Genesis

Chapter 2

As Duiguid awakes from a strange dream, he finds himself almost face to face with a Bio-hunter, and narrowly escapes thanks to his flexible agility and breaks clean into a sprint. “Damn it! How did I not sense them coming!” A voice suddenly comes to Duiguid, one that he remembers faintly. “Turn left.” It said. Not questioning the voice this time, he did as was told and found he had evaded the hunters for some strange reason. He heard the voice again. “Turn left again, then right. Duiguid became angered at the fact that this voice was telling him where to go, yet he couldn’t see anyone. He stopped. “Who are you!?” he shouted, but the response he got was unexpected. “There he is!” one of the hunters shouted. Realizing his mistake, Duiguid ran immediately in the other direction away from them in the direction of the mountains.

 “Just a bit farther and I’ll be able to last long enough to recover.” thought Duiguid. He was nearing the edge of an approaching cliff, when something caught his attention: a hand. Letting his guard down he stopped to turn around only to be struck down by another hunter who was behind him. Blind with rage, he was about to assume his true form when one of the three hunters gave an order. “Now!” upon hearing this Duiguid felt the ground beneath him tremble and had little time to react and found he was trapped in a sphere of amazing energy. “It worked.” Said one of the bio-hunters. “The combined chant worked. His majesty will be pleased.” “What the hell do they mean ‘his majesty’” thought Duiguid “the king’s dead.”

“Should we kill him?” one asked. “Now that would be rude.” said a voice. Then from the shadows nearby, Duiguid saw a figure appear. He was dressed in orange, with a torn shirt covering only one hand. The other hand was covered completely in bandages. His hair was long and frizzy. “Master Paw!” said the hunters.As Duiguid looked closer he noticed the man was resting on an upright object: a duel spear. The hunters realized who he was and knelt immediately. “Sorry to come on such short notice.” Said Paw. “Take him to Fountain Prison.”

Meanwhile on another side of the dimension, trees fell as Jarad trained in the Steelwood Forest. As he fell another tree, he panted in awe at his new found strength. “I did it in one blow this time.” He said. Then he heard a voice from behind him. “Well done. Endurance training is complete.” Jarad paid his respects and then spoke. “How will this help me Master?” he asked. “What you have accomplished in eight days usually takes the most skilled woodcutter that comes here eight months.” The priest then walked over to a nearby tree. “Watch the tree closely.” Jarad looked intensely only to see that the tree was slowly moving toward the ground, hewn down from the base. “Do you see the difference?”

 As always, he never saw when the masked priest took out his sword or put it back. He nodded. “Come.” He said “It is time to train your awareness.”

Elsewhere, as the peasant girl traveled along a path, she reminisced about what the “talking scroll” said. She remembered it saying that her training was complete and to head west for a hidden village named Futuredome whose residents need her help. “First off the Arna won’t be easy to find if it’s a hidden village.” she said. “And why would a village need help?”  Should she have looked back, the girl would’ve seen a figure of a woman and a man, coming into view as she went over the hill. “Should I follow her to the village?” said the woman. “No.” said the figure behind her. “Meet her at the Arna. I’ve had enough of these want to-be heroes.”

Back at Fountain Prison, Duiguid was pounding fist against fist in an effort to break free only to become weaker upon each attempt. He looked up from where he was and waited to see who was coming through above him. Earlier he had realized that the building was made to prevent any means of escape and as a result, the sphere which held him was somehow suspended in mid-air, locked by a special air current, with enough room on all sides to prevent him trying to swing from side-to-side to break free. Then he saw someone come. The hunter from the forest. He smiled and held out his hand. “Elemental Chant: Flurry!” Struck by the sudden power of the chant, Duiguid recoiled in pain and screamed. “If I ever get out I’m gonna take your head with my bare hands!!” Then his head began to burn more than often and he collapsed from exhaustion. Paw laughed. “Careful Paw.” said a voice.