Atreia is a hollow world created by the god, Aion. Atreia's two halves were connected by the Tower of Eternity, a massive structure imbued with Aether, Aion's life essence. During a great battle, the Tower was destroyed, breaking the connection that held Atreia together, and causing the world to shatter. The event became known as The Great Cataclysm. Atreia divided into two parts during the Cataclysm; the lower half of the world became known as Elysea, a lush paradise touched by the sun's light. The area above, which became known as Asmodae, wasn't nearly as fortunate-the cruel landscape is without sun, and without mercy. The human inhabitants of Elysea, when ascended had beautiful white wings; and the Asmodian's had black wings that resemble the black sky. Between the two halves of the shattered planet of Atreia lies The Abyss, the hellish rift that separates Elysea and Asmodae. A harsh place, The Abyss is a contested area made up of the shattered pieces of the planet.

When Aion created Atreia and the humans who would inhabit it, he also put in place fearsome and powerful guardians known as Drakan. As the Drakan grew in number, they became confident and defiant, as well as more organized and filled with a desire for power. As time passed on the Drakan discovered a source of power from beyond Atreia, and five of them rose to positions of dominion over the others. These five, called the Dragon Lords, renamed themselves and their kind the Balaur. The Balaur, having grown so much in power and ability that they appeared as a new species, set about systematically extinguishing life on Atreia. Eventually, when he denied them the same powers he possessed, they turned on Aion and threatened to destroy the Tower of Eternity. Seeing his creation's threatened and the humans fighting bravely yet still unable to adequately defend themselves against the Balaur onslaught, Aion gathered twelve of the most loyal humans and imbued them with his life force, Aether, transforming them into beings known as the Empyrean Lords. Aion charged the Empyrean Lords with bringing down the Balaur and restoring peace to Atreia.

The five Empyrean Lords who had been sent to protect the north were renamed The Shedim Lords. The survivors regrouped, and their struggle to adapt to their new surroundings began. Over hundreds of years, they evolved to adjust to the darkness-their skin grew paler, and their bodies grew hardier and more cold resistant, while their feet turned to claws to withstand the harsh terrain, and their hands to talons to survive the hostile environment. Their land became Asmodae, and their people Asmodians. Those in the southern half of Atreia were more fortunate. With a star to light their world, their land became abundant and their people vigorous and beautiful. The five Empyrean Lords who remained in the south were renamed Seraphim Lords. The land became Elysea, and its people Elyos. The Elyos believed that they were blessed as Aion's chosen.

Neither of the separated worlds knew of the other's existence until a mysterious phenomenon opened portals around the Abyss, and a band of Elyos Daeva's ventured into them to discover Asmodae and the Asmodians. The Asmodian's were similar to their counterpart, except with black wings and unable to understand what the either was saying but understanding the Asmodian's blamed the Elyos a war broke out with only one survivor, who went to tell his leader's. Both sides learned that their world was bleeding Aether into the void between the two worlds known as the Abyss-a forbidding world filled with floating rock platforms and, to both sides horror, Balaur. The divided races came to believe that The Abyss was absorbing Aether because of a resonance between the two remaining shards of the Tower of Eternity-Asmodae and Elysea. Each side determined that the only means to preserve their own world was to end this resonance by destroying the other world and its inhabitants, thus closing The Abyss forever.

Now upon present day, a new group of Elyos are rising up, all hoping to meet a Daeva or fight beside them to do justice and keep peace. The newest group, consisting of a girl with three of her friends do their best to reach this standard. Though something within the girl will change the world of Atreia forever. This is her story…

A girl groaned sleepily as silver-blue eyes opened and looked around her room; nothing looked different, so why did her body demand her to be aware of her surrounding's? That's when she noticed a shadow off to her left and stifled an annoyed groan from leaving, which would alert her intruder of her being awake and aware. Steps slightly muffled due to the carpet ground came closer to her bed, only stopping when she rolled their way; yet she kept her eyes closed, already aware of whom it was. The steps came closer…closer still…and she could tell a hand was reaching for her.

"Get that hand any closer and I'll cut it off." The girl said with a threat lining her voice, snapping her eyes open.

The person, obviously a male yelped in surprised and stumbled backwards, falling down with a 'thud' as he hit the ground and the girl sat up. The light to her room turned on as a woman in her mid-thirty's entered, a scowl on her face as she glared slightly at the boy.

"Tikora Ecus" the woman chided, "stop annoying Marianee when my daughter obviously needs her sleep. She was up all night with you, Zalin and Zwellos, and I believe she has earned her rest." The woman stated, her black hair pulled into a bun.

"But Lady Serena," the boy began to protest, "she's been sleeping all day and noon has already arrived! We are meant to meet with Captain Scallner about our next job." The boy stated, his blue/green eyes wide.

Tikora Ecus, or Tikora as many called him by his first name, was a pale tan male with blue/green eyes, and slightly dark brown hair. His bangs were slightly long and fell before his face, the rest pulled over a spike on the back of his head.

"Don't get started Tikora!" the woman scolded, blue eyes glaring at the boy. "I've heard enough excuses from you to get Marianee up early enough to go on a mission with her before the others awaken." Serena explained, crossing her robed arms as she scowled.

Serena was a wonderful woman but she was strict and not someone anyone wanted to get angry; her husband had been an object of her wrath enough times to know how strong she was. Serena was what many called a Sorcerer, one who specializes in elemental magic; and both Tikora, Zalin, Zwellos, and Marianne's father, Jargon had seen how strong she was when angry.

"Please Lady Serena, can you wake Marianee?" Tikora asked as he began straightening himself, sitting.

Serena raised a brow before sighing as her shoulders slumped; why did she have to know the boy so well? Serena walked toward Marianee, uncrossing her arms and gently shaking her daughter, making her groan. "I don't want to get up." Marianee whined, earning a sigh from Serena. "Marianee" Serena began, speaking smoothly in her daughter's ear, "you must get up, Tikora wishes for you to be awake before the others awaken." Serena said gently, shaking her daughter more firmly. "Fine!" Marianee growled out, glaring at Tikora who laughed at her glare.

Marianee rose from her bed, before she looked at her mother who smiled at the look and ushered Tikora out of the room; the two leaving allowing Marianee to change. The eighteen-year-old girl sighed as she got out of the bed and began to freshen herself up for the day; as well as donning her armored leather. As she tied her hair into its high-ponytail, leaving some to cover her right eye; she headed to the main room, seeing Tikora sitting at the table waiting for her. As she entered he smiled and stood up, walking toward her with a grin that she returned. The two were childhood friends, having grown up as neighbor's in the city of Sanctum where those ascended lived, it was also where the five Seraphim Lord's lived. Tikora and Marianee meet one another because both their fathers were in the same unit; where Tikora's father was the Lieutenant and Marianee's father was the Commander, both which were in the Mirage Guild, the strongest Guild to exist which took their order's directly from Lady Ariel.

"Come on, Captain Scallner said that you and me were to scout out the area around the port." Tikora said as he grabbed his sword and shield. "Though we aren't Daeva's yet, if we keep moving at our pace and get the job done like we usually do, we'll be one in no time!" Tikora exclaimed with a grin.

"Alright then." Marianee said as a grin stretched across her own face. "What're we waiting for, let's go!" Marianee shouted as she grabbed her dagger's off the wall.

Saying goodbye to her mother she ran out with Tikora behind her, hoping to meet with their Captain before their two other friends awoke to join them. Though they liked Zalin and Zwellos, Marianee couldn't help but feel annoyed by them when she was with Tikora. It was one of the many secrets she kept to herself as she came to know the reason for her annoyance with them while she was with Tikora. Her crush on Tikora. She knew she had liked the boy for a long time, having grown up together, knowing each other since birth, fate kept them close; Marianee only hoped life would stay that way.

"There he is!" Tikora shouted as he ran beside her. "Captain Scallner!" Tikora shouted to the Captain, who looked up in surprise; before a smile crossed his face.

"Ah, Tikora, Marianee," He began, turning toward them. "How are you two today? Surprised to see you two without Zwellos and Zalin." Scallner observed, looking around for the other two mentioned.

Tikora laughed, before wrapping an arm around Marianee. "Not here with us today, just wanted it to be me and her." Tikora's smile grew as he rubbed Marianee's shoulder, making the girl giggle.

"As I've noticed. Well, not much to do…though we do have two ships coming in." Scallner said turning toward the docks and they saw two ships coming their way. "Scour the ships; make sure everything is where it should be. If there's an extra package, let the crew know." Scallner said, handing each a clipboard. "While it may seem boring, this is actually very important stuff to do. Also, alert me immediately if any of the crew starts acting suspicious." Scallner said and the two nodded as one of the ships docked.

"Alright, I see two more coming along; I'll give them the second ship. Go ahead and inspect the current shipment." Scallner ordered and the two saluted before doing their job.

For them, it was like just another day; a ship comes in, they inspect it, make sure nothing is unusual; maybe a fight or two will break out but nothing else aside from that. They had done the job since they were in their teen years, day in and day out; but they wanted to be Daeva's one day. Little did they know that would be coming along very soon.

Week Later: Marianee, Tikora, Zalin a Spirit Master, and Zwellos a Gladiator roamed around Poeta; a continent under the watch of Sanctum; though only recruiter's, like them were given the task of watching over the region.

"So," Marianee began with a yawn. "What did Captain Scallner want us doing again?" she questioned, leaning against Tikora. "Well," Tikora replied. "He wanted us to see why there hadn't been any shipments from Poeta lately. He wanted us to go and investigate what was going on." Tikora stated, wrapping an arm around Marianee.

"Hey!" Snapped Zwellos, his eye brow twitching. "No lovey-dovey crap." Anger was obvious in his voice as Tikora slowly removed his arm, looking at Zwellos questioningly.

Zwellos had short black hair to right above his shoulders, slightly dark green eyes burned with a light fire of anger toward Tikora's and Marianee's closeness. He had a scruffy mustache and beard forming, unlike their friend, Zalin. Zalin had slightly spiky, light brown hair, light brown eyes; and he was slightly pale due to staying inside reading his books all day. Being a spirit-master required a lot of reading, being able to control your summons required countless books. A wind spirit stood beside Zalin, in his second form.

Among all his spirit's; his wind spirit happened to be his strongest; the wolf like spirit was black and white. He had a black body with white fur around his chest, down it's back with what was a skull with horns and a whitish/blue mane came from the skull. Its white tail swished back and forth as he watched his master obediently.

"Zalin," Marianee began as the wind spirit began growling. "I think he's sensed something." Marianee stated as she began to feel uneasy.

They were close to a small canyon; Dukaki had been gathering there and it worried the residents of Poeta, for there had never been such a large gathering of Dukaki in one area. Due to the worry, constant complaints and no shipment's the Daeva's decided to send some of the new recruits down there to fix the problems. Marianee, Tikora, Zwellos, and Zalin all saw this as a chance; a chance to become Daeva's, something they had been striving to become.

"Yeah?" Zalin began as he slowly looked around. "Well, he ain't the only one." Zalin responded as he opened his tome, electricity crackling from his fingers.

"Be on guard at all times, never know what'll happen." Zwellos explained as he unsheathed his great sword, the blade pointed toward the ground. "Someone might be around; I have the feeling of being watched." Zwellos stated looking around.

"Same here, you two aren't the only ones." Tikora said going back-to-back with Marianee, the assassin smiling at him. "Getting jumpy are we?" Marianee questioned Tikora, but he only looked over his shoulder at her, giving a grin. "Not when I'm around you." Tikora fondly said, receiving a blush and smile from her.

"Ugh." Zwellos almost gagged, rolling his eyes. "You two are making me sick." He complained, giving an annoyed face toward the two.

"Shh…" Zalin whispered harshly, worry in his eyes. "…We're being watched…above us, canyon side, to our left." Zalin whispered as his wind spirit began to growl harsher toward their left, wind whipping up around him.

They all shifted their eyes to the left, skyward and saw a small group of Dukaki, watching them intently and this worried Marianee. She knew quite a bit about Dukaki; they weren't very smart creatures within Elysea, but to set something up in the Kabarah Canyon; well…she knew Captain Scallner in Sanctum had reason to worry.

"Why are they watching us?" Zwellos whispered to Zalin, who hummed. "Their making sure we're not here to interrupt them." Marianee answered, glaring at the Dukaki, all who noticed and started talking amongst themselves.

Tikora looked at Marianee confused. "Interrupt them?" He questioned, brows furrowed. "They are obviously doing something within Kabarah Canyon that they don't want anyone interrupting. I believe they believe us to be interruptions." Marianee explained as she brought her daggers up toward her face, blades crossed as she crouched.

"I can disappear and strike them if you all so wish." Marianee offered, a smirk in her silver eyes.

"Heehee, only you can do it girl." Zalin state with a shrug and Marianee giggled. "Strike." He murmured and she nodded.

She suddenly seemed to fade away from sight and the Dukaki instantly started to chatter amongst themselves even more. Suddenly one of the Dukaki dropped from the cliff and the other four started to panic, but before they could move each one suddenly stopped and fell down, two more falling off the cliff they were on. Marianee suddenly reappeared and smirked at Tikora, Zwellos, and Zalin; and they smiled back at her.

"Good job girl!" Zalin shouted and making the other two laugh. Marianee smiled at the praise. "Hahaha, you know me; I get them before they see me." Marianne exclaimed before she looked around. "Hey Tikora!" She shouted catching his attention as she took a few steps back.

His eyes widened as he realized what she was doing. "W-wait Marianee, are you s-!" He was cut off as she laughed. "Catch me!" She shouted as she took a few long strides before jumping off the cliff. "Is she crazy!?" Zwellos shouted as she headed for them. Zalin cursed and was about to have his wind summon spirit help catch Marianee, but Tikora ran toward her.

"Tikora!" Zalin shouted but Tikora ignored him in favor of jumping toward Marianee. Marianee was a little confused, but soon realized why when an arrow hit Tikora's shoulder. "Tikora!" Marianee shouted in shock, even as Tikora growled a little in pain. The others gasped and began looking around, noticing a few more Dukaki's and realized one had an arrow.

As they landed back on the cliff, Marianee brought one dagger out and held it before her, eye's scanning the area around her before she looked at Tikora. He growled as he grabbed the arrow and yanked it out, looking at his shoulder and noticing the blue liquid running down his arm. He was confused before he suddenly felt light head and clutched his head as a searing pain shot through his body.

"Tikora?!" Marianee shouted, grabbing his shoulders as he growled in pain. "What's wrong?!" Marianee shouted but all he did was point to his arm.

Marianee examined his arm and took notice of the blue liquid as well and cursed. Poison! It would seem the Dukaki were smarter than they thought. Marianee began looking through her pack, before she found an antidote and began using it to clean the wound and stop the poison from spreading further. Despite how smart they seemed they used fairly common poison, and that made Marianee grateful. If it was custom poison, they would be in big trouble. Suddenly, before she could pour more on the wound began to heal itself.

"What?" Marianee questioned, silver-blue eyes wide in shock. Suddenly his body pulsed green as he growled and sat up, and when Marianee checked him more thoroughly, she noticed they was no poison in his body. The liquid was gone, and nothing about his body stood out as odd…he seemed…completely healed.

"Tikora," she started, helping him up. "Did you just expelled the poison?" she questioned and he looked at her confused. "What?" he asked, confusion in his green/blue eyes. "I thought you used an antidote." He finished, rubbing his head. "Tikora…you expelled the poison yourself." Marianee explained and he seemed shocked.

Before they could say more, Zalin's wind spirit came running over, barking at them. "What is it boy?" Marianee questioned the wolf-looking spirit.

It continued to bark and motion them to follow him, in which they decided it was best. They followed the spirit and eventually found Zalin and Zwellos on a cliff, they were on their stomachs overlooking a campsite and as they got closer Zwellos took noticed and waved them over.

"We got a problem." He said, as the two copied their friends. "See that cauldron there?" Zwellos questioned, pointing toward it. "What are they doing?" Marianee asked, worry in her eyes.

"That's Odium." Zalin said slowly and Marianee and Tikora gasped. "I had my earth spirit go over and take a look. He brought me a small sample back and I noticed it was Odium." Zalin said, gritting his teeth in anger.

"We have to stop them!" Marianee said in shock, her voice a whisper as to not alert their enemy. "If they successfully use that, won't it open an Abyss Gate?" Marianee questioned worried, and Tikora nodded. "Yeah, Odium helps Abyss Gates open wider and allow anything in…and the Dukaki work with the Tursin Krall…" Tikora stated, before he trailed off thinking.

"And the Tursin Krall work for the Balaur. It's the Balaur behind all of this." Zwellos finished for Tikora, and Marianee figured they had waited long enough. "We're stopping them now." Marianee said, eyes glued to the cauldron. "If we stop them now, we can set them back hundreds of years, maybe even centuries. It takes years to perfectly refine Odium, so they had to have been working on this for a long time." She explained as she stood and Tikora nodded, standing as well.

"I agree; we have no choice." Tikora said, unsheathing his weapon. "But only a Daeva can expel Odium and make it unusable." Zwellos objected, worry in his eyes. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to get creative." Tikora snickered back, a grin on his face and Zwellos sighed, standing. "I guess there's no debating about this, eh?" he questioned and the two nodded. "Alright…what the hell? I'm in!" Zwellos replied, bringing his great sword out.

"You all ain't leaving me out of this!" Zalin exclaimed, standing and giving his traditional grin. "I want to have some fun and blow stuff up!" he proudly stated as he brought his fire spirit out as he dismissed his wind spirit. "Alright, then here's what we'll do." Marianee stated as they backed away from the cliff as to not be seen. "Zalin, I want you to go around and catch their attention, blow up anything useful; I don't want them doing this ever again!" Marianee ordered and Zalin saluted.

"Zwellos!" Marianee called, catching his attention. "I want you to kill all that get in your way, protect Zalin; his Steel Skin won't protect him forever." She stated and Zwellos gave a quick nod. "Tikora, you and me will try to expel the Odium, if need be we destroy the cauldron, or tip the cauldron to pour its content out on the ground if we have to!" Marianee stated and Tikora grinned at her. "Alright, let's do this!" Tikora shouted and they jumped into the canyon going off in different directions as they landed.

They caught the attention of the Dukaki and immediately, as Zalin sent off a Flame Bolt, quickly destroying an odd construction, catching all the Dukaki and Tursin's attention.

"Ha-ha! Bring it on!" Zalin shouted in glee, eyes wide in excitement. "Zalin, you're insane!" Zwellos shouted as he used Taunt to protect his friend. "Oh come on, this'll be fun!" Zalin shouted as he used all his spirits, and summoned them all to attack the enemies. "This is what I live for!" he exclaimed as lightening began crackling around him in his glee.

Marianee and Tikora ran toward the cauldron, swinging at anything that attacked them; her mind focused on Tikora. How was he able to expel the poison? Why was he glowing…literally?! The center of his chest was giving off a small glow and he was stronger than Zwellos as the moment. It confused, and worried Marianee…had the poison done something? As they neared the cauldron, Tikora growled; it was a lot bigger than he thought.

"Come on!" Marianee shouted and began pushing on one side, ignoring the heat it emitted as it burned her hands. Tikora growled and began pushing as well, trying to get the contents to spill onto the ground, but the cauldron was too big, it wasn't budging.

"We have to do something else, this isn't working." Marianee stated as she saw Zalin and Zwellos struggling with the enemies. Tikora growled and climbed up the side, sitting on the ledge. "Tikora!" Marianee shouted in shock, what was he doing? "Trust me on this, I think I might be able to do something." Tikora stated as he began studying it.

For some reason he was oddly confident that he'd be able to dispel the Odium, something was telling him he could do it. He placed both hands above the odium and suddenly everything began glowing, him with it.

"TIKORA?!" Marianee shouted as wind began swirling all around as power coursed through the place. "Trust me!" Tikora commanded as the wind got harsher and the light got brighter, forcing everyone to shield their eyes, and blinding their enemies.

Marianee squinted to see what was going on before she gasped as she caught a glimpse of something feathery and her eyes widened a fraction. Did Tikora…grow wings?! She heard something that sounded like flapping and noticed the odd figures behind Tikora were indeed flapping and she gasped as she lowered her hand, were those…wings? Tikora grew wings! Tikora growled out as his palms glowed brighter before his eyes glowed silver as he thrusted his hands into the Odium, dispelling it and destroying the cauldron in the process. An explosion happened right where he stood throwing him into the air and he gave a quick shout of pain as he felt his arms burn a little but soon noticed he was fine…and hovering in midair? He looked around seeing all the enemies were dead.

"Tikora!" Marianee shouted in elation, eyes wide in awe confusing him, why was she smiling at him? Yeah he dispelled the odium, but what else did he do? "Well I'll be damned." Zalin said coming up beside Marianee. "You grew wings buddy!" he shouted in excitement. "I what?" He questioned as he slowly landed on the ground. "Look at your back." Zwellos said as he came up to the other side of Marianee.

Tikora did as asked and gasped as he saw two white wings extending from his back, making him fumble for words as he grabbed them, examining them in fullest. He…was a Daeva? Looking at his friends, he couldn't stop the startled and excited laugh from coming from his mouth.

"I'm a Daeva…" he said in realization, before his laugh reached its fullest. "I'm a Daeva, I'm an actual Daeva!" Tikora laughed and the others laughed with him. "Congrats Tikora!" Marianee shouted and Tikora nodded, he couldn't believe it.