Chapter 1 - The Beginning

“Christine! For the millionth time, wake up! You’re going to be late!” Her mother shouted for her from the kitchen.

“Five minutes...” Christine groaned.

“NOW! On the double! Otherwise you’re going to miss your test!” She stormed up the stairs into Christine’s room, and yanked the blanket off her.

“Okay okay! I’m going!” Christine dragged her feet behind her. She knew that she had an important test to take today, but she was seriously worn out from the nightmare that plagued her the night before. She just managed to fall asleep again when her mother woke her up. As she cleaned herself and freshened up, her brain inadvertently reminded her about the dream.

The skull mask... Those crimson, bloodthirsty eyes... The dark aura surrounding the Dark Lord... The fast-approaching light of death... Christine’s blood froze at the thought of it, and shook her head furiously in hopes that the memory will go away. “Stupid head, reminding me of stuff like that at the start of the day...” she groaned again.

It had been three years since Christine joined the ranks of the warriors of the Rune-Midgard Kingdom as a novice. Her dad was a Whitesmith, and her mother was a Sniper, but odd enough, she didn’t follow either of their footsteps to become a Merchant nor an Archer like her elder brothers. She was oddly interested in becoming a Swordsman, and was about to take a test to officially become one. Her parents didn’t say a word about it, and respected her decision – a trait which was hard to find in most families in Rune-Midgard, where the offspring would normally be in the same profession as one of their parents.

After getting dressed in her Novice garb, she grabbed a roll of bun and sprinted to Izlude, the satellite city of Prontera where the Swordsman’s Guild was located. Her heart raced as she thought about the Swordsman uniform she would don in several hours’ time. “I’m definitely going to pass that test.”

* * * * *

“Good morning, kiddo. How may I help you?” A staff of the guild with a gruffy voice asked when Christine stepped into the Swordsman’s Guild located in the West side of Izlude.

“Err, I’m here to take the test to become a Swordsman.” Christine replied.

“What? Aren’t you a little too young to take the test?” another staff of the Swordsman’s Guild asked, eyeing her from top to toe, obviously taking her lightly.

“If I remember correctly, there’s no age restriction to take the test.” She replied. She registered for the test, and there’s no way she was going to go home without taking it.

“She’s right, Shurank. Anyone’s free to take the test. Are you sure you’re ready, young lady?”

“Yes.”

“Very well, go see the test hall staff in the next room. He’ll direct you to the test hall.”

Christine did as she was told. She was sent to a dimly lit dungeon through a warp portal by the test hall staff after getting briefed on what to do for the test. She took a very deep breath to calm herself down, and started her trial.

“Remember, this test is a trial of quick-thinking, balance, strength and speed. You have approximately an hour to get through the dungeon. It’s just a straight path, but there will be various obstacles you have to go through along the way. If your time is up, a staff of the guild will appear to take you out of the dungeon. They are all stationed and hidden throughout the dungeon, in case you experience near-death situations. You may not ask for help, or you will fail the test immediately. At the end of the dungeon, you will see a Swordsman by the name of Aaron. He will confirm your test status and bring you out, ending your test. Is that clear? Good luck.” Those were the words that the test hall staff told her before she stepped into the warp portal. She glanced around, and only saw lots of Fabres crawling around.

“Good, at least it’s not Lunatics or Porings.” She smirked. She hated Fabres with a passion, no thanks to one incident where these green-coloured, beady-eyed bugs nearly killed her when she was training at the Novice Training Grounds in her early Novice days. She whipped out her knife from her belt, and started the mass slaughter of the much-hated bugs. Not too hard, she thought – that was until she came to a bridge made of rocks. It only had space for a person to stand, and on either side, never-ending darkness. One wrong step, and it’s the end.

“Don’t look down...” she told herself as she spread her arms out to balance herself, bended her knees a little, and started walking. It felt like hours had passed when she finally reached the other side of the bridge, but obviously it was all in her imagination since none of the guild staff had appeared to take her away from her test. It was smooth sailing after that, and she arrived at the room where Aaron was waiting.

“Ah, that was quick. You only took 30 minutes to clear the test. Very formidable indeed for someone your age. Let’s go out then.” He smiled.

* * * * *
It took her some time to adjust to the sudden change in light intensity when she returned to the Swordsman’s Guild hall. She waited at a corner as Aaron went to submit the results to the supervisor of the Guild.

“Good morning, young lady. My name is Knight De Thomas, the supervisor of the Swordsman’s Guild. I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations and warmest welcome to you. You are now officially a member of the Swordsman’s Guild.” The supervisor came out to introduce himself, as well as hand her the Swordsman’s official uniform and a sword. She beamed happily as she received the uniform and weapon from De Thomas.

“Oh, I would like to add that you are the youngest person to pass the test thus far. I expect great things from you, Christine.” It was rare for someone to pass the first class test on the first try after being a Novice for just three years. It usually took nine years for Novices to be ready to take the tests, as the tasks were gruelling and required plenty of preparations, mentally or physically. Christine just beamed happily.

“Mind if I ask who your parents are?”

“Charles and Helen Fletcher, why?”

The supervisor thought for a short moment before answering. “Oh, nothing. I just thought you looked familiar. Off you go then. Your official lessons starts tomorrow, please be on time.”

“Yes sir! Thank you so much!” She was a little perplexed at why the supervisor of the Swordsman’s Guild suddenly asked her that question, but didn’t give it much thought. All she wanted to do now was to get home as soon as possible and show her family her new uniform.

* * * * *

She arrived at the Swordsman’s Guild early next morning in high spirits. Much to her relief, the dream didn’t plague her sleep. Christine couldn’t wait to see who would be her instructor. But her high spirits were dashed when her instructor walked into the training room. She gawked at the person in disbelief – it was Shurank, the same person who wanted her to give up on taking the Swordsman test barely a day ago.

“Don’t you know how to greet your teacher when you see him?” Shurank snapped at her. He was evidently still unhappy over what happened yesterday, when she humiliated him in front of the other guild staff. He was a little apprehensive when he was told that he would be teaching Christine the ways of a Swordsman, but accepted it nonetheless. He was going to make sure that she will have one hell of a tough time for the rest of her Swordsman days under him. Oh yes, revenge is sweet.

“Good morning, sir.” She peppered the last word with a sarcastic tone.

“That wasn’t wise of you to do that. You’re going to spend most of your time training under me until you reach your Knighthood, you know?” he smirked. Oh yes, she just gave him another reason to double the torture.

“Ugh...” she winced at his words.

Crap, I didn’t say that out loud, did I?

“What did you say?” Shurank eyed her suspiciously.

“Nothing, sir. Really!” Christine laughed nervously, praying hard that he did not hear what she said.

“Very well. We shall start our lesson. See that wooden column over there? Go punch it.”

“Whaaaat?” She couldn’t believe her ears. Did he really mean that?

“You heard me.” Apparently, he did.

“That is the basic of all basics for a Swordsman: training your strength. Strength is essential for the Swordsman class, as it is needed to deal deadly blows on your enemies with minimal effort. Furthermore, do you seriously think that swords or lances are light? With your frame, you’d lose your balance and topple over by just holding a sword. Have you ever thought about the consequences that came with the job when you took the test?” he continued.

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Start punching!” She didn’t really want to train under Shurank, but Christine had no choice. The decision of the supervisor was final, so she had to listen to every word Shurank said, and do everything he asked her to.

It was painful to punch a wooden column, even with thick leather gloves on. Shurank wasn’t making her life any easier as he kept on pressuring her to punch harder. From time to time he’d correct the way she punched the column, and she took them all in, not daring to utter a single word in case she said something wrong again.

At the end of the day, she returned home with two sore and bruised hands. She didn’t think it was that bad until she took off her gloves before taking a bath. In the end she kept her gloves on during dinner to avoid unwanted questions from her parents. The last thing she wanted was to make them worry about the path she chose.

Christine decided to obediently obey Shurank’s instructions for the mean time. There was pretty much plenty of time for her to play random pranks on him – all she needed was a few ideas. She smiled smugly at the thought. She was also determined to end her Swordsman days as fast as possible and get initiated as a Knight by training twice – scratch that – five times harder so that she won’t have to face Shurank for too long.

Prologue

Raging inferno everywhere. Screams of commoners filled the air as they ran around in all directions, panic written all over their faces. It was utter chaos.

Christine looked as several warriors of Rune-Midgard ran past her. She called after them, but none turned back to answer her. She was now panic-stricken, and looked everywhere, hoping that she could find someone who could answer her lingering question.

What’s happening?

“Honey, stay here and don’t make a single noise. Mummy’s gonna come and get you soon, so stay safe, okay?” A High Priestess said to a little girl, whom she hid behind some rubble after testing their stability. She wouldn’t want the rubble to crush her daughter now, would she?

“Mummy! Mummy! I want to follow you!” the little girl wailed.

“No, it’s too dangerous. Shh, be quiet.”

Christine sprinted to the direction of the High Priestess to ask for the answers she was searching for. “Excuse me, may I know what’s happening?” Yet again, she was ignored as the High Priestess ran towards a Lord Knight who was waiting for her at a flight of stairs. They went inside what Christine presumed to be an abbey hand-in-hand, ignoring the fact that billows of smoke was emanating from within. Christine was curious, so she followed them in.

They just kept running while fending off a barrage of monsters which Christine had never seen before, then disappeared into a small entrance at the side. Christine peeped inside, and regretted her actions immediately.

It was mayhem. Dead bodies of people – warriors of Rune-Midgard and commoners alike – were strewn across the floor, some mutilated, mostly charred. The High Priestess and Lord Knight were facing a huge monster, dealing blows and fending attacks. Christine wanted to help, but her legs seem to be contradicting with her as they were frozen stiff, refusing to budge even an inch. Something about that monster incited a deep fear in her heart, halting every muscle activity within.

“Foolish humans! Do you think you can defeat me? The great Dark Lord?” The monster boomed. Christine swore that the structure beneath her feet vibrated.

“I swear by the name of Odin that I WILL defeat you!” The Lord Knight shouted, as he pierced a vulnerable spot of the Dark Lord with his spear. The monster roared in pain from the deep wound inflicted on him. It then summoned great balls of meteor, raining them down on the Lord Knight and High Priestess fighting him, intending to pay back for the pain tenfold. No, a hundred fold. Nonetheless, the two warriors of Rune-Midgard emerged almost unscathed, because the High Priestess actively casted Sanctuary to heal them both, as well as attack the undead army who was advancing from the sides. Christine could tell that they were the last two warriors standing here, because no one in the area was alive, and neither did anyone come to their aid.

“Do not interfere!” the Dark Lord waved his subjects off. “I want to take care of them myself. Their defiance interests me.” The undead army did as they were told. They didn’t dare defy their lord’s orders.

No, run! Don’t keep staying there!

Christine’s senses were telling her something bad was going to happen. Then, as if on cue, she suddenly heard a sniff and small footsteps approaching her from behind. She swerved around and saw that the little girl from before had followed the loud voice of the Dark Lord here. Not good.

“Go back to where your mother left you!” she hissed, but the little girl didn’t bother about her warning.

“Even if you’re the best warriors in Rune-Midgard, you’ll never defeat me!” the Dark Lord mocked and cackled, sending more chills down Christine’s spine. It was so cold and void of humanity, just horribly sadistic.

“We will never give up! Never!” the High Priestess stressed her defiance, as she casted a wide range of supportive spells on the Lord Knight and herself.

“Very well then. I’ve had enough toying around with the likes of you. You no longer interest me. Perish you shall by the power of Hell’s Judgement!” the Dark Lord said, as a dark light spread throughout the entire floor. Christine and the girl started running, because the light was rapidly coming in their direction. But it seems something in there didn’t want her to leave, as she tripped over an uneven floor and fell. She knew that it was too late to get up and run, so she closed her eyes and anticipated an excruciating pain.

It’s over.

Christine felt a hard thump in her heart. She bolted upright and scanned her surroundings. She thought she was dead, but the place didn’t look remotely like the Heaven she had anticipated. It took her some time to realise that she was in her own bedroom, sweating bullets and panting hard.

It was a dream.

She heaved a sigh of relief as she fell back into her pillow, trying hard to fall asleep again. She knew it was a dream, but it all seemed so real. Everything she saw, and every spine-chilling feeling she felt was deeply etched in her mind, as hoards of questions bombarded her already tired mind.

What happened to the Lord Knight, the High Priestess and the little girl?

What was the dream trying to tell?