Auguya was once a thriving, prosperous, and glorious world, belonging to the wrath of ever-burning flames and lava. Here in this world, seven kingdoms have been at war ever since the ancient times of the birth of this planet.
"What do you mean?"
A world contaminated by demons, dragons, and witches, a race that went to such lengths to further expand their civilization and create glorious technological advancements.
For centuries, one massive, devastating war sprawled out. Unleashing years of death and destruction to erupt from the sizzling surface.
The once soft soil was turned into a hellish land of destruction, volcanos, and lava.
It was until one day that a Child of The Demons ended the war by releasing a seismic pulse known as 'Healing; an element known to be the power that tops the rest, known to slay every kind of monster and assist the world.
It wasn't long until The Obsidian Crown was given to The Demon of Healing, thus deeming HIM as the King of Auguya.
"There is something dangerous out there! I don't think even weapons could stop it!"
The Demon of Healing, Belial, forced the seven nations of the world to merge into one unified kingdom, thus forming an everlasting piece to the Hellish World.
For years there was peace among the hot lands of the world, with advanced spaceships, technological weapons, and floating cities all powered by red luminance.
"Fine, I'll order my servants to check it out!"
However, the fate of Auguya was left short when the monsters noticed that stars started to fade away from the night sky.
"The guards, or even… y-your army alone, won't be enough to defeat this… anomaly."
* * * *
A man covered in obsidian armor with long dark hair and gleaming cyan eyes stepped out of the obsidian archway and smelled the enticing aroma of the fresh hot lands.
Fire, steaming lava, and dragons all wandered the unified world, with spaceships and foraging areas thriving in hot volcanoes scattered across the land.
His figure was threatening, powerful, and fearsome, with charcoal-black obsidian plates filled with glowing green and crimson spewing up from his torso to his chest.
One could easily acknowledge he was the leader of the kingdom.
As fire flew in the sky, Belial closed his eyes and raised his gleaming crimson staff into the air.
"Army of Auguya, I command you to step forward!"
His demanding and enticing voice echoed over the walls of the towering castle. Hastily, a stream of forty-thousand obsidian knights stepped from the bunkers scattered across the spiraling landform, and all lifted their blades upward.
Their arms coordinated with each movement of the ruler, all shouting with their deep, hoarse voices.
"Yes, your highness! Our land will not suffer!"
King Belial slowly nodded and felt the heat touch and coat his body. He tilted his head upward and saw his superweapons and black and crimson starships descending from the skies. Belial's eyes widened as the army stood utterly still.
"I don't understand… weren't those mechanisms…."
A tall, beautiful brown-haired woman wearing a crimson dress, an armor piece, and bright, popping red lipstick slowly stepped up the staircase. She gripped her chest and turned toward the sky. Surprisingly, there was an apparent absence of clouds anywhere.
She clung onto Belial's arm, tapped his head, and warned as the stars twinkle over the night sky.
"Honey, something is up in the sky."
Belial slowly dropped his staff and tilted toward the beautiful woman.
His height towered her, with his long braided dark hair flying upward from the lava particles. Sharing the same attraction, the woman served as Belial's wife, a relationship that lasted for hundreds of years; The Queen of Auguya.
King Belial shook his head and stepped closer toward the flagpole. He tightly gripped on his wife's hand, picked up his staff, and raised his voice in a stern tone.
"I DEMAND ALL OF THE ARMY TO STEP UP AND CLIMB THE HILL!"
The metal doors on the steel bunkers flew upward, and a river of thousands of crimson knights stepped forward, with their advanced weaponry latched onto their hands.
Stars vanished from the sky, one by one, with shooting stars streaking across the atmosphere.
Belial turned to the west, watching canyons crumble from collapsing cities. His cyan eyes widened, he ignited his palm in a green glow and turned up toward the sky.
"I ORDER ALL OF MY SERVANTS TO COME UP AT ONCE!"
The doors flew open, and a few bright-colored humanoid demons stepped up the obsidian staircase, standing near Belial. Though his memory was foggy, he could remember one individual.
A boy with tan skin, gleaming crimson hair, wearing tattered tunics, and an obsidian glove screamed as the world trembled.
"MASTER, UP IN THE SKY!"
Unexpectedly, a massive chunk of the world roughly detached from the world and got swallowed by two huge glowing white streaks. It looked like white shooting stars.
Directly, the army stepped forward and rushed down the ash hill, all releasing their weapons toward the 'Shooting Stars.'
Abruptly, a massive fraction of the army disintegrates into white, vanishing into thin air. Belial's eyes widened, unable to believe what he witnessed.
"W-What the…"
(VYOOOM)
Five jets struck across the sky, flying and chasing the two Shooting Stars. Lasers flew in the air, chunks of the world disintegrated into dust, and thousands of flying spaceships crash-landed onto the surface.
The King had no choice but to evacuate his army, servants, and himself toward the strongest and fastest spaceship he knew.
As the last of the army ran up the door, it swiftly sealed, and the jets of the spaceship released a sonic boom.
The spacecraft flew toward the atmosphere, pierced through the clouds, and dodged white streaks.
Suddenly, half of the world got swallowed by a consuming white light. Soldiers accidentally flew out of the ship and instantly swept the engulfing white.
"ACCELERATE!"
Debris flew in the air and collided with the ship, forcing it to descend into a river of lava. Belial stepped out and saw thousands of dragons trying to flee from the chasing sea of white.
Each one of them shrieked and screamed as their feet, and then their bodies swiftly got swallowed from the light.
"My Dragons…" Belial faintly whispered.
He slammed his fist and escorted the rest who survived to the next ship, across the stone bridge. However, as they were about to reach it, a beacon of white punctured through the surface and destroyed thousands more individuals.
"CURSE IT!"
He didn't realize that his wife was also swept with the light, as if her existence was utterly wiped from reality. King Belial was too strong to cry, but he grew a hatred for the all-engulfing light deep inside his heart.
In a sudden storm, as the Two Shooting Stars flew across the extensive rivers of lava, King Belial used a smaller ship, forced his servants and everyone else up in the sky, and escaped the world.
However, as they were about to reach the stratosphere, the white light hastily engulfed almost all of them, with the rest who survived entering a wormhole and escaping the destruction.
The Whitening… was what the Universe called it. An alien-like entity that senselessly destroys everything with its lethal white light.
At the end of the wormhole was a sight of a blue sphere covered in pieces of land and sprawling heavenly kingdoms; floating in the air.
As all of them and Belial escaped the wormhole, they hastily flew toward the world and screamed.
"We will end who's responsible for this!"
Little did they know that the world they traveled to… was Gincad.
* * * * * * * *
The memory faded. Belial's eyes illuminate with a full green glow, feeling as if all his powers were colliding and melding into one blistering mantle of epic proportions.
The emerging essence from his Adcrystal converged with his drastically powerful healing abilities making Belial feel he was unstoppable.
"Move!"
He gasped in shock and felt a spike of adrenaline pierce his throat. He hoisted his arm into the air, clasped his fingers, and unleashed a strong shockwave, pushing the trees back.
"HRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
His voice cracked and ruptured. Sally was screaming in pain, feeling as if thousands of needles were piercing through her body. This power, combined with Belial, was enough to topple the world.
This amount of energy was bound to attract the nations, including Wraileza.
Drimi slowly stepped back and whispered.
"S…Sally?"
Suddenly, a gargantuan cyan beacon of light emerged from the chasm of collapsing rocks and forced itself up toward the endless blue vista of The Sky.
The magnificent beacon pulsated and struck through the cyclone of clouds, revealing a spiraling, gargantuan stream of numerous colors flying beyond the blue horizon.
A drastically loud sonic boom followed the collision and quaked the ground.
"GAH!"
The streaks rushed like millions of jets flying, encircling the world at ludicrous speeds. Plates slid off the counters inside the unaffected buildings, shelves waned on the wooden floor, and villagers staggered.
Phthonus bolted out of the crowd with the wanderers, feeling the pebbles of the ground lift from the quakes. The two beacons illuminated and glowed the ground with a pale green hue.
Phthonus knew what this power held, and so he rushed out, dragging the wanderers away from the radius of danger.
They were unsteady, with vertigo coursing through their bodies. As they were fleeing through the grid of buildings, Asahi pulled Aletha away from falling debris toward a tattered wall and warned the villagers.
"Get out of there! Follow me!"
Despite their conditions, the villagers didn't bother to hesitate and decided to follow the wanderers. As Belial and Sally wailed in agony, the wanderers rushed through the grid of smoldered buildings, evaded the dangerous elements, and approached the Well.
Though the villagers didn't waver and were delighted to be assisted, Asahi's sister didn't feel the same.
While they approached a barricade, Aletha tried hastily to yank Asahi back, then stomped her foot on the ground. As Asahi tried to grab her wrist and continued, Aletha raised her voice with a tear falling down her cheek.
"ASAHI! W-What are you doing?! Are we… just going to leave them like that?"
Asahi was evidently shocked by Aletha's abrupt reveal. He was stupefied that she even had any true feelings for the humans; it almost made Asahi think about his own actions. Despite being a goddess, she acted more human than she ever had before they returned to their world.
So, with respect, Asahi stood in front of Aletha and listened.
"What, sis?"
Aletha crossed her arms, making a pouty face.
"You KNOW exactly what. Do you even think about what everyone has done for you? Belial has done more than anyone had ever done for us in years! He acknowledged us of the dangers of our changing world, he practiced and assisted both of us during the troubling times in Dreamtoe; and now all you think about is just LEAVING them behind. Asahi, do you have ANY remorse?"
Everyone went silent. The strong gusts blew against their white hair. Aletha stood in front of Asahi, having an anger-induced aura over her face, hoping that her brother would ruminate about his latest conjectures.
He contemplated what they did to get them this far on their long road ahead.
(Everyone. Drimi, Sally, Belial, Akwan, Phthonus, and the others… have all done their part. They have all redeemed themselves as caring individuals, one that doesn't leave another behind. The actual act of a warrior.)
As Asahi slowly pulled Aletha away from the flames, with his eyes bouncing back and forth like balls, he clenched his fists and caught his breath.
"Aletha, losing our powers was the best thing that could have happened to us."
Her round dark silver eyes broadened in shock.
"Huh?"
"Sis, ever since we lost our powers, we gradually began understanding people more, other than ourselves. We grew dependent on them and formed bonds, connections, and even friendships with them. Even despite our hardships, those problems were enough to draw us closer to humanity than we ever were back then."
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and saw memories of Belial's face when he spoke about the world beyond Pladtioa flow into his mind. Then the face of Drimi and her prestigious actions when she fought Tear using all her ability with Ames and Athenia standing by on her side, and then Akwan, who sacrificed his life so that the wanderers could live, then Phthonus who not only fought Asahi, but taught him about the meaning of dominance and pride.
These individuals have all done their part in awakening the wanderers to new heights. However, someone was missing from the fraction.
As the villagers stared silently and as the beacon flew high up into the sky, Asahi stared directly at Aletha's glimmering gray eyes with a tone of seriousness and bravery surging up and down their pupils-- Asahi continued.
"Each one of them has done so much for us, and now I grew to realize that gods… have similarities to humans. Without our drastic powers overpowering ourselves and blinding us from our heart, maybe even gods could begin to understand and even adapt to humanity than before."
Aletha stepped back and formed a light grin, at ease and prideful of her brother's understanding. Asahi tilted his head toward the two beacons emitting in the foreground, then stepped forward, clenching his fists.
"You're right, Aletha. We shouldn't be fleeing away from them. We should be helping them or stopping them from unleashing anarchy upon our world. If that is, that's what the beacon means."
Quickly, the wanderers rushed through the crowds of ash, through the grid of smoldered structures, and evaded the falling debris. They returned to the crater, seeing Belial and Sally shriveling up in their own overpowering.
"No!"
Belial closed his eyes and unleashed an even greater pulse, forming another massive beacon of green piercing through the sky.
A funnel of clouds circulated around the beacons, with its gusts swirling like an upside-down cyclone. Belial's skin was covered and withered with cracks— fracturing and parting like glass fragments.
The sunlight from the gaping hole surrounded by a fleet and abundance of clouds fluorescently scintillated on Milmoor like a spotlight.
Time slowed down, a heavenly chime resonated within the vortex in the sky, torrents of lightning spewed from the hole striking specifically on one spot.
The pacing and adrenaline rushed through Milmoor as Asahi and Aletha raced down the hill to stop it.
The villagers hollered. They were struck with awe watching the storm of colors fly across the sky.
"The Perpetual Storm."
"There it is."
"No… way…"
As Drimi slowly tilted upward, as the wanderers quivered in bruises and sparkles on the grass fields, as everyone from Pladtioa saw the shadows of clouds cover the nation… a massive green flare blinds the skies, and a gigantic cyan luminance crashes down from The Perpetual Storm; relentlessly engulfing everything and everyone within the radius of Milmoor… with a bright cyan-green light.
One silhouette was tossed away from the light while another transformed into a beast-like entity, with two horns spanning from its forehead before everything…
Before anyone knew it, everything, including the destruction, was reverted to its past state.
* * *
The bird's chirp, the fluorescent breeze brushes against trees, and the sunshine against a massive family of wooden, cobblestone structures. Despite the chaos, after a green beam struck the earth; Everything and everyone that we're within a radius of the impact… is now unscathed, recovered, and healed.
Asahi and Aletha rushed down the hill, bending over to the woman atop the grass. Having sleek platinum hair, hot pink eyes, and fair bruise-tattered skin, the wanderers screamed out.
"Sally!"
Then, an audacious roar sounded out behind them. Loud and robust footsteps trembled the ground. The wanderers' hearts stopped, seeing that approaching from behind was a massive, muscular, brown-like demon beast charging toward them at full speed.
Drimi's dark purple eyes widened in shock and fear, knowing who that beast was. Phthonus backed up and protected the villagers. But as his hands were about to touch them, he noticed that even the tattered villagers were reverted and restored to their clean state.
"H-Huh?"
"ROAR!" The demon beast said as it flocked its dark demonic wings into the air.
Phthonus, Sally, and Drimi knew that Belial sacrificed his human form so that the village and its people could be healed from the chaos that Tear unleashed. But they simply couldn't believe he would do it so resistantly.
Each of the three had a memory spark inside their minds.
* * * * *
(If I were to become my original form, please...) Belial said.
He clasped Drimi, Akwan, and Phthonus' hands, sitting near a campfire surrounded by forest.
(Kill me. I would be good dead rather than cause terror upon the world. Hopefully, that moment doesn't come...)
* * * * *
The memory dissipated. Drimi gradually charged her hands, meditating all that Belial did for the group. She gritted her teeth. Though she was described as a woman who couldn't cry, faced with such an event...
"Y...You..."
With one quivering, fearful voice, Drimi mumbled with a tear sliding down her cheek.
"W-Why B…Belial…?"
She tilted her head toward the goblin beast and saw the glowing red hue on its eyes vanish. It didn't act aggressive or rough. It looked to be in slumber, peacefully. As Drimi slowly stepped forward, pushing the wanderers away from Demon Beast Belial,
"H-Hey?! W-What are you doing?"
She ignored them and continued stepping up the hill. Tears flashed down her cheek, followed by a quivering voice.
"I can't believe... we have t-to..."
Their next mission, to save Milmoor village and the wanderers, was to do the convoluting task to slay...
...Belial.