By Libra's Scales

VISION I

Seven children faced off against the world's greatest mages. Bending light to blind the spellcaster's against them, or warping their minds or even breaking the backs of their enemies over a knee, the children overpowered the swarms that came at them.

However, they were still outnumbered.

Before they knew it, the girl sending shards of ice into the chests of the mages against her was overwhelmed. A mage in a black dress skirt had summoned some thing out of the shadows and commanded it to snatch her up. The hieromancer tried to bend his light to dispel the shadow beast, but he suffered against the psychic blast from a white haired mind mage.

The kid's leader stood behind them, almost cowering. To his right was a young, dark skinned girl. He was begging her, yelling at her even, to tell him how to escape this.

"O' Goddess of the Scales," Xodiac pleaded, "Offer me a way out of here. One that i win. One where I succeed!"

The girl scoffed, her voice echoing ethereally. "There isn't a single reality where you achieve your goal, mortal. You are bound to fail, even if I offer my aid."

Xodiac dropped to his knees, bowling to the deity within the girl. "Please, I beg of you. Make it so! Alter fate so I can prevail!"

"Are your ears not working, Xodiac! I have told you, that even with my aid, you are to fail. You will suffer the fate of all others in your position."

"And that is?"

The girl's eyes fell on him. They were as gold as the sun, blinding him with the brilliance only gods could wield. "Annihilation."

His cult suffered more losses. The nearly invincible boy named Airon had his mind overtaken by the mind mage. He was engaged in combat with the precognitive who barely managed to roll out of the way as a mammoth fist slammed into where he was second ago. The two mind magi on Xodiac's side tried to peel away the mind of the spirit mage, but were failing. The white mana about them was thin and weak.

Retreating a spell book from under his robes, he gritted his teeth. "Fine, if you won't help me," flipping through the book, he called out to the mana. Black and red swirls danced around him, blossoming from the rings that formed around his feet. Holding out his right hand, the ring on his finger flared a verdant green. "Then I'll make you."

The young girl stood up, scoffing. "Fool! I have told you my powers will not aid you." as red swirls snaked around her, she warned him. "What you are doing is an offense of the highest degree. Binding a god to yourself is forbidden!"

"I don't care! I can't lose! Now stay still so I can finish this spell!" Reading from the yellowed pages of his spellbook, his eyes blinked a maroon. His veins blackened as he read the incantation to bind her.

"I bind you to me, Libra of the Scales. Your power is mine. Your actions are decided by me. Your will is mine until you are released. Now, do my bidding!"

The black and red threads of mana he called gyrated around the goddess' wrists, neck and ankles until they tightened. Libra tried to resist, pressing against her bonds with her own mana. However the binding spell succeeded.

Libra grimaced. "Foolish mortal! Your end will be soon! I will make sure of it!"

"Yeah, yeah," Xodiac growled. He was sweating profusely, so much that he had to keep wiping his brow. "Now grant me my victory!"

"Fool!" Libra bellowed. "There is no victory for you. Only Oblivion!"

"Enough!" he screamed. He twisted his mana so her bonds brought her to her knees.

Against her will, the metallic mana spilled from her body. Gold light filled the air, consuming all of the members in his cult.

His skin began to burn, as if gasoline was poured on his flesh and ignited. Layers of his skin peeled away from his muscles. Falling to his knees, he cried as his body faced the repercussions.

In a flash, he, his cult and the vessel holding the goddess vanished, arriving-