Vino and Rina made it to the matrix, and there were many others from all over the kingdom. Most of them looked at each other with ill intent. There was a standstill to see who would enter first.
A man with black hair calmly walked up onto the matrix and stood.
"If anyone wants to come through, come through with me. We can get through the dead zone easily if we stick together." The man waited to see who would approach.
At first nobody did, until a red-haired girl approached slowly. This caused a lot of people to swarm the teleportation matrix.
"Promise not to harm each other, okay?" The woman said.
There was a resounding "Okay!" From all of the men around her.
Vino and Rina looked on to the sight with confusion. Vino stopped Rina from walking further.
She turned around to ask why, and he just shook his head.
"I do not think that's a good idea." Vino had this gut feeling that something would go wrong if he continued with the group.
The entire group of people vanished into thin air. The only thing left were the glowing runes and the men who ran the matrix.
"Wait!" A girl with glasses ran up. She had long braided hair and looked to be important.
"Is there still time?" The lady asked Vino, gasping for breath.
"To get through?" He responded, seeming confused.
"Yes, I need to get through before I miss the induction." She bowed her head. "I forgot to introduce myself! Im Benna!"
"Benna?" Rina smiled, "I'm Rina and he is Vino!"
"There is one more opening today before the matrix closes." Rina said. "You made it just on time."
Whew.
"Thank god." Benna almost collapsed, relaxing her body too quick.
"What brings you to the Concordium?" Vino asked.
"I am trying to get stronger. I will be the next head of my clan, and I don't want to let them down." Benna looked down with a sad expression. "My siblings all died, and now I am all that is left of the new generation. If I don't take over, someone unrelated to the clan will."
"Is that so?" Vino scratched his chin. It looked as if he was trying to stroke a beard, but nothing was there. He wanted to tell them his plan to take down whatever god ruled this place, but that was too revealing. Everyone worshipped this god and revered him.
Vino came to a horrible realization.
How the hell am I going to kill a god?
"Tsk. Tsk." Frags decided it was a good time to interrupt. "You really want this guy dead, huh?"
Yeah, but how will I do it?
"I need to tell you something." Frags laughed. "God isn't some concept. He is the principal of the Concordium."
"His name is Lira. He is our father!" Frags smiled.
How do you know this? Are you lying!?
"I am 100 percent telling the truth!" Frags had a solemn look on his face. "He couldn't have been the one who did this to you. To us."
"Even if his isn't! He must know something!" Vino screamed out loud.
Rina and Benna looked at him with concern.
Rina put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Vino sighed and looked towards Benna. "Sorry you had to see that."
"Let's keep going," he said. "Its opening up soon."
They stood in front of what looked like a huge stone with colorful writing all over it.
"Step onto the platform fully." One of the operators said. "Any items you bring need to be kept close to your body to avoid confusion.
"Vino looked up at the sword floating around him, he grabbed it and held onto it. There were also fairylike creatures still following him, but they didn't get too close. They were hovering above the platform, still playing with each other.
They waited for another 10 minutes before going through the gate, they were truly the last to go through.
"Alright lets go!" Vino shouted.
Colors surrounded the four of them, and soon enough, the environment had changed around them. There was a path that led down the hill, and there were trees all around, like on the other side of the teleportation matrix.
"Lets go! i think we have a few hours to get there!" Rina said.
"But-" Benna said, cutting herself off.
"Its ok, we know to be careful." Rina gave a pretty smile, soothing Benna's worries.
Vino led the group and he began walking down the path. When they got to the part before the hill, they were astonished to see buildings go off into the distance, and trees surrounding them.
"This place is called the dead zone. Its in our best interest to get through it as fast as possible." Benna said while pushing up her glasses. She looked around and saw traces of blood going down the hill.
"Looks like someone was already unfortunate enough." She added, gesturing to the blood.
"Vino! Rina! We need to hurry!" Benna looked at the two of them, ignoring the sleeping squirrel on his shoulder.
"This isn't any ordinary place, and the Concordium isn't much better either. This place is tailored to making the strongest, most fierce fighters of the entire continent. There is a ton of death involved."
Rina and Vino looked at each other with worry, but Vino quickly assured her with a smile. "Don't worry, none of us will be dying anytime soon."
"Mhmm." Rina responded, she was
I want, no, NEED to protect him.
Benna smiled and then got serious, "The likelihood of us dying is approximately 75%. The other 25% chance of survival is because of us being so late, not a lot of people would want to waste their chance to enter the Concordium."
"Why is the survival rate so low?" Vino asked, he was confounded at what Benna said
"Its actually high! Its usually 15%!" Benna said as if it was a fun fact.
The other two looked on in horror. They had an extremely low chance of making it through the dead zone, but it was just numbers to Benna.
"Lets stop talking and move," Vino said, getting them to focus once again. He began running down the hill, making sure the others followed.
He also had his hand on the sword, just in case anyone decided to attack.
Memories flashed by like lightning, It was a manual about sword fighting.
"You can't do it." Frags said. "Its not that simple."
"It is simple if you can outsmart them." Vino kept running at full force, hoping that no harm would come for them.
There was a big pool of blood at the bottom of the hill. There was also a trail of blood leading into the woods ahead of them. The group stopped and looked around.
"Someone definitely died here," Benna said.
"That's obvious. even for me." Rina added with a face of annoyance.
Vino stayed silent and looked around. It was way too quiet.
He looked down at his bracelet and noticed something was off. The lightning inside would normally not be moving and would stay in a similar shape even after it stopped.
But this time It was in a generic shape that made no sense.
"Benna. Something is off." Vino said.
"Thats obvious, even for me." She added sarcastically. "Your bracelet changed shapes halfway down the hill."
"An illusion," Rina said. She looked at Vino and squinted her eyes a bit.
"Well, you are real!"
Whew.
Rina sighed in relief and began walking again. Vino grabbed her and quickly put a hand over his eye, leaving a small gap to see.
If this works how I think, I will be able to see what is real or not.
Vino watched as the forest ahead of him changed slightly, shifting the trees a little. The pools of blood revealed two bodies that weren't there before. His bracelet was going off like crazy as well.
He noticed a woman with red hair walking up with a dagger. She had a pile of bodies behind her, and a sadistic smile on her face.
"Thats that same lady! Her face looks more twisted and evil now." Vino said inwardly.
"Vino?" Rina wondered why he grabbed his face in such a way, but learned not to question these things.
"Rina!" Vino called out. He pulled her in close and looked into her eyes, causing her to blush.
He put his hand on her face and then turned her head towards the lady.
"Oh!" was the only word she could get out. "Act natural, and let's walk towards her. I will strike then."
Rina shook her head, causing Benna to be confused at what was going on, but she quickly put it all together.
"Vino, it won't work." Benna pushed up her glasses. "Rina will mess it up. She needs to keep running through. We should follow her and then strike when she least expects it."
Vino thought for a second and shook his head. "Trust me."
Benna looked on with confusion. "Fine then, I will run along with her. Just catch up quick, ok?"
"I will do that."