[System]
[Welcome to your 1st Chaotic Challenge.]
[Best of luck, Voyager.]
Kealos took in a deep breath as his back was drenched in cold sweat. That gamble of his was quite reckless but also was a necessary action. Although it was a gamble, Kealos knew that it had a decent probability of succeeding since he had once read about Chaotic Challenges before, but also that the information he read about didn't have much validity to it.
'My first Chaotic Challenge… What will it be about?'
Kealos has only read a bit about Chaotic Challenges before, a small glimpse of info that he somehow came across. Although it wasn't much, it was still enough to piece together the threads of information into something he could understand.
From what he had gathered, a Chaotic Challenge was a personalized test made for each person that attempts it. Although he had no idea how difficult it was going to be or what he was going to encounter, Kealos couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement boiling in his heart.
Although he had no idea what could come out of the Chaotic Challenge, he still had a decent idea of what to expect from the quest he received.
[System]
[Quest: The Depths of Chaos]
[Description: Complete your first Chaotic Challenge.]
[Rewards: Unlock additional parts of the system. Ability to harness the power of Chaos.]
The reward description was quite vague; additional parts of the system could have infinite possibilities for Kealos. The ability to harness the power of Chaos was also mysterious to him. After all, how does a person even harness the power of Chaos?
But with at least some sort of reward he could receive from this predicament, it deeply motivated Kealos.
But Kealos quickly snapped out of it as he tried to focus on his situation. Although he couldn't see anything, he tried feeling around with his body and tried to figure out what was happening.
As if responding to his actions, the surrounding area around him quickly lit up, temporarily blinding him as he blinked repeatedly, trying to adjust to the brightness. After a moment he glanced up with squinted eyes as his body shook.
His body didn't shake out of fear or excitement but rather surprise or bewilderment. Surrounding him was not nature, nor was it a beast of any sort. Rather, he stood in a room that was torn apart; the expensive carpet, the lavish bed, and the extravagant lights were all ripped and destroyed.
"Agh!"
Kealos felt a tremendous wave of pain rush over him as he fell onto his knees, spitting a small mouthful of blood. Regaining his composure, he felt a massive headache but also a searing pain on his left arm, or rather what was left of it.
His left arm was completely in tatters; half of his left arm was disconnected from his shoulder, and only a small portion of muscle held it to his arm. The rest of his arm was also just in as bad of a condition.
He was missing three fingers; chunks of flesh were ripped out but surprisingly were not bleeding. Most of the skin was torn off and showed a deep red beneath that covered his entire arm. Instinctively, Kealos tried to move it but was met with an indescribable pain.
Gritting his teeth, Kealos felt like his mind was going to blank out and collapse on the spot but still forced himself to stay conscious.
Taking a look himself and listening attentively, he could only hear overbearing silence and see a massive ruined room with clear signs of fighting.
'What type of h*llish Chaotic Challange is this? Is this my body or someone else's?"
Kealos had a sudden feeling of anger as he grumbled at this unfair situation before calming down and quickly analyzing the situation.
'No, I should calm down first and understand my situation. Only then should I move on and try to figure out how to clear this Chaotic Challange.'
Trying his best to endure constant waves of pain from his left arm but his internal organs caused him to spit up blood occasionally, which made him feel weak. Eventually, he slowly felt himself getting used to his overbearing pain as his mind grew numb.
He first examined himself before realizing that this was most definitely not his own body. On his right arm there seems to be a faint trace of a tattoo. The skin where the tattoo resided had been either burnt or cut off, only leaving faint traces of figures that he could barely make out.
'Is that a tree?'
Kealos saw what he assumed were branches left on the tattoo and the faint trunk of the tree that was mostly gone. Although it was an intriguing scene, Kealos quickly discarded it, as it didn't help him for the time being.
But examining himself further, there seemed to be a lot of things he had missed when he first arrived in this Chaotic Challange. He wore a series of armor, black and mysterious; the only thing that stood out was the faint purple lights that ran throughout each part of the armor.
Around the left side of his waist was situated a small weapon. From what it appeared, it seemed like a sword but Kealos wasn't quite sure.
Taking the initiative, Kealos tried drawing the sword but was left in confusion, which left him questioning out loud.
"What type of sword doesn't have a blade and only has a hilt?"
Confused Kelaos tried inspecting the handle but slook at himnusual. The only thing remarkable was its design.
The color scheme of the hilt was black and blue. The base of the hilt was made of a dark black material, but what surprised Kealos wasn't this black and mysterious material but rather the dark blue color that emitted from it.
The sword's hilt was much similar to his armor, only that the color scheme was blue. To try and describe it, it was like a black stone that had a blue liquid coursing through it. Similar to lightning flashing across the sky, the patterns made by this blue substance were entrancing to Kealos.
He tried running his hands across the blue substance and tried the same thing with the purple substance on the armor he was wearing but found no abnormalities. It was like the substance wasn't even there; it felt cold and hard to the touch, exactly like the mysterious black material.
'I wonder what this blue substance does?'
Kealos had countless questions as he tried to organize his thoughts. He tried arranging them in order from what he knew and quickly began thinking
The first piece of information was that Kealos was heavily injured; due to what he had on him, such as the sword and the armor, he assumed that he had participated in a fight and got injured as a result. With all of this, he seemed to have somehow survived despite his injuries and is now alone.
The second piece of information was that Kealos was stuck inside a Chaotic Challenge. According to what he knew, if he were to fail in this Challenge his life would perish. But at the same time, he also didn't know how to complete a Chaotic Challenge.
The third piece of information he had was that the body that Kealos currently resided in was a Chaotic Voyager. Although Kealos didn't know if Chaotic Voyager existed inside of Chaotic Challenges, the possibility still remained somewhat high due to certain reasons.
The leading reason why he speculated this was because of how he was still alive at the moment. Without a doubt, if this was a normal person, they would've been long dead from these injuries but somehow he was still up and moving.
Along with that, it seemed like his body was recovering at an astronomical speed. He could visibly see, over time, parts of his skin slowly repair and his immense pain slowly begin to disappear.
Once again being on high alert, he slowly sat near an intact wall of the room as he tried to recover as fast as he could. After what seemed like an hour or so had passed, his internal organs and some minor wounds had all patched up and healed completely.
As for his left arm that was in complete shambles, it looked better but still not so good. Unlike before, when it was half dangling off his shoulder, it had completely attached back to his shoulder.
Some of his skin had healed but it was several times slower than the rest of his body, while his hand only left behind two fingers.
Even after everything had healed, Kealos felt a wave of dizziness as he tried to keep awake. The constant hours of pain had left him mentally drained and with all the information he consumed, he felt his mind become slower and slower.
'I'll need to rest before I can continue on any further. If I keep pushing myself, the body I'm in might not be able to hold together for much longer. I should take a small break to let myself recover before trying to explore any further.
He looked around his surroundings one more time and listened attentively for any danger before relaxing once more. He took in a deep breath as a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over him. Slowly closing his eyes, Kealos drifted off to sleep in a world completely new to him, inhabiting a body that he had never seen.
…
The dimming sky was streaked in colors of orange and yellow as an old person rode on a horse with another person next to him. They circled the vast forest around a Spiral, observing and taking notes of the environment.
"Commander, after so long, the village should've already provided us with the number of workers we asked for. I believe it's best to collect them and start building a small formation."
The commander nodded in approval, commending the soldier next to him in an approving tone.
"Well done; with your skills it'll take no time before you take over my position.
The soldier next to him was surprised by the sudden change of tone as he quickly replied back to reassure his commander.
"Sir, you must be joking; after all, you are still healthy and strong. With you as our commander, our team will definitely rise to the top and earn our lord's recognition!"
The commander smiled at this compliment, but this feeling of pleasure quickly disappeared as he fell back into a calm expression while shaking his head.
"I am not one of those Chaos Voyagers, nor am I a person of high stature. We mortals will eventually succumb to death. We have short lifespans and can only live a life of working under others.
But even though he said these words were discouraging, he gazed up at the sky while speaking aloud once more.
"But even so we must grasp any opportunity of living a better life. Between us and the people in the village, we are not so different. We're both used by more powerful forces and treated as discarded pawns."
"But we must continue on; we must keep pushing even if everything seems fruitless. Even if that spark of hope is dim, it can grow and nurture into a massive flame."
Looking at his commander, the soldier felt confused as he listened attentively.
"To explain simply, we must never let our guard down, even if the people in front of us are untrained villagers with no combat experience."
The soldier next to him slowly nodded, grasping some of the words his commander was trying to convey. Even though the situation seemed like it was overwhelmingly in their advantage, they must still remain diligent.
Just like the villagers, they themselves were merely people who were lucky and became able to claim some power. But luck was a variable; just because they were lucky doesn't mean the other side can't experience the same.
Despair and hope, two sides of the same coin. Hope helps you overcome despair, yet despair lies in the shadow of hope, taking shape whenever that hope falters. One cannot exist without the other, so interconnected yet so different.
Although the people from the village were in despair, even the slightest sparkle of hope can lead to unprecedented actions. Even if what they were doing was something extremely simple, being alert and throwing away all naivety is a must.
They rode in silence with the soldier contemplating his thoughts while the commander looked into the horizon, taking in the wonderful view. Eventually they rode to the edge of the village, where they saw a group of people waiting for them.