Chapter Three

I look up at the straw roof that covered me from the elements. The smell of a fire and the warmth of it surrounding me making me feel cozy.

I hear the sound of a bell signaling those that had passed the trial. I pull myself out of bed looking at the clothes that lay on the chair which sat in the corner of the room. I grab them and slowly put them on. The texture rough and course making being naked seem much better.

I walk towards the empty door way, I reach the entrance of the hut and step outside the bright sun light blinding me for a brief second my eyes adjusting quickly. I look towards the large mass of Daliki walking towards the center of the village so I follow suit and make my way to the center.

I reach the large group and see a huge stage standing above the crowd. I look towards the stage and see three young men chained down with their head trapped in a wooden lock that is bolted to the stage.

A voice emanates from the stage "These men tried and failed to pass our trial of entry and one of them thought he could trick his way in, by forcing his twin brother to complete the trial. The brother completed the trial of entry, but, his scheming twin shall not be spared." The same Daliki that welcomed me said his voice uncaring for the plight these young men found themselves in. Commotion started to break out many of those that had survived start to loudly talk amongst themselves "We could have died! Do those damn Daliki not know who my father is?!" one says loudly his voice filled with fear masked by arrogance "Wait until my father hears about this! he will come slaughter each and every one of you!" another shouts.

"Do not think we are unfair for we offer you the chance to become dragons! The journey is not an easy road to tread you will have to stake your life whether that be on beliefs or greed! Risking your life for the chance at true power is an easy choice for those that are willing walk the path of torment." One of the elders say their voice filled with annoyance.

Three of them walk up onto the stage caring axes bigger than a cow with dry blood on each edge. I look up as they take their positions and then a chilling voice sounds "Snuff out their light!" the Daliki do a large arc and swing down, their axes in sync. The axes reach the young men's neck causing a gurgling crunch sound, blood spurting out of their necks. Their heads fall from their bodies slowly rolling off the stage and into the crowd, blood covering the stage and slowly dripping off onto ground.

The smell of iron tears through the air causing my nose to wince from how strong the smell is. The sounds of the decapitation and imagery still fresh in my mind I look up towards the stage once again wondering what will happen next. "Those that passed follow me!" one of the older Daliki says his voice emotionless and rough. I look around and see four humans with the same horrified expression and another who's expression showed nothing but tranquility. they slowly start to follow the older Daliki and so do I.

I walk following the Daliki from behind walking at a steady pace. We walk for a few minutes until we reach a large field with a giant arch hanging over it. Many of them seemed to be meditating. The elder turns around and says "now we will send you off to different instructors and they will teach you how to properly utilize your Nihility Artifact and Divine Crystal." he looks us all up and down and continues "but first I must educate you on the different types of Divine Crystals. There are five main categories, the first is element which allow the user to control fire to time itself as well as many other elements." I look to my left and see one of those that passed sleeping I ignore him and continue to listen "then there are Weapon variants which are rarer and come in many varieties, third, there is armor which protects your body from any harm and can be lifesaving, fourth, creature evolution which allow the user to take the form of mythical creatures these are very sought after and nearly impossible to find, finally, there is deity form a combination of all forms that turn the wearer into the personification of the elements themselves there are only three known to exist." He finishes speaking and looks around his eyes analyzing each of us.

He turns to the side and whispers into the ear of one of the other elders, then turns back now facing the group and says "we will now choose students to pass our knowledge to." They start to say the name of students, calling each of us up and assigning us to different Daliki Elders. I do not hear myself called however much like me they will not know my name. I look towards them and see the elders whispering about something, but with my heightened senses I listen closely and hear them say "Should we really give the child to him? The boy has so much potential." One of them whispers "I agree, however we have no choice he ranks above us." Another says "I guess it is decided the boy will go to him." The oldest one says their voices filled with unwillingness and uncertainty.

What I hear makes my skin crawl their conversation making me wonder if I should have come here at all. They point towards me and say "come here." Their voice demanding, I make my way to them and once I reach them, I hear the sound of wind behind me and a voice radiating with arrogance "I will take it from here." And before I can react, I feel a strong grip and am whisked off at high speeds. Rushing through the village everything passes me by until I am in front of a small cottage next to a flowing river.

The cottage is large and quint, flowers planted around it with moss going up the side. the door caught my attention the most weird symbols were sprawled across it. In front of the cottage lay many different kinds of weights and some sort of metal humanoid doll the same size of a Daliki.

The man that whisked me away sets me down. I turn to face him and am shocked at what I see his body ginormous, an average Daliki was about ten feet yet he was twice that, his jaw rough and manly his eyes hard and overbearing his muscles radiating strength and his biceps bigger than a small bolder and his face that of a dragon with human features such as a nose and ears, he looks me up and down and says "go grab all the weights over by the spirit mannequin and put them on." His face covered in a mischievous smile. I walk over and grab the weights and strap them on, the weight nearly crushing me. I force myself to stand tall and stumble forward barely able to walk. I look up towards my kidnapper and on his face lay an amused expression "Now run two-hundred laps around the village the trail starts and ends behind my home." He says as he points to behind his cottage his tone sounding entertained "Do not dare to use your Divine Crystal." He said his voice carrying killing intent making me feel as if he was soaked in blood.

I look down towards the village, the stone and straw huts spread about. The makeshift houses doting the horizon it would take hours maybe even a day to run around the entire village let alone running two-hundred laps and with these weights it would take much longer. "Is this guy messing with me?" I thought, but then another thought came to mind "he said that I could not use my divine crystal but never said anything about my Nihility Artifact". So, I turn towards the trail and begrudgingly make my way towards it, the weights making each step feel colossal.

I reach the trail my clothes already drenched in sweat; my eyes barely able to stay open as the salty substance assaults them. I look down the trail its many curves and slopes making me feel disheartened, however I get ready and take off the weights making it hard to stay balanced and my speed, abysmal. I start to focus on my Nihility Artifact. The energy within me running rampant as it touches the Artifact. The energy starts to turn golden and the once raging flow of energy now calm.

A giant vortex appears above me almost as tall as the trees wind starts to howl as the sky turns dark and the clouds turn grey suddenly lightning strikes sending a current of electricity flowing throughout my entire body.

My body now riddled with wounds, however just as fast as the wounds appeared they start stitching themselves back together I can feel my heart pumping harder and I can see my muscles getting more pronounced the feeling of slight tears and warmth the euphoric feeling rushing throughout my muscles leaving a tingling sensation making it impossible for me to stop. The lightning constantly strikes me and with each strike, I can feel my body getting stronger as does the lightning.

I run past a few huts and see many Daliki looking at me with a strange expression one of shock, awe and sympathy. I turn my head and continue to run the weights no longer such a heavy load.

I sense something to my right and turn my head to look into the forest. I see a bright silver light following me from the tree line as I run around the village, I could feel it stare at me like it could see through my very soul yet when I tried to look at it, I felt as if what I looking at was natural as if my very being wished to run into its light. I choose to ignore it fearing that if I dared even slack for a second my kidnapper would not be very happy.

Suddenly my body vibrates and a feeling as if a gateway had been torn asunder, my muscles radiate with power, if before they were like a weak flower ,now, they were like hardened steel. Inside my soul I felt a new area form one raging with burning flame capable of turning all to ash in its wake while beautiful cherry trees lay untouched by the flames, slowly letting their petals fall. The smell of sweet intoxicating cherry trees and unyielding flames scorched the air making my breath heavy.

A figure starts to form within the flames sitting in the lotus position the figure has two heads with six arms its faces formed into different expressions one holds an expression of unwillingness and resentment, the other one of violence yet held eyes of tranquility each one had strange symbols carved into their skin which gave off a feeling of pure domination. Their body massive and faces rough fangs protruded from their mouths their jaw strong and wide, with one having long hair tied in a pony tail the other balled each looking fierce and imposing the scene giving an air of peace and desolation. A crimson horn adorned the blue skinned one while an azure horn lay on the red skinned one. On the center of their chest was symbol formed from their skin, a symbol that is hexagonal in shape with a square in the center and fangs on each corner just from looking at it I felt all the breath leave my body and everything turned cold.

The being started to move and began chanting, the words started to become stuck in my mind suddenly I found myself chanting them. The cold feeling disappeared and I was left with a warm feeling and my mind becomes tranquil. I felt as if I was in a stare of enlightenment.