Two people are having a conversation at a table a young man and a woman.
They are covered by the dimly lit room.
The young man puts his hand on the table where his arm can be seen, he is wearing metallic black armor.
"Follow along, I won't repeat myself."
"Yeah." The woman says observantly
"The Earth is made up of continents called Territories. Within each territory is an elemental factor."
"The Territory of The Eagle at first glance is barren, covered in rock. One could easily think that the factor for this region is Stone, but what causes the dry landscape is the erosion caused by the harsh winds that at their weakest, make most consider a category-five hurricane a good day.
"The wind is forever, and because of it there needed to be a way of nullifying it so that people can survive."
"Get on with it already." the woman sounds irritated by the young man's redundancy.
"Every district has one person dedicated to overseeing a large magical crystal that emits a barrier that protects the city from the outside elements. So if a barrier crystal were to ever be destroyed..."
The young man awaits an answer
The woman smiles a bit
"The district would be overwhelmed by outside elements, causing everyone inside to die."
"He couldn't escape... it could work."
Year 600/Time - 7 Am/Present day
A woman is preparing food downstairs in a kitchen, with a young girl sitting at the table.
"Corin they'll be here any minute now and you haven't even had breakfast!"
An older boy's voice is heard above the stairs.
"I'll be down in a second Mom."
Within the Territory of the Eagle, is the region of the grizzly bear, and in this region are many types of districts.
In a certain housing district where homes are cubical and stacked together, lives Corin Fortis, an 18-year-old boy who has black hair, white irises, skin that's tanish white, and is about 5'11.
He rushes to the stairs while putting his black long-sleeve shirt over his head causing him to tumble down.
His little sister at the kitchen table laughs.
"You need to be careful."
His mom says sternly as she prepares the table with breakfast.
Corin gets up from the floor disoriented and quickly grabs his shoes from the side of the stairs to put them on.
Corin's Dad is opening the door and leaving for work.
"I'm off, I'll be back before you're home Corin. So good luck to you, and love you all."
"Bye, love you"
the others say out of sync
Corin rushes to the breakfast table to eat.
His mom sets his plate and then sits down to eat.
Corin, his mom, and his sister eat for a few minutes.
Formal trumpeting can be heard playing from the outside of the house.
"They're here!"
Corin exclaims.
There's a knock at the door, and Corin rushes over.
Before opening it he brushes himself off and looks into the mirror by the door to check his appearance.
He opens the door and a young man in a formal white and blue garb, with white skin and blond fluffy hair is presented before him.
The blonde man unrolls a piece of paper and reads sit aloud.
"The United World Organization hereby welcomes you, Corin Fortis, to the Annual Blessing ceremony for you are now of age, and a secondary school graduate making you eligible for participation. If you are to decline you will be annually asked to participate until you do so. That being said, will you accept this year's invitation?"
Corin looks back at his mom who is standing up with his sister, and she smiles.
Corin turns back.
"Yes sir, absolutely."
The blond man smiles.
"Fantastic, this way please."
The blonde man turns and awaits Corin to proceed.
Corin Steps up to the door.
Outside the cubicle home is a grey railing with stairs that allow for accessibility among the stories.
Corin's house is the fifth story up.
His mom and sister walk up to the door and see him off.
Corin
Walks through the doorway
Leaving the house he sees a large metallic blimp the color white with a royal blue design.
The blimp shoots out a path that lands at the railing where Corin's cubical stops so that he can enter the blimp
Corin looks at it in awe
He's never seen such technology.
He takes his first step onto the path
He starts walking.
As he steps, the path retracts behind.
He enters the blimp.
The sliding door of the blimp shuts behind him.
The interior is white with matching benches that line across the wall, like a waiting room. There are also windows lining up the sides of the room so you may see outside.
There are 8 other people there all keeping to themselves.
The Blonde Man heads into another room past the seating area.
Corin finds an empty place to sit for the ride.
A speaker in the corner of the room turns on
The blonde man's voice is heard from the speaker.
"This was our last stop so be ready when we arrive, oh and for those of you to who I haven't introduced myself my name is Jasper"
The blimp begins to take off
As they move in the direction of the ceremony Corin admires the interior.
A few minutes pass and Corin starts to think to himself.
Everyone is taking this so differently, some of these guys look nervous and a few are so calm. But I guess they aren't wrong to feel the way they do. So many people go without magic in their day-to-day lives with about 1/3rd of the population having magic. So it wouldn't be the end of the world if you failed
The way most people function like my family is the use of magic stones, which are magic-induced crystals capable of exuding their magical element, kind of like a magical battery. We use these to power devices like the oven or the air conditioning, so we have to purchase them regularly.
Unfortunately, no one in my family has been blessed with magic yet, but my idea is that with someone in the family who can use magic our livelihood would be so much easier. With the ability to wield magic, more and better job opportunities present themself which would help us out a lot.
The speaker turns on
"We are here!" Jasper says in a celebratory voice
Corin sharpens up with a confused look.
Looking at the surrounding area from the window, Corin notices that the vegetation and climate are much different from where he lives, there's grass that flows with a calming breeze and sun that lights up the clear sky.
He thinks to himself that no location around his house looks like this, so how did they get there that fast?
The kids are then escorted out of the blimp one by one off the ramp.
They touch ground and are presented with an elegant white marble staircase that leads up just as large a hill.
Jasper tells them he will guide them to their destination.
The participants start walking.
Jasper speaks as they walk, following shortly behind.
"As you all should know the Chyros do not live in our world anymore, so to allow them to judge you the UWO created a device that will let them see you, but not let you see them."
"Say, do any of you know what the Chyros look like?"
The participants start to throw out guesses. Some say they are untouchable giants, or that they are beautiful creatures.
Corinnremaned silent
Jasper chuckles
"Your answers aren't entirely wrong, they are many things, each vastly unique from the other."
After a bit, they arrive at the ceremony stage.
The stage is a giant circle made of white marble that has ten symbols carved in the center. But Corin isn't sure what they are.
Guards are surrounding the perimeter as well.
Corin looks at the other participants and all of them are looking upwards.
Corin looks where they're looking and his mouth drops.
Past the ceremony stage is the back of a massive white fortress that starts from the base of the hill and ends high into the sky.
Jasper reaches the top of the stage.
"It is custom to kneel upon entry here"
The participants start to kneel, but Corin does it a little slower.
"The building past the ceremony stage is the Fortress of Promise, an important UWO government building holding documents, records, and important members. Only those granted high honors may step foot inside."
Jasper waits for a second after he finishes talking
"Okay, you may rise."
They all start to stand back up
"Now everyone, step onto a circle platform. There should be one for each of you on the stage."
Around the symbols at the center of the stage are circle platforms for the attendees
Corin steps up to the middlemost platform
Jasper walks up to everyone individually giving them each a gray crystal sphere.
"This is the device I spoke of earlier, the one that allows the Chyros to see and judge you. The device will change color according to who is judging you currently.
The sequence order is Red for Flame, Yellow for Thunder, Blue for Tidal, Brown for Stone, and Aqua for Gust. You get one chance for each of the five elements."
"When the color sequence ends your crystal will either shatter, meaning you failed, or glow, matching the color to whom deems you worthy."
"If it glows multiple colors you will choose a magic to inherit but we will only discuss that further if need be."
"Now that the explanations are out of the way we shall begin, and we will be going from left to right".
Corin thinks to himself as he watches.
A girl, shorter than me, with pink hair.
The Crystal glows Red Yellow Blue Brown Aqua the sequence then ends
Hers glows red, and she smirks with confidence.
A boy, muscular, brown hair
The Crystal glows the sequence
Shatters.
A boy with, a droopy posture, and green hair.
The Crystal glows the sequence
It cracks and then shatters.
A boy, bold, blond.
The Crystal glows the sequence
Shatters.
My Turn.
The Crystal glows Red Yellow Blue Brown Aqua
Corin awaits his judgment brimming with hope
The Crystal goes dark
There's a pause
Corin's hope turns to worry
He feels the crystal vibrate a little
No-no!
Soft cracks start to form
A look of despair coats Corin's face
The crystal shatters and shards fall from his hand to the ground.
Corin clenches his fist, cutting himself on a crystal shard in his hand.
The others continue as Corin stares into the distance.
It'll be ok, Nothing will change, people go all the time without magic...
The last person is going
A boy, with black hair, like me.
The Crystal: Red Yellow Blue Brown Aqua
The crystal shines Blue.
Jasper walks up to the middle of the stage
"Well, it's already about 6pm and we got a lot more to do for those of you who passed!"
Corin looks into the sky, it's dark out already.
How did it get so late...
Jasper continues to wrap up formalities
"This concludes our 83rd entry batch of the yearly ceremony."
The Guards clap
"For those of you who passed I need you to stay here, the rest of you will be returning home. Please do comply, it makes my job much easier."
"Again stay there those who passed, someone will be here to take you to the next part of your ceremony. The rest of you may start following me now."
Jasper starts to head downstairs
The unworthy follow behind.
When they reach the bottom of the stairs the blimp is gone and the entrance is well guarded.
Everyone's a little confused except Jasper.
Jasper turns to them
"It is already much too late and the blimp was just for show, he turns to a guard on his right
"Open it".
The guard on his right holds a purple rhombus-shaped crystal, It's a magic stone. The guard throws it on the ground and cracks it, opening a large purple ring vertically that has a purplish void in the center.
Corin is confused by the purple magic
What kind of magic is that? It doesn't fit in the five magic elements.
Jasper points at the purple void
"Stepping through here will send you back to where you came from before we picked you up, now please step through one at a time."
No one goes through, but then Jasper sticks his hand and takes it out.
"Look it's completely safe."
Corin puts together that the purple magic probably was how the blimp traveled so fast
Everyone looks at each other, then one by one the unworthy step through.
Corin's turn to go through, he's hesitant but he does as he's told.
Coein steps through, he's outside in front of his housing unit.
"They could've at least got me to the rail, now I gotta walk up five flights of stairs."
Corin sadness has started to fade away, he starts to think that maybe he overreacted and the life he lives is enough.
But as he thinks this he feels a sudden rumbling in the ground.
Corin looks around to find the source.
He looks up.
The worst has happened.
The barrier that keeps out the Wind is breached.
There's a massive hole in the top.
The wind is overpowering the barrier causing it to deteriorate rapidly
Corin starts to feel the unrelenting force of the wind push against him.
Corin fills with worry
I got to get to my family!
But as Corin thinks this, swarms of creatures made of a black essence that can only be physically described as Tar. Start to crawl their way down from other housing units.
Corin panics
What are those?!
They had started to flood the district, destroying, eating, and ripping everyone and everything in sight.
Corin sees that most of the housing units around him are destroyed, windows stained with blood.
He looks back at his home
The condition was as he remembers it
They haven't made it to mine yet, there's still time!
He's noticed by a pack of creatures.
He darts for the staircase.
They follow in pursuit.
He makes it to floor two.
He runs faster but they match his speed, some even crawling vertically along the homes while some stop and enter windows and attack families.
He reaches the stairs and runs up.
He's on floor three, but he's clawed on the ankle and trips.
He gets surrounded and held down by multiple creatures.
They swarm him.
The creatures start clawing and biting at him and he screams in pain pleading for help.
"PLEASE SOMEBODY!!!"
Suddenly the creatures ignite into flames, and as they scream they're gone to ash.
Corin's bleeding all over from scratch and bite marks
He's confused about what just happened but thinks he's in the clear.
Corin attempts to stand.
As he tries to get up he collapses, having sustained mortal wounds along his body, and he is losing more blood than his body can handle.
He hasn't come to terms with dying yet.
He gets up and continues to make his way up limping and injured.
I can make it...
He reaches floor four.
Two more creatures leap at him from the wall on his side.
They're electrocuted and turn to ash.
He turns but nothing's there.
Corin's body is shaking with pain
He keeps limping with haste.
More crawl up from the side of the building.
The creatures start flooding in at him one by one from behind and his side.
He's lugging himself up the last flight not attentive to the imminent death that follows.
The creatures pounce, pouring down onto Corin like heavy rainfall.
But...
As the horde of creatures get near Corin, they are struck randomly by a projectile made up of elemental magic. (Flame, Gust, Stone, Thunder, Tide) Corn hears the monsters behind him but his only focus is just to make it to his door.
Corin reaches his door, thinking that his family could already be dead, but he knows that he shouldn't dare believe in such a thing.
Blood drips from his hand on the floor as he reaches for it.
He grabs the doorknob.
He prepares for the worst.
He starts opening the door
The building shakes.
Hinges start coming off
It begins to collapse.
Corin's hand slips from the knob
He falls over the railing.
Corin is now plummeting.
Knowing that he won't survive the fall, he's wondering what his family is doing in their last moments.
Thunk
Corin hits the floor and starts fading in and out of consciousness.
He passes out.
After some time passes he wakes up slowly thinking about how long he was knocked out.
Checking his body he realizes that it's not hurt as much as he thought it would be from the fall.
Actually... He's in perfect health. No longer has even a single cut in him.
He looks around.
Nothing's happening, nothing's moving.
The tar creatures are suspended mid-fall.
The collapsing buildings are still.
Even the wind has halted.
What's going on?
A loud noise comes from nearby.
He looks but nothing's there.
Corin starts to feel a warmth surround him.
Wanting answers he gets up and starts to wander.
The warmth has grown into an irritating heat.
He hears another sound again but cannot tell where it's coming from.
A large tree shaking catches his eye and he walks towards it.
The heat has grown to a burning fire.
A noise can be heard as he gets closer.
Corin's sweating a bit.
As Corin approaches the tree he slows down and looks at it cautiously.
Something large comes out from behind.
Hiding all but its neck and head in the shadows of the night is a monstrous red dragon-like creature. Its eyes are yellow, with brown horns that grow away from its face.
Embedded on top of the dragon's head rests a red crystal sphere.
The dragon stares at the collapsing housing, squinting its eyes as if it's looking for something.
The burning fire returns to a comforting warmth.
Corin looks at it curiously for a moment.
The dragon turns to Corin and they make eye contact. Corin jumps back a bit.
The dragon returns to looking at the housing
The dragon does a double take gazing back at Corin again as if it is surprised, then quickly looks into the shadows that cover it.
"Have we decided?"
It says in a monstrous voice.
Corin is shocked that it can talk.
There is a silence as the dragon stares into the shadow.
More voices can be heard coming from the shadow in response to the dragon, all saying "He'll do" out of sync.
Corin is in a state of shock, looking at the dragon.
What the hell?
The dragon smiles as he looks back at Corin.
Corin turns to run away but as he does a purple ring forms below where he stands faster than he can react.
He falls through the ring.