Eventually, Eryth reached the source of the scream. A young white-skinned girl with short white curly hair and blue eyes tried to stop two creatures from approaching her by waving a dagger at them.
She wore a red cloak with a simple black shirt underneath. Around her waist was a belt holding up black silk trousers, and she had a black headband wrapped around her head.
Though the creatures she was trying to chase off were completely dark with no texture, one could see that they looked like lions but with a large horn on their forehead and larger claws.
The young girl continued to dodge the beasts but didn't strike back.
The dark brown-haired man pulled out his sword and dashed forward. He moved so fast it looked as though he was flying. He slashed through one of the beasts and it turned into a speck of black dust, dissolving into the air.
Eryth swung his sword at the second but it turned to smoke, letting his sword pass through it. The beast lunged its claws at the mage but he too had a plan up his sleeves. A rune marking appeared around the area the beast attempted to strike, blocking the attack. Another marking appeared around his wrist and his sword turned black. He swung it at the beast's neck and this time, the beast also ended up in the same fate as the other.
The mage slid his sword into its scabbard before turning to the girl who stared at him in awe. "Are you hurt?"
The girl smiled brightly. "Thanks to you, my knight in shiny armor, not even a single scratch."
He smiled.
"Who are you? I've never seen you here before."
Eryth stood straight and tucked a stray hair back. "I am Eryth, the seventh OR-DER god of hearts."
The girl was quiet for a couple of seconds before bursting into laughter. "Sure you are. You have already taken my heart."
"It is what I do." He slightly bowed.
"I am Heyt. I'm guessing you also stay at Monk Zumma's?" She asked.
"The old man? Yeah, I do."
The white-haired girl chuckled. "Monk Zumma's a wonder. Over a hundred years old but he still walks around strongly."
"Looked weak to me. The only thing he's done so far is make a chair outta thin air, I could do better."
Heyt laughed softly. "Sure you can." They both turned and started towards the village.
They continued forward in silence until the girl spoke. "Hey, wanna come to the library with me? I've been meaning to start reading and It has lots of books there that we could have fun reading."
"Sure, I love books…" Before he could finish his words, a ray of light gushed out from the ground between them.
Eryth managed to regain his balance and gripped tightly the hilt of his sword. He quickly scanned the place to see Heyt unharmed but Grevla stood in front of her with her sword aimed at Eryth.
He stood straight, dropping his hand from his sword. "It's you."
"What are you trying to do to her?"
"Really, I just saved her from two shadow beasts, you should be thanking me."
Heyt grabbed the grey-haired girl's hand. "It's true sis, he saved me from the shadow beast."
Grevla cast a side-long look at her sister before sheathing her sword. She turned and strode away while pulling Heyt along with her.
Eryth shook his head.
.
.
.
The next morning, Eryth forced himself out of bed and headed to the location where the monk asked them to meet.
As he arrived at the place, he furrowed to see not only monk Zumma, but also lady Grevla, her sister, Heyt, and two other individuals, a female and two male.
One of the males had blue skin with what looked like scale all over his body and the other had normal tanned skin but with two equal-sized horns peaking out of his cheeks, while the female had wings like that of a fairy. She was short, had pink hair and eyes, and had a slender figure.
"Look who finally decided to join us," Monk Zumma spoke, pulling the dark brown-haired man's attention from the others.
"I thought you were training only me?" Eryth probed.
The monk shook his head no. "I said I'd be happy to train you, I never said anything about training you alone."
"Who's the new guy??" The tanned skin man asked, interrupting Eryth before he could reply to the monk.
The monk got up on his feet and moved a few steps closer to the others. "This is Eryth, he volunteered to help fight Hex and will be joining us in training to improve his skills."
"I did?"
The horned male raised his thumb at Eryth. "Dope man. I'm Uobleza and I have a feeling we are going to have a lot of fun together."
"You know me already," the white-haired girl whom Eryth saved from the shadow monsters said with a smile.
Eryth looked at Grevla but she hissed and looked away from him. He shook his head and turned to the winged female but she yelped and hid her face.
The horned man wrapped his hand around her shoulder and smiled. "This is Danila, she's just a little shy is all."
Before the dark brown-haired man could reply, the blue-skinned man stepped in front of him, holding his stare. "Why?" He queried. "Why did you agree to join the fight when you have no idea what you are up against."
Eryth snuffled and scratched the back of his head. "I lost my memory and can't remember much of my past, but what I do know is that I am a warrior and I do not back down from a fight, especially if it is for a good course, I hear this… evil destroyed your homes and more, so I'm gonna help take him down."
The man extended his hand for a handshake. "I am Blutox."
"Now that that's settled, let's start from the beginning."
"Uhhh come on," the veteran trainees groaned simultaneously.
The monk held his hand behind his back and moved to stand in front of them. "Our acts come from the seven OR-DER gods or the Chaos gods."
"We are only able to use these abilities because of their greatness, and even if you can't, do not feel forsaken, because the gods always have something installed for us."
He continued. "Some of us barely know how our act works and if we are to go up against Hex, that needs to change. And what better way to change it than…"
"Meditation," Uobleza completed. It was a sign that they had already done it a million times.
Monk Zumma nods. "I'm glad you are getting it, now, group yourselves into pairs."
Eryth turned to look at Grevla but the younger sister grabbed his hand and pulled him to herself. "You are with me," she stated.
The two sat on the ground and clasped their hands together.
"Concentrate on your energy. If you put your mind on that energy surrounding your palms, the heart will rise and develop that energy within you."
"By performing this meditation, you increase the energy that flows through your body, and with more energy, you may be able to resist other's act."
"Do you feel it?" Eryth asked his partner.
The white-haired girl shook her head no. "Do you?"
"I feel the softness of your palm though."
She smiled. "Strong and charming, I like."
"What's up with your sister?"
Heyt glanced at her sister before setting her eyes on the man sitting in front of her. "She blames herself for what happened to our family, I've tried to tell her it's not her fault but she won't listen to me."
"I know about that. I meant why is she here? Isn't she supposed to be training those kids?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure she has mastered her act and is just here for fun."
Eryth nodded understandably. "What act does she have?"
"Light, remember? The one she almost killed you with back in the woods."
The dark brown-haired man laughed. "I don't think she would have killed me," he said. "Anyway, what about you? What's yours?"
"I am supposed to be an Elementalist, but I suck balls…"
"If you concentrate and not talk, you should be able to do it!" Zumma's voice, obviously directed at the two stated.
The duo looked around to see an energy wave encircling the others. They both turned to concentrate and after a few more minutes, the two also made the energy engulf them.
"Excellent, now you should feel the energy swirling in your belly, the goal is to spread that energy all around your body…" Before he could finish, the formless figure, Masatly approached them.
"Monk Zumma, Shadow monsters are in the village."
The monk and Grevla quickly rushed in the direction Masatly came from. The others followed behind the two swiftly running towards the village.
"Clear the villagers, I'll handle it," Grevla ordered while charging at the monster.
Uobleza, Blutox, Danila, Heyt, and the monk moved to help the villagers away from the monsters.
The seven-foot monster turned its attention to the grey-haired lady who was approaching it at full speed. The monster lunged with its claws, but Grevla leaped over it with precision. She aimed her sword at the monster and a ray of light shot out of the sword and smashed the beast backwards.
As she landed on the ground, another ray of light hit the beast from above, causing it to stagger backward.
Eryth stood still not moving an inch as he stared at a feminine figure hovering in the sky above the battlefield.
The being had pale blue skin and long purple eyes. She had slightly pointy ears and a beautiful well-shaped nose sitting just above a well sculptured lips. The being had black sclera, black pupils, and a red iris that complimented her red hair that fell smoothly over her back.
She also had four horns, two of which were long and were peaking out her forehead, and the other two, short and a few distance away from the longer one. Each of said horns was circled with a golden ring that was connected to golden-looking jewelry that was placed over her head, resting beautifully on her red hair. She had nothing on but a see-through black cloth that reached to her knee and a batlike but larger wings. She was extremely beautiful, more beautiful than any girl the dark brown-haired man had met in his entire life.
He couldn't help but stare at her in awe as her lips slowly morphed into a smile. He kept staring, from her body to her face until a retreating villager bumped into him, causing him to look away, and when he looked back, she was gone.
"What was that?" He asked himself.
The screams and sound of light striking the monster came back to him as he turned back to the situation before him. He pulled out his sword and charged forward.
Grevla seemed to have taken a fall and the shadow monster was approaching her. After seeing the mysterious being, the dark brown-haired man felt as though he had the skill and the knowledge of how to take down whatever it was that was to stand before him, he could feel all the energy surging through his system as he rushed toward the beast.
Rune markings appeared all over Eryth's body and a copy of him appeared by his side. He stopped and let the copy continue forward while he placed both his hands on the ground.
The copy hurled his sword at the beast, forcing it to pull back from the white-haired lady. He shoots an inferno of fire from his hand, forcing the beast to step back and into the rune trap planted by the original.
Multiple chains popped out of the marking and held the beast down, pulling it tightly until it couldn't move even an inch. The Shadow monster continued to bark but nothing came out of it. The copy version of Eryth linked his palms together while sticking out his index. He aimed it at the beast and a quick energy beam shot out and pierced through the monster's head. It screeched before turning into dust along with the copy.
Eryth groaned and crashed to the ground. "Shit, that took a lot," he winced.
Grevla walked up to him and extended her hand to help him up. The dark brown-haired man smiled and held her hand. She pulled him up and handed his sword to him before walking away.
"Wait, does that mean I've become part of the circle?" He queried but she didn't even spare him a breath of her time.
"Don't push your luck." Heyt tapped his shoulder.
He smiled and turned to see Monk Zumma. "How did you do that?"
"I don't know either, I just felt I could."
The monk narrowed his eyes at Eryth before turning his heels. "Get some rest."
The dark brown-haired man looked up at the sky where he saw the strange creature from earlier.
"What was that?"
.…
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