Midnight in the Castle of Sowei City.
The only one awake is Frederick Gaspar, the king of Austria. But for the night, he could embrace his real identity; Blaze of the Above.
He is wandering around the basement if the castle, when he comes across a ginormous machine, with a bright yellow glow emitting from it's center.
"My time is up." He says to himself. "But I am not done with my conquest yet."
He then walks up to the control panel of the machine, and pulls out a key from a socket in the center, ties it to a strong and wears it around his neck.
As he does that, the light of the machine begins to flicker and slowly die out, leaving the room in darkness.
"Nobody can stop me now."
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That machine was actually a portal and on the other end lies another land, another realm, called The Above. It's denizens are humans in form, but are really another species called Starborne, who possess incredible abilities and age 50 times slower than the average human.
Today is a special day for the Starborne, as a new champion will be sent to the neighbouring Realm of Terra, and the old one, Blaze, will return after 500 years.
Throughout the last couple of months, many Starborne warriors have been training for this moment, and only three have been deemed strong enough by Nova, the Immortal God of Magic and strongest of all Starborne, to be potential candidates for the role of the 4th Guardian of Terra.
It is now time for Nova to meet the warriors and make his final decision. The God of Magic was sitting on his throne, towering above everyone present in his auditorium. He had a long white beard, and his right eye was covered by a black leather eye patch. He was accompanied by an older looking man, who had gray, balding hair and wrinkles all over his face, and was balancing on a wooden cane, which he had carved himself.
"Bring the contenders forth." The old man said, and the three men walked into the auditorium.
The first was a man with black hair, milky white eyes and what seemed like a halo floating above his head. He was wearing a white suit and bright yellow cape flew behind him as he floated in the room.
"Nova, Master Lambda." He said as he bowed.
The second man was lankier than the first. He had black hair, slicked back, black eyes and a goatee. He was wearing a black, sleeveless shirt, jeans and a cloak that he immediately took off and tossed away when he entered, showing the knife strapped to his waist. He also bowed in front of Nova and Master Lambda, but did not say anything.
The third man looked confident, and walked inside grinning and puffing his chest. He was wearing a bright yellow vest, baggy pants, tied with a cloth belt and finishing it off with a hood that hid his hair, except a strand of black hair that went over his right eye. He was also wearing a sword on his back.
"Yo." He said, and waved at the masters, then turned to his fellow candidates. "Yo posers should just pack your stuff and go home, cuz you'd be wasting your time, yo."
The lanky man rolled his eyes at this, and the caped man simply frowned. Then Nova spoke again.
"Geowar. Hyperriox...Inferno. The three of you are the last possible contenders for the role of the 4th Guardian of Terra. And you will have to face one trial before it is decided."
"Which is?" Asked Hyperriox.
"Combat!" Announced Nova, as he constructed a short fence around tge combatants. "Last person in the circle wins! Now fight!"
The three walked backwards, looking at their opponents. Inferno put on a combat mask made of gold, and was the one to make the first move, by punching a fireball towards Geowar, who quickly created a shield out of hardlight and blocked the attack. Hyperriox then unbuckled his knife and ran straight at Inferno, who unseathed his own blade and blocked the incoming attack, before sweeping his attacker's legs and knocking him to the ground. Before he could do anything though, Inferno was blasted by a laser and got thrown against the fence, while Hyperriox teleported away.
"Give up, Geo! I'm the most powerful!" Riox shouted at his opponent while floating in midair.
"Stop talking, Riox, and fight!"Geowar said before throwing some plasma spheres at Riox. He teleported out of the way and behind Geo, and then angrily tried to punch him, then slice him with his knife, but none of his hits connected. Meanwhile, Inferno also got up, and propelled himself at the others. Geo kicked Riox in the face, throwing him off for a second, and constructed a mirror that redirected Inferno's fire blast back at him. He slid under it and tried to kick Geo in the face, but he caught his foot in midair and tossed him aside. Riox then put his hands in the floor and created a flame pillar that erupted from the ground under Inferno, who absorbed the heat and tried to blast Geo. Riox's fingers then crossed crackled with lightning, as he zapped Inferno's back, blowing him away. Inferno hit and broke one part of the rock fence and fell out of the circle.
"What!? He used lightning! He can't do that!" He cried out after regaining his composure.
"Sorry Inferno. You're out." Said Nova. "But I have another task for you."
"I demand a rematch!"
"Follow that man, and he'll show you what to do." Nova said, and pointed at a man in a cloak, whose features where completely obstructed.
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As Inferno left with the hooded figure, Riox and Geowar were still fighting, with various projectiles flying around. Riox tried to go in close and stab Geo, but he flew away and hit the opponent with a laser, making him roughly land on the ground. Riox quickly got up and teleported behind Geo, and electrified him from behind. As he fell down, Geo created a protective bubble around him, and landed unharmed. Riox then flew straight at him, but he missed when Geo teleported away.
They were now standing right in front of each other. Geowar analysed his opponent, and decided the best way to go about this was to exploit Riox's unstable style of fighting. Riox started running towards Geowar, but he created a bar construct that made Riox trip and slide towards the fence, hitting it with his head. Geowar then constructed a fist and punched Riox out of the circle, securing his victory.
Once Riox regained his composure, he was in shock.
"Impossible! I'm the most powerful one! I should have won."
"Don't worry, Riox. I have an important job for you as well-" Nova tried to say, but was interrupted.
"Silence!" Riox yelled. "I have been training for this my whole life, I couldn't have tripped to that! You must have interfered!!"
"I'm right here you know."
"Shut up! I won't stand for this!" Riox announcemed, and then his entire body started glowing with lightning. The sky thundered as Riox was getting madder and madder by the minute, and he flew out of the auditorium and started zapping various buildings around the city, causing major collateral damage.
"That's it, I'm going after him." Said Geowar as he left through the hole Riox created in the ceiling.
"I told you we shouldn't have allowed him to participate. His training was incomplete!" Nova told Master Lambda, who was still beside him.
"I personally trained him." Said the old master. "He just hasn't learned to control his emotions."
"Then your training was flawed. Mastery iver one's emotions is the most important part of training magic! Otherwise, they'd go crazy with lightning!"
Nova then turned towards two heavily armoured men that stood by the entrance of the auditorium, who were whispering and giggling about something.
"Signus! Titan! Stop gossiping and go after them!"
"Yes, sir." said Signus, before the two started running towards the direction of Riox and Geowar.
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"Riox, stop! You're being ridiculous! Just accept you lost!" Geowar said while trying to capture Riox with net constructs.
"I didn't lose! That big oaf, Nova, helped you!" Riox spat while cutting another net. He then halted, and turned towards Geowar and punched his jaw. A normal person's jaw would have broken by this attack. Riox was no longer holding back. Then, Riox zapped Geowar away, and he landed next to Signus and Titan. The pair of armoured men jumped at Riox and managed to hold him. He started violently shaking until all of a sudden, he disappeared into thin air!
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The three returned to the auditorium, empty handed.
"Where is Riox?" Nova asked.
"He disappeared when we were fighting him!" Geowar said.
"Yeah, you could say he got zapped away!" Said Signus. He then started laughing at his own joke, and Titan joined in as well.
"It's a neverending struggle with you fools!" Nova told the pair as the continued laughing. He sighed, and then turned to Geowar. "Follow me."
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The two walked into another room, where a machine identical to the on in Sowei City stood.
"This is the matter transporter. You will use it to get to Terra. Normally we wait for the previous guardian to come back, but since Blaze hasn't shown, you'll have to go in and bring him back." Nova said. "Also, you are to guard the four elemental totems from any threats. Their location will be shown to you once necessary. And if Riox ever shows up, beat him, and send him back. That's all."
He then pointed to the glowing globe in the center. Geowar tried to enter, but his entry was blocked.
"I can't go in." He said, confused.
"Impossible! It must be blocked from the other side..." Nova then contemplated for a bit. "Blaze betrayed the Guardian Order. He took the key from the other side!" He finally announced.