POV: Zaya Shyes

  I want to look away, but I can’t.

  I thought I was dreaming when I first opened my eyes. I should have been in my bedroom, but instead found myself in a large and empty room made of grey stone. There are a few windows, but no light is coming through those. Tons of candles lined the walls, but the room was still dominated by shadows. Those patches of darkness frightened me, and I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, but my body did not allow me to do anything.

  My body is now a man’s and it is moving on its own in an unfamiliar place. There is a voice in my head and I am feeling emotions that I do not understand. Terrifying things are happening in front of me and my body, the Man, is the one doing it. I think he just killed someone. The voice in my head wanted the Guy dead, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

  It is like I am in a nightmare that I am unable to wake up from.

  This ‘dream’ had started completely silent with an odd feeling of loneliness creeping into my mind. Before the Guy—who was now dead—entered the room, the voice in my head spoke.

  It said, I feel a presence. Another foolish person has come to challenge me.

  If I had control of the Man’s body, I probably would have jumped through the roof. The voice came from everywhere, but nowhere, and is really deep and rough. Then, when the Man first spoke out loud to the Guy, I realized the voice in my head sounded similar. However, he spoke a different language than the voice in my head.

  I realized that this was not just a weird dream when the Man got shot and I felt the pain. It hurt a ton more than any other pain I have ever experienced. I wanted to fall to the floor and scream in agony, but the Man refused. The voice in my head actually seemed to enjoy the pain and he felt anger. That’s when I witnessed something evil by the Man’s hand.

  Using what looks like Earth magic, but without incantations, he made the ground stab the Guy. I was forced to watch him die. I saw his last breath. I wanted to cry, but the Man did not. Him and the voice in my head were both happy with the outcome and felt no more anger. Though a feeling of loneliness quickly returned.

  I don’t understand what is going on.

  The feelings are not my own, and yet I can still feel them.

  Why am I here? Why am I being forced to watch this? Is this real? Am I seeing a vision or something? Can I go back home?

  Distracting me from getting lost in my worrying thoughts, the voice in my head went off again.

  There are another five presences… That is unusual.

  The Man spoke out loud to no one as he felt the bullet wound on his shoulder and winced. The pain of it is still withering.

  Somehow, the Man closed the wound before fighting the Guy, but the bullet is still in there. I heard the voice say something about removing it after, but now it will not be able to.

  The magic the Man is using seems really advanced. I wonder if I could ever learn it. Especially the slowing down time one. That seems really useful. Of course, I have to get magic first.

  Since I can feel everything that the Man is doing, I assume his magic works when any part of his body is physically touching something. Like how he used his feet to kill the Guy. Maybe the Guy also knew this. I noticed he was trying to keep his distance from the Man. I think. The Man is wearing a long, dark cloak, so it might be hard to see his bare feet. I do not know for sure since I am seeing through the Man’s eyes.

  Boom!

  An explosion just went off. Breaking me from my thoughts and shaking the room the Man is standing in. It came from the entrance to this room, which had been blocked off. The Man had used magic to push the walls together during the fight with the Guy. He had looked horrified when he realized the Man had trapped him.

  After several minutes of constant battering, the wall shattered and five presences emerged through the new hole…

***

POV: ???

  Five individuals entered Alder’s castle with the objective to kill him. The leader of the group was a petite and curvy woman with short, blonde hair. Wearing light armor over a basic white garb. She walked through the hole in the wall first, glaring at Alder with gritted teeth. The rest of her group filed in after. Three men and another woman.

  One man was larger than the rest with a beefed up body. He wore no shirt and slicked his dark hair into a bun. Alder noticed that white dust charred his knuckles. Undoubtedly, he had been the one to smash through the closed walls.

  The next man was well-balanced with both height and muscle. A goatee highlighted his rather serious face. He did not look too old, but bits of gray were already sprouting from his sweaty hair. And unlike the rest, he was clad in silver armor.

  The third man had weasel-like features, with a pointed face, a long body, and short limbs. He was the least threatening to Alder. Although still someone to be wary of as he was strolling in with a confident smile.

  Lastly, was the second woman, who appeared to be a young girl. She had bright red pigtails, freckles, and was wearing a pink tutu. She seemed the strangest out of the group. Dancing with a short, pink cane as she waltzed through the hole.

  Once all of them had made their appearance, they stood in a staggered line, sizing Alder up.

  “He like shrimp. Is he really powerful?”

  “I can slice him! Can I yet? Can I!?”

  “Don’t underestimate him. He has stood at the top of the World the longest for a reason.”

  “He’s actually quite cute! Do we have to kill him?”

  “QUIET! You fools.”

  The lead woman aggressively hushed the others as she refrained from taking her eyes off Alder. Irritation laced her soft voice.

  A deafening silence lasted for several moments. Everyone, including Alder, were motionless. The pressure from their glares caused small cracks to form in the middle ground. They remained in this limbo until Alder lost his patience.

  Unlike Sir Elliot, these five were strong.

  In less than an instant, multiple spikes formed from the ground targeting the five individuals. It should have been impossible to evade. Except, none of the spikes hit their mark. The tip of each one had crumpled, preventing it from reaching their bodies. Seemingly impacting an invisible protective barrier.

  Alder sighed. He figured the attack wouldn’t work, but had hoped it would have unveiled more of their powers. The only one who ended up using their power was the pink tutu girl. Before Alder attacked, she had tapped the end of her cane to the floor causing some sort of energy to emit from it. The energy had quickly spread under the five individuals and prevented Alder from reconstructing the ground beneath them. So, he used surrounding areas that had no traces of this strange energy, but the spikes he constructed were still unable to reach them due to the invisible barrier. Which is most likely an extension of the tutu girl’s energy.

  The lead girl surprisingly smiled after this exchange. It was not a large smile, but still a different enough expression on her face to notice.

  “Is that how you greet your sister, Alder?” she chimed.

  “Huh?”

  Alder is not one to get flustered easily by a potential enemy’s comments, but that got a compulsive response out of him.

  He quickly composed himself before responding.

  “My sister died a long time ago.”

  “That may be true,” the air chilled as she spoke, “but the father who left you didn’t. Or well… I did end up killing him years later because he left my mother and me, like he did you. Before I killed him though, he told me you were my brother… Oh, and in case you don’t believe me, my name is Leah Hantero.”

  That was his father’s last name. Alder thought his father had died, but if he survived…

  “I do not care if we are blood-related or not. Your killing intent is clear as day. If you have come to challenge me, state your names and let’s get it started. I’ll take you all on at once.”

  The five individuals all reacted differently to this. Leah gnashed her teeth out of frustration. The big man balled his fists and frowned. The goatee man was unfazed. The weasel man laughed hysterically. And the pink tutu girl blushed. Alder, not paying attention to this, began stretching his body for the battle.

  The pink tutu girl went first.

  “My name is Nara. Wait for me in the afterlife, okay.”

  She winked. Her sweet voice did not match her unhinged nature.

  “I’m Flint! Can I cut you? Let me cut you!” said the weasel man as he pulled two dagger-sized knives out of his pockets.

  The goatee man introduced himself next, his voice raspy.

  “Pleasure to meet you. I am Simon Verall. Leah’s faithful servant.”

  Simon bowed, which Alder thought was stranger behavior than what Nara and Flint displayed.

  Big man was the last one up.

  “I kill you!” he growled. “I Ba-Gu-Nel. Bring honor to Clan Des-Sa-Gen!”

  Alder smirked.

  “And I am Alder Elbrus. Please entertain me!”

  Stating one’s name before a battle in this world is a sign of recognition that one is ready to die. Alder, who normally ignored this tradition, decided that he would conform to it today. Understanding that his situation now is less than ideal. He does not necessarily want to die, but he also does not care to live since everyone he has ever cared for is already dead. The only time he ever feels alive now is when he is in the heat of battle.

  With everyone’s name now said, the battle could commence. Alder has to defeat five adversaries with unknown abilities. This situation would cause hopelessness for most, but all he felt was excitement and anger. Alder was ready to make his first move, but Leah had something else to say.

  “Brother, before we start, would you mind changing your face back to normal?”

  Alder found it surprising that Leah knew the face was not his own. He had forgotten that he had formed his face into Sir Elliot the Second’s, and he has no reason to change it back. Even so, Alder reformed his face back to normal. Unsure as to why he decided to listen to his possible half-sister, but he just felt like he should. So, within seconds after Leah asked, the face of the Evil Conqueror was revealed.

  Leah smiled out of satisfaction.

  “Perfect. You look just like hi—”

  “Pfft… He is ‘Evil Conqueror?’” Ba-Gu-Nel cackled, interrupting Leah.

  “What one looks like does matter, Ba-Gu,” replied Simon.

  Ba-Gu-Nel growled.

  “It not Ba-Gu! It Ba! Gu! Nel!”

  “I still want to cut him. Let me cut him now!” Flint chimed.

  “Ew!” Nara cried. “You’re a bit too old for my taste. Pass!”

  “Can I cut—”

  ““Enough!”” Both Alder and Leah angrily screamed.

  Unfortunately, Alder does not have an intimidating face. Even though his body looks menacing, most people can not take him seriously when they see his face. It does not look silly or anything. Actually, it looks perfectly normal. But a perfectly normal face does not fit a person called the Evil Conqueror.

  Alder, now thoroughly annoyed, had lost all his patience.

  It’s time for them to die, he—the voice in Zaya’s head—thought.

  “Everyone! Be ready!” Leah demanded, noticing the change in Alder’s behavior.

  The Evil Conqueror looked her in the eyes and then attacked.