Morning struck the next day, as Angelo had stayed the night at Edward’s home. After quickly preparing, Angelo left the house, moving towards the back gate of the village.

‘Mother…I’m sorry, but I have to know what’s out there…’ Angelo thought to himself, opening the gate and leaving the village, making sure to close it as he made his way out.

Now, Angelo had the entire world to explore, all to himself. He didn’t know quite what to do, but he had an idea.

Angelo took the amulet back from his satchel, investigating it slowly.

The amulet quickly floated up in the air, hovering ahead of Angelo. It began to slowly rotate as a bright light summoned from within it.

The two sides of the amulet each fired a beacon of light, though only moments later, it dimmed again and fell to the floor.

‘What’s up with this thing? It transports me to weird dreams, shoots out lights, what’s next? Is it gonna end the whole world?’

Angelo crouched down, taking the amulet in his hands as he once again inspected it.

The amulet itself was rather ancient, divided into two sides: one black and one white. It was engraved with several symbols, though Angelo knew nothing of them nor their origin.

“I’ll have to keep this with me, then. Maybe it’ll be of some use.” He said, placing it back in his satchel as he began his journey across the world; the world he so desired.

Angelo treaded lightly along the rock pathways, making his way to a large clearing where he could see three very distinct destinations.

On his left he found a valley that led to a dark swamp.

Straight ahead was a HUGE castle, one that looked very elegant.

And on his right was a shabby village, one that he hadn’t heard of before.

‘If I had to take a path…I’d go to the village, then the swamp, and then the castle…’

Angelo would grin, looking straight ahead towards the castle.

‘Yeah, I’m definitely not ready for that yet…I feel such a menacing aura from there…But that won’t stop me.’

Angelo walked slowly towards the drawbridge that led to the castle, one that was so large it went beyond the clouds.

‘I’ll start with the castle.’

Angelo slowly made his way through the drawbridge, seeing a large, four-armed beast with green skin and two fangs on his mouth.

‘An orc! I’ve heard of these before…they don’t usually hurt humans, right?’

The orc quickly raised his great axe, pointing it at Angelo.

“Human, halt. You are not worthy to move past this gate.”

Angelo tilts his head to the side.

“What do you mean? I only come here to explore.”

The orc chuckles lightly, looking up at the sky and back down towards Angelo.

“The second you enter that castle; you forsake life itself. I will not let you pass, for you aren’t strong enough.”

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“I am strong enough! Who even are you to tell me what I can or can’t do?”

“I am Xirks, the sole guardian of this castle – the Sinophesta.”

The orc held his axe with a tenacious grip, glaring at Angelo.

“Enough. If you wish to die, then so be it. I’ll send you to the lowest level of the Sinophesta, the dungeon. If you can survive what lurks below, which is very, very weak in comparison to what lies behind his gate, then I’ll give you a chance.”

Angelo chuckled, feeling motivated as he cracked his knuckles.

“Alright, how do I get there?”

The orc laughed out loud, before slamming his axe onto the draw bridge, which immediately collapsed as Angelo began his descent.

‘What the hell? That castle is so high up…I’ve been falling for like…twenty seconds now, and I still can’t see the bottom! Where the hell is he taking me?’

And Angelo kept falling for twenty more seconds, before finally falling into a pool of water.

‘Shit! Where the hell am I?’

Moving spontaneously, Angelo made his way to the nearest ‘shore’ he could find, an entrance to a cave. Was this the dungeon that the orc spoke of?

‘Do I really have to make my way up all the way back to the gate? There’s no way…’

Angelo took deep breath after deep breath; he was very unprepared for such a wild beginning to his journey.

Angelo needed some time to rest and recover, though he would soon find out that time was a luxury he could not afford.

“Hisssss….”

Inside the dungeon, Angelo could hear an odd hissing sound, but that wasn’t all.

The dungeon began to shake wildly, as Angelo barely managed to hold onto his footing.

‘What the hell is going on in there?’ He thought to himself, staring with fear at the entrance.

‘I want to go back…I was so stupid to come here….’

And the source of the shaking identified itself. A gigantic pair of jaws quickly jumped up from the ground, slithering out as it’s eyes quickly darted around, identifying Angelo as it glared straight at him.

A very, very, very, very, VERY HUGE serpent had just made its way out of the ground, with only a very, very, very, VERY SMALL portion of its body visible above the ground.

“What….the….FUCK?”

Angelo already accepted his death the moment that thing’s eyes made contact with his, his arm hairs quickly stood up from the absolute fear that he felt in that moment. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t out of pure fear.

In that moment, Angelo’s instincts prompted him to run away, but that he couldn’t even do. In just an instant, the serpent darted his way, crashing into the large wall of stone behind him.

‘It certainly isn’t smart…but that won’t help when it’s head is bigger than one hundred humans stacked on top of each other!’

The serpent backed away from the crash, turning to look at Angelo as its mouth opened wide, hissing at him.

‘What am I supposed to do? I’m practically defenseless here…I have no weapons and my soul magic isn’t shit against this thing either!’

But just then, an idea made its way In Angelo’s mind.

‘Wait…the amulet!’

Angelo quickly dug into his satchel, quickly reaching for the amulet as he pointed it towards the serpent.

“Do something! Anything! Please!”

Angelo yelled out, holding the amulet as nothing happened.

“Oh c’mon, seriously? Do anything, I’m literally going to die!”

The amulet refused to do anything as the serpent crashed into the floor, Angelo was sent flying and as was his amulet.

‘Shit! The amulet!’

Angelo crashes into the ground, digging his fingers into it to slow down his movement.

‘I need to get it back! I can’t lose that!’

Angelo would imbue his fists with energy, letting it flow freely as he sprinted towards the amulet.

The serpent attempted to strike, but Angelo managed to fend it off by striking its eyes with his energy imbued fist. It seemed like that was a weak spot.

‘Okay, that’s not bad progress, I think I did some damage…’

As Angelo grabbed the amulet, he was shocked to find that the eye had regenerated in an instant.

‘There’s no way…it can regenerate? How am I supposed to beat this thing?’

But just then, the amulet began to shine again, hovering up in the air.

‘Oh right, the amulet…what’s it gonna do?’

The amulet would then send out another wave of bright ligh as Angelo’s eyes widened at what he had just witnessed.

‘What…the…’