John had never expected his life to turn the way it did. His mother was slain by an abomination of nature, his… Wait, this sounds like the blurb on the back of a book! Oh, whatever, too deep in now. His home, ruined and lost to an all-consuming inferno, and the only option he had was to follow what was probably a hallucination. As he idly sat there and thought about his predicament, he heard the loud sound of fingers snapping together.
“Hey, John, wake up.”
“Whuh?”
It was the Grand Elemental, there were still impossibly bright lights blocking his facial features, he levitated above the ground, in a position that made him look as if he sat in mid air.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop thinking about… Last night.” Said John apologetically.
“It’s alright, but we cannot dwell on the past if we are to advance in the future. Do you still remember what we went out to do before you passed out?” Asked The Grand Elemental. John froze in his presence, he could barely muster the courage to speak to him. He scanned the area around him with his eyes to see a meadow of blue and yellow flowers, dancing in the wind.
“I passed out..? Uhh.. I think we set out to find a town?” He completely guessed, he really had no idea on what they were about to do.
“Correct, a specific town, to be exact, Glazewood Town. There lies an asset we require for your quest.”
“Wait, this is all too fast. I still haven’t even asked you why we’re doing this!”
And he’s right! What kind of slipshod writing just lets the main character follow someone for no reason?! Remember to give this story a dislike, after you’re done reading.
“Hm, it is my mistake to rush you into things. Go ahead, ask any questions.”
“First off, isn’t this a problem you can solve? And second of all, why me?”
“Excellent questions. Allow me to explain. Firstly, normally, I would handle this personally. However, there is one major problem. Firstly, I am dead.” He flatly explained.
“Wait wait wait wait, dead? As in, not alive? But how?! You’re standing right here in front of me!”
“You might know about the legendary battle that occurred a thousand years ago. The day the first Balandian war ended.”
“Uh, yeah, they taught us that at school. They say you won handily. What does that have to do with any of this?”
“Hm, there is an aspect of that battle that they didn’t teach you about.”
“What? They teach us that to death! There isn’t any part we don’t know about.” John was sure that he knew everything about the battles against the Balandians. After all, he had been forced to learn about their losses for years in school.
“Tsk, but there is one. Listen closely: On that day, I don’t know when during the fight he did it, but he placed… This.”
The Grand Elemental turned to show his back, lifting up the robes to reveal a horrifying, throbbing tumor-like parasite, it was pitch black, with slimy and nauseating black tendrils ejecting from the back and thrashing around, as if trying to escape and leap out of the Grand’s body. You know, the way I’m describing the parasite, kinda makes me think of a… Shoot, 20th Century Fox is gonna sue me, are they? Uh, anyway, John looked in disgust, his heart sank, he felt a cold dread on his face as he gazed at the terrible parasite.
“Eugh, what the Badlands happened to your back?”
“I don’t know how he did it, but he stuck a parasite on my back, it was draining and draining my power, for what I assume, was an attempt to steal my powers for his own. That’s why I call upon you, as our final hope. I took my own life, to stop his drainage.”
“That doesn’t explain how you’re floating here in front of me, though!”
“Oh, you’re right, I should take this little costume of mine’s off.”
With a snap of the fingers, the “Grand Elemental” began to shift into another form; A completely different person altogether, the light that was guarding his face left, revealing a face with brown eyes and long brown hair. His robes were changed from a deep red to a navy blue. His body type was drastically different from the Grand Elemental, being more slim and slightly shorter.”
“Whuh, you’re completely different!”
“I know, that’s what the author just said. We angels can disguise ourselves as different people to hide our identities. I was chosen by the Grand himself to guide you, it was his last request.”
“I don’t believe that for one second, there’s no way the Grand Elemental himself could die.”
“Ooh boy, looks like I have to explain what happened, listen very carefully…”
Hey, mane, I have a few objections to thi- Oh, whatever, better than placing this flashback at the start, anyway.
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An imposing divine figure was sitting on a chair, his aura blinding and incomprehensible. Those around him felt both fear and ease around him. For someone with unlimited power, he seemed calm and careful of his power. The area around him was elegant, bright white pillars and walls. Oh, and don’t forget the glass chandeliers, every fancy room needs one of those. Every hint of darkness that could be in this room was exterminated all thanks to the aura of the divine being and the light that shone even in the darkest of times. Suddenly, to the surprise of everyone enjoying themselves in the room, the divine man rose up from his chair, and walked to the center of the room, where a round table with a strange orb was located over a silk white carpet. Fully erect, one could fully appreciate his appearance, he looked like the peak of a humanoid, the ideal appearance; Taller than most, the looks to imply strength and the actual unlimited strength that backed him up, his long, gray beard to signify age and wisdom. He was truly, perfect, in a way.
“What’s he up to?”
“He only ever gets up when something special is going to happen.”
“Is the mortal realm in peril again?”
“No, it’s not that, look at his face. It looks more… relaxed than if something was in danger.”
The being began to speak calmly yet with a firm tone.
“My disciples, I believe it is time for a group of mortals to inherit my power.” He said, ominously, yet with a sense of clarity to his soft voice.
The entire room was in shock and silence, everyone muttering to themselves what he meant.
“Is he crazy?!”
“Naw naw naw! How is the Grand Elemental himself just going to hand his powers like that?! He’s gone full stupid, I tell ya’.”
“Hey! Don’t insult our divine lord like that! He might smite you!”
“Don’t count on it, he wouldn’t lay a nail clipping on an ant. What makes me wonder is what kind of mortal he means.”
The being spoke again, silencing everyone in the room with his voice.
“I do appreciate the concern of all of you. However, there is nothing that can be done for what I am about to do. You see, ever since I fought and successfully banished the ruler of the Balandians, I have been feeling weaker and weaker every day. At first, I could remedy it by taking long rests, but now, not even a thousand years of rest can save me. I do not fully understand what happened to me during that battle, but I believe this to be the solution to the issue.” He explained, while it started to make a little more sense, many of the people in the room were still confused, what exactly did he mean? He began to speak again when the others were awe-struck by his words.
“I suppose I’ll explain it bluntly. I am going to die and lose all of my powers. This dreadful event is something I can’t solve by using wish-granting orbs or the like. Instead, I have found a work-around. With my remaining strength, I will pass an aspect of my power to 5 young mortals. Remember these names, my disciples, they are the keys to the future of humanity’s survival. They are…”
Everyone listened intently as the divine man listed off the names of each of the 5 mortals. They discussed it amongst themselves with the same anticipation of a young boy waiting for his favorite superhero to arrive and save the day.
“Farewell, my disciples. Yawalc will guide them.”
Just then, his body began to dissolve into particles, it started as a clump of particles, before they split into groups that escaped the room and descended onto the human world. No one would know where those particles would end up.
“So, who’s gonna rule us now?”
“I call dibs.”
“Nah, that’s not what the big guy would want, let’s call a vote.”
“Fair enough, I guess.”
“Hey, wait a minute, Yawalc, don’t you need to go to those 5 people?”
“I don’t like this one bit, ugh… I’ll go be the next generation’s messenger.”
Oh, he just freaking died, we just killed off the strongest character in the whole verse, just like that. The power scaling community isn’t going to like this…
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“Well, that’s pretty much how it went down, any questions?”
“...”
Thoughts raced through John’s head, it was like his world was ripped apart and inverted beyond belief. He felt the weight of his responsibilities, crushing him like a hydraulic press.
“Grandie… Don’t look so mopey, by the end of this quest, you’ll be stronger than Goku!”
“Who?”
“Oh, right. Wow, New World kids are SO uncultured. Uh, no dilly dallying now, let us go!”
John reluctantly followed, he cracked his knuckles, and took a deep breath.
“Well then, let’s get it on.”
“Heh, that’s what I like to hear. Name’s Yawalc, by the way.”
“John, nice to meet ya’.”
The angel began to slowly dissipate- What the heck? Another person disappearing into particles?! Who got their hands on the infinity gauntlet?
“He-Hey, wait, aren’t you gonna guide me?”
“I can’t be in this realm for long, might destabilize the balance, I’m just meant to be a messenger, so I can’t be with you for the whole journey… for now, just head north from here for a long while.” He said. His eyes lit up, as if he remembered something.
“Oh! Right, your father wanted you to have this. I had a conversation with him, he said it was about time you learned how to fend for yourself.” The angel took out a peculiar device from his robes, and tossed it to John, John fumbled with the object for a bit before catching it. It was a strange item, a thick, rectangular frame made of metal, along with a screen of some sort, there were two buttons on the body, a yellow one, and a larger, red one. John looked puzzled.
“What does it do?”
“He said it's to help you with your adventures; That yellow button identifies anything you may not know, like an encyclopedia. That red one… He only said to use it during an emergency.”
“Wow, ominous, tell him I said thanks.”
“Yeah, sure. Let’s go now!”
And so they set off, a tale of travelers, setting out on the ultimate quest to save the world, defend order, and end the reign of the terrible Lord Kataktitis, once and for all, was about to begin.
For the first few days, they hiked their way towards Glazewood. John tired out many times on the way, but the endurance and determination to complete the Grand Elemental’s original goal drove him to push further and further, until they reached a strange forest. The trees looked bright with pink colors along with blue gum drop-like objects hanging from the peculiar looking leaves. The rocks looked more like crystals, reflecting John’s face off of them.
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“Are these edible…?” Mumbled John to himself, he remembered the device Yawalc gave to him. He pulled it out of his pocket, and pressed the yellow button.
Beep… Beep…
“Ah, a candy forest, the leaves are cotton candy, and the wood and branches are taffy. If you want a snack, now would be a good time to do so. Before you ask anything; Nope, it stays in its prime forever.”
With a newfound energy, John sprinted over and began to grab a great chunk out of the tree’s branch. He chewed and chewed as the tough and sweet taffy sank and oozed in his mouth like a perfect harmony. The strawberry flavor was absolutely vivid.
John continued to walk through the forest, excitedly grabbing bits and pieces of the sweet treats that were on the trees, rocks, and even the grass, which was made of milky chocolate. Dunno about you, but all this seems terribly unhealthy for our hero. It’s a good thing main characters don’t gain weight.
As he was about to leave, something in the way stopped them. A large animal, something resembling a wild wolf faced John, with long fangs and flesh made of taffy, it snarled and lowered its head down, possibly as a warning to him.
He doesn’t look friendly. Thought John to himself. He pressed the yellow button again.
Beep… Beep…
“This is a Northern Taffy Wolfe, unlike most other wolfe species, it hunts as a solitary predator. Extremely territorial.”
The wolfe began to run and sprint towards John. He tried to run away, but the wolfe was too fast for any human to run away from.
Think, think, how do I stop him… Oh! I got it!
John turned suddenly to face the candy wolf, he crouched down and placed his hands on the floor, a large, wide wall of stone erected out of the ground. The wolfe attempted to slow down, but alas, John heard a sound of the wolfe crashing into the wall, followed by a whimper and slow, defeated, footsteps retreating from where it came from.
That was a bit anticlimactic, John thought to himself. He lowered down the wall and continued to travel to the north, making the final step to escaping the forest of sweets and desert. It was pretty surreal, going from a fantastical place to looking at some normal, boring plains on top of a hill. However, there was something in the distance that caught his eye: As if sitting right in front of his face with how close it was, he sighted a massive city, much bigger than his hometown, Hotgam. In that moment of awe, John felt small in a way he never felt before. The colorful lights, the pink, tall buildings, this was a de-facto Candy town. This was Glazewood Town; Located in between the hill John was on, and another, smaller hill, to the left of it.
“Hey, hey, hey! That’s where we need to go! C’mon.” A voice said to John, it was Yawalc. When he turned, he saw only the blurry outline of him.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t be here for the whole trip.”
“Weellllll, maybe I did lie just a little bit. Anyhow, that’s where we need to meet someone very important.”
“You mean, our “asset”?”
“Correct-a-mundo! The Grand Elemental told us the names of the important elementals, I tracked the nearest one and it led here. John, let us search for the Candy Elemental, Lolly Mitchell.”
“Alrighty then, let’s head out.”
The blurry shape of Yawalc began to dissipate again. John gazed as his figure ascended up into the heavens, he turned and went on with his journey. He looked down at the steep, rocky side of the hill. A few thoughts occurred in his head on how he was going to reach down safely. All of a sudden, an idea sparked itself in John’s head, he smiled.
He reached his leg out and stepped forward, just before he fell down, he used his hand to create a small platform of stone by taking a chunk of the hill and extending it forward. He repeated this process with each step, like a staircase of stone. He continued to step down and down until he finally reached the grassy field, he hopped off the stone, allowing his shoes to feel the caress of grass, being blown by the wind.
As he continued to walk towards Glazewood, the size and scale of this city really asserted itself over John: he knew the buildings were tall, but he never expected them to be that tall. He also saw the dirt paths leading to and from the city, he could hear and see the horse carriages and people walking to and from Glazewood.
Holy, these buildings have to be, like, nearly the size of a hydropent! Thought John to himself. Now, you may be wondering what the heck a hydropent is. To that I say: Wait until volume 3, young reader. John approached the front, massive, and broad wooden gates of Glazewood surrounded by humongous stone walls, where he was greeted by two guards decked in silvery armor that covered much of their body. Their mouths were the only exposed part of the body.
“Welcome to Glazewood town, what are your intentions here?” Asked one of the guards in a deep, baritone-esque voice.
“I’m just taking a small walk through here, nothing much.” John responded.
“Strange, a young boy like you shouldn’t be out here alone. Where are your parents?” Asked the other guard. His voice sounded a little higher pitched.
“What? I’m not that young, I’m 15. Can’t you just let me in?”
“Hmm, even if you are older than you seem, this is a very difficult city to arrive to on foot, and you don’t look like any of our registered citizens here. I think we’re going to have to deny you entrance here.”
“What- How is everyone else being allowed in then?”
“They either arrived here on a carriage or are either adults or people traveling in groups, you are doing neither. We cannot let you in.”
John angrily stared at them, frowning.
“If this is your attempt to intimidate us, we find it laughable.”
“No, not intimidation, just annoyed.”
The two gate guards laughed at John, and gestured him away from the town. John mumbled something angrily to himself.
John walked out of the vicinity of the guards, he scanned the massive walls that surrounded the entire city. The walls were painted pink, a strange choice, thought Bayani. There was something that struck as odd to John, when he looked closer and closer at the barriers, he noticed it to be made of a material he was all too familiar with.
“Stone! These walls are made of stone!” John realized. If he snuck in close, and manipulated an entrance for himself, he could go in, unnoticed by those incompetent guards.
He looked back at the guards that were supposed to be guarding the gate, it was very clear they cared more about being drunk and fooling around than letting visitors in, creating a long, vexed line of visitors coming in on their horses.
Doesn’t look like they’ll care too much if I run off to the side.
John made a sprint towards the left side of the walls, narrowly avoiding the horses of the galled mob by the skin of his teeth. With every step that he got closer to the barricades, the more they seemingly grew and grew in size and scale. The sight really made John feel minuscule. Nonetheless, he finally reached the sides after what seemed like forever. He turned his head to his sides, checking to see if anyone was watching him. After confirming his presence was not noticed, he placed a hand on the walls.
“Alright, big wall, do your thing.”
The stones and shape of the great wall began to bend, they shifted about and moved along, as if they had a life of their own. John watched in awe as they hustled and hustled to relocate themselves, making clunking and scraping sounds as they shifted. He could begin to see openings and entrances that the stone began to form. When the openings became large enough for him to enter, he dashed right inside, clapping his hands together, the stones shifted and reverted back to their original state.
Come to think of it, why would this wall have such an obvious weakness in its design? Eh, don’t think about it too hard.
John turned his head up. If the massive walls of Glazewood didn’t intimidate, the buildings of the inner city definitely did. Tall, rectangular, brutalist skyscrapers. Despite the brutalism of the buildings, the bright, vivid purples, pinks, blues, and other colors John couldn’t clearly see contradicted the architecture, like a pleasant oxymoron.
“Hey John, nice thinking with that wall there!”
John turned his head to see Yawalc behind him, he was loudly munching on what appeared to be baked potato chips.
“Thanks, it really wasn’t that special, the stone walls were a blatant flaw.”
“Yeah, well, in anycase, we should find Lolly. If my memory serves me correctly, she should be innnnnnn… theeeeee… Hmmm… This is a bit tough for me to remember…”
“I thought you were an angel.”
“No one said we had amazing memories, you mortals really have to stop blowing our capabilities way out of proportion. That’s irrelevant, though. Look, just walk around the street for a bit, yeah? Sometimes exploration can add a nice bonus to the main quest~”
“Whatever you say.”
The Angel disappeared once again, but the baked chips dropped to the ground, John picked them up.
I’ll return these to him if he ever comes back.
With a new pep for exploring, John stepped out into the streets of Glazewood, he couldn’t believe himself: A bustling life on both sides of the road, horses going back and forth with their riders in the center dirt road, and the never ending chatter of local pedestrians. It was so much unlike his old small town. He sighted a stand selling multiple bags to his right, the sign on the wooden stand’s side is what really enticed him.
“FIRST TIME BUYERS GET THEIR FIRST BAG FREE”
Dodging the blitz paced movement of masses of civilians, John made his way over to the brown wooden stand. When he faced the man selling the bags, he saw a man with a dark brown face, wearing a blue tunic with multiple small bags around his waist, the tall, full bearded man waved at John.
“Welcome to my humble stand. What can I do for you?” The man greeted with a voice that could rival the deep pitch of a baritone.
“Hello sir, I’m just looking for a bag.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place, little man. Since you’re new here, I’ll let you pick out a bag for free.”
“Huh? One free bag seems bad for business.”
“You look like the type that sets out on adventures to and fro. Consider this a sponsorship.”
“Well, if it means I can get a bag… Sure, why not.”
The tall man stepped to the side to allow John to observe his goods; Multiple bags of many shapes and sizes flashed to John’s eyes, he was taken aback by the amount of options that were hung up the wall.
“Hrmm… Can I take that briefcase?”
“This? Oh, don’t be goofy. You don’t exactly look like the fancy, formal type to me.”
“I thought you said you’d give me any bag for free…”
“Look, son, you’re obviously not going to a meeting anytime soon.”
“Fine, fine, in that case, I’ll take the… Oh, what’s that bag?”
John gestured to the large, bulky, olive green bag on the right side of the wall, it contained so many pockets that he wondered if the storage never ended, it also had a large, rolled up sleeping bag on the top of it.
“This right here? This is the O.P.P. bag.” The older man said.
“O.P.P.?”
“Omni Purpose Personal bag. This workhorse of a bag is tough and rugged, and will endure the meanest environments you take it to. It’s got a multitude of sections, allowing you to carry around and organize pretty much anything. In the center is a sector that keeps all your hot stuff hot, and your cold stuff cold. The sleeping bag on top also grants you a quick method of hitting the hay. What do you think?”
“I’ll take it!”
“Good! Good, it’s all yours.”
The big man took off the pack from the wall, and with his arms outstretched, gestured over to John to pick it up. He gleefully plucked it from his hands, and equipped it over his back.
“Oh wow, this is a lot lighter than I expected. Thanks, by the way.”
“No problem, you best be off now.”
John ran off to further explore Glazewood, he still couldn’t believe all the amazing urbanity of the city, and all the friendly townsfolk. Despite the masses of people, not one among them shared a similar outfit. Judging from their appearance, John made them out to be mostly Candy and Ice elementals.
“With all these Candies, it’s going to be hard to find Lolly. Maybe there’s a sign that’ll lead me to her.”
“Hey! Hands off my purse!”
Rapidly turning his left, John saw a young woman. She wasn’t Lolly, but the distress in her voice prompted John to see what was happening, to which he saw a tall, hooded individual, with most of his facial features obscured, attacking a woman in an alleyway, in an attempt to snatch her purse. John could see the vague shape of small horns pointing up from the hood. Was it a Balandian?
“Get off her!” John ran up to the possible Balandian and punched him in the arm, the blow forced him to let go of the lady’s purse. He snapped towards John, looking up and down at him.
“Crap, that hurt my hand! What are you people made of?” John asked, when he socked the hooded Balandian, he felt the sensation of hitting hard metal. He also felt some sort of tingling feeling, almost as if his hand, for just a moment, melted.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, kid?”
John saw the Balandian grab something from his hood’s pockets, but before he could do something, the being threw it down, causing a large cloud of smoke to burst from the ground. John coughed, it definitely wasn’t toxic, but the sudden burst assaulted his lungs like a football player tackling someone running for a touchdown. In the moment, he glanced at the purse on the ground, and picked it up.
“I believe this belongs koff to you.” John coughed while holding the purse towards the woman.
“Yes, yes! Thank you, mister!” The woman took the purse away, then ran off. John sat down to ponder about what happened. For starters, for whatever reason, he just jumped at the chance to save someone from peril. To John, it felt more like an instinctual impulse, rather than a choice he made on his own accord. What was even more odd is that the force he threw his punch with felt much more powerful than it otherwise would have… What could’ve happened, in between the incident at his home and right now? It didn’t make any sense.
That Balandian was playing it safe, he threw down that smoke bomb to escape right as things were about to get dicey. That knave, if he wanted to be stealthy, why did he try to commit a petty crime in broad daylight? Is he mad?
“Heya, are you jus’ goin’ to sit there like a mus’, or are you goin’ to stand up?”
Startled, John looked up to the voice that called him. He saw a girl, who had to be around his age. She was pretty short, she had the biggest pair of round, blue eyes. She wore a purple buttoned shirt, tucked into shorts as blue as the deep ocean. The most distinctive feature (other than the pink skin that gave away her being a Candy elemental) was her red and white hair. Striped like peppermint, which was tied into a pair of twin tails, along with rose-tinted lab goggles placed on her forehead.. Could she be?...
“You totally stopped my thinking! What’s your name, anyways?”
“Aah'm Lolly, Lolly Mitchell! And you are, bubba?”
“Bubba? My name’s John.”
“D’oh, where’s the pizazz in dat’? You sound so rood, jus’ sayin’ your first name and nuthin’ else!”
“Nevermind that, if you’re who I think you are, then I’ve got a lot of explaining to do. Come with me.”
“Hm, You certainly ain’t frum around dese’ parts. How I know you’re not jus’ some crazy bubba?
“Would a crazy ‘bubba’ be walking around in these normal clothes?”
“Aah guess you’re right, let’s go, then!”
Lolly reached out her hand to help John up, he reached out and with her help, got off the ground. They shook each other’s hands, before Lolly ran off, gesturing John to follow her to wherever she was heading
Yawalc, you hear me? We found her.