Ascension - A Race Against Time

[Clown_of_God]

((Okay,

@Thael: In your next post, go ahead and explain what it is your character is so worried about, but afterwards skip ahead three weeks. I'm gonna bring us to our final test. Our ascension. Uhh, just have it where you're all waiting for the Seer to tell you where to go or what the test is and all that fun stuff. By the way... Nikki would have been either ignoring or avoiding you this entire time as well.))

[polaristar]

(Sorry I haven't been on in a while, I've been SUPER busy. Finals and stuff. One question, how do I meet the other characters, like how do I end up with the rest of them?)

 

Lilly sighed and swung into Starlight's saddled, urging her into a gallop. Her parents were not going to be happy with how late she was out. Stormy raced along beside her, and she frowned, wishing she could enjoy the ride home. Starlight slowed to a trot and neighed nervously. Lilly tilted her head, puzzled. Why was Starlight acting like this? Lilly knew she could keep galloping almost all day if she was asked. She noticed the brush on each side of her swishing back and forth. Stormy growled, ears back and tail down. What was wrong? Lilly gasped when she realized what it was. A pack of coyotes had been roaming the area lately. A small tan shape darted out from the underbrush and attacked Stormy. She yelped and fought back.

Time slowed down, and she saw the coyote dart for her loyal husky's throat.

"No!" Lilly shouted, seconds before a flash of bright light appeared. Huh? A young warrior had darted forward in an almost unseen movement and killed the coyote. He quickly went into the brush, his sword flashing as he swung it back and forth.

Lilly's draw dropped as he sauntered over, acting as if he attacked coyote packs everyday.

"Who the heck are you?" She demanded, finally finding her voice.

The guy looked puzzled. "You don't know? I'm Orion." The stranger said, wiping off his sword before replacing it back in its sheath.

"Orion. Really. As in the constellation, or just some weird guy that's been stalking me?" She asked, her eyes cold, but the relief in her voice was evident.

"As in the constellation. You summoned me. You can summon any of the constellations once you make contact with them, like you did earlier with me." He responded.

Lilly looked puzzled. "Summoned you? Make contact?"

Orion looked annoyed. "Yes, you summoned me. You don't know how? And making contact just means you connected with the constellation. And the star you touched was one of mine." He said, as if that was completely obvious.

Lilly gasped. "My dream! Of course! But how do I contact a different constellation?"

Orion shrugged. "Don't ask me! Why would I know how to do a thing like that?!"

Lilly shrugged. "Wishful thinking, I guess."

"Can I go now?" He asked.

Lilly nodded, and he disappeared. She swung down from the saddle and picked up Stormy, who was still small enough for her to carry. She put her in a saddle bag and climbed back up, and rode back to her house.

[Clown_of_God]

((Your character should have this strange drive that draws her to travel to the planet where everyone is. However, I suggest you skip yourself ahead to where you've already gone under some training with everyone and are partaking in the ascension testing. Else... I'll have to inconveniently drop your character from the RP.

Our progression from the time you joined to the point we're about to be at... is a very crucial point in the story. It's your ascension into becoming a true god and if you suddenly just bounce in after its been completed... you wouldn't have ascended and you won't become a true god. So, your true powers won't awaken. Hope this helps explain what's going on and why it's so crucial.))

[Thaelasan]

Ansgar frowned, slightly shaken.

"A lightyear out... Those ***s.... Close to my new home..." he swore, shaking. "They won't even let me come out here, far away from them.... They're probably looking for me... They'll persecute me for leaving... Who the hell do they think they are?! This is my world, my home now. I was born here, NOT WITH THEM."

He threw the hat to the ground, stomping on it.

"Discriminatory ***S! Stereotyping, segregating, arrogant, pretentious ***S!" he repeated words similar to the ones he had used, becoming more and more furious. Electricity and sparks danced around him, shocking the ground. Somehow, they were avoiding Roxy, as though he was still aware of her presence.

He finally lifted his foot and removed a glove from his hand. Electricity charged, swarming around his palm until it formed a sphere. He then fired a beam of pure, electrical energy into the hat, a force equivalent to three or four lightning bolts striking a location at once.

It exploded. Where the hat had once been was a deep, electrified crater, filled with lightning diamonds and hot as sin. He then spat into it, furious.

He turned to Roxy, completely fine, smiling. It was obvious it was forced.

"Let's not bring anything else from that planet of the asses here again, alright?" he said politely, pointing at the crater. "It brings back... bad memories."

[voltage]

It had been been a while, he had been coming along, understanding his powers more than he used to. He stood waiting for the seer, he was curious as to what he could need to do to ascend but then again only time would tell. He smile to himself as he hoped he would be able to handle it. He had learned a lot of new tricks as well as improving old tricks. Now his shadow transportation could take him anywhere on this planet that has a shadow. He trained hard everyday, he had started training with Roxy or near her as he felt she would be the most helpful person to train with that wouldn't try and kill him. He made tiny shadow fighters battle in his hand for a minute then moved them to different places before returning them to their original forms. The seer wasn't here yet but he knew she would show up sooner or later.

[padfoot]

Three weeks. Such a short time in eternity. She felt like the others had caught up to her too. Since she was trained with the basic use of her powers back when she was a captive of the Consilium back on Phang. She was getting stronger though. That fact was apparent anytime anyone walked through the Citadel. Her power had bled onto the walls and ceilings, causing random wells of reversed gravity all over the interior of the structure. Roxy was lounging on the ceiling of the common room. A Spryte had warned her that the Seer was expecting them all to meet. somewhere. To be honest the little servant didn't say where to meet. She assumed it was one of those sixth sense things they all had and she would find her way just by wandering.

 

And wander she did. She wandered straight out of the atmosphere and into her home's orbit. The past week Roxy had found herself flying into space more and more. She was told that she was acting restless, so what? she had said. She had been on this planet of the gods for almost a year and a half. Other than Phang, that was the longest she had spent in any given place in a very long time. She was restless. More and more the galaxies and far thrown planets were calling her name. That's what she had learned during her time with the Seer, she wanted to get back out into the universe to be a drifter again.

 

Roxy increased her density to the point that Lar's gravity pulled her towards the surface with greedy hands. She allowed herself to fall, slowly at first to avoid burning her cloths off on reentry. once int he lower atmosphere, she allowed herself to go into a freefall. She hit the planet's surface with the force of a meteor, kicking up a cloud of dirt on impact. She waltzed out of the crater and dusted off her vest. the commander jacket she found on that cruiser three weeks ago was already looking like hell. Roxy had cut the oversize sleeves off and painted the words, "Un vacuon" on the back with white paint. She had tried to keep up with the grooming of her hair but had been falling behind the past week or so. Her hair now reached almost a foot tall and the ridge was uneven from the last haircut she tried to give herself. She lowered her density and rose off the ground gracefully. The extra height meant that she could see Matt loafing in the distance. She collapsed the space between and appeared off to his left. She was careful to stay within sight of the man. She knew how annoying it was to be snuck up on someone that can teleport. She smiled and lowered to the ground, "Good afternoon", she said politely, "Are you waiting on the Seer?", she asked. She had pretty much forgot that

 

 

 

[voltage]

Matt was looking around when he saw roxy appear in front of him.He smiled and stretched looking up at her. "good evening to you too Roxy. yes i have been waiting for her to show up." He was stilll cloaked in a ripped plain black shirt and as it was warm he had jean shorts on. He rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head "i just don't know where to meet her. i am guessing that she will just appear to us."

[Astrodeath311]

The light bender was sitting in his bed, playing with a ball. The ball was very engaging, to the point of near-disregard to the knock on the door. He looked up, sighing. Tossing the ball carelessly on the bed, Tyler went to see who was at the door. It turned out to be a Spryte, the messengers, caretakers, etc. of this world. This one would have a message. There was no other reason for one to be in his room right now, it was not cleaning time and he had not requested one. He opened the door, addressing it with simplicity.

"Yes, Spryte?"

"You have a message, sir. From the Seer. She wishes for you and all your siblings to meet."

"Thank you." The Spryte turned and left, after a slight bow. It was a courtesy thing, they weren't required to do it or anything.

 

A meeting, huh? He stretched, yawning. Then he went back to his bed and picked up his over shirt, turning back to face the door. He moved mechanically, then suddenly realized that the Spryte hadn't told him where the meeting was... He sighed. If the Spryte hadn't told him, then that means the sender of the message, being the Seer, did not tell the Spryte.

 

So a puzzle, then? A great way to start the day, especially when you get a rude awakening whenever the sun rises. Tyler left the room, turning back to face the door. He Melded in a wall to keep out uninvited guests, though most of the godlings here had no trouble with passing through a simple wall. For example, Matt could slink in from the shadow behind the couch. Ansgar could just zap in whenever he pleased, which wasn't much of a matter really. And the other people who couldn't just materialize wherever they wanted could destroy the wall without so much as a second thought.

 

The wall was really just a cute way of putting a tie on the doorknob. It wasn't like they were going to steal anything; what did Tyler have but clothes? Nothing, everything that the godlings had were shared.

 

It hadn't been that long, but the Spryte had already disappeared from view. Those creatures were very efficient with their tasks. You just asked them to do something, then basically forget about it. They would get back to you if they either completed it or were unable to. Extremely helpful beings.

 

By thinking about the Spryte, Tyler remembered the Seer's message. He hadn't a clue where she wanted him to go, but he assumed he'd find out when he got there. A perfect spot materialized in his head, a place where he'd go sometimes to just think things through. The sunlight hit it perfectly, so most of the time he just lay there like a cat. It was pretty relaxing, basically Tyler's place to Roxy and Nikki's spring. Although, as far as Tyler believed, nobody else knew about his spot.

 

He departed immediately, but not without stretching one last time.

Edited May 10, 2014 by Astrodeath311

[Clown_of_God]

Residing within her room, a book held above her head as she laid in her bed, Nikki had been a busy reader during her off time between training and the tests the Seer had been putting them through. They had grasped her attention when she had wandered into the library one evening, with stories of the old gods from battles they had been in to romances throughout the ages. Also, what had piqued her interest even more was that they were written in the same script she had seen in the note that had brought her here. Yet, no matter the amount of stories she had read, there had been nothing on the Seer. Not even a hint or a mention of her presence throughout the multitude of stories.

Suddenly, a knock echoed through her room and she sat up in such a rush that a dizzy spell hindered her from moving any further for a brief moment. Once that had settled, she proceeded to her doorway and cracked it open, checking to see who it was that seeked an audience with her. A Spryte stood nervously just outside Nikki's door, twiddling her thumbs as if she were on a timeline. Nikki knew this Spryte, a shy girl known as Arythiah.

"Hello, Arythiah, what is it?"

"The Seer requests everyone to gather so she may brief you on your final test."

Nikki smiled and patted the young Spryte on her head in a calming manner.

"Alright, I'll get ready, did... huh?"

Nikki had turned to see if there was anything she needed to grab and when she turned back, Arythiah had already left. That was strange and she never had the chance to ask where this meeting location was. Sighing, Nikki turned back to glance through her room once more, securing a waist pack and a sleeveless vest before departing. Most likely, the rest would just gather together and the Seer would make her appearance once they were all there. This wasn't a big ordeal, but what Nikki wasn't too willing to do was face everyone again. It had been three weeks since her mental explosion and since then, she had made it an effort to avoid most of the other godlings. Unless it was necessary, Nikki had been spending most of her time in her room, reading through the books she had gathered from the library.

[Thaelasan]

Ansgar sat upon his bed, completely casual, until he heard a knock. Grinning, he immediately flashed outside of it, Volt waking up as he did so. The little Spark yawned and stretched on his shoulder.

"Oh hi, Vikare." Ansgar said, pleased. "Where have you been?"

"Dealing with the fact that I no longer am bound to the tree." Vikare said, grave. "But that is not important. Come with me."

Ansgar followed obediently as the hulking minotaur led him down a series of hallways. He passed by the rest of the godlings, who seemed to be heading to the same location.

But Ansgar could already assume where that was.

"Is it time?!" Ansgar asked, excited.

"[b]Perhaps.[/b]" the large minotaur said whimsically, smiling. "Do you think you are prepared?"

"I was BORN ready... or rather, created." Ansgar amended. "But did she look serious about it?"

"The Seer looks serious about everything these days." the minotaur commented, sighing. "It was easy to tell what she used to be thinking. We spoke more. Now she is busy."

"I see." Ansgar placed his arms behind the back of his head. "Oh wait there's Tyler!"

Ansgar immediately grabbed the back of the man's shirt, pleased.

"Follow us, buddy. The minotaur's here." Ansgar gestured to Vikare.

Edited May 10, 2014 by Thaelasan

[Clown_of_God]

"It's time for everyone to learn what their final task will be before they ascend to becoming a god. It will not be easy. Actually, someone might even die."

My appearance before the group, as they were beginning to gather, was nothing spectacular or worthwhile. I merely stepped out from my own dimension and into theirs. A few of them were still straggling in, wondering what it was I needed to inform them of. They wouldn't like it. None of them have ever been through a test like this before and it would put them further to the test than I could do. Well... in a sense.

"As for who your opponents will be in this next test, they will test the full range of your current abilities and push you to unlock even more of yourself. Where the test will be taken, is where your opponent takes you. Whether it be in the arena, in the depths of space, or even on your home planet, it does not matter. After this test is complete, you will no longer see me, unless you die. For those who pass, you will be returned to the multiverse where you will begin your reign as new gods. My aid will only be in the form of taking your clock when it expires."

I paused and looked at each of the godlings, watching their faces and their change of expression as I explained what was going to happen. In my chest, I felt a tightening as the reluctance of having to let them go so soon was nagging at my own emotions, but there was a duty that needed to be completed. One that could either save or jeopardize this existence.

"Your opponent... is yourself. It will use everything, even abilities you haven't seen before to take you down. It knows all of your weaknesses and will use them to its advantage. You will face physical, mental, and emotional strain throughout this final battle. It will tear you down either until you give up or overcome yourself. In order to win, you must overcome this opponent with everything you have, strike it down, and kill it. If it pleads to you and you hesitate, you will be killed. If you fail to kill it, it will kill you. Again, this is a test of survival, it will put all the other tests you have taken and combine them. You will fight for seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks. Whenever you are able to overcome yourself is when you become victorious. My only suggestion to you is, do not fail."

[Astrodeath311]

Tyler turned as he heard his name being said.

"Hey, Ansgar. How did that girl thing turn out? Didn't sound too good." He chuckled to himself, then looked Vikare over again. The beast was still as big as ever, though it was strange that he was away from the tree.

"Hello, Vikare. How have you--" His sentence was cut short when the Seer started to speak.

"Come on, we're late!"

 

He took off, not even waiting for the boy to begin moving. He'd probably just zip there and arrive before him anyways. Not that Tyler cared. It wasn't a race.

 

He arrived just in time to hear a, "...might even die."

That didn't sound too appealing. Tyler liked living. He was pretty sure everybody else there liked living too. The Seer went on about how their opponent would test the full range of their abilities. . .

 

And then mentioned that they were going to be fighting themselves.

How does a god of creation even fight? Does he drop things onto his opponent? Nah, could dodge it really easily.

How DID a man who used the light as his weapon even fight? Tyler assumed that he would find out pretty soon, when he got into the arena with his other self. Such a being would be pretty cool to talk to, he thought, being able to pick the brain of your own being.

 

Tyler let himself fall through the air. A chair formed under him, delivering him safely unto its cushions. An identical chair melded next to his, presumably for Ansgar. The minotaur could stand, but surely if it asked, one would be provided.

 

His mind quickly realized the fact that he might even die to this doppelganger. It was a very real possibility; while memories of Passer flashed before his eyes. He'd almost died there, too. A passing asteroid pierced through the cockpit and nearly ended him then and there. Only quick thinking had saved his life that day.

But the Seer did not come. And so he had lived.

He sighed. Thinking about such things had dulled the day.

Tyler had only one question. Actually, multiple. But this one was easily the most important.

 

When did they start?

Edited May 11, 2014 by Astrodeath311

[Thaelasan]

Himself?

Ansgar had fought himself many times before. Many times. Secretly. He had been at a tenuous war with his own feelings and emotions since he had been born, hiding them from others.

Though he looked pleasant and happy, he wanted everyone else to be happy as well. He knew full well of the day-to-day strife people accepted into their own lives without quarrel, as well as those who put up a losing fight against their own demands for themselves.

And now he'd have to truly fight himself, his own fears and hatreds, his own twisted emotions.

It would have to take place on his home planet, where it all began, where his hell thrived. He knew where he'd end up.

In the room where the doctors had first pronounced him weak and unable to accept the treatments. Rather than give the truth and say the treatments weren't strong enough to bend his DNA, they went with the opposite announcement - and they announced it. They proclaimed him a heretic, a fury, a son of evil. They said that his coming would bring about the end of days on Olimpia unless everyone took action against him.

The head priest had been in charge of that.

That ***.

[padfoot]

When the Seer arrived, Roxy looked around at the other gods-to-be. Nikki and Ace were the only ones missing from the announcement. She had not really talked to Nikki since the fiasco with Ansgar at the spring. It felt like she was avoiding her and the truth was that she missed her friend. She had resorted in jumping into the void to train. The lack of gravity and matter meant that it was a perfect clean slate to train under. Not to mention that none of the others could follow her in the vacuum and with a castle full of people that can appear anywhere you don't want them to, that was the best part.

 

Roxy was pulled from her inner monologue when The Seer mentioned that they might die from this test. Roxy didn't sign up for no death at this summer camp. Still, fighting herself didn't sound too hard. It was her after all and she already knew her weakness. A thought bubbled to the front of her mind and she raised her hand, 'Wait. Does that mean we are literately fighting ourselves or is it a kinda lame meditation thing you see in fighting movies?", she asked, "And is it actually us or a Nega-Roxy endboss kinda thing?". These were serous questions, especially if this other Roxy can do things with her powers that Roxy had never seen. She was a fast learner after all.

[Clown_of_God]

I looked at each member of the small group of godlings, observing the work I had accomplished over the past few months. When my gaze landed on Roxy, I merely bowed my head and took a few steps back. Coming up from behind me, five distinct figures made their appearance known. First, a man with sparks of white electricity dancing across his body smirked and had Ansgar by the collar before anyone could even register who he was. Next, another man with lights in his eyes and a regal aura flowing from his presence, paced casually up to Tyler and lifted him off the ground single-handed. Another figure, cloaked in darkness enveloped around Matt and they disappeared. A female stepped forward, wearing attire that ceased to settle into one form, and pointed at Nikki. Finally, a tribal-looking woman with a slicked back mohawk and various markings all over her body, pulled Roxy into her grasp and shot up into the sky.

All of them were rugged and far older in appearance than the godlings, but they were each the others double and more powerful than they could anticipate.

Shortly after Roxy's abduction, Ansgar was flashed into the sky with his double and Nikki was encased and shot into space as well. Matt would find himself in a familiar area and Tyler was brought to a world he once thought was dead. Still, maybe I should have said my farewells, for my last words to them were merely, "do not fail."

 

((So, pretty much everyone was pulled back to their home world by their doubles. From this point on, you have full control of your double and can battle them how you see fit, but just know that I do not want a one post response of you fighting and defeating them. No, these guys are not supposed to be pushovers in any way. They will use any tactic to break you and will pull up every dark secret you have to try and get you to fall. I want to see stuff like that.

Sorry if my post is kind of choppy, but I'm getting ready for the work day and don't exactly have to time to actually type out a decent response, but here you go... something to do again.))

[voltage]

Matt was a little dumbfounded by where he was, then again this was an older him that knew all about how he feels. Matt got a quick glance of the forest where his dad had beat him disowned him and sent him off on his own. The older version then plunged the whole forest into darkness, though matt did have night vision the fact that the older version was cloaked in ever moving shadows made him almost unable to be detected even with night vision since you cant detect a shadow in the dark. Matt looked around cautiously honestly slightly scared when he felt like tens of thousands of spikes trying to dig in him from the shadows. Using a lot of will power he forced the mini shadow swords out and away before cloaking himself in shadows to make himself impossible to target as well, or so he thought. He moved around slowly but when he accidentally snapped a twig he saw bright red eyes appear right in front of him before the darkness over the forest lifted. Standing before him was a much older looking version of himself, the shadows no longer cloaked him. His eyes were a mix between red and green mostly green with flecks of red. His hair was cut short and choppily spiked up slightly messy. a scar ran across the older versions chest as he was shirtless only wearing jean shorts. He lifted up a scythe which seemed made of pure shadow and swung at an angle that would cut matt into two from collar bone to waist. Matt summoned a huge wall of shadow only for it to be shatter and the tip of the scythe cutting into matts flesh though not as deep as it would have due to matts shield and jumping back. Matt summoned 40 Shadow soldiers as he backed away slowly. The older god just laughed, a deep maniacal sound that sent shivers down matt's spine, though it may only be because of the fact that he knew that meant that he was in trouble. The older god smirked and shot thousands of shadow swords from his own shadow, Matts soldiers all immediately perished and matt took cover behind a tree. What he heard next scared him much,much more. He heard the sound of the older gods voice like his though with much more power and whether he was making it sound like it or not the older gods voice sounded like multiple people all over the forest speaking at once. The words themselves let matt know he had no idea what he got into when the older god simply said "If this is all you can do i may as well not even use my powers, i thought this would be a challenge. Maybe i should go find the older roxy or maybe ansgar at least they wont cower like you. you run away from everything that may kill you, well you cant run from yourself."

Edited May 12, 2014 by voltage

[Astrodeath311]

Tyler's first thought when he saw his double was a simple, "Damn, I look good." This changed, however, when the doppelganger lifted him up with a single hand and then slammed him into the ground in an entirely different place.

They both were back in a place that had harbored him for so long, the same place he thought destroyed for money.

 

This was his stomping grounds. The very thought of its end made him furious. He stood there, forced to confront his feelings. He wondered if there were any other people on the planet. Whether it was actually alive. It did not seem to be; the air, once sweet, smelled dull and lifeless. The sun also did not shine as brilliantly as it had.

 

What had happened? Why was it back? More importantly, how was it back?

 

These questions could not be answered. Tyler was distracted by something much more pressing; his duplicate. A golden fist had formed, coming straight for the man. It was fast, but his time spent on the last planet had honed him. He moved like a cheetah, and attacked like one as well.

 

Tyler got up and barely dodged to the side. The fist cruised past his body quickly, the light blazing his backside. After the fist passed, it crashed into the ground and faded away. Tyler moved quickly. He knew that once you set something in motion, you didn't have to think about it. He ran towards his doppelganger, while his own attack came flying in from the side. The hand mimicked his own actions, Tyler knew, so he formed a fist and punched at the other. It wasn't hard to keep moving while Melding, though he had never quite perfected the art. As a result, it was sort of underwhelming. During the Seer's training, Tyler never really had the chance to hone his offensive capabilities. He had to perfect a defense in order to survive. This didn't mean he hadn't, however, it was just lackluster.

 

His other did not have such a flaw. The giant fist had proven that, simply being around it had harmed him. The Seer was not joking when she had said that this would test the full range of their abilities.

 

It was not a test, however. It was their ascension to godhood. Tyler did not expect it to be easy.

 

Tyler turned his body to the side, running at an angle with his shoulder extended. He stood like this until he came into contact with his other. It was strange how it hadn't moved, though. Really strange. And then he knew why. It was a fake. He cruised through it easily, and saw the reason for the deception.

 

The other man had a punch ready. It sent Tyler back into the ground, then he was picked up and thrown away like a piece of trash. He was soaring through the air, and then met with a hard place. He slammed into it with the force of the toss, and it hurt. Much more than the Seer had hurt.

 

Tyler forced himself to stand. His body ached like a man who had been standing for too long. He held his hand out, then pushed it to his chest. The light from the sun became material, flying to the man at its speed.

 

He felt rejuvenated. Of course, it was only a band-aid fix, but it would do for now. He stood there, a furious blaze in his eyes. He was not about to die.

 

Edited May 13, 2014 by Astrodeath311

[padfoot]

(((God of time.....roll with it)))

 

Roxy raised one eyebrow when someone that looked just like her appeared from behind the Seer, "Your seriously me?" she asked, looking the other woman over. She smirked, "Your hair looks stupid", was all she could say before her double grabbed her and they both vanished.

 

Roxy was thrown to the ground with the force of a cannon. The young god skidded across the ground for a few hundred feet before she managed to pop back onto her feet and slide to a halt. She got a quick look around before her double was upon her and threatening to rip her face off with a megaton punch. Roxy vanished and appeared a few feet away. The force of her double's punch blew apart a twisted tree that was sitting innocently out of reach. Roxy whistled, obviously impressed, "You should teach me how to do that", she said with a grin. She lowered her density and rose off of the ground. If what the Seer hinted at was true then she was currently back on Phang. Using gravity powers were not okay on Phang. Her home world's orbit was delicate and shifts of gravity and density. She may hate this place but she would not destroy it just to pass some test. Roxy started for the void but was halted mid-air. She was being pulled by her double's gravitational pull. She dug in her vest's upper pocket and produced about a dozen tiny bronze swords. She hurled the fistful of weapons at her future self. She spread her hands and the various weapons grew to great sizes. The pull of her doubles gravity stopped when she was forced to teleport to dodge her attack. Roxy took this opportunity to escape into space.

 

She didn't make it far before her double appeared in front of her and hit her with a single punch to the face. Roxy's nose shattered and her head snapped back. If her density wasn't already high, she would have put her fist through her skull. She flew backwards at a high speed, unhindered by air resistance. Speaking of air resistance, Roxy wasn't surrounded by air at the moment. She can survive in the vacuum of space? Maybe she could do it all along. It wasn't like she ever tried considering it was an insta-kill. Well now she knew so thanks other Roxy.

 

Roxy straightened herself out and braced herself for the next punch that was thrown at her already bloody face. Her forearms took the force and she was thrown backwards again. Damn she was fast. Roxy Stopped herself from slamming into a passing asteroid by landing on it feet first. She could feel everything about the space rock below her. She used her power to grab the core of the rock and swing it like a over sized flail. The rock arced towards her double, which broke the space rock over her head with her high density. Roxy swallowed hard, this was going to be difficult.

[Clown_of_God]

As I stood there, looking out into space, my mind began racing through the various visions of where the future would travel from this point on. It was twisted and mangled, lines tethering together as if they had been mixed together in the pocket of fate. The two most likely futures were wavering ever so slightly, but their overall end remained the same. When I came to, I stood before the minotaur that had aided in the young godlings training and a set of deep golden eyes burned into his.

"Vikare, summon the other guardians, it is now that time. Next you see me... it will not be under pleasant circumstances."

Standing there, looking at the beast that had served the gods so well, I felt myself waver and my right arm began to tremble. After the gods had left and I had relocated myself, the previous area had began to wither and die. If I remained in this dimension much longer, the home of the young godlings would fall to my own hands. It had never been a matter of controlling my ability, I had discovered long ago, but a matter of restraining them to a permissible level.

Staring back up at the beast, I felt my expression change from a serious glare to a pleading aid. Using my abilities so much had, essentially, cracked the seal I had placed on myself to prevent another incident like I had done previously.

"Meet me at the Temple of Time, from there I will need you to commence the chant so that I may visit with the Creationist. I do not know how long I will be gone, so tend to the planet and make sure the godlings have a nice place to return to. This is your new task, but I will not bound you to it if you do not wish to live by these means. However, if you accept this new duty, you will be bound to this planet until its demise. Think on your answer as we walk to the temple."

[voltage]

Matt wasn't sure how to fight this guy, it was himself after all and a much more experienced one. Matt tried to throw him off by shadow transporting in circles around his double but that earned him three swift punches to the face as if his double knew where he would be. Matt teleported as far as he could to the edge of the forest only for his double to be waiting there for him swinging the scythe. Matt ducked, the scythe barely missing his head. Matt decided that he had to try and negate the others power. He started absorbing every shadow. He used all his will power to absorb every shadow from this world condensing it into his hands. Sweat poured downs matts face, The older version tried to swing but shadows blocked it two soldiers blocking the attacks as the others became condensed. Just as the older Matt destroyed the soldiers matt threw the ball as it went right for the older version. "You fool you don't know what you just!" Then the shadows collided with him.

***

Darkness, all over the place was nothing but shadows and the darkness. Matt looked around and was surprised that he was in the shadows domain. His older self sighed "You just destroyed the whole planet, your lucky you got yourself in here before it happened, then again i did as well." Just as matt went to speak he was tackled onto his planet that he had called home most recently before the gods planet. Just as matt stood he got hit with a big kick o the jaw knocking him down. His older self dissapeared from view but matt sensed him moving and turned delivering an elbow to his older self's jaw knocking him down. "how did i" Matt started to speak confused only to have a sweep kick knock him down again "you felt the shadows moved felt when i moved through the shadow domain, you are getting stronger maybe this wont be so boring after all."

[Thaelasan]

Ansgar

 

"Pah! These results make no sense! The boy just requires more injections. We must have miscalculated for his height."

"But we did them several times!"

Ansgar sat in a small chair in the center of the room, the two men arguing in front of him seeming so distant. He had been tethered willingly to the chair. The pain of the injections was well known but everyone did them without question. By now, the pain had made Ansgar almost lose his mind. He was half-conscious.

"How many milligrams has he taken, exactly?..."

"Roughly... 500mg of the fluid. He was also given 200mg of anesthetic during the fourth dosage due to the immense pain he seemed to be having from it."

"Then it must be the anesthetic which ruined that injection! Obviously, we just have to do it the hard way. We can't fail, Joseph. What would the priests say after all we've done? That the gods have forsaken us?"

"But he won't survive a larger dose than that, sir! Surely you're not blind to that! If we commit murder, it would be even more heinous!"

"Then what would you suggest?!" the man was furious now.

"It must be that he's some form of dark entity, of course. An injection meant to make a god cannot make a god from a demon."

The two men turned to see the head priest walking into the room. This was both a rarity and a privilege. Both of the men saluted immediately, then bowed in the ceremonial fashion.

"What do you mean, dear leader?" Joseph asked.

"You say you have done everything to ascend this abomination?" the Head Priest stroked his beard, stepping toward him. "Then there is nothing else for it. He has been touched or possessed by the Dark Ones. Leave him."

"But sir.... they'll kill him.."

"Is that of our concern, if the people cleanse themselves of such abominations? It's not unheard of. There were many culled when you began your research. It is all part of the Grand Plan of the Gods."

"But.. he's... just a boy.."

"He is no boy!" the head priest shoved a finger in Ansgar's chest, painfully. "He is an abomination! He is sacrilege incarnate! Leave him to the lions! Bring in the next chosen one!"

"...As you say sir."

Ansgar could do nothing as he was untied and carried out. In the back of his mind, he cried for them to keep trying. Other parts of him were shouting angrily at the head priest for leaving him to die. Yet deep within he felt that he should be happy about this turn of events.

He wouldn't become another soldier.

This was the day he became the way he was today. This was the day he began looking towards the future. He had changed, but not in physical form. Mentally, he had changed.

 

 

"Are you done?"

Ansgar sat, cross-legged in the clouds. Volt was sitting on his shoulder, sighing. His future self - from what he could understand that's what it was - was standing in front of him, a hand outstretched, manipulating his memories into movies for him to enjoy and regret.

"I believe so.." his future self responded.

The three were sitting in the center of a humongous cloud mass back on Olimpus. But this wasn't Olimpus. It was the future of the planet Ansgar had hated and despised, or rather, one of them.

His future self had already explained most of what would happen in this timeline. After he Ascended, this Ansgar had been filled with vengeance but also with righteous fury. Using his abilities, he had shattered the planet within a moment, summoning hundreds of Schaw to clean up the underbelly of the world as well as the surface.

But that act had condemned him in the eyes of most of the other godlings. He had ended up having to kill Nikki after a long and stressful battle. He had indeed loved her but she had refused to accept this form of him. She had attempted to rebuild the planet using her metal powers but Vanguard - which we will call future Ansgar for the sake of conversation - had stopped her. The two of them had battled for months upon the surface of the planet. Then, Vanguard, in a fury, created a stormcloud and sealed her inside of it, effectively ending her life.

He had trapped her here but he could not leave her. Every day, he walked to the stormcloud's center and visited her, solemn. As this universe was quickly approaching its end, Vanguard could only sit and remember what it used to be.

It was worth mentioning that Tyler had died on his planet before he had met Vanguard and Matt had been killed by Roxy accidentally. This timeline was doomed.

Now the three sat up here, Ansgar still managing to keep a positive outlook on life while Vanguard stared at him with disappointment.

"To think, she chose you again." Vanguard said. "She wants to doom you, you know. She wants to awaken you knowing full well what feelings and memories you have."

"She said that." Ansgar responded, bemused.

"She knows that you have the capacity to do what I did. She's done this numerous times. I've met my other timeline selves. She made me fight one of them like she did with you."

"I assumed that." Ansgar said.

"What will you choose? That's what I want to know." Vanguard stated, turning to face the clouds. "Your timeline is currently going on the correct path. All of the godlings have somehow survived. Do you want to know something interesting, because of that?"

"Sure."

"When you were born, there were roughly three billion, seven hundred thousand, two hundred and four alternate timelines. When you reached the age of sixteen, that number had already been reduced to twenty million, three hundred and six thousand, seven hundred and fifty two. When you went to the planet of the Seer, there were only exactly one thousand timelines left of all those that had existed. Now that you're so close to being Awakened, there are only two."

"....What?" Ansgar said, sitting up.

"There are only two timelines left that offer any chance of success, though slim. The Seer managed to craft them from careful cutting and fixing of other timelines. Do you know how she did it?"

"How..?"

"Using the same abilities those that are killing you are using. But in her case, she used other timeline selves. By bringing in other timeline selves, she altered the timelines tremendously. It was ingenious. We were not meant to exist in your timeline and therefore our very existence caused your futures to change almost immediately. Your chances for success have been raised slightly. Yet still the forces are against you." Vanguard said, sighing. "But did that ever really cause us to give up?"

"I don't believe so." Ansgar said, looking to the stars.

"I remember Mother." Vanguard said, crossing his arms. "I remember many things. But my timeline diverges from yours when you reached the planet. I made choices I shouldn't have made. I never understood what I should have comprehended. But I think I regret one thing the most - something that you've been doing so easily. You managed to tell Nikki how you felt. I had no bravery for that."

"What do you mean?" Ansgar said, curious.

Vanguard moved to sit by him. The aged form of Ansgar was quite regal in this light. It was obvious his military heritage had managed to stay with him. His clothes were roughly the same, with more decor. His beard had become longer. He looked like a fusion of Zeus, Thor, and Ansgar himself.

"I'm going to tell you a few things you've wanted to know before we battle." Vanguard said. "For one, you do love Nikki. You love her intently. Though you know not what it is, you adore her. One of the timelines where you succeed - the one where you have the greatest chance of success - is one where you earn her heart but that's quite easy."

"Really?"

"She already loves you. You were fated to be with her. You are electricity, energy. She is metal, conductivity. Your abilities combined rival the enemies you will face. The enemies expect you to fight amongst each other, divided, and that way you will fall easily to their powers. But if you fight with fervor together... they will fall. It's taken all of my power to keep them at bay. I can't kill them. Every day, they pound on the walls of this cloud, getting closer and closer to breaking through. One day, they will extinguish me and slay Nikki. But if I free her, she'll kill me. Not out of spite but of mercy. I turned into a monster."

"Did you want to?"

"At the time, I did." Vanguard answered, despondent.

"...I see.."

"We meet Thor. And Zeus." Vanguard suddenly said.

Ansgar's eyes brightened up. He turned, excited.

"Really!?"

"They are the same person. The Seer was right. He's our father, in a way. We were born of his idea, his personality. In a way, he is our Creator, though the Creator made us in that god's image. Our powers were his. The reason you have a sword is because he had a hammer. The god to follow you shall have an axe. His name is already chosen. But we don't have to worry about that for a long time - at least you don't."

"Question."

"Shoot."

"Why are you going to fight me, anyway?"

"Many reasons... the two most important ones are, well, for one... I want to ensure you're strong enough not to make the mistakes I made." Vanguard said softly. "I chose selfish pleasure over true righteousness. I was blinded by my anger. As the other godlings died around me, leaving only Nikki and I, I turned to darkness because I wanted to at least get back at the priest who had condemned me so long ago. I wanted them to remember my name. It seems so petty now. The blood of 10 billion mortals is on my hands and they couldn't anything to stop me. They sent weapons of war like those of the old age. But I had researched them. I shattered them like toys. I scattered their armies like plastic soldiers. I reduced the Great Citadel to nothing more than a single stone brick with the head of the Great Priest sitting on it with his mouth open to spit out his last bit of stupidity. Fitting, don't you think?"

"Gruesome." Ansgar nodded. "To be honest, didn't we always want to do that?"

"I think we did."

"Is there anything else we can talk about? You know me. I don't really want to fight you."

"Well, neither do I but the Seer is right. You must be trained. Do you want to know what happens when you win?"

"What?"

"The victor of this battle between us shall absorb the other, gaining his powers and taking his place in the true timeline. It is a process of evolution. I have killed every other one of our doomed timeline selves, Ansgar. I am the last one."

"...I see."

"This is all I can do. Yet I know the Seer would not let a man like me take your place. She'll just continually rewind time until you win. To tell the truth, that doesn't really make me that sad."

"Why not? You'll die.."

"Am I not already dead, Ansgar?" Vanguard asked, gesturing to their surroundings. "I made my choices, wrong and right. This is my personal hell. I've considered suicide but we both know we'd never do it. We've had many things happen but we have always been too damn naive and oblivious to care about them for long, right?"

"Heh. Yeah." Ansgar chuckled.

"Just... regardless of the outcome, Ansgar." Vanguard said.

"Yes?"

"....Make sure you make Nikki happy, whatever that entails. She didn't deserve this fate. No one would have. And, tell Tyler I wish I'd known him. Let Matt know he didn't deserve to die like that. Tell Roxy not to eat the green thing in the fridge."

"That's... really random. What did that do?"

"It was anti matter put there by one of the enemies of the godlings. When she ate it, she became unstable and blasted gravity outward. Matt tried to save her and ended up being distorted and killed before he could even raise his hand."

"Did Matt love Roxy?"

"That I don't know."

"Do we have to?"

"I don't know that either."

Vanguard stood to his full height, cracking his knuckles.

"Well... shall we?"

Ansgar nodded, standing as well. He took his stance, frowning.

"I will not hold back, Ansgar. I may not be as powerful as the Seer but I am no weakling. We may have the same personality but I have no qualms with killing you if you are not worthy of taking my place. You cannot hold back."

"I never said I would." Ansgar said, charging.

"Brilliant!" Vanguard leapt forward, fist outstretched. Ansgar did the same, at the same moment.

Their fists collided.

Lightning flashed from the skies onto the broken planet below.

 

---

 

Vikare

 

The minotaur looked shocked. The guardians, so soon? Well, if that was her wish.

He grabbed a horn from his belt and held it up, blowing upon it with might. In the distance, there were the roars of several, unknown creatures.

"They come." he said simply. "They will meet us at the Temple."

As the two walked towards the Temple of Time, legendary place of observing the timelines, Vikare pondered quietly to himself. He finally spoke, sighing.

"I will have to politely decline." Vikare said. "If it was simply to guard until they began to fight against those who wished them harm I could do it. However, I now cannot leave them to fight on their own. I wish to give up my life for them in combat, if it means fighting against a worthy foe. I have fought mortals and gods alike for eons. You tell me now that there are foes among the stars with powers rivaling gods and even your own. How can I sit idly by now when we are reaching such a climactic point in this legend? No... my dear Seer, goddess who saved me.. I must aid them. I will serve them. They have earned my mace. This battle will determine the fate of both them and the universe. I cannot let it happen without me."

He grinned widely.

"The time draws near for the universe to be shaken by a war it has not seen for centuries. I will be part of it."

 

-----

 

Ansgar

 

It had only been a minute since they had began fighting but due to the speed they both possessed they were already wounded a medium amount. Ansgar had realized within the first few seconds that his future self had speed Ansgar could only wish of. He was almost three times as fast as Ansgar was and it was taking all of his cunning and power to keep up.

"Are you already this exhausted?" Vanguard chuckled, holding up his fist. His wounds were also closing much faster than Ansgar's.

"You're using your electricity to seal up your wounds. Your body is pure energy right now, isn't it?" Ansgar asked, panting. "But you look stable!"

"The Seer told you it reduced your lifespan, didn't she? Well she was only half-right." Vanguard responded, flexing his fingers. "Your mortal form couldn't bear to withstand this form without losing years on your immortality. Once you Ascend, however, you will no longer be confined by such petty concerns. You will understand more than you ever have. It will be as though every book ever written suddenly gave all of their information to you at once. You will feel the world around you. You will sense everything within and without. Every heartbeat. Every synapse. It's a beautiful sensation. Surely you want to experience it?"

"You're damn right." Ansgar said, grinning. "Which means I'm going to have to win this, right?"

"I like that determination. However, I bet you're already aware of the fact that my current form gives me speed beyond imagining?"

"You've tried to hit me twenty times while we've been talking." Ansgar said, evading another blow. To the naked eye, it would appear that Vanguard was standing in front of Ansgar, talking casually. However, he had been leaping over to the boy constantly within nanoseconds, punching and then quickly returning to his spot.

"I'm impressed that you've managed to dodge each one." Vanguard responded. "Even the Seer had trouble with our speed."

"Really?" Ansgar said.

"Indeed but that's because that's our entire focus. We still had a hard time hurting her. You can punch her all you want but you won't be able to do a damn thing if you don't have the power to back it up. Punching with speed reduces power unless you reduce your velocity just before impact."

"That would mean you'd have to transfer all of your kinetic energy into potential energy just before the punch connected." Ansgar said, curious. "Basically, your speed would BECOME your power."

"Exactly. Our powers, unlike most of the other godlings, are completely based on physics. That's why Roxy can completely nullify us. She controls gravity and space, the basic building blocks of physics."

"Fascinating. Tell me more, professor." Ansgar said sarcastically.

"I shall. After all, isn't this to teach you?"

"I guess." Ansgar said, running forward. He ran in circles around Vanguard, keeping an eye on him. He'd done this same trick to the Seer.

"I'm curious to see what you think you're going to accomplish." Vanguard yawned, reaching out a single hand. He grabbed Ansgar's collar effortlessly and then held him up before him.

"Remember that speed won't help you here. Unlike the Seer, I don't have the patience to deal with parlor tricks and petty schemes." Vanguard said, sending a punch directly into Ansgar's stomach and then roundhouse kicking him into the ground. "If you want to hurt me, please do something more exciting."

Ansgar coughed up blood, spitting. He didn't know how bad the internal damage was but it hurt like hell. He stood back to his full height, fists ready. There had to be a way to fight this guy. Something. Anything.

Wait.

He ran forward, arms at his sides. Vanguard cocked his head slightly.

"Oh? Giving up already?" the man grinned, charging his fist within milliseconds.

The entire action took place within the span of a millisecond. As Vanguard sent his fist forward, just millimeters from Ansgar's face, Ansgar transferred all of his kinetic energy into potential, grabbing man's fist and absorbing the impact.

"What th-" Vanguard began, just as Ansgar returned all of the absorbed energy, as well as his own original energy, into kinetic. Using the momentum, he sent Vanguard flying over his head. He then leapt into the air, bringing his elbow down on the man's face. Vanguard landed, then jumped to the right as Ansgar came down where he was.

Ansgar reeled back, Vanguard's leg swinging just where he was. He then withdrew his blade, turning it into two, and stabbed into the man's outstretched shin. The pure energy of the man's body climbed up the swords and into Ansgar's own form. Vanguard almost immediately pulled his leg back, furious.

"Are you insane?!" Vanguard said, shocked and afraid. "You can't absorb so much pure energy at once! You're not ascended yet! You really WILL lose years on your lifespan, more than ever before! You'll become unstable!"

"Am I not supposed to absorb you anyway?" Ansgar grinned, standing back to his full height. His blade was split, one half hanging loosely in each hand.

"Oh, hold on a moment." Vanguard regained his composure quickly. "Are we fighting with swords now? That may be a mistake..."

Vanguard held up his hand. A lighting bolt struck his arm. Where it struck, it left behind a living bolt of electricity. A sword developed from it. It looked like Ansgar's, only it was crafted of almost pure electricity. The blades were longer and looked deadlier. It was a mixture of bronze and energy, coalesced into being simply because Vanguard willed it to be.

"What." Ansgar said, confused.

"When you become Ascended, your weapon becomes a part of you. Like Thor's Mjollnir or Zeus' legendary bolt, or the bow of Artemis." Vanguard said, holding the blade aloft. "It becomes another arm or leg."

The blade split into two parts and began to float around Vanguard. He crossed his arms, his feet leaving the cloud surface.

"Let us begin phase two, shall we?" the man grinned, electricity beginning to spark dangerously around the two.

"Right.." Ansgar said, grunting.

 

((

)) Edited May 13, 2014 by Thaelasan

[Astrodeath311]

"This planet, Passer. It's not as I remember it."

 

"Of course not. It's not the actual planet. I was Blind, and in my blindness, I thought myself akin to the Creator."

 

"...What do you mean?" Tyler did not want to think about how his future self would answer. He already knew what Blind had done.

 

"Well, surely you know the answer to your question. Say it."

 

"You stole the light from so many people, so many planets. To create this. And then you realized it could never be anything more than an imitation."

 

"Yes. I did. In my hollowness, I drifted alone. I wanted a home to go back to. So I made it." Blind sighed.

"My powers obeyed. They killed so many beings to sate my desolation. More than anything, I wanted my family back."

 

"It's wrong. You shouldn't have done it."

 

"Correction. We shouldn't have done it. You're me, remember? And you have to kill me. Believe me, I want you to. For so long I've wallowed here in my misery. The Seer came and relieved it from me. But I'll not let you claim godhood if you're not worthy, boy!" Blind created a great updraft, sending swirling dust around him. He flew high up into the air.

"Follow me if you can, Tyler! We battle in the sun!" With that, he turned and left the atmosphere with a sonic boom.

 

Tyler collapsed onto the ground. He had destroyed at least a hundred worlds, to recreate this singular planet. What made it so special? What if its time had come?

What if Passer was meant to fall?

 

 

The thought was too grim for Tyler to think about. Doing such a thing at such a time would have devastating consequences. It would distract him to something much more important. Blind, and his idiocy. Tyler could not return what had been taken. It was already much too late to fix this mess. He could do only one thing.

 

 

Blind had used the air to propel himself into space. Tyler replicated the technique, drifting aloft with ease. The power was hard to control. He was using the light energy of the things underneath him to fuel his ascent. He knew he could use the sun to do it, but didn't know how. When Blind had left the planet, he'd not left so much as a scorch mark.

 

Tyler dropped himself to the ground. He imagined himself connected to the earth, roots spiraling up his back connected to him. He fed off the planets power; it was raw and primal. Blind's work. This planet was very young, full of life. Tyler felt elated. It was a beautiful feeling, having to not expend your own energy on something. He'd need most of it to fight this man.

 

Tyler tried again. It was much easier this time, he soared high above into the clouds and kept ascending. He didn't know how to stop. It was like flying a plane and not knowing how to land. You're going to crash and burn. Tyler could end up killing himself, he himself was being blind. There was only one thing he could do. Tyler cut the cord. He ceased his ascent, and began to descend. He created a platform to land on, but did so roughly. He groaned as he landed, barely hanging onto the ledge.

 

Blind had made it look so easy. Tyler created another updraft, this time taking it slowly. He already learned how to throttle his power, applying it now to this situation. It wasn't hard, it was just a matter of knowing how to do it. He wondered how long it had taken Blind to figure out this trick.

 

He soared into the sky, breaking through the atmosphere. Just before he left the planet, Tyler created his own atmosphere around him, resupplying the amount of air inside. He forced himself towards the sun, towards Blind.

 

Towards retribution.

 

* * *

Edited May 13, 2014 by Astrodeath311

[padfoot]

Roxy screamed as she was hurled through space at dizzying speeds. She didn't know what went wrong. First she hit her other self with a passing asteroid, then the next thing she knew her double had her by the hair and threw her through the void. She managed to twist around just in time to protect her face from the white hot flash that threatened to incinerate her. She was thrown onto Kelt, one of the passing planets that orbit Almaak. She curled into a ball and jacked up her density just before she slammed into the planet's orange surface. Black was all she could comprehend. Black and pain. In an instant, she passed clear through to the other side and fissures spider webbed across the dead planet's surface. All at once, the planet ripped itself apart and flung huge chunks of rock in every direction. Roxy struggled to slow herself down in the weightless environment. When she finally came to a stop, she looked up to see herself floating about a foot away. She flinched and brought up her fists to protect herself. The earth shattering punch never came though.

 

She peeked around her defense and looked at her own smiling face. The sight was confusing and she lowered her hands.

"Well, Well, Well. Your not as strong as I remember", her double said with a scoff

"Yeah well...I don't remember being such a *", she said in retort

Her double laughed, a melodic sound that seemed to echo in the vastness of the vacuum they were floating in, "I like your fight", she said, "And I see you figured out that you can survive in space"

"Yeah, whats with that? Have I always been able to do that?"

Her double shrugged, 'I don't know. Got thrown into space when Matt destroyed a planet in my time line and just kinda....lived", her double shrugged to emphasize how big of a deal it was.

Roxy nodded even thought she still didn't really understand , "What happened to the others?

Without warning, her double flickered and the surface of her skin shimmered with a strange light. Roxy only had to see the dark look on her face and the black color bleed up her hair to know what was coming. Roxy narrowed her eyes and her hand shot up, successfully blocking her double's unstoppable punch with her unmovable forearm. Roxy smiled and delivered a punch of her own. Her punch was blocked by her double in the same manor that she blocked her double's punch. Another case of an unstoppable force hitting a unmovable object.

 

Their battle raged. Each woman increasing their density in an attempt to out harden the other. All this spinning around each other and the gravitational pull of their combined super mass was beginning to draw the debris from the planet they wrecked. The cloud of dust spun around them like a galaxy, slowly forming into a new planet with the help fo the two gods. Roxy threw a haymaker with enough power behind it to extinguish a sun. Her double shimmered again and vanished from sight. Roxy spun around a few dozen times from her own momentum and looked up. A smudge of light was soaring towards the other end of the system. Roxy took a moment for what she just saw to sink in.

"Was that light speed?" she wondered aloud.

Roxy's hair shifted to a deep amber and a almost undetectable shimmer rippled across her skin. She shot off after her double, her body only a streak across the void backdrop.

 

Roxy appeared in front of her double with her arm outstretched. Her double caught her super dense arm with her throat and cloths lined her off her course. She thought the other Roxy would rip it off at the force she hit it at. While her other was disoriented from spinning through space, Roxy pulled two small rocks from her breast pocket. She threw them out to either side and increased their mass. Both rocks grew until they were about the same size as Phang.With a groan, she arched her back and brought the two crashing together on top of her future self.

[voltage]

Matt groaned as he was hit with a shadow cloaked fist. When the fist hit the shadows flowed off the older gods arm and started to encase matt becoming denser and denser. Matt quickly melded into the shadows and came out on the tree above his double. The older god reached through the shadows and grabbed matt by the neck slamming him into the trunk of the tree twice before Matt went into the shadows domain only to be forced to come out right in front of his double. "You need to learn to control your powers your using too much. You destroyed a planet, for all you know you could have hurt a friend. Condensing every shadow on a planet is dangerous it can kill you as well." "what friends?! No one talks to me. Only roxy talks to me at all ." Matt smiles sadly and shakes his head "what happens to her anyways and the others for that matter."the double throws matt against a tree shaking his head "you do not need to know" just as the older god tried to spartan kick Matt's head into the tree matt teleported behind him. Matt condensed all the shadows in 200ft and punched against his doubles head. Matt stood panting blood dripping out of his mouth and down his broken nose. He had a long cut down across his chest and looked down. His double was laying on the ground seemingly stunned. Matt pulled out his dagger kneeling beside his double and sighed "why must we fight to the death.."

[Thaelasan]

Ansgar held both of his blades firmly, now extremely exhausted. An hour had passed now between them. Somehow, he had managed to keep up. The electricity around them was so fierce that it was polarizing the objects on the planet's surface. Great structures and rubble were floating around them, suspended in the clouds.

The air around the two of them was loud and filled with thunderclaps. He could barely think any more. He doubted his double was having a better time of it. He was actually managing to tire Vanguard slightly. The man was sparking all over, healing multiple wounds. Every time he healed, the cloud itself grew in power and Ansgar gained it as well.

It was an infinite cycle. Sooner or later the clouds would reach their limit of energy and it would begin.

A tempest. A great storm would begin but without rain to lessen the impact of the electricity. Soon, the planet would truly be destroyed by the force. Olimpus would be gone. The mark which had made Ansgar into the man he was would be forever burned from this timeline.

In the clouds, the two stared each other down, gritting their teeth.

"You're fairly good, for a past self." Vanguard smiled. "In fact, you've probably lasted the longest of all of them. Isn't that nice?"

"You killed them." Ansgar suddenly realized. He hadn't really considered it but all of those doomed timelines had him in it. He had died. Thousands of times he had been placed in a hopeless situation.

And if he had been placed in a situation like this man, would he not have done what he did? Would he not have destroyed the only thing that could bring him any pleasure in its destruction? He would have given up on becoming a god of righteousness. He would have finally fallen to despair.

The Seer had said it herself. The success of the godlings would depend upon his naive and friendly nature. He would keep them going in the darkest of times. Any timeline where he wasn't jovial and non sequitor was one doomed to fail.

But Vanguard had killed them. All of them, he said, in a way.

And now, if Ansgar beat Vanguard, he would have the blood of all of those other versions of him on his hands.

A blood sacrifice to achieve power. It seemed dark.

"Did they plead for their lives, at least? I wouldn't think they would have." Ansgar grinned slightly.

"Of course not. We wouldn't be so weak." Vanguard fused the sword into one blade, holding it with both hands in an offensive stance. "I hope you're no different, should you lose this conflict. After all, a man should be proud to die in combat."

"Well, joke's on you." Ansgar leaped into the air, landing on one of the floating pieces of rubble. "I'm not planning on dying here, not to you, and not today. In fact, I'm not really planning on dying until I'm good and ready."

"I see." Vanguard smirked. He jumped up quickly to join Ansgar, bringing his blade forward. Ansgar clashed swords against him, sliding backward from the momentum. Electricity surged as their blades met over and over, the thunderclaps of the storm seeming to emphasize the sounds of their swords connecting in air.

"You're fairly decent. Then again, we were both taught by the same instructors in the art of the blade." Vanguard said, spinning to perform another strike. "I shouldn't be surprised. Still, you should appreciate just how hard I'm actually having to work."

"Doesn't seem like you're even breaking a sweat." Ansgar replied, sending the two blades forward to block the attack before blasting electricity outward while the man was in proximity.

"Surely you know that that attack is ineffective. Anything related to electricity..," he curled his fingers, absorbing the energy, "simply gives me more power with which to destroy you-"

He turned, confused.

"Wait, where in the hell did you go?" the man frowned, confused. "Are you running from me?!"

There was nothing but silence. Vanguard sneered, furious. How dare he leave in the middle of their glorious conflict! He began searching the clouds.

Meanwhile, Ansgar leaped among the lightning bolts, running across the currents like they were him himself. He was right. His future self was just like the Schaw. He was dependent on using the energy of an object to see it. He couldn't see with his eyes because they were made of pure energy. His new form had a flaw.

He also had another flaw. Ansgar dashed through the storm until he found what he was looking for. A large mass of clouds, where all the energy was meeting and clashing in a great climax. Pleased, he ran forward, ignoring the debris which assailed him. He knew what was here. Vanguard couldn't fight him at full power because he needed to use it for this, to keep this safe.

The one thing he had left.

Ansgar jumped into the mass of clouds just as Vanguard grabbed his leg.

"YOU FOOL!" Vanguard pulled him backward, enraged. "YOU CANNOT GO THERE! I SHALL NOT ALLOW YOU TO GO FURTHER!"

"Since when did I become such a melodramatic ***?" Ansgar kicked him once, stunning him for but a moment. He moved further into the clouds.

Soon, he came into a makeshift altar, built entirely of clouds and electricity. In the center, she hovered.

Nikki. She looked different from how Ansgar remembered her. This Nikki, he knew, was not the one he adored. She was Vanguard's, if she belonged to anyone. He took his two swords, jumping forward and striking.

There was a seal around this Nikki, to keep her ensnared. It would have to be draining Vanguard infinitely. He assumed Nikki was constantly trying to break free. This was why he couldn't leave. She would get loose. She would find him.

He struck the barrier again and again. The entire altar began to come to life, lightning and thunder clashing above him as Vanguard's anger rose. Vanguard entered the sanctuary, blade held at his side. He was breathing heavily, his face red.

"This is MY domain." Vanguard said. "You are but a young boy! You may be me but you are NOT as powerful or as wise as I have become! You don't know what you'll be doing if you free her! She's not the Nikki you remember!"

Ansgar continued to strike the barrier, wondering why Vanguard didn't attempt to approach to stop him. He looked back for a moment, confused. The man seemed filled with trepidation, unable to bring himself to step closer to Nikki's prison.

Finally, Ansgar swung the blade with the fury of the storm which billowed around him.

It cracked.

The surface of the prison began to shatter, falling like glass shards onto the floor. The magic which had formed it returned to Vanguard's hands. Vanguard could only stand in desperation as this version of Nikki descended to stand on the top of the altar stairs, wiping the remnants of the shards from her body.

"You could not keep me safe forever." she said finally, sighing. "You tried to break fate. The Seer was against you because you attempted to stop the inevitable. It already happened. Sooner or later, you knew it was going to come to this."

"....I'm sorry." Vanguard fell to his knees, close to tears. "I'm... I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault." Nikki said. Suddenly, another version of Nikki appeared from behind her, blade extended. She shoved the sword into the previous Nikki's back, digging it deeply. Blood fell from the wound as she began to be cut in half.

"This is how... it... should end.." Nikki coughed as her life left her. She made no move to resist as her other self cut her in two.

Ansgar stood, eyes wide, horrified. Is this what Nikki was capable of?! Is this the Nikki she was fighting?

It was obvious now. Vanguard hadn't imprisoned her for HIS safety but hers. In order to prevent Nikki's other timeline selves from killing her he had put her in suspended animation. As long as his powers kept her hidden from the view of the other versions of her she could not be killed by them.

Then why had he said that she was trying to kill him?

"You. Boy."

Ansgar turned, confused. The Nikki who had just committed the horrifying act stood with blood on her hands, the blade in her right hand shining red.

"I will kill yours as well. I will be the true god." she smiled. "In fact, I am fighting her as we speak. Wish her luck. She'll need it... desperately."

With that, she faded into nothingness, the smile burning itself into Ansgar's mind.

As she left, Ansgar turned, looking back at Vanguard. The man was showing no emotion, only kneeling on the ground and sighing.

"That's it then. That's all that I had." Vanguard smiled slightly. "But that's not the end of this."

He turned to Ansgar, his power rising again.

"Allow me to do the same. Let us meet another person who seems dear to you, one which impacted my fate and yours more than you know."

He grabbed Ansgar's arm, holding it tightly. Ansgar couldn't get free.

"I am going to crush your hope just like you have done. I am going to end your dreams and then end your life. I don't care if the Seer punishes me or not. I am going to show you true despair for what you've done."

Ansgar attempted to break free as the two of them shot from the cloud, flying through space at speeds unheard of. Ansgar wondered with fear which person he was talking about. He held his breath as they flew through the vacuum of space, using only the velocity they had received from using the storm as a pure energy source.

Finally, they came upon a large, bright star, which seemed odd and out of place. Ansgar could only be confused for a moment as he was thrown into it by his future self. He covered his face with his arms, waiting for the moment when he died.

It didn't come. He flew through the surface of the sun. He opened his eyes in shock as he slammed into something with a grunt. The two of them fell to the ground, knocked backwards.

Ansgar stood back to his feet, dazed. He looked over.

"Oh! Hi Tyler!" Ansgar said, completely forgetting his current situation.

Nearby, Vanguard entered the Sun, turning.

"Is that yours?" he asked Blind.

"She's going to be furious at you, you know." Blind responded, sneering. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"...You were supposed to meet me... and if I had met you, we would be them right now."

 

(( I didn't ninja Astro's character. We've been discussing this. ))