16 years later,
If you'd combine the 4 continents which exist on the planet Hydrige, there a total of 72 kingdoms, out of which, only 28 have the "Sigil Phase System" users. Remove 14 from that number and you get 14 kingdoms. These 14 kingdoms contain the only schools dedicated to teach how to use the Sigil Phase System to people who can harness its powers.
The ages of students vary. Some are as young as 13 and some as old as 68. To join the school, though, you had to be 13 years or more. Each school had a different name but the one we are going to focus on is called Shinju Academy. One of the 6 "elite" schools for learning The Sigil Phase System.
...
The return of the God Of Affinities had been...chaotic, to say the least. Out of the 72 kingdoms, he had destroyed 18, as of 2024, leaving the people of those kingdoms starving and rotting until their death. There only wish was for death. Pretty ironic, really. These kingdoms had once been thriving and making everybody wish to live there. Now, though, times had changed. Ironic.
The God Of Affinities had vanished.
The last sighting of him was during the battle for the 18th continent 6 years ago, which unfortunately, ended with his victory. There have been rumors going around that he had returned but frankly, most of them had been proved false. But he couldn't have died either, nobody is powerful enough to defeat him.
There were chances that he had gone into hiding, planning for his next attack. But that was highly unlikely. He was the God Of Affinities, the "strongest being in the universe". He didn't need to plan. He only need guts and instinct for glory.
...
Classes at the Shinju Academy had begun 11 minutes ago and Zen Whoim was late. It was the first day. He was rushing, yes, but he wasn't going to make it. Not even past the first crosswalk.
His parents had to told him to get a room at the Shinju Dormitory S. Had he listened, he would've been alive.
But he hadn't listened.
The crosswalks were split into 4 sections: The First Crosswalk, The Second Crosswalk, The Third Crosswalk, and The Fourth Crosswalk. Mind you, these aren't actual crosswalks: more so, street names. The presence of cars were clearly visible at 8:17 am but, Zen hadn't bothered with them.
Well, one such car was what caused him to reach lands untouched, unwanted, and unbeknownst.
He started running past the crossing of the First Crosswalk into the second when the car crashed onto him. The inhabitants watched in horror as the car sped into the abyss, leaving a gruesome sight at its wake.
The body of Zen Whoim was crushed. His head had been put to the subject of two wheels, which, unfortunately, resulted in it being completely flattened. There were parts of brain meat splattered across the crossing. To be honest, his whole body was flattened under the car. Muscles were non-existent, since, they had been torn apart and splattered down to the last cell of the man. The man had become a part of the road. Nothing but a membrane remained.
To most people's eyes, Zen Whoim was no more but to a select few, and soon himself, he was well and alive. Just not in the same plane of existence.
...
The "Divine" plane of existence is where the Arcanes resided. These Arcanes were beings with power which had no bounds.
And at the core of the aforementioned power, was The Arcane Essence.
The Arcane Essence, a rare and ancient power that flows through the universe, allowing certain induviduals-known as Arcane Wielders-to tap into its primordial force.
To become an Arcane Wielder, though, required defeating one of The Arcane Gods. These Arcane Gods, also called as Arcanes, were kind of like the final boss of a video game. Once defeated, these Arcanes manifest into the Sigil Marks.
But that is not important, at the moment.
Zen Whoim had arrived at the "Divine" plane of existence, unknowing of what was to come.
This plane of existence was the origin of The God Of Affinities, after all.
...
The "Divine" plane of existence (from here on out, called as The Dreamscape) is not the best of places to arrive at. At first glance, yes, it was on par with heaven but once you delve deep enough, oh, you would learn. The Dreamscape was a far worse place than hell could ever dream to be
But for Zen Whoim, he knew from the moment that he had arrived, that there could be no place worse than The Dreamscape. Attributing to the fact that from the moment he had arrived, he was being chased by monsters.
You see, The Dreamscape was not only the home of the Arcanes, but also the things created by them.
There were 4 Arcanes in total: The Arcane of Imagination, The Arcane of Time, The Arcane of Space, and The Arcane of Knowledge.
The Arcane of Space being the weakest while The Arcane of Imagination being the strongest.
These monsters were the work of The Arcane of Knowledge. Owing to that, they were named Knowledge Keys.
At present time, Zen Whoim was hiding behind a rock as the Knowledge Keys searched for him. They were towering beasts so, really, it wasn't going to take long for them to find him. He had to come up with a plan, immediately. It was at times like these, when there was no hope, that Zen Whoim wished to be like his favorite anime characters.
Little did he know, he would, soon, become his own favorite character.
...
You see, when Zen Whoim had arrived at The Dreamscape, he was being chased by Knowledge Keys but, the thing was, he had found a tablet too.
And now, that tablet glowed.
PING!
DEAR USER,
DO YOU WISH TO MANIFEST YOUR SIGIL MARKS INTO THE DREAMSCAPE?
YES or NO
Oh, was Zen Whoim praying for this. He clicked on YES as soon as he saw the option.
Then, the Sigil Marks manifested. The problem was... he was a Base Sigil Wielder. Not nearly as strong enough to fight these towering beasts but, he had no choice. He had to do this.
Taking in a deep breath, his Sigil Marks glowed with it being fully manifested. Then came the sword. This was unexpected. His Sigil Marks didn't come with a sword. Oh well, this was to his advantage, anyway.
He ran towards one of the Knowledge Keys. There were 3 in total. Touching the ground with his palm, he went for a move using the earth of this place but, he fell. The ground opened up and cracks started forming. The Knowledge Keys fell through too. Sure, The Dreamscape was where the Arcanes resided but their creations could move onto other planes of existence, as well.
They could destroy them too.
As they fell through, they arrived at The "Spiritual" plane of existence (from here on out, called as The Wastelands.).
Zen Whoim threw the blade at one of the Knowledge Keys and muttered "Space Shift". This was one of the various Arcane Spells of the Arcane Of Space. The position of the blade shifted just as the Knowledge Key threw its hand at it. The blade, instead, went into the back of the Knowledge Key's body.
But that did not even land a scratch, not even a mark was visible.
That was when he realized. There was no hope at battling these monsters. They were all too powerful. But he wasn't going to give up just yet. If he was going to die, he was going to take down at least one of these bastards.
"Arcane Sigil Base: Telekinesis: Kill yourself"
This move came under the arsenal of The Arcane Of Knowledge. This would be a direct blow to the Arcane Of Knowledge himself since he was using his own arsenal to defeat his own monsters.
Zen Whoim was sure this would work. The problem was that it didn't.
The Arcane Of Knowledge didn't allow it to work. He wasn't going to let a random person attack his own beasts using his own move set. That wasn't how this was going to go. The Knowledge Key smacked him onto the ground and choked him. Just as Zen Whoim was about to die,
The bastard tore him into two halves.
"Damn it all"