3. Descent of the World's Enemy: Harbinger of Calamity

It was calm. The void filled with a multitude of stars and planets was quiet, until suddenly a crack appeared within its inky blackness. From this crack shot out a figure. Its body of gas and shadow was small and looked to be in the process of healing itself. Within its body shapes that resembled stars and small galaxies floated about. In the very middle of its body was a small spherical shape, within it looked to be a subspace that was filled with various planets and stars.

The figure appeared to be unconscious, and it continued in that state for what seemed like hours. It floated like a leaf in the ocean of the cosmos. Suddenly the figure started to shake violently and its body mass increased. When it reached the size of a football field, a loud ear-piercing roar filled the void. After a few minutes the figure calmed down and was able to think reasonably.

"What happened?" It asked itself as it swept its gaze across the black canvas it found itself in. "Ah that's right." It said as its body started to glow a faint blue. "Master made me leave. If only I was a bit stronger." The figure lamented as it remembered its Master's last words to it.

"You must go young one. I'm sorry, know that I cherished our time together and that your parents would be proud to see how much you've grown. Farewell, Lu'naris."

Lu'naris floated there in silence as she replayed the ambush over and over in her mind. She was finishing up her lesson with her Master when those of the Outerfaction attacked. She did her best, but eventually she was overwhelmed, and ended up injured. Her Master had to both save and protect her. She had felt that both of her parents had already perished in battle, and that all over the dimension there were battles of epic proportions happening. In her injured state her Master used a technique that would send her out of the dimension and would keep her from foolishly trying to go back in to seek revenge.

Lu'naris drifted through the cosmos lifelessly, as she contemplated her next actions. 'What am I supposed to do now? All that training I did was for naught… not even my mark helped. Why did he expel me for the dimension, I would've gladly given up my life in battle!' Lu'naris released a sigh. Her Master was one of her parents most trusted siblings, of course he'd do everything in his power to make sure that their trust in him was not misplaced. For all she knew, this could've been her parents wish if anything happened to them. But didn't that mean that they believed her strength wasn't enough to protect herself? Well, that ambush proved them right, she was still too weak. A deep sense of self-hatred started to well up within Lu'naris, to which her mark reacted, and started to suck in all of that hatred like a voracious fetus.

"No, let's stop that." Lu'naris said to herself. "I must not waste this second chance that Master gave me." She turned her body to the crack which was slowly healing itself. "May you rest well Master, Mom, Dad, and may Ashy'Kyhm use your essence wisely." After saying these words, Lu'naris turned away from the crack and began her journey into the cosmos.

Where would she go, she didn't know. But what she did know was that she would become so strong, that not even Ashy'Kyhm itself would not be able to stand against her.

(Several Hundred Years Later)

Nothing, there was nothing here that would help her in her quest. She had spent over two-hundred years in this section of the universe, she had been to over three-million different planets and not one of them offered her a way to increase her strength. Most planets she visited had no life, and whenever she did find one it wasn't worth her time. Most planets only had some plant life, while others had a few species that offered her no challenge. Her time spent in the section of the universe was nothing more than a waste of time.

She released a sigh, an action that was beginning to become more common to her nowadays, as she left the current planet whose most interesting thing there was the continuous lava lakes. "Nothing again." She said dejectedly as she flew towards the center of all the planets. This was something she did after visiting each planet, she liked to pride herself on her memory. By floating in the center, she got a good view of all the planets. Sure, each of them were a few lightyears away from each other, but with a little help from the Words of Ancient Scripture, she was able to see all of them with ease. To her disappointment, it seems that she had visited every rock within this section.

"This is unfortunate. Looks like I'll have to travel eastward if I want another chance." Lu'nairs said as she started heading to the east. During her exploration she had also found out that her domain was now a part of her body, how her Master did that…she didn't know. Seeing that all the planets were still there she decided to go to them as well. Like many she had found in the western section of the universe she was in, there were barely any planets that had life on them. She did however come across a planet that had a small primitive civilization on it. The creatures there were humanoid in appearance and spoke a language that she couldn't understand.

Their bodies were muscular, and even the females looked like they could lift a car with no effort. The smallest ones, being what she assumed to be children, were at least three feet in height. The largest of the bunch, who she assumed was the leader, was about nine almost ten feet in height. The upper half of their bodies were purple in color and had four arms that ended in a hand with three fingers. Their heads were that of a lion, with the males having manes. Females would have an extra set of eyes on the sides of their heads, just above the cheekbones. Their lower halves were that of a snake with rough and sharp scales, they were usually black in color. There were some who seemed to be a rarer species that had brown lower halves. These were usually the ones who went hunting and guarded the little town that they had built. The leader of the tribe seemed to have a mix of both brown and black scales on his lower half.

Speaking of the town it was really just a very large number of tents made from some kind of beast hide. The hide was a deep crimson color, with mencincang black stripes. Around the tents sat a wall made from stone that stood at about twenty feet. She observed these creatures from afar before she decided to go and try to have a conversation with them. She decided to shape her body similarly to them, and the result was that of a female of the species that stood twelve feet in height, with inky black skin and a golden tail. Her eyes had red irises with black sclera and piercing yellow reptilian pupils. Her four arms were muscular and each of the three fingers ended in a long white claw. She slithered out of the forest towards the front gate of the village. The guards out front noticed her presence and fell to the ground with just the passive aura she emitted. There were a few who were able to stay standing within it, although just barley. These were the ones who readied their weapons, which resembled a scythe with a bladed end. Lu'naris stared down at these beings with a look of indifference on her face. They shouted what she assumed to be orders at their companions and went to begin their assault on her.

The first to reach her was a muscular male, whose mane flowed in the wind as he slithered towards her. Upon reaching her he swung his weapon horizontally, hoping to bisect this strange being. When his weapon collided with the being's skin, the blade instantly shattered, leaving the male stunned. The being looked down at him with disappointment in its eyes. He stood only six feet and was nothing compared to the size of the behemoth he was facing off against. With just the squinting of her eyes, Lu'nairs caused the male to fall to the ground unconscious. Upon seeing this the other guards despair grew, until one of them who seemed to be a commander gave a rallying cry and said a few unintelligible words that increased their motivation.

Lu'naris stood there and watched as they picked themselves up, and with a new fire alit within their breasts, charged forwards. Honestly, she was confused as to why they were attacking her, isn't she one of their species? She gave herself a look over as the group charged her. Perhaps it was the skin color? Or maybe it was the eyes, she couldn't tell. Either way she just stood there as the guard's weapons broke against her body. Some began to despair again, while others bloodied their fists against her. She didn't really feel anything besides disappointment, she had thought that anything she found residing in her domain would pose a challenge for her.

She let the guards hit her a few more times before she increased the pressure of her passive aura and knocked them all unconscious. Sighing, she debated going into the little town and seeing if the chief could do anything but eventually decided against it as she remembered the poor display of the guards. Even the commander was out cold from her aura. She didn't come here to kill them all, and even if they attacked her, they were just doing it out of duty to their home and families. Therefore, she decided to go and explore the rest of this planet while leaving the rest of these beings in peace.

Before she could turn around and leave some words were thrown her way. She looked towards the town entrance and saw as the nine-foot chief exited with a large spear like weapon in his hands. She slithered forward and towered over the buff male. He looked up at her with determination evident in his eyes. Her best guess was that he was a little stronger than the guards, but not a threat. To test his strength, she increased her passive auras pressure, and to her surprise the Chief was still standing!

Excited by this Lu'naris smiled down at him. The Chief in turn smiled back, as a bead of sweat formed on his brow. Their fight had begun already, although not physical, the battle was intense. It was a battle of wills between the two of them. Lu'naris realized that she not only needed to increase her physical strength, but she also saw how important the strength of one's mental fortitude was during a battle.

The Chief stayed standing no matter how much her aura increased, and after around thirty or so minutes Lu'naris decreased the intensity. She saw the Chiefs muscles lose some tension but were still ready to strike at any moment. She decided to say something, perhaps he could understand her somehow.

"Hello Chief of this tribe, my name is Lu'naris." She said, staring down at the smaller male. A few minutes passed and to her surprise the Chief spoke to her in a language she could understand!

"What…you… want…from…us, strange one?" He asked in a deep voice.

"I have come to observe your planet, and you and your people have also caught my interest. I had taken a form similar to you, because I thought that would make it easier for us to converse. It seems my thinking was incorrect." Lu'naris said with a voice of authority. The Chief let out a sigh of what she assumed to be relief. "I have taken a special interest in you since you were able to withstand my aura."

"Yes…strange one is…strong…very. Is strange one…Vatenushka?" The Chief asked as he lowered his weapon.

"Vatenushka? What is that?" Said Lu'naris with interest.

"Vatenushka is…one…who…create…Tatenush…my…people." The Chief replied.

'It would seem this "Vatenushka" character is the one they believe responsible for their creation. Perhaps they mean Ashy'Khym? The Old One is the only being I know capable of creating a whole race.' Lu'naris thought to herself as the Chief led her inside the village. Many of the people or Tatenushins looked at her with both fear and respect in their eyes. Once they reached the middle of the little town there were already over a hundred of these beings surrounding her. The guards from outside had awoken and were following behind her and the Chief.

"To answer your question, I am not Vatenushka. But I believe the being you are talking about is named Ashy'Kyhm, they are Vatenushka."

"Ashy'Kyhm is…Vatenushka? Then…you…be…Vatenushka prophet!" The Chief said as he did a strange bow, where he bent his upper body downwards until his knuckles hit the soft grass. The rest of the town followed his example, even the guards who fought against her just minutes ago.

She didn't know how it got to this point, but after the Chief said those words the Tatenush people could accept no other explanation. She eventually accepted her title and began to teach the Tatenushins how to speak her language. She spent three hundred years on this planet and in the end never found a way to increase her strength. During this time, she assisted the Tatenushins in building their new homes made from stone, and later down the line precious metals that were found within the planet's crust. While mining they had come across an ore that responded only to the sound of one's voice. The ore would happily unearth itself when called for.

The ore had a strange property. Whenever the blacksmiths, who had started to show up in recent years, would form weapons and armor from the ore it would be incomplete until it was given a name. When naming an item, one must have a clear view of what they wanted that thing to be. Like this, even farming tools could become great weapons. Lu'naris decided to name this ore Shinkiya'Khym, or Truthbringer ore. During her last few years on the planet, she helped the small town to grow into a strong independent kingdom. Satisfied with her work, she left the planet and continued her journey.

She didn't know why she decided to spend so long on that planet, but in the end, she saw it as a way to release her stress that had built up over the years, as when she left her mind wasn't as clouded. She decided that she would take a break and check up on the Tatenushins every a hundred years or so. Although she knew that many who had got to know her would not be there anymore when she went back, that thought did bother her, but she eventually reasoned that not all races were ageless like her, so death was only natural.

"Alright, that's enough thinking about the past." Lu'naris said to herself as she finally reached her destination. Just like the eastern side of the universe there were a multitude of planets that she was going to have to explore. By her estimate there were over fifty-million planets in this section. "Hmm…this is gonna take a while." She said as she flew towards a planet that shined in a radiant blue. It was quite small compared to the others that surrounded it. Upon entering its atmosphere, she was greeted with the sight of an endless blue ocean. The sight brought a strange sense of calmness to her mind. She dived beneath the waves and was met with complete darkness. This was not a problem for her as all she had to do was enhance her senses and by doing so the true beauty beneath the waves greeted her. Rows upon rows of colorful rock made themselves known. Large green plants seemed to extend all the way from the bottom of an abyssal hole, ending just above the shining corals. She had no need to breathe but felt as if she had a pair of lungs (not that she knew what those were) that had all their precious oxygen stolen from them. Lu'naris didn't know how long she sat there for, but at the moment she didn't care.

After a few more hours of just enjoying the view, she left the planet and continued her journey. For the next few years, she explored eighteen-thousand different planets, none of which had anything of use to her. "Hmmm, let's try one closer to the star over there." She said to herself as she flew towards a blue giant. As she got closer, she saw that there were actually two blue giants and a smaller yellow giant. The three were far enough away from each other to not have an impact on its neighbor. They were arranged in a triangular shape with the yellow one being the top, and the two blue ones being on the bottom. There were around thirty planets orbiting these giants. She decided to start with the biggest one. Its size was easily three times bigger than any other planet in the vicinity, and its surface was filled with vibrant green landscapes, and vast blue oceans. On the top and bottom of the planet were sheets of white. She had seen a few planets that had such a diverse look to them before. They would usually be home to a few intelligent species and in the end be a disappointment.

She floated there weightlessly, as she contemplated whether or not she was going to even waste her time with another planet like this. Eventually she decided to give the planet a chance and descended. Upon her descent, she felt a strange force pull on her body. It was as if something was trying to integrate itself into her very being. She was able to ignore it for a bit, but she eventually became fed up with the annoying pest and using her will; devoured the strange force. "Annoying pest." She said as she finished her descent, landing in a bright green forest.

(Domain of Gods)

Meanwhile, in a place filled to the brim with life, a being sat cross legged on top of a rock. The being was a handsome man, who looked to be in his late seventies. His gray beard was filed with braids and reached down to his chest. His hair of the same color went down to just below his shoulder blades. His skin was that of a healthy white male, and his body was muscular. He wore a simple white Greek toga, exposing one side of his muscular chest. On his waist was a golden sash, that extended into a loin cloth that fell between the back and front of his legs. At the moment his face was calm, and then suddenly he felt pain, that caused him to let out a loud yell. He fell from his rock, his look of calmness replaced with one of pain. After struggling on the ground for a bit he recovered. His pale blue eyes open with a surprised look in them.

"What was that?" The man said, as he got to his feet. He put on a pair of sandals that were next to the rock he was sitting on and made his way to the edge of his domain. He looked down at the planet that he and some other gods had made. His eyes changed from a pale blue to a bright gold, and he was able to see the energy that the planet released. He gave it a look over for a few minutes finding nothing wrong. Before he turned away, he finally did catch a glimpse of a small hole in the planet's energy field.

"What did this?" He said as he used a bit of his divine energy to fix the hole. As he inspected the repair job, a voice came from behind him.

"Hermacules, what happened? Why did you scream?" Said the voice of another man. Unlike Hermacules voice, this one seemed a bit younger but was still deep. Hercules turned to see a man that stood about six and a half feet in height. He was a white skinned male, that wore a Greek toga similar to him. His hair was white, with a few streaks of yellow going through it. His beard was long and went down to just below his chest, the ends of it were braided with golden rings attached to them. His eyes had no pupils, leaving only white.

"It's, nothing Zeus. Though it seems something may have landed on the planet." Hermacules said, walking towards his longtime friend.

"Did your system say anything?" Zeus asked, as the two of them started walking back towards the rock Hemacules had fallen from.

"I was just about to check." Hermacules said as he did a few hand gestures and a small window appeared in front of them.

[WARNING! THE CALAMITY HAS ARRIVED!] The window shouted in a monotonous female voice, both Gods faces instantly became serious.

"This is impossible, we killed that thing a millennia ago." Zeus said skeptically.

"Perhaps we were wrong." Hermacules said as he went through a few more notifications.

[System energy has been depleted by fifteen percent]

[Unknown entity has landed on the planet]

[System energy has been restored; the system is now working at one-hundred percent efficiency.]

[Unknown entity has been integrated into system logs, generating program for entity.]

[Generation of the program for the unknown entity has been completed successfully.]

[Subjugation of unknown entity has been partially achieved. Generating new system rules for entity, generating new status unique to unknown entity.]

[Generation of new system rules and unique status has been completed.]

[Warning! A new class of Gods have been created.]

[Calamity Gods have been integrated into the system.]

"A new class of Gods huh?" Hemacules said in interest. Using his authority as the system's creator he decided that he would hide some notifications from this mysterious being, unfortunately the titles that the entity gained would still be able to be seen by it. The system itself would have to censor some of its titles, until it reached a certain threshold generated by the system. "We should have nothing to worry about Zeus, even if it has been designated as the calamity, it will still have to grow in strength to pose a threat to us. Even then we have our blessed humans to deal with it. The system will notify every being on the planet about its arrival. We can send a divine message to our worshippers and tell them everything they need to know about it."

"If you say so my old friend. Come with me, Hera made some of those cakes you like." Zeus said as he placed a hand on the other man's shoulder.

"You know I can't turn down that offer." Hemacules said with a smile as both of them disappeared in a flash of lightning.

Meanwhile on the planet known to its inhabitants as Gaiusxercis a notification made itself known to all. None were left out, no man, no woman, no beastkin, no animal was excluded from this information.

[Warning! Warning! Warning!

The World's Enemy Has Descended:

The Harbinger of Calamity Is Here!]