Falmar.
A world of magic, fantasy, and any monster girl you could imagine.
Well, now it's the equivalent to Hell on Earth. A green hell to be exact.
About a few months ago, a meteor struck Falmar. And with it came chaos, as the green crystal it brought quickly began to overrun their world.
People, dragons, just about everything. Nothing could stop it, if they touched the crystal, they either became more of the crystal, or became horrifying half-crystal abominations.
They didn't even have to physically touch the crystal, for the air around them seemed toxic. There was no solace in the sky, for great storms would vaporize those who dared to fly in the clouds.
Magecraft and other arts of magic are increasingly rare, for the toxic air seems to eliminate one's ability to use any form of magic, leaving mages on the run from both slavers and the strange green crystal, for if the latter caught them, they had a chance for a fate worse than death, for they would become a Crystal Menace, an extremely powerful mage whose magic was actually mysteriously reinforced by the green crystals, to the point where an already powerful normal spell could be supercharged to the point of mass destruction, at the cost of their sanity and moral compass.
Many think that their gods have abandoned them.
Quite the opposite, actually. They tried to fix it.
Keyword being tried.
No matter how many earthquakes or other divine interventions they used, the crystal only came back even more plentiful.
So now, they sat around arguing, until finally, one of the higher ups, Darkshinia, Embodiment of Order, came into their realm, two of her great war machines, these known as an Assimilator and a Bulwark, carrying the dead body of an Apostle, and the half conscious body of an alternate Embodiment, whose head had been completely turned into the green crystal, rendering it unable to heal in any way.
This was all the convincing they needed, for they would have to send one of their own remaining Apostles through a structure simply known as the Gate.
Hardy, Goddess of the Underworld, opened the Gate, and they all hoped for the best.
And the best is exactly what they'll get
[Falmar's realm of the gods]
"Oh, quit your whining, Duncan."
"Excuse me!? I have tried combining my forge powers with those of Hardy's ability to split the earth apart and it still came back! I have every right to complain, goddamnit!"
As the Gods and Goddesses bickered like children, one of them stayed quiet. God of Death, Emroy.
Finally, he had enough of this nonsense, even though he notorious for his skewered sanity, as he threw a few magical skulls, which knocked just about everyone out.
"Quiet, all of ye! Are ya bleedin' idiots? You punks are makin' my head spin!" He exclaimed, changing from a Scottish accent to a mafia gangster in a single sentence
"Oh god, he's mixing accents again."
"Did the God of Insanity/Death/Whatever just tell us to shut up?"
"You just have to open the Gate and get some help." He said in a more serious tone of voice.
"Are you an idiot, Emroy?"
"No, he has a good idea for once." Everyone turned to see a tall woman with cyan colored hair. She wore a gray uniform decorated with several war medals. On her back is two pairs of bright translucent yellow wings, signifying her as a Greater Fae, which are basically four-winged human-sized fairies. She had a large sword at her side, which glowed a bight cyan color.
This was Darkshinia, Embodiment of Order. As an Embodiment, she had higher authority in the hierarchy of the Celestials, a few levels above an Archgoddess. Together, they control many of the forces within the confines of their timeline, wether it be Chaos or Order, or keeping balance between the previously mentioned. She herself used to be a General, until she gave it up, giving the title of Admiral (because it sounded cooler) to the Embodiment of Balance, Legia Lestarie.
Behind her was a pair of her great war machines. To her left was a large bi-pedal mech with long arms and rather bare-bones body, with a single massive triangular eye with a green iris, known as an Assimilator.
To her right was a similarly built mech, this one loaded with weaponry ranging from hands that could transform into four gatling guns each to two rows of at least a dozen tank barrels place just above it's head, which was also triangle, except that it's iris was a deep blue. This was a Bulwark.
In the former's hands lay the body of what used to be the Apostle of one of the gods in the room, now unrecognizable due to the massive crystal growths.
You see, the Apostles of Falmar's gods were nigh invincible. Sure, they weren't actually invincible, for you could separate their body parts a great distance and they'd never be able to get it back unless you returned it or unless they ascended, but you can't regenerate your flesh if it's not there to begin with, as with what happened to this poor fellow.
The Bulwark held another body in its hands. It appeared to be a woman whose left side was turned completely into metal, which was one of the few options left for even a Chaos being like herself. However, she only had half of a brain, and thus was rendered brain-dead, only barely conscious through her own sheer power. And even then, all she did was stare at her hands.
"Do you see the pain and death that this green crystal has caused? This may not be my actual sister, but that doesn't matter! My forces are current fighting the source as we speak! However, they have yet to reach your world! So what are you gonna do, sit around and bicker?!"
Silence fell over them, not wanting to refute her claims, since most Embodiments were often known for their questionable state of minds.
"...They're right. We have to open the Gate."
"We'll send Rory Mercury through the Gate, and we'll see if we can get the Princess as well. Meeting adjourned."
Rory Mercury, Apostle of Emroy, walked through the streets of Italica, one of the last major settlements that have remained untouched to the tidal waves of the green crystals.
Civilians watched in fear and respect. Despite the hatred many held for the gods and goddesses for apparently doing anything to resolve the crisis, they were still wise enough not to piss off an Apostle of any god or goddess, let alone the Apostle of the death god.
In the center of Italica was a large towering castle, where the Princess of the Empire, Pinã Co Lada, who had been able to create a massive "safehouse" consisting of the entire city, where mages and humanoids could live in peace within the city walls. So far, it was through pure luck that the toxic crystal had yet to strike like a plague. (Or maybe it was plot armor.)
Earlier that day, Rory had a vision, in which Emroy told her that the Gate would open, and that she and the princess would have to enter it to seek the aid of those on the other side.
Unfortunately, they had little to no control over where the Gate would open on the other side, so it would be quite a shot in the dark.
Princess Pinã watched intently as the Gate materialized on Alnus Hill in front of her.
As she sat upon her horse, she glanced at a field of the cursed green crystals, some of which were blue, that surrounded the hill. Behind her was her Rose Order of Knights, an small group of elite knights that consisted entirely of females, save for their mentor, an man named Gray, who taught them how to fight at a young age, when everyone else saw them as a bunch of children acting out their fantasies.
Behind her stood Rory, carrying her trademark halberd.
"So...are we ready?" The Apostle asked, growing impatient.
A loud screech behind them provided plenty of motivation, as a humanoid Crystal Menace, its body deformed and covered in patches of the green crystal, leapt out of the crystal fields, wielding a large crystal staff.
"Go, go, go!"
Thus, they fled through the Gate, and hoped for the best.
The best is what they'll get.