The Sun God

'Why am I here?' Goleil wondered.

The boulder was right in front of him, hovering in the air.

His eyes widened as he realized something. It was as if a veil in his mind had been dissipated, a drawn curtain that was now free to let in the sunlight.

He was remembering.

Suddenly, Goleil heard the sound of stone cracking, but the boulder was untouched.

He looked down and saw a jagged crack in the ground, faintly shimmering gold.

The knight looked closer and realized this was no mere crack in the ground. No, the crack hovered a few fingers above the blood-stained dirt.

He looked back at the boulder, which seemed to be trembling as time slowly started again.

His brows furrowed as he started to dread the future.

Without warning, the boulder resumed its path towards him and crushed Goleil.

...

[Months ago, The Battle of Three Kingdoms]

He opened his eyes sharply, finding himself kneeling. He was no longer at Gruumsh's Gate, no longer about to be crushed. In fact... He had no idea where he was.

He winced as he patted his body, shivering. Death had been unpleasant.

It seemed he was on the gigantic balcony of a castle, the light grey stone of the keep contrasted by the bright blue sky. He was facing away from the castle, instead towards the balcony's edge. He dared to look up and was stunned by what he saw.

Standing before him was a beautiful woman, a radiant crown upon her head, and donning the armor of a Vrean warrior, covered in strange-looking runes and wielding a spear in her hand. She looked down at him with a stern expression on her exquisite face.

"Well? Answer me, Guardsman. You'd embrace death so gently?"

The soldier was stupefied for a second. He looked around and noticed that he couldn't turn around towards the castle's interior. Above the balcony and hanging high in the sky was the most beautiful sun he had ever seen, its bright visage captivating.

He tore himself away from it and stared at the woman again.

"Wh-Who are you?"

"Who... am... I...?" She repeated slowly, her face twisting in anger. "How can you pray to me every day, dedicate your life to me, and not even know what I look like?"

"I've no idea what you're-" He stopped suddenly, realization creeping across his face.

"You... are you... Vrea? Our Patron God?"

"Goddess, Guardsman. Though that fact has been lost to time."

The warrior prostrated himself before the Goddess, trembling. "My apologies, Commander!"

Vrea looked down at the warrior, seemingly amused. "What are you doing, little knight? Get up. We've much to discuss."

The man rose, still trembling, seemingly terrified, and incredibly excited simultaneously.

"Am I in the Netherworld, Commander?"

"Call me Vrea, little warrior. We've no need for the usual military customs and courtesies here. And no, though you are very dead, I've need of you yet." She said casually, walking towards the balcony, leaning over it.

"Why? What use could you have for me?!" The warrior did not dare presume to approach his patron goddess.

"To answer your first question, you are the only one left, Guardsman. And unlike your cowardly general, you didn't surrender."

She looked back at him, beckoning him toward her with a finger. He obeyed, walking to the balcony edge, and she directed him to look down towards her kingdom, a sprawling and beautiful city far below her.

"To answer your second question, you will become my Will on Annwn, Guardsman."

"Your Will? What would you have me do?"

She chuckled before staring at him with her radiant golden eyes. "You will destroy the enemies of Vreazil for me. I cannot descend upon the mortal realm, but my children can."

"Vreazil? Your children? I don't understand, Commander."

"I told you to call me Vrea, Guardsman. I will not tell you a second time." A golden aura rose from her body, sending a shiver down his back. He nodded stiffly.

The aura disappeared, and he gasped for breath.

"Vreazil is the ancient name for our nation, and you are my child, Guardsman. That Giant you let defeat you so easily was a bastard, but another of my children."

"I had no choice, Comm- Vrea. What would you have me do against a Giant? And what do you mean that it was a child?"

"Kill it, of course." She said, waving her hand as if it were obvious. "I forgot that the lands of man have forgotten my titles. Let me remind you."

She turned to him, her body glowing radiantly and powerfully. Her golden eyes glowed ferociously, and she looked magnificent in the Guardsman's eyes.

"Hark, warrior. I am Vrea, Patron Goddess of the Vreazil Empire and the Vrean Kingdom, War Goddess of the Undying Flame! I am the Sun Goddess, the Lifebringer, Lord of Destruction and Creation! I am the Mother of all Giants!"

Suddenly, a massive slate grey hand rose from below the balcony, grasping its edge.

"Behold my children!" She roared.

A massive body clambered onto the oversized balcony, revealing a featureless grey head that seemed to gaze into his soul as its massive body crouched down to lord over him. The Giant wore a sleeveless golden robe, revealing to the sun warrior a body seemingly sculpted from marble, like that of an Olympian God. His robe was also covered in strange-looking patterns, with runes engraved onto his otherwise perfect body.

The smooth grey head of the Giant stopped a few feet away from the Guardsman, who was frozen in fright. The 'child' in front of him was at least twice as tall as Gilgamesh, the Half-Giant who'd killed him.

"Meet my Praetorian Guard, little knight. One day, you might be one of them!" She chuckled, her hand on the warrior's shoulder.

The soldier was turned around forcefully by magic, and beyond the entrance to the balcony was a throne room, where three massive Giants stood guard around an equally massive throne. They wore the same garb as the one on the balcony, who also made his way towards the throne room. His steps sent vibrations through the ground but were muffled by the glowing runes in the keep.

The Praetorians turned to look at the warrior as if hearing their name summoned them. Like their brother, their bodies seemed to be made of stone, and their slate grey faces had no features nor hair of any kind, but he could hear them murmuring amongst themselves and felt their gazes on him. They held massive golden spears, whose very presence sent shivers down the warrior's back.

The warrior's green eyes conveyed his shock from beyond his mask-helm.

Vrea laughed arrogantly, seeming amused by his stupor. "Giants aren't rare in my domain, and if you know where to look, they aren't in yours either."

Her golden aura was gone, but she still looked as magnificent to the Guard as ever.

"Soon, I will send you back. Seek out my children. They reside in Jotun, to the West of Vreazil and within the Outerlands. Learn all you can from them, and rebuild the Vreazil Empire. The magic humans use is a pale imitation of ours, so leave your preconceptions behind."

The warrior looked slowly over at the Goddess. "The Outerlands!? It is suicide to go there!"

Vrea tilted her head back in a laugh. "Suicide?! Perhaps! It's a trial worthy of my Will! Even your pitiful magic would not improve your chances, and you won't have it anyway! Try not to die, little knight!"

The warrior's eyes widened in shock. He had too many questions and had to ask the most pressing first, or he might not have another chance.

"What do you mean I won't have it anyway?!"

The Goddess had a radiant smile on her face, but to the little knight, it seemed as if a demon were smiling at him.

"Well, little guard, this is the nature of what you must do once I've resurrected you. No time has passed since your death, for this dimension is far from yours, and I am a God. When I raise you once more as my Will, I will lend you the strength to destroy the disgusting roaches that burnt our Empire to the ground!"

Her rage and arrogance brimmed as she said, "Such a thing does not come without a price, of course! Your 'mana circuits,' as humans call them, will be entirely destroyed, but that's a good thing. They would be nothing but a handicap in learning real magic!" She said, laughing arrogantly once more.

She waved her hand, and thousands of runic letters suddenly glowed into existence around her with a sharp golden light. They arranged themselves into a massive spiral almost the size of her Praetorians, which glowed brighter upon completion. It slowly shrunk, becoming the size of a palm but still extremely complex.

It floated above the Goddess's palm for a moment before she suddenly disappeared from her position and appeared behind the Guardsman before he could even react.

Instead of attacking him, however, she softly laced her hand on his back, her hand moving through the enchanted Vrean armor as if it were water. As soon as the complex runic circle touched his back, it seemed to merge into his body. She wrapped her other arm around his body as if to embrace him, though, in reality, it was just to keep him from hurting himself.

She did it just in time, for as soon as the runes merged with the warrior's body, he spasmed like a fish out of water, flailing as if trying to fight a thousand enemies before him.

Vrea held him tightly, locking his arms in place, a tear going down her cheek.

Becoming a God's Will was no easy task. For one, only one God had ever done it, and it wasn't Vrea.

It broke down the very soul and rebuilt it, reconstructing the body at the molecular level, all in the name of creating the perfect soldier.

She hadn't selected this Guardsman for any particular reason. In fact, she hadn't chosen him at all. She hadn't lied when she said he was the only one left, and it didn't mean what he thought it did.

She had tried forty thousand times. The same conversation, forty thousand times. She had failed forty thousand times. They never got past this point. The strain was just too much. It tore her apart, putting them through this pain, but it had to be done. Without her people, she would cease to exist.

She held the Guardsman tightly as his very soul melted like a marshmallow, and his flesh sloughed off him like a shriveled grape.

And still, the Goddess held him tightly through the torture, supplying him with as much magic as his body needed. He felt every inch of his bone structure being pulverized, his muscles melting as they excreated acid.

Once his body and soul had been thoroughly destroyed, his torture finally stopped, and he felt nothing.

He had been reduced to a pile of ashes, his armor lying around him in a heap.

Vrea looked upon the destroyed warrior and wept. After all her boasting and laughing, grief was all she was left with. Forty thousand warriors bravely fought to the end. They would not go to the Netherrealm and be bathed in the fires of war for all eternity, as they desired and had been promised to them. She had failed them, destroyed their souls in her pursuit of prolonging her existence. They were the only ones remotely strong enough, and now she would fade away.

She wept for minutes before realizing she was still alive.

The ashes roiled as if overcome by rage, trying desperately to reform themselves. The primordial world mana around them stirred, rushing toward the ashes, fueling his return.

The warrior's soul was reforged in the endless torture he had endured, his body being reconstructed.

When he finally awoke from that hate-filled dream, he roared with all his might. The rage and pain of a beast bellowed from his throat, and the castle below him shuddered violently.

Vrea looked at his body and was shocked by what she saw. He seemed emaciated; the only clothing left on his body was the featureless mask with two golden eyes staring back at her.

His voice sounded ancient. When he spoke, it sounded like an Eldritch had replaced him.

"What happened to me?"

Vrea could not help but look at his body with longing, if only she too had a perfect receptacle for a body.

She cleared her throat, looking into the glowing golden eyes of her Will. "I have reconstructed your body to be perfect. It required all your energy and quite a bit of world mana. You will not remember much, but in time you will. The forging process was a success, and you are ready to carry out my will."

The Guardsman kneeled before her, though not entirely sure why. "Command me."

The Goddess nodded. Her heart was filled with hope, rage, and bloodlust. "Annihilate the enemy. Go to Redvale, and recover. Go to Jotun, in the Outerlands, and learn our magic. I will watch you."

He nodded and stood.

The Goddess waved her hand, millions of runes appearing in the air as her face paled. The warrior felt himself being pulled away and disappeared from before the Goddess.