Sacred Arts

32. The Land Of The Titans

The four squad members entered the enormous hole which was in the center of the ocean. It seemed like the four young men had been falling for a long time. The sunlight and the blue color of the ocean began to fade away until the young men reached a depth that the sunlight could not touch. "I hope this was a good idea Jake!" Dustin yelled. "Yeah me too," Jake yelled while chuckling.

More time had passed, and the warriors continued to fall deeper into what seemed like an endless black abyss. "Jake, I think we've been falling for over three days," Lee said, concerned. "What should we do if this wasn't the right way?" Lee asked. "My honest answer is that since no one can fly, we are screwed," Jake replied seriously. "But there's no need to worry about that, this was the right way," Jake continued with a determined look on his face as he focused his eyes toward the direction that they were falling.

More hours had passed. "Lee, Dustin, Amon!?" Jake called out. None of the squad members had returned his call. "They must have lost consciousness due to the rapid descent for an extended period of time," Jake thought. Soon Jake himself also lost consciousness. Over twelve hours had passed until Jake had regained consciousness, but this time he woke up to an entire world below him. "Guys!" Jake yelled. "Everyone, you have to wake up now!" "We are closing in very fast," he yelled.

"No way, we are here," Dustin said, amazed. "Wait from this height and speed, the impact will leave us in critical condition," Dustin said with a look of fear on his face. "Dustin?" Jake yelled. "Good you're awake, hurry and grab Lee," he ordered. "I'll grab Amon." "We have to force them to wake up, and help us form a defensive barrier," he continued. "Alright, copy," Dustin said rushing to Lee's side. Jake and Dustin grabbed Amon and Lee, in an attempt to wake the sleeping warriors.

"Lee, Amon, wake up now!" Jake yelled. Lee and Amons' eyes shot open and horror mixed with surprise filled their hearts. "OK now that everyone is up, I need you all to pour all your energy into a defensive barrier now!" Jake ordered urgently. The four young men created a reinforced dome of energy around them all. Once the dome entered the atmosphere, it began to heat up. "More power now!" Jake yelled. "Hurry!" He continued.

Due to the extreme heat, the energy dome began to break apart, but the four young men managed to keep it together long enough for them to hit the ground. The energy dome hit the ground and was destroyed on impact, leaving the four boys scattered around a gigantic deep crater. A loud boom was heard and dirt and debris filled the area for a few days. The four boys were rendered unconscious for several days, before Jake opened his eyes. Jake managed to get to his hands and knees despite his injuries.

Jake scanned his surroundings, as he recalled the events that happened a few days ago. "I need to make sure my squad survived," Jake thought to himself as he rose to his feet. Jake walked over to the closest person he could see. "Hey, Amon, wake up," Jake said, shaking Amon hard enough to get a response from him. "Never again," Amon said as he woke up groaning in pain.

"Great, you're alive," Jake said, relieved. "Go check on Dustin, and I'll go check on Lee," Jake said, going in the opposite direction of Amon. Amon limped with pain as he got closer and closer to Dustin. "Hey, Dustin get up," Amon said, shaking him with a good amount of force. "It's a miracle we survived that," Dustin said, slowly getting to his feet.

Dustin and Amon limped their way towards Jake and Lee. The four squad members met up in the center of the crater. "First thing we have to do is find somewhere quiet so we can recover our strength," Jake informed the others. "Next, we are going to pair up and go scout different parts of the land so we can get a map together," he continued. "Once we have a map we can start moving deeper into the titan territory."

"Now, eventually, we will have to fight a titan in order for us to get ascendant crystals." "The stronger the titan the more potent the crystal," Jake added. "You really think we can take down a titan? Lee asked Jake curiously. "We will go for the weakest titans, which are the one-star titans," Jake answered. "If all four of us combine our strengths, we have a good chance of defeating one." Jake continued.

"What do the titans look like?" Amon asked. "From my research, they are elemental beings, so they can be pure fire, water, earth, metal, and so on," Jake answered. "There are five levels of power that these titans possess," Jake added. "One-star all the way up to a five-star titan," Jake continued. "How can we tell the level of the Titan's power?" Dustin asked.

"To be honest, the height and the size of its aura," Jake answered. "There's no way you'll get them mixed up, since the gap in power from a one-star to a two-star would be like the gap between heaven and earth," Jake exclaimed. "Alright that's enough for now, let's find somewhere to set up our little camp," Jake ordered. The four young men spent a few days looking for a good place suitable for their needs. Finally, they came across a nice quiet area at the bottom of a water fall with a thick surrounding forest for extra cover.

The waterfall was about twenty-five feet high, and the water was a light beautiful blue color. There were tall trees that surrounded the waterfall, creating a beautiful green circle of plants and nature around the base of the waterfall. "Let's all take about three to four days to recover before we begin phase two of our plan," Jake suggested. About three days had passed, and all four young men had managed to recover their strength and heal all their previous injuries. "OK, are you all ready?" Jake asked eagerly.

"Yes sir!" The other three squad members said in perfect unison. "I feel like we should pair up, based on our experience and strength, so I decided that I'll be going with Amon while you two stick together," Jake told Dustin and Lee. "That sounds like a good plan," Dustin said patting Lee on the back. "So we are going to start off by spending about a week out during each trip," Jake told everyone. "Amon and I will spend the first week out while you two stay here to cultivate," Jake added.

"Amon, we will head out tomorrow," he declared. "The goal is to find a path around the entire island, that will lead us back to where we began," Jake said, looking around at everyone, making sure they understood the objective. "If anyone encounters a Titan before we finish marking the route, you must flee immediately," Jake emphasized. "The chances of defeating one on our own is close to zero," he added. "It's hard to believe these titans are this powerful," Amon thought to himself, determined to test himself against one.

Dustin and Lee cultivated while Amon and Jake rested for their upcoming journey. The next day came in the blink of an eye. Jake and Amon both set out for the first scouting mission while Dustin and Lee stayed behind. "Let's go over the plan one more time before we leave Amon," Jake suggested. "Ok," Amon responded. "About every three to four thousand miles, we are going to mark that territory and set up camp so it'll be a landmark for us to remember where we are," Jake informed Amon.
"And once we travel around that distance, we will come back to let Dustin and Lee travel about the same distance but in the opposite direction we started," Amon said.

"Exactly!" Jake said smiling. "So what are we going to use for the marking so Dustin and Lee would know it was us?" Amon asked. ""I'm going to carve an "X" inside a circle symbolizing a target, so they know it's us,"" Jake said. "We also have to be careful because we may encounter other assassins from other villages," Jake warned Amon. "We don't always know if they are truly an ally or enemy so we must stay on our toes," he continued as he began walking away from Dustin and Lee. "Alright, I'm prepared," Amon said as he began walking away with Jake.