In the beginning, the Lord our God created the universe. He shaped the land and air, the water and the ground. The rolling hills, and the billowing clouds. Before he created the race of Man, the Angels came into being. Some were guardians. Some were poets. Others were singers and artists. However, others created the army of Heaven: Angels of Battle. These warriors were lead by two angels: Michael the archangel, and the Seraphim who had named herself Kibou, which meant hope.

When the Cherubim Lucifer tempted Adam and Eve, he and his followers, a third of the angels, were denounced from Heaven, and thrown into the underworld by God and the Son, creating the first of the Demons. Angered by his dethronement, Lucifer sworn revenge, saying that he would someday return to Heaven to defeat God and destroy the Earth. So begins the story that spans from the beginning of time, to that of a young woman, who is to be deeply affected by both races of immortal beings.

Prologue. . .

The soft, lilting music that could be normally heard was missing from the sky as the clouds drifted by. Instead, a low rumbling, like that of thunder rolling across the hills, ripped through the air. The clouds tore apart and drifted away now, as the two warriors clashed in mid-air, blood and feathers flying through the air. Black and silver-white disengaged as the fighters backed away to hungrily gulp in oxygen.

The black-winged fighter panted harshly as he wiped dark blood from an X-shaped wound on his left cheek. The liquid dripped from his claws onto the clouds, and on his tattered green tunic. His blue eyes, which were slitted like a cats and surrounded by red instead of white, narrowed in anger as he raised the broken sword in his hands. Fangs flashed in the air as he yelled, "Your time has come! Prepare to DIE Seraph!"

The Seraph in question glared at the demon through moon-pale eyes behind a set of wings. A pale hand held a wound on her stomach together, silvery-red blood oozing past her fingers. The precious fluid dripped on to the wings that covered her feet, staining them red. One of these wings hung limply, broken near the joint of her back. Her third pair beat the air, flicking drops of the Demon's dark blood from the razor sharp tips. Her eyes desperately searched for an escape, until she got a reckless plan. Grinning slightly to herself, she whispered, "I thinkith not, demon." Before the evil demon could hear her, she twisted into a swan dive, folding her wings back behind her.

"NO!" Screaming, the demon dove after her, trying to catch her. Because of his lighter, more streamline form, he managed to gain on the angel, and stretched to grab her by the broken wing. Sensing him, the Seraph turned back to see him, and swiftly kicked him in the jaw. Dazed, he instinctively spread his wings to slow his descent, allowing the angel time to use her magic to transport herself away from Heaven. As the stars cleared from his vision, the youkai cursed fluently, enraged that his prey had gotten away.

Rematerializing, the angel panted tiredly as she allowed herself to drift down into a large, solid oak, trying to regain her bearings. Looking around, she absently chanted as she wrapped an invisibility spell around her tattered body, watching the humans who wandered about below her. Signs on the sides of the dark-road of tar bore strange messages; 'One Way Street,' 'Beach: 30 Blocks,' 'Boardwalk, 20 Feet.' 'Richmond: 200 miles.' Once safely invisible, the woman wrapped her wings around behind her, gritting her teeth at the pain in her broken wing. Her face and body uncovered, the twin cross symbols, one on her brow and the other on her heart, glowed faintly as she struggled to keep her body from disintegrating. Whispering a second spell, she peered at the humans below, searching for a woman who carried new life within her.

To her dismay, most of the humans were male, and the few women she did see were barren. Desperate, knowing she had little time before her wounds overtook her, she stood to move to a different tree, when a different woman appeared. Looking at this one, she all but cried in relief, for there in her womb was the tiny form of a new life, only a few days old at the most.

Knowing she did not have too much time, she relaxed as she chanted one final spell. Wisps of misty magic twirled around her, growing in size and strength as it disintegrated the areas of the woman's body that it touched. Seconds before the spell took its final step, she whispered, "May I always work for the Glory of God." Then Kibou, the female leader of the angelic army, was no more, and all that was left was a pulsating ball of light. For a few moments, the orb hung in the air, until it streaked after the human woman to sink into her womb, infusing its essence with the tiny baby.

Youkai no Kibou

(Welcome to my first story. To any Christians out there, I know that I'm taking a few liberties with the Bible, but I promise, nothing majorly changes. I'm staying as canon as possible, just adding new characters. Hopefully, I should have the first chapter out in a day or so.)