This is my Second year being enrolled in Hawkens Academy for Magic. As well as the same time we're going to the Dark Continent.
Us students are being escorted down to the Dark Continent via land dragon. Seeing that people could lose their lives during this trip, tensions are definitely pretty high. Some people are petrified, shaking, and stressed, while others are more nonchalant and confident.
Personally I think I'll survive.
"Who's in your group?" Maelin spoke over my shoulder
"Agh!" I jumped and tripped over my feet as I stumbled backwards.
"What's with you scaring people.."
"Just answer the question."
"Let me look.."
I pulled the paper out of my pocket and read out the names
"Veseon's in my party.."
"William Bell."
"And Leon De Naar"
I slowly read out the names
"Oh Leon, I hear that kid's pretty strong. He's a beast-person."
My eyes darted up to Maelin after she told me this.
"Beast-Person you say..? Like.. A Catgirl.."
"Huh? What? No.. He's a boy. And he's a fox.. Or something."
A wide smile grew across my face.
"Ew, do you swing that way..?"
Maelin
"No! No! That just means that there's catgirls! And stuff.."
I was obviously flustered
Maelin didn't respond and just shook her head
"Just find your group you degenerate.."
"I understand."
I walked off to go find my group.
The note mentioned carriage # 13. All the carriages had a number on the side, closer to the top so I easily found my carriage. When I got in, my entire group was waiting for me. So I guess I'm the late one.
Not long after I got in we started moving.
There was light conversation between me and Veseon. Leon even joined in.
However during the entire ride I kept eyeing Leon's fox-like ears.
"Is it gay if I ask to touch them.." I thought to myself
Would that be considered petting him?
Is petting him gay..?
I wonder, what are the customs like towards beast people..
I squinted my eyes as I tried to figure out how they functioned.
Leon looked at me and caught me staring
He smiled, however I could tell that it wasn't sincere.
He definitely thinks I'm some weirdo.
"So, have you guys ever been to the dark continent before?"
I asked, in an attempt to break the ice
"Nah." Veseon and William blankly said before looking out of the window of the carriage
"I actually haven't! I've read up about it a lot in books that are in the academy!" Leon said. He was extremely soft-spoken
"Thank you for not acting so nonchalant!" I wailed, grabbing Leon's head and bringing it in for a hug.
"You're welcome.. Could you let go of me now.." he said in a loud and demanding tone, however it still sounded as though he were speaking quietly, Like he was yelling in lowercase.
"You're right, sorry!" I put my hands together as though I were praying
It was a bumpy ride to the dark continent, the carriage jumped up and down over every bump and hole.
About an hour or two later, we arrived just outside of the dark continent.
The outskirts looked like a sea port except on land. There was an extremely tall stone gate that looked like it spanned for miles in both directions. Right at the area where we were there was a break in the massive stone wall, there was a gate.
It was shaded in this area, it was quite obvious where the blockade from the sun was coming from–The sky island.
I was mesmerized by how huge everything was. My trance was broken when the teachers began to explain how we could potentially lose our lives, the ground rules, and they explained the way the teleportation stones worked.
The teleportation stones save your position through an insignia that's carved into it, if you were to break that insignia by crushing the stone you'd be transported back to that point in a matter of seconds.
"Hey, You don't seem scared at all. I mean we could lose our lives." Leon tapped my shoulder
"Yeah dude, Aren't you just a little alert, even in the slightest?"
I looked up and around and you could definitely feel the tension in the air. Everyone's faces portrayed Fear, Stress, and Anxiety. So many racing hearts you could almost feel them resounding through the air.
"And he's the weakest! D rank!" William said in an offensive tone
"I'm C ranked, Thank you very much." I scowled towards him
The massive gate slowly lifted up, it made an extremely loud, sharp, screeching noise.
Suddenly it came to a grinding halt. When the gate finally lifted up, I felt a dark aura followed by a large gust of wind rush out.
"Young adventurers. You may enter at your leisure. Welcome.. To the dark continent." the teacher projected his voice using a spell
People applauded the teacher after he was done and groups started entering.
"Are you guys ready?" Veseon said, taking a step towards the large gate
"Yeah." We said as a collective.
Then we all entered together
Almost immediately after we passed those big stone gates, the terrain changed. The ground was really muddy, it felt as though if you were to stand still it'd suck you in.
The air was dense, almost suffocating.
I covered my nose as I trudged forth with my group
"Dude.. It stinks.." I said under my breath
No one responded to my cheap humor
Damn, Tough crowd..
After a while of trudging through mud we encountered our first chimera. It was a weak one, however we disposed of it quickly.
As we progressed deeper into the Dark Continent, it naturally got darker.
"Does anyone have a light?" I asked, squinting in an attempt to see
"Yeah I got it." Leon said, and stopped walking
The group stopped walking and turned to look at Leon
Leon took a flute out of his back pocket and started playing a song.
Not long after, a Crow was conjured from mana, and emitted light from its eyes as it flew from up above.
"Wow, that's convenient."
Veseon continued walking
"Damn right." I followed
We walked for a little while longer before Veseon and William stopped us.
"There's something up ahead.." William held his hand out
"I'll fight, you'll just hold us back, Otto."
"I beat your ass once and I'll do it again!" I barked
"Are you guys adventurers!?"
an unfamiliar voice shouted from the darkness in front of us
"Yeah, what of it!" I shouted back
Everyone in the group shushed me with angered faces
Leon's Mana-Crow shined light onto the group in front of us
It was a group of 3 adventurers
"What happened to your 4th group member? We were divided evenly into groups of 4."
William shouted to them
"Oh, Aieron, he got pretty bashed up and he had to extract, we ran into a S class chimera." The main one in the group stepped forward
The kid standing before me was a rather tall boy. He had brown hair and blue eyes. He held a staff with a blade on the bottom.
Aieron.. What happened to him..
He's so strong, I couldn't even imagine him losing..
I was lost in thought
"Anywho!" The boy looked left and right, then leaned in
"You know Kilgue.. We think he's too strong."
"What is it you're planning.." Leon spoke from the backlines
"We're going to steal his crystal, and strand him in this hellscape." The boy formed a twisted grin.
As much as I'd love to, after the ass whoopings he gave me, I probably shouldn't.. It's unethical..
"Hell yeah! We're in!" William said, looking all fired up.
"Great! He's fighting an SS Class beast with 3 other groups right now, we're going to sneak him."
We were roped into a plan that all of us didn't even consent to!
"Follow us!"
The boys ran off in the direction that they came
"C'mon!" William followed them
The rest of the group looked at each other and shrugged, then followed after him.
I whipped out my cheap twin-daggers that I got for 120 shells each.
The boy took us to a scene, where there were a bunch of adventurers handling a massive beast.
It had scales all over its body and resembled a massive bear.
There were about 9 adventurers, Kilgue stood out above the rest. With him being 6'3 and all..
It looked as though they were fighting for their life, dodging, weaving, and blocking attacks from the chimera, however it barely looked tired, not a scratch on a scale on its body.
"Are they in on this too?" William asked
"Yep! Every single one of them."
He started stepping closer to the beast
"We got it from here!" The boy shouted as the other group eased away from the Chimera
"You all hold it off until we take his crystal.
"Roger." I said, walking in
The 4 of us stood, staring at the beast. It emitted a dark, disgusting aura.
We got this!
"Veseon, you distract it with projectiles!"
"Got it!"
"Leon! You ambush it with your mana beasts!"
"Understood!"
"William, you hail down fire from above!"
Thud
"William!"
I called, once again, however to no avail
"Cocky Bastard.." I said under my breath
I slowly turned to look behind me where William was stationed. Before my gaze reached there, I noticed Veseon looking as though he were about to hurl. He was looking in Williams direction
I couldn't help but think to myself "What happened..?" "What's so bad that even Veseon wants to hurl."
I'd find out very soon
I turned to look at William, and to my abhorrence, what met my gaze wasn't a soldier, ready to engage in battle, but a severed head, rolling towards my feet severed from a lifeless husk, which laid out on the ground behind me.
"Now's not the time to joke, William.. Get up!"
The head hit my heel–It was Williams, I'm sure of it, his black long hair stood still on the floor.
"William, this isn't funny.."
Leon looked away and Veseon looked as though he kept his vomit down
William is dead.
Horror corrupted the expression of Battle-readiness that I once wore as I gazed upon William's lifeless husk.
Blood gushed out of his neck, where his head once was. His eyes were rolled back into his head and his mouth was wide open.
I let out a blood curdling scream as I fell to the ground and scurried away from the horror scene before me.
I never really liked William, it's his own fault for getting himself killed, and I can't say I'm relieved about it either..
The chimera standing behind me let out a low, bellowing laugh as it pointed at william.
"The hell is so funny about this.. You ass."
I held my daggers tightly and stood up, facing the monster
Leon tackled me to the ground.
A slash followed by a large gust of wind sliced through where my head was before Leon saved me.
"Thanks.." I said, trying to get back up
"Stay down.. This one might be sentient.."
Leon pushed my head down onto the ground
Is he asking me to play dead..?
Leon acted as though he were mourning over my dead body.
"Otto! Why!" He shouted as he forced tears and hid his face
The monster let out yet another bellowing laugh
"Don't worry, Otto. I'll take the spotlight."
Veseon stepped up, throwing all his offensive equipment to the ground
"I'll.. Shine like a star!"
He pumped his fist upwards, pointing towards the sky.
"Because I'm Veseon, the brightest!"
The chimera looked confused
"Fight me like a man, don't use that cutting trick you did on them. Unless you're scared of me..?"
Veseon provoked the beast
"Bold move.. Boy"
The chimera spoke
Everyone was shocked
"Hand to hand combat, let's go."
Veseon assumed a battle stance
He was clearly outmatched here, fighting a chimera that was SS rated, and it was bigger than him by a longshot!
"I fancy your offer." The chimera crouched down and held its arms out as if it were about to do sumo
After a long pause Veseon rushed in, pressing his hands on the creature's stomach.
Seconds later everything around him was engulfed in flames.
"Fire, huh? Bad matchup. My scales can withstand temperatures up to 3000 degrees C."
A sick smirk found its way onto the beasts face
"3000 you say..? That's all?" The same smirk found its way onto Veseon's face
"Impress me, boy."
Veseon drove his feet into the ground, getting hotter with every step.
"1000 Degrees!"
"1300!"
"1500!"
"1600!"
He counted up as the air around him began to heat up
"1600.. 1600.."
It seemed as though this was his limit
"Is this all..? You're done?" The beast spoke once again
"No.. I'm nowhere near done. I'm just getting started!"
"Unluck!"
A purple aura surrounded Veseon and you could visibly see the surging amounts of mana flowing through his body
"Hotter! Hotter!"
"I need to go hotter! Because I'm the man to outshine the sun!"
Veseon's feet began to sink into the ground beneath him
"Because I'm a star!"
The beast groand
I counted down the seconds before his curse became lethal.
"2000 Degrees!"
"2500!"
"There! 3000!"
The ground beneath Veseon started to burn and melt
The heat emitting off of veseon was so bright that it hurt to look at.
"I'm not done yet!" Veseon shouted, reapplying his palms onto the beast
"Stop! No! Quit it!" The beast tried to run away but the melting from the ground trapped him in place
"3300!"
"3500!"
"Veseon! Stop! You'll die, It's been 9 seconds!"
I got up and shouted
Leon signalled me to get back down
"9 Seconds huh.. Stars take far longer than 9 seconds to burn out!"
"4000!"
The heat finally took an effect on the beast, he started to melt through its scales
"GGRH" The chimera gritted it's teeth and coughed up blood
Veseon kept digging through its scales
until he reached the other side of its body.
Veseon stood there, on the other side of the beast, catching his breath.
"Otto.. What's my time.." He said in between breaths
"15.. Seconds.." I sat, paused.
"I'm still alive.."
"Take that fate!" He pumped his fist into the air
that same hand that was in the air, he tightly grabbed at his chest.
"I think I'm going to die now.."
He dropped to his knees and fell face flat on the ground.
When he fell he was teleported.
I think his stone was crushed in his pocket when he fell.
The medics should be able to care for him back at the port. It went silent
No ambush crew
No chimeras
No adventurers
Just Me and Leon, playing dead.
I got up and walked past William's dead body, trying my hardest not to look at it.
"We should probably extract.."
Leon said, holding his glowing green crystal in the palm of his hand.
"We will."
I blankly said as I grabbed the chimeras scales
I plucked out the scales of the chimera and pocketed them before I returned
When I returned, there were many sad faces, injured children, and missing people.
I trusted that Veseon was getting the treatment he needed, So I looked for Aieron.
His bright blonde hair caught my attention.
As I got closer I realized he was missing an arm, his clothes were bloodied, arm missing all the way up to the shoulder, and the wound was closed.
"Your arm!" I dropped to my knees as though I were going to tend to his wounds
"This? It's nothing. It looks badass."
I stood there looking terrified
It's all my fault. I wasn't able to help my friends.. I'm weak.
I couldn't keep my eye on William, I couldn't get Veseon to stop using his curse, I couldn't find Aieron sooner..
I'm pathetic. I can't believe I had the audacity to assist in stranding someone in that hellscape..
I took the cheap knife resting at my waist and pointed it towards my throat.
..
…
I can't. I was given a second chance, not many people get that.
I stabbed the knife into the ground.
Only person I know who really made it out unscathed was Maelin, she extracted early because she was bored.
After the whole debacle I haven't really left my room much. I locked myself inside, hiding in the darkness of my room
I blacked out my shade so no light could get in and I cut off all contact with everything outside.
I only wanted to stay in my solitude, in the darkness where nothing can reach me. Not my problems, not my friends, nor the creatures that lurk below.
Days turned to weeks, during these few weeks many people tried to get me to come out of my room..
Knock.. Knock
The knocks were slow and delayed
I didn't respond. I sat with my knees curled to my chin and a thin blanket slung over my head
"Hey.. It's me."
A familiar voice called from behind the door
I hugged my knees tighter into my chin and turned away from the door
"I'm not here to beg you to come from your room or anything.. Just to talk.. Friend to friend."
I could hear that he was leaned up against the door
"I know the events in the Dark Continent scared you a little bit, but it's really not that bad!"
He chuckled
"We all signed up for it, we knew what we were in for. I do think I've had it easier than most though."
He rubbed something up against the door that sounded heavy, or metallic
"You hear that? That's my new badass metal prosthetic."
I crawled like a cockroach, my blanket sliding off my body with every inch I made.
I made my way to the Cabinets and looked inside to find that there was no food.
"This prosthetic comes fashioned with a durable shell, up to 350 lbs of grip strength."
"Not to mention I can use my magic to change the shape of it to whatever I want. I found this cool trick where I use the metal in my wrist to create a wire where I can whip people and I can swing from! Isn't that cool!"
I paused, listening to him ramble
Why would he spare the time of day to talk to a pathetic mess like me..
I crawled over to the door
"If you ever need anything, let me know."
I heard his footsteps slowly leave, however they stopped when I started tapping on the bottom of the door.
"Did you need something?"
He audibly crouched down in front of the door
"Some food.. But not cheap bread, the good stuff."
"You got it." He got up and walked away
I crawled back into my corner and waited, staring at the door, motionless. The only motions that were made were the biting of my nails and wiping the slobber off onto my blanket.
I heard people talking outside. It sounded like a Boy and a girl.
One of which was Aieron, The other was Maelin..
"Who's the food for?" Maelin said
"Otto.. If he isn't going to leave then I might as well keep him happy."
I heard a loud stomp
"To hell with this!"
The stomping grew closer to my door and I huddled up under my blanket in fear of what's to come.
The stomping stopped and turned to bashing on the door
"Otto Von Eins Blaire!" Maelin yelled, the door laid out by her feet
I hissed and covered my eyes from the outside light.
As the light from the hallway dawned into my room, I noticed how disgusting it was. There were tissue boxes, food boxes, bottled water, and more just everywhere all over the floor.
Maelin kicked through the mess on the floor, using some of them as projectiles
"Get the hell up off of this floor!" She walked over and picked me up by my collar
I still didn't have anything to say, I just looked at her dumbfounded.
"You're pathetic.. To think I wanted to marry you into the Fawnea throne!" She pulled me close to her face
"You.."
I said in a low tone, as though my speech was merely an attempt
"You don't know.. The hell I've been through.." I said, in retaliation
"You sure as hell haven't been through enough! Aieron lost his arm for hell's sake!" She threw me onto the ground
There was a short pause before I huddled back up into my blanket
What does she know..
"Get your shit together Otto, or I'll kill you!" She slapped me across the face and strutted out of my room
I held my hand over where she slapped me.
Aieron peeked his head around the corner, looking surprised
"Dude.."
"I think she's into me."
I looked over at Aieron
He bursted out laughing
"Dude! That's what you got out of that?!"
Aieron kept laughing
And not long after I laughed with him
This was the first time I've laughed in weeks.
Over the past couple days I really thought about what Maelin said.
Aieron lost his arm and I only saw it, Veseon's heart failed and I only saw it.
Nothing happened to me..
After I recovered I decided to attend classes again, It only took about a week or 2
And I'm already dreading it..
We're learning about boring ass magic theory..
I decided to draw on my paper until my art was disrupted by a loud CRASH in the hallway.