Hazumi
Theme Song
(vocal starts at 1:50) Name: Hazumi
Alias: Essence (of the World), Violin, Chime, Motherslayer
Age: apparent: 27; actual: pieces of her existed in one shape or another since the creation of the worlds 7000 years ago. Hazumi as a single entity was created approximately 245 years ago.
Race: Demigod – Hazumi’s essence is a combination of Heaven and Hell’s Gates and Gatekeepers and those of thousands of other individuals of all races. As such her existence is strongly intertwined with that of the 3 worlds and all the creatures inhabiting them. She can feel all essence in the world and somewhat influence it as well.
Appearance: If she was to be judged by her chestnut-coloured hair and average build, Hazumi would hardly stand out in a crowd with anything but her slightly taller frame. She dresses in elegant feminine dresses but doesn’t wear make-up or jewelry or any other methods of catching the eye. However it’s a mistake to say she could go down the street unnoticed. Even those who don’t meet her unblinking golden
eyes would immediately be stricken by the unnatural aura curling around her like a visible frost-like wind, dying strands of her hair pearly white and making her skin and clothes shimmer. It’s something one couldn’t ignore even if they aren’t looking directly at her. While Hazumi cannot completely hide it, she can somewhat control it, either making its effects harmless to the eye and soul or on the contrary – enhancing it to the point of harming nearby creatures. As a result of this aura she can hardly ever go unnoticed wherever she goes and mostly stays at the Academy where it’s less likely to attract any unwanted attention or tempt any unfortunate demons.
Since she lost her wings, Hazumi has replaced them with a big tattoo on her back depicting a samurai warrior- an almost mythological creature which she finds to represent her mindset quite well. She often shows off that tattoo during the many balls and dances taking place at the Academy by wearing open-back dresses and putting her hair up in a pony-tail.
Social Status: Hazumi is well-known and recognized as the biggest existing piece of the Essence and is hence generally revered for her role in monitoring the peace on the Surface.
Relations: She is on good terms with almost everyone at the Academy and works closely with the representatives of the three races. Outside of the facility her relationships are minimal.
General Activity: Hazumi is the “Sight” of Master Melody’s Academy – as such it’s her responsibility to overlook the essence torrents in the world and monitor that the essence of angels and demons is balanced out. Although the official position is called “Sight”, she doesn’t really need to employ her eyes to do the job – she literally feels any imbalance occurring as a soul is extinguished or sent back to the void before its time. As soon as she’s felt that happen, she takes a note of the location and essence imprint of the culprit and alerts the Peace-keepers – the council of nine representatives, 3 of each race, who then decide whether to pursue the Renegade and allow a Vendetta to the race that has been wronged. Her monitoring activity is a full-time job that would drive any living creature insane, however it comes natural to Hazumi and it doesn’t seem to affect her in any way. In fact, in her opinion, her position in the Academy is a very lax one and most often she finds time to teach the Academy students history or train them in battle.
On occasion she would personally take a matter into her own hands and pursue a Renegade on her own accord. She has also been known to leave the Academy on short notice and not explain why, however people presume that when she does it is to tamper with the strings of Fate.
Personality: The first word anyone can think of to describe Hazumi with is “confident” and the second is often “arrogant”. Despite her high-and-mighty attitude Hazumi isn’t a selfish person and mostly does what she does for the “greater good of the masses”. That is not to say her motives are entirely altruistic – what she gets from her job is personal satisfaction and the opportunity to put one or two misfits in their right place. Respectively, while she can be extremely understanding, selfless and generous, she can also be witty and clever in a more negative way. Another trait that evokes polarized reactions is her somewhat parental attitude towards most everyone – an unavoidable result of having existed for so long in the shape of both Gates and Gatekeepers.
Biography:
In the records of history the name of Hazumi stands as that of a dark angel born to the fallen angel Kristine. Being a dark angel, she was denied all the privileges pure or even grey angels had – social status, trust, acceptance, and most of all – education. She was never included in the big educational classes most angels attended at the time in order to learn about the humans, demons and the angels. In the rare cases when she got to visit the Council building she was bestowed with looks full of distrust and even disgust. All the Council required was for her to leave one of her feathers in the Book of Fate so they could keep track of her deeds, and she was pretty sure no one cared enough to do even that. If they had done, they might have realised a truth far greater than their most daring guesses and might have been able to act to stop the tragedy to come some 25 years later.
At first Hazumi didn’t think much of that treatment as her mother was doing her best to teach her everything about all kinds of demons, even the ones in Hell. Her mother cared for her and her education and gave her a purpose – being powerless herself it was up to Hazumi to protect her from any of the countless demons that targeted her daily. That’s how the little dark angel started fighting – much earlier than her pure counterparts – and she became undefeatable and ruthless. She didn’t care who had to die for her mother to live. At that point her life wasn’t yet hollow and lonely. She had found friends – a protected family of vampires with two sons her age. She loved them almost as much as she loved her mother… and they were her only salvation when Hazumi had to make the toughest decision in her life. When she realized that consuming demon flesh isn’t natural for angels. That her mother was actually a monster… and deserved to die.
After the deed was done it was the vampire brothers that she came to for comfort. But instead of that what she received was judgment herself. Her neck was ripped open and it’s was mystery how she survived what should have killed her. The huge claw-like scar that remains spread out across the left side of her neck is said to be her mother's last deed and her curse. In fact it was her best friend, Jed, who was responsible for it. Having to dispose of her mother was the toughest decision Hazumi ever had to make. Yet she was certain she was right to do so, and she devoted her entire life to the Council after.
It was a decade of loyal service after that the mystery of her life started to unravel itself. A mystery that only few could have guessed but one that would tie all the loose strings of chance into a tight knot of careful planning and scheming – a plan started by the ancient demon lord known as the Fleshshaper even before the Great War. He had found a way to combine the flesh, and thus – essence, of all living creatures to create what some called constructs, and others – chimeras. Those creatures were foreign to the world and shouldn’t have been possible, however… there they were. And the instruments that were the Gates, finely tuned to preserve the balance in the worlds and keep all species in the worlds they belonged had no power over them…. As the demons slaughtered their way up to Heaven’s Gates and the Gatekeeper and Gate were both destroyed, Heaven crumbled down to the human world – the Surface. Blood and tears rained that day as death spread its long fingers to gently cradle the Worlds. And it wasn’t only angels that died. As Heaven’s Bate broke, Heaven’s essence itself washed over the human world, instantly killing all weak demons and severely wounding the strongest ones. The demons had won but were forced to retreat back to Hell as the Essence of Heaven and Surface intertwined and poisoned their own. Many died that day and many more didn’t. Among them there were three creatures that would wish they had. Those were the remaining Gate and Gatekeepers. The change of the lifescape put additional pressure on those unfortunate beings, causing Hell’s Gate and Gatekeeper to ail and Luciana to go insane.
The outcome seemed like a total disaster for the angels and a hollow victory for the demons. However, not for all. Master of opportunism, the Fleshshaper managed to secretly gain more out of the war than everyone lost. In the chaos of the battles too many died to count and even more to try and retrieve. It was this gruesome graveyard that the Fleshshaper and his minions thrived in. Like vultures they faithfully collected all the bodies now deprived of life but not yet of an essence. And it was those pieces of essence that the Fleshshaper then combined to shape a being to transcend all three races – the first complete Chimera. A gruesome and unnatural collection of angels, demons and humans, all held together by the living heart of Gatekeeper Chime. For the next 746 years the creature was perfected in Hell, more and more souls weld together with it to enhance its power and understanding of the world and to stop it from becoming too rigid and vulnerable to change like the other Gates. His only obstacle was the lack of angel bodies in hell that he could use to balance the demonic and human essence out. Furthermore, he had lost Melody’s grace and even if he did pass the Gate, the angels that survived the Great War had organized in a strong organization named the Council, and they were a power to be reckoned with.
What changed the course of fate was the appearance of a certain human in his realm - a dark-haired woman called Kristine. She made a bargain with the demon – provided him with a human baby to shelter what he called Essence of the World and offered promised to raise it to glory – on the Surface. “She holds the essence of Heaven’s Gate – the Violin, in her core she is created to serve and she will always serve her creator.” The Fleshshaper thought, “It is only a matter of bringing up to her full potential.” The demon agreed, knowing that his time to regain the Essence would come. And so, he let her go with Kristine who nurtured her with a diet of steady essence that kept her from falling apart for 14 years. Kristine was aware of the power hidden away in the tiny body – it was obvious by the way she could quickly and easily morph into any being at will and even become new ones. She had to act carefully to convince the child it was nothing more but a Battle angel and not to allow the world to see what she saw – and what she’d seen in her visions as a Clairvoyant angel. She knew the disaster that would befall the world should Hazumi end up in the wrong hands and so she had opposed the Council and lost their grace in an attempt to change the future herself. Thus she had to make sure her bond to the child was the strongest one the Essence would recognize when the time came.
What no one reckoned with was just how strong the newborn creature’s loyalty would be. A loyalty to the whole world and not to any single individual. As Hazumi grew and learned, her heart kept searching for the “right” things to do and lead her to suddenly shift her fidelity from one individual to another. She didn’t know that what was urging her was the Gate’s desire to serve and the Gatekeeper’s wisdom, keeping her from blindly trusting anyone for no good reason. And so, as time mercilessly progressed, she devoted herself to the angelic Council thinking that time it was to last. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Engaging the Original angel Lucien in order to protect the Council from him lead her to find out more about them that she ever knew – about how they had actually corrupted the newborn angels for the sake of preserving hegemony over the Surface. With her belief shaken Hazumi was ready to follow anyone who expressed a desire to lead her – however, there was no one willing, not even Lucien who tried to teach to act for herself, oblivious of the fact that was impossible for her nature. For everyone she was just another stray Battle angel caught in the middle of chaos. For while Hell’s Gate was cracking and the angels and Luciana were desperately trying to prevent the disaster humans were oblivious about, the demons lords Szayeis and Ioi were after their own goals. And they weren’t the only ones. The Fleshshaper was stirring and so were the long-forgotten spirits of Jesu Christo and Judas Iscariot. In a time when everyone was fighting for what they believed in, Hazumi found herself unable to pick a side. All she knew was that she couldn’t trust anyone who wanted to destroy the Worlds she was born to protect.
And so, she did the only thing she thought wise at the time – surrendered herself completely to whoever wanted to lead her. But instead of an Instrument what she became was a weapon – a Sword, beckoning for a wielder.
Surrendering her consciousness, Hazumi was dormant for the next 20 years. When she awoke Hell’s Gate was broken, her wielder was defeated and the Surface was populated by much more demons than it’d ever been. Hazumi was then convinced by Luciana to surrender most of her power to the humans and so she did.
What remained was closer to an individual than the creation of the Fleshshaper – one capable of making her own decisions. The first such decision was to reopen and reform Master Melody’s Academy for Fine Arts – a place her former self had ruined herself. With a vision in mind, Hazumi called for all three races to elect 3 representatives each to form the Peace-keepers. Making it clear that peace is to rule the Surface and that no racial feud will go unnoticed, Hazumi has settled in the Academy, lending her power and knowledge to the students and staff while enjoying the world in all its beauty.
Abilities: The part of her abilities that Hazumi regularly demonstrates are her greatly diminished physical abilities when it comes to sparring and her skills in controlling or playing the academy’s Instruments. She’s also often seen to create creatures or objects made of visible essence but those are only to be used by her and mostly for show.
While it is common knowledge that Hazumi is currently the closest thing to a god to inhabit the world, her abilities are largely subject to speculation alone. Since she has returned to human form she has refused to engage in any political conflicts, leaving all the fighting to the shards of herself that now serve as Instruments and weapons to the humans. She also refuses to experiment with her power, even at the face of war, saying that “it has never been and never will be her job to decide what’s right or wrong in the world”.
Thus all that’s really known for sure is her ability to see the huge essence torrents cruising the worlds and that by pulling their strings she can alter them. Some scientists assume that due to her encompassing all previous Gates, she should be able to subdue any creature, but others claim that that power has been given away to the Instruments and what’s left in Hazumi are mere traces of the Violin and Harp. One thing is for sure, though, and that is that Hazumi will
not cooperate with anyone wishing to know more than that, keeping her secrets and holding true to her decision not to interfere in any conflicts, no matter how big.
Zi Wallace
Theme One / Theme Two Name: Zi Wallace
Alias/Nickname: People at the bar she works at often call her Spike. Those who know of her past might call her “Shard”.
Species: Human, a splinter of the Essence.
Age: Apparent – 25; Actual – Approximately 221.
Appearance: Zi stands at a height of 1.65m, and weighs about 50kg.
Her waist-long hair is, just like Hazumi’s, one of her most praised possessions, even if it has paled to an unnatural alabaster colour. Zi refuses to give up on it, even if it may occasionally hinder her in battle and in an attempt to minimize the risk of that, and despite herself, she often keeps it restrained in a tail, braid or bob whenever she expects a physical conflict. That is to say, almost all the time.
Zi's eyes have also changed significantly since she reincarnated as a human, and now shine in teal which promptly stands out in comparison to her pale locks. They are bright enough to seem almost artificial, appearing to hold two layers of colour on top of each other rather than just a single one.
Despite her unassuming look, and despite her relatively low stamina, Zi's body is well toned for speed. Covering it are light clothes, most often in green, navy, black or white, and ranging in style, depending on the occasion. When at work they largely consist of attractive flowing light fabrics such as silk and cotton that serve to both help her blend in the club and conceal her weapons. When she’s not working, however, she prefers a more practical attire of (still flattering) jeans, linen or shorts.
She doesn’t often wear armor as it would only tire her out further, but when she does it’s usually a simple layer of hard leather underneath her regular clothes.
Social Status: Low. She currently focuses on working at a local bar, the Rabid Dog, tries to stay under the radar of any major factions and is only really familiar with the people in her workplace and Emmet.
Relations: She has a strong connection to Emmet even though the exact nature of their relationship is unknown. What is blantantly obvious, however, is her possessive attitude towards him and her bright demeanor most times when she meets him.
Zi considers Azel a pretty reliable friend and Hazumi’s old acquaintances Lucien and Luciana to be something akin to friends, even though she has yet to meet them for herself. Her relationship with Hazumi is estranged and she seems to generally avoid meeting her.
She is somewhat familiar with the people she works with at the Rabid Dog but not especially close to them.
Peter and Emily Wallace are the people who gave birth to Zi’s body and part of her soul. As such they have stayed in touch with their daughter until 2 months ago when their daughter suddenly distanced herself and stopped answering her phone after their bizarre last conversation was carried out. Living in Koa they have no current means of reaching their daughter and only rely on rumors on her whereabouts and wellbeing. And on the various mercenaries’ they’d asked to help seek her out…
General Activity: Zi spends her days wandering and exploring the city of Kenan and most of her nights working as a peculiar type of bouncer. She doesn’t roam the streets after nightfall, however, and should she still be out by dusk, will find shelter in almost any bright facility in her nearest proximity.
Abilities: Zi’s first and foremost advantage is her ability to see essence. Having been a part of the Essence of the World she awoke with the innate ability to sense and see any form or essence despite its size or age. From the whole ones of living or recently deceased, to pieces, still residing recently shed blood, tears or other biological traces. While some are harder to spot than others, the easiest to find are the bright deposits that build up over time, like the essences of Heaven and Hell that were spilled over the Surface with the break of the gates. Additionally to seeing, Zi can extract, catch, hold and combine fragments of stray essence and manipulate it for her own goals.
The uses of those chimerical creations are limited in the physical sense. Not completely spiritual, their shape and density varies and while some can be thin and ethereal as air, others can be dense and thick as water or mud. As a shield they could provide a weak and temporary way of hindering one’s movements or dulling one’s weapons. Offensively, they become more useful and can be used as an invisible extension of a cutting edge or a coating for weapons, temporarily endowing them with properties that the original owner of the essence possessed. Zi is still exploring the various ways she can utilize her abilities for maximum efficiency.
The essence creations’ most useful property lies within their transparency and general invisibility. That is caused largely by their uncommon nature that makes them hard to detect even for creatures used to feeling essence like vampires and werewolves. As such, and due to their link to Zi, they serve her as many eyes and ears, ready to alert her of almost any danger approaching her, much like a sixth sense. She can also control and use them to gain information about many distant locations, and often ones she couldn’t physically visit.
However, despite their usefulness and Zi’s natural skill at controlling them, essence creations are, in general, unstable works. The particles are constantly being pulled in by the Void that waits to consume and recycle them and pinning them down to the Surface requires, if not always conscious effort and concentration, then at least enough energy and will on Zi’s part. Respectively their existence only lasts as long as Zi is conscious and capable of holding the different particles together. Furthermore, should she become fatigued or even fall asleep, the essence cycle takes its natural course and all collected essence rejoins the Void. The only way to stop that from happening is through trapping said essence particles in a physical object of demonic origin, naturally evolved to contain and store it.
When it comes to physical abilities, Zi’s body is sadly not as capable as she’d wish it was. While her soul still remembers parts of its past existence, thus making her more agile and faster than the average human, she could easily be outmatched by almost any demon or angel, surface or not. As such, Zi was forced to adopt the idea of using weapons for both combat and self-protection.
Equipment: Her weapon of choice is a
sidesword, one she almost always keeps strapped to her belt and backed-up by a twin at her other hip. She can use either with equal ease as she’s trained both her hands to be used to the movements required to assure her safety or victory. Accompanying the swords is a gun, one she still struggles to master completely.
When fighting tougher opponents she would often resort to using one of two domino-masks she often carries folded in her coat. Those allow her to temporarily assume the qualities and essence of one particular
angel or one particular
demon. Additionally she has a few vials full of essence that she can use as an aura to mask her own, should there be the need to.
In her home she stores a few other objects infused with essence and a few other masks, but due to the risk of them being found and taken, she keeps the count to a minimum and most often destroys any artifacts as soon as they’ve served their purpose.
Personality: At a glance, Zi appears positive and easy-going. She seems to enjoy and truly appreciate simple things, even trivial ones, much like a child that gets to explore the world for the first time in their life. She likes to indulge in fashion, TV and books and especially appreciates music and dancing. Thus she could often be seen attending various events hosting those arts, from bars and clubs to symphony orchestras and balls.
However, parallel to Zi’s light-hearted demeanor lies a much more serious one that often surfaces whenever it is needed, and sometimes when it isn’t. She is very driven and has a strong moral compass and views life as a series of missions she has to complete and people she has to help or correct. This personality most surfaces whenever she’s threatened or has her mind set on something. In the extreme case she becomes incredibly serious and stoic, all happiness draining from her features, leaving behind pure facts and dry resolve.
Her attitude towards people also varies greatly. While she can come to instantly like some and be very caring, protective and helpful towards them, she can also be extremely judgmental and hostile to others. Her reasons for liking or disliking someone often remain a mystery and her opinion is generally hard to sway once it’s formed. This might be due to the constant conflict between her desire to meet various new people and the paranoia and trust issues that plague her heart all the same.
Biography: The story of Zi’s origin started a long time ago and can probably be traced back to the end of the First Great War when the Fleshshaper first started his experiments on creating a creature to transcend the ones created by the Gods. By mixing various Essences and using former Gatekeeper Chime’s heart as a solder he managed to create what was later called Hazumi and considered the Essence of the World – a being combining all demon, human and angelic knowledge and skill but possessing no real personality of her own.
Zi’s own existence, however, began some 201 years ago when the Essence took on the shape of a sword, calling for a wielder. It was then that the Original angel Lucien managed to force the Sword into a scabbard against its will to be used and as a result a shard of the Essence broke off. It seemed to vanish into thin air. However, this remaining piece of conscience didn’t disappear. Instead it found a human host to lodge itself into and grow over the coming year. That was a slow process that seemed to end 10 months after the accident when Zi first opened her eyes, conscious of herself as a single being.
There was no worse time to reincarnate. The world was drown in chaos, the madman Judas Iscariot ruling over it like a king – exterminating demons and angels alike, and driving humans along the dangerous path of hatred and xenophobia. And Zi realized she was partially responsible. She had to act. But she couldn’t do it alone. Aware of her own physical restrictions and limited knowledge, Zi sought help from the people she used to know as Hazumi – Vaihrn, Solus and Azel. And it was Solus that gave her a brilliant idea – to try and overcome the boundaries of the races herself. Thus she undertook a risky journey and travelled down to Hell where she found various demon remains that she could use to store essence.
After she came back to the Surface she got in contact with the controversial entrepreneur Azel and together they started a new secret business. There were plenty of humans driven to the edge of sanity, desperate for power and Azel was willing to provide. Zi was talked into it and so the experimenting with voluntary possession started. Through trial and error, after over a decade, Zi finally managed to develop a method of making the transition between species possible; the trigger required – a mask made of demonic or angelic remains, infused with a mixture of essence. With this prototype at hand, Azel reached out through his net of contacts for people willing to take the next step. The ones who turned up were later to be dubbed nephilim due to their willingness to sacrifice their own soul in order to merge those of angel and demon. It was those selfless and fearless warriors, aided by the last Gatekeeper, that would finally put an end to the reign of terror and fear and clear the path for the new generations’ freedom. As for Zi, nobody is really certain of her role in the final battles themselves. While those close to her have indeed seen her fighting her way through Judas’ ranks, nobody has seen her since.
But away of curious eyes a creature with a unique essence keeps reappearing on the Surface. Stealthily, Zi’s new reincarnation has started a few months ago, this time in the body of another pre-existing human – a university student, working part-time in a bar. And although she shares most of her physical features with the former human, Iris Wallace, and most memories with Hazumi, Zi feels as a being of her own that only just came into existence… again. The past of her former selves exists in her merely as distant feelings and memories, as the odd stranger recognizing a familiar face. And even now, after all this time, Zi still shares a connection to the Essence and can hear and feel its presence and condition.
Zi’s past, even if it wasn’t entirely her own, has left a mark on her. It’s most noticeable whenever she’s out during the night. That’s when her motions become jerky and abrupt and her eyes endlessly scan the surroundings in a paranoid fashion. Her past as an invincible and proud creature and her fall from that position has broken a part of her that will likely never heal, leaving her to feel vulnerable and weak in a world what should have, and could well still crush her. While Zi is aware of her paranoia and usually manages to keep it in check, it often escalates as the sun starts dropping, and reaches its peak shortly before she has to succumb to sleep. It’s then that she tries to find solace in clutching onto stuffed animals and surrounding herself in flickering candle-lights.
