House of the Celestials: Crown of Stars Rewrite

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Before Sam could enter the room, Rosa stopped her. Shaking her head, she held her spear before her and entered first. She scanned the space, taking notes of what looked like the inside of a temple. It was a hall, more like a shrine with a statue of some deity on the upper floor. The deity was dressed in some ancient toga, a sword in one hand and an ankh in another. She was carved from the glowing blue crystal, a radiant surge of power emitted out of it, the surfaces carved with reliefs of various figures. There was a table that seemed reserved for offerings, an incense altar. The temple seemed to be empty, with no immediate sign of danger. Sam followed next, her eyes scanning the large and wide temple as she sought out the source of the colors. Sam stopped as she saw the colors drifting out of the Incense altar. 

"A temple," Trynr said. Sam's eyes landed on the statue of the deity. She felt the pull that had dragged her here come from the statue itself. Her birthmark had stopped glowing. The others, the mundane ones looked at her with fear and a little bit of suspicion. To them, it was weird that Sam had some kind of marking of some symbol of this weird place they had mysteriously ended up in. And she happened to be able to open the door to some kind of strange temple. Even Sam was doing her best to ignore how abnormal everything about herself was. She noticed a second table apart from the offering table that housed some kind of tablet. There were runic markings on the tablet and strange runic alphabets that had a strange vibe to it.

"Those are Aurenidril's ancient Runic alphabets," Trynr said. "What are they doing here," Sam had no idea what an Aurenidril or whatever was. She was just focused on the markings, her attention fixed on it.

"Where are we, Sam," Callum asked.

"I...I don't know," Sam said. She had been drawn here and yet she had no clue as to why. She refocused on the tablet, her fingers touching it. At the contact, the runes began to glow and move around, and a thundering crack resounded throughout the temple. 

"Sam, get away from it," Rosa said pulling Sam away from the tablet as the runes flew out of the tablet, forming a vortex of darkness above them. Soon the the space was divided by the black circle and then something flew out of it. Two objects flew in opposite directions crashing on the ground, sending a mini quake throughout the room. The Mundane humans lost their footing, falling over as the dust from the crash wore off. Sam was closest to the one that had landed on the left side of the hall. The object was a person, a shadow within the dust that covered its figure. She heard a cough and some cuss words, making Sam realize that a living being had survived falling on the hard ground while moving at some unknowable speed. As soon as the dust settled, Sam was shocked to see...

"It's you," Leonard Haravok said, his attention grabbed by Sam's appearance. Sam was also shocked to see him. It was the Sun Prince, the character she had been drawing for most of her life, standing before her. He was dressed in the same black leather trench coat, a black jacket with a white buttoned down shirt with the top part unbuttoned, leaving his bronze colored chest exposed, his golden hair was luscious and glowing, along with his bright blue eyes that reminded Sam of the glowing crystal around her. His eyes scanned his environment, taking note of where he had appeared.

"An Echo field," Leon said. "So that's where you all went,"

"Leon!" Rosa screamed, delighted to see him even though she hated his guts. Leon Haravok turned to Rosa acknowledging her presence.

"So you're here," Leon said. Sam turned to face Rosa, confused as to what was going on.

"Did you just come from the outside," Rosa asked.

"Yes, And I have business to attend to," Leon said as the other figure that had followed him through the portal got up. A roar followed that sent chills down the spines of the mundane humans, even Rosa. Many fell as they scrambled from the monster that had appeared. When the dust cleared away, Sam saw something far worse than the giant red ants from before. On top of the wrecked ground, was a huge, eight feet tall monster, with crimson streaked fur, shaped like an ape, covered by what looked to be armor. Its eyes were black, filled with some darkness that made the hair on her body sizzle. Its presence felt suffocating like it was absorbing all the oxygen in the hall, making it impossible for her to breathe. She turned to see Henry, but he was helpless on the ground, foam pouring out of his mouth. So were so many people, their bodies lame and knocked out from the aura the monster was releasing.

"Is that an Abomination," Rosa muttered. Sam saw fear for the first time in Rosa's eyes since they ended up in this Echo field.

"Yes, so please, stay out of my way," Leon said as he walked up to the Fallen beast. The beast released more of its aura, the suffocating pressure increased, and Sam's legs felt like giving in, unable to stand the increase in gravity. But then for some reason, a part of Sam's being resisted it. Fought against the influence. But the pressure alone made her end up crawling on the ground. Rosa was the only one left half standing, one knee on the ground, while the other one wasn't. As Leon approached the Beast, the monster made its move. The Beast lunged right at Sam with frightening speed for its size. Its arm extended, his wrist moving out of its arm, exposing a bone structure that was expanding. The boy reacted with a punch to the hand, sending it crashing to the ceiling. He then sent two more punches to the Beast's face, the shockwave from it made the entire hall shake. Sam lost her footing as she tried to get up, her butt landing on the floor. She moved backward to where Henry and Rosa were. The Beast had taken the punches from Leon, its fury at what the mortal had done to its pack made the Abomination able to tank his attacks. And even though the Abomination wanted to kill the mortal, it had something more urgent to do. It's eyes fell on Sam, it's target that was behind the Paladin. Leon Haravok noticed the look of the Beast.

So its target is the girl. Leon thought to himself.

"What's the matter" He said. Leon flexed his muscles, knowing that those two punches of his did nothing to the Abomination.

"Paladiiin..." the Ape hissed. And then it lunged at Leon. Leon got into a fighting stance, his face set into a neutral expression as he began to weave out of the reach of the Ape's attacks. The floor of the temple shattered as the Ape's massive kick tore through the crystal floor. He blocked a kick from the Ape with his foot, then sent two quick jabs to the chin. Leon's body was highly reinforced, his strength matched that of the ape, so black blood spilled out of its mouth as Leon's fist connected. The Ape glanced at Leon and then spat black blood mixed with broken fangs on the floor. And then growling, the Beast smacked him with both arms sending a shockwave that blasted everyone further away from the monsters that had arrived. Sam was caught by Rosa, who had moved to grab and protect her from the impact. She could hear the sound of their fight as they moved across the temple. Crystal debris flew up, huge chunks of them, as the two beings landed blows upon blows on each other. The boy was faster, his aim precise and quick, his speed making him dodge the heavy round punches of the Monster. And then another blast of debris, and something came flying smashing through some of the mundane humans like paste. Sam watched in horror as more large chunks of crystals fell from on top, crushing more than half of the people who had followed Sam into the tunnel. Leon was crushed into one of the pillars that supported the ceiling of the temple, its wall badly damaged. Sam saw a couple that was crushed by debris, one dead while the other was screaming in pain, trying to force the rock off himself. Rosa pulled her away from it, pushing her as far away from the fight as possible.

"This is what happens when an Ascendant and an Infernal collide," Rosa said as if it explained away the chaos. Leon on the other hand, had tried his best to contain the aftermath of their blows but there wasn't much he could do when fighting against a fallen Beast. The monster in front of him howled, a challenge from the abomination that made Leon only grin. He had a savage look in his eyes, a look that seemed to border on ecstasy and boredom. Sam couldn't decide what it was. He jumped off the wall and landed in front of the beast. And then he took a step, and then he was gone, like he had teleported. But there was no flash of light or Magic circle under his feet like there was in most fantasy comics. It was only after he appeared beside the monster in the front that Sam realized what had happened. He had simply moved faster than her eye could perceive, and now in front of her, he was striking the monster with his bare fists. His moves consisted of fast paced punches that went well with his explosive power and speed. But what drew her fascination was the fact that he was able to go toe to toe with the huge armored monster. Their fight began to break the ground again, cracks appearing across, sending a miniature quake around the entire temple. 

Boom! A shockwave spread throughout, it was like a thunderous sound had ripped through the fabric of reality itself. The monster swiftly used its extended arms to grab a wrecked Pillar and threw it at Leon. He caught it and easily ripped the large rock like it was nothing, then used the half part of it to smack the monster. Meanwhile, Leon was getting ready to finish the fight. The few attacks that he had used on the Beast were mostly to gauge the level of power that the Beast had, and now that he had seen it, the boredom was starting to get to him. Leon didn't like fighting unarmed, but he had used his fist only to test the Abomination. And Leon found the beast lacking. Most of its power was gone with the death of its pack, and Leon exchanging blows for blows was just him playing around. He flicked his hand gathering particles of golden light, and a single edge curved sword appeared. Leon grabbed the blade and began to get to work. The air around him got intense, and cracks of yellow electricity emanated from him as he began to thrust and slash at the beast. The Ape tried to use his armor to block the attacks but the blade easily cut through the metal, spilling more black blood. By the time the beast realized that its armor was useless against Leon's blade, it was too late. Leon had delivered countless cuts on the beast. Even the Beast trying to reinforce its defense didn't work, as Leon overpowered the Abomination, using vertical slashes, up and down, to smack the Beast around the temple. The others had gone into a corner of the hall where Rosa with the help of Callum and Tyrnr had conjured some kind of green barrier around those that were still alive, protecting them from the aftermath of the clashes. Knowing that Rosa was there to protect the rest, Leon began to let loose more of his power. He was filled with spots of black blood, a weird rotten smell hanging over him. The Beast was bleeding fiercely from the cuts it had received from Leon. His tanned skin glowed, golden lights wrapping around him. A warm feeling spread across Sam's chest making her feel good. The light spread across the street wrapping itself around them in a protective way. There was a loud piercing roar that Sam felt that could have torn her eardrums, her bones shook at the sound of it. Sam did not like that feeling. The monster gathered enough force within its feet and bounded off the ground, Leon zoomed towards it, both forces colliding against each other that cause a circular shaped shockwave that decimated the ground. The monster backhanded the boy, blood splashed out of his mouth as he fell. Then it sent a forward kick right to his guts. Then, it was followed by a downward punch that sent rocks flying everywhere. Even with all the force the monster generated, as Leon's body smashed through the ground, there wasn't that much damage on him. But the beast didn't seem to care for it turned its attention back to Sam. Rosa got in front of her, even as she spared most of her attention on strengthening the barrier spell she had constructed. The monster began to approach them, Sam sensing the overwleming darkness that was emanating from it. Hwne it got closer, it sent a punch but the barrier held on, though it consumed a lot of concentration from Rosa, Callum and Trynr. The latter two coughed up blood, falling down from the pressure. But Rosa held on.

"Must bring you." It said in a howling inhuman voice. "Must bring you. But can't touch Asha'yee. His...ss Ma...jeeessty ordered...to bring the Star scorched… he requests your presence-" Sam couldn't understand what the creature was saying but the monster didn't get a chance to finish as a golden sword sliced through the arm in front of the barrier. Leon appeared in a golden flash and kicked the Ape to the other side of the street, away from the barrier.

"Time to finish this." Although he didn't have any blood or sign of damage from the attacks the Ape had done on him, he looked palish, with drops of sweat sliding down his temple. But even with the exhaustion that he was feeling, Sam could see a crazy glint in his eyes. His expression at this moment was like that of someone experiencing the best that life had to offer to him. Within her heart, Sam felt a tinge of enviousness and pull towards the enigma that was Leon. Leon's mouth stretched into a maniac grin. He was enjoying the battle. This Ape was more stubborn than he had judged it to be. It was forcefully drawing more power than it should have just to deal with Leon.

More! More! Make it more entertaining! Leon summoned two more golden swords. He swirled the blade around as he moved towards the Abomination.

"Paladin won't let me do my job." the Abomination shrieked " was asked not to harm the girl...but you....I'll make an exception. I'll feed upon your carcass."

"Entertain me more, Great Ape," Leon yelled. " Give me more of your misery" The swords began to glow and shine more brightly, making it look like the sun had appeared in the temple. The golden lights were back on him, sparks were emitting off his body. This...This was power... Sam's mind said to her. The Abomination's body began to glow, a blackish aura that made Sam feel like bugs were crawling on her skin. The boy attacked first, using his sword to strike at the neck of the creature. The Ape ducked around it, sending a forward jab but the boy blocked the jab with his second blade. And then the Ape poured more barrages of punches. Leon parried all the attacks, using horizontal slashes both reverse and forward to shift the momentum of the attack away from him. As time went on, he began to channel more Mana from his core, his strength and speed rising. His blades would move past the ape's defense, rendering a couple of slashes at the Abomination. Then using a vertical slash with a curved arc, he was able to cut off the right arm of the Abomination. Black blood sprayed out of the abomination as it shrieked in pain. And like that, the fight became blurry. They were both moving at a fast pace and Sam began to lose sight of both of them. She had never seen anything move so inhumanly fast. Ringing laughter echoed everywhere. Sam knew the laughter belonged to the boy. The boy appeared out of thin air, standing horizontally against one of the hall's surfaces... no..not the hall..but the space between them. The boy was standing horizontally in the air. The boy smiled sadistically, his eyes glowing insanely. He leaped from whatever invisible platform he was standing on, spinning his body in a twister like movement, releasing a wave of golden light that tore through the crystal ground. The Ape was covered by the light, its scream of pain was cut off by the exploding sound that came after the light. Due to the movement of the boy, the fight had gotten a little further away from them so the attack didn't come close to them, but Sam could still feel the intense heat and the quaking of the ground. Even with the attack Leon had released, the ape had survived with some of its armor broken, black blood leaking out. Its face was consumed with an endless rage, its black aura solidifying and becoming like armor. It moved quickly grabbing Leon, who still was laughing, and slammed him against the wall. And then it did it again a couple of times. And that was when the Ape went in for the finishing move. Dark energy began to draw and focus into a ball, swelling up as dark lighting struck the ground.

"D...iiee!" The Fallen Beast screeched, throwing itself at Leon, and directing the accumulation of its energy on him.

"No. You die," Leon muttered.

[Hyperion: Chaotic field-Crimson pressure] 

There was a beam of red light, a pressure unlike anything that shook the entire structure of the Pocket space, the hall shaking as debris of the ceiling fell off. Sam covered her eyes as the blinding light covered the entire hall. After a while, Sam opened her eyes, to find that the Monster was gone. Specks of ashes drifted through the air, dissipating as nothing was left of the monster. Rosa dismissed the barrier, pulling her spear from the ground that she had struck. Sam watched curiously as the boy smoothed his golden locks back. Now that he was done with the creature, Leon paid attention to where he had ended up. His eyes moved through the squashed humans, the collateral damage of his fight. He took out a flask from his storage band and took a sip from it. He came up in front of the statue of the deity, the holiness of its sacredness was still strong.

"Leon!," Rosa said moving to him with the others. Callum had found the strength to get up, while Henry was helping Trynr to get up as well.

"I see you're all alive," Leon said.

"You're a Pleiadian," Trynr said. "What's a Pleiadian doing in this side of the galaxy," A Pleiadian. So he wasn't Human. Sam noticed that he didn't look human. No human could have golden colored hair like him, nor have a face as symmetrical structured. He was so handsome that Sam didn't know how to describe it. A true predator.

"Leon's a friend of the Golden Dawn," Rosa said. "If you're here, I believe you know a way out of here," 

"Hmm!" A silver sword appeared in his hand and he sliced the air itself, making a long hole manifest. "You can get out of..."

"I'm not leaving," Sam said. Sam was still feeling the pull, the intensity of it having gotten stronger. She felt her leg move without her input, walking past Leon, who did nothing. One of his eyes was raised as he realized what was happening. Rosa tried to stop Sam but Leon quickly grabbed her arm.

"You do know what this place is," Leon said.

"An Echo field," Rosa said.

"An Echo field of an Awakening temple," Leon said. Rosa's eyes widened upon realizing what Leon had said. Sam ignored everything as she returned to the table with the tablet. Her right arm with the symbol of the deity statue began to glow again. Sam placed her palm on the tablet, and a green light gushed out. She tried to move but Sam's legs gave out from under her. She collapsed on the floor, her body too heavy. Like she couldn't hold it upright. She had never felt so exhausted before in her life. The boy came into view as he carried her from the ground. But it didn't matter, she felt herself falling into the darkness, and just like that she was out cold.