Chapter 0ne(The Rise Of Gassendi)

"Baurta! Baurta! I see something!" Angrim shouted from the shore. He was standing at the shore of the Lake of Axelia. "What is it? "Don't know. It's giving off some kind of colorful aura". Baurta ran to where Angrim stood. He looked into the lake and saw the colorful glow of aura coming from it. Looking at it, it seemed to be coming from the middle of the lake.

"Zlexie! Angrim found something! Come and check it out!"Baurta called out to the rest. Zlexie is the Axelian word for "guys". What did he fin... Oh, what in the name of the gods is that?" Maddoc exclaimed, suprised at what he saw in the lake. "What is it, Angrim?" Marcea asked. She was the youngest and the only female among them. They were six siblings. "No one knows yet. We've got to check it out". Lariciem and Demurral answered her. They were in their mid-twenties. The siblings stood on the shore for almost ten minutes, not knowing what to do. No one wanted to go into the lake;first, in case there was a beast in there or the aura in there was powerful enough to kill them. Even though, they had weapons and were skilled, none of them could fight in water. All of a sudden, Baurta took of his cloak and..... SPLASH..... He dived into the lake. The others, moved by Baurta's bravery, followed his lead. They swam until they got to where the colorful aura was coming from. The lake was deeper than they had analysed;the aura was dense there. They all went numb all of a sudden. They were shaking like crazy because they thought a beast was around. One bizarre thing was, they seemed to be breathing fine underwater. They felt reluctant to go further but something seemed to be calling them, pulling them closer and closer. They swam on and came to a pair of stone gates. There were runes inscribed on them. The aura seemed to be leaking out of the gates. The source seemed to be behind the gates. The group were having the urge to go behind the gates. Angrim, the oldest and the strongest among them, tried to open them but he failed. Baurta also tried and failed. Finally, Marcea proposed that they should all push together. They all heaved and...CREAK.... all what came out was just a creak. They heaved and pushed again;this time the gates opened. A strong force pulled them inside the dark hollow space behind the gates. They were drawn into a chasm which literally had no purpose of ending. Runes started appearing on their bodies but they were oblivious to it because they were stupefied by what kept on unfolding in front of them. They finally saw light shine and illuminate a cobbled ground. They braced themselves thinking that the ground was hard and rough but it turned out to be soft. They stood up, confused; they were now under the lake in a different place altogether and the lake didn't flush out with them into the "new world".They looked around and saw the same colorful aura like a painting on the walls of the hallway-like room they stood in. Out of surprise,Marcea accidentally stepped on a loose cobbled Stone and BOOM! BANG! CRASH!

"Aaarrgghh" Marcea ran like a baby into Baurta's arms, trembling. They turned around and saw almost thirty giant 0od dressed in fine clothes,some in armor,appear out of thin air. They surrounded the group, keeping the group in their midst. The ground under the group started shaking and lifted up. It floated up to the head of the largest of the statues and stopped, suspended. A glowing orb appeared out of nowhere into the midst of the group. The orb was translucent but one could see that it was the source of the aura. The group was mesmerized by it and they all stretched forth their hands in unison to touch the orb. The moment their hands felt the coolness of the orb, their bodies became numb and they fell into stasis. CLANK! CLANK!

The group opened their eyes to find themselves in a heavenly realm. They looked around, stunned at what they were seeing. "Hello there Chosen." The group turned around to see a giant of a man standing behind them. The man introduced himself as Kohal,the messenger for Amadeus Prime,the father of all the gods of Axelia. He led the group into a large hall where they met about fifty more giants,some in armor,some in fine clothes,some in royal garments and robes. They were all seated on huge,giant chairs with one seated on a majestic throne; Amadeus Prime.

"Welcome,Chosen. The gods are in your debts. You freed us from the Galus Compartment of Medokritos. We thank you very much." Amadeus told the siblings. The now-called "Chosen",stood there amazed and shocked at what was happening.

" Is this a dream?" Demurral asked. Marcea nearly fainted when she realized where they were. They were talking to the gods,afache-afache. "I propose we reward them for their brave and good work." Paeximus said aloud to the congregation. "Mmm. You are right. I suggest we give them the artflow. We don't need it now that we've all evolved. If they continue their good works,they can have the arts themselves without our help." Moeran also told the congregation. "So be it. I grant you,the power of the gods;the artflow. Use it well and wisely to protect all of Axelia even to death. Begone and unleash your powerrrrrrrrrrrrr.............

......................,................ The Chosen opened their eyes and found their hands still attached to the orb. They saw the colorful aura receding into the orb and surging into them at an insane speed. The Chosen unintentionally absorbed all the power from the orb. The orb gave a last flicker of light and disintegrated;the orb was the artflow.

AAARRGGHH

The Chosen screamed in pain and agony. Their bodies were stretching like rubber. They felt their souls breaking down and their organs bursting. After an hour of pure, painful torture,the Chosen all lost consciousness. "Mmm. What just happened," Angrim woke up to find the rest lying in a circle around him. They all got up slowly and.....

"What!What happened to you. You look more muscular and what's with the spiky hair?"Marcea exclaimed when her eyes fell on Angrim and Baurta. " Marcea. Your hair looks longer and shinier. And Demurral, what's up with that long hair"Lariciem also exclaimed. The Chosen had all transformed. Angrim looked more muscular with undercut grey hair. Marcea even though shorter than the rest,now looked taller with long, sky blue hair with a well endowed body. Demurral had upswept long dark blue hair and looked more bulkier. Lariciem had short,red spiky hair and looked taller than the rest. Baurta had short,greasy hair and looked a bit muscular and lastly,Maddoc with short,messy,spiky hair and long legs. As they stood there examining and admiring themselves,a large scroll appeared in front of them. A mouth formed on the scroll and shouted for all the Chosen to hear,"ANGRIM, LARICIEM, BAURTA, DEMURRAL, MADDOC,MARCEA!META PUSRO XITA KUN. PAX ZORDA GAGOXTI RUTYA ZENA,XIA DUM."A white blinding light enshrouded them and teleported them back to the shore.

...................................."What's happening!? What are those!? May the gods save us!!!!" There was chaos everywhere. The Chosen had appeared at the shore but what they saw and met was something off the hook; they didn't expect it. They saw some bizarre beasts lined up like soldiers for battle round the lake and across the land. The could hear screams and cries of agony. The smell of blood was strong and dense around the area they were. They were near a town,Zortan. A man cloaked in black appeared out of thin air,in front of the beasts. He was hooded so none of them could see his face."Give us the artflow or die!" he said in a chilly,sly voice. As the man said this, almost thirty more of beings like him appeared;some on the strange beasts,others with strange batlike wings, hovering in the air.

"We just got the artflow and you want to take it and kill us!?" Lariciem exclaimed." There is no way you are going to get this power!!!" Angrim shouted for all of Zortan and Axelia to hear. The power of his booming voice shook the earth and echoed all over the land."Then the demons have no choice but to eliminate you.....For the great Demon Lord!!"the hooded man shouted. All the so called " demons" advanced towards the Chosen. Angrim and his siblings also took fighting stances."For Axelia!!" Baurta,the brave shouted and took the lead running and unsheathing his katana. An orange- red light enshrouded him the moment he unsheathed his weapon. He jumped high, reaching the flying demons and slashed the katana in a crescent style. He killed almost fifty flying demons and demon beasts with the katana and more with the shockwave from the katana. Marcea also run towards the demon beasts near the lake. She raised her hands and an aqua blue light enshrouded her. She controlled the water from the lake to form water weapons;spikes,arrows,pikes,spears,etc. She released them towards the demon beasts. With the presence of the lake,the water weapons were powerful and their aura skyrocketed. Their damage ability was multiplied 20 fold. The water weapons travelled at inhumane speed. They first propelled into the air and when they were a bit closer to the demon beasts,they fell like rain onto the beasts. The demons were overwhelmed by the power of the water weapons.

The rain of deadly weapons shredded the demon beasts into mince upon impact leaving no chance for them to escape. Maddoc and Lariciem also unsheathed their weapons; Maddoc with a staff that had sharp,broad blades at the ends. Lariciem also possessed long,sharp,pointy daggers. Maddoc jumped fifteen metres in the air and raised his staff. The sky turned dark instantly. Lightning started flickering around him. A purple light enshrouded him making him look like a lightning god. The lightning was restless but it still waited for the command of its master, Maddoc. The demons around the area were pressured by the aura the lightning emitted. However, Maddoc raised his staff and commanded the lightning to form thin, lightning bolts and strikes. He brought his staff down in a stabbing motion and as if they could understand his actions,the lightning strikes and bolts all fell on the demons. The demons tried to dodge the strikes but they found out that they were somehow glued to the spot. The lightning disintegrated the demons mercilessly like it had a score to settle with the demons. The smell of burnt meat was everywhere.

Lariciem the "long legs",run at full speed into a park of demon beasts situated at the edge of the Zortan. For some reason,just like the others,he felt he had an affinity related speed. He turned the blades of his daggers towards the beasts. A pale-red light encapsulated him, turning him into a streak. The light beam travelled at light speed. All what the demon beasts could see was the afterimages Lariciem left behind as he stopped to slit their throats,rip their chests or stab their hearts. Lariciem stopped with a slide and THUMP THUMP THUMP. The beasts all fell down,dead. One could see the look of shock on their twisted,scary and ugly faces. They didn't even get to see the assailant or even inflict some injuries on him but here they were,dying like crops attacked by locusts. Lariciem almost reached cloud nine after he witnessed the power he possessed after absorbing the artflow from the orb.

At the center of the battlefield,two people were forced into a pinch by the demons and their servants. They had not yet awakened their powers. They were none other than Demurral and Angrim. All this while,they had used just brute strength to kill almost 150 demon beasts including the higher demons. But now they were surrounded by the ugly, shameless beasts. The beasts didn't hesitate to pounce on them, tearing them apart. Marcea felt her heart crushing upon seeing her two favorite brothers overwhelmed by the demons with no chance of survival. She charged towards the horde, engulfing herself in a water armor but something bizarre happened which made her stop in her tracks. A brownish yellow light followed by a fiery red light suddenly penetrated through the horde. The two lights shined brightly and combined,creating an earsplitting explosion. "Brothers!!" Marcea exclaimed loudly out of relief and joy. The fiery red light had a certain destructive aura about it. From afar,one could see vapour rising from the horde as the explosion occurred. Marcea squinted her eyes to see two silhouettes totally surrounded by fire. On seemed to be fairing fine with the fire whiles on was in a certain brownish yellow armor. The one in armor suddenly roared like a very, strong,angry dragon. The brownish yellow light enshrouded him again but this time,the light grew brighter and bigger. As the light dissipated,all the people, including the Chosen and the demons were overwhelmed by the presence of the man or say the giant that came out of the light. Maddoc's jaw nearly hit the ground when he saw the oldest of the siblings, Angrim in the brownish yellow armor and almost as big as a King-class beast. His aura showed how a formidable opponent he was to the demons. As they were trying to comprehend what was happening,they felt a great heatwave coming from Angrim's side. They saw a man coming out of the fire. His every step caused fire to come out of the earth. They were once again overwhelmed by his aura. As he walking out of the fire,they saw a huge, double-edged sword materialize in his hand. The demons close to the area were instantly burnt to ashes. The fire stopped spreading abruptly and they were all able to see the slim, average build man with a sword that was too big for him, Demurral.

"Angrim? Demurral?You guys are okay?" Baurta asked out of shock. Angrim had transformed into a Titan whilst Demurral had awakened an affinity of fire.

"Hehe. We are not done with the battle yet. Let's concentrate on it. It seems the demons are performing some kind of ritual."Angrim woke them up from their shock-slumbers.

PS:THIS IS WHERE THE REAL BATTLE STARTS.

As Angrim predicted,the demons have stopped their attacks and were chanting in some weird language. Suddenly,a black fire engulfed them. Their eyes turned blood red. The demon beasts started mutating,some growing extra heads,extra arms and so on. The leader of the demons shouted in agony as he was in pain;he was actually mutating into his demon form. The aura of the black fire and the demonic aura from the leader clashed, disintegrating the few cliffs and trees in the vicinity. A blood red aura engulfed the leader. The demonic aura turned into smoke and penetrated the skin of the leader and entered him. As the aura slowly died down,the Chosen could see a black scaly and extremely muscular beast. He had the head of a bull,with five horns;the middle three twisted to form a crown emitting a deadly aura and the other two as long as an arrow. He had long,sharp claws that glittered in the sun. The sky turned dark all of a sudden;it wasn't over yet. The Chosen looked up to see a huge curved sword,a Masquerel with glowing some strange looking runes. The hilt of the sword looked like it was made of dried blood and skeletons. The Masquerel accelerated and then BOOM,it plunged into the ground forming a large crater in the ground. The bull head demon stretched his right hand and opened his palm. He started chanting,"DOMI MORBIUS LITO KAYTA!"

The sword started vibrating, producing a shrill,long tone. The other demons also joined in the chant, increasing the power of the chant. The Masquerel was suddenly engulfed in the black fire. A skull with curved horns and red glowing eyes formed at the area above the hilt. The sword then erupted from the crater and flew towards the bull demon. The bull demon caught the sword at its hilt and ended the chant with a word"HAKUT",his eyes turned blood red. The demons advanced slowly towards the Chosen.

FOR THE GODS AND AXELIA

The colorful aura that the Chosen first saw in the lake engulfed them. As it faded, Angrim,the Titan was seen wearing a violet armor with a blue black tint. Marcea wore blue armor with an aqua blue cape. Her body glowed white, making her look like an angel in armor ready for battle with the devil. Demurral wore a fiery red armor with grey highlights which blazed with a deep red cape. Lariciem also wore crimson armor which blazed with pale-red highlights. Maddoc wore reddish brown armor with purple lightning designs and Baurta in an orange red armor with burgundy highlights.

Baurta summoned a pack of jaguar-like general-class beasts;some possessing wings,others with spikes across their spines and some with scaly,armor-like skin. Maddoc fused crystals with lightning, creating lightning-crystal monsters. Marcea also conjured water and ice weapons. Lariciem's armor changed from crimson to pale-red and blazed crimson. Demurral summoned fifty clones,all welding huge, double-edged swords. Last of all, Angrim created a space domain to stop the destructive attacks from reaching the town and the people.

BOOM! CRUSH! BANG! CLANK! SWISS!

A fierce battle began. The demons and the Chosen indulged in a battle of speed and power.............................

"You fools! Do I always have to do everything myself! I will show you the real power of a demon,a demon prince!"the bull demon exclaimed in anger and hatred,causing lightning to crack the skies,thunder to rumble and the ground to shake. He gazed at the Chosen, releasing a killing intent so powerful that all the lightning-crystal monsters, summoned beasts,Marcea's weapons and Demurral's army disintegrated into nothing. A blood red aura engulfed him;they could hear screams like he was being tormented. The aura dissipated and they saw the bull demon shedding his skin. As the scaly skin on him shredded into ashes,they saw a new body come out. The real form of the demon prince;a handsome young man wearing fine black and red clothes. There was a mark of a bull with five horns;three twisted to form a crown and two pointing sideways, from his forehead. He looked too handsome for a demon. He had long,combed jet black hair and he was white skinned. The pupils of his eyes glowed red. The demon Masquerel morphed into a katana with the same color as before but this time, the full side of the blade happen to grow short, sharp and pointy spikes which smiled maliciously at the Chosen.

Angrim,out of rage, released a destructive, space shattering, energy ball at the handsome demon. BOOM.

A huge crater formed at where the demon stood. The was smoke and dust everywhere. As the dust slowly settled,the Chosen saw the unexpected;the demon who was blown up by the energy ball,was still alive but bleeding. The blood was coming out from the area above his left eye only to form the mark of an abyss. Actually,the demon wasn't bleeding,he was just completing his metamorphosis.

"Hahahahahah!!!!You so called"Chosen"are so funny. You seriously believe a feasible energy ball can even scratch my clothes? What a pity. I am Nemes,a demon prince,a bringer of destruction!"Nemes,the demon prince said in a mock voice.

Maddoc conjured a huge lightning bolt to hit Nemes but SLASH. Nemes cut the bolt into two with the katana."Stop trying to attack me with elementals. I can see you have yet to awaken your god-arts but they are still too weak to harm me. And this beauty(referring to katana) you see is no ordinary weapon. It is the demon katana,Zokiyota, which you are yet to witness its full power.

CRUSH........BOOM

"What is that?!"Nemes exclaimed in shock. There was dust everywhere making seeing difficult. As the dust slowly dissipated,the Chosen emerged from glowing compartments. Nemes nearly dropped his jaw in shock. The Chosen were now wearing godly armor, accompanied with the full blessing of the arts,the god-arts, granting them a new set of elementals. Marcea now wore a blueish white armor with beautiful ice patterns on it. She had two pairs of azure colored wings, making her look like an angel. Angrim was back in his human form. He wore a yellow armor with cerulean highlights. Maddoc now wore gold armor with purple lightning designs in it. His staff blazed reddish brown at the blades. Demurral also wore dark green armor with fiery red gauntlets and dark gold cape. He held his sword which was engulfed in a deep red inferno and melting by the second. The liquid from the melted sword morphed into a new, huge, double-edged sword. There was a red orb in the middle of the orb which produced three veins of fire connecting the hilt of the sword. Lariciem also wore deep black armor with crimson snaking patterns. His daggers emitted a pale-red light. Baurta also wore a dark-silver armor with an orange red cape. His katana was now longer and sharper.

"YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE GOD-ARTS. MARCEA;YOU NOW POSSESS THE MIGHTY WINGS OF THE WIND ART. ANGRIM;YOU BEING THE ELDEST,HAS BEEN GRANTED THE WISDOM ART. MADDOC,YOU HAVE THE LIGHT ART. DEMURRAL,YOU NOW POSSESS THE POISON ART AND ALSO THE FLAME EMPEROR,A TYRANT OF FIRE,WHO CHOSE TO BE YOUR SOUL COMPANION AND THE COMPANION FOR ALL YOUR DESCENDANTS IF THEY EVER GAIN IT TRUST. BAURTA,YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE METAL ART. NOW ERASE THIS MISFIT,SEND HIM BACK INTO THE CHASM OF DOOM, ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!!!"a loud voice said.

"You will not win!!!!"Nemes cried out in anger.

"All for one and one for all!!!"the Chosen also motivated themselves.

BOOM CRASH CLANK PFFT

Swords against a sword,elemental balls colliding with each other;a fierce battle had began between Nemes and the Chosen. Nemes, having so much experience in using his powers, seemed to be giving the Chosen a hard time. The people and the other creatures could only hear clashes,loud bangs and once in a while a scream. The battle looked one-sided with Nemes clearly at an advantage. He was purposely stalling and playing with the Chosen as they too inexperienced to fight. Even with Angrim's frequent tactics and orders,they were still in a pinch.

Finally, something out of the blue happened. No one actually expected it as all the siblings knew of Lariciem's innate "jovial and stupid nature".

Lariciem, upon adapting to his shadow skills quickly, utilized the darkness around him to cut the knees of Nemes with his daggers. He actually infused them with artflow which actually dealed a deadly blow to the "Prince Of Destruction". Nemes was shocked to the core of his demonic prince power as he never expected it to come from a dumbass like Lariciem;he was even aware of how stupid Lariciem was throughout their battle. So you could imagine how how felt right now to played by a fool. But that was enough for the Chosen to finish him off. They were even shocked for a second but as the saying goes"anything can happen in a battle; always watch your back."

Baurta transformed his right hand into a huge metallic fist and released an uppercut to Nemes. Marcea,the"ANGEL", instantly turned white;she met Nemes in the air with a spinning, downward kick. Lariciem quickly impaled him as he fell down with giant, shadow spikes. Demurral hit Nemes on the chin with the broad side of the Flame Emperor which sent him flying towards Maddoc and Angrim who both met him with elemental-energy balls right in his face. It all happened so fast for him to even realize what was happening. The handsome demon was bruised beyond expectations. He was beyond redemption. As stood up,he conjured a huge, impervious elemental ball which brimming with dark energy and emitting a deadly, bloody aura. The ball was pitch black with blood red runes. As he released the ball which he planned on using it to massacre the Chosen,he felt the presence of another elemental ball which was higher in power than his coming towards him. He nearly lost his mind when he saw it coming from the Chosen.

The balls clashed and exploded. The explosion caused energy flactuations and ripples in the atmosphere. The ripples entered the humans around the area. The same happened to the other creatures and the beasts.

As the blinding light from the explosion receeded,the people saw the Chosen all fall down as they were completely exhausted. As the demon prince,Nemes,he was disintegrating slowly. The look of defeat and disdain on his face was ************

"THE DEMONS WILL STILL WIN THIS WAR. IT'S NOT OVER YET!!!AAARRRRRRGGGGG" and with that the great demon prince died.

....................................Tens years after the battle,the Chosen gave out their properties to their families and created six orbs which helped the people and the other species to awaken the god-arts as the artflow had already entered them. The orbs were called Awakening Orbs and they were to be released after every five years,on the date the Chosen fought the demons.

After some few years,the Chosen died,more like to say:they ascended into the heavenly realm.

The place they battled was named Axelia. The whole land was named Gassendi; meaning"the battle of the godly." The land was divided into seven parts and six kingdoms. The kingdoms were named after the Chosen with Angrim ad the head kingdom. The seventh part was Axelia,where they battled.

........This is just the beginning. The real showdown is yet to come.

------------THIS IS THE BEGINNING AFTER THE END------------