A monster rose silently.

Everyone who saw it knew that it was. They’d all seen it before. Only a few days had elapsed since this creature blotted out the sun and brought chaos to the world.

Somewhere, a teenage girl, not yet acquainted with her powers, separated from her group of friends to call two other girls, equally powerful to a certain degree. Elsewhere, not too far from them, a man considered whether to, like most other, run away with his little girl in his arms as he had done last night or to stand and fight. Maybe not even fight at all. The voice in his head told him his role might be of a more healing nature, and considering what chaos this creature could cause, that might not be too bad of an idea.

Too far away to do anything, a teenager cursed the name of his friend for doing shit like this on a Saturday.

Only one of the five people in Humbugg blessed with powers had forgotten all about them, had forgotten what he could do. His only thought was to find what had happened to his friend, his best friend. Chad wasn’t a smart man. He didn’t know the conventions of fantasy, what implications a situation like this might have, what connections to make for everything to make sense. He wasn’t a modern-day Columbo, hell, in certain ways, he was actually quite daft. Foolish, even.

And so, his first thought upon seeing this monster, at first only barely larger than him, now easily standing at 50 metres in the air, was not “this must somehow be because of something Adam had done”. No, instead, he thought something more akin to “I wonder where Adam went”, which turned to a mad hunt of sorts. The creature had long since raised its body to the sky, numerous truck-like tentacles keeping its body above the buildings below. Somehow, none of the tentacles had harmed any building, instead choosing to press down on the streets. Sadly, human life had not been spared this interaction, many being trampled to death or simply dying by touching the mucus-covered limbs.

Strangely enough, the main body (for that was undoubtedly what that humanoid form was) wasn’t actually too large itself. The tentacles were easily dozens of meters long, but the main body only seemed to be about 15 meters or so tall. The main body in question didn’t actually seem to be doing much at all. It’s beady, white eyes scanned the ground, uncertain, tired.

His body was on fire. He wished he could make the sun disappear, but he had no Magick. All his mucus, all his lovely protective mucus was drying up. His whole body trembled, pain and fear coalescing into a strange form of muted, silent panic. He wanted to speak, to scream, to tell everyone down there that he wasn’t trying to do anything. He wished he’d had a mouth again, but he didn’t.

Weakness seemed to flood his systems. He wanted to collapse, he was damn close to, but if he did... only the Gods knew what’d happen then. His skin was dry, so dry he could feel it cracking like eggshells.

He had no choice but to stand still. Maybe this would be his grave.

“Oh my fuck,” Jessica commented as she met up with Hiiri and Daisy, who were both staring up at that ominously looming thing in the sky. Jessica could recall people calling it some pretty weird names, but for now, she just decided to consider it an enemy. An odd smell hung in the air, and it wasn’t the creature. The people around the three of them had shifted into two groups. Some were staring up at the thing, not moving a muscle. Others were running for their lives. Depending on how motion-sensitive that thing was, one option was far more sensible than the other.

Horror in daylight. That was the best explanation of this whole situation. Thick, trembling pillars of green and black shot into the sky, claws digging into the ground, cracking concrete and squashing the unfortunate humans who’d been left behind. That was the odd smell. The tinge of metal in the air, that primal thing in your head screaming at her that nothing was right.

Beside her, Hiiri seemed to be mumbling something about how this wasn’t how it was supposed to be, that the “big bad” shouldn’t appear so soon. Maybe she was right. Then again, that thing had appeared on the very first day, too. It really shouldn’t be such an odd idea that it still existed in this town, of all damn places, but for it to appear so soon.

It’s beady white eye fell on her.

From the extensive forest of tentacles shooting into the sky, she really shouldn’t have been able to see it’s main body at all, much less be able to discern where those all-white eyes were looking. But she knew she was right. A quick glance at her two fellow warriors confirmed that also noticed it. She couldn’t tell if her heart had stopped or if it was beating too fast for her to realize it. This was no place to panic, no time to doubt herself. She was tired, God she was after such a night, but she had to face this as well as she could.

“Daisy, Hiiri, let’s go!” she barked at her friends, who somehow seemed even more terrified than she felt. They nodded. Jessica nodded back and turned inwards. She spoke a few words in her mind, and once she got an answer, she reached out. Flames enveloped her, and soon, Jessica was replaced by Sikrat. Beside them, Lily had taken form, her eyes still dark and puffy from the events of the night. The yet-unnamed sorcerous amalgamation of Fernigus and Daisy wasn’t looking at the two of them at all, instead staring at the large creature in the sky with… admiration?

“State your name, sorcerer,” Sikrat demanded, crossing their arms. The beast in the sky could wait. After all, it was already waiting. Not that Sikrat wanted to wait for it. They felt anger rising within them just by looking at it. Beneath that anger, grief surged like the currents beneath a still sea; grief for a friend taken from them too soon. Grief for everything else that horrid beast had done, everybody it had harmed. The battlefield was nothing new to either Jessica or Kratos, but Kratos was more used to this warlike state of things. Bloodless corpses littering the ground, a danger unlike anything human could ever face looming like death over him…

The sorcerer stared at them for a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Heliotrope. You may call me that, if you’d like,” Heliotrope said with an elusive, somewhat mischievous smile. Sikrat frowned, while Lily’s eyes glittered. With a growl, Sikrat crossed their arms. Somehow, they didn’t like this guy. Daisy was a rather ordinary girl, the kind Jessica couldn’t bother to hang out with if her life was on the line, but when she merged with her Alter, whoever that was… there was just something off about him.

“I’m calling you Helio, and we have no time for idle chit-chat. I trust that the two of you have some sort of flying abilities. Harming its tentacles may only anger the creature, and so, we shall instead attack the main body of it. Him. I shall be at the front of the attack, Helio will cover me, and you, Lily, will do whatever you deem appropriate,” Sikrat explained.

“What, you can fly??” Lily asked, her eyes glittering even brighter than mere seconds ago. Sikrat nodded and summoned a large broadsword, which they let hang in the air for a moment. With no further explanation, they hopped on top of the sword, using it as a surfboard of such. “Whooooaaaaa, that is so cool!!”

Helio nodded pensively, his hand shooting up to for the spell circle for “Float”, before immediately forming one for “Wings”. His dear object of reverence may actually be one of the few creatures Helio knew that could fly without using some form of propellant. Most cultists might not know what spells his god used whenever he appeared, but as Superior Cultist, he had been granted knowledge that few others had. It was one of the perks of being a part of the cult: namely being able to study such an interesting Beast of the Spirit up close. Sure, there were tons of other, even better reasons to be part of the cult, but to Fernigus, observing a master of their craft was always a delight.

That’s what made his current situation so interesting.

That Beasts could evolve was no secret. Evolutionary Cores were a staple of the black market (they used to be easier to come by, but as of late general ethics dictated that raising Beasts only to extract their Evolutionary Cores or just keeping Beasts from evolving at all was wrong, so the only way to find Evolutionary Cores nowadays was through the black market), and often used in various rituals and inventions that needed such a Magick-rich orb.

Still, to see an Evil God evolve…!!

Helio’s body trembled at the very thought of it.

He couldn’t wait to observe it at an even closer distance.

“ADAM!! ADAAAAAMMM!!” Chad called out, hands cupped around his mouth to make sure the sound travelled as far as possible. If he’d been a smarter man, he might have ran somewhere, made sure to survive this. Regardless of what Adam had said he’d experienced in some other world, the chances of him actually surviving an apocalyptic event were extremely slim. Even so, Chad wouldn’t give up. Wouldn’t leave him behind. “Adam…”

Chad found himself in the middle of it all, tentacles on all sides of him, so many and so tightly pressed together that it had turned dark. There wasn’t anybody around any longer. It was Chad and these green pillars, covered in toxic-looking purple rings. The only light was actually coming from the purple rings themselves, so although it was dark, Chad didn’t have to fear walking straight into one of the flaky, dried-up tentacles.

So, he just sort of wandered around, calling out to a friend who was probably dead for all he knew.

But he wasn’t alone for long.

“Can’t we just fly straight up at it? Why do we hafta go all the way under here? It’s super spooky!” Lily complained, gesturing to the massive tentacles and the darkness they created. The only sources of light visible were the purple rings on the dried-up tentacles and the brightly glowing wings of light on Helio’s back, which he was using to move forwards.

“If we attack from the front, we’ll be noticed and squashed like ants. I said this earlier. When you have the choice to, an attack from the back is always preferable to an attack from the front,” Sikrat explained, a mischievous grin that must have been caused by Jessica spreading across their cheeks. On his own, Kratos would never have decided to attack from the back. It was unhonourable, but Jessica held no such standards. High School was a battleground, and she was a veteran at fighting in it.

“I believe there may be someone just up ahead,” Helio noted, the first thing he’d said in quite a while. The two other members of the trio turned to him, before turning to look at what was in front of them. They couldn’t see anything in particular, but now that they listened a bit more closely, it seemed like there was indeed someone just up ahead, calling out to somebody.

“Adaaaamm,” they sounded. Soon, that uncertain call grew louder, until they could accurately recognize it as someone shouting. “Hm? Who are you, dudes?”

The man had seen them before they had seen him, which wasn’t strange since Helio was shining like a miniature sun. The sounds of running sounded, and soon, the man stood right in front of them. He was somehow more buff than Sikrat was, with blonde hair and jeans-blue eyes. He seemed like the kind of guy who’d smile a lot, but right now, he seemed more worrying than anything.

“You guys sure dress weird. Have you seen my bro Adam? About this high, black hair…” Chad described, not actually going into much detail. The trio glanced at each other, exchanging looks of confusion and worry, without actually listening to what Chad was describing. “...Well? Have you?”

“Sir,” Sikrat stepped forwards and crossed their arms, “we urge you to evacuate the area this very moment. We three are adept at dealing with Beasts of this nature, and you are not.” Chad furrowed his brows and examined the three. One was floating, one had a bunch of swords floating around them, and the only non-magical looking one was wearing a cloak and fishnet stockings at the same time.

Wait. Magick? Hadn’t he and Adam done something involving Magick just yesterday?... Oh, yeah he’d talked to this chick in his head, and they had merged into some terrible excuse of a human. Maybe… maybe these people were the same?

“Hmmm. Bros, I think I might have an answer to that one,” Chad said, and turned to introspection once more. There was a presence in there, as there had been yesterday. He knew her name now. So, trying his best not to much up the pronunciation, he said her name a couple of times, before being rewarded with a few words back. He wasn’t too sure how he’d done this yesterday, but he could recall just reaching out to her, so… he did just that.

A flame consumed the blonde man right before their eyes.

“Holy piss shit-,” Sikrat exclaimed, shielding their eyes from the swirling heat. This fire was definitely stronger and more fierce than Sikrat’s own had been. After a few seconds of this burning heat, it dissipated, revealing a half-coat clad high-looking man. His auburn eyes glowed back at them from underneath a brimmed beanie of some sort. Short, light-brown chestnut hair extended just to cover his neck.

Before the thin man said anything to introduce himself, he pulled a rosewood pipe out of absolutely nowhere and took a deep breath, the purple-looking smoke puffing out in small, neat circles.

“Oh yeah that’s the stuff, cOUgh,” the man said, smiling lazily. The trio was silent, but he was still able to notice them after a while. “Huh? Yo, who’se you s’posed to be?”--his tired eyes glanced about the surroundings--”Yoooo, this place is, like, straight up trippin’! Damn, kinda wanna lick these here ringy thingies, höhöh.”

“I’d advise you not to, sorcerer. Identify yourself, or we will consider you an enemy,” Sikrat stated, grabbing hold of a broadsword just in case. The man, who had been eyeing up a certain purple ring like a child would eye up a piece of candy, glanced back to stare at Sikrat and co.

“Hey, whoa, fighting is, like, totally not cool! We should all just be, like, friends and stuff. War only hurts people, y’know? Oh, and also, I’m, uhhhh, Bro. Dude,” Bro explained, waving his hand as he stepped over to look closer at one of the many tentacles around them.

“Bro it is, then. I’ll consider you a neutral, but unless you mean to assist us in undoing this great calamity, we must leave you where you stand, as we have no time for idle talk,” Sikrat explained. Bro scratched at his neck, one hand planting itself onto the dried up tentacle.

“I have no idea what’s happening, höhhö, this is so weird. I’m pretty high, maybe? But, like, uhhhh, I don’t think I have time, to, like, stumble around either? I’m looking for this dude, J high, höh, got like black hair... But, like, since I got nothing better to do, I’ll go along with you guys, yeh? I can cast spells and stuff so don’t worry,” Bro rambled, removing his head from the dried-up tentacle.

And so, the magical girl - hippie alliance was formed.