On board the Negal Cemeste, Celestial Representative Amber and Khaos Representative Minki, with their subordinates Kevin and Minji at their shoulders, peered at the transmitted message floating in the air in front of them.  It had come from Earth within the hour and it bore troubling news.

                High Council Members,

                The concerns of the Council may have merit in regards to the genetic manipulation of the Angel and Demon remains discovered on MRD-176-HP-25 in the year 2006, Earth time.  As you are already aware, while initial testing proved benign, recent tests have yielded successful genetic splicing attempts resulting in the manifestation of physical angel and demon characteristics.  Furthermore, in one of the public demonstrations, the most successful, engineered angel and demon were able to produce and harness enough cosmic energy to use hold and circle of protection.  With the manifestation of those abilities, it is clear that they have crossed the boundaries of being human and would now be classified as verifiable angels and demons.

                Should they be recognized as such individuals, the barbaric and archaic ‘tests’ they are soon to be subjected to would be considered criminal under the Confirmed Sentient Species Act of PY 8572.  Standard protocol would mandate they be retrieved at once.  I will continue to monitor the proceedings here, but it is a matter the Council should deliberate upon.  Another matter to confirm is the status of the remains the Earth beings discovered.  At this stage, the condition of the genetically engineered angel and demon is notably debatable.  Should they begin to exhibit Royal manifestations, action will need to be taken regardless.

L

                “Troubling indeed,” Minki murmured with a slight press of his defined lips and a furrowed brow.

                “I would not have thought them capable of such an accomplishment since they have yet to achieve commercial space travel,” Amber hummed with her arms crossed over her chest and her head tilted.

                The two lead council members looked at each other at the same time and nodded in understanding.  Minki turned to address Minji while Amber looked to Kevin: “Retrieve the Confirmed Sentient Species Act of PY 8572/a copy of the death records for the angel and demon that crash landed on MRD-176-HP25 – PY Unknown.”

                “Of course,” the two bowed slightly in unison before flowing around the central hub to walk side by side as they exited the room, nearly shoulder to shoulder.

                “Should we have an open or closed Council meeting?” Amber mused, glancing at her peer through the holo letter hovering in the air between them.

                “Closed for now.  We need not cause more of a stir with the case of the missing Angel Heir having recently been discovered on the same planet,” Minki explained with a slight shake of his head.  “There will be time enough to have an open council should further action need to be taken.”

                “I agree,” Amber confirmed with a slight nod, pivoting to move with seamless grace around the hub while Minki powered it down and sent the message to confidential storage for later retrieval.  She moved slow enough that he could catch up with her easily before they exited the room, total darkness falling as they left.

                So maybe his plan could have been better thought out again.  Gunwoo sighed and stifled a groan as he paced around the confines of his ship.  He was tired of being stuck in there and he was hungry – he hadn’t eaten in three days.  Nishtival didn’t exactly have a large supply of food to begin with and the replicator had run out of base material to create food with long ago, leaving him to do without.  Water could still be pulled from the air, so that was alright, but with his latest ‘great idea,’ Gunwoo now found himself trapped.

                His ship could no longer become invisible so flying anywhere without being seen was otherwise impossible.  Leaving the island was also not much of an option – in part because he couldn’t hide his presence anymore and because his best chance of speaking with someone with any possible power to help him was likely to be here.  But that had also brought up another problem.  He’d been so focused on just trying to get away from those he knew would be coming, he hadn’t even considered the liaison as a possible threat.  What if Myungsoo was the liaison and he just insisted on helping his potential captors retrieve him?

                Thoroughly frustrated with himself, Gunwoo kicked his chair with his foot.  It hurt more than he thought.  “Ow, ow, ow!” he whined with a grimace, hopping around the space with a pained expression.  Still smarting, he flopped back down in the chair and slapped his face with both hands.  “Why don’t you ever think things through?!” he berated himself, feeling just as trapped now as he had when he was bound by the confines of his station.

                ‘Quit being a spoiled brat, Woo,’ Seyong told him with a frustrated sigh as he rubbed his temples with tense fingers.

                ‘I’m not!’ he retorted, still young enough to be looking up at the angel guard.

                ‘Maybe a little bit,’ Changmin chuckled, ruffling his messy hair with a large hand.

                ‘Stop it!’ he whined, swatting at the offending hand and then stomping his foot.

                ‘See?’ Seyong pointed at him with one brow raised.

                Gunwoo made a face at the Royal guard but then turned to look at Changmin as he started to speak.  ‘Alright.  But focus,’ he encouraged, squatting down to be on an even level with him.  ‘We’re practicing with weapons right now,’ he explained as he grabbed the small hand holding the dummy sword.  ‘But just as much of the battle happens here,’ he explained, tapping Gunwoo’s forehead with a gentle finger.  ‘Think it through.’

                ‘But why do I have to learn this if I’m never going to need to fight?’ he groaned, swinging his other hand in frustration.  ‘The angels and demons aren’t fighting anymore.  Me practicing fighting is stupid.’

                Both guards chuckled at his response and shook their heads.  ‘I wish it was that simple,’ Seyong added as he crossed his arms over his chest before leaning over to make a face back at his charge.

                ‘Ugly,’ Gunwoo muttered, earning a mock-pained, offended gasp from Seyong who reared back as if he’d been struck.

                ‘Highness,’ Changmin chided with a gentle frown.

                ‘He is ugly when he makes that face,’ Gunwoo defended himself with a pouting lip and his head tilted down.

                While Seyong muttered something about ungrateful brats who didn’t know when they had it so good, Changmin clapped him on both shoulders with a determined look.  ‘If you’re not worried about the peace breaking, then think about fighting another angel.  Or protecting another angel,’ he added when it didn’t seem to affect the younger boy.

                ‘But that’s what you guys are for,’ he reminded them with his arms crossed and his nose in the air.  ‘You’re supposed to protect me so I shouldn’t have to do this.’

                ‘Ugh!’ Seyong groaned, loudly slapping himself in the face with one hand.

                Right.  He never really needed to.  Even as he got older, he still had the guards and then his parents – no, his mother – wanted to plan and set up everything for him.  If he wanted something, all he had to do was ask.  If he didn’t want to do something, he could usually refuse, with some exceptions.  Most notably, being the heir to the Emperor and being betrothed to Hyosung, an angel he’d never met and didn’t want to know simply because it was expected of him and he had to.  Hence him running away.

                He thought if he could just ditch his guards and escape, he could get away from being a Royal angel.  So he planned for weeks to get ready to make a run for it, finding a place he could hide while ‘studying’ universal cartography and its habitable planets, and making adjustments to his ship little by little.  There was no point in escaping to some place he couldn’t live or simply trying to exist by himself in space: that was boring.  The harder part had been slipping out from under the noses of his guards.  In retrospect, he had been cruel in that.  Taking them on a practice run in space to a relatively close planet that was as yet uninhabited but had a breathable atmosphere and then abandoning them there.

                That part had been planned out well though.  He went on an invisible training run with Seyong while Changmin watched the ships to separate the two.  He had felt guilty for drugging Seyong to knock him out after calling Changmin to draw him away from the ships.  He’d even passed Changmin in the air while he was invisible as he flew back to jam the communication gear and disable their ships enough to give him time to escape.  They would be fine though and it was almost a relief to finally be away from them – from Seyong’s biting tongue and Changmin’s eyes...  When no one reported in for a few hours, a party would be sent to check on them and Gunwoo would be long gone, his tracking beacon destroyed, invisibility on, and systems running quiet.

                  It had worked out better than he could have hoped and he’d reveled in his freedom, but on his way to Earth, he realized that no matter how far he ran, he was still the Angel Emperor’s Heir.  So he cut off his beautiful wings and jettisoned them into space, thinking it would free him of that unwanted responsibility.  Wingless, he’d forgotten he would lose his Royal abilities over time, just like his standard ones got weaker in turn.  But it was okay.  It would have to be, because it meant that he could be free and just live his life the way he wanted.

                But he hadn’t thought about everything he’d left behind.  He had little trouble fumbling his way through Earth but he lost all the luxuries he had; no one respected him – or at least treated him like they did; and he didn’t know anybody, least of all anyone who cared about him.  There was no one to just be there anymore, always watching his back and making sure he was never alone, willingly or otherwise.  That loss hurt more than he thought it would.  And getting used to the time difference was frustrating (a standard Earth day was more than two times shorter than he was accustomed to). No to mention the food was strange at first, and the people were chaotic and confusing.  Even before he got there, he had no idea what his plan was going to be.

                And it took time but in six Earth years, he was just starting to get used to it; living with people and actually working for something.  But then Insoo showed up.  Honestly, Gunwoo should have known that even without his titles, he was still the son of Yunho and Boa.  As his parents, there was little chance they would ever stop looking for him.

                “You’re a fool and an ,” he berated himself again, exhaling deeply.  “And now you’ve gotta figure this out or everything will have been for nothing!”  Anger made him clench his fist and regret had him squeezing his eyes shut as he reached for his missing wings with his other hand.  Practically curled up in the chair, he barely heard the subtle beeping sound coming from his otherwise silent ship.  Nishtival hadn’t been completely powered down, but to conserve energy, the majority of the systems were off.  Life support and minimal scanning had been maintained so he could catch any transmissions that might be coming in or out of the research base.  Ironically, it wasn’t a message that he was picking up on.

                Carefully untangling himself from the chair, Gunwoo stood up and approached the faint map being projected on the screen, squinting at what he was seeing.  “Star shards!” he gasped with wide eyes when he realized he was watching a ship heading towards Earth.  “It’s early!” he yelped in offended outrage as panic set in with his time running out.  “!” Gunwoo added the Earth curse when the signal disappeared entirely.  That was intentional.  They were approaching Earth’s orbit and didn’t want to be seen by the humans.  If he remembered correctly, they would station themselves near an orbiting satellite structure to better hide their presence and then send a smaller ship to search for him to minimize the chances of being discovered.

                Reflexively, he powered down the ship entirely, hoping to further eliminate his ability to be traced.  This close to the research center where the genetically engineered angel and demon were – he was almost certain of it based on the results of his divination – his personal signature shouldn’t appear as well.  And he could only hope they would think it foolish of him to be so close to them as well: it was against their laws to allow other sentient but non-space faring creatures to know what he was.  He had kept that secret so far, and he hoped it would continue to keep them off his trail for just a bit longer.

                Closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, Gunwoo pressed his hands together with his index fingers resting against his lips.  “Think,” he whispered.  “Like Changmin taught you.  Think it through,” he murmured, sinking to his knees on the floor as he slipped into a more focused divination.

                Round, blue and green, about the size of a balled up fist from their distance, Victoria stared at Earth as they approached the slowly spinning planet from afar.  She could see the shadow of the moon covering part of the surface already and she took a quick look at her scanners to see where the best point of entry would be for immediate departure.

                “There’s so much water,” Jongdae murmured in mild surprise as he watched from one of the two seats behind the pilot chair.

                “Almost three quarters of this world is covered in it,” she nodded in confirmation without taking her eyes off the front.

                “But it’s not like they can drink it,” Jaeseop shrugged, his catlike mouth quirked to the side while his almond eyes narrowed.  Short, dark hair helped give him a severe appearance, though usually he only played the aloof angel.

                “It should make finding Prince Gunwoo easier though, if there’s only that much land to look over,” Jongdae added helpfully, his sharp jawline easy to see in profile when he looked at Jaeseop.

                “It’s not like it should be hard in the first place,” the other man laughed, raising one hand and ducking his head at the obviousness of that.

                “Actually,” Victoria hummed as she gently adjusted the controls, slowing down while they angled closer to one of the orbiting satellites floating around the planet.  “Royal Insoo mentioned it had been quite difficult to locate the Heir.  If I’m not mistaken, he found him almost by chance,” she explained with a thoughtful frown, clearly bothered by it.

                “That’s right!  Byunghyun mentioned that as well when he came to speak to us about retrieving Gunwoo,” Jongdae nodded, easing his seat from the stationary position it had been locked in to approach the side control panel where he could start assisting with the mission.

                “Feh,” Jaeseop waved dismissively, though he followed Jongdae’s example and took the left side of the panel so he could assist in turn.  “All we have to do is lock onto his cosmic energy signature and we’ll find him.”  After a moment of searching, while Victoria guided them skillfully into place next to an inactive drone with the name JASON-1 stenciled on the side, Jaeseop scoffed.  “See?” he pointed out as he zoned in on a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean with a large cosmic energy signature.

                Victoria looked at him questioningly before she turned to Jongdae to confirm.  Almost immediately, the shorter angel shook his head and brought the location up on screen.  “It can’t be him,” he explained, much to Jaeseop’s annoyance.  “There are two cosmic energy signatures there.  One is an angel and the other… a demon,” he confirmed after a bit of squinting.  “And neither is at the level of a Royal.”

                “Weren’t you listening when Yongguk holo’d that info in to Byunghyun before we left?” Victoria inquired with a glance at Jaeseop who seemed let down by his lack of discovery.  “What about those smaller signatures around them?” he pointed, waving one hand towards the screen.

                Both other angels shook their heads.  “They’re barely even registering.”

                “And he knows we’re coming,” Victoria reminded them as she finished adjusting the ship and then started nibbling on her thumbnail.  “So he’ll be trying to hide his presence.”  Her brown eyes narrowed under the sweep of her loosely pulled back bangs and she pointed at other ‘glowing’ zones on the screen.  “We should focus on identifying and narrowing down these residual saturation spots.  He might be hidden but we know any place he’s stayed for any length of time may harbor traces of him we can follow.”

                “Already on it!” Jongdae waved with his attention focused back on his side of the ship.

                “I’m gonna take the skimmer and start investigating in person,” Victoria announced, unbuckling herself from the seat so she could stand up and shake out her wings.  Feathers ruffled and settled back into place when she gave them a partial stretch to relieve the tension from sitting so long.

                “One of us should go with you,” Jaeseop stated, standing up preemptively, making it very clear who he thought should be going.

                But Victoria shook her head and placed a hand on his shoulder.  “You can’t use invisibility if you need to look around on foot.  Help Jongdae here.  If you find a better lead, signal me on the surface.  When it’s time to move, I’ll call you down to retrieve us.  If there’s trouble, which there shouldn’t be, I’ll be counting on you guys to be my backup,” she winked, giving Jaeseop’s shoulder a squeeze before smiling in Jongdae’s direction.

                The still seated angel nodded in quiet confirmation while Jaeseop frowned crookedly.  He did sit down shortly though, sliding back into place at the counter to begrudgingly help search.  Satisfied, Victoria turned and ducked through the low portal at the back of the cockpit, her mahogany braid hanging between her wings in stark contrast.  Opening the floor hatch in the bottom, she carefully clambered down the ladder, shut the top portal behind her, and keyed in the access code for the two person skimmer.  The top hatch slid open, allowing Victoria to slip into the cockpit with ease and she smiled when surrounded by the familiar space of the smaller ship.

                Strapping in and putting on her headset, she let her fingers fly over the control panel to power it up while connecting to the main ship for constant communication.  “Systems are clear.  Getting ready to depart,” she announced, keying in the release for the belly of the ship so she could drop free.

                “Invisibility holding.  Systems are a go,” Jongdae informed her after a brief pause.  “Good luck!” he encouraged with a smile obvious in his voice.

                “Thanks,” Victoria nodded in return, punching the release button so she could detach and drop weightlessly into the orbit of Earth in her smaller ship.  Taking the control stick in her right hand, she used her left to fine tune navigation directions before nudging the skimmer towards her destination.  The slight of boosters bumped her into Earth’s gravitational pull and she invoked a circle of protection to help eliminate the friction against the atmosphere, reducing her heat signature in the air.  The aerodynamic design, similar to an upside down, folded angel’s wing, helped reduce the wind resistance, making her entry even easier.  She smiled at the faint vibration in the control stick as the skimmer passed through the atmosphere, slipping through visible accumulations of moisture in the upper and middle hemispheres with ease.

                “Approaching lower hemisphere and eye visibility,” she announced, dropping through the final layer of misty moisture to reveal a resplendent expanse of sparkling blue water.  Her eyes widened at the gently rolling body, noticing a single floating ship dotting the surface.  “It’s beautiful,” she murmured appreciatively, making sure to stay high enough that she wouldn’t disturb the water at her passing.

                “It’s definitely nothing like Mikhaelis,” Jaeseop whistled, surprised by the view of the live feed from Victoria’s ship.

                “You’re right about that,” Jongdae agreed in a hushed voice, his attention obviously distracted.

                “So where am I going first?” Victoria interrupted them, adjusting the headband to flip the small lens screen down so she could use divination but still see normally in her filter covered eye.

                “We’ll send you the coordinates now,” Jaeseop announced, followed by a confirmation beeping on her end to indicate the successful reception of the signal.

                “Got it!” she announced, shifting them to her navigational board so the destination would appear for her.  With a nod to herself, she tilted the skimmer and shot through the sky for the nearest landmass and city she was going to investigate personally.

                The first couple locations only gave her minimal saturation readings, indicating they were probably old or being subdued.  Cloaked in the safety of her skimmer’s invisibility, she cruised around the area looking for any visible signs, but ultimately found nothing, much to her frustration.  Pausing in a quieter area near the latter end of the day, she tapped in with divination to confirm she wasn’t missing something, and then frowned further when all signs indicated he had cleared out of there some time ago.  Even more frustrating, her reading attempts to find a location for him while on the surface were completely unhelpful.

                With a sigh, Victoria signaled in, “Are either of you able to get a better divination from above?  I can’t get a single straight direction down here.  All the possibilities are… tangled.  It’s almost as if there’s some sort of interference or something,” she grumbled, scratching her head.

                After a long pause, Jongdae responded, “The only thing I can see is that he’s on the surface somewhere.  That’s about it.”

                “Same,” Jaeseop added in irritation.  “You’d think with him being the Heir, he’d be impossible to miss.”

                “Indeed,” Victoria hummed, lightly clasping her chin between her thumb and forefinger.  “What are the next coordinates?” she asked after a moment, waiting for confirmation before she opted to move out again.

                The angels on the other end hummed thoughtfully and then grunted in confirmation.  “Incoming,” Jongdae announced with the coms falling silent after the package was sent.

                Victoria’s holo-map lit up and showed a beacon on the surface, indicating where she could next find the source of cosmic saturation residue.  “Why didn’t they start with that one?” she muttered under her breath when it showed stronger readings than the previous one.  Shaking her head at their selection choice, she made sure her invisibility was still on and headed out.  Restricted to subsonic speeds for the sake of stealth, she wouldn’t get to her destination until after dark, but Earth became another world when their sun set.  Not nearly as bright as Mikhaelis, it was still a beautiful backdrop with the dim glow of cities in the distance and then nothing but the moon and stars when she hit the open water again.

                In the dim light of the crescent lunar orb, Victoria approached a decent sized city with large buildings of several stories near the center and a shorter, sprawling business and residential area that circled around it.  There were two particularly strong spots of saturation here and she smiled.  “I think there might be something here,” the Royal angel confirmed in a whisper.

                “Really?” Jongdae smiled in response, obviously excited.

                “I’m going to get out and look around on foot,” she explained, her lips as she searched for a place to leave the ship where she wouldn’t have to worry about it being somehow discovered.

                “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Jaeseop wondered with a touch of concern.

                “The streets are pretty quiet and it looks like the Earth creatures are mostly indoors at this time of day,” she explained, deciding to leave it hovering in the air where at least no one would walk into it.  She’d be able to find it again regardless, even when invisible, so it was no big concern of hers otherwise.

                “Speaking of which, they have a surprisingly short day,” Jongdae hummed, obviously doing quick calculations based on what they’d observed so far.  “It’s not even ten pulsar hours,” he scoffed.

                “How do they get anything done with so little time?” Jaeseop questioned in bafflement.

                “I suppose they’re used to it,” Victoria shrugged, powering down all but the standby systems so her energy signature would be nonexistent.  “Alright boys.  I’m stepping out.  Maintain silence until I return, but keep looking for signs of the Heir.”

                “Understood,” the two responded with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

                With that, Victoria invoked her own invisibility before stepping out of the ship and quietly flapping down to the streets of the city.  She folded her wings with care and peered at the small number of people wandering around.  It was vastly different than during the day, and their subdued voices carried to her in much quieter tones.  Victoria had to activate the microunitranscoordinator to actually understand them, and read the signs around her, but none of it really gave her any clues.  Though she did get a pretty significant feeling when she focused on a place called The Mystic’s Oasis.

                Lights were on inside and it seemed like there was someone there.  But the tinted windows made it hard to see, even with her vision.  Movement within made the angel pause and she watched to see someone heading for what had to be a door.  The glass structure swung open (how archaic) and a chime of some kind went off as the female stepped out with a small bag in her hands.  An alarm?  Victoria was confused because the sound didn’t call any help to come.  It simply went quiet when the other person left.  Maybe it was like the Seneschal at large important gatherings, notifying the human when someone left.

                Curious and confident it wouldn’t notice her, invisible as she was, Victoria carefully pulled at the door while the woman inside was distracted and not facing her.  But as soon as she’d opened it a handswidth, the alarm went off again.  Stifling a surprised gasp, Victoria let go and jumped out of the way, looking around warily and ready to fight.  How did it know she was there!?

                “Welcome to- huh?” the female inside started to say before she blinked at the front of the store in confusion.  “That’s strange,” Victoria heard her continue before moving towards the door with a curious frown on her face.  “It’s never gone off randomly before,” the female murmured, inspecting the door closely before pushing out until the alarm chimed once more.  Perplexed, Victoria looked for what was setting it off as the person inside hummed, “How odd.”

                Why would the alarm go off for the person that had to have set it?  Victoria didn’t understand.  Nor did she trust it.  Thinking for a moment, she simply observed the situation.  The person inside returned to the counter before too long, apparently writing something down or keying information into the ancient computing system.  They really were behind the times…  Despite that, the female worked quickly until she seemed finished.  And then she got distracted by a door that was covered in some kind of dark cloth.  She leaned on the countertop with her chin in her palm and a thoughtfully sad look on her face.  At least Victoria figured that was what she was feeling.  It didn’t look happy.

                She didn’t trust the tricky doorway so she wasn’t inclined to go inside, but after a moment, she tried to divine what she could.  Immediately, her senses tingled and her dark eyes went wide as she saw the familiar glow of cosmic energy saturation residue.  An angel had been here recently.  And at least for a little while too, judging by the strength of what she was reading.  The Heir?  It had to be!  There were no other angels on this planet.  Not ones that weren’t already being heavily monitored by the Earth creatures already.  But what would he be doing at a place like this?

                Victoria took a few moments to pace around the outside, investigating if there was another way in.  There was a door at the back but she didn’t find it until she flew over the building to the alley behind it.  A hint of nervousness ran down her back as the shadows beckoned, but she still had enough light to see every corner.  It didn’t chase away her unease; Mikhaelis had no deep shadows anymore.  The angels wouldn’t allow it.  But it was silly to be afraid of them here so she shook the feeling off and became alert immediately when the door at the back opened.  Without an alarm sound this time!

                Sneaking closer, Victoria watched the female from inside take a dark, plastic bag out with her, leaving the door wide open.  The woman was going for what looked like some sort of waste receptacle and Victoria knew she wouldn’t get a better chance.  Taking her opening, she dashed inside the Mystic’s Oasis, determined to get a better look at the saturation residue left behind.  And whatever else might give her an idea as to where the Heir was now.

                Sandara froze in the alleyway as she thought she heard the whisper of rushing feet nearby.  Trash bag in hand, she peered around suspiciously, ready to drop it and run if she needed to.  Why wasn’t there a bright, overhead light in the back?!  Seriously…  Still staring at her surroundings suspiciously, she scooted towards the trash, dropped the bag in the bin, turned around and walked quickly back inside, shutting the door behind her as she went.

(a/n: So in case you're confused by time, when a human is speaking, they're generally referring to our standard measures of time so no adjustments need be made, but when an angel or demon or Discoverer is speaking, they're referring to the more universal standard Pulsar time which is based more off a times 10 approach: 100 seconds in a minute, 100 minutes in an hour, etc.  The comparison between days is such that there are 2.56 Earth days for every 1 Pulsar day.  As such, angels and demons and the passage of time for them is significantly longer when compared to that of humans, as Gunwoo mentioned recently in one of the previous chapters.

I hope that helps and that you're still enjoying the story!  Thanks for reading and have a great day!  ^_^)