Souls of the dead!

Link and Samuel managed to meet up with Fei, but there was no sign of Tom anywhere. They hung out and each left for their room.

In the morning Link went out with his friends to look around town. The rankings were all that the first years talked about, since commoners dominating the top 3 spots was shocking to a lot of people.

Link was informed that he will be called later when all his rewards were ready. The dragon orb was not something common people knew of but after asking around a bit, Link figured out what it was.

The dragon orb has nothing to do with dragons despite the name. It is an item manufactured by the Kingdom using extremely rare resources and materials. It is said to boost one's training speed, but Link learned from one of the guards that its true purpose would be expanding a person's Mana pool.

Breaking Through from one Level to another boosts one's control, power and Mana pool. Although Link never had any issues with the Mana pool capacity due to the seed, he still could feel the improvements every time he moved up a Level.

"Should i sell it?" Link kept thinking. He had no use for it if it's only benefit is the Mana pool expansion, which was why he kept thinking about it. Although that might not be much of an option for him since people would find it odd. Other than Link, who in their right mind would pass up such an item and decide to sell it. People would start asking questions and it will put him in trouble if some get suspicious.

Classes were back in motion with the year nearing its end. Students would need to pass their exams in all subjects, but these are only written exams with the other test that they passed being the last physical for now.

Although the three of them were fully capable of passing any written exams with ease. Link, Samuel and Fei were depressed. They stood in a large field in front of one of the giant tablets. Names were written on it with the date at the very top.

"I can't believe he's gone" Fei spoke in a low voice, looking at a specific name.

'Tom'

From what they heard, Tom was not lucky with his teleportation. He was sent to dangerous City where he was tricked, killed then robbed by a group of guards.

Hearing the word guard would mean the ones that keep the people safe to some, while the residence of that City would greatly disagree.

The three of them pushed the staff and demanded an answer to all of their questions, but only a few answers were provided.

The City's name was Lionhart, which is a City ruled by a dirty thug for a Lord. Embezzlement, rape, theft, robbery, murder and more. He was no foreigner to these words. The royal family that the City belongs to fell a long time ago, which led to most of its territory being taken over either by beasts, other kingdoms or criminals. The citizens were the ones to greatly suffer from the royal's deaths. Like the ones that reside in that damned City.

"Lionhart" Link spoke to himself as if he was trying to burn the name in the back of his mind.

Tom was not a friend he knew for long, but he still was one. They spent a lot of time together and got along well. Tom was a nice kid, he came from a village just like Link which was one of many reasons why they got close. His village was named Tounia. Located not too far from Link's village.

Tom was a lone child to a family of miners. His talents were discovered by a group of Mages as they passed by the village, which then proceeded to give him a chance to become something more. These Mages were not related to the Academy but knew some of the people that worked there. After contacting them and conducting proper testing, Tom was invited to the Academy.

His mother and father were extremely happy about this and prayed for his success everyday. If not for his luck, Tom would have definitely passed that Test easily, but his misfortune threw him inside the Lion's den.

Fei was the one most heart broken. Link wasn't very close with them at first since he did not trust them completely back then, which led to Fei and Tom spending more time together. As for Samuel he caught up a bit late but truly did see Tom as a true friend.

The days passed. The exams were done with and the dead were slowly being forgotten. As usual Link got perfect scores and finally made it through his first year. The students will be sent back home for 3 months until they are called back for their new year.

Link was excited. He missed his family and wished to leave as soon as possible. After some preparations, all students stood in the familiar circular field. Teachers started chanting and slowly the area started to glow before all students vanished.

Link and Samuel found themselves standing on the side of a dirt road, the one where the sign pointing to their village was, or was supposed to be. Link looked around, seeing the sign completely gone, a small piece of wood protruded from the ground where it once stood. Link and Samuel looked at each other, worry filled their faces.

"What happened?" Samuel was the first one to speak as he turned around and started running. The sign was not needed as they could faintly see the houses and buildings from far away.

Link just stood there, looking in that direction. Although Samuel could not see it, Link could. His vision was extraordinary and what he saw when he looked over made his heart sink. From where Link stood, he could see broken buildings and the charred remains of a fire.

Wosh!

As much as Samuel gave it his all in running, he could not match Link's speed. The two of them got closer and closer, with the dread and fear growing with every step they took.

"I swear to god, if anything happened to my family. I will make the ones responsible burn with this fucking kingdom" Link muttered to himself. His anger now overcame his fear and weird energy started to emanate from his body. His teeth became sharper while his eyes became black, reflecting the scene that was before him.

The village was empty, with no signs of life. Link and Samuel ran around, trying to find anything that will explain what happened here.

The shops and houses were mostly broken. Rubble, craters and what looked like giant sword slashes were everywhere.

<There was a fight here!>

Zero's words confirmed Link's worry. "Who would attack our village? Did those nobles figure out that I killed their sons?" Link thought "No, it wouldn't have been that easy considering the Academy's security" With nothing to go on and no bodies to be found, Link met up with Samuel again and they ventured to the village next to theirs.

With their speed, the trip did not take long. Link took a step forward and he finally could see the village, but he stopped in his tracks. "What's wrong?" Samuel asked, looking ahead. "The same thing happened here as well" Link muttered, running to the village.

Link and Samuel visited 4 more villages before they stopped. Even Tom's village was in a similar condition to the rest.

"Who would do all of this to villages with nothing to offer?" Link thought "This was not done to steal or rob anything. The place looks destroyed like a battle happened here, but no bodies are found anywhere.

The scene is mostly the same with the charred remains of previous fires and these odd claw and sword marks"

Link and Samuel walked around for a bit more before deciding to move to the next closest civilization, which was a City.

"Stop right there!" A command was spoken to the two kids, a voice of a grown man could be heard. Turning around, the kids could see a squad of what they could only guess were guards walking towards them with a bald sharp eyed man taking the lead.

He stood in front of them before speaking. "The two of you are wearing the Military Academy's uniforms. I'm guessing you've just returned?"

"Yes. What happened here?" Link asked.

"It's horrible kid" The man sighed "The Dark demons finally made a move, targeting the small villages neglected by the territory owners"

"What?!" Samuel yelled "What would they need from poor villagers like these?"

"What they wanted was everything" The man looked towards the broken houses "either it being gold or souls"

"Souls?" Link was frozen in place. He read about the Dark demons and knew that if they got their hands on a person's soul, he would be beyond saving. As Souls were either sacrificed or eaten..

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