A month earlier, in a small town nestled in Queensland, Australia, a young man named Maew jolted awake, his body drenched in a chilling sweat. It was a familiar torment that had plagued him for the past week—an unrelenting nightmare that invaded his every slumber.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he was engulfed by an overwhelming sense of dread. The remnants of sleep clung to him like an icy shroud, unable to shake off the haunting visions that had unfolded before his mind's eye. In the depths of his subconscious, a macabre battlefield sprawled out, stretching into the abyss. A gruesome tableau of unspeakable horror unfolded as far as the eye could see. The air was thick with the stench of decay and charred flesh, permeating every fibre of his being. Amidst the carnage, the mangled remains of thousands of fallen beings—once vibrant and full of life—lay scattered, their broken bodies contorted in agonizing positions. The ground beneath his trembling feet was a tapestry of blood-soaked earth, bearing witness to the merciless brutality that had transpired. Grotesque and twisted figures, stripped of their former identities, merged into a nightmarish amalgamation of flesh and bone. There were no distinctions of race or lineage, for all had been reduced to mere playthings of destruction. The abominable sight of limbs torn asunder, and entrails strewn about created a visceral tapestry of horror that seared into his consciousness. As he rose from his slumber, he moved through his apartment towards the bathroom, clutching a fresh set of clothes in his hand. He stood before the mirror, his gaze meeting that of a young androgynous individual in their early twenties, possessing a captivating allure that defied conventional gender expectations.
His lithe figure held an elegant grace, accentuated by his pale, porcelain-like skin that seemed to glow softly in the ambient light. The slender contours of his frame hinted at a delicate strength, a subtle balance between fragility and resilience.
Cascading down his shoulders, his shoulder-length curls embraced a vibrant hue of naturally orange hair, intertwining in a lively dance of fiery warmth. Each curl had a mind of its own, lending an untamed and carefree quality to his appearance, while framing his face with a captivating charm.
His expressive brown eyes, deep and soulful, reflected a world of emotions within their gentle gaze. They held a captivating warmth and curiosity, as if yearning to explore the mysteries of existence and embrace the depths of human connection. The lines and angles of his face were softly defined, showcasing a harmonious blend of masculine and feminine features. His cheekbones, gracefully sculpted, added a touch of refinement, while his jawline possessed a subtle delicacy that hinted at a softer side to his masculinity.
With a neutral expression, his lips, neither too full nor too thin, held a natural and inviting shape. They possessed a hint of subtle colour, complementing his complexion and adding to the overall sense of allure and mystery that surrounded him. As he looked in the mirror a familiar figure to him, though he had never actually seen, appeared in the mirror a figure with long black horns that wrapped perfectly around shoulder length white hair to form the perfect crown, his sickly pale skin helping to draw attention to his seemingly glowing deep violet eyes. Kyral was the first to speak up a smile on their face as they looked upon the young man’s reflection and his voice seemed to almost have a loving quality to it “Good morning Maew dearest, I have a surprise for you today, other than appearing to you like this of course, would you like to know what it is?”
Maew smiled a genuine smile of pure happiness of which it felt he hadn’t done in a very long time and without thinking tried to hug Kyral to no avail before saying in an excited but hinge of sadness tone “Kyri, I can see you, this is amazing It’s sad I can’t touch you though. And y-yes, please tell me what my other surprise is today, it’s not my birthday so I’m not sure why I’m so lucky today.”
Kyral’s smile grew bigger almost unnaturally so but still seemed loving in a weird way before he spoke in the same loving and caring tone as before with a hint of mischievousness mixed into it “Oh my love, that would be telling, you will find out soon enough but darling those clothes won’t do at all for today’s events, you must look your best.” With that Kyral clicked their clawed fingers and suddenly hanging on the door is a nice black suit with a pre tied tie ready to go. Maew smiled softly before sighing and said, “I somehow knew you would say something like that.” Before Maew finished speaking he stopped as he saw Kyral had vanished, upon this discovery he softly laughed to himself and would have believed it all to be a figment of his imagination if not for the suit and tie that still hung on the door. With that realisation he showered and got ready for the day making sure he looked his best, on the bench he also noticed, black eye shadow, Lipstick and nail polish and decided to apply that as well as wear the suit making him look more Gothic.
Moments later Maew heard a knock at the door, he walked to the door and as he opened it was shocked and terrified to see a man and a woman in black suits standing there, the man stepping forward pushing himself into the room, before saying in calm tone with no emotion showing on his face “You are Maew God correct? Don’t even think of answering that we already know you are, don’t be afraid though you aren’t in trouble in fact quite the opposite Maew God your country, no the world needs your help, and we won’t take no for an answer.”
Maew was very confused, and it took him a few moments to finally speak up and say “I-I have no idea what I could possibly do to help the world, but If I can help I will, but who are you guys?”
The man still showing little emotion replied in his calm tone of voice “We are members of a top-secret organisation that believe that deep beneath the ocean, around the north Atlantic. Lies a world that has been hidden from us for quite frankly God only knows how many years. I know this is a lot to take in and there is still more we must discuss perhaps it would be best if sat down at your dining table.”
And so, with that the two figures flanked Maew God as they approached his basic glass dining room table with two cheap dining chairs and sat down finding an extra chair for the third person. Just after sitting down the female figure placed a suitcase on the table and opened it pulling out a long document encased in a top-secret folder before saying in a warmer and more friendly tone, “I apologise for well all of this, however I assure you it is important and our boss, well former boss believed you were the key to unlocking the way to a magical world beyond imagining. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, before we can discuss this any further you have documents you need to read and others that need signing, now we understand you may not understand everything written in these documents but that’s okay, to be completely honest with you I don’t either, I only follow orders.” Maew simply nodded not really knowing how to respond before he opened the top-secret folder and saw a stack of papers at least three centre metres thick if not slightly thicker, a look of disbelief appearing on his face, before he started reading through the files, finding out that for about five years now a secret organisation by the name of The Society of the Silent Wonder (T S O S W), is a secret organisation that works towards uncovering things that people would consider fantasy, myth and or legends. After what felt like forever Maew finally arrived at the final few pages, only to find out that they were blank except for the word SALARIA written in big bold letters repeatedly. Maew looked up confused and in a questioning tone asked, “What is Salaria and why is it repeated in big bold letters on the last few pages?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
In response the female figure looked confused and picked up the last few pages and sounded genuinely surprised when she said, “I have no idea, it didn’t say that earlier.” The man in the black suite nodded in agreement.
Maew thought for a moment before asking “This may sound crazy, but have you ever heard of someone named Kyral Valmos?”
The woman in the black suit smiled and said in a calm voice “Yes, he is the arch enemy of our supreme ruler Sage, otherwise known as God, but the better question is how do you know the name Kyral Valmos, Maew God?”
Maew didn’t know how to respond until he heard the familiar voice of Kyral creep into his mind and say, “Repeat everything I say, until I stop talking.” Kyral waited but a moment before speaking again Maew saying what he said, speaking with a strange confidence he didn’t know he had. “There’s a reason your former boss wanted you to find me. I’m surprised God didn’t mention it, I mean I’m only Kyral Valmos’ greatest weakness, he loves me with what little bit of a heart he has, and it makes me sick just thinking about it.” Ending there he thinks to himself hoping Kyral would hear ‘’I hated saying that it makes me sad, I love you too Kyri.”
The Man in the black suit stood up and bowed towards Maew before stating in a firm tone of voice with little expression showing on his face. “That would explain why, we were told you’d be our new leader than Sir, now I must implore you to sign the paperwork you need to sign sir so we can get going we have much to do.”
Maew had a strange look of confusion on their face before they turned their attention to the pages in front of them, looking for the ones that needed to be signed and doing so. He then looked up and asked, “what do we do now? Where do we go now?”
The woman spoke up in her calm voice and simply said, “follow us, to our car and will take you to headquarters.” And so, with that, the three of them got up and walked out towards the car. Well, more of a black van really. The drive was hours long, so long in fact by the time they arrived at their first destination Maew had no idea where they had ended up, only to have to get into a plane and catch a flight to a top-secret base on a thought to be deserted Island out in the middle of nowhere in the north Atlantic Ocean. Upon arrival Maew was lost for words, two days ago he was some everyday citizen of the world and now he was walking into a top secret building researching the possibility of a potential portal to another world, it was beyond belief, but what he found even harder to comprehend just before stepping the threshold was the fact that he was to lead this research team, despite the fact he barely passed year twelve and had no degrees to his name.
As he entered the building and begun to look around, he heard a voice that sounded almost robotic and masculine say “Welcome, Maew God to operation Gaia where I aim to help humans do what they do best…Conquer, I’d know as well for I am God, Supreme leader of Mankind! Muhahahaha!” Maew was shocked and looked at the two agents he came with who smiled ominously, he was scared but he felt a strange but comforting surge rush through his body which helped to maintain his composure as he simply asked, “And how can I help, aside from being a weakness of Kyral’s but he needs to get involved for that does he not?” There was no reply and the agents wordlessly ushered him onwards, having no other choice he walked forwards head held high, managing to hide his fear. He walked down a flight of stairs that seemed to go on forever, but after a while he could see windows that led out towards the ocean going deeper and deeper and yet strangely, he didn’t feel the effects of pressure changes like one would expect. Upon arrival at the bottom of the stairway he walked into an open chamber filled with people working away on computers and right at the front a large display, a figure with a ripped masculine body, short black hair with chartreuse glowing eyes and giant angelic wings behind their back, wearing a long white robe. Although never seeing this figure before Maew knew this had to be Sage. With that the figure on the screen smiled and spoke in a booming masculine voice “Presenting Maew God, the new human leader of Operation Gaia, there is something he must see for his eyes alone, before he is to rest for the night and for the next three weeks be trained to be the ultimate general. I know this will be hard, but we must endure, after this period of training he is to return to the city from which he came, as to not be missed. Do I make myself clear.”
Maew nodded and asked, “Where must I go for this private thing you wish to show me?” Instead of replying Sage smiled and clicked his fingers, causing Maew to suddenly appear above a picturesque world, with large, forested areas, vast snow-capped mountains and cities, he could see cities of all kinds some were built into the mountains, others could be barely seen in amongst the forests, whilst taking in the view he couldn’t help but wonder what these people did to deserve being conquered. As he experienced this world, he felt himself drift downwards at first towards a human kingdom, that seemed to exist in this strange world, he was then thrust deep into the forest where he saw the cities that looked as if they were made of glass like material, from the large dessert nearby, elf like entities could be seen wondering the city streets. Before once more he was thrust in a different direction this time towards the mountains where he saw large doors built into the sides of the mountains, standing guard out the front of these doors were heavily armed Dwarves, easily noticed by their short stocky stature and long beards.
Before long Maew was back inside the top-secret base of Operation Gaia, a little disorientated he was quickly ushered to a simple but nice room where he could get good night’s sleep before his training was to begin in the morning. In His dreams he was visited by Kyral who told him, that in the morning he’d find a ring in his pocket and to wear it, as it will protect him from the influence of Sage (God). With that the following morning came and after getting dressed into his suit and putting the new ring on his finger, a silver ring with no defining marks aside from an amethyst embedded into it, that no one seemed to notice as he was ushered into an open room and offered a selection of guns, he refused them all and instead insisted upon using a short sword and bow and arrows as his weapons of choice both of which were acquired upon request, and so his training begun, he spared with an agent who also used swords for the first week of his training, most of the week him ending up bruised and beaten before finally getting the hang of the sword and overpowering his teacher, in an epic duel the sound of their swords clashing together echoing in the largely empty room. The second week he spent learning the ways of the bow, it didn’t take him as long to learn the bow, within three days he was getting consistent bulls’ eyes on the targets placed in the room and by day seven he was splitting arrows it was incredible. The third and final week, he had to learn to give orders with a strong and commanding tone, thankfully he had already had some experience in this due to being in Navy Cadets as a teen, however the harder part was learning about different strategies and how and when to apply them. Upon completion of his training Maew God was a new person, and ready for whatever came his way, He was told by God that when the time comes he will be brought back here to lead mankind into a new world ripe for the taking, and he was given a black and aqua suit that looked like it belonged in the Victorian era, so he stood out more from his subordinates as well as a short sword , The hilt of the sword was exquisitely crafted, adorned with intricate engravings that seemed to shift and dance with a mysterious energy. It felt warm to the touch, as if it held a fraction of the sun's blazing heat within its core. Maew's eyes widened as he was told that the blade was said to be forged inside the sun itself, using fragments of asteroids from the far reaches of the cosmos.