《Transcendence》
Chapter 1
2018, Sahara, Northeast Africa
High above the ground stood a girl. Not just any girl though, it wasthe girl.
Blonde hair, hourglas figure and a rack which madeJack gulp in hope to one day burry his face in it."Why hope?", you may now ask. Well, as soft and yummi as the girl may look, Jack knew that she had one hell of a temper. To be honest though Jack didn''t mind that. In fact it was the one thing which made him fall for her and chase her to the end of the world.
And now she stood there, grinning down at him and preparing to jump into the cool and refreshing embrace of the waterslide to deliver her right into his arms.
He saw her jump and readied himself but you know what Murphys laws say:life is a bitch.
Baang!
"Arrgh!"
Jacks head smashed into something which contrary to his expectations was not the soft touch of Sarahsclevagebut the kiss of a metal box on the back of their truck. "Bloody hell, what was-"
"Sorry boss, just wanted to test how good the new suspension was.", Chris the driver of their truck yelled through a window which was the only connection to the drivers cabine. Had there been more room and an entrance to the drivers cabine Jack would have gone over and knocked some sense into that little-old devil of a guy called Chris.
They already knew each other for almost 10 years now and Chris was one of the major reasons Jack seriously considered switching buisinesses due to the constant torment of Chrises pranks on him which he never seemed to grow tired of. Maybe it was partly his fault since he pretty much always lost his cool to his pranks and as a consequence beat up Chris which only seemed to make his pranking passion burn even brighter.
"You son of a-" Jack growled, remembering the beautiful dream he had been imersed in, already starting to fade into oblivion.
"Jajaja, stop nagging already. We''ve arrived in the valley of kings so it was time to wake you up sooner or later anyways." Chris said obviously quite happy of how he had managed to prank him once again.
As the truck rumbled over the rocky track, Jack checked his lips for traces of blood from his cool kiss with the box but found nothing. His lip felt a little swolen though. His swore to himself to give Chris a nice and long beating later the day but he knew that this had to wait some time till morning arrived in a few hours since his buddy Dorian needed the supplies they delivered for his research.
As the truck became slower Jack started to calculate a devilish counter plan on how he could beat Chris up in the most efficient way and couldn''t help but let out a devious chuckle in anticipation for the fun that was soon to come.
Chris had always had a fable for pranks. In his childhood he was the bane of the whole neighboorhood. One time he remembered there was a contest in order to find the biggest and best breading bull in his hometown near the ranch he and his family were living at.
So in order to cause the most chaos, he filled the balloons that were made to decorate the whole festival and hang over every person in the city with violet paint. Afterwards when all of the cows were standing in a row so the camera teams could take good photos of them Chris made the balloons detonate with his dads air rifle and all the violet paint painted the bulls in a very feminine way. He had to admit the photos made some good memories, always good for a laugh.
Of course the consequences were pretty dire for him as soon as his mom found out he was the cause for all of this turmoil and he had to peal potatoes for the rest of the year. But he thought that was worth it.
Now that Chris had been driving their truck for the whole freaking time he was bored on end. So he thought it was a nice idea to rile up his buddy a little who in Chris opinion needed to crack a laugh from time to time in order to relieve some pent up stress since he was always so hard on the chase of his bittersweet love Sarah whom Chris knew Jack would probably never get a shot on.
As his thoughts drifted to a new joke he could play on one of his buddies, either Jack or Dorian he realised that they had arrived in the valley so he drove in the direction of their camp and as they reached it turned of the engine and jumped down the truck.As he landed and viewed his surroundings he discovered Jack onlto be meet by a devious grin which made Chris decide it would be for the best to check out the other direction first and strutted straight for the opposite direction Jack was standing at.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
With the noise of a truck rumbling over the track Dorian turned around, ripping himself away from his work and trying to shove his wildly agitated thoughts to the back of his mind even though he knew it was a hopeless endevour. He had been researching the sons of Horus, an order founded in the bronze age which possessed knowledge so massive that it should not have been possible for humans in that day and age to posess. With that knowledge in tow the founded the egypt dynasty for purposes unknown to anything humanity could possibly have imagined when everything they speak about in their writings on the walls of the temples situated in the valley of kings should come to be true.
Dorian had researched those texts for the past 15 years and was only recently able to deciffer a portion of those texts written in a code noone was able to deciffer until now and what he read there left him utterly dumbfounded.
According to those texts the Spinx was not build by humans but a different race. That race came to earth more then one time and every time they left some knowledge for humanity to help them grow faster. Why? Nobody knew but could only speculate. Those beings not only used metallic objects to do things humans thought to be impossible but could perform actions with the strength of their thoughts alone. Over the years the humans began to praise them as their gods and worshipped them performing whatever they asked them to do.
On their gods demands the epyptians digged up the Spinx covered by sand so that only the head poked out of it and restored it under the lead of their gods. Soon it found back to its former glory.
But that was not the end of it. The people started building pyramids, three in particular. The three pyramids of Gizeh. While both of the outer pyramids were prepared as graves for their leaders the middle one was designed for a different purpose. It does have sarcophargi inside of it but it was originally designed to train and cultivate the elite of the egypt empire. Purpose? Only known to the chosen few of the elite.
Even the position of the pyramids had a purpose but as Dorian reviewed his memories of the texts he groaned as he couldn''t satisfy his curiousity. Sadly the rest of the texts was written in a different code and it could take another 15 years for Dorian to unravel all of its mysteries. He already saw a headache coming, a big one at that as he grabed his bottle of beer and went outside the tent to meet up with his two buddies. Brushing over his shortly kept hair he felt the sand of the desert fall down his head. Just as he started to wonder why there was so much sand on his head he felt his anticipated headache coming and rushed out to distract himself from the pain even though he couldn''t shrug off the feeling that it felt different than normally but didn''t spare it another thought since it was a pain in the ass one way or the other.
"Come back here you abomination of a horror clown so I can show you-"
"Oh, how sweet of you Jack to complement me on my good traits. Thank you hun''."
"I didn''t-"
"Jajaja, spare me your sweet talking and help me carry those damn boxes already." Jack only growled towards Chris as an answer trying to hold himself back as it seemed to Dorian, who could read his old friend like a book.
"You two are bickering like an old married couple but that really isn''t knew to me. Unfortunately I have to admit that i kind of missed you bitching the last two weeks." Dorian couldn''t help but to grin at his two friends. Chris laughed a little at his remark but Jack couldn''t help but switch his indicative growling from Chris to Dorian which made Dorian grin even more.
"Alright, lets get done with it and then proceed to tip a couple bottles. I took the opportunity to start without you two in the meantime." Dorian raised his hand with the bottle in it as if to salute them which in term earned him a growl not only from Jack but Chris as well for once.
Dorian smiled sweetly and then walked over to the truck starting to unload the boxes with their provisions so they would hopefully be done with it soon he hoped.
Chapter 2
After the trio had unloaded all the canny boxes and threw them into the tent where the provisions were kept they set down or maybe fell down would be a more appropriate describtion of the act next to a bonfire while Jackcame over with one of the boxes from the provisions tent filled up with bottles of beer.
"Alright lads, up the bottles!"
"Holy moly, this feels better than sex!" Chris moaned after taking a long gulp of ice cold beer while hugging the bottle close to his chest like his lover.
"Ahahahaha, ye you are right lil'' drunkster. and the good thing about a beer is it won''t bitch about anything even when you take as many of them as you can, hahaha" Dorian said while showering Chris in a spray of beer he "accidentely" waved in his direction.
"What the-, and you two always nag that I''m the prankster of us. Now look at you man." Chris sad with a hint of playful ennoyence in his voice while trying to wring the beer out of his long already greying beard.
"Serves you right you little devil hahaha!" Jack said satisfied and laughing while showering Chris in even more beer than Dorian did obviously getting something out of it all.
"Now now, stop wasting all the good beer you maniac", Dorian tried to argue with Jack, already starting to feel the alc rushing to his head after opening up two more bottles in the melee battle of beers that he observed between his friends.
"stop callin'' me maniac you manic. I ain'' no mania-hiccs. The passsion of youth is callin'' for me so of I go to my sweet heart Sarah honeymouseyshnuckles-hiccs" Jack said as he tried to stand up and wiggle just to fall down face first back into the sand which earned him roaring laughter from the other two who couldn''t stop neighing to his misfortune.
As the laughter subsided Chris and Dorian were able to hear some dull snoring from Jack who seemed to have fallen alseep with his face burried in sand. To keep his friend from smothering in the sand Chris kicked Jack in the ass which made him role over only to show his face covered in sand and droll which earned him another round of roaring laughter from the duo even though he was already visiting Sarah in his dreams again as the two surmised.
"Man I love this wild empty and free land. I wish I could stay here forever. With nothing more then the stars and you two idiots as neighboors." Dorian said with a light chuckle when he thought of returning back to europe where his current home was. He never felt the need to settle down in a certain country so when he was old enough he set out to travel the world and make his home where ever he felt like doing so. On his travels he meet both of his friends and since then they always stayed in a group working and living together in a certain way. They never shared an apartment or agreed to travel together, no they just always meet somehow even though the world is such a big place life always lead them back together somehow. At some point they just accepted that fact and kept on traveling together.
With his 35 years of age he was always asked if he doesn''t want to get married and settle down but he never felt the need to do so. He had a family, even though it was most of the time a drunken one but he liked it. His parents died when he was still a teenager and even though they ripped a big hole into his life he found his two friends to fill that void with and sometimes, well, no need to lie. women do a pretty good job in filling the void as well.
Then at some point he found a passion in the acient mythologies and started to study the subjects with a passion unbeknownst to most. After some years he became one of the leading scientists in his field of research concerning ancient cultures and started doing field work in south america in the old city of Machu Picchu and there found a connection which led him directly to egypt, into the valley of kings. Now after 15 whole years his research had reached a pinnacle but as fast as it had started to hail new discoveries as fast did it subside. It was frustrating to no end but he knew he was onto something there couldn''t give up now. Not after all these years and if that meant working until he would lay his body down next to the kings burried in this valley then so be it.
"I could live that way as well but I believe our maniac would have something against that plan. After all he is still chasing Sarahs ass and as we know him he won''t stop until he got her." Chris said chuckling to himself.
They both opened up another bottle and couldn''t help admiring the view in combination with the ice cold drinkable orgasm.
"I sometimes wonder if there is someone or something watching us all from above after all the stuff I have learning in my years of research and if the ancient people were right about some things."
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"Who knows. No use in overworking your brain in frustration. Better to just lie down and admire the view until you are satisfied and can leave without regret." Chris said with a rarely seen touch of sadness on his always smiling face.
"Ye, maybe you''re right mate." Dorian said and lay down next to the fire and kept staring and the shining stars up above until his eyelids grew to heavy to keep them open and glided down into the soft embrace of sleep.
Hardly could his friends know that this would be the last time they would be able to see each other in a long time and that everything would change from now on for better or worse.
The entity had been watching as the three man started unpacking the truck and then sat down next to the fire while grabbing bottles of beer and start drinking while laughing and joking with each other.
It felt the energy flow through the sand, the air, the fire, the men, the bottles, the beer and glided with its formless body along those rivers of energy. It did not make itself known to them for they would come to meet soon enough eventually should life progress in that direction. It watched them joke with each other giving them time to enjoy their company as long as they could. It knew it had to fullfill a task but it did not rush. Instead it watched. How simple life can be at times and then again it only needed one minor action or coincidence even to tilt their worlds upside down. But even so it wished them luck for they would need it in the days to come.
As the trio fell asleep it glided past them into the valley of the kings which it hadn''t visited in millenia even though time did not matter to it since it was made of energy and energy cannot be destroyed, only changed, transformed and redirected. It kept on flying past the temples that once stood in glory errected to honor it and its companions, the pyramids, mighty buildings once used as gravyards and trainingsground to forge the first generation of servants who would help fullfill their only but eternal task but it was to be fullfilled soon which filled the entity with a sense of happiness for it would soon leave on a journey far away from it birthplace.
As it flew past the three pyramids of Giseh it reached the statue of a lion with the head of a human, the Spinx. I passed through the middle of its front legs right through its chest area and ended up in a long path that twirled up in a spiral and ended it the head. As it kept on going it reviewed the stories on the walls and made it remember how they had helped mankind grow and grow until it reached its momentary state. But it knew it was not enough yet, so it and its companions had chosen to activate their emergency plan which would force humankind and the humans they had taken to other planets in hope that one civilization would achieve the needed height to grow once more but not in knowledge. No. What they needed was mental growth. With all the funny technology, medicine and gadgets mankind had not become better. No, it has stopped what may lead to Transcendence one day. Evolution.
But that would soon come to an end and as it finished its journey up the winding path it came into a huge oval shaped room with a podest in the middle of it.
It walked up to the podest and manifested energy in its hand to interact with the podest. It weaved the energy into thin threads and ordered them into a certain pattern and pressed down so that the energy pattern descended. It touched the podest and soon after a soft humming sound filled the air as the podest started to vibrate softly.
"Now then children of the sun, may the light of the sun be your guide for you will need it. Good luck." The entity pressed its hand onto the podest and soon the eyes of the Spinx began to glow in a white light. What followed was a beam that shot in the direction of the star sign of the lion. as it reached the position of the star it gathered and fell down again to cover the whole globe which in turn caused a huge turmoil all over the earth. Governements readied their forces to prepare for war and people who believed in some god gathered into huge groups and prayed. Elsewhere anarchy was the result and people did what ever they felt like doing. Robbing stores, banks, raping and murder from panic stricken people became normal and soon the globe resembled more hell then heaven. But soon the light stopped covering the earth and everything became white. There was no noise, it was only white. And as the light faded the earth prior bustling with human activity was empty.
Chapter 3
year 2018, ???, ???
Feeling the tiny rocks pressing into his left shoulder and hip Dorian slowly opened his eyes, still a slight confusion visible in them as he tried to remember where he was and what the last thing is he could remember. Pushing himself into a sitting position he brushed over his short hair trying to get a grip. Slowly but surely he got more sober. Gazing up at the high standing sun he was wondering how long he slept.
"Man, this must be one of the worst hangovers I''ve ever had. Luckily those two morons didn''t wake me-", letting his gaze drift over his surroundings for the first time he choked on his own words not able to understand what he was seeing.
"Where the fuck am I???"
Surrounding him was a street. Tall buildings framed his view constructed in an old asian style with those iconic curved roofs and statues paving the way to their entrances.
"Am I dreaming? I must be. There is no way in hell that I traveled to China in a mere few hours without-. Holy fuck, I hope I didn''t get roofied again by that damn prankstar. If he did that again I swear by all by all hells that I will-" as he was giving his runt of what he would do to Chris once he would get his hands on him he realised that he must look pretty stupid sitting there at the side of the road muttering to himself like a psycho in ragemode which earned him quite a few strange or pityful looks from the passerbys.
"Ahem", standing up he tried to act as souvereign as possible and walked away as to escape from all those strange looks. Trying to figure out where exactly he was by looking for some kind of info shield or traffic shield that may give him a hint he kept on walking down the broad street bustling with people of all kinds of cultures and lands which made him wonder but soon he put that thought to the back of his mind getting back to his first priority. Orientation. As he kept on walking he couldn''t find any info shields or something that may help him so he simply decided to enter one of the shops and ask for some information. He picked the next shop he could find after making that decision and entered it straightaway. As he pushed open the door a faint bell that made his entrance known and signal the owner that a potential moneybag had entered.
"Welcome dear customer, my name is Mao Mao and I am the owner of this modest shop. How may I be of help to you? Would you like to see the newest fashion trend that just became popular in our city or do you maybe prefer something simple and unadorned?" As Dorian heard the voice that came from his back he turned around only to be meet by a very corpulent man, dressed in a dark-purple colored garment that reached all the way from his shoulders to the ground and decorated with the biggest money grabber smile Dorian had ever seen in his entire life.
Seeing the stunned face his customer was making the shopowner didn''t push him but simply waited for him to get a grip.
He didn''t have to wait long as Dorian came back to his senses coughing lightly to overshadow his inappropriate behaviour. "No thank you, I don''t have any money with me at the moment but I would be very grateful if you could provide me with some informations about the city." Dorian smiled to the giant in front of him as a way to maybe sway him to help him without any gains.
As Mao Mao heard that his customer had no money his big smile crumble to a not so nice face.
"You got no money huh?" letting his gaze wonder over Dorians body the big man frowned and began to think of a way to make use of the time he had already wasted.
"Let me propose a trade to you." Mao Mao said to Dorian. "I will gift you with a new set of clothes, not the best ones of course but no carbage either. After all this greatest of the great shops has a reputation to loose. In exchange for the set of clothes you will give me your clothes which obviously aren''t from these parts." Grinning over his briliance to spot a potential new goldmine earlier then his competition his smile grew back the way it was in the beginning.
"Deal." Dorian answered and shook the big mans hand. Finally he would be able to get out of his dust covered multifunction clothes he always wore when his was doing physical work or exploring in Egypt.
"I will bring you a set I believe will fit you just nicely. Give me a moment." With that Mao Mao disappeared in the back of his shop where rustling sounds were beginning to fill the room.
After a few minutes he came back with a set of light blue garments and put them in front of Dorian to chose from.
"I''ll take this one." picking up the one on the far left side he went over to a cabin to get changed.
"Excellent choice if I may say so." Dorian heard the voice of Mao Mao.
Dorian took off his own clothes and put on the light blue trousers which were loose and tight together at his ancles. Afterwards he grabed the white shirt and put it on followed by the garment which fell a little bit further over his waiste and could be buttoned from his left shoulder to his right ribcage.
"As I thought, they fit you very well." Mao Mao said as he saw Dorian step out of the cabin.
"Here my clothes, as promised. Now what about the information?" he said as he gave Mao Mao his clothes.
"The informations were not part of our deal. Now if you would excuse me, I have money to earn." Mao Mao said and disappeared in the back of his shop again.
Grumbling unsatisfied Dorian left the shop not one bit further in his research then when he started. But how was he supposed to know that the shop he entered would be housed by such a money grabber?
Walking down the street his reached a square bustling with people who were seemingly watching something very interesting in front of them. Curious what was happening there Dorian walked over.
Squeezing himself through the crowd he finally got the the first row of spectators and was stunned by what he saw in front of him.
Two groups of people were confronting each other. The group on the left was wearing dark blue clothes and all of them carried Naginatas (japanese halberds) with them. The group opposite of them wore dark red clothes and carried broadswords with them.
A woman stepped in front of the blue clothed group seemingly the leader of the naginata wielders and seemed to wait for someone to step in front of the red clothed group. As the tension in the air grew thicker Dorians confusion grew with it.
"Excuse me sir, may I ask what is happening here? Why are they allowed to carry weapons with them so openly without the police stopping them?" Dorian asked a man to his right that he had tapped on the shoulder.
The man, ca. 40 years old with black hair tied into a bun on his head, turned around and looked Dorian up and down.
"Police? I don''t understand what that is but I can tell you what is happening here. The school of the "moons embrace" are challenging the school of the "fierce sword" for their rank in this region as the representatives for all the schools that walk "the path"."
Stunned by the answer the man had given him, Dorian tried to process what he had heard.
"Where the hell am I that he doesn''t even know what the police is. And what''s all this talk about "path" and "schools"? Something''s really fishy here, I can smell it."
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"You don''t seem to be from around here. Where are you from?" the man asked obviously curious to the obliviousness Dorian showed.
"It seems from very far away, but actually I don''t know how far." , sighing he gave him a rather contemplating answer.
"I see." the man said while thinking about something deeply.
"Hmm, how about this: I will treat you to a meal or drink, whatever you would prefer and you tell me everything about the place you came from or the most important things." the man said.
Grinning Dorian said, "Sure thing. I feel like I haven''t had a meal in years."
"It''s settled then. lets go after the competition is over. You may not know about it but in our land it goes as disrespectful or even disgraceful not to spectate a duel of pathfinders or as you may see them warriors."
"I see." Hearing the man speak of the warriors in such an exalted way Dorians interest in the warriors climbed yet again. Something about their posture, prideful yet modest gazes and the way they carry themselfs ignited something inside of himself. It was not a passion like his fable for myths and legends. No, it was more like a calling. Something was calling for him and pulling him and his every fiber towards those people, something he hadn''t felt before which was a peculiar feeling.
Dorian watched with bated breath how an imposing man wearing the same red clothes and carriing a broadsword in his right hand stepped forward and focused his gaze on the woman standing before him clad in blue.
"I, Karra Bora, leader of the moons embrace challenge you, Ma Valo, the leader of the fierce swords under the guidance and supervision of the all seeing gods to a duel of life and death so that the winner may advance further on the path towards the stars. Do you, Ma Valo, accept this challenge?" The woman called out in a dignified voice which showed to all who heard it that this was not a mindless fight for supremacy. No, it was a ritual.
The male leader stepped forward even further. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes he readied himself for what was to come next and when he had made up his mind what could happen to him, should he accept, he opened them straightened his back and called out equally loud: "I, Ma Valo, leader of the fierce swords, under the guidance and supervision of the all seeing gods accept the challenge of life and death so that the winner may procede towards the stars and fullfill the acient promise from long gone."
As soon as he stopped his speech both contestants locked eyes and bowed before each other in respect for the sacrifice one of them would have to make. When they raised their heads back up everyone around them who spectated the duel closed their eyes for a minute without muttering a sound for here would a life end and it was a demonstration of their gratitude for this noble sacrifice.
Dorian who was watching this whole ordeal was not minder surprised as everyone closed their eyes and not understanding what was happening around him he just stood there dumbfounded and lost.
As the people opened up their eyes the silence faded and both contestants fell into a stance to ready themselfs for battle.
Ma Valo raised his blade before himself with the tip of his sword held in the direction of the enemies eyes, shoving his left leg back and turning himself sidewards so his enemy would have a more narrow field to aim for. Bending his knees he waited for the strike.
Karra Bora took a more aggressive stance. bringing her right leg back and tilting the Naginata with the blade behind her back to not let her enemy gauge the possible length and with it the reach of her weapon she prepared for a strike.
One second passed, two seconds, three, four, five. Suddenly Karra tilted her weight onto her front foot and moved the Naginata in a swiping motion forword in a circle towards her enemies knee aiming to cut it off.
As reaction, Ma Valo, trying to close the distance and weakening her advantage of reach closed in on her in a short jump moving towards her while bringing up his sword over his head to aim for her head in a downwards strike.
Having seen his advance forward Karra Bora fell back in retreat, trying to creat more distance between them but Ma Valo having anticipated that tried to kick for her front leg in an attempt to weaken the leg with which she was trying to push herself away.
Just as Ma Valos leg was about to hit her she smiled slightly and shifted her weight from her frontleg to her backwards standing leg and folded her front leg against her backwards leg, and with it standing on her backwards leg. The room that was suddenly created broke Ma Valos balance as his strong kick to her frontleg hit nothing but air and swept past her. Seeing her chance Karra pulled back her Naginata and laid it against her waiste and spinning herself on the spot by using the force of the pull to sweep in a circle like motion at the height of her own hip towards her opponent aiming to open his stomache.
Ma Valo, having his balance broken and tumbling to the left so her attempt to strike and tried to block it by raising his sword to his right in an attempt to shield his stomache, while breaking into a cold sweat in anticipation.
Not having the time to dodge or close the distance the full force swing connected and arrived with so much force that it was indeed blocked but only the blade, not the strength. Hearing a dull cracking noise a few of Ma Valos ribbs must have been broken as he was blown away by the force. Tumbling to the ground he groaned in pain turning around to not loose vision of his enemy. Just as he was about to stand up again another strike came, this time from above attempting to connect with the weak spot between head and should, right at the neck. Still sitting, Ma Valo raised his sword over his head in a last attempt to protect himself only to be meet by a brutal energy from above pressing his sword down and burrowing itself inside his neck.
Blood dropped to the ground, painting the arena in a dark red color. Slowly the life faded from Ma Valos eyes and as Karra pulled her weapon back out of his neck he feel lifelessly to the ground.
An eerie silence pervaded the plaza as all eyes fell down on Ma Valo, the former champion of the region and after a few seconds, starting with Karra everyone bowed deeply towards Ma Valo while muttering the words "Thank you".
Afterwards the students of Ma Valo stepped forwards, some of them sobbing in grief and picked him up to carry him away.
Dorian stood there inside the crowd, rooted to the ground by what he had seen and completely shocked that a human being had just been killed right in front of him. But still, he couldn''t stop himself from admitting that this man had known what could happen and still agreed to the duel. Seeing as the crowd dispersed he turned around to the man he had spoken with before.
"What a strange day..." Dorian muttered to himself as he followed the man to a tavern he beliefed anticipating to finally satisfied his always burning curiousity that had been set a flame yet again.
Chapter 4
2018, thick forest, ???
Randy Miller was one of those guys you would instantly picture when someone mentioned the term "redneck" in your presence. Living on the outskirts of a town called Springfield located somewhere in Texas he owned a ranch filled with a few cows which barely brough in a few coins to live from for him and his deeply religious christian wife and made her nag sometimes without end but he knew it wasn''t his fault. In his younger days when his ol'' man was still alive he was told and shown supposed evidence that the government was corrupted and controlled from the shadows by a mysterious force and that the coins they couldn''t seem to earn no matter how hard they tried were used by said force without their knowledge to foster their own plans and fuel their forces.
Over the years he and his buddies had opened up a club for those that were convinced by the big conspiracy and from then on started to at all times wear at least one weapon on their belts and carry a shitload in the back of their trucks with them. On top of that they started to gather "evidence" that, as they found out in their investigation, the illuminati were the ones behind the scenes, controlled by supposed alien forces that wanted to subdue mankind, and in preparation made the illuminati carry out a masterplan to manipulate the governments all around the world into becoming their puppets until finally the aliens would arrive from the back of the moon and make all people their slaves to do their bidding.
All those thoughts had already made his paranoia grow bigger and planted a seed inside his mind. Madness.
The day the white light arrived he was just banging his wife in their cramped bedroom. As his wife perceived the white light she thought instantly that judgement day had arrived and started praying and chanting the lords name in glory without end. Randy on the other hand looked above all anxious. Anxious that the aliens would finally begin the execution of their master plan and descend to earth.
He jumped up from his wife and rushed down the stairs of course not forgetting his weapon because he knew that he would need it pretty soon. Throwing over his red and white squared shirt he got into his truck and drove in the direction of Springfield which was around 10km away from their ranch.
As he was driving through the darkness of the night which apperently wasn''t so dark anymore due to the shining white up above he was planing what he would need to pack together so he wouldn''t forget anything in the coming war for independence and freedom. Just as he was about to turn into a different street a huming sound in his mind cought his attention. It grew stronger and stronger with each passing second and Randy thought already that the aliens must have caught a glimbse of the conspiracy they had uncovered which made a drop of sweat flow down his forhead dropping down and falling into his bushy beard.
"You want a fight? Then come on over and I''ll kick your asses so hard that you''ll fly back to your fuckin'' world!" he cursed out loud. Just as he was finished the humming had reached a peak it seemed and in the next second everything grew white except for Randy. He could only see everything becoming black around him as he slipped into unconciousness.
2018, Inn "the roasted cock", ???
After the duel in the plaza was over and all the witnesses had dispersed Dorian had followed the man he meet in the crowd back to an imposing looking Inn called "the roasted cock" which made Dorian grin in contemplation what the owner may look like.
As the both of them entered the Inn a young waitress came their way bowing slightly towards them.
"Would you like a table for two dear customers?", she asked with an inquiring look on her face surrounded by long black hair that fell down near her temples like a frame for a cute picture.
"Yes please, and if you have one at a window to the street please.", the man answered which made Dorian wonder why to the street but he guessed the man must have his reasons or some kind of habit so he didn''t bother to question him further.
"This way please." and with that she turned around and headed towards a table on the far left side located at a big window with a good view in the direction of the plaza they just came from.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings."Would you like something to drink or something to eat?"
Dorian looked questioningly at the man since he was the one to invite him to eat.
"Take whatever you would like, money ain''t gonna be a problem." the man said, smiling at Dorian in answer.
"I''ll take the biggest menu you have on the plan and some water please." Dorian said.
"And I would like some sake please, the best one you have."
"Right away." the woman said, turning around leaving a nice view for the both of the men to admire her swinging back and not bothering to look away because, well, why bother about shame right?
"Water huh? Any particular reason for not drinking something stronger?" The man asked.
"Yeee, you know the last night was kinda rough on me so I would prefer something else then alcohol to be honest." Dorian answered him truthfully, while remembering all the bottles he and his friends had emptied which made him a little sick to the stomache when thinking about drinking yet again.
"Hahahaha, must have been one hell of a blast, ai?" the man said laughing with a deep baritone.
"Ye, kinda." Dorian answered shuckling to himself in remembrance.
After their drinks had arrived and the waitress went away again to pick up their food the man said: "By the way my name is Wang Fei. I''m a schoolar researching Aura and the energy it consists of.", he said while taking a sipp of his sake which made him smile in satisfaction.
"Aura? How could you research that and what does that have to do with energy in the first place?" Dorian asked confused.
"The Aura that I''m refereing to has nothing to do with the charisma of a person as you may think. It is the personal manifestation of astral energy or as some may refer to as the universes breath. I want you to imagine a landscape. Envision green hills, trees, plants, animals and even humans. Now imagine that everything in your landscape is imbued by the astral energy, like sunlight or air but on a way more penetrating level. It surrounds everything there is and penetrates it but not on a harmful level, at least not in its natural form. It only becomes dangerous to others once a person manages to perceive, channel and then convert that astral energy. That is what we call Aura. The warriors you have seen on the plaza can only call themselfs warriors because they started to perceive that energy."
"I think I understand what you are saying even though the whole energy thing is a little hard on the mind to imagine. It''s feels like I''m inside fucking Star Wars..." Dorian wondered.
"What is Star Wars?"
"Nothing. So, are you able to channel this energy you spoke of?"
"No, since I have decided to live a normal life and not walk the path.", Wang said with a calm smile satisfied with his decision.
"This is now the second time that I hear you talk about this "path". What does that mean and what does it have to do with that energy you mentioned?" Dorians confusion growing.
"I wonder how you it is possible that you don''t know about the path...", Wangs face growing a taking a more serious look as he contemplated.
"The path is, how should I put it... you could say it means shedding mortality and transcending to godhood."
Hearing Wangs words Dorian nearly chocked on the food he was about to swallow down.
"D-Did I hear wrongly just now? You said those warriors from earlier try to become some kind of god?!" Dorian asked with wide eyes, not really believing what he had just heard. God? I which century did he end up that people still believed in gods?!
"Yes, godhood. But by the look on your face you seem to doubt my words for some reason. What would be necessary for you to believe my words?", Wang said with a calm smile as if having told a little child not believing that he too was once a boy his height or age.
Dorian mumbled for a few seconds trying to sort out his thoughts. "In my opinion only the gods themselfes, should they really exist could prove their existence so there is no use in you to try and prove it for me but I think it would be a beginning if you could show me this Aura you were talking about. After all you seem to be convinced that that is what opens up the way to godhood."
"You have a point there." Just as he was about to continue his answer a loud noise was coming from outside the restaurant and both of them turned around to watch out of the window.
"It seems to me that a chance to proof the existence of Aura has just delivered itself to our doorstep." Wang said smilingly.
Chapter 5
2018, outside the Inn, ???
Randy, after walking for hours, had finally reached the unknown city around midday. Exhausted he carried forward but nonetheless always keeping his right hand at his holster. After a few minutes he came across a huge plaza where he witnessed something that blew his mind. Aliens fighting with weapons that should only belong to uncivilized folks from the past? Where they retarded? Why would they swing a sword if they could instead just gun someone down? It puzzled him but on the other hand relieved him somewhat of his anxiousness to be shot down by some kind of energy weapon or something like that if you believed in stuff like stargate or star trek as some of his friends did.
He watched the duel from beginning to end and gloated at his advantage over these fools as he watched them fight a bloody battle which ended with the man dieing to the woman. He thought to himself, if that idiot had had a gun he wouldn''t have to die. What a fool, or something of that kind indicated by the arrogant grin that had formed on his face.
After the duel was over he walked away within the dispersing crowd always keeping an eye on his surroundings and trying to spot something to eat. God, he was starving for a steak or something similar. Before in the woods he had tried hunting for animals but failed misrably since he couldn''t find any animals or even tracks of them.
He walked down the main road off of the plaza and spotted an apple that must have fallen down a fruit stall or somewhere else. Hurrying over before anyone could recognise something was missing with all his attention on the apple he didn''t perceive or didn''t care to perceive a group of people that crossed his way.
Rushing into the group he shoved and pounced his way through not putting these people into his eyes, after all who could endager him with his gun in this uncivilized world?!
"Watch out man!"
"Hey, be careful!"
"What the-!"
"Out of my way god damnit!", Randy barked at a man dressed in a red tunic that tried to stop Randy in a calming way in order to avoid someone getting hurt by his actions.
"Get your fucking hands off of me you mongrel!", Randy nearly screaming at the man ripping the mans hands off of his shoulders, his madness finally starting to overtake his careful self-preservation that had kicked in previously but now knowing that he was like a king in this foreign land he fell back into his old schemes.
"Whoa, calm down friend, no need to be so angry.", the man tried to calm him down.
"Shut the fuck up and move your god forsaken asses away from me or I swear to god I''ll fucking kill you where you stand!", Randy now fully enraged pointing his finger at the man before him.
Hearing Randys words the mans face grew serious all of a sudden. "Are you challenging me from warrior to warrior?", he asked Randy in a calm but serious tone. The group behind him grew serious as well. Today they had witnessed their leader getting killed by the moons embrace already and had shed their virginity when it came to the path they were fated to walk down andlost all playfulness with which they had trained before in order to become fullfledged warriors.
"What the fuck are you talking about? You can stick your warrior bullshit up your tight ass for all I care. I''ll only repeat this once more. Get the fuck out of my way or I''ll put a bullet through your head!", Randy now fully screaming with spit flying from his mouth as he indulged in his speech obviously drunken by the feeling of having the power to do as he pleases.
One minute passed without anyone doing anything or saying anything until the man in red spoke up again.
"Bullet? I don''t know what that means but it seems to me that you are indeed challenging me. Prepare youself then and draw your weapon.", the man spoke while drawing his broadsword indicative of the group of the fierce swords that he belonged to. "I, Moria, member of the fierce swords, challenge you, under the supervis- BANG".
Confusion written all over the mans face, he stared in disbelieve at the metallic little canon in his opponents hands where light grey smoke started rising from after the loud noise sounded out. Feeling a strong stinging pain from his chest he looked down only to discover that his already red clothes soaked themselves in an even darker red color originating from his pouring blood. Still not understanding what just happened his vision turned black and his collapsed where he stood, dead.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.Everyone was rooted to where they stood, unable to understand the situation. Just as the warrior, calling himself Moria, was about to start the official ritual between warriors to commence a duel, the challenger as it seems had pulled out something and after the loud noise had sounded, Moria just collapsed.
His friends and comembers, after regaining their wits, woken up by resounding hysterical laughter, entered a state of rage by the dishonorable way their friend had lost his life and shifted their burning gazes from Moria to Randy who was still laughing slightly.
"How DARE you dishonor a fellow warrior and the gods like this! Do you know no shame?!", one of the warriors yelled at Randy in an incensed manner.
"What, do you want to die like this dog as well? Come on then you mongrel and I''ll put you to sleep as I did to him, hahahaha!" Randy yelled back, waving his gun in the warriors direction trying to show off his superiority.
"That''s it! You are undeserving of the respect and honor given to a fellow warrior! I will put you down to not further sully the path with your presence!", drawing his sword and preparing to rush towards Randy.
"BANG, BANG, BANG!", three loud noises sounded yet again as Randy fired three continued shot towards the man who had just insulted him like that.
"You like that, you mongrel shit?! hahahaha!", Randy spat out towards his target.
"Don''t think your little pitiful tricks will work twice!", the warrior spoke, not having three bleeding holes in his torso, like he should have in Randys mind. Instead something unbelievable was happening. The bullets fired from Randys gun were hovering one meter in front of the warrior still spinning, caught in something Randy could not identify. It was invisible and yet you could see it, like a coat made from heat that was rising from too hot asphalt it surrounded the warrior one meter in every direction.
"What the fuck is- *pling*pling*pling", with three metallic sounds the once hovering bullets fell to the ground as the warrior rushed towards Randy.
"Now you shall die!!!", the warrior yelled.
"Get away from me you alien shit!", Randy screamed back in fear firing his last two shots in despair, hoping to slow that man down so he could run away.
"Tsk, no honor, even in death", the warrior spoke his used his sword in a cutting fashion from over his head, splitting Randys skull, who stood there with wide eyes for a few more seconds before collapsing and dieing on the spot.
Jerking his blade out of Randys skull and waving it to the side to free it from blade the warrior turned around and picked up his comrade together with the others help in order to put him to rest next to their former leader.
2018, Inn "the cocked chicken", ???
Dorian was still dumbfounded after the scene he had witnessed outside on the street.
So this Aura thing is real... and not even a gun can penetrate it. Unbelievable... I guess the man that pulled that gun out was in a similar situation as I am, though I hope I don''t look as crazy as him.
"Where can I learn more about Aura and how to use it?"
Grinning Wang Fei answered: "I thought you would be interested. I can take you to the Pyramid later if that is your wish, but if you can truly become a warrior and walk the path to the stars that is not something that I can help you with, if that should be the core of your desire to know more. I will bring you to "the sons" and they may be of help to you..."
"The sons? Is that a pseudonym or something?", Dorian asked puzzled.
"Yes, something like that. The sons is only the short version that the common folk uses. Normally they are called "The sons of Horus". Have you ever heard that name before?", Wang asked his watchful eyes on Dorian whos eyes widened in shock at hearing that term.
"You gotta be shitting me...", Never would I have thought that even in a different world this theme wouldn''t let go of my mind. What shitty yet sweet tasting luck I do have. Dorian thought with wide eyes, but slowly a wide grin forming on his face.
Chapter 6
2018, dark space (???), ???
*Uggh*, groaning from the splitting headache Cait was experiencing, she tried to focus her sight on her surroundings and find a fix spots so she could suppress the uprising nauseous feeling which attempted to overwhelm her.
"W-What the fuck happened? And where am I?" As she thought along those lines her sight swept over the seemingly endless darkness that surrounded her as if she was hovering in outer space yet not really hovering since she could feel something solid under her feet.
"Welcome child." a rough droning voice spoke from behind Cait and she turned around to see who had just spoken to her.
As she spotted the person who had spoken to her, her eyes widened from what she was seeing. Three ''beings'' all covered in floating crimson mist, which made it impossible to distinguish appearance and gender and all three at least of a size spanning roughly three meters standing a certain distance away from where Cait was still kneeling on one knee now attempting to stand up on wobbling legs.
"Who are you and what is this place?" Cait asked the beings, strangely not feeling any fear towards those beings. No, instead she felt something else which she hadn''t felt in a long time. Longing, yet connected. Suppressed, and yet supported.
As she indulged in those long forgotten feelings her confusion only grew stronger. She was certain she had never meet those beings and yet those feelings were there, making her feel good.
"Do not be afraid of us child, we have no ill will towards you for you are one of us." the being in the middle spoke once more.
"One of you? What does that mean?" ,Cait asked stunned by what she had heard just now.
"You are what we call a ''seedling'' Caitlyn Monroe. Have you not always wondered why you were so different from the other people around you? How they were seemingly unable or unwilling to see the ugliness of humanity and what it has come to be? That is because they simply could not see for they did not own a seed of truth inside themselfes. That seed is what made you ''see'' and gave you the strength to do what had to be done to ''purge'' your world of the filth that was brought by humanity." The beings voice grew stronger and darker as it progressed in its monologue staring straight into Caits eyes with those crimson eyeballs which conveyed its beliefs more than Cait could handle so she had to avert her gaze away from its eyes.
"How do you know all this about me? I never stood out until my later age and once I did I made myself disappear just as fast. How could you possibly know so much about my views?"
"We know because we were always with you. As your seed grew, our connection to you grew with it so we felt what you felt. Fear, Confusion, Anger and at last Hatred. It fueled you, gave you strength and showed to us that you are one of the chosen seedlings. A bringer of the ''Storm''. Be proud for you have been CHOSEN!", the last words thundered through the darkness and sent a shiver down Caitlyns spined sending her back onto her butt.
Slowly regaining her wits she soon understood that those beings brought her here to bestow a task onto her, so she asked them what seemed only logical to her:" What do you want me to do?"
"What you always did. Bring chaos to the world."
And with that the darkness shrinked onto her and sent her back into the oblivion of unconciousness.
2018, ruins of an old city, ???
Cait yet again slowly opened her eyes, but this time getting a grip way faster as if she had been invigorated after a long deep sleep. Rubbing her eyes to dispell the last remains of drowsiness she started to observe her surroundings.
She was leaning against a wall of rough beige stone that belonged to some kind of destroyed building. As she looked out of the window she saw even more of those buildings, all seemingly destroyed and only the ruins left speaking of a once glorious city. She walked down the stairs and left the building through the entrance wondering where she might be.
The sun was setting and as she looked up at the slowly emerging stars she gaped at what she saw. Two giant moons reflecting the sunlight back at each other, like twins that throw a ball back and forth, illuminating the whole sky in a soft glow of white light, pleasing to the eyes.
"Where the fuck am I?", she mumbled to herself, not being able to avert her gaze from the beauty of the nightsky.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
"You are on Shurima, homeland of the gods and arena in the greatest war of all time." A male voice sounded to her right.
"Stop being so melodramatic you moron. We haven''t even seen those ''gods'' yet so stop believing everything you were told." Another voice answered the mans voice, this time a female which apparently was a bit ennoyed by something indicated by her snarrling response.
"Seriously, since we meet each other around 15 minutes ago you have been nothing but a nagging bitch. You on your periode or somethin''?" The man responded in turn, not able to hide a small grin on his face obviously quite amused about his quick-wittedness.
"Am I on my- you fucker! Pray that I won''t get my hands on you!" the woman nearly screaming enraged at him.
"Ohhhh, I think I hit the bullseye, bwahahaha." the man started laughing and smacking his leg in amusement which only seemed to make the woman even more angry. As she was about to jump onto the man in order to kick his ass she felt the gaze of Cait lingering on her, sending a slight shiver down her spine which made her wonder what just happened, as her confused face seemed to tell.
"So, this is not earth? Where is this planet located than?" Cait asked, now looking at the man, who seemed to know a bit about this world.
"Who knows... All I was told is that we were brought to this world called Shurima, after the white light appeared in order to fullfill some kind of task. I for my part was told to asisst you in whatever it is that you need to do but those ''red-cloud people''." The man said, seemingly pondering something after mentioning the ''red-cloud people'' as he called them.
"Wait, you meet those things too? What did they say to you?" The woman asked shocked by what the man said.
"Hmm, nothing much to be honest, only that I was a ''seedling'' or something like that and that I need to help a certain person in an andevour, whom I would recognize once I saw that person. And that person seems to be you my dear." The man smiled at Cait.
"Why would you help me just like that?" Cait asked, a little bit disbeliefing apparently.
"This is a bit complicated to explain but to put it in a short way I guess you could say that something, which the beings called my seed, directs me since I was a boy and I have always found a sense of happiness and fullfillment whenever I did as it suggested to proceed and I learned to trust it almost blindly. And now it is telling me to follow you. What comes next needs to be seen of course."
The other woman who had been silent all this time as if in a trance now spoke up, apparently suprised at her own words.
"The same goes for me... after I woke up my ''seed'' let me to this place and after I meet this idiot here it didn''t take long until my seed seemed to be excited about something and when I spotted you something clicked in me." The woman said, now staring straight into Caits black eyes that now somehow glowed in an otherworldly black shimmer.
"I see..." Cait said, pondering something and then closing her eyes, feeling into herself searching for a direction after listening to the both of them who stood there with expectation on their faces.
As she let her conciousness drift through the dark behind her closed eyes she felt a pulling sensation and after considering for a second letting herself get pulled down, and further down into the black.
She fell and soon arrived before a floating crimson orb.
As her conciousness made contact with the orb she perceived a silent whisper from it. Focusing she tried to hear more clearly what it said and soon her efforts were rewarded.
Head north into the direction of the cold and look for the man with the purple eyes, he will help you understand this world and support you in recreating the ''purge'' so that we may continue what we started back on earth."
The whisper faded away and Caits conciousness drifted back up until it reached her head and her eyes snapped back open, having an intensified glow in her eyes.
"We will head north and find the man with the purple eyes in order to recreate my organisation ''purge'' and start to cleanse this world of its filth."
Her words seemed to send a shiver down the mans and womans spine and awoke a near fanatical gleam in their eyes, gripped by Caits strongly gleaming eyes.
"As you wish, Chosen." , they answered in unison, which became a pledge that would mark the beginning of the war between purge and the warriors, shaking the foundations of this very world.
Chapter 7
2018, outside the Inn "cocked chicken", Shurima
The sun was setting, gliding down the horizone and sinking into a bed of dark orange before soon disappearing, as Dorian and Wang finally decided to leave the inn they previously conversed and ate in. Dorian had told Wang from his world and how confused he was as he first encountered the strange behaviour of the people in his surroundings, wielding weapons and killing each other in public and how the citizens seemed to be totally okay with it.
Wang finally came to understand Dorians lack of knowledge and was dieing to hear more about Dorians strange world, his curiousity getting the better of him so he kept bombarding Dorian with questions of the technology Dorian had mentioned and was completely stunned when Dorian mentioned that there were apparently countless numbers of gods in his world and yet there were people who actually doubted the existence of those beings and only believed in what they could proof through facts and science. This seemed to intrigue him the most and he couldn''t understand how some humans, and so many at that, came to be so arrogant and to believe they became so wise and knowledgable to be able to proof the existence of gods, and it made him laugh really loud in amusement, triggering curious gazes from the people on the surrounding tables.
Dorian on the other hand could fully understand the atheistic philosophies and the doubt that came along with it. After all the existence of god and his prophets had triggered countless wars and cruelties all over the world for thousands of years. And yet in this world, the cruelties he had witnessed so far, happened in total agreement of the participants which appeared to him a higher worth then what a law could possibly dictate or control. After all the law was written by the people for the people, but if certain people decided that it was okay for them to act outside of the law even if that meant it could cost them their lifes, then who could possibly deny them their freedom to act independently? And on top of that it didn''t appear to Dorian that those people died in cold blood, well maybe that fool outside the inn did, but not those warriors on the plaza. There was a kind of honor in how they acted and behaved towards each other which has been lost over the centuries on earth or maybe even never existed in the first place, which kind of made Dorian sad because this feeling had filled a void for the briefest of moments inside of him, which he didn''t even knew existed, and yet it felt good to fill.
After they had felt satisfied enough concerning chatting and eating they left the inn. Dorian, as he stepped outside the inn, for a short moment marvelled at the cool breeze that the wind pushed softly onto his face and refreshed his slowly tiring mind. Stepping down towards Wang, who patiently waited for Dorian to follow up, he was wondering what was coming next.
"As I promised, I will lead you to the sons of Horus. Do you see that giant pyramid in the center of the city? From this street you have a good view onto it even though it is pretty far away." Pointing to his left Dorian turned into said direction.
What entered his eyes was a pyramid of relative size but he knew from experience that a thing already this big from all this distance away must be enormous when standing in front of it. Never having seen one in such a good shape before he marveled at its beauty and wished to enter it right away.
Wang apparently having perceived his burning gaze chuckled a little and then perceeding to walk in the direction of the pyramid Dorian hot on his heels.
2018, giant pyramid, Shurima
After a 30 minutes march by foot Wang Fei and Dorian finally reached the pyramid, said headquater of the sons of Horus in this city. The pyramid was clad in white as marmor stone with a smooth surface and a peak glad in golden metal. 100 meters before the entrance began a pathway surrounded by flame basins that framed the pyramid in fire when coming up the street. Alongside the basins huge stone status of men with animal heads like the head of a falcon or a shakal looked down at the passerbys seemingly guarding this holy place of unwelcoming intruders.
They entered the pyramid and were greated by a small hall with a few receptions, each having an administrator sitting behind it taking care of the needs of the inquirers.
Wang and Dorian walked up to the one in the middle and Dorian heard Wang speak to the man in a quiet voice which made it really hard for him to hear anything at all.
After having listened to what Wang had to say the mans calm gaze came to rest on Dorian who suddenly felt something running through his body, observing every detail and cranny.
As the man turned his gaze away from Dorian the feeling disappeared and a drop of cold sweat ran down Dorians spine not sure what happened to him just now.
The man obviously was thinking for a few moments, Wang standing quietly to the side. As he suddenly stood up he turned to Dorian and said: "Follow me."
Dorian, a little confused, turned towards Wang to ask for his opinion who smiled and beckonned at him to follow the man. So he did. He speed up and reached the man who had walked ahead already seemingly the personification of stoicness.
They entered a narrow tunnel that lead further downwards into the base of the pyramid. Adorning the walls in the tunnel were pictures and hieroglyphics of all shades and colors depicting humans fighting, giving birth, reaping the crops, praying. Then there were others of landscapes, filled with animals or monsters living in peace or fighting for supremacy.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Dorian had seen many hieroglyphics over the years, most of them being the drawn form of the old egpytian alphabet but this was different. He wasn''t sure since he only had take a glimpse at most of them but those drawings seemed to depict the lifes and stories of different people and creatures, how they interacted with each other and how they dealt with problems differently then the ones before them did. It faszinated him and he would have loved to stay longer and study those pictures some more but something in the back of his mind urged him forward knowing that what lay before him was more important than what was written on these walls so he kept on walking.
After ca. 10 minutes the tunnel became broader and some more light flooded the tunnel which had only been lighted by the lights of the torches installed in the walls. As they entered fully into the fresh light the tunnel became a giant hall covered over and over by pictures just like the tunnel only way bigger. On the ground on the other hand nature had taken root and plants grew in a vibrant variety with lush trees and colorful flowers adorning ones view.
They kept on walking through the fields and forests until they reached another open space, a clearing you could say, surrounded but natures beauty. In the middle of the clearing was a lake, not big but something else struck Dorian like lightning.
The water inside the lake wasn''t blue in color. Well it was blue, but not only blue. It had many many colors, maybe all the colors that ever existed. At some time it was blue and red, then it changed into orange, green and purple, swapping from one color to the next, making them merge and transform into a composition of myriad colors, lighting the clearing and illuminating it in a soft glow.
Dorian stood there, watching and unable to avert his gaze for what felt like an eternity to him. He had never seen something so beautiful in his life and he drowned in the pleasure of viewing it.
He was ripped out of his trance by a hand covering his eyes. Waking up in shock he looked at the man standing to his right who smiled softly at him.
"Do not look too long into the well of myriad colors or you will, as you are now, not be able to wake up again on your own and die standing here marveling at its beauty."
The soft smile of the man in combination with his words brought a cold sweat to Dorians back, just having felt deaths cold fingers glide over his neck.
"Th-Thank you." Dorian stuttered, a little overwhelmed of what just happened. Taking a deep breath he calmed down a little bit and looked questioningly at the man, wanting to know what they were here for.
"This lake is a manifestation of aura not freed of natures shackles, thus having this beautful and yet deadly appearence.
If you have not freed yourself of your own shackles yet and gaze upon this lake, you will never be able to wake up again."
"Then what are we doing here? I don''t understand how this could help me become a warrior."
"The first step to become a warrior is to test if you have the natural disposition to channel astral energy and convert it into aura. In order to find out you will close your eyes and head out into the lake of myriad colors. If you are able to feel the shackles once you stand inside then you know that you have touched astral energy with your mind thus bringing forth a reaction from the shackles."
"How will I know when the shackles react if it is only in my mind?"
"Believe me, you will know once they do. There is no impression comparable to it." The administrator said with a serious expression.
Taking a deep breath trying to calm his nerves Dorian closed his eyes before heading straight into the lake. As his feet touched the water a cold sensation went up his leg but he kept his eyes closed heading further in. The further he went in the colder his legs grew until the beautiful water reached his waiste and with it the cold which started to numb him slightly.
Dorian waited, and waited, and waited, yet nothing happened. Just as he was about to curse about not being able to become a warrior something in his mind cracked. A metallic rattling of chains appeared in his mind and the cold from the lake crept up his torso until it covered him completely. Gripping his head in agony the pain grew only stronger and his conciousness started to grow blurry again. *rattle*rattle*rattle*rattle*rattle*rattle*
Nonestop the chains rattled until all he could hear was the metallic rattling of chains each rattle acompanied by a different emotion. First it was pain, then fear, anger, hate. They exploded inside of him and threatened to overwhelm him.
Outside of his body, the water in his surroundings started to turn pitch black with him as the source. A black fog was pulsing out of himself reveberating between himself and the water as if it was controlled by the beating of a heart to dictate its tact. After the whole lake had turned black the black color began to crack open in lightning like patterns through which a menacing dark green glow shown.
This went on for nearly a minute until finally the black color in the water faded along with the chains inside Dorians mind which nearly let him collapse on the spot from fatigue. As he swayed back and forth and nearly fell over a hand reached out and supported his back, not letting him fall into the waters embrace.
"Well done child, truly well done." the man spoke and that was the last thing Dorian heard until he succumbed to unconciousness.