The fiery being moved with all the fury of an inferno, runic circles in the old language of Yoruba bursting to life in a haze of power all around it, raising the temperature of the room skywards till even the diamonds that made the cavern began to shimmer. The masters fought through it though, pitting their very aura and pure strength against the brutality of the creature who somehow blocked every attack of the masters, orange armour of flames covering his form and deflecting the attacks of the masters. For once Moyo wished they had a pure mage in their group, or a long distance attacker to disrupt the movement of the warrior.
Stepping into the range of the warrior once again, dominion flashed as he fell into the movements of Sango’s dance, trying to break the guard of the monster. The creature laughed, a flaming short sword appearing in its hand,
“too long have I witnessed the fighting steps of the home of the great father!” it boomed,
“good, good!, show me more” it said as it pressed into Moyo, the titan struggling to keep up his movement against the onslaught of the creature,
“shimmer” Killian said, his edict taking place as space warped around the creature,
“the fires of the great father has no leash” it said even as it maintained its movements amidst the effect of the edict of the stellar blade,
“It bent itself according to the whims of Ifa, the all seeing one, and you, you are nothing before Ifa” it said as it stamped one foot on the ground. A fiery aspect burst to life, crushing the edict of the stellar blade, driving them all back. Skatha swung her blade
The words exploded to intent, showering the area in an attack of blades that gave no indication of its coordination. Showering the warrior in authority covered attacks, the monster bringing its hands up to protect its face, perhaps it had been a reflex action, Moyo couldn’t say, but he took full advantage of it, Esu’s greed activated, he grabbed the hand of the creature and let the skill go to work. It felt like fire lighting up within him as he screamed, stumbling backwards,
“The flames of the great one is sacred young one, not even you have been granted the privilege to wield it” it rumbled,
Duval, the sol blade on fire clashed with the monster and began to throw blows, blades flashing as the two behemoths of fire began to slug it out, reality warping around them frantically,
“Show me who is better, the sun or the great father” the creature said with laughter,
Feeling Esu’s greed swallow the flames within him, the pain reducing, he blinked from where he had slumped, seeing his HUD light up,
Notice: greed of Esu has absorbed a vital aspect of the flames of shango, you have
* Immunity against lesser elemental flames
Feeling the flames weave within him, Moyo stood up, seeing the destruction they had weaved across the area where they fought, he turned his gaze to the little flaming figures that were slowly multiplying around, coming from the creature of Ina, it was evident what was about to happen. He moved, dominion swinging as he unleashed Digi aye, the skill beginning to siphon the aether in the air, denying the creatures the power to stronger.
Dominion swung, the blade sending a line of intent that tore into the lines of the creature, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake, drawing the attention of the warrior who pushed Duval back with the force of its aura that shattered a few of the crystals within the cavern. The short sword in its hand suddenly became a large axe,
“Son of old Ife, come, show me you are befitting of a child of Oduduwa” it rumbled, all traces of mirth leaving its face as it turned its full attention to Moyo,
The masters moved at the same time it snapped its fingers, the flames formerly red turning blue, burning hotter and brighter till a large runic circle made of the blue flames appeared beneath the very ground, the flames rippling. The creature had employed a core realm, a dungeon creature actually activated a core realm,
Dominion held on guard, he took his usual stance, blade pointed forward, eyes on the creature of fire,
“Good, no distractions from pesky masters” it said,
Moyo inwardly cursed his usual luck, somehow, whatever was happening here and now would somehow be related to him,
“Only the insane would describe masters as pesky” he replied,
The creature chuckled,
“Masters during my time could sunder the stars, we fought against the prime lord of the abyss, lead by the holy primordials, of which the great father was one” it replied,
“Prime lord?” Moyo asked,
“The fact that you have no idea explains just how far the calibre of masters in the archailect” it replied,
“just how old are you?, two centuries?” it asked,
“Give or take” Moyo lied with a shrug,
“then why do I sense the true aspect of a primordial within you?, what are you?” it asked,
Moyo glowed with his aspect, infusing veneration within it as the warrior of shango took a short breath
“Veneration, the power of a primordial, there is more than meets the eyes about you, but fine, prove your worth to me, best me and the power of the primordial great father would be yours, fail and burn in his wrath” it said,
“Then why do you want to face only me?” Moyo asked,
“The great father would rather obliterate the last vestiges of his existence than see his aspect fall to just any ascender” it said,
“And if I fail this little test of yours?” Moyo asked,
“Then you and everyone within my domain will be dead” it simply said,
“You underestimate the masters of this generation” Moyo growled,
“Show me” it answered with a chuckle,
Notice: emissary of the great father Ina would like to share memories with you, note, this is a two-way communion, your memories would be shared in turn, rewards:
* Choice of skill
* One legendary weapon
“What is it exactly you want to know?” Moyo asked,
“The present” Ina replied and moved,
Blue flames licked his every movement as the master of elemental flames clashed with the titan, fire against titan aspect, both masters trading blows, dominion thirsty to drink of the very essence of the master. Countering every move the titan made, Ina parried dominion, seeking to leave a devastating punch on Moyo, his titan’s body repelled the attack, his mantle glowing in the heat of the flames. Countering with his authority, Moyo gripped the aether around the room, unleashing Esu’s greed on the flames, swinging to the side as the sheer power within the flames sought to burn his skill, staggering his movements.
The halberd Ina swung passed close to his head, Moyo reversing as dominion clashed with the weapon made of fire, both masters putting the force of their strength behind their attack as flames and pure aura flared up around them,
“I am but a sliver of my true strength when I was alive, and yet you can barely contend with me?, useless!!” Ina roared,
Moyo took a deep breath as his eyes blazed to life the same moment Esu’s greed finished absorbing the flames,
Notice: Esu’s greed has absorbed skill: burning wrath of shango,
Notice: skill: dance of Shango(R) has resonated with the skill: burning wrath of Shango, chance to evolve,
Without a thought he clicked yes,
Notice: skills are combining and evolving……
Then the dizziness took a hold of Moyo, stumbling backwards even as the halberd of Ina somehow left a cut on his arm as his body became destabilized, dominion somehow slipping from his fingers. He could see the master of fire stumbling as well,
Notice: communion is now active…...
*********************
He had no idea where he was, but he could see the war raging around him, stars going out in space around him, and masters, so much masters, fighting an infinite darkness that he could see was made up of an infinite number of abyssal blights. Creatures as big as planets and as small as a regular human bore down on one large spire made up of the most concentrated amount of aether and all its components Moyo had ever seen. Around these components stood hulking figures, clad in arcane mythical mantles,
Eses, cosmic dragon of the archailect,
Her, he could recognize at first glance, clad in pure white scaled armour with a golden scaled blade in her hand, pointing into the distance. A gigantic pathway opened up from her side and millions of tentacles poured forth, in their middle a man made of nightmares, dressed in what looked similar to medieval armour, dark green, reality twisting into contorted shapes of nightmares around him, in his hand a large staff and from behind him, coming from the same maw of the creature with thousands of tentacles poured untold horrors, roaring as they blotted out the side of the archailect, joining the thousands of masters into battle.
Eses turned,
“Kairos, Tiamat, you came” she said,
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Moyo whipped his head to the man in dark green armour, whose face was covered with an helmet that kept changing shapes, that was Kairos?. Just staring at the king of monsters made him shiver, this was not a being he could face anytime soon,
“the archailect is in danger of this prime lord, we answer” a female voice said, resonating around them,
The tentacles shivered and began coming together, shaping itself into a ball before shrinking in size and becoming a woman. Moyo shivered at the sight of her, pitch black eyes with just one pinprick of white within it, a smile so wide it looked better on a Cheshire cat, long hair looking like it was made out of some wet leaf but moved on its own and a shape so seductive, Moyo was sure if he wasn’t terrorized by her, he’d be a mess just staring at her,
This was Tiamat, queen of monsters, the great mother, the great flood, mother of all abominations born of the archailect, and cherished bride to Typhon Kairos,
“My heart” Kairos said,
“This is no place for one as you” he said,
She turned her terrorizing smile to Kairos, stroking his horrific helmet fondly,
“And yet I must defend our home” she said, her voice the thundering of a thousand voices at once,
“She speaks the truth” another voice said as intent gathered, a pathway opening up and a being stepped out,
A humanoid fox walking on two legs with nine tails behind it, pitch black fur with baleful blue eyes, a crown of pure intent on its head and in its hands two sickles,
“The archailect thanks you for coming Junzo” Eses said,
“The omni-fox rises from the eastern galaxy?” Tiamat said with a smile,
“I will not let my domain fall to this heretic, where are they?” the fox spoke, pure unbridled intent emanating from his mouth as the pathway behind him began to dispel its content, different foxes with different number of tails along with other creatures poured out,
“We answer the call” a voice rumbled,
Another pathway opened, but this time a man of dark skin stepped out, hair braided with literal lightning beads dancing on it, a bead necklace of fire around his neck and wrists and at his back sat a thunderstorm, rumbling all around. Moyo took a deep breath, the man dressed in what looked like the native attire of his people, an armless top made of some mythical rank material, feet bare and in his hands two short axe that crackled with lightning. At his back stepped out three other beings, one of fire, who he recognized as Ina, a large halberd in his hand, a woman with white hair and white eyes, blue skin that shone with the lightning that made it and a last man, white skin with dark thunderclouds for eyes,
“Shango” Eses said,
The mythological god of the Yoruba people, one anyways, but Moyo supposed in this reality or version of things he would simply be a primordial. The giant primordial flexed his wrists,
“Ra and the others have cleared the northern sectors, they have routed and disposed of the lesser lords of the abyss, all that remains is this prime and his high lords” Shango said,
“Good, then we end this here and now, this battle has gone on for too long” Kairos said,
“And here I thought you loved every moment of it my king” Tiamat said,
“Not as much as I love you” Kairos replied,
Moyo considered it creepy when two creatures of terror were acting all nice and mushy, it drove more fear in him than seeing the both of them prepared for war,
“Where is Jothas, that scoundrel?” Shango asked,
“My partner is currently riding out to delay the forces of the prime lord, we go to join him” Eses said,
Jothas, the other primordial dragon of old, Eses’s partner that had died during the war. Whatever this war was and wherever he had been transported to, it was a very long time ago and Moyo could see for himself what Ina meant. Shango turned to Ina,
“Go before me, begin the counterattack” he said,
“I hear and obey” Ina replied,
Stepping forwards and raising his halberd in the air, Moyo sucked his breath as he watched what started as a small sphere began to expand, growing brighter and bigger, soon enough it grew bigger than an entire planet. Ina had created a literal sun,
“Rising of the flames, burn” Ina rumbled,
Like a solar flare, the flames shot forth, burning everything in its path that wasn’t of the archailect to cinders, Moyo had to shut his eyes. Blinking rapidly as it cleared, Moyo saw the devastation wrought as far as the eyes could see, entire stars obliterated from that one move, and that was the power of the masters of old. He shivered as he glanced at Ina and saw the master staring right at him, stumbling backwards in shock the master placed one blue burning finger of fire to his lips,
Silence he said wordlessly, watch….
He was in a memory, there should be no way the past Ina should see him, perhaps there was a hidden power he was unaware of?. That thought was placed on one side as another pathway opened up, this time on the side of the abyssal forces that had been reduced to cinders,
“Prepare yourselves” Eses boomed,
From the pathway stepped out a being that literally, by its mere presence sundered reality, burning it up as the primordials flared to life, their powers barely ushing back the mere aura of this being. Moyo felt the colour sucked out of reality, turning everything black and white as reality began to crumble at the distance. Groaning from the mere power, he raised his head up slowly, seeing something that should not had been possible.
It was not the being that stepped out of the pathway that scared him, not the way it held the lifeless corpse of a dragon bigger than the entire moon of Gaia, not the way Eses screamed in pain at the sight of her dead partner, nor the way every attack the primordials threw its way barely did anything than to dent its pitch-black armour made of….chaos…pure chaos….the same as Ajax,
No, it was what stared back at him from behind the abyssal pathway opened up, the writhing form that seemed to be swimming in the abyss, eating up everything both abyssal and reality like in its path. Its eyes of reptilian black and its scales that seemed to suck everything in like a blackhole. His body froze up, unable to shout or speak, to move or run. He watched as it empowered the being Moyo knew now to be the prime lord of the abyss, watched as no one except him seemed to had noticed, not even Ina.
The being stared at him and Moyo could realize it knew him, knew who he was, knew who he’d be soon enough, and with pure unbridled terror, Moyo realized somehow, fundamentally, somehow deep within his bones, that everything was playing out according to its plans. So he pushed back against its power, the runes on his body glowing every brighter as he pitted his entire titan aspect against its leash, shutting his eyes tight as, avoiding the fight between the primordials and the prime lord that seemed to handle them all at once. The titan aspect within him responded, flaring out as it burned everything within its past, like an invisible flame it cut off the chain of power between the prime lord and the being, watching as the creature hissed, recoiling from its contact with his aspect.
With one hiss of contempt, it began to seal away the pathway, leaving the prime lord to the mercy of the primordials, but not before it shot one baleful look at Moyo,
One day it promised, not now, maybe not in the past as Moyo had interfered with its plans, no.
it would wait, it would bid its time, it would scheme, accumulating more power through strife and wars and terror, growing ever stronger the same way Moyo did, the same way the titan did, and when it was ready, it would bring down reality and the archailect alike, creation would crumble from its cry, like the old prophecies, it would swallow up the sun, it would swallow up creation, plunging everything into…...
“no” Moyo growled, eyes burning with purple aspect and flames,
He paid no notice to the odd phenomenon happening around him and his body,
“No, I will not let you” he continued, every word coming out like a command as he floated closer to the shrinking abyssal pathway, the serpentine creature moving back in terror,
“Never again, not at the beginning of creation, not now and I promise you, not in the future” he said as dominion appeared in his hand,
In the distance Eses gave a great cry of anguish as all sounds were suddenly cut off in space, he avoided staring at the bodies of the primordial fox and Shango who had sacrificed their lives and thrones that were now crumbling away, leaving nothing but slivers of their powers behind. He avoided staring as the archailect spire came to life and Lotes herself appeared, heralded by millions of messengers that began to tear into the abyssal creatures who began to flee, the lords of the abyss dying to their weapons as they sang songs of praise to the true dragon. No, he needed all the power he could get, he needed to feel anger and not pain at the death of a primordial from his clan of old.
So he pointed dominion at the creature,
“Everywhere you go, I will be there to counter you, every move you make will be repelled as long as I live” he swore,
“I am moyosore titan blade, heir to the true titan who beat you back at the dawn of creation, and on the name of the titan, on the name of my ancestors of old, of Shango the thunderer, of Ogun the warrior, of Oya the ever-flowing waters of life, I will wash away your taint” he swore,
A presence appeared behind him, glancing behind to see the largest dragon he had ever seen, a coiling mass of fangs and pure aether fire, blazing like a true sun-burner,
Lotes,
She nodded her huge draconic head, glancing at the creature,
“We await you, vile one” she said as the pathway closed,
Moyo whirled to the dragon, so many questions he wanted to ask,
“Ah ah ah” she said as he opened his mouth,
Placing one fire wreathed talon on his head, she spoke,
“Not in this place, not in the past, we will meet soon enough titan blade, for now, let things play out according to the emissary of Shango” she said as she faded away, somehow appearing back like she never left the spot close to Eses. A bright light ensued that burned his eyes, a hand on his shoulder dragging him away.
He felt reality shift and he stumbled to his back, falling on the ground as he blinked, staring up at a disoriented Ina, glancing around to see he was back in the cavern, Ina staring at him with wide eyes,
“So much time has passed” he rasped,
“So many of us lost, so many of our ways gone, Eses!” Ina shouted to the caverns,
“you promised!, you promised none of our lords would be lost again!” he said, Moyo shuddering at the raw rage in his voice,
No doubt the former master turn dungeon being must had pored through his memories, Moyo got up, blinking as he scrambled for dominion. After images of the movements of Ina blurred into being around him, like shattered images of a mirror,
Notice : skill: dance of Shango(R) has combined with the skill: burning wrath of Shango to create skill: primordial sages eyes(L)
Primordial sages eyes(L): you have been imbued with the fiery gaze of Shango, he who sees all paths to the end. Fused with your dance of Shango, you can now see the moves of your enemies before they make it, create battle movements before a fight and significantly slow down time. Note:
* Probability of movements decrease the stronger the foe you face
* Sages cannot grow stronger till you ascend to ruler rank
Moyo gasped, his eyes on fire, groaning as he stared at Ina who smiled,
“You have his eyes now, my work has been completed” Ina said,
Moyo gripped dominion,
“What just happened?’ he said,
“What did you do to me?” he shouted,
Ina gave a fiery smile as he slammed his halberd into the ground,
“The legacy of the great one has been passed on to a worthy successor, I can finally rest from my bondage” he said,
“how did you end up here?, you were alive, the vision” Moyo sputtered,
“We all died that day young one” Ina said softly,
Crouching in front of Moyo, he tore his hand through his own chest, gripping Moyo’s other hand, the one that held dominion and plunged the blade through where his hand had entered, but not before bringing out two shards,
“Give this to that fiery master of yours” he groaned as his flames went from blue to the red it was before, sputtering,
He dropped one of the shards, the red one in Moyo’s hand,
Aspect Shard of the greater elemental Ina (Ancient): imbued with the fiery command of Ina, emissary of Shango, this shard has evolved to an ancient aspect shard, due to its previous owner acting as an emissary to a primordial. It invokes the aspect of elemental flames, burning even whosoever possesses it without the fiery nature to tame it
Moyo stared wide eyed,
“This is for you young one” Ina said as his flames began to dim,
Aspect Shard of the greater elemental Ina (Primordial): imbued with the direct tri-aspect of Shango himself, this shard has evolved into a primordial aspect shard, due to its previous owner on the cusp of becoming a ruler. It invokes the true aspect primordial flames of Ina, can only be bestowed upon trial by combat
“How, how did you end up here?” Moyo murmured,
Glancing at Ina who was nothing more than burning embers, the being frowned,
“Be wary of the primordials young one, be wary of them all….”
Smiling at Moyo, his body began to crumble,
“Find a worthy successor young one, carry on one part of the great one” He said before breaking down to ashes,
Dungeon notice: congratulations!, you have defeated first dungeon mini-boss: armoured warrior (Ina), you get:
* 10,000 diamond coins
* 20,000 gold coins
* 10 legendary aether shards
* Halberd of fire(L)
Moyo stared as the domain of fire dissipated, he stared as the masters broke through, weapons held as they glanced around, eyes wide to see Moyo covered in soot, staring into the distance.