The night was quiet once Elijah, Novius, and Alexia returned to the Weltor estate. Not much time was spent at the hunter guild as they quickly reported the failed completion of their mission.
One thing that did surprise the party was how a sparring tournament would be held to determine the top hunters of every core level. The kingdom is in great need of new talent, and the best way to find the most powerful people is by displaying their abilities to the public. This is a never done before event that will be taking place in the Magic Academy Coliseum. A coliseum big enough to hold over ten thousand people at one, and a coliseum big enough to hold eight matches at once. There would be qualifiers within each inner city hunter guild, matches between the top people of each hunter guild, semifinals between every guild, and finally… the finals between the top talents of the entire kingdom. Rewards for placing high were not discussed at all, but Elijah presumed it would have something to do with a guaranteed spot on the frontlines. This tournament wasn't just for the children, but also for the hope of the kingdom.
This announcement came out of the blue, and made Elijah think the guild needed to weed out even more trash as they needed to focus on a small amount of individuals compared to the amount of junior hunters. Retaking the wall was making no progress, and there were people dying left and right.
Blue core beasts were not the problem. No beast they were facing was above the cyan level. The problem was that the human race had no innate abilities compared to the ugly and monstrous beasts that roamed the outer region.
A knock was heard on the door of Elijah's room, and he welcomed the visitor with a greeting.
The moment the door opened, Elijah recognized the icy blue eyes and white hair. Amaris!
"How was your mission Elijah?"
"No, how has your life been? Wow. We failed. The psycho Creveron man in Nova40 didn't tell the guild about a difficult beast, and we would have died if there had been more than one…"
"Hahahaha, are you talking about Andal?"
"Yes."
"That man is rotten in the head, and will do whatever it takes to see strong hunters grow up. It was just one of his sick tests."
"Ah. So no matter what kind of world this is, there will always be people like that… Tell me Amaris, do you think there is a way to increase our physical strength with mana?"
Amaris shut the door and leaned against it with his arms crossed. "Yes, but not without destroying your body."
"I used that method on my mission and obliterated a gorgon within a second. I've never felt so much pain before."
"Ha! That's impressive. By the way Elijah, do you have something that you want to ask me?" Amaris moved closer to Elijah, and closely stared at the boy sitting on the bed.
"I want you to take me outside of the wall, and soon."
"You probably don't know this Elijah, but there have been new beast sightings that use a type of magic no one has ever seen before. It absorbs, decays, and decimates anything it touches, and the beasts that carry this type of magic look like something from your worst nightmare. I know you can fly, but you would die instantly against any of those beasts with a core level of red. That is if you didn't use your flight ability hehe."
Elijah was listening to the words coming out of Amaris' mouth and continued to grow sad with each statement. New magic, horrible beasts, and easily being killed. His sour mood was somewhat lifted by his last sentence.
"So when can you take me?"
"Woah, slow down buddy. I think I should incentivize you. Get to the dark Orange core stage, and I will take you. Also, I think you may have noticed by now, but there is something weird going on with the people here. No one ever wants to leave, and always denies the idea of life outside the walls. Do you have any thoughts on this matter?"
Amaris' question made Elijah think hard about his experiences with Novius and Alexia. Both of them had been adamant about their not being life outside the walls, and both Elijah and Amaris recall the conversation that Alexia and Novius were present in. "I think you are right, everyone I have talked to about escaping the walls have all said the same thing. The only matter that doesn't track is explorations outside the outer wall."
"That only happens to hunt and keep the beasts outside the kingdom in check. The raid that caused the fall of the wall wasn't the first raid even, and ever since the people started venturing outside the walls to hunt beasts, we haven't had a raid since. Although, there has never been a raid where the wall has been destroyed, but only a noise disturbance that called for the hunters to take them out."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense."
"You know Elijah, I can tell that you are something special. You talk to me like a normal adult, and when you are with your friends, you talk like your friends."
Elijah did not do anything but stare at Amaris, and stopped his question that was about to escape his mouth with a question of his own. "You are not from this kingdom right? You are an outsider." The way Elijah structured this question made Elijah seem like someone who cared about this kingdom, a true resident. No one can know his secret.
"Yes, I am from a kingdom not too far from here."
Elijah instantly stood up. "Tell me. Why hasn't your kingdom found Astraea?"
"Because your kingdom is sick, and hiding itself from the outside world. I came here as a spy, along with a couple of other people almost ten years ago. We mean know harm and are only trying to investigate what is happening here."
"What? What is happening to this kingdom?!"
"Sorry kid, but I don't know myself. I have a feeling that the people I came with are no longer on my side…"
Elijah was processing all the information from Amaris. "Are you on the side of good, or the side of bad?"
"That's a stupid question to ask. I just realized I need to go, I may be late for a meeting. Thinking about why that's a stupid question, and please complete some damn missions…"
"What the—-"
Amaris quietly walked out of the bedroom, and said his goodbyes to Don and Phloria who were downstairs talking to George and Gloria. "It's you again!!"
"Haha, have a good night and enjoy the wet carriage court!"
Amaris walked out of the grand front door, and created a thick ice path that took him to the sky. The night was starry behind the mana barrier, with an uncountable number of beasts roaming the lands.
Elijah laid on his bed and let his mind roam. It seemed that whenever he was alone, memories of his past flowed through his mind like a torrential river. There was no amount of control, but only despair as his heart rate fluctuated.
"I need to go downstairs…"
The first thing he saw was the door open, with both Novius' and his parents staring outside.
"Haha, looks like that idiot left in style."
"Elijah, why is that man visiting you again?!"
"Because he thinks I am strong. I am going to go for a quick night walk, I'll be back soon."
No one, not even his parents objected as they heard his monotone voice. They were confused and worried, and decided to wait until he came back to talk to him.
The night was cold even with the wind not busting through the mana barrier. With every breath, a trail of smoke came out of Elijah's nostrils. There was practically no one outside as it was night, however, one thing was certainly true. It was snowing, and very hard. The Grand Park was littered with benches, winding paths, and tall trees that seemed to be dying.
"This world is filled with beauty that I have not seen all of yet. I want to get out of this place. Something is eerily wrong, and it has something to do with you…" Elijah was staring directly into the whirlpool, but more specifically, the dark void of nothingness that lies beneath.
The calming noises of the currents of the whirlpool calmed his mind, and returned for a restful night of sleep which was something he was worried would be scarce.