SoulCalibur: Cosmic Catalyst

**Directed by** | LightningSakura

**Soulcalibur: Cosmic Catalyst**is a prequel movie to Soulcalibur VI in the New Timeline of the Astral Lineage series of fighting games.

## Plot

In the galaxy realm of stars and cosmos, the dark counterpart to the normal human realm was ruled by an Empress. This dark Empress was loyal to no one but her family, and her power was unspeakable. Her life was eternal, and with her in power, her sons' rule over the realm was unbreakable. This Empress was unquestioned... until now. Watch as war cascades over the astral plain.

## Characters

### New Characters

**Arielle**- Arielle is the Cosmic Empress of Astral Chaos. She draws her power from all of the realm and feasts on the souls of many. She is mother to twin sons. She spreads the power of Astral Chaos through her and her sons.

**Ariel-** Son of Arielle and twin of Gwenael, Ariel is a sadistic and demonic person. He enjoys watching people suffer, and draws his strength from his mother's power. Despite appearing calm, he will burst into fits of violence over any "offense."

**Gwenael**- He is the twin brother to Ariel. Unlike his brother, he is not openly sadistic and instead tries to appeal to people's emotions. He is manipulative and fake. Often, he will trick the enemy into trusting him. Like his brother, he shares his power from his mother.

**Lisette-**She is the Daughter of Arielle, and generally beloved by wanderers in Astral Chaos. Her intentions are not pure, no matter how she may act. Though she may love her brothers and mother, Lisette seeks power, glory and unadulterated attention and love.

**Amadeus**- he is an **Astral Dragon** just like, **Halcyon.**Unlike Halcyon, however, he does the bidding of Arielle, though he favours Ariel and is most often ridden by him.

**Reaver-**He is another of Arielle's Astral Dragons, though he favours her son, Gwenael, much more.

**Polaris**- A warrior in Astral Chaos.

**Mona**- She is also an Astral Dragon, one that Arielle personally rides and uses. She is Arabella's sister.

### Returning Characters

**Seraphina-**She is a mysterious being in Astral Chaos, seemingly made of silver liquid.

**Halcyon-**He is an **Astral Dragon**and guardian of the Astral Realm.

**Stellar** - Appearing through a mysterious rift from another land, *Stellar* finds herself amidst a raging war within Astral Chaos. Slightly disoriented from her journey, *Stellar* has only one thing on her mind: Revenge on The Mistress. Being hundreds of years in the past however, she has no choice but to aid in the war, hoping it will eventually lead her to *The Mistress*.

**Giles Tadeas**- he is the father of Halcyon, and husband to Arabella. Unlike his son, however, he is not an Astral Dragon.

**Arabella**- She is the mother to Halcyon and wife to Giles; she is an Astral Dragon, though she has lost her wings. She recently had another child.

## Story

### Opening

Arielle takes in the soul of yet another. As others cower in fear, a woman stands out amongst the darkness. She shines like silver and Arielle notices her immediately. This woman's soul is powerful. "Empress Arielle, they call you! Soon they will be praising the name Seraphina!" the woman yells. Her eyes, green, glare intensely at Arielle. The Empress is unbothered however, though her expression cannot be seen.

"You cannot hope to face me," Arielle laughed. Seraphina grinned at the words. A loud growl was heard in the distance, but it soon grew louder as a large, purple dragon came into view. The ground shook with its landing, and Seraphina pointed at Arielle.

"Halcyon! Take her down!" screamed Seraphina. The dragon, Halcyon, swooped at Arielle, purple and blue fire spewing from his mouth. Arielle yelled in rage and summoned a forcefield, blocking the flames. Seraphina ran at Arielle and summoned her twin blades. She lunged at the Empress who blocked the attack just as quickly. Face to face, blade to blade, the two women glared at each other.

"I will consume your soul like every other pathetic being in this realm!" Arielle snarled. Seraphina laughed and jumped away from her.

"We'll see about that, you fake Queen. Your power will run dry, and I will take your place as a much better Empress." Seraphina climbed onto Halcyon's back, and the dragon flew away. Arielle watched them go. Although her face could not be seen, the rage was evident within her eyes. No one had ever dared fight back against her, and she dreaded what this would mean for the rest of Astral Chaos.

### ACT ONE

#### Part 1

"So she was powerful; well, so are we," Ariel was not bothered at all by the words his mother spoke. He was even smiling. He, his twin, Gwen, and his mother all appeared in the throne room. Arielle sat upon her large throne, legs crossed. Ariel and Gwenael stood next to each other to the left of her. "This Seraphina woman is silly enough to challenge us. Even if she were to win, the power of Astral Chaos has to be separated equally among three." Beside Ariel, Gwenael nodded in agreement.

"What about this dragon of hers? Aren't they meant to be the protectors of this entire realm? How did she manage to get one on her side?" questioned Gwen. "Shouldn't they all be answering to you?"

"It doesn't matter," Arielle spoke quietly. She stood from her throne and walked down the small steps in front of it. Placing her hands on her hips, she looked to Ariel and Gwen. "She needs to die. I refuse to see her alive in my realm."

"Then it will be done." Ariel nodded and hooked arms with his twin. Gwen grinned at him and they both walked out of the Astral Throne Room, perfectly in synch.

"You can't tell me you're not concerned at all," Gwen commented as they strode through the realm. It was quiet, as it usually was in this area of Astral Chaos. No one dared get so close to the castle Arielle had created unless they wanted to die. Seraphina had an astral dragon, but so did Arielle; in fact, she had two. Speaking of them...

"Amadeus!" Ariel called out as they approached a smaller area near the castle. Their sister was there, a small girl named Lisette. "And no, I'm really not concerned." Ariel smirked at his twin and snapped his fingers. A giant, white and red dragon that Lisette had been petting flew into the air and landed gracefully behind Ariel. Gwen shook his head but smiled and snapped his fingers as well. From over the top of the castle, a large white and blue dragon flew before landing behind him.

"Shall we take off, then?" They both climbed onto the backs of their dragons and immediately were flying away. Lisette watched them quietly and frowned to herself. From behind her, a man slowly walked toward her and placed a hand on top of her head. She doesn't jump but she does turn quickly to look at him before sighing and pouting.

"Polaris you scared me!" she exclaimed angrily and punched him in the side. Polaris smirked down at her and reached down to lift her up.

"Good. You need to keep your guard up. I see your brothers just took off. It will be the perfect oppurtunity to take out one of the dragons. They are arrogant, especially Ariel." Polaris twirled around and Lisette laughed as he set her down as he came to a stop. Leaning down, he kissed her forehead. Lisette smiled, something cruel in it.

"I'm going to miss Amadeus, he was such a good Dragon," she said sadly, though she still smiled. Polaris shook his head in amusement and began to walk away.

"All's fair in love and war," he said with a wave back to her.

**(Elsewhere)**

Giles wanted to smack Seraphina, but he resisted the urge and instead glared at her and Halcyon. "You just flew at her with no plan? Riding on the back of *my*son?" he demanded angrily. Seraphina watched him, unbothered, her hands on her hips. Arabella placed a hand on his shoulder and he sighed angrily.

"We have to act fast and without mercy," Halcyon said plainly. He didn't bother to look at his parents as he spoke, instead watching a small boy toddle around them without a care. As far as he knew, this was the most Astral Dragons that had all been alive at once and it bothered him. He was getting the distinct feeling that one of them was going to die and he did not want it to be his new younger sibling.

"You still need to be careful and use your head," Arabella spoke just as calmly. Halcyon looked up at her, squinted, and looked away. Seraphina scoffed and Halcyon was again reminded of just how unlike anyone here she was. She was seemingly untouched by the cosmic aesthetic of the realm, with not a spec of purple or blue on her. Instead she she was nearly shining white with pale hair and green eyes. It was fascinating.

Seraphina balanced her sword on her shoulder and scoffed. "We don't have time to be completely calculating. Arielle has been ruling for millenia. Us waiting just means more time for her to become powerful." Seraphina laughed a little bit and Giles stared at her in disbelief as she kept talking, "besides, I'm not afraid of losing because I'm not gonna lose. So, don't worry about Halcyon. He's in good hands." Giles's eye twitched and he lunged at Seraphina who dodged and then kicked him forward. He stumbled and growled; Halcyon was impressed by how much of a *dragon* he sounded like just then.

"Let's all just calm down..." Arabella was interrupted when a large beam shot across the sky. She grabbed her smallest son as everyone turned to look. In the distance, very clearly, was a dragon falling through the sky...

**...just a few moments earlier...**

"I think Amadeus senses the other Astral Dragon nearby!" Ariel called out to his brother Gwen as they flew through the air on the backs of their own dragons. He leaned forward and kepts his hands flat against Amadeus's back. He almost couldn't hear Gwen's reply over the sound of wings flapping.

"Reaver is on the trail as we-- AHHH!" Gwen screamed in shock and panic as he thrown from Reaver's back. A large beam of white had pierced right through Reaver's chest, barely missing Amadeus and Ariel as the other two spun abrubtly out of the way.

"GWEN!" Ariel yelled as he watched his twin fall. He couldn't do anything however, as another beam shot out and this time caught Amadeus in the wing. The dragon sailed through the air and crashed, creating a crater. Debris flew into the air and Ariel was thrown off at the landing. He rolled a few times on the ground before coming to a stop. Quickly, he sat up and swayed, dizzy. The brunette looked around and then back to Amadeus. The dragon had reverted to his mostly human form and was unconscious on the ground. Ariel sneered and turned away. He wasn't angry at the dragon, no. He was pissed at whoever had the nerve to attack he and his twin so blatantly.

Ariel began to walk the semi-broken path. Over time, his mother had been building the realm into a real kingdom. This area she hadn't touched yet, which meant it'd be easier for people to hide in.

"It's not the smartest idea to wander about here alone," a voice from behind him spoke. Ariel turned around slowly, uncaring. A lazy grin was on his face. A man stood in front of Ariel, blade raised. Ariel looked at it and raised an eyebrow before looking back to the man. He wanted to remember this man's face.

"It's okay, none of you cretins frighten me. I much enjoy stumbling upon a fool who thinks I'm helpless." Ariel lunged at the man; he was done with words. The man hadn't seen that coming apparently, and just barely blocked Ariel's sword. He shoved Ariel back but Ariel leapt forward again refusing to let up.

"Aggressive..." he heard the man mutter. They were blade to blade and Ariel smiled wickedly.

"Tell me, Dead Man, who are you to attack Ariel, Prince of Astral Chaos?" Ariel attemped to land a kick but this was dodged.

"You can call me Polaris, the man who shot down your brother and dragons," replied the man. Ariel's eyes widened before he scowled.

"How fucking dare you, you disgusting piece of trash!" he yelled and began to attack Polaris haphazardly. Polaris gasped and stumbled backwards. Ariel swept his feet out from under him and attempted to stomp on the man's chest, but Polaris rolled backwards and onto his feet. Instantly, Ariel lunged forward with his sword and when that missed, he bashed with his shield, hitting Polaris in the face.

Nose bleeding, Polaris pressed his hand to his own face and Ariel kicked him down once more.

Ariel jumped into the air, sword raised and poised in both hands. However, before he could implae Polaris, the man rolled out of the way, panting for breath. Ariel smiled, disappointed, and his blade was stuck in the crumbling path. Tilting his head, he said in a mocking tone, "It sure does seem unsafe to wander alone; those words should have been for yourself, huh?" He shook his head and tsked while Polaris rose to his feet. "How about another bout, and this time, I'll take your head." Polaris huffed out of breath before jumping off the side of the crumbling path. Ariel's eyebrows rose in surprise and he walked over to the ledge and peered over. The man was nowhere to be seen.

"How cowardly. Next time, face your death like a man." Ariel clenched his fist and walked backwards down the path. It seemed his mother had more to worry about than just Seraphina. That man, Polaris, had been able to shoot down not one, but two Astral dragons. Ariel kept walking until he came back to where Amadeus was now awake and standing. He looked at Amadeus's wing. It was healed.

"I can no longer sense Reaver," Amadeus said blankly. Ariel frowned and clenched his fists again, reeling in his anger. Gods, he hoped Gwen was alive.

#### Part 2

Darkness filled his vision, the light around him going in and out, the purple of the sky swirling together with floating debris and rocks. What the hell had had happened? Gwenael attempted to roll over but found he couldn't move. He opened, forcing himself to focus and realized that Reaver was still in his dragon form and was lying partially on top of him, but mostly on Gwen's legs. "Damn it," he cursed, and began to attempt to push the dragon off of him. He was completely pinned. What the hell had shot them out of the sky?

"Well, well; what have we here?" a young woman's voice questioned. Gwen laid back to see the owner of the voice and his brows furrowd in confusion at the sight of a pale-haired woman accompanied by who he knew was Giles Tadeas and the Astral Dragon, Arabella. However, he did not recognize the other Astral Dragon and realization dawned on him. That woman had to be Seraphina, and the unknown dragon the one she had ridden when attacking Arielle.

"Stay away!" he commanded, feeling slightly panicked, and he began to slap at Reaver's body. Slowly, but surely, the dragon morphed into his humanoid form and Gwen was able to shove him away. He paused for a moment to check on the blue-and-white dragon; he was still breathing, good. Gwen then rose to his feet and almost fell back down. His left leg was undoubtedly injured, and badly. He supposed having an entire dragon land on it wasn't doing it any favours.

"What, are you going to make me?" Seraphina asked in a mocking tone. Her hands were on her hips and she stared unimpressed at Gwen. "Crashed your dragon, did you?" Gwen sighed heavily and leaned on his uninjured leg as much as he could. Beside Seraphina, Giles spoke up.

"Prince Gwenael, please listen to us. You have a reputation in the realm as being the more... reasonable twin. Pleased, uphold it." Giles pleaded with him and Gwen huffed out a breath but raised his eyebrows, curious as to what these people had to say.

This time, Arabella spoke, "You have to see what your mother is doing to the realm." She gestured around them to the floating debris and rocks, and broken pathways. Gwen frowned, but let her continue. "You are kinder than Ariel; he is incredibly much like your mother, moreso than you. You need to help us take her down; you have a third of Astral Chaos's power wtihin you. All of us together can defeat her." Gwen looked between all four of them in disbelief. Briefly, he stared intently at the small, horned child that Arabella held. Another Astral Dragon? This would make six Astral Dragons all alive at the same time. He shook his head slowly, clearing his thoughts.

Gwen pressed his hand against his chest as he questioned, still in disbelief, "You want me to betray my mother? And to help kill her? Me? Her own son? Do you understand how crazy you sound?" Seraphina sniggered at his words and Giles turned his head to glare at her. Gwen's eyebrows rose; she was amused at his sceptism?

"Not as crazy as your mother is," she quipped. The corner of Arabella's mouth turned up and she looked away. Giles sighed deeply and closed his eyes while Gwen gaped her. He couldn't summon the rage that his brother was capable of, but he wouldn't sit here and listen to his mother be insulted so casually. Gwen drew his sword and suddenly the four adults in from of him were on high alert.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you're foolish for thinking that I would turn against my own mother," he said, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice. Seraphina pointed to his leg.

"You're going to try and fight four of us while injured?" She was smirking at him, almost pitying. Gwen looked down briefly to glance at his leg before glaring daggers at her.

"I may be injured, but like you said, I have 1/3 of Astral Chaos in me and I know how to wield the realm's power. I was raised to do so," he said pointedly. The astral dragon that he didn't know the name of ran at him almost as soon as he was done talking. It was unexpected; the dragon hadn't spoken a single word the entire exhange. Apparently, he was a man of action.

"Halcyon--" Arabella called, but Gwen was already moving forward to engage him. They fought, blade versus blade until on one particular swing, Gwenael felt his vision tilt and fuzz and his legs and arms go numb. Halcyon caught him before he could fall to the ground. Gwen couldn't be bothered to attempt to get away from him; that crash...

"Your fall took more out of you than you thought," Halcyon said simply as he went to fully pick up Gwen, bridal style. It was the last thing Gwen remembered before passing out.

#### Part 3

Angrily, Ariel opened the castle doors with a wave of his hand while Amadeus trailed behind him. They slammed open, and he hoped his mother heard them. He passed by Lisette as he stalked through the halls toward the throne room. "You seem upset," Lisette commented lightly as he walked by her. He turned his head to giver her a glance over. He noticed, with curiousity, that her gaze was fixated strangely on Amadeus. Amadeus said nothing.

"I'm pissed," he hissed, angry. He was incredibly infuriated. He had hoped that maybe Gwenael had managed to retreat back to the castle, but his twin was nowhere to be seen. Lisette gave a concerned look and Ariel reeled in his anger. He pet her on the head and she smiled.

"Where's Gwen? Where's Reaver?" she asked, tone full of curiousity. Ariel paused and his hand fell.

"I have no goddamned idea," he said and turned back to head to the throne room. Lisette watched him go with her tilted before her eyes lingered to Amadeus. The red dragon paused for a moment under her gaze and his body turned in her direction. She couldn't see his eyes but she could tell her was assessing her. Slowly, a sweet smile spread across her face, stretching wide and showing her teeth. Amadeus turned away and went back to following Ariel.

"MOTHER!" Ariel yelled angrily as he approached Arielle who was once again sitting on her throne. This time, however, Mona was at her side. He glanced briefly at Mona before turning his gaze back to his mother. Arielle was wtaching him intently and her gaze drifted to Amadeus and then he could see her mouth frown past her mask.

"Where is your brother?" she demanded and stood. Ariel hissed and tensed.

"That's why I'm here; some man shot Reaver while we were in the air. He fell, I couldn't find Gwen, but I found the man who claimed he was the one who took the shot. He also managed to get Amadeus in the wing! Mother, what is this?" Ariel stepped closer to this mom, glare more intense than she had ever seen it. "Why does someone have the ability to harm us and our dragons? Our power is fueled by the damn realm itself! Only another Astral being that isn't human could do this type of damage!" As he spoke, Arielle's expression grew furious.

"Do you know what the man looked like?" she asked. Ariel sighed in disappointment.

"I tried to memorize his face but he had some type of facepaint like a skull," he muttered. Arielle narrowed her eyes at his words. Facepaint like a skull? Damn it.

"I have an inkling of what this power is," she stated. Her glowing eyes looked to Mona, her own dragon. Mona nodded and began to transform. Arielle looked to the castle ceiling and it broke open to reveal the realm's sky. "I will get to the bottom of this. Ride with me, Ariel. Amadeus, fly with us." Arielle and Ariel both climbed onto Mona's back and took off through the ceiling. It was quiet for awhile before Lisette stepped into the throne room with Polaris. His face was still covered in the facepaint he'd worn earlier to shoot down Reaver. Within his hand was a slightly glowing, dark purple blade. Lisette looked at it with wide, curious eyes, eyes roaming over an empty slot near the hilt.

"This, my darling Lisette, worked exactly as you said it would," Polaris took her by the hand and pulled her forward as he kneeled so she could get a better look at it. "All those Souls I harvested with it provided a good blast. I missed Amadeus, however, but I managed to get the blue one, Reaver." Lisette giggled, and bounced up and down giddily in Polaris' grasp.

"It's okay, at least you got one of them," she breathed out and reached forward with her hand to touch the glimmering, violet blade. There were tendrils of black pulsing in it like veins. "It's glowing because it has Reaver's soul, right?" Polaris nodded at her question.

"He was old, very old, so all that age transfers into power... I can definitely confront your mother with this power. The blade on its own was powerful enough when I stole it from those shimmering, silver pools." Polaris stood, lifting Lisette as he did so and walked to the throne and sat down with her in his lap. "It's only a plus that breaking the field around the blade awakened that Seraphina woman. She can weaken Arielle up nicely before I move in to finish them both." Lisette clasped her hands together and continued to smile.

"All we have to do is wait."

## Gallery

ArielleArielle closeupArielArielGwenaelGwenael CloseupGiles TadeasGiles closeupArabellaArabella CloseupLisette CloseupLisettePolarisPolaris closeupReaverReaver closeupAmadeusAmadeus CloseupMonaAriel taunting GilesAriel confronting GilesAriel about to kill GilesRemorselessHalcyon killing GwenAriel reacting to Gwen collapsingArielle beginning to explodeHalcyon killing Arielle and stabilizing the core