Luxia: “I thought I told you not to show your face to me ever again.”

Wister: “What? Can’t a guy enjoy a festival?”

Luxia sighs and looks around, seeing Aster and Poi

Luxia: “I see…”

Wister’s eyes start to glow, “Touch them and you die”

Luxia: “What?” She laughs, “What will you even be able to… do….” Her face goes from laughing to realization and a glare at Wister, “Don't threaten me mortal.”

Wister’s eyes are still glowing, “Don't even think about it then”

Luxia sighs, “This is the worst birthday ever.”

Wister rolls his eyes, “At least you celebrate it.”

Luxia glares again and sighs, mumbling, “it's never fun”

Wister: “Then you shouldn't have started the tradition”

Luxia: “I didn’t even- ugh it is impossible to talk to you.”

Wister: “Then leave, go get ready for your speech. You only have an hour left.”

Luxia huffs, “Out of all mortals it had to be you. I better not see you in the crowd”

Wister: “Just for that i'm going to be there to piss you off”

Luxia glares with Yellow eyes again and leaves, her cloak covering her entire body, hiding a dress she wore specifically for today

Wister watches her walk away and sighs, looking at the sky, “Happy Luxia day.”

He looks up to the sky as he wonders what the day will hold. He walks around and eventually meets up with Poi and Aster.

Aster frowns and looks over Wisteria, “You alright?”

Wisteria: “I’m fine. Just ran into someone.”

Aster smiles a bit, “Well let’s start heading towards the town square. The main event is starting.”

Luxia walks up to the stage, the townspeople clapping as she walks up. She has a fake smile on her face, an act for her to reassure everyone that she is happy and ok. She begins to talk about how wonderful the last year has been, and how she has been watching over them all.

Wister rolls his eyes at the speech, but continues to listen, wondering where this is going to go. He hands Poi a dagger to chew on so as to not cause trouble. The sheep happily takes it.

Aster’s silver eyes shine as she listens to Luxia. “Our goddess sure is amazing isn't she Wister?”

Wister: “Eh. Not really my type of gal.”

Aster nudges him and they both laugh

Aster: “As if you have a type. Honestly I'm wondering if you are even straight.”

Wister: “Oh I'm into women alright, but not just women.”

Aster smiles a bit, “How about I set you up with someone?”

Wister: “Pass. Your standards aren't the same as mine”

The twins smile and continue to talk in between Luxia’s speech, slowly catching up with each others life.

Luxia: “The future you mortals have brought today will be written about in history books for years to come. I thank you for making this city in my name, and for following me as your god. I truly couldn't ask for more devoted and passionate followers.” This time she smiles, a genuine smile.

Wister sees this smile and sighs softly, and smiles as well as he looks up at the sky. 

Aster: “She truly is a benevolent Goddess.”

Wister: “She is one of the nicer ones, yeah.”

Luxia laughs a little after making a joke, but her eyes start to glow as she turns to her left.

Aster feels a slight rumbling and looks both left and right, “What….”

Wister’s eyes glow as well as he turns to his right, the hairs on his arms sticking up a little. He starts to fiddle with the ring on his right hand, “No… don't tell me those idiots… Not today.”

Wister turns to the knight next to Aster with a commanding shout, “Get everyone to safety!”

He starts to run to the right, The ground shaking as he runs. It feels as if an earthquake is coming, but the gods wouldn't let that happen… right? He continues to run as his ring glows. He runs by a group of adventurers running into the square past Wister, yelling to evacuate. The same adventurers that came to his shop that one day.

A horde of monsters break through into the town square. The knights of the town start to react, attempting to guide the citizens in the opposite direction as Wister’s right ring transforms into a weapon, a golden hammer with words inscribed on it, “For myself. To remember the right path I forge.”

A little girl trips and falls, attempting to recover but a monster catches up. It attempts to grab her but a barrier is casted around the girl. The girl gets up and runs past Aster who erected the barrier. The little girl thanks Aster as she runs and Aster sighs softly, “I can't even get a break with my brother…”

Luxia is stunned on the stage but soon the monsters start to approach her. The second they get onto the stage she clenches her teeth and wipes her hand with a snap motion. A flurry of orbs appear around her with arrows of light shooting from the orbs, killing the monsters that dared to approach her stage.

The knights continue to help, but in the wave of monsters, they can only do so much. Wister stands in the middle, attempting to kill the invading monsters to stop them but he can't deal with them all, he doesn't have the range to kill all of them.

Aster looks around at everything, seeing the hoarde of monsters she cannot stop. She says a silent prayer to Ira, her mentor, then her hair tips glow. Their pink hue catches the eye of Luxia, who stares for a moment.  Aster then spins her staff and it forms a magic circle, casting a giant beam of light in front of her. The beam kills the monsters in a straight line. She makes a ‘Tsk’ sound and dashes at the monsters, using the staff as a physical blunt weapon to try and save people, yet the wave seems endless. Behind her forms multiple magic circles, one at a time until there are 4 in total. She casts a wide range of spells, Fire lances, hail storms, Thunder strikes, everything she could to stop them. With the circles, 2 translucent fox tails appear and attach themselves to her, giving her a fox demihuman look.

Wisteria looks at Aster for a moment, a frown on his face. But he shakes his head and looks back towards the horde of monsters. One of the monster’s claws reach for his body but  he swipes his hand at a monster, grabbing its face and slamming it into the ground, "How lukewarm, these damn monsters. They aren't even strong, there are just so many of them." His eyes glow a bright yet dirty gold color, but this time an emerald green pupil center, looking around as he starts to run, using his momentum to swing his hammer with one arm.

 His objective is clear: try to stop the monsters from advancing. He stops most, but some get past for the knights and mages to stop, as well as Luxia and Aster

Aster, using this spell casting method, runs out of mana quickly. She falters for a moment, then starts to burn away at her stamina next, turning it into mana for her spells. The horde is relentless but over time the group of saviors soon dwindle the numbers down to just a few. Aster pants, her mana and stamina gone. She takes a step forward, looking towards her brother but Luxia puts a hand on her shoulder and motions for her to stop, nodding her head in a ‘no’ Motion.

Luxia: “You have done enough. Now rest.”

"Easier said than done."

Wisteria has his left glove off, grabbing a monster’s head and turning it into a sapphire statue. The monsters have fully invaded the square but are now just corpses that the knights and mages of the kingdom are making sure stay dead.

A few rise back up as undead skeletons which make Luxia  frown and raise her hand to the sky. The orbs fly into the air and position themselves all around the square as a beam of light shoots down from the sky, killing everything in its vicinity except for the knights and Aster. Wister however yells out in pain as it hits him, dropping his hammer. 

Aster: “H-huh? Why did-” Her eyes glaze over and she falls, Luxia catching her.

Luxia sighs softly, “She has potential.” Luxia motions for a guard to come over and take Aster.

The guard comes over and takes her

“Take her to the infirmary in the chapel. They will do just fine.”

Guard: “As you wish my goddess.”

She then turns around to see a monster rush her, her eyes widening as it soon falls to the ground, stabbed by a green knife with a symbol on the base of the blade. She looks in Wister’s direction and he has his left hand extended. He is panting, his left ring no longer on his hand, presumably the knife he had thrown. His body is wracked with injuries, bloody with the coloring of golden blood. He walks up to her and flicks his right wrist and the hammer comes back to his right hand and turns back into his ring. He grabs the knife and stabs it deeper into the monster, making it scream and lie there, limp. It dies and he pulls it out to wipe the monster's blood with his shirt with the words written on the blade, “For Wister, my most devout follower.”

It turns back into the ring in his left hand and Wister looks at Luxia, his right glove torn and his left in his right hand. He puts back on his left glove as he continues to look at Luxia, his head bleeding but he doesn't seem to care. He has cuts all over his body and bruises all over his back and chest, his shirt a bit torn for her to see his scars.

Luxia clenches her teeth and slaps Wister, yelling out, “Why didn’t you act sooner! Do you know how many people died!”

Wister looks down at her, his eyes glowing. “132 people. I told you-”

She punches him on his right cheek, the fist stopped by his face “You should’ve done more! Why didn’t you do more!”

He just takes the punch and looks back at her, “I told you to Evacuate.”

She attempts the punch again but stops herself, his eyes staring into hers. His eyes are glowing much more than when she first met him, instead of being broken and wild when they first met, his eyes are now calm and focused. She trembles a bit but stands up straight and stares him in the eyes, “Apostle of Fivali, Why didn’t you use your weapons first!”

Wister: “... That is not my title anymore. I told you. I TOLD YOU TO EVACUATE! BUT YOU STOOD THERE LIKE AN IDIOT!”

She takes a step back and he takes a step forward, the knights starting to walk over after hearing his screams. THe normally calm and rational blacksmith seems to have broken down mentally, his eyes shaking as she watches the green pupil slowly approach and cover the gold.

Wister: “You actually think I did not try my hardest? What a useless goddess!”

He takes another step but a knight pushes him back. Wister punches the knight in the cheek right on the metal plate, denting the metal armor.

The knights start to rush him faster but he just fights against them, “You are an all powerful being! I could’ve stayed back! I could’ve let you handle it since you are oh so Powerful!” 

He beats down the last knight that tried to stop him and takes another step forward, his golden aura overpowering the two knights behind Luxia as they tremble in place, yet moving to stand in his way as it is their duty.

Wister looks down at Luxia again, closing his eyes for a few seconds to take his breath and sighing softly in frustration. “Don’t blame me for something you couldn't stop” 

Luxia’s face is furious but scared, her hands shaking a bit. 

Luxia: “You... You could’ve done more…”

Wister: “Or I could’ve done nothing. As per our deal I don’t interact or make the life of the gods harder. Well guess what. Today was your birthday. Today was your day to show off yourself and for you to save everyone and dazzle them. I could've stayed back and let you handle it. I really thought about it. But I decided to try and help and what do I get? The punches and slaps of a brat goddess.”

He takes another step forward and lowers himself to her eye level the knight's hands on his chest to stop him from approaching more. “Happy Luxia day.” His eyes have changed into a strange pattern, the green pupil changing its shape into a sort of 8 tiered wheel. ❋ They slowly change back into a black pupil with a golden iris and he pulls back, starting to walk away, Luxia falling to her knees and she stares at the buildings around them destroyed and burning. Tears start to form in her eyes as the town she helped build has been ravaged. She starts to sob, her tears falling to the ground as the knights behind her pat her on the back and say it wasn’t her fault.

In the alley nearby, a man watches. He watches Wisteria leave and Luxia cry, chuckling to himself. He starts to leave, a tattoo of the same emblem that was in Wisteria's eyes on his neck.

❋