Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.
Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.
Note 1: AU.
*
*
POWERLESS
*
*
chapter twenty-one
*
*
One could say that he took the plunge.
After coming out of the otherside of the portal, he found himself a few feet above water. Gravity, the not so fickle thing that it is, pulled him down as he had not planned ahead for such an occurrence.
Once inside the water he felt something call out to him. He didn't need to try and think of what it could possibly be. He knew what it was, it was his weapon, his and no one else's.
Sol had once wielded it, but it was not his, he had not claimed it to be his. At first luck's champion didn't even know who had given it to him, it had to be pointed out to him by misfortune's master.
Now it was calling to him, Ryoku, he was the dagger's master, the Avatar of Aetas, the Avatar of All, and most importantly, he was the Avatar of Time.
There was a reason why the God of Time was so elusive, it was because time was the one thing that Aetas dared not grant to any of his children, he knew that the temptation of messing with it, altering it, was too great, for even beings such as they. He was Lord of All, God of All things, but those things were divided by himself to many of his children. But time was the one thing he truly kept to himself.
Ryoku swam, following the pull of the dagger, it truly was the dagger of time. Information of its powers and abilities had been uploaded in his mind, right after Aetas had recognized him as his Avatar.
In a way Dranos and Split, could each be thought of as the equivalent of Tom Riddle or Lord Voldemort in Aetas. They were in a way Dark Lords, Dranos the master of all Nightmares, the races considered to be the darkest of the dark, and Split the last child of destruction, he was practically a Lord of Destruction and could chose such as his title. Seeing as those two worked together, they could be considered as one entity, they could be considered as the Dark Lord.
In its own way, Sybill Trelawney's prophecy could be playing out in Aetas of all places. There was a Dark Lord, and there was a Chosen One.
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...
Well, Ryoku did stumble into Aetas during a time when Dranos and Split were tormenting the world.
Born to those that have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...
Aetas can be considered as the parent here, or parents, as he was the god that recognized Ryoku as his Avatar. Ryoku was in a way reborn. Thrice defied him..tricky tricky one, Aetas defied Dranos thrice in a way, once was in the tent when he gave his prophecy, number two was when he gave Sol the dagger, and number three was when he made Ryoku his Avatar. As a god, he is everywhere and nowhere, he is in anytime and in no time, he is everything and nothing. Born as the seventh month dies? Duh, his birthday.
The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...
Technically Dranos did try to kill him, as well as hinder him in his quest, those actions could be considered as marking him. Ryoku was marked as an enemy. Power the Dark Lord knows not? He's got that as each Avatar have different powers.
The last bit of the prophecy doesn't even need mentioning. Ryoku already planned on defeating Dranos and Split. He knew of their existence due to the upload of information he received upon becoming an avatar. He just didn't know how he was going to go about it all.
'I guess..It'll come to me when the time is right..' he thought to himself.
While the continent was destroyed that did not mean that there were no remnants of it. There were in fact some traces of rock scattered all over where the continent had been situated. Ryoku found himself swimming, being pulled to one such location. As he reached the rocks, he noticed that it was shallow enough for him to wade in, and did so.
He felt the pull, but he didn't see anything. The dagger was said to be in some temple, but there was no temple here, only rocks, rocks, and more rocks. But as he waded some more in the shallow, he saw something shine in the water. It was like light reflecting on a metal surface of some sort.
He waded closer, and felt the pull grow stronger, looking into the water he spotted it, he had finally found the dagger. So he reached down into the water and took hold of it.
"Valeo super vicis," he whispered as he grasped and admired the blade. As plain looking as it was, it was still the Dagger of Time. A two and a seven, held hilt up and blade down, it was the symbol of Aetas. From pommel to guard it was the number two, and from guard to tip it was the number seven.
As if possessed he gripped the blade and willed it to change length, grow longer he willed it, and it grew to be the length of a regular sword. He had the blade with which to save the world, all he needed to do now was find the one to save it from. He needed to find his friends, so wordlessly and wandlessly he cast his spell. He created a sheath with which to carry his blade, he strapped it to his back, then changed form to that of a phoenix.
He felt no more need to concentrate and simple did, he transformed, and with a burst of flames he teleported to where he needed to be.
#
When Marius wanted to go in guns blazing, he went in guns blazing. The vessel's cannon, which Marius had upgraded into having two barrels, was being manned by Kimmel who was firing at anything bearing the flag of the Nightmares or just reeked of them.
The elemental balls being fired out of the cannons were a mixture of water and lightning balls, for greater damage. The element of air was used to make the firepower of the cannons a lot stronger that regular cannons, Marius couldn't really figure out how they were made to be that way as they had been created by a goddess.
Marius himself was armed with elemental rocket launchers, three of them, as well as a pea shooter he held in his mouth, spelled to be able to fire an unlimited number of peas, exploding peas.
Not planning to stay in place fighting at the rear end of the battle, Novo drove onward, mindful of the long range weaponry that the Nightmares and their Wight allies possessed. As they entered the fray, Novo had found out by accident that his boat actually had shields, soon after the discovery he activated the function, just in time too as a fireball had nearly engulfed the boat. The hot air balloon type device which gave the boat its lift, was converted by Marius into something resembling a jet propulsion system, which made moving forward faster.
Lavina and Satus were in charge of protecting the rear of the vessel, which was why they were armed with a number of different modified guns, most of them the automatic rifle kind. Their bullets were for piercing, everything was elemental in nature, as Marius had converted them all to use the elements via seals placed on the things. The duo also had a pair of sniper rifles to snipe the long-range fighters on the decks of the Nightmare and Wight ships.
The battlefield was huge, spanning a whole continent as well as the surrounding waters, and somehow, Novo managed to steer their way all the way to Obsido, it may have taken more than a few days of constantly flying, but the pepper up potions helped, along with the other potions Marius seemed to have on hand.
There was fighting literally everywhere, on the ground, the water, and even in the air. Mages after all did have spells that allowed flight. Which made flying even more dangerous as spells flew this way and that, the more still as they got closer to the capital. Some of the Mages went so far as to summon thing, creatures, and more powerful spells. These weren't the silly wand wavers of Earth, as Marius had seen them, these were Mages wielders of magic so great that the Founders of Hogwarts could never hope to compare to, were they not mages themselves.
"Everyone! Get into the cabin!" Novo shouted, "I'm going to crash us into the city!"
"Why?!" Marius shouted.
"Its the only way to land!" Novo shouted.
"Kimmel get in here!" Marius shouted out to the Were manning the cannons, who rushed into the cabin.
When all of them, save for Novo, were safely in the cabin, they could feel their ride quickly descend from the air. When it finally hit the ground, they felt it, Novo watched as the shields shook and eventually shattered. He was flung out through the glass of the control room when the vessel finally smacked into a solid wall. He slammed into the wall, but remained conscious.
"Novo!" Lavina said as she approached his form. He had managed to prop himself against the wall, managing to get into a sitting position.
"I..I'm fine Lavina..I'm a Were...we're tough..hehe..." Novo said, he was clearly in pain and it showed in his voice. He may not have had any visible injuries, but for some reason he hurt all over. Were were tough, sure, but he had hit his head rather hard against the wall.
"You are not fine," Lavina said, "You're hurt..Marius, don't you have anything?"
"Nothing for something like this," he said, "The hit to the head caused his motor skills to go nearly haywire, and his pain receptors are creationg false pain all over the place. He'll be fine in a few minutes."
"See..I'm f-fine," Novo said, "Go ahead without me, I'll rest a while, then catch up."
"It seems your boat's as busted up as you are," Marius commented, "We'll go on ahead, but I'm leaving one of my rifles here with you, alright?"
"S-sure..hehe..I'll catch up in no time.." Novo said, grabbing hold of the rifle, "Point and shoot, right?"
"Right," Marius said, then called his other companions, "We're going."
"Where?" Lavina asked.
"To the center of the city, to the heart of the continent," Satus said, "Rulers of the races are the only ones that know about it.."
"About what?" Lavina asked him.
"The heart of the continent, its how a continent can be destroyed," Satus said, "The center of the city is marked by a monument, one which has been improved over time, deep beneath that monument is a chest, and within it is a Seed of Destruction."
"So then..the First Seed is such a seed?" Lavina asked.
"No..The Merfolk's seed was hidden away along with the Nymphs," Satus said, "The twenty-seven Second Seeds and the cores of the continents, they are in a way the anchors of the world's existence. Destroying one, allows the continent to be destroyed, they do not destroy the continents themselves."
"So without this seed, the continent is allowed to sink, or whatever...?" she asked.
"The seed is like a lock, the lock which binds the continent together," Marius explained, "Its destruction is the key to destruction."
"So what are we waiting for, let's get to protecting that seed!" Lavina said.
"Right then," Marius said, and unsheathed three blades, "Follow me!"
Marius led, followed by Lavina, then Kimmel covering the rear, Satus on the other hand jumped up and ran on or along the walls with a sniper rifle in hand. One of the best defenses was prevention, and he needed to make sure that very few things would be able to get to the core of his party, his princess.
Unlike his many siblings, he was special, the most special of them all. By being the first, he was the most powerful, but at the same time he was the weakest. He was a god, one that no one readily wanted to recognize, and one that chose not to be recognized. He was the God of Limitations. He was almost like any other man, while he was a True Immortal, a higher power, unable to die by regular means, he could not do many of the things his siblings took for granted. Like the ability to simply make things happen, but he was the reason behind why those things could happen but within reason.
While his siblings could set out a goal and do it with very little problems or obstacles in the way, he needed to actually work hard, and focus on the task at hand, and continue to do so. He was only able to multitask with one separate thing, placing limits on everything even himself, his father being the exception of the rule of course. While his siblings could do many things, he was limited to more or less only two: Limiting and being himself.
They made their way as swiftly and stealthily as they possibly could, they were not found by any of the enemy thanks to Satus playing look out, he had limited the possibility of the enemy finding them. Somehow it worked and he didn't care to try and explain how he did it, for he didn't really understand it himself.
They made it to the monument in record time, and noticed that they had reached it before the enemy did, and so Marius set about preparing some traps for the enemy. Satus perched himself on the monument's head and acted as a lookout. Kimmel patrolled the perimeter, and Lavina stood guard at the base of the monument.
As Marius was returning from his trap setting, his senses began to blare, something was wrong, something was deadly wrong.
"Marius look out!" Lavina cried out as soon as she saw a figure shrouded in black mists appeared behind the Monopolian King, a bleeding sword in one hand, rapidly descending on the King.
It was as if everything was moving so slow, Kimmel tried to run to help as soon as he heard Lavina's warning shout. Satus swiveled on the spot, took aim and fired, but the elemental bullet seemed to move so slow.
Marius turned in place, blades forgotten. Time seemed to resume, return to normal pace just as the three swords fell to the ground. Marius had been slashed across his chest, his body falling seemingly lifeless to the ground.
"Twenty-seven rulers there once were," the attacker said, "Twenty-seven kings, now only one remains."
"Raaarh!" Kimmel cried as he ran at Marius' attacker, sword raised, preparing to deal a fatal blow.
One again time seemed to slow down, at half way to his target Kimmel was intercepted. The attacker moved so fast, too fast, and for some reason not even Satus could limit his movement. He seemed to be empowered by some unseen force, some unseen power. Lavina and Satus watched as Kimmel was physically beaten. An elbow to the gut, a palm thrust to the chin, and so on, until the Were could no longer take the beating and passed out from the pain.
"Damn you!" a new voice was heard, Lavina and Satus watched as Novo finally arrived, running at full speed, even though he looked to still be in pain, his halbred ready to impale this one enemy.
Time moved at a snail's pace for Lavina and Satus as they once again watched painfully as their comrade was beaten up. When it was over, Novo's weapon was lying on the ground, its staff and blade shattered, and his broken body beside it.
"Split.." Satus finally said after a short while, "I'd didn't think it were possible..."
"You know of me?" the voice came from the mists surrounding the Leader of the Nightmares, the Nightmare King Dranos, "I did not think that anyone from this pathetic reality would know of me."
"The Last Child of Destruction...I know who and what you are," Satus said dropping down from his perch.
"Satus..?" Lavina asked, a little scared, she had after all seen her friends decimated.
"Just stay by the monument, I will deal with mine cousin," he told her, "While Ryoku is not here, I will protect you."
"How very touching..who are you anyway?" the voice in the mists asked, curious.
"I am the First Son of Aetas, nephew of Totiens," Satus said.
"The first shall be the last," the voice in the mists smoke with the voice of Dranos mixed in, "I am Split, Last Son of Totiens, nephew of Aetas, and I shall be your doom!"
The black figure then rushed Satus who brought put up his sword just in time to block his opponent's blade.
"You were the son he loved the most, yet you killed him in the end!" Satus shouted as he counterattcked.
"He chose his fate! He said he loved me! But he left me without ever showing that love!" Split/Dranos shouted as he blocked his cousin's attacks, retaliating some time after.
"You spoilt child! He did not leave you! You could have gone to him! Asked him to stay! But you didn't, you moped, felt depressed, you chose your fate!" Satus shouted, each exclamation and declaration punctured by a slash, a block, or a counterattack.
"He did not love me! He used me! Me! God of Discord! He begged me to stop poisoning his other children!" Split/Dranos shouted, his attacks growing in strength and speed, "He asked what I wanted, and he gave it to me!"
"See! Its your fault your reality died! You asked him to kill himself! He was blinded by his love for all his children! You forced his hand! You killed his REALITY!" Satus screamed as put as much power as he possibly could into his arms as he pushed his cousin back, Split/Dranos landed in a heap, unmoving.
"He left me..he left us..nothing was important..if he did care..he wouldn't have left us..Uncle left as well..Uncle abandoned all..Uncle deserved to die..all of Him deserves to die," Split/Dranos said in low tones, he then stood up.
"I will not let you pass," Satus stated, "Today, this day, whethere I live or die, you shall not succeed."
"Mere words are worthless," Split/Dranos whispered, and disappeared.
Satus focused inwards, focused on his power.
Split/Dranos appeared right beside him.
Satus swiftly grabbed hold of his cousin's neck as if to choke him.
"Your end is here," Split/Dranos whispered in Satus' ear as he plunged his blade into his cousin's heart, not minding the hands around his neck.
"As all is n-none, s-so you a-are O-one," Satus whispered weakly, as he slid to the floor, and Split/Dranos pulled out the bleeding blade.
The Host of Discord and Avatar of Dreams then faced the remaining obstacle, Lavina, Princess of the Dragon-Kin.
"Then there was one, step away from the monument and I will grant you a swift death," the Nightmare King stated.
"C-Come any closer and I'll kill you!" she shouted as confidently as she could.
"Is that so?" he rhetorically asked, disappeared once again, and reappeard in front of her, raising his blade he said, "Then DIE!"