Arturio Plixis
He'd finally reached the top of the hill with the beautiful woman when Hex's screams reached his ears. When he turned to look at where Hex had stood with the dragon Arturio was shocked to see the man he'd chosen to follow standing, but burned beyond repair. Ever the loyal companion Arturio was preparing to run back down the hill when a strong hand gripped his shoulder. "The Starlight child chose to call on Oblivion's Herald of their own free will, and now he must face these trials alone." Arturio shook the woman's hand from his shoulder before gesturing wilding towards what looked to be a burned corpse standing next to the dragon that had attacked him. "Sir Hex is greater than any other man I've ever met, but that beast is killing him!" When he turned to face her he'd expected a cold response as she'd been doing since joining them, but her deep blue eyes were filled with tears ready to fall down her cheeks. "I am standing here with you, and I guarantee you I can see his condition better than yours. This...is necessary for his growth, and I won't be the reason Hex falls to any enemy he faces."
"Like it or not the Fate-touched one is right boy." The new voice belonged to a small black winged creature covered in black rags that approached from Arturio's left with a wooden chalice slowly following behind him. "Besides as you are you'd only get burned before you got within striking distance. That is until you drink this, and listen very closely to what I'm going to tell you." The faerie didn't wait for Arturio to give any sort of protest against what he'd been told instead forcing the chalice into the boy's hands. Arturio examined the chalice's contents, and raised an eyebrow skeptically when he saw the golden ichor it held. The faerie hurried him to drink by waving slowly pushing the chalice closer to him. "Drink, and listen to the tale of the Starlight child bane of gods above as well as below."
Arturio looked towards Hex as his voice cried out while another wave of purple flame engulfed his body. The boy whispered a prayer to his ancestors for protection before he began to drink from the chalice: The liquid was surprisingly cool, and sweet as he drank it before a warmth began to spread around his body. A sense of weightlessness came over him Ashe finished what was left in the chalice, and he heard a voice that seemed to be coming from the end of a long tunnel. "To understand him you must know how he truly came to be for the conception of an anathema must be seen to believe it." The voice belonged to the woman, and Arturio felt someone push him from behind but as he fell the world went dark. In the darkness he saw four figures standing around the smallest source of purple light. Two of the four were men in armor, one in majestic gold while the other wore dark armor, the second man seemed too familiar to Arturio. The other two were women who wore loose robes that perfectly opposed the other's. The woman with dark skin dotted with stars wore a dark robe that she pulled close around herself as she stared down at the light, while her counterpart wore a robe of white light and her skin glowed like the light of the noonday sun.
"The idea of the child was first conceived by Phaarus the now deposed king of the gods, but his ambitions required assistance to be brought to reality. As such Phaarus sought out and gained the assistance of Ivrena Daughter of Fate, Lady Xerilla ruler of the Abyss, and Omega the young god spawned from the remains of Melevar. With such mighty gods at his side Phaarus began to bring his heir to life, but even he couldn't be prepared for when the child's first cries of came." As if to punctuate her words Arturio heard an infants cry followed by an explosion that took his hearing from him. The voice spoke again after a long pause bringing another scene to reality in the darkness Arturio found himself in. "All but Xerilla were forced away from the child's wanton use of power, and when the other gods saw the cluster of stars destroyed by it they quickly decided to destroy the child before he ended all of life. A dramatic reaction that the gods often make when something of considerable power reveals itself to them. The others were prepared to start again, but Xerilla fled to the Mortal Realm taking the child with her."
A thought passed through the boy's mind as he saw a pale women running through the heavy brush of a much younger Astoria while a group of ancient humans hunted her. 'Does she protect the child out of a mother's love, or does she wish to use the child later?' Whether his teachers could hear his thoughts or not didn't seem to matter as the faerie spoke this time changing the scene once again. "After countless years of being hunted, and watching her beloved child die in increasingly painful ways Xerilla was forced into a pact that would keep the child safe from most of the gods. So the Starlight child would rest until the Convergence heralding the gods' end, and the destruction of all Realms: Or so they believe Xerilla wasn't prepared to let his fate be written in stone, and if it would be then she'd give him the power to control his fate. The actions she took saw the old gods fall, and killed Phaarus breaking his soul beyond recognition. With that done the Abyss Watcher waited for a time before using powers drawn from the Abyss to bind what remained of Phaarus' soul, a mortal soul fragment from beyond the Comic wall, and her beloved Starlight child."
Arturio watched in amazement as Xerilla slowly guided her child's fragile soul into the dying body of a young demon before the darkness swallowed up everything and took his vision from him. "To serve the Starlight child is to be a sworn enemy of the gods boy, and the gods have their fair share of mortal followers: This world is built to go against your master, and now you'll share the weight of his burdens."
[ Arturio Plixis you have been granted the rank of >Demigod< your patron god is Hex Starlight. You will been granted a selection of abilities provided by your patron in due time. ]
Hex Starlight
'The truth of life whether you're a god or a mortal is pain young one: That is why I teach you through pain.' This was Melevar's only excuse as he continuously bathed me in that damned purple flame after a time though the pain faded, and the dragon explained my conception to me while vaguely implying that should I wish it the gods would bow to us. Melevar taught me the difference in how the gods drew power, and the 'proper' way to draw on Chaos. 'The lessers believe that their power is drawn from the foundation of the very Realms, but they ignore the intricacies of their god cores to focus on expanding their understanding of the power itself. With the trial complete I will teach you how to become one with Chaos to the point the even Phaarus himself would fear a confrontation between the two of you.'
When he'd finished speaking a new understanding of the Engine, and Chaos itself came over my mind like a memory I'd forgotten about: Chaos was a force intrinsically tied with all of the Realms in the same way magic had been by Phaarus. Where all beings whether mortal or god could wield the power of magic Chaos was a source of power that seemed almost sentient. A shrill taunt voice cut through my thoughts, and I turned to see a small child with silvery hair standing behind me. "I'm glad you've finally gotten here again it's taken long enough, but I'd have left the meat shield in the arena." The boy looked too much like myself for him to be real yet he stood there looking ready to attack me. "Don't waste our time asking useless questions I've heard them all before. Yes I am you and you are me, but we aren't the same so to speak. With every rebirth our soul is split and put back together inside of a new body at death's door. The process is as painful as it is efficient: For all her work Xerilla couldn't save us from Fate completely. I am your lesser half Hex, but thanks to recent events we've started to merge again." He paced in front of me inspecting me with angry eyes when he noticed my confusion. "Hex the Convergence will be fantastic for us in terms of power, but Xerilla will die a true death if she's cut off from the Abyss much longer: Which is all but guaranteed if she's imprisoned for what could be hours now. Phaarus, the genius that he was, gave us the Proto-system, Omega gifted us with the Engine, Xerilla has named us heir of the Abyss, and Iverena promised our hand to another newly born god of considerable power. We are all the gods fear made flesh, and if we wished the Heavens would fall for the pain so many innocents have been through." The mention of pain brought another memory to the front of my mind: Xerilla had hidden us among a tribe of elves to the, and my name was Vulmar. During my tenth season mother had been attacked by a direwolf pack that'd been driven to madness by their hunger, and I'd used a small portion of the power I'd been given to protect her. The Heavens soon discovered us and sent a troop of demons into the Second realm: They came at night, and the elves I'd came to know as family were slaughtered. We tried to flee but eventually Rhestus, King of the gods, came down forcing mother into making my soul sleep again in the name of his "peace". My younger self finally showed a childish smile after he seemed to notice something.
[ The Player has expanded on their pantheon with the creation of their first >Demigod< Alert! This action has notified the gods of your location. ]
Melevar spoke after I'd read the system's message while my younger self faded from my eyes with a wink. 'Your imp has completed the ritual, and your enemies draw near with each passing second. The trial is done, but know that things will have changed when your mind returns. You have many allies, though you'll have to stop looking at the living to find them.'
Once he'd stopped speaking the darkness faded away revealing the charred field I stood in, and the giant dragon's skeleton that stood in front of me; the hill had been miraculously saved from the inferno. The Dragon Slayer armor hand been burned away, and in its place were a pair of dark scaled pants: At the center of my bare chest the Engine glowed softly while eight dark lines spread from around it.
Two people, one much larger than the other, stood on the hill next to the tree staring at me when a voice passed through my mind. 'Master! The ground is too hot for me to reach you, but I feel something approaching from the North.' I held a hand out to Arturio to call for silence the boy meant well but his voice was incredibly loud inside of my head. He hadn't been lying about the ground, from where I stood I could see ripples in the air around me: I expected my feet to be burned beyond recognition when I looked down, but they were fine. 'Give me a moment to collect myself Art, but keep your eyes on Eranna she's not to be trusted. I'll handle-'
Before I could send the rest of the message a thunderous boom sounded from above us, but when I looked up to see what had caused the noise a message from the system was in front of my eyes while a golden light lit up the night sky. [ >The gods have found us, find their leader. They'll have a way to Xerilla. I won't be able to break through the system many more times.< ]