Chapter 01

 

“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

(John 1:5)

___

Chapter 01

In a sunlit training courtyard surrounded by ancient stone arches... In the center stands Claudita, wearing a simple cloth blindfold and standing completely motionless in a relaxed, unarmed stance.

A few feet away, a young Stella and Bella stand side-by-side, gripping basic training swords. 

Their eyes are wide with absolute starstruck adoration.

Stella is gripping her sword hilt tightly, whispering loudly...

"Bella, look at her. She’s literally just standing there, not even using her wings"

Bella nods rapidly, her eyes sparkling. "I know! She tied the blindfold on herself without even looking, Stella. Do you think she can hear our hearts beating? I heard she can cut down entire mountain ranges with a single swing of her swords…"

Stella punches the air with her free hand. "More than that! She’s a war goddess! I've seen the way she fights! The way she moves... I want to fight exactly like that! The enemies will just scatter when they hear my footsteps!"

Bella smiles softly, clutching her basic sword to her chest. "I just want to be as calm as her. Even when she’s wounded, she never panics! Her heart stays completely steady. If I could block attacks with even half the grace she does, I’d be the happiest angel ever!"

Claudita, her voice calm, echoes slightly through the courtyard... "Admiration is a beautiful foundation, little ones. But it won't save you from a swinging blade."

Both twins jump slightly, caught off guard.

Stella steps forward aggressively. "Master Claudita! We're just saying we’re gonna give this everything we’ve got! We're gonna be as strong as you one day!"

Bella steps up next to Stella, bowing her head respectfully. "We’ve been practicing our synchronized footwork, Master. We won't let your training go to waste. Please don't hold back too much, even if you’re blindfolded!"

A faint, stoic ghost of a smile pulls at the corner of Claudita's lips.

"Raise your weapons, then. Let your steel do the talking. Show me the extent of your skills...

Stella grins fiercely, raising her sword. 

"Let’s go, Bella! On three!"

Bella takes a deep breath and slips into her defensive stance. "Right behind you, sister."

Stella dashes to the left, and Bella angles to the right.

Moving in unison, they execute a simultaneous pincer attack—Stella strikes high at Claudita’s shoulder, while Bella thrusts mid-section toward her ribs.

Claudita listens to the dual whistle of the incoming steel. 

Instead of backing away, she steps directly forward, sliding right through the narrow gap between their blades before the arcs can close. 

She catches Stella by the forearm and Bella by the shoulder, using a swift, fluid pivot to slam the twins' shoulders together, disrupting their rhythm instantly.

Stella recovers instantly, spinning on her heel and unleashing a rapid, aggressive three-hit combo.

Her strikes are surprisingly quick. 

Bella supports her, using her sword defensively to parry any counter-attacks Claudita might attempt.

Claudita duck-weaves through Stella’s first two slashes with flawless rhythm. 

On the third strike, rather than dodging, Claudita uses her bare palms to cleanly clamp down on Stella's sword (a dangerous "blade catch"). 

With a sharp twist of her wrists, she wrenches the sword right out of Stella’s grip, tossing it aside.

Finding herself alone, Bella lunges with a desperate, precise fencing thrust aimed right at Claudita's chest.

Claudita tilts her torso just enough for the blade to glide harmlessly past her ribs. She uses her open hand to track up the length of Bella's sword, instantly finding Bella’s grip. 

Claudita strikes a nerve cluster on Bella’s wrist with two fingers, forcing her fingers to relax and drop the weapon. 

Before Bella can scramble backward, Claudita sweeps her legs out from under her, catching her gently by her collar before she hits the dirt too hard.

_______

Claudita won this sparring session comfortably. 

Stella has minor bruising on her palms from having her sword forcefully wrenched away. 

Bella has a tingling, numb wrist from the nerve tap but suffers no actual injuries.

Claudita is untouched. Flawless victory. Her blindfold stayed perfectly in place, though she acknowledges mentally that the twins' speed has improved... 

The basic swords lie scattered on the ground. 

Stella is sitting on the dirt, rubbing her sore palms, while Bella slowly pushes herself up, a slight tingle still running through her wrist.

Claudita stands over them, completely breathing as normally as if she had just taken a casual stroll. She reaches up, unties her white cloth blindfold, and blinks open her serene, stoic eyes.

Stella looks up with a mix of exhaustion and intense awe.

Stella pants as she looks down at her hands. "You didn’t even step left on that last swing. You just... tracked my hand before I even fully moved my wrist. Master, how do we fix that? Was my elbow too high? Did I telegraph the angle?"

Bella cradles her wrist, her tone quiet and eager... "And my stance, Master Claudita? When you bypassed my block, did I leave my center line too open? Please tell us what we need to improve on?"

The twins look up at her, wide-eyed, waiting for a masterclass lecture on biomechanics, blade velocity, or foot positioning.

Claudita looks down at them. She stays silent for a long moment, simply observing their eager faces. In her mind, trying to explain the subtle manipulation of atmospheric chi and light-speed weight distribution to these raw newbies would be like trying to explain advanced college physics to a first-grader who has barely mastered counting to ten. It is entirely meaningless right now.

Instead of correcting their posture, Claudita casually walks over, picks up their fallen training swords, and places them neatly back into the weapons rack.

"I am not going to critique your performance today," Claudita replied. 

Stella blinks in shock. "Wait—what? Why not? We want to know what we did wrong! We want to be perfect like you!"

Claudita turns back to face them, her voice calm and heavy with ancient wisdom... "Because right now, you are focusing entirely on the wrong mountain. You are looking at the way I swing a sword, the way I catch a blade, and you think that is what makes an angel... You want the combat ability. But you are trying to build the roof of a house before digging the foundation."

Bella tilts her head. "The foundation?"

Claudita nods slowly. "The heart. Specifically, the spiritual condition of your hearts."

Claudita walks over and kneels down in the dirt so she is at eye level with the young twin angels. Her expression is soft but fiercely serious. "You are sponges for the suffering, the sickness, and the raw negative energy of the mortal world. If you focus entirely on perfecting your raw physical power without first fortifying your empathy, your patience, and your unconditional love for humanity... you will break."

"Break? How?" Stella asks. 

"When you go out into the world, you will absorb the worst parts of mortals. You will feel their greed, their malice, their cruelty, and their diseases. If your heart is only trained to value 'strength' and 'combat victory,' you will eventually look at humanity and see them as weak, ungrateful, and fundamentally broken creatures. You will begin to resent them for the pain they make you carry," replies Claudita. 

Bella looks over at Stella, a sudden wave of understanding washing over her. She reaches out and tightly grips her twin’s hand.

Claudita continues... "...And in our world, little ones, hatred for the very souls you are meant to protect is the first step down a very dark road. It is how angels fall. If your hearts fill with hatred, the transmutational energy inside you will curdle. It will twist your spirits, and you will turn into the very demons you are fighting to destroy."

A heavy silence falls over the courtyard. 

The starry-eyed, playful excitement from before completely vanishes, replaced by a profound, sobering weight. Stella looks down at her hands, finally understanding the true scale of the responsibility on her shoulders.

"So... we shouldn't practice the sword tomorrow?" asks Stella. 

A genuine, warm smile finally breaks through Claudita's stoic expression, and she gently pats both of their heads. "We will always practice the sword. But tomorrow, when you lift your steel, you will not do it because you want to be feared, or because you want to look like a war goddess. You will do it to build the endurance required to hold a shield for those who cannot hold one themselves. Understood?"

Bella and Stella bow their heads deeply in unison 

Yes, Master Claudita.

Next chapter