The Rise

The Crater

Deep in a forest clearing, with the wind gently blowing and the sun shining bright. Lay a Crater with a man laying in it. His eyes open slowly with a strong ray of light shining upon his face, his long brown hair covering some of his vision. He stares up into the clear blue sky. He squeezes his hands and feels the dirt around him, he sits up slowly and is confused as he looks around seeing he is in some sort of hole in the ground. He touches the ground with his hand again and feels a slight heat in the ground. His brown clothes were covered in dirt. He begins to think of how he got here but finds his mind empty, his eyes widening at the realization that he has no memories of anything.

His mouth opens, but before he can say a word, he hears a distant voice shouting at him from above the crater. "Hello friend," he heard in an elderly voice. The man in the crater looks up and sees some old man peeking over the hole and looking down at him. "Hello, can you hear me?" the old man says in an elderly voice. The man in the crater says softly, "am yeah, I can hear you." The old man says aloud, "Alright then, how about you crawl on up here?"

The man in the crater thinks for a second then crawls up the crater. By the time he makes it to the top he can now see the old man entirely, he is wearing a blue robe and a pointed hat, he has a grey beard and dark blue eyes that stare at him with what seems to be concern and intrigue. The old man helps him out of the hole and speaks "well isn't that better, ... so you don't seem to be hurt or in any pain, how exactly did you survive that fall?" The old man raises one eyebrow in confusion.

Man after cleaning himself of dirt "I am... don't know" the old man stares at him thinking then says "hm you must have hit your head pretty hard, don't worry your memory will return in due time" the man asks "could you tell me where I am?" The old man responds "Well my friend you are in the outer territory of the Sky Kingdom". The man looks in confusion "what is that." The old man giggles slightly and speaks "its better we speak about this somewhere we can have a drink and be warm" he then turns around and starts walking " I know a tavern near" he gestures for the man to follow and he does. The old man speaks "so for now I'll call you Shinaria" the man speaks back "why Shinaria?" The old man responds "Well it means unknowing, and before you ask I've had to name hundreds of animals so I'm good at naming things" Shinaria laughs a little while nodding "ok then ha ha".

After a small walk through the light woods, they arrive outside a wooden building with lined windows sprinkled along it. The old man speaks "well c'mon, no reason to wait". They both walk through the doors and see an open area with tables of people drinking, laughing and talking, lit up with torches and lanterns. Shinaria checks his hand seeing he has splinters from the rugged wooden door "this place isn't made very well" Shinaria says. The old man responds "this isn't the best of areas Shinaria, so stay next to me and let me do the talking".

They take a seat at in the corner of the tavern at a table, a Waitress walks over and speaks "hey fellas what can we get you?" The old man says, "I'll have a red garthon and get my friend here some blue pearl water". The Waitress nods and walks away as Shinaria looks at the old man and speaks "you haven't told me your name?" The old man laughs "ah yes your right, I apologize for my manners, My name is Madwrath I am a Mage" Shinaria responds "a mage?" "Ah yes you don't have your memory, well I can do magic like healing and summoning". Shinaria looks in shock "wait with power like that why are you in a place like this?" "Well I can defend myself but I'm not immortal Shinaria, the Sky Knights and bandits could easily be a danger to me".

Shinaria responds, "How?" "Well, the Sky Knights, for example, can summon and control things such as lightning and wind, so they are quite strong." Shinaria speaks with curiosity, "How do they do that?" "Well, to put it simply, they get their power from the Sky God." "God?" Shinaria responds. "Well, the Gods are powerful beings that rule over an aspect of reality, so in this case, the sky," Madwrath says after a brief pause.

According to legend, tens of thousands of years ago, four beings created existence and many Gods to rule over what they created. But they also created a being that goes by many names, but I call him... " Madwrath speaks quietly, "the devil... he, for unknown reasons, attacked the gods and the four beings, killing two of the four, but was eventually defeated and locked in a dimension called hell, with only death himself having the key."

Shinaria: "That's a lot to understand ". The waitress arrives at their table and sets down a red drink and a blue one, "There ya go fellas." She then walks off. Madwrath says, "Thank you, my dear. Now take a drink." It'll help with your memory and relaxation. "

Shinaria looks at the light blue glowing drink, he picks it up and takes a sip "it tastes good" he says in surprise. Madwrath giggles before looking away for a second as his face turns serious "Shinaria listen let me handle this just don't say anything that'll anger him OK?" Shinaria speaks in confusion "what do you mean?" As a man walks up to their table and speaks in a deep voice "who is this Madwrath?". Shinaria looks up to see a man with longish red hair and dark red armour reaching his ears. Madwrath responds "this is Shinaria I'm just helping him around" Madwrath looks at Shinaria "Shinaria meet Fury he is a Fury warrior". Shinaria looks confused "Fury is a Fury warrior... huh?" Madwrath says quickly "Well it is seen as an honour to be named after one's people".

Fury stares at Shinaria and then speaks " you got a problem with it?" Madwrath interjects "no he doesn't, he isn't from around here". Fury looks at Madwrath then back to Shinaria then speaks "I suggest you tell him to watch his mouth, you never know what might happen to him next time" Fury taps his hand on the hilt of a sword at his side.

Shinaria gets the message and looks down.

Madwrath speaks "oh don't worry I will".

Fury then turns around and walks away to a different table.

Madwrath breathes out in relief " that was close" Shinaria speaks "who was that guy?".

"Well he is a Fury warrior, they can light their weapons a flame, and spew it at people but more importantly their emotions control the heat and colour of the flame". Shinaria looks in amazement "wait so there are gods, magic and people who can control lightning and fire?" Madwrath giggles a bit "well that's only scratching the surface there is also stuff like angles, demons, knights, spirits and creatures of all sorts". Shinaria and Madwrath continue to speak with Shinaria questioning everything as Madwrath answers away. Shinaria continues to learn about this new world but they stop speaking as the doors swing open.

The Knight

High on a mountain, lay the Sky Kingdom which spans along its top. This Kingdom is surrounded by a wall and towers spanning it with wooden houses and some castles. It is very active with thousands of people moving on its cobbled streets who ate talking trading and working with the city bustling with activity, but in one of the castles in this city lay our second protagonist as he faces a challenge. In an outside area within a castle, Knights are training together some learning stances and others talking. But Thomas he is about to duel as his supervisor watches over him.

Thomas's commander Geeth watches over Thomas and the other knight, they stare at each other with their swords facing one another both have armour covering everything but their head and a double-edged blade. They both grip their blades tightly with both hands awaiting the call to strike. Geeth in the middle shouts "Commence!" They both step forward as their blades clash as sparks fly. Their blades hit each other again and again as they each try to land a blow on the other but they are almost as evenly matched then Thomas drops down and grabs a hand full of sand with his hand and throws it at the other knight as he shouts in pain as it hits his face and gets in his eyes but before he can land a blow on his blinded enemy the man in the middle shouts again.

"Thomas is disqualified!" Thomas drops his sword and speaks in disagreement "Geeth I must protest I..." Geeth shouts back "What you did was dishonourable, you must beat your opponent fair and square " Thomas looks annoyed and says back "but then I wouldn't have won!" Geeth looking agitated responds with a shout "Exactly! you couldn't beat your opponent with your skill, if you wish to become a Lightning Knight then you must learn this boy!".

Thomas looks away knowing he must comply "you are right Geeth, my apologies" Thomas looks at his opponent then leaves heading inside the castle and to his room. Thomas sits on the bed for a while before hearing horses outside, he looks out the window and sees white horses and immediately starts running outside as white horses mean royalty. Thomas bursts out the doors and sees the other Recruits in formation in front of the horses and Geeth as everyone stares at him. Thomas embarrassingly walks into formation with the others as Geeth looks daggers at Thomas and then speaks

"Recruits I have just been informed that you are needed for a mission which will be explained to you by a Royal Knight so I expect the best from you Recruits!" as Geeth finishes his sentence a man gets off of one of the horses and stands in front of the recruits with a powerful posture and armour that made theirs look like paper, he spoke loud but sharp "Now as Geeth stated I have a mission for you, which is coming from the Royal family, one of our new Royal canons have been stolen, so as we Knights search within the Kingdom we will be sending you Recruits out into the surrounding territory to see if people are talking about buying the canon so we can pinpoint who stole it, from what witnesses say it was a man in all black with a bird mask of some sort.

" the recruits listen intently to all the details as this will be their first mission.

Geeth then speaks "I have some roughly drawn maps here to where each of you is to go and investigate" Geeth walks to each of them giving them a map and reminding them not to fail, he then gets to Thomas and looks at him with disappointment and speaks "here is your map, you will be heading to a tavern North of here" Thomas looks at the map noting to himself that it was horribly drawn but then looks at Geeth "Yes Sir".

Geeth then walks back as the Royal Knight speaks "Now do our Kingdom proud and may the Sky God give you strength" The recruits all head to the stables and each gets on their horses.

As Thomas gets to his horse he says softly " may this be the mission that makes me a Lightning Knight" he then jumps onto his horse and hastily rides outside the Kingdom and down the mountain.

Thomas thinks to himself about how this is the first time he has left the Kingdom alone, "but this won't stop me or even slow me down" he says.

A few hours pass and in a forest North of the Sky Knight Kingdom is Thomas as his horse calmly walks through the forest, as he looks at the map then to his left then to his right and says aloud "where is this darn tavern" he looks to the sky and thinks

"Sky God please give me some sort of sign" but right as he thinks this he is thrown off his horse and smashes into the ground on his back, he shouts in pain and annoyance as he gets ups slowly "why would you do that" he looks at his horse but then notices he is in some sort of crater.

"Well ill admit I didn't expect this" he then notices footprints in the crater heading further north "they have to lead to the tavern, its the only place around here" he jumps onto his horse and follows them, he thinks if that was related to what he asked the Sky God but the thought quickly left his mind as he sees the tavern just in the distance. "Now my mission begins".

The Hidden God

Deep in a thick forest, a girl with dark purple hair and black clothing walks with the crunching of the many leaves on the ground. She looks up through the branches and sees the sun shining in rays through the forest. Phoebe wonders to herself if she is close yet but after recognizing a fallen over tree she begins to run, she jumps over a log and creates a single-edged sword in her hand cutting through any branches in her way, she begins to see a clearing, she smiles knowing she's close and eventually reaches the edge of the forest.

She sees the large grass field with what seems to be the ruins of some castle or tower. She stops to stare at it but she notices a black figure sitting atop it, she quickly hides behind a tree and peaks around it seeing it is still there. She looks at her hand with the blade in it and grips it tightly as she turns to look at it again but with shock, she sees it's gone. Phoebe looks around her before hearing "are you looking for me?" she looks up seeing the figure in the tree above her, she jumps back and creates two throwing knives in her free hand and throws them at the figure. The figure catches them at phoebes shock as she points her blade at it. The figure speaks "I am not here to hurt you, you seem to have me all wrong" as it jumps off the tree landing in front of her.

Phoebe can now see the figure in detail, it seems to be a male figure with a black outfit and cloak and some sort of bird mask.

"Wait are you a plague doctor," she says as she takes a step back in fear. "Yes I am but just call me the Doctor," he says as he drops the throwing knives to the ground. The moment they hit the ground they turn to dust. Phoebe tightens her grip on her blade and speaks firmly "what is it you want Doctor" he responds in a neutral voice "merely to talk my dear".

Phoebe looks at the doctor not believing him and the doctor senses this. "You need not fear me, Phoebe, if I wanted to kill you I would have a long time ago" she stares in shock and speaks "then what do you want to talk about," she says as she slightly lowers her blade" the doctor gestures with his hand towards the ruins as he walks In its direction. Phoebe takes a second to think before her blade turns to dust and she follows him to the ruins. The doctor crouches down touching the ground "would I be correct in saying this is where your parents passed?" Phoebe looks away and nods her head " how did you know that?" She says.

The Doctor looks at her standing up straight "I know many things my dear, now if I were to tell you that I know how to find out who killed them how would you respond" Phoebe looks at the doctor "You know who did it! Who was it!". The Doctor looks around the ruins and speaks "I will tell you how to find out" Phoebe responds "wait why would you do this for me?" "Eventually I will ask a favour of you, but I need nothing as of now" the doctor states. Phoebe looks away thinking then nods in acceptance. "You are to head to a tavern North of here" Phoebe responds confused "Why?"

"Allow me to finish, you will meet a knight and a man who has little to no memories, once you assist and travel with them, the information will be revealed to you when the Sky burns". Phoebe speaks tilting her head to the side in confusion "how exactly?" The doctor walks over to a still-standing wall and touches it as if examining it "Well if you would rather not then you don't have to, I can't make you, but it's your decision". Phoebe thinks to herself about how strange the doctor is acting but then begins to think if it's worth potentially knowing who killed her parents.

She finally responds "ok then, I will do it". The Doctor stops examining the ruins and turns to her, "then let's make it a deal" he lifts his hand sticking it out to her as if to shake her hand. Phoebe walks over and slowly grabs his hand and shakes. Her finger begins to burn as black smoke comes from her finger. She shouts "WHAT DID YOU DO" but she also notices it's happening to his hand as well and almost as soon as it started the pain stopped and the smoke blew away with a black tattoo around her finger. Phoebe lifts her hand to her face staring at it "what is this?" The doctor removes his glove showing he has the same tattoo on his hand as well "it is a dark magic hold, it just ensures we each keep our end of the deal".

"And if we don't?" Phoebe responds "Well... we die"

Phoebe's eyes open in shock.

"I see" she lowers her hand.

The Doctor puts his black glove back on and speaks "well this concludes our business, the tavern is North of here just outside a lightly wooded forest, there you will find the knight and man, until next time...good day".

The Doctor twists his hand as he disappears, Phoebe thinks to herself "so that's how he got on that tree". Later on in the day Phoebe is walking through a forest and jumps behind a tree as a throwing knife forms in her hand, she turns her head around the tree seeing a knight on a horse riding towards a tavern.

"So this is the place," she thinks to herself "and that must be the knight the doctor was on about" her knife turns to dust as she begins to walk in the direction of the tavern knowing what she must do now.