Through the 12 Realms

Chapter 14: New Lands

The ground trembled as the voice erupted from the throne room, putting everyone off balance.

Before anyone could turn towards the building, Alora was already next to Nattie unharmed.

Volkin clicked his tongue at the new turn of events, the void-like sword now disappearing from his hand and turning to nothingness.

"You're lucky, I won't treat you so kindly next time." Volkin directed towards the group. 

After he had made his remark, he vanished into the ground in a puddle of black water.

"W-what was that?" Nattie asked nervously.

"That's...a good question." Antoinette said in reply.

"It was Raf." Alora stated confidently, now looking back at the throne room.

As she said this Raf, who was now a bright flaming figure emerged from the hole in the wall that was made by Alora earlier. 

His hair was an orange-tinted colour with flames coursing through the strands as they enveloped his body as if it were skin-tight armour. His pupils were dyed in burning flames as wings constructed from the fire were formed on his back, 4 in total. Each wing spanned out vertically as if pointing to the four corners of a square. 

"I see you are all safe." Raf said, his voice rang throughout the entire area.

"Of course, I can handle myself." Alora said as she smiled with some pride.

"You did good Kraur." Raf said, smiling at the dragon.

Kraur replied with a small purr like roar.

"He said thank you." Antoinette said as she chuckled.

"Yeah...I seem to be alright as well." Nattie said as she sighed and fell to the ground to rest.

Kraur also took after Nattie and dissolved back into Antoinette's shadow.

"Argh, man, I just wanna rest now, y'know?" Nattie said, clearly tired from all that had happened. 

Raf looked towards Nattie for a few moments before making his next decision.

"You can rest, but not here. It's far too dangerous. Instead I will send you all to the capital of the kingdom closest to us. I believe its the Rogor kingdom, there you will enlist in the adventuring guild and take rest at an inn. Only then will you be safe from the harm that would befall you here." Raf said.

"Adventuring guild? What's that?" Alora asked curiously. 

"It's an organisation that will enlist adventures, give them tasks and reward them with money or other materials upon completion. It's a very good system for allowing you three to train yourselves and improve your teamwork and communication. They're vital components for the quest I need you three to undertake." Raf replied.

"Okay...but how do we get there? Wouldn't it be a while away from here?" Antoinette asked.

"Yeah, It'd at least take a few days I think, right?" Nattie agreed.

"Not to worry, I'll warp you three there. It won't be directly in the capital but it should be close enough." Raf reassured them.

"Also, Alora. I'm limiting your power, even though you're much stronger than the average human already, I do need you to train properly. Perhaps undertaking swordsmanship will benefit you greatly." Raf explained to Alora.

"What? That's unfair! Why should I have to restart all my training?" Alora exclaimed.

"Yes, you've been training. But only to control what you have, you may be able to control your power to a degree but it's far from enough. You must take on more skills to benefit you, it will allow you to find a medium to channel your power through. No matter how much power you have, if you have no way to channel it, you will only hurt yourself." Raf said in reply to Alora.

"But! But...what if I don't find anything?" Alora asked in dismay.

"You will, swordsmanship will serve you well." Raf said, reassuring her.

"...Okay, I'll try." Alora said, giving up any attempt at persuading Raf.

Raf smiled at her one last time.

"You'll be fine, for now I will restrict 90% of your power. That should only make you slightly stronger than the average human. I'll be watching over you three from here and I will allow you more usage of your power as I see fit." Raf said.

"So...when do we warp?" Nattie asked.

"I'm so tired I just wanna get there and sleep already." She followed up.

"Now." Raf said in reply.

After he said this, a black sphere materialised a few meters away from them, suspended in mid-air. A few moments after appearing, it began to expand outwards until it was a few meters in circumference. 

"Now then, off you guys go. Good luck. If you don't register at the guild before going to the Inn, make sure to register afterwards. It is important, that is all." Raf said as he smiled. 

"Come on, let's go." Alora said, leading the other two.

Nattie jumped up from her spot without much energy as she took a moment to gather some focus.

"Alrighty, lets go." She said.

"Goodbye Raf." Antoinette said as he waved back to Raf, approaching the black sphere behind the other two. 

"Goodbye Antoinette, you too Nattie and Alora." Raf said.

"See ya!" Nattie said as energetically as she could.

"Bye Raf." Alora said as well.

After the three were just a few steps in front of the sphere, they all stopped together.

"Ready?" Alora asked.

"Yup." Nattie replied.

"Let's go!" Antoinette said, slightly excited at the thought of being somewhere other than the forest she had lived in all her life.

They all wore smiles on their faces as Alora took the first step into the sphere, followed closely by the other two. 

Entering the black sphere was an odd experience for the three, but after a few moments of walking seemingly nowhere, they appeared out the other side. They appeared on a wide grassland where trees were almost as tall as the castle that they just arrived from. Where many hills surrounded the land and a singular river flowed nearby. 

Although they were not expecting to be met with yet another new face. This time it was a young man with brown hair and eyes, with a well-kempt beard and adorned in a full set of armour. Beside him on the ground, lying seemingly unconscious was another young man in armour who had light brown hair that refracted the rays of the sun with deep void-like brown eyes, although this one was without a beard.

Alora saw him first as she exited the sphere before the other two. 

"Oh...and...who might you be?" She asked.