《The Legends of Col: Red Tide》


 Prologue

    Prologue


    Spectre


    ¡°Another successful mission, aye, Mercury?¡± said Spectre knowing full well that the mission they just completed would be Mercury¡¯s last one. ¡°Like we¡¯ve ever failed?¡± the arrogant swagger in Mercury¡¯s walk and voice never failed to annoy Spectre, oh how happy I¡¯ll be when you¡¯re finally dead, Spectre thought to himself. As the two teenage soldiers walked back to the barracks, Spectre kept going over the plan in his head, as soon as he takes off his armor, I¡¯ll slit his throat, or perhaps drive a sword through his heart. Spectre knew he could not fail, for these orders were straight from Lion himself. ¡°Hear any news about the rebels?¡± Mercury¡¯s voice snapped Spectre back to reality, almost startling him. ¡°No, I haven¡¯t¡± Spectre said nervously, anxious about the murder he would soon have to commit. They had both just arrived back at the capital after being sent away on Wraith¡¯s orders to put down a small uprising in a nearby city. These have been happening more and more recently since the appearance of The Red Tide, a resistance group in the eyes of some, a terrorist group in the eyes of others. Luckily they could end the uprising with no casualties. There was a fear of people like Spectre and Mercury, they could do things¡­ inhuman. Some believe them to be demons, others believe them to be mutants. Their mere presence was enough to quell any thoughts of rebellion in that city. ¡°Finally, seems like we¡¯ve been walking forever¡± Mercury exclaimed as they reached the door to the barracks. They stepped inside the dimly-lit room and headed straight for their beds. There was hundreds of chalk marks above Mercury¡¯s bed, he was keeping count of the amount of people he has killed. As Mercury started to take off his armor, Spectre drew his sword. Spectre was quick to draw but Mercury was quicker. Mercury kicked dust into Spectre¡¯s eyes and used his abnormal speed to quickly put out every torch in the room. ¡°Even if you kill me, Lion will hunt you down, it doesn¡¯t matter if I fail!¡± Spectre yelled into the dark. ¡°Good, then in the afterlife you can both discuss the mistakes you¡¯ve made when I send him there too!¡± Mercury''s words were the last thing Spectre heard before the cold blade of Mercury¡¯s sword pierced him from behind. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

 Chapter 1

    Mercury awoke to find himself in an unfamiliar place, next to him a doorway. Not a doorway in the traditional sense, but a gateway from his world to this one. Mercury exhales loudly and winces in grotesque pain as he extracts an arrow from his back. It all came back to him. Mercury was on the run, running from the same soldiers he used to call his allies in arms. He wasn¡¯t hurt, at least not emotionally, he hated most of them anyways. He ran away from the city as fast he could into the wilderness, knowing that even with his inhuman strength, he couldn''t fight everyone. As he fled into the wilderness, soldiers on horseback were not far behind. Fueled by adrenaline, he paid no mind to the arrows that embedded themselves in him. He stopped, seeing the one thing that can save him, trees, a forest, if he can lose the horseman in the forest, he can hide and hopefully stay there till the morning. As he runs into the forest he can hear the sounds of horseman slowly fade into the distance. He eventually slows down and when he does, he feels strangely drawn to something to the left of him. He begins to stumble in that direction. Many times he tripped on the thick undergrowth of forest floor. He paid no mind to this. He stumbles forward in this almost trance-like state, not knowing why, but knowing, somehow, that it was important. The sense of urgency increased more and more the farther he walked in this direction. Finally he stumbled upon the entrance to a cave. At this point, all of his muscles were screaming at him to rest, but his mind was screaming louder. He needed to get in there. He needed to get in there! He limps into the cave and views a large floating bluish-white light, roughly the size of a double doorway. At this point he had no control, he kept moving towards it, until about 5 feet away, he is sucked in like a hurricane force wind pushed him straight through. He stands up groaning at the pain. He slowly limps out of the strange room he is in. This building was nothing like anything he has ever seen. ¡°What is this place?¡± he wonders aloud. All of the sudden a stranger crosses into view. He is the same age as Mercury, 15. What strange attire, Mercury thinks to himself, looking at the boy¡¯s t-shirt, jeans, and a modern backpack, things he has never seen before. Mercury himself was wearing his blue leather light-armor. ¡°You there, boy! What is your name?¡± Before glancing at who was addressing him, the student answered, ¡°James!¡± Turning around to view the person who was speaking to him, James was startled, to James, this bloody and wounded teenager in his blue leather armor with a sword at his side looked like he was on his way back from a renaissance festival that had gone horribly wrong. ¡°Help!¡± James yelled as he ran away from the armed stranger. Realizing what a mass panic could do to his current situation, Mercury began to pursue the screaming teen. Although he was severely wounded, he was more than fast enough to catch up to him. Mercury grabbed James by the arm, accidentally shattering everything above the wrist to his shoulder. When James screamed, Mercury panicked, slamming him into the wall, knocking him unconscious with very little effort. ¡°Well that couldn''t have gone better¡± Mercury said to himself. Looking down at James, he smiles, ¡°There is always a certain amount of satisfaction that comes from doing things like this.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

 Chapter 2

    It was the middle of what was supposed to be 4th period for 3 young teens, Karsyn, Logan, and Justin, but as fate would have it, they made a decision that would change their lives forever. They were skipping class. They were not the type to usually do this, but finals week was coming up, and they wanted a break from everything. Logan was the one who thought of this idea. Logan was a tall basketball player with hazel eyes. He also had red-hair, which his friends poked fun at a lot. He was a popular kid with a good sense of humor, it was pretty easy to get along with him. While he was very kind and considerate person, one thing was for certain, luck was not on his side. It didn¡¯t take much convincing to talk Karsyn into skipping science, she couldn¡¯t care less about how the Sun makes and outputs energy. Karsyn was a sarcastic know-it-all teen with green eyes, light brown hair, and what must be an addiction to ripped jeans and band t-shirts. She didn¡¯t care much what people thought of her, making her a badass in her own way. Justin was pretty hard to convince though. He was kinda nervous about getting caught. Justin was a pretty unique kid, he was loud, obnoxious, funny, and was assumed by most just to be crazy. He could¡¯ve been, but hey, he was fun to be around, so what does it matter? ¡°So anyways, he threw the bowling ball almost breaking-¡± Logan''s story was cut off by a scream followed by a loud bang and then silence. Karsyn was the first one to start running towards the sound¡¯s origin. Logan and Justin hesitated, then soon followed. They stopped upon the sight of James lying on the ground unconscious with his arm bent at a very odd angle. ¡°HA!¡± Justin laughed when he saw James¡¯s current state. Both Logan and Karsyn glared at him. ¡°I mean¡­ Oh no! We must catch the villain who committed this dastardly deed!¡± Justin said trying to sound like he didn''t find this hilarious. Karsyn looked down the hall just in time to see a figure clad in blue armor limp into the maintenance closet. ¡°Over there!¡± Karsyn yelled as she chased after the stranger. Justin and Logan were quick to follow. As Karsyn ran down the hall she realized she had no idea what she would say to the stranger once she caught up. Whatever, she thought, planning would have to wait. As she reached the maintenance closet she was taken aback when she saw that, not only was the blue clad character gone, there was a large floating oval of light in the middle of the room. What the hell is this thing? Karsyn asked herself as she looked at the light. Logan and Justin arrived just in time to see Karsyn get too close to the light, getting sucked in in the process. ¡°Maybe we shouldn''t just jump into the strange, unknown light, it could be-¡± Justin¡¯s sentence was cut off abruptly when Logan jumps into the light. Justin quickly took stop of his options. On one hand, he had his friends, family, and education to think of, and on the other this light was strange, unknown, and possibly deadly. He quicklyjumped into the light after them.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.