CALAMITY : Legends Of The Chosen

Scene: Pyramid Chamber – Awakening Chaos

The golden glow faded slowly, like dying embers after a storm.

Then—

CRACK.

Shojiro's statue snapped at the neck, mid-motion — his muscles bulging, his fingers halfway through ripping his own gold-plated head off. His eyes flared open with confused rage, stopping just before he could decapitate himself.

Shojiro (hoarse): "HUH—?! …I'm alive?! I was about to—"

He looked down at the solid gold arm he'd just tossed aside.

Shojiro: "…Yo, who saved my dumbass?!"

Leone was next. Her body phased back from gold to flesh — but her clothes did not.

She blinked.

Then blinked again.

Then immediately screamed and dove behind the nearest rock formation, her face redder than a fresh brand.

Leone: "WHY AM I ALWAYS NAKED WHEN I COME BACK TO LIFE!?"

Enme gasped awake, coughing, her limbs flailing. She instinctively summoned a glowing hex-barrier around her body, spiraling glyphs blooming midair. For a split second, she didn't know who she was aiming it at.

Enme (dazed): "Where—pyramid—MAX?!"

She spotted him and her eyes went wide with horror. "What did you do?"

Kuro shimmered back to normal in a flurry of violet shadowflames. The first thing she did was turn toward Zans — who had just cracked back into motion beside her.

Without a word, she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.

Kuro (muffled): "Don't ever leave me again, you idiot…"

Zans (softly): "...I thought I won."

Kuro: "You didn't."

Zans: "Exactly."

Karl's body reformed from scattered nanites, pieces whirling back into a humanoid shell before color returned to his face. His first instinct was to check his wrist HUD.

Karl: "System online. VYTHRA 64%. Structure… stabilized."

He looked over, saw Max kneeling, and paused.

Karl: "Wait. You're alive? What did you do—"

Then he saw Saria standing over him, hand resting on his shoulder. Her half-clothed, golden-wrapped form was unmistakable.

Karl (flatly): "...Oh."

Morgz emerged last. The gold cracked and dissolved from his body as he rose slowly, His eyes scanned the pyramid with quiet fire.

Morgz (quietly): "I was in a dream. Where everyone died. But I couldn't cry."

He locked eyes with Max.

Morgz: "...That wasn't a dream, was it?"

Max, still kneeling, his chest branded by Saria's curse glyph, looked up at his team.

He smiled.

Max (quietly): "Nope. But now it is."

The team gathered around him, confused, relieved… but the tension in the air said it all.

Something had changed.

And that something… was staring at them like a goddess admiring her pets.

Saria's voice echoed across the chamber.

Saria (smiling): "Welcome back, Chosen. Your lives belong to him… and his soul belongs to me."

Shojiro raised an eyebrow.

Leone peeked out from behind a pillar, blushing furiously.

Enme's barrier flickered.

Zans stepped in front of Kuro again.

Karl's HUD pinged in warning.

Morgz took one cautious step forward.

Max just sighed.

Max: "...Yeah. We've got some catching up to do."

Scene: The Pyramid Throne – Declaration of the Chosen Puppet

The Chosen stood in a wide semicircle,

VYTHRA flaring with renewed strength. Golden torches blazed to life around the ancient throne chamber, casting wild shadows on the stone walls.

Saria stood barefoot atop her golden dais, radiant and untouchable. Her barely-clothed body shimmered in the light, gold wraps coiled tight around her curves like living serpents.

Shojiro cracked his knuckles.

Leone hovered in Phantom form behind cover, clothes phasing off invisibly once again, silently promising herself not again.

Karl scanned every inch of her body with tactical HUD overlays. "Too fast. Too strong. Too… much."

Zans silently flicked his shadow trails across the ground, wrapping Kuro behind him protectively.

Enme raised her barrier core overhead.

And Morgz—

Morgz stared at Max. At Saria. At their positioning. His expression unreadable.

Then—

Before a single attack could fly—

Saria turned.

And kissed Max again.

Full on the lips. Passionate. Possessive. Long.

Saria (pulling away): "Mm~ I just had to. Sorry. I missed you. My champion."

The others blinked, stunned. Weapons lowered.

Shojiro: "…Are we fighting or—"

Saria (smirking): "Oh? No no no, sweet muscled Shojiro. This isn't a fight. This was a test."

She lifted one leg onto the dais like a queen addressing her subjects.

Saria: "I've been asleep for centuries, waiting. Watching. Binding myself to this pyramid, cursed to remain until one of the Chosen proved themselves worthy."

Saria: "And I have chosen. Max Conrad—my thunder child. My eternal puppet. My future husband, probably."

Max's eye twitched. "Wait what—"

Saria (to the group): "You see, I'm not your enemy. I'm your failsafe. If any of you dies in this cycle, your souls will try to return to Yggdrasil—but if they can't? I catch them. I keep them safe until they're restored."

"Every generation of Chosen has had me watching from the shadows, waiting to protect your kind. Not a single one of you has died—because of me."

She walked across the dais slowly, gold armor forming around her hips and thighs in curved patterns. She kissed Max again mid-stride.

Saria (smiling): "You just didn't know I was here. Until now. Until him."

Morgz, arms folded, eyes narrowed.

Morgz (dry): "You're seriously just gonna kiss him every time you talk?"

Saria: "Yes."

She leaned down. Another kiss.

Saria: "He's mine now. Isn't it obvious? I'm your super sexy mummy girlfriend."

Leone facepalmed behind a pillar.

Enme: "Okay… What is happening?"

Karl (to Max): "You let her curse you, didn't you."

Max (shrugging): "...I was dying."

Zans: "You're still cursed."

Saria: "He's mine now. Cursed or not, it's a blessing."

Morgz's fingers clenched.

Morgz (quiet): "Tch."

Saria (smiling sweetly): "Aw. Is someone jealous~?"

Morgz didn't answer.

Saria (laughing): "You're all adorable. But this is the truth. You've been granted my protection. And Max—" kiss "—has been granted me."

She turned to the full group.

Saria: "So don't worry. Your lives belong to fate. But your deaths? Belong to me."