Somewhere within the ninth ring of the universe, on the surface of a solitary blue planet, the ominous shadow of an incoming moon loomed, blotting out the once-bright sky. Dislodged from its orbit, the massive sphere hurtled toward the planet, carrying the weight of impending annihilation.
For most civilizations, such an event would herald the end of days. Yet, for the inhabitants of Planet Blue Eagle, it was little more than a disruption to their daily routine. Some glanced skyward with groaning indifference, retreating underground to their shelters. Others scrambled for higher ground, their hardened gazes defying the celestial threat with an almost reckless sense of curiosity.
Among the defiant stood Ged.
Perched atop the peak of a dumbbell-shaped mountain, Ged's muscular silhouette carved a heroic figure against the glowing horizon. Broad shoulders and a steady stance radiated primal power, yet his expression was calm.
He squinted at the incoming moon, its fiery surface fractured with glowing cracks. "Which Celestial is it this time?" he muttered, his voice laced with sardonic curiosity as his focus lingered beyond the descending meteor.
Far above, a towering figure hovered alongside the moon, his frame sculpted with muscles that seemed forged from the stars themselves.
Like a master conductor directing a symphony, he guided the moon's descent with a series of precise and commanding bodybuilding poses, each movement radiating an almost divine intensity.
As the moon dipped closer to the planet's atmosphere, the cosmic conductor grew serious, striking a powerful front double biceps pose.
The moon shattered into countless fragments that rained toward the surface like a fiery storm.
But the cosmic bodybuilder was not finished. With calculated, deliberate flexes, he controlled the descent of each fragment, guiding them with precision to their destined targets scattered across the planet.
One such fragment spiraled nearby to Ged.
Ged narrowed his eyes at the falling shard, its fiery glow reflecting in his gaze. "Celestial iron again," he muttered, shaking his head. "Can't we get something different for a change?" He sighed and rolled his shoulders, loosening the tension in his muscles as the heat of the fragment's descent washed over him.
Below him, the circular city of Elpida sprawled across the barren landscape. Home to hundreds of thousands, its true nature lay hidden underground, where vast bunkers and cave systems housed its residents. Above ground, only temporary wooden buildings and indestructible stone spires broke up the monotony of the surroundings. Cracked roadways wove through the city like veins, leading to its heart: a vast, fog-shrouded pit known as the Abyssal Mouth.
The moon fragments crashed into the many Abyssal Mouths dotting the planet. Their impacts sent violent tremors rippling across the surface, tearing the stone ground like paper. Rivers of magma bubbled up through the cracks, spilling across the land in glowing torrents. The acrid stench of sulfur filled the air, and the suffocating heat turned the atmosphere into an oppressive haze.
Ged wiped the sweat from his brow, grimacing. Even his extraordinary physique strained against the unforgiving environment, the heat pressing against him like a suffocating weight.
Then, a deep, guttural sound rumbled through the air. A noise so primal it seemed to vibrate through his very bones.
The sound of unimaginable chewing.
The planet itself was feasting, grinding the cosmic bodybuilder's offering with the monstrous tremors of its vast, unseen jaws.
"Can't this damn eagle chew quietly?" Ged muttered, his voice dripping with disdain.
The tattoo on his neck flared to life, a brilliant blue light illuminating the intricate image of an eagle with outstretched wings. The mark shimmered as though it were alive, mocking him with its vibrancy. Ged's hand shot to the tattoo instinctively, his nails digging into his flesh in a futile attempt to claw it away. Raw, bloody streaks appeared on his neck, but the mark remained untouched, pristine, eternal.
An unyielding symbol of his servitude.
The chewing subsided, replaced by a grotesque, resonant swallow.
Finally, the planet grew still as colossal Orbiting Bodybuilders appeared in the sky. Through commanding poses, they absorbed the planet's excess heat. Among them was the moon's guide, Koh, whose cosmic frame hovered as he performed his final pose.
From the depths of the Abyssal Mouth, a thunderous voice boomed, its tone majestic and cold. "Celestial Koh, your offering was adequate. Six quintillion kilograms of mass have been deducted from your debt. You now owe 5,872,564,347,431,234,128,123,000,888,167 kilograms left to repay in full."
Koh, unmoved by the staggering number, closed his eyes for a moment, as though burdened by the weight of unending servitude, before nodding. He resumed his orbit with the rest of the cosmic bodybuilders, their radiant figures slowly fading into the vastness of the sky.
Ged watched them go with a dark expression. "Six quintillion kilograms and still so much debt," he muttered, shaking his head.
His gaze dropped to the faint glow of the Abyssal Mouth below, frustration simmering within him. "Will it ever end?" he whispered, his voice thick with bitterness.
On Planet Blue Eagle, debt wasn't measured in coin, but in kilograms. Even the mass of a single meal was tallied by the planet, its debt compounded by crushing interest. Those who ascended to the stars became indentured servants, wandering the cosmos in search of offerings to appease their master. For Ged, nothing mattered more than escaping the planet's control, to see outside its detestable orbit and explore the universe beyond. But the chasm between ground and sky felt insurmountable. Despite dreaming big, his path forward seemed impossibly long.
Ged felt the tyrannical gravity of the planet grow heavier, as though mocking his ambition.
"No," Ged growled, his fists clenching. His gaze lifted to the sky where Koh had hovered moments before, a dim silhouette against the burning atmosphere. "I cannot despair." His voice hardened, low and steady. "I'll break the chains they dare to make unbreakable. I'll carve my own path away from this hell."
His eyes burned like caged lions, roaring for freedom from captivity. He turned his gaze toward the distant town of Elpida with a derisive sneer. "But first, I must endure this miserable life tethered to the ground."
His determination lingering, Ged turned away from the mountain's peak and began his descent toward the city of Elpida. Activating his muscle ability, 'Goat Walk', a faint blue glow enveloped his calves as he bounded effortlessly down the treacherous terrain. His movements were fluid and precise, his feet finding purchase on jagged crags and loose stones as though guided by instinct.
The barren fields soon gave way to the smooth stone streets of Elpida, where the city was already stirring to life. After every planetary meal, crowds flocked to the streets to resume their routines, while merchants scrambled to capitalize on the sudden influx of foot traffic.
"Rare earth metals! I've got high-grade Turtle Stone. Perfect for growing your quads!" one stall owner called out, holding a sign emblazoned with his merchant group's logo of a swan. His eager gaze scanned the crowd, but when it landed on Ged, he froze. Awkwardly, the merchant averted his eyes, pretending not to notice him.
Ged recognized the man. "That's Barry," he thought, frowning slightly. "I haven't seen him order anything in a while." A devilish grin spread across Ged's face. "He's usually more sociable than this. Maybe he's found a new dealer."
Shrugging off the thought, Ged continued down the strip, weaving through the bustling crowd. "Gym passes! Daily deals for locals or top-tier access to the Great Barbell Palace!" shouted another merchant. Beside him, a teenage boy held a sign, his sheepish demeanor betrayed by a strange glint in his eyes. When he spotted Ged, he flashed a peculiar smile.
Ged returned the smile nonchalantly, his expression betraying nothing. "Damn it, Trevor," he clicked his tongue internally, noting the boy's pale, jittery appearance. "Rolling on Beehive mid-day? I get that you're off work, but at least try not to make me look bad." Shaking his head, Ged continued past his loathsome employee.
As he made his way through the bustling streets, Ged recognized more familiar faces. Some worked the stalls; others wandered aimlessly. They all had one thing in common: their lives had crossed paths with his during his time as a drug dealer.
"So many people out making money today," Ged mused, a sly grin creeping onto his face. "Looks like I might have a busy few days ahead."
As Ged moved through the main streets, something caught his eye, bringing him to an abrupt stop. Near the abyssal pit, a crowd of protesters had gathered. Their seething animosity toward bodybuilders was palpable, and anyone whose body bore even a shred of muscle became a target for their ire. Waving picket signs and shouting venomous slogans, the protesters jeered and cursed at the approaching giants, their eyes alight with hatred.
"Crack down on underground bodybuilding!" a group chanted. "Ban the dangerous drug Blue Water!" another added, their voices tinged with righteous fury.
A muscular man in a white tank top walked through the crowd, his movements hesitant as he endured their verbal assault.
"Scumbag!" a white-haired old man shouted, shaking his fist. "You better have a well-paying job with that kind of physique!"
"I do…" the man replied cautiously, trying to calm the old man, but before he could say more, another protester jumped in.
"Yeah, right! You're just another selfish punk," a woman with frizzed hair yelled, pointing an accusing finger. "We don't need any more bodybuilders! You're all criminals, selling drugs and ruining lives."
The man opened his mouth to protest but faltered. Her words weighed on him, leaving him silent and listless.
A woman stepped forward, her face streaked with tears and pain. In her trembling hands, she clutched a faded photograph of a child. Her voice wavered, raw with grief. "My son idolized you people. He wanted to be strong, like you. But he got caught up in your underground gangs... and now he's dead!"
The mob's anger swelled to a fever pitch, their voices rising like a swarm of wasps, each word a sting of judgment. The man tried to placate them, his hands raised in a futile attempt to defend himself, but their fury drowned out his words.
And then Ged arrived.
He rolled his eyes as he swaggered toward the chaotic scene, his presence rippling through the crowd and drawing more protesters toward him.
As one of the so-called "underground bodybuilders" the crowd claimed to despise, Ged felt no need to justify himself. If anything, he welcomed their scorn. His iron will stood firm, unshaken by the hostility around him.
"Screw off. I have need for my muscles," he retorted to a twig-armed man who questioned the point of his large frame.
Using his arms like the front of a snowplow, Ged shoved people aside, unwilling to be held up even for a second. Stray comments from the crowd occasionally reached his ears, prompting snide responses.
"Don't care," he said flatly to a man accusing him of causing his daughter's overdose. Ged's eyes glinted with disdain as he added, "That was her decision, not mine. Maybe if you were a better father, she'd have lived a little longer."
The man's face turned crimson. "I hope you die a miserable death, you Plunk wannabe loser."
Ged halted his movements. He turned, his gaze locking onto the man with an intensity that silenced the surrounding crowd.
"So what if I want to be like Plunk?" Ged said, his voice calm but sharp.
"For the first time in a thousand years, someone ascended from the ground to the sky. How does that not inspire you?"
"Yeah, killing millions along the way," the man snapped, his voice trembling with rage. "How could you possibly idolize that murderer?"
"So what?" Ged shrugged. "He achieved what no one else could. Plunk let us dream while everyone else demanded we settle for less," he said, his tone measured. "What have you done in your life that gives you the right to judge him?"
"You… you evil bastard!" the man stammered, his voice breaking as his fury burned brighter. "I hope you burn in hell."
The man's fiery glare burned with hatred, but his words fell like ash against Ged's towering frame. With nothing more to hear from him, Ged turned and continued deeper into the protest, approaching the Abyssal Mouth.
Huddling at its edge like brave tree huggers, the protesters formed a human blockade, their arms crossed in defiance.
Ged let out a snort as he saw the blockade.
Ged snorted.
Without a trace of emotion, he began unraveling the protesters one by one, flinging them carelessly behind him without regard for their safety.
"Stop it, you bastard!" a thin, angry man shouted from behind, narrowly avoiding a body hurled in his direction. His voice trembled with a mix of rage and fear. "You think your overwhelming strength gives you the right to trample over everyone else?"
Ged turned, his expression impassive. "Those people were blocking my path, so I moved them. What about it?" he replied coldly.
The thin man glared, fists clenched tightly. Around him, injured protesters nursed their wounds, their eyes burning with indignation. "And that's exactly the problem," he said, his voice trembling with emotion. "This is why the world needs fewer bodybuilders. You live only for yourselves, destroying everything around you while the rest of us are left to clean up your mess."
His voice rose, emboldened by the growing crowd. "What is the point of your strength? Is muscle to you just a tool to bend others to your will?"
His words ignited a wave of furious agreement. The crowd rallied behind him, their voices rising in a chaotic chorus to berate Ged.
Ged glanced around at the seething mob and let out a cold, mocking laugh. The sound cut through their outrage like a blade, his apathy deflating their righteous anger.
"I just want to get ahead," Ged said, his tone vicious and unyielding. "Unlike you, content to scrape by day after day, I want to ascend beyond this world. And when your dreams of monotony get in the way of my dreams of ascension, I'll do whatever it takes to move you aside."
The protesters' anger boiled over. They threw rocks, sticks, and debris at Ged's superhuman frame, but their attacks rebounded harmlessly, as if striking steel. Ged laughed at their futility.
Desperation mounting, they clung to his arms and legs, hoping to impede his progress. Ged frowned. Without hesitation, he shook his arms and kicked his legs viciously, knocking them away without regard for injury.
"I tried to warn you," Ged said icily, glaring at the injured crowd. "I'm not so kind to those who get in my way."
"Now get back, all of you! Give me plenty of room!" he roared, his voice cutting through the chaos like thunder. "If I see a single one of you step out of line, I'll toss you into the Abyssal Mouth." The crowd fell silent, their complaints stifled as they froze in place, too afraid to move.
"I am being quite lenient," Ged added, his cold gaze sweeping over the cowering protesters. "Don't make the same mistake a third time."
The protesters exchanged nervous glances but held their ground at a safe distance, too fearful to challenge him again.
Seeing their obedience, Ged gave a slight nod and shifted his focus to the Abyssal Mouth in front of him.
From within his abs, he retrieved a fishing device and spun a magnetic ball-bearing hook into the foggy depths below.
As the line unspooled, Ged scanned the pit's edge, searching for anyone else fishing near the lip.
On the far side, a hairless bodybuilder stood, his forehead marked with puffy cloud tattoos in place of eyebrows.
"Cumulus Gang," Ged muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Their turf is Oizys. What are they doing here?"
Oizys was a distant town, one Ged knew mostly through whispers. He'd heard rumors of the Cumulus Gang's ousting but hadn't expected them to turn up here, much less to stir up trouble.
"Interesting," he murmured, his voice low, almost amused. "Resh would pay well for this information. The Golden Suns won't let this slide."
His gaze sharpened as he scanned the pit more closely, spotting similar figures scattered along the lip. The sheer number of Cumulus Gang members filled his vision, and his expression darkened.
He recognized some of their faces. They were all infamous criminals and high-ranking elites of the gang. Their presence wasn't just an inconvenience; it was a clear signal that something big was brewing beneath the surface.
"This isn't just a turf dispute," Ged muttered, his voice heavy with realization. "This is a declaration of war."
Ged's stomach tightened as the gravity of the situation sank in. He glanced back toward the protest, anticipation tightening his voice. "This is going to turn ugly."