It was a dark day in Gen's world.
He roared down the freeway on his Kawasaki Ninja, the wing blowing back his black-and-silver hair wildly. He leaned to the left to avoid a slow-moving freighter, and had to resist the urge to blast the driver into oblivion when he gave Gen the finger. He scoffed and sped on, to where even he was unaware of. His orders were simple: make it to New York City - alive.
He couldn't tell if the last bit had been a joke or not, so he decided not to press his luck by asking. He'd been preparing to leave when there was a knock on his door. Not expecting company, he opened the door with mystified curiosity, and was surprised to see an old, familiar face waiting for him on his doorstep, holding a sword wrapped from tip to hilt in loose oilcloth. René, the local weaponsmith, handed it to him mutely, but he managed to get the blade's name out of her as she turned to go. "Midnight Star," she said quietly. "And you're not to open it until you arrive," she said as she departed. Midnight Star? What kind of a name was that for a sword? He didn't know, and he didn't much care, either - but it had been so long since he'd held one...
He'd been so deeply distracted that he barely noticed the nightmare creature flying straight toward him.
He swerved hard to the right, sliding under a pair of black, gleaming talons and receiving a scratch as one grazed the underside of his chin, specks of blood flying past his field of vision as he hit the pavement - hard. He skidded for a few yards before coming to a complete stop, dazed and in pain. He shook his head, trying to clear it before whatever had come after him made another swooping dive. His mind cleared long enough to register that he was in immediate danger, and he rolled out of the way of a dive-bombing attack from the monster, barely dodging the thing's claws as they pulverized the blacktop where his head had been a moment ago.
"Crap, this thing is serious," he hissed under his breath as he had to roll out of the way of another attack. He reached out and pulled Midnight Star from thin air, as if had been waiting for him to call on it. He smirked. "You're in trouble now, beasty. I--" he suddenly remembered René's instructions about Midnight Star. He cursed his luck. He vaulted to his feet as the mass of mangey black feathers and gnarled talons lunged at him again, a beak snapping closed around the thin air that had been his throat only a split second earlier. Now he understood the council's instructions - it would be no easy feat to get past something this vicious without a weapon. He looked around for something - anything - he could use to defend himself.
And that was when he noticed the city limit sign.
He sneered in defiance as the beast squawked at him, an angry chicken from hell in comparison to the horrors he'd faced. "All right -
now you can panic, bird brain," he taunted, sprinting for the city limits with chicken-face hot on his heels, snapping and squawking as it tried to drag him away from his only chance of survivial.
Twenty feet away. His heart raced as he sprinted for the line that was his salvation.
Fifteen feet away. Chicken-face squawked, made a grab for his right foot.
Ten feet away. He could feel Midnight Star growing heavier as he approached the border.
Five feet away. Chicken-face cawed and managed to rip a hole in the left leg of his jeans.
Gen leaped the remaining distance, turning in mid-air to face his foe as he did. Chicken-face stopped trying to bite and scratch him, its eyes growing wide as it hackled and came to a hesitant halt. Gen smirked as he crossed the border, and Midnight Star seemed to come alive. "Should've run, bird-brain."
He whipped off the oilcloth, and Midnight Star blazed to life with near-uncontainable power as it was revealed to him for the first time. Gen watched in awe as white fire exploded from the hilt to the tip of the blade, blinding him if not for his aviators. Chicken-face screeched and backed away, covering its face as the blazing energy threatened to burn it. Gen noticed its aversion to the flames, and pointed the sword at the monster. Chicken-face screeched hideously, then burst into a cloud of ash as it was incinerated on the spot.
Gen stood and watched, speechless, as Midnight Star's blazing aura quickly faded, extinguishing itself almost as quickly as it had flared to life. When the blade's red-hot metal finally started to cool down, he noticed a message engraved near the crossguard in the language of his kind. He peered at it, the inscription becoming clearer as the blade slowly cooled in the chilly autumn air.
"May the holy fire burn brightly, lest evil have its way", was written on one side. He turned it over and noticed another incscription on the back. He was shocked at what he read.
"And may the broken angel revive its light, lest the darkness crush its heart."