The Old Legend

 A young boy with dark blonde hair and ragged clothes pickpocketed an apple and some change from a man of royalty. He brought the apple back to a dark alley with a small dog on the brink of death. He fed the apple to the dog with black fur and white spots. “Please eat this, Hiro. I’ll try to get you some better food right now with this money.”

The boy turned to run out of the alley where he was met by 6 royal guards and the man that he had taken the apple from. They beat him to the ground for what they considered an act of treason. “R-Run H-H-iro…” the boy cried out the best he could. Hiro could barely stand in the condition he was in, but instead of running, stood up with all his strength and barked at the men in hopes of saving his owner. The guards killed the dog in front of the young boy and took them both to the outer edge of the city. They threw both of them into the large ocean before them. The boy slightly opened his eyes as he bled from all parts of his body. “H-Hiro…” He reached out to grab the dog’s paw as they sank further into the watery and endless depths.

Magin and Lucky continued to watch and cry, unable to attach their mana from the story that unfolded before them as Dante was nowhere to be seen. The images shifted too quickly for them to see, but then began to slow down.

Hundreds of shadowy figures enveloped the two and echoed the same question to the boy all at once. “Does it hurt? Is it painful? Do you want revenge? Do you want to be saved?”

The boy could hardly speak and began to drown now, but mustered up a few words. “Wh-Whatever…to…s-save…H-Hiro…”

The shadows all encircled the two. Hiro and the boy’s eyes gleamed black, with a small and glowing white shard painted in both their pupils. The visions shifted again. The boy now held the sword in his hand, but he was a man with an old dog at his side. 3 royal families consisting of 800 troops stood before him in a deserted and rocky land.

He said, “Don’t worry Hiro. I’ll kill them all for you.” His eyes lit up black again with white swords in his eyes. He chanted out loud with the sword aimed at the 800 men, “Shadows Realm!”

The surrounding area enclosed in a black ring of black fire. Buildings appeared as if it was a city and the hundred shadowy figures appeared behind him. The 800 men disappeared from their regular bodies and became white shadows on the ground.

“What is going on? Where did our weapons go? Where is my body?” The men continued to shout and cry in panic, unable to comprehend what was happening to them. They had all become white shadow-like figures and could only move on the ground and on the sides of the buildings.

Magin watched carefully at what the man would do, unfazed by what had just happened to the royal guards, as Lucky was shocked at the onslaught. The man chanted again, “King’s Raining Wrath.” Dark shadowy swords rained down on the men killing all of them as blood filled the surface of the ground. The shadows behind him didn’t speak a word, but rushed over and picked up the men's bodies out of the shadows and back to their original bodies. They consumed them leaving no evidence behind.

In a lazy voice, he said “Let’s go, Hiro. I sense someone about to break the barrier. I don’t wish to fight this man. I just wanted revenge on the Royal Kingdom. Let’s go back. I’m tired.”

Before he could open a portal back into the depths of the ocean, a shining light pierced into the shadow realm. A man in his early 20’s with green hair, gold eyes, and scars all across his face stood before them. He pointed a gold sword at the man as he covered his whole body in bright gold mana lines. The 8 phases of the moon covered it on one side and on the other side, the 7 stages of a star cycle. He spoke. “Hey. What’s your name kid?”

“Kid?”

???: “Ah. Sorry. Sorry. I must think you are younger than you are.”

Isamu,” the man replied. “I have no intention of fighting you. I’ll be on my way now. My name is as useless as this world.”

He began to open a portal, but it broke immediately from a small gold shard that was so fast he barely saw it. He turned around to look at the man that shattered his barrier.

“I’m Kazuki. This sword here is called Alcion, but I know that’s not important to you. Care to tell me why 800 men just died over there?”

Isamu looked down with hair in his face and a depressed look. “They took everything from me…The sun is bothering me now. You broke my realm. I’ll take my leave.”

Isamu opened another portal that was instantly destroyed. Isamu began to get angry. “Hollow Hundred Shadows.” he called out. The shadowy ghost figures attacked Kazuki.

“Waning Crescent,” Kazuki called out and obliterated all the shadows with one slice of his sword. “Now, here is the issue. I like you, Isamu. But, we gotta talk about this. See…That was 3 different armies from royal castles. Now, I don’t know who came after who first, but now they want me to kill you. So, please tell me why 800 soldiers are dead over there. I’ll even sit down and we can talk this out.”

Isamu sighed and said, “Kill me all you want. I’m too tired of this. I just wanna go take a nap. Come on Hiro.”

Kazuki: “Woah, woah, woah, woah. Hold on, Isamu. I understand you're tired, and I hear the pain in your voice, but revenge is never the answer. Let me teach you–”

Isamu: “We’re leaving. Hiro, let’s go.”

Kazuki sighed before calling out to them as they walked away. “I wish I could’ve known you years before. Maybe I could’ve taught you a few things about strength and merit.”

Isamu: “Yeah? And what do you know about me?”

Kazuki spoke before they entered the portal, “Maybe I don’t know you, but that dog’s loyalty to you shows that you once cared. Just so you know, the whole country is going to come after me thinking that I killed these men. I refuse to kill you.”

Isamu: “Who cares? I’m sure you can kill them all with that fancy sword of yours. See ya never.”

Isamu and Hiro entered the portal and returned to their kingdom under the surface. Isamu sat in his chair with the sword at his side as Hiro jumped on his lap. The visions shifted once more for Magin and Lucky, but this time they remained on the chair as skeletons. The sword was dirty, but remained intact and came loose from the ground. The water washed it away from the kingdom and the castle made of mana disappeared.

Magin and Lucky now stood in the black room with rain pouring down. “T-This is only the surface of his life… I barely poured any mana into the sword.” The room began to shake and the old dwarf and Lucky withdrew their mana to get back. Lucky disappeared, however, Magin couldn’t leave. “What? I released my mana. Why am I not going back?”

In the distance, something was coming at Magin. “What is that? Arms? No, tentacles?”

8 black tentacles came rushing forward at Magin to chop off his head. He dodged within 0.02 seconds as it pierced his shoulder and he awoke in front of the boys.

Lucky: “Magin! What happened to your shoulder? Why didn’t you leave with me?”

Magin looked down at his shoulder to notice a huge hole oozing blood. He started to breathe hard and looked at Dante with wide eyes. “Y-Y-You! What are you?”

“Huh?” Dante responded. “What do you mean? You both were gone for only 5 seconds. I was in a blank void and then got teleported back here. 5 seconds later Lucky opened his eyes and then Magin did almost right after.”

Lucky yelled out, “We need to wrap your shoulder. Come here.”

“Stay away!” Magin yelled. Dante and Lucky looked at each other in confusement. They both realized something must’ve happened.

“What happened inside the sword? What did you see, Lucky?” Dante thought, ‘I need to know what he saw. This is my only hope of getting back to Aki.’

Magin grabbed a sword in the corner of his workshop along with his staff and yelled out, “Hollows Vision!” This allowed him to visually scan other magic sources inside of their bodies. ‘I knew I sensed multiple magic sources coming from these boys.’

He looked closer, ‘A b-b-black h-heart in a powerful mana cage!’ He panicked while his mind spun. Magin screamed at the two boys. “Both of you, leave now!” Dante and Lucky both looked at each other in bewilderment.

Dante: “Look. I don’t know what you saw in there, but I have to know what’s in that sword. Let’s go. I have people waiting for me! Tell me!”

Lucky: “Dante, let’s leave. He’s in no position to help us anymore with anything. He’s losing it himself.”

Magin sat facing the corner now and began to mumble the same sentence that the boys couldn’t hear as they walked away, “The day of reckoning is here, the day of reckoning is here, the day of reckoning is here.”

Dante: “The hell…Let’s go Lucky. What happened in there?”

Lucky: “I don’t know. Visions started unveiling before us, but I left as they disappeared and he stayed in there for some reason.”

Dante: “Dammit! We needed his knowledge of swords and mana. Astro is gonna have to teach us at least one of those things…Lucky when we meet up with Astro, I need you to tell me what you saw in detail.”

Lucky: “Yeah, but let’s get back for now. Which way should we go? We have to get up two different layers in this tunnel now.”

Dante: “We don’t have access to that old dwarf’s staff, so we can’t get back up using the way he brought us. There has to be another way though.”

Lucky, start feeling around for hidden passageways. They looked around for another way to the surface.

Lucky: “Dante, come here. There’s a button right here blending in with the wall. Let’s try it.”

A door opened with stairs leading up. “I don’t know if this is a trap or not, but we have no other choice.” They walked up the stairs for nearly a mile until reaching two brown door hatches that led to an abandoned church. “That was certainly easy. This place is a wreck. Are we still in the city?” The hatches closed behind them. Dante tried to yank the doors open, but they wouldn’t budge.

Dante: “Agh. Screw it. I think we’re in the city anyways, so it doesn’t matter. It’s almost morning. Let’s wait here until dawn.”

Lucky: “How are we going to find Astro?”

Dante: “I don’t know. Lucky, your sword can produce light, right? Shine some light over here. I can’t see.”

Lucky lit up the front side of the church that was still somewhat intact. “These look like magic ritual incantations.”

“What are those?” Dante asked.

Lucky: “They are used for sucking the mana out of someone completely and transferring it to a sword to gain power. This is something I actually paid attention to in school. Our teacher said, if anything, be cautious of this and know what it is. Why would the church be using these?”

Dante didn’t have to question it. In his world, religious groups always tried to hide things from the public. Much of his assassination work dealt with corrupt priests endangering citizens. “The sun’s up. Let’s head over to where we last were with Astro. Maybe he is waiting for us there.”

Dante and Lucky continued for 3 miles until they finally found the gate where they entered. They turned the corner to the place where they left Astro. “Wh-What happened here?” Lucky questioned. Both of them looked at buildings completely destroyed and a massive crater in the ground. “The old dwarf was right. Nobody fights in the morning, even though we are perfect bait with all this wreckage.”

“Astro! Where are you, Astro!” Lucky called out. A man approached them with slickback hair and a suit. “Hey…You’re from the front gate! Perfect! Can you help us?”

“Yes, I believe you're looking for your friend. He’s caused quite a mess here I see. Continue straight through here. He’s enjoying a drink in the local pub.”

“Why did you help us?” Dante questioned, skeptical of if he was setting a trap for us. “Have I caused any suspicion to you? Sorry if I have. I am to remain neutral in this city, so normally I wouldn’t help, but your friend paid a heavy fee to enter this place. More than enough to pay for the damage that he has caused even. I’ll be on my way now. I need to attend to the gate.”

10 minutes later they arrived at the pub to see Astro sitting at the corner table with his back to them. “Astro!” Lucky leaped for Joy seeing him. He turned around, blood running down his face, but smiled and held up his drink. “Come, join me boys.”

“What happened, Astro? Dante asked. “The whole place was a wreck when we circled back around.”

Astro: “Those 4 were a little tougher than I had remembered. One managed to escape, but I killed the other three on a fluke. Needless to say, I got lucky to survive. Don’t worry about this blood. Most of it isn’t mine,” as he winked. “You boys survived. Be proud. Where did you hide all this time?”

Lucky blurted out, “We didn’t know what to do and we just kept running! We ran and ran until we found a sewer and decided to jump down and hide in there where we met a dwarf blacksmith who was crazy, but helped us out!”

Astro laughed out loud. “Hahahaha! You boys are funny. Now… where did you actually hide? I wanna make sure nobody followed you both.”

“What do you mean?” Lucky asked.

Astro: “There are no sewers in this city. It’s a 10 mile above ground city to make it fair for assassin business. The only way in or out is the front and back door. The walls on the side are magic. They’ll repel anyone that tries to come in. Anyways, there hasn’t been an underground sewer since this place was built, so where were you boys at?”

Both boys stood as still as possible. Fear encompassed them and their eyes were wide. This feeling was similar enough to Kouki standing over them in anger. Both boys expressed mana lines all over their body.

“Oh? You learned how to use mana?” looking at Dante. Dante looked down at himself. He didn’t know how the mana appeared, but all he could think was, ‘What is going on in this world! I’m losing my mind in this world!’

Tears ran down Dante’s face, still in shock, unable to move. “You two look like you saw a ghost. Waiter, two more rounds for the boys…Cheer up, you made it to me alive. That’s not easy in this city.”

Dante assessed the situation as he cooled down. ‘How far does magic go in this world?’ He turned towards Lucky. “W-We can’t do anything about it now. I’m with you, but we can’t even explain it anyways. Let’s just focus on what’s our next move.”

Lucky: “H-How can you just ignore what happened? What about the blacksmith? Was Magin even real?!”

Astro, still listening, spoke in curiosity, “Magin? The blacksmith? His workshop is right in the middle of the city not too far from here. I can take you to him if you want, but you boys don’t look like you have any extra swords to craft.”

The boys still remained with eyes wide. Dante spoke up to take control of the situation. “No, we need to rest for a few hours. We’ve had a tough time getting here.”

Dante didn’t know how to process the information either, so he was putting on a face to ignore everything or he would go mad. He tried not to think about it for the moment.

Astro said, “Go on ahead. I’ll wait here. Rooms are upstairs. Get some rest. I’ve already paid for a room.”

Lucky put his head down yet again as if falling into despair as they headed up the stairs. ‘This is bad,’ Dante thought. ‘I can tell from this short journey that Lucky is a good kid, but hasn’t been introduced to any negativity in his life. The royal family probably kept him from getting into trouble. I see now. His brother sent him out here not in anger of the chaplet, but to get stronger, so that he didn’t always need his help. His brothers are strong, but I don’t think they knew how mentally weak Lucky was. I can’t even handle all this. You can’t force that journey on someone. He’s wavering between happiness and despair from every little thing. He’s a kid at heart.’

Dante: “Lucky…I’m not going to ask about what happened with my sword right now, but once we get to Carmen's Dungeon to train how to use mana, I need to know what happened.”

Lucky laid on the floor and turned away from Dante. “Lucky, you take the bed. I’ll take the floor.” He said nothing and fell asleep on the floor for the next 3 hours.