Garden of Enchantment 5: A Glimpse

Taking over Brockton Bay?

“Out of the question,” Faultline deadpanned. 

Despite the fact that he had a lot of influence over her, Faultline was adamant about staying out of Brockton Bay’s cape scene. 

“Why not?” Talrith  asked her. “Even if we don’t engage in proper criminal activities, we’re sure to make more money and stabilize the city.”

Faultline snorted. “That would also mean taking on the likes of Lung and Hookwolf. I’m sure I don’t have to explain about them…?” she asked pointedly. 

Talrith wasn’t sure. “Well, I come from a world where space dragons, mass invasions from Space Between Reality, gods descending to select their avatars, and magic capable of warping entire landscapes are a thing,” he replied as pointedly as she had. And he wasn’t exaggerating. While he himself was not on their level, he had encountered Aurelion Sol, creatures of the Void, Pantheon, and the Shadow Isles. “I mean, that’s not even considering the Titan Wars that birthed me...”

The others in the room stared at him in surprise. Faultline stared at him for a while before she spoke up, seemingly for everyone else also in the room. 

“You know, we never actually learned about where you are from,” she said. “Want to weave us a bit of your history?” she asked. 

He grinned at an opportunity to weave grand stories, true stories but stories nonetheless. He considered what he should start with. 

“How about the Void War?” he said before he tapped into magic and wove an illusion of what he saw. “And of the horrors they spawn?”

-VB-

Interlude: Gregor

When Talrith wove his arms to the side like he was feeling the wind, an illusion popped up, covering the entire room. Gregor looked around rapidly, turning his left and right to see any danger.

He saw the outline of the room, but he felt like he was somewhere else. The air conditioning of the room told him that he should still be inside the Palanquin, but the strong sunlight baring down on him and others made this so surreal. 

“Where are we?” Faultline asked, ever calm and collected. Gregor couldn’t help but respect that. It was why he followed her: she was a leader who wouldn’t lead him wrongly. 

Gregor also looked around through the illusion and saw high mountains all around them, many near the horizon and some closer. 

“This … is the valleys of Icathia, the foolish kingdom that tore a gap into the Void. You are seeing what I remember.” 

Gregor noticed something closer to the sun just as others noticed something from the opposite direction. His eyes widened as he saw something he couldn’t help but feel was as majestic as a medieval army could get. Marching in numbers he couldn’t count, bearing the standard of an empire he knew nothing about, and armed and armored in weapons and armors that his instinct told were beyond his understanding, an army that could have been the armies of Heaven marched towards them.

“HOLY SHIT!” 

The sound of Newter’s exclamation got Gregor to whirl around to look at the other side, and his eyes widened in horror. 

Creatures born out of nightmares rose from tears in reality, some bigger than buildings and Endbringers. Some of them warped reality, causing even more tears and pulling out swarms of creatures that made Nilbog’s creations look cuddly and cute.

“What are we watching, Talrith?” Faultline asked, and her tone brooked no jokes. This was the tone Gregor only heard from her very few times while he worked under her. 

“The god armies of the Empire of Shurima about to clash against the monsters of the Void,” he spoke quietly. “This was one battle I stayed far away from.”

Gregor shivered. Beyond just how quietly he spoke, Gregor felt something aged from Talrith just then. Their mysterious friend laughed, joked, and played just like them when he was hanging out with Elle and Margaret privately. At first, Gregor thought that Talrith was just unfortunate being dragged from his home by Elle’s power. 

No one expected much from him, and he knew this. It was because of that expectation that he saw parts of others that they rarely showed anyone else. It was something like that which allowed him to notice instances of Talrith showing something far deeper and older than his appearance suggested. 

“‘God armies?’” Spitfire asked as she looked towards the army that Gregor saw first. Her eyes widened. “What the f…?”

“The Empire of Shrumia was a land filled with power and magic. Long before modernity, they tore apart the barrier that kept humans as mere mortals. They gave magic beyond understanding to mortals, forcing them to ascend to what could be considered godhood among mortals. Do you see the man leading its armies? The god warrior carrying a blade so magnificent and large?”

Gregor turned and looked, and saw the man. 

Standing taller than everyone else but those like him, he exuded power by merely existing. There was a confidence in the way he gripped his blade and the way he led an entire army. The very air thrummed in reaction to his presence. 

And there were hundreds like him.

“That is Aatrox. He still lives to this day.”

“How long ago was this battle then?” Elle asked, who spent more time more lucidly due to Talrith’s presence. 

“About four thousand years ago.”

Gregor choked on his spit. 

The two armies, one of light and order and the other of dark and chaos, paused, staring at each other from the other side of the battlefield. 

And then…

They clashed.

Gregor kept his eyes on Aatrox. He watched as the “god warrior” shot towards the sky in a single jump, and came slashing down with a sword that had to be at least seven feet long. Brimming with energy, the sword slashed through one of the Monsters with ease. Other god warriors charged into the battle with their normal soldiers behind them.

The “Void” monsters screeched in response to the death of their fellows and counterattacked. Purple plasma flew across the air, slamming into soldiers and god warriors alike. Instantly, Gregor realized what set the god warriors apart from the normal soldiers. 

When those attacks struck normal soldiers, they disappeared as they either burned or disappeared due to the attack. The god warriors took the hits, sometimes even stepping in between an attack and a normal soldier, and then attacked right back, shrugging off hits like they were nothing.

Some of these god warriors blasted fireballs like they were magicians (Talrith said they were made with magic so… they were magicians!) and others ripped apart the very ground they stood on, causing the monsters to fall in, and then closed the rupture, causing everyone within to die. 

Lightning flew like arrows.

Bodies piled up.

The sky turned black from the smoke made by fires and the smell of blood began to thicken.

Gregor turned his eyes away from watching a man get eaten alive. 

It was horrifying. Everything was horrifying.

Just as the battle reached the peak with monstrous titans stepping into reality and the god warriors themselves starting to tire, Talrith undid the illusion. 

Their entire team sat frozen in their seats, though Newter was frozen standing. 

“I might not be strong as those god warriors or the monsters of the Void, but I’d like to think that I’m pretty good with my chosen skills,” Talrith smirked. “I mean, I had to be to survive that kind of a battle, right? I wasn’t exactly going to let some Voidlings destroy my connections.”

Gregor looked at Talrith again. Truly, he was not a person who could be judged by his appearance, especially more so considering that he could change his appearance at will. While it was good to have someone with Talrith’s supposed level of experience, Gregor wondered if it was really alright. 

Because to him, Talrith didn’t seem like someone who would sit and simply enjoy life.