A/N - So for a few chapters, the story will become less connected. It will be more like a bunch of stories that happen within the same universe. Think of it like individual myths or like individual films in something such as the MCU.
Time: Sometime in the Future (No One's POV)
Midgard had undergone some extreme changes since the War of Destruction. That was what the war was being named due to the fact that the war was against Obsidius and the 7 Beasts of Destruction. Also, the destruction upon Antathelus had been absolutely insane. For a couple thousand years, the large land mass was like a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Mortal life was so rare, and it was as though life on and would never thrive again.
Eventually, Kronus had enough of the barren, lifeless planet and looked to make a change. The Titan of Time sought the help of his brother, Oceanus, the ruler of the seas. And so, with the combined might of his powerful scythe and Oceanus's ocean and earth abilities, was able to split Antathelus into 5 separate landforms, which were called continents. Each continent was named after the respective kingdom that ruled them: Jotron after Jotrunion , Muspellius after Muspellion, Atlantia after Atlantis, Heavenia after Heaven and Death Valley after the Underworld.
This change to the entire Midgardian world, seemed to be a great one for the wellbeing of life. The ever varying climates across each continent seemed to benefit life rather than hurt it. Obviously, each different atmosphere supported different species of life, but this only served to make Midgard more biodiverse than it had ever been. Kronus, had made one of the best decisions of his immortal life. Midgard loved the Titan as their King, and the support only helped to boost his already humongous ego.
But with the Titans ruling the world, what had become of the previous Midgardian rulers, the primordials? Well, actually, there were only two primordials left on Midgard after the War of Destruction (Gidorah had not returned from the Cosmos yet). Phyntos, the primordial of Magic and Jaya, the primordial of the Earth.
Phyntos had not been seen for many years, ever since he had been captured by Obsidius and looked to have disappeared off the face of the planet. He was pretty much presumed dead by the Titans and treated as much, a funeral was even held for him! Unfortunately, not many attended as the primordial was known to be quite secretive and did not have many friends. Especially those that were not dead. As for where he actually was, well he was on Midgard, hiding out in some random cave. The whereabouts of the primordial is really not that important for the time being.
Jaya, was much more interesting. The primordial of the Earth had surrendered her throne as the Queen to her daughter, Shey, almost instantly after the Titaness's marriage to Kronus. After the renunciation of her power, the mother of the Titans went into an eternal slumber. From what everyone else could gather, the primordial had felt as though everyone important in her life had left, and she had no reason to continue on the planet anymore. She couldn't bring her to commit suicide, not only because it would be extremely difficult as an immortal, but also she had this feeling that her purpose wasn't finished yet. So in summary, primordials no longer held any power over Midgard, all the control rested in the Titans' hands.
Jotron was ruled by Loki and Jade, and their continent was located in the northern most reaches of the planet. Due to its perpetual cold, wintery environment, it was nicknamed the Frozen Lands. Not much variety of life lived in these lands because of the harsh conditions. But, those that did would thrive as their competition for survival was severely lacking compared to other continents.
Muspellius, located in the western parts of the planet was under the control of Sirter and Turi. The lands were much more calm than the old flaming forest had been. It was filled with vegetation, and also housed the eternal flame. The flame discovered by Sirter after the War of Destruction as a powerful energy source that never seemed to extinguish.
After Hydros's presumed death, the kingdom of Atlantis (And by default Atlantia), located in the South, had fallen to the next immortal of the Seas, Oceanus. The Titan was a bit of a protective leader, and had sunk his land under the water to favour the spawning of marine life over any other kinds of life. He was also extremely fond of his people, often spoiling them with various luxuries other kingdoms did not have access to.
Heaven and Heavenia, in the centre of the world, had also undergone a change in leadership, from Gidorah's to Rattus's. The Titan of the Sky had also somehow made it so that his continent was floating in the sky. Despite this, Rattus was open to all types of life on his planet, and also went as far to allocate various types of flying creatures as transportation between his continent and the rest of the grounded land.
Finally, Death Valley, the smallest, most Eastern situated land was ruled by Umbra. The Titan had taken over after Hell's sacrifice and designed his continent to be an entrance of sorts to the rest of the Underworld. Obviously, he didn't want living creatures to just head over to the land of the Dead randomly so Death Valley was also one of the most remote and dangerous lands in the world. It was heavily fortified and was inhabited by various types of killer undead creatures. Life was extremely scarce upon the land.
Kronus and Shey, as the rulers of Midgard were ruling the planet slightly differently than their parents had done. The Titans had not decided to settle down in any particular Kingdom as Heaven had been before. Instead, they opted to move around a lot, staying at all the Kingdoms. But, they had also built their own castle, located in Death Valley so not a lot of life to bother them. The two Titans were pretty good rulers for the time being, although Kronus felt as though he wanted to see more progress in Midgard's development but didn't know how to go about it just yet.
Then, there was Joker and Hader. With how low-key and disconnected they have been, I'm not surprised if you've forgotten about the mysterious duo. Despite Kronus's persistent searches for his siblings, it seemed that the two Titans were nowhere to be found. Shey searched their immortal life forces and confirmed that they were still alive, but for some reason she couldn't see their fate as it had been clouded. This could only mean that Joker's magic was powerful enough to obscure the two Titans from being found at all. It was strange to the Titans, what could Joker and Hader be planning that required so much secrecy…?
Time: Many Years Later Location: Unknown (Joker POV)
Joker stood on the edge of a barren cliff side, gazing at the prospering mortal life forms under him. He watched the birds as they flew across the great blue body of his dead father: Gidorah. He observed the big green plane of trees as they blew gently in the wind. The Titan was happy, it seemed Midgard was certainly surviving magnificently after the events of the War of Destruction. But, Joker couldn't help but to feel as though the planet could be something so much more…
"Hader." he turned to the fiery orange eyes of his wife, "I think there needs to be a change." he said in a serious tone.
Hader raised an eyebrow, "Why do you say that?" she asked softly.
Joker tilted his head thoughtfully, "Life on Midgard has certainly been sufficient towards the planet's benefit after the war." he explained, "But, I sense that there could be much greater potential for what it could evolve to."
Hader looked more confused, "What do you mean, honey?"
"I mean," Joker continued, "Midgard could one day be powerful enough to take over the entire universe. But, for that to happen, the life here needs to become greater. There are not enough immortals to propel the planet to the right trajectory for achieving greatness. I think the responsibility lies in the hands of the fast breeding mortals, they need to evolve."
Hader nodded understandingly, "I guess you're right." she replied, "I do want our planet to achieve greatness as well. However, how do you expect us to change the fate of the world?"
Joker gave her an incredulous look, "You're kidding right?!" he asked in disbelief, "With your construction powers and my magic powers combined, creating a new powerful mortal species should be no problem!"
Hader rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Yes," she mused, "That could work…"
Joker interrupted her, "Of course it would work," he teased, "I thought of it after all!"
Hader rolled her eyes, "Let's do it then, genius!" she remarked sarcastically.
Time Skip to when they start making the evolved mortals. (No One's POV)
Hader began drawing designs for what Joker began referring to as the "ultimate species". She had created many prototypes, but had since narrowed it down to just 3 final designs. In the end, it was decided that Joker would give each of them the ability of life. With the promise that, after a brief examination period in captivity, one of these evolved mortal lifeforms would actually be released into Midgard, in order to grow and develop the planet as a whole.
Hader worked hard, sculpting the three prototypes out of clay. Being the Titaness of Mechanical Construction, she created these sculptures damn near perfectly. So much so, that Joker couldn't tell if she had really found a way to make drawings come to life.
Anyways so there they were. The three prototypes:
First, a 10 feet tall, six armed, four legged creature built like an absolute unit. Its arms looked like branches of a tree, covered in thick fur. Its entire torso was connected to a powerful four legged body in such a way so the creature essentially had two bodies fused into one. If you want a real world comparison, think of a cross between a six armed gorilla and a horse like a centaur. It was called Homo Gargantuas, or the Giant Ape.
Then, there was a 3 feet long, small, agile two legged creature that was built for speed. It possessed very small arms, like a T-Rex would but very powerful legs. It looked like a prehistoric raptor, covered totally in feathers and equipped with powerful claws on its limbs. This guy was much smaller than the Giant Ape, but was designed specifically to dominate through manoeuvrability, so the smaller size may actually be a benefit. It was called Homo Terra, or the Terra Raptor.
Finally, was the strangest creature of all. An ape, almost completely hairless that stood on two legs. It was just under 6 feet in height and had no tail either. This creature was designed almost completely differently to any mortal creature before. No, this guy was actually created specifically to match the anatomy of a typical immortal being. It was to be named the Homo Sapien, which you and I would know as a human being.
After the creation of the three evolved sculptures was created, Joker immediately began working his magic to bring them each to life. He also made sure to cast a sleeping spell upon all of them, to ensure they would be easy to capture and bring to their little testing ground.
The test they had decided would be a test of not only survivability but intelligence as well. Joker and Hader both decided that to be recognised as the dominant mortal species that was entrusted to propel the planet into greatness, these were the most desirable trait. So, Joker had gone out and captured a Winged Demon from the depths of the underworld, with the test to see which species could defeat it. The Demon had superior physical and elemental abilities compared to all of the mortals, so its destruction could not come from brute force alone.
A rather intelligent plan, I must admonish.
Time Skip: The Giant Ape faces the Winged Demon (Joker POV)
"Actually," Joker pulled the Winged Demon, named Gration, off to the side, "Don't use any of your elemental abilities, it would be little unfair to the mortals. Plus, you have superior physicality anyways."
The Demon nodded uncertainly at the Titan's words.
"Don't worry," Joker reassured, "You are a creature of the undead, mortals cannot truly kill you: only send you back to the Underworld. I will pay you greatly for this task, my friend, I promise."
Gration smiled, "I will serve you well, master." he announced proudly, before entering the controlled testing environment.
Not long after the demon, the first evolved mortal species: the Giant Ape galloped confidently into the arena. The 10 feet tall ape was definitely large, but the 13 feet tall demon outclassed it in that department. Nevertheless, the ape seemed eager and assured in his ability to take Gration down.
"Remember," Joker announced to all of his test subjects, "This experiment is to be treated not like a 'fair' battle but merely a method of survival. Gration will be hunting you down, your job is to survive but also to defeat him in any way possible. The test ends when you have either defeated him, or he defeats you. Homo Gargantuas, your time begins…"
The Giant Ape watched the Titan closely, preparing to charge directly at the demon. Gration seeing this raised an eyebrow, surely the ape did not expect to win from brute force alone-
"Now!" Joker yelled, signalling the start of the test.
As Gration expected, the Giant Ape ran full speed, directly at him. The demon barely had time to get prepared, and in a blink of an eye, he had been tackled to the ground. Joker watched in fascination as the six armed behemoth rained torrents of punches upon the Demon's body, desperately trying to finish off the undead creature as quick as possible.
Suddenly, with a roar of defiance, Gration threw the Giant Ape off of him and quickly got to his feet.
"Enough!" the Demon growled, pointing an accusatory finger at the ape, "You wanna play with the bull, you're gonna get the horn!"
He then lowered his head so his deadly horns were pointed directly at his opponent, got on all 4 legs and charged. The Giant Ape seemed not to care at the massive demon charging towards him and unleashed a brutal battle cry, before also running straight at his enemy.
The collision was honestly painful to watch, and Joker had to hold back a cringe. The Giant Ape had jumped into the air to try and land on the charging demon. But, somehow Gration had anticipated this and carried his momentum upwards so that he hit the ape with his horns with a ridiculous amount of force. The attack was so strong that not only did the sharp horns puncture straight through the ape's ribs but had completely sent him flying straight into the air.
The ape landed a few feet away with a sickening crunch, a pool of blood quickly forming around him. His body never moved again.
The mortal was clearly dead, but Joker teleported down just to make sure. So that the Titan wouldn't puke from the sight, he quickly flashed the body away to be disposed of later on. He looked at the demon, who was wiping blood off of his horns and muttering something about an "arrogant mortal".
Joker smirked before turning to the terrified expressions of the remaining two mortals, "Who's next?" he asked amusedly.
Time Skip: The Terra Raptor faces Gration
As Joker reminded the two test subjects of the rules he couldn't help but notice the wide, scared eyes of the raptor. He began to wonder if what he was doing may be a little bit cruel, but reminded himself that this was, after all, for the greater good of Midgard.
"Begin!" the Titan commanded loudly.
Almost instantly, the raptor took off running. Where to, Joker had no idea, but it was most likely a desperate attempt to get away from Gration. Speaking of Gration, the demon stood frozen in confusion, looking around in a 'what the fuck just happened' sort of way.
"What are you doing?" Joker bellowed, "Chase him!"
Gration stared at the Titan for a brief moment, before something seemed to click inside his head. The demon turned to the direction the Terra Raptor had run off in, spread his huge wings, and flew off.
Joker used his magical vision to watch the entirety of the environment he had allocated for the experiment. He had expected something like this to happen, so he purposely included a huge forest that the mortals could run away into. That way, it would be easier to hide from Gration.
Joker observed the raptor, who didn't really seem to have a plan as he continued to sprint as fast as possible away from the demon. Unfortunately, as the Titan noticed, Gration had locked on to his target and was keeping up with the raptor's insane speed just fine. Of course, the demon couldn't fly fast enough to actually catch his prey yet, but was perfectly capable of flying at the right speed to be constantly behind the speedster.
Well, Joker thought, the raptor was certainly surviving a lot longer than the Giant Ape had. He had, after all, ensured that the mortal would have enough stamina to run at top speed for an hour before tiredness would begin to take over. However, the time was approaching an hour, Gration was still right on the raptor's heels and Joker could see exhaustion written in his features.
Suddenly, in what could only be a desperate attempt, the raptor suddenly launched himself at Gration. He extended his claws to try and surprise the demon with a devastating slash attack.
It almost worked too, if not for Gration's quick reaction time. The demon quickly blocked the raptor's strike with a quick swipe of his powerful arm. Somehow, this slight defensive manoeuvre was successful in sending the raptor's momentum tumbling straight into a sharp branch.
The speed the raptor flew at turned the branch into a deadly spear, one the pierced straight through the mortal's body and out the other side. This instantly killed him, evidenced by his bleeding, unmoving body.
Just like that, the second mortal had been slain by Gration. Joker pursed his lips disappointingly, the last mortal would need a miracle to pass his test.
He turned to the human, who was trembling in fear, "Homo Sapien," he said commandingly, "Your time has come."
Time Skip: The Human faces Gration
Joker was very interested in what the human's strategy would be against the demon that was more than twice his size. Physically, he was obviously outmatched, if the Giant Ape couldn't take Gration head on than the human shouldn't even bother trying. The human couldn't even run that fast, and even if he could outrun the demon, he would surely tire extremely quickly. Joker sighed, maybe making the ultimate mortal species was much harder than he had originally anticipated.
"Start!" Joker boomed loudly, to signal the final experiment of the day.
Like the raptor before him, the human instantly took off running into the forest.
Gration stared in disbelief for a second, before bursting out laughing, "This is gonna be the easiest one yet!" he announced amusedly.
It appeared the demon may have taken pity on the mortal as he waited a brief moment, seemingly allowing a head start, before spreading his wings and giving chase.
With his magical vision, Joker could see Gration flying around confused. The demon searched high and low, but he could not find the human anywhere in the forest. After a while, he flew back to where the Titan was residing.
"Milord," Gration bowed respectfully, "I cannot find the mortal. I believe the mortal has escaped the testing environment." he proclaimed.
Joker was amused, he knew that this simply wasn't true. He sensed the mortal's presence in the forest, cleverly concealed in a small hidey-hole.
"Return, Gration." Joker responded, "The experiment has not finished." he dismissed the demon with a small wave of his hand.
Gration reluctantly returned to the testing environment, flew a lazy lap around the place in a last attempt to find the mortal to no avail. So he landed back on the sandy banks of the starting area, stretched his wings and lay down. The demon had been fighting all day, and chased a raptor for almost a whole hour, so it did not surprise Joker when he feel almost instantly into a deep slumber.
After the demon had been sleeping for quite a while, Joker sensed movement from inside the forest. And, suddenly the human burst out of the trees, a huge spear in his hand. With his enemy's guards completely lowered, the mortal quickly plunged the blade deep into Gration's chest.
Gration looked up, wide eyed, gasping with pain. His eyes narrowed in anger at his attacker when he realized he had been tricked, but could not retaliate before he disappeared back into the underworld.
Joker teleported down to the mortal, who was panting with exhaustion. He cackled in delight at the human's showing of intelligence and bravery: hiding from an opponent clearly stronger than him and then getting the easy kill later. The Titan looked at his creation fondly, "The Ultimate mortal has arrived!" the Titan yelled excitedly.
A/N - Yes, I've been gone a while. TBH I'm just not motivated enough to update quickly. Don't worry though, I won't completely stop, the chapters will just be slower. You'd understand if you tried to write something like this yourself.