Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Journey

Part 1:

Somewhere in space a massive fleet of ships is seen attacking a planet and its defending ships, a bit further away a small convoy is going away from all the chaos going on. Most of the ships on the convoy are heavily damaged from trying to escape, while the ship on the center of said convoy has received minimal damage. After a few moments of traveling away the planet seems more distant until it cannot be seen anymore. Meanwhile inside the main ship on the convoy there are few individuals putting kids into emergency escape pods while they are in a deep slumber and sending them out.

"Hurry up and bring them here sending out those 3 is out top priority, we can worry about the rest after those 3 are safe." One of the armored individuals shouts as the rest of the individuals hurry up and prepare the pods for those 3 kids to be launched as far as possible the most secure way they can.

They manage to secure the kids and launch them safely, after that they continue securing the rest of the kids that are on board of the ship. After a few moments, after several dozens of pods had been launched safely into several directions, as they continues launching escape pods, some battleships catch up to the convoy and start attacking them, the other ships on the convoy begin to counterattack buts they are quickly outnumbered and start to be destroyed one by one, one ship manages to heavily damage the main one after blowing up, and as the more damage it takes it begins to malfunction even more than it previously was, and then it blows up after withstanding a lot of damage. While the pods that were safely launched are lost from view, as all the ships on the convoy are destroyed.

The 3 pods of the important kids the individuals on the ship were talking about go on traveling through space and as time passes the pods get further apart from each other until eventually we can only see one of the pods and the other 2 have strayed away from the course they were on.

November 1st, 19XX

After some more time the pod finally reaches and lands on a planet. The planet it lands is earth, on a quiet and foggy morning in an unknown area it just looks like a massive forest. A group of explorers happen to be camping nearby and hear the noise of the crashing pod and 3 of them decide to go and investigate. The explorers arrive at the crashing site are Lucian Winfred Roric, Aurora Isabelle Blanche, and Lucius Rosfux, they find the pod and inside of it find a small kid that appears to be around 3 years old, they call the rest of the exploring team that was with them and start looking around and securing the area. They clear the area and secure the pod to transport it, Lucian and Aurora decide to take the kid with them back to their town of Sanlow.

After traveling back to Sanlow, Lucian and Aurora started to grow fond of the child, despite coming from another planet his appearance was exactly just like a human child, the only thing different that was notable were his eyes, they were blue hazel eyes with a bright green ring on the outside of the iris. Back on Sanlow they meet with the leader of Caelus, Aragon in the Eoxeac Manor who is in charge of these types of exploring expeditions, after talking with the couple for a while they come to a solution, He knowing that Lucian and Aurora are a married couple asks of them if they are interested in raising him as their own kid, without questioning his decision they accept the proposal since it has been a wish of theirs to have a kid but due to circumstances they couldn't have one, They named him Callen Alister Roric, and since they believe he was about 3 years old they decided to put that as his legal age, and they used the day the found him as date for his birthday.

Callen as the years went on he was able to learn more about what his parents do and got interested in exploring and doing research like his parents, he kept on doing these kinds of stuff early on and as time went on he gained a lot of both useful and useless knowledge. In school when he was around 10 years old he met John and Alder that eventually became his best friends and spent their time having fun, 2 years later he met Emilia, who also became close to him too. One of the things that Callen enjoys doing is to wonder and explore in the forests that are in town. While in one of the forests he tends to sneak into the Eoxeac Manor where his parents work in a lab that is located there to spy and get some information for things that he became interested in, he also likes to spend a lot of his time outdoors doing all sort of activities with his friends. When he reached the age of 16 he was scouted by an underground wrestling club that is hidden from public in a compound built underground and that only a selected number of people know about it, there were 2 different types of wrestling areas, one that has a ring where all the matches with rules take place and another more obscure type that is deeper in the compound where the area where the fighters fight is a just a circular pit where the ground is only sand, here all the matches have no rules and most of the time fighters get heavily injured.

After getting used to that kind of environment that also became part of his life he started to train more to become stronger too. The matches always happened late at night and because of that he was able to have this kind of life since his parents worked until late in the Eoxeac Manor and many times they didn't even go home because of their work there or the short expeditions they were sent to. After 2 years of being involved with that kind of environment and his continued seek of knowledge, Callen now 18 years old, he became well known in many places in that town that some called him a prodigy because of how well he exceeds in all the fields he is involved with, while on the underground community of the town he adopted the nickname of The Great Magnus since he has been defeating opponent after opponent. His 2 best friends became involved in this underground community with him and they became sort of his managers and always went with him every time he has a match scheduled, thou he doesn't know that his girlfriend knows about his fights in there too since his other 2 friends told her about since along the way she started to became a little suspicious since Callen sometimes stated to arrive at school with some bruises in the morning or sometimes since she lived nearby and Callen tended to oversleep on the mornings after a fight she went to his house to wake him up and there she noticed the bruises too, because he didn't tell her what was happening she asked his friends to tell her about what was going on, thou they didn't go too much into details so she doesn't worry too much about it.

March 20, 20XX

A common routine that started happening was sometimes some classmates bullied Callen's girlfriend when he wasn't around, and she didn't tell him about it instead his other 2 friends noticed it and told him; So he decided to put a stop to it, coming out of the school, he climbs a nearby tree by the school gates and hides while waiting his girlfriend Emilia, since she had to stay late since she is part of the gardening club in the school, about an hour passed by, then she comes out but she notices that Callen isn't there waiting for her like he normally does, instead there are some other guys just hanging out by the school gate, she just passes by without paying attention to them.

"Hey little lady, looks like you were left alone, want us to take you home?" One of the asks, and as the other guy goes to grab her by the arm.

Callen jumps from the tree he was on

"So, hey guys! What are you up to?" He calmly asks, while the 2 other guys look on a bit scared as they realize that the girl they were messing with was Callen's girlfriend.

"Nothing my friend just playing around, we were just about to go now" They answer as they began to slowly walk away.

Emilia just smiles, and she and Callen just walk toward the train station. He goes together with her all the way to her house, and they spend all evening there. He stays for dinner and chats a little more and then leaves to go home. Later that day since his house is next to the train rails he just climbs the tree in his house and jumps on top of the passing train to go out late at night, tonight was one of those nights that he did that since today was the day he was going to sign up to fight at the pit in the underground. After catching a free ride to get to the train station near the school, he walked a few blocks to meet up with Alder to go to the underground. Once the both were in the underground complex the first stopped by the area where the ring is to see if there were any challengers to fight Magnus, but as expected none of the fighters there wanted to challenge him, they keep walking deeper into the complex to reach the pit. Inside the pit area the organizer of the fights talks with him to explain things. And after he explains all about the pit he signs up and is told that he has 2 things to do, first he goes and checks out the board where all the fighters are ranked, then the organizer tell him the rules.

"The way the rules of the fights work are easy, the challenger gets to spin a bingo cage to get a number, and the number he gets is the rank of the person he will fight, at this point he has a choice to make he can either accept the fight or choose to fight an opponent with a lower rank than the one he got. Once he wins a fight the challenger will get the rank of the person he defeated while that person's rank will go down by 1 as well the rank of the people below him. After that he can choose to keep that rank and defend it if challenged, or he can challenge the next person with a higher rank, this continues as far as the rank the challenger wishes to get or he gets to the top where the only option he has left is to defend his rank."

After listening to the explanation of how things work in the pit Callen decides to enter and spins the cage, and whether was luck or not the number he gets is 3. All the ones present there impressed by the number he got they ask him if he really wants to challenge the number 3 or if he wished to challenge one with a lower rank.

A cocky Callen replies. "Don't joke like that, I can take on anyone I get. This is going to be so easy. Really, I didn't think I was going to be this lucky, now is going to be much easier to reach to the top. I saved myself from wasting time fighting weakling. Now when can I fight this dude, so I can move on to the next opponent?"

The organizer replies "Okay. You see unlike the ring, here in the pit the fights are more schedule since we don't have fights everyday nor are all the fighters here at the same time. So let me tell you what is going to happen, you can leave for now and in 4 days the match for the rank #3 will be schedule to happen, and just some advice, don't get cocky fights here are brutal and you WILL get injured and don't look down on others here because you will have a hard time if you do so."

After some more chatting and looking around the area Callen and Alder leave.

March 24, 20XX

Doing the same as he usually does in the day, Callen along with Alder and John late that night leave Callen's house to go to the underground for his first match at the pit. Arriving at the pit Alder goes to check the board and notices that all the bets there are against Callen, and with a smile to goes to where Callen is preparing for the fights and tells him about the bets.

"Oh man! How lucky are we, you 2 are the only one betting for me, we are going to win so much after this fight! Anyways go and make your bets and go to the stands the fight is about to start."

Moments later out comes Callen from the locker room, and from the opposing corner out comes his opponent the 3rd ranked named The Tormentor Maz, the 2 fighters greet, and the organizer hits the gong to start the fight. Maz is a tall and muscular individual and at first Callen takes some hits to gauge how his opponent fights, he makes quick work of his opponent, he starts to around the pit fast and being versed in different fighting styles he manages to hit the weak points of Maz to knock him out in just a few minutes. Everyone amazed on how a newcomer just defeated Maz, they just sit there without reacting at what just happen until the gong sound to announce the end of the fight.

Callen having everyone's attention just shouts "Here I present to you the winner and the one that is going to the top of this place, your champion The Great Magnus. And I challenge my next opponent to a fight for the rank #2, just tell me when, and everyone make sure you come again to witness another amazing spectacle that I will put before you."

Then, Callen exits the pit to go change and there are his friends and the organizer waiting for him to reward him for his victory and tells him that his next match is going to be scheduled to happen in 3 days. The 3 of them leave the pit, Callen just having minor bruises on his arms, happily parts from his friends to go home and rest.

The next day early in the morning he is woken up by his girlfriend and she begins to scold him for the bruises he has and there he realizes that she knows about him fighting at night in the underground, he asks her how she knows about it and for how long has she known.

"You see… I once saw you with some bruises before and well I did ask you that time, but you only told me to not worry about it. But I was really worried about you and since your other friends seen to know about it I asked them, and they told me some part of it. I really don't know the exact details about it, so I didn't press the matter further and I just had to wait until you wanted to tell me about it, but you never did."

Callen softly tells her and embraces her. "You don't have to worry about it for long, I know when to stop and let me tell you this much. Just let me do 2 more fights and I will be done with this for good, I just want to save up a little bit more of money so I can live independently, I'm close to the amount I wish to have and 2 more fight will get me enough to live for a few years before I find a stable job."

She still doubting about it but decides to trust his words since all the times Callen has made a promise to her he always kept his word about it, and keep talking, and they go on about to continue with their day as usual.

March 27, 20XX

Now already on spring break having spent all day with Emilia, he goes to the pit again with his 2 friends to next match, this time while looking at the board there seems that people already put their bets for Callen, not surprised because of how he won his last match, still this next opponent is stronger.

Callen enters the pit, and next out comes the 2nd ranked named The Crippler Drake, the gong is hit and the fight starts, Drake has a stocky build and seems to move around fast, his fighting style is a little dirty since every time he hits low he always grabs some sand to throw at his opponent, this time Callen while trying to avoid hits to his chest area his opponent manages to knock him down and he gets some heavy hits to his legs, and after a few minutes of going back and forth and avoiding getting hit, he manages to see an opening to his opponent stance, and starts doing the same trick as him and throws some sand to his face and that's where Callen manages to get closer and finish the fight with a straight jacket submission move making Drake pass out.

After the fight while talking to the organizer a hooded person approaches and congratulates him for his victory and asks him if he is going to fight the 1st ranked of the pit, a question that Callen respond yes without a second thought about it. The organizer tells Callen that he will schedule the fight but is going to take time since the 1st ranked rarely shows up since no one has the guts to challenge him, and before anyone them can say anything else the hooded person speaks up as he leaves while chuckling.

"I'm a representative of Lit the current #1 and I can confirm to you right now that he accepts the challenge and will fight you in 2 days, so be prepared for the worse"

Callen says while he bids farewell to the organizer. "Well that settle then, I will take my prize and I will see you back here in 2 days for my last match"

March 29, 20XX

Callen proudly says just moment before his match. "Today is the day for my final match at the pit, once I will I will be set up since after I defeat their #1 there will be no one left to challenge me."

This time the pit is more crowded than ever before mostly since it's been a long time since they last saw their #1 ranked in a fight, there also seems to be some hooded people, they all seem to have come with Lit.

Since now the people that come to the pit have witness how Callen fights the bets are split right in the middle. After giving some time for the fighter to prepare the fight start.

Since this is a special occasion the organizer of the event gets a megaphone after both fighters get inside the pit.

"Welcome to this historic moment here in the pit, it's been a few months ever since someone challenged for the 1st rank here, so now is time for the main event of tonight. I present to you your current Champion the 1st rank of the pit Lit the Slayer and his opponent the current 2nd rank of the pit The Great Magnus, tonight is going to be an amazing match since the undefeated Lit will face the newcomer of the pit that just reached this point in just 5 days and only having competed in 2 fights, let's see if he can defeat the undefeated or if his rise to the top was just mere luck"

After that introduction by the organizer the gong sounds, and the fight starts.

Lit being not much taller than Callen seems to match him in speed, Callen having a hard time since he know he can't take many hits because he would take a lot of damage, few moments pass by and Lit seems to be leaving opening on purpose to get hit, but the times that Callen has hit Lit he has noticed that his skin is rather hard for a human being, after a few moments of fighting, Callen manages to get the upper hand on Lit because he is fighting a much different way that before and combining heavy hits with submission moves, but then all of the sudden when Callen was about to go for a big hit he slips all falls over, that throws him off his strategy and from that point on every time Callen was about to go for a hit he slipped, after carefully observing the floor below him before he was going for a hit he noticed Lit doing some sort of signal with his hands, once he noticed that he started to avoid getting too close and instead he used some dirty tricks he learnt in his previous match and in that moment he managed to throw sand to Lit's face and grab him to make him submit with an Anaconda Choke, Lit tried to escape but could do anything about it and little by little he stared to move less and eventually passed out.

Everyone seems really surprised at the outcome and mostly no one expected for Callen to win even though some of them betted for him, was a tough fight and Callen ended up heavily injured, he can barely move so his friends came to his aid and carried him to the locker room. At the locker room after changing and getting ready to leave the hooded people along with Lit came into the room.

"You really outsmarted me out there! I congratulate you on that. You really impressed me, and I think my peers will be impressed too, you have become strong and now you are ready to come and work with us."

"Work with you? I don't know who you are or where you work, and it looks really shady to come here and recruit people in the pit, I don't know what kind of job you think I'm ready for but I'm not joining anything or anyone recruiting in clearly illegal places like this."

"Oh! But you clearly are doing illegal things here too since this place is hidden from the upper world, and now that you are the champion of the ring and the pit there is no way to erase your impressive history from down here. You clearly are a person that breaks the law often, and I'm not talking about just here, you know that is illegal to break into private property and spy on work that people do in said property, and you know you can't just climb trees and jump on top of the train to catch a free ride."

Surprised Callen responds "What private property? How do you know things about me?"

"Oh, I know a lot about you, your friends and your girl. You seem to know way more that you apparent but is no surprise since you are free to look at the work your parents do for us. Let me properly introduce myself, I am Evander Littux a member of Caelus, you may have heard of it before… or not, you see my boss… Our boss is also the boss of your parents that work in the Eoxeac Manor."

Callen looking surprised about it but says nothing and keeps listening.

"Well now that you know, you might know why I'm here recruiting you. But I'm not going to pressure you anymore, I know that this was going to be your last time coming here, besides I'm not going to challenge you for my rank and neither people below me are going to challenge me for my rank. I'm going to leave for now and let you think about it, you know a lot of information about us because of your parent and we are not going to deny you anything so if you want to talk about it later just come back here, one of my representative will be here, they are always here, scouting and also making sure nothing extreme happens here, even though this place is below the law there is always someone on the lookout for thing to not get bad, we keep this place in check."

Callen doesn't respond but just nods acknowledging what he just heard and agrees with him, after that Littux and his companions leave, Callen talks with his friends a little bit and they take him home, one of them calls Emilia and tells her what happen. Shortly after arriving home Emilia arrives to take care of him and his 2 friends leave.

"It's over. I'm finally done, you don't have to worry about it anymore this was my last fight, so please don't scold me, just take care of me for tonight, tomorrow things will be back to normal."

Emilia looking relieved just embraces Callen, and they talk some more before going to sleep.