Beautiful winds graced the skies as the sun illuminated the great plains. Birds chirped and sang beautifully as they hopped from tree to tree, dancing in the wind.
One figure stood out from the beauty of the field, though. He wore a dark cloak, his green eyes highlighted beneath the hood of his cloak.
He slowly walked through the beautiful grass, moving his feet gently from one place to another, focusing on where he took his steps. He marched elegantly, his gaze unfazed.
Soon, he came to a halt below an interesting apple tree, it seemed to have twisted outwards into the side. He tilted his head to the side, inspecting it closely as he grabbed an apple, taking it into his palm.
"You're not an ordinary tree, are you?" The boy spoke, smiling as he glanced towards the tree.
The tree stood still for a moment, before slowly twisting back into place, standing straight.
"Yeah, thought as much. You can understand what I say, can't you?" He spoke, taking a bite of the apple he grabbed earlier.
The tree simply stood still, not budging an inch. By then, the boy nodded as he stood up, looking straight ahead.
"Can you point me to the direction of the cursed tomb? I'd wager a tree would know a thing or two about that."
The tree stood still for a moment, before tilting right.
"I see, thank you. I'm Angelo," he paused before continuing, "And I think I'll call you…Ross. I don't know, that's just the first thing that came to mind."
The tree shook itself, before standing still once more.
"Well, see you later then, Ross. Thanks again!"
And with that, Angelo moved on towards the direction the tree pointed to, making sure to stay cautious.
Angelo grabbed his flask, taking a sip as he began to think to himself.
'I shouldn't go out for too long, mom will probably get worried…well, I certainly hope I don't take too long.'
As Angelo continued to make his way towards his destination, he realized that a bandit camp was nearby.
'That doesn't look good…what are bandits doing out in the middle of nowhere? It's best to avoid them, I don't want any trouble.'
Angelo took caution as he walked into a tree range, avoiding the path through the bandit camp. He walked through the branches, making sure to avoid making any noise as he made it to the other side.
Looking ahead, he found a fork in the road, three pathways pointing to different sides.
'Oh, I wonder which one I should take?' Angelo thought to himself, before looking to the one in the center.
'I'll take my chances and just head straight to the middle.'
Angelo pushed forwards, making his way through the mystical forest before finally finding an abandoned gate, going down into a stone tomb.
"Finally, I found it!" Angelo exclaimed, quickly dashing to the entrance.
He quickly removed the boards covering the entrance as he stared down the dark stairway.
Angelo digs into his satchel, before pulling out a piece of paper with a cryptic message.
"Behind the tomb, the truth is held." Angelo reads out, before placing the piece of paper back into his satchel.
'I have no clue what that means, but this is my best shot at finding it out.'
Angelo quickly moved down the stairs, making his way down into the tomb as he moved through the rusty, ancient building.
Finally, he found the center of the tomb.
'This looks nothing like a tomb…it's a gigantic underground…dungeon, I guess?' Angelo thinks to himself.
In the center of the tomb laid a gigantic statue, holding a large cauldron.
'A statue? What is it supposed to mean?'
Angelo quickly inspected it further, circling around it as he analyzed every detail.
'It seems pretty normal to me…'
Angelo thought back to the contents of the paper he had.
'Behind the tomb…the truth is…held?'
Angelo looks up at the cauldron.
'It's holding the cauldron…does it have something to do with that?
Quickly, Angelo slowly begins to climb up the statue carefully, before grabbing onto its arm and climbing on top, peaking at the cauldron.
Looking inside, the cauldron seemed to be empty, though it held a rather strange item. Angelo quickly grabbed it, before jumping down from the statue and onto the floor.
'It looks like some sort of amulet…'
Angelo gently shook the amulet as it suddenly began to shine.
'Oh, looks like it worked! Finally, I'm gonna find out what the hell this is…'
And then, in a flash of light, Angelo was gone from the world. Slowly, he regained his vision as he found himself in a desert, standing in front of a very large man, almost the size of two people on top of one another.
He had very long, crimson hair. His presence let out an aura by itself.
"Huh? Where am I? Who are you?" Angelo quickly asked, looking around as he felt disoriented.
The man grinned, looking directly at Angelo.
"So…you've come." The man spoke with a horrifying aura.
Before Angelo could respond, he looked behind him to see a warrior, holding a large sword wearing body armor, but without a helmet.
'Was he talking to him? Can they even see me?'
Angelo walked away, and after the absence of a reaction, it seemed that he was in some sort of flashback, and they couldn't see him.
'What's going on?'
"I will kill you." The warrior declared, pointing his blade towards the large man.
'Why are they fighting?' Angelo thought to himself.
"You can certainly try." The large man mocked, spreading his arms out.
"I've yet to go all out in any of the battles I've fought, it's been annoying me for a very long time now…" He continued, chuckling for a moment.
"I'm really hoping you can fix that." He finished, glaring straight at the warrior.
"Lucifer, my name is Ace Thorgun, and I will chop your head off and carry it to my homeland." The warrior declared, before dashing straight at the large man.
'His name is Lucifer…I think I've heard of that before…can't recall from where, though.'
And so, the battle had begun. The warrior's blade clashed with one Lucifer's forearms, incapable of piercing through his flesh. Lucifer's second arm was resting at his side, a mockery of Ace.
'His skin is that strong? Who is this man?'
Lucifer's long, red hair soared with the wind as he easily overpowered Ace, striking him with thunderous power that sent him flying back.
"You're using Soul Energy, aren't you?" Ace asked, digging his sword into the ground as he regained his balance.
"Then it's only fair I do too." He stated, before an aura of energy engulfed him. And then, that aura soared through his blade too.
"I will kill you."
Lucifer grinned like a demon, chuckling as he stared towards Ace.
"Bold of you to assume I'd need to use any Soul Energy to defeat you."
And instantly, the battle resumed. This time, Ace's blade slashed through Lucifer's chest, blood flying out at a fast pace.
But Lucifer just smiled, grabbing his fingers as he gripped onto Ace's head, slamming it onto the ground.
'What the hell is going on?' Angelo thought, observing the battle carefully.
"You'd be better off chopping your own head off." Lucifer taunted, kicking Ace away. "Just run, I won't kill you if you flee with your tail between your legs."
Ace's nose began to bleed crimson, though his passion was unwavering.
"To run away from a battle is to spit on my own people. I will be the one to kill you, Lucifer. Mark my words."
"Your words will be marked on a tombstone, your very last." Lucifer chuckled, before pointing to the blade wound at his chest.
"Your sword did nothing, by the way." Lucifer mocked as he instantly regenerated from the wound.
"You are but a toy to me, boy. You cannot be seriously calling yourself the strongest?" Lucifer asked rhetorically, before darting out towards Ace.
"I'm getting a bit tired of our little fight here, let's finish this up."
But, before anything else could happen, a blinding light transported Angelo back where he came from, only this time, the tomb had begun to collapse.
Angelo fell to the floor in shock, before quickly getting back on his feet.
'What the hell was that?'
Angelo did not have time to think, quickly sprinting out as the tomb began to collapse on itself.
'I need to know more…but first, I have to get out of here!'
Angelo moved through the rubble, quickly darting out of the entrance to the tomb as it collapsed on itself right behind him.
'I need to know more…what the hell was that?'
Angelo thought, standing up to his feet as he dusted off the dirt on his clothing.
'What's more…this paper, I need to learn more about it. Mom gave it to me, but what does it really mean?'
Angelo grabbed the paper from his satchel, inspecting it further.
'She said something about my father wanting me to have it…surely this can't be a coincidence? I need to ask her once I get home…'
However, disaster struck as Angelo started to make his way home. The collapse of the tomb had attracted unwanted attention, namely the bandits he had so desperately tried to avoid before.
"Oi, kid. Now what are ye doing here?"
Angelo quickly darted his eyes to the bandits now encircling him, chuckling as they spoke to one another.
'Shit…this is bad.'