《Lagoon》 Troublesome Year XXXX The gold king was formerly inducted to the throne by the goddess avatar Shi''Lantra. Through his new reign he set out to unify the shattered country. Using his overwhelming charisma, power, and connections, he forged a mighty army. Through the bloody conflicts that dyed the soil red, and created innumerable hills of corpses; a blood drenched king was created, and an empire was formed. Year XXXX Kings, and emperors slowly came to power from the despotic societies, backed by avatars that have recently appeared all over the world. Races of strange origin arose, following their chosen sovereigns that forged nations, and countries. The rising various powers led to the great war. Year XXXX Centuries of conflict led to the rise of magic, psionics, technology, and bio-engineering. Alliances were forged, political manoeuvrings slithered in the shadows, and great weapons were birthed by the minds of geniuses, and the blood of many. When racial, political, and cultural tensions reached it''s peak, the 2nd great war came to bloom from the blood of the past. Year XXXX Due to the mass devastation, droughts, scorched lands, and dwindling food, a strong longing for peace arose. After many dealings, concessions, and humility, an uneasy peace had formed. The soil was treated, the wretched were cared for, and the process of healing began. Year XXXX A millennium of peace came to a halt, when a dark rift in the world formed, unleashing a horde of twisted monstrosities into the world. So powerful were these enemies, that many nations quickly fell. Soon the world came to realize the terrifying extent of the power, depravity, and ruthlessness of these new enemies. Soon after, the scattered avatars met, forming the first pantheon. Through the death of millions, the war ended, and the rift was closed. Year XXXX Years, upon years of anticipation for when the seal on the rift would reopen had caused an increased militarization of the world. The pantheon have decided to end the threat before it would be repeated once again. Year XXXX As anticipated by the avatars, the rift reopened, and once again a global spanning war erupted, the battle went from the world, to past the rift into another world. The chain of events that followed were also known as the eternal war. The battles spanned through many rifts, and many worlds, allies, and enemies made along the way. Previously unrelated avatars were drawn in, and the death toll numbered trillions. Year XXXX - War in Heaven Through those age old conflicts two major pantheons were formed, with their mysterious powers, and terrifying weapons, the avatars managed to meet in a final clash, with their followers, and armies. By sacrificing themselves, godly powers rampaged in the pantheon member''s bodies, as they sought to finally end this relentless war. The clash of energy, and the death screams of gods echoed in the galaxy. Year XXXX - Chaos The devastation to all involved was heavy, the godly forms have all died out, chaos has spread from the endless wars, and strange planet wide devastations have been manifesting. In this period known as the great fall, a new species had entered the system. Year XXXX - Apocalypse The new foreign creatures swept through the weakened planets, they devoured everything, and left planets barren of life. They bred quickly, and grew even faster, and they easily overcame world, after world. 10,000 years later, all known life died out, and the unknown species disappeared. All that was left, was a lifeless galaxy. Year XXXX - Eden On one large planet in the fringes of space, micro-organisms slowly reformed, and evolved. Slowly but surely, the devastated planets regained life. Billions of years passed, primitive life forms emerged with different races, new societies rebuilt, and everything was reborn. From the ashes of the old, new avatars started to reappear, serving newly birthed gods. All completely oblivious to the ages long passed. Year 1400 of the new era, the story begins............... A small metallic coffin was humming, as red lights started flaring across the dark, and empty room. The room was covered in machinery, cords, and wires. Pulses of light constantly ran along the wires, and into the coffin. Overtime the pulsing electrical lights slowly died, and the red light turned dull. Cold steam slowly leaked from the gaps of the coffin. At first no sound was made, and nothing in the scenery moved, like a closed room forgotten by time. Minutes, turned to hours, as everything remained completely still. Eventually time moved again, as the metallic coffin slowly opened. A lone naked figure coughed violently, and tumbled on the floor. The young man looked to be in his early twenties, his hair was black, and his eyes were red, and blue. A powerful headache assailed him causing him to convulse on the floor. As a voice talked into his head. ¡°Hi, sorry for bothering you.¡± ¡°....Valkyrie Zara....¡± The man mumbled. ¡°Oh? I''m surprised you could still think straight after coming out of hibernation.¡± ¡°Why did you..¡± ¡°You were fatally wounded, I had no choice.¡± ¡°Choice! The world was ending! We needed everyone we had!¡± The disembodied voice remained silent before whispering in a soft voice inside his head. ¡°It was useless, the world was overrun, and the last escape vessels failed. All that remained was a measly pocket of resistance with some Einherjar.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Why didn''t you let me die together with them? Wasn''t I also one of them?¡± ¡°I''m sorry, I didn''t want you to die. Even if the chance was impossible, I wanted to take it.¡± The man''s thoughts remained blank, before he changed the topic. ¡°How did I survive? It should have been impossible.¡± ¡°Ironically when I dragged you to a healing chamber, the building was swallowed up by the collapsed earth, likely we''re now buried underneath the surface of the planet.¡± ¡°What happened to you?¡± ¡°Why not have a look for yourself, Lan.¡± The voice slowly melted away from his mind, and Lan slowly adjusted his eyesight to the darkness. His right eye glowed, as magic formations compounded in front of his synthetic eye, and giving him true sight. It was only then that he took a clear look at his surroundings that were dark, drab, and without energy. He could tell everything was already broken, rusted, and falling apart. As he looked downward, he finally noticed his naked body. He walked barefoot across the room, occasionally his mind would blank out, and he stood still for several minutes. Slowly, but surely he was gaining some of the minute memories of this place, as well as his own body functions. As he slowly walked to the locker rooms, he looked around for clothes. Black pants, a regular shirt, and military boots. He walked across the dirty floor, and noticed a giant tube with green gel inside. A figure of a young woman could be seen in a fetal position floating in the gel. Silver metallic wings that had red runic symbols along each feather, and glowed a dull red. The wings covered her body like a cocoon, as she remained floating lifelessly in the massive tube. A soft voice whispered into his ears. ¡°While your injuries were physical, mine were magical, I ended up putting myself in suspended animation after the building fell.¡± Lan gently touched the exterior of the dusty tube. ¡°How long have you been there for?¡± ¡°Who knows, I gave up counting, it could have been aeons.¡± Lan sighed lightly, as he sat back down on the floor, and leaned his back against the giant tube. ¡°I''m surprised the magic system still worked to preserve this place.¡± ¡°Lan, can you sense the mana density?¡± Lan closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. He imagined a thick blue reservoir floating like waves inside the room. Lan''s eyes widened in shock. ¡°Surprisingly thick!¡± ¡°Yes, my guess was the building landed in a large vein of mana stones, it was likely the system managed to convert the mana in the area for our life support systems. The only reason the building remained intact was the defensive magics being supported by the mineral vein.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You sound surprisingly calm?¡± ¡°Just tired really, in the end, what becomes of us now?¡± A strange silence followed, with no one willing to speak up. Not being able to take the silence any longer, Lan just sighed. ¡°Everything we fought for, all that we cared about, and even the dreams we wanted, all belong to the past now.¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Do you think anyone survived?¡± ¡°Who knows, I doubt it though.¡± ¡°.....¡± ¡°Zara.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Can you move.¡± ¡°No, I''m only surviving because of the stasis.¡± ¡°How long do you have?¡± ¡°Who knows.¡± ¡°Well, I guess I can keep you company then.¡± The lone man just leaned silently near the floating body, staring blankly into the darkness. ¡°Lan...¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Have you considered going back into the surface?¡± ¡°No, not really. Even if a new race finally surfaced, and society once again continued, it has nothing to do with me any longer, our age has passed after all.¡± ¡°That''s just like you...¡± ¡°Is that a compliment?¡± ¡°Not telling.¡± A long silence lingered when a small rumble sounded from Lan''s stomach. Lan sighed as he finally got back up. ¡°I''m going to forage for some food.¡± ¡°Careful, who knows if it''s breathable outside.¡± Lan nodded as he went around looking for what could be considered weapons, or tools to use. After scouring the small lab, he only found a long rusted blade, an arcane bow, and some magi-tech traps shaped like a grenade. A magic circle formed around his face, to prevent contamination, as he prepared to go outside. He slowly went towards the exit, and opened the crushed door. A cool chill caressed his skins as he stared around him. A gigantic cavern where the sky was covered by rocks, and shining blue crystals several meters long. He turned to stare at the building. It looked crushed, and twisted from the outside, but the protective magics on it remained strong. Only a deep empty abyss greeted his eyes in the distance, the synthetic right eye glowed, and magnified the area using true sight. As he walked forward examining his surroundings, he noticed he was in fact on top of a giant cliff, overlooking a mountain of blue crystals. He could see plants, and mushrooms growing in obscure areas. The only light in the cavern came from the mana crystals. Bathing everything in a dark blue light. He soon noticed that the magic circle around his mouth did not detect any anomalies, so he cancelled it. He took in a deep breath, and felt the cold air rush deep into his lungs, he then coughed violently as he gazed lazily in the distance. ¡°Ah, how troublesome.¡± With a light sigh, he jumped off the cliff. Boring The scene blurred, the rushing wind scraped against my face, the sight of the floor rapidly expanded, and the image of my body smashing against the ground grew clearer. The mangled body will be thrown about like a doll, the blood will dance in the air, and the soil will be dyed a dark red. ¡°I didn''t want you to die.¡± ¡°Tch.¡± Lan stretched out his hands, the mana poured into his fingers, and the air started to bend like a transparent fabric around his fingers. His rapid fall slowly declined, and the blurry scene slowly regained shape, and fine detail. Eventually he slowly floated to the ground. The bow on his back snapped apart, and turned to dust, the sword crumbled, and the traps on his belt fell apart. ¡°Looks like they only held their form inside the building huh.......¡± It was ironic only the clothes were able to bear the weight of time, one could say it was because of the type of material used. Lan scanned the area, and using true sight, magnified the view. After looking around him casually he spotted a patch of mushrooms, and plants. As he slowly walked towards the plant like a tired zombie, he bent down, and examined them. ¡°For a plant to grow in this kind of environment, maybe it has to do with the light produced by the mana stones. The mushrooms aren''t something I recognize.¡± He stared at the mushroom, and gently reached out to touch it. I swallowed the mushroom, the texture was smooth, and soft. The flavour was savory, and meaty. As I enjoyed the sensation of filling my empty stomach, a strong pain ripped into my stomach. My vision blurred, blood flowed up my throat as I coughed up the iron taste of blood. I felt sharp needles digging into my stomach, and my body trembled violently in pain. The agonizing pain tortured me four hours, until the chilling touch of death claimed me. Lan shook his head, and his fingers stopped mid way from touching the mushroom. He ended up picking the plants, and stuffing them in a small sack. ¡°Should I explore further?¡± *Grumble Lan touched his stomach grumbling loudly. In the end he sat down, and examined the plants. He separated them all into parts, from the stem, leaves, and roots. One by one he touched all the parts, and closed his eyes. ¡°Nothing...¡± With that single word he started to put them into his mouth, and carefully chewed them thoroughly. He kept walking around repeating the process, until his stomach was finally full. He stared at the hollow hallway of stone extending into the depths, where the blue light could not reach. ¡°Even if I found food, without water, I would die anyways...¡± He just stood stock still, entertaining the thought of dying without water. With a short tired sigh, he walked into the darkness that extended deep into the distance. ¡°I wonder how I can even breath here. Are there some large plants producing oxygen? We''re not actually that far underneath the planet? Or is there a tunnel of wind coming from the outside?¡± In the end there was no one to answer the questions for him, and he was merely talking to himself. He slowly walked ahead, the time he walked, and for how long, no longer mattered. An endless journey in the pits of darkness, without an end in sight. As he went forward the concept of sound disappeared, because his foot steps became silent, and his breathing did not produce a single sound. Several layers of magic circles formed on his right eye in order to navigate the darkness. The scene remained drab, and unchanged, as if each step was no different then standing completely still. His mind was blank, and without thought. His feelings were in a state of nonexistence, as he continued to walk farther, and farther in a daze. Time, and distance no longer mattered, he merely walked, for the sake of walking. Eventually the silence was shattered by a single tapping sound. The blank mind in Lan slowly started to grow sharper. He poured mana into his ears to increase the hearing range. It was barely audible, but present, a slow rhythmic tapping sound could be heard in the far distance. Lan''s dull eyes slowly grew more aware, as he casually walked towards the distant sound. The sound grew louder, and more defined, until Lan was standing next to water droplets leaking from somewhere in the sky, a small bright glow the size of one millimetre could be seen on the expansive black ceiling. Even the true sight on Lan could not see it clearly. A large lake formed in the underground, who knows how many years it took for this lake to come into existence. However beside the lake Lan could see a distortion in the space to the other side of it. It was transparent, and shaped like a globe. A strange force could be felt deep within that distortion. ¡°A closed dimension huh, I wonder what created it?¡± Lan slowly walked around the underground lake, reaching the distortion on the other side. He took out his hand, and casually traced his finger on the edge of the dome. His finger merely went through it towards the other side. He pulled back his finger, and began to pour mana into his hand, then struck his hand forward. With a sudden vibration in the air, his hand was deflected backward, the concentrated mana in his hand completely collapsed. He put his true sight at maximum output, five layers of magic circles formed on his right eye, forming something resembling a miniature telescope. Lan stared at the transparent globe for a few minutes. Hmm, a 2nd tier closed dimension, I don''t recognize the magic structure to form it, is it one of the new magics from the new world? He pulled out a plant stem ten centimetres in length from his pouch, and held it on his right hand. ¡°I wonder if this still even works?¡± With a tired sigh, he stretched out his left hand. ¡°Enigma''s armoury¡± A large magic circle formed underneath Lan''s feet, and above him, ten flashes of light stabbed the ground, and formed a circle. Eventually the light subsided revealing ten swords of different shapes, and colours. Above him was an eleventh sword that did not have a blade, but only a handle. Of the eleven swords, only five sword on the left side had colour, the rest were greyed out. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. He casually picked up a purple sword buried in the dirt with his left hand. With a brilliant flash of light, all other swords disappeared. A ball of purple light floated in his palm, he slammed the light into the plant stem. The plant stem disappeared revealing a thin purple sword that pulsed with violet light, he gripped the thing gold handle firmly with a bitter expression. ¡°Really sorry, to think the prized god slayer swords made by the primal forge god were to be linked to a mere plant as a sword vessel. I really am sorry.¡± He slowly walked up to the outer edges of the closed dimension, and moved his sword arm in one blinding movement, in a mere second five purple scars formed on the closed dimension, causing it to crack, and shatter like glass. The sword on his right hand broke apart into particles of light, revealing a crushed plant stem. ¡°Once again, really sorry for the disgrace.¡± He apologized to the sword that disappeared. He casually walked into the broken shell of the dimension. ¡°It''ll probably repair itself in a few hours...¡± --------------------------------------------------------------------- A deathly cold wind blew, the sky was a madder red; from as far as his eyes could see was an ocean of black water. He stared at the black water underneath his feet that was only a few millimetres deep. He casually walked forward while looking around him with mild curiosity. In the distance a giant castle was perched on top a solitary hill in the water. The castle seemed to be made of black marble, and a faint trace of energy could be felt from afar. As he walked closer to the castle he could feel powerful residual thoughts in the winds, a soft feminine voice whispered into his ears. ¡°I love you, I''ll always love you, and even if the world forces us apart, I will forever remain by your side.¡± While walking closer he could sense a deep voice answering the female voice. ¡°Dear sister, the world will never approve of this. Why did you force us to reach this point? Why did you have to walk down this path?¡± ¡°Even if it means my death, even if I am hated by the world, I couldn''t have been happier for this very moment. The fact I will forever remain by your side....¡± ¡°You are a fool...¡± ¡°Brother.. I''ll always love you.¡± Lan shook his head clearing away the voices, and walked towards a boulder. ¡°What powerful residual thoughts, surprisingly their language is the same. I guess the new gods introduced the same tongue.¡± There hidden by the boulder, was a man, and woman leaning against each other; two large bloody wounds in their chests. On the floor were two swords covered in blood, made of strange materials, and designs. Lan stared at their faces, which wore a small tragic smile, and their closed eyes had traces of tears. Their hands eternally gripped together for all eternity, in a solitary world. ¡°Hmph, so I entered some sort of cemetery for you guys huh? Looks like the time in this dimension stopped, causing your bodies to never decay, even after death.¡± He stared at the two corpses. ¡°To think the new race physically resembled my own, but my kind only has black hair, and a special aura inside them. It''s almost like the universe threw us away, for something new to replace us.¡± He walked by the couple, and took his eyes away from the swords. He had no intentions to steal from the dead, not to mention the swords were nothing special to him. He walked towards the castle only to find strange transparent creatures floating around the entrance, with no defined shape. The moment they noticed Lan they started to moan horribly, and float towards him. ¡°Psychic entities formed from residual thought, and mana.¡± Lan merely walked to the gate, each stare caused the the creatures to burst apart, and melt into mist. Lan just sighed lazily as he walked to the castle steps. ¡°Low level as well..... I wonder what you are guarding?¡± The hallways were extravagant, the chandeliers, and carpets looked expensive, but the castle was hollow with life. He saw gold, silver, jewels, armours, and beds. Occasionally he would stare at paintings that depicted different places, scenery, weather, and lifeforms. After wandering around he saw the throne room, there on the seat, was a single glowing crown emitting specks of golden light. With a disappointing sigh Lan exited the room, and started to scour for some items. "Really! There was no food at all in a castle?" After an hour, Lan walked out of the closed dimension carrying a bucket, and a primitive sword. He slowly began his journey back to the cliff. When he finally walked back into the building, and placed the bucket, and sword in front of Zara''s floating body, he started to plop down, and lean against the tube. ¡°How was it?¡± A soft disembodied voice whispered into his ears. ¡°How was what.¡± ¡°The outside.¡± ¡°Found some traces of the new race, surprisingly they resemble mine with some differences.¡± ¡°Your impressions?¡± ¡°Meh, nothing new.¡± ¡°But you know what Zara?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Your disembodied voice floating outside is creepy, and it''s a waste of saliva moving my mouth to answer you. Communicate telepathically please.¡± [Better now?] [Yep.] Lan sighed again, as he closed his eyes, and started to report on what he found. Unexpected A woman covered from head to toe in red robes was sitting near a boy with black hair, and telling him a story. ¡°The swirling mass of chaos without substance, and form. Where energy from all over the universe gathers into a sea of lights that are spread out like an ocean, surrounded by an all encompassing pitch black darkness. This closed off reality separated from the physical world, is what we call the realm of the gods. From what I was told the entire realm belongs to a single entity without emotions, thought or will, it simply exists. From this space where emotions, consciousness, desires, and energy are invaded by the material world, strange phenomenon occur. These masses of energy that attracts these varying elements, converge into a single point giving birth to things known as god. The shapes, figures, personality, and powers reflect the sources of the foreign elements that made it into a conscious being. In this realm they held innumerable power, immortality, lack of desires, and lack of needs. However, through influence of the mortals in the physical realm, things like desires, and wants started to bloom like weeds, in a garden that used to be filled with nothing but plain grass. Through this influence the curiosity of the gods, and their desires to mingle with the mortal realm intensified. By abandoning their all powerful forms, to break past the god realm into the physical realm, they abandoned what truly made them gods, and left a mere shell in it''s place. The mortal body they took over became what was known as an avatar, it was not merely the representative of a god, but a living embodiment of their physical form. A god that abandoned immortality to attain a physical form, dies with that physical form, and the shell left in the god realm with it.¡± The woman in the flowing red robes that covered her face sighed, as she presented the small boy with a single colourless blade, that looked no different then glass. The image slowly grew blurry, while that distant conversation, and scene faded from view. Lan opened his eyes to stare at grey ceiling, in a pitch black room. ¡°They were like children ruled by the new experiences, which also led them to there poor judgment, and eventual downfall. However like the old gods, news ones will be born from the same process, and like the old gods before, will they make they same mistake?¡± Lan murmured in a tiny voice. ¡°No, it doesn''t matter anymore.¡± [Do you enjoy talking to yourself, Lan?] [You never sleep do you?] [My kind barely needs sleep after all, but I''m glad you''re here to keep me company.] [Well I''m happy I can be of some use.] [Hmm...] [What?] [Nothing.] Lan sighed again as he lazed around the building, he spent more time lying on the floor, and staring at the ceiling then anything else. He honestly had no idea how many days passed, and how many more will continue, it was a life devoid of purpose, and ambition. Occasionally he would travel back to that closed dimension to look for usable items, and collect edible plants along the way. Friends, family, loved ones, those are things he had mourned over countless eons ago, there was simply nothing left for him. Once the machines fails, and Zara''s support system finally collapses, there was a distinct possibility that Zara will disappear as well. He would gladly die along with her. It was not sadness, loneliness, or anything like that, it was merely a logical conclusion to a person with no more desires. Eat, sleep, and wait for death. With only a diet of plants, and no sunlight, his skin grew more pale, and his body thinner than before. During one of his trips to the closed dimension, he felt a slight tremor rumbling in the distance. ¡°It''s been happening more frequently lately....¡± Right now he was carrying two buckets filled with water, walking in the same dark path, many, many times. There were still areas much farther than the closed dimension, but it simply was nothing he desired to see. He found water, materials, and clothes; he needed nothing else in the world. What could possibly motivate him to go farther? Absolutely nothing. When he finally returned to the building again, the same scenery greeted his eyes, and Zara was still hidden by her wings, floating in the gel. If one did not know better, it would look like a floating doll, forever encased in a silent prison. [Zara.] [Yes?] [Are you bored?] [A bit, lately I''ve just been thinking of the past, that''s all.] [Is that so....] [Want to play a word game?] [Sure.] Lan walked to the side of the tube, and leaned on it while closing his eyes, they played a word game that lasted hours. Several days had passed, and Lan was now walking in the black water, leading up to a solitary hill. The corpses of the two people still remained in the same spot, and the lingering thoughts still remained as powerful as ever. The entities that guarded the hill no longer reappeared, and allowed Lan to easily march into the castle. Lately he came to watch the paintings, and march down the silent hallways. He saw paintings of massive islands floating in the sky, where cities, and giant castles were made. He saw ships shaped like wooden vessels normally found on the sea floating lazily in the sky. Massive islands that looked to have something like an engine attached to it''s back, were flying along with those ships. In every single painting he came to realize a common trait. Not one of them looked to be a painting of the ground. The painters constantly used white to signify clouds, and each landscape painting mirrored what would be found in the sky, due to flying ships, clouds, and birds being depicted in the same height level. While looking at those paintings he finally came to a stop at the end of the hallway where he found the last picture. It was a swirling mass of water shaped into a vortex, floating in the middle of the sky. Underneath the vortex on the ground, were five massive mountains, where giant statues were built upon. It looked like massive scaled creatures, shaped like a winged lizard. These creatures were not something he''s seen before, which is not really surprising. He tried to make out the text used for the painting but sadly did not recognize the words used. ¡°It seems while the language remains the same, the alphabets have changed. So does that mean I''m considered an illiterate now?¡± He walked to another hallway lined with paintings, each one featured a portrait of a man in overly tacky clothing, and in a manner befitting of a ruler. He passed by each one, that vaguely had similar characteristics, which can be assumed that they were of a direct relation to one another. There on the last painting was a familiar face, the dead body of the young man on the side of the hill. ¡°So he was a young king.¡± Walking past the hall way, he entered an area that resembled a church, with colour tinted glass, and murals. The mural showed various people reaching out to the sky, longing for a single ball of black light. A large painting was framed in the centre of the massive room. Men, and women were worshipping a person that had black light glowing from her dress, and hair. The trees were twisted, images resembling ghosts flew around her. The woman had long glossy black hair that trailed down her form fitting dress, her lips looked blood red, and her well defined features looked both dignified, and beautiful. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. The painter emphasized her face, and eyes in the painting, the violet eyes were sharp, but incredibly vibrant. Her posture conveyed a feeling of nobility, and strength. Her skin was painted in a way that made her otherworldly, pale like marble, but somehow contained human warmth. ¡°An avatar huh? Regardless of race, or gender, they always retain an otherworldly beauty.¡± To the left of the people worshipping the woman, a black forest lay, where blood formed pools on the ground, where flames were burning wildly, and where dozens of armed men lay dead on the scorched surface. A single black spear lay impaled in the centre of the pile of corpses, and ghosts swarmed out of the spear, like a massive procession leading into the world. ¡°Oh, so she''s a warrior.¡± Lan closed his eyes, and touched the painting. ¡°All hail the goddess of darkness, for saving the federation, and our beautiful cities. Praise her might, and divine glory. Let her divine will shine through the federation as our guiding avatar, let her deliver us from the oppression by the empire of light, and the tyrant known as the king of dawn.¡± ¡°Hmm, a war between nations, or avatars?¡± Lan opened his eyes, and continued to examine the room, as he was searching about he came upon a bottle of wine. A curious expression formed on his face at seeing the glass. ¡°This is an interesting surprise.¡± He immediately opened the bottle, and smelt the aroma. ¡°Hmm looks like an older wine, I expected it to be fresh since it was stuck in a closed dimension.¡± He took a small sip, and let it wash around in his mouth before swallowing. ¡°Hmm quite a buttery taste, rich, low in acidity, and a smooth finish, not bad.¡± He put the cork on the bottle, and slowly exited the room. The castle now seemed like nothing but a second home now, due to how many times he wandered inside. As soon as he left the closed dimension he looked back at it, and sighed again ¡°If only those things didn''t devour all magic as well, we could at least have had more survivors using this method.¡± With the bottle firmly in hand he walked slowly into the darkness. The loud rumble in the distance grew larger, and longer. When he returned to the building he would tell Zara what he found, and continue to pointlessly live out his life. Only now he had a bit of wine to accompany him. ¡°Does that make me a useless, and illiterate drinker now?¡± A self depreciating smile formed on his cracked lips. ¡°That''s also fine, I have no use for keeping up any false images, I''ll gladly accept that label.¡± As he was casually walking towards the building, Lan''s lazy, unfocused eyes started to form a sharp glare, his casual smile, slowly bent into a frown. In the distance he felt a powerful surge of mana, developing in the distance. A slow gradual warmth spread inside the muscles of his legs, as he bent forward, and dashed out. Like a phantom disappearing, and reappearing in the darkness, he became a living blur, causing the air to vibrate wherever he rushed passed. When he rushed into the expansive cavern, a large magic circle was forming under the cliff, and building. ¡°A tactical scale magic circle!¡± He poured even more mana into his legs, and rushed forward at blinding speed, a loud sizzling sound exploded behind him. However before he could even reach the outer layers of the magic circle, the building disappeared into particles of light. Lan threw away the bottle, and ran up the side of the cliff, a magic circle replaced the soles of his shoes, allowing him to run up freely. His dull mind slowly sharpened, and his normally clouded eyes started to show clarity. Lan touched the air around him, and closed his eyes. ¡°The mana in the air is distorted causing it to disappear, this only happens with teleportation magic.¡± Lan walked around where the building used to be, ¡°the trail of disappearing mana creates a path in that direction, and going upwards.¡± Lan pointed to the left side of the wall, the mana was especially lacking in that direction, compared to the entire area, and it went upwards, indicating somewhere above. It could be the surface, and maybe even the sky. ¡°Judging how sparse the density of mana is, around the area with even mana stones present, it should be a long distance teleportation, for them to be able to teleport a building this far in the earth, would mean a link was somehow existed.¡± Several ideas popped into his head, for a link to form meant an identical object must be in place. From his understanding, teleportation between objects must occur with a similarly prepared magic on both sides, and a massive investment in mana. A tactical scale magic circle is enough to cover a small city, which can only be formed by over a dozen high class magic users. ¡°An organization of some sort?¡± Lan shook his head, and cleared his muddled mind. ¡°No, it doesn''t matter at this point.¡± He felt a throbbing pain in his legs, as he looked downwards, streams of blood were pouring from his legs. His body had lacked proper nutrients for a long time now, it could not sustain what he demanded of his body. His physique had also deteriorated making him slightly emaciated. Lan sighed, as he began to walk back to the castle, his heart was pounding, and an certain emotion poured out, that he thought he didn''t have anymore. It was worry. From the castle he made a sack, brought a barrel with a lid filled with water, and started to gather a pile of plants from the cavern. He tied a sash on his waist, and placed a sword there. He changed his raggedy clothes, for the new ones in the castle. He raided the vaults to stock up on some gold, and slowly marched out of the closed dimension. Staring above him a small light in the ceiling was visible, small layers of magic circles formed over his blue, right eye. He raised his right hand. ¡°Illusha''s slayer armoury.¡± Ten sword impaled the ground around him, and one handle above, but this time the right side lit up. He chose a thin sword that glowed dull silver, and had a spiral blue handle, the other swords burst apart into light, and in his right palm was left with a silver ball of light. He grabbed the sword on his waist, and pulled it out. The light slowly changed the old sword, into the thin silver sword. In the darkness silver arcs shot out, and danced in the sky. Explosions rumbled in the cavern, and rocks burst apart, and fell to the ground below. The explosions grew louder, and louder, as the amount of rocks continued to fall down in a massive avalanche. Eventually a massive beam of light spread across the darkness, from the distant sky above. Lan stood in the centre of the pile of rocks, that were carved into tiny pieces of rubble around him. He was blinded by the bright light pouring down, while covering his eyes. ¡°Well Zara, wait for me please. Try not to do anything drastic.¡± With a tired sigh, he stared out at the long forgotten light of day. Body The subtle sounds of birds chirping echoed throughout the forest, as a person lay next to a giant hole in the ground. A large beam of light broke through the clearing, blanketing everything below in a gold blanket. A small lake glittered, as some of the water occasionally dropped inside the giant hole caused by Lan. ¡°Hah, hah, I''m already tired.¡± Lan''s body lacked nutrition, and already lost muscle mass from his lack of a proper diet. Even the amount of energy in his body was minimal. Right now he was lying in exhaustion from overexerting himself. His eyes remained closed, as his hand tried to block out the sun, after getting used to the darkness for so long, the sun was especially hard on his eyes. His skin was now incredibly pale, and his body was very skinny. While he retained a large mana pool from the past, his endurance, and stamina had pretty much plummeted. Lan merely lay motionless on the ground, no different than a corpse. No sound was made, no action was taken, and nothing happened. The only movement was the dripping of water, the movement of the lake, and the chirping of birds. Slowly, but surely the still scenery moved, and Lan got up. He did not take any immediate action, he merely just looked around him. An enclosed forest, with a clear opening in the sky, next to a small lake. It had been so long since he saw any of these things, that his mind became blank. After a moment of stunned silence did he finally get up, and slowly walk to the lake, his legs ached, and his arms were throbbing. The movements he made before, did not match what his body could handle, causing blood to leak from his arms, and legs. Mana used to reinforce the body had a multiplier effect, the physical body had limits. The limits of his emancipated body were obviously low. Even if his mana pool was larger than average, his body could not sustain the amount he used for intense physical activity. A strong man, and a weak man could both use mana to accomplish inhuman feats. But the strong man would have a higher upper limit, and also require a higher mana consumption to sustain that upper limit. The same can be said for items as well. If he performed actions that exceeded his limits, he expected his muscles to tear, and his own bones to shatter. Lan hobbled slowly towards the lake with his aching body, and stared at the glistening water. ¡°.........¡± He saw the image of himself, reflected off the surface. ¡°I look like a ghost.¡± He glanced at his scrawny hands, arms, and bloodied limbs. He sniffed at his arms, and frowned. Then stared back at the water again. Lan put his palm on his head, trying to shake away the cloudiness. After a few sighs he started taking off his clothes, and slowly walked into the water. The cold water sent shivers in his body, as he wiped away the blood, dust, and dirt. In a way it felt like a cleansing ritual. Lan poured mana into his ears, and skin to sense the vibrations around him. He listened, and felt for any large vibrations, any disturbance in the current rhythm. He felt irregular reactions in the water, several of them that went against the norm. He slowly opened his eyes, revealing a blue right eye, and a red left eye. He walked out of the water naked, looked around; eventually stopping his gaze at some flowers. Lan plucked several of them, and tore off the petals, and leaves, holding them between his fingers. Then walked back into the lake, and moved farther up. After pouring some mana into the stems, he flung them into the water. Moments later, five small shadows slowly floated upward, revealing five impaled fish. While walking out of the water with the fish in hand, he began the process of cleaning, and descaling them. Unfortunately Lan did not use elemental magic so had to produce a fire manually. He took his sword, and easily cut a block of wood out. Using a chunk of the wood, a sharp branch, and some leaves, he started to use friction to form a fire, and use it to grill the fish. Since the algae, and minerals from the lake could be overly metallic, he avoided eating the skin, organs, and brains. After dousing out the flame, and feeling dry from the sun, did he finally start wearing his clothes. Instead of moving, and exploring, Lan kept perfectly still, and waited for night to arrive. Not even bothering to venture outside of the area. He held the sword next to his chest, sat down, leaned against a tree, and closed his eyes. The sky eventually turned dark, and the stars started to appear, Lan immediately opened his eyes, and stared into the sky. Without a single word, he jumped on a tree, and ran upward. The magic circle from his feet clung to the bark. As he silently ran up, eventually he reached the upper branches. There he began jumping quietly, along each one until he reached the top of the tree. He carefully examined the position of the stars, and tried to remember any constellations he recognized. The residual mana from before already indicated where he should look, so he especially memorized the position of the stars, that led to where Zara disappeared. After gazing fixedly at the sky, did he look around him, a small frown formed on his lips. Lan leaned against one of the tree branches, and slept. The next morning, Lan seriously observed from the treetops, and confirmed what he saw before. Aside from a small patch of green where he was, the land around him was scorched black. The trees were without leaves, the grass was non existent, and shadowy creatures were sneaking around in the outskirts. A small sigh leaked from his lips. Later that day, Lan spent most of his time gathering food, and nothing but food. A week later, after doing nothing but conserve energy, and eating, did he finally began to move out. The small forest was extremely thick, and only small wildlife existed, nothing larger then a rabbit. It only took an hour before the greenery disappeared, and only the black earth encompassed his view. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Lan could feel a persistent miasma permeating from the soil, and the stench of decay. While walking forward, from the corner of his eye he would occasionally catch sight of shadowy creatures dodging in, and out of the shadows. He could here whispers carried by the wind, and feel gazes digging into him. Lan completely ignored them, and continued walking. His eyes looked somewhat lazy, and his expression was pretty much blank. The sky still shined brightly, and occasionally he would see a giant bird flying in the distance above. He took minimal useless actions, and tried in every way to conserve energy. Eventually he came upon a small gathering of boulders, and decided to brake camp there. He rationed the water, and took a few concentrated meals. The whispers carried along the winds grew more varied, and numerous. Lan could feel the number of shadows following him had just increased, instead of preparing defensive magic formations, or keeping alert, her merely went atop a boulder, and slept. The creatures materialized from the shadows, underneath the boulder, around him, beside him, and in front of him. The whispers grew louder, and more intense as they reached their hands out. Lan''s eye shot open, and stared at the nearest shadow. Psychic images assailed the target causing it to mentally collapse. A ball of transparent white mist slowly fluctuated in his hand, the energy started to condense, and gain physical form, he crushed it with his hands, releasing an expanding wave of energy. The wave targeted their minds, causing the shadows to tremble in agony before collapsing their form. Lan exhaled slowly, with a dead pan expression. ¡°Haah, I can finally rest peacefully, luring those things, and killing them in one go was best. Good thing these guys have a weak mind.¡± Lan did not question what they were, or why they followed him, it simply did not matter. There existed too many annoying things in the world to worry about, if one worried about every little thing, they would go nowhere, except find new things to worry about. It would simply be an inescapable loop. He observed the stars once more, to assure himself of the direction, before going back to sleep. The very next morning, Lan continued his journey in a single direction. The black view, and featureless land, was both boring, and mind numbing. The bright side was that the shadows no longer followed him, and the annoying whispers stopped. While slowly walking forward Lan halted, and titled his head. He could hear something distant, and loud. The ground rumbled, and thousands of vibrations were transmitted to the earth. Dust was being kicked up in the distance, and it extended far, and wide. ¡°Tch.¡± He stretched out his hands, and began to chant a spell, the magic circle extended to several meters around him, eventually Lan disappeared from view. From the distance, thousands, upon thousands of creatures were marching along the lands. They had thick grey skin, powerful muscles, small tusks, and humanoid faces. Towering hairy Goliaths over a hundred meters tall, were being ridden by those things, and were marching along in a giant procession. They carried primitive weapons, and carried flags with them. One glance, and you could tell it was a massive army. Some of them pulled wagons, rode atop giant black beasts, and one eyed towering monsters wrapped in chains, were being led along the way. In the skies lizard creatures with wings, were being ridden like mounts, overseeing the massive army. A conservative estimate put them at over ten thousand strong. The dust being kicked up was so strong it practically became a giant fog of dirt. After many hours, the army eventually passed by, the area where Lan disappeared started to distort, and rumble before it collapsed, revealing a dozen dead corpses, and Lan. When the army passed, Lan had created a small pocket dimension, occasionally opened, and closed it, letting some of them into his dimension, and killing them. His main prize was a black mount resembling a large deer, the rider was impaled in the chest laying dead on the ground. He touched some of their minds to gather information, and images. The only thing that came to mind was that these creatures attack, and kill one another looking for slave labour, and prizes to pillage. ¡°Basically warlords.¡± From what he gathered they were primitive, and aggressive creatures, that lack the ability on the finer points of magic.¡± Normally a competent army would easily expose Lan, but then again they were only a primitive race. The plus side was that he now had a fairly well trained mount, the downside was that he had never needed to ride a mount in his entire life, and therefore did not know how. The two meter tall deer, just eyed Lan in curiosity but didn''t react much at all, or even run away when it''s master died. Lan searched the corpses, revealing packs of dried foods, and some crude knives. The deer could be used as a mount, and worst case scenario used for food. It took about ten tries before he could get on that things back. Trying to get it to move forward, with words did not work, only after accidentally hitting it did the thing move. It was an awkward ride, with a hard to control deer that didn''t run very far, and Lan gradually experienced what it was like to feel pain in his neck, spine, glutes, and legs, all from just riding. While the speed of travel improved, so did the pain in many areas. After several hours, he pulled the deer to a stop, and staggered off. He lay on the dirt, and didn''t bother to move, staring into the sky. The deer walked up to where he was lying, and just gazed at him. Lan gazed at the deer as well. No words were spoken as they looked at one another silently. Eventually the next morning came. Lucky The cool wind blew gently against my skin as I watched the glimmering moon fade against the dark clouds drifting aimlessly in the sky. In it''s own way it was strangely beautiful, a part of me wanted to lay on the ground, stare at the sky, and wait for the days to go by. If I had to die then and there, I would be content. But, I still have something I need to do, so I can only go onward. The world seems so much different than what I recognize, yet oddly similar in it''s own ways. The constellations no longer resemble what I once remember, but they shine just as bright, and are just as numerous. The land I rode past is barren, and the creatures hostile, and strange. The plants are something I no longer recognize, and the trees are so very different. Planets can only only sustain life for fifty billion years, so does that mean life repopulated before then, or did something drastic change it? I guess I''ll never know. For some reason the days last longer then I previously remembered, how is that even possible? Luckily the air is breathable, and the world is still alive. Occasionally I could hear loud rumbles in the sky above, at first I assumed it would be thunder, but giant shadows seem to be lurking above the clouds, and later on I could see meter long feathers floating down below. Unfortunately they were too far away for me to reach, at the very least, not in my current state. A small sigh escaped my lips, these days that''s about the only thing I ever do lately. If I''m not careful I feel it would be quite a bad habit. However aside from all these immediate issues how exactly am I going to find Zara? I only know the general directions, and seemingly it''s in the sky, a mountain? Or an aircraft? Or....... Well whatever the case, it''s not like I can stop either way. Besides even if Zara is in that temporary prison, and even if she is heavily injured, shes is still a steel valkyrie of the forge. The holy guides that recruit the souls of fallen warriors, and grant them a second life, the direct servants of the ancient twin forge deities. I wonder if whoever took her, can handle ''the steel tyrant'' Zara? Another sigh escaped my parched lips as old memories poured out. A crying man desperately grabbing my hand, a sad woman trying to pierce my heart with a sword, a child lay dead in my arms, and the fury of men staring at me with intense hatred. How many had died? How many tears were shed? And how many dreams, and hopes lay unfulfilled? The desires of every man, woman, and child scattered into ashes, the hopes that could never reach the future, but forever be lost in the past. Lan calmly stared at his emaciated pale hands. These hands had gripped a friends warm shoulders, and dying cold bodies. It was drenched in warm blood, gripped cold steel, and pierced by sharp blades. Am I sad? Tired? Or depressed? No, I''m not, things like that have long passed. But, it''s what made me who I am as a person. It''s simply nostalgia. How long have I lived? I''ve seen children grow old, and die before me. My age no longer matters, my past no longer matters, and my feelings are simply a burden. I simply don''t belong here. As I rode the cumbersome beast I could see a trail of thick black smoke moving in a procession, with a strange sentiment leaking from the mist, and the trail seemed to be several miles long. In my ears I could hear the beating for drums, the sound of trumpets, the clanking of armour, the howl of beasts, and the stern sound of men. From the shadows of the black mist I could see outlines of humanoids in mounts, lances, and swords. As I rode alongside the thick black trail of mist, I could hear babies crying, woman screaming, and men roaring. Wheres my mommy? Dear? Dear! Where are you! Daddy it hurts, I''m scared. My lord, I will always follow you, even in death. Thick powerful emotions, and sentiments leaked out from the trail of black mist. Lan could feel it, thousands of clashing thoughts pouring out, they grew more intense as Lan was reaching the forefront of the mist that was parallel to him. I will shed my blood for you my king. Please never falter. May your path be ever glorious. Our fates, and our hopes lie with you. Use my body as a shield, my arms as your sword, and my life as your bridge. Lan ignored all these thoughts leaking from the black mist, and noticed a shadow in the lead. A loud screeching could be heard, as he saw several coffins in chains being dragged forward by a lone shadow in a thick black robe. The coffins looked to be made of a thick black metal, and he could feel powerful will in each one. The strange thing was they all remained silent, but he could sense they held strong emotions. The cloaked figure was leaking out a strange power, he felt the body contained the will of thousands. As if it''s legs, and arms were being pushed forward, and held up by a collective will. ¡°What a strange type of magic, seems similar to a curse.¡± The cloaked figure turned, and faced Lan beside him, it''s glowing red eyes shined brightly, but it''s face and limbs were hidden by a thick black fog. A powerful thought pierced into Lan''s skull. The sky is being blotted out by ashes, the land is aflame, and buildings in this once great city are nothing but rubble. The cries of my people drown out the sky, the mangled bodies of loved ones litter the scorched earth, and all of this is my fault. I''m sorry my beloved wife I wanted to share our hopes, and dreams, and watched the spring leaves by your side. I''m sorry my daughter, I failed you. I wanted to watch over you as you grew older, I wanted to celebrate your birthdays that I often missed, and I wanted to tell you how much I loved you. I was a terrible husband, and a failure as a father. Lan strengthened his will, and mind, completely cutting out the images, and thoughts invading him. He stared at the creature with clearer eyes. ¡°A normal person would have had his mind destroyed, you should be careful with that.¡± Lan''s expression remained neutral neither angry, nor hostile. He had seen many things in his life, something like this wouldn''t provoke him easily. ¡°Hmm, I don''t know if you can listen, or even understand what I''m trying to say but, do you know a way I can reach areas where people live? Or at the very least creatures that look similar to me?¡± The strange creature stared at Lan for a long period before pulling out a small golden locket tied to a chain. Lan could see a skeletal hand covered in powerful runes, holding that locket. An image of a little boy hammered into his mind. A small frown formed on his lips. ¡°Are you telling me to deliver this, to someone I never met, and have no idea where to find?¡± The thing nodded. ¡°Do you know how impossible that sounds?¡± The thing did not react, it only held the chain, and stared at him. ¡°.... I can''t guarantee I''ll ever find him though.¡± ¡°....¡± Another sigh escaped his lips, as he took the locket. ¡°Just don''t expect miracles.¡± As soon as Lan finished this sentence, an image of a giant ancient forest surrounding a massive tower that pierced into the sky was vividly entrenched into his mind. Images of landscapes flashed instantly across his mind. From that momentary exchange, a small map was embedded into his mind. Lan stared at the creature a bit more, and pushed the sword slightly from it''s sheathe using his thumb, and calmly stared at the creature. ¡°Do you want release from that distorted form?¡± The creature shook it''s head, and pointed to a direction, before continuing it''s unknown journey towards an unknown location. Lan merely nodded, and went towards where that thing pointed towards. After several hours of unchanging scenery he jumped off the deer, and once again lay completely on the ground. He had zero experience on mounts, and his lower body felt completely numb. Once again the deer walked up to his collapsed body, and stared at him with it''s large black pupils. Lan stared back, and mumbled, ¡°I know, I know, but it''ll be over soon.¡± His fingers touched the ground, and he began to mumble an incantation. A three dimensional magic circle started to form all around him. Lan no longer cared about his surroundings, and merely slept. The very next day he opened his eyes, and saw corpses of strange large wolves with four eyes, impaled with serrated blades all around him. He walked near one of the corpses, closed his eyes, and touched them. ¡°So I''ll die from their meat huh, getting eaten from the inside out, by strange parasites is not a pleasant way to die.¡± Lan got back up, and stared at the bright sun, and clear skies. He completely ignored the dead wolves, and continued onward to his destination. The barren black ground, slowly turned to lively brown soil, the dead leafless branches, were slowly replaced by sparse trees, covered in greenery. The lifeless scenery, slowly moved, and the sounds of insect, and birds could be heard in the distance. The farther they moved, the denser the trees became, and more varied the foliage. Eventually a giant shadow could be seen in the distance running deep into the sky, Lan quickly jumped off the deer, and patted it on the forehead. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Thanks for everything.¡± The deer merely nodded, and stared back at him. Lan took a few steps backward and brought out his sword, several arcs of silver flashed out in the air that shredded all constraints on the deer. With one high pitched moan the deer slowly walked away, it gave one last look at Lan before disappearing in the distance. Along the way he examined plants, flowers, and occasionally caught small animals. It could be said this was one of the most luxurious food he had in quite awhile. His pace was slow, and casual. The goal was to conserve energy, in order to deal with any surprises along the way. The environment started to grow unusually warm, and moist, and the dense foliage started to cover the sky, and could mess with the sense of direction. As he slowly moved forward, he noticed a cluster of leaves packed in specific areas. He took a fallen leaf into his fingers, the leaf started to grow harder, and denser, the edge of the leaf gave a metallic glint as he threw it. Like a dagger, the leaf pierced through the packed leaves, and a loud snap could be heard. Several large wooden spikes impaled the area where the leaf was thrown. Lan raised an eyebrow slightly before returning to his usual plain expression. Lan''s blue eye started to project layers of small magic circles, he could see outlines of figures hidden in the shadows, the vibrations in the earth, the rustle of the leaves, and the shallow breathing all around him. He could see movement in the tree tops, the blurs in the corner of his eyes, and smell unusual scent different from the plant life. He spotted a cluster of them near his left, so he slowly turned towards them, put down his sword, and tried to give a smile. He placed his posture in an passive manner in order to not incite them, and said in an slow, calm tone. ¡°I come in peace...¡± Before he can even finish his sentence several daggers, and arrows shot forward in all direction aiming for his body. Lan stomped on the earth, and kicked up the dirt, the dirt slowly transformed into condensed rock smashing the projectiles away in a powerful torrent. Instead of dodging, or reflecting the other attacks aimed at his back, and to his sides, he launched himself forward in a explosive burst of speed. Every pojectile was knocked from the sky by his sword, and the arrows shot at him from the back, could not even reach his body due to a strange expanding shock wave blowing all debris away. The closer he came, the more clear the enemies became. They were humans wearing animals skin, and barely anything clothing. The weapons were made of coarse metal, and he did not sense any magic imbued in them. ¡°Hmm they look like the humans of this world.¡± As soon as he was within a metre away, they dumped their projectiles, and took out close quarter weapons. The closest one did a horizontal slash with his dagger aiming at his chest, Lan merely grabbed the mans wrist, pulled him forward, and into the ground. He did not even glance at the fallen attacker, and continued forward. Two men tried to slash him from the flanks using crude swords, but he only increased the acceleration forward, completely running past the swing trajectory. Five more men charged forward with spears, as Lan continued his was forward. He easily dodged each one, and jumped to a nearby tree to the side, before darting across the treetops. When the group of spear men were about to give chase, a small glowing orb was floating near the centre of the group, as soon as it exploded a barrage of mental energy invaded the attackers, causing them to fall unconscious. Lan knocked them from the trees, and shadows. As he continued to home in on a certain voice while darting from tree to tree, he saw a person dressed in colourful clothing, giving out orders. Without a single bit of hesitation he dove into the crowd around the one giving orders, the ball of light in his left hand exploded sending out a magic shock wave that paralyzed their bodies. Before they could even react, Lan was standing behind the person giving orders, with his left hand casually gripping the leader''s neck. He slowly tightened his grip while whispering into the leader''s ears. ¡°I can jut as easily kill you here, and now if you make things difficult for me. So why don''t we talk this out like calm, and reasonable adults?¡± The thick bearded man, that was half naked with a dark muscular body cackled loudly, while screaming at the top of his lungs in a foreign language. Within seconds of that defiant action a loud snap reverberated throughout the forest, as the man tumbled to the floor. Lan''s eyes did not show a hint of anger, hostility or sadness, it was merely calm, and placid. There was no hard expression on his face, no killing intent leaking from his body, nor domineering atmosphere coming from his presence. To him killing the man did not illicit much response, like a person at home drinking some warm water, it was merely the act of going through the day to day motions engraved in a body. He did not feel condescension, arrogance, or even pity. It was a simple act, with an expected result. You ate food when you were hungry, killed when you were threatened, and sat down when you are tired. Even the emotions usually associated with killing was simply none existent. In a way his presence was simply plain, uninspired, and even shallow. He felt blood lust leaking into the atmosphere, and the presence of many others converging into the single point where he stood. Lan stared idly at the closest figure, and sighed. ¡°I guess we can''t talk this out anymore, right?¡± The forest rumbled, and angry roars filled the atmosphere, bright lights burst from the forest, and thin black lines started to appear all across the space. Cracks appeared on trees, on the grass, and even on a small rodent passing by. Black lines, started to fracture, and expand in the air, and even in the nearby river. Like a man slashing across a realistic painting with a knife repeatedly, slowly expanding each, and every black slash, permanently etched on the painting. Small diamond like grains leaked from the fissures, images distorted, trees bent, and finally it all shattered. Like glass fragments that constructed the scenery fell apart, and came tumbling down. The scenery filled with trees, animals, and angry men all disappeared, all that was left was a scene of pitch black. Lan walked across the bodies of the fallen men, their eyeballs lost focus, and drool leaked form their mouths. Not a single wound appeared on any of the fallen men, the violent atmosphere was now serene, and calm. All that could be heard was the soft whistling of the winds, and the rustling of leaves. As he started to survey the surroundings, he felt a subtle pressure above, without a seconds delay he jumped back ward. At first leaves came floating down, then branches, then a giant shadow smashed into the ground, sending dirt, and dust flying. The massive bird stretched several metres, long, and nearly twice as wide judging from wing length. The large brown feathers floated all over the scenery, as the giant bird which resembled a peacock lay collapsed in front of him. Lan idly stared at the dead beast in stunned silence, in his stomach a loud rumble could be heard. In less than an hour a roaring flame was made, the feathers, intestines, and inedible object were removed, and buried. Lan currently held a blade of grass, as he casually cut apart the neck, claws, and legs. The small chunks he cut off were skewered with wooden spikes carved from appropriate branches, and placed above the fire. The glistening fat dripped from the charring meat into the fire, causing a slight hissing sound, the strong aroma of roasted bird wafted into the air. Lan was carefully eyeing the meat, so it would not be too burnt, and his sword was casually leaning on a nearby tree to his side. Just as the bird looked to be well done, with golden crisp skin, and greasy liquid dripping down, a thin mist leaked out from the forest around him. The mist looked like small frail strands, that grew thicker over time, and eventually surrounded the entire space around him. Lan''s eye did not blink nor even move, he continued to rotate the meat, and focus on the roasting. The mist converged into a spot directly opposite to him, revealing a hazy shadow. Lan gave the shadow a brief glance, before turning his eyes on the bird meat. ¡°Took you awhile to show up huh? A soft gentle whisper lingered in his ears. ¡°You noticed me?¡± ¡°You could say that.¡± ¡°It is strange to find a person wandering the land, are you an exile?¡± ¡°..... Yea, that word seems to fit me.¡± ¡°How pitiful, the earthbound truly are pitiful.¡± ¡°.... Is a tower near here?¡± ¡°Of course, the towers stands here for eternity.¡± ¡°Am I allowed to enter it?¡± ¡°What a silly question, all are welcome, if you can make it to the top that is.¡± ¡°The way you phrased it, care to explain?¡± The shadow disappeared, and did not even bother answering the question. The mist slowly grew thinner, until it dissipated. Lan''s placid expression revealed a slight frown, as he noticed a missing chunk of meat. ¡°That guy took the best part..............¡± Comments: Got bored so I changed the style for this chap for a bit. Nostalgia A lone man was limping across a thick forest of trees underneath a dark sky. The crisp crunch of leaves, and the subtle winds made barely made an audible sound. A single ball of dim light floated around the man, as he continued limping forward. His lips were cracked, the white plain shirt looked dirty, and his black pants had dark red stains on it. His face looked more full now, and his plain sword looked thinner then it was originally, one could only wonder how it''s base design permanently changed shape. A small sigh leaked out of his lips as he continued onward. ¡°Ah... I overestimated my body, this is somewhat disappointing.¡± After forcing out a sigh he stared at the floating ball of light next to him. The air around it hummed, and vibrated as it started to form a sliver of magic thread that leaked from it, and stretched out to touch him. Lan only stared vacantly as it reached his mind, and a small, soft voice echoed solemnly into him. ¡°We felt it, no... Everyone alive felt it, the death of the guardian. His anguished screams, his terrible pain, and his incredible sorrow. The waves of emotions darkened the skies, everyone turned mad all over the world, and beasts turned crazed. Families murdered each other, beasts wrecked havoc, and nations fell.¡± Lan continued to move forward silently staring at nothing in particular, bu occasionally stopping to listen, and observe his surrounding before moving on. ¡°....... A single light fell into this world, those of us who remained sane, those who wanted to stop this insanity gathered around that light, and we marched towards the guardian''s lair. Many died, many fell, many turned against us, but we managed to continue on. Tears were shed, blood flowed, and relationships shattered, but we believed we could persevere.¡± Lan''s right hand instantly moved severing something reaching out towards the ball of light, but he didn''t stop, he continued walking. Occasionally he would find something and pick it up, stuffing it inside his pockets. Despite his actions, he continued listening intently to the ball of light. ¡°He was amazing, every obstacle, every wall, and every hardship was broken through, but not many could follow him. As the days went by, our number dwindled, and our determination bled, in the end only five remained.¡± The ball of light remained silent for a few seconds, before continuing. ¡°I was weak, and cowardly, I tried my best to chase that back of his, but.....¡± ¡°But?¡± ¡°I simply couldn''t reach him anymore, I could no longer catch up to the rest of them, and this place was the end of my journey.¡± ¡°Hmm, I see.¡± A thick fog started to flow out of the forest, engulfing everything in it''s wake, the ball of light merely floated on Lan''s shoulder as he continued forward, his right eye formed layers of magic circles. Despite the highly dense fog, Lan causally walked around trees, boulders, and would occasionally slash at something hidden from view. ¡°....¡± The dead pan facial expression twitched slightly as he eyed something inside the fog. He then stopped walking, and instead looked casually to his side. ¡°.....Now what is this?¡± The ground exploded, and Lan disappeared from view., he continued staring at something beyond the fog, and recited something underneath his breath. A thin blue film coated the blade of his sword, each time he swung his sword, large chunks of the fog actually dispersed. Each slash, grew faster, and faster until only the sound of steel cutting the air could be heard echoing in the forest. Eventually the mist altogether collapsed, and dissipated as if it never existed. ¡°I guess the mana leech worked, the magic in the mist was for denser then I expected.¡± Lan stared at the blade where the blue glow grew thick, and chaotic, vibrating, and convulsing in an erratic manner. He gently stretched out his left hand, and touched the blade, the blue light formed around his finger, and started to seep into his skin. ¡°The mana has a benign feel to it, not very dense, and lacks uniformity in it''s visible state, looks like a non-structured spell, in that case this was formed naturally, or by something that has a natural affinity with magic. A magic creature or naturally born user?¡± Lan stared straight ahead at a towering shadow several meters away from him. ¡°Oh sorry, I didn''t mean to ignore you, I was lost in thought.¡± There in the distance was a giant skeleton wearing a strange layer of thick metal clothes that was held together by rusted chains, and torn cloth. It''s empty sockets glowed a sharp blue. It stood in a small clearing leaning against an ancient tree, there in it''s clasped hand was a single female floating around in it''s skeletal palms. She had thick black wings on her back, and dark black hair that turned slightly purple near the fringes. Objectively speaking she looked like a beautiful human girl, with black eyes, and what resembled small chains, and leather as her clothes. He swung his sword at the air, as if hitting away something non-existentm and pointed it at the strange woman. ¡°I don''t really know if you understand what I''m going to say but... Can you stop doing that?¡± The woman gave a bewitching smile, as she stuck out her fingers towards him. Lan swayed back, and forth, side stepped, and stared back at the woman with a dead pan expression. This time he dug the sword in the dirt, and waited for her response. The woman smiled and said only a few words. ¡°Master wants Rian to collect that soul, and your body.¡± She flew near the giant skeleton''s face, and lovingly stroked it''s chin. ¡°My body huh?¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°Hmm, I guess words are meaningless.¡± As he was about to slowly approach the woman, and the skeleton, the ball of light spoke urgently. ¡°Please, follow me.¡± ¡°Hmm that woman has been attacking us for awhile now, it''s better to end the annoyance now.¡± Without waiting for a response from the ball of light, he dashed forward. The skeleton opened it''s arms, and the chains all over it''s body shuddered violently as they blasted into the sky, and dove downwards. The woman called Rian flew sideways, and made several hand motions as if flicking something into the air. The massive chains buried into the earth causing large fissures, Lan jumped on top of one of thick rusted chains, and made a beeline towards the skeleton, occasionally deflecting something unseen, with several successive slashes. The massive chain Lan was running on started to quiver, as each interlocking chain started to melt, and reform into spikes. ¡°Not happening.¡± A familiar blue light enveloped his sword, as he lightly skimmed his blade across the chain he was running on, the chains that had partially melted froze it''s action, and maintained a solid form. The woman stared in alarm as Lan was nearing the skeleton''s head, while swatting away something unseen. ¡°Master!¡± Lan ignored the woman flying towards him, he dug his hand into his pockets, and continued to run forward. The skeleton''s eye started to shine brightly as it opened it mouth, something resembling hand''s grabbed it''s teeth and crawled out that looked like living shadows. ¡°Oh, so it''s you guys.¡± Lan threw several rocks in his hands, at the skeleton''s face, smashing whatever crawled out from it''s mouth, and penetrating the back of the skeleton''s neck. Instead of charging forward, he instantly changed direction, kicked off of the chain, and went directly for the woman flying at him in mid air. ¡°Rest in peace.¡± Before the beautiful woman could even respond her head was severed from her body, all around Lan winged snakes started to appear from thin air, falling to the ground below. His body slammed into and opposing tree several meters away shielded by his arms. With a single clawing motion his fingers dug into the bark, and launched himself upward to dodge flailing chains. He darted in, and out skirting around the giant, as it lashed out violently, while pouring out shadowy creatures from it''s mouth. This continued on for several minutes, but Lan never reappeared. The creature merely raged on searching for him. Several meters away Lan was walking next to a flying ball of light. His face remained impassive, almost bored. His limping was now worse, and his sighing increased even more. ¡°To think that woman was able to summon creatures outside the scope of the five senses, now that she''s dead I won''t be annoyed by her long range attacks anymore. He vaguely heard the sound of the giant skeleton. ¡°I don''t have time to waste fighting thatthing, it can have fun by itself.¡± The ball of light floated silently, before speaking. ¡°... Did you know?¡± ¡°Hmm? What do you mean?¡± ¡°..No, never mind.¡± Lan sighed again as he stopped at the foot of the giant pillar. He turned towards the ball of light, and waited patiently. The ball of light started to disintegrate, and its bright glow rapidly turned dull. ¡°Thank you again, I finally made it. If I had made it to this tower, if I was more courageous, if I only tried a little bit harder, if..... I...... With him...¡± ¡°Goodbye, Rian.¡± The ball of light could not finish it''s last sentence, and disappeared. Lan likewise did not stay still, he merely walked away in silence after she left. The pillar was gigantic, he estimated it would take him several days just to walk around it, as soon as he approached it, the pillar actually started to glow, and hum. The pillar started to peel away its shell revealing a marble white, the once dark pillar, now looked like something different. The shape itself looked more like a tower, and less like a plain pillar as it''s outward appearance slowly changed.. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Something suddenly floated down from one of the open windows and landed next to Lan. ¡°Welcome, exiled.¡± ¡°Hi thief, did you enjoy my bird meat?¡± ¡°It was delicious.¡± ¡°Can a non-living being enjoy that?¡± The robed figure chuckled, it''s voice slowly turning deeper, and deeper, similar to an aged man. ¡°You could tell?¡± ¡°How could I not?¡± ¡°Hmm, I may be a construct, but I do need nutrients to sustain myself. Well let me rephrase then, it seemed delicious. Anyways allow me to introduce myself. My name is tower overseer Faust, welcome to the radiant sky tower.¡± ¡°My name is Lan.¡± ¡°No title, or last name?¡± ¡°..... Does it really matter?¡± ¡°I suppose not.¡± Lan lightly tapped the now white tower, and stared into the brightening sky. ¡°This will lead me to other people?¡± Faust nodded silently. ¡°Ever since the calamity, everyone has escaped to the skies. It could be said the heavens now belong to the people, and everything else now belongs to the monsters.¡± Faust motioned for Lan to follow him as he lead them towards the side of a tower, he muttered something, and a small passage opened to the side of the tower. Without a second thought Lan walked in. The first thing he noticed was that there were no walls, nor ceilings, and no floors, it was simply an empty abyss. Even Faust who led him in, completely disappeared into nothingness. It was a quiet, and empty place. Lan just stared around him, without moving from his spot. ¡°Doesn''t look like a closed dimension, the walls seems to be taking in mana from the world itself, and maintaining a long lasting tower huh. Seem the excess mana is activating long engraved spacial magic inside. But the key would be what kind of magic triggers it.¡± True sight started to activate, he carefully examined the dark abyss around him. A dense layer of magic is distorting the walls I can''t analyze it, the magic surrounding here is dense, and the mana is uniform, but changing simultaneously. Almost as if it''s constantly shifting, the air seems lighter as well. ¡°Ah, so we''re actually moving upwards.¡± Occasionally Lan would notice something shaped like a net wash over his body, other times he would feel slightly cold, or slightly hot. The magic being employed were something different from what he was used to, but the basic principles, aftereffects, and reactions were still recognizable to him. ¡°So I''m being tested, likely if I failed any of these tests, I would be dropped back to the first floor.¡± So far Lan could recognize cleansing, healing, and insight variation type magic being used on him. None of which carried any hostile properties attached, so he willingly let them enter his body. Bored of the constant monotony, Lan sat down on the seemingly non-existent floor, and once again sighed. He thought a little about what Rian had said, for a creature to have been able to affect a planet, meant they were at the level of a new avatar. The issue here is the how it reached a point where people were forced into the sky. ¡°So either an avatar related to regeneration or growth had not been born here, or they simply did not care enough to intervene.¡° Another sighed leaked from his lips, as he shook his head. Without anything to do, the only thing was to wait. He laid down, and idly stared at the darkness. The mind numbing experience lasted for countless hours, the isolation and silence, reminded him of something. ¡°Ahh, that was right, she was like that as well......¡± The same isolated room, with an all encompassing heat, and a dull glow of warmth in the corner. Where the wall were made by some mysterious alloy that filled the room with thick mana, and where a rhythmic clashing of metal rung ou tin the dark room. A slow drawn out melody, that sent sparks of flame into the air, and illumination in the dull room. That hunched figure beside a metal glowing object, radiating powerful magic. Her short auburn hair decorated by soot, and burns. Her once white skin was tanned dark by the flames she constantly worked next too, and the song she always formed from hitting the metal with her magic tools, and her magic. Reforming the metal, imbuing it with magic, and constantly trying to meet the demands of the ever increasing war. How long have I been watching that back of hers? How long have I watched her slowly chip away at her life? Unlike the others, she did not have overwhelming power, ability, or even magic, she simply creates, and forges. No..... I was mistaken. She simply no longer has those things. As I watched that back of hers, that rhythmic sound stopped, and she stood up. Her grungy brown work clothes stained, and decorated with droplets of sweat. She turned her head and stared at me, but what was facing me was merely a grey mask, covering everything but her eyes, nose, and lips. She staggered slightly, as she held unto what looked like a multi coloured spear, similar to an aurora. What she mad were no mere weapons, but items meant for champions blessed by each of the other avatars. As I try to reach for her stumbling body, my hand was quickly swatted away, as she clumsily regained her balance, and walked on. Right... This routine has gone on for many, many years As I stared at her walking away, I could see a fresh scar opening on her hands, what was once smooth, and beautiful, turned rugged, and scarred. Every time I would notice a single scar, that would never heal again. And tomorrow once again, the same routine will continue, and a new scar will be added to her body. ¡°But of course... I could only watch it happen. After all, I''m only.......¡± The images quickly melted away a a sharp piercing light, slammed into Lan''s eyes. A strange sweet fragrance tickled his nose, and the sounds of vibrant life echoed in the distance, as the light slowly died down Lan watched his surroundings. A see of pure blue from all directions, and shadows of creature flying in the clouds, letting loose loud vibrant sounds. The scent of the wind blowing across the expansive open room felt fresh, and rich. A deep familiar voice drifted to Lan''s ear, as he stared blankly at the scene. ¡°I''m surprised you survived, normally human''s become tainted by wandering the surface after awhile, you would normally be extinguished by the dormant spells carved into tower.¡± ¡°You tell me after... That?¡± ¡°Anyways this is the top of the tower, it serves as a mana refuel station for nomadic islands vessels.¡± ¡°So I can expect a nearby passing vessel to pick me up?¡± ¡°Pick you up? What a thing to say, they merely allow you to join their nation.¡± ¡°So around how long would one take to reach here?¡± The disembodied voice sounded amused by the question. ¡°The islands vessels have no set course or schedule, each one follows their own erratic trajectory, from the records, a total of six islands are in this towers area of influence.¡± ¡°How long will the next one arrive?¡± ¡°The one coming should be the nation of Aistole, they should arrive in four months.¡± ¡°Four months....¡± A slight frown appeared on Lan''s lips as he walked near the edge of the open platform, and stared at the sea of white clouds below. ¡°Is there a way to quicken the process?¡± ¡°None at all, unless....¡± ¡°Unless?¡± ¡°See those bird flying around the tower.¡± Lan eyed the giant white feathered birds spanning several meters long, flying lazily around the sky, diving in and out of the clouds, and generally taking a leisurely flight. ¡°If your that desperate, that try and use one of them.¡± A small chuckle echoed in the platform as he said that, immediately later, a small crumpled piece of paper formed next to him. Lan quickly picked up the paper that was being blown away by wind, as he unfurled it, a set of routes quickly came into view. ¡°This route will lead you to one of the few stationary sky ports in this area, but you''ll encounter a lot of danger trying to reach it alone.¡± As soon as the voice was finished talking, the robed figure was already beside him, and pointing at a single direction far away. ¡°If you''re a careless idiot, feel free to risk your life chasing something you might not find.¡± Lan walked up near the edge of the platform to stare downwards, he dropped the sword on the floor, and looked down at the bird flying below, then turned back and stared at the robed figure. ¡°You know something?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I''m an idiot.¡± Without even waiting for a response, he kicked off the platform and began a free fall, near where the birds were flying around. The figure remained silent for a bit before muttering something underneath his breath. ¡°I forgot to tell him those birds are in mating season, the males are currently hyper aggressive. Oh well.... One less idiot for this world.¡± Without even bothering to check what happened, the figure slowly turned to mist, and disappeared ------------------------------------- 7-Accident The wind blowing against my face felt sharp and painful, it was hard to breathe, and it was astonishingly cold. White, mixed with bright blue, these soft colors continuously drilled into my eyes, as there was nothing else to the scene. Underneath me the squawks of a bird could be heard constantly, the massive bird spanned several meters piercing through clouds, while it''s massive white wings flapped gently across the sky. ¡°If I could do nothing, but just stare at this forever.¡± I shook my head, there were still things left to do, but really the more I stare at this scenery the lazier I''m feeling. Maybe one day I''ll just find a good spot with a similar view, and lie there forever. ¡°.........¡± ¡°Maybe it''s just the thin air talking.¡± The scenery never changes, only the shapes of the clouds running into my face, and the pure sky. The flight had likely taken over several hours, and the bird was getting tired. Lan could tell from it''s slower movements, and ragged breathing. Just as he was wondering if they should land, tiny specks in the distance came into view, as he narrowed his eyes, a multi layered magic circle formed over his right eye. A small group of floating islands came into view, with lush green plants, and trees overflowing on the distant island. When the island finally came into normal viewing distance Lan''s eyes widened slightly, and a stiff expression formed on his face. It was a shadow protruding from behind the island, hidden inside a vast layer of clouds. Lan casually plucked a single feather from the bird, and poured mana into it, the feather grew stiffer, and harder, until it was no different then a metal object shaped like a feather, then proceeded to add a magical enchantment unto it. As he drew closer, and closer, the shadow in the distance grew larger but did not move, as he neared the island he saw giant white pillars, eventually he realized the island was not actually floating but embedded into the white structures appearing all over the place. The thick white structures were everwhere, even covering over the island, and travelled for several kilometres, piercing the clouds in the far distance as well. Eventually he came to realize the full enormity of what he saw. ¡°Skeletal remains of some beast, the bones are absorbing the winds itself, keeping it''s corpse afloat with ingrained magical properties. Several islands are attached to parts of it''s massive body.¡± The giant creature had three limbs on each side, and a massive hide that stretched for as far as the eye could see, many parts were still hidden in the clouds. The head was missing but the rest of it''s body remained intact. It''s bone structure did not resemble any normal creature. He could see large vines crawling all over the spine, and even trees and plants growing from cracks in the bones. After nudging the bird, they landed on the outskirts of the first island attached to the giant remains of an unknown beast. Instead of exploring he found a spot to rest, he overexerted his limbs, muscles, and hunger enveloped him. With a small grunt he got back up, and decided to collect items to eats. The giant bird merely stayed in the same spot like a statue, staring at Lan collecting food. It''s eyes were glazed over with a lack of intelligence, and resembled a zombie more than anything else. Lan eventually filled himself with stems, leaves, petals and some tree fruit, he searched the ground for a nice long tree branch, and incanted a minor spell on it, solidifying it into a permanent walking stick. The sky was still bright, and scenery was filled with lush green. ¡°What a stark contrast to the ground below.¡± He began to slowly delve into the trees, and explore the island. The grass was healthy, and the soil was rich. Even walking along in the environment felt incredibly casual and surreal, as he slowly made his way across he didn''t notice any signs of other creatures at all. The island was surprisingly barren of life, as he continued to reach the other side, the sight of a giant piece of bone that lead directly into the far distance could be seen, surrounded by rolling clouds, and light winds. ¡°Hmm all I have to do is take a rest, and just fly on wards, I have no reason to go any further than this.¡± As he went back to where the bird lay, he did not find what he was looking, instead what he found was a stone statue of the bird he left behind. The moment he noticed the change, true sight was already active. He slowly inspected the stone bird, and the mana current flowing around it, he looked around inspecting his surroundings carefully. ¡°Odd, I never sensed a magic being activated, and I don''t see an anomaly with the area as well, normally some traces would be left after magic was used.¡± As he inspected it''s feet he noticed a thin concentration of saturated mana under it, eventually he found a small hole that seemed to have been freshly made in the soil. Judging from how smooth the hole was, and how a thin film of mana was rubbed against the walls of the hole, it did not seem to be made by tools, or a creature, but a different type of magic. Spells are crafted by a variety of methods, and follow different theories of applications, even the quality and type of the same spell casted by different people differ. However one thing will always remain the same, the aftereffects left behind, the characteristics left over will always hint at the type of spell used, while the hints are different depending on various factors, the characteristics will always lead to the same conclusion. The only question floating in his mind was why anything would even bother to do something as trouble some as sneakily petrifying his mount. ¡°The fact the bird was targeted after I left, instead of immediately, meant I was the one it had an interest in. It could have gotten me when I was resting but didn''t.¡± Another sigh escaped his lips as he lightly shook his head, thinking about it too much was useless, he slowly walked towards the only way to reach the other islands. ¡°I can''t reverse the spell, and sitting around is pointless, might as well explore a bit.¡± In the end after circling the small island, he ended up back to where the long bridge of bone lay, without an ounce of hesitation he jumped down, a powerful draft travelled along the shaft of the bone, the powerful force almost knocked him over the edge. Lan casually trailed the white bridge with his stick, and slowly made his way forward, the structure beneath him seemed non-existent as white layers of mist covered his feet as he walked forward. Naturally the experience gave quite the awkward sensation, and caused his heart to palpitate a bit. Along the way he would casually touch the piece of the spine he was walking on, only to retract his fingers and continue forward. ¡°Looks like this thing didn''t have any strong lingering thoughts upon it''s death, or maybe it''s intent simply disappeared.¡± After walking for nearly an hour Lan could see faint glimpses of the rib cage hidden in the clouds above him, the vines and plants growing near his feet made the casual walk bumpy, and occasionally even dangerous. As he was sight seeing he finally noticed a dense cluster of vines flowing down the side of a rib cage, above it was a dark shadow, and some leaves scattered around it. Approaching the vines dangling near the ribs, he measured they were about thirty metres above his height. He casually walked across the spine, and unto the rib cage curving upwards, the mana coiling around his legs interacted with the rib, allowing him to effortlessly walk upwards. As long as an object has mana flowing through it''s structure, it can be interacted with. This was the basic philosophy of the magic scholars long ago. We live alongside it, it flows through us, and encompasses everything. The way a spell was created, the type of symbolism associated, and the methodology employed, was merely one of many paths towards tangible interaction that exist within the universe. Lan casually kicked off from the rib and grabbed the vine, he thrust his palm forward, as if slamming against an invisible wall to prevent himself from swaying back and forth. His grip never once loosening, it was almost as if the vine was a sticky mass refusing to let him fall. Eventually as he climbed up, his body was rubbing against the dirt, and soil of the island, he threw the stick over before he continued the climb, until he finally reached over and landed on a patch of green grass. The scenery was the same as the first island, except at a much higher elevation, and a thick fog was covering a majority of the land. While exploring the area, he felt a thick wave of energy spread out, past him. The energy was warm, and did not contain any structured mechanic behind it, it simply poured out at irregular intervals. Since this was the first real anomaly he discovered, Lan tried to pinpoint the epicentre. The outer rim of the expanding wave was saturated, but the inner portion was more dense, all Lan had to do was feel the density as he moved based on the degree of warmth. He witnessed a dull red light glowing from the thick white fog located inside the sparsely populated trees. As he walked closer the red light glowed even brighter, and he could sense something forming in the air around him; pricking his skin like needles. As he went deeper, wooden boards, and metal scraps started to appear punctured in the ground. As he walked over the ever increasing foreign debris, several large shadows hidden in the thick white began to appear one, after another.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. No sense of urgency or danger was felt, Lan sensed whatever it was it didn''t harbour much intention behind this waves of energy. While drawing closer to a nearby shadow, he could see it''s black, coarse surface, and eventually realized it was a stone statue. On closer inspection they looked like the humans of this world, their faces seems distressed, and their poses were erratic and in mid action. Walking past over ten frozen statues to the red light he encountered even larger pieces of debris that looked to be made of wood, and tattered white sheets. ¡°A primitive looking ship huh.¡± The red light actually penetrated the hull of the ship in front of him, and leaked out in a manner that treated the wood obstruction like glass. Instead of breaking a hole to the side of the ships, he jumped several feet in the air landing on the deck. He could literally see the glowing light underneath him, as he walked on the brown deck, covered with broken metal, and statues. While walking around the deck, he could feel a metallic quality despite it being wood, even the sound of walking over gave it a pinging sound. He put his palm on the floor and using his strength slammed it on the deck, a giant sound wave quickly enveloped the ship, and forest, after twitching his ears, he walked directly to his right, and stared at the entrance inside the wrecked ship. He quickly bludgeoned the hinges of the door down with his stick, and frowned. ¡°The material is harder than I thought.¡± After pushing down the door he walked inside, where the red glow was literally blinding. After adjusting his eyes, he marched downward into the sea of red light. The inside was a typical primitive ship filled with cannons imbued magical properties, various rooms, and more statues around. While walking around a surprised expression appeared on his face. ¡°Oh? I couldn''t feel it before, but an intense mana concentration is gathering.¡± This time instead of squinting his eyes he close them completely, and merely followed the mana concentration, while using the stick to feel for obstacles. The red light even penetrated his closed eyelids, and grew brighter as he kicked down a jammed door. The light practically dug into his eyeballs behind his eyelids, and he even felt pain form his eyes to the back of his head, he could feel something clattering on his feet as we walked closer. A distinct voice leaked from the source of light. It was a beautiful voice, it had a strange allure to it that caused one to want to listen more, it was similar to a slow song that soothed you. The problem was to Lan that voice was speaking in a language he didn''t understand. Lan ignored the voice, and simply talked to himself out loud. ¡°First of all I have no idea what you are saying, but you are definitely not a living being, it seems a rather intricate, and powerful enchantment has been engraved into you. Since you can communicate I assume you have sentience.¡± Lan stretched out his hands at the voice, and source of red light. While his fingers drew closer, his pale hand formed small thin red slits on his hands, droplet of blood leaked out, and numerous red scars started to form on his arms, and even tore up his shirt, creating numerous scars that kept multiplying across his body. Lan just snorted, and thrust his hand forward gripping the object firmly, the object released a powerful gale, that nearly caused Lan to stumble but he held on, until the red light finally blinked out of existence, and only the darkness remained. A slow sigh escaped his lips as he stared at the object in his hands. It was a plain black handle attached to a long red blade dyed in the color of blood, that shined like a ruby, occasionally pulses of red light leaked from the blade. The blood leaking from his hand trickled from the sheathe, and towards the blade. A strange red magic circle formed form the blood on the blade, and Lan could now hear the voice in his head. The voice that spoke in a foreign language constantly drilled into him, rather than be shocked, Lan could only feel a slight annoyance at that voice constantly talking, Eventually the words slowly became familiar, and after a few minutes the unintelligible words slowly gained meaning. ¡°Stop ignoring me you disrespectful bag of flesh.¡± ¡°Hmm you''re sentience is more advanced than I thought are you a weapon that gained a psyche or a former living being?¡± ¡°Oh, human you can finally hear me now. Open your mind to me, let me delve in your aspirationss, and fears, I will grant you the hidden dark desire dwelling in your soul.¡± ¡°But you''re just a sword stuck on an wrecked ship, in the middle of a tiny Island. What can you offer me? ¡°Human, you dare talk down to me?¡± Lan just sighed gently. ¡°Ah, hold on a minute.¡± He quickly cut off the conversation, and started to explore the remains of the ships, he went through all the rooms, and examined all the items available. Every statue he passed he casually touched, and various lingering thoughts flowed into him. ¡°I need a woman to hold.¡± ¡°Why did the magic crystal crack!¡± ¡°What''s happening to my body!¡± ¡°Dammit, after all the effort to obtain that treasure!¡± ¡°Ah, I wish to return to Ealsia.¡± He also took his time examining many more statues, some of them gave hints on their roles, and purpose, the conclusion he found was that the magic making this ship fly was destroyed, and they came crashing into the island. He also found a pile of coins with different images imprinted on it, some of them far different than the others, which indicated different types of currency from various places. His clothes were changed to a plain black pants, and white shirt, he found around the ship, and a small satchel was made from the various cloth. During his inspection the voice was constantly berating and hurling abuse, but Lan just ignored the voice in his head. ¡°As a weapon you really are annoying huh?¡± ¡°Men will grovel, lakes of blood will reign, and the death of thousand lie in my wake.¡± ¡°Sorry I just don''t care.¡± Lan sighed lightly as he quickly left the ship, and let the thing prattle on. He sighed again as he remembered his blood flowing unto the blade and accidentally activated a contract with it. The style, shape, and details were different, but he definitely recognized a contract when he saw one. ¡°So what''s your name?¡± ¡°I have no name to give to you.¡± ¡°Ok, your name is red.¡± ¡°Offer yourself to me, and I will grant you power. Your body is already connected to me, you cannot escape your fate.¡± A seductive yet warm voice enveloped his brain, and he could feel a strange sense of attachment to the sword in his hands. ¡°Hah nice bluff, blood contracts aren''t consensual, only by meeting very specific requirement would they activate, even if by accident. In this type of contract you have nothing over me.¡± The woman inside his head remained silent, and refused to acknowledge what he just said. Like the first Island Lan casually circled the second one, trying to see if their were any points of interest that might be of use to him. Even thought he now had the crimson blade, he still kept the walking stick. Eventually after finding nothing more he could use, he quickly went back on the spine heading towards the other areas. The sky was turning dark now, and the winds grew even more chilly, while walking casually he looked at the scar left by the blade on his arms, and body. ¡°I should probably clean my wounds first, and get something to eat.¡± ¡°Such weak vigor dwells within you.¡± ¡°You do realize, you did this to me?¡± ¡°Hmph...¡± Along the way Lan had tried to probe her for answer on various question only to be met with silence, only sometimes she would talk in order to make complaints, or hurl weird one liners. As he walked along another island came into view. It was located directly in the spine, and was easy to reach, as long as he went forward. This island was surrounded by green hills, and he could see a variety of nests built inside them. They were white hairy ape like creatures with four bat wings, their size was about 7 feet tall, with stringy limbs, and well toned bodies. Lan watched them with true sight, while hiding behind some trees growing on the spine. ¡°Looking at their teeth they should be carnivorous. Since they chose to make a nest here it means a food source should be nearby.¡± A quick estimate resulted in over eighty of those things, while killing them all was a possibility it was not an effective use of energy and mana, if he was going to do anything it would be after a majority of them leave. Instead of taking action he merely remained hiding behind a tree and observed their behaviours. Animals usually followed a set pattern embedded inside them, and universal habits that dictate their actions. Since he was in no hurry, and needed the rest anyways he sat down, and casually observed from the side of a tree. After two hours of waiting the night was getting darker, and Lan was now seriously considering sneaking past the nest. A portion of the population recently flew away leaving a much more sparse nest guards. The creatures had three roles as far he could tell, the one with black stripes, and larger were hunters, the small ones with only two wings were likely female as they attended to the young more, and the hunters walking all over the area were likely guards. ¡°The right side has less nests, and the interval when a guard pops up would be around one minute.¡± Lan slowly darted past the trees, and plants until the spine leading to he hills had no cover left, from his pockets he dug out a feather, and after mumbling a few words, the feathers slowly multiplied in his hands, until he had a handful. For several minutes he would solidify, and throw one near one of the guards, until they finally reacted to the feather. ¡°Ok so their range of detection seems pretty dull only about twenty feet huh.¡± After breathing out slowly, he threw ten feathers simultaneously near the centre, and left of the nest, nests were hit. The guards were drawn to the commotion in the nest near the left, and centre, as the guards were distracted at the crying, Lan dashed out and ran at full speed. Under the cover of darkness his form was merely a blur, as he silently scaled the spine, and reached the hills, when the commotion died down and the guards went alert again, he lay flat on the grass, near the entrance, and dove into the nearest nest, instead of drawing blood, he spread his palms out and forced psychic images into the creatures destroying their primitive minds in less than a second. After taking over a nest near the spine, he slowly btt surely made his way above the hill, occupying the nests near the edge, when he tried to go around he realize another nest was on the other side as well. On the tenth nest, a guard walked by, he quickly did the same psychic barrage, and as the guard was about to collapse he sped out and prevented it from falling. With a small grunt he carried the creature to the side of him, leading to the top of the hill. After reaching the other side, he pushed the body down the hill in front of him. He silently went down the hill to be greeted by a giant lake formed in the centre of the island, surrounded by green hills, and in the centre of that lake stood an enormous structure. It was basically five small pyramid forming into a pentagon, made of stone. One glance and he could tell it was man made, the first thing that came to mind was the structure resembled a temple. Inside that temple he felt a familiar type of magic inside. ¡°That thing that turned my bird to stone.¡± While mumbling to himself the woman inside his head actually spoke. ¡°.. A moroch temple, I see.¡± ¡°Moroch?¡± The voice did not respond, and did not speak again. After staring at the large body of water Lan became more conscious of his own body. He slowly approached the shore where white mist floated along the waters surface, and began to strip. The water was frigid, and the scar stung, but what was important was to clean his wounds, so after a good cleansing, he found a small tree, and began to carve a magi circle under it, before falling asleep in the middle. The next day he gathered plants, fruit, and water as breakfast before making his way to the temple. He dumped the body in the water, and minutes later, he noticed a pool of red leaking into the surface. Instead of swimming their, and risk exposing himself to possible threats in the water, he cut down a tree, and then made small chunks out of it. He then proceeded to dump the chunks into the water, using his sword, and stick he swatted them all across the lake, like playing golf. For some reason whatever was in the lake did not respond to the pieces of wood. All the chunks began to form a disjointed path, using his stick, and sword, Lan lightly jumped on the closest piece and began to weightlessly skipping on each piece. The magic embedded in his legs, caused the chunks he landed on to maintain buoyancy, and he would swat the nearby ones into different directions. Each time he jumped he would land on one path, and swat the nearby ones, to form another path, using this method he finally reached the structure in the centre. The moment he saw the hollow entrance inside the triangle pyramid, a strange feeling could be felt in the air. It had no noticeable quality to it aside from a vague sense of longing. When he stepped inside the entrance he could feel the will of something, it was anxious, excited and slightly sinister. Lan did not care what it''s intention were but he wanted to deal with it first, before he tried to find a way back to his journey. Whetever was here clearly wanted him to come, so Lan merely accepted the invitation. If a reason was truly necessary to describe him coming here, it was purely intuition, he felt he needed to deal with this before he could safely leave. Of course it was also his intuition that allowed his mount to be petrified into a statue in the first place. The inside of the structure was covered with carved drawings, and the mana inside was exceptionally pure. Meaning the building was made of high quality material, that harnessed the mana in the atmosphere naturally. While walking forward strange yellow orbs of light started to drift from the cracks of the stone walls illuminating the hallway. The deeper he walked, the more magical power he could feel leaking from the depths, many complex emotions leaked out and assaulted Lan''s senses, whatever was inside was being incredibly emotional. His skin was getting goosebumps, and it seems the sword was throbbing as if it was like a heartbeat. While the woman inside his head remained silent, he could feel a strange happiness coming from her, and vaguely felt dark intent leaking from the blade. Once again Lan just sighed. ¡°Everyone likes being difficult huh.¡± 8-To go or not They kept pushing me onward, their words full of hope were like sharpened knives piercing into my flesh, the kindness shown my way felt indescribably heavy, and the bonds we shared felt like rusty chains dragging me into the ground. I was only a single man, my dreams were small, my ambitions were limited, and I only wanted a simple life. But what am I doing now, fighting monstrous creatures that came from the darkest night, forming bonds with people who may die at any moment, and this strange power forced on to me, against my wishes. The title given to me was a sick curse, that would forever burden me. She who we left behind became a mere doll for the shadows to play with. I could remember her kind smile, her gentle dark eyes, and her soft words of kindness, and encouragement. Every time I closed my eyes, those images of her last moments burned into my mind, the soft words she said echoed in my ears, and my beating heart felt that much louder. ¡­ Lan opened his blurry eyes as he slowly adjusted to the dark walls of the temple, he scratched his head in confusion, only to find aches spread across his hands, and body. He could feel a dull throbbing pain in his arms, and hands, and a stiff back from leaning against the stone walls. Ignoring his surroundings, he instead frowned slightly. ¡°Who''s memories is that?¡± He looked around the hallway filled with an impenetrable darkness and got back up, it had been several hours since he walked inside, and neither sight nor sound had changed. All he could hear was a slow gentle throb, and an atmosphere filled with malice. Using true sight he once again navigated the maze like interior without any sort of hints, maps or even landmarks to recognize. It is a mass of dead ends, split paths, and endless walking. Occasionally Lan would slam the sword against the wall, and listen to the sound, and feel the vibrations, in the air and walls. In his mind he could hear curse words, and slander muttered constantly in his mind, but casually ignored it. The slow echo of his foot steps against the hard floor was the only clear sound he heard as he moved through the darkness, when he entered a cross section, he carved an arrow into the wall and moved to the left. The twists, and turns continued on endlessly, as he saw countless similar pathways that mirrored the ones before perfectly. ¡°For something trying to invite me, it seems the place it lives doesn''t want me there.¡± As he continued to observe the dark surroundings with true sight he saw something barely a centimeter long sticking to the wall in a dead end. He slowly reached out his hands, and touched the fragment, it was a sharp piece of metal. He could here a male voice stream into his mind. ¡°This damned place is at the heart of this great beast, to think it was borne from both the sky, and earth, to spawn this gargantuan monstrosity; Ah I lost my temper a bit, if it weren''t for him, we''d be lost forever. What was it he said again? Follow the sound?¡± ¡°Does he mean that beating sound?¡± Lan focused his ears listening to the distant thumping, and beating of what seemed like a large distant drum. No matter where he went, or which way he walked the drumming sound always seemed distant, without getting louder. After turning another corner he walked into a dead end, the drumming sound slightly changed it''s rhythm, when he turned back to the intersection, the sound regained it''s normal rhythm. After he walked into the left path, the sound pattern changed slightly. Lan raised an eyebrow and back tracked, this time he went right, then back tot he original spot again, and did the same for the front, and back. ¡°The drumming sound sped up slightly when I went left, but returned to the same normal rhythm when I went the other paths, I see.¡± He slowly began to test both paths, and followed the rhythm eventually leading him into a large wide open space, he felt a great warmth wash over him, and a musty scent invade his nose. The drumming sound was now beating loudly in the far distance. The presence he felt before was now thick, and close by, somewhere beyond the large space. He slowly walked forward, when he noticed the mana in the room start to thin out. Lan immediately side stepped, when a gray beam of light brushed past his clothes, and slam into the entrance behind him. One quick look and he could tell the entrance was filled with a gray liquid that slowly rose, and blocked the area he came from. ¡°Was it scared I would runaway when I faced it?¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± Lan stared at the sword that actually mocked him. A hoarse voice filled the room and egged him further. ¡°Come mortal, if you do not get rid of me, do not hope of escaping here.¡± ¡°Hmm why would it need me to come here, even though it could attack me from anywhere on the islands.¡± After thinking it over, Lan followed the voice, and went deeper, he had already decided to just kill that thing, and move on, Lan had things that needed to be done after all. As he went deeper, the heat rose dramatically and the drumming sound reverberated across the long hall way, eventually he faced a live heart the size of a house, it''s connective tissue clinging to the ceiling, and floor. What was even more strange was an eyeball, and a contorted mouth sticking out from the beating heart staring at him. ¡°Ah the moment I felt you pass by, I could sense you were a compatible vessel, very well, I''ll allow you the honor of being...¡± Several scarlet blades slammed into a dense barrier, causing the room to shake violently, as Lan charged into the heart. From the very beginning he had no interest on what it was trying to do, or what it was saying. The heart saw Lan charging in and didn''t continue it''s rant, instead the walls crumbled and red blood started to flow in, while the heart continued to beat rapidly. The red liquid formed spikes that shot out from around the room. Lan poured a single enchantment into his blade and slammed the floor, the floor rumbled lightly as the floor hardened to a metal like substance, and formed rows of blades, that cascaded towards the barrier, slashing apart the blood magic, drilling into the barrier. As he followed the blades, he did a light twirl where he swung the blade behind him leaving a single curving line of energy that clung to the mana, and warped it. The unstable energy reached a climax and exploded, the mana in the blood magic turned erratic, and collapsed it''s solidified form, turning into a pool of blood that didn''t move. The face in the heart made twisted face at the scene just now. ¡°How! Even the hero..¡± Lan did not wait for it to recover from the shock, he poured a shocking amount of mana into the blade, that caused even the sword to scream in shocking pain, as it tore through the damaged barrier, and pierced into the mouth on the heart. The face screamed in agony as blood from the giant heart splashed out violently, the face twisted in fury and shouted angrily. ¡°How dare y....¡± Before it could even complete it''s sentence, a magic circle formed on Lan''s fingertips, sending shards of broken blades into the eyes, completely tearing into the heart. He could sense the sword was laughing maniacally as it was bathed in blood, Lan jumped away and left the sword buried into the heart. ¡°Aahahaha this taste, this feeling, how delicious, how exciting.¡± Lan frowned in distaste as the sword began to describe how wonderful it tasted, and made strange noises of bliss. During the short battle, the sword purposely missed his trajectory, making it so he had to use some of his own unique forge magic. The battle should have ended with a single blow, to exert so much effort on one low class opponent was a waste of energy, and time. The drumming heart started to slow down, and sag, eventually it turned color, and something strange happened. The heart began to resemble stone, as parts of it''s body began to petrify, Lan immediately reappeared next to the sword in a small flash, and minced the heart to bits. From where the heart once stood a single staff leaking gray stony gravel could be seen, he immediately swung the sword, and shattered the staff. The petrification stopped spreading, and the gray staff fell helplessly on the pile of stone, and meat. After eyeing the flowing mana in the staff, he could tell it was not lo longer active, he reached out to examine it, and some residual thoughts leaked in. ¡°The heart of this beast is actually manufactured! Leave this staff here to let it be eternally petrified, so it''s heart will never regrow.¡± Lan just sighed lightly. ¡°Guess he was wrong.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. As he thought this, he felt something deep linger, almost hidden in the intent of the owner of this staff. ¡°Too bad you didn''t die as well... Heartless wretch.¡± ¡­ Lan was currently wandering out of the temple, by climbing out of the tunnels left by the heart which traveled very far, it eventually lead him to the outskirts of the Island, where he gazed at the open sky beneath the edge, with nothing to cling to. ¡°Dead end huh...¡± Eventually he had to go back the way he came, instead of navigating through the maze, he basically mowed everything down with his sword, carving a brittle path. Originally he had refrained from such an action going in, to not alert his enemy of his power, and to save it for the fight, but surprisingly what he met was a pushover, so the energy he saved was pointless. After breaking past countless walls, he managed to emerge from the temple entrance. Now that the source of annoyance was gone, he had to find a way back to the island. The petrified people would not be freed from the destroyed staff, and neither would his flying mount. The gorilla like creatures could be used, but their bodies didn''t look to be made for long term flights, as he was pondering on what to do next. His gazed wandered around, he realized the answer was all around him. However instead of going to start his plan he decided to rest around the lake instead, the battle with the creature didn''t use much energy, instead plowing through all those walls drained him a lot. He looked around and stopped at the plain lake, with small logs floating calmly. He once again repeated the process of moving the logs and jumping about, it seemed whatever was in the lake did not move due to vibrations. As he finally reached the shore he tore his flesh with his teeth, and let droplets of blood flow out. The drops of blood floated on the lake surface, eventually a mass of shadows swarmed his blood in the lake. ¡°Guess I should save some for the trip.¡± ¡­ The next morning Lan sneaked back to where the ship wreckage previously was using the sword he slashed apart usable parts, looted what looked liked coins, extra clothes, and cut the tattered sails. Slowly but surely an ugly, mismatched thing shaped like a boat started to form, it was only about 3 meters in length, the outer structure was covered by pieces of bone from the giant corpse, and inserted to the sides were strange crystal orbs found from the interior of the ship. Strangely enough the one who mentioned the orbs was the sword, apparently after drinking all that blood, her mood was extremely co-operative. ¡°I''ll need more rations aside from the fish, some water, and plant life to carry.¡± In the end he took a few barrels from the ship and stocked it with edible material, and the other had water filled from nearby shallows pools. In the end he smoked the excess fish from the lake, and foraged across the island for any fruit''s, and edible plants. A clump of tools were taken, followed by a roll of blankets for emergencies. Using the vines found on the island, he used them as rope to tie together the barrels, because it seemed tighter than the ropes found on the ship. After looking at the shabby boat with a single large sail he nodded lightly. Since no large pools of water could be found he decided to take one last job of cleaning his body using the pirates clothes as a wet cloth. After a vigorous cleaning process, he wiped himself dry, and took the black and white clothes. The entire process took an entire day, he slept beside the ship he made, and another night passed. The next morning he walked towards the crystal orbs, and carefully poured mana inside the dim white orbs, it glowed casually until the ship slowly floated in the air, Lan immediately jumped on the ship, and paused. ¡°What next?¡± ¡°Pft, what a useless fellow, guide the ship by using your fingers on the main orb, the magic tool controls the wind magic on the ship, all you need to do is guide the flow.¡± ¡°Now that I think about it, how would a sword know how to control a ship?¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± Lan shook his head and didn''t bother, he moved his fingers on the orb, and the ship slowly began to float higher above the trees, and over the thick mist, eventually meeting the bright sky again. With a single movement the clumsy looking ship started to move forward, flying past the rib cages, and into the distance. He covered himself with the warm blanket, as he sat on the ship, guiding the small orb forward, the orbs regulated the wind flow causing the air pressure to circulate around the ship, making the ride surprisingly comfortable. ¡­ Lan yawned lightly as the night quickly dominated the sky, the stars shined brightly like jewels, while he munched on leaves, and plant roots. He hugged the blanket tightly as the wind became colder, it was nothing but a vast vacuum of open sky. Occasionally he could catch a glimpse shadows flying in far away letting loose distant noises of chirping sounds, and screeching. While lazily staring at the quiet scene, he saw a giant shadow the size of a mountain break through the clouds, shaped like a human head. Lan carefully slowed the ship down until it floated silently in place, eventually the giant head dipped past the clouds and grumbled lightly. After several minutes of silence Lan moved his finger on the orb, and the ship silently creaked forward past the creature that was looking around. As the ship continued onward, a large red bird flew closed to his small ship, and let out a ferocious shriek, as it charged toward him. Lan quickly muttered a spell, but as he was about to release it, a large black hand pierced the clouds, and grasped the bird tightly in it''s rock like fists, the bird shrieked wildly as it was pulled downward, where he could definitely hear a loud crunch, followed by a deafening silence. ¡°What an unruly world.¡± For a planet to have so much dangerous elements of this level only proved one thing, that there was no dominating race on this planet. As his thoughts idled, he noticed some small debris floating in the distance. As he reached out his hands to grab it, he felt something soft, and small, looking closely he recognized what it was. A toy doll floating with fragments of magic wood stuck on it, when he squeezed it a small child like sound came from it. He examined the grayish toy doll that looked roughly made, and resembled a smiling girl in a dress. Lan carefully took that doll, and stuffed it inside the bound clothes. True sight was activated, and he examined his surroundings, all he found were floating fragments of a ship with higher grade materials than his own, but aside from the doll nothing unique came to view, the atmosphere was filled with chaotic mana showing magic had been used awhile ago, but the mana in the area had been restored. The magic used must have been fierce to leave the mana in this chaotic state after so long. After exploring the area for a few hours he realized that whatever happened, the ship involved most likely managed to keep going forward, and didn''t crash into the land below. In a few mintues he passed two mountain peaks to his sides, and examined them. They were covered in vegetation, and no signs of life could be detected, he brought the ship near one of the cliffs and landed on the flat plain. ¡°Guess I should rest here.¡± With that he slept on the ship, the mana circulating his body gave him warmth, on top of the small clearing on the mountain cliff. ... In a dark black space, where nothing moved, and nothing existed, a voice pierced through the nothingness. ¡°Can you hear me, Lan?¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Do you know why I am here?¡± ¡° No, all I remember was crowd of people shouting loudly, a sharp pain in my neck, and then darkness.¡± ¡°Are you tired of this darkness?¡± ¡°Honestly I''m a bit comfortable with it.¡± ¡°Well that''s a problem.¡± ¡°Why is it? A teasing voice whispered gently. ¡°Because as an exception, you don''t have a choice in the matter.¡± ¡°Wha...¡± ¡°My name is Zara, you have the honor of being my first, aren''t you a lucky guy?¡± As the darkness slowly dissipated, a blinding light pierced my consciousness, and a face slowly came into view. ¡­ Lan''s eyes opened immediately, and he rolled to the side, a black shadowy hand was stuck on where his head was, Lan just glared at the creature sending powerful waves into it''s mind, before it collapsed into nothingness. After a light yawn he muttered. ¡°Those things are everywhere, aren''t they.¡± Lan casually stood up, and stared at the morning sky, he then lazily stared around him to find blooming white flowers, with a peculiar aura about them. When he reached out his hand to touch it, he pulled his hand back, and used true sight to examine it. Surely enough he could see that the plant had magical properties, and powerful ones at that, however the properties seemed benign, from the way the mana of the flower interacted with the environment. He plucked the white flower, and felt a refreshing wave wash over him, after that, the plant quickly withered away, and released seeds into the wind. ¡°Did it react to the mana in my hands?¡± He slowly reached for another flower, this time the mana was quickly withdrawn, but the flower once again wilted. After a few tests, he discovered they had to be handled from the roots, he collected a few in a small pouch, and left the rest. After breakfast he quickly went back to the ship only to realize something, as his senses triggered an alarm in his mind. He quickly looked around to realize humanoid shadows were scaling the mountain, thousands of them were climbing upwards, some fell to the ground below, others accidentally pushed their kin away, but they all mindlessly tried to reach him. ¡°Good thing they are stupid, just how wide spread are these things?¡± He quickly jumped back on the ship, and tried to escape, as his ship started to float away, several shadows leaped over, trying to cling to the side. Lan just let lose a casual swing, that sent a flurry of scarlet blades into the shadows, instantly dispersing them. He stared at the sword, and asked lazily. ¡°You know what those are?¡± ¡°The fact you don''t is the bigger problem.¡± ¡°They are corrupted souls that cling to human life, seeking to return to human flesh and blood, if they get hold of a human, they violate the spirit, and take over the body, the body becomes a vessel turning into a barbarous human, that does nothing but worship monsters, and hunt humans.¡± The ship eventually reached a fair distance away from the cliffs, and slowly flew away, he could see hordes of those things just staring at him, and whispering strange words incessantly, like an ancient curse. With a small sigh he quickly let the ships fly away, not even bothering to stare back at the army of shadows. Just as he was flying away his eyes lit up, and he turned around, a black condensed ball of black gas flew from a far distance, arcing into the ship. Lan let the ship fly by itself, he grabbed the sword, and sent blades of red light into the black fog, causing it to explode, releasing a cloud of miasma. His true sight magnified the area where the attack came from and sighted a humanoid clad in black, dyed in a gaseous form, launching more balls of miasma. He asked the sword quietly, ¡°hey do you have any other abilities?¡± ¡°If you slit your wrists then maybe.¡± Lan ignored her words, and forced mana in the sword again, this time he aimed the red blades at the gaseous creature, the blades glowed violently, and even leaked red gas.The red blades flew out instantly, it pierced through the black projectiles that were hurled at him, and punctured the creature from afar. It''s head was cleanly severed, and it''s midsection left a gleaming red line, where it exploded in a violent red light. ¡°Using a sword for long distance attacks is really a waste of energy, I should have grabbed a long range weapon.¡± More of those things started to appear, but his ship was already too far, and the attacks could no longer reach him. After a few minutes, it once again became a silent journey in the sky. He chewed on some smoked fish, while staring into distance. After awhile of flying he realized he needed to relieve himself, but the one great thing about flying was that the earth below him was now no different then a free, giant washroom that stretched endlessly in it''s glorious majesty. As he was about to take off his pants he noticed something burning in the distance, a large floating ship was being attacked by winged humanoid creatures. Several people from the ship fell overboard to their deaths, as the remaining few fought off the humanoid birds, that sent shock waves from their mouths. If he did not hurry, everyone on that ship would not hold out, but if he did, another tragedy would occur. Life was truly not fair, and full of harsh realities.