It sounds utterly crazy, but the thing is, there is quite a bit of proof to suggest that his story could actually be true. The first piece of proof came mere days after teenaged hyper-being Dacey Granger awoke in his bedroom, making the seemingly outrageous claim of being a time-traveling Bible hero. That proof was a 50-foot tall giant that suddenly appeared in San Diego and began smashing his way across the country toward Platinum City. The gargantuan brute thrashed city after city, professed to be the greatest of all the Philistines, and claimed his name was indeed Goliath. A number of heroes confronted the beast, and while they were able to impede the monster’s onslaught for a time, the tide didn’t truly turn until Dacey Granger arrived on the scene.

He confronted Goliath and demanded he stand down or be taken down. The massive mountain of a man refused to comply, stating that he would not stop until he had seized “the core of the planet” and given it to his master. Dacey – not knowing, and at the time not caring what ‘the core’ actually was – called Goliath a filthy Philistine, then leaped into action! A brutal battle ensued, with the giant making every effort to crush the brash young man. Despite his incredible size disadvantage, Dacey eventually took control of the fight, as his skill and precision with his sonic slingshot, coupled with his advanced speed and agility, was just too much for the monster to overcome. A series of well-placed shots to the head and temple eventually fell the giant!

Dacey leaped up onto the chest of his dazed and disoriented adversary, pulled out his sword, and prepared to end Goliath once and for all. But before he could lay the fatal blow, a deluge of military officials appeared and demanded that the young hero step away from the giant. Dacey at first prepared to fight them all, but then thought better of it and stood down. Both of them were taken into custody.

It was during the subsequent interrogation that Dacey told the authorities he was actually David from the Old Testament. None of the dozens of officers and officials who questioned him believed a single word of his time-traveling story. Well, none, except for one – a detective named Gage Twelve. After days and days of questioning, Detective Twelve sat with Dacey and told him that the giant was making the same claims of being from the past. He also relayed to Dacey that Goliath claimed to be one of many who had come to the future at the behest of a mysterious “master” to retrieve “the core” from the center of the Earth. The military could only surmise that he might be talking about harnessing the core’s energy – something that many hyper-villains had attempted to do over the years. But what had Twelve most concerned was that there could be more biblical hyper-villains out there.

Detective Twelve made up his mind to help Dacey escape. Later that night, Gage returned to the Holding Facility on the outskirts of San Diego as his alter-ego, Taurian, who just happened to be a hyper-being himself. He literally flew in, blasted through the facility, and broke Dacey out. The authorities gave chase, but before the cops could catch up with the pair of hyper-being fugitives, the two of them were ambushed by another group of hyper-beings! Everything for Dacey went black.

The next day he awoke in a huge mansion in northern Platinum City. Standing near him was Taurian and three other individuals. Dacey immediately prepared to fight, but after the residents of the mansion introduced themselves, the young man knew he was in the right place. They were all wearing gear that seemed to be a mix of advanced technology and biblical warrior garb, and they were extremely sympathetic to his story.

The first to introduce himself was an older-looking warrior with a staff, named Exodus Red. And before Dacey could ask, Exodus told him that he was indeed a future version of the Old Testament’s Moses. The next to speak up was a woman with two wicked blades strapped to her back – she called herself Regalia Thyatira, and claimed to be the biblical Esther. And the third was a tall, brutish man who called himself Jawbone, and claimed to be Samson.

Dacey was beyond excited to be among others like him. He then asked where he was, and that’s when a fourth individual entered the room – she had the look of a majestic and proud warrior, and the others were all immediately reverent of her. Her name was Devorah Chance. She came over to Dacey and welcomed him to the “Sacred Asylum”, revealing that she, too, was an individual from the Old Testament – Deborah, The Judge of Israel.

Taurian then revealed that he had worked with this group before – and it all made sense why he was so ready to believe Dacey’s story when other officials did not. Taurian told him that he was the one who had actually given them the name Sacred Asylum, as most people who heard their stories usually thought they were indeed crazy. Devorah then explained that she and the others had spent several decades battling hyper-villains from Old and New Testament times, and that Goliath was just the latest to appear. They had already battled hyper-villain versions of King Herod, Jezebel, Cain, and several others. And all of them had come at the behest of the same ‘master’ Goliath had mentioned, all with the purpose of taking the Earth’s core. Up to that point the Sacred Asylum had kept these biblical hyper-villains in check, but the attacks were getting increasingly more frequent and intense. They were in need of reinforcements, and it seemed that Dacey was the answer to that prayer.

Devorah asked him if he wanted to be a part of the team, and Dacey of course jumped at the opportunity, with Taurian rechristening him “Slingshot”. Over the next several years the young man worked tirelessly alongside the Sacred Asylum and Taurian as they battled against all sorts of hyper-villains (not just the biblical ones), and protected the energy from within the Earth’s core from being harvested for the mysterious evil master who seemed to be pulling some pretty heavy strings. Slingshot, like the others, worked under the assumption that they were indeed fighting the minions of the Prince of Darkness himself – but unlike the others, he had a burning desire to know for sure.

Devorah kept his curiosity in check by telling him that there was yet another member of the Sacred Asylum, whom she referred to as The Teacher. He stayed in the secluded North Wing of the mansion. She and the others informed Slingshot he was the most powerful member of the Asylum and that he was constantly locked in a metaphysical and spiritual battle with the mysterious master, as well as several other entities that threatened the world, the universe and all of existence at any given time.

Over the years, the other members of the Sacred Asylum had only been in The Teacher’s physical presence a handful of times, as Devorah handled the vast majority of the command and strategic responsibilities. And those handfuls of times had been under only the most dire circumstances. Well, after being a member of the team for nearly a decade, one the most dire of all situations seemed to arise, as Slingshot and the others were summoned to his chamber.

As they approached The Teacher’s dwelling place, the others repeatedly warned Slingshot to be respectful and do as much as he could to clear his mind and heart of any inequity, for dark thoughts and intentions could not exist comfortably in his presence. Finally they reached the chamber, and after taking a deep breath, Devorah pushed the doors open.

Inside was the incredibly powerful hyper-being known simply as Messiah. And while this particular member never actually claimed to be THE Messiah, it was pretty clear to Slingshot that this guy was packing a vast collection of god-like abilities. After receiving a reverent bow from each of his troops, Messiah greeted them with warmth and kindness. He officially welcomed Slingshot to the squad, and remarked on how impressed he had been with his work so far.

Messiah then got down to the business at hand, and said the time had come for them to learn why so many hyper-villains had been attempting to harvest the Earth’s core. He revealed it was not energy they were looking for, but an extremely powerful star that was one of three stars called the triplos asteri. Within these three stars was a portion of the essence of the a supreme goddess called Armonia. And if any one individual was able to locate and retrieve all three stars, that individual could potentially unlock and absorb the goddess’s essence and gain the ability to rule the multiverse alongside her as a god as well. He then told them that an intergalactic warlord by the name of Emperor Kako had spent centuries searching for the triplos, and had already obtained two of them. He was now on the verge of collecting the thirdone, which had been protected within the Earth’s core for a very long time.

Now, however, thanks to a powerful group of hyper-villains secretly conscripted by Kako, including Ramses “The Pharaoh” Hondo and the Omega Twins (London and Edgar), the safeguards and barriers protecting the third triplos had been breached, and it was only a matter of time before Kako arrived with his massive legion of battlecruisers and troops to retrieve it and unite it with the others. It was imperative that Devorah, Slingshot and the others travel to the excavation site and take the star, before Kako’s armada reached Earth’s orbit.

The team immediately began to gear up. But Slingshot was curious and asked, if Messiah was so powerful, why couldn’t he just snap his fingers and save the triplos asteri from Kako himself. It was a question The Messiah had been asked several times before. He responded, his vast power is precisely the reason he cannot directly interfere with matters such as these. It is imperative that he continue his work in the spiritual realm in order to hold Reality together, which in turn allows beings of all sorts to have free will, make their own choices (whether they be good or evil), and live or die with the consequences. He, like Armonia and other beings of their stature, such as the Zhibdean Master Hosho, must work to maintain balance in the universe, a task that would be impossible if they took any direct actions outside of very specific (and high-level) cosmic duties.

The answer was not completely satisfying to Slingshot, but at that point it was sufficient enough. And with that he, along with Devorah, Jawbone, Exodus Red and Regalia Thyatira, set out for the Hollow Earth Excavation site…

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