Humanity was growing, but they soon found themselves lacking the resources to continue that growth. So Micheal chose the brightest and greatest of his children, and when they were ready, sent them on a mission. Bring back what was needed to survive. But the world is a dangerous place, and the beasts were not content to leave them in peace. The humans united in a new way, meeting the challenges with collective strength instead of individual excellence. They revealed the future of humanity in that struggle. But while they may have been the future, it was still the present. Monsters lurked in the dark.
The pressure nearly drove Gilded to his knees, and only the presence of his sibling beside him kept him up. He stole a quick glance at the setting sun, its fiery orange a song to his soul.
They only had to endure for a few minutes longer.
He drew deeper upon his unity, feeling the paths of his brothers and sister melt into a composite whole that pushed back the pressure for an instant.
Only for it to come crashing down tenfold.
Gilded gritted his teeth, vision swimming as regal authority assaulted his senses, commanding him to kneel. Drawing upon his will, he barely managed to reach out and stabilize his siblings. Sweat dripped down his chin, joining the puddle at his feet.
He no longer had the strength to lift his head, but the creeping shadows at his feet whispered to him of the setting sun.
Almost there…
The pressure increased a hundredfold.
This went beyond mere command, beyond ordinary order. It was a decree written into the fabric of the world itself. All things would kneel.
This was pressure Gilded doubted they could resist even if they weren't exhausted from hours of enduring. It was pressure beyond what should be possible.
There was no time to think, only time to act.
He reached out to his siblings, this time not to merely borrow their power. There was no time for debate, no time to resist. They knew, for experience long seared into them, this was their only chance. And they wanted this just as much as he did.
Gilded and his siblings became one, essence and being merging into one stream, united in purpose.
The pressure vanished like mist on a hot day, and they drew themselves tall as one, bursting with power. The world suddenly seemed fragile, paper where it was once steel. Their opponent no longer loomed large, merely a single man compared to their unity.
He frowned.
They stepped forward.
The pressure returned a thousandfold.
They pushed as one, a legion of will and meaning. And they found themselves pushed back. Second after agonizing second passed as their collective was pressed lower and lower.
But the sun was almost over the horizon.
Time distorted, melting into a single instant of pure effort.
And just as they were about to fold, a voice called out. “Time!”
The collective immediately shattered, and Gilded fell to his knees, feeling naked in his lonesome. Through his wavering consciousness, he could feel his sibling collapsing as well, almost instantly falling into unconsciousness.
But Gilded refused to sleep just yet.
His foe, his father appeared in blurry vision, unassuming crown bleeding into black hair, azure eyes bright.
He was smiling.
Darkness embraced him.
—-------------------------------------
The sun was bright in the sky, casting the world in vivid colors. Gilded sighed and leaned back, spreading his arms as if to embrace the blue sky. His long brown hair streamed out behind him, caressing his arched cheekbones and highlighting his azure eyes. It was a gorgeous day, with the grass of the open field they were crossing gently swaying in the light breeze. Behind him loomed a mountain, the mountain of Adam, and the plains they now crossed were the ones his parents had grown up in.
It was hard to imagine his parents growing up in such a place. The gentle, unassuming nature of it was a stark contrast to his parent’s power, especially his fathers. And yet… he could see it. The laughter of his parents as they frolicked in the grass with their siblings. The harder he looked, the more he saw.
Trails of embryonic paths, suggestions of what could be were strewn across these lands, crisscrossing the seemingly endless golden grass. They were remnants of a bygone time, yet they held significance.
The origin was important, Gilded realized. The point from where everything else was born from. He reached out and calling upon his unity, sank into that origin, feeling at how his parents had come to be.
And he was taken to another time.
The sun was different, weaker somehow. But the children frolicking in the grass didn't seem to mind. They tore through the land with joyous shouts, and Gilded followed them, an observer in a time he didn’t belong. He traced the path, following the children even as he felt their origin drawing nearer.
Time slipped away as he was lost in their exuberant grace. They warped the world around them, even in their infancy.
Then the origin was there.
Hesitantly, he looked up.
And saw a man.
Blonde hair adorned his tanned body, cracked lips curving into a gentle smile. He was not handsome, nor ugly. He was merely ordinary, yet something in the way he gazed at the children hinted at a deeper concept. As the children rushed to the man with loud cries of “father” and “dad”, Gilded realized with a start that this must be his parent’s father. His grandfather.
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Watching the obvious love his parents had for their father, Gilded wondered why they never talked about him. Curious, he deepened his vision, looking beyond the mortal shell.
And he beheld a sun. Raging power beyond anything he had ever seen swirled before his senses, a virtual sea of power.
Burning.
Raging.
Living.
Loving.
Gilded snapped back to his body with a gasp, heart racing, cold sweat erupting from his pores. The world spun; he almost fell before a set of hands reached out to stabilize him.
“Steady,” a calm voice said, “Just breathe. Father is not an easy man to set eyes on.”
Gilded opened his eyes to find Chrono calmly staring at him. Deeply wrinkled, tan skin, struck a strange contrast with his long white hair. It was a strange look for a world still in its youth. But what was most striking about him was his black eyes, which seemed to contain the vicissitudes of time within them.
“Calm. Calm” he repeated.
Gilded followed his instructions, taking deep gulps of summer air to stabilize himself. Finally, he felt well enough to choke out. “What… what was that?”
“Father.”
“That was a man? Not even my father burns that bright.”
Chrono chuckled. “He was a being of pure love, one soaked so deeply in his essence it's unknown if you would even consider him human, despite his appearance.”
Divinity is separate from man. To walk a path is to immerse oneself in it, stepping away from the mundanity of mortality and into the annals of divinity. To walk alone, separate from everything but the path. Adam was close enough to feel that separation, though he could never bring himself to completely sever his humanity. And despite my desire for company in the heavens, I understand.
The pangs of half forgotten truth still haunt me sometimes.
“What was he like?” Gilded questioned.
Chrono sighed, a sound that seemed to come from the dawn of time itself. “He was… boundless. Loving. Caring. But also distant. Similar to the sun he became.”
It was like a light had been turned on in his head, illuminating previously shrouded insight. “Is that what happened? He became the sun?”
Chrono nodded.
“But… all things have a origin. He was yours. What could possibly create one such as him?”
A considering gaze met his questioning one. “That's a question for another day. Your siblings are almost here.”
And sure enough, the sound of laughing voices soon drifted to his ears. Gilded reached out, and calling Unity, drew deeply from strength they gladly gave. Technically they weren't all his siblings, more like a mixture of siblings and cousins, but it didn't really matter.
They all loved him the same.
“Gilded! Are you ok?” yelled a man at the front, a towering man of pure muscle. Messy brown hair covered his scalp and draped over his face, partially covering vivid orange eyes. Mattias was the son of Hephas and Themis, and had been included in the journey for his connection to metal and ability to sense it.
“I’m fine Matt” Gilded yelled back.
“What’d you do?”
“He looked somewhere he shouldn't have,” Chrono interjected, ending the conversation.
Gilded filed back in with his siblings, and after reassuring them of his well being, they took off once more, cutting a path through the endless fields.
Every once and a while, Matthias would stop them and kneel down to put a hand on the earth. After a few minutes, he would rise and shake his head.
The ten other people in the caravan, composed of Chrono and nine of the second generation, milled impatiently as he worked, searching for precious metals.
Well, except Chrono. He sat so still that if they didn't know better, they’d assume him a statue.
Gilded sighed after what felt like the thousandth pause, before rustling in the grass warned him of something amiss. He turned just to see a feline shaped beast lunging at him, jaw gaping. Before he could even begin to react, Tara appeared at his side, and striking out with a dainty palm, utterly shattered the beast, sending its broken body flying back from whence it came.
Gilded winced at his slow reaction, and thanked Tara. As always, she was silent, her bald head and round bead around her neck shining as she bowed in acknowledgement.
It was a stark reminder of why they were here in the first place. The beasts had been getting bolder, and conflict seemed inevitable. And the crucial materials for weapons and tools were running out. That was why they were here, Gilded reminded himself, to get the materials they needed to survive.
That weight descended once more, threatening to shatter his will. But looking around revealed the relaxed and confident countenances of his siblings.
He drew from the confidence, letting it become him.
As the sun began to set and they set up camp, Gilded came to resolution.
He was Gilded, son of Micheal, and he would not fail his family.
—-----------------------------------------------
The days blurred together, a tapestry of new experiences and exciting places.
The grasslands gave way to a mighty mountain range that seemed to pierce the sky itself. The ground grew stepper as they started the ascent. Many times, they discover metal veins and marked them down, but never in sufficient quantity and quality to settle.
So they continued to press on, undeterred by the immensity of the task before them.
The air grew thinner and the stone colder.
But they did not stop.
They would not.
—---------------------------------------
Something was wrong.
The wind howled, and snow fell like normal. They trudged forward as they always had, occasionally stopping to let Matt chack for metal once more.
And yet… something was wrong.
When the feeling grew unbearable, Gilded called for a stop. Without hesitation, he called unity and merged with the world around him, letting his hazy boundaries expand till he enveloped his family in himself. It was freeing and empowering to be a part of the howling wind, the impartial snow, but he used his siblings as a touchstone, and holding onto his goal, he began to scour the mountain.
Higher and higher he rose, the conditions only getting more and more extreme until, as if passing a invisible barrier, he burst through the clouds to expose the cold sky above.
And there, on the fraction of the mountain above the clouds lay a beast.
It was a massive bear, bigger than any beast Gilded had ever seen before. The snow around it danced, forming strange shapes and complex structures. It had been sleeping, but when Gilded lay eyes on it, its eyes snapped open and it swelled a confused gaze to him.
Then rage filled its eyes as it roared.
It struck Gilded like a physical glow, infused with truths of bloody ice and cold white. It was a roar beyond what a common beast could muster, and fear sunk into him as he realized what they faced.
An awakened beast.
Gilded snapped back to his body just fast enough to hear the last echoes of the roar bouncing away.
He turned to his family, panic evident in his eyes.
“Run!”
To their credit, they didn't hesitate before taking off, Matt indicating the best direction to take. Ice and snow crunched beneath their feet as they zoomed down the mountain, performing stunts that should have been possible. Chrono brought up the back, easily keeping pace despite his seemingly advanced age.
As the roars grew closer, Gilded extended his path to his siblings, inviting them to join a unity where their strengths would become one. They gladly accepted, but when he tried to include Chrono, he was immediately rebuffed. Still, he kept pace with their greatly increased speed.
Still the bear seemed to be bridging the gap.
They went all out, unity drawing forth their full power in novel ways. Tara’s power was directed into their legs, while Matt’s stabilized the ground. Jul’s power heated the air, warming their bodies and bringing new wind to their tired muscles. They warped the world around them, changing it to their benefit.
And yet the bear was still gaining.
When it finally came into view, a white dot against white snow, it became apparent why.
The bear manipulated the snow around it, using it to eliminate every obstacle in its path, from friction to rocks. It accelerated on a straight path, redirecting itself with slides of ice whenever necessary. Gilded nearly tripped upon seeing such blatant manipulation of reality, only saved by Tara’s guiding hand.
Awakened beast were this powerful?
The situation seemed desperate as the bear drew closer, hurling at them like a white missile, roars shaking the world. With a heavy heart, Gilded realized they could not outrun it. His siblings came to the same conclusion. Yet, just before they turned around to face their end, the roars grew fainter, distorted. Something lurched in them as they became aware of something that had always been there.
Something that was now altered.
Chrono was suddenly in front of them. “Keep running” He commanded, “The beast shall not reach us.”
Gilded snuck a glance backwards, and sure enough, the beast was slowly vanishing into the distance, its motion so slow it looked as if it was barely moving.
“What did you do?” he whispered.
“I accelerated our timestream. Now, hurry up. I cannot hold this forever.”
So, in that world, of frozen time, they outran even the beast's roars.