A burst of blue light pulses from your hand, and through the melting stone. Suddenly it flits from a sword, to a spear, and to a scythe then it suddenly breaks apart, and becomes a spear, and a sword. You grasp both of them in your hands, and you feel something flow through your body, and become one with it. The egg shatters, and a massive wall of shadows explodes from its center, as it rushes forth you feel it impact your chest, and you are thrown back against the stone wall. Your vision momentarily blurs, and all you can see is flecks of light, and spots of black everywhere.
Your vision slowly return, and as you stand up, and look towards the egg you find a mirror image of yourself made out of pure shadow, though from its back sprouts four wings. You can feel its aura as it pushes you to your knees, and you struggle against the overwhelming presence of darkness. Your breathing becomes hard, and it begins to feel as if the aura itself is trying to strangle you. Just as your vision begins to darken you feel an intense burning on your back, and you topple forward onto the ground, but the aura's presence disappears, as you look up the beast still stands there, but for some reason its aura has no effect on you.
You push your self up from the ground, and the weapons still clutched in your hand fall to the ground, and turn into a silver liquid before becoming a massive blade. The blade is made of a pure white metal, and it seems to be made of one solid chunk of material, throughout it are holes, and deep rivets, but they seem to have naturally formed. As you reach your hand out for the pain you feel it stop on something, and you are thrown up, and back. Slamming into the wall you hear the stone shatter, and your vision turns red as you begin to plummet back to the ground. Your vision turns blood red as you slam against the ground, and you can hear numerous cracking, and tearing sounds come from your body.
You try to stand up, but the pain is to great, and you feel your clothes begin to grow heavy. As you look at them you find them slowly being soaked in your blood. You feel a kick to your side, and you go flying across the room smashing into the wall, and sending chunks of stone flying around you. You watch as your shadow self grows closer, and as it draws near the burning sensation returns, this time you see shackles, and chains appear on you. As they take form a white light begins to radiate from them, and the stone around you begins to crack while a pool of pure white forms in the middle of the circle. From the circle a figure rises up, the figure looks to be human, but as you watch you notice a tail, and two wings on his back, the wings are wrapped in chains, and seem to disappear into thin air.
Within moments the being is beside you, and your vision begins to fade. You hear words coming from somewhere, but you can't make them out, and you hear the cloaked being talk to you once more "
" With that your vision fades, and the last thing you see is that white sword, and then you feel someone picking you up. With that you consciousness fades completely, and you are swallowed by a dreamless dark.
You are awoken by the sun shining in through the window, the chirping of birds, ... and someone pounding on your chest. It doesn't hurt, but it is rather annoying, so you sweep you arm across the bed, and hit whoever it is off of the side. When you open your eyes you find a small monkey looking creature glaring up at you. The creature is screaming at you, but it takes a while for you to understand it. The creature is screaming "Get up Master! Get up, or you'll be late for your first class!!!"
You jump out of the bed, and go to gather clothes to wear, but find the creature holding a uniform for you. It is just basic clothing with an orb, and staff carefully etched into the clothing. You hastily put the clothes on, and rush to the classroom with the creature leading your way. Once you arrive you find about twenty students in the room. Several look to be Magi while the rest appear to be various Magical Beings. You set down at a seat with your name on it, which is at the back of the room.
You find that all your roommates sit near you as well as the creature that keeps calling you Master. It looks over at you, and says "Well it seems we have some time before he arrives, so you can converse, or simply wait for the teacher."
You decide to spend the spare time conversing with the creature, and ask him "Sorry if this seems rude, but what exactly are you?" The creature gives you a smile, and says "My name is Benny, and I am a Brownie. I Will be your servant during your stay at this school, Master. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, and if there is anything you need just ask." You look at Benny, and then around the room again, and find that none of the other students' servants where in the classroom, and you decide to ask him about it.
You turn back to him, and ask "Why are you the only one here in class?" Benny gives a sort of small squirming motion before replying "I have just became a servant here this year, and you are my first Master thus, I have not finished my training, and studying as well. In fact I will most likely be in at least one of your classes each year Master." You give a small smile, and thank him for telling you this. With that a tall man walks into the room. He has black hair, brown eyes, and looks like a seemingly average person except for his strangely long hair, as it comes down to his shoulders, and half-moon shaped glasses.
He throws a book down onto his desk, and flicks his finger towards the board before saying "I am Asuya Taka, and I will be one of your teachers leading up to your Exams. I am to prepare you for the coming tests, teach you the basics of magic, and help you get on the path to becoming a Magi. Now, according to how you perform on the Artificer Ritual, and the Exams you will be placed into varying branches of teaching to better fit your skills. The four main branches the majority of you will fall under are Guardian, Twilight, Elementalist, and Sayer. Of course there are numerous other branches of training that you may end up in, and some of the training lengths for them will very. The least amount of time is two years of training which is for Elementalists, and the most is eight years for the more rare Demon-Master."
He took a pause as he pulled out some forms, and placed them on each persons table before returning to his desk, and saying "Fill those out with your training schedule for the next couple of months." With that he sat down, and flipped his book open.
You fill it out quickly, and hand it in with the rest of the group before once again taking your seat. Once you are all seated Mr. Taka stands up, and begins drawing on the board a complex diagram of a human body, or more specifically a Magi's body. He then spends the entire class teaching you about how magic draws first from your body's mana supply, which is usually extremely small, then your physical energy, and finally your life energy. Little did you know that this would become part of your daily routine over the next couple of months.
Over the course of three months you spent your time in the class room learning the basics of magic, and how to use. Then outside of class time you spent grueling days practicing magic, meditating, fighting in the arena, and many other things. You worked hard, and in all you collapsed over thirty time from sheer exhaustion, both mentally, and physically, but it was well worth it for over the months you became stronger, and faster physically. Your magical talents, and power also grew quickly as you set about your work with a determination that would have made Death cringe before you. If this was your destiny then you would walk down its path proudly, and become a one of the most powerful Magi, that was your though, and your motivation as you worked, and meditated.
You learned much as you spent hours in the Great Library delving through books on Magical Theory, and Spells. You put that together with the rest of your training in the Arena, and managed to win several times against slimes, goblins, and even a Troll, though the thing was half dead when you fought it, but it still counts.
After those agonizing months of training you were finally here at the Atrificer Ritual, where you would finally gain your Artificer. Over the two weeks before the ritual class was abuzz with the topic of what people would get for theirs. Most of your classmates wanted a Dragon, or Nature spirit as theirs, one of your classmate even wanted hers to be a succubus, after hearing that you, and everyone else spent fifteen minutes laughing before the Instructors came over and knocked you over the head.
You were walking with your roommates, the twins Ulin, and Freya, down the hallway to the area where the Ritual was to take place. It was located in the very middle of the school, and was open to the elements outside, yet the intricate markings, symbols, and runes carved into the stone ground showed no side of fading, nor any side of damage whatsoever. Around the area were sets of tables, benches, and chairs as many students used it as their hangout, and many came to watch the Ritual as well. As you are walking the twin, Freya, asks you 'What do you want your Artificer to Katrin?" When she asks you realize you haven't put much thought into what you wanted it to be.
You give it some thought, and finally reply, or more precisely recite a line from 'Legendary Beasts, and Monsters', "I want a phoenix. They symbolize the cycle of rebirth, and their tears can cure most wounds and poisons." The twins look at you with wide eyes,, and Ulin replies "Phoenixes are very rare, and very powerful beings, to summon one of those you would have to be immensely powerful, and beyond anything any, but the Council could match. That is quite a goal you want to achieve." Then you hear Freya blurt out "Oh crap the Ritual has already started we got a hurry." With that you take off down the hallway at a run, though your getting dragged along more then moving on your own. You, and Ulin bump into a girl going in the same direction, and you holler over your shoulder an apology as you get dragged along.
By the time you arrive at the Ritual Courtyard only a handful of people remain for theirs. As you walk in you find it is Visera's turn, the one that is always wearing the hood even now. You watch as Visera says the incantation, and are knocked back against the wall by sudden explosion of power emanating from the Ritual Circle. Where once only Visera stood there was now another creature. It was a towering beast standing twice the size of the average man, with black skin, black horns, flame red eyes, a mane of hair that seemed to be made of fire, and even a pair of claws on its feet. Little of the skin of its arm could be seen as they were bound by chains, and even though they were connected to nothing they remained perfectly still.
Many of the students gathered gasped, or backed away from the beast as it took a step towards Visera, but it wasn't really a step. As you watched it knelled before the miniscule figure that was Visera, and the courtyard was filled with a deep, and gruff voice as it spoke "It is a pleasure to meet you my Master. How may I serve you?" Visera simply reached up, and patted the creature's head before turning, and walking out of the room. The creature followed him through the doorway, and the cheery atmosphere returned to the courtyard. Suddenly you hear the Headmaster's voice call out "Katrinja Erikson !! You are next please step forward."
As you walk out into the circle, and stand in the middle of it you feel all eyes on you, and you begin to feel extremely nervous. Despite the nervousness you begin to speak the incantation right away, and the words ring through your head until the end. "The Eight Gates that Hold this world together Open. Send forth that which will be my companion. Send forth the one that will match my strength, and the one that mirrors my soul." As you watch as the dust clears only to find a normal looking human standing in front of you. He stood the same height as you with jet black, spiky hair, and eyes of deepest red, everything about him seemed to point to him being human, but as you look you see a tail flickering back, and forth behind him.
He looks at you, and then starts laughing, its a cold laugh that make you feel slightly chilled from hearing it. When he finally comes to a stop he looks over at the Headmaster, and says "You know the agreement, and you can not break it no matter what happens." With that he turned back to you, and you were filled with the same fear you felt that day when you first met Newman, as that beast of darkness saw you, and that was the exact same feeling. "The only way I shall become your Artificer is if you can match me in a battle. I shall let you prepare whatever you wish, but once it starts be warned, if you do not give it your all I will kill you." You feel a shiver go down your spine, and back away. What where you to do? This was different from those times in the arena, this guy was out of your league, but if you didn't fight you would die.
"Headmaster what exactly is he, and why does he want to fight me?" You ask as you go about preparing for the fight. The headmaster looks at you with a gloom expression, and replies "His name is Alexander, and he is a Demon. He challenges you, because he believes anyone that can not hold their ground in a fight against him is unworthy of being his Magi. There is nothing I can do to help you, for I have made a deal with him. In exchange for his help in our war, I agreed that if he became one of my students Artificer he could fight them with no restrictions. I am truly sorry, but there is nothing I can do, it is all up to you. All I can say is that he is far stronger than he looks, it may not seem it, but he is currently suppressing his aura." with that the Headmaster takes a seat with his staff held in both hands.
You turn back to Alexander, and begin making a series of complex symbols in thin air, where your fingers travel a trail of black sparks stay behind, and soon a wall of black runes, and symbols lay before you. You draw your sword, and quickly punch the central symbol in front of you, it shatters, and the rest of them suddenly latch on, and blend into your skin. You feel a burst of energy, and your senses get sharper as you, as you look to see if Alexander had made a move you find him still staring at you as if waiting for something. Seeing this you begin using both hands to form the symbols for separate spells, and within moments you have both finished. You slap your palm against the ground, and roots suddenly burst forth from the earth, and form a dome around Alexander.
The next you sling your arm through the other set, and you feel a slight pressure cover you, the familiar pressure of your Mana becoming a shield. With that done you begin to craft the symbols for a massive barrage of Mana Arrows in the air, but you suddenly feel a pressure on your chest. Next thing you know you hear three sharp cracks, and you are thrown across the courtyard straight into the stone wall. As you hit it you hear several cracks come from your left arm, but the pain never comes, you simply stand back up, and begin drawing symbols once again. This time you run around the courtyard, and those seated near you jump back against the wall, or flee from the scene. Within moments the center area is surrounded with over a hundred mana arrow glyphs. You snap your fingers, and feel the familiar tug at your strength as it is pulled away from you, and the arrows are formed. In the air lie near a hundred glowing blue orbs, and in the center, where they all point, Alexander is standing still watching you with emotionless eyes.
In the next moment the arrows fly at Alexander, and you hear the impact as the area is filled with dust. In the next moment you feel a pressure on your right arm, and once again the sickening sounds of your bones cracking echoes through the courtyard. Then suddenly you feel a sharp pressure in your side, and you are sent flying into a nearby pillar. It cracks under your weight, and the sound of more of your ribs breaking mixes with it. The air is filled with dust, and flecks of stone as you stand back up once again, but this time you feel something warm flooding out of your mouth, and when you touch it with your hand you find blood.
You quickly draw symbols in the air, and slam you hand against the ground. Around you rows of roots rise up to form a solid dome around you, and as it seals tight you slump against the half broken pillar. While you felt no pain your vision was still fading slowly, and you found it hard to breath, move, or stand. 'What can I do? What choices do I have left?' You ask your self as you hear the sound of battering coming from outside the dome.
'Its all, or nothing ..' you think as you bite down on your thumb, and tear some skin of, so it begins to bleed. With that done you begin writing on the ground with your blood a triple layer seal with complex runic instructions, and a double layer of secondary seals around that. By the time you finish the ritual circle you can hear Alexander really close to you, and you can tell he is taking it slow on purpose as he says "Oh come out, your perfectly fine. If you can't take this how do you plan on surviving?" His mocking tone pisses you off, and you quickly scribble the last symbol in the center, and place your hands into a complex symbol similar to triangle with a circle surrounding it.
Your chant begins quickly, and the words echo through the air as you speak, the words are incomprehensible to many "The one who is lost, the King who is broken, and the sword that is shattered. Throw of Death, and be a wall before me." As the incantation echoes several times you notice something odd, the battering had stopped, and all was silent. As you took the time to look at your circle the inner layers turned into a pool of darkness, and a towering beast rose up from the ground. Its presence was heavy, and you could tell its aura was a powerful one for the owner showed no signs of trying to hide it. You read in a book somewhere that demons let there presence out when challenging an opponent they feel to be their equal.
He wore black armor that had been battered in numerous battles, and horrible weather, it no longer held the shine that was evident it once did, so long ago. Its helmet was plain, and cylinder shaped, but it was hewn open in several places, and from the sides great horns stuck out. Its armor was in even worse shape for it was covered in gaps, tears, dents, and scorch marks, just more to show that this being was, so far out of you reach. In its hands it held a massive sword nearly twice your side, it was once a solid shaped with a crescent moon shaped top that jutted out to either side farther than the blade, but now it was barely held together as the top had a giant tear down through it, and part of the hilt had broke off. From its back protruded massive wings, but they to were in the same shape as the armor, whatever this beast was beyond your comprehension.
As you watched it stood perfectly still, and stared at the root wall before it as if it could see its enemy through it. Suddenly you feel a blast of air that pushes you back, and a ear-shattering crack as the root wall is blown to pieces. When you get your bearings your looks, and see Alexander's fist one the Lost King's blade, where he punched there was a noticeable dent, but the Lost King himself showed no signs of being hurt. There was a flash of movement, and the entire dome is cut to pieces as the King attacks Alexander. The King's blade flies through the air, and its speed is unnatural, appearing as nothing more than a blur of motion, as he attacks. As the pieces fall, and the air clears you see Alexander has several cuts on his chest, and is pulling himself from a hole in the far wall, but you are suddenly disturbed as he starts laughing.
Within moments you feel him standing behind you, and his silky voice whispers into your "This is going to be fun. Let's play for a little bit, why don't we kitten?" You spin around, and slash at him, but your blade finds nothing but air as he appears on the far side of the courtyard. You hear him speak from across the courtyard, but only manage to get a bit of it "Forbidden Art: Demon ..." The rest is cut off as the air stirs, and begins to spin at a great speed. You feel something coming, and dive behind a pillar before peeking around the corner. What you see is a blur where Alexander once stood, and then a loud crunch followed by tearing sounds comes from the direction the King is in. You look over, and find see the Lost King fall to his knee, and blood flies into the air, covering the ground, and wall behind him.
Alexander stands behind him staring at the wall, but his figure quickly becomes a blur, and you hear his voice come from somewhere to your side. When you look he is standing on the last remaining overhang, and his voice is mocking again "Quite a display of power, but the Lost King is out with that one ..." He is cut off as a chunk of a pillar comes flying at him, you know who threw it before you look, but it still surprises you when you turn, and see the Lost King standing once again. The demon speaks directly into your mind, and his calm, deep voice stills your fears as it speaks "I will distract him for as long as I can. Prepare whatever spell you can. This is your last chance to win, for I stand no chance against the Third."
"Let's finish this." you reply to the King, and he gives you a small nod before taking a battle ready stance. You quickly dash into the area behind him, and watch as he brings his sword to bear. In one swift motion he slams the blade into the ground, and over a dozen rock pillars burst forth from the ground smashing together where Alexander once stood, but instead of finding him crushed you see him crouching down on top of the pillar. Within seconds there is a flurry of motion in front of you, and the King appears beside Alexander, with another quick movement the King smashes the flat side of his blade against him, and Alexander is sent flying through the wall into the third floor. You take your eyes off of the fight as you realize you don't have much time before Alexander wins.
With the sounds of fierce battle raging in the back ground you bite down on your other finger, and once again draw blood before bending down to draw the summoning seals. In moments you have three ritual circles constructed, and are using your other hand to prepare the Fire Toss seal. The air where your finger moved is replaced with red, orange, and yellow sparks, you mana taking physical form. Within another three minutes you have the seal right in front of you, it is about the size of your body, and consists of numerous circles, and hundreds of runes to draw the power from your Fire Elementals.
In the next instant pieces of rock fly by you, and a flash of movement, black armor, and a massive blade zooms by you. A thunderous series of cracking sounds, and crunching comes from your right side. You turn to see what happened, and find the Lost King barely standing, blood pours from numerous new gashes on his armor, and two holes are seen in his right wing. Once again his voice calls out to you, but this time it comes from his mouth not your mind, "I am sorry young one, I have done all I can, but I can last no longer. Forgive me." With that he turns into a black shadow, his presence disappears, and the shadow suddenly breaks into a million pieces before dissolving into the ground. Alexander walks out of the gap in the rubble, and comes to stand face to face with you.
Some blood drips from small gashes on his arm, and a small trickle flows from the corner of his mouth, yet he still manages to laugh into the air around him. In the windows you can see the faces of other students, and you begin to fear this is the end for you. You reach out your hand, and place your palm in the middle of the spell circle before you. Your voice rings through the air, and Alexander gives you a cold grin as he hears it, "Come Spirits of Fire, Burn My Enemy, and Take What You Will. Power of Death, Power of Light become one, and unleash the Holy Blaze of the World. Lend me your hand, and guide my path Flames of Death." As your words ring out, and three Fire Elementals burst into being you see Alexander's eyes widen in shock, but he has no time to react.
A ball of fire the size of three houses forms in your hand, and the Elementals are dragged into it. As the last bit of their essence combines with the fire it turns a bright white color, and shots forth at Alexander. You are thrown back into the wall by the explosion, and you hear two more snaps, then suddenly pain, immense pain, flows into you. You start to scream into the air, and tears flow down your cheeks, but your vision does not fade. The power of the Song of Pain takes its grip, and you begin to suffer for the actions you had taken. You look to see if you had won, but find Alexander standing perfectly unscathed by the fires, though you do manage to see a flicker of a claw, and scaled arm before it changes back to normal.
You watch as he approaches you, and your screams of pain still fill the air. You feel fear, you know he is going to kill you now that you have failed, but something surprising happens. He kneels before you, and you hear his voice through your cries of utter pain as he says "Why do you move me so much? A mere mortal can wield such power, and goes to such lengths for more. I guess I am an idiot aren't I the Lost King, Dragoth Durnslayer?" He places his hand on your chest as a massive amount of mana fills the air you can hear his voice once again "Power of Nature, that which protects, and heals return this being to its former glory, and heal the damage that has been done." A massive green light feels you vision, but you agony continues on, and you only manage to scream louder as more of the pain enters your mind.
"Damn it!" You hear him curse, and feel him flip you over on your back. You feel something moving across your back, and a sudden growth of power once more. As it reaches its peak amount you feels the darkness take you in, and you find yourself falling away further into the shadows. You have one last thought before your consciousness fades, 'So this is what death feels like is it? Its peaceful now, no more pain, no more burdens.'
You find yourself walking through endless darkness, seemingly never-ending, you have no idea why you do this, but you just feel you must do it. After what seems like months of walking through endless darkness you come upon an large area of stone. You step onto it, and begin to check it over only to fine a complex series of seals, runes, symbols, and more seals. You see feel a presence gather in the middle of the circle, and an orb appears in the middle. It seems to shift between a black darker than the shadows, and a red deeper then blood. You watch it find the orb entrancing as it draws you closer, and closer, you feel power from it, and it seems to be physically calling you "Katrin ... Katrin ..." The words continuously flow through your mind, and you since it is the orb doing this.
You walk up to it, and touch the floating orb, it feels warm to the touch one moment, and then cold the next. As you feel the waning heat it in, and feel the darkness contained within the orb shatters. The darkness contained inside rushes into you, and you fall to the ground writhing in pain. Before your eyes a pale nearly invisible being appears before you, it is a simple figure as it appears only as a cloak before you, but the voice that comes from beneath the raised cowl makes something stir in you. "What is it you desire?" it asks, and you feel you have heard the voice before. Once again the voice asks "What is it you desire?"
You look up into the darkness of the being's cowl, and say "I wish to know, and in knowing, comprehending, and in comprehending, understanding. I want to be all that I am, and more." As the last word drops from your lips a scaled claw burst forth from the shadow of its cloak, and clasps around your face. You start to cry out, but find it is simply just resting its hand on your face not crushing it, and before long a faint red glow radiates from the hand. You fall back gasping as it releases you, your face feels as if it is being burnt to a crisp, but shortly after it fades away, and you begin to take deep shuddering breaths.
Its voice reaches your ears once again "I see you also seek power to over come the trials the Gods have given you. You wish to become on who can walk the border between life, and death being unable to be consider fully alive, or fully dead. You wish to be, and that is what I can give, but you must overcome the dark desires that lie within you. I will not give my power to those who are clouded by the darkness. Look, and you shall see." At the end he points to your arm, and when you look down you try, and jump away from the horrifying image, but find that horrifying image is a part of you. Your left arm is moving up, and down, beneath the skin it looks as if something is trying to escape. The entire arm is a dark black, but it seems to be semi-transparent, but you can still not see what is writhing beneath.
It sits down beside you, and says "You must overcome that darkness. I will summon it forth, so you may slay it, but be warned if you fail you will become an Abomination. You will still be alive, still be conscious, and you will be forced to watch as you slaughter everyone. If that comes about I shall kill you. Now remember this, this is being is an incarnation of the darkness hiding within you, to slay it means you are slaying apart of you. Do this head held high what you will see is, but a mirror reflecting what could have been." With that the being disappears, and the edge of the stone circle bursts into the air before expanding into a massive room. A burst of pain fills your arm, and you hear a tearing sound, as you looks something claws its way out of your arm, and scurries over to the far side where it turns into a black egg. Blood runs down you arm, and as you stand runs steadily onto the stone below.
Despite the blood pooling on the floor under your feet you feel no pain, and as you begin to wonder what is going on your arm knits itself back together. The voice once again rings through the room asking you "What are you willing to give in exchange for power? Give your life, your arms, your vision? How far are you willing to go?"
You watch the black egg warily searching for any motion as you reply to the being "I would give a millenia of research. The energy to move a hundred thousand mountains from practice and effort. But only at the pace of a Human. To make for myself what I can by my own ends, and by my ends only. I would not sacrifice my vision. I would not make a tribute of my mind. My heart, my soul, none shall be traded. I would not sacrifice anything, but I would instead gain my own power through my will, for which by that alone I could achieve greater than anything anyone could possibly give me." His laughter fills your mind, and you fill something slip out of it, you feel you might have once knew what this was, but now it seemed a vague shadow of something that was.
"You are mistaken, you think of yourself as something you are not. A human, you are no such thing, maybe you once were human, but you haven't been such a being for a long time. In time you will learn, but first you must survive against this darkness. I have taken from you your magic, I have taken your power now what is it you shall do? Will you die? Will your mind be crushed?" His laughter fills the air once again, but this time you feel it is a much colder laugh condemning you to your course.
Across the room the egg begins to shake violently, and cracks begin to appear across the egg's surface, though it does not break despite the seemingly fragile remains of the shell. Before you a pole of black stone rises from the ground, and floats up into the air until it lies horizontal in front of your eyes. "Take it, and will it into to the shape you wish." You reach out your hand, and grasp the stone rod with your hand, you focus your mind on it, and it begins to melt, and reform before your eyes, but into what?
A burst of blue light pulses from your hand, and through the melting stone. Suddenly it flits from a sword, to a spear, and to a scythe then it suddenly breaks apart, and becomes a spear, and a sword. You grasp both of them in your hands, and you feel something flow through your body, and become one with it. The egg shatters, and a massive wall of shadows explodes from its center, as it rushes forth you feel it impact your chest, and you are thrown back against the stone wall. Your vision momentarily blurs, and all you can see is flecks of light, and spots of black everywhere.
Your vision slowly return, and as you stand up, and look towards the egg you find a mirror image of yourself made out of pure shadow, though from its back sprouts four wings. You can feel its aura as it pushes you to your knees, and you struggle against the overwhelming presence of darkness. Your breathing becomes hard, and it begins to feel as if the aura itself is trying to strangle you. Just as your vision begins to darken you feel an intense burning on your back, and you topple forward onto the ground, but the aura's presence disappears, as you look up the beast still stands there, but for some reason its aura has no effect on you.
You push your self up from the ground, and the weapons still clutched in your hand fall to the ground, and turn into a silver liquid before becoming a massive blade. The blade is made of a pure white metal, and it seems to be made of one solid chunk of material, throughout it are holes, and deep rivets, but they seem to have naturally formed. As you reach your hand out for the pain you feel it stop on something, and you are thrown up, and back. Slamming into the wall you hear the stone shatter, and your vision turns red as you begin to plummet back to the ground. Your vision turns blood red as you slam against the ground, and you can hear numerous cracking, and tearing sounds come from your body.
You try to stand up, but the pain is to great, and you feel your clothes begin to grow heavy. As you look at them you find them slowly being soaked in your blood. You feel a kick to your side, and you go flying across the room smashing into the wall, and sending chunks of stone flying around you. You watch as your shadow self grows closer, and as it draws near the burning sensation returns, this time you see shackles, and chains appear on you. As they take form a white light begins to radiate from them, and the stone around you begins to crack while a pool of pure white forms in the middle of the circle. From the circle a figure rises up, the figure looks to be human, but as you watch you notice a tail, and two wings on his back, the wings are wrapped in chains, and seem to disappear into thin air.
Within moments the being is beside you, and your vision begins to fade. You hear words coming from somewhere, but you can't make them out, and you hear the cloaked being talk to you once more "So be it for now you shall carry this darkness, but be wary. If this being every takes control of you, then you will kill everyone close to you." With that your vision fades, and the last thing you see is that white sword, and then you feel someone picking you up. With that you consciousness fades completely, and you are swallowed by a dreamless dark.
Well here we are at the end of Chapter 1, and I am quite surprised by the amount of stuff I have typed up for this Chapter as it was meant to be the shortest one. After this we only have about five updates before we begin the Exams which will be filled with combat, and trials for our character to overtake. I have several questions I wan to ask before we start the next Chapter.
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Topic: Circle of Magi I:T.R.o.M.;Chapter 3: Once a Saint ... (Read 27517 times)