The Dark World

''800 years ago a cult known as Sinirizi was destroyed, they were the carriers of light. Upon their destruction, the darkness emerged and humanity was forced to flee from their homes while darkness slowly absorbed more land. Now between the kingdoms of Fenua and Hymn was located the Dark World, separating once united kingdom into two. People have learned to live among the darkness as long they had light around them, however nobody dares to step a foot in Dark World as the

darkness there is so thick and dangerous, it harbors many monsters unknown to mankind. People who challenges the Dark World and comes back alive will be given a title Conqueror of Darkness.'' Kahim Myrett was explaining to the young cadets at front yard of the Light Beacon Academy. He was small figured elderly man with long white beard and long white eyebrows which hid his eyes.

''As you all are now 16 years old, you are allowed to enter the Dark World starting tomorrow, however i want to remind everyone that only 1% ever returns, so think carefully before entering such a cursed place.'' Kahim added.

One of the cadets known as Cael Bahram lifted his hand to ask a question ''We all know the risks behind the Dark World, why bother telling us things we already know?''

Kahim started laughing ''Indeed everyone has heard the stories behind the Dark World, but it is totally different story to experience it at firsthand. Even among the people who survived trough the Dark World, some were mentally damaged by the experience. If you choose this path, it will surely lead to misery.''

All 21 cadets started whispering among themselves ''Sounds scary, maybe we should rethink entering the Dark World'', ''It is weird that only 1% ever makes trough the Dark World even though having a light source with them''.

Kahim had a relived look on his face when he noticed that cadets started to seriously think about entering the Dark World.

''How is it possible for only 1% of the people to make trough the Dark World even though they have a light source, i thought all darkness in Dark World avoids light?'' Cael asked once again.

''It is true that darkness avoids light, even the beings living inside darkness are destroyed when in touch with light... But the journey trough Dark World will take roughly 2 months, meaning that anything can happen. When someone is exposed to darkness for long periods of time, your mind becomes your worst enemy.'' Kahim answered with serious look on his face.

The class was dismantled and cadets went home to prepare for tomorrow. Cael and his classmates Hanna and Remm went to the entrance of the Dark World. The open field in front of the Dark World was filled with remains of beings from the Dark World which had died from the sunlight.

They were inspecting what kind of monsters these could be to prepare themselves for tomorrow.

Remm started to climb on top of a huge skeleton which had a large horn attached to the skull ''This being is probably one of the largest things you can encounter in Dark World'' Remm said.

Cael started pushing the remains trying to knock Remm down ''I've seen bigger ones''.

Hanna was sitting on top of a nearby rock and watching these two goofing around and thinking to herself that boys will be boys.

When Remm fell down from the top of the skull, they could hear a terrifying roar emanate from the Forest in the Dark World. They stood silently watching into the darkness and started to have feelings of doubt. ''It truly is a dark world, i can barely see the tree lines in front of us'' Hanna said.

''Don't worry, i will protect both of you.'' Remm said with a smirk on his face. Cael crossed both of his hands behind his head '' That is reassuring to hear from a guy who was screaming like a little girl when wasp was flying near you''. Remm's face turned red ''T-T-That's because i'm allergic to wasps, those little fuckers might sting you for the fun's of it''.

Everyone burst into laughter and seemingly forgot all of their doubts they just had.

The next morning all cadets had gathered in front of the entrance to the Dark World. They were standing in neat lines and ready to hear the last speech from Kahim.

''Now is your last chance to back down, we are not sending people there to die, we are sending people there to save humankind. This is the final exam you must pass in order to become the Conqueror of Darkness. If you can conquer the darkness, you can explore the darkness.''

After the speech Kahim started to handout lanterns to the cadets. ''This lantern is your lifeline, make sure to take good care of it, without it you will never make it trough the Dark World.''

After handing out the lanterns, Kahim started to handout different kind of candles to the cadets. ''I will give each one of you 20 white candles, 2 red candles and 1 blue candle. White candles will burn 4 days straight. Red candles will illuminate 10x larger area than white candle, but will only burn for 8 hours straight. Lastly the blue candle is known as the light beacon, if you get lost in the Dark World, blue candle will show you the way back to home.''

Cadets packed the candles on their backpacks and loaded their lanterns with lit white candles.

''I wish you all good luck, become the saviors of humanity'' Kahim said while sending them off to the Dark World.

Cael was the first one to enter the Dark World and was amazed how darkness stepped away from the light emitted from his lantern. However darkness only stepped 2 meters away from the light, after 2 meters it was a wall of darkness. It looked like a bubble of light was surrounding Cael.

''So the darkness in Dark World is nothing like the darkness during night, it is easy to get lost here if you don't follow the path.'' Cael said to himself.

He stopped and waited Remm and Hanna to catch up to him.