"Now, why did I not get this as the welcome committee", Diane said."I thought you said that you appeared in a field of flowers?", Deirdre asked with a look of confusion on her face."Yes, I did. However, outside that field of flowers was a lot of barren lands, before I managed to get to you", she answered. "In comparison, this place is a paradise", she added.In front of them at that moment was a valley, beautiful enough that the only description that could be given to it was that it was a paradise, just as Diane had mentioned.Aside from the flowers, plants, and beautiful trees that filled the valley, animals were grazing in the fields. From animals that looked like deer, bulls, and oxen, to the more predatory ones with sharp canines designed to gouge on the flesh of their prey, the place was a biome with a sustained living."Well, the charm fades fast when you get to watch everything die multiple times, stuck in the same spot with no way to make a difference to the outcome of every
It was in this position that Aiden lay for the next few hours while the hail and rain let out their fury on the land. The pain eventually went away, but Aiden remained on his back. He did not move a muscle as he began to converse with Zarek at some point.The between him and Zarek was regarding this bizarre world he was in, and the only response he got from Zarek was that he had no clue what the world was.According to Zarek, he expected that getting pulled out of the trial of lava would have meant the completion of the test he was facing. Getting pulled into another world was one he did not expect. Since that was all the information he had on the issue, and given that he could not leave the tiny hole he was hiding in while the hailstorm was still on, Aiden chose to search for any relevant information in the library to pass the time.His search for a solution yielded no useful information that he did not already know or was just useless for his situation.As he sighed at the frustrati
It was early in the morning, and Fraser just handed Alyssa over to the Queen. He had decided not to take her along as she would draw a lot of attention.As you would expect of the willful character that Alyssa was, she got grumpy and kept to herself the entire time. She even decided not to give any sort of goodbye as Fraser walked away from the palace. It wasn't until he was almost out of her line of sight that she turned and looked at him with eyes that sparkled in the light.Fraser did not notice this, however, the queen who stood beside Alyssa did, and she stroked Alyssa's scales in response. Alyssa also responded by resting her head on the queen's lap.Fraser did not know any of this as he walked back to the barracks. His expression had changed from the normal look a person had to an indifferent one that seemed to tear a hole into anyone who looked directly into his eyes. This meant that as he walked into the barracks, the people who were about to greet him pulled back and were fr
"Well, we have our climactic event", Aiden said with a mischievous smile across his face. "Go on, it's time for you to shine", he added as he opened the door.Aiden and Connor were both taken aback by the number of people standing outside the door. He had expected maybe ten people who would take on the job of hunting him and Connor. Unfortunately, there were about seventy people there from a quick estimation.This was a lot more than he expected… This sight froze Connor in his tracks and at that moment, the warning they'd been given rang in their ears continuously.Aiden quickly got his mind back in order and he leaned close to Connor and whispered to him…"Are you ready to take a beating?", he asked.Connor was not having that because he fired a question back almost immediately, "do we have to? Maybe we can outrun them", he suggested at the end of his statement.However, Aiden smiled and turned Connor's eyes to the top of the buildings. The sight Connor witnessed made his eyes widen
They made almost no sound as they dived into the river ad continued the journey by swimming. Fraser continued to look into the distance like he was oblivious to what was happening around him. It also became clear as to why Randell and his men dived into the water, because barely a few seconds after they did that, the mirror-like barrier began to vanish right before Fraser's eyes.The vanishing barrier was so subtle that from Fraser's point of view, it did not register as something that was happening, and this in turn meant that Fraser still made no reactions to it.This act, however, only lasted until a few moments after the barrier vanished. Fraser did not turn to look as you would expect he would if he noticed something out of place, instead, in the limited visibility of the night, the corner of his lips raised as they portrayed a sinister smile."I'll be happy to play, now that you have chosen punishment", he muttered under his breath, low enough that it was basically a thought.On
Being injured in the first few seconds of the confrontation was not a good sign, even if the injuries were just scrapes and bruises. This train of thought became a reality not too long after because the briwyns came in for the second round of attack on the disorganized group.They tried to pull themselves together to counter the attacks, but they were off-kilter and this played a very big part in how they ended up. They were pulled under the water one more time, and when they came out again, there were a lot more wounds on them.Given that the briwyns outnumbered them almost three to one, it was not surprising that they had a hard time fending off the aquatic weapons that had now turned on them.Randell who stayed behind with his injured man was watching this happen… It seemed almost impossible to get a deeper level of anger from Randell's expression, but he did it at that moment, his expression scrunched until he was almost blinded by his own skin.Randell's men after a few rounds of
Time passed and everything went through the natural rounds as they were expected to. The arcanas hunted, gained points, and spent them to improve themselves.It was getting close to the time the raid was supposed to begin; the trial of the ruins. As they got close to the eighth week that had been scheduled, the tension in all their minds was palpable. None of them had any idea what the ruin would be like but were full of anticipation for its arrival.This was the situation until the day that things began to change in preparation for the first ruin opening… The first change was bizarre, to say the least, however, it was very understandable.No one had any control over it as they vanished from wherever they were in the world. This was simply like a blur across their faces as they vanished and opened their eyes to see themselves standing somewhere in the central city. Everyone who had been deposited in the central city quickly found that they were not alone in this as they looked left an
"Here we are, I hope you are ready. The first ruin is here and it will be open to you all in three days"This was all she said this time before she vanished. For a moment there was pin-drop silence, then there was an uproar as every person in the city looked up at the same object.The island became the center of the city as if wasn't already that, descending from the sky bathed in light the way it did. However, this was a different kind of fascination and attraction. In every mind that heard the announcement by the woman in the projection, two words echoed over and over till they managed to pull themselves together.Three days—This was the word that continued to echo even as some people continued to stare and some chose to find something else to do when they saw that there would be no other changes to the island, at least for that day. There were now two groups of people at that moment, the people who were so fascinated by the ruin that they looked like they had lost their minds… The
The crowd was pulled from the tragedy that the nobles caused, and some people started to point to the group suspended above them, whispering and murmuring various pieces of gossip.This was a topic that excited them all, however, the ones who were most excited for the revelation were the nobles who finally knew the people who beat them to occupy the highest floor of the tower.They did not hide the wicked grins on their faces and Aiden saw these grins on their faces. He also saw that the group were starting to descend from the sky into the midst of the crowd. That was bad and was quickly made worse when he noticed the nobles setting their hounds on the group.He could guess their thoughts. Even if the group was stronger than they were, given the position they occupied, they did not believe it and wanted to know for themselves how powerful they were.This gave Aiden a headache and his mind began to spin quickly, looking for a big enough distraction that would give the group a chance to
None could ask the other for help because each had someone attacking them, however, they were not noble scions for nothing. Despite being overpowered by the golems, they dealt some damage over time.It was not immediately obvious, but they managed to hold their own, and avoid grievous injuries even though there were several close calls.It took them each about an hour to circumvent their respective golems and deal enough damage to break through their chests.Hadrian was the first followed by Oscar shortly after with Tristan clocking in third, a few seconds behind Oscar. He was unhappy with this but he had no time to be unhappy because his face soon changed into a somber look. Oscar who had just tried to pick up the glowing multi-coloured orb was surprised to find the orb roll away from him and float up to meet the orb that came from Tristan’s golem. This also meant that the orb in Hadrian’s hand was the only one that remained.Oscar and Tristan noticed this, but they could do nothin
No one cared who had said that word because they all ran. The sight of the gray tentacles rising like pillars from the depths of the abyss was enough to scare every one of them.At the same moment, there was a rumble that spread across the skies of the city at that moment. Everyone heard it. Aiden, sitting in the restaurant was jolted from his thoughts and joined everyone else as they looked up at the ruin.He witnessed a few of the tentacles of the beast appear on the edge of the ruin as he had seen before they entered the ruin.‘That bridge, huh? They might be lucky enough to escape'.He did not care much if these people beat the ruin and made it to the temple. He had gotten his rewards and he was happy with that.Tristan and his group had immediately dashed off the bridge, but the tentacles came down on the bridge at a lightning-fast speed.This attack ripped the bridge apart, leaving just three people from Tristan’s group unscathed.Tristan’s face was painted with horror like ever
Aiden was dumbfounded. How was this a reward? It simply contradicted itself. The problem it caused was having him be a prime target for the Zaltyr, but it would also save him from them once.Then, is the mark erased once the life-saving opportunity is used?[Yes, everything returns to normal after that]This made him heave a sigh of relief. He tried to look at this from a positive perspective. This meant the mark was not meant to specifically protect him from the Zaltyr, its main purpose was to protect him from every other thing that tried to kill him.Thinking about it this way made it easier to accept the fact that he was going to be in trouble with the Zaltyr sooner or later, albeit only slightly.Elder Zarek watched Aiden go through his thoughts for a few minutes while he thought of the command he had received from The World Seed.Aiden had recovered his thoughts at this point and decided to check on his elemental seed. He was elated to see the changes to his elemental seed.The mu
None of the thirty remaining survivors was stupid and they took things as calmly as they could. There was no visible harm to resting till a problem was identified and this was something they unanimously agreed on.As they expected, there was something that was out of the ordinary and it was found after two hours of waiting.The quiet rumble that came from the depths of the chasm was enough of a wake-up call.Theo of the Arco twins was the one who made the first comment, breaking the silence. None of them believed that crossing the bridge would be easy from the start, however, the realization that some unknown danger lurked beneath was enough to bring them flashbacks of their time in the maze.“There’s something down there as well? Why is this trial so difficult?”“Good thing we were patient…”“Patient? What does that do for us?”“Theo is not completely wrong. Every stage of the trials had been harder than the last”, Oscar took a deep breath.“Indeed… Something that can cause such a ru
“You just had to jinx it?”Raven rolled her eyes in response.The orb glowed and the rubble spread across the hall was drawn to it. One piece after the other, they mashed together and barely a moment later, a statue had formed.This statue looked the same as the ones they fought before, save for a few important differences. One, this new statue was massive, at least three times as tall. Two, the statue now had a weapon – A halberd which it swung around. Three, most importantly, it had lines running all over its body. Looking close enough these lines were runes just like the ones Aiden and the rest had, but these were very close to being complete, easily dwarfing the ones they had.Their expressions turned grave as the glowing eyes of the massive statue locked onto them.It was a golem, and it wasted no time. With a roar that sounded like thunder, it wielded its halberd and charged at them.There was no running from it, because, a sweep of its halberd made the hall feel claustrophobi
Raven who had suggested was the first to move, and the moment she did, everyone else followed her one after the other. They got to the stone coffin amidst their careful creeping without any problems. The unnerving feeling that they felt from the statues kept them on their toes as they expected everything to go wrong at any moment. "Now what", Raven asked. Aiden and Connor stepped here, and as he instructed; "Keep an eye out", the two of them pushed the lid off the stone coffin. They were right to be worried, because the moment the stone coffin opened slightly, light burst out of the opening. They were taken aback by this absurd light show, however, the light was like a tonic, one that breathed life into the surrounding. Life into the several warrior statues that lined the walls. Each of their eyes opened with a snap, glowing a bright orange, followed by cracks that came from the loosening of the joints on the statues. Gadiel was the first to speak regret about the situation, but
With Aiden and Connor leading the way, they stepped onto the rope bridge. The silence that fell on them at that was quite unnerving, but it helped them keep their focus. This meant that their reactions were spot on as they responded immediately to Aiden making any signals.This was the moment that they finally understood the danger that lay in the chasm beneath them. Apart from the scary chasm that looked like a bottomless pit, a sight that already promised them death should they fall into it, there was something else living in the chasm, and the dreadful atmosphere it brought with evidence of its existence sent chills running their spines. The conclusion here was very simple, there was trouble and they needed to be careful.Listening carefully, they heard the silent rumbles gradually fade away, taking with it the tense atmosphere they felt. You would expect Aiden to make a sudden dash to get across as quickly as possible, but he didn't. He was taking no chances, so continued steadily
"Three days?!", Raven started."Oh, don't get worked up, it was more like two and a half days", Princess Eleanor chipped in.Unfortunately, this did not change the reaction Raven had; in fact, her reaction got worse at that moment as she got frantic and almost lost her mind as she looked around."Calm down, Raven. Things are not as bad as you think. We are out of the grassland maze; of course, we had to wait for everyone to de-petrify before we continued…", Deirdre explained."So, what trial do we have now?", Raven asked and immediately got a response."Oh, the long rope bridge, strung across the chasm that has a tentacled beast living in it", Deirdre responded like that piece of information was of no consequence.Raven was silent as she stared off into space for a moment. When she got her mind back, she asked almost immediately… "Are we crossing now that I am awake?"A question to which Princess Eleanor answered in a snarky and sarcastic tone… "Hopefully". Her comment got a few gazes