Chapter 8: Chloris

Higher up in the frozen lands, grew wild trees and shrubs. This region of Heliin had no sunlight, due to its outer atmosphere. It had a different climate. The landscape froze, entire areas littered with ice. The only form of life were purple flowers.

Lying on a frozen plateau of land, a sleeping girl did not stir in these conditions. She was, beautifully dressed. A long red dress with 6 bows on the back decorated her. She had long black hair, reaching to her waist. The girl slept with a smile, oblivious to the freezing temperatures.

“Faylin… Faylin…” an imperceptible voice whisphered.
“Mmmm…”
“FAYLIN!” the voice shouted.
“Huh! What?” Faylin sat up.

Her hand was frozen to the touch, and each exhalation created frozen ice on her nose. “Where am I?” the girl put her arms around her body. She decided to look for someplace warm. A sudden unusual wind blew through the calm area, and rustled the trees, blowing off their purple leaves. The leaves drifted in the sky, and a few landed on Faylin.
“What’s this?” she picked up one leaf. Faylin touched the stem area. It was scalding hot. She decided to pick up more, but the trees were too high. No matter how hard she reached, nothing worked. Out of the blue, the strong wind came again, and it shed the tree bare.

Faylin smiled cheerfully, feeling warmer by the presence of the hot leaves. A faint snicker echoed out of the blue. It was like someone was observing her. The girl looked around. Nothing but more and more frozen trees and shrubs. “Who’s there?” she asked. “Whoever you are, thank you very much for the leaves!” she said.

No response. Faylin decided to continue walking.
“What a nice dream…” she thought to herself.

In front of an enormous block of ice, she stopped. A white furry creature descended upon her. With the build and wings of an owl, and the face and feet of a rabbit, it landed with a light thud. “Aw, how cute!” More of the creatures landed, and all circled Faylin. To her it was like a fairytale dream. She crept down to touch it…
“NO!! Don’t touch it!” a muffled cry came from the ice block.
“Huh?” Faylin looked left at the ice block, but it was too late. The creature put its paw on her hand. Sharp electrical impulses coursed through her skin and there was an instant stinging sensation.
“AHHHHH!” she went, as she collapsed. her whole body went numb from the touch.

Only her mind and head could function. She saw the ice block. Smoke started to spew out from the tip. It was, melting! The ice block slowly faded away to reveal what was under it. a cold, but visible stone statue. However, the ice only melted away the showing the head portion. The eyes of the statue suddenly turned from the dull grey to bright green. The statue gave a very grieved and angry expression, as green light shot out of its eyes. It shot everywhere on the ground and there were explosions. Puff of green smoke appeared. Faylin was terrified, but, she was unharmed! The creatures now backed off. Faylin’s condition started to worsen, as her neck was stiff. She could not feel the hardness or coldness of her surroundings, and her vision became a blur. The white ice in her eyesight started to fade…

The moment she woke up again, the world was still a blur. She could faintly make out that there was a girl, having her face to hers. Looking worried with her hands together, she sighed. “That was close…”
“Who are you?” Faylin asked, still lying down. Even as she tried to get up, her body won’t let her.
“Please don’t struggle. Delouse Windler Posion won’t completely wear off until 5 minutes more.”
“Excuse me, erm, thank you very much.”
“What for?”
“For saving my life. Are you the girl from the statue?”
“Yes I am.” Faylin saw the girl stand up, and started to distance. “Please don’t go! I need to know where I am!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t go! I am supposed to stay by your side!”
“Really?”
“Yes. Really.” The girl said, smiling.
“I am Faylin Pamela Fetlyn, a high school student, what about you?”
“Chloris. I am the Goddess Of Nature & Healing.”

As time passed, Faylin managed to do a full recovery. She looked at the girl. She had long green hair and eyes, and she wore a white one piece dress. More significantly, she had a bright halo over her head. “Hey, whats that?” as she reached over the grab it. However, her hand went clean through it.
“Hmm, no matter how hard you try, you won’t get my halo.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am only a tarot, a mere spirit summoned to help you all out.”
“You all? Oh, oh! Are there more of people like me?” Faylin jumped for joy.
“Yes… You see, a long time ago, a person, a messenger from the gods, descended upon this world. He wanted to let people know of an eminent danger.”
“What danger? Oh this is so fun!” Faylin got closer to Chloris.
“Far from it. The danger is called ‘The Darkness’. It is an elite organization, started by the infamous Lord Dernhelm.”
“Oh, oh! Question!” Faylin raised her hand.
“Yes?”
“Is that the purpose of everybody like me? To help defeat this Lord?”
“Yes, quite right. But…”
“Send me at him!”
“You DON’T know how to fight yet! How would you defeat him!”
“Then let’s start immediately!”
“Wait a moment. I have something that I need to give you.” Chloris said.

She took out a hand-sized wand from her pocket. It was dull silver, with the tip of it being in the shape of an old oak. She raised it high, and it attracted beads of light into the tree, giving it a green colour. She then waved the wand in an X formation, creating a visible X shape in the air. “The Wand of Strength, may it summon for only just purposes, for my partner’s needs, grant her weapon!” The wand blinked brightly on and off, and let off green puffs of smoke. The smoke materialized into a vague long object, as strings of metal appeared and started morphing.

A metal pole.

“Hey, that’s it?” Faylin looked unimpressed. The pole fell and rolled towards Faylin. “Go on, pick it up!” Chloris said excitedly. Faylin picked it up. The moment her skin touched, the pole started to change its form. It became longer, and grew a tree-like formation on the tip. The roots extended onto the side of the pole as engravings, and appeared like vines of a Poison Ivy vines. A series of words begun to engrave onto the side.

The Staff of the Forests.

“Wow, so cool!” Faylin exclaimed, waving it around.”
“Don’t! You’ll…” and at that instant, the icy ground started vibrating crazily. Brown sharp roots shot out from the solid ice in a tangle. They followed Faylin’s instructions obediently. Faylin giggled at the site, though the pet was menacing. Faylin liked her new partner. It was her first time seeing a green-haired person in her life, or holding a leaf that gave extreme heat, or even see a frozen land! These thoughts did not continue to ponder in her mind though. She merely accepted it. It was like a lucid dream.

But, was this really a dream?

Chapter 7: The Divine Priestess

The wind blew gently, and the green canopy of trees swayed to and fro, rustling. Tall trees were all around as the eye could see, but there lay a grassy area barren of trees. There stood a single large silver statue. High and mighty as it was, it depicted a serene lady. With long hair and small eyes, she wore a peaceful and collected smile. Wearing a long dress with a cross on each of the four sides, she had large white wings like that of an angel sticking out from her back, and she wielded a double-sided sword, which had its shape like a cross, and a silver crown. Inscribed on the base of the statue, denoted: ‘Forever live the tranquil Divine Priestess’. A statue, frozen in its time. But, next to the quiet and motionless statue, lay a motionless, breathing boy. Just barely conscious, the habitat barely stirred him from his sleep. Obviously,

It was Artemas.

It was only when it started raining did Artemas come to. A water drop landed directly into his right ear. He decided to run and take cover, but he was already drenched.
“My school uniform…” he sighed. However, being observant now, he realised his situation.
“WHERE AM I?”
He looked all around, but only could see trees. No trails, no roads, no signs. “How do I get out of here?” frantic, Artemas reached for his mobile phone, and dialed 999. There was no response, but a long wailing beep. ‘How had I wound up here? Why am I here? Where is here?’ was all running through Artemas’ mind. The rain continued to pour, and Artemas decided to seek shelter. Looking behind him, he saw the statue of the Divine Priestess.

“What a beautiful statue…” he thought, and saw that there was an area under the statue which he can shelter. He rushed over and sat there. “ARGH, Where am I??” Artemas cried, as he sat there, now in tears. Everything had vanished before his eyes, in that frozen trance. “What was that anyway?” he thought.

Before he could even think about it. He heard a whispher. “It was a transportation procedure.”
“AHHHHHHH! Who said that?”
“It is I, the Divine Priestess.”

Artemas quickly turned around to look at the statue behind him. It was still a statue. It winked at Artemas, and he got the shock of his life. “What are you?”
“Please hold on.” The motionless statue said. Suddenly, the statue evolved a blue cloud of light smoke, abseiling upwards. It formed what seemed to be a head, then the torso, followed by the legs. It was an exact replica of the statue. The figure shined with blinding light, as it came out of the statue. Slowly, colour imposed into the figure. Now, she wore a blue and purple dress. “Ah… Free after 2000 years!” she said, stretching as she descended upon the ground.
“Ho…Ho…HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Artemas stood opened mouth at the Priestess. Trying to back off, the now human Priestess came closer and closer to Artemas. “Well well, you’re much cuter than I expected!” she smiled.

Artemas, having seen enough, darted in the opposite direction.
“Hey! Wait! Don’t worry! I can’t hurt you!”

Artemas ran. He didn’t want to get involved.
“I just want to go home! I just want to go home!!! What is all this?!” Now deep in the forested area, anxiety ensued. He did not know which way to go, but he had to get away from that woman! “It’s bad…” he thought. However, his peace was soon disturbed. The grass in the forest rustled, as he made his way. The rustling became closer and closer by the second.
“Is that you? Don’t play games now! Its not funny!” Artemas cried. Suddenly something gave out an ear-splitting howl. The howl of death filled the forest air.

Artemas stopped. He was scared, this howl was weird, nowhere on Earth did this originate. Artemas then saw what was tailing him. With the build of a lion, the skin of a fish, and the teeth of a sabertooth, the beast came out of the bushes. It gave another deafening howl, which shook Artemas’ spine. “Found you!” the Priestess arrived, panting.
“What do I do about that? Is it a carnivore?”
“It’s a Predonialantic Phasorapture! Quick! Use this!” Using her staff, she spun it round 2 times, and jerked it forward. The centre of the weapon shone brightly with yellow light.

“The Divine Priestess’ sword, may it summon for only peace and justice, for my partner’s needs, grant him his weapon!”

The sword started shining. It materialized, and it took the form of a dagger instantly. The dagger fell, and it stabbed into the ground. It was golden, and it wrote,

The Weapon Of The Last Divinator.

“Quick! The Phasorapture is coming! Kill it before it devours you!” the Priestess commanded.
“Why can’t you do it?”
“I’m a ghost! I can’t touch things! Quickly! Kill it!” The Priestess screamed as the Phasorapture jumped forward. Its claws up in the air as it leapt for Artemas. Frightened beyond his senses, he swung the dagger violently. Just as the two large fangs touched his skin, the dagger went cleanly through the monster’s neck. It gave the same menacing howl as its head came off, and it plopped on the ground along with its blue body. The monster’s blood was green and slimy, and it went all over his school uniform.
“Good job!”
“Gross… And what about you! What about the dagger you summoned! It was a puny dagger! You could’ve summoned a machine gun!”
“Machine gun?”
“Never mind!” as he walked on.
“Wait for me!”

“By the way, thank you for saying I’m beautiful.”
“Shut up. I was talking about your statue. Anyway, just WHAT is going on?”
“First, let me introduce myself! I am the Divine Priestess, Artemas Aether Akiko.”
“I know that… Hey, how do you know my name?”
“Erm, I just do?”
“Don’t fool me! Is this some kind of reality TV programme? Where are the people that pop out saying ‘Gotcha! You’ve been punked!’ ?” Artemas shouted, looking around for hidden cameras.
“Reality TV show? What is that?”
“Huh? What do you mean what is that?”
“I am not understanding what you are speaking of Artemas. If u mean reality, this is reality, but what is a TV?” The Priestess scratched her head. Artemas appeared dazed, the wind in his face, and the things he touched, all felt like reality, but this can’t be! They all aren’t things you find on Earth! Unlesss…
“Well, I’ll continue! Artemas Aether Akiko, you are a chosen one from Earth, and I, the wonderful Divine Priestess, will help you along on your journey as your tarrot!”
“What happened to pure and just?”
“Right! It’s just something the people made up. Well, first off, welcome to Zogonya! Well, I can’t really explain how you got here, but it’s all in the prophecy!”

Artemas became dazed. Everything that came out of the Priestess mouth made no sense.
“Well, the prophecy has stated, that of the 7th hour, of the 7th day, of the 7th month, of the 7th year from the start of the 2nd millennium, 3 chosen ones will descend upon Zogonya and become the future saviors of the world! Isn’t that wonderful!” The Priestess gave and excited smile.

“PLEASE! I JUST WANNA GO HOME!” Artemas tried tugging on the Priestess, but his hand just went through her.
“Sorry, no can do. The prophecy states that you must comply with the terms it has stated, otherwise…”
“Otherwise what?” Artemas clearly having enough of already.
“You can’t go home…”
“Wha…”
“But, think of all the wonderful things you can do that you can’t do on Earth! There are some right?”
“All I see is fighting all day long.” Artemas sighed.

“PLEASE! Don’t commit suicide! It won’t work that way!” the Priestess yelled while he looked for a high place. “You can’t decide my fate! I don’t want to get involved in this!”
“Please! Millions of people’s lives are in your hands! Don’t be rash and help us!”
“Can’t you find someone else? Earth has a population of 6 billion!” At that moment Artemas found an opening in the trees. It was a cliff.
“Here I go! Back to Earth!”
“No no no! Wait!!!” as Artemas dived into the valley. The Priestess, still grabbing on to his leg for dear life. The wind impacted Artemas face with a high velocity, as he fell the height of 15 storeys. Feeling the blood rush to his head, his mind started to blank out. “Finally, I’m going back…” and he passed out while flying in midair.

“Wake up Artemas, you shouldn’t be sleeping like that.” A faint voice sounded.
“Mother? I’m home!”
“Home?”
“I had the weirdest dream… Oh.” Artemas awoke.

The Priestess’ face was directly in front of him. “How did I survive that fall! It was IMPOSSIBLE!”
“Erm… You should thank that person you are on…”
“Huh?” Artemas felt the area below with his hands. It was soft and smooth, like a human leg. “AHHHHHH!” Artemas jumped right off onto the ground. There, unconcious, lay a white haired girl, wearing a tattered, battle-worn, black cloak. “Is she…”
“No no, not at all, she’s still breathing.”
“Is she a warrior or something?” Artemas said, seeing the long and bright black sword.
“She appears to be.”
“Oh. Ok.”

“PLEASE Artemas, don’t!” The Priestess continued to persuade Artemas.
“I don’t care, I’m gonna do it again!”
“Please Artemas, if you die, I’ll die as well! I don’t want to be a statue for another eternity!!” tears trickled down the Priestess’ cheek.
“What did you say?”
“If the tarrot’s partner dies, she or he will die as well! Please don’t commit suicide!” the Priestess said, sobbing uncontrollably.

Artemas hated this world, as it was scary and unknown. However, he cannot forsake the fact that this world might help him get home. “Alright alright! Stop crying!” Artemas went back in the other direction, towards the unconscious girl. However, instead of finding a defenseless girl laying on the ground, what they returned to was just a pile of leaves. “Hey! Where did she go?” Artemas shrieked. The ground was barren, and the area was eerily quiet. In the shadows of the tree branches, a person lay in wait to strike…

Writers’ Notes:

Hey guys, its me again! Hope the story’s been interesting so far. We have a very nice chapter coming up, and new characters! What will happen next? See you next Friday!

Chapter 6: Freezing Cold

“Be Careful Okay?” Artemas’ mum waved her hand to send Artemas off. “Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.” Artemas didn’t wave or even look back. He couldn’t stand seeing Ashleen for another minute.

“Stupid cousin. Yesterday was the worst…” Artemas approached the school gates, its rusty hinge creaked as it swung opened and he went upstairs. The secondary school, normally filled to the brim with students, was now a barren concrete building, with only one classroom in use today. Artemas took a seat, and waited patiently. “I’m the earliest one eh…” he muttered to himself. It followed by a smack on the back. “Yo, Arty! How was your first day of holiday yesterday? Gone up some levels on Excellent World?”
“If you count letting your cousin sleeping on your bed, breaking your computer and saying it was your fault, listening to her patriotic fibs and being blackmailed, then it was a good first day, otherwise, NO!”
“Ehhhhhhhhh? Then that must suck. Hey, look. There are only 5 people who failed physics.”
“We are those who failed and got below 40% idiot.”

“That’s funny. I was sure the weather report said today was going to be hot.”
“Well it is Arty! Its scorching hot!” Zachary was right. Students were even fanning themselves with their physics workbooks, sweating profusely! Artemas suddenly felt that it was now getting a lot colder than it did before. The searing hot tropical heat in Singapore was no match for this type of new coldness. “Was it always this cold?” Artemas thought.

The bell stuck, indicating the first period, 7.05am in the morning, and remedial classes begun. The teacher walked in with a smile on his face and started teaching. “Now as you all know, you all scored less than 40% on the recent examinations, now we understand that it isn’t your fault… ” the teacher said.

However Artemas, though sitting right in the front of the classroom, could barely make out what he was saying. The words started to disappear from the teacher’s voice as it became ever so softer and softer. The cold was now the temperature of an artic blizzard, but with the calmness of a barren desert. Artemas looked closely at everyone, as he could no longer hear them. “HEY! WHAT’S GOING ON?” Artemas stood up from his seat, and waved his arms wildly, trying to get Zachary’s attention. But no one even took one glance at him. Suddenly, like the sound, their movements started to slow. The teacher’s writing on the whiteboard slowed to a crawling pace, like he was wasting the ink of his marker. The clouds outside no longer seem to move, and everything became a dense fog. The curtains which were fluttering in the wind stopped in its motion, and became like a museum sculpture. Artemas rubbed his eyes and stared hard. It was unbelievable. Everything in front of him had stopped in time! “Wh… Wha… What’s GOING ON?” Artemas shouted. There was a faint reply.

“Trust. Trust in the divine priestess, for her work is pure and just.”
“What?” Artemas looked around, and could only hear the sound of a dangling chain.

The coldness ensued, as it became ever so colder. The numbness of Artemas’ fingers and feet began to show itself.
“What’s… happening to me?” he whispered, and with the remains of his strength disappearing, he fainted. As he fell, the frozen classroom and his frozen world started to disappear, as his eyelids joined the centre of his eyes, the last thing Artemas saw of the world.

Chapter 5: Departure

“Amazing…” Commander Maltoze stared in awe. The fireball exploded without coming in any contact with the vessel, and dissipated. The creature fell silent, as it ruptured, dissected into a hundred pieces, with its intestines flying in different directions, splashing into the sea. The girl retracted her sword into the cover, and gave a sigh. “Phew, that was hair-raising. Good job Stella!” Commander Maltoze said, giving her a pat on the head.
“Please don’t do that in public please.”
“All right, when we get back I’ll give you a treat.” Commander Maltoze smirked.
“Commander, progress report”, the lieutenant commander came up to the deck, now with a bandage around his head.
“No, no Lucifer, look at yourself. You should be in the infirmary.”
“Sir, it’s important. As of now, we just lost 4 ships, and surprisingly, the remaining targets have fled, and are no where on the radar. It seems that this fight has ended.”
“What? Really?”
“Yes sir, and there are orders from the higher ups that we should get the return the fleet back to Telestia.”
“Good, then we shall do that then. Anything else Lucifer?”
“Yes. There is an incoming transmission from Sir Alaric Mizog.”
“Ah. All right. Just me is it?”
“No. You and Ms Ghost.”

Commander Maltoze and his companion entered the bridge once again, and on 3 brightly lit screens, the middle one showed a wrinkled face familiar to everyone. “Ah Maltoze, how is the war with the savage invaders?”
“It’s good. They just retreated. We won.”
“Oh, that was unexpected.”
“Unexpected?”
“Yes. Anyway, the reason I called both of you here is for an important reason. It has come to my attention that since the forces have come from the Heliin Continent, and it’ll be best if we send people there and investigate whats been happening.”
“You mean, scout where the source originates from?”
“Exactly. Problem is… The members of the Wizard Cabal are unfortunately not agile enough to enter into such hostile environments.”
“Right right. You want Stella to go instead of you?”
“Stella, surely you don’t mind? This mission is of upmost importance to Zogonya.”
“But, why just me? Can’t someone…”
“No can do. The reason why I came to you is that you are the only one who is most likely to survive in the harsh conditions of Heliin.”
“I don’t know…”
“ ‘He’ might be responsible for this calamity.”
“Okay, what are my instructions?” she said, and instantly started tightening her equipment.
“Commander Maltoze will drop you off in Heliin territory, which you will then search the area where it came from. I will instruct one of my wizards to come and pick you up after completion of the task.”
“I’m sorry to intrude Mizog, but Heliin is a continent after all. How long would she take?”
“Do not worry Commander, I’ll return your precious goddaughter to you once we are done. Anyway, Good Luck!” and at that instant the transmission ended.
“I’m ready.” Stella declared.
“Stella… I understand your hatred towards him, but don’t be too rash okay?”
“I do not plan to be rash. He has ruined the lives of thousands of people, and I will not let that figure escalate any further.” Stella took her sword and looked at her reflection. Her face, brimming with sadness and hatred, her resentment holding a deep place in her heart.
“I’ll kill you…” she whispered.

Chapter 4: Surprise Surprise

“BOOM!” The front door went, as Artemas’ mum came through. “Artemas! I’m home!” she hollered down the corridor. “Mother, you are 30 minutes late…”Artemas said as he came down the stairs. As Artemas offered to help unpack her groceries, his mum was smiling at him.
“What?”
“Well you’re not going to ask me what the surprise is? I’ll give you a hint, it’s from overseas!”
“Oooooo! What is it?”
“Ta Da!” With the door still open, a girl made her way in. Clothed in designer clothes, the brown-haired girl with extremely long braids made her way in. “Hello Arty!” she said with a smile.
“ASHLEEN!? What are YOU doing here?” pointing a shaking finger with an unwelcoming face.
“Don’t be so rude to your cousin Artemas! Ashleen was just dropping by since the fashion expo starts a week from now. Can you believe it, she actually wanted to stay at a hotel for two weeks instead!”
“Well, seeing she came all the way to the airport and since I can see my beloved cousin, I couldn’t turn down the offer!”
“Why you little…”

Ashleen Aether Akiko, who always thinks she’s above others and behaving like an abosolute devil… Behind those professional and beautiful clothes lies a twisted soul of a person.

“Now since she’s here Artemas, why don’t you help her unpack her luggage and make her feel at home?”
“Yes Artemas, it’ll be a great help.” Said Ashleen, wearing a devious smile.
“Rrrr… Wait a sec, if I remember, the last time you were here, you brought…”
“4 Luggages. Hehe.”
“That’s not cute at all. And your outrageously large earrings help you look more ugly!” Artemas said with his tongue sticking out.
“Whatever. I don’t take opinions from people who failed half their exams.”
“Wait! How did you know?”
“There’s something called a report book you know…” said Ashleen, waving the blue-coloured book.
“Hey! Give that back!” Artemas yelled, diving out at Ashleen to snatch it back into his hands.
“No way, this is interesting. You don’t want your mum to know right?” Ashleen giggled.
“Are you blackmailing me?”
“No, I’m just giving you two choices, and you just have to follow one of them. Catch the flow?”
“You rotten cousin…” Artemas sighed.
Yes, this is Artemas’ current life right now, with his reputation going down the drain due to studies, half of the holidays shrouded by his annoying cousin, and constant remedial classes every week. Not a very good end to the term.
“I better do what Ashleen says otherwise she is going to tell mum about my results.” Artemas said, hauling the heavy luggage across the corridor.

“Hey! Are you sleeping in my room?”

And the adventure will continued…

Author’s Note:

So I will see you guys in two weeks! XD

WWH

Chapter 3: The Silver Girl

“Commander! It seems their forces are not receding at all! They just keep on coming!” shouted an officer wearing a full grey uniform with a silver hat ran into the control room.
“Damn, just where are they coming from?” the commander drummed his fingers on the dashboard of his control room.
“Sir, we have confirmation from our sonar scanners that they are coming from the direction of Heliin. There are still 257 targets outside.”
“What?! That many?”
“Sir, might I suggest something?”
“Go on.”
“That we just stall the remaining ones here at sea, and retreat back to Telestia. Since the RLS have already driven most of them out.”
“But these monsters are not us! One of them has strength of 20 of our men! We have to stop them from returning at all costs!”
“But sir, we have no idea where they are coming from, only that they are from Heliin.”
“Hmm…”
“I suggest all of our remaining 64 ships fire all of our remaining ammunition. It will stall them significantly while the main fleet can return back at base.”
“Yes, it’s been 3 months at sea so far after all.”

Commander Everett Maltoze was already tired of this. The 30 year old Commander had only experienced 3 years of peace running the 400, 000 strong RLS force. The crew had suffered in this war, losing 225, 000 of their brothers. Calm turned into chaos in the centre of the financial city that once stood prominent. People vanished, people died. It was only in the last few days that it became worse. There were an infinite number of monsters they’d never seen before, an unknown race. They drilled through buildings and tore the landscape. Schools were turned into blazing patches and shopping malls were nothing but mass graves. The RLS was immediately deployed to the scene, but they were too late. Within 2 hours, more than a million lay dead or vanished.

Bullets rained in the city for a 100 days, and became known as the “Lost Cause of 100 Days” with both the unknown race and the RLS having gained no progress.

“Still Lucifer, isn’t it odd? They appeared out of nowhere, in the largest numbers, and heaven knows what they are.”
“Well sir, it is true that this is something I’ve never seen before even in Conjectural Users and Elkeynes, but maybe it might be ‘them’ after all?”
“That would be a big problem… At least they show signs of weakening. We are going to hav…”

All of a sudden, the calm waves were severely disturbed. The flagship jolted from side to side, as officers and navy men stumbled. The ship took a serious bang, and it was accompanied by wailing sirens with red warning lights. Commander Maltoze was thrown from his seat, and General Lucifer’s head smashed against a wall.
“Damn! Lucifer, are you hurt? What the hell…”
“Commander! We have big trouble!” Another officer rushed into the room with 3 naval officers.

The Commander and his officials ran out to the deck of the ship, and what awaited them was unbelievable. Towering 50 metres, a giant purple octopus like creature emerged out of the sea, and had a hundred tentacles with streaks of lava running through its skin like blood.
“Sir, we just lost RLS Spirit and RLS Vesper to that freak of nature!”
“Those were enormous ships! What did it do?”
The octopus like creature lifted its tentacles, and directed its suckers at the ships, and projectiles came out of them. Large Fireballs.
“WHAT IN HEAVENS!?”
Commander Maltoze screamed as a fireball engulfed another one of his ships, leaving just pieces of charred remnants. Army officers on the ships became dust, and artillery on the ship exploded. The warship became a flaming wreck.
“Can’t we do something??” The commander turned to his officer.
“We tried sir, but it didn’t even leave a single mark!”
“Then call her here! We need her at once!”
“Yes Sir! At once!” as he rushed off into the ship’s quarters.

Commander Maltoze looked at the remains of the sister ship. “This war is so wrong. This world is becoming more and more unstable.” He thought to himself, as the octopus-like creature roamed about looking for more ships to destroy.

A young, frail woman walked out onto the metal deck, with her metal boots making a clanking noise as she walked. Tied, her lustrous silver hair blew in the wind as a breeze blew by. Wearing a tattered, battle-worn, black cloak, she stopped and gazed. She produced a long, black sword, of which glistened spectacularly in the light.
“Stella…”
“Understood.”
“Yes, but I was wondering whether you can eradicate it?” remarked the Commander as he wanted to hurry the pace. The creature gave a huge growl, and turned its head towards their ship. All the men started to run away into cover, for they knew what the outcome would be. The monster started reloading its fireball once again, and it fired.
“QUICK! BEFORE WE DIE!!!!”
An inferno sped down the sea straight at Commander Maltoze.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author’s Note:

Hey readers! I hope you enjoyed this week’s chapter! I hope that suspense part doesn’t annoy you! Anyways, I will be posting a new chapter tomorrow, because I will be unable to post next week. Yes. Exams are coming, and I have to stop posting and focus on revision!

For now, please enjoy chapter 3!

WWH

Chapter 2: Summer

“All right class! I will be handing out the exam scripts for your mathematics papers! If you score less than 40%, you are coming back for remedial classes during the summer holidays! You all got that?” the male teacher shouted, smacking a pile of exam scripts on the table.

“Yo! Arty! What did you get for maths? I got 45/100! Summer Holidays here I come!… Hey where is he?” a spike-haired delinquent of a student exclaimed.
“He’s decaying over by the table there Zac.” A glasses boy replied.
“30/100…” the boy cried, his head flat on his desk.
“You see Artemas, that’s what you get when you play those online games the whole 2 weeks before our exams.” The glasses boy accused.
“Now now Dylan stop scolding him so much, it’s not like he screwed up his whole exams or something… ha ha ha… wait you didn’t screw up everything right?”
“What did you get for chemistry and physics?”
“19 & 47 Dylan… My mum is going to kill me!”
“Well, it was your fault! It’s because you were looking so gloomy that 2 weeks, so I wanted to cheer you up. And what better way is there than Multi-Massively Online Role Playing Games!” Zachary giving Artemas a large pat on the back.
“Well, you are lucky that this is only the mid-years. You still have one more chance before the End-Year exams, which decides your promotion class.”
“Yes sir…”
“All right then Artemas! Study hard during the summer, and I will see you for Biology remedial tomorrow! I got 19/100 too!”
“I don’t think that is something to be proud of…” Dylan said, shaking his head.

“Artemas Aether Akiko, the protagonist of this story. 1.71 metres tall, weighing 55kg and having short, spiky, black hair. Completely ordinary, and having the monotonus lifestyle supporting him. Summer vacation has just ended though and he hope this will be a memorable one. However, it looks like with all the remedial classes going on, he won’t be able to have fun for quite a while.”

School ends, and Artemas heads home. As he opened the front door, there was a note on the front table.
‘Artemas, I will be out for quite a while, getting some groceries. Enjoy your holiday this summer! You will have a surprise when I get home today at 5pm. Mum.’
“Geez what is with this. Surprise? Oh yes, I have to get mum to sign this.” As he pulled out his report card.

It read:
English   Chinese     Maths     Chemistry   Physics
C6              E8             C5             F9               D7

Social Studies                Geography
E8                                    B4

Maybe tomorrow…

Hmm I wonder what the surprise is. Oh, maybe it’s a P5P, or a PlayModule 3! I always wanted one!” Artemas drooling at his dream. He glanced at the clock. 3.37pm, July the 6th.
“She will be back soon, hehheh.” Artemas thought to himself.

To Be Continued…

Writer’s note:

Hey guys, please excuse the extremely short chapter today! I was equally shocked when I realised how short I left it the last time. Please look forward to chapter 3 which will be out next week, which of a considerable length!

WWH