[Host has given chance for reincarnation.]

Host:"What?"

[Accessing user character/personality/behavior]

"Am i really dead?"
..............................
..................................
.......................................
[Compatibility with 3 ancient god...]
[Brahma = 12.5%]
[Vishnu = 28%]
[Shiva = 53%]


[Generating forms based on ancient god Shiva]
[1. Vampire
2. Snake
3. Dark elf
4. Human
5. Fallen Angel
6. Minotaur
7.Lich]

"Hmm, what is my personality?"

[Character/Personality/Behavior:- aggressive, aloof, arrogant, cruel, cynical, dishonest, domineering, greedy, impolite, obsessive, ruthless, selfish, unkind, perverted and …]

"I agree with this personality but what about me being handsome, honest, kind, caring.”

[Narcissist]

--------------------------------------------------
Chapter schedule:-

They sprinted without pause through the forest until they had eventually reached a wall of granite that rose high into the clouded sky.
"Halt!" A scratchy voice shouted at them.
Ran saw a burly man concealed within a black bodysuit and mask approach them.
Marin stoically pulled out a small round badge made of jade stone and held it before the man.
The man nodded his head with an understanding upon seeing the badge.  He gave them the order to follow.
"Come." Marin warmly patted Ran's shoulder.
Ran glanced about awed by the majestic evergreen trees and brightly pink and purple plum tree flowers delicately littering the air and ground beneath their feet as they passed through a raised portcullis entrance and stepped into a courtyard out of this world.
It literally was out of this world.  Even the time and weather pattern was entirely different. The sky was a baby-blue covering with barely a cloud in sight. The way ahead was a circular courtyard with an enormous green mosaic tiled flooring, which shimmered and glistened like scales of a snake beneath the daylight.
"Apercu Map," Ran whispered to activate his martial sight and saw a bird's-eye view of the courtyard, which formed the picture of a sea serpent dragon coiled about the ground to create an impression of rest and waiting.
It was enclosed within manicured hedges, stone benches and rose bushes that were dissected by stone pathways that led to various box-like while marble buildings. The widest and most central path led to the grand steps of a white stone-gold trimmed castle. The building had three spires that rose high into the sky like it was about to piece it with its pointy spikes. 
"Come." Marin gently patted his son's shoulder.
Ran released his martial sight to return his vision back to normal. He followed his father and black cladded men down the main path towards the castle. 
His heart raced weirdly at the various surrounding whispers from kids around his age or older. He glanced left and right as he walked and almost gasped at the strange people he was seeing.
"Who is that?" A girl about his age in a black and white checkered a-line dress said to the tall boy next to her.
She was pretty with silver hair cut in a shapely bob. The tips of her gentle fringe touched her shapely brows that framed round blue eyes, balancing a cute heart-shaped face and button nose. Her dress's skirt belled out to give a slender shape to her narrow waist; the tips of the hem barely hanging over her knees. Her slender legs were supported by laced black boots that rose and over her calves. The rest of her legs were covered in pink ribbed stockings.  Her hands were protected by lace white gloves.
His eyes narrowed in on the green shining symbol to her left breast. It was of a winged snake coiled around a pair of crossed swords. He glanced to the tall boy who wore calf-length black boots, black and white checkered slacks, black gloves to his hands and black bracers to his wrists, shiny leather waistcoat and loose fitting white cotton shirt.  The same symbol shone on his left breast also.   His dull red eyes regarded him shrewdly. Ran find himself appreciating his coolly short crop of autumn-red hair with a side-parted fringe to frame is stoic features. 
He noticed that the other kids were dressed in the same attire.  
"A uniform?" He mused and shook off the thought, feeling certain answers to his menial questions would be given to him soon. 
They ascended the castle's steps, and towards the enormous double door entrance of jade stone where the polished surface bared the image of an overpowering dragon about to take flight. Its snout opened to let out a roar.
Their escorts approached the door's all-black clad guards to announce their arrival. The guards nodded and said a spell that caused the dragon's mouth to activate with thin rays of golden light that wormed about the surface to form the images of hinges and handles. 
The doors slowly creaked opened. Ran followed his father inside. His eyes danced wildly about the fine interior of black and white checkered floors, a singular white stone stair case that snaked its way up towards the semi-opened second floor; splitting off left and right.  The walls were segmented by square window panes that held different sceneries of various seasons.  
As he ascended the stairs, passing the panes of different views. His heart raced with longing when he saw Milltree Village on a bright summer day; its locals going about their business like usual.  Next to this visual was a scenery of a bustling city street where the aged modern buildings gathered around a square marketplace.  The street and its occupants were being overwhelmed with rain.
"Father. What is this place?" Ran finally found his voice to ask his question. 
By this time they had reached the top of the stairs and their destination. Ran gazed at the redwood and silver trimmed door before him. He was standing in a richly built hallway with blue paisley carpet floors and cream walls covered with rows of portraits.
"This is Illyria Academy. A place for our Avengers to hone their purposes and understand their purpose with appreciation." An oppressive voice answered Ran's question.
Ran yelped and gritted his teeth when he felt a pressure slam down to the top of his head and try to force him to his feet.
Marin sighed and stood where he was, watching the door open and an elder man slowly step through to meet them. 
Ran forced his head upwards to see the man. He reminded him of his old masters when he was a child in his last life. 
The man was dressed in dark blue robes that billowed about his ankles. His feet were covered with silver loafers. A wise-gray beard hung just over the top of his collarbone area. Long flowing gray hair was held up and off his face with a jade and silver head piece bearing the symbol of the snake and sword. Sharp green eyes peered at Ran with keen interest. The boy had strength to be able to hold his head up during his gravity press.
Ran gasped for breath and sighed with relief when the pressure instantly eased, and he could wobble to his feet.
"Sect Master Chen-yanan." Marin respectfully greeted the elderly man with a cordial bow.
"Marin Light-tu. Blessed be to see you again, old friend." The elder;y man warmly greeted Marin.
His greeting went to Ran who was now standing calmly before the men.
"You are Ran. Your father tells me good things about you." 
Ran betrayed an expression of shock when the elderly man bowed and formally introduced himself.
" I am Arin Chen, Sect Master for this school and clan." 
"Greetings, Sect Master Chen-yanan." Ran respectfully greeted Arin, which earned him a favorable nod from him.
"Good. You've taught your boy well." Arin smiled and gave Marin a warm pat to his shoulder.
Marin turned to his son, bent down to give him a fatherly hug. "Listen to Sect Master and your teachers. They will help you to survive in this world." 
He reluctantly rose, gave Arin a respectful bow then retreated down the hallway before Ran found his voice to call his father back. His father was gone before he had a chance to open his mouth.
"Father?" His voice croaked.
"Your father has left you to our care. Since you are an Avenger." Arin wisely explained to Ran.
Ran looked at the elderly man with a perplexed expression.
"Come. You will learn all you need to know and understand in time." Arin patted Ran's shoulder to prompt him into a direction.
Ran followed his Sect Master down the hall and threw a door, where his new life was about to begin.

❤乂 -- No longer online to read anywhere -- 乂❤

A silver platform, different from the snow white and fluffy bed, rose out of the ground and became a makeshift wall.  A slit opened in the platform and released a set of clothes that was present to be dispensed, a plain white t-shirt and dark blue sweatpants. 
Adam touched his middle finger and thumb together and flipped his hand so that his palm faced the roof. A glowing screen projected itself around his wrists while his skin sparkled like diamonds. 
He wrote in a string of commands and the pajamas that were dispensed lost thier color and became similar to black glass. They turned into dust less than 5 seconds later and disappeared beneath the white sands.

The platform then dispensed two sets of clothes. 
He wore a maroon waistcoat and checkered tie that was a solid maroon and black and white squares along a diagonal. The button down shirt was a crisp and void like black. The pants were a similar color but checkered suspenders hung at his sides like twin tails. The outfit was completed by a pair of white and black dress shoes that matched the checkered patterns spread throughout his outfit. His silver eyes matched the metallic color of the silver buckles ( vest/ belt), cufflinks, shoe buttons, and clamps on the suspenders.

He stepped out from behind the makeshift wall while fixing his tie. Then he grabbed the second set of clothes he recieved and brought then to Elena.
"Put this on, we have to test the project"
They stared into each others eyes...
"...Here...", he managed to say with some difficulty.
"...Thank you..."

Elena started to undress right in front of him. 
"..."
He just started at her like how a parent would stare at a thier young child who did some thing, angry and helpless. No matter where she went while in the room, she would not be able to avoid his eyes so...

"This is cute. Did you make it?"
Adam was currently typing on a virtual keyboard and periodically dragged something on the screen somewhere else. Everything looked like alien text and pictures to Elena, she knew that it was a language he invented to make this easier for himself.
She however, was talking about the dress she was currently wearing. It was mostly made of black lace and frills that fit, most appropriately, on Victorian porcelain doll. A wide brimmed and sharp tipped hat sat atop her head, a maroon ribbon cascading down her back unlike her hair that was tied in a bun with a black ribbon. She wore silk gloves that had exaggerated white cuffs. She wore tights that were the same void like black color as Adam's clothing but they were decorated by white frills that wrapped around her ankles, atop her black heels. 


"..."
"Hey. I said did you..."
"Miss Elena, Master spent 5 months, at least 2 hours a day, attending to the quality each and every thread."
"Oh... um. Thank you Nyro."
"Stop exaggerating. It's a pre generated outfit, I do not have any hand in the creation of what you are wearing", he said dismissively. 
Elena mouthed, "Did he design it?", which prompted a virtual emoji face, that popped out of thin air,  to nod its head and wink while smiling.

"Enough, Nyro. Make sure that the connection is stable"
"On it", the robotic voice said somewhat "cheerfully?"
The room around her seemed to change and distort every one of her senses.

"Oh..."
She started to hear beeping and droning, as the noise filled the air;
"...are we playing a gme?..."
Feel the endless sands below her feet, while  they hardened to stone; 
"...Is that why I'm dressed up?..."
Taste and smell an artificial dampness, that had no place being in such a well insulated and clean environment; 
"...Wait..."
And see a constellation of lights, as they glittered against the walls.
"...Did you make a custom simulation?...", Elena said as she looked at Adam who was putting the finishing touches on whatever he was doing. 

He smirked at Elena and said, "Sound...", and in that instant, no matter what happened, Elena lost the ability to hear anything.
Oddly enough, she could hear Adam when he said the names that could be associated with her others senses. One by one he got rid of her senses and ended it with her sight.

She was stuck in endless darkness, disoriented, to the fullest extent of the word. That was, until she heard a voice slither into her ears and chase away any negative feelings in her heart.

On Hiatus... Still... too much is being story boarded my glorious readers. Brightside is, I apparently made a multi- multi verse level story whose scale is nothing to scoff at since everything from any canon story or fanction, sort of, counts as a part of my story....


(Shit)-Background:
Humanity is bound to make an irreparable mistake when given enough time.
The 2**0's proved to be a periodd of time where such a mistake was infintesmally close to being reached. 
There are only known 5 known pieces information that we can be sure of now, two of which were gathered by the survivors of that dreadful timeperiod.

1) Nuclear weapons and bioweapons were used simultaneously 
2) The (objectively) best and brightest minds and bodies of the world were herded like cattle to one nation
3) It is the best and near extinction experience any species, known to mankind, has ever had.

1) Approximately 70% of all habitable land became uninhabitable within the first few months and increased to as much as 97% by the end of the era
2) The survivors were all chosen, regardless of race or creed, by the worth of their skill. The worlds most influential leaders, the just and corrupt; The most intelligent scientists and mathematicians, moral or unethical; The most innovative and inspiring artists, modern, traditional, contemporary, parody...etc; Ths most knowledgeable historians; farmers; and every other occupation that can be statistically analyzed to find the best person who worked result under the most fair and worst conditions.

These people used every means necessary to not only survive, but thrive under a deadly environment. 

The ultimate result was a 10 year long golden age that surpassed all of humanity's previous advancements. Every renaissance or enlightenment paled in comparison to the transformations that happened in this time.
Humanity, quite literally, opened the doors to safty and Into the greater universe.

As for the bombs that drove humanity to the brink, they remain a mystery. No human being knew the reason for using the release of nuclear weapons bombs and a viscious bioweapon.
The first attack could have been a mistake or intentional. Someone in a random government could have given orders or it could have been a disgruntled leader. It could have been a terrorist group or a hacker or a simple series of, highly unlikely, technological malfunctions.

The outcome of humanity's greatest folly has however, 100 years later, has given rise to everything we have today. A universe that is just an open doors way away

I heard rustling in the room, and let my eyes flutter open. My bed felt so warm, my feather down pillows and blankets molded to me. I couldn't see properly yet, so I pryed myself out of bed and grabbed my glasses and put them over my eyes. My vision cleared and I saw the bushy haired girl grabbing her books for her first class. 

"Oh, I'm sorry did I wake you?" Hermione asked kindly. "Oh, no, no I was just getting up to get ready as well." I said with a tired grin. "I can show you to your classes, the school is hard to get around for the first couple of weeks. You can get ready and then we have to go" she stated.

I started getting ready by throwing a white button up on, and a grey sweater vest with a yellow collar. I put on my yellow and black checkered pleated skirt on, a pair of black flats, and my Hufflepuff tie. I then took my hair out of the ponytail from the night before, brushed my hair, and then put it into a side braid. I quickly grabbed my books, and headed out the door with Hermione.

"Your first class of the day is potions, right?" Hermione asked me. "Yeah, do you mind showing me how to get there?" I felt silly asking a younger girl how to get around the school, but I could tell that she didn't mind at all. She led me down the dark halls of Hogwarts, and during that time she told me about potions class.

"Most people don't enjoy potions, but I find it to be quite fascinating! You have to make the potions using the exact amount of ingredients, movements, and measurements as the directions, so it can be difficult. But I'm sure you'll do great!" Hermione babbled. I found it amusing how exited she got when talking about classes.

Honestly, I didn't think that potions would be that bad, but I knew it wouldn't be my favorite subject. I had heard others talk about professor Snape. How he was strict and preferred Slytherins, after all, he was the head of the house. I decided that I would try my best to limit contact with him, since he sounded like a vile man. 

We continued to walk through the stone hallways, the bottoms of our shoes clicking against the floor. We headed towards a dark black door wooden door with steel handles and bolts on it. She opened the door for me and held it open, and I muttered a quick thank you and walked through the door. We entered the vacant classroom, and I noticed a man sitting at a desk. He was dressed in all black and had greasy black hair, pale skin, and a hooked nose paired with beady black eyes.

"You're early Ms. Johnson. And Ms. Granger, I don't have you for classes today." Snape said in his dull monotone voice. "Sorry professor, I just wanted to make sure my new friend Chloe got to class in time, but it seems that I've overestimated how early we were." Hermione said with a nervous smile. "Sit down, Ms. Johnson. Class doesn't start for another 20 minutes. And Ms. Granger, I will see you tomorrow." He replied.

I slowly walked over to an empty desk made for two, and I grabbed my books for class. I carefully picked up the potions book, and realized that it almost look like professor Snape. It was raven black with silver cursive writing on the front. How fitting, he must have chosen them, I thought.

About ten minutes later, other students started joining. Today's class was Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, much to Snape's dismay. It was obvious that he thought Slytherin was the superior house, since he would give points to Slytherin and take points away from all the other houses.

The class was filled with a deathly silence, and I found myself drifting off into a daydream about Cedric. Goodness he was so perfect, just sitting there across from me. His grey eyes were lazily focused on the floor several inches past his desk, and his pink lips were slightly parted. A sudden slam of a book on a table released me from my daydream. I think I have a problem.

"Turn to page 364." Snape said, elongating the syllables. I quickly picked up the book and headed to page 364. Felix Felicis, it read. "Felix Felicis, also known as liquid luck, is an extremely powerful potion that grants extra luck to the consumer." Snape explained. 

I analyzed more of the page and realized that this was an extremely complicated potion. Cedric, who was sitting right next to me, must've noticed the worried look on my face. "Don't worry, I'm sure it looks more complicated than it actually is. You'll do great." he said with a kind, encouraging smile.

"I will assign partners. I do not want to hear complaining about the pairs, all groups are final." Snape announced . He started to list off the pairs. "Ernie and Elizabeth...Chloe and Cedric..." Oh thank god. During this complicated potion, a familiar face and someone I knew I would work well with would only do good in this situation.

Me and Cedric walked over to our station. "This class we will have a small competition. Whoever successfully brews this potion within this class period will get to keep it, and use it when needed. You may begin." Snape said. "Alright, I can grab the ingredients. Do you mind listing them off for me?" Cedric asked. "No, I don't mind. First grab Ashwinder egg and horseradish." I said. Throughout the period me and Cedric got all of the supplies, and began brewing the potion. 

Snape slowly walked from station to station, silently judging everyone's potions. Me and Cedric were the perfect team, having finished the potion quickly and efficiently. Snake noticed we had finished so he walked over to our station. "Good job," Snape said, sounding completely unimpressed. "You have successfully brewed Felix Felicis." me and Cedric have each other excited glances, and carefully poured the potion into two glass bottles. 

"Class dismissed." Cedric and I gave each other high-fives as we headed out the large wooden doors. We walked back to the common room to chat and sit by the fire since we didn't have any classes for several more hours.

• Chapter #16: [COLLISION]
The opening ceremony had passed. It wasn't that much, just like any regular ones with an additional special performances from some of the students. Most of the boys had gathered themselves for their idiotic fiasco in the night. The others did not want any part of their foolishness that would earn them the rage of all females and the other school staff.
 
"It's 5:30 already… I need to get moving…", I muttered, staring at my empty dorm room.
 
Activating [Inventory], I equipped my [Enigmatic Mask] and [LightSeeker Outfit]. Then, I activated [Bloodlust] and [Spectre]. [Spectre] is a skill which allowed me to hide all of my traces, including presence, scent, sound, tracks, etc., from anyone who's Rank is beneath me. Conveniently, it's also applicable to items I want to hide.
 
Last time I used this was at New City Hospital…
 
Anyway, opening [Store], I had bought an Arcane Mannequin. Strangely, the price wasn't ¥1, but instead, 14 Novels, all having different tags but Loli.
 
Wtf? Why would CheckYourInventory need 14 Loli Novels…?
 
Checking my purchase, I had found out the reason.
 
[Barter System: CulturedOjiisan has traded 14 Novels for the Arcane Mannequin.]
 
[Additional: Runic Programs – Golem Scripture.]
 
… My eyebrows twitched in irritation. The old god is actually a Lolicon?
 
*Police Siren Noises*
 
…
 
*Sigh*
 
Whatever, I just turn my attention to the additional item that I received. Hmm… This sounds quite important, not right now though.
 
[Morph]
 
My vision blacked out for a few moments. A while later, it returned, though my surroundings had gotten considerably larger. The shadowed areas became much brighter as well. I had transformed into a black furred and golden eyed cat.
 
It's quite weird, being a cat and all. However, I eventually got used to it.
"Nya hell?"
"I nya still speak?!"
"Why would nya speak like this?!"
 
Ugh… Shaking my head, I cleared my mind of distractions and proceeded in doing the mission. I jumped out the back window, walking the small ledge before I had jumped on a nearby tree.
 
[Morph]
 
I turned into a Japanese Golden Eagle this time before flying away.
 
[Feather Light]
 
I immediately felt the speed boost as I activated my flight magic. I wonder if I would be an OP monster if I combined it with Dragon Morph…?
Even if I turn into a giant monter with great agility, would it be OP?
 
It felt quite good to be flying and I spent a few minutes doing so, before eventually going to LightWays Media.
 
…
 
"Are you sure about this?", Kogi asked the foreigner in front of him, which was Carter.
 
"The Zodiac's objectives still isn't clear, so we were ordered to stand by."
 
"Did Hiro come?", Kogi asked, now focusing at the building before them.
 
"Yeah, but they're in a different group. Our focus here is to watch the area and support them." Carter said, before adding.
 
"I don't think we really need to though, there's 2 Supreme Rank Members that'll join us."
"That's a relief…", Kogi breathed out, as he closed his eyes.
 The only thing worries him is his childhood sweetheart Misa.
 
LightWays Media is known as one of the largest media and broadcasting companies in the eyes of the public. However, it's also one of the largest branches of Union here in Japan, which means that it's always heavily guarded, even more so now.
 
And with the additional back-up, it seems like the Black Zodiac is doing a suicide mission…
The action they made is akin to chicken running into a fox den.
 
…
[Plotter's Discernment: Active]
People passed by the building, harboring zero ill intents towards it. However, I do wonder on what's so special about this place and what would the disaster be.
 
I looked around some more. Now, I noticed some people guarding the place quite stealthily, along with a static in the air.
 
Hmm… Barrier, Concealment, and Restraint Magic.
 
Flying around some more, much more powerful Wards and Magic were settled in the school, along with many capable people.
 
However… What truly got my attention is the several, small magic circles, which appears to be implanted on the other Wards. It also looks like the others cannot notice it, which means that it's quite powerful and only thanks to my [Plotter's Discernment] that I'm able to see it.
 
Zooming in, I quickly examined the magic circles…
 
The runes were ones used for transportation within blocked areas… And by their formation… They were designed to support each other, becoming more powerful and capable of transporting large amounts of people or objects…
Hmmm… It looks like they were altered to be able to hide within other magical circles as well. Whoever made this, is quite the Spell Maker.
 
Though I also deadpanned, as it also means that this'll be quite a long night.
 
Though the Union had taken quite the caution, it seems that the enemy was still able to sneak and probably, get the drop on them later.
 
"What annoyance…", I grumbled, as I know that some civilians would definitely be roped in this fiasco.
 
*Flash!*
 
A bright glow had encompassed the school, alarming me and the others. I scanned the area immediately and had found out that the students and normal humans had vanished as the light came.
 
Many of the extraordinary were now panicking in shock and confusion. So this is how they're going to get the drop on them…
 
Tracing my gaze upwards, there's now a shift in the space. Hmm… [Space Concealment] eh?
 
Looks like they still hasn't noticed me, or rather, my eagle form, so I immediately went to one of the buildings beside LightWays Media.
 
[Shade Walker: Active]
 
Activating the skill, I entered some random shadow and morphed back to my human form.
 
Someone soon stepped out of the concealed space on the sky, clad in black cloak. Though he also discarded it soon, revealing a handsome man with blonde hair and emerald eyes. He wore a checkered coat and pants, having alternating black and white color scheme. He also wore black leather shoes, black neck tie, and white long sleeves.
 
However, his most notable feature is a snake tattoo circling on his hands. What had caught my attention to the snake tattoo is that it's body also looked like a chain.
A grin broke on his face, as he raised his arms.
 
"Beyond the darkest nights…!", His voice boomed. Rather than resounding through the area, it appeared that his voice actually spoke inside our minds.
I frowned, it was even affecting me.
"The serpent awaits to strike…!", He continued, his voice still being dramatic.
 
Please stop… it's too cringy…
The others were below looked up, now finding out on where the voice came from.
 
"What the hell?!"
"Who's that?!"
"Is it the Black Zodiac?!"
"Is this a new curse magic?! My hair is standing!!"
 
However, the man appeared to be undeterred by the panic and chatter, as he just continued.
 
"When the darkness intensifies, the serpent shall devour everything…!"
 
The people below slowly stopped panicking and were now looking at each other awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
 In the minds of this people one thing is in common, "who the hell is this thundering Chunni?!".
 
"In the midst of the dark, there's a spark…!"
 
"The flames of emotion roaring against the darkness…!"
 
"The flames of Darkness shall rise!"
 
… Well… I wonder if he and OldFriendDarkness would go along pretty well…?
 
Then, a woman appeared on his side. Her face was one of irritation as she smacked his head.
 
"You idiot! Stop saying darkness over and over again!", She screamed, as she twisted his ear sharply. The man winced, as he tried to pry of her hands.
 
"Hmph, I didn't expect that the Black Zodiac would hire a clown like you.", A female voice below the two resounded.
 
Looking down, I saw perhaps one of the most beautiful women. She had snow white hair and sky blue eyes, along with a pale complexion and voluptuous figure, which fitted her tight, Eskimo-like outfit quite well.
Over all, she looked like an intricately designed doll.
Her face was stoic, though her eyes held a mocking glint on it as she stared at the aggressor.
 
As I tried to determine her rank, I was quite surprised on what I saw.
Supreme Rank.
 
What a monster. Even though she appears to be just a year older than Hiro, she was miles ahead of him. This girl's even more talented than him.
 
I had asked more information in regards to ranking from the gods, after the fiasco on the party. And there seems to be a lot of them.
The middle ranks were Novice, Warrior, General, and Lord.
The top ranks were Predator, Emperor, Conqueror, and finally, Dominator.
 
The highest rank above them all was Supreme.
 
However, there's still other two ranks above Supreme: Enlightened and Ascended. As far as I know, most of the union members know that the highest is Supreme.
 
The Enlightened and Ascended are on a completely different level, as they would tip the balance of power should they join a specific group. That's why they're kept as secret, but still monitored carefully by Supreme Rank members.
 
Oh, and by the way, I'm at Enlightened Rank.
 
Above these rankings weren't classed as humans or any creatures any more, as they rose to divinity. These are the Spirits, Demigods, Deities, and Ancient Gods.
 
These ranks are extremely powerful, to the point where they're able to create their very own home planets. However, they cannot directly interact within Earth, the center of all other planets. The only way that they could directly affect the world is for them is to possess a vessel, create a sect and it's followers, or just by blessing humans.
 
Apparently, this was made by the thing that sits on the topmost, as a way to balance out the world, the Primordial Rank. The rank is bore by only 1 creature, the creator of everything and the center of the universe.
 
Sadly this Admin, Primordial is nowhere to be seen.
 
"Such a shame. The Bound Serpent is nothing more than a jester.", The female continued, openly mocking the man.
 
"Bound Serpent?!"
 
"Shit! It's one of the twelve!"
 
Forgetting the awkwardness earlier, the soldiers prepared their weapons and magic.
 
In response, the man released his aura, effectively stopping the stragglers below. glared at the woman below, angry that his introduction had been stopped. The woman beside him backed away silently, her face now blank.
 
The man, Tatsumi, raised his index and middle fingers, as if mimicking a gun. A magic circle soon appeared at the tip of his fingers.
 
[Hell Storm]
 
A small blaze shot out from the magic circle, moving moderately. The woman narrowed her eyes as she also prepared her magic.
 
Then, without warning, the small fire violently exploded in a blaze that rained down fireballs from below.
 
However, before it could reach them.
 
[Blizzard]
 
A snowstorm had intercepted the fire spell. Being opposite elements, the two immediately cancelled each other.
 
Massive amounts of steam covered the area and as it subsided, Tatsumi was now scowling darkly, while the woman still held her blank face. Looks like he realized that the girl held the same ranking as him or even higher than him.
 
My mouth curved into a smile. Let's see which one comes out on top…
 
[•END•]
Revised by BaNaeNae.

Yosh! My name's Hori Kaede. I'm one of those ordinary students who's in the same class with the harem protagonists, like Kazuto Hiro. And being surrounded by his harem every single day gets really irritating, I too seek fun and desire after all.
But despite this, I have online friends that are Gods, that's right, real Gods. I stumbled upon this group a few years ago, and given an option, my life changed drastically.
I love nothing more than solving a good mystery, and it seems like Hiro and his harem are full of it!
my adventures as the mysterious side character in this world full of magic, groups, deities, villains, patrons, heroes, and most importantly, dangers and mysteries!

And of course ancient gods in chat rooms.

[This cover was picked from Google after numerous searches and was edited here to be a model cover, Note I'm not claiming any anime images that was shown, the two anime pic above was edited into black and white, the original artist remain unknown, otherwise I'll add credit for the wonderful art, pics and edit was done by me using photo editor software, Don't judge me using google translate to create Japanese text.]

"I already have a dance partner."
Sherlock looked at Lilo and pointed calmly at Evelynn. Then he looked at the group of gamers behind him.
"I thought of inviting you, but I remembered you don't like this kind of event. Since you're here, do you want to attend the Ball? You can join us."
The Devil Lords and nobles gasped softly in astonishment.
"Oh God, is that superior Devil that frightening?"
"It's too frightening. He has so many impressive Gnomes and Houndhead Men, and yet he's inviting the Fallen Angel."
"He's indeed a superior Devil."
"Be reasonable, those Gnomes and Houndhead Men do look pretty neat."
"Good figures too."
The nobles chatted, and the topic became energized. The atmosphere in the Ballroom became enthusiastic.
The gamers were bewildered as they listened to the horrible dialog and felt the ill intentions of the "development team". Though the game required the gamers to be immersive, it was way overboard. They began shouting. 
"I'm a 120 kg Otaku. Since when did I become part of Sherlie's harem?"
"My Ancient Gods' look is only pretty neat to you?"
"Enough, there are so many ill intentions in this game."
Sherlock ignored the gamers' comments.
Lilo adjusted her gown in front of Sherlock and made an acceptance gesture. She then moved beside Sherlock. Lilo and Evelynn were on both sides of Sherlock. Eggface, who was thinking of standing beside Sherlock, was being pushed outside.
Lilo didn't speak. Evelynn didn't say a word. Finally, Sherlock frowned as he looked at Evelynn and Lilo.
"Lord Sherlock, from the looks of the surrounding aura, you are now in Asura Arena. To escape from this aura, you need a special incident, or you can be dominant and make a choice early. However, it's not good for the stock market, which is currently at risk of total capitulation," Bru suggested solemnly in Sherlock's mind.
Sherlock didn't respond to Bru, lowering his head to ponder. He was indifferent to the envious and jealous gazes of Andrew and the nobles.
Evelynn was caught in a dilemma, while Lilo and Sherlock were both composed.
The Ball continued in the tense atmosphere.
…
While the nobles were enjoying themselves in the Ball outside Winterfell, the commoners were busy working. Due to the lack of a Dungeon Core, they were greatly inconvenienced. However, it was only for a short period of time since the new core was being shipped to Winterfell.
The pains of the war were forgotten. The new darkness sprouted its roots in the vulnerable Dungeon.
PissingBeefBalls was a strong Werewolf. With his sturdy constitution, stylish permed bald head, and his daily Uranium stick, he was a model Underworld inhabitant with a nasty character. 
PissingBeefBalls was a brute and very different from those werewolves with effeminate names! He always believed that he was the only suitable kind of creature to survive in the Underworld. 
Today, PissingBeefBalls was, like previous times, walking on the road on his journey back home. He recalled the things he did that day. 
He helped an old lady to cross the road and bought a whole shelf of supplementary books for a student. Then he helped to repair a broken carriage, cleared the intestines of a Beetlemon with bowel problems, and fixed a leaking roof. 
It was a fulfilling day!
PissingBeefBalls was in a good mood. He did many things that the Underworld inhabitants would do, so he was extremely happy.
When he walked to an alley, he saw a poverty-stricken Gnome lying down on the road. 
Oh God, it was a new age, so why were there such negative things happening?
PissingBeefBalls couldn't let such things happen. He walked over and wanted to ask the Gnome if he was feeling unwell. Most importantly, he wanted to know what color of clothing the Gnome liked. Was it white, black, or checkered?
The Gnome climbed up on his own.
PissingBeefBalls smiled graciously. Before he said a thing, he became fearful.
There was a problem with the Gnome's appearance. He hissed with a forked tongue, and his nose was flat. The Gnome looked like he had a serpent's face.
"Oh God, that's pitiful. This is no longer about clothing. I'll bring you to a plastic surgeon."
PissingBeefBalls grabbed the Gnome's hand and felt a bone-chilling cold. But he didn't mind as he was sincere in helping the Gnome. He intended to leave with the Gnome.
The Gnome behind him extended his neck like a snake and bit PissingBeefBalls' neck. Razor-sharp poisonous fangs grew from the Gnome's mouth and injected toxin into PissingBeefBalls' body. 
PissingBeefBalls convulsed and collapsed to the ground. His eyes were opened wide, and he vomited white foam all over the place.
The transformation was completed in a short time. 
PissingBeefBalls, or the previously living PissingBeefBalls Werewolf, stood up. His face had changed to that of a serpent. He turned his head and walked into the deep end of the alley. 
He was muttering faintly. If one were to listen attentively, there was a distinct and repeated word, "Samael."
…
The Winterfell Ball ended with a peaceful atmosphere.
Lilo didn't say anything. She was only there to watch the Ball and stayed with Sherlock throughout.
Sherlock, who had no intention to dance, couldn't possibly dance in his situation. Evelynn tried to invite Sherlock to dance but was interrupted by Lilo. After that, she didn't have enough courage to ask again. 
Beast was in great pain after discovering Onionhead's true intent.
Yoda was a hopeless drunk with a splitting headache.
Eggface was having stomach pain due to overeating.
The gamers were online for a few hours, and their bladders were in pain due to being full.
Brainiac wasn't in any discomfort. He was in good condition.
After the Ball ended, Lilo reminded Sherlock that she would pay Eternal Kingdom a visit very soon. After investing so many Magic Stones in order to allow Sherlock to destroy the World and trample on the Heavenly Kingdom, if the money was invested in a Dungeon, there had to be results. 
Sherlock frowned and felt a slight headache.
As Yoda was drunk, he was unable to fly the Airship. After all, drunk driving was a serious offense in the Underworld. Even the most hardcore creature wouldn't be drunk driving.
Especially when flying an Airship.
Nobody besides Yoda could fly the Airship. 
Sherlock could only spend money for everyone to stay in a hotel.
Walking back required tens of days. It was better to wait for Yoda to be sober tomorrow.
…
At the Black Shop Hotel.
"I'll take three rooms," Sherlock looked at the forty-plus creatures behind him and said firmly to the Gnome at the reception counter.


Sherlock is a new generation Dungeon Lord whose ambition is to become the greatest Devil King and building up the greatest Dungeon in the Underworld.
He summons a group of other-worldly goblins who give themselves strange names, form cliques, engage in commerce, and even fight among themselves.
They call themselves—Gamers!

{JUNGKOOK'S POINT OF VIEW}

After changing into my pajamas, I lied awake in the dark. The words my dad had told me during dinner still rattled inside my head.

What did he mean?

Slowly, I tried to piece non-linkable pieces together but didn't really get anywhere with it. While overthinking, my eyes drifted closed and I entered a world of a different kind.

I look around, only to find myself tied in a dentist's chair and my hands covered with metal belts. There is a table on my right with surgical gloves on the further right side, away from me, with medical tools lining up of the left side of the table, close to me and surgical tools placed in the center. I am in some type of half dome like structured room, for the fact that the ceiling is curved outwards. In front of me, probably like several yards away are two big, dark blood red double doors with no divide in the middle. The floor is checkered black and white.

Then when I blink again, I'm somewhere else.

I was standing on the platform, next to my dad. Everyone was screaming and running away to the nearest exit. Someone was pointing towards the exits and then ran down the platform and out the door. Mom was nowhere in sight. I turned to the side where my dad was before but he wasn't there. He was heading towards the exit in front of the platform. Before he pushed the bar to open the door, he looked at me, eye to eye. His eyes wouldn't find my eyes first. He hadn't met my eyes coincidentally. He knew where I was and he was leaving me. He turned, pushed the bar to open the door and left. Without any hesitation, he left me. Even though he wasn't there and if he were, he wouldn't listen, I wanted to call after him. I opened my mouth to call him but before I could make any sound, something heavy and hard hit me at the back of my head and my vision blacked out. I didn't feel anything when my body hit the floor.

I opened my eyes again, my head and body resting on a cold floor. I lifted my head up to get a better view of where I was. I saw the same checkered floor, but it was stained in deep shades of red. Blood. Blood was everywhere and I was lying in it. I was lying in blood. I had blood on me. Blood. On. Me. I got up, quickly and checked my clothes for any traces of blood. They were fine, not even a spot of red anywhere. I looked around at the floor, spinning around to look at the floor on all sides around me. I looked up from checking the floor at my sides, and I heard someone.

"NO!"

It sounded like my mom. Mom. My right arm stiffened and lifted itself up. I had no control over my body. I felt something within my right hand's grasp, something with a smooth surface, cold to touch and metallic. I looked up at my right arm and saw that it was a knife. My arm started to fall, I closed my eyes as the knife in my arm pierced through the air and suddenly something sprayed itself on me. I raised my hands and my eyes widened.

It was blood. Blood. I took the tip of my index finger that didn't have blood on it and wiped my left cheek, in a swirly line. I brought my finger down in front of my face, at my left eye. The tip of my index was now tinted red. I looked down at my shirt. It was red, too.

I heard a door shut tight. I looked up and saw myself in a black room. The walls were smeared with black paint. On my right was a black wardrobe, heavily designed in black wood. There was a very extravagant black 8 paneled canopy bed with black drapes. There is a black wooden coffee table in front of me and on my left side, there is black nightstand with a black vase, filled with black petunia. I turned around to face another wall and on the black wall, there was a thick white oval and at the center of the oval was a mirror. I looked at myself, still covered in blood, but not it was red, probably because the blood dried.

I reach forward, to touch my reflection. I don't know why, but it seemed like the most reasonable thing to do at the moment. At the touch of the mirror, a ripple formed at the place where my finger touched it. Suddenly, the black wall around the mirror started to have white streaks around it. The streaks started to spread and get larger and became thicker strokes of white staining everything black. I turn to see the white lines drag itself on the black, erasing all marks of the impurity of black. All the white streaks reached the floor slowly and changed the bed, the nightstand, and the wardrobe into white. The black petunia in the vase turned into white petunia.

After everything was white, the white streaks formed a circle around me at my feet and like hands, they reached for me. The areas with my bare skin were clean and my pants and shirt were now thin white cotton pajamas and my hair was normal again.

I turned around to look at my reflection. On the mirror, I saw my previous self, hands behind its back, covered in dried blood, hair messy, but the look in its eyes bothered me. I smirked at me and it pulled its hands from the behind. For a split second, I thought my reflection's hands were stained red, but it was completely fine. It extended its hand forward and motioned me to hold it. I extended my hand and it pulled me in.

I opened my eyes, squinting at the bright sun. My chest was rising and falling rapidly and I was drenched in cold sweat. I took the glass on the nightstand and drank it in one breath. I wiped the wet hair backward, away from my face. I looked back at the nightstand, the clock read 9:00 A.M. Shit, I need to go get everything ready, help dad and then get ready myself.

What could have those scenes mean? They were related to today. Could they suggest something big will happen?

"What did you do to Jungkook?"
"I shouldn't spoil it by telling you. It'll be no fun."
"How is he?"
"He's not fine. Might not even be alive later on."

We suddenly stepped into this daunting dimension as all of our senses seemed to numb and fade away, like dusk during a crippling winter. Shivers shot up my spine, shaking my body as cold sweats seeped from my pores and raised the melanin mane off my scalp while the marshlands of sweat that were my palms glistened as my lead legs shook and trembled like houses of straw.
I dropped to my knees while my vision blurred. Nauseated and disoriented, I gagged before spreading the breakfast I had eaten earlier all over the checkered tile floor. Having forgotten that she was even there, I soon after heard a clearing of the throat followed by Mirella's mild voice.  
"Next time let go of my hand before doing that. Are those my hash browns in there?"
"Yeah, they were very good," I replied.
"Although them being on the floor right now, understandably, may be a confusing critic on your cooking. It seems as though I ate one too many," I continued as I gagged some more.
"You ate twenty." She said.
"You have a hound's hunger and you're mental. It happens all the time, by the way, the first hall hop is always the hardest."
I looked up at her with confusion on my face and saliva strings hanging from my chin.
"Hall hop?" I asked.
"Aye! A hall hop, a hefty hall hop. You know, happily hopping into haunted hallways hunting hateful hags. A hall hop. It hardly leaves your head heavy. After the first time, evidently."
"Of course…Wait what?" I said as I gagged once more before more of the undigested breakfast came pouring out of my mouth and onto the poor checkered black and white floor.
"Aaaand there go the bacon and eggs. Still together as they should be. Excellent!" She said as she covered her mouth while lightly gagging into her palm.
I looked up to Mirella once more and wiped away the hanging saliva from my chin using the inside of my elbow.
"Delicious," I said to her after a brief pause, with a smile hiding embarrassment and disgust of both the vomit and having done it in front of a girl; the whole time wishing that the Dark Bride would take my soul to a fate much less humiliating.
"Don't worry too much about it. That always happens on the first hall hop. Even to Erik, once upon a time." She explained.
I forced life back into my legs and stood back up while trying to fight my grogginess in a losing battle. The black and white checkered floor spun like a spinning top beneath my feet, whilst a loud pitch ringing rustled in my head like audible dog whistles. My bearings seemed nonexistent as my body slowly turned around not knowing which way was up or down, nor left or right.
As I easily fell for the Bride's malicious manipulation within the cursed corridor, Mirella's hand firmly stopped me in my tracks and prevented me from turning around only to face a most miserable fate.
"Whoa, my head's spinning. That would have been helpful to know before-hand." I said ignorantly.
Mirella took my hand once more and looked down the corridor of doors before replying in a calm voice.
"There are no lessons to be found in warnings Beuren. Only the suffering that we must endure can teach us to learn from our mistakes…Now we go forward, our door should be just around the corner." She says in assurance.
"Just around the corner!?"
"This haunting hags' hallway goes on forever in both directions!" I screamed while looking down the corridor.
"Aye, and if we wish to escape this place we need to find our Destiny Doors. We simply have to walk until it shows itself because we cannot just open any door that isn't ours to open. No, we walk until it shows itself no matter how long it takes, the key is to keep moving forward until we find a left or right turn, and then our destinies, whatever they may be, should be right around the corner…But first we must endure whatever the Dark Bride has to throw at us. Endure it and move forward towards our doors, or we will die in here. Do you understand?"
With my heartbeat thumping in my ears I answered in a shaky voice.
"I, I do. Com, completely understand."
Still looking forward she continues.
"You are of House Kolte now. It is in your blood; extraordinary strength, power, and courage. In all of our blood. You need not fear anything within these halls Beuren. You are the master of your destiny. The architect of your tower of immeasurable power. And all who stand between you and that destiny will fall without breaking a single drop of sweat from your brow. That is who you are now, and if you are not, that is who you must become."
"Well, that's brilliant. I'm sorry, you said house what?"
A sharp jolt of electricity shot up my arm from our clenched hands and made my entire arm slightly numb.
"Let's learn to pay attention, shall we?" She said authoritatively.
"She'll find a way to separate us, if and when that happens..."
"I know, I know, never look back and keep moving forward," I said, cockishly completing Mirella's sentence.
"No matter what you see, no matter what you hear. Don't believe any of it. There is no telling what she might do, or if Erik will even be able to reverse it, so you must be careful. Please." She warned as her voice shook and her grip got slightly tighter.
"Yeah, of course, you be careful as well."
I smiled and looked back down the cursed corridor, now fearless to the torturing trials that lay ahead, for I was a Kolte now. I did a really good job pretending like I knew what that meant.
The haunting hags' howling hallway had horizons for far further than the eye could see. Not being able to turn back we kept moving forward, only forward, all the while wondering without explanation, what had happened for me to find myself here with this strange, although charming cherry-haired girl. The memories of my past having been sent to oblivion, leaving me wondering why I couldn't help but trust her, with my very life if need be; but above all during our present moment, I wondered where she was leading me and why she grasped my hand with a vice-like grip which radiated heat and tingled my nerves like electrical currents, melding our palms together.
We walked and we walked for hours on checkered floors until I heard a voice call a word in a language, which was unrecognizable and quite peculiar. I turned to Mirella, "Did you say something?"
"What? Just now? No." She replied.
"Must be nothing," I said as I shrugged it off and continued walking hand in hand with Mirella.
Not more than a few moments later I heard the voice whisper the word yet again, only this time it came from just over my left shoulder. I was sure of it. As sure as I was that I had felt the ice-cold breath of who or whatever had uttered it just over the skin on the back of my neck, raising every single hair on my body and unsettling every nerve ending beneath my skin.
"Tell me you heard that. Yo, you heard that right?" I asked Mirella as I turned to her with worry and confusion on my face.
"For the last time, NO! I didn't hear anything because look, there's nothing there. Only doors here, oh and look over there, more doors. Now eyes forward at all times! Lest misery claims you." She said in an annoyed tone.  
I remained silent, assuming that my imagination had gone rampant, and chose to ignore the strange voice and the word which, like a name, it kept calling out to. A voice, which wailed while we walked in the infinite narrow corridor as we rubbed our shoulders together; a voice uttering a name only I could hear. Like the growing of an angry mob the voices which wailed without withdrawal the name "Qhawe", grew louder and louder. The soft, sinister spectral screams repeated this weird word whispered wondrously in a tongue from another world, over and over like a crazed crowd growing within my skull, refusing to relent. I had never heard this word before or at least had no memory of it. No clue as of where it originated nor the significance that it entailed if any at all; I could have just as well had gone mad within that corridor, as Mirella had warned that I would. Her words of wisdom unfortunately having landed on deaf ears.
Soon after the ominous voices had begun ringing in my head, the warmth of Mirella's hand which bound her palm to mine swiftly plunged and her touch instantly grew as cold as the freezing marble which we were walking on; a cursed corridor of checkered floors riddled with the misting frozen footprints of lost souls, wandering forevermore.
I slightly turned my head to the right and instead of a know-it-all redhead, I found myself holding hands with a shadowy silhouette of a human figure which had a pulsating dark aura, like a black flame rising from its skin. With my peripheral vision, I found our path backward blocked by a giant wall of pitch black, glistening tar. Protruding from this wall, were human arms covered in tar and most of them donning clothes and jewelry which looked more ancient than time itself; some of them were wearing sleeves belonging to the wardrobes of aristocrats and even had missing fingers, some had rotting flesh falling off the bone as they clawed at me like children fighting over a bowl of sweets. Some of the ghoulish arms belonged to soldiers who by the looks of it had died in battle with broken nails and forever bleeding fingertips, and some having arrow pierced gauntlets. I also saw sword-slashed skin on bare forearms and one arm belonging to what I assumed was once a flayed prisoner of war who was then burned alive on a pyre.
The flesh on all the arms was a light gray as corpses would be, although red streams of blood flowed eternally from wounds and veins within the wall itself. This proverbial wall of petroleum flesh resembled a monochrome portrait with the only visible color being crimson. Endless streams of ancient blood-red remains flowed from the wall and formed pools on the black and white checkered floors. The concoction of blood that was spreading across the floor reached my feet and began surrounding me as if I were the last tree on a sinking island.
I looked down and found myself standing in a pool of red rancid blood, smelling like a thousand battlefields worth of slaughtered soldiers, which left me mortified and rendered my muscles cement.
"Bloody Hell. What is this!?" I said as the hundreds of voices shouting the same name suddenly went quiet. The cursed corridor was once again plunged into silence leaving only a ringing in my ears and once again a cold chill brushed itself against the right side of my face; a long but gentle and cold current of wind like the breath of ice came from the ominous figure as it replied to me. The very same shadowy figure whose hand I was still holding, for some reason.
"Deeeeaaaath!" It shouted out in a daunting voice which resonated and echoed throughout the haunted hallway, with breath that froze the sweat seeping from my pores and dripping from the tip of my nose; the death screaming specter made my heart sink into my gut as a sharp pain from a fully armored spiked gauntlet covered in thick and odorous almost black blood suddenly struck my back. The long-dead soldier's arm was also covered in a viscous tar-like material giving off hot petroleum smelling fumes as if he had been bathed in a pot of boiling oil. The walls of the corridor shook as I roared into the roof above me before dropping to my knees because of the searing pain from the steaming gauntlet having caused three lacerations across my shoulder blades as if a bear had patted my back.
The sizzling sensation and sound of my own flesh brought me down to my hands and knees while the white shirt I wore dissolved around my wounds almost like it was rotting away in acid. I bore witness to the sight of my pain as I knelt in the blood of millions, viewing my reflection in the glistening crimson and carrying the pain of a millennia's worth of war and suffering, literally on my back; an agony so intense my scream rippled the pool of blood beneath me as my fingernails scratched the marble floors from me clenching my blood-soaked hands while the cracking of my teeth filled the air as my jaws ground against each other.
Slipping on the smooth wet marble, I desperately tried to crawl and claw my way away from this Wall-Of-Woe with clothes covered in blood, most of it not being my own; I found it hard to move with each second that passed as the blood covering the floor froze slowly until my clothes merged into the now solid crimson, rendering me unable to lift my elbows or drag my knees, trapped on the cursed corridor's checkered floor like a fly stuck in honey.
"Arrgh, Bloody hell! Bloody fucking hell! Arrrgh!" I wailed while I shivered on the floor with my deep rapid breaths freezing over the crimson ice rink in which I now lied. My eyelids remained shut as my tears froze while they rolled down my cheek, not wanting to be tempted to look back and know the face of my demise. I felt but did not see the Wall-Of-Woe creep closer to me with more arms clawing at my feet and legs making it feel like I was being bathed by a red hot cheese grater. As I was beaten and brutalized by burning bare-knuckled and armored arms alongside creepy creature's claws, a few grabbed onto my ankles and I found myself being helplessly dragged into the ocean of clutches; the frozen blood beneath me now defrosting as fast as it froze, back into a darkened crimson sludge, making me slip faster into the deceased sea of fingered snares.  
The Wall-Of-Woe consumed my legs and then my waist before I felt dead fingers digging razor-sharp fingernails and claws into my left arm and shoulder with ice-cold dead flesh gripping my neck and covering my nose, my mouth, leaving my entire face smothered by dead hands, robbing me of air and my sense of sight along with my ability to speak and scream in agony; wringing the air out of me as they pulled me further into the wall of flesh.
Almost my whole body was now drowning in a sea of hands with only my right arm still stretched out and holding on to the shadowy figure which I was looking at through the several spaces between the rotting fingers. As my vision faded, Mirella's voice broke the silence in the hallway, like the several voices before, although hers only said one thing, over and over again.
"Don't let my hand go! Don't let it go! Never let it go!" The voices repeated. Shouting and whispering from all directions yet so clearly, as if she were talking into my ear. I did what the voice demanded and didn't let go, with my head having been taken by the Wall-Of-Woe and all that remained of me was my right arm being dragged slowly on the ground but now holding on to nothing at all. In my hand was nothing, no longer the cold chill of the shadowy figure's touch, but only the fist I was balling as I was consumed by the wall, eaten by a sea of crimson and black.
"What do we say when death smiles at us...Little Beuren?" Whispered the shadowy figure in a voice that echoed in the abyss that I now floated in as if submerged and suspended in black water which was blistering cold with ice crystals and blocks bouncing off my skin, rendering me trapped in a prison of eternal drowning and hyperthermia.
"…What do you have to say to me?"
The very last words I would hear before slipping away. Before being lost in a world of nothingness and noir.

After the revealing of a prophecy for the impending Armageddon, three extraordinary children each with a grievous past are brought together by even more grueling circumstances; each having died and brought back to life by the head of House Kolte, Lord Erik Van Kolte himself. These three mysterious children, Beuren, Mirella and Lucian are adopted by the famous hunter warrior, and as fast as their paths were conjoined, they soon found themselves teleported to their individual spiritual homes via the great Kolte Tele-maze. Cast far away to undergo the training they will need to prevent or perhaps even catalyze the predicted doomsday.

~Chapter 8~
 
We suddenly stepped into this daunting dimension as all of our senses seemed to numb and fade away, like dusk during a crippling winter. Shivers shot up my spine, shaking my body as cold sweats seeped from my pores and raised the melanin mane off my scalp while the marshlands of sweat that were my palms glistened as my lead legs shook and trembled like houses of straw.
I dropped to my knees while my vision blurred. Nauseated and disoriented, I gagged before spreading the breakfast I had eaten earlier all over the checkered tile floor. Having forgotten that she was even there, I soon after heard a clearing of the throat followed by Mirella's mild voice.  
"Next time let go of my hand before doing that. Are those my hash browns in there?"
"Yeah, they were very good," I replied.
"Although them being on the floor right now, understandably, may be a confusing critic on your cooking. It seems as though I ate one too many," I continued as I gagged some more.
"You ate twenty." She said.
"You have a hound's hunger and you're mental. It happens all the time, by the way, the first hall hop is always the hardest."
I looked up at her with confusion on my face and saliva strings hanging from my chin.
"Hall hop?" I asked.
"Aye! A hall hop, a hefty hall hop. You know, happily hopping into haunted hallways hunting hateful hags. A hall hop. It hardly leaves your head heavy. After the first time, evidently."
"Of course…Wait what?" I said as I gagged once more before more of the undigested breakfast came pouring out of my mouth and onto the poor checkered black and white floor.
"Aaaand there go the bacon and eggs. Still together as they should be. Excellent!" She said as she covered her mouth while lightly gagging into her palm.
I looked up to Mirella once more and wiped away the hanging saliva from my chin using the inside of my elbow.
"Delicious," I said to her after a brief pause, with a smile hiding embarrassment and disgust of both the vomit and having done it in front of a girl; the whole time wishing that the Dark Bride would take my soul to a fate much less humiliating.
"Don't worry too much about it. That always happens on the first hall hop. Even to Erik, once upon a time." She explained.
I forced life back into my legs and stood back up while trying to fight my grogginess in a losing battle. The black and white checkered floor spun like a spinning top beneath my feet, whilst a loud pitch ringing rustled in my head like audible dog whistles. My bearings seemed nonexistent as my body slowly turned around not knowing which way was up or down, nor left or right.
As I easily fell for the Bride's malicious manipulation within the cursed corridor, Mirella's hand firmly stopped me in my tracks and prevented me from turning around only to face a most miserable fate.
"Whoa, my head's spinning. That would have been helpful to know before-hand." I said ignorantly.
Mirella took my hand once more and looked down the corridor of doors before replying in a calm voice.
"There are no lessons to be found in warnings Beuren. Only the suffering that we must endure can teach us to learn from our mistakes…Now we go forward, our door should be just around the corner." She says in assurance.
"Just around the corner!?"
"This haunting hags' hallway goes on forever in both directions!" I screamed while looking down the corridor.
"Aye, and if we wish to escape this place we need to find our Destiny Doors. We simply have to walk until it shows itself because we cannot just open any door that isn't ours to open. No, we walk until it shows itself no matter how long it takes, the key is to keep moving forward until we find a left or right turn, and then our destinies, whatever they may be, should be right around the corner…But first we must endure whatever the Dark Bride has to throw at us. Endure it and move forward towards our doors, or we will die in here. Do you understand?"
With my heartbeat thumping in my ears I answered in a shaky voice.
"I, I do. Com, completely understand."
Still looking forward she continues.
"You are of House Kolte now. It is in your blood; extraordinary strength, power, and courage. In all of our blood. You need not fear anything within these halls Beuren. You are the master of your destiny. The architect of your tower of immeasurable power. And all who stand between you and that destiny will fall without breaking a single drop of sweat from your brow. That is who you are now, and if you are not, that is who you must become."
"Well, that's brilliant. I'm sorry, you said house what?" I asked like a dunce.
A sharp jolt of electricity shot up my right arm from our clenched hands and made my arm slightly numb.
"Let's learn to pay attention, shall we?" She said authoritatively.
"She'll find a way to separate us, if and when that happens..."
"I know, I know, never look back and keep moving forward," I said, cockishly completing Mirella's sentence.
"No matter what you see, no matter what you hear. Don't believe any of it. There is no telling what she might do, or if Erik will even be able to reverse it, so you must be careful. Please." She warned as her voice shook and her grip got slightly tighter.
"Yeah, of course, you be careful as well."
I smiled and looked back down the cursed corridor, now fearless to the torturing trials that lay ahead, for I was a Kolte now. I did a really good job pretending like I knew what that meant.
The haunting hags' howling hallway had horizons for far further than the eye could see. Not being able to turn back we kept moving forward, only forward, all the while wondering without explanation, what had happened for me to find myself here with this strange, although charming cherry-haired girl. The memories of my past having been sent to oblivion, leaving me wondering why I couldn't help but trust her, with my very life if need be; but above all during our present moment, I wondered where she was leading me and why she grasped my hand with a vice-like grip which radiated heat and tingled my nerves like electrical currents, melding our palms together.
We walked and we walked for hours on checkered floors until I heard a voice call a word in a language, which was unrecognizable and quite peculiar. I turned to Mirella, "Did you say something?"
"What? Just now? No." She replied.
"Must be nothing," I said as I shrugged it off and continued walking hand in hand with Mirella.
Not more than a few moments later I heard the voice whisper the word yet again, only this time it came from just over my left shoulder. I was sure of it. As sure as I was that I had felt the ice-cold breath of who or whatever had uttered it just over the skin on the back of my neck, raising every single hair on my body and unsettling every nerve ending beneath my skin.
"Tell me you heard that. Yo, you heard that right?" I asked Mirella as I turned to her with worry and confusion on my face.
"For the last time, NO! I didn't hear anything because look, there's nothing there. Only doors here, oh and look over there, more doors. Now eyes forward at all times! Lest misery claims you." She said in an annoyed tone.  
I remained silent, assuming that my imagination had gone rampant, and chose to ignore the strange voice and the word which, like a name, it kept calling out to. A voice, which wailed while we walked in the infinite narrow corridor as we rubbed our shoulders together; a voice uttering a name only I could hear. Like the growing of an angry mob the voices which wailed without withdrawal the name "Qhawe", grew louder and louder. The soft, sinister spectral screams repeated this weird word whispered wondrously in a tongue from another world, over and over like a crazed crowd growing within my skull, refusing to relent. I had never heard this word before or at least had no memory of it. No clue as of where it originated nor the significance that it entailed if any at all; I could have just as well had gone mad within that corridor, as Mirella had warned that I would. Her words of wisdom unfortunately having landed on deaf ears.
Soon after the ominous voices had begun ringing in my head, the warmth of Mirella's hand which bound her palm to mine swiftly plunged and her touch instantly grew as cold as the freezing marble which we were walking on; a cursed corridor of checkered floors riddled with the misting frozen footprints of lost souls, wandering forevermore.
I slightly turned my head to the right and instead of a know-it-all redhead, I found myself holding hands with a shadowy silhouette of a human figure which had a pulsating dark aura, like a black flame rising from its skin. With my peripheral vision, I found our path backward blocked by a giant wall of pitch black, glistening tar. Protruding from this wall, were human arms covered in tar and most of them donning clothes and jewelry which looked more ancient than time itself; some of them were wearing sleeves belonging to the wardrobes of aristocrats and even had missing fingers, some had rotting flesh falling off the bone as they clawed at me like children fighting over a bowl of sweets. Some of the ghoulish arms belonged to soldiers who by the looks of it had died in battle with broken nails and forever bleeding fingertips, and some having arrow pierced gauntlets. I also saw sword-slashed skin on bare forearms and one arm belonging to what I assumed was once a flayed prisoner of war who was then burned alive on a pyre.
The flesh on all the arms was a light gray as corpses would be, although red streams of blood flowed eternally from wounds and veins within the wall itself. This proverbial wall of petroleum flesh resembled a monochrome portrait with the only visible color being crimson. Endless streams of ancient blood-red remains flowed from the wall and formed pools on the black and white checkered floors. The concoction of blood that was spreading across the floor reached my feet and began surrounding me as if I were the last tree on a sinking island.
I looked down and found myself standing in a pool of red rancid blood, smelling like a thousand battlefields worth of slaughtered soldiers, which left me mortified and rendered my muscles cement.
"Bloody Hell. What is this!?" I said as the hundreds of voices shouting the same name suddenly went quiet. The cursed corridor was once again plunged into silence leaving only a ringing in my ears and once again a cold chill brushed itself against the right side of my face; a long but gentle and cold current of wind like the breath of ice came from the ominous figure as it replied to me. The very same shadowy figure whose hand I was still holding, for some reason.
"Deeeeaaaath!" It shouted out in a daunting voice which resonated and echoed throughout the haunted hallway, with breath that froze the sweat seeping from my pores and dripping from the tip of my nose; the death screaming specter made my heart sink into my gut as a sharp pain from a fully armored spiked gauntlet covered in thick and odorous almost black blood suddenly struck my back. The long-dead soldier's arm was also covered in a viscous tar-like material giving off hot petroleum smelling fumes as if he had been bathed in a pot of boiling oil. The walls of the corridor shook as I roared into the roof above me before dropping to my knees because of the searing pain from the steaming gauntlet having caused three lacerations across my shoulder blades as if a bear had patted my back.
The sizzling sensation and sound of my own flesh brought me down to my hands and knees while the white shirt I wore dissolved around my wounds almost like it was rotting away in acid. I bore witness to the sight of my pain as I knelt in the blood of millions, viewing my reflection in the glistening crimson and carrying the pain of a millennia's worth of war and suffering, literally on my back; an agony so intense my scream rippled the pool of blood beneath me as my fingernails scratched the marble floors from me clenching my blood-soaked hands while the cracking of my teeth filled the air as my jaws ground against each other.
Slipping on the smooth wet marble, I desperately tried to crawl and claw my way away from this Wall-Of-Woe with clothes covered in blood, most of it not being my own; I found it hard to move with each second that passed as the blood covering the floor froze slowly until my clothes merged into the now solid crimson, rendering me unable to lift my elbows or drag my knees, trapped on the cursed corridor's checkered floor like a fly stuck in honey.
"Arrgh, Bloody hell! Bloody fucking hell! Arrrgh!" I wailed while I shivered on the floor with my deep rapid breaths freezing over the crimson ice rink in which I now lied. My eyelids remained shut as my tears froze while they rolled down my cheek, not wanting to be tempted to look back and know the face of my demise. I felt but did not see the Wall-Of-Woe creep closer to me with more arms clawing at my feet and legs making it feel like I was being bathed by a red hot cheese grater. As I was beaten and brutalized by burning bare-knuckled and armored arms alongside creepy creature's claws, a few grabbed onto my ankles and I found myself being helplessly dragged into the ocean of clutches; the frozen blood beneath me now defrosting as fast as it froze, back into a darkened crimson sludge, making me slip faster into the deceased sea of fingered snares.  
The Wall-Of-Woe consumed my legs and then my waist before I felt dead fingers digging razor-sharp fingernails and claws into my left arm and shoulder with ice-cold dead flesh gripping my neck and covering my nose, my mouth, leaving my entire face smothered by dead hands, robbing me of air and my sense of sight along with my ability to speak and scream in agony; wringing the air out of me as they pulled me further into the wall of flesh.
Almost my whole body was now drowning in a sea of hands with only my right arm still stretched out and holding on to the shadowy figure which I was looking at through the several spaces between the rotting fingers. As my vision faded, Mirella's voice broke the silence in the hallway, like the several voices before, although hers only said one thing, over and over again.
"Don't let my hand go! Don't let it go! Never let it go!" The voices repeated. Shouting and whispering from all directions yet so clearly, as if she were talking into my ear. I did what the voice demanded and didn't let go, with my head having been taken by the Wall-Of-Woe and all that remained of me was my right arm being dragged slowly on the ground but now holding on to nothing at all. In my hand was nothing, no longer the cold chill of the shadowy figure's touch, but only the fist I was balling as I was consumed by the wall, eaten by a sea of crimson and black.
"What do we say when death smiles at us...Little Beuren…?" Whispered the shadowy figure in a voice that echoed in the abyss that I now floated in as if submerged and suspended in black water which was blistering cold with ice crystals and blocks constantly bouncing off my skin, rendering me trapped in a prison of eternal drowning and hypothermia.
"…What do you have to say to me?..."
The very last words I would hear before slipping away. Before being lost in a world of nothingness and noir.

After the revealing of a prophecy for the impending Armageddon, three extraordinary children each with a grievous past are brought together by even more grueling circumstances; each having died and brought back to life by the head of House Kolte, Lord Erik Van Kolte himself. These three mysterious children, Beuren, Mirella, and Lucian are adopted by the famous hunter warrior, and as fast as their paths were conjoined, they soon found themselves teleported to their individual spiritual homes via the great Kolte Tele-maze. Cast far away, they must undergo the training they will need to prevent or perhaps even catalyze the predicted doomsday.

"Priscilla!" Bella barged into her room, wearing a hot pink bikini.
"Priscilla!!!" She screeched beside her ear.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!" Priscilla yelled rolling off the bed.
"Ouchie." She moaned rubbing her head, "what the..."  She stood up. "Bella!"
"What? Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Should I have yelled in the other ear?" She asked earnestly
"You should have yelled in none." Priscilla told her rubbing the injured ear? "And why did you take it upon yourself to WAKE ME UP!!!" She shouted, one step away from throwing a fit.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, it's pool time and everyone is waiting for you, now go take a shower." She told her shooing her towards the bathroom, "and I'll pick out a swimsuit for you."

∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆∆
"So how do you feel about this one?"  She asked her, moments later when she was done with the shower.
"What's that?" She asked back, bewildered, suspiciously eyeing the piece of clothing in Bella's hand.
"How should I know, you bought it." Bella reiterated.
"Not me, my Aunt."
"Aunt Brienna?" She inquired, choking back a laugh.
"Yes!" Priscilla wailed, narrowing her eyes. "What's so funny? And this one has too many holes."
"It's a swimsuit, it's supposed to." Bella eyerolled, "well other than bikinis which we all know you'd never wear, the other swimsuits are a striped and polkadotted one." Bella informed her.
"Well I don't mind stripes or dots." She said firmly.
"Don't be so sure, the striped one is going to be black stripes and bare skin."
"Everywhere?" Priscilla asked horrified.
"Yes, everywhere." She drawled, "and guess the color of the polkadots on the second one?"
"You've got to be kidding me." She wailed again.
"Oh I'm not, they're just holes. So you should be lucky I found this one, now get yourself in it." Bella ordered.
Gulping she wore it. "What was Aunt Brienna thinking?" She muttered with a matyred expression.
"Probably that you're too scared of life," pushing her to the front of the full length mirror, Bella gushed all over her. "Oh dear! You look exquisite, ravishing as a matter of fact."
"I don't see all that." Priscilla said regarding the skimpy thing she had on in the mirror. The swimsuit had a choker like neck, two thin straps connecting it to the strip of black that covered her front, it wrapped again around her back and slid to the front again around her lower waist then it wrapped around her upper thighs, one shorter than the other.
"Let's go!" Bella hooted happily, dragging her -barefooted- downstairs.
"Slow down Bella!" Priscilla tried to warn her but Bella had already stopped, hearing the muted gasps around her. "Morning everybody." She greeted feebly.
Choruses of replies came back to her.
"You look fabulous." Phembi yelled, "jump in!"
"Alright," she agreed, walking to the board. "Here I go!" She screamed, jumping off and twisting elaborately before splashing into the water.
They played a short game of pool ball and after a while Victoria got out saying, "I stay any longer and I'll shrivel up." She murmured climbing out of the water.
Kat just floated on the water and let out a snort. "Even if you sat in a vat of acid for days, you'd still remain the same."
"Well my body isn't that strong,"Bella murmured following Victoria's actions.
"Nor mine." Phembi added stepping out of the water. "Besides I need to work on my tan."
Kat made a choking noise and dived under the water to escape the dark ball of light Phembi sent her way.
Priscilla saw Damon crouching beside the ginormous pool, intently talking to Kat and the demon buried inside her prompted her to push him in and she did just that.
Kat immediately stepped out of the water as Damon fell in, head first. Everyone burst into laughter and Priscilla could feel blush rising from her feet. Kelvin had gotten out of the pool some time ago and his chortle was the loudest.
"This is the moment you - RUN!!!" Bella yelled...but before she could take a step, Damon had already yanked her in.
Crossing his arms,  his hard face expressionless.  "I'll give you a head start." He told her coldly, his grey eyes darkening. 
A sliver of fear snaked down her spine and she started to swim for the other edge of the pool, but before she could get to the middle, she felt a hand snake around her waist and pull her under. 
She screamed inwardly as she came to face his devilishly, smiling face, leaning forward he kissed her hard, his hand going behind her waist to drag her impossibly closer. 
When she felt her lungs would explode, he pilled them out of the water. Gasping, she collapsed on him trying to catch her breath. 
He picked her up and slid effortlessly out of the water, still carrying her. 
She folded her arms and glared daggers at him as he gently put her down, she went over to join the rest, ignoring their snickers even though it jabbed at her heart.
------
"Who are we waiting for?'' Kelvin asked exasperatedly, banging his head on the car's horn. 
"I've told you So. Many. Times!'' Bella answered even more frustrated. "It's Kat!!!''
"Are you sure she's still alive?'' He growled menacingly. 
"I dunno!!!'' Bella wailed. 
Phembi just shrugged and continued to create shapes out of solid looking blue light, while Priscilla mumbled something unintelligible and fired away at her game pad. 
"Really? You guys aren't even bothered that... ''
"I'm here'' Kat said sweetly, sliding in the front with Kelvin interrupting his train of self righteous steam. 
Kelvin just grumbled surlily and stepped on the gas. 
"Phembi! I think your doggie needs a bone.'' She called in her best neighbourly voice.  
"I don't need nothing.'' He muttered darkly, his tone surlier. 
"Oh good we are here.'' Kat suddenly blurted.  
They all looked out to see a gathering of people beside lots of blue and white checkered, picnic blankets with matching baskets. 

Lillian Sterling is in trouble. 
Deep trouble. 
Vampire trouble. 
She can't believe that she had fallen into this mess because of her boy friend, Gerald.
Correction: ex-boyfriend. 
Lillian did not even know that vampires were in existence. If she had, she would never have agreed to stealing something that belonged to them.
Caught in between two worlds, Lillian's fate was suddenly intertwined with the vampire prince, Artur Mortenson.

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