The 5 year long journey: Part 2

"Trials can either be a blessing or a curse. They can forge great legends or great villains. When you face yours, what shall you choose to do? What path shall you take?"

In an unknown time and location:

"Hmmm... interesting! Looks like those old monsters are almost all awake! The world is in for something spectacular!" remarked a feminine voice, in an unknown forest. This forest seemed very ancient and majestic. It had a certain feeling to it which gave people the feeling that this forest was very unique.

Location: Unending Primal Forest

Time: Year 12 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

"Ah... it's been a long time since I've been here!" barked a man whose entire body was covered by dark green ominous gas; it was so thick that no one could see through it.

The man stood in front of an old ruined building; this was the building where he had lost one of his friends. As the man stared at this building, pure rage and hatred started festering in his heart.

He couldn't understand why all of this had happened to him, all this loss! All this pain! As the man thought of this, the surrounding area startled to tremble, as if there was an earthquake.

Simultaneously, green gas started to pour out from the ground. If someone were to see this, they would think an apocalyptic event was happening.

After a while, everything calmed down and the man slowly started walking back into the forest. Then, just before the man disappeared into the forest, he turned around and proclaimed:

"You've taken everything I once treasured and now I have the possibility of maybe getting it back. If you even dare try anything else, I will make this world burn!" And the area once more trembled.

With that, the man disappeared and there was once more silence in the entire area.

Location: River of Greed

Time: Year 12 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

On top of this gigantic river, that was so large that one wouldn't be able to see the other side of the river no matter how hard one tried, there was all of a sudden, a large splash out of nowhere.

"Booom!!!" the sound of something exploding could be heard following the splash.

After a while of this continuous noise, a male figure was thrown out of the river onto the right side of the river.

"Agh! You damn piece of trash! Is this how you handle celestials?!" screamed the man in rage at the river.

"Gloob!!! Glo... glo.. .glo!!!" as the river made weird sounding bubble noises, the man became even more furious.

"You dare laugh! I'll show you the consequences of showing such disrespect to me!" panted the man while standing up.

"Tempest hear me! Boil this river!"

"Pssssh!!" As the man saw that his summoned power couldn't do anything to the water his expression became very grim.

"Wha... wait... no... oh no!" shrieked the man in fear as he suddenly realized something.

"My powers got sealed off! Damn, I should have been more careful when I came to this world!" panicked the man in shock as he realised, he was in a very dangerous situation.

As he was thinking of this, his eyes suddenly widened. While he was previously in deep thought, he didn't realise that the water had slowly started to surround his feet to drag him back into the water.

"You dare? Even if I've lost a large chunk of my power it doesn't mean I'm powerless!" roared the man trying to fight his way out of the water as it pulled him deeper and deeper.

"Rogen!!! You bastard! Once I'm done with this... I swear I will…" as the man was still talking, he was finally dragged into the water.

Following this, loud booming sounds could be heard, and huge clouds of steam rose from the water. This continued for a very long time. After a while, that seemed like ages, the man was once more thrown out of the river.

"Agh... ugh... damn you... I swear I'll get my revenge!" the man chocked. After this he passed out from sheer exhaustion, not realising that a pair of eyes in the surrounding forest had been observing him for a while.

Location: Mine District District 5, Quadrant H

Time: Year 12 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

In the deep canyons of Mine District 5, Quadrant H, there was the continuous sound of things being mined, people screaming it rage or pain, and the occasional sound of people singing. In the canyon hundreds of thousands of slaves were in chains, continuously mining for materials for the faction.

They were all extremely malnourished and exhausted. Yet unbeknownst to their overseers and guards, in the eyes of the slaves, a strong flame of passion was burning. A flame for their freedom. For the day they would finally break their chains and be free from their oppressors.

Far away from most of the slaves, one slave with a very big and muscular build was staring at them with a grin. This man was Phillip. One of the ten knights of the crowned knights of freedom.

As Phillip was gazing at his comrades, he suddenly heard a voice in his head.

"We've succeeded in either bribing or convincing the guards of our plan. The only problems are the overseers and some stubborn guards!" warned the voice in Phillip's head.

Hearing this Phillip smiled and said to the voice in his head:

"Good. Now that we have those things out of the way, we can move to the next steps of the plan. Start gathering weapons, armour, and all sorts of resources for the day we finally strike!" commanded Phillip with a dangerous smile as he walked back to the other slaves to help in doing the tasks.

"As you wish!" agreed the voice.

Location: Ancestors Cave

Time: Year 12 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

In the cave, there was only silence and the occasional sound of people breathing. The silence had an ominous feeling to it, as if something very sinister was in motion, behind the scenes.

"Are they here yet?" asked one of the ancestors.

"Hmm... yes they have arrived, finally the day our clans becoming united has finally come! With this, we will be able to take a part of this forest for ourselves!" proclaimed the ancestor which had previously conflicted with Melisandre and the ancestors on her side.

"But what about the others? Without them, we won't be that strong or have as many forces as compared to the other clans," complained one of the ancestors.

"Don't worry, those scum won't be necessary for our clan. We already have a sizable amount of their tribe members left in our clan. With them, we can nurture the most loyal and strong ones into the respective new ancestors of their tribes. I hardly think anyone will oppose this," snidely commented the ancestor who had previously had a conflict, with a malicious smile.

"But Brutus... it was only the founding ancestors of our tribes in this clan that saw the boy, even now we can see the benefits it brought us. Without the other ancestors, we will have a hard time finding the boy," complained one of the ancestors with concern.

"Don't worry! Once we have united with the other clans and stabilised ourselves, with our combined and now strengthened power, we will easily be able to find the boy! Even without the other ancestors it will be easy!" announced Brutus with a confident smile. There was only silence once more in the cave.

Location: Mountain of clouds

Time: Year 12 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

The mountain of clouds is called this because it has an uncountable amount of large and wide mountains covering a huge area. It is so massive that even a person's entire lifetime wouldn't be enough to explore every mountain in the area.

At the bottom of the mountains, at their very origin, there was a huge group of beast-like people standing before the mountains. From what could be seen, there were ten different types of beast-like people. All of them had different characteristics that defined which tribe they came from.

Some showed fewer traits while others portrayed more. The leaders of the tribes stood at the front of the group. They were the ancestors who supported Melisandre.

They were the most prominent of their various tribes, for the characteristics of the animals they were, could be seen clearly. The ten species of the tribes that could be seen were:

1. The Wolves, Melisandre was their ancestor

2. The Squirrels, Hiot was their ancestor

3. The Foxes, Lucien was their ancestor

4. The Bears, Baren was their ancestor

5. The Pumas, Peskian was their ancestor

6. The Orangutans, Ole was their ancestor

7. The Panthers, Zalian was their ancestor

8. The Penguins, Edward was their ancestor

9. The Gorillas, Goliath was their ancestor

10. The Goats, Becky was their ancestor

These ten tribes and their ancestors were the only ones who had left the clan, and although there was a large amount from each tribe here at the mountains, a substantial amount of their members had not gone with them and had changed their allegiances to the other tribes.

As Melisandre saw all this, she was very saddened, but that only lasted a split second, for she knew she had to concentrate! For everyone here had put their trust in her.

"Alright then follow me, we will be heading to our new home. Even though we are less than what we once were, that does not mean we are weak. As of now, we shall be called the ten tribes of the mountains!" commanded Melisandre with a smile, and she slowly started to lead the others up onto the mountains.

Location: Underground Mining Area 50-G

Time: Year 12 of the Era of Change Era: Era of Change

In one of the tunnels where thirty people had originally entered, they had encountered many trials. Until now, they had only a few serious injuries and no casualties. In terms of finding food, they always found enough. But today everything changed.

They again faced grotesque monsters, but this time the monsters didn't decrease rather, they continually increased. This continued for a long time, and eventually the group of thirty became overwhelmed. The once thirty strong group was now a mere three-member group.

Of this group, two were women and one was a man. All three were heavily wounded and they had injuries all over their bodies. One of the woman was extremely pale and dizzy. It seemed like she would pass out at any moment from severe blood loss. As the horde of monsters was catching up, the woman stumbled and fell.

"Help me! Please..." pleaded the woman with the last energy she could summon.

As the other woman heard this, she felt compassion for a second and she wanted to help her. But before she could do anything, the man pulled her away, not giving her any chance to think about anything else.

"No... please... No! Aaaghhh!!" shrieked the woman on the ground. As saw the other two people run away, she lost all hope. Moments later, she was engulfed by the horde of monsters ripping her apart and leaving nothing behind.

After running for a long time, the couple managed to escape from the horde of monsters. The woman slumped to the ground in exhaustion taking deep breaths. The man, on the other hand, was full of adrenalin and fired up by all these experiences and didn't seem to have any signs of exhaustion.

The only thing he was showing was an extreme sense of malicious lust pointing towards the woman.

For the woman was very beautiful. She had lush blond hair with a few curls and with that, she had an extremely alluring figure and face. As the woman caught her breath, she noticed how the man was staring at her.

As she saw this her eyes widened, and she tried to quickly stand up and run away. Sadly though, she wasn't fast enough. The man caught her and shoved her to the ground.

"Hehe... darling... now that we are alone, why don't you stay and help me work off my frustration," grunted the man excitedly, with an evil smile and eyes that could only belong to a demon. For he was no more a human, no, he was but an animal doing wicked deeds.

"No please... No!" screamed the woman while crying, but she knew no one would be able to save her.

Suddenly, a small adorable looking puppy appeared in front of the two. As it looked at them, he tilted his head to the side and made a cute looking face.

"Scram you little mut…" Just as the man was about to chase away the puppy, something happened which made the man widen his eyes. The "puppy" opened its mouth. Its mouth became so large, that it could swallow an entire person whole. It also had many sharp teeth to help make his food less... solid.

On seeing these two people, the "puppy", before the two people could even react, gobbled them up. Once they were in his mouth he started chewing. Their pitiful and painful screams could be beard throughout the tunnel.

Even though in the end the two died in the hands of a monster, wouldn't it be said to have been better than the alternative? For this was the truth of this new world, no?

There were many people, even though they were human, that would act just like monsters or even worse. They only care about themselves and don't care about who they would hurt in the process.

So in the end what would be better? To die by the hands of a real monster or by a fellow human, who abandoned everything it means to be human, and is nothing more but an animal.

In another tunnel:

"Hey guys did you feel that?" questioned Steven while furrowing his eyebrows. By now, Steven had already grown a bit in the last year. His hair had slowly started to lose its curls, and his height had increased by a few centimetres.

His physique had also undergone many changes. He now had a very fit and toned body, but compared to everyone else who had been transformed and had strengthened bodies, this wasn't that great of an achievement.

"What do you mean? Did you feel something again?" asked Bob. He was one of the over twenty people who had followed Steven and his group. He, like the others, had all gotten to know Steven very well and they knew even though Steven had no powers, there was something special in him.

It was with this knowledge, that they had learned, that if Steven felt something, then something was either happening or was going to happen. It was with this foreknowledge that helped the group avoid many catastrophic accidents and result in a mostly smooth journey so far.

"Yeah... I feel pain, hurt, and suffering. I can't explain it, it just feels so... so sad... so painful..." whispered Steven with a nauseating expression. Steven himself didn't know why he could feel these things. He thought it was maybe Rogen, or that celestial he had met in the golden clouds, that had allowed him to have these abilities.

But what he did know, was that it wasn't his own abilities. It didn't feel like his powers, rather, it felt like it was something pressing on him, which occasionally gave him these abilities. He couldn't explain nor comprehend it. All he knew was that he didn't like it. It made him extremely uncomfortable and sometimes it was even unbearable.

Recently, it hadn't appeared much, yet suddenly, it came back now, frustrating Steven. For it was very hard for him to process all these emotions and feelings he was receiving like a signal.

"Hmmm... then we need to be careful. Even though we have had a mostly safe journey up till now, we still have a long way to go," warned Xiang who now had a nice beard plastered on his face. Hearing this everyone nodded and cautiously carried on walking ahead.

Like this, another year had passed. Many had fallen, many had suffered, and some felt pressured with what they had to face. Some fell and became something that wasn't human anymore. While others were still on their journey to discover who and what they would become.