The sound of a generic rooster crow echoed through Jordan's open window, forcing him out of dream and his eyes to flutter open. Sun rays shone through his window blinds, which moved with the wind that found its way through. The boy sat up, rubbing his eyes, reaching for his phone that had a sort of dimly glowing small red gem connected to its back.

8:42 AM

The boy rubbed his eyes once more, before sweat drops suddenly formed all over his face, "Ah shit, I'm late. He's gonna fucking kill me..."

He hopped out of bed with a grunt, stretching for a while before throwing on a clean white shirt and baggy dark green pants with multiple pockets. He peered into his bedroom mirror for a bit before grinning and flexing his well build muscles, nodding to himself, almost looking satisfied. The boy took his phone with him while trying to brush out his messy pink hair, putting it in his pocket as he rushed to the bathroom, feeling like his bladder was about to burst at any given moment. Once he was through his relieving himself, brushing his teeth and putting some deodorant on, he rushed down the house's creaky old wooden steps which felt as though they would give in if they weren't fixed up any time soon. 

The entire house was empty, but the small TV in the kitchen was playing the local news station channel that the boy's uncle enjoyed watching. As he walked into the kitchen, he noticed a covered plate with a note next to it. He lifted the cover which revealed some cold eggs and beans, and a piece of now stale toast on the side. As he went over to the microwave that had a small blue glowing gem connected to the top of it, he read the note while carrying his plate of breakfast that his Uncle had most likely made for him.

Get to the shop by nine or I'll kick your ass. Also wash your dishes once you're done.

The boy's eyes almost popped out of his head as he re-checked his phone to see that the time was only eight minutes to nine. He quickly turned off the microwave before scarfing down his food, almost choking on some beans, tears forming in his eyes before he washed it all down with a glass of orange juice.

As he was rushing, the TV seemed to be discussing news regarding Voyager's. The screen displayed three young looking adults. A boy with long silver hair that touched his shoulders was one of them, a calm expression on his face, his emerald eyes glinting due to what seemed to be the flashing of camera's. A girl with long black hair was standing next to him with rather sharp looking, but soulless dark purple eyes. Another girl stood there with short dark blue hair, showing off her sharp teeth with a confident smirk pasted across her face. All three seemed to be wearing similar metal armour and red capes, but each carried different weapons.

"In recent news, three rookie Voyager's have signed with the Red blade guild. Many look forward to their accolades and are now calling them the future of Voyagin--" 

The boy switched the TV off with a sort of pained expression on his face. He quickly shook his head before remembering the task at hand, wagging his hands around to dry them of the water he was using to wash his dishes. After putting on his socks and work boots, he bolted out of the house which was right outside of the town's packed and cobblestone streets. Many people seemed to be at work with their businesses, and many were walking around doing their daily shopping. 

The town was most definitely a cosy one since the locals seemed to be extremely familiar with each other, but were also very friendly with travellers. In the centre of the town was an old looking, but working fountain that had four main different paths directed from it. The first path led north towards the rich part of the island where the mayor and other financially stable individuals lived. The second path led west towards the forest where different creatures lived, the path turning from cobblestone into dirt the further you went into the forest. The third path led east towards the shopping area of the town and where some residents of the town resided. The fourth and final path led south towards the fields where farmers took care of their land, crops and cattle. However, beyond the farm lands was the island's main port, which travellers and fishermen used to go on and off the island.

The boy dashed north of the fountain towards a large smoking building, which for some odd reason today had more than the regular amount of customers. 

"OI JORDAN! DIDN'T I SAY TO BE HERE BY NINE!?" His uncle yelled while forging a great sword. 

Jordan sighed and pulled out his phone in response, "It's still two minutes to nine you old fart!!" 

"Ugh, never mind that! We have a shit ton of traveller customer's today. So I need you to sell all those weapons over there." His uncle turned to the weapons near the counter, all organised into their respective types of weapons. Jordan's mouth drooped open, impressed at the sight of the weapons his Uncle had forged throughout the week.

Jordan got behind the counter and threw on his work apron before tending to the line of customers in front of him. He got to work quickly, selling items such as shields, swords, great hammers, gauntlets, and all types of weapons to aspiring Voyager's. Of course, he had been trained by his uncle to put on his best work face at times like this, serving customers with a wide and welcoming smile. Eventually, as the line was beginning to finally shorten down, a group of four girls, all wearing traveller like clothing walked up to the counter. They seemed to be snickering and whispering to each other, much to Jordan's dismay as he scowled a little before quickly smiling once more, his eyebrow twitching.

"Excuse me. Would you all like to purchase some equipment?" He asked, a little intrigued as to what they could possibly be discussing right in front of him.

The girls all suddenly pushed one of them forward who seemed to have short brown hair, one side of her hair completely covering one of her eyes. She instantly seemed to go red in the face while she fidgeted with her fingers, tears forming in her visible eye. The girls behind snickered and pushed her closer. 

"E-excuse me b-but...would you like...t-to go out with m-me?" The girl said, finally speaking up in a quiet and flustered tone. Jordan inhaled before smiling at the girl kindly, his serving face back on.

"Hell no." 

The girl, her friends and the rest of the people in the line felt their jaws drop to the ground. Jordan kept smiling for a moment before a heavy fist collided with the top of his head, his face flying forward into the counter, his uncle's angered voice echoing throughout the street.

"THAT'S NOT HOW YOU TALK TO CUSTOMERS YOU LITTLE SHIT!" 

Jordan looked up at his uncle, scowling with teary eyes, "THOSE GIRLS WERE TAKING THE PISS OUT OF ME! YOU SHOULDA SEEN IT YOU BLIND OLD BAT!" 

His uncle struck his nephew's head once more, his face colliding with the counter once more, "THAT DOESN'T MATTER! GET BACK TO WORK!" 

The girl seemed to be in tears as her friend's comforted her, the group glaring at Jordan, their gazes piercing through him. As this was all occurring, three figures seemed to be approaching from the direction of the manor house's. 

A female but also mature sounding voice spoke up, "Now now girl's, no need to waste your time with that failure."

Eventually, the three figures were visible. An old looking lady wearing a fancy purple dress, and dark purple hat stood with her crocodile skin handbag. Her horrid looking makeup did not seem to do her withering face any justice whatsoever, making both Jordan and his Uncle cringe at the sight of her. On her left and right were her towering twin son's, both wearing similar basic clothing that a noble would wear. However, it was obvious that both were rather muscular under their clothing. One had his curly black hair covering his eyes, so his expression was not completely visible, whilst the other had dyed his hair blond and spiked it up to look more appealing. 

"My son's are much more worth your time. Compared to that failed Voyager who'll never match to his friend or father."

Jordan scowled at the old lady who was looking his way with a rather sinister and mocking grin. The girls who were in the line quickly crowded the two boy's, asking them tons of questions as both boys were eventually dragged away by the girls towards the inner town, seemingly to enjoy their company. 

"To what do we owe the pleasure Miss Lionheart?" Jordan's uncle said, stepping away from his work for a moment, wiping his soot covered hands down with a cloth.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Miss Lionheart walked forwards with her money loving smirk on her face, heading towards the counter which Jordan was standing at, poking at his head repeatedly once she was right in front of him, "Just going on a stroll with my sons, dear Abe. It pains me to have to see you still have to deal with this little trouble maker."

Jordan kissed his teeth as a shadow suddenly loomed over the counter, a person now standing next to Miss Lionheart. He looked up to see the son with dark hair covering his eyes, his expression still practically unreadable. However, Jordan was a little confused at the sight of him. Hadn't this boy just left with his brother and those group of girls?

He seemed to tilt his head to face Jordan, before turning towards his mom, "Mother. This is the boy who has brought you such pain?" 

Miss Lionheart instantly put a hand to her head and leaned on the counter of the blacksmith stall, as though she was in extreme pain and mental torture, "Yes Michael! He's the one who tried to follow after your older sibling and drag them down to failure with him!"

"Oi, old bag. What in the hell are you talking about? You know we were close fri-" 

Before Jordan could finish his case, a hand grabbed the top of his head, squeezing it tightly, seemingly attempting to crush his skull. Michael had incredible forearm strength, his muscles and veins bulging as he tried to lift Jordan up. However, to Michael's surprise, Jordan grabbed his arm squeezing it tightly to prevent Michael from lifting him up into the air. Any regular person would have had their head crushed by the force of a body built from magical item usage, however Jordan wasn't regular. He had been training his body since he was a kid with Michael's older sister, a much more ferocious and powerful individual.

"You think your magic gem modified body matches up to the real thing?" 

Jordan completely overpowered Michael, moving his hand away and striking his chest with an open palm, sending the emotionless boy back. However, now, Michael had a sort of impressed smile on his face, rubbing his chest and wrist which had been hurt by Jordan's pure physical force. 

"You filthy brat!" Miss Lionheart screamed out after witnessing this exchange, swinging her bag towards Jordan. The attack was quickly stopped by Abe.

"Old man. I didn't tell you to step in..." Jordan began before seeing his Uncle calmly turn to him. 

"Go for a walk Jordan. I'll talk with them for now."

Jordan quickly realised his Uncle's intentions. After throwing off his work apron and hopping over the counter, Jordan ran towards the centre of the village, taking the path leading towards the forest to go and do something else whilst his Uncle talked with the Lionheart's. 

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.

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"345...346..."

Jordan let out a long sigh before dropping down from the rather tough and thick branch he was using to do pull-ups. He sat and chugged from his flask of water, wiping the sweat from his face and chiselled body. Jordan peered around him before gazing up at the sky which was now dark but littered with stars and the crescent moon. He look towards the path beyond the trees and bushes blocking his path, the sound of voices and excitement echoing from the bustling town. No one had followed him so he came to the conclusion that he had not been followed. Jordan sat back once more, looking up at the sky again, thoughts of his childhood friend and child of Miss Lionheart began to fill his empty mind.

"How are you doing? What are you doing? Are you eating enough? Do you enjoy being a Voyager?"

All these questions bounced around his skull as the cold air began to slowly settle in on his body. Jordan shivered a little, throwing on his white shirt once more before standing, deciding to head on home and make a stop by his favourite sandwich place. He picked up his now empty water flask and pushed his way through the greenery, heading towards the pathway that lead back to the town fountain. 

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came howling from behind Jordan, knocking him down to the ground. He scrambled forward so he could turn and face what had hit him. All he could see however was the trees and bushes around him moving with the winds that came from deep within the pitch black forest. The wind did not stop howling, almost sounding like an injured and weakened beast. It was beyond disturbing, and sent shivers down Jordan's spine. He wondered whether or not a storm had hit the island from the coast at the end of the forest, but as the thought came, it was quickly ignored by the coming event.

The ground beneath the island began to shake vigorously, cracks forming on the dirt beneath Jordan as rubble, rocks and dirt was shot up into the air, forcing him to scramble for his own safety. The town on the other hand, was in chaos as buildings were crumbling down, stalls were being destroyed by rubble, and the ground was being split apart. Eventually, the powerful tremors subsided, calm washing over the island, however the destruction was horrific. 

Jordan found himself clinging for dear life on a tree which was extremely close to falling and crashing down on of the more deeper cracks formed into the island. The tree slowly began to lose its grip to the surface, leaning closer to falling down the humongous gap in the earth. Jordan began to climb quickly, jumping from the tree to the side of the crack, lifting himself up to safety. He turned and watched as the tree fell deep into the dark abyss below.

Jordan panted and fell on his back, forcing himself to try and calm down his breathing but it was nearly impossible due to that brief exchange with death, "Holy shit...holy shit...fuck...is gramps okay?" 

He quickly sat up, looking around for a way to get back home without falling down this gigantic hole in the ground, eventually coming to the conclusion that there was just no way to get across.

"Fuck...if only I had a Constellation...UGH!", Jordan shook his head, slapping himself in the face, telling himself not to think so pathetically. 

He took one last peek over the edge of the deep crack in the ground before sighing out once more, mentally preparing himself to try and jump over. Once he was about to go for his leap, a loud high pitched scream echoed from deep within the forest, shaking Jordan a little, stopping him from following through with his plan. Instead he turned around, slightly intrigued, and walked towards the sounds of what seemed to be metal hitting a hard object, coupled with the sound of screaming. 

Out of nowhere, a short figure wearing a tattered black cloak while carrying a cloaked long looking object came flying from a bush, slamming into Jordan's stomach, knocking him to the ground and the air straight out of him. Struggling for breath he'd reach for the figure in anger, throwing their hood off. 

Much to Jordan's surprise, what he was witnessing was not the young child he was expecting, but a teary eyed frightened looking baby Penguin. It continued to clutch the long item in it's arms tightly before pointing its flipper towards the bush it came flying out of. Three scaly looking lizard men immerged from the direction the Penguin was pointing, their tongues drooping out of their mouths, drool dripping animalistically as they all held spiky wooden bats. All three however, seemed to be wearing rather casual and adventurous clothing, which piqued Jordan's interest to some degree. 

His attention was quickly grabbed as the Penguin began speaking while sniffling uncontrollably, "Sir, you've got to help me! They're trying to kill me!" 

Jordan stood up, confused, very shaken up at the events that had occurred throughout the day, and unsure about the current situation. Maybe the Penguin was a flesh eating monster that grew to a hundred feet and these lizards were doing the town a favour? Or maybe the little Penguin was a thief and that thing it was holding was what the Lizardmen were truly after?

Regardless of that, Jordan took a bet and dashed at one of the creature's, jumping into the air before slamming both of his feet into its chest. It was sent sprawling into a bush, it's grip on the weapon weakening as it was dropped to the ground. 

Before the other's could react, Jordan quickly picked up the spiky bat of the Lizardman he had just struck, and swung it at the second one which was now making an attempt to attack him. The spikes of the bat collided with the second Lizardman's face, blood spilling everywhere as it was either killed or completely knocked unconscious. The third and final Lizardman was face with the choice of certain defeat or escape.

It wisely chose to turn tail and run, but as Jordan sighed with relief, thinking that the job was done, the Penguin spoke up, "CHASE AFTER HIM, HE'LL CALL HIS FRIENDS!" 

Jordan kissed his teeth and grabbed the Penguin by the back of it's cloak, dashing in the direction the Lizardman went running. After a few minutes of chasing after the creature, Jordan thought he could see a clearing as the amount of trees and bushes began to die down. However, he quickly stopped himself before falling over what seemed to be a cliffside, dirt and rock falling from where his foot stopped. Jordan's eyes widened at the sight that befell his eyes.

A crater had been formed deep in the island's forest, with an ancient ruined city in the middle that the Lizardman was sliding down the edge's of the crater towards. It was as though the ground around had been dug for countless years to discover this. The city seemed as though it was glowing with a mix of purple, pink and light blue aura, making it look absolutely mythical. Jordan quickly came to the conclusion that this must have been what caused the tremors across the island, but at the same time he remembered the details of this phenomenon from fairy tales he'd read when he was younger. 

Surfacing Dungeons.