The bitter cold rain bit into him soaking his excessively hot bare chest and back and the usual bandages he wore on them as well as his gold and green Greek toga that he'd thrown on in his flustered scramble. He soared through the air carried by the tumbling torrents produced by the storm. They carried him creating a swirling cocoon from his abdomen down to his toes. It propelled him forward rapidly cutting through the gloomy downpour like a knife through butter. Below him towns, forest, and eventually mountaintops flew past meshing together till everything became indistinguishable with each other. He could see his goal in sight. The seemingly plain white tower with it's blue stripes seemed to defy the credibility that the mighty legends would have this tower be one that holds an item as important as the Gem of Time. The Sky Tower.
It didn't look like much from afar but as Megálos made his way closer and closer to the top the building doubt fled instantly like a cat from the rain. As he landed on the towers sturdy platform roof he beheld the imposing statues of the legendary mythical beasts known as Griffins crafted in exquisite detail with stone that Megálos believed to be granite. Between the masterpiece's sat a gem the size of his very huge chest. It shimmered with the colors of the rainbow for a second before settling on a solid emerald green. The color seemed to perfectly reflect the color of his own eye's as if having peered into his Soul. The Gem of Time. A gem supposedly so powerful even the gods could not lift it. As Megalos stared at it his breath caught and he didn't doubt the legends for a second. This place oozed an aura of power so profound the large nature spirit/man cold feel his knees shake. Nearly overwhelmed. He gave a fleeting glance to the breathtaking view the incredibly tall tower gave as he had seen many such sight's on daily flights and walked slowly almost reverently to the gem.
Tentatively Megálos reached out his hand softly, gentle as a feather touching the gem with his right hand and just as he felt his fingertips brush the surface there was a
Whoosh, and Megálos felt his entire body implode suddenly stretching out beyond even what any spirit's body should and then a sucking sensation as if a god or giant had taken a giant straw and began slurping up his very form at high speed. After five minutes that felt more like an eternity his body was literally spit out back as it was into a gigantic unknown forest...no... a forest kingdom? Megalos barely had time to register the familiar face sitting beneath one of the nearby trees watching the space he'd appeared from, watching
HIM with steely eye's. He had green hair like his only much darker especially in the shade of the tree. He skin was a pasty white and his face seemed solemn oak brown eyes that pierce through Megálos as if seeing the depths of his soul. Their was an ancientness in those eye's that spoke of wisdom through experience and living for eons. There was also a hint of regret...but for whom.
Himself, Megálos, the world? Megálos felt as if at this very moment for some reason that regret was directed at him. The man held a glowing green bird that resembled a parakeet in his palm his gaze somewhat slanted as if he was watching the bird and Megálos. The man wore black slacks but nothing covering his chest, and he wore bandages similar to Megálos's own that he always wore. Megálos had not been in this new and mysterious world ten seconds before the parakeet shot off into the distance and the man appeared before him out of nowhere. With a movement to quick to track Megalos was sent flying having a whole 30 seconds pass before he fully realized what had happened, and that''s when the pain came. A crushing pressure in his gut as he sucked in a breath of air to his lung's realizing he'd gotten the breath knocked from them, and finally a toxic heat bubbling from his chest and up his throat as he spit out a nasty bile composed of his own blood leaving a bitter metallic taste in his mouth and spot's in his eye's.
"Wh-," he couldn't even get the question out as the steel eyed man moved again almost an afterimage aiming a black booted foot in position for a kick to his head, which at the last minute Megálos managed to roll away from. Rolling onto his foot all thoughts of explanations and answer's fled from his mind as the man he'd many times trusted with his life charged with only a few words that finally left his mouth. In a voice as familiar as a father's the man gave him one warning.
"It begins...Don't die." And with that the man charged again and again not giving the injured Megálos a second's rest, as he continuously dodged, and evaded the man's attacks. Megálos took the slightest moments never letting his body stop once to observe his surroundings again. They had veered away from the lone tree in the middle of a large clearing that seemed to be 25 feet wide stretching in any direction from that tree.
The tree in question held a strange looking sky blue fruit on it and as curious as it was that fact was inconsequential to Megálos at the moment. Outside the edge's of the clearing was a gigantic forest that seemed to go on for miles with a landmark in each cardinal direction. To the north stood a white, gold, and green castle made of marble and a peculiar type of wood he had never seen before. To their south he could hear the voice of a huge lake with quite a few rocks chiming in. To the East was a large plateau made of red rock it reminded him of a pride rock that would be home to Lions and sure enough he vaguely sensed some lions that way. And finally to the West he sensed a waterfall that led down to whatever unknown continuation of the forest. At this point Megálos knew his only chance for now would be retreat to one of the directions into the forest but there would be know way to do that without fighting his way there. So randomly choosing a direction Megalos made up his mind. He would stand and fight. He would fight as long as it took to find an opening to escape. Every cell in his body resounded in survival mode, bursting with energy and adrenaline! Lightning ignited consuming his entire body with King's Color his adrenaline helping him to pull more from himself then ever he had before.
Megalos finally stopped going on the defensive charging the steely eyed man transforming into a cheetah halfway. Electrified claw paw met a fist swathed in nature magic. The sudden switch to offensive and sudden transformation caught the man off guard but not for long enough to open an opportunity to escape but enough to get him to step back.
Perfect! Prepared for him this time the man came after him again and Megálos met him transforming again into a man his own hand swathed in lightning and nature energy and as their fists met the impact from their power's and fist colliding created shock-waves that shook the very ground and the air. The Steely eyed man surprised Megálos then by doing the unexpected. He smiled. The steel in his eye's were replaced by fire and as if infectious Megálos could feel his blood boil. All thought's of escape were momentarily forgotten as the two men traded fist with spirit and relish.
Megálos battered the man shifting in and out from human to beasts. Tiger, Lion, Gorilla, Panther, Wolf, elephant he had fought with all these forms before he had realized it. And the man had begun to use his entire body fight. Punch combos, evasions, kicks and fancy footwork. This was no longer a one-sided onslaught but a duel between two men who'd known each other a very long time. With each time their fist's connected a fleeting memory passed between them as if their connected fists continuously connected their minds and replayed their own memories. From youth til present, Megalos saw his life played out between the hands of this man and his own fist's. Before he knew it he could feel fatigue begin to drag his limbs as his movements got slower, weaker, and less effective.
His vision blurred and he staggered on his feet. Suddenly he realized what had happened. He was running out of magic until he could move no longer and unable to do a thing to stop it he watched as the man socked him right in the face laying Megalos out.The mage landed with a soft thud in a thick patch of grass that happened to be right next to the tree the man had sat under at the start of this brawl. How ironic he'd land in that particular spot. Having held back on the last punch the man looked down on the stunned mage who was already fading into unconsciousness with a look of pride, regret, and embarrassment.
"You survived." That was the man's only reply as Megalos looked from the man's proud but worried face and up into the now darkened sky shinning with a crescent moon and the shadow of the portion of the moon that was hidden away. Besides the moon an overwhelming amount of glittering stars twinkled undisturbed by man-made light in the sky. It was a beautiful night, Megálos thought as dark spots swam in his eyes growing larger as unconsciousness continued to overtake him. Stubbornly he stared back into the face of the man who had a kind smile on his face now.
"The sky is beautiful tonight," the man chuckled as Megálos finally lost control. As everything faded to black Megálos had only one clear concise thought go through his mind. A name:
Florian Faunan. With that he lost all consciousness soon enough drifting into a dream. He dreamed of hours before back on Peace Island walking aimlessly through the sand.Back to how this all began:
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