a cloaked man named Syre

Voices called out from the forest trees and the path had become narrower. It felt as if massive amounts of demonic energy were just looming over him. He looked around to see if there were any signs of Raik hoping that maybe there would still be a chance to get him out of here.

"𝘚𝘺𝘳𝘦..."

"𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘚𝘺𝘳𝘦..?"

"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦..."

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵."

Voices continued to echo throughout the forest.

"𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆!"

A voice deep in the forest had appeared to be Raik's. He ran towards the voice.

"𝘚𝘺𝘳𝘦.. 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘯𝘰𝘸."

"𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘚𝘺𝘳𝘦.. 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳? 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘸."

The voices had become a lot harder to ignore and fight off. His head began to ring. He felt the force of gravity had started to pull him down. His vision began to darken.

He looked down and saw a branch had wrapped itself tightly around his body. He reached for his sword and cut off the branch.

He fell at his knees trying to catch his breath. The voices grew angrier and louder as he tried to get up.

"𝑺𝒚𝒓𝒆.. 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆.."

His head and body felt heavy once again. He looked down and was paralyzed with fear as he saw hands reach out from the soil beneath him latch onto his ankles.

The forest had reeked of death and misery. He went to reach for his sword but more hands reached onto his body. He was slowly being swallowed into the ground underneath. Before he knew it, his whole vision had gone dark. His body fell through the ground and he felt a thud as he hit the ground underneath.

He reached out his hands to grasp a sense of what surrounded him. He felt around and felt that the odd circular shape he was in felt like that of an egg.

He helplessly banged and kicked on the surrounding walls that kept him trapped in. He tried to let out a scream but it was received with only silence. He started to notice a feeling of lethargy grow within him. He felt around his body and felt a pull in the middle of his back. There was a cord there.

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘨𝘨.."

The realization hit him and he felt helpless. He felt his life being sucked right out of him and there was nothing he could do but surrender.

"𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴."He thought to himself. He entered a state of dizziness and laid on his back.

"𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺? 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯, 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺.. o𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴."

He had started to come to terms with his fate when he heard a voice reach him.

"𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚."

"𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?"

The space he was in was suddenly filled with light. He noticed he was able to see through the walls entrapping him. There was a figure standing outside of the egg he was in.

"My name is Domino." The figure was tall and had a serious look on their face. It appeared to be a holding a pencil and a book in its hands. He looked up at Syre. Syre noticed the long dark hair on the figure that reached over his shoulders, hiding the left side of their face. He also noticed that the voice of the figure did not match the voice that he had just heard.

"According to the data my little book has collected thus far here, your name is Syre, age 17. It seems you're an extremely skilled fighter and your blood is of great importance."

The figure started to scribble something down.

"It's your lucky day, as you have been chosen as talent for the Demons tournament." The figure continued to scribble.

"Demon's tournament? The hell are you talking about?" Syre banged on the shell of the wall keeping him captive once again.

"Get me out of here and give me my sword back!" He yelled.

"My name is Domino." The figure repeated and blankly stared at Syre for a moment before walking away.

"You said that already! What is this Demon tournament!? Get me out of here!" At that moment Syre looked around him and saw he was surrounded by a bunch of eggs like the one he were in, they hung from long thick cords and the voices coming from them were all yelling in agony and pain.

He was hit with great tiredness as he felt more of his energy being drained.

He had almost fell into a deep sleep before he was caught off guard.

"Hey, wake up!" A voice called out to him from his left.

Syre couldn't muster up the energy to speak but he tried his best to shift his body over towards the voice.

"You can't let yourself fall asleep, or you might never wake up." Syre looked over towards the egg besides him. He saw the shape of the figure slightly moving and acknowledging him as it spoke.

"My name is Falcon, i've been here for quite a while..." He let out a sigh before he continued.

"That Demon tournament that stupid puppet keeps talking about, they have it once a year. The Demons pick out a bunch from their stupid human syphoning farms and challenge each other to a big duel." He exclaimed.

"As long as you stay awake, for long intervals, your body will being to get used to the syphoning. You may have a chance of getting out of here. Fall asleep and you can kiss that chance goodbye. They don't want any weaklings fighting in the tournament. You stay on their good side, keep winning and they'll let you live. Pretty good deal if you ask me, kid." The voice fell into silence.

Syre blankly stared at the space above him.

𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘯.

He repeated the words over and over. He began to wonder about the strange voice that had responded to his thoughts earlier.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺. He thought to himself.

𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

Time had passed and it felt like Hell. It became almost impossible to stay awake. He closed his eyes and entered what felt like a vivid dream.

First he was met with the strange imagery of a young monk. He then saw a tree.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?

He felt a sense of confusion.

A rapid motion of images started to appear before his mind. It seemed like something was trying to communicate with him.

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱."

There's that voice again. He thought to himself.