Vol 2 Chapter 1: The Forecast

Two women and a man were meditating on a mountain; it is located in the southern part of the border of the kingdom of Balsum. This mountain range was used as a natural border in the south, as even without supervision, it was considered a fortress. The peaks were so tall and hard to approach that anyone sane would avoid them, except for a select few. These few people not only dared to climb the mountains but used it as a means to train, and some even started living there.

As a result, the mountains were transformed, just like the one where the three individuals meditated. In their case, their area was flattened, and a hut was built using only stones. The building was small, had only a single door, and was built right beside the mountain wall. The area where they sat was built more like a cave; it had a wide mouth, but the house was already in the back of the cave and was in a constant dark state, as no sunlight was able to reach it. In the centre of the cave was a tree. It was already quite large, despite the fact that it was planted in solid stone.

The tree was full of flowers and had a single fruit on it; the flowers were giving off a powerful, pleasant odour. Said odour provided a calming and relaxing effect to those who breathed in.

The three sitting in the mouth of the cave were wearing almost identical clothes; A grey robe-like dress. The sleeves of the clothes barely reached the wearer's elbows. They also wore a unique set of white gloves, which left their index and middle fingers uncovered. The hardware had gone past their wrists considerably. The meditating people also had slippers carved from wood.

Except for their footwear, everything was made of high-quality materials. They were pretty lose; although for the naked eye it was invisible, their dress had a very high level of defence; the woman sitting in front was wearing a set which was even enchanted.

The three of them were sitting in a triangle. The woman with the enchanted dress sat in front. She had long black hair, which was cut together at one point to organise her hair to be behind her head. The woman seemed to be in her early thirties, but she had one ugly injury on the left side of her face. A large scar on the side of her head, where hair no longer grew; the cut just barely missed her ear. And a large burn mark over her left eye. And if this wasn't enough, a portion of the woman's left ear was missing.

The other woman was in her early twenties. Her hair was very dark blue; had it been a few centimetres long, it would have reached her shoulders. She had absolutely no injuries.

As for the man, he had short messy brown hair; he was also unshaven. The man also had some minor scars on his face. He had suffered an injury which caused him to lose his eyebrows; despite the fact that no damage seems to be over his eyes, he has no eyebrows.

The three were no simple travellers; Each of them was well-trained and had well-developed muscles. But even so, the hierarchy was clearly visible. The woman at the front was called Zion Shin; she was the one with the highest status. The blue-haired girl, Zole, was the pupil of Zion Shin. As for the man, he was a nameless servant of the two.

The three of them had been meditating for quite some time, but suddenly the teacher opened her eyes and took a deep breath. The woman looked at her shaking right hand and then slowly closed it, trying to stop the trembling.

"Teacher, what's the matter?" Spoke up Zole moments later as soon as she noticed that her teacher had stopped meditating.

"I have a terrible feeling... I must look into it... I am going into seclusion; do not disturb me until I am finished!" Declared the woman and quickly stood up.

"Yes!" Replied the man and the girl.

The woman quickly walked into the house and closed the door behind her. The house was truly small; there were three objects which could barely be called beds, as they were nothing more than some dry grass scattered on a few logs of wood; these three beds were located in three corners of the room.

"What is this feeling? The last time I felt anything like that was..." Thought the woman but suddenly shook her head.

In the centre of the room, she sat down and closed her eyes. She instantly proceeded to meditate. She spent some time. Struggling as she was still shaken up, but then she finally succeeded. As she meditated, she had a strange and realistic vision.

The woman in her vision found herself in a burning town. As she looked around, all she could see on one side were buildings engulfed by fire, and on the other side, every building and structure was covered with a thick layer of ice. The whole town was razed beyond recognition.

"No...Don't tell me!" Shouted the woman at the top of her lungs.

She quickly closed her eyes and slapped her face, and then quickly shook her head. As soon as she opened her eyes, the situation slightly changed. It seemed as if time had gone back some time. The town was not yet razed, but it was being razed.

Citizens were running and screaming on the streets as soldiers were running to confront their enemies. The woman started running towards the chaos to see what was going on. She didn't care about the incoming waves of people as she phased through each and every person, but when she finally noticed what was going on, she came to a sudden halt.

"No... So soon?!" Uttered the woman with widened eyes.

Her hands started shaking, and she started sweating. What she saw was enough to cause such strong emotions in her. She saw an endless swarm of skeletons running towards the few defending knights who were already being pushed back by the skeletons. Above the whole army of skeletons, three entity was floating. The two were almost perfectly identical.

The two identical ones were of a mythical species; those two were nine-tailed foxes. They had fine white fur and sharp claws. The only aspect which allowed one to differentiate between the two creatures was their eye colours. One had red eyes resembling fire, while the other had clear blue eyes.

The third being was another skeleton, but this one was wearing a robe and was emitting a menacing and powerful purple aura.

"Fire!" Declared the skeleton coldly.

The skeleton had a deep and slightly malformed voice. And as soon as he said that, the two foxes opened their mouths, and at that very moment, Zion Shin realised how the whole town was devastated.

The two animals unleashed a powerful beam of energy; the one with red eyes unleashed a red one, while the other had a blue one. The red energy ignited half of the town while the side was frozen.

"This is absurd!" Muttered the woman but instantly regretted it.

"It seems someone is quite curious!" Stated the skeleton.

"W-what?!" Uttered Zion.

The skeleton swiftly shifted its gaze at Zion, and at that moment, she found herself back in the tiny room. She was even more than ever before, and before she could render what had happened, she vomited blood, and her nose started bleeding.

She gritted her teeth, and then, with shaking limbs, she pushed herself up. After she finally managed to stand still, she slowly walked over to the door and opened it. As soon as she opened it, the other two whom she had meditated with looked at her.

"Teacher, what happened?! You look terrible!" Shouted Zole, and she hurried over to her teacher.

"We have a trip to do... We have a disaster at our doorstep which needs to be avoided or stopped! YOu go and notify the sect masters!!" Declared the Zion as she looked at the nameless servant.

"Teacher... Don't tell me!" Uttered Zole with a shaking voice.

"I looked into the future... But I was unlucky; the opponent I have met had much greater mastery over time..." Replied Zion and coughed.

The woman slowly walked over to the tree and harvested the only fruit on the tree.

"We must be prepared... And our destination will be... Fricted Forest... But first, we must inform the king!!"

The man nodded and, without saying anything, rushed away; as soon as he got over to the opening of their cave, he jumped off, leaving the two women alone.

"This time, if some sort of bigshot is not coming... We are screwed! They only needed a few seconds to destroy a town in my vision!" Stated Zion nervously, with a shaking voice.