《Between The Worlds》


 Chapter 01 - Blizzard

    The blizzard here is endless. Cold snowflakes are violently dancing in the air and on the ground, and wind doesn''t stop blowing for even a one second. Snow and cold is all you can find in this harsh and unwelcoming planet. This is why it was called Snow Graveyard. It seems that only a few lucky ones got a chance to get back safely. As for others... they are already considered as corpses, buried in a Snow Graveyard.


    However, even knowing how deadly this land is, someone was actually forcing his way trough the fierce blizzard. It was a boy around the age of sixteen. He was wearing thick fur coat, boots and gloves, made from the same fur. It was quite thick and on normal days it could protect him from the fierciest winds and coldest nights, but today it actually met its match. Not without a reason people said that nothing could withstand a Snow Graveyard''s cold.


    Nevertheless, a boy who was suffering from tiredness, pain all over his body and cold that even this coat of his couldn''t withstand, didn''t show it on his face. His deep obsidian eyes were like a calm ocean, without the tiniest bit of ripple. He stumbled on the mountain of snow and couldn''t get up for a while, but didin''t panic, only feeling slightly troubled.


    "Why is it so hard to travel on this planet?"


    A boy asked quitely, but no one answered. Only fierce winds howled and howled reminding him to stand up and go forwad. After that he stumbled once more and once more, but he didn''t give up. For his goal he was willing to die. Maybe that''s why he wasn''t fearing bitting cold, nor feeling afraid.


    However, lone human cannot defy nature. It wasn''t long before a boy fell on the snow and couldn''t get up. He sadly sighed.


    "Is this the end for me, after all?"


    "HA HA HA...I''m insane and stupid... to dare to venture a famous death land... yes, stupid, very stupid desicion."


    He said that while lying on the snow. It was so cold that the coldness became a scorching pain. But he didn''t feel any regret. If he could come back to the past, he would do the same.


    The boy watched as snowflakes were dancing the most beautiful dance, gazed at the endless white and even felt a bit sadness. He couldn''t find it even in the end.


    As he stared blankly at the upcoming end, he suddenly noticed a white butterfly. That''s right, in the uninhabitable planet, with the harshest possible conditions, there was a butterfly, a weak creature. It flaped its wings once, flying higher, then descended, making loop in the air. It looked happy, dancing with snowflakes, untroubled in this harsh blizzard. Even a calm boy was surprised, seeing something like that.


    The butterfly slowly descended from the sky and seemingly noticing a boy, circled around him out of curiosity. Maybe seeing that he didn''t move and probably wasn''t dangerous it flaped its wings once more and beautifully landed on the shoulder. Then it stayed still as if resting. A second passed, a minute, it still didin''t move. A boy was also lying like he was from the start. if not for the wind, howling and carrying white snowflakes, you would probbably think that the time stopped. But soon it was broken. The little butterfly softly whispered in the boy''s ear.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "There''s entrance, but no exit. Young friend, what made you come there and explore this world?"


    A boy was silent for a while and it seemed that he didn''t hear this little butterfly''s soft whisperings. But he heard it very well, like a bell ringing on a silent night. As if butterfly was speaking directly in his mind. Soon he answered whith a dreamy look, reminscing a past.


    "The first moment I remember is standing on the hill and gazing at the most beautiful view I have ever seen. The grass was withered and trees were small, with brownish leaves. It was by no means what you call a beautiful sight, but at that moment a very big and red sun was sinking to the ground, goldening every corner I could see. It was the most ordinary world one could find, but suddenly it became the most beautiful in the whole universe. I was strangely peaceful and slightly happy standing there. As if there''s nothing to worry and be afraid.


    But soon I felt panicked and confused. I didn''t know who I was or where I was. My mind was as empty as it could be. There was no memories at all. The only thing, hiding in the corner of my mind was a story about the Motherland. Everyone knew it and it wasn''t anything special, but to me, who remembered nothing, this story was a lead to my memories. So at that time, standing on that ordinary hill, I decided to find a Motherland. Of course, it was hard, impossible actually. But I didn''t want to give up. So I searched and searched, until I came up to conclusion that a current planet map, showing all gates known to people that connects different worlds, cannot have a Motherland. I had to find other planet map. So I started searching a Corner worlds, where entrance exists, but there''s no known exit. This is third Corner planet and I think the last one."


    The butterfly was silent for a while before replying.


    "You''re partly right. Some time ago, when this world was still young, there was small passage linking to the other world. The weather was calm, without any blizzards and cold winds, everything was peaceful. However, everyone with a time gets old, as this world. There was no spare energy left to maintain the gates open so it was closed. If the other world wouldn''t have maintained the passage that you came throught to this world entirely on its own, it would have also closed ages ago. "


    "Is that so? Then it means that I had no hope from the start."


    "There''s always hope, young friend. I found your story interesting, so I don''t mind helping you." A butterfly once again flaped its wings and flew up in the sky. Slowly it started emiting a faint white light and a blizzard calmed down along with the winds.


    "You''re this world''s spirit, like a heart to humans. If you expend this much energy just to open a passage for me, you''re going to die along this whole world of yours." a boy quitely reminds it. But spirit doesn''t listen and only concentrates on creating the link to the other world. A faint white light suddenly becomes blinding. A boy already feels his body floating in the space, traveling through the passage.


    "That''s right boy, what''s your name?" A voice is heard in his mind. Not the melodious one from erlier, but weak and faint.


    "I don''t have name. Even if I had, I forgot it with everything else. Just call me whatever you like" He answers with difficulty. Being in space one is very very weak. Even speaking requires some effort. But the butterfly deserved this much from him.


    "Then I''ll cal you Agni. In ancient language it means fire. You''re like a fire in the middle of blizzard. Forever bright and unfading." Its voice was getting quieter and quieter until completely disappearing.

 Chapter 02 - Gemstone land

    There was a boy, standing in a strange place. Everything around him was sparkling and flickering, illuminating the whole place. The ground he was standing on wasn¡®t the usual ground one could find in common worlds made from dirt or sand. Instead there was something like brownish gold, littering everything under his foot. He didin¡®t dare to believe that it was gold, because it was too absurd and unbelievable. Just imagining what sensation it would cause if revealed to creatures known as greedy humans made him shudder and lift his head to look at other things.


    However, the more he looked, the more dumbfouded he was.


    ¡°This is tree? I think it''s made from emerald. Why are there so many emerald trees?¡±


    ¡°Amethyst..? Sapphire and opal¡­¡±


    ¡°I see diamond and some other gemstones that are definitely precious. Is this world some bored god¡¯s treasury..?¡±


    The boy was mumbling and mumbling to himself still not daring to believe what he was seeing. Trees were made from sapphire and chrysolite, covering most of the space around him. They were huge and towering and had an enormous branches which looked like a giant¡¯s hands. Seeing them felt like seeing a pillars holding the whole sky. There were also bushes made from diamonds and forest berries made from ruby. He even picked one and admired for a while before trying to bite it. It looked like a berry after all, so it should be edible. Or so he thought. But ruby is a ruby, not edible even while looking like berry. Luckily, his teeth were hard enough to be safe even after this experiment. There was also other plants made from gemstones, if these minerals could be called plants at all. A boy was looking and looking at them feeling shocked at first, but after a while he became numb.


    ¡°As expected, there are all kinds of wonders in the universe.¡±


    Suddenly fatigue hit him. He was so absorbed admiring this new world that he forgot his trip through the endless winter world. That unforgettable coldness still enveloped him, sleepiness and hunger returned to bother him. Seeing that biting cold was seeped in his coat so much that it felt like sitting in a fridge, he decided to take it off. As for food, luckily he had enough for a few days. But after that¡­ it seemed that he will have to eat ruby berries. Hopefully he will find some human settlement.


    Taking off his coat and searching for some suitable place to rest, the boy¡¯s figure was revealed for the first time. As the coat was very thick and big, it wasn¡¯t possible earlier to gauge what this boy looked like. He was sixteen, but his body didn¡¯t quite match with his age. A bit shorter than his peers and quite skinny, probably from malnutrition. Always traveling as far as he remembers didn¡¯t let him to enjoy tasty food. Not only tasty, sometimes even normal food was hard to get. Sometimes he could hunt some animals or find some mushrooms, roots, berries or other edible things, but not all planets had it. Many known worlds didn¡¯t have habitable conditions, so no creature lived there except humans, of course. They could supply all necessities through the gates from other planets, so living there for humans wasn¡¯t a problem. But the thing was that to get these supplies from other worlds he had to have money. It isn¡¯t anything new, you can get everything you want with money, as some like to say. And he didn¡¯t have any money so couldn¡¯t buy anything. Of course, if he really wanted to get some money, it wasn¡¯t impossible. It¡¯s just that he was too obsessed with his travels, neglecting other things.


    Although skinny, he was definitely handsome. Short black unkempt hair emphasized his slightly pale, from traveling Snow Graveyard for a long time, complexion, he had sharp nose, pale lips and black obsidian like eyes. Going through the crowd young girls always casted him few more glances, although he never really cared about it. However, now, when compared to his brilliant surroundings, suddenly he seemed out of place. Not handsome anymore, like a beggar is never outstanding in the emperor¡¯s palace.


    Looking all around him once more, he noticed a fine shelter to rest. There was a pit quite close to him and it would protect him from cold winds if there was such a thing. There was also small protrusion, just enough to hide from rain.


    As he got to the pit he unpacked his one day food portion and slowly ate it. He knew that eating slowly helps to quench hunger much better than eating it quickly. He still remembered traveling with a caravan some time ago and there was a fool who had had loved eating. During travel there was a bandit attack and these bandits were so strong that no hired mercenaries could stop them. Luckily, these bandits were only after goods in the caravan and didn¡¯t take any lives. They also didn¡¯t have enough manpower to take all goods with them so only a portion of caravan suffered. But ironically, the one who suffered the most was that man with too much wealth. Only his clothes were left to him. And after a while he had to sell them, because they were quite precious, but the money he got barely covered his food expenses. So he limited his food and only after day of being hungry could he enjoy his food. But he ate a way too quickly. This didn¡¯t help him to fill his stomach at all and because of that he couldn¡¯t sleep properly. Day after day, night after night, he couldn¡¯t live anymore like that and died from exhaustion.


    Remembering that caravan, reminded him that he is now in foreign land and won¡¯t be able to return back. This made him a little sad, but having no relatives or friends over there quickly extinguished that little emotion. Actually even he thought that having not even a one friend was strange, but he just couldn¡¯t help it, he was just too weak at socializing with others. Friends¡­ To him it was easier to make enemies than friends.


    Finishing his dinner he gazed at the burning evening sun, ready to take off to the dreamland. But just before giving in to sleepiness, a boy recalled that little world spirit in the shape of butterfly. It gave up its world for the sake of complete stranger. After exhausting all its remaining strength it definitely didn¡¯t survive. Moreover, it even gifted him something very, very precious. Something that made him different from masses of people, different from masses of gate travelers. He glanced at the blue snowflake tattoo on his palm.


    ¡°That name you gave me¡­ Agni¡­ I¡¯ll treasure it.¡±


    He murmured while falling asleep.


    --------------


    The next day was even more beautiful than the previous one. Morning sun was ceaselessly illuminating precious stones, making surroundings like picture brought from a fairy tale. Agni was traveling through sapphire forest, enjoying scenery and warmth brought by a golden morning sun. From time to time he would stop for a few minutes to rest or to examine some kind of plant he found interesting. Some even were stored to his bag, when he wasn¡¯t willing to part with them. But he didn¡¯t pick many of them because they were too heavy, being stones after all.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    After traveling for a while Agni suddenly stopped. His usual relaxed figure sharpened as he watched alertly in front of him. Slowly his hand slid down to his waist, where his short sword was hanging. It was ordinary sword one could find everywhere. However it was also Agni¡¯s most beloved sword, because it accompanied him from the moment he was ¡°born¡±. Even when he got a chance to get a many times better sword, he chose not to that.


    Agni intensively stared at the strange creature between the giant trees, munching some diamond bush twigs as it was nothing to it. It was about a meter tall, similar to wolf animal and had black crystal like spikes covering its whole body. Actually it was so black that even in the moonless night it could be easily seen. As if the whole world¡¯s darkness concentrated in it. There was also a two dark red eyes, ominously glinting from time to time. As for its teeth¡­ it looked like an ordinary teeth, but seeing them capable of biting the diamond, renowned for its hardness, made one shiver.


    ¡°Crunch¡± ¡°crunch¡¯¡±


    The creature was obviously enjoying its meal, completely unnoticing the invader in its territory. Seeing it being so defenseless Agni felt an urge to kill it. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt very threatened witnessing this black creature so easily biting a diamond branches. He contemplated a second on whether to take a risk or to not finally deciding to slay it.


    Then he didn¡¯t hesitate anymore. Leaning forward, Agni sprinted to the black spikey wolf as fast as he could, but not forgetting to do it silently to not alarm the prey. Agni was very confident in his abilities having a dangerous looking animal considered a prey. Or maybe it was his pride not wanting to acknowledge that some strange planet¡¯s random animal made him feel threatened. Anyway, sprinting as silently as he could he quietly unsheathed his beloved sword, quickly closing in to the target.


    But this animal wasn¡¯t as unguarded as it seemed from the first glance. It quickly noticed that something strange was going on and swiftly avoided an incoming sword strike which was aimed at its neck area. This was where its black crystal defense was the thinnest. Unfortunately the black creature dodged just in time and a sword missed, striking its back only to be reflected by a big crystal spike.


    Agni frowned as he felt his arm becoming numb. Obviously a sword wouldn¡¯t easily penetrate this sort of defense. Even the thinnest spot on the creature¡¯s neck could probably deflect his sword.


    He felt troubled, but didn¡¯t stop his offense. The black wolf like creature could only be confused as to what happened, because almost no one have ever dared to challenge it, especially during its most enjoyable activity which was eating. It just dodged and dodged as Agni aimed his sword towards its eyes. He was certain that its eyes weren¡¯t made from crystal and therefore were its weakness. But it became annoying as he couldn¡¯t pierce them not even once. That wolf was quite fast and had good reflexes making his sword to miss every time.


    Gradually a black wolf seemingly come back to reality and released an angry roar. It finally understood that someone actually was challenging it. This made a confused animal a second ago very furious. It bared its scary teeth and pounded on Agni after the later finished his sword stab towards a left eye. This was a very small opening, but animal somehow noticed it and bitted while Agni has temporary lost his balance. Agni¡¯s eyes constricted as he watched creature¡¯s frightening teeth approaching. He could see diamond pieces stuck in between them, left from eating the diamond branches. He quickly fell down on the ground and rolled away to dodge the incoming strike. Luckily, he reacted fast enough and only his shoulder got grazed a bit. But an already angry animal became even more furious witnessing its attack not working. Stopping only for a half a second, it immediately chased after Agni.


    Drops of sweat rolled down Agni¡¯s forehead as he understood just how dangerous situation he was in just a moment ago. But he didn¡¯t feel scared. On the contrary, he was very excited.


    ¡°Come, let me kill you!¡±


    He exerted every ounce of his strength and shortly, after standing up, his sword was already speeding towards its target. The wolf who was chasing its rolling target was momentary stunned at this unexpected outburst of speed. It was confused as to why this creature who was already quite fast suddenly became even faster. But sword was already in front of it and not having any time to be stunned it quickly opened its full of harder than diamond teeth mouth and without thinking too much bit down the incoming sword.


    ¡°Crack!¡±


    Agni¡¯s eyes widened as he watched a black wolf stopping his sword with its teeth. Even the most precious sword, unless a magical artifact, would break, not to say that his sword was as common as the stars in the sky. Many had a way better weapon than his. Therefore, his beloved sword just cracked and finally broke like a twig. Seeing this scene would make one think that Agni was really just swinging a fake sword all this time.


    Agni just stared at the broken sword and clenched his jaw. He really never cried before, but now, he just felt the urge to do this. This was his best friend. One that accompanied him from the beginning. When he was ¡°born¡± he had only some clothes, few silver coins and this sword. He even considered naming it, but couldn¡¯t think of any suitable name even in the end. His eyes moistened and he staggered, almost falling down.


    Although Agni was sad, this couldn¡¯t be said about a black wolf. It was very pleased with itself for getting rid of that annoying stick. It had been swinging In front of him since the battle started and that made him displeased and angry. The stick didn¡¯t even taste good, but still dared to show off in front of him.


    Agni was still rooted in one place reminiscing about the lost sword as the wolf attacked him with its front leg. Its claws weren¡¯t inferior to its teeth in any way and they looked like black, death scythes. Sadly, Agni wasn¡¯t able to react in time and was blown off in the distance.


    The spot where he landed stirred the dry sand, or we should say gold dust, and everything around him was drowned in a sparkling golden cloud. It was very beautiful sight, not something you can see even in your whole life. But Agni didn¡¯t have any time to appreciate that once in a lifetime view. He suddenly recovered from his dream like state, only to find a frightening claws approaching him. He could only helplessly shift his body a little so that the wolf wouldn¡¯t hit his vitals. Thanks to that, his wound looked serious, but didn¡¯t endangered his life.


    Slowly his eyes started burning with a hatred and his body started emitting an eerie coldness. As soon as the golden dust particles settled down, he shot forward like an arrow shot from a bow. Fast and powerful. The black beast was momentary surprised that this creature still didn¡¯t die, but thinking that Agni wouldn¡¯t last one more strike from it, it also charged forward.


    However, strange thing happened afterwards. In the right Agni¡¯s hand, extreme coldness flowed out and formed into an ice lump. After that, it became bigger and bigger, quickly forming in the shape of sword. It looked exactly the same as his beloved one, which was bitten by a black wolf. The black wolf was once more surprised by this strange happening, but seeing that it was being stabbed towards it again, made it pissed off. It widely opened its jaws which had already broken the previous sword and believing that this time was the same, it bit down. But the really weird things then happened. The sword was a bit harder than earlier, but with the black wolf teeth it was nothing. However, who would have thought that after being broken, the sword parts became so cold that the coldness quickly spread out all over his body. A thick ice layer formed on its black crystal spikes and his insides were also being frozen by the ice shards that a black beast had eaten. It let out a whimper and started scratching its body, but this didn¡¯t help to escape from an unbearable coldness. After a while a black wolf became a blue wolf, being covered by a blue and freezing coat. Slowly it lost its strength and could only whine a little before being frozen to death.

 Chapter 03 - Three Moons

    Agni watched as the black crystal wolf was being frozen alive and smiled triumphantly when it fell on the golden ground, not moving anymore.


    ¡°I meant it when I said that I was going to kill you, stupid dog¡±


    He was very pleased with himself and would have been gloating in front of the dead beast a little longer if not suddenly remembering his broken sword. His wound was also hurting so much that he could barely stand on the ground. Agni sit down leaning on the sparkling sapphire tree trunk and pressed his palm on his chest. After concentrating a bit, a snowflake tattoo on his palm flickered a few times before starting to emit cold air. It slowly spread over his wound and formed a light red, from mixing with a blood, ice layer. As for the other wound on the shoulder ¨C it wasn¡¯t serious so he just let it be as it was.


    ¡°Unfortunately, it doesn¡¯t have any healing powers. I can only depend on my little knowledge of human body to make it heal a little faster.¡±


    Agni gazed at his palm with a complicated expression, where a blue snowflake resided. It was something that allowed ordinary people to use a power, commonly called ¡®magic¡¯.


    To start from the beginning, people who can travel to other worlds through the passages connecting them are called ¡®gate travelers¡¯. Basically, they are people who can sense the worldly essence and therefore use it. They can easily find gates anywhere in the world whether it is a common rock near the road or a lake in the countryside. It¡¯s because a tremendous amount of worldly essence is used to open and maintain the gates. That amount is so big that even a complete newbie not having any knowledge of the subject or having a little talent in this area can easily pinpoint the exact location of the nearby gates. That being said, just sensing worldly essence doesn¡¯t make one a gate traveler. Even though the passage created by world spirits are pretty safe, going through it without any preparations is just a death wish. People would just get smashed in the meat paste before even reacting, because of the terrifying pressure brought by a space. So going from one world to the other one requires being able to mold a worldly essence around oneself to make a shield, because it counters a space pressure. If it wasn¡¯t so, all worlds would have been already broken into countless pieces from the said space force long ago. Luckily, worldly essence covers every planet and nothing can happen to them, unless the world spirit dies or some extremely powerful expert decides that some planet should disappear.


    As for ¡®mages¡¯, they are something above gate travelers. Gate travelers can use the worldly essence to help them to go from world to world, but that¡¯s it. Other than defending from a space pressure, worldly essence doesn¡¯t have any other properties. The mages, on the other hand, are the gate travelers who after many years of meddling with a worldly essence or simply having a better talent, can gain an insight in it which makes them to be able to change this energy to their desired element. For example, a human who understands all principles behind a fire and who has a good control over the worldly essence, can use it to stimulate a reaction required for fire to appear. This human then with a bit of practice can use a fire however he wants. The same goes for a healing magic. It just doesn¡¯t require an understanding of fire, but a detailed knowledge of a body anatomy. It can be used to stimulate the regeneration of the dead cells, healing whatever wound one wants on a human, animal or even a plant. However only a few have such a knowledge and even fewer are able to apply it for a magic uses. It¡¯s because not everyone is talented, hardworking and the most importantly ¨C has access to required knowledge.


    When speaking of magic, it is must to mention that every magic performed by different people differs by an attack power or healing power, efficiency, mental power consumption, appearances¡­ That¡¯s why ranking system was created to be able to compare these sometimes so opposite one from another magics. From the lowest to highest it¡¯s a Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Star and God level magic. Of course it doesn¡¯t mean that the person using Heaven grade magic will absolutely win if fighting with a person using Mortal grade magic. What concludes the fight will be the combat experience and the magic manipulation ability. For example, human who was using his Mortal level magic for a decades is definitely superior to the one who was using his Earth, Heaven, Star or even a God tier magic for a week. But it¡¯s on the other way, if there¡¯s no such a huge gap between experiences in a magic manipulation. One thing is for sure ¨C the higher grade your magic is, the bigger its growing possibilities are. Of course, as mentioned above, to get a higher grade magic one has to have a required knowledge which not everyone has an access to, tremendous talent and a very hardworking mindset, because lazy people usually cannot perform even the slightest bit of magic even when their lifespans are at their end.


    After a few hours Agni¡¯s wound has stabilized and it didn¡¯t hurt as much as previously. He was a bit angry on himself to not be able to avoid a wound, but this anger immediately dissipated after seeing his beloved in such a wretched state. He stood up and silently picked the pieces of a sword, and after seeing them for a last time, he resolutely buried them in a golden ground.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°I was stupid to not use magic from the start. It was also my fault to recklessly charge into the battle, instead of avoiding that.¡±


    He sighed while gazing at his beloved sword grave. He seemingly realized that he could have used his magic when the battle started, avoiding breaking his sword and being injured. But he didn¡¯t do so. In fact, any experienced fighter would also do the same, because using magic for the first time brought many unknowns. He just got it from the world spirit as a present, but hadn¡¯t had the chance to use it. What if his magic was too weak to even scratch the surface of the beast? Or if his magic was so strong that it could harm not only that beast, but the magic user too? Or maybe if he was too concentrated to cast magic and didn¡¯t notice how the beast was already before him, ready to bite him to death. There were too many ¡®ifs¡¯ to take the risk.


    ---------------


    Agni was already walking through this gemstone land for a day. Evening was coming and he was starting to get worried. Through the whole day of traveling between these flickering, glittering and almost blinding trees, there were still no human activity signs, if this world was populated at all. His food reserves had also decreased from pitifully small, to almost negligible amount. Not forgetting his depleting water reserves, which just couldn¡¯t be filled up, because apparently, there was no such thing as water in this world. Or he just hadn¡¯t spotted any water source since starting his travels on this planet. However he thought ¨C it was the worst situation he could get in.


    Since killing the black wolf, he has met many similar beasts. They just were smaller, weaker, slower and dumber than the first one. Agni killed them all without too much difficulty by using his ice magic. But he understood that controlling it to do more complicated things was impossible, as just making his ice sword was hard enough for him. It was also tiring, not physically, but mentally. He felt like his brain was swollen and just thinking about something made his head hurt.


    Despite these things, Agni had to go forward, because there was a hope to find something. He didn¡¯t exactly know what to expect. Humans? Or maybe some other race, only mentioned in the legends, like famous elves. Or maybe a residence of a rich god who owns this luxurious world. Either way, he would be fine with anything if he got to fill his stomach and drink as much water as he wants. Of course, he always thinks like that, but after filling his stomach once, he ventures to some uninhabited planet once again, until his food reserves disappear.


    Luckily, there had been no dangerous beasts like the first one anymore. Only weak ones. Agni speculated that the black wolf was probably the king of these smaller wolves. Maybe there were more of these kings of the black wolves, but Agni rather not fight them anymore. He loved fighting and hated seeing someone being stronger than him, but deep in the heart he knew that fighting with them more would just result in injuries and maybe a death.


    Just like this he was walking and thinking various things to lift his boredom, because after walking for a day the beasts he encountered and could kill had dwindled to the point where he couldn¡¯t even see one in the past two hours.


    Finally, after the only sun in the sky settled, he decided to rest. It wouldn¡¯t be good to continue walking with his weary mind, least he accidentally walked into the tree. He thought like that while gazing at the night sky. It was the first time he saw it. The last time he was too tired after venturing a Snow Graveyard, so much that didn¡¯t have any mood to gaze at the stars. What kind of views he hadn¡¯t seen ¨C he thought. And he was awfully wrong. This kind of sky he definitely hadn¡¯t ever seen in his whole life.


    Three moons hung above him like a gods overseeing the mortal realm. One of them, the white and the biggest one was right in the center of the sky, as if declaring that it was the mightiest one. The other, on the other hand, was like weak sister hiding behind her mighty brother, being blue in color, smaller and positioned behind the white moon. As for the third, it was like a once strongest emperor, who ruled the whole universe and whose word mattered the most. But now it was injured, bleeding from the wound, inflicted by an enemy who suddenly attacked him. It was floating near the horizon and emitting a piercing cold, bloody red color. This moon once was gigantic planet, now, however, only third of it was left. The other two thirds looked like they were gnawed out by an unimaginably big and powerful creature. Or like a remnants of the two powerful experts fight.


    Around these three moons there were an unimaginable amount of small stars, flickering endlessly. There were green, blue, white, red and violet stars, which seemed like a precious gems, that the moons owned. Or like a spectators of their life. They painted the whole sky with different colors, making it seem like an art piece.


    Agni just stood there, fascinated by the view. It was the first time he saw something like that. But he suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. He was like an ant, witnessing the giant fight. Unworthy and weak. This feeling was strange and foreign to him and he felt weird. Agni realized at that moment that he was lacking in everything. And he didn¡¯t want to be like this. He wanted to be able to gaze at the sight and say to the moons and creature who almost destroyed the whole third moon ¨C you are just a flies in my mind, not worthy of my time. He wanted to be the strongest. Then even searching for his memories would be piece of cake.


    Agni slowly retracted his eyes from the sky, now filled with resolution. Even if this dream was laughable, he was sure that one day it will become the truth.


    Then he noticed something. Far in the distance, there were a faint lights. They were very far away, but Agni could see a rough outline of a city, illuminated by these lights. Only now he realized, that he came out of the sapphire tree forest. He was really too drawn in by the view above him.

 Chapter 04 - Golden city

    Agni didn¡¯t go to the distant city right away. Even though he was itching to see who lived in this luxurious planet, the city was too far and it was already dark. Agni was tired after walking for so long, and right after closing his eyes, dreamland greeted him. Of course, he wasn¡¯t sleeping deeply, living in the wild thought him how to be alert all the time, even when sleeping.


    In the morning, when the three moons hid in the horizon and the only sun in the sky, who contrary from the moons was as ordinary as it could, rose like burning flower, Agni set off to the city. Even though he was still quite far away, he could clearly see that this city was one of the biggest habitats he has ever seen. But it wasn¡¯t strange, because knowing that such a world existed and still not coming to live there like a king was a sin. Of course it seemed that this planet was only recently discovered, because it would be already dug in and out, left with nothing. Even the great world spirit cannot save its world from other¡¯s greed.


    As he walked closer and closer, there started to appear some pits where workers and slaves who were marked with hideous chain tattoos were digging some brownish gold. They were careful, though, and all the gold they dug and placed in the wagon to be deported to the city was of the better quality. Especially slaves, because if master becomes angry, their lowly life wouldn¡¯t be guaranteed. However these slaves, although working there bitterly, were dressed quite well. It wasn¡¯t only because of the riches of this planet, but because of their own value. Many of these slaves were stunningly rare gate travelers and if not, then important enough for their masters to expend an effort of bringing them through the passage. It was possible to bring one or more people with gate travelers to other worlds, but it was harder to maintain a shield of worldly essence around all of them and the risk of failing and dying in the middle of passage was greater. So it was a rare to bring ordinary people to other worlds, especially those as lowly as slaves.


    As the city was getting closer, there were more and more pits with workers in them. He could also faintly see that from the city¡¯s other sides many other workers were carrying sapphire trees and other precious stone plants. These workers went forth and back bringing all the good things in the city. It looked like an anthill where ants where hurrying in and out.


    Right as he was about to enter an area around the enormous city wall, where no pits existed and there was even a small park like forest with many sparkling flowers, something strange happened. All the workers who were so devoted to the precious stones and golden sand and all the workers who were secretly lazing off, dropped their work and started running. They shouted some words like ¡®hurry¡¯ and ¡®run¡¯ and like a mad army of barbarians flooded the city from all three wall gates.


    Seeing that something was off, Agni also wanted to get in the city. Who knows what danger was coming that everyone became like a madmen. He looked back, but couldn¡¯t see anything out of ordinary. However better be safe than sorry. But he was once more stunned to realize that he couldn¡¯t get in, no matter how hard he tried. There were too many people rushing to the gates that it became clogged. He turned speechless.


    ¡°Damn, can¡¯t they be more orderly in front of danger?¡±


    He cursed. Of course, no one heard him. After trying his luck once more, Agni witnessed how some shameless people went courageously forward beating all the people in the way and even some not in the way.


    Slowly there started appearing low roaring and marching sounds as people got more and more desperate, not giving up after being beaten down, biting and scratching their opponents. Agni couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. Affected by the crowd, he also started to feel a slight fear ¨C surely, to scare these people to such an extent, danger wasn¡¯t low. He even started considering to use magic and violence on these workers.


    The city gates were starting to close, as they were made to protect all living beings in the city from any harm. But the problem was that it couldn¡¯t protect those outside it. Instantly, dozens of lives were discarded. Those who made it in, slowly sighed in relief and those who didn¡¯t ¨C cried in despair. Agni didn¡¯t get in. At the last moment, when he almost used his precious magic, he suddenly thought.


    ¡°When did I become such a coward?¡±


    His blood boiled thinking that a great enemy was going to appear. He wanted to challenge his limits, to know how strong he is when using his full power and magic. So he decided that he cannot hide like these powerless people.


    After a while Agni saw who caused all this spectacle. An army of around a thousand black wolves were marching towards their destination ¨C the city. They were small wolves, easy to kill while alone, but not quite when in a group of thousand. And right in the middle was bigger and more eye-catching wolf than others ¨C the black wolf king.  It emitted terrifying aura and looked more ferocious than the one Agni met. It definitely was stronger.


    Seeing that there was black wolves again, Agni was slightly disappointed, but then his blood started boiling again with anticipation. He was itching to fight and prove that even the black wolf king was weakling before his magic. Of course an army of thousand was worrying. But the citizens would surely do something.


    Thinking like that he readied his ice magic and looked at the black mass, charging at him and workers.  They were wailing in despair as they knew that end was coming. Even if help came, it would be too late. All of them knew this, because in the past similar happenings were common. All the other times they were safe, hiding behind walls, therefore thinking that the end like this will never come to them. Who knew that they were wrong.


    Finally, the first beast reached the mini forest and happily roared. It usually had to eat the disgusting bushes, acting like herbivore when it clearly wasn¡¯t. Finally some tasty meat popped out in their territory ending their pitiful days.


    Screams echoed as people lost their lives accompanied by increasing number of roars. Black beasts pounced on their victims and after swiftly killing them, quickly ate their still warm bodies as if fearing that others will snatch it. It was gruesome sight.


    Agni brandished his ice sword running it through the black crystal body of a pouncing beast. It immediately died. He then slightly turned his body, avoiding black claws and stabbed to the wolf¡¯s throat. The ice sword was durable as the beast was suspended in midair, hanging with its eyes opened. This, however, didn¡¯t bother Agni, and the dead¡¯s gaze, which would make others feel goosebumps, was nothing to him. Dead are dead, after all. They can¡¯t do anything.


    Not losing any momentum, Agni swinged his sword with hanging beast and smashed it to the other one, ready to pounce on him. He felt his arm becoming numb, because this strange animal, resembling wolf and made from black crystal, was by no means light.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    The wolf was stunned momentary and not missing this opportunity, Agni threw his ice sword at it. Unexpectedly, the sword actually precisely embedded itself in the beast¡¯s eye, freezing its brain.


    After that, even more wolves flooded the small park. He killed many of them and wolves, seemingly recognizing him as a threat, confronted Agni with even more ferocity. Three of them attacked him at the same time and he only narrowly dodged their frenzied attacks, because having thrown his sword to kill wolves time after time, a moment of concentration was needed to make another. He quickly calculated the best course of actions. Speedily dodging black wolves¡¯ assault, he readied his magic once more.


    Abruptly the fourth beast jumped on him and his magic sword wasn¡¯t completed yet. It even shattered, because of this distraction. Having clearly not expected this sudden attack, Agni couldn¡¯t dodge it in time. He could only helplessly try to stop it with his hands. Numbness spread to his shoulders and arms, but luckily, they weren¡¯t broken.


    Agni angrily stared at the opponent, as it unconsciously shuddered. Fear gripped wolf¡¯s heart, as it tried to escape. It even forgot the hunger and tasty meat longing. Food? How can food compare to its own life. But it was too late. Freezing cold spread from Agni¡¯s palm and through the black eyes and mouth it invaded every part of the creature¡¯s body. It was horrible death, indeed.


    After killing this black monster, blue sword was quickly made in his still numb hand and he sprinted to the other three, who seemingly realized to have provoked the wrong person. They were quickly killed. Afterwards, no wolf wanted to get close to him, so he decided to rest a bit.


    Agni gazed at these black wolves just a moment ago feasting on corpses. Now, however, they were warily staring at some people, who stood there righteously and felt quite dangerous. Most of them were knights clad in golden armor, who already went to slay the wolves. They weren¡¯t as impressive as Agni, though, and couldn¡¯t kill black wolf instantly.


    As these knights were doing their job, there stood another bunch of people. Almost all of them were young people in their twenties, dressed in white robes with red flame pattern. They were shielding slaves and workers, who were lucky enough to survive this and await their saviors. The number of them, however, was pitiful, as most of them died in the jaws of merciless beasts.


    In the middle of this group stood heroic youth, with short golden hair and green eyes. The combat outfit he wore was so expensive and flashy, that just seeing him dressed like this could make you blind. Carved gems and ornamented crystal armor glowed and reflected all the light, turning him in the figure deciphered in the legends ¨C cool and heroic, emitting radiance in all directions. Ordinary people seeing him would doubtlessly kneel on the ground and worship him as a god who descended from the heavens.


    The heroic youth smiled confidently and stepping forward pointed his sparkling and shining sword at the black wolf king.


    ¡°Stupid dog, hand your life to me!¡±


    He shouted so loudly, that his voice reverberated through the entire battlefield. As Agni watched this scene, he couldn¡¯t resist his lips twitching. Sure, these dogs were stupid. They didn¡¯t even realize that being more secretive and ambushing their prey would lead to more meat. They just openly marched, announcing their presence to everyone and allowing many people to escape. But even though they were stupid, you don¡¯t need to shout it out like this. They cannot even understand what you¡¯re shouting. It¡¯s pointless. And shameful.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ll never understand normal people.¡±


    Agni murmured sadly. He actually wanted to understand them. He wanted to have friends. Nonetheless, he just couldn¡¯t do so.


    After yelling at the ignorant beasts and striking cool pose, this heroic youth charged at the black wolf king. It was already alarmed after noticing this strange shining creature and after hearing threatening roar from it, this king became angry. And when this strange creature even dared to charge at it and challenge its authority, it became extremely furious. Getting up and brandishing its ominous teeth it lowly growled. However, the young hero completely ignored this warning. He just slashed and stabbed, sweeping all of the wolves getting in his way with his shining sword. Then, like a burning star, he collided with the king.


    Nonetheless, the wolf king, even not looking as impressive as the young hero, deserved its title. It slightly avoided quickly incoming blade and smashed its front claws to the youth¡¯s head. The youth dodged it and counterattacked with his sword. However the wolf king didn¡¯t avoid the sword this time. It just bared its fangs and caught the blade with its jaws. It was exactly the same situation that happened to Agni. Now, however, the sword was of superior quality and didn¡¯t break like Agni¡¯s did. The youth looked surprised as he tried to reclaim his weapon. But it was stuck in between the monster¡¯s teeth so well, that it didn¡¯t bulge a bit. In the meantime, the wolf king saw an opportunity and struck with its claws once more. This time, however, it was even more destructive. No ordinary man can withstand such a force and come out alive.


    Golden hair fluttered as the youth decisively abandoned his weapon and made an impressive jump in the air. The king couldn¡¯t reach his opponent again and became frustrated. But before it could went out its anger, it was bombarded by number of flames. Some distance away, there stood a people with their hands raised and aimed at the wolf. Originally, they were keeping small wolves in check, but seeing the opportunity, some of them attacked the king. They were actually a mages and all of them were of fire element. It was indeed surprising that in one city were so many mages of the same element. One should know that magic wielders prefer to choose their own unique specialty or to develop their magic in a unique way. These mages, on the other hand used a common magic ¡®fireball¡¯. To Agni it was strange and incomprehensible.


    After the wolf was bombarded, the youth with golden hair who was still in the air made a graceful flip and already falling down, grabbed his sword, which wasn¡¯t held firmly enough, because of the sudden bombardment. The weapon slid easily from the dazed wolf¡¯s jaws and without losing any momentum, the impressive youth rotated a few times, before striking out. Surprisingly, his blade was covered in a blazing red flames and, even though the strike wasn¡¯t very precise and hit king¡¯s back, where its defense wasn¡¯t weak, the sword sunk deep in the black crystal body.


    It howled in the pain brought by a burning blade and abruptly smashed with its whole body to the young hero. He clearly wasn¡¯t expecting this and could only fly magnificently before falling on the golden ground. The same golden cloud of dust greeted Agni, even bigger than before. Coincidently, the place youth fell to, was near Agni, who was watching all this indifferently. He wanted to fight wolf king, but he hated interrupting to others fighting or help them. It would mean nothing to him if he teamed up with others to win, because it would be a victory of a group, not his. So he only stared coldly at a wolf who finally stopped trashing about from the pain. Right where the sword hit, was a huge cut, from where a black substance was dripping.


    When it looked like this king finally weakened, it suddenly had an enlightenment from the severe pain as it widely opened its jaws. The black wolf king stared furiously at the golden cloud and as it settled a bit and the king could see clearly enough to aim, a black ball appeared before it. In the beginning it was small, but not long after, it became as big as the wolf king¡¯s whole head. The golden dust finally settled down completely and the black ball became a black beam, aimed at the fallen youth.


    The whole bunch of magicians were greatly alarmed at the black ball¡¯s appearance and shouted to the youth in alarm. The also fired their fireballs once more, but the wolf king was already experienced and swiftly avoided this attack. The youth¡¯s companions could only watch as their friend desperately rolled in attempt to dodge the beam only to be slightly injured. After that came the second, third and fourth black beam assault as the boy could only roll and roll on the ground, as his injuries piled up one after another.


    Somehow after rolling so much, he ended up right before Agni, and like seeing his savior, the golden haired youth shouted in desperation.


    ¡°Please help me!¡±