Chapter 3 - Events Unfolding

Raus and Rill had already destroyed one source while they were both searching along the coast, more towards the west side that went out to sea. Maya soon found another while floating in the air as she was scouting around in the kingdom's lower region. There she had seen the grotesque lump of piled bodies in a far out alleyway and with a blast of wind, she vanquished the luminescent sphere that hovered above it. She had wondered why there had been no pungent scent but she soon realized why that was so. Whatever happened to those people ridded them of all the flesh that had once covered their bodies and now only bones remained. But she hadn't time to morn, she blasted off into the air and off she went searching for more bodies.

Meanwhile Lias and Eon had been racing off towards the North-Eastern direction. As usual, Lias had fallen behind Eon which bothered him to say the least. But what bothered him even more was that Eon seemed to know more about these rifts than he did himself. Regardless, he hadn't time to deal with that now and soon broke off from Eon and headed towards the Eastern forest while Eon continued towards the Northern Mountains.

~

All the while panic was ensuing near the rift. Marcus and his men continued to whittle away at what remained of the first giant and soon it would become nothing at all. But Evan was much more concerned at the glaring red eye that looked towards him from within the rift. Considering that its eyes were large enough to occupy almost the entire rift, Evan didn't even want to think of how big that giant would actually be.

And that was when the giant moved its head so that its mouth would show through the rift. Only a part of its red cloaked teeth could be seen but still, it was terrifying. And it opened its mouth to let a snake like tongue reach out from within and aim for Evan. The boy quickly reacted and dodged it while floating on his little cloud. He watched as it retracted back into the rift as a roaring voice began to speak.

"You boy." The monster said. "Were you the one controlling that storm cloud?" the demon lord asked.

Evan wasn't sure if he would reply but Blyke, being eccentric as he was, spoke in his stead as he shot a bolt of lightning to the creature's mouth. It didn't flinch at all. Regardless, Blyke spoke with confidence "Yeah, so what if he was." The boy yelled. "What are you going to do about it?"

The demon laughed wickedly. Ha-Ha-ha-Ha. "How interesting." The demon lord said. "I've never known anyone who could do that."

"Really?" Evan said finally as he folded his hands. "I'm pretty sure some from the Aquaron family can."

"No, no, no." the demon said as he returned his eye into view and looked towards Evan. That sent a chill down the boy's spine. The demon continued to speak. "You see, storm clouds are different from normal ones. They're not just water. They're contain lightning and carry winds along with them. For one to move something of three elements, you must be indeed something special."

Evan didn't know what the demon was trying to imply. But frankly, he didn't care. He only raised his hand and pulled the storm cloud over the rift. If that monster did come out of that rift, then he'd have the storm to deal with as well. Though Evan doubted that would work, he had to at least make preparations. Right now, he could only pray that his brothers would find the cause of the rift and destroy it.

~

Lias finally found one of the sources he was told about. Skeletons were piled around a tree that had a glowing sphere hovering above it. He didn't know what all of this was about or who had done it but the sight sickened him. As they were now, you couldn't even tell who these people were. Their families would never be able to even find closure in burying their bodies since there would be no way to know whose body belonged to what person.

Lias gritted his teeth and with a mighty punch, he broke the sphere. Then off he went, looking to see if they were any others nearby.

~

Eon, on the other hand, was having a much harder time finding any of sources. He was moving at incredible speeds, faster than anyone else could, looking through every nook and cranny of the mountains. It took him a good while but he finally saw a glimmer of white light coming from a cave up a mountain. Immediately, he hopped up there and walked into the cave. Though, he soon realized that it was more of a tunnel that lead into an enormous cavern where the source to the rift was to be found. And then with a swift fist, the glowing sphere was gone and Eon left the cavern.

~

The rift was beginning to close. Eon and the others had done it. Evan smiled with relief and sent the storm cloud back on to its rightful course into the sky.

"Does this please you?" the demon asked Evan. The creature laughed yet again. "Don't believe that it ends here, strange one. The dices have only begun to roll. Much more is yet to happen."

"Shut up already!" Blyke yelled as he shot more lightning towards the demon who only laughed in reply.

"Soon, all of hell will break loose." He said menacingly. "Be prepared for it." The monster added finally as the rift shrunk to a small hole and faded away into nothing.

And by now, the other giant had already been destroyed. That was the end of this battle, as it would seem, and the men yelled their cries of victory. But not Evan. He felt uncomfortable about this entire situation. Something was beginning to happen. And he for one, did not like where it was going.

Soon, the battalion proceeded to make its way back towards the capital. Evan, however, took it upon himself to fly ahead and with him, was the very chatty Blyke, flying on a cloud beside him.

"How does this work?" Blyke asked as he pressed on the cloud with his hand. "I thought clouds were made of water, how can I stand on it?"

"Beats me." Evan replied. "I've always been able to do that. Somehow, I can change the constitution of clouds to make them solid."

"That's pretty weird." Blyke said as he folded his arms and crossed his legs. "Not only can you move clouds which are made of water, but you can also make them so that they're as solid as Earth." The red haired boy then looked to Evan. "What family are you from?" he asked.

Evan downed his head. "I'm the banished son of Emrit Stronghold."

Blyke rose his voice in realization. "Wait, you're the illegitimate child that got banished? The one whose mother che-"

"My mother did not cheat!" Evan yelled as his eyes narrowed and became fierce.

Blyke gulped at his throat as he waved his hands nervously in front of him. "Of course not, I'm sure your mother didn't cheat. I was just saying what the rumor was. That's all, I swear." The boy said, obviously lying. But Evan honestly couldn't care right now.

Soon the two reached the capital and landed in front of the royal castle where Teya was sitting braced against the post.

"You're back." She said with enthusiasm. "I can't believe you did that." She then added as she ranted on. "I would have never had the guts to disobey the captain. Especially since he's so terrifying at times."

Evan looked to the girl. He replied as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, you know…" but he was interrupted by Blyke who reached out his hand to the girl with a smug look on his face. "Hey, I'm Blyke Electora. What's your name cutie?"

Teya pulled her face away from Blyke's and then took a step back. He, in return, took a step forward. And at that, Teya encircled herself within a sphere of scorching flames, forcing the flirtatious Blyke to pull back. "Woah, she's hot. In more ways than one." Said Blyke as he reluctantly stepped away.

"Teya." Evan called. "You can stop that. He's no harm, I mean it." Evan comforted the girl who then released her flames and ran beside him. Then she looked to Blyke and said fiercely as she rose a finger. "One, my name is Teya Firestone." She then raised another finger. "And two, please do not ever call me cutie again."

"Sure thing!" Blyke pointed a thumb to himself and smiled a grin. "But know that you can call me cutie any time."

At that, both Evan and Teya frowned. "Let's just go into the castle." Evan said as he pointed forward and Teya followed beside him, making sure to use Evan a barrier to keep the invasive Blyke away.

~

It was only about fifteen minutes after when a small crowd of Gifted had gathered in the King's throne room. They all looked to the King who sat at his throne with the captain of the guards beside him. Everyone wanted an answer to what was happening but even the King himself didn't quite understand the situation. He did, however, know someone who did.

With all the regal presence he could find within himself, the king addressed the crowd of Gifted. "I know you must all be worrying about the recent rift. And I know, that it was indeed a grave matter. But I'm afraid…" the king shook his head. "that I do not have all the answers. However…" the king rose a finger. "I know of someone who should understand the situation better. The Overlord of hell is one who knows many things."

The crowd looked to him with curiosity. The King continued "As you might know, our world was separated from that of the demons' many centuries ago. And for that reason, the gates that once allowed passage between worlds have long been closed. The only way to enter into the realm of Hell would either be to open a rift or reactivate one of the many ancient structures called gates. In the case of a rift, one would need the imitative of both someone from hell as well as someone from Earth. That sadly leads me believe that there is a traitor amongst our ranks."

The crowd began to look at each other with distrustful eyes. "Fear not though," the king added. "the relevant suspects have already been selected. However, as for the demon that is allowing these rifts from hell to occur, we cannot say for sure whether that is being dealt with. That is, unless of course we go to hell ourselves." The king batted an eye. "And that is why I have decided to select a team of Gifted to investigate that matter. That team will be consisted of one person from each of the seven families." The king then gestured with his hand to the five family leaders that stood at the corner of the room. Lord Emrit, in particular, seemed to be very tired of this whole situation and had been tapping his foot on the ground continuously.

"I must ask that you, the family leaders, recommend one member each from your respective families." The king stated.

Lady Aerite spoke first. "I nominate Maya."

The Lord Aquaron then spoke. "Rill will be my representative."

"And I for the Natura family." Said a brown haired girl who raised her hand from the crowd.

Next, was Lord Firestone, who had begun to say something but Teya quickly shouted. "I volunteer for the firestone family."

"Teya?" her father called with a tilted head.

"I can do this father." The girl replied with bright eyes and her father only sighed. "Fine, you may go." He said reluctantly.

And lastly, there was the Lord Stronghold who could hardly care for any of this. "I refuse." He said blatantly. "Those in my family must stay here to protect the capital. I will not jeopardize my own safety for others."

"But surely-"

"No!" Emrit replied before the King even finished.

"I'll go!" Evan shouted as he rose his hand. "I'll go for the Stronghold family." Evan then met eyes with his father. "Surely you wouldn't care to lose a banished child like myself?"

Emrit glared at the boy for a good minute before answering. "Very well, the bastard child can go. But not as a representative of my family. Rather than that, he'll simply be a fill in for the slot that the Stronghold family refused to fill."

The king could only nod slowly to that but before he could make his next announcement, a silver haired boy approached him and knelt. "My king." The boy said. "I know that I am not of noble blood but if I may, might I accompany the Gifted to the realm of hell?" the boy asked.

The King replied, recognized him as the son of Sebastian. "Are you sure, Silva?"

The boy nodded.

The King then turned to his captain. "What about you?"

"The boy is a capable knight. I have no qualms about this." Sebastian replied.

"Very well then." The king said finally. "Then it shall be these seven along with my own brother, Marcus, who will enter the realm of hell and seek out the demon that breaks the contract that has been held for hundreds of years. Those others can now leave." When all others left the room, the king rose from his throne and pulled on its right arm. Then the throne moved from its place and a wide set of stairs were revealed. "You eight, come with me." The king said and then lead the group below to the secret passage beneath the castle.