From You To Me, 6,000,000 Worlds Away

First, A Note From The Author

Please Note: this is my first novel and the initial chapters may move a little slowly at first, I ask that you please be patient and allow the story a moment to kick in.

Thank you, - Grainless123 (The Author).

Prelude

A figure cloaked in shadow sat on an enormous throne in the middle of a large empty chamber. With a finger pressed against his chin, the regal figure eyed a holographic screen floating in the air in front of him.

[Notification: This action cannot be undone, are you sure you'd like to proceed?] below were two options; "Yes" and "No".

The shadowy figure reached out a finger covered in dark energy and pressed it against the digitial window, selecting "Yes".

"Sorry 'friend' but I shall entrust this task to you…" the figure spoke as the window floating in front of him closed with an electronic blipping noise.

…

Part 1

A cold breeze swept over the adventurer's camp just hours before dawn. The entire camp was a lively mix of both amateur and veteran adventurers preparing themselves for the challenges that lay ahead of them tomorrow.

In one corner of the camp, the familiar whoosh of magical particles preceded the sudden roar of a crackiling fire. Several adventurer's from different races sat around the pile of burning logs as the mage, Escher set them ablaze with his magic. The orange glow of Escher's fire illuminated the camp all around them, showing dozens of tents stretching far beyond the horizon.

As they drank and laughed around the roaring flames, Escher waved over a timid young man refilling the other adventurers drinks who stumbled around them as he stepped towards Escher. "Noir, we need more firewood - go and get us some." Escher's voice was commanding as usual, with others he was always gentle and charming but with Noir he spoke like a master to his servant.

"Oh, and if you see Celia on your way, give her this". Escher added already looking away and back towards the fire as he handed Noir a folded up cloak with the monogrammed logo of the Crimson Wolves adventurer guild.

"Ah - ..yes Sir!" The young man - Noir, tipped his head respectfully as he grabbed the cloak and in a hurry rushed off towards the edge of the camp where the excess wood had been stored during the daytime.

As he came towards the pile of logs, Noir realized all the firewood had been taken by the other groups forming in the camp tonight.

With a resigned sigh, he set the cloak on top of a barrel as he grabbed a nearby axe and started chopping fresh logs.

A few minutes later, Noir let out another sigh as he wiped a bead of sweat from forehead before setting the axe on the ground next to him. "And here I thought you planned on doing that the whole night". A soft feminine voice spoke out from behind causing Noir to jump and spin around.

"Celia, I thought you'd be with that swordsman from Loch Aine…" Noir replied, smiling for what was probably the first time that night.

"Please… that jerk tried to poach me for his squad and when I said no, he told his friends it was just cause he liked the view" her frustration evident in her crossed arms and exasperated tone.

"Speaking of arrogant jerks.. here, Escher told me to give this to you". Noir handed Celia the folded up burgundy cloak from earlier. "My cloak, I guess the mage's finally finished it!" Celia eagerly took the cloak from Noir's hands while grinning from ear to ear.

"I guess this means you're a professional adventurer now.." Noir said with a somewhat depressed but mostly congratulatory tone.

"Aw Noir, don't worry I'm sure you'll get a chance to prove yourself soon." Celia's tone was low but consoling as she tried to cheer up her oldest friend.

"Ah, there you are," Escher's voice cut through the nighttime breeze, his irritated expression shining like a lamp in the dark as he approached Noir.

"I sent you to gather firewood ten minutes ago. How difficult can it be to pick up some logs and return?" Escher's voice filled with uncaring arrogance as always..

"Sorry, there weren't any lo-" Noir fumbled over his words as he spoke up but Celia cut him off. "It was my fault Escher, sorry I kept him away for so long.." she said, feigning an apology.

"Fine, Noir head back to the others.. and Celia, don't let this happen again - especially after you just earned that cloak of yours.." Escher grumbled as he walked away grasping Noir's shoulder and forcing him forward.

Part 2

The entire Crimson Wolves guild stood in front a massive Tower, as the guild leader Gareth Runecrest turned around towards the guild members with an affirming look in his eye.

"My fellow adventurers, from squad captains to camp trainee's.. today is our chance to make history, to etch the name of the Crimson Wolves into the hearts and minds of all, from the valleys of the Galadian Empire to the windswept peaks around Hammerstone… today, we make history!"

The guild members of the Crimson Wolves cheered all around the guild master as he stood confident towards the large double doors leading into the tower.

…

Three hours later, Noir opens up his water canteen and offers it to an exhausted adventurer sitting outside Floor 15's doors.

"My squad gather around" Escher called out, several adventurers arleady circling around him when Noir stepped into the circle.

"Alright, I've just cleared it with the guild master.. Our squad will be in the vanguard for Floor 15, as usual we get first picks on any of the loot and items we come across, but remember this is our chance to make a name for ourselves so I don't want anyone fighting over what loot belongs to who." The other adventurers nodded in agreement as they each confirmed their own gear.

While they did, Escher waved Noir over to him before speaking again.. "Noir, I know you've never been on a squad that has taken point like this so I want you to just follow behind slightly while we take care of the enemy, grab any general materials you can find and don't draw your weapon unless you absolutely have to… I don't wanna be cleaning your body up just because you got anxious, understand?"

Noir simply nodded in agreement which seemed to satisfy Escher as he spun around before gesturing to the other members of the squad and heading into the first room of the tower's 15th floor.

As Escher's squad made their way through floor after floor they swiftly cut through waves of different enemies, beast-type and undead-type monsters leapt out at them from various corners of the rooms. Noir followed behind as he was told, gathering any left behind materials that he could and stuffing them into his pack.

As he knelt down to pick up a small crude dagger an undead goblin had dropped, Noir felt the hairs on his neck stand up as he turned to see a hidden skeleton jump out of one of the dark corners of the room.

Reflexively stepping back, Noir reached for his own short sword but couldn't pull it from it's sheathe in time and closed his eyes as he saw the skeleton's rusted sword swinging down towards him.

Soon - Noir felt a crackling noise and a burst of heat fly past him before opening his eyes, to see the skeleton's bones shattered and dispatched along the dimly illuminated stone floor.

Turning around, Noir saw Escher with his staff pointed directly at him. Surprised, Noir tried to force out the words "Thank You" but he was still frozen from the shock, Escher merely smirked and turned back away towards the rest of the squad.

As they progressed, the enemies got tougher and their numbers only grew larger, signaling they were on the right path and by Escher's estimation they only had one room left before the floor boss's room. Standing in front of a pair of double doors ..Escher studied them, larger than the previous doors and decorated in ornate gold patterns.

After a short delay, an uncertain and cautious Escher lifted his staff as a whirl of magic particles floated in the air before coalescing into a floating sphere of wind. Escher tilted his staff slightly and the sphere slashed and slammed agaisnt the door blowing it open with a howling sound.

Noir looked on in surprise, he'd seen Escher use fire magic before but he assumed that was all he could do.. awakening one type of magic was rare enough, but two?! "No wonder he's such a prick" Noir whispered to himself.

To Escher's own shock, the room before him was completely empty - just a set of double doors at the north end of the room, larger and more ornate than the last, likely leading to the floor boss. With no sign of enemies, no beasts or undead anywhere in sight, and as far as the squad's most experienced rogue could tell.. no traps either, the entire squad stepped into the room behind Escher, scanning it for any sign of monsters before suddenly, a set of hidden doors opened up on the left and right sides of the box-shaped room, revealing piles of gold and gems.

Ecstatic, the adventurers all marched over to different piles of gold coins and precious gems, remarking to one another about how rich they'd be once they got it out of the tower.

Another, smaller door had opened from behind Noir. Preoccupied with their own greed, nobody seemed to notice as Noir stepped into the other room.

In the center of the new room was a single pillar made of gray stone standing at about half the height of a fully grown human, with a strange pulsing purple orb resting on top. Noir looked around and stepped forward, reaching his hand out to touch the orb as he heard Escher begin talking from the other room. Quickly, Noir grabbed the orb and stuffed it into his pack before stepping back out to see what the commotion was about.

"The floor boss lies just beyond these doors… we can come back for all the gold and the gems later, but for now we need to focus on the task at hand, the loot here would just slow us down." Escher's voice was loud enough that everyone in the room could hear, even over their own conversations about the 'split' of the valuables, and they all turned to listen.

"You're right boss.." another scruffy looking adventurer spoke out before stepping next to Escher with a determined look on his face. "That settles it, is everyone ready?" Escher asked looking around the room and scanning the members of his squad one by one as each of them stepped up to the floor boss's doors.

"Noir, you stay back - only enter the room after everyone else has already made it through." Escher commanded, and Noir nodded his head in confirmation while secretly clutching his pack to check if the orb was still there and it was.

As the group approached the doors, Escher pressed his palm against the handles. Instantly, the room was filled with a bright red glow as a large square-shaped barrier emerged around the doors and the adventurers. The doors swung open and the barrier shrunk, forcing the adventurer's into the floor boss's room. Cut off from the others, Noir raced forward but was stopped as a wave of beast-type monsters suddenly fell from the roof, cornering him.

Noir leapt to his right as a beast resembling a deformed wolf lunged towards him, leaping and rolling out of the way as he dropped his overburden pack on the ground, with the weight of the pack removed Noir managed to dodge attack after attack but could feel his legs shaking as his fatigue built up and before he could react, a sharp fang pierced his side causing him to gasp for air and recoil in pain.

Falling to his side, Noir looked up to see the mangled corpse of one of his squad mates crash against the shrunken barrier. Inside the floor boss's room, only a handful of Escher's squad remained and Escher himself sat knelt on one knee as he tried to recover his breath, Escher hunched over a wiped a stream of blood from his face. He was missing an eye, Noir barely noticed as another beast bit into his leg.

As the wolves chewed into his side, Noir noticed the orb from earlier had fallen out of pack and rolled towards him. Gasping, Noir reached out his hand towards the orb but was able to touch it. Soon the orb had been kicked by another one of the wolves biting into him and rolled towards Noir.

Mustering the last of his strength and ignoring the pain as best as he could, Noir reached out and grabbed the orb with his hand, suddenly everything began fading to black as he bled out on the stone floor…

[Notification: You have been chosen by the system, do you accept the Title: "Inheritor of Darkness" ?]

Floating in the pitch black darkness, Noir could just barely make out a strange holographic notification hovering over him with the options "Yes" and "No". The window looked almost the same as the one's that appeared to notify the world of the Gates and Towers, most people always assumed it was some type of magic but now, Noir knew that it was something else…

Noir attempted to lift his finger toward the window but failed, he couldn't move anything he though. "But how am I alive?"… before he knew it, another window had popped up.

[Sub-Notficiation: your immediate death has temporarily been suspended by the system].

"Right… so this thing can hear my though? I guess it doesn't matter if I'm dead either way, I accept."

[Notification: Congratulations on obtaining the Title: "Inheritor of Darkness"!] Soon, the window closed with a blipping noise followed by a whirring sound and a sudden burst of light.

"Awaken, Inheritor of Darkness…"

END OF THE FIRST CHAPTER.