The COUNTERVERSE:

The Introduction

“In the beginning, there were two celestial beings. The Creator, and a being known as the Two. Now, the story runs away, screaming that what happened was... the Creator stole the Two’s teapot. The Creator insisted that the Two stole it instead from him when in reality they stole the same teapot from each other as the Creator had unconsciously created a duplicate. The Two waged war on the Creator, who immediately turned on his inverter mode and spawned an army of galactic proportions. Thus came into the world fire and energy. The Two split apart and became two semi-gods, and together forged an army of terrible and gargantuan robot champions, and thus metal and power were introduced into the world. The legend goes that the Two snuck up on the Creator’s house when he was asleep they leveled it with two mighty blows... Other people may tell you that the Creator leveled the Two’s houses with one mighty blow, but they are fakes. Do not ever listen to them. Either way, one side woke the other and they immediately went to war with each other. Entire universes were used simply as mere gunpowder for the weapons that the two armies used, destroying them and corrupting their nearby planes of existence. Thus the element Chaos was created, the “champion” of all elements. The Creator’s army melted the robot champions of the Two, but the robots could rebuild themselves once more. And so the battles raged on and on and on until suddenly, a fly/bee no bigger than the size of our earth appeared, created by the Chaos present, snuck into the Creator’s (or was it the Two’s?) nose and fluttered its wings. There are no records of what happened after that but, we can at least be semi-sure that into whoever’s nose the fly went that that being sneezed. Their being at the height of their power, meant that anything they did was hyper-enlarged in its effects and as a result the Two’s, or was it the Creator’s? power was drained from them through that sneeze, thus creating, with its power, our universe. This tale has unfortunately been deemed non-Canon by our constant ally who is currently AFK-mediating to try to get some insight, Ethan.”

Remy stopped talking and sat silent while the rain pounded on the rocky overhang. The flames of the fire flickered fitfully in the damp atmosphere and his shadow on the rock wall danced uncertainly. Remy-CLASH, who was sitting across from Remy, spoke up.

“Wait. Weren’t there two great beings? Then if one poured out his power that would mean that the other one won, right? Also from what you’re saying, half of this could be true in some roundabout way.”

Remy considered this before saying, “Well then, there were two flies which happened to simultaneously fly into both beings’ noses and make them sneeze at exactly the same time–”

“Never mind that,” said Remy-CLASH, who was snuggling up into his “sleeping bag”. “Whatever happened, it was a long time ago. Now let's get some sleep. In the morning, we’ll move on. Those soldiers can’t be far behind us, but I think we’re far enough ahead.” And he fell asleep.

“A long time ago…” echoed Remy, who stared long into the fire until the sky outside was black. Images flashed across his mind. Bullets flying. Walls crashing down. Fire climbing from room to room. Trees smoldering. Fire dripping from the ceilings. Windows shattering. Fire surging down the stairs. The scream of the main shield generator. The fire consuming it and then… the fire, the fire climbing over all, the fire… The images faded and he found himself back again in the cavern, but now it was black as the fire had gone out. He sat for a while. Suddenly, the monotony was punctuated by the telltale flash of white of a lightning bolt and Remy snapped his fingers. The rain stopped and the cold pale moonlight streamed into the cavern. Remy climbed up onto a small rock shelf where his sleeping bag was and laid atop it, staring at the ceiling of the cavern. Before long, he too was asleep.

The Jungle Awaits

Remy woke up to the sound of a bee buzzing. Looking up, he saw that a particularly large specimen of bumblebee was standing on the bridge of his nose. He froze, and his hand went for his walking stick, but he found that it wasn’t there. He still stood, frozen, and the only part of him that moved was his hand as it slowly rose up. Then, without warning, he brought his hand down as he forcefully exhaled a massive gust of air. The bee, quite jostled and taken by surprise, jumped aside at the last second and buzzed angrily from the cavern in search of a more peaceful place. Remy’s face stung as he hoisted himself down from the shelf and went to where Remy-CLASH was sitting. Remy-CLASH sitting facing his pack, his eyes fixated on a spatula as it rose up into the air and settled into his pack. Remy snapped his fingers and his pack floated gracefully from the ledge to beside him, picking up whatever was left of their equipment as it went. Then, with a satisfied thump, it landed beside Remy.

“You’re always so much better at telekinesis than me. How did you shrink the sleeping bags? It took me fifteen minutes to make it roll up!” Remy patted Remy-CLASH on the back.

“Remember,” he said. “You’re learning. You’re already more powerful than a novice would’ve been.”

“Really?” asked Remy-CLASH. “How powerful would a novice be?”

“Well, a novice could burn down a forest but it is the control of the fire that is most important. Once you master control you can master anything.” Remy-CLASH sighed and looked out of the cavern mouth. The insects buzzed incessantly and the jungle gleamed wetly before his eyes. Green leaves, green trees, all green. Suddenly, he spotted something.

“Remy!” he called. Remy turned and ran to him. Remy-CLASH said nothing but pointed. In the shadows of the jungle, something moved. Something striped. 

“Wait,” said Remy. “Aren’t their uniforms striped yellow and black?” Remy-CLASH nodded fearfully.

“Come,” he said and hoisted his pack onto his back. “Let’s go before they reach us.” Remy nodded and put on his pack as well and they set off into the jungle.

The first sound that they heard was a squelching sound, followed by the sound of grunting. Remy turned around and looked back at the mound of stone within which was a cavern that had protected them for the night. The stone looked like a vast head, crowned with a scalp of granite and ringed with spikes of a misty crystal. He gestured for Remy-CLASH to come back.

“A skull!” gasped Remy-CLASH.

“Yes. This is a skull of the ancient star champions who fought in the ancient days. The mountains are their corpses, as they fell in battle. It is important to thank them for their hospitality when they decide to give it.” Remy bowed and muttered some phrase under his breath. Remy-CLASH did the same. 

After a few moments of silence, Remy-CLASH said, “I saw a hill somewhere to our left. Let’s head there.” Meanwhile, the bee from before buzzed happily along behind the two, but Remy-CLASH glared at it to let it know it was not welcome within a twenty-meter radius at least. The duo trekked on for a while in silence, every so often pulling out their knives, old, yet still shiny, affairs, and slashing through the thick undergrowth. Just as they were cresting the hill and looking around, there was a loud rustle in the undergrowth. Remy-CLASH tensed and backed up against Remy, holding up his walking stick. Remy raised both of his hands in a defensive pose and looked from side to side. Suddenly, a bear ran out from under the trees. 

Remy-CLASH’s hand went to a small, rusted, knife on his belt but Remy steadied his hand whilst yelling, “Run!” The bear, startled, stood up on its hind legs, towering over Remy and Remy-CLASH. Remy-CLASH threw the knife at the bear and it sank into its right shoulder. The bear collapsed as Remy pulled Remy-CLASH away. Remy walked over to the bear and, dodging a feeble attempt to claw him, managed to dislodge the knife and pull it out. The bear passed out from the immediate pain, but continued to breathe.

“Is he alright? Why did he charge us like that? Did you notice the limp?” Remy asked.

“But... wasn’t the limp created when I hit him?” asked Remy-CLASH.

“Nonono, before that. Come look.” Remy-CLASH knelt down beside Remy and looked. There, in the paw of the bear, was a small metal dart with blue fins.

“The Beleaguered!” shouted Remy-CLASH, and fell to the ground, trembling. Remy put his hand on his back and sighed. He knew what Remy-CLASH was thinking. He had been there too, watching as the building was torched, and as the pupils were marched out of their dorms, and corrupted, or killed. He had escaped alongside Remy-CLASH, and they had run together, and in secret, Remy had begun to teach him the Secret Arts or Elemental Magic and control as well as Telekinesis. Remy-CLASH stopped shaking and looked up at Remy. 

Remy patted him on the back and said, “Come. We’ve done enough here.”

“But the bear…?” Remy turned around and waved his hand over the wounded bear. It stopped breathing hard and started to look more at peace and suddenly, just as Remy placed his hand on the bear’s shoulder, it started to change, and became smaller. Its fur changed color from a deep brown to a light gray flecked with small blue hair tips, its snout changed shape, and its wounds healed. 

Suddenly, in front of Remy stood a small, bluish, bright-eyed bear cub, and it looked up at them, saying in passable human speech, “Mama?” Its eyes were deep and at their bottoms there were stars, marks of the Ancient Powers. Remy and Remy-CLASH had them too. The telltale sign of a wizard. Anyone who ever performed at least a single magical or telekinetic act got them, but just to varying degrees of prominence. The most powerful wizards’ eyes were not eyes, but golden stars, with the ability to see till the end of the universe, and within the heads of the most powerful beings.