The remaining time went by too fast. Hero completed his magic training with Darryl, and the wizard had given him an assessment duel. Hero had won nine out of ten duels. He lost the last one as he grew a little tired and worn out. Darryl watched as the power core grew with each piece of knowledge he fed it, and marveled at the most biggest and brightest core he has ever seen.

Hero was standing next to Kaleb by the entrance ladder leading to the Guard Post tower. A group of chosen trained males stood behind them, awaiting the signal. Hero was leaning against Kaleb's huge form, checking his sword and rifle. He had spare daggers and ammo in his satchel, and Kaleb laughed at how ready he was.

Everyone raised their heads and weapons in surprise as the trapdoor above them leading to the guard post tower shook and made a noise. Everyone heard the unfamiliar Russian words through the trapdoor, and Hero barely could translate it, the man had such a thick accent.

He whispered, everyone turning their attention to him, "We'll take it from here. Get some rest."

Kaleb raised an eyebrow and Hero muttered, "That's what he said. I think Avian has finished his shift. Shall we go?"

Kaleb shook his head. Hero just obeyed, listening to the sound of footsteps disappear as the unknown soldier walked up the steps to get to the guard post. Once complete silence was maintained, Kaleb tapped his fingers on Hero's back, and the shorter teen straightened up. Kaleb nodded his head to the group behind them and the rest stood up as well. Kaleb climbed up the ladder and slowly opened the trapdoor, crawling to the open.

Hero followed after. Their plan was to take out the three Russian soldiers on guard duty silently, then lead the group to the next guard tower. After all four towers were safe, more groups will come up and slowly make their way to the the heart of the village, taking out every Russian and claiming the village. The villagers were notified, so they stayed in their houses, away from the attack.

Kaleb was waiting for him and he pointed outside. Hero nodded and stayed behind the door, while Kaleb made his way silently upstairs to get the two guards on watch. Hero strained to hear footsteps near the door until it was thrown open. He scowled and grabbed the door before it hit him in the face and saw the guard wiping his boots on the mat on top of the trapdoor, grumbling in his native language.

Hero slid out his dagger and grabbed the man by the neck with his arm, bringing him down closer to him. Before the man could yell in surprise, he quickly sliced his neck and slowly laid him on the floor, not letting only mud but blood stain the floor. He heard groans and shuffling from upstairs. He ran up the steps, skipping a few steps. He was greeted with the sight of Kaleb being choked by a Russian. There was another guard but he was on the floor, dagger in neck, still.

Hero snarled as he threw himself at the soldier and repeatedly slammed his dagger onto his chest as the man gasped and wheezed under him.

"That's enough."

Hero stilled and relaxed his shoulders, sitting on the dead guard. He flicked his arm, blood splattering on the floor. He got to his feet and followed Kaleb downstairs. Kaleb motioned for the groups waiting underground to come up as Hero kept watch outside. The group slowly climbed to the guard post and followed Hero and Kaleb to the next guard posts.

Any villager who ran into them smiled and retreated to their homes. Slowly, one by one, they took out the guards in all four guard towers. Different groups were gathered in each towers, and when the signal was given, all of them would start going into the village together.

Hero was leading a group through an alley and he stilled when he heard people speaking in Russian. He gestured for his group to hide behind the crates in the alley as he leaned against the wall and peeked over to look. Three guards were speaking to each other and Hero struggled to listen. They were talking about how they haven't seen their friends return from their shifts in a while.

Hero did not notice himself smirk as he planned out how to take the three of them out. He brought forward two of his friends and told them to both get one guard on his signal. He climbed the crates to get on top of the house and carried one crate with him. He crept to the far side of the house and dropped the crate to the floor. All guards went to investigate and Hero sent the signal to his two waiting friends.

They both ran silently to take down the two guards before dragging them to the alley. Hero leaned over the roof watching the last guard before he jumped. He brought down his sword that struck the man down through the shoulder to stick out from his waist. Hero slammed a hand on the man's mouth to stiffle his heavy breathing.

With his group, Hero took out the guards silently and successfully. The guards were a little rusty, so it seems. They made it to the Guards' Office, and met up with Kaleb and the other groups. Kaleb ran through his plan again on how they would ambush the office and get information out of the Russian in charge of this village. They also must not allow any other soldier to contact the authorities.

Hero and Kaleb were in stationed outside the window to the room of the said Russian. They would extract information from him while the other groups took down the remaining soldiers. Hero slowly slid into the wooden frame of the window, as he had to unlock it from the inside. He was small enough to fit through as he broke the frame out for Kaleb. Behind a wall, their target was on his desk and the two waited before Kaleb gave the signal to the other groups.

After a few minutes, the anticipated alarm broke out and the Russian stood from his desk and tried to make it through the door before Hero tackled him to the ground. Hero sat on his chest with his pistol against the Russian's forehead. The man struggled before he felt the cold metal and froze.

Kaleb towered over him and asked, "Where's your map? We want to know where all the other villages are."

The Russian spluttered out, "¹YA ne govoryu po-angliyski, ser!"

Kaleb raised an eyebrow before nodding to Hero, who spoke, "²Khorosho, nam nuzhna vasha karta. My khotim znat' whete drugiye derevni."

The man's eyes widened before he gulped and muttered in a thick accent, "The bottom drawer on my desk, sir..."

Hero pressed the gun further, "So you do know English, huh?"

Hero just taunted and pressed the gun to the soldier's head as Kaleb rummaged through the cabinets. He pulled out some rolled up parchment before nodding to Hero. The young boy sighed and shut his eyes, before pulling the trigger. He felt something warm splash on his hand and sneered.

He removed himself from the now dead soldier and followed Kaleb out to the hallway. The groups had done their part, all Russian soldiers in the village were dead. Together, now with more confidence, they strode out of the office and made their way to the center of the village. They didn't have to hide anymore, and Kaleb gave orders to bring everyone up to the surface.

They addressed the villagers on more of their plans, and what they can do to keep themselves safe from the revolution. Hero stood loyally by his side on the platform, but his eyes were on the entrance to the square. The groups were slowly making their way up from the guard towers and into the village to settle. He watched as some of his comrades reunited with their families and friends happily, and he smiled. He was waiting for his brother.

He saw a familiar tall figure with absolutely messy dark brown hair and he raised his hand and snapped his fingers to get his attention. Markus looked up and grinned as he ran to get up on the platform to give his brother a hug. He pulled away and Hero caught his slight wince when he saw the dried blood on his arms and clothes.

"They're not mine."

Markus heaved a sigh of relief and brought his older brother close again. Hero was taken by surprise and he was embarrassed as he was lifted off the ground just a little. His toes were hovering above the ground as Markus managed to carry him. He squeezed his brother's shoulder and he released, staring at each other before chuckling lowly to themselves.

Power: 54%

Hero stumbled as he felt his chest ache a little. He shivered, he felt a little different. He raised his head to look at the sky, thoughts running through his head. He heard a strained voice in the distance. It was oddly familiar to him..

I need to fly.

••••???'s Perspective•••

Stretching my limbs, I gave a loud yawn. My eyes open and I snarl at my aching joints. Then I start to look around. I'm in this ridiculously white and bright room. It's almost blinding. I realize I'm on my side on the floor and my back and sides hurt for some reason. I sit up, and the pain on my back and sides disappear. It feels soft now.

I look down on my lap and see myself in long black robes. I reach down to touch my polished boots to stare at the small smooth spikes on the sole. Weird. Something hit me and I realize.

I don't know who I am. I don't know my name. I don't know where I am. I don't even know what I look like.

I get to my feet immediately, almost tripping because of the spikes on my boots. I reach down and fondle with the straps, and found the one that retracted the spikes. I explored the round room. The walls and floor are white and cold. There are shelves everywhere, but not much books. Just thousands of scrolls.

There was a desk in the middle of the room, but I decided to explore that later. For now I focused on the shelves surrounding the desk. The room appears to be circular. The shelves seem to be arranged in alphabetical order.

There was a lone golden shelf much smaller than all of the other ones. I decided to approach that one. The scroll I took from there was tied with a blue ribbon along with a lilac. There was a tag that read 'Noble and Royal House of Persson'. The name gives me some sort of soft happy feeling. Hm.

After looking around, I noticed how the scrolls on the golden shelf had golden parchment, compared to the plain white ones on the other shelves. Each scroll was tied by a ribbon of different colors, and had various kinds of flowers tied to them.

I removed the ribbon carefully and read the contents.

Markus Alexej Persson.

So that's a name. It sounded familiar. I skip a few details and went to a section called 'Life'.

After the death of his mother, his father sees his older brother...

There was a name, but the first two names were rubbed out messily.

------ ------ Persson, as a his wife due to the uncanny resemblance.

There were two pictures, one of a young boy and another of slightly older woman. The woman was smiling kindly, her straight white teeth showing. Her golden brown locks tuck in a bun. She had nice blue eyes that made me smile too. I feel oddly attached to her. The paper was true. The picture of the boy was similar as well. He had a closed-mouth sweet smile. His cheeks were slightly rosy and his eyes were a pretty light blue. He had the exact same shade of golden hair like his mother's, but it was more messy and they hung over his eyes in a messy cut fringe.

Their father started to abuse them both due to his alcohol addiction. The heir to the Noble and Royal House of Dahlberg travels through time to save them. Their father is executed. He rests in rehab in the Nether.

I read through everything until it reached to the last paragraph. It's ink was a little smudged, and when I rubbed at the words experimentally, it smudged even more. It must have been written recently.

Markus gives orders to his brother through a device while his brother kills off the soldiers in the village. The mission was successful and they reunite. His brother started acting weird.

Then it was done. There were still so much space left. I neatly rolled it up again and left it on the golden shelf. I go back to the desk. I see one sole scroll on the desk and reach out to it. It's black, not like the others and it has a tag that says 'Read this'. I started to read.

Hello. If you are reading this it is the time for you to shine. From here on out, you will learn and grow stronger alongside your counterpart. Your counterpart is your number one priority now. Should he ever get weak, you shall take his place.

This room is your personal resting room. If you are not needed out in the Overworld, you rest here and work here. Other than protecting and caring for your counterpart, you have another job as well. This may sound a little puzzling but I will give you a set of instructions. After you have completed the step, the words will change to your next task.

Your task now is to go behind shelf 'N'.

I follow the instructions out of curiosity and go behind shelf 'N'. I reach the wall and look down at the parchment. The white words swirled and a new set of instructions formed.

Locate the silver scroll. There's only one in this entire room.

Looking around, I spot a flash of silver from the corner of my eye. It was high up on the shelf, where I couldn't reach. Grumbling, I hauled myself from each compartment until I reached the scroll. I grabbed it carefully before jumping down below.

There is a dent on the wall. Place the scroll there.

There indeed was an oddly shaped dent in the wall. The scroll fit perfectly in there. Once it fitted, I heard a clicking sound and watched as bricks from the walls came out to form a staircase. When I looked up, I realized that there was a second floor, and I could see the opening.

Go up the steps. You will come across your personal quarters. Explore for a while.

Eagerly, I went up the steps and was greeted with a well-lit bedroom. There was a large bed that I was certain could fit three people. Next to it, was a huge cushion. It had a big fat red pillow and a black blanket. It could fit a horse. On the other side of the bed, was a black bird perch. Weird.

The ceiling was even more higher than the shelf room. The ceiling was dome shaped and it was made of glass. All I could see was a sky and it looked so beautiful. There were randomly placed platforms on the walls. They also had pillows and blankets, from where I could see.

There was a lounge of some sort. It had a few comfy couches, and it surrounded a light blue flame crackling softly. I huddled close to it and grinned at the warmth. I notice two more doors as well. I went into the marble door first.

It was a fucking enormous bathroom. The bathtub was huge and so was the shower. After peering at the bath tub, I notice two buttons right above it. One said 'water' and the other said 'sand'. Confused, I went ahead and looked at the bottles of soap. There was a black bottle with small text that read 'Wing Wash. Stops feathers from aching and soothes sore joints. Anti-shedding and non-irritant for sensitive wings.'

What?

Deciding I was clean enough, I explored the wooden sliding doors. It was connected to a much smaller room that still had a high ceiling.

Why was there so much space?

This would be heaven for a bird...

The room was earthy colored. Nearly everything was wood. There were ten wooden dummies in the corner, five stone ones in the other and two obsidian ones in the last. The walls were sliding doors too but I could see weapons through the translucent covers. After figuring which sliding door was the exit, I made it to the bedroom again. Then the parchment read...

Ah, go back to the training room, my friend. There would be a glowing red light from one of the cupboards. Retrieve the glowing item there.

Shaking my head, I went back inside. Indeed there was a glowing red light from one of them. I slid it open and gasped at the exquisite and rare weapon before me.

It was a scythe. It looked amazing, there were two blades, one longer than the other. On the sharper sides of the blades, there was the cause of the glowing: a red streak. Wrapped around the metal handle connecting the blades together was string. On the end of the string were feathers, large black soft feathers. The handle was also bandaged, probably for a better grip. I held out my hand to take it but instead, it shot right into my grip.

It started to shiver and I read the parchment.

I don't want you to be alone, so I would like for you to meet...

There was a flash before my eyes and the red streak stopped glowing. Behind the scythe was a man. He was much taller than I was and he had a smug smirk on his face. He had blond hair that stood up, and black stubby horns protruded from those silky locks. I then noticed the red streaks in his blond hair, similar to the red streak on the scythe blade.

He was wearing a black robe similar to mine, but the sleeves seemed to have been torn off. He was wearing tight pants and the same boots I had on. Bandages covered his wrists and arms. His nails were sharp and I looked back up at his face. In his smirk, I could see tiny fangs and his eyes were reptile-like. There were a bright glowing yellow with black slits. The same feathers from the scythe were braided onto his hair.

"Nice meeting you, sir. I'm Roderich."

For the first time, I heard my own voice.

"I don't know who I am."

My voice sounded a little angry but calming. It had a steady flow of words. The man spoke.

"It's alright. I know who you are, boss. But you gotta discover that yourself."

He paused.

"I've never seen one of your kind. I didn't know you all looked quite stunning. Especially your extra set of body parts, haha. I guess creatures who serve god are naturally graceful and good-looking."

I caught sarcasm and a mild hatred in that tone of his. I decided not to dwell on it.

"I'll be your fighting partner. I'm a demon and I possess this scythe you have here. We can speak telepathically and we will have a long-lasting bond that is unbreakable. Even after your first death, I would be here, waiting. You're stuck with me for life, boss. If you need me to cast anything or aid you, all you have to do is ask through your mind or mouth while you are holding me."

He leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"Take care of me, boss, and I'll gladly return the favor."

The similar flash happened again and I looked down at the scythe. The red streak was there once again, glowing brightly. It was shivering, almost like it was laughing, and I squeezed it-er, his handle. He stilled and I sighed in relief. I looked down at the parchment.

Roderich will take care of you as you will of him. He's incredibly loyal. Now, I know you didn't see a mirror in the bathroom just now but I just installed one for you. I would want you to take a look at yourself.

Roderich shivered with excitement and I carried him together with me to the bathroom. Said mirror was there and I nearly dropped Roderich due to my surprise and shock.

I was staring at the boy's picture from earlier, only that he was gaping, and was even more messy haired and less feminine. Only that he had one white eye and one black eye.

Only that I had a pair of huge black wings on my back.

I stretched them out and I gasped, watching as they fluttered together with my reaction. The wind blew my hair a little and I turned my head to fully inspect them. This was what Roderich had meant, then. I felt something hitting my thighs and I saw a black lion-like tail in between my legs. It was swishing back and forth furiously and I slowly gained control of it. No wonder why my ass hurt.

I look back at my wings. I reached out to touch them and heard a purr from my throat as I stroked them. They were soft and scratching them felt so good... I heard a familiar voice of a demon.

So it feels good? How about after reading the scroll I can come out and preen you? Does that sound good?

Yes please...

I looked down at the parchment.

Your name is Nabiel. You are part Angel, and your role is to maintain balance in Minecraftia and her people. These people have paths set down for them and if they stray dangerously far, that is strictly forbidden. You are to search them out in Minecraftia and do what you must to make sure they do not interfere with any other lives and destinies.. You have Roderich to help you for that. Your counterpart is young, and his name is Hero, and that is all I can tell you about him for now. Your looks are modeled to look like his twin, but with a few contrasts. You both share a role, to protect the Aether. You share his knowledge as well.

Counterparts have different forms that will be able to assist their partners. Your first form would be a raven.

The perch.

Your next form would be a griffin.

The horse-sized cushion.

Your final form is the one you are in now. You are allowed to take his place and send him to his own personal resting rooms until he has retrieved his power. Or... You can come out of your rooms to join him and fight alongside him. You two would be able to touch, see and communicate to each other face-to-face.

Ah, right, you serve me, Lady Aetheria. The youngest of the holy sisters. You are to be loyal to me at all times.

Now...

What do you wish to do in this new life, Nabiel?

I got out of the bathroom and looked up at the glass dome. The sky still was gorgeous. I felt my wings spreading before me, ready at my sides. Roderich shook in my grip excitedly.

I need to fly.

I pushed with my back feet and thrust into the air, my wingtips brushing against the floor as I soared. I gave a loud screech for some reason. I felt the need to. The air blew against my face as I beat my wings. I was nearing my destination and flapped, sticking legs out to land. I landed on my feet with the spikes automatically on to keep myself still and I slowed down my flapping. I looked down from my platform and saw a heap of black feathers. A familiar red flash later and Roderich appeared beside me. He gently took my wing and spread it on his lap. He started stroking my feathers and I purred, leaning against him.

He chuckled lowly as he removed old fluffy gray feathers.

I could work with this. I have a lot of questions, but I'm guessing I have a lot of time to get them answered.

□

Translations:

1. Russian: I do not speak English, sir!

2. Russian: Alright, we need your map. We want some information.