An Unexpected Arrival

Jhiin'r Vurkael, previously known as the Aspect of Wisdom, wove through the battle, the spear in his hands striking at all enemies to dared approach. He dove under a bolt of energy, spear turning horizontal as he rolled. Upon coming into a crouch, he threw Khallax at the Loyalist, the force from the impact knocking him back several meters. He turned to face a large group of enemy Isariin as they charged, spear materializing in his raised hand only to be whipped out and impale the closest man. A sword slash whizzed by as he leaned to the side, flat hands coming around to crunch through the Loyalist's armor and snap his spine.

Khallax materialized in his grasp once more, which he promptly spun about to reflect bolts of energy away from himself. He sprinted in a jagged line, making himself a harder target while nearing the group. He delved into their midst with a twirl of the spear, the ends stabbing and slicing through armor and flesh with ease. In a few seconds, the last of the soldiers slid off the end of his spear. He barely had time to brace himself as a Kraikari, one of the elite guards, slammed into him.

The two went flying, but recovered in split-seconds. The other Isariin held a halberd, which he used to swung around in a powerful chop. He reversed the swing at the last second and spun, bringing it around to slash down before he stabbed forward. All of these attacks Jhiin'r nimbly dodged, for as good as the Kraikari was, he just wasn't on the same level as the Aspect. They clashed, midsections of each weapon pressing hard against one another. They strained for a couple seconds, then each started to kick at the other combatant's feet. Jhiin'r ended this bout by stepping back and headbutting the off-balance Kraikari warrior before he could recover, then brought his right foot up in a kick to the groin that lifted the man into the air before slamming onto the ground face down. A spear to the back of the skull ended his pain.

Several more groups rushed the Isariin, but were incinerated as he lifted Khallax high into the air. Energy exploded out from him, enveloping the soldiers utterly. Jhiin'r stepped away from the corpses and wiped off blood from his face, then looked over at the objective of the Insurrectionists. The capital city stood tall in the distance, magnificent structures gleaming in the fading sunlight. His attention was snared by the sound of a fighter coming in from the south-east. He looked up at the black dot as it grew steadily nearer. He readied his spear, the furrowed his brow in confusion when the vehicle as it did a loop in the air and started flying in the opposite direction.

Then, all made sense as a four-meter high cylindrical object slammed into the ground at the bottom of the hill the Aspect was overlooking. Legs unfolded, allowing the device to stand perfectly upright in the small crater it had made. Vertical lights ran down the sides, flashing incessantly.

"Get everyone away from the battlefield, NOW!" Jhiin'r bellowed into his COM, turning to run. The ground shook beneath him suddenly, and the air seemed to boil all around. He turned to look at the machine as it dented and crumpled. "Brother, what have you done?" He muttered, but it was too late.

The detonation of temporal energy ripped through the barriers of the universe, plunging the entire planet through a rent in time and space. Luckily, the shockwave did not reach Sol or even the Earth. Unfortunately, for the Aspect and those in near the superweapon when it went off, they were sent hurtling through the dimensions. Most perished, but Jhiin'r was able to protect himself long enough to escape and exit on the primary material plane. And so he rushed towards Earth, the nearest planet which can sustain life for his species...





To most people, it was an average day in the bustling city. The sun was just rising in the East, and no extremely overt metahuman activity had occurred in the last couple weeks, so the citizens were enjoying life as much as they could. Unfortunately, the day was about to become very, very bad for some. A spot on the edge of the sun seemed to become brighter, but almost no one noticed. Within minutes, though, they could see the outline of what looked like a brilliant comet as it rapidly moved across the sky. It vanished over the horizon, but that was only the beginning.

The comet was caught in Earth's gravitational pull, and its speed allowed it to orbit the planet once before crashing. Its final destination? The outskirts of Tokyo city. When it appeared for the second time, people started to panic. In less than a minute, however, it was already over the technical geographic line that designated the beginning of the city.

The massive streak of energy slammed into a building, leaving a gaping hole near the top floor. Glass shattered as it passed, and several more skyscrapers felt the force and heat as it ripped through them like tissue paper. The fireball eventually ground to a halt as it crashed into the ground, creating and explosion that rippled out, flattening nearby structures with ease. Estimates later would calculate that roughly one-tenth of the entire city had been destroyed by the "comet"; the death toll was, unfortunately, quite large.

Where it landed was a roughly nine-hundred meter wide crater. Smoke drifted up due to the residual heat and temporal energy, concealing what was down there. However, if one were able, they would see a bald, black man lying spreadeagled on the shattered pavement beneath his back, completely naked and seemingly unharmed by the impact. Another curious feature was the two foot long rod he held in one hand that was of curious workmanship, seeming to be wrought of silver and gold and bearing no imperfection or blemish.

As the energy sank into the man's chest, his eyes widened in shock. He inhaled deeply, limbs flailing. After a couple seconds, he pushed himself up, rod tumbling to the ground. He winced, seemingly in pain, then looked down at his arms. His eyes roved over the dark skin as if it he was just seeing it for the first time in his life. Suddenly, his entire body seemed to glow gold, and a humming sound could be heard getting louder with every second. The man panicked, then stumbled onto his abdomen when he turned around abruptly. He reached out and snagged the rod. The effect was instantaneous. The glow quickly dimmed to nothing, starting from where he touched the piece of metal and racing down his body.

He shook his head slightly, then stood. He turned around to face the stranger standing tall in the crater along with him, confusion evident on his features. He spoke, but it didn't sound like any language Nate knew, though it seemed to have traits of all Earthly tongues. It was slightly singsong but with some harsh, guttural elements as well. Frustrated by the half-breed's lack of understanding, the man turned away and started walking towards the edge of the crater. He paused after going a few steps, then held the rod up. Robes reminiscent of a monk's garment faded into existence, clothing him adequately. He then turned back to Nate and strode towards him, hand not holding the rod lifting into the air as he approached. He halted right before making contact with Nate's forehead.

Gold light swirled around the man's hand for a couple seconds. He dropped his arm, then started to talk hesitantly in a deep, somewhat mellow voice. "Can...you...understand me?"

"Earth? Rather dull title for a planet." Jhiin'r muttered, studying what he could see through the dissipating smoke. "I remember an early culture where this world's name took several seconds to speak. But, judging by the temporal energies emanating from 'Earth', it has been quite some time since I was here last, and that small tribe has most likely died out." He ignored the outstretched hand and started walking up the side of the crater quite nimbly, though he winced in pain every couple seconds. When he reached the lip, he pulled himself up and onto the pavement. He turned his head side-to-side, his brow furrowing when he comprehended how much damage his entry had caused.

"Unfortunate. I tried to aim for a less inhabited area, but things can get tricky when tumbling out of a rift." He mused, talking to himself as much as the winged human-like creature. The Isariin looked back at Nate. "Friend? For all you know, I could be a vicious Ruhr'vak seeking to annihilate this planet." He paused for a second. "Fortunately for you, I'm not. Otherwise you would be dead and the rest of the city would be in ashes." He looked down at the rod in his hand, then slid it into his robes. He then started to intently study his hands as he flexed and clenched them. After a few seconds, he reached down and grabbed a large chunk of rock that had to be several hundred kilograms and lifted easily into the air. He passed it from hand to hand, then tossed it aside when he seemed satisfied.

"Now, where do you wish to take me and why?" Jhiin'r asked Nate when he turned around; it didn't seem so much a question as a stern demand.