Pebble: I Finally Got My Barbarian Build, But it’s Support?!

Chapter 3: Lights of Change



Alain currently had no concept of time, but the pain has become a part of him now. This was okay, he is pain. He has accepted his fate and was determined to find solace in this moment. 

'THIS HURTS SO BAD OH MY GOD' he dropped the facade like a sack of potatoes. 

His flesh has been fully removed now, his bones withered into dust. He watched as it was blended by some mysterious force turned into a paste and somehow… he felt everything.

He saw the paste that was his existence get swallowed into a black cylinder. The black cylinder then started to spin. First slowly, but soon enough it was going so fast that it sounded like a propeller on a drone.

<29 minutes and 27 seconds remaining>

These words were appearing in Alain's vision as if they were projected into his mind. He didn't even have eyes right now, so he had no idea how he was able to see the text let alone his own brand of knock off glue that his body has become. None of this made any sense, but the pain was so unbearable and now Alain also had a sense of spinning at speeds that no humans should ever be spun. Ultimately, he didn't have the sense of mind to question anything.

Suddenly, a voice was heard. It sounded like an old gentleman speaking to his young grandson. 

"What do we have here?" The voice was so deep and soothing that it actually seemed to ease the pain. "A Challenger?!" His voice went up an octave at the realization.

"Oh ho and someone confident enough to let FATE determine their path, I like you already my little friend." Alain could see arms the size of skyscrapers come into view out of the white nothingness. They were pitch black, reaching down like the night sky with no stars. 

When the arms got close enough to the black cylinder, they slowed down and carefully cupped around the spinning tube.

The arms stayed there and eventually Alain felt like he was being watched. Alain no longer felt the pain from before, but what he did sense was an overbearing feeling of terror and judgment. It felt as if his whole life was being sprawled out on an operation table and was being dissected and scrutinized.

 "My little one, you're going to live a very interesting life." 

The text appeared again, but this time it was accompanied by a female voice.

<>

"Hello?" Alain thought out loud.

Grand Elder Nuru was smiling at his group of disciples and family who were gathered outside of the grand cathedral in the center of Aegis. This was a can't miss occasion, it appeared that every resident came out to celebrate the new arrivals today. There are 3 million residents in this beautiful flying city and Nuru couldn't be more proud of the turnout.

It was an exciting day, because today was the long awaited Day of Summoning, a once in every 50 year festival dedicated to the arrival of the newly selected Heroes.

The first Day of Summoning was 500 years ago, and since it was so successful, it's become a tradition. 

"The Divine are sure to smile upon us for providing such a warm welcome to our future Heroes!" he projected his voice to the crowd which in turn responded with heartfelt cheers and applause. 

The pale woman who was standing besides him in a white dress leaned in to whisper in Grand Elder Nuru's ear. "I'm sensing an entrance, it looks like we are receiving three Heroes and they will be here within 30 seconds." She smiled.

"Thank you Lady Serenity." Nuru replied then cast his gaze upward, above the cathedral.

Nuru counted down from 30, sweat beading on his forehead "Behold, our three new Champions!" he declared, but immediately started praying, 'Please, please, please, please, let this be a good pull, we need them more than ever!'

Just then, two blue lights appeared in the sky. The lights spiraled down, orbiting each other until it got about 100 yards (91.44 meters) above the cathedral, then they blew up like fireworks and projected two beams of blue light down through the glass roof of the cathedral.

"My lords! We've been blessed!" Nuru's eyes started to water. He looked over to Serenity, "Lady Serenity, two blues! We pulled two blues!" his hands were shaking as he reached out for hers.

She grasped his hand and wiped away the tears that gathered in the wells of his eye with her other hand before joining him in looking up at the beautiful display as well. Serenity was also filled with emotions. According to the records, with in the last 5 Days of Summoning we've only pulled a single blue summoned hero and everyone else who arrived had a white light when summoned.

"Maybe times are going to change." Serenity squeezed Nuru's gentle hands, "Perhaps the Divines have determined that we've finally recruited suitable candidates for ascendancy." Her words were as warm as she could make them, but she still had her doubts.

She's read everything there is to read about Heroes and she knew, blue meant that they had a higher potential, but everything still relied on the Hero making the right choices with their gifts. The last blue tier hero that was summoned actually didn't outperform the white tiered ones. He simply made the wrong choices and ended up losing his life before contributing to the lands.

The records show that on the third Day of Summoning, the Kingdom of Rain managed to pull a purple Hero, and that hero went on to create the Great City of Aegis. The man was a role model except for some of his lesser likable qualities. A true blessing would be a Purple summon, but she didn't want to smother the flames of hope that burned in Grand Elder Nuru's eyes.

"Grand Elder, I look forward to…"

She was interrupted by a strong upward pull that she felt deep from within her soul. It almost felt like she was falling, but towards the sky, even though she was physically still in place.

"Nuru, did you feel that?" She sounded a little panicked.

"No, what is it my Lady?" Nuru's eyes were worried.

*BOOM* 

A sonic boom was heard and a physical rip was visible in the sky.

Lady Serenity gasps, "It's the third Hero!"

A dark blue ball dropped out of the rip and then the sky repaired itself. The ball then proceeded to fall very slowly.

Serenity looked around at the crowd, everyone was looking up in awe. Some children were pointing and tugging at their parents' sleeves, others were writing vigorously in notepads. She wanted to remember this moment, so she kept trying to notice the details in the crowd when suddenly, everyone had a purple glow on their face.

In fact, it looked like the purple glow lit the entirety of Aegis. Serenity looked back above the cathedral and could see now that the dark blue ball was now glowing purple and shining as bright as a second sun. it probably wasn't that safe to look at with the naked eye, but not just her, everyone was staring in disbelief.

Grand elder Nuru fell to his knees, snot pooling under his nose. "By my own eyes, I've lived long enough to see salvation." his voice cracked as he started to sob. "My grandkids, their kids, this whole city, we have a chance!" he continued to ramble in tongues. 

Serenity was overcome by her own emotions right now. She was weary before, but now she believed.

"There's hope." She fell to her knees as the crowd cheered and cried with joy.

The now purple ball projected a purple beam down into the same area where the blue beams were projected and the sky cleared, leaving a gap in the clouds 30 miles (48 Km) wide

After a few minutes, the crowd's cheers had died down enough for people to actually be able to have conversations and hear each other. Energy was high, the King was probably meeting the 3 new Heroes now and everyone's looking forward to the future.

Then, the atmosphere seemed to compress down over the entire land. Everyone was forced to their knees as a loud thunder roared through the hearts and bodies of every soul in Tiamat.

"Divine Thunder." Grand Elder Nuru looked like he could faint.

Meanwhile, if Alain still had an ass, he'd be sh*tting himself right now.

At first, the dark hands appeared and he heard a voice that spoke clear English that also seemed to cure the pain. However, shortly after that, there were what appeared to be 3 gods that spoke with what Alain assumed to be a fourth god, the owner of the hands that were cradling the can of soda that was now his life. Oh, and he was still spinning, like a lot.

The gods were speaking a language that he couldn't understand, but the energy of the conversation felt like a family barbecue. They appeared to be laughing and maybe even joking, occasionally patting each other on the backs.

What unsettled Alain the most was the fact that they clearly kept referencing him, occasionally pointing to his situation and laughing again.

Then, as if it were always this way, Alain found himself in a courtroom, still playing spin the bottle, but this time on a pedestal. He was on top of it inside of a glass box as if he was on display.

"Am I actually going to court to be judged by gods?" Alain thought.

"Yes" a face made of clouds appeared right outside the glass box and it once again scared any possible remaining fecal matter out of the Alain can. "All rise for the honorable judge, *******"

Alain couldn't hear the Judge's name, as it came out as white noise. 

A lightning bolt came down from above, and suddenly, there stood a man with 0 body fat and absolutely nothing but incredible sex appeal tucked into a judicial robe. 

"Court is in session." He said as he whipped out a giant electrified judge's gavel and created thunder over all the lands of Tiamat as he brought it down.

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Author's note: Hello! Thanks for taking the time to read my story so far! 

I wanted to say that this is a tertiary project for me, as I have a full time job and a small business startup, but I'm very passionate about this.

My goal is to post one chapter a day, I hope you enjoy it and come back!


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