Disclaimer: The original "Tier Two" has been deleted due to various changes suggested by the Editor. It is not necessary to read the updated version here, but highly recommended for full understanding of the story.
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“In Eden, the food is plentiful.
The citizens, both young and old, rejoice day and night.
Eden, is everyone’s home.
But, my child, beware.
Even the prettiest of roses, has its thorns.
Eden too, is not what it seems.
Because in Eden, our most beloved Eden...
The apples are rotten to the core.”
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My name was-
Well, my name wasn’t really that important.
So for now, “Zeph” would do.
What was more important was that my traveling partner, whose name I probably shouldn’t mention either, and I were just about to ask a few questions to someone we had met a moment ago.
“Excuse me, Sir, could you please tell me what year this is?”
“I ain’t got no money here, Sonny.”
The farmer did not even look up from his work as he answered.
“We did not ask for your money, we asked for the date, you senile foo-”
Ah, that idiot. Who told him to cut in?
I covered his mouth with one hand. My small companion struggled to pry my hand away from his mouth, but I wasn’t going to let go anytime soon.
Giving the farmer an apologetic smile, I continued to speak.
“We are sorry to bother you while you are working, kind Sir, but we only wished to know the current year. We will be on our way right after that.”
Again, he did not look up.
“Y’all say that at first, then ya gonna say yar visitin’ from some foreign country. Then suddenly ya got no money ta town, cause ya got robbed earlier. I’ll tell ya younguns right now that I ain’t gonna fall for the same trick no more.”
Woah. Looks like he had some bad experiences in the past...
I guess we would have to try somewhere else.
I gave him a sincere bow.
“I’m very sorry to have disrupted your work, but we will be going now.”
“Don’t come back anytime soon, not with that kinda excuse. Ya gotta think of a better thing ta ask than that.” he said, as he watched us walk away from the corner of his eye, “Tis well-known everywhere that tis the 100th anniversary of our king’s reign. Eurus-100!”
...
I stopped walking.
What...did he just say?
Eurus-100?
I could feel my heartbeat quicken.
Since the years are counted from the beginning of a family’s reign, that would mean a century had passed.
100 years of change.
100 years since that day.
...
I was suddenly overcome with an urge to laugh.
“Ahaha...haha…”
“Oi, stupid human, stop your creepy laughter and unhand me!”
I looked down at the little kid that I was now carrying by the collar.
“Sorry, sorry.” I said, letting him go.
He landed lightly on the ground, proceeding directly to brushing the dust off his pure black cloak before jogging back to my side.
As we walked on in silence, he looked at me with a curious expression.
“What was so funny about his answer, human?” he couldn’t help but ask after a while.
I smiled.
“Nothing.”
“Then why were you laughing?”
I glanced at him in amusement.
“Because I found out something interesting...and it made me very very happy.”
He gave me a look of suspicion. Clearly, my answer made no sense to him, but he did not press on.
The rest of the walk down the desolate path was spent in silence, but that was just fine for me.
And when dusk fell, we found ourselves at the entrance of a maze-like forest.
-------------
“Oi, human, are you lost or something?”
“Yep, you guessed correctly!”
“...”
My traveling partner glared at me in annoyance. Hey, don’t blame me, blame the forest for being so big. What was I supposed to do anyway?
Sighing, he sat down at the foot of the nearest tree. We had been walking around aimlessly for hours, and thus it was already night-time.
“We will continue tomorrow then...for now, build a fire or something.” he decided.
“And how are we supposed to do that?”
He gave me another look of annoyance.
“Just use your magic to lit some wood up, isn’t it obvious?”
The way he’s putting it made it seem as if I was the fool for even asking. As much as I would hate to dampen his ingenious plan, I had to break the news to him.
“It’s a good idea but, I don’t exactly know any fire magic.” I stated simply.
He gazed at me in disbelief for a moment, before speaking again.
“Then what about creating a fire manually?”
“Never been in a situation where I had to do that before.”
“Do you know how to gather food?”
“Nope.”
“How to build a shelter?”
“Nope.”
“Any defensive skills other than your stupid, fancy ice magic?”
“Not that I know of.”
He was silent. Well, I was being completely honest here at least.
The silence passed on for a few seconds more before he stood up abruptly. Walking to a spot a few steps away from the tree, he bent down to pick up something.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He glanced at me quietly before he replied.
“Gathering wooden sticks so I can get the fire going, what else?”
“I see.”
He paused.
“Well, don’t just stand there, get collecting too!”
The little kid can sure get very bossy at times.
“Yes, yes. I’m on it, my Lord.” I replied sarcastically, heading off to search for more sticks.
Thirty minutes later, we returned to our original location. Lying on the ground in front of us was a pile of wood large enough to set fire to the whole forest.
“Now, let’s get started.” my traveling partner said, with an evil smile.
Right. We’re just building a small campfire, right? I sure hoped so.
“Watch and learn how it is done.”
As I watched, he took a flat piece of wood and laid it on the ground.
Then, he proceeded to lay another and another on top of that.
Finally, he stepped back with a determined expression on his face...
“Ignis, grant us fire!” he shouted all of a sudden.
...What…
“Ignis, you old bastard, stop ignoring me and give us some fire!”
Oi, I don’t think insulting him would do anything.
“Hurry up, you old fool. I know you can hear me.”
“Hey, I don’t think that method will work-” I began to say, but was cut off by him.
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“Be quiet, human. Let me focus. I know exactly what I am doing.”
And with that, he continued to shout at nobody in particular.
Looks like it is going to be a long night.
---------------
Meanwhile, miles and miles away, the High Priest of the Church of Eden was preparing to return to his chamber for the night. It looked like it was going to rain soon.
“High Priest! High Priest!”
A voice called from the direction of the entrance behind him.
The High Priest turned around to face the owner of the voice.
“Yes, Father Kendrick, what brings you to here so late at night?”
“Oh, the most terrible thing has happened!” Father Kendrick said, his voice shaking in fear.
The High Priest held out his hands to steady him.
“And what exactly is this ‘most terrible thing’?” he asked gently.
The Father took a deep breath to calm himself down before answering.
“The gate. The gate to the Void has been forced open.”
The High Priest’s eyes widened in shock.
“That couldn’t be! The seal has been untouched for millenias!”
“It’s true, honorable High Priest. The guardians there had already been massacred before we arrived.”
“Then, what about him?”
Father Kendrick’s head dipped in regret at the High Priest’s question.
“Yes, the followers of Nox had all escaped. Including him.”
A short period of silence followed. Then, the High Priest began to walk.
“Alert the other Fathers, and send for a messenger to the Imperial Military right away.” he commanded, as he opened the heavy doors to the grand hall, “Make haste but let no other soul know.”
As Father Kendrick rushed off to his task, the High Priest smiled.
“Run while you can, little god of Chaos. Because very soon, the game of hide-and-seek will begin.”
And with that, he exited the church...into the thunderous rainstorm outside.
---------------
“Say, maybe it is time to stop? It is raining quite heavily after all.”
“A powerful being like me knows no defeat.”
I sighed. He has been throwing insults at the spirit king of Fire for hours now, and it was starting to get on my nerves.
Walking up to him, I placed my hand on his shoulder to stop his lively demonstrations.
“Enough, let’s just find somewhere dry to hide from the rain for now.” I said.
As soon as I finished speaking, a wild howl erupted from behind us. It sounded awfully close to where we were standing.
“You heard that too, right?” he asked, without turning around.
“Yep, nice and clear.” I replied.
Sneaking a peek from the corner of his eye, he continued speaking.
“How long do you think it’ll take them to get here?”
I closed my eyes for a brief moment. Apart from the rustling of the leaves and the rhythmic sounds of rain hitting the wet earth, all was silent.
“Hmm...I don’t know. It could be any minute now.” I said casually, as I readjusted my grip on his shoulders, “So why don’t we, on the count of three…”
I shifted one foot forward slightly.
“RUN!”
The second I finished my sentence, I grabbed him by the neck of the cloak, and dashed into the bushes nearby.
“Why did you run? Be a man and fight! Damn, if only I wasn’t reduced to this state after getting rid of that seal…”
“Sorry, I’m scared, haha.”
“I call that bullsh*t.”
I could hear the panting of the wolves getting closer and closer. I may actually have to fight in the end...but for now, I will try to get as far as I can-
I didn’t even get to finish my thought. Because directly in front of me right now, was a gigantic waterfall.
“Oops, looks like this is the end of the road.” I commented, as the wolves emerged from the bushes one by one, surrounding us from all sides.
“Yeah, Mr. Genius, anyone could see that.” my partner retorted, retreating closer and closer to the edge of the path as the beasts advanced.
I smiled.
“It can’t be helped. Time for plan B.”
Slowly, I raised my hand toward the sky.
“Ancient spirits of Frost,”
The wind began to pick up in speed. I closed my eyes.
“Heed the commands of your Master!”
Streaks of lightning began to flash in the distance as the sky darkened.
“Come forth with your wrenching chills,”
I opened my eyes. With loud and steady voice, I finished my chant.
“Freeze the fools that oppose me so!”
Thunderous roars broke out from the heavens above, and then…
Nothing happened.
“...”
“...Now’s really not the time to fool around...”
Huh?
What was going on? Did my spell fail or…
“Ancient spirits of Frost, heed the commands of your Master. Come forth with your wrenching chills, freeze the fools that oppose me so.” I repeated.
Once again, nothing happened.
Then...what about this spell?
“Might of the Ice Emperor!”
Nothing.
“Dance of the Seven Blizzards! Chains of the Frozen Eternity! Twilight of the-”
“You bastard, spamming gibberish doesn’t make you look cool you know. Get serious!”
At this point, I think even the wolves were looking at me in pity.
Whatever was wrong with my spells...I would have to figure that out later.
“Erm, unfortunately, plan B has failed...let’s proceed to plan C.” I said, clearing my throat to ease the embarrassment.
I put my hand on my partner’s shoulder again.
“Alright partner, do you trust me?” I asked, keeping my eyes on the wolves.
“No.” he answered without hesitation.
...This kid is not cute at all.
“Ok fine...but don’t worry, my plan is flawless this time.”
As I spoke, I picked him up by the cloak once again.
“Are you ready, Ere-ere? Because it’s going to be a long trip down!”
“It’s Lord Erebus to you, human- wait...what?!?”
I smirked in amusement as I watched his face drain of color. Giving the wolves one last look, I leaped off the cliff with him dangling from my hands.
“WHAT PART OF THIS PLAN WAS FLAWLESS, YOU DUMB LITTLE SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!”
Erebus’ voice accompanied us all the way down the mighty waterfall.
...
And this, was how our first day back in this world ended.
But, before I continue on with the story of our journey, allow me to go back in time a bit…
All the way back to how I met Erebus,
How I died.
And how it all began.
Listen carefully now...
To my story of the beginning of the End.
To be continued...