"Thank you for meeting me. As you might have guessed, I need your help on something, and my quest for information was only to confirm what I think I know", Deirdre started.She gestured to the guy beside her, and he pulled out a potion vial and placed it on the table in between both their groups."A token of my…""What exactly do you want from us?", Aiden interrupted with a question.Deirdre was silent for a moment before she said simply, "it would be better to show you… Tonight, the forest outside the city, north of the waterfall… You will find way markers to lead you to a meeting place"After saying this, Deirdre stood up with the guy following her and left the restaurant, leaving behind the potion. Props to Zakari, because while the third order potion he so desperately wanted was sitting on the table in front of him, his thoughts were on the credibility and risk Deirdre would bring to the group."She looks like she is afraid of something…", he said to Aiden, a moment after Deirdre
"Now we become the hunters… We watch and observe their actions and reactions", Aiden said to Diane.Diane turned to look at the two groups for a moment before she said to Aiden, "let's go". She led the way to another spot where the two parties could be seen much more clearly.Both groups were well hidden, but where Diane and Aiden stood made it quite easy to see them both."Your highness, what exactly did you do?", Aiden asked when he saw the indecision on Deirdre's face as well as the worried look on the face of the guy with her.Diane was silent for a moment before she answered, "You know that it is bizarre to have you talk to me like this after you told me what you thought of my behavior"It was Aiden's turn to be dumbfounded and he fell silent. He did not know how to respond to what she just said and he stared at her for a few seconds until she broke the silence."Maybe because you did not try to understand my actions before you hated me? You're a princess… Too much of a royal… Us
Amid all the uproar, there was one person who stood in the window of a tall tower looking up at the name shining in gold on the giant scoreboard projection.He was absorbed in his thoughts when the door opened and a man walked in… He stood a few paces behind the man and looked up at the scoreboard whose cracks were repairing themselves right there and said…"The emperor is waiting for an explanation to what happened", he said."Gaia… What do you think of what we saw?", the old man looking out of the window asked."I think we should only accept facts as we see them", he responded, but the old man followed up immediately after that response with a question."I am asking you as a friend… What do you think?", he said.The man called Gaia fell silent for a moment before he answered in a voice that felt different when compared to the way he spoke moments prior."Lord Ajax… I believe the world is changing… These changes are beyond our control but we have a choice when it comes to what we cho
After clearing out of the cave, Aiden and Diane began a long walk, trying to look for some sight insight into the damage that Aiden had done, but all they saw was a charred landscape... The remnant of a disaster caused by fire. As they walked even further, it became clear to them that they could not enter any cities. Heading for any city at this time was simply suicide because after walking for tens of kilometers, they came across cities with the gates shut tightly and no one outside those gates. It would be quite bizarre to have survived the disaster and come trudging back to the city like that... After coming to this conclusion, Diane pulled out her gold coin and used it as a compass to find their way back to the central city... The central city was not difficult given the impeccable directions of the coin, but they did not go near the city after coming within viewing distance of it... What they did was to stay out of sight and to find the highest landform near the city. Looki
Although there were seven people in the room, no one said anything.This created a situation where the silence was deafening. They were still stuck in this situation when a projection appeared in the room.In the projection was the familiar face of the woman who welcomed them to the central city on the first day."Good day... Due to the events that occurred yesterday, the requirements of a piece of information have been met and will now be delivered", she started.This projection did not just appear in Aiden's room, it appeared everywhere, not just in the central city, but in every city that had someone staying in it."This is the fifth week since you all arrived here. Your stay will last twelve weeks. At the moment, you are all required to raise your orders in preparation for a combat test that will come in at the end of your twelve-week stay""In the eighth week, the first ruin will open, and all will be allowed access... The rules and rewards will be explained in due time"With tha
A hand grabbed at Aiden, but Aiden did not flinch... Consequently, the hand that grabbed at him froze in mid-air.For a moment, all the momentum that had built up in that moment of cool declarations that Chip gave vanished.The guy who had tried to grab Aiden found his situation to be quite bizarre. This changed his motion from grabbing to trying to pull himself free."Reid, what are you doing?", One of his comrades asked."My hand is stuck", he responded with panic evident in his voice.Another person stepped out to confirm and help the frozen Reid... At this time, it became clear that Reid indeed had his hand frozen in mid-air. No matter how much they pulled, his hand remained in place."What did you do?", Chip growled at Aiden.However, Aiden's poker face was impeccable as he answered innocently, "I did not move, you were looking at me, weren't you?"Chip growled again because he did not have an answer to Aiden's response."I will count to three. If he is not free by then, I will s
Aiden stepped out of an alley at the same time that Diane entered his room… He did not look back as he blended in with the crowd and left the inner city. Minutes later, he was walking out of the city.He left in the most crowded direction he could find. Many of the participants had gotten over their fears and were now leaving the city.There was a bit of a rush now, everyone wanted to be the strongest they could be before the ruin opened. No one had any idea what the ruin would be like, but they all guessed that it could only be amazing considering the way it was announced by the woman in the projection.Following the crowd brought him deep into the forest. He came across many people on the way and most of them were in teams.He avoided them as best as he could, but he found that there were no briwyns to hunt at this distance into the forest… There was also the prickling sensation he got when someone was watching him from the shadows.When this sensation persisted kilometers into the
Zipping around the forest, Aiden and Harold turned into blurred shadows of themselves and in a few seconds, they had exchanged tens of punches and blocked just as many.When they separated, one could finally see their expressions, and bizarre as it was, they were both smiling widely, looking like they were having the time of their lives. The smile on Harold's face was by far the widest because they were no different from that of a psychopath.The group of arcanas surrounding the two spread out to give them space, although they maintained a relatively close encirclement to prevent any attempts to escape.It was unknown at the time if Aiden noticed this behavior, this encirclement, or if he was even bothered by it. However, one thing was clear for that moment, he had no thoughts of staging an escape, at least not yet.Their pause was only a small thing and they took off again, slamming their fists into each other so hard that the sounds their attacks made sounded like mini explosions.T