《Will of the Void》 0. The Introduction Same, it''s all the same... Like it has been for the past thousands of years, strolling through the never ending desert without a goal. You might be wondering what I am talking about, well let me explain. I''ve been stranded in a dimension known as the Null void. The Null void is a god forsaken land without day, air so thick and polluted a normal person would die in a manner of minutes, and an unforgiving amount of magical beasts and creatures that have adapted to these conditions that can tear apart a person as fast as you can blink. The Null void is a dimension that''s a next door neighbor to our own and it wasn''t always called the Null Void, it was known by the name Tir and used to be full of life just like our own. The former habitants of this dimension were called the Tirians and they were a civilization that was known for their magical and technological advancements. Then you might ask as to why they don''t exist anymore. The simple answer would be to say they and many other realms including our own engaged in a war and they got destroyed. The detailed answer is well..... a lot more complicated obviously. Buckle up it might be confusing and long... There are 12 dimensions in total, they all have different laws of physics, different living organisms, different cultures, different levels of technological advancements, different moral codes, different religions and beliefs. Name something and I can bet my right arm it''s totally different in another dimension. They mostly never interacted even though there were ways to travel between them with the help of costly spatial magic. Suppose if one dimension advances in technology and magic so much that they end up using up nearly all the resources and life energy of their own dimension but in return get weapons of mass extinction and also a way to break into their neighbor dimension in masses... what do you think happened?The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. That''s right, approximately 12,000 years ago another dimension known as Rigon did exactly just that, they invaded Tir as a desperate attempt at preserving their doomed existence. The Tirians fought back and managed to ask for help from other dimensions. What resulted was the military might of all the dimensions being focused on Rigon and Tir. This lasted for nearly a century. When the dust settled Tir was nothing but a dead husk of it former self due to their star being harvested for energy by the Rigonians. The star of a dimension provides life energy for the inhabitants to use magic and to produce new souls to grow the populace. Rigon managed to get enough energy to keep living on but were severly handicapped with most of their forces exterminated. The surviving Tirians died out while a lucky few managed to escape into other dimensions. Without the life energy of a star to support Rigon the void took over. Resulting in the birth of strange magical creatures that didn''t rely on life energy that thrived in the darkness. These creatures started using the door ways that were established during the war to break into other dimensions, causing chaos for the recovering dimensions that were still dealing with the aftermath of the war. A treaty was established among the other dimensions to islolate and quarantine Tir which had become the Null void. What does "isolate and quarantine" mean? Basically thousands experts that were well versed in Temporal and Spatial magic came together and carried out the biggest mass spell in history. This basically deactivated all the active doorways and made it near impossible to establish new doorways. Being Temporaly displaced meant flow of time was different in the Null void. The time here moves approximately 1028 times faster. This means that 1 year in the other 11 dimensions equate to 1028 years here. You might now be wondering as to why and how I am in this dimension... Well let me tell you my story. 1. The Beginning So where do I begin? Let''s start with the 13th year of the 21st Era. [ Era 21 Year 13 November 2 ] My name is Orion Haloligh and I was born on the last year of the 20th Era and I am currently 13 years of age. I am currently a Grade 2 magic swordsman apprentice at the Bluestone Institute of Education or the Academy as most call it. The academy is where new warriors come to study from all over Bluestone. Bluestone is one of the 5 regions of our planet Gaia. The 5 regions include Bluestone, Redstone, Greenstone, Yellowstone and Blackstone. The first 4 of which are inhabited by humans and are considered the 4 Nations of Gaia. On the other hand Blackstone is a wild area which is inhabited by animals and magical creatures and is by far the largest of the 5 regions. As any day I was awoken by the sound of my alarm going off at 7:00am. I turned off the alarm and got out of bed and went to take a cold morning shower so I can go to the academy at 9. After wearing my academy uniform which was mainly the color grey with blue stripes and accents, I went down stairs for breakfast. My mom as usual was making breakfast and told me to sit down at the dining table till breakfast is ready. While I was captivated by the smell of an omelette being made, a man wearing an office suit made his way to the kitchen and indifferently said "I''ll be off for today" and left. That man ofcourse is my father Barron Haloligh. He is a Grade 6 Alchemist working at a normal pharmaceutical company. He''s not very talkative and mostly leaves me to my own devices eventhough I am his only child... as far as I know. I don''t have any memorable memory with my father but by no means can I say he''s a bad father for not regularly interacting with me. I am thankful for him not being strict and giving me the freedom I have.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. While I was on this train of thought my mom placed the omlette infont of me snapping me out of it with the sound of the ceramic plate coming into contact with the table. I hastly said "Thanks Mom!!" and started eating. After a few seconds of observing me gulping down the omlette, she gave me the warmest smile and said "Take it slowly, there''s plenty of time left" and left the kitchen. After taking Mom''s advice I slowly had breakfast, grabbed my bag and left for the front door. After twisting the handle I yelled "Mom I''ll be off!" and exited. The entire capital of Bluestone is connected by railcars which is the most used public transportation system in the capital. I have used the railcars for the past 2 years to attend the academy and from my experience lots of other students do the same. Currently I can see 6 other students on the railcar with me. The railcar takes about 15 min to get to the academy from my stop. When I got off the railcar I was greeted with the gate of the academy. I managed to make it 11 minutes before the classes began. However unlike other days, today we won''t have regular classes as today is the advancement exam. The advancement exam is held near the end of each year to test each student and to grade them according to their capabilities. There is no set amount of years to graduate, if you manage to become a grade 5 in your profession then you can graduate. There are a total of 10 grades in each profession. After taking a deep breath I walked in with expectations of becoming a Grade 3 magic swordsman apprentice. 2. The Tideweaver As soon as the starting bell rung, the students were instructed to attend the assembly hall. So I slowly made my way through the sea of students to the assembly hall. The assembly hall has to be the single largest building on the entire campus since it was made to have all the students attend altogether. It took about 10 minutes for all the students to settle down in the assembly hall. Boys were seated on the right while girls were seated on the left with a path in the middle leading up to the stage. After another few minutes an elderly man with a long grey beard, wearing a magician''s robe went up the stage and stood behind the podium. This man was none other than the academy principal and grade 9 pyro arc-mage Anvar. He is a national hero due to his contributions on the battlefield during the last war between Bluestone and Redstone which happened 52 years ago. After retiring as a battle mage he was assigned as the principal of The Academy. I find it odd how he''s still working after ''retirement'' but I guess a mage of his caliber still has to contribute to Bluestone somehow. Soon principal Anvar started his speech. "Good morning students, I hope everyone is ready for the exams. We''ll start the exam in a few minutes but before that I''d like to tell all the first years about how the advancement exam is carried out. This will also serve as a memory refresher for those who don''t remember the exact details of the previous exams. The exam will be carried out at 5 different venues for each respective class. That being Mages, Magic Swordsman, Magic Engineers, Alchemists and Beast tamers. The requirements for each class will be specific to each class respectively. Professor Hawth will shortly elaborate on the details and the venue for each class. With that I''ll end my speech and I hope everyone will try their absolute best for their advancement." Principal Anvar stepped down from the podium and Professor Hawth stepped up. He soon afterwards went into the details and the venue the exam will be held for each class. All the classes were divided into their respective groups and they were lead by a professor to the venues. Me and the rest of the Swordsman apprentices were guided by Professor Eagath to a battle hall which will serve as our venue for the exam. Professor Eagath is a young woman probably in her 20s with long black hair and blue eyes which are displayed brightly under her glasses. She always shows a stern face but rarely punishes students. She teaches water magic to magic swordsman apprentices. As soon as we arrived at the battle hall I hear someone calling from behind causing me to turn around. "Orion!" "Oh Nubia, it''s been a while" This brightly smiling goddess of happiness that''s currently standing in front of me is none other than Nubia Tideweaver. I say this cause she is smiling no matter the time or place and generally seems really happy. She is a fellow classmate and magic swordsman apprentice. She''s the 3rd daughter of the Tideweaver clan''s patriarch which makes her a modern day princess. The Tideweaver clan is one of the 5 major clans in Bluestone and are known for their high affinity with Water and Wind magic. She''s been the only person who has been regularly talking to me for the past 2 years. I guess you can say she''s currently my only friend. Well I won''t go that far as our conversations are always extremely short with a rare exception here and there.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She smiles at me and says "So... are you confident about passing the exam? well you definitely have what it takes to pass". I replied by saying "I''d say I have above a 50% chance of passing". She looks at me with one of her eyebrows raised and says "Calculative as always.... So I am guessing that means you are confident." I just calmly replied with a "yes". The smile on her face becomes even more curved saying "Goodluck then". "You too" was the only thing I could reply with before she darted off as her name was being called by Professor Eagath. "Nubia Tideweaver, Grade 2 magic swordsman apprentice will now be taking the exam. I''ll repeat the requirements for passing. You''ll have to perform 1 Grade 3 spell and 1 grade 3 sword technique. You''ll be performing them on the training dummy right across the room and I''ll be the judge to see if you pass. Proceed with your spell Nubia Tideweaver". Nubia calmly said "Yes, professor" She turned towards the dummy and pointed both her hands towards it and started silenty chanting. A second or so later, a green sphere appeared in her hands. A split second afterwards, 3 green translucent blades shot towards the dummy hitting it directly on the chest, leaving 3 marks on it. From my observation it appears to be the grade 3 wind spell known as air cutter. Professor Eagath looked at Nubia and said "Well done. That air cutter was performed very quickly and effectively with great accuracy, now move on to the sword techniques". Nubia nodded and said "Yes, professor" and moved closer to the training dummy. She stopped infront of the dummy and unsheathed her blade from the white scabbard at her waist. I say blade instead of sword as it has the shape of a rapier rather than a traditional sword. The elegant hilt and the loop guard are in a vibrant gold color while the blade itself has the color silver. Soon after, she and her blade were covered in a silvery aura. This is a grade 3 sword technique called sword aura. This technique increases physical attributes of the caster such as strength, speed and reaction time. I am familiar with it as it is a technique I personally know how to use. She ran towards the dummy and slashed at it atleast a dozen times in less than a few seconds displaying her enhanced physique. Professor Eagath quickly said "Truly brilliant, you are quite proficient at using sword aura. You have passed the exam and your identification will be updated to that of a Grade 3 swordsman apprentice within the next 24 hours. You may now leave or stay to observe the other examinees". She excitedly thanked the professor saying "Thank you very much Professor Eagath!" with an elated expression and made her way back to where the other examinees were. When she came towards me I looked her with a smile and said "Congratulations Nubia". She looked at me with a smile and said "Thanks, soon it''ll be your turn to be congratulated when you pass". Even with her smile there was a hint of sadness but I quickly dismissed it thinking it was my imagination. We observed the next 5 examinees silently. 3 of them passed while 2 of them failed. One of them had fired his fire spell very inaccurately while the other failed to even cast his spell. Both of them didn''t get to show their sword technique as they failed the spell. Then professor Eagath looked at her list and projected her voice through her microphone saying "Orion Haloligh, please make your way here". 3. The Troubled After being called, I quickly made my way towards professor Eagath. She looked at me indifferently and projected her voice through the microphone and said the same instructions she said to the previous examinees. "Orion Haloligh, Grade 2 magic swordsman apprentice will now be taking the exam. I''ll repeat the requirements for passing. You''ll have to perform a Grade 3 spell and 1 grade 3 sword technique. You''ll be performing them on the training dummy right across the room and I''ll be the judge to see if you pass. Proceed". I nodded and faced the training dummy and slowly raised my hands toward the dummy. I silently and slowly chanted my spell. A red sphere formed infront of my hand and propelled towards the training dummy. It collided with the dummy leaving charred marks on it. Professor Eagath looks at me and says "Your accuracy was great and your mana was very stable but you took a long time to cast the fire blast spell. Passed but barely. Now move on to the sword technique". I nodded and faced the training dummy whilst simultaneously drawing my sword. My sword has no distinguishable features as it is a run off the mill double bladed sword. Eventhough it is cheap, it has served me well for the past few years. I started slowly and silently chanting and soon afterwards my whole body and sword were covered in a silvery aura. Yes this is sword aura, the same sword technique Nubia used to pass her exam. I quickly ran towards the dummy and slashed it multiple times leaving multiple lines on the training dummy. Then I took a deep breath and deactivated sword aura causing the silvery aura around me to disappear. Then I faced professor Eagath to hear her final judgement. Professor Eagath looked at me nodding saying "Well done, you performaed sword aura very immaculately, only loosing out to Nubia by a bit. Therefore you have passed and your identification will be updated to grade 3 swordsman apprentice in 24 hours. You may stay to observe the rest of the examinees or leave." I nodded and walked towards where Nubia and the other examinees were standing. I looked at Nubia and to my surprise she wasn''t smiling like she would normally. I slightly furrowed my brows and said with a smirk "What? no congratulations? I feel betrayed". I seemed to have caught her off guard as she started lightly laughing at what I said. After her short outburst she smiled saying "Oh sorry, was thinking of something else. Congratulations on passing eventhough you chanted slowly on purpose not to stand out, it''s pretty obvious you were holding back". Being caught wasn''t the best feeling but then again, she always notices. I am more curious as to why she looks as if something is troubling her. I looked at her and said "Well I passed didn''t I? that''s all that matters". She just smiles at me and continues to watch the other examinees. Meanwhile I was busy thinking.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Should I ask if something is troubling her?.. I am not sure if we are even close enough so would she even tell me if I asked? Do I even want to know? Well I guess there''s no harm in me asking or is there? Oh well, here goes nothing. "Nubia, is something troubling you?". At my question she turns around seemingly slightly surprised and says "No, why?". I didn''t expect her to tell me in the first place so I wasn''t surprised. I looked at her with my face clearly not hiding the fact that I didn''t believe her and said "I understand if you can''t trust me enough to say it, well whatever it is I hope it gets resolved. I''ll be off". I turned around and started walking towards the exit of the battle hall since there''s no need to keep poking when she clearly doesn''t intend to tell me. As I was about to reach the exit I felt a hand grabbing on to my left forearm and I hear "Wait Orion!". I turned around clearly surprised and a sad looking Nubia was standing behind me holding on to my left forearm with her right hand. We started at each other in silence for a few seconds. After staring at each other for a few seconds she breaks the silence by quietly saying "Could you walk with me to the campus park?". I nodded saying "Ofcourse". I quietly followed behind her. she was walking off to my left still holding on to my arm... How did it turn out like this? Why did I have to poke her? Guess I''ll see how this turns out. We shortly arrived at the campus park. The campus park has a small lake in the middle and was surrounded by big trees that provided shade to the benches that were built all round the lake. She sat down on a bench and I sat right beside her looking at the ducks that were sailing along the lake. At this point I might seem calm on the outside but my mind was working overtime trying to make out heads or tails in this situation. What do I do? what do I say in this kind of situation? I am sitting here next to a troubled Nubia who haven''t let go of my arm since we left the battle hall. What does anyone do in this kind of situation? As I was wrecking my brain trying to think of something I felt her grip around my arm tighten causing me to look to my left where Nubia was sitting. What welcomed me was the sight of a girl with long wavy brown hair with tears flowing down her face from her saddened green eyes. I was at a loss of words. Nubia is crying infront of me? The girl who has been smiling non-stop ever since I have known her is crying? Before I could say anything she looks directly into my eyes and says "Are we friends?". This question for some reason tugged on a heart string causing me to feel saddened. Without much thought I reached out with my right hand and wiped away her tears saying "Considering that you are the only person that even bothers to talk to me, If we aren''t friends then I''d have no one else. Friends or not, you are definitely the closest person to me". Wether I said this to maker her feel better or not, it was undoubtedly the truth. I don''t have anyone else I interact as much as her. After hearing my answer she gives me a bitter but genuine smile. Her next words caught me off guard causing my eyes to widen. "I am leaving, this is my last day at the academy". 4. The Farewell Huh? She''s leaving? This is certainly not something I had expected but nothing too out of this world. But why is she crying? I am certainly no one too important for her to cry and we could keep in touch with our phones even if we are far apart. So there has to be a serious reason for her to cry. I hope her reason for leaving isn''t too serious. I look at her apologetically and say "I am guessing there''s a big reason for you having to leave?" She looks at me with teary eyes, takes a deep breath and starts saying "I am being married off when I am 16... I had been engaged to the first son of the Reziner family patriarch since birth. And after my 14th birthday I am supposed to start being groomed to be a wife to an heir of a noble family. So I cannot attend the academy." The world of nobles. Arranged marriages. Two concepts that are entirely foreign to me. Now I know why she is crying. She doesn''t want to be married off. "I am sorry you have to go through such a thing." She looks at me and forces a smile saying "I knew this day was coming as far as I can remember. I joined the academy wanting to make my own path in life as a magic swordsman. But I guess it was very short lived. I was originally planning to spend the 2 years without making any friends in the academy. But then I saw you... someone who seemed to be a normal student... but you seem to be intentionally trying not to stand out, holding back even on the exams and the classes seem too easy for you. But the thing that caught my eye the most was the fact you were not even bothering to make friends... just like me. So I mustered up some courage to talk to you and surprisingly you didn''t seem to mind talking to me. I thought you would actively try to avoid making friends but one thing lead to another and I am here sitting next to you crying and saying my farewell to you."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Huh... Didn''t think I had such a impression on her. Seeing her in such a state ruins my impression of her as a personification of happiness. "Atleast we can keep in touch with our phones. Right?" She looks at me with a sigh and says "I wish that was the case, from what I have been told the 2 years of being groomed would be extremely isolated. I doubt I can contact the outside in that time frame." After a short pause she says slightly stuttering. "I... I... I will miss you..." Slightly caught off guard I replied. "I will miss you too" We sat there looking at pond when suddenly I felt her head on my shoulder. We sat in place for nearly half an hour when a woman in a black suit appeared causing Nubia to remove her head from my shoulder and standing up. The woman looked at Nubia and says "Young miss, I have received word your examination was a success and I am here to take you home." Nubia walked behind her attendant who was leading the way getting farther away from the bench we were sitting at. As I was about to get up and leave, Nubia looked back at me and smiled. I smiled back at her and she turned her head forward and left my line of sight. I sat on the bench for a few minutes to process what happened. After a few minutes I got up and left the academy, heading back home. I arrived at home after a short ride by railcar. I opened the door saying "I am home" and I see Mom coming down from the stairs saying "How did the exam go pumpkin?". I reply saying "It went well and I am now a grade 3 swordsman apprentice". Mom replied by saying "Congratulations". I nodded and made my way quickly to my room. I locked my room and changed out of my uniform into my regular attire which consisted of black pants, a grey shirt and a brown jacket. I grabbed my long duffel bag with my gear and put it on my back diagonally. I went down stairs and was met by mom. I looked at mom saying "I''ll be gone for training and I''ll try to be back before 10 tonight" and exited home and headed towards the Hunter''s guild. 5. The Hunter After I was a few hundred meters away from home, I went into an inconspicuous alley and changed into a black combat attire consisting of combat trousers, shirt and vest. It also came with black gloves and Helmet. Then I quietly left the alley after making sure no one is looking. A couple minutes later I was infront of the Hunter guild building. It''s a 50 storey building with "Hunters Guild" writen across it with big letters and the sight never fails to amaze me. Whilst not the tallest building in the city, it''s located on the outskirts of the city where such buildings are few and far between, so it stood towering over the rest of the buildings nearby. After my short appreciation of the sight I walked into the lobby of the building. The lobby was very large and had a sitting area for people that were submitting jobs and a dozen counters with staff that accepted jobs. The lobby currently had close to a hundred people whom I assume are here to submit jobs and some people in combat gear who I recognize as hunters. I walked to the left where the stairs and elevators were located and took the stairs to the second floor. I had no intention of waiting for the elevators. After arriving at the second floor there were two counters and a large entrance in-between. I walked upto to the counter on the right as there was someone else at the other counter. The woman at the counter was one I see often when I come here and she looked at me and said "May I see your Hunter ID please". I quickly took out a black card from my pocket and put it on the counter. She took it and swiped it across the card reader that was on the counter and looked at her screen. This is the same procedure I have experienced for the past 8 months so I removed my right glove as I knew what was coming. Before she could say anything I placed my right thumb on a square located on the counter. She handed me my Hunter ID and said "Identity confirmed, Bronze Hunter Origin please proceed" indifferently. I put my glove back on and took my ID and walked through the entrance in-between the counters.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Inside the entrance were a seating area and a dozen screens infront. The seating area was empty and there were 8 people occupying the screens. I walked up to one of the unoccupied ones and swiped my ID card across the card reader located on the right of the screen. The screen quickly came to life with a few seconds of the Hunter Guild logo. I tapped on the Bronze button as the other buttons were grayed out. This is because my hunter ranking was only Bronze. Hunters can only accept jobs that are at the same rank or below their ranks but not one ranked higher. After tapping bronze I scrolled past all of the available jobs down to the very bottom where there was a button that said "Rank Up". After I tapped it a message popped up. ------------------------------------------ Rank Up | Bronze -> Silver Kill and bring back the cores of: 3¡Á Rank 2 beasts 1¡Á Rank 3 beast ------------------------------------------ I have been waiting to rank up for a few weeks now but decided to wait until I was officially a grade 3 magic swordsman. I tapped accept and tapped confirm. I headed out of the entrance and exited the lobby of the Hunters Guild and headed towards the city gates. I arrived at the city gate which was 50 meters high. All of the city is surrounded by a 50 meter wall to protect the city from beasts. I walked up to the gate and gave the guard my hunters ID. He nodded after checking my ID and opened a metal human sized door that was located on the gate which lead to the outside wilderness. I entered the door and exited the city.