The Missing Crown

[Zeik]

Amidst the dense foliage of the Forest of resonance, an apt name for vescrutia oldest greenland, an otherworldly glow pulsed through the forest as a lone man traversed the labyrinth of trees. The soil glimmered briefly as he foot separated from the ground and a luminous handprint was left on the trees he used as leverage while navigating the dense forest floor. His face bears a somber expression, etched with the weight of contemplation, as if the secrets of the enchanted woods were in constant chatter.

Lost in thought, his eyes gleamed with a poly luminous glint, one that danced around his eye lids, ever shifting in color. Creatures of all manner thrived in the forest and most of the forest dangers had become accustomed to the ethereal glint in his eyes. The prismatic gleam dancing around his eyes, though beautiful and mesmerizing, had become known as an enigmatic whisper-a warning to any of the forest's prominent threats.

His movements were of cautious determination, avoiding the trampling of ant hills, or disturbing the budding flowers on the forest floor. This forest wasn't just his hideout, or just his ancestral home. It was a part of him and not simply metaphorically.

With each step he could feel the beating wings of the forest honey Bee and with enough time could ascertain the exact number within every hive, or which hives were weakened or sick.

His face bore an austere demeanor, his countenance devoid of discernible emotion, as if an impenetrable mask concealed the subtle nuances of feelings beneath a veneer of stoic composure. Yet, his heart beat with a fury, both in awe and trepidation, for within this fascinating realm made possible by his bond with the forest, the boundary between the present and future were as elusive as the ever-shifting shadows beneath the towering trees.


“Danger…in the forest? That shouldn't be possible , considering how close to Astral City we are.”

He said as a whisper while watching a small avian creature tend to its nest, choosing carefully which sticks to keep. Until he was interrupted by a radio transmission that played directly into his ear thanks to a device attached to the back of his ear. Over the transmission a feminine voice came through ‘Zeik, where are you? Someone's moving through the forest at an alarming rate. we’re picking up 4 signatures’


His attention shifted from the bird and gazed at the setting suns, briefly his eyes narrowed to a slit before destroying the communication device attached to his ear.

[Fate I]

As though they knew exactly where to go they arrived within earshot distance of the lone man wandering the forest. Three people clad in armor, decorated with royal emblems from the Acrix and armed with their respective weapons appeared out of nowhere, surrounding Zeik at all corners.

A woman whose armor was light,only covering her chest stepped forward. Her hair was like that of a birds feather, thick and pointed towards the sky. Covering her head in a bouquet of greenish feathers and texturing her skin. With her left hand resting on her hip and another gesture at the solemn wizard, she shouted.

“So it's all true! You've been hiding in the forest of resonance, ignoring your duties as Crown?!”

The two other men, clad in noticable different armor, stood behind Zeik one at his left and the other at his right. They were tense, their teeth gritted and their hands tightly gripping their sheathed weapons.


“I didn't wanna believe it, hell…I still don't want too. However, my allegiance to Acricx, to my people…our people, forces me to see this through. So, I'll give you one chance. Tell us what you've been doing here and take us to Astral City.”

[Zeik]

The forest suddenly fell motionless, as if all creatures could sense the approaching climax of these titans meeting. The chirp of the cricket searching for a mate, the caw of the bird alerting his partner of its hunger and even the prow of the tiger all came to a halt. The only thing that kept its motions were titans of a greater magnitude-the quiet setting of Vescrutia binary star system. Solara, the smaller of the pair, whose luminous was comparable to that of a white drawf, Paled in comparison to its larger sister, a red giant which due to its unique composition burned with a brilliant pink radiance bathing the forest in an ethereal glow, one that could only be truly appreciated by those who had the patience for stillness.

At the heart of the woodlands the oracle of ageless wisdom and arcane power, wearing his signature solemn countenance- betrayed by a subtle mixture of excitement and apprehension, observed the forest in silent contemplation. He found himself encircled by the Acrix Crowns, powerful warriors from his storied past. Yet, despite the danger his eyes did not betray him and averted his attention to the shadows dancing below the ancient trees, performing an eerie tapestry of their memories and unspoken bond.- creating a palpable tension, an amalgamation of reverence and unspoken questions.

He shifted his attention from the ground, taking note of the two men that guarded his rear. A man wearing thick armor, designed for blast impact and another equipped with a bouquet of weaponry at his waist. They were not strangers to him, he had served his country alongside them and shed sweat and blood for them. Yet, he could sense the familiarity between them drawing to a close. Brothers in arms left him more than acquainted with their choice of armor and weaponry, they had come seeking a fight one they felt equipped to win.


“The tension is so thick, I'd wager even you’d have a hard time cutting through it , aye, Odu.” *he said after a dry chuckle.* “Friends…comrades, old lover... I wont play coy. You're...ambushing me in my own place of solace. Demanding I allow entry to my home? Whoever gave you these orders…doesn't treasure your lives. Nor their country.

He remained still, seemingly unfettered by the aggression of the three travelers not evening weaving a single sign, now radioing for assistance. His arms resting at his side while his hair and furred cape flowed against the sudden gust of wind that broke the forest stillness since their appearance.

[Fate I]

The two men guarding the Oracle's rear shared a glance with one another as the lady in front unleashed a haughty, knee slapping, laugh. Sensing malice and the break in her mentality, her outburst sent the flock of birds shooting into the sky and caused families of other woodland creatures to exit the area with haste. The men at the oracles' rear were still on edge, even more so as she carried on. They were anxious, expecting some manner of assault from their cornered foe, or perhaps worried about being ambushed by his allies that may lie waiting in the forest.

???The harsh winters of the forest have fogged up your brain. You've never been able to score so much as a single point against this unit of The Core and today wont be any different-hence you're stalling, probably for reinforcements. Which would make finding your secret all the easier.

Zeik:Back then I wanted you safe, more than I wanted to win….Ava.

-The man wearing thick armor began taking a series of incredibly deep breaths, the likes of which inflated his belly several times what would seem reasonable for any living human. Yet in the same moment Odu unsheathe two curved swords with hellgan glyphs engraved along the blades, he released a feral and comical howl as he ran his tongue down the sharp end of the blade, intentionally nicking himself-which his sword promptly devoured.-

Odu:Put your ego aside and you won't force our hands on this one. We have the green light to use any amount of force necessary.

Zeik’s eyes fell shut and opened with a wrathful glare, which he quickly stifled. He knelt down to the forest floor and scraped at the dirt as if he were casually scribbling on the floor. Occasionally getting distracted by the memories of their past which were still enacted by the dancing shadows along the forest floor.


Zeik: Ava, Odu...Falir. *He said softly, hiding his rage behind his calm demeanor.* I wont be taking you to Astral City. No matter your threats, nor the force you intend to oppress me with. I dont want to hurt any of you; but, whomever gave you your orders did not send you here to perform justice. They simply want to continue hiding their secrets and silence anything that could jeopardize that.

Ava: Secrets? You're the one hiding some manner of a military base. You're the one coveting the Azure and harboring some otherworldly device. Why are you keeping this secret from us, from solara?

Zeik:.....

Ava:....its true. isnt it?

Zeik:It's not as you see it.

Odu: We have orders to bring you in alive, Zeik. Just come with us.

Zeik: and if I refuse?

Ava: It’ll stain my heart and Hands to take your life Zeik;but, knowing you’ve sided with evil and aim to drag the Acrix into war…would make it an honor.

Zeik:sided with evil? War…with Acrix? *He's eyes betrayed his confusion , shifting about in his head as wildly as he saw her claims.* Who is filling your head with these lies?! Ava… I've spent literally centuries protecting that land, many of them alongside yourselves and your father


Ava: DONT!...Don't, bring him in this! His last mission was at your side and now he's dead and you're hiding?!

Zeik….Ava, You're being mislead. Im not the reason you lost your father

Ava:Then who is. Who?! HOW did he die? Why did you run?! Does you lie lose validity if you answer my questions

Zeik:...

Ava:Who is responsible for his death?!

Zeik:....

Ava: Resigned to your silence? Its for the better, id rather you keep your mouth shut, then utter more lies. Do it Falir.



Falir, the larger of the three, outfitted with thick padded armor - released a thunderous burp from his mouth. It sounded like a sheet of metal flapping against the turbulent winds of a tropical storm. The sound was intense and required each of the members present to take counter measures to protect their eardrums and avoid grievance injury. Yet, when the thunderous bellow ended, a strange spherical dome appeared around the soon to be combatants. Ensnaring them in a comically thin bubble that spanned just over 90 ft.

Ava and Odu having come prepared were outfitted with equipment to protect their ears in the event Falir had to use this technique. Zeiks own ears seemed vulnerable to this Arbiter as blood dripped from his ears and tears flowed down his cheeks. He shook his head in disbelief and knocked at his cheek to help soothe the discomfort. He was no stranger to Falir acoustic based technique, he'd been on the receiving end of them many times in his life; but, it never made enduring the pressure any easier.

[Zeik]

He fell to one knee, staggered by the damage Odu's Arbiter had inflicted. His eyes now pooling with tears, swelling from both his pain and growing anger. Yet, still doing more battle within himself than his adversaries, he rose to his feet and pursed his lips to speak. Yet, nothing short of inaudible dribble fell from his mouth. It was here, in his fragility, that he accepted the futility of his ambitions and wiped the flowing tears from his face, taking with it the resolve to quell this bout without violence.

He launched a sneaky first attack, a thin flaming tendril of hellfire, leaping from the underbrush and aimed to skewer Odu, piercing his armor and removing the cage that trapped him. His allies, Valir leapt into action, attempting to parry the tendril with one of his curved blades, but found himself too slow and just out of reach to save his friend. Fortunately for them both, Ava was prepared for such a show of force and quickly dispelled the tendril with a well placed shout. Ava, crown of the Ahkia, possessed some of the higher order and mastery of their anthem- draining kiss. A technique that at lower levels of mastery required physical touch to be of use, but in her years had honed her anthem to traverse great distance and at wonderful speeds using sound.

Her shout sounded like the cries of the macaw, high pitched and screeching like their prehistoric avian ancestors. Due to her mastery, the caw was so precisely focused it would fizzle the lone tendril to cinders without harming her allies or Zeik.


Ava:Don’t be nervous, his precious flames won’t be enough while I'm here. Valir…seal his flames…for good. I wanna leave before reinforcements arrive. We have no intel of who resides in his city.

She said boldly, knowing the damage to Zeiks ears would render him temporarily deaf for sometime.

The air in the forest shifted with Zeiks mood, bringing about a thick and almost miasmic sensation which wasn’t limited to the three trapped within the bubble. Ava and Valir shared a glance at one another before rushing Zeik at breakneck speeds with Ava leading the pack. She closed the distance within a fraction of a second, Valir just inches behind her. Their movements were in such unison that they appeared as a single blurred image.

Their first attacks were met with flame engulfed hands and flamed tendrils, which Ava quickly put out with a click of her tongue and continued a flurry of slashes. Her stiletto styled nails could cut through iron and would make short work of Zeiks hide;but, with the precision befitting a master he perfectly parried Valir’s swords into Ava’s nails, blocking both strikes while staring into their eyes with his now swollen and red tinted eye lids. Ava’s nails didn’t bend nor break as they collided with the reinforced steel of valir’s weapons;but, the same couldn't be said for his swords. The iron claws carved deep scratches into the blades, draining the red tint from his sword as the sword used his naten to repair itself.

Ava and valir: Tch! Take your time! You’re getting in my way!


They said in perfect unison. Ava, growing increasingly agitated, brought her fingers to her neck. An action that sent shivers down Zeiks spine, washing the blank stare from his face and forcing his body into action. With eyes widened with worry his response was a swift and well placed explosion, one caused by a simple gesture of his index finger that would detonate the loose matter in the air between Ava and Valir, leaving them with fractions of seconds to respond. The explosion wouldn’t be lethal and the only warning before disaster would be the bright flash called critical opalescence. The blast would be too strong for Ava's basic shout to dispel it and would pose difficulty for Valir’s swords to absorb its force without suffering severe injury.

He needed this to work and create space between the two but found his explosion contained within another bubble created by Odu, second in command for the Hulgrud crown. Ava and Valir were distracted for nothing short of a second, as the flash was all they had encountered before Odu contained his blast. Confident in their coordination they continued in their pursuit of their target- Zeik. Having adjusted their strike pattern, Zeik found it harder to parry or dodge the two assailants' strikes and often found his back against older trees of the forest. Pinned between his past and his present duty, he consistently had to allow them to land minor cuts and scrapes against his arms, chest, and legs in an effort to salvage as much of his terrain as possible.

His hellfire , sentient in the way it protects this wielder, found itself both sluggish and rapidly dispelled by what seemed to be the residual naten from Ava’s hand to hand strikes. Each collision released a burst of draining kiss which was perfectly positioned to dispel his flame and damage his body in the process. Leaving both his flames and reactions sluggish due to the effects of Ava’s anthem, something The Core had planned to capitalize on. Ava and Valir converged on the Oracle with all the speed they could muster, closing ranks at his rear, while he was distracted with afterimages that seemed all too real under the disabling effects on Draining Kiss, which staggered the effects of his coveted birth rune-origin vision

His flames were his only saving grace, the weak cinders rising at his rear alerting him to his visual failings. He vanished just milliseconds before certain defeat. In his absence he left behind an unusual and nigh unpredictable burst of force- the likes of which was too fast to be countered by Odu and left the two stunned by the exit force of his arbiter-Zero Shift.

Zeik:I think ive been more than fair… *He said in a better tone than before, suggesting he’s adjusted to his hearing loss.* “Against my own best interest, i’ve given you the time to reconsider; but, it would seem your conviction won't be swayed.” *His words were accompanied by the slow engulfment of an unusually dark presence swimming up his body, engulfing him in his signature flame aura; but with an unexpected black color.* "God Finger."

[Fate I]

Odu:Snap out it you two, he's position himself to attack.

The sound of Odu's voice was wildly distorted under the immense strain on their ears, the echoing chime of tinnitus being the only noise that made any sense to the staggered crowns. Through sheer power of will ,the results of their years of training they brought themselves back to consciousness and eyed their adversaries posture.

Valir:Guaranteed he intends to rush us.
Ava:Then we've won. AP-Scorpion

The three immediately arranged themselves in a triangle formation with Odu at the front and hurried to finish the prep for their Arbiters. Hellgates had relied on muudra to channel and cultivate Naten for centuries. Each of the nine families having their own muudra, a language if you will.

Attack Position, or AP for short, was the Hallmark of every CORE strike unit. A shared language of muudra, an expression of their combined knowledge and skill-A Grand Arbiter

Odu's Arbiter was first to release. A barrier comprised of an uncountable amount of fractals, the crown jewel of his families anthem. Valir and Ava's muudra were far greater in length than Odu's, but they had little to fear. Odu barrier, hellagurd, was fabled as indestructible. Not even under the weight of Xerse's Meteor shower did his barrier give way.

[Zeik]

His eyes, still pools of swirling chromatic wonderment, were locked onto the trio that had set out to ambush him. They captured every hue of light's chromatic spectrum, often revealing to his observers hints of colors that they lacked the ‘hardware,’ to perceive normally. Origin Vision commanded their attention, freezing them in their tracks, as they witnessed flashes of every spell that had been cast and every incantation that had been whispered into the void. It’s as if the very fabric of reality was unraveling before them, each color a thread in the tapestry of the universe’s arcana, which he wielded with unmatched mastery. Their hearts began to race, for they couldn't remain ignorant that behind those irises lay not just power, but the knowledge and nigh peerless capacity for destruction. Terror, vexation, bewilderment, veneration. Their emotions and thoughts cried out to him in endless volumes. In his youth this wealth of data, this flux of information, would often render him paralyzed as he tried to grasp it all. His eyes functioned more mysteriously than they were captivating, unifying his senses and expanding their perceptive capabilities to pharaonic heights. Outside of his Pyrokinetic anthem, hellfire. Zeik possessed no other psychic abilities. Even his coveted and praised seer abilities were an extension of his birth rune- Origin Vision. With those eyes and exemplary study he was capable of reading the stars and predicting future events with satellitian precision.


Yet, as his eyes captivated his old allies. The black flames that engulfed his fist served as a stark reminder of the sheer power he commanded. The flickering flame on his hand was darker than Iridus void and despite being a small cinder, the radiating heat from his hand could be felt through the battlefield. The barrier that Odu erected to keep Zeik contained, served him in this situation. Creating a small and contained area for the heat of his fist to build. It burned with an intensity that rivaled the surface of the sun, instantly vaporizing the matter just beneath his fist. The moment he ignited the blaze his hellfire drained the naten and water from remaining foliage within the containment. The ignition of those raging black flames seemed to fill the area with an ominous presence, one that left a thick, tangible grasp of the environment.


Ava, Valir, Odu, each of them had served in the Acrix military and for most of it worked alongside one another. There was a time where they were all one another could count on to escape the shadow of death that loomed over them during the century long wars of their youth;but, now…they found themselves enemies and once against patrons of the valley of death. Zeiks hellfire radiated across the field, releasing the devouring beast of his cursed flames against them.

He watched patiently as The Core shifted their posture, readying themselves against his Arbiter. Tempted by hesitation he lifted his foot and held it just off the ground, but in a flash, thanks to origin vision, he could tell which Grand Arbiter they planned on using, causing his eyes to narrow to a grimace. Knowledge was power and with it his hesitation transformed to resolution.


He took a single step, from the visual perspective of his foes, and with the influence of Zero shift he blurred the lines between reality and fantasy, even for vescrutia. Each stride propelled him forward with a grace that defies logic, leaving behind a wake of displaced air and stir of echoes. The forest seems to bend and twist around him as if nature itself is awed by the sheer velocity of his movement. Too his speed they were frozen in time, unless they had the gift for perceiving such astronomically high-speed movement. For not even a countable measure of time after he disappeared and space warped around them, he reappeared between their ranks with his hand just a hairs length away from Odu's ribs. If their eyes or senses could grasp even the faintest wonder of Zero shifts function, they'd be frozen in fear as two separate afterimages approached Odu's barrier. As the figure descended upon the hellagard, the barrier shimmering with pulsating hues of ethereal light, time itself seemed to slow to a craw. The after images became mere streaks of motion, a fleeting glimpse of incomprehensible speed. The barrier, crackling with arcane naten, stands as a formidable obstacle; an immovable object to everyone else;but, to the hand of God, nothing was an unstoppable force. To Zeik, this was merely a fleeting inconvenience and in a breathless moment that stretched into eternity, the figures breached the barrier, shattering his shield, at what appeared to the same time he touched Odu.

It's was a sight that defies explanation, a testament to the boundless potential of Zero shift and the unfathomable depths of Zeik’s war potential.

The signature boom of Zero shift was the result of matter breaking the sound barrier as he instantly accelerated to celestial speed. It was the same sound that had staggered his foes, just moments before he went on the offense. His speed greatly dwarfed that of sound’s limits and by the time the boom reached their ears, Odu’s anthem-The Hellagurd, ‘was already shattered into shards of 'calcified,' Naten, leaving blue, hardened, naten floating around Valir and Ava, with Odu and Zeik nowhere near them anymore.

Ava and Valir's attention was snatched by the unexpected death-curdling screaming of their partner,Odu. His cries were so loud they seemed to rival the shattering of Hellagard and that of the bellow from the broken sound barrier caused by his birth rune. They found the culmination of the three sounds left a stinging ring in their ears. When they whipped their heads around to find their ‘stolen,’ comrade, they would observe Odu pinned to the Dome their ally had used to ensnare the Vesta crown, with zeiks hand still just inches from their allies body, subjecting him to immense heat and naten drain;but, leaving him mostly unharmed as his armor was designed to endure high temperatures. Zeiks back was to Ava and valir, while he's eyes stared into screaming Odu's. He whispered something to the stout warrior and the screaming man became a weeping boy, sobbing softly as he released the barrier and fell to the ground with only scratches on his armor and a slight burn on his face. Zeik dropped the crying warrior, Odu and he sobbed into hands , unable to face his allies.

“Ava. Valir.”

He said with a soft tone that reverberated as if he were a man possessed. He landed on the ground just beside Odu, tapping him on the shoulder gingerly as he stepped past him. The barrier that prevented his escape and blocked his family from intervening, slowly crumbling behind him.

“That was my last act of mercy, if you ready yourselves against me…. Please…dont make me have to tell your loved ones that you tried your best, fighting valiantly until the very end. Just…go home and confront the real enemy, whomever put you up to this task. I’ll overlook this ham-fisted operation as a lapse in judgment, hell...im willing to just assume youre following orders.”

He turned his back to them and began a casual stroll away from the area. He figured they’d be wise and retreat, given the barrier was the only thing keeping the fight on their terms. Yet, if they were willing to choose their mission over their lives, he remained vigilant. With Origin vision and his Aura ready for a childish counter attack.

“Return home, Valir. Tell the Holgurd crown I spared his son and if he wants to bury his secrets. He should do it himself."




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