Allison Stone's Story

Allison was scared. She didn't know for sure where she was, and was confused, looking at all the unfamiliar faces in the room. As if that in itself weren't the stuff of her nightmares, at the center of the stage before her, was a shadowy figure with red eyes.
Allison kept herself from screaming in terror and confusion, but only barely.
She had left her home for some reason, some reason that was unknown to even her. Had she told her mother? How had she even gotten here?
She tucked a bit of her red hair behind her ear, looking warily at the others again. They were all young, all special, all Gods.
And to think she had thought she was unique.

“What is all this noise?” Lucas groaned, standing from his sleeping bag and stretching.

It took him a couple of minutes to realize he was no longer on the plane, and that he was most certainly not alone. He looked to the people around him, they felt....strange to Lucas. He quickly deduced that this must be some kind of gathering, how they had all come to be here he did not know, and it was apparent none of the others did either. A couple of weeks ago, a situation like this would've terrified him, but ever since he got his powers...he seemed to feel indifferent about most things. He barely contained his yawning.

He looked up to the stage before him, a strange black mass with glowing red eyes sat at the centre. He could feel this black mass too, it just felt...above them. How fascinating! To his left stood a young girl with red and to his right was an old man, the only old man. Interesting. Lucas turned to the girl.

“Excuse me, any idea what on earth is happening?” Lucas turned to his right “What about you old timer? Any idea?” Lucas looked back up at the creature on the stage. “Because I have no idea. What an interesting day this may prove to be.”

Lucas eyes the people closest to the stage, shout at the creature. Were they trying to intimidate it? How...odd. “Gah, the violent types.” Lucas rolled his eyes. “If in doubt, hit it. You’d think the Gods would have more class.” He chuckled to himself and turned back to the girl with red hair, but she was seemed to be in no mood to laugh. She was petrified, come to think of it she was quite young. “Oh lord, uh...you okay?”

Allison shook her head, eyes wide. "I want to go home, now, I think." It was cold, and Allison shivered a little, still totally unaware of where she was or why she had come. She frowned, and held back tears, not wanting to seem like a child. "I want to know what's happening." She looked at the man who spoke to her, he seemed entirely unafraid of this whole situation. She shook her head, trying to shove her fear aside. He seemed atleast a little friendly, and probably wasn't looking to hurt her. She spoke, remembering her manners, "My name is Allison Stone. It's good to meet you, although I would like it to be under less confusing conditions." She looked around again. There was an older man there, too, an oddity in a room of people so young. He almost seemed grandfatherly, except for the cold eyes. His eyes marked him as something dangerous, powerful.

"3000 years ago. The old gods reigned with an iron fist. Basking in glory and power on their throwns in Olympia. But then came the war. A war which ended with the imprisonment of the old gods. Thrown into the pit they were. Left to live their immortal lives in agony for 3000 years. I have created you because a great change is about to occur and you must pick a side.

The Void smiled. It was obvious he already new the outcome of this "change" but he didnt give anything away. The future is blured to you.

"Look at you all." He said with pity.
"You are weak and don't understand the full magnitude of the powers you have."

Blake sighed. He knew exactly what this was about. "Let the humans fight. A war will only make me stronger." Blake said. He let himself slump down in a seat in the theatre. "Choose your sides, fight, do what you will. But remember at the end of the day the more people that die from a bullet or blade on the battlefield the more powerful I become." Blake said, he checked his hands nails dirt and cleaned then with his thumbs nail.

"If you really sought was was good for humanity you would stop them from fighting. Not be choosing sides and rising the body count." Blake said. His armor clinked as he rest one of his harms on one of the armrests then his head on his fist.

"Is there no other way?" Allison asked, eyes wide. She pressed her lips together, thinking. This was all happening so fast; it was only a short while ago that she had been a regular small-town teenager. She stood a little straighter, smoothing her grey shirt, wiping her hands on her jeans. "I don't think that we should be forced into this so soon.." Allison let her voice trail off. If the Void had truly created all of them, then weren't they forced to obey his commands? The thought of it almost brought her to hysterics again. They had spoken of war. War was the one thing she wanted to prevent.

"I agree with her." I back up, then point at a redheaded girl now next to me. "Plus, we would just end up killing everyone! There are good humans out there, I know myself."

They have nothing against us, from what I know, to make us fight. They can not simply walk up to us, and tell us to kill thousands of people due to a petty war that probably started with only two groups of people.

"We are humans at heart, even though we are gods. We have lived among them, and now you simply can't tell us to kill them. They can fend for themselves, create a bloodbath. But think about it, if we fought, the bloodbath would only be bigger, and it wouldn't fix anything." I said, stating my point effectively, from what I think.

Asper noted that the girl was in fear, he supposed it was a normal reaction. Just because they were Gods didn't mean all of them knew they had great responsibility. The boy who spoke was an idiot though, he guessed his jurisdiction in all of this war War. And with the girls reaction, it was possible her field of power had nothing to do with violence. Asper could not help but feel, 'above them,' he had guessed by now that his power had to do with the Universe around them. Ever since three weeks ago, he has had far greater connection to.. well everything. He felt the planet move below them, turning at about 1,000 mph, at first it was overwhelming. But over time he adjusted to it and even began to like it.

"Be silent boy," He said harshly to war, "Have you no respect? You are in the presence of great power, not only your own and ares, but the Void before us." There were much greater things at hand then their personal feelings, the child may of been the mighty 'war' but he was lazy and arrogant. "Your power may come from war, but you are the God of mere concept. What worth do you have once war has ended?"

Allison frowned. She knew in her heart that it was wrong to help the people destroy themselves. They shared the planet, they had been her friends. She looked up at the void, her green-blue eyes full of emotion. "Please, I don't mean to disrespect you, I'm very happy that I've been allowed to exist because of you. If there's no other choice, I'll do it." She clenched her fist, taking a deep breath in. "Please. Give me another option. Don't make me choose who to defend. Everyone has a right to peace..to living without fear."
Allison then smiled at the blond next to her, happy that not everyone had lost their humanity.
She looked at the young man who had spoken to the teenage boy in the armor. He obviously held the Void in the highest regard. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him yet.

Allison nods. If she can save people, she'd do it. Perhaps, she could even help them find a fragile peace. She absentmindedly plays with her hair, twisting it around her fingers. The Void wouldn't let them do anything stupid, surely he held some sort of connection to his creations.
He had said he didn't support unnecessary bloodshed.
Surely that meant he would use them to try and stop the war, rather than fight it.
But she knew that was wrong. This was her destiny since the moment she was born. If it took war to find peace, so be it.

“I am the dark and the night and the cold. I am the light and the day and the peace. I am the war and the suffering and the never ending chaos. I am the order and the judgement of the living. I AM THE VOID! The chaos from which all things came."

“Fascinating!” Lucas said to himself, he turned to this Alison “It seems even higher beings have a taste for the theatrics.” he chuckled to himself.

Lucas listened intently to the beings words and the words of those around him. Like a true scholar he simply observed the exchange, calculating moods and personalities from the brief exchanges. They were a mixed bunch, the boy and an older man have an intense exchange of words.

“I don't want any fights with any of you” he heard the deity of war say, Lucas at least agreed with that.

With a final ominous warning the higher being fled the area and plunged the theatre into darkness, eventually one of the others created a light source, illuminating the room. There was an awkward silence as everything sunk in. Lucas just scratched his chin, this truly was fascinating stuff and he was living an historians dream being a part of it. But could he get involved with a war? His role was to observe, record...but then again, who better than the God Of Time and History to make sure you don’t repeat the mistakes of the past? Lucas thought about these things in silence for sometimes before the sound of people rushing around outside. The doors began clattering and few of the others geared themselves for battle. Even the Goddess of Beauty, who had proudly proclaimed that she would fight in the war, a statement that made Lucas roll his eyes and tut.

Lucas strolled forward calmly.

Perhaps this was some kind of test; the void could have been preparing them or studying their reactions...a real possibility. No doubt there was a hidden escape route somewhere, but... Lucas had a lot of curiosity. Either way Lucas’s indifference was dissipating. He studied the hammering door for a while.

“This could get ugly...” he turned back to the Alison girl, who looked as white as a sheet. “You hanging in there little one? ” Lucas cleaned his glasses casually “If I was in this situation when I was your size, I’d be terrified.” He put his glasses back on, the hammering was getting louder. “Tell me young one, can you use your abilities...offensively?”

The light gave clue to a couple possible ways out, a creaky looking door, that most likely lead down into a closet, a man-hole like cover on the stage that probably would lead into the spaces underneath the stage, and the shaking door that yields an unpredictable path but also some sort of resistance.

"Someone is coming" said one of the ladies in the group. It was true something was coming.

Raiden moved down closer when another man who has not spoke yet replied to the girl.

“Tell me young one, can you use your abilities...offensively?” Raiden could tell he meant business. I wonder what abilities these people have, I wonder what they can control, Raiden thought as he recalled his title. God of Light, Life, and Energy. Were they going to fight right here and right now? What if it was not an enemy coming through, did the void say something about enemies?

At this point Raiden was really wishing he paid attention more. "We can try to see if that leads anywhere" said Raiden as he pointed to the circle cover. It was worth a shot right. "Does anyone have X-ray vision, control over time, super speed, something to see what's down there before the door busts?" Raiden was hard thinking of different powers form comic books that would help in this situation, currently Raiden couldn't think of one that he had that would be able to help in a quick manner. Time was running out.

Blake sighed as the door began to rattle. He allowed the helmet to sprout back on his head. He Drew Misery, his longsword and as he put his left arm out a large kiteshield appeared on it. Blake took a stance by the door. He began thinking strategically. "I'll distract them. If any of you want to run, do it while they're trying to get at me." Blake said. "Any of you that are going to fight, get ready. Whomever or whatever is out there sounds like it's frantic to get in here." Blake said. "Don't attack unless you're sure they're hostile." Blake thought aloud. He could see all the other gods, some looked ready to kill. Others looked ready to piss themselves.

Blake watched the lock rattle and it finally broke...

I scrambled to the rest of the group. The moaning of the zombies, or whatever they are, grew louder and louder.

The lock began to rumble even more...

I ducked down, and slid my legs under the seats, and hid slightly.

"I have an idea!" I scream. "Due to the fact we are immortal, no air in the room won't affect us, right? I'll slow them down for sucking the oxygen out of the for a few seconds, just to weaken them. A few will pass out, and they will all generally weaken, whatever then are." I pause. "Keep the light on."

Allison hadn't had time to reply. It was all moving so fast, almost too fast. She had remembered Lucas' unanswered question. Had she been able to tell him, it'd have been a no, she was not alright, and a no, her abilities would not attack, only shield and heal.
Of course she hadn't said anything, she had just stood there, dumbfounded.
She wasn't brave like the others, she wasn't old enough or strong enough to handle herself. Her abilities were useless in this situation. Her pulse quickened, and she tried to calm down. She hadn't been prepared for this. What had the Void been thinking?!

The beauty queen snapped up a great idea, but if they were immortal then why would they be afraid of whatever was coming through that door? Raiden just looked around wondering about what to do. Perhaps no one heard his idea, but the knight said he will defend them and was holding the door closed, It seemed like they wanted to fight, and perhaps that door was the way out.

Raiden then thought back to what the void said. Something about making a choice, picking a side. He never said what he was talking about though. So no one knew if this was part of it.

Nonetheless a strange voice creeped through the door. It was definitely hostile.

Raiden was ready to fight or run, but he would not make the first move.

Lucas lowered his head “Your silence says no.” He said to Alison. Before he could say anymore the creature burst through the door ahead of them. Large pieces of woods flew forward and came down towards those Gods still stood behind the front line. Lucas reacted quickly. Raising both hands, he used his powers to manipulate time around the airborne objects and all the splintered rubble froze mid air, before dropping harmlessly to the floor. He looked up, a Cyclops! An actual Cyclops!

“Now that’s interesting!”

Lucas raised a hand towards the Cyclops to see if he could freeze it, but as expected there was something about these creatures that resisted his powers. Cursing under his breath, his eyes widened when the one named Asper shot out a beam of energy which shattered the club. Lucas raised his hands again, freezing the small bullet like shards of wood in the air, before letting gravity take its toll on them. He turned to the young girl, a little worried for her safety. He couldn’t help it, she reminded him of his little sister. It was the hair, he hated his sisters hair.

“Back!” He shouted at the girl, he too was backing up slowly, both hands raised to freeze any rubble that may of flown towards them. Not looking where he was going he bumped into Raiden. Lucas looked over his shoulder.

“Light man, it’s a bleeding Cyclop!.” He stared and Raiden for a second. “Big sensitive eye?” He stared a little more. “Blind it Light Man! Use your light trick and blind it!"

Allison looked at Lucas, amazed and more than a little grateful. She backed up like he said to, watching as the others fought.

They all had plans, were all so composed. She would stay calm and out of the way, and do her best not to be trouble.

Allison averted her eyes from the fight, not wanting to watch. It was so horrible, why must the cyclops be so bloodthirsty?
This isn't avoidable, Allison. Quit being such a wimp. Still, even as she tried to remind herself that they had to fight the huge creature, her stomach turned.

At least the others were there to save the world. She was pretty convinced she wouldn't be of much use.

Allison let out a little squeak, and shook a little. She shut her eyes tight, not wanting to look. Curiousity soon got the best of her, and she opened her eyes to see the cyclops on the ground. She felt relieved that they hadn't been hurt worse, and then shock, realizing she had caused it to fall.

She had somehow avoided dying.

"I did that?" she whispered, looking down at her hands, pale and in awe. Perhaps she wasn't as useless as she had thought. Still, she had to worry about what would happen when the creature awoke now. Even though it was a monster, she didn't like the thought of them killing it.

She looked up at the man who had been speaking. He was now gesturing to the door, and Allison happily left, glad that the cyclops got to live.

Jasper groaned as he began to stir from his unconsciousness. Something had happened, he wasn’t sure what; someone had spoken to him but no one else could hear. "Come to me" it said, "Come to me and discover your destiny". The hours after that had been nothing but a blur. He vaguely remembered being in an airplane and then a car after that, things became even dreamier. He remembered being tired, so very tired and then nothing.

He opened his eyes, slowly shifting his body into a sitting position and scanning the room. He was in a sleeping bag and as he looked up he noticed there were 15 others like him, arranged in a semicircle around a stage. The building it seemed was an old theater, the red velvet upholstery stained with age and coated with dust. The aura of power resonating in the room was intoxicating; the walls swam as though heat was radiating from them, and it only grew stronger as the 15 other individuals began to wake from the same trance induced slumber.

One of the 16 had moved to sit in one of the theater chairs and he appeared to be wearing medieval armor, Jasper lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. So he wasn’t the only one who had been gifted great power, perhaps all of the people in this room were as he was, God-like among mortals.

Something drew Jaspers eyes to the stage as he lifted himself to his feet. It seemed to draw him, moving him closer to the stage and there within the darkness he saw the figure. Dark, a shadow within shadows a being with no face, only the softly glowing crimson eyes of an all-powerful force.

Suddenly movement came from within the shadows and the lights in the theater flickered and sputtered to life and in the depths of the stage stood a man, his almond shaped eyes holding crimson Irises, fear and awe immediately took hold of Jasper, he could tell he stood in the presence of a god more powerful than all of them.

The Norwegian man spoke after the All-powerful being who had called himself the Void, asking the question that was most likely plaguing them all.

"You are weak and don't understand the full magnitude of the powers you have." The insult stung, not only had they only received their powers less than three weeks earlier, they were expected to fully comprehend their magnitude? The absurdity of it all shocked Jasper to the core. And he had the guile to insult us. Jasper narrowed his eyes as he moved closer to the stage still. He stopped a good ten paces away not wanting to be any closer to the Void.

More members of the circle began to chime in and the conversation began to take off but Jasper was content to listen and learn.
The conversation began to grow heated, the one who had spoken first who had named himself War growing angrier as the red headed goddess of peace and the goddess of , perhaps, beauty stood together in the defense of humanity. An older gentleman spoke as well, full of knowledge and respect for the one known as the void.

“SILENCE”

The Void’s proclamation brought the room to an uneasy calm, attention returning to him. He explained himself eloquently and
Jasper could see the wisdom in his speech, he had seen it himself the reckless destruction the abandonment of reason that was bringing humanity to its knees. His words rang with wisdom and something must be done but Jasper hesitated, waiting yet again to see how the others would react. The blonde haired girl took a step forward and proclaimed her willingness to fight. The void looked pleased, his creations were doing as he wished. “Behold, Stella goddess of Air and Beauty and Weather.” So, Jasper had guessed correctly a small flicker of pride grew in his chest.

In the next few days your power will continue to grow. Until you achieve your divine form. But until that time comes. You will remain in human form. Weak and vulnerable to those who currently seek to destroy you."

Jasper was once again shocked, they would have divine forms? And someone was trying to kill them? It was too much. He moved to lean against the wall; he focused on taking deep breaths bringing the dusty air into and out of his lungs.

The room was dark and Jasper could hear sounds from outside of the theater, something was coming and he had a feeling it would be bad.

"Sssssurrenderrr huuuuuuuman godsss! Giiiiivvvve meeee yoooour fleeeeeesssshhhh"

The door began to crack and groan against the force it held back, luckily his eyes were adjusting to the dark. Then as suddenly as the onslaught had begun the door broke and there stood a Cyclops. “Holy hell!” Jasper muttered under his breath as he settled reflexively into a defensive stance.

He was standing a short distance behind the girl with the red hair and he watched in horror as the beast made a b-line towards her. He wanted to help her, do something that would make a difference but it seemed he was rooted in place. She raised her arms to protect herself and suddenly the beast fell to the floor before her. It was asleep? How could that have happened? What did she do?

Jasper was both stunned and grateful as he moved forwards towards the girl.
“What did you do?” he asked, disbelief clear in his hushed voice a gentle smile played across his features, “That was effective none the less, so I believe a thank you is in order,” he continued his Australian accent pronounced. It was clear she didn't have an answer to the first question.
“My name is Jasper, Jasper Fairbanks.” Jasper paused. He nodded to the older gentleman who had spoken earlier,
“Perhaps it would be wise to leave this place”.

After blinding the giant and after it got shot back by the foreign man it gently fell asleep. This was quite unusual but it seemed to be an effect of the red head.

"Woah" sighed Raiden.

Just when he thought the fight was over more noises were growing closer. It must be more cyclops he thought as he looked down the hall.

"Uhh, how about we get out of here? Yeah?" Raiden went towards the circular rock and, with a lot less difficulty than expected, lifted it up. "I don't know about you but I'm going to leave before more of those come, just because we can fight doesn't mean we have to."

With that said Raiden looked into a dark hole and jumped in, not knowing what lay beneath.