《The Tale of Gods》 Chapter 1 "Huff, Huff......" A young boy was running in a jungle. It was almost dusk and you could still see the moons shining brightly. In the distance one could see ''the Great Mountains of Crystals''. It refracted the moon lights splendidly in every direction. The boy''s face was completely flushed, probably because he ran continuously for quite some time. It seemed as if the boy knew his way around the forest splendidly. He changed directions several times and seemed to know the terrains of the forest quite well. It was also not strange that he did not encounter any wild beasts that lurked in the forest. Even so there was not a single path in the forest which looked like it was treaded before. It took him about 15 minutes of running when he finally neared a place that he seemed to know. Even then, he didn''t stop running. In that area there were several trees which had tree houses built on top on them. But there was no source of light coming from any of the houses. The boy immediately ran up to a tree which had bells hanging from one of the lower branches and started ringing them. He didn''t ring them loudly but in a way that it could reach every house that was built on the trees. As soon as he rang the bell, within seconds all kind of people started climbing down from the houses. They were people of different races and were supposedly living in the same community. The people continuously started climbing down the tree. "Hurry the emergency bell has been rung, pick any thing that is light-weighted and can be eaten and lets leave quickly" one of the people said. One of the girls that was climbing down the tree asked the boy "Clay, are they really coming? I really didn''t wanna leave this place. This was one of the better places that we found" The girl''s name was Lily. She looked about 14 years old but, she was a high elf, so her true age could have been even in the hundreds, or it might be really 14. "Yeah.... Lily, I was out scouting when I heard them coming inside the forest. Apparently, they want to build a road through this forest that connects their capital to the mountain" The girl was clearly disappointed, but most certainly was not scared. Just like the other people she started going towards the group the was being formed. While all of this was happening, Clay looked up and shouted in a low-pitched voice "Nero, come down quickly. We don''t have much time" Just as he said that a boy literally jumped from inside one of the houses on top of the trees.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. While falling he grabbed onto the many branches below and landed swiftly. "Careful" "We don''t have the time right?" All the children assembled there didn''t look much older than 20. But it was hard to tell because of their different races. As soon as everyone gathered, Clay took command. "Okay, I really didn''t want to be the deliverer of bad news this time but we have to move again. The dark knights are coming this way and considering that they are dark knights, we don''t have much time left" Then Clay took out a huge map and pointed to a location. "Since this was decided as the next location when we came here, we will go here." A girl named Bella stepped forward. "So it is huh. I really didn''t want to go to this place, but we have to make them keep guessing our steps so it can''t be helped." Everyone in the group frowned. Bella then said "You know the drill, every one above the age of 15 form a circle and hold each other''s hand. The children younger than 15 or equal should stay inside the circle" The people immediately formed a circle. It seemed as if they even knew their positions of who should stand beside who. All of a sudden, a magical aura started emanating from inside of Bella. "I request the God of Lightening ''Blaze'' to take us to the Gauntlet of the Graveyards, In turn we offer to you our mana and hope that it suffices your conditions". Suddenly, all of a sudden clouds gathered around the area where the children were standing. In a place close to this a group of hundred Knights were running towards this place. These soldiers were more like a cloud of black mist moving at a furious speed towards this place. "Those little creeps have begun their magic, we need to move more quickly" "Damnit". One of the knights exclaimed as the clouds started crackling because of thunder. The knights started becoming a haze as their speed exceeded the human limits by hundred folds. It looked like they were dead set on capturing the kids for reasons unknown. It was because it was a direct order from their king. To either capture and bring back the children alive or have their heads beheaded and their bodies fed to the werewolves. The lightening became more and more frequent and all of a sudden it went quiet. Then suddenly a huge bolt of lightning fell on to the place where the children were standing. It went pitch black after that. The bolt of lightning was so huge that it covered the whole of the area where the houses were built. With the strike of lightening the children all disappeared. The area that once surrounded them was completely charred. Just as all of this happened the dark knights arrived on the scene. "They slipped by us" One of the knights said. "There is nothing we can do now except for track them down. We have a limited number of days and we can''t go back empty handed. I like my head where it is now" The leader spoke. "Form a team of twenty-five and take the four directions from here who ever catches them keeps the reward. AT least you would have saved our lives. In the glory of the Dark God ''Silas''" Instantly the group disbanded. What was once a lively place with lots of children was now completely silent. There were only charred trees around fuming with smoke. In a place far away from the forest the same lightening again fell down in what appeared to be barren land. There were many cracks on the ground as wide as 50 meters and deeper than the eye could see. There was absolutely no sign of any life form around. The sun was already up and shined brilliantly. This was the place known as the Gauntlet of Graveyards. IT was a dangerous place the very few in the world had survived. "We are here" Bella said. "Okay. Diamond formation. Now" Clay instantly shouted. Every one present there including young children formed a shape of diamond. "Isn''t that just a myth. Will it really come?" A boy named Nate asked. "No¡­. It is here alright." Clay sighed. Suddenly the ground tremored and started splitting apart. A loud ear deafening shriek could be heard. Actually, the ground split because of the noise. "Yup. You were right Clay" Nate said exhausted. The children looked up. What appeared like a bird a big as a castle was flying towards them. If one looked closely without going blind they would observe that the bird came directly from inside the sun. The children began to feel the heat from the majestic bird that was coming down, that could destroy them within seconds. "Let''s see if what father said really comes true or not" Clay¡¯s voice faded as the bird neared closer to them. Chapter 2 The bird came towering down with all its might and landed in front of the children. Needless to say, it was a phoenix. Its entire body was covered in flames. But surprisingly the children didn¡¯t feel any heat emanating from its body. It landed onto the ground and looked at the children. Everything was very still and quiet. The children waited for the Phoenix to make the first move. In the next few moments the phoenix spoke in human tongue. ¡°Who is the leader among you?¡± The children were apparently not surprised from hearing the phoenix speaking their language. ¡°It¡¯s me¡± Clay stepped forward. He decided that the phoenix did not want to kill them just yet, or they¡¯d be dead by now. These mythical creatures of the legend were powerful creatures who only listened to the Gods they served. It was known that different Gods had different rides. Not every ride was a creature of legend. Some of them were even animals picked up from the planet. All of these animals had a holy status on the planet. It was an unspoken rule that no one will hunt or kill their kind out of respect for the Gods. ¡°Hmmm¡­.. So you are the one that led them here¡± Phoenix spoke in an ancient tone. ¡°You all are the students of Parashuram aren¡¯t you?¡± The children were surprised. Their master Parashuram told them to come to this place if they were ever in danger. But never had they expected this legend to know the name of their master whom they treated as their father. ¡°You know our father?¡± Nero asked. He was one of the impulsive ones among the group. But he followed the orders of his brother down to every word.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Yes, well he is quite famous among the Gods you know¡± ¡°It seems that you all don¡¯t know much about his past¡± This time Clay said ¡°He¡­ didn¡¯t talk much about his past. He just said to come here if we ever face any life-threatening danger¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­. Is that so? He didn¡¯t tell you anything about his past. Anyway I can tell that he was your master. You all can stay in this place. As long as all of you don¡¯t grow up to 18. You won¡¯t have any shortage of food or water or shelter¡± As soon as the phoenix said that the entirety of the land that came to be known as the Gauntlet of Graveyards immediately was filled with green trees and plants and a huge lake emerged out of nowhere. Suddenly a castle started emerging from the ground. It was magnificent and shining. Much more majestic than any of the castle that were present in the world. ¡°You can all live here. As long as even one of you lives here, no one in this entire world can come inside it. Only you all are allowed. You must cultivate and meditate your art. It seems that you all are miles away from mastering it. But since you are ¡®his¡¯ disciples. It won¡¯t take long for you to get stronger. After you are above the age of 18 wander around this world. Take whatever you can help whoever you want. Because once you reach a level, a whole new world awaits you. Don¡¯t let your master down¡± All of this happening around them with the phoenix speaking to them and helping them in such a way left all of them shocked to their core. Most of them started to wonder how significant their master was to make the phoenix do something like that for them. Nate couldn¡¯t resist and asked the phoenix. ¡°Who was our master really that it makes you go to such a distance for us? He looked very simple and had a very gentle personality. He trained us hard but that¡¯s it¡± The phoenix was quiet for some time thinking what to tell the children and what not to. Finally he replied ¡°Your master hated wars and loved normal way of life and normal people. This you must all be familiar with. But what you don¡¯t know is that he was the most powerful existence on the planet¡± That answer left all the children speechless. They could never have imagined their master to be that strong let alone be the strongest in the world. The phoenix continued ¡°As you know the five nations here are in an everlasting war with each other. Because of that many normal people who had nothing to do with the war were sacrificed. Angered from all of this he went on to kill every single member of the army of all the five nation¡± The children couldn¡¯t believe what they just heard. ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡± Nero said. ¡°How could a single man kill millions of people alone?¡± The phoenix laughed. ¡°Nothing is impossible kid. Your master was the living proof of that. He is the reason the five nations didn¡¯t dare to wage war until your master died. He threatened them to stop and left. Not even the Gods who the different nations worship could do anything¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry you will come to know everything in due time. Until then stay here and become strong. Don¡¯t tread the path of hatred but the path of forgiveness, not anger but trust¡± As it said those last few words the phoenix shrieked one more and vanished into thin air.