After stepping on the black stone, Shango felt his whole body become almost weightless before the sensation of him free-falling hit him hard. Everything around him went pitch black, but it only lasted for a moment before he felt his feet hit the ground.
As his feet hit the ground, Shango’s knees buckled, causing him to almost fall. After stabilizing himself, he finally look up at his surroundings.
“Wow!” A look of shock and bewilderment was plastered on his face.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Ave said, looking at Shango and smiling from ear to ear.
The area was about 50 times larger than the room they were in before. Everything had dramatically changed, and it was just too shocking. In one corner of the room, a massive pillar of fire was roaming the land. A river of lava was flowing with rock covered creatures jumping in and out of it. Still, the strangest thing about the lava was a large red diamond floating in it with the occasional spurts of lava shooting from the top of it.
At the far edge of the fire corner, a sudden change took place. The land became a tundra. A large snake-like creature was roaming the area. Made entirely of ice, its organs could be seen as it slithered across the land, its last prey slowly being digested in its stomach.
In another direction, a massive sphere made of water was floating in the air. Just looking at this place, one would think this place was a water area, but an unfathomable amount of wind could be felt.
Some sort of creature was moving about in the sphere of water. Taking a closer look at it, Shango had an odd feeling that the beast was looking back at him, sending chills down his spine.
Feeling uncomfortable staring into the watery abyss, Shango turned his attention towards another corner, which was a desert-like area that was only filled with sand and stones. He saw that something was kicking up a lot of sand and a faint sound, resembling that of someone was rubbing two rocks together, echoed loudly.
But the oddest thing in this place was the sky, which was a mesmerizing mixture of black and white. Both of the colors seemed as though they were trying to devour each other; a back-and-forth battle that neither side could win.
Shango repeatedly looked around each time, finding something more amazing than the last.
“What is this place?” he asked with an awe stuck expression on his face.
“To answer you honestly, I don’t know.” she said as she walked to his side, looking at his face as he gazed at the surrounding area.
“It's a mystery of how this place was created in the first place. One day a past hero showed up with a small black coin and placed it in the center of the training hall. The people who were in the area at the time recalled how the hero had stood there for nearly three hours looking at the coin-like object. Just when it was about to hit the fourth hour, a massive explosion of mana burst from the coin and it expanded into the large black stone that we used to enter this place.
“Many people were shocked, so much so that some ran to tell the King about what just occurred. Those that stayed looked at the hero with a perplexed expression, wondering what the hell he was doing. Just as the King arrived, he saw the sight of the hero stepping on the stone and disappearing
People were astonished and shocked by the hero’s disappearance. Many people panicked. An hour went by before the hero reappeared with a smile on his face. He never explained where he got the object from or what its original purpose was, he only said that this place would train future heroes or elite individuals. Other than that, the hero remained silent when it came to this area, and that’s about the only real thing we know about this place.”
After listening to Ave’s story, the number of questions that Shango had had doubled. So he decided to ask the most simple one. “So, what am I’m supposed to be doing here?”
“If you’re not a slouch, you would, without a doubt, have felt the presence of those monsters.” Thorn said as he stepped forward.
“I did. Even if I was blind and deaf and slow, there is no way in hell I would miss those things,” Shango said.
“Good. Well, the simple way to put it is that you’re here to defeat these creatures.”
“Wait, what? First tell me what the hell those things are.”
“Weren’t you paying attention to what Princess Ave said?” Thorn said, rubbing his temples. This guy is more annoying sober, Thorn thought to himself. “First, we don’t know what the hell they are. All that we know is that if you manage to kill one, you will get some benefits the first time you kill it.”
“Wait, first kill? Do these monsters respawn?” Shango interrupted Thorn.
“Yes, how did you know that?”
“Basic game mechanics.”
“Basic what?”
“Does it even matter? How long does it take the monster to respawn?”
“Testy today, aren’t we? Anyway, they respawn back every 24 hours.”
Why does this sound so much like a game? Shango thought to himself.
“So you are saying that by killing these monsters, I will get stronger.”
“Yes, but only for the first kill.”
Letting out a deep breath, he said, “I get it mostly, but tell me this; how am I going to kill those things?”
“Do you want me to hold your hand or something? Figure it out yourself.” Before he could say anything to Thorn, he turned his back, headed towards the black stone and disappeared.
“Wait, you guys are leaving?” He said as he looked at Ave.
“Yes, for whatever reason, this place seems to give more benefits when a person is left alone here. There is no need for you to worry, I’m sure you are going to do just fine.” And just like Thorn, Shango couldn’t say another word before she just left.
Now there were only two people left in the room. Shango looked at Rolla and just as he was about to speak once again, she interrupted him. “Start with snake monster first.” Rolla said as she made her way to the exit, giving him that same playful smile that she had from time to time.
Now that he was the only human left, a sudden urge to shout overcame Shango. “SON OF A BITCH!”
