Chapter 6

Laran felt the adrenaline gather from within him, as his body tensed up. There’s only one chance, he told himself. Only one chance to take him down.

The skeletons remaining edged towards him. He didn’t have much time left to execute his attack.

The necromancer was too caught up in offense. It was the perfect time to counterattack, to take him down in one swift strike. But how? Laran wondered desperately, clinging on desperately onto his sword, which was stuck firmly into the ground. That's it! He cried out silently.

Meanwhile, the necromancer slashed relentlessly. “If you beg like a stray, I may just decide to let you live!” he laughed insanely, “No one injures me and gets away with it!”

Laran could feel his energies slipping away with every claw that cut into him. His vision blurred, then cleared, then blurred again. No more time...he thought.

“Tempest…” Laran muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?” The necromancer edged slightly closer to Laran.

“SLASH!!!” Laran suddenly bellowed. He forcefully drew out all the arcane energy he could muster. He could feel the arcane energy being forcefully drained from him. The sword sucked everything in, like a ravenous black hole eager to consume.
In one swift motion, he grabbed and swung the sword out of the ground, releasing the arcane energy. Releasing was the wrong word. He just let it explode out towards the necromancer.

The attack shot out towards the necromancer with incredible speed, stirring up the air to form a strong current of wind. The pure force of the attack was evident, Laran was blown backwards by his own force, falling back first onto the ground.

The necromancer’s eyes widened as he saw the tsunami that was arcane energy howling as it lunged at him. “Shadolt!” he cried out. It just dissipated as it met Laran’s attack.

“Damn you! Shadolt! Shadolt!” the necromancer cried out, his voice wavering in fear. He was desperate. He watched as his spells crashed harmlessly into Laran’s attack, and the slash of energy loomed ever closer.

The slash of energy smashed headlong to the necromancer. The surprised necromancer didn’t have time to put up his secondary barrier of arcane energy. The strike ripped past his backup force field and slashed diagonally across his chest. He was lifted off the ground, eyes wide open, stunned. Then, he collapsed heavily onto the dirt floor, knocked out straight. Blood dripped from his wound, pouring onto the grass and dirt.

Laran felt extremely fatigued as well. He shut off his Terran eyes, and tried to stay awake. Sleep was coming to him, slowly but surely. He tried to lift up his body, to continue moving. My sword…he thought, reaching out to his sword which lay just a metre from him. Then, he shut his eyes, embracing that familiar black.

……………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Is his quest going smoothly?” a voice asked.

“Of course it is. Everything is going swimmingly. The fool doesn’t suspect a thing.” A familiar voice spoke.

Laran opened his eyes. He was in a place completely filled with darkness, and two distant figures were talking. He began making his way towards them.

“Excellent. It will all be complete in no time…the new era of darkness.” The first being sounded out grandly.

“We need to seek some help from a human.”

“I know who to ask. He too is interesting in the bringing of a new Age.”

“What do we have here?” the first being turned to look at Laran. “Our Chosen. The harbinger of darkness eh?” It laughed. There was a kind of hollowness in the way it laughed, the complete lack of humanity, of feelings, of…a soul.

“I’l see you soon.” The figure pointed a finger at Laran, and his eyes suddenly activated. The Terran eyes felt like they were on fire, making him yelp uncontrollably. Laran squeezed his head in pain, desperate to stop the jarring pain. The heat was becoming unbearable, he forcefully shut his eyes and he could have sworn he heard sizzling and burning on his eyes. He forced himself to calm down, focusing on his heartbeat which was wild and erratic. Then, it cooled down, and Laran opened his eyes.

He was blind in the darkness. The silence was absolute. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could see that he was in a misty room. It was cool and humid, but he seemed to have slightly more difficulty breathing. Suddenly, a door opened, flooding the room with bright, glaring light. Laran had to shield his eyes from the sudden burst, before the lights in the room came on.

“Welcome to my humble home. Your training shall begin soon…Chosen.” The figure that opened the door extended his arms towards Laran. That was all he saw before he drifted off to sleep yet again.

“Argh! Damn you!”, the same voice woke Laran up with a jolt. He groggily opened his eyes, to see a palm flying straight at his face.

“Ouch!” Laran cried out, as the palm connected with his right cheek. He cupped his cheek, and looked straight at the person who slapped him. He was a middle-aged man, with long golden blonde hair that sparkled when the sunlight reached it and glowed when it didn’t. He had small, focused eyes, with a rather flat nose and he was scowling.

“That’l teach you to drool on my pillow!” The man proclaimed loudly, his hands on his hips.

Laran looked down at the pillow, to see a rather generous portion of it soaked in his saliva. Oops. He did it again.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” the man shouted yet again, this time slapping Laran across his left cheek.

“Ouch…” Laran groaned, this time cupping both his cheeks. The man sure was violent.

“I heard from Glen that a young warrior would be coming to learn under me. Judging by the way you slobbered all over my pillow, that flood on the bed is more than enough evidence.”

“My name…is Xenious. I am the master of spirits!” As he spoke, a wind suddenly gusted upwards behind him. Pieces of undead charms flew up behind him, twirling gracefully in the gust of wind. His long flowing robe waved in the gentle wind, with elegance and majesty of a lion-ballerina hybrid combination. Then his blonde hair blew all over his face, obstructing his view of Laran, and Laran’s view of him.

“Damn! This always happens!” he exclaimed unhappily, stamping his foot like a child. Meanwhile, a woman stepped out from behind him, surprising Laran.

She was slightly shorter than Xenious, with a wafer-thin body. She had small curves throughout her body, and she held her head up delicately, as if balancing her weight was a truly challenging chore. She seemed to be a rather petite and gentle woman.

“How many times have I told you to use something to hold your hair in place? That’s the last time I’m helping you out with this!” she stormed out of the room.

“But I wanna look like an anime character! And who else is going to help me with the fanning and the throwing of charms? Honeeeeey…” he chased after her like a desperate schoolboy after a girl who was paying him no attention.

Laran rolled his eyes. Weird people. Then, he noticed a note on the table. There was an upgrade core next to it. Laran held up the letter. It read,

“You lucky son of a gun. You are lucky you even survived. If I was fighting you using my REAL power, you would’ve been toast. I’l take you on for a rematch anytime! You ain’t gonna luck out forever. You defeated me, so I have no choice but to see you as ALMOST an equal. The upgrade core I promised you is on the table. Anyway, here’s my number, XXXXXXXX. I also took one of your arcane energy stones from your bag and left you one of mine. When the time comes, you can establish a connection between the two stones, and I’l teleport to your location through the arcane connection. Train hard! If not you will never be able to match up to my REAL power.

P.s. Have you met up with other Chosens yet? We need to find out where our brothers and sisters are to fufill our destiny.

Signed,
Raccious”

“So that’s his name…Raccious eh?” Laran thought.

Then a sudden realization struck him. “Brothers and Sisters? That means…he is too a Chosen…”

*BeepBeep*, Laran’s cellphone rang. Picking it up, he saw that it was from Xenious.

“Meet me under the waterfall to start your training. Bring that spirit in the upgrade core.”

Laran stretched himself, shaking away the last of his morning grogginess. No time to waste.