In the Underworld of Falmart,
Countless dead spirits walked the barren and scorched lands, wandering in darkness for all eternity. At the center of this wasteland is a magnificent white palace inhabited by this world's goddess of the underworld, Hardy. Inside the palace's throne room is the goddess herself sitting on her white marble throne, watching the world for her entertainment. Despite having many screens showing her the stories happening in the mortal world, the blonde goddess is almost bored to death.
As if by magic, an idea popped up in her head. 'Why didn't I think of this before! I should just open another gate!' A specific set of coordinates entered her head as Hardy forms the gate on Alnus Hill. Seconds later, space distorts on Alnus Hill as a gigantic 60 foot tall gate with roman empire designs manifests. The divine object is supported by six marble pillars forming two parallel rows with horizontally aligned blue crystals connecting the pillars of the same row.
Empire mages near Alnus Hill sensed the magical disturbance and immediately informed their colleagues that the gate has opened. The news of the gate appearing on Alnus Hill spreads like the plague. In less than half an hour, the nobility of the empire has been informed of its opening. Soon, an emergency war council is held by the empire's current monarch Molt Sol Augustus. Nobles and senators quickly arrived, filling the throne room up with people.
On the large, marble throne facing the door is Emperor Molt Sol Augustus. He is an elderly man with light blonde hair, sharp blue eyes and a beard. On his head is a dark, metal ornament that resembles a crown. He wears noble attire fit for a king and dons a white cape over it. On the right side of the Emperor is the Crown Prince Zorzal El Caesar, sitting on a smaller marble throne of his own.
The crown prince is 6 foot 3 inches tall and muscular, with a body builder like physique. He has short blonde hair that's a little spiky. Zorzal wears plate armor painted burgundy with yellow highlights and over it, a white cape. He has a delighted smile on his face, a new land for the empire to conquer and for him to inherit once his dear father passes.
On the left hand side of the emperor is the empire's princess and 10th to succeed the throne, Pina co Lada. The princess is a 19 year old girl with long dark red hair and eyes of matching color. She dons a golden circlet on her head and has a pair of blue crystal earrings. She wears light armor with heavy shoulder guards, and a shirt which slightly exposes her cleavage.
The throne room is in a jovial mood. With the gate opened by the Goddess Hardy, the empire can conquer another world using its great might and tactics. As most of Falmart is already under the empire's control, expansion is something new and anticipated as more land means more resources which leads to more money and increased wealth. After this conquest, the empire shall be the conqueror not of one but of two worlds.
As all the nobles have arrived, the emperor motioned for them to settle down. Then, the emperor stood up from his throne and began, "Loyal Subjects of the Empire. We have gathered here in this moment to announce the opening of the holy gate on Alnus Hill. A new land is open to us, a new place to conquer in the name of our glorious empire."
Several servants entered the room, bringing in a large circular table and a large piece of parchment and a chest. The table is placed on the center of the room for all the nobles and the emperor to see. Four servants proceeded to open the human sized piece of parchment, revealing a magnified map of Alnus Hill. Servants opened the chest and placed figurines in the map, one to represent the gate, four to hold the map's edges and dozens to represent the army that will be deployed on Alnus Hill.
Then, they began organizing the expeditionary forces. In the end, 20% of the empire's forces are deployed for the assault. A few senators complained that it was too much but the emperor said that a larger force would be much more intimidating and would make them surrender. If they surrender, they would have more slaves and resources to harvest, not to mention that less equipment would be broken. With minimum losses and maximum gains, the empire would profit much better by doing so.
After 30 minutes, the short war council meeting concluded. A hundred and sixty thousand strong army gathers, consisting of foot soldiers, horse riders, archers, mages, trolls and wyvern riders. Nobles led the charge, all of them excited to conquer new territory and raise their noble rank in the empire, except for the old Count Formal. The formal clan's count felt uneasy about the upcoming battle, especially after hearing a soft voice in his head that tells him to turn back while he still can.
Alnus hill is a week on horseback from the nearest major city. However, the army's mages managed to open portals that reduce the travel time to only a day at most. The closer the old count is to Alnus Hill, the stronger is the voice that urges him to turn away and save himself. His men report the same voice that tells them to turn back and preserve their lives by doing so.
In case that this is a magical possession from the enemy, he asks the mages of the army to search his mind for any trace of disturbances. To his fear, there were none and the message now changed. 'Colt Formal, heed my advice and leave with your men while you still can. The ones beyond the gate do not show mercy to any invaders no matter their intentions. Leave now and you can rebuild the empire in a new light.'
He felt that he was going insane but similar messages are received by his most trusted and like minded men. Finding no source to this voice that spoke him and his men, the count and his most trusted aides deduced that this must be the work of a God. Problem is, which God is warning them of what seems to be a waiting calamity. After 12 hours of travel, the army sets up a temporary camp to rest and recover in one of the teleportation checkpoints.
There, he decides to pray to this unknown voice and hopefully, the voice will stop once he does. Inside his temporary camp, Colt Formal, the fifty year old head of the Formal clan is on his knees. The middle aged count dons a light armor and strips off his accessories in order to appear humble before whatever God he would encounter. Clasping his hands and bowing his head down, he prays towards the voice that has been whispering to him for the last 10 hours.
On Kashrya,
The Gate's appearance was immediately noticed by the Swarm. Hatcheries and other structures were immediately morphed nearby the gate and standby zerg forces are stationed to guard the gate and its surrounding hive clusters. Praelis was expecting friendly visitors from afar like the protoss, who were besieged by the corrupted zerg. It's a shame that the protoss disappeared, Praelis was interested in learning more about them and maybe even visit their homeworld to increase their friendly relations.
However, the creator already informed the future broodmother that the gate leads to a world of invaders who would kill and destroy just to steal the land of others. Since Praelis was modified by his power and is close to him, she shared similar sentiments. Added by natural curiosity as a sentient being, Praelis is more like an innocent, curious child than a second in command of the swarm. The modified large queen is against mindless killing and prefers peaceful contact, she dislikes unleashing the swarm on others but would do it if they threaten the zerg.
Within several hours, Praelis amassed a force of three thousand and nine hundred zerg organisms. The creator had previously mentioned that the invaders are weak and arrogant, so attacking them with the weakest zerg force would be an insult and leverage considering that even the weakest will destroy their massive army with few to no losses. The army consists of two thousand zerglings, six hundred hydralisks, five hundred overlords, four hundred roaches, three hundred mutalisks, ninety queens and ten ultralisks. Upon the army's entry to Kashrya, they would he greeted by the sight of ten ultralisks gazing down on them.
For maximum kill effectiveness, roaches and hydralisks would be dispatched from the side, firing at the intimidated and distracted soldiers. With that, the invaders won't even feel their deaths and a few thousand can be eliminated before the zerg will follow them through the gate. With a plan formed, Praelis commands all of the expeditionary zerg army into formation. All zerg but Ultralisks are to burrow themselves and be ready to unburrow and unleash the fury of the zerg onto these invaders.
The creator had a plan and it involves the creation of a solid creep sofa in front of the ultralisks and the creator slouching on it. Praelis asked the creator about this gesture and he replied with four simple words, "Because I want to." Then, the creator felt someone calling for him and reached towards the caller. Seeing who had summoned him, the creator smiled, "Let the salvation of Falmart commence."
Count Formal's Tent, Falmart
Inside a large tent measuring 4m wide and long, a man in his fifties wearing light armor is kneeling, praying to an unknown God. He knelt on the middle of the carpeted tent with his hands clasped and deep in prayer. Suddenly, a voice called out to the count. It was benevolent, amused but most importantly, it was casual.
The voice was like a friend's, open and caring. It didn't sound condescending, very much unlike the known gods of Falmart. The voice spoke again, "Colt, open your eyes." Following the voice's command out of curiosity, Colt Formal opened his eyes to see a divine beauty before him.
She has friendly violent eyes with an innocent spark to it, long dark brown hair partially tied into an upwards pointing pony tail and an amused smile. Her outfit could only be described as something exotic, nothing in the empire had such a style. She wears a bra made of what seems to be dark blue petals or scales, completely covering her breasts. She wears a crown like ornament made of laurel wreath entwined with some gold.
On her arms are twin golden bracelets of a completely alien design, the count presumed that it is a divine artifact of unparalleled beauty, the envy of any god. On her waist is a golden belt with alien inscriptions holding multiple pieces of cloth together to cover her bottom half. The longest piece reaches her ankle while the shortest reaches only her knees. To complement her divine image, the goddess wears a pair of golden slippers adorned with gems.
From top to bottom, the count could only describe her as a true goddess as her beauty makes any other known god's complete and utter trash in comparison. "Like what you see, count?" Noticing that he was staring at her, the count bowed and muttered a most humble apology. However, the goddess simply chuckled and said, "look up, no need to be so sorry. I don't care about meaningless stuff like that."
"Yes goddess." The count looked up to face her smiling face and asked, "Who are you?" The goddess snapped her fingers and everything around them transformed into a landscape of ruin, endless fissures cracked and fire spewed forth. The count was deeply terrified by this scene, especially after hearing a loud roar coming from the distance. Seeing the count starting to sweat, the goddess snapped her finger once more and a utopia appeared.
Green grass beneath them swaying under the calm winds, a city of white in the distance, decorated by nature. Massive metal ships flew in the distance, patrolling the clear blue skies. The count heard faint noises of children laughing and playing together. The count was amazed and moved by this beautiful vision of utopia.
"Who are you?" The realm around them transforms back into the tent and once it does, the goddess squatted down until their eyes were at the same level. "I am Lauria, Goddess of Destruction. What you have just witnessed is the two futures of Falmart. One is a future of ruin where Falmart becomes a realm of fire and brimstone, ruled by the great demons from afar. The other future is one where the demons destroy the empire and the tyrannical gods of this world, uniting the people of Falmart into forming the beautiful utopia you witnessed."
"Great goddess, why are you showing me such divine vision? I am unworthy of such a prophecy." Lauria smiled, the humility of humans only appear once they meet beings beyond their comprehension. An instinct that she admits is useful for survival but makes it hard to differentiate true followers from those who simply fear the great unknown. The goddess stands up, but her eyes are still locked at the kneeling count.
"You will be my Messiah, my anointed one to save this world. Your survival matters and your actions shall bring unity to this world. That's why I need you to leave and turn back, head south and you will find people in need. Protect them in my name and they shall aid you in your great mission."
The count is torn. On one hand, this mission will save the demi humans and bring an era of peace through the empire's destruction. However, the army would report his desertion alongside his forces and would hunt him down and revoke his title. Without it, he would surely die and fail in accomplishing his mission of peace. Not to mention, his family and clan would be massacred to.
As a count, he knew very well the cruelty of the empire to those who reject them or leave them. He doesn't want to see his descendants slaughtered by empire soldiers just because he escaped south. He hoped that the goddess is caring enough to bring him aid instead of simply watching from the sidelines and punishing him for failing. Gods are known to be very petty, so it's quite an impossible hope he is holding to.
The goddess sensed his dilemma, his desertion would bring death and destruction to his family. If he doesn't desert, the world would be scorched and turned into a nesting ground for the demons that the goddess Hardy brought over from the gate on Alnus Hill. To clear his doubts, the goddess touched his forehead. The power of destruction flowed into him, clearing him of impurities and changing his structure on a genetic level.
Colt Formal wound himself returning to his youth. The strength of his prime returned to him, alongside something else, something that is growing in him. Colt looked at his hands, no longer wrinkled but the experience in them remained. He touched his face, it was smooth, just like in his youth. The goddess manifested a mirror and gave it to him.
The count took a good look at his new appearance and was shocked. Staring back at him is a handsome man in his twenties with blue eyes and short cropped ivy league orange hair. The count looked like he was in his prime, but the different hairstyle made him more handsome than his prime. His mouth hung open, finding it hard to understand that his youth had returned to him.
"I'm a benevolent goddess. I'm not gonna let my followers embark in a hard ass mission and not get any help. Especially when it's about saving a world and those who dwell on it. Speaking of which, I have one more thing to gift you." The goddess manifested a pitch black spear measuring 1.7m long. Its tip radiated power, power that can slay even the immortal so called gods of this world.
He handed it to the count and said, "This is the Spear of True Death. Anything struck by the spear cannot regenerate, it is something that can be used to kill even gods." The count was even more bewildered, a goddess than handed him a weapon to kill other gods. 'How can she trust anyone with such a weapon?' He thought. "Note that the spear cannot harm me or the demons as they have naturally developed immunity to all ailments."
'Still, such a weapon is too great. I hope that I can keep myself from succumbing to power hunger.' The count saw it as a test from his new goddess that such a weapon is entrusted to him. With a weapon that can kill even gods, an oppressive tyrant is nothing before him. Not to mention, his new appearance would make it impossible for anyone to recognize him else than someone who had seen him in his youth.
The goddess motioned him to stand up and spoke, "With this spear and your eternal youth, you shall conquer Falmart in my name and save its people from their complete destruction. Now go, save this world in the name of Lauria, the Goddess of Destruction." The goddess' form dissipates into purple butterflies that proceeds to slam into the ground, stopping the flow of time for everyone but her chosen in this camp.
Gathering his most loyal and like minded followers, Colt Formal and 100 men left the camp in the cover of darkness, heading south into the prophesied land. After they have left for an hour, the temporal pause ended and the world went on without a notice of what happened. Even the gods of this world are not aware of the one hour paused that almost all beings experienced. This marks the beginning of the Church of Destruction.
18 hours later, the soldiers have gathered up in Alnus Hill, ready to charge into a new world for them to conquer. Camps are set up and the first half of the army enters formation. Trolls and armored soldiers are in the front while archers and mages are at the back. Wyvern riders are placed everywhere but are more concentrated above the ranged combatants, providing them with extra defense from above.
Soon, the first half of the army entered the gate and into Kashrya. The first thing the army felt when they exited the gate is the gray purplish goo on the ground. They looked up to see a red sky and ominous clouds floating within it. Then, they noticed the scariest and last thing they will ever see.