[h1][center][color=gold]Tricity - A City Under Siege[/color][/center][/h1]
[h2][sub][center][color=gold]The Hero Chronicles & The Cycle of Asheel[/color][/center][/sub][/h2]
[h3][sub][center][color=gold]Heroes Born Out Of Strife[/color][/center][/sub][/h3]
[sub][h3][sub][center][color=gold]Collab between [@Dracolunaris] & [@Timemaster][/color][/center][/sub][/h3][/sub]

Storm clouds hung above Tricity, thunder rumbling and lightning flashing through the sky while below, the settlement itself was experiencing a storm of its own. Its major population centers sat on either sides of the eastern great river just before it flowed into the lands of origin, a third sat on an island in the center, which was connected to the other two by a pair of grand bridges. These bridges were the first and so far only way to cross the globe spanning river without superior swimming, beetle boat, or mundane ship, and as such mortals from far and wide had flooded towards it, fleeing the outer beasts.

The monster had nipped at their heels, harried them, nibbled at the edges, pushed them to flee faster, more recklessly, till a great bundled mass of mortal kind had arrived all at once, utterly overwhelming the city and causing mass panic. Joined by much of the civilian population of the south a great press of bodies filled the streets around the southern side of the bridge, while the city's defenders, who had attempted to hold the wilds, then the mines, then the outskirts, were now barely a street from the refugees.

Beetle boats, wooden ships, and aquatic beastfolk were attempting to ferry additional civilians out, and more defenders or supplies in, but they were making hardly a dent in the masses of people still trying to cross. 

Lilly, daughter of Asheel, was among them. Having assisted her mother in regaining her power somewhere in the southern farm land, and then gotten somewhat delayed, she’d gotten caught up in the wave of people fleeing. She might have managed to get ahead of the rush thanks to her buggy had it not been for two things. 

The first was simple civic duty. As a member of the council she was a representative of the people, and so at first she’d tried to manage the situation, to help them get people safety. At this point that had fallen through, however. Order had collapsed, and what little remained was in the hands of the city’s commanders, who had taken over from her once it became clear just how dire the situation was.

The other was a number of small vials of black sludge she’d acquired from a secluded little laboratory she’d had set up after a great deal of discussion with one of her past lives. She still prayed she’d not have to use that old wisdom of a forgotten race, but she’d ended up putting herself in a situation where the inevitable eventually happened.

She wasn’t the first to do something truly foolhardy however.

Instead, from a position atop a number of crates where she was trying and failing to maintain the calm of the people on the docks, she saw that opening act first hand.

Behind the civilian crowd were rows of dock side warehouses with relatively narrow side streets in between them, and out from these two chitin armored snouters stumbled, one holding a billhook, the other just a long knife having lost their primary weapon at some point. The second lost his life a moment after coming into sight, as the outer beast that had been pursuing them lunged out of the alleyway on a dozen fleshy limbs, flicking one past the guard of the billhook armed warrior and cleaving it through the knife armed one’s neck.

With a breathless cry he collapsed, knife slipping from his dead hand and towards the crowd, while the other squealed with anguish and rage and tried to fight back once more, fear overwhelmed by rage. It was not a fight they looked set to win.

The appearance of an invader spurred utter panic in most of the crowd, many diving or being pushed into the water as a result of their desperation to flee. One, however, did not flee. 

A young human-[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-legged_seriema]seriema[/url] beastfolk, a boy with spindly limbs who, despite being a wild blood, looked like he’d snap like a twing if you breathed on him wrong. Yet despite this he had put himself in between the beast and a much smaller child despite the likelihood of him only being only a road bump if, or rather when, the beast came for them first. As fate would have it however, the fallen snouter’s sidearm had slid towards him when the warrior had fallen, a long knife with blood of beast on its edge and the blood of its fallen owner on its hilt.

The seriema glanced at the blade, at the snouter, behind him at the wash of mortality, and then did the foolhardy thing. He picked up the knife.

With an impressive burst of speed that would have surely let him get ahead of the invaders had he abandoned all he held dear, the seriema raced forwards to try and help, holding the knife in just the entirely wrong way, because he was by no means a fighter. Just a messenger boy. 

He still tried to stab the beast anyway, dashing past the thrashing limbs that were tearing at the snouter’s armored body, and then hacked the knife into its side. He struck and struck with strength he should not have, only to be batted away, going tumbling to the ground. He lay there for a moment. And then got up and tried again despite his bruises. In response to a shouted instruction from the snouter, he tried stabbing rather than slashing this time, the knife found something important this time, prompting the beast to pivot to properly retaliate, only for the snouter to plunge the billhook forwards in response to that opening.

The beast roared in pain, trying to back off, only for the seriema to leap onto its back with a flap of vestigial wings, and begin stabbing it there over and over, clinging on with avian claws as it tried to shake him off, til finally it collapsed to the ground, dead. 

He almost collapsed off of the beast, only for his arm to be grasped by the snouter, who gave him a nod while the crowd cheered and Lilly breathed a sigh of relief, having been unable to rip her gaze away from the fight. Yet even as she went to try and shout to restore order in the rest of the crowed, her words died on her lips as a pair of outer beasts came loping down the alleyway, a third leapt down from the rooftops and a fourth simply burst out through a wall.

For a brief moment she almost fled, but instead she breathed, gripped a vial in her hand and then started running towards the monsters instead, letting a more martial past life guide her footfalls so she could step from shoulder to shoulder of larger beastfolk and snouters. She was not, it seemed, the only one to be moving forwards, for in her peripheral vision, she saw another goblin moving towards rather than away from the danger, one that had arrived on the riverbank almost unnoticed while the fight had been ongoing.

Jaxx. What can one say about poor Jaxx? After his failed fight with Galaxor, he focused his quest to save the goblins kept by the beastfolk. 

Guided by his hero sense, he found them and with a bit of foresight from his other ability, he was able to single handedly save the goblins…but that was many months ago. Maybe even years. Jaxx didn't know exactly nor did he try to keep count. His hero sense pulled him to a different issue as soon as he solved the previous one. A non-stop ringing in his mind kept pushing him more and more. Only stopping when he was too tired to listen to it. 

One might ask how he reached his current location. He was deep asleep after a 3 day battle with a group of human bandits when his hero sense [i]exploded[/i] in his mind. Screams, ringing and an overall sense of wrongness overcame his mind from every direction. The sense tried pulling him in all of them at once. It was as if the whole world was in danger. 

After a few days of wandering aimlessly trying to understand what's going on, Jaxx settled on a direction and walked and walked until he reached a river. A brief discussion with the owners of a beetle boat, he understood what was going on and why he was directed in that direction in the first place.

What Jaxx didn’t understood was that time was fickle. In his journey, he had crossed multiple different timelines and met quite a few civilizations. Goblins that were still savage, beastkin that learned the art of agriculture, highly mutated creatures and rune magic users. He never understood what exactly was happening but he didn’t care either, it was what it was. 

Eventually, he reached the riverbank and saw a group of monsters attacking civilians. With a mighty war cry, he pulled his sword off his back and jumped upwards as his sword went down in a deadly arc. 

Lilly was, naturally, ignorant of all these facts, and instead only saw another goblin charging into the fray. Her steps might have faltered, her mind might have prayed that the hero with his mighty sword would be enough, but in that moment her body was not hers.

A warrior’s soul in a preacher’s body landed on the street by the docks, and then an ancient tendriled thing known as an Octari was wearing her skin. Yet even as it uncorked the vial of blackness and raised it to her lips, she did not fight it, for it was her and she was it, and together they became something new.

R’kava, freshly harvested from a spawning pool she and a select few others had found and cultivated using the wisdom of the dead and their own crude runecraft. Yet they had never tested the effect it had on people. Till now.

It probably should have killed her, that reckless act, but one god had made the universe a lover of the courageous, determined and resourceful, and so just as with the seriema boy, just as it was doing with so many more, it gave her the edge she needed. Endurance, strength, and most important for her, magic.

Evolution flowed through her veins, and then by her lifetimes’ worth of will, flowed to her upper back and burst from it, forming long thin tendrils tipped with venom dripping blades. She staggered, young mind seering in pain even as her old soul endured. Asserted control over this temporary flesh. Sent it racing forwards into the fray.

Said fray contained only 2 mortals now, for the snouter had fallen, though they were only broken, not quite dead. The seriema now held their allies billhook in hands that should not have been able to lift it, but the newly minted hero was nothing when compared to the old hand that was Jaxx, facing down the four cart sized outer beasts without fear or hesitation.

The blade came down and up went the outer beast's claw as it flew into the air. A massive [B][i]ROOAAAARRR[/I][/B] following it and then with the other, uninjured claw hit Jaxx. Normally, a hit like that would've been fatal but due to the heroic foresight, Jaxx managed to put his sword first and block the blow. 

And…Jaxx flew in the air for a meter or two before turning in midair and shoving the sword into the ground, slowing him down. Any normal sword would've broken by now but Jaxx had this sword for a long time already, it became a hero roughly at the same time he did. It was more durable and sharper than any normal blade. 

As he stopped himself, Jaxx surveyed the battlefield for a sec, noticing the seriema and Lily. Seeing that they've got things handled, at least for now, he ran once more towards his opponent. Circling it, as it tried to strike Jaxx with its tail, Jaxx delivered a series of small blows all over its body. It might've been a strong monster but it wasn't as fast as Jaxx was. 

“Who along the river is that guy?” the seriema had to ask as he warded the outer beast off with his billhook, only to glance to the side and find he had to ask “and who, and what, along them are you?”

“We are-” the soul in the goblin’s body began to reply, before the goblin herself resurfaced to reply “I’m just Lilly, and I ain’t got no idea!” as she lunged one of her new combat tentacles forwards, sinking the tip into exposed flesh of their foe, which began to instantly necrosis as snake venom was pumped into its system.

“How bout you?” she asked as she reeled it back, before briefly letting a warrior past life take the wheel so he could parry an incoming slash from the poisoned beast using the knife the seriema had been using.

“Seam” the seriema named as such replied, as he hacked the curved blade of the billhook down onto the limb that had tried to hit Lilly, and finding that fighting alongside her, alongside of both of them, was somehow easier. He put it down to learning on the fly, but while that was part of it, the universe was cheering the fresh heroic band on, letting them work better both as a team and as individual parts of that team than they would have alone. 

“[Color=gray]I'm the Hero Jaxx. [/color]” he said in a tough, loud voice, as if two rocks were hitting each other. Everything relating to Jaxx seemed to have changed from before his heroic journey started, it molded him into the person he was now. 

After his words, he started again circling the outer beast and in that moment Jaxx locked eyes with Lily and Seam briefly and what happened next was truly heroic. 

Described before this universe's existence by Galaxor, the three heroes felt a surge of power as they now formed a party of heroes. Their wounds suddenly stopped bothering them, the exhaustion they felt gone and their general confidence grew tenfold. It was as if they [i]knew[/i] they'll survive. They will [b]win[/b] this fight. 

Jaxx never felt such a connection before but quickly understood it must've been Galaxor’s influence, somehow. So, he continued doing what he did best and that was killing monsters. At the same time, the outer beast lunged at him, abandoning any self preservation instinct it had. 

Using his new found confidence, Jaxx simply stood still right until the outer beast was about to catch him in its mouth and moved to the side…at the same time as his sword made a downward arc and off came the head of the outer beast.

Behind him, the final beast of the four suffered a far less dramatic death, particularly because it experienced it half way up the alleyway which it had tried to flee up, only for the venom and the dozens of puncture wounds inflicted by hook and claw to cause the last of its vitality to drain from it.

“Wait, did ya say Jaxx? As in [i]the[/i] Jaxx?” Lilly asked as she turned back to the hero who was a legend of the riverlands. A living one too, it seemed, which she had no idea how it was the case, as even some of her oldest lives had tales of his exploits. 

Still, with what they’d just seen, as Seam pointed out “He does fit the barter” before blinking a few times as the dying adrenaline let his mind catch up with what had just happened. He looked a bit sheepish, before doing a halve bow towards Jax, fist held just above his chest while his thumb traced a circle on it, and saying “thank you hero, I… I’d be dead without you” before turning to Lilly and offering her the same thanks.


Jaxx started cleaning his blade of the black ichor that acted as blood for the outer beasts when Lily addressed him. Stopping, he looked downwards to the minuscule form of the goblin that stood before him.

“[color=gray]The Jaxx? I’m just Jaxx, the Hero Jaxx and no need to thank me, beastkin. It isn’t as if I do it because I want it but the curse placed upon me by our creator doesn’t give me any peace if I don’t do what I do. [/color]” said Jaxx before looking away in the distance. It was as if he was here in body but his mind somewhere else. Lost, one might say. 

“[color=gray]There are more monsters around. Other people to save. I can feel them. [/color]” added Jaxx as he turned his gaze towards the city, trying to figure out where the greatest danger was based on his heroic foresight. 

Ironically in this instance that sense wasn’t needed, because the cheering from the people they had just saved was suddenly drowned out by screams of panic coming from the nearby bridge where far more people were trying and failing to cross the river. Said place had also had the largest concentration of soldiers trying to hold the main road, but if the barely controlled panic was spilling over into outright panic …

“Mother preserve us” Seam whispered in horror at what must be occurring, while Lilly found herself glancing between the people they had just protected and the far larger group that was now in trouble. 

“[Color=gray]Guide these people to safety. No need to put yourself in more danger. [/color]” said Jaxx, leaving the other two to keep protecting the naval evacuation as he started to sprint towards the bridge. 

As he ran, he muttered under his breath, suddenly feeling more tired than before :”[color=gray]A hero's job never ends. [/color]” 

Running as fast as his heroic legs allowed him, he jumped over debris, smaller goblins and whatnot, following the arched street and using his heroic senses to guide him towards the bridge.  

He encountered only a few stray beasts on the way, as well as streets packed with refugees guarded by what remained of the city’s warriors who thought him mad to be running through the streets on his own.

It was not they who needed protection however, and so the hero’s took him on an arch around the outside of the city blocks filling blob of mortal lives, until he burst onto the main road leading to the bridge, and in doing so, right into the ranks of the outer beasts.

In the instant before they noticed him, he comprehended the scene. Outerbeasts were streaming down the main road, their endless limbs trampling over the remains of the last defenders of that main road, and were now tearing into the rear of the refugees and civilians. Now finally cornered, those untrained mortals were fighting back with tooth, claw and tool, but desperation was not heroism, and they were being slaughtered as a result.

Instead heroes, as they so often did, arrived late, and as Jaxx did, they had been led by instinct or coincidence into a flanking maneuver, hitting the press of beasts from the side. He caught sight of goblins, beast folk, snouters and even a crystal strider, all armed with whatever they had been able to scrounge in their first moment of heroism, be it weapons of fallen soldiers, kitchenware or knives tied to sticks.

Two found the same alleyway as Jaxx, and came charging in just after him: a snouter chef, complete with poofy hat and apron, armed with a pair of cleavers, and an incredibly young goblin on a tricked out two wheeled Buggy wielding a wrench.

A roar was all that Jaxx gave to the outer beasts as he charged them, sword held up high, ready to cut through anything that was dumb enough to try to stop him. At his back, he felt the snouter and the small goblin followed him, echoing his war cry. 

The moment the outer beasts noticed him, a few of them attacked and died. Jaxx was a whirlwind of death, jumping, kicking and slashing as he moved forward. He didn't stop, he never faltered…he just killed. One by one. Outer beast by outer beast. 

And that's when the outer beasts, maybe guided by a primal instinct, declared him the biggest threat. Suddenly it wasn't 1 vs 5 but 1 vs 20 and no matter how strong and experienced Jaxx was, it proved not to be enough. 

‘Alas, he achieved what he wanted. He got their attention. It seemed as if all the outer beasts not yet engaged in combat with someone else, converged upon Jaxx.

In that moment, everyone that was on the bridge, felt a divine presence. Just for a second. Something…heroic. And time slowed down. At least, for the outer beasts. It was as if their movements were sluggish. As if time itself declared that they were a bit behind. 

The tiniest moment of clam was ended when an arrow flew through the air, fired by some unseen sniper, striking one of the beasts which moved too slowly to avoid this shot. This had occurred several times before, indeed the sniper was almost out of arrows, but what had not occurred was the way the outer beast recoiled from the relatively minor wound it had taken, crying out in guttural agony where before only a great or multitude of blows would prompt such a response. 

Beneath the heroic aura, a second one had slipped a subtle knife into the beast’s nerves, cursing their pain to be tripled in intensity.

Another beast was struck moments later, and in an agony filled panic spread wings it had not used till now, and began to try and take flight to flee, only for lightning to crash down from the stormy sky the moment it cleared the rooftops. There was a reason no one was daring the skies today, be it outer beast or beast folk.

Jaxx roared in anger as he effortlessly defended himself and looked into the sky and shouted “[color=gray]LEAVE ME ALONE! STOOOOOP! [/color]” 

Poor Jaxx, not even in what seemed his final moments wasn't left alone. He longed for peace, for silence…yet he wouldn't be getting any. Not as long as Galaxor watched over him. Not as long as the heroic aspect shined its golden aura over Galbar. 

After the moment of anger passed, Jaxx continued the slaughter. Slowed down as they were, the outer beasts stood absolutely no chance to survive. Even the most unprepared civilians seemed able to injure the outer beasts, for Jaxx it was less than nothing. 

Many of the beasts began to turn and flee as they felt true pain for the first time, but one surfaced above the rest who knew that fear, and was able to face it. It looked old and worn and sacred, as if it had faced many fights despite, from the city’s perspective, the crisis had barely just begun. Stranger still, it was not only flesh, several of its many arms had been severed in battle, and had been replaced with limbs made from a metal unknown to all of this world, inside which gears clicked and whirred. 

With these cold hard limbs that flet not a thing, it protected itself from pain, and even when stuck, it endured the wounds with endurance born from true suffering. With scything blades of cold steel it struck down the freshly forged mortal heroes, the heroic aspect’s thumb on the scale being outweighed by the coiled knot of time and the experience wrought from it. 

The creature started sprinting towards Jaxx, declaring him the greatest threat, but was soon stopped by the newly made heroes…for about a second or two before its scything blades cut them in half. A shower of blood was all that was left behind it and the broken bodies of any that came in its path. 

Even as slowed down as it was by Galaxor's curse, it seemed faster than the rest. More intelligent. Dangerous. And if it wasn't for Jaxx’s heroic foresight, it would've been deadly for him.

The blades came like a whirlwind towards Jaxx who didn't even have time to raise his sword to deflect, only merely pulling himself backwards enough not to be cut in half. 

A large slash wound appeared on Jaxx’s chest as blood pooled around his feet. 

“[color=gray]You look different, creature. Stronger. It'll be an honor to put you down. [/color]” said Jaxx as he tried circling around it as before, only to be met every single time by a blade. It was as if the creature had no blind spots or better said it [i]knew[/i] which blind spots it had and how to protect them..

Now that Jaxx knew what to expect, he knew how to defend himself, ‘alas for each other blocked or dodged attack, one would go through. In minutes, Jaxx’s body was filled with cuts, some small while others, like the one on his chest, big and long. It didn’t help that his heroic endurance was slowly reaching its limits. His moves started to become sluggish and his blows barely had any true strength behind them.

It seemed that all was lost once more. 

Suddenly, from the street Jaxx had entered through, there came a rumbling and rattling before a goddess’s personal transport flashed out of it… With Lilly at the driver’s helm. With the dock now guarded by soldiers relieved by the beast’s pouring towards this very battlefield, she’d had time to recover her mother’s Buggy, which she now drove headlong towards the beast.

Though an experienced defender, the outer beast had never had to guard itself against something close to its own mass before, and so there was a moment of hesitation that saved the heroes’ lives. Blades came up both to guard its body and to try to skewer the driver, only for Seam to grab the comparatively small goblin woman right before impact, and to then leap out of the vehicle who’s accelerator the goblin had stabbed into the floor using her borrowed knife.

Flightless wings caused enough drag to slow the pair’s fall, while in contrast nothing could slow their runaway machine, which smashed into their foe and practically bowled it over, showering it with splinters for good measure. 

Not that the creature was done for. Just as the Buggy was about to hit it, it jumped high up into the sky or as high as it could without getting hit by lightning from above. Still, the Buggy managed to catch two of the blades that weren’t pulled up in time and made the outer beast do a cartwheel in air before plunging into the ground…a crater appearing from the impact with the street. 

A nod was all that Jaxx gave his saviors as he tried to run towards the outer beast, hoping to finish it off while it was still stunned…but he couldn’t. After a few hurried steps, Jaxx’s blood loss and obvious exhaustion finally caught up. He slowed down and started using his sword as a cane. 

“[color=gray]Ki-Ki—Kill it. Fff-aa—s–t. [/color]” was all that he managed to say before collapsing on the floor. 

The pair glanced at the legendary hero brought low by mortal limits, then at the beast presently pulling itself out of the wreckage of the buggy, and then like fools they charged. Seam thrust slashed his billhook around in a sweeping blow, while Lilly stabbed out with her new tendrils, only for a blade to block the first blow, and the goblin to scream in pain as her biological weapon was severed by another. 

The beast had endured much, a fresh upset was but a lesson to learn, not a reason to fear. The same could not be said of its fellows, who all around it had fallen or were fleeing, beaten by the rats they had cornered, and the indirect hands of their divine patrons. Even so, the beast did not yield, not now, not yet. The insult of injury would be answered with death.

Forward it came, and the pair of heroes found themselves on the defensive, Seam blocking strikes with his billhook while Lilly used ancient wisdom, and new limbs to dodge to and fro. Yet in doing so they lost ground, being driven back towards the hobbled Jax. 

From his downward position, Jaxx barely saw what was happening, especially as his vision kept blinking in and out. This was a fight he was happy to have lost, finally, some peace. But wait. If he was about to die, why did the ringing in his mind not stop? Why was it ringing louder and louder? Why did it keep pushing him to act? 

Lilly’s scream answered that question as one of her natural weapons flew off. Another blink and now they were closer to Jaxx. Losing ground. They were about to die. From somewhere within him, Jaxx felt the hero call. The power that drives all heroes to do what they do. To fight against any and all opposition in their path to greatness. 	

Immediately, Jaxx stood up, using his sword to push himself up…even as blood flowed out of him. Blink. He was closer, his hands gripped the sword tightly, making his knuckles white under the strength. Blink. The outer beast was closer, Lily and Seam between him. Blink. 

He was behind the outer beast. Why was he behind the outer beast? Blink. Pain. Blink. Blink. Blink. [b]PAIN[/b]. Blink. The beast was still fighting Lily and Seam, even as they both sprouted new injuries. Blink. Lifting his…arm? Blink. Where was his arm? Oh. Blink. Why was it on the ground? Blink. What? Blink. Blink. Left arm. No more. Blink. Just a sword and a right arm. It was enough. Blink. JUMP. Slash, slash, dodge. Blink. Blood. Blink. Even more blood. Stab and…blink. Sword stuck into the neck of…something. Blink. Blink. Screaming. Blink. Where? Blink. Pain. Pain. Pain. Blink. Darkness. Silence. Blink. Nothing. 

The hero collapsed next to his severed arm as the other two heroes screamed in both horror and fury as they rushed the several wounded beast. Yet it was not done. Or rather it was, but it was done with these gnats, done with this city. Its remaining arms parried their thrusts as it stalked towards the fallen Jaxx, wishing to end him as a last act before it fled with the rest of its kin.

Then it flinched as it heard a familiar rumbling, only this was deeper, louder. Its awareness that had been fixated on this fight glanced outwards, seeing that its kin had in fact already fled, and that something was coming. From another alleyway came another buggy, but this one took up the entire space, and made the beast itself look small by comparison. Atop this machine a goblin with a very large hat screeched orders at an entire team of her fellows, who turned cranks that spun gears which  pivoted the muzzle of a ballista mounted atop their war machine at the Beast. A massive wooden bolt then was lossed, taking the beast’s only remaining flesh arm off in the process and pining it to a wall behind it.

With the situation by the docks stabilized, the city had been able to squeeze the armored cavalry past the civilians, and other rumbles drawing made it clear that this wooden tank was only the first. Upon realizing this the beast decided that it had in fact had enough. It abandoned its vengeful stalk and took off at a gallop up the main street, weaving between piles of dead, and then was gone. Beaten, but not broken.

In its wake it left the bodies of fallen heroes be they corpses or crippled, and the dawn of its own legend… and, as Lilly stared sorrowfully at the now one armed Jaxx as a medic stemmed both his and her bleeding, the dawn of an idea.

[hr]

Up a mountain, just below the storm clouds, on an outcropping overlooking the city below, there sat two gods and a hunk of flesh and blood of the greater outer beast Egrioth. It had had a vast number of purple needles and a small piece of the artifact which Galaxor created earlier, sticking out of it, both these effects faded, along with the storm that had denied mortal and beat-like access to the skies.

A haggard looking Breaker slumped and released a sigh of relief, and declared that “it’s over”

“They won, they won, they won, yipee!” a less drained and much more excited Maiden replaced her older self to cheer, before the Mother took back control and fixed her comrade in arms with an accusatory stare, saying in a rather outraged tone that “I thought you agreed to leave Jaxx alone!”

“[color=gold]Of course they won. They had Jaxx with them. That mortal is worthy of his title. Your Lily was interesting too. Tell her good job on achieving herohood from me. She’s earned her title. [/color]” replied Galaxor with a knowing smile before laughing at the Mother’s outburst.

“[color=gold]I did agree to leave him alone and I haven’t done anything to him specifically. I just slowed down all the outer beasts. Also, it ain’t as if I can’t stop myself from watching over him. He’s the first self-made hero and my creation. If I wanted to intervene directly, I would’ve sent the Cosmic Destroyer over or just appeared there myself and taken them all out but that isn’t my style. None of them would’ve learned anything if we would’ve saved them. See how many new heroes were made?  [/color]” added Galaxor once he stopped laughing before making a 3D map of the Tricity appear with each living being that was now a hero appearing on it like a big golden dot. 

“He certainly doesn’t seem to feel left alone is more my concern” the Mother replied, before sighing and saying “well at least he’ll be able to take a bit of a break now that there’s more heroes about. Or need to rather, having lost an arm like that, the poor man. I’ll have to make sure he is well taken care of” or rather she’d help Lilly make sure of that.

“[color=gold]It’s the blessing I bestowed upon him that’s bothering him, not me. He received the hero sense and it ain’t an easy burden to bear. It drives you to greatness but…you say goodbye to mundane life and no, he won’t be able to take a break for the same reason. Whenever there are innocents in danger, he’ll feel it. A ringing in his mind will go off and the more he ignores it, the stronger it’ll be. He’s got 3-4 days tops from the moment he’ll wake up until it’ll drive him mad and then he’ll have to go. [/color]” 

The goddess just looked absolutely befuddled as she said “but you put it on.. you made it work like…” and then just demanded to know “why?”

“Doesn’t seem too heroic if he’s forced to do heroic things now does it?” the Breaker pointed out, while the Maiden chimed in to suggest “oooh, we should make him some ear muffs” 

“[color=gold]In my defense, when I blessed him with it I thought I knew everything there is to know. Now I know that I don’t know anything while also knowing everything. Thing is, he can control it. It’s a skill and any skill can be mastered. He needs to want to learn and there are only two people who can teach him how to use it properly and one of them promised that he won’t meddle with his life anymore. The other person is himself. It takes a lot of work but he can do it. In the future he’ll even be able to locate certain people or objects. [/color]” said Galaxor in an apologetic tone before shaking his head.

“[color=gold]He isn’t forced to go into battle each time. He could’ve started painting or crafting or anything else and the ringing would’ve gone away if he truly dedicated himself…yet he chose combat. [/color]” 

“Four days does not seem like a lot of time to entirely change professions, or do much of anything, so it seems I will need to act as the messenger woman for this little tidbit, lest he get himself killed. That man is in no shape to fight anything” the Mother replied, only for the Breaker to chime in “or we can leave him to get himself killed and that’ll be the end of it anyway”

The Maiden however had a concerning thought about that, however, which was “What if it goes with his soul when he reincarnates? Would there be a baby with that ringing in its ears?”

“[color=gold]No one said to change professions but he can start trying, it’ll slowly reduce in intensity. No one said anything about fighting, he could help rebuilding or look for people in danger under the rubbles. The hero sense would make him quite efficient at it. [/color]” replied Galaxor, further explaining how his blessing worked.

“[color=gold]I never thought about your reincarnation. The blessing is attached to his soul, so…I think so. It would follow him in a different body. But OK. Fine. You’ve convinced me. I’ll give him another blessing. Time slow. It’ll allow him to slow down time around him for a very short period of time. Combined with the heroic foresight, even one-armed he’ll be a force to be reckoned with. [/color]” replied Galaxor to the Maiden.

“It’s something” the Mother conceded “but I’ll still need to keep an eye on him, both as he recovers and in his next life. Hopefully a great need to drink milk will satisfy, and if not I shall deal with the issue somehow” 

“[color=gold]Or, you can let him follow his path. Just an idea of course. RALK is better than milk, by the way. [/color]” replied Galaxor as he teleported two bottles of RALK in front of them. 

“Someone needs to let him know there’s more than one” the Mother replied before blinking and looking confused at whatever this drink was, before responding “Not for babies, surly” as she opened it up, and took a swig, only for her eyes to widen. She drank deep of the gift as the storm clouds above melted away, and the light of the sun shone down upon both them and the city below once more. Only once the bottle was empty, and the skies were clear, did she release the bottle from her lips with a satisfied sigh, and admit “Or you know what, maybe you're right” 

Galaxor watched Asheel down the bottle and started laughing, very loudly before stopping and giving her a gentle slap on the back. “[color=gold]Oh’ I know! It’s a godly drink that my GU has. Some small deity gave it to them. Back when I was but a hero and not a god, they called it “Ambrosia”. [/color]” 


The breaker made a little annoyed sound when the Mother swapped her out just before that light slap landed, before the Maiden took over to ask “What was it like, out there, where you were a hero? What kinda stuff did you do?” ever so curious about his past exploits. 

Galaxor’s face basically lit up when he was asked to tell about his past exploits, as a few more bottles of RALK appeared before them. 

“[color=gold]Once upon a time, there was…[/color]” Galaxor started and from there, a few days passed as he talked in length about the time he fought a monster that whenever you'd cut its head, two more would appear and a woman who could turn anyone looking in her eyes into stone, while down below in the city only hours passed because time, as its new master well knew, was funny like that.

[hider=Summary] 
Tricity is under siege by the outer beasts of the Outer Gods. Lily, Asheel’s daughter, makes a friend, Seam and together they take over the defense of the city.  Many civilians die but most survivors have been elevated to hero status as per Galaxor’s Khodex addition. 

Jaxx arrives in the city guided by his hero sense and makes short work of a good number of outer beasts before being overwhelmed by their numbers. At that time, Asheel and Galaxor involve themselves and curse the outer beasts. 

After a hard fight with an older Outer Beast that moved through different timelines, Jaxx loses an arm while Lily and Seam receive a number of small injuries. 

The old outer beast escapes, heavily injured as it was. Scene cut to a dialogue between Asheel and Galaxor where Galaxor explains how the “hero sense” he blessed Jaxx with works and after being told off by Asheel, agrees to bless Jaxx with a new ability. 

[/hider]

[hider=MP]
Galaxor
Available - 3 MP
-1 MP to curse the outer beasts with “Time Slow”, making their moves sluggish. 
-1 MP to bless Jaxx with a “Time Slow” ability which allows him to slow down the passage of time around him for a few seconds. Enough to give him an edge. 
(4/4 MP for Time Domain] 

Remaining - 1 MP
Asheel
Available - 12 MP

-1mp to patronize Lilly’s experiments with R’kava
-1mp to brew a temporary storm above Tricity that struck any attempting to fly above it with lighting
-1mp and part of a greater outer beast to temporarily curse the outer beasts in the city such that even lesser wounds would cause them great pain

Remaining - 9MP
[/hider]