Chapter 2

Every hero's story starts somewhere, right? A high school student gets bitten by a radioactive spider at a school trip, next thing you know, he's now a web-slinging super hero! Some billionaire is kidnapped by terrorists. To escape from them, he builds a suit using scrap metal. Next thing, he's now a super hero!

So, is this the story of a billionaire, or a super hero perhaps? Not even! Well, not the billionaire part anyways. As for the hero part, you can judge for yourself.

You're probably asking, what's the point then? The point is, in every story, there is always a turning point.

And our hero's turning point came at the lowest point of his life!

Having been disowned by his parents, Kyle was sitting inside Meren Park. It had started with a fight, but then things had suddenly escalated to the point where his father had hit him!

What was the cause of the fight?

Oh, nothing much. See, Kyle worked as a muscle for hire for some loan sharks. This earned him a terrible reputation, which eventually reached his old parents.

The one person who had tried to give him a chance, was his older brother, and the two had an argument about his job as well. In a fit of rage, he stormed off with his brother's car, which he eventually crashed into a shop close to where he was sitting currently.

He went back to his old ways afterwards.

It's not like he never tried to quit. The problem was that, it wasn't easy to get a job, especially for a high school dropout.

The only job he could do well, he went back to it.

And that was one of the reasons why he was sitting in the park, alone.

He looked up into the night sky, before letting out a sigh. The moon looked so beautiful.

Behind him, was a small, shallow pond. Kids loved to come and see the fish that lived in this small pond.

As Kyle was contemplating the meaning of life and everything in the universe, suddenly, a pillar of light surged into the sky, originating from the pond!

WHOOOOSH!!

Kyle was so startled, that he stood up from the bench, before falling back on his rear! A cold sweat broke out, before he screamed.

The pillar of light spread from the pond, engulfing him completely, before receding.

After the light had receded, Kyle was nowhere to be seen, and the small pond was glowing.

The next moment, he appeared in what appeared to be an underground cave. He was still sitting on his rear, but now his pants were now wet.

The cause wasn't just fear, as he appeared to be sitting in a glowing pond.

He looked around, and saw that he was in a cave illuminated by glowing crystals!

'Where am I?' he thought, as he looked at his wet pants. 'What happened? What was that? Am I dead?' more questions came into his head.

There were no answers.

At least, if he remained sitting there, he wouldn't get any.

With that in mind, he stood up and started walking towards one of the tunnels. Inside, it was also illuminated by blue crystals.

Kyle walked for some time, before he found some semblance of life. The problem was, this semblance of life wasn't a human being!

No, it was a large mole-like creature! Actually, it looked more like a cross between a mole and a rat. It had whiskers, red menacing eyes, and its fur stood erect.

And so, man and beast faced each other.

********

Kava Mede was having a blast. Having been crowned as one of the only four existing Sword Saints, life was pretty awesome!

Sword Saint was a title given to people who had the Knight class, when they had reached Level 4. These people would be crowned as protectors of the kingdom by the king himself with the blessing of the Light. After all, there weren't that many high rankers, and each one was regarded as an asset.

However, that wasn't the real reason why Kava was happy.

After spending months trying to ask her out, she had finally agreed to court him.

It seemed like everything was coming together. Despite life being awesome, he couldn't help but feel a slight unease, as if something terrible was waiting for him around the corner.

As his thoughts reached here, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter."

A young woman entered the office. She was beautiful, and words couldn't do her justice! She had shoulder-length, red hair.

"Hello Lady Anissa. I was just thinking about you", he smiled as she came in.

Hearing his words, the woman blushed.

"Good morning Sir Mede", she returned a warm smile.

"Just call me Kava. To what do I owe the visit?"

"I-I came t-to tell you t-that …" she began to fidget,

Kava's unease began to grow. There was something he couldn't explain.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I-I have been assigned to protect the miners who will be going t-to the Zuid labyrinth", she spoke, almost in a whisper. She was afraid of being misunderstood.

And of course, that's exactly what happened.

A vein popped up on Kava's forehead. "Which son of a bitch gave you that assignment?"

"Umm … that's not--"

"Don't try to hide it!" Kava was now getting angry.

Someone knew that he was closer to this woman, and that she was as good natured as they come. Yet that person had still given her this assignment!

The Zuid labyrinth was a dangerous place. It was divided into three layers; the Upper layer, Middle layer, and the Lower layer, each layer more dangerous than the last!

Inside the labyrinths, there were crystals which had ki inside them. People mined these crystals, to use them as sources of energy. Since they were valuable, there were people who risked their lives to go into labyrinths in order to mine them, and there were people who were given the job to protect them.

"W-we're only going to the Upper layer, so it's nothing to worry about…"

"I said, WHO WAS IT?"

"Umm … it was Sword Saint Lady Cera", as she spoke, she lowered her head.

"That bitch!! I'm going to have a word with her!" Kava swore, as a vein popped up on his forehead again.

"P-please don't! I only came to tell you because I didn't want you to worry about me. After all, I'm level 2", she smiled. She was getting used to the swearing, not that it was a good thing.

It was exactly because she was level 2 that he was worried! These people tended to overestimate their abilities, which was why a lot of them died in the labyrinths!

Granted, she wasn't going on this assignment alone, but that didn't help lower the unease he felt.

Heaving a sigh, he asked, "What time will your group be leaving?"

"In the afternoon."

"I see. I will assign someone to protect you, and I'm not allowing your refusal!" with that he called someone.

The person he called was a burly young man wearing a knight's armour.