Frendor Falcon-Wind's Story

Though he had woken, the next hour made Syros feel like he was dreaming. Everything was so unusual, so strange, and his memory of events were scattered and distant as though seen through a mist. Moments were coming back to him of course, but he was so preoccupied with coming to terms with the here and now that he struggled to separate echoes of the past from the visions of infinite dreams. Those around him seemed both unnerved and amazed by his presence, yet simultaneously they endeavoured to explain to him his current situation in a language he had never heard, but somehow understood.

He had asked them where he was, and they explained. In a place they had called the Temple of Veneration, which was hidden in the Sentinel Mountains close to the Titan's Gate and a great desert. Syros had rubbed his head, not knowing what to believe. There had been no mountains there, nor a Titan's Gate. Nearly everything they tried to tell him was so foreign, so difficult for him to comprehend... But the reason was clear to him. He had been sleeping for aeons, and everything he had ever known had been reduced to whispered legends, ancient history, or ruins that lay beneath the remains of a hundred younger civilisations. They also told him of Eras, of the Colossi and giants rising, of threats from void of space, of an ancient prophecy he was now proof of, and of the sky turning crimson with the light of the dead star.

He took his Titan Spear and followed as they led him out of the 'tomb'. The Grandmaster of this ancient order, the High-Priestess, and four warriors walked with him up to the unbreakable door that had only just been opened, then through the inside of the temple that had been built to intern him.

"How close is Gaia to devastation?" He asked, in a tongue he didn't remember learning.

There was a period of silence before someone finally answered him. "We don't know," the High-Priestess replied. "But battles rage as we speak, and Eras makes his plays."

Eventually they came to where crimson light flooded in through open doors, illuminating part of the main entrance hall. Syros looked out from within, seeing mountains in the distance. The Grandmaster clapped him on the shoulder, then together he and the High-Priestess led Syros outside to the staircase with a staff raised into the air.

"After all this time," the Grandmaster spoke in a voice of magic that seemed to echo from the far mountains themselves, "our duty - our purpose - has been revealed to us."

Syros suddenly saw what the Grandmaster addressed. An entire army stood facing the temple, with a line of individuals who appeared to be priests standing in front of it, and an impossibly wide chasm and bridge behind. He touched the end of his spear to the ground, and his eyes fell upon the thousands of assorted warriors who wore armour that he had never seen.

"I reveal to you," the Grandmaster continued, "the slayer Syros, vanquisher of the Colossi, who has lain entombed and sleeping under our temple since the time of its founding. Our duty? To keep it hidden, and protect this resting place until such a time Syros was called to return to us in our hour of need. That hour is now, and thus our duties have been completed. But now is not the end of our order, it is merely the first step of the next road we must now follow. As you are all no doubt aware, Eras seeks dominion over our world, and he will use the Colossi and all else at his disposal to destroy or control all life upon it. In addition, threats from distant stars poise themselves on our horizons, and an age of war and struggle for our very survival is starting. Thus as Grandmaster Aldarnus of the Order of Veneration, I declare now that we have a new purpose: to aid, to protect, and to serve Syros in his efforts to preserve Gaia."

The Grandmaster finished speaking, then turned towards Syros and bowed. Next the High-Priestess bowed, and then the other priests followed her. A moment later, the thousands of gathered warriors bowed as well, and Syros looked upon all of them with an inescapable feeling of being overwhelmed by both his environment and his situation. Once again, the hopes and fears of an entire people fell heavy upon his shoulders, and once again he knew he would have to battle on their behalf. He looked up at the sky, his eyes narrowed at the distant Eras, and he wondered if the dead star was looking back at him.

Then he heard it, a request for assistance on the wind. A call to Gaia's Champions, which Syros answered. "I am here," he called out to the sky.

Far away, Frendor heard Syros answer the call. Can you here that? he directed his thoughts towards Zirkonia. In his mind Frendor saw an ancient order, with thousands of warriors ready to serve Syros, but would they be enough? Where were the rest of Gaia' champions?

Frendor felt the cold stare of Eras, but was re-assured by the friendly breeze of wind in his hair. The time was now, let all the champions arise together in unison, but who would lead them? Who would unite all of Gaia against Eras?

I wonder how Syros and his followers will respond to the arrival of a dragon with an elf?

Zirkonia picked up speed, excitement coursing through the mind connection. She dove for the Sentinel Mountains, her silhouette growing against the pink sky as she began her descent towards the assembly.

Syros has answered your call, Zirkonia thought to Frendor. She began to tell him all about The Precursor with hope in her words.

Frendor listened carefully to the ancient legends of the Precursor, with awe and fascination. Surely he was now interacting with vast forces beyond his understanding! He had never met one of the ancient champions, nor yet one of the Ithquent; he was still too young.

In the distance, he could start to see the outline of the vast army of Syros, with an important looking man and woman standing beside Syros himself, gazing up at Zirkonia as she approached them.

Just in time, Frendor remembered to suspend the illusion of a frost giant, Terakon Luvinair, following the dragon, so that the followers of Syros would not mistake him for one of the Collossi.

Frendor prepared himself to gently slide down from Zirkonia to greet Syros.

"Hail Syros, Champion of Gaia, and Slayer of the Collossi. I am Frendor Falcon Wind, a humble elf, and this is the great dragon Zirkonia. We come to warn you that one of the Collossi, Asvith Thyrm, has awoken and is causing devastation all around Gaia. We have used our limited powers to distract and slow his progress, but Gaia will not be safe until all the Champions are united together."

Khale Fewtale stays close to Sinfrost protecting him from the Collossi.

Fender was astonished. He had summoned the champions of Gaia only to see the enemy die of indigestion! Nevertheless Gaia had been wounded and drained of energy in the process. Now the healing of Gaia must begin.

Roughly one hundred and fifty thousand kilometers beyond the magical, and whimsical atmosphere of the planet Gaia, there was a flicker of light, that flicker of light culminated into a brilliant flash that skimmed roughly thirty kilometers to reveal the sudden existence of a strange, bulbous alien ship that was roughly thirty kilometers in length.

"Jump complete, Chairman." Lieutenant Dajic reported, while hunched over the tactical console, a three-dimensional hologram of Gaia, and it's giants and collossi flickering into view before him.

"I'm detecting large amounts of magical interference, in addition to two class three leviathan lifeforms." The Lieutenant reported as he manipulated the large holographic display in front of him. "These entities will need to be neutralized before we can settle into engagement orbit."


"Right." Gina said, leaning on her console. "Calibrate shields for antimana, target turbodisruptor banks alpha, through epsilon for the first class three life-form." She said, highlighting the holographic outlet of Ni'thorne.

"Alert!" Lieutenant Dajic called out. "Second Class three life-form has been neutralized."

Gina grit her teeth, but was relieved there would be one less entity to fight.

"Right, bring us about! Initialize salvo fire!"

The Reverence II slowly banked onto it's side, positioning itself parallel to the planet's surface. Hundreds of massive turbodisruptor batteries swiveled to life.

The Aschen ship was starting to garner a targeting solution at extreme range.

In the skies above the clouds, a strange shape winked into existence, and began to move slightly, a keen eye could make out it's artificial, bulbous nature.

In the skies above the clouds, a strange shape winked into existence, and began to move slightly, a keen eye could make out it's artificial, bulbous nature.

The World Spirit of Gaia called out to the forces of favor in her newly awakened state. Though she was still weak, her allies were not. Sagittae and Atargatis, too, felt the appearance of the large vessel. There was no time for argument between the celestial beings as to the intentions of the great craft.

It was far simpler to ask.

Before anyone would move another muscle, as the word "Initialize" died on the lips of Gina, a blue light appeared on the hologram of Gaia. It flashed once, obscuring the hologram, and instead presenting the vague form of what might have been a man. The lights in the vessel seemed to dim, time seemed to move differently. Slower.



Far below the World Spirit of Gaia called to the spirits of the seas, who lent their energies to the greater magical barriers of Gaia protecting the planet from technological and electronical advancements and influences. In doing so they, too, were weakened. Across Gaia the seas grew less stable. In some places they stormed. In others, they grew flat.

Below the dusts of ages settled around the newly risen Mount Thrym. Luck would have it that the thick vegetation and undulating lands would protect many from the outward blast caused by the impact of the fallen Thrym. However, none would fail to note the stench. It was stronger in some places, and in others it seemed to be the lingering of a nightmare.

High above, the clouds began to move slower. There was something odd going on above the planet- again. The great pink glow in the skies remained, but the clouds- while moving at a pace slower than molasses- seemed to be dissipating.

Gina narrowed her eyes at the hologram, as the lights dimmed, she reached for the disruptor pistol holstered at her side.

"EVE, I want full diagnostics on the communication systems, and by the gods get that frakking Antimana shield up!" The Chairman barked as she focused her attention on the vague shape before her.

"Is it suffering or salvation you seek to grant upon the Children of Gaia?"

Gina considered her response briefly, she didn't want to get embroiled in a war, but it seemed she was offered little choice.

"Your children of Gaia attacked our allies, I have been sent to make them answer for this."

EVE began to run diagnostics, checking the ship's systems for anomalies.

Tactical began to calibrate the ship's weapons, ascertaining targeting parameters, focusing his attention on the Colossi roaming the planet, while also highlighting the Iskjerne Bay region. He began to run diagnostics on weapon systems.

Atargatis continued to obscure the maps of Gaia, slipping his celestial self into the mainframe and obscuring every read of the planet below. He cared not for political reason. It's not that he had an opinion. Alliances and affairs of mortals really were of no care or concern to Atargatis and most celestial bodies - unless, of course, they interfered with aspects of existence. Those who seek to harm the Children of Gaia, no matter the cause, align themselves against Gaia and with Eras. The empowering of Eras was in no was to be facilitated, and thus any enemies of Gaia must be stopped.

Time continued to slow surrounding the ship. The occupants might not have noticed, but they were moving significantly slower than anything else in this part of space.



It seemed the people here had no true quarrel with the Children of Gaia. It didn't take the celestial being more than a moment to assemble the pieces. It seemed this was all birth from a miscommunication far below. A miscommunication spanning two generations, and escalating wildly out of control. A miscommunication that, if these people were allowed to progress as they willed, would result in the death of at least one Champion of Gaia. A death of a Champion was, again, an act against Gaia- an act of empowerment towards Eras. All because of a miscommunication; a culture gap, so to speak. Such a petty mortal thing.

"Chairman, I'm having issues with the subspace data-link, there's temporal interference indicated by a bit-stream data-lag." Captain Elson, the Communications officer reported.

Lieutenant Dajic shook his head. "I'm not getting good reads on these maps, too much interference."

A third officer called out. "Antimana calibration complete, I'm integrating them into shields now, it should isolate any magical interference." His hands swiftly moved across the keyboard of his console, and the shields of the Aschen vessel shifted into a dazzling magenta color, swirling with energetic eddies, and exotic particles that interacted adversely with the magical energies surrounding the ship, consuming them, and rending them asunder. The aim was to shield the ship entirely from magical influence, bathing it in a cocoon of antimana charged by the Aschen people's very collective hatred of magic itself.

"The frak did the Taiyou get themselves into." Inviere mumbled to herself.

"Without solid reads, we can't engage without risk of collateral." Elson responded.

"Chairman." Lieutenant Eris called out. "We need to divert power to the chronosphere to compensate for this time dilation." Inviere nodded. "Do it."

Time itself began to warp, and bend was energy was shunted from one portion of the cruiser, to the next, time would stabilize around the Reverence, compensating for the temporal influences.

Inviere narrowed her eyes at the figure before her.

"Taiyou nobility is not yours to imprison." Inviere retorted.

"I'm authorizing the use of God-splitter, all hands, prepare for Singularity deployment!" Inviere called out.

The vague form of Atargatis dissipated to display a reading of Iskjerne Bay. Despite the machine's attempts, time continued it's slow-ward motion. Atargatis was not magic. Atargatic was much, much higher than magic. The map reading of Iskjerne Bay showed a strange sight. It wasn't of physical readings, but a map of connections and intentions. Most of the lines were white, or bluish- there was no harm intended between most people residing in Iskjerne Bay. There was a small knot of red lines, with one or two golden ones in the tangle. The knots seemed to be central around two men.

Inviere's expression was dark, the implications of this place were much more in her analytical mind, whatever this entity was that protected this world, and it's people.

The thought sickened the Chairman.

The thoughts of the Empire, securing it's own existence through the blood, and the sweat of it's own people, it's technological innovation, and the unceasing vigilance of it's military.

And the thought of this pathetic world, under the protection of some kind of higher being. Some kind of malevolant kakodaímōn

Inviere snarled at the thought.

"Release my ship, demon. I will leave this world in peace, I will report your actions here to my superiors, and to the government of the Taiyou, so they may consider them in their own next course of action." The Aschen chairman almost pleaded. There was no telling how much time was passing outside, the datalink's own quantum waveform was stretched thin.

In her mind, Inviere prayed to Hestia to intercede against whatever this dark entity was that protected this forsaken place.

The reading of Iskjerne Bay collapsed in on itself, for a moment turning grey and showing the horrors of Nightfall. Corpses reached from the crumbling ground as the skies fell down as fire. The vague form of Atargatis appeared again. Leaving this world seemed an agreeable idea. He had no opinion on the reporting of his actions - Atargatis answered not to any superior of this Mortal.

A prayer drifted from the Mortal to the realms above. Atargatis watched it go without concern. Another celestial entity, another God or World Spirit, wasn't of jurisdiction here. This was Gaia, who like few other planets was alive in her own right.

Meanwhile, Eras had taken note to the newcomers and grew angry when he realized Atargatis was foiling their interference, and thus any advantage he would gain at their hand. He swore as he watched, not acting yet, as he was reserving himself for his next strike. Eras had awakened, and Nightfall had begun, but he wasn't strong enough to darken the realm just yet he had realized. Perhaps he could influence this ship. Should he try?


Atargatis's form faded from the display. Eras cursed as Gaia turned her attention to the vessel in blessing. That was enough to deter him. She was awake, but weak. They both were- neither could risk it.

Inviere scowled and turned to her Tactical officer.

"Spool the FTL and get us out of here. Have my report ready to be tendered to the ministry of defense. I want this entire star system isolated, and quarantined. There's daemonic activity going on here, and we must not let it spread."

The mammoth engines of the Reverence II hummed to life. Brilliant flames of plasma jutted out from the rear of the vessel as she lurched forward.

"We will be watching this place very closely." Inviere said cooly, she knew the Taiyou fleet's arrival was inevitable, they could contend with this daemon.


"FTL Drives are spooling, they'll be ready to jump in two millicentons." Captain Elson reported.

Despite the Aschen misunderstanding, there was not demonic activity going on in the star system. A divine tragedy was playing out, and they just so happened to enter stage right as the first act of many was reaching it's conclusion.

Atargatis kept an eye on the vessel as it departed, keeping watch for interference from Eras.

Zirkonia descent, the illusion remaining behind, and landed gracefully near the gathered crowd. She bowed deeply to Syros after she landed, only rearing her great head up again as Frendor introduced her.

It was then, from the south, a giant rumble came. She looked to Frendor, worried, and then to Syros. The Colossus?! Were they too late?