Inside a dark room in an unknown location, a guy stands in the center of the room.
He waves his hands in a circular motion, "I know you don't agree with this," a reply comes in the form of a fierce roar that echoes deep inside the walls.
"I know, just trust me this time." he sighs then continues talking. "This time he will have it all, what all of us combined have endured, what all of us have learned, all of our memories. He will finish this."
He goes silent for a second, squeezing his eyes shut, then suddenly he shrieks, "he cannot fail." Another roar follows his words, coming from within the walls themselves.
"Yes! Yes, they have entered the forest, time to do this." He opens his eyes, staring directly at what appears to be a pair of huge floating eyes protruding from the walls and staring back at him.
"ROOHY LI' H!" After saying the unearthly sentence, he collapses on the floor.
The room falls silent. Then the silence breaks with a third terrifying roar coming from the mysterious pair of eyes as they shake violently.
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Inside the bamboo forest
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The bamboo forest is located at the center of the Zero land. Famous for its complex roads and with the dense, massively tall, and thick bamboo trees that only allow the traveler to see the grass-covered roads and a glimpse of what the sides of the roads hide.
The echoes of two thousand organized units can be heard from the west side of the bamboo forest. Each unit has physical fighters, mages, and support soldiers.
From somewhere in the first unit comes a concerned voice. "Did you hear that?" One of the supply carriers talks to a Heavyshield fighter.
"Yes, and I am not sure where it came from but let's hope we don't go there." He says as he pulls the large shield on his back closer.
"There, here, it's all dangerous in this stupid forest and I-" A mage accidentally bumps into him with his eyes glued to a spellbook. The supply carrier twists his waist pushing him back with the huge supply bag then yells at him, "Watch it you moron." They both exchange frowns, but the mage decides to keep reading the book.
"Stupid road can barely fit 10 per row and we are squeezed in with 3 extra? Look," he points at another support soldier pulling his stuck supply bag from between two bamboo trees, while 3 mages behind him complain about him blocking the formation.
"And under this boiling sun." He exclaims with a voice filled with anger and as his voice starts to ring loudly, he collects himself and pulls the supply bag closer so it doesn't slip, along with a slow groan. The Heavyshield fighter's eyes turn upward as he didn't expect him to go on complaining about this long.
"Anyway, where was I, young man?"
The Heavyshield fighter replies with weariness "you were telling me about something you can't believe." The supply carrier's eyes shine "Ah, yes, yes." He takes a deep breath, then he continues, "I still can't believe the Fekyn king would send half of his army just for a stupid little girl." His voice rises again as he struggles to contain his anger.
"Hush, he will hear us…" The Heavyshield soldier quickly expresses his concern to the supply soldier.
"Who? That big ape of a commander? I couldn't care less, and if the rumors were true then maybe the king should've sent him alone and not backed by a dozen soldiers."
"I don't know… it's just that roaring sound, this place's reputation, and not to mention the other two kingdoms have sent half of their armies as well, this could be a full-scale war, not just the little girl."
"You are giving this too much thought, besides, you have a shield and you are young, I am old and carrying the stupid supplies. If you're that scared then you shouldn't have joined the army."
The Heavyshield soldier frowns and his grip tightens. "Shouldn't have joined the army? In the Fekyn kingdom? How else was I to feed my family? Stealing and killing like the assassins and mages of the low-ground? I just… didn't imagine it would be this way."
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"No one said it's honey and bread."
"No, but this roar, that sound… it's just unnatural to me." his body shivers as the fear slowly sneaks into his mind.
The supply soldier bites his lips making a sound of disagreement, "You're over rea-"
The supply carrier suddenly stops and the other stumbles and bumps his head into something, "Awh! Wh-" he exclaims as he realizes something is blocking his way. A towering man no less than 3 meters tall, with huge muscles and two giant gloves on his heavily armored back and he just bumped into him head on. He slowly leans down in the direction of the Heavyshield soldier, shadowing him with his intimidating height. He takes an exaggerated whiff of the air below. "Do I smell cowardness within my platoon?"
With trembling lips and a shaking body, he can barely get the words out. "N-n-No, sir... I-"
He doesn't get to finish the sentence as a hard and fast fist penetrates his stomach, lifting him off the ground and sending him gliding on the shield disappearing into the woods leaving a long trail of blood as if the trees ate him. seconds later a loud bang marks his impact into a bamboo tree.
The old supply carrier is frozen in place, trying to understand how one punch managed to send a fighter class flying away. I didn't hear him move from the front. Oh god, I hope I’m not next. His thoughts are racing as his wide eyes hesitantly turn towards the commander. "Anyone else scared?" He demands as he turns to the supply soldier, and their eyes meet. "NO SIR!" He responds quickly and stands as straight as possible.
The commander then switches his eyes to the rest of the unit. "NO SIR!" In one unified cry, they all reply. One final thought crosses the supply soldier's mind. The rumors are true, his physical strength is unbelievably strong.
A long staff appears next to the commander, she softly and quickly taps it on his shoulder plate then she rests it on the ground again. He turns his head to find an elegantly dressed lady, barely at his shoulder height. She looks up and with all the mannerisms she could muster and directs her words to him. "Dargo, I think that's enough, we wouldn't want to kill an entire unit now, would we?" With a concerned voice, she whispers to his ears, "What if we needed bait?"
"Fine." He replies, slowly and in a deep voice.
Suddenly, She lifts her staff off the ground and fixes her eyesight forward. "I sense something!" Dargo looking unaffected," a Fwah clan?" "No, not a light magic-user." Her eyebrows furrow as she tries to focus all her magic on revealing the source. "Wait… it's not a human, it's something else." With a slow hand movement, she waves her staff in the direction of the woods surrounding both sides of the road.
At the same time, the bamboo surrounding the road begins to fade slowly into a black-like shadow, losing its bright green color.
The voices rise amongst the platoon.
"What's this?" One worried mage from the third unit asks loudly "I am not sure, this magic isn't familiar to me." Replies another mage.
"It's like we are surrounded by a dark curtain."
"A curtain that's hiding even what's between the bamboo, now we are easy prey." two fighters in the second unit exchange words in fear.
"Sarada, is this an illusion spell?" Dargo asks with his usual calm tone.
"No, it isn't tied to magic spells, this isn't magic… and I am not reading any human vitals from within the forest." She replies as her eyes follow the staff which started to shake violently.
"Look Dargo," She points at the grass covering the road edges. "The darkness stopped at the edges, only the trees surrounding the roads were engulfed." She rests her staff back on the ground, "It's no use, this isn't magic. I can't gather information about who or what this is."
"You were right boy, there is something wrong. Perhaps the king knew that there would be more than just a war between factions, between some mages and fighters. Perhaps there is something we don't know."
The supply soldier mutters these words to himself as his knees are paralyzed and his eyes are gazing at his feet. He had a family to feed.
His eyes then switch to his hand holding the bag rope.
I have enough supplies to last me days, I have to run. He puts his hand on his knee and massages it slowly, he does the same for the other knee. He pulls the massive supply bag close to his back and carefully starts backing away from the unit.
Meanwhile, Dargo stretches his arms and signals Sarada to rest, following this, the whole platoon goes silent as they watch their towering commander pull one of his gloves from his back and put his left hand into it.
He points at his back with his thumb as he turns away from Sarada and walks confidently towards the edge of the road. Sarada starts chanting a spell and she points her staff towards his back, then a crescent shape appears there, one only she can see.
He stops at the edge of the road and inhales slowly. "No strange odors." He mutters to himself. "I still can't make out anything from this distance." Without hesitation he throws a punch with his glove into the dark wall, his hand disappears in and appears back as he pulls it out. "Normal resistance, my glove is unscathed." His tone is unchanged. He then steps in entirely until his whole body is behind the curtain of darkness.
"Huh?" His eyes widen, as a sudden and rapid change in his heartbeat, followed by a freezing cold temperature strikes his skin. He turns around to check on his troops and Sarada, but then his eyes widened even further . He could see them but he doesn't remember being this far, he could barely make out their faces.
"What's he doing?" A soldier asks the other. "I don't know, but I can only see his back."
"He hasn't moved an inch since he stepped his first foot into that dark wall." Replies a mage next to them.
Sarada looks worried," I can sense him moving and his heartbeats changing, but visibly he hasn't moved an inch. I will know when to teleport him back."
Dargo's thoughts start to pile up one after the other. It's so dark in here, yet my body is visible as if the sun is shining on it.
He then turns his head upwards, his heartbeats racing even more "The sky, it's all dark now. Where did the sun go? Where am I?" The questions he asked have no clear answer, the fear starts to build deeper within him.
Focus, focus you are Dargo the strongest fighter in the Fekyn kingdom. A sound of a screaming male from a distance interrupts Dargo's thoughts. "Where did that come from?" He turns around, "everything looks the same here."
Just push forward, he thinks to himself. "time to move." He encourages himself to keep going. One step follows the other amidst the blinding darkness, just following the echoes of the recurring screams.
From a distance, a shape of a man suddenly steps into view like a candle lighting the dark. The figure appears to be throwing punches.
Dargo starts to speed his pace toward the man, and as his distance gets closer he could make out minor details. The man's back is turned towards Dargo, he is wearing what looks to be a huge pair of gloves. Dargo realizes that what he was hearing isn't screams, but the sound of multiple guys speaking in a single voice, saying different things at the same time. Should I call him out? A thought that is quickly rejected. Better keep my element of surprise.
As he finally gets close enough to be only a few steps from touching him, Dargo raises his fists preparing them for the punch. In an instant, the man turns to face Dargo crying, "POTS OGRAD!!!" He dashes at him. With one final loud thought ringing in Dargo's head as the distance between them dramatically decreases. This man is… me.