1ST TERROR PLOT: Saigan
An endless field spread out in front of Shiro's eyes.
Looking at this peaceful sight before him, Shiro thought wondered to what happened.
After he finished looking at the message, his eyes faded to black, and then...
His memories ended.
"Tsch! What is this! At least tell me where the heck I am at."
Collapsing on the ground, Shiro stared at the suns in the sky.
"Suns?"
There are a total of 9 suns in the sky as of this moment, each shining in various shades of colors.
"A dwarf star, six red stars and only two the same as the ones on Earth...How does anything survive here?"
"Wait, the ground is different too..."
Scooping up a handful of soil, he took a deep breath, taking in the scent of the earth.
"The smell of the compose of the soil is different. There is a scent of blood in it, together with a unfamiliar smell."
"Speaking of which, these grass aren't grass at all. The way the grass is growing, it is definitely not of the Poaceae family. A type of graminoids?"
The grass are growing in a unique fashion, which three leafs growing from a single point.
And at that point, lies a single opening with a row of teeth lining it.
"WHAT THE..."
Something seems awoken by the sound he made...
There is a rustle, before he felt a stinging pain on his leg the very next moment.
Blood flowing freely from the open wound is hastily gobbled up by the grasses, as it continued to bite at Shiro's heels.
"God damn it!"
Hastily clawing at the grass with his bare hands, he quickly stood up to minimize the area the grass could assault.
"If I just had a lighter, I could torch all of you to hell!"
Torch...Fire...Explosion...Tiny Sword (Explosion)?
"Where is the promised weapon?! God damn it!"
Just as if it is in response to his cries, his hands grasped something.
A sword so small it could barely be called a sword stood sheathed in a simple leather sheath.
A crystal stood embedded in the middle of the sword's handle, covered in runes of an unknown origin.
Yet, somehow, Shiro instinctively knew how to use it.
"Ting!"
Explosion Mastery, Expert 5 (0.03%)
A master of blowing things up, a explosion master can call forth the power of a good explosion. Specializing in nothing else, they are amongst the most hated and liked people in the world.
Effect: Bigger Boom! (Explosion Radius Up), Intense Burst (Explosion Power Up), Explosion are my friend! (Explosion Damage Down), I know Boom! (Instinctive knowledge of explosive devices)
"AHHH!"
Grasping the sword, he swung it at the ground.
"BOOM!"
An explosion that shook the heavens pierce the fields.
With an almighty power, it swept through the lands, leaving behind naught but a scorched earth.
And within it, stood Shiro.
"Wow...WHAT KIND OF DUMB WEAPON IS THIS!"
Shiro, normally indifferent to all, could not help but swear at this, for his cloths are a complete mess, blacken by the sooth.
In fact, ever since coming to this world, Shiro has felt strange.
As if something wrong with the world has been fixed, lifting a stone from his heart.
"Yes, this world is the world for me. The previous world is nothing but a sham, a empty shell. This insane world with vampire grasses and a exploding sword? It is my world."
xxXxx
After leaving the now destroyed field of murderous grass, Shiro came upon a path that leads somewhere.
"Somewhere? Lets hope it is not a den of crazy goblins or some other mystical creatures. Considering the state of my cloths, one more explosion and I am naked."
And he is not interested in running naked through this strange world.
Walking along the path, Shiro took the chance to look at the sword.
Ever since the explosion just now, he have been thinking.
Just now, the explosion was released at full blast, leading to a AOE effect.
However, Shiro somehow knew that the explosion can be controlled.
The explosion drained something from his body to power it.
Looking at the pop-up just now, the explosion did not blow him up because of that skill he has
Assuming that the pop-up is indeed a skill, it means that this world should run on a RPG system.
RPG, Role Playing Game.
A type of game that allows the player to be whoever they are, and use powerful magic or skills.
Shiro have once dabbled in such games, only to lose interest after he found an exploit that manage to ruin the games in a matter of days.
"They are too childish and easily exploited"
That is the statement he made after he manage to pull off a world breaking glitch.
However, now that his live may depend on it, he tried to recall the ways those games run.
In those games, there should be a HP bar and a MP bar.
"HP and MP? Is it these two?"
Since just now, he had been noticing this annoying mark on his arm.
It was shape like a hourglass, with two different colored sides.
The top of the hourglass is red, while the bottom of the glass is blue.
Right now, the blue portion is just over half-filled, while the red portion is a little over 9/10th full.
An interesting thing to note is that the red portion is slowly trickling over to the blue portion.
"Is my HP being converted to MP? Or is it something else?"
Deep in thought, he did not realize that he was in the company of someone else until he was rudely awoken from his thoughts.
"HEY?! PAY UP TO CROSS THIS BRIDGE!"
"SHUT UP! I AM THINKING!"
Unconsciously, his sword swung a full 360 degrees, drawing up a circle in the air, before explosions filled the space up.
With him as an epicenter, the explosion caused a crater to appear on the ground.
A bloodstain appeared where the voice originated from.
"Damn it! Who was the idiot that interrupted me? Oh, the puddle of blood? Ha, looks like my first kill on this world when without me noticing."
Barely perturbed by the death of another, Shiro continued on.
xxXxx
"There is something wrong."
Shiro could not pinpoint exactly what is wrong with himself, yet, somehow, he knew that was something amiss.
His head was spinning like a top, and each step, an excruciating torture.
His hand was glowing with with an red aura, a warning signal to him.
"Argh...is it....my MP?"
Two shots. He only used his sword twice. Yet, these two uses have drain him completely.
"Isn't it only MP? How is it...AH!"
He felt himself slowly getting weaker and weaker.
Glancing at the hourglass on his hand, his life was slowly flowing to his MP.
"What the..."
An agonized cry rang through the path, before, for the second time, Shiro's eyes faded to black.
xxXxx
"Looks like it is due to mana shortage..."
"Indeed. What a fool, to exhaust his mana to the point where is begun to eat into his own life."
"Look at the sword he is holding, it is an old Ocaria artifact."
"Don't even try to take it. It is soulbound to him."
"What if we kill him? Then we can use it right?"
"If we kill him, the weapon will self-implode. The only way is for him to give it up himself."
"An Explosion-type?"
"Yup."
"That explains how the field was completely destroyed. Sigh...should we take him in?"
"No need. He will awake soon. He will find his way to Saigan anyways."
"Ahh~! Saigan, the City of Rot."
"Don't call it that. Aren't the ones who made it that way us?"
"Aww...you jest. How could we do such a thing~?"
"Tch. Lets go."
xxXxx
"Thats it. I will not use this sword ever again unless I am going to die."
After that debacle with him falling unconscious in the middle of the road, the sword was promptly stowed away, never to be seen again.
A few moments later.
Right in front of him, lies the gate of a majestic city.
A majestic city stinking of the rot he hated in his previous world.
"I always hated cities eh? The smell of them, it makes me sick."
It was what he hated about his previous world. Everyone is a soulless shell without personality. It was the same here.
"Makes me want to blow it up."
A dangerous statement, one he said once in his previous life.
Entering the city, he saw around him empty shells moving about.
The soldiers, the merchants, the workers, even the children.
The city was akin to an ancient Japanese city, coupled with thatched roofs and ancient Japanese clothing.
Sakura blossoms lined the side of the roads, all leading towards the central residence in town. The residence of the Shogun, the ruler of this town.
The words that the people are speaking, they are familiar to Shiro. English, Japanese, even Hindi can be heard.
Their contents vary, from a trade discussion to idle gossip.
As he wandered along the streets after entering through the open entrance of the gate, he began to feel an stone weighing down on his heart.
Deeper and deeper he went into the town, weaving through the streets. He wanted to look for something, something he knew lies in every town.
"The darkness that lies on every town, the slums, the underbelly of that facade."
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And he found it. Hidden in the west corner of the town, a abandoned area crawling with rot.
People even more soulless than those who came before, with all manner of shady dealings going on.
In the few minutes he entered the area, he had already witnessed over a dozen crimes.
Even now, by his side, a woman was sobbing in fear and terror as a man held a knife to her throat.
What is to come, everyone knows.
"This was where I was born, where I crawled out from. A lowly slum like this."
Breathing in the air, he moved to find an a place he knows exist in every town.
"The Information Broker. The one who knows everything."
Information Broker. They exist in both worlds. They are the ones who made gathering information their business, with truly professional ones even being able to predict when things will happen. In his previous world, he once meet one such character. A truly unpleasant experience.
Now, he is seeking one out. For he need information, to survive.
However, think about it, he, without equipment except a small sword wandered into one of the most dangerous areas in the city of Saigan.
A ideal prey for the predators all hungering for food.
Before he knew it, he was surrounded by people. Gradually, slowly, an encirclement is complete.
"Tsk."
Stopping his movements, Shiro casually glance at where he is current standing at. Right in front of a building just like any other.
Then, he looked at those who are surrounding him.
"Are you sure you want to fight here?"
"What are you talking about? Stay quite and be our prey brat!"
"Look at whose building you are standing in front of."
An electric shock ran through the crowd of people all waiting to devour him.
"That...that is where Inanu is!"
"How...brat, how did you know this place?"
"Ha, you think I came here without any protection? I am coming here to see Inanu. So, still want to prey on me?"
"Bitch!" Turning behind to look at the building, the predators made a split second decision. Like a fox cowering before a tiger, in the face of superior predators, they leaved with their tails between their legs.
"Phew, it was a risk, but looks like it paid off. This is indeed the location of the Information Broker."
What happen just now was a test. A test to see if this house was indeed where the Information Broker lives.
If not, he had planned to cause another explosion in this area since his mana have recovered.
However, he would only have one shot using this trump card. Another shot would knock him cold once again.
"The traces on the walls all head to this place. Now, for the pass code....what would it be?"
Along the windowsills. In the pathways. Right in front of a toilet. An Information Broker would leave his trace all over the place. If one knew how to notice it, finding the place would be easy.
"Let's see...INANU! I KNOW WHO YOU ARE. IF YOU DON'T COME OUT, I WILL SHOW EVERYONE WHERE YOU LIVE, SO YOU HAVE TO MOVE HOUSE AGAI--"
"One more sound, and I will kill you."
"Heh...you appeared. Now, can we go in and talk?"
"Silence! You enter this place 2 hours ago. You came from the Southeast Grand Trail, collapsing on the path due to mana exhaustion. You have a Ocaria Artifact of the Explosion-type. You killed Kiza, the Bandit. Your Origins are unknown, so is your Sigil. You, are a mystery, one that I am interested in."
"You sure know a lot about me. How about we do a deal? I tell you a interesting story, and you tell me what I want to know of equal value."
"An interesting story? Hahahaha...you know what? I will not kill you. Come in. "
xxXxx
The inner of the room is a mess of furniture, with an occasional bloodstain here and there.
"Looks like there was trouble just now?"
"That is nothing, just a few people trying to cheat me of my payment. As long as you obey my rules, you will be fine."
"Now, sit over there could you? I will go an prepare some snacks. A good story needs a few snacks doesn't it."
Till now, the actual face of the Information Broker cannot be seen. His face is shadowed by his hood, with his entire body covered by a unassuming brown overall.
There was nothing noticeable about the Information Broker, except that that is the problem.
He has no identity, nor any visible characteristics.
After the information broker came back with a tray full of suspicious delicacies, he sat himself right in front of Shiro, blocking his way to the exit.
"Story?"
"You sure are impatient aren't you? Well....lets just say that there is another world. Another place other than here. In there...."
Words spilled up Shiro's mouth as he weaved together the incidents leading to his arrival, all speaking hypothetically of course. In another imaginary person's shoes, he relieved his story. After that, he collapsed back on the backrest, propped up his legs, and look at the Information Broker.
"How? Interesting, isn't it."
"I see. You are one of the Alieni, aren't you? Those who came from another world and took control of this land through their strength, ending the Age of Elves."
"There are others?"
"In this country, which is called Areacs by the way, the High Priest is rumor to be one. The Shrine Maiden is also another. In fact, most of the countries higher-ups are all Alieni. Now, there is you."
"...Tell me about this world."
"Ha...well, I will tell you everything I know to you, as long as you swear not to forget me when you become someone of importance. This world is called ALICE. Why? No one knows. There are many races in this land, with each coming to dominance with each Era. It used to be the Elven Era, before the Alieni defeat the elves. Now, Humas reign supreme."
"The three countries that claim dominance are Areacs, Kingdom of Alanina and Visravona. You are now in Areacs."
"The current ruler of Areacs is Emperor Hisoraki, which came to the forefront following the Elven-Humas War. As they are the one who actually captured the Elven capital and forced a surrender, they now lay control to most of Elven lands. Saigan is one of the cities established there. Due to that, they are now the most powerful empire."
"Kingdom of Alannia used to be the strongest empire. However, they lost majority of their lands in the Elven-Humas War. Even though they regain it back, they are now in the decline. The only reason they still ranked amongst the three, is due to their Knight Legion, the most formidable force in the lands. They are also in control of majority of the Elvish prisoner of war, as a majority of the elvish forces are in their lands when the sudden surrender occurred."
"Viravona was the underdog. They came out of nowhere during the war, taking chances left and right. Taking no sides, they pilfer off land and items at any opportunity they get. Now allying themselves to Kingdom of Alannia, they are a growing power."
"For you, however, you are the Aleini. You can take any side you want. Honestly speaking though, I would not want you in any country. From what you spoke of, I am not surprise to see the capital city go up in flames with your "bombs"."
"Haha...what about the Ocaria artifact you spoke of? Eh?"
"Those...they are remnants of a once great Sprit civilization. Embedding their soul crystals into the weapons, they grant the weapons massive power. Each power takes a type, with the commons ones being Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and such. Of course, there are more specific ones, such as Explosion-type. Those are rarer, and go for much more in the market. For you however, the crystal seems to have soulbound to you, meaning no one else can use the weapon."
"Now, that after talking for so much, why don't you come with me. A picture speaks a thousand words, doesn't it. I am sure the rest of your queries can be answered by what I am about to show you."
The Information Broker got up off his seat, leaving Shiro behind. Sliding his hand along the walls, he opened an unknown pathway.
"Come."
xxXxx
The pathway is covered with a mosaic of decorations, from heads of strange and unknown beast to a simple painting.
"Painting in this world have power. Seeing one of them, especially one created by a master, and you shall be able to feel what the artist is conveying. In some cases, even souls can be transferred. Such paintings are called Signs."
"The one I am showing you is one such Sign. Created by Damiovilo in the Elven Year 1243, it is a drawing of mana, as it is seen. You should be able to understand mana more easily once you look at it."
"Do you have other Signs?"
"Don't try to look at them. At your current level, this Sign is the most you can view. The others are far too...emotional. Looking at them would consume your soul."
At this point, the stairs ended in front of a simple oaken door.
"Only look forward. Don't look to the side."
"Sure..."
The Information Broker pushed the door open, revealing a single point illuminated by a lamp.
It was the most exquisite thing Shiro have ever viewed in his entire life. A woman, clad in blue, was kissing a man in a passionate kiss. Within their intertwining bodies, a strand of red is flowing to blue, while a strand of blue is going to red, in a harmonious cycle.
The woman, seemingly recognizing his gaze, turned and look at him. Reaching her hands out of the picture, her hands touched his lips. A tingle of lightning raced through him, caressing his soul. "Ah..!" A moan came from his mouth, unable to restrain the pleasure.
His soul began to tremble, yearning to break free. He walked forward, taken in by her beauty, as he tried to reach the painting. He...he wanted to be one with the party so bad...
"ENOUGH!"
The lamp was extinguished with a shout. Shiro stumbled back, stunned by the voice.
"That is why Signs are dangerous. Even the milder of those can consume your soul. You still want to look at the others in my collection?"
"No...but...mana..."
Mana Understanding UP!
*Pop* another window appeared in front of him.
"I kind of understand now. Mana is not just a form of power, but a living thing. The remnants of Goddess Gaea at her union with...someone. I think I can control it now."
"That is enough. Now, after I provided you with so much help, think you can help me with something."
"Help?"
"You seriously think that it is all for free? Look, for the story I told you about the situation in our world. Plus, I could provide you with any basic information you still need. But for this painting, you think it is free? The moment you step in here, you are already under the influence of a Geass contract."
"Geass contract?! What did you..."
"The Geass contract is a contract between two souls. Now, unless you do as the contract stated, your soul will be damned for eternity. Rest assure, it would not be anything difficult. I just need you to help me with a little problem about something. With the Sigil, it should be easy for you..."
"YOU...DAMN YOU!"
"No help comes for free. Not my, not yours."
xxXxx
Another chapter.
This time, it is more of a set-up for the next chapter, with an actual mission.
Would be interesting to see how he is going to blow the mission up.
The Information Broker will play a part in the future.
Hope you enjoy and please feedback!
P.S Please post any errors you see in the writing.