Soul Catacomb

It was quiet and cold night with a slight wind passing through the colossal Ancestral Mountain range. Around the Ancestral Mountain, were seven protruding spots. If a closer look was taken people would see that the protruding spots were seven castles connected by the mountain range. On the surface of the mountain facing outwards stood seven magnificent castles. In reverse on the opposite of each city, facing inwards, were seven different statues. The statues watched over the forest that was in the mountain range. The mountain walls were an indomitable monument that kept the forest within and everything else out.

One of the castles was more ancient than any bone left in the soil. It stood over the rest of the town like a giant peering down on the humans below. It housed on its back a grand statue of a lion. The lion had its massive paws stretched pass its snout and a shaggy brown mane. It also had a carved on it, sleek fur laid over the lion's elegant frame and lean muscle. There were two particularities about the statue though. One of the particularities of the statue was that a sun embedded itself inside the lion's mouth. The other was at the bottom of the mountain near the lion's feet, there was an engraving of 'XIX SUN'. This castle and statue naturally was the property of the Solaris Clan.

On one of the many rooftops of the town in the Solaris Clan stood a young man. The man was covered in black garb, it looked like a cross between a tactical suit and ninja garment. The garbs tightly covered his body, defining his well-proportioned muscles and lean figure. A hood covered over the head of the man, with dark piercing blue eyes being the only visible aspect of the man's body. On his chest over his heart was a faint golden symbol of a sun. This, of course, was William Nolk.

"After four days finally everything is ready."

In the past four days, William has been running around Dajal's manor to prep himself for tonight.

"If my timing is correct the gathering of the souls at the catacombs should happen in four hours. Now if I can go across the Weeping Forest and into the Catacombs, then all I have to do is wait."

With that William jumped off the roof and proceeded to walk towards the town gate to go into the forest. While walking towards the gate he checks all of the material has brought on hand to see if he forgot anything.

'Jar of Hopes, Twisting Roots, Everbright Chalk, Sun Gem, Leaf of Light, Bitter Herb, and Soul Searcher. Everything that I need for the ritual is on hand. I would pack more, but too many materials would be suspicious and weigh me down.' William mused silently in his head.

He looked up and realized that he was almost at the gate. Quickly gathering himself together he walked forward with a brisk pace towards the guards. He pulled a Twisting Root and a Bitter Root from one of his many pockets on his body and consumed it. William changes his facial expression to one of urgency and shouted at the guards.

"Quickly open the gates! I have an important mission from master Dajal and I need to make haste towards the forest!" A Husky and deep voice came from Williams' mouth.

"Who are you, you should know that we can't let anyone go into the forest without a special permit."

The guards then pulled their lances from behind them and crossed it in front of the gates to make it clear that crossing would have consequences.

Suddenly a golden tag flew at the guards. One of the guards reacted quickly and caught the tag from mid-air. He quickly looked down at what was in his and only to be shocked by the content in his hands.

"G-Golden Tag of the Sun Bull! Golden Tag means that he is second only to Lord Dajal in the Dajal Manor. Let him through. Quickly make haste we are baring his way!"

"Here you go, sire, please make haste we are sorry we intruded on your mission."

A glint appeared on William's eyes but quickly faded away.

"Don't worry I know it is apart of protocol, just remember this is a mission of the Dajal Manor. No one else will hear that I was here do you understand."

"Yes! Yes, of course, no one will hear of this. This is the Dajal Manor's problem." Replied the guard quickly, a sweat slowly dripping from his scalp.

"Good, I'll be on my way now. Keep up the good work defending the gate."

William gave them one final look and then proceeded to rush out of the gate.

The guards watched the figure until the gate closed again. He sighed in his heart and proceded back to his post.

"Should we report this to the clan master?" asked one of the other guards.

"Are you an idiot! don't you know there been tension in the clan due to multiple Virtuous Factions gaining recruits one after another? This might be the Dajal Manor taking out some of the newer talents that have been getting rowdy in the forest. Don't you remember Master Dajal going four days ago? This is probably a backup that Master Dajal put out to help him clean up the mess. The clan master said if it has to do with the Dajal Manor we don't have to report it."

The guard took one last look at the gate and sighed.

'Good thing the awakening is tomorrow, at least then we will have new talents in the clan give ourself a ledge over the other Factions.' He thought silently in his heart. He then walked back to his post and started his watch over again.

Meanwhile, outside of the gate, just a couple of trees in was William hunched on the ground looking at a map.

'The easy part is over now I just have to get to the Catacombs in one piece. Good thing its located pretty close to the Solaris Clan. I just have to get to the foot of the High Priestess stature and it will be in the corner of the statue.' Quietly thinking out his next move William than let out a sigh.

'Thankfully they haven't found out the usage of Bitter Root and Twisted Root yet. If I remember correctly due to the power struggle of the seven factions right now, Dajal is being sent out as a hunter and troublemaker for the other clans. Since Dajal is a devoted follower of Norman, Norman must have told the guards to keep silent of Dajal's whereabouts. He's being careful so that the fewer people know about it the better.'

A snicker than came out of William, 'Good thing I asked Dajal before he left if I could have the Golden Tag to buy materials that would help me be mentally prepared for the Awakening. That muscle brain idiot even gave me money so in case I didn't buy enough.'

William than put the map away and did a light stretch.

"Well, time to see how much the younger me exercised before the Awakening Ceremony."

And with that, he dashed into the forest and swiftly disappeared.