Wheel Of Faith: Tides - Maddox Madness (Written by Potatos)

(Note: None of the Stories from Wheel Of Faith: Tides are canon and should not be considered as a part of the lore. Thank you for reading.)

Story Two: Maddox Madness (Written by Potatos)

Maddox was born on the road due to his father always traveling for what he called business. Maddox was born to a man named Joe who worked as a dragon slayer although Joe was so good at killing dragons he would usually do it for fun in his spare time which left little time for Maddox to fully connect with his father about normal things like women or hobbies. Maddox killed a 5ft tall lizard at the age of five and after seeing this his father smiled for the first time since he was born which made Maddox happy. Training began the day after Maddox defeated the Lizard and Joe showed no mercy to his son while he trained. Fighting huge beasts and Flexing for hours while being hit taught Maddox his fathers power of temporary invulnerability which Maddox used quite often. When Maddox hit the age of 23 his father decided he was ready to join the family “Business” and Joe led Madoxx into a cave and then told him to not come out unless he held the beast's head within his hands. Maddox agreed to this and went in with only pants and his beard. Maddox slowly felt his way along the sharp edges of the cave as the light from the entrance slowly faded away until nothing but darkness and the echo of his feet remained. After 15 minutes of blindly walking through the cave, running into walls, and almost falling off a cliff, Maddox sees a faint red light in the distance which fills him with joy and he begins to sprint towards the light, his feet burning as he picks up speed, his skin beginning to burn more and more with every step taken towards the angelical light.

 

A wide eyed Maddox enters into an area of the cave that looks like a huge throne room with lava flowing down the walls across the floors in strips leaving space for pillars to line the hall and a straight path to a gigantic den where a dragon with a halo sleeps. Instantly, Maddox’s heart sank to the bottom of his feet when he realized he would somehow need to claim the beast's head and carry it back to his father who waited patiently outside the cave for him. Maddox begins to slowly make his way down the straight away taking two steps every five minutes and his sweat evaporated almost instantly when it formed. Maddox gets 3/4ths of the way to the dragon when it begins to smile and slowly rise from the resting place and it looks at Maddox in delight because it knows he lacks experience and it smells the dragon slayers blood within him. After Maddox regains his composure he stands sternly at the dragon who tilts its head with a crooked smile and says “So who sent you to be executed, or are you suicidal?” asked the dragon while it swayed its head back and forth to get a better look at Maddox who would not stare away from the dragon for even a moment. Maddox eventually yells to the dragon “I am only here for your head, it will make me a man in my fathers eyes!” and with that the Dragon lets out a humongous laugh that shakes the entire cave. “Oh man your father is a truly evil man… he didn’t send you in here to kill me… he sent you here to die!” yelled the dragon which reared its head back and struck fast towards Maddox who jumped back just out of the dragon's reach. “I guess this means our conversation has ended.” said Maddox who grabbed a rock and threw it towards the dragon's head. The dragon did not move and watched as the tiny rock bounced off of its head and into a pit of lava where it slowly was overcome by the red lava that flowed constantly. When the dragon looked back towards Maddox all the dragon saw was a constant storm of punches to the jaw that knocked the dragon slightly off guard but not enough to take down the dragon. Maddox tried to continue his rampage until the Dragon whipped Maddox with its head, sending him flying into a pillar and landing on a sliver of ground right next to a pit of lava. Maddox slowly stood up and could see the blood flowing from his mouth onto the ground, Maddox knew another hit like that would spell the end for him so he looked at the dragon and began to tighten every part of his body from his muscles to his very spirit and when he did the dragon squinted its eyes and then the smile from its face dropped instantly and it began to charge Maddox who started showing an aura of orange around his body. The dragon shed a single tear made out of lava as it charged towards Maddox hoping that it got there in time before whatever was happening finished. Maddox suddenly sprinted towards the dragon and the dragon's eyes went wide right before it was given an uppercut that threw its head into a pillar where the dragon fell to the floor soon after. Maddox begins to breathe heavily and starts to walk slowly towards the dragon which has become paralyzed in fear from Maddox and the dragon starts to throw everything it has at the new and dangerously improved man including its halo ring which starts to shake violently when Maddox touches it. “Hey man I was just kidding, why don’t you just leave and I will even come with you so we can just call this a draw and neither of us have to get hurt.” cried the dragon who was crying constant red hot tears. “Draw?... Draw this!” yelled Maddox who then grabbed the dragon's neck with both of his hands and squeezed until the head popped off like an ants. Maddox began to cough as he carried the dragon's head out with one hand out of the dragon's lair, through the pitch black cave, and out into the night where Joe sat patiently on a rock.

 

Joe laughed as a beat up Maddox fell along with the dragon's head onto the rough stone outside of the cave's entrance. Joe began to pick up Maddox and the head when all of the sudden a halo flew out of the cave and landed near Maddox which caused Joe's eyes to widen in horror after seeing that the halo's color was black. Joe instantly dropped Maddox and the dragon's head which instantly disappeared in the areas that touched the halo. Joe tightened his body and quickly threw the halo into a small lock box Joe brought with him on the journey and Maddox shakily stood up and asked his father what he was doing. Joe explained to his son that the halo was a weapon that once it touched a powerful person favored by chaos it would become that person's personal weapon and then a change in color occurred depending on the person. When Maddox asked what color his weapon was Joe explained to him that he got one of the rarest colors that could possibly destroy entire kingdoms if used by a powerful enough person. Maddox smiled with delight and his father frowned slightly for he knew how dangerous this made his son.

 

Joe told Maddox that he should refrain from using his weapon as much as possible to minimize any irreversible damage he may cause to himself or others. Maddox quickly went from happy to disappointed when his father said this but he couldn’t complain too much for he knew that his father wanted only what was best for him and with that both of them began the journey back to the nearest city because Joe wanted to show his son something he called the “true meaning of power”. In the morning a still badly beaten Maddox and his father reach a small town filled with humans, dwarfs, and fairies who all worked in harmony and lived peacefully. Joe points to the nearest Fairy working as a grave digger for a church and he asks his son if he is ready to see what power is. Maddox shrugs and says sure which then leads Joe to say wait here and he throws his spear into the fairy killing it instantly. Maddox gasps and watches in horror as the townspeople rush from their homes and work spaces to defend against Joe with any item they have in their possession.

 

Countless hordes of people, dwarves, and fairies flood towards Joe but not a single person can land a hit on him as he swiftly moves through the crowd of characters, slicing through multiple people at a time. Only ten minutes after Joe began the town fell silent and a pile of bodies formed at the entrance to where Joe had entered only moments before and Maddox slowly walked past everyone and he walked towards his father who was polishing his spear. When Maddox asked why he did it his father replied that it was only business and that it showed his son just how powerful he can be and that testing him in any way would lead to his downfall. Joe tells his son that the way he is now there will be no way for Maddox to live in the upcoming events that were to unfold. Maddox tried to ask what his father meant but Joe only stood up and cut Maddox off by telling him to go off on his own from now on and try to constantly become stronger and Joe also told Maddox how the dragon was a test to see if he would be able to survive from even the weakest enemy that Maddox will have to face. Maddox eyes widened when his father called the dragon the weakest enemy he will face and then Maddox grabs his father and asks him sternly how he can assume that a dark time is ahead. Joe pushes his son to the ground with one hand, tells Maddox to not disobey him, and that he will have to figure that out on his own. Joe hands his son the lock box with the halo in it and tells his son to go far away and train with it until he can use it safely and properly. Maddox takes the lockbox angrily and stomps away as his father turns the opposite direction and walks off into the nearby forest where he disappears among the trees.

 

Years go by and one day while a 30 year old Maddox trains in a field by staring at his weapon trying to make it move or do anything, a party of bandits ambushes him and starts throwing punches, kicks, and jabs his way. One of the bandits goes in for a finishing blow on Maddox but he holds his hand up and an orange portal appears and when the bandits hand goes through it goes into lava on the other side of the portal. Immediately the bandit wails and the other bandits back away slowly as Maddox gets up and smirks menacingly at the bandits. “Boo.” said Maddox to the bandits who begin to scatter away leaving only their fallen comrade on the ground wailing in pain as lava eats away at his flesh and cools on his hand. Maddox turns his attention from the bandit and looks down at the black halo which then puts a devilish grin on his face. Maddox slowly opens a portal above the wailing bandit and then opens a portal under the black halo causing it to fall directly on top of the man and end his cries of pain. Maddox smiles with great joy and begins to laugh crazily for he finally figured out how he will use his weapon to his advantage without getting hurt. For 5 more years Maddox practiced with his portal and Halo only losing his left ring finger in the process while also mastering the weapon. Maddox decided that he was going to reach and expand his fathers definition of “true power” so he decided to head to a nearby kingdom named Lunos. When Maddox reached Lunos the Guards immediately stopped him at the gate and alerted the king, they had no idea why but they both felt that they could not let this man enter no matter the cost. Maddox opened a portal and the wall immediately fell onto the guards. Maddox then created two portals, one to catch debris, and one to put the falling debris back into the other portal to cause it to constantly gain speed. When the Debris Finally reached the speed Maddox deemed acceptable he launched it towards the castle itself and when he saw the inside he created a portal instantly taking him to within the castle. Guards searched for Maddox around the entrance but he was nowhere near them and he luckily found the throne room a few minutes after breaching the castle. When Maddox entered the throne room it was filled with crossbow men lined against the wall behind rows of knights ready to put their lives on the line to save the king. When the king saw Maddox enter and the door close fully behind him he gave the order to fire which made Maddox summon portals aiming directly at another crossbow man in the room causing all of them to fall instantly. The knights stood at the ready to try and hold back Maddox with every weapon they had but Maddox just smiled and opened up the lock box. Maddox smiled and turned the lock box upside down dropping the halo into a portal and then another portal which allowed it to gain speed as it flew through multiple portals that Maddox created while watching the halo fly through the air. One of the knights rush forward to try and stop Maddox but the halo suddenly appears and the knight's head disappears completely and the knight falls to the floor.

Everyone stares in shock and the king begins to make his way towards a back exit away from the chaos but Maddox got the halo to the speed he desired and now there was portals all around the room surrounding the knights and in what looked like a few seconds all of the knights had missing limbs or body parts and they all fell to the floor immediately either dead or screaming in pain. While the king's men were being disintegrated the king sighed in relief as he reached the end of a long hall leading to a secret exit out of the castle and when the king opened the door all that was waiting there for him was an orange portal that shot out the black halo and it took the kings entire torso as it passed through him. Maddox stepped through the portal and looked down upon the king's lifeless head with immense disgust for how weak the king was. Maddox then smiles wide and whispers to himself “Is this true power… Father?” and Maddox opens a portal to a field nearby the castle and steps through. Maddox Journey has only begun and so has his father, these two titans will meet again and even after the death of one, both will meet again to create a powerful league in the war to come, for the tides are forever crashing.