On May 4th, 2313, everything changed. When Jayden activated Ragnarok, the mana that erupted from the gauntlet was so strong that not only did it grant him his powers, but also caught the attention of many powerful individuals. Both future allies and foes alike.
A few minutes earlier before Ragnarok was activated:
"I really hope Ziera's okay. We haven't heard back from her in a while."
In the sky above the clouds a good distance from Lockwood, is a floating airship. On top of said ship was one of Ziera's collaborators, a young girl by the name of Emilia Sylphion.
She had long blonde braided hair, blue eyes, green jewel earrings and 3 small blue face triangle face markings on her cheeks. Her outfit consists of a yellow chest guard, a green hooded cape, green pants, brown boots and black fingerless gloves.
image [https://img.wattpad.com/1bee91cbafc61bbd7a13fc6f5b38b6aafc512824/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5468334f4a4564466435642d45673d3d2d313435323732393831362e313765373733623837636238666561363734333034333836383431312e706e67]
Emilia is one of three people who are working with Ziera on the mission to retrieve Ragnarok from the Machina Empire. Her task was staying aboard the airship to monitor the situation and be ready for when Ziera gives the signal so that she can be extracted. The issue was that Emilia never received the signal and was starting to get worried.
She didn't personally know Ziera all that well or for very long but she was her teammate all the same. Not to mention, she knows about Ziera's past and let's just say Emilia could relate to her struggles in a way. If Ziera had gotten hurt or worse killed and Emilia couldn't be there for her, she'd never forgive herself.
Even still, Emilia couldn't just go and look for her when she didn't know where Ziera was. Plus, her mentor had told her to remain on the ship no matter what.
Speaking of which, her mentor was on a dangerous mission of his own. They all knew that Ragnarok would be heavily guarded by one of the empire's mightiest warriors, so her mentor would lure the general off the ship to fight him while Ziera would sneak aboard the warship to retrieve it. She knew her mentor could handle himself as well, but Emilia still couldn't help but worry for both of them.
To wash away her worry, Emilia decided to lay on top of the roof of the airship looking at the clouds. She loves looking at the blue sky because it's relaxing and helps her think. As she laid on top of the ship an idea came to mind. So she sat back up and clapped her cheekbones with her hands saying to herself:
"Okay Emilia! No more sulking! If you want to help your comrades, then you just gotta do something about it no matter what! After all, flying into the face of danger is the sylphion wa-". Suddenly, Emilia sensed a huge surge of mana. "Whoa!? What's going on!? This mana! It's....it's incredible!"
Incredible was right. The mana surge was so strong that it had Emilia sweating. If she hadn't been already sitting she would have fallen to the roof of the ship. Emilia wasn't the only one feeling the mana surge, everyone in the continent, no, everyone in the entire world of Esos felt this massive sudden mana spike.
Inside the airship in one of the bedrooms, there was a young man who was another one of Ziera's collaborators sleeping soundly in his bed with his arms resting behind his head. His name was Henro. He had pale skin, a muscular physique, purple eyes, black hair and ear piercings. He was wearing a black fur coat with a gray shirt underneath.
Henro was catching some sleep until he too felt the sudden mana surge [https://img.wattpad.com/0ee2bbb7f23bb826d07fd8fabfff172d910323ef/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f315f427a54554f517a39654e74773d3d2d313338303737343531352e3137643933396639653166653462666537393339373035303132322e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Henro was catching some sleep until he too felt the sudden mana surge. "Ah! Jeez, where's the fire huh?". Henro sat up rubbing his eyes, annoyed that his sleep was interrupted. Soon after though, he smirked. "Well, at least things are finally getting interesting".
Out somewhere in the Kingdom of Titus. Territory of the giant race:
Two hooded travelers were walking alongside a mountainside but came to a halt when they too felt the mana surge. The first traveler was a young girl with red hair and sharp teeth who spoke excitedly in "Draconian".
"Woo! Man that hits the spot! Right Jewel!?" Ryoka said in draconian tongue [https://img.wattpad.com/eab6d2090b2b69878b64f378218a976e69f54312/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5850683569386d774758684539673d3d2d313338343537383633312e313764393362333539623262376131363638383735373939303530342e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
"Holy shit! You felt that Jewel!? This mana! It's gotta be Ragnarok don't ya think!?"
The woman whom the red headed girl nicknamed "jewel" nodded. Under her hood she has long dark blue hair wrapped in a pony, clouded blue eyes and wore a calm stoic expression.
"Yes, Ryoka. The gauntlet, Ragnarok, has finally found it's next wielder. If we keep going down this path, we're sure to meet them in no time."
The red head known as Ryoka gave a wide toothy grin and jumped in the air excitedly.
"Hell yeah! Oh, this is so exciting! I can't wait to meet them! I hope I get to fight them!"
"Ryoka, I know you're excited but remember what you promised."
"Yeah yeah I know! You want to talk to them first I gotcha! Well then let's stop talking and get moving! Come on Julia!"
Julia sighed. She admired Ryoka's enthusiasm, she just wished she would slow down sometimes. "Slow down, you'll slip."
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
The Republic of Midgard
The Capital: Arcadia
Inside in an office of a large castle was an elderly man with a long white beard and wizard hat on. The elderly man was napping in his chair when the sudden mana surge woke him from his slumber.
He slowly opened his eyes as he said "After thousands of years, you've finally returned to use." The old man shed a single tear from his eye.
The Machina Empire
The Capital: Andromeda
Inside the enormous castle within the capital, lie the emperor's private chambers. It was unlike any other room befitting of royalty. There were no windows, no artwork, no bathroom, not even a bed or any furniture of any kind. What lies in that dark room was a display of the vacuum of space in the background. If you walked into that room it would be as if you're walking in space itself.
At the center of the room was his majesty, the emperor of the Machina Empire and the most powerful machine in the entire planet, Zenal.
He stood tall at about 7'0. With a large bulky mechanical body with black and red colored body armor, shoulder pads and a long black cape. He has no face only two red eyes and small horns on his helmet.
Zenal stood at the center of his room looking at large holographic screens displayed in the air all around him [https://img.wattpad.com/68fd89ed910414b87b783897ee769fae0a16131d/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4c363575704866304475593345773d3d2d313338303737343531352e313764393339643164356233396265363430393435303933333631362e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Zenal stood at the center of his room looking at large holographic screens displayed in the air all around him. On those screens were the daily lives of his subjects within the capital. He could see everything within his capital, for he was connected to it all. None could hide from his gaze.
As a robot, Zenal did not require food nor sleep, only knowledge and power. However, those goals were not mutually exclusive. He needed knowledge to obtain more power and the power to obtain even more knowledge. The one thing that could help him achieve both ends was almost within his reach. That was until...
The sudden mana surge had reached Zenal catching his attention. He did not react in any matter. He only spoke. "What naive fool have you manipulated this time...........old friend?"
Jayden Pov:
Lockwood
Right after Ragnarok's awakening
"Holy shit! I...I did it! I beat that jerk!"
I stood at the hole of my apartment. I just sent that jerk Cozar flying out of my apartment building from the third floor. He went crashing down hard onto the street and into his armored car. I don't think he's getting back up anytime soon. Now to take care of his flunkies.
"GAH!"
I heard grunts and turned around! I thought Ziera was in trouble but no....she's just fine..she took care of those guys by herself. In handcuffs no less. Huh...guess she didn't need much of my help after all?
"Jayden! Quit spacing out! I need your help over here!" Ziera showed her cuffed hands to me.
"Huh? Oh right, sorry!"
I went over and removed her cuffs from her hands. Bionic strength sure is neat.
"Thanks! You've saved me twice. I owe you." She smiled at me again.
While that was true, her saying that made me blush. Thank the guardians she couldn't see that.
"Oh no worries!" I said as I rubbed the back of my metallic head.
"Anyways, it seems that armored car you knocked Cozar into had that jammer that was blocking my communications before. Thanks to you tho, I'll be able to reach my allies outside of the city and rendezvous with them."
"Oh sweet!" Well that's good. Now she'll be able to escape these guys. That means she'll probably want the gauntlet back too. Well, it didn't last long but I actually got to be one of my heroes for the day so a win is a win. But will I ever get to see her again? Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, waking me up from my thoughts.
"Hey! Stop spacing out on me alright? I need you to focus!" She said sternly.
"Oh right!" I stood in attention.
"Now listen, you may have unlocked the power of Ragnarok but you're still a novice at using it. That makes you the perfect target for the empire right now so while I make contact with my allies we'll relocate somewhere safer. Do you know a safe place?"
Only safe place I could think of was the shelter. I was against taking Ziera before but now I trust her. Plus if any soldiers do find us I could just fight them off with Ragnarok again right? Well not like I got a choice right now.
"Well, there's the homeless shelter where I work. It's downtown."
"That'll do. We'll have to use cozar's vehicle for now. Normally I'd reconfigure it to avoid suspicion but I'm still really low on mana right now and don't want to waste what I have left on it."
"Wait, reconfigure?"
"I'm a technopath. I can manipulate technology with my mind. I can turn an omni rifle into a grenade or even transform a transport ship into a submarine, and even do this!" She said enthusiastically.
Ziera took one of the rifles and reconfigured it into what looked like a green metal cube with a green button at the center. Was that some kind of weapon?
"Huh? What's that?"
"Just insurance for later. By the way, aren't you going to transform back? The enemy's gone."
"Oh yeah...uh....how do I get out of this?" Was there an off switch or something for this thing? From what I remember in the comics the leader of the guardians who wielded the gauntlet simply told Ragnarok to transform himself back into a human. Guess it wouldn't hurt to try.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?"
Oh shit! I recognize that voice. It belonged to someone I consider way more terrifying than the empire. My mom. I forgot I left my phone at the shelter so I never told her to not come home for a bit. She must have come to check up on me. Well just my luck. Ziera however was confused by the situation.
"Who is that?" She asked as she went towards the hole to look down and make eye contact with my mother.
"That...would be my mom."
"Oh."
Who the hell are you two and what the fuck did you do to my house!?" Shouted Maria.
Well this is really not good. My mom hates cursing so that just means I'm in deep shit this time. Oh wait, she doesn't recognize me yet.
"Wait hold on! It's my Jayden! Ragnarok, transform me back!"
As such Ragnarok did just that. The bright glow appeared and I was back in my human body. Phew. Thank the guardians it was that easy otherwise I'd be screwed.
"What the!? Jayden!? What is going on!? Who is that!? Where did you get that!? And what happened to our house!?"
"Whoa hold on! Look I'm really sorry mom but I'll explain everything so please calm down!" As I reasoned with my mom Ziera finally spoke up.
"Hey, we can't keep making a scene. More soldiers will be here any minute now we all have to get out of here."
Crap she's right. Fighting those guys is one thing but I can't drag my mom into this. "Look, let's first get out of here and I promise we'll explain everything!"
My mom was still pissed but she took a breath and calmed down. "Jayden Alejandro Cortez, there better be a damn good explanation for all of this."
Well that's great. I finally do something in my life worthwhile, meet a pretty girl, get superpowers and the result? My mom is pissed at me. Can this day get any worse?
***
Emilia Pov
That huge surge of mana finally stopped, but I was still in shock. What was that? Was that Ragnarok? Did Ziera activate it somehow? Or did someone else do it? Regardless, the situation has changed. I can't stand around anymore. I have to call Tenjin now.
Suddenly, I was getting a call from my phone. It was Ziera! I answered immediately.
"Hello! Ziera!?"
"Yes it's me, Emilia." She was okay!
"Oh thank the Guardians. I was worried!" That caught her off guard.
"You were?" What kind of question was that? Of course I was. I know we didn't know each other long but even still.
"Of course I was! We're teammates aren't we!?" I yelled by accident. I didn't mean to get excited, I guess I'm just sensitive when people I work with get hurt.
"Oh, well I'm sorry that I worried you. But I'm okay. My new friend saved me."
"New friend?" What is she talking about? What new friend?
"It's a long story but listen we need to rendezvous downtown in Lockwood. Soldiers are on high alert now and they're looking for both me and the new Ragnarok wielder. We'll be at a safe location for the time being. When you get here, contact me and we'll all make our escape route."
"Wait! New Ragnarok wielder!? Who is it!?" What did she mean by the new Ragnarok wielder? So someone else did unleash its power and they are an ally. Who are they? Where did they come from?
"Look I promise I'll explain everything later but right now getting out of Lockwood is our first priority. Where is Tenjin?"
"He's probably still fighting. I haven't been able to make contact with him. But don't worry he's strong so he's probably fine." I say this when I'm still a bit worried about him. He has been fighting for over 15 hours.
"Okay. When you can make contact with him. We'll need his help to escape. And tell Henro to get his lazy ass up he's helping too."
Ah Henro........convincing him to be a team player will be never short of a miracle.
"On it! I'll get them right away. We'll head towards your location."
"Thanks Emilia. I'm counting on you."
Ziera hung up. This is your chance Emilia. A chance to show both Ziera and Tenjin what you could do on your first big mission. Time to put all that training to good use. Emilia concentrated, then a pair of wings grew on her back.
Emilia was a part of the Garuda race. A hybrid race between humans and the bird-like people known as avians. Emilia flapped her wings and flew down to the door that leads to the lower levels.
"Henro! Wake up! It's time for some action!"
HYBRID