There's a knock on the door. Peck and I stay quiet listening to the knocks. "Listen, boy, if you speak to the people at the door and get rid of them, I'll tell you all I know about the Magic continent." With that, the deal was sealed. I walked towards the door. The sound of wood splitting filled the gap of the knock. Splintered wood flew at me while the door flew to the ground leaving a thud. "What...?"

"Are you the owner of this house?"

"No, I'm visiting."

"Then there's nothing to explain. You boys know who to look for. If anyone gets in the way..." The man stares into my eyes, "Don't hesitate to put them down." I step out of the way of the man. There are five armed men. Two are holding firearms and the other 3 are holding Melee weapons. "Now, none of you belong here. I prefer to deal with this civilly, so, get out of this house or there will be issues." The leader turns around. "Deal with him, please." The four men turn and point their weapons towards me.

"There's nothing you won't be able to handle, Lemon."

I ball up my hands up and raised them to my face. The two men with the firearms already have them aimed towards me. The other two are slowly taking steps forward. I need to plan this correctly or I will die here. I need to get rid of the men with the guns first, then the other men. This room is too small to go around.

I dash outside and they begin firing. "Bad aim!" I shouted. I turn a corner of the house and jump through the window right onto one of the shooters. "Gotcha." I knock him out and pick up his gun then jump back out. I ran around the house again and jumped through the other window on the opposite side. I jumped through the window with my shoulder exposed leaving large shards of glass in it. I aim the pistol onto the final shooter then fire. The final two men stand still with my gun trained on them. Call your leader out. I have a couple words for him. "

"Get the hell off me! I had no intentions of staying with this org for life!" Peck's in trouble. "Either of your move, I shoot." I ran to Pecks room and pulled the intruder's leader off him. I threw the leader to the ground aiming the gun at his head. "Now, what business do you have in this house."

"Business that doesn't involve you." The two men I had left earlier walk into the doorway. One knocks on the panel with a gun. "Forgot something." He aims the gun at me. "Leave the house and you live. We are willing to forgive what you have done today." I slowly stand straight. "You're willing to forgive me?"

"Yes. Leave." I only have one moment to make a move here. There's no way they'll allow me to leave with the gun. My steps fill the empty sound of the room as I walk out. "The gun. You're not messing anything else up." I placed the gun in his hand with my finger still on the trigger. I pull the trigger and yank the gun back into my hand. The man I shot fell over. The other one takes the gun and turns the corner to my barrel in his face. "Bang." I fire. The man slumps over. The sound of blood splattering took effect with every step entering the room. The gun went off one final time on the man clutching on his wound. "Now it's my business."

Part 2.

The leader of the now deceased group is strapped to a chair being held at gun point. I ask the man why he's here. "To get Peck. He doesn't belong here."

"Why does he not belong here? What is this organization you belong to?" The man stares at me. "I will tear out every damn tooth and nail from your body. Do not test me." Another knock at the door. The floorboard creaks as I make my way to the door. It's Jae and Rayne. They enter after I motion them in. Peck already dragged the man away. "What are you two doing here?"

"Jae said she heard gunfire coming from here, so I came to check it out with her."

Turning around I see Peck return. "There's no issue." He speaks. "We were just talking." Rayne turns in my direction. "Talking through gunfire? Lemur, care to explain what happened? Why is there blood on your shoulder?"

"I don't think Lenny here cares to explain anything." Rayne made a dumbstruck face. "Lenny?" He asks. "I don't think either of you should be here currently. We're busy."

"Just, be careful and don't hurt each other." Jae adds. "For sure." I respond" Rayne and Jae leave and the two of us return to the leader. "What was that about pulling teeth and nails?" He asks. Peck raises the gun and fires. "In our continent, no man will ever be faster than a bullet."

"So, the Hogu continent is just the most boring one?"

"Yes. It's almost triple the size of the Magic continent." Peck gestures for me to sit down. "I promised to explain everything I remembered about the Magic continent. As the name says, it's a place of magic. The ordinary person will never know that this place exists through their entire life. It's meant to be kept hidden due to the immense potential of power one may reach. I left in my twenties to escape the organization."

"What is this organizations name?" I cut in. "The name was never revealed to me. All I remember about the organization is that their signature color is crimson red. May I resume my story?"

"Sorry."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Life spans in the Magic continent can be extended by great amounts. There are few who have lived to their thousands. If you do wish to travel there you'll be met by the Crimson Organization. Having now killed five of their men, you may have to sneak in some way. Down in the Magic continent, you're nothing without magic. You have no idea if you even have Mana."

"Mana?"

"Mana is the source of magic. It's essentially how well you can control the particles around you and your volume capacity."

"How do I know if I have mana?" The man stands then walks into his kitchen. "Through a test."

"And If I don't have any mana, what do I do? "

"you give up the dream of going to the magic continent." We sit in silence for a moment longer than we'd wished. "Lenny, you need to take on a new name once you enter. You need a name that fits the Continent to fit in seamlessly. Trust me, you don't want to be viewed as a foreigner there."

"What's a name that fits?"

"Something like...Lare?"

"Lare." The silence is deafening. "Lare is a fitting name!"

"Anything else to know about this continent?"

"You never did the test."

"What's the test?" The man places the cup of water on the table that he grabbed from the kitchen earlier plus a salt shaker. "The test is you holding this cup as I place salt in it. " My hands wrap around the cold cup. The cups condensation soaks into my skin. Peck shakes a tiny amount of salt in the water. "What's supposed to happen?"

"Well, if the water reacts to to the salt, It's a telling sign you have mana. The amount of salt that the water reacts to tells us what your mana capacity is currently at. If there's a low amount of sodium in the cup and the water reacts, the larger mana pool you have. The opposite is also true."

The salt gets shaken up a bit more. The water fizz's. Peck looks up to me. His glare piercing into my eyes. "A little more." I say. The cup explodes. Once again, glass flies into me. That makes twice today that glass shards have impaled me. "Lenny, your mana pool rivals mine."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that you have a Saints mana pool, which is an advanced magic user. Are you sure you've never touched magic in your life?"

"I'm sure."

"Now that we know that you do actually have mana, you must be trained into the art of magic spells. When is this tournament?"

"In two weeks." Peck stands, "That leaves us with one week to teach you spells!"

Part 3 - Rayne POV

The moment we arrive the lights of the coliseum blind us. An apartment is set up already for my companion and me. "This is our place?" Lare asked. "isn't it grand?"

"Whoever rented this building out for the contestants have to own it or something, there's no way someone could afford this regularly!" Walking around the apartment you feel the size of the place. Our rooms are on the opposite sides of the apartment with a kitchen and dining room filling the gap. Lemur has asked me to call him Lare during our stay at the Magic continent. We are staying at the Rilla Hotel. The hotel is incredibly prestigious even compared to hotels in the Hogu continent. "What are we gonna do if we're called to fight each other?" I ask. "I'll have to kick your ass." Lare responds. We meet at the dining table. "Who said you'd win?"

"I've got a secret you're not ready for." He responds. My companion spent a week with a former resident of the Magic continent and has been claiming that he has things to prove about the Hogu continent. "What's this secret?"

"Now, I can't just let you know that, now, can I?" My eyes focus on his hands, drowning him out. He's waving them around as he speaks about some grand plan for the tournament. "If you can't anticipate your opponent's move, you'll lose." Suddenly standing over me, a shock went through my body. "You okay?" My companion asks. "No worries. I'm ready to hit the finals with you. If we cross paths, I have a secret for you too." Both of us are standing to each other attempting to frighten the other. Unsuccessful. My body turns around and I walk away. "What's your move?" Lare asks. "I'd hate to spoil it."

Today the tournament begins and in one hour we are supposed to know the beginner lineup. Lare meets with me before the tournament at the hotel that was booked for us. "If we do end up against each other," Lare begins, "I don't want you to hold back at all. Send your full might to me. I can handle it."

"I understand."

Walking to the grocery store for supplies before the tournament is a bit refreshing. Learning new things about this continent on something as simple as a walk. Something most residents take for granted. For example, there's a store for magic food! This food partially restores your mana. The store I'm going to sells wands and magic weapons. The air constantly smells as if it'd just rained. Stores are kept clean and tidy. In Hogu, I don't think you'd see a clean street or shop in for 200 meters. This continent only impresses me more and more. The only thing that lingers on my mind is why did Peck leave this place? Could he have grown up in an area that wasn't so clean and smelled wonderfully?

The tournament is about to begin right as I arrive. The brackets have been set up. Lare's name is nowhere to be seen on the bracket. What is he cooking up? Who's the first fight?

The announcer begins:

"Hello everybody! Welcome to the Magic continents official tournament that is hosted here in Leria, for the entire world! That's right! The whole world may attend this tournament! Our first contestants will be shown on the screen in just a few moments! We at Leria are incredibly grateful for anyone who has arrived from outside the continent! You are the only thing that keeps this tournament going yearly! This year, we plan to have the biggest prize yet! It's a secret, of course, but, it could be any one of our contestants this year!"

A giant screen lowers and begins a count-down.

Everyone, please count with me! ten...nine.... eight...."

The announcer's noise dies down as my mind runs and my body pumps up. I'll give it my best!

"Zero!!!! Show us who the starting fighters will be television!"

Cheering. Stomping. Sweat. My senses take everything in. Butter, deodorant, perfume, cologne. Men spitting as they yell and hype up the contestant. They hype me up. I, Rayne, am the first contestant.