The Return

Five years later...that shattered dream reconstructed. In front of me stood a new Kingdom of Azgard.
The initial group this time consisted of MM, Ty, Phen, and myself.

After losing good soldiers to a mysterious temple nearby, the king of Azgard requested the aid of mercenaries to dissect its enigma.
That's, of course, where we came in. This task dealt a blow to the army, no mercenary honed by this world would take it on despite the massive benefits...but here we come with our crazy-ass selves.

We got the necessary supplies and equipment from the king and made our way to the "temple of the undead", Ashen.

The Ashen Temple was a wretched hole in the ground.

It was there that we found those dreadful Soul Gems. Our first encounter with them was positive. They increased our power and got us past the demons that stood in our way.

Past those demons we met one of the Guardians, Xioden. Guarding a portal that I was hoping would take us home, we took him down. Alas, in what seemed like his dying breath, he destroyed the portal, leaving us to wonder where it really went to.

Afterwards, we returned to the King of Azgard triumphant, and more powerful than before.

After briefing Ashen details to the king, we’d be contacted at a later date for further investigation on that matter.

It was detouring time.
Back when MM and I first arrived in this world, there was one sidequest-esque site that we managed to visit before suddenly waking up from that “dream”. The Oceanor Temple, now known as Riverbed Ruins.
I guess there’s a reason this place was no longer labeled a temple as it felt quite dissimilar from before...excluding the whole “too much water” thing. How much time passed in this world since our first advent, I wonder.

There were two new additions to our band; Arc and J – the latter would disappear on us midway as he did before with the OG squad.
From the start, we dealt with an undead warrior stalking us from Ashen. Soon after that one-sided battle, the floor collapsed to a river that threw us underground where sea monsters were primed to add us to their menu. Unfortunately for them, we were the apex predators...thanks to the Soul Gems.

A familiar man greeted us at the proverbial boss room. Well, a familiar demon disguised as a man. Arthen was the name of his mask back then, if I recall correctly.
He spouted out some nonsense about revenge and unleashed a demonic kraken-like titan at us. We did our thing but Arthen was none too pleased, vanishing with hellish intent.

Regardless, the detour was over. More of those damned gems came our way on this expedition but no happenstance portals were in sight. We'd eventually know why...much to our regret.

Thinking back, it was less about the portal and more about the treasure. I mean, it would have had to have been for us to go to the Cultist's Domain. We heard that the cult there was opening up a portal of some kind, but I think we all knew that they weren't trying to go to our world.  Once we arrived, we never even talked about the portal, just the loot.

When we arrived, there was someone being dragged inside, presumably as some sort of sacrifice, though we never found out for sure. The cult had some powerful magic, and we had to fight our way through some golems, undead, and demons, but it barely even slowed it down. It was almost routine for us, how easily we cleared the 'puzzles' and blew through the resistance, until we were at the end.

A man with a name that was a very simple anagram for sacrifice was there, which would have been a warning for anyone else, but not us. We were confident, and we cut him down, fulfilling their summoning ritual for an evil demigod. Zaelithk, or something like that. It should have taught us something about hubris, but we beat him down too, thanks to all those gems we'd been gathering, and we ignored what that warned us about too.

Zaelithk was sealed again, and we scrounged up some magic accessories from the lair. No one was broken up that we didn't find the portal. I think we all kind of liked what we were doing, living blissfully ignorant of the signs.

It seemed the entire Azgardian army greeted us on the barren fields en route to the capital. A knight directed us to his kinglyness, atop the castle's rooftop, who stated that he’d clashed blades earlier with our lovely friend, Arthen. A threat from the masked demon was the reason for Azgard's defensive state.

Things went 0 to 100 real quick when Arthen appeared before us. He opened with some garbage monologue while an undead army emerged against the soldiers on the field. Following that, he possessed the king and then a goddamn dragon made its entrance. Arthen vanished and the king on his dragon mount proceeded to attack. We slayed the dragon before ending the king with absolutely no remorse. Heavy rains came down as if the Kingdom of Azgard wept.

Arthen abruptly made his return, mocking us for actually killing the king and constantly aiding something unknowingly. When he finally managed to shut up, he somehow disabled our abilities...our Soul Gems. It was game over from that point as Arthen easily finished us all.

For a fleeting second, I believed the afterlife to be real.

We awoke in an ethereal setting with five others surrounding us. It was the OG squad: Poiuy, Jamer, Wreks...another MM and myself. We were definitely drugged at the Cultist's Domain, I thought.
They berated us and the other me claimed we were channeling demonic power through the Soul Gems. The other MM chimed in stating how we'd made some Lucifein return when we took down the Guardian in Ashen Temple.

Nothing made sense and combat mode was promptly activated.
On the OG side, everyone but Wreks vanished akin to Arthen. Our gems were still inactive but the 5v1 situation allowed us to deal with Wreks, fortunately. The setting distorted after that and we now found ourselves at Azgard Castle witnessing the battle, from the first advent, between the OG squad and Demon Arthen. An unusual arrow came down at the scene and those six faded away. The other MM revealed himself, scolding us for undoing their heroics. We dealt with him as well but our resilience without the gems were proving to be rather difficult. Our next battle involved Poiuy and Jamer in an Oceanor Temple scenery shift. We finally ran out of fuel and arrived, once again, at the end of the road.

That is, until MM and I went demonic saiyan on the precipice of defeat. Both our abilities were briefly reactivated and we probably looked as though we needed an exorcism, but Poiuy and Jamer were easily done for after that. When the adrenaline wore off, so did our sudden demonic forms. Before we could even process what had happened, the ethereal setting welcomed us back.

Everyone else somehow recovered, confused as all hell, but one last opponent stood before us...my other self. We dealt with him comfortably enough until he unbridled the real main event. Flames consumed him and we began to lose it in turn. MM and I returned to the demonic forms from earlier along with Ty, Phen, and Arc jumping on the bandwagon this time. We felt a resurgence in power as the other me revealed flaming wings and devilish eyes amidst a heavenly landscape. The grueling battle lasted for a few hours and tested our resolve to the brink of insanity but we ultimately emerged victorious.

Soon after returning to our regular selves, we transitioned back into the ethereal domain. The OG squad reappeared unscathed as if those crazy battles never took place. They weren't hostile this time, calling themselves "figments of hope", and proceeded to enlighten us. Or endarken.
The OG figments told us that they couldn't explain where we were or how we even ended up in this surreal area. All they could provide was the why. They stated that the sequential battles were a test in preparation of righting our wrongs.

We unsealed Lucifein, Arthen's unmasked name, presumably when killing the Ashen Temple Guardian, Xioden. Then we were informed of the underlying threat...the demon of demons, Valorinx.

Valorinx created the demons and what we know as Soul Gems, which are pieces of his power. He resides in a hellhole of a world in which the portal we came across acts as a link between worlds. Thing is, Valorinx cannot crossover due to his godlike size and stature. This is why he creates the lesser demons, ordering that they find a way to crossover their god to conquer as the highest being of existence.
Lucifein, his most prized demon, managed to halfway conquer for Valorinx but is still at an apparent dead end at bringing forth his god to the figurative throne.

We were vaguely briefed on three objects, Guardian Orbs, that would seal off all links between Valorinx's world and the regular world. Three portals opened up that connected fast travel locations to the orbs and so we went off to be errand boys, being warned to the continual use of Soul Gems.

Looking back now, it amuses me how we were never suspicious. I guess we were enjoying things a little too much to care at the time.

Everyone stepped into one portal without much thought. Both eager, yet blaise and annoyed about the responsibility, we all kind of wanted to just get it over with and become heroes.

But instead of new adventure, we found ourselves in an eerily familiar place that seemed to be from our world. Some odd mix of Azgard and Earth.

The oppressive aura of power like our Soul Gems mixed with the feeling that this was actually a very haunted horror house. Confused and wary, with too little instruction to know what to do, we searched the grounds and found ourselves spooked by figures that seemed there one moment and gone the next. Ominous messages and strange sounds led us into a house that locked us in.

The monsters we faced seemed almost human, almost pained. But they attacked us, and, scared and fighting for survival, we fought back. Thinking about it, everything we saw in that house suggested that the orb that found its way there killed the family and transformed them into malevolent monsters.

Did defeating them and taking the orb away set them free? We didn't ask. It wasn't what was important. We had the orb.

We stepped through the portal, leaving that haunted place behind.

I remember a blizzard that made no noise. Standing before me was the Guardian of the Sapphire Portal, Erio, and my sister, Claire. Claire was held hostage, mute with frozen vocal chords. If I cooperated, Erio would let her go and fix her voice. My job was to take the Emerald orb and prevent my comrades from making it to a cave on the top of a nearby mountain, while Erio finished some business with the other two guardians. I was provided a dragon and the ability to summon creatures with some dark magic.

While Erio was busy inside her cave, I let my sister escape to reach the others. I used the first black arrow that summoned a wave of frozen bats. The second to summon a large colossus and an apparition of the emerald orb. Finally, it was me, my teammates and a dragon fighting against each other. Ty evened the odds with some old mech suit.

After the battle, we joined forces to take down Erio. We soon learned that Xioden and Zappon, guardians of the Ruby and Emerald portals went on ahead to close the demon portal. However, they couldn't do it. They weren’t the chosen ones. We were. They provided us with some extra energy, the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald orbs, and sent us on our way to right our wrongs.

The ethereal area and the OG figments welcomed us back. We handed over the orbs and, of course, learned that we were played. Light faded and the only visible things around me were M, Ty, Arc, and Phen.

A deep distorted voice provided us with an informative monologue. It was very kind of Valorinx.
We found out that this mysterious area was the bridge between the demon’s world and Azgard’s. Lucifein essentially transported us here so that we’d be deceived and used by Valorinx’s mind games. Those Guardian Orbs, or whatever they’re truly called, were basically the key for the demon of demons’ crossover and conquest. Humans were needed for the task because his minions somehow loosened from his control when approaching the orbs so the five of us were fundamentally the perfect puppets.
There were some bits of truth amidst the deception; the situation at Ashen involving Xioden and the Soul Gems.

Lucifein’s voice came in to mock us soon after and we found ourselves back in a hell ridden Azgard, atop the castle’s rooftop, where we thought we’d been killed. The masked demon showed up with his gem disabling move. In the blink of an eye he was right in front of me but his action registered in my mind beforehand. I stabbed him and my “demonic mode” flared up with the others following suit. MM shot an arrow straight at Lucifein’s fresh wound when he attempted backing away. His arrogance shifted to one of frustration and anger as a demonic spectre emerged from him like a spiritual puppet master. It was his true form – one he could no longer fully fuel thanks to MM and I being fuckboys from the first meeting.
The fight began and ended quite quickly. Lucifein was a shell of his former self and we were overpowered at this point.

Nevertheless, that battle was simply the appetizer. The real enemy stood behind a newly opened portal that devoured Lucifein’s corpse and all monstrosities in the area. It also vacuumed our demonic forms but we felt no different.
The rift in the sky seemed as though it’d never stop expanding. It was time.

Valorinx, the demon of demons, illuminated his dark domain. Even though we stood like ants before him, we noticed the three Guardian Orbs attached to both his arms and head. Our initial strategy was clear.

Valorinx tried fending us off as we targeted the orbs on both his arms but it was the equivalent of dealing with flies that would not falter. The figments of Wreks, Ray, Poiuy, and Jamer were summoned but we dealt with them comfortably enough. Whenever one of us were on the brink of death, Araphen urgently stepped up with his clerical abilities.
After what seemed to be an endless attempt at swatting and incinerating us, eventually the brittle orbs completely froze the demon’s arms. The confused demon god summoned two familiar monsters at us; the final enemies we met at the Riverbed Ruins and Cultist’s Domain. The sea creature fell first and then the demigod. The dark dimension rumbled when Valorinx’s immobile arms came crashing down.
Now that the conclusive tactic was obvious, we fired all our attacks at the last orb on the demon’s head. The figment that was my other self finally made his entrance but we dealt with him all the same. In due course, the gem began to glow as the two did before the arms of the demon god froze. This was it. One by one we delivered our final blow to the gem but Valorinx got the last maneuver in before his whole body froze. We would’ve probably died there if it weren’t for our Soul Gems and Araphen.

The threat that was the demon of demons came to an end. We exited through the closing portal and…that was it. Once again, it ended abruptly.

I’ve not seen the others in five years. We’ve gone our separate ways and are barely in contact now. All stories eventually come to an end…I guess.