The week in Nikt went by in a flash. The following morning as waking from a slumber that had seemed to last an eternity. I woke of the sound of something wet and sluggish. As my eyes slowly tilted open I literally jumped out my bed screaming
“OOOOOOOeeeeeeeahhhhhhh”
“Muto don’t lick my toes!!!”
Yes, I got licked, by this monstrous yet ingenious sneak attack, and it even had a name, Sneak lick of shadows. Why it had a name, was something I couldn’t grasp. Clearly after the incident I had to cut all ties with Muto, leaving him forever in regret of having licked my toes.
I am obviously joking, but I at least decided to keep my distance for a couple of days in an attempt to illustrate my dislike of said behavior.
Meeting up with Marius I had once again toured around the city in hopes of finding something fun or interesting. Marius had taken me directly to Yura Academy Nikt Branch, A training school for the gifted members of the Yura continent. Of course admittance was terribly hard, only those whose talent had been heard around towns across the Yura kingdom was even allowed an audience with the admittance council. The purpose of the academy was to groom the student not only in personal power but also turning them loyal towards the kingdom that trained them. A truly malevolent method of recruiting the best for the upcoming wars, even though the kingdom was not currently in one.
“So Marius is it really that hard to gain entry?”
I said with a bit of a cold sweat
“The estimated number of people in the Yuran Kingdom is about 1 billion, and from my knowledge there is only around one hundred thousand accepted students across the kingdom”
My face turned pale just thinking about it. As soon as we had began walking towards the Academy, I could feel my blood starting to boil as Marius was describing the academy. Finally an academy that could help me improve, one that could help me find redemption. But as fast as my blood began to boil, a crushing fact presented itself.
“Well even if there are 1 billion people in the Yura kingdom, the amount that does not want or believe they can improve themselves are probably as high as half or even higher. They simply gave up knowing in their heart they were inferior”
Marius said with a little smile
The effect of cheering me up did not take; it seemed that it had taken quite the hold around my mind. "No physical talent" was the aspect that bothered me the most, If Jake didn’t find any signs of quod inside my body it would undeniably be an excruciatingly long journey towards redemption.
“Don’t feel sad Fey, even I am far from being worthy of acceptance. Maybe you have some affinity for quod. Who knows what the future holds”
“Even you are not worthy of acceptance??”
I said with raised eyebrows
Marius was without any doubt the fast man I had ever laid eyes on, almost terrifyingly so. And his strength was undeniably inhuman. But he was not worthy.
“You seem surprised, but seriously I am only a hunter of the early stage of the second rank, I have long to go, haha”
As soon as he had spoken, I noticed that we had left Nikt and was currently almost at the edge of the forest of Endel. Marius stared right for a moment and started walking in that direction. Not too far from the borders of Nikt laid what seemed like a separate village spawning 1 big palace building and tens of others smaller establishments around it.
Bordering it was a wall about 5 meters in height made out of blackish type of metal. The metal didn’t seem to have a reflection as light was not reflecting off it at all. As we turned corner around one of the edges of the wall we arrived at the entrance. Two big gates blocked our path; the gate was glimmering in the same black substance as before. The gate had to be at least 10 meter tall and as thick as my whole body in length. Outside it stood 4 rather ordinary guards, they didn’t look very physical fit and one of them was actually really obese. It made sense though, they protected the empires most dangerous prospects if someone wanted to forcefully break in, the academy itself would without doubt execute their own vengeance. Knowing this the guards could just casually chat among themselves.
Marius stepped forward and greeted them
“Hello, I would like to enter”
He said casually. Like he did not care that this was actually the academy where the soon to be mightiest beings in Yura kingdom would be groomed.
The guards started laughing helplessly; the obese one even fell over from laughter. Several moments later one of the guards seemed to have collected himself before speaking
“I can’t let citizens casually enter here, you stupid looking midget”
It seemed that the casual greeting had caused an emotional effect
As soon as the guards was done laughing they just stared intensely towards the direction of me and Marius. Marius chuckled at the sight as he reached inside his pocket to grab the metal seal that he had previous shown inside of Nikt.
The guards all instantly turned pale like they had seen a ghost
“Lord, you should have shown that earlier, please proceed”
The guard previously mocking Marius bowed before calling the other side to open the gate.
As everything had happened my eyes had just stared wide open.
“Haha, Fey you should have seen the look on your face, priceless”
“That seal, it seems to hold great significance”
Marius nodded
“It represents that I am a noble of Yura Kingdom, not just of Nikt but the entire kingdom, it therefore holds greater value then your normal noble title”
“And yes before you ask, I received it by doing someone I know a very dangerous favor, don’t ask anymore”
Marius said as he walked faster towards the academy.
“I won’t ask about how you got it, but do nobles usually visit here?”
Marius chuckled in resposne “Yes the reason might surprise you, it’s love”
“A joke I presume”
“No but really, As you know power holds great esteem in this world, it secures you safety and prosperity. If you’re powerful you will most likely gain many benefits. Noble women and men come here in the purpose of finding a suitable marriage partner. It’s one way to gain power, people are indeed greedy”
I couldn’t believe it, but as soon as we entered the grass field leading up to the Academy Village, several people came up behind us walking past us as they were going towards the village. The group consisted of only females, all caring a noble aura around them. Dresses with qualities never seen in the masses of Nikt, shining brightly in different colors. The beauty of the girls was mesmerizing to some degree. The mesmerizing effect didn’t last long though, an after effect of seeing the royal princess beauty only once.
Marius only chuckled as I watched the noble ladies leave at a high pace.
“This academy is the dream of most men and women alike, finding both love and strength in the same place”
Marius suddenly turned left not in the direction of the village but into the woods nearby
“Hey where are we going?”
“Getting into the actual academy is a bit trickier, follow me maybe we can catch something interesting”
As we entered the forest I couldn’t been more surprised. Several of the very sturdy trees of Endel had deep cuts in them. Some of the trees were even cut in half. even though we were not in the actual forest, the alluring feeling it conveyed was still present. But the stench of blood and the feeling of battle overshadowed the mesmerizing effect. Only walking in the forest vicinity felt like a downscaled version of the princess’s spirit presence. No one was around but their spirit aura was still hanging around like thick mist slightly halting my breath. The deeper we went the thicker the aura became
“Fey! Stop!”
Marius screamed in a whispering scream
Not even 50 meters ahead two young men stood facing each other, both wearing sword made out of that same black metal the gate was made off. One of them was a handsome elf male with deep blue eyes and long black hair, the other one was a rough man having an array of scars covering most of his very muscular body. Appearance wise he was not far off from a normal human being expect for those eyes, his iris was almost pitch black like a demon warrior ascended from hell to destroy everything in its path.
The rougher man laughed before speaking up
“Muriel your power is indeed an interesting one, sparing with you is never an disappointment”
The beautiful elf couldn’t help but smile as well
“Katel you have a long way to go”
Seing the ignorant elf speaking such words made Katel explode in anger and the released aura from him spread out like a nuclear bomb around the vicinity. as he began charging at the elf in terrifying speed. Only a second later he reappeared before the elf, almost like he teleported. Being slightly in the air, Katel swung down his black sword in a downwards manner. The weight of the sword seemed to be terrifyingly strong as it fell down against the elf’s fragile head. But before reaching impact a blue like barrier appeared in front of him blocking Katel’s heavy blow with ease.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Haha, told you Katel, just physical strength is no match for my quod barrier”
Meanwhile both Fey and Marius had a hard time breathing as both the combatants auras had spread like fire through the forest. The thickness was actually so high that you could see the thickness in the air itself. Marius being of the second rank could withstand it but me I was gasping for breath every now and then. Marius seeing my state pulled me by arm and pulled back the way we came from.
A while later we came out the forest and were back around the gate.
“Marius that aura was so thick, not like the royal princess that held weight instead just, thick”
“Yes, spirit aura has a way of forming in regards to the person that wields it. The power of those two should be around the fifth rank if I am not mistaken”
“Only fifth? And still so strong, amazing”
“Haha, Marius those auras are nothing before the likes of royalty for example. The pressure you felt when the princess walked by was higher right?”
“It might have been, even if breathing was hard the effect she had was more a suppressing aura.”
“Fey, that was just her normal aura, she was not suppressing it but it was indeed far from its peak. Both those people pressed out their aura to the maximum which meant it became many times stronger. If the princess did the same, well, you could imagine the outcome”
Yes, that aura several times stronger would without a doubt even be able to kill me…
After that visit to the academy, days went by as I leisurely walked about town, shopping supplies in anticipation for the day that I would finally be able to begin my training. The thought often came to mind of trying physical training myself, but the effect of it would had been so minor it wasn’t even worth trying.
I woke up early the day I would finally talk to the priest again, almost regretting that I hadn’t set an even earlier date for going there. But I was the one setting the date how could I go against my own words. Rushing over there I was greeted by another priest as I stepped inside the mysterious church.
“Hey there young fellow, I beg you please not to rush inside the church”
This kind old man was undeniably human or at least appeared to be.
“Are you human by any chance?”
Couldn’t hurt to ask..
“Haha, yes I am indeed human, you as well I presume?”
The old man looked to be in his seventies with grey hair and wrinkles all over his fragile face.
“Indeed I am my name is Fey, I came from Thailand”
I said as I bowed in respect
“Hello Fey, nice to meet you my name is Kyr I came to this planet over 4500 years ago.”
I almost jumped out in surprise, but unfortunately I wasn’t the kind of person that showed emotions in that way outwards.. Unless, someone licked my toes….
“fo..uu..r thousand!”
“Haha, yes”
“That is amazing, just amazing”
“Thank you, young man would you be interested in learning about the sect of kuruzor? The religion is perfect for us humans, since we are weak it can provide great opportunities”
Again with these selling techniques, even this 4500 year old man was advertising the church
“I am already I student here, I came to talk to priest Jake. He is supposed to continue my power assessment today”
“I am glad to hear that you have chosen to align with Kuruzor, If you tag along me young man I will show you to the room and go find Jake”
Following the old man we once again walked through the mysterious hallway, the paintings was once again mesmerizing. It wasn’t long until we arrived in the dojo like room. The old man was surprisingly agile for his ancient age; he had without doubt been training at least some of those thousands of years. He left and soon came back with the lizard like Jake.
“Fey, welcome back”
He said with that ugly wide smile.
“Thank you for having me, could we proceed?”
“Hasty fellow aren’t you”
“Okay if that is the case I will once again insert the needles”
Without further ado he started setting the needles inside me, once again at strange different places around the body. Moments later he once again picked upped the globe and it started shining but instead of red it made more of a blue color this time around.
Jake was smiling widely as he began inspecting the globe. But as time progressed his face turned grimmer and grimmer, until he was almost mad. He watched over once again with that pitiful look, this was undeniably bad news.
“I am sorry Fey, but the current amount of quod in your body is low, but do not fear training quod is something every being is capable off. Your talent in the area is not measureable with any method but either case you will be able to get stronger”
As I was about to rise and pick out the needles waved his hand in a no manner. I guess there is something left to measure, but hearing that my talent in both quod and physical made my mind wander off into dark places, memories of hardship and a dark faith.
Kyr standing behind Jake spoke up before my mind was going deeper into the darkness.
“Fey fear not, humans as a race usually have normal or high affinity towards darkness, it should be fine”
“What? Darkness why?”
“Well the human race is cruel and punishing growing in such environments only furthers the growth of such affinity”
He said with a grim smile on his face.
Jake nodded before he once again put his hands on the globe this emitting a pure white light. But as soon as I could see that beautiful black light emitting from the orb my mind went black
This, no please
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Darkness were everywhere on this empty football field.
The green grass that once grew there was all but forgotten.
Shattered by the endless rain pouring over it.
In the middle of the field four children lied.
The mud had once again mixed with the red substance of life, creating a mesmerizing substance streaming down the fields currents as the rain continued to pour.
The light of life only shinned on two, as the other had already become one with the darkness.
“You two survived”
The man said as he stared down at the children who only had a tin light protecting them against the darkness
The children could only stare at another at the light was slowly fading
“Is it over?”
The younger child said
“No I won’t give up, you will live and so will I”
“You the older child, kill that other one and I’ll let you live”
Tiers fell down from both of the children cheeks as they watched the man staring at them
“No I won’t, I will kill”
Fey tried to lift his body but to no avail
“Brother kill me”
“No I won’t, I won’t, I can’t”
“Brother kill me”
He mustered up the biggest smile he could
“N..o”
Fey could no longer hold back his tears
“You can live, that’s all I want. You do not need me. Brother be brave for me one last time”
“Brother please kill me, this is my final request”
“I wo..nt”
“You don’t need me brother, I was not meant out for this life”
“I am we..
The knife had hit the heart, and darkness hade finally token over
“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH”
The loudest of scream echoed on that football field
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As I opened my eyes, to my surprise both Kar and jake was passed out on the floor.
What happened here, Were we under attack?
--Jake Perspective—
“Well the human race is cruel and punishing growing in such environments only furthers the growth of such affinity”
So humans have strong affinity for darkness. Hopefully he has it otherwise this will be a though journey for Fey. He seems ready now, let’s try spiritual examination..
I can feel darkness, he really has some affinity. Bu..t.
What is that dark aura streaming out from him
Ohh it’s coming this way, let me just touch it
-“Awhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”-
-“Why do I feel like I am dying, and this pa..i..n it h..u.r..t.s”-
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This boy is my brother, but why is he dying.
Wait I can’t kill him
No,no,no
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