A desolate land, bare and dry, this is the Territory of The Eagle. The cause of this is the erosion from harsh unending winds that at their weakest, make most consider a category-five hurricane a good day.

To protect the inhabitants, powerful crystals were used to form domes of protecting magic around a district.

And if one of these domes were to break, quick deaths would ensue to the thousands living there.

Year 600/Time - 7 Am/Present day

A middle-aged woman is preparing food downstairs in a kitchen, with a young girl sitting at the table. The interior house is metallic and made up of scrap.

"Corin they'll be here any minute now and you haven't even had breakfast!" the woman says calling for someone

An older boy's voice is heard above the stairs.

"I'll be down in a second Mom."

Within the Territory of the Eagle, is the region of the grizzly bear, and in this region are many types of districts.

In a certain housing district where homes are cubical and stacked together, lives Corin Fortis, a humble-looking 17-year-old boy, who has black scruffy hair, white irises, skin that's tanish white, and is about 5'11.

He rushes down the stairs while putting his black long-sleeve shirt over his head causing him to tumble down.

His little sister at the kitchen table laughs.

"You need to be careful."

His mom says sternly as she prepares the table with breakfast.

Corin gets up from the floor disoriented and quickly grabs his shoes from the side of the stairs to put them on.

Corin's Dad is opening the door and leaving for work.

"I'm off, I'll be back before you're home Corin. So good luck to you, and love you all."

"Bye, love you"

the others say out of sync

Corin rushes to the breakfast table to eat and and mom sets his plate for him.

Then they eat together for a few minutes before formal trumpeting is heard outside of the house.

"They're here!"

Corin exclaims.

There's a knock at the door, and Corin rushes over but before opening it he brushes himself off and looks into the mirror by the door to check his appearance.

He then opens the door and a young man in a formal white and blue garb, with white skin and blond slicked back hair is presented before him.

The blonde man unrolls a piece of paper and reads it aloud.

"The United World Organization hereby welcomes you, Corin Fortis, to the Annual Blessing ceremony for you are now of age, and a secondary school graduate making you eligible for participation. If you are to decline you will be annually asked to participate until you do so. That being said, will you accept this year's invitation?"

Corin looks back at his mom who is standing up with his sister, and she smiles.

Corin turns back.

"Yes sir, absolutely."

The blond man smiles.

"Fantastic, this way please."

He then turns and awaits Corin to proceed.

Corin Steps up to the door and looks out into the grey-clouded world before him.

Outside the cubicle home is a metallic grey railing with stairs that allow for accessibility among the stories of the vertical housing unit. Where Corin's house is the fifth story up.

His mom and sister walk up to the door and see him off.

Corin walks through the doorway and as he leaves the house, he sees a large metallic blimp the color white with a royal blue design.

The blimp shoots out a path that lands at the railing where Corin stands so that he can enter the blimp.

Corin looks at it in awe, he's never seen such technology.

He takes his first step onto the path and starts walking. As he steps, the path retracts behind him until he enters the blimp, where a sliding door shuts behind him.

The interior is white with matching benches that line across the wall, like a waiting room. There are also windows lining up the sides of the room so you may see outside.

Corin notices 8 other people there all keeping to themselves.

The Blonde Man heads into another room past the seating area and Corin finds an empty place away from everyone to sit for the ride.

A speaker in a corner of the room turns on and the blonde man's voice is heard.

"This was our last stop so be ready when we arrive, oh and for those of you to who I haven't introduced myself my name is Jasper"

He says cheerfully

The blimp begins to take off and as they move Corin admires the interior.

A few minutes pass and Corin starts to think to himself.

Everyone is taking this so differently, some of these guys look nervous and a few are so calm. But I guess they aren't wrong to feel the way they do. So many people go without magic in their day-to-day lives with about 1/3rd of the population having magic. So it wouldn't be the end of the world if you failed

The way most people function like my family is the use of magic stones, which are magic-induced crystals capable of exuding their magical element, kind of like a magical battery. We use these to power devices like the oven or the air conditioning, so we have to purchase them regularly.

Unfortunately, no one in my family has been blessed with magic yet, but my idea is that with someone in the family who can use magic our livelihood would be so much easier. With the ability to wield magic, more and better job opportunities present themself which would help us out a lot.

The speaker turns on

"We are here!" Jasper says in a celebratory voice

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Corin sharpens up with a confused look and looks at the surrounding area from the window. He notices that the vegetation and climate are much different from where he lives, there's grass that flows with a calming breeze and sun that lights up the clear blue sky.

He thinks to himself that no location around his house looks like this, so how did they get there that fast?

The kids are then escorted out of the blimp one by one off the ramp and are presented with an elegant white marble staircase that leads up a just as large grassy green hill.

Jasper tells them he will guide them to their destination as he begins to walk upstairs.

"As you all should know the Chyros do not live in our world anymore, so to allow them to judge you the UWO has created a device that will let them see you, but not let you see them."

He thinks to himself for a second

"Say, do any of you know what the Chyros look like?"

The participants start to throw out guesses. Some say they are untouchable giants, or that they are beautiful creatures.

Corin remained silent.

Jasper chuckles.

"Your answers aren't entirely wrong, they are many things, each vastly unique from the other."

After a bit, they arrive at the ceremony stage.

The stage is a giant circle made of white marble that has an old cracked symbol of a circle with a scale carved in the center. But Corin doesn't really care.

Guards surround the perimeter as well.

Corin picks his head up and looks around at the other participants who are all looking upwards.

Corin looks where they're looking and his mouth drops.

Past the ceremony stage is the back of a massive white fortress that starts from the base of the hill and doesn't seem to have an end.

"It is custom to kneel upon entry here" Jasper says looking at the tower himself.

The participants start to kneel, but Corin does it a little slower.

"The building past the ceremony stage is the Fortress of Promise, an important UWO government building holding documents, records, and important members. Only those granted high honors may step foot inside."

Jasper waits for a second after he finishes talking

"Okay, you may rise."

They all start to stand back up

Jasper continues to talk

"Now everyone, step onto a circle platform. There should be one for each of you on the stage."

Around the symbols at the center of the stage are nine circle platforms for the attendees.

Corin decides to step up to the middlemost platform.

As everyone gets situated Jasper walks up to everyone individually giving them a gray crystal sphere.

"This is the device I spoke of earlier, the one that allows the Chyros to see and judge you. The device will change color according to who is judging you currently.

The sequence order is Red for Flame, Yellow for Thunder, Blue for Tidal, Brown for Stone, and Aqua for Gust. You get one chance for each of the five elements."

A kid at the far right of the stage shouts a question

"But what about the other elements? How do we get those?." he asks

Jasper looks to him with a glance, "Well only these five Chyros decided to participate in these ceremonies, so you'll have to make do with what we've got." he says.

I wonder what other magics there are, Corin thinks.

Jasper continues to explain.

"When the color sequence ends your crystal will either shatter, meaning you failed, or it will glow, matching the color to whom deems you worthy."

"If it glows multiple colors you will choose a magic to inherit but we will only discuss that further if need be."

"Now that the explanations are out of the way we shall begin, oh and we will be going from left to right".

Corin thinks to himself as he watches.

A girl, shorter than me, with pink hair.

The Crystal glows Red, Yellow, Blue, Brown, then Aqua, and the sequence ends.

Hers glows red, and she smirks with confidence.

A boy, muscular, brown hair

The Crystal glows the sequence then Shatters.

A boy with, a droopy posture, and green hair.

The Crystal glows the sequence

It cracks and then shatters.

A boy, bold, blond.

The Crystal glows the sequence and shatters with his pride.

My Turn. He thinks with his hands shaking a bit.

The Crystal glows.

Red, Yellow, Blue, Brown, then Aqua.

Corin awaits his judgment nervous like never before.

The Crystal goes dark and there's a pause.

His hope turns to worry as he feels the crystal vibrate a little.

No-no!

Soft cracks start to form and a look of despair coats Corin's face.

The crystal shatters and shards fall from his hand to the ground.

Corin clenches his fist, cutting himself on a crystal shard in his hand.

The others continue as Corin stares into the distance.

It'll be ok, Nothing will change, people go all the time without magic...

Corin submerges his feelings and looks up to see the last person going.

A boy, with black hair, like me.

The Crystal glows Red, Yellow, Blue, Brown, and then Aqua.

The crystal shines Blue.

Jasper walks up to the middle of the stage

"Well, it's already about 6pm and we got a lot more to do for those of you who passed!"

Corin looks into the sky, it's dark out already.

How did it get so late...

Jasper continues to wrap up formalities

"This concludes our 83rd entry batch of the yearly ceremony," he says celebrating ad the guards start clapping.

"For those of you who passed I need you to stay here, the rest of you will be returning home. Please do comply, it makes my job much easier."

Jasper starts to head downstairs and the unworthy follow behind.

When they reach the bottom of the stairs the blimp is gone and the entrance is well guarded.

Everyone's a little confused except Jasper.

Jasper turns to them

"It is already much too late and the blimp was just for show," he says as he turns to a guard on his right

"Open it".

The guard on his right holds a purple rhombus-shaped crystal, It's a magic stone. The guard throws it on the ground and cracks it, opening a large purple ring vertically that has a purplish void in the center.

Corin is confused by the purple magic

What kind of magic is that? Maybe that's what that other guy was talking about.

Jasper points at the purple void

"Stepping through here will send you back to where you came from before we picked you up, now please step through one at a time."

No one goes through, but then Jasper sticks his hand and takes it out.

"Look it's completely safe."

Corin puts together that the purple magic probably was how the blimp traveled so fast

One kid decides to go through, them the rest follow one by one.

It's Corin's turn to go through, he's hesitant but he does as he's told.

Corin steps through, and upon reaching the other side he sees that he's outside in front of his housing unit.

"They could've at least got me to the rail, now I gotta walk up five flights of stairs."

Corin's sadness has started to fade away, he starts to think that maybe he overreacted and the life he lives is enough.

He starts walking to the rails but suddenly feels a rumbling in the ground. Corin looks around to find the source.

The rumbling starts to turn into an aggressive shake. He stresses to find whats causing it, but then he looks up.

The worst has happened.

The barrier that keeps out the Wind is breached.

There's a massive hole in the top.

The wind is overpowering the barrier causing it to deteriorate rapidly

Corin starts to feel the unrelenting force of the wind push against him and starts to fill with worry.

I got to get to my family!

But as he thinks this he sees a swarm of creatures made of a black essence that can only be physically described as tar. Start to crawl their way down from other housing units.

What the hell is that?! He thinks in panic.

He looks around and realizes that his district is not as he left it. These creatures had flood the district, destroying, eating, and ripping everyone and everything in sight.

Corin sees that most of the housing units around him are destroyed, windows stained with blood.

He looks back at his unit and the condition was as he remembers it.

They haven't made it to mine yet, there's still time! He thinks as he starts running.

He's noticed by a pack of creatures and they follow in suite.

He makes it to floor two and picks up his speed but match his speed, some even crawling vertically along the homes while others stop and enter windows and attack families.

He reaches the next flight of stairs and runs up to floor three, and as he runs across the rails toward the next flight he's clawed on the ankle and trips.

He gets surrounded and held down by multiple creatures thay swarm him.

Thy start clawing and biting at him and he screams in pain pleading for help.

"PLEASE SOMEBODY!!!"

Suddenly the creatures ignite into flames, and as they scream their demented scream, they're gone to ash.

Corin's bleeding all over from scratch and bite marks

He's confused about what just happened but thinks he's in the clear and attempts to stand.

As he tries to get up he collapses, having sustained mortal wounds along his body, and he is losing more blood than his body can handle.

But he hasn't come to terms with dying yet.

He gets up and continues to make his way up limping and injured.

I can make it...

He thinks with determination at every step

He reaches floor four.

Two more creatures leap at him from the wall on his side but they're electrocuted and turn to ash.

He reacts late, but nothing's there.

His body is shaking with pain but he keeps limping with haste.

More creatures crawl up from the side of the and start flooding in at him one by one from behind and his side.

He's lugging himself up the last flight not attentive to the imminent death that follows.

The creatures pounce, pouring down onto Corin like heavy rainfall.

But...

As the horde of creatures get near Corin, they are struck randomly by a projectile made up of elemental magic. (Flame, Gust, Stone, Thunder, Tide) Corn hears the monsters scream behind him but his only focus is just to make it to his door.

He reaches his door, thinking that his family could already be dead, but he knows that he shouldn't dare believe in such a thing.

Blood drips from his hand on the floor as he reaches for it.

He grabs the doorknob and prepares for the worst.

He turns the knob and pushes the door, but the building shakes.

Hinges start coming off from the bottom up and it begins to collapse.

Corin's hand slips from the knob and he falls over the railing.

Corin is now plummeting and knowing that he won't survive the fall, he's wondering what his family is doing in their last moments.

Thunk

Corin hits the floor and starts fading in and out of consciousness.

He passes out.

After some time passes he wakes up slowly thinking about how long he was out for.

Checking his body he realizes that it's not hurt as much as he thought it would be from the fall.

Actually... He's in perfect health. No longer has even a single cut in him.

He looks around.

Nothing's happening, nothing's moving.

The tar creatures are suspended mid-fall.

The collapsing buildings are still.

Even the wind has halted.

What's going on? He wonders as he looks around.

A loud noise comes from nearby and he looks, but nothing's there.

Corin starts to feel a warmth surround him.

Wanting answers he gets up and starts to wander.

The warmth has grown into an irritating heat.

As he looks around there are pieces of large scrap metal from the collapsing buildings sticking out of the ground.

He hears another sound again but cannot tell where it's coming from, but a large tree shaking catches his eye and he quickly walks towards it

The heat has grown to a burning fire.

A noise can be heard as he gets closer.

Corin's sweating a bit.

As he approaches the tree he slows down and looks at it cautiously.

Something large comes out from behind.

Hiding all but its neck and head in the shadows of the night is a monstrous red dragon-like creature. Its eyes are yellow, with brown horns that grow away from its face.

Embedded on top of the dragon's head rests a red crystal sphere.

The dragon stares at the collapsing housing, squinting its eyes as if it's looking for something.

The burning fire returns to a comforting warmth.

Corin looks at it curiously for a moment.

The dragon turns to Corin and they make eye contact making Corin jump back a bit.

The dragon returns to looking at the housing

The dragon does a double take gazing back at Corin again as if it is surprised, then quickly looks into the shadows that cover it.

"Have we decided?"

It says in a monstrous voice.

Corin is shocked that it can talk.

There is a silence as the dragon stares into the shadow.

More voices can be heard coming from the shadow in response to the dragon, all saying "He'll do" out of sync.

Corin is in a state of shock, looking at the dragon.

What the hell?

The dragon smiles as he looks back at Corin.

Corin gets scared and turns to run away but as he does a purple portal forms below where he stands, faster than he can react.

He falls through the ring.