"The stars have aligned again it seems."Says a dark figure walking towards the exit of a cave.
The light at the end of the cave is a luminescent blue that gives off an ominous feel despite its beauty.The five men walk silently into the light before stopping right at the exit.
"Where's that damn sloth? You'd think he of all people wouldn't be late" a man short of stature compared to the other five complains.
"Come on Gift cut him some slack you know that he'll be here he knows how important this is…I hope.." Fred replies nonchalantly.
"It's not really a matter of if he comes rather when he does. Immediately Tyrelios arrives we move out with or without him" Gift replies.
"You'd expect as the assigned head of the Knights of Dark he'd be here to lead his master's crusade" Victor says pushing up his glasses and sitting on the ground.
"Apparently we've been apart so long that you've forgotten this is normal for Brian. He'll be here before u can say Trisephalapodioum." Peter says joining Victor on the ground.
"What the hell is that ?" The fifth man Clement asks confused.
Peter's lips perk up in amusement. "I'm glad you asked. You see a Trisephalapod…" He is cut short by a loud zapping sound accompanied by a bright white streak of light.
"Guess who?" The man being waited on , Brian, finally appears his arms wide open and a bright smile on his face. He looks almost comical when compared to the other five , he is dressed in leather like armour on his torso and arms . Below he has a dark blue short on with long white socks that stretch out towards his knees and to top it all off a pair of crimson red crocs act as his footwear.
" You can't be serious!" Fred says amused before chuckling.
"Are those crocs! Dude your late and you can't even dress in full armour like the rest of us." Gift says sneering at Brian who has joined Peter and Victor on the ground.
"First of all yes they're crocs and secondly is Ty here? No… Then as far as I'm concerned he's the one that's late not me." Brian replies his attention away from Gift.
"That still doesn't tell us why you're not in full body armour." Peter says.
"Do you have any idea how long it takes to put on my armour ? Especially the boots ! Ughh! I'd rather die than put myself through the torture that is lacing my boots. Hence these crimson bad boys."
Brian says while pointing at the croc he was shaking with his right foot.
"Besides I didn't know there's a dress code for killing people." Brian says stretching his arms and yawning.
"Personally I wouldn't rest in peace if the person who killed me was dressed like you." Peter replies .
Before anything else is said an immense blue ray of light beams from the sky and hits the ground several thousand metres ahead of the group. Instinctively they all get up in arms . the blue light starts dispersing engulfing the radius around the point of impact .
"That aura…We all feel it right?" Fred says watching as the circumference of blue light gets closer to them .
"It's him the old master." Brian says almost in a whisper.
"The fourth time we"ve been here and this is the first time in all of those years we've all recognized that aura . It has to be him… It just has to be." Victor says pushing his glasses to the top of the bridge of his nose.
"Brian…" Gift says but is cut short by Brian.
"We wait for Ty. No one is to engage before he gets here."
"That's going to be a problem. I can feel them coming and they're a lot. If that aura is really his then you know we cant afford to sit here and wait ." Clement says to Brian.
"He's already here." Fred says just as a massive dark shadow engulfs them.
"I'm sorry I'm late. You know what to do immediately they pop up from the ground. You'll have to be fast ,if it really is my brother's aura then I'm sure The Gamemaster will do everything he can to make sure it won't be easy." A voice from the shadow says.
"Won't you atleast show yourself to us Tyrelios ?" Peter asks nonchalantly.
"Later, they're already out . I'll see all of you at the shrine." the voice in the shadow says as the shadow disappears .
"I see them let's go." Gift says charging forward.
" Wait ! I need to put my crocs on sport mode !" Brian says as he fastens the straps on his crocs.
"I swear I've had it with you!" Gift says to which Brian replies with a grin.
"Knights of Light with me. Charge forth !" Peter said as he charged forward on a pillar of ice coming from his feet, Gift and Fred follow him using fire and air abilities respectively.
"Great! Guess we're doing this in teams." Brian says, "Okay then Knights of Dark, lets make our presence felt. Ohh and try to keep up!"
Brian zips off in a bolt of lightning , Clement and Victor follow both on blocks of earth cutting through the ground controlled by Clement.
Ahead of them blue lights start to appear from the ground as the ground breaks up and humanoid figures of different physiques start to appear from them. The humanoid figures are made up of earth bone and vegetation that were within the earth . These creatures are the targets because of the aura that gave them life. Once destroyed the aura will go back to it's owner or redirect to a select host.
Thanks to his lightning ability which makes him the fastest of the group Brian got to the humanoids first while a majority of them had only gotten their upper bodies out of the earth.
LIGHTNING SHEATH: BOX DRAW ; a move by Brian where he uses his lightning ability to mark out a rectangular or square area and send out a charge of lightning to everything within the area of the perimeter he runs across.
"Time to show that fast bastard that only one of us can really turn up the heat !"Gift mutters to himself as he charges towards the creatures on Brian's left.
"DIVINITY!!!" Gift shouts as his whole body gets engulfed in blue flames.
CINDERS AND ASH ; A move by Gift where he expels a massive heat wave from his body that has the capability to disintergrate everything in its path when he's in his divine form(the effects in his normal form are significantly downgraded).
The creatures all around Gift immediately fall apart to ashes as he lets his divine form die down. He looks to his side to smirk at Brian. Brian responds with an obscene sign before zapping off towards other targets.
"Those two idiots really never grow up .Can't believe they're still competing they've been doing that ever since they met." Fred says in a nonchalant manner to Peter.
" We can't let them out do us ." Peter say to which Fred nods in agreement .
AIR POCKET: DISMEMBERMENT; a move by Fred where he manipulates the air around his targets to raise them off of the ground and dismember they're body parts by making the air pockets within they're bodies burst. The creatures within Fred's range immediately rise up into the air and start to fall apart.
ICE BUILD : FROST EXECUTION ; a move by Peter where he forms spikes of ice to impale his targets instantly killing them . This move serves to take down a large number of the creatures on the ground as well as finishing off any of the creatures that are in the air due to Fred's air pocket: dismemberment.
Suddenly a massive blue light appears from behind the creatures much like the first time around except that this time a darkness follows it out to contain it. Leaving the sky looking dark and ominous as the blue light desperately tries to get away from the darkness engulfing it. The scene mimicks flashes of lightning within a storm.
All at once the group knows that they're almost out of time .This is the closest they have ever been to achieving they're goal and if they let it slip away it would be centuries before another chance arose and even then there was no certainty behind it. This was the fourth time they had been here and the previous three times had all been massive let downs . By comparison this was the first time that the ritual had taken so little time and Tyrelios' words lingered on all they're minds; "… The Gamemaster will do everything he can to make sure it won't be easy."
The more burning question was who is this "Gamemaster" ?
"Everyone step back ! It's time to get rid of these darn creatures !" Clement shouts out to his colleagues ahead of him. "Victor are you ready ?"
" Yes." Victor replies as he gets off of the piece of rock he was riding and places both of his arms on the ground.
Everyone ahead quickly clears away for Clement and Victor. Out of them all the two were the best at long range attacks with a 100% termination.
EARTH SHIFTER: GREEDY EARTH; a move from Clement where he creates a shockwave within the earth that causes the earth to break apart and sink everything on the surface. The sunken items would then get crushed underground never to be resurface again. The move was more popularly known as City Swallower.
Usually that would be enough to take down any target whether living or non living but since the creatures were essentially made of earth they would just restructure and resurface and this is where Victor comes in.
RAGING FLOW : BLOOD RIVER ; a move by Victor using his water elemental powers to pass concentrated moisture in a stream towards a target . The stream is so concentrated that it can slice through diamond Aztec like a hot knife through butter.
The blood river passed underground eliminating all of the creatures that had been buried. The group watched as the aura rose from the ground heading back towards the shrine that was behind the creatures.
" We should have just let the two of you deal with all of them in the first place ." Fred says as he looks up at the dark cloud engulfing the sky.
" That would be no fun ,"
" That would be no fun ," Victor replies as he wipes the dirt off of his palms with his handkerchief.
Their triumph is interrupted by a sudden loud bang . Giant golems suddenly appear from the side of the shrines.
" That's unprecedented but they're golems so you should be able to take care of them, right ?" Peter says to Clement.
" They don't have the same aura signature as the creatures so they're just a hinderance . We can simply ignore them as long as they don't get too close." Fred says .
" I can't control them. Whatever they're made of isn't earth or mineral based. I can't even sense their presence using my elemental abilities." Clement replies to Peter's earlier question. " That being said I'm sure I can posses them using dark magic ."
" No need I can just take care of them . I haven't had my fill and it's not every day you get to throw your weight against giant enemies." Brian says stretching his legs .
" Fine then I'll come with you ." Gift says stepping forward. " The rest of you can go ahead to the shrine we'll find you there."
"Speak for yourself. You're the ones who will find me there. Try not to keep me waiting too long." And in a quick zap Brian is gone and the first golem is already taken down.
Wasting no time Gift takes on his DIVINITY form and charges towards the golems. Soon all that's visible is large flashes of blue flames and quick zaps of yellow and orange and the occasional white streak of light. In less than a minute the towering army of golems is no more the only evidence of their existence is the numerous destroyed body parts strewn across the ground.
As the rest of the group approach the shrine they find a fire already started by Gift and Brian laying on the ground next to it his eyes closed and using his arms as a pillow.
"What happened to you ?" Victor asks Gift noticing his armour is covered in blood contrary to Brian whose only red is on his crocs.
" The golems had blood." Gift replies nonchalantly.
" That's unusual but it explains why I couldn't control them nor feel their presence . That's some very dark sorcery though it's essentially giving consciousness to an inanimate figure." Clement chimes in.
" I thought consciousness can't be made and bestowed?" Peter says .
" Only transferred from one being to another." Fed adds.
"Then that means that blood was drawn from actual people. Considering the size of each golem by itself I'd say eight men per golem and how many were there ?" Victor asks.
"What does it matter ? Not like the blood made them any harder to destroy." Brian says as he stifles a yawn.
" I took down four hundred and four." Gift replies nonchalantly ignoring Brian.
" What about you ?" Peter asks looking at Brian. Silence ensues as everyone waits for his answer.
"Four hundred and three." He replies quickly and looks the other way.
Gift immediately grins. There's always an ongoing competition between the two and even though unsaid this time Gift had won.
" That makes six thousand four hundred and fifty six bodies." Victor says .
" What's concerning is who has the ability to do such a thing its no easy feat even to the most accomplished sorcerer." Clement says.
" You thinks its someone from one of the Seven Urobo families ?" Gift asks.
"That would make sense but what's their relation with this ritual only we know about it and it only happens after several centuries not to mention Tyrelios is the only one who knows when and where the portal opens." Victor says.
" That's cool and all but why do you have blood on you and he doesn't ?" Fred asks Gift. Gift looks at Fred with an exasperated look.
" What I'm tired of pretending it makes sense!" Fred says shrugging his shoulders.
" I'm so fast the blood couldn't get to me." Brian says his voice smug and full of pride.
"Ohh, I guess that explains it but then how come he had more kills than…"Fred cuts his statement short as he uses his wind ability to lift both Gift and Brian into the air just as two giant palms emerged from below them and squeezed into fists.
As Fred places Gift and Brian back on the ground another golem appears from right under where they were.
" Before you attack I must commend you. The great Roundtable. The six elementals that were able to fully master their elements. I must say I'm ashamed because the opposition I laid out for you was weak. I know that I have not witnessed even a fraction of your full power but as I apologize I also make you a promise ; Blue Phoenix ( Gift ), Dark Tremor the mighty user of the element of earth as well as master of the dark arts ( Clement ), White Sloth ( Brian ), Winter's Executioner ( Peter), The Hollow Assasin (Fred) and The Nightmare Torrent ( Victor). The game has only just begun…"the golem says as it moves its hands to smash the group that had now huddled together to listen to what it was saying.
In a blink of an eye it had been destroyed to pieces.
"Well that's a befitting introduction if I've ever heard one. Can't believe some people still call me The White Sloth though." Brian says after eliminating the golem. " and that's four hundred and four but who's counting?" He grins at Gift.
Suddenly the darkness that was hovering above them starts to reel itself back in with the blue aura its prisoner. The darkness creeps back into the inner chambers of the shrine leaving the sky void of cover for the stars to gaze at man and man at the stars.
The Roundtable position themselves at the ready it isn't their first time doing this and they know what comes next, either failure or success. A blue glow starts up from within the shrine. It gets brighter and brighter until the light borders between blue and white then all of a sudden it implodes destroying the shrine altogether and throwing debris everywhere. Everything within that area gets destroyed save for the shield put up by Peter and his ice abilities even then Clement had to chime in to make the shield stronger. It was the strongest explosion they had ever seen there. The previous ones were never strong enough to take down the shrine only a strong gust of wind was the norm at most.
It was obvious that this time it was a success after three previous failed attempts and four times coming back empty handed the stars had finally aligned.
As the dust dies down from the place where the shrine stood all that's left is a pedestal and next to it a tall man with crimson glowing eyes ,short jet black hair and a large dark coat that covered the enterity of his body. In his arms a white shoal with golden embroidery.
As he walks towards the waiting Roundtable the glow in his eyes dies out and his eyes turn to a clear white with black pupils.
" Tyrelios…" the whole table says in a matter of acknowledgement.
" Good to see all of you." He responds in a curt manner his eyes still concentrated on whatever is inside the shoal.
" Did it work ?" Brian asks him.
He responds by uncovering the shoal exposing a tiny little baby half asleep.
" Black hair… I'm guessing it didn't work but that aura though…" Clement says his voice holding disappointment .
" No it's him or atleast the closest we'll ever get to him." Tyrelios replies covering up the infant leaving only the face exposed.
The infant opens its eyes halfway exposing a mesmerizing blue colour and just by looking at those eyes any doubt that was left out is erased.
" Well then with that black hair I guess I can't call him Old Master anymore…" Brian says making a face at the baby who looks the other way as if in disgust.
" With that sour attitude your well on your way to becoming the old master alright" Brian remarks as he lifts his head to face Tyrelios.
" So what now ?" Peter asks.
" The usual eight hundred years to let the child grow and then we all meet up to train him just like the other three am I right ?" Gift says posing the question to Tyrelios.
" No. You lot have done more than enough over the years let me handle it this time. From now henceforth you are all free to do as you like. You are in no obligation to follow what I say anymore ."
" For the record we have never been under any obligation to you. We did this because we wanted him back as much as you did." Peter says.
" Who cares I'm going to take a century long nap!" Brian says stretching and yawning. "Just make sure we see him when he gets older." Brian says before zapping away after Tyrelios nods in approval.
The rest of the Roundtable leaves leaving only Tyrelios and the child.
"Its been too long brother. This time I won't make the same mistake I did last time." Tyrelios says as he slowly starts to turn to darkness as the world around them starts to crumble now that its purpose is complete.
" I'll watch over you for the next eight hundred years and then teach you how to protect yourself and others. You'd like that wouldn't you…Ryan."