Everlasters:

Many millennia ago, before man had risen from the Earth to construct many great civilizations amongst the cosmos, there were the Everlasters. In total, there were 10 of them; they were god-like beings that existed since the beginning of time in a land called Aeternus. At the dawn of their creation, their sole purpose was to supervise and protect all life around the universe. The Everlasters would be put in charge of many different worlds, and supervise their evolution as they further advanced across time. As the years flew by, some of the Everlasters would grow close to each other, becoming deeply in love and birthing offspring.

These offspring would go on to create entire populations that resembled the likeness of the Everlasters. The first species would be known as the Raconians, beings that were birthed from the Everlasters Raacuun Guut, the Everlaster of sharpness and speed, and Melo, the Everlaster of song and music. The next species to spawn would be the Impolians, beings that were birthed from Nasurata, the Everlaster of nature, and Arcus, the Everlaster of sight and perception.

The next species to be born were humans. Their progenitors were Adir, the leader of the Everlasters who represented leadership and justice, and Lancea, the Everlaster of battle and combat. Then there were the last species that spawned differently from the others. They would be known as the Argans, their progenitor being the strongest of the Everlasters, Argamos. Life would thrive with most of the Everlasters living peacefully for generations.

Years later, The Everlasters would discover that each of them represented a different aspect of life and reality. All except one knew their aspect. This "one" was known as Argamos. At first, Argamos was a peaceful and benevolent being who believed that his aspect was likely war, strength, and power since he was one of the strongest out of all the Everlasters, and because he thought he got stronger from battle.

But this was not the case, seeing as how one of his sister Everlasters, Lancea, was already the wielder of this aspect. For centuries, he would ponder, trying to make sense of what aspect of life he could represent. However, his search would soon come to an end. A sudden invasion occurred across the universe. Beasts born of hatred and darkness known as the Kako-Toratos had spawned in massive numbers. They would go around terrorizing entire galaxies for a purpose unknown.

The Everlasters were quick to action, engaging their abilities and protecting all life around the universe to the best of their ability. Argamos fought alongside his brothers and sisters, and as usual, felt himself getting stronger by the minute. With every swing of his battle staff, and every beast taken down by his power, it all made him feel stronger. As the fighting continued and the Everlasters prevailed further, a massive aura of darkness let its presence emanate across the universe. And though every Everlaster could feel this darkness, none of them could feel where it was coming from.

All, except for Argamos; he couldn't understand why, but he could feel where the dark evil was located. All of them were equally confused at this enigma. Why could he feel where it was coming from, while the rest could only feel what it was? They save their questions for later, Argamos promising that he can take this threat on alone and that they should stay back and protect the other worlds. Having faith in him, the Everlasters would continue to protect their worlds as he battled the threat alone.

Argamos soars through the star ways, finding this evil darkness swirling like a vortex in its own black void. It shoned a violet and scarlet color, its center shining a dark purple. Any normal man who were to be in its presence would instantly go mad at the sound of whispers that spewed dark deceptions in the minds of the weak. It suddenly spawned more dark creatures, their shellings like hardened armor that glistened with false stars flowing underneath. These beasts spawned millions upon billions of swarms around Argamos, but he was not afraid.

He kept his cool and held his staff tightly in hand. The beasts had formed a massive sphere around him, closing in tighter and tighter. Yet again, Argamos could feel himself getting stronger and stronger, but still couldn't understand why. He continues to destroy the beasts that attack him, his staff demolishing them with ease. And as before, with each beast he struck down, he could feel his power increasing.

That is when finally, the void had spoken to him: "Why?" The voice was very direct, one could make it out from all the different whispers, and it asked that single question… why? The beasts had all stopped attacking, they moved back away from Argamos, and we're all sucked back into the vortex. "The void speaks?" questioned Argamos. The void had spoken again, only this time it interrogated Argmos: "Why do you lie to yourself? Why do you reject who you truly are, Argamos? Why do you reject me?"

Argamos was in denial, he had been for several millennia. He didn't want to believe that this is what he truly represented in the universe, that this was his aspect that he so desperately searched for. "No! You are a form of pure evil! I reject you and your power because it is not who I am! I am Argamos, the Everlaster of strength, war, and power!" declared Argamos. The vortex had manifested an entity that looked similar to Argamos, only it shoned a purple light. "Tell me, do you really believe that your battles were what strengthened you? Every time you fought, did you truly believe THAT is what gave you your great power? Don't make me laugh." remarked the entity, mocking Argamos.

"After all those years of fighting, you slowly realized why you felt stronger after each battle, didn't you?" the entity interrogated. Argamos is silent, no longer pushing against the entity's words. "It wasn't because you were being fueled by the fighting or the battle, but instead by those you killed. Every being that fell to your power, all those you had slain, their deaths fueled you. They gave you greater power than you had ever known, but you never wanted to acknowledge that reality--that truth!" said the entity.

"All this chaos and destruction that happens now is the result of your denial. All of your friends, all of the innocent lives across the universe are being destroyed because you won't accept your true aspect of reality. You are Argamos, not the Everlaster of strength, war, or power, but the Everlasting warrior of death and destruction incarnate." declared the entity. At this point, he realizes that the entity knows he's been lying to himself for countless eons. "You only have two choices now Argamos: you can either become one with me and embrace your true destiny, ending this rift in reality and bringing true balance. Or you can reject me further, and let this imbalance spread until it tears the universe apart. The choice is yours..." stated the entity, sinisterly.

Argamos realized he can no longer run and hide from the truth any longer. If he continues to refuse his true destiny and deny it further, then the universe itself could be destroyed. This was too heavy a consequence to face, he needed to let go of his reluctance, his denial, and accept who he is meant to be. "Don't let them die, Argamos. You know what you have to do. Accept me, and save everyone." said the entity in an ominous tone. "If it means saving everyone and everything… then I… I accept," said Argamos as a single tear fell down his eye.

With great pain and sorrow overwhelming his heart, he accepts the entity's hand and it absorbs itself into his body. His once shining silver armor became blackened, and his battle staff was covered in dark energy, morphing and becoming almost like a scythe made to reap lives. It changed his body, making him grow larger, small spikes protruding from certain limbs. His crest on his head had grown into a crown of horns. His eyes had gone from having color to being filled with blank emptiness, white voids of nothing.

Truly at this moment, Argamos had become the Everlaster of death. Soon the vortex had closed, and all the beasts had disappeared. Argamos was then transported to the other Everlasters, each of them unable to recognize who he once was in this new form. They looked upon him, frozen in fear at who they were looking at. They were all suddenly transported back to Aeternus, the sun giving off a dusk lighting to the intense reunion.

The waters of their misshapen, flat world flowed loudly, as though the waters themselves could feel the intensity in the air. Argamos now wore a stoic, and yet also somber expression, as the others could not recognize him in this new transformation. "Who are you?" questioned Lancea as she held her spear tightly. "Have you all truly forgotten me?" said Argamos, a hint of sorrow in his voice.

Melo suddenly recognized his voice, even though it sounded different from before. "Argamos?" she questioned nervously. Suddenly, it began to click with the rest of the Everlasters; they all remembered Argamos. Each of them shared a similar shock to see his change in form. He was so much more powerful than before, and his appearance was significantly different from what they remembered.

"Argamos… what happened to you? And why did the beasts suddenly disappear?" question Nasurata, his voice overflowing with anxiety. "I wish you hadn't recognized me; for what I am about to do now shall be more painful than anything I could ever imagine," said Argamos as he got into attack position and suddenly dashed at his brethren. He attacked them all with ferocious speed, the intent to destroy was the only thing on his mind. They questioned him profusely, asking why he would do this to his own kind, but he wasn't hearing any of it. Lancea could feel something was very wrong, like he had been taken over by something darker.

She realized that there was no talking him out of this, and that they needed to fight if they were to survive. Argamos' speed was insane, him appearing in multiple places at once. They surrounded Martalio, all of the afterimages slamming into one, exploding and finishing him. They were all shocked at this brutality; he was truly determined to end all of them, and there wasn't an ounce of remorse in him. Each of them tried, but we're no match for his power and skill; Raacuun Guut tried using his speed and attacked Argamos.

His attacks were so weak, that at one point, Argamos stopped attacking and let him slash at his chest relentlessly. Raacuun’s blade barely left scratches on him. The sheer panic he felt in this moment, realizing his attacks meant nothing to Argamos was terrifying. “Don’t you see how useless that was?” Argamos coldly stated. He then slammed Raacuun Guut with the blunt end of his battle staff, knocking him unconscious and sending him slamming through several Aeternus buildings.

Next was Arcus; she released several arrows at Argamos, each of them divided into thousands. With fast reflexes, Argamos held his Battle Staff towards her, its top igniting with purple energy. It released a massive beam that consumed all of the arrows, and almost arcus had she not dodged. She tried sending another barrage of arrows at him, but she was too late. He blitzed her and backhanded her away, sending her slamming through several sacred buildings.

Melo played from her horn of serenation, using it to create tall blue golem constructs made from musical energy. Her song also boosted the strengths of her allies, as well as her constructs. The golems charged for Argamos, attacking him with all their might. But it was to no avail. Argamos had dashed through them with his bare strength, causing them to explode into blue shards of energy.

Before he could finish off Melo, Nasurata had sent a massive fist made of vegetation careening at Argamos. The fist hit him, sliding on the ground and grabbing him. It squeezed tight and slammed him into the ground several times, each time getting deeper into the ground. He rips and tears out of the plant hand, levitating in the air and sending his battle staff stabbing into the hand repeatedly with its spiked end. He lands on the ground, preparing himself to face off against Nasurata.

With Nasurata being next, he sent a barrage of monstrous plants at Argamos. Argamos slammed his staff into the ground, letting off purple slash waves at the oncoming plants, eviscerating them in their tracks. Nasurata then sent powerful thorny vines directly from the seed of preservation at Argamos to restrain him. He swiftly spun his battle staff at lightning speeds, breaking all the vines and sending his staff flying Nasurata’s way.

Nasurata formed an enchanted wooden shield, attempting to block Argamos’ attack. This fails, his battle staff smashing through Nasurata’s defenses and slamming him through a wall. Lancea threw her spear at Argamos with light speed. Argamos catches the spear with ease and throws it away. He calls his staff back to his hand and swings his staff towards Lancea.

But right as he is about to hit her, he purposely misses so he could block Lancea’s returning spear, heading for the back of his head. The spear bounces off of his Battle staff; Lancea calls her spear back and attacks. They clashed with violent fury, black and silver sparks flying through the air as a massive crater formed from the sheer force of their power. They both locked eyes with each other in an intense stare-down, her silver eyes staring into his blank eyes. She could see inside his soul that there was conflict within himself.

A conflict that was overtaking him by the second. As much as she wished for it, there was no turning back, no saving him at this moment. Right now to her, he had already gone over the edge when he started hurting their brethren. Now more than ever, she was determined to defeat him once and for all and end his path of destruction. Lancea breaks the clash, readying herself for the attack before she received sudden help.

Arasena comes in with her enchanted battle hammer, swinging it at Argamos and actually pushing him back a little bit. He then unexpectedly throws his staff above her, teleporting to it, and slamming down to the ground. This caused a gargantuan explosion of bright purple energy to knock them all away. The explosion was so powerful that it ended up causing the full desecration of their homeworld. Every city was completely leveled, a majority of its continents destroyed.

All that was left was a moon’s worth of land, and a bright orange sun, shining a dusk-like light upon them. At this moment, he had destroyed their one true homeworld. At this moment, Argamos, the Everlaster of death and destruction had caused The Fall of Aeturnus, Home of the Everlasters.

Animalus, the Everlaster of all beasts had emerged from hiding, lashing out at Argamos. His chaotic attacks of the all different beasts of the universe let their wrath unleash against Argamos' treachery. Argamos was quick to retaliate, bashing and slashing away at the beasts inside of Animalus. Animalus then resorts to using his claws of evisceration, managing to push back Argamos just a little bit. But this did not last long; Argamos swiftly overpowered Animalus, piercing him through his chest with the spiked end of his staff and throwing him to the ground.

Animalus was severely weakened, and now none could stand up against Argamos. They all fell to his might, just as he had predicted. All except one last Everlaster was left; the Everlaster of leadership and justice remained, Adir.

Adir was far from everyone else. He could sense a strong presence residing within the home dimension of the Everlasters. So he warps dimensions, and bears witness to the destruction of his homeworld. Argamos could feel his presence fastly approaching, he readied himself, looking in the direction of where he was coming from. The whole time, Adir could feel something was not right, and that his brethren were in danger.

As Argamos looked on into the infinite abyss, he awaited for Adir to show. Suddenly, Argamos was caught by a surprise attack when Adir instead came from behind, piercing him through the back with his lance. Argamos was astonished at his speed; Adir had flown up into the air and blasted Argamos off his lance.

Argamos regains composure, landing on his feet and causing a crater to form. "You're more impressive than I remember Adir, perhaps you can bring me a better challenge than them," said Argamos as he pointed his hand towards the other Everlasters. Some of them were either unconscious or in an eternal slumber. "I don't know who you are or why you've done this to my brethren, but know this, your parade of destruction ends here!" declared Adir as he readied his Lance. "They were my brethren too!! But I had no choice anymore. I must bring this universe back to absolute balance so no one will ever have to suffer again. Your deaths mean more than you could possibly imagine." said Argamos with conviction in his words. "Wait… Argamos? Is that truly you? What have you done?" Adir questioned, realizing it was his old friend behind all this.

"I did what I had to do, I did what I was meant to do, and there's no turning back from that." said argamos with some regret in his voice. Adir charges, both of them clashing in an intense struggle. "Why?! Why did you have to end your own brethren?! Why did you choose us to die?!" Adir yelled. Adir's anger only rose as he continued to question him: "We were meant to bring balance to this universe! Our aspects brought peace and light to all things, and now you've snuffed it out! Why?!" Argamos suddenly regained his conviction, fully entranced by the entity that took over his body: "Admittedly I did want to help in closing the vortex of darkness, but with this newfound aspect, your lives would be the only ones that could satiate my hunger for death and destruction."

Argamos continuously attacks with vicious force, slowly overwhelming Adir. "But if you kill us all, you’ll cause an imbalance in reality itself! You’ll have set this universe on a path of untold destruction!! Would you really risk all of that just because you crave the taste of death?!" Adir interrogated as he defended and evaded Argamos’ attacks. “That won’t be a problem, I’ll simply absorb all of your weapons into my own. That way I can add your power to my own, whilst you all live on as a part of me. Then the balance of this universe will be retained, and you all will save everyone else from my hunger for the next millennia. I’m sure you can agree a reality like that doesn't sound so terrible, right Adir?” said Argamos, having a distinct lack of emotion and empathy in his words.

He had fully given in to the will of the entity, but not of his own accord. It had overtaken him completely, eating away at his will to fight back. Suddenly, a silver beam of energy hits Argamos in the back. Lancea still had some strength within her body to fight just a bit longer. “Me becoming a part of you? Like hell I will!!” she yelled in disgust. “Annoying cur… How are you still alive?!” questioned Argamos in anger. Lancea smirked, her silver lipstick being slightly smudged: “It’ll take a lot more than that to finish me.”

Argamos zooms for her, getting ready to finish her off with a powerful swing of his staff. He raises his staff in the air, but before he could slam the staff down upon her, Adir acted just in time, slamming Argamos in the side and sending a barrage of piercing energy his way. Argamos is hit by this attack, the stabs cutting through his armor and drawing a little bit of blood. This irritates Argamos, making him more aggressive and hit with harder attacks. Adir and Lancea began attacking at the same time, teaming together to take down their former friend.

After the wrongs Argamos had committed were fully realized by Adir, the souls of those whose lives he destroyed had cried out to Adir for justice. This fueled his power, his aspect of justice, giving him the boost in strength he needed to finish this fight for good. Adir and Lancea double-teamed against Argamos, both of their simultaneous attacks proving to be too much for the dark warrior. He suddenly threw his battle staff at Adir and went for Lancea, believing her to be the weaker one. She then thrusts her spear at him with insane speed and precision, he tries blocking with his arm, only to get his arm and chest pierced, her spear nearly hitting his heart.

Lancea readies a blast from her spear, but is stopped when Argamos backhands her off of him and calls his battle staff back to him. He then ignites the tip of the staff with bright red energy, flying at Lancea while the staff trails red behind him. Lancea readies her spear for a counterattack, but unexpectedly, when their weapons clash, her spear shatters like glass.

Argamos reeled in for another swing, until Adir finally regained composure and rescued Lancea. He jabbed Argamos in his side, firing beams from his lance while pushing him. Adir then blasts Argamos off of his lance and across from him. Argamos calls his battle staff to him, the two were now in a staredown.

They both faced each other while the sun silhouetted them both; their armors were both shattered to similar degrees while their bodies had suffered scars and wounds. They charged at each other for one final strike, both of them putting their all into their weapons, and into themselves. Adir’s lance glowed a brilliant blue, while Argamos’ battle staff glowed a darkened red and purple mix. From a distance, streams of purple, red, and blue could be seen rocketing for each other in front of the sun. When they finally clashed, a massive shockwave of blue, purple, and red exploded.

Argamos was knocked into a comatose state, but Adir was fatally wounded, and didn’t have much time left. With his final moments, he used whatever powers he had left to seal Argamos away in a dimension where he would remain in a deep slumber for the rest of eternity. The remaining Everlasters that were still alive had gone into hiding, disguised amongst the common folk. When Adir finally passed, he had his lance sent far out into the infinite reaches of space, so that if Argamos was to return, his successor would be worthy and capable of wielding its power, finally putting an end to Argamos once and for all.

Lancea, being left with the last of Adir’s seed, would raise this child. This child will be great. This child will be the chosen. This child will be: Laxius, the last son of Adir, and the final wielder of the Lance of Absolution.