Standing in front of this years Arachno Fest I felt no excitement as I would have previously felt standing here. Before we- that is to say me and my friend Swinard - had been here for fun but now... now we need funds for our old sensei who is very close to death unless we earned some funds for him. The poor old man took two orphans in, one of whom was a bandit (me) and the other Swinard the son of one of the Imperial Knights. Once upon a time, I had a dream too which was to help him and continue his legacy but now... I'm getting side-tracked here anyway, currently, I and Swinard were in a deep argument, according to Swinard we need to spend as much time as possible with the old guy but honestly, I don't want to believe that he would die anytime soon he was a very resilient old man even the Imperial Knights have no chance against him.
"Noctus we need to go back, Sensei himself gave up on his life why don't you?" Swinard asked me in a defeated manner "Besides, the disease he is inflicted with... it's incurable."
"Money cured many people, so it can help us cure our old man... right?" I asked him, my voice sounded pathetic to even myself.
"Also, I feel a small chill down my spine when I think about this Festival. I really don't want to enter this" Swinard said his white trench coat billowed as he turned away "I'm going back to Sensei, I'm sorry my friend" and so that asshole left.
I can do this alone, I don't need him or anybody else, turning this into a chant I went to the registry tent. The tent was queer as it was a bright shade of yellow which made it look frighteningly like the sun and a flag at the top which was as stiff as a stone as if even the wind couldn't move it, and so I entered this queer thing and eventually found a plump broiler chicken like man who was searching into his registry looking over the bets the surrounding villagers placed into his registry and when he heard my entrance he looked up.
"Welcome sir, I am the owner of this tent, my name is Miki and I welcome you to try out in the Arachno Fest." The talking broiler chicken said to me.
"I'd like to enter the competition" I answered in a cold indifferent tone which seemed enough to make him write in his registry regarding a few details about me at a quick pace. To be honest this guy was kinda scaring me with his expression.
"Your name kind sir." he inquired me, this question was okay.
"Noctus" I answered.
"No last name sir?" he asked again, but here I had a few reservations as I couldn't remember my family. As a matter of fact, I can only remember stuff during and after my life as a bandit, it could be penance for my life as a bandit.
"None" I answered him curtly, to be honest, this constant questioning was getting on my nerves.
"Noctus- Portal Number 98. Go knock yourself out sir. 50% of your drops are owned by us and of course, we will give you just compensation." this guy was slowly but surely getting on my nerves, "Just sign here sir." I snatched the quill from him and dipped it into an inkpot and signed at the bottom and after I signed it, I all but ran from there.
"I'll be rooting for you sir!" didn't this guy know when to give up. Eventually, I reach the portal area, here there were a lot of people from different kingdoms, ranging from The Ignis to The Evangels, once again we see a splendid example of money bringing different people together. Currently, there is an ongoing war between The Arangai and The Twisters but half of them have teamed up here for a better shot at winning. Now tell me Swinard whether money can solve problems or not? Anyway, I passed by a lot of portals from 38-76 but I couldn't find my designated portal anywhere.
"You there, you have been chosen to act as a member in my party come here and be quick about it." a voice shouted out from behind me, and as usual I just walked away without glancing back.
"Look here Black Swordsman. Look at me!" Black Swordsman? I swear I heard it being used somewhere else before.
"Fine then I challenge you to a battle stupid mongrel!" the voice shouted again, whoever the Black Swordsman is he must be awesome, the guy sounded like a baby duck squawking, I wouldn't want a guy like that in my team. Anyway, I am not interested in a fight between this Black Swordsman Guy and the pipsqueak and began to walk away, and the next thing I know the owner of the voice ran up to me and hit me with the flat end of his sword.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked him and in reply, he swung his sword harder at me and I thrust my sword upwards to meet his sword. My sword, Nothos was a pitch-black blade with a small hole at the handle which held my Dagger Delta. Both of our swords clashed and created a clanging sound, taking the chance at his flinch when the sound was produced I took out Delta and stabbed him, due to his inexperience I won but not without an injury. As he fell he thrust his sword at my stomach which cut me, but luckily it wasn't too deep and I managed to stand up without acknowledging it. My opponent was- surprisingly- a small boy of 14 years old, he was 2 years younger than me, so he must be some royals son. He a bright blonde hair which made me think of the tent and I got angry all over again, I threw the dagger near his head inches away from killing him. The kid had blue eyes which were currently filled with fear and curiosity.
"Kid you owe me, big time. I ask you a favor in the future for me or my comrades and so I shall take my leave." saying this I left the kid and his... party? and went towards the portal I needed to find. Now, where was it again? Ah finally, there it is. Thanking the (non-existent) Coffee Gods I leaped into the portal and I felt a chill in my spine the exact same way Swinard described it and fell into unconsciousness.
"Welcome Noctus, I've been awaiting you." a voice whispered to me deep into my skull and roused me awake, I was very scared and so went with the usual reply of "Who the hell are you?!" which seemed to amuse the creature as I could hear silent laughter from our connection or whatever, but the main point is I felt like I was being mocked and I reached for my sword, only to find nothing there- hell even my freaking hand was missing.
"Where is my body?" I asked him-I mean that is a reasonable question and he again laughed at me. This was getting more and more irritating for me. Why I had to go through this torture was beyond me, but I knew I had to endure it.
"I have a favor to ask of you puny human." the creature rudely asked me, but I couldn't refuse this offer without hearing what he offers me. Seemingly reading my mind the creature continues, "I am Ravenent the Destroyer- what is with the skeptical look? Is it a modern tactic against humans in war. I'm going to ignore that look and carry on with my explanation. So, I am supposed to destroy demons or other creatures that destroy the multiverses. Recently there have been-" it stopped suddenly as if it had read my mind and found that I had a doubt "I forgot your dimension is technologically backward. So, there are other worlds and I am supposed to take care of them and all that jazz. All you need to know is about the world I am about to send you to. There they have magic, unlike you guys who have no magic and have to rely on weapons. But, on the bright side, I will imbue you with destruction-death magic but after you have this sort of magic I'll be your patron. And now, I'm tired so goodbye." Saying this Ravenent tossed me into a new world without me having any say in it. Maybe it was for the best, I may find a special kind of medicine there that I can't find back home.
"Also human I will save your sensei, but if you fail me he will die a painful death." when he said this it filled me with relief and determination to not fail.
And like this, my story began.