Lords of Creation (Story Thread 3)

[Zaleramancer]

Snapping into a salute, it carefully placed the armet helm on it's head and swiveled in place. Facing the pithos, it struck the ground with the butt of it's spear and said three words in a strange tongue. Several purple darts flew from it, becoming fluttering feathers.

They landed as Janites, each identical to the first.

About Face!

As one, the Janites turned to face the crystal wall.

Forward March!

In perfect lockstep, they marched forward- fading away with each step. More followed from the pithos, wielding spears and swords, bows and shields.

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The power of memory and divine might resisted this intrusion. Hideous monsters and rival armies sprang into existence only to be cut down by the Janites.

For though the Army Of Jan feared like any creature, their orders were more important. This is what they were made for. What they lived for. What they trained for. To March. To Fight. To Win.

Nothing and none would interfere with this. Not even their own memories.

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An echoing click sounded as a regiment of Janites appeared, hovering in endless void.

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Over an endless sandy desert flew the soldiers towards a tiny speck..

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Behind cruel giants march soldiers, trumpets calling, they seek to stop the fall of stones.

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Surrounding a nightmarish pit, they begin their descent.

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Between the visage of a master and a captured sword form the figures of warriors.

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The call of the horns sounds behind Snorkel Giants. A sound like charging..

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With caution, they circle the two fighting Gods of this small and vast world.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Watching the army (her army, it belonged to her, oh my god) the Babysitter though about the day. This had been the strangest day of her life.

Beside her, the Veteran also watched the most glorious fighting force he had ever seen march off to battle. A world away the goddess Indiva looked up from the task her mother had given her, having never felt such a font of envy in her entire existence. He thanked the Watchman for his helmet. He didn't want anyone to know he was crying.

"She creates a army...." The Watchman thought aloud. ".... and she gives it to a 17 year old girl." He desperately searched for some angel, something she might be playing at, and couldn't find one. There was no advantage whatsoever to giving an army to a teenager.

"So...." he asked, surveying for the first time the entire group that Sonia and Itself had brought in with them. "You've seen this before?"

[Mik_Hael]

Monsterking:

"A few more, and the task will be complete, my goal will finally be accomplished." The monster king sat upon his thrown eyes closed in contemplation as a swirling darkness subsisted outside of the cathedralic throne room of black glass and spires.

tick, tock, tick, tock, a large pendulum swayed back and forth over the thrown of the monster king, continually counting down, second by second to the completion of the soul forge.  Beneath the throne room visible through a floor of glass  an endless progression of figures were slowly being faried towars a giant inferno, dissappearing one by one as they were fed into the flames of  the large machine, in the center of the swirling chaos was the watchman's god, tetherd to the center awaiting it's role as the final sacrifice.

tick, tock tic..

"Intruders my lord" An anemic goblin like creature with hollow eyes and transluscent skin scurried down a pillar and stopped before the throne.

"...sigh, fools, it doesn't matter, increase the speed of sacrifices and send the fourth branch of the army to intercept them. prepare the soldiers for a reality shift in the affected area."

"yes my liege" The goblin dissappeared in a cloud of darkness which quicly floated away and out of the room.

[Mik_Hael]

Mik Hael:

"Come on, come on darn it, just a bit more." The god sat crouching amid the torrent of tortured memmories in deep concentration, floating in front of his mask was a small bead of concentrated light, pulsating and burning with incredible power that shook the bidnings of spafe time around it. "You may have most of my power" Mik Hael thought, " but that doesn't stop me from hoarding what little I have left."

[Mik_Hael]

In the cold reaches of an infinite darikness a small flicker of light glowed solemnly. The juggler  was curled in fetal position floating aimlessly, the darkness circling closer and closer, but then something snapped, almost audibly. The juggler's mind dissapeared in a torrent of rage and anger as the light intensified into a burning inferno. The intense burst of energy emanating from the now demonic visage of the fire spirit caused the srrounding drream to crack, before shattering, creating a small whole in reality that the Spirit was sucked through.

.....................................................

In the infinite expanse of desert the snorkel giants and a following of goblins were carrying away their harvest, a spirit of ice, warn beyond all hope by heat and torment, and a wind spirit, crushed inside of a coffin of rock. The high pillar of the monster king's furnace was just within vision.

The silence of the desert was suddenly broken by the sound of alarge pane of glass cracking and the shattering followed by a terrible scream of torment and rage. A ball of fire fell from the sky and landed in the desert, instantly baking the surrounding glass into sand. The juggler stood in the crater still screaming as fire rapped around him before his eyes turned upon the giants. Wrapped in a wreath of flames in the shape of a giant clawed horror, Juggler charged foward in a blind rage.

[Mik_Hael]

Soaked in the blood of her enemies Dephos continued to fight wave after wave of Nightmare, with no end in sight. The god tore through the ranks with her blades, debilitating those she did not kill instantly.  Suddenly a vast army materialized from the void in the distance, headed by several of the other gods. "Grace must h..." before she could finish the thought, the ground shuddered,and wracked as the blood soaked sand of the dream scape writhed underfoot. from the gorund perfect copies of the gods rose from the sands, joining the ranks of monsters, as the sand itself began to take on a life of it's own snaking underfoot and coiling onto the legs of all who tread upon it. ....Then the muffins arrived.

.....................................................................

Mik Hael.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd............Now." The small pearl of blazing white energy surged forth fighting against the torrent of Nightmare and regrettfull memmories but quickly gaining way. Until finnally it burst through, tearing a hole in the fabric of the dram scape, which the god quickly pluged through, landing with a role in the middle of the desert.  "Okay" the god popped it's neck, "A bit more difficult than I imagined but now....." he glanced at the carnage"........it's time to go teah myself a lesson."  The god pulled the journeymans rod from his cloak and started to walk towards the tower in the distance.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Watchman!" came the call from over by the crystal. A watcher. A being designed to watch, even when everything was distracted. One of the two that cam back with the Vet. "Come, over here."

The Watchman followed. The others began to follow suit, but he held up his hand and they stopped.

The Watcher lead him to Mik, held in his crystal. "What am I suppose to see?" he asked?

"Not see, sir. Listen, carefully!"

The Watchman did as the servitor bid, growing quiet and still. Until he heard it, barely a whisper above the crystal.

but that doesn't stop me from hoarding what little I have left.

It was Mik. He was talking in his sleep. Asleep. In a Crystal. Could he be dreaming to, in that vast memory expanse? Trapped, by this other thing that had subjected his subordinates to torments, who even now had one somewhere?

He laid his hand on the crystal, and spoke. "Mik, I have no idea if you can hear me where you are, but you must be somewhere close to this other you, correct? Close enough to strike at his throat? If your trapped somewhere, or even if you're not, I'd like to be a part of that."

Divine sparked across the surface of the crystal. "Let me be the spear that shatters the barrier between he and you! The trump card in this battle of halves."

Divine power poured into the crystal, into the gos body contained within, and he hoped into Mik and everyone connected by divinity to him.

(32 motes used up, zero left)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

After an hour's trip, Kaita and Fidion finally came to a stop. Though, to guess, their trip could easily have been a day's journey. Things looked so vastly different than back in the village.

The grass of the field that lay before them was high over their heads; though still whole, it smelled of freshly cut hay. Unnamed things skittered through the grass, and made strange calls, ranging from snorts to sneezes to grunts to squeals. The dirt was dark, but it smelled sweet, like some meat had been recently cooked over a wood fire. Light-up bugs darted left and right above the grass, and alternated colors of the rainbow in unison.

Head still lifted to watch the bugs, Fidion now remarked that he could smell apples. He and Kaita exchanged excited glances. Then they looked back to Brynhildr.

"Your kind know about magic, right?"

[Mik_Hael]

Mik:

The god wades through the carnage shifting dimensions with the power of the travelelers staff going ever closer to the black spire, before suddenly stopping"..............did I just hear somehting or am I imagining things a..." suddenly a bolt of power tears through the dream infusing the god with power before dispercing into the surrounding landscape."...Thanks." Mik hael tears though space leaving a trail of chaos in his wake.

.................................................................................................

MK:

tick. tock, tick, tock.

"...He's free." The monsterking's eyes suddenly snapped open followed by a quick burst of energy causing a cloud of black dust covering everything in the room to waver, before settling agian."...but it doesn't matter, just a few more minutes, and it shall be complete." The monsterking leans forward, sinking from his chair into the floor and through to the lower level,before floating softly in front of the furnace of souls churning before him. A dim shape had begun to form in the shape of a large cross or sword, just beneath the Watcchman's God. "your usefullness ahs almost reached it's apex my friend."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

The Reasonable regarded the Monster King, not feeling particular reasonable at the moment.

"You rigged the game. Those monsters should have never been able to touch me. I figured it out, it shouldn't matter I didn't remember. Not that it matters now anyway. That spike you just felt? That divine strike? I felt it resonate. That was bosses energy, moving the last peace into place. You're in checkmate, half-god. The sad part is that you don't know it yet!"

Then he spit in the dark gods face.

[Mik_Hael]

A cloud of dust deflected the spit and then disperced.

"...I'm well aware of the actions of my other self...Half god, so says  the servant of the dogs of the true omnipotent....Gods, a name given to those just powerfull enough to alter the world only so slightly....but can't.........."

Dong, Dong, Dong.

"Never Mind, The soul furnace is almost complete, now the only thing left is the finisheng touch." The Monsterking snapped his fingersand the fires shifted focus.instantly power egan streaming out of The reasonable into the sword below him, and as it did, it continueed to phase into existence until finally. The reasonable lurched, and a chunk of light exaped from him flowing into the blade, and then , silence. The monsterking reached forward and grabbed the gleaming sword from the pits of the inferno, and as his fingers grasped the blade the fires of the pit swirled around him funnelling into the blade and condesncing, until all that was left was a pulsating section of space, resonating in all dimensions. "And now it's complete. " The monsterking swept his hand away from the reasonable sending hthe god falling through a tear in
the dream world, into the desert.

"Now it's time for the show to begin. dusks, begin sequence apocalypta." The dust around the monsterking forze and then dispreced leaving the castle and filtering into the real world.
...........................................

Mik:

Mik felt a ripple in the farbric of the dream scape and glanced up just in time to see a figure, falling quickly to the sands from a hole in space.  Mik warped catching the figure mid fall and warping back to the ground. ".......Monster King."    The space around the god seemed to darken and conense  gorwing ever and ever thicker as the rage boiled inside him. Until, his mask started to crack. then, he was gone.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

A knock came on the door. Kotu looked up from his stack of money; his face flushed.

"WHAT?! I'M PRAYING!"

There was a brief pause on the other side of the door. Then a brief mumbling. It sounded like two or three girls.

"Kotu", a female voice called, "We need to talk with you. It's about the food stores."

"They're in store, aren't they?" Kotu snapped, "I went by yesterday and ate with Aisonon and Ilika; there was food."

"...You ate from the stores?" A second girl spoke up, "But...Elders eating from the food stores is forbidden! Your hands must not touch common food, and then clasp to entreat the gods! It's why we give you our sacrifices! It's no wonder a third of the food has all spoiled!"

Kotu nearly choked on the last of his storehouse pie slice, "Bleh--hhech--huh!--WHAT?! Food stores...SPOILED?! How is that possible??? We--but I--I could have sworn the food was just fine! How long ago was the food put away for the storehouse?"

"The last of it was put away last week." A third female voice replied, "But what does it matter? The food is supposed to last for weeks! And a little more than half our labor force left with Draias and the others. The people are getting anxious, Kotu. They think it might be a sign."

Kotu was silent. He stacked a little more money up, carved off another bite of pie. The other Elders would be there nearly any minute. They would expect their dues. And when they heard the news of this food spoiling--especially so quickly...this would have to go away. Quick.

"Listen, girls." Kotu's voice was softer, "You know as well as I. The gods are benevolent beings. Their work is always for a just reason; a righteous purpose. Even their punishment...tell me, girls, could we have done more to persuade our poor lost brothers from leaving the tribe?"

Another silence; Kotu stacked more money; a voice came finally, "I suppose we could have done more to work out something with them. It...didn't really have to result in exile."

Kotu smirked, "...Then the food spoiled is our punishment. And I should say, I'm actually quite glad the punishment was so light. Perhaps, next time, people will think to be more peace-minded when dealing with small-minded heathens. And then, we will not suffer Jissei's blights. Now, if you don't mind, I believe you and your brethren have more food to gather. And I...have to finish my divine entreaty."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

It hit them just after midnight. The stench. That elusive stench, like the shadow muffins but not quite. They had been after that stench, hunting it.

Watchdogs, though they are shaped like dogs, are just as intelligent as the typical servitor. They took just as much pride in their work and their abilities. So, when they try to do something and fail, it make them angry. It makes them especially angry when what they failed at was the one purpose they had been created for: finding someone. For a Watchdog, it should be impossible not to find someone. Yet the man who bore this scent had been impossible to suss out or dig up. It had wounded their pride. But there it was again, with gusto, at points all over the world. Silently, they each raised their heads and let out a low base *ping*, a message to all others of their kind.

We found him.

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"What do you mean you found him?" asked the Watcher, voice low. He didn't want to wake Waverider. He really didn't want to wake Raka. The Watchdog stood before him, letting out all those low *pings*. It was exited, and a little afraid, and conveyed urgent in all of it's body language. Something was about to happen.

He flouted through the darkness, over the dwarfs bed. "Raka. Raka! Wake up, I think something is happening. Maybe we should get to the basement."

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"You are sure?" that impossibly old voiced echoed in the empty depths of the glass dome. The crone, the old one, she who ll watchers obeyed without question. Current steward of Spectropolis. Before her stood a watchdog, and a plethora of Watchers. The Watchdog *pinged* affirmative.

"Very well." she said, turning to the assembled. "Declare a state of emergency and put the Witness on high alert. Watchdogs, spread this news to all corners of the world. Watchdog, to Watcher, to citizen. Anyone who isn't doing that, follow the Watchdogs to where they lead you. Put eyes on whatever it is these are. We are the only ones who know, we may be the only ones who get there in time to do something."

The filed off like bullets, each in their own direction.

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Horizons was shaken awake, and strained up into the reflective green eyes to Two Gods Sitting. "Sis?" she asked groggily. "What are you doing here?"

To this, Two Gods Pressed a spear into her hands. "Where forming up, Witness orders. Something is going on."

Around them the groggy, happy drinkers were being awoken by Vandals and Witnesses. Some got up cursing and groaning, but one pulled himself up almost as if he had come out of a good night rest.

"Really. Can I get a quote as to what?"

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"Excuse me, Miss Namall, I'm sorry for.... Oh, hello Mr. Crav."

The Watcher looked down at the engineer god from where it had flown into the window. "Well, it's a god thing you're here regardless. A Watchdog just recived a message from it's kin......

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".....but they say his smell is different, that there are many of him now." The Watcher explained to Yojimbo. "We think their may be...."

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".....A crisis of unmitigated proportions." the watcher said, pleading with Coral as the other undines leap out of the water and took snaps at it. "Please, I know we've had our differences in the past...."

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"........ but this sort of seems like an all hands on deck sort of situation." The Watcher explained to Hazet and his court.

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"But you probably knew all that, didn't you?" The Watchers asked the Headwoman of the hags, shirking somewhat under her cold reg eyes.

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"Miss Mina! Miss Mina!" A watcher shouted from where it could go no farther. The Dog that had told her of the situation stayed by her side and *pinged* furiously, trying to attract attention. "Please, I have an urgent message for the god of this land! Someone please come speak with me!"

[Philote]

"That's is terrible indeed" Yojimbo exclaims "I'm going to be nearly as annoyed as Gilgamesh will be when his carefully laid plans are interrupted. Alright, be off now watcher, I have business to do."

"Balasar!" Yojimbo calls, revealing himself finally to the Dragonborn gang. "I am here to fulfill your desire. You will no longer be subject to the whims of other Spirits. I will mark you my hero and your members my servitors and you will be free to carry out your own devices." A portal to the Plane of Heroes opens next to Yojimob. "To accept you only need to step through this portal."

Balasar locks his gaze with Yojimbo's and then leads his men through the portal. They were both brothers to conflict and understood each other completely.

"I'm glad you agreed" Yojimbo comments "You will find a cache at your destination. The treasures within will make you a match for the other heroes of Gilgamesh that came before you."

(Raise Hero = Balasar
Create Divine Servitors = Spirits of Madness
Artifact = Cursed Fangs
Divine Artifact = Divine Servitor Armor)
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Bahamut listened intently to the warning. "Go Watcher and deliver a message for me. The tournament will have to be postponed until this matter is resolved. Take the viewers to whatever safe place the Watchman has put in place for them within this city. I will be taking my own heroes with me, but I will be leaving a portal to the Plane Heroes for any hero who wishes to take refuge. Only heroes may enter but be sure to send the message along to the other participants of the tournament."

Bahamut lifts off to gather Gilgamesh's heroes and to travel to Gilgamesh's continent.
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Anima busied himself. War was coming and Gilgamesh's Divine Artifacts had to be secured so that their power would not waver. Anima activates the Treasury, the safe house created between the Plane of the Kingdom and the Astral Tether, and the Divine Artifacts of Gilgamesh's land slip into its safety and out into Gilgamesh's other Planes.
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"It seems my coming her was not of much importance" Gilgamesh says "But it was nice to where the seeds of conflict have begun to sprout. I am moving back to my continent. Tell the Watchman though that I will be prepared to strike."

Gilgamesh leaves and returns to his continent, landing upon the Throne Room built on top of the largest formation in his land. He casts his gaze around, waiting for the first sign of the enemy to appear.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Uburra-Namall recoiled in horror at the announcement. The implications...her poor land...her poor creatures...this was very, very bad. She stood immediately, telling the Watcher that she would soon return.

She burst through the portal to her realm, "Daughters!"

The girls returned from their duties, responding simultaneously, "Yes, mother? Is Master Crav out there?"

"No time, girls." The goddess looked to either side of her, "I've received most disturbing news from an emissary of the Watchman. It seems chaotic, malevolent gods are at work now. We've got to batten down the hatches. Jassi! Jissei! Khadai!"

At Uburra-Namall's beckoning, light bent and twisted, pulling the three to her side.

"That...that disturbance I feel..." Jissei seemed troubled.

Jassi agreed, "Some moral conflict. Big."

And that much, Uburra-Namall could affirm. Her skin prickled, even just past the threshold of her realm, with a deep and unsettling feeling of anger. A strange and twisted undivine indignation, the very opposite of love, turned against all the essence of existence. It vexed her profoundly, and she paced back and forth until she could think of what to do about it.

She realized, all of a sudden...as much as she hated the idea of conflict and combat...she would need items. Weapons. She bade her fellow gods join hands with her, and they all focused their minds on the depths of the Plane of Creativity. It would be their focus, and their fuel.

By its power, the gods' first order of business was to call the Five Heroes back home from Spectropolis. They would be empathically filled in on the grave business at hand.

And then it was time to suit up. The Heroes were armed first, their weapons and skills enhanced greatly from the Plane of Creativity. When they were done, it was time for the Seven-Sin Sisters.

Vai would receive Vanity's Eye, another mirror, which could boost the physical power of whoever looked into it, as well as reflect energy and psychic/psionic attacks.

Prasim would get Greed's Grasp, a glove that would enhance her physical and mental power for as long as she was in possession of any item of monetary value.

Eda got Gluttony's Jaws, a mouthpiece that would allow her to chomp through anything with superstrong, invulnerable unhinging jaws, and digest anything without problem (with good taste, to boot).

Desra would take Heart of Lust, a heart-shaped pendant that would enhance her strength against foes who found her attractive, and let her blow kisses like projectiles of deadly force.

Nasta's weapon of choice would be Wrath's Reach, a glove of claws that grew sharper and tougher with her growing anger, and allowed her to channel that same anger into berserker rage.

Slomna's choice would be Sloth's Mind, a helmet that would slow enemies down as they grew closer, as well as psychically fog enemy minds as they grew closer, even to the point of sleep.

And naturally, Indiva would have Envy's Eye, a mirror of her own that would allow her to mimic any of the rest of the team's capabilities, in the event one of them would require any extra defense, support or assistance.

Jassi would receive The White Arsenal, a white quiver filled with infinite arrows that would be unbreakable, and a bow that was sure never to miss, in the hands of the righteous. Jissei would receive The Black Arsenal, a black sword that would deal unhealing wounds, and amplify pain, even from a distance, in the hands of the evil. Khadai would take FellStrike, a crimson-streaked, superstrong, prehensile whip, that would shoot red lightning to harm sinners.

And lastly, Uburra-Namall would wield The Heartbreaker, a supersized mallet of her own intricate and dainty design, that would grow in power with the strength of the wielder's capacity to love. It had even the power the attack astral/spiritual, psychic/psionic and magical beings.

The final touch was their armor. And when that had been summoned on their bodies, they exited the porta, to rejoin Crav and the Watcher. All of ten seconds, just like Uburra-Namall had predicted.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Fujin comes and listens to what the Watcher and Watchdog have to tell before telling them they can go, and flying off to tell Lily and Kyouko the situation at hand. Once all has been explained, the three goddesses start mobilizing all forces currently in Mina's lands, heroes and non-heroes alike, including asking for Aox's aid as well.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

"Yes," Brynhildr states. "Though whether or not I can cast the type of magic you want is dependant upon what type you want to see. I can't do healing magic otherwise I wouldn't be here now and my defensive magics are flimsy at best. What is it you want to see?"

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Kaita heard it first. She and Fidion looked up to the sky, and found themselves deeply troubled. There was an angry rumble, like thunder amplified, but it was obvious there was no approaching storm. They would have to share their discovery with their friend some other time. Now, they would have to return home. It was unwise to be out when the gods were in their moods...

[Zaleramancer]

In the heavens there was a bright flash, a light so bright that it made the night into day.

The lunar orb glowed red as cracks raced across it's surface. Seas of fire more vast than nations blossomed cruelly from it as it died, a thousand burning white fragments scattered. They shrieked towards the vast green world, ripping into the air. The stars grew far and dim as white dust obscured the sky.

As fire and death rained upon the world, the seas went wild as the tides sputtered and died. Chaos reveled across the world as the newly born meteorites crashed down like angels cast from high. In the sea, a great death began. Animals and people were lost under the tumulus waves and pressure.

Leagues away, in a city named for specters, a blue woman screamed in agony.  

In the Five Isles, The Headwoman nodded a wizened head as hags began to mobilize. Boats began to move as spells and enchantments for calming waters and diverting waves began to sing out to the world. Flanked by a pair of shorter hags, she began to walk towards the Mirror with nary a glance at the burning sky, beckoning the Watcher.

A small fluttering thing burst into the courtroom of Hazet, exclaiming that the sky was bleeding fire. The God-Emperor gripped his spear grimmly and began bellowing out orders. Winged Envoys shot off towards the Kingdom of Iron, The Confederacy and the Free States. Calls for aid. In Specteropolis, His younger self stared up at the sky with utter horror.

Beneath the waves, panic reigned as creatures died. Undines drifted helplessly, even their strength unable to resit the pummeling currents. Entire underwater cities struggled with all the might of magic they could, but they fought a loosing battle. The cries of despair traveled far in the deep waters. Coral and Bazul worked furiously to stem the wild tide.

Far away, in a world of memories, the Janites fought a loosing battle. Goblins and Giants and Monsters of all descriptions rose up to batter them back. An endless stream of them pushing.. This was enemy territory. Their home. Even the Army Of Jan could not hold out for long.

Across the world, things rose. Cruel Mirrors of the gods, Snorkel Giants and Goblins beyond counting. With fury and bloodlust, they invaded our world..

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Crav stared at the grim sky as thousands of white streaks bombarded the air with fiery luminescence. It was horrifyingly beautiful.

In the back of Crav mind a memory of a long past life tugged at his thoughts. The Memory of a grand war and much calamity. The grim fear of such a war built in Crav's heart. He knew what this terrible event would bring. He knew with grim certainty that the mortals would panic.

A white chuck of rock streaked through the sky towards him. It crashed beautifully into his embrace. He turned the luminescent chuck of moon in his palm and a small hope began to build in his chest.

There was a chance. A slim chance....but a chance all the same.

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Aox was horror stricken. He could not avert his gaze from the blinded catastrophe that assaulted the sky above him. He fell to his knees in blind terror of the calamity. Nothing in his lifetime could have prepared him for this. No tragedy even came close to the loss of the moon.

He almost didn't even hear the messengers calling for others to take up arms.

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Sonia did not blink. Sonia did not cry. Sonia did nothing.

She simply stared.

She stared at the sky emotionless. Something in the back of her mind had snapped at the sight and she could not react. There was no reaction that would have satisfied.

And so she stared.

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Von Trapt kept moving. As the moon shattered above him he could think of only the protection of the people. He shifted unconsciously into his massive castle form as his sprinted across the landscape.

Chucks of falling moon pinged and clucked as they collided to rest within his massive form.