Adam was finally nearing the location marked on the map after many days and many nights of walking. Adam collapsed to the floor, drained from days of constant walking.
"Ugh... Why does this place have to be so god damn far away?!" he yelled, but nobody could hear him. The only other people were either dead, or miles away.
"Since I'm already this close, I can't just give up. Who knows what kind of trap awaits me over there." He stood up and continued his journey. Although his entire body was signaling for him not to take a single step, he protested and kept pushing.
Adam examined his surroundings. It was mostly rubble and dust, however, hidden in the shadows of the rubble was a tall, intracite, figure with a silver hood drawn around its neck. It's face was indistinguishable besides it's glowing yellow eyes. Adam noticed it, and leaped back instinctively, his hand rushing towards the sword by his side.
His eyes darted across the rubble. Why wasn't it moving? Why was it just staring? Every instinct screamed to run, but something about those glowing yellow eyes froze him in place.
The figure stared heavily at Adam, not even blinking once, not even moving once. "What?" Adam said, startled. He began slowly making his way towards the mysterious figure. After Adam was already halfway to the creature, it phased through the rubble it was hiding behind, walking through it as if it was nothing.
Adam leaped back again, pointing his sword against the mysterious creature, "Who are you?! What do you want from me?!" Adam shouted.
"I'm one of Lord Evolon's five Royal Guards. His order was to capture you, I will not fail him." it said, an unnaturally deep guttural voice. Adam replied, "You're with Evolon?"
There wasn't a response from the Royal Guard. Adam sighed, "It looks like talking won't get us anywhere, huh?" The Royal Guard didn't respond again, instead firing a beam of focused energy at Adam. Rather than hurting him, Adam became immobilized. An invisible force wrapped around him, squeezing his limbs and locking them in place. His muscles screamed as he fought against it, but the harder he pushed, the tighter it constricted.
The Royal Guard slowly walked towards Adam. Adam struggled more and more, but to no avail. "It's no use. No human being can escape from my--" The Royal Guard said, but Adam broke the invisible confines of the spell and regained his mobility.
"What was that you were just saying? I couldn't hear you well." Adam said, smugly. The Royal Guard seemed bewildered, widening it's eyes, "Impossible! No normal human being could escape from that, and even if you were a Terragon, I used that same spell on their leader, and even he failed." He sighed. "Lord Evolon did mention that you were special. Looks like I'll have to be doing this for real now." The Royal Guard said, grabbing the sword on his back using his right arm, which was heavily marked with a form of black ink. His left arm remained under the coat.
Adam replied, "I guess I'll have to be for real as well, huh?" The Royal Guard charged straight towards Adam. Adam managed to dodge in the nick of time, and he slashed the Royal Guard's side, but his sword phased right through him, causing Adam to fall through the floor.
"You just don't understand do you?" The Royal Guard said, in a cold tone. He wasted no time, putting his sword on his back and beginning to charge a purple beam of energy from his palm.
"Wait, wait, wait! We can talk about this!" Adam said, crawling away from the Royal Guard. He released the beam towards Adam's body. Adam's body was engulfed by the energy from the beam, his screams of agony drowned out by the intense sound of swirling energy. The Royal Guard stopped shooting the beam, putting his arm back in his coat.
"Good. You're still alive. I wouldn't expect less from a Terragon." Adam was unable to respond. Wounds and bruises covered every visible part of his body, tearing his clothes and burning his face.
"Even if you're a Terragon, I wouldn't expect you to be in mint condition after that," The Royal Guard stood next to Adam, teleporting the both of them to Evolon's containment facilities.
Evolon's Containment Facilities: Adam's Cell
Hours later, Adam awoke in his new cell. Adam stood up confused, "My head... Where am I?" He looked around, trying to remember. Blurry memories began slowly entering Adam's mind, and as soon as he was about to remember, footsteps disrupted his mind.
The cell was dimly lit, its walls covered in strange, pulsating runes. The faint hum of energy buzzed in the air, making his skin crawl.
The door slid open with a hiss, and a figure stepped in. His crimson eyes burned like coals, piercing through the shadows. Adam instinctively stepped back, his shackles clinking loudly, but Adam didn't pay attention to them. All his focus was on that figure.
"Oh come on! I was just in the middle of remembering what happened!" Adam raised his voice. "It doesn't matter now. You're not getting out of here," An unnaturally tall human person said. "Who are you?" Adam questioned, his tone immediately switching to serious. The person stared at Adam with his blazing red eyes and replied, "I'm Evolon. You're a Terragon, which isn't supposed to happen. I wiped them out myself many years ago."
"Well, I guess you missed one then," Adam replied. "And I will get out of here. I'll kill you even if it's the last thing I do. I made a vow."
Evolon said, "To whom?" Adam responded to which he said, "Nobody. I just made a vow."
Evolon paused for a second, but replied with, "How quaint. A broken promise is all you'll have left!" laughing. "I have more important things to take care of. I'll be back to you in a moment." Evolon left the room, and it was dead silent again, his unsettling presence still hanging in the room.
"Oh well. Guess I'll just have to sit here." Adam sat on the floor, and heard the sounds of chains. He looked at his foot and found that it was shackled to the floor.
"Seriously?! Come on! I can't even move?!" Adam said, struggling against the harsh pull of the shackles. His mind began to piece together the earlier encounter with the Royal Guard. He gritted his teeth, struggling even more against the shackles
"Damn it! I'm not going to stay here!" Adam muttered to himself.
His eyes narrowed and the dim light of the cell flickered. Somewhere outside of these thick walls, his fate was being decided.
Meanwhile, in the heart of Evolon's throne room, a soldier approached, a report clutched tightly in their hand...
"My lord! We've been attacked!" The soldier exclaimed. Evolon's calm demeanor quickly diminished, "Attacked? By whom!?"
The soldier responded, "We don't know yet, but one of our main outposts has been blown up!" Evolon slammed his fist on his armrest, "Send an Elite Soldier this instant! My orders!"
"Yes sir!" The soldier responded and scrambled out of the throne room, leaving Evolon fueled with rage. "Those filthy scum... I'll make them get what they deserve!"
As Evolon's rage grew, far from his reach, shadows stirred in an unknown place. The faintest glimmer of movement—too swift to catch, too quiet to hear—hinted at someone observing the chaos unfold. They had no need to announce their presence. The time would come soon enough.
A mysterious adventurer ran through the shadows, placing explosives at the bases of Evolon's outposts. Her moves were swift and calculated, making every specific turn, avoiding every trap. Wood and scraps flew across the air from the recent explosions. She kept travelling through Evolon's maze of a fortress, but an Elite Soldier blocked her path.
"Who are you?" The Elite Soldier asked. "O-Oh, I was sent by L-Lord Evolon to check the recent explosions as well. I assume y-your'e here for the same purpose..?" She stammered.
The Elite Soldier moved his head down towards her and stared at her, his gaze fixated. She was practically sweating bullets. "Why are you so nervous?" The Elite Soldier asked.
"N-Nervous? It's just.. Uh.. Yeah! It's just c-cold!" The Elite Soldier stepped forward, "Cold? Then why are you sweating--" he was about to ask, but the mysterious adventurer had long took off into the depths of Evolon's fortress. "Oh well, I'll just have to take her word for it," The Elite Soldier said, continuing to mind his business.
Soon, the adventurer reached a backdoor into Evolon's containment facility. She cautiously opened the door, scanning for any enemies. She then started brushing the palm of her hand across the wall, where she sensed a switch and clicked it. Candles across the entire room began igniting, illuminating the area. The newly lit room revealed many guards, of which they were all looking at her. But most importantly, she noticed Adam.
"Gotcha." The adventurer said before rushing towards Adam's cell, knocking out every guard in her way. "Who are you?" Adam asked, to which she ignored and searched the bodies of the unconscious guards for the keys. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Adam shouted.
The mysterious woman turned towards him and smiled, "I'll explain once we're out of here, okay?" she said, walking towards Adam's cell, testing key after key to check which one worked, until, snap, the door flew open. "Why can't you just tell me now?" Adam asked.
"There's no time. They're coming to look for us now," she responded, setting Adam's foot free from the shackle. "Now let's get out of here shall we?" she said, scooping up Adam in her arms and leaping towards the wooden beams holding up the facility, and exiting through a small trap door in the roof.
"Wait, I didn't sign up for this--" Adam said, but he covered his mouth, his stomach lurching as the speed of their escape made him feel like he was going to vomit.
Soon, after evading many guards and going undetected, they arrived in a cave, with the female adventurer dropping Adam safely on the ground. "Take your time. I was going pretty fast to be honest."
The cave was moist and warm. It was mostly silent besides the faint sound of water dropping every few seconds. It smelled of grass and mold.
"Pretty? You made me feel like my skin was tearing off of my body--" Adam said, but was swiftly interrupted by the contents of his stomach spilling out.
"Disgusting..." she said, hiding her face from Adam's direction. "Disgusting?! It's not my fault, you did this to me! Anyways, who are you?!"
"Oh yeah, that's right. My name's Eliza, and I think you're my brother."
"Think? What do you mean think? I've never seen you before!" Adam protested.
"Well, yeah. That's because our parents got a divorce when you were just 5. I went with dad and you went with mom. I can prove that I'm your sister."
"Then prove it!" Adam said, insisting.
"I'm a Terragon-Ignarid hybrid just like you. Watch," she said as she pointed the palms her hands towards a small piece of wood, fire manifesting from them, charring the wood and burning it to a crisp.
"Ignarid? What's that?" Adam said, confused
"Our father is an Ignarid, our mother is a Terragon. In fact, our father is the leader of the Ignarid clan." Eliza responded.
"Why aren't you with him?"
"Because he became evil and living with him is literal hell right now."
"Fair enough. But I still don't remember you, and I can't trust you being my sister."
"Hmm... Do you remember that one time where you were drowning in that lake, and I had to come save your dumbass because you couldn't swim?"
"Let me think..." Adam muttered, his brow furrowing as he tried to recall the memory. A pause hung in the air, tension building with every second. Then, like a flash of light, a switch clicked in his head. His eyes widened as the pieces fell into place. "Oh yeah! I do remember that!"
She blinked, studying him closely. A soft smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "That's great!" she said, her voice filled with warmth.
Adam hesitated for a moment, the weight of the memory settling in. He could feel his heart racing. Slowly, he stood up, locking eyes with her. For a long moment, neither of them said anything, the air thick with the shared intensity of the moment.
Then, as if on instinct, he stepped forward, and they embraced. The world around them seemed to pause, the touch lingering in the silence.
"I don't really know you all that well, but I'm willing to try to know you."
"Well, you're forced to anyways. Since I'll be training you. It's gotten word to me that you didn't even know you were a Terragon until a few days ago. Is that right?" Eliza whispered into his ear, tauntingly.
Adam quickly pulled away and shouted, "Oh come on! It's not my fault!"
Eliza smiled at him and said, "I know. I'm just teasing you."
"That reminds me, I recently found this map and I was following it until a 'Royal Guard' kidnapped me. I'll just give it to you," He said, handing the map over to Eliza.
Eliza examined the map, "Honestly... I have no idea. But we should follow it anyways."
"That's exactly what I'm saying! Now, let's go probably get ourselves killed!" Adam exclaimed.
"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Eliza chimed in with Adam as they headed off towards the marked location in the map. With nothing but the horizon ahead, they set off towards the unknown, unsure about what awaited them.
The Royal Guards are Evolon's most trusted and powerful warriors, each one a master of a unique ability, bound by the common reliance on Pulse to fuel their powers. They are the elite force, positioned to protect Evolon and carry out his will across vast dimensions and realities. Their purpose is not only to serve as protectors but also as enforcers of Evolon's vision, ensuring that his rule remains unchallenged.
Each Royal Guard is a symbol of Evolon's diverse power and control over different aspects of reality. They function as his closest allies, each bringing their individual strength and specialized skill to the table. They are carefully selected for their extraordinary abilities, and their loyalty to Evolon is unwavering, cemented by the shared understanding that their power comes at the cost of their Pulse reserves. Should they ever be depleted of Pulse, their abilities would falter, but they can replenish it through various methods, such as extracting it from others or manipulating their environment.
The Royal Guards serve not only as protectors but also as potent strategists and commanders, often tasked with leading Evolon's armies or executing delicate operations. Their presence commands fear and respect, both for their strength and their unyielding devotion to their leader. Together, they form a powerful, almost unstoppable force—each one an embodiment of a specific aspect of power in Evolon's world.