Chapter 325 - The Pit
Thousands of years ago, when the Five Kings were living harmoniously, a gigantic pitch black pit appeared in the middle of the five kingdoms.
The land they occupied would be later become Avancia, but in their time where they only started to build their own kingdoms, they only occupied smaller plots of land.
The hole in the middle of all the kingdoms were locked with intertwining chains. The chains were pure a glowing white light with runes and symbols written on its surface.
Alerted by the situations, the kings sent out men to inspect the pit. But a few days had passed and none of the men came back. This worried the kings even more. What could possibly be around the pit that even the men who didn't enter it never came back.
When the questions were eating them alive, the kings sought out for the answers themselves. They sought out for the pit, bringing with them all the finest warriors they have in their arms.
"Are you sure about this?" the Grass King asked. All of them agreed to meet at the Crimson Castle and venture to the pit together. With their numbers, they thought no beast would stand a chance.
"I am perfectly alright with this decision," the Purple King said. "We need answers. And we have the blessings of the Almighty. We cannot let our people be wallowed up by questions that even we couldn't answer."
"But what if it's a trap?" the Grass King proceeded to ask. As they rode their horses to travel to the center of the lands, he said nothing positive. The others were slowly getting concerned for he was affecting the morale of all their men.
"Listen here," the Sun King groaned to the Grass King. "If you doubt your own decision, you can go back to your kingdom with your men. We don't need people who doesn't trust us fully in this mission."
"No, no," the Grass King shook his head and smirked. "I was just testing how solid your faith is in our team. But alas, you passed my test."
He was looking at the others behind him when his horse bumped on another horse, "What's the big–"
The Azure King placed his finger on the Grass King's lips. "Shh. I can hear something."
All the three kings raised their hands to stop their men from proceeding. They too stopped, waiting for the Azure King to act. Among all of the five kings, the Azure King was the one who was very perceptive.
He didn't know how he got the gift, but his gut feeling would always be right, even when the odds were against him.
The Azure King had his eyebrows meeting, a curious expression was painted across his face. He stepped out of his mount and brandished his sword, slowly walking towards the side of the road.
"What is he doing now?" the Sun King tilted his head. For some reason, him and the othet kings had the urge to step off from their mounts and follow the Azure King.
They raised their hands to signal their man to not follow them as they walked to the trees on the side of the road. It was an eerie feeling they got from nowhere, something that they never felt before.
And it was like the complete opposite of the way they were feeling when the Almighty was around.
"Can you feel that?" the Azure King whispered. "Such ominous aura is hiding in the forest. There's not any beast that feels this way."
The Grass King gasped. "Maybe because it's not a beast!"
There was a large boar-like figure running towards them. The beast looked grotesque with its oddly placed fur, its warts, and all the scale in its body. Its color was also pitch black, with a black mist that seem to come out from its skin.
The Grass King ran in front of the Azure King and pierced his sword on the ground. His sword morphed into a vine, digging under the ground and sprouting out like trees that lined up to form a barricade.
The trees that formed the barricade managed to block the large beast. The boar growled and stepped back, running straight to the barricade again and failed once more.
"Tree Park Containment," the Grass King whispered. He turned his sword to the side and made more trees appear around the bore. The trees lined up perfectly, blocking any exit that the boar might come out of. When the Grass King wasn't satisfied, he turned the sword once more and added another row of trees growing inside the circle of trees.
"What is that?" the Crimson King scrunched his face. He leaped to the top of the trees and watched the boar look around to find any exit. "It doesn't look local."
"Maybe that thing is original from here," the Purple King said. He also leaped to the top of the trees to watch the beast below. The others followed them as they started their discussion.
The five kings were asking each other what and where the origin of the beast might be. The Purple King said it was from the forest and the Crimson King was with him. The Grass King and the Sun King suggested that it was another type of beast, while the Azure King said it wasn't from their realm.
"But if not, then where?" the Grass King asked.
The Azure King was about to reply when they heard a loud growl coming from the pit. They instantly leaped off from the trees and back into their mounts where they took their soldiers with them.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the pit. The white glowing chains that once binded the opening of the pit was now shattered, leaving the large hole open for everything.
"What is this?" the Crimson King asked, slolwy coming closer to the pit. "It's pitch black in here and there seems to be no signs of life. Men, inspect the hole and report back to me."
His soldiers walked closer to the pit, trying to spy on it. They unmounted their horses and readied their weapons, keeping their guard up in case something happens.
Just when they were about to walk back to their allies, when black swords pierced their chests. The kings along with all the soldiers gasped.
They were about to run and rescue their soldiers when the Crimson King raised his hand and yelled, "Everyone, stop!"
He watched as the swords that pierced the black chest of their knights slolwy vanish. As they waited for the knights to fall and succumb to their wounds, the knights' armor started to change their colors.
From the shiny metallic gray, the armor worn by their men were now tinted with the color of the kingdom they belong to.
"What is happening?" the Grass King gasped. He turned to the side when the other kings were silent, gulping when seeing them all speechless. "Is this the end of us all?"
–
The claw that came out from one of the spheres slammed itself onto the egg-like object. It didn't take long before the othe spheres started cracking, opening themselves with the claws from the inside of them.
"What is happening?" Polshk asked. He could only fall onto his knees and watched the madness unfold right in front of him.
The Man was smirking as he saw the despair in the old man's eyes. He descended, just enough so he was standing in front of Polshk.
"You're so foolish, Terran," the Man said. "The texts you collected were all fake. There was no ultimate power that the Ancient Kings sealed for the future. I created that story to cover up what actually happened in the past."
"W-Why?" Polshck asked with his mouth trembling and his words stuttering. "All my life's work. I followed them from you?"
"Not exactly," the Man shrugged. "I saw you search for the ancient powers decades ago. It was about twenty years ago when I started altering the texts you collected and the information you stored."
"If they're not unlimited powers…" Polschk trailed off and gulped. "What are they?"
"Monsters," the Man replied. "These monsters will guarantee my victory over all the life. Even your unawakened Eternals will be no match for these monsters. I am sure of that."
"You'll kill us all?" Polschk had his eyes widen so much that looked like they were going to pop out from their sockets. The utterly inevitable fear crept up to his spine and was now clouding his mind.
"I originally wanted to enslave you all," the Man replied. "But I am shattered after my dear APRIL's death. I would've spared you all if he wishes, but then now that he's gone, I can just kill everyone. APRIL would've ruled perfectly beside me, standing on top of all life in all realms."
Polschk yelled in frustration. He grabbed his staff and stood, pointing it at the Man. "If I die, then I'll take you with me."
He was about to cast his spell when the claw from one of the spheres of the Twilight Bless, scratched him in the stomach, instantly ripping the man apart.
"Who dares ruin our slumber?!" a sharp yet loud and powerful voice came from the sphere. "After all these millenniums, I wasn't able to eat.. My stomach is empty."