PART II: AFTER THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 13: Guardians of the Nova

• Decades after the end of the Flora Civil War and the fall of Heliseum, the Nova remained safe in the sanctuary city of Pantheon, protected by the four sacred stones that formed the Protective Shield.

• Two children named Kyle and Velderoth became friends with a girl named Tear, who had been shunned by the Nova for having been born without magic or a tail. Together, they became the Heliseum Force and trained every day in order to become strong enough to take back their capital.

• One day, the three of them found Nefarious Priests attempting to steal the eastern sacred stone. While Velderoth went to get help, Tear grabbed the stone and fell unconscious upon touching it. As the priests attempted to kill her, Kyle awakened as the next Kaiser and used his powers to defeat them, falling unconscious soon after.

• The pair were brought to the infirmary, where Tear learned that the stone had been fused to her arm as a bracelet, thereby weakening the Protective Shield without the stone to lend its power.

• Feeling guilty over her actions, Tear ran off as Kyle woke up. After learning about his destiny as Kaiser, Kyle was informed by Fenelle the high priestess and Cartalion the knight captain that, with Gerand Darmoor having awakened as the Transcendent of Life, the Nova would need to ally with other Transcendents in order to win the war.

• Fenelle told Kaiser that according to Nova historical records, Darmoor had been the prince of the High Flora, and that he had been a staunch opponent of the Flora Civil War, believing that the High Flora and Verdant Flora needed to coexist peacefully.

• During the final battle of the war, Darmoor had awakened as the Transcendent of Life in response to the massive amounts of carnage around him. Having gone insane from the loss of life, Darmoor had come to believe that peace was impossible in life as it currently existed, for which he had vowed to destroy all life and recreate it into perfect beings.

• As Kaiser continued training to become the Guardian of the Nova, Tear heard the voice of Eskalade, an ancient dragon spirit. Eskalade explained that his spirit had resided in the holy relic of the Nova, which had been given to them by the Ancient Gods of the Nova. When Magnus had invaded Heliseum, the Nova had transferred the relic’s power into the sacred stones in order to transport them, with Eskalade’s spirit inadvertently being transferred from the relic into the eastern stone.

• Eskalade offered to share his power with Tear, explaining that the condition to use the power of the sacred stone was to have a high reputation amongst the people. Though Eskalade had initially hoped to have Tear gain reputation with her prowess as a warrior, he instead used his power to turn her into an idol, Angelic Buster, which would allow her to become famous, even without innate magic or strength. As Angelic Buster began performing and gaining a following, she slowly began absorbing more of Eskalade’s powers, allowing her to become even stronger.

• While Tear began practicing with her new powers, Velderoth slowly began growing jealous of Kaiser, whose newfound abilities had allowed him to grow even stronger than Velderoth.

• Soon after, both Kaiser and Angelic Buster realized that the Nefarious Priests were attempting to steal the other three sacred stones. Though they attempted to fight off the priests, they were unable to stop the priests from taking the western sacred stone. With two of the stones gone, the Protective Shield was weakened, allowing Magnus to send in his Specter army.

• While the Nova mounted their defenses, Angelic Buster used her connection to the sacred stones in order to find the stolen stone, which she brought back to Fenelle and Cartalion.

• While the Protective Shield recharged, the Nova desperately attempted to hold off the invading Specters. Eventually, the shield came back on, instantly vaporizing all the Specters within its boundary. Kaiser then proposed the idea of deliberately turning off the shield in order to lure the Specters back in. After carrying out his plan, the Nova restored the shield, wiping out the entire Specter army at once.

• However, Magnus arrived on the scene and easily defeated Kaiser, Angelic Buster, and Velderoth at once before he was chased away by the Nova army. Bitter and resentful of Kaiser and the power that he had supposedly been handed out, Velderoth decided to leave Pantheon and join Magnus, believing that Magnus could give him the power to match Kaiser.

• With the entire Specter army destroyed and Magnus too prideful to ask Darmoor for reinforcements, the Heliseum Council believed that now was the optimal time to launch a counterattack on Tyrant’s Castle in order to take back their capital. In order to find powerful allies, the Council authorized Kaiser and Angelic Buster to use the Interdimensional Portal to explore the other.

• Fenelle and Beldar - the leader of the Council - explained that the Interdimensional Portal had been created when Darmoor had stolen the powers of Chronica, which had caused a tear in the fabric of spacetime. Fearing that Darmoor or some other threat could use the portals to invade, the Nova had chosen to seal the portal for their own safety.

• Fenelle explained that the three Overseers - the Overseers of Light, Life, and Time - watched over the three Transcendents from each of the three worlds. Fenelle explained that not all Transcendents were created equal, as some were created immortal, while others were born mortal and reincarnated.

• She also added that Chronica, the Transcendent of Time, had been sealed away by Darmoor within the Chronica Sanctuary after he had stolen their powers, and that the Nova had no information on Aeona, the Transcendent of Light, other than the fact that she existed.

• Kaiser and Angelic Buster then crossed through dimensions and arrived in Maple World, where Kaiser made contact with the Cygnus Knights and agreed to an unofficial alliance with them. Around this time, the power of time that the Black Mage had stolen began leaking from the seal, allowing the Interdimensional Portal on Maple World to reappear.