Chapter 23

Chapter 23 - LOT

A Space Gate was a miraculous portal that could transport things from one place to another. It operated mysteriously, and one of its most useful traits was that once it was established, it would forever be active. It was impossible to turn off. At all points in time, it would be connected to one place or another, from a preset list.

The only way to shut off a Space Gate was to destroy it.

In the case of this Space Gate, it had been heavily damaged. There was no way to control exactly where the Gate would teleport a warrior, and its location choice would constantly be shifting.

The distance from this portion of the wall to the Space Gate was around twenty five meters, a bit less if one ignored the ramp.

The moment the wall vanished, Jack’s body transformed into a blur as he dashed out of the secret room, drawing on the Time Essence in his soul to speed himself up as well as his Spirit to enhance his legs.He gave the tracker a sidelong glance as he passed him, ultimately deciding to ignore him for now.

The world around him moved at a fifth it’s normal pace. For every five seconds Jack had, the rest of the world moved for one second.

While Jack may only be thirteen years old, he had trained his body extensively as a swordsmen, knowing his survival would one day rely on his fitness. When he combined his trained body with Spirit Energy to enhance his legs and overall speed, Jack was able to move very quickly for someone his age.

Without Time Essence, he could sprint at around 20 meters per second. With Time Essence, his maximum movement speed increased to an incredible 100 meters per second.

Jack managed to leave the storage room and cross over to the Space Gate in a fraction of a second, his body an indistinct blur.

No matter how fast a warrior could move, everyone in the world was restrained by their reaction speed.

Despite being on high alert, the various killers were taken by surprise by something so unnatural as a wall vanishing. Because Jack sprinted forward instantly, he managed to evade all of the waiting assassins, slipping through the crowd in his Slowed State.

The leader of Icy Night had strength on par with a standard Rank A Hunter. In terms of speed, the leader of the group of killers could also move at 100 meters per second, and even faster. The rest of the killers hovered around the Rank B level, not as fast but still powerful.

So while Jack’s movement took him by surprise, the leader was able to react a fraction of a second later, throwing a dagger made of ice at Jack’s body.

However, by then it was too late.

Jack’s body shivered and warped as it vanished from the room, passing through the Space Gate.

The thrown dagger shivered and warped as it too passed through the gate a second later.

A tense second passed.

“After him! Now!” The leader of the killers made up his mind as he charged forward, the rest of the assassins following. They all poured in, chasing after Jack, their target fresh in their mind.

Silence returned to the lonesome chamber, where a single figure stood, his breath heaving.

Corker looked at the Space Gate and waited several moments, his body tight. A minute passed, and then another as nothing occurred.

Seeing this, Corker let out a small smile and quickly fled the chamber, heading back towards the city, and then off to another kingdom, where he could leave all of this danger behind.

..

..

Jack released his Slowed State and Spirit, feeling his body return to normal as soon as he entered the Space Gate. Not because he wanted to, but because the world around him had transformed into a freakish nightmare, and he felt a horrid stretching feeling in his body, forcing him to stop activating his powers.

Points of light lay scattered across a black background. Streams of energy moved in and around Jack, constantly changing shapes and colors. Odd sounds echoed in the background, some quiet, some loud, creating a grating cacophony. Bright flashes of light appeared and vanished randomly, and incredibly powerful auras constantly rushed through Jack.

Mysterious beings began to appear in the warping area. Golden humanoid figures with wings on their backs. Huge, silver dragons with bright halos on their heads. Enormous, red giants with flames dripping off their shoulders.

Jack felt as if his body was tearing apart, and his mind splitting. Tears tried to stream out of his eyes as he strained them, keeping them open, taking in these incredible wonders in awe.

Abruptly, hundreds of black cracks began to spread across his vision. A split second was all it took for these black cracks to completely cover his eyes, replacing his vision with total blackness.

And like that, everything vanished. The sounds, the lights, the noise, the mysterious figures.

The quiet blackness stayed for several moments. Jack felt small as he stayed within it, trying to breathe and realizing he couldn’t, and then realizing he didn’t need to. The few moments he stayed in darkness seemed to last an eternity before something changed.

A flash of light.

*Thud*

Jack felt his feet land on a rough surface and immediately stumbled to the ground, his eyes squeezed shut. His hands scattered across several rough rocks and he slid a foot or two before stopping, everything settling down.

“Wheeze…wheeze…” Jack breathed in heavily, his hands trembling as he recovered from the damaged Space Gate’s transportation. As he took in a few breaths, he slowly opened his eyes, squinting as looked around.

He appeared to be on the edge of a valley and a mountain. The ground around him was dark red, and covered in red boulders, red sand, and dark red rocks. Everything around him had a reddish hue. The valley was huge, easily several hundred meters in size, while the surrounding mountains were even larger. The valley was dotted with the sand and boulders, with several dozen large, reddish hued trees dispersed seemingly randomly.

The next thing he noticed was the heat.

It was hot. Far, far hotter than the frigid north. Jack took off a layer of clothes, stripping down to his undershirt and pants in the sweltering heat. As he took it in, Jack covered himself in a light layer of Spirit. Immediately a feeling of coolness surrounded him.

Apart from enhancing one’s strength and making one’s body stronger, Spirit could also be used to help resist extreme heat and cold. In this case, Jack used a very small amount to make the sweltering heat more bearable.

Jack blinked a few times as he adjusted, taking a closer look at his surroundings.

The sky overhead was a light shade of red, very different from the blue sky of the north. In the distance, even from his low viewpoint at the edge of a valley, Jack could see several large, red mountains piercing upward. Multiple towers of black smoke emerged from many of these mountains.

Above these towers of black smoke, Jack’s eyes were drawn to a few red smudges in the sky. As he focused on them, he realized these red smudges were in fact large pieces of rock that were floating, transfixed in the sky.

“Smoky mountains… A red sky… Stone islands floating in the sky…” Jack muttered, coughing slightly as he got to his feet. The description of the area rang a bell in Jack’s mind. He pulled out the list of locations the Space Gate could teleport one to from his Space Sealed Pouch.

“Crap, this is the Magma Lands.” Jack’s face paled as he realized where he was. According to the transport list, this was one of the danger zones the Space Gate could transport to. The Space Clan had a conclave in the area, or used to have one, anyway.

The Magma Lands were, according to the transport list, a massive land full of creatures of fire and stone. It was a safe haven for powerful beasts, and even the Magma Clan which had this zone as part of their territory did not dare to claim complete ownership.

The sheer area of the Magma Lands was nearly a hundred times that of the entire Duchy of Snow, stretching thousands of miles. At the center of the Magma Lands was the enormous Sea of Flames, a mysterious land that very little was known about. Volcanoes, huge canyons, massive valleys, and large clumps of red stone islands that floated in the sky, the Magma Lands was a mix of a nightmare and a dreamworld scattered together.

Very few people would dare to visit the Magma Lands unprepared, and of those, none would enter at Jack’s age and strength.

“ROAAAARRR!”

A loud, thundering roar shattered the silence of the valley.

Jack spun to the side, looking in amazement as one of the enormous red boulders seemed to split apart and stand up, revealing a large, blockish creature. Several of the other boulders in the valley also began to split apart and transform, becoming five or six meter tall red stone giants.

The stone golems all turned to face Jack, a threatening air filling the valley as they took notice of him.

At the same exact moment, the air a few dozen meters to the right of Jack warped and twisted.

A second later two black robed men tumbled to the ground, blades made of ice in their hands trembling and starting to melt. Jack recognized them from the fighters that had chased him inside the chamber.

“ROOOAAAAAAR!”

The valley descended into chaos, and Jack turned around and began to flee.

..

..

As all of this went on, great changes began to sweep across the continent.

In the Duchy of Snow, the Hunter Association was currently undergoing minor repairs. The battles in the city had caused slight damage to the building, shattering all the windows.

In a private room in the Hunter Association, a heavily injured woman lay on a bed, covered in bandages.

“Grandfather…” Tears streamed down the girl’s eyes as she focused on a picture she held in her trembling hands. A picture of the Fourth Great Elder, who had been split in two by the continent's newest Swordmaster, Jebraim.

Lyra’s hands trembled anew.

“I will find them, grandfather. I will find them and I will kill them, at all costs.” A strange light appeared in the girl’s eyes as she spoke, hatred burned eternally into her soul. She wheezed as she spoke, coughing up blood.

A gentle knock on the door echoed.

“Lyra, a healer from the Light Clan has arrived.” The familiar voice of one of Lyra’s companions, the younger brother, rang out.

“Let them in.” The strange light remained in Lyra’s eyes as she spoke, an air of authority spreading out slowly. Authority, teeming with rage and hatred.

A gentle looking old man walked into the room, covered in white garments. He smiled gently at the bedridden Lyra. And, for the briefest instant, his eyes gleamed as he sensed the air of authority spreading out from the injured girl.

..

..

Diana watched the massive dragon fly away, giving it a small wave. The drafts of wind that blasted off of its wings didn’t hit her at all, somehow blocked by the woman standing behind her.

A large golden pavilion spread out around Diana, several dozen traditional buildings built and connected, all part of an enormous grey mountain. A lush forest filled the ground at the base of a mountain, just next to a large, crystal blue lake.

Hundreds of young students could be seen, walking between the buildings. They all wore simple outfits, golden robes and colorful headbands. A few powerful looking guards could be seen on the edges of several of the buildings, giving cheerful waves to the passing students.

Some of the students were stopped, currently, staring at the departing dragon. Most continued on their way, however, ignoring it. A few stopped to stare at Diana and the First Torch before quickly turning away.

“Welcome to the Yullen Stronghold of the Golden Flame Clan, my child. This is where you will be training for the next several years, your new home.” The First Torch’s voice was warm as she embraced Diana from behind, turning her to face the pavilion.

“Come, let us greet your new teachers, and show you your new dorm.”

Diana took one last glance at the departing dragon, and then a distant look off into the distance, a type of loneliness appearing in her eyes for a brief moment. She then turned around, taking the hand of the First Torch as she walked into the pavilion, into a new life.

..

..

“Arrrgh.” Jebraim wheezed as he bandaged his right shoulder, wincing in pain. He batted a small bug out of the air away from him as he took in a few shuddering breaths, feeling the pain in his cracked ribs. He laid down against a tree branch as he caught his breath, relaxing for a moment.

The fight with the elders of the Impact Clan had been brutal, and ever since the fight he had been constantly pursued. He was currently hiding in a tree very deep in the Echoloean Forest, one of the six danger zones of the continent, forced here to hide from his pursuers.

The Echoloean Forest was a large swathe of abandoned woods where powerful, and freakish mutated beasts roamed, all odd and hideous creatures. No one knew why this area was like it was, and investigation into it had failed to yield results. Legend had it these mutations were similar to those in creatures of the Void, but no actual creatures of the Void had ever been found in the forest proper.

The sky above the Echoloean Forest was even more dangerous than the ground, distortions of lightning constantly flashing out, causing the airspace to become fractured.

The Echoloean Forest also happened to be located right between the Golden Flame Clan’s territory and the Impact Clan’s territory, and acted as a buffer that neither side was willing to destroy. Thus, it remained as it had for years, a mysterious danger zone where few would tread.

The Impact Clan had dispatched one of their elite martial groups, the Blade Team, to hunt him down, in addition to three Great Elders. Jebraim was confident in his strength and prowess, but against such odds, he knew he had little to no chance of survival, and thus fled.

As he rested on the tree, treating his wounds, Jebrain failed to notice a small black dot form in the air just a few feet behind him, arriving from deep within the troubled forest. The air around this dot warped slightly, as if the dot was an unnatural presence that the air itself wished to avoid.

This small dot seemed to wiggle in delight as it examined the heavily injured and tired Jebraim.

It then slowly began to float forward.

..

..

In the year 47,235 LE, the Impact Clan declared broken relations with the Golden Flame Clan, heightening an already tense situation for the beleaguered clan, and officially declared Jebraim, the Searing Swordmaster, as its greatest enemy, raising an enormous bounty for his head.

The world shook as it recognized the youngest Swordmaster alive, many in disbelief at Jebraim's young age, having achieved the rank of Swordmaster in his early 30s. The death of the Fourth Great Elder of the Impact Clan served as proof, however, cementing his fame.

The Magma Clan took advantage of the situation, unofficially warring with several of the nearby territories of the Golden Flame Clan, scooping up several smaller kingdoms and expanding their reach. The Golden Flame Clan took all of this silently, the First Torch of the Clan mysteriously quiet.

Meanwhile all the young warriors of all Clans and territories began to prepare for the Grand Meet, a massive competition organized by the Super Clans of all the Continents, a traditional tournament with historic ties dating back to the days of the Space and Time Clans.

A tournament designed to find the young talents of humanity, to help train and fight against the Void, though nowadays it’s purpose was more targeted towards Super Clans finding new talents to recruit to their sides, and letting younger warriors gain prestige and experience.

Four years of time remained.

None of this mattered to Jack currently, however, as he rushed to avoid the stone giants, trying to find safety, tossed in a foreign land on his own.