"Well, it turns out that me and Matt screwed up royally when we had our battle at the Eternal Sanctuary," R.D. said, avoiding Matt's gaze by looking off to the side. "Whatever we did tore open some dimensional prison and released some nutcase named Magister."
R.D. shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground. "This Magister guy used to be a servant of the Omega Core, it seems, until the Chronomancer locked him away," he continued. "Now Magister's gunning for the Omega Essence. If he gets the majority of Omega Essence, he'll end up getting control of the Core."
He looked up at Hugo. "Once the Chronomancer told Matt this, Matt got his stuff ready and the Chronomancer sent him to my world to pick up me and Ileyna. She's apparently got the ability to extract the Omega Essence from anything that's absorbed it; she took out a piece from a creature called the Flux, and she pulled out one of two pieces that were in Matt.
"After that, the Chronomancer appeared and gave us a scale from some giant snake. The scale opened up a portal, and here we are," he said, shrugging.
===NationStates General===
Steel rang against steel as Aram and the nameless man exchanged blows, sword against shield, sword against sword. Aram's left arm flashed out in an arc, swinging the entire shield in a backhand, knocking the bald man backwards and leaving him open. Aram raised his sword overhead and slashed downwards, only for the attack to be parried deftly by his opponent. Cursing, Aram found himself going on the defensive, using both sword and shield to defend against quick, serpentine attacks.
As the man raised his sword for yet another slash, Aram swung his weapon, catching his downward slash prematurely and knocking it away. The knight made a quick thrust, but the bald man's stray hand struck his gauntleted wrist, deflecting the blow. Aram raised up his shield his shield and caught the incoming counterattack.
This battle was going nowhere. Pushing the blade off of his shield, Aram muttered a quick incantation and aimed the blade of his sword at his opponent as magical lightning trailed up his form, erupting from the sword's tip as a single tine of lightning. The bolt caught the bald man squarely in the chest, picking him up and throwing him backwards for a good twenty feet. Raising his sword up once more, Aram uttered a battlecry and charged.