“Hey Rose wake up, you can’t sleep forever!!” Teseji shouts from atop a great big old-growth tree, its leaves dead and the bark a very dark brown, with the sun high in the sky “huh! Oh geez can’t you cut me some slack” Rose says as he gets up from the ground in his beige leather tunic with no sleeves and a rope belt with trinkets, he has many scars all over his body.
Rose is a young child with short red hair and bright green eyes. “I’ll be coming up now,” Rose says while skillfully jumping from branch to branch the tree, manages to get to the fork of the tree within seconds.
Rose climbs into the fork of the tree, he sees a young girl named Teseji with long silver hair with a beautiful silver Rose in it, green eyes and wearing clothes fit for hunting, and white a bow that's bigger than her hanging on her back “c’mon let's have a quick spar” Teseji says as bobs and weaves, jumping side to side, “sure but this time I’ve got a trick up my sleeve” suddenly crows caw in the distance as they fly through the many dead trees.
Rose begins counting down getting in his fighting position, the moment Rose gets to zero he immediately makes a mad dash toward activating his dogma, bright red symbols and swirls radiate throughout his body, and the air around him begins to spiral around him, and he makes a mad dash toward Teseji but when he gets close to her she disappears without a trace and in her place are crows flying sporadically.
“Where'd you go, I need you,” Rose says as tears stream down his eyes, “Young master Cromwell, It's time to get up,” says Geen, he has a black and white suit, with white gloves and a monocle, Geen is an older gentleman with well-kept hair without a strand out of place.
Cromwell is a nobleman who is close with the king of Zero Which is the most powerful kingdom out there, Cromwell is a powerful knight alongside his nobleman status, his bright blonde hair and red eyes make him a very charismatic person.
Cromwell opens his eyes seeing Geen his butler, he is wearing his pristine white nightgown, “you have a meeting with the king of one later today, this will be the most important meeting in your entire time as the head of the Pendleton family”
“Yes I know now prepare my bath and get the others to get my cloths, and make dinner for me and the king” Cromwell says as he sits on his bed, Geen walks out the room closing the door behind him.
“Ugh I hated that dream, and to think it’s about Rose my so-called brother,” Cromwell says in annoyance. “So you said you have over 3,000 knights and squires under your command,” says Herald king of Zero who wears a large red cape and is decorated head to toe with expensive jewelers “And you say they are all quite skilled and you even have a dragon slayer and a dragon tamer as well”.
“Yes sir, and this is supposed to be kept secret but I am also in cahoots with a sudo god by the name of Dio, the king of demi-humans,” Cromwell says with absolute confidence.
“Very well indeed, then what about 5,000 platinum coins for your aid in our expansion into the wild zones and you get the corpses of the monster,” the king says with a gleefully slimy smile.
“I accept” answers Cromwell, ‘You freaking bastard you could at least make it less obvious you want to betray us and I already know what you’re after, the spear of Longinus, ha you don’t care about anything else, you rotten pig’ Cromwell thinks while keeping the fake smile on his face.
Cromwell puts his hand out for a handshake, but before he even realizes going on the king explodes into a thick black ink leaving nothing but clothes, Cromwell surprised and confused looks around hurriedly but is overwhelmed with a dreadful feeling in the normally bustling castle filled with servants hustling from one place to another is now dead silent, he looks down to see the floor is covered in the black ink reach up to his ankles.
In a state of panic, Cromwell runs towards the window bursting them open to see nothing but a sea of black ink, Cromwell looks in horror as only the roofs of tall churches and towers could be seen peeking over the strange liquid.
“Why am I in this forsaken land,” Cromwell says with disparity, “why, why, why!!!” Cromwell shouts as he falls to the ground, he begins to shout and scream as the true fear sets in, and suddenly he hears a soothing choir of soft mellow voices singing high pitches in complete unison.
“What is this sound, it sounds so beautiful almost like that of an angel,” Comwell says peering into the clear skies, “Is it coming from the sky, it’s so beautiful, I want more” Cromwell reaches for the sky, but suddenly his arm begins to grow bulges.
Before he could react Cromwell had exploded into the black ink leaving nothing but a fetus left crying in the empty world.
I wake up to feel my back against a strong cold metal wall, sitting on the rugged concrete floor, ‘where am I’ I thought, hoping it was a dream. Finally, I muster the strength to open my eyes to see a hall with scratched metal walls and damaged concrete ground, with flickering lights lining the roof creating an ambient buzzing sound.
Other than the buzzing of the lights the only sound that could be heard was faint breathing mostly masked by the buzzing, I clambered to my feet using the wall as a support, and there it was again the faint breathing, I think it came from behind me, so I turned my head.
What I saw made me want to vomit but I couldn’t because I had eaten nothing, what I saw seemed to have been a child that looked like a young teen sitting where I once sat, covered in bloodied bandages covering his entire body except for his sharp brown eyes looking directly at me with dread and fear as if trying to warn me of something or someone.
I stopped back in fear of what I witnessed, he didn’t move, nor did he talk he just stared as his breath became fainter and fainter until I couldn’t hear it, just then his head slumped to look at the ground, I just watched this child die before my eyes.
I was beginning to panic, my heart pounded feeling as if it would explode, but I managed to keep my cool because I needed to escape this place so I must stay calm.
With questions racing through my mind as hobbled down the hall, “That kid was trying to warn me, but about what” I said contemplating what I should do.
I reach the end of the hall where I find a turn, and when I look down the hall I see a man with bushy dark brown hair, wearing the remnants of a tracksuit now torn to shreds, but when I looked at his eyes I was struck with aw, his right eye is a crimson red, and his left eye is a shimmering green.
But his smile was like no other, if a devil truly existed they would have the smile I saw on the man’s face, the smile filled with malice and death, yet he stood there peering into my soul, so I walked further to get a better look.
I saw something shine near him, so I advanced closer with curiosity, upon closer inspection it was a string and not just one at least a dozen connected to his body, all the strings came from above him.
When I looked up I saw a large cage installed in the roof but the cage was too dark to discern what was inside but I could tell that whatever was inside could destroy everything if it ever escaped.
“Is your name spiral?” I asked without thinking, even though I was confused but they answered yes in a high-pitched and ecstatic voice that almost sounded childish, “I can help you if you let me free,” they said excitedly, “why should I accept you?” I said cautiously.
“I can promise you all the freedom, power, and knowledge you could ever need and more” the strange being said, “fine I accept you,” I said, but to this day I regretted that decision as he took away everything from me.
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“Then let's shake on it,” they said reaching out his hand, I hesitantly shook his, and suddenly my body was no longer mine.
“Hey David remember these words carefully, you must grow stronger, I paved this road for you so you must end infinity, to you my child, my sibling, my friend, and me, from Rose to David Deadman Rose, now go forth young boy and you’ll become a legend”
Suddenly David opens his eyes “that was a weird dream” looking up at the roof, then he turns his head to the side to see his bed frame, ‘did I fall off the bed’ David thinks to himself as he stands up.
As David stands up from his bed, he assesses his surroundings to ensure everything is in its proper place. The room appears familiar, with the furniture arranged just as he remembers. He realizes that he didn't actually fall off the bed but must have moved around during his sleep.
Rubbing his eyes, David tries to shake off the remnants of the strange dream that had jolted him awake. He attempts to recall the details, but they seem to slip away like mist. The more he tries to grasp onto the fading fragments, the more elusive they become.
Deciding to put the disconcerting dream aside, David focuses on the present moment. He stretches his limbs and feels a familiar sense of relief, knowing that he is back in the real world. The room is bathed in gentle morning light, casting a warm glow on his surroundings.
David hears a soft whisper like that of a child in his ear saying “The light that surrounds invites radiance”, ‘what was that I don’t remember, but it feels familiar like a distant memory’ David thinks to himself stuck between both the dream world and the actual.
David shrugs all this off as just being sleepy, he gets prepared to go out to the Monster Hunter HQ, now prepared wearing basic black and white baggy trousers and a gray sleeveless shirt.
“Man these pants are free,” David says stretching his legs, but before leaving he grabs his phone and calls Xander, after waiting a few seconds he answers, “Hello who’s this” Xander says in a groggy tone with what seems to be hand tools, “Hi there it's me David and what's that in the background,” David says in an overly ecstatic tone.
“Oh hey David, don’t mind the noise, my dads making some cyber weapons”, “Oh ok, so you wanna meet up at the Hunter HQ to talk strategy,” David asks, “oh sure since it's 12 right now so how about 1 o’clock, that's good”.
“Yeah sure so see ya later,” David says in a chipper mood, “yeah see ya,” Xander says as he hangs up. ‘Oh right I need my headphones to finish that news podcast, and it was just getting interesting’ David thinks to himself.
‘Although that golden streak feels familiar, like a forgotten dream, it's just beyond my grasp’ David thinks as he wears the headphones, he leaves his home feeling more empty than when he had entered.
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‘Hmm so the golden rod is around 2 meters long from what people managed to gather, as for how and why it exists there are three main possibilities, the rod being crafted by a sudo God, another is it originating in a dungeon, and somehow going out of bounds, or the one I believe to be plausible, the rod coming from the forsaken land.’
David walks through the once crowded streets now empty and silent as thoughts rush through Davids, the neon signs light shrill in comparison to the light of the sun, walking past many raccoons and homeless people begging for money.
“Oi you young lad” David hears a slightly raspy from behind him, he turns to see a man with a torn black coat a shabby beard, and rough medium-length gray hair.
“Hey kid I’ve got something for you, make sure to hold on to it, it's very important,” the man says as he brushes past David bumping into his shoulder, and walks past him.
David turns around, but the man had vanished, David searches around him searching for the man but he was gone, ‘this can’t be a marionette ability I can tell, but how can this happen, hallucinations, if so I should see a doctor’ David thinks to himself recalling all the strange things that had happened that very day.
David keeps his thoughts in the back of his mind while staying on guard, he continues to walk to the Monster Hunter HeadQuarters (MHHQ), on his way he notices a thick chonky pigeon with mostly white feathers and David couldn’t resist taking a few hundred photos at all angles.
David makes his way to the MHHQ and steps in, he sees a receptionist, leaning on his desk wearing a cloth mask with uwu embroidered onto it.
“Hello there, name and ID please,” he says in a deadbeat tone, “my name is David D Rose,” David says as he pulls out his government-issued ID card and hands it to the man.
The receptionist takes a good look at the card before typing something into his computer terminal then he turns to David, “What is your full legal name and the type of visa you have” The man demands, “My name is David Deadman Rose and my visa is a local constellation tribal visa on the business of official work and training”.
“So what brings you here”, “oh I’d like to meet with an instructor named Mr. Lawrence “, “oh you mean that geezer, I’ll ring him up,” the man says dialing a walkie-talkie holding it up to his mouth, “Hey old man, there's a kid named David and he wants to see you,” he says Impatiently toward Lawrence.
“The old man should be here soon”. “Thank you very much, but I have a question, are you friends with Mr. Lawrence,” David asks with a smile, “why should I tell you, huh,” he says with a wary gaze at David.
“You should tell me because, why not, you should try adding a bit of chaos to your soul-crushing schedule,” David says happily, “Nope, I don’t trust you, you make it sound like you’ll get me fired, so no,” the man says glaring daggers into David soul.
“Hello David, hey Biel,” Laurence says getting out of the elevator in a pristine white coat with his memorable braided beard, and behind him pops out Leon, “Hey there Mr. Lawrence, hey Leon,” David says giving them a large smile.
“Hey so since we’re on our break, do you wanna go to JFC and talk while eating”, “Yeah that sounds good”, the three men leave the building, but David notices the receptionist glaring at him as they stepped out the door.
‘Whoever you are I’m onto you, Biel’ David thinks glaring back at the receptionist making sure that he saw the glare, “so let’s discuss our next steps on our” Lawrence mentions, David nods his head with a smile.
“Results about your test recently came in and, because those damned higher-ups placed you as a technical zero because they refuse to admit it was a machine error and they're so proud of their 100% accurate machine” Lawrence bellows.
“But I don’t understand why I can’t just take the test again” David questions, “well the reason why is because of an act from 2020, people could only test a maximum 1 test per year to limit covid and its been around 80 years and they never bothered to remove it” Leon explains.
“Why the hell is an act from 79 years ago still in effect” David shouts in a state of rage and confusion, “well you see in the beginning this was a way to stop people to abuse the system but after the Freelands revolution and the law system was overhauled it became a logistical nightmare to remove and would likely take years” Leon clarifies while he fiddles with his hair.
“But what is the Freelands revolution,” David asks, “I don’t know much about history but I did recently read an article so I’ll try, a long time ago the year was 2025, this counties name was America, and the year was filled with government corruption people rioting and violent protest over political differences, and the police force used very questionable tactics-”.
“In “handling” the issue but the people got even angrier, and the cycle continued for two years, but all that came to a halt when a rebellion group took lethal force and gained the upper hand by gaining the masses trust and the president at the time was forced to step down and everything was an absolute mess for a few years until the country was completely changed and was renamed Freelands and began to float again,” Lawrence tells with a lot of emotions.
“Oh I see that was definitely a rolercoaster, well what else should I know” David queries ‘what is your history with this event Lawrence I’m onto you’ David speculates, “Well first we need to check the ability of your marionette, then we’ll test your marionette’s fighting skills, and finally your fighting skills,” Lawrence states.
“Oh and then a mock tournament to test actual battle experience and potential, plus there are a lot of recruiters for guilds so put on a good display and you may land one of the top guilds”. Lawrence advises David.
“Oh, I think I get it, can you tell me more,” David says as they stop in front of JFC, “the smell of JoJo’s is wonderful,” Leon says sniffing the aroma, “yeah you can say that again” David speaks as he salivates at the smell.
The trio walks in with David getting sensory overload all over again, the aroma, the sound of all the food, the sight of the already crowded space with people eating the godly-looking food.
They pick out a table and sit, “Now then let's talk” David says grabbing the menu, but when David looks into it he sees a large amount of blood-soaked on the edge of the cover, David instinctively lets go, revealing a sharp razor edge on the menu leaving a shallow gash.