Leaving the raids caverns I was taken to a clearing, one rinsed in blood, as if autumn bled.

Leaves of fallen foes graces the walk.

I tried not to think of their names.

I tried not to connect the thoughts. To infer without information.

But how couldn't I?

Bitting my tongue, blood filling my mouth, I stayed quiet and drew power from my soul.

Silent and waiting.

Allowing them to lead me down the path of carnage and to a clearing where a man waited.

A cliff suspended over the realm.

A fatal drop that shot over and into the Bleak Barren Sea.

A lone man watched over a sea that paid no heed to him, let alone any man.

You could hear the raging waves crash and ripple sending their force echoing towards the sky, where we rested.

Cool and calm he was.

He was by himself but I knew hasn't alone.

His men rested within the shrubbery stalking their prey. Watching me with eyes of steel and hands holding edge.

They waited for any opportunity to strike.

I would try my hardest to not give them one.

Tell your man to let the boy go.

The man who I presumed was Mercy, did not turn, instead he let the time grow on.

He did not answer to me his silence said. I was not the one in control, he was.

After enough time I added.

Please let the boy go.

It's me you wish to speak with, then allow our conversation to be one without hostages.

His voice came back sharp and efficient.

Let the boy go.

Go join the others.

The man pushed Roger and made his way back down the path.

Motioning with my eyes, I told the boys to find the rest of the party.

Do you know what I see when I stare into this,

He motioned at the sea with a gauntleted hand.

His whole body was enraptured in gear that gleamed like gems freshly shined. Radiating a power that comes from rarity and numbers.

Shouldering his guilds strength on top his frame. He was the culmination of raids and runs and luck. This man did not run a guild. He was the guild.

Slowly walking forward, I replied.

No, what do you see?

Before I could get any closer, he lifted his hand in a fist, signaling that I had come close enough.

I see a land left to explore.

Loot left to gain.

Power floating in the distance.

It brings out that side of me.

You know the side?

Don't you?

He turned revealing his face.

Golden eyes that reflected my own pale gray ones. Hair the color of wheat that rested on shoulders fine and strong. Every line in his face was sharp and efficient. He was a handsome man but that wasn't the start of the end. In his eyes you saw something that swallowed every other detail, it was a madness that only greatness could rival.

It was the sight of a man willing to burn it all down in order to achieve his goals. To chase dreams is to bury reality behind.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A man who adorns himself all of his guilds rewards in order to challenge the realm himself, without the rest of them.

A man who tackles the realm by stepping on those around him.

I saw myself in him

I saw what I could be.

My body began to feel cold, my soul aching with a path before me.

This man was my mirror.

The Witch's prophecy come to life.

He continued:

The side of me that knows that if there's power out there that others hunt I must capture it first…

He breathed, staring back into the Barren Sea.

The sea raged on in response.

It told us of a power that mattered not, that raged and would rage now and after we were long gone.

Did that anger him?

Almost whispering, he added.

At any cost.

Regardless of the cost: the words came to my head.

My own mantra spoken slightly differently. This man was me if I had taken a slightly different turn.

If Ronald hadn't died, where would I be?

You don't say much do you?

His voice didn't hold anger or any form of animosity, this man simply said what he thought.

You could do that when you tower over the realm with gear that rivaled Gods.

I don't know where any of this is going.

We shared a silence as he began to rub his chin in a manner that spoke of introspection, of questions running amok.

Did he not have things planned out?

What comes next?

And what can I do about it?

Damn it.

You're not what I was expecting.

Grappling at his hair he began to form a ponytail, revealing a grin and a laugh.

Not what I was expecting at all

The air began to turn.

Anxiety began to rush its way into the battlefield once again.

My nerves began to waver, my soul began to shake.

Laughing, he added.

I thought you were like me.

You took without remorse.

That your philanthropy was merely a way to fuck up the establishment, but I feel your soul and it all feels pure and genuine.

Now, I have to destroy that.

What?!

My voice shattered as I scrambled.

My feet tensed, but before I could react, an aura of magic gripped my feet. From below a crude pentagram pulsed and forced my body to comply.

Now he stared directly at me. His eyes now held no glimmer, there was no light in his spirit or his soul.

I was reckless.

I thought words could dwarf swords.

This was my punishment.

The world is my domain

The realm is mine to do with as I fuckin please.

And right now

As of this moment

It pleases me to erase your fucking disgrace of a guild of the face of the fucking world.

He sneered and his words slipped through his teeth like serpents searching for their victim.

To say I didn't fear the man would be further than the stretching of the truth.

Breathing in and out.

Stealing my soul and bracing my heart, I uttered the song of breaking, a gentle melody that pierced and shattered the curse at my feet.

Before I could move back.

He raised his gauntlet into the air sending a coursing beam of energy up and away.

After a few feet it shattered into four arcs who shot into the ground with a force that mimicked the force field created by the realm

Welcome to my arena.

No one's ever escaped or lived to talk of what goes on in here.

Life works in ways that can't be coincidence.

Like before my guild arrived just as the arena had been established.

She was here once again.

This time there wouldn't be a victory for her to relish in.

Meeting her eyes I whispered.

It's a shame that our first kiss must be our last.

This time it was her that began pounding a force that couldn't be broken.

The men grabbed her hands, holding her back, they would need her strength.

Take care of her. She's the future of the guild. She is the Path now.

I said as I turned back to my final foe.

Glancing over at his armor, everything was maxed out.

999

999

999

999

The highest piece of gear on me rested at a middle 800.

Just how far was the gap between power levels?

Lunging forward, my feet became wind, my sword appeared in my hand just before I sliced at his torso.

His eyes told of worry

Then, of nothing.

His health bar hasn't budged, encasing it as a silver radiance that symbolizes a barrier that my attack hadn't even broken through.

Before any of us could exchange words his gauntleted fist came down with the force of mountains laying me down on my knees.

[Critical hit.]

[Damage resist negated from level gap]

[Total health lost 23%]

A quarter lost from a punch…what would a sword do?

Laughing, he prepared a kick.

Leaping up and back I readied myself.

All my major cooldowns were down.

I didn't know what to do…

What would I do when I met with my mirror?

Unlike before, I thought of my men.

If this man kills me, they're next.

Popping every offensive cooldown, I rushed into the fight.

Rayleigh's claws in hand, I struck at him with every combination, every flurry, every ounce of power I could muster.

Titans Resolve Plate activate.

His words were calm and slow.

The symbol of a cross on his chest plate began to glow and soon his body gave off a power that couldn't be comprehended.

Each blow on his body felt like hitting stone.

No, like hitting iron.

My forearms ached, pain shot through my arms but I continued.

He laughed as the only thing I was accomplishing was moving him inches back. Inch by inch he moved backwards. While my health bar and stamina drained.

You can't compete

He arrogantly said.

Revealing an amulet that hummed in golden glory, he uttered.

Athena's Curse.

Rayleigh's claws shot from out of my hand and into the ground, shackled down by a curse.

[Disarmed]

It's fine, I huffed.

He's far enough.

With everything.

With every point of energy.

I transcended my soul and prepared my transcended blade.

His eyes no longer looked at me with contempt.

His grin appeared once again.

Then, his own soul quaked with a power to match.

His gauntlet quivered with the power of transcendency.

I'm not the only one…I whispered.

A rare breed you are, kid.

But I am truly unique.

Letting my blade fly it sliced the realm and was deflected by his own power and thrown behind him.

A smoke emerged when the powers collided against his barrier.

His voice emerged first.

It was fun

But...

It's over, kid.

If he had been stalwart and prepared it wouldn't have worked.

But with being overgeared comes overconfidence as well.

With my feet as wind and dragons breath in my lungs.

I tackled Mercy over the cliff.

Taking myself and him into the clutches of the Barren Sea.

At the mercy of the realm.