I've received a lot of hateful comments from an individual named Onsholo. If I see one review or pm that simply states you hate the story, or any swearing AT ALL (even if it's censored) I won't tolerate it. However, you are free to say what you liked and didn't like (with a good reason why you didn't like it not "It sucks")
I watched my clock as the sun slowly inched towards the highest point on it: noon. I stood in the ancient temple and patiently waited for Con to show up. At last he did, and we began our training. He took me to an arena and told me to hit him with my best shot. I pulled out my Iron sword and charged. He simply stood there. Just before my sword my contact with his face, he flipped me over and threw my sword to the side.
I pulled out a spear and charged again. He broke it into three parts and tossed them to the side. "Son, if you're going to fight the clans, you'll need to have better combat training than what you do against the mobs." He said, tossing my sword to my side. I got up and we resumed our training.
By the time the sun was going down, Con had become very impressed with my talents. I was able to sneak up behind him a bit, knock his sword down, and put him in a hostage situation where either I released him or he was a dead man. "Come, there's something I want to show you." He said, activating a lever that revealed a secret hallway down into the earth.
After about 10 minutes of walking, we stopped. Con observed the area and mumbled something I didn't quite catch. We kept we kept walking until we reached a very large room. It took me a while to take in everything. Since we were still in a jungle temple, stone bricks covered the expansive room that kept stretching, like it could swallow the void. I saw people hitting training dummies, shooting bows, baking food, pretty much every activity under the sun. I noticed that three people had stopped their activities and were walking towards me.
One of the men was average height. He had facial hair that circled his lips and his hands and apron were black from his smithing. The other man was above average height, maybe 6 foot 8 or something. He was buff: really buff. It looked like his muscles could grow muscles, and they proved to be strong, carrying a large sledge hammer with just one hand. He had a white muscle shirt that was red in various places, probably the blood of his victims. I had to remember to steer clear of him.
The girl was different from the men, putting a lot of work into her appearance. She had purple hair that was tied back in a ponytail, while bangs covered her right eye. She wore a blue sweater with a blouse underneath despite the heat. Her black leggings met at the top of her brown boots as she pulled a dagger out of her boot and began polishing it.
"So, this is the new recruit Con was talking about, eh?" She said, not looking up from her dagger. "You don't look the warrior type."
"Come on Mary, that's no way to treat a recruit." The buff guy said. "I see potential in him. He may not be gifted in stealth like you, but I can see him smashing through our enemies with a hammer as big as mine." He said, patting me on the head like an animal.
"Whatever." Mary said, putting her dagger in her boot and walking away. "Don't listen to her lad," The smith said. "She just thinks she's better than everyone here." Reaching out his hand he said "Name's Don." I shook his hand before a whistle blew, stopping everyone.
Con was standing on a large pillar, then leapt down. The earth shook when he made impact, then he walked over to me. "This," He began. "Is Roland. He is a skilled survivor and he has managed to escape from the wild clans for many months now. He will be training with us, but first he must pass a test!"
As soon as Con said "test" everyone began to cheer. "What... what kind of test?" I asked to Don.
"That I don't know, lad." He answered. "Con makes up a test for each and every one of us. He made poor Mary infiltrate a fortress and assassinate a bride. I had to forge a sword made of obsidian, then tear it apart to build a portal."
"Your test," Con began. "Is very simple. We're sending you to the nether, and you're going to observe the clan's role with it. For some reason, once every month, they travel to the nether together, choosing one person from each clan to travel there. We need to figure out what's going on."
After a few days of vigorous training, I was escorted to the nether portal. I turned back to my new allies, wondering if I would ever see them again as I stepped inside.