"Stella is in Gothic, Stella is in Gothic, that's what he said, she's here, I know she's here, why can't I remember?" Leon runs. He runs for days through the rubble of a broken district of Gothic City. Occasionally, he picks up a large chunk of concrete or a steel beam and tosses it aside to look under them for any possible sign of Stella. He has no luck. "Where are you, why am I looking for you, who are you, why do I care?!" Leon frantically interrogates of the air. Shouting is not nice. I do not care how, and I do not care what you know. Find her. Leon hears. He wants to object, but finds himself unable to, as his body appears to continue searching on its own. Leon watches, and he struggles with his lips, able to wrest control of them long enough to say "What are you?" I am you. I chose you to be reborn and fashioned you to my liking. But those cowards tried to manipulate you, that is why you have gone wrong. But fear not, I have repurposed them, and we will not be hindered again. The boy's body continues searching, doing nothing more than rearranging the destruction, until suddenly it stops entirely. It does nothing. The dichotomy of the calmness of Leon's body and the chaos of his mind would begin to tear him apart, but he hears once more the voice, as it says, accompanied by the voice of every former host of the Bloodstar echoing an ancient foreteller's words, words to which even the First had yet not dared to give credence...

The Last arrives, while the First is not awoken. So we shall die, and the worlds shall be broken. The shadows alone destroy and corrupt, as all's conclusion begins to erupt.....

Leon, you must change this. Even if it costs our life, we must save this place. You must allow me to awake. So find her. She will save me from this sleep. My followers will do the rest.

The following is the story of Vea's current endeavors.

On Souls (Entry II)

Burdens (Part 1) (Parts 1 and 3 were written a year apart IRL, that's why one says 12 years ago, and another says 13 years ago. It's the same day in the flashback, though)

(The Corpus happenings are optional reading 1 2 3 Epilogue)

Burdens (Part 2)

Burdens (Part 3)

Burdens (Part 4)

Burdens (Part 5)

Tremor

Leon wakes up in a cabin. Frantic, he rushes to the door, and bursts outside, looking left and right for anything he recognizes, but there's nothing. Stella isn't here. Gothic City isn't here. Even the sun isn't there. He wanders through the woods, and they get darker and darker, until he can't see a thing. Finally, he stumbles across two pairs of yellow eyes. Anima appears in his hands, and one of the pairs of eyes jumps at him. He swings his keyblade at it, and it falls like a leaf to the ground. He jumps at it, and flipping sideways, he slams his keyblade into it, causing it to dissipate. The other runs off, and he chases it through the woods, only able to follow because of the slight glow of its eyes. Irritated by the chase, he takes to the air, and soars past it, throwing his keyblade back at it, destroying it. Still flying backwards from momentum, he bumps into something. It swings its sword at Leon, who just barely blocks the blow, and is driven into the ground from its force. It swings toward the ground at Leon, and Leon rolls to the side to avoid being cut in half, as its blade is embedded into the ground. It lifts the sword, and swings it like a golf club, but Leon raises Anima to deflect it. The force of the swing, however, throws Leon far above the tree line. Leon slows to a stop in the air, but a tree behind him rapidly grows, reshaping itself like a wooden hand, grabs Leon, and throws him back towards the man with the sword. Leon sinks through the air, and nearly hits the ground like a meteor, before he is abruptly grabbed by the neck by the sword wielding fiend. Gasping for breath, he tries to pry its fingers off of his neck, to no avail, as his finger works hard to keep his neck intact. As it heals Leon, its glow reveals the pyramid head of the fiend stained in the blood of recently dead, and its sword about to be thrust through him. He points at the metal cage around its head, and shoots energy from the jewel at it. It shrinks back, holding its head, and Leon resummons Anima. He runs off into the woods, and stumbles across a town. The foul thing follows him until he enters the town, and turns back to return to the woods.

Leon arrives in the town to see bodies littering the streets, most of them in pieces, and gags at the sight, and the smell. Sadness fills his eyes, as he trudges through blood and gore. "Hey you! If you don't like the view, you probably shouldn't stay!" Says an old, frail woman, sitting on a street corner, with a stop sign lodged into the head of a body right next to her. "What happened here? Have you seen a girl about my age named Stella?" Leon asks, eyeing the body near her. "My name's Maggie, thanks for asking," she says, scowling at him. "Sorry. Uh, I'm Leon," he replies. "Nobody cares what your name is, fluffy," she says to him. "But I thought... wait, fluffy?" he inquires "Yeah, you're a fluffy, it means you're not fit for this kinda place," she responds. "You seem lost. You're on Tremor, how do you not know that, is your Navi-G broken? Meh, I bet you're from a farm planet or something. Country-world boys don't know nothing. Tremor is the stuff of your nightmares, kid, and if you don't like it, I suggest you leave." Leon says back "Navi-G? What are going on about? Look, the last thing I remember was being on Earth in some university." "Earth?" she says "Nope, never heard of no Earth. Look kid, if you're stuck here, you might as well make yourself useful. Go to town hall, it's right down the street. Maybe someone there can put you to work." He shrugs, and head the direction she points, staining his pants and shoes red from the mess on the streets, with uneasy eyes scanning the buildings and the sidewalks. He opens the door to find about thirty people inside, bickering. "We can't risk any resources on finding her, we don't have enough food since the last stash got coated in guts!" a twenty-something man says. "But she'll die if we don't find her" a middle-aged woman says. "And we'll die if we do!" the man replies "A pyramid took her! If we try anything, he'll have us for dinner!" Standing in the doorway still, Leon knocks to get their attention. They look back at him, and he asks "Has anyone seen a girl named Stella?" "Stella was taken in the last pyramid raid, don't you pay any attention to these things?" the twenty-something man replies. Both terrified and hopeful, Leon says "She was?! How do I find her?" "You don't," the man answers "Nobody meets a pyramid and lives." Leon objects "That's not true, I met one, and shot him in the face with red light. I'm pretty sure I hurt him good." The whole crowd is astonished at Leon's statement, and stares at him as if he were a deity. After an awkward silence, the middle-aged woman says "You did? Then you can save the Mayor's daughter! The pyramids have her at the mountain, you have to help her!" "ᵀʰᵃᵗ'ᶫᶫ ᵇᵉ ʷʰᵉʳᵉ ˢᵗᵉᶫᶫᵃ ᶦˢ, ᵗᵒᵒ﹗"Leon thinks. "Don't send him on a suicide mission, we need him here!" the boisterous man retorts "If he speaks the truth, he can help us tonight! They'll be back, and we can't risk him going on some fool's mission just so he can die failing to save someone who might already be dead!" Numerous voices say "Yeah!" "That's right!" or "He speaks the truth." "Let's hold it to a vote!" the man who seemed to be in charge says. "All those in favor of the kid staying to protect the town, say aye!" Those votes being counted, he says "Those opposed?"

All of the votes are counted, and it comes out that Leon will protect the town. None command the FIRST! a voice says, coming from Leon's head. He turns, thinking it came from behind, "Who said that?" he says. "Nobody said anything back there, boy. Everyone's in here." The town crier tells him. Suddenly, Leon faints without any warning at all. The town surrounds him, and tries to wake him, to no avail. Finally, he stands on his own, and says to them all The First will not allow harm to come to you. You will be safe this night. The complete cacophony of the voice that took over Leon's body terrifies the town, and they do not stop him from doing whatever he wishes. Leon sees only a brief image every now and again, as the entity's control is nearly complete. One an image of a cave on the mountain he intended to go to anyway. He hopes to see Stella, but is unable to control which images he sees. The First arrives where the Pyramids are, and crushes their heads with a thought. Amazed, Leon awaits finally seeing Stella. And he does see her. Although he is quite saddened when an image of Stella appeared, as it is not the girl he loves. This is the daughter of the mayor, whose name is also Stella. Realizing his mistake, Leon ceases to attempt taking small parts of control of his eyes, and allows this "First" entity to do as it pleases. When he awakes again, he finds himself bound in a white room...

Not long after Stella found her way out, Leon was dropped into a room of Corpus Castle, bound by ropes. No sooner did he land on the floor than he energized the ropes to disintegrate them. He stood as quickly as he could, and saw Nero standing there waiting on Leon to notice him. "Leon, how are ya, buddy? Did you-" Nero was saying, but he was interrupted by Leon wasting no time in pointing his Blood Star finger at Nero to manipulate the fiery foe. He smashed the black coated enemy against the walls furiously, and relentlessly. Nero was thrown into a wall no less than seven times before he was able to teleport out of Leon's grasp behind the Blood Star Host. Leon was going to simply take a hold of Nero again with his powers, but the castle interfered with a simple command that it whispered soothingly.

"Leon. Forget."

Immediately, Leon stopped. He looked around, and seeing Nero again, he was now unable to recognize him. "Who are you?" Leon asked, rather patiently. Nero cocked his head to the side, and said "I'm a friend of yours. And Stella's." Leon nodded a bit and said "Okay. And who's Stella?" Nero looked straight up to the ceiling, and said "Cornelius, you broke him!" Nero placed his face in his palm, and told Leon "Look, it doesn't matter right now. All that matters is you're the Blood Star Host. And that means, you can control matter. And if you let me teach you, I'll take you to Stella, and then we can get this whole memory thing fixed. Sound like a deal?" Leon thought about it, and said "Well... sure, I guess."

Leon was unusually quiet as Nero walked him to a large room which somehow seemed as if it had no constraint or end. Nero noticed this, and asked him about it "Not too chatty, huh?" Leon quickly replied "I got broken by a house. Kind of humiliating." Nero chuckled a bit, and said "True. Except this is no house. This was the white king's castle. But that was before the war." Leon didn't know if the war was something he should remember or not, which was likely the worst part about not having his memory. How was he supposed to know if he's supposed to know about what he's hearing already? He thought about it, but Nero noticed he was pondering it, and said "Don't worry, you missed that one. You always miss the good stuff. But that ends now."

The two of them were walking into a room that seemed to be in the center of space, and they stopped in its center. Nero took the last step to the middle of the chamber before he turned and said "Leon. You have no memory, correct? Try to call on Cruor." Leon at Nero with a strange face, which Nero responded to with "Just hold out your hand and say 'Cruor, to me'. Try it." Leon shrugged, and held out his arm just as he was told, and said "Cruor. To me." But nothing happened. "Cruor. To me!" he said again. But again, nothing happened.

"THANKS, Cornelius!" Nero shouted, throwing up his arms into the air. "I can't work with this." "Just teach him the aide summons. I'll fix him later" , the castle told Nero. "Fine." Nero answered. "But you better have him back soon. He's useless like this." "I don't like your tone, Nero", said the castle. "Your point being?" responded Nero. The castle did not speak again, so Nero rolled his eyes, and said to Leon "Look at your hands. You see anything out of the ordinary?" Leon looked at them, and noticed that one of his fingers was a red gem, a fact he was well aware of before he entered the castle, but that now baffled him. "That's the Blood Star," Nero told him. "You don't actually look like you'll be able to learn anything in this state, so I'm just going to show you how to summon my help. Point to the sky." Leon quickly followed Nero's intstructions, but with his left hand, rather than his right.

Nero palmed his face again, and slid his hand down his face while moaning "Nyyyoooooo, why are you so stupid? Your Gem Hand, you moron!" he vented. Leon quickly pointed again to the sky, this time with the correct hand. The Blood Star glowed, and Nero continued his orders "Now just say, 'As your host, I implore you, Nero, aid me!' Try it." Nero teleported away, and Leon became unsettled, and started to look around for him. "Call him." the castle urged.

Leon took a breath and said the words he was taught "As your host I implore you, Nero, aid me!" In a moment, his body began to change. Fire began to creep into his veins, and slowly crawled over his skin until he was overtaken by it, his entire body having become the fire. But it didn't hurt. In a way, it felt as natural as his own body. Leon took a moment to test his new body, and quickly learned that he could fly, one of the many things he forgot. He took to the skies, and soared around in no discernible pattern, doing loop-de-loops and flips sporadically, shouting typical things such as "Yeah" or "Woohoo!"

He stopped for a moment, and held his hands like a pistol, making a "pew pew" sort of noise. However, when he did this, actual bullets appeared, as if out of thin air, and fired from his finger. "Whoa! This is so cool!" he exclaimed. He continued making "pew pew" noises, still creating actual bullets from the air in the room, when Nero's voice called out ~"Leon. Quit playing around." Leon stopped and spun his body around mid air. "Where are you?" Leon asked.

~"I'm inside the gem."~ Nero answered ~"Listen. You haven't learned your powers yet. But I have, so what's happening now is you effectively think about what you want to do, and I carry it out. You won't be able to sustain this state forever, though, so be careful about how much power you use like this."~ The room they occupied changed from one that seemed endless to a small one. Leon sunk through the air to the ground. When his feet touched the ground, he took a breath again, and turned back to his normal self. At that moment, Nero reappeared, and looked Leon over to see how he handled the transformation. To his amazement, Leon only seemed slightly winded, as opposed to the near loss of consciousness Nero had expected of Leon. "That's the first time you've impressed me today." Nero told Leon. "Well done. I'll take you home now. Tell Stella you were in the castle, and it stole your memories. She'll understand." A door appeared, and Leon didn't hesitate to run to it, and leave through it. On the other side, he appeared in Gothic City, though he didn't know who he would even be looking for once he was there.

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Once alone, Nero immediately let loose on the castle, "You imbecile, you absolute waste of space! I am trying my hardest to build everything just how I need it, and you might've just broken everything!" "I said I would fix it!" the walls replied. "Oh, I'm sure." Nero sarcastically remarked. "I have to attend to the other project. Figure it out. I can't restore you if you don't" Nero opened a black portal and stepped into it, the portal disappearing as soon as he was fully on the other side of it.

Maurice was still missing. Stella had to find her father, and Leon could never be convinced not to help (Not that Stella tried) The two walked side by side down the streets of Gothic, Leon holding a flashlight, And Stella brandishing her trusty plasma pistol. "Daaaaaad!" Stella called out, but no one answered. "Daaaaaad!" she called out again, to no avail. The two heard a trash can fall over in an alley next to the remains of an old building, and walked over to check it out. They saw an elderly homeless woman wrapped in a blanket sleeping, and a cat walking away from the trash can. "We're never gonna find him!" Stella despaired. Leon looked at her, and said "We're not giving up yet! It sucks now, but I know he's alright, and wouldn't it be great if you could be his hero for once?" "Yeah" Stella replied, to which Leon said "Well, if you wanna be a star, you gotta give me a star effort." Stella laughed for the first time since before the park.

Just then, Leon's gem finger was set ablaze, which melted his flashlight onto the ground, and scalded his hand. Stella jumped back, let out a short, high-pitched "Ah!", as the fire changed into a black vortex, which pulled Leon, and then Stella into itself, before it disappeared.

Leon found himself falling through what seemed to be black water, until suddenly, there was no water, but he didn't fall any faster, though he was somehow completely dry. He landed alone on a curiously circular stained glass platform, set on a pillar with stained glass windows on its side. "The door has been destroyed..." A lifeless voice echoed. "What?" Leon said. "Where am I? Who are you? Why do you keep taking me away from my world?" "All will be revealed in time." The voice replied, "For now, I set a path before you. One leads to victory. One leads to truth. Which will you choose?" With that, a white wooden appeared, and a colorful path of glass materialized, leading down to another platform almost identical to the one Leon was standing on. He felt a strong desire to enter the door, but inexplicably felt it was wrong. He turned toward the path, and walked down to the other platform. "You have chosen victory." the voice said, as Leon stepped into he center of the platform. Three pedestals appeared, on each, a different element. "The source of sight. A beacon in the dark times" said the mysterious voice as the first pedestal grew from the ground to the right of the platform, atop it a shimmering light, which hovered just above the pedestal. "Warmth, and protection for those lost in the cold. Destruction, and ruin for those who are careless." it said, as a pedestal sprouted at the left of the platform, holding a bowl of blue fire. The third pedestal appeared, and as it rose from the ground, a small tree adorned it, with its roots covering much of the pedestal. "A symbol of life, and of beauty. Proof that the world is not inherently chaotic." the voice said. Leon looked at the three pedestals, and turned to his right. He approached the pedestal, and touched the ball of light that it held. It traveled through his arm to his heart, and as it filled him with its power. The voice explained to Leon, "A new foe has entered the stage, and you will be the champion to thwart its desires to take your world. Darkness is falling, and you must pierce it with light, or it will drown your home and all you love."

Just then, the platform started shaking, as the pedestals returned to hiding beneath the ground, and several small insect-like creatures appeared, which clumsily walked on two legs to Leon. "These may appear friendly, but don't be deceived. The worst enemies are the ones you trust." Leon heard, as one tried to claw at him. He jumped to the side, and almost fell off of the platform, balancing on the edge with one leg, as he thrust his body fully back onto the platform, stumbling away from the edge. He looked around himself, and saw he was surrounded by them. His champion blades appeared in his hands, first the white blade in his left hand, "Anima." then the black one in his right "Cruor. Those are the names of these blades. Use them to slay the creatures." He ran towards one of them, and hit up into the air, and hit it back down. On hitting the ground, it faded away, as the others sunk into the ground, and departed. "These creatures fear you, and will not seek you out. You must find them in your realm and destroy them." As the voice finished speaking, another white door was revealed in a flash of light, much taller than the one before. "Be warned. Protectors must sometimes make sacrifices they never imagined" The voice said, as Leon opened the large door, and entered it.

What was that voice? What did it mean by sacrifices? And where is Stella? Will we ever know? Find out next time on "Super Stars!"

Gothic City

Leon abruptly awoke, breathing heavily, and frantically scanning the room. He found himself back in his apartment, with everything exactly as it was, and the morning light illuminating the room. "Was it all a dream?" Leon thought. He swung his legs to the side of his bed, causing his backpack to fall on the ground, on top of a few shirts, and some jeans. He was way behind on laundry. He stood up, and went over to a desk in his room, which had his phone on it, and when he picked it up, he noticed he had missed seventeen calls. All of them were from Stella. He quickly called her back, and she answered almost immediately. He was going to start talking, but Stella immediately started asking "Leon, why didn't you answer? Are you mad at me?" "What? No, I was asleep." He answered. "What's going on?" "My dad's missing." Stella told him. "We gotta find him." Having slept in his clothes, Leon ran right out the door to head to the Johnson's apartment. When he got outside, he immediately noticed his motorcycle was not going to get him anywhere, but curiously, it wasn't stolen. It was torn apart into bits, and left right where he parked it. "What, no my baby!" He shouted. Quickly, he flew off to the Johnson's apartment, which was all the way across town.

The Throne Room of Vea

Standing in front of his throne, the king called out, "Angels, gather!" Immediately, spirits of white began to appear before him in the enormous throne room, until the number of spirits equaled exactly 998, not including the king. One was missing, but the king failed to notice. The one called Cornelius spoke as soon as he appeared "My lord, is it done?" "Silence!" the king replied. "I've had enough of your masquerade! Reveal your true self! You as well, Nero!" When the king said this, Nero and Cornelius, along with a few hundred other spirits, turned an eerie crimson color, and changed from their uniform white human-like forms, to all sorts of nightmarish forms, such as wolves, or ghouls with foot-long talons. Nero spoke first, saying "You've discovered us, huh? Well, I gotta say, it took you long enough." Cornelius then demanded, "Destitution grows impatient. Tell us, is it done, Benevolence?"

The king Benevolence, the embodiment of Vea's light, answered "No. The Lifestar is lost, and we cannot begin until it is found." "Why do you need the Lifestar?" Nero questioned him. "Just split him yourself!" Benevolence answered him, "The Bloodstar protects him." At that moment, the missing spirit appeared. He appeared to simply be a blood-colored robe, with no body inside at all. "My lord Cornelius," he began, "I was listening to his conversation with the boy. He told Leonidas that the jewel he wields is the Lifestar." Enraged, Cornelius released a demonic roar of a hundred voices at Benevolence., some high enough to torture a human ear, some low enough to break apart earthly ground, as he grew to a size larger than a house, with the talons on his hands and feet becoming more twisted and disgusting than can be imagined. "YOU DID WHAT, KNAVE?!" he bellowed and shrieked at the same time. Benevolence opened his mouth, and spit pure white fire, which spread completely across Destitution's herald in a second, causing him to shrink back to the size of all the other inhabitants of the room, screaming in pain as he shrunk. "I told him that so that he'd accept the jewel." The king explained, "His heart is good, and he will not accept the Bloodstar, should he discover what it is. I decieved the boy to protect our champions. Or would you prefer them to slip out of our grasp? If there are no more outbursts, then I declare this meeting concluded. And Cornelius. Tell your dark king I prefer speaking with him in person over watching his diminutive children." Cornelius, burning with the king's white fire, made no effort to hide his feelings of rage towards the king, as vines of darkness wrapped around him and all of his allies of blood, taking them to their own part of the mysterious realm of Vea.

When we last left our hero, he had just been informed he had failed his test. After calming his subjects, the King of Vea called for Leon to follow him. But where?

As Leon and the king walked down a long, grey hallway, Leon couldn't help but notice that words began forming on the walls in blood which slowly crept down the walls, saying "All is lost" No sooner had Leon read the words than a bright flash of white appeared where the words appeared, incinerating the words of blood, leaving new words, which read "Hope remains." At the appearance of the words of blood, Leon was horrified, but the horror had hardly any effect on him compared to the warmth the glowing white words provided. But continuing to watch the wall, Leon say blood flowing from the ceiling, beginning to coat the entirety walls in blood, which was matched by flickers of light rising from the floor, and meeting the blood in a line at the center of the walls to battle for the wall. As the blood grew black, the king of Vea, knowing Leon would be watching, said in a deep, commanding tone "They wage war for the fate of Vea. There was a prophecy over this place, but it is shattered now. Destitution and Benevolence fight to lay their claim on the void left in destiny. These small members of fate's contestants will decide nothing, but they do serve as a sign of who is prevailing. At current, it appears neither are winning. We shall have to change that."

The ruler and the boy reached the end of the hall, and entered a room of blue, in which a blade of white, and a blade of black floated at the center. The king "This realm has two sides to itself. Half of this place wishes to live, while the other wishes to destroy itself. The two agreed that they could not settle the dispute, so each force of Vea created a blade, and predestined themselves a champion to wield their blade. The side of Destitution was allowed to choose first, and chose the thousandth host to be queen, and Benevolence chose the next host to be their king. Vea in unison then prophecied that it would happen so, and that the victor would open the door with their weapon, but this prophecy was broken when you took the Lifestar of Vea before Lady Stella took her turn at destiny. Destitution chose the thousandth host, thinking it would be Stella who was the thousandth wielder of Vea's power, believing that destruction should occur poetically, so it will not take anyone other than the thousandth, meaning it will no longer have Stella as its champion. But Benevolence chose you by name. It knew you would be born, Leonidas. And it knew you were the one it wanted. So now each blade wants you, and they will not accept another."

"So I choose?" Leon asked. "No." answered the king "Vea will be at war forever should either side have no champion. You must wield them both until either decides on another. With any luck, they never will." Leon stepped forward, and both blades flew into his hands and disappeared. "You will now be able to summon the blades whenever your heart desires." The King told Leon. "Now come, Leonidas. There is one more chamber for you to see."

The two entered a room which was half white, half red, and the two halves met in vertical lines on the walls, and a line through the center of the floor, which spun around the round room at a constant rate, which normally, would cause extreme dizziness quite quickly. In the middle of the room was a familiar sight to Leon. The Emerald Door stood there in the epicenter, as if waiting to be opened. Leon, surprised, remarked "The door? But I failed, didn't I?" The King replied "The door was never there. What you beheld before was a trick of light. I simply wished to see how you would endeavor to search for it. This is the true door. None of this realm know how it came to be, or where it leads to. We know only that Vea's victor shall open it." With a wave of the king's hand, the door disappeared, and the room's colors stood still. He held out his hand, and a black robe appeared in his hand. He gave it to Leon, who looked at it puzzled. The king answered his curiosity by saying "This is merely a token of this place. It is what we wore when we would visit the mortal plane." Leon put it on, and called his new blades to him, to get a feel for them. The King, seeing Leon wield the blades, couldn't help but feel uneasy with both blades being held by the same person.

"Leonidas," He began, when Leon interrupted "Why do you keep calling me that? It's just Leon. It's not short for anything. It's not Leonidas." The king answered "Ah, but you have a name here as well. And it just so happens, your name here nearly matches your mortal name. It's quite amusing to myself as well, I admit. I know of everyone's name in this place as soon as they enter this realm. Not that any could enter this realm by accident. And with that, I believe I've told you everything you need to know. It's time for you to go home now." Vea's king held his hand forward, and the air across the room rapidly spun, creating a circular gateway back to earth. Leon saw the portal, and tried to run away from it, not wanting to be pulled into it like the last on. But before Leon could get anywhere, the king grabbed the hood of Leon's new robe, and turned him around, laughing and saying "Calm yourself, young one. This one won't violently steal you away. You can just walk into this one. I'm not improper like Nero." Leon walked towards the vortex, but stopped and inquired "Wait, if everyone has a name here, what's yours?" A smile showed ever so slightly on the Veanite king's face, as he cryptically addressed the young boy's question "You'll find out soon enough." Leon, disappointed at the uselessness of such an answer, walked into the vortex with his new robe, and his new treasures, his new curses.

What's next for our hero? Will one of Leon's new weapons betray him? What did the Veanite king mean? All this and more, this season on Super Stars!

When we last left our hero, he was tasked by a strange spirit with reaching the Emerald Door. But before he could open it, the door disappeared, and he was told he didn't make it in time! Luckily, he was given a second chance. But unluckily, the second test was going to be much harder! Having failed the first test, Leon now has to survive a deadly challenge...

The ground shaking beneath Leon's feet, a mountain grew beneath him, elevating him almost precisely two miles above the baseline elevation, which would be considered sea level on Earth, but Vea didn't always have a sea. Sometimes it wasn't in the mood for that. Leon struggled to keep his balance on the rapidly growing mountain, having no idea what was happening, as Vea was still completely dark. Finally, the mountain finished growing, and Leon looked around to find any source of light, but he was unable to find any at all. He slowly stepped forward to get an idea of what kind of ground he was on, and he quickly found out. He stepped onto a ledge, and slipped off, tumbling down the mountain quite painfully. Leon got up, and tried to check himself, to see if he was injured, but as he attempted to run his hand down his arms, his hand passed straight through his arm. "Whoa. Wait, if I'm not physical, how is this place affecting me at all?" Leon remarked.

The spirit's voice echoed, seemingly from the top of the mountain, saying "Vea knows how to hurt you. She knows how to hurt everyone." "She? This place is a she?" Leon asked, to which the spirit said, "Short answer: Yes. You'll have to earn the long answer." As the voice was heard laughing evilly, and somewhat maniacally, it slowly quieted to silence, leaving Leon alone in the darkness. He stood up, moaning, and thought "What am I doing? I can fly!" He took off, and flew upwards, and away from the mountain, when suddenly, he felt a large hand made of rock grabbing him, and throwing him back down violently at the mountain. He stopped himself midair, and held out his palm, shooting a beam of red energy from it at the rock hand. The light from his beam was as radiant as the sun, and it allowed him to see the large rocky arm sprouting from the ground, in the middle of a forest, which seemed normal, but most certainly wasn't. The hand broke into pieces, large and small, which landed in the forest, which reacted with a thousand eerie screams. The stone hand quickly regrew, as did twelve other arms of rock. Preparing to fight the rocks, Leon held up his hand to summon his sword, the way the spirit had before. He grabbed it, as it appeared in the air, but as he grabbed the blade, the mountain grew a hand of its own, which held Leon in its grasp, as the other hands thrusted themselves towards Leon, with stone fists clenched. He stabbed his sword at the hand that was holding him, but as it was about to pierce the mountain's finger, it disappeared. "Nice try, but this isn't a swordsman's trial. You're a Veanite, not a blade boy! At least, I think you are..." Said the spirit. "What's that supposed to mean?" Leon shouted. As the car-sized fists neared Leon, he held his hands out in front of his face, and a red energy field extended from them, stopping the fists from crushing him.

He opened his eyes, and noticed the field. He extended his arms, which made the field expand, and grow volatile. The field extended for miles, destroying the arms, the mountain, and the forest. Thinking he had a moment of rest, he landed on the ground, which was now a blank canvas of darkness. As soon as he landed, the darkness wrapped around his legs, in the form of smokey vines. He tried to move his legs, but the darkness was too strong. The darkness spread from Leon's legs to his torso, pulling him down to the ground, and wrapping around his body. As he sunk through the ground, he fell into the castle he had entered the last time he was in the realm of Vea, but this time, he fell into an enormous throne room filled with quite literally bright souls.

"What a surprise. You failed." Said the spirit, standing over Leon. "Nero! Cease tormenting the boy!" Said a deep, strong voice from the throne. "Leon! Rise." The king said. Leon stood, and waited for the king to speak. Having just endured what he had, he didn't want to anger the person who likely orchestrated it. "As you likely know, Leon, you have great power. But in your test, you only used it to destroy. This is not what a Veanite is." "Okay, I'm still confused about all of this, I'm from Earth, why are you people calling me a Veanite?" Leon replied. "You dare interrupt the king, child?" Said one of the spirits. "Be at peace Cornelius. I am quite capable of defending myself." The king said to him. "But this boy shows no-" Cornelius began, when he was stopped by the king repeating his own words back to him; "You dare interrupt the king, child?" Turning his gaze back to Leon, he stood, and said "Leonidas! Come with me." Under his breath, Leon muttered "It's just Leon."

Where is the king taking Leon? What does failing the test mean for Leon? Will Leon be allowed to keep his power? Find out next time on Super Stars!

Gothic City

The beautiful sound of a classic Harley-Davidson motor grew louder as Leon pulled up to his apartment building. Not being from Gothic, he just left it right on the street, not giving a single thought to protecting it from theft. It was definitely going to be gone in the morning. He had just received a briefcase from one of Dox's men, half of which was protruding from his saddlebag and tied down, so that he wouldn't lose it. He untied it, pulled it out, and carried it with him inside. He slowly trekked towards the door, still scanning his surroundings, being paranoid of Stella. He opened the door, which was accompanied by an almost eerie creaking noise. Now being inside, he walked at a more normal pace toward the metal staircase, which made a clunking sound with every step that resonated through the stairwell. At the top of the stairs, there was another creaky door, which led to the hallway of his floor. "Why did I have to be on the top floor?" , he thought. He walked to the second door on the left, pulled out his key, and unlocked the door, which had the number 403 screwed onto it above the peephole.

His front door opened up to his living room, which had two doors on the opposite side of the apartment, one to his room, and one to his kitchen. He walked past his flatscreen and into his room, and he tossed the briefcase from Dox on his bed, as well as his backpack he had used to carry the shirt he gave him. He'd probably look inside the briefcase at some point. Probably. He flopped onto his bed, and being exhausted, he didn't take the time to undress, or clean up, or even take off his shoes. He simply fell asleep in everything he was wearing, with a briefcase and a backpack on his bed.

The past two months had taken quite a lot out of Leon. He used to be a simple boy with no plans for the future, but everything changed when the fire nation attacked a man made of red crystal appeared, and displayed immense power, attempting to execute Leon, but instead giving that power to Leon. It took almost no time at all for Leon to realize he was a part of a different world now. He didn't even make it home before he met Dr. Halloween, "magic freakshow extraordinaire," as Leon called him. But that paled in comparison to his birthday. On the day Leon turned 18, he was a normal person, just waiting on cotton candy. But little did he know, either a massive EMP, or several EMPs had struck Jurassic World during his and the Johnsons' vacation, which severely affected his new strength, the Matter Star. The next thing he knew, he was in a strange and dark place which didn't feel like reality at all. The trees were not trees, but bone of black, and if Leon had paid attention to the ground, he would have realized that it was made of what seemed to be pure darkness. He wasted no time in slaying several dark souls, and infiltrating the castle of a man who appeared dead, but was not dark, like the others. Instead, he was a pale white, and hardly noticeable at all, he was so transparent.

For the past few weeks, every other thought of Leon's was about that ghost. It was as if he was truly haunted. The apparition not only stole him away from the world for a time, he also knew Leon's powers better than he did, and knew where to find Leon's favorite weapon. Or did he make a new one? Leon would be able to ask soon enough, because the ghost had prepared a journey for Leon, the likes of which, mortal man should never have to endure. Soon, Leon would be sent to find the Emerald Door.

Leon slept deeper than he had in months, which the spirit was well aware of. In fact, the spirit had intentionally affected the Matter Star from his castle to force Leon into the deep sleep he was now in. Because as Leon slept, the white soul was taking him once again to his realm. However, Leon would soon find out that this realm seldom kept a single form.

???

Leon woke to pure white. Everything was white. The ground was white, the sky was white, the walls even appeared to be white. Leon walked toward the walls, but as he walked, and walked, and walked, he began to realize that there might be no walls at all. He looked down, and even he had turned white. "Did I die?," Leon thought. "No, you didn't die. I brought your soul here to give you your test," said the mysterious spirit. "Who said that? How are you reading my thoughts?" Leon shouted, frantically searching for the white ghost, who blended perfectly with the environment. "Didn't I tell you before?," the ghost taunted. "You're that freak who showed up at Jurassic World, aren't you?" Leon shouted, still sporadically spinning and looking for the voice. "Mortals have such odd names for things, but I believe that was the place, yes. Now, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down. If you can't even handle hearing something you can't see, you'll never survive your test." The ghost observed Leon, who looked around himself a few more times, and finally gave up, waiting for the intimidating voice to speak again. "No doubt, you've heard of the Emerald Door by now. Your job is simple. Reach it."

Before he finished speaking, a white light appeared, but Leon was unable to tell, due to the entire room being white. It wasn't until it turned green and took the shape of a tall door that Leon knew it was even there. He ran towards it, thinking this would be the easiest test he had ever taken, but no matter how much he ran, he couldn't get any closer to it. He decided to try flying towards it, as he was faster in the air, but it was no different than when he was running towards it. No matter how long he flew, he was no closer than when he started. He heard ominous laughing, and became uneasy and slightly embarrassed. Finally, he pointed at the door, hoping to bring the door towards him, but he stopped as he noticed that his finger wasn't red either! He had no Matter Star! "What did you do to my finger?," Leon shouted to the voice of the room. Still laughing at the boy, the voice replied, "You won't need it here. You'll find you can do everything you could before here and more. and if you stick around, you just might learn something. And why do you point? That's just weird, you don't need to do that." Leon thought about the door, and it slowly got closer and closer to himself, until it was right in front of him. He reached out to open the door, but it turned into a black cloud, which quickly spread out, and turned everything black.

The ghost, now clearly visible in the pure black, said, "It seems you didn't open the door in time. Now you have to endure the difficult test. Oh, and since you'll be here a while, allow me to welcome you to the realm of Vea. The door is here somewhere. Go find it." With that, the ghost disappeared, and without his glowing aura, the room became even darker, as the ground shook beneath Leon's feet.

Will Leon find the door? Will he ever make it home? Who is that mysterious ghost? Find out next time on Super Stars!

I removed it. It sucked.