“Idiot …”A familiar voice called Arth as he stood amidst the orange plains of the Desoland. He looked around but found no one. The voice repeated the same word … which made Arth recognize who it was from.He turned around and then found himself suddenly at the peak of the red mountains. The Blood Tower had stood in his view. “Janshai?” he said, remembering this place. It was where he and Janshai went after they had gotten trapped in the Desoland. “Are you there?”“I’m up here,” Janshai’s voice came from the skies.Arth looked up and found only dark clouds. He summoned his dragon wings and flew up along the tower’s height. His chest pounded faster from his excitement.As he reached the top of the Blood Tower, Janshai stood in the middle of the carved circle on the stone floor where a red-light cylindrical barrier had trapped him.Arth’s eyes widened and rushed towards the man. “Janshai!”“No …” Janshai said. “Don’t go anywhere near me, you idiot.”Arth stopped abruptly, furrowing his e
The dock was clear when Tristan sneaked behind the tall barrels. He peeked over and observed the ship. He wasn’t a fool to believe the ship had no crews or guards onboard. Lewis, being their captive, would need men to watch over the deck and the cabins. The fresh sea breeze blew on Tristan’s face. He smelled the air and found an alcohol scent from the ship.Tristan looked around, then glanced back. No one was on the dock but him. And so he rushed towards the ship, the wooden dock squeaking with every step. After crossing the narrow board, he jumped into the deck quietly, eyeing the empty place and finding no one. He walked carefully, his eyes focused on the doors ahead of him. But then men’s voices came.Tristan immediately went to the mast and hid behind its huge trunk.“We supposed to be drinkin’ there in the fortress, ain’t we?” a hunter’s voice came louder along with the sound of their walk tapping on the wooden floor.“We still have a couple of loads to transfer,” another man’s vo
The last wolf had been a big trouble for Kael, as his exhausted arm could no longer keep up with the strength of the enormous beast. But Luna was there to back him up. They took down all the beasts, and it was mostly Kael who had done all the fighting. He couldn’t let Luna exert much of her energy since she still had some injuries … and her alar needed more time restoring. But after their encounter with the wolves, Kael thought he couldn’t handle any more corrupted beasts.They made their way through the forest silently. The white trunks they had passed showed marks of corruption, telling them that the deeper they went, the threat awaiting them had gotten closer. Kael took a deep breath as he walked. He had to relax his arm as it had worked so hard from the previous battle, and it was the only arm he had.Luna turned to him, who seemed to take notice of his expression. “Do you want me to relieve its pain a bit?”Kael shook his head. “I don’t want you wasting your alar only for this.”
“What the hell is that?” Arth asked with his eyes wide open as he stared at the tiny tube, glowing in purple light. Inside the glowing tube was a black fluid.“This …” General Edric said, “is the last drop of Zerelas’ tears … the legendary King of Corruption.”Arth’s lips parted as he remembered his discussion with Elicantris back in the First Encampment. The main objective of the alliance was to weaken or destroy the power source of the Ka’erns. That is the Tree of Exodia. And to do that, they had to obtain the Tears of Zerelas.“One drop of this and it will corrupt everything it touches, and it spreads unstoppably,” Edric explained. “Even demons couldn’t survive the corruption.”Arth leaned closer, observing the tube. “Why is it glowing purple?”“It’s the only magic that can contain the deadly liquid.”“So you will drop this on the Tree of Exodia …” Arth muttered, which made the general storm his eyebrows.“How did you know that?” Edric groaned. “Never mind … I’m afraid, now that the
“Thanks, Greg,” Tristan said as he received his pay.The old man waved his hand as he stared at the dead boar on the wide table. “You’ve given me a little one today.”Tristan scratched his head. “Yeah. I’ve been off my mind while hunting lately.”“Distracted?”“Just thinking about a lot of stuff,” Tristan said, jiggling the three silver coins in his hand.“Well, you give me little and I’ll pay you little … that’s business, lad.”“Right. I gotta go. It’s Seraphine’s naming day today.”Greg waved his hand again.Tristan stepped out of the butchery and looked up towards the orange skies. The sun was setting, and he had to buy dinner … plenty of ingredients. They’re having a little feast. But he must also not forget Sera’s favorite fruit cake.The streets had grown darker along with the skies as he strolled towards the market. His eyes kept on looking back every minute, as something was off today. They had not shown up to ask him again about their offer, which they had kept on doing these
“I see,” Magus Jade said, playing with his fingers on the low table. “Those black vines are capturing only the mages … while the rest are left to be corrupted, am I correct?”“Yes,” Gared replied. “And my plan was to use this ring, where I have compressed all of my alars to track my staff that’s been taken by those vines. We believe it’s in the same place where the mages had been contained.”Kael caught eyes with the old mage as the four of them had been seated on the carpet inside Jade’s tent. “And why have you come in this forest, Sir Kael, when you still have a job of finding the King?”“It’s hard to say this, Magus Jade …” Kael replied, looking at the old man with worried eyes. “But I had to follow the King’s orders. He wanted me to search for his friend who had been kidnapped by a demon. His name is Janshai. And at that moment I had no leads of where I could find him … and so I asked Lucas’ help since he’s the only person in this world who could track the kid.”“That …” Magus Jad
Arth felt bad that Elicantris had to use the rest of her alar to recover his numb arms and legs, but at the same time, he was glad that he could already move for his training today. He and General Edric had stood facing each other at the top of Mornt’s Tower. The dark skies above flashed and thundered. Arth bent his knees as he leveled Frostcalibur beside his head with both hands, pointing it towards the general.Edric cocked his head. “That’s the fighting stance of the Blue Dragon Style Swordsmanship. How many forms have you already mastered?”“Just two,” Arth replied. “I’ve learned the first long before when I was training with Chief Gregor … and Lucas taught me the second.”“That’s a shame,” Edric said, crossing his arms over his chest. “There are five forms of this ancient swordsmanship style. I’ve witnessed your father using each one as we fought together against our enemies … but for the ultimate form, he was the one who taught me. And that’s what I’m going to teach you now.”Art
The clunking sound of spoon and fork filled the silence in the dining hall. It had an immensely wide space, mostly empty. Only the lamps and candles on the long table and the cracked walls had shone on the guests inside. Tristan never touched his food, instead, he filled his stomach with the flagon of wine he kept on pouring into his cup. This was probably the worst meal he had had in his entire life. He would prefer eating those stinky seafood back on the ship to sharing a meal with these … people he had not liked at all.“Aren’t you gonna eat your stew?” Lewis whispered, who had been seated beside him.Tristan shook his head, sighing as he slid the bowl towards the young noble. His eyes went to the people eating in front of him as he sipped on his wine. His father, Silvester, was at the head of the table. His wife had been seated at his left, and Bow on his right. It irritated Tristan to share the same table with these people.“I hate carrots,” Jaerson shouted as he was being fed by