01. 04- Hoqon and the Loci of the Storming World

Life, Supernatural

Hoqon pursued his nemesis through the Realms of Light and Shadow, until they arrived at the 4th Planet, Fuuthon. Therein, the monstrous Loci awaits with a savage intent. Hoqon takes a strange and unexpected journey for the next Heart Stone.

Dumagh traveled between the Realms of Light and Shadow, in an attempt to evade Hoqon. However, as she transitioned between those realms, Ao intervened by blinding the shadowy spirit in golden light. Hoqon attempted to grapple the Burning Star from her grasp, but she escaped with it into the planet, Fuuthon.
Ao took the opportunity to take the 2nd Heart Stone from Hoqon. He explained that the Outer Worlds of this galaxy were slowly falling into darkness, indicating Sebut Sekt's approach. Everywhere her influence crept, she left the land twisted and bizarre. Oah needed to return soon, otherwise she would reach the planet Daethon, where the final Heart Stone lie. Ao warned that Fuuthon Loci was a strange serpent who controlled the winds and clouds of the planet. It was a serpent said to " shun all others." The twin rings of the world, created from debris originating from within the planet, was repulsed by the covetous Loci. Hoqon nodded his understanding and descended into Fuuthon.

  Hoqon fell through a golden sky, until the 5th Star, the Aerial Star, activated. The Champion took to the skies, laughing in boundless freedom. Clouds and storms moved away from the joyous deity. Rising on the winds, Hoqon followed the skyline until dark clouds signaled Dumagh's angry approach.

  The mad dark spirit divulged her new intentions for Hoqon. Instead of destroying the Champion, Dumagh had become infatuated with him. She proposed a marriage; an infernal union of their souls where one becomes lost in the other. Hoqon declined, rejecting Dumagh.

  His quest was more important to him than her proposition. Dumagh, rejected and enraged, began tossing flame across the sky. Soon, Hoqon was drawn into another conflict with Dumagh, as he hurled massive stones through the air. Hoqon's mastery of the Aerial Star embarassed Dumagh, who could only float on the warm air currents with the Burning Star. As the conflict continued, thunderous roars heralded the arrival of Fuuthon Loci.

From North, South, East, and West, 4 colossal serpentine heads arose from the clouds, curiously observing the deities. Each horned head held a mane of flowing silver hair, and rows of claws and wings appeared around the serpentine columns of its coils. Pale silvery scales captured Ao's Light and reflected in a shimmering haze about the strange Loci.

The 4 heads each appeared from their respective directions- the Western Head, however, was asleep. Each head, connected to the dreams of the sleeping Loci, is possessed of a keen awareness. The Loci mentioned that it had observed Hoqon's journey through the Walking Dream. It didn't intend on being the next Loci to fall beneath Hoqon and suggested that the next Loci, Daethon, was also aware of his actions on Iethon and Bothon. Neither Loci wanted Hoqon to succeed. Therefore, the Loci promised that Hoqon's journey would end on Fuuthon. Since all things that fell onto Fuuthon belonged to the Loci, it believed that the Heart Stone belonged to it. Fuuthon Loci had already found the Heart Stone and hid it within his body. With that, it cursed both Dumagh and Hoqon for invading their World and attacked mercilessly.

  From all directions, Fuuthon Loci seperated the battling deities. Dumagh was launched into the Northern Domain by the Northern Head, where it followed her through the clouds. The Southern and Eastern Heads also followed Hoqon, until he reached the Western Domain. Since their heads couldn't pass the border of their Domains, Hoqon used the opportunity to escape to one of the two large moons caught in Fuuthon's rings. From there, Hoqon regathered, using the opportunity to observe the Loci rampaging across the surface of the gaseuous planet. The coils would sometimes breach the atmosphere of the planet, causing ripples in the disc- like asteroid belts following the Moons.

  Mystendr appeared once more to the Champion and offered a moment's respite. The Goddess of Moons offered Hoqon a Moon Fruit- a special plant that had begun growing on one of the moons on Bothon. Since then, she continued planting secret gardens on a few other moons. A cornucopia of various Moon Fruits was given to the Champion.

  Meanwhile, Dumagh was locked in heated battle with the Northern Head of Fuuthon Loci until she was blown through the atmosphere by the Loci's repulsing breath. The Burning Star fell behind her as the Northern Head reached hungrily for its power. Captured within it's maw, the Loci shook the planet with newfound power. The Northern Winds became heated with the power of the Burning Star. Dumagh flew into the Aether. Hoqon lept from the moon and captured Dumagh in his arms. Together, they both descend back to the moon where Mystendr watched.

Dumagh mentioned that she was being pursued by an entity sent from Sebut Sekt's Overworld. While Hoqon pursued her to Fuuthon, during her brief steps into the Realm of Shadow, she mentioned Sebut Sekt peering at her from a dark tower across a red sky. Mystendr, who sees the shadows of all moons, tells the story to Hoqon of Overworld's dominance over the Outer Worlds of the Corpus. Reinforcing the warning he had received from Ao, Hoqon was about to return to Fuuthon before the deities felt the presence of another spirit.

  A shadowy form began to materialize in the Aether above the moon. Appearing from darkness in a black and tattered coat, a mask of rusted iron, and with a plumed, silver feather hat, a man held a long sliver of cursed metal from the Overworld. In silence, it made no motion but menacingly appeared above Hoqon. As it leveled the metal, it pointed the end towards Dumagh threateningly. With little motion, it made an attack against her.
  Hoqon thwarted the attack by raising his Aegis to her defense. Then, he quickly surround Dumagh in a sarcophagus of moonstone. The assassin stood in front of Hoqon ominously. Removing the mask, the entity had the same face as Hoqon. It had been disfigured and scarred, but the visage was the same. Confused, Hoqon demanded an answer. The entity revealed itself as Tyruen, the Shadow that the Nameless King left behind when it ascended through the Realms of Light. All of the evil and malevolence he left in Overworld was given a new purpose. Tyruen was Sebut Sekt's emissary, able to navigate beyond the Overworld by using the Realms of Light and Shadow. Since Dumagh attracted Sebut Sekt's attention, Tyruen was sent to return her to Overworld, where her Fate would be decided.

  The assassin attacked once more, this time striking through the sarcophagus. Hoqon watched in horror as a thick, black smoke bellowed from the sarcophagus' wound and Dumagh screamed with pain. Hoqon, envigored with rage, continued to battle with the assassin. With the Metal Star, he traded attacks; however, with a single thrust, Tyruen disarmed him. The Metal Star fell into Fuuthon's Southern Domain. Where burning clouds lit the North, a swirling column of cool now burst from the South, reacting violently where the air currents met. As Hoqon continued to fight with a staff formed from the Verdant Star, Mystendr suggested the futility of attack when the entity was deathless.
  Suddenly, the smoke from the sarcophagus enveloped the mysterious assailant in mid- attack. As it writhed about, Hoqon hit it with the Verdant Staff. The energy from the Staff caused the sarcophagus to burst from within with branches and green leaves. Dumagh burst from the stone, radiating a glowing energy; with their united powers, Dumagh and Hoqon were able to repel the invader. As his charred and smoking corpse fell from the moon, Hoqon turned to regard the new Dumagh that had emerged from the sarcophagus.

  Her love for Hoqon was purified by the energy that reacted with the Life- giving Verdant Star. The lingering traces of the Burning Star and the reaction of the Verdant Star had given her a new Life and purpose. She was changed- her skin was no longer charred but had become olive- complected. The veins that ran through her body lightly shimmered with crimson energy and her heart had become a golden pyre. Together, she agreed to help Hoqon find the Heart Stone.
  When they arrived on Fuuthon, they used the Aerial Star to fly. Despite harsh winds now forming, the deities searched for the Northern Head. Mid- flight, the Eastern Head ambushed the deities, cornering them at the center of the world. Hoqon lost the power of flight when the Eastern Head swallowed the Aerial Star. Now that Fuuthon Loki held the power of the 3 Stars, storms and hurricanes began to sweep the clouds and sunder the sky. The edges of Fuuthon began to tremble with the eruption of new forces flowing.

  The Southern Head had consumed Hoqon and Dumagh, swallowing them into it's cavernous body. Before they were pressed by the Loci's maw, Hoqon used the Earth Star to create a stony shell. He held Dumagh close to his chest as they tumbled through the Loci's body, causing it much distress. While the Loci twisted around in agony, it pushed the ball of spiny rocks into the mouth of the Western Head. There, the sleeping head gnawed and crushed the stone until the deities collapsed inside the poisonous maw.

  Using the Verdant Star, Hoqon purified the poison inside the Loci's mouth. Surprisingly, the Western Head was grateful; the poison inside it's mouth was created from an irritant hid deep within it's stomach. With Hoqon's help, the Western Head of Fuuthon Loci produced the Heart Stone from the bowels of it's stomach. Then, it mumbled and yawned; the deities escaped into the open sky once more. As the spinning world was caught in a maelstrom of powerful winds, the planet threatened to dissolve into space. The Loci's power had become too much for the world; it was on the verge of destroying itself.

  The smoky shadow of Tyruen returned and assailed Hoqon with a renewed fervor. Both fell through the world and into the depths of space, where the two spirits were entwined in combat. Dumagh, dropped off within the rings of the planet, found the drifting corpses of Sylphs- native spirits from the planet. The entity had assimilated their forms, leaving behind their discarded spirits. The Sylph had escaped here to avoid the rampaging Loci but the assailant had slain them all. Dumagh returned to the warring deities and exclaimed for the assailant to stop the assault.

  Turning to Dumagh, Tyruen once more removed the rusted iron mask. It's face had changed, now charred black with burning green eyes that resembled the Evil Eye of Iethon that she had carried from Bothon. With a mouth full of smoke, it now called itself Shakhan. Dumagh recognized Shakhan- the 2nd Hand of Death.

Dumagh and Shakhan were both part of one entity, the Death Eidolon that attempted to steal Oah's divine soul. When they were seperated from the Death Eidolon by Amede, they endured the Aether for aeon before becoming one entity, Dumagh, the dominant of the two hands. Now that Shakhan was free, it possessed the body of her assailant, Tyruen.

  Yet Shakhan wished to rejoin with Dumagh. Shakhan believed that if they took the Stars and Heart Stones from Hoqon, then they could rejoin and have the power, as one, to usurp Sebut Sekt. However, Dumagh rejected Shakhan for Hoqon. Her new inspired love for the deity made her want to follow and aid him on his quest; purified by her Love, she wasn't even the same entity that she was before. In a fit of jealous rage, Shakhan replaced Tyruen's mask.

Tyruen's attack had seperated the Death spirits. Shakhan had attacked Tyruen to protect Dumagh, but Shakhan hated Hoqon for taking Dumagh from him. Sensing Dumagh's apprehension, the Champion stepped forward, rejecting the proposal. Shakhan threatened to steal the Heartstone; before he could land a death blow on Hoqon, Ao appeared and blasted him with a lance of sun light. Shakhan fell back into the world of Fuuthon, where the Loci's immediately challenged him. Once the deities discussed what had happened, they agreed to defeat the Loci together and return the Stars back to Hoqon.

  Ao takes the opportunity to retrieve the 3rd Heart Stone from Hoqon. Reluctantly, Ao entrusts the Heart Stone to Mystendr. Against Hoqon's concerns, Ao bravely steps forward to challenge the assassin. Hoqon and Dumagh return to Fuuthon by using the asteroids. While the giant boulders soared through the air, Hoqon lept and plummeted through a raging, storming sky. As he fell, a column of black smoke indicated that his enemy, Shakhan, had caught up to him. With a beam of sunlight from high above, Ao intercepted Shakhan again.

A tail wind from one of the Loci's wings caused Hoqon and Dumagh to arrive at the center of the open world, where the 6th Star came to life within the heart of the impending storm. With multiple lances of Light, Hoqon held on to a bolt of lightning. When he released it, the bolt shot through the dark clouds and joined the impending storm.

  The Champion stood atop the Loci's writhing stomach, where all 4 bodies connected. With each head blinded by the storms, Hoqon charged energy through the Bolt Star until he harnessed the powers of the others Stars within the Loci's mouths. Calling upon their divine power, Hoqon used the stars to create a maelstrom of wind and lightning that twisted at the center of Fuuthon. As the serpents twisted together, they became bound by the central storm.

Fuuthon Loci had belched winds into a column storm that stretched from both poles of the planet, ensnaring the 3 treacherous serpents in the breath of their own wind currents. Recalling the aid he received from the Western Head, Hoqon spared the head the same fate as his treacherous brethren. The Western Domain of Fuuthon always remains calm compared to the rest of the planet.

Hoqon reclaimed the fallen Stars and escaped to the 2nd Moon. With the 3rd Heart Stone and Hoqon's Stars secured, the Champion was ready to move to the next planet, Daethon. Ao and Dumagh joined him and explained that Shakhan had escaped back into Realms of Shadow. Mystendr, who had befriended the Western Head, explained that in the dreams of the Loci, he thanks the deity for sparing him. It vowed to remain peaceful, in it's domain, as the other Heads remained within their storm of imprisonment. It owed Hoqon a debt of gratitude and pledged an eternal allegiance to the Champion. Ao, Hoqon, and Dumagh continued their journey through the Realms of Light and Shadow towards the planet, Daethon.