Bastion, home and headquarters of clan titan blade was the jewel of the continent Asa. Its walls glittering with purple aether crystals that glowed in the sunlight, its surroundings a vast hub of activities and the skies above it a storm of moving constructs that ferried goods and humans around the continent. Bastion had grown into a self-sufficient nation state on its own, its borders now extended to cover hectares upon hectares of land filled with different buildings both commercial and private.
Slowly humanity had regained their foothold on the planet, but here at Bastion, humanity had exploded into a period of renewed prosperity. Under the watch and protection of the sect leaders, Bastion had become a commercial and technological paradise, the sect of the hammers of Ogun who were in charge of maintaining the infrastructure and technological innovation of the entire Bastion as a whole had achieved a serious of momentous breakthroughs.
Anti-gravitational railways that used the concepts of mini pathways to move from one domain to another were invented, the railway running all across Asa as a whole. This easy access to resources and immediate intervention of military might of the clan ensured Asa remained several steps ahead of the other powers on the planet. The calamity had caused catastrophic damage to the world, but with the foresight and timely help of the titan blade even though he was billions of light years away, Asa as a whole had survived intact.
Most of the clans’ advocates had made it to expert, losing less than five percent of their entire advocate numbers, it was considered a resounding success. The sect leaders had immediately locked down the continent, the same way the other powers had done to theirs. The world then entered a period of intense delving, all powers seeking to grow their strength seeing as they had stepped into what they perceived to be the power level of the titan blade.
They were immediately taught a hard lesson on the ways of the of the archailect, scores of newly ascended iron rankers were immediately wiped from existence, hordes of dungeon monsters running rampant, threatening to overwhelm them, especially the Bharat empire. The explorer society had to step in, iron rankers blazing forth with Luke Finn finally breaking through to bronze rank. It had been a moment of awe, the leader of the society in the air, his expert body screaming with power as he laid pure devastation across the landscape where the dungeon creatures had broken free.
For a moment the world watched as a power other than Bastion grasped the spot of bronze rank first, until the borders of Asa had dropped and the powers could only watch as the sect leaders of the clan stood tall, peak ranked bronze rankers in their own rights, their vices well into their bronze rankings as well. Annika storm maiden, the rumored bride of the titan blade had laid the charge, her realm a frigid place of never-ending thunderstorms and lightning, her sect members imbued with the living bolts of lightning had led the charge first.
Bastion had once again awoken from their slumber to reveal a utopia, or as close to it as one could get. It had been from then that their power had been cemented in this new world of experts that wielded devastating abilities, Ife itself a golden world that displayed the stupendous wealth of the titan blade. The continent given to the immigrants from outside the planet had also seen an unprecedented growth, mythical creatures found only in storybooks literally came to life there, the continent itself shrouded in mystery from the time the titan blade had given them that piece of land finally blossomed.
Annika couldn’t care less though, she had a duty to Moyo and she had performed them flawlessly, finally ascending to bronze and sitting comfortably at level 250, she was one of the strongest beings on Gaia. After the calamity had been dealt with and the restriction placed on their world removed, the powers had come together to name the planet, it was a landslide vote, to name the planet after nature itself, to remind them of their roots. Mrs. Martha had led them all on a plan for ascension, driving each sect hard to ensure they maintain the superior curve of power they held over Gaia as a whole.
It paid dividends through enough, and with more bronze rank, silver rank and even reported gold ranked dungeons popping all around, there was more than enough to ascend with all the speed they could gather. The only issue being the strength of the monsters in the dungeons and the number of ascenders that went along at once. Recently the monsters were getting more ferocious than ever and a few iron rankers were nursing grievous injuries from delving dungeons.
That was saying a lot seeing the almost immediate healing of expert rank, the issue had been wisely hushed up by Mrs. Martha who was of the opinion of the information leaking would do much to demoralize those below expert rank who viewed it as a step into the stage of the titan. The irons were up and walking now, but dungeon delving had reduced, that was till a supposedly sanctioned archailect dungeon delving organization came by the delving guild.
Holding a piece of intent shard that screamed with the power of the titan blade, a form of recommendation from their patriarch himself. That was enough for them, admitting the guild into Asa and allowing them to establish their headquarters for Gaia on their soil, it had brought an unprecedented period of smooth dungeon delving for the clan, more advocates crossing the barrier into experts by the months. They were preparing for a celebration, to mark their victory over the calamity when a large woman had brought had stepped through a pathway, an ability few ascenders of even expert rank could boast of from the other side of the universe if they heard her correctly, the power to open such mind boggling in itself to return the titan blade to them.
They were currently at titan’s storm, the domain ruled over by Annika and her storm bringers, their seat of power being the giant blue crystal castle that ran with pure lightning. The entire domain was always mostly shrouded in perpetual dark thunderstorms that rampaged through the skies, carrying along with it bolts of large silver lightning that flashed also. It served as a domain for new ascenders or those about still within their early ascension stages to really understand the path of the storm bringers. Here they sat, all the leaders of the clan with the intimidating woman who had no care in the world that she sat between five of this planets’ most dangerous ascenders.
She had no reason too anyways, for if she was right then she claimed to be a master and that was an existence beyond their wildest imaginations. Annika though was bothered for whole different reasons, she held herself back through sheer willpower, knowing that no mater how much she raged and thundered, her now evolved path of the storm empress riding through her body with her fused willpower and authority called Umbani, it would do nothing but ruffle the hair of the woman,
That and blow a large crater in-between her domain, wiping our dozens of infrastructures, both built and under construction. Mrs. Martha sat to her left, a calming presence of steel and silk who stared at the woman in silence as she recanted her tale about what her and Moyo had been through. The tale as absurd as it was, carried the usual behaviors of Moyo, the usual insane risks and unbelievable twist of events Moyo was known for. However, it was the closeness she seemed to share with him that bothered her, Ayo the crimson huntress of the dawn archers sat up, her fiery red hair and eyes that were a part of her new look post ascension to expert glowed even in the room,
“so let me understand this right, you’re telling us that Moyo somehow wields the powers of a ruler?, this throne ability as you call it and as a master?’ she asked,
“More or less” Ashira replied curtly,
“And you feel his life could be in danger in a while?” Mrs. Martha asked,
Ashira snorted as she shook her head,
“I doubt anything can put his life in danger anymore, he simply needs to lay low, the powers that be are trying to prevent him from drawing the attentions of unwanted disasters that call the archailect home” Ashira explained,
“I believe we can take care of him, I can take care of him” Annika bit out more forcefully than she intended,
Mrs. Martha flicked her eyes to her, silver irises gleaming disapprovingly, but Annika didn’t care, not in this instance. She saw Ashira’s face soften and the anger bit more, she didn’t need the pity of some space princess,
“I know you think you do, believe me, but I can effortlessly wipe out every being on this continent if I choose to right now” Ashira said,
“Is that a threat lady Ashira?” Idris rumbled,
Ashira shook her head,
“No, I’m simply stating what I’m capable off, but the beings that could come for Moyo should they realize his existence have masters possibly stronger than I am that can wipe out your entire planet without blinking, plus no one knows what state of temporary weakness Moyo could be in when he comes out of stasis” she explained,
Annika stood up in a flash and stormed out of the room, she could hear it in the woman’s voice, the love and it hurt Annika to realize it. She glanced in the direction of Bastion, where all the best of the best of ascenders each sect had to offer stood vigil over the cocoon of the titan blade, ready to lay their very lives down in the defense of the titan blade,
Why Moyo? She thought,
Why did he have to leave her for so long?, leave her behind as he travelled the archailect having insane adventures with another woman?, that was supposed to be her position, hers. She felt the presence of the woman the moment she appeared behind her, it was hard not to, seeing as her spirit silently screamed at her to run for her life, the sheer power emanating from the woman a very scary thing to behold indeed and if this was the sort of power Moyo wielded too then it was quite a boon to the clan.
Annika steeled her nerves as she turned to the woman,
“He never did agree” Ashira said,
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“What?” Annika asked confused,
“My advances, he never did agree to them” Ashira said with a sad smile,
Annika stood there, rooted to the spot, trying to assimilate what the lady said,
“But you love him” she bit out,
Ashira nodded,
“it’ll be a blind, deaf and tasteless woman who would spend an extended period with the titan blade and not fall head over heels with him” she said,
Annika stared at her for a few seconds before giving a shirt nod, even she had to admit to that fact herself,
“But you knew he had someone back home” she asked, finding her thoughts somewhat mollified that Moyo hadn’t immediately discarded her,
“Like I said, it’s the titan blade, he makes sacrifices effortlessly for those he cares about without even realizing the trail of female bodies he could leave in his wake” Ashira said as Annika smiled a bit,
Common ground,
Ashira shrugged as she rested on the stone railings of the balcony they currently stood on,
“The heart wants what the heart wants anyways” she said,
Ashira sighed,
“However I’ll respect his decision, I’ll always do, I owe it to him to do that, an eternal debt to the man who showed me I could be more than I ever dreamt” she continued,
“While throwing himself headfirst into the trouble in a bid to soften it up” Annika muttered as the both of them giggled,
“you’re a good woman Annika storm empress, and I’m sorry for stepping into your space so brazenly, but I’d understand if you resent me for all that happened” Ashira said,
Annika shook her head and sighed after a few seconds,
“No, I can’t bring myself to, not when you actually respected my boundaries to an extent” Annika said,
She faced the master from house Kairos,
“I can’t do a thing to stop you should you actually want to take him, you’re a master and I a lowly bronze expert” Annika started, raising a hand as she saw Ashira trying to interject in alarm,
“But you’ve showed you’re a good woman and the last thing I want is the push away the good people around Moyo, not for something as trivial as this” she said,
“Trivial?” Ashira asked concerned,
“you didn’t really think Moyo would stay with one woman right?, I mean, not like he’d go galvanizing around, but he’s a powerful man, absurdly powerful and women would be drawn to him” she explained,
“Those who simply want to bed him and others with most nefarious purposes” Ashira said grimly,
Annika nodded,
“And let’s face it, Moyo might be powerful and all, but he’s notoriously inexperienced when it comes to issues of the female gender” she said as Ashira snorted and rolled her eyes, the both of them giggling,
“so we watch over him?, I believe two of us should be enough” Annika said, extending a hand to Ashira who nodded, eyes wide,
“we’ll have to be” she said as she clasped the hands with Annika,
Mrs. Martha phased into existence beside them, appearing as if pulling herself from a cocoon of invisible spider webs,
“Finally, at least the two of you could see common sense and reason” she said,
Ashira eyed the woman, a playful smile on her face,
“I was wondering when you’d reveal yourself” she said,
Mrs. Martha turned to her, smiling at the aghast Annika who was embarrassed Martha heard all she said,
“you could sense me?, interesting, I need to work on that skill the more” she said to herself,
Ashira shook her head,
“I could literally see you; it’ll take more than a rare skill to full the eyes of a chimera and a master at that, but for your rank it was absurdly powerful;” Ashira replied,
Mrs. Martha bowed to her briefly,
“a high praise coming from a master, I’m honored “she said, Ashira nodding back at her,
“However, my reason for being here is to bring to the notice of both of you an invasion into our territory from the east” she said,
Annika’s eyes widened,
“isn’t that- “
“the glorious empire?, yes, however I find it hard to believe emperor Ba Ji would be stupid enough to do this, he knows he can’t win a battle against us” she said,
Ashira shook her head as she stared towards the direction of the supposed army,
“No, a dragon disguised as a human is with them, hiding among their ranks” she replied,
Both Mrs. Martha and Annika whirled to her,
“it’s the golden sun” Annika said grimly,
“The golden sun?” Ashira asked,
Mrs. Martha nodded,
“Lord Moyo sent back info about a dragon already on our planet when he became an expert, hiding and preparing to seize control of the planet to this house Dracon he spoke of. His ascendence put a halt to those plans indefinitely, the dragon unwilling to reveal his existence to the world then for fear of either the overseer or Moyo” she explained,
“Sounds like something house Dracon can do" Ashira nodded,
‘They are probably aiming to get Moyo, which begs the question of how they knew the titan was currently indisposed at the moment” Mrs. Martha said darkly,
“It would appear we have a mole in our midst, we will deal with that later, how do we deal with this dragon and his saboteurs?” Annika asked,
“Hold down all the troops, I have a feeling they’ll be gunning straight for Ife and castle dominion to get to the titan, drawing attention so far away from Bastion would be stupid” Mrs. Martha said,
“I go to stand by the titan, I must have a few words with this dragon and if I’m right, who must also have a spatial pathway ability to get directly into castle dominion itself,
“impossible” Samantha said as she stepped into the balcony,
“I triple warded dominion with anti-teleportation spells, no pathways would open up there” she finished,
“Not against the pure authority of a silver ranker it won’t” Ashira casually said,
They all paused at the grim news,
“The dragon is silver?” Mrs. Martha asked,
“Yes, and he’s about to do what I said, hold down his accomplices, kill them, I could care less, the dragon however, I handle” Ashira said,
“a master killing a silver?” Annika asked curiously,
Ashira smiled a most bone chilling smile,
“Whoever said anything about killing him?” she said as she vanished from the balcony,
Mrs. Martha smiled as she dusted imaginary dusts off her long skirt,
“Well, that went well” she said,
“that was your plan all along wasn’t it?, get her to help us with the empire problem, we both know no spy can get through your spiders martha” Samantha said,
Mrs. Martha smiled, silver eyes glowing,
“I’d hate to be the one to kill the dragon and risk an intercontinental war between our two factions. Besides, I have cause to believe emperor Ba Ji would be secretly happy for us taking out a thorn in his neck” she explained,
“Careful there, you play a master in your schemes” Annika warned,
Mrs. Martha waved her hands dismissively,
“Oh she knew well enough what I was doing, she just found it too much fun to protest, honestly, what sort of monsters does house Kairos breed?” Mrs. Martha asked,
“We can discuss that later, our plan of action now?” Annika asked,
“Let the chimera deal with the dragon, we have an army to lay waste to” Mrs. Martha said with a smile,
******************
The golden sun, the silver ranked dragon and patron of the glorious empire considered it beneath his station to be sneaking around and in human form no less. Ever since he acquired the path of a pseudo dragon, given to him by his patron that had been silent for over a long while now, lord Abraxas, he had been sitting and fiddling his metaphorical thumbs, waiting for the next course of action. Then the calamity hit and the golden sun had seen his ticket to more power dangle before his very eyes.
Waiting for the first set of experts to start popping up around the planet, he had gone on a rampage through iron and bronze ranked dungeons, leveling upas fast as his draconic body could allow him to. Finally he had made it to silver, a full tier above every single expert on the planet, pride in his feat. Then came the news and video recordings of the fight of the titan blade with another expert, however it was the rank called that sent shivers down his spine,
Diamond rank,
The titan, his foe who wasn’t even aware of his existence had gone completely out of his range. He had raged, anger in his very features that once again, the titan blade had stolen what belonged to him. He had sworn there and there to end the clan, but with a master ranked construct guarding the territories of the clan, he couldn’t move. So he sat and simmered, planning for the eventual confrontation he might have when his spy, the last in a long line that suddenly popped up out of nowhere, informed him that the titan was gravely injured and secured in a healing cocoon just within his great castle of dominion on Bastion, the glorious sun knew this was his chance.
Gathering his worshippers, he prepared to directly cut the head off the snake that was clan titan blade, a diamond expert was still that anyways, an expert. The plan had moved flawlessly, even as he knew his followers would die to the brutality of clan titan blade when it came to defending their territories from invaders, he could care less, they were offering up their lives for a greater cause.
the runes protecting dominion and Ife from pathways opening up was laughably easy for him to bypass as a silver ranker, although the power was no laughing thing, his superior understanding of runes and sheer draconic ability ensured that he tore through the dimensional barrier holding back his pathway from manifesting and appearing in the room itself. It was from this point he began to suspect something was amiss, for there were simply no guards or personnel protecting the single floating purple crystal that contained what he was sure was the titan blade,
All except a single woman who sat on the steps to the throne of the titan, a large dark purple crystal structure that was made specifically for the height and size of the titan himself. Spreading his realm around, a place of ever burning golden draconic flames, he tore off the veil on his core and reverted back to his draconic state, growing bigger and bigger every second till his dragon skull touched the high ceiling,
“Your reign ends here, BURN!” he commanded,
His authority blazing around him as he knew he had little to no time to complete the mission itself, preferring to burn away everything and leave the clan with a lasting reminder about his power. A terrifying monstrous presence settled over him that crushed his authority, crushed every single bit of power he had, crushed his aura, crushed his willpower and slowly began to eat at his form in the most agonizing of manners.
The deluge of terrible pain that accosted him from that point robbed him of every piece of thinking he could come up with. He felt himself being carried helpless by aura towards the woman who sat at the foot of the throne, baleful eyes staring at him,
“You know, I have a very great dislike for all things draconian” she started,
The golden sun watched as his skin began to peel off, scales clattering to the ground as they healed back almost immediately, eyes managing to stare at a blade that released toxic energies that slowly corroded his body, he shuddered as she continued,
“But to think a lackey of house Dracon would think he could kill the titan is just blasphemy, however it is not my place to show you the error of your ways, it is the titans’ and he is currently not available” she said,
“However, you attacked his home, his domain and his clan, this I cannot forgive, for it is an insult to me as well, Ashira chimera, master of house Kairos” she spoke as she stood,
If he could plead, if he could utter a word of apology, grovel at her feet then he would, but he couldn’t even move a muscle and had no choice than to listen,
“For your crimes against clan titan blade and by proxy house Kairos, I shatter your core, stunting your ascension for life” she started,
He felt his core shatter and all his mana dissipate as pure agony lanced through him, the pervasive aura and power of the chimera invading deep inside him even as his body contorted in different agonizing shapes,
“Your path also is shattered” she said as he felt every iota of power leave him, his body returning back to the grotesque flabby hairless human he had been. His body dropped to the ground as he opened his mouth in a wordless scream of agony,
“’you will be kept and incarcerated and kept till the titan returns to us, perhaps he will be lenient, the way he usually is, but until then you will be subject to the laws of clan titan blade, you and whoever lucky follower of yours that survived the battle” she finished as iron ranked hands of Anansi, agents of Mrs. Martha appeared out of nowhere, binding him in silver webs, totally cocooning him before bowing to her and vanishing with him,
Ashira didn’t envy his fate, not when Moyo heard of what he tried doing. She turned back to the crystal,
“Come on Moyo, come back to me” she whispered.