Blessing Prince marveled as she witnessed the events that transpired before her eyes. An entire civilization of demigods and demi-humans, ran and cower in fear –praying to be saved from what was once considered the weakest race in all of existence; humanity. She looked to the heavens, enchanted by a bright light; yet she feared it. After all, with its descent, she would soon come to know her judgement.
To understand this, we must journey back to the days before the calamity. In the bustling city of Eden, a tiny group of King's Men found themselves in an unfortunate predicament.
Helga, with her ginger hair, fumed. Agravanis, blonde and composed, listened.
"Dammit! How come everyone else gets to go on covert missions and operations to end wars, but we're stuck on guard duty?" Helga Gunnarson demanded.
"You're missing the point, Helga. Sure, our tasks aren't as flashy as the others, but they're equally vital," Agravanis Doukas countered.
"Is that what you tell yourself to sleep at night? Face it, Vanis. No one in the King's Men takes us seriously. We're practically jesters compared to the legends of The Gates of Hell!"
"Your comparison isn't quite fair, Helga," a short brunette interjected.
"You don't say, Enn," Helga retorted dryly.
"Keep in mind. We graduated from the academy only three months ago. We still have a lot of things to accomplish before proving ourselves" Enn continued.
"It is as your colleague says, Helga." Captain Lockwood chipped in as he exited the Councilor's room.
The kids saluted their hairy Captain, and he immediately put them at ease. "At ease, soldiers," he commanded, his gaze sweeping over them.
"I know you've only been King's Men for three months, but your skills, your dedication, have set you apart. Far apart from the average." He paused, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"For that reason, you've been given an important mission. One that was originally slated for The Gates of Hell, in fact. But they're currently occupied settling an issue involving terrorists in Kaylid, which leaves a critical gap. A gap I believe you three are perfectly suited to fill."
"Have any of you heard of the World Map?" Captain Lockwood inquired.
"Yes, sir," one of them responded. "It's widely believed to be an artifact containing the coordinates to all three Primordial Scrolls. Though many dismiss it as mere superstition, archaeologists have sought it for centuries without success."
"Until today," the Captain stated, his voice devoid of humor. "The World Map is no myth. It is unequivocally real. Lost for centuries, it has at long last reappeared."
"Not many know of this. We are to embark on a mission to Najjari, in the God-Realm. There, we will find it. Only a handful of teams have been made aware of this, each being led by a trustworthy commanding officer. Commander Cee Convers, of the Gates of Hell, will be joining us as soon as she can. Gather your belongings, and meet me at the port in 10 minutes. We mustn't waste time."
"Yessir!" they exclaimed as they saluted in unison.
A couple of minutes later, they found themselves aboard a Void-Rider, a crustacean-looking airship capable of traversing vast distances using spatial portals.
The interior, though clearly functional, hummed with a low, steady energy. They followed Captain Lockwood through a series of narrow, brightly lit corridors. The walls seemed to pulse faintly, almost as if the ship itself was a living organism. Finally, the Captain pushed open a heavy hatch, revealing the control room. It was a cavernous space, dominated by a panoramic viewport that offered a dizzying view of the clouds swirling outside. Screens flickered with complex data, and a few crew members, easily identifiable by their specialized uniforms, moved with focused efficiency around various consoles. The air, thick with the scent of ozone and something metallic, vibrated with the ship's power.
"Whoa. Isn't this exciting? Not so long ago, I was standing guard at the Councilor's office but here I am, on a top secret mission. This is almost a dream come true." Helga said as her eyes lit up with amusement.
"If this is what you call a dream, I wonder how your nightmares might look like." Agravanis commented.
"You're no fun, Vanis."
Suddenly, the Captain's voice cut through the hum. "Alright, team. Prepare for transit. Enn, calculations?"
A short brunette at a console nodded. "Coordinates locked, Captain. Initiating spatial folding in T-minus sixty seconds."
"Sixty seconds?" Helga whispered, her earlier excitement tinged with a hint of nerves as the control room lights dimmed slightly.
"Hold tight, recruits," Captain Lockwood advised, gripping a railing. "It gets a little… disorienting."
On the main viewport, a shimmering, opaque rift began to tear open in the sky ahead, expanding rapidly like a tear in reality.
"Thirty seconds to portal activation!" Enn announced, her fingers flying across the console.
The ship shuddered, a deep thrum vibrating through the floor. The viewport filled completely with the swirling, chaotic colors of the developing portal.
"Brace for jump!" the Captain roared, just as the Void-Rider surged forward with incredible speed.
A stomach-lurching lurch, a blinding flash of light, and then everything outside the viewport became a blur of streaking, impossibly fast light, as if they were tearing through the very fabric of space. Helga instinctively grabbed for a handhold, a surprised gasp escaping her lips.
The sensation of impossible speed abruptly ceased. The blurring light outside the viewport resolved itself, and the control room fell into a stunned silence. Before them stretched a vista that stole their breath away.
They had emerged above a landscape unlike anything they had ever imagined. Below, the sprawling city of Najjari glittered under a sky that bled from the deepest indigo near the zenith to a fiery orange on the horizon, where the setting sun painted the clouds in strokes of gold and crimson. The familiar bustling sounds of a major metropolis were muted at this altitude, replaced by a gentle whisper of wind against the Void-Rider's hull.
But it wasn't just the cityscape that was captivating. Beyond Najjari, the coastline curved in a graceful arc, the dark sand beaches fringed with the frothy white lace of the Atlantic waves. Further inland, lush green vegetation carpeted rolling hills, interspersed with vibrant splashes of color from flowering trees they couldn't identify. The air outside the viewport seemed to shimmer with a golden light, lending an almost ethereal quality to the scene.
Helga was the first to break the silence, a soft "Wow..." escaping her lips. Her earlier nervousness was completely forgotten, replaced by sheer awe. "I... I never imagined Najjari looked like this from up here."
Agravanis, usually so composed, stood silently, his eyes wide as he took in the panoramic view. Even Captain Lockwood, who had likely seen such sights countless times, seemed to hold a moment of quiet appreciation.
"This... this is incredible," Helga breathed, leaning closer to the viewport. "It's even more beautiful than the travel brochures."
"Indeed. But that's enough sightseeing. Let's focus on the mission at hand. We'll reach the port in approximately ten minutes. I'll open a channel with Captain Lee and her crew to ascertain if they've rendezvoused with the archaeologists."
Deep within the lush forests bordering Najjari, a cluster of masked figures stood motionless amidst the dense foliage. Their dark, simple robes blended almost seamlessly with the shadows cast by the towering trees. Above the canopy, the distinct, crustacean silhouette of the Void-Rider sliced through the vibrant twilight sky, heading inland.
One of the masked individuals, his voice a low murmur that rustled the nearby leaves, spoke. "They're here. I wager they beat us to it."
Silence descended upon the group once more, broken only by the chirping of unseen insects. Their masked faces, devoid of expression, remained fixed on the disappearing airship.
Slightly apart from the robed figures, leaning against the thick trunk of a mahogany tree, stood a man dressed in stark black leather. The sleek jacket and tight-fitting pants emphasized a lean, coiled physique. His face was entirely concealed by a smooth, obsidian-like glass mask. Thin lines of neon blue traced subtle contours across its surface, currently forming the image of a small, thoughtful emoticon: a simple, horizontal line for a mouth. Dark braids snaked from beneath the edge of the mask, falling against the collar of his jacket. He watched the Void-Rider recede into the distance, his posture exuding a quiet, almost predatory patience.
A faint, neon text-bubble flickered to life on his glass mask, the blue light pulsing gently around the neutral emoticon. Within the bubble, the words scrolled silently: not quite yet.