Sorn gasped for breath while generating wisps across his non-injured hand, launching it into the hand holding him.

“Ow!”

He recognized that voice.

Sorn: “Oden?”

The fist let go, and Sorn dropped to the floor. A moment later, the wall before him shattered. There stood Oden, clutching his hand and looking down at Sorn. The first thing Sorn noticed was he had a blue key.

Oden: “Well I didn’t expect to run into you this early.”

They stood still for a moment, and Sorn realized something wasn’t right about him. Oden normally seemed to be hiding something behind his calm demeanor, but he appeared outright angry right now. His face was scrunched and gruff, and he was glaring rather than staring. Oden’s eyes moved down to glance at Sorn’s necklace, and Sorn flinched back.

Oden: “You idiot, do you want to bleed out?”

He ripped off part of his own uniform, using it to wrap Sorn’s bleeding hand. Immediately, Sorn felt guilty to assume he had an ulterior motive. Just as Oden finished and stepped back, a voice called out to them.

“You bastards!”

Sorn recognized the man standing before them to be one of the Spears. His hand was covering his left eye as blood was running down his face. He romped his hand when the two turned their gaze towards him. Sorn realized with horror that his eye was completely gone, replaced by a gooey mess. His necklace was red, and Sorn noticed Oden staring intently at it.

If we didn't find anyone for a while, would he try to steal my necklace?

Oden: “You look awful.”

The man was trembling from anger, as three spears materialized behind him.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Spear Contender: “It’s all his fault. That bastard, he’s supposed to be on our side! Then he goes and kills my brother and does this to me? He can’t even make a single spear. Now you stand here like friends when my brother died? Who even are you? You outsider freak!”

All three of the spears were launched together at Sorn, but Oden stood in front of him, smashing the spears away with his ice encased arm.

Spear Contender: “Everything was ruined when you showed up. You’re the real culprit. It’s not his fault, no. It’s yours! Harbinger of dread!”

Despite not making too much sense, his remarks cut Sorn deep. He wanted to retort, to say anything to try to prove him wrong. However, all he could remember was the Prophesizor dying on the Stage because of him. So much had happened in the past few hours, he hadn’t let himself process that, but now that corpse was in his head on replay. Maybe the Spear boy was right. Maybe he was at fault.

Oden: “Don’t listen to him you idiot. He’s clearly lost it.”

Sorn: “Oh, yeah.”

Oden: “I never taught you how to fight a Spear, did I? I guess you can just watch me.”

He began walking towards the man, his arms encased in layers of ice. The Spear was twitching, and me materialized a spear in his hands, pointing it towards Oden.

Spear Contender: “I’ll grant you your death wish, scum.”

The next few moments happened in a flash. Oden moved with a fluidity that he had never seen during their training. He closed the distance between himself and the Spear within moments.The Spear blocked the first few punches with his own weapon, but the third punch shattered the spear. Oden’s fist connected with the man’s face, and he was launched back. He had no time to recover either, as ODen had leapt towards him, dropping down with his fists clenched in the air, prepared to be brought down.

Spear Contender: “Way to fall for my trick you dumb brute!”

He generated a spear just under Oden as he fell down. Sorn thought the fight was over, Oden was in midair and had no way to dodge the new projectile.

Oden: “No. You fell into mine.”

He grabbed the spear as it was thrown to him, driving it into the top of his target’s head, killing him immediately. Sorn was in shock as he watched Oden bend down and grab the key.

Sorn: “You just killed him!”

Oden stared at him like he just said the ground was made of ice. His arms were back to normal as he added the key to his leather chain, giving himself both a red and blue key.

Oden: “I did, what about it?”

Sorn had no response to this. He was genuinely shocked at how the man he had spent the past few days with laughing and training could just kill someone so heartlessly.

Oden: “Before I go to the next stage Sorn, I’d like you to know something. Since the Prophecy, my motivations have changed a bit. There’s something that I have to accomplish. Something only I can do, in the fifth stage. I’ll be expecting you there, but I won’t be waiting for you. If you don’t make it, this could be the last time we see each other.”

He walked to Sorn, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Oden: “I like you a lot. Don’t let me down.”

Sorn nodded , and Oden turned to walk away.

Oden: “And as luck would have it, it seems like the perfect opportunity just arrived for you.”

Sorn: “Huh?”

Oden pointed backwards over his shoulder, and Sorn turned around to see a girl panting. He barely recognized her face from the academy, and her face lit up when she saw his red key.

Girl: “I’ve been looking for so long for someone with a red key! “Sorry outsider, but you’re going to have to give that up for me.”

Sorn noticed she had a blue key. He gave a quick glance to the dead Spear before looking back at her.

Sorn: “Sorry, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Wisps appeared around his arms and legs, and he stared at his adversary. Kaen was right. The world he was in was do or die. And he couldn’t do it if he put his emotions too much in the way. He didn’t know how much humanity he could allow himself to lose. But there was no way he could die happy if he was a failure. He would make it to the fifth stage no matter what it took. If it brought even more chaos, so be it. He would embrace that chaos.

End.