This world was a canvas of despair, painted in hues of crimson and ash. A blood-red sky bled into a horizon choked with the dust of shattered landscapes. Corpses lay strewn across the ravaged earth like discarded toys, their silent testament to a life brutally extinguished. A palpable thickness of despair hung heavy in the air, a suffocating blanket woven from the remnants of screams and the echoes of annihilation. The silence was profound, the silence of a world stripped bare of life, a silence that pressed against the eardrums with the weight of eternity.
This oppressive stillness was shattered with a cataclysmic blast that illuminated the sky. A figure was hurled from the blood-soaked heavens, crashing into the desolate ground with the force of a meteor. The impact ripped through the already fractured terrain, birthing a monstrous earthquake that clawed at the earth. Jagged fissures snaked across the land, swallowing smaller corpses whole, while colossal rocks, some the size of city blocks, were tossed aside like pebbles.
Slowly, agonizingly, Nefaria pushed herself up from the crater, dust and debris clinging to her like a shroud. Her attention, however, was immediately drawn to the horizon, where indigo lances of pure energy curved over the horizon and rained down from the bruised sky. Each impact bloomed outwards in devastating explosions that further carved scars into the already ruined world, each blast consuming an area the size of a sprawling cityscape.
As the dust momentarily cleared, a breathtaking and improbable sight emerged. Shielding the fallen figure was a creature of myth, a serpentine being reminiscent of an Asian dragon, yet touched by the surreal. A fluffy, snow-white mane framed its majestic head, from which sprouted thre long, delicate whiskers on each side of its head that shimmered like spun moonlight. Its eyes burned with an intense crimson fire, and a single, flawless golden horn spiraled from its brow, radiating a soft, ethereal light. Golden runes, intricate and ancient, pulsed with inner power as they traced the length of its scaled body, culminating in a radiant golden crescent moon emblazoned upon its forehead. It's two long ears pulled back on the top of his head.
The magnificent chimera lifted its head, a low, guttural growl rumbling in its chest, directed at a figure floating serenely in the blood-red sky above. This being was an anomaly amidst the devastation. He wore a loose white shirt that extended slightly beyond his elbows over a form-fitting black long-sleeved undergarment, and loose-fitting white trousers that stopped just below his knees, from which the same black, skintight fabric extended to cover his feet. A torn sash of crimson fabric was tied around his waist, its ragged ends fluttering in the nonexistent wind. His face was obscured by a stark black mask, upon which was emblazoned a cryptic symbol: an 'S' bisected by two short, sharp diagonal lines.
Gye Nyame.
Long, stark white hair cascaded around his masked face, swaying as if caught in a gentle breeze that did not exist on this desolate plane. He regarded the duo below, his hands clasped casually behind his back, an air of detached observation about him.
Nefaria staggered towards the serpentine creature and gently stroked its snout.
"Tye," she murmured, her voice rough, "you've grown stronger, haven't you? This new variant form,… it suits you."
She looked up at the floating figure, her eyes hardening with grim determination.
"We will bind him. He must not be allowed to manifest in the main Nexus. Let's go, Tye."
She removed her hand and shot skyward.
Sparks of incandescent light and abyssal darkness crackled around their forms as they ascended, signaling that they had passed a threshold of speed. They unleashed a barrage of cataclysmic spells, each blast carrying the potential to erase entire civilizations, streaks of pure magical force tearing through the blood-red atmosphere.
Why? The unspoken question hung in the desolate air, heavy with the weight of the destruction they were capable of unleashing. Because this man is that dangerous.
The white-haired figure tilted his masked head slightly as the onslaught of magic hurtled towards him. The devastating blasts slammed into an invisible barrier that shimmered around him like distorted heat haze, dissipating their earth-shattering force with barely a ripple. Whirlwinds descended from the skies above him aimed at his two attackers, but Nefaria waved them away and closed the distance in a heartbeat. Her fist, crackling with violet energy, slammed into the protective shield, shattering it and landing a blow to the man's abdomen that sent him flying upward. In the same instant, Tye's massive, scaled tail lashed out with blinding speed, a serpentine whip of immense power. The blow connected, sending the man hurtling through the jagged peaks of a distant mountain range, the impact echoing across the lifeless plains. But Nefaria and Tye were not done. They pressed their attack, their movements a blur of motion and magic, pursuing the figure who had already begun to float back into the blood-red sky, his arms now crossed and he was unscathed by the follow-up blasts of destruction magic. An almost imperceptible hint of disappointment in his posture.
The duo shifted their tactics, opting to engage in midrange combat since the man was canceling out their spells with anti-magic, alternating between devastating physical strikes and barrages of arcane power. Tye, with a surge of magical energy, underwent a startling transformation. His serpentine form shimmered and contorted, resolving into a humanoid figure. He now stood as a humanoid with skin like polished white scales, three sets of pointed golden spikes twitching slightly with loops dangling in them from either side of his head, and long, flowing white hair that whipped around his head, mirroring the fluffy white mane that still encircled his neck and shoulders. The raised his rabbit ears, locking onto his target.
The three figures clashed in a whirlwind of motion.
Tye, in his humanoid form, moved with surprising agility, his scaled fists and feet striking with the force of a battering ram. Nefaria unleashed a torrent of dark magic with her strikes, bolts of pure violet colliding with the figure's seemingly effortless blocks. The white-haired man deflected their combined assault with casual ease, his arms moving with a speed that belied his seemingly relaxed posture. Yet, the sheer relentless pressure of their attacks began to tell. He was forced backward, each parry costing him ground, until finally, a glancing blow from Tye's scaled fist struck his side, followed by a searing blast of energy from Nefaria that scorched his white shirt.
Nefaria glanced at Tye, a silent understanding passing between them. She nodded grimly. The world quaked.
"There isn't much time," she said, her voice tight with urgency.
"The variant is destabilizing. We need to seal him now."
Tye nodded in response, leaping back with a powerful thrust of his legs. A complex magical circle blazed into existence on the desolate ground beneath him, mirrored by another that materialized in the blood-red sky above. Ancient runes, glowing with an inner light, began to swirl around his transformed body, weaving themselves into an intricate pattern of binding energy. He had begun the incantation for the seal.
Nefaria, meanwhile, found herself fully occupied with their enigmatic opponent. Her enchantment, 'Ego', the manifestation of her will and power, warped the very space around them. Illusions flickered into existence, phantoms of forgotten horrors designed to disorient and confuse, and tangible manifestations wove themselves into existence as she exerted her authority on reality. She conjured myriad constructs of pure poison, serpentine tendrils of emerald energy that hissed and spat, their toxic essence specifically tailored to counteract the man's unknown defenses.
He dodged a particularly virulent blast of the emerald poison, his movements fluid and economical but was still being pushed back by the myriad of attacks from all around. Nefaria tried to stab him from behind via teleportation; his hand shot out, grasping Nefaria by her hair. With a brutal yank, he pulled her out of the portal and hurled her towards Tye.
Reacting instantly, Nefaria twisted in mid-air, utilizing her ability to warp space to teleport behind Tye, the abrupt shift in momentum causing her to slam into the ground with a jarring thud. Bruises bloomed on her skin, and a sharp pain shot through her jaw as she bit down hard, tasting blood. But they had already begun to close.
Pushing herself up, she spat out a mouthful of blood.
"I am the Fallen," she declared, her voice resonating with ancient power. "First of the Seraphs and First of the Daemons. I am Lucifer, and my concept is Pride. You will bend to my will or be broken. That is the law of the world!"
As her words echoed across the desolate landscape, the ground around the white-haired man erupted. 'Cursed Chains' shot forth from the blood-soaked earth, snaking around his limbs and torso, thier spiked edges biting into his skin. Each chain pulsed with a different affliction: some were enchanted to shatter the mind, others tuned to break the body, and other still set to corrode the soul, among other enchantments.
The man struggled against the binding chains, his masked face contorting in what might have been annoyance. But Nefaria was not finished. High above, beyond the blood-red sky and, in fact, the curve of the planet, fragments of a shattered crystal, remnants of a long-destroyed technology, began to glow with an eerie light. Beams of pure energy linked these fragments, forming the familiar shape of the constellation Orion. A massive magic circle blazed into existence around this celestial alignment, and a colossal beam of raw power descended towards the struggling figure.
Instinctively, the man reacted, manifesting shimmering layers of anti-magic around himself, attempting to negate the incoming celestial energy. However, a second magic circle bloomed into existence below the first. This circle filtered the raw celestial power, refining it into a beam of pure destruction, its essence meticulously tuned to negate life itself, to erase all traces of it as if it never was. It was a feat only the First Order Celestials could accomplish.
The beam pierced through the second enchantment, turning from blue to violet, striking the man with devastating force. A ripple of pure annihilation spread outwards from the point of impact, distorting the already ravaged landscape. Nefaria's eyes widened slightly. The beam hadn't obliterated him as she had intended, but it was enough. The man dropped to his knees, a grunt of effort escaping his lips as his white garment began to smolder and burn.
He was negating her negation. A terrifying realization dawned in her eyes.
The ground beneath the kneeling figure began to sink, the surrounding area swirling inwards, drawn into the destructive beam like dust caught in a vortex. Large chunks of rock, skeletal remains of dead trees, countless corpses, even the remnant rivers and other pools of water were pulled into the spiraling column of pure destruction Nefaria had unleashed.
The man trapped within the beam sighed, a sound of weary resignation. With a sudden surge of strength, he broke free from the cursed chains, their shadowy forms dissolving into wisps of nothingness. He raised his hand, his masked gaze fixed on Nefaria.
"Divine Blade," he uttered, his voice low and resonant. With a swift, almost casual swing of his arm, a wave of invisible, warped space sliced forward, a silent and deadly projectile aimed directly at Nefaria and Tye.
Just then, a blinding flash of pure white light erupted from Tye's position. The final runes of the sealing incantation flared, and a massive wave of pure energy washed over the variant version of Gaia, the wave expanding outwards, washing over its moons then outward in all directions.
A stark, diagonal line of pure energy appeared across the blood-red sky, bisecting the ravaged world. With a groan of tortured rock and dying magic, the planet split into two, the forces unleashed by the man's final, desperate attack tearing it asunder.