The story talks about a young boy known as Cloud who aspired to become the greatest pilgrim warrior in Agaroth (the first warrior realm of mankind) despite his flaws, however there is more that meets the eyes as Agaroth is on the brink of extinction...
Within the bounds of a dark room, Cifer was on his knees, bowing his head while having a glowing outline around him with his irises glowing as well. "It is done." Cifer said at heart, "The hivelings have created chaos with the tools we supplied them." "Good." An ominous voice replied telepathically, "Time to move to the next step. We have done our part, now the hivelings will do theirs." "Yes, master. I will assist Balog and make sure all is fulfilled." Cifer said, "But if i may ask... Don't you think we are overstepping our boundaries with the hivelings? What they are about to do in our agreement... Don't you think Rora might get angry on how the lives of her people are being thrown away?" "She doesn't have a say." The voice replied, "She agreed to this. She agreed to our truce and plans. So whether she likes how her people are dying or not is none of my concern. Besides, some of our assets died in making sure the hivelings gets their pound of flesh." "Yes, we did lose some people." Cifer replied. "More information will be gathered in this new phase. We will learn more about them so that we can have a satisfied means of destroying them." The voice said, "We will have our revenge." "Yes, we will, master." Cifer responded, "But i must inform you that a Dreygar and a Stormwind still lives and surely you must have felt that strange power, earlier?" "A Dreygar and Stormwind still lives? Old information." The voice replied, "I received news about this months ago from Balog and his human students and allies. Balog is now revealing the news to our allies from other races, based on my orders." "I... I wasn't aware." Cifer said. "Of course you are not." The voice said, "In order to make sure no information gets leaked, i keep a lot of things secret, even from those in my inner circle." "But master, why reveal it now? Why are you letting others know about the survival of the Dreygar and Stormwind?" Cifer asked. "Because there is no point and need in keeping it anymore." The voice answered, "A lot of things has happened and things need to happen; rumours were already running wild across other races about the survival of these two. Do your work and i will do mine." "Yes, master." Cifer said. "And as for that strange power... Worry not." The voice said, "No matter what happens, i am always 10... Steps... Ahead." In the ruins of Keigra, the chiefs of the major tribes stood on their feet and took notice of the corpses of countless people laying on the ground and the wrecked environment as well. At the time the chiefs were staring at the corpses, Chief Ezgord noted the horrified look on Chief Tenya and Chief Miza. "MIKAH!!!" A teenage long black haired girl screamed with tears in her eyes, catching the attention of the major tribe chiefs as she was on her knees with a deceased little boy in her arms, "MIKAH, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! BROTHER PLEASE DON'T GO! SAY SOMETHING!! PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!!!" "Lemani..." A brown haired man with an imperial beard said with a shaky voice as he was holding a little girl (who seemed about four) in his arms, "This... This has got to be a bad dream, right? I am obviously dreaming, right, daughter...?" "Right...?" The man asked as tears were flowing out of his eyes. During the time this was happening, a little boy covered in sooth and rags was gazing down at the corpses of man and woman with the look of indifference and in that very moment, the wailings of many in Keigra heavily increased along with the screams of their lost ones. "MOTHER!!!" "FATHER!!!" "MY SON! MY SON! HAS ANYONE SEEN MY SON?!!!" "BROTHER! BROTHER, PLEASE DON'T DIE ON ME!!" "KEDURA! KEDURAAA!!!!" Chief Tenya being overwhelmed with heartbreak, drops to her knees with both eyes closed and was tightly clutching the ground with her tears dropping on it. Chief Miza looks to her left and sees Chief Ezgord staring at the destruction with an emotionless expression but while he was staring, Chief Ezgord had a recollection of little Sting staring down at a mound of Ripar corpses. "How could we let this happen?" Chief Tenya asked, promoting Ezgord and Miza to glance at her. "We were suppose to be their watchers... Their protectors, but this happened under our nose." Chief Tenya said, "How...? Just how...?" Unable to answer, Ezgord and Miza stared at Tenya shortly and resumed gazing at the havoc. Meanwhile Kein had awoken while groaning in pain of headache and found Sonia and a couple of other students glancing around their environment. "Sonia." Kein called as he moved towards her, causing Sonia to look back at him. "Oh, you are finally awake." Sonia said. "Yeah, i am." Kein replied, "Sonia, what happened? What's going on? I-" "Kein, stop for a minute and observe where we are." Sonia cuts in. Kein halts momentarily and observes his environment which happened to be a golden leafed forest. "Hmm. The leaves are here golden and this place feels a little odd." Kein said, "It's like we've been here before." Kein's eyes widened as he immediately had a realization of their current location "... Wait a minute... Are we in...?" "Yes, we are in Erishkal forest." Sonia answered as she resumes facing forward, "I am not sure how we got here but i feel it had something to do with that light earlier." "You mean the one that came out of nowhere in Keigra?" Kein asked. "Yes." Sonia replied, "By the time i woke up, i found others with me in this forest. We've been trying to get out of here while carrying you along but we ended going in circles, which is found odd because we all know our way out of Erishkal forest." "Oh man! Oh man! Oh man!!" Rizel said while sitting on the ground with a worry-filled visage, "First, Cloud, now this. I can't take it anymore!" "At ease, Rizel." A blond male Tenplar with a fade mohawk and flaming orange eyes said, "This whole thing is also frustrating for us too." "Yeah, Nax is right." Uil said, "We are all confused and frustrated with what is going on but we can't let it tear us down." "Still, who would have thought Cloud of all people would possess that amount of power?" Somalia asked, "A power great enough to make the chiefs bow and destroy one's existence. How does that even make any sense? I always knew there was something fishy about him but i didn't think it would be this." "We all thought he was a minor but he was never one to begin with." Kein said at the time he was facing the ground with his finger on his chin, "It was a lie. All of it. That whitehead fooled us." "Let's not jump into conclusions." Sonia said, "I am sure there is a proper explanation for what happened, but right now this isn't what we should focus on." "You're right." Nax said, "Cloud shouldn't be our concern. This situation we are in, i can wager we are not alone in it..." "There are others that could facing the same thing we are facing." Nax said as other students were wandering around in the forests of Zenob, Xondu, Kohes and Arkelix, "And whatever brought us here is definitely the work of an enemy, so if we are to survive, we need to stay sharp and focus. Understand?" "Yeah." Kein, Sonia and the twins answered. "Good. Now get the others in this forest ready." Nax said, "We need to be prepared for what could happen next." Just as Kein, Sonia and the twins walked away, Rizel (while still sitting on the ground) looks back and sees Nax stretching out his hand towards her. "We need you too, Rizel." Nax said, "I have a gut feeling something big is about to happen and we will need your assistance if we are all going to survive." Rizel stared at Nax for a while and grabbed hold of his arm to stand on her feet. "Good. Let's go." Nax said. "Wait." Rizel said before Nax could leave, "I paid attention to everything you told them but... What if Cloud was the one that brought us here to be destroyed?" "I doubt it." Nax answered (while facing forward), "That person in the arena didn't seem like Cloud and on top of it, he called himself Cloud's other half. Not sure what he meant by that but if he wanted to destroy us, he wouldn't need to bring us here." "This is too much for me to handle, right now." Rizel said while rubbing her temple, "Whoever that person is, he was strong enough to make the chiefs kneel. If he can do something like this to the strongest of our race then what else can he do? And now we are dealing with this. I don't think i am mentally prepared right now." "The Rizel i knew would never sound like that." Nax said, "She was headstrong, always making jokes even in tight situations and on top of it..." "She would always put up a beautiful smile." Nax said as he turned back with a smile which made Rizel blush. "I understand you and if it makes you feel better, i am frightened about what happened and what is happening." Nax said, "But i cannot let fear rule my mind, not when we need each other right now. I am not the strongest here, heck i don't even hold a candle to the big ones; Sonia and Kein are the strongest warriors we have with us in this forest, but Kein, I'm not even sure if he has mentally recovered from what Karma did to him. There is so much going on and so little we know and i am doing the least i can to help everyone but i can't do it without everyone's help, so please, can i have your assistance?" Rizel nods her head in response and Nax smiles warmly at her. "Thank you." Nax said, "Now let's go." As Nax and Rizel set off to meet the others, Rizel placed her shoulders against Nax's shoulders and smiles. "Hey, Nax, wanna hear a joke?" Rizel asked. "Sure..." Nax said with a raised brow. "Ok. Why do lions like preying on creatures that run fast?" Rizel asked. "I don't know." Nax answered. "Because lions likes fast-food!" Rizel said heartily. Rizel bursts out with laughter and Nax pretends to laugh with her. "Ok, ok, hear this: what kind of guy among our peers walks up to Karma and calls her weak to her face?" Rizel asked. "An idiot." Nax replied. "No. A guy with balls of steel!" Rizel said heartily. Rizel bursts out in laughter once again while Nax stared at her with a wtf face and as her laughter had died down, Rizel gazed at Nax and Nax smirked at her nervously. "Heh." Nax said. Just as the two were close to the location of Kein and the others, Sonia takes notice of the two approaching. "Alright, everyone, they are here." Sonia said, causing the others to glance back. "Hey, everyone!" Rizel said with a smile while waving her hand. "Her spirit seems to be back." Kein said. "Yeah, it is!" Rizel said, "I even made two jests and they were funny!" "That's a first." Somalia said. "Somalia, don't be so mean." Uil said. "I'm not being mean." Somalia said. "Welcome!" A voice sounded. Nax and the other students looked around to see who spoke but saw no one. "I believe this is the first time you are seeing me, human children." Balog said as his face appeared in the sky, allowing the students in different forests to gaze at him, "I am Balog, the host of the game you are about play and the name is the 'Red mist'." "Game?" Ziron asked inwardly. "Red mist?" Raen asked inwardly. "It was supposed to have started earlier but i had some things to take care of, so i apologize for that." Balog said, "Without further delay, i will explain the game to you. It is very simple and it has one way and one way of playing it... Survival." An enormous hourglass suddenly appears in the sky and began to rotate slowly. "You see, you young ones of the human race will face the toughest young ones of the hivelings, thanks to Rora and you must survive until the sand in the glass has gone down completely." Balog said, "Now i know what you are thinking: is this what we are to do? Face a couple of enemies? Well, yes but it's not as simple as you think." Countless black-yellow portals appeared in the forests with hivelings stepping out of them, leaving the humans there heavily surrounded. "This game isn't going to be a 10 on 1 or 20 on 1. It is going to be a '40 on 1' game." Balog said, "Not only are you heavily outnumbered but from what our insiders have given us, you are heavily outmatched. Oh, i forgot, the environment you are in may look like the forests you are familiar with but it isn't and it is large enough to contain everyone with no chances of escaping. Have fun, humans. And as for our insiders... 'You can now reveal your true colors'.
The game starts now."
Balog disappears from the sky and the sand in the hourglass began to pour. In Erishkal forest, each student stood back to back with each other as they were being cautious of the hivelings surrounding them.
"Stay together." Nax said as he was standing back to back with Rizel.
At that time, Sonia and Kein were standing back to back along with the twins as well, Rizel grinned and slammed her fist against her palm.
"Heh. 40 to 1, huh? Looks like we've got a big ass brawl as a festival." Rizel said, "Nax, before i go all out in this fight, i have one more jest to make: what do you do when an enemy stands in front of you?" "You stand and fight." Nax said. "<Wrong.>" Rizel said. Rizel swiftly turns around and pierces Nax from behind with her four fingers, catching Nax and the other humans off guard. "You wipe them all out." Rizel said. Rizel pulls out her hand from Nax's back and left Nax to drop dead on the ground. "Rizel...?" Uil called in confusion. "I guess it can't be helped, huh?" Rizel asked while facing Nax's corpses with a grin as her upper face was overshadowed, "What a joke..." "What a freaking joke!" Rizel said as she turned around with a smile as she stuck out her tongue while her eyes had changed colors to that of black scleras and red irises. At Arkelix forest, a female Ripar's head was immediately crushed by a foot which turned out to be Ziron and as he lifts his head, Ziron's eyes were the same with that of Rizel's.
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