Writer Eternal: Done with finals and started this story. Enjoy.

Prologue: A New World

[Wake up.]

[Elijah, wake up.]

[Wake up, Elijah. Wake up!]

A seventeen year old boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes awoke as the voices in his head faded. He shivered as the wind chilled his skin and noticed he wore a red V-neck shirt and black camouflage pants. He had a white turtle necklace on a black string around his neck and silver-grey running shoes. As he got to his feet, he noticed a crate behind him, his name engraved on a plaque in large, bold letters.

"Elijah. That is my name. I remember it, but why am I here? These clothes.... I wore them before I entered the virtual reality game. How am I wearing them now? Wait, why can't I remember past that memory?" Elijah groaned as he held his head, pain flashing through his mind. "Argh. It hurts. Something went wrong. Where am I? What happened to me?"

"Ow! My head, It hurts. Where am I?" a boy cried out as he awoke.

"Who said that? Who called out to me?" a man asked as his vision cleared and saw the people around him after rubbing his eyes. One by one, the people in the white marble room awoke. Each of them had similar reactions.

(Who am I? Was that really my name?)

(The last thing I remember was entering a game. Why do I wear the same clothes?)

(Who was calling to me? What is this crate? Who are you guys?)

"So there are about nine of us in this white marble room wearing the same clothes we wore before entering the new virtual reality game. The problem is that this feels too real, there is no message box or log out button, and we have no memories prior to using the virtual reality system to enter the game. We also have a feeling that the voice called to us using our real names, but not our last names. That about right?" a woman asked. "My name is Serena. I do feel that it is my name."

"There are also these crates. When I tried approaching someone else's a strange barrier repulsed me. It should be sufficient to assume only the owner of the name can open the crates," a muscular man wearing a sleeveless shirt agreed. "I'm Marlin by the way."

"We should open the crates. It might contain clues about why we're here, or where 'here' actually is. I don't think there'll be a trap as there are magic barriers protecting the crates. I do believe we can't be on Earth as magic is real. We won't go anyway by just asking questions," Elijah suggested, the other eight nodding as they turned towards their respective crates.

Elijah's hand gently lifted the cover of the crate and looked at the contents. Inside was a black ring with a jade insignia of three eyes, an old letter, and a black pearl one foot in diameter. Cautious, Elijah decided to read the letter before observing the ring and gigantic pearl.

"Hello Elijah. Welcome to the planet albeit not your Earth. Inside the crate is a ring and a pearl. The ring is your unique item, everyone receiving the same pearl. The ring is a storage item containing a 20x20x20 meter space within. Considering that 1 meter is over 3 feet, it is quite a large cubic space. Now, we shall talk about the pearl," the letter began.

"In order to talk about the pearl, we must talk about this world. You were taken from your home world to replace the you of this world. You and these eight other individuals will possess powers. Power to control elements. Normal people control only one element, controlling three signifying an incomparable talent and potential. You nine can control up to three, your enchanted items grant you the fourth element. Right now, you can create and manipulate earth and abyssal water. Your ring adds wind damage to your attack, but that is not the element it granted. The element granted is abyssal water, a variation superior to regular water. It is through the ring that you gained the spirit energy of an aquatic dragon and its innate ability to control abyssal water. Naturally, the fact that you control water means that you can control ice. After all, ice is but water in its solid state. Just know that your body cannot handle so much use of the aquatic dragon's spirit energy in your current state. The wind damage granted by the ring is but an enhancement, one not requiring energy from you. It can only be controlled to an extent," the letter continued.

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"Your rings also contain indestructible and ever sharp weapons restricted to you. Yours is a katana, a weapon suited for the wind enhancement. You nine have the ability to become more than humans. More than mortals. You are immortals. Your mission is to help humanity survive for as long as you live. From what? From who? I cannot tell you everything. Know that you can tame three magical beasts, two more than others who are not one of you nine. Good luck," the letter concluded and Elijah stared at the giant pearl in shock.

"Did you guys finish reading your letters? That thing said we can control elements. These pearls can give us powers. We can be gods," a teen with glasses laughed.

"Or demons. Power can be a corruption. It can consume you," a girl with black braids warned. "How do you suppose we leave this place? I don't see a door anywhere."

"Maybe after we gain our powers, we get transported somewhere," Elijah guessed.

"How did you come up with that idea?" Marlin asked.

"We all arrived here with the clothes we wore, and received letters that told us we got powers in crates surrounded by magical barriers. Sounds like a good hypothesis to me," Elijah shrugged and picked up the giant pearl.

"We got nothing to lose. We don't even remember what kind of people we used to be. Good luck everyone," Serena nodded as they all picked up their pearls and felt a mysterious energy siphon into their bodies.

Elijah screamed as pain entered his fingertips and spread throughout his body. His ring and pearl shined, black flames covering his body. He wasn't burned physically, but felt the pain in his soul. A strange radiation now leaked from his body imperceptible to mortals. This radiation signified an immortal. As he started to faint from pain, he heard a voice.

"You nine have started the path to immortality. Congratulations," the voice said, sending chills down Elijah's back as it didn't sound like a human spoke.

"Where did that voice come from?" Elijah asked as he awoke five minutes after the voice spoke in his mind as he fainted.

"Th, there!" one of the girls stuttered and Elijah turned to his right to see a man smile back at the nine as the rest awoke. What truly startled them was that the man was made of the elements, not flesh and bone. Fire, water, thunder, wind, earth, wood, metal, light and darkness. His body was made out of them all.

"Hello. I see you've all read my letters and taken your powers," the elemental smiled.

"What are you? A god?" Marlin asked, stunned and then on edge.

"God? No. I am a being beyond what you can understand. This might assist in your understanding: Mages are immortals. Magic spells are just concentrated spirit energy shaped into physical form in the mage's corresponding element. This vessel is an example of such a spell. The nine of you will be sent to different empires. Know that you can only trust each other. The interests of your nations do not matter," the elemental replied.

"What do you want us to do?" Serena asked as she was the first to recover from shock.

The elemental spread out its hands and said, "See the world. Become truly strong. You will be taken to areas that will assist you in adapting to the new world. Learn while you can. War will come, to a few of you sooner than most. Make no mistake. Not having the elemental affinity does not mean you can't use spells of other elements. Having no affinity means all spells will be half as powerful, and you will never be able to create or manipulate the element. I have helped you as much as I could. Good luck."

As the elemental vanished, nine doors of light appeared where it vanished. Elijah and the rest of the nine stared at the doors in shock. One by one, they entered the doors, the doors entered vanishing behind them. Soon, only Marlin and Elijah were left.

"Lets meet again in the future," Marlin said, patting Elijah's shoulder before entering one of the two remaining doors.

Elijah stared at the last door with mixed emotions. A part of him screamed to not enter. He knew he could never go back to where he came from. He just knew it. He looked around at the empty room. He felt alone. He had no memories of who he was, and the people in similar situations were also gone. Elijah's heart raced as he walked toward the door of light. He had control over earth and water. Furthermore, he could convert water into ice.

"Come what may. I will survive!" Elijah resolved and entered the door.