Asvith Thrym's Story

Frendor Falcon-Wind examines Ruby Egg

Sinfrost watched, silent, as the stranger spoke of unity and peace. He found something in the snow, which had eluded Sinfrost until that moment, and swiftly head towards the coast. What was that? Sinfrost spread his great wings and took off from the peak. High above the shadow beyond the clouds had stopped moving.

A great clap of thunder shook the mountains.

Sinfrost stumbled in his flight, but regained coarse. He soared high into the clouds, up, up, up, and finally breached them. What he saw, there above the clouds, was otherworldly. It was as if an entire moon had collapsed and reassembled in such a strange way. Something else Sinfrost noticed was the dead star.

The dead star no longer seemed so dead. Something deep inside Sinfrost felt dread, almost panic. What was all of this, above the clouds?

Thunder and lightning...

The skies were furious with their display of lights and shadows. Down below, the mountains trembled with the clammering of thunder and lightning. The misty rainbow which formed over the waterfall at Kadota Peaks had disappeared, though the river still flowed. Deep within the rockface, inside the Weargtooth Mountains, another presence was felt. The chaos and loud bellowing of the mountains had disturbed Asvith Thrym from his slumber. The enormous frost jotunn had been sleeping for centuries, appearing to those around him as just another snowcapped mountain. But as one of the large rock formations began to move, soon the mountain was turned sideways as Asvith Thrym lifted his head to sit up and open his giant eyes for the first time in eons.

Asvith yawned deeply, the sound carrying for miles over the mountain tops, echoing throughout the many nearby lands of Ellaria where they could be felt from across the sea. His breath was like a cold blizzard, his mouth as wide as a gaping cave, his eyes as large and icey as Gaia's moons. He had a forest of trees for hair, large giant roots dangling from his rocky hands and feet, and a long frozen white beard formed from the centuries of ice and snow. Asvith Thrym was a giant among giants, an enemy of Asgard since the days of old, banished to Gaia at a time that had long since been forgotten. As he sat up slowly, his massive head stood at eye level with the surrounding mountains. Even now, sitting down, the jotunn was mighty and terrifying to behold.

He would slowly rub his eyelids and look around as small boulders, rocks and earth fell from his head and shoulders like dandruff, smashing and crushing the ground below. The massive rock giant was too large to notice the elves and dragons, and other creatures in his vicinity. Confused and still waking up, Asvith was incredibly slow but incredibly mighty, an echo of legendary gods from ancient times. He would briefly swat at a large dragon as it circled around his head and soared above the sky into the clouds, as if shewing away a common gnat or mosquito. But just like a mosquito, the dragon was much faster and likely able to dodge his enormous hand with relative ease as it soared past him and disappeared.

Taking a moment to gather his strength, Asvith looked down at the settlements below. Noticing a rather large redwood tree sticking out of the forest, he reached over and plucked it from the ground by its roots, as if picking a small piece of broccoli from a salad. The tree itself was enormous, over a hundred feet tall and as wide as a house. But the jotunn would bring the leafy substance to his lips and bite down on it with his sharp jagged rocky teeth, snapping branches and crushing the tree in half with one big crunch. He then chewed the sustenance slowly, the sound of grinding rocks and wood carrying over the forest below until he had devoured the whole tree. Afterwards, he would slowly turn over and bring himself up to his hands and knees before pushing himself to his feet. As he stood up, his silhouette could be seen from miles and miles away, his frame now larger than even the highest mountains as he stood with his head in the clouds.

Asvith Thrym had awakened...

Frendor woke up from his slumber in the forest.

Am I still dreaming, he wondered, and why cannot my eyes focus....

Then he realized the danger he was in. He spun a web of invisibility around his cloak. He started to change the substance of the trees, so that a sleeping potion would run through their sap. The change was slow and used all of his concentration, as Asvith Thrym ate portions of the forest.

The forest, made of massive redwood trees, splashing through the Weargtooth Mountains, cried out as it was munched upon. Their voices were dimmer than they had ever been before.

Up standing to just above the clouds, a giant made of mountain itself. Though the rumblings across the sea stirred for long, it was on Ellaria that the first awoke. It was in the north of Ellaria that Eras's grip was most firm. Here, in northern Ellaria, one of the teeth biting the sky stood up. In it's wake, a ravine cutting north into the Ellarian Tartarean Coast. A gap in the skyline, filled with a figure connecting above to below.

The first of the Colossi.

Awoken.

The edges of the clouds began to visibly pinken. Eras grew stronger, absorbing more of Gaia and whatever forces dare venture close. He was hungry, so hungry. The redwood trees, too, felt within themselves another change. Their screams turned to wails turned to grumblings as they began to fall into a slumber. Thunder rumbled across the mountains as Eras laughed at Gaia's misfortune. He didn't seem to realize that the trees didn't weaken so rapidly by his hand alone.

Where were her champions now? Thunder rolled again as Eras laughed.

Sinfrost swept through the clouds as the trees slowed in their wails. The sight from above the clouds shook him to the bone. Something very bad was happening, and he didn't have enough wisdom of the past to realize exactly what. He honed in on Frendor, swooping wide of the risen Colossi and landing not far off from the magical human. Where did he go?

???A ripple of glitter undulated across the entire planet of Gaia. Almost invisible to the naked eye, but nonetheless a sign that Gaia wouldn't go down without a fight. It swirled up around Frendor, to an extent giving away where he hid in invisibility. Sinfrost didn't put two and two together and dismissed it as a trick of the light on the snow.

Another dragon, Zirconia, burst through the clouds from the south. She was white with a dark streak across one side. As she landed near Frendor, opposite of Sinfrost, the dark streak revealed itself to be dried blood. She panted, locking eyes with Sinfrost. He was younger than she, another dragon of frost and winter. He seemed wilder, unfamiliar with any tame ways. This was proven to be true when he stood taller and postured defensively, as if she was testing his dominance.

Well, now she was. Zirkonia drew herself to her full standing height. She was pleased to see that, though softer around the edges, she was taller than Sinfrost. Her scales glittered more, too, though his dark patterns likely helped with it here in the North. It was a bit darker here than all elsewhere- a bad sign. She returned attention to Frendor.

"Champion of Gaia, reveal yourself," Zirkonia commanded of Frendor in what she hoped was an unfrightening way. She postured herself at an angle to where he hid in invisibility, keeping an eye on Sinfrost. Sinfrost's glare had slipped into a look of curiosity. Champions? Why was that familiar?

Frendor had yet to accept the call of Gaia. Gaia herself would be a whisper in the wind and snow, calling to Frendor to assist in defending the realm against

Ravine of Asvith

A deep raving cutting north into the sea. There isn't much vegetation, and it seems recently formed when you look beneath the snow.

There was a rumble from the south. The clouded skies had turned pink, and now Nightfall had begun. Up standing to just above the clouds, a giant made of mountain itself. It was on Ellaria that the first awoke. It was in the north of Ellaria that Eras's grip was most firm. Here, in northern Ellaria, one of the teeth biting the sky stood up. In it's wake, a ravine cutting north into the Ellarian Tartarean Coast. A gap in the skyline, filled with a figure connecting above to below.

The first of the Colossi.

Awoken.

A ripple of glitter cascaded across the coast; Gaia's call.

Frendor allowed his cloak of invisibility to fade, seeing as the dragons could so easily see through it.

"Who or what is Gaia, and what do you mean by champion?" he whispered.

He had been hoping for a simple quest. So far, nothing was as he had expected it to be.

He started shivering in the coldness, wrapping his cloak around him. He decided that he liked those two dragons. They seemed friendly and curious, not hostile at all.

Nothing made sense to him yet.

What was that super-giant, where did it come from, was it a threat to Gaia?

"I am here; I am ready" he said to the pair of dragons, as coldness seeped into his bones and he wrapped his cloak even closer.

The waters of the Hearthwater Channel, while appearing still, were undergoing extravagant change. Tartarea, the spirit of the sea chopping into the northern coast of Ellaria, had taken action against the threats to Lifegiver's Grotto. While the Alneh Sanctum proved slow to respond to the looming threat of Nightfall, the Bogmen prayed to the Gods for help. With each cloud-filled day and rain-filled night, with each distant strike of lightning, another had called for divine interference.

He couldn't do much, but the Lifegiver Grotto required protection.

From the west a great jotunn moved. The largest peak while standing, from here the great jotunn appeared as if one of the mountains had decided to come alive. It grew as it took a step closer, one great foot landing in the waters just north of the Hearthwater Channel.

Since the jotunn moved oh so slow, Tartarea was able to redirect the force of the landing of the step elsewhere with a great current as it descended through the waters. By the time the foot reached the bottom of the waters it was safely just beyond the mouth of the channel. Blocking it entirely, sure.

The waters in the channel surged up a few feet. Those unlucky enough to live near the water and prefer it dry suffered greatly. Many dwellings were forced underwater, and there was enough drownings to cause upset. The Alneh had not responded quick enough beyond the Razor Tiara to the giant in northern Ellaria. Despite the destruction, the Mother Tree remained unharmed. The Hearthwater Channel, while largely inconvenienced and semi-traumatized, had hopes to rebuild.

Gaia was shroud in clouds. They were pink, especially so at the edges, from the light of the dead star coming alive again. Every now and again a dragon poked through. None of them were prepared for the sight that met their eyes above the clouds.

Eras burned brighter than he had in thousands of years. Hovering above the continent Ellaria, casting a shadow across the most of the northern continent, the Soja loomed. Eras continued to draw power from the Soja to the best of his abilities, while far below on a continent across the seas he puppeteer'd a Colossus- much to it's dismay. The brow of the Colossus, named Ni'Thorne, poked through the clouds into the stratosphere.

Below the Soja the head of Asvith Thrym poked through, the slightest bit taller than Ni'Thorne so that it's eyes came into the stratosphere as well. The clouds pooled to close the gap created as he took a step and his head moved from where it originally came through to another northern region more east.

Through the clouds above Siv'en burst a figure armored in light, and what a curious sight awaited he!

The second step never had the chance to land. The Hearthwater Channel was deep in all spots, having had been a canyon at one time flooded as time passed by. In the center was a grotto, widely underestimated. The Alneh Sanctum respected the Mother Tree and Lifegiver Grotto, though they didn't understand why the bogmen worshiped such a place. Even after the day the waters rose and the northern mouth was blocked by a pillar of mountain falling from the sky the Alneh didn't realize.

Tartarea had done his job well redirecting the step as it fell. In the deepest depths of Hearthwater Channel, Lifegiver Grotto churned with the forces of Gaia and the seas. Tartarea couldn't stop the step from landing but he could protect the last sacred spot untainted by Eras.

The waters in the channel surged up a few feet. Those unlucky enough to live near the water and prefer it dry suffered greatly. Many dwellings were forced underwater, and there was enough drownings to cause upset. The Alneh had not responded quick enough beyond the Razor Tiara to the giant in northern Ellaria. Despite the destruction, the Mother Tree remained unharmed. The Hearthwater Channel, while largely inconvenienced and semi-traumatized, had hopes to rebuild.

Being as such, there was no tidal wave to surge into the channel. Instead, Tartarea harnessed the force to direct the waves in such a way that they undulated back out to sea. The bulk of the waters wasn't able to wreak havoc to Ellaria, although there was something else entire to be said for anyone unlucky enough to be out on the Tartarean Seas.

Much like in the Hearthwater Channel, though not as dramatically, the northern coast of Ellaria would experience a surge. The waves lapped further inland. A few cliff faces deteriorated into the sea on impact. The newly created ravine flash flooded. The waters continued to surge around the ankle of the jotunn, attempting to stop it from moving on south.

Sinfrost flinched backwards a hair as Frendor appeared. The dragon officially had no idea what was going on. He knew it was important. Quietly, Sinfrost listened as Frendor declared himself ready to accept the knowledge and responsibility of being a Champion.

"The Spirit of This Realm, Champion! Nightfall is coming as Eras rises," Zirkonia leaned in to say quieter, "Didn't you feel it? The call? It lead right here I swore to this exact spot..."

Sinfrost settled on his haunches and said to nobody in particular, "The entropy."

In the distance the great jotunn took a step into the north of the Groenbogs far east on Ellaria. A groan echoed through the mountains. The pink clouds above grew deeper in their hue. A great shadow was cast over the north of Ellaria as something loomed beyond the clouds. South in the Bez Daha Trees a civilization bloomed, and all across Gaia Champions answered the call.

"Eras," Zirkonia nodded, looking off to the jotunn once more, before focusing entirely on Frendor, "He grew too strong, here. Now he must be stopped."

The great Soja, in the grasp of Eras, was provoked to move away by another God. Eras rumbled, but did not fret. He himself was too far gone in self absorption to recognize, despite any signs, that the forces surrounding Gaia were beginning to band against him. Those sworn to Eras would rather die than acknowledge any other as a savior, accept assistance from foreign entities, admit weakness. Those sworn to Eras knew that they were better guide by him through darkness than left blinded by the devious lights of the heavens-no matter what the lights said they intended.

The hyperspace of the Soja powered up. He noticed something as the winged figure appeared. While he was still tethered to the Soja, he could no longer drain it's power. It was as mortals would put it, like having your boot stuck in the mud. A very tightly laced boot. He was still tethered, however, so Eras moved to give his attention to King Neodin Shadowslayer, for a moment giving rest to his focus of draining power from the Soja.

What Eras didn't notice was another figure, made of starlight, forming next to Mikhael. Atargatis joined his celestial power with Mikhaels, aiding in the push of the Soja. He remained silent, caring little for who and what the children of the realms chose to give power to. Atargatis would be a star until the day his dance with Sagittae ended. Hopefully not at the hands of Eras.

The nebula of light, however, stretching out between he and Gaia, made it a little harder for Eras to strengthen his grip. This new God was strong- loved by their people and already embraced by Sagittae and Atargatis. This furied Eras even further. The great hand of the colossus below shifted in it's reach. Now it extend towards King Neodin. Up, up, up through the atmosphere the great hand of Ni'Thorne extended, casting a great shadow across the Exalted Mountains and the great valley at it's feet. The Kingdom of Skyfall was plunged into a strange twilight. Despite all working against him Eras had cause to smile. Gaia had fallen into a deep slumber.

The rains came to a sudden cease. Across the entire continent of Siv'en the beating of the water slowed. Though the sky was still pink, there was even more light in it now, and it was a hair less ominous to those paying close enough attention to that sort of thing. In Ellaria a Champion called out across the lands. Eras, far too distracted above the brightened sky, took no notice to the Children of Gaia awakening in her honor. He was impatient as Ni'Thorne moved too slow, shifting his attention to Asvith Thrym. Eras called out to the great creature, urging him to make a grab for the Soja, as it was much closer to Asvith than most others.

"Hyperdrive stands ready!" The Bridge officer called out.

"Sir! I'm getting increased readouts across the board! Something's pushing us away!" Another officer called out.

Hiroki breathed a sigh of relief.

The shrill whine of the hyperdrive continued to fill the superstructure of the Soja, and in sheer defiance of Eras, Hiroki called out.

"Execute Hyperspace jump!"



Lines filled the display screens of the Soja, and Hiroki braced himself. The ship lurched forward with all it's might, and in an instant, it wrenched itself free from Eras' grasp.

Zirkonia wondered if Frendor was familiar with the lore of this land. The flattery bemused the old dragon, who did tend to think quite highly of herself regardless of external opinion. Under any other circumstance his statement may have been true- there were not many left worthy to mount a Dragon of Gaia. However Frendor had been chosen. Her scales fluttered gently under Frendor's hand when he ran it across her neck. She braced herself with the ground to hold steady as the small elf climbed aboard her mass. It was true that she was too large for barebacked riding to be considered practical- but time was of the essence.

Sinfrost backed away almost unable to believe his eyes. So casually she was letting him climb aboard! Sinfrost wasn't so trusting of other species at all and could have recoiled at the sight- if it wouldn't be to show the deepest disrespect. No matter her choices, unless they went against that of Dragonkind, Sinfrost couldn't speak upon. She was his elder.

Frendor was aboard the great dragon. Zirconia hunched down low to prepare for takeoff, waiting for the right moment and building in her strength. Simultaneously her mind reached out to that of Frendor's, seeking to make a telepathic link to lend him strength and sight. With their minds merged they would move most efficiently through the Realm- their physical forms would follow suit. Flight would be incredible.

Suddenly, the earth stood still. Asvith Thrymm, the mountain giant casting a shadow over the mountain range, the cause of all the low rumblings throughout the mountains, had come to a stop. Light flickered as he made a great motion, punching through the clouds and towards the skies beyond, his great fist descending out of sight. The clouds puffed out as they were breached by Asvith giving those below a glimpse of what was happening above them.

A nebula of light fanned out from a central pinprick, a figure for those with eyes good enough. A massive ship was there and then suddenly was not- a great flash of light bathing Ellaria as the clouds closed up again. Zirkonia kept her eyes shut despite the dances of light outside of her lids. Sinfrost backed up against a snowy ridge.

Punching through the clouds and towards the skies beyond, a great fist ascending from Ellaria. The clouds puffed out as they were breached by Asvith giving those above a glimpse of what was happening below.

A cold bay was alight with activity. Bloodstained snow and many people moved like ants below. In the mountains there were other movements and a few great beasts.

The great fist of Asvith Thrymm was just a moment too late. As it reached the place where the Soja was, suddenly the Soja was no longer there.