The Age of Fairy Tales:
The New Gods III
CLANG!
A sword clattered across the ground and a second later the body of its owner was thrown out of the alley right past it. A nearby guard dressed in armor was looking around frantically for the attacker which came right through the wall behind him, slamming him into a house. The first person, the one who been knocked out of the alley got up and ran as fast as he could. Behind him came the sounds of someone getting skewered by the attacker but he dared not stop and look to see who had just died.
He made it into the center of the village where the rest of his fellow guards were assembled. In the center was a well which was the village's primary source of water and right now was their last stand. A friend came by and placed a hand on his back as he panted heavily from running so much. They turned to see a watchtower collapse and realized it was getting closer.
A dusty mist rolled into the area, obscuring their vision which made them all the more weary. There was a sound followed by a barrel that came rolling out. The nearest soldier stopped it with one foot, looking around nervously and stepped back, looking back and forth. There was a snarling sound followed by a sword being dropped. He looked in the direction, seeing nothing while his friend pulled an arrow out and got ready to fire.
There was another sound and they turned to see another guard had vanished.
Just as they looked away, a guard holding a mace tripped and was pulled into the mist. They all grouped together, standing back to back with their weapons ready. The one that had run into the center area took off and ran, feeling they could not win. Just as he did, it leapt out of nowhere and pounced on three of the village's remaining defenders, killing them instantly.
He ran into a stone alley, stopping for a second to catch his breath. He looked back, wondering it was following him.
Nothing.
For a second he thought he was safe…and then he heard a snarling sound.
He slowly looked up and saw it.
A black red eyed monster snarling down at him with burning red eyes.
A Creature of Grimm.
But this was no ordinary Grimm.
Ordinary Grimm they have been able to handle up to now.
This was something else.
An abnormal and exceptionally strong Grimm that had been attracted to this village because of its higher population.
The higher the number of people, the higher the negativity it gave off at the right time.
He took running again but just as he almost out of the alley, it landed in front of him, having shown to easily be faster than a normal person. It snarled at him, seemingly ready to pounce…
Before a bunch of arrows were lodged in its face.
It turned in the direction the arrows were fired and took off.
He came out and looked around, seeing a body nearby. It was one of the village defenders who been killed. He knelt down and picked his fellow defender's sword, feeling slightly better to have a weapon in his hands again. He stepped back, staring down at the body, feeling the urge to throw up at how badly mauled and skewered it had been.
He could only hope the person died quickly.
He took off running again, trying to find a way out and take his chances in the wilderness. He came upon another batch of defenders, likely the remaining ones who had all come together to make one final stand. They only glanced at him for a second before looking up and seeing it standing on a nearby wall. It jumped down and stared them down for a second before spinning its bladed arms and charged forward.
The archers aimed and fired their arrows, hitting it head on but the Grimm barely seemed to feel it as it feel on the defenders, slashing through the archers first, cutting through them like a knife through butter. One stabbed it in the back of its leg with a sword but that same leg grabbed him by the waist before slamming him down onto the ground and crushing him. It then grabbed the next attack and with its two extra arms it easily ripped the poor person in two. It tossed the remains away as another one came at it with a mace.
It easily ducked under the clumsy swing and swing its arm up, sending the unfortunate soul into the air and with a mere spin of its bladed hands, finished him off and sent him crashing through the wall of a nearby house. It continued spinning its bladed arms, cutting through the remaining defenders and stabbing last one right through the chest.
It then turned to him, the one it had been chasing through the village.
The one who had led it to all of its friends.
The one it had been saving for last.
He had a look of utter hopelessness as it slowly approached him and sniffed at him as it circled around him.
It reached out to his head, ready to finish him off with one simple snap when a blast of light caught it off guard. The Grimm was sent crashing into the wall and he turned with a look of sheer astonishment to see a pair of young women emerge from the dusty mist.
One was a woman with blue hair and eyes, dressed in a black skin tight outfit that was somewhat similar to the attire of a knight without armor while the other was a girl with long red hair dressed in a traveling outfit but held a sword in both hands. The Grimm got back up and lunged at them with its bladed arms spinning, becoming a wheel of death. The woman held out one hand and the Grimm slammed into an invisible barrier, breaking its blades and leaving it open as the red haired girl swung her sword and cut its head off.
Just like that the Grimm was dead.
He could only stare in disbelief as the remains of the monster that wiped out his home dissolved into nothingness.
He then looked at the two females who had saved his life while they stared back for a moment…before turning away. He fell to his knees, watching as they walked around the village, looking for supplies. When the blue haired woman stopped in front of him he lifted his head and looked up at her, seeing a beautiful face staring at him as she held out one hand to him.
He simply stared.
The hand hovered in front of him for a moment before the woman sighed and lowered her hand. She turned around and walked over to her companion who watched in silence. They packed whatever supplies they could find and continued on their way, leaving the one man who survived the massacre to watch them as they left.
All he could do at this point was just watch.
Xxx
"That's about the fifth village they saved this week."
For Neo, things were becoming very boring in this place that was called the Ever After. The only thing she could do at the moment was watch Aqua go on her adventures while at the same time literally watch Remnant's history in the making. Luckily Penny 'sped' things up so they weren't watching every moment of Aqua's journey, just the important parts.
Kind of like a movie in a way.
"Yeah, I almost forgot how bad things were before people found out how to use Dust as a power source and a weapon." Oscar admitted, sitting on a stump and sipping from a coconut as he watched.
Terra 'looked' at Oscar. "They did not have warriors to fight the Grimm in this time?"
"No. Humanity was still reeling I guess from the loss of magic. In the first age, magic was our primary method of defense and offense against the Grimm and the God of Darkness kept them away for the most part." Oscar explained, putting the coconut shell down. "Then when Ozma came back he and Salem created a kingdom that was supposed to unite the world."
If only it had worked…
"The years went by and people were becoming more and more desperate to survive." Oscar went on after a moment. "Finally, a breakthrough was made when people learned how to unlock their own Aura…A result done by an incarnation of Ozma."
Neo and Terra stared at Oscar while Penny continued watching Aqua's progress before Neo finally spoke. "And?"
"It's not something I am fond of recalling." Oscar admitted, feeling the shame and regret Ozma had felt at the time.
"Oh suck it up." Neo rolled her eyes. "We've all done things we regret…Well, maybe things that most here regret more than others but getting all sad over it every time it is brought up…Is just plain depressing."
Oscar chuckled a bit with a saddened smile on his face. "Yeah, I got to work through but it's never easy."
Neo sighed and looked back to the image in the tree, showing Aqua and Poppy back on the road. "You are hopeless."
Xxx
Aqua and Poppy continued on their journey in the search for one of the four relics: the Lamp of Knowledge. They had been traveling through the eastern lands for a month now, stopping at any nearby villages and defending others from the Grimm. Aqua had even added a traveling cloak to her attire but otherwise remained the same aside from her hair growing even longer.
As for Poppy, she turned her head for a second, looking back where they left their home. She had been thinking about the Staff of Creation lately, even thinking about that cult that had used it when they had found it, except they try to use its power differently.
"Hey, Aqua." Poppy said to her bringing her mentor's turning attention to her. "I know you use a certain loophole for the staff of creation. So, did they, the cult of Yevon, like you found an alternative solution instead of using your own life and others?"
Aqua nodded. "Yes, also it just drained all of my power with Ambrosius through me. It is similar to those obstacle training courses from Phil that we had gone through except more than double time."
Poppy had a memory relapse of the aches and pains going through that intense training. She briefly wondered if her mentor was reflecting on the same moments of her experience going throughout full in those courses. Aqua would definitely have a hard time walking back by herself to that Temple again if she used that staff's power combined with hers. Although, she's still relieved it did not have long-term side effects.
"Well, that is more of a relief. When I think about the ruins of the cult of Yevon. That monster was drawn to them. Since there are no more of them would it go after the largest group of people? Knowing that creature not only able to swim, but fly in the sky trying to catch you." Poppy pointed out.
Aqua began to put more thought into it. "That is very true Poppy. That creature would have to search for a lot of people but there was only one problem with that."
Poppy tilted her head inquisitively by that.
"If the creature is drawn to a large number of people then it's hard to say where it might strike first. As of right now, we're on the far east of the continent. Before you joined my travels I had seen a lot of people in kingdoms not as large as you would think and they were all scattered across the land. Although I only saw parts of the lands on my travel but I haven't seen the West yet. Hopefully, that monster would rather that dormant than attack innocent people."
Aqua didn't exactly know what will be going on in the western region but hoped it was similar to the areas in the east region with most of them made of more scattered and small villages and towns.
Xxx
"It is done, my Queen."
Meanwhile, in the western region, Salem looked on in pride at seeing the castle of her and Ozma's kingdom now complete.
From here, they would rule over the rest of the world.
But before she could say anything suddenly she sensed something.
Ever since diving into the Grimm pools in the Land of Darkness, Salem had developed a connection with the Grimm. This connection allowed her to command them and even understand them on a level no ordinary human could ever hope to.
And right now she was hearing one of her Grimm warning her of something.
A massive monster emerging from the sea-
The warning ended there as the connection was immediately cut off but Salem had caught a glimpse of it.
The monster was indeed massive and unlike anything she had seen before.
Curious as to what this creature was so she decided to confront it, by herself. Now one might think she was being arrogant but she was confident in her abilities. She had magic and along with curse of immortality so she cannot be defeated. Neither would any creature of Grim ever defy her and would follow her orders without any hesitation or questioning her.
"My Queen?"
She had almost forgotten her subjects with her. "It is indeed perfect. Now, make sure the castle is ready for my return. I have an urgent matter to attend to."
There was no need to say anything else. The subjects immediately obeyed and went about their work as Salem called on her magic to lift her up into the air. She flew in the direction of the last sighting of the monster which was actually coming up close to the Dragon Continent.
This unknown anomaly had seemingly invaded her domain.
Salem would destroy it and use this victory to further cement herself as a goddess to the rest of the world.
Reaching the far side of the land in a matter of minutes, Salem simply hovered in the air and waited.
She did not have to wait long.
Emerging from the waters was the monster she had seen, coming up on land and letting out a loud roar.
The monster that came to be known in the eastern lands as Sin.
Her eyes glowed as she tried to her will over it but then stopped when she realized a shocking fact:
It was no Grimm.
She had ever seen anything like it before and found her attempts to control it were completely ignored.
'How can this be? A creature like this could have existed for so long without me or anyone else knowing of it.' Salem thought to herself as a frustrated look on her face. 'A beast like that could only have been created by one of the Brothers.'
Only it wasn't a Grimm which meant it couldn't have been created by the God of Darkness.
Despite her own enmity with him, she doubted the God of Light would have created such a monster either.
Until she realized it was not the brother of darkness' creation nor the brother of light. Whatever this creature was it had come here and she did not believe it was of benign nature.
So she would have to destroy it and learn what she can later.
(This is Our Legacy – Zack Hemsey)
She raised her hand, summoning dark clouds overhead. Sin stopped its journey and looked up, seeing Salem and the dark clouds blocking out the sun. It let out a roar that sounded like a thousand children wailing.
Salem was not impressed as she brought her hand down and with it came dozens of bolts of lightning that slammed into the creature. Sin let out a howl as the electricity scorched its skin and Salem smiled in satisfaction from the damage she had inflicted. Then she watched as the scorched pieces of the Sin's skin fell off onto the ground and much to her shock began to transform into creatures. They began moving off on their own but Salem summoned any nearby Grimm to attack them.
In the meantime Sin had recovered and roared at Salem, releasing a blast of fire at her. She conjured a barrier to protect herself as the fire engulfed her. Once the attack ended, Salem raised her hand and several boulders on the ground were lifted up and shot straight at Sin, slamming into its face. Only the monster didn't even notice, even when a boulder hit one of its eyes.
Sin roared again and this time retaliated with a blast of lightning, hitting Salem before she could react. The blast torched her and sent her falling towards the ground. Only before she made contact with the ground, a tornado literally appeared underneath her and lifted her up as her body immediately healed itself.
"That…hurt." Salem muttered as she glared at the monster.
She spread her arms out, summoning several tornados that appeared around Sin and with another wave of her hand; Salem set all of the tornados on fire as they made contact with the monster. Sin snarled as it literally stepped through the fire. It opened its mouth and to Salem's shock released a powerful blast of ice that froze the tornados and hit Salem next, freezing her immediately. As she crashed into the ground Sin raised its giant foot and slammed its foot down on her, crushing her frozen body.
Sin let out a roar, believing it had killed its enemy and removed its foot, moving to march deeper into the land.
Only in the crater it had left, the frozen shards melted into a black substance and came together.
In a flash of light, Salem was immediately reconstituted and she had an enraged look on her face as she glared at the creature's back.
She let out a roar that no human could ever hope to make, sounding like a distorted feral beast. Sin stopped and slowly turned around, seeing Salem as she rose back up into the air. Waving her hands, Salem summoned dark spheres around her and from them came beams of multi-colored light that aimed at the monster's face. The beams scorched its skin and eyes but it only took a moment before started to heal at an astonishing rate.
'Is this thing immortal like me?' Salem wondered as she continued to attack.
Sin roared again, having enough as it opened its mouth and unleased another magical blast. This time it was a literal black hole that sucked up all of Salem's magical blasts before colliding with her, crushing her body until it literally and possibly vanished from existence.
"SALEM!"
Sin paused and looked up, seeing an enraged Ozma flying right down at it and slammed his scepter down on its face with an enraged screamed. As soon as the scepter made contact with the monster's head there was a blinding explosion of light. Ozma was sent flying in one direction while Sin actually staggered back, seemingly dazed by the blast. Ozma managed to land on the ground and looked up at the monster with an angered look.
He knew Salem was immortal and it was likely she would be back soon.
But that still didn't stop him from feeling angry.
He shot up again at the monster as it remained dazed and gathered energy into his scepter as he swung down, releasing another magical shockwave that stunned Sin. The monster turned and fired a blast of lightning at Ozma but he summoned a green energy barrier that blocked the attack.
The creature uses all of its attacks and abilities even surprising the two that that thing was able to fly. They use more of their attacks and constantly to force that creature to retreat. Sin retaliated with a few dozen blasts consisting of fire, ice, lightning, wind and even the same gravity attack that it had used on Salem but Ozma was more a more seasoned fighter than Salem was and due to not sharing her immortality he knew when to block and when to dodge. As this continued, a black mist appeared in the air and slowly but surely reformed into Salem who let out a gasp of air.
She had been so sure she had actually died that time.
She had tried many forms of killing herself:
Stabbing
Beheading
Poisoning
Drowning
And she had more than once jumped off of a cliff before diving into the Grimm pools.
All of which had failed.
But being crushed in a black hole?
That was new one.
But Salem was back…
And she was pissed.
Shooting up into the air, Salem let out an enraged scream as dark clouds gathered overhead again. Sin paused, looking at Salem as she created a literal storm around. Hail, lightning and wind literally slammed into it but this barely phased it. If that wasn't enough, Salem's enrage shriek attracted Grimm from across the land that immediately began attacking the monster, forcing it to fend them off as Salem's weather blast continued to annoy it.
Still, it was distracted for Ozma to land another blast on its face.
Salem continued conjuring a storm around, summoning tornados and setting them on fire which Ozma dodged and attacked again. Finally Sin had enough and to the surprise of Ozma and Salem leapt up into the air and seemingly took flight even though it had no wings. It roared again, its bellow so loud that the clouds conjured by Salem were actually split open, revealing the sky. An energy field seemingly surrounded it and the entire land seemed to shake.
Ozma and Salem watched as the field around it seemed to grow and then the impossible happened.
Pieces from the shattered moon from above began falling towards the planet, impacting the surrounding land.
"SALEM!" Ozma shouted, flying up to his beloved. "We have to go!"
Salem watched as Sin's mouth began gathering massive amounts of energy and realized that Ozma was right. She held out her hand and summoned a portal just in time.
Sin fired its energy blast just as they entered the portal…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
And all of Remnant shook as the blast hit where the two had been, even destroying a part of the land.
(This is Our Legacy – Zack Hemsey Ends)
Xxx
Aqua and Poppy paused as they felt a tremor under their feet.
"What was that?" Poppy looked around. "Felt like some kind of earthquake."
Aqua was silent as she stared off into the west, feeling something in that direction.
Xxx
Salem and Ozma collapsed out of the portal on the other side, appearing in the main room of their castle.
"My Queen! My Lord!"
As their subjects gathered around, Ozma used his scepter as a prop as he leaned against it and helped Salem up.
"What happened?" One of the servants had the courage to ask.
"We were attacked." Salem immediately answered. "I need someone to look up this creature we have come across."
She immediately conjured an image of the monster she and Ozma had fought.
"It is a threat to us and the entire world." Salem continued, her wounds healing as she stood up. "We must know everything we can if we are to stop it. Find out anything and everything you can about it."
The servants and subjects immediately rushed to carry out their tasks as Salem walked over the table where her crystal ball rested. Once she sat down in front of it, an image of the monster returning to the sea was shown.
"This is the first time I have ever seen a monster like this." She admitted once she and Ozma were alone. "Nothing like this existed even during the time of the Gods."
"I agree." Ozma sighed as he sat down. "Such power…I almost thought I was fighting one of the Gods themselves."
"We need to find out everything we can about it before we risk fighting it again." Salem brought a hand to her chin. "Perhaps if we can find a weakness or something else…Nothing we had could overpower it, even when I summoned the Grimm to aid us."
Ozma was silent as he mulled things over. In his first life he had defeated almost every man or beast that had challenged him but this monster was unlike anything he had encountered before. If he and Salem were to take it on again he wasn't sure they would win, let alone survive. Maybe Salem would but he would likely die and he didn't want that happening.
"Mankind has been stripped of its magic, yet they and your world remains. However without our presence, they are but a fraction of what they once were." The God of Light said and conjured four objects: a Staff, a Sword, a Crown, and a Lamp. "Creation, destruction, choice and knowledge were the ideals upon which Humanity was made. Now I leave them behind with the hope you will learn to remake yourselves."
Ozma's eyes widened when he realized there might be a way to destroy the monster. The Relics that the God of Light had created before his very eyes.
A Lamp for Knowledge and a Sword for Destruction.
"I think I know a way." He spoke up, turning to look at his curious wife.
