Game of the Destiny

All races gathered.

After receiving the acknowledgment of the king, the higher-ups, and the people of the Taraec kingdom. Dante now officially serves as a prince as well as the owner of power and command for every division of soldiers in the kingdom.

Of course, Dante was very worried about that. Can a 20-year-old like him give good orders, Dante thought at the time?

"Prince, you should rest now. The Game of the Destiny opens tomorrow and will begin. We will prepare everything necessary for this!" said Gustave. The man was very friendly toward Dante. He seemed like an easygoing person.

Taraec is a fairly large European-style castle located in the eastern region of Niflheim. Currently, Niflheim is divided into regions according to the cardinal points. Each race had its territory, while the human race currently controlled the eastern region of the land.

After Dante arrived in the kingdom, a welcoming party was immediately held, and the residents and everyone in the castle welcomed Dante's arrival with great joy. The king had seen the man's worthiness for himself. He had been convinced that Dante was indeed the chosen one.

Taraec Castle stands on a hill covered in thick snow in the eastern region of Niflheim, at the foot of the hill there is a small river that is always frozen. It is a branch of the Elivarga, a sacred river that originates from a sacred well in the north of the land. Where Nidhug who is a God is.

Like a castle in general. Taraec has four watchtowers and one homage tower which is in the center and is attached to the main building. Protected by a sturdy fence that unites every corner of the existing watchtower. The castle was sturdy enough to protect the citizens of the kingdom from external attacks. Having a strategic position is also an advantage of the castle.

The castle consists of several rooms. There is a meeting hall that is the center of the castle, several bedrooms, a basement, a dining room, a special meeting room, and many other rooms such as a weapons-making room, a warehouse, and a room containing a worship altar at the top of the main tower. The residents live around the castle grounds which have a very wide diameter, some of them choose to live outside the castle fence.

That night Dante chose to go around the castle a bit. He needed to know the layout of the castle well.

Choosing to avoid Dante's crowd until he reached the back of the castle, Dante saw a white light coming from a small house that stood not far from the stern of the castle. Dante who felt attracted by the light immediately walked and approached the source. He was stunned when he saw a very beautiful woman who was doing treatment for a royal soldier who was injured.

The woman placed her palm on the wounded soldier's body. He seemed to be reciting some incantations, and what Dante saw at that moment was amazing, the small magic circle that came out of the woman's palm emitting a greenish-white light. The light hit and healed the wounds suffered by the soldiers until they healed and left no scars.

"Is it healing magic?" asked Dante. He impolitely walked into the small building.

The shocked woman suddenly stopped what she was doing, while the soldier looked just as shocked.

Seeing the robe and sword that Dante brought, the two immediately knelt, they knew that Dante was the prince of fire.

"Nice to meet you, Prince." The woman greeted respectfully.

Dante, who felt very awkward because of the treatment, immediately asked the two people to get up.

"Can you stand back up!" said Dante.

With great respect, the two immediately got up as Dante wanted.

The soldier left immediately, the wound he received had healed well. The soldier said that he had to rejoin his troop unit immediately, leaving Dante alone with the woman.

Dante continued to look at the woman's face, she was very beautiful with long wavy hair, curly eyelashes, and authentic red lips.

"Introducing, I'm Aletta. I'm one of the healers in this castle!" she said, the woman bowed her head slightly.

"Nice to meet you, Aletta," said Dante. He was a little nervous. It was the first time seeing such a beautiful woman.

"Forgive me for not attending your welcoming ceremony!" Aletta said. She explained that at that time he had to treat several soldiers who were injured while hunting to collect food supplies in the castle.

"Don't worry, more importantly, I'm very interested in what you just did!" said Dante.

"I mean, the way you treated the soldier!" Dante added.

"It's healing magic. We're commonly called 'Healers'!" Aletta replied.

Dante understood a little, however in that world, there were a lot of strange things that were beyond reason, and healing magic didn't seem that surprising.

"That's amazing. I'm still very unfamiliar with such things!" said Dante.

"Why don't you enjoy this welcoming party with the others?" asked Aletta.

"I'm quite clumsy, I thought it would be best if I went around a bit to recognize this place!" Dante replied.

"I can accompany you!" said Aletta.

"This place is quite spacious, I'm afraid you will get lost," said Aletta, the woman smiled very sweetly, making Dante's heart beat very fast.

Dante agreed to the invitation. Aletta accompanies Dante to get to know each room in the castle a little. They surround almost the entire contents of the castle, be it the halls, special meeting rooms, and many others. Aletta is like a Tour Guide, the lady explains every function of the building very well to Dante.

Until they arrived at the tower of respect, in the tower there are about 4 floors, where each floor has a different function, and at the top, there is an altar of worship. It was the room where Nidhug would give missions to the human race in Game of the Destiny.

"The altar of worship is the only place and means to communicate with Nidhug!" Aletta explained.

The method used is very simple. Every time a mission has been assigned, then Nidhug will give a message through the altar.

"Every mission we have will be delivered through this altar!" said Aletta.

Dante stared at the altar. Contrary to what he thought, it turned out that the term altar of worship was not what he expected. It functions more like a payphone in modern times.

"So this is the only place where we can communicate with Nidhug?" asked Dante.

"Yeah. I think it's more like one-way communication!" Aletta replied.

Dante nodded his head. He began to understand how the communication system was implemented in that dimension.

The altar is in the shape of a hexagon with some ancient inscriptions that are very foreign to him.

"How did Nidhug deliver the message?" asked Dante curiously.

"He will appear in the center of the altar in spirit form. He will personally deliver the mission!" Aletta explained.

"The altar will shine very brightly just before Nidguh appears to deliver a mission. The light is so bright that it makes the spire shine. That's how we know if he's coming!" said Aletta added.

"When will the mission be given? I mean, is there a specific timeframe?" asked Dante. His curiosity was starting to peak.

"Unfortunately not. Nidhug tends to give missions as he pleases. But each number of missions we get will be equal to the number of missions accepted by other races!" Aletta replied.

"That's why the success points in each mission will be very important for every clan in participating in this game!" said Aletta.

Dante and Aletta were surprised by the arrival of a man who brought an offering pot to the altar. He was quite influential in the royal structure.

"You here Prince?" said the man. He was Hector, someone who was the king's, right-hand man.

Dante slightly lowered his head to the man. He was quite worried about the aura that emanated from him.

"We make a small offering to Lord Nidhug, we hope that he will not bring misfortune to this kingdom!" said Hector as he placed his offering tray on the holy altar.

"You'd better get some rest. Game of the Destiny starts tomorrow, you need to rest your body while you still have time!" said Hector offering his advice.

Dante took that as an order. It seemed that the man wanted Dante and Aletta to leave the place immediately.

Dante and Aletta immediately left and left Hector in the room alone. Dante who felt a little disturbed immediately commented on what he had just seen.

"Do you think Nidhug is God?" Dante asked Aletta.

Aletta did not immediately answer the question. She seemed to think for a moment.

"Of course not. I don't think God would toy with his creatures just for fun!" Aletta replied.

"That's why I don't worship him!" added the woman.

"Rather than that, how about I walk you to your room now? It's true what Hector said, I think you should rest first!" said Aletta.

Dante agreed to that. He did feel his body was quite burdened after going through the portal that brought him to that world.

******

Dante got off his royal chariot, he was accompanied by Gustave as his right-hand man. He also brought at least 500 troops with him. That was almost half of the army he had.

That day Game of the Destiny will open. All the representatives of the races gathered on an open plain flanked by a very steep ice valley in the north of the land. It was a forbidden place for all races in the land, but specifically for that day, they were ordered to attend with their respective representatives. They call it the sacred valley.

There is an old well with very ancient architecture which seems to be the center of the place. Hvergelmir, the well where every dead spirit will anchor. At least that was the information Dante had received from Gustave.

Dante was stunned, it was his first time seeing other races in person, maybe he had seen werewolves when he was still in his world, but now all races have gathered and formed their respective ranks.

Werewolves, Vampires, Elves, Goblins, Orcs, and Dwarves, had gathered simultaneously in that area.

Dante swallowed. Seeing how terrifying those races were made his heart tremble. The atmosphere even felt very strong and pressing in that area.

Dante was starting to break out in a cold sweat. He didn't know if he could carry out his responsibilities well.

The area was now filled with seas of troops from every race, each of them carrying at least 500 or more troops.

Dante looked into each army from each race, he was looking for who the leader of each army was. Until his eyes met with the one standing at the very front of the werewolf race. The man from the werewolf race looked at Dante with a sharp gaze, as if the man had a very deep grudge against him.

"He is Alarik. The leader of the werewolves in this game!" said Gustave providing information.

"I think he has a bad view of me!" said Dante in response to Gustave's words.

"Yeah, that's not surprising. I think something that happened in the previous Game of the Destiny still has an imprint on their people!" Gustave replied.

Dante frowned.

"Something?" said Dante questioningly.