Valley of Illusions | Part 2

All of them automatically became wary of this person "State your name" Anastasia demanded as the man stared at her for a few seconds before bowing his head in greeting.

"Forgive me for my rudeness. My name is Hoshi." he said as she trailed her eyes on his clothes "You came from the East?" she asked making him nod "Then how did you get here?" Denovan asked.

"I live here" he said as they looked at each other in alarm. Callista stared at him when she felt his burning stares and they stood there silently, staring at each other.

"I'm sorry to say but I can't let you pass this valley"

Callista was the first one to notice it and quickly turned to Anastasia "Run!" she shouted but it was too late.

By the time she had turned to shout at her, Anastasia was already blown away by a strong gust of wind as Denovan held her wrist to get her, but he flew with her as their body sunk, enveloped by the fog.

Ignis didn't think twice about following them and quickly jumped down the unknown valleys, and so only she and Ivan were left. "Go teleport down there, Ivan" he was stunned.

"What? What about you?" she smirked at his words "You worry about me now?" she teased "Over my dead body!" was his immediate answer "Hurry. I'll take care of this" she said and turned to Hoshi who was silently and patiently staring at them.

He didn't like the look in his eyes, like he was calculating what do to them.

"You know how weak they are if magic is involved and besides.. you have to find this man's magic armament in there" she said. She was right. Denovan specializes in swordsmanship so it was normal for him to be weak in spell casting although he is good at enhancement spells.

Anastasia was another case, she was good at attack magic but never in defense. Ignis has the most powerful attack magic of them all and his defense was also good but in this case, Ivan was the only one who can protect them in that thick fog.

Ivan hesitated before sighing "You better not be dead. I want to kill you myself" These words made Callista chuckle and before she could even blink, Ivan had already disappeared.

"I don't know what your intentions are but I can't let you get away can I?" she said "I applaud you for finding out about me being a Wizard but I don't have any intentions in letting you go either. See this as a life lesson from an adult" Callista was confused as the gust of wind flew her away when he raised his hand.

'That wizard... is weird' she thought.

Meanwhile, Anastasia grunted "Are you okay?" she turned to Denovan who had a worried look on his face "I'm fine" she smiled before looking at the surroundings "But where are we?" she asked.

"This must be the reason why no one was able to come back" they turned to Ignis who had his eyes locked at the human bones in the corner "You think they got stuck here?" Denovan asked as Ignis shrugged "What do you think, Ivan?" they all turned to the man in a robe.

"He's a wizard. We have to find his magic armament to get out of here" Ivan explained "Wait, if you're here then where's Callista?" Anastasia asked with furrowed brows "She insisted to leave her behind" he replied "What?! And you listened to her?!" she exclaimed "What was I supposed to do?! You know how stubborn that woman is!" he huffed.

"But still.."

"It's nice to see all of you having fun"

They all turned to the voice of an unfamiliar man in alarm who suddenly appeared "You... What do you want from us?" Hoshi stared blankly at Anastasia "Where's Callista?" Ivan asked when he couldn't see the girl.

"That brave friend of yours? Don't worry she's not hurt" Hoshi said "What do you mean by that? What did you do to her?" Anastasia asked with furrowed brows "Lady Ana..." Denovan called making her turn to him to see him looking at a direction.

She followed his line of sight and was surprised to see her on the ground "Callista!" she called out and immediately stood up to reach her.

She was stopped when she collided with an invisible wall "What's this?" she asked in confusion and started banging on the invisible surface.

"What is this?! Why are there trees on that side but not here?!" she exclaimed and pointed at the grass and trees. Hoshi walked forward at the barrier "Before the God of Darkness was defeated a thousand years ago this place was known as the Valley of Illusions. Nobody was able to spread the information about this valley as the people who lived here died" he started explaining.

"And you're the one in charge of this place?" he turned to Ignis who spoke and smiled "I'm happy that your able to keep up" he said "It was not that hard to find out. No one would dare to go here with all those rumors going around" Ignis answered.

"I don't understand. Who is he?" Anastasia asked in confusion "Impossible..." Ivan mumbled as his breathing hitched when he realized what Ignis meant "Is that possible?!" he asked Ignis who nodded as Denovan was also taken aback "The Ninth Hero, Hoshiro Numizaki" those words trailed off Ignis's tongue.

The era where the God of Darkness was still alive and ruled a Kingdom and spread fear amongst the people was a true tyrant. He killed anyone who was an eyesore, fed them to Underworld dogs, tortured, or was burned alive. He would even kill without any reason, making the people fear him the most.

The only reason he descended from the World of Gods was that he was bored and decided to waste time in the human world. He ruled the Fallen Kingdom for many years and generations.

Ten people who were considered heroes stood up and swore in front of many people that they will stop the reign of that tyrant god.

They planned the execution for more than five years, the heroes were powerful that they were able to defeat the God of Darkness with the protection of Goddess Alkia, the God of Ashia, who also got tired of God's brutality towards human life.

The ten heroes were put in the history textbooks and for the reward of saving the Kingdom and its people, they were granted the ability of immortality. After the battle finished, they said that killing the tyrant God brought bad luck to the ten heroes and were never seen again.