Blood is the perfume of those that have more power than brains, but death is the scent of a true genius. Of the game’s thirteen greatest players, one player had taken this ideology to heart and has remained undefeated in combat for nearly a decade. The greatest magic user in the entire game, an impossible hurdle for any wizard to overcome. A man that no other can match, a symbol of fear to all who knew his godly power. A man that cannot be challenged without pure insanity. All who know his name will never dare to oppose it, not in open or private. He stands above the rest, the top of the top, a god amongst gods. One of the thirteen legendary beings of Sugarea.
Nobody could ever know what inhuman thoughts that monster who proclaims to be human could harbor. Is he truly human or something far worse, like his appearance would imply, a true demon? Could this man possibly know the difference between good and evil? Right and wrong? Mercy and slaughter? Not a soul could know, but the one person that would have the best chance would be the monster’s very own brother. Another one of thirteen, a man of unmatched physique. One that could survive attacks that would cause others to be turned to red stains on the carpet. A man that manages to utilize the very ideology that opposes his brother’s. Death lingers on the person who causes it, but only blood can be wiped off so easily.
Two brothers that opposed each other with their very mindsets could never possibly stand one another’s existence, or so one would be forced to think. In reality, these two unbeatable champions of Sugarea have spent more time together than either has spent sleeping. Nobody would ever have thought that the men behind the two most devilish characters in Sugarea could have been in their twenties. To every player that hasn’t seen their chaotic prowess in person only thinks of them as a legend, a myth, but they are real, their countless feats would prove that much.
In Sugarea, an MMORPG or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, for little over six years have Ashen and Aeyrs reigned over the world as a looming threat of conquest. Their very existence caused the creators of the game to rethink many factors, be it for better or for worse. Ashen Fur, the God of Magic wasn’t a legendary monster that was some unbeatable boss, but rather a player. Much like their brother, Aeyrs Dragonheart. Both players have played since the beginning of the game. Two veterans that have survived the decade that was the game’s run time.
Ashen was a half-demon, a rare race available to players early on in the game’s existence. The race was deemed as too powerful to start as, and as such, was removed from the starting races, but still available if you were to get to reach certain criteria during gameplay. Half-demons were a demi-human race, and as such, they were able to morph between a human form, their normal hybrid form, and their true racial form. Ashen, being a half-demon, was capable of going full demon-like any other can, but he has never done this despite the plethora of times he had the opportunity. He never found a challenge that was worth it to him, either that or he had some secret reason for not going full demon.
His appearance gave chills to some, and to all showed his sheer power with only his exterior possessions. He wore red and grey plate armor despite being a magic user, something that was unique to the half-demon race. Half-demons had the special ability to utilize all armor types regardless of class limitations, one of the many reasons they were removed from the starting list of races for new players. A large red plate covered his entire chest and stomach, reaching all around his body. A large grey piece covered his breasts and rib cage. His stature being imposing upon most other races, at an intimidating two and a half meters with shoulders nearly a meter across.
On his shoulders were large molten pads of metal, glowing red and white with heat. The pads had dozens of needles and spikes that shot upwards, getting hotter at the tips. The pads were on fire with a small red flame that made no smoke, yet burned constantly. His head was replaced with a magical item, the Crystal Fire Skull. As the name implies, it was a skull that looked crystalline with its color resembling that of fire: red and orange. Two massive horns jutted out from the skull, coming from the spot just above where his ears would be if he had any. The horns were made of the same material the skull was and curved upwards with an exponential curve. Each horn was roughly a half a meter long and curved upwards thirty centimeters.
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Two large spikes of red jutted forwards from the shoulder pads directly above where his collar bone met his shoulders. There were two additional spikes in the rear that looped around the top of the shoulder pads and pointed forwards, the combined effect from the design made his shoulders resemble a rib cage of flames. His skin was charcoal black and was rough and warm to the touch. His arms were triple-jointed and were lined in armor down to his wrists. The first segment from the shoulder had a molten rock look with cracks of lava in it, and two large spikes pointing directly outward to his left and right, each spike uniform in size and appearance.
The second segment from the shoulders was a rocky plating that had a dozen and a half jagged points that created a similar effect as his shoulder pads, albeit without being on fire. The third segment from the shoulders and the closest to the hands was much like the first, but the spike that would have been closest to the hand was replaced with a smaller spike nearly four centimeters and curved downward slightly. His hands were large and his fingers were quite long to match his already bulky body. His tail was nearly three meters long and was armored as much as his arms were and resembled his third arm segments, with six of seven having two curved spikes, with the larger one being closer to the end of the tail.
The very end of the tail was a red tip that had two prongs a few centimeters apart. The armor that surrounded the part before the tip had an additional set of two skinny and long spear-like prongs that ended a dozen centimeters out from the tip. His legs were triple-jointed as well, resembling a ‘Z’ shape, with his legs coming forward then backward and then forwards again, like a minotaur’s legs, and connecting to his black hawk-like feet. Each segment was a complete copy of one another, a simplistic black plating with two glowing hot red spikes that curved upwards, each a perfect copy of the smaller spike from both the tail and the arm segments. He had large black feet that were anything but human. Three long curved talon-like toes stuck out from his large feet. His entire appearance gave the immediate description of ‘on fire’. His voice monotone, and unwavering, always staying the same despite his mental status.
His brother, Aeyrs, gave a completely different vibe through his appearance. A cross between a lizard, a dragon, and a human, all sharing features of each. His skin had two colors and consisted of scales. His front body scales were of a gold color while the rest of his body was of a bright mossy green. His eyes were emerald green with diamond-shaped pupils and two layers of eyelids, one horizontal and the other vertical, like most other dragons had. His head was similar to a crocodile, with a large protruding snout and massive sharp teeth, kept mostly in order. His large eyes on the sides of his large head, and protected by a large ring of hardened scales that surrounded both eyes.
His large claws were retractable, reaching nearly 30 centimeters from his body when fully extended. On his elbows and knees, were large protruding spikes of bone, sharpened to a near-perfect point. He had two much smaller horns on his head, barely 20 centimeters and were curving slightly downwards and pointed straight back. His weight was contradictory to his size, nearly 1200 kilograms, as opposed to Ashen’s 300. His height was much less than his brother’s, at a simple 180 centimeters. His body was sleek and slender in most places, with his large head being the only abnormally sized portion.
His body was packed tight with muscles, nearly bulging in some areas, but all contained unrecognizably under his thick scales. His intelligence was only slightly triumphed by his brother, but his strength was unmatched. His brother focused on magic, but he focused on brute force. Preferring to skewer and slash through enemies rather than sit back and launch spells. Their coordination was critical when they fought together, working as a singular, much more powerful unit. With brute force and powerful bombardment from afar, nothing could ever hope to withstand such a brutal engagement.
Over the many years and countless adventures they embarked upon, their legacy was always impressive. Though their luck was extraordinary on earth, and strictly when it came to gaming, their abilities to mimic their avatars personally might not be so great. If they were to embrace their characters completely and fully, will they be able to retain their skills and abilities that made them so great in the game? Can the two greatest players of Sugarea possibly be capable of not only acting like unstoppable gods but to embrace it all together and become one through and through? Only time will tell...