Okay, a new one again. Yay. Even though I seriously need to update on others... But as far as this one goes, I hope you guys like it; this one is sort of a test to see if it's good enough to get hits and reviews, meaning that if I don't get many, I'll probably delete it. I don't think you need to know a whole lot... For the most part, it's accurate as far as places go, but not necessarily historically accurate. Remember that, please.

Pronunciation guide:

Gabrial- (GABE-ree-ahl)
Jezzamine- (JEZ-uh-meen)
Ausaire- (ah-SY-er)
Hikaru- (hee-KAH-roo)

This was what I lived for: the dance, the fight, the pure joy of acting for what I believed in. Well, okay, maybe I didn’t exactly love the training I had to go through, but who did? The current situation wasn’t exactly good…

I was being beaten in a swordfight by a man with one arm. He was my friend, but even so, this was more than a little embarrassing, even if I was getting better at my lousy swordsmanship. The friend, Angel Jezzamine, was damn near flawless.

He knocked my ass straight onto the ground and held me at death’s point, chuckling lightly. “You’re getting better, Gabe, honest.” I took his offered hand before brushing my clothes off.

“Sure, sure,” I agreed uncaringly. At this rate, there was absolutely no way that I’d be accepted into Lieutenant General Ausaire’s platoons. He was, after all, one of the most well-known – if not the best known – and respected general there was, despite young years. Of course, his high standards made it extremely hard to get in, even if you wanted it the most out of everyone. Yeah, the future was looking a bit bleak, but hey, I had to try, right?

Angel laughed quietly as we began walking, ready to take a break. It was noon, and I hadn’t won a match all morning; we’d been practicing since five.

“Stop laughing,” I said sourly without looking him. The sound of his amusement disappeared, but a glance in his direction showed that his shoulders were still shaking with it, not to mention the grin on his face. “There’s nothing to laugh at!” I insisted.

“Yes, there is. You’re so obsessed with being able to work with Ausaire that you don’t even realize when you’re getting better. Do you realize how many spots you’ve put me in where I thought I wouldn’t be able to get out today?”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t mean a thing unless it’ll get me to where I need to be, and if you, a one-armed man, can still beat me, then I’ve got a ways to go.” Yes, I was pulling a low blow, but it was all in good fun. I teased him about it all the time, and this time didn’t fail.

“I may have one arm, but you’re right, I have beaten you many times over.” A slight scowl crossed his face. “And I’ll have you know that I’ve been able to beat many people before, even without it. One sword – big deal. Most people fight with one sword. And the loss of my arm just means that’s one less limb to protect.” I rolled my eyes this time, shaking my head.

“Yeah, it also means less of a defense and the sort. Not to mention it’ll throw you off-balance sometimes.”

“Except that I’m used to it.”

“Sure, except that you’re used to it,” I sighed in defeat. I couldn’t argue; he really was excellent. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel envious at that fact that he could usually beat me so easily. Actually, most people could easily beat me. That might have to do with the fact that I usually challenged the ones who were stronger than me, but that’s the only way that I could get better, right? And this is exactly where Angel came in.

I’ve known Angel for eighteen years – most of my life – and for a while, I got along with his brother, Hikaru, too. Of course, that was before Hikaru left, when Angel and I were…eight, or something. After he left, Angel was devastated, considering Hikaru was the perfect older brother figure to him. We have no idea where he went, but after that Angel and I really stuck together. I mean, really, we did everything together, from chasing ducks when we were young (oh, come on, every kid does that) to fighting back-to-back when we got a bad spot. In every way but blood he was my brother, the only family I had. As far as I was concerned, I had all the family I needed standing right in front of me. Talking to me. Oops.

I grinned sheepishly at his raised eyebrows, rubbing the back of my head. “Sorry, I kind of…uh, spaced out there, I guess.” At first, I thought he was going to hit me, and recoiled at once, but he just burst out laughing. At me. Again. I scowled angrily at him, all apologies forgotten.

“You have no idea what I’ve said in the past three minutes, do you?” he asked between laughs, turning to walk again.

“No,” I said indignantly, “but I doubt anything was of importance; it usually isn’t.” That got him to stop laughing outright, but his shoulders still shook with silent chortling. Fine with me.

After our brief banter, we fell into a comfortable silence as we both delved into our thoughts. At least, I assumed he was doing the same and not just walking and staring into space with no recognizable thought bouncing along in an empty head. Sorry, Angel… That was mean.

Either way, the lack of conversation wasn’t thick or unwelcomed, and I found myself slowly sinking back into my own frame of mind, random memories fighting for dominance, wishes for the future popping out of nowhere. The one that appeared most frequently was my wish to fight under Lt. General Ausaire. To me, that was the highest point that I could reach in my lifetime.

Perhaps this would be a good time to explain a little bit more.

Like any other part in the world, there are two general types of people here, one that’s considered ‘good’ and the other that’s considered ‘bad.’ Each side thinks the other is the bad one, but the side that I’m for is seen as the ‘dark’ side to those that are for the ‘light.’ Pretty stupid, if you ask me, but that’s because I don’t find a great distinction between light and dark. After all, our beliefs are similar, save for some religious and racial differences, and though this side is more…merciless in some situations, it’s not like we’re evil or anything. Well, most of us, anyway.

I’m getting off-track.

The biggest thing that discerns us is that demons are trying to become the highest authority and some of us believe that that’s perfectly fine. Some don’t. Angel and I are among those that don’t mind. We both believe in what the demons are doing and we fully support it. It’s not like the lives would be worse; on the contrary, they’d be better. More order, for one. Right now, things were chaotic in the world, but that’s nothing I’ll get into yet.

The other groups were strongly against this whole idea, and had become to be known as the Rebellion, aptly named. They were rebelling against things that could do such good things simply because they didn’t agree. Well, that’s how all wars get started, isn’t it?