CHAPTER 11 – THE RADIANT ALLIANCE
A week had almost passed since Johnny had been summoned to this world. His wounds had fully healed by now. He was sitting with the other members of the Radiant Alliance. They gave him odd stares when he first walked in. Johnny decided to keep his racing suit on. He had to get spare from the prototype as his original was torn to shreds. It made him feel better for who he was. Johnny knew he could always have Albert change his appearance if needed.
He thought about calling upon Albert when he woke up. He dismissed the idea not wanting to cause another fiasco that had occurred back at the warehouse. Burning down the tent would be a death sentence if I was caught in here. Besides they have the prototype under tight guard. So, I couldn’t even try to escape if I wanted to.
Johnny continued his ranting in his head before he looked over at Albert. Albert was by his right side hidden. While Julia stood on his left.
Johnny could now see Albert wherever he was, when others couldn't. As a result Johnny, had Albert remain hidden from the others' presence, for fear of causing him to be attacked.
He could also talk to Albert telepathically. Johnny found out by accident by thinking about Albert back at the fight when he was helpless. Johnny had asked how he was able to talk to him from his mind now.
When you used the core fragment while you were imprisoned. The magic that the orc shaman had used on the restraints caused the mini-AI to overload. The result had me fuse with the core. I can go anywhere as long as that fragment of the core has power. Albert had replied.
Johnny was interrupted out of his thoughts by Julia who asked. “Is something wrong?” Raising one of her brow’s at Johnny.
“I'm good, just lost in thought,” Johnny replies looking at her.
The elf had switched out of her healer’s robe into light armor. She wore a chest plate that was gold and white that exposed her lower chest in a fit manner. In the center of the breast plate was the Radiant’s crest. The crest was diamond shaped with gold on the outside and silver on the inside. A halo on the top. The diamond had a small sphere centered in the middle that was black.
She wore vambraces that covered her upper arms and hands. The metal was colored white and gold that also had the Radiant’s Crest on the arm guards. Her greaves were colored in gold and white with the Radiant’s Crest in the center near the shin. She had a circuit made of gold and white metal around her head with the Radiant’s Crest. She had two short swords seethed by the hips of her armor. She had a long bow strapped to her back. While she held a staff made of white and gold metal with a white lotus flower on top in her right hand.
“The radiant one assigned me as one of your personal guards.” She informed him. “I’ll be grabbing more members of the guard in a bit. After we have a meeting with one of the celestials.” She added.
Johnny raised a brow at Julia. “Who are the Celestials?” He asked with a curious look on his face.
Julia replied without turning her head to pay attention to any threats. “Celestials are the main council for the Radiant Alliance. They keep track of anything that happens caused by the loathing one.” She finished.
As soon as Julia finished a group of individuals entered the tent. They were wearing the same robe Julia had worn as a scout. One of the figures had a fancier robe.
Johnny looked over at the man in awe. He towered over Johnny, who was around 6 feet in height. If he had to guess the man must have been 8 feet in height because he barely fit in the tent. The man made Johnny feel intimidated, not only with his size, but his appearance as well. The horns and tail made him wonder if he was some sort of half breed of dragon.
Julia kneeled on one leg. She bumped Johnny with her elbow to do the same. He had been lost admiring the man. He hadn’t noticed everyone else kneeling. Johnny then got on one knee as well.
“No need to bow.” The figure in the fancier robe said facing Johnny. He looked at him with his red eyes. Johnny then stood back up as the figures walked over to him.
“I have come to assess the situation here.” The man said. “My name is Orion. I am part of the Celestials for the Radiant Alliance.” He added.
“It has seemed things have gotten more out of hand here on the Magmasphere.” Said Orion as he stared at both Johnny and Julia. Orion then took a seat at the table everyone had gathered in the tent for.
He sat with his hands in his lap then spoke. “Now, I would like to know what happened first from you Julia. Then the new champion. “ He finished looking at Johnny.
Johnny stared in confusion then asked. “What do you mean by a new champion?”
Julia then cut Johnny off by answering his question. “A champion is someone with special abilities or attributes that can help fend off the Loathing Ones influence.” She finished.
Julia then gave her account of how she was contacted by the Radiant One for help. How she tried to summon Johnny next but was overridden by the orc shaman. Resulting in Johnny ending up in the wrong place as she went to look for him. She then mentioned she had found out he had been captured. She told the Celestial she formed up a rescue party to save Johnny. Then having to fight the Loathing one’s minions and killing the shaman. As well as how she found him almost at the brink of death.
Orion took in every word then responded in a concerned low tone. “This is troubling indeed. The loathing one has gotten more powerful and cunning. No wonder the influential meter is over 70%.”
Orion then turned to face Johnny and asked for his tale. Johnny was hesitant to respond but slowly gave in to his events of ending up where he was summoned. From riding around the landscape, to infiltrating the city to learn about the world. He then talked about how he was chased by the shaman. To how he was imprisoned and how he had tried to escape. He then finished by talking about the trial up to where he was going to be executed.
The man's brow had a worried expression. “You say a rift eater had appeared from dark magic from the platform?” The man asked with a raised brow.
“Yes,” Johnny replied.
The man then turned to Julia, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do I need to remind you of your duty as a Warden. if there are traces of rift eaters. Then there is a void portal nearby. Why hadn’t you taken care of it?” Orion asked in a frustrated tone.
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Julia then replied with a sigh. “Johnny was in critical condition. I couldn’t let the new champion die from his wounds. I had no time to look for the portal just yet.” She argued.
“We have had scouts looking for the portal. We believe we have found the location, but the door is sealed by a dark magic barrier no one can seem to crack.” She added.
My power isn’t strong enough to breach the barrier.” She finished with a grim expression.
The man sighed. “Fine, I’ll have a look at the barrier.” He groaned.
“I'd rather be doing paperwork than having to babysit.” He grumbled.
“Have one of your scouts take me to this barrier.” He continued in frustration. “For now, Julia, you oversee teaching our new champion the ropes. The Radiant One declares he can save the universe after all.” The Celestial finished in a mocking tone.
The man got up and left and dismissed everyone.
Julia then looked at Johnny. “Well, should we get started on your introduction as new champion?” She asked with excitement.
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With the celestial checking the dark magic barrier. Julia took Johnny outside the tent to explain his involvement and why the radiant alliance was formed.
“First thing you need to know is why the Radiant Alliance was formed. I'm going to give you the brief version. There is a lot of history to unpack with all this.”
“I gave you some details on some subjects. The main purpose is to stop the loathing one once and for all. We are not sure how the being got so powerful, but we believe it made pacts with other deities before consuming their power. That is the main hypothesis.” Julia said before telling Johnny more.
“The alliance in its early stages was made of survivors of fallen worlds that were overrun by rift eaters. I happen to be from a fallen world that was overrun.” Julia began to have tears in her eyes thinking of the painful memories. Johnny tried to comfort her. It took Julia a while to compose herself before she spoke again.
“I’m sorry about that. Those were painful times.” She said as she wiped away tears before speaking again.
“The alliance is led by many factions who were led by a mysterious entity known as the Radiant One. How the entity formed is anyone's guess. Although, we do know that the Radiant One gets a majority of their power from other deities, who were able to merge with the Radiant One before their worlds collapsed. Over time the factions became bigger and the Radiant Alliance was formed. The alliance consists of messengers, shepherds, wardens, and celestials. Each group has a subgroup I could go into. If it did that it would take all day. I can explain another time,” Julia said to Johnny, who just nodded in response.
“Anyways, as the fighting went on the loathing one became more powerful. The radiant one became more desperate. At first, The Radiant one started recruiting from destroyed worlds, or affected ones.
When the Loathing One became too powerful, the tactic then changed to find ‘champions’ from other realms or worlds. Those with special abilities or attributes were plucked away to fight the loathing one.” Julia paused for a quick breath before staring at Johnny with a smile.
“This is where you come in, you are a champion, Johnny.”
“Champions can have any hierarchy status in the Radiant Alliance. Champions are used to help drop the influential meter when it gers too high or assigned special missions. For now, your rank is a shepherd. Your task is to deal with the loathing one’s minions called the Devouring Darkness. Those usually consist of corrupters and voidbringers. In some rare cases watchers.”
Julia did pause again this time to see if Johnny had any questions about his duties.
“First, what is this influential meter? What exactly are corrupters and voidbringers? I know you gave me some info on watchers, but I would like to know more?” Johnny asked her.
“The influential meter lets us know how much power and influence the loathing on has on a world. If it hits 100% the world will be consumed by the void.”
“Corrupters are usually the easiest to deal with. Their main job is to create chaos and spread influence. Voidbringers are just about the same as Corrupters. They can be a bit trickier. Their main task is to open portals to summon rift eaters.” Julia answered his first question like they weren’t much of an issue. She changed her tone with the next answer.
“Watchers are more dangerous. They make sure everything is supposed to run smoothly. If you recall, the orc shaman was a watcher. Normally we have a Warden deal with them. Like myself. Unfortunately, the shamans meddling with the summoning you here got in the way,” She added.
“The loathing one has more to it's hierarchy. Those you don’t really have to worry about. Although, there have been a few cases where a champion has had to deal with a chosen of the loathing one though.”
Johnny wanted to ask what a chosen was. Julia cut him off and made the statement brief before continuing.
“A chosen is the one who rules over an affected planet or world. They are picked by a council called the Evil Eye. Usually, they are inhabitants of the affected world. When there is enough influence for the loathing one. A chosen can open up all the portals set by voidbringers to unleash rift eaters.” She concluded with the history lesson.
Julia then turned the conversation about his tasks. “You already know you are a champion. From Orion mentioning it. You would be working under me. Since my status is a level higher as a Warden.”
“Your first order right now is to show me how this thing is supposed to work. The Radiant One told us that this device can stop the Loathing One by destroying void portals with Class VII or higher.” Julia stated.
“So why is so important you need me for tge portal them?” Johnny asked, not understanding what made a prtal so dangerous.
“The portal her Orion is looking at I think is a class X, which is very bad. Those are the most powerful of portals. The portal can be created by fusing existing ones to form a bigger one, or in this case, time. Depending on how much time has elapsed will depend on how dangerous a void portal is.”
“Entering a void portal with that power level can be deadly without the right precautions. Portals like these take time to travel to get to the void core, which is what powers them. Your job will be assisting us in getting us their faster to destroying the cores.”
“Well about that…, I have some bad news about the prototype.” Said Johnny with a bit of doubt in his voice.
Julia frowned as she asked. “What kind of issue?”
Johnny then went into details of how the prototype was partially damaged from coming to the world. After he finished telling her what damage had occurred. Julia let out a sigh. “Well looks like I’m going to have to ask for help getting this fixed when Orion gets back.”
Julia and Johnny both walked back into the tent to the prototype. Johnny walked with Julia in tow, up to the trunk of the prototype.
“I’m going to show you some of the prototype’s abilities.” Said Johnny with interest in his voice.
Julia looked concerned. “Didn't you say it was damaged?” She questioned Johnny.
“The prototype can’t change into any other vehicles at the moment.” Johnny told her in a somber tone.
He opened the trunk, almost smacking Julia in the face. She jumped back in surprise.
“Sorry.” Said Johnny with a guilty look on his face.
“I should have warned you to stay back a bit.” He told her.
Julia looked inside with awe. Johnny showed her each part of the car in the trunk. The control terminal was on the right. The dimensional drive in the middle. Finally, the anti/matter core to the left.
Julia suddenly went pale with fear. She quickly pulled out her staff and cast a spell. Johnny was caught off guard, who yelled in suprise by Julia pulling him back.
“What was that for?” He asked, feeling a fuzzy feeling on his body as he staggered around. Johnny was trying to keep calm because he didn’t know what just happened.
Julia replied. “I casted a warding spell on you. Someone has tampered with the so-called core.” She said as she cast another spell to reveal the hidden rune on the core.
Johnny gasped looking at the core.
“Someone has tampered with it. In less than half an hour a mystic rift eater will break free from the core. If we don’t stop this thing it will consume this world within half a day.” She yelled in horror.