Jace's Tragic Past 5

Over the next several years he tirelessly trained and executed every mission he was given flawlessly. As the years went by his numerous achievements fast tracked him thru the ranks. The higher he climbed the more he realized how daunting the task he had set for himself was.

ECLIPSE wasn't just any criminal organization but the largest in the world. Spanning dozens of kingdoms, they were the true rulers of the underworld and their power was unmatched. With a single command from the organizations Dark Ruler kingdoms would fall or rise in a single night.

Yet while most would have succumbed to the pressure once they had realized the true scope of ECLIPSE's power, Jace remained stalwart and undaunted as he continued to discreetly plan his revenge.

Despite his quest for revenge he truly enjoyed his work and the missions he would take, for the only time he truly felt alive was in the midst of conflict. Although most of his missions were killing ones tasking him with the elimination of one or more individuals he also undertook his fair share of thievery and retrieval missions as well.

Still his plans for revenge lay dormant for years until he finally managed to become a Specter. The Specter's were the true elite members of ECLIPSE and possessed the highest rank one could achieve short of the Leader's position and were ranked by their strength.

Each of them had their own specialty and were said to be as strong as a 10,000 man army. During a recently important mission, by a shear fluke they accidentally crossed paths with a greater number of some equally strong characters who upon seeing them immediately proceeded to initiate combat. After a grueling fight they managed to escape but one of them received a mortal wound as they escaped.

Since Jace was an exemplary member with countless stellar achievements and possessed a Class with similar capabilities to the recently demised Specter, and also was only one rank below a Specter he was given a high-risk mission for promotion.

If he successfully completed it he would earn the right to become one of the elite, to become, a Specter. Spending a long week he carefully planned and acquired the necessary tools then finally undertook the mission.

After three long days he returned triumphantly and was accepted as the newest member of the Specter's. As a Specter he finally possessed unparalleled freedom for despite their importance the majority of the Specter's kept to themselves except when they were summoned by the leader to undertake missions which rarely happened.

Now with access to the organizations limitless resources Jace began to travel around the world, completing special "Specter Exclusive" missions for the leader and training as he explored many dangerous wonderful places, which held many riches and rare artifacts which could aid him with his revenge.

As a Specter he finally learned how truly terrifying the leader was and how profound the amount of strength he possessed. He had been blessed with a rare hybrid Class which enabled him to use both magic and weapon Skills.

After more than two hundred years he had become a fearsome beast with numerous mastered Skills coupled with a rich amount of combat experience. However what was truly scary was the fact that he possessed a powerful spatial artifact which enabled him to summon all of the Specter's to his side. Fortunately the artifact was limited by only being able to be used once every year.

As his plans neared completion he suddenly received and urgent mission from the head. He was to retrieve a certain item from a recently emerged tomb on the Ursa Minor Continent. Traveling as fast as he could, he finally arrived at the hidden location within the endless broiling sands of the Ursa Minor Continent's Western desert.

Having been tasked with retrieving a special gemstone which was supposed to have once been owned by a certain historically heroic healer he had felt the amount of danger would be minimal at best.

Alas, despite the fact that he employed the maximum amount of caution, and was careful with every step he took, it wasn't until the stone chamber deep beneath the sands was abruptly sealed that he realized the true origin of the item he was retrieving and how dangerous the awoken inhabitant was.

To his utter horror he discovered this was not the tomb of some long dead heroic healer but the final resting place of the legendary Sword Saint Excelsior, the greatest swordsman who ever lived.

Apparently he had been close friends with the Heroic healer he was supposed to find and had been entrusted with the safe keeping of the special gemstone. This single crucial fact which had been left out of the mission report had turned a high risk mission into the deadliest of traps.

Such a manipulation of a Specter Exclusive mission report could only be done by one person, the organizations leader. It was quite apparent he wanted him dead, yet disdained dealing with him directly, and with such a deadly trap readily available to him it was obvious there was no need for him to dirty his own hands with the deed.

But regardless of the organizations leaders malevolent machinations Jace still was more concerned with overcoming the current deadly tribulation he was facing, for it was a well known fact that the Sword Saint Excelsior had never been a social individual and would ruthlessly attack anyone for the slightest impingement on his tranquil solitude.

So needless to say this spirit who while living had been famous for his brevity was not pleased at all to suddenly be disturbed from his eternal slumber and had immediately attacked him. Fortunately after years of traveling Jace had acquired a priceless one-use item which could save his life.

After barely surviving a single attack from the Sword Saints spirit he instantly realized that strength wise their existed and immense gulf between them and hastily summoned Daguel as a meat shield to buy him the few seconds he required to retrieved and activated the lost item, The Warp Crystal.

As the prismatic crystal appeared in his hand he instantly began to charge it with magic causing a low hum to ring out as the crystal suddenly blazed alive. Once it was fully charged he unsummoned Daguel back to his crystal and crushed the Warp Crystal unleashing a torrent of multihued light.

Unfortunately at the exact moment he was about to be transported away a single razor sharp crescent shaped energy beam struck his back slicing thru his powerful armor and several inches into his muscular back. Yet he had managed to survive and that was all that matter for despite the severe wound on his back as long as he had a few minutes of peace he had several powerful potions on him which could fix him up in a jiffy.

As he felt the endless void of space start to violently shake as it began to spit him out from the void he wondered where he would appear for the Warp Crystals unique trait was random teleportation to a point 10,000 miles away from you current location at a set height of 50ft off the ground.

While its only downside was ten seconds of total paralysis which was caused by the vestiges of the defensive magic field around his body which protected the user from the harshness of the void. Alas out of all the places he could have appeared, the one fate choose for him was the hidden cave behind the waterfall in Big Dipper Valley.

Here by sheer fluke, a large stalagmite which should have been unable to harm him the slightest bit had been aimed like a pikeman's mighty weapon exactly where the cut on his back was. As he fell thru the air totally paralyzed, he was powerless to avoid the stalagmites jagged point which circumvented the powerful defense of his epic grade armor and steel-like skin plunging directly into his defenseless vital organs and delivered him to his regrettable demise.

Yet such was the manner of fate, for unfortunate though it may be, it was his. In a single moment of immensely bad luck he had escaped possible death only to still meet his end in an ironic yet tragic way.