Earth, Thursday 09:56 AM.
It is said that the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.
An otherwise calm suburban street was disturbed by a youth running recklessly in the city center's direction. This young man's name is Elias Gunn, and he is late for college. Why is he late? He spent a little too much time playing "Evernom Saga Online" with his buddies last night.
That caused him to miss the bus. The result is obvious, as one can see him running, taking every shortcut possible. He is quite determined to be on time, yet fate had a different plan in store for him. Being immensely focused on maintaining his speed and breathing, Elias did not notice a bizarre sight happening nearby.
A man dressed in a luxurious black robe embroidered with exquisite golden ornaments quietly appeared on the roof of an apartment block. The man had a peculiar air about him. His eyes lacked any sign of life, yet at the same time, there was not a hint of death in him. He scanned surroundings with a cold, almost mechanical gaze, and then, his eyes locked on Elias who was charging through the streets at a breakneck pace.
Cold-eyed man's inquisitive gaze moved in the direction of youth's path, looking for an opportunity, which has presented itself quickly. As Elias was quickly approaching the busier parts of the city, Cold-eyed man waved his hand and a food truck that was going down the hill suddenly accelerated.
Cold-eyed man's expression didn't change when the truck hit Elias, killing him instantly, instead, he flipped his palm and a wisp of light blue energy appeared. It looked ethereal, almost transparent, and gave off an otherworldly feeling. The wisp left his palm, and flew towards the formless cloud of energy that has just left Elias's body. If one looked closely, one could see a thin line going out of the wisp still connected to the man's hand. Barely noticeable pulses of light were travelling through this line. A look of concentration appeared on the man's face.
"Bold of you to interfere, outsider!" - A ray of light descended from the skies and revealed a handsome man in golden armor. The man was armed with a fiery sword, which he didn't hesitate to use right away. A flaming half-moon shaped swordlight dashed towards the cold-eyed man. Determined to finish what he was doing, the cold-eyed man used his arm to block the swordlight.
The impact sent him flying and severed the thin line. When flames settled down, they revealed the cold-eyed man who was now missing an arm. At this moment, an enormous gate appeared in the sky. Gate was two-colored, one half white, one half black. It started to open, but there was no sound of door creaking or anything, instead, it was dead silent. Behind the gate was a plain looking gray vortex. Vortex had no effect on the cold-eyed man or golden armored man, but Elias's soul felt a terrifying attraction force, making it float towards the gate, accelerating with every moment. Elias's soul glowed with a pale blue light and started to slow down until it came to a halt. Cold-eyed man bolted from the place he was standing on and threw out a small mote of light that made its way toward Elias's soul. Golden armored man tried to stop him, but he was only able to stop the cold-eyed man, not the mote.
"Impudent!" - golden armored man roared - "You dare to interfere with the order set by heavens! I will exterminate you!"
The small mote of light reached Elias's soul and the pale blue glow grew stronger. Elias's soul broke free from the attraction force of the vortex and started to fly away. Heavens answered with thunderous booms. Dark clouds started to gather and follow Elias's soul. Elias was vaguely aware of what was happening, but he felt like it was some kind of a fever dream.
[Detected by local Heaven's Will.]
[Attempting to escape.]
The space around Elias's soul started to warp slightly, but before it was able to complete the teleportation, it was struck by lightning. Elias's soul was nowhere to find.
Cold-eyed man's pupils shrunk. He sensed the wisp no more, so he quickly retreated. Golden armored man was about to chase him, but the cold-eyed man vanished as if he was never here. Golden armored man could only snort and leave. Once again a ray of light descended from the skies, waiting for the golden armored man to enter. Skies were clear once again.
-----------------------------------------
Fierce Tiger Mountain, Wild Territories, late afternoon.
A mountain that split the clouds like a giant spear lied in the territory of the Fierce Tiger tribe. A sacred place, and also a lifeline for the people living in these parts. It was filled with dangerous cliffs and deep pits. In one such pit, a youth lies in a small pool of his own blood.
[Host body is close to death, deploying countermeasures.]
Young man was awakened by a cold voice and instantly overwhelmed by the gut wrenching pain in his chest.
[Plant with medicinal properties found, absorbing.]
Cold voice spoke again and a warm sensation started to spread throughout the young man's body.
[High medicinal efficacy, estimated full recovery time: 10 hours.]
[Host will be able to move in: 20 minutes. Please do not move until that.]
The young man was lying down trying to sort out the haze in his mind. This young man, naturally, was Elias.
It took several minutes for Elias to regain his bearings, and soon enough, he started to look around. What greeted him was cold cliff walls without even a sign of vegetation.
"Where the hell am I?" - Elias muttered, but his voice was as hoarse as his throat was parched, resulting in groaning sounds instead of proper speech.
Slowly, memories of a lifetime started to surface in Elias's head. Elias, or rather Feron, was a son to the Fierce Tiger Tribe Chief. He wasn't blessed with talent, so much that even tribe members considered him slow. Of course, few of them dared to speak that aloud, out of respect to his father, and out of fear of his power as well. Feron's father, Calak, also known as Fierce Tiger, was a Ferocious Warrior, a level of strength greatly respected by small tribes like the one Feron belonged to.
Calak's strength ensured a fairly good life for Feron, even though he didn't have any achievements in cultivation. He even was betrothed to a daughter of a tribal elder, Amal. Amal was beautiful, and the elder was ecstatic when Calak came up with the idea. However this kind of life abruptly ended when Calak was ambushed by Ferocious Warriors of neighboring tribes, Black Crocodile, Iron Eagle and Wind Wolf. Calak has managed to escape the ambush with his life, but he was heavily injured. Before he could return back to his tribe, Gaden, one of the tribe's warriors, intercepted and killed him for the title of Fierce Tiger.
This was the moment when Feron's life took a sharp turn. Since he wasn't chief's son anymore and he had no strength he could only do hard labor now to feed himself. In winter he would work in the mine, digging up ore known as "Black Iron". It had some curious properties. For example, the cave where it is mined always was a bit warm, it was especially noticeable when the temperature outside fell low enough to make snow fall. The tribe usually sold this ore for food during winters. However this ore had one nasty property. Sometimes people fell ill after working in the mine for an extended period of time.
In summer, Feron would scale the Fierce Tiger Mountain looking for herbs. Warriors used them to advance their strength, but to do so, you must be born capable of absorbing the energy inside them.
One such day, Feron was looking for herbs. He was following his usual path circling the mountain. It would take him a whole day to do so, however the only danger would be steep cliffs. It was better than fighting beasts for sure. Feron approached one of the usual spots he visited, a cliff where spiritual grass grows very fast. It did not have much energy in it, but having a constant supply of herbs was a luxury one cannot overlook.
Feron crouched down on a cliff and started gathering the herbs when he heard footsteps behind. Before he was able to turn around he felt a push on his back that made him fall down the cliff. He was able to steal a glance of who pushed him, but the only thing he managed to see was the two silhouettes and sunlight behind them. Two seconds later he felt his body smash against the floor of the pit. This was his last memory.
Unfortunately for the two men who tried to kill Feron, there was a strong spirit herb about to mature in that pit.