Previously on Blessed Inversion Soul…
Jey Connors has been suffering from a reoccurring nightmare involving a monster of unknown origins. After being transported to a mysterious cove in the Astral Plane, he meets the spirit Sylvanus. She tells him he possesses the power of Soul Magic and the creature he encountered was from the Rift. After failed attempts at learning from his own, Jey challenges his nightmares head-on. Narrowly gaining victory and training from Sylvanus as a reward. With his first spell and tome in hand, he travels to New Utica in hopes of saving it from the Rift Gate it was unwittingly built atop…
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Soul/Jey Connors Pro-Gamer, magical Inversion |
Several minutes ago…
“No, I can do this…I survived so far so…no, don’t second guess yourself now.” Jey tried to psych himself up as he grabbed the Tome of Eternals. His thoughts drifted while he contemplated what his first course of action will be. As Sylvanus had told him, he was indeed able to sense the Aether flowing around him. Some of it pleasant and calming, others eliciting curiosity, and some chilling him to his core. It was overwhelming to consider how much he had to fix on his own. Jey took a deep breath and exhaled before opening the Tome of Eternals. “Aura of the Star Forger.”* he said with the tome aglow. His body becoming sheathed in an indigo-hued energy. “I need a disguise…” he thought glancing at himself in a nearby mirror’s reflection. He could just fly out into the world but then he risked people figuring out who he was. Putting not just himself but his team in harm’s way. Without realizing it, his Soul Magic began to transmute his clothes. His gym clothes transforming into a skintight suit with blue on the torso and shoulders that tapered down to his navel at a point. Cyan lining outlined the torso to separate it from the black portions of his suit as well as the forearms. The forearms themselves were a black coloration to give the impression of gloves. All under a deep purple hooded cape with the inside of it seemingly filled with stars. “I look cool.” Jey thought while examining his new costume with a wide grin. “I’m gonna need a name too…”
*Aura of the Star Forger- Grants the user an aura to protect against harm and give the power of flight
As he thought of a name for himself, he floated into the air, turning invisible, phasing through his house, and flying towards the strongest source of Aether he could sense. Finding himself at the failed city of New Utica where a grotesquely muscular mutant prowls the street for its next prey. Only stopping when it notices Jey floating above him.*
Present…
“Okay Soul…you found the thing. Now what?” Soul thought upon realizing he hadn’t gotten this far in his plan. It was painful to look at the Mutant and each move it made looked like agony. It’s breathing was haggard and it seemed to sweat blood just by existing. “Maybe it’ll die on its own if I just leave it…” he thought as the two continued their stare down. Deep down inside, even if it was a monster, it didn’t feel right to let it suffer. He pulls the Tome of Eternals from beneath his cloak and opens its pages. “Please Aether, let me find a spell that can help me out.” The pages turn and glow, stopping as the page translates its text. Titled Flames of Zeverious, it sat above the stained glass image of a deep red dragon breathing fire. Massive claws resting atop mountains like they were pebbles and monumental wings that blotted out the skies.
Out of all the elements, fire is the one most associated with being both a force of creation and destruction. For some, it was the spark of life that preceded creation. But for others, it was an unrelenting and all-consuming force of nature. No flame burned brighter than that of Zeverious, the mighty blood red dragon. His flames said to be hotter than a star…
“Flames of Zeverious!” Soul calls out. The Aether gathering in his tome and erupting like a volcano its flames shooting skyward and piercing the cloud. After they reach their apex, the flames curve through the air as if they were alive. Taking a serpentine path through New Utica, tearing through several buildings on its way down, before finally striking the mutant and burrowing deep into the earth. “Shitshitshitshitshitshit!” he rambles to himself while struggling to close his tome. The moment it closes the flames fade. The buildings and hole they created burned clean as if cut by a laser. Even with Aura of the Star Forgers, Soul could feel like he was standing in the middle of a forest fire. “What the hell…” His hands shaking at the devastation he caused.
In Souls moment of hesitation, a Mutant seizes its opportunity. Leaping into the air with its massive gorilla-like arms. Grabbing Soul and slamming him to the floor. Swinging his arms down on him violently like an enraged gorilla. The force of his swings shaking the ground. His pained howls echoing through the streets. Fear overwhelmed the new hero and left him at the mercy of the mutant. Though Aura of the Star Forger protected him from being hurt by the beast, it didn’t protect him from the disorienting impact. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, Soul remembered he could go intangible and phase through the floor and out of harm’s way. Doing so upon the realization and choosing to resurface inside the back of an abandoned bus so he can catch his breath.
“Calm down Jey, he didn’t actually hurt you.” Soul tries to calm his shaking hands.
< If you didn’t have this aura you’d be dead. What if he broke through it? What if he still can? Your spells are too strong. Let someone else do this. >
“No, I’m the only one who can do this. I just need…I just need to calm down and think.” he turns invisible and glances out the bus window. The Mutant, upon finally realizing he wasn’t being pummeled to death, let’s out a monstrous roar and begins to search the area. “Think Jey…if this was Guardian Corps what would you do?” he pauses to think. “You’d just support someone else who’d beat it for you…But you’re on your own now so you can’t do that.”
< You can’t do anything on your own can you? >
“No, I was doing stuff on my own before joining them. I just need to focus.” he thought floating through the roof of the bus and landing on top of it. His eyes focused on the Mutant. “Knowledge of the Ephemeral.”* he whispers as the Tome of Eternals glows. “GAGH!” Soul screams in pain as his mind is filled with a surge of information. Pain enough to bring him to his knees, grabbing his head in agony.
*Knowledge of the Ephemeral- Grants the user great knowledge temporarily. Allowing them to answer a single issue no matter the scope
Hearing Souls cry, the Mutant turns to see him becoming visible on top of the bus. “UNGAHH!” It wails as it runs headfirst into the bus. Putting its hands under the bus and flipping it with minimal effort. Knocking Soul to the floor on the opposite side, just barely avoiding being crushed.
“Okay…I think I can do this…” Soul thought as he regained his senses and floated into the air with eyes aglow. His gaze focused on the Mutant as it climbed atop the overturned bus. It’s massive weight and bulky muscles bending the flimsy vehicle under the strain. Soul concentrates Aether into his right hand, pulls it back, and thrusts forward. Firing a beam of azure energy through its chest. Sending its corpse falling to the floor violently. “If I treat this like a game it’s a little easier to manage.” Now that he had a moment of peace, he lands to catch his breath. “If this were Guardian Corps how would it go…I just cleared the area of enemies so side objective complete. The main objective is finding where it came from.” Soul attempts to sense the Aether around him. One considerably powerful source he could feel coming from massive hole Flames of Zeverious created. He flies over to the hole and only sees darkness. But the sensation it gave him was one all too familiar. “This is just like my nightmare…” he thought gazing into the darkness. The cold emptiness felt like it was slowly crawling through his veins just by looking at it. “If I use Soul Magic I could seal it…But I don’t know how much it’d take out of my soul.” he thought as he floated towards the Rift Gate at the bottom of the massive hole. The cold emptiness magnifying as he got closer. His body felt heavy under the pressure it emitted. Like he’d be pulled into it if he lost focus on his flying for a second. “Don’t worry about myself. Just focus on saving the world.” Before Soul can attempt to seal the Rift Gate, the Tome of Eternals glows and opens on its own. The pages flipping to the front and beginning to translate. Titled Seal of the Entities, it bore the image of a man with his hand extended outward. Three men and a woman appearing to be forced through the air by some unknown force into a prison outside of their own dimension.
In a world governed by endless cycles of death and resurrection, the Entities act as a judge for these proceedings. Their gaze ever watchful for any who sought to break their established order. Should someone do so…they will find themselves discarded from the playing field. Only finding freedom should they prove their worth…
“Is this the spell I should use?” he thought hesitantly. The last time he gained a spell it was far more destructive and powerful than he could hope to control. Even Knowledge of the Ephemeral was threatening his health. But in the face of the Rift did he have time to hold back? “Seal of the Entities.” Soul says hoping for the best. The Tome of Eternals glows as it releases a wave of light. The light swirling within the Rift Gate like a whirlpool. Mixing light and darkness as it spiraled inward, and collapsed into itself before forming a clear glass-like orb that floats towards the tome and merges with it. “Main Objective complete.” Soul says with a sigh of relief. The Rift Gate sealed, all that remained of it now was an obscenely deep hole in the Earth’s crust. “Now the Secondary Objective. Save the inhabitants and get rid of the Mutants.”
After a few minutes of flying, Soul returns to the surface and surveys the town. He could vaguely sense the Mutants amidst the thick Abyssal Aether that surrounded the town. It’d take him hours to properly search through everything. But Soul knew what might happen if he didn’t do a proper job. As he began his arduous task, his actions caught the eye of a certain individual. A woman wearing a prismatic opal dress with matching forearms gloves that shined blue, green, red, yellow, cyan, brown, and purple. She stood on the edge of a beach of a mysterious island. Her long silver hair flowing down to the floor. The gentle breeze blew as the waves crashed before her grey eyes.
“Another Rift Gates been sealed.” she says in a soft voice almost silent amidst the crashing waves.
“That’s good, saves me some extra work.” a man replies from a few feet away. He was a fairly tall man with short brown hair and a goatee wearing a navy blue tactical vest. It had several small pockets but nothing that when in use would slow him down. Padded black gloves, matching black belt, cargo pants, and combat boots gave him a visage reminiscent of a SWAT officer. The crimson lensed tactical glasses he wore over his eyes gave him a distinctly futuristic feel. When closely examined, the lens itself appeared to be made of a number of compound lenses similar to an insects eyes to further give this image. On the back of his vest was the image of a shield. His right arm was covered in tribal tattoos that extended to the top of his hand.
“A third party was responsible for this.” she turns to face the man.
“Which Rift Gate was it?” he asks intrigued.
“One located in New Utica, New York.”
“How long ago?”
“About 10 minutes ago.”
“Not too bad.” he thought to himself. His tattoo then begins to glow. “Gatekeeper, transport for one to New Utica.” Oculus thought before turning to the woman. “Want me to bring them in?”
“If possible.”
“Roger that.” he salutes as a massive portal appears behind him. When he enters he finds himself on the battlefield where Soul defeated the second Mutant. “I made it. Looks like a warzone.” he thought. “Areas tainted still but it feels like some Soul Magic mixed in.” Oculus blinks and once his eyes open he can see the Aether flowing through New Utica. The cosmic aether emitted by Soul still fresh as he had soared deeper into the town. “Found a trail. Standby for backup. I’m going in.”
Next Issue
Blessed Inversion Soul Chapter 7- Guardians
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