Ocean ran.

With her bare feet, dressed in basically nothing but rags, Ocean ran on the dry and barren land, towards the village's plaza. She ran quickly, passing through the tall, dry grass and the old, dying trees, until finally, she saw multiple old and rundown buildings in the distance. She then sprinted even faster, and when she arrived, she slowed down, until her quick sprint turned into a calm walk.

The small village was quiet, which was unusual considering the amount of people present.

This was a normal occurrence for her though, so Ocean just kept her head down as she passed by the crowds of people around her. She swept her gaze towards them, only to sigh, when she realized everyone was basically doing the same thing as her.

'Keep your head down and mind your business.'

This was the law in the barren outskirts of the Kingdom of Petichor. With the decline of resources in the area, and the lack of food, the people here became prone to violence, leading to a lot of bloodshed. Which was why most of the people here followed the rule, so they could survive.

Ocean then shook her head, clearing her mind lf these useless thoughts, and made her way towards the plaza. Once she got there, however, her shoulders slumped once she realized there were no more job postings on the plaza's notice boards.

"D*mn it…"

She cursed under her breath and approached the notice boards to see if there were still jobs left for her to do. Seeing as there was really nothing, however, she sighed in resignation and looked at the sky.

It was clear like yesterday. The red sun still hung above it, illuminating the world with its crimson glow. Ocean found it strange, that she was able to directly look at the sun with her eyes, but decided not to question it, for her thoughts of survival constantly clouded her mind. She started noticing something odd, however. Her eyes squinted as she stared at the sun, only to notice four balls of fire, heading her way.

"Sh*t..! Something's coming..!"

Ocean unconsciously yelled out, loud enough for everyone to hear. The people around her only laughed though, thinking she finally went mad. Ocean, infuriated and didn't give a damn anymore, ran quickly. She ran with unusual speed, making a gust of dusty wind trail behind her. People looked at her weirdly as she ran, but Ocean didn't mind them and continued running like her life depended on it.

Ocean finally reached the end of the village, and was now surrounded by tall and dry grass once more. She raised her to see how close those balls of flames were, only to be shocked when saw them heading directly towards her, making her curse.

"F*ck…"

Seeing them coming towards her, Ocean gave up and had no more thoughts of running away. If this meant all her suffering would end today, then she would gladly welcome them. She then closed her eyes and took one last deep breath, and heard a deafening explosion, followed by her body being blown away.

* * *

She felt dizzy.

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Her ears rang, and she felt like her head was being squeezed tightly by a giant's hand. She then slowly opened her eyes, raised herself, and swept her gaze around her, observing her surroundings.

Everything around her was relatively fine, except for a few small patches of grass, catching fire. She then turned her gaze a bit farther away from her, and her eyes grew wide.

The land caved in, creating multiple craters on the ground. Fire spread everywhere, burning not only the grass and the trees, but the land as well. Ocean then shifted her gaze to the four, sphere shaped boulders. She then heard the sound of something breaking, and the four boulders opened up in the middle, releasing hot steam and tremendous amounts of energy, making Ocean unconsciously step back.

And then, like a shaken soda can that was suddenly opened, a horde of unknown creatures rushed out. The creatures were humanoid in shape, with reflective, dark-bluish skin and had a cluster of lights on their chests, pulsing continuously. That was all Ocean could observe though, for her mind literally froze when she saw the horde running towards her.

She took a deep breath and calmed herself down as she felt the hot wind blow onto her tanned skin. The dried grass swayed, as they too were touched by the wind's grace, and the flames around her continued to rage, as the unknown creatures neared her.

Ocean didn't close her eyes this time though, for she was curious. How would these creatures end her? Crush her? Rip her to pieces? Or maybe they would simply trample her. So as she saw them getting closer and closer, she took in a deep breath once more and readied herself for her doom.

10 feet…

5 feet…

3 feet…

Ocean was finally face to face with one of the creatures, making her tense up. The creature only glanced at her, however, and proceeded to run past her. She thought its brethren would instead do the job of ending her, but was surprised when the others ignored her as well. So Ocean stood there, still as a tree and mind as blank as a white sheet of paper, as the horde of unknown creatures continued to run past her.

[https://i.imgur.com/HuTtdfJ.jpg]

* * *

Slowly, Ocean walked.

With her bare feet, she slowly walked towards the village. As got closer though, she started hearing the pained screams of the village residents. She also heard the cries of children, only to get silenced a short moment later, making her shudder. Ocean continued walking, until she finally caught sight of the ruined village.

If she had to be honest, she didn't really know how to feel about the sight in front of her. Sure, it was disturbing, seeing all the blood and corpses littering the ground, but Ocean really couldn't care much about the lives of people she didn't even know.

So as she continued to slowly walk towards the village's plaza, all while passing through the carnage, her face remained expressionless. The ground she was walking on was dyed in red by the blood streaming from the corpses, staining her feet and clothes red with every step she took. She could still hear the fearful screams from the people in the village, making her ears twitch and her muscles stiffen.

She didn't really know why she was heading towards the plaza, especially since she knew very well what had happened there. She continued to walk, however, all because of one reason.

She felt something calling her.

A powerful force, telling her to come closer, to wield it, and to become its master. So she walked until she finally reached the plaza, only to be shocked by what she was seeing. The horde of unknown creatures were there, in a circular formation, surrounding something.

Seeing them, Ocean became frightened. But a voice inside her head kept telling her to continue.

To push through.

So that's what she did. Tense and vigilant, Ocean slipped through the horde of unknown creatures, trying her best to make it into the middle. She still wondered though as to why these creatures kept ignoring her, but she simply shook her head, and focused on her objective.

And after a few more minutes of moving through the horde, she finally reached the middle, where she saw a massive sword, with a blade that was dark as obsidian. Ocean turned her gaze to the creatures surrounding it, noticing how all of them were just staring at it and remaining still.

The voice inside her head then became louder, telling her to continue walking towards the sword. So she took a step forward, then another, and another, and without even realizing it, Ocean found herself face to face with the sword. The voice inside her head then told her to grab the handle, and without hesitation, she grabbed it.

Immediately after, a surge of energy burst forth from the sword, and blasted up to the sky, forming a mesmerizing, blue pillar of light.

* * *

"Finally…."

Terron, flying in the air, muttered as he sighed and stared at the blue pillar of light, illuminating the sky. He was growing frustrated, if he had to be honest. He just couldn't understand why she ran out of the village when saw the meteors come.

"Did she not know how to calculate the trajectory…?"

Terron asked himself. He then proceeded to slap himself in the face, realizing that this dumb human most probably didn't know how to calculate the trajectory of an object. The trouble of leading her back to the village was worth it, however, because the little girl finally managed to get her present.

Terron's eyes then shined as he watched the girl raise the sword from the ground and wielded it as she faced the Fiends surrounding her. The light then slowly died down and the energy it emitted was all transfered to the girl's body.

The Fiends, finally managing to get out of their trance, looked towards the girl and glared at her. Then, like they all agreed to it, all of them pounced at the girl at the same time, baring their sharp claws.

With a small smile on his face, Terron looked at what was happening below and said to himself.

"Time to see how strong you are, Hybrid."