Empyrea

Tuesday's usually aren't this bad, but here I am inside a forest in Venus running away from the king's assassins.

This was supposed to be a simple diplomatic mission to dismiss claims the King of Venus was terrorizing his own people.

The new King of Venus, Griffith Kefka, came into power when his father abruptly died from a previously undisclosed chronic disease a year ago.

Soon after, the rumours began.

Empyrea protects the world from both kaiju and the nations from each other. It holds the power to interfere in conflicts if deemed necessary by the Council of Nations.

Empyrea would need proof of these indescretions.

The Commander General, Aquilon Chronoporal, commissioned a team of three people to meet with the new King and discuss the relationship with Empyrea. Discreetly discover any evidence of these claims was the other directive.

Back home in Jupiter, I was head of the Royal Defense Force... And also heir to the throne. Only one family in Jupiter has the ability to use storm magic and within that family it is still a rarity. Only one who commands the storm may sit upon the throne of Jupiter, and that person just so happens to be me, and the last was my grandfather.

Which is exactly why Aquilon chose me for this mission.

"It'll be good for you in the future," Aquilon teased.

"But sir, you don't think they will be suspicious at all, especially since..." I asked hesitantly.

"Since, what? It's you? Who even thinks about what happened in Mars? It's been almost ten years." Aquilon said jokingly from his white and gold desk to reassure my nerves.

"I know it's been a long time but, if he recognizes me right away, he's not going to want to - " I tried to squeeze out the end of the sentence but Aquilon quickly cut me off.

"So what if he's scared? He should be scared to end up like Viktor. Kings don't get to do anything they want and get away with it just because they're kings. That's why Empyrea even exists, to ensure people like him are held accountable." Aquilon said sternly but nonchalantly.

"I know, but, maybe someone else is better for this mission? I don't want Morgana and Arthur to fail this mission because of me."

"You know there is no other more suited for this than you. Besides, if worse comes to worse, then we both know there is nothing to worry about." Aquilon huffed.

He was right, not many could take me on toe-to-toe and survive if I was being serious.

You can be born with three magic affinities. Not that you can't perform magic that isn't your affinity, but it makes it exponentially easier, lowering mana consumption and much more intuitive to learn and use. Certain types are also tied to genetics.

I received fire from my father, and while I did not receive my mother's lightning, I did inherit storm magic from her bloodline. My own was something derived from both fire and storm, destruction.

From an early age, I was showered with praise and affection.

The citizens of Jupiter were ecstatic to see their future king show so much potential while still so young. My grandfather explained to me that I would be responsible for all of them one day and that a king is only a king if there are people to protect. I always thought my destiny was to be the King of Jupiter.

Until one day in Mars that changed everything.

My father was a high-ranking member of the Mars military, which is how he managed to meet one of the princesses of Jupiter in the first place. I regularly went to Mars with my father when he had "work meetings." It was just a normal summer's day in the tropical paradise of Hypnos.

It didn't take very long for Uranus's armada to overwhelm the city. Within minutes, the smoke could be seen for miles. The screams constant as people rushed to escape the city. My father went outside shortly after they made landfall to investigate, and hurriedly came back in and said to me "I am going to get help, you stay here and hide until I tell you to come out. Do you understand me, son?" With fear in his eyes.

All I could do was nod my head before he was out the door again and I headed to our panic room. I was the heir to the throne of Jupiter, and both of my parents were very important people in world politics. Of course, we had a state-of-the-art panic room that creates a pocket dimension using spacial magic.

I heard the scream coming from next door, I could recognize it came from the girl I had become friends with during the course of my visits to Mars. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was racing out the front door. I was immediately hit with the smell of blood that pooled on the lawn. A soldier was holding Erza by her scarlet red hair as she continuously cried out for her parents.

The sight of Erza's parents lying in their own blood and her in so much pain blinded me with rage. I could feel my mana compounding and wanting to explode out of me like never before.

"Go away, leave us alone!" I desperately yelled at the soldiers holding Erza captive.

"Another little kid? What are you gonna do about it? Cry to mommy or is yours dead too?" The soldier barked as the four others with him began to laugh.

I wasn't just any kid. Even at such a young age, I already had extensive training. I knew how to handle some dirt-ranked soldiers.

Then there was a flash of golden light and the soldier's head was gone and he was crumpling to the floor. His grip had loosened from Erza's firey hair and she looked back, incredulous as to what just happened.

"What the fuck was that you brat!" yelled one of the soldiers.

"I'm going to fucking kill you, you little shit come here!" said another.

"Run, and don't look back!" I called out to Erza.

In the next instant, I was running towards the remaining four soldiers when I heard one of them say, "Ice magic: Arctic Embrace," so I responded with a spell of my own, "Destruction Magic: Perish." As the two magics collided together, the ice magic was completely erased from existence. Once I closed the distance on one I was able to quickly dispose of them using Perish, destroying their entire torso.

The other three were more cautious, but with a speed boost from using Fire Magic: Propulsion of the Enlightened to rocket myself towards them, I ended the confrontation with the spell Destruction Magic: Void Horizon, reducing a small area around me, including the soldiers, to nothing.

"Erza don't come out yet there are still more coming!" I tried to warn but it was too late. An entire squadron carrying the Royal Crest of Uranus had found us, attracted by the large amounts of mana.

There wasn't anything I could do without hurting Erza. So, they captured us.

"Bring him to me," a raspy voice ordered.

The soldier that had been holding my arms behind my back dragged me towards the voice.

I was then faced with a rather small man with thin, dark hair, and a sparse beard. I knew the King of Uranus wasn't very old, he was around the age of my father. You wouldn't have ever guessed, though. His face had seemed weathered and wrinkled with time, a product of Uranus' frozen wasteland and his constant paranoia. Viktor was constantly looking to expand his nation's power and had garnered quite a reputation as a paranoid warmonger with only one general that he trusted, Darius.

If Viktor was here, then so was Darius. I had to save myself and Erza before Darius reunited with his king. The soldiers before were nothing compared to the hulking giant clad in black armour wielding a massive axe.

We were surrounded, and I was a child. I didn't know enough magic, I didn't have an alpha weapon, I wasn't strong enough to save my friend. I thought it was over.

"You look familiar, why do you look so familiar?" The king asked curiously, but I didn't respond. All he got was a defiant stare back.

"Hahaha I see, that explains so much. You look like your grandfather; he gets that same look in his eyes. Don't worry, after you go through our assimilation program you'll do anything I tell you to. I might even get you to kill your grandfather while your mother watches! Then you can kill her too!" He bellowed and turned away from me as his men laughed with him.

Every bit of me wanted to see this man turn into dust. He had hurt so many people. He took Erza's parents away from her forever. I wasn't going to let him hurt anyone anymore ever again.

I broke free from the soldier by using Perish on him. My attack left him floating in place before crashing down to the ground and releasing me. The soldier screamed when he looked to see the lower portion of his thighs gone and his legs resting unattached next to him.

And it was this that led to me summoning my alpha weapon. An alpha weapon is a piece of your soul manifested and given form. These can take on an endless amount of variations and weapon forms depending on the person. My entire soul was telling me it was my destiny to cut down this tyrant.

I grabbed hold of the sword that emerged from my soul and I remembered what my grandfather told me so many times.

"Kings live for their people. People do not live for their kings."

"You are not a king." I said as I swung my blade while the shocked and bewildered Viktor's laughter was cut off after noticing the sword I now carried in my hand.

My sword plunged through and pierced Viktor's heart, surprising and freezing just about everyone in the vicinity until Darius's cries broke through the silence when he arrived.

Darius ran to him and cradled his unresponsive sovereign, "My king! How is this possible?" He wondered then noticed the blood on the sword carried by a mere child that he immediately recognized.

"You... You will pay for this. I will present your body to your grandfather in pieces. I will drink your families tears as I watch Jupiter burn, I will -" and Darius was cut off by the arrival of Mars' military, and my father.

"You will leave this place before you lose your entire armada and suffer even more embarrassment, Darius. My son, a child, has beaten you, single-handed it seems. Mourn your king, and get out of Mars." My father retorted. He then came over to me, and I hadn't been as thankful than as that moment to see him. The power he exuded always made me feel safe.

I was worried I would need protection from him after not doing what I was told though... Not to mention, I just committed one of the worst possible crimes you could commit in the world.

I gave him the biggest hug I could muster and started sobbing.

"I thought I told you to hide, what happened to that?" He asked.

I finally was able to choke out the words in between sobs and said "B..bbuut Eruuzzaa nee..need..neededd helllpp.p I...ii..i.I couldddnn't lll..llllet h.h.hher d.d.dd.dd.dieee." And then continued to sob.

"I think I'm going to die when your grandfather and mother hear about this." My father laughed as he hugged me tighter. Because how does a seven-year-old child fend off an entire invasion by themselves?

The Hero of Mars and the Bane of Uranus was born that day. Viktor made me realize the world was more than just Jupiter or Mars. The world was full of people that needed help. If I became king, would that mean I would only be able to protect Jupiter?

This question is what led me to Empyrea.

I stayed in Jupiter until the age I could apply while serving my grandfather the best I could. He was not surprised when I asked him for permission to leave. He knew, since maybe even before that day, that my gaze reached far beyond the borders of the already vast Jupiter. He told me the throne would be ready when I was. That I was the only one that could truly carry on his legacy.

Then he died. I was lost for weeks. He was the only one that was able to tell me about my storm magic. The only person to feel what I could feel.

He saved me from being executed by the Council of Nations, along with the King of Mars, when they suggested a seal until I come of age whenever I leave Jupiter. They argued that I only did what a soldier would've done in a time of war, which Uranus incited. The Council still found that I was too dangerous to be left alone. That's when they came up with the seal.

My grandfather and I spent so much time training and he would tell me stories. He would always forget which stories he told me, but I never said anything because he always looked so happy telling them. It's almost like he got a little bit of his youth back when he was telling them. And they were great stories. Some of them actually happened, like when he fought Darius to a standstill after three days of combat.

The whole nation expected me to become king right away, but I wanted to live the life that I felt would help the world most. People called it selfish, called me a traitor, that I was spitting on my grandfather's grave, and I agreed with them. I still feel guilty.

I'm just trying to help people not get killed by monsters and tyrants in the entirety of Gaia.

Now I'm here in Venus running from an entire assassin squad of like twenty people because they caught me in their secret underground human experiment lab.

I knew I felt some weird mana signatures underground when we got to the king's palace, an absolutely enormous building constructed out of mother of pearl in the very centre of the capital city of Amor.

King Griffith greeted us warmly and was a little too nice. His sheer beauty couldn't hide his menacing gaze, however. He had golden blonde hair, fair skin unblemished and perfect like porcelain, but eyes so dark it seemed like they would swallow your soul.

I was the only living person to have committed regicide. Of course, he was watching me.

I noticed the halls of the iridescent palace were seemingly empty, so I headed towards the library. The same strange mana I felt was emanating from it.

Leave it to Griffith to have a comically evil hallway behind a bookcase and book lever that leads to a super secret evil lab. When we were much younger, we would attend some of the same royal events. Until, well... I wasn't welcome to them anymore. But he was always ready to put on a dramatic performance.

I found his lab and it was like an iceberg under the water. I was completely dwarfed by how massive this place was. Then I found the villagers. They were all dead and mutilated, and some mutated. It looked like there were kaiju in there as well. Griffith was conducting experiments on hybridization, condemned by the Council ages ago.

"I knew you weren't here just to say hello and obey Aquilon's commands." Griffith said through a sly grin. Of course, he remembered and knew exactly who I was.

"Have you lost your mind?! Hybridization? All these people? You're a monster!" I screamed at him. The reality of what I had seen hit me when I vocalized what I was looking at.

"These aren't people, these were just poor dirty villagers, they gave themselves for the prosperity of Venus. They made themselves useful to me. Where is the crime in that, or do you care about those disgusting creatures in there with them too?" he said matter of factly.

Before I could respond, his assassins jumped out of the shadows.

I feel like I've lost them now, but they aren't too far behind. I hope Morgana and Arthur are still alive. Maybe I should have taken a mission with kaiju instead...

I stopped running, taking a breath behind a large tree. I tried to use the spell Aquilon gave us to recall back to Empyrea in the event of an emergency, but it wasn't working. They already activated the five-point barrier that I'm not able to take down.

My mana detection is especially sensitive due to all my training, and I could feel something very small coming towards me.

"Hey mister" the boy said in a hushed tone. He couldn't have been more than my age when Uranus invaded Mars. He had dusty blonde hair and his clothes were tattered, with dirt smeared on his face, but he still smiled.

"Are the mean guys after you too? You can come with me and my mama and papa and our friends to a safe place too!" The child said excitedly as he took my hand and began leading me through the forest.

"Are you from Empyrea?" he asked.

"How could you tell?" I mused.

"All of you wear the same thing, it's almost like those mean guys outfits, but you're not as shiny, and you wear gold." he said with the natural whimsy of a child.

"Those mean guys, what did they do to you?" I abruptly asked. I needed answers. Even if they were from a kid.

"They took everyone. Mama and papa took me and we escaped before they could find us. We met some friends and they said they know a place to go so the mean guys won't find us." There was a sadness when he said this. Like he was recalling the night that it happened.

As we made our way through the forest, a small camp site slowly started to take shape as the boy began to run towards it.

"Mama, Papa I found a new friend!" The boy called out.

They understandably rushed to obscure the child and skeptically faced me.

"Who are you, what do you want?" The boy's father questioned. He was young, extremely thin, and very tall with tired, fearful dark blue eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt anyone. I just need to find a way to contact my friends and Empyrea. We were here for a mission when I found... When the king's men attacked me." I responded, wanting to shield them from the truth of what happened to their neighbours, friends, and family.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" said the woman standing next to her husband and holding on to the child. She was beautiful with her long blonde hair and eyes as blue as the sea.

"You don't, but if I was going to hurt you, you would be dead already so let's just figure this out?"

"We don't want any trouble, we just don't want to end up like the others. The king, he's... There's something wrong with him." The man said, defeated.

"I know, and I want to help stop this. Once Empyrea knows the truth, Aquilon will have a valid reason to come to Venus and stop Griffith." I reassured them, and myself.

That was all the convincing they needed, and they took me even deeper into the forest. They told me that there was a cabin with a couple more refugees looking for a safe way out of Venus.

We arrived at the cabin and it was small, but homely. Moss grew on the panels of wood that covered the outside.

They were all so kind. Regular people making the most out of the terrible circumstances Griffith had caused. They laughed and danced and brought me in to their little family. They told stories just like my grandfather did, and I thought this was a place someone could call home. But it wasn't. This place helped these people survive. These people deserved more than just to survive. Why did they have to live in fear when someone like Griffith enjoyed the luxuries of his palace?

The little boy was Rufus, his mother Aurora, his father Boreas. The others were a married couple, farmers. Both shared the characteristic blonde hair of Venus, but did not have the beauty Aurora did. They were tan and their skin rough, evidence of their hard work in the fields under the sun. Their names were Tristan and Isolde.

I wished we could stay like this forever. Us in that cabin laughing until the late night as if we weren't being hunted down by a deranged king.

The next morning, I told everyone I would search for a vantage point that might be able to get at least a communication outside of it. If I could find a thin spot in the barrier, I might be able to reach someone.

After searching to no avail, I returned to the cabin. Something was wrong though. Silence filled the forest. I felt... Nothing. Did they leave? Did they have to quickly escape? Then I felt it. A faint mana signature that was actively being obscured.

The door was left open just a crack. I walked towards the cabin slowly, and pushed the door open. They were all still there. Strewn and bloody across the cabin. I fell to the floor and held Rufus and began to sob.

"I'm so sorry, I should've been here, you shouldn't have been the one to help me, I'm supposed to save you." I cried out and Griffith laughed from where he sat.

"Look at what you did, you were too scared to face me and ran like a coward and now these people are dead. They were going to die anyway, but you delivered them right to me! Thank you for helping me get rid of some of the rats that have gotten through the cracks!" He cackled.

"They just wanted to live, all they wanted was a life where they didn't have to be scared of YOU! You are no king. You are just a monster." I cried back at first, but was reminded of my grandfather's words. My resilience and rage grew, and I let go of Rufus and began to stand.

"That's funny coming from you, you're a murderer too aren't you?" He said to agitate me, and it worked.

He managed to dodge the attack that I threw and it blasted the roof off the cabin.

"You should be careful with that destruction magic, you might hurt yourself o Hero of Mars." He teased, but I punched him into the air, my physical strength amplified by mana. He managed to make a foothold in the sky using mana and stood there, and looked down at me.

"Light magic: Light Swords of Judgement" and then thousands of dagger-like beams of light flew towards me.

I intercepted the attack with, "Barrier magic: Shield of the Giant" and an enormous stylized shield with the crest of Empyrea blocked every dagger.

He was then behind me. He must've used Light Magic: Light Speed to move that fast, and then uttered "Dark Magic: Shadow Execution" and my shadow began to envelop me.

"Destruction Magic: Hand of the Destroyer" I called out and the darkness I grasped with my hands began to fade away.

"Fire Magic: Scorching Blaze" and a stream of fire shot at Griffith that he managed to dodge with his light magic once again.

"Is that it? I have been looking forward to this for so long and this is what killed Viktor? My father was right, he was weak." He jested.

"Ok, then try to dodge this one, Storm Magic: Red" I said and the skies turned grey and darker and darker. The clouds then began to descend until the entire forest was consumed by gale force winds, biting rain, and calamitous lightning. When the attack ceased, the skies parted and were crystal clear and blue once again.

Griffith burst out of the debris accumulated by the storm and laughed.

"NOW THAT WAS PRETTY GOOD, BUT WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS? LIGHT MAGIC: RAIN OF RETRIBUTION!" He said, as the entire forest began to be filled with tiny specks of light that began to rain down and explode.

"Looks like the throne of Jupiter is going to be empty for a while y-"

"Shut up, you are so loud and obnoxious and evil." I said through the dust and cut him off. "Why are you even experimenting with kaiju hybridization? You of all people know that doesn't end well."

"Power is the only thing that matters in this world. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and my mother was weak. I will create the perfect being so no one else loses to their own weakness in Venus." Griffith barked as he choked back tears.

"You will know what true power is," and the whole world began to warp. "Omega mode: activate."

He plunged his Alpha Weapon, a small egg-shaped pendant, into the ground and unleashed its final and strongest form.

"Flesh of the Exalted Deity."

The ground twisted and became a tangle of grotesque flesh and bone. The trees that I had uprooted were replaced with towering pillars and mounds of bloody teeth and eyes.

"So, is this what perfection is, King Griffith?" I sincerely asked as I looked at the mangled world he called forth. "Do you really think this is what she wanted? For you to make people suffer like she suffered?"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SUFFERING? I WILL TEAR YOU APART FOR EVEN SPEAKING OF HER MEMORY YOU VILE ABOMINATION." He spat as he bellowed his insults.

The world began to squirm and shift. The horrifying protrusions came to life and shot towards me. I drew my sword and slashed at the ceaseless branches of weeping flesh.

"Light Magic: Light Speed," and I had suddenly closed the gap between us. Griffith was shocked. His own magic affinities were light and darkness, not unique magic, but difficult magic and this was his own variation of the spell.

"I'm sorry, Griffith."

"Severance."

I swung my blade across Griffith's chest and it was over.

When it was time to give my Alpha Weapon a name, I decided to call it Destiny's Decree. With it, I have the power to influence destiny itself. It is extremely powerful, but exhausting. I prefer magic anyways. An attack like this ending a destiny is so taxing that I begin to lose consciousness almost immediately.

I woke up in the Empyrean Care Corps. the next week and laughed, then winced from the pain where one of those meat branches hit me. What was the Council going to think this time?

It was funny because, even for me, who wields destiny as their own, destiny never ends up like I think it will.

TBC