Apeiron Dreamcore: Juggy Juggy Choo Choo!

How ya doin’, doods? It’s been quite a ride and Apeiron’s TGE has successfully inaugurated. Woohooo!!! To learn more about the TGE, read here 🎉

Now, let’s take a breather because today we have brought you a story from a planet far far away…Doods will always be doods, always hungry and lazing around. NOT on this planet though! The doods here seem to be diligently training themselves for something…

Well, let’s take a look at what has happened there! 👀

Juggy stood in the middle of the arena, crowds of doods were cheering all around him. Doods were shouting and yelling all over the place, nearly deafening him. Those sound waves had even caused the floors of the arena trembling, shaking him to the ground.

It was really just his own legs that were shaking.

From a distance, he sized up his opponent. The dood was slightly taller than him, wearing armor made up of sturdy shells, with a long wand extending from the ground to over his head, and a shiny topaz embedded at the tip of his wand, most likely a precious jewel polished and imported from Flameo’s realm. His opponent smiled confidently.

He, too, had a wand, but not as fancy. Instead, it was made up of rotten wood. There was supposed to be a ruby embedded at the tip of his wand, but instead they put a really rough rock on there. How disappointing.

He was severely wounded by his opponent’s previous attack, but he wasn’t ready for a counter-attack yet. As a Mage, he had to wait patiently for sufficient mana so he could launch an all-out strike, giving his opponent a strong blow. In the moment, they were awkwardly standing face to face, taking a moment of breath, while all the spectating doods were yelling with excitement, waiting for their next move.

A burst of energy was gathering around him. He could feel the mana in him resonating those in the air, and so he started charging up his wand. The tip of his wand started to glow, he knew that this would be his chance.

The timing is now. His only hope of victory.

“STARFALL GAMBIT!!!!!!”

Juggy yelled with all his might. And within seconds, glowing magic started condensing at the tip of his wand and expanded into a ball of light, summoning celestial bodies falling from through the roof of the open-aired Apostle Arena’s blue sky.

All the meteors are flying towards his opponent. He smiled, watching the giant rocks landing on the dood, not even the shell armor could protect him from damage…

“STARFALL GAMBIT!!!!!”

To his surprise, his opponent hasn’t surrendered yet. Instead, with a yell under the accumulated rocks, the dood commanded the sky to take revenge for him.

What happened afterwards? Juggy could not remember. He could only feel heavy rocks and stones falling on him, nearly suffocating him with the excessive pressure, he was gasping for air between the crevices of stacked rocks. Then, he heard the crowd of doods cheering, and he fainted…

“Cuckkkoodooodling doooooooooooooooooo…”

When Juggy finally woke up, he found himself on his own bed, drenched in nervous sweat.

Was the fight just a dream? No, he really did fight in the tournament. But he lost, miserably.

Good thing that doods won’t easily die from punting and squishing, he only felt some soreness from his last fight. Carefully, he climbed down from his bed which was made up of straws, and headed out to his tiny backyard, taking care of his only two tupecks.

“Grrr…grrr…”

His stomach made some weird noises, and both of the tupecks were looking in his direction (though their eyes were covered by their long feathers). He really wanted to cook his tupecks for a meaty meal, but when he remembered he couldn’t live without them laying eggs, he refrained from doing so.

Then, when he walked to the coop adjacent to his little straw hut, he found out that there’s only one tupeck who laid an egg today. Well, that’s still better than none, which he had experienced before. Famine hit their planet pretty hard, even the tupecks were malnourished…

He picked up the egg and gently placed it in his basket. It was still warm, and he started to drool.

“Dood, I wish there could be more food…” Juggy murmured, taking his egg back to his hut, then fried it for a quick meal.

The egg was tasty (VERY tasty). It’s just that…one egg wouldn’t fulfill a dood’s appetite. Juggy was starving, especially after the exhausting fight from yesterday, he had used up all his energy. He really wanted some food. Not just an egg, maybe two, or three, or more. He wouldn’t even mind just having a ton of eggs to fill his belly.

“Grrr…grrr…”

His stomach just wouldn’t stop growling. He hesitated for a moment, but then he kept remembering that he shouldn’t kill his tupecks, or else he would have no food tomorrow.

Sigh…he should’ve been enjoying his feast now if only he had won in the tournament. Since the resources on this planet were pretty scarce, Magis, God of Organized Play had made a rule that whoever became the winner in one of his many grand tournaments would be promised with a big feast. And yet, for losers they would only get some really diluted stews or even nothing.

But, how did he lose to his opponent? They were both using Starfall Gambit but somehow his opponents’ skill was much stronger than his. Was it because of their wands? That’s so unfair! He thought to himself, stomping the ground with his stubby little feet.

With a grumbling stomach, Juggy pulled out some straws from his bed and fed his tupecks. Then, looking at the tiny little bed area he had, he realized that it’s time to get some new straws for his bed and his tupecks.

— — —

Juggy piled up some straws at his front door and made way to a farmerdood, who was living nearby. As he trudged through the grove and on his way his tummy kept growling, scaring away all kinds of bandicats. Finally, he reached the farm and saw McRooty the farmerdood taking care of his field.

“Hey McRooty! Do you have some straws for me today?”

“Ah…Little Juggy! I’m sorry, but look, I have no harvest for O’ McRooty this month…” McRooty scratched his head and replied with a set smile.

The moment when Juggy looked at McRooty’s field, it’s almost like a field of ruins, full of dead bushes and thorns. It’s gray and dull.

“McRooty! You have to clear up your field for your crops to grow! That’s what farming is all about, isn’t it?” Juggy was shocked.

“The thing is…I want to clear it up too, but I’m too hungry and tired,” said McRooty, giving up on standing and sitting down on the dirt floor instead.

“I’ll help you then!”

Juggy rushed into the barren field, picking up McRooty’s sickle and started to work on the field. However, the more he worked, the hungrier he got, and his stomach just kept rumbling. He felt really tired when cutting the dead bushes and thorns, as if he was casting a spell without any mana.

Eventually, when he got utterly tired, he had only cleared a tiny tile of that field. Both of them planted their butts side by side, taking a breather.

“You know what, Juggy? O’ McRooty here thought you’d win in the tournament and bring back some food.” McRooty sighed.

“Was that why you stopped working on the field?” Juggy questioned.

“Of course not! No, I’m a hardworking good dood,” McRooty laughed with his face slightly going red, “Now tell me, were your opponents that strong?”

“Well, I lost in the second round,” sighed Juggy, “We used the same skills but I have no idea why it was weaker!”

Juggy shrugged, taking out his wand and stared at it for a moment. What if…he could make a pile of food magically appear in front of them? He closed his eyes, imagined some juicy meaty tupeck sticks, or sweet savory pommegrannies, or just some wheaty soft flower flour bread…Mmmm…tasty…

“Hey, hey! Juggy! Did you go and pray to the God of Horns?” McRooty clutched onto Juggy’s shoulders and shaked him back to reality, “Don’t you know all the doods go and get blessings from gods before fighting in the tournament?”

“Huh? Maybe I should have done that…” Juggy thought, “Yea! Why haven’t I thought about it? I should go now, thanks McRooty!”

“Oh hey be careful don’t step on my crops…Nevermind they’re not growing.”

— — —

And so, Juggy came to the temple of the God of Horns. It was a place where there were no dull edges. Everywhere he went, he’d have to be careful with the pointy jagged spikes. The exterior of the structure was an echo of war, the many stories of battles fought and victories won. Juggy thought to himself that he had come to the right place.

There was a line of doods queuing in front of the temple, but when he peeked at the front, he could barely see doods kneeling down in front of the altar, praying to a god. They looked so sincere, and when they said out their prayer, a prayer bubble would form on top of their head, slowly ascending to the ceiling of the temple. After then, the bubble would pop, and some of them would get what they prayed for, while some others…didn’t, because they kept floating to one of the pointy stubs, they kept praying hard.

While he was drooling when he saw other doods filling their trolleys of food, he was more concerned with the really uniformed head accessories of the queuing doods. They all wore a pair of horns on the two sides of their heads, as if they were going to a costume party. Juggy didn’t know anything about the horns beforehand, he was only here praying for power, but now he started to worry if he missed out something.

Finally, it was his turn.

“Dear God of Horns, I wish I have the power to win in Magis’ tournament…”

“Hey, this…dood, why don’t you have horns?” The moment when Juggy knelt down praying, a deafening sound came from the sky above the temple, and it wasn’t the nicest thing Juggy had heard in his dood life.

“Uhh…because…I’m a dood?” Juggy started to shiver on the ground.

“A dood should have a pair of horns!” The sound echoed in the cold temple walls. “All the other doods have horns!”

“But…but…doods don’t have horns…” Juggy insisted with his voice trembling.

“What do you mean? All doods have horns! Just look at the doods behind you!” The voice said furiously.

Juggy didn’t even have to look behind him to confirm the “fact”. Now he understood why every dood wore a pair of horns to the temple.

“Sorry, God of Horns, I don’t have a pair of horns…” Juggy trembled while prostrating with his forehead sticking to the ground.

”Well, you should be happy then, because I’m a generous god and I give horns to imperfect doods!” The voice suddenly changed to a joyful tone. “Here you go! Next!”

“But wait- I haven’t…” Juggy could feel something is happening to his body, there’s something sticking out from the sides of his head, but that’s not what he came for. Also, it felt weird. So weird.

“You’ve already got your horns. I said next!”

“Ok…Thank you God of Horns…” Juggy stood up and bowed, and left the temple with disappointment.

— — —

After Juggy returned to his hut, it was already evening. And yet his belly was not filled. He was more exhausted than when he started his travels. He went to bed early and tried to numb his senses.

However, when he laid down on his bed, he could only feel a mysterious stream of energy bursting within him. It was not mana he was used to, it was something else. It was an urge that made him want to dash and bump into everything…?

“AAAAAARGH! I can’t sleep like this! I want to fight!”

And so, Juggy didn’t sleep at all, instead he rushed to the town through the night.

The morning sun was out. Diligent doods on the planet started to train their physique, but more importantly, a grand tournament was going to happen early on that day, with doods filling the spectator stands of the Apostle Arena at dawn.

“Ladies annnnnnd gentledoods! Here comes the grand final! Who would win? Blackhole Beast the Berserker, or Sly Silencer the Summoner? Let us begin NOW!”

Magis, the God of Organized Play, had personally attended the tournament and done live commentary on the match. This was the match which would decide who could get the most awesome feast, for the champion could gain the food servings for 5 years, including dolk bellies per week, tupeck drumsticks per day, and sugarmelon per meal as dessert. And after countless rounds of elimination, the grand final had arrived — to decide who would leave with their belly filled.

Blackhole Beast the Berserker and Sly Silencer the Summoner were standing face to face in the arena, ready for their battle. Blackhole Beast wrapped a thin piece of cloth around his body as armor, and didn’t even equip any weapons. Noticeably, his fist was double the size of Sly Silencer, as sturdy as a rock. On the other hand, Sly Silencer wore some thick armor that seemed heavy, with his feet sinking into the ground. He was also equipped with a very heavy staff, with some intimidating patterns painted on it.

“Battle…start!”

Blackhole Beast started charging towards Sly Silencer, while Sly Silencer was standing still chanting some weird spells. However, when Blackhole Beast was about to hit his opponent, there was something moving really quickly approaching the arena…

“BANG!”

A creature broke into the arena, crushing and shattering the wooden walls, and rushed directly towards Sly Silencer. In a blink of an eye, the creature had knocked Sly Silencer off into the sky and caused a commotion.

All of the spectating doods gasped.

“Huh, what’s that? Or who’s that? So powerful haha! I LIKE IT!” Magis broke the silence and yelled.

“Uh, but, the creature…Dood? Sdood? Dolk? is not supposed to be here?” The servant dood standing beside Magis said in a faint voice.

“Oh, we should give every champ an opportunity to shine! Let the battle continue!” said Magis frenziedly, waving his fists in the air.

And so the show continued. After the dust dissipated, the creature was now clearly visible — It was a dood who stood on the ground with all his four limbs, just like how a dolk would stand. He seemed to be enraged, furiously staring at Blackhole Beast, the only one now left in the battle. There was also a pair of horns weirdly sticking out from the sides of his head.

It was Juggy.

The now feral dood was digging the ground with his hindlimb, just like a wild dolk. His body was raging with pumping veins and muscles and his eyes had locked onto his intimidated opponent. Without saying a word, he charged forward at full speed, and crashed his huge pair of horns on Blackhole Beast…

He did it. He knocked off his opponent! He’s the LAST ONE standing! JUGGY WON! (YIPPIE!!)

“What a wonderful match! I’ve not seen a match like this in a trillion years! Marvelous!” Magis’ clap rung through the arena. All the spectating doods stood up and clapped together.

Juggy had won. He had won! He had reached the height he wanted to! It was right that he should have prayed to the God of Horns! Everything would go fine from now on, he would have so much food to enjoy, maybe even for the rest of his life. The only cost was to live with a pair of horns, which to be fair, was not that bad after all. At least better than a starving belly.

Soon after, Juggy was brought to the front of a pile of food. A big bowl of mountain frites, pommegrannies, sugarmelons, tupeck drumsticks, dolk bellies, groat milk, molamola balls… Everything he could dream of was right in front of his eyes. They smelled so good. And they all belonged to him. This was what he had been fighting for, what he deserved.

But then…

He felt nothing…

There was nothing from the table that he wanted to eat…Strange. Really strange.

Then, he turned his head to the grasslands at the periphery of the arena. So green, smells so fresh, so… so TASTY…He ran over there and started chomping off patches of grass!

“Oh my! Why is this dood eating grass?”

“Doods never eat greenies! He must be a bood!”

“Or…is he actually a dolk? Look at how he walks!”

Right…who was he? What was his name? He had a pair of horns, so he must be a dolk…Yes, he is a dolk! And a dolk eats grass whenever hungry.

He looked at the vast pastures on the planet and thought to himself that he’d never be hungry again in this life.

— — —

That’s the end of the story! Do you feel sorry for Juggy? Or do you think he got what he deserved? In your opinion, how do you think the famine of this planet could be overcome? Why don’t you pay a visit to our Discord and discuss politics of the godiverse with other godlings? Also, follow our Twitter for more Apeiron news!

And as always, see ya next time, godling!

About Apeiron

Apeiron is the world’s first NFT-based play-and-earn god game. Apeiron will feature a unique card-based action-adventure combat system combined with god game simulation gameplay inspired by classic god games like Populous and Black & White. Players will be able to build up planets from above before descending to the ground as a powerful Avatar to solve the mysteries of the universe. Players will grow their planet to the point of developmental stagnation, then reset the planetary cycle via an Armageddon event to allow for even more advancement and thrilling late-game alliance level GvE and GvG activities. Apeiron will use a tri-token architecture, which means that there will be three separate tokens to navigate their ecosystem: a governance token, a play-to-earn token, and a premium alliance token.

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