The time was early spring. As if The cold wind hasn't noticed the warm sun and hasn't forgotten the cruel and long winter. Unobstructed by the blue sky, the wind howled and send shivers down the spines of the occupants of the royal palace. foreboding the horrible event that is about to take place.
An old man furrowed as he noticed that the atmosphere wasn't as it was yesterday nor the day before that...
His name was Maximilian heindrich the 3rd. The king of this grand kingdom. It seemed as tho it was just yesterday,
scratch that, It was yesterday,
when everyone in the castle were jubilant as children before the happenings of the harvest festivities. That was thanks to the archmagus which announced that he will be able to acquire the divine blessing that they could bestow upon their most promising youths. It was a difficult proceedure that his difficulty could only be rivaled by the difficulty of finding the materials.
"The hero" blessing.
Double their growth rates and strengths.
Allowing them to access elemental magic of all kinds. Aura skills and other bonuses.
He could bestow it upon no less then 12 young men and women between the ages 16-20. All strong by their own right. The king was certain that With the ceremony they will surely succeed.
It was the day before the divine announcement. Before all the denizens of the world, the gods will announce the challenge of this century.
The entire morning was spent with talking to his son. One of their twelve chosen. He bestowed upon him the legendary sword "abyssal core" that runs in their family since the foundation of their kingdom. Attained by the first king when he succeeded in his mission.
The mission that allowed a small dukedom to become one of the strongest standing kingdoms to date.
Every century the gods will announce a mission that they had to accomplish.
Simple right? The task was issued for all of humanity to perform, thus it will be accomplished without any difficulties.
Humanity as a hole that is.
The individual nation had to compete against the other nations on what nation will complete it first. The "rewards" for the victor were as one can expect from a mission bestowed by the gods. But that wasn't all. The Victor's kingdom would enjoy some privileges aswell. bountiful harvests, a shield from epidemics but the most important aspect was that The nation will grow stronger. But You won't see middle aged gentlemen suddenly flexing biceps that rivaled their forms in their prime.
The next generation will be stronger. Although it would only effect the future births for about 25 years.
In these 25 years you'll be able to build an army that can rival all nations. It was so absurd that a small dukedom could defeat a kingdom several times it size. it was the main reason all kingdoms, nations ,empires around the world wanted to raise the strongest party that could take on the god's challenge.
It was also why so many young and promising men died by the hands of their so called "comrades".
But enough about the rewards. The rest can come later. What about the mission? What do the gods are so eager to accomplish so they go to such lengths?
The church preach that they are guiding humanity towards salvation. Proclaiming they are allowing humanity to choose the most fitting to lead the fight against the other races. Tempering them against the other races and even against themselves.
The other races have intelligence which rivals humanity. They constructed societies, developed their own culture and so on. Some will even argue that they are smarter and are more fitting to rule the land then Humans.
The many races include Elves, dwarves, beast men, mermen, demons etc.
The rest of the world didn't wish for humanity to succeed or to put it in other words they had missions as well. so each race would participate aswell But usually their goals were contradicting the goals of the rest of the races.
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And so, like Maximilian, every other kingdom, every other palace Would conduct their own form of preparations. And on this uncharacteristically cold day, with this cold wind howling in each capital.
The preparations were complete.
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Thus without further adieu let's return to present day.
It was still early spring but the cold wind was no where to be found. All the citizens of the world are celebrating the rare occasion of a new mission and praying for their success.
*11:59am namuch kingdom.
Maximilian set on his throne, by his side his wife. As she smiled and looked at him he noticed how beautiful she looked over the scenery. Adorned with the finest jewels made by the finest artisans, set on a similarly adorned throne as his.
He grasped her hand and whispered "let us enjoy this day, regardless of the outcome". She looked at him with an expression that said "Of course, dear."
Maximilian glanced towards the entrance and the newly arrived guests.
The archmagus led the majority of the nobles which all took seats at the edges of the hall. Afterwards welcoming the 12 heroes the kingdom was able to produce, lead by his son. He looked like a figure of legend with his blue steel eyes that conveyed the will to conquer all that is before him. Maximilian met his son's eyes and smiled with pride, the warmest kind a father could. The son returned his father's smile with a grin as if implying "why are you acting so emotional and wierd today". Understanding how it might have looked Maximilian decided to proceed with the sceremony as soon as possible. He stood up and following him the rest of the nobles stood up as well as a show of respect.
"Welcome my chosen". The 12 bowed down before their king. Even if they were this country chosen and by default they were entitled nobles of at least baron rank. They still knew their place. " I have chosen you children for the sole purpose of supporting this kingdom and yourself. I hope that you will succeed in your journey and find salvation for our beloved kingdom..."
One of the bishops was so overwhelmed by his majesty's speech he almost began to cry.
But don't blame him for his antics. He was truly moved by the almost fanatic speech of the king.
Gods this, gods there. The church of the 4 god's was the official religion of the kingdom. Thus the king needed to act the way so the church will still support him. Never the less It still made quite a few of the spectators' eyes to role.
The speach was so full of praises towards the gods and the church. That everyone could have sworn that their king was the devout follower of the "four gods church".
They would have sworned so if they didn't know their king.
"...thus we reached this most holy of days and had the luck and good fortune to celebrate almost 400 years of our great kingdom..."
It was 13:00 pm as the heavens opened and a beautiful voice of a woman echoed. This is believed to be the voice of the mother of all humanity that gave her life in order to save her son and daughter from the clutches of the demons.
There were even several nations that worshiped the voice but Namuch wasn't one of them. They only worshiped the "four gods."
Yet they couldn't argue that the voice was enchanting. But the contents were beyond disturbing.
" Denizens of our world, the gods have decided the missions for you. The human gods have given humanity the following mission:
Kill the demon apostle Azazel. Prevent the birth of the Demon god.
Mission status: ongoing
If you succeed all will remain as it was and we shall proceed to flourish. If you fail then the reprecautions will be unimaginable. Humanity might potentially be wiped from the face of the earth.
I wish you luck my children."
Everyone in the throne hall went silent. Never had the gods wished to kill someone. Even someone of the other races. And never they said the outcome might lead to the annihilation of the entire human race.
The other races faced the same mission by their respective gods. Also expecting potential anihilation in the case of failure.
The hall was silent then the croud started to murmur. A noisy bishop started to scream in the prays of the gods.
That's right. Scream.
"The blessed Gods have decided to prevent the rise of another demon god!!! It is the war between the demons and the humans that was prophesied by the ancients!!! It is only natural for them to grow tired of the blasphemous race, We must...."
"Shut it!" The angered king bellowed. The murmur quieted down in an instant as all didn't dare to disrespect the king.
Maximilian thought of what he should do. There was no way that humanity can afford to make this mission a race. The first thing that takes priority is the complition of the task. Thus a unified task force be established. But what if there might be traitors amongst the heroes. All nations want the rewards and this event is no exception to the rule. But that can wait for later.
"First we must contact the neigh..."
But before he could end his sentence he was interrupted.
"The system has detected a change in the target.
The new evil god "Avadon" has descended.
The new evil god "avsalom" has descended.
The new evil god "heresael" has descended.
Killing the evil god's was deemed impossible to mortals, thus the gods shall provide assistance.
Kill Azazel no matter what."
A few months pasaed by. The gods have descended to battle against the evil gods. And yet time moved on. The races started to grow accustumed to the new situation.
" A new tier of being has been discovered.
An evil high god.
Evil high god "&-(484(_(-+&+&£" has descended.
Mission status: Failed
All hope is lost."
1 second.
2seconds.
The human capitals. The deserts of the beast men. The oceans of mermen. entire continents errupted in pandemonium.
Havoc spread across the world because of the tantalising news. Everyone were on the verge crying even grown men as they hugged their sons and daughters not knowing what the future entails for them.
Well...
Everyone except the demons. They were quite happy with themselves.