Chapter 1 – Falling!

The Hero candidate trials, an event that happens every decade upon the new assession of a being classed as a Titan. Once this happens and the world goes topsy turvy the crown calls all adventurers A-rank or higher to the capital to partake in the trials, many adventurers ignore the summons, money is always tight for this demographic, so they stick to their normal questing especially if they are far from the capital. This time however is different a new ruler has taken to the throne within the last world cycle, and they claim to be offering re-payment for the travel costs on top of a heavy reward for the trial winner to start them on their adventure and then another bountiful reward upon their return after defeating the Titan. As such every adventurer is making the journey this cycle, as they have no trade off to weigh against. Landurs is an adventurer from the far lands near where the Titans tend to first show up, he fought to being an A-rank quickly with the local guild as many do in that area with the monsters that live there naturally with the world corruption so close. The boy made it to the capital with only a dayshift remaining before the trials closed, making the trial start by the slimmest of margins Landurs did not waste any time showing off that he was amongst the favourites to become the next hero to go and fight the new Titan. That was until the final exam of the trials, where he was paired with the man that the old Crown backed in secret, unbeknownst to the current crown, who wanted to have his personal candidate win and use his successes to retake the throne. As Landurs and the man known as Gilbert approached the site of their final test the abandoned Frigate Mines, Gilbert received a notice from a messenger bird and after reading it tore the paper to shreds and smirked. Landurs ignored the man focusing on the entrance to the Mines that lay just ahead and the task they were set to make it to the fabled final phase of the trials, the Hero’s Tournament. Entering the mines the visibility dropped to almost nothing, the men had been equipped with a few torches to be used to navigate the mines and make it to their target, a crystalline wyrm that had taken over the mine after it was abandoned and surveyors had reported it to be a titan candidate within the next cycle if left unchecked. Gilbert was the first to light a torch and led the two men into the mineshaft that had been the reported home of the crystal wyrm, the rusted-out elevator that remained operational through some unknown miracle was waiting for the two men to board as it’s first passengers in many cycles as it sat dormant waiting for its next occupants. The creaking decent was soon joined by the crackle of the crystal monsters that had infested the mines created by the lack of purpose and human activity in this long-forgotten place and fuelled by the remaining Frigate deposits. Both Landurs and Gilbert draw their weapons before the elevator was close to its landing, Gibert had a royal rapier a long thin blade made from the durable old metals adorned with a handguard fashioned from the fancy new metals mined from the far lands that matched the old crown house colours. Landurs on the other hand only had a few swords made from the weak Frigate metal that were made primarily to be used as training swords in the capital not for boss raids. The rust bucket finally made landing, and the doors weren’t able to open before they fell out of the shell under the restless assault from Gilbert, who then charged the line of minor mineral creatures with Landurs taking up the rear and picking up the scraps that Gilbert missed or slipped past him. While the fight was not long it was tiring because of the diminutive size of the creatures that made them hard to make suitable contact with and their attacks while mostly trivial still could bruise badly if too many were taken. Gilbert with his superior gear curtesy of his shadowy sponsor kept the pace of the pair high not letting up for rest after the encounters with the minor beasts that littered this section of the mine, which were probably just created by the Frigate deposits being inhabited with residual spirit energy left behind from when this was an operational mine. After a while Gilbert’s torch died out and Landurs lit his first torch and took the lead of the pair as they headed towards the main cavern of mineshaft six. The two continued to walk through the barely illuminated gloom without so much as a word, neither had much to say just a focus on the task each one had to complete before returning to the capital to continue their trial towards becoming this cycles Hero. With the duo now finally making it to the main cavern they sat and took their first rest to eat since leaving the capital, Gibert in the hurried mood he’d been in since receiving the message from his bird outside the mine only took a short snack from his pack and devoured it within seconds. The actions of the superior of the two put pressure on the exhausted Landurs to do similar and hurriedly eat a small ration before beginning on his way again carrying the torch forward towards the bridge that miners used to pull material up from the depths of the mine. Unknown to Landurs but behind him Gilbert had stolen the remainder of the torches that Landurs had and lit one of them, as they stepped onto the bridge Gilbert tucked in close behind Landurs and waited for his moment to strike. Reaching the center of the bridge Gilbert clipped the back foot of Landurs putting him off balance and sending Landurs down into the depths of the mine as he fell off the bridge, Gilbert watched to make sure that Landurs fell into the darkness before turning away and returning back the way the men has come from. Landurs after an undeterminable amount of time hit the ground at the deepest part of the mine with only a short fuse left on the only torch he was left with.