Chapter 1: Prisoner

EDIT: I am planning to novelize the dialogue system for all chapters, but this will be a gradual process. As of this edit, I have made these changes up through Chapter 5. Beyond that, chapters up through 638 still have script-like dialogue. 

Author's Note: The story is not formatted like a traditional novel.
1. The story is technically in third person by a narrator.
2. When a character speaks, their name will appear before what they say and it will be underlined and followed by a colon. For example, Zeth: I will defeat you!
3. EDIT: Ignore point 3. I am in the process of editing out all of the asterisks as they are unnecessary. It will be a gradual process. As of this edit, I have made this change up through Chapter 108.  When an action happens, the actions will be bookended by two asterisks. For example, *Zeth attacked the enemy with a punch* An action is anything happening that is not a character or the narrator speaking.

Chapter 1: Prisoner

118 years ago, the planet of Earth was in the middle of a catastrophic event that came to be known as the “Great Chaos.” Earth became the battlefield for a great war between Heaven and Hell, with the angels of Heaven and the demons of Hell clashing for years. Heaven was led by the Light Goddess, Harmona. Hell was led by the Dark Goddess, Dakame. While this war affected the entire world, the center of this clash was on the island country the size of a continent known as Harmone. As the Great Chaos was nearing its end, Harmona and Dakame met on the battlefield for a fight to the death.

Harmona and Dakame face off in a damaged city. Harmona stands seven feet tall, with straight blonde hair that falls to her mid-back and piercing green eyes. She is wearing a war dress, gold in color and outlined with lightweight ruby-red metal strands. The uniform is sleeveless. She wears a headpiece resembling a crown on her forehead. The golden crown bears a star-shaped ruby at the front and features four upward prongs, two in front and one on each side. 

Dakame is also seven feet tall. Her straight black hair flows down to her lower back, and her eyes are solid black with glowing red irises. She is wearing a gray war dress, with blood-red energy lines running throughout it. It is sleeveless. Harmona and Dakame both have a good number of battle wounds on their bodies.

Dakame smirks. "You’ve been a thorn in my side long enough, Harmona.”

A red-colored aura appears around Dakame, and then a mass number of black raindrops appear around her. Dakame thrusts her right arm forward, and the black raindrops shoot out straight toward Harmona.

"Die, Harmona!" Dakame shouts.

Harmona crosses her arms in front of her face and guards herself as the barrage of black raindrops hits her, each drop damaging her and creating more wounds. Soon, the barrage ends, and Harmona lowers her arms, but a gold aura surrounds her.

"This isn’t over!" Harmona declares.

A bunch of small meteors form around Harmona, and then she thrusts her left arm forward.

"I will end your terror!" Harmona cries out.

The small meteors shoot toward Dakame, and she tries to dodge them but fails to dodge all of them and takes a beating from a few. However, she grabs hold of the last one and charges her energy up. She then throws the last meteor back at Harmona.

Harmona smiles with confidence. "You can’t hit me with my own attack.”

She holds her left arm out, ready to stop the attack with her hand.

Dakame smirks. "Who said that was my plan?"

Harmona opens her eyes wide in shock as a ball of black energy bursts out from the meteor, hits the ground right in front of her, and explodes. From the black explosion, moans of the damned can be heard. The explosion destroys the city buildings nearby.

When the explosion clears, Harmona emerges, but she has taken a lot of damage and has bleeding wounds all over. She is unable to react in time as Dakame gets in close and punches her hard in the face, knocking her back into a building. The impact causes it to collapse.

"Face it. You can’t defeat me. Your era is about to come to an end, and then my era will begin!" Dakame declares.

Some rubble of the destroyed building starts to be pushed to the side as Harmona emerges, rising to her feet and breathing heavily.

Huff, huff. “My era won’t end until I finally take you down. Once that happens, I will gladly welcome in the New Era," Harmona says.

"Cheap words when you look like you’re on your last breath," Dakame replies.

Dakame smirks. "Maybe you should unleash the beast again," she taunts.

Gritting her teeth, Harmona narrows her eyes with fury. "Never again!" she snaps.

Harmona charges up her energy again and then starts rushing toward Dakame. Dakame does the same and charges toward Harmona.

"Dakame!!" Harmona yells.

"Harmona!!" Dakame shouts.

They each try to punch each other, but their fists collide. Neither of them is pushed back, but the colliding punches send out a shockwave that causes more surrounding damage.

Soon after this battle, the Great Chaos came to an end. The angels returned to Heaven and the demons returned to Hell. How Harmona’s and Dakame’s battle ended remains a mystery to the mortal population, but it is believed that both of them are still alive. The Great Chaos was such a catastrophic event that a new yearly calendar started and continued as Year 1 AGC (After Great Chaos). Following the Great Chaos, mortals with magic powers started becoming far more common. Mortals came to call this a “Blessing from Beyond The Stars.” But this story does not start immediately after the end of the Great Chaos. We now jump ahead to Year 118 AGC.

***

Zeth narrates. “It is May 6th, Year 118 in the country of Harmone. My name is Zeth. I come from a clan of humans called the Eagle Clan. I am currently a prisoner of our enemies, the Hawk Clan. The clans are named after the birds each followed long ago, before migrating to Harmone from the countries of Hawkon and Eaglana, respectively. I am 17 years old and have been a prisoner for one year.”

Zeth stands at about five feet ten inches tall. His black hair is slightly spiked in the front, and his brown eyes carry the weight of captivity. He, like all prisoners, wears a gray jumpsuit.

Zeth shares a prison cell with another young man.

Eagle Clan member and friend of Zeth — Paul. Age 17.

Paul has flat brown hair and a leaner frame than Zeth. His blue irises reflect exhaustion. He stands slightly shorter, worn down by confinement.

“Things are getting rougher around here,” Paul says.

“Yeah,” Zeth replies, “the Hawks seem anxious, like something’s troubling them.”

“I’m tired of being their prisoner,” Paul mutters. “We need to find a way to escape.”

“If we tried to escape, they’d kill us,” Zeth says, shaking his head, “or give us some other kind of severe punishment.”

“I’d rather die than stay here,” Paul says bitterly. “Being here… we may as well already be dead…”

A guard storms into the prison hall, dragging a battered prisoner behind him.

“You’re up for big punishment for the trouble you caused!” he barks.

“Lay off him!” Paul shouts as he grabs hold of the prison cell bars.

The guard fires his pistol at the floor in front of Paul. The loud crack echoes.

“You open your mouth again and this bullet goes right through your head!” he snarls.

He storms off, leaving Zeth and Paul brimming with silent rage. Moments later, another guard enters the hall.

“Alright, maggots, you all have work to do!” he commands.

More guards arrive and unlock the cells. The Eagle Clan prisoners shuffle out and down the corridor toward a large open area in the prison strewn with large, jagged rocks. Each prisoner is handed a pickaxe.

“Today, you’ll be harvesting the valuable metals from these rocks!” a guard announces.

Zeth and Paul move to the same boulder, beginning to chip away.

“Why are we doing this?” Paul asks.

“What choice do we have?” Zeth responds.

The guards patrol the yard, watching every swing. After a while, glimmers of shiny metal begin to peek through the stone. Zeth wipes sweat from his brow.

“Hopefully, we’re almost done,” he mutters.

Paul staggers, his strength faltering, and drops to his knees.

Huff, huff. “I’m not strong like you,” he says weakly. “I can’t keep doing this.”

“You have to! If they see you stopping…” Zeth warns.

“I know. I’ll be punished,” Paul says, gasping. “But I can’t keep going…”

A guard notices Paul and stomps toward them.

“Get back to work!” he yells.

“I can’t,” Paul says. “I’m too tired.”

“This is your last warning!”

“…I can’t.”

Furious, the guard grabs Paul by the neck.

“No!! Punish me in his place!” Zeth cries.

The guard kicks Zeth to the ground and drags Paul away. Zeth's eyes fill with tears.

“What is this world we live in!?” he shouts.

Tears falling, Zeth picks up his tool and resumes work. Eventually, he fully unearths the precious metals from the rock. Guards collect the materials. Zeth collapses to his knees, still crying.

He hears a woman’s voice in his mind. “Follow the light in your heart.”

He looks up and sees a shimmering figure, a tall woman with flowing blonde hair and an angelic white dress. She flickers like a mirage.

“Who?” Zeth whispers.

He rubs his eyes, and the vision vanishes.

“Am I seeing things? Who was that?”

Soon, the work is finished. All the metals have been harvested.

“Alright, you scum, you’re done! Report to the cafeteria for your meal!” a guard announces.

“Follow the light in my heart…” Zeth says to himself quietly. “I don’t know what that means exactly, but I’m thinking I should save my friend.”

He starts walking, exiting the large open area.

“Hang on, Paul,” he murmurs. “I’m coming to save you… and then we’ll get the hell out of here.”

***

Instead of reporting to the cafeteria, Zeth heads toward the punishment area. As he gets closer, he starts peeking around corners. Oddly, there aren’t many guards near the punishment area.

He peeks through windows in various rooms, looking for Paul. Some of the prisoners he sees being punished are stripped and beaten with a spiked club. He tears up at the sight, whispering to himself, “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”

Finally, he finds the room where Paul is kept. At the moment, there are no guards, so he slips inside. Paul is still clothed but has various injuries on his head.

Zeth rushes to him. “Paul, what have they done to you?”

Paul turns to him, his voice weak. “Zeth? They’ve been beating me across the head repeatedly and calling me worthless garbage.”

Zeth’s voice is resolute. “We’re getting out of here. Come on.”

Paul hesitates. “You’ve decided to escape now?”

Zeth nods firmly. “I have. Let’s go.”

Paul slowly gets off the table he’s been placed on. His eyes widen with concern. “The guards will be back soon. They’ll notice I’m gone and put the whole prison on alert.”

Zeth glances at the door. “We’ll just have to get out before then.”

They leave the room and start running.

***

Elsewhere in the prison, a massive explosion rattles the guards.

A male guard shouts, “What the hell was that?!”

More explosions start happening across the prison, partially or fully destroying entire rooms.

***

In the area where the first explosion happened, guards see a figure walking through the flames caused by the explosion. With the person’s face partially obscured by smoke, only the bottom half of his face is visible, his wicked smile visible to the guards.

***

Zeth and Paul continue running through the prison as the explosions echo all around.

Paul yells over the noise, “What is going on here?!”

Zeth shakes his head. “I don’t know, but it gives us a good chance to escape!”

They enter a large room filled with guards and prisoners. The lights flicker and fires burn throughout the room. They continue running through the chaos as explosions kill both guards and prisoners alike. After several minutes, they are near the exit but run into a group of guards.

Zeth successfully dodges past them, but Paul is caught.

“Go on without me, Zeth! At least one of us should make it out!” Paul shouts.

Zeth grits his teeth. “I can’t leave you!”

Paul looks at him urgently. “Just go!!!”

Zeth’s heart sinks as he processes Paul’s words, shouting back, “There’s no way I’m leaving you behind!!”

Paul screams, “Zeth, you have to live!!!”

An explosion rocks the room, killing Paul and the guards in a fiery blast. Their bodies burn, completely lifeless.

Zeth’s eyes widen in horror as he watches Paul’s scorched body. He falls to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

“Noooo!!!!!!” he screams.

Zeth stands, wiping his tears away, and begins to run. As he does, he crashes into another guard.

His voice is hoarse. “Get out of my way!!!”

He charges at the guard. As he does, his fist and arm begin to glow with a purple hue. He punches the guard, sending him flying into a wall.

Zeth looks at his arm in confusion. “What’s happening to my arm?”

Another explosion shakes the ground around him.

He shakes his head, determination returning. “I’ll figure it out later! I need to escape!”

He resumes running for the exit. He turns a corner, seeing daylight at the other end.

“There it is!” he shouts.

He reaches the exit of the prison and stumbles outside as the explosions continue. But just as he gets outside, he’s kicked from the side and knocked onto his back. He rubs his right arm and looks up.

A male guard wearing a hat that says MG stands before him.

“Are you responsible for the ongoing destruction of our prison?!” the guard snarls.

Zeth looks up at him, wide-eyed. “No! I didn’t do anything!”

The guard smirks. “Yeah, right! You wouldn’t be out here otherwise! As a member of the Hawk Clan Magic Guard, I will execute you!”

A green aura surrounds the guard. He raises his hand, fingers pointed toward Zeth. Green magic spikes shoot out of his fingers. Zeth rolls out of the way just in time to dodge them.

Zeth stands and shouts, “I told you I didn’t do this!!”

Zeth rushes toward the guard, but more green needles shoot at him. Zeth’s left arm is enveloped with a purple aura, and he swats the spikes away.

The guard opens his eyes wide, stunned at what Zeth just did.

The guard yells, “That’s magic! I knew it! You really are responsible!”

Zeth gets close to the guard and tries to punch him. The guard sidesteps to dodge. Zeth tries again, but the guard takes a step back, dodging again. Zeth throws another punch, and this time, the guard blocks with his arms.

The guard counters with a powerful punch, sending Zeth crashing to the ground. Immediately, the guard shoots more spikes, and they pierce Zeth’s abdomen.

Zeth cries out in pain, gasping, “Gah!! It hurts!”

The guard begins to form a large magic spike in his right hand. He sneers, “This will pierce your heart! Your life is over!”

“No!!!” Zeth shouts, defiance burning in his eyes.

The guard throws the spike. At the same time, Zeth thrusts his left hand forward, and suddenly, a star-shaped burst of energy flies from his palm. The star collides with and destroys the spike before continuing toward the guard.

The guard’s eyes and mouth open wide in terror. “What!!?”

The star hits the guard, erupting in an explosion.

Zeth looks at his hand, completely stunned by what he just did.

The guard’s body is left with significant injuries, and he falls on his back, dying.

“Beaten by lowly… Eagle Clan… scum…” the guard mumbles as he takes his last breath.

The guard’s eyes close, and he dies.

Zeth stares at the guard, still stunned. “How… did I do that?”

More explosions erupt within the prison, destroying more of it.

“Oh no! I need to get away fast!!”

Zeth quickly stands up and starts running, holding on to his abdomen in pain as he runs. He escapes over the hills. Once he reaches the top of the hill, he looks back at the prison.

“Did others escape? Are all of the prisoners dying along with the Hawk Clan guards?” Zeth mutters with concern. “It’s sickening that the Hawk Clan is full of horrible people bent on destroying the Eagle Clan.”

As he looks on, Paul flashes in his mind, the memory of his friend being etched into him.

“Thank you, my friend…” Zeth whispers.

Zeth looks at the purple aura covering his arm, proof that he cannot go back to being the defenseless person he was before. “So, magic, huh? I wish I had known I had this before.”

With a few more massive explosions, the whole prison is finally destroyed. Zeth turns around and walks away, leaving behind the smoldering wreckage of the prison with a sharp gaze forward.

“I don’t know what life has in store for me from here on out, but I’m not going to sit idly by. I’m going to tackle it head-on!”

Zeth is now free from the Hawk Clan prison, but he lost a close friend in the process. With new powers awakened, where does he go from here?

Chapter 1 END

To be Continued in Chapter 2: Three Travelers