Smoke rising in the night sky, screams and howls resonate throughout the surroundings, flames devouring everything in sight. A group of people stood outside a small village watching as another group flashed in the darkness as they silently killed off bandits they came across pillaging.
Within the watching group of people was a child around fourteen years old who took a step and entered the village. The others moved as well and they all appeared in the center of the village. When they arrived their comrades had already finished the bandits and joined them.
“How many people of the village survived?” a middle age man asked.
“357, They have all been put to sleep and will sleep till sunrise.”
“Have we figured out who they are. This is such an out of the way place it makes no sense for so many bandits to be here in such a small place.”
“According to information we have there is a large bandit group swallowing all the small ones in the area. These should be remnants of the ones absorbed that did not want to submit and chose to escape.”
“Sean, what’s with all the questions?” the young boy finally spoke to the middle age man. “It's not like we are going to go wipe them out are we?”
The middle age man named Sean chuckled before answering: “Of course we aren't. They would be completely unrelated to us if it wasn't for your orders.” he rubbed the boy's head before continuing. “You are the one who said save those pitiful people. These are just small fries but what if they are part of a large group or have a powerful backing. You should know this already but I'll tell you anyway. Just because you come from a strong family doesn't mean you can do as you please if you are weak. You can't make enemies just cause you have a backing, that isn't your strength. You were not strong enough to kill all those people on your own so what would you have done if you we're alone. Your choice made enimies so you should know the all information you can.”
No one said anything as Sean lectured the boy. They were on alert, watching their surroundings. One man saw a flicker of light and prepared to move when Sean stopped him with a wave. He pointed out the small bird and said: “Now they know what you look like Flynn.” he smiled.
The boy was shocked for a moment before understanding what was going on. He sighed and told people to hurry up putting out the flames and getting the identification of all the bandit groups involved then turned and proceded to leave the village. He knew that this bandit group had become part of his last test. He felt it was annoying. He didn't know who they were, their strength, location, or if they had powerful backing. Add to that fact that he couldn't ask for help from his own family and he felt a large headache. All he wanted to do was save the villge and now look.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“If you want to move as you please in this world then use your own power to do so. If you want to slaughter or save then do so with your own strength.” Flynn listened as Sean continued. “You have a strong family and it's fine to use it but never forget it's not only you with a good backing and the family won't always move for you even if you become the head.”
“I guess it's true that no good deed goes unpunished.” he mumbled to himself then asked Sean: “What is the original test. I'll deal with this afterwards.”
“Well since we are almost there you might as well get started. You have until your registration at Haicho; about two years from now, to bring back the heads and cores of nine Foundaton Domain beasts; one from each tier. No restriction on how you do it as long as they are killed by you. Your destination is the Forbidden Forest and even the weakest beasts are at the Foundation Domain so you will have to be careful.” He sighed and continued “They also have to be nine different types of beasts”
“Have those people gone damn crazy or something!” the boy finally lost his cool and yelled. “I'm still at the 8th Tier of the Element Domain. How the hell am I suppose to kill Peak Foundation Domain beasts!”
When the boy erupted they could see darkness becoming thicker around him. It wasn't surprising since he had the darkness element, but no one noticeed his eyes flash a deep purple since they were behind him. He realized that no one replied to him then closed his eyes and sighed feeling another headache coming on. He wasn't the only one in the family tested but he knew that no two people had the same test. Every one had different tests, but very few would have the same difficulty as him; two or three at most at the 8th Tier and the rest at the 9th, but that was still less than a dozen people.
“This is the ring your mother sent." Sean said wen Flynn calmed and handed over a dull black ring with gold runes, a Cosmos Ring. “I don't know what's inside but since the elders let her send it then doesn't count as outside help.”
A Cosmos Ring was a storage tool with a separate space inside that could hold almost anything inside. They needed to be bound before being able to retrieve the items inside and the simplest and least secure way was to bind it with blood. The size of the space depends on the grade of the tool used and the grade depends on the materials used and the one making it. There were naturally things that can't be put inside such as sentient beings and items that far surpass it's grade; though there were rumors about extremely high grade storage tools that could accommodate sentient beings.
Flynn put the ring on without trying to open it but cut his finger and let the ring absorb his blood for almost an hour while they continued onwards to their destination. Since it was obviously a low grade Cosmos Ring there was no way he was using any other method to bind it. When they finally reached their location the ring flashed a dim purple light twice before it stopped.
He glanced at the the ring then waved his signaling Sean and the others that they could leave. From this point forward he was on his own until the test was completed. He stepped into forest and scanned his surroundings. After making sure there was no immediate threat he jumped into a tree to take a rest for a few hours.
No one knew that in a large forest in the Haicho Region of the Southern Continent that a young boy that would become one of the greatest assassins in the Mortal World was beginning his journey. No one knew that a king of kings was being forged or that the cause of peace and destruction had just taken the first step in shaking all.