The Smell of old, almost ancient wood hit the Nose of the young man as he opened his eyes.

'Wh-what is this? Where am I?'

All around him were shelves of olden looking books.

The age of these could be determined by the cobwebs hanging from the books.

They were ancient. Looked like they hadn't been opened for an eternity.

But that wasn't what hit the eyes of the young man first.

No.

What he noticed first was the seemingly unending height of the shelves.

They went so high up in the sky in fact, that after a while they just disappeared into the void up above.

The human eye was not able to see that far above, and due to the lack of light up there, it just looked like a portal to a pitch-black dimension.

'Wh-where is this?'

He looked around frantically searching for the exit. A way out was what he hoped to find.

Yet no such structure was visible anywhere.

Behind him, as well as in front of him, rows on rows of shelves just climbed to the sky.

'How did I even get here? There must be a way to get out, seeing as I must have come in from somewhere. But how did I get here. I can't remember anything.'

Karl held his head in his hands, trying to recall what had happened before he opened his eyes.

'I remember me and the other party members walking down a dark pathway.'

He held his Head in his arms as he sighed.

'Ahhhh- That's all I remember. It's just blank after that. Like I was possessed or something.'

After shaking his head once, to try to clear his mind, he started wandering the library, remarking that he should try and find an exit. But after walking for about 1 minute he got curios about the books that were beside him.

The old and dusty books that were there, unopened for who knows how long.

They all had different colored covers.

Some were blue, some yellow, even purple ones were there.

But the one that really caught Karl's eyes was a book with a pitch-black cover. There was no writing on the side of the book, just a blank darkness.

He stretched his hands out to grab it. But before he touched it his mind started working again.

'Wait!! What if it's dangerous'

Karl quickly grabbed his hand with the other one.

He was careless.

The boy didn't know what would happen if he touched the books. But for some reason it was as if he'd been drawn to it.

With a worriless mindset, reminiscent of the one that brought him here, he took out the book that was ohh so, appealing looking.

The book was quite heavy, its contents plenty.

He opened it and saw the title page.

[Ismail-The sword that split heaven in half]

'A sword...How much unimaginable power must it possess to be able to do something like that. I never heard this fairy tale before.'

As his fingers wanted to rummage through the book, to flip the page over to the other side, a small yet not painless Shock entered the body of Karl.

"Ah"

It was more like a small shock one would receive if one had been toying around with a remote or something. But the elevated nervousness levels of Karl made him accidentally drop the book.

"What was that? Could it have come from the book? No, that's impossible."

As he murmured to himself, he put the book back, feeling at ease when he put it back in it's place.

'Guess it's time to continue my search for the exit.'

Quickly moving on, he once again started looking around everywhere he could see, whilst walking in one direction.

But as he took five steps he suddenly froze.

'Wh-Why can't I move? What is this!?'

His whole body was frozen stiff.

Karl couldn't even move an inch. He was frozen in place.

'Damn! Is this some kind of trap?!'

As he was questioning what had happened to him, a light appeared beneath his eyes.

It was some ancient writing that glowed with a bright pink flare.

The lights in the room all went out simultaneously, except for one candle still soldiering on, but it was barely even a glint.

'This is the end of me...'

Without being able to move an inch, Karl was sure of his demise. And as he closed his eyes, the only thing he had hoped for was a miracle to happen.

***

"Watch out they're coming from above!!"

One of the Adventurers screamed as the goblins started falling out of the sky.

"How did they get up there?!"

Bracing himself, Markus lifted up his mace and was ready to strike down the goblins as they were in his vicinity.

Every Adventurer there was already fighting. Some used swords and bested the beasts, whilst others drew back and used magic to defeat them.

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But this was only capable because Markus and the rest of the Tanks drew away most of the attacking force of the goblins.

But this could all change if they were jumping down from the roof.

If a lot of them get behind them, the attacking force may be in trouble.

Realizing this, Markus said to the leader.

"We need to reposition ourselves. The goblins might kill our healers if we don't draw their focus on us."

The Leader looked around for a little while to confirm the situation of the fight.

The whole conflict was taking place in a more open area. After wandering in a straight line for about half an hour, they made it out here, and soon after the goblins attacked.

"Everyone let's draw back and draw their focus on us again!!"

He screamed the orders and everyone began to move accordingly.

Markus looked up and saw that a goblin was pretty close.

He was falling at an incredibly fast rate.

Like this he would reach the floor in about 6 seconds.

Markus hurriedly prepared himself. He took up a stance, shifted his weight on his back leg and held his mace like a baseball bat. He held it tight and was ready to use all his force for a swing.

As soon as the goblin appeared in front of his eyes.

He took a full power swing, aiming for the goblins head.

They were both round and looked kind of similar, so hitting it wasn't a big challenge.

His iron mace struck the poor goblins head straight on.

'Home run.'

Markus smiled as he succeeded in getting a good hit in.

The mace went through the goblins green head like it would go through a normal ceramic doll. It smashed it with such force that there remained nothing. The head was broken completely, all the bones and everything shattered.

"That'll teach you not to mess with a rank E Adventurer"

Blood spurted out from the now gone head of the goblin, and it all went upwards in the air.

There was a bloody shower for Markus and anybody in his close proximity.

"Sorry. I always wanted to try that."

He looked back to the people behind him.

They were all looking at him kind of angry, due to having their clothes ruined and being covered in monster blood.

Markus, showing a small smile, apologized to them and scratched the back of his head slightly.

After having apologized he quickly followed the Leader to get back to his position.

***

'Huh, what happened?!'

Still being stuck in place and unable to move, Karl asked himself this question as he started to panic.

It seems like the calming effect he had been under before had vanished. Leaving him with a lot of worry for his future.

'Why can't i move!!'

Karl was using all the power in his muscles to try and make a movement.

But alas to no avail.

He was stuck there, unable to move, no matter how much he tried and struggled. But Karl was not one to give up, so he continued struggling until his arms gave out.

He had overstrained his arms, and in turn lost all feeling in them.

'Great! What do I do now?! I need to find a way out of here!!'

Never giving up hope was one of Karl's best traits. And he was lucky to possess it. Who knows where he would be if he were a person that gave up easily. He would most likely be in a different place.

"A feisty one this time. You seem to have a lot of energy for someone who can't move."

Suddenly a mysterious voice appeared from somewhere in the room.

The voice was quite deep, it awakened thoughts of a Battle-hardened warrior within Karl's mind.

Karl tried moving his face to look around the room, but his whole head was also unmovable.

The only thing he could move were his eyes.

But they were of not much help in this case, as the voice was not coming from in front of him.

'Wh-who could that be?!'

Panickingly thinking of who could be behind him, Karl could do nothing but wonder of his fate.

'Has my time finally come? Did my time run out already? No!! That can't be. I won't perish like this.'

"W-Who is that?"

The voice was not a recognizable one for Karl.

"A small body, weak arms, average legs. The only thing you have going for yourself is your determination not to give up."

'What is he talking about?'

Karl now continued the struggle to move his body.

His veins bulging up from the pressure he was putting them under.

He wanted to see who the person talking to him was.

"Where am I?"

The library he was at before disappeared in front of his eyes in a matter of seconds. The darkness took everything out of the light and shrouded them in darkness instantly.

Now the only thing that was here was a single lit candle and himself.

"The last one was better. Better physique, stronger and most import of all more intelligent. I don't know if I can do it with this one."

Karl was rattling his brains at maximum speed, trying to figure out what was going on here. Yet he couldn't come to a sensible answer. The only theories he could think of were negative ones, so that didn't help.

"Am I going to die here??."

Karl was still using every fiber of his being to try and make a movement. But the situation looked more and more grim, after every second that passed.

"Answer my questions, Please!!"

"What is your name, boy?"

In front of Karl's eyes, there was a flying face.

The face was the color red.

If you looked at it, you could make out the positions of the eye sockets and the mouths.

"I-Its Karl"

He answered, while looking straight at the floating face.

"You have been chosen as the next host, you see." the face replied, while not using his name.

'What is he talking about?!'

Karl was only focused on the flying head in front of him.

His mind couldn't think clearly because of the things that were happening to him.

"You have a choice to make Karl. You can either forfeit your life right here and now or help me fulfill my goal as my host."

'Forfeit my life?! Does he mean it like dying?! "

Karl was silently listening trying to get a handle on the situation as it unfolded.

Yet he was still confused about.... Well everything.

"You need to make your decision here and now. The time is ticking."

The face said, as he impatiently waited for Karl's choice.

"Wa-wait. I don't understand what's going on." Karl said.

"There is no need to understand. You just have to choose." the face replied, looking irritated.

"How could I choose if I don't even know what the consequences are!! Please explain further."

Karl pleased with the Face.

"What is your choice?"

The face said calmly, ignoring Karl's pleads.

Karl just stood there, in silence, unable to come to a decision.

"I see...how unfortunate."

The face disappeared, leaving Karl there alone. In the darkness.

The candle that was barely lit a while ago, seemed to be on its last puff.

'Wait! Where did he go?!'

Just as Karl was asking himself this. The feeling in his bottom right foot disappeared.

However it took a couple of seconds for Karl to realize this, as he was concerned with other stuff.

'I've been frozen for so long that my foot got a cramp.'

Karl looked down to where his foot should be.

'Huh!!!!'

There was nothing there.

The place where his foot was just a second ago was now shrouded in darkness.

All he could see was his leg. But nothing from his foot reached his eye.

'Did it get even darker?'

Karl looked at it for about 1 minute, until he realized something that shocked him to his core.

'Wa-wait! Why can I see my other foot but not this one?'

He started panicking.

His mind instantly went to the worst possible scenario it could go too.

'I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die.'

He was repeating this sentence in his mind, having fully blanked out at this moment.

He was unable to think. The fear of death had completely overtaken him.

'Why, why, why, why, me?'

He couldn't think of anything but to whine at his unfortunate situation.

The time passed like this for a couple more minutes, until his whole leg disappeared.

'Why. Why. Why. Why. Why....'

Karl had begun to think of only this one thought. Despair had gotten to him. He was gone. His mind broken and his body being taken apart one by one. He had no idea what he could do to survive this.

But that's when it popped into his mind.

'I haven't made my choice yet....'

A small glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel was visible for Karl. He had glimpsed it. The last sliver of hope for his life.

He didn't even hesitate to make the choice this time.

He didn't understand before, but now having realized what the face had been telling him, the choice was obvious.

"Please, I accept your offer. I will do anything you ask of me, just let me keep on living. Give me one more chance."

He pleaded with the face. Hoping it wasn't too late.

"I see you have made your choice. Then the contract shall be formed here and now."

Just like that the face flew into Karl's chest and disappeared.

It looked like he had been absorbed into the body of the young adventurer.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!"

Suddenly Karl's chest started shining brightly. A light orange hue emerged from it and shone into the darkness, lighting up the last remaining candle.

The candle that was basically on its way out before, had turned into a fiery hell blaze, that lighted every other light in the room as well.

The pain that came with the light was unbearable for Karl and he passed out right then and there.

"This particular host is still very weak. Huuh~ there's still a lot of work ahead of us."