6 Chapter - The Hunting Festival (part 1)

After talking with Thane last night he left and told me that he'll be back during the contract ceremony after the hunting festival. Something occurred to me after Thane left, why was he keeping me company? I was sure that he wasn't someone with a lot of free time on his hands, yet from the day we came here he's been showing me around and telling me about this world. I discarded the thought for now and decided to ask him when he comes back.

The next day after the feast Sophy came to my room and asked me if I was free to talk with. I was changing into the the leather armor i was given last night along with a long sleeve dress with modest length helm that allowed for great maneuverability. I was also provided a small dagger which was the length of a normal kitchen knife.

I invited Sophy inside as I tied my hair in a pony tail to the back and she entered so while closing the door behind her.

"Kris, um, listen?"

"Yes Sophy?" I said as I turned towards her. She took a seat on the edge of my bed and had a weary look on her face.

"I won't allow you to partake in the festival"

"Huh why??" This was sudden and I never expected her to say it. Her out of all the people out there told me that she wasn't going to allow me to partake in the festival. I stared at her intently waiting for her answer.

"It's too dangerous. Your soul energy is only stabilise because of a temporary contract i made when you were unconscious" her red eyes stared at me with serious intent like she was staring deep into my mind trying to make me give in to her demands. Her red hair was basking in the sunlight coming from behind the window. I mentally pinch myself my allowing to be caught in her trance.

"Thane told me that, but still Sophy. I feel like I should do this, I want to, I want to earn a permanent contract from you"

Sophy simply gave out a sigh as she turned towards the window. She seemed to be deep in thought, I on the other hand wanted to convince her to let me partake in the festival. I didn't want to back down and do nothing while soul faded away. Just the thought of being erased drom existense terrified me. No, this time I'll find a way to save myself. Even if the thought of partaking in such a dangerous event would result in something that would cost me, I strengthen my heart and made up my mind.

"I'll win, somehow Sophy. And if i sense great danger, I promise I'll turn around and retreat without hesitation." Sophy chuckled after i gave her my determination.

"So I guess you're well beyond saying no huh? It is my job to look after the souls here, so if anything would happen to them then I would have failed in my job. It would sadden me greatly."

"Do you know why we have to let new souls prove their worth for a contract?" Sophy asked me. I shook my head. Thane nor the others had told me anything about the festival or about what a contract between a keeper and a soul meant.

Sophy turned to me with a smile, she lefted up her hand and opened her palms. Then a small bright and crimson red flame hovered above her hands.

"What. Is. That?" I asked bewildered.

"This is my blessing Kris, this is the power of a personified. My power 'Braven Flames'". I stared intently at the little flame. Even in the morning light it still had the ability to cast shadows on the wall behind Sophy's.

"it's beautiful" I remark.

"After forming a contract you will be able to use my blessing. You will be able to wield my Braven Flames. It will also strengthen your soul energy."

"I understand that, but why would people want to use your flames for?" Sophia closed her palms in a fist crushing the flames beneath it.

"For strength. Strength to complete all the other festivals from the other domains. When you do you will be granted the 'Will of Creation'. With it you'll be able to grant any wish. A wish where you can carry to your next reincarnation."

"Other festivals?" She then looked at me in conflict in her eyes perhaps deciding if whether it was best to tell me or not.

"Yes, souls travel to other domains to earn a contract. Lany is one of them, but I'm afraid you'll have to ask her if you want to know about it. Like I said, I can only answer you the questions which are under the authorisation I've been given which only includes my domain."

"Lany huh? I guess I have to."

"On that note, you will meet up with her. Though the festival starts today she will be training you new arrivals for today, the official festivals starts tomorrow. So get on out of here and do your best ok!" With that she stood up and placed her hands on my shoulder, a wide grin stuck on her face and her eyes glimmered with crimson light. I nodded and went out of my room.

....

After Kris left, Sophy stood silently in the room and stared out the window. Her face turned back to a serious expression.

"After all these years...." Sophy whispered to herself, she closed her eyes while her mind roamed to distant memorise. Flashes of her standing on a blood stained ground, the skies above her was dark and the sounds of battle cries in the background while heavy rain that struck her wounded body came to her mind.

"..if it is what I think it is. Then we must be ready."

"...."

I met up with Lany in the open meadow it the edge of the eastern part of the town. There the other new arrivals were waiting. There was five of them, all dress in leather armor with the same dagger I had hanging on their waist.

When I arrive I took a moment to take in the features of the other souls. The first one was a young man with the same height as mine, he had short black hair and brown eyes. Judging from his looks and appearance he looked like a student who was born in a country in Asia.

The second one was a girl with blonde hair tied into a ponytail into both sides. Her eyes were blue and her complexion was fair indicating she was somewhere from Europe.

The third one was a sleepy looking guy with dark circles beneath his eyes, he had a slouch posture but was well built with muscles bulging out of his biceps. Then there was the fourth one who was a guy who had rounded metal frames on with acne on his face. He looked like he was the youngest among the group.

The fifth one was a girl and was the most intimidating among the group. Her long blue hair was carried in the wind, and her deep brown eyes looked fierce, sharp and determined. I came to the conclusion that she was in her mid 20s but the aura she gave out around her was of that a worrior, like one who had been on a battlefield.

"Did you talk with Sophy?" Lany asked me.

"Yes, we talked in my room earlier" Lany nodded in satisfaction to my answered and told me to join up with the others.

"Now, what is the hunting festival?" Lany asked us. The boy in glasses lifted his hand to answer her.

"A festival where souls partake to earn a contract with a keeper."

"Yes Gladen, now if you win the festival you'll be able to form a contract and from that contract you will be granted this power" Lany lifted up her palm and created a small fire similar to the one Sophy showed me earlier. Everyone gasped in surprise when they saw it including me, even if it was my second time seeing it.

"These are the 'Braven Flames' granted by the keeper of this domain. It is blessing given from her power. After you form a contract you will be able to use this. It is only one of the many blessings of this world" Lany lifted both her hands above her head and held them together. Sparks were emitting from inside her palms and as she let go and spread them in both opposite directions a huge brilliant crimson flame emitted above her. It was hot and intense and we all knew that it could scorched anyone if the user ever decided to engulf them in it. Lany turned to her left where there was a log standing upright a few distant away, she pointed her right palm towards it and all the flames concentrated in its direction. In a flash all the flames she gathered shot like a missile towards the log which instantaneously made it explode and burst into brilliant red flames.

"That is the power you will receive" Lany said breaking the silence

"These flames are only one of the many blessings in Pnevmisia. Their purpose is to grant you strength to complete the other festivals of other domains. Prove your worth and you will be granted this power."

The blue haired girl crossed her arms and spoked out.

"What happens when we complete them all?" She asked. Then Lany proceeded to answer her.

"After you complete them, you will earn the right to challenge a Grand Keeper. Defeat them, and they will grant you the 'will of creation', it is the power to grant any wish. A wish where you can even carry to your next reincarnation." There was a moment of silence after what Lany reveal, but it wasn't the end, instead a wide grin came to her lips.

"Just a heads up though, there hasn't been any soul who has been able to defeat the Grand Keeper. Because no one has never ever been able to collect all the blessings. Are you up for the challenge Yuki?" Lany was looking at the blue hair girl. The girl name Yuki smiled and put her arms on her hips with a daunting posture.

"Then I will be the first."

"If that is so then I wish you the best of luck but.." Lany dug her left heel on the ground and made a fist with a serious look on her eyes. In a flash she disappeared leaving nothing but some debris of grass and soil floating in the air from the spot she stood on.

"You must not let your guard down" her voice came from where the others were, I turned towards the direction and saw her pointing the end of her blade to Yuki's throat. Her eyes were fierce and everyone was wondering the same thing I was. How did she get there so fast?

Yuki was shaking, sweat dripping down her neck and chin but her smile didn't waver. A wave of respect came over me for this girl, because if it was me I would have surely pissed my pants in horror. The others too were on their guards their hands floating above the hilts of their daggers.

Lany took her sword down and unsheathed it. She turned around a walked calmly to the spot she came from. Note - Never piss Lany off, ever!

"That was also a blessing. A blessing from Pnevmisia"

"Pnevmisia?" The boy in glasses asked.

"Yes, you received it too didn't you? When you arrived here. Its not just a blessing for protection. It can also grant you a heighten sense of movement, hearing, sight, smell and battle prowess. All for your journey to complete all the festivals. But not everyone can use it accordingly. Do you know why?"

"Practise? Or is there something else going on?" The Asian guy finally spoke out.

"Yes, you will need practise. And also, it'll depend on your will. Your will is your strength. Your will to believe in what you want and your will to trust in the blessings you were given. The stronger your will, the stronger your blessings will become. Not everyone has the ability to have the strong will to be able to control the powers we recieve from a blessing. The few who can like me and Edward...." Her eyes loomed over us all as she spoke while she checked our expressions

"... We're call 'Varieta'."

"Varieta, as in blessed?" The boy in glasses asked.

"I don't know, never asked. Now!" Lany clapped her hands which captured everyone's attention again.

"Tomorrow you will officially go on a hunt. The hunting festival comes once every three months and it goes on for less than a week. So use this opportunity to get a contract OK!"

"Like I ask you earlier what is the hunting festival? It is an event where souls go on a hunt. What will you be hunting you ask? you'll be hunting this." Lany reached for the satchel in her waist and took out an object. It was a small red crystal with rough edges and semi transparent. It looked like a ruby that was just mined out from its resting place.

"This is a red stone created by our own mistress. Though it looks odd it is ordinary. But, these will be displace all over the forest. Your task is to find all of them. The amount will be decided tomorrow. If you reach that amount first then do you know what that means?"

"It means there can only be one winner."This time the sleepy guy answered with a smug grin on his face. Lany gave him a grin of amusement along with a chuckle.

"in a way yes, there can only be one winner. Also, there can be no winners. Because the ones who are going to guard these stones are them" Lany pointed to the sky above her, we tilted our heads to follow what she wanted us to look at and then we saw it. We couldn't believe our eyes, if we were to fight those things then will there even be a winner? I doubt it, we're all new here and I'm sure no one has mustered up their strengths from Pnevmisia yet. And me? Hah! An image of Thane flashed in my mind.

'You are blessed by Pnevmisia, but it is just to keep your soul intact and even that can't hold you in one place. That's why you need Sophy's blessing too'

So deducing from what he said, i dont have a chance in hell. If Pnevmisia was having a hard time keeping me in one piece then i can forget about getting it's blessings too. A drip of sweat came down my neck. It was cold and uncomfortable all because I was terrified right now. Just the pictute of fighting those things is frightening to me.

But, I already made up my mind nonetheless.

"Seriously what the hell? We're going to fight those?" The Asian guy said.

"Haha, well shit, bring it on" Yuki said.

The griffons above us only gave out a loud high pitched sound like an eagle's in respond.

"Yeah, u-um, I'm not b-backing down" the boy in glasses said. Tomorrow will be one heck of an event, no wonder why everyone in town was looking forward to it.

"Tomorrow you will fight them, you can either confront them or slip pass them to retrieve the stones. And let me tell you one thing.." It was Edward. He came up from behind Lany with a smug wide grin plastered on his face. But his face suddenly shifted to an intense serious one. He held the helm of his shirt to reveal a slash like scar running down from his chest to his waist.

"... They can still pack a punch and hurt you like a bitch. They are not called domain guardians for nothing. And if that isn't enough, there are spiritual monsters in that forest. They are ferocious and they will kill anything in sight." The grin he had earlier came back as he continued to speak "you still have Sophia's protection so you won't be killed, but doesn't mean it won't hurt. No one told you this, but this isn't heaven. No, you're all still a long way from there." He was laughing intensely after he announced that, clearly trying to intimidate us.

"Edward here will train you today. He will run down the basics on how you can use and control Pnevmisia's blessing." Lany patted his shoulder and left.

"Now, shall we begin?" He was clearly was enjoying this.

"..."

It was exhausting!

Edward gave us the basics on how we can use Pnevmisia's blessing. It was basically concentration and how much will we had. He made us meditate for an hour to make us understand the connection we had with Pnevmisia. It was by feeling our surroundings with our senses which included the ground beneath us and the air around us.

When we had a deeper connection and understanding our body will feel lighter and our senses would run wild for a moment until we got used to it. Or so that was what the other's told me. I tried my best to understand this connection but nothing was happening. Edward said it was because of not having a chain. It only made me more sad.

The others were already running around at an incredible speed and they were dashing around the field only crash down. It was obvious that it's not something you can control easily. I on the other hand was stuck on the ground meditating for god only knows how long. It was frustrating.

After 4 hours passed we took a break. The others were sweating a lot and they told me that running around at that speed exhumes a lot of energy which can cause great hunger.

All I could do was nod in frustration but i didn't let it get the best of me but still, I was disappointed. If this kept going on, then how would I even win tomorrow?

"Kris, when you're done meet me at the end of the meadow ok?" Edward told me as he stood up after eating and went back to the meadow. I took a bite out of my sandwich and stared down at the ground. I felt someone's hand on my shoulder so i turned around and it was the blonde girl.

"Hi, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Hannah Achziger" she said with a smile.

"Achziger? Your German?" She nodded to my question and crossed her arms behind her, her eyes waiting for my reply.

"Oh, I'm Kristen Mawroh. People call me Kris, nice to meet you Hannah."

"Hmm, so you don't really have a chain huh?" Hannah said as her eyes went down to my chest. She placed her fingers on her chin and had a perplexed expression.

"Um, yeah"

"That sounds bad. We were told that a regularity chain was important. But you don't have one. So say, why are you even here? Isn't it dangerous for you?" I turned down and tighten the hold i had on my sandwich still careful enough not to crush it.

"It is, but i feel like i have to you know, call it a gut feeling. But maybe having a contract will help me"

"Hmm, well if you say so. But if you ask me I would say that i should watch out for you the most" I look up to Hannah's face to find her grinning at me.

"They say you're something that the souls here have never seen before. That, to me, is a clear warning sign. Especially after what Edward told us during training remember?"

"Stones can be retrieve from the forest and also from other players. Which would mean you will eventually end up clashing with each other. It's going to be bloody out there." Edwards words from earlier ringed in my mind. Even so, as I am right now i doubt I'll be able to fight.

"I agree with Hannah" yuki came and told us with the same cold expression with sharp looking eyes that she always had.

"Who can tell what would happen there? but I will be weary of you the most. Even so.."Yuki extended her hand towards me a smile forming on her lips"... Let's do our best tomorrow. Even after this I hope we can still be comrades." I looked at the others behind her and they all had a look of approval on their faces. I smiled back at yuki and accepted her gesture.

"I hope so too."

I left the lunch table and met up with Edward who was standing at the end of the meadow waiting for me. When he heard me approaching he turned around and spoke

"You're here." I nodded at him and replied

"What did you wanted to talk with me about?"

"Before that, do you feel any connection?" I shook my head in disappointment. He crossed his hands and grinned "Lany told you earlier right? Not everyone can grasp it. And without the chain it gets harder. I was the same you know? I couldn't use my blessings at all." He turned towards the grifoans that were hovering in the sky. A look of sentiment was formed on his face.

"... I used to be a soldier. I was deployed in the middle east. We were having our regular patrole around the town we were posted one day, but out of nowhere we were ambush. We were helpless and outnumbered. Yet we fought hard nonetheless. They surrounded us and we were cornered.."

"I watched helplessly as each and every one of my brethren fell one by one. Yet i still didn't waver. I used every bullet i had, every weapon at my disposal. But It didnt last long. A bullet came flying at my lungs. It was funny because the last thing I saw was backup finally arriving. But everyone was dead..."

I didn't know Edward had gone through so much before coming here. It saddened me to hear his story. War will never be a good thing, all it did was cause unnecessary bloodshed.

"I opened my eyes and met Thane, he told me i died. And then guided me to this place. It was a year ago. The memories of that day still frightened me at the time. I thought when I came here I'd meet my team mates again but I didn't find them. For a while i was alone. The nightmares of that night got worse. So when i heard about the festivals i decided to partake in them. So that the grand keeper will be able to grant me my wish. To end all wars."

"But, why are you telling me all this Edward?"I asked.

"just like i said, I was like you. I couldn't establish a proper connection because of the nightmares I had. Then the week before the festival, I met Lany. To me I have never seen such a beautiful girl in my life before or is it death? But even so laugh all you want but it was literally love at first sight" he said as he laughed.

"During that time, she taught me a lot of things but most of all to believe in myself and believe that I didn't die in vain. That I had a greater purpose. Because of what she said my will got stronger and soon I was able to use the blessings. It wasn't easy, but i used my soldier training combined with my blessings to win and then I became a Varieta"

He then turned towards me as he continued.

"So believe in yourself OK? Thats all you need." I nodded at his request knowing fully well that Edward was right. I still had that fear in me of being erased from existence. It was hard to swallow it in. It was the same when i was alive, i was only waiting to die that's why i didn't want it to be the same here, maybe that's why i was desperate.

Edward is a strong man, even after all he had been through he manage to pull it off somehow.

"I know you've been through a lot Kris, all of us here have. That's why i can tell you this, you're not alone." I looked up at him trying my best to hold back my tears.

"I'm grateful, thank you Edward" I said to him.

"Hahaha, now that we're done with that, I'll teach you some moves. I know how the Grifoans will behave after all, so listen carefully OK? Even without the blessings, you can still use your head. So use it and uh make sure you smack it with a rock if you get frustrated." I simply gave out a chuckle at his lame jokes and nodded understandably.

After that, well what can i say. It was exhausting! The training he put me through was hell. But now, because of him i think i have a shot at winning.

Then the day of promise came, the town folks were gathered at the square where a huge monitor was set up and image was displayed on it using one of Sophy's crystal. It didnt look like the display monitor I was used to back home. So I noted myself to ask her about it later.

Fireworks was set off and the town was in an uproar. The grifoans flew menacingly above the forest and then they headed down to different areas.

Before the event Lany showed us a map of the forest of aria.

The town was at the center and different points were mark for each of us. We were going to these points and use them as starting points because they were all at the edge of the town.

From the town map we understood how big the forest was but there was a barrier set up by sophia from 2.5 kms away from the edge of the forest which created a huge circle that encircled the forest. We were prohibited from crossing it. It was decided that the amount of red crystals needed to win was 7. So judging from that number we knew we would end up clashing somehow.

We all went to our assigned points after the briefing.

"Ladies and gentleman, the third hunting festival of this year is about to start" Sophia announced from the monitor and it was heard all over the town. Some of the participants look nervous, some were waving at the crystal camera and some was sleepy! Wake up damn it!

Anyway I was reminded of what Lany told me after the briefing when i asked her about how she got here from another domain. She said that she came from a domain to the east and that she partook in a grand hunting festival. One that was held right after the normal hunting festival. That got me thinking about a lot of things but I shook it all off. My concentration was on one thing only

And then Sophia continued "Quite a lineup we have this time huh? Look at them, all ready and focus. Give them some a round of applaus you lots hahaha!" Then a louder uproar came. Thats Sophia for you.

"Good, now let's go on a hunt"

.....

There was a man walking in darkness. Only his footsteps was heard as he continued walking, then another joined him. They both were enshrouded in darkness while emitting a dangerous and malicious aura. A smile was form from one of them as a bright light emerged in front of them.

The men kept walking, now both smiling with evil intentions. The malicious aura only got instense when sounds of metal dragging on the ground was heard.

"By your will" they said.

The ominous character shrouded in darkness stood behind them, not uttering a word. A smile, as sinister as a smile can get crept on the character's face.

Then another voice came, one of a man who emerged from behind the unknown character.

"So it has begun" he spoke, as a small glint of light came from where his eyes were. Slowly he followed the two leaving the sinister presence behind.