[Iczer] Guardian Angel (ch.3) [Repost]

GUARDIAN ANGEL An Iczer Fanfic by Andrew Dynon
(jdynon@iaccess.com.au) The Iczer series and all characters
therein (c) Toshihiro Hirano This story and all new sharacters
(c) Andrew Dynon Any and all comments welcomed - Positive or
negative! Upon request, I will eMail previous chapters.
CHAPTER THREE
Atros materialised within Ylara's hall, or the hall materialised
around her - physical laws of space did not exist within the
Heaven Realms, so there was no difference.  The hall was made of
pure white stone, with a translucent quality that allowed light
to shine in from every angle.  On either side of Atros, a column
of five warriors stood at attention, dressed in yellow bodysuits,
the beam swords in their outstretched arms pointing vertically. 
Atros dropped to one knee and held her beam sword so that it
angled across from her right hip to her left shoulder.
     "Lady Yrala, I have come."
     Atros had known of Ylara even before she died - she was a
part the Cthuwulf religeon, where she was also called "the
Protector", and was one of that religeon's most revered angels -
or, as the Cthuwulf had called beings of the light for thousands
of years, Iczers.  Atros, as (albeit indirectly) a Cthuwulf
creation, had knowledge of this religeon stored in her memory. 
However, Atros had not seen her face-to-face until she entered
the Heaven realms, and she still gazed with a sense of wonder at
having The Protector standing to face her.  Ylara appeared as a
woman in what for a human would be her early twenties, with
golden eyes, pointed ears, and with the light reflecting off
metallic-blue hair reaching down to her waist.  She was clothed
in an outfit similar to the bodysuit Atros had seen was worn by
Iczer-One, but with the armor plates white.  Her outstretched
wings were tinted gold, and a white metal tiara was on her brow,
with a gemlike substance shaped into a red triangle in the center
of her forehead.
     "Atros.  You may stand." Ylara began.  "I trust Kejid is
training you well?" she smiled, already knowing the answer.  "I
have a mission for you, one that relates to your period in the
physical universe."
     Atros let out a gasp of excitement.  Her training was one
thing, but any chance to enter an actual battle thrilled her even
more.  Being relatively new to the Heaven Realms, she had only
entered battle a few times, against very weak opponents, but she
was more than willing to enter a more challenging battle.  And to
deal with something that was an immediate threat to the physical
universe would be even more exciting.
     Ylara continued.  "Our sentries have detected a conduit
being created between the Dark Realms and the Astral Plane.  The
psychic signature disappeared soon after the conduit was made -
there's some sort of masking effect cast over it - but they sent
what they saw to me."
     As the images entered Atros' mind, her anger flared.  
     "No," she said.  "I am not allowing you to return."
*    *    *    *    *  
     Iczer-2 flew through space, its endless void mirroring the
one within her.  Her loss to her older sister had, in turn caused
a spiritual loss wothin herself.  She had no idea how to
continue, only questions.  Where should she go from where she
was?  What should she do now that she had failed to do what she
should have done?  Her loss was the end of her previous path, and
she had yet to find a new one.  "What next?" she said to herself.
"How do I continue?"
     "You do not continue, Iczer-2!"  A voice echoed in her mind.
"Your existence ends now!"  In her mind's eye, Iczer-2 saw an
amorphous, golden mass.  As it grew larger, its shape became
better and better defined, finally moulding iteslf into an all
too familiar form.
     "Neos..."  Iczer-2 adjusted herself for psychic combat.  In
her Astral body, she activated her beam sword and slashed at
Neos.
      The blade failed to penetrate.  Neos laughed
     "Iczer-2, you know you cannot defeat me.  Your spirit, your
commitment to your goals, has become by far the weakest among the
Iczers." 
     Neos' words were undeniably true, Iczer-2 realised.  Her
spirit was far weaker than that of her sisters.  But even so, she
was not going to simply surrender.  She resisted in vain as Neos
attacked her, tearing her very soul into pieces.  With each
passing moment, her agony grew.  And then, she knew no more.
*    *    *    *    *
     As Atros flew along the conduit - a tunnel of golden light
that had been created between the Heaven Realms and the Astral
Plane, she focused on the psychic cries she had heard.  As soon
as they had discovered Neos' location, Ylara's sentries had
reported it, and Atros had used that information to create the
conduit.  Unlike travel within her native Heaven Realms, this
took time - time that  Atros feared may be too long.
     The psychic cries ceased, prompting Atros to draw her power
to increase her speed along the conduit beyond its normal limit .
Within a few seconds, the tunnel she was rushing through ended,
opening into the empty space of the Astral Plane.
     At first, the only things on the Astral Plane that Atros
could detect were herself, the disc of radiant color that was the
view from within the Astral plane of the conduit she had used,
and a thin ropelike stretch of a golden mettalic substance that
ran from the back of her head into the conduit.  This was vital
here - it was her link to the Heaven Realms, and without it, she
would be unable to draw power.  As she scanned the area, she
began to notice other presences - no, only the remnants of
presences.  As she approached them, her fears were confirmed. 
Neos had already managed to destroy Iczer-2's soul.
     Atros paused and thought.  She was certain, now, that Neos'
other primary targets would be those who caused her destruction. 
Which one would she attack next?  If it was Iczer-1 or Iczer-3,
she had confidence that they would be strong enough to be able to
fight Neos off long enough for her to be able to arrive and
rescue them, but what if...
     What if Neos Gold's next target was Nagisa?
END OF CHAPTER THREE
Whew.  This was a hard slog, and chapter four looks like being
equally difficult.  I always seem to find the middle of a story
the hardest part to write.  Anyway,  I'll have to hang in there,
because the big bang's gonna come in chapters 5 and 6!
In other fanfic news, I have started writing that DBZ/Star Wars
fusion I mentioned, and I'm getting the plots worked out for
BGC/Batman (tentative title: A Bat in the Bubblegum) and for
Dragon Ball: Exodus.  See you next time!