Act One
WAR EQUALS OPPORTUNITY DIVIDED BY BLOOD
[A reporter is on the screen. Around them is smoke and the sounds of battle can be heard]
“People of Earth, this might be our final hour. As I speak, forces that now seem to be under the control of the creature Primus, whose attack last year nearly saw Earth destroyed, are invading through a massive portal in the centre of Snowdonia. Forces belonging to both PACE and ESP are here fighting against them, along with members of the ‘Guardians’, a loose collection of vigilantes and other individuals with connections to this – argh!”
[There is an explosion near the reporter]
“People of Earth, we must prepare for the worst. From where I’m standing this battle looks almost hopeless! Even the Paragon is here, and -”
[Suddenly, a figure in dirtied white clothes with a white cape lands near the reporter: this is the man known as the Paragon]
“Ma’am, we need to get you out of here!”
“I’m a reporter, I’m staying! It’s my job to-”
“You’ve done your job, ma’am, please let me do mine.”
“I don’t -”
[A sudden light shines from above them. The Paragon looks up, surprised. The reporter looks awestruck.]
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Holy…”
Transcript of a report live from the Battle of Snowdon, Earth, in February 2034.
“People of Earth, you have been judged. Your world is corrupt, decaying and festering with a canker that nothing save fire may heal… and I am the bringer of that fire. The bringer of your absolution!”
Empress Regalia Sol's speech to Earth, at the beginning of the war.
Explaining why Regalia Sol’s betrayal and the subsequent death of the Paragon moved the world is beyond any one writer, any one historian, especially one not from Earth. The simple fact is that it did: his fall at the hands of the Corrupt Empress was a moment Earth Historians and Scholars call ‘a watershed’ – a moment where one will always remember where one was when it happened.
What the Paragon was, what his life meant, is one thing. The fact that his death came at a moment of supreme betrayal is quite another. And in a moment of tragedy, where the entire world came together to mourn his death, they also all came together to promise one thing.
They would remember him… and they would avenge him.
Ashlin Ferris, Official Resistance Lorekeeper
“The Guardians: a collection of heroes whose exploits are legendary. Even before the battle with Primus, their various members were extraordinary – serving to protect Earth from threats we could not have hoped to combat otherwise. Demons, spirits, monsters, the stuff of nightmares…”
“Skip the speech, Director, and tell me what you want from me.”
“What I want, Colonel? Short version? The Guardians are great for big deal missions and spectacle, but they’re shit for small-scale ops. We need something for small scale. We need quiet.”
“And you have something… quiet?”
“Wouldn’t you know, I think I do…”
Director Daniel Romero and Colonel Harrison Munro of Earth’s Supernatural Protection during a meeting in February 2031.
***