He floated in a cold, endless void where even his thoughts felt muddled.
Then a bright light exploded.
Next thing he felt was air returning to his lungs as his eyes snapped open. There he was, standing on a polished marble. In a palace of shimmering aurora-light.
"Wait, am not dead? Looking closely at his body he said. No stab mark, no blood, nothing. "What the hell? It was as if he never died but he knew otherwise. That knife stab was too real to be fake.
What's this place? Where am I!
His voice echoed through a hall so vast it could have housed a start. And then, he saw her.
There, a woman stood at the centre of the hall – tall, graceful and radiant. Her hair flowing like a silver moon water. Her presence if anything felt ancient, divine.... terrifying.
A goddess.
Before he could even attempt to understand, she spoke in a voice both gentle and commanding. "finally you're awake, I was beginning to wonder if you were actually dead".
He froze, wait....what. wasn't he already dead.
The goddess smiled lightly and cut him off before he could say another word.
I don't believe that we have been properly introduced.
"I am Diana, guardian of the known universe and we have been expecting you".
His brain screeched to a halt. UNIVERSE! GUARDIAN! This is some next level shit, he thought. He'd been stabbed, killed and yet here he was taking to this strange woman.
What's is going on, Xavier shouted. Last I remembered, I was..... dead, dying, I don't really know anymore.
It's simple, you died and I summoned you here.
He suddenly had a thousand questions but before he could voice them out, raising her hands she cut him off again.
You will understand better after hearing what am about to say. Her expression turned solemn.
In the beginning, she began. Humans were the very first beings created by the universe. Xavier watched visions of primal humans made of pure cosmic essence, glowing like new-born stars.
"All other races, dragons, elves, vampires, dwarves and even demons branched from humanity.
He stared speechless. So humans were.....the original race.
"yes", she said softly. And because of that , she paused wanting to say something. We will still come to that.
I wanted to ask her what it is she wanted to say but I kept quiet, now was not the time.
The images shifted again. "When the universe created me", Diana continued. I was given the task of keeping the balance. You could say I was the guardian overseeing everything in it's place. I suppressed disasters, settled conflicts and protected life.
Technically, I was the first Hero or Champion, whatever you guys call it.
Diana ,the warrior princess, my name rang far and wide. Scenes showed her stopping storms on planetary scales, weaving barrier's around planets and guiding civilizations.
"But as I grew stronger", the amount of what I could do became smaller. After I became a goddess, I was suddenly restricted.
Xavier blinked, "restricted!
You see, "the universe has laws", she continued.
I couldn't interfere directly in the affairs of the living world anymore .
The universe felt it was too disruptive, so it restricted me. Her eyes dimmed, a quiet sadness laced her voice.
To maintain the peace, I created a new brand of Heroes-each one blessed with a part of my divine ability.
Images formed showing:
A dragon Hero engulfed in raging flames, an elven Hero shooting arrows of light, a vampire Hero wrapped in blood sigils, a dwarven hero clad in titanic armor and a demon Hero wielding shadows.
For centuries, Diana continued, "these heroes uphold the peace in my stead ". It was the universe instruction that I do.
I was still waiting for the climax, there was always a BUT in this kinds of stories. Always an evil guy in the picture who doesn't follow the rules. There was always a catch.
She paused and looked at me, as if reading my thoughts and suddenly her expression hardened.
"And then.....he appeared ", she continued.
KAIZEL...The devourer.