Year X834, somewhere in the dunes South-west of the Vupus  continent south of Ater.

“I…expected more of you”, commented a man; he was dressed in a dark cloak, and covered his upper body with a black mangled cape. He appeared to be in his late 30s where in fact he must have been older.

Sandstorms covered the area, but they weren't an ordinary sandstorms; they were extremely thick and vision through them seemed an impossible task; they even felt to suffocate those who would try to breathe in it.

The man looked at a certain direction where another crouched man slowly stood up. He was dressed in a blackish scarlet cloak; he had flaming red hair and scars all over his face; he seemed to be bleeding from his forehead, but his cut healed the moment he stood up.

“Honestly….I haven’t had such a worthy opponent in a very long time”, said the man while standing up “Well…I certainly could use some entertainment” the man slowly raised his Long sword and pointed it at the other man; the Long sword began glowing in dark reddish light as the man pointed it.

The other man slowly unsheathed his blade “perhaps I can loosen up a bit”, he muttered then his blade began glowing in blue light. Both of them rushed at each other and clashed together; this clash resulted in a very strong Gale of wind that scattered the sandstorms around the area as if it never existed.

The land itself began to crack as both men started sending multiple slashes at each other; however, none of them got hurt as they kept either parrying or attacking. When they were done with their attacks, each of them took a step back and looked at each other in the eyes.

What appeared in the background was blocked by the thick sandstorms but now that they are gone, it was visible to anyone in the area; A city, one of the last cities of the world that harbored humans, elves, and dwarves was there in ruin. It was surrounded by walls, or what used to be walls, now collapsed and ruined. Remains of the citizens could be seen, and they seem recent too.

“Wrecking the city……was it necessary” remarked the man in the dark cloak as he twirled his blade.

The other man looked at him with a stern look “I had no reason”. 

The man in the dark cloak sighed, and charged at him at such speed that he seemed as if he had disappeared; the other man deflected the blow only to deliver another one of his own but to be also parried. They both pushed each other during the clash eye to eye.

The man in the scarlet cloak muttered “ I had no reason to intervene with the city”.

The other man rolled his eyes and stepped away breaking the clash. He looked at him with yet another stern look. The wind blew hard that their cloaks flowed showing their hands. “Are you saying the city was wrecked when you arrived”.

The other man looked careless and pointed his Long sword at him preparing another charge.

The man in the dark cloak raised his blade and prepared to charge, but then suddenly a huge shake in the ground occurred.

Both men looked around as the ground started breaking apart, and the city collapsed within itself. Oceans of sands poured inside the huge cracks, and The ground was beyond unstable.

Both men tried to maintain their balance, but then an extremely loud roar echoed through the area that the sound itself cracked the grounds even harder. Both men began dashing out of the holes in the ground while trying to maintain balance, but then a roar so loud pushed them over just near a huge hole.

A huge wide shadow of a creature filled the area that almost felt as if there was no light at all. Both men looked up slowly trying to make out what made that shadow. It appeared as if the sky was completely covered by a mysterious floating being; the shaking stopped for a moment giving both men a chance to consider what just occurred. Amidst the darkness, a shadow of a being approached from the darkness. Both men, now standing away from each other, caught a glimpse of his appearance: he was a tall humanoid being dressed in what seemed to be a war armor; he covered his head with a mask that only had big blood red eyes shown, and on his back he carried a Warhammer that looked rather heavier than any ordinary weapon.

The man in the scarlet cloak exclaimed “wha…huh??!”, while the man in the black cloak sheathed his blade and began drawing a magical circle with his fingers “O Shining Blaze that illuminates our path, lend me thy strength! Blaze Tier: Crimson Lotus unsheathe!” Then he drew out his blade as swift as possible and slashed the circle only to unleash a huge pile of burning-flame like attack at the mysterious being, who didn’t even consider dodging away. The attack hit the being creating a huge explosion hot enough to even turn some sand around him to quartz. Even the scarlet cloaked man was shocked at the magnitude of such attack; however, the dark cloaked man seemed uneasy as he witnessed the mysterious being come out of the flames unharmed, and without even a single scratch. Both men were intimidated, and the being opened his mouth slowly, letting out steam come out of it, and laughed at such low pitched sound that anyone could hear; his eyes were enough to convey what he was about to do….his eyes were the tiniest reflection of his bloodlust.

Year X834, Opiden City, North-east of the Xerulia continent north of Ater.

“stop right there thief!”, shouted a young man who seemed to be in his mid 20s as he rushed through the market; he was dressed in light mail armor with a shield on his hip and a medium sized sword on his back. Behind him were three others who were dressed just like him running behind him, but he seemed to be faster and more agile. In front of them was a man ,thief, rushing as fast as his legs can go, but the young man was catching up to him. This entire scene takes place in the city's market; like all markets in all of the current cities, it was a modest medieval market where almost everyone who was there seemed to be poor including the sellers. The thief jumped over a small shop shack into a roof of a house. The young man started free running over the shops and catapulted himself to the roof. The other three halted and couldn’t proceed further.

“Damn Shay…how could he be that flexible.” Exclaimed a young man who appeared to be the same age as the other young man named Shay.

“He -panting- just -panting- got lucky that’s all”, said a young lady who appeared to be in her first years of 20s.

The third who was also a young lady remained quiet, and looked around for another route to try to catch up.

The thief jumped from roof to roof trying to shake off Shay who was catching up to him; Shay began to step-jump off the building until he was so close to the man that he stretched his hands to catch him; however, the thief suddenly threw himself off the roof, and rotated his body in a way that he is both falling but looking at Shay at the same time. As the thief jumped, he grabbed a hidden knife in his pocket and threw it towards Shay, but the young man saw it coming and flipped his shield from his hip to his hand in a second and blocked it just as it was about to Pierce him. Shay looked down the building and Realized that the thief landed on a cart of wool which happened to be passing by coincidence. The thief stepped out of it and looked at Shay with a Victor smile. Smiling back at him, Shay jumped off the building and landed with a roll to absorb the shock.

The thief's smile quickly vanished and resumed his running; Shay chased the man to an ally with a dead end. The thief, who wore dirty mangled garments and had scars all over his face and missing teeth, looked at him and drew out a dagger.

“Enough of this shit kid. Ye betta get outta my way if ye wanna live another day” threatened the thief as he approached Shay.

Shay giggled and unsheathed his sword, grabbed his shield, and threw them away.

The thief felt relief and his smile grew even wider “overconfident eh?” remarked the thief then he charged at him with all of his strength pointing his knife towards Shay's chest; however, in an instant just before he could stab him, Shay stood aside, grabbed his shoulder, dislocated it, and flipped the thief -who screamed in agony- upside down. 

The thief tried to crawl away with one hand, but Shay sarcastically walked beside him mocking him.

“hand it over.” Ordered Shay as he faced the thief.

The thief spit on the floor as an answer to shay; ignoring the reply, Shay repeated the question.

“Why the fuck do ye give a care, it’s just a fuckin three loaves of rottin bread belongin to whorin dwarv-“

Responding to this reply, Shay kicked the thief so hard that his last remaining three teeth went flying, and his nose broke. The thief continued to bleed extensively and scream in agony as Shay looked at him in anger.

“whats of them being dwarves have to do with anything? They are a family, and you stole their food supply for the next three months.”, Said Shay in a calm voice.

The thief looked at him with his bleeding face “hehe I don’t give a shit; all I care about is forgetting that damned feeling of starvation”, said the thief mocking Shay. Shay grabbed his neck and shouted at his face “the entire city is starving dammit!, every citizen has his own supply of food to deal with! But scum like you are the reason why people suffer even more from starvation.”

“Ye should only mind humans you piece of shit, who gives a fuck about these idiot dwarves or these whorin elves” as soon as the thief was finished, he was hit with a punch so strong that it felt as if a building crashed on him. 

“We are all in this dammit….humans, elves, and dwarves. We all live together in this city; we suffer together in this dying cruel world….Do you have any idea what we, the city guards, go through to secure the city walls outside to prevent these gruesome bloodthirsty monsters from entering our city and wrecking havoc…we have enough problems to worry about, and filth like you shouldn’t make it worse…hand the loaves over.”, said Shay as he looked at the bleeding thief.

The thief, afraid of being hit again, threw the loaves away. as Shay turned around to take them, the thief took out one final knife and pointed towards Shay’s head; however, just as he was about to throw it, an arrow pierced through his hand effectively disabling him from doing any further movements. Shay looked at him and sighed then looked the other way at the horizon; he found his third teammate on a roof far away holding a bow.

“Nice shot Jane” muttered Shay then he turned to the thief and grabbed him away.

“You see him Jane?” asked the young man.

Jane, a blond elf with silk hair and ocean eyes, looked at the young man “saved his life actually.. as usual he lets his guard down” stated Jane as she climbed down the building.

The young man sighed “man..we took so long to capture a thief; our instructor will be mad at us”.

The other young girl punched him a soft punch in the shoulder “cheer up Dray, at least capturing him was a success”.

Dray was roughly the same height as Shay, and he was a dark haired boy with black eyes and average build of a soldier.

“I know I know…but at his rate, we will remain stationed at the market which completely sucks” complained Dray.

The young lady giggled a bit, but then they were interrupted by Jane “enough chit-chat. We have got work to do. Lydia. Dray. Let’s go” said Jane as she began walking. Lydia- a young human lady with below average soldier build, black long hair that reached to her legs, scarlet eyes, and the shortest one of the group- sighed “yes yes captain”, remarked sarcastically.

Back at the market, Shay returned to the dwarves family and returned their bread.

“I cannot thank ye enough me child”, said an old woman dwarf surrounded by her ten offsprings. They all wore dirty mangled garments, and lived in one dirty room. The walls were filled with incisions all over the room and they were big enough for all sorts of insects and rats to fit in. 

“Just carrying out my duty ma'am….may I ask you something?”, said Shay sympathetically.

The old woman nodded with a smile. “Even if you eat a single crumb everyday…forgive me, but these are not enough for you at all” said Shay with a sad expression.

The old woman looked away then faced him “young man, 

During these couple of centuries, we learned to adapt to ‘ur cruel world…five of me young'uns died o' hunger…me husband was killed by a filthy beast that roams the outside lands…I have lost count of the numbers of diseases I carry.. worrying about starvation is me last fears”, said the woman with a smile on her face.

“I..I am sorry ma'am.” Apologized Shay as he looked down.

“It’s nuthin me child. But I swear to ye that the world used to be way better place than what it is now… peace and prosperity used to be everywhere..these beasts never existed….food and water were everywhere, yet times do change.” Commented the old woman.

Both bid each others farewell, and Shay went on his way only to meet up with his three teammates on the way.

Shay had the above average figure of a soldier; he had brown hair, green eyes, and a round head.

“Hey crackshot! You saved me right there” greeted Shay as he was walking towards Jane.

“Don’t mention it” said Jane then she looked away at neighborhood.

“Have you been training alone or what?” asked Dray as he greeted Shay with bumping fists.

“No, unlike you, I listen to our instructor, and try to perfect my moves” smiled Shay.

“Well, you are one of the elite cadets; I think that’s expected of you” remarked Lydia.

“that’s pretty nice of you Lydia” said shay.

The group began moving in the dirty streets; almost all the streets of the city are dirty, buildings barely not collapsed, and beggars everywhere.

Shay noticed how Jane is silent, so he asked her what’s wrong.

“you noticed how poverty rule the city now?” stated Jane in a calm expression.

Shay looked down and commented “yeah…in fact, I do not know anyone who isn’t poor…we ourselves are poor.”

Dray joined the conversation “hell yeah brother. The reason I joined the city guard is that they provide food and drink for us in exchange for our sufferings we do here”

“food and drink? You mean the one rotten loaf of bread and the polluted water we drink are the reasons you joined the guards?” exclaimed Lydia.

“Of course! You are talking to someone who used to live with five brothers! Having my own bread here even if it means to keep it for months is heaven for me” said Dray.

The three giggled together while Jane interrupted “the danger monsters threat is rising…the resource squad are not able to venture outside the gate to get even fresh water for storage.”

“what about the sacred barrier? Is it weakening?” Asked Shay.

Jane looked forward and stern “I over heard the instructor stating so; apparently yes. The barrier is weakening and needs blessing from our priest”

“Sooo..what happens if it weakens?” asked Dray.

Jane looked at him with cold face “every living being within this city is dead.”

Dray and Lydia face turned blue while Shay stated “the citizens are handling more than they can afford. I wish there was a way we can get through this” said Shay.

“Too bad wishes don’t come true. We live in a cruel world, so we have to be cruel as well.” Commented Jane.

The three teammates looked at her and then continued their day.

Later that day at sunset, 

Shay was about to leave to his dorm when someone called him from a far.

“Shay Windfalls! Report here soldier” shouted a man who seemed to be in his 50s; he was bald, no eye brows, and huge moustache that covered his mouth.

“instructor! Sir!” shouted Shay.

“Kid. Go to my office in the building; I want to speak to you about something.” Ordered the instructor.

“Yessir”, said Shay as he left.

Moments later,

Shay was in the office waiting the arrival of the instructor who happens to have arrived just a moments after Shay had a seat.

When the instructor entered, Shay stood up as a respect and awaited to be given permission to have a seat.

“Now Shay, do you know how many cities are still intact?” stated Shay.

Shay looked puzzled “No idea sir.”

The instructor looked down and continued “almost none. For instance, we only know about two cities, and we maintain pigeon communication. We don’t even know if there are other races out there or not. We don’t even know if we are the last of our kind and that every living being is extinct or not.”

Shay had a confused expression  “can’t we really do anything about this situation? People are suffering sir an—” interrupted by the instructor “kid, the land outside is dry and dead, most of the rivers have dried up, and we have no idea how can we venture out for resources without losing lives to these Damned beasts ..we don’t know anything about the history of the world, we have no recollection about what caused all that; we only have the elderly tales of the old world that we are almost sure didn’t even exist.. in other words, it’s only matter of time until we either starve to death, or these beasts breach the city and feed on us alive.”

Shay looked down all hope lost.

The instructor leaned slowly towards Shay “kid…do you believe in magic?” asked the instructor.

Shay looked at him surprised “Magic?” 

The instructor nodded “you see, a week ago, an archaeologist and his assistant arrived from one of the cities we have communication with; he stated that he had discovered the location of a magical artifact capable of creating unlimited resources! Can you believe it?” exclaimed the instructor.

Shay was rather puzzled than confused “Sir..with all due to respect, but don’t you think that’s a bit of a desperation?”

The instructor slapped the table and said “ it’s better to be desperate than sorry. We have no other way other than clinging to any crumbs of hope…even if they might be false hopes”

Shay looked down then raised his head to the instructor “Sir…what are my orders?”

“Currently we are sending our best recruits to empower the weakened barrier, and we need escorts to go with the archaeologist in the mountains where he located the artifact to check and confirm. I will be sending your squad along with squad 6 as escorts for the archaeologist.” Said the instructor.

“When do we leave sir?” asked Shay.

“tomorrow morning, and make haste because our final hope awaits you. Now, dismissed”

Shay nodded and left to his dorm. He kept thinking about whether magic does exist or not…is it really worth the risk to search for something so mythical? He decided that even if there was one percent chance that this myth might be true, he would still take the chance to improve the lives of those who still remain.

The next day morning,

Shay gathered his gear and met up with his squad.

“Finally something new instead of staying in this rotten market” said Dray.

“what is the mission Shay?” asked Jane with a stern look.

Shay was making sure his sword was accurately in place for his hand to reach and then he faced Jane “basically, we shall escort a foreign archaeologist and his assistant to a place in the mountains” 

“well, why do they need an escort? Isn’t the barrier holding off the monsters?” asked Lydia confused.

Jane replied before Shay could “because the barrier is currently weakened and there is a risk of it being breached any moment”

Lydia and Dray shouted “WHAT” but Shay calmed them saying that the elite teams of the city guard are tending to it now.

“We are not the only people that are going to escort them right?” asked Dray.

Shay replied “obviously, we are still cadets in their eyes, so they are sending with us the elite squad 6”

Lydia's eyes sparked “that’s amazing! They say this squad took down a gruesome monster all on their own!”

“So, we can say that this mission will be as easy as it can be said” said Dray

“Don’t let your guard down! We haven’t even started the mission yet, and don’t forget that there is a risk we might encounter a monster” reminded Shay.

Dray and Lydia nodded with fear togeyher.

Jane turned to Shay “what is the purpose of the escort anyways?”

Shay took his breath and replied “apparently…we are going to uncover a magical item”

The three of them were shocked and exclaimed.

“A what?”

“A magical item? What are you saying?”

“are you saying magic exists”?

They kept repeating this question on Shay who kept replying that he himself didn’t know the details.

Though, Dray grabbed his three friends and said “if this is true then we will change our lives!”

Lydia giggled and replied “is it really possible?! Can it really exist?” 

Shay replied with a smile “I am not sure, but now I really hope it exists because if it does, then we will restore our world back!”

Or so I thought….I was naïve…we were naïve….how could I think of something so harmonious and happy like that…..how did we believe it could be as easy as that…..how can I be so….fucking optimistic in this cruel unforgiving world…we were right about one thing….magic does…exist.

Ten hours later that day,

Jane and I stood frozen…..I grasped my sword as hard as I could….Jane aimed as accurate as she could…but it was all for nothing…..in an instant…I saw the entire place rotate around me….I felt nothing….not even pain…I didn’t feel my legs, my torso….not even my Goddamn hands…..I saw red liquid pouring out of me like a fountain….I saw shards of steel all over the place…I saw Jane beside me…but not the full Jane NO….I saw Jane's upper body only….it was then when I Realized…that we were cut horizontally in halves..even my sword was cleanly cut…just like me…a moment passed until I finally felt some pain…it grew more..and more..and more…it burns…it burns so bad…It wasn’t for long though…until everything went….Black.