Part One
Darkness blinded me for what must've been hours. Screams were heard early on but subsided within minutes. Did they escape or was it the hand that reached them first? No. They couldn't have escaped. No one escaped.
I reached out of the darkness to the surface with my other hand grabbing Eleanor. As we climbed out of the shadow, I scanned the surrounding area.
"Total destruction…"
The town, everyone, even the surrounding mountains; everything was completely cleared. We laid on the ruins as we attempted to recollect ourselves.
"Clay…did you protect us?"
"There's too many questions to ask. How did we go into those shadows to protect ourselves? What was with that hand? Most importantly, what happened to everyone?"
"We need to figure this out starting with the shadows."
I extended my hand towards my shadow and watched as it bubbled and rose slightly.
"So it is me. This is my resonance: shadow manipulation. I guess the event forced my resonance to form. We can learn more about it later but for now we need to search for survivors."
Eleanor and I traversed the desolate landscape searching for survivors or any signs of life. Amongst the rubble, nothing was found.
"What about your family, Clay?"
Panic began to set in.
"Mother? Aurie?"
I scrambled to look amongst the debris, lifting and moving the rubble. We searched until exhaustion got the best of us.
"Clay ya have to stop! If ya keep going ya will die of exhaustion."
I collapsed on the ground and Eleanor sat down beside me. We slept that night in the ruins of Windmere. The next morning I was greeted by an unfamiliar face. The man was broad-shouldered and muscular. He wore a clearly oversized black cloak with a strange entity on its shoulder. There rested what appeared to be a frog with wings.
"Are you two okay?"
We nodded our heads in assurance before he continued to speak.
"You two…have you found any other survivors?"
I knew the answer very well. We hadn't but the idea that all those people were really gone would be real if I answered the question.
"…"
"I see. How did you both survive out of all the others?"
Eleanor pointed to me and I said, "My resonance formed out of desperation. I protected us by going into the shadows to hide from the hand which came down."
"That's amazing! To think that someone could develop a resonance at such a young age. Wait here for further questioning while I record the damages."
We nodded in agreement and the man walked away. He went around with a notebook marking down everything he saw. Before long he returned to us and reached into his bag to give us some food and water.
"What exactly happened here?"
"There had been a new star that appeared in the sky months ago. The star continued to grow in size with every passing day until yesterday in which the "star" got close enough to where we could see what it was. It was an enormous golden hand and it slammed into this area destroying everything and making all the people disappear."
"A golden hand? Is there anything else you can recall?"
"Nothing else."
"And about your resonance, explain it in detail if you can."
"Honestly, I don't know much about it either. I seem to have some sort of shadow manipulation."
"Would you mind demonstrating for me?"
I nodded and extended my hand towards a nearby shadow. My hand reached into the shadow under some rubble. The shadow bubbled at first, almost ink-like, then rose from the ground formulating itself into a sphere above my palm.
"Amazing…I'll have to tell the Knights about this discovery," he gasped.
I cast the shadow back under the rubble and sat back down.
"Come with me, you two are heading to the nearest Sentinel Keep in Valeria City."
"I need to find my family. If we go, will that allow me to get closer to finding them?"
"The Knights of Valdris are a collection of some of the most talented Essence users. We work as a protective and investigative body within this country. If any group could help you it'd be us."
Thus began the voyage to the capital of all Knight activities. The city of Valeria was the first step to finding my family and the others that went missing.
Part Two
Valeria was a treacherous journey. The journey was going to be multiple days with multiple stops along the way.
"So, how far are we?" I wondered.
"About a day and a half, give or take a few hours. How are you holding up?" he asked, turning to Eleanor.
"I've never traveled like this before so I'm completely drained."
I hadn't realized the toll this would take on Eleanor. Despite this being a different world, I was still mentally hardened by the military and life experiences of my past life.
As we advanced towards a hill, the building tops peaked out signifying our proximity to a city.
"What city is that?"
"We'll be stopping there for the night then continuing the journey in the morning. Make sure to get some rest."
"I have a question if you don't mind answering."
"Go ahead."
"What's your name?"
"Oh, I guess I never told you! My name is Reynold Wyste, a Knight-Freeblade ."
Upon arriving at the city, we checked into an inn and stayed in our rooms for the rest of the night. The next day we continued the journey to Valeria City. This day would be the hardest as we would have to travel through a forest.
Entering the forest, there were many large oak trees extending towards the sky. A few hours into our trip through the forest, we encountered our first issue.
"Stay on guard, something's here," cautioned Reynold.
I scanned our surroundings, looking for any sign of a potential danger but found nothing. Then, out of a bush three beasts jumped out.
"Get behind me now. Both of you! These Gorebeasts are dangerous."
I could barely listen as the adrenaline began to flood my body. To fight, finally after all these years. It was such a beautiful sensation that I had to hide. Now, I could quench my yearning and I wasn't going to let Reynold get in my way.
"Eleanor, get back!"
I stepped in front of her and assumed a fighting stance. The gorebeast charged at us with their horns. I turned to see Reynold talking to his frog.
"Okay, what will I get this time?" He wondered as the frog's eyes rolled in its head.
Different icons began appearing on its eyes and his eyes continued to roll. Then, after rolling for a moment, they landed on dual daggers. The frog then opened its mouth and extended its tongue, revealing the daggers. Reynold grabbed the daggers and rushed towards the Gorebeasts. The frog followed, hovering slightly above his shoulder with its eyes turning into a countdown.
I released my essence and sunk into the shadows. I jumped out behind one of the Gorebeasts and concentrated my essence into my legs and kicked the beast forward.
"Oh man, that felt nice."
Reynold slid underneath the airborne beast and dragged the blades into its skin as it flew above him. The beats shrieked before eventually collapsing. Before I could lunge at the others, Reynold sliced through them with ease. He returned the daggers to the mouth of the frog and its eyes returned to normal.
We continued our journey.
"What was that, Reynold?"
"What? My resonance? This frog here is my resonance. His name is Combo. When I enter a fight, he gives me a random weapon to fight with and starts a timer. It then places a marker on the enemy and a minute-long timer starts for me to strike the enemy on the marker. If I hit the marker, it deals increased damage and it's a "critical hit". Everytime I land an attack on the marker it resets the countdown, decreasing the starting point by one second, and increases the Combo Count. If I don't strike the marker in time, the Combo Count is reset to one and I lose the weapon for the duration of one round."
"That's…weird."
"Hey Clay, I've been meaning to ask you but how did you learn to fight?"
Of course it was from my experience in the military but I couldn't tell them that. So, what could be my reasoning? Something that would make sense.
"I used to read my parents' old combat manuals. This was the first time I ever got to put what I learned to use."
I looked at both of them to see if they believed my story. They both nodded and we continued on.
In the next couple of hours we arrived at Valeria City. At the gates, we were stopped and checked for potential weapons.
"What business do you have here?" asked the guard.
"These two kids are survivors of the hand incident by Windmere. I am a Freeblade of the Knights of Valdris," Reynold said while flashing his emblem.
Without any further questions, we were let into the city and made our first stop at the guild hall. The hall was grande and the most beautiful building I'd seen. Eleanor was in amazement with her mouth agape as we entered.
"Oh Reynold, ho—"
"Move it, I'm not in the mood right now. Where is the Sentinel?"
"Over in his office but I think he's bu—"
"He needs to hear about all of this," he walked towards the office.
Reynold bust the door open revealing stacks of papers all over the floor. The place was cluttered with all sorts of random items. It looked like someone had been living there. Resting at the desk was an old man with wide-framed glasses and drool soaking his tunic as he slept.
"Wake up, Cyrus! The Sentinels must call a meeting, there has been a change in status."
"Huh? Reynold, you're back so soon? What happened?"
Reynold explained the events that took place with the hand and the destruction of multiple towns.
"So, I was right! It wasn't a star. Now, who are these children you brought with you?"
I could barely contain my anger. In an outburst I shouted, "What do you mean you were right? You knew about this?"
"It's our job to know about things like this."
I stepped forward only to be blocked by Reynold's arm.
"These children are the sole survivors."
"You're kidding. How did they manage to escape?"
Reynold pointed at me.
"His resonance saved the two of them."
"Unbelievable that someone so young could form a resonance."
"It's incredible, right? I brought the two of them here because they have immense potential. Even the little girl has basic essence manipulation. With training, these kids can be useful to the Knights."
"Hey, you told me that you could help me find my family! I didn't agree to be an asset to you or anyone else."
"I did say that and I still stand by it. Joining the Knights will give you access to resources you could never even imagine."
I paused to think for a moment.
"Should I really join the Knights?"
I sighed then took a deep breath and extended my hand.
"Fine, I'll join as long as finding my family is a priority."
"I'll join as well," blurted Eleanor with a rosy blush.
"Well that'll conclude this conversation. You'll need to get way stronger before taking on the Knight's Ordeal but I'm sure Reynold will explain that to you. I'll be going to speak with the board."
As we walked away, Eleanor asked a question.
"So what's the Ordeal like?"
"Well you see, it's not the same every time," he smiled.
"What do you mean?" Eleanor and I asked in unison.
"It's dependent on the candidate and current events and a whole list of factors. For me, they assessed my abilities in a mock warzone with my goal being to protect knights as they rescued the injured."
"The Sentinel said something about getting stronger in order to join. How long will that take? I need to find my family."
"It'll take around five years for the both of you to be ready."
"And what makes you think we have 5 years to wait?" I shouted.
"What makes you think your family is still alive? For all we know they could've been dead on impact," he retorted.
"I saw them disappear. They weren't crushed or killed. Upon impact, they instantly vanished just like the trees and houses. They are somewhere in the world, we just need to find them. If you're going to waste my time for five years I'll just start the search right now," I shouted while I turned to Eleanor.
She had a soft expression on her face and began to say, "Clay, we don't have the money or resources to go venturing out. We aren't strong enough and we don't even know where to start," she pleaded.
I clenched my fist as I turned to Reynold. I released my fist and said, "Fine, we'll join the Knights, but I'm joining only to save my family. I'll put that goal above the whole Knights. Also, we'll be ready in three years."
"Oh, quite ambitious of you to think three years is enough. Well, we'll end up seeing if you were right. I'll get your housing situated with the Sentinel just stay put for now."
He walked off and we sat in the guild lobby while we waited. Sitting in the lobby wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. Knights and squires stared and asked what business two kids could have with the Sentinel.
"So, who are you two?"
"How do you know the Guildmaster?"
"Are you his grandkids?"
Questions filled the room as a crowd began forming around us.
"Just put your head down and block them out," I whispered to Eleanor, who was clearly getting overwhelmed.
After a few minutes, Reynold maneuvered his way back through the mob which had formed and delivered the news.
"The two of you will be staying at the Sentinel's residence. When he's done with his private matters, he will return home, however I will escort you there now."
The crowd erupted with various questions and shouted statements.
"I knew it! I knew they were his grandkids!"
He grabbed both of us and pushed through the crowd. It seemed like we'd never escape until Reynold had enough. The look in his eye shifted and his essence began to leak out.
"So you're this powerful?"
The essence was nearly suffocating and the crowd quickly silenced. Almost like they were all petrified by stone, they watched fearfully as Reynold guided us out and to the Sentinel's home.
"Someone like this could really be an ally?"
The Sentinel's home was everything one would expect from a person of his status and wealth: giant pillars, multiple floors, a water fountain, and a large property with gates reaching for the gods.
His guards opened the gate and we entered.