The heavens shook as the God of War flung the rubber duck at his throne, its squeak ringing out like a celestial taunt. "A DUCK?!" His bellow reduced a constellation to ash, smoldering stardust. "Call for the Titan of Ashes! Let him burn that foul world to ash!"
There loomed a monstrous shape, its obsidian carapace smeared with magma. "Your will be done," it bellowed, its voice shattering planets.
Here, Ravi sneezed all over his Earth breakfast porridge. Classic. The gods are drama queens.
Astra Academy hummed with excitement for the yearly Festival of Masks—a decadent celebration in which nobles and commoners both wore enchanted disguises, their real selves concealed. Ravi gazed at his assigned mask: a smashed rabbit face with one ear dangling.
"How… festive," he joked.
Liora tugged on her wolf mask, scowling at Lysandra's raven-feathered finery. "Keep close. Festivals draw predators."
Lysandra wielded a dagger, her mask a demon's smiling face. "Oh, I'll protect our little bunny."
Mira snuck over in a dove mask, carrying a healing kit. "I-I baked cookies! For… for energy!"
Klaus swaggered past, sporting a lion's mask of gold. "Save a cookie for me, wimp. You'll smother on crumbs anyway."
Ravi grinned beneath his mask. Perfect chaos.
That evening, Ravi showed up in the sky over Luminara, cracking his knuckles. Stars realigned into a gargantuan duck, wink-winking the stars.
"Dedicated to a friend," he announced, chuckling as priests on the ground fainted.
Seraphina viewed from her tower, her owl mask a mirror to the cosmic jest. "A message. or a taunt?" Her hand traced the Soulrend Shard hidden in her desk—stealthily pilfered from Ravi's dorm. What do you know?
The Ash Titan came down at dawn, its steps setting forests ablaze.
"BRING ME THE FALSE CREATOR!" it roared, belching lava from its mouth. Panic gripped the city. Students barricaded the gates of the academy as Seraphina mobilized professors. "Evacuate the lower floors! We hold the line here!"
Ravi ducked into a broom closet. Time to multitask.
As The Universe, Ravi teleported before the Titan, reclining on a floating chaise. "Nice entrance. Ever think about stand-up comedy?"
The Titan had a blazing axe. "DIE, INSECT!"
Ravi yawned, turning the axe into a bouquet of daisies. "Violence is so last season. Let's dance." He snapped, and the Titan's armor turned into a frilly tutu.
"WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!"
"Art."
Meanwhile, "Ravi the Rabbit" blundered into Lysandra through the academy corridors. "Princess! Demons! Run!"
She pulled his collar. "Where is your mask, fool?"
"Lost it saving kittens!" he lied, wide-eyed.
Liora came running, sword afire. "Stop flirting and help!"
The tutu-clad Titan escaped from one of his own volcanoes. Ravi returned to the dorm after getting dressed up when Mira burst in.
"Ravi! You're bleeding!" She pointed to a scratch from the Titan's retreat.
"Oh, uh… I tripped?"
Liora yanked open the door, mask split. "The Titan's gone. Someone's playing games."
Lysandra stood in the doorway, smiling. "Games are more enjoyable with rewards." Her gaze rested on Ravi's bandages unwrapped.
Seraphina appeared, with the Soulrend Shard in hand.
"The artifact vibrates. Its dormant energy is awakened… near you."
Ravi massaged his head. "Bad Wi-Fi?"
In the skies, the War God glared at a crystal image of the tutu-clad Titan.
".I'll kill him myself."
Somewhere else, the Goddess of Wisdom smiled, her chessboard aglow with mortal pawns.
"A new player joins the game."
Back at the festival, Ravi chomped down on Mira's cookie—truth serum-laced. Meh. Tastes like cosmic irony.