauses there. Shadow memories appear again all around. Two small armies of angelic beings filled the vision as far as the space could allow. One was led by Ashmadiel. The other by Aaziakel. They are each surprised when they see the other. Then angry. With shouts they call for their armies to advance upon each other. The conflict is powerful and terrible. Ashmadiel and Aaziakel’s swords clash repeatedly throughout the war, even as their armies kill each other around them.

“I thought he had betrayed me. He thought I had betrayed him. Our plans were in direct opposition to each other. We fought each other, mindless of the devistation our war was causing. Neither of us gave the other any quarter. Eventually our armies fell and we were the last two standing. We had weakened each other severely. A fact the commanders of the Shining Legion used to their advantage to subdue and capture us both.”

“We were tried swiftly. The two of us had decimated the ranks of the Shining Legion. Because of our actions our kind no longer had the numbers to stem the tide of darkness as we had for all those years. As punishment we were each bound, body, mind, and spirit, into weapons created specifically in the likeness of our personal manifestations.”

The sword of fire in Ashmadiel’s hand flashed, and in its stead was the sword Garrick wielded. The sword disappeared and appeared in Garrick’s hand. “I have had much time to reflect over the years since.” Ashmadiel removes the helmet and it disappears, along with the rest of the armor. Now standing before Garrick was a bronze-skinned woman with fiery red hair that writhed and flowed as though a constant wind were blowing through it. Her eyes burned with a divine fire for a moment as she looked at Garrick.

In a now much more recognizably feminine voice, she said, “My decisions led me to this existence. I no longer trust them. This is why I am glad to trust you with this power. For though I am limited in how I can affect your world on my own, I can withold this power from those who are not worthy of it. I wasn’t sure when you first encountered me. But when you returned, I sensed a compatability between us. But not because of how much like myself you are. I think now that, for as much of myself that I see in you, I see much of my old friend, Aaziakel, as well.”

Garrick didn’t know when, but he was fully clad in the armor now. Sword in hand, he looked ready for battle. “Be careful you don’t tread down my path, nor his. I hope in time you can find the balance we each lacked.” At those words the sandstorm increased in intensity, swirling to fill the space where they both stood. Ashmadiel smiled as she was swallowed by it. Once it hit Garrick he woke up, back in the same place he was when the vision started.

All art by Adamantium_Art
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