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A Hero Tale: Mikhael

Rajaka slowly made his way past the queen, but fell to one knee before getting anywhere near Mikhael. "Cheap shot, kid," He rasped through his burnt throat, "That's what I'm talkin' about, Maya." Rajaka coughed several times in succession, clutching his chest irritably. "Fucking kid disrupted my Ki. My Ki! Who would of guessed it."

"Still your... Tongue," Maya grunted, finally rising to her feet at a slow pace.

"Yea," Rajaka grunted, "Yea..." The massive man rose to his feet and stomped towards Mikhael with determination. "Yea, kid, you'll do." The golden giant bent over and, as gently as he could manage, peeled the torn boy off of the ground. "Yeah-ha!"

"What are you doing?!" Maya cried out in a panic. But as she was about to cast another spell, Rajaka turned to her and slowly made his way back with the boy cradled carefully in his hands. "What..."

"You're gunna heal him," Rajaka ordered, while aiming a cough away from the boy's face, "You're gonna heal him, and then, I'm gunna tell Yzeira that you're dead. Got it?" Maya glared at the giant, watching as he bald head slowly began to fuzz over with a light blond layer of hair. The burns in his flesh slowly began to heal as well. Why was he doing this? Did he have a sudden change of heart?

"Why-"

"This kid's gonna be a lot stronger than you, babe. A lot stronger. I know for a fact that blood-eyed asshole 'aint gonna acknowledge him, though. If I brought him back to the tower like this, he'd be nothin' short of a sacrifice. So I'm gonna leave him here, and you're gonna keep him alive, understand me, princess?" The queen looked Rajaka over once in disbelief. But as he lowered Mikhael's body to the ground before her, he smiled and passed her by. "You've got maybe a year before he figures out that you aren't dead. I'll be back before then." Maya looked back at the towering giant for only a split second before she dropped to begin working on Mikhael, using arcane magics not often seen by her knights, or the villagers that lived in Kale.

"Mikhael!" Maya hissed into the boy's ear, "Mikhael, can you hear me?"

A Hero Tale: Mischa

The creature on board Mischa's ship didn't seem to struggle very much once the airlocks were sealed. The creature stood up on two legs, took a less apprehensive form, and glared across Mischa's room curiously. "Get away from the Yaridon Cruiser!" it shouted, unsure if anyone could even hear it. For all it knew, this little ship was auto-piloted. Of course, auto-piloted ships had a much higher rate of disappearance in the Beta sector for some reason or another. Perhaps it was because of creatures like this one with the apparent ability to warp through space.

The Yaridon cruiser began to pull Mischa's ship closer to it, opening a relatively large set of doors that could easily accommodate a much larger ship. Within, it was plainly visible that this was a docking bay. But there were hundreds of small ships scattered across the dark runway that ran deep into the mystery ship, some of which looked eerily similar to the Numinous. The pull on Mischa ship began to increase, originating from a strange beam-like contraption that lit the edge of the loading bay's runway with a smooth neon blue array of rounded lights.

"If anyone is there, turn around! You'll be trapped!" The alien prisoner shrieked, frantically clawing at the reinforced blast doors to no avail.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Jenso's fireball traveled quite some distance before it began to shrink, but it collided with the ice ball before disappearing completely. Unfortunately, it didn't do much damage, and didn't stop the tendrils of electricity from going after Jenso directly while he was in midair.

A Hero Tale: Mikhael

"Shit!" Rajaka mumbled from beneath Mikhael's hand, reaching up quickly to grab the boy's appendage and snap it like a twig. Before he could take any significant action though, the uproarious flames consume his head and burned away his glorious golden locks. The torrent widened and widened until the highest visible portions of his upper body were his shoulders flexing beneath the flames. Rajaka's movements slowed to a crawl, but he managed to place both of his bear-like hands on Mikhael's arm, despite the flames already surrounding its entire length. The flames pelted against the underside of Rajaka's fist, but didn't completely dissuade him. The giant stood up on both legs, pulling Mikhael with him, and tossed the boy overhead, towards the village. "Son of a bitch!"

As the smoke and fire cleared, Rajaka was left with no hair, visible burn wounds along his neck, chest, eyelids, and the majority of his head, but his mask was still perfectly in tact. Whatever it was made of could withstand the full brunt of Mikhael outstanding hidden ability. Within moments though, Rajaka was able to open his eyes once again. The glow in his iris' was slightly brighter now, but the giant fell back to one knee and clutched his head frantically.

The queen still lay paralyzed, but her eyes managed to follow Mikhael's form as it flew over her for the briefest of moments. Rajaka shook his neck back and fourth, grunting like an animal. His flesh did not immediately heal like it had done earlier. Something about the properties of Mikhael's magic left a scar on his person. Whether or not it would heal over time was impossible to say, but the giant was hurt, and by extension, vividly angry.

A Hero Tale: Mikhael

Rajaka chuckled as he stepped forward, nonchalant in his approach, until something gripped his leg with a burning desire. He felt the clutch of Mikhael, albeit weak, he felt it. Maya looked upon her adopted squire in discontent. Demonization. Maya lowered her hand and stepped away from Rajaka, gripped by something nostalgic. Rajaka looked back at Mikhael briefly. The corner of his mouth curved down behind his mask and he rose an eyebrow, confused and alarmed by the boy's sudden transformation. But a moment passed and he smiled once more, completely disregarding the possible danger that desperately reached out to him.

"You've got yourself a winner here, Maya!" Rajaka mocked, turning back to here, and loosely dragging Mikhael across the ground with his titanic steps. Maya stepped back again, and again, but with his next step, Rajaka stomped hard against the ground. A yellow spire of energy rose and engulfed Maya's being for a split second before fading away. The woman fell to the ground in utter paralysis, victim to a power that the giant had kept hidden until now. "Cataclysm, babe," Rajaka spat, stepping closer and closer to the disabled Queen. "You'd think after 300 years you'd make some goddamn progress. But no! Yzeira sure was hoping though, man was he hoping. Never seen that kind of passion in his eyes since that shadow dog made her way into the tower. You remember her, yeah? Good times." As he grew nearer, the queen did not move. She couldn't. Rajaka's overbearing magic had taken vice over her soul. "You were so close, too! Right on that line, that sweet spot! If only you were a little less prideful... Ah, look at me talkin' about pride!"

Rajaka stood over the queen, Mikhael still latched to his leg defiantly. He turned back to the boy and knelt down to give him a closer look. The golden giant met Mikhael's crimson gaze with his own sun-filled eyes.

"Hey kiddo, I'm gunna squish your mommy now," Rajaka mocked in an infantile tone, "It'll be qwick, so don't cwy too much!"

A Hero Tale: Mikhael

Rajaka grinned beneath his mask as Mikhael's word snapped in two. The giant grunted happily, but before he moved to strike the young boy once more, his target tossed the broken blade aside and asked a question that tore deeper than any blade ever could. Something in the towering man cracked, an invisible nerve within him that fancied little more than excitement, adrenaline, and battle that could push him to his limits.

'What do you want?' As if he didn't know! Rajaka grit his teeth angrily and tightened his posture, reeling both armed closer to his waist and bending both knees. Mikhael kept blabbering on, but Rajaka wasn't having any of it. He glared at him, containing a rage that built like relentless magma. When the boy dropped to one knee, the cap was full to bursting within his would-be executioner.

"That's it?!" Rajaka blurted, stomping his foot against the ground hard enough to shake the entire field, "That's really it, huh!? You're just another sniveling kid! Another fucking disappointment! I don't care about your humanity, but if you're so goddamn eager to die," The giant stepped forwards and pulled his right leg back, "I'll be happy to oblige!"

"Stop!"

Maya's voice cracked the tension within Rajaka's stance, and froze him in place just moments before the edge of his boot struck Mikhael's face. A blow that would have ended the boy was stopped by no more than a word. Dust and air pelted Mikhael in placed of the giant's mighty foot, no less frightening than a raging storm. Rajaka turned his head towards the village, catching Maya's slender figure, draped in white, only a few yards away, and closing fast. He pulled his foot back and glanced at her, wide-eyed with shock and disbelief. But his brow lowered again, and his smile returned once he recognized her lovely face.

"Maya, Babe! You haven't aged a fucking day!" Rajaka shouted crudely, slowly walking towards her with his hands extended out to his sides, "Gimme a hug!"

"Silence, demon!" She shrieked, raising her palm to face him, "Begone from this place, or face-"

"Seriously hun, stick to your benevolent shtick," Rajaka interrupted, "You're threatening the wrong fuckin' guy." The Queen wavered in his stance for a split second, but reaffirmed herself and began gathering power within her gut.

"I will not-"

"I'm here to kill you," Rajaka blurted, not allowing Maya to speak any further, "How's that for news? Haha!"

A Hero Tale: Oswald

"Out in the forest, ya idgit! Where d'ya think I could've gone?" Freddie paused and let go of Oz with a guilty chuckle, "Ehehe, right. Dead, haha! Safe to say I'm fine now, though! Been fine for quite a while! Better question is, what brings you so far into the forest?"

A Hero Tale: Mischa

The quick reaction was just enough to save Numinous, and by extension, anyone on board. But Mischa's reaction to the intruding entity didn't seem very effective, not once her sensors picked up the very inhuman heartbeat. The creature was detectable, and moved just as a human would, but as the airlocks shot open and attempted to vent the creature out, it clung to the closest surface within her room and dug its hands deep into the Numinous' inner hull.

Something blared across Mischa's comm as she glared at the giant monolith-like wall before her. A message was made clearer, and repeated several times. Fortunately, it was in English, but what the hell could be out here with such advanced tech, and the ability to communicate with such ease?

"Attention, attention! This is the Yaridon containment cruise, requesting that you disable your ship's engine, along with any defense systems, and allow our officers to board! Our distress signal was a ruse concocted by one of our prisoners! I repeat, please disable your ship's engine, along with any defense systems, and allow our officers to board! Our distress signal was a ruse concocted by one of our prisoners!"

The message blared over and over, awaiting compliance, or some sort of response from the Numinous' pilot. The dark figure before her was a super-massive containment vessel, allegedly responsible for transporting prisoners. But why the hell would it be in the Beta sector? Where the hell was Yaridon? It was completely alien to anything spoken of back at the Core worlds, and its size was astronomical. Something about the entire situation didn't add up. Perhaps the criminal has some answers. Or, perhaps the criminal wanted so desperately to tear into Mischa's flesh. Whatever it wanted, it didn't seem to need oxygen, could apparently survive in the vacuum of space, and had enough physical strength to resist the natural pull from the Numinous' airlocks.

A Hero Tale: Mikhael

Rajaka's fist flew past Mikhael's head like a cannon's fire, blowing back air as his arm fully extended. He didn't put any weight into the blow, but it was unclear if he really needed to. There was no telling where the giant got his power from. He may have been massive, but comparing the force of his blow to that of a normal human, even taking into account his stature, was impossible. Rajaka pulled his arm back from the jab as Mikhael moved to his side, swiftly and without error. His attack was precise, aimed to decapitate his foe with little restraint, but as the silvered sword sliced through the air and towards the Giant's throat.

A direct hit! But to what avail? Rajaka stood there with his arms bent at 90 degrees, and his hands loose. The blade pierced flesh, but once again, the wound created was no more than an inch deep. Surely, it was deep enough to incite some panic or disarray in the giant's mind, but just as swiftly as Mikhael struck forth, one of Rajaka's giant fist swung upward, aimed not for Mikhael, but for his sword. The skin around Rajaka's neck turned grey, just as it had done around his leg, with minimal blood seeping from his wound. What in the world was this monstrous creature?

~

"What!?" Maya Shrieked from behind her two guards, Ezekiel and Joseph, "You're sure of it?" Lillian nodded before her queen and pointed back towards the center of town. The royal guards had taken Maya to her home within the village, where she lived equally among her people, but the danger of Rajaka was likely only stalled by Mikhael's valiant efforts. She had to escape now.

"We must round up the village and retreat to Teal Brook. I'm confident Mikhael will-"

"I will go," Maya insisted, pushing her way past Ezekiel and Joseph. The two guards didn't bother reaching out for the queen. They knew he well enough to know that imposing on her decisions was a futile effort. "Lillian, do not evacuate just yet. There may still be time-"

"Maya!" Lillian shouted, grabbing the Queen's wrist as she passed, "I think you are gravely underestimating our foe! You have not seen-" Maya broke Lillian's grip and shoved the girl aside aggressively before she could finish.

"Now is not the time for your wretched attitude, Lillian! I know what I am doing. If I am unsuccessful in stopping that masked buffoon, then, and only then, you will follow through with your plans to evacuate!" She said with determination in her risen voice. Maya stomped out of her home and left Lillian with the Royal guard. Ezekial walked over to Lillian and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You gravely underestimate our Queen," he said quietly. Lillian pulled away from his grasp and narrowed her eyes at the queen as she stomped out.

What a prideful witch, Lillian thought.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Jenso' strike didn't do much to stop the boulder, and before he could react, the lightning struck it, and arced out in all directions like tendrils of pure energy.