On this day, the forest was dusted by the sun's beauty. With grass that brushed against the knees, a person called Luicien, with black and purple hair, a cross necklace that dangled and a dark jacket, found himself walking through it.
he discovered an opening, one that was filled full of sunlight.
A stone that was rather large sat basketed in it, to which Luicien found comfort sitting upon it, setting his sword down too.
It feels good to relax.
Luicien's eyes fix upward, while thinking this. The thought was replaced, with the appearance of the refreshing ocean hue that was the sky.
Trainings been brutal.
A thought that reminds him of the training he's been doing.
"Wrong stance do 100 push ups".
he remembered these words well, from the swordman that trained him.
He slung his fist into the air, reflecting on everything. "Now that I'm 20, I will become a solider".
Magic has always existed.
Only select people had it, which earned them the tile of mage. Reality could bend at their hands.
Creatures which possessed no soul, were formed from this magic. Deformed creatures whose only purpose was destruction. They were so feared people didn't give them a name. They were the soulless ones.
People who did not have magic couldn't fight, they made devices which granted them artificial magic, these were named the Quar chips. This magic did not compare to that of a mage, limiting them to one type. However now they could fight
I will join the magic corporation.
This thought raged in Luicien's mind, like a roaring fire.
Luicien was so caught up within his own thoughts; he hadn't noticed a bush not far in front of him was shaking in all sorts of directions.
When he was out of his daze, he noticed it in the corner of his eyes.
Stiffness had taken over his body, eyes focused.
Surging through his body was an uneasy feeling, the type of feeling you never ignore.
He was now alert.
A snarl emitted from thus bush; something that made Lucien weak in the legs and a daunting feeling embedding itself within him.
His eyes followed a shadow that darted. Once it had stopped moving, that's when he saw it...
{A SOULLESS ONE HAD APPEARED!}
The creature's skinny limbs twisted in an unnatural way, and what he thought were blades but were claws, were secure in the dirt.
It looked broken.
It looked decayed.
Most notable, its mouth was in a murderous smile, eyes fixed on Lucien.
***
Meanwhile, a person with long thick chocolate brown hair, and hazel eyes, made their way through thick and wild forage.
Her name is Victoria.
I wanted to stay in bed today.
The thought loomed over her, but she couldn't postpone the potion she needed to make.
I've not been able to shake this feeling since I came here. she was looking down into her hands, to see an aura come off it.
I'll go investigate.
***
"A soulless one!". The words escaped Luicien's mouth. He threw his body backward, rolling off the stone and wrapping his hands around his sword. Using his legs,
He sprung from the ground creating some distance between him and the creature.
Luicien's eyes never once left the creature making sure, he followed its every movement.
He bent his knees and unsheathed his sword, taking a stance, reading for an attack.
The soulless one contoured as if someone was getting taking over by a ghost, standing up from walking on its arms, now towering over him.
A pang of fear struck Luicien, making his heart skip a beat.
The soulless one lunge at him, without hesitation.
He was quick though, forcing his body to move, evading its attack. However, it did not stop there, the soulless one snap its head around, then its body.
It leaped into the air, towards Luicien, its claws aimed at him, it was getting ready to tear him apart.
He readied his sword with both his hands. The creature drew closer, Luicien forced the blade down, which connected with its flesh, a tough and rough texture.
The blade glided through the creature's chest, Luicien brought down such great force on his sword. This made the soulless one screech, black liquid poured out of its chest, spilling all over the floor like hot tar.
Despite such a slash, the creature hadn't fallen.
I don't have magic just yet, so I'm not able to kill it, the only thing I can do is defend myself.
Which is what crossed Luicien's mind, the soulless one swung its claws for another attack.
Luicien reacts by thrusting his sword up, clashing with the soulless one's claws. A force from such a creature forced both itself and Lucien to the ground.
The only thing stopping this thing from tearing me apart is some metal
This fear stuck in Luicien's mind.
In a split second, a bright flash appeared, followed by a yellow beam of magic which pierced directly through the soulless one, cutting it directly in half. The soulless one had been defeated!
Luicien's head wondered to the side, before him stood Victoria, extending her hand out to Lucien to help him stand back up.
"Thank you for saving me, what's your name?"
Luicien's voice had some relief.
It's weird that one was this close to a town.
Lost in thought Victoria almost didn't hear what Lucien had said.
Victorias eyes looked empty.
"You don't need to know that I doubt we will ever meet again".
There was a lack of emotion in her voice.
"But I'd like to thank you properly, plus this world is small I'm sure we will meet again".
Luicien had put Victoria's wrist into his hand, while smiling.
Victoria didn't get a chance to answer, they both felt an electricity type of sensation go throughout their bodies, this caused them to go limp crashing down to the ground.
Luicien's eyes slowly start to open again, not fully however the sun beams caused him to squint. Pushing his hands to the ground, to help himself sit up, he felt that the grass was much shorter which he found to be odd.
Once his eyes had adjusted, he used them to scan around, finding the place he was in to be rather unfamiliar, his eyes wonder around some more and then fixed in on Victoria, to which she was found crouched down on the floor with what looked to be a leaf in her hand.
"You're awake"
Victoria muttered, his ears weren't fully adjusted, so he could only just about make out what she said.
Despite being in a daze, he was able to speak
"Wha... What happened?".
"I'm not sure, we're certainly not in the same place as before".
She replied, standing herself up.
"Are you sure?"
he wasn't comprehending what was happening.
"Yes, you can tell from these trees, we're in the purple lake forest"
Victoria explains to Luicien.
Gathering his strength, he manages to get himself up, to make his way over to a tree, which has to be at least 20 metres. He examines it the bark had purple swirl like patterns, proving what Victoria had said was true, trees like this were only exclusive to the purple lake forest.
It hits him, they were really in the purple lake forest.
"But how?".
His voice was filled with confusion.
"I'm really not sure, I did already say that".
There was no sort of emotion in Victorias voice.
Victoria turned around facing away from Luicien to start walking.
"Wait where are you going?"
Lucien asked, because he feared being alone in a place he's never been.
"Finding a way out of here".
Victorias voice was a bit hard to hear since she was a bit further now.
Luicien became panicked.
"Wait for me".
Lucien got up instantly and followed directly.
"Do you know where to go?".
Despite knowing she hadn't been here before he still asked.
She rolled her eyes slightly.
"No, not really".
Her voice was rather blunt.
"We're aimlessly walking around?".
There was a slight panic in his voice.
Victoria shook her head to say no.
"I sense a lot of magical energy this way".
Victoria's finger was aimed at a clearing.
Luicien decided to trust Victoria. While entering the clearing, the colours here were most vibrant and
a clear sound of water could be heard. Naturally they turned their heads and what they saw was a beauty, the-
water that danced around; Making the purple appear more. Which turned the surrounding tree's leaf's purple.
For a moment they stood in awe, Victoria continued to walk and Luicien shortly following.
Their eyes followed the sights, looking around until they saw a building, you could tell that it was unstable and ready to crumble down. It wasn't made how modern buildings were made, dull in colour.
Victoria pointed to the building.
"This was what I was sensing".
Lucien was curious.
"What is this building?"
"I'm not sure, but it has a lot of magical energy".
Victoria answered.
It felt as if something was pulling Victoria toward the building, something that was unnatural. As if instinct kicked in, Victoria started to move to the building.
A puzzled expression appeared on Luicien's face, however being alone was fearful, so he followed behind her.
Stood before them were two wooden doors, that gave off the scent of damp. It felt like ice when placing their hands on the metal handles.
Despite their efforts, the door refused to move. Since being abandoned, it had become encased in place.
Victoria paid attention to the decaying structure of the door.
"Stand back".
Victoria said, while lifting her arms into the air summoning her staff from thin air. She released a beam of magical energy, which twist between itself, until it smashed into the door shattering it to pieces.
They made it through the doorway; the interior of this place was somewhat empty but reminded Victoria of a laboratory.
Something was off, Victoria could sense it, she got the same feeling as she did back at the other forest, when encountering the soulless one.
"Be on guard"
Victoria warned Luicien.
"Ok I will"
He didn't think twice, but to pull out his sword.
Victoria noticed some markings on the wall; she decided to move closer to it.
Luicien was rather curious as he hadn't seen something like this before.
"What is that"
Victoria was now even closer, trying to find out what it was telling her.
"It looks like a Zentoid".
Luicien had notice something strange.
"Around him, that's a group of soulless ones".
Victoria noticed it too.
"You're right, they're worshiping him, this could very well be the Zentoid who made the soulless ones".
She took a step back as she said this.
"We should really continue onwards".
Victoria's uneasy feeling was growing stronger.
A sudden thump sound could be heard, startling both Victoria and Luicien, forcing them to turn back, yet they were met with nothing.
Perhaps some sort of animal?
Luicien thought to himself.
Victoria knew something was wrong here.
A wave of dread crashed over her; she knew a soulless one was somewhere close but had nothing to go on other than a feeling and what could have been animal noises.
Could one of them be here now, she started to overthink, pondering on the thought.
(Drip)
A type of liquid, had plummet from above, splashing in a puddle of brown water that was sat in a dip in the floor.
Victorias whole being felt an evil energy, one that was coming from above her.
She whipped her head up fast, causing a bit of strain on her neck. Her eyes widened, her heart pounding.
The site she witnessed was horrifying, it was looking down directly at her, the sharp teeth stuck out, ready to sink into the humans below it.
Victoria could hardly make it out; there wasn't any sunlight grazing the ceiling.
She was only able to make out an upper body, a slim thing, its ribs looked as if they were about to puncher through the skin. The lower half of the body had eight legs in total, resembling close to what spider legs are.
It stayed unmoved, eyes fixed on Victoria, she too was unmoved as fear itself locked her in place.
One wrong move and it would be over, and Victoria would lose her life.
Victoria forced herself to speak despite her fears.
"Above us, it's above us, a soulless one!".
Victoria shouted at the top of her lungs.
Luicien twisted his head upwards violently, but he had no time to react, nor did Victoria, the creature used all eight of its spiders looking legs to push itself downward in Victorias direction.
Victorias legs refused to move, as she witnessed the horror coming toward her.
Luicien's legs moved without a thought, he placed a hand on Victoria as if to guard her, while shifting his other arm in an upward direction, slicing under the creature.
The creature slammed to the ground over them. The pair spun around to see the creature was picking itself back up, its legs were twitching.
Its mouth dropped open, a sound came out of it like no other, a sort of screaming.
Luicien and Victoria covered their ears due to the shear loudness.
A pile of sludge formed on the ground, as what could only be described as organs started pouring out of the slash wound of the soulless one.
"What should we do?"
Luicien 's voice sounded panicked.
Before Victoria could answer, an ear piercing howl could be heard at the entrance.
Victorias and Luicien's eyes were met with four unhuman faces looking at them.
Victorias heart was pounding too fast.
"The situation has turned from unmanageable to life threating"
Victoria said to Lucien while trying to remain calm.
She thrusted her arms up towards the creature that had an appearance of a spider.
Her body and staff jolted as she unleased a magic bolt much bigger than the one she used to kill the soulless one from before.
However this one slung itself to the left, and the bolt flew passed it.
Luicien saw the opportunity
"Run now".
He said while grabbing Victorias arm.
Echoes could be heard with how hard they were slamming their foots down.
Luicien felt some resistance on Victoria; turning around to see she had stopped moving. Victoria felt something moist on her leg, her eyes moved down and examined, it was a webbed substance that was hooked to her leg.
However, unlike the web you'd get from a spider, this one was sharp, so it sliced into her leg, and made pain spread throughout.
She fell forward and simultaneously was being pulled backward, which made Luicien lose his grip on her.
"No!".
Victoria cried out.
Luicien didn't waste any time.
"Don't worry I've got you".
Luicien then sprung forward; with one slice of his sword, he managed to cut the web.
This has allowed the soulless ones to catch up.
Luicien's mind was scattered.
He moved his arms under Victoria, scooping her up and started to carry her because her leg was too injured.
The more they advanced the darker the building got due to no power and not many windows.
The sound of louder footsteps told them that the creatures were getting closer, Victoria being in Luicien's arms was making them slower.
"There!".
Victoria was pointing to what she could only to make out to be a doorway.
Luicien changed directions and was led to a darken room.
"Theres no door. Shit".
The words escaped Luicien's mouth, as if he had no control over his mouth.
Victoria started to try and get out Luiciens arms.
"Put me down I can handle this".
Victoria said while holding her staff up more.
"But you can't stand you're injured".
Lucien's voice had a hint of worry.
Victoria could hear the soulless ones getting closer.
"We don't have time for this! We our moments away from dying, put me down and hold me up".
She demanded.
He had no choice but to place her down, letting her rest on him.
Victoria's arms begun to move upward, a flash appeared, which came from her staff.
Words started to be muttered under her breath and in an instance many objects within the room started flying toward the door, ranging from tables to glass.
They bounded together and formed a barrier of some sort.
"We need to find a way out of here, start looking while I hold this".
Victoria commanded to Luicien.
"What about your leg you won't be able to stand if I do" he argued back.
She huffed in annoyance.
"We need to get out of here now, I'll be fine".
She snapped back.
A bang came from the barrier, the soulless ones had started slamming into it, not only causing the barrier to shake but the building as well.
Victoria shifted back slightly, Luicien following her movements.
"I don't think I can hold this".
Victoria cried out.
How did I end up here.
That's when it hit Luicien, they ended up here the moment he touched Victorias wrist, with the intention of getting to see her for a bit longer.
That's when an idea struck him, without a thought his hand moved down to hers, he was thinking about where they were before, the place he knew.
"Wait what are you-".
The words didn't have a chance to leave Victorias mouth, she suddenly felt the same electricity as before, her vision became blurred before she passed out.
The barrier came crashing down, that's when the soulless ones poured into the room.
Luicien's vison soon became blurred, and his legs started to feel numb.
A man that had horns on his head started to walk toward him, the man wasn't actually there, but Luicien could see him.
Luicien's eyes closed and he thumped to the ground.
His eyes opened again, he was greeted with warm sunlight and a beautiful ocean hue of a sky.
Thoughts and questions flooded his head about that building.
He pushed himself up, so now was sitting. Victoria wasn't too far, her hair weaving through the grass, she had only just woken up too.
She picked herself up and begun limping her, staff acting as a walking aid.
She had only made it up a little bit of the hill before pausing. She turned to face Luicien; the sun beamed across her.
"My name is Victoria, and I doubt we'll meet again".
"Well Victoria it's nice to have met you, I'm Luicien and I hope we do meet again".
She turned back around; limping again.
Luicien laied back down, the soft grass acting as a soft pillow.
A smile now formed across his face.