Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)
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CHAPTER START---
Pain, only pain can be felt throughout his body. Eyes struggling to open as his head feels like someone is trying to hammer nails into his skull. These are the first thing Yang notices as he wakes up. Opening his eyes he sees the ceiling of the Water City. His mind and body are completely exhausted. As he squints to deal with the bright glow of the ceiling. Sitting up in the grass causes him to feel like his body is about to snap in half.
"Ach, what the hell" he speaks in an extremely hoarse voice before entering a coughing fit.
????: "Here, drink," a gruff voice says, calmly passing a water skin to Yang.
Yang unconsciously reaches out to his side and accepts the waterskin before taking a gulp. As the water soothes his dried throat he finally realizes what he did and looks to his left at the person sitting next to him this entire time. Almost 7ft tall with tan skin and small animal ears at the top of his head, this unknown person simply waits for Yang to compose himself.
Yang: "Um, thank you. Who are you?"
Ottar: "Ottar," the man says bluntly.
Yang: "You're.... the king. Orarios' level 7," surprise dominates Yang's face.
Ottar: "Yes, you were in mind down."
Yang: "Oh, thanks for saving me, I don't really know what happened back there, everything just began hurting and I lost control of my magic."
Ottar: "Do you mean that?" he says while nodding toward the damage Yang causes.
At this point the rain had stopped falling, the baron basin which once held a sparkling pool is only half-filled by the rain. The earth in the area looks as if waves on the ocean rippled outwards and became frozen in place. But at the center of it all, a melted and partly collapsed hole appearing as if a volcano had erupted and shattered the ground beneath the water. Completely surprised by this Yang was speechless for a moment before answering.
Yang: "Uh-huh, didn't know I could do all that."
Ottar: "Elementalist, good magic. But mind down is dangerous in the dungeon with no allies."
Yang: "Yeah, I usually don't fight if my mana goes below a certain point, but whatever happened just hurt so much my magic acted on its own."
Ottar: "The mark on your hand?"
Yang: "What?"
At this point Yang finally looks at himself, his skin is still dried out and almost brittle, charred in some places but on his left hand is the Chaos Mark inviting him to the challenge. Sitting on a sheet of cloth with another thrown over his naked body, just barely in the treeline.
Yang: "What is this?" he asks while inspecting the mark.
Ottar: "Not sure, was heading to the surface because a member of our party formed one and was in pain as well. Found you floating in that hole in the rain."
Yang: "Uh- you mind looking away for a sec, I'd like to summon my armor."
As Ottar turns his head away slightly Yang begins to quickly withdraw his armor from his inventory and begin changing.
Yang: "So where's the rest of your party?" he asks while changing.
Ottar: "They went ahead after healing you, that took all day."
Yang: "Oh, sorry about that. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, feel free to ask."
For a moment Ottar thought over the opportunity before answer Yang, deciding to get straight to the point.
Ottar: "Hm, tell me, why did you join goddess Hephaestus and not a combat familia, such as my goddess Freya?"
Yang: "Hm, well..."
As Orarios' King and Elementalist spoke within the dungeon, on the surface, man and gods alike were doing all that they could to prepare for the upcoming event.
Many familia shops were closed, for who would supply weapons or potions that may be used against their allies in the challenge. This caused certain services and item prices to rise. Other factions had more insidious plans, however.
Within the walls of her brothel, Ishtar sat on a throne surrounded by her girls. As the final few had now arrived she began to inform them of their new duties.
Ishtar: "Ladies, the men of this city who will come to us. In their time of need, we shall nurse their suffering hearts, and have them serve us. Despair leads only to debauchery and what better place to come than to the greatest goddess of beauty in Orario. Any man with a mark is to be brought to me, I'll handle persuading them personally hahaha. Now get to work!"
Across Orario, a completely different conversation was taking place. Hermes sat on a soft couch across a coffee table sipping tea with the Pallum sibling's Pock and Pot. Pock can be seen with a stern face whilst his sister had concern plastered across hers.
Hermes: "Honestly, I wouldn't bet on you in this. It's best to just not compete and avoid any loss."
Pock: "No, I'm competing."
Pot: "Stop being a moron, you can't win and if you meet someone strong they could kill you in there."
Pock: " WHEN I win, whatever the blessing is, it'll make me stronger, then I can be just like Finn. I can be a hero too and kill all the monsters, people won't be able to look down on Pallum anymore!"
Pot: "You're a moron. You don't need to do this to get stronger. You just need to keep practicing."
Pock: "This is faster. If I can be like him then nobody can hurt us again!"
Pot: "I don't need you protecting me! I don't need some dead hero I just want my brother!"
Hermes: "... She's right. Better to be a living adventurer than a dead hero."
Pot: "Right."
Pock: "I, I'm competing. I'll win this and be just like Finn, because heroes don't lose."
Pot: with teary eyes, the girl pleads once more to her brother, "Please, don't."
Her brother firmly takes both her hands in his and gives a gentle squeeze, reassuring her.
Pock: "I. WON'T. LOSE. Heroes don't lose."
Hermes: "Well, this is one of the few things I can't stop you from doing. And quite frankly if you win the blessing would be great for our familia and bring in a lot of jobs for us."
Pock: "Exactly, when I win, we all win."
Pot: *"I-I, I can't believe I'm actually saying this but. I'll be rooting for you," she barely squeaks out between her sobs, moving to hug her brother.
Pock: "I won't let you down, either of you."
---5 days until the Challenge of Orcus.
CHAPTER END---