The Astral Warrior

Prologue
Everyone thinks the great stuff happens on Earth, but they are dead-wrong. Most stuff happens in outer space, like the creation of the universe. And closely, its destruction. But I forgot my manners. I am Larry Quasar, or how everyone calls me, Olympus. And I now tell you my story.

Chapter 1: Die by the fire
I was walking through the market, because I needed to purchase materials for the Astralian soldier army. I saw Astralians talking to each other. Information: Life in space is actually not that different from Earth. But I didn`t know that, at least not that day. I went to the Merchant and he asked me: "Mr Quasar! Nice to meet you." "Hey, Shard. I need some new materials." "What is it this time? Rocks from Mercury, Sulfur from Venus, or Ice from Uranus?" I answered: "This time, it`s something different. Volcanic rock from Mars." "Volcanic rock from Mars... wait a second, I check out the... what is that?" I looked up to the sky, or better said into outer space.

A yellow light was shining high above us and I felt suddenly anxious. Star deaths are common in the area, but it suddenly grew hotter and hotter. I howled: "Watch out!" and pushed Shard aside as a laser of fire hit the position he stood on. His shop went up in flames. "Nooo! My shop!" he screamed. I felt sorry for him. This shop was his life, everything he wanted. And now it was destroyed. But suddenly, more fire lasers shot down at the city. Everyone fled in panic and tried to get to safety, Shard leading them. Luckily, no one was hit, but the city was entirely destroyed.

One laser, the strongest one, hit the hall of the 8 great Astralians. I rushed to the hall to find them. 5 of them were alive, but I found 2 of them not moving. One was an old man with brown wings and an orange coat. Mr. Crater, the legacy of Mercury. The other one wore a light-blue coat with white-bluish wings. Mr. Frigid, legacy of Uranus. Two Astralians in my age were kneeling next to them. One was my childhood friend Heavens. She seemed to have cried. The other one was a later friend, Melvin. Both were downed to see the two dead men who seemed to be killed by the laser attack.

Later, the attack had stopped. Me, Melvin and Heavens stared into the destruction as suddenly, Jupiter and Saturn, our leaders, showed up. Both were in the legendary Astral Trigger, their skin being dark blue, Jupiter and Saturn wore their uniforms, consisting of orange coats, Jupiter`s blending to yellow, Saturn`s blending to red. Saturn said: "Larry Quasar, Heavens Pulsar and Melvin Neutrino." I turned around: "What is it, Saturn?" "I want you to join a discussion. You seem to have seen the destruction first. Maybe you can help us finding out anything about it." I nodded and the two left. Heavens asked me: "Why would they talk to us?" "I don`t know, Heavens. But maybe it is something important. See you!" And we walked into the Great Hall, not knowing about my adventure....

Chapter 2: The planet`s legacy
We sat down at the great hall of the Astralians. Nine chairs in different designs stood around a table which looked like the sun. Jupiter sat down at the head of the table, Saturn sat down on another chair and then, 3 more Great Astralians, Mars, Venus, and Pluto joined. Jupiter asked: "You know about the planet`s legacy`s, don`t you?" Quite spontaneous. Heavens looked at me, then Melvin and said: "We do. Every planet chooses an Astralian to carry its powers. And its story." Saturn nodded: "Indeed. But, did you know you ended up being selected?" I replied: "Well, yea.... wait, what?" Jupiter said: "It is true. You three are selected by the planets and automatically became members of the Great Astralians. Step forward."



I stepped forward and Jupiter roared in his best royal tone: "Larry Quasar, you were selected by the planet Neptune and gain Hydrokinetic powers. Will you accept your legacy?" I tried not to be surprised and said: "I will." And suddenly, my clothing changed. I now wore a blue coat with grey engravings, a black overall and bronze boots. "Next, Heavens Pulsar, legacy of the planet Uranos. You gain Cryokinetic powers. Do you accept?" "I do." she said. And then she wore a white dress with blue engravings, like an ice queen. Last but not least, Melvin. "Melvin, legacy of Mercury. Will you accept the responsibilities of a great Astralian and gain Geokinetic powers?" Mercury: "Well, I do." He looked similar to me, but his coat was brown with orange engravings. After this, Jupiter ordered us to leave and wait for tomorrow...

Chapter 3: Artifacts
I met Heavens and Mercury, both still wearing the clothes of the Great Astralians. It was a great honor to become a Great Astralian, but we didn´t feel honored at all. I mean, did we only gain that title only because Mr. Crater and Mr. Frigid died? I felt somewhat disappointed.

"Hey, Larry, it`s Ok. I might not know why we became Great Astralians just now, but I believe there is a reason behind everything."

"I hope you are right, Heavens."

"Of course she is." Melvin smiled. "The three of us becoming Great Astralians! No intelligent being would choose one of us and leave the other two behind. The three of US are great when together!"

This is what I liked about Melvin. He was such a good friend and really funny. He always succeeded in cheering me up, and I said: "Exactly, Melvin. US is my favourite troop!"

Heavens slightly giggled and we arrived at the Great Astralian Hall.

"There you are!" Jupiter said. All Astralians were armed, Saturn wielding two electric double knives, Jupiter had a sword, flat and good for blocking, in orange and yellow. "Now, Larry, Heavens, and Melvin, you will now receive your artefacts at your planets. "Mercury, you travel with Venus and Mars. Heavens joins Pluto and Saturn, Larry will come with me." "Okay." I said and then, we packed our bags.

We flew to planet Neptune, inside the ocean. I wondered if we`d drown, but Jupiter told me since I am Neptune`s successor now, I couldn`t drown. Soon, we arrived in a cave where Jupiter handed me a gem: It was round and had blue engravings: "Take it, Larry. It is yours now." I muttered: "This gem?" "It is the Weapon of a Great Astralian. It adapts to the persona of someone, changing its weapon type. Touch it."

And so I did, and it transformed into a long katana, grey with blue engravings. To test, I swung it around, funnily, the weapon duplicated itself, getting more and more into it, but Jupiter ordered me to stop. Later, we returned. I wanted to know what Heavens and Melvin got...

We showed off our new weapons at the Astralian Hall. Heavens got two bracers, who could unfold into Ice Claws. Mercury got a set of gauntlets and greaves which can manipulate Earth, being able to cast Earthquakes or any kind of rocks.

Chapter 4: The Main Quest
We met in the Astralian Hall, everyone was armed. Jupiter and Saturn occupied the head, Jupiter with a light orange sword, Saturn with his electric knives.

Next to them were Melvin and a girl named Verona, legacy of Venus. She had a red, flaming scythe which was kinda cool. But I liked the katana I got.

Marcus, planet Mars, was sitting next to me, being laid back and looking at Jupiter. He held an axe in his hand, red sand whirling around it.

Peter, planet Pluto, had a crystal shield with sharp edges. He did not seem really happy, or he did conceal his thoughts.

"So, now that we have assembled..." Jupiter announced. "We are in serious trouble. Our ships got attacked by weird creatures." "Weird creatures?" I replied. "Yes, flaming soldiers." "Flaming soldiers? But why would they attack simple merchants?" Marcus replied. "I don`t know, but it was no normal kind of fire. It was... how should I say... Sunfire."

"Sunfire? Does Solarus exist?" Heavens muttered. "Solarus? The embodiment of the sun?" I was speechless.

So, Solarus is an Astralian who had become so powerful that he became the Embodiment of the Sun. Nothing was heard of him after this. There are rumors that he has gone nuts..

"He does.. but we don't know where to go." Verona lowered her head. I jumped up and said: "Why don`t we follow the traces of the flaming soldiers? We might get to the core and find Solarus. It can be that he cannot control his power anymore."

Heavens agreed with me: "Beautiful plan, Larry. So, Jupiter, where was this exactly?" Jupiter looked around and replied: "In Astronia, a city next to the Virgo Pile. We should split up." Melvin said: "Well, I will go with Heavens and Larry." Saturn replied: "Good. I think.. Verona, Marcus and Peter can go together." Verona nodded, Marcus grinned, but Peter did not seem content with that. "I will go with Jupiter, of course."

Chapter 5: Solarus` Awakening
We flew to Astronia using our Astral Triggers. They are somewhat of a transformation amplifying the user in different ways, depending on his persona. Jupiter told us to meet at the Square if we don`t find anything.

"Do you believe in this legend? Solarus, I mean?" Melvin asked Heavens and me. I replied: "There must be a little truth in this story. I mean, Jupiter acts like this is really serious. Maybe he declined the Helios Force for a reason. A really terrifying reason..."

Even then, it was fun exploring Astronia. Everything was so big and the people seemed to be quite happy. We decided to go look for souvenirs on the way. We did not find anything and decided to return to the square...

The others weren`t here yet, but something new showed up. A man was sitting in a circle of fire. He wore a black armor with parts of it glowing in flames... he muttered: "Recreation... everything must be altered and recreated. Not even the Helios Force was enough..." I marched towards him, but Heavens said: "Larry, don`t. He seems to be corrupted!" But I looked at him. His hair was blonde-to-red, his eyes consisted of flames. They expressed anger, confusion, even madness. "Are you okay?" I asked him. "Altering, nothing is worthy of existence.... AAARRRGH!" He jumped up and I was pushed away by a powerful fire blast. The man was floating midair, stripes of fire attacked everything and the man himself was enveloped in an orb of fire and light.

He looked down at me and charged towards Heavens, drawing a long sword, infused with fire energy. Heavens could block his attack, but she seemed to burn up. "NO! Heavens!" I ran towards her, drew the Neptune Katana and attacked the man from behind. He let go of Heavens and charged towards me. I didn`t burn up, but he said: "Rebellion against your god? You should know better than that, Astralian!" I was stunned in horror as I said: "Solarus?"

"Hehe, yes, Astralian, you and your two new-born friends have the honor to see your god before everything will restart...." "Restart?" Melvin shouted. Solarus grinned and replied: "yes, restart. Clean the universe of pollution, repair everything!" While blocking, I saw Melvin trying to punch him with his gauntlets, but Solarus reacted quickly. He exploded, knocked us all three back and as I could see again, three images of him were standing in the square, while Melvin and Heavens were standing in two corners. The images charged for me, but I dodge-rolled and ran to the other side where my friends were standing. "A battle seems to be inevitable. You think we can take him?" Heavens spread her arms and suddenly, she held her claws in her hands.. "I don`t think so." Melvin summoned his gauntlets and greaves set. "We should just try to buy time for the others, or just survive this!" I drew my katana. Solarus looked at us and said: "Well, if you are so eager to throw your lives away, SO BE IT!"

Chapter 6: Feelings of Guilt
Solarus charged at us. I jumped forward to shield my friends and they jumped aside. Melvin punched the ground, creating an earth pillar which hauled Solarus in the air. I jumped up and tried to stab him. "´Not bad. But you don`t know me." Solarus summoned a fire whip, threw it at me and smacked me into Melvin, then he slashed Heavens a couple of times before I got back on my feet. Heavens caught herself midair and rammed Solarus a claw in his face before he could react. "Melvin, launch me up. I gotta get him away from Heavens!" "Got it." He summoned another pillar, I took my sword and flew directly into him. With furious strikes, we parried, struck and stabbed. "I have no time for this! Now die!" And with these words, he stabbed me. HE charged forward and his stab hit Heavens as well. He took back the sword and launched us in a building.

Solarus prepared for the final strike, until a wind blade hit him. The other Great Astralians showed up and Solarus said: "All of you in a nutshell! Nice to meet you again! Especially you, Jason Orion!" Jupiter was stunned. The others ran to Heavens and me. Heavens was unconscious. Her face was red and she was sweating. Was she more affected by the sunfire than I was? Even I had trouble staying awake. I heard Melvin and the others shouting, until I passed out...

An eternity later I woke up, but everything seemed so off... I was in a white room. In a bed next to mine lied Heavens, her face was bright red, but bent in pain. Her body seemed to steam aswell. Melvin and Verona were talking, until they saw me wake up. "You are alive, Larry!" Verona couldn't hold herself from hugging me. "Get off me!" I pushed her aside, in order to leave my bed, but as I set foot, I collapsed again. "You are took weak to stand, as it seems. I am not sure how you two even survived in the first place." Melvin said. "Great Astralian Blood." Verona explained. "When you become a Great Astralian, you grow changes in your strength, speed or endurance. While Heavens has 40% Endurance, 40% Speed and 20% Strength, and Larry got 55% Endurance, 30% Speed and 15% Strength." "Oh really. And what about Solarus. We have a flaming maniac running Amok and Heavens is sick! I can`t just sit there and watch!" I stormed out as good as I could.

Outside, Melvin caught up to me and asked: "Larry, you seriously think about killing Solarus? You lost to him last time!" "But I won`t lose again. This time, it is for the safety of the Astralian Race and Heavens` life! If this isn`t enough motivation to keep me going..." Melvin looked at me, but nodded: "Okay, but if you go kill a Sun God, count me in. I am healthier than you right now."